The ACDC returns in 2025! 17-19 January 2025 we'll gather online for a variety of games and chats all weekend long
Recent Posts
21
Sci-fi & Fantasy Warfare / Re: Ogre (Steve Jackson Games)
« Last post by Staggerwing on Today at 06:38:14 AM »uhm... no...
Though I promise I will just as soon as I win the lottery and can afford one of those ginormous Carolina Gaming Tables.
Though I promise I will just as soon as I win the lottery and can afford one of those ginormous Carolina Gaming Tables.
22
Sci-fi & Fantasy Warfare / Re: Elite Dangerous.
« Last post by bob48 on Today at 06:36:38 AM »Yes, its just solo play with us being the only non NPC players. I did just send am in-game text message to you to see if that works, and there is also a voice chat option.
I'm currently based around the Gliese 58 system at Roth Station. I'm sort of based here because I can buy the cutter here and most of the gear I need for it is in-system. Not taken the plunge just yet as I am still using EDSY to look at various configurations, plus its somehow hard to just part with 600+ million credits :-)
I've spent the last couple of days doing exploration trips out towards the edge of the bubble, so I have around 3 m worth of data to hand in. I'll wait until tomorrow to do that and once the ARX cap is refreshed.
Where you are is 95.16 ly from me, and that's 14 jumps in economical mode, or just 3 jumps in direct mode, based on my current jump range.
I'm currently based around the Gliese 58 system at Roth Station. I'm sort of based here because I can buy the cutter here and most of the gear I need for it is in-system. Not taken the plunge just yet as I am still using EDSY to look at various configurations, plus its somehow hard to just part with 600+ million credits :-)
I've spent the last couple of days doing exploration trips out towards the edge of the bubble, so I have around 3 m worth of data to hand in. I'll wait until tomorrow to do that and once the ARX cap is refreshed.
Where you are is 95.16 ly from me, and that's 14 jumps in economical mode, or just 3 jumps in direct mode, based on my current jump range.
23
4X Gaming / Re: Master of Orion: Ad Astra board game
« Last post by Barthheart on Today at 06:18:42 AM »HA! Totally spaced that! Get it? 
24
4X Gaming / Re: Alliance of the Sacred Suns
« Last post by Undercovergeek on Today at 03:13:16 AM »Removed this just before Christmas - it did seem to have so much promise and I was really looking forward to it especially once hooded horse jumped in - sad times
25
History and Tall Tales / Re: This Day in History
« Last post by Martok on Today at 12:22:45 AM »I do very much enjoy these. Thanks for keeping up with them, besilarius. 
26
4X Gaming / Re: Master of Orion: Ad Astra board game
« Last post by Martok on Yesterday at 11:49:34 PM »Barthheart, you said the exact same thing when I started a thread about this very topic three months ago... 
Bet it beats Stellaris to your table.
27
Sci-fi & Fantasy Warfare / Re: Starcom: Unknown Space
« Last post by Martok on Yesterday at 11:32:26 PM »
28
Pre-Gunpowder / Re: Medieval Total War
« Last post by Martok on Yesterday at 11:31:52 PM »^Fantastic, thanks Martok.
Hard to believe that more than two decades later I am going for the XL mod once again.
Testament to how much I loved this game. Now to pray that it all works on my rig...
You're welcome, Gus! Fingers crossed the game runs for you.
I find it somewhat funny you say "once again", because MTW -- and later on, the XL Mod alongside it -- has been constantly* installed on my computer for the past two decades.
For me, it's one of those "foundational" games that never leaves my hard drive...and never will, so long as I have a machine that can run it. *(The one significant exception was a two-year gap when I had a PC that couldn't run my original copy of the game, and before I discovered MTW Gold Edition was available on Steam.)
29
4X Gaming / Re: Stellaris - the board game! - coming "soon" from Academy Games
« Last post by Martok on Yesterday at 11:17:08 PM »I'm all for seeking clarification, and/or refreshing one's memory. For my part, I already knew they were lying liars who lie. 
30
History and Tall Tales / Re: This Day in History
« Last post by besilarius on Yesterday at 10:02:53 PM »1797. Taking advantage of bad weather during winter, the French fleet departs Brest at night to invade Ireland. Edward Pellew, commanded the frigate Indefatigable, Admiral Bridgerton believed the weather too bad for the French to be enterprising and took the fleet into Portsmouth.
