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Graffë Forums - Blogs - Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/blog.php?524-Mileron en Thu, 07 May 2026 11:37:34 GMT vBulletin 60 https://www.graffes.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg Graffë Forums - Blogs - Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/blog.php?524-Mileron Model Railroading - 007 https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?274-Model-Railroading-007 Mon, 18 Jul 2016 19:34:02 GMT So the model railroading has taken a sideboard while we try to get a couple rooms painted in the house. Saturday I went to an estate sale. The homeowner had an HO-scale layout (what was left of it, anyway) in his basement. They also had a large amount of HO-scale buildings and rolling stock... So the model railroading has taken a sideboard while we try to get a couple rooms painted in the house.

Saturday I went to an estate sale.
The homeowner had an HO-scale layout (what was left of it, anyway) in his basement.
They also had a large amount of HO-scale buildings and rolling stock left - but at the time I arrived (8am) they were unwilling to budge on the prices.

They also had dozens of years of Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman magazines. I half wish I'd gone back to them later in the afternoon and given a blanket offer on the shelf. They were originally asking 4/$1... I would have offered 20/buck to start. ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?274-Model-Railroading-007 Model Railroading - 006 https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?273-Model-Railroading-006 Sat, 23 Apr 2016 16:56:45 GMT For at least the last month, I've been looking forward to going to my first train show in almost twenty years.

Last night at dinner...
Wife: So what are you doing tomorrow while I'm at work?
Me: Going to that train show in Maryland
Wife: Nice! Brother going with you?
Me: No, he's sick
Wife: Bummer.
Me: And I don't know any other train people.
Wife: What about the guy you geocached with?
Me: He's in CT this weekend with his new girlfriend.
Wife: Bummer.

Last night watching TV before bed, couldn't shake an "uhoh" feeling.

This morning, got up at 6, fed the cats, and had a very, very strong "bad feeling" about going.

So I didn't. Le sad. ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?273-Model-Railroading-006 Model Railroading - 005 https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?272-Model-Railroading-005 Mon, 14 Mar 2016 21:59:18 GMT Work has been stupid-busy so I really haven't had a chance to do much of anything.
It also doesn't help that on 2/28 I sliced my thumb pretty badly while changing the windshield wipers on my car. Since it hasn't healed yet, I can't do any repairs on the stuff I've picked up, let alone any major construction.

On Saturday 3/12 I moved some stuff around and cleared off a table in the basement. I'm expecting this to become my layout and work area. Only problem: no nearby power. The only nearby power is a fluorescent overhead light which the previous owner connected with a special light-bulb-socket-connecting outlet to a lamp base that's mounted on a gang box hanging off a joist. :banghead: There's three of them down there, and only one outlet that's not 220 - on the far side of the basement between the oil tank and heater. Yeah, not going to set up shop there.

On Sunday 3/13 (the anniversary of Dad's passing) as part of a family memorial to him we went to a local farmer's market. More of a flea market really. I picked up ten older Model Railroader mags from the mid-80s and 90s for 8 bucks.

I've been doing a little playing with SCARM and AnyRail to get a general plan of how I want the layout to look. Initially I stood by my 2x4 limitation quite steadfastly, but I think it's going to be a little small for some long-length railfanning. That is, while I might have mentioned before that I don't want to do a whole lot of switching, a 2x4 layout with two or three spurs and only about 10 linear feet of rail, it might get old doing the same bumpy oval after a while.

So I was tinkering with SCARM trying to duplicate the layout plan for either of the last two plans listed, but I must be modeling in the wrong scale or with the wrong type of track. I dunno. Hell, I can't even figure out how to get the buildings on it. (Maybe the plan designer used AnyRail. Beats me.)

This would give me approximately a 36x36 layout, which would fit nicely on the table I have.

Only "con" to that is that it's bigger than I actually want to work with. Decisions, decisions. ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?272-Model-Railroading-005 Model Railroading - 004 https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?271-Model-Railroading-004 Mon, 22 Feb 2016 20:46:47 GMT So the wife got home last night and asked what I did with my Sunday. Since I had a migraine yesterday, I convalesced most of the morning. I got tired of sitting on my ass so I decided to first take down the Christmas tree. Then I managed to also sweep the first floor and do a decent cleanup... So the wife got home last night and asked what I did with my Sunday.

