Exploding Kittens is fun. Another good game is Gubs - this is a regular at the RAF Wargaming Association.

By Jon Murdock (Xenocide) on Tuesday, October 08, 2019 - 12:10 pm: Edit

My 10 year old niece loves "Exploding Kittens" and it is a game I can play with her without wanting to gouge my eyes out so I like it in that respect.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, December 04, 2019 - 09:41 pm: Edit

I mentioned Sid Meier's Civilization VI further up the thread. I was wondering if anyone here has played it, with or without the Rise and Fall and/or Gathering Storm expansions - and, if so, on which platform(s)?

For my part, I have the Nintendo Switch version of the game, with the various downloadable add-ons installed, to include the recently-added - well, recently-added-to-the-Switch-version - Rise & Fall + Gathering Storm expansion pack. (With the Switch version, I'd recommend using the Pro Controller when playing the game on the TV.)

One interesting aspect of the game is that, in addition to the various randomly-generated hexagonal map types one can generate, there are also "pre-cooked" maps for Europe, for East Asia, and for Earth itself. Indeed, each of these three maps have both "random" and "true start location" options - so, for example, if you use the True Start East Asia option and play as Japan, you begin the game on the island of Honshu, more or less at the location where Kyoto was built historically. (Plus, the True Start versions of the Europe and East Asia maps only allow those civs which historically emerged in those regions to be selected from.)

Both Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm add new civs and new features: such as governors which can be assigned to a given city and used to provide a certain set of benefits; the need to gather enough Era Points to avoid slumping into a Dark Age in the next technology era; and various natural disasters such as floods and volcanic eruptions.

Actually, I can't help but wonder how well a Star Fleet Universe game using a modified version of this engine might work one day, which allowed players to chart the rise (and/or fall) of a given star-faring empire through various eras of faster-than-light travel.

By Jon Murdock (Xenocide) on Thursday, December 05, 2019 - 11:38 am: Edit

I have played it but am waiting for a good sale for the expansions. It is fun. I do not think it would work for SFU. For that I would make a game more in the Paradox vein like Stellaris except with less fluid borders throughout most of SFU history due to the limited logistics.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Thursday, December 05, 2019 - 12:23 pm: Edit

I have played Civ 6 extensively with both Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm. I play on a PC.

It works. However, the AI leaves something to be desired, especially when handling combat. The AI commonly does not attack when it could do so to great effect. It makes up for it by simply giving production advantages to the computer-controlled Civs. Honestly, the AI isn't as good as in Civ 5, but maybe that's just me.

Civ 6 is very much BEST played with both expansions. It's not as nearly as much fun without both.

I don't see it as a good SFU engine. It's just not precise enough, and abstracts combat TOO much.

By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar2) on Thursday, December 05, 2019 - 05:50 pm: Edit

Playing Civ6 on Steam with Rise and Fall expansion on a PC.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Friday, December 06, 2019 - 10:32 am: Edit

So how good is Civ 5 or Civ 6 in comparison to Civ II (the one I basically continue to play - I tried Civ III and might have tried Civ IV.... but didn't like them as much!!))?

By Jon Murdock (Xenocide) on Friday, December 06, 2019 - 12:11 pm: Edit

Generally people who love Civilization play 4 or 6. 5 is basically 6 with less polish. 4 has a ton of mods and a devoted fanbase.

4 is very well developed and has a ton of interesting mods. If you want madness for 4 you can try the Caveman to Cosmos mod. It literally takes around 12 hours to get through the stone age. The problem many have with 4 is the military doomstack. Most wars are decided when the two doomstacks meet and fight it out.

I like 6 better but found some of the diplomacy gameplay a bit shallow and the archaeology system was just weird. The city state militaries wandering around were also often more annoying than interesting. My understanding is that the DLC shores up the weak areas and I intend to dig in again once I find a good sale.

By John Williams (Johndw) on Friday, March 20, 2020 - 10:04 am: Edit

So, I just learned about "Dual Universe". Has anyone else heard of this? I think it has potential. I haven't read/seen all the information about this MMO out there so far, but it seems like something like Space Engineers but not blocky looking, I think? They talk about being able to build/design buildings, space ships, and other things however you like, and even do some level of programming scripts in the game yourself for automating functions. The thing I wonder about is whether you'd be able to automate resource gathering, processing, and production of materials in order to pump out a lot of Constitution-looking space ships that are controlled either by people or your own AI drones.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - 05:25 pm: Edit

CLIFF EMPIRE
I noticed this on Youtube and (being an engineer) it looked interesting. I don't know how much of next week I will be stuck home with surgical recovery (the cutting will all be in the skin but there will be a lot of it) so I thought having this available to occupy my time would be handy.

