JediMaster

Well, as of today the DoD has blocked my access to SimHQ from work. Who knows how long until this place might join it. They block more sites than they allow, and it can make it a major PITA to do my job when I'm researching problems and such. This is just icing on the cake.

They have this 2-fold justification of it beyond the obvious security one, which is silly because sites that have never known to have issues can't be "assumed" to be liable to have them. Why not block EVERY site then? One, which is total BS, is they worry about the use of bandwidth. They don't seem to be able to grasp the idea of "demand-based" control and that the network guys can instantly switch things over to give priority to the important stuff. No, they think it has to sit idle or it won't be there when they need it. Two, which can be understood, is the whole "people wasting time on the net" thing. What bugs me is I am perfectly capable of multitasking, going to sites like this in 5 mins of dead time and then doing other stuff. I can do about half of my job from my desk remoting in to other machines and making calls, so while I'm waiting for a PC to reboot or some other process to complete I go and surf. Of course, they have this "all or nothing" idea, so...

I like that pic of the one ship inside the other...

I've posted here previously about that. I know a guy here who worked on that engine. It was for the "Aurora", a code-name for a plane to replace the Blackbird. It was mounted on the back of a Blackbird, where the D-21 drones were launched from, for testing. That's what he was involved with and what created those contrails. If an actual flying prototype was made, he didn't say, but you can bet it wouldn't have flown in daylight. He also confirmed the program was cancelled "pretty much" because of the high cost and end of the Cold War combined with the effectiveness of satellites, U-2s, and the coming introduction of UAVs like Darkstar and Global Hawk. So basically what the pics were of in AW&ST that everyone saw were advanced engine tests on a 20+ yr old airplane.

I can't believe the planes will have been gone for a year by the time the movie is out...

Remember the time 2 F-14As famously shot down 2 A6Ms with guns and an AIM-9 with no trouble in 1941? The A6M can outturn the F-14A all day long...

PLZ MAKE SU-34 AND SU-47 WITH FRWARD SWEEP WINGS NOW KTHXBYE

TK must recode MP to do that, and he's stated he's not focusing his energies in that area.

Terminator 2? Nuff said! As for Transformers, it was budget that kept the robot fight scenes to a minimum. He shot that film for $150m and by all rights it should have cost at least 50% more than that. However, it was an unknown...would it draw crowds? The studios would not bank on betting more than that. Bay has said the sequel will get a larger budget thanks to the first's success and that there will be more robot time on screen.

TM isn't the same company it was when Buzz Hoffman and Bob Church started it over 15 years ago. They sold it and retired from the business and it all went downhill. Buzz of course died over 10 years ago now...

"We're a regular sim...that you pay for like it's an MMO! It's WoW for racers!!" NOT.

FC2 is not being done by the guys that did FC1 and Crysis. Ubi owns the rights to the name, so they're making FC2 with a different internal team. The odd thing is you're not playing the same character and it basically has NOTHING to do with FC1 at all. They might as well have called it "African Safari". Anyway, FC did have funky mutants to fight, it was basically a SF B-movie turned into a game. However, for the day it looked incredible and awesome wide open islands that let you do things in a most non-linear fashion. You had certain objectives that HAD to be done, but you could easily sneak around and avoid more than half the guys if you tried. Really the only thing i didn't like was the final level or two which were a bit over-the-top difficult and silly.

I paid $20 when I bought it, but yes, that's Il-2 46's current price and it is the latest version. It's only 4.06 out of the box and 4.08 is the latest (released) patch, but it has everything from FB since, including Aces Exp, Pac Fighters, 1946, Sturmoviks over Manchuria, and Pe-2/3 addons.

That's just the way the CA DL section refers to .rar files, as "x-rar". It's not a separate type.

Which was exactly my point, the C-130s were bought because they needed a plane in that class. You don't buy a C-17 to do a C-130 job when you could buy the same number for less or more for the same price. Being a newer design I'm sure the C-17 would be nicer than the Il-76, but they don't need them.

That F-117 (one, not plural) shouldn't have been there, simple as that. It was a tactical mistake and they paid for it by losing the plane. They got overconfident. The difference is the F-22 has a comprehensive EW suite the F-117 does not. Other than its shape and material coating, the F-117 is a 1970's warplane. It's basically a radar-less Hornet as far the avionics goes. It has no jammer and whether it even has an RWR or not is classified! It has no visible antennas for them. The F-117 must totally rely on pre-flight intelligence to tell it where it should or shouldn't go. The F-22 will know everything that is known plus be able to learn far more than that on its own and even change its plans based on what is discovered on ingress. Just like the B-2 isn't the "stealth bomber", it's the "advanced technology bomber", there are things the F-22 is capable of we aren't allowed to know. The F-117 was first-generation and the shoot down only proved that simple shapes and materials were going to be enough in the 21st century. Don't think the loss of one plane means stealth is some sort of phantom that doesn't really matter. As for MANPADs, the F-22 should never be in range of them unless it's taking off or landing.

I must resign myself to the permanent loss I think. I have little to no time at home/on weekends to go online, so it looks like I'll be posting no more than a couple of posts a day there now. It's good this place was taken off the blocked list! That hacking way back when got it banned as a "phishing website".

I have intimate knowledge of 5a.

There were several of those console-shoot-em-up starfighter SW games made. Rebel Assault was first, followed by the Rogue Squadron and other series. They were ok, but I never really liked them. The best overall was Shadows of the Empire. Sometimes you did starfighter combat, but other times it was an FPS.

Yeah, that's the other thing I see in movies like this and Mission Impossible that irritates me. You know how hard it is for a foreign national to get a Secret clearance? It's nigh-on impossible. For a TS or TS-SCx clearance??? Completely impossible.

Nope, that's blocked too!

Maybe you didn't hear her normal voice in the English release, but her accent was annoyingly thick. She didn't say "life" but something more like "loife" for instance. Plus, I didn't buy the "super smart super hot girl with nose piercing" idea. It's trying so hard to be anti-stereotype that it IS a stereotype, albeit one you only see in the movies!

I buy all the hardcover books, so I never see what the paperbacks have.

Yup. Il-2:46 was the end of the line. There have been a couple of post-release patches and now 1.09, which is out in beta, is the final patch.

Never heard of Mirror's Edge.