Shadowe

That's a very peculiar problem, and not one I know anything about.

I have identified a surefire way to make CoX lock up on my own PC, though, which is if I accidentally hit the Caps Lock key at the same time as the Tab key while Alt+Tabbing. This causes a guaranteed game crash on my system. It's possible that your problem is related to that, but I don't know for sure.

Briefly back to the silly Laws - I think my favourite in Rhode Island is that a marriage is annuled if one of the spouses is determined to be an idiot.

Oh, and cap guns are illegal, but real guns aren't.

And they're trying to make the coastal waters a "No Discharge Zone"... whatever that means

UK (some of these do not apply in Scotland or others in Wales):


It is lawful to kill a Scotsman in York if he is carrying a bow and arrow.
It is illegal for taxi drivers to carry rabid dogs or corpses.
A taxi driver must ask passengers if they are suffering from plague or smallpox.
A member of the House of Commons is not allowed to resign his seat. However, if one wants to leave the post, he applies for (and is automatically granted) the Stewardship of the Aylesbury Hundred, which is a job with no duties or pay but which makes him ineligible for membership of Parliament.
Anyone entering the Houses of Parliament while wearing a suit of armour is liable to be arrested.
It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (I'm not sure what punishment is inflicted on offenders).
Any whale washed up on the shore is the property of the Queen, so she can use its bones for her corset.
In Hereford you can shoot a Welsh person on a Sunday, with a longbow, in the Cathedral Close.
You can shoot a Welsh person with a bow and arrow in Chester, inside the city walls and after midnight.
It is legal for a male to urinate in public, as long it is on the rear wheel of his motor vehicle and his right hand is on the vehicle.
Women are permitted to go topless in Liverpool provided they work as a clerk in a shop selling tropical fish.
A bed may not be hung out of a window.
It is illegal for a lady to eat chocolates on a public conveyance.
It is illegal to be drunk on licenced premises.
Any person found breaking a boiled egg at the sharp end may be sentenced to 24 hours in the stocks.
Any boy under the age of 10 may not see a naked mannequin.
It is illegal to eat mince pies on December 25.
In London it is illegal to hail a taxi while suffering from bubonic plague.
Sticking a postage stamp (showing the head of the queen, which they all do) on an envelope upside down is considered treason.
It is illegal to go within 100 yards of the queen when not wearing hose, socks or stockings.
It is illegal for any commoner's pet to have carnal knowledge of an animal belonging to the monarch.
A pregnant woman may relieve herself anywhere she likes, including (if she requests) in a policeman's helmet.
A hackney carriage (i.e. taxi) driver must (still) carry a bale of hay and a bucket to feed and water his horse

[ QUOTE ]
Visit Wales and no PvP?!

[/ QUOTE ]

Go to Hereford.

In Hereford you can shoot a Welsh person on a Sunday, with a longbow, in the Cathedral Close.

There are several meanings attributable to the phrase "Walks the Earth".

The most likely, from my perspective, of the meaning of that badge title is "One who travels throughout the world".

An alternative meaning is "Exists, in a tangible manner", though that is highly unlikely (that's the meaning about "When Gods walked the Earth", meaning that it was possible to actually meet said Gods/divinities).

A literal translation is going to fail. It is an ancient phrase more commonly used in reference to a time when walking was the only mode of transportation across land (I am classifying riding a horse, or in a carriage under this classification, because something is walking, even if it's a horse), but in a modern context the meaning has morphed (quite reasonably) to describe the ability to travel from one place to another, regardless of the mode of transport.

Interestingly, one would never say "I have walked the Earth" unless one had literally done so, on foot. However, when speaking in the past tense (or at least one of them - I can never get them all straight), an outside observer might say "He/She has walked the Earth" when describing someone who is widely travelled.

Yet another meaning is as a means of refering to the age of an individual - "He has walked the Earth for a thousand years" could be used to describe someone who is a thousand years old. It is an archaic formulation, but means exactly the same thing, and ties into the "Exists, in a tangible manner" meaning of the phrase.

According to previously provided information it has not been possible for the graphics engine to support more than one 'dangly mesh' at a time (that's capes, to you and me) on an individual character. It is this restriction that has prevented things like animated hair, because the engine could not allow a character with animated hair to also wear a cape. Or a Trenchcoat. Or... any of the other options that use that graphics technology.

However, the wedding pack proved that it is possible. Some of us are hoping that this advance in the graphics code will allow for more flexibility on costume options.

