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Messages - Thexor

Pages: 1 ... 99 100 [101] 102 103 ... 141
1501
Other Games / Re: To Steam or not to Steam.
« on: February 08, 2011, 06:45:11 pm »
Quote from: poca on February 08, 2011, 05:43:19 pm
Quote from: Shadowlord on February 08, 2011, 05:27:59 pm
(Hint #1: Email is in plain text, and often transmitted unsecured, Hint #2: It is possible to intercept packets and see plain text transmissions, including your email passwords and anything in your email, if you are on a LAN and someone else malicious is also on it, e.g. if you open your email at work or school, or if they are between you and whoever is sending that email)

Hint #3: when a GamersGate employee copies the customer DB onto their laptop so they can work on it at Starbucks, they're going to just spill all the sites passwords all over the floor when they leave their laptop behind...  ::)

Or when some "ultra-savvy haxxor" realizes that the main system's remote administrator access password is "gaben".  ::)

1502
Other Games / Re: Battlefield 3
« on: February 08, 2011, 05:42:34 pm »
Quote from: Rakonas on February 08, 2011, 04:26:14 pm
Quote from: Cheese on February 08, 2011, 02:54:42 pm
I never played BF2? Is it still worth getting?
Yes, it's one of the best online fps's imo and apparently it still has an active playerbase. I'd assume you could get it for under $20 now. Was actually planning on reinstalling yesterday, personally.

If you're planning on buying it, make sure you get BF2. Not that stupid tactical 'expansion pack' or whatever it was (nobody played that nonsense at release, I'd doubt there's anyone on it now!), and not BF2142 (which wasn't horrible, but that's about the only positive thing I can say about it.) Buy plain old BF2, find yourself a 64-player Strike at Karkand 24/7 server, and vegetate.  ;D

Or find a 'real' server and play the game with some sense of tactical combat and teamwork instead of rushing whichever point hasn't been captured yet. If you're into that sort of thing.  :P

1503
Other Games / Re: new build or upgrade existing PC
« on: February 08, 2011, 05:35:17 pm »
I'd have to say, I agree on NVidia over ATI for compatibility alone. I've seen several forums where people outline which ATI driver versions work with which game, and frankly, it reads like a shopping list. "Drivers from 10.1 - 10.4 work for this game, this game works with 10.5 and up, this other game stopped working at 10.9..." I've never had to roll back the drivers on my NVidia card, and I play games with a pretty wide selection of ages and video requirements. ATI may be superior in cost-versus-power, but that hardly matters if your drivers screw over half the games I want to play, does it?  ;)

On the other hand, I've heard lots of good things about AMD processors. The Intel vs AMD CPU debate is a lot like the Nvidia versus ATI GPU debate, where the former produces expensive, top-of-the-line devices and the latter produces slightly less-powerful, far cheaper devices. The difference is, AMD processors actually work, whereas ATI GPUs often don't.  :P

Cases really don't make much of a difference - if your case can actually hold everything inside it, then you're set. Sure, there's a bunch of talk about 'airflow', but if you're really having airflow problems, remove the side of the case and replace it with a cheap mesh or something. It's certainly not worth spending a hundred bucks to slightly reduce heat, especially if you're not obsessively overclocking.

1504
Other Games / Re: Battlefield 3
« on: February 08, 2011, 02:19:39 pm »
Quote from: nenjin on February 08, 2011, 05:38:28 am
Moar detailz:

Quote
Apparently from GI:

Quote:
Okay, so going through the article:

