ColdSteelRain

Reply to Can a pc work with 2 hard drives? in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

Something from the OP that no one addressed -- you may have a second copy of a program on the old drive, but if you don't re-install it, it may not work properly. Some programs are pretty sensitive about this, some aren't. I recommend reinstalling, copying any data over if you need it, and then reclaiming the space from the old drive. Also, if you connect your old hard drive to the same IDE channel as the CD/DVD drive, the performance will be pretty bad. The IDE chan

Reply to Stardock being purchased? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]a 20 million dollar company paying annual taxes of 160,000 dollars is a drop in the bucket. well...what is the percentage of 160,000 dollars of 20 milllion dollars. It is like asking a millioniare to pay 8000 dollars in tax in a year.[/quote] I'd advise you against operating your own business or being an accountant. ;) I could be wrong, but I think SD is a $20M/yr company in revenue, not profit. There's a difference. Depending on the business, gross profit is more li

Reply to Why I love PC gaming in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Very well said, Phazon. It's nice to see a post advocating a positive position that doesn't bash someone or try to make the case that PC is better than console. While I agree with the thrust of your post, I'd like to point out that the only significant difference between PC and console power is age and packaging. There isn't any technical reason you couldn't add a mouse and keyboard to a console and run an excellent strategy game on one. I think that with the next

Reply to Questions to the devs > why ... ? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

Hi QXel, Welcome to the GC community. I'm not a dev, but I can answer #3. If you look at the top of the improvements list, there should be a couple of boxes. The one that's checked by default is to only list the newest type of each improvement, but there's also a box that will show all improvements. If you check that one, then you can build older technology. I thought there was a way to do waypoints, maybe by shift-clicking the destinations, but I might be confusing this wi

Reply to Freighter trade's still screwed up in ToA 1.95. in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I agree. Trade used to be a good income source, but now it isn't worth researching, much less the cost of a freighter or an economy starbase. It doesn't seem to get any better than about 6 bc/month, even after years of operation. I'm pretty sure I had routes in the 30's in DA, if not more.

Reply to Gaming Computer in Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

I think the graphics card is pretty weak in the Gateway. Any time you're using a video card with shared memory, you're not going to be running games well. That said, you could get this box, and see how the software you want to use actually runs. If it isn't good enough, add a better graphics card later.

Reply to Are graphics getting to good for most peoples computers? in PC Gaming Sins Forums

I don't think it's really an issue unless you just have to have the latest game right away. If you wait 6 months or a year, you can get what was the top of the line video card for a couple hundred, and probably find the game for a lot less, too. And another plus is that by waiting a while past the initial release, you get more mature implementations of the hardware, drivers, and the game. I usually upgrade something on my PC every year: disk, graphics, CPU/RAM/mobo, and I do

Reply to What type of slang is used on SINS? in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

"Nerfing" means a strong capability or exploit has been made harmless. I.e., turned into a Nerf ball.

Reply to Go to bed already! in Game Talk GalCiv2 Forums

++ I thought the in-game alarm clock (and the one-button update) were two features in Civ IV that just about every game should have. Until that gets added, though, I'm using "Alarm Clock 1.0" by Scott Moore, a freeware program for Windows. You can get it from Download.com. I can play in full-screen, and when the alarm goes off, it grabs focus until you hit snooze or shut it off. Kind of jarring, but effective.

Reply to My First Computer Game in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

I don't remember my first game, but it would have been something keyed in (and converted) from a book of BASIC games or from a magazine. Probably Hammurabi or Trek, possibly Life. My first computer was a Southwest Technical Products Corp kit built around a Motorola M6800 CPU and 4Kb of RAM. No disk, but I did have a cassette tape interface and a 40 x 20 character video display connected to a TV. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to my rocking chair......

Reply to It's quiet... in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]The only thing I know is stardock pulls away all their staff for something. Just after a big release of their games.[/quote] Well, I suppose they could do what other developers do and reassign all the original team to a completely different project (or fire them) and hand over the maintenance of the code to a few people who haven't ever seen it before. Give 'em a break. They provide better support than any other game developer, and better support than I've gotten on maj

Reply to Have these forums slowed down or is it just me? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

It isn't uncommon to have a page just flat time out, and then the next several pop right in.

