Tsume Xiao

Reminds me of that SL Gesture of "OMG IT'S ARYTE!"

LL had nothing to do with it. It was all within the SLMC and the deterioration of said community due to factors presented by all groups, including Ordo.

I had planned to write something big and fancy for this but then having a real job and preparing for our biggest event every two years kinda took hold.

 

I am old. I won't go through my history because I don't really think many of you care nor do I really want to type it all out. I have been many things. Grunt. NCO. Warrant Officer. Officer. Head of Fleet. 2IC of one of the first Alpha squads. Armorer. Recipient of one of the five Imperator's Stars and the only person to be given theirs in person. Woah.

 

I was initially planning to mark my 8th anniversary with a resignation letter. I don't feel like this is Ordo anymore. In fact, I sometimes refer to it as "The group formerly known as Ordo". I am one of the old timers. I remember the hay-day of the SLMC in 2010 and 2011. The comradeship. The closeness of a tight-knit group. In the decline period on SL I stopped fighting and just scripted things, which I realize may not even mean anything to most of you now. When Ordo withdrew from SL I felt it was already a shell of its former self and the collective had given a DNR notice. Leaving SL just confirmed my feelings.

 

When we initially started to become a more traditional gaming group, I figured things would pick up, but they just kinda scattered. People who I would see daily were now off doing their own thing in their own channel. I can look around and see the group, whatever it is now, has grown. I see officers I have never met. I feel resentment towards some people who looked at their "rank" as though it had great meaning even though in my eyes they did little to earn it compared to most of the SL fore-bearers. Then that resentment turned to pity: here were people who would never know anywhere near the pride that I felt every time I logged on to SL and fought alongside my friends. I feel sorry for them as I feel they will never know the sense of accomplishment over something they may work hard at. Why? Because no matter what the group is now, it can't compare to the tightly focused group of before. Things were more free and more interactive "back in the day".

 

Now I look at the group and I see a group of people who play games together within various sub-groups. Is that a bad thing? Not at all, but I don't think it can compare to the past.

 

I remember when i would come home and log on to SL and TS3 (or before that, Vent) first thing and check forums on campus during the day. Now I feel so disconnected I rarely seem to check at all. Hell I didn't even notice Xoza's promotion until today. At the same time, I will always see Aryte as the Imperator no matter who, what, where or when Ordo is mentioned. Nothing personal.

 

 

So enough of the depressive trip down memory lane. I don't know many of you. You don't know me. Maybe we shouldn't care? Maybe we should? Maybe you have heard stories about me. I am that guy who makes things and rants about things. The guy who stuck up for the moral thing even if it was unpopular (because Ffff e-rank you get respect when you deserve it. The guy who cared more about enjoying things in this game than ego-thumping. I am the guy who has a lot of guns and Ffff you it is a magazine. Or maybe I am just that crabby old gun-nut. Who knows?  But I'd like to try and get some of that changing. I plan to get Arma 2 installed on this new computer (because no one plays Arma 3), maybe even Planetside 2 if it has improved from the sucky POS it became and dust off the Sunderer. I've taken up some shenanigans on PayDay 2, World of Tanks, Battlefield 3.5 4, Heroes and Generals, and Firefall. If you play any of those feel free to drop me a line!

 

 

 

 

So after eight years, what do I have? I have some great memories, some fantastic accomplishments, some people who I despise like the plague, and most importantly, some people I look at as life-long friends. I hope to try and find games you guys play that don't suck and that I can enjoy and hopefully be a bit more active again. I still may not be the most active person ever but I guess I can try and climb out of semi-retirement. Ordo has been part of my life for too long to just move on. I made a pact with Aryte that I couldn't leave until he did, but even then I am still sticking around. You can't get rid of me that easily.

 

 

 

 

So in a TL;DR format:

 

Hello. I'm Tsume. I'm old and you look like you are new around here, at least in my reference frame. Tell me about yourself and what you enjoy about this group, whatever it may be now.

 

 

 

 

 

LASTLY. If Aryte gets to troll people with images in his Old and Grumpy post then so help me I do too.

 

So for those of you who may have heard the rumors, let me get one thing on the record, let me set one thing straight...

 

Let me make one thing PERFECTLY CLEAR.

In all honesty, I don't think there should be a successor. No one can replace Aryte or be what Aryte was. Period.

 

At this stage I think the group should be "led" by a group.

