and development is over.

The developer is actually working on an update to the PC game.

-Hrnac

Thanks for the heads up with the codes. I was finally able to pick up the Civ 5 expansion for $8.16! 

I've put some extensive time into the demo and I entirely disagree with Hrothgar - this game is weak.  I love TBS strategy games, but not this one.  

The game looks and feels like a Civ V mod and that's not necessarily bad, but this feels like a dumbed-down amateur mod.  Instead of having a tech tree, you have a pretty paltry set of spells to research.  I could deal with that, but the spell animations are pretty weak and sometimes it's tough to even figure out if the spell did anything.  Otherwise, it's like HOMM - build structures to build certain types of units.  Again, that's not necessarily bad, but there's very little real strategy involved in picking which building to build next.  The diplomacy options are pathetic - there's nothing more than bribing characters to not attack you now.  So diplomacy may as well not exist.  As far as strategy goes, I don't think there's all that much there.  Yeah, choosing buildings to build (very limited by population caps) is pretty decent, but there doesn't seem to be any penalties for city spam or unit spam.  Spam more cities = more gold = more units = win.  It's that simple.  As such, there's very little strategy involved.

Simply put, it's a Civ 5 mod that's poorly thought through.  The AI and strategy portions are weak and so the game is boiled down to a city-spam, unit-spam game.  There's apparently no depth here.

Also, here's a Eurogamer preview that pretty much says the same thing:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-04-09-warlock-master-of-the-arcane-preview-reviving-microproses-magic

You must be playing a different game than I am. I see a game with great potential and don't really see the issues that you are pointing out. I am very happy to have a MoM inspired game set in the Majesty universe with a CiV 5 inspired UI. What 4x game isn't a race to build cities and spam units? This isn't intended to be a deep empire building game. It is a faster paced game more like the Age of Wonders series and Master of Magic. I will agree that a tech tree would have been nice, but MoM and AoW did not have them and they were also great games.

-Hrnac

Nice write up Hrothgar. I just downloaded the Steam demo and will fire it up and see how the game looks first hand. I am very interested in this game, especially at $19.99.

-Hrnac

PM sent.

-Hrnac

Sounds good, let me know what you find out.

-Hrnac

I'm interested if they are still available.

-Hrnac

I also recently purchased a Motorola Triumph. It is a great phone for $25 per month.

Rodgers and the Packers are belt.  The football gods taunted us with the most injuries in the regular season.  We spit in their face.  They retaliated by taking away our #1 and #3 cornerbacks and #2 receiver.  We shrugged it off our backs and wrested the championship from them.  SUPER BOWL CHAMPS BABY!!!!!!!

I'll second that! The Packers are champions once again!!!!! I am so happy for Driver, Woodson and Rogers.

-Hrnac

That is one impressive beacon tower msduncan. 

-Hrnac

Snow worlds are very cool. You have a random chance each time you generate a new world of getting a snow world. I think the snow is the first biome that Notch has added to the game except that we get it for a full world at the moment. Down the road worlds will have different regions with different weather conditions.

-Hrnac

Great news, I'll probably just buy the GOG version the next time I want to play it again. I'm not thrilled that it's being sold for $10, but I guess the days of $5 games at GOG are numbered. The great news is that because everthing will be installed to the HD, people won't have to go through the hastle of the map folder relocation procedure/workaround.

This is very tempting. Very tempting indeed, even at $9.99, but I must try to resist since Elemental and Civ 5 are looming.

-Hrnac

Civ Anon returns^*




_{* thanks to PR_GMR for pointing this out.}

That was awesome!

-Hrnac

Bummer. Fantasy General would be a must buy for me.

-Hrnac

I also would recommend Avast.

-Hrnac

Why not start by placing term limits on all politicians. Say 2 or 3 terms max.

We have term limits. They're called "elections".

Obama has staked his presidency on this. If the Dems don't deliver a victory here -- by hook or by crook -- they are creating another failed administration.

It's a nail-biter, but I think they're going to pull it off.

I thought he staked his presidency on changing the way business is done in Washington. 

Maybe he staked his campaign on that, I don't know. Governing is all about getting results.

If the Democrats ram this legislation through without a true vote then they are just as guilty as the Republicans who did it during Bush's term.  Which will mean nothing has changed at all.  It's just a different party gaming the system.

