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Subject: "FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"     Previous Topic | Next Topic
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Gryphonadmin
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Oct-04-09, 08:56 PM (EST)
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"FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
 
   Monday, November 2, 2409
Fairfield, Faliszek III
Booth sector, United Federation of Planets

Master Sergeant William B. Overbeck, WDF Tactical Corps (ret.), had seen a lot of seriously crazy shit go down in his day. He'd been with the 14th Armored Cav when they hit the dirt - except there wasn't any dirt - on Cybertron in 2026, MPed for Tactical Detachment Command when they turned a transport-load of Marines and Salusian swabbies loose on Kooken's Pleasure Pit for R&R during the 12th Kilrathi, and even helped recover relics of some ancient pre-Salusian civilization or another on a planet that turned out to be completely artificial, damned if he could remember the name of it now.

It was the kind of thing he'd lived for since, hell, since before First Contact. Where other kids had gotten drafted and bitched the whole time they were there, Bill Overbeck had volunteered to go to 'Nam because somebody had to, and it might as well be someone who was interested in getting the hell out of Pittsburgh for a while. And if he'd retired after the WDF went bust in 2288, well, a man was entitled to take it easy for a while, wasn't he? Besides, he'd be back in action again someday. The virus would see to that.

When selecting Faliszek III as his place of refuge, Bill would never have figured that it would end up being the site of the weirdest goddamn thing that he had ever witnessed, bar none. But it was. The other virus had seen to that.

Well, he assumed it was a virus. What the hell else could it be? He and Francis had had this argument three or four times while the four of them fought their way across Fairfield, trying to reach the evac point they'd heard of, crosstown at Mercy Hospital. Francis thought it might be magic.

"That's the biggest bunch'a horseshit I ever heard," Bill growled, taking a drag on his cigarette. "I've seen magic zombies before, on Karelvi. Raised by goddamn Lughebu worshipers. This is completely different. These people ain't dead."

"They are when we get through with them," Zoey said, giggling just a little hysterically.

Bill put a hand on her shoulder. "Steady, girl," he said. "You done great so far. Don't come apart on us now."

"I'm okay," Zoey replied. "Really. I am. Let's just get the hell out of the city."

"Good plan," Louis agreed. He checked the charge status of his blaster carbine, then looked around the room at his companions. "I'm ready to go if y'all are."

Francis laughed harshly and clapped Louis on the shoulder, nearly knocking him over. "Let's get it done!"

"Stay frosty, people," Bill cautioned. "We're not outta this yet." He hefted his BR55 and kicked away the pipe wedging shut the exit, then swung the door open and slipped out, checking left. After all they'd been through, he knew without looking that Zoey was already at his back, covering them to the right - but the alley was empty.

"Huh," said Louis. "Where is everybody?"

"How do I know?" Francis replied. "Maybe it's league night at Zombie Bowl. Am I some kind of motherfuckin' zombologist now?"

"Shut up, Francis," Bill grumbled.

"Yes, sir, Sgt. Overbeck, sir," Francis replied, sketching a mock salute.

"Son, if you'd spent any time in uniform, you'd know that not even the most clueless scumdog recruit calls a master sergeant 'sir'. Now secure the jaw and keep that shotgun ready. Let's move, people."

Weapons at the ready, the four moved cautiously toward the end of the alley. Louis poked his head out, looked up and down the street, and then edged onto the sidewalk.

"Nobody out here either," he said. Then, pointing, he added, "There's the hospital!"

The others joined him in the street and looked. Sure enough, there was Mercy Hospital, the huge white letters near the roof still glowing despite the rest of the city having lost power around it.

Bill sized up the distance they had left to go. "Maybe half a mile," he said. "Then we gotta get to the roof. That might be the hardest part. I heard the outbreak started there. God only knows what's inside that place."

"Well, we ain't gonna find out standin' around in the street," said Francis. "Let's go!"

"For once, you got a good idea there," said Bill with a half-smile. He lit a cigarette and started leading the way up the street.

The eerie silence grated on all their nerves. They knew from hard-won experience that Fairfield never stayed this quiet for this long. They kept glancing nervously at each other, checking their weapons, waiting for the other shoe to drop, as they covered each empty alley and doorway. One block. Two blocks. Three. Stick to the shadows. A few streetlights still on in this area, probably fed by the hospital's own fusion plant. There was an orange glow in the sky near the hospital; something over there was on fire, the fire's light reflecting from the overcast that made the night even darker. Silence.

Wait...

Zoey heard it first, freezing suddenly, holstering one of her pistols so she could hold up a hand. "Shh! Listen."

The survivors halted, straining their ears. Francis was just about to say "I don't hear anything" when he heard it. A low rumbling, like the sound of a distant river going over rocks.

"Must be the fire," said Louis, his voice hushed.

Bill shook his head. "No... it's getting louder."

Whatever it was came into view a moment later, cresting a small rise in the street perhaps 300 yards away. At first it was just an indistinct wavering shadow, a strip of darkness deeper than that of the surrounding night, stretching across the street, and for a second Francis thought, improbably, that it was a river, some kind of approaching flash-flood. That was absurd - the sky had so far only threatened, not actually rained, and anyway, this was downtown Fairfield, not the New Los Angeles flood control canal system.

Then, with a sinking feeling of horror, he saw. They all saw. As the leading edge of the wave passed under one of the still-functioning streelights, it became apparent to the survivors that the dark shape was a flood of sorts, but it wasn't made of water. It was a crowd, an absolute horde, of Infected, all of them maddened into the kind of frenzy that usually required a loud noise in a confined space, all of them running as fast as they could possibly run. They stretched from sidewalk to sidewalk, pouring down the full width of the street, gibbering and snarling, trampling the slower members of their own mass underfoot without the slightest hesitation. There had to be hundreds, maybe even thousands of them.

