pcpilot

PG, personally I wouldnt wait for the 64 bit stuff. Its still gonna be awhile before microsoft has a OS that fully utilizes 64 bit. And the same can be said for the software like games. Games will move quickly I think. Its kind of the cutting edge for advances in technology. But you can get into a good 32 bit system for reasonably cheap now, why wait? When more use is made of 64 bit technology and the price for the 64 bit CPU's, their needed RAM, and MoBo's moderates, then maybe go for it. I'd say another 2 years give or take. I dont worry too much personally about being at the cutting edge, I dont have the money. The question you asked above originally is the same thing Im thinking of doing. Im gonna go with a Intel chipset based MoBo, likely from MSI, with an 800mhz FSB, that'll take a 2.4ghz and up CPU. Ive seen them that will start with a slower cpu like 2.4 and take a high end one like 3.2. I like that. I can afford the 2.4's right now, they are cheap. When I can afford the 3.2, Ill get one. The intel chipset isnt the fastest, but its darn reliable and rock solid and can be over-clocked if your into that, which Im not. Throw in the new Sound Blaster Audigy2, a Radeon 9800 pro, a gig of RAM (in two sticks), and a fast Western Digital or Seagate UDMA (7200rpm w/8mb cache) hard drive, and you'll be gaming just as slick as any of these other "go fast" guys... ;) PS. Im not a big AMD guy personally, but I have put together several AMD machines for freinds. Everyone of them are as easy as any pentium based machine to do and are just as reliable. If you want to go that route, they are a bit cheaper, though not much, and are definately faster with the right RAM and MoBo.

Man, that guy is freaky. Gives me the willies just lookin at him. He doesnt look natural...'course, there isnt much natural about Hollywood either.

Since I am a sailor, one of the things that comes naturally to me is telling a story. (Which, by the way, may or may not be entirely accurate. But that is besides the point.) One of my old favorite games has been Fighting Steel which is a WW2 tactical surface gunnery simulator. The original was pretty good but fell a bit flat for several reasons. Well this group of guys at Naval Warfare Simulations has been quietly working on it, making it a whole lot more realistic and accurate with "patches" called the "Fighting Steel Project". They are currently at 9.2! In the process, they have added quite few new 3D ship models to the game. Well, you may have caught my announcement in the Biohaz news about their recent release of an Addon to the game called thunder at Sea. I ordered the addon and have been playing it since. Its taken the game from strictly tactical to operational and even strategic levels encompassing naval operations throughout the world. I am really impressed by it and think you might like to take a look at it too. A good place to start would be my After Action Report of the first scenario called "Rhienebung" which is the scenario depicting the Bismarks' attempted breakout and subsequent destruction by the British navy. There are links there to the NWS and Fighting Steel Project websites. There is also a TAS demo out that requires Fighting Steel. The AAR can be found HERE! or you can find it on my webpage link located below. The link will be on the left of the page called TAS AAR. Please let me know what you think of the AAR. I almost sound like a salesman, but Im actually looking for possible opponents or others interested in the genre.

Hi Nick, I remember you from the SimHQ forums. I see you still having some fun with the cartoons. Good one pal, hehe. Take care.

News can be found HERE! I suggest using Fileplanet for your download instead of the EA servers as they are slooooowwwww. :D :D :D

LOL! I love it...almost makes me want to reenlist just to razz some airdales...notice I said "almost?" ;) :P :D Of course us blackshoes like to lump all aviation, Navy, air farce, etc., into one catagory...its easy...they all fly "united"... B) former BM2...just thought I'd mix the pot a little, hehe. :P

Yes, let us know Todd. Im always interested in hearing the old vets stories. My dad was a tank commander in Europe during the war but I know little else. My uncle was in Italy in the infantry and told me some hair-raising stories. We think we have it hard sometimes...I always appreciated that generations' grit and tenacity to see a job thru.

