Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:
Thursday 30 April 2020
Wednesday 29 April 2020
Star Trek Online....
A year of KDF improvements, updates and changes coming to the game. Whats not to like about that!
Details here:
https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11423783-the-year-of-klingon
Great to see a neglected part of the game come into focus for development. Even better reason to bring my 'main' KDF and 2 KDF alts out of retirement. I'll still be pinching my nose as I 'endure' Discovery related content but for the greater enjoyment of the game it should be worth it!
Tuesday 28 April 2020
Games with Gold....
May has an interesting line up. Free is free! Claim all the claimables when available!
V-Rally 4: Available between May 1st to 31st. Like a lot of free gold games it's not a game I'd have gone out of my way to try but as it will be available, claimable and free.... It's been a while since I tried a rally game.
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr: Available between May 16th to June 15th. What can I say, Warhammer is warhammer. I'd prefer a turn based version of the universe; But this is a game that's received a lot of patch/development in it's versions and looks interesting. Another to try at the very least.
Sensible World of Soccer: Available between May 1st to 15th. It's a true classic and now that it'll be free I may just get that Sociable soccer kick(like here and here) out of my system by playing the original!
Overlord II: Available between May 16th to 31st is another game I'd not have gone near but it does seem to have some humor that could make it work for me.
So an interesting bunch that I'll be trying and maybe doing more with.
V-Rally 4: Available between May 1st to 31st. Like a lot of free gold games it's not a game I'd have gone out of my way to try but as it will be available, claimable and free.... It's been a while since I tried a rally game.
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr: Available between May 16th to June 15th. What can I say, Warhammer is warhammer. I'd prefer a turn based version of the universe; But this is a game that's received a lot of patch/development in it's versions and looks interesting. Another to try at the very least.
Sensible World of Soccer: Available between May 1st to 15th. It's a true classic and now that it'll be free I may just get that Sociable soccer kick(like here and here) out of my system by playing the original!
Overlord II: Available between May 16th to 31st is another game I'd not have gone near but it does seem to have some humor that could make it work for me.
So an interesting bunch that I'll be trying and maybe doing more with.
Two Point Hospital....
The journey to the first star in Croquembouche has been a struggle. A juggling act. When the first star was done I thought I was well setup to take on the second star. Plenty of GP/diagnostic and multiple treatment rooms. 3 of each room was equal to the tide of patients. Not to mention good profits and plenty of upgrades done. Add to that 6 small 6 seat training rooms for fast training in multiple area's of expertise; It all seemed like a winning combination.
All till I was hit month after month with a massive dept. For no apparent reason(no loans).
So each month I'd get a nice build up of revenue, then be hit with the usual end of month bill with a dept included that was more than what should be billed. Or at least that's the way it seemed. +200k revenue -190k expenses should have been +10k profit.... Only it was telling me I was -150k....Eating into my savings! Strange goings on. Even when I'd gone out of my way and farmed/claimed research cash between maps. Getting a constant mystery dept was annoying when there was no visible reason to battle against. Especially so when gaming the research system at the same time!
All that aside I did get the next star by brute force, raising prices, taking all the loans and repaying them almost straight away with the research map switch. Once that star hit all seemed to return to the normal revenue-expenses=profit I'd expect.
So yea, with the mystery debt disappeared and after some time of normal hospital operation, getting Star 2 to 3 was less hassle and ran itself as I was able to save and invest in the hospital/staff.
In the end the 3rd star popped up as I was 'just' running the hospital; So it was a bit of an anti-climax.
I'll give the game a bit of a break and see if I'm tempted back with any of the DLC(even the new green one). I'm glad to have completed the main campaign but it was a slog(glitch? aside).
Monday 27 April 2020
Star Trek Online....
It's really strange to see and be in Q's winter wonderland at this time of year. I appreciate the devs bringing it back with how the world is and the need for content, but it just feels strange. 24 degree Celsius, windows open with a cool breeze in the real world while at the same time I'm taking a character through a winter wonderland ice race.
