STO....

First things first. The changes to the admiralty rewards for both Klingon and Ferengi campaigns are horrendously bad(in my view). Horrendously bad for not getting any more Dilithium ore. I'm glad I've got characters with a stockpile already but when that's gone my use of it will limit the characters. In some respects it's true to say that the free to play will be hit the most from this. Admiralty was the best/easiest way to gather dil to convert for Zen and make a purchase from the cash store. Now that that's gone....  Free to play will be harder for sure. Makes me appreciate the Lifetime sub Zen stipend even more now. Also makes me realize how privileged I am in the past to say that I don't really need anything from that store today.

All isn't lost as at least the Ferengi campaign will still reward Dilithium ore, just not as much by a long shot. It now gives a bonus pool (of 40k Dil Ore) just like XP/rep bonus pools. For any Dil ore you do earn you also get a certain amount from that bonus pool. Something is better than nothing right... That Dil ore still needs to be refined and that cap is still the same per day so...... That 'some' is a lot, lot less than it used to be(depressingly low). If only there was a use for Ferengi GPL that each mission gives.....
The Klingon overall reward is now Dil Fleet vouchers, not useful per say but good for fleet project works and gaining fleet rank in turn. Bit of a bummer but still I'm new to fleets so it's kind of ok for me, now. At least it's campaign rewards Dil ore per mission.

I can see why they did it, the Dil to Zen exchange had maxed out on it's inflation levels which had been out of control for years. Even looking last night at the Dil to Zen exchange it was easy to see a big drop already. I'm sure it will drop further, not quiet a crash as there's a stockpile of Ore on player characters in the game. Once that's worked through time will tell. It could take 6 to 8 month's for the average playerbase ore stockpile to 'go'; A year or more for the true economists who have massive stockpiles on the max level of characters per account. Again time will tell.

These changes are all new, maybe I'm being more bleak about these changes, there will be a phase of adjustment for players for sure. I'm also sure that the Dev's will monitor how it's effecting the game.

The massive problem I do see is that R&D will be screwed, it needs a LOT of Dil to speed things up. Leveling a character in R&D is the same. That's a problem for me in that my Jem'Hadar needs a lot of R&D work to claim his transponder account rewards.... Not really worth doing it all on him now.

The other massive down side over all characters is with upgrading an item to improve it's level(mark)/quality(rare etc.). That needs a huge amount of refined Dil. 150k refined Dil can disappear in a second when upgrading some basic items. The higher the level you want the more refined Dil disappears.

Moving along to my Science character.

I missed out on creating a character when Delta Recruits were first introduced. However just after I got the lifetime sub they brought it back for a short promo time. So I created a new character to take advantage of both(Lifetime and Delta). Specifically my Liberated Borg. I also created a KDF version 'just to have'. That character has sat idle ever since as a level 5. It's only now that I realize I should have created a Romulan version as well. Long Story short I have more Delta recruit account rewards to unlock and both KDF and Romulan characters are needed.

So that lil'level 5 KDF might get his bird of prey in some action.

Finishing off the commendations there was also the Infinity Duty Officer Promotion! I didn't do anything for it's extra's but it did help a bit due to it's weekend boost; But it still took a lot of time.

It's a pity that the lifetime sub doesn't make the temporal/delta recruits a selectable option.

My Science Temporal character has been plugging away with the level 5 to 6 rep which is almost done but that's just for the sake of completeness/rep abilities. She completed the last of the Doff missions needed to claim the Transponder reward/account unlock.

I'm sure that there is a lot more I can do with the character but that means a lot of work needed to be manicured into perfection. I'm happy to have upgraded some gear/traits etc. Change to Phasers and the second Discovery space set. While I did see an increase in the damage numbers (space combat), there's a wide variation when I try to chart it. It seems the lower end is about 18k and the upper end is 23k.

That's when I'm paying attention and staying quick with abilities and buffs. It's a big of effort, more so than on a Tactical character. However being part of random TFO's that's good, above average I'd say. Yet I've seen more random groups where there are players with 250k to 300k dps. Insane damage. My guess is PvP builds but that's way off on the meta horizon for me.

Then again registering DPS charts is hard as there is character up-scaling in TFO's as well and a lot of variables that skew things.

I'm glad to have finished the Temporal agent transponder rewards. I'll be thinking about running that low level FDF charecter to get those rewards unlocked. Romulan will have to wait till they bring the recruits back.... I'm sure they will at some stage.

