JStallion
06/29/04 10:48 PM
69.244.182.44
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deus ex machina.
I dont know what that means 
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Nightward
06/30/04 10:10 PM
203.134.46.65
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Ladies and Gentlmen, I present to you...
"deus ex machina.
I dont know what that means "
...the net result of the American education system!
Yea, verily. Let it be known far and wide that Nightward loathes MW: DA. Indeed, it is with the BURNING ANIMUS OF A THOUSAND SUNS that he doth rage against it with.
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JStallion
06/30/04 11:51 PM
69.244.182.44
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Everybody always hears of the great exploits done by this Australian and that Australian, the U.S. can barely keep up. Australians are in fact looked at as the world power. Not only that though but you always hear of their great military achievements, such as..... well there was...... wait, my bad; no one looks to them that way, or have they done much. Sorry for the mistake. 
haha j/k. I don't know the term though and you're probably more familiar with it because people you're with might use it. I however never hear it and so don't know what it means. That has nothing to do with our education system over here.
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Greyslayer
07/01/04 05:40 AM
203.61.72.237
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I wouldn't talk about Aussie military, sure Australia lacks the numbers but what is lacking in numbers is usually made up in with the strength of character so characteristic of our troops.
For much of history Australia's military has always been a part of international forces usually under the command of a foreign power's military. Its hard to gain much more respect than those you fight with if that is the case.
Afghanistan losses: 0 (1 or 2 injuries through land mines I believe)
-friendly fire: 0
Iraq losses: 0
-friendly fire: 0
If fact the western part of Iraq was left to a component (yes a component probably about 1 to 2 companies worth) of the SAS and virtually no SAM sites were left operating indicating the effictiveness of troops when properly trained and deployed with a 'self' command structure.
We have Aging F-111s yet still win bombing competitions around the world. We had a enemy kill ratio of at least 12 to 1 of MILITARY enemy in Vietnam during the war, US figures were boosted by bombing of civilian villages. Aussie troops had little problem from the villages under their control during the period, all attacks seemed to come from the American controlled areas. Look up Long Tan, or here I have done a bit of research for you:
http://www.anzacday.org.au/education/activities/longtan/longtan01.html#Source%207
Interesting to note that they 'ambushed' one platoon, and somehow killed 500 troops. Gotta love misinformation. For the record 6RAR was a Regular unit not a special force.
US media is reknowned for not reporting anything happening outside of the US.
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marlin
07/01/04 11:38 AM
141.20.80.159
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Now back to the Topic.
I hope I didn´t write here before. A long time ago..
All Factions in BT have their own right and place and normally I can get into any of them.
Anyway: From the Clans the premier is of course Clan Star Adder.
It was it short after I got the FM: Crusader Clans.
Mhm. For IS its a bit more difficult. ........ I don´t really know. Maybe hm the Combine? Or Lyrans? Or Marik? There´s everything in every realm.
The Periphery: The same. But Canopus has some good arguments.
Mercs: of course the "Lords of Thunder".
Sorry for mistakes.
Frederic Walden
driver of "Sir Scan-a-L.o.T." (A Savannah Master, for neven <img src="http://www.sarna.net/w3t/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> )
with the "Lords of Thunder"
and proud of it.
watch out for www.clanwatch.com |
Lone_Wolf_Radick
07/01/04 04:29 PM
65.1.53.170
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Are we really trying to start a flame hate "my country's better than yours" post here? I'm American, and proud to be, but I've been around the world and know that there's many great countries out there... they all have their pros and cons, but arguing about them proves only our ignorance of the other in the end... Besides, we're supposed to be making this a "my clan and or house is better than yours" post anyways, so Clan Wolf. There.
War Never Determines who is right, only who is left.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing-Darth Vader"
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Seo
07/01/04 05:41 PM
156.34.183.151
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I'm still saying the the Taurians are the best and that they'll... what we've been destroyed again. Sorry I have to go help rebuild the Concordat again, but when I get back you'll see that we Taurians are the best.
"...and Wayward will keep telling us how great the feature will be even it does screw the whole neveron community like a Hentai Tentacle Monster screws a Japanese School Girl..."
-Seo
For a nice cash bonus in new empires use the promo code "Seo is God"
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JStallion
07/01/04 10:58 PM
69.244.182.44
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If you have a few elite trained troops then yeah theyre not going to screw up (at least not nearly as much one would hope). But the U.S. sends in tons of troops because it can. All those troops aren't elite and so mistakes happen. Do you believe you would still have so few losses if there were more aussie troops there? Granted theres thousands of stupid americans, and im sure theyve made their way into the military. I bet Australia has less inteligent and mistake-proned troops just as the U.S. and every other country, but when you dont send those troops in they can't be there to make mistakes. So i'll give those aussie troops that did well the credit they deserve, but Australia has never been known as a world power or a country that one feared; in fact, i didnt even know Australia sent troops to vietnam or iraq( cant blame that on U.S. media though because they mentioned lots of countries that did, just not all of them. My main point was the U.S. is seen as a powerhouse while australia isn't, so our education can't be too bad can it?
