Not that I want to reintroduce you to an addiction, but one of my favorite parts of 14 is how easily I can take a break and not feel like I'm missing out. Content doesn't expire, when I come back I can either jump ahead to the new content, or there will still be plenty of people running the old content
GasBandit
Staff member
The content was not the issue. The addiction to the skinner box, multiplied by the connections to other players, is what got me. Everquest, DAOC, WoW, Warhammer Online... these all basically ruled my life from 98-08. It hurt my studies in college and my job performance after college. If Pauline and I weren't hooked together, it probably would have destroyed our relationship, too. Though, with how things ended up, maybe that would have been a better option. Regardless... no, I think this sort of thing feeds into personal traits I have that means it would be Very Bad for me to start doing that again. YOU might easily start/stop whenever you want... but I easily form compulsions about such things.
I play off and on (mainly for financial reasons). As someone who is a Saint of the Firmament (which involved me doing 11+ hour days of grinding fishing to get in the top 12 of the server within a limited time event) I can attest that I've probably played a bit more than I should have... that said, there really isn't much pressure to GRIND in 14 unless you're trying to level a bunch of jobs. It is definitely the most casual MMO I've played in a long time, even if I do multi-hour sessions during patch weeks to experience the story.
I do understand the addiction angle though. You know your vices best.
I do understand the addiction angle though. You know your vices best.
One Lonely Outpost (finally) comes out in early access tomorrow. They released a demo as well. It’s a farm game set in space where you need to terraform and adapt to harsh living conditions.
The demo is good so far, but short. The controls are odd on Steam Deck, but they are evidently working to get verified soon.
The demo is good so far, but short. The controls are odd on Steam Deck, but they are evidently working to get verified soon.
GasBandit
Staff member
Avorion was on sale for 50%, and I've been wanting to try it for a long time.
Uuuuuuugghhh it's so boooooooring and tedious. At least in the early game. Lots of "english is plainly not our developer's first language" jank in the tutorial as well.
But the real dealbreaker for me is that you cannot mount engines backwards. Meaning if you have a fast ship, you HAVE to turn around and retrograde burn to slow down. Which the control scheme of the game makes a pain to do. Otherwise you have to wait for your maneuvering thrusters to slow you down, which means enjoy slamming into shit and destroying whatever's on your front end.
I'm not quite refunding it... but I really considered it.
Uuuuuuugghhh it's so boooooooring and tedious. At least in the early game. Lots of "english is plainly not our developer's first language" jank in the tutorial as well.
But the real dealbreaker for me is that you cannot mount engines backwards. Meaning if you have a fast ship, you HAVE to turn around and retrograde burn to slow down. Which the control scheme of the game makes a pain to do. Otherwise you have to wait for your maneuvering thrusters to slow you down, which means enjoy slamming into shit and destroying whatever's on your front end.
I'm not quite refunding it... but I really considered it.
'Quick' (30 minute) non narrated peek at KSP 2. I almost didn't get it, because of all the bitching at how unfinished it is in the reviews. But it's in much better shape than KSP when it first hit early access, and I'm liking a lot of the new features. In the video, I take a rocket (previously built and tested) up to a near circular orbit, then off to the Mun (where I make a mistake with maneuver nodes, but it's not catastrophic). Then from Mun orbit back to Kerbal and splashdown.
GasBandit
Staff member
Since it has a free weekend, I decided to try playing Conan Exiles.
Except I can't, because there's a problem with the game's login servers.
Won't even let me play offline. Makes me install their BattlEye tattleware to even consider playing. And then still doesn't let me play offline.
Not a good look. Who developed this shit? Ohhhh. Funcom. That explains a lot. These guys have been suckling the Conan game teat for over 20 years now it seems... maybe it's time to let an actual competent company take the reins.
Except I can't, because there's a problem with the game's login servers.
Won't even let me play offline. Makes me install their BattlEye tattleware to even consider playing. And then still doesn't let me play offline.
Not a good look. Who developed this shit? Ohhhh. Funcom. That explains a lot. These guys have been suckling the Conan game teat for over 20 years now it seems... maybe it's time to let an actual competent company take the reins.
figmentPez
Staff member
Thanks for this advice. I underclocked by 5% and bumped up the power by 3% and didn't have a single crash while playing through Halo 2. I may try to tweak more later, but just that relatively small nudge seems to have been enough to make things stable.
