What video games have you been playing? ΚΔ (24)? More like ΚΔ,Ζ,ΤΞΕ!

I went back to Tropico. The original, which I hadn't played in many years, but played quite a bit before becoming a CivFanatic. (Actually, acquiring Civ III, my first Civ game, likely did correspond with a significant decrease in playing El Presidente).

I hadn't played with the expansions, which focus on tourism, so I tried the Spring Break scenario. The economy was solid, built initially on coffee, with a little bit of tourism, but I had 30 years to get $150K in tourism profits and 40 spring breakers at once, so in the 1970s I went on a hotel-and-beach-resort bonanza. It was just enough, and in 1979 I achieved victory.

Now I've started a random-map island, and to make things a bit more challenging I bumped the economic difficulty up to hard, and spend all of my foreign aid for the first few years increasing the splendor of the area around my palace. This was almost my undoing. Rumor had it that one of my two soldiers thought he might be a better presidente than I, and when the other soldier unexpectedly died - we're sure there was no foul play whatsoever - the questionable one launched a coup attempt. Rather than panic, El Presidente telephoned his new friend Fidel up in Havana, and offered top dollar for a few experienced revolutionaries to move to Tropico for a few years. This successfully ended the coup.

Still, things have not gone swimmingly. The main problem has been that the economy has been largely dependent on cheap commodity exports - corn, logs, and fish. A lumber mill has been largely ineffective at increasing the value of Tropican exports, in no small part due to understaffing due to poor education. A nascent tourism industry is being developed on the western shore, but it so happens that is also the direction that pollution is blown by the wind, threatening the appeal of our pristine Tropican beaches. A gold mine has been opened, but it is upwind of the tourist areas, and thus far has not led to significant exports. A cannery, with a goal of exporting tinned fish, has been stymied by our grain production being lowered due to low rains followed by a hurricane, meaning we need the fish for domestic consumption. Tourists have shown up, but the profits are modest, in part because while we have hotels, we haven't developed much beyond that in the tourist industry.

This all means that the Tropican life is not the best. True, El Presidente has provided decent housing for all Tropicans. And now their is fresh beef at the market along with grain, fish, and, soon, pineapples. But there are few other amenities. Two of the three soldiers that moved here from Havana later emigrated somewhere else, despite top-dollar wages, just out of boredom. Most Tropicans live poor, boring, and short lives.

And that means that most would prefer someone replace El Presidente. Tropico was never truly a representative government - El Prez was the last government's heir apparent - but the United States has taken an interest, diplomatically stating is it concerned by "El Presidente's version of democracy", and sending gunboats to conduct diplomacy three or four times - or is it five? We've lost count. The promises of a better life no longer sound very believable, nor do promises of an election.

Tropico isn't quite a failed state - there are still investments in the economy, they just never seem to live up to expectations. Maybe at some point the factories or tourism or mining will start firing on all cylinders and the standard of living will take off. But for now, we're just another banana pineapple republic.
 
Talking about going back to games, I recently installed a DOSBox (as you already know) and I just sped through the first three Commander Keen games over the last few days.
Take that, Mortimer!
 
Nintendo Switch 2 has been officially announced on yesterday by Nintendo. Or rather they announced yesterday that they will announce it in april as they haven't told much about it.

Yet what seems to appear in Nintendo's official video is that it will be possible to use a joycon as a mouse. And that is important as it should drastically make it easier to play games like Civ as a result.

 
How does a joycon make Civ easier to play? I've never played it with anything other than a normal mouse+keyboard.
 

I have been playing a mod for Darkest Hour called Fatherland, here is episode 3 premiering at 1PM Sunday Eastern Standard time.
 
You haven't answered the question.
 
I went back to Tropico. The original, which I hadn't played in many years, but played quite a bit before becoming a CivFanatic. (Actually, acquiring Civ III, my first Civ game, likely did correspond with a significant decrease in playing El Presidente).

Have you played the recent ones? I tried Tropico and Tropico Pirate Cove back in the day, but was more focused on Age of Kings & SimCity 3000 & Civ 3.
 
I played Tropico 3. I don't remember much of gameplay. I wasn't very good. The soundtrack is extremely memorable, though.


Viva El Presidente
 
I just realized I've never played any of the Tropico games even though the premise sounds fun... are the newer ones OK?
 
I've only played 5. It was pretty fun. Due for a replay. Regularly ends up in Humble Bundles.
 
I went back and replayed 5 recently, and it was showing its age. Despite some good ideas, the camera and controls were not great even in that era, and simulation was either aimed at budget PCs or just didn't take advantage of multicores.

Tropico series has always had patchy bits though. I liked that the various parts of its model were more reactive to the tools the player had, bit could still break in interesting ways. Some previous entries would get too stable.
 
You haven't answered the question.

On the very short trailer published by Nintendo, we can see on the edge of the joycon what looks like a mouse optical sensor, then you see it attached to some form of rubber thing to be moved over a flat surface like a mouse.



