The Bull Pen #8

Ah, warm weather has finally arrived in the Ohio River Valley and it appears that it is here to stay. With warm weather moving in, that can only mean one thing: Roller Coaster Season! The joy of playing Halo 2 with your clan mates online is a pretty tempting thing but I could easily forget about Halo 2 if the activity involves riding coasters. It should come as no surprise that I am a member of the American Coaster Enthusiasts. While I am going to be lucky enough to ride my 100th coaster this summer, some members of ACE have ridden over 400 coasters across the globe. We live in a wonderful time to be a coaster enthusiast as the innovation that has spread through the industry is astounding. In my lifetime, coasters have gone from a maximum height of about 150 feet and 65 mph to an approximate maximum height of 450 feet and 120 mph. The tallest non-launched coaster (Millennium Force at Cedar Point) is 310 feet and gets to speeds of 93 miles per hour. There are coasters that are launched, coasters that hang from the track instead of riding on top of it, and even coasters where you simulate flying. It should come as no surprise that my screen name comes from one of my favorite coasters: the Raging Bull hypercoaster at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, IL (north of Chicago). If there is any topic which is an instant starter for a conversation with me, discussing roller coasters is the one. I would be most interested to hear which coasters are your favorites and what you like about the ones you get to ride.

On the Halo 2 front, there are times when I even amaze myself and yesterday was one of them. I decided to do something I rarely do and that is enter a ranked game alone, the list of my choice being Team Snipers despite the fact that a sniper rifle is not something I claim to be very proficient at. Well, I end up drawing a game on Burial Mounds where none of my teammates have a maximum rank above 20. (Note – I do not have a rank over 20 either but I would point out that I feel my rank is a lot closer to a 22 because I just do not go into ranked matchmaking unless it is 6v6 or BTB with clan mates). On the other side is a couple of guys with max ranks in the 20’s and then two clan mates who have apparently decided that the time was right to finally enter Team Snipers play list. These guys were members of the Team BRx4 Pro clan and looking at their win percentages, made me wonder if they resort to funny business. Well, the one guy did manage to super jump to the top of the defense base and do his thing but was not a one man army. Here is the link to the stats from the game:

 http://www.bungie.net/Stats/GameStats.aspx?gameID=463659468&player=RagingBull888

 I was amazed at the end of the game to see that I had managed to tally the most individual kills of anybody on the map and basically doubled the second best guy on my own team. That 50-42 score looks pretty good from my standpoint when you consider the level of opponent and the fact that I usually have my difficulties against anybody who actually considers themselves as proficient with the sniper rifle. Then again, I may need to speak with ARMnHMR about some training because I know that I can be better since I am not good at no scoping nor am I good at standing in the open and moving back and forth to snipe (see Network for that skill). We all can do amazing things if we just take a little time to improve ourselves.

Custom Game of the Week: Pimp My Hog is a well known classic that is played among the 2o2p clans (and is really popular or really despised depending on who you talk to). The general gist of the game is that it features two Hogs (usually one Chaingun and one Gauss Gun), a Scorpion Tank, and a Banshee for each team. Players start with a BR and a secondary weapon, usually a Brute Shot for some firepower against vehicles. Occasionally, the secondary weapon is a sniper rifle but that really sucks some of the fun out of the game. The remaining rule is simple: do not shoot empty vehicles intentionally. Other than that, it’s a fight to get to 100 kills before the other team. The reason I am pointing this game out is the fact that it is almost exclusively played on Coagulation. I would like to make the suggestion to liven up your Pimp My Hog games by giving it a try on Waterworks. The areas are a little tighter so vehicle driving skills become more critical and non-vehicle players have structures where they can engage each other without worry of vehicle fire. Give it a try the next time you want to Pimp My Hog and you just may find that it adds a new way to enjoy and old gem.