CraigHB

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Not even close as far as I know. Depending on a the scene and resolution, a high end system would still be many minutes per frame for LOTR level CGI. That's why vfx companies have massive render farms.[/quote] Oh well, I guess that's still a long way off then. Let's see, a couple minutes has to drop to 1/30 of a second. So, a system would need to be 3600 times faster. Apply Moore's law to that! [quote]if not the movies, then maybe mid-day scifi channel quality... actually,

Reply to Stardock Central SUCKS - One Year Later in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

IGN PC previewed Sins of a Solar Empire and had good things to say about it. I'm not that big on RTS but I may have to try that game. After all, I wasn't that big on TBS until I played GC2.

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

I took a look at that article and yea, hehe, things have moved along pretty quick since then. When I played the original Doom in the early 90's, there was no such thing as hardware accelerated 3D graphics. Consoles did little more than Donkey Kong. I remember a few of us gathered around a 14" CRT watching the game for the first time. I thought it was amazing. I think Crysis refelects the state of the art right now. Things are starting to look pretty real in that game. Though you

Reply to MVL Round 6 in Metaverse GalCiv2 Forums

Neilo, Although I've only participated in the current MVL round so far, it looks to me like you've done a bang-up job with the League. Congrates on a job well done and sorry to see you go. I'm looking forward to the election. It's going to be hard to decide where to cast my vote with the nomination of so many amazing players. You guys are all awesome and I think every one of the nominees would be a great comissioner.

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Yea, hard drives used to be one of the most expensive components in your computer. Now they're about the least expensive. It's just wonderful. I bought 500GB drive for DVR and I think I paid $110 for it. Amazing.

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

I think solid state storage is a better technology. The only caveat right now is that hard drives are still much cheaper. I'm using 80GB drives that cost $40 a piece. That's cheap! I added an external SATA connector to my computer and use hard drives for backup media now. It's affordable and most convenient. If solid state drives can come close to competing with that kind of pricing, I would have no problem going that route. As far as external devices like those USB memory sticks, I don't

Reply to Choice of Weapons? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Yea, beam has the best bang for the buck. Regardless of anything else, beam is always where I start first. Regarding defenses, I'm not one to do much mathematical analysis on the game like others have taken the time to do and then graciously share. I pretty much just go by feel. It seems to me, I get the best results by spreading all three defense types across the board. In other words, a typical huge hull fighter late game might have around 150 attack and 30 defense in each of the

Reply to Stardock Central SUCKS - One Year Later in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I can understand the digs. What happens is that you're in a really irritated frame of mind when you write the post. If you were to wait a day or two, it would probably have a much more gracious tone. In any case, they seem to be getting SDC more refined now and it does seem to work reliably. I do have to agree that it SDC can be counter-intuitve at times. There's lots they could improve in that area. For example, there should be a "download only" button and an "install" button ri

Reply to Choice of Weapons? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I haven't played TA at all so for the big games in DA, I go for the Psionic Beam pretty quick, then ultimately go for the BHE which has the best ratio of size to attack. In the small games, I hit the beam line because it researches faster than the others. The line I research least is guns since it takes longer and doesn't provide weapons quite as powerful. In any case, if your game is big enough to afford the expense, it's fun to research two or even all the lines and confuse the AI by switch

Reply to Oh, what the hell is this?? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Personally, I love the Jagged Knife. And yes, I think that I see it happen more to me when I'm playing a conservative, turtling game. I agree with Piznit's sidenote. [/quote] I've seen it only once. That may be a valid point regarding play style. I spend most of the game at war with most of the races, more so than earlier games.

Reply to Yahoo Games Scored GalCiv2 4/5 in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I didn't do it :)

Reply to Yahoo Games Scored GalCiv2 4/5 in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I don't care much about anything Yahoo has to say. Here are the guys I listen to; [link="http://pc.ign.com/articles/763/763792p3.html"]WWW Link[/link].

