[Dakar the Fourth]

That's the spirit!
(We can't blow this sek)

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by ::maroma:: 

Umm... I'm going to nix decog since he's an unreliable gamer (as far as availability I mean). I'm up for being teamed with Chuckit, or whoever else wants a decent driver, but poor rocketeer as their buddy.

I think I'm better as a driver, but I can blow stuff up pretty good with the rockets too. It's fun.

[Dakar the Fourth]

I'll tell you, I'll be damned if I can figure out how driver is determined, or a viable work around. I know I'll be pissed if sek drives more than 4 of the games.

[Chuckit]

Vaguely useful tip: If the VIP walks out of the level and gets killed by the guardians, you can switch VIPs. I've done this on a couple of matches where I had a really horrible driver.

[Dakar the Fourth]

I've thought of that, however that's viable for what? Snowbound and to a lesser degree Sandtrap.

The other option is to allow VIPs to drive, however that would both rely on a little bit of an honor system (No driving without your partner), and it'd eliminate one of the post-season awards I was considering.

I just looked at what the difference between Rocket Race and Rocket Stunts is. In the former the VIP is limited to 75% movement and Passenger Only, the latter 100% and Full Use.

So at least that's been solved.

[sek929]

More tiny panoramas! (as usual, full size images still reside on my computer)

I entitle these pics as Dakar and Fatty: Rocket Race buddies to the end




The second one was a little harder for the program to figure out, lots of sand and all. The first one looks really good at full res.

Also, I'd like to add that Dakar was present to continue my Cal Ripken-like streak of One Bomb on Valhalla wins in Ranked Big Team.

Another opponent getting a taste of my sniper skillz, even though I was more than a bit sauced.

This guy was the nastiest player for their team as well as being one hell of a sniper...no matter, I refuse to lose at this scenario!

[sek929]

BTW, I noticed you're signed in Dakar.....up for a little Rocket Race?

[Dakar the Fourth]

Hang on, I have family here.

Also, I thought I set myself to invisible.

[sek929]

Fatty sees all.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by sek929 

Fatty sees all all-you-can-eat buffets.

True, true.

[sek929]

Ouch, we got prison-raped twice in a row on Big Team Slayer...

I need to find my donut cushion.

[Dakar the Fourth]

That second one was ridiculous. When they have you pinned at your own base... good luck.

[sek929]

Even my k/d of 2.15* in both games didn't help...

I sniped like a madman in that last game, but once someone starts dominating with the banshee/laser/missile-pod (they had all three near the end) there ain't much a sniper can do.


*2.86 if you count the first unranked game of BTB VIP.

Edit: Since I love bragging, I also garnered 28 medals in the VIP match.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Alright with Teams settled (stogie, maroma + chuckit, need your colors [Purple and Blue are taken]) here is you GP location list.

1. Grand Prix of Sandtrap Speed
2. Grand Prix of Snowbound Trick
3. Grand Prix of Valhalla Speed
4. Grand Prix of Isolation Speed
5. Grand Prix of Sandtrap Trick
6. Grand Prix of Fast Resort
7. Grand Prix of Valhalla Trick
8. Grand Prix of Isolation Trick
9. Grand Prix of Valhalla Speed
10. Grand Prix of Sandtrap Speed

Rules & Scoring

Each location will consist of two rounds. The first round will be a qualifying round to 10 points to familiarize players with the track. Winner of the Qualifying Round will receive 1 point. The second round will be a Race to 20 points. Winner of the Race will receive 7 points, Second Place 4, Third 2, and Last will get 1 point. In the event of a tie for second or third, total points available will be added together and split evenly.

Assassinations will be illegal. Any team to do so will forfeit any points earned that round. On foot rocket battles will occur, but chasing after a team continually blowing their mongoose away is discouraged.

If we find a way to make it possible for the VIP to drive, he may not go to checkpoints without a passenger. Also, when the driver is chosen at the beginning of the race he is then required to drive until that race is over.

Any questions? Since it's late in the week, I figure we schedule this for next week. I'd recommend two sessions of five locations, one on Monday or Tuesday and another on Thursday.

