Yalk

I'll tell you straight up what breaks the absolute fuck out of this game If one of the players has played a few times and has cracked the code of "as the empire, spread out" and the other player has never played and is tricked by the game into thinking his rebel action figures actually mean something and tries to use them...basically, if you own this game and have played it, you can never again play with someone new, or introduce it to anyone ever, the experienced player has to play so poorly and so against the strategy that they know they should be playing, that it turns into a tutorial session where the new player is almost guaranteed to win, which takes away the tenseness and the excitement of pulling cards (cause your real play through will be your second game), you will never have the "ah-ha" moment that Sean and Rob had.... ...maybe the only way for this to work is that the experienced player HAS to play rebels, but even then, if the empire player groups up and doesn't spread out (because your trying to crush the rebel, obviously) they're hosed and don't even know it, cause they don't know the cards the rebel player can pull later....if the empire player is experienced then good luck to the rebel player when the empire spreads out and you never get to pull even half your cards... The other thing is that, there is some semblance of strategy to the empire side that you can kind of count on, but for the rebels, your entire strategy boils down to what cards you pull, when you pull them and your dice rolls, if any of those things don't line up or fail you, your done, gg...this might be the reason experienced players HAVE to always be rebels due to their inherent extreme luck based nature, they won't necessarily be able to put their experience to full use if the card draw says fuck off... Also, the combat overall detracts from the game, and is only there to lull you into thinking you should actually be fighting...the game is all about hero placement, die rolls, card drawing....the actual game is very much under the surface of what it appears to be, this is one of the pit falls for new players, no amount of telling the new player what they should be doing will prepare them for the fact that they should actually just not worry about the rebel pieces at all...the best thing that can happen to a new player playing rebel is to have all their shit destroyed within the first 2-3 turns (which a spread out imperial player can still easily do early on due to how picking starting planets works), that forces the rebel player to play the real game, which has nothing to do with the mini's, since all their powers derive from cards and hero powers Overall, its ok, mostly its just going to be frustrating....the rebel player will constantly be frustrated (by shit cards, shit dice and the imperial player existing) most of the game till maybe the very end, and the empire player will be enjoying the game until maybe the very end when they suddenly lose... ...I'll probably never play this again, too much setup, too complicated in the areas it shouldn't be, the actual game being obfuscated by pretty mini figures, and taking forever to complete.....maybe if its played like a team game with more that 2 players and everyone is incredibly drunk, maybe.....

Just listening to the podcaste I haven't played this, but have been intrigued one thing I'd like to comment on, you guys acclaimed the army system. Is it like the Rise of Nations system? cause that game did that, and from listening, way way better, way back in 2004....and didn't even need a army number assigned to it, units just straight up joined the group and started fighting. Cannons stayed in the back, pike units where in front, cavalry skirmished etc, you could shift click attack all of one unit, etc etc etc. and never really had the problem of the "army" getting confused from adding units to the control group (which acted like armies), ofc in RoN you also had a entire Civilization game to focus on as well as the RTS parts. Just curious, I wish more games took the micro away so you could focus on the macro, but I'm not sure from the sounds of it that this is the best system either...

PARADOX ....I will "pay you for love"

So I tried Act of Aggression, and wasn't that surprised by the negative tone of y'alls podcast about it. My overall take was similar, and many of your points fleshed out in my mind what I hadn't been able to put a finger on. Thus, I play tested steams new refund system, it works as advertised. RoN is a great game, "Civilization you can play on your lunch break" idk, ever since Company of Heroes came out I lost interest in the traditional RTS "spam all the things" and win by economic attrition....I like being able to stick guys or units out in the field and know they won't get killed immediately without me at least knowing what killed them. Yes, a Flak88 will do very bad things very quickly to a Sherman, but, you will have enough time to realize your mistake and save the rest of your forces....I think some of this is that I'm older now and literally can't be asked to put in the effort to play a fast paced twitch RTS anymore... To add to the list of "old school RTS" : I've been enjoying Homeworld Remastered, while I don't like the fact that they basically reskinned HW2 with HW1 unit skins, I can appreciate the effort, and they are still updating and patching the game, I think they only have a couple guys working on the project still, so updates are slow...but, they are still coming...

pretty excited for this....been looking for a space grand strategy that IS NOT Distant Worlds, and look! here it is!

