snakesonaplane

I'm confused wikipedia states this: I've never actually played DOTA, but is it the same as the map this passage is talking about? I.E. a Warcraft III mod, or is it a standalone game? Or is DOTA as a standalone game a recent thing like LOL? Much confused.

This is one reason why I like to play late-game dominant champs like Nasus (top or jungle), or Ryze (mid), as your peformance early-mid game is less impactful on the match result. Obviously if you feed your lane opponent really hard it can hurt the teams chances late game, but say you're playing nasus, you can lose lane cleanly and die a few times, but late game you'll be stronger than the person who used to bully you!

If you're playing continents or similar just build one scout, as the combination of one scout plus your warrior will be enough usually to do the job of grabbing all the free stuff. If you're playing on pangea or similar, build two scouts straight away to ensure you get as many huts as possible. Sometimes I might even build three, but two plus your warrior is usually sufficient depending on the terrain. The advantage of early scouts include... helps you sus out good places for your second city... usually I don't build the second city for ages (on Marathon anyway), but if I scout a really awesome location littered with luxuries etc. I'll try to speed up the process and grab the plot; they give you the gold/cuture/tech/city growth pops from goodie huts, and helps you sus out where you are in relation to the enemy. Also I've noticed the AI is horrible at finding goodie huts (amongst other things... like warfare), even when located only a few tiles from their capital so never assume it's not worth scouting, even around the AI's territory. Building a scout is very quick considering the advantages you get from it, and won't slow down your progress much on any pathway, after that its on to the building rush.

Awks... that was my joke

I don't know about others but I always rush Great Library (I don't play on diety though, which AFAIK is really the only difficulty setting where you are likely to get pipped for the GL) in my capital as it helps immensely for early beakers, to grab the tech for the next era immediately, and removes the need to build a library. Usually my start goes soemthing like, scout -> Monument -> Granary (unless unnecessary) -> Great Library -> Next wonder (Temple of Artemis/Hanging Gardens). After building the granary I switch my city focus from food to production, or essentially whenever I start building a wonder. Like you I prioritise GL and the food giving wonders, which are complimentary as the greater level of food/pop growth the higher the beakers you get from the GL/regular library. Unless there is some pressing reason to deviate from this strategy, I think rushing GL and the food wonders (if you can get them) are beneficial to any style of play and make a good base for most civs, as everyone needs beakers and food. If I can get all three of these in the classical period, I'd not need any others to consider it an optimal start.

I was kidding, but still... i'm pretty sure once someone hits 27 they're like 3 years away from having an estimated worth of zero pounds, and all their abilities magically disappearing from their body in a matter of weeks.

AFAIK LOL was a mod (or something) of DOTA. That's totally fair, I'm a decent player and I still get flamed regularly by arseholes who often blame their own poor performance on you (i play 'jungler' a lot), then there are the trolls who instalock in the game lobby and don't call their role out etc.; or feed intentionally. The 'community' definitely needs a lot of work, sometimes you can get flamed on your first death! I usually just mute the arseholes, though it helps if you expect aresholes, it used to bother me more than it does now as I'm used to it. There's the Tribunal to punish these types... except of course if you play on the Oceania server... where there is no Tribunal

Unfortunately I find the game pretty easy on 'King' these day (since the patches, the AI seems very passive), and not noticeably different than on 'Prince' so maybe I could help? I play on 'Marathon', so that could be somewhere to start as I assume the game is probably easier in many ways on the slower speeds. What game-speed do you play? That could be help, though the skills used on 'Marathon' aren't necessarily transferable to the more arcade speeds. What are your major issues? Unhappiness crippling you? No city growth? No production? Overwhelmed by enemies? Falling behind on tech? Not enough GPT? If you tell us what sort of issues or weaknesses you find in your current play style/strategy we should be able to help. What is your opening strategy usually like? What techs do you go for? Are you switching your city focus from food to production? Do you manually build settlers and workers or do you steal or buy them? It can also depend on what civ you choose to play (and your preferred play style, tall or wide? Aggressive or passive?),some civs are just objectively easier for certain play-styles, and just in general. Korea for example is an easy path to a huge lead in science etc.The map type can also greatly affect your outcome, pangea being more difficult than continents for example. Also the social policy route you take can help/hinder greatly. Generally the optimal strategy for nearly every civ (if you're meta-gaming, which is hard to avoid tbh), is rush tradition, take patronage up to consulates, and then go down the culture tree until you get can get rationalism. There is some variables with different starts or civs, but generally this is the most powerful combination.

