In What Electronic Entertainment Have You Been Partaking #18: Reticulating Splines

[Phrossack]

I run it on a 2015 laptop with Windows 10, which sadly means my old collection of CDs no longer work with it. Steam works fine, at least.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Just get an external cd drive, mine looks like this, made in 2005 and still works fine.

 

[Phrossack]

Just get an external cd drive, mine looks like this, made in 2005 and still works fine.

I did not know that was even a thing. Interesting! I wonder whether it would work with Windows 10, though.

Steam works fine for now but I still keep the old disks just in case.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I like video games

I did not know that was even a thing. Interesting! I wonder whether it would work with Windows 10, though.

Since you're on Windows 10, watch out for any games with SafeDisc/SuckyROM. It was a security hole so Windows makes them not work anymore. I've had to use modified executables for those.

 

[Broken_Erika]

I did not know that was even a thing. Interesting! I wonder whether it would work with Windows 10, though.

Steam works fine for now but I still keep the old disks just in case.

Works for me and i run windows 10.

 

[Takhisis]

Erika!

 

[amadeus]

I'm still trying to figure out all the values in the Shadow President data. I could make a new scenario (super-USSR invades Eastern Europe? 2nd Korean War?) It's all possible with what I'm working on here: I can queue up events, beef up economies, add nuclear powers, etc.

The GNP data, military spending, and military manpower are all in the country.x file. I'm still tinkering.

Spend it wisely, Bob!

Since Zimbabwe is the last country in the game listings, it's the easiest one to figure out where each byte of data goes.

In the scenario files there are a few scenarios where China and Iraq become superpowers and form their own alliances, but I don't know how this data is stored in the game files. I tested this on Libya; if they become a superpower, their name won't display properly in the "alliance" box. Similarly for China and Iraq outside of their respective scenarios. I'm looking through all of the things to see where the heck this data would be stored. Byte C5 in the scenario files shows both as 03 and 84, which I believe correspond to the gray and brown countries on the alliance map. But when I do this in a regular game, it doesn't show the text or the box. So it's hidden in somewhere. I'll poke around more and see if I can find it!

I'm also working on a little surprise. I'll see if I can get something done tonight. Maybe?

 

[EgonSpengler]

Path of Exile: Heist

Level 47, and my poisoned, cyclone daggers are maturing nicely. I went all-in on support gems for the poison on Cyclone: Deadly Ailments; Unbound Ailments; Vile Toxins. Now I need to improve my defenses.

I noticed the changes to Heists, but haven't read up on them yet. At first glance, the fact that fights no longer raise the Alarm seems to remove almost all of the decision-making about how you navigate the location. It just seems dumbed-down, which is a shame. These games sometimes make things easier to accommodate the type of player who doesn't want to put a lot of thought into it, which would be fine if it was an option, but it leaves other types of gamers feeling short-changed. Moreso if it's something you put into the game and then remove. There's a phenomenon in psychology, I forget what it's called, where you'll make someone angrier by giving them something and then taking it away, than if you just never gave it to them in the first place.

I always like to see a big page of options in games, switches and sliders to customize the game experience beyond mere graphics settings and sound volumes. Boss fights, for example, are something that almost no game has ever gotten right, to my satisfaction. If I could wave a magic wand and replace all Boss fights with regular-but-tougher encounters or challenges, that just had higher stakes, I would do it in a second, and gaming in general would improve for me. The survival games that allow you to simply shut off the survival mechanics have the right idea (because survival mechanics are another thing that so few games get right - most of them shouldn't even try it). Another example (but I can't remember if this is a mod or integral to the game) is how Fallout 4 enables a change to the difficulty of combat, vis-a-vis the mechanics of applying damage: There's one difficulty setting that uses the ol' fashioned method of giving adversaries more and more Hit Points; but there's another that instead makes all weapons more dangerous, the player's and the AI's alike. It's not just a difficulty slider, it's two different styles of game.

 

[Gorbles]

Borderlands 3, frustratingly, keeps crashing at a specific part in the latest story DLC (which I'm massively enjoying). It's been troubled with performance issues for sure (mainly console), but my PC is also at the aging end of most components, especially for gaming. My newest piece is a Geforce 1070 from 2016. Luckily before Bitcoin miners ruined its price point, pretty much permanently

So I booted up Torchlight 3! Still in Early Access, but this is my first time playing it since the beta and earlier testing stages. It's shaping up really well. A lot of the UI and polish concerns I had are gone, and they've really focused on tuning up some of the underperforming classes. Looking forward to levelling my Dusk Mage!

 

[Lexicus]

M2 game I sent Spies which finally found the Mongols and they're in one of their "stuck in the mountains of Anatolia" loops. Not sure if they'll ever settle into a capital, which sucks because that's when they spread out to conquer territory. When they stay in horde mode they sort of traipse across the map maybe sacking a settlement or two but otherwise their troops simply don't do much.

