NelsMonsterX

Any Europa Universalis players recommend the game? in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

I've been slowly moving from RTS/TBS/strategy hybrids like Total War with plenty of action to pure TBS/strategy games that aren't heavy in the action department. I'm finding that the more a video game simulates a board game feel, the more I like it. The Europa Universails series seems incredibly deep, but I was scared away by GalCiv2 for years and have finally begun to learn it and love it. So would anyone recommend the Europa Universalis for a player like me?

Reply to RTS is glorified Tetris. in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

[quote who="Orodum" reply="3" id="1973503"]no, planning out the grand strategy for the entire armed forces for the course of a war is a job for utter morons who don't believe the time proven truth that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Thinking on your feet is what every true commander does. a grunt does no thinking at all - they only do what they are ordered to, no more, no less. TBS="lazy idiot who can't take the heat of a real game" that was for ca

Reply to RTS is glorified Tetris. in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

Also, thinking on your feet is for grunts. Planning out the grand strategy for the entire armed forces for the course of a war and beyond is a job for commanders. So, RTS="armchair grunt" and TBS="armchair general" natch! ;)

Reply to RTS is glorified Tetris. in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

[quote]RTS TBS --------------------------------------------------------------- LESS FILLING! TASTES GREAT![/quote] LOL! I don't wish the death of the RTS genre. I just feel it has more in common with a shooter or action game than a strategy game. I haven't tried SupCom, and I should. I understand Starcraft to be a classic of the genre with meaningful differences between factions as well. But none of the dozen or so RTSes that

Reply to RTS is glorified Tetris. in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

[quote who="The Wicked Flea" reply="6" id="1973024"]Can we avoid these silly topics? Subjectivity is just a clash of opinions, and no amount of agreement or disagreement can make either position right. In the end it all comes down to taste, nothing more. TBS is little more than Risk with 1,000 variables you must track, yet no pressure nor micromanagement. Maybe that's why I struggle to like the TBS, because it's more like work. A lack of pr

RTS is glorified Tetris. in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

I've been thinking lately about how turned off I am by RTS games, and why I love TBS games much more, and I made a rather stunning observation about the nature of the average RTS game: they're nothing more than glorified games of Tetris! Think of how the simple gameplay of Tetris begins with a slow pace, allowing for more careful decisions and placement of tiles, and also how it progress in speed and requires less and less thought and more reaction or reflex based actions. This is

Share your greatest moments in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

As a new player, I'm only beginning to discover the great moments that occur from time to time that make GalCiv2 so special. I'd like to hear everyone share some of their greatest moments, whether they're noobs like me or old veterans that have logged in a few hundred hours. I'll start things off: 1. Playing as Korx for a peaceful influence win, I gave a couple of my largest ships to my two allies and proceeded to watch them hammer the Terrans who had been testy

Reply to Smoothing Out the Steep Learning Curve in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I'm reading this from Gamefaqs right now and it's proving to be very helpful. It could very well be the only resource a noob could ever need. Kudos to the author: http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/925349/46577 There's one more strategy guide posted there that looks promising, though I have not read it yet: htt

Reply to Majesty 2 News (Nov. 15th, 2008) in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

Found this new interview from the VP of Paradox about Majesty II: http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/majesty2thefantasykingdomsim/interview.html

Reply to End of game? Option to extend the world and keep going! in WOM Ideas Elemental Forums

[quote]But it would be nice to have, together with changeable difficulty settings during the game.[/quote] Now that would be nice. I've often wished I could tweak the AI difficulty in-game while playing GalCiv2, to find my perfect setting quickly and easily. I also forget what difficulty I'm even playing on in the first place anyway! :P

Reply to Influence victory tips (w/o war) in Strategies GalCiv2 Forums

I'm still a little foggy on how the whole planet flipping thing works. I've done it a few times and it was totally exciting, but I'd like to understand the minimum amount of maxed out influence bases necessary to flip. I keep reading about a magic number being 4, but I'm not sure if that means 4 times their influence or just 4 influence or what. What you typically see is the planets IP followed by your IP in the parenthesis. Example: 21.00IP (14.75). So do I unde

Reply to Can you unload a transport or colony ship on al already owned planet? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I suppose ferrying would also be the more ethical way of unloading folks off of an overpopulated planet other than mass genocide by cutting a farm. I kind of wish there was some penalty for doing that, especially if your shooting for diplomacy or influence. And then conversely, a bonus for safely moving people to a new home. It would truly be awesome if you could create tourist vessels that transport your people to another civ's worlds and give

Reply to Smoothing Out the Steep Learning Curve in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Thanks for the reply, Sole Soul. I dare say if you were a paragon of humanity and embodied the sentiments of every person who has ever played this game or who will ever play it, I would concede that I have been wrong. Fortunately you are not a paragon, and I feel comfortable in disagreeing with you. Learning how to play this game would be easier and more interesting with a well-done tutorial scenario.[/quote] Solipso, you sound like an intellegent person and I guess I have a ha

Reply to Are you a human? Are you SURE? in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

Will Elemental be multi-threaded to let the AI take advantage of multi-core cpu's? I've heard that the more cores, the more human-like AI can get. So, in the near future, we'll see 100 or even 1000 core CPUs that will be able to mimic human behavior completely.

