I'm Back - Blog Update & Gaming

Hey guys & gals, I'm back... Where have I been?.. Well, I've been decorating.  I've had a week off of the office job to renovate the house a little, I've done the Utility room, painted the living room and the big job was completely renovating the bathroom.  So a new bathroom suite, new tiling, water proofing, removed all the old 1970's crap...

How Do I know it was 1970's crap?... Well, removing the lights I found they were lined with news paper, dated 1979... and then removing a rotting cupboard beneath was carpet, beneath that was old lino, and then beneath that was more news paper dated the 8th December 1971...

So I stripped all that, and got on with things, only one huge cock up, the ceiling... Which is waiting action from a man with the skillz...

Anyway, other than pulling 9 days of 16 hours elbow deep in shit, grout and paint I've played a fair bit of Simulator Battles in WarThunder, I've maxed out a bunch of aircraft with ace status, and I've also unlocked tier 4 in both the American and German tree's... I need to earn them lions to pay for the new aircraft is all.

So, notable simulator battle experience has been... Setting up all my controls - I may create a video about this - I've flown out in the Tier 3 BF109F4 and got real human kills, took out a P39 who was good.... Then flew the Italian G.50 a lot, so unhappy with how underpowered those 12.5mm BREDA machine guns are, yesterday I managed to get on the tail on a British Nimrod MK II... Hit is 12 times... 12 hits!... And it just flew on... GAH!  Then I also flew the P47, getting hits on targets, but no kills... and also flew out in the P38, which is so smooth (with the counter rotating props) compared to other aircraft.

I'd highly recommend new players to Simulator Battles setting about learning to boom & zoom in the P38, because it is fast; but you do not have to worry about rudder swinging on take off or low speed.  The guns all being mounted in the nose let you also at least spot and take out ground targets (the aircraft does get special ammo for ground target work too - so this is legit tactics), to get the feel for the maps and how to fly....

My biggest problem is still low-level stalls, I seem to be able to put the Fw190 into an unrecoverable flat spin just by looking at it, I've recovered (or not) the same spin in the G.50, the Spitfire Mk IIb and even the BF109E3, F4 and G2.... But the 190, once its in that modus operandi.... It is intent on killing you.

That said, early in the week, I did get a kill in the Fw190-A1...

Other things I'm planning, well we're getting the second house ready to rent, so we'll be moving back to the first house, when that happens I'm going to start a regular Simulator evening, playing and even recording/broadcasting what I'm up to.

I've also got two coding projects to go through with you guys, and even an update on the old "Write your own CPU" series.

Elite Dangerous - Still Not Going To Play It

I am not going to play Elite Dangerous... Let me get that said, not because I have to eat humble pie and say it does not look a bad game, and unlike my prior posts David Braben has proven himself to NOT be a snake oil sales man, as he has delivered the game to the masses (least as a test/alpha/beta so far)...

But, that said, watching someone competent play is interesting, prior to seeing the below videos I've only watched some mediocre coverage from Jingles and then the terrible developer example videos from back when they were still looking for online funding...

Ralfidude however, a YouTuber with a plethora of DCS and other flightsim coverage, has taken to the space ways, and he's given us these few videos with his coverage of the game... Looks good.

My problem with the game is not the game, I love Elite, and I understand it there is a single player game involved in this title... However, its the online play which counts and it seems to me there are too many ways for people to grief.... And I did all the griefing I needed in Eve-Online.

I'll admit though, Ralfi's Videos have me tempted... But not for £50... Fuck that price point with their millions upon millions start up capitol already in the bag!

Scotland

I fucking said it, I posted this around here, I text this to BBC Radio Nottingham... And now the fat little corporal has admitted it...

He's just in it to make history, I fucking said so... Fuck Scotlands future, fuck the economy, fuck security, solidarity, industry, commerce and business... Fuck it, he wants his name in history.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-29151322

RIP Richard Kiel

We wish the best to Richard's family, for today one of the great characters from British Filmography passed away, Richard Kiel.

Known, or perhaps renowned for his role as Jaws in two Bond films, we all loved Jaws, as the go to Bond hence man.

