The Journal of "The Marked One", dated 6/6/2012:
Pretty good day today, considering. Sidorovich hired me to steal some documents from right under the military's nose at the ruins of the Agroprom institute. The fat git promised to point me in the right direction in my mission to find this "Strelok" guy - Still no idea why the only message on my PDA when I woke up was to kill the fellow, but I hope that as my amnesia passes I'll start to figure it out.
Turned out the quickest way into the institute was via the gate but, after some brief scouting, the dozens of armed guards soon showed that it wasn't an option. Another Stalker told me to talk to "Mole", who had discovered a old stash of Strelok's, but by the time I'd arrived at his location the military had moved in and a huge firefight broke out.
Decided to hang back and let the other mooks get perforated before I moved in and cleared up.
Mole was safe and sound, thankfully, and led me to an old sewer covering that led to the underground tunnel network he and his crew had been exploring, gave me a few rubles for saving him and suggested I keep my head down - A military task-force was on their way into the area.
The tunnels were pitch black and it was only when bullets started pinging off the pipes around my head I noticed that a group of bandits with night vision had set up shop here. Gunned down three of them with my MP5 before blinding the last with my flashlight and finishing the sod off with my knife.
The respite was short lived, however - As I made my way through the tunnels there was a huge roar and a blur rushed across at me. I barely had time to raise my gun before that bastard Bloodsucker was on top of me. A full clip to the head eventually took it down.
Found the stash, finally, including a heavily modified assault rifle and a flash drive that revealed the name of one of Strelok's men, a man named "Ghost". I'll have to track him down and ply him for information.
Going to get some kip, there's a bed here and it seems safe enough - Blocked off the ladder with some debris, all the same.
Friday, 7 August 2009
Friday, 3 July 2009
Waaaaaaagh-hammer
The aging dwarf pulled out his old pipe and put it to his lips, flicking the small toggle on the side to ignite the powder inside. Taking a long, luxurious drag on it he unslung his longrifle from his shoulder, carefully propping it upright on the small clockwork turret nearby.
Avoiding the bright green ichor and chunks of flesh that were splattered on the crates in front of him, he sat down on the makeshift barricade and glared out across the murky swamp at the ramshackle orc redoubt. It was barely visible through the mist and the flies buzzing around the multitude of large, green corpses strewn across no-man's land.
Taking another puff, Drugan Thunderbrew - proud engineer of the Oathbearer's, cast his mind back to when he had first been station in this thrice forsaken mire. Of course, he understood why the High King required the dwarfs to wrest control the Marshes of Madness away from the entrenched greenskin horde; the Oathgold veins that run underneath the area were required if they were to win this war.
No Oathgold meant no Doomstrikers and no doomstrikers meant the dwarfs would have no way to hold back the greenskins and retake the captured dwarf mountainhold of Karak-Eight-Peaks.
Drugan had sworn an oath to the High King himself: to do whatever was required of him to renew the steady supply of rare materials required to forge each of the magical weapons that held the key to dwarven survival. He'd rather die than see his honour tarnished by failing to hold the line.
A great warcry went up across the body-strewn field and the old engineer grimaced, once again picking up his rifle. Determined to hold back the green tide.
Avoiding the bright green ichor and chunks of flesh that were splattered on the crates in front of him, he sat down on the makeshift barricade and glared out across the murky swamp at the ramshackle orc redoubt. It was barely visible through the mist and the flies buzzing around the multitude of large, green corpses strewn across no-man's land.
Taking another puff, Drugan Thunderbrew - proud engineer of the Oathbearer's, cast his mind back to when he had first been station in this thrice forsaken mire. Of course, he understood why the High King required the dwarfs to wrest control the Marshes of Madness away from the entrenched greenskin horde; the Oathgold veins that run underneath the area were required if they were to win this war.
No Oathgold meant no Doomstrikers and no doomstrikers meant the dwarfs would have no way to hold back the greenskins and retake the captured dwarf mountainhold of Karak-Eight-Peaks.
Drugan had sworn an oath to the High King himself: to do whatever was required of him to renew the steady supply of rare materials required to forge each of the magical weapons that held the key to dwarven survival. He'd rather die than see his honour tarnished by failing to hold the line.
A great warcry went up across the body-strewn field and the old engineer grimaced, once again picking up his rifle. Determined to hold back the green tide.
Thursday, 28 May 2009
FarCry Some More - Part 1 - ctf_3fallout
This last time Heavy Weapons Guy spill Scout's bonk on Sandvich and eat whilst taking teleport, I tell you.
Sahsa and me find selves in strange brown landscape, looks like Dustbowl. I know not where am but starting to feel right at home after puny little coward attack with stupid knife and baseball bat, remind me of puny Blu team, who entire team made of babies. Stupid babies.
Friendly woman at store in town happy to give giant, hansome man like me advice on place - She tell me to avoid water as it radioactive. I not know why avoid radiation, radiation make heavy weapons guy STRONG - Scout bonk drink tasty and it radioactive, also doktor heal heavy weapons guy with nice red beam of friendly radiation.
Or that what doktor tell heavy, anyway.
Heavy happy to see that red team still about, as he sees BLU bomb in crater that no explode - So at least team able to stop little cart even in future. I miss team now, especially doktor.
