Yes, her prejudices might even have taken a hit !
Next thing you know .. maybe Connie is an excemption to the rule that androids are meanies ? Y'know .. a "good" android?
Dr. Silver should install a shield emitter in the walls of The Lucky Strike. That ought to go a long way towards compensation for any collateral damages!
Well, it's not just damage to the bar I imagine she's compensating for. I imagine that, right now, she's also compensating the bartender as basically, "When this is all done and finished, you'll forget you ever saw it", which might be worth a lot more, given the value of secrecy in their mission.
You have a very good grasp on how to get the right expressions and body language, CentComm. Goldie's expression in panel 3 and the bartender's in panel 5 don't really need dialogue to convey what they are thinking. OK, Goldie didn't actually say anything in that panel but my point still stands. I believe that they are my favorites to date. Especially Goldie's. Others tend to overdo something like that but you have captured the moment and emotion perfectly. Well done.
I really try hard on expression and body language - its as imporant as the words. sure we can throw nice words on a "dead figure" but it wouldbt be belivable - and I aim for realism. :D thank you both!
I want to chime in and say that your backgrounds are always amazing as well. So many artists that are trying for some realism, don't realize that the "World" the characters are in is as important as the action itself.
they really are. I hate doing them sometimes because they are a pain - but when im looking at the set from the shoting angles im like something should be there.. because there are rarely empty spaces in places people "live"
It looks like the same gun, except for the lack of a stock. I thought it might be folded underneath. I've seen pistols where they add a stock to improve the accuracy for it.
I could see it for a lot of weapons, including the Zues AStun to be built with an optional stock addition. The kind of weapon could then be tailored to the parameters of the mission without having to carry a full extra weapon. :-)
Quick questions CentComm. Does the shield block from both ways? Or is it porous from the backside?
Or will we find out? I just wonder if someone pops in behind Doctor Silver, can they shoot thru the shield? Wondering if the Justicars will be arriving. :-)
(Edit, btw I totally agree with Doug on the shield. It looks great)
the shield is called a "barrier shield" and stops matter and energy from passing eather direction. there are other types of shields as well. some you can shoot though others you cant. if the weapon is fitted with a special device it will make a "hole" so you can shoot. also a drawback to the barrier shield is that while it is THE top end defense - it takes 18 seconds to reach full power. and lock in place.
thankfully that glaring disability doesnt occour in DC shields. they are actually better at energy than physical. although barrier shields seem equally effective against all types of attacks ( and consume the most power )
Opinion time- Does Connie's arm to shoulder look weird? Looks like arm pit is too deep and almost to her clavicle in both panel 1 and panel 4! And just bone but no muscle.
The human body can be weird sometimes. I've seen real life pictures where an bent elbow looks like an ass and even stranger things. You can get some odd illusions with position and lighting. I imagine CG can be like that. Panel 1 looks like a position thing to me due to the angle we're looking at her and Panel 4 looks like her arm is positioned somewhat behind her.
its actually pulled "up and back" because of her body position - shes laying on her side.and bracing on the other arm. and shes trying to not touch Auriela any more than needed.
It's also a fact that the figures have some inaccuracies of movement, which is most easily noticed at joints. The Victoria 4 figure isn't rigged *exactly* right to mimic a clavicle, for example, and there's no native ability to replicate the way flesh yields and compresses. There are morph bundles out there that can auto-adjust while posing the figure to smooth out joints, or allow the artist to make manual corrections, but usually Cent prefers to use postwork.
I suspect that much of that is because of the cumulative expense of all those morph bundles...not to mention simply finding them and then figuring out which ones are the best.
Ah .. bear with me as I descend into nerdyness ...
***warning nerd stuff coming up***
/NERD
A scratchdisc, is a disc used only for temporary files, because of the way modern OS's handle memory.
Basically, Microsoft and others quickly realized that we were never gonna have enough RAM to run everything we wanted, so they invented the virtual memory system, where they took a chunk of hardware drive and converted it into virtual memory.
thus complete available memory to the operating system, was no longer limited to the RAM, but the RAM + chunk of harddrive.
So the idea is, that you keep the most used bits in RAM, which is much faster than the harddrive, and the stuff that is inactive gets swapped form RAM down unto the harddrive.
this offcourse comes at a price .. which is speed.
