This is essentially a repost of Justinian’s from the Murakami blog, in hopes of it going out to a wider audience.ICS 3.1 is now a reality, and UCS?, the urban combat system associated with and compatible with ICS, will soon be distributed to various ICS developers. What is in 3.1 that makes it worthy of note? Lots of things—including “drowning”, better visual and particle effects, and the brand new “Splodey ball” which will show you exactly where your explosive round has landed. That’s pretty great, actually. In an ironclad combat situation, vision is often limited and one’s concentration is fixed on the opposing ship. It’s hard to tell where shots land. The “splash effect” for misses that was recently added to 3.0 helps tremondously in that respect, and the new Splodey Ball will make battles more lifelike and fun. In Justinian’s words:Explosives in ICS battles have always been a bit of mixed bag. While they generally are pretty effective at destroying whatever they hit, it’s very hard to tell if they hit anything at all unless you see something get damaged. The blast radius was always invisible, with no real way to tell what was caught in it. Well not anymore…. Explosive animation “ball” effectThat is a 15×15x15 blast prim effect that will be rezzed along with the explosive prim that goes off. The result is a clear indicator of the blast radius! Another nice part is it has glow and lighting enabled, making it easy to see from a distance. This is similar to the water splash effect that was added to the cannonballs when they hit the water, the point being to add better indicators to rounds so fighters can get more tactical information on the battlefield. Expect to see all explosives in our next update look like this. Also all of the cannonball rounds that did not have splash effects will have them as well.(I think the only ones that don’t have splash effects are the coastal artillery)

But first, a little historical diversion.The Lupercalia proper began on the 15th of February with animal sacrifice and ritual flagellation. After slaughtering a goat and dog in the sacred grotto of the she-wolf who suckled the legendary founders of Rome, the young men would run through the streets whipping women and crops with the flayed hide of the goat to promote fertility. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Lupercalia, far from being restricted to Rome, was practised in other cities in Italy and Gaul.Dating from remotest antiquity, the Lupercalia was celebrated until as late as the reign of Anastasius I in 491-518 CE. It was towards the end of the 5th century in 498 CE that Pope Galesius decided to dedicate the Eve of Lupercalia to the long-dead priest. The lottery system was banned as being un-Christian and the Pope did his best to make people forget about other un-Christian ideas such as fertility.- Dr Leo Ruickbie, St Valentine’s Day and its Origins in LupercaliaRoma celebrated the Lupercalia festival over the weekend- Lupercalia, as the citation above tells us, is an ancient pagan festival from Rome’s pre-history, dating back (possibly) to the Etruscans. The Lupercalia is a fertility festival that featured naked youths running about the city striking matrons on the hands with furry thongs, as well as a stylized Wolf Hunt. Roma, the preeminent Roman history simulation within Second Life, held a weekend’s worth of Lupercalia activities. YHN’s dignity and sense of modesty ruled out the running through the streets naked element of the proceedings, but he did venture forth into the great wolf chase, all over the territories surrounding Roma. This was a very well organized and executed event, and quite competitive. YHN did corner a wolf in the highest snowy reaches of the highest mountain in Roma’s territory, but fumbled the “catch” and thus his furry friend bounded away unfettered.Click picture to view as slideshow