It's a mash-up of situations and 'feel' for sure. It's not bad but it's ....... Strange.
Rewards are rewards!
So my dailies in STO are to do the first contact event, then the q wonderland race and then an endeavour task or TFO, if any suit me...
It's a mash-up of situations and 'feel' for sure. It's not bad but it's ....... Strange.
Rewards are rewards!
So my dailies in STO are to do the first contact event, then the q wonderland race and then an endeavour task or TFO, if any suit me...
Friday 24 April 2020
UBOAT....
Submarine games are good, I love then. I've had UBoat for a while; Even back when I got it, it was a work in progress. There's been a lot of updates (like this and this) both subtle and obvious and I'm glad about that....
But it's been so long since I last played it I was feeling guilty that I'd bought and then not played it. It's a better game than when it released but it is still a work in progress.
It's been so long since I played the game I decided to do the tutorial again..... only the tutorial is outdated, not recommended by the game and that's a disappointment. Typical that the game isn't ready when I am to play it.
I wanted to get into the game for some immersive(pun intended) fun. As good as the community may be with it's own tutorials and shared information I don't fancy digging into the net for info and those user tutorials, videos etc. Back to the back-burner for another 'while'!
Thursday 23 April 2020
Star Trek Online....
The free Medical themed pack that was given away has a vanity shield that I finally found a home for. I chose to put it on my Fek'Ihri S'Torr Warchip. It's a bright striking look that goes well with the ship. I got to use it in combat for an Endevour that needed Antiproton damage, it's my Antiproton fit so that worked out well.
I've also finalized the current event. Even claiming the XP bonus pool for the sake of it.
I know I've waffled before that I enjoyed the daily.. It's been fun!
I'm a casual gamer, so no surprise to say I'm casual in my take on all things STO but there is a need to improve by tweaking ships/fits/characters/stats. It's an Alice in wonderland rabbit hole, easy to fall into and hard to get out.
The path of clarification and understanding has many combinations and permutations; In some ways information overload, in many other ways re-interpretation. That over time can lead to a lot of bad habit's and incorrect use of information. Why all this waffle? Because the more I learn about fitting/setting up ships/characters in STO the more confused I'm getting. Just when I think I have a handle on whats what there's more information that skewed my thinking. Modules/traits/ships mixing and matching in ways that the meta says is 'the best' but to my amateur eye doesn't.
This week has seen me try to wade through the sage teachings of two youtubers and multiple vids by them in order to comprehend and glean some understanding.
CounterYolo Gaming:
Best Lobi Store Starships (2020) | Star Trek Online
Starship Classes (re)Explained (14 March 2020) | Star Trek Online
Budget Builds: 2020 Edition | Star Trek Online
Timber Wolf:
Free 2 Play experience part 8!!! Star Trek Online
It's been great to see them say why they chose X over Y in ship or module and to see in practical terms what and why they are doing/choosing things. Trying to make all that mesh with my own setup/items/modules/traits, play'style and knowledge is a multiplying compounding confused mess at the moment. Starting from scratch is key for clarity but a pain when it's the 5th time round. Especially when time and motivation is limited. What am I missing, innate in game knowledge that was gifted to players at the dawn of time and never since..... Seems like it at the moment. I've been the reverse side of it from my WoW or Eve Online perspectives, STO still has a lot of mysteries behind it's smoke and mirrors. At least for me right now.
A fleet I'm in is also good with information and explaining; But doing is by far the better teacher. Easy to be told fit A, B and C and go use without the actual know-how as to why. I want the know-how. A lot of things still don't make sense. I find myself on alts copying the setups of meta/youtubers as close as possible and seeing very different results. Starter level XII fit on a T5 ship with X and Y configuration and A, B and C traits and they get 60K dps saying I should as well....... I don't even get that on my main never mind the cookie cutter test fit clone of an alt.
It's a whole other type of journey in the game; Understanding. Maybe the most true Star Trek of interactive themes.
I've also finalized the current event. Even claiming the XP bonus pool for the sake of it.
