(DOR) This is Mars Oh-Two-Three

“Mars Mineral Corporation Excavator 1-A awaiting instructions. Please upload imaging instructions for phase one of the Pyramid Mining Complex.”

***

“This is Mars Mineral Corporation Oh-Two-Three. Progress report: The automated excavators are at the new mining location and I’m just waiting for your instructions to upload, I haven’t seen them yet. Those guys sure are big, they should have this done in no time. I’d like to schedule a few of my vacations days when I get back. I haven’t been able to pick up any of the entertainment channels since the secondary dish collapsed and I’m going a little stir crazy.”

***

“Calling Mars Oh-Two-Three. Good morning Ray. The boys in engineering finished up the instructions a few days ago, we’re just waiting on satellite time. The military’s got the whole system tied up for ‘exercises’ or something like that. Government workers, eh?”

***

“This is Mars Oh-Two-Three.I just got a screech on the general bandwith and lost all telemetry. There’s a major dust storm out here right now, may have suffered some damage. Have sent utility rover out to check the main dish. Please advise of any problems on your end. How’d your wife’s recital go?”

***

“Calling Mars Two-Oh-Three. Trust me, you didn’t miss much. We’re still waiting on the satellite. There’s been a total lockout from the network on our end, I’ve never seen anything like it before… wait, Cindy just came in and said the President’s talking about it on the news. She said it looks like he’s in a bunker. Let me get back to you.”

***

…..-ble…..sure what’s hap-…. everyones…-nicing right now….. get back…

***

“This is Mars Mineral Corporation Oh-Two-Three. I didn’t quite read that. The utility rover should arrive at the main dish in a few minutes. Did I ever tell you how much I really wish corporate would have sprung to have two of us out here? I hate relying on these bots to do everything while I mind the controls. It wouldn’t be so bad if there wasn’t that twenty-five minute lightspeed lag between us.”

***

…-ash….-ire.. dead…

***

“This is Mars Oh-Two-Three. The rover’s checked the dish, there’s nothing wrong. This dust storm’s playing hell with the telescopes, I can’t get a definite lock on your relay satellite. WeatherBot says the storm should be over in fifteen minutes. Please advise.

***

…Static…

***

“I just got the telescopes back up. Rick, Where the hell is the satellite? I can’t see it anymore. It should be right in orbit over you. I’m seeing an awful lot of infrared anomalies on the thermal. What’s going on down there?”

***

You have reached the emergency broadcast system. Please stand by for an important announcement. You have reached the emergency broadcast system. Please stand by for an important announcement. You have reached…

***

“Rick, what’s going on down there? I’m getting a really bad feeling up here, please talk to me. It looks like I’m about to get whatever address the President gave you.”

***

“…unfortunately, our negotiations have failed and the time for diplomacy has ended. We have already detected Lemurian bombers on a course for our airspace. Rest assured, my fellow Atlanteans, that our response will be swift and absolute. Godspeed to you all, and may the world always remember the name Atlantis.”

***

“This is Mars Oh-Two-Three. Calling anybody still out there. I can see it through the telescope now. It looks like they hit… everywhere. Total devastation. I just ran the scenario through the computer and it’s calculating a nuclear winter lasting thousands of years. I’m not expecting anybody to come and get me now. Hell, I might be the only one left. And once I’m gone, there will be no evidence left that we even existed.”

***

‘Mars Mineral Corporation Excavator 1-A awaiting instructions. Please upload imaging instructions for phase one of the Pyramid Mining Complex.”

***

“Now that’s an idea! Where the hell is my personnel file on this computer? Funny, they voted me “Least Likely to be Famous” in high school too.”

***

Mars Mineral Corporation Excavator 1-A instructions received. File ‘Raymond-portrait-image’ uploaded. Commencing dig.

***

“In science news, NASA has just released new images of the famed “Face on Mars.” It appears today that the “Face” is simply a trick of light and shadow. This anomaly was first reporting back in the 70′s, with conspiracy theorists claiming it is evidence of a long-dead civilization…”

I just wanted to share a few pictures I’ve found of terellas (“little earths”) which used to be used to study Earth’s magnetic field.  You can read the wikipedia article here.

I just find it fascinating to see black and white images like this, with scientisits utilizing equipment that we would generally never think of.  It was only 100 years ago, but we usually think of that as being a “primitive” time compared to our own.  These pictures lmost feel like they shouldn’t be real.  Enjoy.

Class: Rifleman, Medic, Tactician

M82-

Magazine- 32 rounds

Damage- Moderate to High

Rate of Fire- Medium

Pros-

Green Dot Sight

Low Recoil

Higher damage than Sta52

Cons:

Lower ROF

Lower magazine capacity

Less accurate firing from the hip

The M82 is the standard issue ISA rifle in the single player game.  It operates much the same in multiplayer, and you will see more of these than the Sta52 simply due to the fact that it is the default selection.

