The Clan of the Cave Bague

Ok, so it’s been in less than a week but I’m IMPATIENT godammit! I’m going to have to not be impatient, because we have a very long wait stretching out in front of us. Still, easier said than done. Anyway, popping in by the migration agent’s office on Monday to pick up out passports, certificates, etc. That’s one area (other than with advice) where the agent is worth his wait in gold – all documentation forming part of both the skills assessment and the main visa application must be provided as certified photocopies and a solicitor is likely to charge you a fiver per page to do it. It’s included all in with the migration agent. Sure, it’d be a lot cheaper to do it ourselves but, frankly, who has the time? And what if you forget something? Not to mention how much easier it is to budget for when you know in advance what it’s all going to cost.

The agents we’re using are Overseas Emigration and they’ve been first rate so far. The bloke dealing with our application is Aussie born and really straightforward – he says it like it is. Quite a refreshing change, really – I’m hoping it’s a common trait in Australia.

Well, continuing with God of War – I’ve complet0r4ted the bottom levels of Pandora’s temple. I had to navigate an extremely annoying section whereby I had to wander about aimlessly on some very narrow beams very high in the air, and jump over nasty spinny blade things. I think I died about forty times (at the very least) and was getting very close to flinging the gamepad away in a fit of pique, when I finally managed to do it.

Fortunately, I was rewarded by an awesome boss battle involving a somewhat large mechanical Minotaur. Equal to Zelda at it’s best, that one was. So, a bit more of Kratos’s story has unfolded and I think I’m getting pretty close to Pandora’s box. We’ll see.

Sticking a couple of images below – words can’t describe the stunning looks of this game – I’ve no idea how the developer managed to wrest imagery of this quality out of the PS2 – it’s at least the equal of the Xbox at its very best. Maybe all other developers have just been lazy

So, without further ado, on to that nice Mr Meier’s latest title. Pirates was an awesome game back in the day, ranking alongside Elite in the sheer-open-endedness states. Basically, you take the part of a , well, pirate. If you like. Or a trader, warrior, adventurer, explorer, pretty much anything you like. If you’ve a mind to, you can carry out a quest to avenge your parents, or you can become rich, or powerful, or feared, or all of the above or none of the above. The fact is, you don’t actually have to do anything (except retire when you get too old). You can play the game any way you like.

The game has quite a few different modes. There’s a naval battle system, complete with upgradeable ships; once boarded, there are some timed mini games for reducing the enemies troops, then sword fighting. There’s a deep trading system, a land combat system not unlike advance wars, treasure hunts, and even ballroom dancing. And you can sneak about. The various game types are stuck together with an easy to navigate menu system. Once you’ve built up a fleet (by nicking other peoples ships) you can flog the boats off for a huge price. However you choose to raise your cash, you can divvy it up between the crew. All of this stuff gives you experience and helps you progress through the ranks. Did I mention the politics system? Yup, you can be a double agent, get preferential rates from your allies, convince the indigenous populace to invade enemy cities – it just keeps going on.

All this might sound bewildering (the manual is pretty weighty) but, as with all of Sid Meier’s games, it takes less than half an hour to pick it all up. Unlike most console games, the aim isn’t to finish the game cos you can do that in five seconds by creating a player then retiring him. It’s more like Civ in that the “aim” of the game is to enjoy the challenge and try different things.

On top of all this, my 6 year old and 9 year old picked it up rapidly and enjoyed playing it as much as I did. Something for everyone, methinks.

Well, continuing with God of War – I’ve complet0r4ted the bottom levels of Pandora’s temple. I had to navigate an extremely annoying section whereby I had to wander about aimlessly on some very narrow beams very high in the air, and jump over nasty spinny blade things. I think I died about forty times (at the very least) and was getting very close to flinging the gamepad away in a fit of pique, when I finally managed to do it.

Fortunately, I was rewarded by an awesome boss battle involving a somewhat large mechanical Minotaur. Equal to Zelda at it’s best, that one was. So, a bit more of Kratos’s story has unfolded and I think I’m getting pretty close to Pandora’s box. We’ll see.

Sticking a couple of images below – words can’t describe the stunning looks of this game – I’ve no idea how the developer managed to wrest imagery of this quality out of the PS2 – it’s at least the equal of the Xbox at its very best. Maybe all other developers have just been lazy

So, without further ado, on to that nice Mr Meier’s latest title. Pirates was an awesome game back in the day, ranking alongside Elite in the sheer-open-endedness states. Basically, you take the part of a , well, pirate. If you like. Or a trader, warrior, adventurer, explorer, pretty much anything you like. If you’ve a mind to, you can carry out a quest to avenge your parents, or you can become rich, or powerful, or feared, or all of the above or none of the above. The fact is, you don’t actually have to do anything (except retire when you get too old). You can play the game any way you like.

The game has quite a few different modes. There’s a naval battle system, complete with upgradeable ships; once boarded, there are some timed mini games for reducing the enemies troops, then sword fighting. There’s a deep trading system, a land combat system not unlike advance wars, treasure hunts, and even ballroom dancing. And you can sneak about. The various game types are stuck together with an easy to navigate menu system. Once you’ve built up a fleet (by nicking other peoples ships) you can flog the boats off for a huge price. However you choose to raise your cash, you can divvy it up between the crew. All of this stuff gives you experience and helps you progress through the ranks. Did I mention the politics system? Yup, you can be a double agent, get preferential rates from your allies, convince the indigenous populace to invade enemy cities – it just keeps going on.

