Posts by WapCaplet

For those who want a little more info about the differences, check out this short comparison of widescreen vs fullscreen. You might be surprised. This indicates that many aspect ratios mean you are missing up to 46% of the original frame. http://www.widescreen.org/widescreen.shtml Wap

RILMS, that´s my point. It kind of confuses me when people say they don´t care, they just want to see the movie. Don´t you realize that you are actually MISSING parts of the movie? In some cases, a large percentage of the screen has actually been cut out. Maybe I´m just too much of a cinephile/movie snob. Especially for epic movies that are being made nowadays, like Lord of the Rings, Matrix, even the original Star Wars movies (and the upcoming DVD release), I want to see EVERYTHING. Battle scenes especially suffer from a Full Screen edit. You could literally NOT see up to 33% of what is going on. I guess I can understand the mentality when it comes to smaller screen sizes, but I would STILL opt for widescreen, even if I had a measly 13". I guess I would rather see everything there is to see, even if it´s a little smaller, than see 66% of what there is to see a little bigger. I think Steven Spielberg tried to do a petition or public awareness campaign or something to show audiences that Full Screen edits are NOT the director´s vision of the movies. From what I can remember, Spielberg is not a fan of Full Screen at all. I´ll try to find the web sources. At any rate, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I would just hate for a Full Screen watcher to not fully realize what they are missing. I think most people would end up choosing Widescreen if they really knew what was being cut out. It´s more than you think... Wap

Squeaky wheel gets the grease. Way to go for taking a stand. Wap

I can´t wait for the DVD versions to come out. I currently have all three different versions of the VHS trilogy, and was old enough to actually see Empire and Return of the Jedi in the theaters when they FIRST came out. For me, the biggest plus with the DVDs is going to be the sound. I have Digital surround sound and I can tell you that VHS simply does not measure up. However, I was REALLY hoping that they would be released in DTS, as opposed to Dolby 5.1. DTS kicks ass (as any audiophile knows) and I was really looking forward to watching the trilogy with the best sound ever. Sigh, I guess I will settle for 5.1. I have my doubts about a 6-disk set being released anytime soon (Eps 1-6). Look how long it took the original trilogy to come out on DVD. Nope....George is going to milk this like he milks everything else. When Episode 3 comes out on DVD, he´ll let that sell like hotcakes for a year or two. Then he´ll let the anticipation build for a couple of years before releasing an Eps1-3 trilogy boxed set. Once that sells for a couple more years he MIGHT release an anniversary edition including all 6 episodes. Greedy as he is, he´s a marketing genius. With his method, you end up buying every version that gets released because he makes you believe a "boxed set" is coming, but makes you wait 5-10 years for it. Anyway, DVD for the sound. Defintely. Wap

In 12 years, I´ll be twice as old as I was 8 years ago. Wap

I think I see where he is going with this. We know there are numbers that indicate the energy usage of each weapon. Is there a number somewhere that indicates what the total energy output and recharge rate of each ship is? If we had those numbers, then we could calculate the energy drain time for a certain set of weapons on a certain type of ship. This could be very handy when deciding which set of weapons to equip. Anyone know if those figures are available? Wap

Monty Python. The String Sketch. A buddy of mine is called Goosecreature. We just need seven more people and can form a [STRING clan. <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> Mousebat, Follicle, Goosecreature, Ampersand, Spong, Wapcaplet, Looseliver, Vendetta and Prang. Wap Edited by - WapCaplet on 4/14/2004 7:14:08 AM

There has been discussion before about how much cargo those big transports actually carry. The number you see when you actively scan one of those ships is certainly misleading. They do not drop that much when they get blasted. Nor could they conceivably be carrying that much due to their limited size, etc. But that´s another discussion. It has been my experience, and I´m sure I´ll be corrected (read: flamed) if I´m wrong, but those transports usually drop about 150-200 units of the commodity when destroyed. So even though the scan shows that they are usually carrying about 8 million &quot;tons&quot; (units, whatever), it would appear that 99.9975% of it gets destroyed with the ship. A mere 0.0025% of the cargo manages to survive the explosion and floats around in space, waiting for you to tractor it in and make some quick cash. It could be something like 800,000, not 8 million, so adjust the figure accordingly, but I think you get the idea. Let the corrections begin. Wap

I could be wrong, but I think he is actually asking about HOW to group weapons, IE, how to set it so that, for example, group 1 is his Laser weapons, group 2 is his heavy hitting shields weapons (del Cids?), etc. I don´t think he was asking what the different weapon groups were. At any rate, I have never grouped my weapons or set up hotkeys to be able to switch from one group to another on the fly, so I would also be curious on how to do this. I may be wrong however. Wap

The beauty of Freelancer is that you can pretty much do whatever you want. If you want to do nothing but trade, you can do that. However, you have to keep in mind that there are NPCs in the game that ply their trade by hunting on freighter pilots. So while you might do all you can to avoid combat, there will be situations where your trade lane gets interrupted and you get attacked by pirates demanding your death and/or cargo. You can choose to flee and hope you outrun the attackers, or switch to turret mode and blast away at them while you make good your escape. The thing to keep in mind, especially in multiplayer, but also in single player, is that there are just as many other players out there (player and NPC alike) who are also doing their own thing. And that can often mean that some of those players make a living by trading, while others make a living by attacking traders. Having an escort is helpful for sure, but this is really only possible in multiplayer (unless you manage to form up with an NPC group that happens to be going to the same place as you). I highly recommend that game and I don´t think you will be dissapointed. But you WILL have to fight at some point. Traders get attacked, that´s just the nature of the galaxy sometimes. But YOU can focus primarily on being a trader. You can buy a freighter specifically designed for trading. It´s unmaneuverable, bulky and an easy target, but it carries tons of cargo and has plenty of turrets for protection. There are plenty of different commodities to trade, and prices vary from base to base, and vary greatly from system to system. You can find some trade routes that span several systems and could easily net you a profit of over $250,000 per run. I started as a trader, and loved it. Ok, that was a mouthful, but hopefully it paints a better picture for you, and ultimately convinces you to buy the game. Wap

