What is a "stonker" anyway?

[Oloturia]

Pardon my ignorance, I always wondered what "Stonkers" means.

Merriam-Webster says that "stonker" means "to baffle" or "hit hard" in Australian English, Wordsense on the other hand says it's British English and it means "highly impressive". Other meanings of "stonker" are "very tired", a stake in a game of marbles (from Scottish "stock/stonk") or a tangible sign of male excitement.
In this article http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sto3.htm it's suggested that it's a word for heavy artillery bombardment, that's maybe the reason for the name "Stonkers"?

[bluespikey]

Supposedly its a word for artillery bombardment.

https://www.oxfordreference.com/display ... 7A899E6A48

I've only ever seen the word used once like this, in a war memoir.

[R-Tape]

By now we've probably defined everything that definitely isn't Stonkers, so it's whatever's left!

It must be the artillery thing, but there's probably a good case for a refinement of the definition. I bet it's used more in speccy circles in reference to the game these days than anywhere else.

[equinox]

The OED has:

stonk: Noun: Military slang. A concentrated artillery bombardment. Verb: Military slang transitive, to bombard with concentrated artillery fire.
stonker: Verb: colloquial (chiefly Australian and New Zealand). Originally Military. transitive. Originally: to kill or destroy (a person or thing). In later use: to render useless or ineffective; to ruin; to defeat decisively.

So even the mighty OED doesn't have a stonker noun that could be pluralized. But we may assume a stonker is "somebody who stonks", as above.
I would hazard that "stonking great..." (meaning very large or powerful) is related.

[equinox]

While I'm here: did you know that Kokotoni (as in Kokotoni Wilf) is a real place in Kenya? Not, however, a significant enough place to merit a Wikipedia article, it seems.

People younger than us won't understand why Willy is a member of the "jet set" either, because any pleb can get on RyanAir these days.

[Guesser]

By now we've probably defined everything that definitely isn't Stonkers, so it's whatever's left!

With a bit of imagination it could mean "Atic Atac"...

[Oloturia]

While I'm here: did you know that Kokotoni (as in Kokotoni Wilf) is a real place in Kenya? Not, however, a significant enough place to merit a Wikipedia article, it seems.

Just imagine being hampered by a video game from the 1980s every time you check online for something in your neighbourhood.

[Joefish]

"Nonterraqueous" bugs me. I think they're trying to mean neither ground or water based, i.e. airbourne. And you do fly around. But 'aqueous' means 'made of water' or 'water like', not 'water-bourne'. So shouldn't it be 'aquatic', not 'aqueous'?

[equinox]

"Nonterraqueous" bugs me. I think they're trying to mean neither ground or water based, i.e. airbourne. And you do fly around. But 'aqueous' means 'made of water' or 'water like', not 'water-bourne'. So shouldn't it be 'aquatic', not 'aqueous'?

aqueous and terraqueous are both real words, meaning what you'd expect (watery and earth-and-watery).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/terraqueous

But it is not clear to me why the game bears that name. Okay, it's about a robot (?), which is non-organic, and so not directly related to earth or water. But so what? The developers probably just thought "this sounds cooler than METALLOTRON!".

[equinox]

Just imagine being hampered by a video game from the 1980s every time you check online for something in your neighbourhood.

I grew up in the glorious republic of Ritimba and I am bloody sick of ZX Spectrums.

My first computer was an ATM Turbo gifted by Mikhail Gorbachev, for services to banana exports.

[Nienn Heskil]

A stonker is, naturally, someone dabbling in the stonks.

Spoiler

[Wizwords]

"Nonterraqueous" bugs me. I think they're trying to mean neither ground or water based, i.e. airbourne. And you do fly around. But 'aqueous' means 'made of water' or 'water like', not 'water-bourne'. So shouldn't it be 'aquatic', not 'aqueous'?

Stephen Curtis meant "not of earth or water" ie Alien

[Wizwords]

Pardon my ignorance, I always wondered what "Stonkers" means.

Merriam-Webster says that "stonker" means "to baffle" or "hit hard" in Australian English, Wordsense on the other hand says it's British English and it means "highly impressive". Other meanings of "stonker" are "very tired", a stake in a game of marbles (from Scottish "stock/stonk") or a tangible sign of male excitement.
In this article http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sto3.htm it's suggested that it's a word for heavy artillery bombardment, that's maybe the reason for the name "Stonkers"?

