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 What is Homeworld? Homeworld is a landmark game. If Starcraft is the gold standard for top-down RTS games, Homeworld is without question the gold standard for fully 3D ones. Its graphics look a bit dated nowadays, but the core gameplay is solid, and the exclusion of standard RTS concepts like chokepoints really changes things around. It has two sequels - Homeworld: Cataclysm and the aptly-titled Homeworld 2. For my money (and many others', I imagine), the original is easily the best. It should also be said in advance that Homeworld has quite possibly one of the best soundtracks of any game, ever. Seriously. That's all well and good, but what exactly does the gameplay involve? You will be managing a gigantic fleet of ships - from the lowly but agile Scout to the mid-sized Assault Frigate all the way up to massive Destroyers and Heavy Cruisers. During the game, you will be presented with a variety of obstacles - stealing enemy ships and adapting their technology for your own use, navigating massive asteroid fields, gravity wells that will turn your ships into sitting ducks, trying to fend off giant swarms of small fighters, cloaked enemy ships, solar flares that will incinerate your fighters without a second's hesitation, and most importantly - giant groups of enemy capital ships, all out for blood. Your blood. Homeworld breaks from the traditional RTS mold by making your resources and units last from mission to mission. So, if you complete a mission without any resources left and having lost all of your anti-bomber Missile Destroyers, you will enter the next mission with no resources and no Missile Destroyers. For better or for worse, your fleet is your fleet. This means that the game can be brutally hard. But it also motivates you to play more carefully. Zerg rushes don't often end well in Homeworld. A few notes before we begin:
Does this game have lasers? This is important! You tell me.   I WILL NOT SPEND FIVE HOURS IN EACH MISSION CAPTURING EVERY SINGLE SHIP STOP ASKING ME ALREADY Table Of Contents: Chapter 1: T Minus Ten Chapter 2: Where No Man (From Kharak) Has Gone Before! Chapter 3: All Quiet On The Home Front Chapter 4: All Alone In The Night Chapter 5: Starring Mel Gibson! Kinger fucked around with this message at Nov 17, 2009 around 11:21 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 15:46 |
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| # ? Nov 20, 2009 22:17 |
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Will you be uploading excerpts from the manual as far as technology and whatnot go? I loved the HW manual's discussions on technology and tactics, they were pretty impressively thought-out. Cataclysm had even more in-depth and interesting fluff although it wasn't quite as fun as a game, and I still crack open its manual from time to time to read it-it stands fairly well as a generic sci-fi technical manual with pretty pictures.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 15:50 |
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I dunno, me and my friends enjoy the 2nd one more, it still looks pretty too. But gently caress yeah lasers! Rock Strategy man, let's plays don't just have to be FPS and huge virtual boards games, still a little tipsy from last night, for my first post on something awful, yeah! (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 15:55 |
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It's highly appropriate that someone with a BSG avatar is LPing this game.  Good luck!
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 15:59 |
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I've been waiting for a decent homeworld LP for a long time. Actually, I've recently tried playing homeworld again. I forgot how much I suck at it, though. Galenus fucked around with this message at Nov 07, 2009 around 16:04 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 16:02 |
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MJ12 posted:Cataclysm had even more in-depth and interesting fluff although it wasn't quite as fun as a game, and I still crack open its manual from time to time to read it-it stands fairly well as a generic sci-fi technical manual with pretty pictures. I honestly don't know where my manual is. I'm not sure, but I might've thrown it out. 
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 16:03 |
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Yeah, Adagio for strings is one of the great sad pieces of music, full stop. They broadcasted it when FDR died.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 16:09 |
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Kinger posted:I honestly don't know where my manual is. I'm not sure, but I might've thrown it out. I think they're both on replacementdocs. Fake edit: Yep, both there. Homeworld: http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.555 Cataclysm: http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.554
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 16:10 |
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I always failed horribly after the missions with the Kadeshi. They killed all my poo poo and once I somehow managed to beat it I had no ships or resources for the mission after so died horribly 
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 17:11 |
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Cairo Dog posted:I always failed horribly after the missions with the Kadeshi. They killed all my poo poo and once I somehow managed to beat it I had no ships or resources for the mission after so died horribly I think the trick there was that you needed to burn down the enemy fuel pods at all costs and completely ignore their fighters. Swarmers had absolutely ridiculous stats I think-they had firepower and armor equal to a Defender, speed and agility equal to a scout, and the fuel tank size of a VW bug with the fuel appetite of a Detroit SUV. Fighting them was a losing battle. Now, capturing them... that's something else entirely. Capturing a few squadrons of them as mothership/resource controller defense after they ran out of gas was actually fairly handy.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 17:49 |
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Looks like this will be interesting.Kinger posted:Table Of Contents: Just curious, but how soon is soon?
