VZaknaril

Hmmm, I said that already Tofu...though I didn't really elaborate as well as you did. So the statement that AGP is equally as fast is incorrect, as Tofu stated. I haven't played a game where I need the full-duplex feature, but I imagine it will be a requisite sometime in the near future...

Hitler got into politics in 1921 (German Workers' Party) and wrote Mein Kampf in 1925. His views were clearly spelled out long before he was ever in a position to see them done. I think this is proof enough of his demeanor. I will agree that noone is born "evil". All children are inherently innocent until they learn to be otherwise. The bottom line though, is that the man's views and intentions were set in motion long before he was Chancellor. In Hitler's case it wasn't necessarily his friends that influenced him to become evil, it was the books he read; Lanz von Liebenfels an anti-Semite, Karl Lueger the founder of the Christian Social Party, Georg Ritter von Schönerer the leader of the pan-Germanic Away From Rome! movement. If you take a look at the ideology going on during these times, especially from the previously named authors, you will find a clear path to Hitler's ultimate actions. I hope you can see that I am not forming my conclusions based on a high-school education or half truths. And I am definitly not saying that the man was a monster from the day he was born. He had ideologies and "principles", if you will, and would not compromise them. Uncompromising men are easy to admire (to quote Braveheart). The world judges Hitler based on certain events of his life and there is nothing anyone can do about that. I am like you though, Ghostly, in that I want to know more and form my own conclusions...

Do any of you guys still play on the ladder (quickmatch)? I play it pretty much daily and was just wondering if I ran into any of you guys in the game. I haven't been able to get under rank 131 (my personal best so far). There are still some very skilled players out there, but it seems most of the really good folks are gone. Hope that changes with FoC!

True. The machine would probably have been built sometime this year to have PCIe. Your original question, however, was what do people prefer...not what is more common. I'd say that anyone who actually knows the technology (or even those who don't but want the best) would go with PCIe. You can still find AGP video cards as readily as PCIe, but most of your new machines will have PCIe technology instead.

Garbageben, your PC still looks good...and Corsair RAM is magnificent! PCI Express is phasing out AGP because it takes what was good about AGP (a dedicated pathway to the processor and sideband addressing) and improves upon it with a faster transfer rate (up to 4GB/s), it's full-duplex characteristics, and the fact that it can support other devices than just video.

The Core 2 Duo is the best performing processor out there at this point in time (up to 4Ghz of cache!!). I have just waited because I want to give them time to "work the bugs" of the technology. "Conroe" was just introduced in July so I will likely wait a few months. They already have quad-core Core 2 processors in the works!

Ghostly, have you ever read Mein Kampf (My Struggle)? These are the words of a genious. Hitler was, no doubt, a social virtuoso. He knew how to manipulate the people. He knew how to use propaganda. But make no mistake...the man was evil. In Mein Kampf he outlines his childhood and how his hatred for Communism and Judaism was formed. His main thesis was "The Jewish Peril" which spoke of an elleged Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. Hitler's racial policies culminated in the genocide of 11 million people, including about 6 million Jews. 11 MILLION! That more than the number of deaths in the American Civil War (approx. 600,000 Americans), Viatnam War (approx. 1,393,600 Total), and Korea (approx. 1,912,000 Total) combined! I understand you want to see things from both sides, I don't blame you there. America is just as guilty of propaganda as Hitler Germany was. You have to consider a number of sources. But what source is more credible then the words out of Hitler's own mouth?? Partner there is no doubt that Hitler had talent. He just used his talents towards destructive and gruesome ends. I won't argue the events surrounding the Japanese involvement in World War 2. I think the Japanese fought with honor and were probably our most worthy adversary ever. Their strike at Pearl Harbor was brilliantly planned and executed, and struck a crippling blow to our naval superiority. And while there were civilians present at Pearl Harbor (approx. 68 killed, 35 wounded), it doesn't compare to the number killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki (approx. 214,000). I think it was one of our biggest military mistakes ever. We can argue that World War 2 aided in technology (which it did)...but most major wars do. If WW2 hadn't happened, some other war would have. There is no way to justify Hitler's actions. If the Holocaust hadn't occured, then maybe he wouldn't have been looked upon in such a way. Take away that and Hitler was just another Alexander The Great...a conquering military strategist.

