Harakiri Tiger

Every registered member of ACU gets to have their own signature, as I'm sure you have either found out by now or already guessed at. They're a great way to personalize all your posts. They have one major downside, though. If they're too large they'll artificially stretch the length of posts, and therefore topics, and they can increase the load times of a page for a lot of members with slower connections. Because of those reasons, we need some basic rules for signatures. So, here are the rules: 1.) Your signature may not total greater than 200 pixels in height. This includes all images, text, quotes, links, and any other content that may be added to a signature. I don't want the topics stretching too much, especially if you post more than once in any given topic. 2.) Images in your signature can not total greater than one megabyte (1MB). Even though your signature may not be eating the bandwidth of the site, you are slowing down the load times of the members who are reading topics by having an overly large signature. 3.) Images in your signature can not total greater than 150 pixels in height. This means you can have two images that are on top of each other and are 75 pixels tall each, or one that's 10 and one that's 140, etc. Recommended image height is 100 pixels. I don't like having to scroll down and see the same signature image constantly taking up a huge portion of my screenspace. Sig images are naturally eyecatching, don't make them eyestraining. Especially not if we have to see it hundreds of times. 4.) Images in your signature can not total greater than 600 pixels in width. This means you can have two images that are next to each other and are 300 pixels wide each, or one that's 490 and one that's 110, etc. Recommended image width is 500 pixels. Images over 600 pixels in width can cause some people to have to scroll sideways. 5.) Your signature may not contain more than 5 images. This does not mean you can have five 600x150 images in your signature. It means you can have up to five images totaling up to 600x150 pixels in space in your signature. This is to prevent a few methods of abusing image files to cause lag and it also prevents a shrunken forum view from having an endless vertical stream of pictures. 6.) Your signature may contain images, text, quotes, or links. All content on ACU is subject to the ACU rules, so no pornography. You may advertise other websites using your signature. Anyway, please follow the guidelines or your signature will be clipped by administration. Repeatededly breaking the signature guidelines will result in an increased warning level and temporary ban. Note that I won't, nor will most administration, go around purposefully digging through signatures to make sure they're following the guidelines perfectly. Some members will and other times I may simply become curious when I see a signature that may seem too big. To avoid problems and needless effort, just don't break the signature guidelines. Regards, -Niji T.

Feel free to upload any custom image artwork you find to the Gallery here at ACU. Most of it will be promotional art, anyway.

Holy shit. 51 hours. That's like my entire work week and you spent that being busy instead of being lazy. Haha. I definitely like the spines and crystals on its back. They make it look badass. I think that without them the thing would look very docile and not likely to eat the entire Colts football team. I wonder if Godzilla had such humble origins?

I think the previous teacher was just trying to teach you how shapes and shadows and colors work first so that you could later on apply them to other art you make. I don't think that helps much for abstract art, though. I really like the mech pic, though. I'd consider that a + since I don't like mechs, much. Haha.

I prefer the one with the black paint. I'm not sure why, tbh. I think I just like the frame and weapons have different color schemes. You may want to consider Vulture2, if it'll fit. Not because of heat, either. Just plain old juking works better with it. If it only just barely fits consider tuning weight to make it fit then tune the rest into power. If it does fit, try 7 Power and 3 Accel. GLL spam can work out pretty well.

That's just it. I can't think of more than 2-3 topics that could fit in there. That's why it doesn't exist yet, but I figured I'd ask in case I'm missing something.

Yah, but the engine is the same except for the addition of EO and even I won't split the generations up that much, haha. I tend to revolve around the concept of, "It's easier to remove an inactive forum than it is to create an active forum." By that standard, I should consider splitting them, but I don't see it as a huge thing. When the Wiki starts getting articles, and we start discussing things on the forum, I think the forums will flesh out for the older games. I don't think they'll flesh out so much that they need to be split farther, though. As of right now, Design Posts will all follow a single major layout in their respective design subforums and the engines that drive the games and determine the physical aspects of the game, not counting formulae, are divided per generation. Generally, the mechanics you're talking about relate the game engines formulae that determines how stats relate rather than the game engine itself. If you seriously want me to split the forums though, I can. Just get 19 more people who agree to split the forum to PM me about it or post here in this topic. "It's easier to remove an inactive forum than it is to create an active forum." I'm listening chums. Just try not to abuse me, hahaha.

