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

[AmazonQueen]

I feel like that most of the time. But when I start to play and get hooked, I can play for hours and hours.

It probably doesn't help that in RPGs I make loads of characters then when playing them decide I'd rather have played something/someone else and restart.
Means I tend to know the early stages of my RPG excessively well.

 

[H4run]

It probably doesn't help that in RPGs I make loads of characters then when playing them decide I'd rather have played something/someone else and restart.
Means I tend to know the early stages of my RPG excessively well.

Actually I have similar problem playing Western RPG and CRPG recently. I really worried on choosing skill, allocating my skill or attributes. Later on I will read a guide just to make sure I did it right, when I understand my build is not optimal, I start a new game and too lazy to continue the grind.

Sometime I wish I can just play the game like the old day without bother looking at the walk-through, let the game to surprises me with its mystery.

edit: Easy internet screws my rpg experience.

 

[sendos]

When they go on sale, I can recommend Sanctum TD and Kingdom Rush. They're both tower defense games and pretty fun, although Sanctum TD suffers from the same dev treatment Sanctum did. Which is to say, abandoned. You'll still get a few hours of fun out of it, though.

They go on sale for like 75% off during the major Steam Sales.

I liked Aven Colony (not at full price), Children of the Nile, and Banished for fun variations of city builders.

Thank you. I will check these out. I remember checking Aven Colony and Banished. They did look good.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Actually I have similar problem playing Western RPG and CRPG recently. I really worried on choosing skill, allocating my skill or attributes. Later on I will read a guide just to make sure I did it right, when I understand my build is not optimal, I start a new game and too lazy to continue the grind.

Sometime I wish I can just play the game like the old day without bother looking at the walk-through, let the game to surpirse with its mystery.

edit: Easy internet screws my rpg experience.

I do try and do my 1st playthrough of a new game completely blind.
Some great moments come from the mistakes you make in games.

 

[Sarin]

What's your character's name?

Ban_Hammered and Arsonne. I'm spending most time on the latter, trying to get to stage where I might see if my build is viable or not.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Just bought Garry's Mod on steam.

 

[Synobun]

Just bought Garry's Mod on steam.

2006 called.

 

[Sarin]

2006 called.

So? I still play games from 1990's sometimes.

 

[H4run]

I still able to replay my chrono trigger or breath of fire 2 anytime. Now I'm considering to play Earthbound.

 

[Synobun]

So? I still play games from 1990's sometimes.

Oh, playing older games is fine. It's just that the magic of GMod has been expired for a while. Now it's just a vehicle for things like Trouble in Terrorist Town and propping for comics. The days of using wiremod and asset packs to make a fully operable BSG Viper that can go through Stargate portals and lay waste to manmade fortresses are few and far between now.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Oh, playing older games is fine. It's just that the magic of GMod has been expired for a while.

It didn't help when GMod updated in a way that broke half its addons and then when people tried to port the now-abandoned addons and put them up on the Workshop they were likely to be taken down because it technically "stolen content."

 

[aelf]

Yes and yes. Vanilla! Civ4 got a lot of flak back in the day, while Civ3 had some well-designed and -curated mods and scenarios e.g. Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.

In my experience Civ games (like so many other franchises) have initial releases that are almost Beta releases and then the expansions build on that and are the real game.

You made me think ‘mwahahaha’ when I read ‘artillery spam’, but that digression aside, yes, the epic game at times railroaded you, especially in the late (modern ages) game. Of course, scenarios ran wild with new possibilities e.g. the Playground Mod or Zombie Island.

Because of this thread I went and read up on Civ 3 strategies. Also for nostalgia reasons. I learned that bomber spam is even more powerful in C3C to the point of brokenness. Didn't know that back then.

I guess you still have to survive till the modern age with the 0% science gambit.

 

[warpus]

Football Manager 2020, for about a week now. I haven't played since FM2012, so this is exciting for me

I created a new club from scratch, called them Oasby FC, put them in the 6th tier of English football. One of the generic crests/logos you can select from fits that name perfectly. I started off with 0 players and minimal staff, had to hire scouts and scout out some players. My first playthrough was a disaster, although I played through like half of the season. I restarted the save and actually played 3 seasons at which point the situation became a bit.. unsustainable.. I made some mistakes signing contracts early on, so now I was getting punished. I did not see a way forward for my club

So at one point I just said "screw it" and given all I had learned I re-started my save for a third time, even after so many hours put in. I again started with 0 players, but this time knew to look for players just off their contracts This time around my first season went well, I finished in 12th place I think, and at the end of the season my contract/wage situation was sustainable. I was trying to mainly sign younger players, so that they could grow into better players over time. In the off-season I beefed up the core of my squad and was able to get into the playoffs in just the 2nd season. I managed to get all the way to the final and win by a penalty. At 2:38am. It was pretty damn exciting

