Mickel Reed

It occurred to me that I have been absent a lot and haven't exactly been forthcoming with information, which is quite plainly not very nice of me and a contribtuting factor to why I am still e3. The good news is that after over ten years of unemployment and resultant problems, I now have a job. It's an internship, it's for a limited time, but it's a job. The bad news is that when you have been unemployed for ten years your mental stamina is that of a newborn kitten, meaning that when I get home from work I have just about enough energy to go on Second Life, read my IMs and go "glaaaa... glaaaa..." while drooling. Since any right-thinking soldier of the Imperium would assume me to be afflicted by chaotic mutations, I choose not to go near Titan when in that condition. Well that, and I would only be in the way in an fight anyway. (And how is that different from how you are normally, Mickel?) I totally haven't forgotten you though, and I try to be on more and more as my stamina builds up.

How about this on a wall? Or maybe I should have Milites Bob say that instead?

There's a graphics section now? Whoa. I need to check in more often.

So yea, the design is pretty lame. But I think the idea is still pretty funny. I can get around to making it look better if you like it and all. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here's something to give thanks for:

[2010/10/20 16:54] Deathcore Torok: "Ordo - Black and a bit of gold since the birth of time" [2010/10/20 16:56] Mickel Reed: Hee. [2010/10/20 16:56] Mickel Reed: And I make this skintight flight suit look good. ;) [2010/10/20 16:57] Deathcore Torok: ... [2010/10/20 16:57] Deathcore Torok: :| [2010/10/20 16:58] Deathcore Torok: mickel. you made me shivver and die. [2010/10/20 17:00] Deathcore Torok is Offline Sometimes, by the grace of the Imperator, words alone are enough to send the heretics running.

You can always build a weapon that's capable of, say, using both your standard magazine and the enemy standard magazine. You don't want to use a weapon an enemy has dropped, but their magazines should be okay. The Sten is one of the more famous examples, I think. I remember reading somewhere that the USSR used 82 mm mortar rounds so that they could use the 81 mm mortar rounds they captured from the enemy, but not the other way round. Sneaky!

Switching calibers at will would be more practical if it didn't require exchanging parts. Not that you normally scavenge ammo in the field IRL, but don't you just hate it when you play STALKER and you have to carry two submachineguns around because if you only carry the one that uses 9mm Parabellum, you are guaranteed to only come across 9mm Makarov ammo and vice versa. RAGE!

Now imagine thirty or so OpFor Fred advancing toward the base, Aryte standing on the balcony (after we build the balcony) pointing dramatically (seriously, he needs a balcony) and lots of Milites Bobs running out, forming a gunline, with drop pods streaking down from the sky...

Ooh, now he has a name too! When I get an OpFor Fred outfit together I'll have to put it all in a box in case we need extras for making movies. Picture a big battle scene between Milites Bobs on one side and OpFor Freds on the other, laser bolts cleaving the air... Milites Bob is easy for you all to recreate. I just put on the BDU and the Male Rocker skin, shape and eyebrows, but without the hair. He looks tough, tanned, and militaristic, just like Milites Bob should. Though I think some of the other Library shapes and skins should work fine, if you want to make your own interpretation of Bob.

I was going over some poster ideas in my head when I realised I'd need someone (or myself) to pose as a "generic attacker" and I realised that apart for my Ordo gear and my previous army gear (which I obviously can't use for that role) I don't seem to have any military looking gear above the level of absolute crap that looks like I made it myself. Are any of you guys sitting on some tacticool looking freebies that'd look good on mister generic-guy-that-gets-owned? A tacticool vest/harness thing would really help, and I'm gonna see what I have in terms of camo and/or tacticool black clothes. Oh, and a colourful beret would really help too. Or a helmet. Hmm. I'm gonna go dig through my freebies. I should be okay for guns, I picked up some in NJ.

Well done, Nrom, and well earned!

I'm with the Steyr AUG. Mostly because you can easily transform it from an assault rifle to a light machinegun. I love weapons you can switch around parts on and rebuild them like that. And I love light machineguns too... Dakkadakkadakka!

