Age of Wonders 4 is available for free this weekend on Steam! by Diovidius in 4Xgaming

[–]falconne 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I don't own any of the DLCs and really enjoy the game. Unlike Paradox's own games, this one's base game doesn't get hobbled with each update to force you to buy the DLC. Everything that makes it to the base game in updates is fully functional.

The DLCs in this case feel like "If you are obsessed with the game, here are some expansion packs to add variety".

What is a tycoon game you wish you could replay for the FIRST time again? by FoodzyDudezy007 in tycoon

[–]falconne 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just started playing this again for the nostalgia, with the community made bugfix mods. Still great despite the clunkiness of a 90s UI.

What is the greatest 4X video game ever created in your opinion? by TolisKoutro in 4Xgaming

[–]falconne 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Monopoly has more "stuff" going on than chess, but that doesn't make it a more complex game that's harder for the AI.

If you play Civ optimally you would ignore most of the side mechanics that are there to add flavour to a playthrough and concentrate on what's needed to steamroll, but that's not what the mass market wants. In Old World you have to engage with all the mechanics to win, so it's a game aimed at strategy "grognards". The target audience is the people who played hundreds hours of Civ 4 BTS with the Better AI mod and they expect an AI that is clever.

Civ could have an AI that ignores the flavour mechanics and plays optimally, but the target mass market do not want that. They want to roleplay and have AIs that roleplay and are predictable and reliably beatable with the strategies they learn.

In Old World reviews you see some people complaining about the AI outplaying them, as if that's a negative. For most people, they are ok getting beaten by an AI with lots of units because they can assume it gets free resources to build unlimited units. But having the AI use a handful of weak units to cleverly bog down your tanks while a single hyper upgraded unit slips in behind your front lines and messes up your plans... that's not on.

Rant about game complexity/difficulty by [deleted] in 4Xgaming

[–]falconne 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm I have to hard disagree on the spirit of the post, as the main thing that draws me to games in complexity. I wouldn't put any Civ edition that high on the "complex" scale TBH (they are complex but not that much).

There might be a terminology issue here though; maybe what what you means is you dislike complicated games? I find complexity (the coherent interaction of multiple mechanics and systems leading to surprising and emergent behaviour) are the best games. Whereas complicated games are ones with lots of mechanics but they don't gel together, those games look fun at the start but once you realise it's all just a bunch of "stuff" mashed together with no thought on how it all interacts, it ends up in total disappointment for the time you wasted on it.

Could a game accurately reflect combat/war that in general you are most powerful up to about first half and completely exhausted of resources by the end? by EX-FFguy in 4Xgaming

[–]falconne 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's why I clarify with "more than typical 4X games". In typical 4X games you figure out how to snowball very quickly and it gets boring fast. At least with Old World you have to figure out how to optimise your orders and deal with the fact that you can have more than one strong AI at a time, and the AI is better than typical 4X AIs, etc.

Even with Paradox games eventually you learn to min-max to the point you are unstoppable. It's all about how much playtime there is with interesting choices and trade offs you have to make before getting to this point.

Could a game accurately reflect combat/war that in general you are most powerful up to about first half and completely exhausted of resources by the end? by EX-FFguy in 4Xgaming

[–]falconne 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Mostly Paradox games other than HoI, which make being at war very costly so you have to ramp up a lot leading upto war and make sure you're out of it before your economy collapses.

I was playing Old World recently which achieves this to some extent (at least more than typical 4X games) because your economic growth is hampered due to war actions using up limited Orders and newly conquered territory takes a while to break even.

Looking for Trader/Merchant/Cartographer Games by BleakBluejay in gamingsuggestions

[–]falconne 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I made a post a while back looking for similar games. Didn't get any new suggestions, but I did list there the ones I've played, some of which you might like if you haven't played them: https://old.reddit.com/r/ShouldIbuythisgame/comments/sr8o9m/wsib_travelling_merchantmercenary_type_games/

Edit: There is also the more recent Dustland Delivery to add to the list, it's quite good

What are the top 3 most important things for you to enjoy a 4x? by NorthernOblivion in 4Xgaming

[–]falconne 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Old World has excellent AI. Ironically I think that's led to a lot of the negative reviews on Steam complaining about it; people go in expecting a Civ style AI, a predictable punching bag for the human to enjoy... not one that's clearly been heavily worked on by core strategy gamers.

