What videogames have you been playing? version 1.22: What's with that plural?

[Farm Boy]

I think it's the masochism of Elden that gets me hooked. I'll get wasted by something new, undoing most of a play session, but that's almost giggle worthy. A good trap that you should have seen but didn't, that's Dark Souls perfection. At least you learned something. Game constantly springs tricks on you. I guess it would be sort of like playing a game with seasons and they keep throwing Patches at you.

 

[Kyriakos]

Didn't play it, but watched a walkthrough, and I did like some of the ideas. It's a horror adventure

 

[EgonSpengler]

The Long Dark: Tales from the Far Territory - Interloper. Day 70. Ash Canyon.

Going to Ash Canyon turned out to be pretty lucrative. I got the technical pack and the crampons and found six boxes of matches, which is ridiculous. Then I got surprised by a wolf. Oh well. Nothing I could've done, I don't think. 70 days is a new personal record for Interloper, anyway.

 

[Takhisis]

I propose a reboot of the franchise, no Civ VII, instead just to be called Civilization. It will be server-based and require an always-on internet connection, and the spawned resources are shared throughout the entire community.

Buildings and units will be replaced with a new system of “civics” whereby the geographical features of a city, no longer to be built by settlers, will determine the output of each city.

Also, the in-game currency of gold will also be supplemented by CivDiamonds that can be purchased in small transactions, almost on a micro scale, to speed up and enhance the experience. Otherwise, players can wait in real-time for construction to finish.

Furthermore, since the game is now always online, there will be no need for computer players and all games will be conducted with other real people, further enhancing the experience. And as chats are generally cumbersome, the game will use a permanent microphone connection and video camera to guarantee that players are in fact human and not bots.

I anxiously await your accolades.

I’m also playing Civ2TOT at the moment.

Don't make me have to punish you.

 

[Zardnaar]

Glorious raptor infantry in support of Warlord Zsinj have pushed into the galactic core. Grand Admiral Thrawn has died but rumors of a clone Emperor and a new dark Empire linger.

Corellia, Kuat and Coruscant fell the the advancing raptors along with a side campaign capturing the New Republic capital at Bothawui.

The Razors Kiss executor class super star destroyer was constructed at Kuat. The Warlord Zsinj personally had to lead the defense after rushing back from Corellia. His fleet was unprepared for defensive operations but was the only one close enough to arrive in time vs a major imperial push from the deep core. Outnumbered by 50% the Kuat defenses held with help from a ground based HVG.

The Empire managed to destroy most of Zsinjs fleet and bring down the shields of the Iron Fist SSD. Nevertheless an interdictor and a handful of Corellian corvettes survived along with Zsing moderately damaged SSD. Losses of the fleet were approximately 40%.

New fleets rush to the core and to reinforce Coruscant. 4 warlord fleets have pushed into the deep fore to dig out Imperial Remnant forces and to confirm if Palpatine has returned.

Moderate to heavy losses are expected on the ground sieging down the imperial fortress world's.

 

[Takhisis]

Since I am mildly feverish and have my left arm inutilised from yesterday's Covid booster shot, videogame afternoon is ON. Right-arm single-player mode FTW.

 

[Zardnaar]

Warlord Zsinj resumed his offensive against the other imperial hold outs and rebel scum. The deep core world's rapidly fell with reasonably light losses.

Up north a fleet belonging to the Pentastar Alignment snuck through and laid siege to Myrkr.


Emperor may have used a legion of his finest troops at Endor I used 9


Not that it mattered. Immediate counter attacks recaptured the planet.



A rumors of the Emperor's return were perhaps true. A man claiming to be Emperor Palapine was encountered



He claimed to be a Sith lord. Delirious accounts of his ability to shoot force lightning were called in. He was slicing and dicing the raptor troops a bit to well.



"Use the force Zsinj" aka TIE bomber airstrike. Palpatine wouldn't die to this but the clone did.

With the death of Palpatine 2.0 several imperial world's fell in quick succession. The remaining forces of this dark empire rallied around a new "Sith Lord" named Carnor Jax.


