NEWS ARCHIVE JANUARY-DECEMBER 2007:
(site was not updated between 2008 and 2009)

December 24, 2007 - Season's Greetings! :

Well, Alpha still looking pretty dead for me, but thought I might take the opportunity to wish everyone a very merry Christmas, and all the best for 2008!

Nude is in America for a bit, and I don't see too many of the crew about - but it's allways nice to see a familar name (be it AUS$IES or otherwise). I mostly hang about Chaos when I get a chance to play these days. Anyway, have a good one and Ho Ho Ho....

Blackers  



October 24, 2007 - Would The Last Person Out Please Turn Off The Lights ? :

I'm back from holiday, and like the missus says, it went all too quickly!

Alpha has pretty much been dead even in the timeslots in the mornings where there used to be 25+ people. Chances are when you see population in there, that they are either in Battle or spec. I only really get the chance to play in the weekend mornings now, and I see more Alpha players in Chaos every day. Usually there is a public population in there at least, even if I don't like the settings.

It's with some sadness that I note the demise in Alpha's population.. The game as a whole faces competition from a multitude of online games these days, and populated zones have far more chance of picking up new players than Alpha does. I believe there is some work being done on new bots including a player scoring and a green/population ratio system, but I don't know if this will get the players back. I've always maintained that the greening that much (34% charge anyone ?) when there is low population just takes the fun out of it.. People just go elsewhere and the pop stays low, and people don't play alpha. Which is sad, because there was a great community of players, with mods who I always found fair. The spirit to improve the zone was there, but it seems to be a losing battle right now.

Many of our members are no longer active, or rarely are - and while there will always be scope for people to join AUS$IES, I don't anticipate updating these pages all that often now. AUS$IES will continue on (mostly in Chaos I guess) and I'll certainly be around at least a couple times a week, in Alpha when there is population, and Chaos - but because Alpha is home, playing Chaos isn't quite the same for me. I've got to know a heap of great people in the last 20 months, and had plenty of fun in Alpha. I hope that we'll still catch up from time to time. These pages and the forums will continue to be hosted indefinitely, so drop me a line if there's anything newsworthy to post.

Thanks to all, especially Nude, for making AUS$IES and these pages such a fun project. Those Sux and Bezwar turrets were some of my fondest memories of the game. I have no intention of abandoning the squad, and I'll contine to fly under the AUS$IES banner always. It's kind of a goodbye for now (unless things pick up), but definitely not game over! I don't think anyone can escape this damn game...

Blackers  



September 4, 2007 - Where's My Airbag ? :

Well, my system drive crashed on my XP machine where Continuum runs, so I've lost a heap of screenshots that I was planning to put up on the site next month (when I have some spare time.) I even lost one of me getting PsyOps with nice bounty.. The lord giveth, and well..you know the rest! Fortunatley, all the ones that Dik, Jazz and Fenrix have sent in are safe on another drive. I also lost all my keydefs and macros as well - Moral of the story ? It'll never happen to me... bah!

There's an update to 0.40 of the Subspace/Continuum client - this fixes a few bugs, improves compatibility with Vista and has a few new anti-hax measures so it's a worthwhile update. I'll post the link when I can find it!

Holiday time soon for me - I'll be off to Melbourne and Brisbane for a short holiday at the start of October, so won't be making an appearance in Alpha for 10 days or so. However, keep those screenshots flying in, and when I get back I'll make sure I post them on the site. This may be the last post until then, so give them an OiOiOi for me.

Blackers  



September 4, 2007 - Silence is Golden :

The Alpha 2v2 tournament came and went, and in wenting, it was won by people I don't know (Deathknight/Zaurez).. So there you go. Alpha has been fairly dead in the evenings for me, and I don't have that much time to play - I do drop into Chaos purely because there is usually a greater population, and you don't get 61% Speed or 34% Charge - the people aren't always as nice, but I don't find it too bad for light amusement. Remember to call everone you kill "ez" though, or you don't fit in...