Fittingly or not, that Richard's passing has made bigger news in Britain today than the anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks.

Minecraft : Microsoft Edition.

I just heard something.... I.... I....I can't bring myself to say it.... So here's a picture....

Did Notch not look at what happened to Bungie?

All, I can think of is this....

Scottish Independence - A Sad Rant

Scotland, Scotland, Scotland... I don't know how to really express how I feel about even talking about the Independence Vote... I... I really can't believe its being even considered by a single Scot, not only do I feel its just a strange topic of conversation, but Scotland is part of the United Kingdom, it just is, its something lived with something that just is...

Now, I know there are many Scots with a beef about things like, regional autonomy, like they think they've got a hard deal... I've heard things like the closing of Scottish Industry being a major factor in the numbers of unemployed in Scotland, and that being all "London's" fault.

But, the companies which closed were pretty much private companies, just like the companies in Sheffield, Birmingham, Southampton, Bristol and elsewhere throughout the UK.

Industry has reduced, closed and moved, that's a fact of the whole British Isles, not specific to Scotland, yet I hear Scots bemoaning their being specially put down...

The likes of Billy Connelly, whom makes me laugh, but when he appears waxing lyrical about the ship yards on the Clyde and then declaring his support for an Independent Scotland, he's linking the two, the closed industry with the Union, where as the two have no real connection.

And Connelly himself, he has no vote, he lives overseas; in Australia mainly I believe, but he's been wheeled out twice... Notably getting air time during the Glasgow Games opening.

Other Scots who live outside of Scotland also don't get a vote, many of whom as I've spoken to a few, would vote NO to an independent Scotland.  And they'd vote no for similar reasons as I feel, that we're stronger together, safer together, that we're more than a United Kingdom, we're a united people.

And my deep personal suspicion is that Alex Salmond is pushing this agenda because he really seems to want to get himself noticed, to get himself into the History books.  There are no real long term benefits to Scotland leaving the Union, there is only long term costs and burden to her people.

I can't speak for everyone, but this is very much like a family fued and one member is about to storm out... The difference is, instead of a dinner going cold, or a few snide remarks next Christmas, this is going to end up costing BILLIONS.

People, companies, livlihoods and services are going to be ruined.

I personally as a UK Tax payer don't want to support a struggling independent Scotland, and the figured given for the Independent lobby don't stack up.

With all the firms already saying they would relocate if the country left the Union, its going to leave much of Western Scotland barren of employment.  Glasgow is going to suffer most I believe.

Aberdeen would see a marginal increase in lucrative Oil money as everyone cashes out for the next 20 years, but come 2034 I strongly believe there will be massive defecits, services would start to crumble and I have to say there may even be an exodus of the able and qualified to English and Welsh locations, followed as the quaffers run sterile to a gaping problem in Scottish communities.

Alex Salmond if not buried by then would be a very old man, he'll be happily tucked up in his adult nappy with a glass of Scotch each night and happy his mark was made.

The people of Scotland will be bereft however, and I have to admit as an Englishman I feel snubbed and insulted that there is this faction of Scottish society whom want to be an independent nation without any thought of who they are where they come from.

Many of the kids of my generation will have had grandparents who fought in the second world war, indeed my own grandfather was in Scotland serving when Rudolf Hess landed there.  My grandfather was the segergant whom guarded him; and was the only guard Hess thanked before he was transferred south.

These links to history, this structure of who Scotland, who WE are is simply being ignored by the "Yes" campaign.

I've hard people in the Yes camp making reference to Bannock Burn... something which would make any Scot's blood swell... But no-one has mentioned the proud traditions since...

The Scottish Highlanders at Waterloo... The Black Watch leading the crossing of the Rhine in 1944... The Scots who fought across Europe to free the people of the tyranny of the Nazi jack boot...

That recent history is being ignored...

Or how about the many Scots who faught, as well as those who died, in World War 1?... Should their legacy be ignored?

It seems one camp thinks "Yes"... And that's got to be thought about seriously as derailed...

Other topics I've seen are the Nuclear Sub's... An Independent Scotland campaign has declared they don't want the base, nor the Subs... I'm pretty sure that Scottish tax payers like that deal, billions spent and they "don't want them"... With a wild acting Russia still flying just off sure of Scotland too...

