cei

Firstly, you need to tell us what kind of Mac you're running. BootCamp will only work on an Intel model (ie: 2006 onwards), so if you're on a PowerPC machine you're out of luck (PPC machines are the G5/G4/G3 series). If you do have an Intel machine, great! Next you'll need a copy of Windows (Either XP, Vista or Windows7 Beta). Now run Boot Camp Assistant. (I'm on Leopard by the way) It is located in Applications\Utilities\ Follow the on screen instructions - you might find it useful to print the setup guide! You'll first need to create a partition for Windows to be installed on (in other words, split your hard drive into two pieces for each OS). Once this has all worked, you simply install Windows as you would on a PC. You'll have two hard drives on your desktop from now on. To boot into Windows you simply restart and hold down Option/ALT as you do so. I've got Medieval and Rome, and Empire is very much a new beast. The biggest changes are made on the strategy map - you no longer have to place a governor in each town to control its construction/tax, and you only use the characters as Generals, Admirals, Rakes, Gentlemen etc. This means you no longer end up having somebody die at a really inconvenient time and totally mess up your war plans. In addition to this, the map is now worldwide, with Europe, India and North America (plus the top of South America) as the areas to fight over. There's also four trade theatres, that simply serve to generate trade routes and income - you can't fight land battles on these, only sea. Beyond that, it is pretty similar. Conquer territories, hold the towns/cities and expand them with factories/barracks/fortifications and so on. The tactical side reflects the history of the time - Empire is very much a "stand back and shoot" approach, with short melee sequences right at the end, unless cavalry have gotten involved. The cannons are much better than previous games, although still poor shots I might add, and still slow to move. The fact that everybody has a gun (basically) does put you on a level field, but some guns have a longer range (Riflemen are fantastic might I add). My favourite tactic at the moment is to place four puckle guns on my front line and let the enemy close. The puckle guns then absolutely murder their troops and they route before they can close the distance - a few battalions of line infantry provide some firepower too. Rifemen on the flanks harass from a distance and then a couple or three cavalry units serve to finish off the fleeing soldiers.]

Why don't you just use BootCamp on your Mac? It is what I'm doing...though the 8800GT is struggling with the 2560x1600 30" screen resolution.

I've got the Special Forces edition, and I love the game - apart from one thing, crashes. I was 5 turns away from completing a campaign and the game crashed to the desktop. When I re-loaded, the save file was corrupt! Favourite unit? On land I'm loving the Riflemen, oh and the Puckle Guns. At sea? Ooooo, probably the Carronnade Frigates.

The question is, how on earth are you creating that tumblehome?

I've just finished the demo, and I can't wait. My only comment so far is that the AI of ships can be a tad silly. Instead of passing a ship on the opposite tack, your ships will try and "chase" enemies, rather than get a good broadside in. Manual control it is!

Tiling takes far more tiles than you think! I've got around 200 or so on order at the moment, as well as the parts to finish the port section off. Then it's the rocks/water...

Pictures? Oh alright then ;) Stern of the pirate vessel where I've been looking at tumblehome. Mainly thinking about turning it into a single-decker sixth-rate rather than a two decker. This means re-jigging the stern to a lower profile with a lower quarterdeck. Arr, this be the quarterdeck The scurvy dogs in position Here you sort of see how it's built - internal frame holding up the gun deck and the main deck, with the sides simply leaning against. Now for the Imperial fort. Construction has ground to a halt awaiting a pile of Bricklink orders. The port buildings are from the new set, with an extra addition of my own. There will be more going up once the orders arrive. This is the main fort from above, showing the courtyard (need more tiles!) The main tower, used by the Governor and his daughter And another view of the courtyard!

I'm a recent convert to Pirates, although I did own the sets when I was younger (notably a BSB), and have recently picked up the new sets. However, as always I'm not happy with Lego's ships. The sides simply aren't right... So, I started building my own. However, I've run into the problem of tumblehomes. Without one, Lego ships look too blocky (ie: flat sides), whereas real ships curve outwards and then inwards, as well as bulging towards the middle. However, representing this in Lego is eluding me. There's a few MOCs I've seen where tumblehome has been done really well (such as Captain Greenhair's La Mort Royale), but for the life of me I can't see how it is done - low resolution pictures don't help much either. So, any tips for tumblehome? I'm building on Lego hulls as I don't have enough brown to build from scratch. My ship is 5 middle sections long... Also building a huge Imperial fort right now. I may post a WIP ;)