Athis

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Posts posted by Athis

  2. Posted

    My main concern during this recent US election cycle was world peace. From her rhetoric and track record Hillary seemed the greater threat in that respect to me.

    Under Hillary there would be a real threat of war with Russia - in Europe. We Europeans have been down that road several times in recent history and it has not worked out well for anyone.

    Domestically Hillary would have been more of the same; meaning a continuation of the gradual reduction of rights and fiscal supports for most Americans as has been the trend for some decades now.

    This gradual decline in quality of life for ordinary working people would proceed in spite of progressive sounding rhetoric and minor policy adjustments - just as it has under Obama.

     

    I have no idea what Trump will actually do - if he gets into office; which is not a done deal yet.

    There are still the recounts and the electoral college yet to go.

     

    I think the democrats would have won if Sanders was the candidate.

    I think many people who voted for Trump were voting against Hillary and the establishment

    They dont want more of the same - they want change

    Trump was offering the hope of change...

    Maybe Trump's promises of hope and change will turn out to be as empty as those of Obama

    We shall see

     

    For me as a European observer who will be impacted by the outcome in many ways

    this election was a choice between a rock and a hard place

    There was no right choice; only the hope of the lesser evil 

     

  3. Posted

    Just popping in to say that like Turrican above (excellent post sir) I was aghast at the responses of Danielle and Rob to the Trump victory

    And the perception of the world revealed in their comments

    Their perception seems to be entirely that of the corporate mainstream liberal media cartel - aka imperial propaganda system for 'progressives'

    The notion Trump might nuke Syria; or that the expansion of NATO missiles and armies right to the borders of Russia is justified

    Etc

     

    I am not a Trumper, but I was relieved Clinton did not get her mitts on the nuclear codes

    she is as Turrican outlined an elite-funded warmonger

    In fact she is a neocon who masquerades as a Democrat

     

    Trump by the way is not a Republican

    In fact he had to whoop the Republican party and literally wrest the nomination from their grasp

    He then had to whoop both the Democratic party and the corporate media to win

    What will he do for an encore?

    No one knows

     

    All that said I still love you guys and Idle Weekend is one of my favorite listens (so long as you avoid geopolitics)

    So dont mind me

  6. Posted

    Moo3 did the following things extremely well that I almost never see in 4X games before and since.

     

    - 3D space map: There's very few games that make good use of this if they use it at all.

     

    - Race Variety: Huge number of races with race 'groups' that have their own histories and back-stories that are linked within one another. Ithkul were an amazing concept. Almost every race had a distinct 'feel' to them. Each empire (even the custom ones you could create) felt much more 'alive' than races in any game before or since. There were even 'magnate' species or minor races that could add to the demographic complexity of the galaxy.

     

    - Policy Direction: As a gameplay element, this was incredible. You could create planetary, system, and empire policies (and save and load them between games) and then set up your planets and systems with these policies and franchise out the management of your huge empire to smooth out gameplay. This also allowed you to focus on a handful of planets to get them up and running quickly or to fix problems that your policies haven't anticipated.

     

    - Political Systems: The political, social, and economic areas of your empire were malleable in many ways that had direct and clear effects on the character of your empire. The sheer scope of the differences between each government style, economic plan, tech path, and infrastructure policies made this aspect so incredibly important.

     

    -Social/Cultural/Racial Politics/Issues: On planets, in systems, and empire-wide, it was incredibly important to keep track of the demographic makeup of individual planets. People had character, and they would interact in specific ways. Managing the demographic makeup of your planets was incredibly important.

     

    - Colonization, Migration Patterns, and Terraforming: People moved on their own. The conditions on planets create push and pull factors that are different for each race. These factors made a HUGE difference in how each planet develops, how your population terraforms it, and what race populates it. The other thing about terraforming is that it mostly happened on its own based on your population's wants and desires along with your technology and infrastructure.

     

    - Espionage, Unrest, and Oppression: These were done incredibly well. There were so many mission types for espionage, so many unrest factors and ways to deal with them, and so many ways to keep the lid on your people (each with their own consequences).

     

    - Theme and Lore: Guardians, Galactic Council, the Orion fleet, Ithkul. The 'space opera' elements of this game were incredible and deeply part of the map/game. You didn't need to play along a plot line, but the universe sort of comes alive through these elements.

     

    So why does everyone hate it?

     

     

    Because it was far too complex for most people; and it was buggy on release - as are most games

    Also many people cannot handle a genuinely 3D star map - that was also an issue for many players with Sword of the Stars

    But most of all it was hated because it was not just a MOO2 update

  7. Posted

    New-ish listener here. Idle weekends is a favorite podcast at the moment. Thanks to Rob and Danielle; you guys are a perfect match. Thanks

     

    The discussion about haters in comments interested me. Bottom line is there are a lot of people out there who just dont have any manners or any restraints on what they will write in a comment. Also there are organised groups of bigots and the like who flock and try to raise a rightwing ruckus about gender issues or anything to do with social justice etc. They object to people having equal rights; or the right to be who they are - if that is different from them. And there is nothing anyone can do about those people. That is just the way they are. They believe that is the right and good way to be. I have encountered people who sincerely believe that God hates anyone who has a different opinion to them.... and therefore so should they. The only way to deal with that is to adapt to it; because you cannot change it. What I hope you wont do is become cynical and lose faith and give-up on everyone else because of a few bigoted idiots (idiots for instance who make a white supremacist mod for a game; or mount campaigns against a game because there is a gay or transgender character)

    By the way I heard Rowan's contributions to the TMA discussion and to be honest I got the impression he didn't quite get the game. There were instances when stuff that was annoying him and leading him to a negative attitude turned out to be just him not knowing the interface well enough. But I do get what you had to say about reviews being opinions and I am not about to send him a death threat.