Halo 2 is a much better game than Halo was. The writing is much improved, the gunplay is less of a slog (though the end still does get to the point of being so much bullshit it's just better to run past enemies and hope to get good RNG.)
GasBandit
Staff member
Right now I'm just playing it solo. I might play it with a small handful of other like-minded individuals, possibly set up my own server like I did for Valheim.
Another few screen shots of KSP 2. Probably won't play much more until they get missions and cash and stuff built into the game. But it's not *nearly* as bad as the bitchers on Steam say. Everything works. Graphics are gorgeous. I was able to build and fly a ship to Minmus and back.
And to be clear, there's no MechJeb for this thing yet, so I did it all myself.
Hey buddy..you look familiar!
But as they say in Hollywood, you've definitely had some work done. This looks so much better than the cartoon-y Minmus of KSP 1.
My suicide burn was gonna have me land on some slopes, so I had to finagle the landing and add some horizontal speed to get over in the flats, and then kill it again by dead reckoning. But still, I managed to touch down at 0.6 m/s, which makes an engine nozzle as good as landing gear on Minmus.
Sure does look lonely up here, though. The "Trip Planner" said 10K delta-v to get to Minmus, land and get back. I thought that a bit extreme, from KSP1 numbers, but I planned for 11K with my rocket anyway. Ended up only using 8K, even with being less efficient with my manual control of the landing.
And to be clear, there's no MechJeb for this thing yet, so I did it all myself.
Hey buddy..you look familiar!
But as they say in Hollywood, you've definitely had some work done. This looks so much better than the cartoon-y Minmus of KSP 1.
My suicide burn was gonna have me land on some slopes, so I had to finagle the landing and add some horizontal speed to get over in the flats, and then kill it again by dead reckoning. But still, I managed to touch down at 0.6 m/s, which makes an engine nozzle as good as landing gear on Minmus.
Sure does look lonely up here, though. The "Trip Planner" said 10K delta-v to get to Minmus, land and get back. I thought that a bit extreme, from KSP1 numbers, but I planned for 11K with my rocket anyway. Ended up only using 8K, even with being less efficient with my manual control of the landing.
Have you never played CE? There are enough similarities to Empyrion that I thought you would’ve tried it long ago.
—Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
Nope. When it first came out, it was overly expensive and under-featured. Reviews were mixed at best. And in 2017, that was the height of the gruesome foursome HF multiplayer gaming sessions (mostly L4D2 at that point), and my solo time was still being taken up by Space Engineers and Subnautica and other things I'd already paid for, so I put CE on my wishlist and waited for it to finish cooking and go on sale.
Which 6 years later, has finally happened!
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it still has its issues, and they are definitely hoping you spring for all the individual DLC expansion bits (some incrementally better crafting recipes are tied to specific expansions) but they're not really required to play or complete the game, which the game designers obviously hoped would end up being Rust-style base combat. You will want to explore the mods, of course. Oh, and the Ember group (some of the folks who used to play on your Empyrion server) just started up a server this week if you want to hop in with a bunch of friendlies. They can give you the server IP if you still have contact with them.
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
I do, and actually seeing Briskle's announcement they were trying it is what gave me the idea to try it for myself. And I may end up trying to join them, but first I want to get my bearings on my own.
GasBandit
Staff member
I still haven't made up my mind whether to actually pay for this or not. The controls are very clunky, which is a big strike against a game so unforgiving of misclicks in combat.
For example, in Valheim, if I wanted to strike and then raise my shield, I could click the attack button and then hold down the shield button during the animation for my character to raise his shield as soon as possible after the current animation.
In Conan Exiles, if you hit the shield button with even ONE frame left in your attack animation, you won't block, and you don't get any other feedback that you won't be blocking other than... you don't block the incoming hit.
Also, resource gathering is VERY grindy. "Hey go get some iron" says my quest. Ok, I go do that. It's a huge struggle through hyena-infested wastes and I nearly die and it takes 45 minutes to find ONE iron node since there's no way to really search for it other than by running around and looking... and my reward is 6 iron ore. Ok, great. How much iron do I need to make something? Oh, FIFTY at minimum. FML.
I've had better luck just cheesing NPC humans to death by the dozens and just hoping for iron equipment loot drops.
