The Workermonkey

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Here we go... 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 3/18/2010 03:59:00 PM

HADDAM —
Chester Harris, newly elected to the Region 17 school board, is a Republican with a standard conservative outlook: He distrusts government bureaucracy, believes in fiscal restraint and thinks kids today have too many advantages and too few responsibilities.
But it is his answer to fundamental questions about the origins of life that sets him apart. Harris, 53, rejects evolution.
http://www.courant.com/news/education/hc-evolution-haddam-school-boar.artmar15,0,4249837.story

3 comments

Well, he's from The Neck, so everyone knows that's where all the crazies come from.

By  Brancibeer, at Thursday, March 18, 2010 4:02:00 PM  

i saw that too. then i threw up all over my desk.

By  josh, at Friday, March 19, 2010 6:48:00 PM  

Well now that I see how strongly Republicans believe in their personal beliefs, im really thinking of changing my registration to a regressive.

Im just so tired of this thinking of others. ME ME ME, thats what Jesus said right?

By  wyldshaman, at Sunday, March 21, 2010 12:10:00 AM  

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Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Obviously, we're not spending enough time talking about Civ 5 

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 3/09/2010 07:40:00 PM

yes hexagons. i like the idea of having more little people per unit, i do root for them when they are in battle. the outcome can be telegraphed a little by watching them drop, at what rate and in what order. more of them should give this mechanic a little more surprise.

the graphical upgrades re always nice, ocean looks a lot better along with mountains. so far i haven't seen any fog of war pop up, i wonder if thats gone. the city above doesn't look like the sprawling mess that they used to, i'm ok with just a generic square for my cities.

i have a feeling natural land masses and narrow gaps will play a bigger part here as you can't move 30 units at a time through narrow gaps. i'm also a little upset to not have the live action advisors back a la civ II. i'm wondering how culture is affected by hexagons, could it be easier to pluck a hex than a square? you could get 4 sides of a hex to be over whelmed with culture a little easier than 3 sides of a square.

Newest update:

http://pc.ign.com/articles/107/1075587p1.html

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETxMUjyxv9Q

Site:

http://www.civilization5.com/

6 comments

Damn it! You had to link a video didnt you. Now i freaking excited about this silly game of yours.

I hope its late, so i can enjoy my son for a few months. Oh by the way im having a son.

Ok, back to Civ. I dig the no stacking, its a lot more table-top game style. But definitely requires hexes. And will units be harder to build? Or are you going to see maps filled with units? Oh... i bet there will be an ability to build up units, such as a "manpower" rating, short build time low manpower, long/expensive = high.

Thus, for a strategic defense point(choke) you would build a high manpower defensive unit(spearmen/machinegunner) backed directly behind by low-high manpower ranged units(archer/artillery). Cities would be defended by high manpower ranged in center, surrounded by melee/defense units.

What do you think?

By  wyldshaman, at Tuesday, March 09, 2010 9:51:00 PM  

Yeah yeah, that looks pretty freakin awesome. That's one temptation i'm glad I stayed away from all these years. Not going to touch it.

Congrats Jessie!

By  Brancibeer, at Tuesday, March 09, 2010 9:56:00 PM  

One interesting item noted in a euro gaming mag was that now a unit can only attack(or be attacked) in(or from) 6 directions. Before, it was always nine directions.

By  T, at Wednesday, March 10, 2010 6:22:00 PM  

i find this interesting, but understand nothing other than jesse having a son. congrats jesse!

By  josh, at Wednesday, March 10, 2010 6:53:00 PM  

Thanks guys.

The Hexagons really have a slightly limiting factor, but enhance the movement and environmental look, so its good. But are not a major factor. How often do attacks come from 6-9 sides? So forget about this, its a cosmetic/realistic upgrade that has little effect on actual gameplay.

The AI enhancements will make the game better, but also a little more predictable.

The real deal is in the no stacking and distance combat.

By  wyldshaman, at Thursday, March 11, 2010 5:59:00 PM  

Thanks guys.

The Hexagons really have a slightly limiting factor, but enhance the movement and environmental look, so its good. But are not a major factor. How often do attacks come from 6-9 sides? So forget about this, its a cosmetic/realistic upgrade that has little effect on actual gameplay.