RAM is very, very fast, but also expensive and it forgets everything it had in it, when you turn off the power. harddrive space is much slower, but retains data and comes in much bigger sizes and for much lower prices.
SSD discs sorta bridge the gap. They are a type of chip memory that does retain data when the power is off, like a harddrive - But is also both much faster and expensive, than a metal plate with some iron filings on it.
Offcourse, this virtual memory was all good for regular programs, but programs like Adobe Photoshop would make their own version of virtual memory, with specialized algorithms for graphic work, and in the options for that program, you can set up a scratch disc - Which improves performance for that program.
It didn't take long for proffesional artists to figure out that buying a relatively small, but fast harddrive to use as a dedicated scratchdisc was better than running it off of the main drive. And today, SSD discs perform that duty fantastically.
AFAIK ... most 3D rendering programs have the option of setting up a scratchdisc as well.
And going from a regular harddrive type of virtual memory, to a SSD type of virtual memory, makes a difference.
/NERD
As for RAM, that might actually be limited by the OS you run, as most home versions of Windows is limited to 16 GB. So unless you run a windows professional / enterprise edition, you'll be limited.
They are also useful for the operating system itself, as it loads faster than even a 10k rpm disk. And you don't need too much space for the operating system (in comparison to what you need for image files). :-)
That is how I have mine set up, but I don't do image rendering. :-D Works for me though. I put it together when I built the computer for gaming. :-)
Oh and your answer works for Windows 7; however, Windows 8 has higher limits (as shown here)-
Version...............Limit on X86..........Limit on X64
Windows 8 Enterprise...4GB.................512 GB
Windows 8 Pro.............4GB.................512 GB
Windows 8...................4GB.................128 GB
Just so you know. :-) So if you need more memory, you probably should upgrade to Windows 8. Not sure it would help THAT much though. :-) Also, don't know if your motherboard could handle the memory. :-)
The barkeep started off, I've seen this before. No biggie. Now she is getting to, okay, THAT'S new. :-D I have a feeling she is going to continue things she hasn't seen before. :-D
At the same time she didn't say "i have never seen that before" ... which incidentially means she probably *has* seen something like that before. Which speaks volumes about the bar.
Next thing happen, and she'll go all Crocodile Dundee and say "that's not a shield, THIS is a shield." and then the entire bar is enveloped in a massive shield, much stronger than anything one little drone could ever hope to generate. :D
As I stated in my comment higher up on the page, I think that a significant amount of the reason for the credit card is not to cover the damages to the bar--but to cover the fact that she's witnessing all of this.
Considering her profession, Sheela, I would think that maybe no one in her experience has cared enough for her to do something like that. That someone she has shown hatred/contempt for would risk themselves to keep her safe. She IS from Roma after all.
The only hero worshiping allowed in Nova Roma these days would probably be for Emperor Douchebag. :-7 I can't see him allowing anyone ELSE to be nominated for the position. And anyone that tried would probably have a fatal 'accident'. Max is skating along the edge of finding out I think.
Might be why Goldie moved on. Or it might have been more personal (like maybe said douchebag expressed an interest in her). We might never know.
While it may be true that Emperor Douchebag is currently the only one you're allowed to hero-worship. He also haven't been an Emperor that long.
Before Emperor Douchebag gained his title, things may have been quite different. And it's during that timeframe that Goldie would have been growing up in Nova Roma, and that would have been the time she would have gained her main personality traits.
Then Emperor Douchebag takes the throne, and maybe she runs away in the ensuing chaos ? Maybe that is why she thinks all androids are killers, because the few androids in Nova Roma was controlled by Emperor Douchebag ? Maybe it's also during that period she got so bloody jaded, and was driven into prostitution ?
Maybe, just maybe, she's about to reconnect with her less jaded self and make up her own damn mind, rather than having to just believe all the horror stories, she's been fed about androids ?
Not quite getting the attraction vibe you are anarcha.
As I'm seeing it, the first panel Goldie is just confused (and rightly so) by Connie's actions and obvious concern. The widening of the eyes, the positioning of the mouth in the O of surprise.
The second panel is just Connie dealing with Ada's tense words (she has a pretty good idea what TeeDee is capable of after all so can't blame her for that).
