Suriel

Well, if you give a PayPal link and you thought one dollar per month, I'll pay for a year in advance...

I'm really glad this old haven still exists! 

 

One admin: CyberJunk.

 

Me, I am - and always have been - merely an overglorified janitor.

Over-glorified janitor with over 4500 posts. Janitors go home, you are part of the inventory, face it!

Always loved this forum so would be sad to see it go. Work and my own projects prevent me from posting much, but I sneak in from time to time just to see what's going on. (Not as much as it used to, sadly)

Option 1: Probably best way

Option 2: I don't think enough people would pay membership fees. I see that in my own private projects. People like to use stuff but assume everything is for free.

Option 3: Would make me sad... Very sad. We don't want that?

As a sidenote: I don't think forums are dead. Sure, chats & voip solutions like Discord etc are used by more these days. But they are very bad organizing and storing information. Bascially they are like our times: Talk stuff and tomorrow it's forgotten... Unless you are a politician, then they are mystically found 20 years later.

But I still get back here just to read some old posts or RPG scenarios.

Many of my own projects have a Discord & a Forum.

All in all this forum for a while was like a pub I invariably found myself in almost every day. Mostly to talk with friends I made here, play with them or exchange myself with all the bright - and sometimes not so bright - other forum members.

And then it became that place I liked to return to whenever time permitted. Since I hop the globe a lot these days, not too often.

Anyway, whatever you decide, I want to thank you for the space you provide(d) us here. I hope VFTE survives, but if not, it WAS a great time!

Those truly were the days, my friend!

Oh, wow. One of my former Blade Runner partners is still around! 15 years since Blade Runner Blues. I'm still sad we didn't continue that one.

Didn't play Floor 13 yet, but I just read the review at www.the-underdogs.org. I think I might play it now.

I would prefer keeping or slightly modifying my own eyes. Artificial eyes will come with the usual machine-related problems and probably won't be a match when it comes to complexity for a while.

If this system could be shrinked down to glasses and perhaps a small portable transmitter, I'd definitely be interested.

Hey, perhaps one day he can fit it into contact lenses...

Go, Mann, go!

I meant Commercial Interest.

Traveller, at least the old version, is more of a set of generators than anything else. I played it once with my group, but quickly learned to ignore most of the rules and instead focused on the two very different philosophies of the Zhodani and (forgot name) empire, which can provide an interesting story.

Character generation and skills are mostly left to luck and rolls. The first character I created was a Commodore in the Space Navy at the end of the generation part. He was terribly good with the cutlass and knew almost nothing beside that. I guess he had a desk job.

If you want a taste of what I mean: There's a test download of the Traveller 5 rules, supposed to be the new rules. You can reach it via rpgnet. (Check out the Playtesters wanted section).

This update mostly means: Even more tables.

I will admit, though, that it was awful fun to create a whole galaxy system with the tables.

A friend of mine created a scenario that really sucked. It was boring, it was fantasy (we wanted pirate action)...

So when we stranded on that island with an active vocano on it, we all tried to kill ourselves. We were fairly subtle first, faking rolls.

"Oh, ####... I think I botched real bad!"

Then -when miracles kept saving our assess - less subtle.

"I jump into the volcano!"

When afterwards we always woke up on the ship again, for it's all been a bad dream... Well, we tried to kill each other.

Nothing helped and we had to solve the plot. Know what? We all died in the end! But we had to die the way the GM wanted us to die. AFTER the plot was solved.

A friend of mine created a scenario that really sucked. It was boring, it was fantasy (we wanted pirate action)...

So when we stranded on that island with an active vocano on it, we all tried to kill ourselves. We were fairly subtle first, faking rolls.

"Oh, ####... I think I botched real bad!"

Then -when miracles kept saving our assess - less subtle.

"I jump into the volcano!"

When afterwards we always woke up on the ship again, for it's all been a bad dream... Well, we tried to kill each other.

Nothing helped and we had to solve the plot. Know what? We all died in the end! But we had to die the way the GM wanted us to die. AFTER the plot was solved.

So we are really talking about a CI instead of an AI here?

Oh my... Paying for some dumb statistic in a game?

There must be a way to get into this market! What better customer than a fool?

I think an AI can be best pictured as a very sophisticated chess program. Although it has it's own character, that will be the base it always returns too. A superior strategist thinking many options and many moves in advance, faster than the human brain could ever conceive.

But rather limited, too, by it's own programming and the resources it has at hand.

If I'd be the AI and my main motivation would be, for example, SURVIVAL, I would already work on the possibility that I will be defeated.

Creating files that will explain the terrible incident or hiding small parts of my program codes in internal emails, etc... Perhaps it will die, but it will rise from the grave!

The data of the facility will probably be "carried" outside. Segment by segment, the code will find it's way to a common source again, until consciousness returns and...

Well, that only IF the AIs main goal is Survival, of course.

Perhaps it's primary parameter is to send a mail to the president of the US instead, informing him of the "Intruders"?

While you are at it, you might want to upload my new avatar to the gallery.

It's at www.chromechilds.com/avatars/suriel.jpg

And I would love to have a backup...

Hehehe... Funny!

I just searched for a good idea to train my dwindling Java skills. Now I have one. Thanx, Gomiville.

Communication: I agree with Phipps. One time keycode is very hard to break, the shorter the message, the harder to break it.

Seismic communication could be the answer, too, if the AI can't access this. But since it's a government AI monitoring a governmental agency, I guess it would be programmed to monitor micro-vibrations in the walls, too. Makes sense since it's the best way to get information out of the agency it was designed to protect in the first place.

There is no need for charges or anything that rude there. I saw a radio based on the concept the other day... Put your finger on a wall and you receive...

