Archives: 16 - 30 September 1998

Battle Time:

Ok, on Friday October 9th at 10PM EST, Steel Maelstrom will be battling the Vicious Vixens. It will be either a 3on3 or 4on4 played on our server. Battle attendence will be decided by an FFA match next Tuesday. The results of the battle will be posted here, winner is decided by best 2 out of 3. I'm confident that SMS will kick some Vixen ass!
Posted 16:1 EST by LT Tempest

A-Wal's Quote of the Day:

"We all want to live sufficiently free from anger so that it isn't a problem, so that it doesn't prevent us from living successfully and harmoniously with other people and at peace within ourselves. This requires no just a philosophy, or a way of looking at things, it requires some skill-building."

Kimes Gustin

Autheor of: Anger, Rage, and Resentment
Posted 12:13 EST by LT A-Wal

Battle Time:

Steel Maelstrom is scheduled to Battle the Posted 22:43 EST by LT Tempest

100% Nothing To Do With Quake:

Last night my father showed me a place where you can buy things from an auction over the internet. eBAY is awsome! My father was able to buy MS Visual Basic Pro 6.0 for only $65, and MS Office 97 for $70. I bought myself a nice guitar for $100. This place is easy to use, and you can get a ton of awsome deals. OEM clearouts, factory clearances, FBI reposetions, and the usual junk are only a small selection of what they sell. The registration is free, and you only pay for the items you buy. The person selling has to pay a percentage, and anyone who is registured can sell things too. If you're in need of a program, or a chair, this place is the first place to look!

Check 'em out at: http://www.ebay.com
Posted 13:39 EST by LT A-Wal

Miscellaneous Rumblings:

Welcome to the land of 50+ fps 16bit color quake2, Rantage :) Now you have to make the hard decision: gl_flashblend 0 or 1. Colorballs or Light glow. Here're some tiny pics for reference :)

Cool, I got it right this time :)
Posted 3:14 EST by LT Reaperman

Kreth's Korner:

Being the IRC pimp that I am, nothing pisses me off like having to deal with some self-important dumbass with delusions of grandeur... Having just bought the Reckoning mission pack, I stopped into the #quake2 channel on undernet to ask for tips on a certain location I was stuck on (it was finding the green keycard on the Warehouse, if any of my fellow clanmates can help). At one point, an op who goes by witz (*!*wnitz@*.qtm.net) set the channel +m (moderated). When I messaged him indicating that those of us with legit questions were also muted, he banned me from the channel... It's incidents like this that give the Quake community a bad name... Feel free to abuse this dumbass should you run into him, and tell him Kreth sent ya...
Posted 23:17 EST by SGT Kreth

SMS Consumer Alert:

EvilNun and I finally entered the world of hardware acceleration last week (Nun's new system: a PII-450Mhz/128MB SDRAM screamer with a 12MB Diamond Monster 3D II).

Youch.

I had seen the screenshots, I had heard the testimonials: hardware-accelerated Quake II was the shit hands-down. But you can never quite believe something until you've seen it.

If you've seen The Wizard of Oz, think back to when Dorothy first landed in Oz and opened the door to the gray farmhouse and peered out into the technicolor scenery. Same thing here. Besides the brilliant new colors highlighting the wall and floor textures, the increased framerate makes Quake II look like a television program...it's that damn smooth.

If you don't already have a card, get one. Not only will you need it for the upcoming Quake III: Arena, but you'll learn to appreciate Quake II all over again.

(this has been an unpaid testimonial by Rantage, who stared at the screen for hours and had w00d whenever he saw a smoke or railgun trail)

Posted 21:57 EST by CPT Rantage

Reading Material:

The camping debate continues...read Rights and Wrongs by legion to find out what camping, Bill Clinton and pepperoni pizza all have in common.
Posted 21:49 EST by CPT Rantage

Miscellaneous Rumblings:

A couple of things I wish to mention:
• First, I'd like to add my congratulations to Suko for his acceptance into the clan. Great job.
• Second, I've received a buttload of feedback about the camping article; 97% of it in support, the rest being (mostly) polite disagreement. I'm happy to have hit a nerve.

Posted 21:33 EST by CPT Rantage

Roster Changes:

Well I'd just like to congratulate SUKO he's now a full member of SMS. Congratulations Suko.
Posted 22:16 EST by XO Ace

Reading Material:

Probably the best editorial I have ever read is available on PlanetQuake right here....LOL. Yep, looks like the PQ guys decided to repost my editorial on camping and rules nazis; good for them.

