09.25.99 — Beat [RiP] 2-0 last night on our server, see matches. Halo9 got 31 frags on The Edge which is a clan record. He'd like everyone to know. He's told everyone.

09.22.99 — QUAKE III ARENA is coming in DECEMBER. It's official. We've been playing the test and it's fast, it's pretty, and it's going to melt Toast's Voodoo. We'll stay a Q2 clan through the end of the year and then we'll see. Vex says [DUST] moves as a unit. Vex also says buy a new video card. Both true.

09.18.99 — Sludge is now a full member after 3 weeks as a recruit. He passed the tryout, he shows up on time, and he stopped typing "lol" in the middle of matches. Welcome to the dirt.

09.11.99 — LAN party is set for Saturday November 13. Details below. Grinder's garage. Bring your own everything.

09.04.99 — Lost to -GoD- 1-2. It happens. It doesn't happen twice. Rematch requested.

08.28.99 — Nyx built the page. If it looks like a DOS prompt that's on purpose. If it looks broken, you're on AOL, upgrade your browser.

Handles only. We don't post real names, ages, cities or ICQ numbers on the page and we ask that you don't ask. That's not paranoia, that's just how it's done.

Record: 6-2. Matches are best of 3 maps, 20 minutes a map for TDM, 5 caps or 20 minutes for CTF. Losers pick the first map. The -GoD- loss was on their server with three of us over 250 ping; not an excuse, just a fact, and the rematch will be on neutral ground. The |NME| loss was fair and square and we tip the hat. Want a match? E-mail Nyx with your clan name, roster size and a couple of Friday or Saturday nights.

The [DUST] server lives on a box that Grinder set up at a friend's office, on that office's T1, and it runs after business hours only: weeknights 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. and most of the weekend, Eastern time. If it's off during the day, that's why. It's not down, it's at work. The deal with the friend is that we never touch it during the day, we never blame the office for anything, and we don't post the address on a public page. So we don't. Members have it. If you're scheduled for a match or a tryout, you'll get it by e-mail the day of.

Specs, generically: a Pentium II with plenty of RAM, running the dedicated server. 12 player slots. Standard deathmatch rotation on the stock maps plus the CTF mod for CTF nights. Vanilla settings, no weird mods, no mystery weapons. Grinder logs everything.

Schedule: Tuesday and Thursday nights are clan practice (members and recruits only). Friday night is tryouts and open scrims. Saturday is matches. Sunday afternoon is free-for-all, anybody who has the address, be nice.

I play on a 56K modem. I hold the base in CTF on a 56K modem. Vex has cable and he's better than me but not by as much as the cable should make him. Here is how you play Quake II on a modem and not embarrass yourself. This is not magic; it's just not being dumb.

1. Pick low-ping servers. Every time. No exceptions. Use a server browser, sort by ping, and never join anything over about 200. On a modem you're starting at 150 or so before the server even does anything, so a far-away server puts you at 300+ and you're just a target that walks. The [DUST] box is on a T1 and most of us are within a few states of it, which is the whole point.
2. Set your rate. Open the console and set rate to something around 3000 to 4000 for a 56K. This tells the server not to send you more than your modem can take. If it's too high, you get choke and stutter; too low and things pop in late. Try 3500 and adjust.
3. Turn everything down. You do not need dynamic lights. You do not need the highest texture quality. Turn off the screen flash when you get hit (gl_polyblend 0 if you're on an OpenGL card), drop the texture detail a notch, and run 640x480 if your card's older. More frames per second beats prettier pixels every single time. My game looks like a cardboard box. My game runs.
4. Get rid of the fog and gibs. Anything that's extra particles is extra work for your machine. Set gibs and blood down or off. You'll survive.
5. Nobody else uses the phone line. If your mom picks up the phone, you're gone. If you have call waiting, turn it off before you dial (your ISP's help page tells you the code; ours is *70). This is the number one cause of "Toast dropped again."
6. Don't download while you play. Don't run ICQ while you play. Close everything. All of it. Your modem is a garden hose and Quake wants the whole hose.
7. Play defense. If you have 180 ping and the other guy has 40, you will lose most straight-up fights in the open. So don't have them. Hold the corners. Know where the armor spawns. Let them come to you. Lead your shots more than you think you should. The chaingun is your friend because it doesn't care much about your aim.
8. Learn the maps cold. On a modem, knowing where the rocket launcher is worth more than a faster connection. Run around the maps alone on a listen server until you can do it with your eyes closed.
9. Check for a better modem string / driver. Some 56K modems ship with drivers that are junk. A newer driver from the manufacturer's disk or a better init string knocked 20 off my ping. Ask someone who knows.
10. When you do get lag, don't type about it. Everybody knows. Play through it.

Cable and ISDN players: none of this applies to you. Go be happy somewhere.

1. NO CHEATING. No aimbots, no wallhacks, no modified models that glow, no "I was just testing it." Caught once, you're out, and every clan we know hears why. There is no second rule about this. This is the rule.
2. NO WHINING. Not about lag, not about spawns, not about the map pick, not about the other guy's weapon. You lost. Say gg. Play the next one.
3. Show up. If you're on the match roster, you're there 15 minutes early with the address, the maps loaded and your rate set. If you can't make it, you tell Vex or Grinder before, not after.
4. Be decent. No trash in chat beyond the normal "gg" and "nice shot." No going after somebody personally. We've all been the new guy with 300 ping.
5. Practice is practice. Tuesday/Thursday we run strats. It's not the night to try the hyperblaster for the first time. (Halo9.)
6. Don't give out the server address. Covered above. It's not ours to give.
7. Tag goes in front: [DUST]Name. Keep your handle the same across servers so people know who they got railed by.

We're looking for one or two more, mostly for CTF, where five is thin and six is right. What we want:

• 16 or older. Not negotiable. We're not checking IDs but we're also not stupid, and if you type like you're 12, you're 12.
• A connection that'll get under 200 to the server. Modem's fine if you follow the guide above. Toast did.
• Free Tuesday and Thursday nights, most of the time.
• Not currently in another Q2 clan. One tag.
• Somebody we'd want to spend a Saturday in Grinder's garage with. This matters more than your frag count.

Tryouts are Friday nights. E-mail Nyx with your handle, your connection type, how long you've played, and any clan history. You'll get the server address for that Friday and you'll play a couple of maps of FFA with us, then a CTF map on a team. We're watching how you move, whether you cover, and whether you shut up and play. Recruits wear [DUST]r- for three weeks; if it works out, the r comes off.

Grinder's garage, noon until whenever. Members, recruits and a couple of guests each, so about 12 machines on the hub. Zero ping for one glorious day. Toast is going to find out what the game actually looks like.

Bring: your whole box (tower, monitor, keyboard, mouse, mousepad), a power strip, a network card if you don't have one built in (we have a few spare cards and cables but don't count on it), your own chair, and something to eat that isn't just chips. Grinder's supplying the hub, the folding tables and the space heater. Nobody's mom is cooking. There will be a pizza run.

Plan: Q2 tournament in the afternoon (bracket, 1v1, prize is bragging rights and a used mouse), CTF all evening, and Vex wants to try the Quake III test on the LAN if enough machines can run it, which is his way of saying go buy a video card.

Y2K bonus: this will be the last [DUST] LAN of the millennium. If your computer is going to explode on January 1, at least it will have fragged something first.

RSVP to Nyx by November 1 so Grinder knows how many tables. Directions go out by e-mail to people who are actually coming.