What Video Games Have You Been Playing, Part 10: Or; A Shameful Display!

[aimeeandbeatles]

Aside from nearly getting murdered by by Gastly, today was pretty good in SoulSilver. I caught three Pokemon (Gumdrop, a Marill; Gizmo, a Magnemite; and Poseidon, a Goldeen) and evolved two others (Orion, my Flaaffy, and Juno, my Nidorina). I like coming up with nicknames for them.

 

[cardgame]

I guess I should try some mods for Total War. I haven't played any mods since Third Age Total War for M2TW

You're telling me that in this mod, player can't afford even a single elite stack even in late game?

Well no, I suppose I was exaggerating a bit. Depending on what faction you are playing though, you may need to have more armies of middle-tier troops as opposed to a single elite death ball, so you can actually respond to threats in reasonable time. Seleucia is definitely the easiest of all factions in terms of money.

Even if you can afford the best troops, you still can't just throw them away, as the population mechanics will punish you for doing that. For example, I have ran out of foreigners to conscript for my auxiliary troops in my capital, and now I must journey further afield to find auxiliaries, and they won't be the same types that are available in Antioch. I have also ran out of Babylonians to form into heavy spear infantry in Seleukia and Charax, and additionally only have enough elites to form one or two elite cavalry units with in those cities.

Elites also cost at least 300 gold per unit for upkeep, and near or over 2,000 to recruit. I have some Syrian elephants in my king's army and their upkeep is 800.

I was flush with cash when I incorporated the elephants, then diplomacy took a turn for the worse as I turned 'unreliable' and a bunch of randoms cancelled their trade with me. I think it's a really stupid mechanic that they would cancel a good thing, but there it is. Now my income is half what it was ten turns ago and probably still on a downward tack.

I guess the point is you have to actually pay attention to the economy and cannot simply field the best of everything all the time.

 

[Synobun]

Well, that's new. What other games have Steam Friends support?

 

[Phrossack]

Even if you can afford the best troops, you still can't just throw them away, as the population mechanics will punish you for doing that. For example, I have ran out of foreigners to conscript for my auxiliary troops in my capital, and now I must journey further afield to find auxiliaries, and they won't be the same types that are available in Antioch. I have also ran out of Babylonians to form into heavy spear infantry in Seleukia and Charax, and additionally only have enough elites to form one or two elite cavalry units with in those cities.

I was flush with cash when I incorporated the elephants, then diplomacy took a turn for the worse as I turned 'unreliable' and a bunch of randoms cancelled their trade with me. I think it's a really stupid mechanic that they would cancel a good thing, but there it is. Now my income is half what it was ten turns ago and probably still on a downward tack.

I guess the point is you have to actually pay attention to the economy and cannot simply field the best of everything all the time.

TW diplomacy is so often just an afterthought. Why would your reputation drop when others cut ties arbitrarily with you? I could understand if your reputation took a hit from being fickle with trade agreements, peace treaties, and alliances, but for the AI to pick fights with you and then have the game punish you for being arbitrarily unpopular is absurd.

I like the idea of population pools for troops. It'd be fun to grind the AI down in battles so much that they couldn't recruit any more troops, or at least good troops, for awhile.

 

[Arakhor]

Well, that's new. What other games have Steam Friends support?

Rats. I've been rumbled.

I know that CK2 does, but I don't think Stellaris does. I don't know about any others.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Well, that's new. What other games have Steam Friends support?

Path of Exile I believe.

 

[cardgame]

TW diplomacy is so often just an afterthought. Why would your reputation drop when others cut ties arbitrarily with you? I could understand if your reputation took a hit from being fickle with trade agreements, peace treaties, and alliances, but for the AI to pick fights with you and then have the game punish you for being arbitrarily unpopular is absurd.

I like the idea of population pools for troops. It'd be fun to grind the AI down in battles so much that they couldn't recruit any more troops, or at least good troops, for awhile.

