Warmaker

I've seen a similiar thread in the AnimeonDVD forums regarding fansubs and how it impacts the anime industry. From the article Mr.March posted, this is the big deal for me: "People make fansubs for one reason: to share cool new shows they like. (There are other personal reasons, of course, such as improving their Japanese skills and braging rights.) People watch fansubs because the American releases take years to come out (if they come out at all). Once on DVD, they often have to be bought sight-unseen, which sometimes works for movies on DVD but is an unrealistic commitment for TV series. To younger fans, DVD's are also very expensive." I italicized the portion that means the most (from my American perspective). I don't mind lagging behind the original Japanese audience, but only to a certain extent. I traditionally buy DVDs, but it irks me just to wait on hearing even a rumor that a show I want to see won't get released here in the USA for years. The Japanese showing could be done and over with, already released on DVD in Japan, and we still won't be hearing anything for a legitimate release in the USA. It'll take years for a show to come across the pond. Even worse, there's a good chance it won't even be picked up at all, especially if it's a less known show. Really, if I didn't rely on fansubs for certain shows, when should I stop waiting for an official US release of "Legend of Galactic Heroes"? I still recall my dreadful days as an anime fan in the 90s. For example, I wanted to see Record of Lodoss War and Patlabor (just ANYTHING Patlabor). I'd see them in imported Newtype magazines. They seemed like shows I'd really be interested in, but impossible for me to get a hold of and watch. It took roughly 5-7 years for them to make it on VHS over here in the USA. It took me the same amount of time to find a US VHS release of the Silent Mobius movie, and they were rare to find. And there still isn't a US release for the 2nd movie. Macross? Good luck if it's not Macross Plus or SDF:M, since every other Macross show isn't coming officially to the USA anytime soon. On and on and on. Time. That's the major issue, IMO. Patience on waiting for a show will only go so far. Cost would be next for the more cash strapped fans.

Collateral Damage is not in the equation anymore if there's a situation like classical Godzilla Big monster rampaging and destroying a city, killing God knows how many people. By that time and situation, Collateral Damage is the most minimum of concerns (except for a Nuke). The priority I'm guessing is evacuation and then stopping the threat from carrying out its destructive course of action. Otherwise, the threat continues on, destroying and killing. But I wouldn't be surprised if the counterattack occurs before full evacuation if things are really nasty enough.

You don't need radar to accurately use Artillery (which of course includes Naval Gunfire, i.e. Big Battleship Guns). An observer with a simple radio can accurately bring down artillery, adjust fire, and tell them to pile it on once it's there. Plus, artillery can come in on arcs (low, high, etc). Buildings getting in the way won't matter, because they can be bypassed. Or obliterated altogether Artillery or standoff weapons are ideal with such a nasty target. You can hit the target far away and not get into reach (or fire breathing range) of the target. You can risk a handful of guys that can observe from a concealed position and guide in fire from a multitude of weapon platforms, and plaster the target! Hey, if you're close enough to use 40mm guns on an AC-130, that means you're in fire breathing range for something like Godzilla. I mean, look at all those wrecked tanks, jets foolish enough to fly close enough for rocket attacks and gun strafes. Godzilla uses things like that for toothpicks

I was about to say Battleship also if near a coast. But the worst thing to use in these situations are tanks. Guys like Godzilla went through tanks like I did with Spam as a kid

Sweet, thanks alot!

You mean Big West, right? Because I'm about to Or can Darth Graham do something about this? Hmm...

I came across that bit of news when I remembered the old Valis games. Googled it, came across some fan sites, and one mentioned the literal "raping" of the Valis franchise

Too bad we won't see a legit, proper release of it here in the US. A pity...

Do not say such things. I really don't need to hear about Mr.Jennifer Lopez being associated with the Terminator franchise! ... complete with a crying Terminator.

Wait... wait... what!?!?

