Xuande's recent activity
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Comment on Who’s playing Blood on the Clocktower? in ~games.tabletop
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Comment on Is Tildes protected from malicious actors, aka paid trolls, aka bots? in ~tildes
Xuande Link ParentI rarely post, and consider myself fortunate for having gotten access to an account here in the first place - networking is a key skill that I lack. So when I do decide to make an effort post,...I rarely post, and consider myself fortunate for having gotten access to an account here in the first place - networking is a key skill that I lack. So when I do decide to make an effort post, it'll often be long, and in an area where I feel like I have expertise.
And half the time I feel like posting was a mistake, because the voting system here can be a magnet for anxiety, even if its not as harsh as somewhere like Reddit, Discord, or other social media adjacent sites. But I feel more comfortable trying here, because there's less open hostility when people disagree.
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Comment on Looking for some video game suggestions based off some specific parameters in ~games
Xuande Link ParentI'll give a summarized list, with the caveats that I've played and am not personally a fan of any of them, but each has appeal to the right sort of player. The Bazaar (Tempo Storm's client,...I'll give a summarized list, with the caveats that I've played and am not personally a fan of any of them, but each has appeal to the right sort of player.
The Bazaar (Tempo Storm's client, recently Steam) - My comments here are around 8 months out of date as I quit due to what I perceived were terrible monetization/etc decisions by the development team, and I've read that they recently laid off 60% of their staff. That all said, there were the bones of a good game.
Multiplayer async so you can play at your own pace. You choose a character which determines what set of items you start with and can buy later, and what you can gain from periodic level ups. The gameplay loop involves a series of events that get you various kinds of loot, a PvE fight in the middle of the round, and a PvP fight at the end of the round. You're managing an inventory with 10 spaces, items that take up 1-3 spaces each, and the goal is to assemble a set of attacks/defenses/utility effects that beat other players. If you lose the round's PvP fight, you lose HP equal to the round number, and once you've lost 20+ HP you get one final chance (and loot handout) to survive the rest of the run. A won run is winning 10 PvP fights, and there are lesser rewards for reaching 7 or 4 wins. I have no idea what their current monetization is as they've changed it many times.
Mechabellum [Warning: At times has had AI Art, not certain if it still does] (Steam) - Live multiplayer with 100s/turn timers, during which you are deploying various batches of military/sci-fi themed units over a large battlefield, each of which has their own ratings for things like HP/Damage (Ground,Air)/Movement/UnitCount/Buyable TechTree options and so on. There's also other buyables like global abilities to use during a fight, and most recently they've added some buildings that I'm unfamiliar with. The most played mode is Ranked 1v1, though there are 4p FFA and 2v2 modes as well as unranked lobbies for each. I enjoyed my time with this game but dropped it around the time they first added AI Art (which I used to have drawn a line against), but the timers were also a bit too strict for me.
Dominions 6/Conquest of Elysium 5 series [Warning: Uses its own CD-Key DRM, meaning you cannot run the same game on multiple devices while online] (Steam, originally other sources, CoE 3 got a mobile port) - Where to begin...imagine a 4X or Civ-like game where the emphasis is on warfare logistics, except that mages/magic play a large role in research and battle, and you're playing as a civ based on the various histories of mythology.
Dominions is more complex by far, featuring many 100s of spells and a learning curve so deep that players with 1000s of hours haven't mastered everything on offer, but as you'd expect the AI is barely competent at anything past beginner level and can only pile on more troops through a handicap-based difficulty setting. There's a heavy multiplayer focus here, and although Dominions 6 added public lobbies, this usually means Discord diving for private ones, with the main style being playing 1 turn per ~24 hours. I'm not a fan of the public-facing community, and eventually got tired out of doing 1p/LAN games due to the large amount of clicking and hotkeys involved in playing out a turn.
Conquest of Elysium simplifies a lot (minimal and unit-specific research, battle formations/orders are now automatic, etc) but because of this the AI is a reasonable opponent if you want it to be, and full games can be played out in a matter of hours, or even minutes as its not too uncommon to see roaming wildlife attack and take over your starting capital. The singleplayer experience here is generally considered better, and its a lot harder to find multiplayer lobbies, but I personally have had a lot of fun playing this in small private/LAN groups.
