The Miscellaneous PC & vidya Games Thread

[Crazy_Ivan80]

It's a business logistics simulator with a side of warfare. Anno 1800 doesn't have land troops, only ships.

And it is excellent. Best wait for a moment with a big discount cause it is  expensive with it's 4 seasons of expansions. Which are also quite good

[Josquius]

The Amiga mini is sub £100 now.

I know logically it's something I'd barely if ever use, it won't match up to my childhood desires given gaming has moved on this past 30 years... But I'm still tempted.

[Grey Fox]

I have a Commodore 64 mini. I've plugged it in once. It's really fun to have on display tho.

[Jacob]

I still have my old C64 from back in the day...

[Grey Fox]

I still have my old C64 from back in the day...

I only have the monitor anymore. 😕

[Syt]

Started a career in FM23 at German 3rd League side SV Waldhof Mannheim (they played in the Bundesliga in the 80s under their then legendary coach Klaus "Schlappi" Schlappner (getting Mannheim to top tier was his biggest achievement; he tried similar with other clubs later but failed).



Anyways, it's the usual low tier stuff - mediocre players, no money for transfers, trying to get some free agents, working on youth system, trying to get loans in. Also, since I've not played much recently, I've handed over many responsibilities to my staff, and make sure I check their recommendations/try to understand.

9 matches into the season we're in 7th place with 4 wins, 1 draw, 4 losses. We have an amazing defense (best tacklers in the league, and fewest shots on goal against us), allowing only 8 goals so far. However, our scoring is abysmal, scoring only 9 times total. I dominate passing (best in league for completed passes and fewest opponent passes allowed), possession (best in league, again), etc. But my sports analysts are lost as to what to recommend. "You should try for long shots, because you don't create any scoring chances within the penalty box. That said, you should work the ball into the box, because not a single one of your team's long shots has been on target so far."

Needless to say I'm looking for new offensive staff at the moment.

[DGuller]

Wow, looks like Jagged Alliance 3 really is happening.  Lots of reviews of preview editions have been published today.  The ones I've read seem to be mostly negative, but ironically the things that reviewers consider negative actually make me hopeful.  IMO JA3 could be successful even if you just take JA2 and leave it alone, put a new engine on it, and maybe incorporate some quality of life lessons that game designers learned over the last 25 years.

[Tamas]

Couldn't resist picking up Blood Bowl 3. I have had full intention to play it in multiplayer as I had no illusions about the AI.

Yet, I did start playing against the AI to learn the UI, and an early indication that it might have actually learned to mind the clock made me burn up my 2 hours refund time on hopelessly trying to get a game out of the AI.

Turns out that yes it is probably better than the BB2 AI in the sense that it seems to go reckless when time is about to run out. Problem is that it does that as stupidly as anything else (still, again, better than BB2) and oh boy it is stupid. Sometimes it seems to just... give up.

A complete farce. Then again as I said I was looking to play MP, but it would be so good to have just a not-braindead BB AI. But just as since BB1, if you have the most rudimentary understanding of the basic tactics of the game (which is the extent of my skills with it) then you simply cannot lose against the AI. At least in BB1 if you just hit end turn without moving the AI would score. In BB2 even that wasn't guaranteed. And I think overall the BB3 AI is even worse.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Wow, looks like Jagged Alliance 3 really is happening.  Lots of reviews of preview editions have been published today.  The ones I've read seem to be mostly negative, but ironically the things that reviewers consider negative actually make me hopeful.  IMO JA3 could be successful even if you just take JA2 and leave it alone, put a new engine on it, and maybe incorporate some quality of life lessons that game designers learned over the last 25 years.

What are the reviewers complaining about? (in so far as reviewers can still be trusted)

[DGuller]

Wow, looks like Jagged Alliance 3 really is happening.  Lots of reviews of preview editions have been published today.  The ones I've read seem to be mostly negative, but ironically the things that reviewers consider negative actually make me hopeful.  IMO JA3 could be successful even if you just take JA2 and leave it alone, put a new engine on it, and maybe incorporate some quality of life lessons that game designers learned over the last 25 years.

What are the reviewers complaining about? (in so far as reviewers can still be trusted)

The two main complaints seem to be cheesy lines from mercs and deliberate omission of chance-to-hit information.  Another complaint is that the game seems to be stuck in the past.  In other words, the complaints seem to be that JA3 is a Jagged Alliance game, and not an XCOM game.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Tnx for the info. I might keep an eye on that one as it's been too long since a decent ja game

[Tamas]

Played 3 BB3 matches my Elven Union team. One draw (would have won but I kept clicking the "do not reroll" option when I thought I was clicking reroll ) one loss against a team 1.5 times the value of mine (low number of people playing) and won against a Nurgle team.

The latter was the kind of match you pay agile teams for. Hard-fought match, I am up 2-1. I keep pressuring the Nurgle guy when he is on attack, I cannot stop him from scoring but on the other hand it stopped him having the option to run the clock down into a draw if he wanted to. So its 2-2, I have 3 turns to score, I am down 2 players.

Kick-off event is a snow storm so I am reduced to short passes only  He tries to blitz and get to the ball which is a mistake because it leaves enough room for me to do a chain with elves only blocked by one Nurgle guy each. My Thrower with the ball hands it to the other Thrower who dodges his mark with 83% chance, runs as close as feasible to one of the linemen, who catches the pass, and rolls like 4 successful dodges 2 of them 67% ones and scores with one turn to go. 

The guy rage-conceded immediately  , which is stupid because that auto generates a 6-0 victory for me and I believe he loses all the experience points he gained for those goals and injuries he did on me.

[Josquius]

This is cool. Disco Elysium drawing montage. Closest we'll get to a film version?

[Syt]

Slowly making my way still through the first season of FM23 as 3rd tier coach in Germany. I'm finding my way around better, but man, the staff planning is putting my brain in knots. "Ok, on this position I have 2 good players and 3 others can take over if I'm pressed for personnel. 4 of their contracts are running out, and one youth player might be ready to move up, but not sure. I want to extend 2 of the 4 expiring contracts, so I should look for possible replacements, but have to keep in mind that 2 of the ones I want to extend might get better offers elsewhere, so perhaps I should shop around more ..." etc. The whole "what does the squad look like next season?" is frying my brain. The squad planner helps, but sheesh.

In amusing news: Bayern Munich beat Liverpool 3-1 in the first leg  of the Champions League Round of 16. All looked well ... but then they lost 7-0 in Liverpool, with Salah scoring 4 times. 

[Josquius]

Your will power is impressive. I can never resist save scumming in FM.