So now I'm sipping on some coffee and working through the off-season, setting my squad up to be able to deal with the higher demands of the national league. I have 6 players who are exceptional who are sticking around for this season at least, 5 more players who are just a level below "exceptional", and then some players I will have to let go, and some up and coming youngsters who I will have to make judgement calls on. I'm waiting for June 30th to hit, so that I can send out my scouts and look for players to pick up who would beef up my "exceptional player" contingent. I figure if I have 8 or so exceptional starters, I can probably build my squad around that do alright in this league in my first year in it. It's not easy to do, since the board gives me a tiny amount of $$ for transfers ($7,000). That's why I turn to players with expired contracts (right after they expire). In the first year I had about $500k to spend on players, but I needed that as I had 0 players. Got most of my main players for free anyway, then bought some fancy looking 15 year olds for my youth academy. we will see if any of those will pan out in the next couple seasons.

One of my best players is Maziar Kouhyar, who gets called up to the Afghan senior squad all the time. That's a bit annoying, and not a situation you would see in real life maybe? Not in the 6th tier of English football anyway. I'm not sure how I was able to sign him, but he's my captain. I would just hit up very well rated players out of contracts, and a lot of them would have crazy demands or wouldn't want to talk to me.. but some would talk to me, and some I was able to convince to sign on wages that were sustainable at that level. That's how I got this guy, and I'm hoping to unearth more players who will help me do well in the Vanarama National League .. .. Now!

edit: LOL the holidays just ended and my players returned. I said "We will not be getting relegated, let's do this!" and 85% of the team got upset, thinking that's an unrealistic goal for the season. I see...

 

[Lexicus]

I learned that bomber spam is even more powerful in C3C to the point of brokenness

Lethal Land Bombardment ftw (also lethal sea bombardment but meh)

 

[Takhisis]

Yeah, but I broke the AI's bomber span by massed Destroyers+Battleships+Mobile SAM+SAM improvement+(Jet) Fighters, the last of which with improved. The AI can lose a dozen bombers every turn.

That, coupled with sowing forests on top of your barricaded borders, means that the inevitable waves of Tanks/Modern Armor/(Mechanised/TOW/--) Infantry/Cavalry just sit there for your artillery (which might just include your battleships and destroyers) to pick apart. Again, the AI can lose 80% of a 100-Modern Armor stack in the 3-4 turns it takes for them to get in and then limp back out.

 

[tjs282]

Again, the AI can lose 80% of a 100-Modern Armor stack in the 3-4 turns it takes for them to get in and then limp back out.

This has saved my butt in my current game. I tried to spy on the Dutch (to find out how Willy was getting on with his Ship), and he DOW'd me (again).

It's a Large 60% Archi map, 3 byo (I assume: lots of Mountains and Hills, anyway) and I control a 2-tile wide diagonal neck of Hills between Wang and Shaka's former domains (now mine) and the Dutch homeland (from which they also displaced the Incans). I've also taken down the Sumerians (fighting back successfully after originally losing Persepolis to Gil's Knights and Cavs, which attacked from the Mountains due west) and the Japanese (on a mostly Tundra island to the west of former Sumeria). My various wars acquired me sufficient Armies that I could plant 1-2 ([Mech]Inf + Cav/Tank) on each Hill leading to my frontline city (which is also a canal), and I have parked Mobile SAMs on all Army-tiles to protect them from Dutch air-attacks. But I have not completely closed the choke, because I wanted Willy to send his troops through my Funnel of Doom, instead of shipping them round the sides.

And it has worked perfectly: Willy's initial stack consisted mainly of TOWs, and MechInfs, with only a few Tanks. My Arty-stack couldn't do much damage to the Mechs on the Hills but once they reached the flatland beyond and split up into smaller stacks, I could whittle them down bit by bit while also puppeting them backwards and forwards by shifting my (much smaller) stack of Mechs among adjacent towns. I lost quite a few Modern Armour, but Willy's lost more: his initial doomstack is now gone (Colonel Effthree reports that we just went from "Weak" to "Average" vs. the Dutch), and he's switched to building ModArm himself (which are more vulnerable to Arty and Bombers). So now I can pile everything into the fontline town, kill the incoming, and then push forwards to close the choke completely, fighting a holding action until Monty and Joanie break our MPPs by signing peace with Willy.

And then finish my ship, and the game.

 

[aelf]

This has saved my butt in my current game. I tried to spy on the Dutch (to find out how Willy was getting on with his Ship), and he DOW'd me (again).

