Michael

I guess I didn't make myself clear with my previous post. This conversation is not going to lead anywhere productive and is over. To clarify for later generations: I deleted (and will delete) any posts after my message above that continued the conversation that started above.

The internet is big, wide open place. There are plenty of other more appropriate places to have this discussion and I would like to leave this thread open so people can discuss Shadow Tactics. RocketDog, our show is never above criticism, but you clearly have an agenda or point to make and it's not going to lead to a productive conversation here. Consider this a friendly nudge in the right direction. If anyone has any questions or would like clarification, please feel free to PM myself or Rob.

When we switched from Libsyn to Soundcloud for hosting our podcasts there was a bit of a hiccup during the migration. Basically the numbering on a slew of episodes ended up off by one. This issue comes up from time to time though I thought I had fixed most of them at this point. I can fix it tonight and examine the other shows in that number range and see what needs fixing.

While you're technically correct, you're looking at a small, Paradox-heavy subset of shows. We've done 5 Paradox shows over the last calendar year and, yes, 4 of them have been pretty recent. That's because: Paradox just released a whole bunch of stuff recently Our panel loves talking about and playing Paradox games Paradox content gets regular updates which means it's always fun to revisit the games and see how they've changed Paradox shows routinely do very well by our numbers We love suggestions for show topics, games we should cover, game mechanics... you're always welcome to hit up @3MA on Twitter or email at [email protected]

The links: Steel Panthers World at War Steel Panthers World War 2 Steel Panthers Main Battle Tank

Looks like this has been a polarizing show. Fascinating!

Thanks! And yes, someday I'll shoehorn UnReal World into the show. I love that game. My beef with VB6 is mostly due to the fact that I've been forced to use it so many times thanks to work. At my current job I have some more autonomy and do as much as I can in Python, but I've made my fair share of terrible VB6 interfaces. So many tabs... I did find it! Eventually. And CMANO will get its turn - we can't let something as beefy as that game lie fallow. Yes! Now I remember that I don't like that movie at all, except for the Bill Murray parts. Is DW2 something that they've announced? That would be exciting.

Yes, this is unfortunately the case. Shortly after coming under the Idle Thumbs umbrella we switched from hosting our shows on Libsyn to Soundcloud. As it turns out, there was a range of about 75-100 shows that got shifted by one episode number relative to their actual spot during the transition. We thought one or two got borked but we're learning over time that it was a big range. We received another note about it last week and I've been looking into it (that was when I realized just how many were off). I've got a spreasheet to track which shows I've fixed, but given my slow upload speeds I can only do them a handful at a time when I have the chance. But we're working on it. If find a show that you want to hear and it turns out you get the wrong audio, head to the previously numbered episode and it should be there. Eventually they will all be fixed!

I really enjoy Duelyst. In addition to all the points made in the show, I'd like to add that the sound design for this game is stunning. The music is forgettable but the sound effects and creature sounds are some of the best I've heard in any game. It's very, very impressive.

Sorry, I didn't see this until now. But the day after you posted we got our Endless show up, and Civ VI will be posted tonight or tomorrow. Not everyone had an early access review code for it and we wanted to make sure all the panelists had enough time with it. We have another show coming in this weekend, so we're back on track. Thanks! --- To all: thanks for all the feedback on everything. I check these boards regularly and we do read all the posts even if we don't always reply.

I'm not sure why the cover image isn't showing up, but I'm working on it.

No, not all. Especially considering the voting option is given to the Patreon backers, we try and take it pretty seriously. We've done several poll shows since promising the Endless Legend episode and it's been bothering me that it's kind of hanging out there in limbo. But like I said, there's something fun in the works. As a side bonus, the protracted release of the show meant that another DLC was released in the meantime, making whatever we do slightly more timely and relevant.

This bothers us as much as it does you. We have something very cool in the works, however...

That’s a very interesting project. I enjoy writing simulations of various systems as well but usually end up going down the rabbit hole of granularity until the project collapses under its own weight. I’d be interesting in knowing all sorts of things -what tools are you using to write it? Would the results be completely deterministic or are there random elements as in real life?

We just did "Civilization at 25" this year: https://www.idlethumbs.net/3ma/episodes/civilization-at-25

As mentioned, Atom Zombie Smasher. For me, it's the game that as soon as I hear it mentioned, I sigh and go back and reinstall it. Because it's really really good.

They were talking about Victoria 2. While Paradox generally has an iterative engine and game design concepts, there was a pretty big jump between Victoria 2 and Europa Universalis 4. EU4 brought a substantial update to the UI and game engine. Vic2 had some of the most interesting concepts of all their games but could be considered part of their “previous generation” of games. Between this and the fairly different concepts that the game had (relative to EU, HoI, or CK), it sort of stands on its own on the sidelines, like EU: Rome.

The correct file is up here: The other sources should update themselves.

Weird, I'll look into it.

I think a Go show would be interesting. The daunting part would be covering a game like that in such a manner that does justice to the depth and scope of the game, especially since I'm nowhere near as familiar with it as I am chess. I'll keep it in the potential topics list, though! It's encouraging to hear there is a client on Steam. Regarding iOS apps, yes - Lichess is good. Having gone through almost everything on iOS, I would say that the Shredder is the best all-around app for playing the computer. The Shredder engine has the best options and most human-feeling playstyle that I've found, and the computer auto-adjusts the rating based on your performance between games. For tactics and multiplayer, Lichess all the way. Thanks again for all the kind words!

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I admit I was worried how this would go over but the response has been very positive. The vast array of time controls result in very different games. Bullet and blitz chess is a completely different game from long time controls. "Standard" tournament play is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and then 30 minutes thereafter. That's a looong time to be sitting there evaluating a position. At that point the time control is almost invisible but is mostly there because people eventually have to go home. It really depends on the level of play. Serious players, at some point, have to learn deep lines of opening theory. There's no two ways about it. But you'd be surprised how far you can get following the basic four tenants of a good opening position: Establish control of the center Develop your bishops and knights Maintain a defensible pawn structure Castle If you can maintain those four principles at low to mid level play, it doesn't matter if your opponent is playing the Ruy Lopez or the Italian Game. Now, someone might throw a novelty at you that you might not recognize (Wayward Queen is a common noob trap), but then you learn and move on. I think the memorization aspect of the is a bit overstated in general. Practicing chess tactics (puzzles) lets you recognize patterns that you see in games, but memorization of anything isn't too critical at the casual level.

Links of note: John's YouTube Channel - Lichess.orgchess.com Chessable.com SCID vs. PC (Chess database tool) Chesstempo (Chess tactics site, very useful) The New Yorker - A Chess Renaissance in the Midwest

Correct. Endless Legend won the poll during the week in which every person remotely related to strategy gaming was playing Stellaris for review. Since then, it's been a royal pain getting people on board with going back to spend time with an old game with so many new releases coming out. For a fun peek behind the scenes: scheduling shows and coordinating everyone's schedule is the most difficult part of doing this show, by a wide margin. Endless Legend should be coming very soon, and our next Patreon poll will be up today.

There was a slight hiccup with the podcast posting (I messed it up), so for a brief and shining moment this was in the Idle Thumbs feed. It was quickly fixed. In my defense, I've had a sick 1-year old to tend to for several days so I'm clearly off my game a bit.

It's a position; one becomes a Starcrat in the Starocracy. (I fixed it.)