Tharsis....

How about them voids eh...?

Sea of Thieves....

I'm a fan of Sea of Thieves from the moment I heard about it. It's a game that hits all the right notes in look and feel.

The more I hear about it the more I am both eager and uneasy.

For the most part I play MMO's as a solo casual carebear. SoT has shown with it's content that it can be played solo. Yet I'm progressively feeling more uneasy about the game that I can't put my finger on.... I think that feeling was slapped across my face recently when I saw gameplay footage where a youtuber and a friend were completely destroyed and robbed by a larger crew. That's the game and that's all well and good but being solo a lot and getting bitch slapped all the time can tire quickly. 

Don't be a solo carebear I hear you say... Well let me say that experience in dealing with some gamers in a sandbox can be even worse for me than being ganked all the time. I'd rather have my sanity. I'm sure I could keep going until I join a crew I fit in well with but those a few and far between. There are no guarantees.... This games community will be the games community. It will be interesting to see what the dominant outlook of groups will be.... helpful .... hurtful....

Being cross platform should help the playerbase as a whole. I guess I just need to hold off diving in headlong and maybe wait and see how things turn out. 

Sea of Thieves

Blast from the past....

It's been a while since I played the old Close Combat games. My last look at the second game, third game and the fourth game has been a while ago. The original CD's still run/install on modern pc's but I saw the series in a sale on gog.com.  At less than €4.50 per game and with some extra cash off (gog wallet from previous purchases) they were even cheaper so proved hard to pass up. CD's fail and OS's change after all. It's nice to have a version that is 'supported' in some long term way without self help/modding or fooling about.

https://www.gog.com/game/close_combat_2_a_bridge_too_far
https://www.gog.com/game/close_combat_3_the_russian_front
https://www.gog.com/game/close_combat_4_the_battle_of_the_bulge

Moving my old saved game/campaign info under the new versions worked flawlessly.

Some more minor nostalgic gameplay incoming.... As if I needed more distractions from the main games I want to finish....

Casual Carebear

This is the Police....

I've been playing a bit of This is the Police. It's a noir-ish police management sim, kind of.....  It's a no pressure game, Noir story based narration that makes for a different kind of sim, in a good way.  I'm enjoying it so far. I've also seen that there is a follow up game; I wonder if it links characters and their choices made from one game to the other. Best not to spoil it for myself ...yet.

Do I want the chief to retire with his half a million...? How far will the rules be bent to get there......? Will he get there at all? I couldn't possibly comment on an ongoing investigation.

Many A True Nerd

Off topic......

I feel like some wafflin..... Maybe not a good thing as I haven't slept properly in two day's.... (shakes fist @) Insomnia (not Insomnia).

Over the last few years I've taken more on an interest in watching expat youtubers living in other countries. Mainly out of interest for seeing those countries through the view of outsiders.
Like: Kyde and Eric, Abroad in Japan, vagabrothers, serpentza, ADVChina....

This lead onto seeing what expat/vloggers were in Ireland and seeing what they were saying about my country.

Not bad looking for late December..... But the sea breeze was "baltic".

While it's easy to find a lot of positive video's I also wanted to mention or add vloggers who had overall negative stories/experiences. All in the name of balance for this post.
What I found was a lot of either sarcastic or (imho) extreme/coached over-exaggerated political or diva bullshit. Linking and listing views like that can be nonconstructive.

Nothing can change minds more than stating political or religious views. I've witnessed a lot of online friends who were the best of friends until views were aired. I'm not trying to be in any way judgmental.

There is a difference in someone not getting something they personally prefer than whats actually done/available in a foreign country. Never-mind showing more 'hardline' views/opinions. Anyway I'm getting away from my point. That being that I can't find any link to a 'proper' vlogger who had 'constructive  criticism' about coming to Ireland and having their experience be bad overall. Not finding any should be a good thing right.....

Watching a person saying something about the country I live in and that I know to be skewed or wrong; Then I have to keep that skew in mind when I see that person say other stuff about other countries. Which broadly leads on to considering if I should even bother watching anything that person does if they are obviously "skewed". It also leads onto questioning if that vlogger is representative of their own home country.

This has all just becoming very over thought, and "skewed" in m y own way perhaps.