I know I've waffled before that I enjoyed the daily.. It's been fun!
I'm a casual gamer, so no surprise to say I'm casual in my take on all things STO but there is a need to improve by tweaking ships/fits/characters/stats. It's an Alice in wonderland rabbit hole, easy to fall into and hard to get out.
The path of clarification and understanding has many combinations and permutations; In some ways information overload, in many other ways re-interpretation. That over time can lead to a lot of bad habit's and incorrect use of information. Why all this waffle? Because the more I learn about fitting/setting up ships/characters in STO the more confused I'm getting. Just when I think I have a handle on whats what there's more information that skewed my thinking. Modules/traits/ships mixing and matching in ways that the meta says is 'the best' but to my amateur eye doesn't.
This week has seen me try to wade through the sage teachings of two youtubers and multiple vids by them in order to comprehend and glean some understanding.
CounterYolo Gaming:
Best Lobi Store Starships (2020) | Star Trek Online
Starship Classes (re)Explained (14 March 2020) | Star Trek Online
Budget Builds: 2020 Edition | Star Trek Online
Timber Wolf:
Free 2 Play experience part 8!!! Star Trek Online
It's been great to see them say why they chose X over Y in ship or module and to see in practical terms what and why they are doing/choosing things. Trying to make all that mesh with my own setup/items/modules/traits, play'style and knowledge is a multiplying compounding confused mess at the moment. Starting from scratch is key for clarity but a pain when it's the 5th time round. Especially when time and motivation is limited. What am I missing, innate in game knowledge that was gifted to players at the dawn of time and never since..... Seems like it at the moment. I've been the reverse side of it from my WoW or Eve Online perspectives, STO still has a lot of mysteries behind it's smoke and mirrors. At least for me right now.
A fleet I'm in is also good with information and explaining; But doing is by far the better teacher. Easy to be told fit A, B and C and go use without the actual know-how as to why. I want the know-how. A lot of things still don't make sense. I find myself on alts copying the setups of meta/youtubers as close as possible and seeing very different results. Starter level XII fit on a T5 ship with X and Y configuration and A, B and C traits and they get 60K dps saying I should as well....... I don't even get that on my main never mind the cookie cutter test fit clone of an alt.
It's a whole other type of journey in the game; Understanding. Maybe the most true Star Trek of interactive themes.
Wednesday 22 April 2020
A Plague Tale Innocence....
A Plague Tale Innocence was a game I thought I'd not be interest in. It's not really the kind of game I'm usually into(RPG puzzler ish). Not that I'd much of any real idea about the game beyond the bare basics(Horror adventure). What was a driver for me in getting to play this game was the prolonged good comments about it that were beyond any hype. So with that in mind I saw it was available to download and play on PC via Xbox Ultimate pass. No harm in trying it out just to see for myself.
So after downloading and trying it out I can say I'm really liking it. I've taken a 'normal' level of difficulty in a super casual play-through. The game mechanics and the story drew me in. It all works well.
It's a game that's not made me frustrated at it or it's mechanics; That's not to say I've never repeated sections but that's more down to me than anything else. Like not seeing something that's 'obvious'; Or when a character literally says to look for something which I then ignore and spend 15 minutes wondering how to get past only to restart at a checkpoint and repeat the mistake.... All that and I've also raised the brightness to make stuff more obvious. That may be heresy to some but I'm already at a handicap with this type of game(see missing the obvious comment above). I'm here for the enjoyment not frustration.
Like I said the game works. It's themes and feel make it like a cross between the older Thief games with a side of Warhammer 40k given the inquisition elements. I may not pay to own it but I've been taking my time with it and enjoying it's twists and turns as things pan/play out. Worth giving it a try imho, no regrets there or in promoting it.
The music is likewise great with one tune the floats in the background that reminds me of the blood eagle music from the Vikings TV series.