While I'm happy to add Doctor Dick to this list (that's Richard Huntington, aka Shadowe, aka 'that smarmy English guy'), I will say that he has very little clout outside some fairly specialised areas, which are:

Military R&D
Scientific research
Engineering businesses

While he is very rich and well known, and is on first-name terms with a number of prominent political and military personages, he would not use that influence unless the circumstances were extraordinarily dire, and it would result in him effectively putting his neck on the line. He has not forgotten, and never will, that he is not an American and does not have a vested interest in American society, other than as to how it affects him as a foreigner living there.

Okay, I can't find a link, but every time I think of Richard, I get ZZ Top, Sharp Dressed Man - can someone link me, please?

(Work 'puter won't allow youtube, and iPhone isn't friendly to linking from it)

Okay, I'm not going to post any links in this until I can get my hands on a 'puter with access to youtube, but this is an awesome idea.

I think you can safely assume that Andrew is a little more subtle than that. If/when I turn up with him, there will be clues, but they might not be obvious.

You're a nutjob.

Call the men in white coats who will give you a nice padded cell.

Now.



Nah. Actually that's pretty normal. Richard, while being a fair bit like me, is not really all that much like me. For starters I don't talk anything like he does, and that's part of what helps me get in character with him. When I'm "thinking like Richard", I act in a completely different way to normal. To be honest, I'm more like Sam.

No, I never know what my characters will do - all it takes is the slightest thing to trigger a shift in their mood, no matter how I'm feeling - I've seen my characters go completely off the deep end while I've had the nicest, most fun and calming day, ever.

I have one character (I've NEVER RP'd him in CoH, thankfully), whose personality can effectively overwhelm my own, and while he's a lot of fun to play, I tend to get a bit serious IRL if I spend too much time in his head.

Now comes the awkward part - I am almost positive that the degree to which some of my characters can act without any conscious thought on my part is NOT healthy. Particularly that last one.

Nightmarer?

Quick Reply. He's probably NOT replying to you, just that you were the last person to post.

Well, having read all the clarifications and confirmations of details... I'm not unhappy with those figures. Which is not to say that I'm happy with them, either.

While the discrete account logons is at it's lowest figure since EU server launch, the best part of 125,000 people choosing to log into the game isn't actually anything to sneeze at.

I think that the drop-off can be attributed to a number of factors, the most significant one being simply the huge gap between Issues. I expect that November/December will see a jump when Issue 13 is released, and if there's a DXP weekend somewhere on the horizon, that will also add players back in.

Okay, so "it could be worse" is not a winning formula to take forward, and the peak concurrency figure leaves a lot to be desired, again, that can be at least partially attributed to the lack of issue releases. Another factor to bear in mind is the Global Financial Crisis, which can only cause some people to tighten their purse-strings.

So... it's not great news. I don't think it's "Dooooooom" either. I think that some work needs to be done to advertise/promote/sell the game, and that NCWest needs to look closely at Europe as a target market, because our servers could do with more players on them, but I don't think that they are (currently) anywhere near the sort of level that would make NC question the viability of the game or the servers.

[Edited for clarity and to remove misrepresentation of fact]

Reposting this bit, which got lost in the recent thread-purge:

[ QUOTE ]
The thing is that while the Mission Architect (I refuse to call it MA, because my feeble brain reads 'Martial Arts' every time I see that) has been bumped to Issue 14 and it is possible that it will consist of nothing but the Mission Architect, until someone flat-out says "The only thing in Issue 14 will be the Mission Architect", I'm not going to make an assumption based on what amounts to a politician's answer to a direct question.

I've been thinking about it a bit, you see, and a couple of things have occured to me.

Firstly: I13 was meant to be Architect, and have all the stuff for the now I13 in it, plus the Mission Architect.

Secondly: What was going to be I14 (now I15), while it may suffer slightly in terms of planned release, probably shouldn't slip all that much.

We've been told that I13 is due "soon™", with I14 release in Q1 2009. I15 will probably be due Early Q2 2009 (possibly even late Q1, but I'm allowing for that slippage I mentioned). If that is true, that means we're going to see 3 issues in the space of about 4 months. If one of those issues is slightly 'content light' because it contains the Mission Architect, I probably won't be complaining all that much.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've slapped quotes around that, because I thought I'd add a little bit.

I think that the above scenario is relatively likely, because of a number of factors - notably "the other game" being due out soon, and the CoX Devs won't want to be caught short by it, and they've been building up for this for some time.

I don't personally subscribe to a "tell us everything now" idea, because it's prone to backfiring if things don't work out the way they should. I'm patient, I love this game, I love the setting, and I'm not going anywhere soon, and I'm willing to give the devs a bit of slack.

