Freelancer

[elect]

My mind is travelling back among past memories these days

Some of you remember the Freelancer server?

What happened at the end with it and its members?

[Pegasus]

You mean TechCom? According to GT.com, it's not around anymore. I think it's been that way for a few months now too; musta removed it from my GT iframes monitoring thingy before Christmas due to that, but I can't quite recall when exactly.

[elect]

Yep

I was used to play there before ceonss

[fors]

TechCom it was the best ONS server... he was always crowded because he was loved the most, a lot of maps for any taste, is often added new, the administration is working great and there was always calm, no restrictions were in languages, ( personally I was interested to learn different words in different languages), there I found my first mate, and many later, people even went on to other servers for one reason only (in the ceonss also)- if Tech was overflowing.
it was the FIRST server on which I started to play UT2004 probably, therefore I decided to focus the ONS forever and I'm only glad that.
I also still can't understand why?... how?... that ideal is impossible to lose just.

[elect]

I was wondering if maybe we can try to bring some of those nubs here, although some are already here, many other are missing...

[Cheese_it!]

I used to play on TechCom also. It had a better ping for me (it was UK based I think) plus it had team-only voice chat!

Before Techcom there was "Titan" (another UK server) which also bit the dust. Some of the Titan folks are still around and still use their .T32 clan tag.

Next time you play the map Titan Necropolis, take a look at the grave stones scattered around... the inscriptions are all sigs from actual T32 players
(but not actually dead, of course)

[Pegasus]

Despite various misconceptions about TechCom, the main reason "he" was crowded is pretty much the same one many other ONS(Plus) servers were crowded around that same time: 5 years ago there were more UT players around. Just like how there were more editors & mappers around, which is why the pace of roster changes via the addition of new maps was generally quicker. As for "a lot of maps for any taste", yeah, that would probably be true so long as the variety range you'd be looking for could be found among what Omni was cranking out under Gorzakk's custom vec arms race stewardship at the time. TechCom's admin, Foibos, was all over that place trying to grab the latest edit hot off the Omni oven, sometimes even before it hit the shelf, because presumably that's what the european crowd would also like.
Also,

[...]and many later, people even went on to other servers for one reason only (in the ceonss also)- if Tech was overflowing[...]

...or lagging because the hardware was in desperate need for an upgrade and the money for it had yet to be gathered; or because the custom ONSPlus/UTcomp amalgamation used would add an unreasonable CPU overhead to clients and server alike (ONSPlus_101beta31_UTComp.u - still got it on cache). Or because a coddled majority of tank campers - including sociable luminaries like Mad_Max, Mu_Fo_Ne, ratte, etc. - would lead the pack to a fifth mino-centric map vote in a row and everyone interested in a more balanced or skill-based game should put up or shut up. But, you know, nobody should let any of that interfere with their nostalgia-fueled appetite for historical revisionism.

[...]it was the FIRST server on which I started to play UT2004 probably, therefore I decided to focus the ONS forever and I'm only glad that.[...]

Remind me to send Foibos a "thank you" note.


Btw, I believe TechCom was based in the Czech Rep., Cheese, not in the UK. I do miss the Titan server & community though - classy buncha people there .

[elect]

including sociable luminaries like Mad_Max, Mu_Fo_Ne, ratte, etc.

[MrPenguin]

Ah, TechCom. I also played ONS on there first before CEONNS.

It had some great fun maps, and also lots of really terrible unbalanced ones too. I guess we should thank our admins for keeping it tasteful here

[Pegasus]

Seeing as the topic got bumped to the surface again, here's some more illuminating info on the whole ONSPlus-UTcomp hybrid that TechCom pursued (and managed to persuade Izumo to take a stab at) and relevant player feedback on the performance/gameplay experience results it delivered.

Also of some interest, partly in light of this recent report, are Crusha's comments about TripleSlap's performance regarding the absence of any zoning. Furthermore, it should be noted that, despite Crusha's previously voiced pessimism towards its feasibility, a zoned version of TripleSlap had already been made in ONS-THI-TripleSlap-RC2 (the 6.06MB one that also went by the "-SP1" alias, not its 4.70MB doppelganger which appeared half a year later and only offered a lowered ceiling) and it's the one CEONSS has been using. That's not to say that attempts to improve on its performance through further zoning couldn't be made, of course. Anyway, probably the only bit of actionable info there is to be gleaned from this whole, and somewhat bitter, retrospective exercise.