For example, in Valheim, if I wanted to strike and then raise my shield, I could click the attack button and then hold down the shield button during the animation for my character to raise his shield as soon as possible after the current animation.
In Conan Exiles, if you hit the shield button with even ONE frame left in your attack animation, you won't block, and you don't get any other feedback that you won't be blocking other than... you don't block the incoming hit.
Also, resource gathering is VERY grindy. "Hey go get some iron" says my quest. Ok, I go do that. It's a huge struggle through hyena-infested wastes and I nearly die and it takes 45 minutes to find ONE iron node since there's no way to really search for it other than by running around and looking... and my reward is 6 iron ore. Ok, great. How much iron do I need to make something? Oh, FIFTY at minimum. FML.
I've had better luck just cheesing NPC humans to death by the dozens and just hoping for iron equipment loot drops.
I hear you there. SO much. Three things:
-With very few exceptions, resource nodes are always in the same location, so if you mark them, you will know where to return. There are maps online where people have marked up the densest locations and the early spawns, but overall you will find that te farther North you go, the more advanced the resources (and enemies!) become. There are a few locations that have low enemy density and plenty of iron, and finding those will be very useful for your subsequent play-throughs. I like to start around O-12, I think?
-Unlike Minecraft, tool quality determines harvest quantity, not speed. So you will get more iron from the same exact iron node using an iron tool than you will with a stone tool.
-It is not possible to research every useful recipe without using mods to increase the level cap. My guess is that this is a deliberate choice by the game designers to “encourage” their desired “Team PvP” model so that players MUST form teams in order to have a large enough pool of people to research all the best stuff.
Also respecs are SUCH a pain.
—Patrick
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GasBandit
Staff member
Feeling a little better about my progress now. I'm roughly level 17 and I've managed to get some decent low level crafting going, and pillaged some iron weapons and tools that I now have the ability to repair.
This game is different from other survival/craft games I've played that had an emphasis on basebuilding - this one seems to reward murderhoboism much more than gathering and building. I started making much better progress when I stopped obsessing over building my base and looking for resources, and instead just went gallivanting across the countryside killing everything I saw and just-so-happened to gather iron when I came across it. It seems appropriately Conanesque that it's just a whole lot easier to kill people and take their stuff than it is to put in the work to create it.
I was not prepared for the melee powerhouses that the local tribal sorcerers turned out to be. I died several times to them before I figured out they were not the glass cannon ranged casters I expected, but were rather quick and light high DPS melee units. Once I got that figured out and switched over to "stick and move" hit and run tactics, I managed to devastate several small villages and plunder their meager belongings.
This game is different from other survival/craft games I've played that had an emphasis on basebuilding - this one seems to reward murderhoboism much more than gathering and building. I started making much better progress when I stopped obsessing over building my base and looking for resources, and instead just went gallivanting across the countryside killing everything I saw and just-so-happened to gather iron when I came across it. It seems appropriately Conanesque that it's just a whole lot easier to kill people and take their stuff than it is to put in the work to create it.
I was not prepared for the melee powerhouses that the local tribal sorcerers turned out to be. I died several times to them before I figured out they were not the glass cannon ranged casters I expected, but were rather quick and light high DPS melee units. Once I got that figured out and switched over to "stick and move" hit and run tactics, I managed to devastate several small villages and plunder their meager belongings.
GasBandit
Staff member
Oh I got my eye on doing just that.
About to start playing this...it's totally up my alley
Yeah, it has a "difficult" tag on it. But it looks very similar stylistically to Jade Empire, which I loved, so I'm willing to give it a shot.
I don't think it plays anything like Jade Empire. It is a mechanically complex brawler that will have you working through difficult levels to confront specialized bosses over and over again, with each run having you unlock more upgrades and improve your skills to try to get further in the next run.
But I enjoyed the mechanics of the fighting, and like my quote above, appreciated that the main character specializes in Wing Chun* as that's a martial art you don't see often outside of Ip Man.
*I think it's technically Pak Mei but I'm not learned enough to tell the difference and I think most people would recognize it as wing Chun instead
Yeah, i took care to just say it was stylistically similar, because i have no idea how it actually plays. But it looks interesting as fuck. it's just too late to start it tonight
Story of Seasons: A wonderful life just came out! So many farm sims, so little time!