Since I had a migraine yesterday, I convalesced most of the morning. I got tired of sitting on my ass so I decided to first take down the Christmas tree. Then I managed to also sweep the first floor and do a decent cleanup job.

But I showed her what I'd worked on the night before.

This is not an exact replica of what I tacked down onto the foam board (the bottom wave is different) but it's basically accurate for my 2x4 foot base.

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Her first question: "Why is it so plain?"
Me: Well I only had an hour with which to work in between trying to repair some rolling stock...

Her second question: "When do you start major construction?"

:grinyes: ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?271-Model-Railroading-004 Model Railroading - 003 https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?270-Model-Railroading-003 Sun, 21 Feb 2016 19:39:38 GMT The first hobby shop I went to (Sattler's Trains in Westmont, NJ; sorry for the Facebook link, they don't have a website) the proprietor was relatively nice. However, his wife treated me like a hooligan and kept hovering around me. I guess they're not used to patrons under 50. I picked up a couple magazines but nothing else.

The second hobby shop (AAA Hobbies, Lawnside) was the one with the motorized display case mentioned from Christmas 2015. I couldn't get any help here, as the 3-4 employees on duty seemed too interested in their conversation about calorie counts in the meal they'd just ordered from the local pizza place. Still, I ended up buying a handful of items - some rail joiners, some insulated rail joiners, a pair of terminal joiners, some rail spikes (bag of 400), and two lengths of N-scale code 80 flex track.

I went back to the flea market warehouse place but was again ignored by the guy who was "blowing out his N-scale train stuff", and even by the second guy who seemed more interested in helping random women of his age group (probably mid-to-late 60s) in the "housewares" section of his stalls.

Last, I went to Yankee Dabbler. The guy behind the counter here was much nicer and actually engaged me a little. I ended up helping a grandmother looking for LEGO train tracks for her grandson, and another guy looking for a rerailer for his HO layout. Picked up 20 pieces of 9 3/4" radius track for 9 bucks (a steal; I should have bought more when I found out how much they were), some gear lube for the engine I repaired, and some more rail joiners (half the price of AAA Hobbies).

When I got home, I decided to have a "Dad Memorial" solo night.
I tossed Close Encounters of the Third Kind into the blu-ray player.
While the movie ran, I used 13 pieces of the curved track to lay out a half-assed circle on my coffee table. After putting a single drop of oil on each axle gear, I ran the little switcher engine around for a while.

I checked the mail while letting the gears lubricate. Discovered a package had come with some loco parts I'd won from eBay. Spent a little time poking around with two of the locos.
One has a wonky front gear assembly. I kind of got it back into place but the motor seems to be worn in a way I've yet to learn how to determine. It moves, but only at high RPM and only at a set speed.
The other seems to hard-lock and gives the "rrrRRRrrrr" sound of a burnt motor.
One is just a dummy shell whose light contacts seem to be broken. I didn't disassemble for examination.
The last is a fully functional 0-8-0 steam engine, with tender (minus coupler) which only needed its wheels cleaned before it would run smoothly.

Since I was having a good time, I expanded the circle out to kind of a weird dogbone shape. Then I remembered the foam board I had, and decided to go a bit bigger.
Measuring 2x4 feet, the R40 foam board was a little thinner than I've read about people using lately, but it would do the job for some engine testing.
I cleaned up about half of the curved track pieces from the Mom's-House-Boxes and placed them and organized them on the board. Then I nailed it down in 8 places. Just enough to keep it steady, especially for when I'd need to move it.
And I let the little switcher run with some of the rolling stock for a while.

I ended up watching Close Encounters, Flight of the Navigator, and most of Real Genius while doing this before my wife got home. ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?270-Model-Railroading-003 Model Railroading - 002 https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?269-Model-Railroading-002 Fri, 19 Feb 2016 14:51:15 GMT I finally went over to Mom's two weeks ago and decided to look for the missing boxes myself.