Thursday, 21 May 2009
FarCry Some More
Originally this was going to be the first part of a series of blog posts where I play the role of Team Fortress 2's Heavy after being dumped into a variety of games. I decided to start off with Far Cry 2 because this game, at least, has shotguns. All was going according to plan - Playing the Russian sounding character and waltzing through the few early missions with relative impunity.
But then I ran into a problem: I got my hands on my first sniper rifle.
Sniping in FarCry 2 is a delicious affair, where if you do it correctly (and many a time I haven't) and find yourself a vantage point where you can see the whole enemy militia post you can carefully provide its' residents with lead poisoning before they even know you're there. The best part is that you can do it from several hundred meters away.
My favourite vantage point whilst assaulting the Police Station was a tall tree hanging over a river. I sniped everybody and was patting myself on the back as I jumped out of the tree into the river. Only then realising that the river, in fact, was more of a brook.
Crunch.
But then I ran into a problem: I got my hands on my first sniper rifle.
Sniping in FarCry 2 is a delicious affair, where if you do it correctly (and many a time I haven't) and find yourself a vantage point where you can see the whole enemy militia post you can carefully provide its' residents with lead poisoning before they even know you're there. The best part is that you can do it from several hundred meters away.
My favourite vantage point whilst assaulting the Police Station was a tall tree hanging over a river. I sniped everybody and was patting myself on the back as I jumped out of the tree into the river. Only then realising that the river, in fact, was more of a brook.
Crunch.
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
MMOpocalypse
So, having decided to finally break free from the warm and fuzzy clutches of World of Warcraft I've recently been in the market for a new game to spend my (admittedly limited) free time playing. Handily, the latest PC Gamer demo disk contained just what the doctor ordered; a free to play, Steampunk/Fantasy RPG with multiple factions and a whole host of player classes.
Up stepped Neosteam: The Steam Wars Begin.
After creating an account you are, then and there, told to choose one of the two available factions (there is a third one, but at time of writing it hasn't been introduced into the open beta yet) themed around two nations vying for supremacy.
The two factions are the Rogwell Republic and Elred Kingdom who are, respectively, themed around either a dependence on advanced technology or magic. Unfortunately, once you've chosen a side you can never swap over to see how the other half lives, so being a fan of Steampunk and not about to throw away the world theme for slightly better magic spells, I pledge myself to Rogwell.
There are 6 races in NeoSteam, 4 basic races and 2 "Beastkind" races - one for either faction. Each one has very different starting attributes and as you level up your character you unlock more advanced racial feats. Humans, for example, start out with the relatively handy "get +10% cash on sold goods" and progress to the godly "+20% attack speed", while Elves start out with a bonus to consumable items and gain a "-20% aggro radius" ability. This ensures that the race you choose at the start does inpact your playtime significantly.
There are, to start with, 4 base classes; two handed hammer using Fighters, Mages, Rogues and gun using, seige engine producing Crafters. These classes each split off into 2 sub classes with slight differences between nations on which skills you get. For example, the Rogwell "Tracker" rogue subclass gains the ability to cripple their foes' movement speed whilst their Elred counterpart, the "Ranger" gains the ability to raise fallen comrades.
As the game is merely in the beta stages of testing, there are a few niggles which I'll go into later, but the advantages of the low server population is that pretty much any name you want is available. For example; I'm currently sitting pretty on top of the "Alexei", "Fixer", "Aegis" and "Sanctuary" names.
Now, the fact that it's in Beta shows through in the current bugs and the whole host of translation issues. Now, the development team have been pretty lazy by the looks of things; translating a Korean game to their native German and then back again to English must take some effort, pity that they seem to have run the code through some sort of online translation machine as quite a lot of the quest text requires deciphering by the player.
It can also be lagtastic.
The combat is good, with the class variety and whole host of skills providing much needed depth and the quests themselves are decent enough, though the storyline of the game would probably shine through if you can get past the aforementioned translation issues. The main attraction to the game, however, has to be the crafting.
Every class in the game can customize their weapons and armour with various upgrades such as increased defence or, in the case of the "Core Machine" items adding new faux-skills to equipped socketable items (such as Alexei has the ability to deal a whopping 1000 damage every 3 minutes due to an attatchment to his bow). Items can be crafted by handing over drops to friendly NPCs and all this is interspaced with the ability to build and customise your own mounts (for crafters, anyway), weapons, armour and accessories.
I'm only level 14 right now (though the level cap for the Beta is 40) so I haven't seen much of the content, but this Korean/German/English MMORPG has just the right balance between questing, crafting and relaxing grinding to tickle me the right way.
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Blackout
Finally sorting out my sleeping pattern (Whoo, I can see the morning again!) and feeling pleased with myself, I got up and proceeded to try and turn my computer on for a spot of gaming before breakfast. Only to find it wouldn't turn on.
Fairy nuff, I remembered turning the plug off last night as I could hear a high-pitched whine from its' general area.
(Click)
FZZZZT!
"Oh shit."
This small, innocent action caused all the plug sockets in my room (and the kitchen) to fry and trip the circuit breaker hidden behind my TV.
On the plus side, I found the switch and everything seems fine now. Also, I now know that my switch causes all power in the kitchen to turn off so the next time my flatmates keep me awake during the exam period... There will be reckoning.
