BF 1....

A Casual Carebear

GRW....

Getting back to Ghost Recon for the new mission, I found myself poking around the menu's. Apparently I had prestige points to spend. There wasn't anything fantastic unlocked in the 8 or so crates I got. In opening them I passed the requirement for a free non prestige crate. I went for the spec ops instead of the ghost war version. But I think they both offer the same items these day's.

"meh":

STO....

The chimbo event is ploughing on (pun intended!). After doing the daily and adding some vouchers bought with lobi crystals, the winter ship project is not at 50%.

The ship looks cool but the more I see about the stats the more I need to see it on a character, fitted and practical.

GRW....

Last night I decided on the spur of the moment to give the last section of the latest "special" mission a go again.

I started off by crashing a helicopter in a very noobish way. Thankfully the mission auto restarts you 400 meters from the objective. So I ran. Better safe than sorry.

As things went I died about 5 times. Tier one is a pain with being one shotedededed. Lucky for me after every second death I must have gotten a kill in to "reset" the auto fail mission death counter; So I got there in the end.  Running out in front of traffic didn't help either. What can I say it was 3 a.m.

Clearing the town and getting to the truck portion of the mission was better than before.
As it turns out the ramp I thought I was aiming for was not the ramp I was supposed to be aiming for.

Ramp I was aiming for:

Ramp I should have aimed for:

It's the difference in description with U.S English language...

I was looking for the first description when I should have been looking for the second. Sill European that I am.

Less Evel Knievel, more road safety. Never through I say that about GRW.

Anyway barreling a 'dirty bomb' truck down the hill is a far superior way of getting to the "real" jump off point. Which I was wrong about(the jump); They give a large off the cliff gantry(ramp apparently, obviously!!!) and an automatic bailout and roll for your character.

Classy exit

Teammates on the other hand go down with the ship.

He'll be back!!

Glad that mission's done with.

As for the predator camo, it has the cool factor but practically you still get spotted at about the same distance from an enemy as you sneak about.



The mission:

BF1....

Another decent match(Spot the sore looser).

I did find a moment a little funny, trading grenades with the enemy...

Here we see the assault class finding an open nesting spot. The ammo crate provides an excellent  source of grenades. Lets watch the assault:

A Casual Carebear

Epic Games....

I'm not sure about this new Epic Games service/launcher... Not for it's content but for it's existence; So many launchers now. I can understand why/how dev's get more money/their cut. But as a user this is getting annoying.

But I've registered with Epic games, downloaded the launcher and claimed the first free game, Subnautica(free till the 27th). Super Meatboy is available later in the month(from the 28th to the 10th of Jan).

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/

Free is free. I'd already bought Subnautica on Steam ages ago. I've already claimed Super Meatboy on Xbox as part of the games with gold, also ages ago. So I've claimed them for the sake of claiming them.

Looking at the Epic Games lineup of titles there's a few that interest me. Both Rebel Galaxy Outlaw and Maneater are already on my radar. Journey is of interest as well. But I'll be waiting to see what prices are like. Even if it's cheaper on Epic I might still go on Steam for the simple reason that it's all in one place. With 95% of my other games. The discouns will need to be worth it.
The only other significant launcher I'd go for is GoG and it's DRM free software, for the reason that the games are "yours" as an installable. That's a massive plus for me. Looking at my shelves I still have a collection of discs from the 90's and 2000's. Replayability and compatibility is a big thing for a PC gamer like me(not to mention old hardware in storage).

Each companies launcher is good until it all goes bang, then I'll be annoyed by not having access to the software I paid for.

Steam needs to step up and nip this proliferation in the bud, I'm speaking as a user of course. I suppose this is a lesson for Steam. It's not safe up on that pedestal.

Cities: Skylines....

That's really quiet nice (and all the fixes don't hurt either)....

Holiday Surprise Patch: Full Notes

Free is Free....

Two freebies I've seen today, grab'em while you can:


On GOG.com, Full Throttle Remastered 


On Humble, LEGO The Hobbit  Steam Key.

GRW....

The new Future Soldier mission is a real PITA. I've been frustrated by a few things but doing this mission as a Tier 1 is harsh. There's too much that goes off track, too much inconsistent action around the mission objectives, that frustrates. Like trying to defend a friendly only to have him run over by a swerving civilian car. Or simply by doing it at night. 

I tried the missions yesterday and got through the heli and train-yard parts. I've cleared and defended the town successfully with no hiccups once tonight. As for the truck part after that, that truly sucks. Drive from A to B sounds simple but even that last (truck) part is naff. You have to jump from the truck as it goes over a cliff. That act(jumping) alone can be so random, you try to jump and the chute doesn't open, get run over by the truck, or just plain hit a rock at the wrong time... etc... etc. 

A Casual Carebear

I tried it till I got fed-up asking myself where was the fun. I don't see me going back to it any time soon....  Unless I do it on my 3rd character who isn't tier 1.

What I find more annoying than the gamplay of this mission is the "younger" ghost Kozak, what an aggravating little pr*ck!

Battletech....

With most of the Flashpoint content and reputations "done" I'm back to faffing about with the normal missions. Mainly to try and gear up my new and now superfluous (medium now heavy) 4th lance.

