Seanachai

Don't be ridiculous, we don't vacation there. The place is full of Illinoisans. Taking the children to Wisconsin would be like visiting a rat farm with poor enclosure integrity. The large numbers of Minnesotans visiting Wisconsin are, in fact, missionaries, uplift workers, and social scientists doing field studies. Oh, and a number of our young men visit there in the attempt to give the local genetic pool some depth through a hands on, socially responsible breeding program. It is our hope that our efforts will some day lift you Wiscos out of the mire and bring you up to our level. You are a happy and friendly, if primitive, people, and it would be a shame to leave you in the mud with the Michiganites and Iowans.

Perhaps I should take a moment to inform the surstromming slurper that Hakko is, in fact, a Seniour Knight of the Cesspool. Just so he knows.

My Lady, I can only echo what others here have said. lenakonrad our plucky Pole, told me that our game would have to go on hold, as he was moving back to Poland, and internet access would be spotty for a while. Every now and then lately a quick picture from the lad has shown up here. It sounded like he was going to be dealing with some fairly big changes in his life. I miss AussieJeff. Always full of zest and grinning insanity. An altogether amiable zany. I even miss his disturbing 'desert' screenshots. Maybe he will return to us with the release of CMAK. Of course, by that time all his screenshots of the desert war will have been modded to look like Thailand, or something.

Well, that's would be, in a way, good news... </font>

Grog Dorosh, you should leave these things to me. You do not express these things well. Of course Reinald is an idiot. But I sought to address his idiocy, rather than the fact that he is an idiot. And your way would neither have booted the fool, nor tweaked the vintner. And they were short paragraphs.

Hush, clown! I like to hear WineCape speak. His patois amuses me. What he is telling the rest of you puddles of ignorance is that it is hardly fair to characterize CMBB as a simple 'add-on'. Not only were the improvements made to the basic game engine significant, they were calculated to make the 'East Front' playable both from a game and historical perspective. One could also point out that 'expansion packs', as Reinald (wasn't he recently 'dismissed the service' for acts prejudicial?) apparently feels CMBB to be, and claims that CMAK will be, generally require you to own 'the full and complete original game', while all the CM series can be purchased and played without regard to any other game in the series. East Front interests you not? Simply purchase CMBO. No interest in France '44? Buy CMBB. I have 'expansion paks' for games, and there's not a one of them that's stand alone. BFC, may their beards never wither, have given any and all their choice of what game they wish to purchase. Factor in the reduction in price for CMAK and their acknowledgement that they are releasing it 'under the old engine', while taking into account that the 'old engine' will have to undergo some serious modifications in order to make the battle environment and units work, and you've not only pretty much made so much piffle of the argument that 'we're all paying for what we already have', but you can call into question the motives of the person who's made the argument. Personally, I think the amount of work that goes into each of these mis-called 'add-ons' is significantly different than simply releasing 'new levels and maps'. Not to mention that each change and improvement made to make the new fronts historically accurate and playable are improvements that will ease the path to the engine rewrite that you stormy puppies constantly yip for on the Forum. There was much gnashing of teeth and cursing over the failure to address 'two-turret' tanks in CMBB. They've taken the opportunity to work on them and the mechanics in CMAK, given that this is one of the changes they have the time and resources to address in this incarnation of the 'old game engine'. So, we could have had 'everything' in the same game engine and watched with pride while our grandchildren played the game that we'd all anticipated, or we could, to some extant, pay for the development of the game that has captivated so many of us for so many, many months. When we buy Reinald's so called 'CM add-ons', we're not simply paying for a few new 'levels', or 'physics models'. We're not simply paying for 'new scenarios'. Hell, we're getting those infinitely, and for free, because of a dedicated community using the tools that are available with every game (and these tools, too, undergo improvement). We're not simply getting 'new graphics' (again, infinitely available and free due the efforts of dedicated fans, and because of development decisions of the creators). What we're paying for with these 'add-ons' is the development of the game into a shared vision of what war-gaming excellence should be. Of course, some people want excellence as a sort of 'entitlement'. The old, "I bought the game once, and I don't see why I should pay one dime more until it's exactly what I want." I think the appraisal that 'we're paying the same money for tweaking the same game' is so much ****e. We're not paying for 'features'. We're paying for 'evolution'.

