Alistair "2 Sponson Lascannons and a Turreted Autocannon" Hutton ROTFLBTCSTCNDBFOOTWCWAGWLLBGWTRHOOTSAIAKBAYB: Rolling On The Floor Laughing, Beating The Carpet, Scaring The Cat, Nearly Dying By Falling Out Of The Window, Colliding With A Guy Who Lookes Like Bill Gates, Who Then Runs, Horrified, Out On The Street And Is Accidently Killed By A Yellow Bulldozer. http://hmt.com/cwr/steer/Obstacle.html -- AI http://hmt.com/cwr/steer/Containment.html -- AI http://www.cris.com/~swoodcoc/ai.html --AI http://library.advanced.org/18242/page01c.shtml --AI http://www.edoc.com/zarf/spellcast.html --Spellcast http://www.reese.org/fistful/page9.html http://www.efn.org/~chipb/wargame.html -- Game in progress www.execpc.com/~kirel/RGMW.HTM -- Meridian's Pictures http://members.wbs.net/homepages/d/i/r/dirtsideii.html http://www.zoomnet.net/~alice/ --Tactical Strike http://www.spellbooksoftware.com/e41K/index.htm http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/1353/epicentre.html http://shoga.wwa.com/~garyk/ - Card Generator http://198.80.126.132/knowing/ttlive2/ http://home8.inet.tele.dk/schani/stuff/w40eng.pdf http://members.xoom.com/rogue_trader/ http://www.sheppard.demon.co.uk/White_Dwarf/white_dwarf.htm http://www.sheppard.demon.co.uk/index.htm http://www.wam.umd.edu/~shrike/GAMES.HTML - Silly games http://members.aol.com/alien164/index.html Hackers_Anon-REMOVEME-@geocities.com //www.globalserve.net/~gwot/ Alex Lucas //209.84.246.87/removeme/ gaming@sympatico.ca //onastick.net/sitz/images/ tbeard@e-tex.com http://www.geocities.com/Area51/1323/ http://home8.inet.tele.dk/schani/stuff/armour.pdf > Oh well, it's time I say something that might, ha on this NG definetly, > get me flamed. > > War is not a game, there is NO-ONE sitting around saying "hmm do T-90s > get saving throw of 2+ or 3+ on 2d6" (2+ obviously). There are > foolish, bigoted, xenophobic, ignorant people (bit like the occupants of > this NG) who start wars, but they don't think that it's a case of > getting out the Bosnian Muslim Codex. > > It's not a situation where you line up the forces and then chat about > tactics in the pub afterwards. > > It's about seeing your friends die. It's writing the letters of > condolence to a new widow. Only the worst, most thoughtless commanders > thought of their troops as pieces. True commanders accept losses but > then it's war, they still think of them as human beings. > > War has slightly longer lasting consequences than games. Wars leave > areas of land unihabitable, at least by your standards; would you like > to step on a landmine while your farming your crops. Wars will wipe out > a generation of men. Wars cause psycological damage. Wars cause > people, people who have done no wrong to live in fear. > > Games have rules. > There are no rules in war. > War is not a deadly game. > Games are war without the trauma, bloodshed and civilian casualties. > > As for never fighting Jerry, you can never say that untill the time > comes. > > People may think this is cliched crap, go ahead think that, flame me for > all to see. This is an open invitation. Take a shot at anything, > grammer, spelling, punctuation, ideas. > -- > Alistair Hutton > > Life is good and Life goes on > (Except for those who died to let you say that you don't like the government) > > Remove NAESPAM to e-mail me > THe Best sarcasm ever Well, now that the news is out it's obvious that the new 40K is going to be crap. Here's the highlight (lowlight?) news on this travesty, ranked according to relative stupidity: 1) It looks as if there are more things troops can do, instead of more stuff they can bring. This eliminates 90% of the tactics by making in-game decisions as important as army design. As is, the game has no problems: your friend clobbers your orks with a Jetbike army, so you buy a bunch of Pulsa Rokkits and kill his jetbikes, so he buys a ton of Scouts and massacres your Rokkits, so you buy a ton of Boarboys and wipe out his Scouts, and so on. Apparently GW decided this was too complicated for 12-year-olds, so they dumbed the system down to allow the same troops to fight several different ways depending on their orders. 2) This leads to their next most egregious crime against gaming: the new system seems to favour basic troops, a clear moneymaking rip-off which will force 11-year-olds to play with 30 or even more models a side. They are abandoning all of us who have carefully honed our one squad, two tanks and four characters armies for six years. It also eliminates tactics. You can't give wargear to basic troops! Hello, did anyone at GW notice this or even care? "Gee, this squad of guys lays down suppression while that squad creeps up and frags the enemy trench" yeah, that sounds like wargaming - NOT! 3) Dividing Basic weapons into rapid fire and assault subcategories. Look at Guardians now: they can have a cheap lousy weapon or else a kick-ass, medium-price weapon. That's a tactical choice: take shuriken catapults (smart choice) or lasguns (stupid choice). In the new system, the Lasgun will be kind of like a single-action light rifle while the Shuriken Catapult will be a SMG type close-in gun. I figure GW realized it's target market would be too stupid to pick the better gun, so they made them both useful in different ways. I imagine the 10-year-olds will find puerile enjoyment using las squads as long range support for advancing SC carrying troops or some BS like that - kiddies are easily amused. 