 

Part of me even thinks that the group should change its name, because without Aryte, this isn't Ordo.

 

What about adding a "new" to the name?

Something like "The New Ordo Imperialis"

 

Or

 

"Novus Ordo Imperialis"

 

Oh... Wait.

If I recall , it was something along the lines of "TSUME I WANT THIS THINK THAT DOES THIS! MAKE PLS"

Act 1, Scene 1. Stage set, action.

 

 



 

 

Jim Herbst, leader of the Alliance Navy, bet me $L10 that I couldn't keep Shadow Keegan in check. For those that knew Shadow, they certainly would not have taken the bet. Even for such a token, minor amount. The guy simply didn't know what "moderation" meant, so when faced with insult by the Alliance leadership, he was expected to explode into firey brimstone. Being the new guy, I did not know better. I was just the group's diplomat, pretending I had some notion of what Second Life was and who all these people wearing gaudy prim uniforms were. As the picture demonstrates, I apparently knew enough about human emotion to convince him to one up the AN by keeping it cool.

 

At the time, I would never have guessed but a couple months later I would be standing dead center in what amounted to a coup. Shadow's wo(man) decided to try to toss him out, vying for the virtual throne. Long story made short, things did not go as planned. Some fella named Ethan Schuman planted the bug in Shadow's ear that rather than bowing to her demands, it would be a glorious "fuck you" to appoint a successor. Except, not many people came to mind. The senior leadership was a motley crew. But there was this one dude who was quiet, had a good rapport with the troops, and avoided the petty dramatics.

 

I about shat bricks when I was standing next to Ethan (his 80's Rambo bandana waving majestically in the air), preparing to wave good bye to the crazy Second Life military community, only to find out the collective had appointed me the new head honcho.

 

So began eight years of kicking in doors, creating ripples, and doing great things with (literally) hundreds and hundreds of amazing people.

 

 



Someone snuck something in to their history lesson on Rome. I laughed so hard.

 

Over the course of my reign, we did a lot of great things. I am proud to say the Ordo Imperialis set the tone for the SLMC. From dawn to sunset, we were at the center of the political whirlwind. There is no doubt that I had my share of failures, but in every occasion, someone from this group had my back. We saluted the flag, and drove on.

 

 



People made the strangest stuff for me.

I love it.

 

I could not possibly begin to even count the number of disasters, attempts to destroy us, and accidental sim returns that we waded through. I would like to believe my leadership had something to do with that, but at the end of the day (and I will say this again), it was and will always be the composition of the team that gave us strength, not the name at the head of the crowd. Every accomplishment is and was yours, while every failure remains mine alone. Take that, embrace is, and drive forward. No one should harbor anything less than respect for the individual beside them.

 



Tournament team, 2006.

 

We had (and have) a lot to be proud of. We were the largest, most trained, and most dynamic institution. Our territory exceeded every other group's, bar none. At one point, we stood as the sole superpower, exercising overwhelming air superiority and combined arms capability. In fact, the vast majority of our problems came from simply being too critical about ourselves.

 

 



2012!

 

But that is part of what set us ahead. As an institution, we put a lot of focus upon ensuring our actions are calculated. I remember when officer meetings would push two, three hours in length simply because we would debate nuances about actions that lasted all of five minutes. Hell, to this day, the officer cadre burns a huge amount of its time simply discussing a situation out of concern of ensuring the Ordo's membership is properly represented.

 

I would not have it any other way. While I might believe we sometimes fret over the silliest things, I would rather burn the midnight oil knowing we'd made the right call for you all, than to live with the knowledge we'd taken the convenient choice over the correct one.

 

 



2011!

 

It is this commitment to the organization that has brought so many of us together. Flying some eight hours to spend a weekend with a few folks over beer and bad antics? That says something. I mean, it might very well have simply been the opportunity to torment the living crap out of Huttser in person. But, I will at least pretend I had alternative reasons.

 

I would do it again in a heartbeat. Hanging out with the Ordo outside of the "working environment" has always been one of the most enjoyable adventures in my memory.

 

 



Several of your current officers are in his picture.

I am the one with two beers. Because . . . #yolo?

 

Life has been one hell of a ride. I literally grew up with the Ordo. I started with the group about the time I entered college at the age of 17. I am 25 now, in the midst of my career. You all have made an incredible impact on me. Not only have I had the honor of making so many irreplaceable friends, but I have had the real and lasting opportunity to gain experience that has empowered me to achieve a life goal.