You're 27 aren't you Lin? Wow that's even worse, I mean i'm 29... but erm.. I've been retired from the top-flight for years! Replacing a 32 year old with a 29 year old, is the sort of band-aid solution ManU really don't need. Apparently now they're after Porto's Alex Sandro, http://sofifa.com/en/14w/p/149123-alex-sandro-lobo-silva dat potential! BTW, what happened to their Brazilian twin fullbacks? Fabio and Rafael? Are they rubbish or something? They were meant to be the future.

^---- That's because Teemo is a trash champ My main champs are: Nasus, Warwick, Ryze, and Lux. I don't actually play ranked, but based on what some website said I think I'd be 'silver' something. Do you guys (hey Matzat!) know if anyone else on here plays? I can't believe there's only three of us!

I really want Moyes to blow the January budget getting Leighton M'FN Baines. On serious note, why the hell were they linked with Leighton M'FN Baines in the first place? Dude is like what 27? And they're trying to replace their ageing current LB? With another ageing LB? Does not compute. Also rumoured price tag was always way too high. I hope they do get him though #Liverpoolfan.

Anyone here play League of Legends? After a quick forum search all I turned up is one person, Rukiko Amagi (do I know you? What was your old username?) I'm on Oceania, but have still have a North American smurf if anyone plays (i'm guessing not).

As far as games not already mentioned as far as I can see... On NES - Mike Tyson's Punch Out! Why has no one mentioned this? Never beat Mike Tyson, OP as shit. On SNES - Super Punch Out! Haha, I liked this one better just because I was better at it. There's also Mario Kart on SNES, absolute classic, also I really enjoyed SNES Street Fighter II. On PC, does anyone play 4X games? Masters of Orion II is still one of my favourite games of all time, and for me the best in the genre. nearly 20 years later!

I agree they should be cult, they also need to be anyway regardless because they have written contracts (!), but not a high cult, i.e. not pushing national. Low-medium cult is perfectly fine, as this reflects their current status sufficiently, i.e. they still have a lot of work to do before they'll 'break out' into a national phenomenon. This should be set as a challenge for the player as in life, it's been extremely difficult for TNA to raise their popularity at all.

I basically agree, AJ is not really anybody important - midcard WWE guys are at a much higher level. Obviously he is a 'big deal' in TNA, but even in his home-base he hardly lights up the crowd. In the WWE he'd be less important than Bad News Barrett, or Big E. RE: promotion overness, Derek B's Guide is a great explanation/benchmark to use for TEW: Using the above as a guide... The idea that TNA is borderline 'national' would be great if it were true, i'd love for that to be true - but that would be put them at a short step behind the WWE in TEW terms, meaning it would be possible to make them a competitor to the WWE in a few months of good booking, which is highly unrealistic. For the data to be realistic it should be a challenge to raise TNA to national, as they have trying and failing to become relevant for over 10 years now! This should be reflected in the data. In scale with the WWE universe, WWE fans the casual, who are the majority of 'wrestling fans' TNA does not even exist. When I talk to WWE fans I know who aren't smarks, they think Kurt Angle et. al are retired!!! The reality is that TNA has a long way to before they are considered even a proper 'cult' level company, let alone national. The recent attempts to tour nationally were a complete failure, which should give a good indication of where they are at... they've since retreated to their 'regional' home. Basically TNA has the marketing and appearances of a company much larger than they actually are, they present themselves as a 'national company' or larger, they want you to view them that way, but they are not. They can barely afford to pay their 'top' guys. The danger of placing them too far up in popularity is that they will grow to be a competitor to the WWE with little work from the player, which in reality should be the biggest challenge for any player of a real world mod in TEW. Setting above a medium level cult company makes this too easy. ROH and PWG are regional promotions, they don't have the exposure, fans, sales, ratings, buys etc. of a promotion larger tier, all other indies are properly 'small'.

@galacticgonzo: I still use imagevenue: http://www.imagevenue.com/ I guess coz you don't need to start an account, easy enough interface I think as well.