Well....your only a year late commenting.... The version that is on steam now, Emperors something is actually....ok....they've patched out lots of the issues listed in this thread, its still not great, but, its serviceable.. Civil wars are actually dependent on numbers now, etc, but that's also made it easy to game the simple system into never having one, they also take generals and armies under your control away from you and split the provinces between you and the rebels...this is one example of how things are better Is this the Rome 2 we wanted? no...but its much better now than what it was when released...lots of patches have made the game...........enjoyable, its not a super deep strategy game, but none of them have been....the campaign has always been a means of setting up the battles, and it does that now adequately enough to over look some of the built in shallow aspects....

I for one am ALL behind 3 moves ahead just turning into EU 4 moves ahead....more EU4 discussion needs to happen I'd really like at least a half episode on "Common Sense" now that its out...although waiting a week might be good since there are a number of bugs Paradox graciously included...

Yeah, I don't remember the one I took. Its the one for when you go to the Amazon. I know it was refrigerated and you had to take it every week for 4 weeks or something...

http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/faqs.html I can confirm however that the drugs you are normally given (the refrigerated pills I think) do in fact give you crazy ass vivid hallucinogenic type dreams...I tended to have the most vivid odd dreams the day or so after taking a dose and they would fade over the next few days until my next dose.

Since they just had a EU4 revisit I could get behind this I've also gotten back into CoH, and now I'm playing "The Great War of 1918" mod for it...total conversion mod of vanilla CoH that turns it into WW1 1918 era...free download on steam, might be interesting for Troy and Rob to square off and then give feedback on...(I know they just did a year of WW1 related material however)

"Interesting" literally translates for EU4 as "easy" idk, I love me some EU4, its my comfort game. It's the game that when I'm bored or just want some down time, I flip on and can casually develop my nation. Unlike CiV, I get...distracted? my interest is actually broken by having to click next turn over and over. I really enjoy EU's "realtime" aspect, as I can just let the game run. If I'm waiting on something to happen I don't have to keep clicking "Next turn" I can just let the game do its thing while I watch TV or explain some history to the kiddo. .....or if I'm really into the game I can turn the dial up to eleven (5) and get to the interesting bits.... I've tried to enjoy...and I like the idea of, CK2...I really do...in my head, its the perfect game...however, I can drop EU4 for months, but when I want I can pick up my last save and pretty well get back into it. CK2? forget that shit...no way I can remember wtf was going on...its also, idk more stressful? somehow...having to figure all the shit out that's going on.....its great when I'm really in the mood but, I can fire up EU4 when I'm NOT in the mood and then get in the mood....CK2 I'll just quit if I'm not feeling it....I just find that a disaster in EU4 I can still find some enjoyment in the game, if I misclick or misread some blurb of text in CK2 your game is fucked, yeah you could come back, but its not enjoyable to me to untangle the yarn at that point.... On the other hand, watching a "lets play" of CK2 is WAY more entertaining than a EU4 "lets play"....I recommend the IdleThumbs 13 youtube videos where they play CK2, its pure gold.

