| 31 May 1998 |
Battle Time....not:
The fun with other clans continues. I received a distressed letter from the leader of M12 in regards to yesterday's news. What follows is part of his letter and my response:
Cyrk73@aol.com wrote:
> The challenge is STILL ON and I still have to establish a date with the
> members. Then I will get back to you. I'm sorry if I screwed up the date on
> the message but I don't like to hear bullshit about how we are last minute and
> all.
What else am I to expect if the information you send me IS INCORRECT?
Is there some cross-reference chart that I'm supposed to have:
"Oh, M12 says they want a battle TODAY....ok, that must mean they want a
battle SOME OTHER DAY..."
WTF do you expect me to do? Call the PSYCHIC FRIENDS NETWORK to find
out what you REALLY MEANT?
> If you don't except the challenge we will label your clan as yellow and
> we know that you are afraid of us.
Label us?
What, there was a sale at Office Depot?
I don't give a shit IF or WHAT you label SMS....be it yellow, violet,
puce or plaid. Scream it at the top of your lungs on your website.
Proclaim it on every IRC channel. Make some ad banners for the Internet
Link Exchange. Wake the President.
Somehow, I'll try to find a way to keep sleeping at night.
SMS is not interested in dealing with M12 at this time. I'm sure you'll
interpret that in a manner complimentary to your own clan, but be aware
of this: if I get word that an M12 member is harassing one of my people
or any other guest on a SMS server I will ban your entire clan.
When we are interested in a match, we will contact you.
Rantage, SMS
Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, the street gang mentality has entered cyberspace!
Roster Changes:
- CandyMan passed his qualification battle last night, and is now a member of SMS. Good job!
- The FFA battle between the Sergeants to fill one of the empty Lieutenant positions has been postponed due to technical problems. The clanwide FFA to fill the other position is still set for next Saturday.
Patch-O-Matic:
- As you may know, the latest Quake2 patch, version 3.15, is out. It features some reworking of the network code (to make latency prediction and gameplay more like that in Quakeworld), some bug fixes and an autodownload feature. The links below are to the 1MB upgrade patch only -- version 3.14 to 3.15. If you want the full deal, go to PlanetQuake or Id
- Note that the SMS Quake2 servers are currently running version 3.15, which apparently is not backward-compatible. In other words, if you want to play on the SMS servers, you need the patch.
- Version 3.16 is expected out shortly. It, too, is not going to be backward-compatible...so we'll all be downloading it before we can play on the upgraded servers.
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| 30 May 1998 |
Battle Time:
- The scrimmage with Clan of the Camper looks as if it will take place on Saturday June 27th at 10pm eastern (7pm pacific).
- Today I received a challenge from Cyrk of Clan M12.....for a battle today.
*sigh*
People, I don't make the Challenge section available to the public for my own health. Read it.
SMS has declined this offer, and will continue to do so until clans decide to quit dropping these bullshit last-minute challenges in our laps when they decide they're ready.
- Practice tonight, a FFA to fill one of the empty LT positions.
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| 26 May 1998 |
Roster Changes:
- We have a new Trainee by the name of Ballistix, from Ontario.
Miscellaneous:
- Good practice tonight....a lot of people showed up, which is always a good sign.
- The SMS servers were down tonight, I suspect that Dr. Nick will have them up again soon.
- Until I have time to make it a section unto itself, SMS server info and the SMS Quake2 skin will be available in the Roster section.
- For some reason I keep neglecting to add the link to the SMS Fragboard to the Links section. Well fear not anymore, because it's there now.
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| 24 May 1998 |
Roster Changes:
- -anTHraX- is now a member of the clan. During practice last night he beat the attending SMS members hands-down, so after consulting with XO Ace I made the executive decision that in light of the lengthy amount of time it is taking to arrange a 1-on-1, that practice would qualify as his "test". Well done.
- I failed to mention the application of CandyMan to the SMS; he's now listed on the Roster page as well.
No hablamos espanol:
- Technically this should go in the "Roster Changes" section, but I couldn't resist. I received an application from a player in Mexico....which in itself is perfectly OK. But it's written entirely in Spanish. Oh sure, those 2 years of class in high school kind of paid off in the translation department, but I'm not going to start making everything here bilingual. Shit, I can barely keep the site current as it is! :D Suffice it to say, that if you submit an application to SMS, do it in english. Even broken english is ok, but english is the "official SMS language." Sorry.
- Of course, after writing the above I realized that the non-english speaking people who would be sending me non-english applications wouldn't know what the hell I just wrote. Dammit.
ICAOL? ONO!
- One of the more disturbing news stories of the past week was in regards to AOL's attempt to purchase Mirabilis, makers of ICQ. How bad could this be? How about a bunch of bandwidth-intensive banner ads popping up every time you run ICQ? Face it, if it's AOL...it's shit. For more information, read the CNN.com story.
