The Immortal & RT-17 Gunships

Blue Galaxy

I truly believe in the network of life. How one teeny tiny moment can lead us to something grand and wonderful. One evening while hanging out in my favorite scifi sim Starbase Alpha I happen to see in the corner of my eye an interesting avatar. I cam'ed in to get a closer look and saw very detailed armor and was stunned at how beautiful it was. So I right clicked and inspected it to get the creators name and found the name Ash Soyinka. I checked out the profile and found his store and TP'ed there right away. What I found...... astonished me!

Before I continue let me just say that rarely do words fail to describe my experiences. But in this case words truly do not capture the splendor of the sim created by Ash. This sim simply has to be seen to grasp the full artistry and elegance.

I strolled into the store where I found an adorable Lulinae Bauble avatar and lots of matching clothes and armor. I wasted no time in making a bunch of purchases and trying them on right then and there.

After I finished shopping I proceeded to explore the lands. It's truly amazing! There are two sims of what I refer to as "Scifi Nature." A mix of nature set in a futurist, almost other worldly atmosphere. The combination of scenery and music makes it the perfect place for relaxation and calm.

While there I saw a poster for an upcoming Android avatar that Ash was working long and hard on. From what everyone in the group told me, Ash is a perfectionist...... um... DUH! HAHA! I say that because you get that impression instantly when you first arrive in the sim. The android looked incredible and I wanted one NOW! But like everyone else I had to wait a few more weeks....... it was well worth the wait.

In speaking with Ash he told me of a new store design he was working on and sent me a few snapshots. I was sworn to secrecy that I wouldn't tell anyone what I saw.... and I kept that promise. I was excited because I knew that VERY soon the new store and avatar would be released. A little over a week later..... the Androids had invaded!

People showed up in hordes and everyone was gathering around the Android vendor to get their hands on one. What I love most about Ash is not only is he brilliant in his abilities as a designer but also promotes creativity by giving copy mod rights to his products and asks people to get creative. I looked around and saw people modifying their androids. Each person creating their own unique style..... I joined them ;)

If you are looking for something new then Blue Galaxy is a place you want to put on the top of your list. It is absolutely stunning and the people are warm and friendly. Not to mention Ash.... one of the most gifted and not to mention personable people I have ever met. Check it out.... we just might run into each other.

Click here to visit Blue Galaxy

The BlackBird Stealth Fighter

Well my Colonial ship collection would not be complete without the Blackbird Stealth Fighter. The BB was designed to sneak past Cylon detection to deliver a single missile to the FTL drives of the Resurrection ship enabling Vipers to come in and finish the job. It was a great episode and I was very sad when the BB was destroyed after colliding with a Cylon Raider. However... I brought it back to LIFE!!!! tee hee ;P

This version of the BB is scripted for VICE and has a single gun in the front where the missile was placed. I'm planning on installing missiles soon but VICE is a tricky system to work with... especially for novice scripters like me. However.... I was just turned on to a very nice combat system called VCS which promises to be a more flexible and more importantly "user friendlier" alternative to VICE. More on that in a future blog.

People always ask me what I use for sculpting. Now although I'm no pro by any means.... I do however have an assortment of tools and skills that help me get the job done. I typically use Sculpt Studio combined with ZBrush. But for this project I added another handy tool called.... The Prim Oven. To learn more about the prim oven look for it on Xstreet.

The BB is about 98% sculpted, has 2 flight modes, a single cannon, 2 particle engines and sounds, compass and more. It even has the ORIGINAL "Laura" name on the nose and signatures on the left engine taken directly from up close photos of the REAL Blackbird that was sold at auction. A little photoshop magic did the trick *winks*

So I hope you enjoy the BB as much as I do. As always.... upgrades are always FREE!

Rediscovering Starbase Alpha

When I was rather new to SecondLife a friend of mine took me to a sim where people could rez ships and fly. This was great because flying ships on mainland was terrible. You never knew what you were going to run into..... like security orbs and even worse.... ban lines. So finding a place like SBA was a welcome alternative.

