New Shoregate Battle Balloon Tournament - Round 2 Results!

Was the first battle already a success, this time has been really a blast (no pun intended)! I didn't expect that we would actually hit the 20 Avatar-limit of the sim (hard to believe, but New Shoregate is a homestead after all!) - but we did!

So we had no less than ten (10!) battle balloons circling and firing at each other! How great is that? The amount of lag was surprisingly low. At least on my end: I barely noticed the notorious rubber-band effect or delays when steering. Not bad at all for a sim both at its prim- and avatar-limit!

Also a big thank you to Randy Quander again for the spectacular photos!

Ok, enough rambling, here the results:

Winner of the 1st Round: Some (thats me, if you haven't guessed already) and Emma.

Winner of the 2nd Round (and 1500 L prizemoney) : Silly and Lynnbexter.

Our (in more than one way^^) daring  photographer!

The winners landing after a hard battle!

After the fighting was over, it was time to celebrate in the nearby Morlock's Revenge Pub!

Congratulations! Both rounds were damn tough fights - but very enjoyable nevertheless! See you all next Thursday for part three of the tournament!

Drow Science @Steam X Hunt!

Busy, busy Drow! On March 1st, just when the Sci-Fi Convention will close its doors, the 10th incarnation of the Steampunk Hunt: Steam X, will take off!

Here a sneak-peek on my gift I have prepared for you:

Happy hunting!

Links:

Historical Hunts Blog

Drow Science Mainstore

Get Ready For The Next Day Of Our Battle Balloon Tournament!

Meet people, have a good chat and then shoot at each other: Balloon Battle Thursday, 1 PM @New Shoregate :-)

Here some highlights from last time, thanks to the awesome Randy Quander from the Meyonian Army for the pictures!

Team Absinthe (Emma and Yourfavourtedrowscientist) ready for takeoff!

Battle Balloon on the chase!

Down in flames!

Want to increase your battle-skills? No problem: come by anytime for a training flight or bring some friends for sparring. The balloons are ready to be rezzed!

Don't miss it! Here is your taxi!

Starting Today: The SciFi Convention 2015!

This is an event I was really looking for! Last year's convention was very enjoyable and I had lots of fun strolling around the exhibition grounds.

The Convention goes from February 20 to March 1st and offers a lot of events and exhibits. Check out their official blog for more info!

Oooh! What is this? Do we have built a new Zeppelin? Yes I have!

The Convention is also a good opportunity to introduce you to my latest release as centerpiece of the Drow Science exhibit: The Zephy-Class Zeppelin!
A luxurious air-liner in the spirit of the golden age of airships. Oh by the way: to prevent a rather unpleasant Hindenburg-style landing, I use helium instead of the highly inflammable hydrogen.

The ship fits quite well with this year's space-resort-theme and I ensure you that the Zephyr's pressure cabin works well in extraterrestrial atmospheres too!

You are very welcome to visit us at the convention! Here some impressions of my parcel this year.

Links:

Sci-Fi Convention Blog

Drow Science Exhibit


See you there! Have a wonderful time!

Battle Balloon Tournament - First Day's Results!

What an awesome event! The sky was filled with balloons, curving and fighting and smokng and... going down in flames! A big thank you  for all who attended - you made it so much fun!

Here are the results:

Winner of the first round was the team Some/Emma!
Winner of the 2nd round (double or nothing) was Lady Romena and Baroness DeSade!

Congratulations and see you for the 2nd round next thursday, 1 PM!

Battle Balloon Tournament!

Starting this Thursday (19 February) we will do weekly Battle Balloon contests at New Shoregate.

Grab a friend and and join the fightings (the balloons need 1 pilot and 1 gunner). Its silly fun blowing each other from the skies - and you even can win prizes!

500 L gets who wins the most battles of the day, the overall winner will receive 2000 L and an airship too! The contest goes till March 25!

For more information please contact Cyhtleen, Riki Stars, Prof. Zen Wickentower or me.

Battle Balloons @New Shoregate

Name The Street!

As you might have noticed, New Shoregate has quite everything a decent, zombie-infested steampunk city needs: zombies, a tram, airships, stores, a workshop... you get the idea.

But what New Shoregate is still missing is: Street names! This has to change, don't you think?

For this reason, we are asking YOU to send us your ideas how to name the streets - and you can win cool prizes!

Every idea, which makes it into a official name, will be rewarded with a gift! Either from Drow Science or Prof. Wickentower's Airship Workshop - yay! As rule of thumb: the more important the place, the bigger the prize!

How does it work? Very simple: The map below features numbers from 1 to 9. The first seven are streets which want to be named, number 8 and 9 are the cemetery, respectively the swamp with the sunken fair grounds.

All you have to do is send a notecard with your name and your ideas to Somehow Peccable before March 12. The filename should be something like this:

((Insert your name here)) New Shoregate Name Contest

With its content in this way:

1. Somehowroad
2. Somehowstreet
3. Somehowalley
4 ...

The winners will be announced soon after March 12.
You don't have a name for all numbers? No problem - the list doesn't has to be complete, you can win regardless how many name proposals you send.

We are looking forward your ideas!


New Shoregate City Council

P.S. The street signs are donated by the lovely Misty Payne from the sim Tempelhof. Definitely a place  worth to explore (hint, hint!)

New Release: Steampunk Mesh Biplane!

I think everyone, who knows me, knows how much I love biplanes. So it was just a matter of time really until I made an all new and shiny mesh Steampunk Biplane!

Designed in the spirit of classical World-War-One fighter planes, like the Sopwith Camel and the Nieuport 17, the biplane (officially designated D.I, for Doppeldecker 1, hinting there might be more to come) embodies everything I like on these machines. It is elegant, lightweight, nimble and doesn't bothers the pilot with too many instruments. It's flying in the purest sense: requiring skill as a pilot, not knowledge.

As it is standard for my new airplanes and -ships, the Steampunk Biplane has a camera HUD, which also informs you about the current speed, altitude and position. It also is equipped with the low-lag TCS combat system.

I also paid a lot of attention to optimize the airplane to make it as ressource-friendly as possible. Which results again in a surprisingly low land impact (16!), without doing compromises on its great look. You hardly find a better plane for sim-crossing!

Oh and I'm also having a blast with hunting air kraken with it. Works very well with the freebie-guns available at the landing-area at New Shoregate!

Curious? Check it out at the Drow Science Mainstore and at the Marketplace!

Professor Wickentower's Airship Workshop

The name tells it already: beautiful and sunny New Shoregate got a new addition! The Professor has set up his Workshop at the North-Eastern corner of the city - just where the factory was (we might have been forced to blow it up to clear the space!).

This is where the Professor feels really at home: blueprints, tools and the grime of years of airship-building.

Did someone say mad scientist?

Hardbottle, the erhmm... charming Watchman.

Robots working, human watching!

Spare-parts waiting for their use

The Professor musing in his office after a long and hard day.

The charme of bricks - the Airship Workshop seen from outside.

Feel for exploring the place? Here is your ticket, just don't wake up the Professor, if you see him!