Ambrosia Software Web Board: SETI@home - Ambrosia Software Web Board

Today, I decided to join SETI@home, and after being a member of the EV group for a matter of about six hours, transfered over to the ASW group. Since this topic hasn't been opened in a while, and there are a few newer members who don't remember the old topic, I thought I'd bring it up again.

SETI@ home is... well, I doubt I'm the best person to explain it, I only understand the basics myself. If someone else can give a concise explanation, I'm sure It'd be appreciated.

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-TDD-
"Verizonish" -Texas Rangers' Outfielder Carl Everett, when asked how he felt after being hit with a cellphone during a game.

Why do you keep asking non-Cythera releated things in this forum? I always get so happy to see a new thread, and then it's not about Cythera.. It is very dissapointing.

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Keep posting them? I'm afraid you either have me mistaken for someone else, or haven't checked the dates on my post. This would be my first topic in about 18 months to be posted here. On a side, several members of this webboard are members of the SETI@home Ambrosia team. The topic itself is actually quite old, but instead of bringing up the old thread, I decided to post a new one (I don't believe in grave digging for any but historical purposes.)

Fact of the matter is, as much as I love Cythera, this isn't the most active webboard on the web. Personally, I haven't played the game in a very long time, and last I was here, few people had. When a game goes that long without being updated, it has a hard time surviving on its own. Slayer's guide (as much a blessing as it is) only made the disinterest hit sooner.

The key at this point is to keep the community alive and kicking, even though information about the game is scarce. I don't have the patience for Team Stories or Chronicles (I think there may be some old, unfinished ones by me still lingering), so I choose to do this instead.

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-TDD-
"Verizonish" -Texas Rangers' Outfielder Carl Everett, when asked how he felt after being hit with a cellphone during a game.

I'm sorry, but when I said "you", I meant all of you. No offence to anyone, though.

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Do you have any Cythera-related threads to contribute?

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Avatara is now officially accepting quote donations for his signature.

Quick Question: What is SETI@home?
-Dark Jet

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Why do we kill people, who kill people, to show that killing people is wrong?

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This seems to be because those OTHER games (Unreal Tourny, WCIII) seem to be more popular than games like Cythera. What I don't understand.

It's a pity. I really hoped that this Cythera community would live on.

It's hard to believe that this forum is mostly keeping alive partly due to given references by the few Cythera fans left out there, just to attract the attention of others.

And so they come here. And what do they do? Post stuff like THIS.

I don't want to go out to that gaming world. Where it's all WCIII and UT this, and WCIII and UT that.

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That's probably because both of the games you listed, and many others, offer more chances of replayability than Cythera. Sure, you can play Cythera through with each different class for a slightly different challenge, but the actions you can do, detailed though they may be, do not vary a whole bunch with each game.

A game of Unreal Tournament or Warcraft allows you to play different maps, different opponents, and they have a multiplayer capability - so you can play with other people. And, each time you play, the gameplay won't be exactly the same - its different every time. (even if you played the same UT map over and over, it still won't be an identical game)

If the editor wasn't that bugged and Cythera was more compatible with fan-made plugins, Cythera would probably still be popular today. Plug-ins are made by users for a lot of Ambrosia games (they kept the Escape Velocity series going, anybody remember the Maelstrom mods?, even Aki has a plug-in - just to name a few) and they offer a change in playing experience while keeping the same basic gameplay functions that make those games so popular.

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Another day, another disappointment.

Ty: Couldn't have said it better.

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Although the first part of that is a little jumbled, I think I get what you're saying. Is it too bad that the game is underadvertised, and only word of mouth keeps new people coming? Yes.

Should the community help people who are new to the game? Yes, though Slayer's guide has limited that function of the board to simple references.

Should the community try to come up with new information to keep the game interesting? Yes. This is taken for granted in the games you mention, because a) they're new and they were designed for expansion and replayability, where Cythera never reached that stage.