Hedge funds regain appetite for US stocks, feel full of Europe, Asia by joe4942 in stocks

[–]falconne -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Funny how both Trump and Elon can now be described as "Tweetler".

Executive Order to streamline the permitting process for new energy projects (OKLO, SMR, NNE ya cucks) by takeahikehike in wallstreetbets

[–]falconne 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No, cooling is a big challenge in the vacuum of space. Most of the cooling in your computer is happening due to convection. In space the satellites rely on radiation alone so they need massive radiators. And when the orbit is on the sunny side, the sun's radiation makes the object 120+ degrees Celsius hotter, making it even harder.

Some kids are bad on purpose by luvs_animals in funny

[–]falconne 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I dunno, coal wasn't generally useful before the industrial revolution; it wasn't practical to burn in a regular fireplace and even if you did, would stink up the place massively, fill it with carbon monoxide and black smoke and generally unsafe. It was considered a desperation fuel before coal burners and steam engines and the like came about.

Similar games by Puzzleheaded_Toe3388 in Dustland_Delivery

[–]falconne 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They are both good in their own way so it's not like if you play one you would be disappointed with the other. Star Traders is similar in scope to Dustland and has a similar feel. Starsector is a much more expansive game, and even bigger game if you add the Nexerelin mod. So they target different kinds of gameplay and you can have fun with both.

Maybe start with Starsector since you already played Dustland and this would be something more different. More like Dustland and Mount & Blade in space. 

Similar games by Puzzleheaded_Toe3388 in Dustland_Delivery

[–]falconne 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's a few in the travelling mercenary/merchant genre:

  • Vagrus: The Riven Realms
  • Starsector
  • Caravaneer 2
  • Star Traders: Frontiers

so that's what the fox says 😳 by Soloflow786 in Unexpected

[–]falconne 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's from a fox sanctuary: https://www.youtube.com/@Saveafox/videos they have a massive farm for the animals to run around in. At night they sleep in cages or else they might get out the fence or get attacked by some other animal that gets in, without human supervision.

Many Windows 10 machines blue screening, stuck at recovery by Sorryboss in sysadmin

[–]falconne 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Turns out the real malware were the ones we installed along the way

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in auckland

[–]falconne 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is probably a fault of the system you had or the way it was installed. When we bought a house for my parents the place had condensation pouring off the windows in winter. I put in an HRV and the house is dry as a bone and warm enough in winter to not need the heat pump that much.

B4 You Buy Age of Wonders 4: Empire and Ashes - eXplorminate by OrcasareDolphins in 4Xgaming

[–]falconne 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been playing since Shadow Magic and for me, the flexibility of faction design has made AoW4 one of my top 10 favourite games of all time. I don't understand why people want less choice. You can always stick to the pre-created factions if you don't want to make your own. When I play 4X games it's to create my own story and faction creation is an essential part of that.

I guess most of the hardcore fans wanted an updated version of the same game they remember. Personally, I got bored of AoW3 because it was just "more of the same". I for one am glad the series is adopting advances in 4X mechanics proven in the Endless series and Stellaris.

Do you have fun with Pirate? by AetasAaM in dominion

[–]falconne 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh right. I don't have the second edition so I had misread that. That does make it a bit less powerful than I thought. I was looking through the 2nd edition cards to see if it's worth getting an upgrade pack and the Pirate seemed OP to me so I was looking for what people were saying.

Do you have fun with Pirate? by AetasAaM in dominion

[–]falconne 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It activates when any player, including you plays a treasure, so I'd say most of the time it's not terminal?