I will also say that if I14 only contains the Mission Architect feature, I will not be a happy bunny. An issue, IMO, deserves more than just a single feature. Especially at such a critical time for the game. But I think that waiting to see what comes, at least for a little while, is the right way to view it.

Especially when you're waiting on someone who's just crashed.

*whistles innocently*

[ QUOTE ]
The 5 CEO's were, Shadowe (Who'd IC name I forget far too much), Zortel, Richard, Molly.Exe

[/ QUOTE ]

Snipped a bit: Shadowe and Richard are the same person. Do you perhaps mean Shadow'er (whose IC name I can never remember, either)?

Transcript, please! (For those of us with draconian office internet usage policies)

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"No blinds, fills, farms or PLs. Send a tell, and give details please!"

[/ QUOTE ]

Just out of curiosity, I know what a blind is, have figured out farming and PLing, but what is filling?

[/ QUOTE ]

Filling is the process by which someone gets additional members on their team who are not going to take part in the mission, Superspeeds (typically) around, spawns all the mobs on their map at full team size, then boots everyone from the team and solos the map.

This happened a while ago, and utterly baffles me, still. Not so much rude as... peculiar. I think the thing that confuses me is the sheer amount of time this person wasted on /tells to me.

I was on my main, whose search comment reads "No blinds, fills, farms or PLs. Send a tell, and give details please!"

Now, this was before all the new hide options, which I have taken advantage of - thank you NC! - and my memory may have things slightly wrong.

I can't remember exactly what I was doing, but it was probably badgehunting in PI (damned Illusionist decoys!), but the conversation went something like this (and took about 10 minutes - bear in mind that I'm bimbling around blatting things while this is going on):

AnIlliterate: Fill 4 me, plz
Shadowe: As the search comment says, I don't fill.
AI: It'll only take 2 mins
Shad: I appreciate that, but, like I said, I don't fill. It's a personal choice.
AI: ur silly to not fill if ur not on a team
Shad: While it may seem silly to you, it's my choice about how to play the game, and, as my search comment says, I don't fill.
AI: Come on, u don't have to do nething, just accept invite
Shad: I won't accept the invite, even if you send it.
AI: Why not?
Shad: Because I don't fill, and in that 2 minutes I could be doing something productive for my character, like a mission of my own.
AI: But ur not in a mish
Shad: I know, right now I'm not. Right now I'm busy doing something else, but that decision might change.
AI: So why not fill?
Shad: Because I don't want to risk missing a *real* team invite.
AI: It won't take that long.
Shad: Although it would only be for a couple of minutes, that's 2 minutes in which *you* are dictating how I play the game. It's my choice. Please accept it.
AI: u don't have to *do* anything!
Shad: I am aware of the process and how it works. I'm sorry, I will not fill.
AI: Yeah, whatever.

Nothing particularly striking in there... until I add in the knowledge that my wife was online, doing even less than I was, and she will fill.

When would you like it to be? About the only reason I didn't set it for today is because I know Annette's out of State.

Well, Ravenswing shouldn't bemoan people not writing stories with his characters in. I'll leave other people to continue to Future Imperfect stories, which are awesome so far, until I think of something I feel is worth doing, and continue with present-day tales of my main, Shadowe, and his arch-nemesis, Psychonova. Huge thanks to Birdy for letting me nick his character, though, and for the help on her thought processes.

{Rikti War Zone, the near future, early afternoon}

High overhead, a tiny speck started to grow in size. It looked like a meteor, with a sparking trail against the cloudy sky, spearing down into the centre of a huge mass of Rikti soldiers. Anyone caught in the middle of that crowd was clearly in extreme danger - and Nitoichi was right in the middle of it, blades dancing with stunning grace, speed and precision, every cut and thrust potentially lethal, no movement wasted.

But the press of bodies around her was starting to tell. She'd been fighting for what seemed an eternity, and had been lured into a simple trap. It had looked an easy fight - half a dozen of the enemy battering at a downed Vanguard tank. She'd leapt at them, and then the hidden Comms Officers had sprung the trap. A dozen portals opened up, and the horde surrounding her had stepped through. She'd taken a second to curse herself, and then got down to business. A business that had lasted far too long, and she could feel the adrenaline starting to wear off, her arms getting heavier by the second. She'd taken out at least thirty of her foes, but there were still more... and the portals were still open.

THUD.

Right behind her.

Risking a glance, she was just in time to see a pair of arms reaching for her, and she reverse-thrust one of her blades. She felt the impact, and allowed herself a tight grin, which faded as she heard the all-too-human grunt of pain. She was so startled that she barely noticed the arms enfolding her, curling her up into a ball, but she recognised the black armour, and horror gripped her as she knew what she'd done...

