twmac

Jake's assertions about PSN are spot on. Sony are pretty relaxed about online implmentation, so much so that an accidental or purposeful disconnection (your ISP were to go down or you removed the ethernet cable for example) from an online game that crashes the game on the system where it occurred is not viewed as a failure at submission. I am happy this is happening though, it would be nice to see if this forces Microsoft's hand. I finished Portal yesterday, finally, it is one of the first games to give me severe motion sickness. It sort of dragged on a little at the end (this happened for me in HL2 too) but otherwise a very pleasant few hours.

Yeah, I should announce the vote results at the end of next week. It had a pretty good turn out considering the size of my readership.

Vote...?

You are the first to vote for Section 8, I now feel a little sorry for it... From what I heard it isn't a bad game. No, I agree. I am not that keen on Metacritic. I just don't want it to become some kind of bitch-fest about Metacritic. It has its place, what concerns me is people's perception of what that place is. The link in my post is really poorly put together and isn't in anyway readible at the moment. When I can make it more presentable it will go live but it demonstrates the fact that they know that they are far from impartial. That, if anything, is respectable. Thanks for the votes, I am still hoping for some more as there are quite a few that are in dead heats.

Actually, there was one point whereby if I hadn't been really lucky my treemen holding off an assault, my provinces would have been severed and my finances and armies in ruins. I agree that it isn't particularly hard, but I think that is suitable for the style of game they are going for. This is supposed to be more relaxed and peaceful. I would also agree that those Orc shamans are extremely powerful. I also reckon that they should adjust how the units level up. There were moments where it was too easy to farm levels by fighting lower level armies and leaping levels. Still, a lot of fun and I would consider another game of it. Orvidos, how customisable are the matches? If there were a way we could arrange a thumb night whereby it could be played more like a turnbased strategy game, then paused until the following week?

I had fun. I am glad it ended just as I have to go back to work. I am a little sad as there is only one article's worth of writing to do on it.

He had a little help

I thought it was on normal... Well it is pretty much wrapped up, I don't feel the need to login anymore as everyone seems to have it under control.

Also, I feel stupid for not realising this but Brkl pointed out that the Blight don't get fortification bonuses on their castles. Gwardinen, both Brkl and I are moving in your direction. Brkl is very much on the warpath and is decimating that comes in his way. My Tree men are extremely slow but are being boosted by Centaurs. If you would like any support in conquest (ie: someone to reinforce your castles), I am going to be passing through there in the next 2 days and am willing to help. Send me a message via the game.

I am glad that the nymphs survived at least. Yeah, that Goblin thing is worrying. I am wondering if Entangle with avoid that. They seem to just be able to skip any fights they don't fancy being involved in, scary stuff.

Thanks for the blessing. I have updated the entry with a few screenshots and a header to make it a little more visually appealing. I should have the first battle report (it won't be that good as I hadn't been taking notes) up on Sunday. Also, Capitain Fish, I am so very sorry for my miscalculation:getmecoat

I am going to write about this game. The post is private at the moment so let me know what you think. I am entertaining doing weekly battle reports about it for the first month while I get my site's theme together. The reason I mention this is because my site is public and I will use screenshots from our actual game. I can blur everyone's name out of the screenshots and put the links for the posts in the multiplayer so you guys can approve it if need be... What do you say guys?

This might not be true, I was going to login last night but had no internet connection, so i woke up this morning to find that I had been attacked, the brand new, puny forces I had picked up went first and were slaughtered. This saddens me as I really needed that new army and the more experienced army would have been able to handle it on its own.

I am trying to hand out as much support as I can. I picked up a bunch of random towns that are not much use to me. I have sent as much as I could to El Capitan (if we keep this up we may be able to shut out the Blight in our area in the next 2-3 days). Gruff, you weren't kidding, the tree men are utter beasts. They are now level 6 and are casually batting away 40 strong hordes with minimal casualties. I was having to reinforce them every day but now I can afford to wait until next tax day before beefing them up. This means I can redirect a small amount of funds towards my underdeveloped Archers. Orvidos... I know you really want to buy those tree men but for 120 green coins you are bankrupting yourself while not actually building up any of your other units. I said this before in a message, but I would be more inclined to use them as a natural barrier against the Blight and focus on actually killing infected areas instead. Captain Fish, trying to take another one of the encampments in our area so as to reduce the spawning pool. Going to throw 50 men at it (they are heading there now) as well as hit them with WIZARD magic attack and cast a luck spell on my attacking units. That should mean that the fortress is mine but I am a little worried about those dice rolls. They can make or break it.

Got up this morning and put a 14 hour stop on the centaurs. Captain, they are going to be out of your range, but that total of 18 hours means that my tree people will survive (need a good roll to minimise damage). Am perilously low on Green coins myself and am hoping the fact that I have a merchant arriving in a green fortress will up my chances or getting 30 green coins to replenish my army. Wondering if I am going to be able to crush the Centaur encampment, it is a bit risky as I would have to move the treemen unit to do it.

A huge Centaur army has decided to try and shit all over my cabbage patch. This is when it gets evil. If I remember to log in and cast entangled roots tomorrow at around midday. Fortifications should be built in time to survive. I f I don't then I am definitely dead in that particular combat.

Likewise, if there is anything I can help you with. Unfortunately, it looks like we are mainly competing for the same resources. Nice to see Brkl quietly pootling about destroying stuff near you and I... Although that group of zombie dwarves are scary.

I thought you seemed a little inactive. Enjoy the cluster f*** near where you are.

Yeah, logged in a bit earlier and it is looking pretty grim. Threw what little yellow currency I had your way. The main problem seems that all of the guests are of a similar monies requirement (primarily blue, red and green) so it limits what I can do. I have a bunch red territories in the bottom right corner that I simply cannot protect (I have 10 orcs to police them). If anyone thinks they can do a better job of protecting them then I would gladly trade a couple of them (they already have basic markets so they would tick over some moeny) for one green or blue encampment with a market and some fortifications. I reckon I am going to capture a place that generates merchants they look like they are going to be able to bolster my economy if I purhase them. Does anyone know the definition of a 'province'? I want to position them in the best location to make some loot to fund the war I should be embarking on in about 8 hours time.

Things are starting to come along. I am kind of gutted because i could have stopped mass casualties to my main force, but I was busy having fun elsewhere with Halo Reach. That said Captain fish just gave me enough resources to be able to push back the Blight quite a bit.

Right, I have finally figured out how to purchase units (you have to scroll down as the pop-up doesn't fit onscreen which is a right nuisance, who do I post my bugs to?)... I am getting pummeled at the moment. Have managed to entangle the group of Centaurs heading towards me in the hopes of my fortifications and reinforcements arriving in time. I've started in a really bad place for someone who doesn't have a clue what they are doing as I imagine that I am just going to continually get attacked.

*Took a deep breath* Well I am in. I have sent a bunch of dudes to take an unoccupied spot near the blight. Please, any help on what the hell I am supposed to be doing would be ace.

Never seen that game. How is the new one different. Is 3-D or something?

Same here, I am travelling so I won't be able to commit to more than logging in once a day but if you need an extra person, sign me up.

Glad to see that it was acknowledged. Couldn't agree more, nothing has been able to successfully fill the void left by the idle thumbs podcast ending.