What other games complement your Dominions 3? [Archive]

Omnirizon

June 22nd, 2008, 01:09 AM

Atreidi said:
I am currently playing:

Civilization IV
POXNORA
Space Empires IV
SPace Empires III
Oblivion (I neve quite finished it)
Currently looking for a good MMO that is not WOW.
I've tried Vanguard, LOTRO, Lineage II, and Star Wars but I've stayed with none http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

unfortunately, there is no good MMO right now. corps saw that it was like crack, and all rushed to make a hit MMO, all going with the least risky formulas available, and thus all created WoWish clones that completely suck. WoW sucks, but at least it is quality suck; try and clone it with less money and you just suck.

GuildWars is OK though, and I would probably say is the best MMO out there, if you must have one. its PvE is doodoo though; its PvP is the whole reason to play. However, its PvP is so snobbish that its impossible to really be able to get into without making a second job out of it, thus it degrades to the least common factor that has made all MMOs complete garbage: you have to schedule your life around them.

EVE is also worthwhile, and has also has top-notch PvP and even economic PvP. Characters also grow while offline, and it is on the whole a little less snobbish. However, it is point and click, which doesn't work for me (especially inn outerspace), and the grindless growth, while a great idea, takes a year to develop and you are stuck in the meantime doing menial crap.

World of Warhammer looks like it might be fun, and seems to promise the large scale battlefield PvP that allows players to engage in fun PvP without having to dedicate their lives to a game in order to access a good PvP guild.

Actually, I'd suggest Continuum, the Metal Gear Solid room, for fun online action. log in, kill, capture some flags, talk [censored]; log out. Just that simple. It is fun. That is why after all these years, despite the presence of commercial MMO's; Continuum still thrives. Its just fun.

edit: also, alot of potentially fun MMOs pickd up Korean micro-payment model, because they noticed that you can make a half-assed game that ppl wouldn't pay for, but will in the end pay more to have something other ppl can't. It's /*[censored]*/ stupid becuase ppl are /*[censored]*/ stupid, but thats life. Just play dominions.

Gandalf Parker

June 22nd, 2008, 01:32 AM

Yes I still play stars sometimes but just solo. It processes fast so it makes a nice change from the kindof hosting I get from Dominions in the huge solo games I play with it.

For my "roguelike" fix I host a MUD on one of my servers. Its a text MMO based on Shadowdale. The address is play.sdmud.org 7777 if anyone can still figure out telnet or dig up a telnet client. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

For the people wondering why SEIV (Space Empires IV) keeps showing up, in many ways its a space version of Dominions. Not quite so deep on the strategy, but abit better on the modding. It started out rather weak (8 empires) but players drove it to over 300 empires you could play besides driving the maps much larger, the image file turned huge, and added more techs. It was hosted here at the time, and the forums for it are still here.

sum1lost

June 22nd, 2008, 01:48 AM

Spore CC, MTW 2, CS:S, Fallout Tactics, UT 2004 and thats been it for the past year, though I have other games installed.

Cor2

June 22nd, 2008, 01:57 AM

Dwarf fortress, Astro Empires, Pardus, Incursion, SEIV

more Dwarf fortress. Seriously, love that game...

Cor2

June 22nd, 2008, 02:04 AM

so apparently there is a large section of dominions fans that are ASCII fans. Maybe Dominions 4 should be in ASCII http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Lingchih

June 22nd, 2008, 03:11 AM

Gal Civ 2 is about it for me. Just got the new expansion, but I haven't played it much, though it looks promising.

I haven't played an mmo since I quit Wow a few years ago, but Eve sounds tempting, and Warhammer even more so.

llamabeast

June 22nd, 2008, 04:28 AM

What do people think of SEV compared to SEIV? I was contemplating buying one of them at some point (maybe when I've finished my PhD).

Kristoffer O

June 22nd, 2008, 04:45 AM

Omnirizon said:

Atreidi said:
I am currently playing:

Civilization IV
POXNORA
Space Empires IV
SPace Empires III
Oblivion (I neve quite finished it)
Currently looking for a good MMO that is not WOW.
I've tried Vanguard, LOTRO, Lineage II, and Star Wars but I've stayed with none http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

unfortunately, there is no good MMO right now. corps saw that it was like crack, and all rushed to make a hit MMO, all going with the least risky formulas available, and thus all created WoWish clones that completely suck. WoW sucks, but at least it is quality suck; try and clone it with less money and you just suck.

GuildWars is OK though, and I would probably say is the best MMO out there, if you must have one. its PvE is doodoo though; its PvP is the whole reason to play. However, its PvP is so snobbish that its impossible to really be able to get into without making a second job out of it, thus it degrades to the least common factor that has made all MMOs complete garbage: you have to schedule your life around them.

EVE is also worthwhile, and has also has top-notch PvP and even economic PvP. Characters also grow while offline, and it is on the whole a little less snobbish. However, it is point and click, which doesn't work for me (especially inn outerspace), and the grindless growth, while a great idea, takes a year to develop and you are stuck in the meantime doing menial crap.

World of Warhammer looks like it might be fun, and seems to promise the large scale battlefield PvP that allows players to engage in fun PvP without having to dedicate their lives to a game in order to access a good PvP guild.

Actually, I'd suggest Continuum, the Metal Gear Solid room, for fun online action. log in, kill, capture some flags, talk [censored]; log out. Just that simple. It is fun. That is why after all these years, despite the presence of commercial MMO's; Continuum still thrives. Its just fun.

edit: also, alot of potentially fun MMOs pickd up Korean micro-payment model, because they noticed that you can make a half-assed game that ppl wouldn't pay for, but will in the end pay more to have something other ppl can't. It's /*[censored]*/ stupid becuase ppl are /*[censored]*/ stupid, but thats life. Just play dominions.

Guild Wars was great fun. Me JK and JO played it a lot. Mostly PvP. Got quite good at it. You don't need to be that good by yourself if you play with reliable people and voice communication.

We are trying Age of Conan now. Quite fun and beautiful, but still lots of early bugs and annoying stuff. Not as WoWish as Lotro was, but more so than GW.

JO recently discovered Desktop Defender at kongregate.com. Strangely addictive online flash game.

llamabeast

June 22nd, 2008, 05:16 AM

Is that Desktop Tower Defense? Oh my god that's addictive. Great game though.

JimMorrison

June 22nd, 2008, 05:41 AM

Atreidi said:
I am currently playing:

POXNORA

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif I just bought my first 100 pack a couple of days ago, it is so addictive!

Other than that, I do some COD4 MP, trying to get myself to finish Mass Effect, and trying to inspire myself to the work on the incredibly obtuse "The Experiment", and I tinker a little now and then with Sins of a Solar Empire. Was also playing a lot of GalCiv2 before becoming totally immersed in Dominions again.

Additionally, when I'm not playing Dom3, I like to play Dom3. I had 4 instances of the game running on this machine the other day, I need professional help. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

PvK

June 22nd, 2008, 05:49 AM

Ya I'm playing Flash games on Kongregate pretty regularly (Desktop Tower Defense was one that got me started), though I don't get stuck on them for very long, usually. Some of my favorites are listed at:

http://www.kongregate.com/accounts/Skarg/favorites

Amhazair

June 22nd, 2008, 06:37 AM

I'll add one not mentioned yet: I play quite a lot of Football Manager. (Don't shoot me. While its theme is quite different, it's still a strategy game. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif ) I've been playing it intermitently since I discovered its existence 6 or 7 years ago, in 2 or 3 different versions. (I see absolutely no need to shell out 50� every year for the new one)

Agrajag

June 22nd, 2008, 06:43 AM

Continuum is still alive?
I played it quite a lot in ancient history, but when I tried going back to it I couldn't find a server with a playable amount of people on it.

As for the games I'm playing right now:
Dwarf Fortress
Grim Fandango (I was surprised to find it does work on XP, because last time I tried, it didn't. [maybe it was SP1 vs SP2?])
Civ IV

BTW, there was a "favorite games" thread a while back, so that might also prove an interesting related read.

DaveCG

June 22nd, 2008, 07:56 AM

Ok, just to be different...

SEV (YEAH! TAKE THAT...really though I don't/didn't play IV enough to notice any differences, or rather any stiking ones..)

CivIV+Fall from heaven mod i.e masters of magic in civ...

Don't hate me for this one...it's my second guilty pleasure...

Sims...

OH GOD THE SHAME!

(first guilty pleasure is dynasty/samurai warriors.)

Oh, abit of City of Heroes too atm, and the odd game of age of wonders 2 shadow magic.

Twan

June 22nd, 2008, 08:53 AM

Armaggedon Empires best indie game of last year.

Except that I mostly play oldies, good old hex wargames (WinSPWW2, Fantasy General), and 4x like MoM/MoO.

No MMO since I've stopped EQ and WoW. I was tempted by AoC but system requ are too high.

WraithLord

June 22nd, 2008, 09:34 AM

NWN, Hordes of the underdark, Truth is it got quite boring towards the 3rd expansion but I want to complete it (like reading a book with a slow ending, seems to drag on forever)

GC-II, I'm trying to complete the first campaign but damn dominions always gets in the way http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I've some newer flashier games on my shelf, all shiny new and hardly touched. I hope to get to them sometime soon, but my dominions condition makes chances of that slimmer every day.

When stardocks new FTBS game is out I promise (to myself) I will give it a serious try.

sector24

June 22nd, 2008, 10:51 AM

Stars! is a fantastic game, I still play it occasionally. I'm really starved for new games lately, did you guys see that there's a 3d remake of King's Bounty coming out this year? Oh the fond memories...

Chacal

June 22nd, 2008, 11:04 AM

hmm for my part i lack time actually to playing, but I can say :

Football Manager 2008
Flight Simulator 2004 and X
Ultima VII and VII 1/2 via Exult

More rarely but still :
WinSPMBT
Harpoon III
DBA online

some oldies :
Doom
MofM
First Encounter...

kickthedead

June 22nd, 2008, 11:12 AM

What ever happened to Stars!? I have that game from like 1995 or so. Is that the newest one still? I can barely find any information about it on the web. Did they ever make a new one? It is a great game.

Omnirizon

June 22nd, 2008, 12:23 PM

Kristoffer O said:

Guild Wars was great fun. Me JK and JO played it a lot. Mostly PvP. Got quite good at it. You don't need to be that good by yourself if you play with reliable people and voice communication.

We are trying Age of Conan now. Quite fun and beautiful, but still lots of early bugs and annoying stuff. Not as WoWish as Lotro was, but more so than GW.

JO recently discovered Desktop Defender at kongregate.com. Strangely addictive online flash game.

I remember posting in the last "other games" thread about desktop defender and how addictive it was. I remember the day I found it, i literally spent several hours that day playing; and I was supposed to be doing homework (I was just burnt out with all the reading though).

Ultimately, I couldn't swallow desktop defenders whole because to do best it requires deleting and rebuilding key towers to force the little guys to turn around and go through the whole maze again. That kind of reduced the design and strat aspect with some action and timing aspects; which I didn't like.

There is a game with the exact same concept as desktop, also at Kongregate, called Defender where you can't remove your guys, thus making the placement and order of placement an important part of the design and strategy.

sector24

June 22nd, 2008, 01:12 PM

kickthedead said:
What ever happened to Stars!? I have that game from like 1995 or so. Is that the newest one still? I can barely find any information about it on the web. Did they ever make a new one? It is a great game.

From wikipedia:

Stars! Supernova Genesis
The huge popularity of the original Stars! game convinced the developers that there would be a market for a sequel. The developers of Stars! formed a company called Mare Crisium Studios and began development of Supernova Genesis. This was intended to be a much more advanced game, with significantly better graphics, and also to remove some of the irritations of the original (such as the level of micro-management).

Unfortunately there was little interest from games publishers who by that time had become focused exclusively on the video game console and high-end 3D games markets, and so the project was eventually abandoned. As rights to the ingame graphics remain with Empire, it is unlikely that the game will be brought back into production.

[edit] Stars! 3
On August 27, 2005, information about a second sequel, tentatively named Stars! 3, was posted to Usenet.[3] Developed in private by ex-members of the Supernova Genesis team, it has an uncertain future, hinting on a return to the self-publishing model.

I played Protector on Kongregate all the way through. Those dektop defenders are fun, but if you play one you've pretty much played them all.

DonCorazon

June 22nd, 2008, 01:31 PM

Twan said:
Armaggedon Empires best indie game of last year.

I tried the demo as I loved the theme on this but found even a minor battle just takes too long. It was like a clickfest but in turn based mode. Maybe I was missing something on the UI but I gave it up when my fingers started cramping up...

HoneyBadger

June 22nd, 2008, 01:59 PM

Ok, tower defense games are definitely my guilty pleasure. Although I really wish there were more out there with pathfinding-Desktop Tower Defense is still one of the best ones, but there is sooo much that can be improved. And I can't stand to even look at the TDs that don't have pathfinding.

I love Dwarf Fortress with a passion. I'm going to mod the hell out of it though, first chance I get.

Space Empires IV was another great game. I hope V is good too, but I'm giving the plenty of time to iron out the kinks.

I want to play Planescape: Torment again. I still have all the disks and the package they came in.

I was really excited about GalCiv2, but the latest version refuses to run on my computer, and before that I'd get bluescreened every few rounds.

The Total War series is another guilty pleasure. I hope someday they redo the Shogun version though-maybe expand it to include more of Asia, and Russia? I'd love to see Russian Vikings square off against Japanese Samurai-talk about a War of the Worlds! A fantasy version would also be great.

King's Bounty is the game that got me into strategy wargaming. I couldn't tell you how many times I played that game. I still remember most of the details about it, and it's been years.

Fallout was a near-perfect game.
Anybody else heard that the rights to Wasteland got bought by the same company that redid The Bard's Tale? They're making a Fallout 3 too, but what I'm really interested in, and hopeful about, is Afterfall.

Has anyone here played Dungeons of Daggorath? If ever there was a game that should be redone, it's that. Daggorath was the most intense, scariest dungeon crawl ever. All in wireframe, and made a million years ago with less code than Tetris.