 



2007 group picture. I think. Look at Firefox to the far right. And Tsume in the center. Old.

 

For anyone who has run around with the group for a minute or two, I am just preaching to the choir with this next bit. I have known from a very early age that public service has always been in my heart. My father is a veteran, as are many of my relatives. After graduating from university, I fought and clawed for the chance to put on a uniform. Unfortunately for me, I earned my degree at the height of the financial crisis.

 

I clawed through something like six interview processes, going so far as to fly to Dallas to compete for their department. I recall one oral board vividly. After completing the final review with the Border Patrol, the senior agent looked across to me and asked: "Are you sure you've never been military? Your answers were incredibly sophisticated." I assured him I hadn't, thanked him, and went on to find out a few weeks later the BP cut hiring due to budget constraints.

 

Even so, I knew then, and I know now I only did so well because of a many long nights running the gauntlet with you all. Invaluable. Truly, invaluable.

 

I have no doubt that same skill practice came to be helpful when I sat in front of three Army officers and received a recommendation for OCS.

 



Me, after being tear gassed. Fuck that stuff.

 

I reported for training at sunny (and fucking humid) Fort Benning, GA on August 5th, 2013. So began what proved to be the longest six months of my life. Physically, I have never been so challenged. There were a many hard days that involved crawling through mud, getting pushed off high objects, and walking twelve miles with 80 pounds of gear.

 

On graduation day from BCT, my Senior Drill Sergeant (SFC Alvarado) pointed to me and said aloud: "One day, that soldier is going to be the commanding general." Now, while I certainly doubt that, I realized pretty quickly that he was referencing the last ten weeks of hell--during which I gained a reputation for being the platoon's moral compass. I was a friend to all, kept the group going during some of the shittiest times, and was a total badass as a squad leader (I killed our company commander, totally worth it). I learned how to do all of that from my time here.

 

OCS was a whole different ball game. I was selected to be the company XO. That essentially meant I was responsible for the logistics of four platoons, while attempting to keep afloat during the intense academics. Every minute sucked.

 

When I turned over the XO mantle as part of the natural rotation, the cadre commander told me "[you] set the standard as the XO." Later, during squad leadership combat lanes, my grader informed me that "[you] have outstanding command and control."

 

Care to guess where I learned how to do that? The Ordo Imperialis. While XO, I seriously thought to myself "how did we execute gear allotments to the legions?" While preparing my squad brief, I literally made a sand table and briefed it like I walked every single raid I governed with you all. Complete with the stupid jokes and bad antics.

 

 



Selfie before graduation. Because why not?

 

Now, I am a proud lieutenant in the United States Army. I guarantee you, getting here would have been a far more challenging climb--if not impossible--without having first developed my leadership style amongst this phenomenal place. For that, I am infinitely grateful. Every long day, hard fight, and administrative complexity allowed me to build a reliable skill set in a safe environment. Your trust in me to be the individual to make the decisions has done more for me than I could have ever of imagined.

 

 



This is a M109A6. This is my pimp ride.

 

That brings me to the point of my rambling picture show. After a lot of soul searching, sixteen hour days of gunnery training, and missed ESO raids . . . I realize it is time for me to take off the laurels and hand them over to someone with the time and drive to provide the Ordo Imperialis the active leadership it so greatly deserves.

 

It is an especially difficult decision for me to make. This is like my child. A really big, often crazy, player killing child. You all have a very special place in my heart. But you should be headed up by someone who has the time to give, not a relic of wars long passed. That is not to say I am leaving. I will still play games with you all when I have the time available. I am taking on a more advisory role. Going forward, I am going to essentially be your spiritual guidance. Rather than being the Imperator, I will be your Augustus. I expect statues, sacrifices, and the occasional gigantic feast in my honor.

 

Joking aside, all of the financial obligations I have to the group will continue without issue. I will still make appearances when possible. I will still drink too much and do stupid shit on PS2. The officer cadre is currently working on the question of succession. I am sure you all will hear something soon. I have left it largely in their hands, but it appears the big question is currently whether or not we should be led by a council, or led by another benevolent tyrant.

 

All in all, I am confident we all have nothing short of great things in our future. This group is beyond measure. You are all wonderful people, whom I value and thank so very much for your contributions to my life. If I had the time, I would attempt to list each of you down the line and put my thoughts. Unfortunately, that would take like a year to accomplish. So you will have to settle for a collective measure of appreciation: I love you all.

