The Miscellaneous PC & vidya Games Thread

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Because, not to put to fine a point on it, a fitting description for the current level of technical inadequacies on this project causes epistemological problems of sufficient magnitude as to lay a heavier burden upon the logical and semantic resources of the English language than they can reasonably be expected to bear!

sounds like it belongs in disco elysium...

[FunkMonk]

The 4X lite Ozymandias is extremely my jam on Steam Deck. It's perfect for the handheld form factor.

[Oexmelin]

Because, not to put to fine a point on it, a fitting description for the current level of technical inadequacies on this project causes epistemological problems of sufficient magnitude as to lay a heavier burden upon the logical and semantic resources of the English language than they can reasonably be expected to bear!

sounds like it belongs in disco elysium...

It's a quote from Yes Minister...

https://youtu.be/8keZbZL2ero

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Because, not to put to fine a point on it, a fitting description for the current level of technical inadequacies on this project causes epistemological problems of sufficient magnitude as to lay a heavier burden upon the logical and semantic resources of the English language than they can reasonably be expected to bear!

sounds like it belongs in disco elysium...

It's a quote from Yes Minister...

https://youtu.be/8keZbZL2ero

haven't seen that in ages (like 20+years). Maybe I should rewatch it, at seems nothing much changed there

[Razgovory]

What's your opinion of it?

Played through the German linear campaign.  I had fun, which is saying a lot since these days I have a hard time enjoying computer games.  There's an open turn-based total war type campaign as well, but I haven't tried it.  Some sequels radically change the format, some sequels are incremental improvements.  This is neither.  This is Company of Heroes 2006.  It doesn't play any differently.  It doesn't even look much different (though I'm only playing on medium settings).  Fortunately,  Company of Heroes was a great game so more of it is okay. 

[Tamas]

Somewhat intriguing: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2211840/Stellar_Sovereigns/

[chipwich]

What's your opinion of it?

Played through the German linear campaign.  I had fun, which is saying a lot since these days I have a hard time enjoying computer games.  There's an open turn-based total war type campaign as well, but I haven't tried it.  Some sequels radically change the format, some sequels are incremental improvements.  This is neither.  This is Company of Heroes 2006.  It doesn't play any differently.  It doesn't even look much different (though I'm only playing on medium settings).  Fortunately,  Company of Heroes was a great game so more of it is okay.

Everyone on the internet seems to hate the Campaigns.

[crazy canuck]

I gave Terraformers a try over the weekend.  It was more compelling than you might think, the random generation of cards, and resources and the differing goals in each scenario provide good replay value.

Well worth a go.

[Syt]

Besides Victoria 3, I've been spending some time with Railbound. It's a relatively inexpensive puzzle game with pleasing cartoon graphics in which you create railroad tracks to get carriages to connect to the engine. It starts simple, new concepts are introduced every level in a pretty clear way, but I'm at Level 8 of 10 and it's doing my head in (every level has "normal" levels to unlock the next stage, plus "bonus" levels which tend to be harder than the normal ones). But it's quite fun, if a bit frustrating at times when there's a possible solution you're missing and you keep interating through your wrong solutions again and again, trying to fix them - but it's a puzzle game, so that's part of it.

Not many frills, just puzzles.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1967510/Railbound/

[Jacob]

My boy made a video game (PC): https://gd.games/artsumbrella/quirky-cracker

<- and -> for movement [space] to jump

[frunk]

After the first patch I picked up KSP 2.  It runs on my computer despite being well below the minimum.  If I don't look Kerbin performance is just fine. 

The improvements made are great, but they need to get to the point where it is no brainer better than KSP 1.

I think it will be well worth buying in 6 months to a year based on the pace of the first patch.  We'll see.

[Syt]

My boy made a video game (PC): https://gd.games/artsumbrella/quirky-cracker

<- and -> for movement [space] to jump

Neat A bit hard to judge your jumps, because of the limited sight radius, though that may be working as intended to increase difficulty.

[Syt]

For folks who like KSP but want it as a warfare sim trying to be as physically accurate as possible, this might be worth a look, currently under $10 during the sale:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/476530/Children_of_a_Dead_Earth/

The Most Scientifically Accurate Space Warfare Simulator Ever Made.

Children of a Dead Earth is a simulation of true-to-life space warfare. Design your spacecrafts using real world technologies. Traverse the solar system using actual orbit mechanics. Command fleets as the solar system descends into war, and see if you have what it takes to become the victor.