Right where I remember them being were three boxes. One larger file box and two smaller boxes.

Spoiler for boxes:

I brought them home and cracked them open.

Here's what I found:
Over a dozen magazines from 90, 91, and 92, as well as the Walthers catalogs for N&Z Scale from 1985!! and 1990.

Spoiler for mags:

A handful of instructional books like the N Scale Primer by Russ Larson, and a copy of the N-Trak module manual from 1987. The 1984 printing of "101 Track Plans For Model Railroaders" by Linn Westcott.

Spoiler for instructions:

Spoiler for catalogs:

Almost two dozen buildings. Houses, mostly, with a couple businesses. A water tower. A yard tower. Engine house. Auto mechanic with garage.

Spoiler for buildings:

The little Volkswagen Dad had painted all those years ago.

Spoiler for VW:

A little box with a hand-carved canoe, rowboat, and two paddles Dad had made.
Some track, much quite damaged. Maybe twenty pieces of Atlas 2510. A handful of straights of various lengths. An unopened Model Power turnout. Some broken flex track.

Spoiler for othertwoboxes:

Two short trestles. Some pier risers. A bunch of old scenery components, including a couple bags of unopened lichen!
And a handful of rolling stock.
My old 2161 switcher, a passenger car, a flatbed, a short tank car, a long three-cap tank car, two low gondolas (no trucks), a flatbed with three circular "cups" on top, and a short red caboose. There's also what remains of an old diesel - no shell, just the motor.

Spoiler for stock:

I spent an hour cleaning up the newly refound 2161. I popped off the shell and using 70% rubbing alcohol and some q-tips cleaned off the gunk and grime as best I could. Now it just looks a little weathered, instead of like it got dumped into a pile of sludge.

Last week, I ordered a Tyco controller from eBay that looked exactly like the ones we used to use. It was cheap, and I needed it. I also went back to the hobby shop from Christmastime and picked up some rail joiners and a couple pieces of flex track. Meanwhile, I picked up some pink foam board for another purpose, but ended up not using it all. This gives me a foundation from which to work.

Now, I have to formulate an idea for my layout. Something small to start. See if the hobby's still for me, before I sink too much time, money, and energy into it. ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?269-Model-Railroading-002 Model Railroading - 001 https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?268-Model-Railroading-001 Fri, 19 Feb 2016 14:17:35 GMT Some of my earliest memories include sitting on my dad's lap while he controled the HO-scale model railroad layout in the living room. At Christmas time, the family forwent a larger tree in favor of a smaller one that would sit in a specially-prepared circle on the layout.

Related aside: I received a gift one year of the Transformers G1 toy "Astrotrain" and was shocked mightily to find its train mode fit perfectly on HO-scale track! It was far too heavy to be moved by any locos so it sat on a siding until Dad was done running, so I'd just walk it around the layout for fun.

In 1985 we moved in with my maternal grandmother. I don't know what happened to all "the stuff". For a few years, we went without; we subsisted on trips to Colorado to visit family but more importantly to go to the Railroad Museum in Golden. Closer to home we went to Roadside America, Strasburg PA (to ride the steam train), and even New Hope PA (to ride the short-line there). It was fun, but not enough.

We moved in 1989 again. Dad resumed the hobby, this time in N-scale. I don't remember the "little steps"; I just remember all of a sudden there was a three-quarters built layout in the basement.

But we moved again in 1993. The layout was disassembled and moved to the new place. Unfortunately it was partially damaged in the move and we had to rebuild parts of it. It took up the dining room for a while. This time, we three kids had a hand in some of the construction. I have vague memories of Dad jig-sawing grades and special pieces for a two-tier helix under a mountain. There was a small station along one edge, with a pair of sidings and some stub yards. Overall, it was a simple oval on a 4x8 table, and worked well for watching the trains roll by.