However not every thing was as Rosy as it may seem. SBA was plagued with many problems and mostly political in nature. None of which involved me.... for once...HA HA! This sim was and is still run by the ever diligent Paranth Itamae who unfortunately had to deal with the constant complaining from various groups of people and on a day to day basis. Paranth is a cute little furry who takes his job seriously and does it very well. He always strives to make SBA the best it can be but people can only take so much before they throw in the towel..... which is just what he did.

One day... and not surprised to hear it.... I heard that SBA had shut down. I kind of predicted it would happen with all the rumors and gossip I was hearing. I was sad that day and went on with my SL-life as always. But I had learned much later on that we had not seen the last of SBA.

Month and months later I heard SBA reopened.... but I never went back. I just thought the problems wouldn't go away and my "avoid drama" chip in my brain turned me away from visiting the sim. Well my implant must have malfunctioned because a few weeks ago I revisited the sim and all I can say is..... WOW!

SBA came back and with a vengeance! The sim looks stunning and very realistic for sci fi enthusiasts. The builds are fantastic and gone is a lot of the BS protocol of yesterday. I ran into Paranth and he seemed so much happier that it made me happy for him. He deserves to be happy :)

I made my way to the main hanger and rezzed my Viper MK-VII. Prepped for launch.... fired up the engines and departed the station to explore more of the sim. I noticed right away that below me..... was earth! It's beautiful and you almost get the illusion that you're really in space looking down at the planet. So I flew towards the planet, through the clouds and soon saw land. As I approached the ground level I saw a modest build of various buildings and also noticed a second sim. The second sim is called Station Alpha and is mainly a retail sim of all things Sci fi..... mostly ships. I ended up spending around $12k there on my new Poseidon ship and a Rhino drop ship. More on those two in another review *winks*.

I headed back towards the main sim and this time turned my sites back up into deep space. What I found is an assortment of some small and some massive ships in various locations of the sim. The rule of "don't get too close, no unauthorized boarding and no camming" still apply. I found a nice empty spot near the asteroid belt to rez my carrier and this is where you can find me these days.

All in all SBA is back and Paranth deserves a great big pat on the back for keeping it alive. I highly recommend you visit the sim and take a look around. You'll be glad you did.

Colonial Vipers & Raptor

For a long time I said I wouldn't build any colonial ships from Battlestar Galactica but..... I did. It started many months ago actually and took quit a long time to finish. But as my skills in sculpting increased so did the changes I felt were needed on the builds. So here they are.... the Viper MK-II, MK-VII and Raptor.

The Assault Raptor is done and looks really good but I'm tinkering with the missile scripts right now. The original ships were all PCS & CCC combat eneabled but recently simplified and converted to VICE.

My best friends Freyakc, Hadley and Stacia have been helping me beta test the combat system with dog fights on our sim. My favorite part is what happens when you get a kill. I rigged it so they literally explode in a giant flash with debris flying everywhere. SO FUN!

As always I set it up so everyone gets updates as I make changes. Hope you like'em :)

Jealousy?

One of the behaviors that I have noticed for a long time in SecondLife is..... jealousy. This emotion is often triggered by envy, insecurity or bitterness and often leads people to make rash and irrational decisions.

But why am I bringing this up?....... Well recently I was targeted by a group from BSG-47 and banned me from their sim. Their reason?.... stealing. Apparently someone on that sim after over two years on the market AND on sale at the mall space I rented from them decided to accuse me of stealing something and I don't even know what it is. They say it's something to do with my Cylon Centurion Elite Edition forearm weapon. So let's discuss shall we? :)

My centurion was created over 2 years ago and was heavily used on the BSG-47 sim. For the short time I was a member there my centurion had several updates in shape, textures and so on. But what remained constant were the FREE open source LoLSBS gun scripts that I modified for my use and installed in my centurions arm. For the record.... and easily verifiable.... I contacted Auron Prefect who is the creator of the gun scripts to help me with the gun. He showed me how the scripts worked, how to get the bullets working and more. My gun was up and running.... no problem. A few months after the centurion was released Dollwife Pink told me they were making a few changes to the meter they use on the sim and that she'll be giving me scripts so my gun will work with their new setup...... full perm of course.... AND agreed upon that the scripts would be sold as part of my entire centurion package. Seems simple right?..... verbal agreements and all..... that's what I thought too.

