So, I finally made it home!
Let me start by giving out a big thanks to UK_Force and StuartCADT, the sheer effort and time that went into organising this can not be underestimated, so huge thanks to the guys for doing that, and for inviting me, a lowly tester to the fun! Also, a big up to Mrs UK_Force, anyone willing to feed me automatically gets my respect, particulary if they are then willing to drive me to the train station, so many thanks!! :) Also big up to the guys for turning up, people from all over the UK and Europe, a huge undertaking logistically, and financially, one that shows just the sheer effort these guys will to to for the game we all love. And the beer. But this time for the game. I have been in a and around a few DEV teams in the past, but these guys truly brought it to a new level.
The journey to Lulworth was long and boring, coupled with late trains, unexpected stopovers, and tempermental old ladies who did not approve of the occasional bit of flesh in what ever movie/TV I happened to be watching (In this case the entire 1st season of Eastbound and Down, I highly recommend it next time you are beside a pensioner on a 10+ hour train journey.) However, the anticipation kept me awake on the 10 hour train ride. Once there, we jumped straight into the hard work.....in the pub! Gaz kept the Northern Irish end up, showing those English guys how to drink, and a lot of fun was had.
Next day we had some excellent times on the PC's. Once I got the server up and running, PR: ArmA was a hit, and all weekend I had Devs asking me about this or that, is this possible, can that be done......very promising. They too have commented that they can see the PR in the game, which is what us testers have been saying for a while now. They seemed to enjoy the sheer scale and possibilities the engine brings to the table. Also, Rhino seems to have nailed the suicide bomber insurgent role, destroying a Chinook that just landed, much to everyone's cheering! Except UK_Force that is! ;)
Next up came PR: BF2, (Worrying that in a room full of DEVs, the PR server would not work!) )and the new release (Due out 15/10/10, go get the pre-load). With a little extra sauce by way of the truly amazing Sangin map. I have been playing PR for a long time, but this map is quite possibly the best, most detailed and realistic I have yet seen. The fields of death, the huge ambush potential.....wow. This coupled with the hotly anticipated 0.95 version that we were playing, with the thermals and 3D scopes made sure that this was a blast. Next up came a Vehicle warfare on Burning Sands, another great map I have been lucky enough to play in the exclusive Tactical Gamer scrim a month or so back. Finally, we enjoyed some more Tank battles on Quinling, one of my favourite maps, and with the thermals, it delivers a truly excellent vehicle warfare match up.
Next up came F1..............Man it is hard. A lot of practice laps and qualifying went to waste for UKF when he jumped the gun.....Myself and Gaz had a few intense 1 vs 1 battles, with both of us throwing it away on the final lap in 2 seperate races. So 1 all in that little battle, bragging rights even, until next time that is. ;) Also, UKF is an undiscovered Lewis Hamilton, pulling crazy times out of the bag. I suspect Haxxors! The F1 was high intensity, so I was confident when Monaco came on. Being a Playstation owner since the start, and a Gran Turismo lover, I was laughing. However, I failed to qualify until the very last qualifying lap, limping across the line in last place with half a car. Highlight of that one was attempting to leave the pits, and crashing into the wall on the way, wrecking the car. Guess the beer was having an affect after all. Don't drink and drive an F1 car kids!
Also, lets not forget VBS2. Set on Sahrani of ArmA 1 fame, it was like a home coming for me. I had my 1337 .50 cal Sniper rifle, and off I trotted, assuming I was the bees knees, knowing the city like the back of my hand. Then bang, IED. The live time editor is truly great, allowing a lot of scope, and give me and the guys a great insight into what the engine is able to do. The ability to watch someone in 1st person, down their scope, and record is a priceless tool, one I wish the ArmA engine would give to me! A great game of tactical movement, punctuated by some crazy moments of all out firing.
Lots of fun was had that night until silly o'clock in the morning. Next day, the tanks! A highlight for me and I bet everyone. The sheer scale, and size. Sadly videos will never get across the size, however I will attempt to get some pictures up later on. Stay tuned for that. Stuarts knowledge really came out here, his expertise in all aspects of vehicle and armoured warfare was an amazing insight into the capabilities of the British Army arsenal, and will certainly help me sleep easier at night!
