Thursday, January 03, 2013

Notoriously Databased v0.42

Few more modifications & bugfixes before the LAN tonight.
Enhancements:
 - Moved equipping minions up in the turn processing order so you can equip and use minions immediately to raid / attack. This is to help late game when you need to be able to attack others in the current turn to prevent a win, whereas bounties cope quite well for dealing with players in the next turn.

Bugfixes:
 - Check enough space for fortifications
 - Check enough space for elites
 - Check enough space for slaves.
 - Fix elite only raids returning with 1 elite.

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

2011 & 2012 Game Time

2011

Continuing on from the 2008 Game Time , 2009 Game Time and 2010 Game Time summaries,  2011 Game Time has been added to google docs for further analysis of the GameLogs. The spreadsheet can be organised by total hours to see the winners, or by order entered to get a more historical feel.

Top 5 Game Time 2011
Grepolis389
Shogun: Total War 2102
Sengoku85
Terraria70
Fantasy Wars66

Grepolis claims another gong for soaking up my attention thoughout a VERY tough year for games while teaching. A couple of huge binges mixed in with consistent demands for my attention. Once again I can put down a lot of that to the guild I was in.

I'm glad Shogun placed up there, as it has been a standout for strategy in the past couple of years. The tactical battles are still much the same, but the overland map and campaign mode has been delightfully enhanced into a tough challenge on legendary mode.

Sengoku fleshed out the Japanese period, but it was really a filler for Crusader Kings II. 


Terraria just kept popping up as something to play with Cameron. I'm surprised at the number of hours it racked up, but still happy it made the list for a year it didn't appear in.


Top 5 Game Time 2012
Stronghold Kingdoms523
Football Manager 2012160
Crusader Kings II151
Guild Wars 2113
World of Tanks90

The Grepolis crew moved over to Stronghold Kingdoms and it had the same effect on my game time, leading the count by a considerable margin. Once again the interaction with clanmates and added incentive of Sandy playing along kept this one high on the priority list for a long time.

I'm a little surprised Footy Manager made a return to the top of the list as I'd almost forgotten about the massive stint on this game 6 months after I'd bought it. 2013 version may suffer the same fate.

Crusader Kings II was one of the standouts for the year and kept my attention more than XCOM, Warlock, Fallen Enchantress and Shogun (again) that all just missed the list.

Guild Wars 2 was also buoyed by clanmates, but this time all the local LAN guys as well as the old QGL crew kept the interest up. Sandy continued long after I did, but the time was definitely well spent. New generation of MMO.

World of Tanks did a Terraria to creep into the list from continuous play rather than standout binges.  First wins kept it rotating slowly, but the lack of decent multiplyer hampered its ability to become a mainstay of the LAN.

GameLog 271 - 275

Final one for the year. Next up a Gamelog summary I promise ...

Endless space (33h) - Didn't particularly like some of the distractions on launch, but it's turned out to be a rather refined, enjoyable version of Masters of Orion. I even caught myself thinking "This game really needs planet compositions based on star age/colour" before finding out it actually does have that. Beat it on hardest with a custom race, but it definitely has legs for the future. Multiplayer needs a way to have co-op against a team of AI's though.

Hegemony Gold (10h) - Greig had picked this one up on steam and it looked the most interesting thing to sink into during the holiday up north. Went North first, before heading east instead of the traditional south to Athens.

Fallen Enchantress  (10h) - Completed the campaign with my custom race, plus another partial game. Still playing well.

Unity of Command (5h) - Another pick from Greig's place. Mentioned many times on Three Moves Ahead, but only having one campain going at once doesn't lend well to sharing. Left Greig with map 3 done with 550 / 600 completion.

Notoriously databased (5h) - A fair few more playthroughs at LANs and New Year's Eve with my brothers. It's turned the corner from being a test into a more complete game in it's own right, along with specific bug fixes and tweaks to make it more streamlined.

AirMech (1h) - Snowball MMO.

Planetside 2 (1h) Snowball MMO RTS.

Hall of Fame


[Press play, then read]

Year 12 are on the home stretch. Tomorrow they have their prom night, then a day at the beach before the final Friday of their schooling life. I, too, am on the home stretch. The final lesson I'll ever teach was cut in half to accomodate graduations song practice, along with a heartfelt message from the principal and head of campus to "remember this time".  Michael W Smith's Friends are friends forever made the cut, along with the more recent Hall of Fame by The Script. I'd heard it before on the radio, and the tune itself lends toward memorable occasions, but does it really represent a christian perspective?

The main point of contention is the chorus line "where the world's gonna know your name". Get out there and do it. Why? Because it'll make you famous. This is inherently a selfish motivation, and undermines all the inspirational lead up that the song provides.

An interesting way to think of the song is to read this line as a statement of fact rather than a guide for yourself. "The world's gonna know you're name". Who's name? Who's the most famous person in history? Jesus. Did he try to be? No. Did he want to be? No. Funnily enough, the song all makes sense if Jesus is the focus throughout. A praise anthem.