I like sausage, but I don't want to think about how it's made.

Elections are not the same as term limits.

-Hrnac

If any of you aren't absolutely appalled by what is going on in Washington in regard to Obamacare, you need to have your head checked.

They know they don't have the votes so they go from Reconciliation to Deeming the bill passed.

If it didn't infuriate me so much it would be humorous.

I hope to God everyone of the crooked bastards (Pelosi at the top of the list) loses their seats and Obama is a one term president (which I think is a given).

Anyway, I don't come to this part of the forum often and normally when I do it is just to vent like this.

So, carry on with your day.

You do know that the Deem and Pass tactic is a favorite of the Republicans and they have used it many many times in the past. The Democrats have done this as well.

Politicians will always be crooked as long as there are special interest groups to line their pockets. Voting out this group will only make room for the next wave of crooked politicians. Why not start by placing term limits on all politicians. Say 2 or 3 terms max.

-Hrnac

Thanks for this great netbook thread. I am seriously considering purchasing the Asus 1201N, but want to wait and see how the 1201PN looks as well as the Acer Aspire one 532G. It is nice to see that so many games can run on these things. Can't wait for the Ion2 + Pinetrail systems to start showing up.

-Hrnac

I just upgraded my PC this morning from Vista Home premium 64-bit to it's windows 7 equivalent. So far so good. A few of my games that would not run in Vista are now working nicely in Windows 7.

-Hrnac

Does the steam version of Stalker play nice with mods?

-Hrnac

I saw this and decided to take the plunge. The game looks pretty good so far and you can beat the $5 price!

-Hrnac

BTW my name is Warlock and my castle is called Thunderdome

EDIT: Does anyone have sound in the tutorial? I dont.

Is there any sound in the game?

-Hrnac

At least the Obama fanboys have kept the theme consistent that its all the fault of that evil Bush guy.   We can look forward to that being the theme of everything for the next 3 years or so.

The truth hurts. Get used to it.

-Hrnac

A typical response from a Party of No member. Nothing.

I do admire your ability to add smilies to your posts. That is a real talent. You should be proud.

-Hrnac

At least the Obama fanboys have kept the theme consistent that its all the fault of that evil Bush guy.   We can look forward to that being the theme of everything for the next 3 years or so.

The truth hurts. Get used to it.

-Hrnac

Done.  Took me about 2 1/2 hours to finish the exam, including going back through my answers prior to filling in all of the exam form circles.  I feel better this time around than last time, but some questions were well outside of my knowledge base.  I'll now just have to wait until November/December to see how I did.  Sucks that results take so long.

Hope you pass with plenty of room to spare. Getting to add letters after ones name is pretty cool.

-Hrnac

Those are some nifty smileys. Thanks for showcasing them in this thread. 

-Hrnac

I love how Brendan thinks that single payer will somehow magically get people to visit their Drs more often, when already people who have insurance put off seeing the Dr as long as possible.    But somehow when its a craptastic governmental run system they will drop everything to see the Dr.    Living in a fantasy world again it seems.

I love how brettmcd blindly proclaims that the government can't possibly get health care right, yet continually ignores a contradictory example. Why does he hate America?

Ale

You have one very small system that has finally after decades of horror possibly gotten its act together.   But the VA doesnt compare to nationalized health care in any real logicial way, so that is why I ignored it, as it should be ignored as some shining example of the greatness of governmental run health care for the masses.    Now medicare and medicaid would be a real comparison, and they are disasters financially.   Would you like to claim those are run efficiently and work well for everyone?   

If medicare and medicaid are such disasters as you say, then why don't we see legislation to do away with them? One would think that it would be foolish to continue to keep such poorly run and functioning systems.

Why is the US the only democratic country in the world without a single payer healthcare system?

-Hrnac

Spoken like a true member of the Party of No. No ideas, No plans, No debate, No solutions. Nothing except "Don't get sick and if you do, die quickly".

Obligatory link to Alan Grayson beating the crap out of the conservatives on the Situation Room.

Alan Grayson is awesome. I love how the Party of No gets all offended by his words and demands an applology. I love the ensuing appology. Way to go Alan Grayson! 

-Hrnac

Dude, Hrnac, this whole, "party of No" stuff? Jesus dude, calm down with it. You sound like one of those moronic Obama youth kids mindlessly spouting propaganda.

