The Miscellaneous PC & vidya Games Thread

[Habbaku]

Honest question: apart from Nintendo gimmicks and wanting to keep your kids away from your PC, what is the point of buying a console?

Dedicated console-only exclusives, along with the ease of use. I haven't bought a console (does a VR headset count?) in over a decade, but they are certainly incredibly convenient and have some titles that won't come out on PC for years and years, if ever.

[Syt]

I'm reluctant to get a Nintendo console. They seem to be pretty bad about shutting down the shops/online functions of their older consoles rather fast?

[Josquius]

It's less an issue on pcs than it used to be but games just working and being optimised on consoles is a big plus too.

And in these remote working days they help ensure workspace and relaxation space segregation. I am really unsure at the moment whether to upgrade my pc anytime soon due to this. A ps5 on the other hand is semi tempting

[garbon]

I'm reluctant to get a Nintendo console. They seem to be pretty bad about shutting down the shops/online functions of their older consoles rather fast?

I think the 3DS got what 12 years of support?

[Syt]

It may be more perception than reality, but I thought that Nintendo was not good about maintaining online services for their consoles much. I might be wrong.

[Grey Fox]

Sony is the worse imo. We blame Nintendo because we expect to play their games for so long as they remain expensive.

[FunkMonk]

https://youtu.be/aw1O6jpASTI

This guy splices together movie and video game scenes. This one, with Leslie Nielsen in Naked Gun and the game Detroit:  Become Human, is pretty good

[Syt]

If anyone is looking for detailed space battle simulations, have a look at Nebulous. It's in early access, and they recently overhauled their missiles:

(ignore the crappy music at the start )

And a short review:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/887570/NEBULOUS_Fleet_Command/

They're working on a second faction (currently there's only one fleet pool); basically think OPA from Expanse, using refurbished civilian transports and freighters (that are made up of randomized hull modules to represent their ragtag nature - see the end of the dev log video for that).

[Josquius]

It may be more perception than reality, but I thought that Nintendo was not good about maintaining online services for their consoles much. I might be wrong.

I'm surprised they haven't been pulled up by the EU about this yet.

Big reason why I keep buying physical (yes. Illogical as it may be with patches et al)

[Syt]

I picked up WEGO WWII Stalingrad using my loyalty discount on Matrix. I only started the tutorial, but I have already a "more of this, please" moment. We all miss the manual tomes of yore that used to come with games. My counter argument is usually that while having a physical object that you can read away from the computer, ideally all documentation you need should reside inside the game.

This game has an example of that - I don't know how representative that is of the game itself, but yeah: more of this, please!

The game has old school counters with numbers, symbols etc. When you right click a unit, you get details. And if you move the mouse cursor over any icon etc. it will give you an explanation of what it does:









It's a fairly small thing (and is likely just a copy/paste from the manual PDF), but it's already ahead of so many other games.

[Syt]

I was bemoaning the lack of WW3 operational games a while ago. Avalon Hill have been pretty busy releasing all kinds of wargames on Steam, and one of them has me covered:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1849360/SGS_NATOs_Nightmare/

The Scenarios
The goal of the game is to explore different cases, from small engagements in limited sectors of the front to complete campaigns covering half or the whole map. The game will offer:

• FAR 1985: a 5-turns scenario exploring the Soviet invasion of Bavaria after the fall of Austria, and the reaction of NATO's Force d'Action Rapide (FAR)
• Fulda Gap: a 4-turns scenario covering the expected Soviet breakthrough through the Fulda gap towards the Rhine and Frankfurt
• Austria Invasion: a 6-turns scenario dealing with the invasion of neutral Austria by the Pact
• Fall of Denmark: a 6-turns scenario aimed at exploring the northern part of the conflict with the objective of taking Denmark out and closing the Baltic to NATO.

• BAOR 1985: a short 1 month (15 turns) campaign covering the northern part of the war, in the North German plain, with Soviet, Poles and East Germans against British, West Germans and dutch-Belgians.
• CENTAG 1985: a short 1 month (15 turns) campaign focused on Central and Southern Germany, from Fulda to Bavaria

• Nato's Nightmare Campaign: the whole war (30 turns), two months starting in May 1985.

All turns in the various scenarios and campaigns above represent 2 days.

To come out spring next year.

[Tamas]

I think you are mistaken Syt, Avalon Digital isn't Avalon Hill.

[Syt]

Oops, my bad.

[Syt]

Watched some tutorials again, and either it's become easier, or it's finally "clicked" for me: I think I've finally understood how to use on map and off map arty in Graviteam Tactics: Mius Front.

It's a bit finicky, but it's not that complex. Your on map artillery needs to be in communications range of their commander. That's either close enough to shout, or after the wire company has run field telephone lines to the batteries (usually done before a battle, but becomes relevant again when units reposition), or - in some cases - have radio contact. Second, have the on map units set to accepting orders from their commander - otherwise they will only fire at targets they spot themselves - which may not be much, if you put your mortars behind a hill. Third, you need someone with eyes on the target zone. Either the arty unit commander himself, or someone else who can call in strikes who has a communications link with the unit commander.

The strike itself is finicky, for some mission plans. Right-click current arty marker of the unit, right-click/drag across the target area to create a path for impact. As pre-battle orders this will be fairly accurate, but assigning new missions during combat may have you firing some shells to zero in first, then plan a new missions to fire for effect. Finally, select ammo (HE, Smoke, Flares) and how many rounds you want each gun to fire (last battle, I put some heavy pre-emptive fire on a objective because I expected the enemy to fortify it (they didn't), and had set the fire mission for so long that by the time my men approached the target I realized almost too late that there were still shells incoming before they walked into the impact area and frantically ordered them to halt.

I also finally noticed that there's a "command points" system to simulate limits on battlefield communications. Orders to troops cost points depending on number of units, type of order etc. The points refill depending on your communications infrastructure. German units with radios refill their points quite fast, and you rarely find yourself in a spot where you need to put an order out but can't for long. Red Army who instead use flares and shouts a lot - not so much.

[Syt]

This game came out in January; it has 0 reviews so far.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1845040/Panzers_on_the_Steppe/

Panzers on the Steppe (c) is a turn-based historical war game using a double-impulse movement and combat system, with many features that make it fast to play and easy to enjoy:
- AI-based computer player for solo game play, or two-player co-op
- WWII Eastern Front campaign simulation
- Large 43 x 34 Game map covers European Russia and adjacent regions
- Overrun attacks and adjustable initial attack shock level
- Army/corps level units for Russian, German, and allied forces
- Leaders, headquarters, partisans, workers, and tactical air
- Supply, weather and terrain effects, rail and sea movement
- Reinforcements and replacements automatically scheduled
- Movement, retreat, air attack and paratroop drop range displays
- Comprehensive movement and retreat undo capability
- Flexible, fast multiple-unit combat resolution
- Campaign and yearly progress victory conditions
- Save and reload games from your game library
- Automatic game snapshots for replay and alternate scenarios
- Game log and statistics export for spreadsheet analysis
- Single-computer (2-player), local network, and play-by-email modes
- Available for Windows and MacOS
- Full details in the Game Manual

This may be a good game. But I feel at a price point of €49.99 there may be better alternatives available.