OT-New Computer needs new games

[Taqwus]

A 5000-point assault in _Combat Mission_, with hi-res mods and all graphical features maxxed (resolution, smoke, weather, et al) might be visually impressive. At least if you forget that the beautifully camoed Panthers (I use a lot of Fernando's and GEM mods, for instance) and so forth are killing machines... Good gameplay, too.

EU I was decent, but a) it's not for nothing that people joke that it's *real-time* strategy gaming over 300 years, and b) it has a variety of AI cheats (most notably, AI fleets suffer zero attrition -- a huge advantage for AI colonial powers, which can explore the world much faster that way; especially Portugal, as all their ships can explore) and AI weirdness (highly asymmetrical diplomacy in which bribes are expected to be a one-way street, for instance). The manual is also more of a short history book than, say, a game manual (e.g. there are screenshots, sure... but not a single one is actually labelled with respect to parts of the game interface.) There are other quirks as well, such as outrageously unrealistic missions (for instance, getting something like "Make sure there is no Spanish presence in the Caribbean"... as Russia... in 1500...) EU II may or may not have resolved these; I wouldn't know, since I don't own it.

My main beef w/ Shogun:TW is that the old publisher basically broke repeated promises and bailed on supporting it, leaving behind a number of known issues such as units routing far more easily than they should; a complete lack of configurability (no way to disable the wildly ahistorical T-1000 Geisha/Terminators); and a rather blatant AI cheat (it's a "simultaneous" move game, but the AI tends to take into account your moves when choosing its). Activision may be better than EA when it comes to support, but that remains to be seen.

Do not underestimate the processing power required by Shogun:TW when doing Civil War battles (8 sides, 16 squads ea., 120 musketeers per => 15,360 musketeeres => LOTS of smoke and hideous frame rate on many systems). Of course, that's not exactly a normal battle...

Illwinter's _Dominions_ is good, but it won't come even close to stressing your system. Priorities are similar to SE:IV (scope, depth, micromanagement, and most of all, gameplay).

[dmm]

Well, mind you this isn't war, but I'd be curious to see how a game like SimLife would play on a really crankin' machine. I could never get a stable 3-level ecosystem going because my machine at the time couldn't handle huge worlds with enormous pops, which of course you need if you are going to have predators eating herbivores eating plants. But probably too much like school for most people.

[capnq]

quote:

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EU I['s] manual is also more of a short history book than, say, a game manual (e.g. there are screenshots, sure... but not a single one is actually labelled with respect to parts of the game interface.) There are other quirks as well, such as outrageously unrealistic missions (for instance, getting something like "Make sure there is no Spanish presence in the Caribbean"... as Russia... in 1500...) EU II may or may not have resolved these; I wouldn't know, since I don't own it.

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I bought Europa Universalis II as a Christmas gift to myself, based on friends' recommendations of EU I. The manual is pretty much the same as you've described it, but there is a very good string of tutorials that walk you through the entire interface. Weird missions are still somewhat of a problem; I'm playing Ukraine and as of 1529 have seen three easy ones (hold Jedisan and Crimea, both north of the Black Sea; discover Smyrna in Asia Minor), one medium one (keep the the Marmelukes [IIRC] out of someplace I think was also near or in Asia Minor), and one absurd one (discover someplace in South America).

[dogscoff]

Some of the MMPORGs are pretty impressive. They've just released a new Everqust patch which apparently is quite impressive, graphically.

There's new one out, called Camelot, which is proving very popular apparently, and is taking a lot of players away from EQ.

Anyone got any news on that Star Wars MMPORG?

Not that I play these myself, but the guy who sits next to me at work talks about them all the time=-)

[Aub]

Wizardry 8?

Everyone says it's what other traditional CRPG, starting with Daggerfall, Might and Magic, etc. etc. should have been. Very non-linear, and almost bug-free.

I myself am three hours into the game so I cannot say much (like it so far tho). But it is all 3-D and sure can test your hardware if you turn all graphics options on and go for a high res

[Phoenix-D]

Dark Age of Camelot will tax your system, but it's not worth much else. The graphics aren't even that good for how much CPU power it takes..and the graphics/server lag makes the main point of the game (capturing forts/relics) impossible

Of course, the main point of the game is still only half finished, too; there was an overwhelming attack on a relic a few days ago. They would have captured it, but a bug prevented them from picking it up. This after the company actually encouraged people to go take relics.

Not a game I would recommend.

[Hotfoot]

quote:

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Originally posted by dumbluck:
Puke probably is refering to Independance War 2. Which is supposed to be a KICK ___ game. However, it is also supposed to have a rather steep learning curve. Oh well. I wish I had a system that would play it.....

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A-hem. You rang?

Yes, I-War 2 is a very, very sweet game (as was the original Independence War, which sadly is hard to find these days). As for the learning curve, it is rather steep, but it's more getting used to the Newtonian Flight model than anything else, in my opinion. Once you're there, it's a wonderful thing. It's like playing a game of SEIV without ministers for the first time. Well, sort of. Hard to compare actually, shouldn't have bothered.

The I-War community is also quite excellent, and the modding community is rapidly growing since the game is extremely easy to mod (well, in some aspects). Also, the game developers take special interest in their product. Already one of the fellows on the dev team has churned out several player-requested unofficial mods (unofficial merely in that they are not supported by Particle Systems, not that it really matters much, since they work).

Anyway, I highly recommend I-War 2: EoC. And if you get the chance, stop by the Infogrames North America Independence War Boards.

A few helpful websites:
www.i-war2.com Fansite: lots of links and mods
www.independencewar.com Official site, official stuff
INA Forums

Hope to see those who are interested!

-Hotfoot
"Almost, but not yet."

[tesco samoa]

Picked up return to castle woflenstein.

It took two days for the pain in my left hand to go away. Not use to the shoot them up games.

But I think I have the hang of it now. The AI is really good in it. I think I will finish the game and give it to my 8 year old nephew as a gift.

I have completed 10 missions now. Sounds are good and the picture is quite nice. But it is a game I could not play all the time. I think it would get boring.

[mac5732]

Matrix games has several new games coming out, one Napoleon at Australitz looks similiar to Shogun looks like it might be good, game comes out supposedly Dec 19th. They also have space game coming out, again don't know how good, you might want to look at their site www.matrixgames.com

just some ideas mac

[tesco samoa]

Mac I go there all the time. Steel Panthers is a fantastic game.

You should check out

http://www.navalwarfare.net/

FSP is free for download.