CHEESE WHY!!!?!?!?!!? literally, maddening....nice troll through, *golf clap*

I think a revisit of EUIV is in order, especially after the upcoming Art of War. I'd like to know how they feel about the game now as opposed to a year ago.

yeah, being allied is a two way street...you can screw them just as hard fyi, if not harder and without the optional lube... Has anyone taken a look at the new Art of War expansion that is coming out Oct 30th? It seems a true expansion, lots of new things and revamps....it was stated that conquest will be made easier starting passed 1628 or somewhere there abouts (simulating Napoleonic conquests - not correct time period, but they want you to have time to play with the mechanics) and the farther in the game you go the easier it will be to create a large empire. I think the idea being, early you'll be restricted the same as now, small wars spread out over time. However, as time progresses those restrictions will be lessened through revamped ideal groups allowing more rapid expansion on the order of Napoleonic France. I'm still looking to see if the 15 yr truce will be changed or not, as that is a major buzz kill....I've always thought that the peace treaty should be something negotiable, part of the war score...100% warscore should mean you can dictate whatever length of peace you want, maybe at the risk of higher AE penatly (other nations viewing a shorter peace as a sign of intent to aggressively expand) ....would work something like demanding money except have AE attached below a certain thresh hold.... Vassals are being reworked, there will be more interaction with them and the ability to turn them into a buffer state (march) and press their claims means you'll no longer be prodded to absorb all your vassals...they can remain....after a certain time (1628) you'll also be able to create custom vassals to begin feeding too. New revamped religious stuff more provinces (probably a nerf to world conquest actually now that I think of it) New Rebel mechanics ....lots more thoughts?

You made the right choice....EndlessLegends>>CiV:BE the fantasy elements get in the way of me truly getting sucked into the game...if I could blend BE and EL into a unholy union of 4x I would do it in a heart beat.....

Yes, you have 2 separate commanders and both need to be taken out for a victory or defeat. However, You should really only do this when your familiar with your gaming partner. If the two of you aren't in sync with each others play it is pretty easy to run your economy in the ground, communication is fairly important. You shave everything and can control everything, inadvertently taking units or resource flow that your team mate needs more is a problem. However, I honestly wouldn't recommend the game to anyone at this point. It has too many unit balance issues and un-resolved problems, not too mention the screwy camera movement around planets. They seem to have stopped any real development passed a certain stage in development and then called it done. Listen to the 3MA episode on it, they pretty well pick apart all the issues I have with the game...

Endless Legends is great, I was dubious about the "fantasy" in the Sci-Fi Fantasy but...It's good. The factions are all unique and play interestingly. They have some pretty neat gameplay mechanics for stacking armies and territory. The game uses an odd/fascinating mix of stacking and 1upt, moving around the map you can have stacks of armies but when those armies "engage" they take a portion of the map to "spread out" and you then fight like you would in CiV....I can't really explain it, but, in multiplayer the other players can watch your fight on the big map.... Territory has always bothered me in Civ games, and any 4x land game, since alot of the time you pick the prime spots for your city and leave any unwanted land unclaimed...this leads to a stupid looking map with gaps and holes between civs until late game...You could find parallels for this in human history, early history etc. and to some extent its kind of neat to have huge swaths of unclaimed desert or jungle between you and a neighbor, but not so much when its a giant hole in your empire...... sometimes this land is "good" but doesn't have the necessary resources required to really be desirable to waste a city on claiming it. In Endless legends you place cities in "provinces" one city per province. so the map quickly loses is empty swathes of land, it also keeps the map from turing into nothing but cities...its interesting....you really only have to pick your city location based on its proximity, defensiveness and growth potential, any rare resources or mines come with the province. Overall its different enough (very) from Civ:BE to be able to play both concurrently, which is a plus.

I've only had one dude come back after I offed him....hilariously, it was right after I killed him... Literally happened upon this captain, he does his dialogue, I beat the ever living shit out of him, moved off maybe 20 meters to finish up something (get a rune I think) started back to the trail (basically where we fought) and a lone U'ruk was walking back toward me, turns out if was that same captain I had killed maybe 20 seconds earlier with a metal plate on his face....super killed him this time, haven't seen him since.... Does anyone know what (or if) the significance of when a captain disappears from the power pyramid and when his body is laying there? is it just time dependent? I'm pretty sure I've killed some that vanished immediately and some have continued to lay there for ages....I had thought maybe it had something to do with whether they were really dead or not, but now I'm wondering if its a glitch of some sort with my game....

