Video Games Randomness - Prioritize specific game threads!

[Daehawk]

I think I own but hav never played it. I used to be a big PVP'r but Im kinda worried Ill be killed a lot and lose all my work over and over. Is that not what 76 is now?

As for game funk. Lord I live there. I have an address and mail there lol.

[jztemple2]

Uh-oh...

In the last couple of days I have installed, launched, and uninstalled a half a dozen games.

Gaming slump alert!

That's what I have American Truck Simulator for. Fire it up, put on Beatles Radio in the in-game radio and pick out some cargo to deliver from A to B. No heavy duty thinking, no having to reload saves, no rage quitting. Just driving across the countryside looking at the scenery . It's even better now with autobraking and adaptive cruise control for more of a zen experience.

[hitbyambulance]

won (at least) 10 games of all the solitaire variants in Zachtronics Solitaire Collection and got the achievements for doing so, so that means i know how to play them all and win on a fairly consistent basis. i will probably shelve this one for now at ~38 hours played with getting my money's worth out of it, as i don't think i'll go for all the '100 games won' for each....

i can recommend this, if card sorting is your thing - the variants are interesting. Fortune's Foundation (the exclusive variant for this collection) is pretty entertaining, even if the deck shuffling is rigged. (and it has to be, otherwise you'd almost never win it)

also found the least popular one - Cribbage Solitaire, where only 10% of players have won 10 games. at least i know 'cribbage scoring' now

can't believe i have almost 50 hours invested into this collection. it's a winner!

Steam says i've put 112 hours into this so far :0

what it's successfully demonstrated to me is that 'vanilla' card solitaire games _can_ be made to be challenging AND interesting. a number of them seem obscure and 'how do you do this?' when you first try them, but enough time playing them you'll discover strategies to apply. it does feel good to start consistently winning a variant that was tough when first playing it.

putting the lie to my 'shelving this for now' i have 100 wins in Fortune's Foundation and Shenzhen Solitaire, 90 in Sigmar's Garden and 30-40 in the rest (except for Kabafuda, where i have about 15. it's kinda evil and i haven't really figured it out yet).

[Blackhawk]

I think I own but hav never played it. I used to be a big PVP'r but Im kinda worried Ill be killed a lot and lose all my work over and over. Is that not what 76 is now?

Not even remotely. I've yet to be attacked even once, not even when claiming workshops (PvP areas.) And the only thing that drops on death is the scrap (junk) you've picked up since you last saved. We're talking tin cans and wood scraps here. That's it. Most other players don't even bother looking at anyone else's death bag.

I'm writing a longer post in the FO76 thread about the issues I've had (and the good points as well), but this isn't one of the issues.

[Daehawk]

Oh. Well thats good to hear. Not the game I thought it was.

[Max Peck]

I think I own but hav never played it. I used to be a big PVP'r but Im kinda worried Ill be killed a lot and lose all my work over and over. Is that not what 76 is now?

It never was a forced PvP game, even at launch. In general, if someone attacked you unprovoked, their damage was greatly reduced until you returned fire. If you just ignored them and walked away they couldn't actually do any significant damage to anything except their supply of ammunition. The only places with full PvP were the contested workshops. If someone controlled a workshop, you could attack it and attempt to take control, while the controlling player would be able to attack you in return if they chose to defend it. PvP was pretty much fully consentual and not something you needed to worry about if you didn't want to do it. I tried it a couple of times, got my butt handed to me because I'm not good at it, then just ignored it for the rest of the time I played.

[Blackhawk]

Not only that, but there is now even a 'pacifist' mode that prevents you from being attacked at all, and prevents you from accidentally attacking others (although it would be hard to do enough to trigger the effect accidentally anyway.) Note that it is temporarily disabled if you claim a workshop.

But again, I've claimed workshops a dozen times (usually in connection to daily/weekly challenges) and have never been attacked, not even once. Most players just don't bother, and the benefits of most workshops are so insignificant (while the hassles are obnoxious) that nobody really wants them for much of anything. In fact, in the last five weeks, I've yet to see a single workshop that was actually being used. Claimed, yes, but not used (as in no extractors/defenses built, etc.)