Battlefield 1....

Back to Pigeons!

A mode I've always liked, a rush mode, game of tag, but with a pigeon and violence.

A few weeks before I'd been back to the game on and off as a medic. I've taken to this weeks mode as a medic a lot more seriously. Back to my roots in the game. To mix things up even more I've been acquiring the weapons I'd not been bothered about before for that class. Something I'd also touched on in previous weeks.

All just to mix things up; And it did.

Each weapon unlock has 2 parts like get 45 kills with X weapon; Or 15 kills in a single round with another weapon..... It's not been plain sailing. I now remember why I skipped some of them. On the other hand I've started to really like other weapons like the auto 8.

The last few weeks has seen me put the mashup footage on the back burner. It's only building up. But with the last two put out I decided to give myself a lazy break.(again!?!). Not that many people watch or read these....(and thanks to those that do). So this week not quiet a mash up of moments but an uncut clip of a great match. Not a winning one. But a great game.
Even being on the loosing side matches like this are truly a GG. And for me the highlight of that match was the inclusion of being a medic, while also getting some good kills in. Nobody can say I didn't do my part....

Battlefield 1 - Mashup(but not really) 50:

Battlefield 1....

Last but not least to catch-up on the Battlefield front, last weeks Back to Basics was interesting. I'm really liking the mode more these day's.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Space Hulk Tactics....

Over a year ago I posted about Space Hulk Tactics saying it was looking great and a game I'd keep an eye on. I then seem to have promptly forgot about it. That's more a me thing(again) than anything to do with the game.... that I can remember. I don't remember sticking it on my 'keep an eye on' list, or putting it on and then taking it off either.

Thinking back now I do faintly recall seeing the promo stuff when I posted that initial blog .... At that time as well there was a lot of talk about 40k licenses being overused and abused with games. Maybe I mistook Tactics for something else with that in mind.

I do like other PC based 40K games, be it space based with Battlefleet Gothic Armada (and again) or ground based in Space Hulk Deathwing (and again) or even with Space Marine.

So with a slight inkling of the game, this week I saw and chose to install it via the Microsoft store and Gamepass Ultimate for PC. Free is free after all. I did so more for the reason that it's a 40k game along the lines of 'why didn't I know about this game before!'.

I was hooked by it on the tutorial level. It's a great game. If you like 40k, Space Crusade then this is a game you have to try.

A few screenies to share the atmosphere....

Battlefield 1....

In an effort to get back up to speed with posting here's a mashup of the two-ish weeks shenanigans since the last mashup.....

A Casual Gamer

....More to follow.

Games with Gold....

Four more games for a new month, two I'll try and two I'll ignore.

Batman: The Enemy Within – The Complete Season. I'm not really a fan of quick-time events so I'll be skipping this. Nice to have the option for future gaming but not for me right now.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. A game that has character for sure but not a game for me. I'm positive that it's music would annoy me waaaaaaaaaaaaaay sooner than the gameplay.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. Not a game I've/series I've ever looked for  but does seem interesting. I've watched many a YouTuber play this sort of game/dark souls-esque etc. Maybe one to try the cobat and see if the shoe fits....

Sonic Generations; Definitely a game I'll install and mess about with. Maybe not for long but it'll be good even for a long once off game session.

Battlefield 1 on Xbox....

Back to my question of keyboard and mouse in the game. I've not been into the 'meta' of keyboard and mouse on the Xbox One in regard to gaming. Restrictions were always in place to give fair play, all players have the same control method, the standard controller.

However it's been noticeable to me to see players in Battlefield 1 who are being controlled differently. I see the same reactions on PC because that's normal with a keyboard and mouse. But to see those same reactions on XBox, it's very noticeable. It's more than just quick reaction times. In an out of place way.

Akin to the difference on PC in WoW between a mouse and a keyboard turner.

Normal Xbox controller turning is slower than anything else, even with a pro-controller. With the best controllers there is no way a player can twist and turn and move so fast in such contortions, and, shoot so accurately. Of course there's something else 'at play' and in use.

So yes you can attach a keyboard and mouse to an Xbox, especially using the Microsoft Insider program app. But that doesn't make them usable in the game.