That’s not to say that it’s a poor weapon.  It has slightly more punch to it than the Helghast Sta52 and comes equipped with an excellent green dot sight.  If you’ve played Call of Duty, you know how useful these things are.  Simply put the dot where you want the bullet to go.  The weapon also has almost no recoil, such that you can empty and entire clip onto your dot.  The bullets will still hit all over the place with anything over 2-3 round bursts, but your aim will not travel vertically.

However, this rifle does have a few drawbacks compared to the competition.  It has one of the lower magazine capacities at 32 rounds.  While this is not usually an issue, running out of bullets during a firefight is not something you want to happen.  Also, it has a noticeably lower rate of fire.  While this make long-range sniping more accurate, up close it is a disadvantage.  Finally, the weapon is noticeably less accurate firing from the hip, although it still reains it’s low recoil.  At anything beyond close to close-medium range, you’ll want to use the sights.

Sta52-

Magazine- 40 rounds

Damage- Moderate

Rate of Fire- High

Pros-

High ROF

More accurate from hip

Higher ammo capacity

Cons-

Slightly lower damage

Higher recoil

Iron sights

You should be very familiar with this weapon.  90% of the time, this is what is shooting at you in the single-player game.  While much rarer online than the M82, this is a very capable weapon as long as you treat it differently.

For starters, this weapon packs a 40-round magazine and a high ROF.  Firing form the hip, this weapon is deadly accurate even and medium-long range.  Crouching, this weapon can place single shots just as accurately as the M82.  However, after the first or second round, the gun becomes much more erratic and the barrel climbs a good deal.  Don’t bother firing more than 4 or 5 rounds at anything beyond close range or you’ll just waste bullets.  However, the High ROF means you cna consistently fire off 2 rounds bursts and then left the crosshairs resettle.

On the downside is the aforementioned high recoil.  The Sta52 has iron sights, which are accurate, but obscure more of your target than the M82′s scope.  This weapon also does pack quite the wallop the M82 does, and needs 1 more bullet to put down the enemy as tested here (not my work).

All in all, both weapons are well-suited to the task at hand.  The M82 takes the edge at range and the Sta52 is slightly better close up, but not enough to overcome your playstyle and skill.

image courtesy of IGN.com

This is my little review of KZ2 multiplayer. I’ve unlocked all of the primary badges, but still have a few secondary badges to unlock.

To start, class building in Killzone consists of choosing two badges and a weapon. Each class has a primary badge and a secondary badge. After you meet certain requirements, you can freely mix and match these, with the exception that primary badges are always primary and secondary badges are always secondary. What this means is that your primary badge determines what weapons are available- and the rifleman can’t use badges. You can only pick one of each, so you can’t combine two primary or two secondary badges. Also, all characters can auto-heal only up to half their max HP.

Rifleman
This is your starting class. It has no primary and secondary abilities, and at start can only use the M82 or Sta52 rifle. The M82 has a 30 or 32 round magazine and a greend dot sight. It has very low recoil, so is great for firing bursts and range. The Sta52 has a 40 round magazine and iron sights. It has higher recoil, but has a smaller spread when firing formt he hip. Better at close range.

Eventually, you’ll unlock every weapon in the game aside from the grenade launcher and ISA rocket launcher. Usually, you’ll only use this class until you unlock other badges, since there’s usually a class that can use a weapon available to the soldier, and gets a secondary ability to boot (Saboteur and SMG, Medic and assault rifles, etc…) So odds are you won’t use this class much. Until…

You unlocks the LMGs- the Sta3 and M224. The Sta3 is possibly the best weapon in the game. When crouched and zoomed it is respectably accurate in bursts, and up close it’s a firehose of bullets. If all you want to do is kill enemies, this is the weapon for you. People bitch about the rockets, but the Sta3 is the real killer. The M224 is great for overwatch and accurtae fire, althoguh it’s slower ROF makes it less ideal at close range. Respectively, they’re essentially larger versions of the SMG and M82. Intelligently used, you will rack up crazy numbers of kills with them

Medic
The Medic can use either the M82 or Sta52 rifle. His primary badge let’s him pull out a revive gun and heal any mortally wounded ally. It has considerable range, so you can heal from behind cover. Very useful.

His secondary badge allows you to throw out blood packs that fully heal an ally. You can only throw one until it (quickly) recharges, but just laying them on the floor and letting probability take over means that if you’re defending an area, you’ll likely end up healing an ally quickly. Not used to often, as reviving an ally fully heals them.

Engineer
The engineer can only use the shotgun. His primary ability sets up an auto-turret (each team cna have 4 up at once) which are somewhat useful. In right area or up high, they can deal out a good dela of damage, but if you kneo wwhere a turret is beforehand they are easily defeated. The ebst tactic is to either put then in tighat spaces like hallways or corners, and to set up several so they can support eachother.

The secondary badge gives the engineer a repair tool (I have not unlocked this since it’s nearly impossible to meet the turret-kill requirements unless you play a levle up match). This allows you to heal auto-turrets, and repait ammo boxes and man-operated turrets throughout the level. Turrets and somewhat useful but sniper magnets. Ammo boxes are HIGHLY useful as they let your team reload on grenades and let the assualt class be devestating.