What do you guys think of me adding a non-generation specific AC discussion forum? Obscure hit onto something with some good potential there for ACOi and I'm perfectly willing to use the idea if you guys like it. I'm not 100% on adding one yet, as I can't think of enough topics that can go under it. Post about it here if you guys want one or think it would or wouldn't be useful.

Nah, generations are divided by clear mechanical changes or engine overhauls, irregardless of parts or storyline. Alright, I'll get to adding an Art forum in a few hours then. I gotta go out and do some stuff first, haha.

I can always make a subforum for discussing and sharing art. That's no big deal, really. I can't agree with the too many subforums under the discussion section, though. I've used that same discussion system on a few other sites and over time it's proven to be very, very useful. When you merge them all into one forum people start making fewer posts about those specific fields. They're less likely to talk about a few shows or things that they find entertaining because they're not sure if those things will be able to compete with the major topics posted under such a broad subforum. This isn't always true for older members of a site or more confident members, but many users don't have that. It seems silly, but the more people are willing to simply post on the forum and stick around to chat about stuff, the more likely they are to visit ACU every day. Even if it's just to talk about the recent episode of Jersey Shore or Desperate Housewives, haha. Eventually those forums will flesh out. Probably not too long before the end of they year, either. We just gotta wait for the members to get used to it a bit. The AC community has always been used to that more simple and broad subforum for outside non-AC related media than this one. I'm not too worried about it. I can understand that it's a lot to scroll by, though. If subforums don't end up fleshing out enough for me to like them, I'll move them into "Other" as we go along. The sports section, specifically, may not find much use on an AC site. Besides that, the only help I'm willing to give you is to tell you to just shrink the category listing and only open it every once in a while when you feel like looking through all the media discussion. Introductions most definitely are not enough, haha. Introductions are better left shorter, just a way of breaking the ice on a forum and getting to know the posting system. Many people, after making an introduction, still find themselves as relative outsiders to a forum or website because of how the Introduction section is regarded and how it's handled. The new guys don't get to know you any better, you get to know them a little better. Rarely do replies to introductions elaborate on the replier, only on the new guy. You have to expect spam and a jumble in an Intro forum. The profile page does do everything the Personal Zone does, but members are far less likely to go reading profile pages to get to know each other or to look for ways to kill time. Members typically only visit profile pages to look up a small tidbit of info or to PM someone. This means that whatever you bother posting on your profile page, besides your AIM and PSN/LIVE ID's, is likely to go completely unnoticed. Very few people will read another personals statements or their About Me's. So while the profile page does do everything the Personal Zone does, people simply don't use it. The PZ has more potential because it's on the front page. I'm not a minimalist, really. Haha. I think that should be pretty obvious. Anyway, if these subforums end up not getting enough activity for me to warrant them I'll either remove them or merge them with other forums. I'll check into the image resizing later tonight and see what I can do about it. So, you want that Art forum, then?

So, I figured I'd make a topic explaining the sections of the forum that some skins can't access. I don't know if I'll be able to fix them, to be honest. At least not with any amount of rapidity. If something goes wrong with a skin and the page you're trying to load freaks out, just hit the "Back" button on your browser. As of right now, I've set the Blog, Gallery, and Downloads section to force all users to use the "IP.Board Pro" skin while they're being viewed. There are currently two "Safe" skins. These two skins will work with every feature and component of the forum. "IPB Classic Blue" and "IP.Board Pro" are the skins you want to use in case of an emergency. Anyway, on to the custom skin information. Aqua - Blog causes some very minor clipping errors. Gallery has clipping errors with the header bar for each sub-gallery. Downloads also has the same clipping error as Gallery. Overall, the skin is still usable in all components. Blue - Works with both Downloads and Gallery almost seamlessly. Completely fails at displaying the Blog Index page and makes Blog posts almost unreadable. Avoid using it when reading Blogs. Differences - Works with both Downloads and Gallery almost seamlessly. Completely fails at displaying the Blog Index page and makes Blog posts almost unreadable. Avoid using it when reading Blogs. Liberate - Suffers clipping errors with the Blog and doesn't display the utility bar for Blogs very well. Gallery works, but it's has no solid distinguishers between albums, so it may make for a confusing navigation experience. Downloads section works perfectly. Sage - Sage has an unmodified utility bar for Blogs, but besides that Blogs work perfectly. Seems to work perfectly with the Gallery and Downloads sections. Overall, the skin is usable in all components. Underlight - Suffers from minor clipping errors in the Downloads and Blog sections, but otherwise seems to work very well. Gallery seems to work well. Like Liberate, though, it has no clear distinguishers between albums; thus making navigation confusing. Overall, the skin works in all components. Webber Enhanced - Works perfectly with the Gallery and Downloads section. But suffers from unmodified utility bars in the Blogs section, like most skins. Overall, the skin is usable in all components. I'll see about getting these things fixed, but don't expect it to happen in a short period of time. Regards, -Niji T.