Quote
-Aiming for CY Q4 2011 release
-Concept for BF3 has been in the works for years, waiting on proper tech to seamlessly come together
-Frosbite 2.0 is the culmination of this tech, entirely re-written
-Lighting sounds neat, one "probe" contains more lighting information than an entire BFBC2 level.
-Level destruction is going to be "believable" but basically everything is destructible.
-Character animations powered by ANT, what EA Sports uses.
-AI characters and multiplayer characters have different animation sets
-No more "gliding" animations that look off, animation realism is a focus
-Captured their own war audios (bullets, tanks, helicopters, etc) at different distances to ensure realism
-Better audio cues for certain actions, more easily able to listen for threats
-Plan on better, more immediate post release content
-More unlocks than BFBC2
-Dice trying to find a good balance between customization of your character and not having "pink rabbit hat(s)"
-4 classes
-Will talk about squads "later"
-Looking into a theater mode but can't talk about it
-Will have co-op
-There will be a kill-cam but it can be turned off
-BF3's team is almost twice as big as the team for BFBC2
-They want the pacing of the single player mode to be balanced, with highs and lows. Makes the comparison to a song vs a guitar solo.
-Part of the single player mode takes place in Sulaymaniyah - Iraqi Kurdistan.
-"****" will be used often, so M rated for sure
-There will be an earthquake in a level. The destruction sounds very impressive. 7 story building collapses, looks very well done
-Significant narrative that goes with the SP mode
-More than one setting, you're not in the middle east for the whole game
-PC version is lead version
-Why 64 players for PC only? No complains from the console crowd.
-No mod tools at release. Maybe none down the line either. Frosbite 2.0 is complex and mods tools would have to be dumbed down, so does Dice really want to put their time to that or would it be better spent elsewhere?
-Original story, not based on Bad Company at all.

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/5...7140683412.jpg
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/6118/1297140816655.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7...7140762511.jpg
http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/6...7140924400.jpg
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/5...7140879026.jpg
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/7199/1297141200361.jpg
http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/6...7141112097.jpg
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/8...7140994033.jpg

Depending on what kind of rig you have, an upgrade is probably in order. I just upgraded to a quad core, a year-old video card and Windows 7 not too long ago. Probably going to need a better vidya card >.>

Interesting. A "PC focus" would certainly be nice, if a little unlikely in today's console-dominated industry. The "no comment" on squads and commanders, though...  :-\

(Oh, and most of your image links are broken.  :'( )

1505
Other Games / Re: Tropico 3, optimism is welcome.
« on: February 08, 2011, 02:16:52 pm »
Quote from: Brons on February 08, 2011, 04:50:38 am
I love setting up a agricultural dictatorship. Almost no services and no industry but a large army. People get unhappy and upset but I'd just get new workers through the immigration office. Repression is important.

See, now, this is how I always imagined playing Tropico - using your army and excessive propaganda to make the people like mildly tolerate you, instead of giving the unappreciative little buggers exactly what they want and buying their support. 'Benevolent dictator', my arse. Sadly, I've never been able to survive without being a goodie-two-shoes dictator.  :'(

1506
Other Games / Re: Battlefield 3
« on: February 08, 2011, 02:49:19 am »
Quote from: nenjin on February 08, 2011, 02:32:58 am
The game's target hardware level is DX10. It will not support DX9, and may take advantage of DX11 features.

It's also apparently not compatible with Windows XP.

Well, if it doesn't support DX9, then it's not compatible with XP by definition. (Unless we live in 'bizarro world' where the game supports DXs 8, 10, and 11, but not 9!)
Quote from: Rakonas on February 07, 2011, 09:07:23 pm
Quote from: nenjin on February 07, 2011, 04:49:13 pm
More infoz~

Here's a Gamespy article with some Twitter-answered questions, and a tech demo of the Frostbite 2.0 engine (in which they show how shiny their bump mapping is, and how much they like lighting.)

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/battlefield-3/1148162p1.html

Quote

No comment on commander.

This worries me.
Battlefield is not battlefield without commander, though I'm relatively confident they've just got a cool spin on it and don't want to reveal it..

I have to say, I'd really like to see a Commander that served a purpose other than just an airstrike/supply drop aiming system. The whole concept of ordering around squads is pretty useless when nobody pays attention (nor should they, since generally the commander is just as incompetent as they are!). If the devs managed to piece together a system that rewarded a strategically-minded commander and encouraged intelligent squad play, I will instantly take back everything I said on page 1 and buy the game on principle alone.

