RicOlie_2

G-3ii+N

I think I'll be destroyed if I end up stuck on the defensive. It's tough to keep up a defense when your pieces are changing every move.

R-2ii+P

I assume you meant G-4iv+N, because your gold starts from square 4v.

P-1ii+R

That was brutal, but oh well...

Let's take a break from this for a bit and play a game of Kyoto Shogi. I need to figure out how the promoting works though.

Pawns are also rooks, gold generals are also knights, silver generals are also bishops, kings are always kings...what piece is "T"? And when you call a move, do you write the initial of what the piece is before or after it's moved?

EDIT: I guess I do have the promoting just about figured out. :P

You're already forcing me into a corner and we're only 11 turns into the game! :P

K-4f

G4e-5d

G3e-4e

I never like playing against a computer. It really isn't the same. With real people, you can learn their favoured strategies over time and interact with them in ways other than just moving the pieces, but a computer doesn't have a personality or a certain way of playing the game and it can't do anything more than make moves.

I blame the Gungans.

G-5e

So far, my favourite is regular Shogi. I like long games since I tend to naturally go for really long-term strategies--often a fatal flaw unfortunately, but I at least have better luck in a longer game. I enjoy having a variety of pieces as well. More pieces allow for more elaborate defenses and multiple mini-strategies. I like complexity and variety, so the larger a game is, the more likely I am to like it once I get the hang of it.

After that comes Goro Goro Shogi. Despite all the pieces having limited movement, it doesn't take long to get into the game because of the pawns being head-to-head right away. I also like that it's a bit longer than other small variants and it's harder to get a big advantage over someone than in something like Judkin's Shogi, in which a capture of a rook or bishop can easily turn the tables in a couple moves.

Yes, I saw and fixed my settings accordingly. The coords are a little bit different, but they'll do.

G2f-3e

darth_ender said:

At the top of the Zillions window, click on "Play".  Click "Choose side".  The highlighted player is human, not highlighted is computer.  Just make sure both players are highlighted and that's it!

Ah, that makes sense, thank you.

And I would be happy to play another game of Goro Goro after this.  That was honestly a refreshing, challenging game.  You can go first.

 Sure, my move is Px3c.

I wouldn't mind playing Kyoto Shogi, but I don't know how, if it is at all possible, to change the computer player to a human player in the Zillions software. If you know how, or can figure it out, then let's play a game of Kyoto Shogi and then another one of Goro Goro Shogi. If not, let's just play another game of Goro Goro.

Leonardo said:

But srsly, nice fishies in your photo album. :)

I've been thinking about keeping a fish lately.

 Thank you. :D

Fish are a lot of fun to have. We have all kinds of them swimming around, so they keep us busy, but it pays off IMO.

Bingowings said:

The Desolation of Smaug (2013). Fire balls.

Like the previous film I can't see the problems people have had with these films. Professional critics seem to tidally influenced. There is nothing wrong with this film or the previous one which isn't wrong with the last two Lord of the Rings films.

Tonally it suffers from the same problems as the previous film. Jackson wants to make a prequel series to his already existing adaptations. The backbone of the plot is a children's story so unless Jackson is brave enough to make significant changes (like killing dwarfs) there's a tonal mismatch. Violent aggressive Orcs (and Trolls in the previous film) are chopped to minced meat while only one of the party gets an injury which proves to be curable.

Some dwarves will die of course, if the next movie remains true to the book. The invincibility of the dwarves was probably the biggest problem I had with this movie as well.

My only conclusion is that trends are not set by quality but by some market led opinion swing. I highly expect the Star Wars prequels will be as bad as ROTS but as popular as Skyfall, just because the markets have decided Star  Wars is to rise again.

Watch this space.

 I believe you meant sequels, but yes I bet they will be very popular with not a lot of quality. I think they'll be better than the prequels were, but definitely not as good as the OT.

January 26:

A.D. 66: 5th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's comet.

A.D. 1564: The Council of Trent issues its conclusions, officially distinguishing between Catholicism and Protestantism.

A.D. 1926: The first demonstration of television.

Uh-oh :)

Sx4e

Yup, as predicted, this thread is going nowhere.

K-5e

We have three such things in our living room. One is 112 US gallons, another is 180 gallons, and the other is 300 gallons. Beat that. Oh, and we have over three hundred fish/snails/shrimp. So, does anyone else own an aquarium, or is this thread going to wither and die within hours of my posting it?

Here's a link to my Flickr page in case you want to take a look at some of our fish:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99262306@N05/sets/72157634767822863/

Don't worry, you didn't sound rude since I wasn't reading aloud, but... ;)

It's all good, I didn't take that as being rude and all I meant to do was affirm your comment, not be sarcastic or anything of the sort.

P*4e

So you did. G-5d

K-4f

Gx1c

Warbler said:

RicOlie_2 said:

A.D. 2014: Yet another baby is born into RicOlie_2's family and he (EDIT: Ric, not the baby) officially becomes the oldest of seven children.

 congrads!! 

Thank you. :)

btw, don't forget to check my Pope list for dates whats papacies began and ended:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Random-Thoughts/post/467437/#TopicPost467437

oh, and I also have one for when reigns of the Kings and Queens of England/Great Britain/UK began and ended:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Random-Thoughts/post/467230/#TopicPost467230

finally, I also have one for US Presidents:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Random-Thoughts/post/591310/#TopicPost591310

 Thanks, I'll include all the important ones. I'll save insignificant ones for when I run out of significant dates.

Inception (2010)

I loved this movie. I enjoy the concept and I thought the execution was good too.

Life of Pi (2013)

Also a very good movie. It probably has the best CGI I've ever seen. The acting is very good, especially when one considers the fact that the tiger, with which the main character (Pi) interacts with a lot throughout the movie, is CG.

The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

Despite the many criticisms of the movie, I thought it was very good and enjoyed it more than the first one. I don't mind the length at all and though I am a fan of the book, I didn't mind that it was treated like a prequel to the LOTR. I hated the subplot with Tauriel and Kilii (I think that's his name) and I also found the invincibility of the dwarves a bit tiresome. I would have enjoyed the scenes with the dwarves fighting and running from Smaug were it not for the unrealistic behaviour of the fire and Smaug's apparent inability to use his flame-belching abilities at the right times.