What are you playing now? [2007-2018]

[hoho]

Tried some Civ 4 last night. I thought I had it create huge world but instead I got something rather tiny with just one continent and 2-move explorer being able to cross it in about 20 moves. I also invested massively to research and ended up with rockets at 1500AD, though then Ghengis Khan decided to declare war on me and wiped my machinegunners off with catapults and horses

 

[KimB]

Tried some Civ 4 last night. I thought I had it create huge world but instead I got something rather tiny with just one continent and 2-move explorer being able to cross it in about 20 moves. I also invested massively to research and ended up with rockets at 1500AD, though then Ghengis Khan decided to declare war on me and wiped my machinegunners off with catapults and horses

Haha, yes, the game does take some getting used to. I remember being completely overwhelmed the first few times I played the game.

I'm not sure what happened with the gametype, but the strategy I usually use to fend off attacks is to get a few ranged units. Stationed in cities, even a single ranged unit can often beat off an entire invasion, provided it is at least as high in technology. Not always, of course, and definitely not at the higher challenge levels.

If you had riflemen, for example, then you should also have had either trebuchets, crossbowmen, or cannons, any of which stationed in the city being attacked may have been enough to tip the balance.

Melee units aren't really that good for defending, unfortunately, and you have to be really really careful to avoid getting them killed.

 

[John Reynolds]

Ah ?
Not waiting for the Enhanced Edition ?

Thought about it. In fact, the new video of Letho killing the king on the boat is what got me to reinstall the game. But I might play it again, especially if I upgrade my GPU this spring and it can handle the game with ubersampling enabled. And the new content and going through Act 2 via the other path should hold my interest (assuming the EE sneaks between Mass Effect 3 and Diablo 3's release dates).

 

[hoho]

Haha, yes, the game does take some getting used to. I remember being completely overwhelmed the first few times I played the game.

Yeah, it is somewhat different from other Civ games I've played (all but fifth). Yesterday things went much better so I actually managed to survive a few attacks without too much problems by adding several more defenders.

Though comparing it to Alpha Centauri, AC wins by a huge margin for me. I wonder how good Civ 5 is compared to others. From the little I've heard it has been dumbed down somewhat. Is there any truth to that?

If you had riflemen, for example, then you should also have had either trebuchets, crossbowmen, or cannons, any of which stationed in the city being attacked may have been enough to tip the balance.

I actually had at most 1-2 defenders per city at that point, generally the very first warriors-archers created way back in-game time and upgraded later on.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

From the little I've heard it has been dumbed down somewhat. Is there any truth to that?

Yes and no. Some things are dumbed down (trading, for example) but they also added other things (city-states). It'd be a huge discussion to go over all the stuff that was dumbed down versus things that were added and things that were made more complex.

Regards,
SB

 

[KimB]

Though comparing it to Alpha Centauri, AC wins by a huge margin for me. I wonder how good Civ 5 is compared to others. From the little I've heard it has been dumbed down somewhat. Is there any truth to that?

Hmm, never played Alpha Centauri myself.

I actually had at most 1-2 defenders per city at that point, generally the very first warriors-archers created way back in-game time and upgraded later on.

Yes, that's what I often do. And when an attack heads in, I quickly move some ranged units into the attacked area. Usually can fend it off. Potentially I'll leave a couple of melee units to guard in defensible positions around the city, to take a little bit of the damage off of the city itself. But I find it's best if I almost never use those to attack when defending.

 

[John Reynolds]

Finished up with Witcher 2 and gave Shogun 2 a whirl this weekend. And got my ass handed to me. I need to read a guide on how to play the game, and there are some good ones out there. But I went with the Shimazu, they're nice and isolated off to the west, and was having fun building new stuff in my province and moving my starting army around a little. By turn 10 the neighboring asshole to the north apparently took a liking to my upgraded province and decided it was his. And he marched in with 1 turn's notice with a considerably larger army, wiped out my army, and then sacked the capitol. Game over. This was on Easy difficulty. I was tempted to commit virtual seppeku and uninstall the f'n game, but instead I might try the Chosokabe and actually invest in a larger army in those early turns (and research the military skill tree rather than Chi).

