I Should Just Carry My Windows Disk With Me at All Times…

by on November 29, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Posted In: Life

Well, I’m on my annual vacation with my parents this week. The trip down was fairly smooth and most things are going okay. I’ve got some gaming to report on; things are piling up, as usual.

However, the computer is not fine. It’s amazing how incipient problems can suddenly turn into full-blown disasters just by moving the darn hardware. A little background first:

A few months ago, our house server (Argentum) started having trouble, and was randomly locking up while not actually involved in anything. I managed to make the problem better, so that it was locking up within a week, instead of within a day, but it was still having problems that I couldn’t figure out. We had been planning on retiring Argentum and just having all our files on Alexandria, a NAS with much more storage than Argentum, so I took the main data drive out, and attached it to my system (Horo), and it’s been the auxiliary house server ever since. (Trying to get Argentum’s data *organized* as we move it from one place to another has kept the project from getting finished of course.)

For the last month or so, I’ve been noticing problems with Horo wanting to get extra boggy switching from task to task, usually if it had been sitting idle all day (no excessive memory or CPU load despite long delay times). I also noted some problems with painfully slow startups, and occasionally it just didn’t want to start, but I had been able to eventually coax it into Windows, which would act fine. Generally, the restart seemed slower after Horo had been on for a few days and was being boggy in Windows. If it hadn’t gotten to that point, startup seemed fine.

As usual, I drove down to my parent’s on Thanksgiving day, and arrived in the early evening. Everything was fine, except that Horo now wouldn’t start at all. There are two places where startup fails: 1) blank screen, no cursor, right before Windows kicks off. 2) “Windows is Starting” screen comes up, but the four lights that turn into the Microsoft logo (Win 7 startup animation). Previously, it would just pause there for a long time before continuing, Thursday night it halted, and Windows eventually noticed that Startup had failed and started a recovery process (impressive!). However, that ran about 2-3 hours (claimed should be several minutes) before declaring that the recovery  attempt had failed.

I managed to contact Baron the next morning, and got my Windows 7 disk express mailed to me, and got it Saturday (I owe Baron $20, >.<). It’s tools for repairing Windows turned out to be the same as the onboard ones, and did no better. I ended up by having to do do an all-new install of Windows, which has left me without a bunch of programs, some of which I was planning to use while on vacation, but at least Horo was up again.

Once I had a working version of Windows, I was finally able to get at CHKDSK (which I had wanted to do in the first place) on Sunday and did a full scan on the main drive. It *did* find some file errors, and that was after I had cleaned off the bulk of the old Windows files (two of the three files it didn’t like were actually in the Recycle Bin). No bad physical sectors were found however.

Monday morning, I had a repeat of the startup halt, and Windows recognized the problem, and it was able to successfully restore to a previous system state this time. Which meant I lost my last software install, and had to do it over again (Acrobat Reader). However, that means that whatever the problem is, it’s not just a random bit of corruption, but either a drive, or the motherboard’s drive controller are having problems. I’m still not at all sure just which it is.

For those of you still following along, and want to offer advice on the matter, here’s the physical setup: Horo’s motherboard only natively supports SATA, but it also has ATA through a secondary on-board I/O chipset. The DVD drive and OS-hard drive (which had the errors) are SATA; my primary data drive and the one that came out of Argentum are ATA (in fact they’re the same model of drive). The SATA drive is obviously the newest, but it’s the one with trouble. On the other hand the last hardware change before I started things started going downhill is the second ATA drive.

I’ll have more general news of how the trip itself is going in a couple of days. ^_^;

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A Tour of Vienna

by on November 20, 2011 at 1:28 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

Well, after far too long without any FtF gaming, we finally got the gang back together yesterday for a game of Here I Stand. Things were a little slow getting started. Half the group ran a bit late, and not only have we only played it once before, but that was a while ago, so we took a while to get up to speed.

I started us off with a random draw for powers, with the stipulation that no one would repeat last game’s position (which didn’t even come up as it happened). So, we ended up with Zjonni as the Ottomans, Dave as the Hapsburgs, Mark as England, Patch as France, Jason as the Pope, and me as the Protestants.

My initial play of 95 Theses went well, I think I only missed one Reformation attempt. I estimated that the max I was going to see oppose me at the Diet of Worms was 9 CP, and spent a 3 CP card in the hope that there wasn’t actually that much commitment from the Pope and Hapsburgs. Sadly, they did spend 9 CP, and I lost two spaces.

For the most part, the first couple of turns had a lot of motion, without a lot of result. Dave (Haps) played Cloth Prices Fluctuate something like three times in four turns, much to the delight of him and Mark. Zjonni got Barbary Pirates on the first turn, and managed Julia Gonzaga on the second turn. In fact, the Ottoman navy (and corsairs) were a big concern for everyone else. Dave got alliances with the Pope and England on turn 3 so that he could borrow ships from them to prosecute a war with the Ottomans. This ended up with a gigantic naval clash (roughly 20 dice per side) in the port of Algiers. Dave rolled very well, and traded a naval squadron for about three naval squadrons and a corsair. After that, he went in for a second round and knocked out the rest of the Turkish fleet for no losses.

