Titus Ultor
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Posts posted by Titus Ultor
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Yup. I'm sticking with Rome: Total Realism for now.
Are they adding any notable gameplay features?
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That's how I feel, as well. It's also a lot of programming time and effort to put into a feature that only people with top-of-the-line computer can see. If it could be done easily and subtly, it'd be a great feature. But at the moment, I don't see it being cost-efficient.
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I personally have seen quite a few lives slown and stagnating to nothing by marijuana, even if not killed or burnt-out by it. Do I think it should be legal? I'm not sure. I really trust neither the old vanguard or the stoned on this one. I'd illegalize alcohol and tobacco if I could, as well, so I guess my position wouldn't change because one drug with a lesser history of study and usage purports itself as safer.
I know several people who progressed from marijuana to other drugs not because these drugs were "pushed" to them, but because, eventually, marijuana no longer gave them the same high. While some study's suggest that marijunana is not physically addictive, it is important to point out that cocaine is not inherently "addictive" in a physical sense. In fact, it was not even classified as addictive by most textbooks until after the 1980s. It is intensely psychological addictive, something much more dangerous. While marijuana isn't quite as addictive or harmful, an unhealthy need for anything, be it doritos or marijuana (or both, if the latter is used
), creates a need for more or a different thing that satisfies the need more.I have never used drugs, smoked tobacco, or taken a drink of alcohol. I don't suppose I ever will. I have an "addictive personality", as do many in my family's history. People like myself, great in number, will always be adversely affected by anything of the sort. Some people can quit tobacco and alcohol without a second thought despite the physical addiction, by their dispensation (as one of my grandfathers did after he found out he had cancer), and others simply cannot even quit marijuana despite the lack of a physically addictive ingredient.
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It's definately planned that the AI will be much more intelligent in that regard that the AoE AI. The computer should build up a varied army (depending on what units you primarily are using), complete with siege engines, when they're going to attack your town. They should also be able to raid with cavalry, defend effectively (most AIs just counter your offensive attacks with their own offensively-geared army) and expand to new areas wisely.
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Gorgeous! I just got a book on Greece with a picture (a fresco, I think) with a picture of an immortal on it. It actually looks similiar to this. Excellent picture. I love it.
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I wouldn't put it past Nintendo to name it as this. They've been moving into an ultra-playful, family-friendly, colorfully-weird mode for years now. Remember Pikmin? What about the weird game where you roll over stuff to make a huge ball?
It could be a stunt. But it's still possible that it's not.
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This may not be directly related to the topic, but I have one major belief about genocide: it is within all of us. Nearly every culture has attempted genocide at one time or another, and the ones who haven't are either too new or too weak to have attempted something.
We're all capable of genocide. The instinctual primality of humans to do this act is triggered by several things: desperation, greed, groupthink, and ignorance.
When a group of people is desperate, something changes within them. Reason leaves, and they begin to think, act, and live as a single group. This is how fascism rose in the first place, during the Great Depression. People think of "us" and "them" out of the need for security and the intimacy they can only feel with those who have survived with them.
Greed is less often the cause of genocide, but it is still noteable. In African tribes, a war is often concluded with the simple elimination of the losers from the planet. The reason for this is multi-faceted, but for the purpose of this point, note that nearly all wars are ultimately are conflict of economics. Genocide, in economic terms, is the ultimate victory over an enemy. You seize their resources and means/modes of production without having to spread them over a greater number of people. While there may be a problem with initial waste due to lack of labor, ultimately the culture simply absorbs the other's old economy.
I could've simply listed religion, nationality, race, and all those other factors which create genocide, but I think the thought behind George Orwell's groupthink brings out the essense of all of those. "Us" and "them". Economic circumstances no longer matter. Social status is gone. Your past is ignored. All that matters is your current association with your group. In "To Kill a Mockingbird", a black man is pronounced guilty simply because the white jury would rather believe any black man guilty than even the seediest and poorest of whites. When people think as a group, they act as egocentrically as they do individually. When that's compounded with the natural irrationality of the mob, genocide can happen.