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Nightward
07/02/04 03:19 AM
202.141.216.133
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...
Not only did you not get the point, you did not get the point at all.
"Deus Ex Machina" is a term from Greek plays where actors playing the Gods would be lowered (or raised) onto the stage to hustle the plot along. It literally means "God from the machine".
"Deus Ex Machina" is a term nowdays applied to anything that is overtly a device to advance the plot without making any other sense whatsoever.
This is something that I was taught way back in Grade 8 Greek History. I ran into it again in Years 11 and 12, though admittedly I was studying Advanced English.
The US has a policy called "no child left behind" which means that the class is taught to the lowest common denominator. In Australia, we don't worry about that kind of crap. If you're failing the class, you stay behind until you catch up- you don't drag the rest of the class down with you. I was concerned at the time the policy was instituted, and judging by the reading, writing, and comprehension skills of American High Schoolers I've run into on the 'net, it doesn't appear that my predictions were too far wrong.
Furthermore, Australian troops are, on a one-for-one basis, at the very least as good as US troops, and at least IMO, much better. Do some research on Vietnam, where the Viet Cong took to calling our SAS unit "Mah Hrung" (Forest Spirits), or better yet, Google up some reports on a country called East Timor.
A few years back, Australia single-handedly freed that country from an oppressive regime, and installed a democratic government. UN forces arrived just in time to snatch all the glory.
Of course, you can skip all that and just google for "ANZAC" and learn what real courage and honour is.
Yea, verily. Let it be known far and wide that Nightward loathes MW: DA. Indeed, it is with the BURNING ANIMUS OF A THOUSAND SUNS that he doth rage against it with.
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Greyslayer
07/02/04 07:20 AM
203.61.73.65
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Through his own ignorance JStallion slighted the military history of a nation, if I am not allowed to respond to that then are some serious 'issues' you guys have.
Everyone is aware of American military history, whether the overglorified hollywood version or honest research through history books. If you read the story of Long Tan (the link I had posted above) you will find a true story even better than many of the ones used in Hollywood blockbusters.
He also slighted the country by saying that we are not a world power. We don't have delusions of our standing in the world like the French (who keel over whenever anyone attacked them anyway... some power), but we do have prominence. While the whole world went through a nasty economic recession, Australia powered through being the least scathed of the western countries. In fact we came out of the recession pretty damn well off actually.
Maybe Australians are the Taurians due to the harshness of the landscape making it hard for invaders to really get any advantage (much like the well protected homeworlds of the Taurians). Their strength of education given to citizens.
Only thing that probably doesn't match is the military prowess and the important role Australia plays in civilian research avenues such as biotechnology/medicine, quantum physics, engine technology and agriculture.
Oh and one of the Taurian planets is called 'Brisbane'
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Lone_Wolf_Radick
07/02/04 01:01 PM
129.33.119.12
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Like I said, don't let one's ignorance of a country he's obviously never been to ruin your perceptions of Americans everywhere... As a Veteran who's met many Aussies, I for one would much rather have one of you guys at my back than a French, Spanish, or Russian soldier, and I say that with any and all due respect to those countries (except maybe the French, because they ask for whatever bad treatment they receive, especially ever since about 1930). But I beseech you to return this post to what it was intended to be- BATTLETECH... Yeah, The U.S. is Great, Australia is great, our education systems are at least both good enough to produce people willing to stand up for their national honor on the Internet while enjoying a rather heady board game... Once Again, Clan Wolf, Bah to the Taurians.
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sunburst
07/02/04 01:36 PM
63.163.156.138
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I would definitely go for House Davion. The Federated Suns is militaristic but at the same time advocates personal liberties - a balance that is not achieved by the other Successor states. As for the clans, Clan Wolf stands out. I even think they should eventually be the ILCLAN. For one thing, the Kerensky line is in their ranks.
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Nightward
07/02/04 06:40 PM
211.26.65.1
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What I find the saddest indictment on JStallion is the fact that instead of finding out what "deus ex machina" meant on his own (Maybe by opening a dicitionary, or just consulting MS Word) his knee-jerk response was basically: "My 4rmy c0u1d pwnz0r j00, f4ghat".
