Lars

Hello, Ok, I just finsihed the mission for the 2nd time on the dev server and want to do it once more tommorrow. I am writting a walkthrough for it to help all of you players get thru it so the the GM's will not run off and hide when Call Forward is put into the game! So far the mission although long and does have you running around, works pretty dam well I have to say. The Progan team hit a home run this time so be nice to them. When you guys see it you will think you were back in live doing a mission there! As I stated I am writting a step by step walkthrough for the mission and the main reason for this is that the ores are not where they once where and the text that is for the mission from live will not work anymore. It is hard to judge just how long the mission will take players, but if you follow the walkthrough you will have it done in a few hours to a day. Depends on how well you follow instructions i guess. The most importain thing is to make sure before hitting that "Next" button you understand what they are saying to you. Since this is a lvl 135 mission and you will have my walkthrough there should be no reason unless something strange happens (Like me jumping out at you with 15 angry lvl 66 mobs) to have to bug the GM's. We like our GM's, but they are getting old and don't move to fast anymore! (Going to get it for that one!) Anyway, I and no one else knows just when CF will be put into the game so please do not ask. All I can say is when they are ready they will push it to the play server, but until that happens you all have to just keep smiling and say "what is that behind that rock over there?" <Evil Grin> TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, To be completely honest with you and the rest of the players it would be next to impossible to put the ore fields back to the way it was in live and get it 100% correct. So here is what I am thinking, why even try! Instead I will do the best I can to put in all the main fields everyone remembers like the gass field in Glenn for an example. The way I look at it Ore fields are a animal all their own and as long as we get close and make sure all the ores are there in close to the amount that was in live then I am sure no one will really care if this ore is here and that ore is over there. I am also trying to be a little creative in the ore field placement and do something that they didn't do in live. One example of this is the Asteroid rings around the Planet in Jotunheim. I added 3 rings around the planet that kind of blend in with the art work that is already there. I have placed some large high lvl ore fields in out of the way places that will take some exploring to find. I am also planning on once all the sector are finished to about once a month and wave Merlin's magic wand and some of the ore fields will move around the sectors so that miners will have to once again explore to find them. I will make sure players get little hints at when things like that happen. Now as to the pop-rocks, in live everyone knew which roid would pop and which roid wouldn't! Thats no fun now is it? I want to make it so that pop rocks look just like every other roid and you will never know when something will pop out and say hi! Another idea I am toying around with (giving David & Tienbau a headack) is to not only have pissed off mobs pop out, but have friendly mobs also come out to say hi. Now these friendly mobs would follow you around and be your friend as long as you wanted them to. Now as a good friend they would make sure their new friend was safe while mining. Once you decided to leave the sector you would target your friend and say goodbye. Now since he is your fiend ofcourse he would want to give you a good bye gift and like puff the magic dragon (alittle hint) it would go poof and leave behind your gift. Of course this might never happen, but if it is possible to do this it would really make mining fun. Well, I am working on other idea, but I do not want to get to far ahead of myself here. Now before soemone says it, yes there are alot of importain things to still do in the game. In responce I will say I am mainly putting my effort into the ore fields and leaving all the other stuff for all the smarter Devs to figure out. Merlin like shiny rocks and likes to play with shiny rocks! :-) Oh, I just got done testing out the Call forward mission twice and will be doing it once more tommorrow to make sure the walkthrough I am writting for it is 100% correct. I will post more about that in the correct form! TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, Ok, you would have a total at most 3 different ammo lvl's 100, 150 & 200% 100% = Vender bought ammo 150% = ammo w/vender comps 200% = ammo w/pm comps & non-man vender comps So basiclly to get 200% ammo you would have to use parts that were PM & the non-man comps would reg as 200% so non-man comps would be as if you made them. Anyway, it is just an idea to try to help give the comp builders a reason to make all those comps we spent countless hours getting & mapping. Right now Merlin, my TT only builds maybe once or twice a week when it comes to comps and why should he if I can always get a 200% item from 100% comps!! TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, Well I kind of agree with you, "But", right now money is way out-of-ballanced and we all know that! I for one have way over 2 billion credits and I don't even