Features
REAL SCIENCE, REAL TECHNOLOGY - Every technology, from the Nuclear Thermal Rockets, to the Railguns, to the Magnetoplasmadynamic Thrusters, was implemented using actual equations from Engineering and Physics textbooks and white papers. Every aspect of these systems, efficiency, size, mass, power usage, heat dissipation, are all derived from valid equations.

CAMPAIGN AND SANDBOX MODES - Assume the role of an admiral and fight through a detailed storyline chronicling the descent of the solar system into all out war, spanning every planet in the solar system and everything in between. Or simply play in the sandbox, designing ships and pitting them against other ships.

EXTREMELY ACCURATE ORBITAL MECHANICS - With an N-Body Simulator (the kind NASA uses to plot spacecraft trajectories), all orbital phenomenon from hyperbolic orbits, Lagrange points, and orbital perturbation are all correctly simulated. Spacecrafts can stationkeep orbits, or enter into free falling perturbed orbits.

1:1 SCALE - The solar system is modeled completely to scale. The sizes of all planets, moons, and asteroids are accurately enormous, and the distance between them is similarly huge. The extremely high orbital speed of your ships deep in high gravity orbits is correspondingly correct.

FREEFORM SHIP DESIGN - Build your spacecrafts out of rockets, propellant tanks, weapons, powerplants, radiators, and crew modules. Wrap it all up with multiple armor layers, and maybe a Whipple Shield to boot. The acceleration, moment of inertia, delta-v, and much more are all correctly calculated for all spacecrafts you design.

HIGHLY GRANULAR MODULE DESIGN - Tweak everything from the nozzle length or stoichiometric mixture ratio of your bipropellant rockets to the armature and rail dimensions of your railguns. The results of every change is seen in real time, from the change in your rocket's exhaust velocity, to your railgun's inductance or muzzle velocity.

PHYSICALLY ACCURATE MATERIAL PROPERTIES - All materials, chemical reactions, and spectra are physically correct. When your arclamp pumps your solid state laser, the pumping bands need to match up with the actual emission spectra of your excitation gas. When the photon absorption of a material is needed, it is derived from actual refractive index spectra data.

IN-ENGINE MOD SUPPORT - The engine supports black box creation of untested or far future technology for modders to work with. All other game data, from levels to material properties, is also accessible to modders.

STEAM WORKSHOP SUPPORT - Subscribe to mods on Steam Workshop, and they will automatically load. In-game export tools allow instant uploading of your own designs to Steam Workshop.

All of the above aspects combine to yield a space warfare simulator that is unparalleled in scientific realism. No other game combines the extremely accurate orbital mechanics, 1:1 scale of the solar system, and technology which is implemented 100% by scientific equations. If you ever wanted to know what space warfare would actually be like, this is the game for you.

[Josquius]

On the topic. Anyone ever heard of/get anywhere with Juno new origins?
I got that free at some point and have had a look. Initial impressions are too much of the bad side of kerbal. I want more program management and exploration and less actual rocket science  practice.

[Josquius]

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/tax-heaven-3000-has-an-anime-girl-assisting-with-your-taxes/

Tax Heaven 3000 Is an Anime Dating Sim That Does Your Taxes

Visual novels can provide intriguing concepts for video games. Doki Doki Literature Club added horror elements to the text-based genre. Hell, even the likes of Tron are getting in on the action with a detective slant. But what if you want a visual novel to help you with real-life applications? Like taxes? That's where visual novel dating sim game Tax Heaven 3000 comes in, albeit with an anime angle.

Have a look at the announcement trailer via Gematsu:

Tax Heaven 3000 is a game where you go on dates, get to know one another intimately, and prepare your 2022 federal taxes. It's mainly for single filing without dependents. There are multiple endings to be seen, which I hope do not include real-life identity theft.

The makers of the title, MSCHF Product Studio, have mostly done products ranging from sneakers to colognes and to one other game, Chair Simulator. Just the kind of company you should trust with your Social Security Number. Seriously, do not give your SSN and personal details to the pretty anime girl. Spend some money and use an accountant, instead.

Look for Tax Heaven 3000 to launch for PC via Steam on March 31 as a free-to-play game. Also, there will apparently be a physical collector's edition with a body pillow to purchase, unless that's a joke? I can't wait to see the inevitable drama that follows its release.

Criminal genius?