Zeviz

Steam Power, Communication Satellites, and The Internet, are just the first examples of disruptive civilian technologies that I could think of. However, at least the last 2 of them were initially developed using military funding, so I guess it also proves the point that military usually has the budget to research things that civilian companies and agencies couldn't afford.

Hi, everybody who said "Hi" to me. Does somebody want to let me know major news over the last few years? (To avoid further derailing this thread, my email is still zeviz1 at yahoo.)

Better late than never. PS It's kind of ironic that I found this thread about online anonymity (among other things) as a result of googling my [online] name.

On Linux, and I guess OS X, you can go into directory that contains your files and run the following command: sed 's#www.geocities.com/zeviz1/#newhost.com/zeviz/#g' -i * More generally, the syntaxis is: sed 's#String to replace#New string#g' -i Filename EDIT: Crossposted with Niemand, but mine also includes -i flag that allows input and output files to be the same.

Originally Posted By: Arancaytrus Links on your site aren't broken, per se. But you appear to have three different game sites which do not link to each other - requiring an archiver to enter each URL separately. They should be linking to each other from the links section, so if your automatic downloader follows all links to things under the same account, it should pick them up. (And if they don't, I'll fix it when I find a new host.) Thanks for mentioning dreamhost offer. Not sure if I want to pay for hosting of things related to games I haven't played in a while, but I guess I'll have 2 years to decide if I take the offer now.

Originally Posted By: Arancaytrus ... on sites cloaked by index.html we must rely on internal links (which Zeviz and Caligula show to be awfully unreliable). ... Which links on my pages are broken? I had a couple backups originally, but that was several hard drives ago, so I am not sure if I still have files from my pages. So if you downloaded them, could you send me a copy.

Can Anama members and Gladwell's servants attack their faction leaders? Does Gladwell automatically learn the real role of people he recruits? (If not, how does his compulsion work?) Looks like this will be an interesting game to watch. I have no idea what I would do as some of these characters, so it's interesting to see what strategies players will come up with.

Originally Posted By: feo takahari Originally Posted By: Thuryl Originally Posted By: I burn alongside the books. Just finished We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin Hey, synkarius: you should read this book instead of Atlas Shrugged. It's better in every way, mostly because it wasn't written by a raving loony. Myself, I thought Zamyatin came off as a bit extreme, if not necessarily a "raving loony." I was particularly irritated by how he seemed to take it for granted that anything he considered dystopian would be considered dystopian by the reader. The society as a whole was abominable, true, but individual aspects he mentioned and dismissed in a throwaway fashion left me intrigued when they were supposed to repel me (for instance, the harnessing of water power on a massive scale, which Zamyatin seemed to view as crass exploitation of nature.) ... We had a very strong effect on me when I read it, because the society described in it is a good portrayal of what the "bright communist future" we were building in USSR would actually look like. Even though USSR had collapsed by then and I was living in America, this book was one of the reasons I realized that even in theory "bright communist future" might not be as bright as it sounds. As for individual details of the book, I don't remember them because I read it too long ago, but your hydro-power example is a valid bad thing that happened in real life: The famous Volga river (one of Russia's most famous rivers) has been turned into a series of swamps by too many dams. And similar things (although on smaller scale) happened to many other Russian rivers.

Originally Posted By: Dikiyoba Luck will save your life in the original trilogy, so you definitely want some of it. Dikiyoba. Does having 20 luck make you completely immortal in Avernum trilogy? I thought that was changed between Exile and Avernum.

If you play only 1 game from the initial trilogy, G3 might not look quite as bad. One of its main flaws is that it repeats the same scenario that was exellently played out in the previous two games: a young shaper apprentice encounters intelligent serviles and creations for the first time and has to decide how to react to them. This flaw doesn't apply if it's your first game in the trilogy. The other flaw (which is apparently an advantage in some people's opinion) is that the game is too linear. Instead of the usual freedom to explore found in Spidweb games, you are hearded along by the plot, and instead of the wide array of choises available in previous games you have just two choises: Bad Guys and Bad Guys. This brings up the final problem of the game, it's very dark, with all of your options being bad ones. That kind of literature has its place, but I am not in a mood for Dostoyevskiy. So I'd recommend trying the demos in order, and registering the ones you like. The demos are big enough to give you a good feel for the games, so the impression you get by the time you get to registration barrier is unlikely to change later.

