Lee

Fionn: There have been a lot of horrible things done in the name of christianity and the catholic church certainly shouldn't have been endorsing those sorts of paintings as a good way to have fought a war (of course, the catholic church teaches a lot of things to this day in it's church traditions that aren't supported in the Bible, but that's another story...). But that sort of conduct isn't what christianity is all about. The problem is that men are so very fallible and often don't teach accurately what the Bible says. That's why it's each individual's responsibility to read the Bible for himself (with prayerful seeking of guidance and understanding from God) to check out what men say is in the Bible and see if they have it right. Relying on men to be perfect and lead you on exactly the right path is dangerous and foolish. You have to do your homework and read for yourself. God expects you to care enough about finding out the truth to take at least a little time to read the letter he wrote to *you*. Oh, and the Israelies were taking back land that was given to them by God himself. They may not have always gone about exactly the right way of waging the battle to retake it, but it was by right their's. Some may disagree with that, but I stand by what God says in the Bible on the subject. If the tribes of Israel had not been captured and scattered to and fro almost 2 thousand years ago, they would never have left there in the first place and none of this would have had to have happened. But the Bible said that Israel would become a nation again and, against all odds, it did. Isn't it cool how God's never wrong? Pixman: I'm glad to hear your wife is well.

"If the majority wish to have something a certain way, then it is legit." <-- Steve Steve: This notion is incorrect. At one time in this country most people thought it was fine to own and beat a black man if they wanted to. That didn't make it right. Right and wrong is not subject to a popularity poll. If the majority of people decide that sticking Jews in gas chambers is ok and elect Nazi's to power to carry out that wish, does that make that government and it's actions legitimate? I think not. If a government has as it's core beliefs priciples that are immoral, then they are nothing more than a band of criminals, whether or not the masses were foolish enough to put them there in the first place. All that does is speak ill of the morality and wisdom of the masses, not strengthen the legitimacy of the government. It's not right to violate the rights of an individual just because the majority says it's ok to abuse them.

tss: Those socialists/communists/"workers" (socialist/commie type revolutions always claim to champion the workers) never had a legitimate claim to power. The reason I know is simple. There is no such thing as a "legitimate" socialist/communist goverment. They're all the same, take away the rights of your citizens, disarm them and abuse them as long as you can cling to power. No goverment that does that is legitimate. Secondly, the communist "ideal" is not in any way a good thing. Taking away people's rights and private property and forcing them to work for the "common good" is immoral on it's face. No person has an obligation to use his hard work to support others against his will. Yeah, everyone in commie countries are equal, equally miserable. The only place people are equal is in prison. And that's what commie countries are, giant prisons. Where they force you to do what they want and be "equal" with everyone else. There is no such thing as freedom in such a system. That's why these socialist governments always take away the guns of the citizens. So the citizens can't overthrow their corrupt philosophy when they find out how rotten it is. But then it's too late, the chains are already in place and it's very hard to get free of them. The Nazi's did it and all communist governments do it. None of them are worth a dime. So, I reiterate, if any socialists (Nazi's, commies, whatever) try to take over a country they should all be put to the sword as quickly as possible. Too bad the tens of millions of people murdered by these left-wing governments can't post on this board.

Pixman: Unless it is your contention that human beings do not have the right to protect themselves from being murdered or enslaved, I don't see one thing that I said that you could possibly disagree with. If you'd like to point out what I said that was so wrong, I'd be interested to hear it. BTW, I hope your wife is well. My prayers are with her.

Interesting thread. I'd like to respond to a few things said. tss: I know very little about the Finnish civil war, but I take it from your description that the "Reds" were communist revolutionaries trying to take over Finland from within. In which case, I would like to point out that there is nothing wrong with a basically good and just government executing traitors trying to take over the country. I think they should be given a fair and speedy trial before the sentence is carried out (wouldn't need too long of a trial in most cases since they were clearly fighting for the communist side), but there is nothing wrong with them being ultimately executed for their crimes. In fact, if communists (or others of their vile ilk) should ever try to take over a country, they should all be killed by the government/citizens as quickly as possible. Communists should never, ever, be allowed to take over a country. They must be stopped at all costs. Because if they do take over, God help the citizens of that country. Their freedoms will be taken away, they will be made slaves and abused, imprisoned and murdered at will. That's something that bears remembering. Pixman: Killing another human is *not* an absolute evil. That's why we have the term "murder"; to distinguish between killing someone for just cause or by accident and the intentional killing of another human for no just reason. Example, Someone unsavory fellow breaks into your home and tries to kill you with an axe, so you shoot him. Perfectly legitimate, right and good reason to kill someone. Not evil at all. Another example, a neighboring country tries to take over your free country and enslave your people (because they want your land and think your race is worthless sub-human trash, anyhow). So, you and your fellow countrymen fight these invaders and kill a great number of them. Once again, a perfectly legitimate reason to kill someone. These invaders are trying to steal your land and enslave/murder your people. Decent peaceable people have a right to defend themselves and their liberty from those who would do them harm and steal their freedom.