But for now, it's Arkham City again with me running around as the aged Dark Knight thanks to the released skin packs.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Started metro 2033 today. First tried the game when it came out but my radeon 4870 didn't like the game. Not at the settings I wanted to play at anyway. Now with a slightly overclocked 560ti it seems to do 30+ fps most of the time on dx11 very high (dx11 options turned off lol). There should be a decent options menu in the game. My guess is shadows are probably killing performance but there is no way to turn them to a lower setting without lowering all the other stuff as well.

Very atmospheric game though. Think I'm gonna enjoy this one but I need to make sure not to play in the evening too much cause I think I'm gonna give myself a heart attack with all the monsters and stuff.

I'm also playing Battleheart on my phone. Pretty fun game but a little bit repetative.

 

[neliz]

I'm currently playing Xenonauts (UFO/XCOM remake) and Stardrive (Star Control+homewolrd) on Desure. Both in Alpha state.. both loving it

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Did someone mention Star Control? Off to go look up what Stardrive is now.

Regards,
SB

 

[neliz]

Did someone mention Star Control? Off to go look up what Stardrive is now.

Regards,
SB

It's currently in a state of "Alpha Funding" though you're really getting only bits and pieces of what should be a game, but the allure of 2D real-time space combat (with multiple ships), planet management etc. was too much for me to withstand.

 

[Kyyla]

I'm currently playing Xenonauts (UFO/XCOM remake) and Stardrive (Star Control+homewolrd) on Desure. Both in Alpha state.. both loving it

Tell us about Xenonauts!

 

[neliz]

Tell us about Xenonauts!

The best reimagination I've seen to date.

True turn-based. LOS etc. seems to be well in place, not sure how far the combat engine is. so far it seems my weapons are really accurate, compared to the old xcom games. still plenty of bugs. but hey, it's an alpha.

air battles have been detailed a lot more and I can actually apply tactics and have influence myself (evasive rolls)

I haven't checked the economics yet, but everything seems to be pretty relaxed so far.

there are plenty of videos about older Alpha versions though, for instance:

Current version is v9.0 and here's the latest changelog:
http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php?955-Build-V9-Released!&p=11291#post11291

I can't tell too much more since I bought it just before I went to Taiwan and only spent about an hour on it so far, but it definitely has me coming back for more

 

[Dresden]

I just bought Dear Esther from Steam. If it's anywhere near half as beautiful as the trailer makes it look, I'll be really pleased. Ten bucks is a steal, and I'm always a fan of supporting the indie studios. The concept looks interesting and I've read the soundtrack is brilliant. I'll report back.

 

[Kyyla]

I just bought Dear Esther from Steam. If it's anywhere near half as beautiful as the trailer makes it look, I'll be really pleased. Ten bucks is a steal, and I'm always a fan of supporting the indie studios. The concept looks interesting and I've read the soundtrack is brilliant. I'll report back.

Looks interesting, please let us know if it is good.

 

[Sigfried1977]

Just finished Dear Esther. Not 100% sure what it was even all about (or whether it should be called a game for that matter), but I still really enjoyed it. Supposedly the narration changes when you start the game over, peeling back the layers of mystery in the process. I'm very much looking forward to that.
Really worth checking out unless deliberately artsy takes on the medium appall you. Never knew the Source Engine could look this stunning.

 

[Lightman]

Bought it just now as well.
Never heard of it before, but checking trailer and short review was enough to convince me

EDIT: Finished it in one go! WOOW! Beautiful, Sad, Poetic, Amazing

 

[homerdog]

That must be a remake because I played Dear Esther a couple years ago and it was free. And it certainly did not have good graphics.

 

[Lightman]

That must be a remake because I played Dear Esther a couple years ago and it was free. And it certainly did not have good graphics.

Yeah! It's remake which has very nice art direction and pushes Source engine quite a bit

Just a teaser:

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/522653367378329519/09B5D650C4B38C8B8A87B087BF78B8D7B183269D/

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/522653367378340705/D79505A4CF6CF702DFCD05EF2B72659951CAB812/

No fancy SSAA, just plain 4xMSAA and in motion it looks great

 

[Mize]

I've been a Civ V crack addict since xmastime. For me that means 84 hours since late December notwithstanding being overseas for 10 days. Finished an epic game last night where I played Aztecs (love that they get culture points for killling people!) and Nuked at least four cities to nothingness.

Might...have...to...play...another...game...seeing...spiders!!!