Observing the French fleet's departure from the harbour at dusk, Pellew immediately dispatched Phoebe to Colpoys and Amazon to the main fleet at Portsmouth with warnings, before approaching the entrance to Brest in Indefatigable with the intention of disrupting French movements.[8] Believing that the frigates in the bay must be the forerunners of a larger British force, de Galles attempted to pass his fleet through the Raz de Sein. This channel was a narrow, rocky and dangerous passage, and de Galles used corvettes as temporary light ships that shone blue lights and fired fireworks to direct his main fleet through the passage.[3] Pellew observed this, and sailed Indefatigable right through the French fleet, launching rockets and shining lights seemingly at random. This succeeded in confusing the French officers, causing the Séduisant to strike the Grand Stevenent rock and sink with the loss of over 680 men from a complement of 1,300.[9] Séduisant's distress flares added to the confusion and delayed the fleet's passage until dawn.
Admiral Bouvet and General Grouchy decided to attempt the landing at Bantry Bay without their commanders, but severe weather made any landing impossible.[10] For more than a week the fleet waited for a break in the storm, until Bouvet abandoned the invasion on 29 December and, after a brief and unsuccessful effort to land at the mouth of the River Shannon, ordered his scattered ships to return to Brest.[11] During the operation and subsequent retreat a further 11 ships were wrecked or captured, with the loss of thousands of soldiers and sailors. One ship of the line became separated in the storm.
two of Droits de l'Homme's topmasts broke in the strong winds. This dramatically slowed the French ship, and allowed Pellew, who had recognised his opponent as a French ship of the line, to close with Droits de l'Homme.[17]
Pellew was aware that his frigate was heavily outclassed by his much larger opponent, and that Amazon, which was 8 nautical miles (15 km) distant, was not large enough to redress the balance when it did arrive. He correctly assumed, however, that the ocean was too rough to allow Lacrosse to open his lower gunports without the risk that heavy waves would enter them and cause Droits de l'Homme to founder.[18] In fact, the French ship was totally unable to open her lower deck gunports during the action: an unusual design feature had the ports 14 inches (36 cm) lower than was normal and as a result the sea poured in at any attempt to open them, preventing any gunnery at all from the lower deck and halving the ship's firepower.[19] Although this reduced the number of available guns on the French vessel, Lacrosse still held the advantage in terms of size, weight of shot and manpower. The French situation was worsened however by the loss of the topmasts: this caused their ship to roll so severely in the high seas that it was far more difficult both to steer the ship and to aim the guns than on the British vessels.
To the surprise of Lacrosse and his officers, Indefatigable did not retreat from the ship of the line, nor did she pass the ship of the line at long-range to leeward as expected.[19] Instead, at 17:30, Pellew closed with the stern of Droits de l'Homme and opened a raking fire. Lacrosse turned to meet the threat and opened fire with the guns on the upper deck accompanied by a heavy volley of musket fire from the soldiers on board.[13][20] Pellew then attempted to pull ahead of Droits de l'Homme and rake her bow, to which Lacrosse responded by attempting to ram Indefatigable.[17] Neither manoeuvre was successful, as Droits de l'Homme raked the British ship but caused little damage as most of her shot scattered into the ocean.
Indefatigable and Droits de l'Homme manoeuvred around one another, exchanging fire when possible until 18:45, when Amazon arrived. During this exchange, one of Droits de l'Homme's cannon burst, causing heavy casualties on her packed deck.[21] Approaching the larger French ship with all sail spread, Reynolds closed to within pistol shot before raking Droits de l'Homme. Lacrosse responded to this new threat by manoeuvring to bring both British ships to face the westward side of his ship, avoiding becoming trapped in a crossfire.[20] The battle continued until 19:30, when both Amazon and Indefatigable pulled away from their opponent to make hasty repairs.[22] By 20:30, the frigates had returned to the much slower French ship and began weaving in front of Droits de l'Homme's bow, repeatedly raking her.[23] Lacrosse's increasingly desperate attempts to ram the British ships were all unsuccessful and what little cannon fire he did manage to deploy was ineffectual, as the rolling of the ship of the line prevented reliable aiming.