I played Master of Magic, ofcourse, and Lords of Magic: Special Edition.

The Continuum is still alive-infact I'm supposed to be a beta-tester, but my computer won't support the game. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

BatMUD might be a good MMO to check out. It's free, for one thing, and there are TONS of races to play. I also think the creators are Finnish. I don't know how good it is, but it's been around since the '90s, and there's a lot to it-they've also recently updated it.

There are quite a few completely free MMOs around, many of which are a lot more interesting that WoW or Everquest-although admittedly, I enjoyed Everquest for a while.
I suggest you spend an afternoon or two researching the independent MMOs online-it's worth your time and trouble.

Diablo-the first one, not the second one, was also a favorite. I liked how creepy it was, kind of like a horror version of Gauntlet. Diablo 2 was just overdone though, in my opinion. Not a bad time-waster, but too much going on, without enough atmosphere to pull it all together.

Starcraft was (incase you've been living on Mars for the last 10 years) another great game, and one that I still enjoy. They're finally doing a Starcraft 2! WOOOOO!

Other than the pleasure of a murderous, steroid-enduced, carjacking spree that is Grand Theft Auto IV, and the pure orgasmic Cyber-Apocalypse that is NeoContra, I haven't found too many games on the Playstation 2 that I really enjoyed. Anyone have any suggestions?

Gandalf Parker

June 22nd, 2008, 02:22 PM

For some reason I cant find Space Empires V as addicitive as Space Empires IV.

For those who have really REALLY fond memories of old games, you might try doing a search. Particularly at open source sites such as SourceForge. It seems as if there are always projects trying to resurrect or claiming to be based on some of my favorites. Stars!, Master of Magic, Magic Realms (an old board game), etc. You can jump into the project forum and give suggestions to keep them on course, maybe help with the writing, the graphics, the beta-testing. And maybe drop a hint that if they want a really good publisher for independent projects, Shrapnel is one they should check out http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

HoneyBadger

June 22nd, 2008, 02:48 PM

Dungeons of Daggorath has open source code. I really wish someone would create a Flash/Browser version. I thing it would be perfect for Flash.

Agrajag

June 22nd, 2008, 02:49 PM

I think Open Source and game publishing are kind of mutually exclusive http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif
UFO: Alien Invasion is pretty cool BTW, an open source modern XCOM.

HoneyBadger

June 22nd, 2008, 03:20 PM

There was a fantasy version of XCOM out too-if it hadn't been so buggy on my computer, it would have been pretty interesting. I forget the name but it's in the Home of the Underdogs.

JimMorrison

June 22nd, 2008, 04:12 PM

HoneyBadger said:
The Total War series is another guilty pleasure. I hope someday they redo the Shogun version though-maybe expand it to include more of Asia, and Russia? I'd love to see Russian Vikings square off against Japanese Samurai-talk about a War of the Worlds! A fantasy version would also be great.

...

Fallout was a near-perfect game.
Anybody else heard that the rights to Wasteland got bought by the same company that redid The Bard's Tale? They're making a Fallout 3 too, but what I'm really interested in, and hopeful about, is Afterfall.

...

Other than the pleasure of a murderous, steroid-enduced, carjacking spree that is Grand Theft Auto IV, and the pure orgasmic Cyber-Apocalypse that is NeoContra, I haven't found too many games on the Playstation 2 that I really enjoyed. Anyone have any suggestions?

Total War series is quite bittersweet for me. When Shogun was released, I went out and bought a brand new shiny 733mhz P4, and put together my first (and only overpriced) homebuild. I agonized at the store between Total Annihilation, and Shogun as my first brand new game to test the capacities of my lovely new Voodoo 4500. I instantly fell in love when I started playing it, it was absolutely revolutionary. Unfortunately, as the graphics and animations have improved, and they have done much to make the strategy layer more interesting - they somehow keep managing to erode the behavioral AI in the tactical combat, such that the battles are less enjoyable now because of all of the little quirks and bugs (some of which I think were intentionally placed in order to simulate certain real behaviors, but which just play out as poor control). What I really want them to do is just focus on making the most powerful engine that they can, and then sell us packages that go within that engine for $5-10 apiece. I'm tired of buying the "latest and greatest", complete with all of its limitations. I want Shogun and Rome (both of which are far cooler in setting than Medieval, to me), in the new shiny engine - but I want the battles to work as well as they used to.

< pause for breath > http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif

According to Wikipedia, Interplay only purchased the rights to the Fallout franchise. They then sold those rights to Bethesda, who is releasing Fallout 3 in October of this year. Supposedly Interplay DID retain the right to initiate development on the Fallout MMO that they had planned, but there is no current news on that. The Wasteland property was purchased by the studio InExile, which belongs to Brian Fargo, the producer of the original Wasteland. InExile just released Hei$t, has anyone played it? I'm curious what they've been up to there, other than THEIR remake of Bard's Tale in 2004. Or is that what you were referring to, Badger? It gets confusing, you see Interplay made the original Bard's Tale, and Fallout 1/2, whereas Westwood did Wasteland, and InExile did the remake of Bard's Tale and now has the rights to Wasteland. This is an incestuous group of gamemakers, and I wish someone with millions of dollars would have the vision to unite them.

As for the PS2, did you ever play Archon back in the day? One of the best games ever IMO. Apparently the game Wrath Unleashed has a very similar concept, but made more strategically deep, and not so frantically fast paced as The Unholy War was. Otherwise, it's rare for me to find a console game that really grabs me/ Played a lot of FIFA with my brother, but I think sports games are mindnumbingly boring unless played socially.

Gandalf Parker

June 22nd, 2008, 04:55 PM

Agrajag said:
I think Open Source and game publishing are kind of mutually exclusive http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif
UFO: Alien Invasion is pretty cool BTW, an open source modern XCOM.

Actually no. Many open source games have later decided to become published. And even if they stay open source, a reasonable price for distribution can be charged.

Altho my favorites will always tend to be a split. Going published for the execuatable and staying open source for the rest (mods, maps, AI, etc)

HoneyBadger

June 22nd, 2008, 06:11 PM

I played Archon when I was young, the original game. The chess thing? It was great, except the neighbor kid-who was a couple years younger than I was, and a snotty kid at that-would always beat me at it. Eventually, influenced by the Karate Kid, I kicked him in the stomach, and he ran crying to his momma. Apparently, he'd been taking karate, and insisted he could block me. But me and Mr Miagi won that round...heh heh

das123

June 22nd, 2008, 06:54 PM

kickthedead said:
What ever happened to Stars!? I have that game from like 1995 or so. Is that the newest one still? I can barely find any information about it on the web. Did they ever make a new one? It is a great game.

There was a new game being built but it was abandoned many years ago. I think that this is the only Stars site left...

Stars Auto Host (http://starsautohost.org/stars.htm)

JimMorrison

June 22nd, 2008, 06:55 PM

Hey - a question for those who are using the Spore Creature Creator right now -

I just DLed the free version because I've been following Spore, and think it'll be incredibly enjoyable, but I'm a bit iffy on spending $10 now just to tinker with something I'm going to actually buy in September. I noticed that the website shows the price of Spore as $50, so I was curious if they're just trying to ameliorate their long development costs by making the packages separate, where if you buy Spore in Sept for $50, you still need the CC for $10 anyway, bringing the total cost to the "socially accepted" $60 for a new game? I couldn't find the info on that, so just wondered if anyone had heard.

sum1lost

June 22nd, 2008, 07:04 PM

JimMorrison said:
Hey - a question for those who are using the Spore Creature Creator right now -

I just DLed the free version because I've been following Spore, and think it'll be incredibly enjoyable, but I'm a bit iffy on spending $10 now just to tinker with something I'm going to actually buy in September. I noticed that the website shows the price of Spore as $50, so I was curious if they're just trying to ameliorate their long development costs by making the packages separate, where if you buy Spore in Sept for $50, you still need the CC for $10 anyway, bringing the total cost to the "socially accepted" $60 for a new game? I couldn't find the info on that, so just wondered if anyone had heard.

If you get the full CC, you get 5 dollars off of the full version of Spore, so 55$

Thanks to the weak dollar, thats actually not that bad. I definitely will be getting it. Although I won't be getting the CC separately.

Tyrant

June 22nd, 2008, 07:07 PM

Europa Universalis 3, Sins of a Solar Empire, flash games on Kongregate (including DTD)

Both EU3 and Sins are kinda odd ducks. I play 'em both a bit, and i'm not sorry i spent $ on them, but i cannot really give either an unqualified endorsement.

Sins is "neat" and different from any other RTS i've seen, but it somehow lacks a soul. You know all those lovely little flourishes that raise Dominions from "Best Game Ever" to "BEST GAME EVER!" Sins needs some of those desperately. It's like a well drawn picture of an unremarkable subject, it just doesn't sparkle.

EU3 is more like "Sim History" than a competitive game. I love the predecessors and it's a solid game that adds some nifty new features, but the makers have stubbornly refused to fix certain very simple and obvious flaws despite having redone the game twice. They also decided to replace the perfectly adequate 2D graphics with perfectly awful 3D graphics. A bit frustrating in that way.

It's cool to see Stars mentioned so much. I went to that one after VGA Planets, but i could never find a good online community and both times i tried to play MP the games collapsed.

I'm going to have to check out Dwarf Fortress, I've heard good things from so many different sources that it's got to be worth a looksee.

Gandalf Parker

June 22nd, 2008, 08:10 PM

Spore Creature:
wont run for me. I get the Direct X Unavailable error that others get. Still watching for a fix

Europa Universalis:
Abit too much history for me. I can understand why it forces the events it does but Id rather the druids could win.

VGA Planets: I really liked VGAP3. I pre-ordered VGAP4 back in 2001 and Im still waiting for it to get out of beta. For anyone who likes really REALLY deep games, its worth looking at but it seems to just keep getting deeper and deeper instead of ever releasing

HoneyBadger

June 22nd, 2008, 08:11 PM

Dwarf Fortress is one of the few games that I can recommend unequivically to anyone who's a big fan of Dom3. 99% chance you're going to like it.

No graphics worth mentioning, extremely high learning curve, narrow focus, tons of stuff yet to be implemented-including a magic system-a touchy UI, cranky forum members (atleast some of them were), and yet, a whole cartload of pure greatness.

Omnirizon

June 22nd, 2008, 10:23 PM

Tyrant said:

Both EU3 and Sins are kinda odd ducks. I play 'em both a bit, and i'm not sorry i spent $ on them, but i cannot really give either an unqualified endorsement.

Sins is "neat" and different from any other RTS i've seen, but it somehow lacks a soul. You know all those lovely little flourishes that raise Dominions from "Best Game Ever" to "BEST GAME EVER!" Sins needs some of those desperately. It's like a well drawn picture of an unremarkable subject, it just doesn't sparkle.

its interesting you say this. in another video game thread, I was talking about how GalCiv just doesn't do it, and how all Stardock games are well made, but just lack a certain something. They hit all the nails, and look great, but just are lacking this something, this soul. You just can't quite describe it, but Stardock games just don't have it. Its those little things, the panache, the "sparkle" as you say.

Gandalf Parker

June 22nd, 2008, 10:47 PM

Yes Ive bought many BEAUTIFUL games, which lasted about a month on my machine.

Such conversations happen in many forums. Games such as Stars!, Master of Magic, VGA Planets, Space Empires IV, King of Dragon Pass, etc etc appear on many dedicated gamers machines even though they are ancient in game terms. Trying to discover why has intrigued many a developer. The never-ending existence of some text-based games and MMOs also come up.

Ive watched half a dozen Master of Magic 2 projects fail. Instead of just recreating it (at least as a starting point) they cant help but try to "improve" on it which tends to kill it.

I have my own opinions on the matter, which I tend to post frequently to such forums.

MaxWilson

June 22nd, 2008, 11:13 PM

Omnirizon said:

Tyrant said:

Both EU3 and Sins are kinda odd ducks. I play 'em both a bit, and i'm not sorry i spent $ on them, but i cannot really give either an unqualified endorsement.

Sins is "neat" and different from any other RTS i've seen, but it somehow lacks a soul. You know all those lovely little flourishes that raise Dominions from "Best Game Ever" to "BEST GAME EVER!" Sins needs some of those desperately. It's like a well drawn picture of an unremarkable subject, it just doesn't sparkle.

its interesting you say this. in another video game thread, I was talking about how GalCiv just doesn't do it, and how all Stardock games are well made, but just lack a certain something. They hit all the nails, and look great, but just are lacking this something, this soul. You just can't quite describe it, but Stardock games just don't have it. Its those little things, the panache, the "sparkle" as you say.

Ah. It sounds like Sins is in need of a few "Lost a few eyes"/"Lost head" afflictions and ambidextrous Benjamite slingers and interlocking hero stories (Udum'kinaa and Etimmu come to mind). Little touches that make it awesome. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Oh, and a few hoburgs and blood slaves. And Bogus' band of merry raiders.

-Max

Wokeye

June 23rd, 2008, 02:57 AM

With Dom3 dominating my strategy needs, I'm playing The Witcher and Vampire: The Masq. for my RPG fix ATM. Dwarf Fortress I also play when feeling creative and focussed.

For my action fix, it's BF2: Project Reality mod all the way, and has been for over a year. Man that's an awesome tactical combat game when played correctly.

Sleet

June 23rd, 2008, 11:44 AM

Play once in a while:
* Age of Wonders 2
* NeverWinter Nights (long ongoing campaign once a week)
* Steel Panthers (usually on the laptop while traveling)

* Fallout 2 (Recently started up again, there is a mod that has improved the graphics and another to add a great deal of content. Hope they don't screw up FO3. Not counting on this /threads/images/Graemlins/Cold.gif )
* Combat mission

All time Favs:
* Darklands (have this on a USB key and am able to play once in a while)
* XCOM
* Master of Magic
* Civ series (of course - I - III)
* Wastelands (awesome game)
* VGA planets 3 (Great game, was my only game I played for a while, tried the beta for 4 but could not get into it)

Never did the MMOs, well, when they were text-based I did (sooo long ago), never got into the money-churning EQ or WoW. (and I am glad of that)
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

relee

June 23rd, 2008, 12:01 PM

Other than Dom3, this is what I'm currently wasting my time with:

Victoria
Hearts of Iron
Galactic Civilization
Ageod's American Civil War
Crusader Kings
Gary Grigsby's World At War

I have many others that I can waste time with, but they are not currently loaded on my system. Perhaps I'll reinstall them later.

