Old News
(an oxymoron?)
- 02-23-97
- Welp, we had our first "clan war", and it was a pretty good one, against the (previously 7-0) Clan Independence of America. Pings on our server were about 60 (us) vs. 100 (them), and on theirs about 30 (them) vs. 150 (us), which at first glance seems a little skewed. Unfortunately a router in between Stanford and the outside world has been considerately dropping packets for us (as some regular Mothership patrons have observed); we experienced severe periodic 1-second disconnects on their server, and they say they saw the same on ours. :-( So the only fair thing to do, given how dropped packets are a much larger problem than a modest ping difference, was split the match between servers. Needless to say there was some frustration involved. Nevertheless the match was close and exciting, although, if you haven't figured it out by now, we lost, 110 to 101.
The first half was on our home server, with xris as the Quad Rover cleaning house. As the end of the half neared, our opponents became markedly more difficult to find, as one would expect, but we felt that we had attained the lead necessary to carry us through the half on their server.
No such luck. Visited by the dread phone icon, C9 put on a marvelous demonstration of running into walls at crucial moments. If we had known how close we still were, we probably would have laid back more at the end, but our free-for-all deathmatching instincts were hard to suppress. xris in particular had bad luck attempting to capitalize on Quad possessions, and with our frag leader contained we fell short in the end. Hats off to CIA for a smart game and good sportsmanship after both halves. And the C9 High Council awards the Golden Flying Saucer Medal of Valor to eeevil and xris for resurrecting our crashed set of QuakeStations literally mere minutes before the match began.
Here's hoping that BBNPlanet or whoever it is gets their act together and patches up that router. Ah, the joys of Internet gaming.
- 02-17-97
- The proper ritual for installing new server hardware is of course a manbeating from xris, once again administered to ahnuld in The Abandoned Base, 14 to 1. Looking for easier prey, ahnuld challenged lemurboy to a passage at arms. But even though ahnuld was (accidentally) spotted a rocket launcher and backpack full of ammo, the wily Lemur prevailed 8 to 6, luring the impetuous Bavarian into the water to maximize the confusion potential of his recent config file changes. (Will he ever stop tinkering?)
In other news, our match against CIA has been confirmed.
- 02-17-97
- Good news... the new Big Iron is in place as the Mothership, and we were able to keep the same IP address as well as the same name. The level rotation will change later today, and another server or two may pop up on some of the other ports. As always, when server things happen there will be a short blurb here and details on the server page.
- 02-16-97
- A Mothership move is imminent. Keep an eye on the server page for details.
- 02-14-97
- After years in development -- well, no, not really -- the offical Clan 9 From Outer Space skin is ready for the world. It will be released for QuakeWorld distribution fairly soon, although there's no real rush since the goofy gameplay we get from QW tends to keep us off of the QW servers. In the meantime it is already installed as a custom skin on the Mothership. Only Clan 9 members can wear the skin, but if you'd like to be able to see us wearing it, head on over to the skin info page to find out how. We'll also get around to making some nifty images and perhaps demos using the skin, but until then, the aforementioned info page also includes some screenshots of the skin in action.
- 02-12-97
- Finally, the planets aligned and Clan 9 From Outer Space was able to have a team match against another clan, a scrimmage against our allies from Postal. The terms: 30 minutes in The Elder God Shrine. The lineup: Reptile, Club, BlackDiamond, and Ankh for Postal, against xris, lemurboy, ahnuld, and eeevil.
It was worse than it looks. Club had 22 frags early and got disconnected, so the true final score was 182 to 66. Apparently Postal was using a strategy, or something. Hmmmm. We have learned that it is difficult to win a match when no one on your team ever possesses a Rocket Launcher. Food for thought.
After watching this manbeating, other members of Postal wanted to get in on the action, so three of us graciously agreed to another soiree in The Abandoned Base.
Mwuhahahahahaaaa. A partial salve for our bruised extraterrestrial egos, as we locked down the RL and Quad for an 83 to 23 win. Afterwards, xris handed out celebratory one-on-one whuppins to lemurboy and ahnuld, the final scores of which have been mysteriously misplaced.
Anyway, we definitely have a lot to learn about team play, and we'll be calling on Postal again for further lessons. Also in the news: a projected Real Clan Match on the 23rd against CIA.
- 02-06-97
- Frequent Mothership patrons CHAD boarded for a match against Spawnz in The Abandoned Base; unfortunately, only a couple of Spawnz players showed, so the bout was downsized to two-on-two. The ensuing match was a lopsided CHAD rampage that ended early when all involved decided to be merciful. Better luck (and more players) next time, Spawnz.
- 01-28-97
- No organized teamplay matches, but we did spend a lot of time goofing around with a patch called "severed" from The Lone Gunmen (no points for guessing what this implements) and the AirFist patch, which implements a new weapon, with new models and sounds. Both were Lots O Laffs. The AirFist, unlike almost all other new weapon patches, even has the potential of being a serious deathmatching tool, a quality its creators apparently gave a lot of thought to. We'd give it a thumbs-up, but we lost our thumbs playing the "severed" patch...
