The Doc's Bio Lab for Scav Experiments - & other oddities.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

VERY fascinating discussion folks. I'm keenly interested in all of the above, for several reasons. The intellectual pursuit alone is great exercise for the mind.

Following this thread with continued interest.

[Rman Virgil]

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Cool.

We are jointly blazing a new trail with these discussions, rich in compelling meaning and potenial practical application, I believe.

Let me put it in an over-arcing context, from my PoV.

WZ is yet to see its greatest days. And what I mean by that is that it will finally make its mark on the RTS genre by a general consensus outside this community itself. It will happen, I estimate, within the next 1-2 years.

And it will happen because of a convergence of 4 prime work vectors in process.

Those 4 work vectors in process would be:

~ The development teams work on 3 main fronts: the JS API, a new Camera scheme, the replacement of the original GUI widgets with Qt. This work also taking into account making the game more mod friendly than ever before.

~ The Art Revolution teams re-boot of the games models and textures with the dev teams support.

~ The quality work being contibuted to AddOns in the way of bodacious maps, mods and A.I.s. - along with the editor tools facilitating creation and the dev teams efforts as well in supporting all these creations.

~ And finally, after 14 years, a new campaign. And not just any old continuation of the original but one introducing an innovative branching mission progression GPM; an expansive and compelling new storyline, imbued with meaning beyond the original, undergirding and driveing those innovative mission GPMs; and last, but not least, integrating some of the best work out of ADD Ons. Here too, the dev teams supporting efforts have facilitated creation.

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[Goth Zagog-Thou]

I agree with all of the above.

The combination of the JS API and QT UI upgrades to the game internals are, imho, the "magic bullet" upon which everything else will carry our beloved game (the BEST of ALL of the RTS's) for many years to come. The fact that it was one of the FIRST Win32 games to be open-sourced AND ported over to Mac AND GNU/Linux from the heady days of Windows 98 speaks for itself. It was on the Sony Playstation, for heavens' sake. That says a LOT about how REAL Warzone 2100 really is, as well as how good the story was. Back in 99, this game was technically superior to ALL others, and wouldn't be outgunned until Star Trek Armada and Empire Earth two and a half years later. Starcraft and Warcraft, even Age of Empires wasn't true 3D like Warzone was.

So now, 14 years later, and none of us have chosen to grow up.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Rman Virgil]

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Homeworld and Populous get most of the kudos for '99 in that regard. Even Machines and Metal Fatigue (btw, a dev project unfortunately plagued with disaster whose board I moded) get way more than WZ in the histories. As for the best RTSs of all time lists - WZ is absent throughout to this day.

The time will come for WZs reassesment in the genre at large and to also tell the decade and a half story of its journey in its fullest scope. That time will coincide with WZ finally getting the broad recognition, and wide audience, it deserves.

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As to these recent discussions on expanding and defining The Project inner workings, and agenda, with greater scope and detail...

There is much raw resource material to carefully assimilate. It is an opportunity to take the WZ backstory to the next level in compelling, meaningfull, narrative and that shouldn't be hastily mucked-up with a cliche-ridden or copy-cat effort. It should flow out of the canon with a natural sensibility that is original but still makes sense and doesnot feel forced or fringe kooky (like Saurian, shape-shifting, aliens from Tao Ceti taking over humans in key government and multi-national corp. positions to re-make Earth to their own ends). It also has to provide a generative narrative matrix to build on going forward.

As he has in all other areas of WZ's progess, aubergine has provided much to be rechoned with in this particular effort of trying to grow our understanding of The Project. My head is literally spinning with possibilities and, to be honest, feeling a little daunted by it all. Taking it slowly and trusting that the subterranean weaving will reveal the resultant enhanced backstory tapestry when its ready for constructive assessment.

......

So now, 14 years later, and none of us have chosen to grow up.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ain't that the truth !

I absolutely cannot see myself being vested in any other game in this way. Not ever. For me it is singular and never to be repeated.

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[Rman Virgil]

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Thinking aloud an initial foray into this adventure....

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Our civilization, and global economy, has been built on cheap energy, drawing down on nature's resources as if they are infinite and using the biophere as one huge garbage dump.

By extention, all man made organizing power structures, from the local to the global, from the overt to the covert, rest upon those 3 presumptive conditions.

There are consequences to those presumptions that have played out in the breakdown of civilizations from the begining of recorded history. What has changed from the B.C. era to now is the scale of the breakdown.

Hubbert peak theory addresses this pattern and attempts to predict a timeline for its unfolding in our time, the 21st century. It is not without its detractors as far as how long before chit hits the fan in a critical way.

The original WZ backstory takes none of this into account.

This is where I think we should begin our pre-collapse faction formulations.