The pretender to my Imperial throne engaged my troops and much like Palapine was very difficult to kill.

Zsinj "used the force" and called in TIE bomberd. They missed. Then orbital strikes but unable to locate the target.

Carnor retreated in time and fled the planet and the dark empire was routed. Their remnants have been driven out of the deep core and core world's.

Forces reached Bakura encountering several admirals representing the "Empire of the Hand" claiming legitimacy from Grand Admiral Thrawn now deceased. They joined him in death and the Galaxy is bisected. A few pockets remain with concentrations in the galactic South, West and North West.

Most of their leaders are dead the Imperial Remnant has some nice world's left in the south while the Pentastar Alignment remnants are reduced to their core worlds in the north. Their leader Grand Moff Kaine is dead but they refuse to surrender.

 

[EgonSpengler]

The Long Dark - Interloper. Day 8.

I decided to get right back on the horse. I chose Snow Walker, and Cold Fusion instead of Blizzard Walker this time. Started in Desolation Point, then buzzed through Crumbling Highway, Coastal Highway, Pleasant Valley, and Carter Dam, hitting only the usual 'hot spots' en route to the camp office at Mystery Lake. I've found 2 hacksaws, a magnifying lens, and a Mackinaw Jacket. No forge hammer yet, though. Also no prybar, but that's not a big deal. It was a full week before I found a sleeping bag, which was starting to put a frown on my face. I assume there won't be a hammer in any of the regions that have a forge, so if I can't find one in Mystery Lake, I'll have to head to Milton, which maybe isn't the worst thing in the world, but I'd like to get hunting soon. If worse comes to worst, I think there's always a hammer at the signal fire in Hushed River Valley (or, at least, there used to be, before they redid the Interloper loot tables).

 

[tjs282]

Four games of Civ3Conquests started and abandoned over the past week, all at Demigod, all on all-random maps, all-random Civs.

First one was the Germans on a 60% Archi. Nice enough terrain for the starting position, lots of rivers, despite no Iron or Horses. Seemed to be going pretty well -- until the Celts attacked for the second time, this time with Knights and GSwords...

Round 2 was "Mongols in the Jungle" on a 60% Archi. Again, no Iron or Horses on my island, and all the Jungle (and minimal freshwater) meant it took way too long to get my towns to Pop7+ to ever make Republic viable, so I got left behind. Nonetheless, the game was still still going relatively well, even after getting dogpiled by (eventually) 6/7 of the AI-Civs — only the Greeks stayed friendly, but they were even more backwards than me! I captured a few (pretty useless) towns from the Babs and defeated multiple landings of CrapUnits using my own Poor Man's Army of Archers/LBMs + Spears + Cats/Trebs. But shortly after getting utterly scalped by the Babs for their spare Iron (Spices + 52 gpt! Scammers!), the Indian Nellies and Portuguese Cavalries started arriving...

Third game, I got the Americans on a narrow peninsula, with a Grassland-Cow and Spices near Washington, but still no nearby Strategic resources. Still not sure what map-type I'd rolled (60% Continents? 60% Archi?): sent my Scout west and then north and met the Russians, but couldn't explore east due to a Persian Spear blocking a 1-tile chokepoint within the first 10 turns, before my Palace-borders had expanded enough to show that my 'island' joined theirs. Second town (for Settler-builds) was just up when Russian Spears + Axes sneak-attacked from the north (even though they still had oodles of spare land to fill); fought them off while desperately building Archers, and founding my third town. Then the Persians declared from the east and the second wave of Russians arrived. This time they were all on bloody Horses...

Last one was a total joke start: Greeks on coastal Plains with 4 Sugars. No water. Desert to the south and east, Hills and Mountains to the northeast, and Tundra due north. Managed to plant 5 widely separated towns, but all those Settlers had to come from Athens, which was the only city that could get to Pop3. Still actually made it to Philo before anyone else on the map, took Code_of_Laws as my freebie (but should probably rather have picked Map_Making). Traded for the techs I didn't have yet, showing Iron and Horses visible but remote — and in terrain that wasn't going to support any town larger than Pop2 without Harbours or Electricity. Three turns from learning Republic, the English declared on me — and then recruited my neighbours the Romans. Haven't technically quit this one yet, but there's no real point in continuing...