4) Why, oh why did they have to ruin hth? That was the most realistic part of 40K. Two nutsos with axes run up and hack down two guardsmen, and the other 8 stand there picking their noses like in RL. In the new 40K they'd try and shoot the nutsos or save their friends, and watching them get carved up might demoralize them. And what's with this "destroyed if you flee and are caught" crap? I'm sorry, but if you drop your weapon and turn your back on an armed, trained killer, and he catches you, he might still forget how to take out a helpless target, right? Oh well, it's obvious no one will buy the new game. At least GW did a couple of things right, like the new cover rules. I mean, cover still basically makes you less likely to become dead, but they made it more tactical by tacking on another set of die rolls instead of using modifiers. I guess Sales Control forgot to force the designers to do something stupid, like have all forms of concealment (soft or hard) afford a -1 to-hit modifier (or maybe -1 partial concealment/-2 full concealment), while solid protection (hard cover) would additionally improve armour saves by +1 (or +1 basic cover/+2 for hardened cover). I guess we have something to be thankful for. Beneath, what angels are at work? What powers Prepare the secret of the fatal hours? See! the mists tremble, and the clouds are stirred:       When comes the calling word? - Lionel Johnson, 1867-1902 The worst reply ever Well first it's all rumor and inuendo. >1) It looks as if there are more things troops can do, instead of more stuff >they can bring. This eliminates 90% of the tactics by making in-game decisions >as important as army design. As is, the game has no problems: your friend >clobbers your orks with a Jetbike army, so you buy a bunch of Pulsa Rokkits and >kill his jetbikes, so he buys a ton of Scouts and massacres your Rokkits, so >you buy a ton of Boarboys and wipe out his Scouts, and so on. Apparently GW >decided this was too complicated for 12-year-olds, so they dumbed the system >down to allow the same troops to fight several different ways depending on >their orders. OH yeah that makes life real interesting. People can only do one thing you know. I don't see what the problem with adding more options for troops is. Looks like MORE strategy is needed. Wargaming is about the battle not about what minatures you have. >2) This leads to their next most egregious crime against gaming: the new system >seems to favour basic troops, a clear moneymaking rip-off which will force >11-year-olds to play with 30 or even more models a side. They are abandoning >all of us who have carefully honed our one squad, two tanks and four characters >armies for six years. It also eliminates tactics. You can't give wargear to >basic troops! Hello, did anyone at GW notice this or even care? "Gee, this >squad of guys lays down suppression while that squad creeps up and frags the >enemy trench" yeah, that sounds like wargaming - NOT! That's not real wargaming because people actually act that way in real life. Oh I see. You have no idea what your talking about. >3) Dividing Basic weapons into rapid fire and assault subcategories. Look at >Guardians now: they can have a cheap lousy weapon or else a kick-ass, >medium-price weapon. That's a tactical choice: take shuriken catapults (smart >choice) or lasguns (stupid choice). In the new system, the Lasgun will be kind >of like a single-action light rifle while the Shuriken Catapult will be a SMG >type close-in gun. I figure GW realized it's target market would be too stupid >to pick the better gun, so they made them both useful in different ways. I >imagine the 10-year-olds will find puerile enjoyment using las squads as long >range support for advancing SC carrying troops or some BS like that - kiddies >are easily amused. Excuse me, but isn't making things usefull a good thing? I mean, armies like the Eldar and SM don't use crappy weaponry, they use different weaponry for different tasks. Like real people. >4) Why, oh why did they have to ruin hth? That was the most realistic part of >40K. Two nutsos with axes run up and hack down two guardsmen, and the other 8 >stand there picking their noses like in RL. In the new 40K they'd try and shoot >the nutsos or save their friends, and watching them get carved up might >demoralize them. And what's with this "destroyed if you flee and are caught" >crap? I'm sorry, but if you drop your weapon and turn your back on an armed, >trained killer, and he catches you, he might still forget how to take out a >helpless target, right? Maybe on the sidewalk of the slum you live in but Marines look out for their friends they are trained combatants. Now, I can see why you are upset. You're too simple minded to think realism is good because it makes your life too complicated. Sorry you can't just buy a bigger