Motocross Madness
The Players
Brock (B_ROCK)Jeff (FNG_tht1guy)
Tyler (as himself)
Tonight started out with several really fun rounds of good ole' MCM. We played Desert Heat and Dirt Devil. Desert Heat lived up to its name,
as things got heated fighting for the holeshot. Brock pulled ahead, earning the honor while Tyler and I mixed it up a little, causing us to
miss the mark of clearing the whole jump. Finding ourselves at the base of the other side of the gap, we both remounted our bikes and got back
to the racin', in a mad dash to catch up with Brock.
I was able to make a pass on (not at) Brock in the tight curves that ensue after a sharp 90 degree turn after the long jump Tyler and I
mixed it up at. They wisened up to it quickly and were on my tail the entire rest of the race. Good race to all.
Next up was Dirt Devil, one of Jeff's personal favorites... a track the beats the crap out of you and has you coming back crying for more.
With terribly tight runways and hairpin turns, it's amazing one can stay on their bike long enough to say they're able to really ride it.
Needless to say bikes and bodies were flying everywhere from the mayhem, resulting from overshot or undershot jumps and laying too heavy on the throttle
while approaching the crazy curves.
Dirt Devil is just that, a totally technical track that will drag you to hell in a body bag if you're not careful. It requires a lot of braking and
quick reflexes. Pay close attention or you'll find yourself flinging up over a ridge, or face flat into the side of the ravines. Although the track
doesn't appear to allow full-throttle action, judging from some of the lap times, it looks to have been pulled off in the past, if not extremely close.
Age of Empires II: Conquerors Expansion - Download the Replay (2.17MB) - Click the Images
The Players
Dan (Bencester)Jeff (That One Guy)
Joe (DrPup)
We capped off with the night with an incredibly cool game of Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. And before I go into it, I have to give it some
serious pluggage. This gets the "Kudos" game award for it's emergency save feature. If someone disconnects mid-game, it auto-saves, and allows the
host to have everyone reconnect. It then sends the saved copy of the game to each player and lets everyone resume from where the game was
interrupted.
This came in handy for us mid-game when the battles started to really get heated. Unfortunately, because we had to emergency save... the replay
only goes as far as when the emergency save took place.. What you will realize, is that Dan and his brother Joe and conveniently set each other
to neutral stance and left me on enemy... to fend for myself against the two of them.
Luckily, before the massive fighting began, I was able to score 2500 points more than them.. helping me to feel a little more confident in going
up against them... knowing I'd be the middle of the triangle and probably eventually have to fight them both at the same time.
This theory was quickly proven true when, in the midst of my big campaign against Joe, Dan comes marching into the middle of my base. Well, I held
them both off, not without devastating damage done to my base. Well, I wasn't going to let him get away with it, so I went in and crippled Joe as
best I could in an attempt to keep him off my back while I attempted to deal with Dan.
Joe's defenses were awfully well done, and extremely difficult to punch through. He built a totally tight base with all buildings very close together.
Dan, on the other hand, had almost as many gold relics as I did and was thus enabled to train armies equal to or better than my own. And so our battles
ensued. I went for his dock.. and after several waves of volleys back and forth, each of us sending troops after the other.. I finally knocked the dock
out.
Of course, then, Dan proceeded to start knocking me out. By this time I'd been whittled down enough by the both of them, that I just couldn't hold out
any longer. It was a sweet victory for Dan, and an incredibly fun game all around for everyone involved.
If you're interested, download the replay. The replay options inside Age II are pretty cool.. as you can pick which player you want to watch, and see
their economy grow, etc. It also saves the messages typed during the game, which I thought was awesome!