Reply to Oh, what the hell is this?? in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

In the future, just disable mega-events in game setup and you won't see it, or any other extreme events. For your current game, exit then reload from a previous save before the event. The Jagged Knife has received complaints before. Some of the events are just lame and not fun in my opinion. I don't know why there has to be so many that have a negative effect for the human player. Why not have more that have a benefit for the player? Those are fun and I almost never see them anym

Reply to Big "Thank You Stardock" for a great game in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Well, I suppose if you want to count Dread Lords 1.0, that would be true. But, I don't think it's noteworty considering the difference between the first and latest versions. Then there's Dark Avatar and Twilight of the Arnor. Those are not free from copy protection. But I'm not complaining. It's just great to have a game that doesn't install covert DRM drivers or require a cracked exe to play without a CD in the drive.

Reply to noob struggling with the 3 sliders + all-x strategy in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I don't like running in the negative economy wise[/quote] I think you just have to go for it when it comes to running in the red. I'm usually not in the black until after the first game year (year 0). The cash anomolies I come across in the beginning of the game can make or break it for me. The problem is, you just can't do much until populations build and newly colonized planets start making money. You won't get anywhere if you don't build a few buildings and ships pretty quick a

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]it looks like the care you bought is now available for $209 on the egg: WWW Link. mysteriously, the clock speed spec has disappeared for the more expensive version of the card as well as this one. makes me suspect the model you bought is factory OC'ed, and this one isn't. [/quote] Man, you had me going there for a minute. Thought I spent a lot more for no reason. But I took a closer look and the model I bought is GV-NX88T512HP. The cheaper model you mentioned is GV-NX88T256HV. The

Reply to Hi in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Hello :) Have fun!

Reply to Big "Thank You Stardock" for a great game in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I wouldn't say the game is totally free from copy protection since you need to activate it online. But, the system in place is far less intrusive and much more flexible than what game makers use. They also support the game and keep it fresh with updates and expansions. There's definitely a lot of value there.

Reply to Earning a Racial Medal in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

You shouldn't have to "switch". The games run side-by-side. Just install it from SDC and there will be a link for it in your Start menu and desktop (if you selected that option). In fact, before I installed DA, I assumed it overwrote DL, but was pleasantly surprised to find that isn't the case.

Reply to noob struggling with the 3 sliders + all-x strategy in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

The problem with a requirement to manage spending on a per planet basis is when playing in galaxies with large numbers of habitable planets. Managing each planet individually in a gigantic/abundant game would be highly tedious. Try playing one and you should see what I mean once you've conquered most of the galaxy. There can be as many as 750 habitable planets. Spending is an aspect of the game that has received a lot of discussion and criticizm in this forum. Regardless, I doubt

Reply to noob confused, botf veteran in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I was thinking of making my home world 100% military production, and every 4th or so colony dedicate to 100% research. I haven't tried it yet. Does that work? I realize I'll have to move my production planet sliders to zero to save up money to buy research... I'm wondering if that is worth the effort.[/quote] Strategy can vary greatly depending on map size and the total number of habitable planets in the galaxy. Something that works well for one galaxy configuration may not work well

Reply to Why minor races? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Gives me something to shoot at...target practice :LOL:

Reply to What's up with time? in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Cool, that reminds of the story about a woman that kept losing files on her hard drive. She called out a tech who found she had placed a bunch of of fridge magnets on her computer case.

Reply to A question before i buy expansions! in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

That's pretty cool you can buy the game and play it as it's developed. Not too many game makers offer that kind of deal!

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

It's hard to say from my own experience, but given the option, I'll take the higher core speed if it's not too much more. It does make a big difference in benchmark scores and that has to count for something. But generally, I don't pay the premium for higher clock speeds either. For example, when I bought my CPU, there was a big price jump going from the 2.66 to the 3.0 GHz. I bought the cheaper one. It runs well overclocked to 3.2 GHz (which I think is amazing) and I don't have a problem o