smoochipoops

Reply to Norway ... Country that did not make it into the movie Sicko. in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]The fun part about my healthcare is having a family doctor that I can see pretty much when I want (keep in mind that I usually have to wait 1 to 2 month for my appointment) but I do get to see her regularly which means I get my normal checkups. All this included in my taxes. I earn 40K a year here and I am taxed at 35% When you make more then 55K here you are taxed 52%. That's more then half of your ernngs for taxes. Ouch. But then again I would not give it up for anything in the world

Reply to Best Epic Fantasy? in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson hands down... read it you will not be sorry. LoTR, it set the bar. It is the standard by which all else is judged. I enjoyed the Wheel of Time as well. However Robert Jordan cetainly repeated himself alot. Aside from the first and last 50 pages the entire 10th novel was unnecessary. Now for what I did not like... Terry Goodkind...uggh. I admititly only read about 2/3 of the first book but I just couldn't do it. Character dev

Reply to Shield mitigation in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]Becuase I routinely target ships that I find annoyin such as carriers/transporters to get rid of those pesky fighters.[/quote] That may be why your losing close battles. Carriers and transports are usually at the bottom of my list. I prefer to target enemy cap ships or cruisers first. The best way to counter fighters and bombers in my opinion is with flak frigates. I find if I chase transports around the map I end up stringing my fleet out and getting picked apart. &nbs

Reply to Naval tactics in the modern age and why I think they are misrepresented in Sins. in Everything Else Sins Forums

[quote]Im just saying, carriers seemed nerfed to me.[/quote] That may be, but then arguments have been made that the capital ships have been nerfed, frigates should be more powerful, defenses more effective...etc... The point is in a game with so many units the goal is to try and balance everything in such a way that nothing stands out as glaringly overpowered and if something is then there should be a counter to it. If strike craft were that powerful then there would be

Dark Avatar Keeps Locking Up in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I have both DL and DA installed on my home PC and decided today to install them on my laptop. I downloaded both and installed using impulse (very slick by the way) however everytime I try to run DA in windowed mode is quickly becomes non-responsive. I am running an HP laptop with an Intel T5200 1.6Ghz processor, 1024Mb of Ram, and an Nvidia GeForce Go 7600. I am using Vista as an operating system. Note, for some reason when I tried installing service pa

Reply to FreeSpace2 SCP Project Continues in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

I loved Freespace 2... I even found a version on ebay and have it installed on my home PC. The external link you provided is not working.

Reply to Starting location is too good. in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]P.S. It's not a metaverse game, so don't worry about giving me real advice.[/quote] Well since you don't want real advice may I recommend one factory each and then embassies... 41 embassies that'll show em.

Reply to Does the U.S Prison system need a new direction? in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Remember a large percentage of the people who are illiterate have high school diplomas.[/quote] Then it seems to me that your education system is failing these people. My personal believe is that there needs to be a radical shift in the way we deal with crime in North America. You are right that a very large percentage of crime is drug and or gang or poverty related. My solution is simple we need to start giving proper treatment and education in our prisons. We also nee

Reply to Honesty and Common Sense Sweeps the Galaxy in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

This just in: People in Canada suddenly realize that freedom of speech includes the freedom of people to say something you might not like. People in Canada also realize that there is nothing in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms giving them the right not to be offended. The Canadian Government drafts a document called "The Charter of Duties and Responsibilities" and incorporates it into the Constitution.

Reply to Will America always be a superpower? in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]This is 100% not true. Simply look to the excellent health care in nations like Canada, Cuba, Sweden, the UK, etc.. etc..[/quote] As a Canadian I can tell you that our health care system is not in fact excellent. We are taxed at a higher rate in Canada than most industrial nations and yet nearly 40 cents on every dollar in taxes goes to health care. Despite this huge expenditure it is routine to have to wait months for diagnostic testing, and years for routine surgeries. Oh sure

Reply to China, Tibet, and the Olympic Games in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]but i just want to point out tibet is the only country in the worldthat is occupied by a foreign countryHuh? Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, in some way (still) Germany...[/quote] I'm Canadian and our government is not involed in Iraq so I cannot comment on that however I do know that foreign troops are in Afghanistan at the request of the Afghan government so therefore Afghanistan is not occupied. Whether you agreed with the NATO invasion or not. Palestine does not currently exis

Reply to Are the rich just greedy pigs? in World Trade Issues Stardock Forums

Warren Buffet would not pay a lower rate if this so called "progressive" tax system was scrapped in favor of something that worked. No tax credits, no deductions, no shelters, no tax defferal, no tax brackets everyone just pays a flat rate on ALL income. Say 10% was choosen, then a person making 30k a year pays 3k taking home 27k. A CEO making 3 million a year, but recieving an additional 5-10 million in bonuses or stock options would pay 10% of everything. 800k to 1.3 million. I gaurant

Reply to Starting Tips/guide in Strategy Sins Forums

Thanks for the helpful pointers everyone. I now see why the AI just wiped my proverbial floor in my first game.