Ok, Aliens, both of them, were cool. Espesially the little dude that pops out of your chest, hehe. Who ever thought up that one...LOL! If you like pee yur pants scary movies, "Children shouldnt play with dead things" did it for me. Came out back in 1970-71-ish. Rent it and watch it next halloween... Comedies, The Jerk was outstanding..."Im somebody now! Im somebody now!" or "Momma, Ive finally found out what my special purpose is." And how about Kelsy Grammer in Down Periscope..."That boys' absorbed a LOT of voltage..." MJ, did you ever watch History of the world? That was a hoot... :D

The Thunder at Sea addon has been released for sale at the Naval Warfare Fighting Steel webpage. It runs $18 and the disk includes the just released Fighting Steel Project version 9.2. I am currently running ver.9.2 and Im really impressed. Nothing like watching your ship sail thru mountains of Ocean thrown up by the 15inch naval guns of your opponent. Or the satisfaction of finally getting a torpedo hit on a wriggling adversary, hehe. Version 9.2 of FSP includes not only the British, German, US, and Japanese navies, but now also includes some Italian, Netherlands, and French ships. Im not sure but think Russian will be added too soon. If you dont have the game Fighting Steel, it can be had for $10 from The Naval Warfare Store. If you are a squid or former squid, I cant beleive you aint already got this game... :P ;) :D PS. Im trying to get opponents here...hehe.

Tie between The original Blues Brothers, (loved the music espesially), and Toy Story 2. Other favorites are... Raiders of the Lost Ark Saving Private Ryan City Slickers The Cowboy Way..."How would you like your steak sir?" "Well why dont you just lop his horns off, wipe his ass, and chunk him down on the plate right here..."

Ill never forget reporting to MCRD on the bus after dark in the rain on the day of my 18th birthday. Do you know that not one of those sargents said "Happy Birthday Jeff"... Happy Birthday Marine Corps... A HOO... and a RAH!

Hey wait...I dont get it, whats so funny? I lost my 710 too. By the way, Im not blonde, Im bald...

Ordered my Biohaz stein today. No more of this "bottle on the wall" garbage, my stein will have the place of honor...right next to my keyboard... Thanks MJ... ;)

I hear ya fellas...I was in the Navy during the Reagan years, (77-84) and I loved the guy. Now that was a real Navy, 600+ ships with an attitude manned by men, none of this flower power coed crap. Id say that was a real good reason we won the cold war, no thanks to clinton and her filandering husband. grrrrrrrrr... <_<

Wish I could recreate in writing the sound I made when i read snap's post, hehe. The slurred writing was amusing... Be careful my young freind, many an alcoholic got their start in college, that was the easy part, the hard parts stopping... Now after saying that, Im going to go make a new post about the Biohaz stein I just bought...

You did this??!!?? Very nice Todd, man, it LOOKS authentic! I thought youd picked it up somewhere. So what paint program do you use for your skins?

We dont have a seperate thread for Fighting Steel which I think is a pretty good surface combat sim that the boys at NWS have made a LOT better. I was wondering, since there isnt a lot of activity with Fleet Command, maybe we could use this thread for both Fleet Command and Fighting Steel. Just a thought.. Second, I have been trying out NWS's demo for Thunder at Sea. Its an addon program for fighting Steel that allows you to control your fleet thruoghout the world. Kinda like great Naval Battles of the North Atlantic. Except it isnt just the North Atlantic, its world wide. When contact is made, TAS opens fighting Steel and the engagement is fought. The demo looks very polished as far as I can tell and while it only worked for the first 5 minutes, gave me an interesting look at it. TAS is supposed to be out very soon. I will be getting it. I think it runs for $18. They are also throwing on the 9.0 update for Fighting Steel on it. More info on it can be found HERE. Also, the forums can be found HERE! Cripes, I sound like an advertisment...Just thought you guys might like to know if you still play Fighting Steel. The 9.0 FS project really spruced up the game. Ive been playing it again to my great satisfaction. The ships sink more realisticlly, torps leave a little wake now, the gunnery has been tweaked a lot to improve it to realistic levels. Tons of ships have been added though their models arent quite as detailed because of the code in the game. Its the way the game shoulda been on release.