The third panel, Goldie seems to be TRYING to generate the disdain and hate she has for androids and not quite finding it as easy fit as she previously did. The expression is great there, the pinch in the forehead, the set of the lips, the narrowing of her eyes. And Connie is still obviously earnestly concerned, though we can't see her expression (Rose's dialogue carries Connie's emotions here).
The fourth panel we get to see Connie's expression and can see the caring she has. While we can't see as much of Goldie's expression, she seems to have smoothed out a little bit, not seeing the pinch in the forehead , the eyes don't seem to be as narrowed. So DESPITE herself, a non-venomous answer is pulled out of her.
Goldie has to respond to Connie's concern with the truth, she isn't hurt and it is ONLY because of Connie's actions. Goldie obviously does NOT like that, but she has to respond anyhow. Connie's concern draws it out of her.
I already said it, but I'll say it again. Great page, CentComm. :-) And Rose's dialogue of Connie especially is very well done.
Auriela Grew up during the latter part of the eldar Livius's rule while he was putting down a piticularly vicious rebellion. the cassians were "unleashed" and told to wipe the slate of any rebel element. something they did with piticularly horrifying speed and ferocity. they also made examples of captured elements and left these grisly trophys for all to see.. there is a very good reason Kali and her cassians are feared almost more than the pretorians. Pretorians at least .. have some shred of humanity. Cassians have only themselves. and once again when the price took office. The cassians were once again employed to eleminate resistance. and with a few mods a cassian can pretend to be human. and they used this ability to ferret out "traitors" and dissadents. and you can guess what happened then....
Sadly .. all of Aurelia's accusations about andriods is crushingly true. just not about NTAS andriods. like connie
I didn't say Goldie wanted to lie (though she kind of lies to herself with her prejudice). I just don't think she wanted to say ANYTHING, but Connie's concern made her answer anyhow.
Now reading CentComm's history lesson, we can suddenly see where Goldie got her opinions. I wonder how many people Goldie knew that got gobbled up by that reign of terror. Still she spewed pure garbage, like bigots are wont to, at Connie of all people!
I mean, that is like stealing a little girl's lollipop. And then not expecting someone to land on her for it (which we, the commenters, proceeded to do! :-D). That is the problem with bigotry, you might have a reason for your opinions but there are ALWAYS exceptions... Probably far more exceptions then examples of what lead to the bigotry in the first place. :-7
another reason the Cassians were "unleashed" is a attempted kidnapping of one if his Children. the villian of the piece was.. dealt with by Kali. Acantha would have been a infant, and the prince would have been 11..
Unleashing the Cassians because of a kidnapping attempt is like using a nuke to hunt rats that were infesting your grain bin. I mean, it KILLED the rats, sure, but the collateral damage was BEYOND reason. :-p
Police : Madam, could you please state the nature of your emergency ?
Goldie : My android has collapsed on the floor, there's smoke coming from her joints.
Police : Ok, calm down madam, what was the android working on when it collapsed?
Goldie : ... uhhh ... that is a bit personal.
Police : Allright .. ok, is it wearing any constricting work clothes ?
Goldie : Oh no, it's not wearing any clothes ... I mean, it's not wearing any *constricting* clothes.
Police : Ok, good. And it hasn't gotten any of it's electrical components wet ?
Goldie : Oh no, only it's rubber attachment is wet.
Police : ... it's what ?
Goldie : Oh, she moved again!
Goldie : Oh, I am so sorry for disturbing you, haveanicedaykthxbye!
*click*
well there are lots of weapons energy , ballsitic ect and detectors only work on energy weapons to find ballistic ones you need metal detectors or searches.-- technicly Ada's Stunner counts as a weapon. so most dont bother with detectors they really arent that helpful. :D
I'd guess they stopped bothering about weapons detectors around the time they ran out of people willing to get in to arguments with large parties of armed people multiple times a day.
LOL I wish. think of it this way way back in the "days" switch around a few things. IF connie was a certain race and Aurelia was a certain race. and Connie saved her. the situation would still play out the same. Connie MIGHT get thanked.. but on the other hand - machines do as they are programmed. SO under that logic Connie didnt save her - Connies creator did. ( dispite that being a faceless corp )
True enough, but by that logic, Goldie wasn't saved either, it was all pre programmed. Worse, by that logic, goldie cannot be her own person either, as she's only the product of her parents.