Reply to End of game? Option to extend the world and keep going! in WOM Ideas Elemental Forums

[quote]I think if such a mode was used, I would probably play it often. Gives you a really good opportunity to utilize end game techs. [/quote] Why not just use the "all techs available" option when you start though? The only way I can see a use for keeping the game going after a victory is to completely influence the whole map 100%for the sake of vanity. The Total War games give you the option of trying to paint the map one solid color after completing your objective an

Reply to Animal Husbandry (or, How Badly do you want those Bear Riders?) in WOM Ideas Elemental Forums

[quote]That made me think : will there be non-mount animals? If I remember correctly, Frogboy has written than non-sentient creatures couldn't be part of your troops by themselves. But will it be possible to have animals with handlers? And if yes, will the handlers be able to release the animals during the battle?[/quote] Has there been any mention yet of wild animals? Will it be like typical RPGs where as you roam the landscape and bump into wolves, bears, and such?&

Reply to Buying Dark Avatar in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

I was wondering . . . I have the GOTY edition. If I buy the Gold edition with DA, will I be able to install onto my GOTY edition without reinstalling DL from the Gold edition? Is it on a separate disc? Or should I just simply not bother and DL from Stardock?

Reply to Console Game Prices $$$ versus PC Game Prices $ in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]There are things in PC games that simply don't exist on consoles: the strange dark magic hidden in sub-menus and lengthy text descriptions, the obsessive geeky masterpiece. But it goes the other way too, some games are meant to be played split-screen on the sofa.[/quote] This is why I love PC gaming. I'd say console games are roughly 90% reflex based, whereas PC games are typically more cerebral. I like to think when I play, not just twiddle my thumbs. [quot

Reply to Are you a human? Are you SURE? in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

[quote who="Frogboy" reply="10" id="1961620"]If you disconnect from a game, the robot would go find another game. These are virtual players so they're going to do what any normal player would do.[/quote] But if we continually abuse the bot-AI by bailing on games with them, won't they rise up and take revenge against us like Cylons and Terminators? ;)

Reply to Animal Husbandry (or, How Badly do you want those Bear Riders?) in WOM Ideas Elemental Forums

I think adding crazy creatures like giant chickens would turn a lot of people off. Stardock would be wise to stick to classic fantasy rather than Final Fantasy.

Reply to Console Game Prices $$$ versus PC Game Prices $ in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

@Solam I'm trying to encourage my kids to stick with PC gaming, too. They use an older computer of mine and get to play all the Lego games and movie/cartoon tie-ins, but they do come home from school asking about PSPs, Wiis, PS3s, etc. because their friends are starting to get them. So far so good though, they have plenty to do between their games and the tons of stuff they can do/watch online. I'll never buy a console again--I just hope I can instill that value

Is there really any use for the flagship? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I'm on my 3rd or 4th game of DL now, and I have yet to find much use for the flagship. Sure, it works as a survey/scout vessel, but it doesn't take long to make a faster, better survey/scout ship and speed is important when trying to grab as many of the initial anomalies as you can. I just want to know if anyone has found much of a use for them beyond what I have? It would be totally awesome to add in an update or in GalCiv3 perhaps, flagships that worked more like the Ent

Why aren't all game companies like Stardock? in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

I feel compelled to complain about the way modern games continue to march forward into next gen tech and graphics without bothering to perfect their current games. Two big examples bother me to no end: 1. Total War--I love this series. However, there are many issues that need improvement in this series that don't require new tech. The main one that irks me no end is the clipping that happens constantly when zooming into the battlefield. The sound is great, the

Reply to In awe of the Frog in Everything Else Elemental Forums

You guys better be careful or you'll blow his head up into EA CEO-sized proportions!

Reply to Let's solve the piracy problem. in Everything Else Elemental Forums

I really don't get the "demos suck" argument. Most demos give me a great sense of what the game is like and leave me either wanting more or caring less. Do people expect to be given half of the game or what? If the size of demos reached expansion pack proportions then they'd be giving away free content not free samples. Besides, who wants to download huge demo files? I have a hard time finding any need to pirate because the demo sucks.