 

[Synobun]

Four games of Civ3Conquests started and abandoned over the past week, all at Demigod, all on all-random maps, all-random Civs.

First one was the Germans on a 60% Archi. Nice enough terrain for the starting position, lots of rivers, despite no Iron or Horses. Seemed to be going pretty well -- until the Celts attacked for the second time, this time with Knights and GSwords...

Round 2 was "Mongols in the Jungle" on a 60% Archi. Again, no Iron or Horses on my island, and all the Jungle (and minimal freshwater) meant it took way too long to get my towns to Pop7+ to ever make Republic viable, so I got left behind. Nonetheless, the game was still still going relatively well, even after getting dogpiled by (eventually) 6/7 of the AI-Civs — only the Greeks stayed friendly, but they were even more backwards than me! I captured a few (pretty useless) towns from the Babs and defeated multiple landings of CrapUnits using my own Poor Man's Army of Archers/LBMs + Spears + Cats/Trebs. But shortly after getting utterly scalped by the Babs for their spare Iron (Spices + 52 gpt! Scammers!), the Indian Nellies and Portuguese Cavalries started arriving...

Third game, I got the Americans on a narrow peninsula, with a Grassland-Cow and Spices near Washington, but still no nearby Strategic resources. Still not sure what map-type I'd rolled (60% Continents? 60% Archi?): sent my Scout west and then north and met the Russians, but couldn't explore east due to a Persian Spear blocking a 1-tile chokepoint within the first 10 turns, before my Palace-borders had expanded enough to show that my 'island' joined theirs. Second town (for Settler-builds) was just up when Russian Spears + Axes sneak-attacked from the north (even though they still had oodles of spare land to fill); fought them off while desperately building Archers, and founding my third town. Then the Persians declared from the east and the second wave of Russians arrived. This time they were all on bloody Horses...

Last one was a total joke start: Greeks on coastal Plains with 4 Sugars. No water. Desert to the south and east, Hills and Mountains to the northeast, and Tundra due north. Managed to plant 5 widely separated towns, but all those Settlers had to come from Athens, which was the only city that could get to Pop3. Still actually made it to Philo before anyone else on the map, took Code_of_Laws as my freebie (but should probably rather have picked Map_Making). Traded for the techs I didn't have yet, showing Iron and Horses visible but remote — and in terrain that wasn't going to support any town larger than Pop2 without Harbours or Electricity. Three turns from learning Republic, the English declared on me — and then recruited my neighbours the Romans. Haven't technically quit this one yet, but there's no real point in continuing...

Maybe Chieftain next time?

 

[tjs282]

I think you mean "Go back to Chieftain!"

To which I reply, in true Bill the Cat style, "Ack ththpppbbbttttttt!"

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Anybody remember that mod for C3C called "World 2004"? I've been playing that a lot recently thanks to finding it on the "Wayback Machine".

 

[Zardnaar]

Four games of Civ3Conquests started and abandoned over the past week, all at Demigod, all on all-random maps, all-random Civs.

First one was the Germans on a 60% Archi. Nice enough terrain for the starting position, lots of rivers, despite no Iron or Horses. Seemed to be going pretty well -- until the Celts attacked for the second time, this time with Knights and GSwords...

Round 2 was "Mongols in the Jungle" on a 60% Archi. Again, no Iron or Horses on my island, and all the Jungle (and minimal freshwater) meant it took way too long to get my towns to Pop7+ to ever make Republic viable, so I got left behind. Nonetheless, the game was still still going relatively well, even after getting dogpiled by (eventually) 6/7 of the AI-Civs — only the Greeks stayed friendly, but they were even more backwards than me! I captured a few (pretty useless) towns from the Babs and defeated multiple landings of CrapUnits using my own Poor Man's Army of Archers/LBMs + Spears + Cats/Trebs. But shortly after getting utterly scalped by the Babs for their spare Iron (Spices + 52 gpt! Scammers!), the Indian Nellies and Portuguese Cavalries started arriving...