"Holy shit!" Louis yelled. Reacting instinctively, he planted himself, swung his E-11 into position, and opened up, firing full-auto from the hip. The E-11 was a notoriously inaccurate weapon when used in such a mode, but it wasn't as if he could possibly miss. Scarlet blasterfire raked the oncoming wave, but he might as well have been shooting at an avalanche. Those few Infected he hit stumbled, fell, were subsumed by the mass, but the mass kept coming.

"We gotta get outta this street!" Bill yelled, grabbing Louis by the upper arm.

"Where?" said Francis.

Zoey looked around, then pointed. "There!"

Bill turned to see that she was pointing to a fire escape on the front of a building on the nearest cross street. If they could get to it, climb up, and pull the ladder up after them, the wave might pass by beneath. From the looks of them, they might not even stop - Bill couldn't say for sure that the charging Infected horde was even aware that he and the others were in its way.

"Go! Go!" he yelled.

Louis tried to shake off his target fixation - now was not the time to get locked into a full-powerpack rock-'n-roll - but he was still looking down the street as he started to sidle after the others, and that meant he was the only one who saw, toward the back of the onrushing mob (now close enough that he could recognize individual Infected in the front rows), bodies flying into the air and plummeting back into the crowd. He knew well what that meant. It was the worst possible thing that could happen right now, the thing that could and probably would ruin Zoey's escape plan and spell the end of them all, this close to their ultimate goal.

Freezing again, he pointed and yelled in a tone of abject terror, "TAAAAAANKwait. What the hell is that?!"

He sounded so puzzled at the end that the other three all halted their headlong dash for safety, turned, and looked. Something was charging up from the back of the zombie mob, all right, its impact flinging unlucky Infected out of its path... but it wasn't one of the hugely mutated Tanks with their hideously overdeveloped arms and little stunted legs, loping gorilla-like along and smashing everything in its way.

It was a giant vehicle of some kind, like a double-decker bus or a locomotive, complete with huge floodlights that they could now see shining through the frontmost ranks of the packed Infected. It had a curving wraparound windshield up on the "top deck", above the lights and a giant chrome T-in-a-ring logo, and the rest of it was either chromed or painted some dark color that looked black in the dim streetlights.

With a deafening blare of pneumatic horns, this monstrous vehicle plowed out of the Infected wave like a surfacing submarine, pulled away from them as it raced toward the survivors, and then went into a gigantic power slide, clouds of smoke billowing from the twelve huge whitewall tires on its three rear axles. For one horrified moment, Bill thought it was either going to topple over on its side or clip Louis with its skidding tail, but it did neither of those things, instead coming to rest perfectly square in the center of the street, its air brakes letting out a satisifed honk as the bus/train/thing came to rest.

At which point a large door on its side accordioned open, a set of stairs dropped down, and two glowing blue eyes looked out from the shadows within before their owner leaned out into the glow of the streetlight.

"Come with me if you want to live," said Atomic Robo.

The survivors blinked, looked at each other, looked at the still-charging Infected horde, and then ran like hell for the bus. They had just reached it when the Infected arrived, their en-masse impact actually shaking the huge vehicle on its suspension as they crashed against its prow and flowed down the sides. Louis, Francis, and Bill got aboard safely; Zoey was right behind them, holstering her other pistol and grabbing the handrails on either side of the bus stairs with both hands, when the tentacle-like tongue of a Smoker whipped out of the crowd, encircled her waist, and yanked her bodily off the steps.

"Zoey!" yelled Francis, but Atomic Robo put up a hand to forestall him and jumped out after her himself.

One of the odd things about the contagion was that those afflicted by it seemed to be able to sense those who were immune. They wouldn't even bother trying to bite someone who was. They would, however, do their damnedest to punch, claw, kick, and/or stomp such an individual to death, and being torn limb from limb had no more appeal for Zoey than becoming a zombie. She couldn't get to her weapons, so she tried her best to protect her face with her half-pinned arms while digging in her heels in a futile effort to keep the Smoker from dragging her too far from the bus.

Atomic Robo appeared at her side, elbowing his way through the mob of common Infected, then grabbed the tongue a few feet from where it wrapped around her with the hand that wasn't clutching a heavy autopistol, took a turn of it around his hand, and gave it a solid yank, dragging the Smoker clean out of the cover of the crowd. It blinked in a sort of rudimentary shock, its eyes barely visible amid the mass of tumors that covered its face, and Atomic Robo emptied his weapon into its body, blazing away until it exploded.

The giant cloud of green smoke that always burst out at that point blinded and choked Zoey, setting her to coughing and her eyes to tearing; she felt herself being hustled in the other direction, Atomic Robo's hand on her back, and then the stairs beneath her feet. When her eyes cleared, she saw her robotic savior standing in the doorway, punching Infected out of the way while the stairs retracted, the bus already starting to pull away. Just before the doors closed, he unwound the severed Smoker tongue from his hand and tossed it out the window, then eyed his hand with an air of marked distaste.

"... Gross," he said, wiping his hand on his battle-dress pants. "You okay?"

Zoey coughed once more, wiping at her eyes, and managed to nod. "Fine."

"Good. 'Scuse me." Robo shuffled past her on the narrow staircase, hung a right, and headed forward. Zoey climbed after him, shaking the last of the cobwebs from her head.

The little hallway led to another short staircase. This led up to a space reminiscent of a starliner's flight deck as decorated by a 1930s diner manufacturer, all chrome and black Bakelite with quilted stainless steel wall panels and red-piped black leather seats. The driver sat dead-center behind that big wraparound windshield they'd seen from outside, surrounded by banks of controls and instruments that also would've looked less out of place in a starliner. Behind his station were two rows of four seats, each divided into pairs by a central aisle. On the curving bulkhead just above the brow of the windshield there was a gleaming aluminum panel bearing the legend,

The figure behind the Teslaliner's giant steering wheel, handling it with the same cool aplomb all the survivors had seen him show in everything from supercars to asteroid racers on TV, wore a white fireproof racing suit and black-visored white helmet. He said nothing, didn't even turn to acknowledge his passengers, as Robo gestured to the seats and told the survivors,

"You guys better strap in."

