Another new face ...

T

Tromos

New Member
Well, since I don't want to have to pay some hideous Old Testament-ish penance for not introducing myself, I'd better do so.

My name is Dave.  I'm an aging geezer for a gamer (30) but I really enjoy FPS type games, most notably the one based on Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time fantasy series.  Been a while since I've found a good game worth being addicted to, though.  *shrug* Oh well.

I thoroughly enjoy tinkering with computer hardware and always have 5 or 6 computer "skeletons" hanging around in my garage.  I also enjoy computer programming although I haven't managed to find a way to do it for a living and still support my family.

I am a Missouri synod Lutheran, which means I'm not Roman Catholic but I'm about as close as you can get without being Greek or Russian Orthodox.  I tend to be a Bible literalist, but do enjoy a good debate.  In the end, though, I always try to remember that Christ knows what's in my heart and the intentions behind my thoughts, words, and actions and that all of my logical arguments and sophistry won't do my any good when I stand before the throne and the Father looks into my soul.

When I drag my lazy backside out of the house, I enjoy golf and soccer (more the former than the latter as I get old and fat
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)

I found this place as I searched around the Internet looking for someplace where I could get Christian-oriented computer hardware.  Sounds strange, I know, but I'm really getting into case mods right now as I try to put together my next "kickin rig" and I was really hoping to find some Christian-symbol customized case fan grills.  *shrug* I'm a geek.  What can I say?

This seems to be a fairly active place, so I'll probably stick around for a bit and see what strange things occur around here.

Be well.
 
My goodness. That's a busy rig. How big is your power supply to run all that stuff? What are your impressions of the NForce chipsets? I tend to stick to the "fast follower" motherboard brands (MSI, Gigabyte) which are ususally a step behind the leading technology (Soyo, ASUS, ABit) but learn from the mistakes of others and sacrifice a little performance for better stability.

And have you gotten a proper computer desk or do you still do all of your work on the floor? ;)
 
I have a 420Watt power supply. My previous board was an MSI I really like MSI boards, they pack a lot in at a good price. My NForce systems on the site are built with MSI boards which score well on Tomshardware.com NForce 2 review.

So far I'm very happy with the Nforce 2 perfomance, they sound quality is quite good..I've been faithful to Creative Labs.....until now.

I do have a desk but my computer resides on the floor insetad of in the cubby....maybe with all my fans now it won't over heat in there...
 
Well, my case is on order and my hardware is quite a bit more modest than yours, but it suits my budget when there are small children eating up most of my salary
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I've got an MSI KT3V mobo, an XP 1800+ (.13) processor, 512MB of PC2700 Apacer RAM, an ASUS GF3 ti200 (slightly overclocked), 40GB Seagate 5400 rpm HDD running Win2K SP3 and a 5GB Maxtor running Win98SE. *shrug* It gets me by. I tend to have problems figuring out whether to spend the money on my computer or golf, so I end up with mediocre equipment for both.
 
Welcome :). I beleive I've already been in on some of your posts.

For me, I like hardware, but because I'm active duty USCG enlisted, and serving on a ship, my personal space is a tad...limited. Thus, my current system is an Alienware small form factor box that's being built and shipped over the next couple of weeks (P4 2.53 GHz, 512MB PC2700 RAM, gf4 ti4600, 80GB 7200 RPM HD, 16x/48x DVD-ROM, nice cooling system, seperately ordered 15" LCD flat panel). Anyway, should fit nicely into my rack, and offer me the desktop power I prefer for everything I do.

What do I do? Oh, uh...let's see...I'm very comfortable in Visual Basic programming (and almost as much so in RapidQ, since it's so similar), have an understanding with C/C++, though I couldn't hope to do much with it, and I'm in the process of learning the motherlode of all languages, i386 assembly itself (*thunder and lightning flashes*). I also know HTML pretty well, and I run four websites, with a couple new ones on the way (check out my main one, SLAMCentral.com). I've got an internet radio station that, due to my current situation, I haven't been able to update recently (MODRadio). I like a lot of games, but perhaps my favorite is Nerf ArenaBlast (Unreal engine, like WoT uses :)). I've been solidly active in that small community for nearly three years, and I launched the first major dedicated-NAB site for it back then, NerfArenaBlast.Net (currently under construction/changing servers). My major post there was in level design, and I've released 30 or so maps for the game, plus a Rather Large Project that is going on at this time. Other than that, I love most first person shooters, specifically Q3A (That, in my opinion, is deathmatch in its purest form :)).

As for my job here in the Coast Guard, I'm a telecommunications specialist serving on board the CGC Valiant out of Miami, FL. We patrol that general area and the caribbean with the primary missions of drug and migrant interdiction. Certainly a fun job, with all the new places I've gotten to go to and see. Check out the images sections at SLAMCentral, and you'll see some of the places I've been.