Doug: I don't think that argument holds up in the case of MC. In MC you can give a many orders as you want as fast as you want, it's just that you lose precision in your tactics because no one can click fast enough to keep up with the combat. Like most real-time combat games, it degenerates into somewhat of a click fest. In CM you give your orders and then 1 minute of combat takes place; this does give a more accurate representation of combat in WW II but at no time does it become a click fest. Besides, in Battletech combat the object is full control over each detail of mech tactics. It's not supposed to be a stand-offish sort of thing, where you issue general orders then watch what your mech's do. Microprose just fell into the all-too-common trap of trying to jump on the latest bandwagon. Lately this seems to involve trying to make every game imaginable into a "real-time" environment. Whether it's a good idea or not. Look at Jagged Alliance 2, you could never have super detailed combat like that in real-time, you couldn't issue orders fast enough, so the details would just get glossed over. I would like to see MC done turn-based, with all Battletech options in place. That would be a ton of fun.

Hehe, the troops do look kind of toothless. It's like their faces are sunken in around their mouths, gives them an odd look. Is it possible to give more natural lines to their faces? BTW, nice pictures.

Cool. Sometimes it's less hassle to just get a regular modem connection going, rather than log onto the net and exchange ip's, etc. As long as it's a local call there is no cost, either. Er, unless you are in Europe, where the phone systems are messed up and they charge you even for local calls. In which case, you'll pay either way, hehe. [This message has been edited by Lee (edited 10-03-99).]

Yeah, you can get it at the Microprose site. It's like 80 meg. Oh, and I would like MechCommander much better if it were more detailed and turn-based. Too many nuances of battle get glossed over in real-time. There's just not enough time to examine the battle and make choices for precise use of your mech's. And they abstracted the heat buildup, which I didn't like. If they made a fully detailed version of MC and made it turn-based I'd buy it in a second. [This message has been edited by Lee (edited 10-03-99).]

Can you also play a modem game and just shoot the files back and forth to each other as you are hooked up?

Kingtiger: Those words were spoken by Robert Shaw (one of my favorite actors) in The Battle of the Bulge.

"Touch my monkey, touch him, touch him, love him!...perhaps another time..." Sprockets

Having had first-hand experience with some of these German weapons, I can confirm that the ripping canvas description of the sound is accurate. It really does sound like that, amazingly high ROF. And Lord have mercy on anyone caught out in the open when one of those things opens up on em. My standard preferred loadout is 225 rounds per belt. [This message has been edited by Lee (edited 09-30-99).]

I thought that might be the case. Well, if you ever get the chance to scan it in, do so. Then post it here.

Titan: I dislike juveniles that have poor attitudes while gaming as much as anyone. But in the future could you not use foul language when describing such things. As you have seen in this thread, there are kids that read these boards and no doubt some even younger than 14. Let's keep the board clean and in good taste. [This message has been edited by Lee (edited 09-26-99).]

Hey Tankersley, can you give us the url of that cartoon, I'd really like to see it.

Steve, I guess this thread got lost in the flurry of posts over the past few days. Just wondered if you could give us a quick rundown on all the aircraft variants that have been included up to this point. Thanks.

