What Video Games Have You Been Playing? #23: Lost in Shalebridge Cradle

[Quintillus]

Anyone played Foundation?
It looks a bit too cartoony.

I tried it a couple years ago. Didn't get that into it, although it was in Early Access at the time and has had a lot of work done since then. I don't remember it being too cartoony, more the first time I played it the UI didn't scale well (small and blurry at 1200p, since fixed), and it wasn't particularly engaging.

Though the latter may be my changing preferences; for some reason Banished worked for me, but a lot of other builders haven't in recent years, despite still liking the concept in theory. Maybe it's just that I discovered Factorio and that's tough competition for a builder game.

May I ask what settings you use in this game, is it a world map stacked with max. civs, realistic start position and high diff. level ?

The AIs seem more agressive (to eachother) in your game compared to mine...

This is a Fractal map of Large size, with 10 civilizations, at difficulty 4. I believe I left everything else at the defaults. Fractal in practice has meant five civs (Arabia, me, Scythia, Germany, and Russia) sharing the main landmass of a continent, Kongo and American being connected by an isthmus south of Germany but mostly on their own landmass in practice, Brazil and Japan getting an island, and Greece having their own island (along with the city-state of Seoul and some barbarians).

I don't have any expansions/DLC other than the free Aztec civ pack.

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

Yes, Pentiment was great.
How did you do with investigations?

I condemned an innocent guy in first act and although I figured out who culprit was in second, I could not get a confession

In act 1:

Spoiler :

I chose Lucky - he had motive and access to tools consistent with the wound. I also fully admit I was in no way going to accuse a rape survivor or an elderly widow, so he was kind of a combo of motive, access, and less of a tragic hero figure.

In act 2:

Spoiler :

I chose Guy, even though I think the inn owner lady probably was the most likely, Guy was a major ahole and I did not find out the reason he was skimming money, so I assumed he was a much more terrible person than he actually was.

But I think it’s also clear there was not a guaranteed murderer in any act; every person you chose was both right and wrong and had evidence for and against, and the guilt you feel is a huge driver of the rest of the narrative.

 

[Kyriakos]

I tried Frostpunk.
It has a nicely grim atmosphere, but I am not a fan of the limits on how to build (though the reason is obvious; save space and be as near as possible to the reactor).

 

[Quintillus]

I tried Frostpunk back in the spring of 2020. The grim atmosphere wasn't really something I was digging at that time. Should probably give it another try some day.

I'm now in 1880 in the Civ game and while the technical progress seems ahead of time, the actual units on the map seem mostly behind the times, other than my tanks and the barbarian battleships. We continue our policy of collecting the entire world's archeological heritage, and have now build quite the tourism campaign around it, supplemented by a wonderful construction campaign - we no longer only have the Terra Cotta Army, but the Sydney Opera House, the Colossus, the most advanced industrial area in the world, Oxford University, the Forbidden City, and most recently, Roman Mountains National Park. Cristo Rendentor will be finished any month now, and should ballet or great city views be more your cup of tea, the Eiffel Tower and Bolshoi Theater are both under construction. Book your tickets now! Rail and oceanliner travel readily available, with aerodromes and zeppelins scheduled for next decade.

With that, the balance of tourism has tipped across the Adriatic. And it's clear now who's pursuing each victory. Greece sought to win on culture, but is falling behind. Scythia has doubled down on science investments, and has a lead there, which they may follow through on; what used to be a narrow pack is no longer so narrow, with only Rome close to Scythia, but losing ground. Brazil is winning in religion, with Arabia still fighting hard, and Germany doing its best to spread Confucianism. Russia seeks to dominate militarily, and declared war on my friends the Bulgarians after admitting defeat to Germany. But they were thoroughly embarrassed, and made peace when my tanks showed up at their borders, having already failed to take the Bulgarian city-state.

Kongo and America don't have horses in the religious wars, and have never led in anything, but are 3rd and 4th in science production. They're waiting in the wings should the leaders in a category lose their footing.

Interestingly, the game has also split diplomatically, just as the Cold War tech has been researched. In addition to Germany and Scythia, Brazil has joined my list of friends, and in a coup, we won America over. Greece leads Kongo and Arabia in the counter-alliance, and after their decision to invade Bulgaria, Russia has become an international pariah, denounced by all members of both alliances. The alliances are not even, but the larger one has the potential to split over rivalries of differing governments.

All in all, a fun game, and I think Civ VI is better than Humankind. It's notably more focused on the past few hundred years relative to III and IV, which has benefits and drawbacks. I also find it interesting that some of the AIs aren't keeping standing armies. In III and IV, the neighbors would not let them get away with it. I have a standing army because should anyone really trust Tomyris not to invade if you don't have one? She's already saying she's disappointed that I haven't built a nuclear arsenal. But also because it seems like the cost in rebuilding would outweigh the maintenance cost, and even if it's break-even, I'd rather be prepared and break-even than not prepared.

