Dacy

Hey, Chris, be sure to get the edited version, please; to my chagrin, I found several spelling errors, plus, I rewrote a scene a little. -Dacy

Corrected version (will replace the one in the Prose topic by editing link). The Fight Begins.docx

Well, I like to hear if someone likes it, and I'm ordinarily really good at grammar and editing, so if I've missed something, PLEASE do point it out. I shall be correcting that mistake immediately. The bio thread commentary was quite useful, and I've yet to change that bio, but I will. I will likely make changes to the changes, but what I was looking for there was if there was a way to fit more in, make something more concise, or phrase it differently so that it was more clear and/or fit better. You did wonderfully on those points. I guess I am hoping the story is good as is for the most part, tho if you see a logic error, typo, grammar mistake, or a particularly egregious run on sentence....lol... I'd be happy to hear about it. Yes, I do enjoy long sentences. I consider that more a stylistic choice, but, if it makes things awkward or less comprehensible, I'd want to know. Anything that was difficult to understand is also helpful to know. I try to write so that things are understandable. I greatly dislike slogging through writing that is awkward and incomprehensible, and I would think that's a common feeling. If you feel that there is something that would improve the story, I'm open to hearing about it. If there was something you particularly liked, or disliked, I'd like to know. And yes, I love hearing the overall impression, probably because feedback up to this point has been positive, so I'm hoping it's actually a good, engrossing read. I love hearing about specifics you really liked. I know the parts I think turned out particularly well, and I know the parts that I'm not as sure about. Part of me wants to know how it compares in quality to something you might buy in a store, and part of me is scared to ask that. I always write more than I need to, I think, heh. Summing it up: Say it if you think it's helpful, Say it if you think it improves the book. Say it if you think it's important. I'm not asking for everything you've got, but hopefully the specifics I wrote about will give you some idea as to what I would welcome. I would think this would go for anyone who posts something here, but, I would also say, only give feedback if they say it's okay. Thanks for all your commentary and feedback! -Dacy

Yes, Trick Dacy was my husband's creation, and he came up with the name. It was he who first became friends with Fire Onyx and Starchilde. Before I had my own account, I would watch them team, jealous that I was not able to join them (I had no account because there was at that time, only one computer which could play the game). Once I was able to get my own account, I made a character to team with Trick and Fire and Starchilde. I came up with Dacy's Trick. Since Trick was a spoonerism, or a sort of a flip/play on Dick Tracy, I made Dacy's name a flip/play on Trick Dacy. Then I came up with why that was her name. 🙂 We had a full team nearly always, and others who were fairly regular, but these four were the core. I became known simply as "Dacy", because that's how most people had met me, and the name stuck, even though I later branched out into a plethora of other characters. I intentionally modeled Dacy after myself in some ways...we are the same height and coloring and build, and we share a similar level of eagerness, determination, and energy, and a desire to get it done and done well, and I liked the name, so I was happy to simply adopt it as my general handle. 🙂 -Dacy

There was no place for longer pieces of fiction, and I KNOW they are out there! So I decided to start a topic. Sure, I could make it about just my stuff, but I know there are lots of great writers out there. If you'd like critical feedback, editing suggestions, grammar and spelling checks, I'd like to think this is a place where you could ask for reviews, and our lovely community will respond in a constructive fashion, with the goal of improving your skills and your stories. If you are critiquing someone's work, please try and phrase things as constructively and positively as you can. The rule of thumb is to try and say at least one to two things that are positive for every negative you point out. As for grammar, I encourage people to ask for editing help with this if grammar or spelling is a struggle for them. Nothing ruins a story faster or makes it more difficult to comprehend than poor grammar and construction, and nothing helps a story to shine better than constructive feedback and good editing. So here is my story, it's a bit longer than some, but I've been told it reads well. I appreciate feedback. 🙂 (Unfinished starter sketch of Trick and Dacy) I hope you enjoy, and I hope to read your story here, too! -Dacy The Fight Begins.docx

Thanks, Chris! It means so much to hear back from people. Yeah, the cat's name is Chip (yes, Fire's got a Chip on her shoulder...), and he is really, really good at the trash talk. Also with the following through on the violence he promises. Chip appeared some time after my story takes place, so, he's not in the story. Just appeared one day, and like all cats, doesn't care to answer questions. I think possibly he is somewhat fashioned after the cat-like creature Honor Harrington had with her at all times. Obviously, I used my own interpretation of how he'd look, and did not go with the "shoulder kitten" piece as it appears in Icon, lol. 🙂 -Dacy

