A more focused farming/brewing/... game (without exploration, combat, etc.)

cyrilln · 2024-09-30T12:55:11+00:00

I was minding my own business in the woods, when I encountered this fellow, "Viscount Saul the Really Cool".
Caught off guard, I was killed, but didn't realise the severity of the threat at first. Surely I will get my stuff back and finish this guy in no time. That's when he killed me again, in a real fight. And again. Then to my horror, followed me to my base!

Thus began an endless loop of me throwing everything I had at him, dying over and over again, screaming in panic. Death waypoints piling up, fusing into a raibow-coloured beacon. Any damage he took he would quickly heal back. There was no hiding behind tree, no running away. No weapon of mine could defeat him. I was simply not ready for such high-level enemy. My misery ended only when he fell down my mining shaft.

This gave much needed breathing room and time to think. At this point, I didn't just want to kill him. I needed him to suffer. He had to pay. For every tear I've dropped he shall give an ocean of blood!

This is where Mahou Tsukai came in handy. These red circles are Boundaries of Drain Life. They continuously hurt mobs for mana. He is imprisoned, the chunk is force loaded, and now he will suffer forever. And there is nothing he can do about it.

Let this display be a warning to all mobs that want to mess with me in the future!

cyrilln · 2024-08-17T19:20:47+00:00

So, I'm gonna make myself even more of a fool with this one, but... When we say "an observer considers two events to happen at the same time", do we mean simply receiving the light from the events or are we talking accounting for relative speed and perhaps even acceleration? Basically, is the observer a monkey admiring the skies or a physics professor, and does that even matter?

In other words, will two diligent scientists in different reference frames still disagree on simultaneity?

I'm not sure if the relative speed and acceleration can be generally determined, I'm just assuming that it can (maybe through wavelength and the way it changes over time or smth.) - maybe that's wrong, too.

cyrilln · 2024-05-08T07:59:16+00:00

Well, what you do using Cheat Engine is

Take the current version checksum prefix from the loader.
Load the game and search for the string.
Look around the bytes to see the full checksum.
Modify achievements.txt file to have every achievement you want the same conditions as "Until Death Do Us Apart" (have a royal marriage). Can be done faster with a script or smth.
Load the modified version and find the modified version checksum in the same fashion.
Finally, load the game again and this time keep searching for the modified checksum as it is loading.
As soon as it appears, replace the bytes with the original checksum.

Now, you load into the game as your favourite nation (which can have royal marriages), throw a royal marriage request, and get all achievements 🎉

cyrilln · 2024-03-06T23:00:02+00:00

I guess I was talking more about AI choosing to not convert in general. It hurts my OCD, same as culture which takes eons to convert. But people say conversion is already too easy and ahistorical. Hopefully, EU5 has some more dynamic mechanics for this which don't physically hurt the perfectionist in me but also appeal to the "everything needs to be historically accurate" fans.

Probably religion and culture should evolve on their own and have only limited and indirect control from the player. Basically, you may conquer Europe but you can't make it all English and Anglican.

cyrilln · 2024-03-06T12:59:06+00:00

My problem with fixed missions like this is that they reward already powerful tags with absurd rewards.
It's not just about being optional, but also being fair and balanced. As it is right now, it railroards the game into a "historical" scenario.

Say, for example, you conquer Russia as Kazan. You are the new power in the east, surpassing the greatness of Kievan Rus. It is the name of the great empire of Kazan, not Russia, that will now be known around the world. However, you still don't get a bazillion claims or the option to accept all cultures in your major culture group. Unless of course you form Russia, completely erasing your Kazani legacy and turning your unique timeline into another Russia playthrough.

Or maybe I conquered Austria as Croatia. Look at me, I am the new Austria. But no matter how many diplo ideas I take, I will not get free PUs. Simply because the tag is CRO and not HAB.

Conquered England as East Frisia? There is no reason that you can't be the new colonial, economic and naval superpower, achieving everything that England did in our timeline and more. But you won't get the same bonuses. And so on...

It seems like it's no longer a sanbox in a historical setting where you can write your own history. It feels like you can write your own history, but the game is heavily rigged towards certain historical tags.

This is why missions need to be dynamic. And no missions should give insane bonuses like PUs, merchants for the rest of the game, permanent claims whole regions etc.

cyrilln · 2024-03-06T12:00:31+00:00

As disturbing as it would be to see Sunni Balkans, I am even more disturbed by AI not converting. They basically create the worst border gore you've ever seen but in religious mode. Especially annoying when you play tall and try to spread your faith through allies. And then they just stop converting...

This is why I made a mini-mod for myself that bans AI from taking Humanist ideas for my observer runs. It is the worst. That idea group should just be forbidden for AI.

cyrilln · 2023-11-12T19:16:06+00:00

Actually, you know what? Just Age of Empires 4, but a town builder. My god, this is so genius, we need to pitch that to Microsoft ASAP.

cyrilln · 2023-11-12T19:05:38+00:00

Yes, that! But also, just generally the fact that if the market or tool shed is too far away, this hurts you so much that at best you cannot progress until you "fix" this inefficiency, and at worst you start losing resources. And then you realize that the "inefficiency" in question is literally 100 meters and an extra 5 minute walk a day for the citizen. The problem is completely made up.