The very idea of a 4th lance was to get a lance of medium mech's specifically to do the 'special' Flashpoint missions; Where speed was needed to reach objectives. Also the new mech's added were mediums. In retrospect my 3rd Stalker lance could do the job better, and as it turns out I dislike melee mech combat. As if those two points overall weren't enough to ditch the lance. I'm not happy with them individually; Each pilot is not 100% how I'd like them setup and unlike the rest of my lance's, this lance is a mix of mech's. All of which don't really compliment the others. All very very ad hoc.

To help smooth things out for the longterm I'm mulling over the idea of replacing the mech's so that they're all in Stalkers. But that's why I setup the 3rd lance (so long ago now). Hence the 4th lance being even more unneeded. Yet I don't want to waste the training, time, effort etc. 

Cashflow isn't a problem regarding their upkeep etc. So where does that leave them? Use and abuse? Expendables? All of the above! The lance to faff about with from now on.....

It's all micromanagement fun. 

Anyway I'm back to faffin about in normal missions. Which do seem a bit more unpredictable since Flashpoint came out (like this and this). Thankfully save's save the day. Even redoing the mission twice on my second best lance I needed to being in my A team, Atlas's to the rescue. At that it still need a reload at one point. This mission shouldn't have been that hard!!

A Casual Carebear

Battletech: Kung Fu....

I know the Flashpoint expansion is all about melee mech combat, but this takes the biscuit!

He, kicked, my mech, in the leg...

Head destroyed, Lethal damage; A genuine WTF moment.

The leg!!!!!

A Casual Carebear

Battletech....

"Lethal damage... Pilot incapacitated..." You don't say!!

Time for a reload or a redo!!

A Casual Carebear

GRW....

 

The Year 2: SPECIAL OPERATION 3 Patch is out. And while it's more cosmetic/visual changes are of no interest to me; General improvements and the PvE side seem to be on point.

The theme of future soldier isn't a surprise but it's not a version I'm into.

Once it's updated I'll give it a go on my main and maybe on my alts. I'm sure I'll get a video of that at some stage. Maybe on my main to show how rusty at the game I am now. It's been a whiiiiiiiiiiiile.

Star Trek Online....

Done out of curiosity...

....meh....

Eve Online....

The new(ish) rewards/redeem screen shows the day's of gifts.... All laid out and visible:

And the only thing's I want from the Omega side of the gifts, as expected are the SKINs. Specifically the Gnosis, Drake and Praxis "Icecloud" versions. Maybe more Gnosis versions than the other two, more drake than Praxis. Praxis will only be 3 SKINs......

Dead Cells....

The most cells I've collected as well as the most I've lost in one run.... 

Harsh, painful... 

Next run....

Eve Online....

CCP has seen fit to grace the players of Eve Online with "freebies" this year(11th to 28th Dec). Makes a change from not giving anything at all. Lets hope it's a trend that stay's a trend and doesn't take a gap year again.

CCP always seems to do things that make them endearing and then does something else that makes a player fly off the handle with rage.

I've not been playing Eve at all, maybe a quick login for my PvP Alpha which is now a PvE character. To get into PvP with a group takes time, effort and trust all in the long term. Besides I don't fancy being a meat shield /distraction to gain that trust etc etc. PvE casual, I is what I is.
Oh and my other (dedicated) Alpha, the PvE character, is all set to jump to null to chill in a quiet corner to belt rat and mine, super casual......

That is if I could be bothered to get grilled in a corp interview for the alliance I'm looking at. Meh.
Better things to play. "That's just the way it is".

I've not touched my other characters, these crimbo gifts will allow them to get a login at the very least. I'm not concerned about the various extra gifts being given to Omega characters, I'm sure they will be flooded on the market over crimbo. Indeed "Operation Permafrost", the event to go with the season is I'm sure going to be inundated with players all screwing each other over for the rewards. Best of luck to them, I'll buy the rewards I like. Not that I'm after much at all. I'll oggle the "Chromodynamic Candy SKINs" to see what takes my fancy. Boosters and accelerators hold no interest for me. I do like the clothing. Less so the face markings/things.
The rest is all more "meh" so far. With 13 day's of gifts I'm sure there will be some novelty items that will be worth it. And not just 10 day's of free fireworks....

Battletech....

Before the expansion I'd never really paid that much attention to the reputations. Now that there's greater reward for better reputation with a faction; I've raised all of them bar one. Pirates. They were -100 in rep from the start. Having seen the Black-markets I've not renewed the "fee", I don't think it's worth it.

I've not decided to pick any particular faction to ally with yet.

Getting each up to max required some destruction as well as creation of rep points. +12 with one would decrease another, then I'd fight for the one that lost rep; Usually against pirates to gain rep again. Pirates were the plaster I could use to gain rep back. Everyone (factions) hates pirates.

I like this max level non-allied middle ground. 

I'll need to do a bit more research into the faction stores to see if they are worth it. I'd have to see a lot of uncommon, rare even star league era gear and mech's to make me change my mind.

When you pick an ally you seem to get at least 2 others to ally with as well. So in reality when you ally with one faction, you may as well ally with their 'friends'.

Unless you run with the pirate faction, then it's you against the universe.

I wonder how I'd actually make up for all that pirate rep bashing.... 

BF 1....

More fortress it is....

A Casual Carebear

BF 5....

BF 5 seems to be being pushed hard for sales, discounted price just after release, adverts for it everywhere. 

I've still no interest in moving from BF1 to 5.

Worth a watch:

 TheWarOwl