The Currently Playing & Random Game Thoughts Thread (April 24 to April 30)

[ZedClampet]

I've started Farming Simulator 22. It's still early. I only have 117 mods.

Last night my son wanted to play, so I invited him in. Less than 5 minutes later, he says, "Look up." I do, and I see him flying over top of me riding a pallet of sorghum flour like it's a magic carpet. He's at least 100 feet off the ground. Suddenly he and his magic flour pallet come plummeting to the ground. He survives, but the pallet clips halfway into the ground and won't budge. It's still there right now.. Was a funny glitch he figured out. You just stand on top of the pallet, jump and grab the pallet, which pulls it up to you. Rinse and repeat.

Speaking of pallets, I'm great at stacking them on trailers:

I'd actually be better at it if I used a fork lift like you are supposed to, but I downloaded a mod that lets you pick them up (and apparently use them as magic carpets) and it's actually harder to stack them by hand.

 

[Zloth]

If I saw a truck like that on the road, I'm not sure if I should speed up to get past it ASAP, or if I should slow down and keep the thing at least 2 miles ahead of me.

 

[ZedClampet]

Bought Space Hulk Deathwing. Was having fun until I died and then I got put in some sort of endless loop. I would hit continue and watch a 5 minute, unskippable cutscene and then it would put me back at a screen where my only option was to hit "continue" and watch that cutscene again.

Best part is, I have no idea what that cutscene, which I watched 3 times, was about. I just kept thinking "talking" "talking" "talking" because all I wanted to do was get back to the point where I died and try again, which is apparently impossible. No idea what was going on.

 

[Zloth]

I've been playing Phoenix Point. I'm playing with all DLC, which might be asking for trouble. They've added a lot of new systems into the game over the years. Maybe I should restart and dial back some of the DLC?

 

[Pifanjr]

I've started Farming Simulator 22. It's still early. I only have 117 mods.

How do you decide which mods to add?

 

[Brian Boru]

He sows 250, waters 'em, weeds 'em, and harvests the survivors.

 

[ZedClampet]

How do you decide which mods to add?

If it looks/sounds interesting, I'll download it. I end up with a bunch of mods that I never use, but the game handles mods in almost a miraculous fashion, so there really isn't any reason to go through and trim the fat.

 

[ZedClampet]

Farming Simulator has always been a strategy-lite game up until now. FS22 has added a ton of depth that really adds to the strategy.

One new mechanic is production. Before when you harvested a crop, you just took it to whoever would give you the most money for it (or put it in storage hoping prices would go up). You can still do that, but now you have a lot more options. For instance, do you want to sell your cotton bales or do you want to build a spinnery and turn that cotton into fabric? Do you want to sell that fabric or build a tailor shop and make clothes? the production side of things costs you money and is delayed gratification, as it takes a full year for a spinnery to turn 30k liters of cotton into fabric (though you get part of it every month) and it takes another full year for the tailor to produce all of the clothes (again, you get 1/12 of the clothes each month and can go ahead and sell it).

Adding to the debate of how you want to operate for each of your crops is the fact that the game has seasons now. You have to plan which crops you are going to put in which fields and then plant during the correct time and harvest at the correct time. This can cause some difficulties. For instance, I decided I wanted to get into the canola oil business with one of my newer fields, but because of the timing, the field sat empty (growing weeds, of course) for about a year and a half. That's a lot of lost money.

Also, you can greatly improve the yields you get so long as you take proper care of your fields and crops, and that is very time intensive and expensive. Money running short? You may want to skip a step or two, but you won't be maximizing your crop yields. Or maybe instead of using a lot of expensive herbicide in a field that has sat for awhile waiting for cultivation you'll decide to plow the field instead.

Anyway, Farming Simulator 22 is a huge improvement over FS19. I'm really enjoying it.

 

[Colif]

random thought
I like the angles

 

[ZedClampet]

Is there crop rotation as well? FS22 sounds great!

Kind of, sort of. You do have to worry about the nutrients and pH balance of your soil. You start off by mulching the old plants into the soil and rolling it. Then you test the soil and, based on the results, you may have to add things like lime to it. Instead of actually rotating your crops, you just add chemicals to adjust the pH and minerals for nutrients.