[Kasey Chang]

Was playing Axon TD, another tower defense that adds a couple variations, like a map that have inactive regions that you can build into (add tile, move tile, etc.), some rotational sections, choose different "rewards" after each wave, upgrades are controlled by a separate currency called "power" (you get 5 per wave, power up generators for more, etc.), choose from 3 separate types of upgrades (some improve firing rate, some change type of damage, etc.) Feels like a TD that's got change just because they could, not necessarily improved the game.

The demo was free to download per Steam NextFest, and you can only play one map per difficulty, and no campaign.

-----

Was playing SpaceKraft demo... It's the old lunar lander... with now physics based puzzles. Push/pull objects out of the way with your "docking port", or pull objects out of the way with your unbreakable rope. You get tedious puzzles such as pull crates off of X onto Y (one at a time, with a soft tether so you end up with bouncing or tail wag dog situations) and this is a full 2D physics so you'll have to vector thrust all over the place. Personally, more trouble than it's worth playing, it's a bit too frustrating for me.

Oh, and it's also NOT friendly to controllers, as it seems to be keyboard only. Or Steam Overlay is adding a universal mapping that's mucking things up.

[Daehawk]

Anyone think ExeKiller will ever see the light of day?

[Max Peck]

Ask again in 2025.

[jztemple2]

From PCGamer, The PC game releases we're most excited about in July

Heavy hitters Baldur's Gate 3 and Starfield are releasing in August and September respectively, but July's no slouch. One of the games I've been looking forward to most in 2023, Remnant 2, is out late in the month, and The Sims 4 is getting horses, which is the videogame event of the year for some.

Also coming this month: A super weird co-op and competitive dino hunting game from Capcom, the sequel to a tactical strategy game that released in 1999, and the resurrected Telltale's first stab at recapturing the old company's branching adventure magic.

My list of interest,

• July 14 — Jagged Alliance 3 - The new one (preordered)
• July 18 — Xenonauts 2 - Strategy inspired by classic X-COM
• July 31 — F1 Manager 2023 - Formula 1 management sim

[Daehawk]

Ive stumbled across some setting for my subwoofer by accident that is just perfect with my setup. As you know I sit in a folding chair at an angle to a cedar chest that my pc sits on. The sub is under my chair. And after fooling with settings ive found one that makes the wood of the chest resonate with the sound waves so my base is now so full and rich its amazing. Plus I can feel it vibrating the wood of the cedar and all my games are so much more immersive. Its actually so very warm thumpy and wonderful. If I stand up and move 1 foot away ive lost it and the sound and thumps sound muffled. But sitting there in my chair at the pc its perfect.

its like ive turned my enter wooden cedar chest into a woofer. Ark of the Covenant!

[Smoove_B]

Looking forward to your posts wondering about how you suddenly have loose screws and connections in your PC case.

[Blackhawk]

The sub is under my chair....

Soon after, Daehawk discovered dubstep. He never left that chair again.

[Daehawk]

The sub is under my chair....

Soon after, Daehawk discovered dubstep. He never left that chair again.

I named my sub under my chair Red October

If I was female this chair might be arousing...turn up the base!..."Honey why are you sitting on the washing machine during its spin cycle?"

[Kasey Chang]

Was trying Skies Above: The Great War demo, a WW1 aerial combat game. It promises a lot... Basically a dynamic battlefield where planes move on their own, and you can take over any base (assign pilots to planes, then order then to take off), or take over any plane in flight.

However, the AI is a bit too efficient, there are no player aids to point out where the enemy went, and more often than not we end up in a mid-air collision. I had a flight of 6 take on a single AI. It should be a slaughter for us, but one rookie got forced into grounding himself, then another was lost to a mid-air collision. We're down to 4. Then we see the Frenchies have 2 flights of 2 coming in. I clicked on a different base to see if they have any planes they can send... and the game crashed.

It's also not gamepad compatible (hmm). Flying lacks compass and minimap (or any map). You can swap between planes, but it's still dumb. Not that fun to play, IMHO.

