POLL: The Future of 'Tour of Duty'

For topics about the story, help in a certain level, game discussion, or finding/discussing content.

What Marathon scenario should 'Tour of Duty' cover next?

Poll ended at Apr 10th '16, 05:25

Marathon: Phoenix
3
11%
Marathon: Rubicon X
8
30%
Marathon: Eternal X
1
4%
Marathon: RED
3
11%
Tempus Irae 2: The Lost Levels
1
4%
Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge
8
30%
Devil in a Blue Dress
3
11%
 
Total votes: 27
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Pfhorrest
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The point is that you should count all protest votes as going for the lowest-voted thing, as a form of counter-protest. "You want to screw with my poll about what to review? Fine then, I'll review the thing you LEAST want me to review!" Which is Eternal. That'll show them.
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Wrkncacnter
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Pfhorrest wrote:The point is that you should count all protest votes as going for the lowest-voted thing, as a form of counter-protest. "You want to screw with my poll about what to review? Fine then, I'll review the thing you LEAST want me to review!" Which is Eternal. That'll show them.
Yep! So, how do we figure out which votes are protest votes?
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PerseusSpartacus
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Look, I'm just going to end this right now, before things get out of control.

I will not be pulling any weird tricks like counting protest votes for another scenario or doing a one-day ToD of W'rkncacnter when I really have nothing to say, and if Rubicon X has the most votes when the polling ends, then we will do a Tour of Rubicon X, period.
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irons
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PerseusSpartacus wrote:before things get out of control.
u find urselfs
starting beack
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philtron
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Man, I sure hope no one makes a much of side accounts and votes for something other than Rubicon. [amiga] [commodore] [windoze]
doctorbenjiphd
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Trojan.

For my money, it's still the best third part scenario ever made, and the only true total conversion. Too bad I have no idea how I can play it anymore.
listener
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Really, the only way you could is to emulate an older macintosh using Sheepshaver or the like. Search the forums for trojan, there's at least two topics of people trying to get it to work with some success.
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Crater Creator
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Come to think of it... I don't know if EMR was ever tested start to finish after the switch to the new Lua API. If it wins, I guess we'll find out for sure!

http://pfhorums.com/viewtopic.php?p=50373#p50373
treellama wrote: The new API comes with a compatibility script that should be able to run old Lua scripts automatically; however, the old API is vast, so any help testing would be appreciated. Of particular concern are the two scenarios which use old Lua and are not likely to be updated to use the new API: EMR 3 and Eternal X. Anybody with the time to run the whole way through these and check for Lua compatibility script bugs would be helping out a lot. Please report any Lua compatibility script bugs to the development mailing list.
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treellama
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EMR doesn't work at all with any recent versions of Aleph One. Why do you think everybody voted for it?
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Wrkncacnter
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Another successful Pfhorums poll, not manipulated in any way.
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PerseusSpartacus
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Yeah, I'm still playing it on the old version of Aleph One that comes with it in the download. But hey, if it works, it works, right?
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Wrkncacnter
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Whoever decided to fork Aleph One for a marathon scenario was truly a forward thinking individual. You have to respect that.
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HelviusRufus
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treellama wrote:EMR doesn't work at all with any recent versions of Aleph One.
Here’s an oddity. I started EMR (Windows 7) and it worked but it was…surreal.
I also have the 2014.1.4, 16.2 MB version of AO so I ran that one and it was still surreal, though some people might even like it that way.

Then I copied the EMR folder I have on another machine (Windows XP) and the AO exe from there too even though it is also the 2014.1.4 version.
I deleted the EMR Preferences file from the hidden folder in appdata\local and started the game anew thereby creating a new hidden preferences file. Unfortunately I didn’t keep the old file, so I don’t know what the differences were.
I started the exe in the EMR folder and it started EMR without me having to choose it. (Because there was no hidden preferences file?)

Worked as well as it always has. There is an error message that crops up a lot: [string “Map Lua”]:39: attempt to call field ‘mod’ (a nil value), but it doesn’t seem to affect play. I think it may be the earthquake motion.

As a further test, I moved the files, but not the exe, into another folder then started the recent AO 2015.6.20, 19.1 MB that I usually use and, when asked, I chose the EMR folder and it seemed to work properly but with the same error message. I was even able to load a saved game from the older version saved games file.

I think what did it was the new hidden EMR Preferences file.
I just play 'em; I don't know how they work.
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Wrkncacnter
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So this poll should be over now, and there's a tie. I assume you're ready to just do whatever scenario you want now?
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HelviusRufus
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Since there is no set procedure to break a tie, it stands to reason that both should be done.
I just play 'em; I don't know how they work.
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philtron
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Yes, and they should be done simultaneously as though they were the same scenario.
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PerseusSpartacus
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So, the poll has finally come to a close. Here are the final, full results:
  • Rubicon X - 8 votes
    Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge - 8 votes
    Devil in a Blue Dress - 4 votes
    Phoenix - 3 votes
    RED - 3 votes
    Apotheosis - 2 votes
    TI2: The Lost Levels - 1 vote
    Eternal X - 1 vote
    Trojan - 1 vote
Since the poll ended in a tie, I discussed the matter with Martin and VikingBoyBilly, and we decided to do something that might seem a little odd, but it makes sense to me.

Since Devil in a Blue Dress and Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge naturally go hand-in-hand (Excalibur is just the sequel to DiaBD), we decided that it would make sense to put their votes together in order to break the tie - combined, they have 12 votes total.

So, I am happy to announce that we will cover Devil in a Blue Dress first, and then, once we've completed that, we will do Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge.

Note that we will be using the M2 version of DiaBD, since the classic M1 version requires emulation in order to run. We're also sorry to those of you who voted for Rubicon X. It is possible that after we finish both DiaBD and E:MR, we might be willing to continue the series to cover Rubicon as well, but we can cross that bridge when we get there.
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HelviusRufus
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philtron wrote:Yes, and they should be done simultaneously as though they were the same scenario.
You mean like...
On a terminal between the ficus and the cycad, we learn from Science Officer Fourth Class C’kor that we need to pick up a raptor chip near the napalm storage dungeon and take it to a marvelously engineered power facility. Turning, we throw a buncha rocks at a charging trooper (sorry, bub, cash game) then grenade a T-rex into the moat. We are aided in a brief ptussel with a pterodactyl by a couple o S'pht'Kr and a red headed archer then, poking two projectile fighters with our spear, we step in the raptor chip.
I just play 'em; I don't know how they work.
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philtron
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Yes.
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Wrkncacnter
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This tour of duty turned out great. At first I was convinced it would be complete dogshit, but you ended up doing a really good job.
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PerseusSpartacus
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Alright, after over a year of waiting (hard to believe it's been that long), we've FINALLY begun our Tour of Duty for Devil in a Blue Dress. Martin has already done the first semi-level ('Space Walk') and the first real level ('Hostage'). As always, you can find our future ToD posts on the Marathon Story Forums.

I should've posted this note sooner, but I forgot to – sorry about that. Hopefully if we get through DiaBD quickly enough we can do Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge.

See y'all starside! [MSmile]
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