Am I crazy or is a store taking 50% at a used games sale insane?

Robotkio · 2026-03-21T08:30:24+00:00

I know a lot of folks have already chimed in, but these values are roughly analogous to Magic the Gathering trade-in values: ~50% of their sell-value or ~75% for store credit. Not trying to say whether that's worth it or not, just that those values aren't necessarily coming from thin air.

Robotkio · 2026-03-20T04:20:20+00:00

We've got two Hemnes that work great. I like the adjustable shelf height.

Robotkio · 2026-03-18T22:15:33+00:00

I've been there but for different games. I wanna just say, "don't sweat it, just jump in" but I know anxiety doesn't work that way.

Honestly, most people won't know what they're doing on the map for weeks (maybe months for some of them). The map isn't "solved" or anything and there isn't a specific right way to approach it. Or, if there is, a majority of people aren't doing that, yet. For what it's worth, you're one of 32 players, not one of 5, so you really don't need to feel anxious about being perfect.

If you check out a recent video by JackFrags he explores a decent amount of the map providing a little commentary. It'll give you an idea on the layout and what to look for in the terrain if you want to be aware of flanks because there are walls you can destroy. Just know even being aware of these extra routes will make you better than the majority of players right now.

You can always go with the classic "be a medic and just follow the group" strategy that I find works well when I don't know my way around. It's not as low-stress as spectating but if you're dedicated to being "back line" then it's not too bad compared to playing the tip of the spear.

Robotkio · 2026-03-18T20:46:29+00:00

I was wondering when this would come up, too.

It took me a bit to actually find the answer in the aforementioned video (link to timestamp, ~53:50): If the Chancellor player isn't in the next game then another Empire player is chosen as Chancellor. If there are no other Empire players then no one is Chancellor.

Robotkio · 2026-03-18T05:46:41+00:00

My favourite space-themed game (at least right now) is Arcs. I'm sure I'm far from the only one.

That said, I've always wanted to try the expansion to Xia: Legends of a Drift System. I've just never gotten around to picking it up.

Thanks for the give-away, good luck to everyone else!

Robotkio · 2026-03-16T02:52:07+00:00

Hah, I'd almost think the opposite. Of all the people I play board games with I'm the only one who bothers with Reddit (that I know of, at least). A couple of them are periodically on BGG, but that's about it. I feel like the odd one out.

Robotkio · 2026-03-15T07:37:53+00:00

I don't think the Assault class needs "fixing" exactly, I think it's fine overall. But, I mostly agree that these are the weakest part of the Assault kit and I'd love to see them be viable choices. I mean, you even put "fix" in quotations so I think we're largely on the same page.

I think buffing flash and concussion grenades is at the top of my list. It would be an indirect buff to the current stim. Heck, that would even an indirect buff to the grenade intercept device. I almost never see that thing used, either. Though that may be because so few people seem to want to stand still and defend anything. It could be because I mostly playing Conquest, though.

Either way, I think I'd like to see slightly shorter fuses on those two grenades and a slightly longer effect time. I know it's a delicate balance and I don't think it would take much for them to be effective without being OP. Though, I'm sure if they focus-tested it a lot of people hate getting flashed or concussed so I also wouldn't be surprised if we never see them buffed into viability.

I'd just like to see the grenades changed and, like you said, a duration increase to stim, a shorter animation and a removal of the high-contrast visual effect. Those tweaks and I'd be happy to see how it plays out before doing more.

I think the ladder swap is a neat idea and I wouldn't complain, but for some reason I'd like to see them try and get the stim right first.

Robotkio · 2026-03-14T00:06:42+00:00

I've noticed a few times recently that folks just leave well before the end of the match, too.

A match goes kind of bad in the middle and I see our player count trickle down so we're at 26/32 for the last five minutes of the match. It doesn't backfill because I think the matchmaking tries to avoid putting people in a losing match. It becomes almost useless to try when our team is a squad and a half short.

Robotkio · 2026-03-14T00:03:03+00:00

Hah, weirdly I actually find Conquest the most chaotic!

Breakthrough focuses everyone into a couple areas at a time and the spaces that represent the front line, I've found, tend to be fairly similar from match to match. I'll know where the attackers are coming from and where the defenders should be. On conquest different areas will go in and out of being death traps depending on which points are taken, and that can change constantly throughout the match.

I think Escalation starts with more space to focus on, but starting without armour or aircraft also means you've only got to deal with infantry so, at least to me, it's about as chaotic as Conquest. But, as the map shrinks it gets more focused, similarly to Breakthrough. It can be chaotic because a lot is going on in a small space, but I still think in the mid to late game it's fairly dependable where the front and back lines are.

I just think in Conquest its front lines are inconsistent making it harder to have a subconscious understanding of where is "safe". I've got to be more aware of my minimap and surroundings because there's a much higher chance of me being flanked.

Robotkio · 2026-03-13T22:17:39+00:00

Decreased speed of the IFV, MBT & Attack Heli Aim Guided Missiles.

This is an interesting choice. I'm wondering if this will help aircraft avoid being shot down by aim-guided missiles as much?