Fairy nuff, I remembered turning the plug off last night as I could hear a high-pitched whine from its' general area.
(Click)
FZZZZT!
"Oh shit."
This small, innocent action caused all the plug sockets in my room (and the kitchen) to fry and trip the circuit breaker hidden behind my TV.
On the plus side, I found the switch and everything seems fine now. Also, I now know that my switch causes all power in the kitchen to turn off so the next time my flatmates keep me awake during the exam period... There will be reckoning.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
World Building
Pandora City; the “Jewel of the Pandoran state” is situated on the mid-eastern coast of the continent, delicately balanced between the Dwarven lands to the North, the Elves of Sunhearth Isle to the West and the frontier of the human Haven Empire towards the East.
Originally just another annexed principality of the Haven Empire, the governor of the Pandoran province seceded from and cut all ties to Westerhaven around two-hundred years ago. These claims to independence were acknowledge by the Haven Empire in the form of the 3rd Haven Army launching a long and bloody campaign to reclaim the area. The invasion was eventually fought off by the brilliant tactical mind of the newly crowned former governor; Matthias Pandora and the hardened resolve of his followers.
Whilst the two nations now appear, at a glance, to be firm allies there is a rivalry between the two nations that runs deep within the blood of their citizens. This rivalry has resulted in several tense border disputes and some suspect that Westerhaven now bides it’s’ time until Pandora is weakened enough to be brought back into the fold.
The city itself is split into 4 distinct sections; the Wyrm's Gate, Merchant's and Noble's districts as well as the Warren - The main residential area of the city
Originally just another annexed principality of the Haven Empire, the governor of the Pandoran province seceded from and cut all ties to Westerhaven around two-hundred years ago. These claims to independence were acknowledge by the Haven Empire in the form of the 3rd Haven Army launching a long and bloody campaign to reclaim the area. The invasion was eventually fought off by the brilliant tactical mind of the newly crowned former governor; Matthias Pandora and the hardened resolve of his followers.
Whilst the two nations now appear, at a glance, to be firm allies there is a rivalry between the two nations that runs deep within the blood of their citizens. This rivalry has resulted in several tense border disputes and some suspect that Westerhaven now bides it’s’ time until Pandora is weakened enough to be brought back into the fold.
The city itself is split into 4 distinct sections; the Wyrm's Gate, Merchant's and Noble's districts as well as the Warren - The main residential area of the city
Monday, 20 April 2009
Home
Stormwind City is the greatest and last bastion of human power in the Eastern Kingdoms and lies in the serene and stunning Elwynn Forest. Rebuilt several years ago by the Mason’s Guild, Stormwind stands proud as a challenge to the enemies of humanity; a constant reminder to them that the human spirit is not so easily crushed.
The main road into to the city, the Valley of Heroes, is flanked on both sides by mighty and imposing statues of revered and missed heroes of the Alliance, inspiring hope in the citizens of Stormwind and their allies – Some believe that through the unblinking stone eyes of these figures the fallen heroes watch over and protect them, guiding the human kingdom to greater glory and honour.
To say that only 5 years had passed since the terrible Third War against the undead Scourge and the Burning Legion, the citizens of Stormwind enjoyed a relatively simple and peaceful life. The troubles of the kingdom were many, but most of these lay far beyond the walls of the city and thus far from the minds of its' inhabitants.
Farmers from Elwynn, Westfall and Lakeshire brought cartloads of produce from the outlying territories whilst foreign traders from Ironforge and, rarely, Darnassus plied their exotic wares. The streets were busy with the hustle and bustle of everyday life and the gentle hubbub of conversation provided a comforting backdrop for the visitor...
Few paid attention to the heavily built young man that stood at the great stone gates to the city. He spent a few minutes gazing up at the architecture and glancing around with interest at the comings and goings of the city.
Hitching up his backpack, Alexei Almarov, Knight of the Silver Hand took a deep breath of the familiar smelling air and grinned broadly.
It was good to be home.
Monday, 13 April 2009
BLAMMO!
So. I got the gun.
My very own nerf gun. Blizzard, eat you heart out and warlocks beware
Now, this won't seem like so much of a big deal to you who either don't play World of Warcraft or share my enthusiasm for games, but I've wanted a gun that at least looks like this one since Dave first showed me the game.
However, this afternoon I took a trip to the in-game auction house and flicked through the items. My gaze held on another item, one that would be a vast improvement over my current big yellow bringer of death.
It was 980 gold. Which is a lot of in-game money.
Set phasers to Pwn.
My very own nerf gun. Blizzard, eat you heart out and warlocks bewareNow, this won't seem like so much of a big deal to you who either don't play World of Warcraft or share my enthusiasm for games, but I've wanted a gun that at least looks like this one since Dave first showed me the game.
However, this afternoon I took a trip to the in-game auction house and flicked through the items. My gaze held on another item, one that would be a vast improvement over my current big yellow bringer of death.
It was 980 gold. Which is a lot of in-game money.
Set phasers to Pwn.Butohmigosh it's so pretty.
Sunday, 12 April 2009
The Anatomy of a Sleepless Night
In an attempt to get my sleeping pattern back on track, enabling me to revise more and harder, I elected to spend the entire day awake (from 2pm in the afternoon to 11pm the following evening). The afternoon went pretty much as usual, some revision, some gaming, some reading...
