Walter Kovacs

Fenris, that is priceless. I love it.

While not nearly as good as noreha and TerranCmdr's work, I have done a little dabbling in Ray-tracing, too. I put this collage together to showcase the UCs and MINI TIEs I had done, although the collage is horribly out of date right now. The composition of the scene definitely leaves a lot to be desired. At the time I was more concerned with getting the renders of the individual models correct, so I took the individual renders and combined them in Windows Paint program (hey, it was free). That's why all the TIEs are facing the same direction and are the same distance away. What I really struggle with are camera and lighting placement in the Ray tracing environment. I use MLCad to generate the models (saves me the time of having to model each and every piece), a program called L3P to translate the MLCad file into a ray tracing file and POV-Ray to do the actual rendering. The biggest problem is that POV-Ray uses cartesian vectors. Using a polar vector would be so much easier for camera and light positioning. Any help you guys can give would be appreciated. If you need more specific information, please ask.

I bought all the pieces for that set off of BL. I can shoot a few pics and post them, if you'd like. It might take me a few days, though.

As good as that picture with all the stormies is (and it is very good, fenris), my first thought was "I wihs I had all those stormtroopers." *sniff*

If LEGO keeps alternating PT and OT in their BP cycle, this coming year would be a PT year. So here's what I'd like to see: Republic Field Hospital - Comes with 1 phase II clone with commander printing, 2 regular phase II clones and a Medical Droid. the rest of the set has a bacta tank, and maybe a small table with surgical instruments. CIS Light Artillery - Some sort of medium sized ground cannon, something along the lines of the cannons used by the rebels on Hoth. Minifigs include one yellow commander battle droid, one blue security droid, two regular battle droids, one super battle droid and two commando droids. If LEGO breaks tradition and gives us another wave of OT, I would love to see Endor themed BPs on both sides.

Thanks for all of the comments. For those of you who don't know this, I do all of my designing in MLCad first. It makes buying off of Bricklink much easier, as I get an exact shopping list. Anyway, when I looked at the model in MLCad, the pylons looked really good. But when i built it in brick, the length of the pylons really hit me in the face. I think the area where the pylon meets the wing can be shortened up. That may shorten things by two studs on each size, which will really compact the model. Perhaps I should try some on-the-fly mods for a change. You know, I say that every time I look at others' work. Sometimes I feel like a rank amateur compared to what some members are able to do. By my count, I have a mere 27 to go. That may change if I find more source material. I highly doubt that. You may have noticed, but I've never attempted a standard TIE before. Truth is I've been scared to try one. The standard TIE Fighter is SO iconic, and everyone knows what they look like. Any flaws are bound to be pointed out to anyone that attempts one. But that is not going to stop me. A standard TIE Fighter will be my next project. The fact that it is the basis for many more variants is purely coincidental.

For a long time now I have been dissatisfied with the pylons on my UCS TIEs. The rectangular shape achieved by using standard technic bricks irritates me, because i know they should be round. I've stuck with them, in part because they provide structural integrity, but also because I haven't come up with a good alternative yet. So when I sat down and looked at the TIE Aggressor (Wookiepedia page), I noticed that the pylons were eerily similar to those on the TIE Advanced. And LEGO did a good job on their UCS TIE Advanced set. So I decided to "borrow" their solution for the pylons. This is the result; It certainly had the desired effect for beefing up the pylons. but it did have an unfortunate side effect, in that the pylons look a little too long now. You can see that more clearly in this front view: For reference, this is what the TIE Aggressor should look like: The shape of the wing came out well. Although as it stands, the sections could have easily been 10 studs wide instead of 8 studs: Getting the shape of the rear deck was something of a challenge. The little cutouts on either side of the rear facing cannon are tricky. Here's a close-up of the cannon. It's on a 4 x 4 turntable, so it can rotate side by side. Unfortunately, the cannons can't elevate. Perhaps that is a feature to put into revision 2 (whenever that happens). Here is a close-up of the cockpit, without the windscreen. The control stick mechanism that I would have preferred to use wouldn't fit, so i improvised with the battle droid arms and minifig revolvers. I actually like the way they came out. Finally, here is a picture of the inside of the wings. Lately, I've been trying to add more detail to this area, partly because there's space available for it, and partly because more detail is always good. Well, that's all I have to show you. Please feel free to leave comments and criticisms. They are most certainly appreciated. You can find the Brickshelf Gallery here, when moderated.

I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one confused. Overall it looks good, though.

Nice pic there, lightningtiger. This set looks like a must have, now. The details on the speeder a fantastic. I didn't scour the entire image, but the detail behind the seats caught my eye. Looks like LEGO put a lot of thought into this one.

Wait, Spyder was Nizam?!? But I clearly remember blocking him on night 1. Hell, I based my entire strategy on the fact that no Nizam were blocked on Night 1. Unfortunately, I did not keep a copy of what I sent. Perhaps I did misremember. Wouldn't that be tragic. At least I made it all the way to the final night. Not bad for my first mafia game. Thanks for hosting Shadows. It truly was fun, and I look forward to the next game.