Oh, I'd recommend trying out the Snowbound and Isolation Tricks maps. They are... challenging.
Edit: Oh yeah, whoever starts in the base on Fast Resort will need to open/lower the gate before proceeding. You will spawn right next to the switch. YOur mongoose will be on the ground level right below you.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by sek929 

Even my k/d of 2.15* in both games didn't help...

I sniped like a madman in that last game, but once someone starts dominating with the banshee/laser/missile-pod (they had all three near the end) there ain't much a sniper can do.


*2.86 if you count the first unranked game of BTB VIP.

Edit: Since I love bragging, I also garnered 28 medals in the VIP match.

As you can see, if I can get anything going vehicular-wise, I'm worthless.

[sek929]

A player like me can only supplement the score in a BTB match, it really comes down to 2 things: Laser and Vehicles. I'm also starting to realize how outrageously dominant the Banshee is. Sure, in the beginning of the game it can be easily lasered, but if you don't have a laser or missile pod she'll kick your entire team's ass in a short time.

No matter, I had a fun time in both of the games even though we lost.

Case and point for vehicles would be Slayer on Sandtrap Covies. I don't even bother grabbing the rifle since a full team of ghosts can easily win that map.

[Stogieman]

I can team up with my brother but he doesn't get off work until 7pm PST.

Edit. - I choose Gold as our color.

[Dakar the Fourth]

That's fine, I believe chuckits availability starts at 7.30 PST.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by sek929 

No matter, I had a fun time in both of the games even though we lost.

A positive k/d will do that to one's level of enjoyment.

Originally Posted by sek929 

Case and point for vehicles would be Slayer on Sandtrap Covies. I don't even bother grabbing the rifle since a full team of ghosts can easily win that map.

Sandtrap covies is atrocious. There doesn't seem to be much strategy to Ghost on Ghost battles.

[klb5090]

i cannot wait for the NNRRGP (i guess that works) hopefully apsolid and myself can keep up with the now world renown Dakar & Sek Team i'm trying so hard to think of some trash talk i can use on this team...it will come

In other news... Bungie drops Halo 3 March Playlist update

Team S.W.A.T. ... thank you, thank you

[sek929]

SWAT? Yes!

[sek929]

I like to start off by saying my write-ups will never be as good as the first one. I hear you saying, "but sek, your first one sucked donkey balls," and I don't blame you for saying so. However, I still will bring as many pics to the table as possible. Since half of them are multi-shot panoramas I hope you can forgive my weak writing skillz in lieu of the 3 solid hours I spent tonight snapping pics and splicing them together.

So without further ado I bring you:

Nades n' Spades!

Where to start... Team Blue (apsolid, ::maroma::, HALOSAPIEN) drew first blood and it's that darn brigadier, apsolid, that did it. Seconds later Team Red (Dakar, Mignanelli) tie it up and Team Orange (Fatty, chrisgilqin, Stogie) make a quick bid with two kills by yours truly. Team Green (Kevin Bogues, Chuckit, SRD) is the last to score but only trailing by 2 to the blue team.

Cluster-****

Everyone got in on the second battle. Mignanelli, Andallray, Fatty, and Chuckit all get in on the action.

I stick maroma, Charlie beats Fatty down, Fatty sticks Charlie, and mignanelli falls off the map. Good first meet.

Separate Rooms

Fatty and Dakar / ::maroma:: and Bogues

Bogues kills Andallray with persistent melee. Dakar and I decide to split ways as friends.

Attic/Basement

apsolid sticks Fatty while SRD watches. Dakar runs overhead.

Crotch-Punch!

Chuckit gets punched in the balls by Chris ending his reign of terror. He killed Fatty seconds earlier and would take Chris with him to the grave.

Three-way...not the cool one

Fatty sticks Charlie, Dakar sticks Fatty, and Chris assassinates Dakar.

Plasma 'nade dance party

The halfway point of the game (25 for those keeping score) was welcomed by about...I dunno, 50 plasma nades going off at once.

