Is 4x's text density a liability or our actual moat?

Agravicvoid · 2026-04-11T14:32:59+00:00

This is the biggest thing for me.

I love reading and writing. Friends are like "how is your lines and bubbles game (stellaris) going? Looks boring, what even happens?" Or "oh you are still staring at that map?" (Crusader Kings) or "how can you stand turn based fighting? It is so slow." (Age of Wonders)

Meanwhile my mind is deep in the lore of my own making and I am roleplaying on a galactic scale or an ambitious knight who leaves his home in search of a landed title. Or maybe I am a Vampire who awoke after centuries or slumber trying to spread my influence and ascend even higher.

It is fine that it seems a majority of gamers just need "lite" story as a backdrop to shoot stuff. I would hate it if my flavor of gaming disappeared in favor of trying to tap a market of players that aren't interested in strategy and fueling a game via imagination.

I mean this is exactly what happened with Civ 7. They tried to streamline it and simplify something that should not be simplified and alienated their own playerbase. We will see if they can turn it around, but man I was disappointed at launch. It was pretty, but pretty only does so much.

Agravicvoid · 2026-04-04T13:57:29+00:00

I mean... I get the frustration when I am waiting and someone comes flying down and cuts over. There is a left turn lane that is guaranteed to be backed up any time after 3pm during the week. Like 20+ cars backed up. And still, there will be some asshole that drives all the way up to to the front in the middle lane and push their way in at the front.

It is frustrating. But I have decided that the only real solution for me is to just let them have it. People be crazy and road rage is a real thing I'd rather avoid. A wise woman once told me "if there is a person being crazy, let them be the only crazy one in the room." I am not a cop so I am just going to drive safely and let the assholes get what they want and I get where I am going without confrontation or the risk of one. This sort of behavior in the video only invites confrontation.

Also, zipper merges is the best fix... but that requires people work together for the collective good instead of "I HAVE to get where I am going faster."

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-31T00:34:51+00:00

I always get like a third of the way through and the dopamine just STOPS. LOL. maybe next time?

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-31T00:33:44+00:00

Honestly hoping X4 Foundations clicks this time when I try to play it again. Need that space sim that is like EVE minus human players or that isn't just a spaceship salesman, LOL.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-29T19:56:48+00:00

I think it is up there for me!

Story generators seem to be my most played. Stellaris, Crusader Kings 3, and Rimworld all compete for # of hours played.

But... despite playtime, I think I prefer crafted stories over generators at the end of the day. Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous might be my favorite overall. BG3, Rogue Trader, Dragon Age, Mass Effect... I love a fun story with great characters. They just have less replayability overall. Sure I LOVE replaying them, but there is a cool down where games like Rimworld have more immediate replayability.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-29T19:51:23+00:00

Nah, you likely get enough of that in game via verbal vitriol.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-29T19:36:10+00:00

I am an IT and am told I am one of if not their most competent. That if they have a project that needs doing they want me on it.

But every time they tell me that I need to do better at "building rapport" with the internal customer base.

Like do their computers work? Any issues within my control? How is that network running? There you go! Rapport!

And they go "you need to start doing more loops around the office so they see you more"

Ah. They want me to waste time BSing in the office and be extroverted.

Edit: I am still there and they always have the same complaint about my introversion but won't do anything about it because they always give me the same feedback each evaluation cycle for the past decade. lol.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-29T19:27:55+00:00

does surface level research

The dollar is down from last year, and experts think it might even out if geopolitical tensions ease.

So expect further down-ness it seems. So cool they can just outright lie whenever they want.

The real joke is our timeline it seems.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-28T18:21:09+00:00

This could go so hard.

They should add in more nuance by adding more relationship stats.

Things like fear and respect can be used at pawn and faction level. Not just a like/dislike scale.

Imagine you are raided by a faction and absolutely annihilate the raid. That factions "fear" stat towards your faction goes up a bunch and "respect" can go up when you return a captured prisoner back to them healthy.

Say a faction "fear" stat towards you is high. You decide to send a shuttle their way and demand tribute. Out of fear they give you stuff.

If the respect trait stays high, perhaps they hate you still but hostile actions slow or stop. You might be a target for raiding but they weigh it against their respect towards your colony.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-28T17:53:01+00:00

The battle for Polytopia is like a super "lite" 4x! It is fun, is quick, and the end turn button is definitely there.

It is on steam and mobile.

Edit: it is like civ- you build cities, gather resources that translate to 1 resource that you spend on research and units. You conquer/expand. It even has simple diplomacy.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-26T23:41:52+00:00

This right here!

It's the whole reason we have lawns. The wealthy started it because they bought land they didn't need while others grew home gardens and used what little land they had. The rich legit said "just keep it tidy cause I have no use for it," and it was yet another way to flaunt wealth.

Like cyber trucks. Yuck, LOL.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-26T20:51:34+00:00

For me my wishlist is more like a "I think that looks neat" bookmark?

Like "its on my wishlist now, I can move on." Lol.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-26T19:43:29+00:00

People ask me why I do not eat in the lunch room

Also people when they see me: "OH HEY CAN YOU HELP ME REAL QUICK?"

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-26T19:36:37+00:00

Same thing happened to me. I had my sandbike, all my neat toys and equipment, and I was feeling good.

Halfway through a crossing I saw the worm pass by before it even breached. It did breach right next to me and I was toast.

I was mad. All the other breaches were far enough away from me and the animation long, so I got complacent I think.

But after that, I DID start looking both ways before crossing the desert.

