Rummel was transferred from Earth along with Baker and Dog Companies of the 1^st Battalion aboard the U.S.S. Hornblower (SDD-1073) to the rendezvous point at Fiersis in the Granedee System before accompanying the Reinager Invasion Group to its target.

Rummel is an unrelenting adversary, he believes firmly in superior firepower and a direct hard and fast assault.

Go to Norman ‘The Rhino Rummel Character Page

This week has been very very slow…why you may ask?

One word…clouds.

In Part 8 we are going to see the invasion of Toyr’diablo which of course involves the invasion force entering the atmosphere, and of course that means clouds…creating, animating and rendering clouds can be a pretty arduous task, not so much the creating and animating, but the rendering is astonishing depending how big your clouds get. One 200 frame (roughly 8 seconds long) shot took 16 hours to render – crazy huh?

So yes it’s been going a little slower than usual, but nonetheless Part 8 is charging forward.

Another little hiccup with Part 8 is the fact myself and my family are moving house today, it’s incredible that you never really know how much stuff you have until you move house.

So today is pretty much a write-off for doing any work on Part 8 .

Another section I’m going to start doing on and off is wallpaper, I’m going to do everything at 1152 x 864 resolution, but if you want it higher or lower just let me know and I can do them how you like them.

So thanks once more for the interest and all the support and stay tuned for more.

Lew

The Roanoke along with several other Union vessels were destroyed by new Dakota super-cannons that had been fitted to the front of their destroyers and cruisers. The destruction of the Union vessels was so quick and instant that all hands perished.

Quickly after the destruction of the Roanoke, the remaining two vessels, U.S.S. Patton (SCA-703) and U.S.S. Tigershark (SGB-994) retreated, ensuring the destruction of the Nile Road and the decisive loss of the battle.

Go to U.S.S. Roanoke Page

I have two wallpapers both taken from the Invasion of Toyr’diablo – during the landing operations involving the UC-78 Raven Carryalls – both wallpapers are 1152×864 please let me know if you would like different resolutions and I can provide and I’m sure there’ll be more to come.

Laski was transferred to the U.S.S. Asimov (SDX-6152) of the Imperial 8^th Colonial Fleet in 2295 as chief weapons officer, by 2297 he was the executive officer serving under Captain Esteban.

In 2299 Laski and his ship were ordered into enemy territory to run research on a newly discovered black hole that had been detected there. He was more than unimpressed with the lack of any sort of escort on such a dangerous mission.

Laski, the rest of the Asimov crew and the Asimov herself have not been heard from again and are listed as missing in action.

Go to Paul Laski Character Page

Well this week has been much of the usual cramming of model building, positioning, animating, texturing, mouth syncing; whenever there’s been a free moment.

Part 8 is looking good so far, I’m very happy with it, there have been some really demanding renders, we’re talking 2 hours plus for a 150 frame shot which works out to only 6 seconds long at 24 fps, so you get an idea how there are times when you can do nothing except wait for the computer to get your shot complete for you.

Today I reached 25% completion of Part 8, so one quarter completed, which is a mini-milestone for me

Luckily no crashes this week – thank god

A big thanks to WCNews for the coverage on my last roundup post – thanks guys you are a real godsend for tiny little websites like mine.

It is my hope that I am able to get Part 8 out by mid to late February, as you can imagine I am spending every single spare second working on it, with the slight exception of playing Crysis which I am proud to say I completed last week – my god that was an awesome game!

So once more a big thanks to the supporters and fans, you guys rock!

Lew

In 2299 the Asimov was assigned to Project Hades and ordered behind enemy lines for a top-secret mission to chart what was thought to be a newly-discovered black hole in the Reinager System.

The details surrounding Project Hades are still highly classified and very few people know its intentions.

A distress call was received from Ensign Sarah Keller – the chief communications officer on board soon after the ship entered the system, and the ship was not heard from again.

It is presently listed as Missing in Action, with no known surivors. However soon after the Asimov went missing, Grand Duke Zariz IV ordered Major-General Howell of AFSOR to recruit a top man to track down and information and/or survivors of the Asimov – that man was Major Caine.

Go to U.S.S. Asimov Page