It could be worse than that, Darth Hawken. If there are 4 Nizam left, we innocnets are hopelessly screwed. That only leaves 7 innocents, and I can almost garauntee that they have sent in actions for tonight's gorefest to ensure all innocnets are dead. First one in wins. Assuming that there are only 3 Nizam left, we have a glimmer of hope. The Nizam can only take out six of the eight innocents, leaving two innocents untargetted. Assuming they don't take each other out and manage to get two Nizam, then it comes down to two innocents vs one Nizam on Day 5. Again, first one to get his actions in wins, it just takes another day. The same scenario occurs when ther is only one Nizam and two innocents. The best case scenario is obviously the two untargetted innocnets nail all three Nizam left. Given our track record, I wouldn't count on that happening. Said another way, "Wish in one hand, Megablick in the other and see which fills up first." I guess the upshot of my ramble is that if you find yourself alive at daybreak tomorrow, make sure you are the first to get your actions in. It should be an easy choice of targets.

It could have been worse. He could have given us three kills tonight Well there are only eleven of us left, and it is likely that three of them are Nizam. I had a theory that the silent ones were Nizam. Two of them are dead. Alice is the only surviving player that has never spoken up. As such, I have no idea what his (her?) allegience is. I am going to scour through the scrolls now and see if there is any evidence to be had. I will focus specifically on what jamtf and PrEtzel did and said, as they are the only Nizam we know about. I suggest everyone do the same. I think it's about time to lay everything out on the table and see what shakes out. There likely won't be a tomorrow to worry about it.

Well, I certainly didn't expect this new wrinkle. Not that I think it changes anything. We still have possibly 5 Nizam agents hiding amongst us, and if we don't take them out soon, Mr. Dark and Imposing up there takes over. Forever. Take out his Nizam henchmen, however, and I think we can take him. Err, you can take him. I'll clean up the mess afterwards At any rate, taking out the Nizam among us is still our top priority. Oddly enough, I was thinking the same thing EDIT: Stupid spelling errors

Thanks Arjay, I forgot about that line. Plus, that was written before we had two killing choices to make. The other rules seem flexible, so perhaps the one message to Shadows was too. Well, this sucks. I have one target in mind, and I know who I will protect, but I need more info before settling on another target.

A simple question for those still alive now that we get two kills a night. Do we have to specify both kills in the same PM, or can we turn in one and delay the other until we get more evidence?

Call me crazy but I've had the same thoughts. This could all be one huge, sadistic game of Paranoia. which leads to the obvious conclusion that the Grand Visier is the only Nizam around. Of course, that won't stop me from using my actions tonight :skull: After all, the only way to prove this theory (other than attack the Visier directly, which sounds like suicide) is to gt the list of survivors down to one. As for Pedro's theory on the large alliance. Isn't it possible that there are several smaller alliances that all happened to target Dragonator independantly? Or do you have Nizam cronies that have infiltrated a large alliance?

Very funny, mordatre. Very funny. That first picture made me spit milk through my nose. Or it would have, if I had been drinking any milk. Keep up the good work.

So am I

This wandering minstrel has given me the urge to sing. When the moon hits your eye Like a big... No, wait. That doesn't quite fit the mood. Screams break the silence waking from the dead of night Vengeance is boiling He's returned to kill the light Then when he's found who he's looking for Listen in awe and you'll hear him Bark at the moon There. That's better. I guess I believe you are correct, Lord Arjay. At least that is what i get out of the song. Tomorrow will tell. And if the song is correct, then the Nizam listening in will be frantic over the next few hours to try and get as many protectors as possible, trying to save they're own skins. We must keep our eyes and ears open for those desparate to gain a blocker or three. Clues may be easier to find soon.

Let's think a moment about how the Nizam are likely operating. They aren't any more well protected than you or I: each still can only protect one person. So either the Nizam are putting one person out there as bait, and everyone throws their protection towards that person, or they are each protecting a different member, in a sort of ring. E.g. Nizam 1 protects Nizam 2, 2 protects 3, 3 protects 4 and 4 protects 1. If the latter is the case, then we only need two non-Nazim to take out one of their members. Assuming of course that one of us good guys aren't stupid enough to protect one of their numbers. Now for their attacks. We started out with 52 citizens. If there are only 6 or so Nizam (a reasonable guess), then it would take them at most 46 nights to take out the rest of the group if they all focused on one target, maximum. That timetable seems a bit long, even considering that we will be doing their job by mistake. So it makes sense that they are likely splitting their attacks, and trying to cast aspersions on certain individuals to help them in their cause. That way, they get to maximise the dead on any given night. I think we are looking for those that are taking a low profile, perhaps individuals that are trying to make others look guilty. It won't be easy to ferret tese individuals out, but I think it can be done if you read between the lines. as I think about what I just said, I realize I painted a big huge target on my back. It's been nice knowing all of you. Best of luck against the Nizam. Would someone please qualify this as a jihad against the Nizam, so that thoughts of those virgins waiting for me in heaven can give me peace through this long day and night?

Surely it would be wrong to suspect those that may have lost their voice in these troubling times. The Nizam that stalk amongst us will work through subterfuge, making themselves look innocent while making it seem that the true innocents are guilty. Someone like, oh I don't know, JimButcher perhaps?

I'll shoe your ostrich for free for the next year for a little...protection. Nudge nudge. Wink wink. Know what I mean?

I only own two of the five available sets (the MINI and the original), and out of those tow, the MINI is my favorite. The original is just too fragile to be very swooshable. But my vote went to the UCS version. The details on that set are amazing. Sure, there's no interior, but who wouldn't want over 5000 bricks of awesome LEGO goodness.

Greetings, all. I am Mustafah, a humble blacksmith. Orders for horseshoes ostrichshoes have plummeted since the Nizam have resumed their activities. Although sword orders are on the rise.

I could send you an MLCad file, if it would help. Most of the parts arrived from Bricklink yesterday