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Admiral Keth

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Everything posted by Admiral Keth

  1. Old?!? I like to think of it as well-preserved, especially given all of the high ABV potables I have brewed and consumed of late.
  2. My name is Admiral Keth, and I am a CM:BB fanatic. I have been WoW-free for 27 days now.
  3. /boggle?!? Whaaaa? When did this happen? But, but, but, but.... Waitaminit...I lurvs WKRP..mmmm...Loni Anderson...<drool> A) You needs to pull from me stable of 26 recipes...yes, they are online...can ye find 'em? If you can find a photo of me with mash rake and a Luftwaffe Feldmütze, that's me. Yes, it's out there. 2) Folks have to come an get 'em. The ATF takes a dim view of shipping across state lines...yes, I have a very good reason to not ship it. iii) Profit..no, that's not the reason.
  4. I bugger off for a few years and you mangy gits are still around? Yep, it's the ol' Admiral. No one was more pleased and surprised than I to see that the community is alive, well, and thriving...well, except for the lot in the Peng thread...they are looking a bit disreputable. Belay that; they have always been disreputable...they wear it like a badge of honor. I am gratified and honored that The Scenario Depot II is doing well. I was also delightfully surprised to return to see the immenent release of the new new CM:BN; yes, I have enthusiastically pre-ordered and I have been playing numerous CM:BB scenarios by means of whetting me appetite. Late April, you say? Matt...if you put mine near the front of the list, I have 5 gallons of homebrew with your name on it should you be in the area. I have been away too long in the hinterlands of World of Warcraft. A time to return to me roots and me friends. Gang, first round is on me...and none of that cheap swill, either.
  5. All, Additional posts have been made to Web Hosting Forum. I am far from alone in this mess. If any of the CM community has sites hosted by any of Gunnel's shell companies, I would recommend finding a new web host ASAP. It appears as if more angry web developers are filing FBI fraud claims. Web Host Forum Link 2 has more details on specific shell hosts.
  6. All, Thank you very much for the kind words. I have always considered Combat Mission to be "the thinking man's wargame". The community which endorses and continuously supports not only Combat Mission itself, but the associated fan sites, are the very best friends any wargaming community could offer. With regards to resurrecting The Scenario Depot; I'm going to consider it over the next couple of weeks. Allow me time to acclimatize to Boeing and settle into a routine. In the spirit of "getting back on the horse" I could, at length, be convinced to rebuild from scratch, incorporating all of the features on the lengthy "SDv3 To Do" list. Conversely, this may be the time when I start writing my " How To Brew" trilogy, or continue working on a miniature wargaming rules I started called GUMPS (Generic Universal Miniature Playing System). In the mean time, I'm still preparing to hand off any data I have to GJK and The Proving Grounds. GJK has my complete confidence and esteem. As an asides to another thread, my RL first name is Keith. The Admiral Keth comes from the callsign I was given by fellow Star Fleet Battles gamers after a well-played campaign (which included the capture of a starbase without firing a shot).
  7. All, The worst has come to pass. My web host, without so much as a "by your leave", has vanished. Email, database, files...all gone without any notice. The support phone number he provides is useless...the vmail box is full, preventing additional complaints (apparently I'm not alone in my extreme ire). Numerous emails go unanswered. You have no idea how angry and embarrassed I am at this point. I feel as though I have let down the CM community. I genuinely apologize. Those of you familiar with web hosting may recognize the web host - Steve Gunnels of FIDPAC. If any of you have sites hosted by any one of his myriad of shell companies, make provisions right now to get out. Those of you wanting to find out more about this situation may click here. Based on my research at the Web Hosting Talk forum I have already signed up with a more reputable web host (Site5), and any correspondence to already established email addresses should work now. However, I doubt that I will have the time to recreate what needs to be rebuilt. On the plus side, on 07.15.05, Boeing tendered an offer (and I accepted) for my services as a Technical Writer. As I am still a little unfamiliar with the boundaries of my TS clearance, I really can't say more beyond that. I am corresponding with The Proving Grounds for GJK to assume control of whatever latest backup I have, as well as all of the archive files that I have locally. This archive contains some of the oldest scenarios created for Combat Mission. Mind you that I am not going away, by any means. I'll still annoy people with my presence and beer wisdom from time to time. Maybe GJK and I can work out some co-admin arrangement. Non the nonce, it has been a distinct pleasure serving the CM community all this time. You are the greatest group of guys and gals on the net.
