riadsala

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Posts posted by riadsala

  2. Posted

    GalCiv2 felt more like a game set in an ocean with archipelagos dotted around the place. The map was/is a flat grid, with featureless terrain, and with the odd planet (island).

     

    Most space games are the same. Which is a shame. As outer space has a load of interesting features that make it unlike anything on Earth. Now, I'm not saying I only want to play "ultra-realistic" space sims (I don't!!!). But I think a game should try to tackle at least a few of features of the domain. And I'm happy with things being abstracted away in a sensible way. Space is really big, with huge distances. And it's in 3d. And there are interesting communication lags. Planets orbit each other, meaning within a solar system, you have periodic "launch windows" when planets are closer to each other. Sure, these all present difficult game design problems. But they probably afford interesting solutions which will make for interesting new games,rather than generic space 4x again v2.

     

    Sword to the Stars did a good job on this front. The map was 3d (with the option for 2d if 3d maps disagree with) and each race had a unique FTL technology, which translated into different movement rules for each race. This meant that you had a map that was unlike anything on earth, with a weird topology. Some races used warp lanes, some races could travel freely, others moved at really slow speeds between stars, before putting up gates that allowed for near instantaneous travel from A to B. Made for an interesting game. Shame the sequel wasn't meant to be much good.

  3. Posted

    I would be interested in a semi-regular "patch/update/mod" show. It would be interesting to see if all the post release patches for Rome2:Total War have improved the game significantly, or is it still a game to avoid. I'm sure there's a plenty long list of strategy game that have been released in recent years and have seen significant post release/review changes. 

     

    i *still* plan to back to Elemental (or whatever they're calling it these days) and see how it eventually ended up. 

  4. Posted

    Seems like they could just set up some specific events/targeted penalties for the Abbasids that cause them to be unable to expand properly. The best example of a forced event i remember in a paradox game is Italian Unification in Victoria, I can never get it to stop. So they have done it before.

     

     

    Seems a bit crappy from a game-mechanic point of view. 

  9. Posted

    I gave up on the cloud because it took so long to save and the saves happened once a month. I haven't had any issues with local ironman.

     

     

    is local ironman an option? I've clearly been doing it wrong, as oh my, was the cloud based saving sucking all the fun out my last game. Really slowed the whole thing down

  10. Posted

     It's the sort of thing where you exhaust every other possible option because they all have a better cost-benefit ratio than full-blown war. It's the sort of thing where you peace out as soon as you achieve your objectives because no possible bonus could offset the malus of continuing the war. Basically, I'm saying it would be nice to move past the American experience in World War II, which has shaped much of our culture and policy, that war is good for business and, so long as you win, it's the best possible thing that can happen to a nation.

     

    I guess we play different games. I always get the impression that the designers are basing war off the rise of Rome, from a small Kingdom to an expansive Empire. Not that I'm disagreeing with you, as the end results are more or less the same :)

  19. Posted

    Sure, i'm good with that. and in the interest in keeping things moving, lets go with it.

     

    So now, all teams should know which pair of races they have. Time for everybody to confer and plan our their pretenders.

     

    If anybody is more experienced than me, and has more free time this month, feel free to take charge of setting up the game, hosting stuff etc! Moving and starting a new job is eating up a lot of my free time, and I'm tied up every weekend this month! Eeek

     

    [i'll easily have time to take turns each week, or even more often though!]

     

    I think some amount of planning should happen or else you can really mess things up. For example, if both teammates choose avatars that can't move, they will have a hard time capturing thrones (unless they also choose magic that allows such movement). Only one of the factions in the list has a level 3 priest that they can hire (which can also capture thrones). 

     

    Since this game will go on for months, I suggest we allow plenty of preparation so nobody feels like quitting half-way through because they made bad starting choices.

  24. Posted

    And here are the suggested alliances. Thanks to my friend for putting these together. I suggest team 1 above (Troy and ShadowTiger) get first pick, then team two, etc etc. Just post below with the alliance you'd like.

