Student Pilot

In some cases the release may have been too soon, but keep in mind that the longer you wait for release, the more difficult it is to make the required return or, in worst case scenarios, break even. And those "sharks" you so endearingly refer to are either the capital providers or agents of capital providers without whom there would be no game in the first place. -Student Pilot

If there are no lods, does that mean the software automatically chooses how to change the polygons, or can you create a "basic" model and a "detailed" model and the engine fills in the rest? I could see certain problems where the engine's choice of optimization creates ugly-looking structures. If they can keep that to a minimum then this is a really awesome concept. That demo was very impressive. -Student Pilot

As Sabre Tooth Sniper says, it depends on what you want to study. If you want to study business, the United States is the best option with Western Europe close behind. China and India have been improving their business education, though, so you may be able to find some good business schools there as well. -Student Pilot

Welcome OH-58-FL-Pilot. You are right, BIS does do well with after-market support of their products, and in this they should be praised. However, as can easily be seen with A1 and A2, their product launch leaves much to be desired. There really is no excuse for releasing unfinished products, and this, for all practical purposes, is what BIS has done with A1 and A2. I never had a problem with OFP, and still play that game to this day. But A1 for me was a mess. I consider it a complete waste of the $40-$50 I spent on it, because it still doesn't run smooth even though I have a system that should run it. I suppose what I am trying to say is, good intentions do not mean a thing when the product is not delivered as it should be. My $0.02. I'm heading back into obscurity now. -Student Pilot

Well, everything is sounding rather disappointing. Sounds like OFPDR is nothing like was promised during development. Oh well, I said I would wait for the demo, and still intend to. Speaking of which, any news on the demo? Or is the CM team still reeling from their champaign hangover? -Student Pilot

Climate is freakin' cold here in Wisconsin. brrrrrr. Give me some of that global warming we are apparently experiencing.

I use Chrome almost 100% of the time now, and love it. -Student Pilot

I play Evochron Legends, and it is a great game! It does have newtonian physics, so if you turn off a system called IDS (intertial dampening system?) the ship will continue on its previous trajectory no matter the direction the ship is facing. I have never played a game in this genre before, but EL has me hooked. I would suggest it to anyone interested in the genre. -Student Pilot

Uh huh, because the US and USSR were going to establish secret bases on the moon after finding out there was water on it and create a monopoly on moon water :j: What benefit, exactly, would there be to hiding this information from the public? Also, by water, it is meant a liter (gallon? ...one of those) for every TON of dirt. Not exactly oceans of water with refreshing, sparkling fountains dotted around the landscape. No one knew this before simply because the tools were not available to measure a liter/gallon/whatever in a ton of dirt. Interesting information, especially for far future missions where colonization might actually be possible, but nothing overly groundbreaking. -Student Pilot

Yeah, good point Gnat. I have heard that China's stats can be a little...inaccurate. Unfortunately, for most of us, that is all we have to go on. Thanks for providing a first-hand report. As for interest rates, I just hope the reason for the increase is economic growth and not inflation. -Student Pilot

That can be said about any major economic power nowadays, whether it be Europe, China, the United States, or even India to a certain extent. The world is so interconnected right now that problems in one part of the world may cause a ripple effect to the rest of the world. Of course, the opposite could be true as well. If the other countries remain strong economically then they could help pull an ailing economic power out of its crisis. -Student Pilot

not sure if I am missing something in translation, but are you saying the world recession is mostly China's fault? If so, that is interesting, considering that China's economy is still growing, albeit at a slower rate. I sure hope not. I am hoping that our world is too inter-connected and inter-dependent for a world-wide war to be possible. Hopefully both sides realize they have way too much to lose in such an event... -Student Pilot

You seem to have missed the mis-guided attempts of the US government to ensure housing for every man, woman, and child. Many companies were forced to make risky loans because the people trying to get the loans were qualified under the standards set forth for Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac. If the banks refused the loans, they could have been sued for discrimination. While there was some greed going on, it was by far not the whole story. Everyone, from the government and their ridiculous regulations, the common people and their desires for a house they couldn't afford, and the bankers who wanted a higher return on their investment should share the blame. Oh, and don't forget the people running pension funds and low-risk investment funds who invested in these securities, who had no idea what they were investing in. There is nothing wrong with purchasing higher-risk securities because they bring a chance of higher return. However, when you don't even know what you are investing in, like many fund managers and investors, then you are asking for it. And then, there are the rating agencies who rated securities of the people who paid them. An obvious conflict of interest... And then you have political bozos like Barney Frank who give their uneducated opinion on the health of public banks, which in turn causes a run on said bank. So do not stand there on your high horse blaming "fat cats" and "bankers" while ignoring everyone else. There are few, if any, parties that do not share some of the blame of the current recession. -Student Pilot

Still waiting to hear something even remotely related to the game itself instead of all this "OMFGLOLZ the OFPDR community suxors LOL!!!!"..... -Student Pilot

Ugh, I hate the "s" word... Woops, I said I wasn't going to debate any longer. Got to stop reading these threads..... -Student Pilot