Then, body language countering the slight swaying of the Teslaliner as the Infected outside thumped and pounded and clawed at its exterior panels, Robo went up and braced a hand on the back of the driver's seat.

"We all set, Stig?" he asked.

The Stig nodded.

"Then let's get the hell outta here," said Robo, dropping himself into the seat just behind and to the driver's right.

The Stig's only response was to tug his seat harness slightly tighter before downshifting and putting the Teslaliner's accelerator to the floor. The enormous vehicle lunged forward, rear tires barking against the tarmac as they hurled down its engine's vast power, and the liner began gathering speed with the smooth inevitability of an asteroid. Within a block or two, they'd left the entire horde behind.

It didn't escape the survivors, however, that what they were accelerating toward was a blank concrete wall at the far end of what had been Fairfield's Main Street. It was part of the retaining-wall structure that had once isolated the business district from the noise of the Crosstown Expressway, and it was adorned with an enormous yellow sign advising oncoming vehicles that they really, really needed to turn right. Immediately.

Zoey glanced from the back of the Stig's seat to a monitor showing the rear view. The Infected were pursuing, though hopelessly outpaced by the Teslaliner. From the front of their teeming, thrashing ranks, she saw a Tank bound out and take up the chase in its weird but startlingly fast arms-and-toes lope. Her eyes flicked back to the windshield, where the wall with its huge sign was approaching awfully fast now.

"Oh, man, I knew this was gonna go wrong," Francis muttered, hurriedly buckling his seat harness. "I hate buses!"

The Stig ignored him. In fact, the driver's only response to the fact that they were barrelling straight toward certain death was to reach down and flick a single toggle switch on the right side of his impossibly complex instrument panel. Something inside the panel made a cheery electronic chirping noise...

... and a beam of brilliant white light shot from somewhere just below the windshield to splash against the wall in a curiously un-light-like manner. The bright spot spread, shimmering, as the Teslaliner hurtled toward the wall. The survivors flinched - and the wall was gone, replaced by something that looked for all the world like a purple version of hyperspace. Zoey looked at the rearview scanner again; it showed nothing behind them but more of the same.

Atomic Robo sagged slightly in his seat, letting out a synthetic sigh of relief.

"Glad that's over with," he said. "Nice job, Stig."

The Stig nodded.

Robo unbuckled and got up from his seat. "Okay, you guys. Let's go down and get you checked out in the medical bay. We'll be in New Avalon in about half an hour, and then the Chief is gonna want to talk to you."

"Hold on, wait a second, I ain't goin' anywhere until I get some answers," Francis protested. "Like what the hell happened back there, for a start. One minute I'm workin' on my bike, next thing I know the whole goddamn planet is all Night of the Living What the Fuck."

"Yeah, we'd all like to know what happened," said Louis.

"And why we were immune," Zoey put in. "I mean, I can guess why Bill is, but what about the rest of us?"

Robo held up a hand. "Take it easy. You'll get everything we know soon enough. Right now I just want to make sure you're not walking around with some internal injury you've been too keyed up to notice yet." He led them down the short staircase from the control room and down a narrow hallway to a tiny but well-equipped sickbay, complete with droid doctor.

"We don't know much yet," Robo admitted as the doctor set about examining the survivors. "We've only had agents on the ground back there for about 12 hours, and not all of them have reported in yet. The only thing we know for sure is that it was no accident."

Zoey looked up from watching the doctor bandage her arm, horrified. "You mean it was some kind of weapon?"

Robo nodded. "And it was deliberately deployed on Faliszek III. What we don't know yet is who by or why. But we'll find out, and when we do, we'll track down the people responsible and stop them."

Bill checked his BR-55, slung it on his back, and took out another cigarette, but sighed and didn't light it after the droid doctor raised a warning finger.

"And I'm gonna help you do it," Bill said to Robo.

Louis nodded. "So am I."

"Yeah, me too!" Francis yelled. "I hate bioterrorists."

Robo tilted his head at Zoey, who gave him a tired smile. "It's not like any of us has got anything else left. If they're in, I'm in."

There was a pause while Atomic Robo looked slowly from one survivor to the next. No one spoke; no one moved apart from the droid doctor, who carried on his work with complete indifference to the conversation.

Then Robo nodded again, extended his hand to Bill, and said, "Fair enough. Welcome to Tesladyne."

"Guns 4 Hire" - a Future Imperfect mini-story by Benjamin D. Hutchins
(based on
Left 4 Dead by Valve Corporation)
special to the Eyrie Productions Discussion Forum
© 2009 Eyrie Productions, Unlimited