  8. i've just visited the site and was wondering about the same thing as the above post - i want to play and review cmbo battles best played against the AI </font>
  9. All, This is one of those features that will be implemented in SDv3. Additional files, such as screen shots, supporting text or pdf files, and other scenario-related material will be uploadable by the author to author-specific folders. However, landing a job is my first priority, as I have other mouths to feed than my own.
  10. All, At the moment, I have no intention of allowing The Scenario Depot to fall by the wayside. I have always been committed to providing a quality site for scenario exchange. However, I am still unemployed (<shakes fist eastward> farging East Indians) and as such my free time is filled with: Job hunting - Not going so well in this really soft economy. Between actual hunting, chatting up recruiters, job fairs, and interviews, this takes two days out of the week. Side jobs - Building and expanding existing commercial. Not getting paid at the moment, but accruing invoices which will be submitted after my unemployment insurance runs out <shhh...don't tell California>. I have committed four days of the week to two different projects. That leaves me with Sunday to rest and resurrect. Yes, I have an expanding list of things to implement at The Scenario Depot. I'm planning (you all are familiar with that mouse/man adage) to accomplish these tasks between landing a job and actually starting. As that is a nebulous date, I'm unable to give you an estimate of when the SDv3 feature set will be in place. I genuinely appreciate everyone who has contributed to the diversity, longevity, and financial stability of The Scenario Depot. Rest assured that I haven't given up on it yet.
  11. My dad, who landed at Utah beach on D-Day with the 90th ID, picked up a couple of 9mm broomhandle Mausers when he captured a medic and a sergeant in France near Metz. Both weapons are in excellent condition, and even included the wooden holster which attached to the butt of the pistol to act as a shoulder stock. The only deterioration is the inside of the muzzles. According to dad, the materiels used in making primers in Germany at the time were highly corrosive, and it definitely shows.
  12. OK guys, try it now. I zipped the file, although I'm uncertain as to why this would make any difference. If you have pop-up blockers enabled, this might be a cause; as Michael noted, there is a .php page in between the synopsis page and the actual download page which updates the database with some statistics. I have developed a completely different methodolgy for downloads which: 1) Eliminates this particular issue. 2) Allows for additional supporting files to be posted. 3) Allows for author upload of screenshots. 4) Allows for author updating of the scenario file. However, these features will not be implemented until The Scenario Depot v3. I am researching and developing various methodolgies to support this new version, but actual work will not begin in earnest until I have secured gainful employment.
  13. Odd...just tested and it works fine using IE 6. What browser are you using, Michael?
  14. Kingfish, Apologies for the delay in response; life is stranger than normal of late. With regards to scenario packs - Submit all of the synopses as normal. There are two methods that you can use to post the actual file. First, however, go ahead and zip all of the files together into one zip file. Method 1: When you post the first synopsis, go ahead and perform the associated file upload. You would then manually enter the same URL in the zip file field for subsequent synopses. Method 2: Post all of the sysopses without performing a file upload. Email the scenario pack to me and I'll post it the following day.
  15. Great...the twits running my webhost (PrimeTimeHost a.k.a. HostingServices.com) have succeeded in completely screwing up. Now I have no email, ftp, http or any other access to the site, even after paying them a boatload of money. I'm going to beg everyone's patience in this matter.
  16. As previously explained in this thread my web host is experiencing some issue. I'm beginning to suspect that some piece of equipment on their part which listens for the domain name and then forwards it to the proper place is having a problem. This address works... http://ns9.super-hosts.com/~dragonlair.net/combatmission/ ...but this one does not... http://www.dragonlair.net/ I am heckling them hourly to fix this, as I host a couple of other sites and they are experiencing the same issue.