I didn't check it out but I'm having more fun watching the comments here

1. Enemy Mecha: Very broad selection as practically none have been made except for the Q-Rau DYRL? Red & Blue variants. But the Green SDFM Q-Rau shouldn't be too hard, right? A Green Q-Rau would make a quicker starting point since the differences aren't too far from the DYRL version as I recall. Then a standard Zent.Pod would make a nice starting point, possibly even with accessories to make the different Pod variants (i.e. missile launchers). I wouldn't mind paying extra for a single Pod set that can make all the basic variants. 2. Destroids. I believe a Tomahawk would be a good place to start this line. Destroids, outside small, old model kits, get almost no love at all. 3. More PVC statues of Macross characters, heck all kinds of shows have extensive lineups in this category: SDFM, DYRL?, Macross Plus, Macross Zero, etc. Lots of stuff to see here, and characters even have their alternate outfits. Hikaru in his pilot outfit (TV or DYRL) or in his TV service uniform... Same with the rest of the pilot characters like Roy, Max, Kakizaki. Misa and the rest of the Bridge Bunnies. Millia also, who had a wide variety of outfits: TV Zent service uniform & pilot, UN Spacy service uniform & pilot. Really, the list goes on and on. As far as scale goes: Zentradi mecha are bigger than UN Spacy Mecha on average. 1/60 would be big for Zent. mecha, a standard pod would be towering over a VF-1. I'd like to see it in 1/60 but I'd understand if a smaller scale is necessary, judging from the size of the Millia / Max Q-Raus in 1/60. Still, if Zentradi mecha are put out in 1/60, that would be sweet for the existing VF-1 lineup in that scale already. Destroid scale. I too think 1/60 would be adequate, even though they'd be a bit larger than the VF-1 and much more bulky.

The other thing with the SFC games is that since you could use any ship type from Frigate to Battleship, you could see the varying scales of the ships. You don't notice it as much if you're a player that captains only Cruiser and larger warships, since everything's as big as you or a tad bit larger. But if you like to captain smaller ships (Frigates, Destroyers, etc) or switch around alot, it was great when it came to scale. Using something small like a B'Rel Bird of Prey, you'd appreciate the size and power of the larger warships like the Galaxy, D'Deridex, Sovies, or the immense Dominion Battleships. My B'Rel looks like a chihuaha next to a Galaxy or larger. But it made it that much sweeter when you grouped up with other small, cloaked warships to swarm over and take down a single, powerful warship. Just have to play it smart and avoid primary weapon arcs. Klingon and Romulan warships favored powerful, frontal fires. Both utilized cloaking technology. But they differed greatly from there. The Klingon tendencies I notice favored speed, hitting hard, but generally the weakest shields of the 3 big races in ST. Romulans had slower warships, slower attacks, but had alot of firepower. A Romulan D'Deridex decloaking at your 6 o'clock was not a good thing Federation warships had 360 arcs but the frontal arcs were deadliest due to the Torpedo tubes (especially those nasty Quantums). Too bad SFC games never implemented torpedo turrets, since I believe there were some designs utilizing them instead of the traditional, fixed tubes. With the Dominion Wars mod on SFC3, I had alot of fun trying to outfit my ship to my style or experimenting for a better way of fighting. Yes, it was great to outfit a powerful warship like a Galaxy, Nebula, Sovereign, etc. It was easy too. But making the smaller warships effective and still putting up a fight against a player using a large warship was greatly satisfying.

Ah, Star Trek games. I have at home both Bridge Commander and Starfleet Command II & III. It's been a while since I played either though, with SFC3 being the most recent. Bridge Commander I enjoyed but installing mods was a pain, regardless of how streamlined (and I use the term loosely) it became with time, especially with multiple mods are installed already. But some of the mods, especially graphic oriented ones, are pretty sweet. And I too still recall Pneumonic81's releases for BC. It's too bad there were no complete mods to put in different races' bridge and crewmen, including voices. I would have loved to be a Klingon Captain commanding one of their warships, complete with a suitable bridge, voiceovers, and all that. Starfleet Command II & III. I had fun with SFC2, especially since it was set in the TMP' "We Don't Take S**t From Anyone" era Federation SFC2 was also the last SFC game that still had quite a bit of sophistication in controls and commands since SFC3 was quite streamlined. I preferred the more difficult style, but oh wells. Anyways, I never finished the SFC3 campaign and got bored of it. But I tried it again a while back with Pelican's Dominion Wars mod. It was fun doing the online campaigns / war with or against other players. It was then that I became a hardcore Klingon player on that game / mod. Pretty fun tackling someone crewing a Galaxy class against you and your buddy flying B'Rel Bird of Preys It was too bad the mod died. I haven't tried SFC3 ever since. P.S.- I also recall the relentless ranting by players about BC's voice for your Executive Officer. It aggravated alot of players to no end.