You're working from two false premises, unfortunately.
The first is that extreme prejudice operates logically. If it did, the bigotry problem would be self-correcting, but based on the historical record, it's anything *but*. This is particularly true for 'Goldie', because she has some perfectly valid reasons to dislike androids. Think like a Nova Roman for a second. The androids / AIS that Goldie is familiar with are Aeneas (dangerously insane) and Kali (heads the Secret Police, kills people, uses the blood of innocent children to lubricate her bearings). Given her background, if she *wasn't* somewhat of a cyber-phobe, I'd be shocked.
The second false premise is the assumption that Goldie sees Connie as a person. While it's not stated explicitly (by you or anyone else commenting), it's implied ("Goldie can't be a person either" being one example). The essence of bigotry is that the bigot doesn't see 'them' as people. That's how the bigot lives with themselves. 'They' aren't people, no matter what 'they' do, or how nice 'they' are. At worst, 'they' are objects, and at best, 'they' are trainable animals who can learn to do certain things very well (picking cotton and doing minstrel shows, from historical example).
Those things, taken together, are why it's so ****ing hard to eliminate prejudice...you have to fight two different battles that are, individually, very difficult. You have to convince Ye Bigot that the object of their prejudice is a person, and then you have to convince them to approach the situation logically. If you've ever tried to do change another person's mind, *or* tried to convince an angry person to 'calm down and think about this rationally', you know how hard either of those can be. Now try to do both. Good luck. :-D
As if you can't tell, I'm not expecting a great thawing in Goldie-Android relations, but then, I'm a cynical person (or persons!) at heart.
True, I was mostly referring to the logic at hand, and not so much on wether or not the person in question would be disposed towards rational thought.
Obviously, most irrational thought tends to be based on emotional values rather than logic, and will often avoid logic, like the plauge.
Hence why we get stuff like GodNuts and KKK-members. As for eliminating prejudice there's mostly only two ways - The prejudiced person changes their mind, or their children grows up differently. The latter being the most common.
Yeah. Very good point Mr. Black. Logic and bigotry are NOT normally compatible. The twisty thought process to 'justify' their prejudices just don't have logic to anyone that doesn't share their prejudices.
Otherwise sokay (also everyone else got the good remarks soooo Nothing to say *resumes wondering what it would be like to meet ceci...and if with the right upgrades he could beat the crap out of marcus if he tried to shut her down*
They are a bit nudged...
Next thing you know .. maybe Connie is an excemption to the rule that androids are meanies ? Y'know .. a "good" android?
That is a great sequence on Connie and Goldie. :-) I mean, Connie, being Connie and the bigot not having ANY idea what to do with her. :-D
Well .. I am at least.
And the bartender does have the card in hand. Smart girl!
Basically, a super taser. :-) Figured it had to be something like that, as Ada isn't in to killing things.
(Edit, and beaten to it by CentComm while I was typing)
I could see it for a lot of weapons, including the Zues AStun to be built with an optional stock addition. The kind of weapon could then be tailored to the parameters of the mission without having to carry a full extra weapon. :-)
Or will we find out? I just wonder if someone pops in behind Doctor Silver, can they shoot thru the shield? Wondering if the Justicars will be arriving. :-)
(Edit, btw I totally agree with Doug on the shield. It looks great)
Its been a crazy couple of weeks trying to get the move going and arranging stuff and packing.
Got an SSD disk set up as scratch disc ?
SSD drives are way too small for the money to help me out. i would need at least a 2 TB SSD annnnd thats not gonna happen :P
Also 16 GB of ram is pretty top of the line... at least i thought so.
also --
8GB-16GB is listed as the top for ..
Professional User/Gamer/Graphic Designer
High performance gaming, multimedia editing, high-definition video, graphics design/3D modeling, intensive multitasking.
***warning nerd stuff coming up***
/NERD
A scratchdisc, is a disc used only for temporary files, because of the way modern OS's handle memory.
Basically, Microsoft and others quickly realized that we were never gonna have enough RAM to run everything we wanted, so they invented the virtual memory system, where they took a chunk of hardware drive and converted it into virtual memory.
thus complete available memory to the operating system, was no longer limited to the RAM, but the RAM + chunk of harddrive.