Member groups are special ranks for members that allow you to see hidden forums, fully access and use the wiki, blog, gallery, downloads sections, and allow for other special features. Basically, member groups are what define your permissions on the forum and site. There are four major groupings for members here at ACU. These groupings are Administration, Advanced Members, Standard Members, and Visitors. Anyway, here's a breakdown of the member groups. Administration Admin - Admins, otherwise known as administrators, run the forum's technical side. They are responsible for the upkeep of the website. From adding and editing skins to creating forums and subforums to editing the home page to everything else. Admins may change their display name once every 30 days, may store up to 1000 PMs, have a global forum upload limit of 20MB, can upload a 1MB 150x150 personal photo1, have a global blog upload limit of 20MB, have an unlimited global gallery upload limit, have no restrictions in the downloads section, and may edit the wiki. Global Moderator - Global moderators are the people who keep the moderators in line and oversee the day-to-day activity of the forum. You could say that global moderators moderate the moderators. Global moderators posses the ability to moderate any section of ACU. Global moderators may change their display name once every 60 days, may store up to 750 PMs, have a global forum upload limit of 10MB, can upload a 750KB 150x150 personal photo1, have a global blog upload limit of 10MB, have a global gallery upload limit of 20MB, have no restrictions in the downloads section, and may edit the wiki. Moderator - Moderators help keep the forums and site features clean, active, and working smoothly. Moderators can only moderate specific forums and only a few sections of ACU each. They are there to help with any problems that may arise and to promote activity among members. Moderators may change their display name once every 90 days, may store up to 500 PMs, have a global forum upload limit of 5MB, can upload a 500KB 150x150 personal photo1, have a global blog upload limit of 5MB, have a global gallery upload limit of 10MB, have no restrictions in the downloads section, and may edit the wiki. Advanced Members Legend - Legends are members who have been around for a very long time and have provided an overwhelming amount of content and activity to the forums and the site. Legends are well known and highly respected members of the ACU community. Elites are automatically promoted to Legend upon reaching 5000 posts2. Legends may change their display name once every 90 days, may store up to 250 PMs, have a global forum upload limit of 5MB, can upload a 500KB 150x150 personal photo1, have a global blog upload limit of 5MB, have a global gallery upload limit of 10MB, have no restrictions in the downloads section, and may edit the wiki. Elite - Elites are members who have provided ACU with a large amount of quality AC related content. Typically this content comes in the form of design commentary, strategy discussion, mechanics discussion, guides, etc. Members, upon reaching a minimum of 250 posts2, and Veterans must be willing and able to perform oral sex to be promoted to Elite. Elites may change their display name once every 180 days, may store up to 150 PMs, have a global forum upload limit of 1MB, can upload a 250KB 150x150 personal photo1, have a global blog upload limit of 1MB, have a global gallery upload limit of 10MB, have no restrictions in the downloads section, and may edit the wiki. Veteran - Veterans are members who have been around for a while and have provided significant content to the forums, be it AC related or not. These are people who help form and facilitate activity on ACU across a wide range of topics. Members are automatically promoted to Veteran upon reaching 500 posts2. Veterans may change their display name once every 180 days, may store up to 150 PMs, have a global forum upload limit of 1MB, can upload a 250KB 150x150 personal photo1, have a global blog upload limit of 1MB, have a global gallery upload limit of 10MB, have no restrictions in the downloads section, and may edit the wiki. Standard Members Member - Members are the meat of the forum. They flesh out the basic content of the forum, participate in events, and help provide a strong base of activity for the site. Validating members are automatically promoted to Member once they confirm their validation email. Members may change their display name once every 360 days, may store up to 50 PMs, are not allowed to upload attachments to the forum, can upload a 100KB 150x150 personal photo1, are not allowed to upload attachments to the blog, have a global gallery upload limit of 5MB, must have 5 posts2 to use the downloads section, and must have 250 posts2 to edit the wiki. Visitors Banned - Banned members are members of the site who have broken the rules in some form or fashion and have been reprimanded for it. Banned members have the same permissions as a Guest, except that they show up in the user list with their normal user names. Validating - Validating members are people who have signed up for the forum but have not yet validated their account via the e-mail they were sent when they registered with the forum. Validating members have the same permissions as a Guest, except that they show up in the user list with their normal user names. Guest - Guests are people who have not made an attempt to register with the forum or they are members who have not logged in. Guests have access to most of ACU's content, but can not edit any of it. Guests can not post content, can not access the Member's Area of the forum, can not change their selected forum skin, can not access chat, can not create a blog, can not upload images to the gallery, can only view 10 images in the gallery every 24 hours, can not download files or upload files to the downloads section, and can not edit the wiki. I hope that helps clarify member groups for some of you. Regards, -Niji T. ----- 1 Note that this is a source image. Displayed profile photos are 138x138 maximum and avatars are 125x150 maximum. 2 Posts refers to approved posts, which are listed under your avatar in a topic, and not active posts.