[jztemple2]

Was trying Skies Above: The Great War demo, a WW1 aerial combat game. It promises a lot... Basically a dynamic battlefield where planes move on their own, and you can take over any base (assign pilots to planes, then order then to take off), or take over any plane in flight.

Thanks for posting about this. I tried the demo but couldn't figure out what to do. Anyway it's early alpha so I've just wishlisted it.

I'm a sucker for WW1 aerial combat games. Heaven knows I'm still waiting for a current generation Red Baron

[Kasey Chang]

Trying Steamworld Build Demo. It's pretty amazing how the same dev team can create so many different genre games that has a consistent look yet work so differently.

This is a town building, with a bit of mining theme. Basically, you need to build the town above ground, create a whole team of regular citizens, as you build mills to get wood, which can be processed into boards (and later, charcoal). You also need sand to make glass, cactus farms to make cactus juice, then a moonshine still to make moonshine (which has several uses other than... "lubrication"). You also have to make sure you have enough coverage of your markets, tune-up shops (these are steambots, after all) so you can upgrade some of them to "engineers". You also need to fix up the local train station so you can trade with other towns. Once you get all that sorted, you can open up the old mine, whcih is when the 2nd phase of the game starts. You need to "mine" the interior, digging your way out, add struts to support unstable areas, build quarters for miners, then when enough numbers are built, and as they dig for gold, rubies, random treasure chests, scrap vein, and later, ironium vein, you can build quarters to prospectors (super-miners), then mechanics that can build machines that can exploit the veins much faster. Apparently later you can build "guards" which seems to help fight off nasty critters. The objective is to dig down to each level and find six major parts of an escape rocket so you can leave the planet.

The mining and aboveground town building are concurrent... i.e. you can swap between the two in real-time and they both go on together... They don't pause for each other. Guess that makes it an interesting bit as they affect each other. Some stuff like scrap and ironium raw material can be used to build things "upstairs", for example. Sounds complicated, but once you start playing you'll realize you've seen all this before, but this is a fresh take on this genre. Well, maybe not THAT fresh. Worth looking at, or at least try the demo.

[Kasey Chang]

I'm a sucker for WW1 aerial combat games. Heaven knows I'm still waiting for a current generation Red Baron

Doesn't Il-2 Sturmovik have a "Flying Circus" portion? Where you play with WW1 aircraft? I know they're a pain to buy as there are bajillion little pieces you can buy...

[Daehawk]

I always thought Flying Corps did a wonderful job at WW1 air combat.

[jztemple2]

I'm a sucker for WW1 aerial combat games. Heaven knows I'm still waiting for a current generation Red Baron

Doesn't Il-2 Sturmovik have a "Flying Circus" portion? Where you play with WW1 aircraft? I know they're a pain to buy as there are bajillion little pieces you can buy...

Does it? I'll have to look.

Anyway, one of the things I liked about Red Baron was that it sims all the operations going on in the sector. The missions you fly aren't scripted. It reminds me of Silent Hunter III which I liked for the same reason.

[Kasey Chang]

I'm a sucker for WW1 aerial combat games. Heaven knows I'm still waiting for a current generation Red Baron

Doesn't Il-2 Sturmovik have a "Flying Circus" portion? Where you play with WW1 aircraft? I know they're a pain to buy as there are bajillion little pieces you can buy...

Does it? I'll have to look.

Definitely was not dreaming:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1198 ... _Volume_I/

[Rumpy]

Sign of getting old, I guess, but I've found I have a hard time using WSAD anymore for any length of time as my hands cramp up terribly. I probably sound like such a wimp I was just playing an older game and my hands were aching by the end of my session.

[Blackhawk]

Are your hands cold? That can make cramping worse (along with a number of other issues, like carpal tunnel.)

[jztemple2]

Sign of getting old, I guess, but I've found I have a hard time using WSAD anymore for any length of time as my hands cramp up terribly. I probably sound like such a wimp I was just playing an older game and my hands were aching by the end of my session.

