Wednesday Pluggage: Stardrifter survey.

Subject: Wednesday Pluggage: Stardrifter survey.
Author: Huinesoron
Posted on: 2016-02-18 10:27:00 UTC

Stardrifter Survey: Ironic Overpower

This is a report on a survey performed by me in Noctis, a beautiful (if old) space exploration sim. Noctis lets you name the planets you explore - so I chose to name this system after the gods of the PPC mythology from a thousand years in the future. Why not? I've already named another system after Egyptian mythology.

And if you liked watching me ramble about a computer game, I'll note that I have a little-used blog for that. Which I should probably put this and a couple of other things on...

hS

(PS: There are some islands in the Pacific where it's still Wednesday right now. I'm not late! I swear!)

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Wednesday Pluggage: Stardrifter survey. by Huinesoron on 2016-02-18 10:27:00 UTC

Re: Wednesday Pluggage: Stardrifter survey. by firemagic on 2016-02-20 18:05:00 UTC Reply

Something seems rather fitting that HQ is featureless and mostly flat. It's probably the closest you can get to Generic Surface, anyways.
Very intriguing. by Iximaz on 2016-02-18 14:17:00 UTC Reply

Gotta say, whatever it was that happened on Kit gave me chills just reading about it.

I'd check the game out but homework is eating up pretty much all of my free time. Maybe come spring break, if I remember by then.

Well he is the Dark God. by Huinesoron on 2016-02-18 14:20:00 UTC Reply

Stay away from the Dark Canine God Kit!

~

What I think happened was that the program rendered the model, but forgot to put the texture on top of it. So you end up with a transparent planet showing only the light/shadows cast by the sun. I landed three times, and all three attempts crashed the game to desktop.

Weirdly, I did get to step out of the capsule on one of those, so there was something there...

hS

And now we're in space too. by Hardric on 2016-02-18 10:58:00 UTC Reply

Nothing can stop PPC!

So, you have this game blog and all of these games of Ages of Mythology. Did you have the occasion to play, or watch, games with Tales of the Dragon?

I'm afraid I don't know what that is. :-/ (nm) by Huinesoron on 2016-02-18 11:11:00 UTC Reply

A new AoM add-on. by Hardric on 2016-02-18 11:15:00 UTC Reply

It adds Chinese to the game. They earn favor through buildings called Gardens, which can also earn other ressources, their heroes are Immortals created at the forum who can use sword or bow.

By the way, who are your favorites. The Gods I prefer are Ouranos and Hades. I'm still thinking about the god I prefer with Chinese.

So is it actually any good? by Huinesoron on 2016-02-19 09:23:00 UTC Reply

The comments on Steam seem to be overwhelmingly negative - they're saying that the Chinese expansion:

a) Consists of copy-pasted units with modified art, not actual unique units. In a game with so few civs, that's pretty bad.

b) Has a campaign with serious flaws that make winning very difficult on some levels for arbitrary reasons. Someone was talking about having to keep the enemy 'away' from something, without 'away' being terribly clear, and an instant-loss if they fail - compare the various capture-the-Osiris-piece missions from the original, which gave you plenty of time to recover from losing control.

c) Flat-out breaks the game, either by crashing on victory, refusing to load past the opening cinematic, or breaking random maps.

~

I've also discovered that I don't have a Zeus game played. What I do have is an attempt to beat the final Titans mission the hard way - by killing Kronos without using Gaia. I'll see if I can write it up at some point.

hS

Here's their human lineup. by Hardric on 2016-02-19 09:50:00 UTC Reply

Halebardier, classic infantry
Chu Ko Nu, no presentation needed
Scout cavalry, think AoE2 light cavalry, and only 1 pop.
Cataphract, cavalry anti-infantry
Horse Archer, anti-cavalry
General, 3 units limit, morale-boosting ability simillar to Arknatos and Einherjars
Fire Lances, siege infantry with a distance attack.
Chariots, mythic age cavalry
"Sitting Tiger", proto-trebuchet, works like a catapult
Monks
Immortals
I didn't get a feel of 'reused' units, but that's my opinion.

b)Cannot really argue here. Two missions indeed have really vague objectives: One where you must stop a monk's ritual, seemingly by killing every enemy unit around him, but it doesn't always work instantly, and the next one, with the problem you mentionned. At least you can wall him off, the enemy has only two ways in, and the next mission pit you in a 'real' battle, and is really interesting.

c) Never experimented any of these problems personally, although there is sometimes problems with the info bar.