By 22:30, Droits de l'Homme was in severe difficulties, with heavy casualties among her crew and passengers and the loss of her mizzenmast to British fire. Observing the battered state of their opponent, Pellew and Reynolds closed on the stern quarters of the French ship, maintaining a high rate of fire that was sporadically returned by Droits de l'Homme.[24] Having exhausted the 4,000 cannonballs available, Lacrosse was forced to use the shells he was carrying, which had been intended for use by the army in Ireland. In the high winds, these proved even less effective than solid shot, but did drive the frigates to longer range.[23] With their opponent almost immobilised, the British frigates were able to remain outside her arc of fire, effect repairs when necessary and secure guns that had broken loose in the heavy seas.[25] For the rest of the night the three battered ships remained locked in a close range duel, until suddenly, at 04:20 while it was still dark, land was spotted just 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) to leeward by Lieutenant George Bell of the Indefatigable.[25]
Pellew immediately turned seawards in an effort to escape the shore and signalled Reynolds to follow suit. Although both ships had suffered severe damage from the battle and weather, they were able to make the turn away from land, Amazon to the north and Indefatigable, at the insistence of its Breton pilot, to the south.[18] Initially it was believed that the land spotted was the island of Ushant, which would have given the ships plenty of sea-room in which to manoeuvre. However at 06:30, with the sky lightening, it became apparent on the Indefatigable that there were breakers to the south and east, indicating that the three ships had drifted during the night into Audierne Bay.[26] On discovering his situation, Pellew was determined to bring his ship westwards, attempting to work his ship out of danger by beating against the wind. Hasty repairs had to be made to the damaged rigging before it was safe to alter their course.[27] Due to her northwards turn, Amazon had even less room to manoeuvre than Indefatigable and by 05:00 she had struck a sandbank.[28] Although the frigate remained upright, attempts over several hours to bring her off failed; at 08:00 Reynolds ordered his men to prepare to abandon ship.[29]
Droits de l'Homme had been more seriously damaged than the British frigates, and was closer to shore at the time land was spotted. As Lacrosse's crew made desperate efforts to turn southwards, the ship's foremast and bowsprit collapsed under the pressure of the wind. With the ship virtually unmanageable, Lacrosse ordered the anchors lowered in an attempt to hold the ship in position until repairs could be made. This effort was futile, as all but two anchors had been lost during efforts to hold position in Bantry Bay, and British gunfire had damaged one of the anchor cables and rendered it useless.[30] The final anchor was deployed, but it failed to restrain the ship and at 07:00 (according to the French account), the Droits de l'Homme struck a sandbank close to the town of Plozévet. This broke off the remaining mast and caused the ship to heel over onto her side.[31]
As daylight broke over Audierne Bay, crowds of locals gathered on the beach. The Droits de l'Homme lay on her side directly opposite the town of Plozévet, with large waves breaking over her hull; 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) to the north, Amazon stood upright on a sandbar, her crew launching boats in an effort to reach the shore, while Indefatigable was the only ship still afloat, rounding the Penmarck rocks at the southern edge of the bay at 11:00.[28] On board the Amazon, Reynolds maintained discipline and gave orders to launch the ship's boats in an orderly fashion and to build rafts in which to bring the entire crew safely to shore. Six men disobeyed his command, stole a launch, and attempted to reach the shore alone, but were swept away by the current. Their boat was capsized by the waves, and all six drowned. The remaining crew, including those wounded in the previous night's action, were safely brought ashore by 09:00, where they were made prisoners of war by the French authorities.
Droits de l'Homme was irreparably damaged, and many of the men on board were soldiers with no training for what to do in the event of a shipwreck. Each successive wave swept more men into the water and desperate attempts to launch boats failed when the small craft were swept away by the waves and broken in the surf. Rafts were constructed, but several were swamped in attempts
1890 Robert Cornelis Napier, Field Marshal Baron Napier of Magdala, 79. One night around 1880, while the old Victorian war horse Lord Napier of Magdala was serving as Governor of Gibraltar, an officer who had taken on board too much champagne lost his way trying to get back to his quarters, walked off the Rock, and fell to his death. The following morning, having read the report of the officer of the day, a Lt. O'Donohue, Napier summoned that worthy to his office.