Member ranks, the member titles under your avatar, are achieved by posting in forums that raise your post count. As your rank rises, you will gain pips. Pips are the little boxes under your member group. You will be able to enter a custom member title after you have reached 250 posts. Ranks are not actually used to determine anything. They just represent how much content you have provided the ACU forums with over the years. Many members opt to change their member titles to something that they feel describes them or sounds witty after they have gained the ability to edit it themselves. The ability to edit your own member title is a reward for being active on the forum and for providing content to the forum, not for simply being known around the website. Anyway, here's a list of all the member ranks and their post requirements. Rank Name --------- Post Req. --- Pips Bag of Peanuts ---- 00 ---------- 0 Newbie ------------ 10 ---------- 1 New Member -------- 50 ---------- 2 Member ------------ 100 --------- 3 Advanced Member --- 250 --------- 4 Forum Regular ----- 500 --------- 5 Forum Resident ---- 750 --------- 6 Forum Dweller ----- 1000 -------- 7 Topic Stalker ----- 1500 -------- 8 Post Whore -------- 2000 -------- 9 ACU Addict -------- 2500 -------- 10 I hope that helps clarify member ranks and custom member titles for you! Much love, -Niji T.

Welcome to ACU! I hope you enjoy the site! On the downside, there is an extreme lack of any quality content on the site. I hope that the members, during the sites first few days, can help me provide some quality content to flesh out the Forum, Blog, Gallery, and Downloads section. I will begin working on the Wiki after I feel that the rest of the site is fleshed out enough to look good. As a small reminder, since I haven't had the time to elaborate on any of the ranks or permissions yet, to edit the ACU Wiki you need to have 250 posts. I'm asking the first few members of the site to please not spam just to reach that post requirement as soon as possible. Also, you will need 10 posts to download anything from the Downloads section. Again, please do not spam to achieve this requirement. Anyway, I've been scrambling to clean up all the loose ends on the site and I haven't even gotten half of them. I won't be scrambling all night to do it, either. While I am online I'll be making example posts, posting news and information, and addressing the content issues. This means that bugs with skins and so on will not be top priority. Afterwards, I will attempt to fix them. That's only if I can. I should probably explain what the skins problems are, too. Most of the skins besides "IPB Classic Blue" and "IP.Board Pro" will not work with all features of the forum. Some will not display the Blog, Gallery, or Downloads sections correctly. If this happens to you, just type "Armored Core Universe" into Google and you'll see the main page right at the top of the list or hit the "Back" button on your browser. Sincerely, -Niji Tenshiken