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 18:15 |
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MJ12 posted:I think the trick there was that you needed to burn down the enemy fuel pods at all costs and completely ignore their fighters. Swarmers had absolutely ridiculous stats I think-they had firepower and armor equal to a Defender, speed and agility equal to a scout, and the fuel tank size of a VW bug with the fuel appetite of a Detroit SUV. Fighting them was a losing battle. I just made sure I had maxed multi-gun corvets (minus the 13 cap corvets) and had a 2:1 fighter:bomber ratio. This completely shredded the Swarmers and then I grabbed the fuel pods for extra resources. MJ12 posted:Now, capturing them... that's something else entirely. Capturing a few squadrons of them as mothership/resource controller defense after they ran out of gas was actually fairly handy. Either I did something wrong or there was something weird with my copy of the game. The cap corvet refused to grab them.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 18:17 |
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The bigger question is 'how do you intend to play'? Low/No captures, lots of captures, capture everything, mixed? It's a fair question. Take even the early game: Turanic Raider Missile Corvettes. Missiles are utter death to fighters and have decent punch against larger targets(I believe the special is a missile barrage). You don't fight the Turanics after the early game, and you don't gain missile tech till MUCH later. However capturing the things is a chore. What will you do? Bloodly fucked around with this message at Nov 07, 2009 around 19:03 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 18:54 |
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Chapter One: T Minus Ten Cutscene: GotGame | Viddler Mission: GotGame | Viddler We depart Kharak with: 430 RUs 7 Scouts 1 Resource Collector 1 Salvage Corvette 1 Research Ship New Ships Encountered: Mothership  That's her - the Mothership. She's been in construction for 60 years. Children were born, grew up, married, had children of their own, and died - all while gazing up at the sky and seeing her taking shape ever so slowly. She is one-of-a-kind. Irreplaceable. Into her, we pour all our hopes and dream for the future. Though it take thousands of our lives, she will be protected. Scout  Head to any spaceport and you will see ships such as this flying here and there with reckless abandon. The young, rich, and foolish have taken to racing them with each other - a task that requires some degree of skill. The Scout is as light as a feather - but it's also as fragile as glass. Many overconfident pilots have discovered this far too late. Resource Collector  Where would we be now if not for these machines? They form the backbone of our industry. Without them, we would have no hope of ever completing the Mothership. No common destiny. No universal goal in life. Without them, the Clans would have fallen into the old ways again - death and destruction on a massive scale, perhaps to the end of Time itself. Salvage Corvette  If Resource Collectors are one parent of the Mothership, Salvage Corvettes are the other. Materiel doesn't just move on its own, you know. These ships served an important role in the construction of the Mothership, and will continue to do so in the journey ahead. Research Ship  Without research, civilization does not advance. The staff of our research facilities on Kharak are what brought us to this point. We have taken the 500 best and brightest among these and given them a place of honor aboard the Mothership's primary research facility. They will help us to develop new technologies as the journey progresses. Kinger fucked around with this message at Nov 07, 2009 around 22:00 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 19:40 |
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Robotic Folksinger posted:Looks like this will be interesting. I fell asleep  edit: quote:The bigger question is 'how do you intend to play'? Low/No captures, lots of captures, capture everything, mixed? It's a fair question. It sure is. Watching people capture things is boring - so unless it's specifically mandated by the mission objectives, no capture. Kinger fucked around with this message at Nov 07, 2009 around 19:50 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 19:41 |
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Kinger posted:It sure is. Watching people capture things is boring - so unless it's specifically mandated by the mission objectives, no capture. Not even the destroyer and carrier you get in Mission 4 or 5? Something you didn't mention is that fighters greatly change their behavior on different tactics-on aggressive they don't dodge at all, while on evasive they don't keep formation and break up into lead-wingman pairs to engage targets. Due to this I find that putting fighters on aggressive is rarely a good idea although your opinion may vary, and I normally keep mines on Evasive unless I want to use their formation since speed is life. Also the Kamikaze 'tactic'. That's always fun to use. Rarely useful IME but always fun. EDIT-also, during the lulls in a mission you could talk about technology or the history of Kharak, those are actually pretty interesting topics in the manual that are nice to talk about. I really like how they fleshed out and explained Homeworld technology as well as Kushan society. MJ12 fucked around with this message at Nov 07, 2009 around 20:00 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 19:58 |
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I love the first mission, the build-up combined with the music brought chills down my spine, and still does.
