You all know the drill, right? You have until Monday night, your time, to complete your games. You have until Tuesday to post your results as a reply to this message.

If you finish your game by Monday, but can't write a full report by Tuesday, you need to post at least your scoring information by the reporting deadline. Then, you can take as much time as you need to write your report.

If you can't finish the game by Monday, you can save the game by Monday night and get a partial score based upon the ages that you have completed in your game.

-Griselda

i just bought civ3(again ) gold edition and when i tried to load it i got a message to insert disc 0 with data04 or something... sadly there is no disc 0, and data04 does not exist on disc 1-2... help plz

I recently joined an email list discussing the books of Patrick O'Brian, and one of the discussion that came up was about the "plucking" piece at the end of the movie Master and Commander. It's by Luigi Boccherini, and called "La Musica notturna di Madrid". Amidst the discussion of where to buy a recording of it, someone pointed out a site - http://www.karadar.it - with a collection of .mp3s of classical music - "11.000 Mp3s totally legal and free" as they put it.

You can go to http://www.karadar.it/Mp3composer/Default.htm to do searches by title or composer (or browse alphabetically by composer). This will give you links that say download, but things get a bit convoluted. It turns out to be easier to go straight to the "Cocoa Compilation" listed on their main page ( http://cocoa.itc.it:8080/cocoakaradar ). You'll need to register, but it's pretty trivial. To download .mp3s, you add tracks to a "compilation" then download that. (The download page still gives you links to the individual .mp3s, so I don't know the purpose of making a compilation.) It will ask tyou to fill out/confirm the "header" for the compilation - I guess it's like chosing a title for a custom CD - then ask a trivia question before going to the download page. (I cheat and look answers up on google.)

You might want to do searchs on the karadar search page first, because it's a touch more convenient, and you can tell who did a recording by hovering over the information circle next to a title. (For example there are two versions of Mahler's 9th symphony: "PO URSS Moscow/Kondrashin" and "Vienna Phil. Orch/B. Walter")

I've been finding the downloads slow, but that may just be my ISP.

At least it seems a possible way to sample different composers.

-- CH

When I was reading through the after-action reports that got me interested in playing this fine game, I saw rumor of the mysterious Negative Fleet Bug, whereby a large fleet of ships suddenly attains a negative quantity. Well, last night I was guiding the Klakon empire in a white-knuckle, large, Hard game against a rather, um, large Psilon opponent. Tensions are mounting, cold war could break out at any moment, and what do I see? A stack of -218 Star Streaks. So, my question to those on the Forums with more experience and wisdom than me (read: 99.9% of the people here). How can I get around this??? This game has been BY FAR the most enjoyable game of Orion I've played yet, and I'd hate to see it go up in smoke to a bug.

Thanks,
dathon

Hello everyone!

We have an opportunity to move into a beautiful house that's around the corner from our current place. So, we'll be moving this weekend.

The house isn't quite ready for us to move in, but our internet service will be switched over there tomorrow. So, we may be without service until we're able to move in. I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm not ignoring them, and I will be back shortly.

Now, back to packing!

-Griselda

Saw this while sifting through to my way here:

"Distance Learning"

Man am I glad I chose Ursinus College over them ...

Any Diablo/Hellfire Elitists feel strongly on any of these subjects?

#1. Can SP Unique items be used as birthday gifts and imported into a SP game (via an item importer) in a SP game where they do not show? For example, could you ask for an Undead Crown as your birthday gift when you turn clevel 10, even if you did not get the Leo Quest? Admitted, this items have no listed qlevel, but if you have ventured past the dungeon level where they "could" have appeared (had you gotten the quest) would you then be able to request the item?

#2. Almost the same question as #1, but regarding MP games -- could you import a Single Player Unique into your MP game? For example, the Empyrean Band has "of thieves" associated with it, and is the only (?) Unique which does so. Really could help with those fire-arrow traps in Cats. Could you choose to import an Undead Crown into MP, since the life-stealing abilities "stack" with other lifestealing items, while the life-stealing on the HoS doesn't? Griswold's Edge?

#3. What about items that are "impossible" to find (according to Jarulf)? Would they be allowable? I've seen listed on an item's inventory the Armor of Gloom and Jarulfs Guide says it is impossible to find in Hellfire. Allowable or no? What about an RoE? -- exists in Diablo (pretty common, actually) yet can't be found in HF. Allowable or no?

Just wondering.

Attika

I know some RBD folks still have dinosaurs of a computer ;-) , so you might want to see this post.

I remember one of you mirrored the file as well, I might ask that favor again. :P The guy paying for the sevenlances.com webspace is a bit fed up of late, so I'm not sure how long he will keep supporting it.

Oh, and so long, and thanks for all the fish, or something like that. The nuts and scum at RBD have always been the true lifeblood of Diablo for me. The Asylum is where I really got started down the road of legitness and respectful communication online. (What a strange place to learn that eh? h34r: ) I spent alot of time making 7L mod because I got fed up of people not playing variants in RBD games, but I ended up actually playing the mod myself very little. I couldn't make a replacement for you guys and the variant way.

Moreover than that though, it amazes me how this place maintains integrity in games without following any real rules. Juggernauts like the Basin need 100 pages of rules and vigilant admins to weed out the less savory folks, LL games have never really been safe from the occasional jerk, and le private realm has the downside of being private and keeping alot of good folks out. (let's be honest, the RBD pass isn't that hard to get. :P ) Somehow you've assembled such a great group here that not only have I never seen a single bonified greifer, people would constantly fight over the *other* guy getting the phat l3wt, and item "lottos" were completely unheard of.

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you, but keep on fighting the good fight, :war: spread the message of creative play through the variant way to new horizons, and keep the frank, informal, yet selfless playstyle going strong. Ciao Guys. :wub:

Are we ready for the ultimate challenge?