I think it has about the same amount of posts that it did before, albeit by a smaller number of users perhaps. It seems to me that there are less users on at one time that there were before but that doesn't seem to be hurting things that much *shrug*. The Fan Fiction section has died down more than I wanted to see, however...

Actually...nice Godsmack

Manufacturer: Dell Inc. (Dimension 9100 aka XPS 400) Processor: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz (HT, Prescott) Memory: 2 GB RAM (533 Mhz) Hard Drive: Maxtor DiamondMax 80 GB 7200 RPM Video Card: Radeon X1600 Pro (512 MB) Monitor: AOC 17" Analog Flat Panel Sound Card: SB Audigy Platinum Edition 5.1 Dolby Speakers: Logitech X-530 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers Optical Drives: CD-R/W (Hitachi) and DVD-R/W drive (NEC) Human Interface: Dell Wireless Keyboard/Mouse Combo I have been thinking of getting a new machine with the dual core setup, but so far I can't justify it. My CPU has 1Gb if L2 Cache, 800 Mhz front side bus, etc. Granted a dual core would be twice the cache but many of them (Pentium D) are still running at 800 Mhz front side bus as mine is. I'll probably wait until the Core 2 Duo machines have been on the market a bit longer (reviews are good so far though). The Pentium D processors are flooding the market right now because folks have realized that they are just 2 Prescotts inefficiently paired together and run as dual core.

Yeah it was EaW, space game. They held an impromptu match in the typical spirit of their game day matches. We were hoping to 3v3 them with my clan members but only 2 of us could get in (first come first serve of course). Of course, they got served not us

The community for EaW has lessened in the last few months, and as such, so has the competition. Most of the really good players are no longer playing as often. My clan consists of mostly elite players and we don't have as much fun as we could because of the lack of quality players. This challenge goes out to anyone who has skill at EaW!! If you are good, get on in the evenings (CST is my time zone) and play against ]V[andalor Rising! We are a group of good guys who don't talk trash or act like jerks (if) we lose. I have played with a few PFF guys and would like to see a few more of you in battle. I hear a couple of you are really good This challenge is friendly and I hope it generates some interest in playing multiplayer skirmishes until FoC comes out. Let's play some good games and have fun!

A clannie and myself (along with a noob) defeated 3 Petroglyph guys last night, it was awesome! http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m83/qalsip/sweaw-20061002-163845.png

I played a game yesterday with these PG guys and they really seem down to earth. They were like my clan almost, in the way they were joking with each other and just having a good time. It was really cool seeing these guys and talking with them. I look forward to more contact with Petro guys in the future!

Yeah it connected fine after you left. Legendsngray and myself (along with some noob) played 3 PG guys (Scud, Pyrate, and JMan) and totally smoked em It was a blast! I think we are going to win something because they asked for our email addresses. Here is the screenie: http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m83/qalsip/sweaw-20061002-163845.png

Multiplayer space skirmish: 3v3 on Yavin! We were empire. No starting units, no supers, no heroes, 5k. We got the bright idea that we would build nothing but fighters and bombers and go for their mines. We each dropped one by the 3 mines near our base and got those up, then immediately headed to their left mine. We destroyed it quickly (wasn't even fully up yet) then immmediately flew to the middle mine (making sure not to engage Xwings) and took it out. As we were passing the base from the middle I thought to myself that the lvl 1 base is quite weak and as we had 10 squads or so of TIEs on the map we might just hit the base! So we did that and dropped in bombers to assist. We won the game in record time (6 minutes, 27 seconds as the screenie shows). What a victory! http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m83/qalsip/sweaw-20060928-000012.png

I sorta feel like I've been here before *ponders* Im ]V[Zaknaril! I'm a 29 year old Finance Manager (BMW) from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I'm a tall dark and handsome guy who likes long walks on the beach and...*cut* *copy* *paste to Passion.com profile* No seriously I have loved Star Wars since the original movies came out in the theatres and the action figures were a big part of my grade school years. EaW is pretty much the only game I play, as I have obligations to an online clan known as ]V[andalor Rising (I know there is an e in Mandalore, roll with it). I like contributing to these forums and hope to geek out with you guys on worthless Star Wars knowledge. See you in the game! (Disclaimer - When creating an online clan one must create a "tag" that is an identifying mark so that others may know the clan when seen. Instead of the usual [blah] or {blah} I thought creating an ]V[ to look like an M would be clever.)

