Ken:
Hello everyone and welcome to the Pilot's Corner! Today's V.I.P. (very impressive pilot) is Diamond Dragon member German Jaramillo!
German! How are you today?
German:
Feeling good Ken.
K: So, how long have you been playing and what path have you followed to get here?
G: My first activity is from April 3278, but after a few days/weeks, I left this game to play on a server of Neverwinter Nights (Dragon & Dungeons style)…
K: I remember that game!
G: Well, there are some NWN 1 servers alive, and quite good ones.
G: I returned and gave NWN new chance after longer than a year. I might have never left them only if they had as good development team as MechaGalaxy.
G: Anyway, I returned maybe like a year ago in 3295... How long is this?
K: Fourteen game years, like 13 real months maybe
G: Fourteen, yes
.
G: By that time, I joined the Never Ending Journey gang. Kind people, but quite a casual style... so after some wars I left them because I wanted success.
K: Sounds reasonable.
G: After a couple months playing, I noticed the videos and I found a way to become competitive and successful, with a chance to chase the elite pilots.
G: So I gave a time of grace to the Never Ending Journey while I was getting stronger (thanks to the many videos). My last action with them, after a bronze, a couple plastics and a silver during the Mechalympics was in the Clan Wars of 3300.
G: During that war, we fought against an RND clan, and one of their officers spotted me as I beat his whole clan except for him.
G: That was while fighting against the Big O... The 82nd Omicron Guard [RND] and
Michael Telladira offered me to join the RND family.
K: At RND, you seemed to me to really come into your own.
G: There, among the RND guys, there was a single thing I disliked that I had to learn. And that is to level up slowly.
K: Heh heh heh heh, sounds familiar.
G: Before RND, there were a lot of things I was missing about the game and while I was learning alone (I won't say how many niodes I wasted in useless ways)...
G: The Research and Development motto lured me for sure.There, too frustrated me a bit to find that there was not so much of both of those things as I expected.
G: But they were for sure a lot more competitive and successful than my previous clan, and the feeling was so good.
K: Absolutely. The RND guys always give a tough fight no matter which clan it is.
K: Speaking of "Research & Dev" work. You definitely have a great background in using spreadsheets and investigation, tell me some on how that helps and how you've come to be so good at it.
G: Well, while I was glad to be a RND man, I though I could support them with my own enthusiasm. So, as in certain war, our top clan, the 82nd, climbed up into the sixth division by accident, I decided to start controlling the divisions.
G: I made a database to keep tracking all the active clans during the wars, and called it as "Overseer", and later as "Oracle".
G: As wars progressed, I polished it. Adding some tools into the excel I used, so averages auto updated as I added each crew level by hand to each active clan.
G:This tool was useful for two purposes:
One, to have a better division control, what RND could do as a family with a wide amount of players... and why not, also clones.
Second, to have a better insight into the CW bets.
G: I noticed some time later, that Scott Abbott, perhaps, was running something alike during several months or years.
K: That explain a lot of things about Dragons.
G: Aside support my RND fellows, I started to look other different ways to earn Niodes (free niodes).
G: So as I got videos blocked after two months of intensive activity (in which I earned up to 5,500 Niodes), I noticed the GG and ANN and started making some articles, small histories and hey, then Pat Willis asked the readers for comics.
G: I offered my first cartoons as drafts, but Pat suggested to use them as I made them for direct publishing.
K: The Ants!
G: Yes, they are very popular
G: And since that day till the present, I have made like 88 comics so far... with different series like "The Red Ants Empire", "The Blonde Chronicles", "Anodyne Chronicles" and "Reggie & Gygax"
G: Although I have some good drawing skills, the lack of resources and a decent graphics program made me use internet images, to use them as in a collage.
K: Oh yes, I know exactly what you mean.
K: The style of Anodyne Chronicles always appealed to me as a different visual art form than with other MG artwork
G: For the Anodyne Chronicles, I used a Fighter Pilot Cockpit picture... then added Hall 6000 or our beloved IM as the AI of the supposed mech.
G: Oh, and of course the stupid situations for a pilot that people could visualize as themselves or sometimes as a dumb player.
K: Oh yes, I think that's one of the greatest appeals of them.
K: Well, I want to thank you for coming here and talking with us German
G: Thank you Ken, it was a pleasure.
K: And I want to thank the readers for joining us as well. Tune in next time when we talk with another V.I.P. in the Mecha Galaxy world,
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