ACU Rules 1.) Respect the opinions and beliefs of others. This doesn't mean you can't debate them or make counter-points. It means that you shouldn't flame them or make a post attempting to shoot them down by just saying that they're dumb or stupid. Provide a reason for your counter-points and don't incite a flame war. This rule is subject to forum level leniency. 2.) Do not make hate posts. A hate post is an insulting post that is personally directed at another member with no purpose besides insulting them or defaming them. These are also referred to as flame posts or as bashing. Abide by it. 3.) Avoid posting spam. Spam is considered to be a pointless post or topic that achieves nothing other than clutter the forum or topic it's posted in. Spam posts hinder serious forum activity. They turn members off of topics and spam topics make it difficult to find topics that members actually want to read. This rule is subject to forum level leniency. 4.) Do not post or link to pornographic images. Images may contain near nudity if it is without nipples or genitals showing. Please try to keep things relatively safe for new members. If a picture is capable of getting someone in trouble, try labeling it as Not Safe For Work (NSFW) or mentioning that it is graphic or questionable. Consider putting it inside of SPOILER tags. 5.) Harassment of other members over the PM system will not be tolerated. Keep your personal/private messages to others in check. Don't send them things they may not like and don't harass them by flooding their PM box with spam. Abuse of the personal messenger is not acceptable. 6.) Do not multi-account. Please do not make multiple accounts. Multiple accounts confuse members and cause difficulty in proper tracking of members for moderators. They also falsely inflate the forums statistics, which is not approved of here at ACU. If you need to change your login ID to ACU, just send Niji a PM. Remember that most bans are not permanent, so don't make another account to get around one. You are only setting yourself up for an IP ban by making a second account to get around a ban. Just say no to multi-accounting. 7.) I run this forum. This may sound cocky but realize that it's me, Niji, who has control of this forum. Think of it as a dictatorship. The reason I am making this clear is because sometimes members of forums think it's alright to break the rules or make pornographic and hate based posts and then try to back them up with the Constitution of America (First Amendment), or that the Internet is not serious business, or simply because they feel like it. That doesn't apply here. I make the rules. I decide what is and is not serious business on this website. Why? Because I've dedicated hundreds of hours to this sites existence as well as over a thousand dollars so far. When you break the rules you will typically be verbally warned via PM. That's all that will happen in most cases. In the case of pornography and hate posts or other strongly objectionable behavior you will be temporarily banned, your warning level will be increased, and you will be verbally warned via PM and EMail. All warning level increases come with a temporary ban time associated with them and vice versa, and most temporary bans are no longer than 1-3 days. Consecutive rule breaking will result in a further increased warning level and more temporary bans. If at any time you reach 100% warning level you will be permanently banned. Warning level does not decrease over time. Also, if administration deems your actions too far out of line you may receive multiple warnings at once. Some actions, such as posting child pornography will result in an immediate 100% warning level increase and permanent ban. Physical attacks against ACU, such as extreme spamming, failed attempts at hacking, or DDoS attacks will result in an IP or IP-Range ban. Regards, -Niji T.

So, I haven't been able to work on ACU at all in the past two days since I was reformatting my PC and adjusting everything to the custom settings I like. I've barely gotten anything done at all and probably shouldn't be typing up a blog post, but I need to take a bit of a break. Procrastination is a part of my DNA, I think. I look for reasons to do it all the time. I still need to upload all my PS2 AC savegame data for the Downloads section, a bunch of images to the Gallery, fix some skins for the Forum and make them visible to the regular members, find and install the "Who's in Chat?" modification, customize and modify all the networking sites main pages, and maybe do something on the Wiki. Topping all of that off, I still need to make a large sum of posts on the forum. It's completely blank right now! Haha. No guide posts or rules or anything. The best blank slate forum on Earth, I suppose. Kakumei is finishing up the Homepage and Arena right now, and I probably need to make an example Arena Ranker page, too. Anyway, off to work I go again! Gotta get something done at least!