- 01-21-97
- *@$#%!!! After much wrangling, schedule conflicts have forced the postponement of two matches against other LPB clans until at least mid-February. Gah. Looks like we shall have to Turn Against Each Other again some time soon. Clear your dance cards.
- 01-20-97
- Some of us got to witness an impromptu one-on-one match between our own xris and Bry of the Legends clan, in The Dark Zone (DM6), on a neutral server. Initially xris was puzzled by the strange gameplay outside the friendly confines of the Mothership ("I can't change weapons! My shots aren't going where I aim! ... 'Lag'? What is 'lag'?") and Bry charged ahead to a 5-0 lead. But the inimitable and ever-adaptable Yellow Bastard soon became acclimated and zoomed out to a 7-6 lead in the closing seconds. A final virtuoso rally from Bry resulted in a 7-7 tie. Although xris was flummoxed by the unaccustomed lag, he did still have a 100ms ping advantage over Bry (about 250-150), so it's safe to say that Bry is one helluva player. The neutral server was set up very spiffily for duels and clan matches; we'll need to revisit it. (Maybe there'll be a rematch some day....)
- 01-10-97
- Finally got eeevil's page up.
- 01-01-97
- Happy New Year! Man, these holidays are coming at quite a pace. To ring in the new year (I guess), the server page now uses the technology of the Quake Server Monitor to help keep an eye on the Mothership.
- 12-25-96
- Merry Christmas!
- 12-22-96
- Hmm. Blue's News has a report that says that the shareware version of Quake was released on this date... pretty cool since this is also my (lemurboy's) birthday as well. Also, true story: when I got my parking sticker for this term, it was number "C-9" ... and when I flew home for Christmas a couple of days ago, my plane left from gate "C9" ... coincidence?!? (Well, yes.)
- 12-13-96
- Heyo, what's this? The Plan 9 website has disappeared. Obviously our campaign of systematic demoralization (er, we did have one, right?) has borne fruit. There is a fledgling website for some other clan in its place.
- 12-13-96
- Speaking of going public... I'm making this page available to the unwashed masses by linking it into our main pages. Seems reasonable, since Clan 9 From Outer Space happenings are potentially of some interest to our "ally clan", a few fans, friends from within and without the Quake Community ®, some confused family members, and random passers-by. So I may be more of a completist about what makes it onto the page. However, general Quake news is taken care of on the Web by Blue and etc., so anything in that category will still just show up on the private clan mailing list. This page, to reiterate the Very First News Item for latecomers, will mainly be for info about games played by our clan or on our server. Any questions/comments about this page or the Web site in general should be directed to me, lemurboy, either by email or by saying hello when you run into me Quaking. However, I'm not very talkative when I'm busy killing...
- 12-12-96
- The Stanford Graphics Quake Project went public today (sounds like an IPO, eh?), so go give their Web page hits. And send them lots of crank email.
- 12-11-96
- Nothing like 45 minutes of teamplay in The Elder God Shrine (E4M3), especially when the teams are both heavily armed extraterrestrial warriors! After a few challenges from other clans that mysteriously evaporated without a shot being fired, the High Council realized that, to get any teamplay practice, it would have to take matters into its own hands. Hence the intraclan rumble in the Shrine, a 3 vs. 3 match: xris leading the Planet X Red Invaders, with eeevil and TheSheriff, against the Blue Cattle Mutilators of lemurboy, ahnuld, and havoc.
When the gibs had settled, the Blue Cattle Mutilators had taken the match by a 24-frag margin. Despite the lesser fire support, xris managed to edge out lemurboy for top scoring honors by 1 frag, capping a long climb up the scoreboard by taking the lead literally at the last minute [editorial: aaaaaaaaaarrrrrggggghh!]. Ever magnanimous in victory, the Blue team points out that the Planet X Red Invaders suffered from playing in an Earthling computer lab where they were required to be "vewwy vewwy quiet", while the Blue team had sole possession of the Mothership command center for their headquarters. A rematch is of course in the making.
- 11-28-96
- Happy Thanksgiving!
- 11-21-96
- With a true show of Clan 9 hospitality, havoc threw a party for eeevil on The Abandoned Base, for 30 minutes of festive fragging. About halfway through the match, havoc came to know the power of the dark side, as the forces of eeevil powered the Clan 9 newcomer to an eventual 29-19 victory despite a late havocian resurgence. An entertaining match all the way through. Coming soon: more intraclan team matches!
- 11-19-96
- eeevil has been assimilated by the Clan. Welcome! We've even convinced him to turn aside from his keyboarding ways. (It's easier to spin your head around like Linda Blair if you're using a mouse!) Info about the Eeevil One will appear in our personnel section when the rest of the Clan can talk lemurboy down out of the trees to work on graphics `n stuff.
