Mickel Reed

D'oh! I completely forgot that. I wonder if that's part of the reason for my lousy gunnery? There's a couple of good reasons to have the target move in a predictable way (such as a circle) though. One is that it's really really simple to script (even I could do it) which means there's fewer things that can break. It won't go amok when it's hit by a lag spike, it won't run off someplace, it won't disappear into a building or anything. The second is that it reduces the amount of variables meaning it's easier to pinpoint what you're doing wrong and learning from it. You don't start your rifle training by shooting clay pigeons with a battle rifle from the back of a speeding jeep, it's just hopeless. That's not to say we don't want a more free moving target though, I'm just saying we can use both of these things.

It's funny, SL combat always struck me as ridiculously fast, like watching an old black and white slapstick reel where all the goons are running around and bumping into each other with ragtime piano music playing. And you die and you're back in action before you even noticed you got hit. I'm not saying a boost pack isn't necessary, but don't a lot of sims discourage them? I can't honestly say, I've never been out much apart for New Jessie.

I made it really simple, it's just a bunch of prims with a collision detect, and that are linked with a root prim that has a targetomega to make it spin. That's it. My programming skill is rather limited when it comes to object movement, physical and not. I'll be glad to hand it over full perms to anyone who feels like improving on it, or just tinkering. I also made a skeet shooter that launches dummies randomly, to simulate jetpacking newbs, and a turret that fires training bullets at you to help you learn to dodge. It's a long while since I touched those two projects so I don't know how if they're much use anymore. I did a lot of solo training in my previous army so little tools like these were pretty useful.

I made a little thing to practice my aerial gunnery. It's a mockup of a fighter which spins around and around and which flashes red if you shoot it. I showed it to a bunch of people who thought it might be useful. Anyone else feel that way? I've fixed it so you can tell it what speed to rotate at as well. I got a suggestion for adding a mode where it'll change speed at random too. That's yet to be implemented. (Trin also found out it works well as a carnival ride.)

Yea, I can work with that.

Puppy!

Hmm. A heretic suspended upside-down over the lava, Milites Bob standing by the side making a thumbs up. "Milites Bob says: Burn the Heretic" No, wait. I still don't have a good thumbs-up gesture.

I have a poster ready for "goto:armory". I just need a snappy text for it. I opened up with "Look to your wargear!" which I stoleborrowed from WH40K literature, and then an inspirational text about how it's nice to have the latest version of everything, and closing with "More lives than your own depend on you!" It's a lot of text though, and people have commented that it's not snappy enough. So guys, help me out. What should I put there?

Having a HUD with colored markers that could even have text would be extremely useful... and I imagine a bit complicated to script. Not sure. I haven't evolved far past the "hello world" stage.

Wow, that's even more harsh than here. Not that I really have a need to have a gun at home...

I still have no idea how I managed that score. It must be this fever I have. Shutting down parts of the brain really does wonders for my marksmanship in a lot of games, be it through a fever, alcohol, sleep deprivation, or strong medication. And congratulations to the rest of you guys!

"Belgium, two points. La Belgie, deux points." Sorry. Couldn't help it. Really lame inside joke. Really inside.

Haven't played Pripyat yet, saving it as a reward for when I finally get my ass around to reinstalling XP on my gaming machine.

Doesn't have to be a particle. Could be a big blinking arrow pointing down, or anything else we concieve it to be. How about a big beam of volumetric light coming down from an unseen source up in the sky?

I really ought to do some skeet shooting. Do we have facilities for that? I remember making a rather simple gadget for that, it was rather popular with a bunch of people in my previous army. I'm sure I could improve a bit on it, or just hand it over to someone for tinkering.

Hmm. I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas, and I'm the guy who was always wanting more gear... I'm thinking a command enabler of some sort. Something that'll let you plonk out visual aids to help attackers coordinate. Plonk out a red flag and declare it means "reassemble here" and launch some purple smoke that means "focus assault here" or something. Not sure if that's even needed, though. I say... Something for the schola guys maybe? Do they have some equipment they always need? Put that in there. Like a command to give someone a red or blue flag when needed, or spawns a teleport to the hub that schola guys can use. Maybe even stuff like obstacle courses or whatever?

I realised I forgot to do one of these, which shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me. You've probably seen me around. I'm the orange bullet magnet whose shooting never improves despite years of SL combat.

I keep wishing for the game they show in their ads though. Seriously. One of their ads shows what looks like an awesome tank game, and then ends with saying this is what WoT absolutely isn't. God damn teases.

Easy. Milites Bob says, "We're everywhere!" A gold star to whoever gets the game reference.

Now that I have a "Milites Bob" outfit I can do some "Milites Bob says..." posters too. I just need a good pose where I'm making a thumbs up and grinning like a loon. "Milites Bob says: Don't go swimming in the lava. You'll be held responsible for any materiel damaged or lost!" Or how about "Milites Bob says: The Emperor protects! But ducking helps too!"

I almost got OIC once, fresh out of schola. I'm still learning to find my way from the armory to the outside and someone drops the hot potato in my lap!

I guess it wouldn't hurt to make a "GOTO:ARMORY" poster too. To remind people to have up to date equipment. "Soldiers, look to your wargear!"

Yeah. Unemployed, six years and counting. Getting on my nerves.

Not sure, flipping through the Space Marines codex. I'm thinking the Imperial Guard one might be good for ideas too. And maybe the Imperial Guardsman Uplifting Primer if I could get my hands on that.

You could call it the "yo-yo merit"