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Age of Empires II

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh in 2001, it is the second game in the Age of Empires series. The Age of Kings is set in the Middle Ages and contains thirteen playable civilizations. Players aim to gather resources, which they use to build towns, create armies, and defeat their enemies. There are five historically based campaigns, which conscript the player to specialized and story-backed conditions, as well as three additional single-player game modes; multiplayer is also supported.

Despite using the same game engine and code similar to its predecessor's, development of The Age of Kings took a year longer than expected, forcing Ensemble Studios to release Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome in 1998 instead. The design team focused on resolving significant issues in Age of Empires, but noted on release that some problems remained.

Reception of Age of Empires II was highly positive. The significant number of new features was praised, as were the gameplay improvements. Three months after its release, two million copies of Age of Empires II had been shipped, and it topped sales charts in seven countries. The game won multiple awards and is today considered a classic of its type, having had a significant impact on future games in its genre. The original Age of Empires II and its 2000 expansion pack, The Conquerors, were later released as The Gold Edition. Age of Empires II is often considered one of the greatest games ever made.

An updated high-definition graphics version of the game, Age of Empires II: HD Edition, was released in 2013. The HD Edition includes the original game and the expansion The Conquerors, as well as new campaigns, civilizations, and updated graphics for high-resolution displays. A remaster, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, was released in November 2019.

Gameplay
Age of Empires II is a real-time strategy game that focuses on building towns, gathering resources, and creating armies to defeat opponents. Players conquer rival towns and empires as they advance one of 13 civilizations through four "Ages": the Dark Age, the Feudal Age, the Castle Age (representing the High Middle Ages), and the Imperial Age (reminiscent of the Renaissance)—a 1,000-year timeframe. Advancing to a new Age unlocks new units, structures, and technologies, but players must first build certain buildings from their current age and then pay a sum of resources.

Civilian units, called "villagers", are used to gather resources; they are either male or female—sex does not affect their abilities. Resources can be used to train units, construct buildings, and research technologies, among other things; for example, players can research better armour for infantry units. The game features four types of resources: food, wood, gold, and stone. Food is obtained by hunting animals, gathering berries, harvesting livestock, farming, and fishing, both from shore and from boats. Wood is gathered by chopping down trees. Gold is obtained from either gold mines, trade, or collecting relics in a monastery. Stone is collected from stone mines. Villagers require checkpoints, typically depository buildings (town center, mining camp, mill, and lumber yard), in order to store gathered resources.

Each civilization can purchase upgrades that increase the rate of gathering these resources. Players can also construct a marketplace for trade, where they can trade wood, stone, and food for gold, and use gold to buy other resources. Market prices fluctuate with every transaction. Furthermore, markets and docks can also generate gold by using trading carts or cogs, which are sent to visit foreign markets and ports; once they return to the player's market/dock, gold is added to the stockpile. The amount of gold a trade unit earns on each trip is based on the distance it needed to travel to a foreign market; more gold is earned on longer trips. It is possible to trade with enemies' markets or docks, but the player's trading units may be attacked or destroyed by enemy units in the process. Players do not need to keep trading manually, as once they select the port or market the trading units continue to trade automatically and indefinitely.

There are five campaigns in The Age of Kings, containing historically based scenarios such as Genghis Khan's invasion of Eurasia, Barbarossa's Crusade, and Saladin's defence of the Holy Land. In the Joan of Arc and William Wallace campaigns, the player can control a unit based on its namesake; in others, players take orders from guiding spirits representative of the army's commander.

Additional game modes are available to the player in The Age of Kings. One mode, random map, generates a map from one of several randomly chosen map-generating scripts, with players starting in the Dark Age with a Town Center, three villagers (or more depending on the civilization), and a scout unit. The game can be won through military conquest, by constructing a special building known as a Wonder and keeping it standing for a certain amount of time, or by obtaining control of all relics on the map for a set amount of time. Deathmatch mode allows players to begin with large amounts of resources, creating a focus on military dominance, while in the regicide mode each player is given a king unit, winning by killing all of the other monarchs.

Units and civilizations

Every player has an ultimate limit to the number of units they can create—a population limit—but cannot immediately use this entire potential population. The population capacity, which can be capped at anywhere between 25 and 200 in intervals of 25, is based on the number of houses, Castles, or Town Centers—the main building in a player's town—which have been built. The Age of Kings introduced two significant new features for unit management: the idle villager button, which helps players identify villagers that have not been assigned a task, and the town bell, which sends all of the player's villagers into their Town Center, Castle, or tower for safety; units garrisoned within these three buildings, especially archers, increase the building's firepower (towers fire more arrows with units garrisoned inside), including the Town Center, which cannot fire anything at all without someone garrisoned there.

The Age of Kings also includes five types of military units: infantry, archers, cavalry, siege weapons, and naval units. Certain types of infantry, archers, and cavalry are "counter units" with special defenses against other types of units. The three human classes of military generally follow a rock-paper-scissors model. For example, infantry are generally powerful against buildings but weak against cavalry, thus the infantry counter units—spearmen and pikemen—have attack bonuses against cavalry.

Each civilization in The Age of Kings has one or two special units that are exclusive to that civilization. For instance, the Britons have access to longbowmen, an archery unit with increased range. These civilization-specific units are generally more powerful, but still follow the basic rock-paper-scissors model. The monk is a special kind of military unit that has the ability to convert enemy units to the player's civilization, and to heal allied units. Monks are also used to collect relics, which accumulate gold once held in the player's monastery—the more relics are captured, the faster the gold is accumulated. Collecting all relics on the map is one method by which a player can win a random map game, depending on the victory condition. Once a player has all the relics in their monasteries, a timer is shown to all players. The player holding all of the relics wins if they maintain control of the relics for the length of the timer.

Players choose to play as one of 13 civilizations split into four architectural styles—Western European (Britons, Celts, and Franks), Central European (Goths, Teutons, Vikings), Middle Eastern (Byzantines, Persians, Saracens, and Turks), and East Asian (Chinese, Japanese, and Mongols) —that determine building appearance in-game. The civilizations have varying strengths and weaknesses with regards to economics, technology, and combat, and each has access to one or more different, very powerful "Unique Units". Additionally, each civilization provides an individual team bonus in team games. To add variety, each civilization has a set of sound bites in its native language that are uttered by units when selected or instructed to perform a task.

Buildings
Buildings in The Age of Kings are split into economic and military categories. Buildings can research technologies and upgrades that increase economic, military, or unit-based efficiency, as well as provide resources for the player.

The most important economic building is the Town Center, where villagers are created, all types of resources can be stored, some technologies are researched, and the player can advance to the next Age. The Town Center can fire arrows at enemy units if villagers or archers are garrisoned inside while enemy units are within range. Other economic buildings include storage buildings for resources, farms, docks (the dock may also produce several military ships), and houses to support a higher population.

Military buildings include unit-producing buildings such as barracks, archery ranges, stables, and castles, as well as defensive buildings such as walls and towers. Military buildings can conduct research to improve the abilities of military units, increasing their strength, defensive capabilities, or other capabilities. Castles are a key offensive and defensive building as they can build trebuchets, train the civilization's "unique unit/s", and fire a hail of arrows at enemy units within range, with garrisoned units firing extra arrows. Castles can only be built after a player has reached the Castle Age, although in some game options, players begin with an already-built castle as early as the Dark Age.

After advancing to the Imperial Age, players can also construct a Wonder, an expensive non-military building. On many gameplay modes building a Wonder triggers a victory countdown; unless it is destroyed within a certain timeframe, the player who built it wins. Every civilization's Wonder is in the shape of a real-world landmark unique to that historical culture.

Single player campaigns
The Age of Kings shipped with five campaigns, each having multiple playable scenarios that progress a story line, and each centered around a different civilization. The campaign of William Wallace (Celts) serves as a tutorial campaign, and teaches the player how to move units, gather resources, and build armies to defeat the enemy. It takes place during the Wars of Scottish Independence against the English under King Edward I Longshanks. In the Frankish campaign, the player leads Joan of Arc against the English in the Hundred Years' War. The Saracen campaign features Saladin and his efforts to repulse Crusaders in the Middle East, while the Mongol campaign documents Genghis Khan's conquest of Eurasia; finally, the Teuton campaign focuses on Frederick Barbarossa's ambitious expansion of the Holy Roman Empire. The campaigns are sorted numerically to distinguish difficulty, with the William Wallace campaign being the easiest and Barbarossa and Saladin being the two most challenging.

