Re: OT - Favorite games
 

The main thing for me is the amount of time I'd spend adding that to Dominions, especially as LSN games generally have more turns/day that Dom, where it's more like days/turn. The only time in my life that I've ever been completely on top of my email was when I was playing LSN.

LSN convinced me to stop trying to like RTS games. I don't actually hate them - I played a lot of Starcraft as an undergrad - but I really don't like the way they combine strategy and tactics (and "twitch"). They almost play like high-level strategy: like Dom, where you create formations and give orders and then have to see how things play out, BUT victory depends on intervening and micromanaging individual units at "videogame" speed.

On that note, Positech is coming out with a game that I'm really looking forward to: <a href="http://www.positech.co.uk/gratuitousspacebattles/">Gratuitous Space Battles</a>

Dom-style strategic battles combined with baroque (loosely MOO 2-like) spaceshship design. :heart:

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Wow, that looks intriguing! I'll be keeping an eye out for that one. Thanks for the link! The multiplayer sounds kind of sketchy, but perhaps it will evolve with enough fan feedback. I don't really like this trend of "Spore-like" share-your-accomplishments "multiplayer". The great new strategy game "Dawn of Discovery" has this, too, and it's a LAME alternative to actually playing a human.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

My new computer suffered a bit in a thunderstorm so I decided to try something oldschool. System Shock 1, to be precise. It's a scary, scary game!

I don't know why. It's not the graphics, which are poor. It's not the gameplay (I have plenty of ammo and keep finding better weapons), I haven't encountered any surprise twists yet, and it's not the music either. Still., being in the elevator, listening to the elevator music, saving the game (twice, to different slots, to make sure), getting ready to go into a new floor, is for some reason very nerve-wracking experience. And then you peek at the corridor with the electronic eyes-in-the-back machine, and see nothing, and then the nothing kills you. :o

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Im back to playing Ultima Online (on free servers).
You can download the latest version of the Ultima Online game legally from their official server (blizzard.com) and then point it to go to one of the over 300 free servers. There are MANY variations.

The one Im in love with (and host the domain for) is Shazzy's Shard.
http://www.ShazzyShard.org
Its adult run (husband and wife team), down on PvP, lots of added materials and crafts, hard gains. What I love thats different than the official servers is no crowds of Pkillers, and no crowds period. When I build my house in the wilderness its REALLY in the wilderness. No neighbors.

Gandalf Parker
--
"A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff. " - George Carlin, r.i.p
I didnt know GC played Ultima Online.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Blizzard owns UO these days? I went to Blizzard.com and looked around but saw no references to UO. Do you have a link to the client download? I had way too much fun playing UO in beta and release and would consider giving it another try to introduce my wife to it. Shazzy's Shard does look cool.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Sorry I meant EA.
For Shazzys we use Mondains Legacy version of UO.
You can get it here and download a manual also.
http://www.uo.com/uoml/

The software for hosting an Ultima Online world is just finishing up a version that can run on Ubuntu Linux servers which has me drooling. I understand that WoW has started to create player servers also but from what I gather they are still abit buggy. Worth watching though. Id also love to see player servers for StarWars Galaxy, and for City of Heroes.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

This idea of player servers is very interesting and smart for IP owners. The idea of a player-owned SWG server is appealing, if it's the original version. I don't think I'd be too interested in the more recent vintage. And player servers for WoW? I can't imagine a world in which Blizzard would ever authorize that. Remember how actively they went after the battle.net clones? Will wonders never cease?

My wife and I have been in contact with Shazzy about getting set up, I'm DL'ing the ML client as we speak. She said something about getting Razor, too. Not sure what that is.

Maybe we'll see you there! Sounds like a cool environment.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Razor is a front-end that people like. You can click on razor and it will open UO for you going to Shazzy. But since its "in between" you and the UO program it can do helpful things like provide easy access to more options, count things in your backpack and display it so you know if you are running out of something (like arrows), auto-actions (like picking up arrows on the ground from misses, or buying them anytime you click on a vendor), and create some really useful macros for some of the more irritating re-occurring actions.

You also want to be sure and download Shazzy's hues file and unzip it. then move it from the subdir it creates to the UO directory. That has some specific colors for some of the things Shazzy has programmed into the game. For instance, your new character will appear in the town of New Haven. If the Donations Chest there is all black then you need the hues file to make it a pretty green.

Gandalf Parker
--
Absolute power corrupts absolutely, virtual power is almost as good.
Ultimate Virtual Power dances on the edge of sanity.
I AM AN ULTIMA ONLINE GOD

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Omg, I have nothing but the fondest memories of System Shock 1. It had some of the greatest moments in gaming computing history. Talk about personality, after all these years I *still* remember Shodan.

There was this one scene when I killed some of Shodan's minions. It was a brutal battle, and it was one that started off somewhat half-heartedly but developed into a desperate fight that left Shodan completely mystified, wondering what she had run into. I'll never forget the moments after the battle when the dust was settling and she said, in her stuttering voice, ... "wh...wh...who *are* you"? I still get chills thinking about it.

Great game. One of the best.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Thankfully I could stop myself reading after "there was this one time I". I'll get back to you once I finish the game. :D