Khardis

Reply to Fav Movie? in Everything Else Stardock Forums

Name one..... uhm. THAT is difficult. There's so many it's hard to make one, definite choice. In a sense, it is difficult not to name Dragon Age or Mass Effect 2.. they are movie - LIKE but so much more. Star Wars, in its various incarnations, has definitely helped shape my interests and been a lifelong fascination, but they are hardly the best movies. Many of the recent blockbusters has been really spectacular, but often easily forgotten, as well. I am Legend stands out a bit. As doe

Reply to Reviewers vs. Users in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

Q:Why does blockbuster titles get high ratings? A: As long as there's a single rating that has to cover gameplay, graphics, interface, sound, then a game with good graphics and sound, and at least passable design and gameplay otherwise - which the big titles nearly invariably has - is going to have a high score. Q: Why does reviewer and user scores differ? A1: Many users will pad stats if they like/dislike a game or something about it, often for irrelevant reasons. (All

Reply to voice talking over internet without a phone number in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

Your aim is to set up a one-on-one chat similar to a phone call, with limited experience. That is what skype is designed to do; you will need to register, but after that, the rest should be dead simple. The number skype asks for, I believe, is in case you want others to be able to call with a landline to reach you on skype. This is not necessary for your use as described, and you should be able to ignore that. It will also offer you various subscriptions (voicemail etc). Ignore t

Reply to Multiplayer update and brief v1.1 info in Elemental Dev Journals Stardock Forums

I don't quite get what difference #3 makes? Everything else sounds like excellent, and big, changes. :)

Reply to A little bit about me (for what it's worth) in War of Magic Stardock Forums

Frogboy, these posts of yours offer valuable insights into design processes. I have worked in that myself, but in a far more menial fashion. (UI design for a larger banking application). I can relate to the part about the community; I quit working in corporate and switched to working as a computer science teacher. The hours were better, the work was much more rewarding, and the pay sucked, but hey, two out of three isn't all that bad. ;) That reminds me. I reinstalled Fallout 3.

Reply to Google doesn't believe in choice! in Gadgets & Electronics Stardock Forums

I like chrome but it has trouble playing some video and PDF; it seems there are some integration problems. I also take a bit of exception to the rather incorrigible GoogleUpdate files. The layout, how search works etc., however, is unsurpassed. That doesn't relegate it to secondary, for me. Rather I use it as primary, while I use IE or FF for what Chrome can't handle. But this is an evolving market. It is good to have another actor in it.

Reply to Sword of the Stars - I am a bit lost in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

A problem is tanking economy and/or morale; if you get one you will also get the other. The main cause is that a colony under production is a drain on your economy. So, if you start out by making 6 new colonies with only the capital world, you risk getting more upkeep than income. That will empty out your treasury fast, and your planets' morale will fall as well. This is bad, and leads to abandoned colonies and rebellion on the rest. Not a good thing. This is the main challenge and th

Reply to City List Window in Elemental Dev Journals Stardock Forums

Sounds like 1.9 is going to have a lot of goodies. This one certainly is a wanted one. :)

Reply to Civ V game discussion in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

They certainly did go for more hidden variables... not sure what a cooperation pact entails, for instance, or a secrecy one - what does the AI expect? There's actually a 240 page manual there, which is rather impressive. (Remember to DL it if you bought the DL edition.). But with both elemental and civ 5 causing my PC to wheeze along like a an out of shape guy at the second half of marathon, I think I'll need a new PC soon. There's qutie a few things bothering me

Reply to Direct2drive opinions? in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

I've had no issues with D2D either, I used that a lot before I switched to Steam and Impulse. The reason I switched away from D2D was that they basically stopped selling anything interesting in Europe, and if they did, at inflated prices. (An issue also with steam and impulse, but not as severe.). I have to say, though, I like the client based approach of Impulse and Steam a lot more.

Reply to Starcraft II in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

I was really impressed with the campaign, but somewhere along the line I stopped playing it and didn't bother picking it up again. (The game at all). Company of Heroes soured that sort of gameplay for me. In some ways I wish I never played it, but then again, I've had more fun with that than I would have with a large number of 'regular' RTS games.

Reply to Bobby Kotick - Bungie “probably the last remaining high quality independent developer” in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

With fairness, Bungie made some of my all time favourite games. Although, admittedly, Halo wasn't one of them. It was good, quite good even, and it has a fairly manic following. I just liked Oni a lot better. What partially soured me on Halo was that I was DETERMINED not to buy an Xbox, and it aggravated me to notice how crude Microsoft's manipulations to turn it into a box seller was.

