The Jan 2014 GAME FINISH thread! -- so it begins again!!

[Martok]

Nicely done, Bison!  I take it you've been enjoying Warlock quite a bit, then? 

[MengJiao]

Amateurs.

I just finished an ARMA3 scenario (SP), and for the first time went almost five minutes without being shot, blown up, or otherwise seagulled. Beat that!

There's a reason why MC Hammer doesn't sue me for my harem pants.

  On an unfinished note:  I went back to ARMAIII because it got something new in the development area (unfinished!).  I went back into a scenario that I had made (unfinished!) switched sides (why?) added some armor.  I arrived and was lost somewhere on the big island.  A friendly vehicle ran over somebody behind me and I ran toward the enemy to try to stay safe.  Over in enemy land, something huge exploded and an immense pillar of black smoke came into view.  (I'm not sure what that was -- quite possibly a tank falling into a house due to unfinished deployments in the scenario design).  My combat team was more lost than me and kept demanding to know where I was so I changed roles with a recon man and took off into enemy territory.  Eventually there was a pretty big battle -- though not quite big enough since I was killed trying to find it.  I switched sides and was blown up.  I switched sides again and drove a truck with a machine gun around town until a tank hit me with machine gun fire.  I took the Cheeta (dual 35mm AA) and was busy leveling the town (enemy AT missiles were surprisingly helpful and collapsed whole buildings around me.  Eventually the tank got me.  I switched to the tank and drove around.  Everybody was dead.  I got out and found a few of my earlier selves shot to bits.  There was no feeling of closure or finish.  I think the scenario needs work.

I dunno, man. A tank falling into a house sounds pretty effin awesome.

Other than that, sounds frighteningly similar to many of my ARMA experiences. Particularly the part where no one -- including me -- knows wtf I am.

I still am not sure what the explosion is that kicks off the scenario.  I'm going to try to find out.

Any chance you've published it on workshop? Yours sound like a goodly amount of chaotic fun. . .

Chaotic, but primitive.  I guess I should see what the workshop scenarios are like.

[JasonPratt]

Out of curiosity I took 4 well-promoted MECs and two well-promoted snipers to the first (?) alien base in XCOM:EU, and learned I was about one big encounter shy of being able to beat the mission. Oddly, the sectopod clustermunition attack (which I promptly named something else to do with clusters ;) ), which it had never shown any evidence of in prior encounters with that type in the mission, didn't even scratch my two snipers; but they had previously shown themselves almost ineffective against sectos, and several other aliens were bearing down on me in what I inferred (perhaps wrongly) was the last large room area of the base; and for all I knew there would be a final boss (I've tried to avoid spoilers); and for all I knew this wasn't even the final battle (especially since the aliens hadn't launched a strike on my base yet, nor tried to shoot down my satellites, which seems like something that ought to kick in before game-end)...

...so I reloaded premission. {inhaaaale!}

But now I'll have to grind through several more whole months of missions (if the prior month or two were any indication) before I level up enough, and scrape up enough meld, to maximize my mechs.

Thus, I feel likely to move on from XCOM soon (again) and get into something else (possibly again). Taking another stab at learning Blood Bowl Legendary Edition for example.


At least I've held to my resolution so far and not bought any PC or console games this year!

...except for the iPhone version of Carcassone for my niece. Which doesn't count, because "for my niece".

...and except for the iPhone version of Lords of Waterdeep for research into a potential marketing opportunity. Which doesn't count because "business sort of".

...and except for about $800 (surely more like) $500 of various board and card games which my nieces may or may not learn to play this year or sometime in the next five years perhaps.


...
.........

BUT MY RESOLUTION REMAINS FIXED!!!

(Did you own PuzzleQuest2 or PQ:Galactrix at the start of the year?)(No... {sigh})

[JasonPratt]

Update this Monday -- there is no update.  :P

I didn't start a new game in my collection, and piddled around with some old ones I hadn't strictly finished yet. Most notably, I took another shot at beating the next-to-last mission in the "Sin of Damnation" (main) campaign for the Space Hulk PC reboot this weekend. I have come to the realization that what I thought was merely a bug last time (the large tanky Genestealer cannot be shot or otherwise hit with ranged fire), is actually intentional by the mission designers to force players to hit it in melee with one of the two characters (the librarian and the officer) who cannot spend a turn picking up its goo afterward.

