Troy Goodfellow

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Posts posted by Troy Goodfellow

  5. Posted

    Troy´s comment on bows and archers remind of one thing - people often, maybe due years of bad discovery channel-esque shows/documentaries (specially those deadly warrior stuff...) put too much weight in how "amazing" certain weapons and armor would be, and much like Troy said, they ignore the human aspect behind it (or at least they assume that is the most awesome and manly person ever, instead of people that might be afraid, tired, hungry or don´t have a single idea why they are there). Also they often ignore other aspects, such as economic costs, simbolic or culture meanings that this objects might or how in older period and stuff was made by artisans and craftsmans that might have different levels of skill and resources (by that I mean, that object might have different levels of quality, while many people think that everything was the same level) this kind affect the interpretation how those objects where used (because they exagerate them) or not (because in truth they would be impratical or maybe given the kind of warfare this people fight the object might not be useful) and how we think ancient conflicts.

     

    God I hate those shows. There's one on Netflix called ANCIENT BLACK OPS and I know that if I ever decide to open this scotch and go nuts one night, I will hatewatch that for hours until my twitter feed is nothing but a foaming mouth of gibberish.

     

    I am totally fine - in a game - with abstracting a lot of the quality issues. I mean, you have to, right? You can reflect the general level of skill or equipment by assigning higher values (the Great Battles of History games give bonuses to Cretan Archers and Balearic Slingers over their more amateur equivalents, for example). But you are right that ancient war was such an amateur operation most of the time. Even the celebrated Persian immortals, often held up as some elite infantry unit, were probably just elite relative to the mass of Persian levies - they were the permanent core unit of the army, used for bodyguard or capital protection most of the time. As armies became more professional, the idea of what an "elite" unit was changed and the Immortals take on this veneer of being as tough as a well-trained hoplite phalanx, when they probably weren't.

     

    (You see this odd nature of eliteness trickle down to the Praetorian Guard in Rome, which was never considered an elite military unit. They were politically and socially elite, simply the bodyguard to the Imperial family and its interests. But a lot of games want to use the name Praetorian to signify some type of super legion, instead of just the one that happened to be around Rome and so could toss politics on its ear.)

  6. Posted

    Not only are ancient wargames uncommon, but the Mediterranean setting dominates the scene. The closest thing I can think of is GMT's Conquest of Paradise, although it is really more of an exploration game with some very light warfare elements. Seems like there are lots of settings ripe with potential though, India springs to mind for me. I imagine access to good English sources for these histories might be somewhat limiting however.

     

    Former Creative Assembly man RT Smith will soon release Oriental Empires, a TotalWar-like that promises to cover Chinese war from the Shang to the Ming.

     

    I have low expectations, but am curious.

  11. Posted

    I don't know what it is about Lee, but I find listening to him very enjoyable. Now I want to delve back into the archives and download the previous episode in which you discussed Bomber Command, and listen to it again. I hope you have him back next year after Wing Leader Supremacy is released.

     

    Lee is a wonderful guest and I don't think anyone out there is better at turning air war history into interesting boardgame mechanics. And that voice...

  14. Posted

    That's why I like 3MA goals. Exclusive content is some voting and playing MP with guys. Latter should obviously limited. Since I'm poor guy from Eastern Europe I'm glad those guys can have my 5 bucks (half of monthly income in my country) and I'm still helping. But I won't lose a show if state death squads take all my money.

     

    Also are you sure about Napoleon? It's a TW game no one plays. They even play Empire instead. I too love the era but modelling Borodino with couple of thousands guys is underwhelming.

     

    Yep, none of our new monthly podcasts (except for the new Q&A) will be exclusive. Basically, patronage is a way for listeners to show their appreciation and contribute to the "common good" and expansion of the show in new directions. They may get rewards that are nice - we've taken suggestions before but never polled our audience for their preferences - but that don't stick essential parts of the 3MA experience in a walled garden.

  16. Posted

    Well, I haven't said anything about the game beyond this very brief post - I guess I don't see how the simple mechanics can lead to a great variety of endstates and it becomes puzzle like quite early. But I won't nuke it from my Steam list like Rob has. It is a nice little diversion and I need more of those. Terraria never stuck with me, but that's because I am epically bad at platforms.

     

    The Raw Fury team are good people, Gaiz. 

  17. Posted

    I would have loved to have done this show, but have not put in nearly enough time, plus the PR guy is a very recent colleague.

     

    I am, I think, close to where Rob is even without putting in 20 hours of play. Lots to explore, sure, and I am, I guess, OK with the limited range of actions. But it is a puzzle to solve and once you have that routine down (a charming routine for sure), I wonder how long I will keep this fondness.

     

    But still a beautiful game.

  21. Posted

    Rob is joined by Darkest Dungeon developer Tyler Sigman as well as Jon Shafer and Soren Johnson to talk about Early Access. As more games come onto the market in Early Access, gamers are getting more vocal about how it should be done and whether it's ultimately good for the consumer or the developer. Jon and Soren certainly have opinions, and they don't always align. The important thing to remember is that Soren and Jon both love you very much and this is not your fault.

     

    Listen here