Act of War RTS and the comical price of fuel
interpolator
i was just installing this fine looking RTS, Act of War, and was presented with an exposition video ... an american news report, gravely concerned with worldwide protests over the price of fuel : "an unprecedented $7 a gallon".
I glance over at the box art - Parliament, Capitol Hill, Golden Gate bridge, Buck House ... all in flames.
Hmmm. Well, for the past year or so, me and the rest of the poor UK motorists have been filling our tanks at an easy $7 per gallon. Approx 80p per litre on average. Sometimes a bit less, sometimes wildly more.
What's everyone else paying? How do we rescue our heads of state from the flames? And is the game actually any good? (I quit out to type this mini-rant).
I glance over at the box art - Parliament, Capitol Hill, Golden Gate bridge, Buck House ... all in flames.
Hmmm. Well, for the past year or so, me and the rest of the poor UK motorists have been filling our tanks at an easy $7 per gallon. Approx 80p per litre on average. Sometimes a bit less, sometimes wildly more.
What's everyone else paying? How do we rescue our heads of state from the flames? And is the game actually any good? (I quit out to type this mini-rant).
Replies
I don't know how much gas costs me. I drive a Del Sol, which is good on gas to the point of seeming to not like the taste, taking a sip whenever it absolutely needs to but no more than that! I fill my tank once every month or two. It's nice.
Jody
the problem is that too many people are driving, and driving too often. and many of those people are driving SUV's...by themselves. and those same people have Bush stickers on their SUV bumpers.
I purchase gas about once a month or two. In fact, I can't remember the last time I did. So haven't even paid attention to the prices. It's nice that way.
Wasn't oil switching over to Euros until America stepped in to keep it Dollars?
jody
but yeah, not so long ago petrol dahn sahf hit £4 a gallon. That's $8. And judging by how Act of War started, that's a hell of a lot more civilians callously mown down outside Buckingham Palace ...
Film-makers intending their movies for an international audience rarely get away with a lack of research, why should game devs?
I lived in Oklahoma about 4 years ago it was .89 cents per gallon then - I know its above $1 now - but it was cheaper than bottled water. Oil is something we are running out of (Well then again so is clean water) so this simply can NOT go on forever.
Many geologists and scientists who study the worlds oil supplies believe that we are at the peak of the oil production bell curve right now and we will begin the long slow downside in the next 3-7 years .. some beleive a bit longer but I tend to disbeleive them when the US is already taking over sovereign nations for oil rights (Iraq).
I've known people who spent well over an hour commuting each way to work every day and were refilling their gas tanks more than once a week. If I want to see my family, just up the interstate in the next major city, I've got to drive 112 miles to get there - there's no other option. Go up and back for a weekend visit and I've used a full tank of gas in the process. That's a relatively common thing in these parts.
Nice to see that usual Bush-oil-Iraq conspiracies have already made their appearance; it wouldn't be a polycount thread without them!
thanks alot bush, you so and so...
Ohh, they make driving pleasant.
Josy
Jody
And, uh, yeah, petrol in the US is ridiculously cheap compared to UK petrol. Why is that again? Tax? Greed? Oil? Huh?
Jody
As much as Verm's points about distance being relative hold weight for some people here, I live about 5mins from work and dont need to fill up the car anymore than i did in Britain.
I think that sure, while the UK is much smaller than the US, most of us dont really drive round our whole country too often do we?
I have noticed though, that Americans use their cars a lot more than Brits and Euros because they don't really like to walk or cycle if they can avoid it; with drive through banking and shopping and what not, they sure can avoid it too heh
I'm surprised the price in Europe is so high. Does it have anything to do with my previous post about the Euro/Dollar conflict? If so, you guys are getting screwed. Start another war!
as it has been mentioned a couple of times already but it seems people that have never really lived away from city areas and non-USA folk just dont understand how far one has to travel to get anything out here in the 'rural' areas. from my parents house it was at least a 60 mile round trip just to get to a game store. more if they didnt have the game and we went to the next one.