When O'Donohue arrived, Napier asked, "You were officer of the guard at the Elphinstone Guard yesterday?
"I was, sir."
"Lieutenant M____ was killed by walking over the rock."
"He was, sir."
"And yet you said in your report that nothing extraordinary had happened on your guard?"
"I did, sir."
"Well, Mr. O'Donohue, don't you think it extraordinary that a lieutenant walks over the rock, falls one thousand feet, and is killed?"
"Indeed, sir," came the swift reply, "I would think it a good deal more extraordinary if he had fallen that distance and not been killed!"
1943. FDR, Churchill, Chiang, de Gaulle, Giraud, and others began eleven days of meetings at Casablanca. For eleven days (January 14-24), Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, each supported by his senior military advisors, hammered out Allied strategy for the coming year, with a cameo appearance by Charles DeGaulle.
A man of curious work habits, rising late and then working like a maniac into the wee hours, in the process puffing through numerous cigars and downing impressive amounts of champagne and brandy, Churchill stayed at the luxurious Villa Anfa, near the beach. Often after dinner, which was generally around midnight, Churchill would go for long walks alone on the beach. During these expeditions he would sometimes collect sea shells or chat with Allied servicemen whom he encountered. Once, falling in with a group of American sailors who were enjoying a guitar around a fire, he immediately joined the party, lending his strong, though unmelodious voice to the singing.
While on such a stroll, at about 3:00 a.m. on one particular morning, the Prime Minister happened to encounter an American sentry.
"Who goes there?" came the challenge, in a strong Carolina accent.
"Churchill," came the reply.
This perfectly natural reply quite naturally aroused the soldier’s suspicions. He again demanded that the intruder identify himself.
Of course Churchill’s response was no more satisfactory this time than it had been the first.
It’s not clear how many times this exchange went back and forth, but finally, the soldier yelled out "Corporal of the guard! I have a fellow here who claims he is the prime minister of Great Britain. I think he is a goddamn liar!"
2009 Ricardo Montalbán, 88, Mexican-American actor (Rodriguez in "Battle Ground," Khan in "Star Trek")
Observing the French fleet's departure from the harbour at dusk, Pellew immediately dispatched Phoebe to Colpoys and Amazon to the main fleet at Portsmouth with warnings, before approaching the entrance to Brest in Indefatigable with the intention of disrupting French movements.[8] Believing that the frigates in the bay must be the forerunners of a larger British force, de Galles attempted to pass his fleet through the Raz de Sein. This channel was a narrow, rocky and dangerous passage, and de Galles used corvettes as temporary light ships that shone blue lights and fired fireworks to direct his main fleet through the passage.[3] Pellew observed this, and sailed Indefatigable right through the French fleet, launching rockets and shining lights seemingly at random. This succeeded in confusing the French officers, causing the Séduisant to strike the Grand Stevenent rock and sink with the loss of over 680 men from a complement of 1,300.[9] Séduisant's distress flares added to the confusion and delayed the fleet's passage until dawn.
Admiral Bouvet and General Grouchy decided to attempt the landing at Bantry Bay without their commanders, but severe weather made any landing impossible.[10] For more than a week the fleet waited for a break in the storm, until Bouvet abandoned the invasion on 29 December and, after a brief and unsuccessful effort to land at the mouth of the River Shannon, ordered his scattered ships to return to Brest.[11] During the operation and subsequent retreat a further 11 ships were wrecked or captured, with the loss of thousands of soldiers and sailors. One ship of the line became separated in the storm.
two of Droits de l'Homme's topmasts broke in the strong winds. This dramatically slowed the French ship, and allowed Pellew, who had recognised his opponent as a French ship of the line, to close with Droits de l'Homme.[17]
Pellew was aware that his frigate was heavily outclassed by his much larger opponent, and that Amazon, which was 8 nautical miles (15 km) distant, was not large enough to redress the balance when it did arrive. He correctly assumed, however, that the ocean was too rough to allow Lacrosse to open his lower gunports without the risk that heavy waves would enter them and cause Droits de l'Homme to founder.[18] In fact, the French ship was totally unable to open her lower deck gunports during the action: an unusual design feature had the ports 14 inches (36 cm) lower than was normal and as a result the sea poured in at any attempt to open them, preventing any gunnery at all from the lower deck and halving the ship's firepower.[19] Although this reduced the number of available guns on the French vessel, Lacrosse still held the advantage in terms of size, weight of shot and manpower. The French situation was worsened however by the loss of the topmasts: this caused their ship to roll so severely in the high seas that it was far more difficult both to steer the ship and to aim the guns than on the British vessels.