You could be forgiven for thinking that nothing has been happening on this site or with AUS$IES, and you'd mostly be right! Nude has been busy during footy season, and spying two squad members on together at once is a rarety! But, just when you have given up hope, we sign a new member! Yes, Jazfizzle's flatmate has signed up. I know squat about him, but keep a lookout for A-rabjeezus, our newest member!

Dikamerica also sent in some screenshots of himself and Jazzfizzle with some decent bounty, but I've been a bit short on time to get them up - will work on it soon!

That's all for now...Cheers..

Blackers  



July 13, 2007 - Alpha 2v2 Tournament :

On Sunday 5th August, at 3am Perth time or 5am Sydney/Melb/Brisbane time, there will be a 2v2 Tournament in Alpha. It's a bit in the middle of the night for me (If I worked out the times correctly!), but some of the Eastern States AUS$IES may like an early morning romp around in SS. Sign up at the Alpha Forums if anyone is able to get a buddy and fly the flag for Oz. I reckon Bezwar and Sux would kick some arse!

Blackers  



July 3, 2007 - Finalee A New Huntee.. Wheeeeee! :

You may be forgiven for falling off your seats, with a couple of posts so close to eachother! Well, hold on tight because here come the drums. That was actually a shameless rip off of a Dr Who episode and song by the Rogue Traders, but hey. Anyway, on to the good stuff...



As you can see from the picture above, the AUS$IES turret, skillfully piloted by cmon i sux was racking up some serious bounty on Sunday- Sux actually had over 600 and lagged out, as did Fenrix (before and after screenshots) and eventually I lost my bounty to a stormy ADSL line that couldn't hold it together as well. At least Sephiroth31 didn't get it - which leads us to our newest Huntee Du Jour - Sephiroth31 from Local 107. So get those screenshots in, and we'll serve Sephie up a big slice of AUS$IES humble pie.

I've noticed a new(?) squad in Alpha, named Zeta Vex. You can check out their confusing website if you like, but it will probably leave you vexed as to their intentions and, well everything really! Their members are prefixed by "zv." in the player list. If you know anything about them, please feel free to enlighten me!

Well, until next time - Happy Huntee'ing!

Blackers  



June 29, 2007 - Them's Figthing Words!! :

Well, I'm back from Sydney - only a quick trip so didn't get to see Dik in Newcastle unfortunately! Not much in the way of news, family life and a lack of alpha population in pub in the evenings prevents me from playing as much. I try to hop on Saturday and/or Sunday mornings though.. Anyone seen Nude or Dik lately ?

Found this in the Alpha Forums just now:



Need I point your fire in a Sephiroth31 kind of direction ? Nuff said ;)

Blackers  



May 18, 2007 - Blackers Lags Sydney :

A big welcome back to Dikamerica, after his extended sojourn in Asia.. I'm not convinced that the medical bills made that choice of destination a "cheap" holiday though ? I'm off to Sydney next Friday for a short visit - hopefully Newcastle is far enough away from Dik that I won't catch anything (bird flu etc..)

C'mon i sux now has the Aussie Haven server package from Fenrix, so hopefully there may be a low-ping server that is able to run 24-7 or something if Sux gets a chance.

I see that one of our former huntees, Foofless, is back on the scene with his incessant whining about our lag - so if you see ow quit it or something like that around in his crybaby terrier, be sure to give him a taste of AUS$IES generosity. He whined like a stuck pig about the attention he received when he was our last huntee, so when I get his alias down proper I may have to re-instate him to that honour!! No doubt he'll just change alias' again though!! But for christ's sake - someone find his Mommy for him !!!

Blackers  



April 25, 2007 - Lest We Forget :

Today is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand - remembering those who fought and died at Gallipoli so we can enjoy the freedom and lifestyle that we do in this great country today. I don't think any of us could imagine what life would have been like during 1915, or any of the conflicts that Australian Defence Forces have been involved with since. Would you have done what they did ?