try! So when money is so easy to get most builders and I have lvl 9 builders in all areas, just go buy the parts for anything under lvl 7 items. I would like to see it kind of get back to the way it was in Live where I also had a lvl 9 builders in that builders go back to making their comps instead of just buying them all. I have an idea on how to do this, but I am sure players will not like it! My idea: Make it so that no matter what you build, if you use comps from a vender @ 100% then the best your build would be is 150%. Now ofcourse if it is a non-man comp then that would count as a 200% one. This would go for making ammo also in that if you just go and buy a stack of comps to make ammo the best you will get is 150% ammo! Now, if you use PM comps then you would get 200% on your builds. I have never understood why you get ammo @ 200% when you use 100% parts! Now by doing it this way it would change the thinking about making comps and make 99% of the ore useful no matter what lvl the ore was. In doing the ore fields I have found tht almost all the ore is used for something and why not make ore something other then just vender trash. In the real world if you use crapy stuff to make something you end up with a crapy thing. Kind of like going out to buy a Rolls compared to buying a Kia! I am not saying Kia's are crapy cars, but it was the easiest one to spell! :-) I know I will get all these posts now saying what a bad idea this is and this is not the way it was in Live, but why not improve on something that was in live to make it just alittle more like real life. Ok, flame away! TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, As soon as I see someone that can restart the server(s) pop on TS3 I will let them know they are down. Both the play & Dev servers are down at them moment so it might be something other then just a normal server crash. Everyone just take this time to reflect on the meaning of live and go spend some time with your better half! It is always good to work on that wife/husbin/other faction as most of us EnB'ers have bad faction in that area! lol. TTTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, Well what I use to do was about 2 or 3 times a week as I was getting ready to log off and go to bed (not playing) I would start a macro and normally do the gas fields in glenn. When I woke up my ships cargo holds would be filled with stacks of 300 of gasses. Now as to running one whole I was at my computer, no. Now before I get a bunch of anti=macro post you have to remember that this was a normal thing in live and their was always about 10 to 15 players running them. Since coming to this project I have changed my views on running a macro. Now you also have to remember that back then we did pay for our accounts and why not get what you could out of it! Anyway, I do not see too many players trying to run a macro here for mining because the way mining is setup now it would be hard to do so, but not imposible. I will do what I can within reason to try to keep players from doing so and one of the best ways is to use pop rocks. This is why I want pop rocks to look the same as normal roids. But first we got to get them in and hopefully it will be soon. TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, I am in the process of testing what the players will do for this mission on the Dev server right now. I am also making sure the correct ores/gasses are where the text tells you to go get them. You can also get the Orelist.txt file if you go to Team Speak 3 and go to the room "The Shadows" and right click on "The Shadows" and open up the file browser and D/L the file Orelist.txt which is the updated version of where you will find the ores in the game in the sectors I have done. I guess it is my way to get you all to stop by and say "Hi" once in awhile! :-) I should warn you that this mission is not the easiest and the best addvice I can give you guys is before hitting that "Next" button make sure you have things written down! Also, as with any mission "DO NOT SELL STUFF WHILE YOU ARE DOING A MISSION"!!!!!!!! Since this is a lvl 135 mission you guys should not be doing that anymore and if you use your heads for something besides a hat rack you will be able to get thru it. I should be done either later tonight or tommorrow sometime and will let you all know how it turns out and might even write a simple guide for you all if that is ok. TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, Well I want to say, and yes I know some players will not like this idea, but, I would like to make it where you did not know which roids where pop rocks! I would like to make all the roids look the same at each lvl and when a roid pops it will be a surprise. The whole idea behind pop rocks in the first place was to keep miners on their toes and to help with macro mining. I know that in live I was a macro miner as this was a practice that was excepted and many of us were. My views on this practice has changed and like an x-smoker I would like to see all macro mining gone. In live I had a macro that could tell which roids where poppers so the macro would just pass it by or I would just mine gas fields. By making all the roids popper/non-poppers the same it will get rid of anyone macro mining. I know, here comes all the reasons to make pop rocks different, but that is my 2 cents! TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, This is