It's a Large 60% Archi map, 3 byo (I assume: lots of Mountains and Hills, anyway) and I control a 2-tile wide diagonal neck of Hills between Wang and Shaka's former domains (now mine) and the Dutch homeland (from which they also displaced the Incans). I've also taken down the Sumerians (fighting back successfully after originally losing Persepolis to Gil's Knights and Cavs, which attacked from the Mountains due west) and the Japanese (on a mostly Tundra island to the west of former Sumeria). My various wars acquired me sufficient Armies that I could plant 1-2 ([Mech]Inf + Cav/Tank) on each Hill leading to my frontline city (which is also a canal), and I have parked Mobile SAMs on all Army-tiles to protect them from Dutch air-attacks. But I have not completely closed the choke, because I wanted Willy to send his troops through my Funnel of Doom, instead of shipping them round the sides.

And it has worked perfectly: Willy's initial stack consisted mainly of TOWs, and MechInfs, with only a few Tanks. My Arty-stack couldn't do much damage to the Mechs on the Hills but once they reached the flatland beyond and split up into smaller stacks, I could whittle them down bit by bit while also puppeting them backwards and forwards by shifting my (much smaller) stack of Mechs among adjacent towns. I lost quite a few Modern Armour, but Willy's lost more: his initial doomstack is now gone (Colonel Effthree reports that we just went from "Weak" to "Average" vs. the Dutch), and he's switched to building ModArm himself (which are more vulnerable to Arty and Bombers). So now I can pile everything into the fontline town, kill the incoming, and then push forwards to close the choke completely, fighting a holding action until Monty and Joanie break our MPPs by signing peace with Willy.

And then finish my ship, and the game.

Sounds like more trouble than it's worth. I mean, if you enjoyed it, that's great. From a purely strategic perspective, though, you probably shouldn't have had all that trouble if you had done it well.

That's what I meant by Civ 3 (and to a certain extent Civ 6) constraining your play to certain optimal strategies. I find that successful Civ 3 games at higher difficulties invariably mean you'll be so dominant by modern age that you have no effective competition. Either no AI would attack you or no AI would present a significant threat if they do. And you'd be far ahead of the AI in your chosen victory condition.

I remember Civ 4 somehow allowing you to have parity with AI civs while still being able to win comfortably.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I felt like playing Morrowind again. So I am setting up Morrowind.

 

[tjs282]

That's what I meant by Civ 3 (and to a certain extent Civ 6) constraining your play to certain optimal strategies. I find that successful Civ 3 games at higher difficulties invariably mean you'll be so dominant by modern age that you have no effective competition. Either no AI would attack you or no AI would present a significant threat if they do. And you'd be far ahead of the AI in your chosen victory condition.

Well, I never claimed to be a great Civ3 player!

This game was/is at my usual Emperor level, but (with hindsight) I screwed up big time by not making any significant effort to expand west initially. That was mainly because there was a substantial range of Mountains and Hills directly west and south of Persepolis, preventing me from putting a full first ring in place: I sent my Settlers to the more fertile looking river-Plains to the east instead. Unfortunately that meant that the Summies got to the "nearest" Horses to Persepolis (at 3rd-ring distance, to the west) before I did; aggravatingly, they also pipped me to the Statue of Zeus by only a couple of turns.

So although I did get Iron for my Immortals (and used them to capture the speculative Zulu and Dutch settlements on my continent), my westwards foray afterwards, intended to secured the Sumerian chokepoint-town which controlled the Horses, was an utter disaster; the Summie stacks overwhelmed mine at the northern of the 2 towns I'd founded just the other side of the Mountain range, giving them an open path directly to my capital. If I'd made it to the Horses, I would have had the game in the bag much earlier; as it was, I couldn't build any fast units until I could trade over Oceans, towards the end of the Medieval era -- by which time I could also build Cavalry myself (and once I hit the Industrial Age, I beelined for Replaceable Parts, for Infantry and Artillery).

In the meantime, the Dutch and the Aztecs ran away on their respective landmasses, quickly defeating the Inca (dead), the Iroquois (dead), and the Ottomans (long since evicted to a 1-tile island just offshore from France). I really only managed to overtake them in the late Industrial/early Modern, but they're still fairly hot on my heels (at least partly because I've been selling them older tech every 20T or so, to bleed their gold).

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I felt like playing Morrowind again. So I am setting up Morrowind.

https://imgur.com/a/Uv1N5nW

I don't even....

(Also, I go to the effort of converting it to GIF. Imgur converted it back to GIFV, which isn't supported here. Boo.)