Reply to What part of the world are you from? in Everything Else Sins Forums

Dallas, Texas. 'nuff said. ;)

Reply to Please slam my game in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Release a build that doesn't crash to desktop.I've played an awful lot of Galciv2 builds and not one of them has been without CTD errors. I understand that the game is complex, and that complexity breeds errors, but consistantly releasing new patches, all of which contain fatal errors is a shockingly poor effort and works to undermine Stardock's entire anti-piracy policy.I remember reading the origional Stardock-Starforce drama just before I bought a copy of Galciv2 and hearing "By releas

Reply to SPORE in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

The short answers are: - People don't like software that has to phone home to work. And you don't know exactly what info it's sending. - People get really upset when they want to play a single player game and can't just because the Internet isn't available. Think about people traveling and not at home. - People get ticked off when they upgrade their PC and have to reactivate the software because it thinks its on a new system. - People don't like the idea tha

Reply to Need some honest advice regarding which game to buy in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

I don't buy a lot of games, just because I don't have that much time to play, so I'm pretty picky. IMO, GC2:TA is definitely going to give you the best value. Now that the tech trees are different, you [I]really [/I]have to play each race differently, so there's even more replay value than in GC2:DA. I wouldn't be concerned about any bugs in the release; you can count on SD to issue timely patches, and it isn't uncommon for a new feature or two to also be included.

Reply to Desktop shortcut for ToA? in Twilight of the Arnor GalCiv2 Forums

You can also right-click on the TALaunch.exe file and select "Pin to Start Menu", if you don't want to clutter your desktop. Of course, if you play as often as you [I]should[/I], it'll stay on the start menu anyway ;) .

Reply to a noob stupid question in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

It seems pretty clear that it's some alien race that picked up our radio signals from the Disco Era, went insane, and the Vasri were the closest target.

Reply to Why impulse worse then DVD in Impulse Beta GalCiv2 Forums

Zydor has a good point. This seems to be too much angst when we're talking about a $50 game. If you were spending $16M to install JDEdwards, you'd have a lawyer review all the contracts before you agreed to buy it. If I'm spending $50 for a game, or just about anything for that matter, and it doesn't work out, I take it as a lesson learned and move on.

Reply to Can we be honorable warriors in Sins....... in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

I think a few more options would be great, and really add to the 4X depth. From a game design perspective, though, you'd need to make sure you didn't add something that would require micromanagement.

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

I'll grant that those are decent components, and you save a bit with the rebates, but without a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and operating system, you're still a bit short of a usable system. I was thinking of a system spec'd at least to the level of the Ars Technica "Hot Rod" (see their system guide here: http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200803.ars/3), which is closer to $1,600. The original point, though, is that consoles are much less expensive than PCs, esp

Reply to What is EVOLUTION, anyway? in Everything Else Sins Forums

I knew they shouldn't have put "Sins" in the title.....

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming Sins Forums

[quote]It cost me 2500 now time to spend another 2500.....nah I can get All 3 consoles for half the price and console games for the most part work.[/quote] [quote]I'm sorry you have no idea how to buy a PC. You can get a top of the line PC for less than $750 which will last you longer than the console and let you play more games with better graphics with free MP (not like Live's subscription charge).[/quote] $750 USD for "top of the line"? I call BS, but feel free to prove me

Reply to Ubuntu general question in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

I'd also point out that if you have an older PC gathering dust, you might consider loading that one up instead of your main machine. Ubuntu (and any Linux distro that I've tried) work really well on older, less powerful hardware. I'd also caution you to expect a steep learning curve. Ubuntu and the applications that come with it [I]look[/I] a lot like Windows, but it really isn't.

Reply to The existence of for-pay stuff doesn't hurt you in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

[I]Ass, gas, or grass, nobody rides for free.[/I] Crude, but succinct.