zigzag

zigzag

Joined Member # 133481
2 Posts 355 Replies 1,183 Reputation
Reply to Stockpiling Sucks in WOM Ideas Elemental Forums

[quote]You folks all realize that un-utilized assets cannot be stored indefinitely, right? On a timescale consisting of years, everything other than stone or metals will decompose in a relatively short number of turns.[/quote] Magic. [quote]Furthermore, having resources stock up indefinitely rewards players who do nothing other than hit the end turn button, and penalizes those who are active about using their resources. The lazy should never be rewarded over the

32 Replies 18,292 Views
Reply to Stockpiling Sucks in WOM Ideas Elemental Forums

I'm not convinced that there's that much between flow and stockpiling resource models. There are positive and negative examples on both sides. What makes or breaks the system isn't the model, but its implementation (surrounding mechanics, e.g. pay-as-you-go vs. pay-up-front). I prefer the stockpiling model because it does insulate production from resource control -- although, obviously, there should be limits -- but I'm willing to concede that certain mechanics can be added to a flow sy

32 Replies 18,292 Views
Reply to Tactical Battles -- How to make them the bestest! in WOM Ideas Elemental Forums

What exactly would macros be used for in a strategy game? (That hotkeys wouldn't already be used for?) I can't think that I've ever found myself needing this in a strategy game, especially one as slow paced as Elemental's tactical game will be. [quote]And in regards to HOMM specifically, the ability to constantly increase the number of units of the same type in an army is, in my opinion, a horrible balance decision. Since adding units effectively adds to the hitpoints and damage of th

27 Replies 35,154 Views
Reply to Top 25 Games of the Decade [Results are In!] in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

[quote]I don't miss understand you. I know WoW is the MMO with the largest player base in history. However it's going the same way all otehr MMOs of it's type has been goign after 4 years. It's going away slowly. Sure it will take longer for WoW to go away and phase out compared to other MMOs who has already gone or are still going away.[/quote] Yeah, but shelf-life doesn't matter that much when the disparity in player base is as large as it is. EVE isn't even within an

185 Replies 475,790 Views
Reply to Will America always be a superpower? in Everything Else Elemental Forums

[quote]So taking political science or playing a video game makes you liberal? That makes no sense. And the conservative party doesn't seem to be overly concerned with international security or economics... only blocking whatever the opposing party tries to achieve.[/quote] Nope. Correlation and causation and all that. Those groups just happen to be more liberal than not. (Going by the American spectrum.) The economics and international security comment was based on my personal

596 Replies 1,750,662 Views
Reply to Will America always be a superpower? in Everything Else Elemental Forums

[quote]Based on American politics (he's the American President, not a member of Labour), he is certainly not a centrist.[/quote] Obviously not. I don't think that anyone would argue that Obama is a centrist with respect to other American politicians. [quote]China wont pose a threat to the US position in the world til it learns to treat its 1 billion people better.[/quote] US defense analysts disagree (although they might be motivated by the need to secure funding).

596 Replies 1,750,662 Views
Reply to Will America always be a superpower? in Everything Else Elemental Forums

[quote]yeah, with the people who've taken political science on one side and the people who play WOW during class on the other, lol.[/quote] What exactly is this supposed to mean? Both are more likely to be 'liberal', unless the people who've taken political science also focus on international security or economics.

596 Replies 1,750,662 Views
Reply to Collision handling in Continuously turn based Tactical combat in War of Magic Elemental Forums

[quote]quite frankly see traditional turn-based combat as a limitation of the hardware and programming knowledge. We couldn't adequately handle multiple units doing something at the same time very well, so we didn't try. I understand some of the nostalgic allure of traditional turns, but I don't want it anymore. I would personally be happy if Elemental were nearly identical to MoM in all ways except this. We can do better.[/quote] You're right... time to turn i

14 Replies 45,806 Views
Reply to Commonwealth Of Nations Vs USA, Who would win? in Everything Else Elemental Forums

Silly question. Both the USA/Commonwealth (esp. India) are so important for the global economy that any sort of conflict would be massively destabilizing for both sides. In a shooting war, it's debatable whether the UK, India, and Pakistan have a robust enough second-strike capability.

24 Replies 107,541 Views
Reply to Will America always be a superpower? in Everything Else Elemental Forums

[quote]I cant imagine how Obama could be right wing. That doesnt make even the slightest sense.[/quote] It's a matter of perspective. Compared to Mussolini, Bush was a hippie. I could see how someone in a parliamentary system, where parties run the gamut, might think that Obama was centrist or center-right.

596 Replies 1,750,662 Views
Reply to [Suggestion] Bring editorial lead/staff in early & strong in WOM Ideas Elemental Forums

[quote]If we were helping build an alternative to Office or StarOffice, I'd completely agree. But for Stardock fans like me, one of the greatest hopes for the Elemental project is that it will both provide a spiritual successor to MoM et al and lead the genre by example instead of by reaching for the lowest common denominator to maximize sales. (I'm still working on my anger over how Spore turned out; the early hype was so ambitious, the final product so deck-worthy. Will Wright was a hero-de

8 Replies 6,167 Views
Reply to Sid Meier’s 10 rules for game design in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

This is another good one from the link in the previous post: The Player Should Have the Fun, not the Designer or the Computer People pushing for a 'more realistic' social model in Elemental should read this: [quote]... during the development of Civilization 4, we experimented with government types that gave significant productivity bonuses but also took away the player’s ability to pick which technologies were researched, what buildings we

25 Replies 63,860 Views
Reply to Bing is better in Personal Computing Elemental Forums

[quote]Quick, type the below text into google and then bing and tell me what you get: integrate (exp(x^2)*sin(x)) And then try these in both for good measure: plot (x^2+y^2) gradient (x^2+y^2)[/quote] So use Bing for your integration/graphing needs and Google for everything else...

36 Replies 113,923 Views
Reply to TBS Tradiitonal Combat/Continous TBS Combat in War of Magic Elemental Forums

To what extent are the tactical battles obviously rule driven? ie. Do units move in uniform increments of squares/hexes? What sorts of formal elements call attention to the game as a game with its own rules (and not a simulator which strives for realism)? etc. (RTS's are just as just as rule driven, it's just harder to see what goes on under the hood.) [quote]Simultaneous Turns is superior. [/quote] Simultaneous turns != continuous turns.

16 Replies 13,786 Views