Reply to Kael and Fall From Heaven in War of Magic Stardock Forums

Much can be said about Ffh2. Most notably, yes, a lot of assets were 'borrowed' (At least I expanded my music selection to some new bands I don't regret at all). On the other hand it was a hugely ambitious project - creating 15? entirely different factions with their own unique units and game mechanics, new terrain, portals hellforming the terrain, adding a magic system, etc. Massive Kudos to Kael for pulling that off as successfully as he did. On the other hand, he specifically wante

Reply to So why does the AI start with a spouse? in War of Magic Stardock Forums

Have you seen any girls want to marry computers lately? It's the only way they can get any. Cut them a break, willya? :D

Reply to How do you feel the middle class is being viewed? in Everything Else Stardock Forums

The americans I've met - (unlike the internet ones?) - seem friendly, easy-going and well-informed; if I meet someone, it's the americans that say 'Hey, you MUST come visit!', but then, those I've met are a rather specific selection. USA as a country is a fantastic place; back in the 50's it was, literally, the land of dreams. How it is now.. I don't know. Perhaps it is just republicans and democrats trying to tear each other down and tear the view of america down with it; perhaps things

Reply to I dont think magic is working in patch 1.08 in War of Magic Stardock Forums

Fixes and tweaks = binary goodness. For my part... in my first 1.08 game, I found a fire shrine next to my starting city (!). My sovereign proceeded to kill ANYTHING that used to be a tremendous challenge, with ease. Instead of 'not working' I'd say it's a little too good. But that's me... from tending towards melee sovereign, I now barely see a point to trying that approach. The sudden strong emphasis on few large cities and a couple of mining outposts really makes it

Reply to Kings Bounty: Crossworlds in 1C Stardock Forums

Impulse has tended to have good relations with 1c, or at least carried a lot of their titles. We'll see; I hope so. I must admit I'm not THAT keen on Crossworlds, though, it seems a bit lackluster when it mainly adds three arenas and little to no story.

Reply to Children are sick! in War of Magic Stardock Forums

There's definitely something strange here. My kids all start with 10 in every stat except essence (which is in the 300+ area), move 6, but can only move 1 square. Mostly mum and dad's special abilities. That was just before it crashed due to oom (reported in another post). There's something odd with kids these days....

Reply to R.U.S.E. in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

Got it yesterday, played a bit, so far I'm impressed - obviously high production values, things have been thought through, decent campaign (If a bit of a tutorial), the AI seems convincing so far. You can change both difficulty and personality of the AI. There's something there that doesn't sit quite right, but.. got to give them credit for creativity, too.

Reply to Why do you think combat is so boring? in War of Magic Stardock Forums

For tactical combat, you need an attack / defence system that gives more variety and flavor. This is mainly because the tactical combat must be interesting in itself, or you might as well not have it. Some ways to do this has allready been suggested. 1: Special abilities. Considering how the game is designed, having those granted by one or more of a combination of race, weapon, and armor seems most likely. Shield? Then you can shield bash or form shield walls (large squads in particul

Reply to Who else misses those big handbooks of earlier games?! in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

'miss the old manuals'.... WHAT old manuals? A couple of games had them, the rest had leflets then, too. Don't get too rosy tinted glasses now. :D

Reply to R.U.S.E. in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

Faction differences are good. I hope they don't go the way of most balance complaints - making everything equal identical, allways. :S

Reply to Why is city spamming bad? in War of Magic Stardock Forums

1: Start the first city with a palace/citadel/thingy that gives a reasonable income. 2: Each city has an administrative cost. It is 1 with 1 city, 2 - per city - with 2 cities, 3 per city with 3 cities, etc. The administrative cost of 10 cities would then be 100 gildar per turn. This would fairly solidly limit the amount of city spam you'd do. To make it survivable late game when you will end up with a lot of cities no matter what (through conquest and other me

Reply to $17,000 PC/Xbox 360 gaming rig released in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

On that note, I'm heading out on a mediterranean cruise in three weeks. :) And yes, a $17000 rig is absurd. Almost as absurd as this: http://www.novelquest.com/emperor.html (Okay, the absurd one starts at 40000$. The other one might actually be worth it. Sort of.)

Reply to Steam: A monopoly in the making? in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

Steam WOULD have competition if some of the big ones bothered to try. Sure, EA has the EA store thing going, but they are certainly not serious about trying to compete - their offering is amazingly sub-par. (The EULA says once you've downloaded the game ONCE your contract with them is done, they have no obligation to let you download later.). Not to mention that their prices are so high (over here at least) you'd have to be blind to shop there. If Apple were to lau