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  Subject     Author     Message Date     ID  
  G4H side note Gryphonadmin Oct-04-09 1
     RE: G4H side note mdg1 Oct-04-09 2
     RE: G4H side note CdrMike Oct-05-09 4
     RE: G4H side note MoonEyes Feb-23-14 39
         RE: G4H side note Gryphonadmin Feb-23-14 40
             RE: G4H side note Mercutio Feb-23-14 41
                 RE: G4H side note Gryphonadmin Feb-23-14 42
  RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire BZArcher Oct-04-09 3
  RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Senji Oct-05-09 5
  RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Prince Charon Oct-05-09 6
  RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Meagen Oct-05-09 7
     RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Gryphonadmin Oct-05-09 8
         RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Rickdominated Oct-05-09 9
             RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Gryphonadmin Oct-05-09 10
  RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire StClair Oct-06-09 11
     RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Vehrec Oct-07-09 12
         RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Gryphonadmin Oct-07-09 13
             RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire BeardedFerret Oct-08-09 14
                 RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire trigger Oct-08-09 15
                     RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Wedge Oct-08-09 16
                         RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Gryphonadmin Oct-08-09 17
                             HALO SPOILER - RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Wedge Oct-08-09 18
             RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Vehrec Oct-12-09 20
                 RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Offsides Oct-13-09 21
                 RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Gryphonadmin Oct-13-09 22
                     RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire BeardedFerret Oct-14-09 23
                         RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Gryphonadmin Oct-14-09 24
                             RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire BeardedFerret Oct-15-09 25
                                 RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Matrix Dragon Oct-15-09 26
                                     RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire BeardedFerret Oct-15-09 27
                                 RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Gryphonadmin Oct-15-09 28
                                     RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Wedge Oct-15-09 29
                                         RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Gryphonadmin Oct-15-09 30
                                             RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire BeardedFerret Oct-16-09 31
                                         RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire Gulping Again Oct-16-09 32
                                             RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire BeardedFerret Oct-17-09 34
  warning: dumb joke ahead Norgarth Oct-10-09 19
  RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire CGWolfgang Oct-16-09 33
     RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire CdrMike Oct-17-09 35
         RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire CGWolfgang Oct-17-09 37
             RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire CdrMike Oct-18-09 38
  It may be because I've never played L4D... mdg1 Oct-17-09 36

Conferences | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic
Gryphonadmin
Charter Member
13338 posts
Oct-04-09, 08:57 PM (EST)
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1. "G4H side note"
In response to message #0
 
   LAST EDITED ON Oct-04-09 AT 08:58 PM (EDT)
 
The Teslaliner was inspired by and resembles (albeit not exactly) the GM Futurliner.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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mdg1
Member since Aug-25-04
951 posts
Oct-04-09, 10:32 PM (EST)
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2. "RE: G4H side note"
In response to message #1
 
   Robo, Stig, AND the Oscillation Overthruster?

Brilliant, Ben.

Mario


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CdrMike
Member since Feb-20-05
338 posts
Oct-05-09, 03:21 AM (EST)
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4. "RE: G4H side note"
In response to message #1
 
   >The Teslaliner was inspired by and resembles (albeit not exactly) the
>GM Futurliner.

Ironically, the first thing I pictured when I began reading the description, before I got too far along, was Dead Reckoning from Land of the Dead.

--------------------------
CdrMike, Renegade Time Lord

"I have questions, but number one is this: What in the name of sanity have you got on your head?"
"It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool."
- River Song and Eleventh Doctor, "The Big Bang," Doctor Who


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MoonEyes
Member since Jun-29-03
161 posts
Feb-23-14, 08:35 PM (EST)
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39. "RE: G4H side note"
In response to message #1
 
   >The Teslaliner was inspired by and resembles (albeit not exactly) the
>GM Futurliner.
>
>--G.
>-><-
>Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
>Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
>Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

For those interested in the Futurliner, may I suggest http://jonssonpower.com/ ? The site is in Swedish, but Google Translate manages fairly well.
And, I do apologize about the potential thread revival, but...
...!
Gott's Leetle Feesh in Trousers!


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Gryphonadmin
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13338 posts
Feb-23-14, 08:43 PM (EST)
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40. "RE: G4H side note"
In response to message #39
 
   >And, I do apologize about the potential thread revival, but...

Man, you got me all excited. For a second before I clicked through to the topic listing, I thought Merc was finally getting caught up. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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Mercutio
Member since May-26-13
395 posts
Feb-23-14, 09:35 PM (EST)
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41. "RE: G4H side note"
In response to message #40
 
   The fact that you don't pay me makes it very hard for me to threaten to quit, Ben. :)

-Merc
Keep Rat


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Gryphonadmin
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Feb-23-14, 09:55 PM (EST)
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42. "RE: G4H side note"
In response to message #41
 
   >The fact that you don't pay me makes it very hard for me to threaten
>to quit, Ben. :)

I could go in several different directions with that, but I think I'll just leave it on the mantelpiece. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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BZArcher
Member since Nov-9-05
598 posts
Oct-04-09, 10:51 PM (EST)
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3. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #0
 
   That works waaay too well.

---------------------------
We will BUILD heroes!


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Senji
Member since Apr-27-07
94 posts
Oct-05-09, 06:26 AM (EST)
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5. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #0
 
   >It didn't escape the survivors, however, that what they were
>accelerating toward was a blank concrete wall at the far end of
>what had been Fairfield's Main Street.

At this point I'm like "he didn't. He *didn't*." which carries on until...

>The Stig ignored him. In fact, the driver's only response to the fact
>that they were barrelling straight toward certain death was to reach
>down and flick a single toggle switch on the right side of his
>impossibly complex instrument panel. Something inside the panel made
>a cheery electronic chirping noise...

"He did!"

This kind of anticipation is one of the (many) things which make UF stories for me :)


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Prince Charon
Member since Jan-11-09
301 posts
Oct-05-09, 10:11 AM (EST)
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6. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #0
 
   You're very good at this. Thank you for posting it.

“They planned their campaigns just as you might make a splendid piece of harness. It looks very well; and answers very well; until it gets broken; and then you are done for. Now I made my campaigns of ropes. If anything went wrong, I tied a knot; and went on.”
-- Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington


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Meagen
Member since Jul-14-02
533 posts
Oct-05-09, 04:01 PM (EST)
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7. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #0
 
   >"Oh, man, I knew this was gonna go wrong," Francis muttered,
>hurriedly buckling his seat harness. "I hate buses!"

