A: Two reasons -
1: insufficient questions to sustain weekly postings actually answering questions.
2: Finals
Q: What have you (the developers) done for me lately?
A: Well... if you've looked in CVS lately, you'll have seen a slew of changes in the data set. We've rolled in a new geometry file format. ~ 105 megs of Xmesh got turned into ~ 19 megs of BFXM. BFXM are not only smaller, they're much easier to parse, and consequently load much more quickly. They're also nicer in that they support a superset of the features of Xmesh.
Q: So VS is all instant loady now?
A: No. As one might expect, meshes aren't the only thing that VS loads. However, disk pauses, while still (as of yet) occurring just as frequently, (grumble, grumble) will tend be rather shorter than before, and initial load time should be visibly reduced.
Q: So... what have YOU done for me lately?
A: Well, aside from working on the above, and looking into another couple of optimization issues I won't bother to bore people with, ummm... probably not too much. See #2 from answer to first question.
Q: Ship list progress?
A: Minimal...
Q: Backstory progress?
A: I've got some stuff to finalize about the Klk'k, the liberation of K'tah (including why there's a monument featuring a one armed Andolian with a katana in the middle of the capital city), and some other random tidbits about other groups... but nothing I'd consider ready for prime-time yet.
Q: Why don't the Aera and Humans use nasty bio-weapons against each other?
A: Because slaughtering entire civilian populations would (begin massive understatement) not sit well with the Rlaan. The Aera wouldn't survive a simultaneous attack from both the Human and Rlaan fronts, and the Humans don't want to risk the possibility of causing the Rlaan to become sufficiently suspicious of Human valuing of civilian life that the Rlaan feel themselves compelled to lauch a pre-emptive assault on Humanity to prevent the same from being done to them, before the Rlaan's distinct advantage in genetic research can be overcome. Basically, the Rlaan already greatly dislike the Aera, and have long seen the Humans as potentially dangerous, if currently beneficial partners, and neither the Humans nor the Aera have any interest in changing Rlaan misgivings into Rlaan Fleets - at least not now.
Q: So... as there weren't any grab bag questions this week, you've really just been talking to yourself...
A: That's not really a question, but yes.