 

Well, now that I am retired, I no longer have to be concerned about offending anyone's sensitivities by my choice of television shows.

 

As such, I leave you with this.

 



 

My Little Pony is fucking awesome.

War Thunder Open Beta

 

What is is:

War Thunder is planned to be a full scale military combat free to play MMO that will include air, surface and fleet combat. Currently in open beta, it is air combat only. The planes range from 5 main countries (USA, Britan, Germany, Japan, USSR) with a few other ones tossed in the mix. While in Beta, they have announced they do not plan to do any more wipes.

 

What it ISN'T: This is not "World of Tanks but with planes". There is a much greater aspect of flight simulation and skill required. While WarGaming, the maker of WoT is making a plane game called World of War Planes, this is not it. War Thunder is by and large considered vastly superior and has many different game play aspects that WOT-style lacks.

 

 

Game Play

 

 

Leveling up and New Planes

You have two levels. General pilot level and country level. To level up to higher planes within a given country's tree you simply need to reach that level. You do not have to grind through planes you do not wish to use to get to the next vehicle. Experience within a country is the only thing you have to increase (some planes required you unlock the previous plane too, but you still don't have to play through that plane).

 

Different Controls

If you are used to joystick flying you are in luck. If you are not or lack a joystick, you are still in luck. War Thunder has a control scheme called "Mouse Aim" that is designed to allow non-joystick users be able to play and enjoy the game as well. The trade off with mouse aim is some maneuverability (loops are a bitch and rudder control is useless as the plane is always trying to center and level on your aim point) but a bit easier accuracy. Mouse-Aim is not available in "Full Realism" mode.

 

Game Modes

The primary mode that most people will play is Arcade. You pick the country whose planes you wish to use and jump right in. Your team will be a hodge-podge of countries and you complete given objectives, which change with the maps, or to destroy all the enemy planes. In arcade mode however, you don't just have one plane, you have your entire country's hangar. You can have up to five planes per country in you hangar in a given time (although you can switch out planes before each game without having to re-train the crew who is trained on the given aircrafts). If you get damaged you can land to repair. If/when you are shot down, you pick another plane and fly back out. 

 

For those wanting more history, there is "Historical Battle" The historical battle changes at least once a day and pits two countries against each other. When playing this game mode, you can only use aircraft from the country you are assigned to / join with. In Historical Battle, you only get one aircraft (which is the biggest draw back to this mode at the moment). To rearm your aircraft, it is not just a reload time like in arcade, but you must land to rearm. The current benefit to Historical Battle mde is players are more cautious and play as a team because they know everyone just has one aircraft. Additionally, extra damages are added in Historical Battle mode, such as wings sheering off from over-speed or excessive g-force maneuvers and fuel flight time.

 

For those who want a full on flight simulator, there is "Full Realism" mode. This requires a joystick and gives you the most control over the aircraft. I haven't played this and cannot speak much about it.

 

 

Game Features

So what makes this game so much fun?

Locational Damage: If you come in behind an enemy and unload into his win, it will turn to Swiss cheese and/or get shredded off. Rip up their elevator, rudder, or ailerons and their plane becomes harder to control. Punch enough holes in their fuel tank and they will burst into flames or start leaking fuel. You can adjust how much fuel you carry which adds weight and resistance to fuel leaks, but only so far. You can also damage engines, shoot out pilots and gunners, and generally just shred things with bullets.
Multiple Game Objectives: While you can always win a fight by destroying the enemy aircraft, even without premium slots that means 5 planes per person. This makes objectives very useful. There is :Domination" which is similar to CTF, but with airfields. To capture an airfield you need to land on it... in the middle of combat. Maps can have 1-3 airfields and the team that holds the majority will slowly drain the tickets of the other team. Then there is "Ground Strike". Ground strike can be won by destroying the enemy's critical targets before they destroy yours. Depending on the map these can be things like pill boxes, armored columns, or carrier/destroyer fleets. There are other objectives I can't remember right now.
Multiple Load-outs: several aircraft have multiple load outs you can unlock. These can be changed right before you launch the aircraft during the match so you are not locked in to your choice. For example, if you are an attacker that can mount either bombs, rockets, or torpedoes and are put into a fleet-destruction map, you can change right then and there to the torpedoes.
Crew Training: In WT crew training is not locked to an aircraft, but to a hangar slot. Once you train a crew on a given aircraft they retain the ability to jump into that plane at a moment's notice. Their skill points you can use to advance them stick with them as well.
Multiple View Modes: You can fly in 3 basic view modes for most aircraft. Third Person mode, cock-pit mode, and "virtual cockpit / HUD mode. In Cockpit mode, you can toggle off the hands/.feet of the pilot if that bothers you as well. In aircraft with tail gunners, you can manually control the tailgunners. In bombers, you can also go into a bomb sight view.  All aircraft can use their gun sights in cockpit mode. Some heavy attack craft and bombers cannot use cockpit mode due to the layout of the aircraft.
Aircraft Customization: Each aircraft gets 2 decal slots by default. You unlock decals as you play and can get anything from pin-ups to kill marks to text to the obligatory angry-face-on-the-nose (they have about 5 types of that). Some are themed to a specific country and must be unlocked doing certain tasks in that country, but can be used by all countries and aircraft. You choose the placement, size, rotation, etc. Some aircraft can also have alternate camo patterns unlocked for them. This is done by doing specific challenges with the given aircraft and are aircraft specific.
 