And then he went on to insult our army and nation. Now I will use his smiley:
"Everybody always hears of the great exploits done by this Australian and that Australian, the U.S. can barely keep up. Australians are in fact looked at as the world power. Not only that though but you always hear of their great military achievements, such as..... well there was...... wait, my bad; no one looks to them that way, or have they done much. Sorry for the mistake. "
If I'd substituted "America" for "Australia" there, the massive flamewave that would have struck the thread would have caused Slayer at the least to lock it, and quite probably to have banned me for being an arsehat. He'd have been right in doing so, too. JStallion should thank his lucky stars I was so pissed off I could barely think coherently enough to give him the reply I did instead of the reply he so richly deserved.
"haha j/k. I don't know the term though and you're probably more familiar with it because people you're with might use it. I however never hear it and so don't know what it means. That has nothing to do with our education system over here. "
And that's where he's so wrong. America prides itsef on being so well-rounded in its education, and being the world's foremost democracy. If that's the case, why aren't you studying Greek culture- they had the very first known democratic rule. Greek culture was vitally important to the way the West works as it does, and indeed to why the entire WORLD works as it does.
Yea, verily. Let it be known far and wide that Nightward loathes MW: DA. Indeed, it is with the BURNING ANIMUS OF A THOUSAND SUNS that he doth rage against it with.
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Lone_Wolf_Radick
07/02/04 08:21 PM
129.33.119.12
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You know, I studied Greek history in school, I'm not sure what state he got his learning from... They do vary quite differently from state to state...
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Lone_Wolf_Radick
07/02/04 10:52 PM
65.1.53.170
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Oh yeah, almost forgot... Clan Wolf...
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Toontje
07/06/04 04:44 PM
82.73.138.10
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---
If that's the case, why aren't you studying Greek culture- they had the very first known democratic rule. Greek culture was vitally important to the way the West works as it does, and indeed to why the entire WORLD works as it does.
---
They had the best, only sane, land-owning males were allowed to vote. All the suffrage was a bad idea.
Rather to blow up, then.
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Nightward
07/06/04 10:17 PM
203.134.47.161
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Wow. A masterful display of idiocy. I am most impressed.
Yea, verily. Let it be known far and wide that Nightward loathes MW: DA. Indeed, it is with the BURNING ANIMUS OF A THOUSAND SUNS that he doth rage against it with.
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Lone_Wolf_Radick
07/07/04 06:23 PM
65.1.53.170
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I'm about ready to give up on this thread... some people are reserved to continue flaming... You already know my point of view... Clan Wolf...
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BigBoss
07/08/04 01:29 PM
24.224.151.124
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Rolling on the Floor Laughing My Ass Off 
Well, really dont give up, this post seems interesting, so I will post my thought!
The Draconis Combine is my favorite house, because of strength, honor and courage, and I think they are beter out of all the other houses.
Clan Wolf is my favorite Clan, I dunno why, and they are better and stronger out of all the other Clans.
My favorite Periphery State is the Hanseatic League, because they are so mysterious, and they seem to have a larger army, but Im always militiaristic, so those were my 2 cents. 
Bringing Terror to the Comforts of Your Homes
~BB~
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BigBoss
07/08/04 01:38 PM
24.224.151.124
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Wow, does anybody realise that this thread has been a stalemate for FOUR MONTHS! 
Bringing Terror to the Comforts of Your Homes
~BB~
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Seo
07/09/04 10:17 PM
156.34.189.120
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Yes, but thats what we taurians make you think. You see the Taurians have been in the lead since the begining with all their support. BTW if I had to go with a clan I'd go GS cause noone gives them enough support. *looks at the GS's around him. On second thought, no.
"...and Wayward will keep telling us how great the feature will be even it does screw the whole neveron community like a Hentai Tentacle Monster screws a Japanese School Girl..."
-Seo
For a nice cash bonus in new empires use the promo code "Seo is God"
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jackal
07/12/04 09:54 PM
208.54.200.143
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Clan - Goliath Scorpion. I like the idea of the seekers and their philosophy kinda jives with the spirit of Kerensky (Alexander that is).
IS - Taurian Concordat. I guess I like the stubborn underdogs. The break up makes me lean towards the Protectorate now in the spirit of Calderon.
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UncaRat
07/27/04 03:49 AM
172.165.187.83
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NEW RECRUIT, slowly, carefully looks around. drops carefully into his trench and speeks softly to his comrad. "Favorite? When? In 3005 (for those not aware of it thats when the playing timeline started), shakes his head sadly, for fun FWL or Combine.
In 3025? Well I always liked the Federated Suns because of one H. Davion- the right kind of man for the job at the time.
In both these periods I liked the Eridani (?) Llight Horse and Wolf's Dragoons, but I never got to fight beside them.
After 29 and 39 I had to like the Combine for T. Kurita- again the right man for the job at the time.