Should the community keep the content of the board strict enough to limit all outside elements, even if it means further loss of interest in the community itself? No, that's what Avara is for.

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-TDD-
"Verizonish" -Texas Rangers' Outfielder Carl Everett, when asked how he felt after being hit with a cellphone during a game.

Well, for what it's worth, people are still paying for the game. Cythera's been around for over 6 years (right?), and I only registered it about a year ago. Now, I don't really play the game anymore, because it doesn't have that much replay value. But, it's not quite dead yet.

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[~%] ssh localhost
The authenticity of host 'localhost (127.0.0.1)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 93:33:b4:fc:b8:03:b4:45:15:31:99:1a:a3:1f:a5:ac.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

I dont mean to repeat my self but from what i have read, no one has answered my question: What is SETI@home?
-Dark Jet

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Why do we kill people, who kill people, to show that killing people is wrong?

Oops, I suppose that might be useful to know.

As I mentioned, SETI@home is rather techy and hard to describe, but basically its this:
UCBerkeley gets radio telescope data from a satilite orbiting the planet. Berkeley then chomps and translates most of the data on their supercomputers, but there's also a lot left over. To do the work on this, they developed a downloadable program for people to run as a screensaver at home, school or work. The screensaver downloads a small (~160k) file and crunches the numbers on it and sends it back when finished. Berkeley then looks at the results, and examines any patterns (sets of evenly spaced groups of three pulses, or other strong signals, for example) and tries to detect any potential alien signal (as opposed to background interference).

That's the basics of it, but you can find much more information at their website:
[url="http://"http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/"]http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/[/url]
and if you do decide to join, please consider joining the Ambrosia SW team at:
[url="http://"http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_41611.html"]http://setiathome.ss...team_41611.html[/url]

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-TDD-
"Verizonish" -Texas Rangers' Outfielder Carl Everett, when asked how he felt after being hit with a cellphone during a game.

Don't worry. Your signal to noise ratio in that explanation was high enough

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[~%] ssh localhost
The authenticity of host 'localhost (127.0.0.1)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 93:33:b4:fc:b8:03:b4:45:15:31:99:1a:a3:1f:a5:ac.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

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Well, launching from that, I am going to inform people about a to be project of mine. I think if it ever really gets going it will deserve a topic of it's own, but none the less;

I recently bought for my PC Neverwinter Nights, and Shadows of Undrentide (the first expansion pack). After playing for a bit I decided I didn't like it, the game play was sterile and in general I was dissapointed. That was a damn waste of $120 or so.
But after exploring the Auroa Toolset for a short while, a thought came to me- why not remake Cythera, in the Auroa engine of Neverwinter nights?

Now, before you all jump on me for it being like Coldstone was, only slightly the same as Cythera, I've done some basic scripting and figured it would be quite possible to

-have your own text entering field in conversation
-import music from Cythera (with the permission of Ambrosia etc)
-create custome tilesets, such as shores and cities like Cademia.
and dozens of other unqie to Cythera things.

Now, I'm only 15, and I've never touched scripting, graphics etc before, so it would take me time to create this, and maybe it won't even happen. But if it does, I think all choices and help I will be seeking from this boards. Perhaps none of you will play it when (if) it does get finished. But I would still prefer your help to some board of NWN fans who've never heard of Cythera... well, if it does get off it's feet, it might fuel some life into these boards!

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Better to die on your feet then live on your knees.

All i'm gonna say is, no replayable thing of UT and WCIII is EVER going to beat Cythera. Cythera is, for me, the best game altogether. So what if it doesn't have the best graphics? So what if the Combat AI is a little choppy, and if the animations suck? I don't give. Everything else is great.

I REALLY wish that they'd update or at least carbonize Cythera. Once in a Mac Addict magazine, I read somewhere that soon their new Macs would have OS X and ONLY OS X. Are you ready to leave OS 9 behind completely? That's the problem. If I switch to those kinds of computers, I won't be able to play games like Cythera.