- 11-18-96
- Removed links and references to the defunct-for-now statistics pages. Also added a URL-minder form to the server page, and links to search for active C9 players on the sightings page. May eventually add other similar links here and there, like a Quake Server Monitor "Quul button" for the Mothership.
- 11-15-96
- A short 2-on-2 team match in the basement as a sop to those of us still moping about the xris bailout. What's the big deal about an oral defense of your Ph.D. thesis? Skip it, I say. ANYway... lemurboy and havoc took on TheSheriff and eeevil in The Abandoned Base. The twin powers of Good and Eeevil amassed a 7-1 lead early, but their opponents got into that Team Thang and rocked them for the remainder of the match. Exact final score unknown due to a hasty departure by TheSheriff. Much fun was had by all, although perhaps more by lemurboy and havoc, the way things turned out. Must do an intraclan team match again soon.
- 11-12-96
- Well, the xris-against-the-world exhibition match is off. Looks like there won't be a Thursday Night Fight this week.
- 11-07-96
- After 30 minutes in The Abandoned Base, ahnuld emerged victorious over lemurboy in a match of much strategic maneuvering marked by sudden peaks of explosions and flailing (both centered on lemurboy). Jumping out to an early 2-0 lead, lemurboy became frightened and confused, allowing the Bavarian Barbarian to get into the Quad Groove and go on a 10 to -2 run. The poor prosimian managed to recover his poise somewhat, but alas, too late. Final score: 13 to 3. ahnuld begs off of an early rematch, claiming more config file changes. While lemurboy sulks, pounding random internet Quake players in futile attempts at vicarious revenge, the rest of the clan clamors for a 1-on-3 exhibition match of xris against a team of havoc, TheSheriff, and getalife. Stay tuned!
- 11-06-96
- The Clan beamed up Postal and Shrike, the Earthling clans with the top Clan Wars records, into the Mothership to battle to the death in The Abandoned Base. The mighty Shrike clan hung with the demented civil servants of Postal in the beginning of the level, but Postal shortly began to deliver some high-priority fragging, due to a combination of Postal teamwork, Shrike teammate-fragging, and (it must be said) a slight ping disadvantage for CSH-Prophecy. Time expired with Postal doubling up on Shrike's score. Shrike took it on the chin with admirable sportsmanlike poise, but our otherworldly telepathic intuition tells us that a Shrike-to-Postal rematch challenge cannot be far away...
- 11-06-96
- Doh! A Johnny-come-lately Clan has dared to intrude on our namespace! Cast a sorrowful eye on the Plan 9 page. If you can get good ping times to their server, quake.stu.rpi.edu, and you don't mind playing whatever weirdo QuakeC mods they use, go give them a beating.
- 10-31-96
- havoc lived up to his name by doubling up on TheSheriff 22-11 in their one-on-one Halloween rumble. Bystanders were amazed to witness havoc actually intentionally pick up health and armor, and restrain from initiating kamikaze shotgun charges (although we think he herniated something trying to hold himself back). Once it was apparent that havoc had attained some heretofore unknown level of zen-like tactical discipline, it was clear that it was all over for TheSheriff. Next week: lemurboy vs. ahnuld in a contest to see who can recover from their config file changes the fastest. Come see the amazing feats of self-mutilation!
- 10-29-96
- The alien overlords of Clan 9 From Outer Space abducted the Earthlings from The Breakfast Club and Postal, brainwashed them into a violent rage, and tossed them all into the Mothership's arena together, broadcasting "kill, Kill, KILL" into their weak Earthling minds. The results were predictably entertaining. Postal (folding, spindling, and mutilating) went on to amass a frag lead that proved to be insurmountable. BC gained on them in a short continuation of the match on BC's home server but eventually succumbed 180-160.
- 10-29-96
- havoc vs. TheSheriff: it's official. The Affair Downstairs, the Erasement in the Basement, coming this Halloween. Scary!
- 10-27-96
- Wholesale config file changes among the Big Three. Get your frags now, while we're all wandering around looking at the ceiling...
- 10-26-96
- Ever the mercenary, ahnuld has apparently been hawking his skills elsewhere, as his name has shown up among the guns-for-hire at Insanity's Playground. The Clan wishes the Bavarian Barbarian the best in his freelancing. Kill `em all.
- 10-23-96
- TheSheriff challenged getalife to a one-on-one match, 30 minutes in the Castle of the Damned, and pulled off an upset 18-15 victory! An exciting match with many lead changes. TheSheriff scored the first frag, and getalife the first self-frag (doh!). Was this a breakthrough performance for the Zombie Slave of Alien Overlords, or was the Disembodied Brain just off his game? Time will tell. But now, the Clan is agitating for a havoc/TheSheriff showdown!
- 10-23-96
- Starting this news page to record, I dunno, things that need recording. Most stuff will still just go on the mailing list. This page will mainly be for info about games played by our clan or on our server. For those who care about such things, we've been an "official" clan since late September (on the ClanRing on the 28th, at id's site soon after).