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| 22 May 1998 |
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Rantage's Note To Self:
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| 19 May 1998 |
Hype Machine In Motion:
- No, I'm not talking about Seinfeld (ugh, what a shitty finale episode IMO). The word's out that Unreal will be in stores this Memorial Day weekend (May 23-25). You remember Unreal, don't you?
You know, the game that was supposed to be the "Quake killer?" The one that has been years in development, pushed back time and again? The game that developers said would run fine on a P-133 but now on a P-200 reportedly drops more frames than a drunken optician? Ring any bells?
Bitter? No, just dreading the inevitable onslaught of comparisons of this "great new game" to "tired old Quake2".
Regardless of how Unreal compares to Quake2, remember this: in the time that Epic has released their cutting-edge game, Id software has released two. And are laughing all the way to the bank. And have entertained thousands doing so.
Just writing a little reality check. You're welcome.
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| 11 May 1998 |
Battle Time:
- The one-on-one between SSG PFunk and Trainee Anthrax has been postponed.
A-Wal's Arena O' Agression:
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| 9 May 1998 |
Surf-O-Matic:
- SMS is registered at Clan Central...shouldn't your clan be too?
The Rumormill:
- A new home for SMS? Stay tuned.
Roster Changes:
- We have received another applicant to the clan by the name of Jubei.
- Cadre members have been named as well:
- SSG PFunk has been assigned to anTHraX
- SGT A-Wal has been assigned to Jubei
Battle Time:
- The negotiations with COTC continue. I take responsibility for the most recent delay. Damn Real LifeTM.
Miscellaneous:
- SGT A-Wal has returned from his trip to the CGDC (Computer Game Developers
Conference) with some exciting things to tell us. Hopefully we can post some of it here soon.
- I've taken down the Ex-Lax ad, as it's no longer relevant (or as funny). XO Ace sent me something that may be used in the future, so hold on to your pants.
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| 4 May 1998 |
Roster Changes:
- The new membership requirements are now online.
- anTHraX is the first individual to accept the challenge of the Trainee program, we wish him the best during the probationary period. His corresponding Cadre member has not been named.
Battle Time:
- Got an e-mail from Cowl of Clan of the Camper (COTC) regarding our upcoming scrimmage. I'll be responding to him tonight.
- Also received an e-mail from Plague of Clan LND regarding an upcoming battle. LND's proposal for levels/servers is currently under consideration by SMS leadership.
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| 2 May 1998 |
Roster Changes:
- Nope, not today either. :D
- The new membership requirements have been completed and submitted to the voting members of SMS for review. They will be published as soon as they are approved.
Llama Alert:
- "Clan" Black Dagger ([BD]) apparently chose our DM server as their playground for recess last night, to the annoyance of everybody else there. Thanks for the profanity and message-flooding, children. Let it be known that until a formal apology from their clan leader is received, any Black Dagger member found on the SMS servers will be kicked without warning.
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| 29 April 1998 |
Roster Changes:
- Suprise! No roster changes for today!
- Still working on new member requirements.
- There will be a mandatory SMS practice on Saturday, May 26th.
- Those who are curious about the coverage (or lack thereof) regarding departing SMS members would do well to not only review the 7 March 1998 news, but remember that I'm a vindictive son of a bitch.
Battle Time:
- Well....not yet. Clan of the Camper has been having communications problems recently, so negotiations on a friendly scrimmage have been slowed.
Server Update:
- Last night the SMS DM and CTF servers were down for most of the practice session (thanks to Dr. Nick for bringing them back online). The old adage is true: you don't appreciate something until it's gone. Quite a few overburdened Quake2 servers full of whiny llamas out there, I rediscovered.
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| 27 April 1998 |
Roster Changes:
- It's with great regret that we part ways with Slavemistress. She has been having technical difficulties with her system for the last few weeks, and didn't anticipate a solution any time soon. We wish her well.
- In a remarkably unrelated story, the Second Annual Steel Maelstrom Purge continues....three members leave today....one resigned before being kicked out for being a tempramental, insubordinate child.....one left to start a clan of his own (a popular theme these days by those with no inkling what it entails) and one.....just left.
- History repeats itself....anybody who was in SMS in late '96/early '97 saw pretty much the same thing. I predict that 1998 will bear out to be pretty much the same as 1997, with a gradual rise of dependable members and the flitting about by bungee members.
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| 23 April 1998 |
Roster Changes:
- SMS will not be accepting applications for the next few days while a new series of membership requirements are put into place.