I played Stars! almost nonstop for years, the last three years playing almost exclusively PBEM on AutoHost. It was a lot of fun, but I don't think I'll go back to that again. In those days I was known as The Crusader and played almost exclusively as the Super Stealth.

Cor2

June 23rd, 2008, 02:47 PM

why not Hearts of Iron II?

HoneyBadger

June 23rd, 2008, 04:03 PM

Sleet, what are the names of those Fallout 2 patches?

Thanks!

Taqwus

June 23rd, 2008, 05:15 PM

*shrug*

Globulation 2 for a quick RTT fix.
Slay, by Sean O'Connor.
Occasionally SE:IV.
Triple A, a pretty darn good Axis-and-Allies clone.

Not really fond of CM. IMHO they need to actually spend time on UI -- logs, event-based autopause, SOPs -- or alternatively, co-op, if they want to make scenarios like Ash Shammas playable in a remotely realistic fashion. CM:BB was fun, but that didn't have RPGs carried by elite troops seemingly capable of reliably getting first-shot kills @ 250+ m.

Don't think KoDP, JA2 or any Fallout games work on my XP box. Unfortunate. Maybe at some point I'll see if I have a SMAC CD lying around, but I don't think I brought it with me. *shrug*

Meglobob

June 23rd, 2008, 07:17 PM

Cor2 said:
why not Hearts of Iron II?

Hearts of Iron (the original) is just far, far superior to the follow ups in my opinion.

The game lost its soul to the new interface, just can't play HoI2.

Best WW2 strategy game I have ever played Hearts of Iron.

quantum_mechani

June 23rd, 2008, 07:24 PM

I don't play all that many WW2 games, but Gary Grisby's World at War is by far my favorite

Cerlin

June 23rd, 2008, 08:13 PM

Lets see...now Im playing:

Dawn of War (I never seem to get tired of this.)
Company of Heroes (love the Mp, even if its too fast.)
Eve online (For my space fix)
X3 (got to love building empires.)

I did play Dwarf fortress but it is TOO addictive!! It is an awesome game but I dont have the time to sacrifice. Thankfully Dominions is easier to pull myself away from. I think my girlfriend feels the same too haha.

Gandalf Parker

June 23rd, 2008, 09:07 PM

Lets see, where is that sig I used to have?
Something along the line of "Don't complain about the processing time of Dominions. Its their way of making sure they arent sued for starvation, popped bladders, and lost marriages."

Zentar

June 23rd, 2008, 09:33 PM

Dominions3 has eclipsed the playing most other games.

I dropped my World of Warcraft, rarely play Heroes of Might and Magic V, no longer play HOMM4 or HOMM3, rarely play Wesnoth, no longer play Master of Magic, Civilization, Stars, Master of Orion, Master of Magic, Empire (1979), Tome derivatives, and so many others. Mule is still on my 1983 atari computer, but I would have to take it out of storage. Chess ruled from 1961-1982 but I never played in a FIDE or USCF national tournament after I was married. Chess programs have become far better than most humans, but I rarely play them. I like Lords of Magic SE in the late 1990's. There were several role playing games in addition to the strategy genre, but I am not going to list all of them.

I am still finding out new things about Dominions3. New mods, maps, game versions (add ons), player guides, forum / community, ect... just keep me coming back for more.

Bwaha

June 23rd, 2008, 09:37 PM

if you can find it "masters of orion 2" is a hoot. for you older players close combat 2 is hair raising tension.(if your side is the poor allies). this only counts in head to head as the ai is stupid. Bwaha

HoneyBadger

June 23rd, 2008, 10:22 PM

I've got copies of MOO and MOO2. MOO2 is great! I used to have MOO3-I know, it's not very good, but I was fond of it-but one of the disks went missing, and I haven't found a replacement for it.

Gandalf Parker

June 23rd, 2008, 10:58 PM

Zentar said:
Mule is still on my 1983 atari computer, but I would have to take it out of storage.

MULE! Thats a memory.
Did you know that Shrapnel sells a version of that called Space HoRSE?
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/gilligames/Space_HoRSE/1.htm

HoneyBadger

June 23rd, 2008, 11:07 PM

I've thought about getting a copy of Space HoRSE-and I will, if I ever have any money again.

Lingchih

June 23rd, 2008, 11:42 PM

HoneyBadger said:
I've got copies of MOO and MOO2. MOO2 is great! I used to have MOO3-I know, it's not very good, but I was fond of it-but one of the disks went missing, and I haven't found a replacement for it.

MOO 2 was greatness. MOO 3 was, well, ok. I enjoyed it. Nothing like MOO 2 though.

I've moved onto GalCiv2, but I have to admit the expansions are quite buggy until, like, the fourth or fifth update. I'm playing the newest expansion now, Twilight of the Arnor, and it's very cool, but riddled with bugs. Things like crash to desktop buggy. But it's good fun. Save early, save often.

HoneyBadger

June 24th, 2008, 12:05 AM

Yeah that was the biggest problem I encountered with GalCiv2-fun game, but buggier than anything except, well, MOO3 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Zentar

June 24th, 2008, 01:13 AM

Gandalf Parker said:
MULE! Thats a memory.
Did you know that Shrapnel sells a version of that called Space HoRSE?

Yes I know that, and in the most recent Space HoRSE thread I commented that it too bad it is NOT available to MAC users.

Lingchih says:

MOO 2 was greatness. MOO 3 was, well, ok. I enjoyed it. Nothing like MOO 2 though.

. Agreed MOO2 was best, then MOO1, and MOO3 least.

I played many "epic" multiplayer games with MOO2 and HOMM3. These games ran for 12 hours or more non-stop (microwave ovens reduced food preparation to a couple minutes at the most and seconds to reheat coffee between turns). Being able to do your turn while others simultaneously did their turn was an improvement over other games where each player took one turn at a time. MOO2 is still an immortal but it is not available to MAC and can not be played on any of today's PC computers. I miss MOO2. Civilization, Europa Universalis, MechWarrior, Warlords 1-3, 4 was buggy, Age of Empires II, Starcraft series.

For the rpg's I also played Diablo, Diablo2, GuildWars, NeverWinterNights (very good), Dungeon's of Moria, Morrowind, and World of Warcraft, and more.

For Wargames I liked Allied General a lot (my son loved it also), and Operation Crusader.

There is a lot more, but it is late so I must be going.

Lingchih

June 24th, 2008, 01:58 AM

No, I have MOO 2 for the Mac. In fact, that is where I play it. It is the only machine I have that can still play it.

JimMorrison

June 24th, 2008, 03:03 AM

HoneyBadger said:
I've got copies of MOO and MOO2. MOO2 is great! I used to have MOO3-I know, it's not very good, but I was fond of it-but one of the disks went missing, and I haven't found a replacement for it.

I also was quite fond of MoO3. Maybe because I hadn't played the other two, so I didn't know what I was missing? I just felt MoO3 had so much interesting content, and it seems like the AI was actually competitive (all too rare to find), that it was easy enough to overlook most of the flaws. It's funny now that I think about it though, the "hands off" scripted method of combat in Dom3, for all its quirks, gives better results than the "hands on" tactical combats of MoO3. There was nothing like watching a task force of Point Defense ships get completely flattened by missiles without firing a single shot. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

I think I'm going to get AoW again, I've been missing it, and seeing so many people talk about it is really getting under my skin. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif

Tuidjy

June 24th, 2008, 03:40 AM

I found out about Mount and Blade two months ago. I have hardly played anything
else since... but once I'm out of it, I will probably go to my old favorites: the
original X-Com, Angband or ADOM, Age of Wonders (how can anyone like 2 better?)
Kohan: Arihman's Gift, and of course, at some point, I will have a Dominions
relapse. And Ceasar III. I can't explain it, but I keep playing that game,
although I have yet to find anyone else who enjoys it.

cupido2

June 24th, 2008, 04:44 AM

Currently it's (theoretically) GTA IV, but after a few hours I put it aside for dwarf fortress, more dwarf fortress, battleground europe (wwiionline) and even more dwarf fortress. I hate you, dwarf fortress.

.'.`.,'',".
.'`,"g".c,.
''".,".".,,
Run kitten! Run for your life!

Endoperez

June 24th, 2008, 05:13 AM

What's so fun about Dwarf Fortress? I have played it, made forts, failed to make waterfalls, etc etc. Surviving in the early game is usually either easy or almost impossible. Even in the 2d version, I didn't have any real problems feeding my dwarves, but I usually got bored with it before I got to see any big battles. I find that I have very little to try and achieve in-game and in-the-dwarves'-perspective. They're happy with no bedrooms and a huge dining room with lots of stuff, and they can't appreciate projects that look good to the player. Managing huge construction projects is a challenge, but it's too micromanagement-based for me to enjoy them.

I expect it will become something I could spend lots of time with, but it isn't there yet. As an example, I'd like to see the dwarves do more stuff for themselves. For example, I don't want to have to mine and set furniture for a dozen bedrooms. Mining the main tunnels and setting the area as free personal room space (max room size 4, max of 1 room/dwarf) should be enough. Dwarves would only work on their personal projects if there are no commynity projects to manage.

Agrajag

June 24th, 2008, 10:24 AM

cupido2 said:
.'.`.,'',".
.'`,"g".c,.
''".,".".,,
Run kitten! Run for your life!

Why is it running away from a goat? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

cupido2

June 24th, 2008, 01:07 PM

I loved Lego and Playmobile when I was a child and DF feels a bit like playing Lego or Playmobil with dwarfs living in my constructions.
Another reason is, that I am rather new to it (february I think) and haven't seen it all yet. I haven't built on an aquifer, in a desert, at an oceanshore, haven't tried out water- or magmapumps, got the first time slaughtered by hitting "hidden fun stuff". And I'd like to try out a megaproject or two (there's a 3dwarf program to visualize your fortress in 3d).

I have fun to make everybody, including the nobles, ecstatic and build fancy appartments for them, and try to manufacture good stuff for a character in adventure mode.
For me, part of the fun is the graphics. With the ASCII I can imagine the stuff that happens and the stuff I build the way I like them. But I think, when I've done all the things that I myself wanted to do, I might lose interest, because the game itself delivers no real aim (yet).

Btw: Goats are killers. Ask my hunter. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

HoneyBadger

June 24th, 2008, 01:37 PM

I think you have to be part dwarf to appreciate Dwarf Fortress-you must, no other race could enjoy eating rocks and being miserable so much. Playing Dwarf Fortress is like saying "hey let's go live in the Congo for a couple of weeks, without any bug spray, that'll be awesome!" and then convincing 6 of your friends to go with you, and ending up having a great time.

It's like the Apocalypse Now Amusement Park. It's SimJonestown. I can't explain the appeal, other than that it's in the effort to survive and prosper in a hostile world-one that you're actually grateful is virtual, but that feels very real.

Omnirizon

June 24th, 2008, 02:15 PM

sim-jonestown...

i can picture a flash game with this title on Kongregate now.

you have to build a little village while keeping your sims deluded until you can get them all to commit suicide.

well now that I think about it, sounds like america on a smaller scale.

I think song says it well:
http://www.last.fm/music/Angelspit/_/100%25

baruk

June 26th, 2008, 08:15 AM

At the moment I'm playing UT 2003, Railroad tycoon 3, Stars!, MOO3 and chess (on gameknot and FICS, handle: tonylemesmer).

Its good to see a lot of appreciation for DF, Wesnoth and KoDP. Games I happen to be taking a break from, but will probably go back to in the future.
Poxnora is surprisingly good also, but not a game I'm planning to spend money on, I've been down the CCG/MMO route before.

Slay, by Sean O'Connor.

This is great, isn't it? Very simple and satisying turn-based strategy.

And Ceasar III. I can't explain it, but I keep playing that game, although I have yet to find anyone else who enjoys it.

I just reinstalled this, haven't played it in a few years. Never quite got around to finishing that last map.. (have a lot of games in this state)

Mount and Blade is a great concept - first person hack and slash 'em up rpg.

I recommend Monster's Den on the kongregate site. A rather good turn-based tactical rpg, though I would suggest playing on one of the harder difficulty levels, as I found on the easy level I would get swamped with loot, and spend most of my time sorting through it.

Does anyone else play Pax Galactica? Imagine Stars! or MOO but pared-down to the bare bones and tick-based rather than turn based - you just move the ships, ship production happens automatically, and there is no research. Surprisingly enjoyable.

Calahan

June 26th, 2008, 08:43 AM

Anyone here ever played, or even heard of a game called 'PSI 5 Trading Company' on the CBM 64?

I played little else in the late 80's. I still play it often now after finding it on an abandonware site. It's a very simply space combat/management game in which your only control is in giving your crew orders, and hoping they'll decide to listen to you.

Maybe it's the James T. Kirk wannabe in me, but there's something immensely addictive about shouting "shoot him down for f%$� sake" at your gunner, and watching a square block image explode on the screen.

Vintage gaming years :-)

ArkkiMeisseli

June 26th, 2008, 01:38 PM

Armageddon Empires, Oblivion, Baldur's Gate II and... World of Warcraft. Occasionally a UT2004 mod called Killing Floor.

Mostly just WoW, though. It is a horrible disease.

HoneyBadger said:
...one of the disks went missing, and I haven't found a replacement for it...

You can have mine.

Ironhawk

June 26th, 2008, 02:05 PM

I've seen a couple of people here list MOO3 as one of the games that they are currently playing or played and enjoyed. This is really surprising to me. I played that game and was quite turned off by it. After a while, I was able to get a grip on how to manage an empire - but there were still some crippling problems. First and foremost that comes to mind is that there was no way to accurately tell the composition of enemy fleets.