I'll edit and post a video of each chapter of my gameplay each weekday till the end. Edited to make the story/play-through flow better; No need to see my 20 minute mistakes missing the blindingly obvious. Not to mention the usual escape key moments of human interruptions or feline happenings for that matter(kitten will be kitten).
Tuesday 21 April 2020
Dawn of Man....
With the experience of the latest patch changes to farming being well and truly part of the furniture now; I saw my Northlands village was close to an achievement. Gaining a prestige of 1000 points. Time to get to work on building some great works to gain some final prestige.
Even if they were being built in the middle of nowhere and far from the village.
The village and surrounding area's became littered with cheaper prestige poles/totems and mounds.
Prestige was the main goal and after using up many, many lives in creating those great works(villagers hauling megaliths became hypothermic, dehydrated, starved were killed by predators). I was left scratching my head as to why the prestige value was decreasing instead of increasing.
The reason - All the lives I'd lost in making those great works. Prestige is a combination of all buildings and their state of repair as well as the population and their health. Not just big works for the sake of them but your entire village as a whole.
Lessons learnt. Time to run a village properly(again)!
Even in the best of times a large population was always a problem for me, hovering around the 160 to 180-ish mark in this save was a massive improvement. Taking good care of a villages population and getting a population of 200(and it's achievement) seemed like a more attainable goal. Two birds with one stone. Prestige and population!
So yea, I played and played and played. Overcoming all meaner of weak points, coming out a better, healthier village for it overall.
The last mile is always the longest; And it felt it. Maybe 3 or 4 full years of seasonal cycles with a population in the late 190's and a prestige in the 990's. Each accidental death a massive blow to progress.
Till the right circumstances(birth's, joiners, no deaths) combined into getting both achievements at the same time.
The population hit 200 for a split second which in turn made the prestige hit 1000 and both achievements popped.
So with those achi's done I'm in the top percentiles of the game on GoG. 1.5% have gotten the 1000 prestige points; And 2.2 % the 200 Population. Nice.
Even if they were being built in the middle of nowhere and far from the village.
The village and surrounding area's became littered with cheaper prestige poles/totems and mounds.
Prestige was the main goal and after using up many, many lives in creating those great works(villagers hauling megaliths became hypothermic, dehydrated, starved were killed by predators). I was left scratching my head as to why the prestige value was decreasing instead of increasing.
The reason - All the lives I'd lost in making those great works. Prestige is a combination of all buildings and their state of repair as well as the population and their health. Not just big works for the sake of them but your entire village as a whole.
Lessons learnt. Time to run a village properly(again)!
Even in the best of times a large population was always a problem for me, hovering around the 160 to 180-ish mark in this save was a massive improvement. Taking good care of a villages population and getting a population of 200(and it's achievement) seemed like a more attainable goal. Two birds with one stone. Prestige and population!
So yea, I played and played and played. Overcoming all meaner of weak points, coming out a better, healthier village for it overall.
The last mile is always the longest; And it felt it. Maybe 3 or 4 full years of seasonal cycles with a population in the late 190's and a prestige in the 990's. Each accidental death a massive blow to progress.
Till the right circumstances(birth's, joiners, no deaths) combined into getting both achievements at the same time.
The population hit 200 for a split second which in turn made the prestige hit 1000 and both achievements popped.
So with those achi's done I'm in the top percentiles of the game on GoG. 1.5% have gotten the 1000 prestige points; And 2.2 % the 200 Population. Nice.
Sunday 19 April 2020
Two Point Hospital....
With Pelican Wharf done(and now my new R&D hub) I moved on to Rotting Hill; Which thankfully wasn't as much of a problem as I'd anticipated. All three stars in quick enough succession.
The last of this trio of hospitals is Croquembouche. A name I've heard my wife complain about when she was going through it last year. I'm sure it will make up for all I've found 'easy' with the previous 2!. It's proving to be a pressure pot of cash v's facilities. Productivity is key and so in turn cash to get the right staff and/or train them. I'm nearing the first star but it's an uphill struggle to maintain the percentages while I wait for the number of patients to tick up.