Here's the sketch. I haven't been able to do a color version of Dacy that captures the look I want, the look I see here. I will probably still make changes to Trick, too; I love the ipad, it's so easy to make layers and changes! Wow. Now I'm getting the itch to finish this...and I have so many bases I've got to do! I've never done Starchilde. Her player died just before Sunset on Live, and I just haven't. That was an interesting thing in doing the story: keeping the characterizations in line with what the player/creator wanted. Which, especially in the case of Trick, meant rewriting a lot. He is my husband's character, and he never intended for Trick to have a sidekick of any sort, much less a love interest. So, she's not, much as she might want to be. Some of the interactions they have aren't what I'd pictured, originally, but that's how writing goes sometimes. Sometimes you write the characters, sometimes they tell you what to write. 🙂 Interesting tidbits on the story: the city mentioned from Central America existed...and they don't know what happened to the populace, but they think it was sudden and calamitous. It was a huge metropolitan city for its time, until...it wasn't. Marcus Solomon was also a character created by my husband, and at the end of the story, he's off on another adventure, where another character finds her origin. Thylacine, who has also been recreated here on Everlasting, has one of my all time favorite bios. I can take no credit for it, however, it's all my husband's creation, so I have not written her story. -Dacy

Thanks so much, Xoza! It means the world to me that you actually took the time to read it. 🙂 And that you commented, and liked it! 😄 I posted in another topic, but here is Fire Onyx and Dacy's Trick: Here is an unfinished work with Trick..it's going to be Trick and Dacy. I'll post the sketch I'm working from in the next topic, I'm outta MB space for this post! -Dacy

Thanks!! 😊

The second piece I did is a duo my friend and I started together, and proved to be amazingly effective; we did pretty much every task force, not to mention story arcs and sig arcs, as just a duo on Live. My friend had a Fire/Ice tank, and I had an Earth//Rad controller. Celestia i and Earthbound i. (i is a Chinese word/concept for "of the mind", if I recall correctly). -Dacy

I have a couple of pieces...but they're not traditional comic book style. I don't know how to do that, lol. This is just my best stab at art, using an iPad. First up, the first I did. This is of Dacy's Trick, my katana scrapper, and Fire Onyx, my best friend's inv/fire tank. We took all comers, and it was the start of a wonderful friendship, so I decided to do art as a salute to my friend. Completely surrounded by a host of foes from City, they are not worried. "We got this!" -Dacy

Hi, I was wondering if there was any place to post/publish lengthy fiction pieces? Naturally, I ask because I have a piece here...I've attached it, but I do not know if this is the best way to post it? -Dacy The Fight Begins.docx

For easiest editing, I would fill this space as much as possible with "doors" from create room, and then open them up to the sky for the atrium effect. Also, the official name for the ceiling light I mentioned is ceiling spot.

Also, what is it you want/need to know about teleporters? Things seem fairly self-explanatory to me, if you read the object descriptions. Teleporters can now each hold up to 10 beacons, so you can cover every single available zone teleport point with 4 teleporters, 3 if you are only going to blueside. There are also points that you can set up within your base, starting with Aleph Point. These can be used to quickly span a large base, or as an elevator/lift imitation, or as a "door" to a room. The cool thing is, the room the "door" goes to doesn't even have to physically be in that space, it can be anywhere in the base plot. There are items and NPCs that you can sell and buy inspirations or enhancements from. There is a mission computer, an Ouros crystal that lets you access missions you missed, there are machines that give you temporary buffs created from salavage, there are storage bins for IOs, salvage, and inspirations. There are workstations for creating IOs, and resurrection items that restore you after defeat. I think that's all of the items with function, other than for power and control. I am more confused by "how do they work"...I don't know the programming answer to that, but basically, you put them somewhere, and they do their job. You do have to attach which beacons you want a teleporter to go to, but other than that, yeah, just plunk it down and you're good. -Dacy

ShardWarrior answered everything the way I would have, but let me add a bit more. Is the 1x5 area between rooms? That sounds like the size of an area between rooms. Define "light up". Are you sinking lights into ceilings and floors to light an area, or merely placing lights? If it's between rooms, you can't place small objects there, although you can span a space with larger objects. If you are trying to light a space that cannot have rooms or doors, you could -try- to sink ceiling light #2 into the wall that's as close as you can get to the area that doesn't allow lights. These are somewhat directional, and I've found can light a bit outside of their placement limitation. Face the light towards the area you want to light up (some experimentation will give you the best placement/angle). It's highly likely that the center of the area will stay dim, for the lights can't reach that far. If it's an area between rooms, you may be able to bridge the two areas, and thus be able to place items, by placing "doors" (from "create room") between the two walls. This only works if the space is only 1 square wide, but it sounds as if it would work here. You cannot place a door at the corners of rooms, so, there is always a square you can't make into a "room" when adjoining rooms, which is why I greatly prefer to build in a huge, single room format. -Dacy