Multiplayer
The Age of Kings supports multiplayer over the Internet, or via a local area network (LAN). Up to eight players can take part in one game, with all of the single-player game modes available. The MSN Gaming Zone supported the game until the service closed on June 19, 2006. After that, various multiplayer gaming services such as GameRanger supported it. Since April 2013, Steam supports in-game multiplayer for HD resolution

Development
Prior to the completion of Age of Empires, Ensemble Studios had signed a contract with Microsoft for a sequel. The design team chose to set The Age of Kings in the Middle Ages as a logical progression from the ancient era setting of Age of Empires. The design team was conscious of attempting to capture the broad appeal of the first game without making the game's design too similar. Nonetheless, they attempted to appeal to the vast demographic who played Age of Empires. The Age of Kings's design team intended to complete the game within a year by using code from the original and reusing the Genie game engine. Several months into the process they found they would not be able to complete a game of the quality they sought in that time. Ensemble Studios informed Microsoft they would need another year and instead created Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome, an easily developed expansion pack of Age of Empires, as a compromise which could be released for Christmas 1998. To help meet the next year's deadline, additional programmers, artists, and designers were employed. To overcome another significant objection to the original game—its path-finding—the team completely redesigned the game engine's movement system. The game took two years to complete with 50 full-time employees on a budget of less than $10 million.

The original Age of Empires was criticized for its artificial intelligence (AI), which did not "cheat" by attributing itself extra resources or using other techniques the human player could not, making it easier to defeat than in many other real-time strategy games. For The Age of Kings, Ensemble Studios attempted to develop a more powerful AI system that still did not compromise by cheating. Industry veteran Mario Grimani led Ensemble Studios in the creation of the new system. The Age of Kings saw the introduction of a triggers system for its scenario editor. The triggers allow messages to be displayed, or actions to take place, based on pre-set criteria or "events". The scenario editor was also improved by the new AI system. The AI and trigger systems interacted regularly in the single-player campaigns.

The team was less successful in resolving other issues; programmer Matt Pritchard complained following the release of Age of Empires that there was still no process by which patches could be issued. Extensive cheating in multiplayer games of Age of Empires came as a result of several bugs in the game, which resulted in Microsoft promising Ensemble Studios there would be a patch process for The Age of Kings. Upon release, there were several bugs that needed immediate attention, but the patch process was not yet ready. The first patch was released 11 months later.

Ensemble Studios developed a new terrain system for The Age of Kings, with 3D presentation capabilities that were vastly superior to those of Age of Empires. Pritchard noted an improvement in the team's artistic abilities following their work on the past two games, and he is noted as saying that "AoK became a showcase for their improved talent". However, he complained about the lack of an art asset management tool, while other departments gained new tools and automated procedures to assist in design and play testing.

Audio
The soundtrack for The Age of Kings was directed by Stephen Rippy, who has since taken that role for all games in the Age of Empires series. Music for the game was split into two categories. For "in-game" music, Rippy's team took musical elements from a variety of cultures and combined them to create a mixed sound. "Pre-game" music was designed to be unique to the civilization in question. Campaigns based on historical figures would include "a theme that will at least be rooted in [the character's] culture".

Release
A demo of The Age of Kings was released on October 16, 1999. It featured the learning campaign, a sample of a random map game, and the ability to play via the MSN Gaming Zone. Much to Ensemble Studios' disappointment, numerous incomplete versions of the game were leaked. These were picked up by warez sites, and sold illegally throughout the Pacific Rim; warez versions of the game were even sold outside Microsoft's offices in South Korea.

Sales
In January 2000, three months after its release, Microsoft had shipped two million copies of The Age of Kings. The game topped sales charts in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, and South Korea. It spent the next two and a half years on top 20 sales lists. The Age of Kings was the top-selling game in October 1999, and the fourth highest-selling game in 1999. The game's sales in the United States alone totaled 469,376 by the end of 1999, which drew revenues of $20.2 million, the second-highest domestic gross that year behind SimCity 3000. Domestic sales rose another 442,318 units ($19.56 million) from January through October 2000, according to PC Data. It finished the year as the seventh-largest computer game hit in the United States, with 595,016 in sales and $26.2 million in revenue. Age of Empires II's domestic success continued in 2001: with sales of 478,557 units ($19.4 million), it claimed tenth place for the year.

In the German market, Age of Empires II debuted in first place on Media Control's sales charts during October 1999, and by March 2000 had spent 17 weeks in the rankings. It received the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland's (VUD) "Platinum" award within one month of release, indicating sales of 200,000 units across Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. By the end of February 2000, it had reached "Double-Platinum" status (400,000 sales) and become the German market's "most successful PC game of the past 12 months", according to the VUD. The game later received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) for at least 300,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom.

Between the 2019 re-release and global lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the game has seen a resurgence in popularity.

Critical reviews
The Age of Kings received a 92% positive rating according to video game review aggregator Metacritic, based on 21 critics’ reviews.

According to Eurogamer's Geoff Richards, "the list of new features and improvements over the original game is over a page long". GamePro's review similarly focused on "new additions to the genre itself" which it argued made The Age of Kings outstanding. These included the idle unit button and town bell. GameSpy's Carlos Salgado was appreciative of other features; he praised the ability to create individual profiles for different players and to customize hotkeys. Meanwhile, IGN appreciated the new abilities given to the villager unit—the review stated villagers "now play an important role not only in the collection of resources, but also in town defense and even in combat."

AllGame's Michael L. House enjoyed the use of sound bites in civilizations' native languages, which he said was "very influential in developing an era-enhancing atmosphere". Eurogamer said this feature "gives [villagers] a personality, rather than the standard 'Acknowledged' grunt of military RTS games", also stating that the use of female villagers provided a good variety. Game Revolution's review explained that by being set in a more recent epoch of human history, The Age of Kings was able to "add character to an otherwise impersonal style of gameplay". Computer and Video Games approved of The Age of Kings' use of shorter, more focused campaigns, compared to its predecessor, while Game Revolution noted that even in slower sections of the campaign, the historical narrative helped maintain player interest. GameSpot said that with the screen full of units, "you can begin to imagine how their historical equivalents once prospered", while GameSpy said The Age of Kings presents "realism rarely seen in the RTS genre". IGN staff argued that while the strengths and weaknesses attributed to different civilizations made the game more realistic, the fact that they were still mostly the same prevented The Age of Kings from "delivering the same battlefield impact of StarCraft or Tiberian Sun".

House also praised the gameplay interface, which he said "couldn't be simpler", as well as the advanced unit grouping and path-finding systems. Nash Werner of GamePro said that the battlefield formation tools were wonderful, and complained only that they could not be assigned to naval units. Computer and Video Games generally agreed, stating that "the controls are very user-friendly and well explained". GameSpot's Greg Kasavin wrote that despite the game's improved graphics, "there's nothing foreign about its appearance" and that most game features will be "immediately recognizable if you've played a real-time strategy game before". PC Zone agreed, but in a negative sense—it argued that The Age of Kings "is essentially an update of a two-year-old game".

Richards was surprised by the quality of The Age of Kings' graphics, considering they were all bitmapped. However, AllGame complained that units were sometimes difficult to tell apart, a point numerous reviewers agreed on. It also considered the sound of The Age of Kings a negative, but not something significant enough to draw players away from the game's overall quality. IGN stated that cutscenes were somewhat bland, but that overall the graphics added "an amazing amount of detail to the actual game". IGN's main criticism was directed at the in-game speech used in campaigns; it rhetorically asked "why can't they just find a Frenchman to do a French accent?" Alex Constantides of Computer and Video Games rated the graphics highly, saying that some in-game buildings are "so grand you'll even feel guilty about burning them to the ground". Werner agreed: "the most noticeable graphical advancements", he wrote, were "the sheer size and scale of things". Game Revolution stated "AOE2 is the best looking of the 2D RTS games out there right now".

The Age of Kings won GameSpot's Strategy Game of the Year in 1999, and was a nominee for Game of the Year. GamePower also named it Strategy Game of the Year, while PC Gamer and Computer Gaming World gave it Editor's Choice awards. The editors of PC Gamer US named it their 1999 "Best Real-Time Strategy Game", and wrote that it "takes everything we know about the real-time strategy genre and polishes it, and polishes it, and then polishes it some more." The Age of Kings won "Computer Strategy Game of the Year", "Computer Game of the Year", and tied for "Outstanding Achievement in Character or Story Development" (with Thief: The Dark Project) during the AIAS' 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; it also received nominations for "Game of the Year", "Outstanding Achievement in Animation", "Outstanding Achievement in Game Design", and "Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering". IGN ranked The Age of Kings the 53rd best game of all time in 2005, and the 10th best PC game of all time in 2007. GameFAQs users placed it 56th in a poll of the best games ever. A 2023 poll conducted by GQ which surveyed a team of video game journalists across the industry listed Age of Empires II the 98th best video game of all time.