Gromit, good point. I think the mentality that $1,000,000 is not very much money comes from the constant feeling that we need to own more and more stuff. We´re never happy until we have it all, and even then it´s not enough. I make about $50,000 a year. If I had a million dollars, that´s like making the same salary (secured) for the next 20 years. Not bad if I do say so myself. I don´t need a bigger house or a faster car (just a faster computer). And if you do invest wisely, it can go a long way. Still, it´s a tough decision for me. I would love to see the stars without the atmosphere in the way. I would love to feel what zero-g is like. I would love to walk on another planet (I know the moon isn´t technically a &quot;planet&quot;, but you know what I mean), I would love to see the Earth from the moon, I would love to see the Earth-rise, I´d love to be able to say that I saw Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, North America, South America and the Antarctic all in one day, I´d love to feel the g-forces of lift off and re-entry, I´d love to feel the exhiliration of space flight, I´d love to drink Tang as it floats around in little globs... Such a tough question for me. I´m still leaning towards the moon...call me sentimental....or just mental. Whichever works. Wap

While I haven´t been EVERYWHERE yet, I have certainly been to all of Kusari, Liberty, Bretonia and Reinland space, and I still can´t remember where everything is. I guess I am thinking more for the player who doesn´t play often enough to be able to remember where everything is, or someone who prefers to have all the information available in their NavMap for easy reference. I´m not disputing that the information is readily available. It´s not the info that I´m really talking about. It´s the ability to transfer the visual representation of that information to someone else´s NavMap. A way to prevent them from having to visit every base again in order to have that info show up in their NavMap. So, am I correct in assuming this is impossible to do? Wap

I´m sure many of the responses my be length, I´ll try to keep mine brief. I love the open-endedness of Freelancer; the fact that I can do pretty much whatever I want. A newer game of this genre would do well to provide even more options to the player. I also love exploring the universe. Knowing that there is a vast, unique galaxy out there to explore makes the game fun to play every time. Something new to find makes sure the game nevers gets old. Those are my 2 cents. Wap

In answer to my own question, I think I´d have to take the moon. Setting aside the possibility of getting endorsements, I would rather have a permanent memory and experience, than temporary money. Again, the question is meant to reveal your values and goals. Obviously there is no right answer, but I thought it was an interesting question. Wap

A sure-fire way to get MS to create a sequel to FL is to get about 2 or 3 hundred thousand FL fans to send a letter to MS requesting they make FL2. If the letter includes a cheque payable to MS for about $49.95, I bet they would make a sequel. Wap

Would I love to see a Freelancer sequel? Absolutely. Do I think there is going to be one? No. I´m not trying to be pessimistic or anything, but I personally feel that there will be no official sequel to Freelancer. I agree with whoever it was that said the future of Freelancer lies in the mods. There is an obvious community fan base for this game that will continue to add and improve upon it with mods and ships and what-not. I could be wrong. Hopefully I am. But I would bet real money that we will never see Freelancer 2. My 2 cents. Wap

Gotta love those cultural slang differences. I remember when a guy from Australia was visiting our school and he was getting mad at someone and said &quot;Stop ****ing me off&quot;. We all stared at him, because of course &quot;****ing off&quot; meant something TOTALLY different here. Lol. Wap

I´m waiting for people to start a &quot;What´s the best ship in Freelancer 2 and how could it be better&quot; thread. Wap

A toast: To our wives and girlfriends, May they never meet. Cheers, Wap

Not sure how new you are to the game, so forgive me if my answer is not at all what you are looking for. My first guess is that your cargohold is full, as previously mentioned. If you are attempting to tractor stuff in and the computer says &quot;Tractor Failed&quot; or something to that effect, then it´s most likely a full hold. However, perhaps (and again, forgive me if I´m wrong) you are really new to the game. You have to shoot the small moving rocks or debris. Although there are many pieces floating around, there is only a specific type that can actually be shot. These will cause your targetting reticule to light up. Use only one of your guns (press the 1 key to fire only one weapon) to avoid accidentally destroying any resource you might find. Not all debris/rocks will produce a resource. Some minable fields produce more stuff than others and you just have to search around and be patient as you look for those areas that have a higher percentage of resources. Some areas will produce a resource almost everytime you blast a rock/debris whereas other areas will require you to shoot 10 or 20 or more rocks/debirs before you find anything. You will know when you find a resource when you blast a rock or debris and a second later see a &quot;lootable&quot; item float out. It should be surrounded by a little white box. This is easy to miss if you are flying too fast so be careful. You can also set your scanner to &quot;Loot&quot; and any items you discover will appear in the list. This is your cue to hit the tractor beam button (default ´B´). Ok, so there´s a brief guide to mining, which may or may not have been helpful to you, depending on how long you have been playing. Cheers. Wap