The scene replays relentlessly in her mind. It had seemed such fun when she and her sister stopped by the free Mentalist act in the park. She'd laughed as he tried to "read" her mind. She'd learned early on that she was able to keep others out of her head, handy when one's mother had some limited telepathic ability. Too late, she realized there was someone else in the man's mind. Someone dangerous. She made clumsy excuses and left with her sister. Shaken, still, she was sure the danger had passed. But, the Carnival came for her that night. Bitter regret fills her mind, remembering. She let her sister hide her. Confidence in her big sister became horror as she watched them put a mask on Kaylee. Her eyes, now devoid of emotion, slowly turned to Karissa's hiding place. Desperation lent strength to the psychic shockwave Karissa unleashed, but she barely escaped. Now she works for the day when she will be able to rescue her sister. The Masked Mystic Oh, that darned 1023 character limit!! There was a lot more I wanted to put in here, of course. 🙂 The "mentalist" was a scout under the control of Vanessa DeVore, looking for raw natural psychic ability; these candidates make the strongest powered Carnies, under Vanessa's psychic control, of course. Karissa can't go home again, she knows it's being watched. She has to hide, but at the same time, is determined to find and save her sister. Both Huntress and the Hunted, but I wouldn't take bets on them ever catching her! So she chose an identity where she could hide in plain sight. I worked for a long time trying to fit as much of the story as I could in the space provided. Do you think there is any editing I can do to improve? -Dacy

Funny, I usually place items to the right, but it depends on my view. So yes, you should be able to place items wherever, regardless of the position of your character. The camera view is more important, however. You can put all the items with storage in them into the entrance room, which cannot be deleted, and then delete the rest of the base. The game will not let you delete a room when there is a storage item with anything in it, in the room. -Dacy

Thank you!! I’ve seen some of your stuff around here, and you are quite the premier base builder, so that compliment is very much appreciated. 😊

There, now I can post more. Captain's quarters: One of the halls of crew quarters: A crew room, shared quarters with a living area and bathroom, also a replicator in case you don't feel like going to the general cafeteria or restaurant/bar: Cafeteria Restaurant/bar/lounge: Exercise room with rock climbing wall 🙂 -Dacy

I can't seem to post more, it tells me max size is reached, but I can't access the ones I uploaded to delete and upload different ones.

Here is a ship I was working on, but am going to redo it with some of the new pieces we got. It was just getting too big, too slow to do base functions. Here is the front, side, and back.... Here is the bridge, with starscreen and vid screen. (All base functions are right on bridge or just outside of it, for easy access)Engine room. I've run out of room, I'll try and get more in another post. -Dacy

Well, at least, usually they don't move a lot, nor often. I think once it's gone through a couple of resets, it shouldn't move again. Also, you don't have to use a really -big- object, find one that's a comparable width. If it's too long, sink the end into the floor (unless it's got something underneath). -Dacy

Okay, I've tried this with multiple items during multiple sessions (although always on the 64-bit client), and it's consistent. When I get an object that is lying down, such as a floor piece, statue base, etc, and I try and angle it so it is upright, I cannot get the piece to align at a 90 degree angle (upright) facing south. It will align facing north, at which point I swivel it around so it's facing south, but this is an annoying extra step. I've tried it at all angle snaps, thinking somehow I was maybe going too fast to get that angle that's between slightly under and slightly over rotated, but nope. That angle does not seem to exist, if I'm rotating the north side of the object to the top, so the object's top is now facing south. I hope this is clear...I tried to take pictures to illustrate, but the print screen function didn't seem to work this time (I took pictures yesterday with the same settings, outside of the base, and it worked fine). -Dacy

This is due to spaghetti coding. The base is using text fields for numeric values. So, it must round. (Reset time to see rounding error is about 6 mins out of base). So, you do see some things shift...it seems like vertical shifts are more pronounced than horizontal, to me. There is no fix for it that the devs can do, other than recode the entire base editor, which is a distant, distant project. Here's all you can do: play with slight angles. Leave them however they've shifted (tho, small repositionings sometimes give you different rounding errors, which can result in a near match), and angle one slightly higher and one slightly lower, so they are even. With the new base items, you could also get something as big as the entire ramp you want, and place that as a surface, so the surface is even (power substation foundations in cityscape comes to mind). It's pretty much a "play around until it works" type of thing. Sorry. For all of us, lol. 🙂 -Dacy

I'd have to check, since it's been a while since I used the base's style and not created my own, but it seems to me that if you apply a style to the base, you get the trim in the doorways of the style you chose. Also, you can light the doorways by sinking Ceiling Spotlights in the floor/walls/ceilings.