Right, like you had anywhere to go but 'up' given your normal girlie drink preferences. Sod all if a wine spritzer isn't a quiet statement of manliness compared to your normal pattern. What was that strange pink slushy drink you were slurping on when we arrived? It looked like an alcoholic 'Mr. Misty', for the love of God. It will be up to you and I to arrange it, of course. My only concern would be how you would get home. I don't think your faithful boat 'Trigger' is going to work to drag your drunken arse home from Shakopee, despite the proximity of the Minnesota river. For myself, I always have the talented and deeply disturbed Papa Khann, who's like a coherent driving god. I've never died when he was in charge of my homecoming. It was touch and go with Dalem. Fortunately, Sten was in the car with us, and seemed to be controlling his brain. Ah, Sten. The poor, earless bastard.

Hakko, I'm your birth father.

Witless toad! I'm currently saving my pennies for CMAK. But a very good point about the 'sending of turns'. Know that now that I am once again able to play CMBB, I have reverted to my normal habit of making people curse, threaten, implore, and weep in order to get the next turn. All of my opponents are once again waiting for a turn. Not because I cannot send them one, but because I have been set over them by the very gods themselves to teach them patience, humility, and forebearance. You are all quite lucky, really, to have me.

Generally true, lad, but not around here. Here you'll get what you deserve, and deserve whatever you get. As for 'merit'...well, if you had any, you wouldn't be here, now, would you? Art thou to quote Shakespeare before me, then, and me an Olde One of the Peng Challenge Thread? Consider this: Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are. -John Wooden Here in the Peng Challenge, we are all about Character. Reputation is what Dalem's dog, Sten, is currently having a slash on over there in the corner. [ August 31, 2003, 01:11 AM: Message edited by: Seanachai ]

If true, you've just entered my list of 'loathsome Outer-Boarders who I would actually swerve around in the parking lot, rather than running them over'. Is it red wine? Berli would doubtless appreciate any attempt to further cripple me.

I was the walrus! Paul was never the walrus! I was just saying that to be nice!

Happy Birthday, you wretched, wretched man.

Do you know, on Friday I got together with my friend Jen and her new baby daughter, just turned 4 weeks old. I remember quite a lengthy list of girl names before she was born, and how the parents went back and forth quite a bit about what to name her. For a while 'Anya' was going strong, but many came and went in favour. I was up North when she was actually born. When I got home, and asked her name, I was told 'Well, we decided to name her that one that you liked, too. We named her 'Emma'.' I told her: "Well, I can honestly say that I think it very likely that she will grow up to be a beautiful woman."

</font>

Joe, you know I can't resist posting to places like that. I've volunteered us all to join up as Pyrates! Bugger was a bit stuffy about the whole 'who meets the standards of Clandom', wasn't he? I mean, you could almost hear the K in 'clan'.

Who can forget their 'Vacation on Fire Island' Blog? A bit too graphic for anyone who's never been arrested for soliciting, but still a rousing good tale of that special bond that some non-British men can find outside wartime.

Sod all for a lark, I vote, Shaw, that we bring over the entire membership of Clan Peng Challenge... As PYRATES! Haaarrrr! Would this 'Kampfgruppe' welcome in a large number of complete oiks who are already organized into a large clan of complete oiks who would wish to behave as complete oiks? We are, in fact, a group of like-minded individuals who are already organized into a secret society that originates from the Knights Templar. We have, ever so secretly, of course, been the Illuminati who've been controlling all Combat Mission developments since sometime around 1178 AD. Oh, and for you fussy buggers who would point out and laugh at the date just sited: Do you fools think the entire phenomenon of Computer War-Gaming simply evolved? You poor innocents. So, I wish for a definitive statement from this Kampfgruppe clan as to whether they are prepared to welcome in the Peng Challenge Clan. We are a little different in our stated goals, and interests, and our behaviours, and in many ways we are just a little different. But we all play CM, and we would very much enjoy joining the 'Kampfgruppe' as Pyrates! Is there room in this Clan reality for all of us?

Maybe so, maybe so. What is this 'Kampfgruppe Clan'? And we would, of course, join as PYRATES! Aaarrrrr!

Yes indeed, Michael. You know, Emrys and Dorosh, it was my affection for the both of you that led me to include you in the 'Which of These Longtime CM Forum Posters Should Be Put To Death' thread. I just have hateful ways of showing my affection.

Harrrr!

sniffle That's them, of course. You're all like that to me. Damned Machine Gun. Not that it's not a beautiful piece of ordnance, of course. In fact, it's hard to curse a weapon of that caliber, as it were. Very efficient. Still, they were my 'mates', you see... Alright, am I the only one having a hard time sliding past the rampant homoeroticism of most British wartime terminology and appearances? Are the Brits just that much more comfortable with all their 'buddy' stuff, or is war just an excuse for all of them to flee their women and let it all hang out under the imminent threat of death? Harrrr! Who's for a manly stint at sea with a manly company of manly men being men all together, eh?