The Age of Kings was highly influential on its genre. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, a 2001 game by LucasArts, shared The Age of Kings' game engine, and was heavily influenced by its mechanics. Empire Earth's design was also similar to that of The Age of Kings; GameSpot said it "borrows most of that game's controls, interface features, and even some of its keyboard shortcuts". Rick Goodman, designer of Age of Empires and The Rise of Rome, designed Empire Earth. GameSpot's Scott Osborne argued that the gameplay of Cossacks: European Wars was heavily based on The Age of Kings.

Expansions and sequels
A PlayStation 2 port was released by Konami in 2001 for Europe and in 2002 for Japan. A Nintendo DS spinoff, Age of Empires: The Age of Kings was released in 2006.

An expansion for The Age of Kings, The Conquerors, was released in 2000. It introduced numerous new game features, including unique technologies for each civilization, and five new civilizations. Two of these, the Aztecs and the Mayans, represent the New World and have a distinctive architectural style. Other new civilizations are the Huns, Koreans, and Spanish.

In 2005, a mobile version of Age of Empires II was released for Java mobile devices (J2ME), called Age of Empires II Mobile and developed by In-Fusio. It featured much simplified gameplay and graphics, designed for the mobile devices of the time.

The success of Age of Empires II also spurred the continuation of the franchise: the third historical game in the series, Age of Empires III, was released in 2005. The game portrayed the European colonization of the Americas. Aside from one significant feature, the home city, the game's design was largely similar to that of its predecessor.

The multiplayer-only Age of Empires Online was released in 2012. While the game was freely accessible, it featured premium content which could either be earned through gameplay or purchased, enabling the player to use higher-tier equipment and new game modes. Active development of the game ended on January 1, 2014, when executive producer Kevin Perry stated that adding new content was "no longer cost effective," and announced that the game would be moving from "development phase" to its "support phase". The game servers were subsequently shut down on July 1, 2014.

HD Edition
In 2012, Hidden Path Entertainment began working on a high-definition remake of Age of Empires II, an effort spearheaded by Matt Pritchard, an original lead programmer at Ensemble Studios. On March 7, 2013, its release was announced, branded as Age of Empires II: HD Edition. It has improved graphics, widescreen support and new multiplayer options through Steam. It was released on April 9, 2013, and there was a pre-order available on April 5. HD Edition received mixed reviews, with aggregate review website Metacritic assigning a score of 68 out of 100 based on reviews from 20 critics. Critics agreed that the HD Edition changed very little from the original game, though Steam Workshop integration was widely praised.

The Forgotten
Three official expansion packs were released for HD Edition. The first, The Forgotten, is based on a fan-made expansion, The Forgotten Empires. The pack introduces five new civilizations: the Incas, Indians, Italians, Magyars, and Slavs. It includes new maps, campaigns (Alaric I, Bari, Dracula, El Dorado, Francesco I Sforza, and Prithviraj), units, a new game mode, an increase of the maximum population limit from 200 to 500, and numerous balance and gameplay adjustments. The expansion pack was developed by the team that created the mod with the assistance of SkyBox Labs.

The African Kingdoms
A second expansion pack for Age of Empires II HD, The African Kingdoms, was released on November 5, 2015, and introduces four new civilizations: the Berbers, Ethiopians, Malians, and the Portuguese. It includes new maps, campaigns (Tariq ibn Ziyad, Yodit, Sundjata, and Francisco de Almeida), as well as new units, new game modes including Capture the Relic and Treaty, and numerous balance and gameplay adjustments.

Rise of the Rajas
The third expansion pack, Rise of the Rajas, was released on December 19, 2016. It is set in Southeast Asia, and adds four civilizations (Burmese, Khmer, Malay, and Vietnamese), each with its own fully voice-acted campaign (Bayinnaung, Suryavarman I, Gajah Mada, and Lê Lợi, respectively), as well as a new map type with environments, units such as the ballista elephant, improved AI, and more.

Definitive Edition
On August 21, 2017, at Gamescom, Microsoft announced a remaster titled Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition was in development by Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media, and Wicked Witch Software. On June 9, 2019, Microsoft revealed the gameplay trailer at Xbox E3 2019. The game includes all content from the previous editions and expansions, as well as four new civilizations, additional campaign missions, and new 4K graphics. It was released via Xbox Game Pass for PC, the Microsoft Store, and Steam on November 14, 2019. Definitive Edition has received multiple expansions:
 * Lords of the West released on January 26, 2021. It added two new civilizations, the Burgundians and Sicilians, and three new campaigns (Edward I, Dukes of Burgundy, and the Hautevilles).
 * Dawn of the Dukes released on August 10, 2021. The expansion's focus is on Central Europe and includes new campaigns (Jadwiga, Algirdas and Kęstutis, and Jan Žižka) and two new civilizations, the Poles and the Bohemians.
 * Dynasties of India was released on April 28, 2022. It features three new civilizations (Bengalis, Dravidians, and Gurjaras), and reworks to the existing Indian civilization, which was renamed the Hindustanis. Three new campaigns (Babur, Devapala, and Rajendra Chola) were also introduced.
 * Return of Rome was released on May 16, 2023. It brings content from Age of Empires: Definitive Edition into Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, as well as adding the Roman civilization. Three campaigns covering Sargon of Akkad, Pyrrhus of Epirus, and Trajan were also included.
 * The Mountain Royals was released on October 31, 2023. It contains two new civilizations, Georgians and Armenians, three new campaigns (Tamar, Ismail, and Thoros), as well as providing an extensive rework of the Persians.
 * Victors and Vanquished was released on March 14, 2024. This expansion did not add any new civilizations or major changes to the game, but rather focused on adding new campaigns, adding 19 to the game. The campaigns cover Gaiseric, Vortigern, Charlemange, Ragnar Lodbrok, Björn Ironside, Harald Fairhair, Robert I, Otto I, Seljuk, Thorfinn Karlsefni Thórdarson, John II Komnenos, Stephen of Blois, Temujin, Mstislav Mstislavich, Constantine XI, Mehmed II, Shimazu, Oda Nobunaga, and Francis Drake.

title: Age of Empires II


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HMS Boxer

Several ships of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Boxer, named after the competitor in a boxing match.
 * HMS Boxer (1797) was an Acute-class gun-brig launched in 1797 and sold in 1809.
 * HMS Boxer (1812) was a Bold-class gun-brig launched in 1812 that the US Navy captured in 1813 during the War of 1812.
 * There was a Boxer that on 8 April 1814 participated in boat service that resulted in the destruction of 27 vessels and a quantity of stores up the Connecticut River and for which the Royal Navy issued a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal. However, this was a typo, as the vessel present was the HMS Borer (1812).
 * HMS Boxer (1837) was a paddle steamer formerly called Ivanhoe bought by the Royal Navy in 1837 and sold in 1841.
 * HMS Boxer (1846) was to have been a Teazer-class gunvessel. Construction was started in 1846 but she was cancelled before being completed.
 * HMS Boxer (1855) was a Dapper-class gunboat which was launched in 1855 and broken up at Malta in 1865.
 * HMS Boxer (1868) was a Beacon-class gunvessel launched in 1868 and sold for scrap in 1887.
 * HMS Boxer (1894) was an Ardent-class destroyer launched in 1894 and sunk in a collision with SS St Patrick on 8 February 1918.
 * HMS Boxer (F121) was an LST that served during the Allied invasion of Italy in World War II. The vessel was later used as a fighter direction ship and after the war, a radar training vessel.
 * HMS Boxer (F92) was a Type 22 frigate, launched in 1981, paid off in 1999 and sunk as a target in August 2004.

Battle honours
Ships named Boxer have earned the following battle honours:
 * Crimea, 1855
 * Sicily, 1943
 * Salerno, 1944
 * Anzio, 1944

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: HMS Boxer


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X-COM: Terror from the Deep

X-COM: Terror from the Deep is a strategy video game developed and published by MicroProse for the PC in 1995 and for the PlayStation in 1996. It is a sequel to X-COM: UFO Defense and the second game of the X-COM series, this time taking the war against a renewed alien invasion into the Earth's oceans.

Gameplay
X-COM: Terror from the Deep takes place mostly underwater, with base-building and combat all being submerged beneath the waves. This is also used as a plot device; all of the alien technology from the first game is unusable in salt water, forcing the player to capture and develop new technology.