11/4 - 11pm:
Ran a World of Warcraft instance along with Jo and a couple of people online at the time, then spent the next couple of hours setting up my room for a night up (sugary drinks, snacks, loud music and the TV). This was accompanied by random gaming and inane chatter to Matthew about how ugly he is.
Which is very.
12/4 - 2am:
Wave goodnight to Jo as she logs off the internet to go and sleep at a semi-sensible time.
12/4 - 4:30am:
Wave goodnight to Matthew as he goes offline.
12/4 - 4:31am:
Check favourites.
12/4 - 4:40am:
Continue playing World of Warcraft for a bit, flick through the late night telly to see if anything is on.
12/4 - 4:41am:
Check favourites.
12/4 - 5:00am:
Finish off second 2 litre bottle of fizzy pop, open up orange juice. Cunningly I save my Coca Cola for when I get really tired.
12/4 - 5:10am:
Find a neat hailstone based flash game, spend a few minutes playing this.
12/4 - 5:30am:
Realise I have left my World of Warcraft character running into a wall for an hour. Whoops. give up snowball game and continue questing.
12/4 - 5:50am:
Consider making a blog post about my time awake. Realise I haven't been keeping track of the time for my activities before this point and start making times up.
12/4 - 5:51am:
Check favourites.
12/4 - 6:00am:
Check favourites.
12/4 - 8:00am:
Start to get really, really tired. Open curtains in order to let sunlight into the room in an effort to wake me up a bit. Get a glass out and pour myself a glass of coke, content that this will keep me awake for a while longer.
12/4 - 10:00am:
Get woken up by a phone call from Jo, realise that my body must have autopiloted me back to my bed, gotten changed and fallen asleep.
12/4 - 10:05am:
Go back to bed. Screw it.
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Service With A Smile
However they've recently hired another checkout worker and I dread being served by her to a stupid degree.
This woman seems to regard all of the customers as an annoyance, how dare we interrupt her day of standing behind a checkout. How dare we ask to pay for our goods with a card and how dare we ask for two plastic bags instead of the uniform one.
Two plastic bags? Yeah. That's just how I roll, baby.
The first time I encountered this lovely ray of retail sunshine, I had my basket full of the usual nicknacks that I need for a decent night in on my own without Jo: A pizza, bottle of wine and a Frijj milkshake. I elected to pay by card and politely asking if that was ok I was greeted with a blank stare.
In most shops when you pay by card they'll tell you when it's ok to put your card in the reader and when they're done draining the funds from your account and you can take it out again.
Not this chick.
Oh no - She simply stands there watching you whilst you figure out how to work the blooming thing yourself, shoves the receipt into your hand without so much a word and turns back to whatever vastly important thing she must be doing.
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Well At Least I Have Company
You probably know by now that my shower has been leaking for about six weeks and it's starting to get annoying.
I reported it six weeks ago and then five weeks ago I got an e-mail saying that the Student Support lot had sent my request to a plumber and to expect a resolution shortly. Five weeks later, still have a leaky shower and no sign of a plumber arriving ever.
Aside from the service being annoying, I've had to put up with the nigh-constant dripping (which has started to increase in pace) and just now Jo has pointed out to me that I have mouldgrowing in the corner where the shower is dripping. I'm putting this down to the constant damp conditions, because the shower-room is a wet-room (meaning it doesn't have a seperate shower cubicle) and thus can't drain properly.
Have you any idea how annoying it is to have a wet bathroom floor for six weeks?
Whenever I've wanted to brush my teeth, comb my hair, go to the loo or gaze longingly at my Adonis-like reflection in the mirror I've had to take my socks off or risk possible damp feet for the rest of the day as well as athlete's foot. Let me tell you, those times I forgot to remove my shoes before entering were fun: Not only did I have a wet floor, I then had a muddy wet floor.
So I'm reporting it (or, really Jo's reporting it for me as she's better at writing nasty letters that get people to actually do their jobs) again.
Update: They came and fixed it!
I reported it six weeks ago and then five weeks ago I got an e-mail saying that the Student Support lot had sent my request to a plumber and to expect a resolution shortly. Five weeks later, still have a leaky shower and no sign of a plumber arriving ever.
Aside from the service being annoying, I've had to put up with the nigh-constant dripping (which has started to increase in pace) and just now Jo has pointed out to me that I have mouldgrowing in the corner where the shower is dripping. I'm putting this down to the constant damp conditions, because the shower-room is a wet-room (meaning it doesn't have a seperate shower cubicle) and thus can't drain properly.
Have you any idea how annoying it is to have a wet bathroom floor for six weeks?
Whenever I've wanted to brush my teeth, comb my hair, go to the loo or gaze longingly at my Adonis-like reflection in the mirror I've had to take my socks off or risk possible damp feet for the rest of the day as well as athlete's foot. Let me tell you, those times I forgot to remove my shoes before entering were fun: Not only did I have a wet floor, I then had a muddy wet floor.
So I'm reporting it (or, really Jo's reporting it for me as she's better at writing nasty letters that get people to actually do their jobs) again.
Update: They came and fixed it!
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Around Azeroth with a Monkey
I knew as soon as I thought up the title I'd be doomed to level to 80 with my hunter's current pet and I'd have to write about it.