What makes Beyond Naked Characters the Ultimate Challenge - Difficulty Setting
No, this is not what you think; it goes beyond Normal, Nightmare or Hell games. Among other player definable difficulty settings (Vit pump, item Twink, Skills choice), the most potent game altering setting is the use of Mercenaries and/or Minions. The ability to hire/cast a meat shield, who when properly equipped is almost un-killable, makes many heavily restricted builds possible.

Imagine playing naked with a restricted set of skills, no mercenary or minions. The fact that you are naked with no one to help you also forces you to distribute your stat points differently than your cookie cutter naked builds. To top it off, every monster in the game becomes a minion of an aura enchanted boss, and, your everyday aura enchanted boss becomes a double enchanted boss.

This variant requires high level of tactics and skill. It requires tight cooperation with your teammate(s) – your hostiled partner(s) who is out to hurt you. If you are ready for the Ultimate challenge… if you are ready to go Beyond, read on…

Welcome to the Beyond Naked Characters BN(X)!

TAGS – BN(x)
BNAmz – Amazon
BNAsn – Assassin
BNB – Barbarian
BND – Druid
BNN – Necromancer
BNP- Paladin
BNS – Sorceress


RULES - The rules are simple.
Naked - Naked means naked, no items equipped (see WEAPONS for exceptions), and no charms in inventory.

Beyond Naked - means you have to play with at least one partner, in hostile mode. Each of the players must use at least one skill that harms their partners, whether it is an always-on aura, or a curse, or a duration skill (such as Thunder Storm, Plague Javelin) that hurts partners.


What is Beyond Naked (BN)?
In Classic Diablo, there are cursed items a character can wear that would hinder a character’s abilities. These cursed items can take away some or all your mana, your hit points, minus all attributes, or add to the damage taken, etc. Essentially, you are better off naked, you are Beyond Naked when you use these items. CD BNs pride themselves on the “best” cursed items they can find.

D2 BNs will pride themselves on the partners they travel with! Although there are no cursed items in Diablo2 (and expansions), Classic Diablo BNs can never go as far Beyond as D2 BNs can. In fact, D2 BNs can be too cursed to be playable. For example, a BNS running Thunder Storm (although very low slvl TS would be acceptable with high lvl chars), or casting Iron Maiden with melee BNs in party. It is of major concern how much curse is too cursed.

WEAPONS
In Classic Diablo, BNMs are not allowed any non-cursed items whatsoever since they are magic users. BNRs and BNWs are allowed to use any weapons because they depend on weapons for dishing out damage…

A BN(x) would have to decide at birth if it is going to be Melee or Range class. Melee includes anyone who has to make direct contact to deal out damage. All others are considered as Range.

Ranger
Bow users - are allowed all bows. Druids would have to decide to use the bow for melee or range, but not both.
Throwers - are allowed all throwing weapons. If you use throwing weapons for melee, then you are a meleer and throwing is not allowed.
All other Rangers – No items allowed, period.


Meleer – No items allowed other than your chosen weapon type at birth. Meleer has to decide on its major attack skill and stick with his weapon type of choice.
Smiters - are allowed to use all shields.
Kick Asn - are allowed all boots
All other melee class can use all weapons.

Why the distinction for the bow users and throwers? I am thinking that melee class BNs should be allowed to use plain non-magical shields. Your opinions would be appreciated.


Although BNs can mix and match with other BNs, it is preferred to prearrange a team and decide on the skills/curses each players should use, to avoid duplicated curses and to avoid doing too much combined damage to partners. It is recommended that all BNs should have multiple curses of different strengths (if possible) so it can integrate into any BN team more seamlessly.


ACCEPTABLE PRACTICES
Curse may be turned off when there is no monster in sight.
Party up for quest bosses (before killing blow)
Party up for super unique bosses for exp sharing (before killing blow)
Letting the lower clvl BN make the killing blow for exp.
Wearing a broken belt to hold more drinks is acceptable. This variant is not a test of drinking from inventory skill.
Certain minion will be allowed for traffic control, which will be discussed under each class.


BASIC PVP INFO
When attacking other players, all damage of attacks and spells are cut in half. Minions do 1/4 damage except for Skeletons which do more damage. Some spells are special cased, such as Paladin Thorns, which will only do 1/10th the damage against other players. The duration of poison, cold, are not affected unless the player has equipment that relates to those elemental attacks.

Valkyries, Hirelings, Skeletons, and Golems will attack other players when Hostile. Minion's damage will be cut in half when attacking other players.



This covers the general objectives for D2 BN(x). As always, comments will be much appreciated.


KoP

PS: This has been long over due so I thought I would break this in parts and hope to be making individual posts covering each of the seven classes as to their role in Beyond Nakedness as I find the time. Please feel free to add to the sub threads, even before I do. TIA

Edit one - added in 2 more acceptable practices
Edit two - Added Basic PvP info

I noticed that the results for Epic 39: Division of Labor (the specialists game) never got posted to the main site. Here they are again:

Conquest victories:
Ridgelake - 1280 AD
Sirian - 1814 AD

Domination victories:
Chiron004 - 770 AD
Bihary - 1040 AD
Griselda - 1710 AD
Kabuki - 1784 AD

Diplomatic victory:
Bede - 1868 AD

Single-city cultural victory:
Jabah - 1866 AD

National culture victories:
Justus - 1475 AD
Charis - 1838 AD

Space Race victories:
Kylearan - 1774 AD
Dark Savant - 1788 AD
Charis - 1838 AD
Sir Bugsy - 1997 AD

Loss:
Dwip (Space race), 1957 AD

Congrats to Ridgelake, Chiron004, Bede, Jabah, Justus, Kylearan, and everyone else who played.