Eye Candy:
- I love it when somebody in SMS comes up with some funky shit out of the blue. Neep made us a little animated GIF in the same spirit as those "Netscape Now!" buttons:
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| 19 April 1998 (p.m.) |
Roster Changes:
- A couple of the newbies apparently couldn't hack it, and have left. Doctor, my valium!
- I'll be revamping the membership requirements soon (hopefully with the help of LT MaxMouse) so we can reduce the number of bungee members SMS tracks in on the carpet. A method to address training of new members will also be instituted.
ISP Piss & Moan Minute, Part II:
- The mail server outage continues. I'm amazed how I can set up an NT 4.0 mail server at work in a matter of minutes, but it is taking these Tidalwave.net monkeys over a day so far without success. I will be seeking out a new ISP.
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| 19 April 1998 (early a.m.) |
ISP Piss & Moan Minute:
- My esteemed Internet Service Provider (ISP), Tidalwave.net, is once again testing my patience and hampering operations:
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| 14 April 1998 |
Roster Changes:
- A member left the Clan. Hakuna matata.
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| 12 April 1998 |
Roster Changes:
- A Free-For-All (FFA) battle to fill the empty Lieutenant position will take place soon.
- A mandatory SMS practice will also be announced soon.
Check Your Calendar:
- Happy Easter everybody.
- Lest I neglect a large portion of the population: happy (late) Passover.
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| 11 April 1998 |
Roster Changes:
- Wow. This is the primary reason why I'm updating this page on such a regular basis. :D
- Our newest member is also from Canada....he's Tempest (a nick that goes pretty good with a Clan with "maelstrom" in it's name, IMO).
Battle Time:
- Discussions with Clan of the Camper continue. SMS members should have received the specifics.
Ego Central:
- The most ass-kissed member of the Quake community who hasn't developed software, Thresh, has updated his "Bible" with a section on Sniping and Camping. In one pious paragraph
this LPB shares the following "pearl of wisdom" with us little people:
Note: If you get rockets and armor and just sit at a spot until the enemy walks by, it is considered camping, which in most cases, scores low on the "style scale", and high on the "lame scale."
Oh kiss my ass. I wish Lord Thresh would let us know which Rules Nazi decides when camping is and isn't "lame."
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| 9 April 1998 |
Roster Changes:
- Congratulations to newly-promoted SGT Kreth. SGT Kreth was instrumental in getting #sms on Undernet registered for us.
- Welcome to our twenty-fifth member, Cyanide, who joins us from Canada.
Battle Time:
- I'm still going to get around to the scrimmage with Clan of the Camper (COTC). Dont' touch that dial.
Server News:
- Both our DM and CTF servers appear to be down tonight, so don't be alarmed if you cannot connect to them. If the problem continues, I'll contact the ever-helpful Dr. Nick to see what the deal is.
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| 5 April 1998 |
Surf's Up:
Battle Time:
- Um...not. Clan PNZ choked at the last minute, forcing us to abandon the already-postponed 5-on-5 CTF match that was scheduled for yesterday.
- A scrimmage with the guys from Clan of the Camper (COTC) is in the works. Stay tuned.
Cool Toys:
- The beta version of GameSpy has been released to registered users....the release to people like you & I (who aren't forking out any money) probably isn't too far behind. LT MaxMouse gives the new release high praise.
- If you haven't tried JailBreak, take an hour to do so. It's a cool mod similar in some ways to CTF: there are two teams and two bases. The difference here is that your goal is to kill every member of the enemy team.
Sound too much like regular deathmatch? Get this: when you die, you respawn in the enemy's jail cell. The only ways out are to either hope that your teammates will break into the enemy base and release you, or that enough of your buddies will be in the cell with you so that you can stand on each other's shoulders and crawl out a hole
near the ceiling (although some JailBreak levels don't even allow you to do that). If an entire team is jailed, everyone on that time is gibbed and the round is over (with the winners getting a ton of points). And did I mention that JailBreak levels have huge gun turrets that you can jump on and fire? It's cool. Go play it. Now.
- And, of course, there's the Eraser Bot. If you played Quake semi-religiously, you may remember a cool AI opponent called the "Reaper Bot". It was a computer-controlled opponent far smarter than the standard enemies that came with regular Quake, and generally was a great way to play deathmatch if your
connection sucked or somebody was hogging the phone. Well the Eraser Bot is the Quake2 heir to the throne (although not designed by the Reaper's creator). Not only does the Eraser learn new levels, but it can play the CTF levels as well. You can customize each opponent with it's own favorite weapon, skill settings, agressiveness, skin and model type.
You can designate teams, so that you and your team of bots can take on another team of bots in either a DM or CTF battle. Warning: this bastard is smart and will take even the best Quake2 players to task. It is an excellent tool for improving one's multiplayer skills.
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