The Miscellaneous PC & vidya Games Thread

[celedhring]

Conquistador had a great sense of setting authenticity (women roles in the enlightened Spain of the XVIth century nothwistanding) and good writing, but the gameplay ultimately was quite flat. Never got to play Vikings but if the game has more depth, I would certainly check out a Roman installment.

[Josquius]

I caved and bought Nimby Rails. This could be an epic time sink.

Made much of it?

[FunkMonk]

If you enjoyed the Portal games there is a new mod out now called Portal Reloaded on Steam. It's essentially a new game with new puzzles but now you also have time portals to deal with. The mod requires Portal 2 to play.

I've played it for a couple hours so far and my brain hurts. 

[Solmyr]

Expeditions is getting a 3rd instalment after Conquistadores and Vikings. In Rome you will lead a Roman legion in the late republic. The preview sounds quite excellent:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/expeditions-rome-preview

Well, thanks for showing me yet *another* CRPG (or three) I must now play.

[Maladict]

I caved and bought Nimby Rails. This could be an epic time sink.

Made much of it?

I'm playing the sandbox game, with unlimited funds. You can build regular rails (including bridges and tunnels) and tram tracks. Then run a rapidly increasing variety of trains on them, thanks to modders. That is basically it, nothing in the way of signaling or complex intersections, and you can plow through any existing structures (probably not so easily outside the sandbox).

But, it is kind of addicting. Especially building in areas I know well, I find myself nostalgically bringing back long-gone lines, building connections that should have been built long ago, or figuring out how a tram system could work in my hometown. It's good fun so far.

[Syt]

Conquistador had a great sense of setting authenticity (women roles in the enlightened Spain of the XVIth century nothwistanding) and good writing, but the gameplay ultimately was quite flat. Never got to play Vikings but if the game has more depth, I would certainly check out a Roman installment.

I believe Vikings supposedly improved quite a bit over its predecessor, but I've played neither.

[Syt]

Between Cyberpunk 2077, the launch of the latest PoE league and the new EU4 expansion it's been a rough time for releases.

The most broken game I ever bought was Bundesliga Manager 97 by Swotware 2000 in 1996. I was rather confused when I unpacked it because the CD-ROM had no label printed on it. Just silver on both sides.

After installing it became quite clear that something was indeed very wrong. Missing graphics, broken menus etc. and a basically unplayable game. I tried reinstalling a few times, thinking the fault was on my end, but eventually I called the support hotline who asked me to mail in proof of purchase and they would send me patches (which they did, and the game became playable, but by then I was firmly switched to Anstoß 2 by Ascaron the year after and didn't look back).

In a magazine I later read what had happened - supposedly an unfinished pre-release build was sent to production and it was not noticed until there were many confused and angry customers. I guess they got lucky that this happened in times before widespread internet use or social media.

There were only a few more releases of Bundesliga Manager: BM98, which was a slightly updated/fixed version of BM97, a compilation of previous BM games (Professional, Hattrick, 97), and Bundesliga Manager X, which no longer had a Bundesliga license. Software 2000 went bankrupt afterwards.

As for the Anstoß series. Anstoß 2 got a significant expansion in 1998. Anstoß 3 came out in 2000 and was IMHO the best game of the series- the series had a lovely mix of business sim, football management and a fair dose of anarchic humor. Anstoß 4 was developed in 12 months from scratch (Anstoß 1-3 code was building onto each other), and was a buggy mess. Anstoß 2005 and 2007 followed with little success.

Ascaron had a great run in the late 90s and early 00s, with their Anstoß series as well as Patrician and Port Royale and the ARPG Sacred. Their last hurrah was Sacred 2 in 2008/09 before going bankrupt in 2009 with Sacred 2 not earning back enough money.

[Syt]

Warplan Pacific is out: https://www.matrixgames.com/game/warplan-pacific

[crazy canuck]

Conquistador had a great sense of setting authenticity (women roles in the enlightened Spain of the XVIth century nothwistanding) and good writing, but the gameplay ultimately was quite flat. Never got to play Vikings but if the game has more depth, I would certainly check out a Roman installment.

I believe Vikings supposedly improved quite a bit over its predecessor, but I've played neither.

Yes, Vikings was a big step up and I thought it was very good.  Conquistador is a bit dated now - although I really enjoyed it back in the day.

Very excited that a third game is coming.

[frunk]

If you enjoyed the Portal games there is a new mod out now called Portal Reloaded on Steam. It's essentially a new game with new puzzles but now you also have time portals to deal with. The mod requires Portal 2 to play.