Sadly for Dave, after all the effort to get everything there, and do the combat, he didn’t really have the ability to do much else on the board. He was very active in the New World every turn, and generally got very good rolls every time. (His first explorer was Magellan, who found the Pacific Straight, and just missed a successful circumnavigation, being speared by natives.)

Meanwhile, Zjonni had been active on land. He took Belgrade and Buda by easy stages, and then appeared in Vienna at the start of turn 4 with 18 troops. Vienna quickly fell, and he split off a force to take Prauge as well. Of course part of the reason he had such a large army was that he had successfully put down an Egyptian Revolt (his second) and a Persian Revolt the turn before.After that, he found he didn’t have a lot of good options. The Holy Roman Empire (/Protestant home area, though Schmalkaldic League had not yet been played) was a lot of trouble for no return, and Italy was out of reach without a navy (which was being rebuilt). Dave meanwhile had taken Algiers, and was trying to figure out a next move.

During all of this, I was mostly publishing treatises and fending of Papal debaters (I generally lost the debates by one or two points). By turn 3-4, the Pope was getting more involved in the situation in Italy, which allowed me to breathe a little easier, and I started flipping more Debaters for their special powers. I completed the German translation of the New Testament on turn 3, and the English translation on turn 4, as well as the full German translation at the very end of turn 4. I had converted a fair amount of Germany, including all but one of the Electorates, and had converted Scotland (but have been stalled at just Norwich in England proper—quite a switch!).

The various European powers complained of not being able to get anywhere in various wars thanks to fears of uncovering vital areas in any attempt at an offensive. However, England did manage to wipe out Scotland on turn 4 when he declared war and France did not have a 2CP card to give up (and presumably did not want to blow a bigger card on the Alliance).

We were able to have a very extended session, thanks to Jason not having his normal ‘must catch the bus’ time, which allowed us to get through the end of turn 4. Considering that just turn 1 took nearly two hours we were making some very good time by the end of the session. I think we could easily hit the same spot in a more normal session if we can do it before we all forget the rules again. I’m figuring next time we’ll probably play the 1532 scenario next time, and have a decent chance of finishing it. (Getting from turn 4 through turn 9 is probably a bit much, but the odds of a victory before then should be good.)

As it was, the scoring at the time we broke up had the Zjonni’s Ottomans in the lead at 19 VP. Dave (Hapsburg) was right behind at 18 (powered by a lot of New World points), France (Patch) had 16, the Pope (Jason) at 15, England (Mark) at 11, and my Protestants at 7 (and the bulk of those had come in on turn 4; the religious fight was just getting going).

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R vs B Coalition Turn 6 in Review

by on November 20, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: BvR - The Wind

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

It is now Y171, which means the Lyrans finally get to start building carriers. I had forgotten that their limit is two per year, not one per turn, so I was a bit disconcerted when Belirac promptly built a CVL, and converted a second. At the same time, the Lyrans built a new PDU (stored) to replace the one I destroyed, and have started converting two MBs to BATS.

Klingon activity was more surprising. They canceled an entire F5 squadron as well as their 3 E4s, and substituted a TG-B for a D7. All of this helped them afford a D7V and FV group, as well as upgrading a MB to BATS, and using the upgrade method to get a second PDU on 1202.

I was expecting another turn of watching the Coalition pushing on my defenses, while I watch the Kzinti cripple pile mount ever higher. Well, I was in for a surprise.

This turned out to be the turn of repositioning and rest. Belirahc avoided precipitating any major battles in Kzinti space, since I had two good reserves there. In Hydran space, he drove to cut off the Old Colonies from the Capital, and I couldn’t stop it because I couldn’t keep a good line of ships all the way there with only one reserve. If I had thought to split it into a pair of small reserves, I could have done it. Lesson for next time: Always try to use all your reserve markers, even if everything fits into one; you may want the added flexibility.

It was gratifying to watch several large stacks of Coalition cripples retreating out of my space. It can be easy to forget just how much damage you’re doing when you’re trying to figure out how to make good your own damage.


Kzinti front.


Hydran front.

Combats:
0319: Hydran: dest CR
0119: Klingon: dest 2xE4
1702: Klingon: dest F5L

A lot of the new builds went to Hydran space, so I assume that’s where most of his attention will be next turn. In the mean time, I’m going to have to see what I can do about his current round of base building.

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Pony Tales Episode 1 – Evening Flight, Part 2

by on November 16, 2011 at 10:41 pm
Posted In: RPGs

The gang all got back together on Saturday night for another round of brightly colored magical ponies.