I cant believe people drive suv's on thier own using mobile phones thats just shocking! its actualy illegal here to drive and use your phone at the same time.. unless its a hands free kit! on a completely different note tho you guys get MUCH fastr internet access than we do i beleive the tops we get is 2 megs 6 if you live in london and go with bulldog or whoever they are!, my friend is moving to japan in the summer and is bragging about getting a 45MB line
Jody
Despite the fact its the highest priced petrol here we are only currently taking about half a penny per litre profit for BP.
Then all you need is a single selfish dip-shit to come along fill there car up and "shoot" and down the drain goes all our profit for the entire week...now I know for a fact this week alone there have been at least 2 cases of "shooting" so we are proberly loosing more money than we are gaining over an entire weekly period.
These arn't the only factors I had my manger exsplain to me other factors afew weeks ago when the price got particularly high and we had plenty of irate customers and I just got annoyed with people shouting at me. But I can't remmeber the other factors in fact all I do rmemeber is we have 3 tanker deleiveries a week each one has 36Ks worth of full on board....but I can't remember how that relates to anything
john
Seriously though, the rate in Britain and Europe having doubled too, they were just higher. Practically everything in the UK was more expensive than in europe, especially haveing a good time.
And again, everything in the US is cheaper than the UK when it comes to luxury, standard of living and having a good time. Though, oddly the price of food in the states is crazy high, healthy food is like some elitist lifestyle choice it seems.
As for the whole issue of being sick of people pointing out you have much more than them, try be a little less self centered and have a look around the world maybe?
When these sort of pro US statements are made it really makes you look like a bunch of fat spoiled schoolkids angry at the idea that some skinny starving kid might want you to share.
I know that isn't the case, it's just a bit too commonplace to see such a rageful reaction in an american when someone not from america points out that theres a scale and that americans are lucky enough to be high up on that scale when it comes to many things.
I guess it's like 'yeah we got it all, but we want the right to complain about being hard done by too ok?'
I understand there is poverty here too, really. There was poverty in the UK also, and in Europe; but when I travelled a little more in Europe I was utterly shocked at times to relearn what poverty is.
I consider though that as much as I think I learned about real poverty when travelling, I didn't travel to 3rd world countries. Regardless, I find that being aware of more of the world than simply where I grew up, helps me, and has always helped me, to feel lucky and grateful to have each countries (that I've lived in) respective wealth's.
I guess an easy way to put it is that, we're all sitting on comfy chairs using expensive computers to browse the internet, what have we got to moan about eh?
Maybe that would make people over there think twice before buying a vehicle that does 15 miles to the gallon.
I mean lets face it most of the cost of ours ends up at the treasury.
john
For Europeans to spout 'We still pay more, what are you Americans complaining about?' its in response to an American complaining about gas prices.
I played the demo and wasn't blown away by it. But yeah danr, that's a pretty weak story to say the least.
This whole SUV driving a troop transport trend is ridiculous though, I don't get how people can park those things, much less throw away so much money on the gas.
I think this is a solution that has seriously been overlooked.
As for alternate fuel sources biodiesel has my vote based on what I've heard so far.
Zip Codes and general area you can enter:
85044 Phoenix, Arizona
90007 LOS ANGELES, California
48209 Detroit, Michigan
10022 New York, New York
33122 Miami, Florida
73301 AUSTIN, Texas
55460 MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota
99509 ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Make sure you set the radius of your search at least 5 miles to kick up numbers. I have notice anything less gives you blank responses because the individual gas stations aren't reporting there numbers because they dont have to. The above zip codes will give you an answer to gas price in the States regions.
I personal hate the reverse idealism from the early 90's when the people of the States thought we had this big shortage scare and Clinton opened the reserves to close them again. We adopted a short time the panic that we will run out of fuel, which launched the research in to other alternative fuels. There is a US Paton on a car that burns just like a steam engine and can reach 80 miles an hour. However the Paton was purchased with a rumor of a large sum of money and the plans have just disappeared. Also the inventors have also disappeared. And are probably living on there own island. The plans where bought to stop it from reaching market which is perfectly legal in the States if you know how to work in the loop holes.