ScotchDK fucked around with this message at Nov 07, 2009 around 20:42 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 20:05 |
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Kinger posted:
Fangz fucked around with this message at Nov 07, 2009 around 20:28 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 20:25 |
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Ah, I glad someone is finally doing this. I'm a Relic Fanboi and love Homeworld, but I have never been able to beat either 1 or 2. I usually get stuck around halfway through the game. I just don't have the strategery that the game requires. Are you planning on doing Cataclysm?
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 20:32 |
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Fangz posted:Can't you fast forward the capturing bits then? Technically yes, but I'd rather just blow poo poo up. More satisfying for everybody. And yes, if this goes well, I will be doing Cataclysm.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 20:38 |
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Oh this is going to be delicious. Kinger, would you mind also providing a Polsy link next to the Viddler links? It has a cleaner interface and better flash player for browsing Viddler.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 20:42 |
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All I'm gonna say is do your best to salvage the thing that's hard to salvage in mission 3. The people of Kharak are counting on you!
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 20:42 |
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I loved the intro/first few missions for this game but the adjusting (cheating) AI hosed me up so hard. Never did complete Homeworld 1 or play the expansion. Think I got to some weird alien fort in HW2 before giving up on that too, had I known/considered FAQs at the time... Strangely enough I had lots of fun in multiplayer, especially with the Gundam mod ( http://www.moddb.com/mods/gundam-mod-0079-to-0083 ) and that spergin' Star Wars mod. I think there was a...Halo mod as well? Crazy amount of god like mods for HW2 anyhow. I'll be following this LP just to see what I missed out on.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 20:48 |
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is something wrong with viddler? i've been trying to get on various LP vids all day and it just hangs while loading the page
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 20:49 |
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I really like how you're controlling the camera. That's going to be the hardest thing, not just playing the game well but making a show out of it by having good angles.MJ12 posted:Not even the destroyer and carrier you get in Mission 4 or 5? Capture those at least, c'mon man!MJ12 posted:EDIT-also, during the lulls in a mission you could talk about technology or the history of Kharak Yeah, that's what you should have been doing this mission. The history of Kharak and all the crossing attempts of the desert really fleshes out the planet and the people. And I think you know why that needs to be done. At the earliest convenience build 5 more research ships and watch them transform. Edit: Oh good God, I forgot to mention you had better save all the trays. ALL OF THEM. GuavaMoment fucked around with this message at Nov 07, 2009 around 21:01 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 20:54 |
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FredMSloniker posted:All I'm gonna say is do your best to salvage the thing that's hard to salvage in mission 3. The people of Kharak are counting on you! If you're talking about the turanic carrier I'm pretty sure you cannot capture that. Believe me, I've hit it with more than enough salvage corvettes. As an aside, if you've played the game, but didn't read your manual, shame on you! That thick book of backstory, tech, and history just makes the game more awesome. Also gently caress HW2. I love it to death, but making the enemy fleet disposition vary based on the size of your fleet and resources was a bad move. It was nice that all the resources were automatically collected after a mission, so you had no excuse not to have a big fleet. The problem was that the cpu's fleet was also based on the untold more fleets you could have built based on your bank, but not fielded due to population caps. I think one mission I destroyed something like a dozen enemy battlecruisers. It could be pretty unfair. Edit \/ I can't count or remember level orders. Teledahn fucked around with this message at Nov 07, 2009 around 21:09 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 20:59 |
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Teledahn posted:If you're talking about the turanic carrier I'm pretty sure you cannot capture that. Believe me, I've hit it with more than enough salvage corvettes. I think he means the 6th cryo tray, that starts out damaged. I've never been able to salvage that. But I'll try! I put the link to the manual in the OP - it's very good, so if people want some backstory they can feel free to read that on their own time
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 21:05 |
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Kinger knows what I'm talking about. I've only been able to salvage it by having a lot of salvage corvettes ready-built and ordering them at it the instant the mission starts, before the cutscene takes away my controls .