Our rolling stock ballooned. One year for Christmas we all got locomotives of our choice. My sister got a trolley (perhaps the Bachmann Brill Trolley). I got a small Jupiter 4-4-0 and a Plasser EM80C. I don't remember what my brother got. Perhaps something in Burlington Northern, because green was at the time his favorite color. I remember a quartet of passenger cars riding the rails. There were lots of various freight stock; some matched, some not. Some of my favorite locos were the small switchers (like the ATSF 2161 or the B&O 0-4-0), but I also loved the big honkin' haulers too. We tried at one point to put all of the stock on the layout and we covered half of the non-helix track.

Related aside: I found during the move into that particular house some of my old Transformers. This included the GoBot "Loco". I was again fully shocked to find this one fit perfectly on N-scale track! This one was lighter, so we managed to use one of the locos with no front coupler to push it around, but it was too tall to traverse the tunnels on the layout.

Dad did a lot of kit building, both structures and a smidgen of stock. Mom did a lot of the scenery and foliage. Dad was good at free-hand modeling, too; at one point I recall a special part of the mountain was built up with a creek and waterfall to showcase a scratch-built version of the Crystal Mill in Colorado. He did a lot of the fine-detail painting, too, especially for the vehicles. At one point, he free-hand painted a version of Herbie the Love Bug.

But we moved again in 1997. Dad's vision had started to fail a couple years prior due to diabetic retinapathy and macular degeneration. I remember fully disassembling the layout after we moved. Tearing up track. Boxing up buildings and rolling stock. It got banished to the recesses of the dungeon (I mean the dark, low ceilinged basement) and the remaining structure of the layout itself got cut up and trashed.

Model railroading became a fond family memory.

We visited the Railroad Museum in Golden again in 2000. We all walked through their yard pointing, "Remember when you had that one?" or "That one would always derail in the tunnel" or "You broke that one and Dad had to fix it."

There have been times in the recent past when the flare of the love of trains would be rekindled.
One year I took my at-the-time girlfriend to Baltimore for her birthday. She'd never been there. We went to the Aquarium, the Hard Rock Cafe, even pedaled around a corner of the bay on a pedal boat. But in her amazingness, she stated that I was in no way to allow the whole weekend to be solely about her, so we went to the B&O Rail Museum. Even she had fun.
A good friend whom I met through Geocaching (an outdoors hobby where you find tupperware in the woods using multi-billion dollar satellites) had a G-scale garden layout (similar to this) that we'd chat about from time to time.

I watch The Big Bang Theory with my now-wife. Whenever Sheldon Cooper would bring up model railroading, she'd nudge me and say "You used to do that" and my response would be a half saddened "yeah". "Don't you miss it?" she'd ask.

Dad passed in March 2015. He is missed. We reminisce about him a lot. One night at dinner after my wedding in October 2015 my wife and I were talking about trains for some reason (maybe because I take the train every day for my work commute) and model railroading came up again. I described a bunch of the stuff we used to do with our layout. She seemed intrigued.

I started to pick up model railroad magazines at the bookstore. Zipping through the pages brought back a smidgen of nostalgia. I even stopped at a local hobby store for other purposes (to find a gift for my brother) right before Christmas 2015 and spent too much time in their train section. It had shrunk significantly, but they still had the motorized display case that I remembered from two decades prior. I stood there rolling through the selection of N-scale stock and got happy little memory bits floating around.

I don't know what prompted me to hop on Reddit's Model Trains sub that day over a month ago, but I did. And I saw a post with some engines and rolling stock for sale. I figured "why not" and bought a handful. That same 2161 switcher, two box cars, and a caboose. I didn't have a plan, but I knew I wanted to restart the hobby.

A couple weeks later I went with my brother to a handful of estate sales. We also happened to stop at an indoor flea market. Three of the tables inside offered trains. I hovered longer than one might expect if having an "I'm just looking" frame of mind.
One of the table owners came up to me and said "Yeah I'm clearing out all my N-scale stuff." I told him we'd been out of the hobby 25 years but were getting back into it. He looked us up and down, and walked away.
Nice salesman, huh?