Guess you can say that like many recents games, there is flaws so close to the release, and I must admit that would be better for you to wait more before trying to buy it. Sorry for hyping you for this result. I enjoy it, but I cannot tell you to buy it if you have doubts. Watch some games on Youtube for a final opinion.

You're mad. You're flamethrower-crazy mad. I'm sure you'll find some way to do this.

"Flamethrower-crazy"? by Huinesoron on 2016-02-22 10:28:00 UTC Reply

It's funny you should say that:

hS

Should have know that would end up like that. by Hardric on 2016-02-22 10:43:00 UTC Reply

Atlanteans are the only able to literally go flamethrower-crazy in this game.

How many time did it take to kill him?

Here, have a report. by Huinesoron on 2016-02-23 16:51:00 UTC Reply

Age of Mythology: Bringing Down a Titan

hS

You did pretty good. by Hardric on 2016-02-23 17:07:00 UTC Reply

I'm sure the next try will see Chronos dead. Like you said, you only need to configure the deathtrap better, and stockpiling more ressources. A shame that Gaia does not have Helios as a Myhtic god.

There's a whaaaaaaat. by Huinesoron on 2016-02-18 11:30:00 UTC Reply

This I must see.

...

:O

:O :O :O :O :O

Oh my multitudinous gods.

I have been wishing for another AoM expansion for a decade, but I never expected it to happen.

Pinch me. I'm dreaming.

It says it's sold through Steam - you don't happen to know if it's compatible with a base-game bought on CD, do you? I really hope it is (though I guess the 14-y.o. game isn't likely to be expensive to rebuy).

~

Um, right. Well done, you've utterly blown my mind.

Favourite gods... I can't remember. ^_^ It's been a year since I played. I know I've always been fond of Ouranos for those sky passages (and as I said in the Gaia report - Atlantean siege is the best siege), but I really can't remember which major gods I prefer.

I do actually have pictures taken for the Ouranos report... I should see if I remember enough about it to write it up. I think it got a bit dramatic...

hS

Yep Ouranos has an excellent mobility. by Hardric on 2016-02-18 12:00:00 UTC Reply

And you can combine this with either a human army with healers (Ocean/Theia) or a regenerating heroes brigade (Prometheus/ Hyperion), then you have Helios for warping your army anywhere on the map. Perfection. And Fire Siphon are cool, and Destructors not limited to building destruction.

Unfortuntaely, I think you cannot avoid Steam here, sorry. I'm not sure the CDs are compatible.

Oh, I forgot, *pinches* Chinese also have monks, who can heal your units, or convert enemies. And they have no energy bar to limit this. *pinches* *pinches*

Monks! Monks are back? by Huinesoron on 2016-02-18 12:16:00 UTC Reply

They were fun in Age of Empires II, and I always regret not using the Jedi version of conversion in Galactic Battlegrounds.

I shall have to look into this.

(My Oranos game is now up... why am I productive? Halp halp.)

hS

On SWGB by [EvilAI]UBEROverlord on 2016-02-19 19:41:00 UTC Reply

Still one of my favorite games. I loved playing online Senates. Always very entertaining. By as far as faction was concerned I always ran Empire. There was nothing quite as satisfying as launching an attack with two waves of 40+ AT-ATs fully upgraded and loaded with Stormtroopers. You can almost taste the despair. Of course that turns into your despair when that massive force utterly shatters on fully upgraded shield walls with a mass of turrets defending it. That game went from what would have been my greatest victory to my most bitter defeat.