Well not long after I left the sim I made another BIG change to my centurion which included going back to my original gun scripts. This came shortly after BSG-47 stopped using my centurions for their RP.... but... I still rented mall space from them and continued to do so up until they closed the sim down for a massive makeover. When they re-opened the sim I went back looking for the mall so I can rent a spot but couldn't find it. I had to be shown where it was by a kind person who happened to ask me if I needed any help. When I finally got there I noticed they lowered the prims and raised the price. I decided I wasn't going to rent there anymore because to be honest.... sales in the old "good spot" were slim and the new location... in my opinion... was too hidden. I was contacted about 2 weeks later by Lillystar Parx who apparently took over their mall. She asked me if I would be renting again and I told her no and why. I thought everything was fine..... I was so wrong. A week later I find myself banned from the sim. When I asked Lillystar she said that I was using one of THEIR player created weapons in my cylons. When I asked for a name so I could confront this misinformed person (aka: liar) I was told that this person had already contacted me and that I should know who it is already....... ummmm.... that never happened. No one has ever contacted me that I can recall. I again asked her in IM's for more info so I can confront this person..... and I have been ignored ever since.

For a while I have kept the peace between me and the folks at BSG-47. I don't blame them all... that would be silly. But the powers that be have a tendency to twist the truth to suit their own personal needs. While I was renting from them they had no problems with my centurion.... but as soon as I stop renting from them... PRESTO..... slapped with a ban and a "thief" sticker on my file. What a load of CRAP!

So why do I say the word jealousy? Well..... why else would they be messing with me and my centurion? I mean... I was the VERY first in SL to accurately recreate the Cylon Centurion MK-II and continued to update it over the years. I was the VERY first to make the Re-imagined Razor series version of the Model 0005 Centurion in SL..... will that be targeted next? What's surprising to me is that Darsh... the sims main creators at BSG-47 is a far better builder and scriptor then I am. He has no reason to be jealous or threatened by me at all. In fact I admire his amazing skills..... even though he and I don't like each other, it doesn't mean I won't give him his props as a creator.

So who is this "creator" who is accusing me of stealing and why oh why are they hiding behind the cowardly shield of anonymity? Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to the irrational behavior of some people in SL. All I can do is keep building.... keep having fun with my friends... and pay them no mind. The truth... in the end.... is always revealed.

I for one would like to know where the miscommunication happened so this can be resolved. But how can anything be resolved if the accusing party won't talk to you? yeah..... I know... I was thinking that too *winks*

Tol Daeannon in Sharindlar

Well as you know I love to explore and whenever I find a sim that keeps me coming back I tend to want to share my joy. My sisters of the Amazon Celt Clan and I go exploring via horseback and on one of those journeys we happened to wander into Tol Daeannon in Sharindlar.

First let me say that the landscaping is breath taking to say the least. I found myself just aimlessly walking the sims and exploring the many beauties it contained. The poeple of Sharindlar are equaly beautiful in their friendliness to strangers as well as their strong commitment and love for each other.

I opened a small shop in their trading ship and was invited to group. Soon after I received a group message about a melee training class.... so I quickly TP'ed there and participated. Bimbofun or General Bim as they like to call her is the leader of the Kings Army and also an excellent teacher. She runs her classes in an orderly fashion and usually keeps the fun factor high.

My favorite thing about this sim is their constant training and battles. They plan and implement complex team strategies and create scenarios for their warriors to work with. Spell Fire scripted weapons are the norm here and THANK GOD!

So in essence I have found another sim to explore and have fun in. Two thumbs up!