Cheeba,

I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but the once proud Republican party has degenerated into the "Party of No". Until they start offering up meaningful ideas for discussion on todays issues, I and many others will continue to refer to them as the "Party of No". Sometimes the truth hurts.

As a hardcore moderate, it frustrates me to no end that the Party of No continually refuses to even try to solve the problems that plague our country. I might not like their plans, but at least it would show that they are trying. Simply saying "No" and doing nothing is not enough in my opinion. I don't like all the Democratic ideas, but at least they are actually trying to find solutions.

-Hrnac

Would you expect your proposed system to deny their services to people who don't need them?  In other words, could it impose eligibility criteria on premium or emergency treatment?  If so, there will always be analogous ambiguities in triage guidelines, that's all I'm saying.
Will the Channel 5 Investigates team have more or less impact on such a system?

When you say my "proposed system", are you referring to my awesome Investigative News Team system, or a fictitious best-case single-payer system?

In this case, the woman was treated at the emergency room without incident; the post-treatment aftermath is the problem, where the insurer is claiming that her symptoms didn't warrant emergency care.  That's clearly disingenuous on their part.  This wasn't a "triage" decision - it was some insurance company bureaucrat at Blue Shield attempting to earn a few more bucks three months after the fact.

The mythical single payer system that our idiotic government will somehow run efficiently at low cost.

We should all just adopt the Party of No's elegant 2 part plan. First you simply must refrain from getting sick at all costs. If that should fail, then please just die quickly. The Party of No has done us all a favor with this plan.

I for one really appreciate all the hard work that these Party of No members have been doing on the health care issue. Hats off to them for such a beautiful solution. 

-Hrnac

Whatever, the dems dont want any alternatives to their plan, and the repubs have put many forward, but the dems have control and wont give any of them the light of day.

Please list the Republican plans so we can all see them. I wish the Party of No would offer up some ideas for real reform outside of the stupid tort reform and the ability to purchase insurance across state lines.

-Hrnac

First you say they offer nothing except wanting people to die, then you list things they do want to change.   Which is it?   Ill be back once you make up your mind.

Spoken like a true member of the Party of No. No ideas, No plans, No debate, No solutions. Nothing except "Don't get sick and if you do, die quickly".

-Hrnac

Would you expect your proposed system to deny their services to people who don't need them?  In other words, could it impose eligibility criteria on premium or emergency treatment?  If so, there will always be analogous ambiguities in triage guidelines, that's all I'm saying.
Will the Channel 5 Investigates team have more or less impact on such a system?

When you say my "proposed system", are you referring to my awesome Investigative News Team system, or a fictitious best-case single-payer system?

In this case, the woman was treated at the emergency room without incident; the post-treatment aftermath is the problem, where the insurer is claiming that her symptoms didn't warrant emergency care.  That's clearly disingenuous on their part.  This wasn't a "triage" decision - it was some insurance company bureaucrat at Blue Shield attempting to earn a few more bucks three months after the fact.

The mythical single payer system that our idiotic government will somehow run efficiently at low cost.

We should all just adopt the Party of No's elegant 2 part plan. First you simply must refrain from getting sick at all costs. If that should fail, then please just die quickly. The Party of No has done us all a favor with this plan.

I for one really appreciate all the hard work that these Party of No members have been doing on the health care issue. Hats off to them for such a beautiful solution. 

-Hrnac

Whatever, the dems dont want any alternatives to their plan, and the repubs have put many forward, but the dems have control and wont give any of them the light of day.

Please list the Republican plans so we can all see them. I wish the Party of No would offer up some ideas for real reform outside of the stupid tort reform and the ability to purchase insurance across state lines.

-Hrnac

The Party of No has the solution. Don't get sick. If you do, just die quickly. God Bless the Party of No. 

-Hrnac

First of all, the troop draw down only applies to Iraq, not to Afghanistan. Second, individual assignments will vary, but the White House has committed to a timetable to withdraw combat forces from Iraq by the middle of next summer. That draw down is proceeding.

So all the Bush war hate is only because of Iraq? Doubling the number of troops in Afghanistan this year is ok with all the peace protesters?

No. But Obama's position on this has been clear from the beginning, and happens to mirror mine from way back in 2003: Iraq is a distraction from the real conflict, which is with the Taliban-Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, by sending us off on a seven-year diversion into Iraq, Bush may have put us in a position that it's too late to win in Afghanistan.