Current scores: 25/22/19/13

Dakar had ten of his teams kills, despite his brigadier teammate

There can be only one!

Fatty and apsolid head inevitably towards each-other but are still not in direct sight. The battle would end in a two-way death that pushes Team Orange into the lead.

Ashes, ashes, we all die now.

Fatty sticks Chris and HALOSAPIEN joins us for a quick nap. That's right, I betrayed my partner AND committed suicide.

Madd panorama skillz, yo

All game I was looking for a chance ot get almost everyone in one panorama. Behold!

From bottom to top: Chris, Stogie, Bogues, SRD5010, Dakar, Mignanelli and HALOSAPIEN

Don't ask me what happened....somebody died, that's for sure.

Team orange FTW!!!

Dakar had the honor of being the last kill in the game and Crosbie360 had the honor of being the killer. In fact, he got 2 kills in a row to end the game. The details being a little fuzzy due to some end-of-game-lag. Also, that's Chris posing for this picture and not the man who ended the game.

That's it, I'm done, hope you like the pictures and the convenient color-coding. The only other stat worth noting is that each team had a turn being #1 except for Team Red, but they were down a player anyways (and Mignanelli wasn't the greatest at this particular gametype)

I'm starting to really hone my panorama abilities and I honestly think it adds a bit to these write-ups since it lets you see how much action can be going on in one area all at once.

Next up:
License To Kill

[klb5090]

sek, ****en awesome write up. The panorama shots make it unbelievable. Especially the attic/basement and the top down with almost everyone. I can never look at standard screen shots again. We need another meet soon...not to mention all the panorama that could be done on the MacNN RR GP.

[sek929]

Originally Posted by klb5090 

sek, ****en awesome write up.

You have no idea how much you made my night with that comment.

Originally Posted by klb5090 

I can never look at standard screen shots again.

...and I've shot myself in the foot. Way to make 100x more work for yourself, sek! In reality imagine what those would look like triple to quadruple size. The first shot looks amazing full screen. In fact, the attic/basement and total overview were done with layers in PS (with a little clever jazz) since I used a different method for moving the camera.

Also, I love the shot of me and dakar and andall and yourself, another one that the tiny flickr image doesn't do justice.

[klb5090]

i'm sure they look nasty full size... any way if you got a chance you could email me a few of them to check out?...

PMed Email

[sek929]

Originally Posted by klb5090 

i'm sure they look nasty full size... any way if you got a chance you could email me a few of them to check out?...

PMed Email

Just sent them, enjoy!
Also, WTF am I still doing up? Damn, I gotta get my ass to bed...

[klb5090]

sek, those are ***en amazing in full size. The flickr b/s does them no justice.

sleep? whats that?...oh yea statistical analysis for economics exam at 9am...****

[::maroma::]

Nice work Sek! I love reading those write-ups. And yes, those panoramas are da shiz.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by sek929 

snippety-doo

Nice. You need to select one or two of your favorites and upload them to imagevenue so we can see them in their fullsize glory

Originally Posted by klb5090 

i cannot wait for the NNRRGP (i guess that works) hopefully apsolid and myself can keep up with the now world renown Dakar & Sek Team i'm trying so hard to think of some trash talk i can use on this team...it will come

I'm curious how much of a difference having a brigadier on the back of your bike will make.

Originally Posted by klb5090 

In other news... Bungie drops Halo 3 March Playlist update

I love that I'm not the only one in here that keeps up on this stuff.

Note that the first playlist they're releasing is Grifball. Hopefully this signifies their last real push to sell Heroic maps before releasing them free of charge.

---

No Pic of the Day for obvious reasons.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Google creeps me out sometimes.

I was searching for an answer to our RR driver problems.

[sek929]

Bingo! Thanks Dakar, now enjoyable the way they were meant to be.

Edit: God help you all, now that my masterpieces can be seen in full glory next write up will include no normal-ratio shots.

[sek929]

Fatty-o-rama of the day™


Dakar and I a hundred feet off the ground looking forward to the next checkpoint.