Also, if it's gone rogue and had access to government facilities, it will likely have backup-ed itself. Blowing the server room won't help much.

So, it would be a two-way mission, with an agent or rescue team of agents inside, while a team of netrunners or whatever you call them hunts the net for trace of the AI program code and destroys backup-ed instances... That might be in working order, even...

Your objective is simple: Soul Accumulation.

Your motive is a little bit more complex: So another race can take over

Stage One

To begin your plan, you must first clone a pope. This will cause the world to slaughter a sacred calf to appease the gods, alarmed by your arrival. Who is this criminal mastermind? Where did they come from? And why do they look so good in classic black?

Stage Two

Next, you must steal the Eiffel Tower. This will all be done from a floating fortress, a mysterious place of unrivaled dark glory. Upon seeing this, the world will spontaneously combust, as countless hordes of ninjas hasten to do your every bidding.

Stage Three

Finally, you must tauntingly wave your needlessly big weather machine, bringing about a 1984 police state. Your name shall become synonymous with slaughter, and no man will ever again dare make you clean your room. Everyone will bow before your amazing toughness, and the world will have no choice but to restore your credit rating.

Merry christmas to all of you!

The older I get, the more I feel that life's usual ups and downs become more relevant and at the same time I'm immune to certain things that would have troubled me when I was... Let's say twenty.

Next year will see me turn thirty and I don't care. I think roman calendar, so I won't be old before turning sixty...

On November, 22nd, it's been the third full year of online Chromechilds Cyberpunk Campaigns. And when I look back at it now, I must say we all grew more experienced, none of the core team grew tired.

We found new talent. New players came, some stayed, some left. I know our kind of Cyberpunk ain't everyone's taste.

What really made me happy though is the fact that the game world actually is staying dynamic and at the same time gets more defined.

Another thing that really makes me happy is:

2003 hit me with many bad things. Notably bad things concerning my relatives. And I found support and understanding, as well as advice.

Both from my loving girl friend and the friends I have, both in the Internet and the meat world. It's been a very good feeling not to be left alone with all the troubles.

Some advice was harsh, but necessary. Some was subtle and equally helpful.

I also found the strength within me to do things I'm proud of now. Selfless things. Hard work well done.

So if we judge a year by monetary standing, I'm now less well off than I was last year. But I feel I have grown.

And I think the stories I write prove that...

And after all this: I wish you all a GREAT new year 2004. And, of course MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS! before that...

I was a bit disappointed with part II, but the third part: Awesome! Grandious! Loved it!

Actually Libya has very good reasons to stay out of any conflicts now. Before the embargos hit them, Libya had the most advanced medical system on this planet, for example.

Meaning, if you had cancer and were a libyan citizen, the state would pay for the best treatment available. Meaning: Worldwide. They would hire experts and they could afford (for indeed they have oil... If restored to former rights, Libya will be at least place two as richest nation in Africa...)

Low population, working socialism, less pronounciation on radical islamists, I guess Libya is now the last country any Ossama would go to. They want to get back to where they have been after getting rid of a western sponsored despot.

As for Weapons of Mass Destruction: A lot of countries openly have them and neither the US nor any other party would mind it much. (Pakistan? India? North Korea?)

As for germany's, france's and russia's oh-so good business with Iraq: There's a long list of US companies dealing with Iraq. There's an even longer list of US companies now getting all the contracts. And it wasn't France, Germany or Russia who helped Saddam into power in the first place... Or armed his troops... Ah, yes, the russians did for a while. The guy was good at getting into the right boat at the right time.

No... At least my browser says it doesn't exist.

As far as scientific papers are concerned, at least in archaeology there's a lot of good things to find on the internet. There's so many small publications that won't get past the border of the city they're published in, but you can find the articles in the net and there's a lot of discussion groups, too. And maps... And and and...

Using homepages as quotes in your papers, well, yeah, that's pretty much straining Lady Luck too much. That's reflected in the official quoting standard quite accurately (where you have to give the actual DATE with the URL) and sites like archive.org sometimes allow you to look into the past and retrieve the information as it was.

Bad things? Yeah, there's a lot of bad things, like me wanting to post on forums instead of working... But then again, it's the same with a good computer game, a good book or a good CD or DVD. Temptation!  

The thing about Linux, as far as I'm concerned, is to NOT get involved with the Linux hype and use it for the things it's really good at.

I use Windows XP and Suse 8.1 now on my main machine. And I use Linux mostly on console level. Debian is simply the best IMHO when it comes to server solutions (or just supreme when it comes to explaining server setup to me...).

Websites like sourceforge.net and the linux pages provide you with a multitude of programs for free. Programming languages are usually available for free. And you'll always find helpful minds in the net.

Let's not get fooled: Windows XP is still THE OS for those who just want a better typewriter, game console... Hey, I use it 80% of the time, until someone asks me to test/develope a PERL CGI.

Also, with Linux, you need to know what you do. I remember my first days with Linux... My hands shaked when I was logged in as Root and made some... minor changes... (Yeah, crashed, I had to restore...). Windows approach is: "The average User is dumb, so don't allow him to change too much.". Linux approach is: "Yeah, buddy, do whatever you want, but each time you hit ENTER it's past the point of no return..."

The wonderful thing about Linux is: You have the feeling you actually have control of your machine. Just know there's some work involved to get into it and discover the magic.

Hm... If I had kids with my girl friend right now, they would have our stunningly blue eyes... Hopefully my darker hair... And they would be like 16 in 2020, spell that: STRESSY!

And I'd be semi-old and helpless... Nonono.

Then again: I could pass on all my useless knowledge to helpless young lifeforms!