So after that, we had a go on the Challenger 2 Simulators, a great experience, something I am going to boast that I passed the test. But god knows it was more luck than judgement! After that I had to run and get the train around 1.45, and I arrived safely, albeit slightly dishevelled, back in Glasgow at the princly time of 12.45am. And lets just say today's work is suffering for it.
A cracking weekend, one I thoroughly enjoyed. I met the people making the game I love, and I can now happily put the faces to the names. All were an excellent bunch of lads, and I can safely say that PR is in for some truly epic times ahead, both in the near future, with 0.95, and further afield, regardless of which version you play......;)
Regards,
Jeepo
Monday 11 October 2010
Lulworthy weekend of awesomeness.
Top notch weekend, we've all been very privileged.
Unfortunately a few PR team members couldn't make it this weekend. Matrox, Nickbond, Duke, MAINERROR, Mongolian_dude, CareBear and possibly more had other priorities or places they needed to be. That combined with Gaz giving me a shout and UK_Force sending me an invite made me a lucky chap indeed as not many civilians get a chance to operate the kind of military hardware and software that we just have.
UK_Force and StuartCADT have been excellent hosts and great sources of knowledge and experience. They've both been on hand the entire weekend to sort our rooms, give us a quick tour, explain various armoured weapon system controls on simulators and military software but most of all they let us get our hands on a real life Challenger 2 that they allowed us into so we could have a go with the weapons system. We are all now fully trained CR2 crewmen. :p
They were both more that willing to give us a mobile demonstration of a Scimitar and a Warrior as well as the CR2 which we all enjoyed very much. Being able to clamber about on these beasts and have a go with the turret systems has been great fun, I don't think any of us dreamed about being given that kind of opportunity. StuartCADT's son was even on hand to give tactical help whilst we were using the training simulator equipment, cheers lil' Hamish and thanks again for everything chaps. :)
None of this would have been possible if it wasn't for all the organisation that UK_Force has done. Besides assembling a great team of developers and military advisers, he's given us all a great weekend to remember. Everything went smoothly and we all got more than we bargained for. Mr & Mrs UK_Force prepared a great feast and got a bunch of beer in for us to consume whilst we used some of the best military gaming/simulation software around, including PR:Arma2 & VBS2.
Thanks to everyone who showed up and gave me pointers whilst we were playing PR:Arma2 as it was my first game on any kind of Arma platform. Well done to Rhino for making the PR server operational and not to forget, thanks to Gaz for my wake up call... :-/
I'm not much of a blogger and I could go on forever about how awesome this weekend was but the main thing is letting you guys know how thankful I am to everyone who attended to make this weekend an experience to remember especially UK_Force, Mrs UK_Force, StuartCADT and last but especially least, Gaz.
Cheers,
Smeggles
(Martin)
Sunday 10 October 2010
So.. What did we do?
First we did this...
 |
| Friday night drinking session (Gaz is to the right of shot linked to the Vodka supply via IV) |
then I was drunk in my room so did this...
then lots of this...
and this...
 |
| Lightpainting when drunk is surprisingly easy..! |
 |
| Jeepo at the controls in rFactor. (we also played PR 0.95, PRArmAII and VBS2 - all of which were massive fun) |
 |
| Everyone pesters Dr_Rank to get off his behind and release Sangin |
then we saw this...
 |
| Stu brings out the bigguns |
 |
| Gaz, Smeg, Dune, Masaq, Nightwolf, Rhino, Rank, Drav and Motherdear have to sit down after being presented with such a toy.. |
and did this afterwards...
and he did that...
 |
| showing off how the FV510 can stop on a dime |
and they did this...
 |
| Dr_Rank, Nightwolf, Jeepo, Dunehunter and Rhino chillaxing in the back of the warrior discussing the ins and outs of what it must be like |
then Gaz did this...
 |
| Gaz graffitting the FV510 |
and Masaq claimed it...
 |
| Masaq trying to regain some manpoints after turning up in the Panda |
then they did this...
then we did other awesome stuff and went back home.
it was EPIC.