My Reference Memory immediately pipes in with: "...trucks, sewers, elevators, small towns, hospitals, Ayn Rand..."

--
With great power come great perks.


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Gryphonadmin
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8. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #7
 
   >>"Oh, man, I knew this was gonna go wrong," Francis muttered,
>>hurriedly buckling his seat harness. "I hate buses!"
>
>My Reference Memory immediately pipes in with: "...trucks, sewers,
>elevators, small towns, hospitals, Ayn Rand..."

"Hey, Francis, they've got the latest issue of Hating Everything magazine."

"I hate latest issues!"

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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Rickdominated
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Oct-05-09, 07:51 PM (EST)
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9. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #8
 
   I'd throw out a comparison to Movie Bonecrusher here, but I'm sure they'd BOTH hate that...


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Gryphonadmin
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Oct-05-09, 08:57 PM (EST)
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10. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #9
 
   >I'd throw out a comparison to Movie Bonecrusher here, but I'm sure
>they'd BOTH hate that...

(And I wouldn't get it.)

My favorite example of the Francis-hatred is when you emerge from an interior space into a garage bay that has a white van in it, and out of the blue, for no reason whatsoever (you don't have to do anything with the van, it's just there in the room), Francis blurts, "I hate vans!" I think it becomes apparent at that moment that he's at least partly doing it to keep the other survivors' morale up. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
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StClair
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Oct-06-09, 01:33 AM (EST)
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11. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #0
 
   Of course, now we have to have a scene where Zoey meets (or at least has a radio conversation with) John. And Cortana.


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Vehrec
Member since Feb-21-09
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Oct-07-09, 09:22 PM (EST)
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12. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #11
 
   Oddly enough, I spent the entire first part of this going 'Please be the Flood, please be the Flood, please be the-DAMNIT!'

Am I a sadist for wanting to destroy a planet's biosphere to satisfy my basic urge for completeness in a mashup setting? Did the Covenant deploy Scarabs before their encounters with Martian tripods and other warmachines-and in a setting with competition, will the design be revised? When Mendicant Bias and Durandal meet, will they discuss the flavors of their respective rampancy? Am I asking too many questions?

“Navigare Necesse Est”-'Get me out of here!'

Group Captain Konstantin Vehrec


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Gryphonadmin
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Oct-07-09, 11:42 PM (EST)
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13. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #12
 
   >Oddly enough, I spent the entire first part of this going 'Please be
>the Flood, please be the Flood, please be the-DAMNIT!'

That's never going to happen.

>Am I a sadist for wanting to destroy a planet's biosphere to satisfy
>my basic urge for completeness in a mashup setting?

Probably.

>Did the Covenant
>deploy Scarabs before their encounters with Martian tripods and other
>warmachines-and in a setting with competition, will the design be
>revised?

What?

>When Mendicant Bias and Durandal meet, will they discuss the
>flavors of their respective rampancy?

What?

>Am I asking too many questions?

Probably.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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BeardedFerret
Member since Apr-21-08
396 posts
Oct-08-09, 03:11 AM (EST)
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14. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #13
 
   >>Oddly enough, I spent the entire first part of this going 'Please be
>>the Flood, please be the Flood, please be the-DAMNIT!'
>
>That's never going to happen.

Thank god. That was always the weakest part of Halo.


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trigger
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Oct-08-09, 05:28 PM (EST)
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15. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #14
 
  
>Thank god. That was always the weakest part of Halo.

It was clear the developers wanted zombies. But this is scifi right? -Space- zombies? Dude, that game would never get out of production...

t.
remains amused and still hasn't played Halo2.


Trigger Argee
trigger_argee@hotmail.com
Manon, Maccadon, Orado, etc.
Denton, never leave home without it.

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." - HST


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Wedge
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Oct-08-09, 05:39 PM (EST)
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16. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #15
 
   >
>>Thank god. That was always the weakest part of Halo.
>
>It was clear the developers wanted zombies. But this is scifi right?
>-Space- zombies? Dude, that game would never get out of production...
>
>t.
>remains amused and still hasn't played Halo2.

Nothing, thank goodness, reaches the level of trudging frustration that was The Library in the first game, though there's a section in H2 that made me actually put the campaign away and just play multiplayer for a couple weeks until I got a better handle on the difference in controls and camera between the first and second game.

Halo 3 is a lot better about it. The one really ugly bit is actually sort of a cute game mechanic, and dealing with them is offset by that section of the game containing some of the better dialog exchanges.

Still, yeah, I was happy just killing aliens. I didn't need parasites.



Chad Collier
Smirking Kilrathi
The Captain of the Gravy Train


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Gryphonadmin
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Oct-08-09, 07:36 PM (EST)
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17. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #16
 
   >Still, yeah, I was happy just killing aliens. I didn't need
>parasites.

Besides, Star Trek got there first with "Operation - Annihilate!" :)

I will admit that they do provide a suitably terrifying raison d'être for the Halos, but the Halos are so ancient that there's no reason why the Flood need to still exist in the present day.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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Wedge
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Oct-08-09, 07:44 PM (EST)
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18. "HALO SPOILER - RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #17
 
   >>Still, yeah, I was happy just killing aliens. I didn't need
>>parasites.
>
>Besides, Star Trek got there first with "Operation -
>Annihilate!" :)
>
>I will admit that they do provide a suitably terrifying raison
>d'être
for the Halos, but the Halos are so ancient that
>there's no reason why the Flood need to still exist in the present
>day.

Well, it does give them reason to set one off at the end of the series. Which was nice. :)


Chad Collier
Smirking Kilrathi
The Captain of the Gravy Train


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Vehrec
Member since Feb-21-09
82 posts
Oct-12-09, 04:10 PM (EST)
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20. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #13
 
   >>Oddly enough, I spent the entire first part of this going 'Please be
>>the Flood, please be the Flood, please be the-DAMNIT!'
>
>That's never going to happen.
>
Not so much that I want the Flood as much as I want the Gravemind and it's sundry buddies.

