http://www.kickstarter.co...-frame-zero-rapid-attack
I figured this is something you guys would like - a mecha fight system using legos where you get to remove parts of the mech during the fights
There is no coincidence, only necessity....
- Clow Reed

I happened to notice the mention of these guys on the ME wiki - apparently it's a news story you can follow, but that's all. What struck me, though, was that percieved time runs much faster in the virtual reality... Couldn't you, during the "scrambling to find any possible advantage to use against the Reapers" stage,get someone to sponsor a research team in there, to work on things like improved shielding, or practical energy weapons, or non-Relay FTL (for tactical flexibility,) etc.? Even when nothing physical can pass between the two existences, there's so much benefit that can be wrung from extra centuries of research and thought... Obviously, they didn't go that way with the actual games, but this here is the fanfiction forum for a reason!

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

I am getting really, really tired of this coddling people that want to live in a world of ignorance and idiocy.
War On Words: NYC Dept. Of Education Wants 50 ‘Forbidden' Words Banned From Standardized Tests
They want to live in their own little worlds where the Flintstones is a documentary instead of a sitcom? Fine.  Just stop trying to make me, and the rest of the nation try to accommodate your fear-of-the-modern-world-based views so that you are not 'offended'.  Specially since by doing so you are actually threatening our collective future. 

After much laging and DCing, I finally finished the last arc of the Who Will Die Saga.

While I will not post any spoilers, I will say that all 6 missions (that's right, 6 in the end) where well written, catering to the fact it is one arc for both red and blue sides.

And as the last mission ends, you get a little cut scene telling you what happens to all the contacts and major NPC's after it's done.

I think I might have to right a little snipit for Gir after running it. 

Lyrics:

These landscapes of beauty

Hold more than meets the eye

Darkness comes early

And the night controls the mind

Look into the future

Gaze into the crystal ball

Release all your sorrows

Let the new beginning dawn

I've been waiting for you

Down by the shoreline

Towards the shadows we walk

Without fear in our hearts

Can you feel the hunger of the chosen one

Growing stronger out on the run chosen one

The snow keeps on falling

Inside a cold and darkened world

And no sight of daylight

Makes this place on earth feel cursed

Get out of your nightmare

Find a reason to go on

Just wait for tomorrow

You'll see a new beginning dawn

I've been searching for you

Over the rainbow

Up from the ashes we rise

Just to face a better day

Can you feel the hunger of the chosen one

Growing stronger out on the run

Can you feel the power of the chosen one

Take you higher, touch the sun

I picture Doug arriving just in time for Laserbeak to have left and miss him, and be loaded onto the special run to Earth still unconscious, after some minimal explanations from his bike's AI... He'd probably just wake up in time to be really confused about the battle for Autobot City, and swept up in things from there. I heard a song that could be his gate out earlier this evening, but can't remember it now...

So, how do you think he'd fare against thirty-foot robots?

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

He was different from the rest of the world
He chose the lovely every time
With a smile, he would bravely soldier on
Yeah, was that such a crime?
He did not wear cynicism well
He chose the lovely every time
And they cut him down, the world cut him down
Yeah being peaceful was his crime
And I don't understand
The way we all behave
Yeah this world of ours..
This world we live in...

We're a long way from Equestria
We're a long, long way
We're a long way from Equestria
A long, long, way

She dared to love everybody
Yeah, she was nothing but kind
And the world told her she was wrong
There must be something wrong with her mind
And she was just a child amongst thieves
Just a child looking for love
Yeah all the grown ups in the world told her she was wrong
To believe in something we're all dreaming of
And I don't understand
The wicked things we do
In this world of ours...
This world we live in...

We're a long way from Equestria
We're a long, long way
We're a long way from Equestria
A long, long, way

I will never give up the fight.
I will never surrender to the hate
I know this world ain't perfect at all
But the world is just what we create
So let's make love,
Let's make friends,
Let's take time to make amends,
Let's make the world more like Equestria
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My initial thought is that it might defuse violence, by making everyone feel ashamed, up to and including emotionless automatons. Anyone have any other ideas?
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

Or redlink removal:

First spotted in use by the Roughriders A-Team, the first MZ-12 motoroids were known to have originated in the workshops and labs of 37 Fides. Motoroids are a transformable mecha, capable switching between a flight-capable humanoid form and a motorcycle form.

A motoroid has three operating modes:

In motoroid mode, it operates independently in humanoid form, capable of providing fire support and backup to the wearer, or independently holding ground against attackers. Roughriders models border on D-grade intelligence, and are capable of operating on their own limited initiative. It is flight capable in atmosphere and open space.

In motorslave mode the operator’s hardsuit armour is physically docked with the motoroid, with the motoroid’s own sensors providing data to the wearer’s hardsuit. The Motoroids own armour provides additional protection, and allows the wearer to go toe-to-toe with heavier mecha if needed. Slave mode requires the operator to be wearing a Stingray model hardsuit. It is flight capable in atmosphere and open space.

In motorcycle mode they are capable of achieving 320kph on level ground, and being equipped with an automatic transmission and two wheel drive. They can be ridden by any humanoid capable of handling a heavy high-speed motorcycle.

Motoroids are some of lightest transforming mecha, weighing in at less than two hundred kilograms without rider. Most of the frame is made from magnesium alloys, while the armour is a lightweight ceramic metal fibre-reinforced composite. It’s exact composition is a trade secret of 37 Fides.