tank to beat your friend. Now you have to think. If all those rumors are true, I pity you. You wouldn't stand a chance. D T'was the night after GenCon, and all through my house Not a creature was stirring, not even a lab mouse (narf!) My stockings were tossed, on the floor without care I drifted to sleep, and so begun the nightmare . . . The Children all squealed in their perverse delight, While a fantastic Daemonette filled my visions this night. T'kyla stroked gently with crab-claws, and I cringed with pain, But her soporic musk is what drove me insane! kirel@earth.execpc.com To send the picture too. DARK MILLENNIUM To the Animaniacs Theme Tune This is the Dark Millennium: It's as violent as they come! So sit and watch the fun We will slaughter everyone! It's Dark Millennium! Come meet the battle brothers and the Battle Sisters too- Chanting hymns and killing things is what we love to do! Half of us are tainted, mutating into goo With special rules, except for fools who wear a certain blue It's Dark Millennium Full of heretics and scum So hang on to your gun Things will never get humdrum It's Dark Millennium! There's Ghazghull and his ladz who want ta rool da Yooniverse The boyz make lots of noise, then Eldrad whacks 'em with a curse! Sapphon chases Angels who've gone from bad to worse, And maiden turf's an Eldar berth, but humans got there first! It's Dark Millennium! Scraping sumps is good income We're all under the thumb Of an Emp'ror who's gone numb, It's Dark Mil-len-ni- Life's not worth a penny (Paul's a porker, ent he?) Dark Mil-len-ni-um! Don't roll a 1! THE ALTERNATIVE FAQ I've got 2 months in which I've got nothing better to do so I'd like to setup an Alternative r.g.m.w FAQ with your help. It would be deliberatly humourous, and posted as such (unlike many of my other humour posts). I was hoping that people could contribute sections on how to correctly flame someone, quote selective rules passages to prove that you are right, how to apply absurd logic to any situation, the perfect Cheese army selection, that kind of thing. If anyone would like to help then please e-mail me or post a response. THE AOL REGISTER I'll be perfectly, I didn't think that AOL members were that dangerous. I thought that AOL members were laughable, figures of fun but I have just been attacked by one and I now realise the danger inherant in AOL members. After having to suffer the confused, badly worded flame of Jak1616 I realised that many AOL members can legally carry guns, vote, own a pet, walk around without supervision. How do you know your neighbour isn't an AOL member. I know I haven't been able to sleep. To counter the threat I propose the setting up of the AOL Registration List. Any person who uses AOL as their ISP would have to register on the list so that they can be tracked, even if they move ISPs. After leaving AOL a list member would be put on a 6 month probtationary period where they would have to prove they are free of the taint of AOL. Naturally, people could seek to be list exempt. People like Alien164, Olcglas and PhdFaust would be granted this status. Others wishing to seek this status would have to sit a written exam which tests sarcasm & irony spotting along with basic legibilty. Then there would be those posters who would come under the Catergory B status. These are people who have valid points to make but seem to get them trapped under a flood of AOLisms. Then there is of course the Catergory A Class, for hardcore AOL members. These people should not be hated, they should be pitied, they show that the system has failed, they need help. These people have difficulty spelling words such as 'I' and 'the'. They need to be monitored for the good of society. We the Undersigned Endorse the AOL Registration List "simple as possible" is not a bad thing. In fact, wargames should be as simple as possible while still being fun and a reasonable simulation of reality. Brother Against Brother is certainly not targeted at young kids but the rules can be summed up like this: Movement: Roll 2d10 for the "squad" leader, he may move that many inches. All other members of the squad must be placed within 6" of the squad leader. If a model moves it may not shoot or reload. Shooting. If your musket is unloaded you may reload it. You may also shoot a loaded musket as follows: Numbers are on a D10. Range Open Soft Cover Hard Cover 0 - 20" 0,1,2,3 0,1,2 0,1 20-40" 0,1,2 0,1 0 Each hit kills an enemy squad member. The enemy player chooses who dies, then the shooter alternating until the correct number have been removed. The "squad leader" is the last to die. Morale: If the squad took casualties since it last was activiated, draw a morale card. Well, that is 90% of the rules and pretty simple considering I just gave you this from memory. Gues what? BAB has no rules disputes, cheeze players, and the games are actually VERY fun. AI STUFF Try The Handbook of Artificial Intelligence v.1, Problem-Solving Methods in Artificial Intelligence by N. J. Nilsson, and Principles of Artificial Intelligence by N. J. Nilsson. Incidentally, Nilsson was one of the guys who first came up with the A* method in 1968.