How did you guys get around all the problems of MOO3? I would very much like to know cause I desperately wanted to like that game, but couldnt...

MaxWilson

June 26th, 2008, 02:44 PM

I haven't played Moo3 but I followed it during the early design stages. I heard it was way too "macro." Sometimes during late game Dominions I decide that "macro" is not such a bad idea...

-Max

JimMorrison

June 26th, 2008, 05:04 PM

Calahan said:
Anyone here ever played, or even heard of a game called 'PSI 5 Trading Company' on the CBM 64?

Haha! I LOVED PSI 5! What's a Cravenlator? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif I still randomly say that, people just disregard it now as part of my general oddness. >.> It makes me sad though, I could never win on the later missions. I tried them over and over and over, and a couple of times got within 2-3 minutes of completion, and still no dice.

For MoO3, I worried less about what the other guy had, and rather did the same thing I did in "Stars!", that is to make fleets that had their own built in rock-paper-scissors progression that could kill anything out there (carriers + missiles + beams + point defense). In later game, I'd take some losses like that, but the computer always had a strat, so after I saw if they were going all missiles, or all carriers or whatever, I would retune my fleets to compensate. I have to say though, enemy carrier fleets were the most frustrating, you were guaranteed a lot of losses. Damn, now you're making me want to play it again..... not because it's "such a great game", but because it was ALMOST such a great game, and my imagination was generally able to fill in the gaps. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Reverend Zombie

June 26th, 2008, 05:23 PM

AGEOD's American Civil War.

it's only other thing I'm playing, and it's great if you're a Civil War buff!

Calahan

June 26th, 2008, 05:34 PM

JimM

Glad to hear I'm not alone on PSI-5 :-) I find so few people have ever heard of it that it sometimes seems like I own the only copy in the world!

Think I have about a 5-10% success rate on the toughest mission. Best chance is to set-up engineering so that you can go full pelt and still fire. And despite playing it 100's of times, I've still no idea what half the things available to repair actually do! "What's a Cravenlatorr" :-) LoL

Although I am sure that the fuzzy furry pink bloke is the best kick arse gunner around!

JimMorrison

June 26th, 2008, 05:40 PM

The teddy bear guy? The one that keeps gumming up his controls with chocolate? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Are you running on an EMU? I had one for the 64 once, but it had some severe issues with core clocking and such. Half the things that I tried to run on it just didn't do anything right at all.

I still want a modern remake of MoM..... And of Archon and Archon II. Hell, if someone could make an Oblivion-esque version of the Ultima games, I would be a happy happy camper. I tried to play them again, but just moving around and looking at things took SO LONG I couldn't handle the pain.

Also, what about Worms? The C64 Worms, not the stupid Artillery knockoff that everyone thinks of when I say the name.....

Gandalf Parker

June 26th, 2008, 07:17 PM

GrudgeBringer

June 26th, 2008, 07:22 PM

I was in Caeser III (at least my name 'GrudgeBringer' and my other alias 'Three toed Pete" are Barbarian's in that game. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

I was as a moderator on Civil war Generals 2 and they liked the names...my only claim to fame.

I play Great invasions, Ageod's American Cilvil War (talk about Micro though) but a very realistic game.

MOO3 was a terrible game I thought but I played MOO 2 online and THAT was a good game so I guess it just didn't live up to my expectations. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif

Stryke11

June 26th, 2008, 09:55 PM

1) Medieval 2: Total War (Not vanilla, but MODS - Stainless Steel and Broken Crescent - seriously, if you have M2TW you NEED to try these mods, 500X better than actual game).
2) Galactic Civilizations 2: Twilight of the Arnor
3) The Witcher (pretty unknown, but absolutely awesome, think Oblivion with more action and for adults).
4) Dwarf Fortress (it's been so long since a patch that I don't actually play it much, but it's there waiting).
5) Battle for Wesnoth (occasionally).
6) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES (Playstation 2 game, but it's still a game, so it counts.)

P.S. HoneyBadger: You mentioned you would like a Fantasy: Total War, well, I highly recommend you try Fourth Age: Total War, which is a LotR mod for Rome (with Barbarian expansion) and is set in the 4th age of Middle Earth (after the events in the novels/movies). You can be Gondor, Rohan, Harad, Rhun, this bizarro evil-twin Gonder that has Gondor infantry with orcs and trolls, located in what was formerly Mordor), and Dunland. They are also working on a mod for Medieval called Third Age: Total War, which also looks very pretty.

Wokeye

June 26th, 2008, 11:00 PM

Will have to try those TW:Med mods. I would love a Total War:Fantasy game. Even better if it had significant imporvements to the AI/diplomacy aspect too, then it would be *almost* my ultimate single player game.

Ironhawk, I agree with you re MOO3 - I enjoyed it when I was expanding/building/exploring, but once I started having to fight other races I lost interest very fast.

Good to see so many DF fans, I actually enjoy seeing the progression of the game more than I do actually playing it ATM. The next version should be great.

Ballbarian

June 26th, 2008, 11:51 PM

Lately my game plate is pretty sparse.
I have been playing the heck out of the free Digital Eel games (http://www.shrapnelgames.com/freegames2.htm) just for some quick entertainment:
Big Box of Blox
Plasmaworm
Dr. Blob's Organism

Especially the Blox. It is like an insane Tetris, and I was never a big Tetris fan. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Probably the newest game that I enjoyed was Call of Duty 4. After you beat the campaign, you get a bonus mission involving a plane and terrorists. I must have played that mission 30 times. Easy, but fun as hell. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

I briefly played a couple of rounds of Wesnoth not too long ago and still enjoy it.

I played quite a bit of Galactic Civ for awhile and purchased Sins of a Solar Empire. Big disappointment for me. It looks really good, but the way the whole pirate thing was handled just made me hate to play it. I finished one game and tried to start another, but just got to the point where I dreaded playing it. I imagine that I will go back to it some day and try to keep an open mind...

I am sort of looking forward to Spore, but a big part of me is afraid it will be a little too cute. By cute, I mean like the newer Sims cute. I really want to get excited about it, but I am afraid that I will be disappointed. The creature creator is good fun, but it won't take me long to get bored with it unless the Spore environment and game itself can draw me in. Conceptually, I find it fascinating.

JimMorrison

June 27th, 2008, 04:17 AM

Ballbarian said:
...and purchased Sins of a Solar Empire. Big disappointment for me. It looks really good, but the way the whole pirate thing was handled just made me hate to play it. I finished one game and tried to start another, but just got to the point where I dreaded playing it. I imagine that I will go back to it some day and try to keep an open mind...

Was this immediately after release? The first few patches did wonders for the game, including a toggle for pirates on/off for all maps, in case you just don't like dealing with them at all. Honestly for my first few games I struggled so badly with the pirates, but as soon as I let my economic patterns revolve around making sure to have plenty of money to hire the pirates, they made the game too EASY in SP, I could practically win the game just by putting the pirates against my largest foe with increasingly massive bounties.

So yes, if you haven't played Sins in v1.3 or higher, you should give it another run, with or without pirates. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Gnadalf - It struck me after I read your post, and Googled around for Mail Order Monsters (I should have said MOM, not MoM) that you thought I meant Master of Magic. My mistake. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

das123

June 27th, 2008, 05:47 AM

Sins certainly improved with the latest patches. Actually, I liked the pirates because it only takes one capital ship to destroy them and then the capital ship get heaps of experience.

MaxWilson

June 27th, 2008, 09:09 AM

JimMorrison said:
I still want a modern remake of MoM..... And of Archon and Archon II.

There was an entertaining Archon-esque game called Dark Legions a few years back. The biggest difference was that there were no power points and, more importantly, your army was purchased with a point-buy system and not fixed. Great fun for hotseat play against a buddy.

-Max

Leif_-

June 27th, 2008, 09:17 AM

Let's see...

Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword,
City of Heroes
Alpha Centauri
Steamband
Sins of a Solar Empire

Ballbarian

June 29th, 2008, 10:46 PM

I downloaded the demo for Mount&Blade early Saturday morning and bought it Saturday night. Very cool game! If I was forced to choose between it and Oblivion then Mount&Blade would win hands down.

@JimMorrison,
By the time I played Sins, they had already added the pirate toggle, but for my first game I just used mostly default settings. I am sure that I will return to it some day and give it another spin. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Cor2

June 30th, 2008, 01:07 AM

baruk said:

Does anyone else play Pax Galactica? Imagine Stars! or MOO but pared-down to the bare bones and tick-based rather than turn based - you just move the ships, ship production happens automatically, and there is no research. Surprisingly enjoyable.

I play Astro empires, which sounds alot like that, but with more control (you build your own fleet and research) Its a great game, but brutal if you dohn't start in a good position

Cor2

June 30th, 2008, 01:10 AM

Mount and blade cannot hold my interest for more than a few days. Gets very repeditive

baruk

June 30th, 2008, 01:45 AM

Cor2 said:

baruk said:

Does anyone else play Pax Galactica? Imagine Stars! or MOO but pared-down to the bare bones and tick-based rather than turn based - you just move the ships, ship production happens automatically, and there is no research. Surprisingly enjoyable.

I play Astro empires, which sounds alot like that, but with more control (you build your own fleet and research) Its a great game, but brutal if you dohn't start in a good position

Incidentally, I got the name wrong. It should be Pax Galaxia. Note that you can play a full game of it in under 10 minutes, though it depends how aggressive your opponents are. The fact that surrounded enemy fleets can be captured means that attacking play is often rewarded.

Atreidi

July 19th, 2008, 11:41 PM

have any of you tried the Continuum?

HoneyBadger

July 20th, 2008, 12:23 AM

I would, but my computer won't run it.

Edi

July 20th, 2008, 03:29 AM

HoMM3, 4 & 5, Age of Wonders (the original), The Witcher, Freespace 2.

DigitalSin

July 20th, 2008, 06:14 AM

Ah, the heroes series.. 4 almost killed my love for it. 5 brought my right back to it again though.

Zeldor

July 20th, 2008, 10:26 AM

Harvest!

sector24

July 20th, 2008, 10:37 AM

I've played Continuum, but coming from a Star Control 1 and 2 background I never liked the insane physics. Kongregate has a multiplayer space shooter called Starfighter: Undisputed Galaxy or something like that. You might want to give that a try.

buckyjames1

July 20th, 2008, 01:17 PM

If you fellas have not checked out the Fall From Heaven Mod for CIV4 it is a must.Take all civilization perks and put in Fantasy setting. Magic/swords/mythical beings, you name it its there. It is a complete overhaul of the game and once you get it working it is a brand new addiction.

Bwaha

July 20th, 2008, 05:52 PM

Fallout3 is out... There goes my social life...Look at G4 to see the reviews. Damn near killed me, a player built anything launcher firing teddy bears... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Zeldor

July 20th, 2008, 05:54 PM

I expect Fallout3 to be really bad game. First person? MAde by Bethesda? That just cannot end well.

HoneyBadger

July 20th, 2008, 06:14 PM

I dunno, I liked Daggerfall. It wasn't perfect ofcourse, but quite good for it's time. And it's my understanding that Fallout 3 will have both 1st and 3rd person perspective.

JimMorrison

July 20th, 2008, 06:19 PM

They've been committed to remaining true to the Fallout IP throughout the entire process, and have what appears to be a very clever conjunction of the traditional Fallout turn based combat, and the ability to free fire as in an FPS - if it works, it's kind of revolutionary.

Beyond that, I read an article last year and one thing that stuck out, was that they had learned a lot from Oblivion (god I hope so, eh?!), and that while still quite epic in scope, Fallout 3 would not be so large as Oblivion, so that every place means something, and all of the characters really get the attention they need in order to come to life.

I am remaining hopeful, as Fallout 3 has simply been one of the games I've wanted to see for..... 10 years now? Longer? If it all goes well, I'd even be willing to shell out a few more bucks if they ported 1 and 2 into the new engine. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

HoneyBadger

July 20th, 2008, 06:28 PM

I'd be willing to pay extra if they'd finish Van Buren and add it to the package. I don't think I'm alone there, either.

Gandalf Parker

July 20th, 2008, 10:23 PM

Has anyone ever tried the Game Room link at the top of this forum? Up there next to FAQ

Foodstamp

July 21st, 2008, 12:16 AM

I never noticed the link, but I do love those miniclip games. I used to play the golf one between classes last semester.

HoneyBadger

July 21st, 2008, 02:59 AM

I play Pacman regularly, online. Brings back good memories. My wife and I still own an Atari 2600. I like that this version causes Pacman to speed up a little, when he eats powerpills. I never saw (or noticed) that as a feature in the original game.

Lingchih

July 21st, 2008, 03:27 AM

I play a Tempest simulator occasionally http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Please folks, let's keep it relevant.

MythicalMino

July 25th, 2008, 03:11 PM

Silverfall (I am really enjoying it so far)
Diablo 2 (first time ever playing this one)
Out of the Park Baseball 9 (started an 1871 season as Cleveland, made it to my World Series, and have won the first game)

King of Dragon Pass....I have been trying to get hold of this, but I cannot find it anywhere. I contacted the company that made it/published it/whatever it, but they replied that they are no longer offering it for purchase at the moment :-(

I have Europa Universalis 3, plus the 2 expacks installed, and I keep promising myself that I will kick that off.

I also have a great wrestling game (Table Top game turned PC game) called Wrestling's Finest.

I was playing Hellgate London, but I kinda quit when nobody knew what was going on.

JimMorrison

July 25th, 2008, 03:20 PM

MythicalMino said:
King of Dragon Pass....I have been trying to get hold of this, but I cannot find it anywhere. I contacted the company that made it/published it/whatever it, but they replied that they are no longer offering it for purchase at the moment :-(

http://www.amazon.com/King-Dragon-Pass-PC-Mac/dp/B0009PPEM0

3 used & new available from $34.45

<3

MythicalMino

July 25th, 2008, 03:41 PM

purchased.

Not sure why I never thought to go to Amazon and look. I did go to ebay, but several months ago, it was WAY too expensive.