If it wasn't a fact that I currently live like 25 minutes away to the closes Barnes & Noble or Best Buy by my car I would do away with it. Or the nicety it gives me to just too get away from my annoying roommates
I personally would love to see the use of gas powered cars go away and the age of the hydrogen car of hybrid. But it scares me when I hear about this rumored crazy law that was proposed in Cali. The law was to make those types of cars equipped with GPS and charge by the mile because the Big Gas Companies think they are losing money on these types of cars. This whole situation sticks of Corporate American wanting the big bucks.
Before you start claiming a whole government sticks. You can find people in that society that have their issues with their own government. Becareful on how you stereotype people.
And Im away of the irony in my own post. I define Corporate American is an ideal business practice or model that is concerned with making big money in the most fast way possible. This means killing the cash cow if they can find another one to kill. This is not a derogative or bashing term for me.
I'd like to know why American fuel is so much cheaper than British fuel?
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Two reasons spring to mind. First, America buys in volume. I mean, *really* buys in volume. I don't know what percentage of the world's oil is consumed by America, but I expect it's between a third and a half. When you buy in bulk, you can get a lower price. Britain must use far, far less and thus has less negotiating power. Additionally, America has plenty of native oil production - Texas, Alaska, Gulf offshore, etc. I don't think the UK has any significant native oil resources, so pretty much every drop of fuel has to be shipped in by tanker from foreign countries. Homebrew is almost always cheaper than buying imports, and even the presence of native resources forces foreign distributors to lwoer their prices to compete with the native market. More or less. Living on an island usually sucks for pricing anyway, since overland shipping isn't an option.
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And what would happen if petrol/diesel in the US was even 2/3 of the price of that in the UK? Maybe that would make people over there think twice before buying a vehicle that does 15 miles to the gallon.
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Something like this has vaguely happened before, in fact, but it can't ever quite happen the way you're describing. In the 1973-74 gas 'crisis', fuel costs spiked everywhere due to OPEC flexing its muscles. Through the summer of 1974, Americans faced long lines for fuel and people were generally pissed. I guess most nations in this case would be a bit forced to suck it up, but as the US can be extremely 'persuasive' when the need arises, there were a few closed-door discussions and price controls were instituted shortly thereafter. The fallout stateside? Econo-cars were the rage for a while and Gerald Ford was soundly defeated by Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election. Consider the current American government and the apparent attitude of the nation itself. What do you think would happen if Saudi Arabi decided tomorrow that they were doubling the price for fuel? They'd be declared economic terrorists and the Saudis would have their minds changed for them right quick.
The current binge for gas-guzzler cars in the US isn't a recent phenomenon, either. There were Suburbans in the 1970s, along with the classic big block V8 sports cars and road hog luxury cars of all kind etc. My grandmother had a Buick Electra 225, I swear it was about half the size of a city bus. You couldn't even drive the thing in most of Europes cities and towns, it was just too big. Like most things, I expect this is cyclical, with emphasis on larger and smaller vehicles changing from decade to decade.
I just hope they appreciate all the trouble they've caused
Jody
I've known people who spent well over an hour commuting each way to work every day and were refilling their gas tanks more than once a week. If I want to see my family, just up the interstate in the next major city, I've got to drive 112 miles to get there - there's no other option. Go up and back for a weekend visit and I've used a full tank of gas in the process. That's a relatively common thing in these parts.
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224 miles = 1 tank? What kind of consumption and tank size does your car have? Ours takes 7-8l/100km and loads ~40l, I think.
A gallon is about four liters, so figure I was getting 6 miles per liter, and I think that's about 10km/l.
My Micra gets a better milage per gallon, but it has a smaller tank, and a 1.4 litre engine.
That's what the trip computer tells me...
I would not really consider 24 miles per gallon "economy" at all ... if we're talking economy, I'd expect 40-50 miles per gallon. There are some small town cars that can do upwards of 60 mpg these days, if manufacturer's figures are to be believed.
Here you can buy a gallon today for a whopping $6.5
I don't care about that very much. I do care about the 50% income tax that I pay every month
I've had a 68 Mustang with a V8, and a 85 Thunderbird with a V8. :P But that was in the past.