Ignorance is obvious, and has already been covered. When combined with any of the other three, it increases the likelihood of genocide many times over. Reason is the fabric which holds a multicultural, multiethnic society together. Without it, ignorance and violence rule.
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Barry White - Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe
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Celtic culture, divided into tribes as it was, never gained the affluence to actually armor its warbands. To be fair, though, the Celts had a much better understanding as a society regarding iron-working, so when you do see fine weapons and armor from the Celts, it is best to be afraid.
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Whether or not and to what extent morale will be implemented in the initial game is still up for question, but it looks like it's being put on hold for now.
On commanders: we will have "hero" units, as well as formations. Both of these will allow a degree of the ideas listed here. Heroes will affect statistics of units around them, and formations will give a basic stance for the units therein.
However, while the idea of autonomous "commanders" may sound cool, it is my -personal- opinion that we'll never be able to make them smart enough for an average player to trust his/her units with. When one of our auxiliary armies is crushed, we'll yell at the computer for some boneheaded move or decision. And players always find ways to exploit the AI's tactics, which is why multiplayer is so much fun. Giving an AI to your units takes out half the fun of it.
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On the matter of Peter.. I have a few points, some of which go against what you were saying and some of which agree.
Peter was to hold "the key to the kingdom of heaven". Thus the image of Peter at the gates of heaven, welcoming those who were worthy into the pearly gates and so on and so forth. He was also to be the "cornerstone" of Jesus' kingdom.
But John, brother of James, was the "disciple whom He loved". He was there at the crucifixtion with Mary, and appears to have been even closer to Jesus than Peter, especially given Peter's sketchy history with faith and long-suffering (walking on water and the denial of Christ, to name a couple). He remains alive the longest out of all of the apostles, and is receives the Revelation while in exile on Patmos.
Paul, after the acts of, well, the book of Acts, appears to have assumed general control of early Christian belief. I do not see any evidence for one actual bishop controlling a great deal of churches until the second century, The closest to such a set-up was given by Paul himself, who stated that elders should be appointed in every church, as well as deacons.
Peter, being either killed through persecution (my historical instincts tell me that he was not killed in such a dramatic fashion as being hung upside down) or still simply spreading Jesus of Nazarene's teachings, becomes a much less influential figure in the various churches. Paul controls, essentially, the dogma of the various churches with his letters, which were eventually copied many times over.
My point is this: Catholic dogma on the early Church is not specifically refuted by any historical evidence. However, there is very little evidence available before 160 C.E. which proves the dogma. Which, in my opinion, is why the various Christian faiths can all claim something contradictory to one another without actually going against history.
This is part of why many historians and sociologists label early Christianity as a "mystery cult".
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Caesar.. What contemporary evidence do you have that Peter was actually a "pope" and that the church was actually more or less unified like you said? All the evidence I've heard points towards a papacy and other Catholic dogma developing late in the Second Century A.D.. I'm not particularly sure either way, so I was just wondering if that was supportable by actual evidence. The Catholics have had a rocky history with their dogma, unfortunately.
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My poor little 1.9 ghz, 256MB RAM comp will probably explode. And my GeForce 4 probably wouldn't take it. I did enjoy Morrowind, though.
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How dare you insult our historical prowess? We have it on good evidence that the Celts did have high-level genetic engineering.
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Meaning alpha. I imagine there'll be a lot more to show and tell to the community once we get it up and running.
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Hn. It would've been nifty had Bob Jones gone with the all-male idea. Too bad, though I never really understood any of the reasoning of practically any part of the school. I can agree with the building of structures with four walls, though.