Go see.
Go see.
Monday, 9 March 2009
Little Norse Prince
This is as good as the animation gets.This is an anime that I watched a few months ago whilst at home for Christmas. It is, however, laughably awful in every single way.
As you might expect from the title, the story revolves around a little Norse prince who speaks Japanese, wears only a tunic (trousers and pants obviously hadn't been invented) and mostly uses an axe linked to a bit of rope in order to kill things.
One day, whilst out killing wolves (as any healthy norse prince who happens to be little does) the little norse guy happens upon a stone giant, who also speaks Japanese.
The giant has a thorn in his side that has been itching him for a while and he has no idea what it could be, so the norse bloke formally known as prince scales the giant and pulls it out. It turns out to be a legendary sword spoken of only in prophesy! Wow!
I'll stop there, mostly because the story doesn't get any better; the villain is extremely 2D and the shocking twist revolving around the love interest isn't very twisty. Or shocking.
Spoiler: She happens to be evil and under the mind control of the villain.
The animation quality is even worse than the writing, with numerous animation errors, badly drawn backdrops and characters who change appearance from scene to scene. Also, the voice acting is... Odd.
I can't really judge whether the actors are really doing well as I don't speak Japanese, however, in order to get a young childs' voice they've taken the actor who does the lead and sped his voice up. This results in some form of demon child who has the creepiest voice ever seen in a film ever.
Friday, 6 March 2009
Achievements
Matthew and I spent some time stretching our ability to come up with puns in order to design some engineer and spy achievements:
Wrenchence: Get a revenge kill using the wrench
Mowtown Mowdown: Kill an enemy engineer as he taunts
High Noon: Kill an enemy spy with your pistol when he has his revolver equipped
The Good The Bad and the Ugly: Kill a Medic, Spy and Pyro in one life
Rocket Science: With a level 3 sentry kill a rocket jumping soldier with some rockets of your own
A Fistful of Dollars: Get the First Blood buff in Arena
For a Few Dollars More: Kill somebody whilst under the First Blood buff in the arena.
Unlucky Punk: Kill a scout with your wrench
Aid Station: Construct a dispenser that then heals 1500 points of health
I Murdered Your Watch As Well: Kill a cloaked Spy
Pardners in Crime: Get 10 assist kills by repairing an engineers' sentry gun
Texas Hold 'em: Defend a capture point 50 times
Poker: Get a wrench kill on the Pyro
Sticky Situation: Kill a Demoman that has 4 pipe bombs around your building
Knife to Meet You: Get 150 backstabs
Knife to Meet You Two: Get 300 backstabs
Cloaked & Dagger: Stay cloaked for a full minute
The Spy Who Loved Me: Disguised as a Medic, backstab a Heavy
From Russian With Love: Disguised as a Heavy, backstab a Medic
Dr. McNinja'd: Backstab a medic who is ready to deploy his ubercharge
Connery Artist: Be healed by an enemy medic
No, I Expect You to Die: Kill an enemy who has reported you as a spy
Q: Backstab 3 enemies in a row
You Only Live Thrice: Dominate an opponent
Die Another Way: Be shot, burned, bludgeoned and exploded in a single round.
Moonraker: Capture point C on Gravelpit
Golden Gun: Kill an enemy with one revolver bullet
GoldenEye'd: Be killed whilst raising your watch
Felix Lighter: Backstab a Pyro whilst on fire.
A View To a Kill: Provide an enemy with a freeze-cam of you taunting over their body.
Wrenchence: Get a revenge kill using the wrench
Mowtown Mowdown: Kill an enemy engineer as he taunts
High Noon: Kill an enemy spy with your pistol when he has his revolver equipped
The Good The Bad and the Ugly: Kill a Medic, Spy and Pyro in one life
Rocket Science: With a level 3 sentry kill a rocket jumping soldier with some rockets of your own
A Fistful of Dollars: Get the First Blood buff in Arena
For a Few Dollars More: Kill somebody whilst under the First Blood buff in the arena.
Unlucky Punk: Kill a scout with your wrench
Aid Station: Construct a dispenser that then heals 1500 points of health
I Murdered Your Watch As Well: Kill a cloaked Spy
Pardners in Crime: Get 10 assist kills by repairing an engineers' sentry gun
Texas Hold 'em: Defend a capture point 50 times
Poker: Get a wrench kill on the Pyro
Sticky Situation: Kill a Demoman that has 4 pipe bombs around your building
Knife to Meet You: Get 150 backstabs
Knife to Meet You Two: Get 300 backstabs
Cloaked & Dagger: Stay cloaked for a full minute
The Spy Who Loved Me: Disguised as a Medic, backstab a Heavy
From Russian With Love: Disguised as a Heavy, backstab a Medic
Dr. McNinja'd: Backstab a medic who is ready to deploy his ubercharge
Connery Artist: Be healed by an enemy medic
No, I Expect You to Die: Kill an enemy who has reported you as a spy
Q: Backstab 3 enemies in a row
You Only Live Thrice: Dominate an opponent
Die Another Way: Be shot, burned, bludgeoned and exploded in a single round.
Moonraker: Capture point C on Gravelpit
Golden Gun: Kill an enemy with one revolver bullet
GoldenEye'd: Be killed whilst raising your watch
Felix Lighter: Backstab a Pyro whilst on fire.