So the idea is, that you keep the most used bits in RAM, which is much faster than the harddrive, and the stuff that is inactive gets swapped form RAM down unto the harddrive.
this offcourse comes at a price .. which is speed.
RAM is very, very fast, but also expensive and it forgets everything it had in it, when you turn off the power. harddrive space is much slower, but retains data and comes in much bigger sizes and for much lower prices.
SSD discs sorta bridge the gap. They are a type of chip memory that does retain data when the power is off, like a harddrive - But is also both much faster and expensive, than a metal plate with some iron filings on it.
Offcourse, this virtual memory was all good for regular programs, but programs like Adobe Photoshop would make their own version of virtual memory, with specialized algorithms for graphic work, and in the options for that program, you can set up a scratch disc - Which improves performance for that program.
It didn't take long for proffesional artists to figure out that buying a relatively small, but fast harddrive to use as a dedicated scratchdisc was better than running it off of the main drive. And today, SSD discs perform that duty fantastically.
AFAIK ... most 3D rendering programs have the option of setting up a scratchdisc as well.
And going from a regular harddrive type of virtual memory, to a SSD type of virtual memory, makes a difference.
/NERD
As for RAM, that might actually be limited by the OS you run, as most home versions of Windows is limited to 16 GB. So unless you run a windows professional / enterprise edition, you'll be limited.
That is how I have mine set up, but I don't do image rendering. :-D Works for me though. I put it together when I built the computer for gaming. :-)
Oh and your answer works for Windows 7; however, Windows 8 has higher limits (as shown here)-
Version...............Limit on X86..........Limit on X64
Windows 8 Enterprise...4GB.................512 GB
Windows 8 Pro.............4GB.................512 GB
Windows 8...................4GB.................128 GB
Just so you know. :-) So if you need more memory, you probably should upgrade to Windows 8. Not sure it would help THAT much though. :-) Also, don't know if your motherboard could handle the memory. :-)
Next thing happen, and she'll go all Crocodile Dundee and say "that's not a shield, THIS is a shield." and then the entire bar is enveloped in a massive shield, much stronger than anything one little drone could ever hope to generate. :D
Offcourse, it's all just sexual tension, according to one Mr Freud, and really, they just wanna fuck one another. :D
Sex I mean, not ex's.
But then, we also have to consider her cultural background. Which is based upon the roman ideals, which would include at least some authority worship.
Might be why Goldie moved on. Or it might have been more personal (like maybe said douchebag expressed an interest in her). We might never know.
Before Emperor Douchebag gained his title, things may have been quite different. And it's during that timeframe that Goldie would have been growing up in Nova Roma, and that would have been the time she would have gained her main personality traits.
Then Emperor Douchebag takes the throne, and maybe she runs away in the ensuing chaos ? Maybe that is why she thinks all androids are killers, because the few androids in Nova Roma was controlled by Emperor Douchebag ? Maybe it's also during that period she got so bloody jaded, and was driven into prostitution ?
Maybe, just maybe, she's about to reconnect with her less jaded self and make up her own damn mind, rather than having to just believe all the horror stories, she's been fed about androids ?
As I'm seeing it, the first panel Goldie is just confused (and rightly so) by Connie's actions and obvious concern. The widening of the eyes, the positioning of the mouth in the O of surprise.
The second panel is just Connie dealing with Ada's tense words (she has a pretty good idea what TeeDee is capable of after all so can't blame her for that).
The third panel, Goldie seems to be TRYING to generate the disdain and hate she has for androids and not quite finding it as easy fit as she previously did. The expression is great there, the pinch in the forehead, the set of the lips, the narrowing of her eyes. And Connie is still obviously earnestly concerned, though we can't see her expression (Rose's dialogue carries Connie's emotions here).
The fourth panel we get to see Connie's expression and can see the caring she has. While we can't see as much of Goldie's expression, she seems to have smoothed out a little bit, not seeing the pinch in the forehead , the eyes don't seem to be as narrowed. So DESPITE herself, a non-venomous answer is pulled out of her.
Goldie has to respond to Connie's concern with the truth, she isn't hurt and it is ONLY because of Connie's actions. Goldie obviously does NOT like that, but she has to respond anyhow. Connie's concern draws it out of her.