It is capable of withstanding a direct hit from 20mm calibre weapons. Compared to a battlemover or landmate, a motroid is still very lightly armoured, and is closer to an oversized powered-exoskeleton. The pilot is exposed in a number of places.

Power comes from a combination of fuel-cell electric drive for the real wheel in motorcycle mode, and a pair of fusion-turbine powered gravity-rotors mounted in both halves of the seperating front wheel in motorcycle mode. The rotors themselves are conceptually similar to those powering B-36 Peacemakers. They allow the motoroid to skim the ground in atmosphere, or fly at low speeds in vacuum. They also grant the ‘roid an exceptional maneuverability, including the ability to hover in place, jink, and to continue travelling along a vector while turning to face a target.

Most motoroids are capable of supplying power for a 20mm railgun, using the same power supply as the main motor drives to save weight. They can also be armed with single-shot missile launchers, or conventional chemically propelled firearms.

Motoroids are sold to reputable factions on the open market... though with a few changes to armour compositions and electronics. Motoroids require a Stingray hardsuit to function effectively, and cannot be operated by an unarmoured wearer in slave mode.

--Knight Saber Motoroid “MZ 20 Typhoon” --

The Knight Saber motoroid, while appearing similar, is much heavier, replacing light alloys and composites with seibertron alloys. Externally, the Knight Saber motoroid is distinguished by being slightly bulkier, having larger actuators and power supplies..... and by having feet designed to mimic high-heeled shoes incorporating maneuvering jets.

Performance is estimated to roughly be on par with their Roughrider cousins, thanks to uprated actuators, drives and power supplies to compensate for the extra mass.

Knight Saber motorslaves use a slightly modified contra-rotating rotor design to enhance their stability and maneuverability.

Knight Saber motoroids use their extra mass to mount higher calibre weapons. Normally they carry a 30mm Grazny Shipunov autocannon firing high-explosive or armour-piercing shells, with one occasionally being equipped with a heavy railgun.

----- Heavy Motorslave “MZ-23 Judy”

A prototype heavier version of the motoroid, was gifted to Shinji Ikari. Designed with an enclosed cockpit as standard allowing it to be piloted by someone not wearing a hardsuit, it is intended for flight within cislunar space. It can be operated without a hardsuit, and is equipped with a self-stabilising and support system which operates in motorcycle and motoroid mode.

It is noticeable large in motorcycle mode, with a pair of additional panniers fitted to a longer chassis reminiscent of the original Highway star.

The Heavy motorslave is unarmed as standard, though has provision for armaments in an emergency.

Faster in open space than a motoroid, but slower on land. At less than 600kg it is still one of the lightest machines of it’s kind.

Originally known as Judy, Shinji officially renamed it ‘Misato Katsuragi’.

-----

One size fits all: Unlike the hardsuits, adapting a motoroid to fit a different user is pretty simple. It could probably be automated if anyone had the inclination to bother.

No shirt, no shoes...: User must wear a Stingray model hardsuit.

Mad Machine Motoroids use a much simpler constant-power actuator design, rather than a safer but more computationally complex constant force system. It’s hard to not break things wearing one.

Hurricane Gravity rotor drives whip up miniature tornadoes if operated in an atmosphere, picking up and flinging light debris if they’re close to the ground, raising dust clouds and generally annoying people.

Skimmer Limited to altitudes below 1km in an atmosphere.

-----

Trivia: When I think of it.

-----------------------

Needs more quirks.

Top speed in space is .001 C (Yes really). Land is 320kph. Air is 200kph. Maneuverability is the same as the Havoc choppers (The lifting drives operate on the same principal)
AI is pretty dumb.... basically capable of comprehending 'friend or foe' and basic commands such as 'cover me' or 'fall back' or 'stay here'.
You can probably make it work with any sort of powered armour.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

In the NanoSteps thread, HoagieOfDoom Wrote:31.

By this point, I'd had it.

"Okay, look. I've been to some weird places, all right? But this takes the cake, the pie and the whole fudge creamsicle. The entire town is surrounded by one of the strongest wards I've ever seen, nobody seems to care that some of the townsfolk are animals that can talk and wear clothes, I'm being stalked by a creepy guy with a ridiculous hat who keeps leering at me, and you and way-too-young-to-wear-that-dress just had a ballet fight. So tell me: what's the freakin' story here?!"

My question asked, I folded my arms and waited for an answer.

A moment later I got one.

"Quack."

I slapped my face and dragged my hand down it before replying.

"Right. Let's get you some water. And some clothes."

Overheard at the Registry of Motor Vehicles today:

"If a sports car is a phallic symbol, does that make an electric car a vibrator?"

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Is anyone on the board familiar enough with .NET-based network communications to help me with a problem?  I've got a situation where I'm sending a string to a program on a different computer using a TCPClient, with a TCPListener active and waiting for a response.  The response should be all but instantaneous, and when detected would spawn a new TCPClient to accept the connection and receive the response, but instead I'm timing out.  I can see that my message to the remote computer is being received and acted upon, and the return message is being generated (and logged).  I can't change the remote program, as it's a standard configuration for multiple products.  And the code I'm using is allegedly the standard implementation for the other side of the connection.  But regardless of whether I leave the code as it was already written, or attempt to tweak it, I see no evidence that anything's coming back across the network at me.

Ideas, suggestions, brickbats?

Thanks.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.