Watching vloggers should all be about entertainment..... Informative entertainment....

I'm biased, I love the country I was born into(not to say there are no flaws, there are some big ones). So with lots of perspectives and my own bias I do realise that 'Self praise is no praise.....', so here are some of those vloggers I watched and their experiences that I found interesting about this country and about their journeys(short and long-term).

vagabrothers   :   Ireland vlog series

Leigh-Anne Marie   :   SPONTANEOUS TRIP TO IRELAND!

Cory Miller   :   Living in Ireland as an American

Wanted Adventure   :   AMERICAN IN IRELAND!! 5 Surprising Things I Noticed

Chas Bruns   :  Travel Dirt Cheap - Ireland

Kate Mulgrew LOVES Ireland


Well this blog post wouldn't be full of waffle without some more waffle and links.
So here are some that provide history, insight, and some 'traditional'/'folk' ish music.
Just in case anyone is still reading and interested.......


Language:

Ciara Ní É - WTF!? Irish words used around the world!

Benny Lewis - 9 Reasons to Learn Irish



A 3 part documentary series on the foundation of the state done for the centenary:

Pt1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO92_qHEIgM

Pt2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf7feoyT-ys

Pt3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rugberXCrmw



And another on Micheal Collins:

Michael Collins - Irish History Documentary



And a pick of some more well known....  'traditional'/'folk'ish toe-tapping music:

Rocky Road to Dublin - The Dubliners

Bean Phaidin - Planxty

Arthur McBride - Planxty

Oró Sé do Bheath Abhaile

Ordinary Man - Christy Moore

Smoke & Strong Whiskey - Christy Moore

Viva la Quinta Brigada -  Christy Moore

The Fureys- The Green Fields Of France



That feels like enough wafflin for now..... Back to the 'ol gaming posts ;)

Tharsis....

In playing more Tharsis I've realized that it's much more of an RNG nightmare than I thought. But I knew it was and I still bought it and I'm still playing it despite being hammered with such 'bad luck' it would make you throw real dice out the window. 

It's the room effects that come with the RNG that can compound the situation. Like having a room with three void rolls; Not only are you hoping for the best of 1 to 3 (3) but you wish that you could roll a 5 or 6 to help repair that room. Only to have all your dice roll over to all go void and disappear with no hope of a re-roll. Then again if everything were to go correctly and luckily the game would be over in 6 turns....

One more try with the harsher conditions.... 

STO....

Those are some interesting new ship additions coming to STO....

STO....

The events in STO are long, thankfully. It allows you to take your time with them. It gives a lot of leeway where you don't need to do the dailies daily. Even when you've finished and claimed the event rewards, that leeway lets you do the 'dailies' to add some more bonus's, like extra reputation marks or novelty items such as character emotes or currencies.

I keep finding myself promoting the benefits within the game... Yet every time there is a sale on the "lifetime" promo I never get it... Its not a cash thing. If I'd already gotten it I know I'd have benefited greatly...... Maybe in the next promo. The free version is still a great experience.

A compare video still relevant:

Justice Gaming

Hitman....

That final run where it all worked out....

Casual Carebear

Hitman....

A few examples of what went wrong.....


Wrong twin, being furthest away from the coin drop:

Wrong Guard set:

He heard that..... really?!?!
Coin down the tunnel, and the correct twin at the entrance, and this guard is the chosen one to investigate!

Why would that guard.... why....

STO....

With the full reward set and a few extra tweaks to the ship and bridge crew I'm getting the hang of the Denorios-class T6 ship. It's still a glass cannon in my book but handle it well and don't charge in head first and it can pump out a lot of dps. Getting the ship mastery levels up will help so I'll be doing a lot more red alerts to boost it.

I'm liking this ship more than another small fast ship I messed about with, the T5u Tholian Meshweaver Escort(here and here). I'm enjoying this change of ship/tactics. How long that will last after I've leveled up the mastery who knows but it's fun all the same. 

Hitman....

It seems that the best strategy for a suit only silent assassin take down of The Twins is to remove the guards with dropped items and then distract the correct twin target for an unseen kill, with an easy hide of the body.

There are two places that seem to be popular for ease of accessibility in setting up that ambush. The square with the well(nefty018) and the far pier(MrFreeze2244, BernardoOne).