Dave Lawson’s brief to John was loose but succinct. “[Dave] made it clear that it was essential that the game portrayed a sense of urgency,” explains John, “so that if you took too long, pondered too much over your next move, you’ll get beat. He also came up with the name: ‘Stonk’ is World War II British army slang for a massed artillery bombardment on an enemy position, so Stonkers seemed apt.” In order to portray the required sense of urgency, John introduced the supply mechanic to Stonkers early on. The player had to ensure troops were adequately resupplied on a regular basis in order to maintain their effectiveness. “It gave you something else to worry about: without supplies, your troops and equipment would become progressively less efficient and of course there was that classic aspect of war, don’t allow your supply chain to get too long.”

[Mpk]

Before Stonking, one may have to Yomp.

[Waldroid]

Why's everyone being so mean to Nonterraqueous?

That's more culture than you deserve for £1.99!

[equinox]

Why's everyone being so mean to Nonterraqueous?
That's more culture than you deserve for £1.99!

Nobody actually bought this game. We got it off Crash cover tape #67 (August 1989), along with Metabolis (very good early Gremlin, although the pumping heart made me cringe -- I hate blood -- women grow up understanding blood but I didn't), Mountains of Ket (boring text RPG sh*t, HIT THE MAN WITH THE SWORD, You hit him but he kills you, due to INT RND*6), Ultimate Warrior (real weirdo entity, I suppose made by some kid who had the 3D Game Maker tool), Maze Mania PLAYABLE DEMO (thanks Hewson!) and Pokemania.

I only ever bought the mag for Pokemania.

straight face



straight face


ffnnnnrrkkkk



Now I want to start a thread asking "who actually played those map combat games, and why are there so many of them" (CCS). But I would be dogpiled by radio hams.

[equinox]

Before Stonking, one may have to Yomp.

and afterwards: uchi mata (which I'm told literally means "home again")

Possibly this depends on your performance in 1943: The Battle of Midway.

[p13z]

This:

[Waldroid]

Nobody actually bought this game.

I bought it. Played it, mapped it, completed it. Well worth 199 of my Terraqueous pence!

[equinox]

I bought it. Played it, mapped it, completed it. Well worth 199 of my Terraqueous pence!

I think i've said this before (probably in conversations, but maybe not on this forum): somehow, as a kid, i never saw mapping as a possibility. I never thought "hey I could draw the rooms and keep trying, and fill in the gaps" -- even though I played loads of stuff like Knight Lore and (god save us) Terminus where this was the obvious thing to do. I just thought maps were a magical thing that appeared in magazines.

Yet another reason why I sucked at games. Anyway, Waldroid, I'm impressed, and I hope you submitted your map to a magazine and got lots of freebies.

In later days I have done a few game solutions (RZX recording etc, and even drawing maps), but usually involving hacking or cheating. Then again, I did make my way through all 28 levels of Ian Collier's Rockfall (where is he now? probably the king of Oxford University IT) without losing a life. I still can't believe it. What a marathon.

[Mpk]

This:

Seems like Brian May wears that same joke wig for Comic Relief every year.

[equinox]

Just imagine being hampered by a video game from the 1980s every time you check online for something in your neighbourhood.

Yeah I've got a smack for whoever wrote "Feltham Freddy" on the MSX

[Joefish]

aqueous and terraqueous are both real words, meaning what you'd expect (watery and earth-and-watery).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/terraqueous

So, basically, it means 'not muddy'. As I say, it doesn't make sense for the protagonist. Maybe he's referring to the world you're on.

[equinox]

So, basically, it means 'not muddy'. As I say, it doesn't make sense for the protagonist. Maybe he's referring to the world you're on.

Could mean: neither earth nor water. (i.e. the non-human robot thing, or any outer-space spot)

I think you're being a bit too much of a silly nerd about this. Let me give you a real-world example. If I'm at work and I call myself "nonsucrocaffeinous" this obviously means I don't want sugar with coffee. But I did this last week, and I was mostly ignored. Sharon came in and started making the coffee. She put sugar in it. Jenna and Bill came and took cups of the coffee, they didn't seem to care. Bill seemed cool once, he supported the JNF, so I said to him "ok what's going on, can we be nonsucrocaffeinous or not", and he just laughed and moved on.

Therefore I have proved you are wrong about Nonterraqueous. REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Joefish]

No, it doesn't, if it follows the same word formation then it means you're neither made of sugar, nor caffeine.
Again, I refer you to the difference between 'aqueous' and 'aquatic'. If knowing that makes me a 'silly nerd' then I'm a 'silly nerd'.
On a separate note, however, your construction of proofs could do with a little work.