I've had that occasionally in my right hand, so luckily it doesn't affect WSAD. It does make using a controller a bit of a crap shoot. With racing games using a controller I just have to pause a lot and wriggle my fingers till the numbness goes away.

I get cortisone shots in my right wrist every three months due to arthritis that affects my thumb. The worse are my feet when I'm doing a racing game with my pedal set, they start to ache after a while. I normally use them barefoot but I'm going to try switching to sneakers and see if that helps. Once of course I've healed up my mashed right knee

[Max Peck]

Every time I see the Rimworld thread, I remember that I'd really like someone to make a Ringworld game.

[Rumpy]

Are your hands cold? That can make cramping worse (along with a number of other issues, like carpal tunnel.)

No, my hands are small. I've noticed in general lately that they just don't have the flexibility they used to. I was born with a condition where I'm missing several bones in my fingers, ie my middle finger not being the longest on both hands, and I have hands that look like they belong to a child, rather than grownup hands, so it makes certain positions uncomfortable. It feels like I've developed arthritis in these hands as I'm still feeling it in my thumb. I usually find a controller more comfortable and haven't used WSAD in some time, but I find I get bad cramping even with a controller depending on the type of game. If it's action-heavy with lots of repetitive motion and I'm heavily invested, my hands can hurt quite a bit after a session.

[Blackhawk]

Are your hands cold? That can make cramping worse (along with a number of other issues, like carpal tunnel.)

No, my hands are small. I've noticed in general lately that they just don't have the flexibility they used to. I was born with a condition where I'm missing several bones in my fingers, ie my middle finger not being the longest on both hands, and I have hands that look like they belong to a child, rather than grownup hands, so it makes certain positions uncomfortable. It feels like I've developed arthritis in these hands as I'm still feeling it in my thumb. I usually find a controller more comfortable and haven't used WSAD in some time, but I find I get bad cramping even with a controller depending on the type of game. If it's action-heavy with lots of repetitive motion and I'm heavily invested, my hands can hurt quite a bit after a session.

Some quick checking shows good word-of-mouth for Steam controllers for people with arthritic hands. And I know from experience that a vertical mouse (or a trackball - fine for gaming, but with a learning curve) can make a big difference with similar issues (when I was writing, I used to have major problems with both carpal and cubital tunnel), since it puts the hand in a neutral position. The Logitech Lift is designed for small hands.

I also wonder if a more ergonomic keypad-style controller (Corne, Razer Tartarus, Logitech G13, and a dozen other variants) might not work better. Unfortunately, most aren't cheap enough to experiment with, so you'd have to figure out an approach if you wanted to go that route.

[Rumpy]

Strangely enough, I don't really have an issue with carpal tunnel. I've only ever had brief issues in the wrist but they've all resolved themselves.

Do they even still sell the Steam controller? I'd be interested, but I don't know where to get it. They don't sell them locally anywhere.

My hand size also limits me on the controllers I can use. I've ruled out any XBox styled controllers due to their asymmetrical nature making them a hard reach for my fingers. Currently using a Logitech F710 (Yes, that one) and it's been working well for me overall. Overall though, there are few options in terms of regular controllers as most of them seem to be based on the XBox designs.

I try to stay away from fighting games as those tend to be very repetitive. I've bought the TMNT to play with friends, but find I can't play it for too long and it's not my game of choice for that reason. But sometimes I get overruled.

[Anonymous Bosch]

My hand size also limits me on the controllers I can use. I've ruled out any XBox styled controllers due to their asymmetrical nature making them a hard reach for my fingers. Currently using a Logitech F710 (Yes, that one) and it's been working well for me overall. Overall though, there are few options in terms of regular controllers as most of them seem to be based on the XBox designs.

From the sounds out of it, you'd likely find a PlayStation DualShock 4 or DualShock 5 controller to be more comfortable for PC gaming:



While Steam does supports them natively, I would recommend installing and using the free and open-source DS4Windows driver instead. Because this allows you to use a PS4 or PS5 controller for non-Steam games too, and provides superior options for customization:



Also, as demonstrated below by Linus Tech Tips, do not underestimate the benefits of gyroscopic aiming and motion control courtesy of JoyShockMapper:

[Rumpy]

Yeah, I like the PS4's Dualshock. Don't have a PS5 yet, and didn't realize they could be used on PC. I find those much more comfortable overall. I've always found Xbox style controllers to be bulky.