Just like X-COM: UFO Defense, the game consists of two parts. The first is the real time-based GeoScape, a global view of Earth where the player views alien and X-COM craft and bases, can hire and dismiss staff, buy and sell vehicles, weaponry, ammunition and items, and build and expand bases. The second part, the BattleScape, is used for combat between squads of aliens and humans, and takes the form of a turn-based battle from an isometric view.

Underwater battles use the same physics as the ground ones but certain weapons cannot be used on surface/land missions. The game features some mission types composing of multiple parts, such as alien shipping route terror attacks in which the first part is a battle of the upper floors of the ship while the second part takes places in the lower decks of the ship (all parts must be completed for these missions to be successful, and soldiers lost in previous parts do not appear in later parts). Aside from lengthy multi-part missions, map layouts are more complicated, there are several types of terror missions, and weapons carry fewer rounds in their magazines.

Difficulty levels were markedly increased compared to UFO Defense. A part of the reason for the enhanced difficulty is that players complained of the first game being too easy, however MicroProse were unaware that this was due to a bug that resulted in it reverting to Beginner mode in the released version. A new feature added in TFTD was melee weapons, thanks to feedback from the players who suggested the idea.

Plot
Terror from the Deep is set in 2040, four decades after the events of UFO Defense. Following the destruction of the alien Brain on Cydonia, a transmitter remained active there which awakened a group of aliens under the Earth's seas who had lain dormant for millions of years. After awakening, the aliens proceed to terrorize seagoing vessels and port cities, kidnapping humans to perform bizarre genetic experiments on them. X-COM, which had been disbanded after the first alien war, is revived by the Earth's governments to fight this new menace as the aliens' ultimate goal is to reawaken their supreme leader, a being that cannot be stopped once revived.

Eventually, it is revealed the aquatic aliens, cousins of the Sectoids from UFO Defense, came to Earth on a massive spacecraft, known as T'Leth, that crashed into what is now the Gulf of Mexico 65 million years ago, causing the extinction of the dinosaurs. Destruction of T'Leth by the player results in victory but also accidentally results in another worldwide environmental cataclysm, destroying the ecosystem of Earth and setting the stage for the third game in the series, X-COM: Apocalypse.

Development and release
MicroProse wanted the developer Mythos Games to make a sequel to UFO Defense in six months. Julian Gollop felt that the only way to do so was to change the graphics and make minor changes to the gameplay. Eventually, MicroProse licensed Mythos' code and their internal UK studio created Terror from the Deep within a year, while Mythos Games began developing the next sequel, Apocalypse.

MicroProse artist Terry Greer recalled: "A decision was made to use the original engine, reskin the graphics and create a whole new story. By keeping changes to the absolute minimum a sequel could be created in just a few months. Also, by not inventing any new game features or game technology it would make the scheduling one largely led purely by asset creation – which makes it whole lot easier when it comes to estimating task durations and scheduling." Simultaneously with making the console port of Terror, MicroProse UK also began work on their X-COM: Alliance project.

X-COM: Terror from the Deep was originally released on 1 June 1995 for the PC DOS. It was ported to the PlayStation in 1996. In 1998, a Windows 95 port was released with UFO Defense as part of the X-COM Collector's Edition. On 4 May 2007, the game was distributed on Steam by 2K Games, who has inherited the franchise (first only for the Windows XP, but a later update which enabled Windows Vista support).

The game has been re-released as part of the compilations X-COM Collector's Edition by MicroProse in 1998, X-COM Collection by Hasbro Interactive in 1999, X-COM: Complete Pack by 2K Games in 2008 and 2K Huge Games Pack in 2009. The fan-created OpenXCom project, originally an improved, modernized remake of the first game, also added TFTD support which fixed a number of bugs and programming oversights in the original game, including better enemy AI.

Reception
Together with its predecessor, X-COM: UFO Defense, Terror from the Deep's sales had passed 1 million copies by March 1997. The game was received mostly very well by critics. PC Gamer UK called it to be "not only a great sequel to UFO but a superb game in its own right." Computer Game Review offered a rave review and awarded the game a "Platinum Triad" score. On the other hand, GameSpot stated that "apart from new art and a handful of new combat options, this is exactly the same game as UFO Defense, only much more difficult." Next Generation felt the same: "In the end, X-COM 2 is still a phenomenal game, and has been scored as such, but it seems so much more could have been accomplished to make this game more than just a carbon copy of an old game."

Julian Gollop criticised MicroProse for "some classic mistakes in turn-based games, which is to make the difficulty too tough and the levels too big, long and tedious to get through." According to Jake Solomon, the lead designer of 2012's XCOM: Enemy Unknown, MicroProse did few new things with the sequel "except made it brutally harder and made the cruise ships four times longer than any human could realistically make," yet still the game "was awesome."

title: X-COM: Terror from the Deep


text: User:Piranha

title: User:Piranha


text:
The Conqueror (1956 film)

The Conqueror is a 1956 American epic historical drama film, directed by Dick Powell and written by Oscar Millard. It stars John Wayne as the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan and co-stars Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead and Pedro Armendáriz. Produced by entrepreneur Howard Hughes, the film was principally shot near St. George, Utah.

Despite the stature of the cast and a respectable box office performance, the film was critically panned; it is often ranked as one of the worst films of the 1950s and also as one of the worst films ever made. Wayne, who was at the height of his career, had lobbied for the lead role after reading the script and was widely believed to have been grossly miscast. The Conqueror was listed in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time. In 1980, Wayne posthumously received a Golden Turkey Award (awarded to movies and performances considered the worst in history) in the "Worst Casting" category, for his performance as Genghis. In the years since release, the film garnered additional controversy for its filming downwind of a nuclear testing site, which sparked debate among historians and biologists over whether or not it caused multiple cases of cancer among the cast and crew.

Plot
Mongol chief Temujin (later to be known as Genghis Khan) falls for Bortai, the daughter of the Tatars' leader, and steals her away, precipitating war. Bortai spurns Temujin, and is taken back in a raid. Temujin is later captured. Bortai falls in love with him, and helps him escape. Temujin suspects he was betrayed by a fellow Mongol, and sets out to find the traitor and overcome the Tatars.

Cast

 * John Wayne as Temujin, later Genghis Khan
 * Susan Hayward as Bortai
 * Agnes Moorehead as Hunlun
 * Pedro Armendáriz as Jamuga
 * Thomas Gomez as Wang Khan
 * John Hoyt as Shaman
 * William Conrad as Kasar
 * Ted de Corsia as Kumlek
 * Leslie Bradley as Targutai
 * Lee Van Cleef as Chepei
 * Peter Mamakos as Bogurchi
 * Leo Gordon as Tatar Captain
 * Richard Loo as Captain of Wang's guard
 * Michael Wayne (uncredited) as Mongol guard
 * Patrick Wayne (uncredited)

The role of Genghis Khan was originally written for Marlon Brando, but Brando later backed out of the role.

Production
300 members of the Shivwits Band of Paiutes were cast as Tartar horsemen. The film had a troubled production; writer Oscar Millard stated that "The company had just missed being wiped out by a flash flood, and Duke [John] Wayne had been drunk for three days. Not that it made much difference; except when a bender bloated him, it was hard to tell. His performance drunk or sober was the way other actors tend to perform if drunk." According to his son Norman, Dick Powell accepted directing duties for the money.

Nuclear incident and cancer controversy
Of the 220 crew members, 91 (comprising 41% of the crew) developed cancer during their lifetime, while 46 (or 21%) died from it. When this was learned, many suspected that filming in Utah and surrounding locations, near nuclear test sites, was to blame. However, tobacco use was very common and likely to have been a key factor in accounting for these cancer deaths. Although the number of cases among the cast and crew is in line with the average for adults in the US at the time, the perception of a link between the film's location and subsequent illness remains, not least because many of those involved developed cancer at a younger age than average.

Some filming locations included parts of Utah, such as Snow Canyon, Pine Valley, Leeds, and Harrisburg. Exteriors were shot in the Escalante Desert near St. George, Utah, which is 137 miles (220 km) downwind of the United States government's Nevada National Security Site and received the brunt of nuclear fallout from testing active in this period. In 1953, eleven above-ground nuclear weapons tests occurred at the site as part of Operation Upshot–Knothole. The cast and crew spent many difficult weeks at the site, and producer Howard Hughes later shipped 60 tons of dirt back to Hollywood in order to match the Utah terrain and lend realism to studio reshoots. The filmmakers knew about the nuclear tests, but the federal government had assured residents that the tests posed no hazard to the public health. Over 100 nuclear bombs were detonated in the area from 1951 to 1962.