Anyway, also reply to the main topic. I don't want this to go off-topic.

Hrm, since my computer refuses to start up if I shut it down (it has to be left on all night) might as well put its CPU to some use.

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One thing NOT to say when partying with a vampire: "Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!"
-This quote was purchased by Mr. Somebody for five quarts of blood. Outbid him to get your quote up here instead!

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Doesn't have the best graphics?! Cythera has the best graphics! They are wondeful and I have NEVER seen anything like it. The AI is great and the animations are NOT bad.

To sum it all up, to me, Cythera is the most wonderful game ever created. I played it during the greatest time of my life, (99-00) and I have the greatest memories from ANY game, from Cythera. I cannot describe with words how much Cythera means to me and I will NEVER let it die!


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Paragraph 1 Reply: C'mon grandpa, have you checked out the new games? I suppose I was kind of making Cythera's graphics, AI and animations seem bad. Well, the graphics are actually pretty good, it's just the animations, really. The animations don't really bother me though. The AI, I'm not sure, you can give your party mates orders to alter their functions, but other than that, at least as far as I can remember I don't remember any other tactic the bots on Cythera used other than just walk up to you and attack. I suppose there is some tactics, though I'm not sure if they're exactly programmed, here are some good AI observations i've seen from fighting ruffians in Cademia's alleys:

Surrounding their opponents.
Ones that use a long range attack distract you enough so you can start attacking back, and then sometimes some melee opponents come and nail you.
Well, not exactly an ATTACKING AI source, but those ruffians sure do patrol a lot until they see a troublemaker.

But even if other games have better graphics, animations, and AI, I still think Cythera is the best. There are games that are not as good, there are games that can be JUST as good, but no game, I mean NO game out there will beat Cythera, even though Cythera doesn't have too much replay value.

Paragraph 2 Reply: I DEFINATELY agree. Well, I don't think it's the ONLY best game out there, but no game can beat it. I like games such as Marathon 1 (that's right, Marathon 1, M2 and M Infinity I don't like) as much as I do Cythera. I hope you enjoyed the greatest time of your life. How old were you then, 16? Anyway, I'm with you buddy, I WON'T LET CYTHERA DIE! And though some people may think we're nuts by having some computer game affect us, Cythera is a GREAT game.

Lastly, I would like to give my own thoughts on Cythera. Here is the moment of truth. Cythera is such a great game:

Cythera, to me, is kind of like the best movie or book. Long, flowing plot as you go, many perils and suspense, and mystery, and intrigue... I like the emotions that Cythera gives that no other game, especially no crappy game like UT could EVER give me. It's those... feelings: What/who is behind all of this? What does that mean? What are these things? What happened? This is scary. This is weird. I wonder why this is? This is confusing. This is shocking. Wow. The pieces all fit together now. I can't believe it. Etc etc etc. Except for the other games that I like the best, NO other game has EVER given me these types of emotion. And you also get that "I'm there" feeling, and all of those relaxing ambient sounds, and the music... I just wish I was there sometimes. I never felt before that I wanted to be in some world, since it would always seem so naive, but the land of Cythera... Ahhhhhh. And there's the adventure: there is so much obersvation and intrigue in the adventure, so many perils, and surprises, everything. And there are so many oppurtunities for you in the land of Cythera. I've noticed how the adventure in Cythera isn't exactly so narrowed: You can do these priorities now or later, you can come down and sleep for the night, you can go to Pnyx, you can explore for cool secrets, you can make money, and MORE oppurtunities. I still love Cythera, and I still play it frequently. The point of it was not to just show a bunch of aggressive action and survival like UT or Diablo II, but to give the emotion and feeling of the adventure and plot, offer all the intrigue of the fascinating experiences in a land full of amazing possibilities, all through an RPG, literally fun-packed style game. Those who say Cythera is a bad game don't seem to understand that.

With all that said, I guess i'll wrap this up and save more for my next post on this. So, who here:

Thinks Cythera is the best/one of the best games there ever was?
Still plays Cythera?
Wants Cythera to be carbonized?