All people organizing power structures will react differently in thier self-preservation efforts, when thier share of that global pie is threatened. The different reactions will be guided by the organizing leadership and thier particular mix of ideology, ethics, knowledge and expedience.

So, I'm thinking, this comes down to first expanding the original pre-collapse WZ time-line to take into account what was left out (Hubbert peak theory) and then shape the distinct faction precursors out of differing approaches to that critical mass threat..... starting with The Project.

Perhaps starting with The Project will entail creating a John Hammond biography, whole cloth, that will ground in specificity, among many other things, the NORAD connection.

There we have it... expanding / revisioning the pre-collapse timeline and creating John Hammond.

Easier said than done. How shall we proceed ?

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Perhaps I shall get myself going by working on a John Hammond portrait. Make him more real. In an imaginal way.

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[aubergine]

It would be interesting to look at institutions that become obsolete but, due to the fact that they cannot perceive of a world in which they don't exist, they start to become enemy #1 of the people they used to support in a desperate attempt at self preservation.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

I agree. I've played other games -- RTS, MMO, FPS's .. I always come back to Warzone.

The story and background (what we know about it, anyway) seems to hit home more than most others. Being a child of the Cold War, when we would have twice-yearly "Nuclear Bomb" drills in Elementary School in case of attack because it was a REAL possibility. I remember those days, and never forgot the paranoia.

I believe that the crux of Warzone 2100's story is rooted in part upon paranoia. "Not having enough" -- whether it be money, energy sources, power, control, etc. At least in part. Obviously the Collapse was an act of selfish revenge on the part of Dr. Reed / NEXUS.

Rman, your writings bring more of the back story into focus. The "why" and "what led to it". It's important to have it (the "past") out there so that the rest of the story (the "future") can be told. I applaud your efforts and those of Aubergine and everyone else working to make it what it was always meant to be.

[aubergine]

I think paranoia does play a key role, but it's not the only role. Also, paranoia indicates a certain lack of being prepared - whereas the project, at least by the time we meet them in WZ cannon, have a fairly clear plan that they want to rebuild the world and they know what tech they need in the short term to head towards that goal. Their mission statement about wanting to rebuild the world is interesting - they don't want to rule the world, and this is further evidenced by the fact that Team Beta don't instinctively engage The Collective until provoked by them. So there seems to be a preference of peace where it's possible/feasible, they're not going out looking for a fight, but they are prepared to fight to survive when necessary.

They don't pre-emtively attack other factions "just in case they are or might become terrorists" (unlike present-day US, eg. drone strikes in Pakistan/etc).

In Cam1 they only attack the scavs because the scavs attack them first. Same with New Paradigm. The line is blurred a little when they go after the synaptic link tech - it seems once they are at war with a faction the gloves are off and they will more readily engage in combat. Likewise, Cam 2 its only when Collective attack that they start fighting back. It's even the same with Nexus to a high degree - if Nexus had left them alone they probably wouldn't have attacked it. But once they start a fight, they see it through to the end.

[Rman Virgil]

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That is inspiring input, gents.

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My process, by natural inclination, is initially character driven. After I get a fix and feel for the character, I work my way outward to the big picture events that inturn are linch pinned to the particulars of the characters life.

I have the beginings of John Hammond the man. Some details of him in his early twenties. His Uni major, his first career choice and a triggering event related to that career that sends him back to Uni for postgraduate work in any entirely different field and his first career change which brings him within Dr. Reeds sphere, himself just begining to make his mark on the world with the formation of Synaptics Inc. which eventually becomes a multinational with contracts and deep ties to various governments and shadow NGOs.

I wanna finish a snap shot, first cut, visual of John Hammond working that job straight outta Uni which I'll then post with those initial biographical details. Be done soon.

It's just a start. Nothing is written in stone, and much yet needs to be worked out, but I feel you gotta begin somewhere concrete to bring to life what is otherwise dry abstraction.
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[Rman Virgil]

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N. Korea has just released a propaganda film which clearly indicated it's first 4 nuke missile strike targets in the US. One of those was NORAD.

This was a possible scenario that led me down the road of proposing the following extrapolation a few days ago. There were other reasons that flowed from that proposition.

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Another set of key questions that has just occured to me in confabulating this future history or extrapolation.

~ Should NORAD be "officially", and publically, decommissioned some years before the nuke strikes and the Collapse ?

~ How many years before and what would be the rationale for the public decommissioning (that really is not and is, in fact, something else entirely) ?

Once stated, the reason for these questions becomes apparent when you consider them in the context of the triggering events leading up to the nukes, the strikes themselves, the Collapse and, finally, the unfolding of the original campaign itself.

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[Merowingg]

Hello Rman

Greetings from Krakow

I see big changes here and correctness at few levels too.

Where do you take those big quoted extracts from? I mean you type them but where

[Rman Virgil]

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Hey Mero. A little rail journey, eh. Easily my favorite mode of transport.