The system for this is getting more robust with each game. It officially takes "forever" to get a field ready, and it isn't cheap, either. The other day I logged in with $48,000 in the bank, and I started hiring workers and putting them to work doing various things to prepare the fields for cotton, and about 20 minutes later, I got a page full of notifications that basically said everyone had quit working because I wasn't paying them. I looked at my balance, and I was in the negative, which I've never had happen to me in a FS game before. I had some things I was playing the market with, hoping the prices would go up, so I just loaded those into some trucks and sold them to get everything running again.

Technically, all this testing/chemical stuff is optional. It was made available as a free DLC. I'm enjoying it, though. Adds a lot to the game.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

random thought
I like the angles

This is really neat, makes it look like stop motion animation.

 

[Brian Boru]

I snipped the Civ 6 posts to their own thread, as it looks like this thing will have legs after all

 

[Zloth]

I restarted Phoenix Point sans a few of the DLCs to keep a lid on all the features. I'll turn them on again if I play through a second time.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I restarted Phoenix Point sans a few of the DLCs to keep a lid on all the features. I'll turn them on again if I play through a second time.

Is it too early to ask how it compares to Xcom/2 ?

I liked the new Xcoms quite a bit but not obsessively. Was under the impression Phoenix Point was basically that but not quite as good so I've skipped it so far.

 

[ZedClampet]

Was talking to an old guy from work on the phone this morning. He said the reason that young people quit stuff so easily was because computer games let you reset the game if you fail. You can die and just try again.

I said, so a video game that proves to you that you can succeed if you just keep trying causes you to be a quitter?

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Was talking to an old guy from work on the phone this morning. He said the reason that young people quit stuff so easily was because computer games let you reset the game if you fail. You can die and just try again.

I said, so a video game that proves to you that you can succeed if you just keep trying causes you to be a quitter?

Great point!

 

[ZedClampet]

BREAKING NEWS!

A local driver's 11 hour ordeal finally came to an end this evening when a farmer removed the bale of cotton that had rolled in front of her early this morning as she was trying to get to work.

 

[Zloth]

Is yellow cotton like yellow snow?

Is it too early to ask how it compares to Xcom/2 ?

It's certainly similar, though it might be more similar to Xenonauhts or the original X-COM games.

• You get more bases, not just one.
• Technology advancements mostly seem to be about broadening your options than getting outright better tech. In XCOM, you would go from bullets to lasers to plasma, with each step giving a pretty big jump in power. With PP, you'll open up a sniper rifle that has shorter range but does more damage, or armor that has more stopping power but is heavier and slows the soldier down.
• You do still advance, of course, but that comes more from your soldiers getting better stats and skills. (And maybe more of them, too.)
• Multi-classing is highly encouraged. (2 classes max)
• Enemies also advance. An enemy that can only melee attack you at first might learn to carry guns and/or spit poison, for instance.
• Bullet trajectories are calculated, not random. What is random is the offset. If you use 'free aim' you pick the center point to aim at then, when the shot is taken, the game shoots within a few degrees of that angle (depending on the gun & character accuracy stats).
• Similarly, cover isn't just a -25% chance to hit or some such. If a line can be drawn between your soldier and the enemy's gun, the soldier can get hit. If not, not.
• Soldiers aren't nearly as unique in XCOM - especially modded XCOM, where you could give a character Duke Nuke'm's voice or some such. It looks like you'll have more of them, though.

The core gameplay is still the same stuff. Mostly. There's no "first move then shoot" limit on anyone. Otherwise, though, it's the same "you move everyone" then "they move everyone" turn system.

 

[ZedClampet]

Is yellow cotton like yellow snow?

It's a yellow plastic wrap that goes around the cotton bale just in case you were actually wondering.

 

[Zloth]

It's a yellow plastic wrap that goes around the cotton bale just in case you were actually wondering.

I was curious, actually! They never do that with hay. Maybe cotton can get moldy easier? <shrug>

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Is yellow cotton like yellow snow?
It's certainly similar, though it might be more similar to Xenonauhts or the original X-COM games.