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 21:07 |
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Teledahn posted:If you're talking about the turanic carrier I'm pretty sure you cannot capture that. Believe me, I've hit it with more than enough salvage corvettes. If you turn on tactical overlay it's noted as being a "Mothership-class vessel" IIRC which means it's unsalvageable although it isn't anywhere near mothership size. If you haven't read the HW: C manual about it though it's pretty amusing, since it's basically been designed by the US Pentagon. It's a carrier that can't carry many strike craft, a cruiser that's too valuable to risk, and apparently so maneuverable that docking with it is hard. Basically it's the worst of all worlds. Tactical overlay is also a really neat feature which, combined with the sensors manager and everything else, makes me feel that Homeworld is basically Supreme Commander, but 8 years early and in space.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 21:11 |
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Kinger posted:I think he means the 6th cryo tray, that starts out damaged. I've never been able to salvage that. But I'll try! It is most possible, but you have to be on it from the get go.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 21:17 |
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MJ12 posted:Tactical overlay is also a really neat feature which, combined with the sensors manager and everything else, makes me feel that Homeworld is basically Supreme Commander, but 8 years early and in space. When I play Sword of the Stars, I'm often reminded of the Turanic Raiders Battle Music (spoiler: there are Turanic Raiders in this game). The reasons for this are tolerably obvious.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 21:30 |
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I love oyu for doing this Let's Play. I have Homeworld and Homeworld 2, and have many fond memories of the crazy poo poo that was just thrown at you in the middle of missions. Plus, the kick rear end soundtracks. Can't wait to see how this pans out. Also, capture every multi-beam frigate you encounter! Edit: you shoot BEAMS at people, not beans. mmmmmm space beans. Squirrelo fucked around with this message at Nov 07, 2009 around 22:45 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 22:34 |
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I remember this game. The graphics were amazing to me as a kid, but I sucked horribly at it. I may have to find my disc the next time I go home.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 22:38 |
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I am not exaggerating when I say Homeworld is the best RTS ever made (and pretty high up there on the list of "best games ever made") and if someone didn't get around to doing this, then whenever I had a tremendous amount of free time I would have. It'll be interesting to see how you play through with minimal salvaging. It should make for a unique experience. Also I like how the manual describes Scouts as the last ditch weapons that probably shouldn't have to be used even though they're strong. Heh. EDIT: This may be a stupid question but how do you download a video off of Viddler (or is it not available for download and that's why I can't figure it out)? I've never done it before. RBA Starblade fucked around with this message at Nov 07, 2009 around 22:45 |
| # ? Nov 07, 2009 22:39 |
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Oh man, Homeworld.... I was a little too young to play the first one directly when it came out, but when the second one did, I was blown away. I promptly spent hours upon hours playing it. Then went and got the original. I really really wish that Relic would quit dicking around with the Warhammer 40k universe (even though I love it) and get cracking on Homeworld 3. The atmosphere of this game was by far the best of any. As far as RTS games go, I would say this and Company of Heroes are the two top slots. Both made by Relic too. So, Kinger! Thank you for doing this LP, I highly look forward to watching someone else play through the game, and I do hope that you decide to do Cataclysm and Homeworld 2 as well.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 22:48 |
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RBA Starblade posted:EDIT: This may be a stupid question but how do you download a video off of Viddler (or is it not available for download and that's why I can't figure it out)? I've never done it before. You have to log in. I don't even watch things on viddler anymore, I always download the source. Just make an account and have your browser remember the password.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 22:50 |
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Oh, right. Thanks!
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 22:57 |
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GuavaMoment posted:It is most possible, but you have to be on it from the get go. I tend to be most successful at it when I roll in with a bunch of of salvage corvettes, distract the frigates with something else, and jack all of them. Then you pick up the trays at your leisure. Since you're not going to be capturing, this obviously won't work, but it should still be possible. Also, Kinger, are you sure HW scales to your fleet? I thought only HW2 did that, but I guess I never really noticed. It'd explain that one Heavy Cruiser...
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 22:59 |
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Don't go overboard on the capturing, but please try and get all the rare one-shot captures because they are all really fun and a challenge to get.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 23:06 |
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Dux Supremus posted:It is indeed. I'm pretty sure it does scale. I did some test runs on the fifth mission (where you take out the fleet that bombed Kharak into oblivion ) and I've run up against varying numbers of Destroyers and Assault Frigates depending on the size of my fleet.
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| # ? Nov 07, 2009 23:06 |
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