The limit is either 5 or 10 canisters. (I don't remember exactly.) When you enter a populated area after you pass the limit, you'll get a message about people looking at you funny, but the message doesn't happen right away. Also, the major augmentation that allows you to purchase advanced spells counts as lots of canisters. So the only way to be sure of getting a canister-free ending is to use at most 4 of them and stay away from powerful people who offer to re-wire your DNA.

I save before anything that could have a negative impact (even trying to pick a lock), and make a new save most times I make an irreversible decision (allocating skill points, completing a quest, clearing a dungeon, etc.) These saves are named in order (because there is no other logical way to name them), sometimes adding a position in the name when I think the change is too minor for a new number. So I end up with dozens of saves for every game with names like "g1c4b12f".

Opinions on favorite game differ. I'd suggest starting with G1, because it is good at what it should do: introducing a new world. However, if you find that there are just not enough features, you can start with G2 instead. It's as open-ended as G1, but has more developed engine and plot. G3 is the weakest game in the series, but you might like it anyway. And G4 is supposed to be the best, but I haven't finished it, so I can't judge.

Originally Posted By: Felix Yeung ... I want to edit scripts of Elite Warriors, guardians, shapers and agents in drypeak to get them to join my party by talking to them and click an option. ... Can someone give me some help please? You can use scripts only to do things already done in the game using scripts: modify stats, complete quests, etc. You can not use scripts to modify things hard-coded into the game: adding new characters, altering terrain, etc. Joinable NPCs aren't a feature in G1 and G2 (and probably use special coding in G3), so you can't make new ones using scripts. While it is technically possible to modify the scripts to add completely new quests, modify creatures, or even add a new "secret" faction with its own ending, it would require the amount of effort comparable to making a BoA scenario. EDIT: I forgot that creatures could join you even in G2 (and possibly G1). So disregard the part of my post that says that this is impossible. (Although making the story still make sence would be pretty hard anyway.)

Originally Posted By: Student of Trinity Opinion is sharply divided, in the sense that some people strongly prefer G2 to G3, and others just as strongly prefer G3. Few people seem to like the games equally. ... By that logic, opinions on whether George Bush is a good president are also strongly divided. More seriously, G3 used to be almost universally disliked as Spidweb's second worst game (the all-time worst being A4). Even Jeff himself admitted that he was dissatisfied with it. However, there are some newer players who were drawn to Spidweb by games like A4 and G4 and don't like the style of the older games as much. So my suggestion is that if you like Spidweb's other games such as Avernum trilogy and original Geneforge, you'll prefer G2. If your favorite Spidweb game is Avernum 4, you'll prefer G3. In either case, you should try the demos before buying, because they usually give a good feel for the games. EDIT: To clarify, G3 might not be a bad game in itself, but the plot is too similar to the previous 2 games, so the order in which you play them has a large impact on your opinion. G3 is also far less concerned with player choice and gives you less roleplaying opportunity, but is shinier and more focused on combat.

The Russian-sounding names are used only for Shloai. And I think it's intentional, considering that they are foreigners from a different land across the sea. Litalia, while a nice name, doesn't sound Russian to me. As for Trajkov, I pronounce his name the same way as Envnissyen does. Although I often replace 'a' with 'o', because "trojka" is a word in Russian. "Trojka" means "three", or "a triple", and is also a name of a team of three horses, or a coach pulled by a team of three horses.

[insert obligatory spoiler warning here.] http://www.geocities.com/zeviz1/Geneforge_secret.html The text in italics is taken directly from game scripts, while regular text contains my explanation of where in the game the italicised text can be found.