something I know about quite well! Problie the best race & class to try this with would be the TS. When it comes to TR's are really good. As you will notice by my sig I have done alot of TR's and yes it does get borring. With the TS's Nav skill they are the fastest at TR's. With their Neg skill they also get more xp for tradeing. Also at the moment you can get their HU's very easy so you can keep to your plan without haveing to do any combat or cost you any money. Getting those 2 extra cargo spots is importain and they also start with alot of cargo spots. If David ever gets the "/played" to work I might try this out for fun to see how long it does take each race to get to lvl 150 doing nothing but TR's. I know way too much time on my hands but I could setup something to try this on the dev server that would run with a macro so it could run non-stop until it got done. I will say this that when I start a new toon and as you can see I have started many new toons, I also start with doing TR's once I hit around TL 20 as before that it is normally better to do low lvl combat for loot. Once you hit around tl 20 the xp from loot drops off and TR's are the better way to go. I can normally get a toon to lvl 50 on the 1st day and around 10 to 15 lvl's a day after that. This is an interesting idea and again once David fixes the /played I might try this. TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello Tienbau, Well since we are talking about the PS Repulsor shield and bugs here is one for you. Too make a long story short the damage comeing off you RS that is returning to the mobs is being credited to the mob, so it is very possible that the damage that is being returned can be greater then the damage you are firing at them and they can end up killing themselfs! This has happened to me so offen now that I stop useing the RS on my PS altogether. Example: Mob is firing every 2 sec for 500 damage and 300 is being returned or 150 DPS You are firing say 100 damage every sec or 100 DPS As you see the when the mob dies it will have done more damage then you to it's self and the mob is getting the credit for killing it's self. Fix for this is to make sure the damage that is being returned is credited to the player and not the mob and that is the way it was in live also. I can show you this if you need me to like we did with the CTD bug last night. Let me know! TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello everyone, I haven't done a poll in awhile so I thought I would do one on a subject we were talking about in Team Speak and it would be nice if more players stop by now and then. Each race has it's + & - so I would just like to hear from you guys & gals which one is your favorite. I like all 3 for 3 different reasons, but if I had to pick one it would problie be the __. I will fill in the blank later! TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, Ya I have talked to David about this problem and it is all over the map. The problem is that it is setting ore fields that are set to random some 15k above & below. I want David to set this to 5k above & below and that should make it easier to get to all the roids. The only other option right now would be to set them all in a ring format and that would get borring after awhile. Thanks for making a report as that is the only way all these little problems will get solved is for players like yourself to report them. TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, I hate Peas & Lima Beans! TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, I have always wondered why alot of players put a TT, TE, TS, PW, PP, PS, JE, JD or JS on the end of their name! I have never done this and have always tryed to come up with names that fit the toon I am making. I know more players do this then don't, but come on guys, put alittle effort into your toons names! :-) It is easy enough to figure out what eveyones toon is without putting those 2 letters on the end of your name. I can see it now, I could do this: MerlinTT, MerlinTE, MerlinTS, MerlinPW, MerlinPP, MerlinPS, MerlinJE, MerlinJD & don't forget about MerlinJS! I know, shut up Merlin! TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, I would just like to wish all my fellow fathers out there a very happy Fathers Day! Merlin

Hello, Thanks, but I already knew about this "Oversite on my part" and have fixed it. It will change on the next push to the player server. There is also a field in Jot that is way off the map for some silly reason that also has been fixed. I have made several small fixes to the ore fields I have already done and all of them will take effect on the next push. I do thank you for reporting as that is the way things get fixed and no I am not perfect and do make mistakes! I know it is hard to believe but true! :-) Merlin

Hello, Ok, I guess I will jump in here. If I remember correctlly weren't the Zen beams one of the best in the game in live? Not only do they look the coolest both on your ships but they use to really put out the dammage. I have always argued that fast beams are better then slow beams for several reasons and the Zen Beams where the top of the line for fast firing beams. Now they are a joke and that is to bad. They do half the damage of the blue gaze line which are also drop only, but can be PM. Here is what I purpose for the Zen beams: 1. Give them 2x the damge they are now so that atleast they are useable. 2. Make all of them PM just like the blue gaze line. 3. Lower the drop rate like it was in Live to something like 2% Just doing those 3 things would bring the Zen beams back to what they were in live and make having them specail again instead of saying, "Crap, another stupid Zen beam" Merlin

