But on with the report!
Squadron News
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- First up, a correction to the last report. LC Brandon is also participating in the SovCup 2003, which means we have a total of 4 Omegans flying for this one. I think we should nickname our four SovCup Omegans "Victory Flight" ;-)
- I'm very happy to announce that CPT Night "Retired" Grue has been awarded the Iron Star with Platinum Ribbon! Grue's IS:PW somehow fell through the cracks with the onslaught of medals that followed the ending of the SSL. I'd like to personally thank FA Cyric and AD Proton for working to resolve this oversight.
- COL Brian recently went on an Imperial weekend retreat, and has since returned. But unfortunately, he insists that there are no Ewoks in the desert, so he could not bring us any Ewok steaks. (*sigh*)
- Big shakeups over at TC.ORG if you are trying to download a battle. Battle files are no longer archived in .ZIP file format, but have been changed to a new .EHM format, in accordance with Project Shield. Specialty archive software should soon be released which allows you to access these .EHM files and extract the battles.
I for one am just a little sad to see the .ZIP files go. I just realized that during all my years in the EH, every battle I've ever played has come in a .ZIP file. A little silly maybe, but I feel like we've seen the end of an era ...
- AD Proton has returned from his brief medical leave, I'm sure the entire ship is glad to have him back. And I'm not just saying that to keep The Beautiful But Deadly Ballista from beating me into a living pulp, although that unfortunate (and hopefully theoretical) scenario did help to keep the topic fresh in my mind ...
- Great work by LC Brandon this week, as he scored a new mission high score for DB-TIE # 12!
Squadron Orders
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- Imperial Storm IV : "The BattleGroups Revenge" or "The Mighty Sweeping Fantastic Vengeance of the Glorious Freakin' Awesome Sov".
Yeah, I definitely like that second one better.
ANYWAY, ImpStorm IV has officially started. All pilots are now ordered to be on combat-ready alert, as ImpStorm single player battles will be handed down to us to fly as the Sov engages in combat throughout the competition. Our performance in the single player missions will directly affect the repercussions of the Sov's combat engagements, so be ready to fly for the glory of your mothership! Don't forget that MP battles with XWA will also be a large factor in how the wargame plays out, so anyone who is comfortable with online XWA play should stand ready as well.
There are several good URLs here to check out regarding ImpStorm IV ...
You can find the Sov's main IS:IV sight here : http://www.imperialmight.org/sovis/html/index.php
A map of the wargame can be found here : http://www.minos.net/~palinathas/isivmap.gif
And the IS:IV Rulebook can be found here : http://www.minos.net/~palinathas/isiv.htm
Special thanks goes out to Omega Emeritus Ras Kronar, because I stole the map and rulebook links above from his Psi Squadron report for this week ;-)
- Fleet Medical Corps. The FMC is looking for potential medical personnel, and at last report, was trying to find a new Head Doc for the ol' Sovereign herself. Anyone interested in the position should fire off an email to LC Archangel (hyltonbuijs@hotmail.com) with a CC for yours truly.
Activity Reports (09.22.03 -- 09.30.03)
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CMDR/GN Sasquatch
No Activity - Bah!
FM/GN Compton
No Activity
FM/COL Ixion Deathbringer
09.26.03 - Completed uniform for LC Yoman
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FL/COL Brian
No Activity
FM/LC Yoman
09.22.03 - Joins Omega Squadron
FM/MAJ Manijak
No Activity
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FL/LC Brandon
09.30.03 - Completed FREE-XWA # 28
09.30.03 - Completed FREE-XWA # 30
09.30.03 - Completed FREE-XWA # 33
09.30.03 - Completed FREE-XWA # 35
09.30.03 - Completed FREE-XWA # 36
09.30.03 - Completed FREE-XWA # 38
09.30.03 - Completed FREE-XWA # 39
09.30.03 - Completed FREE-XWA # 40
09.30.03 - Completed FREE-XWA # 42
09.30.03 - Completed FREE-XWA # 46
FM/LC Todbringer
09.22.03 - Completed TC-XWA # 34
FM/MAJ Artyis
09.25.03 - Completed TC-TIE # 6
09.25.03 - Completed TC-XWA # 34
09.25.03 - Completed TC-XWA # 32
Misc.
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- SWG Planetary Operations : RANT ALERT! Turn back now to avoid the rant. You have been warned. I lost just a little more faith in SWG this week, due to continuing problems that stem from problems at SOE and problems at my own PC.
Lets start with my own PC. It has become apparent to me that PvP combat on a scale larger than 1 vs. 1 (and in the middle of the wilderness, NEVER in a city) simply cannot be handled by a simple 31.2 kbps connection. The lag is just too terrible to allow you to do anything, and you're often dead before you can use any of the special moves that you've spent months acquiring. This wouldn't be a problem if I wanted to be a crafter ... but I signed up for SWG with the intentions of fighting to defend the Empire, and that's just not possible on anything less than a broadband connection, I'm afraid.
Second, SOE has decided, for some reason, to implement the "Revenge TEF". I won't bore you with the mechanics of how this works, but I'll cut right to the chase to let you know the result : Rebels can (and do) clone themselves in Bestine, then go declare; they come back to Bestine and kill Imperials until they die. They clone right back into Bestine as a covert Rebel, but they can now "take revenge" on the player that killed them, and they have the option -- as a covert Rebel -- to attack an overt Imperial. Any overt Imperials that witness this attack can now attack the Rebel respawner, but not until the scumbag has taken the first shot. When about 20 Rebels do this on a Saturday night, it's a recipe for chaos. Basically, it's now impossible to fight off a Rebel raid ... they get a foothold at the cloning center, and the only way it ends is that they eventually get tired of it and go home. The rape of Imperial Bestine continues.
These two factors, and many other small complaints that I have about SWG, have weighed heavily on my mind this week. I'm currently contemplating the wisdom of continuing to pay a monthly fee for a game which is becoming less and less enjoyable with each passing week.
Hookay, that's going to wrap us up for this week. Until next time ... fly high and watch your six!
CMDR/GN Sasquatch / Omega / SSSD Sovereign
[GS] [SS] [BSx5] [PCx12] [ISMx11] [MoT-GH] [IS-2BW-BR-GW-GR-2PW] [CoLx2] [CoB] [LoAx2] [OV-5E]
[IWATS] [CBX] [GFX] [IIC/1] [M/1] [SM/1] [TM] [TT]
T/G 'Silhouette II'
Omega Squadron -- Sentinels of the Fleet Commander
"We Bring Death!"
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