They stated from the very beginning that landing on planet would be automated, but not necessarily a cut scene...They also stated however, that manual landing on planets would possibly be a thing after release....read into that what you will... Neat, all this week? what ships and what modes? would like to take some of the other ships out for a spin .... well, they have always stated that you aren't buying a ship, your pledging to fund a game and that all ships will be available in the PU....now, recently, it has felt more like just selling ships and not necessarily funding a project (having $52+ million doesn't help that view)... That said, seeing as the line they've used is "....your funding the game with your pledge, the ship is a thank you" I don't see any tight rope walking that will be required...The only bit that will be tricky will be LTI, making that "not a big deal" but definitely "nice to have" ...seeing as LTI was originally for Original backers as another thank you for pledging early and they have always stated that "...LTI is not a big deal" I don't see how any complaints by big spendors later will hold any water, don't get me wrong, their will be endless bitching, but...its the internet, so really, are we surprised.... On the other hand, they are now selling ships for limited times with LTI, since most early backers now won't buy a ship without LTI (meaningless or no)

Here ya go! @ work, so a 5 min paint.net job will have to suffice

....it would be comically naive to assume that some don't want some kind of initial advantage in the PU. but, I would wager most aren't looking for an advantage...most really are just "collecting space cars" for their garage. People are excited, at this point, the only way to "play" Star Citizen is purchasing ships.....you can't fly your ship necessarily, (some you can in AC) so the warm glow of after purchase wears off pretty quick....since you can't get that glow again in the game, they have to resort to another purchase....The feeling of investment and partial ownership in and with the game are what people are chasing.... As pkirkner says, he sold his early backer stuff for more...meaning that the "worth" of the ships not available for purchase from CiG now, have in fact, increased in perceived value... lots of real world "worth" is just an agreed upon imaginary thing anyway....even gold etc, its only worth something because EVERYONE agrees its worth something....if someone values something, that's all it takes for it to be worth what they will pay...LTI is the big draw, you've no reason to buy a ship on the grey market if it doesn't have LTI (disregarding whether LTI will be handy or not) its something that will not be acquirable in game, thus, is made inherently "rare" ....someone decides they want a ship that isn't offered with LTI anymore, and they are willing to pay to acquire that, then the worth of the ship just increased from when it was purchased from CiG.... I patched Arena Commander last night (finished last night, geez it takes forever), Got the Hotas setup working (again), as best I could with the buggy keybindings....Now that Track IR is supported, the gimballed guns follow your head tracking, which is pretty sweet....now just gotta get Voice attack to work and I'll be able to control shields, power levels, target acquisition etc etc with voice commands to the AI ship computer....one guy has done some coding with it to make "ANNA" ....watching videos she seems my cup of tea for a ship computer.... I just gotta say, with the Hotas and the ability to LOOK at a target and make that target a flaming wreck, its pretty cool, being able to then say " Full power to shields, all counter measures, target 2, lock missiles....full power to weapons, dampeners off, PIN next target...." on top of that, idk...its just pretty neat....hands free space combat management is something I can dig pretty hard....

If there aren't that many listeners then setup a paypal account and remind me at the end of each episode and I'll donate something. I heard about 3MA on the Rome Total War 2 forums when someone pointed to your review of that game.....I then found Idle Thumbs etc. Really, I never listened to podcastes before 3MA so....good job that Was joking but ok