 

[Phrossack]

M2 game I sent Spies which finally found the Mongols and they're in one of their "stuck in the mountains of Anatolia" loops. Not sure if they'll ever settle into a capital, which sucks because that's when they spread out to conquer territory. When they stay in horde mode they sort of traipse across the map maybe sacking a settlement or two but otherwise their troops simply don't do much.

Mongols are the best source of fun for me in that game. As Russia, I once built a string of forts in the mountain passes of the Caucasus in case they started south and swung north.

They started north.

Eventually I fought them off and they marched south to conquer the Middle East, only to raze settlements without taking them. My elite Russian cavalry armies followed like jackals, gobbling up the ruins they left behind until I ruled the Middle East. Eventually the fight resumed, and it was glorious. Fully armored lancers and horse archers on both sides duking it out in a huge clash.

 

[Lexicus]

Yeah, when I'm the Turks or Byzantines I always control the middle east by the time Mongols show up and things can get pretty crazy. I've also controlled the Middle East as Sicily but as they lack real horse archers things are a little different.

I will say that attacking Mongol armies with full stacks of knights and light cavalry with maybe some missile cavalry mercenaries is super fun too.

The most difficult things in the game to fight are the Timurid elephant units. Good to play a faction with javelin cavalry to take them out.

 

[Phrossack]

Yeah, when I'm the Turks or Byzantines I always control the middle east by the time Mongols show up and things can get pretty crazy. I've also controlled the Middle East as Sicily but as they lack real horse archers things are a little different.

I will say that attacking Mongol armies with full stacks of knights and light cavalry with maybe some missile cavalry mercenaries is super fun too.

The most difficult things in the game to fight are the Timurid elephant units. Good to play a faction with javelin cavalry to take them out.

That reminds me of my migration campaign as Russia. Got tired of dealing with the poor regions, long travel times, and eastern invasions, so I packed up literally everyone and sailed to the Scottish Highlands. I gave Novgorod to England, but it rebelled. From my base in the Highlands, it was easy to conquer the British Isles, which had few ways of handling horse archers.

That campaign just got weird. Poland was based out of France and didn't rule any of Poland. Russia was in Britain. The Pope was a bloodthirsty tyrant with very high Dread. Good times.

 

[Synobun]

@MaryKB Kingdom Rush: Origins is on sale on Steam right now.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I've taken up a re-runthrough of the StarCraft II campaigns from the beginning, to stretch my new laptops legs. StarCraft II is pretty graphics/processor intensive so I find its a good way to see what the rig can do. The compy has been able to run shockingly cool with all the graphics settings cranked all the way up, so I'm thinking so far-so good.

I've just finished "Zero Hour" on the human campaign on Brutal difficulty, after many, many tries... Hoo boy... I'd forgotten how difficult that level was.

 

[Ajidica]

Eventually I fought them off and they marched south to conquer the Middle East, only to raze settlements without taking them. My elite Russian cavalry armies followed like jackals, gobbling up the ruins they left behind until I ruled the Middle East. Eventually the fight resumed, and it was glorious. Fully armored lancers and horse archers on both sides duking it out in a huge clash.

I'm clearly the wierdo in that I genuinely enjoy playing infantry-heavy armies in Medieval2.
I rarely include more that 6 cavalry units (not counting general) in my armies.

 

[Sarin]

I'm clearly the wierdo in that I genuinely enjoy playing infantry-heavy armies in Medieval2.
I rarely include more that 6 cavalry units (not counting general) in my armies.

...6? For me, 6 would be cavalry heavy army. I prefer anvil+hammer style, pikemen or at least shieldwall infantry, backed by significant ranged support, with relatively light cavalry support-no more than 4 non-ranged cavalry.

 

[HEF]

I've taken up a re-runthrough of the StarCraft II campaigns from the beginning, to stretch my new laptops legs. StarCraft II is pretty graphics/processor intensive so I find its a good way to see what the rig can do. The compy has been able to run shockingly cool with all the graphics settings cranked all the way up, so I'm thinking so far-so good.

No disrespect to you but starcraft 2 is hardly the type of game that serves as benchmark for high end hardware.

There are other game titles out there that are far more optimized at showing your computer hardware how to sing.

 

[Takhisis]

My perception of infantry's role in Total War games has been forever affected by the ease with which I could simply camp an army of phalanxes + archers/slingers just beyond a bridge and let one enemy army after another impale itself until there were no more to take their role. Especially the Romans, who just won't form a phalanx of their own or try and wait it out, or go around, or bring elephants/artillery. It's such a soothing sight.

 

[Takhisis]

No disrespect to you but starcraft 2 is hardly the type of game that serves as benchmark for high end hardware.

I think it still supports Windows XP…