The Miscellaneous PC & vidya Games Thread

[Razgovory]

Anno 117 has launched today. I will try it now, looks spectacular if you like that kind of game.

Did not care for the anno games.  I like colony games where you can sell off several hundred pounds of Yorkshire terrier meat and human skin without people asking to many questions.

[HVC]

Anno 117 has launched today. I will try it now, looks spectacular if you like that kind of game.

Looks really nice, and I know it's the whole myths of the series, but Rome on islands thing takes me away from the game. If it wasn't islands I'd be totally in to it.  I know, I'm weird

[Syt]

Anno 117 has launched today. I will try it now, looks spectacular if you like that kind of game.

Played Act I of the tutorial campaign (just made it to Albion). I like it, it looks very pretty ... but it feels very much like Anno 1800 with a Roman Empire coat of paint. Not complaining, it definitely feels more like evolution rather than revolution. If you liked Anno 1800 and fancy playing it in Ancient Rome, then this might be worth a look.

I guess the biggest change is land units?

[Zanza]

Yes, it takes many elements from Anno 1800. Which makes sense considering that game's huge success. There are some new mechanics though: land units, different promotion paths in Albion, research, religion, adjecencies for production buildings ...
The DLCs also look very good, especially the one about Egypt end of next year.

[Syt]

Fingers crossed that Ubisoft manages to hang on till then.

[Syt]

Btw, is the campaign complete? I read some comments that the campaign just stops at some point. But of course that might be because a player ran into a bug, or there's a quest requirement they didn't meet or didn't realize they needed to do a thing (I've been there plenty of times ).

[Grey Fox]

I've only played endless so far. I'm starting to wonder when I'll get a prompt to go to the other province.

I really like the change where it seems the game is pushing you to have big cities on multiple of islands instead of only 1 big & a lot of smaller one.

[Syt]

Played some more Anno 117 on the weekend. Overall enjoying it - granted, I play it as "pure sandbox" (no enemies, peaceful pirates) to get the hang of setting up the production chains and supply routes (it's been a few years since I dabbled in Anno 1800 - I picked up all DLC on sale recently; may have to dive in again). It used to slightly annoy me that in Anno all warehouses have access to a pocket dimension so that every good on an island is available at any warehouse (having your farms and your mills on opposite ends of the island? just build warehouses next to them!), instead of you having to make sure the items path correctly and efficiently (like in, say, Foundation). However, that obviously would tank the simulation performance, and instead this mechanic plays out in setting up the routes between your islands (though at this point I'm making enough money to just import any shortfalls; which is an outcome of playing "sandbox", I suppose). Also built my first Forum and Baths and got my first Patricians. I'm sure Caliga would approve of their representation.



I like the mixed use incentivization - i.e. that certain businesses give bonuses in their neighborhood, as opposed to 1800 where you wanted to segregate industry and residential. Sure, you still don't want the tanner in the middle of your patrician's mansions, but garum manufactories, or sandal makers, or bakeries make total sense.

I do feel I have to build way too many fire stations, though, which makes the city a bit annoying to look at.

Have yet to dabble in Albion, but I look forward to dealing with the option to hybridize cultures (Celts and Romano-Celts have different things to build etc.), which should be an interesting mechanic once the Egypt expansion comes out (if they allow you to blend Greek, Roman and Egyptian cultures).

Also enjoying some of the humor in the game. Like a character being labeled an "Auspicious Haruspex" or one of the random voice lines being the "punchline" of the old Sumerian joke nobody understands. Or describing someone as a very good landlord, having "over 70 insulae, half of which are still standing!" (Building collapse was a relatively common thing in rentals in Rome.)

It does have a strong "build things to get things to build more things", but it's quite fun, and I enjoy detailing the little empty bits of my town with mosaics, statues, etc.