Rise thread rise from your sleep. Just to update this, You can buy Clan packs now starting at the low low price of $120. 4 Cbill boosted mechs + regular variants....You can also still purchase the last mech pack for the incredibly reasonable price of $240 or something. Oh, if you buy the top tier from the last pack and the top tier from the this pack `$340 you get a free MadDog (one of the more popular mechs locked behind a insurmountable pay wall). ALSO! you can buy a gold skinned Clan mech of your choice for $500, this does come with the top tier clan pack as well. The last Clan pack was announced with no fan fair after their last IS mech pack last year for $120. Currently you play mixed tech, but they are looking to do Clan vs IS. Community warfare is still not implemented. and will probably be uninspiring when it is finally implemented, if ever. UI 2.0 (the mechlab) is a piece of junk compared to the old UI 3pv (which is useless but...) Heat scale has been upturned by Ghost heat (artificial heat added to multiple weapons fire) Convergence is still problematic (meaning instant into specific locations causing mechs to die quickly) Jump jets are nigh useless now BUT PGI (developer) is no longer under the thumb of IGP. we will see how this changes things, from what I've seen, not much. Oh, (I'm not on Reddit but) apparently PGI tried to launch a new game and posted adverts for it in a subforum, thus their entire staff is perma banned now. I think that just about updates this thread from the last entry in 2012.

Yep, unless I'm utterly confused (which is possible, I'll check tonight to make sure). You double click a unit which selects that "type" of unit, you then [sHIFT] click its scissors to paper target and it will then prioritize its natural prey. (((EDIT-obviously it only does what you tell it to do, if you tell cavalry to charge the enemy pikemen this way they will do it))) So, Double click Archers and shift click Hvy Inf. then Double click Light Cav. and Shift click supply wagons and arty. Then your guys should keep going after that type of unit. I actually played last night, I forgot to do this because I had to just "send the boys" and hope they did some work. Another thing on economy and to comment on what you said, First I use the infinite build alot, since Queing up units in mass charges you the cost immediately, selecting 1 to build and then hitting the infinite build button means you only get charged per unit built. So if you can spare to wait a bit, its useful if you need to spend big bucks on techs or buildings but want a steady stream of (Troops, ships, citizens) Second, Way point flags, they are great. Select a city then select the "All resources" flag waypoint, it will put flags on all the gathered resource points around your city. meaning later in the game you can do your CV trick or infinite build and not even have to wait on them to start working, they just go immediately to start harvesting. This is especially useful if you've gotten in the habit like I have of "enlisting" currently built workers to build buildings. so I usually need to replenish the harvesters from time to time I can't remember if this was mentioned or not but, you can select a general or army group as the waypoint for your military buildings. if its a control group number they will automagically join that control group. So if you have a army that isn't in danger of getting slaughtered you can have your military buildings auto reinforcing them. Just gotta protect your reinforcement stream. I never ever have idle citizens, ever. most of the time your at the resource cap anyway, if I need something built I take a harvester from something that is capped out. If nothing is capped out currently I usually need the building before I need those few extra resources, I then take a harvester and turn them into a builder to start building (added benefit of they will usually be close to what I need built) and then I may que up a citizen at the nearest city, with the auto waypoint flags they will go somewhere to work (they auto go to not capped out resources first) Other times, you usually only need citizen for a short time to build a building, I usually tell the 1 or several workers to build the building and when they are done they will go back almost instantly to harvesting again. Kind of in the same vein of thought, when you build wonders in a city, I just select the entire city work force and tell them to build the wonder, its done very quickly with 20 people hammering it, then they auto go back to what they were doing. BTW, Tom THANK YOU for the Alt+attack order, man, that shit is amazing. I never knew, I always did it manually (Maybe I did, I can't remember now, its been a while since 2004). Hot keys were never my strong suit in RTS games. This one is killer though. I do have a problem with the odd artillery piece being outside the infantry meat shield though. I'd love to play with if you guys if ya'll pick it up to play again If anyone on here wants a game, or a comp stomp PM on here? and we can trade Steam ID's. I don't get much time to play now as I used to back in 2004, I know some tricks but honestly suck pretty hard.

Please revisit, there is so much more to talk about, best episode since the EUIV and Crusader Kings episodes.... I didn't like Rise of Legends, was.....not.....interested..... I didn't like that you only had 3 factions....of course they were completely unique, THERE WERE ONLY 3...I mean, they were completely different...but....I have bitter feelings toward RoL, as, like was said, it sorta killed any hope of a sequel to RoN...