Nice skin...not you, the plane... :P Is that an authentic skin? Looks sharp. Where can I get it? After getting my bisquits shot off online by a guy flyin the KI, I decided to practice with my Mustang offline. I found that my 'stang was faster, could out-dive him, and seemed to have a slightly better climb but it could not outturn the Jap plane. That was the mistake I made online, trying to turn fight with a boom and zoomer. The vertical was were I seemed to hold the advantage. I used yo-yos a lot to get into position trying not to lose my energy but often going wide of him unintentionally. Several times went head to head, very risky, he got me once and damaged me another time. However, if I fired first, he usually zoomed up or down to avoid the fire. Once I lined up on him with my 6 .50's, he, shall we say, came unglued...hehehe. Ill be ready next time online.

Couldnt beleive they closed Naval Training Center San Diego. Went there for boot. Took a drive thru the place. My old barracks was still there but not much else. Heck, North Island NAS has changed a bit too, that was strange feeling also. Heard Charleston and Mare Isalnd got closed too! That was a surprise because they were such major bases. Lord, we're getting old...when your ships and bases are getting decommed...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

We are scum I tell you...SCUM!

Snap, here is an article at Toms Hardware Guide that may offer you some more info. Toms Hardware ATI 9000 PRO, ATI 9600, NVIDIA GeForce FX-5200, NVIDIA GeForce FX-5600 are all good low to mid-range price cards. As for more RAM, what operating system are you running. WinMe wont run more than 512 mb RAM. If you are using WinXP, then you can add more. It usually helps to speed things up a bit though it may not always be noticable to you. If you are using PC-800 RAM, you probably have a higher end system that will do well with the added RAM. I would try another 512 MB stick. Software wise, make sure when you get your video card to follow its install directions very carefully. Likely there will be a new driver online for it when you get the card so download the driver first and have it ready. Then its usually a good idea to remove your old drivers for your old video card first before installing the new card. Once the old drivers and card are out and the new card is in, then install the new drivers. Make sure the drivers are compatable with the version of DirectX you are running. If you are going to install hardware like RAM and a video card, be aware that they are very supceptable to static electricity. The 50 volts in a "carpet shock" is enough to toast a circuit on a card. Use a grounding wrist strap that you can buy at the computer store for a couple dollars. Before you work on your machine make sure it is unplugged. Then touch the power supply box to discharge any static you may likely have. It is not very difficult to add these hardware items, though sometimes getting them to work isnt always so easy. Make darn sure the stick of RAM you buy is the same as the stick you have. I know CompUSA will test the old stick at their store for you and make sure what you buy is compatable, so take the old one with you in a static bag. Ive had some big headaches there before I discovered what the problem was. I like putting them together. Kinda like my model building days when I was a kid, only more voltage, hehe. If you need anymore help, PM or email me. Good luck.

DOOOOOH! And me with my satellite down...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I had to go get my cruise book and see which squadron was on my old ship the Independance in 1979. It was VS-28 "the World Famous HUKKERS" VS-28 Not on your show probably but cool to look at again anyway for me, hehe.

Uhm, I think Id give Dutchy the benefit of the doubt. What he said was about Israel not US. Dutchy has said many supportive things about the US in the past. Id also say that even if his opinion changed of us, that is his right. Ill listen to opinions even if I dont agree with them. And stating that there was a poll in Europe without adding any further personal opinions is just a statement of fact, not an attack. The poll he mentions actually occured and came out the way he said. I dont agree with that poll but if that is what most europeans feel than thats their opinion. Personally I think Israel has a right to defend itself, though sometimes it seems they are overly aggresive. But if we were there instaed of Israelm, how would we behave? Probably the same. My opinion...