Coelocanth

[quote]So in other words... you can't answer this.Go figure. Typical cop-out.[/quote] Exactly the type of thing I figured you'd come out with. Why would I waste my time and energy? You've obviously made up your mind about evolution, despite the amount of evidence supporting it and despite the fact that there is no other viable explanation that is supported by evidence. No matter what explanation/argument I bring up about the origins of life, it will be a wasted exercise to go on for pos

[quote]So... how DID life begin?Give it your best shot.[/quote] Do some reading on your own. I'm not going to get into it on an internet thread with you because I'm quite certain I know exactly how you're going to react.

Typical of many supporters of ID, you're confusing the scientific use of the word 'theory' with everyday use (or conveniently ignoring the scientific community's definition of the word 'theory'). Theory, as defined by the National Academy of Sciences: Some scientific explanations are so well established that no new evidence is likely to alter them. The explanation becomes a scientific theory. [i]In everyday language a theory means a hunch or speculation[/i]. [b]Not so in science.[/b] I

This is my first RTS type of game, so the learning curve was steep for me as well. I've found it really a lot of fun and I haven't even tried multiplayer. It's the first game in a long time that's had me up way too late (I've been up until 1 or 2 AM playing: my wife thinks I'm crazy, a 43 year old suffering sleep deprivation over a computer game!) Start on smaller maps and just jump in, and don't expect to win right away. It's a great way to learn. Anyway, hope you enjoy the ga

NE gives good advice. As well, cruise through some threads on these boards. You'll glean a lot of very useful information that way too. As to the pirates (and any other factions), your best bet is to build a couple scout ships and send them out on auto-explore. Eventually you'll find the pirate base (as well as your opponents and some worlds you can colonize). Each world your scout visits will be named and revealed as to what's there and what type of planet it is. Best idea is to be sur

Update: so far no AI fleets have come through the wormholes, although I have seen a lot of scouts come through. A note: on my map they [i]do[/i] connect to other star systems. I've successfully wiped out all hostiles in my star system (including the pirate base), so now it's time to see how it goes when I jump to the others. There are only 3 AI opponents left now, so it should be interesting to see what they have in store for me. Time to fire up the scout ships again!

Shylock I don't recall (unless you're talking Shakespeare's A Merchant of Venice), but Seldon's from the Foundation series. *edit* Wait, was that the Mule's name (Shylock)?

[quote]I'll throw in a pair from my desk.1. The INSS Lenin 2. The Federation of the Polities[/quote] 1) Ah, good one. From The Mote in God's Eye (or one of that series) by Niven and Pournelle. 2) You got me there, although I feel I should know it. Theleif: I know where that's from, although I've not read the series yet. So I'll leave it for someone else. Okay, another one: Robinette Broadhead.

I'm playing a 5 star map vs 9 AI opponents right now (diplomacy is off). It looks like it's going to be pretty tough going as the game progresses, but we'll see how it works out. So far, I've wiped out 3 factions and have 2 more to deal within my star system. 4 stars to go...

Are you saying you added a new hard drive and it's showing 0 free space? If so, has the drive been formatted?

Yeah, start on a small map and cruise these boards for info/advice. I'm new to the whole strategy genre in general, so that's what I've been doing. So far, so good. Enjoy!

Thanks for the replies. I'll keep playing and see how it goes (how can you [i]not[/i] keep playing this game? Damn you SD/IC!), but if they don't attack through the wormholes it's going to be a whole lot easier. Bobucles: I'm not using Diplomacy in this particular game (as I said, I'm a noob, so I decided to forgo that option for this round).

I'm playing a game vs 9 AI opponents (Normal difficulty, FFA, pirates active). It's a 5 star map with around 100 planets. So far, things are going okay, as I've managed tot ake out 3 of the 5 other empires in my local star system and am pretty much ready to take out the last of the resistance. However, it turns out there are 4 wormholes in my system and I've noticed other empires are starting to send scouts through them. So thins got me wondering what to do about that. Without them, it would be

Banks is awesome. I highly recommend him. Just thought of a few more: Cirocco Jones Aiken Drum Signy Mallory Ana Ismehanan-min

I recognize a number of these, but can't dredge up where they're from. I know I can use Google to cheat it, but I'll play fair: Rakoth Maugrim: Fionavar Tapestry (Guy Gavriel Kay) Severian: Book of the New Sun (Gene Wolfe) Pelbar etc.: The Pelbar Cycle? (Paul O. Willaims) Marid Audran: When Gravity Fails? (Effinger?) Valley Forge and Rodger Young: Starship Troopers (Heinlein) space habitat Goddard: One of the Culture novels by Iain M. Banks? Or is it a Ben Bova creat

Just a note: digital broadcasting will not require the customer to have HDTVs.

[quote]Anyone know how to contact tech support?[/quote] Reply #7: [email protected]. If you have a minidump, send it along.

That sucks. I hate that key tied to your hardware model. Although if re-activation isn't a big hassle, it's not that big a deal I guess (although it makes you wonder if you could just load the game on another machine and activate it on that one as well, and if so what's the use of the copy protection... I suppose you need two unique keys for multiplay though). Yeah, that's a steep price for a program for personal use (I find too damned many commercial software products are way overprice

I would imagine it would be more than offset by the savings of not paying for DRM licensing - and possible increased sales. Bah! Stop making sense. You'll be making a pirate out of me soon. Yarr! :) Silveressa: if that activation number is tied to your PC (I assume in a similar fashion M$'s activation key), then would that mean you couldn't install it on a new rig, or would that just involve a new activation?

[quote]Right, so your entire idealistic solution is for everybody to just get along essentially... thats not gonna happen, sadly. It would be nice, but has no hope.[/quote] Yeah, I know. But a guy can dream, right? ;) [quote] The thing about returning the game opened, the analogy does pan. All they need is 1 cd key to prevent anyone from getting updates etc. If the game is returned, retailer X gives product code A and cd key A to company y and company y provides retailer X wi

I know exactly where I stand. I don't know why it's so hard for you to understand it: I don't like piracy and I don't like DRM. Publishers figure they have to use DRM to combat piracy. If piracy didn't exist, no DRM. Not that hard to figure is it? As for your point about being able to return games: yeah, I agree. Ideally, you should be able to return it if it doesn't work or if there's something wrong with it. Bit of a dilemma for the store/publisher though. Are they supposed to accept

Did I say I support anti-piracy measures? No. All I'm saying is pirating games is wrong and people shouldn't delude themselves that they have a right to games if they don't buy them, or that pirating isn't stealing/wrong/choose your epithet. That's all. You're seeing/inferring things that I've never said.

Just a note Ironhandx: you can DL the System Reference Document for D&D right from the WotC website, so no pirating involved in that. ;) As for guilt by association: I don't agree. I'm not advocating DRM. Not at all. But pirating is the root cause of DRM in the first place. Like it or not, game companies are forced to use DRM because publishers have the impression that 90% of people playing their games are pirates. Whether that's true or not (and I doubt it is), that's what they think

Bloody impressive.

[quote]I figure that this more "price equalized" example may shut up some of the idiots spouting "you can't compare a video game to a car!!! omgwtf!!!". If thats still not enough for you, track down a legitimate copy of titan quest, and a pioneer dvd drive, try getting it to work. Now go have fun with that while you find your only recourse is to crack the game and remove the DRM, which is going to be rather difficult, since you have to find a crack that will also disable the crash DRM, which is