1st Hussars Web Page

[1stHssr]Blackadder

Other Aliases: Quercus
Real Name: Adrian
Location: Dorset, England
Born: 1968
Favourite Battlefield (et al) Roles: Anti-tank, Medic, Demolitions Bungler
Other Game Genres Played: Mostly FPS, with some RTS and flight sims
Gaming Reputation Earned by: Frequent rolling of almost any vehicle I tried driving.

Personal Comments: I work in a Technical Support team. My story is very similar to that of Blackadder really, in that I was born in a television studio, was initially rather poorly received but I have gotten better with age. Oh yes, and I am the love-child of Richard Curtis and Ben Elton and was forced to prostitute myself by the BBC.
Hang on, that might have been a dream I had the other night. Okay, forget everything I just said. I enjoy computer games (especially team ones and multiplayer games) and organise the occasional LAN sessions at my house. I am married to a wonderful lady called Rebecca and have three children. I love films and comedy, especially the English senses of humour.

IN PROFILE: INTERVIEW CONDUCTED IN MARCH 2003
General Questions:
Can you start by introducing yourself?
My name is Adrian, I am 35 in a fortnight.I generally go by the name of Quercus online, although as this is quite popular for some reason I often have to use Quercus_UK or similar.

What's the story behind the alias(es)? - Why did you pick the Hussar one you did?
I love the symbolism around the Oak, it is my favourite tree. As to the Hussars name, well, I was tempted by Richthoven, Von Genshler (I love that name - don't know why nobody else has snapped it up) and others. Blackadder was offered as available but I thought it was too presumptuous. Baldric said to go for it if I wanted so I thought - why not? Like me, Blackadder has a very dry wit and a pair of underpants on his head , so I chose that.

When did you first start playing multi-player games and what were they?
It was 1993 and the game was Doom. I first used a null-modem cable (not having a modem in those days) to physically connect my machine to a colleagues. It was amazing. After a couple of years I progressed to coax (BNC) network cable, setting up a peer-to-peer LAN and then playing games with up to four people! Now I use RJ45 cabling and a hub. I still play LAN games with my friends every 1-2 months because it is great fun. Playing online is a relatively recent development. I used to play Counter-strike online regularly, but felt disadvantaged to the increasing number of LPBs using ISDN or Broadband. I got Broadband about a week before BF1942 came out and things have never been the same since.

Do you have a family and if so what do they think of you playing online games?
Yes, a darling wife (Tipplewick in the clan) and a five year old son (Alexander). Alex loves Battlefield. My wife plays too and thinks I should spend less time on the computer. She's probably right.

What other hobbies do you have outside gaming?
Reading, watching films. Playing tabletop RPGs. Occasional ventures into friendly football or other injury-inducing exercise.

What do you like about where you live?
The south of England is a nice place to be in the spring and summer, with beaches, forests and monkeys all within a short distance. Where I live is fairly central so you can reach large areas from Glastonbury to London without too much effort.

What is (are) your favourite colours? If you play IL-2 would you use them as your skin colour?
Purple and black, - or any dark colours really (dark blues, greens, reds). Yes I would (and do).

What do you do for a living?
I work shifts for the computer operations department of an incomprehensibly incompetant american bank.

Battlefield 1942 Questions:
How did you first start playing BF?
Read the review in PC Zone magazine, tried the demo and realised what an amazing multiplayer game this was.

What do you consider the best things about BF?
The team play, the diversity of things you can do, from driving tanks, jeeps, ships and planes to setting det. packs and mines, throwing grenades, sniping - it does everything.

Conversely, which things do you hate?
Vehicles that take damage from a slight incline in the road, insanely stupid but accurate bots, illogical settings (like repair pads / ammo boxes that the enemy can use, banning people based upon their IP address instead of the game CD key - Doh!).

What are your favourite maps?
El Alamein is overall best because of the diversity of strategies on it. Gazala, Bocage and Wake are good too. I enjoy most of the maps actually. Anzio and Monte Cassino are also good from the expansion set.

Least favourite maps?
The Eastern European maps, especially Berlin (due to grenade spamming). Monte Santa Cruce has potential but the idea of putting both opposing bases next to each other sucks more than a black hole.

What enhancements would you like to see?
Better use of map sizes - all maps show as an 8 by 8 grid, but many only use a fraction of this size. I would like all maps to be expanded to allow better use of vehicles. Allow multiple nationalities to be picked (if logically they were there) in all maps. Look at Operation Husky and you realise how much of the map is completely wasted - the area useful to players (where the spawn / flag points are) covers only a small part of the playable area, with the remainder wasted.

The Hussars Questions:
How did you find the Hussars or how did they find you?
I posted on the BF forums due to initial problems playing the game and joined in with some conversations with Pte Niles and Major Headache. It turned out that we had a lot in common and they asked me to join their clan. I have always been reluctant to join clans, as most of them take themselves far too seriously and working shifts I couldn't commit to any regular gaming schedules, but luckily for me, this was no ordinary clan.

How does playing with the Hussars compare to other games/matches?
It is like an extended family. Playing with them is like playing on a LAN with friends - you know them and can always depend upon them to have a good game without suffering from inflated egos or selfishness.

What changes (if any) would you like the Hussars as a clan to consider?
I honestly can't think of anything that I haven't already proposed. The recent decision to simplify planning for friendlies fits in well with the clan ethos. At the moment we all seem to be playing well together without any problem so why change it?

Computer Questions:
What other PC talents (if any) do you have?
I have a pretty good knowledge of the WIndows operating systems, fairly good hardware knowledge and can bodge my way through web page creation (as this site demonstrates).

What sort of system do you have at the moment?
Athlon xp2000, 512Mb ram, nForce mobo, Audigy sound card and Geforce4 Ti4600

What would your dream system be?
A huge server with oodles of ram and two monitors, hyperthreading whizzo stuff and in-built teasmaid. Oh yes - and a huge pipe to the internet with no usage limits and monthly cost.

Any PC games you are really looking forwards to?
Freelancer, Judge Dredd, the next BF expansion (because there will be one).
A decent RTS without any flaws that actually allows mini-campaign style multiplayer battles without being too complicated.

Thanks for your time, er ... me
No problem. Have you finished in there yet?