Steve, you mentioned that aircraft making attack runs can be damaged as well as shot down by AA fire. Does CM accurately model the differences in protective armor that various aircraft had (and just sheer toughness of design and construction of some aircraft, ex., the P-47 is built like a flying stone block )? These sorts of things make a huge difference in how easy or difficult it is to cause significant damage to or shoot down a plane. For example, the P-51 with it's liquid-cooled engine was quite vulnerable to ground fire. Also, the angle at which the aircraft is hit is important. A P-47 hit from the front would receive a lot of protection for the pilot and the aircraft in general from that massive radial engine. If it were hit from the rear after it had just made it's bombing/strafing run it would be considerably more vulnerable. Does CM take into account these different angles when tracking AA fire? [This message has been edited by Lee (edited 09-22-99).]

And if that moron Les Aspen (Sec. of Defense) had given our guys the tanks they had requested weeks earlier we could have smashed through and rescued those guys when those choppers went down. Stupid socialists always get our guys killed! >

Fionn, if I decided to listen to some music while playing CM, I definately wouldn't play it so loud as to block out the sound effects. I would only play it on low in the background as good mood music for the battle. I wouldn't want to miss out on all the cool sounds of battle, either.

Hey Pixman! I'm from Pittsburgh, too. Well, a 30 minute drive south of there, but it's right next door and is the nearest city that people would recognize if they asked you from what part of the country you are from. I can safely say that the best people in the country come from south western PA. 8P I'm a big Steeler fan, as well (of course). I had the privelege of growing up during the Steelers reign of the 70's. Ah, the Steel Curtain... You need to move back to a *real* city, where you get real live blizzards, great food and men are men, hehe. 8) I always laugh when people say how great some of these places are around the country. I don't want to live anywhere where the phrase "natural disaster" is used on a yearly basis. Anyhow, nice to know there is at least one other local on this forum. [This message has been edited by Lee (edited 09-17-99).]

First of all, I want to give a big thanks to kingtiger! I put out the challenge and he answered the call. He actually found a 19 inch monitor with outstanding picture quality, an invar shadowmask (woohoo) and a price that is only slightly higher than the E700. That is one *rare* monitor that can meet all those criteria. Good work kingtiger! I have spent the last several hours looking into this Iiyama 450 and was quite impressed by it. This will almost certainly be my next monitor. CoolColJ: I think it's safe to say that a new monitor should not have bowed vertical lines. You may want to have that sent back to the factory for repair or replacement. Call Mitsubishi tech support and tell them the problem, doesn't sound right to me. Make sure you keep your sales receipt for the monitor. They want you to send them a copy of it. Sage: I don't care for those aperture grille designs, but if I were going to get one, I'd probably get a Sony. They make some very good monitors. And of all the grille monitors out there, one of those big 24 inch Sony's would probably be the one I'd most like to have.

By the way, Steve, can you give us the latest rundown on what aircraft have been included up to this point?

Doug: Yes, you can get 19 inch monitors for just a little more than the 17 inch I mentioned. The question is, of what quality will the 19 inch be? None of the 19 inch monitors I've seen offer the quality picture I'm after without spending considerably more than what it costs for the E700. I'd rather have a 17 inch with exceptional picture quality (for the money) than a 19 inch monitor with more weak areas in it's picture performance. For example, NEC also makes a 19 inch monitor a step up in size from their E700. But the 19 inch monitor couldn't compete with the smaller E700 on a picture-for-picture test basis. So, I'll stick with the E700. What I'm after is great picture quality at the best price. And I haven't found anything else that will beat the E700 in that regard. Well, my first choice was the Samsung Syncmaster 17 GLi, but Samsung quite making that exact model and the newer model they replaced it with is inferior... *GRRR...* I could have gotten one of those Samsungs for about $360, too. Oh, the pain... > Now, if money were not a concern, I'd want to get the best 21 inch invar shadowmask (you can keep those trinitrons ) monitor made on earth. But, if you're very picky about picture quality AND don't want to spend quite a bit more money, then I think the E700 is just about the best choice around. Having said that, if anyone knows of a 19 inch monitor out there that can truly equal or beat the E700 head to head in all areas of picture quality for about the same price (say, within $50 US), then I'd be very interested to hear about it. But no aperture grille monitors, as I said, I don't like those for the reasons stated. Note: All Trinitron and Diamondtron monitors are aperture grille. Yuck. 8) [This message has been edited by Lee (edited 09-17-99).]

If you want a *really* burly vehicle get one of the new Ford Excursions. They are a foot longer than a Suburban! Hehe. Biggest SUV in the world, as far as I know.