Here are captures explaining the thing in details:

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It might be my recent decembrine regression to DOSBox that's affecting my thinking (that or the heat - freaking summer) but I still fail to see how or why this is better than an actual mouse.
 
I was just thinking that the plotline of the Invasion of the Vorticons trilogy (a.k.a. Commander Keen 1-3) is incredibly dark. Disguised by the cutesy graphics we get a story in which the Earth can be destroyed overnight and the one kid who sort of does a Lambert Simnel Worp and assembles a starship out of random stuff has to save us from a thoroughly insufferable little gobhorsehockeye who enslaves an entire alien race. And the eight-year-old protagonist actually slaughters his way through the enslaved hordes to finally break the mind control and is told off explicitly for said genocide in a cutscene and none of it is his imagination but instead it's so real that even his parents get to see him keep a Yarp as a pet.
 
Have you played the recent ones? I tried Tropico and Tropico Pirate Cove back in the day, but was more focused on Age of Kings & SimCity 3000 & Civ 3.
Not to any degree sufficient for a comparison. Steam tells me I played Tropico 3 for close to 3 hours, but that was over a decade ago and I don't remember much of anything about it. I played Tropico 5 for an hour and a half in 2020 and decided not to rebel against my motherland and that resulted in game over. Haven't played any of 2 or 4.

Paradise Island (the expansion to the original) is interesting. I had another coup in the '80s - it's really risky only having 2 or 3 soldiers, even if there's a 70% chance each soldier is happy, there's still a good chance that most of them won't be. But the economy finally started clicking, too. Lumber, canned pineapple, and tinned fish became consistent exports, my tourism industry developed into a moderate but reliable profit-maker, and every few years we got a big bonus export of gold. Tropico was growing, and the quality of life slowly improved, with better religious services, healthcare, and, eventually, wages.

Then, in 1995, we suffered a direct hit from a hurricane, something that doesn't happen without the expansion. The international community gave us $27,000 to rebuild, and we had reserves, but the actual time to rebuild everything was about 4 years. In 1999, we built a Cathedral. Soon after, the End Times arrived, or at least what looked an awful lot like the end times: an epidemic that resulted in Tropicans dropping like flies. 20% of the population was lost to it in the matter of the last quarter of 1999.

I've played until 2005, with a goal of eventually having free and fair elections. But we aren't quite there yet. The population has fallen by two since 1990, to 221 (with the loss due to the epidemic), but happiness has risen from 35/100 to 44/100. Religion is better, healthcare is better, entertainment is better, housing is better, the people's respect for El Presidente is better, and interestingly liberty is better - at 52/100. I don't think I'd ever had Liberty be above 50 without either elections or modifiers, but I have kept an excessively small army and that seems to have helped.

Still on the docket is electrical power. I'd planned an electrical plant as early as 1995, but thanks to the hurricane we haven't got around to building it yet. Once that is built, a proper hospital can be build, among other options that should continue to improve the quality of life and attractiveness of our tourism industry. And hopefully with all of that, the people will finally see that it would have been in their best interests to vote El Presidente all along.
 
The Long Dark - Stalker/survivor

I started a new game in Blackrock Mountain region... :yuck:Yuck, I know... Anyway I fought off the 5 or so obligatory wolf attacks, including hiding in a car waiting for a blizzard to chase away a pack of timberwolves... to finally make it to the Prison complex. Once I got to the prison, it has been relatively stable, aside from the constant wolf attacks of course... plenty of food and loot for crafting bullets... which of course is useless this early in the game... even more useless because I haven't found the code to get into the ammo-milling facility.

In any case, like the rest of the game in survivor mode, its post-story mode, meaning that all the events in story mode have already happened... the Prison already blew up and the main entrance is caved in from the explosions so you have to work your way through a maze of twisted metal to gain access to the buildings. I looted all the buildings and made my way into the basement by climbing a rope to the Warden's Office. Once in the basement, I crawled my way through the rubble to the cell blocks to find, for my first time:D... the prize of the map, the tactical/bulletproof-vest/body armour. Its really eerie getting it if you've completed the story mode, because its right next to the dead body of what looks like a villain in story mode. I was a little creeped out that he would spring back to life. In any case, this item apparently makes you pretty resistant to wolf attacks, but boy does it slooooooww, you down, its so heavy. :whew:

So I think I will skip exploring/looting the rest of Black Rock region for now and head for more hospitable regions... although going to Ash Canyon for the technical back pack is tempting. I'd never gotten that item before either, so I'm considering making a go at it. Maybe I can snag the climbing crampons too while I'm at it. I usually avoid the regions with little or no man-made shelters, but I do love that extra carry capacity.