[Kasey Chang]

Trying "Iron Roads" demo, sorta RRT modernized. However, I can't get more than one train on a single line. Apparently, I have to build two completely separate lines to keep things running smoothly and even then they conflict if they are different speeds and arrive at the station at the same time, instead of having the logic to wait before the last branch at the "one-way" zone. Heck, I ended up building two stations at each town so the routes don't interfere with each other, but some of the routes are so long the queue waiting to get a train is piling into 50-60 people whereas the train only holds about 25 at max. And I can't add another train, as I'm already at max carriage (train cars) per train. This game's just too frustrating to play as they don't tell you how to double-line properly.

[Blackhawk]

Trying "Iron Roads" demo, sorta RRT modernized.

Radiological Response Team?

[Kasey Chang]

Trying "Station to Station" demo. This is more of a puzzle game, as your job is not to control the trains, but just lay out the tracks to make sure everything is connected to everything else, directly or indirectly, with the problem being the tracks you lay are subject to only so much turn, and you have only so much budget per level. There are special challenges as well, like "use 6 cards" (cheap bridge, cheap rail, etc.) as well as have extra money left over, and the rail cannot be too steep going up an incline (or they'll have to build a trestle bridge, which can be expensive). The voxel art is cute, and the entire level is 3D zoomable. However, the caveat is once station is placed and connected it can no longer be moved, and that will complicate your attempt to link additional stations... The demo levels are pretty charming, as they're going for windmills and 1800s train sorta vibe.

[Kasey Chang]

Trying "Iron Roads" demo, sorta RRT modernized.

Radiological Response Team?

Guess Railroad Tycoon was too far in our past, huh...

[jztemple2]

For those interested, The Crew 2 will be free to play this weekend, I think starting this Thursday. You can preload starting tomorrow.

[Kasey Chang]

No wonder it's down to like $5 or so.

[jztemple2]

Well, it will be nice to grab The Crew 2 for free and play more into the game than the demo. I'm assuming that if you wish you can buy the game and keep your progress. Meanwhile in just over two months The Crew Motorfest will be released. Since I've got Ubisoft+ I'll be getting it anyway but I'm hoping that by confining themselves to just Oahu in Hawaii the level of detail will be much greater. Also I tried TC2 after not playing it for months and I forgot how arcade-like the physics were compared to Forza Horizon. Not bad by any means, but not as interesting. So that's something else I hope Motorfest will include, better physics.

Not to say that The Crew 2 isn't a lot of fun, especially for $4.99 USD . You do, however, need to have Ubisoft Connect. Frankly I've never had an issue with it, but I've heard some people have.

[Kasey Chang]

I was going to try "Stellar Wanderer Demo" but apparently the demo was ONLY for during Nexxt Fest and it timed out before I can get to it. Phooey.

I was trying Starship SImulator Tech Demo, and it's pretty nice on an RTX. It's basically a full Federation Starship, under UN control, with all the nearby star systems and their individual planetary bodies that you can FTL to. There's also multiple decks for you to explore on foot. However, not much detail in the ship itself yet. Seems they're going for a Star Trek Bridge Crew kinda vibe, as there's a ton of conduits, power distribution nodes, visible, and there's engineering deck, habitation deck, bridge, and more. Clearly, you'll probably need to run all over the ship to fix X and Y. This is only a tech demo, but it's not looking bad, but time will tell if it's actually interesting to play.

The navigation clearly needs some work, as I basically FTL "through" a planet.

[Baroquen]

Not to say that The Crew 2 isn't a lot of fun, especially for $4.99 USD . You do, however, need to have Ubisoft Connect. Frankly I've never had an issue with it, but I've heard some people have.

Thanks for the heads up. Racing games are something enjoy but never get into too deeply. But at such a discounted price, I'm pretty sure I'll get my money's worth. Will probably try it out this afternoon.