The ranks are always a great place for acronyms (i.e. sarcastic ones). One of my favorites and one of the first I heard when entering service was perfect when you know beforehand your unit is about to get f****d again. BOHICA: Bend Over, Here It Comes Again

Everything's occuring, but they're 10 years late

I don't think he means wanting to see TNG era battles in the flick. I think he means story arcs where there were major conflicts were great to watch as far as Star Trek goes, and I'd have to agree. DS9 for me was dull until the Dominion War. The big deal with the movies going back to Kirk's era was that the Federation wasn't as powerful over it's rivals but it didn't take anything from anyone either. Conflict littered this era IIRC.

Speaking of old platforms, I've seen here and there the idea of using turboprop aircraft for COIN (Counterinsurgency) operations. Propped aircraft are nowhere near as expensive. They also can have long loitering times, a big deal in COIN since you're really looking around for the baddies and / cheapF/A-18's (not the Superbugs) are considered cheap but did cost about $34 million. or just waiting for a call for support. They're also easier to maintain. I've seen some guys talk about the Pro / Con of using such aircraft for COIN ops. There are only 2 reall big Con's that I hear brought up. Vulnerability to AAA fire due to slower speed. Vulnerability to MANPADs (Man Portable Air Defense, i.e. Stingers). I'm figuring MANPADs can be dealt with by higher altitude or chaff / flare. Higher performance missiles would be larger, less mobile systems that tend to be found. But AAA fire like 20mm / 23mm, well, that's another story I believe.

I have to agree. Regular 'ol books are much more fleshed out with all kinds of details and events to move the story along better and develop the characters. Movie adaptations are constrained with time, usually 2 hours, to get everything done. I'll even use the Lord of the Rings movie "Fellowship of the Ring" as an example. I'm just now reading the books (on Two Towers now*). But the "Fellowship of the Ring" book had an insane number of things that the movie completely lacked or not even mention. I kind of understand why since the movies were long enough anyways and were going to be a trilogy, but it was disappointing to find out so many events, locations, and even big characters were completely left out simply due to the constraints of making a movie. * = Edited as per Mr March's correction

You know torpedoes can be used against subs, right?... A but of "edumacation" (I'll use FAS references) S-3B Viking (or the dreaded wiki entry) Mk-50 Torpedo Mk-48 Torpedo Mk-46 Torpedo Naval Warfare isn't my biggest field of knowledge, but I have dabbled in reading enough on the subjects. The S-3B is capable of the Anti-Ship role. Take a look at the armaments (cut & paste action from the FAS link): "Up to 3,958 pounds (1,781 kg) AGM-84 Harpoon AGM-65 Maverick missiles torpedoes, mines, rockets and bombs." If you think torpedoes are merely like their WWII sakes, completely with TBF Avengers dropping them on torpedo runs, you're wrong. They have long ranges (several km worth) and self-guided. Torpedoes are as much a danger to a submarine as they are to surface ships. I was wondering what the USN was going to do for a longer reaching ASW role. Helos are short ranged. I have yet to see or even hear of ANY Hornet variant (A thru F) even equip and use a torpedo or some other ASW weapon (FAS again, specifically the armaments section). I know Anti-Submarine Warfare isn't "sexy" or cool and all, but it's a damn important role with more countries opting for submarines for the last couple of years.

Interesting about the complete retirement with no replacement of the S-3. I understand the change for the shore based P-3. I know the SH-60s can load Torpedoes, but they're not long ranged. So I guess the Super Hornet is supposed to drop Torpedoes also?

The MH Cyclone looks great in armor form. I'm not sold on the rider's appearance and proportions. As someone else mentioned, if I do acquire one, it will stay in armor form. It looks quite nice that way. I don't have my old Gakken Cyclone anymore, so yeah...

If it looks bad, it looks bad, regardless of the intent or required practice & experience for the staff.

After all, "One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble" (shakes head)

None of the mentioned planes are carrier deployable, something the S-3 was able to do. The P-3 covered great range from shores to conduct patrol & ASW missions. But the S-3 and fulfilled a multitude of roles outside of ASW also. The SH-60's are being used for ASW also, but they lack the range of the S-3's.