Remember the Maine! this Friday

[Greybriar]

World of Tanks is having a Lisyanka Weekend Event this weekend, so I will be putting a few hours into that game. Other than that, probably a little 7 Grand Steps and Talisman Prologue. I'm not sure what else.

[Kushan]

Skyrim: Having beat the main quest in dragonborn, I'm going to do some of the side quests and hunt down some black books on Solstheim. There's also some things I want to do back in Skyrim as well, including hunt down the rest of the dragon priest masks and doing some of the daedric quest lines. I want to get another few levels before go and make another attempt to defeat Alduin. After I do that I think I may archive this character and take a small break from the game before I start my next playthrough. And of course I'm going to spend A LOT of time riding my new dragon mount around both Solstheim and Skyrim.

Crusader Kings 2: Finally got around to reading patch notes from last month and realized that Paradox has fixed the bug that prevented players from building trade posts when playing as republics. I've started a few games as a republic but haven't gotten very far before my frustration with the bug made me quit and go back to my Italian game.

Planetside 2: Downloaded it earlier this week but haven't had the time to play it.

[W8taminute]

Unity of Command is on sale in STEAM.  Might pick up this and it's DLC this weekend.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Iron Front on Sat
ArmA2 on Sunday.

Not sure what else to play other than that.  Nothing's really grabbing me right now.

[mikeck]

Man, the Spanish- American war...the good ol days when you could surreptitiously manufacture a war without anyone getting wrapped around the axel about it.

[Arctic Blast]

Maybe some more Borderlands 2. I briefly started up Men of War Assault Squad and liked it, so I think I'll spend some more time with that. And maybe some Warlock...

[Father Ted]

Planetside 2: Downloaded it earlier this week but haven't had the time to play it.

This is what I'll be doing quite a bit of.  I've got about 50 hours logged now and still haven't bought anything.  I feel a bit guilty, but it seems I can enjoy this game without buying any upgrades beyond what I earn with my measly "skillz".    It's best played with at least one friend on TS, and has the potential to deliver a fair amount of tactical fun if you can gather a few together, but you can get the feel of being in a fight playing solo.  If you ignore the sci-fi stylings, it's a reasonable first person battle-simulator.

I'd recommend this to anyone here, especially as you can get a pretty good feel for it without having to lay out a penny.

[panzerde]

Probably some Harpoon 3 (finally getting around to getting back into it) and more Musket & Pike: The Renaissance.  I also have a craving to play something with 18th century naval ships/fleets, but beyond the Total War games I'm not sure what that would be.

[Martok]

Not sure yet what I'll be playing this weekend.  More Distant Worlds: Legends most likely.  I'm also  kind of in an RPG mood at the moment, so right now I'm thinking some Baldurs Gate as well. 

[Boggit]

The sinking of the battleship USS Maine occurred today in 1898 leading to Americas war with Spain in the Spanish American War.

Ironically, there is evidence that the sinking arose due to spontaneous combustion due to the use of bituminous coal (as opposed to anthracite used elsewhere) for the boilers releasing an explosive mixture of gases, known as "Firedamp".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firedamp
When stored in in a restrictive area these gases can build up to a concentration where an explosion can take place. Prior to the Maine explosion, there was a history of bunker fires in US ships - some causing huge damage. Anyway, such are the conclusions of historians like Dana Wegner and Admiral  H. Rickover.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-3584.1998.tb03255.x/abstract

I find Rickover and Wegner's findings more believable than the conspiracy theorists who suggest that the Spanish blew it up with a mine (The US Navy said it was due to a mine at the time, but a Spanish Inquiry at the time disproved it on the evidence {although strangely not reported in the US Press - I wonder why?}). There is little evidence that Spain had any appetite for war with the US in 1898, so why also would they inflame matters with an attack? I don't have much faith either with the cynical theorists (like the Cuban and Russian Communist parties) who say America blew up their own ship as a pretext for war. They are partly right in the sense that the event was manipulated by the Press and some politicians - but the US to blow up one of their LARGEST ships to make a point? No. I don't buy it. Taking a cynical view - a smaller ship maybe. And that is a very BIG maybe for a lot of reasons - I just don't think the US would have done it, particularly if there was the slightest chance - at all - that the public would have heard about it.

However, it happened 266 men died. :( The Press and the Hawks (for war) used the event to encourage hysteria for war anyway. :-\

[mirth]

1898 Edison motion picture footage of the Maine wreckage in Havana harbor

[Boggit]

Probably some Harpoon 3 (finally getting around to getting back into it) and more Musket & Pike: The Renaissance.  I also have a craving to play something with 18th century naval ships/fleets, but beyond the Total War games I'm not sure what that would be.

I love the Total War naval fights, but you might also try
Talonsoft's Age of Sail - Win95 - so some tweaking for compatibility will be needed - try NWS or Ebay
Sid Meier's Pirates!
East India Company published by Paradox and available both retail (box) and DL like Gamersgate
Salvo! Published and sold by Shrapnel Games
Wooden Ships Iron Men Win 95 published by Eidos and written by Akella (personally I didn't like it) try Ebay

I think there are a few others, but I can't remember any more off the top of my head. Hope it helps.

+1 to Musket and Pike - which scenario do you like best. I finished the Dutch Campaign late last year - was a lot of fun. :)

[Staggerwing]

1898 Edison motion picture footage of the Maine wreckage in Havana harbor

Wow! Great find Mirth. Looks like there may be a lot of great clips at the LoC.

[Boggit]

Maybe some more Borderlands 2. I briefly started up Men of War Assault Squad and liked it, so I think I'll spend some more time with that. And maybe some Warlock...

@Arctic Blast :)
Check out this guy's scenarios for MoW AS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYwWi-vKHGY

You can download the lot here
http://www.moddb.com/groups/men-of-war-missions-from-xgunishmentx

And a quick thank you for adding me to your "Friends" at Steam.

[mirth]

1898 Edison motion picture footage of the Maine wreckage in Havana harbor

Wow! Great find Mirth. Looks like there may be a lot of great clips at the LoC.

Yeah, I'm going to do more looking around when I have time. I think I saw some Spanish-American War footage.