So to answer my own question it's simple, there's more hardware allowing connection of a keyboard and mouse that makes their input recognized as a controller. Like this device. Interesting but expensive. The game is good but it's not worth doing this... Depends on the gamer I guess. It's a lot of hassle to go through to gain superiority....

Genesis Alpha One....

It seems that Genesis Alpha One  has released with a Deluxe Edition that's hit the non Epic stores. Steam and GoG.

It's been a game on my wishlist for a while yet now it's here, even as a Deluxe version and even with 20% or so off the 'price' I find myself very 'meh' about it. I'll have to 'see' what the mood takes.

It looks better than a year ago, no doubt updates/changes and balance were patched in etc.

Team17

Battlefield 1....

Small moment, big impact....

A Casual Gamer

Eve Online....

I applaud CCP for their inventive thinking. It's so inventive it's as far away from the box as is humanly possible. A frigate escape bay for battleships. Who asked for this? It's not a good thing in my book.  About as practical as frying an egg on a sun soaked footpath and still looking to eat it off the ground.

Then again I'm no PvPer. 

Now if this escape bay allowed a T3 destroyer instead that would really be a lot more practical.

I'm sure CCP has a massive long, well thought out roadmap that this is just a tiny piece of....Right?

Right?

I don't keep up with the meta on Battleship combat. Of the Battleship combat I do know, mainly from Nullsec; It's easier and more practical for players in their pods to ask the enemy to pod them so they can reship into anything larger than a frigate. 

Who wants to be stuck in the same ambush or combat situation that just took out their Battleship..... But.... be.... in.... a.... frigate? 

Sure why not turn up to all Battleship fights in a frigate, to save the time and expense..... 

So does CCP want more specific frigate production?

Was this really meant for bombers?! Even bombless bombers?! Cov-ops? But they changed their minds because they 'realized' that might be better..... How did this 'idea' evolve? 

What's allowed in the bay:

                                          All T1 Frigates

                                          Assault Frigates 

                                          Electronic Attack Frigates

                                          Logistics Frigates

The only real use for ships in this bay is with Ewar or offhand logi frigs at least they can actually 'help' their fleets. Depending on the assault frig and the pilots skill.....those are meh....... 

As I said nobody takes a frigate to a battleship fight(unless your noob cannon fodder and are there to get alpha'd off the field). 

This bay needs greater context then just CCP saying 'here it is, enjoy'....

I've felt safer flying in a pod in null because it insta-warps, why would I need a frigate.

Why would I need a frigate in any scenario where I was taking a battleship?! 

CCP looking to shake up he meta and have a lot more mixed fleets? They're mixed enough as is as far as I've ever seen. As if the meat grinders aren't working overtime as is.

This is all about fleet battles and not just a skirmish here and there. CCP trying to shake the meta of large fleet battles by fuppin with things to see what players do. CCP blinkered again?

As always the great player minds of meta theory are smarter so CCP no doubt will have to rush to undo or alter the bay or fupp about with the game in some other way to compensate. 

Just because you can do a thing CCP doesn't mean you have to do that thing.

If CCP keeps hammering away at this space game they are not going to have anything recognizable by the end....

Besiege....

A few day's ago a friend suggested a game I'd not heard of before, Besieged. The reason my mate mentioned it was because it looked fun and has potential co-op fun with it's sandbox mode. That and it was 50% off (on Steam)for a massive whole €3.

It's like Middle Ages Lego-Technic. Yea it's fun!

Spiderling Games

That music with their game trailer always reminds me of the old 'Believe' Halo trailer; Clever use of the Besiege name instead of Believe.

STO....

Rep, rep, rep, the reputation rewards are now starting to make up for the grind. Not just from the rep daily or store rewards but the marks needed to gain more reputations. At least for Temporal agents. A few TFO's/patrol's here and there also add to the marks pot and before I knew it the overall Temporal rep transponder reward was claimable.

Didn't hurt that the rep needed are all level 5's, but 6's isn't that far away now. I'll keep going with them.

Still plenty of marks to use.

Doff commendations are still ongoing. Only 2 more to get to level 4. I'm aiming for Engineering and Medical, but that all depends on random available missions. I've gotten more into a non-travel mode for anything Doff.

Darkest Dungeon....

Pottering away with my Stygian save has been 'ok'. Prolonged but ok. Gold has been gained, heroes cured/fixed/de-stressed. In the process I splurged on The Red Hook.