I suspect if I did a little more research on the net (such as at gamefaqs.com) I'd find this confirmed (and anyone who reads this who knows for sure is welcome to do so, hint hint ;) ); but the theory occurred to me when I noticed the dice rolls again demonstrating that my sergeant ( Lorenzo, the guy with the sword and cape) was repeatedly shooting the thing while it lumbered up the hallway and scoring legitimate hits of 5 or better on the dice rolls -- but unlike when using fire (which I tried first) the action log wasn't showing the creature to be immune. Meh, I thought, yeah there it is, there's the bug: how is it after so many patches this has not been fixed?!?

Then I thought, okay, what if that's intentional then? Then I thought, why? Well, to make the mission harder of course; and because this creature ought to be harder to kill but this game doesn't really have anything like hit points. But it isn't just harder to kill, it's invulnerable to bolter fire! But it isn't technically "invulnerable" like to a heavy flamer. So what am I supposed to kill it with? Something with better to-hit rolls than bolter fire; the only thing nearby was the power sword sergeant who had been repeatedly scoring legal hits with the bolter.

So on my next turn, I walk up and whack it with the sword. Blap, it drops over dead, instant kill, I'm not even sure there was a dice roll per se! Fine, great, I'll just spend one more action point to walk on top of it and then drop into oversight to shoot anything else coming up the hallway -- and then I remembered the guy with the sword couldn't pick up the goo. But why?!?

I guess in-story the explanation would be that he doesn't have an open fits like the claw guy or anyone with a power glove; but that doesn't stop him or the librarian from throwing down a portable force-field (if they have the APs to do that action). Then it occurred to me: if they're two of the only three marines on the mission with a real chance at fighting this thing hand to hand, it would be super-easy to do what I was planning and park myself on the goo with one more move. It would be more "tactical" (in a trivially more complicated way) to have to shuffle people around to get a guy with a fist (or maybe the claws), who didn't have as much chance to win in hand-to-hand, to stand there instead.

I feel like this is the answer to my puzzlement. It feels awfully gamey if so, but it does explain all the weird details of the mission. I'll be trying again tonight, with at least the confirmation that I need to send someone to whack it with a heavy melee weapon pronto (maybe the claw guy so he can pick up the residue faster.)

[mikeck]

I am about 3 battles always from finally finishing a distant worlds game as the victor. I've finished many as the loser but as we speak, 1st fleet, 2nd fleet. 1st assault (nuclear bombardment), 1st MEU and 2nd MEU are engaged in the enemies main system . While the fleets blast the enemy fleets and take out the orbitals, the marines land and take the planets. There are three planets. The main enemy home works is stocked full of troops so the 6 nuclear cruisers will simply nuke the crap out of it until it's dead. With that done, the only raise even close to me will be done and 6 months later, I hit the finish line. Yeah!

[JasonPratt]

Ooooooo...  :o

DW is one of those games I own that I'd like to play this year perhaps AND FINALLY GET SOME RETURN FOR MY INVESTMENT IN IT!! (Not that I resent buying it and its various expansion, otherwise I wouldn't have bought them. It's just, y'know, potential fun so far. :) )

My theory about the killbeast or bloodlard or whatever it is, turned out to be lamentably false on all points.

1.) A regular old heavy bolter can in fact kill it. So can an assault cannon, btw. Apparently I have to roll double sixes or something, because I know I was rolling fives and sixes before then, whereas the winning hit both times involved double sixes (a little easier to roll with the three dice of an assault cannon). This is annoying.

2.) Hand to hand does not automatically kill it: it managed to easily smat all three of my melee marines at one point or another tonight.

3.) The claw guy does not pick up anything from it after all.

4.) No one does.

5.) Good Lord I'm going to have to walk all the way over to that room where they said the sample was, and either find another one there, or shoot one of the two floating bodies in the room, or possibly both. I sincerely hope they don't wake up when or before I shoot them (or stab them or whatever), because these things are like Baneblades. I can't imagine having to deal with two of them in an enclosed area with God only knows how many other regular stealers (plus whatever killjoys or whatever they are ALSO spawning from the points) running up my rear guard.

... ......... I think I may go play the old DOS Space Hulk awhile (again) instead...

[Anguille]

Just finished Populus Romanus, both campaigns (Rome and Carthage) on my tablet.

[airboy]

I have taken down 12 Masterminds and reached 009 level in Covert Action recently rereleased on gog.com

[Shelldrake]

Just finished my first run through with XCOM Enemy Unknown and started a second game with second wave options using ironman mode.