The AI enhancements will make the game better, but also a little more predictable.

The real deal is in the no stacking and distance combat.

By  wyldshaman, at Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:00:00 PM  

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Saturday, March 06, 2010

wait a minute, i'm allowed to get drunk and rant on the monkey! 

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 3/06/2010 02:48:00 AM

thats why i started it! to build your own, or buy complete, that is the question. i need a new computer to play civ 5. most of the computer purchases in my life have coincided with the release of new civ games. i bought my first NEC a month after civ2 was released, i bought my dell for school about 8 months before civ 3 was released, before it was delayed a few months, i bought my current computer for civ 4 about 4 years ago. its time for a new one. i need a new desktop, mostly built for gaming. building on my own is slightly cheaper but i have ot put it together and there is no support or warranty. I've never had that bad luck with dells, I've just burned out a few video cards playing games. anyone got ideas for build your own vs buying pre-made (ie: Dell)?

i'm about to drastically change my life, or at least a big change for me. in the next two months or so i'm going to start a new job (hopefully, or at least lose the one i have now), find a new place to live (hopefully buy before the end of April, tax break!), should i be writing a book about this? i figure i could add in getting into shape, some kind of crazy diet, and getting a girlfriend and call it a new life. write some crappy book with a catchy title and go for a bestseller on Oprah. Oprah is my secret weapon for selling comics. people lap up what ever she says like milk-bones. I've never written a book before but from what people tell me its not all that hard. i work with a guy now who's written several. i hate his guts and beg for him to be fired every day, but he's written a few books in his time. they all suck, one is a collectors guide to coins, which he gave me a copy of, its awful, absolutely not helpful but its getting published, another is something about managing purchasing systems, which he's awful at and the reason i want to get rid of him. and some kind of text book i've never ask about. if this moron can get this many books published, then i should have no problem right? right?women love that crap right? plus they give you an editor and change what ever they want anyway to make it an enjoyable read right?

humm....

6 comments

Whoa there mister. Don't you think thats a little ambitious? Why don't we focus on whats important...
Lets hear what the pre-reqs are before you build a new PC. And all this talk about jobs, homes and girlfriends I quite frankly find concerning. Thosee things are distractions.

And you can forget writing a book. Too much time. Instead, I want you to reflect on the impact of a) Hex based maps and b) one unit per tile and how these two things are going to change your strategy.

By  T, at Saturday, March 06, 2010 7:01:00 AM  

now thats a man with his priorities in order.

i think your going to have to have a layer of units surrounding the citys with a layer of bombardment units just hind hind them, the massive stack of units slowly bombarding and then picking off the weak won't work anymore.

hex bases maps will force us to protect important units more. instead of a mega stack, it'll be more of a massive wave, many units spread out across the land. natural borders and narrow passages will have a bigger impact.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Saturday, March 06, 2010 10:28:00 AM  

theres no more stacking. Confirmed that it will be one unit per hex.

By  T, at Saturday, March 06, 2010 2:20:00 PM  

i know you're aware of this, but i remind you anyway that i've owned 3 dells and have had horrible problems with all, and no useful tech support at all. i feel a sample size of 1 is too small, so i gave them a second chance. the 3rd i got for free as a hand me down, so i can't complain, but i would never purchase one again.

with all the time you'll be spending indoors with civ 5 you can count on me to meet you outside for some golf. you've got 22 years to get good enough to make the champions tour.

By  josh, at Saturday, March 06, 2010 8:23:00 PM  

Whoa! whoa! whoa? wait up what is this no stacking shit! no offense matt, i am concerned about your future, but this is ridiculous. this seems to be a step in the wrong direction. but i wonder if its optional in the setup or not.

By  Tino, at Tuesday, March 09, 2010 1:00:00 AM  

Valentin!

By  Brancibeer, at Tuesday, March 09, 2010 3:22:00 PM  

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Thursday, March 04, 2010

I can't take the waiting.... 

