Sorbicol

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Posts posted by Sorbicol

  1. Posted

    Yeah like I said I've tried most of the online trading tools and none of them have any details

    Of the star systems near me! They mostly detail the systems in and round Sol and Lave where I guess most of the beta players started?

    Took down a Adaconda last night at a nav beacon (with some police help) and netted 119k bounty. Alas I then got interdicted and shot up by an viper before I had a chance to cash it in. This game is so brutal at times

  2. Posted

    Does anyone know the relatively density of rare commodities? I'm playing about 200 light years out from Sol (clearly somewhere where not a lot of people are - I saw my first other commander last night in about 10 hours of game play) as that's more or less where the game started me out. I reckon I've visited around 100 star systems now and I've still yet to see anything selling rare items. I did pick up some from a USS but that's all I've had.

    The only systems I've been to that I've seen referenced in the various trading websites and Galaxy maps is Everate and I'm about another 70 light years from there I think. Are there noticeably more rare producing stations closer to Sol?

  3. Posted

    You will need a defensive force of some description, especially if your regions are large and cover a big area. The early game is something of a land grab to be honest - the more regions you can snag the stronger you will be and the weaker your local rivals. However it is entirely possible to go through the whole game without declaring war, or having war declared on you. That said you will still get wandering bands of minor factions who can take out undefended cities quite easily.

  4. Posted

    I also died last night after I got into a station and the landing pad didn't light up. I cancelled the landing request only to be told I was tresspassing, and then got lit up like a Christmas tree trying to get out. I lost all my cartographic info too. Most annoying.

    I also had a little incident trying to smuggle some 'stolen' goods into a federation station. I managed to get about 4km from the station without being scanned (a combination of silent running and turning off flight assist) before asking to dock. 1km out I was steaming in before a scan started, only for a Lakon hauler (a big one) to park itself in the entrance. I couldn't stop at that point, hit it, bounced and got stuck on the stupid guide frame outside the entrance. By the time is worked out how to extract myself I'd picked up 3 loitering fines and a 28k fine for the stolen goods. I couldn't figure out if that was normal or just dumb luck.

  6. Posted

    I finally got a hit last night and walked into a battle between 5 police, an Adaconda and a Cobra. I barely escaped alive! Everything else there has been nothing there when I've come out of the frame shift drive. My scanner is the basic scanner but it works fine for everything else so at a bit of a loss. Is it worth reporting as a possible bug or am I still missing something?

    Distance wise I'm generally jumping in between 20 to 2km from the target. That's normally close enough for everything else!

  8. Posted

    I keep goIng to investigate 'Unidentified signal sources'. When I get there there's nothing there, my last known contact board showing that I'm only a couple of clicks from the target.

    Is that normal? Am I missing something? Scanning again does nothing and there is nothing on the radar. Any tips?

  11. Posted

    Awakenings Is definitely a must buy in the DA cannon, it's a great, proper expansion. As for all the DLC I don't really know if it's worth it or not. Yes if you want back story, but I don't think it's essential.

    Dragon age 2 is a much better game than a lot of people give it credit for. Unfortunately, the third act story line does its level best to completely ruin what goes before. You just sort of have to grit your teeth and go with it. I would say the DA2 DLC Probably is worth getting on the basis of what I've played so far in DA:I

  12. Posted

    As someone whose favourite games include things like XCOM, Jagged Alliance, Fallout (the originals) this is a game that's been on my radar for quite some time.

    However, like Troy I'm more than a bit worried I'll juat bounce straight off it because of the Anime art style too hard. I never really saw the fuss about FFVII (which I played on the playstation on release) it had a largely inpenetrable plot and half the time was just a long hard grind to get anywhere.

    What I'm probably trying to say is that it needs to be dead cheap or have a demo. But that's just me.

  13. Posted

    I also played the demo of Beyond Earth last night. It's clearly a good competent game but, the aliens aside, that opening just felt like Civ V reskinned a little too much. As for the aliens - they make things feel a little circumstantial. I got stuck on a ismuth of land cut off by a combination of miasma and siege worms. Attempts to build up my base meant rampaging siege worm food, and the miasma blocked any attempts at trading. Also, having to reset each trade after each run? Really?!?