A View To a Kill: Provide an enemy with a freeze-cam of you taunting over their body.
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Drop
I glanced out the window of the rapidly descending transport, gazing out across the orange wastes that comprised the majority of the Southern continent of the planet Thega 3. Even from this altitude it was obvious that the harsh winds were taking a heavy toll on the invading UEE forces, as I watched another three transports were caught in a savage cross-wind and blown off course.
Pilots vainly attempted to wrestle the ancient, heavy machines back into a drop pattern. More still were simply perforated by the massive amounts of anti-air fire coming from the heavy flak batteries that the rebels had unearthed and wheeled into position.
I smiled grimly as a thought struck me; no matter how much fire that the rebels poured onto the incoming Earth fleet there would always be more of us to take the place of the lost. The legions were the arm of the Emperor and we were countless, ceaseless and without mercy. The rebels would fail; Thega 3 would be ours once again. It was only a matter of time.
Turning back to face the other side of the violently shaking transport I saw the rookie, this was his first drop and he was a mess. Sure he’d been in the sims at boot, we all had, but they never really prepared you for the real thing. The primary training program was based around ideal drop conditions; clear weather, air support and the drop zone having been bombed from high orbit by Fleet.
But Thega 3 wasn’t going according to plan.
The 3rd Fleet’s heavy cruiser, The Emperor’s Might had been destroyed through sabotage a few weeks earlier in the initial stages of the planetary siege, leaving only a few light barrack ships, the command and control ships and their fighter escorts as well as one Imperial Class frigate; The Vengeance. A fitting title considering what was happening now.
I finally managed to catch the quivering recruit’s attention and gave him what was supposed to be a reassuring nod of the head. Unfortunately my helmet obscured the gesture so I tapped the side of my head to tell him to turn his headset on. After fubling with the side of his helmet, the rookie finally managed to turn on his com line;
“Hey, Jenkins, you ok?” I asked, trying to hide my own nervousness,
The recruit gave a shaky nod, and replied; “Aye, sarge, I’m good to go!”. He gave me a shaky thumbs up just as the transport lurched violently, causing him to go yell and shut his eyes tightly.
Grinning to myself I turned my attention towards the other squad members; Fixer, Sawbones, Max… My gaze eventually lingered on Stammer. The old veteran was barely even phased by the landing and was busy checking his weapon over and over again; his OCD seemed to be getting the better of him this time.
I cursed as I realized that I’d have to spend half the mission looking after my own squad leader.
Pilots vainly attempted to wrestle the ancient, heavy machines back into a drop pattern. More still were simply perforated by the massive amounts of anti-air fire coming from the heavy flak batteries that the rebels had unearthed and wheeled into position.
I smiled grimly as a thought struck me; no matter how much fire that the rebels poured onto the incoming Earth fleet there would always be more of us to take the place of the lost. The legions were the arm of the Emperor and we were countless, ceaseless and without mercy. The rebels would fail; Thega 3 would be ours once again. It was only a matter of time.
Turning back to face the other side of the violently shaking transport I saw the rookie, this was his first drop and he was a mess. Sure he’d been in the sims at boot, we all had, but they never really prepared you for the real thing. The primary training program was based around ideal drop conditions; clear weather, air support and the drop zone having been bombed from high orbit by Fleet.
But Thega 3 wasn’t going according to plan.
The 3rd Fleet’s heavy cruiser, The Emperor’s Might had been destroyed through sabotage a few weeks earlier in the initial stages of the planetary siege, leaving only a few light barrack ships, the command and control ships and their fighter escorts as well as one Imperial Class frigate; The Vengeance. A fitting title considering what was happening now.
I finally managed to catch the quivering recruit’s attention and gave him what was supposed to be a reassuring nod of the head. Unfortunately my helmet obscured the gesture so I tapped the side of my head to tell him to turn his headset on. After fubling with the side of his helmet, the rookie finally managed to turn on his com line;
“Hey, Jenkins, you ok?” I asked, trying to hide my own nervousness,
The recruit gave a shaky nod, and replied; “Aye, sarge, I’m good to go!”. He gave me a shaky thumbs up just as the transport lurched violently, causing him to go yell and shut his eyes tightly.
Grinning to myself I turned my attention towards the other squad members; Fixer, Sawbones, Max… My gaze eventually lingered on Stammer. The old veteran was barely even phased by the landing and was busy checking his weapon over and over again; his OCD seemed to be getting the better of him this time.
I cursed as I realized that I’d have to spend half the mission looking after my own squad leader.
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
A Practical Matter
So. That was it. My final practical session at Lancaster university and it was spent analysing urine for diabetes and other complications. It reminds me of a similar practical that I did at Shelley High concerning the same subject, so it looks like I have come full circle.
I found it somewhat fitting.
I folded away my lab coat for what could be the last time (though hopefully not) this afternoon, but before packing it away completely I carefully unfolded it, hung it up and gave my faithful friend a final salute goodbye.
Geez. I need a haircut...
It has only just begun to sink in just how close I am to finishing my time here at Lancaster and a I have to admit, it's a saddening prospect as I've had probably the best three years of my life here.
