A couple of months ago I decided to start playing the massive multi-player online game, Travian. Travian is a browser based game that lets you choose one of three races (Romans, Teutons or the Gauls), and then you have to create and build up a village (and its resources) while creating alliances with other gamers in your area to try create a competitive team to make it to end game.
The game, while simple when you start, gets extremely more complex and political as the months go on, and by looking at previous game play, games tend to last 12 to 15 months. I have being informed that after 10 months no new entrants are allowed in the game, and the final 6 months is a race to conquer a computer controlled race and build a Lvl 100 World Wonder.
When I first started playing Travian I was skeptical. How could a browser based game be as fun and as entertaining as the current list of games I play (Battlefield 2, COD4, World of Warcraft), but a couple of months into the game and I am completely sold. I really want to see if I can take my village to end game. However, to do that, I am going to need to make sure the alliance I am associated with 'keeps with the program', and that all enemy alliances and villages in my area are cleaned out and conquered.
There are currently over 20 000 players in the game of Travian that I am competing in. When I started writing this post, the point was not to give a review of the game (as I have just done), but rather to give a list of very useful links (as I am about to do) I have found to enable you to be better equipped for your Travian experience.
List of useful Travian links:
- Travian Website - http://www.travian.com - This is where you register and login to play the game.
- Official Travian 'manual' - http://help.travian.com - A mostly useful manual on the game and its units, resources and infrastructure.
- Travian map tool - http://travianmap.nl/index.php?ln=en# - A great tool to work out where you are in the Travian world, and who is around you.
- Travellog - http://travilog.org.ua/en - A tool to let you post battle and scouting reports to your friends and alliances members.
- Travian toolbox - http://www.traviantoolbox.com/index.php?lang=en - This tool does all types of really good calculations for you. Useful for working out battle coordination.
- Travian analyzer - http://www.travian.ws - The Travian world analyzer is a great tool for when you are doing research on a village or an alliance you have to interact with, or if you just want to have a look at whats going on in the world of Travian.
- Farm finder - http://traviantool2.ww7.be/frame_T.php?lang=com&titre=inactive - This tool lets you find inactive players so you can "farm" (thats when you raid their resources) them.
- Cropper finder - http://asite.110mb.com/cropfinder.php - This is a great tool for finding croppers (resources areas that you can take over that are very valuable) close to you.
Playing guides:
Here are a couple of guides to give you the best possible start in your game of Travian.
- Gauls. The Gauls are the best defensive race in the game. http://forum.travian.us/showthread.php?t=6302
- Romans. Romans are the economic powerhouses of the game. http://ionutbatman.trei.ro/
- Teutons. They are the most aggressive race. I could not find a decent enough guide that I would like to show you.. so if anyone is able to find one, please let me know so I can post it here.
That should be enough information to start you on a successful road to conquest. Let me know if you think there should be any other links added here.
I was going to start this post off with a lot of cussing and anger, but after a cup of tea and a moment of reflection I have decided to go with just the anger.
My reasons why China is evil:
- It has amongst the worst cases of human rights abuses in the world
- Its citizens are kept in a state of political fear with political prison camps for anyone who may have an opposing view to the Chinese government
- Its population is HEAVILY censored
- We all know about Tibet
- We all know that the Burma situation is allowed to happen because of its Chinese support.
- We all know that the genocide in Sudan is only able to happen because of all the chinese sponsored weapons (being sold for oil... they make the Americans look like peaceful hippies)
- And now... Southern Africa is going to be experiencing another genocide (the last one took place when Robert Mugabe killed 200 000 matabele... and blamed the Apartheid white government... and the world lapped it up)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/18/wzim218.xml
Yup, another genocide is going to happen, and the thing that makes me so angry.. is the world is going to let is happen. Right now.. weapons are on their way to Robert Mugabe to help him kill more people. Right now the world knows (the people who need to know).. know that this is going to happen.. and once again.. as in Sudan, as in Burma, as in Tibet... the world are going to collectively sit on their fat bums and do nothing about it (except perhaps send a strong worded letter of dissatisfaction to the Chinese government).
Our governments are failing us. It seems all politics is corrupt and all the peoples of the world are suffering from this sickness of apathy. I honestly dont know how people can live with themselves by not acting on these horrors.
Just remember the next time you buy something that says, "Made in China". Know that is was built with blood and that you are guilty of supporting the worlds most evil country and the actions it commits... simply by purchasing a single product made in China. Though.. I doubt most of the people out there even care.
What makes this whole matter worse, is our wonderful ANC led government are supporting the sale of arms to Zimbabwe, and are not doing a single thing to hinder the process.
I am shamed many times over. I am ashamed to be a South African and for allowing so many Zimbabweans to die and I am ashamed to be a member of the human race. Even most of the "good" people in this world.. are evil.. as they allow evil to happen.
"Evil can only happen when good men stand by and do nothing".. and in the case of the rest of the world.. this is exactly what is happening.
I wish there was some army or something I could join to fight China, Zimbabwes ZANUPF and South Africa's corrupt ANC (I swear, you would think Mugabe and Mbeki are having sexual relations when you look at how far Mbeki is up Mugabe's ass).
Am I wrong to be so angry?
For all of those on the South African http://www.bidorbuy.co.za website be very careful. Due to bad coding (as reported by Bradbowlllama on MyADSL ) it is possible for users to obtain your personal email address by simply going through the code.
