I liked to post in the Friday fun threads what video games I've been playing recently. Sometimes I recommend the games, and sometimes I ask for recommendations.
I've always enjoyed talking about video games. But themotte has made me picky over the years. Its not just talk that I want. It is thinking, understanding, and discussion of video games that interest me. Video games are mostly a mental activity for me, and so diving into a mental discussion about them often enhances my enjoyment.
I didn't post in the Friday fun thread about what I've been playing, so I'll post now. And I'd like to know what others are playing.
The post I would have written:
This week I've been hooked on factorio (again). I've done many playthroughs of this game. A few vanilla playthroughs (some multiplayer and some not). A krastorio 1 mod playthrough. A few different attempts at the bob's, angels, and seablock mods (never could get into them, too much work, and not enough reward). A krastorio II and space exploration playthrough.
This week though I have been playing with just the space exploration mod. There has been some hints in blogposts that factorio might have an expansion, and that the expansion might be related to the space exploration mod. I thought I'd try and wait for that expansion. But my patience has failed me.
Playing space exploration without the krastorio II mod has been surprisingly way more different than I would have expected. The major difference in my mind is that krastorio II makes the starting world gameplay last too long, and gives too many advantages. I never thought this would be a real problem, but I've never managed to truly beat a space exploration game before. And I realized part of the problem is that krastorio II ties you to the homeworld too strongly. While space exploration on its own forces you off planet just for the sake of some quality of life improvements. For example, you have to go to space in order to get the logistics network chests. The tech is not unlockable based on ground items alone. I don't remember if krastorio II mod combination forced me to go to space, but I do remember that the belt inserters made so many logists aspects so much simpler that the need for drone based logistics didn't seem as pressing. There were also special ground based fabricator buildings for Krastorio II that were larger and much faster (matching the space based ones). But with just the space exploration mod I'm realizing there is an intentional difference. Either you can choose land based production to get productivity bonuses. (and usually the first steps in refinement for special resources). Or you can choose space based production for speed bonuses.
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Notes -
Recently, I have been attempting to learn Dominions 5: Warriors of the Faith.
Dominions is a turn based fantasy strategy game. It can be best summised as a bizarre mix of Heroes of Might and Magic and Risk, with a DF-esque combat system that models limb damage and such. In it, you play as one of many Pretender Gods worshipped solely by a single nation, trying to banish the other Pretender Gods and occupy the place of the Pantokrator, the God of All Gods, the creator of the Universe, whose empty celestial seat and the resulting power vacuum is the trigger of the conflict. To do this, you must either kill off the other nations through traditional violence or capture a number of red chairs called "Thrones of Ascension" scattered throughout the map. Alternatively, you may spread your religion so hard that your opponents fade out existence through not being worshipped any longer, as this universe shares Warhammer logic where a God is only as powerful as the number of people that believe in them.
Dominions has a reputation for being incredibly complicated with a near vertical learning curve. Having played it for a dozen or so hours now, I would not say that the core game is complicated. What makes Dominions complicated is the sheer amount of content in it and the way it intersects with each other. You have three different time periods to chose from, each with their own nations and theme and each period holds roughly two dozen nations. On top of that, you must design a pretender god, which again has countless designs to choose from (you can be anything from a simple wizard seeking Godhood to a Dragon to a Zeus-like figure or a giant tree, or possibly even this thing) and stat them out like they're a D&D character. Then you have battles - battles in this game are not real-time, nor are they turn based. Instead, you setup your commanders and groups of soldiers with specific, ordered commands and the battle plays out based upon those commands. This is not Endless Space: giving your units the correct orders is the difference between having your mage rout the enemy army with a cloud of poisonous gas and having him kill your units instead.
My current nation of choice is Abysia. They are lava-men with incredibly tanky units and a range of mage-priests skilled in Fire, Blood and Astral (a mixture of astronomic and lovecraftian horror) magic. With these powers combined, you can expand very quickly at the start of the game, rolling over the weak and pathetic independent provinces while taking very few or no losses. Unfortunately, they are hard countered by the existence of rain, and I'll probably need to branch out if I ever go online.
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