Gold is now the only concern as I've upgraded and bought everything that needs heirlooms as currency. All else is gold based, trinkets, upgrades or training of new expendables heroes etc.
With the bank and so many filler weeks the gold level has started to really rise. It's not a concern but the more gold the easier life will be.

The only 'vanilla' item unchecked is to get one final class to level 6. An Arbalest. Still. My attempts to level one up is continually proving painful. The main Arbalest I've been working on, a level 4, got hammered in a dungeon and died of the stress(Only one of that crew made it out and a few good trinkets were lost).

The other Arbalest, another level 4, needs a lot of work to clear up quirks/disease. Which in turn means filler weeks. 4 at the very least.

So more filler weeks, weeks I'm not enthusiastic about. I'll need to run some ad-hoc teams of whatever's available form the sub level 6 'expendables'. Put them through dungeons till they are no longer viable. Then 'let them go'.

The remaining four buildings require shards from The Farm.

Overall I've taken two trips to The Farm but not come out with much beyond stressed out characters with a handful of shards. I had thought to persist with it first; But now I'm thinking about going all in on The Crimson Court and use The Farm as a distraction.

Speaking of Ad-hoc/filler no trinket teams pushed to their limits with impossible odds/tasks for gold done by a semi half asleep late night run gamer; oh look a collector:

A Casual Gamer

Eve Online FPS....

EVE Online shooter cancelled to make way for a new EVE Online shooter; An article of things said before.

Here's my gut reaction and rant....

I've played Dust 514; Been interested(if not enthusiastic) in every attempt from CCP to get a shooter 'made'. Project Legion, Project Nova. Each a variation on an FPS New Eden theme.

My initial gut reaction to CCP stopping and starting another FPS is 'meh' with a side of snarky comment.

The problem(in my view) with them doing an FPS is that the playerbase they are trying to pander to isn't based on Dust 514. It's based on a new playerbase that they can cash in on, while also taking as much of the old playerbase as they can. Not for love of a game, continuation of a playerbase or the universe they are in. Just for the cash business.

The reason I started Dust 514 was because of the free items in the 10th anniversary collectors edition box..... #Mysterycode...... That's a whole other story I've waffled about before. Anyway.
Being Eve based it hooked me. Like a lot about CCP and Eve it promises a lot more than it delivers.

CCP devs have tried to maintain the Dust playerbase and have previously maintained a connection. The Devs are or were dedicated as much to the community as the universe. They'd take comments that help... BUT, CCP has a very bad habit of getting blinkered. Overriding the plain in their face facts. They will take simple idea A with simple idea B and before you know it, it's mutated out of control in their own little weird echo chamber bubble world, machinations of greatness. OR the very reverse that's then shown to a small packed room at fanfest, who are aghast at what they see. The players of the old game and universe enthusiasts gasp in horror and have 1 million practical questions about it. Then as aghast as the players, the Devs recoil in horror and fear at what they have done/decided/chosen due to the reactions in the room. It would be funny if it hadn't have happened.

I'm no stunning linguist, I'm here to waffle. I just can't/don't get CCP's thinking. It blows my mind how detailed yet unfocused they can be with such large projects.

If Dust 514 was still active I'd be there. Instead I got into Battlefield 1. If CCP had ported Dust to PC and made some enhanced changes over a year for it to 'work properly' it could still be a thing. Just look at Warframe or even Planetside 2. I mean come on .... PLANETSIDE 2 is still a thing!

Frustration abounds, but it's CCP so no surprise.

I don't think CCP actually knows what it wants, beyond profits and what it thinks it's belief in New Eden as a franchise universe. There has been so much effort, so much work, development, planning and attrition that the FPS game they think players want has been lost in a whirlpool of attempting to most profit them.

Maybe there's something in the trace elements that remain, CCP may actually be doing work that is worth it and will result in a great shooter/universe experience.

The quotes in the article have me thinking development has gone back to what sounds like a Project Legion like game. That could be a good thing(How they even went from Legion's planet/space combat to a Nova deathmatch arena shooter is beyond me). Valkyrie syndrome perhaps.

The more things change the more they stay the same. The last paragraph of that article is telling. CCP back in their mutation bubble echo chamber.

" 
But don't expect news on this new project any time soon. Kellion also said CCP Games would refrain from revealing projects too early in the future. "We want to show you rather than tell you how we have evolved this concept and we’re looking forward to doing so when the time comes to present this concept as a fully-fledged game."