"Rich-" she began, a cry of anguish that ended when she heard one word.

"Boo."

Safely cocooned in his arms, she felt barely a tingle, but the Rikti were another matter. Wave after wave of energy pulsed out from him in a cacophanous explosion. The Rikti were hurled back as if they had hit a wall, limbs flailing as they pinwheeled through the air. Richard slumped against her and she deactivated her Talsorian blades so that she could support him without risk.

"Rich? You okay?" His damned helmet visor made it impossible to see his face, but the slackness of his limbs, despite their twitching, made for a pretty clear indicator that he wasn't.

A Chief Soldier rose to his feet nearby, his armour scorched and twisted, his movements jerky and uncertain, and he raised his sword-gun, aiming for her and the man in her arms.

"Oh, no. You don't get to play." Rich would just have to forgive her, she thought, as she sprang away and her blades sprang to life once more, leaving him to collapse to the floor. The gun tracked towards her, and she darted from side to side in an effort to throw off her opponent's aim as she closed on him. She dodged one shot, then a second. By the time he was ready to fire a third, she was close enough, and he swung his sword-gun at her in a vicious arc, which she stepped under, and thrust, her blades slipping through his armour like it wasn't there.

Even she was a little startled, though, by the sight of an armoured fist emerging from the Rikti's faceplate.

"What the...?"

A tall, broad-shouldered man in a battle-suit was standing there. The armour looked a bit like Richard's, actually, though with some red highlighting that seemed incongruously cheerful.

"Don' trouble yerself, pet. Ah'm here to lend a hand, is all," he said, the speakers on the suit unable to disguise his drawling accent. "Ah can keep the Rikti psychics busy fer a while, an' yer can either finish 'em off, or yer can get Dicky-boy, there, outta here. It's yer choice."

Her choice. Yeah, right. It was no choice at all. Fighting Rikti was fun, but that was Richard. Heck, with Annette bouncing around in her skull demanding that she make sure Rich was kept safe, it was a foregone conclusion. "So, you're psychic, then?" she asked the stranger.

"Ah have a few tricks up mah sleeve, pet. Like Ah said, Ah can keep 'em busy fer a while."

With a nod, Nitoichi turned, and strode swiftly toward the fallen form of Shadowe. As she knelt beside him and examined the hole she'd punctured in his breastplate - no blood - she heard a wailing roar, and the man in red launched a pulse of energy from his arm, into the skull of another downed Rikti soldier. She felt Annette coldly watching through her eyes, but Nitoichi's blood suddenly ran cold.

... Dicky-boy, there...

...You're psychic, then?

Ah have a few tricks up mah sleeve...

"Who are you?" she hissed between clenched teeth, a terrible suspicion forming in her heart. The helmeted head turned to face her, despite the fact that there was no way he could have heard her words, even with the sort of sophisticated audio-enhancement technology she knew was built into Richard's suit. She could almost see the smirk on the blonde-haired face that she now knew to be behind that visor.

"Get him outta here, pet!" he called out, and she heard the sarcastic disdain dripping from his voice. "They'll be wakin' up soon, an' Ah can't hold 'em off ferever."

Nitoichi watched, sick to her stomach, as he methodically walked around the area, and she thought she could hear words as he stepped from one Rikti to another, killing them with single blasts of energy.

"This little Rikti went ter market. This little Rikti shoulda stayed at home. This little Rikti had his mind torn up. This little Rikti has none. An' this little Rikti's goin' ter be mah present ter mah old boss. Hello, Hra'k'ult. Long time, no see. Are yer ready ter go wee-wee-wee all the way ter his home?"

Nitoichi fought a brief internal battle, torn between a desire to see Richard safe, and a need to smash the other man into a pulp, no matter the cost.

"Don't."

The word, spoken in a familiar English accent, laced with pain and exhaustion, made the decision even easier. She looked down at Richard, and helped him to his feet. "I wasn't really planning to, Rich. Oh, it's tempting, but I know when I'm outgunned."

"I'm glad to hear it." He reached up and tore the helmet from his head, and all she saw in his eyes was steely resolve, with no hint of the pain he must be feeling. "Get me to Elizabeth, Ni. I need to talk to her."

Confusion flickered across Nitoichi's face, as she led him away from the scene of the fight. "Elizabeth? Who's Elizabeth?" she demanded.

"Elizabeth Gray. Lady Gray. I want a word with her. Oh, and Ni?"

At his questioning tone, she turned to look at him, distractedly enquiring what he wanted, when he held her head in his hands and kissed her, softly.