It was quickly decided that we had three things on the agenda: one more check by the marchioness’ estate, a second visit to Midnight, and to check if a pony and a gryphon had taken ship out of Gallopston together. Also, since this was definitely going to take a little longer, Silver Tuppence sent out messages to the Coastal Patrol and the Postal Service explaining that Windshear and Marathon had been called to duty for the Marquess.

Once at the Marchioness’ estate we checked around with the guards, the head of the gryphon laborers and Abendstern’s room again. The main thing is we were trying to see if we could get a better idea of just how long she had been planning this little… ‘trip’. There wasn’t a lot to be found, though we did end up finding a well-loved stuffed toy that had been her companion when she was younger.

Next up was finding out just what Midnight knew. We now knew that she knew Abendstern far better than that it had seemed. There was some debate, but the party quickly headed over to her house for a confrontation. While most of the party gathered in front of her cottage, Tongs moved around to check the back door, and Marathon kept an eye out for any activity from above.

We had caught a glimpse of movement at one of the curtains, but she didn’t respond when we knocked and called out. As it turned out, the front door was unlocked, and Windshear went in to look for her.

He didn’t find her, but he did fall asleep. Trying to confront a unicorn who’s magic talent is putting ponies to sleep does have some problems. After a little bit, Astra went in after him. She didn’t fall asleep, but did start feeling quite tired, and started kicking over some furniture to try and find Abendstern.

Tongs heard the commotion and, finding the back door was locked, kicked it off its hinges and charged in. Around this time Astra’s magical talent finally homed in on Midnight, and found that she was hiding in an armoire. With some effort, Astra moved the armoire out to the front lawn, where Silver Tuppence continued to try to be the voice of reason, and offered Midnight (who was scared out of her wits by this time) some tea.

The terrified filly eventually talked to us. It seems that while she did know Abenstern better than she had first let on, she really was innocent of Abenstern’s intentions. Abendstern has been willful and rebellious, but Midnight did not realize that she truly meant to run away from home.

By the time we were done, we’d attracted the attention of the rest of the town, and had to quickly explain to a policepony that were working for the Marquess.

Having done our adventure party duty, we moved on to Gallopston. There we split up to pursue what sources of contacts we had, and, for the less adventurous ones, make sure we were equipped for what could be a long trip.

Astra Rose went down to the Harbormaster’s office and studied the boards that give the status of every ship in port. She eventually worked down to about three that might be willing to take a passenger or unskilled help, and make a short unscheduled run. Meanwhile, Tongs had gone to some of his less… savory friends to see if they knew of anything odd going on Nightmare Night.

One name came up in multiple lines of inquiry, Cloud Dancer. It was a small coastal lug, that sailed whenever it had a contract. And it had left late during Nightmare Night, and come back a few hours later. Wherever it had gone it wasn’t too far away. We managed to get an interview with the captain, who was not at all happy about getting involved with business of the Marquess. But it was a little late for that. We eventually convinced him to tell us what he’d been doing, which as it turned out was giving a ride to a paying passenger, and a few crates of cargo, who had herself dropped off a little ways down the coast at a small inlet.

After some consulting with each other, we decided to have the Cloud Dancer take us down to where Abendstern had been dropped off. This didn’t please the captain either, but we could pay…. And it was far easier than trying to find the exact same inlet on our own.

Once down there, we scouted around a little to try and make sure it seemed to be the right place, and let the Cloud Dancer go on its way.

We found a cloak that had tangled in the brush, which matched what we knew of the one Abenstern had swapped with Midnight. Some examination showed hoofprints leading away from the beach and up the shore of the stream of the inlet. Most of the party followed the trail up the stream while Marathon and Windshear kept an eye out above the tops of the trees lining the stream. While there, we spotted a gryphon flying further inland, past where the trees gave out, who then dropped suddenly down to where a small shack could be seen. We were worried that he might have seen us, but apparently he was just where he wanted to be.

A little while after, the group made it past the trees, and came up to the camp. And indeed there were Abenstern and Little Claw. And a small shack assembled from the planks of crates.

It’s the beginning of November, that rickety little thing was not going to survive the winter.

Abenstern and Little Claw were dismayed at being found so soon, but stubbornly determined to stick out their plan of making a go of it themselves.

Silver Tuppence took the lead for this part, as we tried to talk the two youngsters out of their rash and angst/romantic determination. Between the good points of how worried their parents were, how worried their friends were (and yes, we did have to remind them that they had friends that cared about them), and the upcoming winter, we slowly talked them down.

This had been a shorter trek than we had really expected. So, the next thing was getting back to civilization. Windshear managed to get get back to the Cloud Dancer before it got too far. The captain was really unhappy to see us again.

