The Miscellaneous PC & vidya Games Thread

[Darth Wagtaros]

The Master of Magic upgrade/remake is set to come out next week...any decent scuttlebutt?

My feels are it might be something like "yeah, that game was awesome, I'll get it!.....oh, yeah, pretty much operates the same but now looks pretty...meh, ok".

I haven't found anything really except vague announcements.  I saw a partial playthrough and it looked pretty bland.

[Syt]

dastactic has done a preview series over on YouTube.

[Tamas]

I think MoM is declaredly a remake with improvements rather than a sequel. Which is fine with me, I am going to check it out.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I think MoM is declaredly a remake with improvements rather than a sequel. Which is fine with me, I am going to check it out.

How is it?  I'd love to get it, as I was playing MoM Classic the last month.  But at 30 dollars it would have to have a lot of improvements.

[Tamas]

I think MoM is declaredly a remake with improvements rather than a sequel. Which is fine with me, I am going to check it out.

How is it?  I'd love to get it, as I was playing MoM Classic the last month.  But at 30 dollars it would have to have a lot of improvements.

Haven't pulled the trigger yet.

[crazy canuck]

For what it's worth, I have really enjoyed playing KoH2.  I see a lot of people griping that they can't paint the map.  But for me that is part of the appeal. 

[The Minsky Moment]

The first few Panzer Campaign patches are now out, plus patches for the WW1 Campaigns games. Speeding up the return fire is such a huge change. (Can't wait for it to come to Modern Campaigns, or the Napoleon ones.)

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/winter-sale-announced-updates-released
https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/southern-front-updates

Is this series some kind of souped-up John Tiller game engine?  How does it differ from the originals?  What are the best offerings?

[viper37]

Isn't "exclusivity" the reason why the Biden administration is suing to stop the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard?

Yes.  It's likely Sony's lobbying of Congress though.  MS is no position to play this game right now.

[Syt]

Is this series some kind of souped-up John Tiller game engine?  How does it differ from the originals?  What are the best offerings?

Yes, same engine, with some tweaks to gameplay and more quality of life features, updated/more scenarios etc. They've been working on the JTS games for years now, and took over the entire catalog when he passed last year, now revamping all titles while also working on new ones.

But. Same AI, largely. That means that the AI will be ok-ish, in small tactical engagements, not so great when it comes to big picture stuff. In a recent Q&A they said that they would love to dig into the AI more, but that it's fairly entangled in the core game, so rewriting it seems to be a pretty tall task.

It's hard to unequivocally recommend any one title. It kind of depends on what you're interested in. They have free demos for their flagship series (American Civil War, Early American Wars, Panzer Campaigns (1km/hex), Panzer Battles (200m/hex), Squad Battles, Modern Air Power and Napoleonics. You can find them here and try them out. They're all standalone, and (except Waterloo) not included in any of the other games IIRC.

https://wargameds.com/collections/game-demos-wds

If you like any of the engines you can then check out what titles they have in that series - each is usually a pretty  decent and detailed recreation of the battle at hand (in terms of OOB and maps; though e.g. France '40 is currently under rework according to them to improve on it). Generally, smaller scenarios with the AI defending offer a better experience. In an ACW campaign (linked scenarios, branching depending on battle outcome and player choice) I won a scenario by default because the AI couldn't figure out how to take several unguarded victory hexes along a railway line ...

There's several PBEM clubs for the game (The Blitz probably being the biggest one), but I've not dabbled in it.

If you've tried a demo and liked it, and then found a title you're interested in, it might still be worth considering whether to buy it or not. Most titles sell for 39.99 (though they have their Christmas sale on), so if you already have another game covering the same (e.g. Decisive Campaigns, or a good Operational Art of War scenario) then only get it if you really have a strong itch for it.

Hardest to recommend for me is the Panzer Battles series. It plays at the same scale as the old John Tiller Campaigns series games (East Front, West Front, Rising Star, and the recently released Vietnam, all available from Slitherine/Matrix Games). The WDS games cover their areas in greater detail, but I think the old John Tiller titles offer better bang for the buck (i.e. covering the entirety of the war, tons of scenarios; crappy random campaign generator though), even though the gameplay detail in the Panzer Battles series is better and more polished at this point.

[The Minsky Moment]

I'm less interested in the WW2 titles which are covered so often.  The pike and shot era, Nappy, and the air stuff look more interesting for me.  Maybe ACW.  Serbia 14 also looks interesting.

[Syt]

I haven't really played the Pike&Shot games except Renaissance's disk version ages ago and didn't really take to it. I'd take Field of Glory 2 Medieval over it any day. The same devs have an older title Pike & Shot Campaigns which uses similar mechanics and covers 16th/17th century (they also have a Sengoku period title).

Can't speak to Air War but I guess they might be more accessible than Command: Modern Operations?

Tamas has played the WW1 games a bit IIRC.

The Napoleon ones - there's few alternatives on the market. I find them a bit tedious to play. E.g. when you deploy skirmishers are treated as separate units you need to babysit while in the ACW games they act as modifier for the parent unit. That said, they have some convenience functions - you can order a commander to attack an enemy and they will use all their subordinate units to execute the order without you having to micro them. That is if you trust the AI.

I recommend downloading the demo and going through the tutorial and manual, and also maybe checking some YouTube videos.

[The Minsky Moment]

I haven't really played the Pike&Shot games except Renaissance's disk version ages ago and didn't really take to it. I'd take Field of Glory 2 Medieval over it any day. The same devs have an older title Pike & Shot Campaigns which uses similar mechanics and covers 16th/17th century (they also have a Sengoku period title).

Yes I've played Pike & Shot campaigns quite a bit over the years.

FoG I understand is based on a set of ancient miniatures rules that has been stretched and adapted; doesn't seem like the best match for 16th-17th century.

Does anyone do 18th century? 

[Sheilbh]

Fell into a Cities Skylines habit again over Christmas

While I still like it and fall into that hole every now and then, I wish there was a new city builder around.

[Syt]

If you like chill building games, then check out Anno 1800 (which you can play without AI opponents and looks really pretty, in a romanticized Victorian way https://store.steampowered.com/app/916440/Anno_1800/ - check which store is cheapest at the moment; I assume you know https://isthereanydeal.com/ ) or Planet Zoo (about running a zoo https://store.steampowered.com/app/703080/Planet_Zoo/ ). Warning: both have DLC out the wazoo at this point.

Or, for a more price conscious option, check Kingdoms & Castles: https://store.steampowered.com/app/569480/Kingdoms_and_Castles/ It was fairly barebones when I played it at release in 2017, but it seems to have received constant content updates, and has more queued up. However, I can't say if it is much better now.

If you like it a bit bleaker and aren't afraid of Early Access, check Soviet Republic: https://store.steampowered.com/app/784150/Workers__Resources_Soviet_Republic/

And of course there's Farthest Frontier and Foundation (medieval, early access), and there's Manor Lords coming up.

[Sheilbh]

Thanks! I have a couple of those

Will definitely given Manor Lords a go when it comes out.

Might give Soviet Republic a go