"Thanks for leaving me to go and deal with the survivors. I owe you, for that," he murmured, before he kissed her again.

Her breath caught for a moment, and Nitoichi flinched as she felt his lips on hers. Emotions roiled within her, and she heard Annette clearly in her mind, alternately whispering for her to give in and pull away. It was the first time Richard had ever kissed her, rather than Annette, and the sensation was electrifying. She wanted to kiss him back, take him there and then, satisfy her desire, scream at him for setting a fire within her, scream with him as they quenched the fire in passion... and the sensation still burned when he pulled away, and smiled at her, a hint of apology in his eyes.

"Still love you, my dear."

I'm glad it was me, not you, in the hot tub that time, Ni. Annette's voice in her head was husky with emotion, and Ni mentally nodded, very well aware that if it had been her, then things might have gone a lot further than they did... and not really caring if they had.

"Love you, too, Rich." You *******. Falling in love with another woman before I could have you. "Let's get you to 'Elizabeth'."

And the pair of them trudged across the wasteland, heading for the Vanguard compound.


* * * * *


"How did it go?" The gravelly voice spoke from the dark confines of a hidden chamber. It was clearly the voice of a woman, but she took great pains to disguise herself, never appearing in enough light to identify her, and growling her words.

"About as well as can be expected, Ma'am. Dicky came ter her rescue, just like yer thought he would. Knight in shining armour, looks ter me like he was goin' fer." Andrew Martin, or Psychonova as he preferred these days, lounged comfortably on a leather chair in a hotel suite and spoke over the video-phone. "Ah reckon she's a good choice, actually."

"Somehow I thought you might. Which is why she isn't the target." The woman raised a remote control console and pushed a button. "She is." The image on Andrew's monitor shifted, and he blinked in surprise.

"Yer not after makin' this easy fer me, are yer? Do yer have any idea how tough it's gonna be ter get ter her?"

"I have every confidence in your skill, Mr Martin. And the skills of your pets."

On impulse, Andrew sent a probing thought out to his spy in Huntington Manor, caressing her mind with his own, feeling her affection in return. A man meant to rule the world needed servants to manage the task, and it was far easier to force them to adore him than it was to work for that adoration. As long as he was clever, and crept below the radar of such powerful telepathic beings as Sister Psyche, or Miss Yin, he had free reign over the entire population of the city. He could have had himself elected mayor by now, had he wanted to.

"They'll do the job, Ma'am. And if not the first time... well, I can always find more pets." He thought back to the fragmented mind he had encountered earlier. There were walls there, barriers so strong it would take him an age to batter through them... but the gap between those minds. Oh, that was a place he could plant a seed, and let it grow, if he could get close enough to her.

If his current pets failed, then he would take the time to get a new plaything. And one of Richard's girls would be far, far sweeter than anything else.

He didn't even notice as the woman ended the video-call, so lost was he in the images fluttering through his head, and he reached out a tendril of thought, searching for, and finding, the one he sought. Locked up tight, but there were ways. Oh, yes. There were ways.

Rising to his feet, he stepped over to the full-length mirror, and his brow furrowed in concentration. It wasn't easy, this trick. The change was uncomfortable, and took a bit to maintain. It was a power he doubted that Richard had, because Richard didn't know what it was like to posess another's mind, to own their thoughts, and Richard only wanted to be... Richard.

The image in the mirror had changed. No longer was a tall, broad, blond-haired man with craggy features standing there. Instead, a shorter, dark-haired man, slender, not muscled, and handsome in a pompous sort of way looked back at him, ridiculous in oversized clothes.

"Well, hello, Richard."

The voice was not Andrew's, and he laughed - it was the voice of the man in the mirror.

Health is more important than stories and RP, squire.

Take care of yourself.

[ QUOTE ]
If you fancy running with it, run with it. I rarely get my characters appearing in other people's stories...

[/ QUOTE ]

*Reads the above*

*steals Annette for a bit*

I'll get back to you on this, Birdy!

[ QUOTE ]
Guys.. Just, stop, please?

[/ QUOTE ]

^This

Guys, nothing is being achieved by sniping back and forth. All it takes is one of you to be the bigger man and stop responding. Please, do so.

What shazan is saying is that once an apology has been given, it is an indication that he accepts that he was wrong, and there is no need to continue referring to the misunderstanding or rudeness that triggered the conflict in the first place. That's the general UK opinion on apologies.

By continuing, Nightmarer just made the sitaution worse, when there was no need to.

in my opinion, this particular point can be dropped, and reasonable discussion on the basis of the facts we have available to us should now resume, without personal attacks or comments.