  17. The page return time on a list like that would be prohibitive. It all has to do with the load being placed on the server-side PHP engine, and what it can realistically return in a respectable amount of time before the person who clicked on the link gets bored or thinks it locked up. Possible, but again, I'd be concerned about page return time. I can code it up and give it a try, but this one will go somewhere near the bottom of The Giant List of Sceanrio Depot v3 Things To Do. There must be a balance between the author's ability to glean useful information from reviews, and players ability to place those reviews, offset by some burden upon the player to come back and contribute. So far reviews have been 100% voluntary, but there seems to be some call for semi-compulsory reviews. The jury is still out.
  18. The implicit desire for some authors to have their scenarios _always_ at the top of the lists was one of the stronger reasons why the Cumulative Rating System was abolished. There _were_ authors who wanted especially low rating reviews excised in order to increase their standing. Trolling has pretty much been nipped in the bud with having to register, as well as my ability to ban people completely from the site. I have not had to do this yet, but the feature is in place, waitng to utilized. That's why I'm thinking a different ratio; 1 review = 2 DL's, or 1 review = 5 DL's. I would want to strike a fair balance between requiring reviews and allowing downloads, especially if the player wants to just get a couple for entertainment purposes. You are correct with regards to the 'bogus review' issue, but that is a possibility now. True, a player's opinion of a scenario may be biased based on his experience level. A scenario which the author intentionally made challenging for experienced players may overwhelm a novice, thus coloring their response to how the sceanrio was actually to be played. Therefore, they may return an unfavorable review. To counter this, what about attaching some kind of experience level to scenarios? For example, the author may indicate that this scenario should be played by beginners to CM, or by experienced grogs. Hmm. A bit too much rigmarole for people to deal with. Ease of use for both the author and the reviewer is the watchword here. Emar, thanks. It's a challenge to design a system which is at once useful, easy, and informative.
  19. Agreed. So far the credit count is 10 free downloads prior to needing to input 1 review. Anyone want a different ratio? Perhaps 1 review = 2 DL credits. Field level help would go far to assisting with this idea. This would require criteria from authors as to the nature of the information they want they reviewer to enter.
  20. Is this something authors really want? Although it is easy to implement, what would the authors want to do with the data? Sure, the authors can get a list of people who downloaded your scenario, but do the authors want to then begin pestering players for reviews? Even if there is simply a list of usernames and download counts ratioed to review counts, that's a feature that might cause many people to stop downloading and playing altogether. This will really have to be justified by the authors and approved by a large number of players prior to implementation.
  21. No worries, mate! Every forum member who cares about supporting the author's ability to refine and enhance their work should be participating in this discussion. True, but the simpler, the better. I'm looking for systems which have a broad degree of usefullness to both players and authors, yet are easy to implement and use. Something similar to (I know it's atrocious English, but...): My Scenario Recommendation 1 Excellent 2 Good 3 Fair 4 Below Average 5 Poor Everyone MUST keep in mind that ANY numeric scale is subjective to the reader. Thus, it will be incumbent upon the reviewer to clarify their position through the text review portion. Simple enough. OK, although eliciting that information from people is usually like pulling teeth. This can be alleviated by me providing more explicit instructions above the text area, which ddescribes the type of information the player should be discussing. Conversely, I could create field-level help which provides information specific to the field in question. I'm liking this, although I also forsee implementation of the "Was This Review Helpful?" for the players. Thus, both players and authors get to rate the review. It's early and I'm having some trouble following this. I'll have to re-read it more carefully later on. I'm also a little concerned about page load time with the number of calculations that would need to be performed. Many of these thoughts do have significant merit. Let's see how they either stand on their own, or can be meshed with other ideas.
  22. Point taken. Yep, it's a little awkward right now; that's wht it's being updated. These items are being coded as we speak...er, write. So far, no dice. Although they have extended my employment to the end of next January, it's only a Stay of Execution, not a Reprieve.
  23. All, I'm out of town for the rest of today and most of tomorrow. I'll respond in detail to everyone on Monday.
  24. v1 was in operation for 21 months with a total of 5879 reviews (CMBO/CMBB/CMAK battles/operations/maps) = 279.95/month v2 has been in operation for 4 months with a total of 470 reviews = 117.5/month
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