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

[Kyriakos]

I may try Darkest Dungeon again myself
Is the new version of Factorio available yet?

 

[ls612]

I may try Darkest Dungeon again myself
Is the new version of Factorio available yet?

Space Age comes out October 21st.

 

[Voidwalkin]

Continuing with BG3.

Going with 2 fighters, sorcerer, and a warlock/paladin mix.

1 fighter is ranged, the other is an eldritch knight who can throw that goofy fish people spear that's actually very good for that purpose, automatically returning. The eldritch knight has extremely high evasion and is difficult to hit. Charges in ahead. Sorcerer hastes the ranged fighter, who does the majority of the damage. Warlock paladin spams eldritch blast, frequently using Hunger of Hadar.

I think Hunger of Hadar is the best spell in the game. Blinds, slows and damages troops in a wide area: allows effective neutralization for 2 turns of numerous enemies. That's fantastic. Effectively, you focus fire on the group not blinded, defeating them quickly. Enables really strong defeat in detail tactics.

It's a pretty basic setup but does decent dmg while incurring low risk. Healer is unnecessary. EK is nigh unhittable and absorbs the majority of enemy attacks without taking damage. The rest, ranged, don't really take damage either.

Fairly simple builds but great versatility. All are capable of significant ranged damage. Dropping the healer is really helpful. It's not orthodox, but hitting hard, fast and first works much better than attrition strategies imo.

 

[Akka]

Amiga was competitive up to early 90s but by 93/94 was showing it's age.

Yes, but by 93-94 you had PC powerful and mature enough to vastly outperform consoles.
(in fact that's when I switched to PC, to be able to run Wing Commander 3, good times ^^)

The thing is that back in the 1980's, Japanese devices were released super late in Europe. Nintendo Famicon was released in Japan in 1983, and only really entered the European market in 1988. We were nearly a whole generation late. That was especially true with Nintendo which seriously neglected the European market, favoring their own and the US. Super Mario Bros 3 was released in 1988 in Japan and only in 1991 in Europe.

This has allowed Commodore to have some success over here basically filling the gap, but that was technologically inferior to Japanese consoles. When we were still on the Commodore 64, the Japanese kids were already playing on the PC Engine or the Sega Medadrive/Genesis.

I guess if we go back that much, there might have been a short time before 1985/1986 where consoles briefly were able to outperform computers. I'd say that's still short and ancient enough to not really count

 

[Quintillus]

It's back to VI for me. Have two games going - one as Sweden, on King difficulty on a Terra map, where it's been crowded. Gilgamesh conquered India before I even met them, and Egypt and I defeated Vietnam; Byzantium has taken a city from Egypt and if they fight again, I'll likely join in to give Egypt a two-front war. It's the age of Caroleans, so the optimal time for combat, especially with Egypt - to my south, Korea has deadly Hwachas, and I hope to keep my easily-defensible border with them where it is. Still to be determined is whether I seek victory through continental pre-eminence, or the New World. My guess is that the New World is filled with city-states (Barbarian Clans mode being on), and Phoenicia has a decent lead in the Old World thanks to conquering most of Ethiopia, so it should be interesting.

The other game is as Babylon, as I've been cooking Babylonian cuisine this week so I figured it was time I try them in Civ VI. It's a Hot Wet Wetland map, and only on Prince difficulty. Things have been going swimmingly. Babylon is at the confluence of two rivers, in an ideal location, and has been growing like a weed and training settlers like there's no tomorrow - which there might not be, as I'm trying Apocalypse Mode. And best of all is that the Inca spawned nearby. Babylon's unique unit is slightly weaker than a Warrior but also slightly cheaper and 50% faster, so I decided to try the classic zerg rush strategy on the Inca, who were busy building the Great Bath after training their first Settler. I defeated its escort and gained a city. So the Inca sent out another Settler, and it ran away from my units for a bit, but my Sabum and my Heavy Chariot soon surrounded it, and I had another free city. Very nice of the Inca! Eventually, those two units plus a Warrior surrounded Cuzco, and took it pretty easily, conquering a Worker in the process. Overall, the Incan presence served wholly to accelerate Babylonian development, and I now have 4 more cities than the next-closest civ - having got the era achievement for having 3 more, and then immediately taking Cuzco.