In 1962, Powell developed lymphoma and died in January 1963. Armendáriz committed suicide in June 1963 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Hayward died of brain cancer in 1975. Wayne developed lung cancer in 1964, and eventually died from stomach cancer in 1979. Several of Wayne's and Hayward's relatives visiting the set also had cancer scares. Wayne's son Michael developed skin cancer and Patrick had a benign tumor removed from his breast. Hayward's son, Tim Barker, had a benign tumor removed from his mouth. Moorehead was a nonsmoker, teetotaler and health fanatic, yet died of cancer in April 1974. Her mother Mary maintained that it was working on The Conqueror which ultimately killed Agnes.

Hoyt died of lung cancer in 1991. Van Cleef died from a heart attack in 1989, but his secondary cause of death was listed as throat cancer. Some point to other factors such as the wide use of tobacco for the cancer deaths. Wayne's heavy-smoking habit was blamed for his cancer by Wayne and his wife Pilar Pallete. In a 2001 interview with Larry King, Powell's widow June Allyson stated that the cause of death was lung cancer due to his chain smoking. Hayward's cancer began as a lung tumor identified in March 1972 that later metastasized.

Reportedly, Hughes felt guilty about his decisions regarding production, particularly over the decision to film at a hazardous site. He bought every print for $12 million and kept it out of circulation for many years until Universal Pictures purchased the film from his estate in 1979. The Conqueror, along with Ice Station Zebra, is said to be one of the films Hughes watched endlessly during his last years.

Dr. Robert Pendleton, then a professor of biology at the University of Utah, is reported to have stated in 1980, "With these numbers, this case could qualify as an epidemic. The connection between fallout radiation and cancer in individual cases has been practically impossible to prove conclusively. But in a group this size you'd expect only 30-some cancers to develop. With 91 cancer cases, I think the tie-in to their exposure on the set of The Conqueror would hold up in a court of law." Several cast and crew members, as well as relatives of those who died, considered suing the government for negligence, claiming it knew more about the hazards in the area than it let on.

Since the primary cast and crew numbered about 220, and a considerable number of cancer cases would be expected, controversy exists as to whether the actual results are attributable to radiation at the nearby nuclear weapons test site. Statistically, the odds of developing cancer for men in the U.S. population are 43% and the odds of dying of cancer are 23% – very near what was found in this film crew. This statistic does not include the Native American Paiute extras in the film.

Release
The Conqueror had premieres around the world in January 1956 in Caracas, Hong Kong, Manila, Mexico City, Paris, (23) Sao Paulo and Washington, D.C. (24). It had its UK premiere at the Odeon Marble Arch in London on February 2, 1956 where it grossed $11,000 in its first 6 days. Its premiere in Berlin led to a riot as young fans from East Berlin, which was part of East Germany but was not yet separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall, stormed past the DDR Border Troops to see John Wayne. The film had its Los Angeles premiere on February 22 and opened in many other US cities that week, including Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and San Francisco and finished second at the US box office for the week, including a gross of $71,000 in LA and setting many opening day records.

The film was the eleventh-highest-grossing film at the box office in the United States and Canada during 1956, earning theatrical rentals of $4.5 million, but was a financial failure.

Universal purchased the film rights in 1979, and the studio released the film on DVD as part of its Vault Series on June 12, 2012.

Reception
The critical reception was negative:

 * A. H. Weiler of The New York Times called the film "an Oriental 'Western'" with a script that "should get a few unintentional laughs." Weiler wrote that John Wayne gave an "elementary" portrayal of Genghis while "constantly being unhorsed by such lines as, 'you are beautiful in your wrath.'"
 * Variety called the film "a fanciful, colorful tale suggestive of the vivid period with a derring-do dash that pays off", adding, "The marquee value of the John Wayne-Susan Hayward teaming more than offsets any incongruity of the casting."
 * Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film had "a storming quality about it over-all. Which unfortunately make some of the love scenes seem all but laughable." He added, "Powell deserves much credit for maneuvering the fierce and sensational battle scenes, which are a big highlight when Mongols and Tartars clash."
 * Harrison's Reports wrote that general audiences "should be more than satisfied" by the "thrilling battle scenes" and "strong romance", but the story "does not come through the screen with any appreciable dramatic force, and the acting is no more than acceptable."
 * John McCarten of The New Yorker called the film "pure Hollywood moonshine ... You never saw so many horses fall down in your life. Still, even though their tumbling is far superior to the antics of the actors, it presently becomes tiresome."
 * Time magazine wrote that Wayne "portrays the great conqueror as a sort of cross between a square-shootin' sheriff and a Mongolian idiot. The idea is good for a couple of snickers, but after that it never Waynes but it bores."
 * The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "a rambling and rather ordinary Western-type spectacle ... the weakly contrived narrative is singularly lacking in dramatic tension, and it is difficult to see this Temujin, for all his high-flown cries to heaven to support his destiny, as a potential world-beater or as even an amiable bandit. He is merely John Wayne struggling with an unfortunate piece of casting and with such embarrassingly silly lines as 'I feel this Tartar woman is for me.'"
 * The Philadelphia Inquirer predicted success for the film: "should be a three bell ringer among the popcorn set....the film is aptly titled and after 111 minutes of gore and intrigue, Wayne sets himself up as Genghis Khan, with Susan Hayward beside him. Screen playwright Oscar Millard and producer-director Dick Powell have done competent work."

The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.

Comic book adaptation

 * Dell Four Color #690 (April 1956)

title: The Conqueror (1956 film)


text:
Talk:Pamphlet

Check out an example of a pamphlet: 'Pamphlet of the Permanent Penguin Removal' by the NAAP.

Concerning "Note to translators"
The german "Flugblatt" is the english "broadsheet". Cf. William A. COUPE: The German Illustrated Broadsheet in the Seventeenth Century. 1967. -- kaubuk, 18.5.2006, 21.55

 * Depends on the context. Dietwald 08:57, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

What's with the Anti-Penguinism? What did the little Tuxedo wearing fella's ever do to them? Arten Morningstarr 13:06, 12 October 2006

Another remark to the "Note to translators"
Quote from the article, Correct translations include "Flugblatt" and "Wurfschrift" or "Schmähschrift" in German.

No, there are two mistakes in this sentence: The word Wurfschrift is absolutely unusual in German and has only got 132 google hits most of which are clones of this wikipedia article and therefore not actual examples for the use of this word. The word Wurfschrift is not even mentioned in the authoritative Grimms Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache, vol. 30, with the headwords going from Wurfscheibe to Wurfspieß (col. 2184-85), without any mention of a Wurfschrift.

And the translation "Schmähschrift" is wrong in this context, too. "Schmähschrift" is a synonyme for the German word "Pamphlet" in its derogatory meaning, but not a translation of the non-derogatory English term pamphlet. Therefore, both proposed translations "Wurfschrift" and "Schmähschrift" are wrong and have to be removed; but another correct German translation of the English word is (similiar to Russian) the word "Broschüre" (see also Pons Großwörterbuch für Experten und Universität Englisch-Deutsch, Deutsch-Englisch, 2001, p. 586). --131.220.97.115 (talk) 13:08, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Merge articles in different languages?
I've just seen a separate Dutch article on 'pamflet', with versions in many more languages than here, but not including English. The two sets of articles should surely be merged as a single one.213.127.210.95 (talk) 14:33, 4 October 2015 (UTC)

Set translation links
I've noticed that this article exists in various languages, however not all of them are linked in the "Languages" section on the left. Just compare the languages of the English version (current) and the German for example (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamphlet). I've tried to set the links, however I find the interface not really intuitive, so I'm not quite sure, how I'm supposed to do this. And I was not able to find corresponding help pages either. AviendaBG 14:03, 18 January 2016

About pamphlet
How it can be use inorder to bring about social change Sengkham Sangma (talk) 06:16, 30 July 2017 (UTC)

title: Talk:Pamphlet


text:
American Shorthair

The American Shorthair (ASH) is a breed of domestic cat believed to be descended from European cats brought to North America by early settlers to protect valuable cargo from mice and rats. According to the Cat Fanciers' Association, it was the eighth most popular pedigreed cat in the world for 2020.

History
When settlers sailed from Europe to North America, they carried cats on board (ships' cats) to protect the stores from mice —for instance, the cats that came over on the Mayflower with the Pilgrims to hunt rats on the ship and in the colony. Many of these cats landed in the New World, interbred, and developed special characteristics to help them cope with their new life and climate. Early in the 20th century, a selective breeding program was established to develop the best qualities of these cats.