I've studied a subject that I love, decided on my future, made a few awesome friends, caught myself a girlfriend and started to embrace my geeky side rather than spurn it.
Overall, I feel I've grown up a lot since I arrived here wet behind the ears and terrified about how I'd cope with living away from home. It seems silly now.
Hopefully I leave here better than I arrived.
We'll see.
I found it somewhat fitting.
I folded away my lab coat for what could be the last time (though hopefully not) this afternoon, but before packing it away completely I carefully unfolded it, hung it up and gave my faithful friend a final salute goodbye.
Geez. I need a haircut...It has only just begun to sink in just how close I am to finishing my time here at Lancaster and a I have to admit, it's a saddening prospect as I've had probably the best three years of my life here.
I've studied a subject that I love, decided on my future, made a few awesome friends, caught myself a girlfriend and started to embrace my geeky side rather than spurn it.
Overall, I feel I've grown up a lot since I arrived here wet behind the ears and terrified about how I'd cope with living away from home. It seems silly now.
Hopefully I leave here better than I arrived.
We'll see.
Monday, 2 March 2009
Free Time
After having submitted the dual giant boulders resting on my shoulders that were my dissertation draft and locust work, I find myself for the first time in two to three weeks with enough free time to actually relax.
Today I nipped into Lancaster to visit Waterstones as I've not had chance to read a decent novel in almost two years. Sure, there has been the odd book (Guant's Ghosts and two culture novels) but ever since finishing Peter F. Hamilton's "Commonwealth Saga" I've not really had a series of books I can actually get my teeth into and lose myself in.
Hence this trip to the book shop.
Dave has been raving about a series of books called "The Malazan Book of the Fallen" for a while now and how good a series it is. Taking heed of his rabid zeal for the collection, I purchased (alongside The State of the Art, a collection of Culture short stories) the first in the series; Gardens of the Moon.
I started reading when I got back at about 5-ish and have only just glanced up from the book in order to check the time... 5 hours later.
I think I'm going to like this.
Today I nipped into Lancaster to visit Waterstones as I've not had chance to read a decent novel in almost two years. Sure, there has been the odd book (Guant's Ghosts and two culture novels) but ever since finishing Peter F. Hamilton's "Commonwealth Saga" I've not really had a series of books I can actually get my teeth into and lose myself in.
Hence this trip to the book shop.
Dave has been raving about a series of books called "The Malazan Book of the Fallen" for a while now and how good a series it is. Taking heed of his rabid zeal for the collection, I purchased (alongside The State of the Art, a collection of Culture short stories) the first in the series; Gardens of the Moon.
I started reading when I got back at about 5-ish and have only just glanced up from the book in order to check the time... 5 hours later.
I think I'm going to like this.
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Magin' In Oblivion: 2
Standing staring across the lake at an interesting looking Ayelid ruin, I considered exploring the area and snatching any treasures contained within. When I started wading into the water in order to reach the island, however, the sheer amount of weight present in my pockets almost caused me to sink to the bottom of the lake and drown.
Right then. A visit to a pawn shop it was.
Wandering into The Copious Coinpurse I dumped every bit of the useless junk I'd been hoarding and left with a pocketful of septims. If my goal of dominion over Cyrodil was going to go according to plan, however, I'd need a power base from which to start. Flagging over one of the ever-present guards I asked him about the local guilds and settled on one that fitted my abilities the best; the mages' guild.
(Note to self: Retrain guards to dispense daily beatings. Beat guards if they don't meat their beatings quota.)
Walking into the Arcane University, I observed the awful architecture (not enough spikes and black iron) and made mental notes on how I would redesign the area once I had become its' undisputed lord and master. I was rather surprised that, when I approached the imperial in the foyer he did not even blink an eye at my goblin-head-on-a-stick.
It turns out that in order to progress through the ranks of the guild, I would have to travel Cyrodil and get a recommendation from each local guild hall. Even after demonstrating my powers by levitating around a few objects he remained unimpressed and insisted I perform services for these guild halls.
He will be first against the wall when my revolution comes.
Right then. A visit to a pawn shop it was.
Wandering into The Copious Coinpurse I dumped every bit of the useless junk I'd been hoarding and left with a pocketful of septims. If my goal of dominion over Cyrodil was going to go according to plan, however, I'd need a power base from which to start. Flagging over one of the ever-present guards I asked him about the local guilds and settled on one that fitted my abilities the best; the mages' guild.
(Note to self: Retrain guards to dispense daily beatings. Beat guards if they don't meat their beatings quota.)
Walking into the Arcane University, I observed the awful architecture (not enough spikes and black iron) and made mental notes on how I would redesign the area once I had become its' undisputed lord and master. I was rather surprised that, when I approached the imperial in the foyer he did not even blink an eye at my goblin-head-on-a-stick.
It turns out that in order to progress through the ranks of the guild, I would have to travel Cyrodil and get a recommendation from each local guild hall. Even after demonstrating my powers by levitating around a few objects he remained unimpressed and insisted I perform services for these guild halls.
He will be first against the wall when my revolution comes.
Friday, 20 February 2009
I'm runnin' circles around ya!
So, the most recent addition to the Scout Update has been released and it's more game changing for scouts than the Sandman could ever hope to be. The Energy Drink (subtley titled "BONK:- Now with Isotopes!") seems to allow the scout a few seconds of increased speed and the ability to dodge bullets. Once the rush fades off, however, you'll suffer from a few seconds of reduced speed.
