I think the main thing that will help push along her OK on this will be when she runs out of HD space.  I've already had to take all of the original pictures off her computer and replace some of them with reduced resolution versions (taking a 2.5mb picture and reducing to 1024x768 nets around a 170kb file) and any fresh off the camera go to my computer for editing and sorting.  She has nearly 14% of her 80GB drive left now...and only loosing room to M$ patches and iTunes.  She'll hit her breaking point soon, then it'll be gangbusters.

She's also worried about her job since it was a quiet fall last year and there aren't as many landscapers pre-ordering things right now.

Yeah, I was thinking about the Windows 7 thing as well.  It wasn't until what...this week they mentioned it may be out this year?  I was hoping to avoid Vista completely...but we'll see how things turn out time-wise.

What about dreams that are a combination of ToA, KOTOR, Universal Combat, and C&C 3?

Which they (apparently) have.

Anyone who buys a Vista system between July 1, 2009 and January 31, 2010 gets 7 for free, with the caveat that they may have to wait until April 30, 2010 to get the install DVD.

I'm going to go ahead and agree with dys that you should really build it yourself-but as for the laptop, that would be something to get from Dell/HP/etc, if only for the sake of peace of mind.

As for the running-out-of-space problem, why not get her an external drive, or an internal drive and slap it in an external enclosure?  Also, what's her RAM?

SHHHHH.  I got plenty of room on my PC (80GB main drive, 200GB secondary drive for storage), so I'm in no hurry about storage space overall.  The quicker she runs out of HD though, the sooner she'll want a new laptop lol.

RAM...I think she's at something horrid like 512.  Back then we were only looking for something for her to browse the net with and play solitare on.  Again...SHHHHH.  She really needs that 320GB 10k RPM HD, 4GB RAM laptop I was eying up...really, she does.  ~coughs~.

Well my theory was if you spent less money on her you could spend more money on you...

But even if you went say 90% on both systems (because quite frankly top of the line is always ridiculously expensive), you should be able to pull it in slightly under $2k.

And if her needs are more photo editing power and more space, an external drive and more RAM (how did I know it was 512?) are her best bets, with a CPU close behind.

By the way, laptops don't have 10k rpm HDDs, nor are there any 10k rpm SATA HDDs (not 100% on this, but close enough).  Standard is 7200; standard for laptops is 5400 to theoretically make the battery last longer.

The light...it burns!     I've had many dreams about playing games, most of the time when I've been playing something a lot.  Play a game all day, go to sleep, and dream you're still playing the game.  That's not really that uncommon for me.

I'm glad there will be another Windows coming out, as I've heard enough about Vista to know I dont want it.  Hopefully they'll do a better job this time around, though I dont have high hopes.  Damn I liked Win95.   The worst I ever had was Windows ME....that was an utter piece of c*ap.

Sentient species taste better...

Sole Soul, thanks

who else would i ask?  God?

at my age, getting the Aphrodisiac up, is always a priority....but it's not a weakness in my game.

Snork!

Hey, I've found a great swindle refinement! Negotiate until you get the "not crucial to our civ, but It'll cost you" line, then start up a 2nd negotiation right away. I usually get a whole string of techs that I can trade, like the starbase fortification line, and Clean Up before I let the poor AI have some peace. I trade one tech at a time, and never get the "useless preceding techs" line.

Seek help!!!!

My bad, the 10k was for my computer.  You're right, they only had 5400 for her.

Western Digital makes 10k SATA drives, the Raptor and Velociraptor lines. the original Raptor line is all but retired though. IMO your money would be better spenton a 640GB Caviar Black. they're almost as fast and a good deal less expensive (especially when you account for $/GB). the GP edition drives from WD are also very fast, but their main advantages come in using less energy and creating heat and noise.

Can you expand on that? I'm not sure what you mean by "start up a 2nd negotiation"?

Line up everything on each side, click accept/send, don't close the trade window.

Rinse and repeat.

At least, that's how I'm understanding it.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean either Snarkotamus.   But in my Swindle games, I havent had a need for any sort of 2nd negotiation lately, because I get the AIs to give all their planets, money, and tech away in one shot.

