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I've been known to be very serious. 

Oh my, you'll find out it's an evil mix of your ability with the software, your idea of what the ship should REALLY look like, and your devotion to maintaining the feel of the game.

It's a challenge.

It's a purely graphical analog of what Dx has been trying to do for the past few years.

Well. . .my thoughts were that it might be easier to just run them through a milling type process, (Like your setup) instead of a 'limited run' involving some added injection mold process, since the BZ and BZ2 remaining community is extremely small.  Also, exposing something like this through email archives could get out of hand.

I mean, I was thinking very small numbers. . .8-16, certainly no more than 30. . . especially if you used a 'nicer' metal like brass, silver or even lower-gold.  But of course there would certainly be a deposit 

But . .anyway. . .my thoughts of a small key chain "charm" would be a badge of remembrance if nothing else. Many of us have a few dozen hours playing BZ/BZ2/BZE  so a little reminder of that chunk of your life won't be forgotten. 

Wall. . .without researching it, I don't know the proper term, but what's the resolution ability of your CRC machine?  Or how intricate or detailed can you cut?

well ya BUMBLER, get me some of that BZ stuff in .3DS file format, and shiz-tuff might just start happenin' ya never know. Can't make promises if/when it'd get done, but you'd be dole'ing out this stuff to the same guy that made a RL BZ-Pilot suit, who's lookin for something "interesting" to use those dust collectors in the basement for...

Don't know if I have enough around, if not I might have access to some.... but I've got bronze, and when it polished up it looks an awful lot like GOLD... might be special to have a GOLD GRIZ.... or even one of 'dem Razors...

Or fanboy keychain do-dads. . .  



Yea, Blackdragon, I have em all.

Wallie,

Sketchup has evolved enormously in the last 2 years.  It used to be a simple, quick 3D app for architects to use in front of clients or to whip something up when a client wanted an 'idea'.

However, once Google bought @Last Software, the community is now flooded with ingenious Ruby plugins, so SU is now a beautiful and powerful program. . but still super easy to get started.  Approaching software like Solid Works and Autodesk's 3D Max . . . without the render capability.  However, there are SO many free rendering engines like Indigo and Blender, it's almost a sin to pay money.

Here's a model I just finished a week or so ago.  I would never have dreamed doing this in SketchUp 4 years ago. . .

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/Cyberdactyl/SurfaceTension1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/Cyberdactyl/LightDinner.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/Cyberdactyl/DETAIL3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/Cyberdactyl/StillWater.jpg

Hi Wallie,

All my models are done in SketchUp.  However I can export to most any popular format, (dwg, 3ds, VRML) directly or otherwise.

Hehe, if it was to be done with foam, etc. I would certainly would want to do something closer to the original.  My models are an attempt to be a little more realistic which make them similar, but look quite a bit different than the game's

.....HAHAHA, and I thought I was a fanboy extraordinaire HAHAHA..........

Yes HEAT was free for all of 97 and 98, and maybe well into 99. . .hard to recall now.  But at some point they decided to start charging like $4.99/month or something.  That lasted for about a year, and then they finally went under.

Looks like the terrain's poly and texture segments are having a hard time deciding to be in front or behind the building structure.  

Well. . while BZ1.4 has FOUR servers, only one server ever has anyone in it and is basically populated by 3 guys making 3 to 5 "fakes" each of various well known BZ players of which left months ago.  The actual real player number ranges from 2-8 at any particular time, but averages around 4.

BZE has 1 to 8 real players, but usually ranges around 2-5 in the evening.

RO never has anyone in the lobby. . . ever.

I'm not sure of the BZ2 numbers, but from what I gather, it's community is in the teens as well.

-report complete-

We are halfway there to true "Cloud" gaming of complex big releases.  The positive aspect is it will be much harder to hack.

I started at HEAT.net as well around May or June of 98.  Rode HEAT for about 6-10 months I think? . . . or whenever they started charging for an account then moved to the acti server.  Bought and played BZ2 for maybe 2-4 months, and then came back to BZ1.

You're absolutely right about some of the weaker vehicles like Turrets being fun in some very controlled situations.

Some of my fondest memories in BZ1.4 was 'Turrets vs Bombers' in the Crossroads map.  Back when there was >50 in the community, we would get 6-8 man games most anytime we wanted.

I loved grabbing a couple of raves in my Turret and finding a place to sit and "bottom fish" while casually drinking a beer and whispering info and maneuvering placement to other Turrets.

Going from sitting and chatting to either a desperate attempt to escape or pounding an unsuspecting patrolling Bomber in a matter of a few seconds was awesome.

I think coming up with 'Bombers vs Turrets' was a serendipitously positive, unconscious attempt to bring the weak Turret into the fray.

[monetary situation]

. . . In a new game, or one that was still being sold and actually had a future, balancing by 'Vets' is a very bad idea.  Yes, they know the game the way they play it, but doing so may make the game much more inaccessible for newb players as well as narrowing the gameplay into only the way they play it.  Many games evolve over the years as new players push the gameplay into new directions, and this helps keep such games alive.

-Av-

Balancing to me, NOW, only means certain ships are forgotten in DM.

In a vague way, one other aspect I was suggesting was the CHOICES a vet makes over a noob.

IMHO, it's easy to balance ships in DM playing BZ. Just imagine you're playing in a monetary situation. . .a league for points for a sizable pot of cash split amongst 5 players.  And winning was all that mattered.

You're given a map to play in. . .  You're then given a set of constraints ("rules") set by the host.

What ship do you then choose?

If the rank is painfully obvious in its disparity. . . you have balancing issues.

The ships never chosen would be forgotten.