To the surprise of Lacrosse and his officers, Indefatigable did not retreat from the ship of the line, nor did she pass the ship of the line at long-range to leeward as expected.[19] Instead, at 17:30, Pellew closed with the stern of Droits de l'Homme and opened a raking fire. Lacrosse turned to meet the threat and opened fire with the guns on the upper deck accompanied by a heavy volley of musket fire from the soldiers on board.[13][20] Pellew then attempted to pull ahead of Droits de l'Homme and rake her bow, to which Lacrosse responded by attempting to ram Indefatigable.[17] Neither manoeuvre was successful, as Droits de l'Homme raked the British ship but caused little damage as most of her shot scattered into the ocean.
Indefatigable and Droits de l'Homme manoeuvred around one another, exchanging fire when possible until 18:45, when Amazon arrived. During this exchange, one of Droits de l'Homme's cannon burst, causing heavy casualties on her packed deck.[21] Approaching the larger French ship with all sail spread, Reynolds closed to within pistol shot before raking Droits de l'Homme. Lacrosse responded to this new threat by manoeuvring to bring both British ships to face the westward side of his ship, avoiding becoming trapped in a crossfire.[20] The battle continued until 19:30, when both Amazon and Indefatigable pulled away from their opponent to make hasty repairs.[22] By 20:30, the frigates had returned to the much slower French ship and began weaving in front of Droits de l'Homme's bow, repeatedly raking her.[23] Lacrosse's increasingly desperate attempts to ram the British ships were all unsuccessful and what little cannon fire he did manage to deploy was ineffectual, as the rolling of the ship of the line prevented reliable aiming.
By 22:30, Droits de l'Homme was in severe difficulties, with heavy casualties among her crew and passengers and the loss of her mizzenmast to British fire. Observing the battered state of their opponent, Pellew and Reynolds closed on the stern quarters of the French ship, maintaining a high rate of fire that was sporadically returned by Droits de l'Homme.[24] Having exhausted the 4,000 cannonballs available, Lacrosse was forced to use the shells he was carrying, which had been intended for use by the army in Ireland. In the high winds, these proved even less effective than solid shot, but did drive the frigates to longer range.[23] With their opponent almost immobilised, the British frigates were able to remain outside her arc of fire, effect repairs when necessary and secure guns that had broken loose in the heavy seas.[25] For the rest of the night the three battered ships remained locked in a close range duel, until suddenly, at 04:20 while it was still dark, land was spotted just 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) to leeward by Lieutenant George Bell of the Indefatigable.[25]
Pellew immediately turned seawards in an effort to escape the shore and signalled Reynolds to follow suit. Although both ships had suffered severe damage from the battle and weather, they were able to make the turn away from land, Amazon to the north and Indefatigable, at the insistence of its Breton pilot, to the south.[18] Initially it was believed that the land spotted was the island of Ushant, which would have given the ships plenty of sea-room in which to manoeuvre. However at 06:30, with the sky lightening, it became apparent on the Indefatigable that there were breakers to the south and east, indicating that the three ships had drifted during the night into Audierne Bay.[26] On discovering his situation, Pellew was determined to bring his ship westwards, attempting to work his ship out of danger by beating against the wind. Hasty repairs had to be made to the damaged rigging before it was safe to alter their course.[27] Due to her northwards turn, Amazon had even less room to manoeuvre than Indefatigable and by 05:00 she had struck a sandbank.[28] Although the frigate remained upright, attempts over several hours to bring her off failed; at 08:00 Reynolds ordered his men to prepare to abandon ship.[29]
Droits de l'Homme had been more seriously damaged than the British frigates, and was closer to shore at the time land was spotted. As Lacrosse's crew made desperate efforts to turn southwards, the ship's foremast and bowsprit collapsed under the pressure of the wind. With the ship virtually unmanageable, Lacrosse ordered the anchors lowered in an attempt to hold the ship in position until repairs could be made. This effort was futile, as all but two anchors had been lost during efforts to hold position in Bantry Bay, and British gunfire had damaged one of the anchor cables and rendered it useless.[30] The final anchor was deployed, but it failed to restrain the ship and at 07:00 (according to the French account), the Droits de l'Homme struck a sandbank close to the town of Plozévet. This broke off the remaining mast and caused the ship to heel over onto her side.[31]