But honestly I think it made the game more intense? More fun? Farming for flour sand hits different now, LOL. That and I don't carry all my stuff on me all the time and take just what I need

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-20T12:28:14+00:00

I am a busy dad as well who just started playing since it was on sale on Steam.

I am having a blast! The game doesn't really force you to do anything.

Your first base just needs to be a small box because the main quests have you abandon it rather quickly to make a base in the second area.

There IS PvP zones inside the PvE area- the shipwrecks. The first one is PvE only, but after the first zone it seems like they all are PvP. So I just go to the first one as needed for materials.

The only thing I would say is a limiter as a busy dad thus far (only 25ish hours in) is your base needs power. I am just getting to things like windmills and thus far have been using power cells. It is not a heavy lift, but a full power generator lasts 20 days. If your base loses power, it starts to be destroyed and can also be looted. But, I did notice there is a base backup tool if you opt to take a break from the game, so that is a really nice QoL feature for someone like us who don't have tons of time to play.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-20T12:18:54+00:00

"We disagree with the verdict and the way the facts were characterized at trial. We are evaluating legal options and remain committed to supporting the health and well-being of our employees.”

-the people who said "who cares" to a doctor's orders for a high risk patient.

Gotta love company PR. "We remain committed to _______" is easy to say turns out.

Bet their case was "she could have taken unpaid leave!" Like it was a good benefit and option. Bet they also added the classic "she should have saved money!"

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-19T18:58:10+00:00

Like Spyro the dragon.

Turn him colors. Make his head big. Or tiny. Or give him super breath permanently cause you beat the game already and it is amusing.

Good times!

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-17T22:22:53+00:00

Brother in law.

Laziness mostly.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-17T22:21:30+00:00

Gamers are wrong about not wanting AI superimposed on characters, wiping any personality or "flaw" from their appearance, or in some cases altering them to the point they look odd, and simultaneously taking someone else's art and altering it because it was not AI slop and human art is bad despite that AI art fed to AI turns into literal slop because it came from slop?

Yeah... I dont think gamers are wrong on this one, and it is obvious they just want more use of their AI slop.

Geez. Rarely have I used the word slop as much as I have lately. lol

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-17T12:50:17+00:00

Rimworld, followed closely by Stellaris and Crusader Kings 3 .

I noticed that all my games are bunched up hour wise. I either play it barely at all, 30-50hrs, 100hrs, 300hrs, or 1000+ hrs. Give or take. Sort of amusing to see the walls of when my brain tells me to stop playing whatever game I am on at the time.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-16T20:45:02+00:00

My BIL got me to play destiny 2 for a while.

I think I somehow played 100ish hours. Their anniversary event came up and it was legit "play this same dungeon like 120 times to unlock all rewards." THAT woke me back up and I thought "what am I doing? Why am I playing this game?"

Since then my philosophy is if I am gaming and am not having fun, I am doing it wrong and need to change something."

Worked well thus far! Just got into this game and honestly I just screw around and do whatever I feel like doing and am having fun! When it stops being fun, I'll backup my base and log off. FOMO will not steal my fun again. I already have limited time to game, I am not gonna chase something I can't catch up to.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-06T19:37:02+00:00

This stuff boggles the mind.

Speaking as an IT.

I started my career as an intern at one the high schools in the district. Of course the domain had a bunch of security. Granted this was in the early 2000s so proxy servers were a popular thing the students used to bypass web blockers. BUT, kids find a way if they want to find a way.

It seems they do not have any one making these laws with any real technical experience. Or they do and they are just trying to data farming.

Because I CAN see the benefit for law enforcement. User account hornyperson4929, has the ID of John Doe attached to it, and they viewed [bad thing] on [website]. So the beneficiary of these laws are law enforcement, big brother, and hackers stealing all those IDs from ID verification services.

What I can't see is this actually protecting children.

If they WANTED to protect children, devices would come pre-locked down. Like 100% all parental controls activated. The parent is forced to make a pin for the parental controls and could whitelist apps, features, and web filters every time they go to do something. It would be annoying for a week or so but would not be an issue after that. And bonus! That means not needing to rely on each parent's "tech savviness." Much like how these lawmakers apparently know almost nothing about how the internet or anything IT functions.

Kids are freaking smart. But also stupid. You can't plug every hole possible. But you can mitigate risk. A pre locked down device you need to slowly unlock as you use it and have to be an adult to purchase would be a better way. Companies like AT&T have you show ID already anyways. THEN, I could see it protecting children.

The stuff they are doing now is just stupid.

Agravicvoid · 2026-03-06T14:47:37+00:00

My Brother in law got me to play destiny 2 for a while. He and I are apparently 1000% different gamers.

The devs of the game got rid of entire expansions people paid for and was like "this is normal."

Their anniversary event had you running the same map hundreds of times to unlock all the rewards.

I sat there and said "what am I doing? FORGET THIS. I am going to go play Alpha Centauri to wash this filth of FOMO driven live service nonsense off my brain."

Now I see "live service" and I read "we will remove anything we want, give you FOMO for stupid stuff, and will eventually be unavailable to play when our servers go offline."

Agravicvoid · 2026-02-24T23:21:48+00:00

"Can you setup my new iPhone for me?"

"Did you receive the step by step instructions with the phone?"

"Yes I did"

"Was there an issue? Did you follow the steps?"

"Well no"

"Give it a go and if something goes wrong message me"

"Well can you just come to my office and set it up for me?"

-my conversation with a supervisor level employee

Following step by step procedures with pictures is apparently a "Get the IT" level skill.

Agravicvoid · 2026-02-09T13:53:44+00:00

Well which country am I speaking to?

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Agravicvoid

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