Yi Xian: The Cultivation Card Game (Steam) - As far as I know this went F2P monetization model some time ago, so I can't speak to how ethical it is, but previously it was an ~$8 to own model and that was my experience with it. You pick a character that belongs to one of a few factions (card sets) that also has their own spin via a few abilities, and then try to assemble an ordered deck of cards that plays out against another opponent in the ~8 player lobby. The timers were well out of my league, so my time was limited to the singleplayer options, but those were quite decent. There's a small Roguelike mode meant to teach concepts of the game and how to counter specific types of builds, and there's the ability to play against bot opponents in standard matches. From what I have read, the depth of this game's multiplayer meta goes deep and it can be hard for a non-Chinese reading player to learn of it, since many guides/info sources don't get translated.
Tales And Tactics [Warning: Main developer, who was also the person behind the popular Downfall mod for Slay the Spire, had their Discord hacked last year which may have led to some Downfall users getting sent malware via Steam] (Steam) - Autochess if it was Roguelike, with fleshed out singleplayer and async multiplayer ways to play. Not going in depth here since my experience is years out of date at this point, but for me this was a case of a game with decent bones but a bit too clicky for optimal play (bench management and frequent buying/selling of units) and for me, a bit of a dull meta.
I'll list a few more that I've played but that I don't feel like effort posting on:
Path of Achra (not technically an auto battler, but in practice plays like one, essentially a build simulator game in some ways similar to Rift Wizard series)
Backpack Battles [Warning: PvP has hidden handicapping of opponents, cheat protection is minimal] (Buy objects to put in an expanding backpack, fight against others doing the same, choice of low difficulty Unranked or a Ranked mode that...has issues, see the Warning, but even more than that.)
Legion TD 2 (more Tower Defense than auto battler, but a lot of depth here if you enjoy puzzle solving, singleplayer campaigns vs flavored opponents, or timer based live multiplayer)
The Last Flame (I didn't like it for several meta reasons, but its popular)
Despot's Game (Singleplayer that turns into async multiplayer at the end of the run, but is weighed down by an enormous amount of metaprogression that disadvantages the player until its unlocked)
Astronarch (Singleplayer only, manage a party of 4 and their loot, easy to learn hard to master with many difficulty/ascension options)
Although it no longer exists and I have many issues with it, I also have to call out Storybook Brawl as the game that got me into the auto battler genre. Several clone attempts have been made since, but they also all have severe issues. You might think of it as a clone of HS Battlegrounds (which I've never played as I had sworn off anything Blizzard by the time it came out), but I felt like it had more depth and less FOMO (since you could earn a full character roster F2P, which I spent around 10 days of grinding to do). Unfortunately, a lot of drama happened that's not worth going into. I went from #1 ladder player and ~1100 hours invested in half a year, to quitting the game outright. I've tried alternatives, and they're all either dead by now or unpolished.
I was so affected by these experiences that I went on to develop my own take on the genre over the last few years. While I have a working prototype with a lot of variety/depth, I also have limits on my ability to do developer work and so numerous things need polish that I'm unable to give, and unable to use networking to get, so its more a hobby than something I'm likely to be able to distribute or sell.
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Comment on Looking for some video game suggestions based off some specific parameters in ~games
Xuande LinkLook into asynchronous or singleplayer auto battlers. I'm going to suggest games off the beaten path, as I imagine you're aware of the bigger name titles. Singleplayer-focused: Vivid Knight (out...Look into asynchronous or singleplayer auto battlers. I'm going to suggest games off the beaten path, as I imagine you're aware of the bigger name titles.
Singleplayer-focused:
Vivid Knight (out on Steam, mobile)/Vivid World (sequel, not out, has active demo) - If you like a blend of light auto chess with active abilities and dungeon/loot management.
Gods vs Horrors (recent Steam release) - Simplified but fairly deep auto chess, if auto chess didn't have a chess board and you could only upgrade each unit one level. There's a focus on endless difficulty climbing if you're into that, and several ways to customize your starting conditions.
Esports Godfather [Warning: AI Art, decent but not ideal English localization] (Steam, complete experience but support ongoing for more content) - MOBA coaching simulator with a focus on the economic and tactical in-match decisions. Upcoming beta modes should offer a shorter experience, but the default way to play is in a long campaign climbing division ranks.
Teamfight Manager (Steam)/Teamfight Manager 2 (not released yet) - MOBA-like simulator, but the focus is on teams in a generic arena duking it out team deathmatch style, and the emphasis is heavily on being able to outsmart a fairly smart AI in ban/pick character drafting. There are economic sim elements, but they're relatively light. This does support private multiplayer leagues, and the sequel seems to be going in a more traditional MOBA direction with lanes and such.