If you give up on finding the way in, I have a page with the temple's secret extracted from the script. It's not as satisfying as finding it out the proper way, but I can post the link if you want.

Compare the file you've downloaded with the file online. (It's just a text file.) Or just try downloading it again. I've heard of problems if for some reason part of the file got cut off.

Not sure if this is the right place to post, but people restoring CSR might find this useful: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://pub26.ezboard.com/bthelyceum Not all reviews are archived, but the ones that are should help sort out the mess created by ezboard demise. You could even restore some reviews eaten by a crash a few years ago.

Quote: Originally written by Ephesos: In terms of making people appreciate the sheer volume of scenarios, I've considered re-doing this forum's header in the style of the BoE forum. Think it would make any difference? That sounds like a good idea. A suggestion if you do this: link to the reviews at ShadowVale / BladesForge / wherever CSR ends up, rather than to downloads directly. This way players will know if a scenario with appealing title is a good representation of overall quality. A related suggestion would be to include download links to review threads.

Quote: Originally written by Jumpin' Salmon: Huh. Why do most geneforge polls turn into debates of this caliber? Godwin's law. Discussions of Geneforge morality reflect people's views of real politics, so people argue as passinately as they would in any other debate about a hypothetical moral dilemma. And then somebody drags in inevitable nazi comparisons and things deteriorate from there. I could have posted in the gun control debate instead, but that would be just as pointless as posting here, but more frustrating due to immediate real life implications.

I try to maintain the most moral of least destructive courses of action in these games. This means supporting Awakened when given the option, but going back to Shapers when the option isn't there. For me, Awakened present the best balance, because they are willing to use most available methods to protect their territory, but do not try to wipe out anybody. If the limited war (as waged by Awakened) isn't an option, Shapers present the "lesser of two evils" alternative. Their methods are nearly as ruthless as the Rebels', but their goal is to contain and limit the destructive power of shaping, while the Rebels' goal is to gain unlimited personal power by any means necessary. Rebellion took far more from Takers than from Awakened, while Shapers took more from Obeyers than from Barzites. We could argue endlessly about technicalities of who started what, but in the end of the day both Rebels and Shapers turn out to be equally willing to kill, torture, and enslave to achieve their goals. And regardless of whose goal looks better in propaganda posters, in practice an average Drakon is more selfish, arrogant, and ruthless than an average Shaper lord. As for "supporting the Human Rebellion", that's like saying that you "support moderate Shapers". Just like Shaper supporters in these debates are expected to accept the existence of a hard-line Shaper council, Rebel supporters have to accept the fact that Drakons' power is so much greater than that of the rest of Rebels that "Human Rebellion" is about as independent a force as "moderate Shapers". (And "reform from within" seems far less likely to happen in society ruled by Drakons than in Shaper society, which already indicated willingness to change. Barring gladiatorial combat is one example of reform that happened before these games even start.) I din't even consider Trajkovites in this discussion, because their position is completely unviable. They take the Shaper view of dangerous power ("let's ban it and hope for the best"), but don't leave themselves with enough power to destroy those who abuse Shaping. So at best Trajkovites would grow into new Shapers (a police force that prevents the rest of population from using Shaping powers). And at worst they would let the world plunge into chaos again, as power-hungry madmen fight each other unopposed (because nobody else is powerful enough to oppose them).

A benefit of moving CSR here (on the official boards) is that it would be more likely to attract new players to the community. If a person new to Spidweb comes to this site because of A5, he is more likely to click down to an unusually active BoA/BoE forum than to seek out a scenario rating site. Once a person does click on the forum, he might be attracted by sheer volume of scenarios. (Sure, the Spidweb tables are large, but it's one thing to seek out rating tables for custom scenarios for a game you've never seen, and another thing to just look at another section of the forum you are already visiting.) More players seeing the ratings -> more players buying the games -> more scenario designers and higher likelihood that Jeff will make another similar game in the future.

Thanks for replies. I'll send the person a link to this thread.