Tactician
The tactician can use the M82 and Sta52 rifles. His primary ability lets him throw out a spawn grenadde (each team can have 2 active). These let your team spawn somewher besides their base. If you have a good tactician, they cna turn the tide of a battle. A bad tactician thros the grenade in the middle of an open area and invites the enemy to rack up kills. Spawn grenade placement is the single most important aspect of team play IMO.

The secondary abiltiy let’s you summon a flying drone. These guys stay in the generl area you summoned them and kind fo shoot at the enemy. They’re not very good at killing, but do distract the enemy (since they eventually WILL kill you), and soften them up. Throwing one onto an enemy spawn grenade is highly effective, as they’ll be obscured by the smoke and can get a respectable number of kills.

Saboteur
The saboteaur can use the SMG or the Sta14 rifle. When crouched, the Sta14 rifle is perfectly accurate, and close-in the SMG is god. The primary badge lets you disguise yourself as a random enemy, except your lights (eyes for Helghast, lamps for ISA) won’t be lit up, and if the enemy aims ast you at close range he sees through the disguise. Very useful for sneaking around enemies and killing their doodz as long as you don’t make it obvious that your team isn’t shooting at you.

The secondary badge lets you throw proximity mines. You know what those do.

Assault
The Assault class can use the grenade launcher, VC9 rocket, and ISA rocket. I find the grenade launcher useless except for harassment as the grandes are time-fused, not impact (unless you hit someone with it). It is useful for ruining shit if the enemy is trying to hold a room, six grenades going offf at once will disorient them if it won’t kill them.

The two rockets launchers both have 3 rockets in storage. The Vc9 is smaller and has iron sights. The ISA rocket has a scope and can lock onto auto-turrets and drones. It’s also huge slows you to walking pace. Many servers ban rockets, although I find this a kneejerk. My stats have 50% accuracy with rocket weapons in MP. Assuming that they aren’t all killshots, and since I get three rockets, that’s only a little over 1 kill per spawn. The problem is that people don’t rememebr the 50 times they were killed by an assault rifle, they remember the one time they turned around to see flaming death haaded their way. The weapons are pretty balanced.

The Assault’s primary badge is armor. This gives him twice and much health as every other class, and also let’s him heal up to 50% of his health, which is 100% of everyone elses.

The secondary badge is the boost pill. This tints the screen a nice blue and let’s you run very fast and heal faster for a short time. Highly useful for sprinting to objectives, and when combined with the Tactician class makes strategic spawn grenading more likely.

EDIT: I also find that games that ban the assault class have a much worse problem with spawn-camping. 2 or 3 Assault soldiers can launch a couple dozen grenades out the door in a few second,s clearing out any would-be campers.

Scout
The Scout can only use the sniper rifle. It’s bolt action, holds like 6 rounds, and has a scope. It’s also a 1-hit kill (I thin, maybee it’s not 1 hit to arms and legs. But body shots are always lethal, except I think to the assault class).

The primary badge is a cloaking field that renders you invisible when still. Moving causes it to flicker in relation to how fast you run, and it also flickers off for a second when you fire.

The secondary badge is Spot and Mark, which lets’ you mark every enemy on yoru screne with a white cross and transmit that to your team. I have not unlocked it and it appears rarely used in the games I’ve played, so I can’t comment on it’s usefulness. Wait until more people unlock it.

EDIT: Unlocked it and it’s awesome. Hit the button and you have to sit still for a second while your screen is scanned. Every enemy player, turret, and drone on your screen gets a nice white X over them, and they appear on your teams’ radar. This ability recharges in a matter of seconds. On small maps it’s not as useful since your team pretty much knows where the fight is. But on larger maps, it can help your temmates from blindly wandering around corners and being shot. And it defeats the enemy’s cloaking field. They’re invisible, but just aim for the X.

Being in a very groggy and deeply sleeping condition, I was absolutely petrified.  The first thoguht into my head was “they nuked Detroit” and I actually sat there waiting for the shickwave to hit.  After a couple seconds I regained a few more of my sense and then figured that my neighbors house had exploded.

Turns out, of course, it was just an incredibly loud thunderclap.  But as far as wake-up calls on your 25th birthday so, this one was pretty good.

I’m just I’m just thinking of all the different ways this could be utilized. Video games and movies are one thing. But imagine if in the enar future, you could make a digital person pretty much indistinguishable from a real one? Or you could make a copy of a person, and create video of that person doing or saying things they never actually did? They’ve said that pictures only show you what the photographer wanted you to see, but what if the cameraman could even decide what reality was?thinking of all the different ways this could be utilized. Video games and movies are one thing. But imagine if in the enar future, you could make a digital person pretty much indistinguishable from a real one? Or you could make a copy of a person, and create video of that person doing or saying things they never actually did? They’ve said that pictures only show you what the photographer wanted you to see, but what if the cameraman could even decide what reality was?