This is the slight counter to sentry guns that most people were hoping for (and I didn't expect to happen, touché VALVe). Whilst I admit that sentry guns are a little too much of a hard counter to the scout, I worry now that (with the energy drink) Scouts might actually be an anti-sentry class. It depends entirely on how VALVe have balanced it time wise and if the drink only grants a chance to dodge, rather than a certainty.
There have also been hints of a new scattergun and a dual payload based gametype, which you can read more about courtesy of a much more successful blogger than I (which isn't hard); Chris over at First Person Shouter.
I'm secretly hoping that the scout throws away the can when he's used it and that engineers can pick it up for a slight metal increase. That's kind of the little, excessively detailed, thing VALVe likes to put in their games, so there might be a chance.
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Magin' In Oblivion: 1
Destiny had dumped a proverbial chamberpot on my head when I got arrested for unlawful use of Charm magic on a merchant. I quickly found during my short stay in the Imperial Prison that the chamberpot contents had lumps in them.
Thankfully those lumps proved to be filth caked gold nuggets as my fortunes quickly turned after just a short few weeks locked in that damp, dark cell beneath the Imperial City. Those humans didn't know the powers that they toyed with by keeping me caged like some common thief. Pah.
So, here I stand; recently "released" from prison due to a lucky encounter with the late Uriel Septim himself. All I have to my name are the clothes that I'm wearing, several hundred gold coins worth of junk stashed somewhere in hammer-space and a stick with a goblin's head nailed on the top.
No title, no lands, none of my obscenely powerful magic items...
Heh.
This could be interesting...
Monday, 26 January 2009
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Whilst it was a good enough way to spend an evening, this recent Underworld offering was a little disappointing. Taking a massive detour away from the other two films in the series it's set in an undisclosed medieval time period, amongst a coven of vampires who discover the first lycans (werewolves with the ability to transform back into a human form) and use them as slaves.
The first lycan, Lucius, falls in love with the daughter of a vampire elder - And the story revolves around Lucius escaping, freeing the other lycans and is topped off by a rather tragic end.
Stop me if this sounds a bit familiar.
The reason it might is because the flashbacks present in the first two films (second two?) show exactly the same era and, in the case of the first one, the exact same story. However; these flash backs last seconds. Rise of the Lycans lasts 90 minutes.
Rise of the Lycans, whilst entertaining, feels stretched out - With no new ground covered and little new character development. The centre of the story - the romance between Lucius and Sonya - isn't really touched upon apart from what has come to be known to Jo as "that scene", so you don't really feel much pain for Lucius at the ending.
Bill Nighy is his usual outstanding self, and to say the guy's getting on a little managed to perform several exceedingly good fight scenes.
Plus his character survives being stabbed in the mouth by a longsword.
Viktor is freakin' tough.
The first lycan, Lucius, falls in love with the daughter of a vampire elder - And the story revolves around Lucius escaping, freeing the other lycans and is topped off by a rather tragic end.
Stop me if this sounds a bit familiar.
The reason it might is because the flashbacks present in the first two films (second two?) show exactly the same era and, in the case of the first one, the exact same story. However; these flash backs last seconds. Rise of the Lycans lasts 90 minutes.
Rise of the Lycans, whilst entertaining, feels stretched out - With no new ground covered and little new character development. The centre of the story - the romance between Lucius and Sonya - isn't really touched upon apart from what has come to be known to Jo as "that scene", so you don't really feel much pain for Lucius at the ending.
Bill Nighy is his usual outstanding self, and to say the guy's getting on a little managed to perform several exceedingly good fight scenes.
Plus his character survives being stabbed in the mouth by a longsword.
Viktor is freakin' tough.
Friday, 16 January 2009
Webcomic Ideas
So, Matthew and I were discussing ideas for a web comic last night whilst he was playing Team Fortress and I was watching some godawful 1980's ninja movie.
Cha-ching!
- There will be ninjas
- It will be in space
- One character will be a beautiful, gamer, ninja robot.
- This robot will be insanely naive
- Did I mention space?
- It will be somehow set in Japan, also.
- The main character will be a geeky gamer who constantly beats on himself due to his social insecurities and/or will be retarded.
- He will have a sarcastic best friend.
Cha-ching!
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Classroom Observation
After deciding to take a PGCE and aim at becoming The Best Teacher In The World I found that I was strongly advised to have at least two days of classroom observation before I applied.
Hm.
So, after e-mailing Shelley College and getting a phone call back I'm going to be heading along in late March to hang around the back of a biology classroom, looking at the students there and how the teacher handles them.
I'm looking forward to it a lot, which is surprising given my usual reluctance to speak publicly. I'm taking that as a good sign that I might make a pretty good purveyor of knowledge, if not The Best Teacher In The World.
Hm.
So, after e-mailing Shelley College and getting a phone call back I'm going to be heading along in late March to hang around the back of a biology classroom, looking at the students there and how the teacher handles them.
I'm looking forward to it a lot, which is surprising given my usual reluctance to speak publicly. I'm taking that as a good sign that I might make a pretty good purveyor of knowledge, if not The Best Teacher In The World.
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
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