Holy s**t people, give it a rest. Honestly, what bearing does this have with OFPDR? Does whatever this person said, whether it be truthful or not, and the response of the OFPDR community really have an impact on the game itself? Here we are bickering about nothing, and no one has bothered to answer my question, can the grass be turned off if it is a performance hit or really ugly? Is it possible to talk about the game and not the communities of ArmaII and OFPDR? But whatever, keep debating the merits of the OFPDR community and extrapolate that to your opinion of the game. Sheesh -Student Pilot

...they didn't do any wrong. What we are experiencing as a recession is merely a market correction. The overall economy, and particularly housing, has experienced unsustainable growth rates over the last decade or so. Our recession is putting the economy where it should have been had these excessive growth rates not occurred. This is just a part of life. Economies improve and worsen, people lose jobs and get new ones, and life goes on. Those who understand this can budget for it so they are not caught with their pants down when the economy busts. Those that do not understand this learn a valuable life lesson.......or complain to their government and insist "banksters" get punished and demand handouts to make their life easier. -Student Pilot

I got that from a few pages back. There are links to either developer statements or reviews which say that there is no modding and no walking. Again, they may not apply to the PC version of the game. That part is unclear. -Student Pilot

hmm, no modding for PC, if true, is quite disappointing. Not sure I like the no walk for PC, if true. I suppose, in the end, it all comes down to the demo to show us what is really in the game and what is not. And if no demo is released, then no chance that money leaves my wallet. Disappointed, but still hopeful. -Student Pilot

I know red and green lights both preserve your night vision. Both colors are encouraged for night flying in civil aviation. Whether or not blue light also preserves night vision, I do not know. -Student Pilot

Who is to say that earth will not or has not adapted to the increased levels? Considering how little greenhouse gases we expel, the earth would not have to adapt much at all. Nothing is static in the environment, so saying that the system is incapable of recapturing the excess CO2 is trying to take a snapshot of the environment and apply it forward. This earth is very adaptable to whatever we throw at it, especially considering that we throw very little at it. Ultimately, we know very little about the young science of climatology. There may be complex processes occurring which keep the earth in balance that we do not even know about. Right now, considering our ignorance in the matter, I would rather wait and trust that earth will take care of itself than implement costly, inefficient green technologies which reduce our standard of living and threaten the lives of so many in developing countries. And with that, I think I have exhausted my energy on this debate for now. You can have the last word. I have enjoyed debating with you, and thanks for keeping it civil. -Student Pilot

You make a good point about water vapor. However, I somewhat disagree with this: Firstly, the last link you posted says this about the water vapor feedback loop: "The feedback loop in which water is involved is critically important to projecting future climate change, but as yet is still fairly poorly measured and understood." Saying that water vapor is an amplifier is somewhat premature at this stage. In addition, that link also stated, and it makes sense, that with increasing water vapor clouds form more often. This causes more radiation to be reflected back into space, which has an effect of cooling the earth. It almost sounds like water vapor is nature's tool of dealing with excess human CO2 pollution, as well as any potential situations where CO2 pollution is not high enough. Also, the link I posted shows man's contributions without water vapor, using US DOI data, which is around 5.5%. Even without water vapor our contributions to greenhouse gases are minimal. -Student Pilot

I think you will see that, if you read my link, we have very little effect on the greenhouse gas emissions of this planet, and therefore very little effect on climate change. I just did some calculations using wikipedia's numbers for the percentage of water vapor to greenhouse gases. The lower bound in wikipedia is 36%, so I am using this as a worst-case scenario. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas Even if water vapor only accounts for 36% of total greenhouse gases, man only contributes 4.045% of total greenhouse gas emissions. While not as drastic as .28%, 4.045% is still very small. -Student Pilot EDIT: My calculations:

My source was edited into my previous post while you were posting. The information about greenhouse gas emissions excluding water vapor are from the US Department of Energy. The water vapor information is from various other sources and possibly suspect (I have not confirmed the validity, so take it how you like). Either way, both sets of information show the point I am trying to make. Greenhouse gases may be the cause of global warming, I will not deny that, but the question is how much does man really contribute to greenhouse gas emissions? The source I found, using US DOE numbers, shows not much. -Student Pilot

It flies in the face of all widely-publicized and politically-recited scientific literature out there. I would hardly say the scientific community is in consensus over global warming. I have read figures which maintain that man's output of greenhouse gases is nothing compared to nature's output, with man's greenhouse emissions equating to a fraction of a percentage of total greenhouse emissions. This would mean that any change we contribute is so negligible as to be irrelevant. I must admit, though, that I do not have the sources at hand, and therefore this claim is only that, a claim. I do not have the time or energy right now to substantiate it...maybe later. Regarding sunspot activity, just because our measurement tools now can see more than the tools of the past does not mean it fully explains the increase in sunspot activity. It is just one factor that may or may not be relevant, and we will never know for sure. Actually, that comment was made in jest. It was meant to be a humorous side-comment in what is usually a tense debate. Ok, I misunderstood you, my apologies. -Student Pilot EDIT: Ok, I guess I do have time and energy to look up my claim. Here is a site that analysis greenhouse gases using numbers from the US Department of Energy. http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html Notice how little man contributes to CO2 emissions, and notice how little man contributes to total greenhouse gas emissions when water vapor is considered.