I opted for the far pier take down. For me this took about 5 or 6 tries. Disaster usually by throwing the remote explosives too far or distracting the wrong guards or the wrong twin being distracted with the coins. So a small annoyance(s) leading to needing a redo. It all worked out in the end.

Two for the weekend....

First is the re-release Elusive Target out tomorrow.

The second is the new challenge for Ghost Recon.

No crate rewards but I feel the need for the challenge and a return to the game....

Hitman....

The next Elusive target is set to hit this coming Friday....

The correct twin to kill has a gold wrist watch. A tricky target to kill as you can't even subdue the other brother let alone kill both.

The original release saw MrFreeze2244 complete the task with a very specific setup/way not too easy to replicate.

I'm sure there have been changes to this re-release of The Twin. will be redoing a video on this re-release version so I might wait and see what he comes up with before attempting it. Especially as I'd like it to be another silent assassin suit only take down.

WoW....

I've been keeping an eye on the news of the next wow expansion due out this October. My waning interest in the game over the last two years can only be rekindled by something big. In the new expansion I don't see that new big hook that will reel me back to the game. Every time I think about the game and the upcoming expansion I keep thinking of what the classic servers will be....

I don't like that the expansion is grind heavy, reputation grind heavy let alone that you need reputations to unlock the allied races. Nor the fact that you don't seem to get any more free spaces per server/realm. The more I hear the more I'm off-put by the expansion. That's not to say that it wont' be good story telling, graphically splendid or add good updates to the game. But the more things change the more they stay the same. Grinding for the same of grinding isn't for me any more, not in wow. If I can have a maxed out level 60 "classic" wow I'd feel more invested long term, and that feels a lot better of a situation to be in. At least for me.....

For the best news:

BellularGaming

Taliesin & Evitel Do Games

STO....

That's a hefty downtime for tomorrow.

The patch notes are small enough so there must be extra work on their servers.

-

There was an another interesting Priority One Podcast, including STO's lead systems designer Jeremy Randall.

-

I've also got to do the last daily and finish up the reputation to claim the event ship. With the Bajoran Impulse engine reward due next week; I filled in the rest of the gear I had from the rewards/ship claim and plenty of cheap enough exchange items.

It's a fast ship, with a very quick turn rate. And the new experimental weapon on the ship is 'the' best of the few choices out there.
I upgraded the original to a mark XIV and placed it on my "main" ship. The Vorgon escort. My character is overly comfortable in that ship.
However the new Interceptor is, at least in my limited testing, fragile. No headlong rushing into group content. I found myself comparing it to the Tholian web ship, small, agile and able. More testing needed.

Tharsis....

 

With a sale on Gog.com a few day's ago I picked up some games for next to nothing. One of them being Tharsis(Tharsis on GOG.com). Bad move for me as it adds to the list of games to play... but fun, enjoyment and the need to try something else new yet short.....

Some destructive ends are faster than others.

The game is RNG heavy, no surprise given it's a dice game. RNG has not been kind to me so far but not bad enough to stop me from going forward. A game well worth a look.

I first saw the game two years ago with a small playthrough on Many A True Nerd's channel.

Many A True Nerd

Trailer:

GOG.com

I do like the games soundtrack:

STO....

Another two day's and I'll be able to claim the event ship. In preparation I was looking up module fit information and came across a great video on the subject worth a share:

Timber Wolf

Freebie....

Cortex Command.

It may be free for the weekend (once claimed it will remain free in your steam library). 

Is it any good? I have no idea, the reviews are mixed. But it does seem interesting. I have no idea if/when I'll install it.....

Vid from 2014.......

NeosForme

GRW....

I got to complete the latest challenge sooner than expected....

I like the new crate system as a reward.

Step one needed a a stealthy approach, sync shots are king followed by (for me) planting C4 and blowing up the ammo locations as I left the base (feeling like a boss as I pressed the button).

Step two was easy to do with C4 laid on a road ahead of a convoy. Each C4 being outside the range of the next (for about 4 charges). Then blowing up the entire convoy reaches inside the line of charges.

Step Three was again more sync shot sniping. Thankfully the farm is overlooked by a nice hillside to perch on.