Hopefully, it won't take too long to get here, cause I have wanted this game for quite some time. Thanks, Mr. Mojo Risin

Chris

lch

July 25th, 2008, 03:57 PM

MythicalMino said:
King of Dragon Pass....I have been trying to get hold of this, but I cannot find it anywhere. I contacted the company that made it/published it/whatever it, but they replied that they are no longer offering it for purchase at the moment :-(

I still want to rip all the graphics from that game, just because the Duck race in there is so damn hilarious. That alone warrants playing the game. I've been playing it once, on "easy" mode which only requires you to complete a third of the game, and very soon I really started thinking like a tribe leader. But you really can't complete this in one go.

When I began to reassess my choices for all these events more and more, trying to find the perfect answer to everything, and not knowing what I should do next to minmax the right way between accumulating wealth and improving the clan without bursting the bubble, acquiring magical items and keeping your neighbors happy at the same time, which seems just impossible, I just wanted to see how the game ends since the tribes unification already began and I started clicking on random answers to the choices without reading the text anymore. I didn't care if somebody in my ring died, if we won a battle or if some disaster struck. Much to my surprise, there was relatively little change to how well my tribe fared, compared to my carefully crafted playstyle before. So when I fast-forwarded the last half hour to hour to complete the game I was kinda upset that my actual input seemed to matter little to the outcome. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/mad.gif

But seriously, Dom3 needs a race of undead-hunting duck knights.

EDIT: By trying to buy it from the company that made the game, you mean that you did try http://www.a-sharp.com/buy/ where they say that they'll burn you a copy for $19.99 ?

MythicalMino

July 25th, 2008, 04:10 PM

yeah, that company. When I tried to purchase it several months ago, basically, it seemed that they were saying that they might be able to make a copy, but when they could not say, and whether or not it would actually be sent wasn't for sure, either.

I passed on them.

Chris

Ironhawk

July 25th, 2008, 05:44 PM

KoDP is a really unique game. More like playing through a story than an RPG or a management type game. Definitely worth playing if you can find yourself a copy.

Taqwus

July 25th, 2008, 06:22 PM

I'd recommend playing it 'Warmongering Thrallmaster' style, at least once. The results can be quite remarkable. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif

Perhaps an Eurmal-worshipping king might be entertaining, too.

DonCorazon

July 25th, 2008, 07:36 PM

Zeldor said:
I expect Fallout3 to be really bad game. First person? MAde by Bethesda? That just cannot end well.

Check out the trailer - looks awesome.

danm

July 27th, 2008, 03:08 AM

If you enjoyed the setting for King of Dragon Pass, you should check out http://www.glorantha.com for the latest stuff set in that world. Most of the RuneQuest3 pen&paper rpg materials were set there as well, and might be worth looking for.

I've played in several pnp rp campaigns with Dave (the guy who wrote KoDP) and still run into him occasionally -- it's really cool to see people are still enjoying his game )

mighty_scoop

August 3rd, 2008, 08:15 AM

Does anybody here knows the games-workshop boardgame bloodbowl (brutal fantasy football(rugby) in the warhammer universe). There is a free client with a very cool online community called fumbbl (fumbbl.com) ... that's the only other game i'm playing ... developing your teams, playing tournament, etc ... very cool and very addictive :-)

Morkilus

August 4th, 2008, 03:04 PM

I've been following the development of Hinterland (http://www.tiltedmill.com/hinterland/), a kind of village builder/party-based Roguelike hybrid. The flavor seems similar to the more classic fantasy, like Dominions - less elves and fireballs and more nymphs and steel. Otherwise, I've been playing Company of Heroes and Scrabble. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Taqwus

August 4th, 2008, 03:48 PM

I've recently been distracted by Civ IV, after getting my hands on the 'Complete' edition (imported from EU -- the 'Gold' one available in the US only has one of the two expansions).

Aezeal

August 4th, 2008, 08:44 PM

quit *****ing on Oblivion (and morrowind) Bethesda makes great games.. plenty hours I played those 2, and it was good.
Not baldurs gate good, but good none the less

Ironhawk

August 4th, 2008, 08:52 PM

Speaking of Baldur's Gate - has anyone played a game of that type lately? Party based RPG

DonCorazon

August 4th, 2008, 09:20 PM

cleveland

August 4th, 2008, 10:47 PM

Dom3 is way out of genre for me. The last game I was really into was Silent Hunter III, a WWII submarine sim. Stumbled on Dom3 while getting Steel Panthers from Shrapnel.

Atreidi

September 6th, 2008, 05:44 PM

Wua, Spore is out tomorrow. I wonder if it is going to make me play less Dominions... I doubt it, but I shall give it a try :)

Epaminondas

September 6th, 2008, 09:03 PM

Age of Wonders & Disciples franchises.

darloth

September 6th, 2008, 09:36 PM

I find Sword of the Stars compliments it quite nicely. They're similar in some ways, very different in others, and between them cover all my turn based strategy needs in both scifi and fantasy.

Epaminondas

September 6th, 2008, 09:43 PM

Every now and then I load NWN2 on my PC but can never decide on a character to play. I miss BG/BG2: those were good games. I also was a big fan of MM6 - loved the Fly spell and motoring around knocking griffons out of the sky. Can't believe how linear all the new games are. I just want to frikken fly man!!
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I occasionally play NWN2, too. But BG series games were better. Most single-player RPGs have gone down in quality, probably because resources are now being shifted to MMORPG.

Epaminondas

September 6th, 2008, 09:44 PM

I've recently been distracted by Civ IV, after getting my hands on the 'Complete' edition (imported from EU -- the 'Gold' one available in the US only has one of the two expansions).

I got tired of Civ IV very quickly, because of 1) the badly balanced units, and 2) the too-simple, restricted character of the tactical battles.

Epaminondas

September 6th, 2008, 09:47 PM

HoMM3, 4 & 5, Age of Wonders (the original), The Witcher, Freespace 2.

I am a huge fan of fantasy TBS games and have owned virtually every one of them since MoM, but I've hated every HoMM series I've played. There are too many problems to count, but among the foremost I hated the stack system both for aesthetic and game-play reasons.

Epaminondas

September 6th, 2008, 09:48 PM

There are a number of projects trying to recreate MoM as a MoM2. But at the moment there are very few trying to do it authenticly. They cant seem to help trying to upgrade it (such as adding multiplayer mode) which tends to kill it.

Isn't Stardock doing one? Also, there are rumors that the makers of Fantasy Wars have acquired the trademark from Atari.

lch

September 7th, 2008, 03:42 AM

No. Stardock expressed interest in acquiring the license, but ultimately didn't do it.

Epaminondas

September 7th, 2008, 09:52 AM

No. Stardock expressed interest in acquiring the license, but ultimately didn't do it.

While Stardock decided not to pursue the MoM license (which I already implied saying that the makers of Fantasy Wars is rumored to have acquired the MoM license), the company is making a MoM clone right now designated "Not MoM."

Gandalf Parker

September 7th, 2008, 10:32 AM

I wouldnt mind StarDock doing one. They might do it right.
Too many of the clones tried to make it multiplayer.

chrispedersen

September 7th, 2008, 01:38 PM

Dom3 is way out of genre for me. The last game I was really into was Silent Hunter III, a WWII submarine sim. Stumbled on Dom3 while getting Steel Panthers from Shrapnel.

You'd probably love harpoon
you might like pacwar

chrispedersen

September 7th, 2008, 01:40 PM

chrispedersen

September 7th, 2008, 01:43 PM

Whistful:

Games I have played:

Berlin '85.
Rails West (Commodore 64)
Freedom in the Galaxy (horrible game, but groundbreaking mechanics)

MoM. Best.inGenre.Ever.
Xcom. Still remember being creeped out.

Swords and Sorcery - one of my favorite board games. Best boardgame simulation of what happens when armies meet wizards.

Down with the King
Kremlin
Dune

Tom Wham Games

BG series were so good - I was sooo looking forward to the Aurora engine - was sooo disappointed when it came out.

Atreidi

September 7th, 2008, 02:41 PM

Epaminondas

September 7th, 2008, 02:47 PM

JimMorrison

September 7th, 2008, 04:03 PM

I got tired of Civ IV very quickly, because of 1) the badly balanced units, and 2) the too-simple, restricted character of the tactical battles.

Do you play with all the expansion packs? Civ IV is a very Deep Game. I believe it is anything but simple. Try the expasion packs and increase or decrease dificulty or Create a map that suits your needs. :)

I agree that the game is emphatically not simple. But that's not what I said. I said the tactical battles are too simple, given that it has Warlords type of a system where individual units face off one v. one.

And yes, I have all the expansions.

My best friend and I came to the same conclusion. That the game itself was quite good, but combat is just so poorly handled, it ruins the entire experience. I'm looking for an Alpha Centauri II, with combat similar to Dominions, then we'll be talking turkey. ;)

onomastikon

September 8th, 2008, 07:10 AM

StarChamber. Much better than Poxnora IMO.

Klepto

September 8th, 2008, 09:13 AM

Neverwinter Nights (on the Three Towns (http://www.trustinginthefuture.com/3towns/index.asp) server mostly)
Wolf ET
Savage 2 (http://savage2.s2games.com/main.php)
Morrowind (the only reason I have Wine installed)
The X Games (http://www.egosoft.com/community/news_en.php)
Transport Tycoon, Wesnoth, Freeciv, Darwinia, Warzone 2100, etc.

... and many many more. My avatar/nick comes from this game (http://www.gamebase64.com/game.php?id=8343&d=18&h=0).

HoneyBadger

September 8th, 2008, 12:36 PM

For the severely geriatric only: Has anyone here ever played Dungeons of Daggorath? Talk about creepy...Bit for bit, easily the single best game ever made-and by 'bit for bit' I mean that it was made with only 8 kilobites. My icon has just under that...Or possibly more, I'm not really sure. And those 8 kilobytes feature: Great sound, better (legitimately spooky) atmosphere, a first person "shooter" with right and left handed action, a multi-level dungeon, upgradeable weapons and equipment, a realistic lighting system, 3D mimicing graphics-very good, considering it was made in 1982-innovative monsters, and a fairly difficult puzzle game-within-a-game. Oh and instead of hitpoints, it keeps track of your life with a beating heart that speeds up and slows down as you move throughout the dungeon.

Taqwus

September 8th, 2008, 05:17 PM

For explosive nostalgia, I recently installed Xscorch on my Gentoo set-up. It's one of many clones of Wendell Hicken's "Scorched Earth", one of the first and more well-known of the 'artillery' games. :D

Dragar

September 9th, 2008, 01:15 AM

Scorched earth was awesome... although the guidance systems killed it a little, it was much more satisyfing to land your heavy napalm just thru angle and power.

For the Civ IV players out there, try the Fall from Heaven 2 user mod. That was my staple for months before finding Dom3. Still the same combat system, but it is a very rich fantasy setting, huge differentiation between civs and religions, plus lots of magic :) All while maintaing pretty decent balance. It is supported amazingly well by the development team.

chrispedersen

September 9th, 2008, 01:22 AM

I do remember the game, but it wasn't the best game ever bit for bit.

A loooooong time ago, there was a competition to make the shortest game ever.

The winning entry was a one line program that used self altering code. It was a screen racing game. It was only OK as games go, but as it was one line... it was cool.

Of course assembler or mc probably has that beat...

Linraen

September 10th, 2008, 08:22 AM

My favourites:

Fallout (1 & 2)
Planescape: Torment
Wizards & Warriors

Not a fan of newer games, but I've recently been playing Bioshock, and find it quite to my liking, it's simplier than System Shock 2, but with better graphics and the same atmosphere. And, The Witcher. That one has made a lot of noise here in Russia, and to my taste, is a very decent game.

Also, waiting and hoping for Fallout 3.

HoneyBadger

September 10th, 2008, 04:55 PM

chrispederson: There's a lot of definitions for 'Best': How many of those games has a world-wide cult following 25 years later? Or inspired one of the most popular and long-lasting genres in the gaming industry (Dungeons of Daggorath is considered the grandfather of all first person 3D shooters, and for that matter, isn't very dissimilar to the original 'Doom' or 'Diablo'), or had so many innovations in sound, graphics, and atmosphere?

For that matter, how many of those games would I, personally, enjoy playing 25 years after they were made (I don't need the best graphics in the world to enjoy a game, but I have my limit as to what I can stand, and DoD doesn't trip that limit)-or having played them 25 years ago, had so many fond memories of?

And it's a game I can validly bring to these forums, in the expectation that others here might reasonably feel the same way about. It's impressive that your racing game was build with only 1 line of code, and I congratulate whoever built it on their success, but as you yourself say, it's just an average racing game.

8 kilobytes might actually be a lot, compared to however many it took to make that game, but it gives back a lot for those 8 kilobytes.

Yes, it's my 'personal opinion' that Dungeons of Daggorath is the best, but it's an educated opinion, and I'm a fanatic, so good luck convincing me otherwise :)

lch

September 10th, 2008, 06:29 PM

While Stardock decided not to pursue the MoM license (...), the company is making a MoM clone right now designated "Not MoM."
That "Not MoM" label might have to do with my irate rebuttal on another forum where somebody created an "oh look, this is gonna be MoM 2" thread. And I don't think any company would have interest in developing a real clone of the game. They'll make something inspired by it, but we all know from Hollywood how well it can work out if something new is made based on something popular.

I do look forward towards whatever fantasy TBS they're going to release in the end.

For the Civ IV players out there, try the Fall from Heaven 2 user mod. That was my staple for months before finding Dom3. Still the same combat system, but it is a very rich fantasy setting, huge differentiation between civs and religions, plus lots of magic :) All while maintaing pretty decent balance. It is supported amazingly well by the development team.
Yeah, I've played it and it's indeed very very good, particularly because they spent a lot on the ingame lore. They even won a $25k price for "best mod" for it and donated it to Unicef, like all the other money they receive.