To give an example:
- Find a user that is selling something you wish to bid on
- Click on the "Community Watch" link
- View the source on the "Report suspicious behaviour" page
Your result should look something like this:
INPUT class="dfont" TYPE=TEXT VALUE="communitywatch@bidorbuy.co.za" NAME="from1" SIZE=55 MAXLENGTH=100 disabled
INPUT TYPE="hidden" VALUE="youraddy@address.com" NAME="from"
INPUT TYPE="hidden" VALUE="otheruser@adress.com" NAME="cc"
INPUT TYPE="hidden" VALUE="123455" NAME="abcde"
As you will see, the email address of the user is easily accessible to anyone, including the hundreds of Nigerian scammers and identity thieves.
For those of you wanting to open an account at BidOrBuy... be very careful
This vulnerability is valid as of 3/4/2008 (Lets see how long it takes them to fix this very serious issue.
Leetest form of linux there is. The primary OS I now use. Kubuntu, Dapper Drake, 6.06 LTS. I really think people should use this as their default OS
For those of you who dont know, I run Kubuntu OS as my desktop OS. With all the queerness of Microsofts Anti Piracy campaign, I have decided to completely leave the MicroSoft world. Sure, I loose windows media player and some gaming choices. However, you do get awsome games like warsow that are completely open source, and LOADS of fun to play. If you are in South Africa, there is a South African warsow server gracefully hosted by Web Africa. When in the game just type "connect warsow.webfafrica.co.za" And you will connect to the server to be able to jam with the rest of us.
I consider this a book that every South African should read to get perspective in their lives. Its honesty is most refreshing and Al Lovejoy`s ability to capture in words the essence of a culture and history of a generation of south Africans is amazing. Al Lovejoy has earned a lot of respect from a generation of youth who appretiate the truth. Thank you Al.
Other reviews:
‘Acid Alex is quite simply one of the most shocking autobiographies I have ever read. It is also well-written, addictive, excellent.’
– Sue Blaine, Business Day
‘Heartbreaking! Entertaining! Intelligent!’
– Erns Grundling, SL magazine
‘Nothing I have read has sketched the scorched social landscape of South Africa’s last half-century with such intensity and honesty. Read it.’
– Charles Thesen, Marie Claire
‘There are elements of Hunter S Thompson, Herman Charles Bosman, William Burroughs and William Wharton. But in the end it is an amazing story told in a unique voice. A voice moulded by pain, a voice honed by a government reformatory..., whetted by the SADF, and sharpened by Pretoria Central.
It is the story of a man who went to hell and came back, a morality tale, a Bildungsroman, the narrative of a f*ckup who found redemption, and the anthem of a lost generation.’– Caspar Greeff, Sunday Times
‘Truly, as Koos Kombuis says, this is “an astonishingly breathless story” … Besides being a great read, Acid Alex is an invaluable record of a type of mania that gripped a certain type of South African in the last quarter of the 20th century. It’s a book that’s going to appeal to many young South Africans who currently have to turn to the United States for their myths of pointless excess, and it’s going to inspire them. Not necessarily in a particularly savoury way.’
– Chris Roper, Mail & Guardian
This book is more than just a suggested read.
In what has to be a remarkable show of insight into the power of social networking, a British Indie band is offering their album free to download off their website. This is one band, that seems to have googled it. It looks like the older corporate models are failing and hopefully the world will not have to tolerate the insanity that is RIAA much longer.
I love artists with scope.
South Africa needs science and South Africa needs prominent scientific voices. Unfortunately, like the media in much of the rest of the world, South Africa's media is not nearly welcoming enough to the skeptical and scientific views of the world. Luckily, we have great examples from the United States and elsewhere of how self-publication through blogs can affect public discourse, promoting science and acting as a counterweight to indifference, ignorance, and gullibility. However, unlike our comrades elsewhere, South African science bloggers are unconnected and not organized. I propose to change that...Read More
Really funny flash video depicting the end of the world as the result of a nucleur fall out.
For those of you who dont know, I am South African. Im a born and bred white native african, and damb proud of it. However, I will often use words that you may not understand, local slag u wont pick up on. Click on this link to learn a little more about South African slang, aka, Safrikan!
The entire catalogue of information from 1,800 courses at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will be available free online by the end of the year. Once uploaded, it will represent one of the internet’s most important resources.
MsDewey.com
I never have never used a search engine this cheeky before :) Its great fun for about 10 minutes.
Seaward.co.za for South Africa`s best coastal real estate.
In what has to be classed as bizare, a clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in Florida's swamps.
I came across this site by Anup Shah that has a detailed look into the causes of poverty. I found some of the statistics he shows to be very embarrassing and a shameful reflection on humanity today.
* Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day.
* The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world’s countries) is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people combined.
* Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
* Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
* 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).
Anup Shah shows us the institutions, policies and people behind many of today's causes of poverty.
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty.asp
Haha, these poor lil bunnies. A bunch of pictures of bunnies trying to come up with imaginitive ways to kill themselves.
The Public Library of Science is a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. A most excellent link for those of you wanting access to some amazing science.
A really nice Travian signature generator
Ever wondered how many babies are being pushed out every day, or how many people are dying every minute? Well this is the place for you then! This meter currently records those tpes of things, and with a population of 6.5 billion, there are lots of interesting stats for you to check out.
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