@EgonSpengler - Ive been watching a wilderness survival game show series on Youtube and its been entertaining, plus it always gets me in the mood to play TLD :)... so the reason I mention it, is because watching that coupled with playing the Black Rock prison region led me down the Youtube rabbithole to Oh Brother Where Art Though?, and the song at the 2:22 mark is a perfect comedic reminder for the game (except for some verses, also comically/ironically) :p

One evening as the sun went down
And the jungle fire was burning
Down the track came a hobo hikin'
And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning
I'm headed for a land that's far away
Beside the crystal Mystery Lake fountains
So come with me, we'll go and see
The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains

"In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains
There's a land that's fair and bright
Where the handouts grow on bushes
And you sleep out every night
Where the boxcars all are empty
And the sun shines every day (most days)
Oh the birds that you sees and the bees and the cigarette acorn trees
The lemonade cold water springs where the bluebird ptarmigan sings
In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains

"In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains
All the cops have wooden legs are gone or dead
And the bulldogs all have rubber teethare gone too
And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs are also dead
The farmers' trees are full of fruit bare as bones
And the barns are full of hay
Oh I'm bound to go where there's plenty of ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall, but the wind don't always blows
In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains

"In The Big Black Candy Mountains
You never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol frozen water
Come a-trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hatsall are dead and gone
And there's railroad bullwolves are blind instead
There's a way to lmake of stew and of berry whiskey, too
You can pwaddle all around 'em in a big lakes, even without a canoe
In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains

"In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains
The jails are made of tin
And you can walk right out again
As soon as you are in
There ain't no short-handle shovels
No but there's axes, saws or psticks
I'm a-goin' to stay where you can sleep all day
Where they hung the jerk that invented work
In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains
"I'll see you all this comin' fall
In the Big Rock Long Dark Candy Mountains"
 
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The Long Dark - Stalker/survivor

I started a new game in Blackrock Mountain region... :yuck:Yuck, I know... Anyway I fought off the 5 or so obligatory wolf attacks, including hiding in a car waiting for a blizzard to chase away a pack of timberwolves... to finally make it to the Prison complex. Once I got to the prison, it has been relatively stable, aside from the constant wolf attacks of course... plenty of food and loot for crafting bullets... which of course is useless this early in the game... even more useless because I haven't found the code to get into the ammo-milling facility.
Yeah, if I found myself starting in Blackrock, the first thing I'd do is leave. Did you also get the Warden's Revolver?

So I think I will skip exploring/looting the rest of Black Rock region for now and head for more hospitable regions... although going to Ash Canyon for the technical back pack is tempting. I'd never gotten that item before either, so I'm considering making a go at it. Maybe I can snag the climbing crampons too while I'm at it. I usually avoid the regions with little or no man-made shelters, but I do love that extra carry capacity.
do-it-ben-stiller.png


There's a 3rd handy item you can get there:
Spoiler :
The Curator's Rifle, which has a 33% increased Effective Range over the standard hunting rifle. At Rifle Skill Level 5, when your Effective Range increases, the bonus to the Curator's Rifle also goes up, so its Effective Range with Level 5 Rifle is +40%.


@EgonSpengler - Ive been watching a wilderness survival game show series on Youtube and its been entertaining, plus it always gets me in the mood to play TLD :)... so the reason I mention it, is because watching that coupled with playing the Black Rock prison region led me down the Youtube rabbithole to Oh Brother Where Art Though?, and the song at the 2:22 mark is a perfect comedic reminder for the game (except for some verses, also comically/ironically) :p

One evening as the sun went down
And the jungle fire was burning
Down the track came a hobo hikin'
And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning
I'm headed for a land that's far away
Beside the crystal Mystery Lake fountains
So come with me, we'll go and see
The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains

"In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains
There's a land that's fair and bright
Where the handouts grow on bushes
And you sleep out every night
Where the boxcars all are empty
And the sun shines every day (most days)
Oh the birds that you sees and the bees and the cigarette acorn trees
The lemonade cold water springs where the bluebird ptarmigan sings
In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains

"In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains
All the cops have wooden legs are gone or dead
And the bulldogs all have rubber teethare gone too
And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs are also dead
The farmers' trees are full of fruit bare as bones
And the barns are full of hay
Oh I'm bound to go where there's plenty of ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall, but the wind don't always blows
In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains

"In The Big Black Candy Mountains
You never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol frozen water
Come a-trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hatsall are dead and gone
And there's railroad bullwolves are blind instead
There's a way to lmake of stew and of berry whiskey, too
You can pwaddle all around 'em in a big lakes, even without a canoe
In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains

"In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains
The jails are made of tin
And you can walk right out again
As soon as you are in
There ain't no short-handle shovels
No but there's axes, saws or psticks
I'm a-goin' to stay where you can sleep all day
Where they hung the jerk that invented work
In The Big Black Rock Candy Mountains
"I'll see you all this comin' fall
In the Big Rock Long Dark Candy Mountains"
Been forever since I've watched that movie. I'll have to add it to my queue.
 
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