Third game, I got the Americans on a narrow peninsula, with a Grassland-Cow and Spices near Washington, but still no nearby Strategic resources. Still not sure what map-type I'd rolled (60% Continents? 60% Archi?): sent my Scout west and then north and met the Russians, but couldn't explore east due to a Persian Spear blocking a 1-tile chokepoint within the first 10 turns, before my Palace-borders had expanded enough to show that my 'island' joined theirs. Second town (for Settler-builds) was just up when Russian Spears + Axes sneak-attacked from the north (even though they still had oodles of spare land to fill); fought them off while desperately building Archers, and founding my third town. Then the Persians declared from the east and the second wave of Russians arrived. This time they were all on bloody Horses...

Last one was a total joke start: Greeks on coastal Plains with 4 Sugars. No water. Desert to the south and east, Hills and Mountains to the northeast, and Tundra due north. Managed to plant 5 widely separated towns, but all those Settlers had to come from Athens, which was the only city that could get to Pop3. Still actually made it to Philo before anyone else on the map, took Code_of_Laws as my freebie (but should probably rather have picked Map_Making). Traded for the techs I didn't have yet, showing Iron and Horses visible but remote — and in terrain that wasn't going to support any town larger than Pop2 without Harbours or Electricity. Three turns from learning Republic, the English declared on me — and then recruited my neighbours the Romans. Haven't technically quit this one yet, but there's no real point in continuing...

Protip once you go past Emperor difficulty Republic isn't that good. Emperor is about the last difficulty you can win fairly.

You have to either cook your starts eg seafaring+islands or relistart until you get a decent position.

Pangaea maps also the tech rate is insane you can't keep up by playing fair with the AI.

I won my first Deity game civ 3 as Romans on Pangaea years ago via constant war then war some more. Beat techs out if the AI, monarchy into communism/fascism.

Don't think I ever beat Sid due to the monotony involved.

The AI will out tech you and out expand you, bigger army etc etc etc.

Use lots of artillery units and choke points you need to wear them down before you can counter attack into the cities.

Think I won a cultural victory on Demigod as the Byzantines.

Get used to burning cites down vs capturing them.

 

[tjs282]

Protip once you go past Emperor difficulty Republic isn't that good. Emperor is about the last difficulty you can win fairly.

You have to either cook your starts eg seafaring+islands or relistart until you get a decent position.

Pangaea maps also the tech rate is insane you can't keep up by playing fair with the AI.

I won my first Deity game civ 3 as Romans on Pangaea years ago via constant war then war some more. Beat techs out if the AI, monarchy into communism/fascism.

Don't think I ever beat Sid due to the monotony involved.

The AI will out tech you and out expand you, bigger army etc etc etc.

Use lots of artillery units and choke points you need to wear them down before you can counter attack into the cities.

Think I won a cultural victory on Demigod as the Byzantines.

Get used to burning cites down vs capturing them.

The last game before those 4, I rolled Carthage as my Civ, on a Large random (but probably 60-70% Continents) map.

Wiped the Iroqs, the Zulus, and finally the Ottos off my landmass (and in between Shaka and Ozzie, also exiled Dutch Willy to a far-northern Tundra island — where Ragnar killed him later), meanwhile also relieving the Aztecs of their towns on a small Hilly island just off Carthage itself. (Later also acquired the sole Mayan colony on that island, after Smoke got bribed by Wang) Then evicted Henry from a substantial-but-Jungly island between the 2 major landmasses, before rolling over his homeland with Bombers, Tank-Armies, MechInfs, and a few Modern Armour (wasn't really interested in taking it over, though: I gifted the first few of those towns to Ragnar and Abe, to form a buffer against the Koreans).