*is done rambling.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (SLAM @ Mar. 29 2003,8:31)]Thus, my current system is an Alienware small form factor box that's being built and shipped over the next couple of weeks (P4 2.53 GHz, 512MB PC2700 RAM, gf4 ti4600, 80GB 7200 RPM HD, 16x/48x DVD-ROM, nice cooling system, seperately ordered 15" LCD flat panel).
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LOL, stop talking about your Alienware! It's like showing a starving person a cooking show with all sorts of tasty dishes, but not letting them eat anything.
 
Isn't it just? How do you think it is for me, I don't even HAVE a personal system right now :p. I'm just excited from waiting for it to get here. Ghey Coast Guard computers are no good :p.
 
Hallu Tromos!
WE HAVE AN FPS ON THE WHEEL OF TIME? SINCE WHEN?!
I think I'm like the youngest member here so I'll rub it in your face that you're all old...I'm 15! Ha!
And I myself enjoy a nice FPS now and again. I also like Tactical Ops (R6, MGS and the coming StarCraft: Ghost), also real-times (StarCraft) but my favorite games to date are: Super Metroid (side-scrolling action), Half-Life (FPS), StarCraft (RT), MGS2 (T-Ops), and Breath of Fire II and Final Fantasy VII (RPG).
KNock yourself out dude.
 
Wheel of Time PC Game Official Website

It won the GameSpy Action Game of the Year for 1999, but the marketing buffoons at GT released WoT and Unreal Tournament at the same time and WoT got lost amidst the UT hype.

Sad, that, since WoT is a much better game.  Imagine 40 different weapons - except only 15 are offensive, 15 are defensive, and the other 10 steal your attackers attack and send it back at him (or her)!  Then picture capture the flag multiplayer mode where you can design the defenses of your base and can put the flag anywhere you want!  WoT finally brings some serious battle strategy to FPS.

Of course, I'm biased
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, but it's still a great game.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Ultima Avatar @ Mar. 30 2003,6:51)]Does it follow the story of Wheel of Time, with the Aes Sedai and Rand and the Dragonmount and The Shadow all that?
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Sorta.  Robert Jordan was part of the design team and didn't want anything in the game to mess up his storyline.  So the game is supposedly set about 100 years before Rand.  There are some deviations so if you're going into it with a pure WoT book baseline, you're going to start screaming about inconsistencies fairly soon.  Here's the idea, though.

The White Tower is protecting 2 cuendillar seals, but they have recently been stolen by an entity known only as "The Hound" (implying that he's a professional thief doing the work for someone else).  You play Elayna, the Keeper of the Seals.  The Amyrlin has gone into hiding, no one seems to know where.  You, however, have long hidden the secret that at some point your ability to use the One Power has been stripped from you, so you rely upon your extensive knowledge of ter'angreal to make up for your lack (this adds the practical aspect of housing the game's weapons within the ter'angreal objects, most of which have a limited number of charges).  Your job is to hunt down the Hound and get the seals back.  In the end, your adventure brings you up against the creatures and Mashadar tendrils of Shadar Logoth (very cool lighting effects), trollocs,  Myrddraal, and black Sisters, whitecloaks, questioners, the Ways (extremely spooky), and the forsaken Ishamael himself.

Your weapons range from Air Pulse (a fist of air that does about 15HP damage at very close range) to the dreaded Balefire (that leaves a fairly cool purple glow after-effect) that will annihilate everything it touches (including allowing you to shoot through building architecture since it disintegrates everything it touches).  Every offensive weapon is based on one or more of the five elements (fire, air, earth, water, spirit) and for each element there is a shield that, while active, will neutralize any weapon that uses that element (except balefire which has no defense but is fairly difficult to aim).  There are also tools that will bounce a weapon back to it's owner (especially cool with seeking weapons which get faster the longer they're alive).

The demo is about 75MB I think and the game now is very very inexpensive, although a bit difficult to find at times.  Anyway, I've gone on about it enough.
 
Hmmm...obviously that depends on your skills. For the full SP I would guess maybe 40-50 hours for an experienced FPS gamer. In the end, the SP is really nothing more than training for the MP which is the true fun.
 
Well, I am also WoT player (although not nearly as good as Trom or Loco), and someone else that Trom has introduced this community. I am an even older gamer than Trom is, though (33).

And Slam, I have also spent some time in your current organization. Of course, I have been out for almost 9 years now.
 
The screenshots don't look that impressive...details are exquisite to the architecture, but the enemies look blah, especially the Trollocs. I wanted to see a pic of one in action, and they're all just standing around.
BTW, ever play King's Field?
 
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