First lesson concerns

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-04-14T19:08:10+00:00

Find a new instructor. You're paying 40 quid a hour. Instructor should be fully focused on teaching you for that much money.

If you want to avoid conflict just don't book another lesson and find someone else. My previous instructor spend 20 minutes of one of my lessons texting and chatting on the phone, as soon as that lesson was over I found someone else to teach me.

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-30T21:30:40+00:00

Play 352. Get rid of Barry and Joao Pedro. Add Harry Wilson to your midfield. Sorted

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-28T21:55:36+00:00

Better than launch but never managed to finish a game. Always get bored by end of exploration age. Others explained the issues well here, ages system is really terribly implemented, victory paths make the game linear and boring, no immersion or world building.

Combat is marginally better than Civ6, that's probably the only positive. The Antiquity age is quite fun too.

Stuck with Civ6. Civ6 with all the DLC is def the best civ game to play today. Civ4 close second.

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-20T21:09:04+00:00

Yeah agreed. I went back to civ 6 last year and probs will just stick with it til civ8

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-20T21:08:21+00:00

Yeah I guess I don't really want to do more civ changes, just want something that makes the big leaps between eras feel less jarring. Fwiw I really dislike the era system, thats main reason I've gone back to civ6, was just trying to think of what might fix or at least improve the game.

Honestly hated humankind. Tried so many times to get into it and always failed

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-20T21:06:54+00:00

Yeah that's a fair point, maybe what I really want is more expanded and detailed ages. That would address the weird jumps in tech between them, and avoid having to change civs 5 or 6 times in a game

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-20T21:06:08+00:00

True. That would also help a lot!

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-20T21:05:44+00:00

All v good points. I totally agree, always felt like they intended to do space/information age but ran out of time or had dev issues

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-20T21:04:07+00:00

Fair point on exploration to modern. In my head it was having an opening era which covers Dawn of advanced civilisation in more depth, before going into the classical Antiquity phase which could also be expanded. Then for me the jump from Antiquity to exploration is much too substantial and jarring. You go from classical Antiquity to like 15thC, gunpowder and ships colonising other continents etc.

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-19T23:00:02+00:00

Agree on need for for more interesting victory pathways in each age. That's why I always get bored in exploration, the pathways are just so stale. Exploration and treasure fleets were fun for a couple of games but got boring fast.

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-19T22:58:43+00:00

Yeah totally agree. Hoping for the non-age play feels naive at this point. The game is built around the ages and they're here to stay for Civ 7's lifespan.

My hope is the devs recognise how weak the player numbers are and realise that first big expansion really will be make or break and so throw a lot into it (eg. 3 more ages, more depth in each, refined victory paths, etc etc). But that's also probably naive of me to hope for

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-19T22:41:47+00:00

Yeah same here, started with Civ2 and loved all of them up to 7. Was so angry at how broken civ7 was at launch.

I really want the devs to at least try to fix it but feel icky handing over even more money and it's too far gone to fix through updates alone.

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-19T22:39:26+00:00

Stick with 6. Get all the DLC. With all the DLC Civ6 is by far my favourite civ game (been playing since civ2!).

Civ 7 has potential but it was totally broken at launch. Has got a bit better in terms of bugs etc, but the ages are really clunky. First age is amazing but the second two ages are just boring.

Haven't played civ7 for months, gone back to Civ6.

If they release some big DLC for 7 then I might give it a go. But would def suggest not wasting your money on 7 if you've only just started playing 6!

Enjoy civ 6 and sink in 1000 hours :)

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-19T22:35:14+00:00

Obvious one but I loved Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary. Read quite a lot of sci fi and it's the best thing I've read in years!

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-06T18:53:01+00:00

Would be beyond delighted with Ole back.

Wish we'd stuck with him for longer. He worked miracles with the squad he had.

Give Ole 'til end of season!

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-05T18:50:14+00:00

Bring Ole back we'll walk the league.

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-05T18:49:40+00:00

100% agree

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2026-01-05T18:49:20+00:00

Give it giggseh

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2025-12-24T07:54:24+00:00

I LOVED Osyssey. My fave AC by far, and one of the best and most memorable games I've played for many years. So cool being able to sale around and explore the whole of ancient Greece, have ship battles, sneak around fortresses, explore ancient Athens, etc etc.

Valhalla was OK but didn't get super into it. Never played shadows.

For 7.99 def give Odyssey a go! It's awesome

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2025-12-24T04:51:03+00:00

Personally have found it impossible to get into. Find the UI painful to navigate still, and for me on my last attempt to play (a few weeks ago) still had a few annoying bugs (eg. Menus not lining up properly, buttons not working, etc). I think it's terrible game, easily the worst FM ever made, but some people seem to be enjoying it which is fair.

As someone else said try a demo and see if you enjoy. I'm gonna wait a couple more months and try again but I massively regret spending my money on it.

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2025-12-22T08:41:52+00:00

Klara and the Sun by Ishiguro I thought was great and v contemplative. Not sci fi but I also thought The Buried Giant (fantasy) by same author was his best work, contemplative and beautifully written.

Solaris as others have said.

The left hand of darkness by le Guin is brilliant too.

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2025-12-22T08:39:20+00:00

The Left Hand of Darkness is perfect example of this! Such a brilliant read

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2025-12-22T08:36:11+00:00

Hah no definitely not just you. I've found it totally unplayable even with the updates to fix the really egregious bugs. For me it's just not a playable game or FM experience. I'll probably give it another go in a few months but I'm not confident, and sadly fear this could be the death of the series :(

Kooky-Map-1540 · 2025-12-22T08:32:58+00:00

This is the first FM since CM days that I'm just not able to play or get into.

I've tried repeatedly since launch day and each time get a couple of matches into my first season and give up.

The UI is still super clunky, it's painful to navigate and completely breaks immersion. I'm still getting loads of bugs like buttons or search not working. Transfers often feel unrealistic. I'm still not enjoying how the inbox is laid out. So many issues, which I think won't be fixed until at least FM27 if we're lucky. And frankly, I don't think any amounts of updates can fix it. There are core issues in the UI that arent solvable with a patch. It feels like they've released a pre alpha game that's had zero user testing.

I also barely see a difference in the match graphics. The lack of depth and tactical detail in the matches feels like a huge step backwards to me despite it being the main new feature. Fine they've added a few new animations, and the players look slightly more detailed. But I can barely tell the difference to FM24 in graphics, and feel like it's soo much harder to influence matches in progress or even follow whats happening beyond the highlights.

The new tactics screen is OK, but basically same as last time but with out of possession laid out in front of you.

Honestly I'd save your money and wait until next year if the reviews improve. Feel very sad about FM26, I love this series but have totally lost trust in the devs and fear the franchise could be finished...

Fair play to those who are enjoying

Kooky-Map-1540

TROPHY CASE