My favourite single-player games... by Huinesoron on 2016-02-19 21:54:00 UTC Reply

... involve setting the map to Asteroids (or whatever it's called) and launching massive aerial invasions in the extreme late game. I tend to play on low enough difficulties that I can get away with that (because: I'm not actually very good at RTS games). For that, I like the Rebellion, because (in the expansion, at least) they have A Wings. Extremely fun to muck about with. TIEs just don't cut it - maybe because the lack of tilting when they turn is more obvious.

Least favourite enemy (but also least favourite to play): Gungans. A pox on their mobile shield generators. >:(

hS

Rebels did have the best Air Craft by [EvilAI]UBEROverlord on 2016-02-20 08:49:00 UTC Reply

But it was always satisfying watching an AT-AT take down a Rebel Bomber.

I'll agree... by Huinesoron on 2016-02-22 10:28:00 UTC Reply

... that the Imps have the best land vehicles. The Rebel ones are pretty dull.

hS

Nothing comes close by [EvilAI]UBEROverlord on 2016-02-22 17:55:00 UTC Reply

to the Imperials for rule of cool and effect except maybe the Trade Federation. I liked their Assault Mechs a lot as well. I never really liked the Republic's version, never had the same kind of firepower in my mind.

Also. by Hardric on 2016-02-18 12:45:00 UTC Reply

Sorry if you already heard about it, but did you see the African Kingdoms expansion for Ao2? It was announced at the same moment that Tales of the Dragons, but released sooner. It adds add Portugese, Berbers, Mali and Ethiopy. Unfortunately, it is Steam-bound too, so you won't be abel to use it if you only have the CDs.

And I hope you have some "Ouranos' Vengence" files somewhere in your computer. ;)

I don't even know where AoE2 is. by Huinesoron on 2016-02-18 13:17:00 UTC Reply

I haven't played it in years. I might well look into it - thanks.

Oh, and:

It's funny you should mention that...

(I may or may not have a Zeus game sitting around somewhere; I don't remember one, but you never know. It's not on the web, though, so that's it from me for now.)

hS

That. Was. Awesome. by Hardric on 2016-02-18 13:30:00 UTC Reply

Congratulations for this slaughter. That's why Atlantis rules.

Your bank account will hate me, but I'll have to point out that if you didn't touch AoE2 for years, you probably missed an expansion who was published with the HD Steam edition, The Forgotten, which adds Italians, Magyars, Slavs, Indians and Inca.

Seems it way more easier to create add-ons for great, but old, games that trying to create an Age of Empires 4...

Based on my games so far... by Huinesoron on 2016-02-18 14:06:00 UTC Reply

... I have to say that I'm strongest when playing as the Norse. I think it's due to the fact that I keep pulling them on island maps, and using the 'infantry = builders' feature to land bases on the far end of the enemy's. My sneak round the back as Thor shows that really well.

Atlantis is very strong in the late-game, I think - when I've had time to build up the resources to make a big army! But I had constant harassment from the Egyptians as Oranos, and lost most of my home island to the Norse as Gaia, because I couldn't get enough troops out in time to match them.

So there are now... 26 different nations in AoE2. And they all come with unique buildings, unique technologies, and various bonuses.

... you're right. My bank account is going to despise you.

(And now I remember the hilarious Korean Turtle Ship... oh dear, oh dear.)

hS

Took me a while, and I haven't played in ages by [EvilAI]UBEROverlord on 2016-02-19 19:24:00 UTC Reply

Pun semi-intended, but I was strongest with Isis. I had a friend who I played with fairly regularly, who almost always managed to beat me, He was running Norse this game, Loki I think, but I cannot remember, he did Hersir rush exhausting the majority of his resources, my defenses held out, and after a war of attrition the Egyptians pulled out a win.