Just some small updates top the site, including Hagen taking top spot in our Big Bnty Kills area. Nude has been feverishly slaving over the print screen button and there's plenty to view on The Nude Streak.

Go AUS$IES !!

Blackers  



April 3, 2007 - Garmentis Maximus :

OK, a few suggestions in the forums for some slogans, I'd have to say my favourite is Nude's suggestion:

AUS$IES - Lag Increased: Max

Or maybe the AUS$IES - 100% Lag!

But keep them coming.. Another thing we need is a logo, something without too many colours (for printing) and not too complicated - graphic artists feel free to get to it! Once we have a logo, and a slogan - we can make up some shirt designs.. Sux will be able to guide us in this area I'm sure, or there is always Cafepress as well. Maybe we'll offer them to our overseas subspace friends as well for the novelty!

Blackers  



March 27, 2007 - AUS$IES - 100% Lag! :

Nude and I have been discussing the possibility of some AUS$IES merchandise - most likely t-shirts that could be done at Cafepress. So check out the private forums and post your slogans or ideas now!

Edit: Sux has interests in the elicit trade of garment decoration! I can feel some AUS$IES shirts coming up! Get those creative juices flowing...

Blackers  



March 22, 2007 - Nude Gets His Gear Off! :

It's with great pleasure that I direct your errant mouse clicks to....drumroll... The Nude Streak. Nude has found some time to put together some nuggets of his time spent (mosty chatting) in subspace. So discard those oppresive garments of societal conformance and hop in, tackle out, to the Nude area!

Fenrix has been working on an Aussie based server for subspace (not to mention overflowing our shoutbox!) - I've been there a couple times, but maybe check the forums to see when it's online, as his IP changes and the machine is not on 24/7. Idea's can be directed to the forums for Fenrix. Unfortunately, in an act of extreme irony, Fenrix now cannot play his regular client , but hopefully he'll be back in alpha soon!

The replacement for the venerable whinebot is apparently taking shape, so you may notice AlphaPub.bot lurking around in the player list - type !help will give you a list of commands for the bot, when it's active. There is a rumor that scores for alpha are being worked on (I notice Chaos has their rankings when you join the arena, so I presume a bot is handling that) - let's hope the Alpha Dev team get that happening, so Nude and I can be embarrased...even more than usual...bah.

The website is undergoing some structural changes, so if something fails to load, I probably screwed up. Let me know and I'll fix it. A final note to let you know that the 1st Anniversary of AUS$IES is on the 4th April (Unfortunatley, that's a Wednesday so no one will be on..ahem) - But get your party hats on, and trigger fingers at the ready and have a drink for the boys (and girls) from Oz !

Blackers  



March 7, 2007 - New Member... :

AUS$IES is proud to welcome Delekhan as our newest member. A mate of Fenrix, so give him an 'Oi" next time you see him in Alpha. Remember out chat channel changed a while back - if you need the new one, e-mail me or find someone in game.

I have added an AUS$IES "Private" forum, which you can only see after logging in. Obviously this is accessible by squad members only. The forums were changed to require authorisation a while ago to avoid spam. A few small updates about the website as well, nothing noteworthy though.

Edit: Fenrix makes his international debut into the Big Bnty Kills page with a 493 victory over Table Saw. Congrats Fenrix !!

Blackers  



March 2, 2007 - I missed a Month!... :

No, I'm not pregnant - but I just noticed there were no posts for the month of February :( I'm sure stuff happened.. Like Bezwar returned from his honeymoon type holiday (and even got me a t-shirt, onya), and Dik is about to embark on some slovenly tour of Thailand (and is offering t-shirts for everyone in AUS$IES, printed with our logo - ok, so we don't have a logo, but hey!). So good luck to Dik, and we'll hope for a speedy return or light jail stay, whichever is the lesser.

There's been a few additions to the site pages, but not a whole lot (send in those screenshots you cheap-arse bastards). Fighter-X squad have some Forums now, so feel free to invade them and steal their beer.