The American Shorthair is a pedigree cat breed, with a strict conformation standard, as set by cat fanciers of the breed and the North American cat fancier associations such as The International Cat Association (TICA) and the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA). The breed is accepted by all North American cat registries. Originally known as the Domestic Shorthair, the breed was renamed in 1966 to the "American Shorthair" to better represent its "all-American" origins and to differentiate it from other shorthaired breeds. The name "American Shorthair" also reinforces the fact that the breed is a pedigreed breed distinct from the random-bred non-pedigreed domestic short-haired cats in North America, which may nevertheless resemble the ASH. Both the American Shorthair breed and the random-bred cats from which the breed is derived are sometimes called working cats because they were used for controlling rodent populations, on ships and farms. The American shorthair (then referred as Domestic shorthair) was among the first five breeds that were considered as registered cat breeds by CFA during 1906.

Appearance
The American Shorthair is a medium to large sized cat breed with males weighing between 11-15 lbs (5-7 kg) and females weighing between 6-12 lbs (2.75-5.5kg). The head is large, resembling an oblong with more length than width. The ears are medium sized and slightly rounded at the tips. The eyes are large and wide. The neck is medium in length and well-muscled. The legs are medium in length and muscular. Tail is of medium length.

Coat color
The American Shorthair is recognized in more than eighty different colors and patterns ranging from the brown-patched tabby to the blue-eyed white, the silvers (tabbies, shaded, smokes and cameos) to the calico van, and many colors in between. Some even come in deep tones of black, brown, or other blends and combinations. Generally, only cats showing evidence of crossbreeding resulting in the colors chocolate, sable, lilac (lavender), or the point-restricted pattern of the Siamese family are disqualified from being shown.

Health
A study conducted in Japan of cats suspected to have kidney problems found that 47% of tested American Shorthair cats had the PKD1 mutation, which is responsible for feline polycystic kidney disease (PKD). A review of over 5,000 cases of urate urolithiasis in the United States found that the American Shorthair had significantly lower odds of developing urate uroliths than mixed-breed cats.

title: American Shorthair


text:
Pulsatilla

The genus Pulsatilla contains about 40 species of herbaceous perennial plants native to meadows and prairies of North America, Europe, and Asia. Derived from the Hebrew word for Passover, "pasakh", the common name pasque flower refers to the Easter (Passover) flowering period, in the spring. Common names include pasque flower (or pasqueflower), wind flower, prairie crocus, Easter flower, and meadow anemone. Several species are valued ornamentals because of their finely-dissected leaves, solitary bell-shaped flowers, and plumed seed heads. The showy part of the flower consists of sepals, not petals.

Taxonomy
The genus Pulsatilla was first formally named in 1754 by the English botanist Philip Miller. The type species is Pulsatilla vulgaris, the European pasque flower. The genus is placed in the tribe Anemoneae within the family Ranunculaceae. The tribe has been shown repeatedly to be monophyletic in molecular phylogenetic studies, but the number of genera recognized within the tribe and their relationship has varied. Multiple studies have shown that Pulsatilla forms a monophyletic group, but the rank assigned to the group has differed. In one approach, Pulsatilla is treated as a section within a more broadly circumscribed Anemone. In another approach, molecular phylogenetic evidence is used to separate Pulsatilla from Anemone as a separate genus, dividing it into three subgenera. Morphologically, Pulsatilla can be distinguished from Anemone by the long hairy beak on the achenes formed by the persistent style and stamens. Pulsatilla species can also be distinguished by DNA barcoding. , many sources, such as Plants of the World Online and the Flora of Korea, support the treatment of Pulsatilla as a distinct genus.

Species
, Plants of the World Online listed the following species in the genus Pulsatilla: • Pulsatilla ajanensis Regel & Tiling

• Pulsatilla albana (Steven) Bercht. & J.Presl

• Pulsatilla alpina (L.) Delarbre

• Pulsatilla ambigua (Turcz. ex Hayek) Zämelis & Paegle

• Pulsatilla armena (Boiss.) Rupr.

• Pulsatilla aurea (Sommier & Levier) Juz.

• Pulsatilla bungeana C.A.Mey.

• Pulsatilla campanella (Regel & Tiling) Fisch. ex Krylov

• Pulsatilla cernua (Thunb.) Bercht. & J.Presl

• Pulsatilla chinensis (Bunge) Regel

• Pulsatilla dahurica (Fisch. ex DC.) Spreng.

• Pulsatilla georgica Rupr.

• Pulsatilla grandis Wender.

• Pulsatilla halleri (All.) Willd.

• Pulsatilla herba-somnii Stepanov

• Pulsatilla hulunensis (L.Q.Zhao) L.Q.Zhao & Y.Z.Zhao

• Pulsatilla integrifolia (Miyabe & Tatew.) Tatew. & Ohwi ex Vorosch.

• Pulsatilla kostyczewii (Korsh.) Juz.

• Pulsatilla magadanensis A.P.Khokhr. & Vorosch.

• Pulsatilla millefolia (Hemsl. & E.H.Wilson) Ulbr.

• Pulsatilla montana (Hoppe) Rchb.

• Pulsatilla multiceps Greene

• Pulsatilla nipponica (H.Takeda) Ohwi

• Pulsatilla nivalis Nakai

• Pulsatilla nuttalliana (DC.) Spreng.

• Pulsatilla occidentalis (S.Watson) Freyn

• Pulsatilla orientali-sibirica Stepanov

• Pulsatilla patens (L.) Mill.

• Pulsatilla pratensis (L.) Mill.

• Pulsatilla reverdattoi Polozhij & A.T.Malzeva

• Pulsatilla rubra (Lam.) Delarbre

• Pulsatilla sachalinensis H.Hara

• Pulsatilla saxatilis L.Xu & T.G.Kang

• Pulsatilla scherfelii (Ullep.) Skalický

• Pulsatilla sukaczewii Juz.

• Pulsatilla taraoi (Makino) Zämelis & Paegle

• Pulsatilla tatewakii Kudô

• Pulsatilla tenuiloba (Turcz.) Juz.

• Pulsatilla tongkangensis Y.N.Lee & T.C.Lee

• Pulsatilla turczaninovii Krylov & Serg.

• Pulsatilla usensis Stepanov

• Pulsatilla vernalis (L.) Mill.

• Pulsatilla violacea Rupr.

• Pulsatilla vulgaris Mill.

• Pulsatilla wallichiana (Royle) Ulbr.

• Pulsatilla zimmermannii Soó

Plants of the World Online also listed a number of named hybrids:
 * Pulsatilla × bolzanensis Murr
 * Pulsatilla × celakovskyana Domin
 * Pulsatilla × emiliana (F.O.Wolf) Beauverd
 * Pulsatilla × gayeri Simonk.
 * Pulsatilla × girodii (Rouy) P.Fourn.
 * Pulsatilla × hackelii Pohl
 * Pulsatilla × knappii (Palez.) Palez.
 * Pulsatilla × mixta Halácsy
 * Pulsatilla × weberi (Widder) Janch. ex Holub
 * Pulsatilla × wilczekii (F.O.Wolf ex Hegi) P.Fourn.
 * Pulsatilla × yanbianensis H.Z.Lv

Cultural significance
Pulsatilla nuttalliana (as the synonym P. patens) is the provincial flower of Manitoba, Canada and (as the synonym P. hirsutissima) the state flower of the US state of South Dakota. Pulsatilla vulgaris is the County flower for both Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire in England. Pulsatilla vernalis is the county flower of Oppland, Norway. The UK has introduced the UK biodiversity action plan to address the 49% decline in wild Pulsatilla species.

Use and toxicity
Pulsatilla is a toxic plant. Misuse can lead to diarrhea, vomiting and convulsions, hypotension, and coma. It has been used as a medicine by Native Americans for centuries. Blackfoot Indians used it to induce abortions and childbirth. Pulsatilla should not be taken during pregnancy nor during lactation.

Extracts of Pulsatilla have been used to treat reproductive problems such as premenstrual syndrome and epididymitis. Additional applications of plant extracts include uses as a sedative and for treating coughs.

title: Pulsatilla


text:
HMS Boxer (F121)

HMS Boxer was built as a Landing Ship, Tank (LST(1)) at Harland and Wolff. Launched in December 1942 and commissioned the following April, she saw service as part of the Allied invasion of Italy.