    The demo's not really enough to go on though. I'm happy to wait for some serious expansions, until then it's Endless Legend

  15. Posted

    I can think of two off the top of my head, but neither are scientific or military history based. However they both have a great deal to say about the human spirit and the will to survive in the most extraordinary of circumstances from very different angles.

    The first is Papillon by Henri Charreire and is an account of his conviction for Murder in the late 1920s and being sent to the French Penal island in South America, his various escape attempts and his life as a fugitive. While it seems there are a lot questions as to it's veracity (a lot of it likely stuff that happened to other people and has been heavily embellished) it is still a remarkable tale of just how brutal things get in such conditions.

    The second is Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, and is an account of his climbing accident in the Pervuian Andes with his climbing Partner Simon Yates. without giving too much away he was abandoned by Yates (who cut the rope connecting them believing Simpson was dead) but survived and managed to crawl back to the base camp.

  17. Posted

    I've probably come to this conversation too late, but Phelbas is certainly not one of Bank's more accessible novels. If you are wanting to get into the Culture then I would recommend starting with The Player of Games. It much more accessible, give much greater clarity to what the Culture is, the interactions it has between the Minds, Drones and humans (both citizens and Special Circumstances) and is a rollicking Good tale in and of itself. Excession was certainly the best Culture Novel but it'll help if you have that grounding first.

    use of Weapon me is great but very dark. A lot of people will find it an acquired taste I think.

  18. Posted

    Well this episode has put Endless Legend from a 'when it's really cheap in a steam sale' purchase to 'possible Beyond Earth replacement' if it turns out the previews are right and CIV:BE isn't quite there yet (aren't we due a show on that very soon?)

    I also have the same issues wih Endless Space being just a little too bland and soulless to be a really great game so having it sound like Endless Legend solves a lot of those problems chalks it down as very interesting indeed.

  19. Posted

    I'm not sure why civ V is quite so decisive amongst long term civ players - I love it, I'd even go so far as to say I prefer it to Civ IV (although I admit the AI was much better in that version) but carrying that forward to Beyond Earth, it does feel a little conservative. I like the affinities, I appreciate that to some extent whatever faction you choose won't matter as you'll be able to adapt to circumstances on the ground (unlike civ V where your choice of civ pretty much dictates what victory condition you'll be looking for). You either like that Civ V approach or you don't (I do) but it doesn't trouble me too much.

    I do think calling Beyond Earth 'a Civ V mod' is a bit harsh, but on the other hand it is clearly modelled on Civ V and not SMAC, which a lot of people don't seem to have got past even now. I totally understand that, after all SMAC is an amazing game, but I will take Beyond Earth on its own merits and try not to constantly peg it back to other games.

    XCOM had the same issue really. People expecting X-COM where bitterly disappointed from the outset, but taken on its own merits XCOM is a fantastic game. Just a shame about the ending......

  20. Posted

    Hi guys - donation ideas, is it worth following the Gamers with Jobs model and having a month long donation drive? I'm more than happy to donate if it keeps you guys doing the podcast - it's one of my weekly highlights - but a short sharp focused effort seems to work really well for the GWJ crew, why not just copy the idea? Something tells me they wouldn't mind ;)

  21. Posted

    I haven't read anything by him yet (but plan to), but Iain Banks is the name I keep hearing from lots of different people for more recent science fiction.

    His death last year was a real loss to the genre. His culture novels really do stand out as a gold standard of 'space opera' Sci-Fi in recent years. So many good books to choose from but don't ignore his earlier non-culture books as well - Feersum Enjinn and Against a Dark Background are both excellent novels in their own right.

    Neal Asher's books might also be worth checking out - although a lot of his early book echo a lot of banks' work (AI led human society) he quickly sheds that with some really imaginative stuff. Worth a look.

  24. Posted

    No it's from GalCiv 2. It's the intro music isn't it?

    I'm cautiously looking forward to this. The space 4x though is a genre stuck in a rut. I enjoyed Endless Space even though it's tech was more about numbers than tech, but anything I've taken a look at recently (star drive, horizon) all just feel like the same game. It's a odd genre tbh.

    Still I suspect all my strategy playing time at the end of this year will be consumed by Civ: Beyond Earth. And I've still not touched Crusader Kings II.