Any of you? And you too, Seldane. I won't send any hate mail or anything if you say no to any of these. Well, see all of you later. And remember:

NEVER USE A PC UNLESS IT'S BECAUSE IT'S COMPATIBLE WITH A GAME THAT A MAC ISN'T COMPATIBLE WITH!!!
Just wanted you guys to know.
Bye!

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You're right, the game is detailed. I think most people agree with that. I also think the reason why Cythera isn't thriving now is partially related to that as well - sure, the first (few?) times you play through it, you have some suspense and questions you need answered. But, after you solve it and figure everything out, its like reading a mystery book you know the answer to - the wonder and the questions sort of vanish, you know the answers. That's the problem with Cythera's replay value. Its great the first time, but after that you already know the ending, you already know who is behind it, and most of how you can beat the game again.

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Who said Cythera was a bad game? It just loses some of its suspense after you've played it hundreds of times. The low replay was the earlier point.

The D2/UT comparison don't work too well with Cythera. I only used them because you asked about them earlier, but those are different types of games than Cythera. Its difficult to fairly compare a full-fledged RPG with a first-person-shooter, the focus is too different. (usually the main focus isn't on storyline in FPSes) Something a bit closer to Cythera would be along the lines of Baldur's Gate (or perhaps Final Fantasy?).

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"What? A 4.0 won't automatically get me into heaven? You mean I actually have to believe in God now?"
-B. Fry

[This message has been edited by Avatara (edited 01-27-2004).]

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Hate to tell you, but the only two gates FOX uses are Avalon and Isengard, and Balder isn't connected to either

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[~%] ssh localhost
The authenticity of host 'localhost (127.0.0.1)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 93:33:b4:fc:b8:03:b4:45:15:31:99:1a:a3:1f:a5:ac.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

[This message has been edited by Avatara (edited 01-27-2004).]

[quote]Originally posted by Pallas Athene:
 Hate to tell you, but the only two gates FOX uses are Avalon and Isengard, and Balder isn't connected to either    

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"What? A 4.0 won't automatically get me into heaven? You mean I actually have to believe in God now?"
-B. Fry

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That's the problem. Ambrosia doesn't want to make any sequels to Cythera, which sucks.

Does it make sense to make a sequel? There are probably under twenty people who would really like to see one. Now, you could argue that this is the fault of the original for having bugs, and that if they made a *good* Cythera 2, then people would gain interest. But is this sound business logic? It's much safer to sequel a successful game (such as EV) or come up with something entirely new, than to sequel a unsuccessful project.

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[~%] ssh localhost
The authenticity of host 'localhost (127.0.0.1)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 93:33:b4:fc:b8:03:b4:45:15:31:99:1a:a3:1f:a5:ac.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

Ambrosia has no problem with making a Cythera 2, given that there is only one new game on the upcoming page.

That said, Glenn Andreas does have a problem with making a Cythera 2.

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-TDD-
"Verizonish" -Texas Rangers' Outfielder Carl Everett, when asked how he felt after being hit with a cellphone during a game.

Well no, not a sequel, but kind of a downloadable update for Cythera that squeezes in MUCH more gameplay, making Cythera a long, long, long, long, longer, and I mean REALLY LONGER game. That, and they could carbonize both the update AND Cythera along with it. Besides, though mostly everything is revealed after playing Cythera numerous times, I still don't lose most of those great feelings. When there aren't questions about what is going on for me, I simply marvel at the power of the emotions that Cythera offers. Plus I still have that intrigue and ghastly feeling. Even though I know what will happen, most of these feelings don't leave me. I still love Cythera. It is SUCH a great game. I swear, if I had to take out all of my games but one, one of my absolute choices would be this game, Cythera. Or Marathon or something, some other game that I think is just as good, but this game is one of them. As I said before, there are games that aren't as good, there are games that can be JUST as good, but you just can't beat Cythera.

Goodbye!