Hello! Being in the Ordo means being around some really skilled people. If you're like me, that can be a bit intimidating sometimes. I make light of my shooting a lot, but deep down I guess I sometimes feel afraid that it's actually not good enough and the only reason I'm still in the Ordo is because nobody found out yet. Go ahead and stand between two Praetorians in the next firefight and see what I mean. Recently I recieved the Architect of Unity merit, which has caused a certain amount of headswell and prancing around in my dress uniform, but my first reaction was actually "why did I get this? I did nothing" and I envisioned Aryte realising his mistake and taking it back. If I hadn't snapped out of it in time I would probably have progressed to imagining him taking it back and subsequently kicking me out of the Ordo in a public ceremony. But I did snap out of it, because I realised that while while I might not have done much I certainly didn't do nothing. All I did was to take bits of three half finished projects, slap them together, and then add an interface to make it useable. I didn't script a new gun, build a new plane or model a new suit of armor like some of the guys out there. It wasn't even sculpted and I used freebie textures, and I'm certain the code could be written much, much better. But it was something. Just because I can't be the best in the Ordo it doesn't mean I can't be in the Ordo. I can still contribute. We can all contribute. We all have value. Think about that the next time you feel bad about yourself. You're still a useful addition to the Ordo. Hell, even my shooting can be a useful addition to the Ordo! I may not be able to hit a running avatar from halfway across the sim but it happens that my shooting is what flushes an opponent out from cover. It's sometimes my shooting that causes an opponent to be pinned down for a better marksman to pick off. And a lot of the time I just annoy the enemy enough that they start firing back at me - forgetting about the Praetorian who's lining up a shot at them. Only one pilot can be the best pilot in the Ordo, but Astra would be pretty useless with just one pilot. Only one soldier can be the best shot in the Ordo, but we'd be pretty useless on the offense with just one soldier on the ground. And statistically, about half of us are going to be below the median. So yea, maybe you're not the best pilot in the Ordo, or the best shot, or even the best at imitating William Shatner over Ventrilo, but you're still a useful part of the Ordo. Feel good about yourself. And if you're ever worried about getting kicked out for being a bad shot, look up at the roof of the base the next firefight... See the guy with the big orange tail and the glasses? Look at him shoot. They let him stay. I wouldn't worry if I were you.

Well... I guess some people are just that awesome.

I had such high hopes pinned on PlanetSide and then it turned out pretty meh.

Foam grenades, like in the AN. They were actually really useful. Put one in front of yourself and you have an instant shield. Put one in a trench and you have a bridge. Put one at the base of a wall and you've got yourself a ramp - one that you can primjump off. They sealed off doors and other narrow passages, they closed up enemy fire ports. You could even kill people with them. I put them in front of heavy weapons guys and some of them actually shot at it from close range. A lot of the more unorthodox uses were heavily dependant on the ability to throw a grenade almost instantly across an entire sim, of course... but they still have uses even without that.

In Warhammer 40000 a weapon can be "twinlinked". The techniques vary but what it all comes down to is that you have two identical weapons firing at the same target. What it does rules-wise is that you get another chance to hit by virtue of throwing more projectiles at the target. So a pistol in each hand could be considered a twin-linked pistol.

My tail tends to draw fire. Or something about my avatar. Maybe it's my bright orange appearance, my glow-in-the-dark glasses, my tendency to put a LOT of fire downrange, or maybe just the fact I stand still a lot on high places. I dunno. I'm a bullet magnet. It doesn't seem to matter what game it is, I always tend to draw fire. Of course, that can be a huge tactical advantage. Because the more the enemy shoot at me, the less they shoot at, say, Ron. And we all know what happens when people forget to shoot at Ron... And yea, I made the reflection about "tactical" and SL combat too. Although I feel most FPS games lack sorely in the tactical department. In fact, the Operation Flashpoint family is the only really tactical shooter I've played. (Then again I haven't played all that many shooters, always being limited by my low-end systems.) People still ask me how I managed to single-handedly take down a whole platoon of USMC with just a hunting rifle in VBS1 and I still have no idea. I tell them Tyr guided my hand. Anyway, good to have you with us. It seems everyone and their grandmother is more experienced with the SL combat community than I am.

I was trying to joke, but apparently it didn't work.

They're not "dual wielded", they're "twin-linked".

Aww. Thanks. Nrom and Acheron both have one now, I'm sure they'll put them to good use. That reminds me. I haven't actually checked if the latest version works... annnnnd I forgot to document the code. Let's hope my programming teacher doesn't find out, he said he'd go back in time and fail me on the course if I ever did that... Okay, good news: It works Bad news: With the hitbox pilot it's now really tricky to hit (just like in an actual fight) and I looked really silly trying to shoot that thing... Another reason for me to get that Thanatos clearance real sharpish like.

This is where I go "350 for a cock, he's being ripped off" right? Those things are probably the only reason I'm glad you can't make sculpties flexible. Just think... Big, floppy... No, wait. Don't think that. It's terrible.

I started thinking about some of the fun cyber implants you get in System Shock. A lot of them would be very useful in an assault, but I'm pretty sure most of them would be banned (like the personal shield) or simply impossible to implement (like the HUD upgrade that gives you info about the enemy) but one of the gadgets might just make it. The antigravity skates. It was basically some gadget that made you hover an inch above the ground and with zero friction. You'd manouver with thrusts of energy so you'd basically float around at high speeds, and - the important bit - you could change direction just like that. I imagine that would be banned so fast we'd see mach diamonds in the design specs though.

Well, here's what I'll do. First I'll put in a "pilot hitbox" in the plane and make the rest of the plane phantom. I'll keep it so the whole plane flashes red though, it's nice to be able to see clearly if you're hitting or not. Then I'll hand it out full perms to anyone who wants to use it, or develop it further.

The markers we discussed earlier would have a place in an assault pack too. Something to quickly signal "artillery here please" and similar stuff.