A massive thanks to [R-DEV]UK_Force, [R-DEV]StuartCADT for organising this weekend, it was fantastic and thanks to all the [R-DEV]s in attendance for making it a great laugh. Not forgetting all those behind the scenes such as our hosts, the RAC - and a big thanks to Mrs UK_Force for providing food and beer. Good times :)
Lots of love, [R-CON]Burton,
Representin' ma boyz on the PR:ArmAII team at the DevMeet. One love.
Gaz Out
Now that I'm home, I'd like to make a point of saying a HUGE thank you both from myself and from the whole team who attended to a few people;
- The PR Team. Guys, it was an honour to meet you all, especially those who travelled from further afield around Europe. Was great to shake your hands and have a drink with the guys I spend every day on the Dev forums talking to.
- Masaq, thanks for picking me up and dropping me off at the airport. Was a great help and saved a few headaches. Even if we spent the return journey killing small fluffy things that ran across the road and seeing a car try to drive down a motorway on it's roof....yet another one of life's eternal questions answered by the PR management team; what will win in a head on collision between a squirrel and a Fiat Panda. I still think the squirrel could have had us :(
- To Mrs UK_Force.....it was lovely to meet the lady who laid on a fantastic buffet and gave up her own time to feed Craig's bunch of "geeks" :D Without her efforts, we would have been faced with 12 starving nerds. They could well have nerded out and have done bad, unspeakable things if they weren't otherwise pacified by your lovely culinary skills :) Thanks from the whole team!
- UK_Force Jnr and StuartCADT Jnr, great to see the next generation clamber all over the Armour! A number of the PR team commented to me that they are indeed ''jealous'' that your dads have tanks and you guys get to play on them :D While UK_Force Jnr will no doubt continue to show UK_Force how to play computer games (your wife's words mate ;)), young StuartCADT Jnr will continue on demanding that the PR team engage friendly tanks :D
- StuartCADT and UK_Force. Without your efforts guys, the pr dev lan 2010 would only ever have been a pipe dream, and neigh on an impossible task. StuartCADT, thanks for letting us great unwashed brutally hammer your PCs for 24 hours straight and the simulator and VBS2 time was invaluable. Some of the real world sims and the likes of VBS2 are systems that the guys would otherwise only see on the MOD website or on youtube. All this stuff prompted rethinks, suggestions and remarks about current options, characteristics and settings within PR, for both ArmA2 and BF2. Invaluable hands-on experience! UK_Force, your drive started and carried through yet another unforgettable weekend. The likes of which truly sets the PR Team apart from other teams. We meet up, have a damn good time, let the beers flow, and clamber all over the military kit that we would otherwise simply sit on the internet and spend hundreds of hours trying to get ingame with what we 'think' it looks or works. It would simply not have been possible if not for you guys, and I say a huge THANK YOU! PS) UK_Force, we still have that wager on the DCCT to sort out from 2 years ago when the challenge was first issued ;)
- The Royal Armoured Corps. The access and hospitality of the Army and the RAC in particular at RAC Gunnery School Lulworth was again awesome. I'm just glad that we achieved a few things; it's great to be reminded first-hand of the access to the kit we put in-game, no matter what the engine. The strength of the team as well on a personal level, meeting face to face and having a great laugh and exchanging ideas is simply a joy to see. I'm also glad that I was able to single handedly drink the NAAFI dry of vodka before going and getting my own. I would recommend Drav as a 4am firefighter/drinking/smoking buddy any time ;) He's also pretty decent at that modeling crap too if I'm honest ;)
Until next time.....
/Gaz Out.
- The PR Team. Guys, it was an honour to meet you all, especially those who travelled from further afield around Europe. Was great to shake your hands and have a drink with the guys I spend every day on the Dev forums talking to.