I might try going for domination in the Babylon game, which I haven't done yet in VI. There are two continents, so I'd have to go overseas at some point, but I'm running wild on this continent so far - I suspect I could wheel around on Brazil, the only other civ I've met, and either conquer them or stop their growth pretty easily. If they're smart, they'll have built a few more military units than the Inca did.

But for now, my goal is building the Hanging Gardens. It wouldn't be a proper Babylon game without them.

 

[Smellincoffee]

It's back to VI for me. Have two games going - one as Sweden, on King difficulty on a Terra map, where it's been crowded. Gilgamesh conquered India before I even met them, and Egypt and I defeated Vietnam; Byzantium has taken a city from Egypt and if they fight again, I'll likely join in to give Egypt a two-front war. It's the age of Caroleans, so the optimal time for combat, especially with Egypt - to my south, Korea has deadly Hwachas, and I hope to keep my easily-defensible border with them where it is. Still to be determined is whether I seek victory through continental pre-eminence, or the New World. My guess is that the New World is filled with city-states (Barbarian Clans mode being on), and Phoenicia has a decent lead in the Old World thanks to conquering most of Ethiopia, so it should be interesting.

The other game is as Babylon, as I've been cooking Babylonian cuisine this week so I figured it was time I try them in Civ VI. It's a Hot Wet Wetland map, and only on Prince difficulty. Things have been going swimmingly. Babylon is at the confluence of two rivers, in an ideal location, and has been growing like a weed and training settlers like there's no tomorrow - which there might not be, as I'm trying Apocalypse Mode. And best of all is that the Inca spawned nearby. Babylon's unique unit is slightly weaker than a Warrior but also slightly cheaper and 50% faster, so I decided to try the classic zerg rush strategy on the Inca, who were busy building the Great Bath after training their first Settler. I defeated its escort and gained a city. So the Inca sent out another Settler, and it ran away from my units for a bit, but my Sabum and my Heavy Chariot soon surrounded it, and I had another free city. Very nice of the Inca! Eventually, those two units plus a Warrior surrounded Cuzco, and took it pretty easily, conquering a Worker in the process. Overall, the Incan presence served wholly to accelerate Babylonian development, and I now have 4 more cities than the next-closest civ - having got the era achievement for having 3 more, and then immediately taking Cuzco.

I might try going for domination in the Babylon game, which I haven't done yet in VI. There are two continents, so I'd have to go overseas at some point, but I'm running wild on this continent so far - I suspect I could wheel around on Brazil, the only other civ I've met, and either conquer them or stop their growth pretty easily. If they're smart, they'll have built a few more military units than the Inca did.

But for now, my goal is building the Hanging Gardens. It wouldn't be a proper Babylon game without them.

What does Babylonian cuisine consist of me?


For me it's the usual. TS4, Stardew, Fields of Mistria. Did another day in Sun Haven but it pales in comparison to SDV and Fields.

 

[Quintillus]

What does Babylonian cuisine consist of me?

This is what I made. A lamb and beet stew with an onion, a leek, cumin seeds, and coriander seeds, plus arugula (rocket) and cilantro. Stewed with wheat beer, which is of course a safer beverage to consume than water from an avoiding-cholera-in-1500 BC standpoint. Served with quality bread sliced just before eating - this time I picked up a loaf of challah, which probably isn't ancient Babylonian, but it is made locally and is delicious.

It's a really delicious stew. Unique, too, I've never had anything with a similar flavor profile. It's the second time I've made it, and I have lefover lamb and plenty of cumin and coriander seeds so I'm sure it won't be the last.

Now I just need to diversify into some of the other Babylonian recipes that the Yale scholars have translated from the tablets where they were carved in stone. I don't know if they'll all be home runs, but so far my impression is the Babylonians knew a few things about what flavors went well together.

I'm also hoping to make some authentic Roman cuisine at some point. That can be a bit trickier as some of the ingredients are harder to find, notably garum (the Roman fish sauce, which isn't quite the same as eastern Asian fish sauce), sylphium (which went extinct when Emperor Nero ate the last stalk of it), and long peppers (which were displaced from Mediterranean cuisine in the Middle Ages by black peppers). Happily, the local market I live by sells long peppers, so that's one step closer.

