pigeonpigeon

[quote who="Daiwa" reply="3" id="2046795"] "Pretty much all their models and predictions tell us that if we do nothing, we face potential catastrophe in the near future. You see, in order to accurately predict what the climate will be like next year, extraordinarily precise initial conditions would have to be input into these simulations. So precise that it's not going to happen, not in the near future anyway. When dealing with such complex and chaotic systems, you don't try t

[quote who="Daiwa" reply="20" id="2046241"]Thanks for clarifying the obvious and then misquoting me. I didn't say we shouldn't 'attempt to study anything at all.' The hubris comes in when we decide that we know 'enough' and that we know what to do about it, both of which assume that some sort of intervention is 'necessary.' I remain unconvinced of the latter, irrespective of the obvious benefits of a 'greener' approach to living here in terms a healthier environment. [/quote

[quote who="tcsagat" reply="15" id="2046029"]Well I just see a way in the tv in a science show that a company has found a way how to transform the industrial rubber (like the cars wheel) into fuel for cars. I don't know what kind of fuel I mean etanol, gasoline, or other car fuel. I know only that they are burning the rubber on high heat in smal tightly sealed chamber and the result is that fuel. They say that in this way they can recycle the cars 95% not just around 60% or 75%. This sounds w

[quote who="Daiwa" reply="15" id="2045403"]The problem with global warming 'research' is that theories cannot be 'real-world' tested. The entire discipline lives within theoretical computer models which are surrogate 'estimates' at best and nothing more than a machine's wild ass guess at worst. There is no escaping that with computer modeling, the 'results' depend entirely on the assumptions made to create various models.[/quote] Yes, that is obvious. It's largely the same

[quote who="NTJedi" reply="3" id="2043837"]To satisfy both groups a HARDCORE mode should be introduced as seen within some other types of games. The developers could include special features(spells, items, etc.,) within the HARDCORE mode as a way to encourage those sp gamers who cheat by reloading to become stronger and give up their cheating habit.[/quote] I'm sorry but that is a horrible idea; it would only satisfy one group - the so-called 'hardcore' group of playe

[quote who="landisaurus" reply="23" id="2045300"]Yeah, well he's obviously very specilized. He I think would be best if there were limited hero slots original MoM style, because you'd have to sacrifice one of the 6 spaces for a guy who builds faster. Is it worth it? I'd say yes, especially early game. Late game? probebly not, since you need to focus on building armies, not buildings (then again, the bonuses to seige might make it worth it again.

[quote who="landisaurus" reply="22" id="2044803"]I hope it is still near impossible to finish research. It made me enjoy playing that much more (since I had to play at least 5 times, assuming I was able to get the extra books to even be able to research all of 1 school in one go, which you couldn't do with just the starting number of books)[/quote] I kind of hope SD makes the magic system versatile enough to literally make it endless. You might have researched every base spell i

[quote who="DarthCaedusMorgan" reply="12" id="2045284"] and that food can be used to help africa and other places start having a real functioning economy and no one starving. This option should not be considered in any way from this point foward and if someone wants to consider it, it should be for helping Africa back on its feet.[/quote] Except it won't be. Do you have any idea how much food rots in government warehouses in the US alone? The quantity of food we produce globally

[quote who="Daiwa" reply="12" id="2045343"]Association is not causation.[/quote] Well, we do know that temperatures have been rising at unprecedented rates, starting not long after the industrial resolution began, and that CO2 emissions have gone up by some 40% in that same period of time (which is definitely our fault - look at a plot of CO2 levels over the past several hundred thousand years and you'll see a vertical line right at the end, and nothing similar anytime else).

[quote who="WIllythemailboy" reply="10" id="2045215"]The problem is, all his arguments match my admittedly amateur knowledge of weather patterns. Higher temperatures WILL result in more rain total because it will increase the rate of evaporation. Same water cycle, just a higher rate of turnover. That doesn't say anything about WHERE that rain will fall, but there will be more of it. Yes, almost all of both arctic areas are desert, and it is due to the temperature. Yes, m

[quote who="landisaurus" reply="16" id="2044261"]Well, I think it is reasonable to assume that if you could decline from being in it, then all the nations that are in it would suddently have hate for you.[/quote] Nooo. Well I guess it depends on the type of council or organization. If we're talking about a global council, then maybe not being part of it means that the members of said council will like you less, but in turn you don't need to abide by their rules. But quite frankly I do

[quote who="Ephafn" reply="18" id="2044137"]Another arbitrary comparison with MoM that I haven't seen anyone do : In MoM you normally had access to ~50 spells (44 from schools + neutrals), less if you took traits. In comparison, being able to research up to ~100 spells looks like quite a bit of spells. I hope this won't degenerate into the "5 commonly used, 15 seldom used, 80 never used" syndrom. I guess having different mana for each schools will incite the player to use spells from differen

