Mandalore

Over three months. I should've got this done much, much earlier. I apologise. Running log #010... We had our own little piece of deep space to call our own, we had a Lethisk armed freighter to disrupt the Republic with, and we had an entire Republic task force deposited in our bit of the galaxy. Overall, things were going well after that first attack. We sat down and looked over the Republic HoloNet feeds to see if our strike had attracted any attention, and where there were ships being diverted from to look at the site and survey possible damage. Some scouts had been diverted out of Bothawui, with more ships prepared to enter the area of attack if required. Excellent. Being told exactly where the optimum targets are is both useful and timesaving when you're trying to take over a galaxy with twelve people and a stolen ship. We waited a few days, just letting the Republic scouts examine our handiwork and report in. Then the other ships that were on standby went out and had a look, and we took that moment to strike. We powered up the hyperdrive, all weapons on standby, and jumped to Bothawui. The Bothan defences had somewhat anticipated an attack from the same people who took the task force they were investigating - not knowing it was us, of course - and had all perimeter defences on alert. That made things interesting. It actually allowed us to test our ship's weapons against more than just fighters, gave us a chance to see what it could do in an invasion. No, we weren't planning to take over the whole planet. We'd need more than twelve people for that. We just wanted to leave it scared and ready to be invaded - bluffing a full assault force can sometimes be as effective as actually having one. Anyway, let's get on with how we did it. We first sent out the same message as before, "surrender or we'll beat the fierfek out of you until you do" (not those words, but words to that effect). Again, they refused. And again, we engaged their forces. They threw some light assault ships at us, thinking we were no more than Exchange muscle trying to bully our way into the planet (it happens frequently when you're that close to Nar Shaddaa). Obviously, they were wrong. Those light assault ships didn't get far before they were absolutely destroyed. That made them take us more seriously, sending their full defence force out against us. One ship against a planet's worth of defences. Time for some real Mandalorian fun. We stretched the freighter to its limits and a bit beyond, flying through defence lines, below heavy cruisers, above and around pretty much everything they had, blasting them with everything we had in the process. It was a real feat of piloting expertise, and really showed exactly why our pilot had been selected for the Bralor Twelve. It was a lengthily, exhilarating battle, but in the end we'd fought long and hard enough for the enemy to surrender. We ordered the crews out of their ships, and then took the remains of the defence fleet back to our space hideout with the task force we already had there. Well, we began to. Then we ran into a problem. We chose to attack Bothawui at that time because, as I said, there was a load of ships off investigating our previous target. We were too excited about the attack to factor in their return. They found us dragging the planetary defence force off into deep space with absolutely no opposition, and decided to become the opposition. Even more fun for us. We met them head on as soon as they requested our identification, not even leaving them time to fire before they were obliterated. They were all destroyed, so we didn't have to take them out to our base as well. It was a simple destroy-all-opposition-and-continue-with-the-mission tactic. Highly effective. By the end of it, we ended up with enough Republic ships in our patch of deep space to quite possibly turn the tide in whatever war would come next. Very useful indeed. Satisfied with a successful mission, we started talking about what would happen when Revan and Malak returned, and the looks on their faces when they heard what we'd done to their precious Republic. I'll be talking about what we did next in the next log. END OF LOG #010

Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, Lord of the Rings Trilogy/The Hobbit (of course by Tolkien), Isaac Asimov's Foundation Saga/Robot series/ Elijah Baley series (and probably Empire series and all others, but I haven't read them yet), Frank Herbert's Dune, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, probably more that I can't remember at the moment.

The Exile doesn't consciously feed on others, whereas Nihilus chooses who to feed on and to what extent their minds are destroyed by this. The Masters wanted to cut the Exile off from the Force because that constant feeding would (I think) drain the Force to the point of its death. There are two different kinds of feeding on the Force here: Nihilus' breaking his victims, and the Exile's bending them. I think the Exile can do this because she always formed Force bonds easily, and after being deafened to the Force, took the Force from others for her own strength. Nihilus' power was also born of Malachor, but instead of choosing the non-destructive means of satisfying his hunger by subconsciously manipulating those around him, he simply dominated their minds entirely (if you've read the Thrawn Trilogy, it's like what C'Baoth did to General Covell in The Last Command).