Mom's heater had problems soon after that, so she needed to clear out part of the basement to have it looked at. While she did so, I realized the section of the basement she'd cleared is where I remember we'd stored the boxes of the old train stuff seventeen, eighteen years prior.
"Hey Ma," I said as we chatted on the phone about the heater. "Remember the old train stuff?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Could you check the big wooden cabinet on the eastern wall near the stairs for a handful of boxes that say 'train stuff' on them?"
"There isn't anything like that in there," she reported.

Sadness.

I started looking online for model railroading resources and found Model Railroad Hobbyist's magazine. I downloaded all their back issues and started reading. ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?268-Model-Railroading-001 X3 - Week Recap https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?257-X3-Week-Recap Mon, 02 May 2011 12:59:36 GMT *Completed the Operation Final Fury (Kha'ak) plot.
-Had more problems with the captain-level battle, than I did the final battle!
-Of course now my combat rank is Militant, up from Veteran. Sigh.

*Added chip plex to Circle of Labor and upgraded my ore/sil plex in Tkr's Deprivation to a full chip fab with 8 or 9 chip plants and a few other "Hmm, I need those" factories.
-Still running from Barren Shores, Light Water
-Just under 43k chips left to finish the last part of the Hub.
-Even added a couple Chokaro using the Supply software. My complexes are pulling in over 10 million an hour. I can spare the cash.

*Even though my Pirate rep must be pretty darn good right now, what with the Fuel/Weed plex in Avarice, I still get one- or two-off stupid pirates attacking my stations. It seems like those f'ers bypass the shields and get right to hull damage, because by the time I notice (10, 15 minutes or less) the station's at 5% hull or less.
And it's STILL hard to repair.

*Upgraded my 'plex in Legend's Home to include a few more resource products to fill voids in the neighboring sectors.

*Did a LOT of station build missions in Boron and Teladi territory

*Set up a half dozen new wide-spanning LTs running Springblossoms.
-I'll probably buy another half dozen and start getting a few UTs up and running again. ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?257-X3-Week-Recap X3 - Week Recap https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?256-X3-Week-Recap Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:15:57 GMT *Completed the Goner plot.
-The capturing of the TLS is really stupid. You don't gain control of it afterwards - instead it reverts to Goner control - and your marines apparently get "converted" to Goner, so I lost five 4-star plus marines. :angry:
-Took 8-10 reloads for that part.

*Completed the New Home plot.
-Twisted Skies rocks.
-Ended up reloading 7 or 8 times before I realized that the sector I was jumping into, with just the Ship Debris, was the right one.

*60k microchips left to finish the Hub plot. Gonna be a while. I didn't do any new station construction for it.

*Keep getting Pirates attacking my Avarice complex.
-It's rather annoying, because I don't get timely warnings about it and when I jump in, or when my in-sector patrols finally realize wtf is happening, the station they'd targeted has taken a buttload of damage - which I can't repair unless I use my repair laser. Painful.

*The mission tracking for this game really stinks. Some missions instantly update you as to what to do. Others, you actually need to check the mission window to find out, instead of a popup at the bottom. ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?256-X3-Week-Recap X3 - Week Recap https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?254-X3-Week-Recap Mon, 18 Apr 2011 13:29:05 GMT *Finished the second set of Hub gates.
-Left my connection between Ore Belt and CBSE.
-Second connection now goes between Barren Shores and Priest Refuge.
-Teladianium delivery took me less than 24 hours, what with Teladianium foundries in Presidents' End, Trinity Sanctum, and one or two other places.
-Ore took 2 full days and I never experienced a shortage
-Nvidium I found a portion via war drops; the rest through some annoyed mobile mining. I still don't have the knack of that.
-Crystals took 3 and a half days. I ended up buying a good portion of them with traders, since I couldn't figure out via either of the Complex calculators how to NOT make them a zero-sum product. Ended up spending 480+ million on that.
-Set up a Silicon Wafer complex in Barren Shores high off the ecliptic. Will probably end up building a companion complex in either Cho's Defeat, Depths of Silence, Elena's Fortune, or Rhonkar's Trial.