Ok - so this was a sell out, as there wasn't a whole lot of news - I currently have nearly 110 ave kill though, although my win loss isn't great. That's some news! Oh, and Fenrix has broke his computer.. Honsy was back in town for a bit - good to see ya!

Blackers  



January 27, 2007 - Australia Day... :

Was yesterday... Errm...Hope you all had a good one - It was about 42 C where I live, so it was spent indoors with reverse cycle airconditioning for me. But I wore my Aussie flag boxers to be in the spirit of it all... Photo's available on request and receipt of your credit card details.

Welcome to Xristosx, out first new member of 2007! Nude tells me Xristosx is from Bendigo and due to Yr 12 commitments probably won't be seeing much Alpha action - that's about all I know - but come one, come all and welcome to AUS$IES.

Are you sober ? Do you have an aversion to rap music and explicit lyrics ? Well, best you skip the Arr Matery Alpha Rap Song. Proudly hosted by AUS$IES Warner BMG as a DRM free download, although none of us get a mention...pffft..Do we get royalties for every copy sold ? While on the self promotion bandwagon, check out Dik's new Urban Golf Australia Music Video on YouTube.

Dik tells me that Fenrix had his first ride on a Sux-Turret recently - I'll dig up a screenshot and post it somewhere. Should be a few updates to the Big Bnty Kills and Gallery pages shortly. Until next time, bye for now!!

Blackers  



January 8, 2007 - Updates Schmupdates :

Just a few updates to the Big Bnty Kills, Whinges and Gallery pages. Nude, you should definitely check out the Gallery pages!

Cmon I Sux is back after a sojourn in Queensland, and there were a couple of Turrets running on the weekend. One ended when Sux had to go have his haircut - Now I ask you, where is the dedication ? In some attention grabbing stunt, my girlfriend stands naked attempting fruitlessly to drag me away from the computer shouting "It's me or the damn game.." and I politely tell her that I'll be with her in "just a few more kills(tm)"... Now anyone have any bright ideas on how to get blood out of a T-Shirt ? Speaking of T-Shirts (I take XL) - Bez is obvioulsy having a jolly good time in Europe, but should be back in a few weeks with some excess luggage brimming with bnty (including aforementioned garments suitable for gifts for loved ones and squad members back home).

We're in need of a new Huntee (First for 2007) - I was going to nominate Powers Of GOD for his incessant trash talking of anyone in the zone and bignoting of himself. I think it might actually be Foofless in disguise, but who knows. Idea's anyone ?

That's about it right now - can't get you guys used to too much updating - you might think I have found some more time or something!

Blackers  



January 1, 2007 - Happy New Year! :

As we awaken to a new year, I'll take this chance to wish all AUS$IES a Happy New Year! Hopefully Dik didn't mix too many of his painkillers and alcohol last night, as he fractured his arm recently. I haven't bothered to ask how, but I'm guessing some Urban Golf and a bunch of leather clad Biker dudes may have been to blame. I think a drop is allowable when a Harley is involved...

The Alpha arena is back to it's pre-Christmas dressing, so the snowballs are gone. Regardless of if you liked them or not, at least Alpha has staff who are interested enough to change things (well, except the sucky random ship stats on spawn, but that's a pet hate of mine - especially with low populations). So thanks to the Alpha staff for taking the time and for running the show during the year. Speaking of which, the Christmas gifts were 3000 bnty for all players, with some rabbit bonus 5000 bnty turrets. Also shields and super on a few occasions. Some turrets also received 1000 bnty each on the day. Nude, Dik and myself were there and Hagen almost made it, but kept getting specced, so didn't hang around.



Also, after losing the monster bounty, all ships started with 100 bounty for the whole day. (which I think was perfect, because the stats were nearly always 100%) Thanks to A Perpetual Neg for the fun time on Christmas day (well, boxing day morning here), and on US Christmas eve where 1000 starting bounty was also on offer!

Here's to a good year in Alpha, with our first AUS$IES anniversary due in April. Best of luck to you and yours, and I look forward to seeing you all in Alpha soon!

Blackers  



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