Because there are asteroid fields that can be mined and provide resources to planets, we have had to relook at the planetary improvements. Some of the changes have included: A new type of improvement: Power Plants. These magnify the production coming in by X%. Fertility clinics to increase population growth. Much higher population limits so that lots of money can be achieved. Morale is more affected by population than previously so reaching those limits will be tougher. Lower level f...
One of the things that probably won't get much mention in the "marketing" of Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar (the upcoming expansion pack to GalCiv II) is that we've gone back and updated the graphics throughout the game to be at a new level. But it's more than just eye candy, it's better performance. What used to require several textures to be done is now being done with a single texture -- reducing memory while increasing the quality (this ship uses about 1/4th the memory that...
Al Franken has apparently claimed that Republicans are the party of authoritarians and the Democrats now are the party of liberals and conservatives. Unbelieveable. While the Republicans have been quite lackluster while in power these past 6 years, they've hardly been authoritarian. One could make the case that Bush himself acts a bit imperial, but no more imperial than many other Presidents have (a lot less than say FDR or LBJ -- any Democrats want to make the case that Bush has behaved mo...
Pathetic Whining Mode: Activated So as the week comes to an end I've had a lot of people contact me saying "Hey, you're famous, Rush Limbaugh talked about you on the air today". And when he didn't mention me by name, he quoted my article or referred to me as an "unknown blogger" or "rank amateur" or "some nobody" whatever. I can't say it was a fun experience. While at work, I'll regularly listen to talk radio which includes Rush Limbaugh on occasion. It's definitely not f...
Helen Valois has an excellent article about what "Cut and Run Conservatism" is. Now that Rush Limbaugh has chosen to demonize conservatives acting as conservatives instead as as Republican sheep, he may discover that outside his ditto-head bubble that there are many out there unimpressed with his rhetoric. Valois writes: And just what is a "cut-and-run conservative"? From what I can tell, this label applies to anyone who holds the (to Rush) illogical opinion that Republicans ought to ...
The Governor.. Staying with local Michigan politics further, Jennifer Granholm has somehow managed to keep a 7%+ lead. The reason this is shocking is that Michigan's economy is the worst in the nation. We're the only state that has kept losing jobs for the past four years. I actually like Grandholm -- as a person. I think she carries herself well. But I don't thnk she has the faintest idea on economics and business. Here is the thing a lot of people ignore at the state lev...
Here in Michigan, the senate race isn't as close as one might hope. It's Democrat Debbie Stabenow vs. Republican Mike Bouchard. Bouchard claims that Stabenow has been cynically avoiding any sort of televised debates . But I have not seen any real evidence of this. Right now, she's got a 9 point lead over Bouchard. As a business owner, I tend to vote for candidates who favor policies that help businesses. For instance, when my taxes are lowered, I have more capital to hire more people wh...
It is Day 4 of the Rush Limbaugh railings against frustrated conservatives who might sit out this election. And once again, Rush has tried to assign motive and intent to me and people like me (given that it was this article supporting Instapundit's premortem that helped set off this discussion). My motive? Apparently it's about power. I want to wreck things for the Republicans so that if the Republicans lose in November I can say "See, look at my POOOWEERR!" If Rush b...
Still testing but here are the changes: + Initial Colony buildings have less maintainence. + New colonies start out with a population cap of 6 instead of 5. + Farms provide less food. + Morale buildings have been increased in benefit but techs to get to them cost substantially more. + Stock market no longer gives morale bonus (wasn't supposed to in the first place) + Updated beam weapon model along with large hull models + Updated some of the planetary improvement icons to b...
In 1992, George Bush lost largely because many in his base either stayed at home or voted for Perot in protest of Bush's tax hike that went against his campaign promise. This week, Rush complained that I was ignoring history -- that when conservatives stay home, the kooks take over and the result we saw in 1992. But that's not the way I remember it. I don't remember the world coming to an end. Even with the Democrats controlling the house, the senate, and the executive, we didn...
Well it's been an interesting day at the office. I listen to talk radio while coding. If you listen to Rush Limbaugh (he's a popular conservative talk show host in the United States) he mentioned one of my blogs by name as well as my handle (Draginol). I essentially argued that Republicans deserved to lose in November which got picked up by other blogs and in turn picked up on his show. Back to non-political stuff, been working on the AI for Dark Avatar. It's really proving challenging...
Rush Limbaugh is unhappy with me. Or at least, people like me. Since Rush Limbaugh referred to my article (and kindly linked to it on his site) I feel I should respond to some of his points. I am not at war with conservative bloggers. I quote countless posts from many blogs on this program. I use them as resources. I'm referring to one blog post, and I don't even know who it is. I use a handle on-line. Draginol. I probably should just use my real name -- it's Brad War...
Given how often I get bashed for being a "right wing nut", being called a "liberal" dozens of times this week has made me conclude that I can safely say that my views are no where near the outter fringe of the political spectrum. Some of the comments, let alone email I've received, to the recent blogs I've writetn regarding Rush Limbaugh vs. Instapundit have been astounding. I guess I'm simply not used to seeing conservatives behaving so much like left-wing fringe advocates. When one is in...
So what exactly could the Republicans do to help win back the support of its base on a wide scale? Here are a few things: #1 Promose to bring fiscal responsibility back. Over at Instapundit , you can see Glenn Reynolds Pork busting. A lot of the pork is being done by Republicans. The infamous "bridge to nowhere" is but one example. When I hear things like "The deficit has been cut in half" it makes my skin crawl. Yea, because corporate taxes were up due to companies like ours payin...
In an episode of The Simpsons, Marge asks Homer "If I died, would you be sad?" and Homer responds "I dunno, woudn't be happy." That's pretty much how I feel about the Republicans. If the Republicans lose congress, I won't be happy about it. Not at all. I think that the Democrats plan for America is a bad plan. Democrats tend to worry more about intentions rather than results. What I am saying is that: 1) IF Democrats do win, it won't be the end of the world. Ou...