     

     

     

    First Alliance: ERMOR, NEW FAITH and C'TIS, LIZARD KINGS. Ermor is an empire of humans centered around a great city, with a long history of martial expansion, cultural annexation, and a surprising degree of apathy and subsequent tolerance towards the cults and rituals of other nations, which has enabled their proliferation throughout the world. The old ways are fading, however, and a new cult has arisen, sworn to eradicate all opposing faiths in the name of an emerging god. They are not alone in this endeavor. C'tis is a nation of lizard-folk, based around a fertile swampy river valley and the surrounding sandy deserts, and it has long been subject to Ermor. Lizard auxiliaries are known to round out the Ermorian legions, and their ties run long and deep. Now the C'tissians have joined the Ermorian cult, eager to claim their position in the emerging hierarchy.

     

    Second Alliance: VANHEIM, AGE OF VANIR and HELHEIM, DUSK AND DEATH. The vanir are a proud and ancient race of the misty moors and bitter forests, tall and innately magical, and harboring a terrible hatred of inferior species. In fact, the primary division in vanir society arises not from internal politics, but from a difference in their approach to lesser races: the vanir of Vanheim believe in live sacrifice to sate their god, while the vanir of Helheim prefer to kill their enemies outright as fuel for their death magics. In either case, when a single divine patron unites the vanir under a single banner, the message is clear: the lesser races of the world will submit or be exterminated, by one method or the other.

     

    Third Alliance: LANKA, LAND OF DEMONS and YOMI, ONI KINGS.  Neither Lanka nor Yomi are strangers to hardship. Both are accustomed to long traditions of demon-worship in a world that has long assumed their dark brethren were banished back to the Nether-Realm centuries ago. Lanka is the successor nation to Kailasa, the kingdom of apes that collapsed beneath a combination of Ermorian aggression, hierarchical collapse, and enslavement at the paws of the Rakshasas, who rule Lanka to this day. Yomi's history is not so dissimilar, as it is home to the great cone-shaped mountain that conceals the entrance to the Nether-Realm at its summit. From this gate entire nations of pot-bellied oni demons have emerged, hunted and despised by other nations for their crude manners and taste for flesh. Now, however, an awakening patron, demonic and hideous, promises to unite the demon-kin and lead them to inherit the world.

     

    Fourth Alliance: PANGAEA, AGE OF REVELRY and OCEANIA, COMING OF THE CAPRICORNS. Sailors have always remarked upon how the frolicking Oceanians of the sea appear uncannily similar to the Pangaeans of the wild wood, and for good reason. Eons ago, Pangaea and Oceania were one species of beast-men, living on the boundary between the forest and the sea. As legend would have it, a quarrel between lovers created a rift between these nations, as one disappeared into the depths of the forest to dance and drink and seduce, caught up in revelry at once wild and somber, while the other drowned beneath the waves, cold and dead until she drew second breath and became the mother of the first intelligent aquatic race. As such, the animosities of these wild but clever creatures have long been the norm. However, a new god has arisen, claiming the title of Bridge-Builder (an appellation that makes little sense to the Oceanians), promising to shepherd them into a world free from the encroachment of so-called civilization, and forging new ties between the cultures and lifestyles of these once-united species.

     

    Fifth Alliance: MICTLAN, REIGN OF BLOOD and MACHAKA, LION KINGS. While most human civilizations, the great city of Ermor and the golden coastal ports of Arcoscephale, have grown fat over the course of their time in this world, the nations of Mictlan and Machaka have lived at the fringes, jealous and patient. Mictlan has been isolated for centuries in their deep jungles, rich with slaves and blood, and lusting in secret for the bronze, wealth, and able bodies of their ignorant neighbors. Machaka, on the other hand, has historically roamed the plains, wary of settling down and accepting the fattening comforts of civilization. Only recently have they united under the rule of the Lion Tribe, and only this at the signs in their totems that a new way is opening. Much to the surprise of both nations, their salvation has been revealed as one and the same, a voice from the sky promising that the inhabitants of the civilized world will pay with blood for their arrogance.