[Stogieman]

I made a .mac Halo 3 web gallery. If anyone needs a place to host their images you can upload them here.

.Mac Web Gallery

Pic of the day:

[klb5090]

sek, awesome photo. i absolutely cannot get enough panorama shots.

[sek929]

Stogie OMG cool unlockable armor!!

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by sek929 

Fatty-o-rama of the day™

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

I like you people making my life easier.

---

Rocket Race Update
First, I need all parties involved to check in and confirm whether a Monday 10.30 time for our first 5 GPs is ok.

Second, I have confirmed that I can allow VIPs to drive, so what I'd like is for each team to designate who will be driving and who will be Rocketing (Don't forget about the rules regarding this).

Third, I need team colors from stogie's team and ::maroma:: and chuckit's team (Purple and Blue are taken). If you'd like to add a nickname (we have blue barracudas and purple people eaters) feel free to do so.

Fourth, I've got some awesome stuff in the works, and the sooner you guys get this done for me, the sooner I can finish some of it and post it in here.

Thanks!

[sek929]

Monday is good for me and I'd like to designate YOU as the driver.

Also, I'm flattered you chose my nickname for Team Purple.

[Stogieman]

1. I'm waiting to hear back from my brother (xbox tag = KCrosbie) but I'm pretty sure he is available for Monday.

2. I'll be the driver. My brother sucks at driving the mongoose more than I do.

3. Gold.... and our team name will be Gold Members or the Gold Leaf Teabaggers. We haven't decided yet.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by sek929 

Monday is good for me and I'd like to designate YOU as the driver.

Like you had a choice.

Originally Posted by sek929 

Also, I'm flattered you chose my nickname for Team Purple.

Well, it's our team.

<3

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

1. I'm waiting to hear back from my brother (xbox tag = KCrosbie) but I'm pretty sure he is available for Monday.

Hmmm... I'll be calling him Crosbie on any official paraphenilia we have, and you stogieman, if that's ok.

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

2. I'll be the driver. My brother sucks at driving the mongoose more than I do.

Don't worry about shooting Gold Team, everyone.

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

3. Gold.... and our team name will be Gold Members or the Gold Leaf Teabaggers. We haven't decided yet.

Gold Members is awesome. Go with that.

[sek929]

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth 

Hmmm... I'll be calling him Crosbie on any official paraphenilia we have, and you stogieman, if that's ok.

Con-fu-sing!

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by sek929 

Con-fu-sing!

I'm open to suggestions.

kb is kevin bogues, so if we want to use a full name, I'm down with that too.

[sek929]

How about KCros? Crosbie The Second?

[Dakar the Fourth]

Crosbie the second it is

[sek929]

Since I'm obsessed....and KB can't get enough.

Fatty-o-rama of the day™

A most unfortunate stopping place for Dakar.

[Dakar the Fourth]

It's alright, you killed that annoying kid, and I'm a willing martyr for that cause.

[::maroma::]

1. Monday is good for me.

2. We haven't discussed it, but seems like we both like to drive. Maybe we will alternate from game to game, unless that isn't allowed. But I'm perfectly willing to be the shooter. Its all fun to me.

3. If I may suggest a color without my consulting my partner, how about Green. Name might be something like The Lean Mean Green Bean Team? Cuz I kinda like green beans. And all that stuff rhymes. Except for "The", but lets not get petty. (That almost rhymed too)

Of course I am very much open to a different color and/or team name. I really haven't given it enough thought to be married to the above sorry excuse for an answer.

[Stogieman]

How about we shorten the name to team Grass Stains?

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth 

Gold Members is awesome. Go with that.

GoldMembers it is.

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth 

It's alright, you killed that annoying kid, and I'm a willing martyr for that cause.

Yeah, Junior and his play by play was killing me last night. I had to mute the little bastard halfway through the match.

I'll be on later tonight if anyone wants to play some social TS or BTB.

[Chuckit]

I can't play on most Mondays or Tuesdays. I work from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. those two days. I hope that won't monkey-wrench things too badly.