>>Did the Covenant
>>deploy Scarabs before their encounters with Martian tripods and other
>>warmachines-and in a setting with competition, will the design be
>>revised?
>
>What?
>
Scarabs! Type 47-Heavy Assault Platforms! Mgalekgolo! Hive-mind's made of worms large enough to wrestle with an Atlas and win! The hive mind, not the individual worms mind you. They also come with giant plasma canons and are rather poorly laid out. Ringing any bells?

>>When Mendicant Bias and Durandal meet, will they discuss the
>>flavors of their respective rampancy?
>
>What?
>
A Forerunner fleet command AI who went rampant and defected to the Flood side of the war, thereby forcing his creators' collective hand and forcing the firing of the Halos. All his ships save two were destroyed, so his personality was fragmented pretty badly. One of the two surviving cores was recovered by the other Forerunner AIs. The other one was kinda responsible for the creation of the Covenant and their declaration of war. So the existence of the Covenant sorta implies the existence of Mendicant Bias, who provided them with all sorts of things, including a reason to go genocidal. I understand that you've got your own conception, but I happen to like this particular character. He's not actively malevolent, he just tends to screw up and talk to the wrong aliens. And in the end, he does create an example to show that he wishes to amend his bias, and write the wrongs he committed.

>>Am I asking too many questions?
>
>Probably.
>

Great! A straight answer! I shall treasure it always. :D

“Navigare Necesse Est”-'Get me out of here!'

Group Captain Konstantin Vehrec


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Offsides
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Oct-13-09, 10:42 AM (EST)
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21. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #20
 
   >So the existence of the Covenant sorta
>implies the existence of Mendicant Bias, who provided them with all
>sorts of things, including a reason to go genocidal.

Your logic is flawed, if for no other reason than that you expect that the UF representation of something has anything to do with its original source background. Remember, one of the core tenets of EPU fanfic is this: Just because you think you recognize something from it's source doesn't mean that it's the same thing. Just because they liked something enough to use it doesn't mean they didn't change it to better suit their needs.

IIRC, there are characters in various pieces who have nothing to do with the original source other than their name and basic physical description. Everything in the UFverse is ultimately a representation of the collective storytelling genius of Gryphon & co., and I for one stopped assuming I knew anything about anything just because I was familiar with the source - and quite frankly, that's made it even more brilliant when things take that Left Turn at Albuquerque(tm) and go in new and interesting directions :)

Of course, it doesn't hurt that I'm really not familiar with the source of a lot of the more recent stuff (real-world, not story release), but still...

Offsides

[...] in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
-- David Ben Gurion
EPU RCW #π
#include <stdsig.h>


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Gryphonadmin
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Oct-13-09, 02:48 PM (EST)
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22. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #20
 
   >Scarabs! Type 47-Heavy Assault Platforms! Mgalekgolo! Hive-mind's
>made of worms large enough to wrestle with an Atlas and win! The hive
>mind, not the individual worms mind you. They also come with giant
>plasma canons and are rather poorly laid out. Ringing any bells?

Um... no. I'm going to guess that's from Halo 2 or Halo 3. Or Halo Wars or ODST or the graphic novel or one of the books I haven't read (which would be any of them other than The Fall of Reach and First Strike). There is a distinctly low probability that anything sourced from part of the franchise I haven't encountered will be turning up, at least by way of me; the West Coast office is much more in tune with these things and may make some sort of outlier proposal at some time, but that kind of thing is not to be counted upon, you understand.

>A Forerunner fleet command AI who went rampant and defected to the
>Flood side of the war, thereby forcing his creators' collective hand
>and forcing the firing of the Halos.

Oh, well, no-op then; the Flood don't exist in the UF universe, so...

(Also, see above notation about sources other than Halo: Combat Evolved.)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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BeardedFerret
Member since Apr-21-08
396 posts
Oct-14-09, 04:32 AM (EST)
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23. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #22
 
   >Um... no. I'm going to guess that's from Halo 2 or Halo
>3
. Or Halo Wars or ODST or the graphic novel or one
>of the books I haven't read (which would be any of them other than
>The Fall of Reach and First Strike). There is a
>distinctly low probability that anything sourced from part of the
>franchise I haven't encountered will be turning up, at least by way of
>me; the West Coast office is much more in tune with these things and
>may make some sort of outlier proposal at some time, but that kind of
>thing is not to be counted upon, you understand.

You haven't played Halo 2 or Halo 3?

With the greatest possible deal of respect, why not? They're both great fun and the story's not half bad either.

>A Forerunner fleet command AI who went rampant and defected to the
>Flood side of the war, thereby forcing his creators' collective hand
>and forcing the firing of the Halos.

Then again, I've played Halo 2 and 3, read all of the books bar the newest one and I have no bloody idea what you're talking about.


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Gryphonadmin
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Oct-14-09, 11:54 AM (EST)
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24. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #23
 
   >You haven't played Halo 2 or Halo 3?
>
>With the greatest possible deal of respect, why not?

I'm crap at first-person shooters and Bungie don't provide ways to cheat like civilized game developers. It's... really pretty much that simple. (I don't have an Xbox 360 either.)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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BeardedFerret
Member since Apr-21-08
396 posts
Oct-15-09, 01:57 AM (EST)
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25. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #24
 
   >>You haven't played Halo 2 or Halo 3?
>>
>>With the greatest possible deal of respect, why not?
>
>I'm crap at first-person shooters and Bungie don't provide ways to
>cheat like civilized game developers.

...Says the guy who just wrote a Left 4 Dead crossover.

Haha, no, I get it.