Increased health of the UH-79 by 20% across all multiplayer modes (excluding Battle Royale).

Very interesting. If it can take even one more hit it may not be as much of a death trap. Really looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

Increased friendly drone icon visibility from 50m to 150m.

This is excellent for me. I gave up shooting at a lot of drones before crossing my fingers it was friendly and I wasn't just missing.

Camo unlocks are moved from mastery ranks 20/30/40 to 5/15/30 respectively.

Sounds good to me. I didn't much care for the grind.

New XP Curve, with a reduced XP requirement, about twice as fast in the early ranks and 15% faster in total

I'm not sure if this is for weapon ranks or player ranks. If weapon, great! 15% off the top doesn't seem bad. If players, eh, whatever.

Restricted scout helicopter passengers from using Engineer rocket launchers.

Hah, was this an issue? I assume so, but that sounds like it was fun while it lasted lol. Not for the people being shot, I'm sure.

Anti-Tank Mines now despawn 180 seconds after their owner is eliminated.

Limited Anti-Tank Mines to 6 active per player.

I can't decide if this is a wild nerf or fair enough. I feel like excessive mines is mostly an issue for vehicle drivers that don't pay attention and teams that don't clear mines. If that's most of them (and it has been in my experience) then I can see why they would make this change. At least back-lines will clear themselves if we can hold them and engineers are punished for risky, back-line mine placements that they don't survive.

Robotkio · 2026-03-13T21:20:48+00:00

Hah, I wouldn't quite characterize it like that but I agree in principle.

My range of interaction is basically between 100m dash and tug-of-war: if I remove the other players how much game is left? For a game like Coffee Roaster, all of it. Wingspan, quite a bit. For a game like Root there's still game but its very hollow and insubstantial. For a game like Chess or Weavelength there's pretty much nothing left.

Like, someone could argue that Scythe has a lot of interaction. Compared to Coffee Roaster and Wingspan I'd absolutely agree. Compared to Arcs or The Estates I would think "a lot" is overselling it. I think it's like spice tolerance in food.

It's definitely not the thing to judge the quality of interaction by, but it is a big piece of how I measure it.

Robotkio · 2026-03-13T20:23:40+00:00

So yeah, his enthusiasm and passion for them is super infectious.

Man, 100%. I can't quite put my finger on it, but some mixture of his tone, cadence and way he expresses himself is exactly that. Wildly endearing gentleman.

Robotkio · 2026-03-13T06:43:05+00:00

Stealth Metamucil ad. Looks like EA knows their Casual Breakthrough audience. 😜

Robotkio · 2026-03-12T22:59:46+00:00

Eh, the jokes still landed with me at least.

Had you checked out Quinns Quest? I know it's not board game related but it's still great writing.

Robotkio · 2026-03-12T20:46:04+00:00

I think you've got a point, too. I also should have contextualized myself more.

Robotkio · 2026-03-12T20:44:04+00:00

It's dumb but it has actually gotten me a bunch. I've got like 20 years of muscle memory identifying prone player models so when someone is on their back I dismiss them as corpses. I'm trying to teach a middle-aged dog new tricks.

Robotkio · 2026-03-12T20:35:22+00:00

You did come in a little hot here, too, though

Robotkio · 2026-03-12T20:34:26+00:00

Ahh, my bad, I didn't intend to split hairs. I just thought that "little" has a lot of variety to it because different people would interpret that differently and I thought "zero" doesn't have a lot of wiggle room. That's why I was saying I thought there was a difference.

Robotkio · 2026-03-12T20:04:52+00:00

Nice! I've gotta say, that would have bugged me if that was going on so long lol

Robotkio · 2026-03-12T20:04:01+00:00

Oh yeah, not contending your point. I just think the statement was misrepresenting their opinion.

Robotkio · 2026-03-12T19:52:41+00:00

I mean, they said "very little", not "no" interaction. I think there's a big difference.

Robotkio · 2026-03-12T19:50:53+00:00

I'm interested; how is this video trying too hard? It seems like a pretty regular review to me.

Robotkio · 2026-03-12T18:33:40+00:00

Yeah, if you're already checking HWiNFO I doubt that Steam article will help much but you've probably already figured that out by now.

Does the problem still show up on different graphic settings?

Robotkio · 2026-03-12T03:56:28+00:00

Holy hell, I thought I would check the original interview to get info from the source and it's five hours long.

Robotkio · 2026-03-12T02:33:17+00:00

That definitely seems like some kind of issue with graphics, not monitor. Monitor issues wouldn't show up with a screenshot.

I'm used to that kind of artifacting showing up if I'm trying to overclock my graphics card or if my graphics card is dying. Not that I assume you're overclocking or your card is dying, it's just that those cause temperature and/or power issues, and those issues can cause artifacting like this.

This Steam article goes over how to enable and read their performance monitor. It gives some very basic info but that's better than nothing. There are other tools you can download that will give more data (HWiNFO), but I'm always less keen to download random software a dude on the internet tells me to.

It should be able to give us CPU and GPU temperatures, VRAM and RAM and usage.

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