 

[GenMarshall]

I tried Frostpunk.
It has a nicely grim atmosphere, but I am not a fan of the limits on how to build (though the reason is obvious; save space and be as near as possible to the reactor).

I honestly rather have it open ended in terms of building like in the Anno series where you’re not limited to a diameter of your heating unit.

 

[Quintillus]

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we present to you the latest triumph of the Roman ingenuity: Isla Nublar National Park!

We heard your criticisms that archaeological artifacts only bring so much of the life of the past back, and a more interactive exhibit would be more engaging. Now, you can experience the past for yourself!

A half-day's trip by boat south of Cumae, Isla Nublar National Park offers unheard-of sightseeing. Even before reaching the park, you'll see the Colossus as you enter the harbor, and then travel by some scenic banana groves after leaving the city. We advise spending the first night at the lodge, where excellent locally-caught crab leg dinners are the specialty, and heading into the park the next morning.

While there, you'll see beasts you didn't think you'd ever see. Would you like to feed a brontosaurus banana leaves? See a pterydactyl fly overhead? Admire a stegasaurus? Or watch a T-Rex chase its prey? Don't worry, this is all perfectly safe, the T-Rex would never consider you as its next prey. We've selectively breeded them to ensure our carniverous dinosaurs only seek cold-blooded prey.

Glow-in-the-dark dinosaur watches are available at the souvenir shop as a memento of your adventure, and we encourage you to come back to Rome soon!

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Have you gotten the achievement?

 

[Kyriakos]

The difficulty level (above normal) and the lucky nations in EuIV, while supposed to challenge you, are really dumb imo. Because it's not like you are then dealing with better "AI", you simply get the computer factions having bonuses from heaven and it's rather annoying and ruins atmosphere. I was playing on hard/lucky nations, but never on very hard (because provinces just don't matter for the AI there), and if I play again I am seriously considering going for normal/no lucky nations.
Ironman mode, on the other hand, is a very good idea. Keeps you actually balancing risks and rewards instead of relying on loading your old and safe game file.

 

[Grendeldef]

Just watched the new PoE league teaser bu only played Civ 5 for the past month and as if my games weren't long enough before now they surely are as I've switched to marathon speed. It actually changes the gameplay more than I hought or rather would've guessed and changes the relational strength of civs a bit. The saddest bit is that AI is even crappier on longer games but after finishing few games I've mostly stopped my games while hitting Industrial as nothing much changes after that.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Just watched the new PoE league teaser bu only played Civ 5 for the past month and as if my games weren't long enough before now they surely are as I've switched to marathon speed. It actually changes the gameplay more than I hought or rather would've guessed and changes the relational strength of civs a bit. The saddest bit is that AI is even crappier on longer games but after finishing few games I've mostly stopped my games while hitting Industrial as nothing much changes after that.

This is one of the game's biggest problems, imo. (It's true for Civ VI, too.) The devs are afraid of upending the game, when it really ought to be upended (e.g. "Dark" Ages, which are barely even Dim Ages). From a historical perspective, the industrial revolution just about inverted the "leader board." From a gameplay perspective, the game just grinds to a freaking halt and becomes intolerably tedious. Finishing a game of Civ is just work. They ought to be paying us to do it. The devs need to show some [spine] and be willing to really flip the table over in the second half of the game (or the final third, however they want to space it out) with Civ VII.

 

[Grendeldef]

Finishing a game of Civ is just work. They ought to be paying us to do it.

I'd make quite a bit money with this

The problem partially is the way the AI is supposed to be made competitive - give it front loaded perks so the human is playing catch up the problem being that one catches up far too early and then AI has nothing in its sleeves. This is made even worse if the AI has room to expand in later game which it usually does in my games on huge maps so it shoots itself not only on the foot but blows its head away by expanding (far) too much and effectively halting sci progress. As I like the (very) early parts more than the latter parts in all circumstances this isn't that huge of a problem but for the game's sake I'd like to actually finish it once in a while. And if only they'd ask me how the CVII should function...

 

[Birdjaguar]

Just watched the new PoE league teaser

The patch notes were pretty extensive. Huge changes: Metamorphs are gone, Ultimatum is back, skill gem quality now tied to the Lab. I like metamophs

 

[Grendeldef]

Yeah, hence I only watched the short teaser Even Zizaran's patch notes video is an hour & half long.
Sad to see Metamorph biting the dust but I didn't play Ultimatum so I've only a vague idea how it works (or doesn't). Maybe I'll do another league-blind leveling in week.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Yeah, hence I only watched the short teaser Even Zizaran's patch notes video is an hour & half long.
Sad to see Metamorph biting the dust but I didn't play Ultimatum so I've only a vague idea how it works (or doesn't). Maybe I'll do another league-blind leveling in week.