Not that Babylonian cuisine is immune to that problem - two of the ingredients do not have reliably known translations, only guesses which may not be correct. Still, for being thousands of years old, it's impressive to be able to recreate a version of the recipe. The lesson? If you create a really delicious recipe and want people thousands of years from now to enjoy it, carve it in stone.

 

[Kyriakos]

I played a bit of They Are Billions, (survival mode), but it is very repetitive.
Considering the fortune spent to build the other stuff, you might as well erase them all and have an all-titan army - or even an all-titan defense...

 

[Voidwalkin]

In my latest Bannerlord campaign, I figured a way around the warhorse bottleneck. To upgrade into elite cavalry, you need expensive and hard to find at scale horses. Unless...

Made a Khuzait character. Pledged allegiance to the Empress. Immediately provoked war with the Khuzaits. Formed an army of Imperial lords, and made sure 3 Khuzait fiefs fell to my army, fiefs you almost always receive. From there, I conquered the rest of the Khuzait fortresses, often receiving them because characters of matching culture are preferred by the AI in both eligibility and voting biases, and you're the only Khuzait in the Empire.

Upgrade training fields to level 3.

Every fort and town(I own all Khuzait fiefs personally) makes me about 150 horsemen per year. About 50 of which are promoted beyond the warhorse level automatically. I have more than I need; the rest of lower tier troops I give to clan members I perpetually keep in my army, who promote them past the level necessary. I'm running a 5 party strong, 1200 man army with about 600 Khan's Guard and 600 Heavy Lancers. It's overwhelming. I stayed loyal to Rhagaea for RP reasons, inheriting the Empire upon her death, but in truth I could've easily been Khagan of the world within 5 in-game years.

My character, Badur, is in love with the Empire, but believes its military is so incredibly weak that it requires he and his horsemen to save it. It helps that he's very magnanimous, and believes that hegemonic political entities secure peace, which he greatly values(despite spending his life at war, he has never raided nor sacked a city).

I don't love that character RP wise. I prefer my last one, Dammer the Famine. A marauder turned ruler by sheer success of his banditry, this master of Fabian tactics laid entire regions to siege by efficient and prolific raiding of villages. I estimate, based on loss of hearth sizes and prosperity, that his tactics caused approximately 80% of some regions to starve, rendering military competition to his perpetually outnumbered force impossible.

 

[Kyriakos]

This is very unlikely to hold the final attack. Half the city are areas reserved for fort expansion and I have no wonder built.
Notice also the ridiculous position of the only developed oil field. The two nearby oilfields were both just outside the original wall...

 

[Senethro]

I think my style was single walls, but lots of internal divisions. Certainly all Residential blobs had tightly fitted walls with sniper coverage. The idea being that outermost walls usually mostly hold with inevitable small leaks, and the internal divisions prevent the chain reaction.

 

[Kyriakos]

It is very likely that the best strategy is to spam wasps everywhere (tens in each wall) and then only build titans. Also it helps to have a short route from each wall to the other, because when the end-swarm comes you are likely to have a grave situation at least in one of the walls, while in others you'll have defeated them easily.
All that said, the Gog version has a terrible bug which forces you to pay twice for each wonder - first to research it, then to build it (exact same cost...) In earlier versions this did not exist.

 

[Zardnaar]

Rodland was the first game I loaded in my Amiga. Followed by Centurion (not a platformer, but also very cool) and Prehistoric...
Another memorable Amiga platformer was James Pod.

I still own Centurion.

 

[Zardnaar]

Yes, but by 93-94 you had PC powerful and mature enough to vastly outperform consoles.
(in fact that's when I switched to PC, to be able to run Wing Commander 3, good times ^^)

I guess if we go back that much, there might have been a short time before 1985/1986 where consoles briefly were able to outperform computers. I'd say that's still short and ancient enough to not really count

More genres. Consoles win on platformers and fighting games. Shoot em ups.

PCs and Amigas for flight sims. We had consoles, mate had Amiga.

.Amiga was still better than PC unless you could afford an expensive one or really loved Wolfenstein/Doom.

 

[Akka]

Have played The Planet Crafter these past few days.