+10000

-Hrnac

Would you expect your proposed system to deny their services to people who don't need them?  In other words, could it impose eligibility criteria on premium or emergency treatment?  If so, there will always be analogous ambiguities in triage guidelines, that's all I'm saying.
Will the Channel 5 Investigates team have more or less impact on such a system?

When you say my "proposed system", are you referring to my awesome Investigative News Team system, or a fictitious best-case single-payer system?

In this case, the woman was treated at the emergency room without incident; the post-treatment aftermath is the problem, where the insurer is claiming that her symptoms didn't warrant emergency care.  That's clearly disingenuous on their part.  This wasn't a "triage" decision - it was some insurance company bureaucrat at Blue Shield attempting to earn a few more bucks three months after the fact.

The mythical single payer system that our idiotic government will somehow run efficiently at low cost.

We should all just adopt the Party of No's elegant 2 part plan. First you simply must refrain from getting sick at all costs. If that should fail, then please just die quickly. The Party of No has done us all a favor with this plan.

I for one really appreciate all the hard work that these Party of No members have been doing on the health care issue. Hats off to them for such a beautiful solution. 

-Hrnac

Good Luck with your PG exam Pete.

I took my PE (Professional Engineer) exam back in 1999 and it was not a fun experience. Like the PG exam, it was an 8 hour exam broken into two 4 hour segments. the morning portion was multiple choice and was pretty easy, but the afternoon portion was hell. It was 20 multiple section problems which were made up of mostly Fluid Mechanics, Soil Mechanics, Structural design and a smattering of transportation engineering. Lucky for me I focused hard on the fluids and soils during my exam prep. I never knew that remembering how to do mohrs circle problems would save my arse. I remember feeling drained and worried when I left the exam hall, but I ended up passing with plenty of room to spare so all was good in the end.

-Hrnac

PM sent.

-Hrnac

Well my search for a new PC has ended. I ended up purchasing a refurbished Dell thanks to an excellent tip from someone on the QT3 forums. This is what I purchased. I also ordered the Win 7 upgrade from Amazon.

Studio XPS Desktop - 435 Mini Tower
    * Studio XPS Desktop - 435 Mini Tower
    * Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium

System Price   :   $629.00

Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista Home PremiumMemory
4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz (4 DIMMs)Hard Disk Drive
640 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)Video
512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850Processor
Processor: Intel Core i7-920 Processor (8MB L3 Cache, 1MB L2 Cache, 2.66GHz)Hardware Upgrade
Dell 19 in 1 Media Card Reader
USB Multimedia Keyboard
125V Power Cord
Dell USB 6-Button Logitech Mouse
No ModemCertified Refurbished
Certified RefurbishedBase
Studio XPS Desktop - 435 Mini TowerMedia Bay
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capabilitySoftware Upgrade
Windows Live
64BIT Operating System DVD
Microsoft Works 9.0
64BIT Operating System CD

I am pretty happy with the purchase since it fit perfectly into my budget.

-Hrnac

I bought a Cyberpower PC from newegg and am very happy with it.  Do yourself a huge favor and go to newegg to check them out; I would highly suggest buying from them.

I did not know that New Egg sold Cyber Power PCs. Thanks for the heads up. I'll go take a look and see what they have.

-Hrnac

Don't pay the extra for the SLI or crossfire.  The extra $30-$80 you would spend would be much better spent on additional RAM, bigger hard drive or slightly faster CPU.  Don't forget to factor in shipping costs as well...some of those cases are heavy and a $40 shipping charge wouldn't be out of range (ground, expect twice that or more for 2 day, etc).

Both Cyber Power and Xtreme gear show fed Ex ground having a $65.00 shipping cost. I really want to keep the actual PC cost as close to $650 as possible to help offset the shipping costs.

I wonder if it would be possible to build a PC myself with this budget? Any thoughts on how to approach something like this?

-Hrnac

I have no CPU preferences. I viewed the tri-core as a way to get something better than the low end dual core CPU's while still staying within my original budget. All my previous PC's have been Intel rigs, but it seems like AMD is a bit cheaper these days which makes a big difference when one has a small budget to work with.

I am a bit concerned about the non-SLI MB choices. I hate to pay for SLI when I will most likely never use it.

-Hrnac