Cauldron (Steam) - Hard to describe what exactly this is without getting into spoiler territory, but think of it as a sandbox that expands as you metaprogression your way through it. While there's always the ability to manually engage with the various games and puzzles present, much of the game nudges you towards setting it up to play itself.
Multiplayer:
I'll start by saying I've played a lot of them and have yet to find my ideal fit as a high-skill, low-APM player who also doesn't like tolerating F2P monetization but knows its hard to populate a userbase without it. I've very much been around the block with card games and competitive auto battlers, and they all have issues. If you want my opinions on those, it tends to boil down to one of "my APM can't handle the timer", "unethical monetization", "terrible balance team", or "sold out to Crypto/NFTs/etc post-launch period".
Evolve Lab (Steam, Early Access but playable and lacking bugs afaik in current state) - Pick up to three sea creatures with different variations on starting stats, movement, action tempo, etc. Each round, go to a shop and buy various actions for them to automatically use at times you specify, stat points, modifiers to make actions perform differently, and so on. Each third round, also draft a Core that acts like a Relic would, but specific to each of your units. And finally, each round fight against someone else's creation that lost at the round you're currently at, losing your unit permanently if you lose the fight. Lose all units, and that run is over. Making it past 12 rounds is considered a win, but the round count is endless unless you get past every previous player's best attempt, making you the new king of the hill. There's even a gradual unlock system that doesn't take long, but slowly introduces the game through having planets, each of which has larger drafting selections than the previous. This is a recent release and I'm enjoying my time with it so far. It can be played without online as well, though I have little experience with that mode of play.
Tears of Adria [Warning: Always online, can't get 100% unlocks without access to 4p] (Steam) - It looks jank and to some extent it is, but I've played nothing like it before, and it supports solo, co-op, or PvP play for up to 4. You start with an adventurer that can eventually be a party of up to 6, and run around collecting loot and doing quests depending on your character's background. Combat is fully autobattle, the strategy comes in deciding what loot to wear and buy, and what quests to do when, while you're being incentivized to go after various achievements for character unlocks. Characters differentiate themselves from what they can learn on level ups, what factions they're friendly/enemy to, and what DnD-esque statlines they have which dictate what types of equipment they can wear. Lots of secrets to find despite the world being static.
There's more I can list, let me know if this kind of post is helpful or not.
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Comment on Starlink is surprisingly good, actually in ~tech
Xuande Link ParentAssuming that you're getting the bandwidth paid for, maybe. I'm stuck on a supposed "350mbps" plan that runs over $80 USD/month and never tests north of 100mbps, more typically around 90 and...Assuming that you're getting the bandwidth paid for, maybe.
I'm stuck on a supposed "350mbps" plan that runs over $80 USD/month and never tests north of 100mbps, more typically around 90 and occasional "outages" of sub-10mbps.
But that's download speed. As for upload, its always under 10mbps, and that's a strict enough limitation that several activities I'd like to do, and in cases used to do when living in less of an internet black hole, won't work on that poor of an upload speed. Unfortunately, there's no viable non-satellite competitor in my area yet, with the one company attempting to do so being mired down in conflicts over the infrastructure.
While I would consider resorting to connecting my mobile plan's internet to PC before resorting to the awful options in stand-alone satellite, I also get why others would take the lower friction, more capable option. Everyone gets to draw their own lines in the sand when it comes to the oxymoron that is ethical capitalism. I have lines I draw and lines I'd like to draw but don't or can't, because being able to draw those lines is limited to the privilege experienced by those drawing them.
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Comment on A spoiler free but brief critcism of Blue Prince reviews/recommendation to play in ~games
Xuande LinkI'd like to mention, as someone who has been paying attention to but hasn't played Blue Prince - while there is supposedly dev work going towards offering colorblind-friendly options (per Steam...I'd like to mention, as someone who has been paying attention to but hasn't played Blue Prince - while there is supposedly dev work going towards offering colorblind-friendly options (per Steam forum posts), the current state of the game is not colorblind-friendly and I could not see myself attempting a lot of the content present until significant improvements are made.