It looks like I will have to get my "other" quality gems from the Lab for my standard characters to replace the ones disappearing when the new league starts. I did buy a bunch of tattoos in the current league to have in standard. I do look forward to having my standard guys get to do Ultimatum. The Affliction element seems awfully similar to Delve. At least Boneshatter was not nerfed.

Ultimatum was fun.

 

[Takhisis]

And if only they'd ask me how the CVII should function...

We have a section of the website for people who're making their own Civ…

 

[Quintillus]

Have you gotten the achievement?

View attachment 678610

I haven't, for a number of reasons. One is that I have Civ VI on Epic and there don't seem to be achievements there. Another is that I don't have Rise & Fall yet, so no Amber. I'll probably pick up the complete version on Steam over the holidays, when it's on sale. But also I don't think I've built a zoo yet. I might have been building a couple when my Rome game ended. But I was able to trade for enough luxuries that I only built two entertainment districts, the Colosseum, and never really developed those entertainment districts.

--

Rome ended in a Culture/Tourism win. Being apparently the only one picking up archaeological artifacts made a big difference, as well as the only one with national parks. And having most of the wonders by the latter part of the game. Greece and Scythia did make some progress towards the Space Race, the former even launching a satellite, and Scythia was research the H-bomb, but by the time the game ended in 1938, it was clear everyone loved travelling to Rome and seeing all the dinosaurs, museums, preserved natural areas, and fantastic buildings. We were awarded the title of having matched the leadership skills of Neville Chamberlain, which seemed a bit underwhelming but appropriate for the year we won.

--

Now I'm playing as the Aztecs, chosen by a D6 among my next six top choices. I set a goal of winning by science, unless something else shiny distracted me from that. We started in the middle of the almost-pangaea-with-three-large-inland-seas-and-a-couple-lakes, which housed 11 of the 12 civs on a Huge map; China got their own island. It's an interesting map, the largest inland sea is 50+ tiles in size. Being an expansionist, I successfully attempted to settle areas that blocked off a large amount of land exclusively for the Aztecs, aided by both the Sumerians (to my southwest) and the Norwegians (to my east) being hemmed in by fairly successful barbarian clans. The clans were strong, and settlers were pilfered, especially from Sumeria and Norway, but I lost one as well, and there were clear haves and have-nots based on the impact of the local barbarians. Even as a "have", I still had two cities razed by the sea-based barbarians; I'd settle a coastal city and they'd raid it into ruins.

I considered conquering Sumeria's capital, Uruk, and having a vast expanse of land exclusively to myself and Brazil to the west, but seeing how many barbarians were being drawn into Uruk and not my empire, decided it was more sensible to let the status quo continue, have Sumeria guard my left flank whether they wanted to or not, and settle the other considerable amount of land that I'd blocked off. This was the right decision.

Eventually, Norway, who was by the third-largest inland sea and had nearly filled it with Longships, decided that it would be an excellent place for the Great Lighthouse. It was a comical sight.

They did have a city on the actual ocean, but it was new and not yet very productive, and the movement bonus applies to all seas, not just the one it is built on. But we decided that having the Great Lighthouse on such a small sea was a travesty, and decided to invade and prevent them from completing it.

We were too late; they finished it one turn after we declared war. And worse, we admitted they were right when they confronted us about our nearby troops, making it a surprise war rather than the formal war we could have declared due to their denunciation of us, giving us a reputation of a warmonger that would last for about 1000 years.

But that's a bit appropriate as the Aztecs, right? And we did take both of their cities, and sink all of their ships, which was easier than we thought it would be because we had cannons on our ships, and they did not. It was a bit of a pain clearing out the nearby barbarians afterwards, who had better land forces than the Norwegians did. But it extended our front eastward, Nidaros proved to be a highly productive city, and we later decided the Great Lighthouse looked okay on that small sea after all, and build the Colossus in Nidaros to complement it.

 

[Kyriakos]

Speaking of Civ, I did play CivIII again.
But I fear that, compared to the new(er) games I was playing, it is a bit dated

 

[Kyriakos]

I got Foundation to run (as usual the issue was it had been missing some libraries/windows graphical files etc), but imo it is a bit too laid back, to the point it becomes rather indifferent an experience.
Equally importantly, it did get my pc to warm up; I didn't get any alerts or anything, nor glitches or any sense of lag, and other programs were running concurrently, but it's the first time this happened and I did not like it ^^ ).

 

[Birdjaguar]

Path of Exile 'Affliction' launches Friday!

 

[Kyriakos]

@Quintillus : any views on Surviving Mars?