Pretty fun and very immersive game where you are a lone convict tasked to terraform a planet with whatever resources you find here and a techno tool which is able to recycle and build according to blueprint.
You start on something that look like Mars, a rocky-sandy desolate planet with red sky, and progressively morph it into a paradise. No auto-generated map so the planet is the same in all games, but it's varied enough that exploration is still interesting. No enemies or fight of any kind, the pressure comes from survival (need to manage air, food and water, with the former being the most stringent during much of the game). Scratch the itch of progression and dangerous exploration, with even a smallish plot/story to uncover.

 

[Arakhor]

It's a really fun game. I put 80 hours into my first playthrough, but then I have a tendency to faff around an awful lot.

In future games, you can change your spawn point and adjust the settings to make the game even harder.

 

[Clubber Lang]

Here's your look at the announcement trailer for Empire Eternal, an upcoming real-time strategy war game where all of human history is at your command. In Empire Eternal, create powerful empires across all eras, from ancient civilizations to modern nations, on a scale never seen before. Lead your people to victory with strategic prowess and masterful tactics. Empire Eternal will be available on PC.

 

[Voidwalkin]

Played Europa Barbarorum today. Blast from the past.

Did a Makedon campaign. After defeating the Greek city states and Epirus within 10 turns, I made no attempt whatsoever to reunite the Diadochi.

This is deliberate. I don't really care about the Eastern Mediterranean much at all. Persia has no access to Med sea lanes and therefore has a low economic ceiling. Egypt does, but to successfully invade it means I would have to defend it endlessly from the Seleucid behemoth. Both diadochi also utilize the phalanx, an extremely strong unit in the mod, making the battles more difficult relative to other regions.

So I invaded Carthage.

I put 6 of their cities under siege on the same turn as the war declaration. Hammered them. It was over quickly. I leave the AI no time to respond. It was over before they could redirect troops from Iberia and Sicily.

I intend to go after the Italian peninsula next. I will open with a siege assault on Rome itself. I will besiege every Southern Italian city simultaneously. I will have one turn to take them before they move forces south to defend Rome. I should be able to. No trouble.

From there, a Western European focus makes the most sense. Gaul and Hispania. The East is just a trap. Higher expenditures for less gain, with less trade income. Makedonia is much more militarily potent than Rome, particularly against barbarians, who have no answer for heavy cavalry, which Rome does not effectively field ,nor can their lightly armored troops withstand a phalanx for long enough to flank it. The new Greek world will be in the West, not the East.

 

[Kyriakos]

I will likely play the new Eu game (Eu5). But given Paradox's record, it will not be any good on release.
Still, at least they gave in fully to the Byzantine players and this is the first time the empire (at least nominally) starts at a better situation (but I suppose Serbia going to war is hardcoded or similar, and the three first emperors were among the worst).
I decided to also try Civ7 when it's available.

 

[Takhisis]

Played Europa Barbarorum today. Blast from the past.

Did a Makedon campaign. After defeating the Greek city states and Epirus within 10 turns, I made no attempt whatsoever to reunite the Diadochi.

This is deliberate. I don't really care about the Eastern Mediterranean much at all. Persia has no access to Med sea lanes and therefore has a low economic ceiling. Egypt does, but to successfully invade it means I would have to defend it endlessly from the Seleucid behemoth. Both diadochi also utilize the phalanx, an extremely strong unit in the mod, making the battles more difficult relative to other regions.

So I invaded Carthage.

I put 6 of their cities under siege on the same turn as the war declaration. Hammered them. It was over quickly. I leave the AI no time to respond. It was over before they could redirect troops from Iberia and Sicily.

I intend to go after the Italian peninsula next. I will open with a siege assault on Rome itself. I will besiege every Southern Italian city simultaneously. I will have one turn to take them before they move forces south to defend Rome. I should be able to. No trouble.

From there, a Western European focus makes the most sense. Gaul and Hispania. The East is just a trap. Higher expenditures for less gain, with less trade income. Makedonia is much more militarily potent than Rome, particularly against barbarians, who have no answer for heavy cavalry, which Rome does not effectively field ,nor can their lightly armored troops withstand a phalanx for long enough to flank it. The new Greek world will be in the West, not the East.

All this is what the Greeks kindof ended up doing more or less haphazardly between Agathocles, Pyrrhos, Hiero, etc. and which Alexander planned on doing before his death.