The good, it has all the nice stuff: Mages, spells, summons, mana nodes, different factions with three alignments (Good, Neutral, Evil) and so on. The gameplay is pretty awesome for a Civ setting. The bad: In SP, the AI is not really up to the task to make use of the things offered to it, it's like a lobotomized Civ4 AI that can't make any real use of the spells. So you can actually play about 2-3 AI levels higher than you use to do under normal Civ4. Maybe that's because some game mechanics can be exploited too much by a human player, too. But worse is that MP gaming isn't really possible at the moment, because you'll get out of sync errors whenever an event occurs, which is a main storyline device in FFH. Like in Dom3, events may occur randomly, but even when you rob a graveyard, for example. In case they ever get to fix the MP issue, it'd be an interesting choice.

chrispedersen

September 10th, 2008, 08:04 PM

HoneyBadger

September 10th, 2008, 08:22 PM

Color hell, my first gaming platform (a generic version of Pong) came in a wooden box the size of a coffee table :p

Dragar

September 10th, 2008, 09:36 PM

You're spot on, the two main issues with FFH2 are in ability of the AI to cope with all the added complexity, and out of sync errors in MP.

That said, when i stopped playing a few months back they were really starting to work on the AI andit as imrpving. I wonder how much it has improved since? Likewise they were trying to sort out the OOS problems, but they did drive menuts and were a main driver for looking for another game - hence I found Dom3

Yeah, I've played it and it's indeed very very good, particularly because they spent a lot on the ingame lore. They even won a $25k price for "best mod" for it and donated it to Unicef, like all the other money they receive.

The good, it has all the nice stuff: Mages, spells, summons, mana nodes, different factions with three alignments (Good, Neutral, Evil) and so on. The gameplay is pretty awesome for a Civ setting. The bad: In SP, the AI is not really up to the task to make use of the things offered to it, it's like a lobotomized Civ4 AI that can't make any real use of the spells. So you can actually play about 2-3 AI levels higher than you use to do under normal Civ4. Maybe that's because some game mechanics can be exploited too much by a human player, too. But worse is that MP gaming isn't really possible at the moment, because you'll get out of sync errors whenever an event occurs, which is a main storyline device in FFH. Like in Dom3, events may occur randomly, but even when you rob a graveyard, for example. In case they ever get to fix the MP issue, it'd be an interesting choice.

llamabeast

September 11th, 2008, 09:15 AM

100/8092 << 20/.25

You reckon that racing game was a quarter of a byte, i.e. two bits? That's some skilled programming then!

Adept

September 11th, 2008, 09:27 AM

Allegiance!

www.freeallegiance.org

When I don't scheme for ascension, I fly in the most awesome space game ever with my friends and rivals. If you ever liked game like Wing Commander (or Elite, for us old timers), you need to check it out.

Published by Microsoft in 2000 they gave up the source code, and us fans run and develop it as a free game. There still hasn't been anything like it.

http://users.utu.fi/mikrin/Adeptbanner.jpg

Adept

September 11th, 2008, 09:41 AM

A few screenshos for good measure

http://www.freeallegiance.org/screenshots/Teamwork/GigaTTDiesBeforeCapping.jpg

http://www.freeallegiance.org/screenshots/Ships/GigaFigBoosts.jpg

http://www.freeallegiance.org/screenshots/Ships/ICIntsInFormation.jpg

Ironhawk

September 11th, 2008, 11:41 AM

chrispedersen

September 11th, 2008, 06:20 PM

Vga Planets?

Adept

September 11th, 2008, 06:40 PM

Yeah I played a bit of Alliegance back in the day. It was pretty cool. There definitely hasnt been anything like it, since, but I found that Battlefield2 was similar and superior in a lot of ways. In particular, if you had a poor commander at the helm it was just bad, instead of totally crippling, as in Alliegance.

How long ago? You should come back and check the new Community Core.

The absolute need for teamplay is one of the key elements for me. No matter how heroic a pilot you are, you need others to work with you.

sansanjuan

September 19th, 2008, 09:08 PM

A fine family game we've discovered is "Bookworm".

http://www.popcap.com/games/bookworm?s_kwcid=bookworm'|2365415238&gclid=CMzI9vGW6ZUCFQxsGgodEB01ew

It's a combination of scrabble, mythology and rock 'em sock 'em. Free trail at Popcap games. Strangely addicting.

-SSJ

Slobby

November 9th, 2008, 12:10 PM

Just got Hinterland yesterday, quite the entertaining title.

http://www.tiltedmill.com/hinterland/

Hozzy

December 12th, 2008, 06:29 PM

Heroes 5
Gal. Civ
Icewind Dale (Finally finishing a old game)

vladikus

January 5th, 2009, 11:25 PM

Alright, this is my absolutely favorite game in the world and I am sad there may not be a future one, but I think many Dom3 players would love it.

Populous 3: The Beginning

It's actually available for download: http://www.populousrevolution.strategyplanet.gamespy.com/downloads/games.html
-I own the game so I am not sure what all the download entails. The company that created the game was Bullfrog Productions. They split apart some time ago and so the game went out of production. I would think it would be possible to download without a problem.

Here is some more information about the game:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous:_The_Beginning

Dragar

January 6th, 2009, 02:11 AM

I recently borrowed Fallout 3 from my housemate - it's addictive but a bit disappointing unfortunately. It lacks the humour of the previous versions, and I find most of my time is spent micromanaging equipment, tediously looking for loot to constantly sell or use to repair items. My housemate tells me this is true of all RPGs, I don't normally play them so can't comment really, but it is infuriating how much time is actually spent on interesting gameplay. Also, despite supposedly being designed so that you can play it any number of ways (combatty, stealthy, charismatic, etc), it seems fairly limited in that it mostly ends up all about combat.

Are there any good rpg's out there that aren't all about the looting?

Endoperez

January 6th, 2009, 02:47 AM

Are there any good rpg's out there that aren't all about the looting?

The term "rpg" doesn't mean a lot these days, when first-person shooters can have better detailed plots and more developed characters than many "action role-playing" games, where action is grinding and role-playing means you can choose your race.

If you like platformers, here are some good freeware ones. Cave Story (http://www.miraigamer.net/cavestory/downloads_1.php) is awesome platformer with great plot, and Iji (http://www.remar.se/daniel/iji.php) is decent platformer with a not-exactly-great plot but some interesting characters. Out of these, Cave Story is definitely better, and as it has old-school pixel graphics, challenging difficulty level, several plot twists and hard boss fights it might be close to what you want from an RPG.

Also, if you haven't played it yet, there's a Dungeon Siege 1 conversion that lets you play Ultima V with modern graphics: the Lazarus project (http://lazarus.planetdungeonsiege.gamespy.com/). It'll be the next not-old RPG I'll try, after I finish Chrono Trigger and Aquaria. And perhaps Myst, if I can get it to work. And play some MP Dominions, and finish my Dom modding projects. And perhaps, even, finish the secret-and-disgustingly-hard Sacred Grounds level in Cave Story.

st.patrik

January 6th, 2009, 12:32 PM

It's been mentioned by others, but I've been playing Star Chamber so obsessively that I almost forgot about Dom 3.

Well worth a look but watch out - you will be tempted to spend more money than you should!

sector24

January 6th, 2009, 01:33 PM

HoneyBadger

January 6th, 2009, 04:49 PM

I don't think anybody mentioned Tropico, but if you haven't tried it, it's a fun little game. Let's you play a 4th world island dictator on a tropical island, so you can oppress the populace *and* get a tan at the same time. Not to mention, brew your own brand of rum. The game comes with pretty decent music too, which is a plus for me.

The main reason I mention it, though, is that they're apparently coming out with a Tropico3, so I'm pretty excited about that. Hopefully, it'll be an improvement over the original, rather than a completely different game (as was Tropico 2, which was about pirates (not at all a bad thing, but pirates aren't known for smoking cuban cigars, and thus nullify my desire to be Dictator for Life over a tiny island paradise--it's just not the same without a fine cuban cigar.))

vladikus

January 6th, 2009, 05:05 PM

Lords of Magic deserves mention also. Reminds me of Dominions 3 in some respects. Of course, there are quite a few differences.

Aezeal

January 6th, 2009, 05:06 PM

Well even the best RPG's usually are somewhat about looting since loot is cash and cash is better equip.. and that usually helps you surviving.. to be honest in BG 2 and even planescape I was more looting than in fallout 3.. I actually don't need more cash in my game now.. just need to be able to carry stuff I think is special (which it's obviously not since it's always there in all games playes but I'm a collector and what everything that seems special to me in my house.) if I stopped doing that I'd probably just take some weapons, bullets and cash... most stuff in fallout 3 is just post nuclear junk you shouldn't pick up :D

I love fall out 3 really... but I'm not playing now due to my son just being born and I'm pretty far in the game and I'm playing on lowest of lowest graphs and the rest I'll play on my new (mid price) comp (will order within 1-2 weeks) so I can finish it on 1920x1200 on my new 26" screen :D

PS I loved populous 3 too :D

vladikus

January 6th, 2009, 05:09 PM

Actually, I really like games that fit into the god-genre. I would consider Dom 3 a part of that genre as well as all the Populous games, Black and White, and Sacrifice. If anyone could recommend other games in the god-genre I would appreciate it.

JimMorrison

January 6th, 2009, 10:32 PM

...and Sacrifice...

Best

RTS

Ever.

HoneyBadger

January 6th, 2009, 10:39 PM

Lords of Magic Special Edition is one of the best rts games ever. The only things I wish were a little better is the overall modding engine, specifically item creation, which I don't think it has, and the game itself was a little too easy, even on max difficulty. Still, an absolutely beautiful, fun game.

vladikus

January 6th, 2009, 10:46 PM

...and Sacrifice...

Best

RTS

Ever.

Lords of Magic Special Edition is one of the best rts games ever.

I'm glad to see others have similar tastes :-). Both games were certainly spectacular and I am always on the lookout for more like them!

Darkwind

January 7th, 2009, 06:33 PM

While we're on the subject of RTSs, I may as well mention Warcraft III. I've lost half a decade, maybe even closer to a full one, of my life to this game. I played it and only it (before discovering Dominions, obviously). I've never been good at real-time strategy (or any games really), but what kept me was the incredible editor. This one game can let you play a first-person shooter, an adventure game, a puzzler, or even turn-based maps. The editor is fairly simple--even I, in all of my under-10-years-old glory, dabbled at creating maps.

Gandalf Parker

January 7th, 2009, 06:53 PM

I thought that was one of the games where the map editor could be used for us? I really have to dig thru my old game discs one day and look for map editors with cool icons.

onomastikon

January 8th, 2009, 05:59 AM

Can anyone give me the rundown on their experience with The Witcher Enhanced bought digitally? The producer seems to have made an odd deal with distributors, making it impossible for me to purchase it digitally from Stardock in Germany. That leaves direct-to-disc, and I have heard that there are big problems with that version. Anyone have good results, and enjoy that RPG?

Otherwise (to abuse a poorly-made allusion to the much-confused distinction of Aristotle's), I'm still enjoying StarChamber as fun "dramatic" compliment to the "epic" giganticness of Dominions.

Grottnikk

January 8th, 2009, 02:00 PM

Right now, I've got icons for the following on my desktop:

Hinterland (action/rpg/sim city hybrid)
King's Bounty: The Legend (funny RPG with some strategy elements)
Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space (just try it :) )
Left4Dead (in this game, you can actually be rewarded for licking people you don't know)

oh, and for those who were looking for a good MMO, ever try City of Heroes? Really well done game with tonnes of free updates. The gameplay actually makes you feel like a superhero in the comics, too - 1 guy can beat the living crap out of a dozen minions :)

Ruminant

January 8th, 2009, 04:44 PM

There was a fantasy version of XCOM out too-if it hadn't been so buggy on my computer, it would have been pretty interesting. I forget the name but it's in the Home of the Underdogs.

Any chance you can remember what this game is called? Sounds quite intriguing. Didn't get far on X-com but it was a seriously well crafted game. Also, is it just me or has Home of the Underdogs been essentially 'down' (all the downloads I look at seem to be out of order) for several months now? Tis a shame if so.

As far as games I'm playing now go:
Full Throttle - Randomly found this gem in a store near me. Awesome old school adventure game, and bonus points for being extremely METAL :envy:

The new Sam and Max series from Telltale - Sadly I'm too young to have experienced Hit the Road but damn if these aren't the best adventure games I've ever played. I'd also recommend the Strongbad series if you like that style of humour.

Pox Nora - Seriously. You need to pump some money into this game (maybe as much as you'd pay for a regular commercial game) but it is insanely addictive and has incredible depth. The strategic range of a collectible card game combined with the tactical skills required in a turn based strategy.

City of Heroes/Villains - The most fun MMO ever. I can't berate my WoW playing friends for their capitalistic, pig dog ways anymore since the game got an economy but the combat is still the most 3 dimensional and entertaining your likely to find in an MMO just now. Aerial combat in an MMO? Yes we can!

Fallout 2 - Fallout 3 was awesome, but it left me hungry for something with more depth and a more interesting and well realized world. Can't get much better than this for PC rpgs except for Baldurs Gate(s). Kilgore's Restoration Project is required ;p

Battle for Wesnoth - It's been mentioned a fair few times but I have to say it's the greatest (and biggest) purely free game I've ever played. Try it. It won't cost you anything except a few weeks of your life..

Spellforce 2 (and expansion) - Not the greatest of games, but 3 player with friends in the co-op campaign you can overlook it's more obvious faults and enjoy the diablo-esque hero building and the incredibly simplified RTS combo.

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance - For multiplayer RTS's the spiritual successor to Total Annihilation is the greatest I've found, infinitely better than WC3, Sins of a Solar Empire, etc.

Ogre Battle 64 - Whee! From one of the oldest of schools of semi-turn-based strategy games comes a surprisingly engaging, deep and lengthy romp from the nintendy 64. Large scale, tactical, squad based combat using units that can level up into a huge variety of different and unique classes.

JimMorrison

January 8th, 2009, 06:33 PM

Spellforce 2 (and expansion) - Not the greatest of games, but 3 player with friends in the co-op campaign you can overlook it's more obvious faults and enjoy the diablo-esque hero building and the incredibly simplified RTS combo.