As daylight broke over Audierne Bay, crowds of locals gathered on the beach. The Droits de l'Homme lay on her side directly opposite the town of Plozévet, with large waves breaking over her hull; 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) to the north, Amazon stood upright on a sandbar, her crew launching boats in an effort to reach the shore, while Indefatigable was the only ship still afloat, rounding the Penmarck rocks at the southern edge of the bay at 11:00.[28] On board the Amazon, Reynolds maintained discipline and gave orders to launch the ship's boats in an orderly fashion and to build rafts in which to bring the entire crew safely to shore. Six men disobeyed his command, stole a launch, and attempted to reach the shore alone, but were swept away by the current. Their boat was capsized by the waves, and all six drowned. The remaining crew, including those wounded in the previous night's action, were safely brought ashore by 09:00, where they were made prisoners of war by the French authorities.
Droits de l'Homme was irreparably damaged, and many of the men on board were soldiers with no training for what to do in the event of a shipwreck. Each successive wave swept more men into the water and desperate attempts to launch boats failed when the small craft were swept away by the waves and broken in the surf. Rafts were constructed, but several were swamped in attempts
1890 Robert Cornelis Napier, Field Marshal Baron Napier of Magdala, 79. One night around 1880, while the old Victorian war horse Lord Napier of Magdala was serving as Governor of Gibraltar, an officer who had taken on board too much champagne lost his way trying to get back to his quarters, walked off the Rock, and fell to his death. The following morning, having read the report of the officer of the day, a Lt. O'Donohue, Napier summoned that worthy to his office.
When O'Donohue arrived, Napier asked, "You were officer of the guard at the Elphinstone Guard yesterday?
"I was, sir."
"Lieutenant M____ was killed by walking over the rock."
"He was, sir."
"And yet you said in your report that nothing extraordinary had happened on your guard?"
"I did, sir."
"Well, Mr. O'Donohue, don't you think it extraordinary that a lieutenant walks over the rock, falls one thousand feet, and is killed?"
"Indeed, sir," came the swift reply, "I would think it a good deal more extraordinary if he had fallen that distance and not been killed!"
1943. FDR, Churchill, Chiang, de Gaulle, Giraud, and others began eleven days of meetings at Casablanca. For eleven days (January 14-24), Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, each supported by his senior military advisors, hammered out Allied strategy for the coming year, with a cameo appearance by Charles DeGaulle.
A man of curious work habits, rising late and then working like a maniac into the wee hours, in the process puffing through numerous cigars and downing impressive amounts of champagne and brandy, Churchill stayed at the luxurious Villa Anfa, near the beach. Often after dinner, which was generally around midnight, Churchill would go for long walks alone on the beach. During these expeditions he would sometimes collect sea shells or chat with Allied servicemen whom he encountered. Once, falling in with a group of American sailors who were enjoying a guitar around a fire, he immediately joined the party, lending his strong, though unmelodious voice to the singing.
While on such a stroll, at about 3:00 a.m. on one particular morning, the Prime Minister happened to encounter an American sentry.
"Who goes there?" came the challenge, in a strong Carolina accent.
"Churchill," came the reply.
This perfectly natural reply quite naturally aroused the soldier’s suspicions. He again demanded that the intruder identify himself.
Of course Churchill’s response was no more satisfactory this time than it had been the first.
It’s not clear how many times this exchange went back and forth, but finally, the soldier yelled out "Corporal of the guard! I have a fellow here who claims he is the prime minister of Great Britain. I think he is a goddamn liar!"
2009 Ricardo Montalbán, 88, Mexican-American actor (Rodriguez in "Battle Ground," Khan in "Star Trek")