Which is better? europe 1940 or pacific 1940?

@Gargantua:

It’s basically pay as you go…

$600 or so for ground school (About 40 to 60 hours)  then you pay to rent the plane ($100 to $150 per flying hour)  you’ll need an instructor for atleast 15 hours…  who is also $50 an hour in the air, and $50 an hour pre flight.

So each session in the beginning is about $300… but as you progress, it gets cheaper.

The cool thing about renting a plane is you only pay for the hours it’s actually running/flying. (To an extent) so say you want to do a day trip, a 1 hour flight there 1 hour back, it’s only $300 + gas, which is roughly equivelant to car gas, except you cover WAY more ground.

Then there are all the medical permits etc etc, $50 here, $100 there… but you get it all done as you can! :D

Commericial pilot is a different deal… and if you want to be an astronaut, you HAVE to atleast have your pilots license.

A pilot license is the drivers license of the next century IMO!

I see. Well, it is something I do want to do. Good thing is, I am young and do have some time to spend doing it.

@axis_roll:

OK, can we take this premise is a slightly different direction?

what makes a great A&A player?
[Not sure if these are in order of importance of not, we can argue that after we create a list]
Also assuming a 1-on-1 game.  Team dynamics are a whole other discussion.

1).   Experience

Knows the game and the ‘better’ strategies and more important territories as well some of the nuances of the game (like sub / DD interaction / vulnerabilities as well as how to coordinate moves with your allies countries)

2).  Vision / Ability to see 2-3 rounds down the road in a game.

If you can not see what your opponent is trying to do to you or have a strategy for your side (at least a general one), it’s hard to win.  Knowing HOW to win is not hard (your objectives), you can gleen that from the rules, knowing HOW to achieve those are much more vital

3).  Understanding / mitigating the risks

Take good odds battles, unless you are falling behind, you might starting increasing your risks in order to increase your chances of winning.

4).  Determining who is winning / losing (very tightly related to 3)

If you think you are winning when you are in fact losing, your moves may be counter productive.  An example helps to explain my point.  If I think I am winning, I may have no sense of urgency to force my opponent to counter my move(s), or properly increase my risk exposure.

5).  Being able to realize AND take advantage of an opportunity

Many times in games, a battle may go awry for/against you (dice will do that!).  Sometimes it can be so bad that no level of contingency plan you have created can save you EXCEPT for your opponents failure to realize and exploit this weakness.  Good players recognize these situations.

6).  Realizing any unit is disposable to meet your objective(s)

Often times, a player is hung up on the COST of some units that are risked/lost.  “Oh, I took france but it cost me 3 bombers to do it!”
Well that just might be the best move for the situation, ESPECIALLY if you can afford it or needed that battle to get back into the game (see #3 about mitigating the risks)

Please feel free to add to my quick list.  I am sure there are many more.

Very solid list.

@U-505:

Just so you know, Commander. DAAK is using Frood now.

I WIN!!!

The evil, biased dicey is out, that sexist piece of code!

Yea, I played most of my games there, actually.  It was simple, easy and convenient.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station

http://imdb.com/title/tt0290296/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_International_Space_Station_visitors

Guests and staff are associated with the following countries:
USA,
Russia,
Japan,
Italy,
Australia,
S. Africa,
UK,
France,
Canada,
Peru,
Spain,
The Netherlands,
Latvia,
Belgium,
Costa Rica

Components are also made in places around the globe.

Main Participants:
USA,
Russia,
Japan,
Canada,
Brazil,
UK, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Greece, Luxemburg, (Euro Space agency)

Up there, all alone, on the front porch to the final frontier…
They are up there advancing the cause of humankind. 
I just checked out the IMAX DVD.  Comments by astronaut and cosmonaut alike both speak of seeing the earth below without any borders.  One even said that we will not set up permanant residence on the moon as individual countries, but as allies representing all mankind.

The Imax special features pointed out a how a shot from the porthole on the Soyuz was not directly available due to the bulkiness of the camera.  The quick problem solving ideal of one cosmonaut and the skills applied by rest of the crew, they set up mirror reflective shots that were angled just right.  You would not know it was reflected if they didn’t tell you.

These people live, eat, work, sing, and make movies together up there.  Sharing for them is essential to surviving.  The main crew is 3, which will go up for a while as Soyuz and Shuttles dock to trade out crews.

All of the space agency crews are highly educated and heavily trained.  Touring guests are also well trained.  The guests so far have been highly successful technology entrepreneurs, so they also understand the discipline needed for successful trips up there.  The tourism bill at ~ $20 mil cash is high enough to prevent a fraudster from getting on board.

The contrast  to the UN is dramatic. 
Maybe its because its mostly enlightened nations that are making the effort, so the petty dictators don’t have a say.  The Russian and US space agencies show a very unified front to all the other participants, so unity of purpose for any new objective is quickly achieved.  They also have the strongest communications links for station ops.

Hmm, not sure I remember posting that. Although it is quite possible given my memory. :wink:

it’s a question of standpoint… and as america is so much right-wing, i can understand you see the world as leftish

At first I really liked pacific but as I play europe more and more I am beginning to like it just as much