Eventually launched my Spaceship in the mid-1800s (couldn't run through the victory screens because of the video-display-resizing crash that happens with depressing frequency on my Win8.1 machine), though could almost certainly have won Domination (a lot) sooner, if I'd felt like being (a lot) more brutal. Could possibly even have won Diplo earlier than I launched (I only razed a couple of Iro towns, and astoundingly managed to keep my trade-rep clean throughout almost the entire game).

And in Republic all the way, with Culture-flipping switched on, and without cheesy exploits — other than stealing all the Flintlock-patched AI's bombardment-units that they were helpful enough to bring within reach (I had >100 Arties by end-of-game!)

But yeah, I am very much aware that that taking all-random starts at DG+ makes winning essentially just a numbers-game — and also that Pangaea maps kinda suck even on Emperor, never mind DG+!

 

[EgonSpengler]

I played some American Truck Simulator last night, doing short hauls around Southern California. They've added a lot of new trucks and new maps over the years. When I first played it, I think they only had 2 Kenworths and 2 Peterbilts, one old and one new each. Now they have Freightliners, Internationals, Macks, Volvos, and Western Stars. For all that, though, I think the ol' Kenworth W900 might still be my favorite. As somebody who grew up in the nineteen*cough**cough*, I still prefer the look of the American trucks of the '60s and '70s to more modern designs.

I drove one truck last night that had a dashboard set on a diagonal. irl, I imagine that puts more of the controls in arm's reach of the driver, without having to lean or stretch across, but in the game, it just created an optical illusion that I wasn't facing forward, especially at night. There's another truck with the left-hand side mirror mounted on extra-long arms. Again, I can see the utility of that irl, but in the game it just means the side mirror isn't viewable while I'm facing forward. A 3rd truck had a bass note in the engine noise that kind of pulsed rhythmically instead of being a steady murmur, and that was real annoying. I couldn't tell if I was just in the wrong gear, but I didn't otherwise think I was (rpm, mph, acceleration all seemed right). Unfortunately, I can't remember now which truck was which. Guess I need to start taking notes.

Also, driving a reticulated trailer is no big deal, but parking them [flipping] [stinks]. There was one that had two knuckles. And you want me to park it where? [Frag] that. I'm just gonna leave it here in your driveway. You figure it out. Where can I get some General Gao's Chicken around here?

As for the map, they've added Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Texas, and they've announced Oklahoma and Kansas. I don't want to pay full price for all of that ($12 ea.), but maybe next time there's a big sale.

I may need to look into what mods are available these days, too. I seem to remember there were some that added real companies' logos into the game. I imagine there's all sorts of new ones. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some graphics mods out there. The graphics have definitely been improved over the years, but I imagine they're trying to keep it accessible to lower-end PCs. The trees still look a little flat, for example.

 

[Plains-Cow]

I've been playing Civilization!

 

[Sommerswerd]

The Long Dark: Tales from the Far Territory - Interloper. Day 70. Ash Canyon.

Going to Ash Canyon turned out to be pretty lucrative. I got the technical pack and the crampons and found six boxes of matches, which is ridiculous. Then I got surprised by a wolf. Oh well. Nothing I could've done, I don't think. 70 days is a new personal record for Interloper, anyway.

As long as I've played thus game, I always seem to die to a random, unavoidable wolf ambush right when I get to a point where I'm thinking that I'm in a good position to make a long run, in terms of gear, tools, clothes, supplies, stocked bases, etc. That's when I suddenly and inexplicably get jumped by three wolves in rapid succession that come seemingly out of nowhere

 

[EgonSpengler]

As long as I've played thus game, I always seem to die to a random, unavoidable wolf ambush right when I get to a point where I'm thinking that I'm in a good position to make a long run, in terms of gear, tools, clothes, supplies, stocked bases, etc. That's when I suddenly and inexplicably get jumped by three wolves in rapid succession that come seemingly out of nowhere: lol:

Yeah, the options for dealing with a sneak attack like that aren't great. I could have been a little more careful moving around some tight terrain. I could have husbanded my Health a little better. It was late in the day, so I was at about 60%, just from cold and hunger. Could I have been more circumspect throughout the day, and thus had 80% Health when the wolf jumped me? Maybe. Maybe it wouldn't have made enough of a difference. I grabbed my knife, but would the hatchet have been a better choice? Maybe. Maybe not. Ultimately, there is an element of luck. If the wolf had been on the other end of its 'patrol' route, I'd have seen it. If it had stopped to howl, I'd have heard it. If I had scored a critical with my first couple of knife attacks, I'd have chased it off before it killed me. As one of the developers said recently, this game is supposed to kill you. It's not a survival-in-the-wilderness simulator, it's a death-in-the-wilderness simulator.

 

[Gori the Grey]

it's a death-in-the-wilderness simulator

an until-your-inevitable-death-in-the-wilderness challenge, as you and Sommer have described it here.

Even if I were the kind of person who plays more games than CivV, and even given how good you two make this game sound, I think I would, in the end, pass on it for that reason.

I play CivV on deity level, and at that level win maybe one game in ten. That's pretty masochistic. But this takes the next step over that line. Now a player could set his own goals, and say extending life for X days counts as a win, or beating my last longevity counts as a win. But nothing is a win!

 

[Sommerswerd]

an until-your-inevitable-death-in-the-wilderness challenge, as you and Sommer have described it here.

Even if I were the kind of person who plays more games than CivV, and even given how good you two make this game sound, I think I would, in the end, pass on it for that reason.

I play CivV on deity level, and at that level win maybe one game in ten. That's pretty masochistic. But this takes the next step over that line. Now a player could set his own goals, and say extending life for X days counts as a win, or beating my last longevity counts as a win. But nothing is a win!

As I mentioned before... when you hear the theme music for the game (any edition) you instantly know that this isn't a "happy ending" kind of game. But I have to say, that this game... in some ways, much like Civ... is kind of a fun/relief to die, because its so fun starting over. The early game... in so many ways, is the best part of the game. So when @EgonSpengler says that he "jumped right back in the saddle", I can totally relate to that. Its hard to fully describe the feeling, but when you die in this game, you don't have that exasperated feeling of "Aw man... I lost all my progress/stuff "

It's more like the feeling you have when you get off a roller coaster, or finish watching a really good movie... you wanna do it again, right away. As far as goals go, well for one thing, there are the story mode episodes, as well as the minigame/challenge modes, where you actually can "win" (or "finish" at least) so don't fret about that. The mode where death is the only, inevitable conclusion, is the "Survival" mode, and achievements abound in that mode, so there is always something new, some new goal to accomplish.

The other thing, is that the game is so immersive, that the whole concept of "goals" in a macro sense, start to fade, really. It very quickly becomes all about "What am I going to do today/tomorrow?" and "What item(s) do I need next and where can I get them?" and the omnipresent, all-important "What am I going to eat/drink today/tomorrow?" The day-to-day survival starts to become a game onto itself, where you're not so much playing one game, as much as you are doing a series of independent, but interconnected challenges, that take place one after the other, beginning with the sunrise each day. in other words, if @EgonSpengler survived for 70 days... he didn't play one game where he lost after 70 days. He played 70 games where he won 69 times and lost once. That's really how you feel when you die in the game.

The other thing that is different about this game... for me at least, is how BIG the environment is... I mean the game was already pretty ridiculously big, but they keep adding more and more regions, to the point where now, it really feels like the game is just endless. there is literally so much to explore, so much to collect, so much to do. I may be a little more predisposed to getting overwhelmed/over-impressed with First Person, "open world" games, since such a thing was unheard of in games when I was young. The closest thing I had to an open world game back then was Zelda 2: Adventure of Link and that game blew my mind at the time. The first next gen Open World game I really got into was Zelda: Ocarina of Time as a young adult and that one blew my mind again. TLD is way bigger than Ocarina, in terms of how many different places you can go, (both in a macro and micro sense) and how many different things you can collect/use.