*Started and finished the Treasure Hunt plot.

Spoiler for treasure hunt:

*Picked up another Mammoth and 10 Mistral SF for storage/shuttling.

*My unjoined "complex" of Wheat Farm, Cahoona Bakery, and SPP in Argon Prime is great for ST training, which I've been using to spread love and joy - okay, economic monopoly - throughout the eastern sectors.
-I really need to get a few more into the central sectors also as well as focus some build station missions in the SE.

*I finally realized why my sat/shield complex in Antigone Memorial had a Soja Husk surplus - because I never -built- the frigging ASat factory! So I finally delivered that and now there's even more traffic into the sector :)
-I will probably be adding 2-3 more, as well as a NavSat, and maybe a few 1mj/5mj factories, depending on if the Complex Builder says I have room.
-Then again, I have ore and silicon mines sitting and selling and with no CAG/CLS running product, so I might be able to swing that.
-Also, it topped 1.5B credits, yes B for Billion, and I'd been frustrated with the CAG settings re: the secondary "off shore" account, and finally figured that out. So now it steadily dumps credits into that account.

*My spaceweed/fuel complex in Avarice is rocking the traffic lanes. I might put another in the far SE US to try to drive economic rebuilding there.
-It has made over 500M in 3 days.

*Been hoarding Marines.
-Outfitted all my TLs with Cargo Life Support, and all my M6 and M7, and pulled a bunch of my TPs out of CBSE, so that I can keep training them without overflow.

*The only new major ship I "absconded with" was a Shrike, which I jumped to the Yaki SY in Senator's Badlands, until the Yaki took care of the "recovery team".

*Trying to figure out how best to sell goods that I collect via battles. I keep weapons/needed goods, but when I end up with a couple thousand extra Carbo Cake, for example, I send my Mammoth3 up to Asteroid Belt, then use a couple Chokaro to "Remote Best Sell." I haven't figured out how to use CLS to sell these better as my current method is a lot of micromanagement.

At this point, I can definitely say I've gotten my money's worth from the game - even if I'd paid full retail price! ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?254-X3-Week-Recap X3 - Week Recap https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?253-X3-Week-Recap Mon, 11 Apr 2011 03:46:41 GMT *Finished unlocking the first set of Hub gates. -Sadly, the Xenon force that rolled in was just a few Ls and an M, followed by a single Q... the Skiron, Thresher, Aquilo, Heavy Centaur Prototype were a bit overkill. -Also, the Q kept going after my Elephant, so I hopped OOS and the fight was over... *Finished unlocking the first set of Hub gates.
-Sadly, the Xenon force that rolled in was just a few Ls and an M, followed by a single Q... the Skiron, Thresher, Aquilo, Heavy Centaur Prototype were a bit overkill.
-Also, the Q kept going after my Elephant, so I hopped OOS and the fight was over instantly in my favor. Yay.
-I was hoping the Hub had better storage, but it's just like having an Equipment Dock in my own sector. :( Is there any way, other than dozens of Mistral SFs with full cargo holds, that I can get a very very good storage station/area?

*Ended up losing 6+ hours, a complex in the Unknown Sector at the far SE, and over 50k Teladianium delivery because I didn't get any messages that the rest of my TLs got squashed by a marauding pack of Xenon, so I went back to just after the unlock.
-Chose to link Ore Belt and CBSE due to the upcoming 450k Ore delivery. Ended up moving all of my unused TS to Rhonkar's Trial so that it'd be easier to upgrade and set them all for CLS use.
-The Super Shipyards can hold over 400 ships of M3-M5, TS, TM, and TP class. Man that was a laggy window.
-I looked but couldn't find a better way to control groups of a specific type of ship than the default menus. I ended up having to manually send dozens of traders all across the map, instead of "Broadcast - TS - etc". The most granular option is "TS/TP".

*Got to watch the Boron go apeshit on the Paranid in Contorted Dominion, and gathered about 400 units in various missiles.
-Half tempted to set up a few more Chokaro and set them to "Collect wares" but then there's all the micromanagement of finding them somewhere to store it...