Reply to Are the rich just greedy pigs? in World Trade Issues Stardock Forums

I agree with Jakub. Many of those comments sound alot like something you read from Marx. While I agree it all sounds real good, the reality is that anyplace in the world where it has been attempted has completely tanked. Human nature is what it is those in power will always have more money, at least in the capitalist system everyone has a chance of meeting their basic needs and beyond.

Reply to Does noone use the Korath? in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

I have used them in a couple of games. Once you get spore bombs you're virtually unstopable, as long as you have a reasonable military.

Reply to Chris Taylor blames piracy for the decline of PC gaming in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Maybe it could have done better, but I suppose it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that only one out of every fifteen million computers can even run the damned thing.... idiots.

Reply to Petition for Single Player Campaigns! in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

I can't say I understand all of the resistance to a campaign or series of campaigns. From what I can gather the devs decided to forego a campaign in the original release in favor of balancing, and polishing. Most would agree that this was a good decision. For those of you who are worried that the inclusion of a campaign some time down the road would somehow take away from the devs having time to work on your own 'pet' issues you needn't worry. Knowing how Stardock works as a company

Reply to Mass Effect for the PC in Games Sins Forums

ive got it on xbox and well....... its way too short and one side of the galaxy is empty. its like the game was never finished. i was dissapointed and i bought an xbox just so i could play it Keep in mind that Mass Effect is intended to be the first game in a trilogy. I really enjoyed it... although I wasn't happy with the ending that played to. I'll just have to do it again.

Reply to Whats your fav game. in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

In no particular order including some console games. TIE Fighter Nomad X-com Shining Force, more 1 than 2 X2 the Threat GalCiv2 Warcraft2 Romance of the Three Kingdoms 7 and 10 oops how could I forget... Uncharted Waters for the original NES

Reply to Looking for a good fantasy strategy game in Strategy GalCiv2 Forums

You might want to try Age of Wonders Shadow Magic. There was a linear campaign but I believe there was a sandbox mode. It really played like old school Master of Magic from Micropose. ahhh Micropose how I miss you.

Reply to Humanity at its Worst in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

While I do not advocate the killing of the stupid I do have a thoery I call "The Evolution of Stupid." Basically thousands of years ago there were many more things that could kill a person and usually the stupid ones died first. Allowing the intelligent to breed and advance the species. However as our technology advanced humans no longer succumbed to as many causes. Eventually we started developing technology and laws that protect the stupid from themselves. Invariably one stupid finds another

Reply to Delete in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

As for the theory that melting ice caps will cause sea levels to rise, put an ice cube into a glass of water and watch it melt. Note that the glass does not become any more full. The ice cube displaces and equvalent amount of water as it's mass. Thus when it melts it's mass decreases and it displaces a correspondingly smaller amount of water. I believe rising sea levels would be caused by increased run off from mountains and glaciers.

Reply to Delete in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

We have this same debate in Canada, everyone here blames the western provinces... because we happen to produce most of the oil that's keeping the rest of this welfare state out of recession. Incidently we also don't vote for the socialists that everybody else up here does either. But the fact of the matter is nothing is going to happen about global warming because NOBODY wants to do anything about it themselves. Probably the best way to reduce CO2 emissions would be to get everyone on public tr

Reply to So, what am I doing wrong...Get smushed alot by the AI... in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

I find that I'm not the most efficient player but I'm usually able to either pick off a weaker race or take a large chunk out of a race that attacked me. The AI always has more ships and a higher military rating than me, but they tend to produce much more small and tiny hulls than I do. I also try to optimize my weapons and defenses to counter what they are throwing at me. Sometimes this means taking a step or 2 back on the tree but it really pays off. I also swear by miniaturization the more

Reply to Fun with Sins of a Solar Empire in Real-Time GalCiv2 Forums

I am also looking forward to this game, and have been for quite awhile. I can't wait to sink my teeth into the tactical combat.