spacerumsfeld

Phaedrus' Street Crew
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Posts posted by spacerumsfeld

  3. Posted

    What trips up the AI?  Is the game too complex, or is it the classic "AIs don't just can't do diplomacy" problem?  Or something else?

    The game is just too complex.  It has an extensive planetary component where you transported troops from system to system and played a full-on wargame on a hex grid on each system.  There were labs where you researched technologies, but these were forbidden so Inquisitors sent by the Emperor could come and shut you down.  The AI just couldn't deal with it all.

     

    It's really a shame.  I think it would have been one of the best space strategy games ever made if it had worked.  We tried a few play-by-email games a long time ago but they all eventually fell apart, as those things do.  ("Who's turn is it?"  "Oh yeah it's mine, I'll get to it this weekend."  etc.)  I still keep the original CD and manual around because I liked it so much.

  4. Posted

    I think there's a bit of context there. We kinda talked about how WH40K is really dumb and derivative, but it has done that with such gusto and investment that we kinda, sorta care now. And really, the Tau aren't Space Japanese. At least not in the fiction I've read.

     

    You've read the Warhammer fiction?  Holy heck.

     

    There is a great but broken space 4X in a Warhammer-like universe (space emperor, technology, etc.) called Emperor of the Fading Suns.  I did not hear anyone mention it.  It was one of my favorite games when it came out, but is sadly completely broken because the AI is incapable of playing the game.

     

    If you want to learn more about it, here is the definitive FAQ on the game, written in 1997 by a guy named Tom Chick.  You may have heard of him.

     

    http://www.gamesradar.com/cheats/2528/

  5. Posted

    I loved talking to Paul - one of the many insights he gave me was the idea that the critical mass of Bulge/Overlord games actually encourages more Bulge/Overlord games because people devote themselves to collecting everything in this subset of the hobby, comparing different games, seeing how different designers approach the topics, etc.  So having a lot of games on a topic doesn't necessarily discourage more entries.

     

    It also got me to drag out my copy of La vallee de la mort now that I know it isn't going to be reprinted any time soon.

  6. Posted

    Question for Bruce...

    During the cast, you seem to imply that the addition of the cover system was a negative for you. You used an example where putting troops in an open field was not a viable option.

    Can you explain where you were going with that a bit more? Are you suggesting that the game over-rewards being in cover, that you want to see more open maps or something else?

    I didn't mean to suggest that. I simply wanted Jake to talk about the changes, and their implications, which he did.

  7. Posted

    Though Bruce tends to make himself really “small” once he is talking to “unfamiliar” developers, while he gets “louder” when being among yourselves. I found Bruce’s control critics very valid and saying that it’s due to multiplatform does not make the outcome any better for the PC.

    Korandor, thanks for the comment. I think what you're picking up is simply me being more "professional" in that setting. When I am talking to Troy or Bill Abner or Julian I can call them idiots and have them call me an idiot back, and nobody's feelings are hurt. But that's not appropriate behavior in a social setting when you haven't met someone before, and it isn't appropriate behavior when you've invited a developer onto a show to talk about his game. Those are really two different kinds of shows.

  9. Posted

    I've been playing some m/p Battle Academy, and while I still don't have a final opinion, it isn't grabbing me for a variety of reasons, the biggest bent that it uses a square grid instead of a hex grid, and I feel like this undermines a lot of the game mechanics which push it towards the "serious wargame" end of the spectrum. I also don't like the control scheme, which has led to more than a few mistaken moves. I really like what the game is trying to do, but so far it hasn't succeeded for me.

    -Bruce