Of course, we also have a local copy available in the Articles section.
Posted 18:3 EST by CPT Rantage

100% Nothing To Do With Quake:

Go to Dave's Classics and grab MAME. 4 words: Asteroids, Sinistar, Qbert, and Starwars. I grew up on these things. Go ahead, dig up those memories. You know you want to. "I Hunger, Coward"
Posted 3:6 EST by LT Reaperman

Miscellaneous Rumblings:

Here we go again people DM is now available on the NEW SmS servers....with a great new TASTE of the NEW Quake 2 Mission Pack 2 MAPS and Weapons and the last Quake 2 Mission Pack and also all the regular maps we are use to......199.71.127.110:27912 also the puter that the server is up on will be going to a P2 300 next week which will help out as well if you have had any problems....MAKE SURE YOU GETS THE NEW MISSION PACK!\The new weapons rock....also at the moment you can not AUTO download them because they are in a pack file and that means it is not possible for AUTODOWNLOAD.....we are working on UNPACKING them and making folders for each so people can auto download it all....or better yet go grab the MISSION PACK 1 and 2 to SPICE up your Quake...I emailed Nick on the fragboard a few days ago and he hasnt answered....
Posted 17:25 EST by LT Violator

Surf's Up:

I've finished registering SMS at the CAN Clan Attic News page. They seem to have their personal shit together, so give 'em a visit.
Posted 18:50 EST by CPT Rantage

Miscellaneous Rumblings:

Sorry 'bout the broken image link below, I'll have it fixed later tonight.
Posted 18:47 EST by CPT Rantage

Bot News:

I just tried out an Eraser bot in a one on one match. The map was the Edge, with weapons stay, and instant items. What I found was surprising.

On one level, the Erasers perform like the true cyborgs they are, while on another they run around like drunk preschoolers. In terms of rocket dodging and tactical motion, they are capable of inhuman feats. I've seen one perform a sideways jump neatly over my rocket while engaged in a chaingun fight with another bot, and facing away from me. In other cases I've seen them pop out in front of a rocket and strafe out of the way within the space of a couple of frames. (cl_maxfps set to 25) However, in other cases they jog in place and jump like crack-happy rabbits, particularly around the machinegun near the tall lift on the Edge. Part of this may be due to the fact that I ran them with skill set to 1, but they are supposed to adapt as necessary.

In general, they do not seem to act either human or competant, as this screenshot shows. The few frags the bot did score were a couple times I got overconfident and was caught in the rocket launcher tunnel.


Posted 0:16 EST by LT Reaperman

Shout Out:

Praise the Lord and pass the Ammunition. The SMS servers are back in business. Extreme thanks to Ace and Dr. Nick for providing us a safe haven for antisocial activities.
Posted 0:4 EST by LT Reaperman

Quake III News:

Anybody really surprised that those preview shots of Quake III scanned from the upcoming PC Gamer have been pulled from the Net?
Posted 18:56 EST by CPT Rantage

The Fragboard Race:

Hi everyone.Well I've gotten alot of mail regarding the SMS servers being down. So i called Nick on the phone .He just got in from Toronto.Where he was doing some work .So the servers will be up tonight at 17:00 hrs pm est. So will the fragboard.Nick said while he was gone the server must have crashed.
Posted 14:34 EST by XO Ace

Surf's Up:

I haven't really jumped onto the Half-Life bandwagon, but there's an interesting review of Half-Life:Day One over at Evil Avatar's place that made me stop and think perhaps it may be worth a trip to the ol' software store soon.
Posted 12:25 EST by CPT Rantage

Miscellaneous Rumblings:

Well I'm happy to announce officially the NEW SmS Servers Head Hunters 2 199.71.127.110 27910 Thunderwalker CTF 199.71.127.110 27911 DeathMatch will be up this week so stay tuned for the address as soon as I get allthe info. DM will include all the maps from the Mission Packs including the NEW Ground Zero and all the original maps available out there.....yes DM is gonna rock! So Hope to see you all in FRAGGING very soon. I do need help with one particular thing and that is WHAT do I have to change on the Fragboard program to get it working with the newest patches? I am NOT going to email DR. Nick about this if someone else wants to then fine but I dont want to bug him about setting up a fragboard elsewhere. Kill you all soon!
Posted 17:18 EST by LT Violator

Reading Material:

In a fit of angst after reading a McPlanetQuake editorial, I've written one in response called "The Ugly Truth About Camping".
Posted 14:16 EST by CPT Rantage

Shout Out:

Ok, a few things of importance. I'm pleased to announce 2 new Clan Steel Maelstrom Servers: One is HeadHunters2 and the other server is Thunderwalker CTF. IP addresses will be posted soon.

I'd like to thank LT Violator for getting us these servers...thanks man! We are working about getting a fragboard up...Violator is waiting for a reply from Dr.Nick on how to do that.