The last of this trio of hospitals is Croquembouche. A name I've heard my wife complain about when she was going through it last year. I'm sure it will make up for all I've found 'easy' with the previous 2!. It's proving to be a pressure pot of cash v's facilities. Productivity is key and so in turn cash to get the right staff and/or train them. I'm nearing the first star but it's an uphill struggle to maintain the percentages while I wait for the number of patients to tick up.
Eve Online....
Day 4 - Nothing new just more drugs.... er.... boosters for the daily 'gift', be it Alpha or Omega.
CCP the official virtual drug pushers. Still auto applied to the character that redeemed it. Today does see it last an hour. I have claimed the 'gift' and in doing so completed the daily increase in skill points... Which I presume will be 'gifted' at the end of the gift phase/campaign. Not that that's really worth doing either but it's 'something'.
I've not redeemed the 'gift' on many other characters then those I've wanted to login and play today; And of those I've trashed the 'gift' on all but the one to test the buff length. Only a logged in character can trash an item form the redeem queue. I could let it expire in the queue but I like to micromanage my assets and it's not one of my assets so is clogging my view and must go. I can't be arsed with the rest of my Alpha hordes; It can all expire.
Imagine in this real world pandemic an in game gift that was based on the medical side, like an in game faction(Sisters of Eve) as a way of both conveying advice/thanks and occupying players free time..... Well done Star Trek Online, that's how you do a freebie.
In Eve terms that's like a free thematic permanent SKIN(for all ships), A free admiralty card in Eve may as well be a free logistics ship to fly. A bridge officer has no comparison in Eve so .... STO has one up on Eve there.. Never mind having bridge officers and ship bridges to see them on, ship and station interiors full stop; Never mind WALKING in those ships, station and planets. Eve has no walking at all these day's.
'Leet' Eve players mock STO so much.... STO has a more complex fitting system than Eve. Traits/abilities on ship and character in combinations far beyond 'just' Eve ship fit and character implants/boosters....
Glad I'm still enjoying years of in game bonus's/buff's and enhancements from STO's lifetime sub(unlike the two collectors editions I bought from Eve). #StopMysteryCodeNeglect
e.g. STO lifetime sub 'gifts' 500 ZEN a month! Imagine a collectors edition of Eve that gifts 500 PLEX a month.... Just saying!
Saturday 18 April 2020
Eve Online....
So...... Day 3 of the daily login 'gifts'.
It was only on the first day that I claimed the gifts on all my accounts; Thinking that it was going to be something good/worth doing. It's not., Second day I didn't. It's really really not worth it. ShÃt system(forced application/temporary) with shÃt items(worse than tutorial level MMO items).
Why post about it.... Because I'm paying for the game again and so in turn am paying for this shÃt experience. Gotta get some value out of it so here I am blogging.
So yea these gifts are bottom of the barrel, low ball, worse than any game tutorial level gear(and a love getting the Eve civilian gear speaking as a collector). What more can I say.....Ah today's 'gifts'
So what glory do I behold in my redeeming queue for today......
A temporary SKIN for a 'basic' T1 frigate for a specific faction.
Again I can't stress enough how pointless these 'gifts' are. Forced, Temporary and useless = meaningless.
I claimed it today on both my mains just to see what they would get. Both got a T1 frigate for a faction they don't use never mind a frigate they've never touched in 12 years of existence. A Probe and a Burst...
Yea....
Just what my 110 Million SP character always wanted.... A temporary SKIN for a basic T1 frigate.
CCP needs to explain this shÃt. The system, their motives etc....
This feeling of being a lab rat is way beyond tiresome.
As for an Alpha character, I checked one, he got the same. A T1 temporary ship SKIN. This time for an Imicus(again someting he has never used).
A long time ago in a CCP presentation there was an idea of implementing a system in game where players could apply colors and preset designs to their ships. It looked amazing as a system. Like in Start Trek online. However it evolved (unlike Star Trek Online) into a means of gaining cash where CCP would sell what hey designed for the ships they picked. I was disappointed that the system would not be in game and swore I'd not pay real cash for a SKIN. I haven't. I have always been left with a pondering question of what that in game system would have been like and what designing a ship SKIN, for my own CORP could have been. Instead we get what CCP decides...
