What video games have you been playing V: the return of the subtitle

[EgonSpengler]

I've been thinking about sticking my head back into World of Tanks. Anyone here play that lately? Any big changes in the last 9-10 months? I know they introduced Czech medium tanks. I've no idea if they're worth playing, although the German T-25 was pretty fun, so maybe I'd like them.

 

[gay_Aleks]

You know...It was oddly fun being evil in GalCiv1. Despite its faults, I really enjoy this game. It's so...cheeky at times. Especially the tech blurbs. They're awesome.

 

[Commodore]

I've been thinking about sticking my head back into World of Tanks. Anyone here play that lately? Any big changes in the last 9-10 months? I know they introduced Czech medium tanks. I've no idea if they're worth playing, although the German T-25 was pretty fun, so maybe I'd like them.

I tried getting into World of Tanks a few months back and I am not a fan. They throw you into the game with almost zero explanation as to what you are supposed to do and I hated the whole having to repair tanks that were damaged and stuff like that. The whole thing just felt like a free-to-play-pay-to-win game, and I hate those types of games.

It also has a learning curve that I am just not willing to invest in. I went to the forums for the game and everyone there says you have to put in at least a few thousands battles if you want to start learning and getting good at the game. That's outrageous and seems like the game is geared towards those who have nothing more to do with their lives than sit around and play games. Which is fine, but I'm definitely not that type of person so this game is really not that appealing to me at all.

 

[FriendlyFire]

I've been thinking about sticking my head back into World of Tanks. Anyone here play that lately? Any big changes in the last 9-10 months? I know they introduced Czech medium tanks. I've no idea if they're worth playing, although the German T-25 was pretty fun, so maybe I'd like them.

WG have been throwing a lot of free gold and premium tank missions.
So far I have gotten a free Tier 6 JTiger and Tier 8 Brit FV4204 premium tanks this year

Czech tanks are all German clones for low tiers and Russian clone for high tiers, They are not bad, Iam enjoying the New Japanese Heavies though WG are going to nerf them because they are currently too good.

 

[Zkribbler]

Commodore, of these...

Armada 2526
Homeworld 1&2 (and Cataclysm)
Endless Space
Starships
Gratuitous Space Battles
StarHammer: The Vanguard Prophecy
Sins of a Solar Empire
Star Wars: Empire at War
Galactic Civilizations 2 (with expansions)
Sword of the Stars 1&2
Lost Empire: Immortals

...which is your favorite?

 

[EgonSpengler]

I tried getting into World of Tanks a few months back and I am not a fan. They throw you into the game with almost zero explanation as to what you are supposed to do and I hated the whole having to repair tanks that were damaged and stuff like that. The whole thing just felt like a free-to-play-pay-to-win game, and I hate those types of games.

It also has a learning curve that I am just not willing to invest in. I went to the forums for the game and everyone there says you have to put in at least a few thousands battles if you want to start learning and getting good at the game. That's outrageous and seems like the game is geared towards those who have nothing more to do with their lives than sit around and play games. Which is fine, but I'm definitely not that type of person so this game is really not that appealing to me at all.

The game does a poor job of helping new players, but I don't know if you need a few thousand battles. It's not a typical FPS, and there are lots of players who simply never grasp some of the game's basic principles, even after thousands of games. One of the bad things for new players is that the low-Tier vehicles are almost all terrible.

Iam enjoying the New Japanese Heavies though WG are going to nerf them because they are currently too good.

I was looking at them on Tank Compare, and yeah, some of them look really nasty. The O-I Experimental compared to the KV-1 and the BDR G1B, or the O-Ni compared to the KV-3 and the T29.

 

[Commodore]

Commodore, of these...



...which is your favorite?

Sword of the Stars 1. The game is 10 years old now, but it is still my favorite 4x game out there. It was designed with multiplayer in mind, so micromanagement is almost non-existent and the micro that does exist is all handled through easy to access sliders. That's not to say the game is simple though. The developers stated they wanted to make the game easy to learn but hard to master. They did exactly that in my opinion. Especially with the combat. The combat is real-time and there are just so many tactical options available to the player that it's hard to list them all. You can even target individual weapon turrets on enemy ships and assign your ships' weapons to different weapon groups and set individual firing behaviors for each weapon group.

One of the coolest features of the game though is that each race has their own completely unique method of FTL to move around the galaxy. That has an effect on both the tactical and strategic aspects of the game and really does serve to separate the races in terms of play style. There's also the randomized tech tree, something I wish more games would do. Aside from a few core techs that you will get all the time for balance reasons, most of the techs are completely randomized from game to game. They also made it so each race has increased or decreased chances of getting certain techs based on their traits and specializations.

 

[EgonSpengler]

One of the coolest features of the game though is that each race has their own completely unique method of FTL to move around the galaxy. That has an effect on both the tactical and strategic aspects of the game and really does serve to separate the races in terms of play style.

That can really enhance a game's replay value. I haven't played it, but the reviews of Total War: Warhammer I've read cite the different rules and playstyles of the various factions as a strength. It's more than just different victory conditions, orders of battle, or varying unit strengths & weaknesses (although the best games have those things, too).

 

[Ajidica]

Been playing a lot of Witcher 3 lately and I'm pretty blown away by it, especially by the writing and voice acting. The Family Matters questline with the Bloody Baron nearly brought me to tears.
I've basically wrapped up the swamps except for a few high level monster contract quests and moved on to Novigrad.