Has anybody played this? Got any comments?

It seems to be on "STEAM" which I have never visited. I presume setting up an account/membership is not particularly difficult, but given my age computer stuff often confuses me. Any advice?

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 02:26 pm: Edit

Steam is a gaming site that hosts non company game products. A lot of independent developers use it as a host for a variety of games they have released to the market.

Many (most) are priced at various levels, but as the games age (and the patrons lose interest in the game) the price declines. In a number of cases, the decline to zero. Some of these free games are interesting, but a few are, honestly, unplayable for a variety of reasons.

Exercise caution!

Some games are addictive.

In your case, you might want to be very cautious in how you approach world of tanks. World of warships blitz is the one Im am playing now, hosted on Steam.

The developers of WOW And WOT are Russian. There are players who feel the Russian tanks and ships are better in the games than they performed in the real world.

Please try not to be offended!

By Kevin Howard (Jarawara) on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 03:45 pm: Edit

I played WOT. A Russian KV2 destroyed me. I was offended that he would fire on me!

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 05:12 pm: Edit

Team mate? Or did he ignore the white flag waving from your French or Italian made vehicle?

(Joke! Joke! At least wait to see if the guy is offended,)

By Kevin Howard (Jarawara) on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 05:29 pm: Edit

I just felt that the enemy was supposed to line up and act as target practice. I was offended when they started dodging my shots, hiding behind obstructions, and firing back. How offensive!

Except for that KV2... he didn't bother trying to hide, he just rolled out into the open and bounced all my shots, then derp-gunned me to death.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 06:58 pm: Edit

Yeah. I heard the Kv2 was tough.

I didn’t get very far in WOT before my other tablet battery died. Just never added it to my new tablet.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 07:57 pm: Edit

WOW, WOT, WOP, computer now a Zombie BOT.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 10:59 pm: Edit

I was asking about Cliff Empire. Anyone played it?

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Thursday, April 23, 2020 - 12:31 am: Edit

I haven't played it, but looking at the reviews for Cliff Empire on Steam- "88% of the 2,658 user reviews for this game are positive."

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Thursday, April 23, 2020 - 12:51 pm: Edit

The real-life KV-2 was difficult at best to destroy. 90 mm forward plate, 74 mm side armor, 70 mm aft armor; the Germans didn't have anything early on that could get through it except the 8.8 cm Flak gun.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Thursday, April 23, 2020 - 05:54 pm: Edit

The KV-I and KV-2 probably suffered their greatest "combat losses" from vehicle breakdown and being abandoned on the battlefield (or before reaching the battlefield and being subsequently overrun by the advancing Axis forces). For the KV-2 this could be a particular problem as the turret was extremely difficult to impossible to traverse if the hull was not level when the engine failed (or a track was thrown).

That being said, it did take a heck of a lot to knock out one of those "mobile pillboxes" if circumstances were in its favor. It could come down (for the Axis side) to waiting until dark and having the pioneers crawl up to it with a flamethrower if it lacked supporting infantry when it broke down.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, April 24, 2020 - 10:05 am: Edit

Best solution to the KV was to send a weasel or raccoon to eat the eggs before they hatch.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Friday, April 24, 2020 - 03:29 pm: Edit

A better solution would be Tiger-1s in 1941 with one such battalion in each panzer division and at least a heavy company in each panzer-grenadier division!

Of course, if you gave the Germans those, the Soviets would probably have had T-34/85s in 1941.

So, yea, I guess small mammals to eat the eggs is the best solution.

By Patrick H. Dillman (Patrick) on Friday, April 24, 2020 - 03:59 pm: Edit

Russian bias in WOWS is about the same as the current Klingon bias in the SFU.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, April 24, 2020 - 04:23 pm: Edit

So, zero?

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Friday, April 24, 2020 - 04:39 pm: Edit

Depends on who you talk to.

Grin.