Duck and Cover

Blargh wrote:Yeah, Zoltan supremacy - until six mantii shiv you in a nebula.

Blast doors are fairly inexpensive and ap droids are common.

nerd fight

Hear hear, Toccyx. I've noticed that most people who write about FTL always seem to mention different small additions that would improve their playthroughs. If I was the team, though, I'd take that as a sign that the game manages to scratch what was thought to be a very small sore that has very noticeably developed into a limb proper (as if the Kickstarter wasn't enough of a hint) rather than as any sort of failure of theirs or as a criticism (however fair) of what is still a very good value/fun for money game.

Me, I'd add that it'd stand to gain from a change of focus; putting more of it into players' developed skills rather than pure chance, and that making fuel/missiles/drones sellable (and de-valuating throughout systems) would be a small step into quenching the early system scrap thirst that seems to turn so many rough starts into unwinnable situations. Also, consider adding a mid-game boss (and post-boss respite). I'd reckon I'm not speaking for everyone when I say I'd rather have the game tell me I'm not doing so hot rather than barely get by a couple of systems only to face too strong an enemy with an already half-torn ship; it'd learn you, yes, but frustration is a powerful foe.

Another thing is weapon balance, specifically of the beam weapons. CPU adversaries have sometimes managed to hit me with one through my shields, yet all beams I've found (Osprey beam exempt) have been 100% useless against anything other than an unshielded ship, making their price and/or charging time too high, so that 9.5/10 times I'd rather take some form of laser against which there's no defense. Yes, the lasers miss and the beam doesn't- true, but then lasers can still be effective the next volley whereas meeting a shielded enemy (which is 90% of them) with only beam weapons makes you fucked. Adding .5 shield penetration would fix this; as would allowing you to focus your beam on a single point rather than the preset ----------------- beam line, and allowing the beam itself to ignore shields after a set seconds of contact.

In all, call it an editor, an add-on, a sequel, even. The game needs growing; the growth needs removing. And that fucking Mantis ship need finding.

St. Toxic wrote:Are they trying to keep space clean, or is there some unintuitive process behind it that I haven't grasped?

Not sure what you mean, there. Anything that would overwrite what's on your inventory can be turned down as well as exchanged and the stuff you don't use you can sell in stores. Unless you mean you'd like to space shit, just "beacuase"? If then, no, I don't think you can.

Borderlands 2, co-op with my bro.

Tofu Man wrote:all beams I've found (Osprey beam exempt) have been 100% useless against anything other than an unshielded ship

That hasn't been my experience. Excellent hull damage and a fuckton of system damage incoming. There's already some shield-pen from what I understand, but mainly I use them to deal the damage while shutting down the shields with lasers. Y'know, timing is pretty important in this game.

Tofu Man wrote:the stuff you don't use you can sell in stores.

What? How?

St. Toxic wrote:There's already some shield-pen from what I understand

Not as far as I can tell, hitting even a single shield does 0 damage to shield, hull, system or crew. Mind you, I haven't experimented with dual beams yet, but then- price/charge time/availability/me not wanting to get caught with pants down...

It's not about its power (which is plenty), it's about how it doesn't stack up to a similarly priced laser by being slower to charge and easier to negate as well as potentially completely ineffective.

What? How?

I believe the glaive beam (that is, the nastiest, greediest of the beam class) is the only one with shield piercing capability, and even then only to a certain threshold (2 ?).

Bouncy Castle Dementia wrote:doors

In my experience boarders favour door control and life support (certain events, both simultaneously) over any other point of arrival. Guess you've just had an aspect of the game going easy on you.

And AP droids ? They mostly just clog corridors, that and mantis innate double damage/frequent numbers advantage leaves them less than competitive.

Once I managed to get a glaive beam on my Osprey. Man, I was tearing shit up. The only problems I had that run-through was with enemy boarding parties. The rebel flagship proved to be my undoing, however.

Ah, of the bog standard direct damage beams, it's everything but the pathetic pike beam. Or was it halberd ? Bah, one of THEM.

YOU ARE WELCOME

Also, 4 person teleporters are wonderful.

Also, Torchlight 2. It's vastly better than Diablo 3.

Gosh.

Are we naming things that are better than Diablo 3?

Trisomy 21.

Jaja.

Oh come now it's not that bad, it has good graphics. I figure I've made enough digital gold to sell the games price back to them. I must admit I am literally forcing myself to slog through this. The carrot's getting smaller blizz ol' buddy, ol' pal.

That's all I wanted to do, make this game free, and it's done.

I'm thinking that statement can be addressed in some way to all of this games problems. What the hell am I attached to this huge cart of shit for? Oh yea, veggies, or something...

Hearts of Iron III: Darkest Hour

Got a serious hard on for this game.

And now for something that none of you will give a rat about, unlike all the other verbiage, BUT :

Fit of boredom lead to a playthrough of Spec Ops - The Line. Pretty much blind. Thought it'd be a fairly standard, unremarkable affair. Was wrong.

Lovely, unrelentingly bleak experience. Some rather clever framing and narrative devices. Interesting use of vertical space. Novel use/choice of music. Impressive art/world design, even in light of the ORANGE. Would feel a bit sad for poor old Nolan, I imagine he must be tired of Drake again and again and again, despite the (I assume) generous cash incentives. Can even forgive the linearity, as, unlike most games, it rose above the usual afterthought consequence of laziness. It had substance, an unusual find in this medium. About the only negative was the fairly average gunplay, but I enjoyed Alpha Protocol, so I can't reasonably use that as an out . . .

MEA FUCKING CULPA, WALT.

Nice to know someone else enjoyed it, it's really one of my favorite games this year and certainly one of the best video game stories in my memory.

As for the average gun play - I think that's actually part of the point. I thought I remember somewhere that the developers actually were trying to not make a game that was "Fun." Like to the point where they actually were insulted by the inclusion of the multiplayer (which I never touched, nor want to) which the publisher handed out to another developer. I personally didn't have a problem with the gunplay. It was basic, but it never felt bad.

I concede that it would certainly fly in the face of the themes they sought to evoke to have the gunplay be Visceral, Egaging, Fun or various other buzzwords one might spy littered throughout the blurb of the latest CoD or UT spinoff.

Must make for a refreshing change when certain criticisms and perceived failings can be brushed off with some wonderfully smug variation of 'you don't understand, it was a deliberate choice'.

WAR IS NOT MEANT TO BE ENTERTAINMENT

Yet even they had their taste of publisher fuckheadedness, it's almost like a Natural Law . . .

Started replaying Victoria 2 using the APD mod and the whole thing is pretty goddamn awesome.

All this Paradox love is really getting me psyched for the next Europa Universalis. Its been so long, but I hope its still as good as I remember it beeing. Hopefully they have taken the good bits from Vicky 2, HoI 3 and CK2 and mashed it all together in a glorious new grand-scale experience. As I understand it EU will be using the Clausewitz engine, the same as CK2 and Vicky 2 uses.

What's Victoria about? It's like post-EU?

starhawk.