- Masaq, thanks for picking me up and dropping me off at the airport. Was a great help and saved a few headaches. Even if we spent the return journey killing small fluffy things that ran across the road and seeing a car try to drive down a motorway on it's roof....yet another one of life's eternal questions answered by the PR management team; what will win in a head on collision between a squirrel and a Fiat Panda. I still think the squirrel could have had us :(
- To Mrs UK_Force.....it was lovely to meet the lady who laid on a fantastic buffet and gave up her own time to feed Craig's bunch of "geeks" :D Without her efforts, we would have been faced with 12 starving nerds. They could well have nerded out and have done bad, unspeakable things if they weren't otherwise pacified by your lovely culinary skills :) Thanks from the whole team!
- UK_Force Jnr and StuartCADT Jnr, great to see the next generation clamber all over the Armour! A number of the PR team commented to me that they are indeed ''jealous'' that your dads have tanks and you guys get to play on them :D While UK_Force Jnr will no doubt continue to show UK_Force how to play computer games (your wife's words mate ;)), young StuartCADT Jnr will continue on demanding that the PR team engage friendly tanks :D
- StuartCADT and UK_Force. Without your efforts guys, the pr dev lan 2010 would only ever have been a pipe dream, and neigh on an impossible task. StuartCADT, thanks for letting us great unwashed brutally hammer your PCs for 24 hours straight and the simulator and VBS2 time was invaluable. Some of the real world sims and the likes of VBS2 are systems that the guys would otherwise only see on the MOD website or on youtube. All this stuff prompted rethinks, suggestions and remarks about current options, characteristics and settings within PR, for both ArmA2 and BF2. Invaluable hands-on experience! UK_Force, your drive started and carried through yet another unforgettable weekend. The likes of which truly sets the PR Team apart from other teams. We meet up, have a damn good time, let the beers flow, and clamber all over the military kit that we would otherwise simply sit on the internet and spend hundreds of hours trying to get ingame with what we 'think' it looks or works. It would simply not have been possible if not for you guys, and I say a huge THANK YOU! PS) UK_Force, we still have that wager on the DCCT to sort out from 2 years ago when the challenge was first issued ;)
- The Royal Armoured Corps. The access and hospitality of the Army and the RAC in particular at RAC Gunnery School Lulworth was again awesome. I'm just glad that we achieved a few things; it's great to be reminded first-hand of the access to the kit we put in-game, no matter what the engine. The strength of the team as well on a personal level, meeting face to face and having a great laugh and exchanging ideas is simply a joy to see. I'm also glad that I was able to single handedly drink the NAAFI dry of vodka before going and getting my own. I would recommend Drav as a 4am firefighter/drinking/smoking buddy any time ;) He's also pretty decent at that modeling crap too if I'm honest ;)
Until next time.....
/Gaz Out.
Saturday and Sunday
Hi guys, just wanted to blog what we got up to over Saturday afternoon, and today.
Saturday consisted of hitting the gaming hard! We covered the whole lot, playing the latest builds of PR:ArmA2, which is seriously looking visually stunning, as well as really taking shape in terms of promoting multiplayer gameplay. The changes really vary from subtle to downright digital AMRA2 porn.
We had a good blast of PR:BF2 (0.956RC), from Chally2 battles in the the new Vehicle Combat mode, to having a fantastic few hours on the latest build of Dr Rank's Sangin map. That map is seriously shaping up, and even in it's current WIP state was awesome to play. Poor Ranky had the whole room demanding to know when it was going to be finished ;) We were firmly of the opinion that the upcoming 0.95 release is going to seriously impress the community.
StuartCADT was on station and did a fantastic job showcasing VBS2, it's near limitless sandbox abilities for real-world training and showing off exactly what it can do when all the guys jumped into a scenario. We all got raped :( The realtime rditor really showed it's worth, when Drav demanded armoured support upon contact. Only to have Stu drop a CR2 and other assorted armour and FSG wagons around him near instantly......uncrewed. What followed was the mother of all multiple IED attacks as we al turned into instant asset whores, with masses of BOOMs and waves of insurgents.