1507
Other Games / Re: To Steam or not to Steam.
« on: February 08, 2011, 02:44:52 am »
If the developers insist on adding DRM to their programs, every online retailer will have their DRM solution. If the devs insist on adding SecureROM (or can't be arsed to remove it for digital downloads), then the retailers don't have a choice. I think that's all GamersGate is saying in that passage - if the devs insist, GamersGate won't turn around and refuse to sell the game or anything.

That said, I have no problems with DRM so long as it's non-intrusive. Activation limits are intrusive. Requiring me to maintain an internet connection is intrusive. Steam has neither of these (unless, as mentioned above, the devs insist on adding their own DRM), and as an added bonus prevents me from ever having to change CDs or worry about losing my disks. It's the closest we've ever come to the DRM crusaders' concept of a DRM solution that's a benefit to legitimate consumers (instead of being a horribly-annoying hassle that pirates don't have to put up with).

Overall, Steam is certainly no worse than other online retailers, and it frequently has huge sales (the holiday sales are, of course, huge, but they'll have major weekend sales on certain games every week or two). That's enough for me.  ;)

1508
Other Games / Re: Tropico 3, optimism is welcome.
« on: February 08, 2011, 01:49:16 am »
Quote from: Itnetlolor on February 08, 2011, 01:18:51 am
I think it's a combo of happiness and respect. Either dips below 25% on an individual (especially 2 of 3 *ed interests), they're hostile until killed or amnesty reaches them. This requires things being at least 2x-3x better than it was previously, and then bribe them with amnesty. If you're confident in your military, I say it's cheaper to kill them in one of their raids; plus, free advertising for your mighty military.

I was wondering if rebelling was respect-based or happiness-based - that helps. Thanks!  :D

Now, for a real challenge: what causes the rebels to attack (short of luring them with the edict)? My last game, I had one guy rebel early on (heck, he rebelled before I got my first protest), and ten years later, having had no other rebels flee, I remembered about him and granted amnesty. But that was after ten years of him being a rebel. Do they not attack if they don't have a chance of winning, or something?

Moreover, what was that one guy doing, alone in the jungle, for the last ten years? Seriously, mate: you fled to the jungle because I hadn't build a church and you didn't have a house. How was living in the jungle an improvement in either of these statistics?  ::)

1509
Other Games / Re: Tropico 3, optimism is welcome.
« on: February 08, 2011, 01:12:51 am »
Quote from: Jacob/Lee on February 07, 2011, 10:48:01 pm
Quote from: Aqizzar on February 07, 2011, 10:14:22 pm
Quote from: Jacob/Lee on February 07, 2011, 09:08:02 pm
Rebels keep killing me because my lame ass military doesn't know how to group together before charging them.

I think the better question is, why are you being attacked by rebels in the first place?  It's 1965, and I have a whopping two rebels camped out in the woods somewhere, even with the "Rebel Yell" thing on.  And believe me, I'm making no great pains to keep people happy.  Except for holding free elections when they demand them I guess, but I won a natural 81% last time.
Let's just say my islands aren't the happiest places ever *cough* 41% population happy*cough*

That's not too low. Sure, you won't win any awards for "Most satisfied populace", but 41% is pretty decent, especially for the early game.  :D

The real challenge is making sure that your 41% isn't the average of an 82% and a 0%. A person's happiness depends on a few stats that they really care about; if, by sheer coincidence, a given person really cares about the couple of places your happiness is low, then you may get a rebel despite high overall happiness. I generally try to keep all the happiness stats above ~30%, and I've never had a rebel without dipping below that threshold.

(Feel free to correct me if it's actually Respect that causes rebels, or something. Of course, for me it's always Religion that dips low early on, and that means I usually have pathetic Religion Quality at the same time I attract the ire of the religious faction - hence, it's kind of hard to tell which stat was the cause.  :-[ )

1510
Other Games / Re: Tropico 3, optimism is welcome.
« on: February 07, 2011, 07:08:20 pm »
Quote from: Myroc on February 07, 2011, 02:58:42 pm
I rarely have problems with dockworkers or industry in general, and even if dockworkers happen to miss one delivery it's no big deal after a couple of months. I earn ginormous amounts of cash from my weapons exports. Industrial Advertisement is awesome.