I REALLY enjoyed the first one, these are by JoWood studios, who did the Gothic series, and their dialogue translations and voice acting just -kill- me. In a good way. They murder me with giggles, and it keeps me more interested in the game.

However, Spellforce2 used StarForce "protection", and I refuse to cooperate with such fascist and invasive DRM. I can overlook a lot, but that just goes wayyyyyy over the line, in my book. A shame, I had been looking forward to SF2.

Grottnikk

January 8th, 2009, 09:04 PM

Ruminant: You can get a totally free (open source) version of X-COM, it's called UFO: Alien Invasion. Pretty cool.

http://ufoai.sourceforge.net/

vladikus

January 8th, 2009, 09:28 PM

Oh, how did I forget this game: Nox.

Ruminant

January 9th, 2009, 05:06 AM

Ruminant: You can get a totally free (open source) version of X-COM, it's called UFO: Alien Invasion. Pretty cool.

http://ufoai.sourceforge.net/

Ooooh, I remember stumbling onto that a few months ago. It looked like an awesome concept but incredibly buggy and unfinished so I didn't bother with it but if your giving it a good review I might check it out..

Jim, I've got the Gold version of Spellforce 2 and I don't think it has Starforce.. Could be different for different regions or perhaps they got rid of it for the gold version.

JimMorrison

January 9th, 2009, 06:38 AM

Oh really? I'll look into that. It's entirely possible, I know of a few games that released with StarForce (or other horrid DRM), and then rereleased a different edition without it.

(Odd, just looked it up, and apparently only the Euro and Russian releases supposedly had StarForce, US version uses TAGES, which is simply not as invasive.)

lch

January 9th, 2009, 10:16 AM

Ruminant: You can get a totally free (open source) version of X-COM, it's called UFO: Alien Invasion. Pretty cool.

http://ufoai.sourceforge.net/

Ooooh, I remember stumbling onto that a few months ago. It looked like an awesome concept but incredibly buggy and unfinished so I didn't bother with it but if your giving it a good review I might check it out..
AFAIK that's still the case. It's quite extraordinary what they came up with so far, but it still doesn't make it a game.

Atreidi

January 10th, 2009, 04:56 PM

I've been playing some POXNORA lately.
And revived Oblivion for the xbox 360.

Gandalf Parker

January 10th, 2009, 06:21 PM

I like to keep an eye on places like SourceForge. It seems as if you can go there and type in just about any game you have ever liked in order to see someone trying to recreate it or do a sequel. I particularly like to keep an eye on some of my favorites (Master of Magic, Magic Realms, Stars!) to talk to them about coming over to Shrapnel when they get a beta version going.

If I was more of a programmer, or an artist, or sound tech, or writer then Id be signing on with many of htem to help their project along.

vladikus

January 12th, 2009, 08:19 PM

I ran into a list of wargames (http://www.davemackey.net/freewargames/windows.aspx) that might be of interest (some broken links), and kudos to everyone who enjoys playing games that make you think.

Jarkko

January 14th, 2009, 03:28 AM

AGEOD: American Civil War
Paradox: Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis III

Also subscribing various MMO's on and off depending on my mood (during the past half a year has included WAR, EVE, WoW, LOTRO, AoC, AO).

Empires in Arms the table-top game as PBeM :)

Gandalf Parker

January 14th, 2009, 12:47 PM

Have we all checked the Shrapnel roster lately. Some very interesting games are getting attention. Space, historical war games, and some just plain weird ones. But (no offense intended) they all tend to fall into the "not really latest greatest graphics and sound". If an independent game that puts effort into areas other than eye and ear candy (we are here arent we?) then we should all do them the favor of at least checking out the demos for hosting this wonderful forum.

Ironhawk

January 14th, 2009, 02:08 PM

onomastikon

January 20th, 2009, 06:09 AM

Sombre

January 21st, 2009, 05:19 AM

I won't buy any more games from Shrapnel after the whole advertising debacle.

In other news - has anyone played UFO:Afterlight? Its the third in the UFO series which is basically an XCOM clone. I was trying out the demo last night and it seems pretty fun. I do worry that the AI may not be aggressive or dangerous enough. Has anyone else played it more thoroughly?

The entire UFO: After_____ series is basically bad. If you love xcom, JA2 etc then you can wring a few moments of false happiness out of the titles before you realise the combat isn't tactical /at all/ and the strategy side of things is a joke. Oh and the AI, balancing and pacing are all buggy and of generally low quality.

Endoperez

January 21st, 2009, 06:02 AM

The entire UFO: After_____ series is basically bad. If you love xcom, JA2 etc then you can wring a few moments of false happiness out of the titles before you realise the combat isn't tactical /at all/ and the strategy side of things is a joke. Oh and the AI, balancing and pacing are all buggy and of generally low quality.

There's another recent X-Com clone that I've heard is much closer to the originals: UFO Extraterrestrials. Wikipedia article contains a summary of an article a Finnish game magazing ran about it:

The August 2008 edition of Pelit featured a retrospective of UFO: Extraterrestrials that focused on the effects mods have had on the game. Long-time reviewer Niko Nirvi, a strong admirer of the original UFO: Enemy Unknown, described the original UFO: Extraterrestrials as a pleasant but visibly rushed substitute. He focused on "Bman's Ease of Use Mod 4.07 (fixed by Coasty)" as the prevailing merger of minor modifications, and pronounced it "the true successor of UFO: Enemy Unknown" that "genuinely achieves some of its predecessor's magic."

According to the magazine, the more visible features of Bman's mod are added weaponry, incorporation of the original Enemy Unknown enemies (although graphically by copying and enlarging the older game's sprites), improving AI and rebalancing the game mechanics by changing them towards those of Enemy Unknown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO:_Extraterrestrials

Tifone

January 21st, 2009, 06:24 AM

I've played the UFOs and I'd say aren't that bad. The whole thing of "a tactical squad that goes around in a futuristic/apocalyptic/fantasy setting - turn based" is exactly my kind of game... pity except JA2, Silent Storm (mediocre) and some of the fantasy ones (IW2, Baldur's gate) there isn't much to play :o If you know some decent games of this kind plz tell me, guys :happy:

BTW as we're on the topic of other games, I'd love to try Dwarf Fortress, I'm sure many of you guys know it, but I have problems with that graphic. Can anyone tell me the best way to play it graphically (best graphical mod, I know there are many) and gameplay-wise (if there's a mod ala CBM) for Dwarf Fortress? :)

sector24

January 21st, 2009, 12:41 PM

UFO: Extraterrestrials is ok, not as good as the originals. Eventually you'll wish you shot the UFO down in the water so you don't have to do the combat. The maps are not randomly generated and the aliens don't hide randomly on the map so it's very formulaic.

Sombre

January 21st, 2009, 12:51 PM

It's pretty simple really. All games in the 'genre' following Xcom Apocalypse are bad to below average in quality. Xcom Apocalypse itself promises far more than it delivers, but is still an excellent game.

All the awful ripoffs and remakes (primarily the UFO After____ series) are actually worse than the original UFO. This is not acceptable.

I guess you could argue the gba one, rebelstar tactics I think, and the online Laser Squad Nemesis are acceptable, but again they are by no means better than the original UFO.

Ironhawk

January 21st, 2009, 04:47 PM

UFO:Afterlight was only $10 on Steam so I got it and I've been playing it for a week or two now. As was pointed out the sqaud combat is really nothing like XCOM. Its more run-and-gun shootouts relying more on equipment than planning/strategy which is a disappointment. But I found the strategic level game in terms of construction & research to be similar to XCOM and enjoyable. The resource model (which replaces budgeting) is an interesting change. Overall I'm enjoying the game pretty well. May try and look for mods that beef up the AI tactics but I'm not super hopeful.

DonCorazon

January 21st, 2009, 06:33 PM

Anyone have any good iPhone apps/games? I was looking at this one here (http://www.appleiphoneapps.com/2008/09/review-reign-of-swords/) - looked kind of fun.

licker

January 25th, 2009, 02:27 AM

Master of Orion 3.

Great game, and I'm not kidding.

Just be sure to get the user made patches and mods and you'll be wondering why the hell Quick Silver sucked so much.

Endoperez

January 25th, 2009, 03:37 PM

http://adrianwerner.wordpress.com/games-of-2009/

HUGE list of upcoming PC games. The info isn't always 100% correct; as an example, it looks like Deus Ex 3 will be released on 2010.

Even so, there are titles like Simon the Sorcerer 5, Gish 2, Beyond Good & Evil 2, Gobliins 4, Majesty 2, a sequel to Fool's Errand (1987)... And screenshots for all the games!

It's not perfect. As an example, it's missing certain fantasy strategy (whose name starts with a D) game from the list of worthwhile games released in 2006, and the list of freeware games isn't perfect either. It's fantastic even so.

Tifone

January 25th, 2009, 04:02 PM

Well it doesn't complement my games, as it isn't mine, lol :p but a friend of mine has bought the game Armageddon Empires, I gave it a couple of tries and seemed quite nice, despite the interface being TOTALLY non-user friendly (looks like there's a ton of rules which will modify the att and def stats of your units, from terrain to infantry to fortresses, ad many other things like chance of heroes being captured and killed etc. etc. and NONE of those rules are listed on screen but just on the manual).
It was funny, though having in one game my base nuclearized on turn 9 or 10 by some aliens' aircraft with no clue on how they managed to score such a shot so early... :confused:

Has any of you guys tried the game? Is it worth buying? :)

Hadrian_II

January 25th, 2009, 06:15 PM

hEad

January 26th, 2009, 03:48 AM

Master of Orion 3.

Great game, and I'm not kidding.

Just be sure to get the user made patches and mods and you'll be wondering why the hell Quick Silver sucked so much.

Is it now possible to loose again the AI, or is it still not invading you?

Totally different game these days - excellent in fact!

But you need a mod. Best in my opinion is The MUU:BaA! one

http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=538340

It changes so many things about the game for the best. Higher resolution, balanced techs, a different start up where by you cannot build colony ships until you get the light cruiser tech etc...

Initial expansion is based on emigration from the home worlds and this little change in mechanics means that you fleet build at the begining - only small ships mind - you have to research all the hulls.

The AI invades - this was fixed by a patch Bhriuc made a while ago. Aparently, the AI would disband its transports the turn after they were dispatched, so they never actually reached the system they sought to conquer. - Infact there has been so much repair work done by the community that there is left, narry a bothersome bug

Do you self a favour - any one who likes a good space/strategy game and still has the moo3 discs lying around, give the mod a shot. Its now one fine game.

Humakty

January 26th, 2009, 11:20 AM

Romance of the Three Kingdom XI is a great strategy game !
The various factions are really unbalanced, so even hardcore players should find something interesting to do. (just try playing Lu Bu !)

Different genre : Sacred 2 is great, full of humor, very complete, a crossbreed between RPG and Hack'n'slash. Just gorgeous. And, best of best, it runs on my 1 gig RAM PC.

DuncanIdaho

January 26th, 2009, 12:33 PM

licker

January 26th, 2009, 12:37 PM

RotK series games are all quite good, though not all available on the PC.

MoO3 is a completely different game, as elaborated on already, the bugs are gone, and the game play is tightened up.

You are still better served embracing the macro management ideas put forth, but frankly, the tools you have and the rebalanceing done make this work out reasonably well once you get past the smallish learning curve on using your DEA plans and ship designs so that you actually get the roys to build what you want.

I've been playing it on medium, and finding it challenging, but easy to beat short of very bad initial placement or galaxy set up. Going up a level makes me really have to work much harder to get to just even with the AIs who come out on top after the initial expansion, and really makes you stress diplomacy to keep yourself from being ganged.

The community at the atari forums is small, but happy to help anyone coming back to the game.

MoO3 really destroys the other space 4x games in my opinion. GC2 is just silly at some point, SE5 completely lacking in my opinion, and SotS is a good one, but lacks significant depth. I've never played SOASE so have no comment on it.

Of course they are all different from each other, and as such have their own appeals depending on each persons own likes.

Tifone

January 26th, 2009, 01:49 PM

Tnx Duncan, I've given a look around and seems that they have even a forum now, thing that Vic didn't put up for a quite long time, so I could eventually solve there my questions on which boni (or bonuses, whatever :D ) are cumulative and which are not, and which is the difference between the Consume and the Flesh tactic cards of the Xenopods... :)

I'll still gladly wait another bit hoping for an eventual price reduction, the game starts becoming a little old and while I like to support indie developers 30$ seems still a bit too much for it :o

Baalz

January 26th, 2009, 02:06 PM

a friend of mine has bought the game Armageddon Empires [...]
Has any of you guys tried the game? Is it worth buying? :)
Yes, it is great. It's single player only but the AI is good and does not cheat.

I love the deck building part, the four factions are really different and there are many ways to victory : you can deploy big armies and crush the enemy or use sabotage and win without a single battle. After a couple of games, you should try with the cults of the wasteland which is a great add on.

However, as there are only four factions in Armageddon Empires, you can find it too short. But it's a good game and the art is great :
http://a.imagehost.org/0102/ae_wp_1.jpg

Yeah, I second this, Armageddon Empires is a fun game, it's too bad there isn't a MP component. That game would gain an immense amount of replayability past the "ok, I figured out how the AI thinks" point that way and just screams for MP. Still, I got my money's worth out of it, mostly just lamenting the potential I see there. I'm gonna have to go pick it back up and play some more. :)

Ironhawk

January 26th, 2009, 02:25 PM

Thilock_Dominus

January 26th, 2009, 02:26 PM

atm.

Battle for Wesnoth (http://wesnoth.org/) (Open Source, Turnbased fantasy Strategy with RP elements)
OpenTyrian (http://code.google.com/p/opentyrian/) (Open Source, Remake of the Original Tyrian - Arcade)
Quakewars (FPS)
Lost Labyrinth (http://www.lostlabyrinth.com/) (Open Source - Rogue Game).

Humakty

January 26th, 2009, 02:40 PM

hEad

January 26th, 2009, 02:40 PM

To the people who are promoting MOO3 - I'd love to play a Moo game again but MOO3 seemed crippled by a handful of really serious problems. The foremost, in my opinion, was the inability to even detect the composition of enemy fleets in other systems. Has that been fixed?