I will admit at this stage I had to stop playing VBS2 and ArmA2 due to the sway. It wasn't doing my hangover any good at all, as both Drav and I'd expended rather too much 'enthusism' in dispatching a 2 man firefighting team to Rhino's room at 0400. I was told that Smeg vaguely remembers waking up with me standing over him, while I held the fire hose, commenting that "we must take Smeg's beard from him"....I don't :(
A nice touch was playing rFactor (racing game), which really broke up the FPS action, and a few hours were spent qualifying with decent times, only to have A CERTAIN PERSON (who shall be known as ''Rhinowuts'') steal my car and grief while I was out for a smoke waiting for the race to start....
Sunday was a welcome change, where UK_Force and StuartCADT brought out the big boys' toys. We were shown around the various armour on-sight in Lulworth. Some impressive kit. The guys were particularly blown away with the shear size and noise of the CR2s, and how small the scimitar is compared to it! Meanwhile, some of us got on with the far more important issue of graffitiing the back of a dirty Warrior ;) Someone had to do it :D I'm sure Masaq will expand on that one...
The final 'phase' of the weekend was the guys getting hands on with the various targeting simulators for the CR2. These simulators are full size, realistic representations of the inside of the CR2s that we'd been sitting in earlier. The various engagement systems available to the gunners and commanders are simply scary to this Infantry soldier, when you see what it can do and how goddamn quick the turret turns!
I'll leave it there, as Dunehunter would say.......TL DR!
- Gaz
Saturday consisted of hitting the gaming hard! We covered the whole lot, playing the latest builds of PR:ArmA2, which is seriously looking visually stunning, as well as really taking shape in terms of promoting multiplayer gameplay. The changes really vary from subtle to downright digital AMRA2 porn.
We had a good blast of PR:BF2 (0.956RC), from Chally2 battles in the the new Vehicle Combat mode, to having a fantastic few hours on the latest build of Dr Rank's Sangin map. That map is seriously shaping up, and even in it's current WIP state was awesome to play. Poor Ranky had the whole room demanding to know when it was going to be finished ;) We were firmly of the opinion that the upcoming 0.95 release is going to seriously impress the community.
StuartCADT was on station and did a fantastic job showcasing VBS2, it's near limitless sandbox abilities for real-world training and showing off exactly what it can do when all the guys jumped into a scenario. We all got raped :( The realtime rditor really showed it's worth, when Drav demanded armoured support upon contact. Only to have Stu drop a CR2 and other assorted armour and FSG wagons around him near instantly......uncrewed. What followed was the mother of all multiple IED attacks as we al turned into instant asset whores, with masses of BOOMs and waves of insurgents.
I will admit at this stage I had to stop playing VBS2 and ArmA2 due to the sway. It wasn't doing my hangover any good at all, as both Drav and I'd expended rather too much 'enthusism' in dispatching a 2 man firefighting team to Rhino's room at 0400. I was told that Smeg vaguely remembers waking up with me standing over him, while I held the fire hose, commenting that "we must take Smeg's beard from him"....I don't :(
A nice touch was playing rFactor (racing game), which really broke up the FPS action, and a few hours were spent qualifying with decent times, only to have A CERTAIN PERSON (who shall be known as ''Rhinowuts'') steal my car and grief while I was out for a smoke waiting for the race to start....
Sunday was a welcome change, where UK_Force and StuartCADT brought out the big boys' toys. We were shown around the various armour on-sight in Lulworth. Some impressive kit. The guys were particularly blown away with the shear size and noise of the CR2s, and how small the scimitar is compared to it! Meanwhile, some of us got on with the far more important issue of graffitiing the back of a dirty Warrior ;) Someone had to do it :D I'm sure Masaq will expand on that one...
The final 'phase' of the weekend was the guys getting hands on with the various targeting simulators for the CR2. These simulators are full size, realistic representations of the inside of the CR2s that we'd been sitting in earlier. The various engagement systems available to the gunners and commanders are simply scary to this Infantry soldier, when you see what it can do and how goddamn quick the turret turns!
I'll leave it there, as Dunehunter would say.......TL DR!
- Gaz
Saturday 9 October 2010
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