Speaking of which, are weapons factories actually good? I looked at them and said, "Hmm... so, a factory based around a depletable resource that also annoys the factions. I'll pass." But if they make ginormous amounts of money, I might have to reconsider.  ;D

1511
Other Games / Re: Tropico 3, optimism is welcome.
« on: February 07, 2011, 01:37:01 pm »
I do have to say, though... every time a dockworker pushes a wheelbarrow containing $75,000 in cigars to the freighter, I'm really happy he doesn't say, "Screw this", pocket the money, and hop on the freighter.

1512
Other Games / Re: Tropico 3, optimism is welcome.
« on: February 07, 2011, 02:51:07 am »
Quote from: dogstile on February 07, 2011, 01:38:47 am
Am I the only one here who outlaws the environmentalist faction as soon as possible in most of my games? Those nutjobs are impossible to please.

I don't find them that bad. I mean, sure, if you're logging or mining, they get pissy real quick. But I've always shied away from mining... having a finite limit to a resource, even if it's a pretty generous resource, always made me leery. I'd rather amass a few tobacco or sugar farms and get a real industry going, and while the Environmentalists reach for their pitchforks if the word "logging" even crosses your mind, they don't seem too unhappy when your farmers disintegrate acres of lush forest to plant sugar.  ;D

Oh, and occasionally they get grumpy and demand a garbage dump (which is a pain if you didn't leave any space for one!), or a wind turbine (come on, I've got a fully-stocked power plant that's producing four times more power than I'll ever use, why the heck should I shell out more money for a bloody wind turbine?!). That said, if you don't mine or log, they pretty much take care of themselves.

1513
Other Games / Re: Minecraft - It has blocks.
« on: February 06, 2011, 11:02:42 pm »
Quote from: Jay on February 06, 2011, 06:57:28 pm
Quote from: Duke 2.0 on February 06, 2011, 06:44:42 pm
People were idiots ranging form "I should be able to destroy everything and if you don't build defenses and defend said defenses 24/7 then you don't deserve your stuff" to more intelligent "What if people make a bunch of walls surrounding you and land-claim it?"
Easy.
The Wurm approach.
Make the land-claims require some form of upkeep.

But if you're running upkeep on an X*Y plot of land, I can wall it off with a 2X + 2Y plot of land. (X*Y*Z and 2X + 2Y + 2Z if we have to 'claim' all 3 dimensions.) Quadratic versus linear growth means that any decently-sized megaproject will have to maintain the upkeep on a vastly larger area of land than the wall surrounding it.  :(

Moreover, define "upkeep". I'll confess I've never played Wurm and thus don't know how their approach works... but I can't imagine land-claims would be much fun if you have to constantly scour the earth for diamonds or something to pay the upkeep. Kinda defeats the whole point of building something if you have to spend most of your time paying the taxes on the land or something.  ???

1514
Other Games / Re: Tropico 3, optimism is welcome.
« on: February 06, 2011, 10:57:47 pm »
Now there's a coincidence... I just loaded this up again yesterday, and suddenly the thread has been bumped.  :o



My most recent, hilarious observation was near the end of a 20-year campaign mission. Every faction had 95+ respect for me... except for the Loyalists. Really, guys? I thought the 'loyal' in Loyalist meant, ya know, that you wouldn't be the least loyal faction! I mean, I insulted the Capitalists on my talk show, and they still liked me better than you!

(Actually, I should see if I can tick off the Loyalists enough to get them to rebel. "I'm so loyal to you, I'm going to shoot you!!"  :D)

1515
Other Games / Re: Favorite Game Quotes
« on: February 05, 2011, 06:43:20 pm »
"Time to die!!"

-spoken by a random soldier, probably armed with a pistol, as I strafed his oil rig with a fighter jet.   ;D

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