Hello, Ok, to the contary of what most players think, JE's do more DPS then most other races due to their shield leach. Here is the correct way to use a JE in combat when in a group. 1st cloak your je and set them to follow the mob you are attacking. Then start attacking the mob with your jd and make sure you get the aggro with your jd and have the mob follow your jd for about 3 to 4 k. Now at this point your jr should be behind the mob, uncloak, fire and then use your shield leach on the mob. Now if all go's well the mob should still be aggroed on your jd, if not just quickly recloak your je and when the mob go's back to aggroing your jd repeat process with your je. Your je's shields are no more weak then any other race and make sure you have the proper deflects on any toon you do combat with. At the moment alot of the mobs are hitting with explosive damage so make sure you have atleast that deflect. With some practis you will start killing mob's that are 5 to 10 lvl's above your cl. I do it all the time, but my JE has always been an effective combat toon if you do it right. Hope this helps. TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, Ok, I checked and I did find it. Look about 80k north of the Smugglers Run gate and you will find the crystal field. TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, The best addvice I can give to you or anyone is to d/l the file "Orelist.txt" which you will find in the 2nd message of this post. It has the sectors in which you will find those ores. Any sector that is not in the Orelist.txt meens that I have not gone into that sector to fix any problems there may be. I will say that if you find any lvl 9 glowing rock it will always have lvl 2 Helium in it since there is no such think as a lvl 9 glowing rock ore. You will notice that in the orelist you will not find any lvl 9 glowing rocks listed. That is one of the problems I am cleaning up. Also, I am trying to get the right ore in the right type of rocks and that is done by basiclly going thru every ore field and placing the correct ore in them and that is where the major part of the time is involved. Once I get going on a system, i can normally get 3 to 5 sectors done a day. I will most likely be working on the Jen sectors next and then either the progan or Terran ones after that. Fun-fun-fun! TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, This is a hard question to answer as no one really know for sure when the next push is coming. It all depends on if something real importain needs to be pushed or not. It is problie safe to say that there seems to be a push in the 1st week of the month. That is what I have seen anyway. TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, Ok I fixed the Crystal ore field in VT & moved the field in the NW corner in Jot so the roids are not on the other side of the wall. These 2 fixes will take effect when they do the server push. The only other problem was the neg field clear bonus and that one has been fixed on the play server. I have started to work on the Terran sectors tonight, but need to chat with the Terran lead before I get to far along. Once I make sure he is happy then I will be happy and then can make all of you happy! We will all be one big happy family Anyway, have spent the last 3 days checking out all the ore fields and they all look good. Oh to the player that was concerned about Shepard, I did move the mobs away from each other a bit so there area does not over lap anymore. You will be able to hunt those pesty lvl 20 bugs now without running into the cl 31 manes. Ofcourse you will not notice the change until after the data push. Thats about it for the moment. Once I get going on the Terran sectors I will have more to report. Happy hunting! TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, I agree with you as to the point you made about haveing to carry a bunch of ammo with you. It for this reason I put on most all mobs in ore fields to a 30 min timer so when you do kill them you will have time to mine. On the pop rocks, I think a good % would be from 3 to 5% on most fields and yes some fields will not have any and I also feel that on the lvl's 2 thru 5 the % should be only arond 1 to 2% due to the fact that lvl low mines rarely can do to much combat. Now, if my idea about having some of the poppers turn out to be a tag-along mob, then these numbers will go up a bit as you will have a guard mob for you! I think it would be fun to have a little Devil (a hint) that keeps you safe. TTYL :-) Merlin

Hello, I will take a look at Shepard when I go into the editor today. I have a couple of other small problems to work out also. I can spread out those mobs you were talking about so they are not bunched together, although I have taken a little heat as some think I was to easy on the players. I remember Bugs being a favorite of mine in live to lvl on and if my memory is right I think there was alot more bugs in Shepard then there is now. There was one spot that was just covered with them. Anyway, I would hate to think I took away your favorite hunting spot so I will see what I can do! TTYL :-) Merlin