[quote who="psychoak" reply="23" id="2044004"]You guys are hopeless.Antarctica isn't shrinking, one shelf melted, the other side of the continent is expanding. It can be warmer just fine, ice mass is increasing, ice coverage is increasing. It's not arguable, what's unknown is how big antarctica used to be before they started measuring it a geological microsecond back. Maybe Antarctica was a lot bigger in the sixties, we don't have records that far back.[/quote] And I

[quote who="Tall King" reply="18" id="2043507"]Biofuel will never work(we make it from food and most of the world is starving)[/quote] That's a common misconception (not that most of the world is starving, that's completely true). The problem isn't that we don't produce enough food; the problem is one of transportation. We don't have the means (or the political desire) to efficiently transport and distribute all the excess food that we currently let rot in warehouses to the places and

[quote who="Luckmann" reply="5" id="2043033"]Damn, I was hoping for a more ubermensch Sauronesque approach, rather than a untermensch orcesque. Looks like it's human for me, again.[/quote] Or, if it's at all like what I'm hoping for, you'll be able to design your own Sauronesque buildings to use.

[quote who="GW Swicord" reply="9" id="2042615"]I still like the idea of some 'officer-level' regular unit being a potential source of a new hero. Just because you can't deliberately place an order at the Champion Shop doesn't mean you can't be offered the chance to recruit a new hero who started as a regular joe or jane in your armed forces, court bureaucracy, clergy, etc. It's really just a matter of the back story blurb for the given hero, isn't it?[/quote] That's what I was going t

You know what I want? I want them to work in a Wizard's Council within the framework of alliances. Kind of like NATO. That's actually one thing I always miss in games. You can ally with individual other players forming 1-1 alliances, which occasionally result in a block of players all allied together. But what I want to see is the ability to join a pre-existing alliance, too. So let's say Player A and B are allied. It would be neat if Player C could then request to join their alliance

[quote who="landisaurus" reply="24" id="2042528"]Wait a minute! I mean, if you litterally have to build your first "Library" by adding bookshelves, then wow. (I was going to put this in last night but the forum exploded)[/quote] Yeah that forum explosion made me very sad :( And I have to say, I kind of hope the building editor is mostly or completely cosmetic. I think I'd be a little overwhelmed by having to design all my buildings with both form and function in min

[quote who="alway" reply="9" id="2042540"]Nuclear cars will become the norm, and will pretty much dominate every other variety by around 2077.[/quote] Everything Fendryx said. But on the off-chance you meant fusion, rather than fission, you still have most of the problems Fendryx outlined. For one, one of the ingredients fo nuclear fusion is still radioactive (tritium - and it is very light, hard to contain, and extremely dangerous of inhaled or consumed). Having your average joe hand

[quote who="psychoak" reply="12" id="2042560"] For anyone seriously interested in proving themselves wrong, go here and do what no greeny has ever done before, click the dropdown for ocean and generate what passes for a complete record. Play with the trends, start back in the sixties with a 1960-2008 and move your way up by decades till you hit 2000-2008.[/quote] <a href="http://data.giss.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gistemp/do_nmap.py?year_last=2008&month_last=12&sat=-1&ss

[quote who="GW Swicord" reply="23" id="2042281"] going downhill is easier than going uphill I'm Floridian, but I've spent some time in various parts of the Appalachians. Maybe it's just my flatlander legs, but I could swear that once ground became steep enough, it was *far* easier to climb up than it was to go down because gravity was helping me keep my footing, not trying to flip me over my excuse for a 'center' and make the descent very rapid and completely uncontrolled.[/quote]</

[quote who="Draginol" reply="17" id="2042188"]Just remember, all these buildings are totally customizeable by players. Think GalCiv II ships.[/quote] Then I'm a very happy person right now; so long as the buildings blocks aren't severely limited by race choice, anyways. Yay :)

[quote who="psychoak" reply="6" id="2042142"]Antarctica is expanding. The Earth is cooling, even the crazies are starting to replace "Global Warming" with the new buzz words.[/quote] Antarctica is expanding? I guess that's why huge ice shelves that have been around fo millenia have decided to vanish in the span of a few years, eh? Where are you getting your definition of expansion from? You can scream all you want, but it's all in vain if you don't provide anything to ba

Spartan, it looks like you haven't read this thread carefully. We just got SD input: [quote who="BoogieBac" reply="5" id="2038727"]We have some technologies in the works that should make this pretty easy to implement. I'll keep you posted.[/quote]

I also like A and C but am skeptical of B for the reasons already given above. But, I also don't know if Mysteries need to exist as a separate category from quests; rather, they should be a subset of quests. Really, the major difference between quests and mysteries as you framed them are that quests are usually given to you by an NPC while mysteries come about due to a random event - potentially brought about by the player. Really, that's not a very large difference, at least technically spea