Design and development
Boxer was the next in development of the tank landing ship following the conversion of the Maracaibo tankers into landing ships capable of carrying vehicles. The requirement was for a ship that could carry 13 Churchill tanks, 27 other vehicles and 193 men. As it was expected to have a high speed even when laden for the assault (about 18 knots) it could not have a shallow draught. This in turn meant that an extra long bow ramp had to be added. At 140 ft this took up a lot of room inside the ship.

Boxer was laid down at Harland & Wolff's Belfast shipyard on 31 July 1941. She was launched on 12 December 1942 and was completed on 1 August 1943. Boxer had only two sister ships, as plans to build more in the United States led instead to a simpler though slower design capable of similar capacity but with a much shallower draught.

Service
In 1944, she was refitted as a fighter direction ship, for use during the Normandy landings in controlling fighter aircraft by ground-controlled interception, then as an "action information organisation" tender (a radar training ship) in 1946. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, was placed in reserve in 1956, and scrapped at Barrow-in-Furness in 1958.

Boxer carried the writer/comedian Spike Milligan from North Africa to Italy when he served with the 56th Heavy Regiment Royal Artillery.

title: HMS Boxer (F121)


text:
User talk:MeirM

Welcome
Hello, welcome to Wikipedia.

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Again, welcome! - UtherSRG 14:23, 6 May 2004 (UTC)

Image:Telaviv founding 1909.jpg
Hi i saw that you have uploaded the above photo to hebrew Wikipedia. Since the same image on English and Swedish wikipedia doesn't specify a source or a reason for the PD tag i was wondering whether you could help =) /Lokal Profil 18:17, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of InfoVista

A tag has been placed on InfoVista requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about a person, organization (band, club, company, etc.), web content or organised event, but it does not indicate how or why the subject is important or significant: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such articles may be deleted at any time. Please read more about what is generally accepted as notable.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Click here to contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be removed without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, and you wish to retrieve the deleted material for future reference or improvement, then please contact the deleting administrator. 1Potato2Potato3Potato4 (talk) 11:11, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of OCT
Hello MeirM,

I wanted to let you know that I just tagged OCT for deletion, because it seems to be inappropriate for a variety of reasons.

If you feel that the article shouldn't be deleted and want more time to work on it, you can contest this deletion, but please don't remove the speedy deletion tag from the top.

You can leave a note on my talk page if you have questions.   Mr RD    16:32, 22 July 2016 (UTC)

title: User talk:MeirM


text:
User talk:Lvr

Orphaned non-free image File:MyBloodyValentineIsntAnything.jpg
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Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 18:52, 21 November 2015 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
Hi, You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:16, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

Disputed non-free use rationale for File:Agent212.png
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''' This bot DID NOT nominate any of your contributions for deletion; please refer to the history of each individual page for details. ''' Thanks, FastilyBot (talk) 10:00, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

title: User talk:Lvr


text:
User talk:Hutschi

Welcome
Hello, welcome to Wikipedia.

You might find these links helpful in creating new pages or helping with the above tasks: How to edit a page, How to write a great article, Naming conventions, Manual of Style. You should read our policies at some point too.

If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian!

 * If you made any edits before you got an account, you might be interested in assigning those to your username.

 * You can sign your name using three tildes, like this: . If you use four, you can add a datestamp too.

 * If you ever think a page or image should be deleted, please list it at the votes for deletion page. There is also a votes for undeletion page if you want to retrieve something that you think should not have been deleted.

Again, welcome! - UtherSRG 14:24, 6 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Thank you very much for the welcome message. I appreciate it much. I like the English Wikipedia, but will be mostly on the German part, because I'm a native German speaker. Here I will help to link and to make the wikipedia contents more consistent. Best regards, Bernd

Spelling
As another helpful tip, see WP:SPELLING for English spelling differences for various countries, and WP:ENGVAR to see how they are usually applied to Wikipedia articles. Happy editing :) Stephenb (Talk) 14:59, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Thank you very much --Hutschi (talk) 12:37, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Hutschi


text:
User talk:Oliver12~enwiki

Hello Oliver, welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you have a lot of fun here. There are lots of resources around to help guide you. be sure to check out:

 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style

If you want add any images check out:

 * image use policy
 * How to keep image file sizes as small as possible

If you need any help try:

 * Help
 * Village pump
 * Or ask me at my talk page User_talk:Theresa knott

Don't be afraid of making the odd mistake, there are any number of others eagerly waiting for a chance to correct it!

OK that's the official welcome over with. There has been some discussion in the past about if we should have "how to" type pages on wikipedia. The decision is not finalised but I personally have stopped adding material to the experiments page here preferring to use (our sister project) wikibooks instead. See Wikibooks main page for details theresa knott 14:24, 6 May 2004 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Oliver12. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Oliver12~enwiki that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name. If you think you might own all of the accounts with this name and this message is in error, please visit Special:MergeAccount to check and attach all of your accounts to prevent them from being renamed.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 01:56, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 17:11, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Oliver12~enwiki


text:
Bombay cat

The Bombay cat is a short-haired breed of domestic cat. Bombays are glossy solid black cats with a muscular build, and have characteristic large bright copper-golden eyes. The breed is named after the Indian city of Bombay (Mumbai), referring to the habitat of the Indian black leopard.

There exist two different variants of Bombay breed; the American Bombay and the British Bombay. American-type Bombays were developed by crossbreeding sable American Burmese and black American Shorthair cats, to produce a cat of mostly Burmese type, but with a sleek, panther-like black coat with copper-golden eyes. British-type Bombays are solid black-coloured Asian Self cats under the Asian group, a group of European Burmese and chinchilla Persian crosses. The British-type Bombay originated from three mismatings of European Burmese with black domestic short-haired cats.

Both type of Bombay cats are selectively bred by breeders and pedigreed in multiple major cat fancier and breeder organisations. Similar to other officially recognised cat breeds, the term "Bombay" is only meant to be used for cats from this specific breed, which are by definition all purebred cats with a known and formally registered ancestry, also known as the cat's pedigree or "paperwork".

History
The breed was developed by Nikki Horner, a breeder from Louisville, Kentucky, who, starting in 1958, attempted to create a breed of cat that resembled a miniature black panther. The first attempt was a failure, but the second, in 1965, was successful. The breed was officially recognised and registered by the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) in 1970 and The International Cat Association (TICA) in 1979.

Popularity
The Bombay cat is a relatively rare breed among pedigree cats, both in the American and British types. The British type are pedigreed as Asian Self cats under the Asian group. In 2023, only 160 kittens of the total Asian group were pedigreed with the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF).

The American type is relatively more popular compared to the British type. In France, an average of 45 Bombay kittens were born yearly between 2003 and 2022. PawPeds is the largest cat pedigree database worldwide. As of June 2024, there were a total of 1,717 (including deceased cats) Bombay cats registered with PawPeds, and 406 of them were born after January 2000.

Appearance
The Bombay is described as the “patent leather kid with the new penny eyes.” The Bombay is a short-haired breed of domestic cat, closely related to the Burmese. Bombay cats are characterised as having an all-black coat, including the whiskers, and black skin, including the soles, nose leather and mouth. The close-lying, sleek and glossy black coat is of mature cats is coloured to the roots with no paling (exceptions are allowed in juvenile cats less than 2 years old). The eyes are always copper-golden coloured, and green eyes are not allowed. The Bombay has a medium-sized, Oriental-type body build that is muscular. Their weight ranges between 2.5-5 kg, with males typically being heavier than females.

Breed standard
Body: Medium size, graceful and elongated Oriental-type body. Elegant tail of medium length.

Head: Rounded heads with no sharp angles, and short. The shape is smooth. The muzzle is short, with a moderate nose “stop” which is visible (not a break). The short-nosed head shape is similar to the American-type Burmese. The medium-sized ears are wide-set, straight, and rounded at the tips.

Eyes: The large, round eyes are set far apart and are always copper-coloured, but can range from bright orange to warm golden. Green eyes are not allowed.

Coat: Short, dense and shiny, tight to the body, with a lacquered sheen. Only completely solid black coloured coats are allowed.

Weight: For females, the average is 2.5-3.5 kg. For males, the average is 3.5-5 kg.

Health
A healthy Bombay has an average lifespan of 15 years, and some have been known to live up to 20. They can have some nasal and sinus problems, and gingivitis. Their food intake should be controlled to avoid overfeeding.

Temperament
The personality of the Bombay tends to be highly social, is marked by strong attachment to families, and is typified by craving attention. As a breed, they are therefore highly suitable for children.