Aircraft Types

Fighter: These are your basic air-superiority fighters. However some are more adept to certain play-styles and tactics than others. Depending on the plane, you can have anywhere from 2 to 12 machine guns (.30 or .50 cal), cannons of varying caliber and fire rate, rockets, and even small bomb payloads. Most of your famous planes fall into this category: Example: Spitfire Line, A6M Zero line, BF 109 Line, YaK Line, Airacobra Line, Hellcat/Wildcat Line.
Attackers: Historically these are your heavy fighters and "bomber hunters". These often have larger ammo capacities, heavier guns and higher resistance to damage at the expense of maneuverability. These are your Mosquito's, Beaufighters, A-20's, Bf. 110's, etc. The actual craft very significantly as this category covers both attackers and "heavy" fighters.
Bombers: These are you heavy payload delivery service. Like the "Attackers" this class encompasses both fast strike bombers and slow high altitude "oh sweet Jesus they just carpet bombed a whole armor column" bombers. Examples of these, at least American examples, range from the SBD Dauntless series to the fearsome B-X Series (B-17, B-24, B-29 in various variants). Bombers often have the most payload options so you can choose between slots of small bombs such as 18x 100lbs bombs or smaller "I'm sorry was that your map I just bombed in half?" payloads such as 2x 4000lbs bombs.
Army vs Navy: Countries also have different lines of fighters for Army vs Navy. Naval planes tend to be have more anti-ship capabilities, such as torpedoes, dive-bomb air brakes, and the ability to land on carriers. Landing a Corsair or Hellcat on a carrier is totally possible. Landing a Spitfire on a carrier... yeah that isn't happening. Trust me. Also don't try to land the sea-planes on the land. Pontoons make terrible wheels.
 

"But isn't is just Pay to Win"

No. Not at all. GTFO and stop whining. Gold allows you to purchase more slots in your hangar or "captured" / "lend-lease" aircraft. For example if you play the USA tree mostly but want a Zero or Spitfire, that costs gold. They are the same as their counterparts from their country of origin. Gold also can buy you credits and allow you to convert XP, allowing you to get to the higher levels faster (a terrible idea if your skill can't keep up). It can also get you more decal slots

 

 

Who in Ordo is playing?

 Currently our "Squadron" consist of:

Format: Common Name / Other Name / War Thunder Name

 

Tsume / HebrewHammer / TheEpicWinrar

Ethan / TheEthanEffect

Twitchy / RaginRegan / Jankoutsu

Dylan / KillMeNow

Ierimya / The Silent Russian / Archimedes2

Caleb / RevolutionFour

Siaetto

Firefox / Kanika

Arc / Arcadian

Kurama / CaptainFishStick

Afevis

 

 

 

As the whole clan / Squadron thing is not yet set up but at the rate we have been playing I expect we will start something.

Currently we can play in squads of four and use Teamspeak for communication

I really hope we don't see it until 2014 so those of us who paid for a game can enjoy it rather than having to deal with CoD like "new one every year" garbage.

Calling Second Life a game is pretty much a lie. It is a platform that you do with what you make of it. 

We were part of the community who chose to make a war game / combat RP / combat "simulator" out of it.

What are the words that describes this best...

"I told you so"
"Saw That coming"
"Surprised they even lasted that long"
"Wonder how long till they throw a hissy fit and rage quit VG"