> It's... really pretty much that simple. (I don't have an Xbox 360 either.)

Fair enough then. Thought you were weird or something there for a second.

I'd definitely recommend the third Halo book - Ghosts of Onyx. It kind of ties up some of the threads First Strike leaves behind, plus there is awesome new Mjolnir armour.


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Matrix Dragon
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Oct-15-09, 04:01 AM (EST)
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26. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #25
 
   >> It's... really pretty much that simple. (I don't have an Xbox 360 either.)
>
>Fair enough then. Thought you were weird or something there for
>a second.

You know, people can not be obsessed with a video game and associated fiction and not be weird.

... I'm just saying.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter


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BeardedFerret
Member since Apr-21-08
396 posts
Oct-15-09, 06:15 AM (EST)
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27. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #26
 
   >You know, people can not be obsessed with a video game and associated
>fiction and not be weird.
>
>... I'm just saying.

</sarcasm>


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Gryphonadmin
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Oct-15-09, 06:43 PM (EST)
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28. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #25
 
   >>I'm crap at first-person shooters and Bungie don't provide ways to
>>cheat like civilized game developers.
>
>...Says the guy who just wrote a Left 4 Dead crossover.

Left 4 Dead has cheat codes (although the AI teammates are good enough shots that I can get by without them on the lowest difficulty setting).

Seriously, I've got the Xbox version of Halo 2 and it was Just Hopeless. I'm sure it's an excellent game, but even on the lowest setting I wasn't 1337 enough to get much of anywhere.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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Wedge
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Oct-15-09, 08:03 PM (EST)
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29. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #28
 
   LAST EDITED ON Oct-15-09 AT 08:05 PM (EDT)
 
>Seriously, I've got the Xbox version of Halo 2 and it was Just
>Hopeless. I'm sure it's an excellent game, but even on the lowest
>setting I wasn't 1337 enough to get much of anywhere.

Not entirely your fault; Halo 2 is, in many ways, itself Just Hopeless. Enough so that much of the development they did for Halo 3 was directly led by the general idea of, "Well! Let's not do *that* again!" The first level, your first introduction to the the game, is nigh impossible to navigate your way out of. It's quite a mess.

Halo 3 is a marked improvement, should you ever get a chance to play it. There's nothing, though, that compares to Valve's concept of the Useful NPC, having just recently played my way through the entirety of the Orange Box.



Chad Collier
Smirking Kilrathi
The Captain of the Gravy Train


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Gryphonadmin
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Oct-15-09, 08:15 PM (EST)
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30. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #29
 
   >There's nothing, though, that compares to Valve's concept of
>the Useful NPC, having just recently played my way through the
>entirety of the Orange Box.

You know what I wish they'd do? Apply the Left 4 Dead NPC AI to Team Fortress 2, creating a sort of No Friends Mode. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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BeardedFerret
Member since Apr-21-08
396 posts
Oct-16-09, 04:01 AM (EST)
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31. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #30
 
   >>There's nothing, though, that compares to Valve's concept of
>>the Useful NPC, having just recently played my way through the
>>entirety of the Orange Box.
>
>You know what I wish they'd do? Apply the Left 4 Dead NPC AI
>to Team Fortress 2, creating a sort of No Friends Mode. :)

Fortress 2.


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Gulping Again
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Oct-16-09, 01:09 PM (EST)
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32. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #29
 
   >>Seriously, I've got the Xbox version of Halo 2 and it was Just
>>Hopeless. I'm sure it's an excellent game, but even on the lowest
>>setting I wasn't 1337 enough to get much of anywhere.
>
>Not entirely your fault; Halo 2 is, in many ways, itself Just
>Hopeless. Enough so that much of the development they did for Halo
>3
was directly led by the general idea of, "Well! Let's not do
>*that* again!" The first level, your first introduction to the the
>game, is nigh impossible to navigate your way out of. It's quite a
>mess.
>
>Halo 3 is a marked improvement, should you ever get a chance to
>play it. There's nothing, though, that compares to Valve's concept of
>the Useful NPC, having just recently played my way through the
>entirety of the Orange Box.

Yeah, there's only one level in Halo 3 which sucks beyond reason: Cortana, which IIRC is the penultimate level of the game. It's basically a run through High Charity (Covenant Captial cityship) in full Flood bloom. A sprawling horrible samey-looking maze made entirely out of meat and filled with super-durable shapeshifting enemies that are immune to standard Anti-Flood tactics (Battle Rifle rounds to the face will take down any non-shielded basic flood instantly, handy for Ultimate Hell Legendary, which REQUIRES a Plasma Pistol to be kept on hand at all times).


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BeardedFerret
Member since Apr-21-08
396 posts
Oct-17-09, 01:13 AM (EST)
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34. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #32
 
   >>>Seriously, I've got the Xbox version of Halo 2 and it was Just
>>>Hopeless. I'm sure it's an excellent game, but even on the lowest
>>>setting I wasn't 1337 enough to get much of anywhere.
>>
>>Not entirely your fault; Halo 2 is, in many ways, itself Just
>>Hopeless. Enough so that much of the development they did for Halo
>>3
was directly led by the general idea of, "Well! Let's not do
>>*that* again!" The first level, your first introduction to the the
>>game, is nigh impossible to navigate your way out of. It's quite a
>>mess.
>>
>>Halo 3 is a marked improvement, should you ever get a chance to
>>play it. There's nothing, though, that compares to Valve's concept of
>>the Useful NPC, having just recently played my way through the
>>entirety of the Orange Box.
>
>Yeah, there's only one level in Halo 3 which sucks beyond reason:
>Cortana, which IIRC is the penultimate level of the game. It's
>basically a run through High Charity (Covenant Captial cityship) in
>full Flood bloom. A sprawling horrible samey-looking maze made
>entirely out of meat and filled with super-durable shapeshifting
>enemies that are immune to standard Anti-Flood tactics (Battle Rifle
>rounds to the face will take down any non-shielded basic flood
>instantly, handy for Ultimate Hell Legendary, which REQUIRES a Plasma
>Pistol to be kept on hand at all times).