I finally have Internet at work! Yay! Now when I'm sitting there staring at a wall for 10 hours I can instead be staring at the Internet! I just ordered the stuff yesterday and I should be getting it installed and setup by this Thursday, which is tomorrow. This means that the amount of time I have left to work on ACU before opening day just increased exponentially. Instead of just 4-6 hours left, I have nearly 36 hours of potential time. I'll most likely spend 99% of that time procrastinating and playing games and browsing YouTube instead. Yay! Sue me. Yay! Anyway, so far I've finished modifying the Blog, Gallery, and Downloads sections. I've started uploading some savegame data to the Downloads sections and I'm thinking that I might look around for some AC screen savers or encourage the community to make some. I'll probably fill the Gallery up a bit on Friday. I have a small number of AC pics that I can upload and, once again, hopefully the community can provide what I don't have and maybe upload some fan art, too. I'm really leaning on the community, in the end. The Hub is done. It looked absolutely gorgeous on Kaku's glossy LCD monitor. It's doesn't look so gorgeous without that super sleek appearance, tho. Either way, this is just the first incarnation of the Hub. Next incarnation should come with light up buttons and a slightly more detailed background. It's pure black as of right now, haha. After that I'll get to work on the flash version of the Hub. That version will spin and rotate and light up and such. My worry is the filesize. I want to keep the front page Hub capable of loading quickly so people have easy access to any specific part of ACU they want without having to go through all the rest. I want it to look good and impress too, but fancy flash graphics get boring after the 1000th time loading them. We'll see how I do. I still haven't worked on any part of the Arena Ranker pages or Arena homepage. That's not to say the Arena isn't usable, though. It's perfectly usable and such, but until I get the pages done it'll just be a point system, which is pointless. People want prizes. They want things they can show off and arbitrary points on a fan site aren't something most people want to brag about. The Ranker pages should be good at providing a prize that doesn't cost money, haha. Any tournament hosts can always buy AC and ACU related products from the Zazzle store for their tournament winners too if they want to offer real prizes. Should make for an easy solution to the little dilemma AC tournaments have been having since AC4 came out. Hopefully I get the Arena stuff done before the 31st. I'm so lazy, though! I still have no idea what I'm going to do about Team Forums and I'm wondering if I should add an Armored Core General Discussion sub-forum. Simply for discussing AC related things that aren't tied to a specific generation of series. It seems like a good idea but that would be another forum to the already large Armored Core directory. I suppose I'll think about that over the next few days and see what I decide. I'm happy to say that I've relocated the ACU Wiki databases to a separate MySQL database from the Forums. That means there won't be as much clogging and slowdown happening. I shouldn't have waited so long to move it, but I just lose all my motivation every time I look at that thing. The Wiki seems like it'll be so much effort to get going, but there needs to be one. Haha. Most drive-by users are more comfortable browsing a Wiki than they are browsing a forum for Armored Core related information. I suppose I'll be leaning really heavily on the community when it comes to the Wiki, won't I? That's what a wiki is all about though, right? Uninstalled FlashChatv6 and re-installed a more stable older version. If you're logged into the Forum it'll auto-log you into the Chat as soon as you load the Chat. I'm leaving the background and sounds to the default theme, though. Anyone who doesn't like being reminded of the Jetson's can simply disable whatever sounds they dislike or mute all sounds in one fell swoop using the Chat's options panel. I still don't have Brian's "Who's in Chat" mod, either. I finally have Internet at work!