You can see what the mission of the taskforces are in any system which you have previously visited. i.e SR LR IF etc, but you cant see individually what gear is on the ships. No biggie really, if you know what tech they have you can make an educated guess as to what weapons you will face.

Double click on the system - check the right hand column- there are two tabs, one of them tells you the taskforces currently in the system. (just in case you didn't know.. ;) )

And there are no serious problems left - its a different game matie!

DonCorazon

January 26th, 2009, 03:05 PM

a friend of mine has bought the game Armageddon Empires [...]
Has any of you guys tried the game? Is it worth buying? :)
Yes, it is great. It's single player only but the AI is good and does not cheat.

I love the deck building part, the four factions are really different and there are many ways to victory : you can deploy big armies and crush the enemy or use sabotage and win without a single battle. After a couple of games, you should try with the cults of the wasteland which is a great add on.

However, as there are only four factions in Armageddon Empires, you can find it too short. But it's a good game and the art is great :
http://a.imagehost.org/0102/ae_wp_1.jpg

Loved the theme and I messed around with the demo but seemed like it really needed an Auto-resolve for some of those minor combats. Eventually I got tired of clicking and figured I wouldn’t enjoy the game

licker

January 26th, 2009, 03:35 PM

RotK series games are all quite good, though not all available on the PC.

Well, for Kohei aniversary they've put RotK XI on PC. (I don't know if it is a limited edition). The system of action points is nice, as well as the context. It was available in store in france, so I think you can find it pretty much anywhere.

Yeah, I recall there being some difference between the European version and the US version though.

Asian version is still the best apparently, but it's in Japanese and Chinese...

Still I think the DtD was fairly cheap, and it has a ton of scenerios and different factions to suit most difficulty levels.

Burnsaber

January 26th, 2009, 03:37 PM

Currently I'm playing Medieval: Total War 2 with the "stainless steel" mod. Playing with templars is awesome, althought dangereous, especially now that I crusaded Cairo...

Tifone

January 26th, 2009, 03:42 PM

JimMorrison

January 26th, 2009, 05:15 PM

Master of Orion 3.

Great game, and I'm not kidding.

Just be sure to get the user made patches and mods and you'll be wondering why the hell Quick Silver sucked so much.

I recently dug up the MoO3 disks and reinstalled, and it actually upset me pretty badly. Since I last had played, I upgraded from Win2K to WinXP, different video card, different drivers, etc etc. I played a little and it was fine, and then I discovered a mod pack, and once I installed the mods, I can no longer start a game, as I get the (supposedly generic?) DirectX Surface Not Found (or something like that) error. Starting the game on another machine, I could load the save on this one and play, but the error would consistently crop up again, ruining the game.

I haven't checked out what these people are saying, and I want to give this mod pack a try, but is there any discussion of this DirectX Surface error, and anything that can be done differently to avoid it?

licker

January 26th, 2009, 05:48 PM

Jim-

If you are having the error after loading a certain mod post in the thread for that mod and I think you will get help fairly quickly.

I recall having this issue as well, but unfortunately do not remember the solution provided for me to fix it. Though I was able to fix it.

I think it may have had something to do with missing .dll files specific to the mod, but that may have been something else I encountered back when I was fooling around with the mods.

For what it's worth, I have it running smoothly on XP.

JimMorrison

January 26th, 2009, 06:05 PM

I got the mod pack from the MoO3 Guardian, and their downloads are separate from their forums. They also seem to be completely clueless on the DirectX Surface errors, stating that it's a catchall generic error message that MoO gives, and that it sucks to be me (or anyone getting the error).

All I was wondering, was if it seems to be a common problem with this pack, and/or if you had seen any mention as to an actual fix for the problem.

The thing is, the other mod pack installs differently, so I just reasoned that if there doesn't seem to be a prevalent problem, that the pack that you've linked to is simply put together better. :p

licker

January 26th, 2009, 06:17 PM

Baalz

January 27th, 2009, 02:04 AM

@ Baalz - I'd bet from your playing style as it appears from your Dom3 guides, that in AE you're a master in doing things like... using those extremely niche "air assault units" to drop on the back of enemies armies to cut their supply lines, and then attack them in the out of supply malus with a few optimal cost-efficiency-wise minimalistic outfitted units all in one round :D (me and my friend are for now stucked with the "build a big army and smash them" and sometimes "build a big nuke bomb for aircraft and smash them" :o )

Haha, cleverly outmaneuvering the AI has a bit of a stale feel. What good is it to crush your enemies if you can't hear the lamentations of their women? :) That's exactly a great example of why I wish that game had MP, there's a lot of fun potential things which I wouldn't really enjoy without picturing my opponent shaking his fist at his screen.

JimMorrison

January 27th, 2009, 08:00 AM

calmon

January 27th, 2009, 10:06 AM

licker

January 27th, 2009, 11:17 AM

Ahh you're at the wrong forums then...

http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=224

And then this thread

http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=538340

For what is probably the best (and best supported) modpack.

I'm confused, with all of the flavors. ;) Is Chocolate as final as it's going to get? Typing this while it downloads, but I doubt I'll reinstall until tomorrow - trying to minimize the chances of disappointment.

Yes the chocolate 0.999 version (I think that's the one) is the most 'current'. She is working on some new stuff, and has some changes to the .999 that have to be 'manually' done, though i haven't done them as that mod plays quite well as it is I believe.

I can help you with some questions, but you're probably best off asking directly in that thread (or make a new thread in the general discussion forum) and get the info straight from the developer.

Anyway, hope you enjoy it, and remember to do a complete wipe of MoO3 and reinstall everything from scratch (also need the 1.25 patch).

Ruminant

January 30th, 2009, 04:26 PM

I found (by reference) a quite cool webbased TCG game. Its a lot of fun and i really like the mechanisms in gameplay and the tourney modes:

Urban Rivals (http://www.urban-rivals.com/?autoSignup&sponsor=4367362)

(with this link you can choose out of 3 different starter decks and i'm automatically your sponsor/buddy)

Try it out, the rules are really simple but you'll find out the game is a tactic game par excellence!

Nice call, Calmon. Tried it out on your recommendation and I have to admit, Urban Rivals is quite an engaging game. It's got a really original blend of, I don't really know what to call it, strategic turn based poker? The back and forth bluffing is really very fun. I fully recommend people to follow Cal's link and give this one of a kind online game a try.

Ruminant

February 23rd, 2009, 02:16 PM

BTW as we're on the topic of other games, I'd love to try Dwarf Fortress, I'm sure many of you guys know it, but I have problems with that graphic. Can anyone tell me the best way to play it graphically (best graphical mod, I know there are many) and gameplay-wise (if there's a mod ala CBM) for Dwarf Fortress? :)

I was exactly the same Tifone. Took one look at the ASCII 'graphics' and thought "pass". Recently I took the plunge with a newer graphics set and my god, it really is -that- awesome. Try this link, it includes the client so you just need to download this and run it basically: http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.htm I've only been playing for a week so I'd have no clue about gameplay mods.

It's hard to imagine an ASCII game could be this complex, I really don't think I've ever encountered another game (apart from Dominions, of course :p) with as much effort poured into it as this one. One part dwarven The Sims, one part city builder, one part realistic combat simulator, one part fantasy world builder, one part diablo (in adventure mode) theres just so much in here. And the developer still has INSANE development goals posted on his website and is still plugging away at it with semi-regular fixes and updates.

If anyone was hesitant to give the game a try because of the graphics you now have no excuse! :mad: It's almost, kinda, not really dominions quality graphics now. You really don't know what your missing until you too witness your pet cat being slaughtered by evil ratmen, your loner woodcutter finally decides to slaughter Bob and make a legendary mug out of his skull or you realize you've inadvertantly declared war on the entire elven nation by trying to sell them the toy hammers that are all that's left of the primeval forests that used to surround your fortress ;)

In case you still need some convincing, or a good laugh, I submit the following account of a certain legendary Dwarf Fortress game for your viewing pleasure: http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Boatmurdered/intro.html

licker

February 23rd, 2009, 06:54 PM

http://ultracorps.sjgames.com/

If a fine game. Dom like in some ways, but much simpler, and of course its Steve Jackson games, so there's the whole sense of humor thing.

Oh, and the best thing?

Still in Beta, so still 100% free!!!

Doesn't look like the Beta will last past the summer (though who ever knows), so give it a shot.

Dedas

February 23rd, 2009, 07:56 PM

Yes, Dwarf Fortress actually beats everything out there by a factor of ten. No, kidding.

Deadnature

February 24th, 2009, 09:20 AM

Wow, Ultracorps! I first played this game 11 years ago! I've wanted to check up on it but couldn't remember the name. Thanks Licker

krpeters

February 24th, 2009, 12:46 PM

Regarding Dwarf Fortress:

I've tried this game... I can't seem to get into it. Perhaps the learning curve is just too steep? Or maybe it is the too-open ended playing style. The text based graphics isn't an issue -- I've spent countless hours playing Moria and Angband. But there you have a clear play style (walk around and smack things) as well as clear objectives (pile up gold, items, and levels)

In dwarf fortress, I always get stumped by two questions, "what?" and "how?". Specifically, "What the heck am I supposed to be doing", and then "how the heck do I do it?" I tried building a farm, but I couldn't even figure out how to keep my poor mining dwarf from drowning when I opened the door, let alone how to plant seeds and grow anything.

The interface has to be improved. When I can tell my dwarves, "dig an underground farm here, and figure out how to irrigate and plant it yourselves", that's when I'll give it another swing.

Karl

thejeff

February 24th, 2009, 12:49 PM

I've only gotten anywhere with DF by making heavy use of the guides and advice on the wiki.

Simplest way to build a farm is just to dig it out of soil instead of rock. Then you don't even have to irrigate it.

Dedas

February 24th, 2009, 12:53 PM

In a year or six(!) we will probably see an interface overhaul:
http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev.html

As of now the learning curve is to say the least steep, but there are help to be found:
http://dwarf.lendemaindeveille.com/index.php/Main_Page

krpeters

February 24th, 2009, 07:12 PM

Yes, the Dwarf Wiki was very helpful -- that's how I figured out as much as I did. But it was still pretty painful.

As for farming outside... well, that defeats the purpose. After reading the story of Boatmurdered I figured I'd probably get overrun by the first goblin invasion that happened by. My only hope was to be entirely self-sufficient indoors -- but that means I need to farm indoors!!!

JimMorrison

February 24th, 2009, 07:28 PM

Can you build up a food storage? Crops can be resown, homes can be rebuilt - but your people can survive within the Fortress at Helm's..... err, whatever your particular Fortress is called. ;)

thejeff

February 24th, 2009, 08:52 PM

Not outside. Often there is a layer or two of non-rock that you can mine away to produce an underground farm. My current farm is in "Silty Clay." No irrigation needed.

To move completely inside, wood is more of a problem than food. You need some for beds/barrels and a few other things. But unless you find coal, you really need wood to run the furnaces.
(Dwarfs are not particularly ecologically conscious.)

Dedas

February 25th, 2009, 05:41 AM

You could build farms outside and then wall them in. You should be safe, at least in the latest version. In the next version, well, probably not so much.

Meglobob

February 25th, 2009, 07:59 AM

Has anyone played the brand new 3D Kings Bounty (originally a precursor to Heros of Might & Magic series) and if so, is it any good? Just seen it in the shops and as I loved the original Kings Bounty (still got it) I am tempted to buy it.

Ruminant

February 25th, 2009, 08:59 AM

I have Meglobob. In a word: Awesome. I wasn't expecting very much, some kind of watered down Heroes of Might and Magic game, but it's so much more awesome than any of those. I don't recall much about the original KB but this version has an awesome combat system, a surprisingly engaging world with quests that have actually had some thought put into them (many offer multiple solutions and your choices can actually impact the world, which troops you can recruit, etc) and a quirky sense of humour. Its also filled with little touches that really make you appreciate the effort that went into the game. If you liked the first one I don't really think you can lose springing for this version ;)

Oh, I should add it's also a long-*** game. I'm probably less than halfway through and I've literally played for days. It also features a completely randomized game world with different troops you can recruit, different items and different enemies each time you start a new game. There also seems to be a reasonable change in the strategy you need to employ depending on which of the three classes you choose.

Edit: Thinking back to the original, you had a set timelimit and had to choose which 'villains' you went after within that timeframe, right? The game is a bit more linear this time in that there is a single major storyline you follow, although most of the game lays in taking your time and exploring the atmosphere and sidequests of all the regions you go through.

Meglobob

February 25th, 2009, 09:22 AM

Thanks Ruminant, I was concerned it was just the original kings bounty with 3d graphics and little additional content but it sounds every bit as addictive as the original.:)

Dedas

February 25th, 2009, 11:22 AM

Sounds great! I'm adding it to my list of games to buy.

Ironhawk

February 25th, 2009, 01:36 PM

I played it and had a different experience. It seemed like just that - a watered down HoMM clone. In what ways is it different? Combat appear to me to be a total knockoff. Same with leveling and moving around the map. Basically just HoMM again...

Ruminant

February 26th, 2009, 01:29 AM

Well, the combat -is- almost exactly the same. Its the same hex based two sides lining up and beating the crap out of each other. In my opinion though its much more fun. Mostly because in HoMM combat often devolves down to 'whoever has the most troops is gonna win'. In this you are hard capped in the number of troops you can recruit, and can only slowly increase that by leveling/finding items. Winning against numerically superior foes, which are quite easy to find usually, can be done by utilizing your troops abilities (theres way more variety in abilities than in HoMM and most creatures have more than one) and thoughtful use of spells and choice of creatures/items that synergise.

As for leveling, I like the new system. It gets rid the random element that could sandbag you with abilities you wouldn't really want and lets you build your hero the way you really want.

It's all subjective of course. You might hate the fact that base building, the struggle for map control and logistics (trying to get your creatures to where you need them on the map at the right time) has been blown out the window, I love it.