Off on a new journey of the mind here. Haven't kept up with my email correspondence the last couple days. Will catch-up by the end of today, rest assured my friend.

Often compose the posts on my smart phab - a Samsung Galaxy Note. Never leave home without it. Also 1st cut illustration and art (in everyday vernacular spoken of as synonymous but they are anything but) and music composition which I latter transfer to my DT work station to carry foward to completion. Hands down my most treasured tech ever.
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[Rman Virgil]

It would be interesting to look at institutions that become obsolete but, due to the fact that they cannot perceive of a world in which they don't exist, they start to become enemy #1 of the people they used to support in a desperate attempt at self preservation.

The temptation to exist is as strong in miserable dysfunction as it is in the lap of luxury.
Actually, the two are not mutually exclusive.

I agree. I've played other games -- RTS, MMO, FPS's .. I always come back to Warzone.

The story and background (what we know about it, anyway) seems to hit home more than most others. Being a child of the Cold War, when we would have twice-yearly "Nuclear Bomb" drills in Elementary School in case of attack because it was a REAL possibility. I remember those days, and never forgot the paranoia.

I believe that the crux of Warzone 2100's story is rooted in part upon paranoia. "Not having enough" -- whether it be money, energy sources, power, control, etc. At least in part. Obviously the Collapse was an act of selfish revenge on the part of Dr. Reed / NEXUS.

Rman, your writings bring more of the back story into focus. The "why" and "what led to it". It's important to have it (the "past") out there so that the rest of the story (the "future") can be told. I applaud your efforts and those of Aubergine and everyone else working to make it what it was always meant to be.

You hit the nail squarely on the head across the board.
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[Rman Virgil]

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When I sat at my DT work station to engage the name John Hammond, and make of it a living character, I didn't have the foggiest notion what to do with the blank screen. I started improving, discarding many ideas until finally an image stuck. As I worked the illustration out, other details started coming to me, details prior to and after the snap shot. I ran with it over the next couple days. These are the results, pared down. There's much more to be worked out. I'm open to suggestions.

=======>

He went to Princeton with an academic scholarship but became a first string quarterback and captain of the fencing team. His major was political science with a minor in philosophy. His heroes in these fields were Ben Franklin and Bertrand Russell. Two of his all time favorite literary works were Cyrano de Bergerac and The Sword in the Stone.

Given to thoughtful reflection and careful consideration, he nonetheless sees himself as a man of action. When most of his peers are fixated on being liked and recieving the approval of others, his paramount concern is that his words and deeds be indisputably consistent. That others would know, without a doubt, that his word was not just as good as gold, but better.

Upon graduating with honors, and having a slew of lucrative employment offers from NGOs and Corps to serve as a D.C. lobbyist, he is undecided in what course to pursue. He ends up taking six months off to bum around the Four Corners in the US Southwest on his Harley with his Kitara. He does odd jobs, even a 3 week work stint at Soleri's Archosanti. Hikes to a host of Pre-Columbian archeological sites and spends a week at the Biosphere 2 project. The entire last month he passes in Tucson enjoying authentic Mexican and Native American cuisine, sitting-in on jams with his Kitara in dive bars just off campus, and sowing a few wild oats along the way.

Half way through the last month in Tucson, he hits upon what he would do to get his career in motion, grow up, take hold of his life, become a man and contributing citizen. He has decided to join the Secret Service. And that's what he does.

In his third year as an agent with the Service he gets his first detail attached directly to the President. Four months into that detail, during a Presidential event in Detroit, he helps thwart an assassination attempt and takes a bullet in the process. While not a serious wound, he is laid-up for few weeks.

During his recuperation he has an epiphany. Being gunned down protecting the President makes him realize he wants to do more with his life than be a glorified meat shield.

Amid accolades and honors, he tenders his resignation from the Secret Service. There are some whispers that the experience has traumatized him into being a chicken chit but he knows better in his heart that that is not it and brushes it off as the gossip mongering of fools.

He decides to go back to Princeton, change his major, and do his postgraduate studies in cybernetics with additional course work in energy physics and the eco sciences.

After getting his Masters and PhD, he crosses paths with Dr. Reed, who is looking for fresh talent, at an international symposium on cybernetics while delivering a paper. Dr. Reed himself is just begining to make his mark on the world with the formation of Synaptics Inc. which eventually becomes a multinational with contract obligations, and deep ties, to various governments and shadow NGOs.

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That's it for now...
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[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Heya, Rman.

Interesting development of character indeed. The first sense I got was that hes a fellow with a highly developed Super-ego -- in the vein of notables such as Nelson Mandela and Mikhail Gorbachev. People who have the capability and the outright jam to change the world for the better in non-destructive and necessary ways.

Well done, and I look forward to reading more about Mr. Hammond.