I already said it, but I'll say it again. Great page, CentComm. :-) And Rose's dialogue of Connie especially is very well done.
Misguided, yes.
And extremely opinioned and spiteful too, sure.
But not a liar as such.
Sadly .. all of Aurelia's accusations about andriods is crushingly true. just not about NTAS andriods. like connie
Now reading CentComm's history lesson, we can suddenly see where Goldie got her opinions. I wonder how many people Goldie knew that got gobbled up by that reign of terror. Still she spewed pure garbage, like bigots are wont to, at Connie of all people!
I mean, that is like stealing a little girl's lollipop. And then not expecting someone to land on her for it (which we, the commenters, proceeded to do! :-D). That is the problem with bigotry, you might have a reason for your opinions but there are ALWAYS exceptions... Probably far more exceptions then examples of what lead to the bigotry in the first place. :-7
Im really glad her expressions came accross - you pretty much nailed what i was going for on each one :D
Police : Madam, could you please state the nature of your emergency ?
Goldie : My android has collapsed on the floor, there's smoke coming from her joints.
Police : Ok, calm down madam, what was the android working on when it collapsed?
Goldie : ... uhhh ... that is a bit personal.
Police : Allright .. ok, is it wearing any constricting work clothes ?
Goldie : Oh no, it's not wearing any clothes ... I mean, it's not wearing any *constricting* clothes.
Police : Ok, good. And it hasn't gotten any of it's electrical components wet ?
Goldie : Oh no, only it's rubber attachment is wet.
Police : ... it's what ?
Goldie : Oh, she moved again!
Goldie : Oh, I am so sorry for disturbing you, haveanicedaykthxbye!
*click*
Police : .... wtf ?
... which, incidentially, might be Rose's initial complaint. >_<
And what would that be .. Pulled Pork ?
And Connie really hit it - goldie is speechless :p
I wonder if the bar has detectors that detect hot weapons ... if there is I believe it might react soon.
ie. if half the bar panics and runs out, there's likely some trouble going on : Send security.
Yeah probably not. But it's a start I guess.
My thoughts on that, is that my thoughts are all over the place and I'm certain my thoughts wants tuna. *sage nod*
I think Goldie would take offense to that.
The first is that extreme prejudice operates logically. If it did, the bigotry problem would be self-correcting, but based on the historical record, it's anything *but*. This is particularly true for 'Goldie', because she has some perfectly valid reasons to dislike androids. Think like a Nova Roman for a second. The androids / AIS that Goldie is familiar with are Aeneas (dangerously insane) and Kali (heads the Secret Police, kills people, uses the blood of innocent children to lubricate her bearings). Given her background, if she *wasn't* somewhat of a cyber-phobe, I'd be shocked.
The second false premise is the assumption that Goldie sees Connie as a person. While it's not stated explicitly (by you or anyone else commenting), it's implied ("Goldie can't be a person either" being one example). The essence of bigotry is that the bigot doesn't see 'them' as people. That's how the bigot lives with themselves. 'They' aren't people, no matter what 'they' do, or how nice 'they' are. At worst, 'they' are objects, and at best, 'they' are trainable animals who can learn to do certain things very well (picking cotton and doing minstrel shows, from historical example).
Those things, taken together, are why it's so ****ing hard to eliminate prejudice...you have to fight two different battles that are, individually, very difficult. You have to convince Ye Bigot that the object of their prejudice is a person, and then you have to convince them to approach the situation logically. If you've ever tried to do change another person's mind, *or* tried to convince an angry person to 'calm down and think about this rationally', you know how hard either of those can be. Now try to do both. Good luck. :-D
As if you can't tell, I'm not expecting a great thawing in Goldie-Android relations, but then, I'm a cynical person (or persons!) at heart.
Obviously, most irrational thought tends to be based on emotional values rather than logic, and will often avoid logic, like the plauge.
Hence why we get stuff like GodNuts and KKK-members. As for eliminating prejudice there's mostly only two ways - The prejudiced person changes their mind, or their children grows up differently. The latter being the most common.
( also new incentive pic at top web comics :D )
They look like they mean business. :)
Otherwise sokay (also everyone else got the good remarks soooo Nothing to say *resumes wondering what it would be like to meet ceci...and if with the right upgrades he could beat the crap out of marcus if he tried to shut her down*