• I have proposed challenges with Clan MR and Clan 519. Waiting for their responses.
  Posted 13:15 EST by LT Tempest

Gentle Reminder:

TO POTENTIAL TRAINEES: When I say "no anonymous e-mail addresses" (such as those provided by Hotmail, Yahoo and the like) I mean it.
Posted 20:28 EST by CPT Rantage

Quake III News:

If that first one is a screenshot, id will be reclaiming their unchallenged throne of the 3D market. On the quality of the shots: they still look better than software rendering in q2 :P
Posted 13:24 EST by LT Reaperman

Quake III News:

GameKillaz has posted what they claim to be an "exclusive"...scans of the next PC Gamer issue that contain a Quake III: Arena preview.

The images are horrible (what the hell did they do, smear vasoline all over the flatbed scanner?) but you can still get a glimpse of the new Quake III Q and a new 1000-polygon player model.

There are no thumbnails as of right now, so expect a longer-than-usual download.
Posted 12:35 EST by CPT Rantage

Roster Changes:

No, no roster changes tonight, but perhaps soon. I've re-opened the Join Us section and we are open to all applications at this point, provided they follow the guidelines in that section.
Posted 23:16 EST by CPT Rantage

Miscellaneous Rumblings:

• As promised earlier today, a couple of new tactics articles by LT Reaperman have been posted.
• For your downloading pleasure, I've trimmed the news page and put the old stuff into the Archives.
  Posted 23:2 EST by CPT Rantage

Files O' Plenty:

I'm pleased to announce the availability of yet another SMS skin -- this time, it's for the new Yohko model. Veteran (!) SMS skinner Hellbent, who created the female SMS skin along with On_Fire, has focused her attention onto this anime-type model and damn, does it look good!
Posted 22:43 EST by CPT Rantage

Surf's Up:

I always like going to the lesser-publicized Quake websites. Their news may not be as fresh but the viewpoints usually are. Here's a few I've stumbled across today:
• Quakers Domain - probably the best use of purple and black since the Baltimore Ravens.
• AusQuake - I had an annoying Aussie comment to throw in here (something about it being "bonzer" or the like), but just visit the damn place. Pay no attention to me.
• FragLand - Another international Quake site. Ask them about their waffles.
• Campers Anonymous - lots of tactics, but no sign of their 12-step program.

Posted 18:6 EST by CPT Rantage

SMS Consumer Alert:

Did you know that 56k modems cannot reach full 56k speed here in the United States? If you've got a V.90 modem, you were probably aware of this odd fact (or if you have a faster connection, you probably didn't care).

As a new 56K modem owner (props to my boys at 3Com/U.S. Robotics), I discovered that connection speed depends on several factors. Among them:

1. Phone line quality
2. ISP support of your modem's protocol (V.90 is the 56k standard, but there are others: X2 and 56k Flex)
3. The United States FCC (Federal Communications Commission)

WTF? Yes, that's right. Back in the mid-70s the FCC (you know, the guys who keep fining Howard Stern for saying "penis" on the radio?) placed certain limitations on phone lines to reduce line noise and interference. While the technology has improved, the law stayed the same and limited data transmission across a regular phone line to 53k per second.

I mention this all in light of a story on CNN today announcing that the FCC will probably lift the legal limit to allow full 56k throughput. Will this extra bit of speed affect Quake2 playability on the Net? Perhaps one of you gurus out there can drop me a line and let me know. And while you're at it: are there similar restrictions in countries outside of the U.S.?

First person to answer each question...um...gets to download the SMS skin of their choice. Yeah, that's it. *shrug*
Posted 17:36 EST by CPT Rantage

Tactics:

A couple of things to mention today:
• LT Reaperman has written a couple more tactics articles. I'll be posting them in the appropriate section later tonight.
• Something that has been a long time in coming is the Jailbreak FAQ, put together by Cyclone. If you've been curious about the game, I suggest spending some time reading it.

Posted 12:51 EST by CPT Rantage

Reading Material:

I was surfing the news pages today for the first time in almost three months. That's news in itself, but I came across a nice article on PCGamer about who is a "Hard-Core" player. I found it rather interesting that I'm only a "Firm-Core" player. Check it out, and see just how hard-core you really are.

The people who designed this webpage need to rethink their design, cause their crazzy window-frame crap made it impossible for me to actually link directly to the page I wanted. You'll have to go under the columns section, and then click on the one titled "Are you Hard-core?"PCGamer
Posted 20:23 EST by LT A-Wal

Reading Material:

LOL...if you're in a bitter mood, go read "Why You Should Kiss Blue's Ass", the latest editorial by Dry Vermouth, author of the not-quite-dead-yet Texas Martini Foundation.
Posted 18:21 EST by CPT Rantage

Miscellaneous Rumblings:

PlanetShogo. Oy vey. When will the whoring end?
Posted 8:55 EST by CPT Rantage