Christ, that damn level. Way to sap the fun out of the game.

I remember playing Halo 2 on co-op with my brother the night it came out. As soon as it got to the point where we realised the Flood were back, he put down the controller and walked away.


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Norgarth
Member since Jun-18-02
360 posts
Oct-10-09, 01:08 PM (EST)
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19. "warning: dumb joke ahead"
In response to message #0
 
   > "TAAAAAANKwait. What the hell is that?!"

more like an APC actually. 8P

sorry, but this popped into my head after reading the story and I haven't been able to evict it any other way.

-------------
Lead me not to temptation, for I can find it myself.

Norgarth


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CGWolfgang
Member since Jun-11-09
135 posts
Oct-16-09, 11:57 PM (EST)
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33. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #0
 
   Absolutely fatastic story, makes me a little sad that I skipped out on picking up Left 4 Dead.

It seems like some sort of corporation is doing something sneaky... Almost sounds like something Umbrella Corporation would do.... hrmmm now that I think about it Atomic Robo vs RE5 Wesker paints a very awesome picture in my head. (not a demand mind you just a random thought that popped up and made me go 'heh')

Just as a side note I JUST came back from watching Zombieland which made this story even more entertaining as I still had a few of the Rules of surviving Zombieland stuck in my head (and envisioning them popping up at appropriate places throughout the story.)

Cheers on another great mini Gryphon!

------------
~If you want my input the red explosions are really pretty and if you did enough you might live for a few more excrutiating seconds

My not so humble contribution to cyberspace

http://cgwolfgang.deviantart.com/


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CdrMike
Member since Feb-20-05
338 posts
Oct-17-09, 09:47 PM (EST)
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35. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #33
 
   >Absolutely fatastic story, makes me a little sad that I skipped out on
>picking up Left 4 Dead.
>
>It seems like some sort of corporation is doing something sneaky...
>Almost sounds like something Umbrella Corporation would do.... hrmmm
>now that I think about it Atomic Robo vs RE5 Wesker paints a very
>awesome picture in my head. (not a demand mind you just a random
>thought that popped up and made me go 'heh')

Perhaps Umbrella was once a subsidiary of GENOM, in a sort of "plausible deniability" arrangement. When info about Umbrella's bio-weapons research got out, the "company" folded, while all the research and samples were absorbed by GENOM.

--------------------------
CdrMike, Renegade Time Lord

"I have questions, but number one is this: What in the name of sanity have you got on your head?"
"It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool."
- River Song and Eleventh Doctor, "The Big Bang," Doctor Who


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CGWolfgang
Member since Jun-11-09
135 posts
Oct-17-09, 11:50 PM (EST)
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37. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #35
 
  
While I haven't read everything in the entire UF cannon (or mini-stories) I don't remember anything about Umbrella existing. The situation seems like Umbrella's M.O. (or a similar 'we-don't-give-a-flip-about-the-little-people' corporation) but until its explicitly stated we could guess until we're blue in the face (or type until our fingers fall off.) If I recall you never really find out the source of the infection in Left 4 Dead so as readers we may never find out...

However one thing I think is a pretty solid guess is that it probably wouldn't be GENOM doing something like this. At about the time of this story isn't Larry Mann running things and taking the corporation in a new direction? I'm sure he wouldn't allow something like this to happen. Or if it was any IPO agent(s) heading in would be getting a full disclosure brief before going on scene instead of having no definite facts besides "there's something horribly horribly wrong going on".

------------
~If you want my input the red explosions are really pretty and if you did enough you might live for a few more excrutiating seconds

My not so humble contribution to cyberspace

http://cgwolfgang.deviantart.com/


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CdrMike
Member since Feb-20-05
338 posts
Oct-18-09, 01:49 AM (EST)
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38. "RE: FI Mini: Guns 4 Hire"
In response to message #37
 
   >
>While I haven't read everything in the entire UF cannon (or
>mini-stories) I don't remember anything about Umbrella existing. The
>situation seems like Umbrella's M.O. (or a similar
>'we-don't-give-a-flip-about-the-little-people' corporation) but until
>its explicitly stated we could guess until we're blue in the face (or
>type until our fingers fall off.) If I recall you never really find
>out the source of the infection in Left 4 Dead so as readers we may
>never find out...

I was really only speculating, as I can't think of an instance off the bat where Umbrella has been mentioned, either by name or inference. But you're right about this sounding like their M.O.

>However one thing I think is a pretty solid guess is that it probably
>wouldn't be GENOM doing something like this. At about the time of
>this story isn't Larry Mann running things and taking the corporation
>in a new direction? I'm sure he wouldn't allow something like this to
>happen. Or if it was any IPO agent(s) heading in would be getting a
>full disclosure brief before going on scene instead of having no
>definite facts besides "there's something horribly horribly wrong
>going on".

Didn't really to suggest it was happening now, but rather that Umbrella had existed at one point and then ceased to exist, ala the Biohazard/Resident Evil series. But the research would still be there, perhaps even samples, and that's enough.

--------------------------
CdrMike, Renegade Time Lord

"I have questions, but number one is this: What in the name of sanity have you got on your head?"
"It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool."
- River Song and Eleventh Doctor, "The Big Bang," Doctor Who


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mdg1
Member since Aug-25-04
951 posts
Oct-17-09, 10:28 PM (EST)
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36. "It may be because I've never played L4D..."
In response to message #0
 
   But this line:

Shut up, Francis

reminded me of a differen sergeant entirely:

Mario


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