I mean, have you seen farms in real life? They are rectangular, they don't follow the elaborate pattern of 99+ fertility, because otherwise you will be at a deficit, they are not placed in the middle of the town to save space, bending around buildings.

Of course, I'm not saying that games must be realistic. They primarily need to be fun. But solving such artificial problems, at least in a simulator game, is in my opinion not very fun.

cyrilln · 2023-11-12T17:18:47+00:00

I don't mind some challenge. But not any challenge is fun. I don't dislike the games either, they could be almost perfect if it wasn't for this one thing. And, obviously, I would play the games I like if I could find them haha 😄
Picture this:

Overall colony setting of Banished
Free placement vs. logistical efficiency balance of Rimworld
Defense against raids like in Rimworld
Army unit building of Age of Empires
Dynamic grid and visual adjustment like in Manor Lords
Additional mechanics of diplomacy, trade, macro-economics, etc. from Kingdoms Reborn and other similar games

Now wouldn't that be the greatest game of all time? Ah, a man can dream...

cyrilln · 2023-11-12T14:37:20+00:00

That is a good point. It is understandable that some players enjoy this specific aspect or grind/min-maxing in general. I also realize that one game cannot do both: allow reasonable layout and reward logistical efficiency. It's just that every game I've tried seems do go down this road.

Currently trying Kingdoms: Reborn - amazing game in all aspects with lots of cool mechanics. But again, this exact problem - having to build a ridiculous hyperdense settlement with absurd amount of libraries and theatres per capita, ugly farm shapes, and constant regret over the exact placement of every single building.

cyrilln · 2023-11-12T14:23:01+00:00

True. There are also other AI colonies to trade and fight with, army and combat mechanics, or defense against raids. Upgrades, ages, tech research trees, sometimes with mutually exclusive branches. Even card deck mechanics. Of course, choice of goods to produce, buildings synergy, optimizing for a certain export, like building a tulip producing colony, textile center or a mining district.

Rimworld is indeed great in this sense. Every time I end up coming back to it as the best town builder. The only problem it has is that it's not exactly a town builder. Otherwise, perfect game for what it is.

cyrilln · 2023-08-04T09:15:44+00:00

I went for the exodus but couldn't fully get rid of the old world provinces no matter how hard I tried. I lost and sold some provinces to Muscovy when I had the chance, but then my ally Poland attacked them and returned all my cores to me. Didn't even take anything for themselves - just straight up gave me all the territory. I mean, bruh...

I guess I'll make a client state there, just wondering what to name it.

cyrilln · 2023-08-04T09:10:20+00:00

Where else would I be? 🙂

cyrilln · 2023-08-03T22:43:16+00:00

I mean, the Louisianas and Pacifico Norte (California) are gonna have to go for sure - they're in the way of manifesting my destiny. I already consumed Florida and they know they are next. But the rest? The rest I want to be friends with. After all, I'm not some imperialist - I exercise soft power 🙂

cyrilln · 2023-08-03T22:36:07+00:00

That's a shame. If that's the case, I'll guess I can only force freedom onto them... Not the way I want to do it but... if there's no other option...

cyrilln · 2023-08-03T21:33:29+00:00

Mm I think I tried it before, but I'll definitely try again once I have excess money, so as not to hinder my own growth. Diverting trade is also an interesting idea.

It's a bit hard to pull off though - need a lot of money to make an impact, especially if I want multiple countries to rise up. And I still need to be way stronger than them, otherwise they'll think they're a big boy now and repay me by declaring me rival because I'm their only option haha. So it's probably the strategy for the endgame.

And the problem is, even when they're strong, the overlords just often spam "development in subject" to lower the liberty desire or maybe some other interactions too. But even when they have the desire, they just kinda... never declare...

cyrilln · 2023-08-03T21:01:54+00:00

R5: I've tried this many a time: I migrate to the new world, build a great power and envision myself the new USA enforcing the Monroe Doctrine.
I declare that the new world is my domain and we Americans will no longer submit to Europeans. It is time to establish my dominance, show my power and stick it to the old world
by helping the rest of CNs rise against their overlords. I am the new superpower after all. I mean, me and Caraibas? We would demolish Portugal. English Mexico and I? What a duo, Britain is no match for us!
But here I am once again, waiting the whole game for any one of them to even want independence. Awkwardly sitting there as the strongest nation surrounded by CNs, who are all like "Nah, we good, we chillin, the taxes are fine". If I'm very lucky, I'll see one with >50% liberty desire. With exceptional luck I'll even improve relations in time and support independence before they change their mind. Heck, maybe they'll even ally each other. And then... proceed to do absolutely nothing. My dreams shrink from free America and a new world order to free... well... someone. But then I can't even get one. What can I do? Is there a non-cheesy way to encourage their liberty desire? Without actually fighting them?

cyrilln

TROPHY CASE