• You get more bases, not just one.
• Technology advancements mostly seem to be about broadening your options than getting outright better tech. In XCOM, you would go from bullets to lasers to plasma, with each step giving a pretty big jump in power. With PP, you'll open up a sniper rifle that has shorter range but does more damage, or armor that has more stopping power but is heavier and slows the soldier down.
• You do still advance, of course, but that comes more from your soldiers getting better stats and skills. (And maybe more of them, too.)
• Multi-classing is highly encouraged. (2 classes max)
• Enemies also advance. An enemy that can only melee attack you at first might learn to carry guns and/or spit poison, for instance.
• Bullet trajectories are calculated, not random. What is random is the offset. If you use 'free aim' you pick the center point to aim at then, when the shot is taken, the game shoots within a few degrees of that angle (depending on the gun & character accuracy stats).
• Similarly, cover isn't just a -25% chance to hit or some such. If a line can be drawn between your soldier and the enemy's gun, the soldier can get hit. If not, not.
• Soldiers aren't nearly as unique in XCOM - especially modded XCOM, where you could give a character Duke Nuke'm's voice or some such. It looks like you'll have more of them, though.

The core gameplay is still the same stuff. Mostly. There's no "first move then shoot" limit on anyone. Otherwise, though, it's the same "you move everyone" then "they move everyone" turn system.

Great, thanks for that! Really nice breakdown, guess I should watch a little gameplay or beginners guide and get more of a feel for it. I just remember it only reviewed OK and didn't sound that exciting at the time.

Currently getting excited for The Iron Oath. But not going to start now with buying into early access games.

 

[Pifanjr]

Is yellow cotton like yellow snow?
It's certainly similar, though it might be more similar to Xenonauhts or the original X-COM games.

• You get more bases, not just one.
• Technology advancements mostly seem to be about broadening your options than getting outright better tech. In XCOM, you would go from bullets to lasers to plasma, with each step giving a pretty big jump in power. With PP, you'll open up a sniper rifle that has shorter range but does more damage, or armor that has more stopping power but is heavier and slows the soldier down.
• You do still advance, of course, but that comes more from your soldiers getting better stats and skills. (And maybe more of them, too.)
• Multi-classing is highly encouraged. (2 classes max)
• Enemies also advance. An enemy that can only melee attack you at first might learn to carry guns and/or spit poison, for instance.
• Bullet trajectories are calculated, not random. What is random is the offset. If you use 'free aim' you pick the center point to aim at then, when the shot is taken, the game shoots within a few degrees of that angle (depending on the gun & character accuracy stats).
• Similarly, cover isn't just a -25% chance to hit or some such. If a line can be drawn between your soldier and the enemy's gun, the soldier can get hit. If not, not.
• Soldiers aren't nearly as unique in XCOM - especially modded XCOM, where you could give a character Duke Nuke'm's voice or some such. It looks like you'll have more of them, though.

The core gameplay is still the same stuff. Mostly. There's no "first move then shoot" limit on anyone. Otherwise, though, it's the same "you move everyone" then "they move everyone" turn system.

Does the bullet trajectory thing actually impact gameplay much compared to XCOM? It sounds cool, but also like you wouldn't actually notice that much of a difference.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I was curious, actually! They never do that with hay. Maybe cotton can get moldy easier? <shrug>

Actually where I live, they do that with big rolls of hay all the time. Only the ones I see are white covers. We call them giant marshmallows.

 

[Brian Boru]

Actually where I live, they do that with big rolls of hay all the time. Only the ones I see are white covers. We call them giant marshmallows.

^ what he said ^
I've seen it in a good few different parts of USA.

 

[Zloth]

Does the bullet trajectory thing actually impact gameplay much compared to XCOM? It sounds cool, but also like you wouldn't actually notice that much of a difference.

Well, Big Difference #1 is that nobody is shooting through walls/floors/ceilings.

If everything is clear, open, and obvious you can just shoot away. Most of the time, though, you'll want to look at the shot you're doing. When you pick "free aim" you get a display like this:

Here we have a mutant commie crab thing (MCCT) hiding behind some boxes. This is an assault soldier, so she will be shooting six shots. Each shot has a 50% chance of hitting within the inner circle. All shots will be within the outer circle. A sniper would have smaller pairs of circles, but only gets one shot - all or nothing.

Notice it also is paying attention to the part getting hit. Disabling different parts causes different detrimental effects. If you disable a leg, movement slows. If you disable an arm, the enemy can't use two-handed weapons. I think you can keep damaging the part, though, to rack up overall damage. Once the overall damage hits the max (120 for this MCCT), the critter dies.

Melee attacks don't get the circles and can't pick a body part to attack.

P.S. One thing that hasn't been so good with this are things that could block shots. For instance, if there's some tree limbs covering your shot, the game obviously isn't going to model every twig in the tree and calculate its effect. So how much of the tree provides cover and how much doesn't? I guess I'll just have to try more often to figure that out.