And the movie based on Twelfth Night is "a movie I would've liked as a twelve-year old girl", to quote a review which sums up everything I've read about it so far. It features Amanda Bynes of 'All That' and 'What I Like About You'. Supposed to be good for a tween girl movie, and the references to Shakespeare are blatant enough for twelve year olds to pick up on. Her character's name is Viola, after all.
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Lol. If you're spending seventeen thousand dollars on a gun with no practical purpose other than showing off and messing around with it, I daresay you are a moron playing with a gun.
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Just a note, not particularly politically or socially motivated (mostly just curious): are women allowed to perform? I think it'd be interesting to see them more as they were performed in Shakespeare's time, and it wouldn't surprise me if Bob Jones would.
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Hate to point it out, but the history of the Catholic Church is filled with 'relics' consisting of the bones of dead saints and apostles, with pretty much none of them identifiable in any concrete sense.
Secondly, all secular references made to Jesus were made at least seven or eight decades (several generations in Roman times) after his death. Even the Apostle John, reputed to have lived to 80 A.D., would not have been around at this time; and he was exiled and seperate from other Christians, save for his letter, Revelation. All that would've remained is second or third generation Christians, none of whom had any sort of serious, real teaching by an Apostle, or anyone possessed with the Holy Spirit. While it's difficult to make conclusions on a lack of evidence (for some obvious reasons), it is odd that no one wrote about him before that.
And Pontius Pilate wasn't a particularly ruthless dictator. The Jews were rebellious and unruly as a whole, and his primary job was to keep them from exploding into all-out rebellion. If you wish to call him a harsh dictator, perhaps one should compare his actions in Judea to the actions of the U.S. forces in Iraq. It isn't really evil, but it's still harsh, brutal, and violent. It's called occupation , and no one likes to occupied (even Bush has said "I wouldn't like to be occupied" in reference to the Iraqi insurgency). The Jewish leaders demanded something in the form of an angry mob, and Pilate was more or less forced to give it to him. And to suggest that the Bible was written politically to avoid angering the Romans hurts your own argument, as it opens up a plethora of questions about the authenticity of the Gospels and the agenda of those who wrote it.
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Even if a lot of Halo 2 copies don't sell, consider this: for each Halo game that does sell (with Vista), suppose that the cost is about 450 dollars, including both. That means that about 9 fifty dollar copies of Halo 2 would have to be sold to equal that money.
Here's a trustworthy saying: if Microsoft can do anything right, it's make money.
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A lot of people here are bordering on the "No true Scotsman" logical fallacy. It's a really simple concept. "No real Christian would do..", "no true muslim would do.." so anyone who claims to be of the same sect as someone commiting an offense can write them off.
In all religions, movements and political parties, one must look at the whole picture of believers, be they zealots or "Christmas-and-Easter" types. It's a good way to guage the simple essence of the religion in a certain time context.
Christianity has slowly tamed down, but then again, it also has great influence in many of the most powerful nations of the world, in some of the most stable regions. It tends to become a bit messier in more impoverished and desperate areas. Islam seems to have a similiar digression from peace to violence. Very few Muslims in affluent situations end up fanatical. Impoverished Muslims, with little else in life but religion, tend more towards extremism.
It's all a socio-economic game. The precepts of a religion have less to do with actual writing than the status of its believers.
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I'll work it in somehow just for you, Caesar.
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Ahem. I realize this is going back a few posts, but several people were saying things about how Christians didn't respond violently, like the Muslims, to affront to their religion.
And yet, homosexuals are lynched in a surprisingly large scale in the South. There aren't quite so many examples of direct violence from fundamentalist Christians, because of one basic fact: they control pretty much the strongest military force on the planet. The right-wing Christians control the House, Senate, Presidency, and are slowly gaining control of the Supreme Court.
Muslims, on the other hand, are lucky to have standing buildings and a rusted AK-47.
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I say we should call it a "Jason-ocracy".
WMD PC Case
in Computer Desk
Posted
Wow. This guy might have too much spare time.