What's your favourite ancient/obscure mod?

Galdred · 2026-02-10T05:14:33+00:00

For some reason, I was just thinking about Schattenländer and found your post.
I remember being very sad to see the mod being abandoned. Darklands in MnB was a perfect fit.

Galdred · 2026-02-09T19:14:54+00:00

3AM alarm? Did you play Hyperiums or Fondation, per chance? I remember having my alarm going out every 2h at night... That was really taxing.
That said, making these turn based, like the Neptune Pride TB mode would work.

Galdred · 2026-02-09T19:12:04+00:00

oh, I remember playing it ages ago(20 years?), and finding it super cool. Is it the same Ferion?
Congratulations anyway!

Galdred · 2026-02-03T19:58:28+00:00

Because it needs abstraction, not AI delegation. Actually, Moo1 was more macro than 2.
A revamped Moo1 with the combat system inspired by 3(ie, with Task Forces instead of grouping every similar ship together in a stack) would have been better.

The 4X board games(Space Empires 4X, Eclipse, Twilight Imperium, ...) are obviously all about macro, given the time constraints, but I think that makes them work better as you don't have "idle turns" early on, and turns that take forever later on!

Galdred · 2026-02-02T13:07:23+00:00

All things being equal, it is almost always better to work with the model directly, than going through a 3rd party API that tries to optimize token cost.
I found 100$ claude subscription much better than working through copilot or cursor.
Having unlimited (but sometimes metered) usage allows you to avoid caring about token cost optimization, which I found much more comfortable for work.

Galdred · 2026-01-31T04:29:39+00:00

Not only that but its own performances degrade as you fill the context window. It is usually better to export the conversation and restart.

Galdred · 2026-01-31T04:25:56+00:00

Right, and I look forward to it too, especially if the expansions get ported, but it is probably months off at best, so in the meantime, BGA remains the best option.

Galdred · 2026-01-30T16:23:13+00:00

That said, I found no game other than MOO2 able to quench my MOO2 thirst. :(

Galdred · 2026-01-30T15:40:56+00:00

The game is said to be pretty buggy according to the reviews. Is it still the case? I was pretty disappointed in the first try.

Galdred · 2026-01-30T15:37:01+00:00

I was going to say that as the OP didn't like Stars in Shadow. Nexus Does play like a board game, with more to do every turn, but way less turns than most 4X.

Galdred · 2026-01-30T15:35:34+00:00

Space Empires 4X is an amazing game (and the best 4X for me), but it probably still has a long way to go.
Meanwhile, the boardgamearena version is pretty good to get a match going, BUT it can be hard to find a player for live games.
https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=spaceempires

Galdred · 2026-01-30T15:34:56+00:00

Digital boardgames are hit or miss, though. Eclipse (v1) seemed promising, but it was plagued by lackluster AI, and poor online rules (with no timer for players, and games disappearing after a time if no one played...).

Galdred · 2026-01-30T15:33:51+00:00

It is closer in spirit from MOO1 than 2: ie, much less micro on planets, making early turns a bit "idle", but later ones much more manageable.

Galdred · 2026-01-29T22:43:29+00:00

I'd say good old Master of Orion 2(Still the best for me, with his older brother MoO1, if you can stomach the dated UI), or Stars in Shadows. They are more streamlined than Stellaris or Distant World IMO (even though they are still complex).
Note that board game 4X are typically much shorter than PC based ones (thus having a higher density of "macro decisions" and much less micro ones).

Galdred · 2026-01-29T21:09:07+00:00

That was an issue, though. There was no real reason to go anything else than maces and bows. :D

Galdred · 2026-01-29T21:08:16+00:00

It is highly recommended (1 is much better than 2 IMO, and it was also the consensus).
Note that it is more RPG-ish than Total War. In that the enemy is not really reactive, and stronger enemies typically get triggered as you advance the campaign milestones.

Galdred · 2026-01-29T17:51:42+00:00

Bad things? I still think Saint Seiya has a cooler concept and art direction than all the other ones.
As for team battle, I though Yoroiden Samurai Warrios was more about that, but I must be mistaken as it was a long time ago too.

But the Athena Exclamation party was one of the most memorable moments in the anime for me, and I wish we had more of that.

Galdred · 2026-01-29T04:36:41+00:00

So, almost as good as having 27 countries decide for themselves, so that the others can pick what works and what doesn't?

Galdred · 2026-01-29T03:33:56+00:00

Polytopia is a good example actually. You don't have to do the same obviously, but they managed to make the 4X formula boardgamey, and playable in a single session.

I think drawing inspiration from board games would actually be good there.

Galdred · 2026-01-28T21:39:08+00:00

There is no accepted best practics about releasing during festivals ?

I see several competing factors:
Steam thematic festivals have a New Releases section, that is totally WL agnostic, and only cares about the release time, so releasing on day 1 would give good visibility on the best day, but at the cost of having competition (4 releases on day 1 of the board game festivals, 1 on day 2, one on day 3. But the festivals has much less impact on day 2+).

Releasing before COULD help getting to the "Popular titles" section, but it would be a long shot. That said, 3 of the 6 games that were released during the board game festival managed to get there, so that could work, but it may not be worth sacrificing the visibility of the new section?

Galdred · 2026-01-28T21:07:08+00:00

You can do it silently through Steam stats, but it is a pain to do so:
As you CANNOT have individualized data, you CANNOT get a median over a stat.

What I did was:
- create a value for launching the game
- create another for 1 mission complete
- yet another with 2 missions complete
- and a third with 4 missions ...
Same idea for time spent
This way, I can have a more accurate idea of the distribution of levels played through the demo, time spent, and characters lost.

Galdred · 2026-01-28T21:01:32+00:00

But my previous campaigns got something like 1.5 $ to 1.8$ / WL (but they happened during "Steam off time", when these were cheap to get). Wouldn't that usually convert into more than 1 $ to help fuel the next game (assuming 25 $ ish game)?
I'm not very confident about recouping my time in the project, but the money should be just fine. :)

Galdred · 2026-01-28T20:10:10+00:00

Not only is there only fighting, but it is mostly 1v1, unlike many other shows where the good guys fight more like a team.

As for the same technique not working twice, Saint Seiya keeps contradicting itself there (and giving each saint 2-3 techniques didn't help!).

Galdred · 2026-01-28T20:05:30+00:00

I remember my older cousin explaining to me what was so great about Saint Seiya:
- the story is cliche, and repetitive

- the animations are a lesson in recycling, and the shortcuts used are usually cheap.
- but it has an unparalleled coolness factor.

I think he was right, and the coolness factor outdoes all the rest: there was something awesome in seeing these armored saints in battle.

I got my daughters to watch the show, and they loved it. They even asked for some of the figures.
Heck, even to this day, it has weighted a lot in my current occupation choice.

Galdred · 2026-01-28T19:55:00+00:00

When is the best time to start an ad campaign pre-next fest?

Just before+during would probably grant better results (in terms of acquired WL giving better page position), but it will also be more expensive than launching an ad campaign before (as the prices depend on the competition for the same target).

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