Sleepypete's Pillow

Sounds good 🙂 I might have to check out one of those games … Will have to discourage Aginoth from playing me at Civ 4 first though. More Tanks !

Got a little distracted by Aginoth challenging me to a Civ 4 game.

Well, the challenge is really tomorrow when Agi and Mrs A connect up for a game … But we just had to do a test run tonight, starting at about 8pm (when we got it going) and finishing at 12 when we’d finished knocking out the Romans.

Managed to avoid thumping Agi so far but that won’t last. There’s only 5 turns before I start building tanks and I have a heap of cavalry left from thumping the Romans.

PS Looks like the Moo2 post attracted some attention from random searches 🙂 Hi people :-). Now wondering what will happen after I do an oldie review of Tie Fighter and XCom.

Yes. Even better than the classic moo1.
a) Because of combat system
and
b) Multiplayer!!!

There are still lots of players who play this game online (with the new 1.4 patch). Details:

http://masteroforion2.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_masteroforion2_archive.html#107792119255475969

See also our new forum:

http://www.spheriumnorth.com/orion-forum/nfphpbb/

Heh heh heh – I haven’t got any better ideas for today, so it’s Old Game Appreciation Society time ! When I do one of these, I’ll be giving a mini review of my memories of a game so old you’re not likely to ever find it.

First up : Master of Orion 2. The copyright on this one dates all the way back to 1996. And it’s still installed on my main machine. That’s gotta be some kind of record …

Anyway – what is it ? Think Civilisation in space and you won’t go far wrong. It’s a little simpler than Civ though, instead of having a map that you navigate units over, you steer fleets between solar systems. They can only go system to system, which makes it even easier. It’s grand scale space strategy in the best way – as in turn based. I like the turn based style because it gives you time to think. You can also manage everything in your own time, instead of being rushed like in real time games.

What’s it offer ? Total customisation of ships, gameplay that works nicely without getting in the way and the satisfaction of knowing when you’ve turned the corner into turning the Avalanche of Doom on your enemies (ahem – neighbours). However, that said, when you do get into the position of unleashing the Avalanche of Doom (Stars – think Star Wars Death Star …), it turns into a bit of a grind because there’s nothing the computer can do about it.

I play on impossible and I deliberately make it hard with the most important bit by choosing a race that doesn’t research well. On the other hand, they go nuts when the time comes to build warships. It’s a well balanced game.

Anyway – Master Of Orion 2, still on my machine after 10 years. I even go back in to have another poke at the computer now and then too … It narrowly beats its predecessor because it has better customisation. Instead of having fleets of 30000 small missile boats, the Moo2 hitting fleet size is more like 10 Death Stars. It’s light years ahead of its disappointing successor and handily takes the crown of Sleepy’s Favourite Space Strategy, beating out contendors including : Imperium Galactica, Pax Imperia II, Stars! and Star Wars Supremacy (aka Rebellion for the US). I’ve also looked at GalCiv but that isn’t going on my list because I didn’t actually rate it. Thought the balance was badly off and the developers have a serious attitude problem.

PS Back to work today, only had two people coming up to me asking about PC problems … One’s looking to acquire new stuff, the other has a mate who has a virus.

[chuckle] I know … I might even clear off the emails tomorrow. If I rush 🙂

ah ye lazy git, we’ve been back for two days already…

Ah well. End of holiday tomorrow with me going back into the office.

On the one hand, I’ve got the normal anti-work feelings but on the other hand, I’m strangely looking forward to going back in.

I’ll be handing over the David Weber book to the fella who’s been borrowing them off me. I’ll be catching up with the friends. I’ll be interacting with the Crazies over email and I’ll be hopefully finding excuses to harass certain people 🙂

In the meantime though, 5 minutes until my dinner burns, which will probably make me pause Return of the Jedi during the scene when Leia gets introduced in disguise.

Yep – I’m looking forward to work. There’s the IT Girl to harass, Diablo to take the mick out of and an RCA to wind up. Plus a few more besides … Just gotta get up in time to get a car parking space … That reminds me – I better get a picture of me with the minibeard so I can pass it on to RCA. It’s coming off tomorrow – I think I’m allergic to my own beard !

Is a term that people use in the online games when talking about the people who play the multiplayer online games professionally. Search on Ebay for World of Warcraft gold sellers and you’ll get to them rather quickly. It’s a term used to describe the people who will be on the game, going from mob to fast respawning mob, trying to get as much gold or items from them. They’re the source of much ridicule and hate, especially when the mobs they are farming tend to be quest mobs … (They get in the way of people getting on in the game.)

And then there’s the requirements for something coming soon to WoW – the things needed for the opening of a gate in one of the new regions :

60,000 Heavy Leather 60,000 Rugged Leather 80,000 Thick Leather 96,000 Peacebloom 19,000 Firebloom 26,000 Purple Lotus 90,000 Copper Bars 18,000 Mithril Bars 22,000 Tin Bars 400,000 Runecloth Bandages 250,000 Mageweave Bandages 250,000 Wool Bandages 17,000 Spotted yellowtail 10,000 Baked Salmon 10,000 Lean Wolf Steak

Ok, some of that is easy and it’s made easier by the bits being gathered by all of the players on the server. Yep – between 1000 and 1500 online at peak times on the Maelstrom. But to me, it just looks like another example of the insane amount of farming that has to be done to get on in the game.

Think I got out at the right time.

… are always the best.

(I like my cliches)

Just from the opening half hour or so of Star Wars A New Hope, I’m reminded of why it must have been such a sensation in its day. And then I’m reminded of the Star Wars games that were around in the early days of proper PC gaming. Games like XWing, Tie Fighter and lastly, XWing v Tie Fighter.

I never went all the way through XWing, it was quality … but it had missions that were insanely difficult. And I got my first PC after its successor, Tie Fighter, came out. So I ended up fighting for the Imperials. There’s been certain games that have stood out in the era they were produced and Tie Fighter definitely is one of the best of its era. Of course, you’d struggle to run it on a modern PC now but that’s what Slowpoke is for. Slowpoke is my old PC, specially rebuilt to run games like Tie Fighter and Master of Magic. I’m not likely to play Tie Fighter again as the more modern games have gone past it. But it still has its charm … Like the original XCom, I’m known to have the odd raid into that one still …

Hmm. Subject for future Blog entry – what’s my favourite games ! Hmm. That would be :
1 – What’s my favourite games
2 – What games have I spent most time on
Different list for both – we shall see what I come up with sometime soon.

In the meantime, it’s nearly time for Mos Eisley. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

PS Music can have a definite effect. I think it’s one of the things that make the first Star Wars what it is. It fits what’s happening on screen perfectly. It also works well with those Star Wars games as well, as the games adapt the music to play different bits of the score according to what you’re up to. And it does a very good job of it too …

2 down, now watching the third …

Only seen Revenge of the Sith once and that was in the cinema. It’s been good watching them in turn as I’m seeing more of the setups come together. Mind you, it’s George Lucas here, so the setups are in plain sight and easy to decipher. But I like Star Wars anyway.

Going to have to read the Rogue Squadron books again. They’re by Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston, who both set up excellent, believable characters. And any story should be about the characters. If the authors get too impressed by the technology, a la Star Trek, it can bog down the story and make it boring.

Currently reading a book by Michael Stackpole set in the Mechwarrior universe. It’s not bad, I’m enjoying it so far. It’s definitely going better than the last book I read, War of Honor by David Weber. 920 pages in that, with over 700 dedicated to interstellar politics (yawn) and not enough on the actual war bit.

Anyway, back to the film … and my dinner which will be burning in 7 minutes.