But hey ho, they don't want the subs... They're playing on Nuclear "fears" to get votes... Not thinking about the communities supported by the sub base, the thousands of jobs in Scotland which depend on those subs being there... Oh no, they just want to be seen as "PC" and get rid of Nuclear!...

What about services which are nationally funded?... I've mentioned the need for RAF cover, Russia does try to overfly Scotland regularly.

How about the Royal Navy's other bases?... How about the Army itself... Does an Independent Scotland want to be a neutral state, like Ireland or Switzerland?... If so, how will it sit with Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France and the remains of the UK in having an unalighed state suddenly appear in the vulnerable Nato North West... The flank through which Cold War Submarine operations so dominated planning and which may come to dominate again, but now without Scottish bases or SOSUS listening stations?

None of this is being thought about, the thinking I've seen from the Yes campaign has been almost a kin to a drunken argument in a bar!  "Bannock Burn, aye Jim laddy the bassads, Independence!"

The "No" campaign, well they've been attacked in the street by numpties with eggs, great way to stop someone speaking to you I must admit...

I have friends who are Scottish, I have friends who are English married to Scots... So far I've not met anyone who has fully furned the "yes" campaign with a vote, nor have I heard how beyond the immediate short term Scotland could support itself!

Simply put, Scotland is part of this Union of the Great Kingdoms on the British Isles, talking of her anything other makes me very sad.

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Addendum : 10/Sept/2014

I reckon I'm onto something, i reckoned Scotland would be wrecked by economic disaster (if independent) by 2034... Turns out 2035 the Oil runs out... Lovely... Can't wait to see the results of that one...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29149106

War Thunder - Bugs and Brush Offs

Played a lot of WarThunder over the weekend, and I have to thank my friend Craig for signing up to WarThunder and reaching Rank 2 so very quickly... Was great fun introducing a new player to the game.

I was only a little jealous of how good his first few battles went, and it was very interesting watching how his account was reduced to just one Nation and then slowly opened up...

But the tutorials are still terrible.  Improved since I started, but still terrible, and whoever their narrator is... Christ what an annoying voice, and his pronunciation is shite!

I spent much of the weekend however playing with Craig, and his low level Brits, so we spent a lot of time with me acing out planes - since I started playing before there were half as many modifications as there are now.  My British Ace aircraft swelled from two to thirteen by the time we were done, and when Craig unlocked his Hurricane IIB I received a nice 50,000 Lion bonus :)

He's determined to get to Rank 3 now on his own and earn me my 100 gold, as he says he likes the game so much...

I however spotted this problem:

Take a British bi-plane, so we're talking Nimrod I or II, Fury I or II or the Swordfish above their max speed in Arcade, so you get the "Reduce Speed" message and the flutter sound from the rigging... Jump out or die and get into a Gladiator, and you start off with the aircraft well below the max speed of the Gladiator, but you still have the warning and sounds playing!

It also felt like my Gladiator was responding to motion like my Swordfish, but that's hard to tell for sure with the Arcade flight model.

I reported this, but Gaijin don't seem impressed...

I had another bug report accepted...

And another rejected... 

For the rejected one I have two Videos, and they are different situations, but I don't see the point of allowing for trimming in the test flight models... Surely it will result in NOT comparing like for like... I felt very much as it I'd been given the brush off, despite making the post, making it informative, I obviously see this as a bug, eve the original responder must because he didn't know the policy was to have trimming in the test flight models, so not a 100% match up there and very much not testing what is happening in the game for real.

The code may behave differently with or without trimming...

And certainly for pilot training - which was why I noted the problem - it made for a false impression, in the FW190, I used the Aileron trimming on take off to stabalise the torque... I used it and was very thrown after traning for 4+ hours to go into a full real battle and suddenly not have it available!

So, available in test....

Not in simulator battle...

I dunno, I just get the impression that as excellent as the code and ideas from Gaijin are, their development style and especially testing is very much "We Do As We Want, You Follow"... I dunno, maybe it's a Russian thing?