I agree that Wookiepedia is probably the most comprehensive database of canon information available. Databank's problem is that there are so many "canon" sources these days; books, movies, etc. that "the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing". Wookiepedia tends to state all conflicting information (when there is some) and what sources it came from so the reader can draw their own conclusions in some cases.

Maybe it's because I'm old and see things differently, but I see all these "highly technical" reviews and such of EaW and it makes me wonder... What about the question "is it fun?" ...??? That's why I play EaW...because unlike many of you I'd wager...I saw *all* the movies in the theatres (not counting the re-release of the original trilogy a few years ago) and I know what it was like growing up wanting to be like Luke or Han and such. Now I get to live out my childhood dreams of leading the rebellion to victory over the evil empire by controlling my own fleet on land and in the darkest reaches of space. HOW COOL IS THAT!? Sure, the game has flaws, it just plain pisses me off from time to time...but its FUN! Anywho, I suppose "to each his own" as there are apparently a lot of people who get a bigger kick out of modding a game than playing it and so on. Hope you are having fun playing it Cheese!

I chose "only for multiplayer" but really that's just because that is my primary focus. I couldn't say "definitly, it's SW" because I don't known all the SW games now. I think overall my attitude is that it's going to be a pretty good game, but online play is my focus.

Thats a nice idea Mr. Crisp...sorta like cultural influence on the Civ games. I like it. It would work differently for Rebs and Emps. Empire would threaten, where Rebels would use diplomacy, etc.

i don't have a huge list to cover, as Chaos already did a decent job. I do want to add a couple of things. StarWars is a genre that covers a very wide range of years/ages and it brings a lot of different people together (e.g. father and son can both enjoy the game). I have seen ages ranging from people in their 40's to in their early teens. For me the downside is the very bad online interface with GameSpy. It's just subpar in every respect. MSN Zone is a better server for crying out loud! Sync error run rampant. The other thing is game balance. With each patch release huge changes are made to game balance in an effort to make it right. My thoughts are that they should have made it right to start with and not realeased the game until they did. The major changes made in the patches (and the connection problems) is a big reason why the online community has dwindled.

You are right Dorkthehunter, I didn't address the actual question. I don't think I'm the right person to do that either, as I don't really play as many games as most. In fact the *only* games I am playing right now are SW games. EaW is only boring if you play single player. I play every night online with my clan and we have a blast. I don't think it's as much the game it's self as the camradery. More of you guys should come check it out online and play with us. It's much more fun that way and human players are much more challenging that AI can ever be! Most of the excitement I have about FoC is because of my multiplayer roots. In the grand scheme of things does it stack up to the other games out there? Probably not. There are probably better game engines, probably better looking graphics, and probably better RTS systems to be had. But the bottom line is it's the only SW RTS I have played thus far...which gives it a big plus in my book. My hope is that FoC is going to correct many of the issues most players have had with the game.

I agree that publicity is needed. I linked to this forum on mine in a post of mine and when many of my members saw this forum they asked "who is that?". Gswift, a member of my clan is who quite active on LucasForums, said "yeah I used to go there but there was never any new posts". I played in the PFF games on Sunday and I believe that more involvement in the game online is probably needed from members of this forum. At any rate, I am definitly a supporter of this forum, so I'm more than happy to do anything I can to help!

I see FoC as more a whole new game than an expansion, but either way its going to improve on a lot of things that needed it. I won't play mods (no offense to the modders out there, takes a great deal of skills I don't possess to do that) because IMO, they rarely work 100% of the time (of course, neither does EaW...sad to say) and make the game unstable. Not to mention that you can't play with everyone online unless they have the exact mod you have. So playing FoC is the only way I'll ever see some of the units that will become available. I also hope that synch errors are lessened with the new online interface.