Today an Alpha got this.... Can you tell the difference? In the dark of space could anyone....
Forced, Temporary and useless = meaningless...... Very, very meaningless.
It was only on the first day that I claimed the gifts on all my accounts; Thinking that it was going to be something good/worth doing. It's not., Second day I didn't. It's really really not worth it. ShÃt system(forced application/temporary) with shÃt items(worse than tutorial level MMO items).
Why post about it.... Because I'm paying for the game again and so in turn am paying for this shÃt experience. Gotta get some value out of it so here I am blogging.
So yea these gifts are bottom of the barrel, low ball, worse than any game tutorial level gear(and a love getting the Eve civilian gear speaking as a collector). What more can I say.....Ah today's 'gifts'
So what glory do I behold in my redeeming queue for today......
A temporary SKIN for a 'basic' T1 frigate for a specific faction.
Again I can't stress enough how pointless these 'gifts' are. Forced, Temporary and useless = meaningless.
I claimed it today on both my mains just to see what they would get. Both got a T1 frigate for a faction they don't use never mind a frigate they've never touched in 12 years of existence. A Probe and a Burst...
Yea....
Just what my 110 Million SP character always wanted.... A temporary SKIN for a basic T1 frigate.
CCP needs to explain this shÃt. The system, their motives etc....
This feeling of being a lab rat is way beyond tiresome.
As for an Alpha character, I checked one, he got the same. A T1 temporary ship SKIN. This time for an Imicus(again someting he has never used).
A long time ago in a CCP presentation there was an idea of implementing a system in game where players could apply colors and preset designs to their ships. It looked amazing as a system. Like in Start Trek online. However it evolved (unlike Star Trek Online) into a means of gaining cash where CCP would sell what hey designed for the ships they picked. I was disappointed that the system would not be in game and swore I'd not pay real cash for a SKIN. I haven't. I have always been left with a pondering question of what that in game system would have been like and what designing a ship SKIN, for my own CORP could have been. Instead we get what CCP decides...
Today an Alpha got this.... Can you tell the difference? In the dark of space could anyone....
Forced, Temporary and useless = meaningless...... Very, very meaningless.
Friday 17 April 2020
Eve Online....
So...... Day 2 of the daily login 'gifts'.
I've only checked two so far but had to post....
Alpha:
Omega:
But wait, what I thought were original blueprints are actually 1 run blueprint copies.
Omega and Alpha both get a 1 run blueprint copy.
A 1 run T1 blueprint copy.
A 1 run,
T1,
blueprint copy,
with no time or material research at all.
What in the actual F**K do I need that sh*t for. Absolutely nothing.
Even if they were both Original blueprints, had time and material research levels I'd have one use - but them in storage.
Who things this sh*t up..... really .....
A 1 run T1 blueprint copy. What F**king genius was paid 40k a year to come up with that!
In all seriousness... Why would you gift an Omega(or anyone) with a 1 run T1 blueprint copy....
Tutorial level items.... WHO.... WHY..... WTF.......
I've only checked two so far but had to post....
Alpha:
Omega:
But wait, what I thought were original blueprints are actually 1 run blueprint copies.
Omega and Alpha both get a 1 run blueprint copy.
A 1 run T1 blueprint copy.
A 1 run,
T1,
blueprint copy,
with no time or material research at all.
What in the actual F**K do I need that sh*t for. Absolutely nothing.
Even if they were both Original blueprints, had time and material research levels I'd have one use - but them in storage.
Who things this sh*t up..... really .....
A 1 run T1 blueprint copy. What F**king genius was paid 40k a year to come up with that!
In all seriousness... Why would you gift an Omega(or anyone) with a 1 run T1 blueprint copy....
Tutorial level items.... WHO.... WHY..... WTF.......
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