"

Time will tell. Again.

STO....

Ship claims all round. 

The Alliance 10th anniversary ship on PC is interesting.

I fitted it out with the best of the rest in the 'ol inventory plus what I had on a previous ad-hoc fit from a ship now in dry dock(the recent T6 Reliant Class - Cruiser). I stuck with the ships unpackaged anitproton theme. Casual is casual.

It's a good ship but I'm not convinced it's better than 50% of my current roster of ships. I did a few elite TFO's and patrols to get the mastery to 5. 

Kind of an underwhelming experience for the 10th anniversary reward. Definitely not a go to ship/meta replacement. Just a gut reaction from what I've done but still.
It'll stay in my active roster for now and I'll potter about with it when an opportunity appears.
I'll need to swap fits and faff about in a patrol or four to see and compare.

I also bite the bullet and claimed the Bajoran Interceptor from the token on Xbox.

I'm only using it for it's bundled D.O.M.I.N.O. console. Swapping it over to my current active ship.

I can hear some players who would see me place it in a Tactical slot scream that it should be in any other console slot but it's all a non serious work in progress.

STO....

Continuing on with my Science Temporal Agent has lead me to doing the final mission episode. The Delta episode. Needed for the overall transponder mission bonus. 
It's an episode with a lot of parts, no wonder I left it till last. I'd forgotten how long it really was.

Doing the system patrol portions was easier than before thanks to the new in game patrol interface so not as much travelling back and forth needed.

After finishing off the Delta episode and getting to claim it's specific transponder reward; I was a bit puzzled, wondering why I'd not gotten the overall transponder bonus for completing all the episodes.

Then I remembered that while I'd 'just' completed the mission listed for the Kobali in the episode(visit the planet and do a mission handin.....

...I'd not done any of the story arc(ground missions) from that planet. That Kobali story arc is listed in a separate accolade from the Temporal Agent transponder. That accolade isn't listed anywhere as being needed but it was the last thing that was in any way related to a part of the Delta Episode.

The Kobali arc is long, making an already long delta episode even longer. It was a push to get through. Helped by watching some old season 4 of Voyager on the side as I went....
Kobali Prime isn't a fun place to battle in or navigate. Enemies spawn in large groups fast and can overwhelm you. Your only allowed to have 2 of your officers which adds to the hassle. While there are still players doing the missions there's not enough about to coincidentally get through each part fast or with ease.

After pushing though it the accolade completed, I checked the transponder and sure enough the overall reward was claimable.

As the finished accolade no longer lists the parts needed to complete it, here's the accolade screenshot form an alt. The part missing for me was the ground based mission chain 'Kobali Adventure Zone'. Sounds almost benign.

Going back to the planet proper was interesting, not all that much had changed....

So with all that out of the way I'm left with 'only' some more reputations to max out and 'some' commendations to level up.

Practically, that all boils down to a daily check-in to complete and start duty officer missions and reputation dailies. All of that can be done from Earth Spacedock. More time than anything else needed.

I claimed the latest freebie outfit. A nice freebie but no wonder there's a lot of circus ringmasters running about....

On a side note, I've been doing dailies(Doff/Admiralty/Reputation) with my Xbox main. Mainly due to the events that have been ongoing. If I'm logging in for that I may as well do some more.

I did get to do the last event daily needed to complete the campaign. Kind of feels underwhelming to claim it now. Opening the reward box allows you to select a T6 ship(same as from the actual Phoenix pack). While I'd put some thought into what ship I'd select(Bajoran Interceptor for the  D.O.M.I.N.O. console....); Actually opening and looking at selecting the ship I found myself second guessing that choice. Eyeing up the Kobali Samsar Cruiser again.

What I'd really like is the Samsar cruiser and the console from the interceptor.

That cruiser is also claimable with the ARC app points via achievements. Just from my casual play I'm about halfway through having enough points to get it that way.

Claim more ARC points would require more gameplay and achievements than just playing STO. I really don't want to play Neverwinter just for ARC points.... Besides the work I'd need to do in Neverwinter is a lot more and rewards less points than for STO and the STO achievements need a lot of work(like this,  these and this).

This version of the game is supposed to be for pure faffing about with fun. I really shouldn't be putting this much time and thought into it. I need to distance myself from this free Samsar cruiser idea. I really should trust my own previous judgment and claim the Bajoran ship.