No no, I betrayed an alliance and then they cancel trades that already existed

edit: even though basically everyone in the world hated the guy I betrayed.

 

[Takhisis]

You got to betray an alliance before the AI did? That was quick.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

"Gizmo is nibbling at your feet."

I have questions.

 

[Peuri]

I've been playing Northgard for about a week now. It's a cute little game. But yesterday I realized it's basically just a load screen simulator. All you do is try to advance one of 4-5 different loading bars, that are just more fancifully named. I guess I'll go back to Battle Brothers and OpenRA until Imperator: Rome comes.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I released the three legendary gerbils from the burned tower. Later on, while wandering around in the grass, Raikou appears. Level 40. I was fully expecting to get thrashed (Enchilada, my Quilava, just got to level 25), but he just fled.

 

[Lexicus]

I released the three legendary gerbils from the burned tower. Later on, while wandering around in the grass, Raikou appears. Level 40. I was fully expecting to get thrashed (Enchilada, my Quilava, just got to level 25), but he just fled.

If you don't know, they are all Level 40 and all will flee when encountered by default. This makes catching them a bit of a pain under most circumstances. You'll want moves or abilities that prevent pokemon from leaving battle. OR you can just use the Master Ball but there's only one of those obviously.

edit: except Suicune, Suicune can be encountered normally in Burned Tower after you do some stuff ingame, I forget what all you have to do exactly.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I played Pokemon Crystal, though I forgot about them roaming around. The music is pretty cool, though.

I have a Paras with False Swipe and Spore. I'll see if I can get his speed up. And find something with Mean Look.

 

[Lexicus]

I played Pokemon Crystal, though I forgot about them roaming around. The music is pretty cool, though.

I have a Paras with False Swipe and Spore. I'll see if I can get his speed up. And find something with Mean Look.

That also works. I have found inflicting Sleep is iffy because all the moves that do this have a relatively high inaccuracy/failure rate etc. If you do fail to inflict sleep you will need to hunt down the roaming pokemon again, and obviously they will wake up after 2-5 turns and flee. OTOH Mean Look hits reliably and you only need to use it once. Another option is getting Dugtrio or other pokemon with Arena Trap, though this will fail if the pokemon with that ability faints. (just confirmed on Bulbapedia: Mean Look will always hit barring special circumstances e.g. the target performed a move like Fly or Dig).

I never seriously pursued the beasts in GSC back in the day because they never really fit in my team, but I actually did hunt down and capture Suicune in FireRed version.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I think Spore has something like 90% or 100% accuracy, which is why Paras is my dedicated catcher (fire-types are a bit of a pain, though).

I accidentally overwrote Mean Look on my Gastly, but there's a Move Relearner in Blackthorn (a ways away, but I'm not in a hurry to catch them) and wild Luvdisc can be found in swarms. I have a Stantler with the Frisk ability so when I find the Thief TM I might stick it on him and use it to get the heart scales.

EDIT: Swarms don't appear until the National Pokedex, but there's also other ways to get them (rock smash, etc). Frisk + Thief will come in handy anyways for finding other things.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I misread a post and wondered why Raichu's were spawning at level 40 and running from every encounter. I was super confused for a minute.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

That's a good question.

I used a level 16 Miltank to force a level 25 Gengar into Struggle. The Miltank did have Scrappy to hit ghost-types, but I just wanted to see if I could stall it out.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

My Magmar just hugged me. Now I have third-degree burns.

Found near the mouth of a volcano. This fire-breather's body temperature is nearly 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

If you don't know, they are all Level 40 and all will flee when encountered by default. This makes catching them a bit of a pain under most circumstances. You'll want moves or abilities that prevent pokemon from leaving battle. OR you can just use the Master Ball but there's only one of those obviously.

I encountered Entei, a fire-type, on the water. Since Paras was out in front, I managed to get Spore in to put him to sleep.

He fled.

What.

 

[Synobun]

Playing Crusader Kings 2 again after a few years. Infamy is a dumb mechanic. Definitely disabling that in my next playthrough.