*Been doing a lot more shipyard purchasing; ended up getting three Pleco with a good selection of marines.
-Averaging about 15 new/used ships a session. Up to 531 ships.
-Today's unreturned abandoned ship haul included a Heavy Nemesis, Tiger, Dragon, Katana, Gannet, Ares, and a Heavy Centaur.
-The Terrans are much less angry about me blowing up their single police ship; the Split really, -really- hate it when I do.
-Saw the funniest thing. One of my shipyard purchases - a Caiman SF - ended up going through Nyana's Hideout and got attacked by a wandering pack of Xenon (Q, a few Ls) and somehow ended up getting halfway across the sector to dock safely at a station with just under 50% hull!

*New complex in Trinity Sanctum is feeding the Telad very nicely, if slowly, so I added a foundry to my complex in Presidents' End.
-Was thinking of putting another Telad complex in Spring of Belief, because the stations down there are Telad dry too.
-Also need to configure an Ore complex in Ore Belt and also to beef up my complex in PE with some ore mines.

*I think I've finally figured out how to successfully start a CLS/CAG trader. Still a lot of intricacies with them, though.
-Tried setting one to sell off the extra Tractor beams I have - almost 100 - but I can't choose any Equipment Docks or Trading stations to take them. Ended up shutting off the TB factory.

*About 50% of my Mistrals have been replaced by Chokaros, which I've set to 3-jump overlapping areas, starting with Kingdom's End.
-Unfortunately, my "trade dominion" only covers the quadrant east of Family Whi, and north of Senator's Badlands, and the Terran areas, so the south central, south eastern, and north western areas have really floundered. Woops. ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?253-X3-Week-Recap Been Restored 001 https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?235-Been-Restored-001 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:03:52 GMT So I added my authenticator to my account(s) today. Logged in after 7 hours of redownloading WoW. Looks like a full restore, with a few things that may have been left by the previous dipshits, I mean hackers. So I added my authenticator to my account(s) today.

Logged in after 7 hours of redownloading WoW.

Looks like a full restore, with a few things that may have been left by the previous dipshits, I mean hackers. ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?235-Been-Restored-001 Been Hacked 012 https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?234-Been-Hacked-012 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:15:55 GMT Check my email this morning.

There's a dozen or so from Blizzard regarding character or guild restoration.
I give them a cursory peek.
Paladin restored - gear, gold.
Mage - restored. 75 gold, gear.
DK - restored, 0 gold, ge..

wait what?
So I go through and try to read them a bit better.
I can't tell just by reading the alphabetical list how boned I am (though admittedly I'm less boned, just by virtue of having the restoration) but it looks like my mage's gear is PRE-3.3! FUCK!
Over 240 badges worth of purchases, not to mention the H-ICC 5-man drops. Oh yeah and 15k (on the mage alone) gold missing.
I couldn't even easily pick apart the paladin and the death knight, what with having TWO sets of gear, tanking and dps :(

Since it's maintenance day I can't tell how boned the rest of them are (though really, the sub-65s would be easy to work with, and I did get quite a lot of the guild and mule stuff back) but OMG.

When do they do backups? How can I be missing 2+ months of gear? :angry::rlymad::wtf:

Oh yeah, and I haven't even been able to log into the second account to even begin to ask for a restoration on that. (2 deletions, 1 server move). ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?234-Been-Hacked-012 Been Hacked 012 https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?233-Been-Hacked-012 Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:10:25 GMT In a moment of spontaneous serendipitous memory, I remembered that I kept the laptop's box in the closet.
So I dug it out, and in the midst of downloading drivers, found out that it actually has a hidden restore partition.

WOOT!
Less than 18 minutes later, Windows was up and running and waiting for me to go back through basic setup.

Couldn't find the desktop stuff though. That can wait. For now. ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?233-Been-Hacked-012 Been Hacked 011 https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?227-Been-Hacked-011 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:31:16 GMT Too big of a packrat.

Can't find installation CDs. ]]> Mileron https://www.graffes.com/forums/entry.php?227-Been-Hacked-011