With all these free trials, it looks to me like they've seen that they can get even more people in with lower subscriptions, and just don't want to admit it (or, as HK-47 said, "that may be wishful thinking on my part"). I'd play it if my graphics card fitted the requirements for the game (I have 7600 GS, minimum is 7800).

Very nice! Kinda reminds me of the Ghost Ship Recon level of Republic Commando...

Agreed. This is TSLRCM, one of the most important mods in the history of modding. There's no reason to argue over the work of a volunteer.

And this is the TSLRCM team, not all the same people are working on the M4-78EP team (I don't think).

I'm running 1366x768 on a desktop and I couldn't get uniws to work, so I've just got it as it is. Mine just has the game in 1024x768 with unused strips either side. Doesn't really affect it much.

Mon Calamari is ours. With the space forces eliminated, the ground defences quickly surrendered to Imperial control. The secret to victory wasn't better ships, it was simply more of what I already had. I diverted the assault force to finally crush the Black Sun Pirates, taking Taris for the Empire. We then quickly moved on the Rebel outpost of Dagobah, with Lord Vader himself leading the attack at the head of our stormtrooper legions. For a while before we took the planet in its entirety we had a space fleet blockading it, neutralising it as a threat but not as a presence until we had the time to complete its assimilation into Imperial leadership. That changed when the Dark Lord ordered its end and brought several platoons of his own troops to carry out the task. We lost two stormtroopers and an AT-ST to Rebel forces. The Rebel forces lost their lives, their equipment and everything they'd built on the planet. That blockade was then converted to the defence force, and Lord Vader brought the same ground assault force to Byss, the Rebels' last stronghold save Mon Calamari itself. That planet was also blockaded, again allowing us to take the ground immediately. We had the advantage there, the advantage of Imperial sympathisers able and willing to aid us on the ground. The planet was ours soon after we arrived. Using the additional starship capacity we gained from these acquisitions, the Mon Calamari Invasion Fleet was doubled from the original size, along with a trio of Broadside Cruisers and Darth Vader's presence. We still lost most of the fleet to the enemy, but we took the planet. My next assignment is the repression of a small uprising on Kashyyyk, led by a defective pilot named Solo. Let the Emperor's will be done, or let his apprentice exact his punishment.

Wow. That is one huge changelog. Fantastic work.

If I can make one more post along those lines, (just to be extremely pedantic) it'd be a simile to use the word "like". It can only be a metaphor when saying it actually is something else.

Sith Holocron asked me to do a blog of my experiences with EaW, & it's got to be here as I'm only allowed one actual blog. So, Here we go: What I've done so far: Well, I'm working on the Imperial campaign, base EaW (not using FoC yet). Currently trying desparately to subdue the space forces of Mon Calamari (Mission 5). Up to this point, I've been going pretty well, making a terrible enemy of the Black Sun Pirates. We don't need criminals though. We're the Galactic Empire. Who needs gangsters when you've got a galaxy, with Dark Lords of the Sith at its head? So we've been carving away at their territory, up to the point where we've forced them out of every base, haven & stronghold they have until they concentrate all their forces on Taris, as it's the only planet they have left. We'd take it right now, but there are more pressing matters to deal with at the behest of the Emperor himself. These pressing matters being the elimination of Mon Calamari as a threat. That makes it sound simple and straightforward, but that's in reality the opposite of what it is. The assault force I've got prepared for this invasion consists of three Acclamator-class cruisers, five Tartan patrol ships, and a Victory cruiser with a Fleet Commander aboard. If only it really was a cruiser that brought Victory. There's no way we can stand against the Mon Cal Capital ships that get thrown at us every time, not without our own Star Destroyers! It's hopeless without more firepower. I've tried different tactics, a Thrawnite analysis of the Mon Calamari people, but it's simply a wasted effort. We just can't take the planet without better ships. Though I do believe Thrawn himself could do it, he's not here to carry it out. I am. So I suppose I'll just have to make do with what I've got and hope for battle.

Very, very nice indeed.