I've played it for a couple hours so far and my brain hurts. 

Been playing Portal Reloaded.  Pretty fun fan mod, that's free on Steam if you own Portal 2.

It adds a third "time" portal.

I finished it up.  Pretty good, not that long.  There was one puzzle (I think 17) that I couldn't figure out and had to resort to the internet.  I think I should of listened closer to what they were saying rather than the clipping Tiny Desk Concert (which fits the mood really well).

The final puzzle is quite fun, my favorite of the lot.

[Josquius]

One of these days I'll play portal 2.

[Syt]

wargamer.com has changed since last I checked

[Syt]

I keep telling myself that I will eventually work myself through the dozens of tutorials of Command: Modern Operations, but then I see upcoming update notes like this and feel waaay out of my depth (emphasis theirs).

https://www.warfaresims.com/?p=5188

Major improvements to sonar model. Based on an ongoing discussion of existing flaws in the sonar model (see here for the tech background) with various SMEs both on and off the forum, we have renovated many aspects of the sonar model in order to improve its real-world fidelity. A brief summary of the changes included:
– The thermocline layer is generally weaker then before for a given location, and completely stops being effective at 70+ degrees north or south latitude.
– The minimum bottom depth necessary to achieve converge zone (CZ) propagation is sharply increased per given location, and is no longer static but dependent on latitude. CZs are now also impossible at 70+ degrees north or south latitude.
– Most under-layer sonars (SOSUS/SURTASS excluded) lose the 2x detection range bonus afforded by the deep sound channel. This sharply reduces the in-DSC detection ranges of VDS & towed arrays.
Combined, these changes have the effect of making submarines at great depth more difficult to detect with towed arrays or VDS, and shifting the emphasis more to direct-path detections at the expense of CZs.

Select IRST/FLIR systems can now produce AAW fire control-grade data, allowing EMCON-silent engagements with AMRAAM-class weapons (background discussion here ). Note that the fire-control data generated by advanced IRSTs can be used not only for direct onboard shooting (e.g. F-18E uses IRST-21 to silently shoot AMRAAMs at target) but it can also be distributed to other platforms via CEC (e.g. F-18E silently tracks target, hands off to CEC-equipped ship which silently shoots SM-6 at target).
NOTE: Scenarios will need to be made/rebuilt in DB3000 v488+ in order to use this feature. These are the sensors in DB3000 v488 that have this ability.

Visual and IR sensors are now also susceptible to look-down clutter. For example it is easier for an IRST (or the plain Mk1 Eyeball) to pick out an aircraft over the horizon line than against the surface background. This provides an extra incentive to "go low", even for VLO aircraft, and makes terrain-hugging cruise missiles even harder to spot.

Datalink + TARH AAW missiles (e.g. AMRAAM, SM-6 etc.) can now go active without immediately going autonomous. This allows such missiles to be guided with greater precision & reliability against VLO targets or in strong OECM environment. The datalink is cut instead only when the missile acquires the target (or impacts on it, still under positive control from the link provider.

Various improvements in ballistic missile & BMD modeling, including fixing the simulation slowdown caused by ABM DLZ calculations.

Numerous smaller changes and quality-of-life additions. As a quick example, it is now much easier to visually spot when a side/group/unit's doctrine & ROE settings are overridden at a higher (parent) or lower (children) level, as they are now displayed in a different color when they do. Also as a popular request, the LOS-tool now supports altitude input in feet in addition to meters.

The v488 release of the DB3000 database, incorporating countless player requests and new additions as well as numerous tweaks and fixes. You can view the complete DB changelog here.

[Maladict]

I'm playing the sandbox game, with unlimited funds. You can build regular rails (including bridges and tunnels) and tram tracks. Then run a rapidly increasing variety of trains on them, thanks to modders. That is basically it, nothing in the way of signaling or complex intersections, and you can plow through any existing structures (probably not so easily outside the sandbox).

But, it is kind of addicting. Especially building in areas I know well, I find myself nostalgically bringing back long-gone lines, building connections that should have been built long ago, or figuring out how a tram system could work in my hometown. It's good fun so far.

I'm bored of it now. It will need a lot more features to keep it interesting, but it's an interesting premise nonetheless.

[Syt]

I'm bored of it now. It will need a lot more features to keep it interesting, but it's an interesting premise nonetheless.

That were my feelings about Dorfromantik. Great art style, but the layig down of cards, Carcassonne style, gets a bit boring rather quickly once you have the basics down. I'm kind of curious what features they plan to add during early access, but at the moment I would say the better mix of town building and puzzling is Islanders.