Well, seriously, would your first thought be 'gee, I'll just pull out my old, ailing, seriously under-powered for today's games video card that uses a different bus technology and swap it into my brand new high-powered computer?' No it would not. I figured the damn thing wouldn't even work with the current hardware architecture, but the more I looked into it, the more I realized there shouldn't be an issue. Not to mention that my techie instinct was not to consider jettisoning my fast 64 meg, AGP based video card so as to put in a completely obsolete, 16 meg PCI based card. But once I realized they could co-exist (rather like my own, progressively minded self and low rent neo-Cons like you, who can at least agree that 'beer tastes good' and 'Combat Mission is good', and 'girls are pretty') in the same box, with only the annoyance of doing a single cable swap sometimes depending on what performance I needed from the graphic system, I was home free. You know, maybe the next outing of the Minnesota Miscreants (by which I mean a day spent in amusing pursuits, and not a repeat of that incident in which we told everyone at Fletcher's that Lars was 'actually deeply, deeply gay') should be to journey out to the Minnesota Rennaissance Festival. They sell a great deal of wine and beer at the Ren Fest, and if the weather is nice, it's an amazing people watching experience. Unlike the State Fair, which is primarily an exercise in wondering 'not that I don't appreciate it, but what rock do all you people hide under for the other 355 days a year when the Fair isn't on?'

They have all come forward in this, my hour of need. And their prayers and positive vibes have been answered. I can once again play Combat Mission. A computer savvy but non-techy friend who I was endlessly discussing the situation with suddenly said: It's too bad you can't just swap your old video card into your new machine. My instinctive response was: Well, no, you can't do that. But after some thought, I realize, hell, yes, you should be able to. And not even really at the expense of the new, much more capable video card. The new card is in an AGP slot, sitting next to three open PCI slots. The old card is a PCI card. I could technically install both, and run whichever I needed for games/graphics performance issues simply by swapping the monitor cable between the two cards. The only issue was the fact that the card was a 66mghtz card, and the open slots were 33mghtz slots, but after doing a little research the answer was that the card would simply downsample to the slower speed. I might not notice the performance boost of having a faster slot for the card, but that should be at least somewhat off-set by the overall improvement in system speed on the new machine. And if there were issues, I could always turn off some graphics elements and such. So I put the old card into the box, and it boots up fine and plays CM just as it ever did. Mind, if I want to see all the glories of the fast video card, or use it for games that won't run on an old ATI Rage 128 with 16 megs of ram, I need to swap the cable over, but I can easily live with that minor inconvenience. So what does this all mean to you brutish, low fellows? Simply this. I'm baaaack. Oh, and I love you all in a manly, lip-quivering, staring-straight-ahead-with-a-distant-expression-sort-of way-while-you-discuss-'the lads' that you sometimes see in war movies involving British officers. Not in a 'bath house, nightclub, hanging around bus station men's rooms' sort of way. The other way. Think 'Biggles, Ginger and Bertie'... You know, it still doesn't sound right. I simply hate you all. More than I can ever express, you big pile of soppy bunnies. [ August 28, 2003, 10:28 PM: Message edited by: Seanachai ]

WAIT! HOLD EVERYTHING! Well, not that, Axe2121. It's not polite. No, I don't care if you like holding it, and do so constantly in any case, it's not seemly in a gathering of people who have not requested to see you naked. Now, this is my news: I can once again play Combat Mission! Yes, a non-technological friend (probably stunned into desperation by my endless litany of the woes of not being able to play CM) came up with a solution so simple, so pure, so straight-forward, that I was left speechless. It worked. And it was so laughably simple that I won't tell any of you so as to not hear your mocking laughter. Sometimes we tend to over-complicate the world, those of us who think we understand things. So, I am once again able to glory in the joys of Combat Mission: Barbarrosa to Berlin. Now all I have to do is straighten out my email situation with MSN. MrSpkr, recall the troops! We're going home! And to all the fine members of this community who've stepped forward to say: "Who the hell is Seanachai? Oh, that SOB? I hate him! Save him, I wish I could put my foot up..." Well, to all of you, I give sincere thanks. For the many, many postings of contemptuous affection here, I thank you all. Now, don't let this sudden reversal of my misfortunes prevent you from sending imaginative postcards, cards, letters, CDs, DVDs, MP3s, Audio Tapes, or more threatening devices filled with your hatred for me, Seanachai, to the address found elsewhere in this thread (yes, it's my home address, but my mail carrier is quite nice, so nothing that might detonate prematurely, please). What a great Community, what a great Game, what a great day to do the Underpants Dance of Victory. I wonder if the neighbours are home?