But we got them back safe and sound. They’re in trouble, but they’ll be fine. There is an actual romantic involvement between the two (which causes a chorus of ‘ew’ from most ponies), but there’s no knowing where it will go.

When things were looking more and more like we’d be heading south into the valley, I had visions of a long wilderness trek to find the pair. Nope, just an hour’s trek or so. Much more convenient.

So that was our first adventure. In about a month we’ll probably have a second one.

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R vs B Alliance Turn 5 in Review

by on November 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: BvR - The Wind

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

After the failures in my efforts to keep the Coalition from just disrupting everything in sight, it should be no surprise that income was down again. Kzinti income dropped another four EP from 63 to 59, while Hydran income dropped nine points to 40.

The Kzinti scrapped a Lyran DW that was captured in the Coalition portion of the turn to raise another 1.5 EP. Production was limited, consisting of a CV group, an extra MEC (to replace one lost last turn), BC, FF. Repairs were even more limited, adding up to less than last turn’s. However, that repaired all the crippled escorts and a good number of regular ships, so the backlog is slightly better. I also repaired and converted a captured D5 to Kzinti technology. It would probably been better to wait until money was flowing in from the Federation, or the repair backlog is clear, as the conversion is not necessarily cheap (3 EP). But having it sit there for two turns has been bugging me, so that irritant is gone. If we were using the EW rules in Combined Operations, I would have sacrificed quite a bit to get it in service and converted to a D5S. A good heavy EW platform for the Alliance is worth quite a bit in the early going under those rules.

Meanwhile the Hydrans had even tougher decisions to make. Turn 5 is when the first Cavalier carrier is scheduled. Hydran carrier groups tend to be somewhat weak in ComPot, but they protect valuable fighter-carrying ships from harm. I wanted to build the CV, but with 10.5 fighter factors, it has a cost of 31 EP, slightly over 3/4 of the Hydran income. Free fighter factors reduce this to 19 EP, but that was still too much to be able to afford the escorts, much less more prosaic things like repairs. So I canceled the entire group, repaired a few things (pretty much everything with fighter factors), and built DG, 2xHR, and two PDUs on the homeworld.

Operationally, the main plan had been to visit the Lyran MB in 0902 and kill it before the conversion to a BATS completed. However, the arrival of three sets of tugs with PDU/MB pairs at 1001, 1202 and 1504, and four Klingon reserves in Kzinti space caused an entire re-think of the prospect.


Kzinti front


Hydran front

Combats:
1601: Klingon: dest F5
1507: Klingon: dest cripF5, cripE4, BATS; Kzinti: crip CL, FF
1506: Klingon: dest F5; Kzinti: capture planet
1303: Klingon: crip D5
1504: Klingon: dest 2xTGB, crip D7, 2xD6, 5xD5; Kzinti: dest DF, crip CV, CC, BC, MEC, 2xCLE, 2xEFF, FF
1202: Klingon: crip D6V, F5, 2xE4A; Kzinti: crip CC, DD, 2xFF
1302: (Fighting Retreat) Klingon: crip D7
0819: Klingon: dest E4
0419: Klingon: crip E4; both sides retreat to 0418
0418: Klingon: dest cripE4
0519: Klingon: dest 2xcripF5L, cripF5, F5
0416: Lyran: crip 2xBC, CC, 2xCA, CL, 2xDW dest TGC, 3xCW, 3xDW; Hydran: crip HR, dest HR, 2xLN, CR
0417: Lyran: crip DW; Hydran: dest crip HN

Things did not really go as planned. Mostly because the dice decided to be disagreeable and the Kzinti failed the initial approach battle at both of their major battles. The Hydrans rolled lower than the Lyrans in all four rounds at 0416 (and the pursuit), which forced them to expend the stored fighters of the FCP just to get that far. In all cases casualties were higher than hoped simply because of the trouble in getting to the target. To add insult to injury, I couldn’t even roll the 3 or higher I needed to kill a lone D7 in a Fighting Retreat.

However, two Klingon and one Lyran tug are dead. He’s only built four since the beginning of the game (after missing them the first turn, he’s been building at the max rate of 1/year), so it will be much harder to pull this ‘four simultaneous sets of bases at once’ trick.

I had tried to distract the Klingon reserves by striking at Klingon space itself again, but he ignored it, letting me take out a BATS and (temporarily) capture the neutral zone planet. If I can keep doing that, he’ll run out of BATS and become especially vulnerable to having the supply grid in Kzinti space disrupted….

And now, I sit tight and wait for the coming storm. I’m pretty certain that there won’t be a turn 7 invasion of the Federation this game, so I’m presumably going to facing everything he can throw at me on the upcoming turn 6, and turn 7 after that will be worse. The Federation will interfere on Turn 7, but the 4th Fleet reserve won’t be able get to the Kzinti capital….

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