Bombay cats are happy and comfortable being strictly indoor cats, and can comfortably live in a single room apartment, so long as all of their needs are met. They prefer quiet surroundings.

title: Bombay cat


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User talk:D301ds

Welcome
Hello, welcome to Wikipedia.

You might find these links helpful in creating new pages or helping with the above tasks: How to edit a page, How to write a great article, Naming conventions, Manual of Style. You should read our policies at some point too.

If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian!

 * If you made any edits before you got an account, you might be interested in assigning those to your username.

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Again, welcome! - UtherSRG 14:25, 6 May 2004 (UTC)

Image:Giffard crest.JPG
Could you please provide an image copyright tag for this image? Thanks! --Diberri | Talk 22:57, Aug 26, 2004 (UTC)

Unverified images
Hi! Thanks for uploading the following image:

 * Image:Doves_Bible.JPG

I notice it currently doesn't have an image copyright tag. Could you add one to let us know its copyright status? (You can use if you release it under the GNU Free Documentation License,  if you claim fair use, etc.) If you don't know what any of this means, just let me know at my talk page where you got the images and I'll tag them for you. Thanks so much. [[User:Poccil|Peter O. (Talk, automation script)]] 03:55, Dec 11, 2004 (UTC)

P.S. You can help tag other images at User:Yann/Untagged_Images. Thanks again.

Image:RGS Worcester Quad.JPG
 — In case you aren't aware, there has been a significant change in policy. Images that do not have proper copyright information may be deleted within 7 days of uploading. I am bringing this to your attention, because you have uploaded an image, Image:RGS Worcester Quad.JPG, which does not have any copyright information. If you do not insert any copyright information within the next few days, this image may be deleted. If you have any questions on how to insert this information, please visit my talk page. Ral 315  21:55, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

 * Have you still got this image available, as we could add it to the article? If you need any help with the tags just ask. --Wisd e n17 19:05, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Royal Grammar School Worcester
Hi, thanks for adding that image to the page. I'm guessing from your contribution that you own a copy of the Follet book, something which I don't. If so, could you please add who it was published by in the References section on the page. --Wisd e n17 19:04, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

 * What is your connection with the school, are you a teacher or pupil, or Old Boy? --Wisd e n17 16:04, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Crest_Royal_Grammar_School_Worcester.JPG
Thanks for uploading Image:Crest_Royal_Grammar_School_Worcester.JPG. The image has been identified as not specifying the copyright status of the image, which is required by Wikipedia's policy on images. If you don't indicate the copyright status of the image on the image's description page, using an appropriate copyright tag, it may be deleted some time in the next seven days. If you have uploaded other images, please verify that you have provided copyright information for them as well.

For more information on using images, see the following pages:
 * Image use policy
 * Image copyright tags

This is an automated notice by OrphanBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. 08:43, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Unspecified source for Image:Giffard crest.JPG
Thanks for uploading Image:Giffard crest.JPG. I notice the file's description page currently doesn't specify who created the content, so the copyright status is unclear. If you have not created this file yourself, then there needs to be a justification explaining why we have the right to use it on Wikipedia (see copyright tagging below). If you did not create the file yourself, then you need to specify where it was found, i.e., in most cases link to the website where it was taken from, and the terms of use for content from that page.

If the file also doesn't have a copyright tag, then one should be added. If you created/took the picture, audio, or video then the GFDL-self tag can be used to release it under the GFDL. If you believe the media meets the criteria at Fair use, use a tag such as or one of the other tags listed at Image copyright tags. See Image copyright tags for the full list of copyright tags that you can use.

If you have uploaded other files, consider checking that you have specified their source and tagged them, too. You can find a list of files you have uploaded by following [ this link]. Unsourced and untagged images may be deleted one week after they have been tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If the image is copyrighted under a non-free license (per Fair use) then the image will be deleted 48 hours after 08:20, 4 January 2007 (UTC). If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Brookie :) - a will o' the wisp ! (Whisper...) 08:20, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

RGSAO
Sorry, I am afraid that you are wrong:

 * A letter was sent home to all students saying that the official name of the school is "RGS Worcester and The Alice Ottley School" (this is accurate down to the capital letters!). It is likely that the name of the school will change soon, as it is currently wordy and unusable. However, Wikipedia does not deal with speculation (please read Wiki policy for further details) and so the name must stay.

 * Please also view the school website, it clearly states the official name of the school. That name has also been used on prospectuses, Carol Service booklets and much more.

 * The merger legally took place on the 1st September 2007. Therefore RGS Worcester and The Alice Ottley School did not exist on the date of the Charity signing. I expect that when it is signed next year (assuming it is annual), they will use the name of the New school. Remember, Alice Ottley was a company, not a charity. The new school is a company/charity. It is rather more complicated!

 * RGS Worcester existed from 1291 until 2007 (AO from 1883-2007). There were moves from state to independence etc, but it was still one school. On the first day of the new school term, all students were told that it was a new school, legally a new school- like it or not. Therefore, the alumni from the RGS Worcester page should remain there, and not be put on the new page.

 * It has not yet been confirmed what the "Old Pupils" association will be called. On the school website, there is a link to both the OEs and the Alice Ottley Association. Again, Wikipedia does not do speculation.

 * Please remember, the marketing company from RGS has been kept on for the new school. Therefore, many things on the website (ex RGS one) have yet to be updated.

 * The school is known as "RGSAO" for short, not RGS Worcester. Please see the school website for numerous examples of this. This includes matches, eg the recent RGSAO vs Kings rugby match (not RGS vs Kings) and numerous Lacrosse matches RGSAO vs x (not Alice Ottley School vs x).

 * There are plenty of links from RGSAO to both RGS and AO!

 * A lot of people may know the school as RGS Worcester/AO. This is either due to ignorance of the merger, the fact that they are used to the old names, or they refuse to believe that it is a merger (instead thinking that it is a takeover= nonsense, it is a legal merger). Therefore, this does not go on the Wiki page. In time, people will learn the name of the new school.

 * RGSAO has not changed its name from something else. It is legally a new school. Before the merger existed two different schools.

 * Yes, there is a history of RGS on the page. As the history section explains, RGS and AO are the origins of the school and so their history should be present. New things can have a history.

 * The Wiki page on AO is relatively new, and therefore is considerably shorter that the RGS page. That may explain some possible "one sidiness" on the RGSAO article.

I hope that this has cleared up this matter.

Do keep the page up to date, it is likely that the school name will change (in about 6 years when most of the pupils from the old schools have moved on- less of a fuss). However, until it does, the page must stay as it is.

The reason why I was reverting a lot, was due to an anon IP editor, who was clearly someone who thought that RGS had "taken over" AO. As I said earlier, the parents, staff and pupils were told that it is a legal merger.

Reagards, Btline (talk) 21:33, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

New message
Here is the page where the "non existent" link is. Spot it?

It is likely that people will call it the "(Worcester) Grammar School" as they have done for years. This has never been mentioned on any Wiki article.

Thanks, Btline (talk) 19:10, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Unreferenced BLPs
Hello D301ds! Thank you for your contributions. I am a bot alerting you that 2 of the articles that you created  are tagged as Unreferenced Biographies of Living Persons. The biographies of living persons policy requires that all personal or potentially controversial information be sourced. In addition, to ensure verifiability, all biographies should be based on reliable sources. If you were to bring these articles up to standards, it would greatly help us with the current Category:All_unreferenced_BLPs article backlog. Once the articles are adequately referenced, please remove the unreferencedBLP tag. Here is the list:

Thanks!--DASHBot (talk) 23:24, 17 January 2010 (UTC)
 * 1) David Dilks -
 * 2) Jurek Martin -

File source problem with File:Doves Bible.JPG
Thank you for uploading File:Doves Bible.JPG. I noticed that the file's description page currently doesn't specify who created the content, so the copyright status is unclear. If you did not create this file yourself, you will need to specify the owner of the copyright. If you obtained it from a website, please add a link to the website from which it was taken, together with a brief restatement of that website's terms of use of its content. However, if the copyright holder is a party unaffiliated from the website's publisher, that copyright should also be acknowledged.

If you have uploaded other files, consider verifying that you have specified sources for those files as well. You can find a list of files you have created [ in your upload log]. Unsourced and untagged images may be deleted one week after they have been tagged per Wikipedia's criteria for speedy deletion, F4. If the image is copyrighted and non-free, the image will be deleted 48 hours after 09:57, 1 May 2010 (UTC) per speedy deletion criterion F7. If you have any questions or are in need of assistance please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 09:57, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

title: User talk:D301ds