All this might sound bewildering (the manual is pretty weighty) but, as with all of Sid Meier’s games, it takes less than half an hour to pick it all up. Unlike most console games, the aim isn’t to finish the game cos you can do that in five seconds by creating a player then retiring him. It’s more like Civ in that the “aim” of the game is to enjoy the challenge and try different things.

On top of all this, my 6 year old and 9 year old picked it up rapidly and enjoyed playing it as much as I did. Something for everyone, methinks.

Muhh – challenge of Atlas and Cliffs of Atlas pwn0red. <b>And</b> I yanked the head off some poor dead guy to use his skull as a key. No, really! And then I jumped onto a big rolly spiky thing and barrel-ran along it and jumped onto a ladder. Or was that before the head-pulling bit? Anyway, I’m still struggling through Pandora’s temple. I have one nymph key, and I suspect there are another two still to find.

It’s getting tough, though – enemies seem to be appearing in ridiculous numbers.

Well, I had a wee 45 minute session at this tonight. Just hacked and slashed my way through the Challenge of Atlas, which was…..interesting. It’s getting pretty important to get power ups, though – the enemies are getting pretty tough (and I just HATE gorgons). The game remains stunning, visually, and although it’s essentially Gauntlet in pseudo-3D, it’s still managing to keep me interested.

Save points are becoming a welcome site – early on in the game, I thought they were scattered around a little liberally, but they’re now far enough apart to be challenging. Another bonus is that the checkpoints seem to be fairly well placed as well – one a hard bit has been successfully completed, it’s pretty much certain that a checkpoint will be triggered. All to the good.

Not had a boss fight in a while, though. Just loads and loads of bad guys

The completed ACS docs have been printed out and signed. I’ve just handed a big folder full of completed forms, photos, passports, certificates and god knows what else into our migration agent. They’re pulling it all together and sending it off. So, the first really chunk of waiting starts…….. NOW!

A lot of people are put off going down the migration to Australia route, particularly in the IT field, because they don’t have a degree. The Australian Government migration site states quite clearly that a degree is a basic requirement. Well, it actually says that a “recognised tertiary qualification” is a requirement, but let’s not split hairs.

There is,, however, a bit of fine print that I think some people miss – I certainly did when I was first researching a few years back. In some sectors (IT being one of them) you can still get the full 60 points for an occupation on the skills shortage list if you have sufficient experience in the field. This experience is assessed by the relevant body (for IT skills, it’s the Australian Computer Society) and they will give you a letter stating that you are suitable / unsuitable for migration under a specific category. This process is known as “Recognition of Prior Learning” and functions in a similar way to the process of gaining exemption from study courses at university.

This is the process I’ve just completed, and all my stuff is ready to be sent to the ACS for assessement. Here’s what’s involved:

A covering letter, explaining who you are, what you’ve done and why you’re applying.

A completed ACS Application Form – detailing your education history and your job history.

A completed RPL Application Form – this is the biggie. This form comes with a number of sections, and mine ended up being about 20,000 words long. It starts off with a list of jobs you’ve performed, detailing the main duties of the job and listing anything you’d consider a major achievment in that job – something you’re particularly proud of. Next comes the education section. Education isn’t just “I did this course at that college”, but can also include “I learned this skill by studying that book while working at this employer”. Once these are in, you start working through the “Core Body of Knowledge”. This is a group of subjects which the ACS (quite rightly) have agreed are requirements to an understanding of IT and IT issues. For each of these subjects, you write an essay explaining what you know about the topic, how you learned what you know, and how you have applied that learning in your career.

Project Reports – you need two of these. These should detail large projects with which you have been involved, explaining the processes, work, and outcomes of the project along with a breakdown of which areas of the Core Body of Knowledge were applicable and what you learned.

References from each of your employers.

It’s very important that all of these things cros reference – for example, it should be obvious from your CV that you have been involved in the projects listed in the project reports. The references are particularly important as the ACS are looking for information which can be verified. I can easily write that I wrote the software that powers the space shuttle, but if my references don’t back that up (which they don’t cos I didn’t ) then it’s pointless.

The process isn’t difficult – if you’ve done the work you’re claiming you’ve done then it’ll be easy to write about it. The difficulty is in sticking at it.

Anyway – mine is about to be sent off, once I’ve gathered the last few references, so we’ll see how it goes. If you want to get in touch about this subject, we can be contacted by email at jmd at nelefa dot org.

I think I’m making some really progress now. With the assistance of my contact in Australia, I’ve completed the first draft of the ACS application form and the RPL documents.

It’s been a long slog because there really is a vast amount of documentation that needs to be prepared.

There’s lots of different sections: firstly, there’s a description of your work history – detailing places worked, duties carried out, courses taken, and so on. Then there’s a section on qualifications – not just academic, but vocational training, self study, in-house training and so on. Then there’s the big section – going through the core body of knowledge and writing an essay explaining how you learned and applied this knowledge to your work.

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s then a requirement for two project reports, giving in depth information about projects you carried out or were involved in, and how that involvement relates to the core body of knowledge. Then there’s references needed. And it all needs to be provable and cross referenced.

It’s a HUGE amount of work but, as I said, it’s in first draft. I just need to get it polished up a little and it’s ready to go.

My passport still hasn’t arrived, although everyone else’s has. Once that appears, I can get references signed and sent off – then we start waiting.

At long last, nelefa.org has returned to its spiritual home, on the server of Yoyo Internet Services. This illustrious collective have been around since, ohhhh, way back when, and it’s all their fault that I’m in the Internet industry. Gits.

Popped the keys off and shoved em in the dishwasher. Gave the board itself a dose of wirebrush and dettol and it’s as good as new. i can see the letters and everthing!

Shift key was a bit sticky, but it was just a little clippy thing which wasn’t bedded in properly. So, hooray!