I say this as someone who recently got hardstuck in another game due to it having no warnings about color-specific puzzles in its late game (The Specter's Desire). Hopefully the upcoming Steam changes with accessibility tagging either push more dev teams to take colorblindness and other accessibility issues into account, or at least help players like me spot when I'm not a part of their target audience.
And as someone who is interested in Blue Prince more because of "interesting genre mashup/new ideas" and less because "puzzle game", getting stuck on a puzzle because of circumstances outside of my control isn't something I'm willing to risk.
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Comment on Steam Spring Sale suggestions in ~games
Xuande Link ParentI hope you're right. Personal qualms aside: Epic-related deals, the way certain members of their team handled PR in the Steam launch period, fears about Old World doubling down on "one weird trick...I hope you're right.
Personal qualms aside:
Epic-related deals, the way certain members of their team handled PR in the Steam launch period, fears about Old World doubling down on "one weird trick that's OP" spam that in my eyes defined the Civ4 experience, etc.My biggest issue as someone who newly bought in during this sale is the micro. I don't like automation, but I've also got debilitating hand/wrist issues that get in the way of micro, and in my first few hours I'm finding a lot of weak documentation encouraging a "trial and error" approach that my hands don't have the patience for. Tooltips are great, but having to tap MMB or hold Shift repeatedly isn't (waiting X period of time would be much better for me), and often those tooltips aren't comprehensive enough without going several layers deep.
And yes, before ever playing I read the full manual included with the game. I felt like both it and many of the tooltips I've seen in early game could be written in a clearer way, but perhaps it'll make more sense once I manage to get a full session going.
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Comment on Steam Spring Sale suggestions in ~games
Xuande Link ParentI find that how usable a Steam forum is directly relates to how large of a community the related product has. Assuming that the community is large enough to exist, small enough to not attract much...I find that how usable a Steam forum is directly relates to how large of a community the related product has. Assuming that the community is large enough to exist, small enough to not attract much mainstream attention, and isn't too insular (Discord centered, etc)...there's a lot of times where I've found and/or gave useful information, tech support/bug fixes, and so on. Its even led to learning a lot about the developers at times, or helping steer their Early Access plans in meaningful ways.
As someone who frequents smaller scale indie projects and avoids most AAA/AA level games, this happens more often than you might think, and I'd hate to see yet another useful resource disappear from search engines for getting games/software working properly.
Of course, it would be nice if the more densely populated and toxic forums were functional without having to add in pages worth of ignored users, but that would require better moderation, and that can come with its own set of problems - assuming Steam isn't interested in greatly expanding their paid moderation team.
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Comment on A vast swathe of varied topics, and the conversations built around them, were just lost from Tildes – what to do when users leave with their posts in ~tildes
Xuande Link ParentFirst time poster and long time lurker here who only has an account thanks to invite codes that were openly posted here. I've went through deleting myself from communities numerous times, going...First time poster and long time lurker here who only has an account thanks to invite codes that were openly posted here. I've went through deleting myself from communities numerous times, going through the effort to remove my contributions/posts even if it meant manually deleting thousands of posts.
For me, its because I sometimes get the urge to break out of my shell of conditions (diagnosed social and generalized anxiety, bipolar, PTSD, among others.) That's hard for me to do, but so is living an isolated life - my time is 97% spent at home with no particular obligations and nobody to safely socialize with except my spouse. I've had strong experiences, good and bad (mostly the latter), happen when I decide to get active socially over the internet.
Several of those times involved me feeling personally attacked over an issue that I feel strongly about. If I left my posts intact, I would get a very strong urge to check back from time to time, a curiosity that I couldn't overcome short of nuking it entirely. And since that's bad for my own well being, I get rid of all of it.
So there's been a number of times where I've made the decision to abruptly remove myself from a community that might have no clue why I'm leaving, and I know that sucks for them, but I also haven't figured out a better way to handle the circumstances. I don't know the details of the poster the OP is referring to, but thought it might be helpful to lay out why I abandon sites myself.
Haven't played as its been a long time since I've been capable of a mafia-like social game for many reasons, but I'll mention that Demon Bluff (https://store.steampowered.com/app/3522600/Demon_Bluff/) seems like this game if it were in the framework of singleplayer, solving who's evil at a given table. The playtest is generous, and went a long way towards getting me interested in the planned Q1 release.
I used to enjoy watching internet video mafia, but those days are past and when I was recently exposed to BotC for the first time - a charity event ran by players from the recent UK Genius Game season - it seemed overly complex to learn through observation.