In the perif? Canopus and the Outworlds.
Since 39 my major focus has been less famous mercs and trying to hold the Federated Comonwealth together, never played in the civil war. From what little I can see two winners (Hanse and Mellisa) had the worst possible luck with the kids! (note I haven't yet finished the reading of the civil war.)
Clans? I like Ghost Bear and the Wolf (note in later days both factions)
As for my education: born in Louisville, Kentucky; raised and educated to high school (12th grade) in southern Indiana (I could see Louisville from my bedroom window), the off to tech school in Columbus, Ohio. I knew what it ment, still you might be under selling those fellows they were hardly your average IS troops!
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Lone_Wolf_Radick
07/28/04 03:49 PM
65.1.42.9
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Nice choice, UncaRat, the Wolf, but I find it hard to like both the Wolf and the Ghost Bear, as they don't really see eye to eye, yet you also like both Davion and Kurita... Well, no problem with that, until it comes time to pick sides eh??? Who do you most often play as? What style most befits your personality? Perhaps that will narrow it down a little... Which designs do you favor, which tactics? Your style may be pointing you at a house or clan you hadn't even though of yet... BTW, Don't count out Comstar... I'm sure most here will agree the Com Guards can go toe to toe with anyone...
War Never Determines who is right, only who is left.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing-Darth Vader"
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UncaRat
08/02/04 06:52 AM
172.128.28.135
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My post was in answer to who I like, as for who I play? Mostly I do pickup games these days. Santa Barbra is a coledge town and most of the players I know well have graduated and left the area. So some one elde picks the side.
Personaly as I said I'm a Merc at heart.
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Gnome76
08/04/04 04:46 AM
68.12.242.212
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Well, some favorites are favorites just because they were experienced first... such as the first version of a song you hear, or like how my favorite 'Mech is the old Warhammer, because it was on the front cover of the 2nd edition boxed set, therefore the first 'Mech I saw... well, the first Battletech novel I read was Ideal War, so my favorite house is Marik and the FWL. The first book I read that was from a Clanner's point of view was Blood Name (I know, 2nd in a trilogy, but it was a crappy bookstore), so my favorite clan was Jade Falcon, but I don't really like Marthe Pryde, so Ghost Bear's my current favorite clan, because of the expansion pack for MW2. And the first book with a merc unit was Main Event, so favorite mercs are the Black Thorns.
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Lone_Wolf_Radick
08/04/04 09:04 AM
65.1.42.9
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Okay, fair enough, and my reasons in fact are similar... The first book of Battletech I owned myself (having had to play with other peoples games before this time) was the TRO 3050, so the first mech I saw daily was the Timberwolf... I soon got the master rules and the Wolf Clan sourcebook and my Favorite has been the Wolf Clan Ever since... I gained huge respect for Comstar after the FM on them came out, and a new understanding of the Canopians when periphery books and FM's came available...So I guess it's a "first time" syndrome for me as well, though even after playing for years and seeing events in the storyline unfold as they have, I've only liked the Wolves more...
War Never Determines who is right, only who is left.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing-Darth Vader"
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UncaRat
08/07/04 02:02 AM
172.128.75.140
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My first book was I believe "Thunder Rift" (?) the founding of the 'Grey Death Leagion' showed an interesting background. I had played BT the boardgame before that but hadn't developed any real knowledge of the various factions.
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JaguarDragoon
08/10/04 02:24 PM
24.199.66.118
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Favorite clan would probably have to be Clan Smoke Jaguar. Even though they took kerenskys teachings to the extreme and where hated by everyone, I still respect their martial prowess and in the end many of them fought to the last man. Second would have to be Clan Star Adder because by numbers of clusters they are largest clan force beacuse of the absorption of clan burrock and second largest fleet next to Clan snow raven.
Favorite House would have to be Marik of the free worlds league because they fight only defensively and don't start fights with people for no good reason like Steiner or Davion. To me, house Davion and the Federated Suns are like Caesar and the roman empire trying to take over everybody like during the fourth sucession war.
Favorite periphery state would have to be the Taurian Concordat because they were able to fight off the Federated Commonwealth pretty well.
Favorite Merc unit would be the Eridrani light horse because they are just good fightersand they are what Victor based his RCTs on.
Edited by JaguarDragoon (08/10/04 02:59 PM)
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Arzakon
08/12/04 05:01 AM
67.164.186.244
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Favorite Clan: Ghost Bear
Favorite House: House Steiner pre-Katherine (no, she's not Katrina, and never will be, someone please put a Sternsnacht to her head and squeeze the trigger)
Favorite Periphery State: Magistracy of Canopus
Favorite Merc Unit: Hansen's Roughriders
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