# posted by NoBrainRequired @ 3/04/2010 10:48:00 AM

25.8 Weeks
180.5 Days
4333 Hours
259991 Minutes
15,599,440 Seconds

But I have a plan. I'm going to freeze myself in a snow bank. In 25.8 weeks, Matt will unfreeze me. Pretty sure this will work, I think I saw it on the science channel or something, maybe in church, can't remember. Otzi the Iceman came out ok, right?

4 comments

For what?

By  Brancibeer, at Thursday, March 04, 2010 4:29:00 PM  

You can't be serious. Only the most important thing ever....

You see Branci, for many years I've felt this hole in my life. An real emptiness. I tried to fill that hole with things like family, career, religion...but these were all dead-ends.

No, what I've been waiting for, what I need to live, to truly, truly live is so beautiful and awe inspiring words hardly do it justice. The thing that gives me reason to wake in the morning and continue to breathe is Civ 5.

I still can't take the waiting.

By  Anonymous, at Thursday, March 04, 2010 6:30:00 PM  

Have you seen the southpark where Cartman can't wait to get a Wii? Or was that what you were referring to with the snowbank...

By  Brancibeer, at Thursday, March 04, 2010 8:21:00 PM  

what makes you think i'm going to remember to un-thaw you? from midnight purchase through one more turn, to forgetting to eat, breath, sleep, shower, i might actually die before i stop playing my first game. dehydration is a real possibility. perhaps we could hijack a truck enroute to the store, then we could play sooner....

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Saturday, March 06, 2010 2:12:00 AM  

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Monday, March 01, 2010

What now bitches? 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 3/01/2010 02:42:00 PM

7 comments

Just curious, what does the equation work out to you?

By  T, at Monday, March 01, 2010 5:17:00 PM  

ouch! wtf would he be paying ~700$ for?

By  ron, at Monday, March 01, 2010 11:46:00 PM  

Hey Ron!

Would you be willing to walk me through that calculation? I'm assuming some the values must be known constants (to which I'm guessing that the 'e' is related perhaps to the e=mc^2,just a guess I'm not a scientist). And to be quite honest, I have completely forgotten how to do that 3rd piece.

-T

By  T, at Tuesday, March 02, 2010 8:38:00 AM  

What happened to the TL who asked Mr. Gambio to be placed in the advanced chemistry class back in high school??

By  Brancibeer, at Tuesday, March 02, 2010 5:28:00 PM  

I didn't really do it out.

e is about 3 (2.78 or something) and we'll call 2 pi about 6. so 3^6 minus a few is a decent estimate as to how much it i2. You can ignore the first part and the last part too.

By  ron, at Tuesday, March 02, 2010 10:38:00 PM  

Thanks Ron.

Branci,
To answer your question... A wiser man than me once said "Fat, Drunk and Stupid is no way to go through life, son". I'm living proof ;-).

But seriously, even though I do statistical analysis for a living, my math skill are terrible. Its actually a joke with my staff that you can't trust any math that I do in my head. The nice thing about statistics is that 90% of it is interpretation (Did you know that 54% of all statistics are made up on the spot?). That part, I am good at. I'm also one of the best bull shitters in the world, I openly admit that sometimes I have no clue what I'm talking about but the very fact that I am confident in my answers prevents people from questioning me. Sometimes this is referred to as 'salesmanship'. Remember if people don't agree with you, then they just dont understand the 'facts' properly.

Realistically, you can prove anything with "facts" and "logic". Its not the ability to be right that matters, its the ability to not be proven wrong that counts (c.f. religion or politics or the supreme monkey overlord). Its all about packaging. Ron could have told me the answer was just about anything and I would have believed him only because I couldnt prove he is wrong.

By  T, at Thursday, March 04, 2010 10:16:00 AM  

facts are determined by who talks the loudest, not correct information. and the higher up the food chain you are, the less correct you have to be for it to be considered fact. it is entirely possible for the CEO of a company to tell his employee's that the sky is magenta and from that day forward it will be unquestionable fact.

math it over rated. i have dilbert cartoon hanging in my cube with the quote of the centuary; "one misleading benchmark can do more in 5 minutes than years of good engineering could ever do". true story.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Saturday, March 06, 2010 2:18:00 AM  

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