EDIT: I forgot how funny Geralt can be, especially when dealing with merchants who try and cheat him.

Spoiler for size :

 

[Zkribbler]

Sword of the Stars 1.

micromanagement is almost non-existent and the micro that does exist is all handled through easy to access sliders.

easy to learn but hard to master.

each race has their own completely unique method of FTL to move around the galaxy.

randomized tech tree...each race has increased or decreased chances of getting certain techs based on their traits and specializations.

I'm very glad we had this little talk. I'm just starting Stellaris now, but someday.

 

[Ajidica]

I echo everything Commodore has said about Sword of the Stars 1.
As an added benefit the designers made some of the best game trailers I've seen; notably the trailer for SotS2. Shame the game itself was so bad.

Link to video.

 

[Commodore]

I echo everything Commodore has said about Sword of the Stars 1.
As an added benefit the designers made some of the best game trailers I've seen; notably the trailer for SotS2. Shame the game itself was so bad.

Link to video.

Yeah, even putting the horrible state the game was in at launch aside, it still wasn't all that good. Kerberos may have fixed all the technical problems with the game, but they took away everything that made SotS 1 such a great game. Ship design is now extremely confusing, there's ridiculous amounts micromanagement that kills my enjoyment of the game, and the economic model for the game has become needlessly complex. The tech tree also became very confusing and hard to navigate.

It's like they did a complete 180 on the game and tried to make it like a Paradox game or something, and it just didn't work out too well. There were some good things about SotS 2 though. I like that battles were now fought in an entire star system instead of being focused around just a single planet and the addition of feasibility studies for techs before you can research them was pretty cool too. Unfortunately, those cool features were overshadowed by the bad aspects of the game design. It's like Kerberos was trying to make the sequel more like all the other 4x games out there instead of just sticking to what made SotS 1 such a uniquely fun 4x experience.

 

[warpus]

Loaded up CivIV:Colonization yesterday, they need to remake this game again.

 

[gay_Aleks]

I would recommend you to try Religion & Revolution, a super-fun mod that expands upon Civ4:Col a LOT. It's very good. Sadly, no longer developed but still very solid.

 

[warpus]

Nice! Will def. check this out, thanks

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

Been playing a lot of Witcher 3 lately and I'm pretty blown away by it, especially by the writing and voice acting. The Family Matters questline with the Bloody Baron nearly brought me to tears.
I've basically wrapped up the swamps except for a few high level monster contract quests and moved on to Novigrad.

EDIT: I forgot how funny Geralt can be, especially when dealing with merchants who try and cheat him.

Spoiler for size :

It's super impressive from beginning to end, and the world is just so consistently tragic and dark and dangerous without feeling cheaply so, and the characters all feel like actual characters and not stock NPCs. It's really good all the way through to the end, so enjoy.

 

[FriendlyFire]

I was looking at them on Tank Compare, and yeah, some of them look really nasty. The O-I Experimental compared to the KV-1 and the BDR G1B, or the O-Ni compared to the KV-3 and the T29.

Japanese heavies just got nerfed with 9.15 patch.

Pretty standard WG MO, release over powdered new tank tree which all peoples spend monies to grind, then nerf them all later after making the monies. The Tier 5, 6 and 7 were all OP, I will miss them.

 

[Commodore]

I'm very glad we had this little talk. I'm just starting Stellaris now, but someday.

How are you liking Stellaris? I know it's a Paradox game so it's going to be very involved, but how steep is the learning curve?

 

[EgonSpengler]

Japanese heavies just got nerfed with 9.15 patch.

Pretty standard WG MO, release over powdered new tank tree which all peoples spend monies to grind, then nerf them all later after making the monies. The Tier 5, 6 and 7 were all OP, I will miss them.

I downloaded the patch last night, but I didn't get around to actually playing a game, I just read the notes and poked around the garage UI changes. I have to familiarize myself with their new vehicle metrics; right now those numbers don't mean anything to me. I see they implemented the Base Capture timer and view range circles from the mods, which is cool.

I saw they also removed the WTH E-100 entirely. Probably for the best. I don't have any Tier Xs myself, but that thing was a little silly, even after they nerfed it and even compared to the other Tier X TDs. None of the changes were to vehicles that I have in my garage, so the update didn't hit me below the belt.

The new, increased magnification levels could be huge, I'm not sure yet. It's hard to know who they'll benefit. The accurate guns or the inaccurate guns? The players who have good marksmanship, or the players who can't hit the broad side of a barn? As a middle-of-the-road player, I'd be bummed if it just gives the minnows a boost.

EDIT: Ooh, hey. I just saw they buffed the penetration of the German short 88mm, from 132 to 145. That's pretty dramatic. There are only a couple of tanks that really rely on that gun - Jagdpanzer IV, VK 3002 - but its pen was always their Achilles Heel. They were great vehicles otherwise, so this could be big for them.

 

[Zkribbler]

How are you liking Stellaris? I know it's a Paradox game so it's going to be very involved, but how steep is the learning curve?

It's got neither wiki nor instructions, so it's a bit of a pain. I watched some quill18 let's plays, which were helpful. There's a tutorial, which is sometimes helpful.

I've been playing some abortive games, just so I get the feel. Last night, I got into my first war. This morning, my laptop crashed. Monday, I'll take it into the shop to see if it can be fixed.

I give it more of a thumbs up than a thumbs down, and I expect things to get better. Plus, I'm a big Paradox fan. However, I'm not yet ready to recommend this game.