Sentient species taste better...

Hit the "Send" button, but not the "Done" button. Then, offer up the next tech that can be traded for planets. I have not conducted an exhaustive experiment, but I believe that I do better this way when I have a successive string of techs to trade. The "rinse and repeat".

My ToA swindle has not evolved that far. I pick up about 80 planets in the 2nd year, and then another 150-200 at the treaty negotiation. Then, I contact each race every 4 weeks to get any new planets that they have colonized.

Ah, I do that too.  Thats in the stage before I get to the war-swindle/extortion point.  That defintely does work very well.

Sentient species taste better...

My War Profiteering scuttles that strategy for me. As soon as I get the Evil races to attack everyone else, their military really takes off. I make up for it by building Cultural Exchange Centers, Fertility Clinics, and dual Intensive Farms on every planet. My the end of Year 3, I own about 80% of the real estate. This time around, I jacked the tax rate, spent like crazy, and managed to amass a 600+ military rating by the end of Year 3. I just got Hot Springs from the Torians, so I can jack the taxes even more! Spending down below 20K each turn has not been a problem so far, either.

Edit: Here are my current stats in case anyone wants to offer some scoring sdvice for the remainder of the game:

Date-8 Sep 2230 Colonies-381 Tax rate-59% Morale-66% Net Income-24,268 Bc/Turn

Ratings: Military-820 Population-6.801T Economy-530 Influence-890 Production-1440 Technology-8055

Abilities(%): Economics+128 Weapons+346 Defense+304 Morale+232 Pop Growth+86 Social Production+120 Military Production+65 Research+99 Influence+197 Diplomacy+213

Thanks. I do that very thing. On my medium maps (TA Human vs. all abundant, 9 majors, 8 minors) I normally start buying planets on Mar 1 of year 0. As well, on that first trade, I buy every one of the AIs miners. Get them searching, and if they find a resource, upgrade them to constructors. The upgrade costs about 170bc, so it's affordable. By the end of year 0, I have every planet, minus 3 for each AI. I've already built a spin control by then, and have ships in orbit. As well, I have my military array started (2 or 3 starbases) near my spin control, boosting those ships in orbit. At the start of year 1, I build the Mind Control Center, and declare war on the minors races. Wait 6 turns (I can't get reloading to work in TA), and swindle them for all their money, tech, and homeworlds. This gives me a big boost in influence. The major AIs now start flipping like crazy. I love that MCC. By the middle of year 1, there's only about 1 or 2 AIs left. I rush through to Teraforming, buitld a "token" planet (class 8, re-education center, and 6 fertility clincs), and gift it to one of the AI's. By the end of year 1 everything has flipped to me.

I'm trying to break the 200K mark in 3 years. In my current game I'm at 170K on June 15 of year 3. So I think I'm going to make this time. 

Didn't break 200K. Just missed it by 1500. Funny thing though. I didn't get a single anomaly respawn, and didn't get a single random event. Even though I had random events set to frequent. Hmmmm?

Did you have extreme environment planets set to rare, frequent, or somewhere in between?

There was a bug reported where the frequency of one affected the frequency of the other, and I'm not positive that it got fixed.

The lack of anomaly respawns is unusual, though.  Then again, it was only a medium.

I had extreme planets set to rare. I'll try a setting with frequent. Since I play all lab, it won't make much difference to me.

Normally I get lots of respawns on medium maps. I don't know why I didn't this time.

The point being, while it's unusual that you didn't notice any respawns, it would have been several magnitudes more unusual if you were playing a gigantic or immense.

Congratulations to all warriors of the Kzinti Empire....our domain has expanded to over 34 million light-years!

We also honor a new Hero today, Sole Soul!  His wisdom and knowledge have proven of great benefit to countless t'kzintar, and to the Empire.  Those who do not heed his words are as foolish as grass-eating herd-beasts.

Sentient species taste better...

Yes, Sole Soul has been doing an amazing job clarifying game mechanics, a very interesting read for all of us!

Not related to this: does anyone else have the impression that the number of non-military metaverse submissions has fallen to almost zero, in particular on smaller galaxy sizes? Looking at the Altmeta it certainly feels that way...