I just finished cleaning up the Forum! Thinking up names for the User Rank Titles was easy enough. I just used the ones from another forum of mine with a slight bit of tweaking! They fit in just the way I was hoping they would. Which is good for me, because I was worried at first that they would seem awkward. Streamlined seems to always flow better than specific. I'm sure someone will gripe. All the current User Groups are finished as well. Their permissions are set and I don't think they'll need any tweaking. With that said, I have to admit that I have added no advanced groups for normal members yet. Also, I don't have anything in the way of special features or compensations for donators. SpellCheck just tricked me, by the way. It said that donators is spelled donaters. What an ass. Anyway, I'm thinking I'm just going to use the advanced groups that I've been using on other forums. Their titles are more generic, but they provide less conflict as far as this Raven/Linx thing is concerned. Which is, by the way, a pain in the ass argument. I need to add a few more sub-forums around the board. It's easy enough to think up and add sub-forums to all the non-AC related content, because that's what all of my sites have always specialized in. My problem is thinking up sub-forums for AC content. It's safe to say there'll probably be griping about why the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st generation forums even exist instead of a singlular retro forum. My hopes for those forums is that they'll gain content slowly but surely, mostly because I plan on providing motivation for members to use them. They also provide good discussion locations for Wiki users, especially since each generation has such different mechanics and design templates. The biggest debate, in my mind right now, is whether I should actually add Team Sub-Forums or just provide a form of redirection for IPBFree forums. It's easy enough to add tutorials for creating your own IPBFree forum and customizing its basic features. The advantage is that ACU doesn't have an excess bulk of moderators and relatively useless forums with little content and activity. It also keeps my sub-forum depth, and related permissions settings, smaller and easier to handle. As far as physical space problems go, I have no complaints. The advantages to having the Team Sub-Forums actually located on my forum and not on some IPBFree forum is that if some team grows big enough or popular enough they'll bring activity into ACU itself. It also seems to serve as a successful pastime for people. I suppose people like being in a roll call or something. If I do add team forums, I will add a custom Team field for user profiles so they can show off their teams in their posts as well as profiles. If it promotes rivalry, then it promotes activity. Especially once I get the full Arena system working. Speaking of which, the Arena seems to be easily handleable. Making the custom webpages for the Top 25 Rankers is more than simple enough. Each one gets to display their emblem, image of their AC, AC design, and pilot/AC bio. Of course, these can be customized to contain links to other parts of the website as well. The pages won't be user customizable though. At least I don't plan on it. I may have to change it someday, but I doubt there'll be such extreme tournament activity for a while, at least. Anyway, it's not the custom pages that's slowing down the development of the arena. It's the color scheme and general appearance. I just don't know what to make it look like. I can't seem to make up my mind. I've been having the same problem with the Homepage. What should I make the buttons look like? I don't know. I'll figure something out soon enough I suppose. The actual scripting will probably only take about 5 to 10 minutes. Either way, the Hub, Homepage, and Arena will be finished in due time. They're not really hard, just hard to think up colors for. Though the Hub doens't present any problems with colors at least. I'm thinking orange for the Hub, red for the Arena, and blue for the Homepage. We'll see if that sticks. Haha. I need to clean up the Wiki, Blog, Gallery, Downloads, and Chat. The Chat isn't really a big deal, though. All I need to do is uninstall version 6.0 and install version 5.0. It's just that 6.0 has too many bugs. I can't say I blame them, though. TuFat hired a new coder to do their work for them and the guy is recoding the entire FlashChat program from ground up. So 6.0 is still in a beta, really. We'll see about getting 6.0 after it becomes 6.1. Until then, it seems like people will still have to put up with the underlining and formatting problem in the current version of FlashChat. I need to remember to get Brians "Who's in Chat" modification sometime later on, too. Most people like being able to see who's chatting without having to go to the Chat's index page or actually log into the Chat. There's the Wiki, too. God damn that Wiki. It's an asshole. I really have no idea how I'm going to manage it considering how much work it takes to keep its database in good condition. I may have to uninstall it and re-install it into another SQL database before I open the site to the public. It can cause the whole site to slow down as far as page creation goes. Of course, that's not really a problem right now... There aren't any pages, haha. But eventually! Lastly, I need to add all my skins to ACU and adjust them to fit all the new navigation buttons. That means tweaking for certain. I also need to add a FlashChat link to them and then check how they work with the Portal and other components. I almost forgot! I need to touch up the MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages for ACU. I wonder if anyone's already tried adding ACU as a friend? I also need to make some content on Zazzle for ACU. Revenue is always good for a motivator, so I can't forget about Zazzle! Oh well, seems like there's still a lot of work left. Especially considering everything I didn't talk about. I'll just need to have it all done by this next Saturday. Of course, none of this work compares to the amount I'll have to do once it comes time to start adding content to the site. I'm afraid the 17th through 30th, the weeks I've dedicated to adding content, will be a nightmare. I wish I had Internet at work.