I cut workers pics mainly for Japan and Mexico, I hear what people are saying about organics vs kyky, but the problem with the whole area is that if you have committed a lot to using a pre-made bg like kyky it's waaaaaay more time and effort to begin using a new system. Every since the original TEW I have been using kyky, so all my pics are on kyky - God knows where half of those original photos are. In short, it's much easier for me and maybe other people who already cut to stick to their current system then start a whole new set, with a new cut for every worker, than compile a picture pack with their pre-existing cuts. Also, because of good people like the TheWho87, there is a fuck load of kyky cuts already done, many for obscure guys. Meaning the work-load required to make a 'new' picture pack would probably be lower than an organic pack. Obviously this is just where i'm at though, so if I was to contribute it would only be to a kyky pack, as I stated above I cbf beginning an organic collection. I'm sure other people would and do cut organic already, there's a guy on GDS, Fleisch, who has a data-set and using organic cuts I believe.

If we consider TNA a large regional promotion edging cult their main eventers like Roode should by that scale sit at a range 56-70 overness. I would scale down always, so based on that scale I would put Roode and guys like him in the lower-mid-to-mid scale of overness for a national promotion (WWE), i.e. 40-56 max. Scaling TNA correctly in EWR is really hard though, which is why I guess the workers and company popularity is usually much higher than it should be. Because treating TNA as a bigger promotion than it is prevents them from losing all their over guys straight away, which is obviously unrealistic. But there needs to be balance, as WWE should not be signing Bobby Roode and then pushing him to straight to mid-upper mid. Obviously any attempt to scale overness also needs to keep in mind industry context, such as the TNA exclusive guys having lower overness than ex-WWE TNA guys, and where a worker would likely be pushed if they went from TNA to WWE. Going by the EWR scale above I'd put WWE as a large national meaning the range for TNA guys should be anything from Jobber to Mid, or 20-80. Realistically no one outside of Angle/Hardy types is likely to be autopushed at mid-card by the WWE (rather low-mid at best), nor would they have the overness/face recognition of the WWE universe to justify current WWE midcarders overness levels if they were to turn up on 'Raw'. In EWR, I also think it's useful to go for a balance for TNA guys based around scaling off of WWE worker overness (which is what I do in TEW to keep the world realistic). Such that TNA guys should nearly always be lower, capping at the level of a lower mid or mid guy in the WWE, as they are the most likely workers to get signed by WWE in real life and probably in-game (because of their overness), so they especially need to be balanced. In-game TNA workers should not usually be entering above lower mid unless they have previous recent exposure in WWE, or obvious history/overness, like your returning RVD for example. I actually thinks its more useful to use hard caps for workers never in a major company with TV, in EWR terms, basically the backyard scale is the cap for all indy guys I would use. Meaning, only TNA guys in the current market should be exceeding the backyarder scale in US/Canada. Basically the EWR scale above is far too generous to non-TV companies, I mean by that scale it suggests a main eventer for a small company like ROH has comparable exposure/populatiry/overness to a lower mid WWE guy. Maybe this makes sense in EWR somehow, but in TEW that would seriously break balance. Ditto for rating someone who is main eventing in a regional company like TNA at the max listed here (70), which would mean they would be up there pushing close to upper-mid in the WWE. No way Magnus, or James Storm, or any of the TNA originals would find that place in the WWE. Again this may work in EWR, but 'on the face of it' - it seems wrong? Also these figures, and EWR itself was made at a time when the industry was very different (as others have said), so i'm not sure if this scaling is still relevant. Thoughts?

This sort of thing is much easier to grade in TEW, as you have the letter grades as a guide and you can create a scale based off the WWE and go down accordingly. In TEW terms TNA is a regional promotion, edging cult maybe, as such their workers would all be treated as undercard WWE guys, i.e. undercard national guys. In TEW I use this scale; some of the ratings have actually changed since this list was created, but the maximum level a TNA-only guy should be at is midcard WWE level. Ex-WWE guys in TNA like Angle and Hardy can and should be higher than any TNA-only guy. In EWR terms I would put Roode at a lower mid WWE guys level overness, as you need to think in terms of if the WWE signed him where would he be pushed? Probably lower-mid. c- midcard in a national level, main for cult strong headliner for small indies - the shield, regal, bobby rude, james storm d+ midcard national - no indy stars, no one not on tv from major company. ex big company cast-offs - tensai, sin cara, kali, daniels, d undercard for national, midcard for cult. - evan bourne, justin gabriel, sabin, magnus d- national undercarders, cult lower mid. king of indies, usos, curtis axel, kazarian hernandez e+ e e- = talented indy guys, cast offs from wwe, headling indies, upper range of regional feds. 3 man band, doug williams, gunner, joery ryan. f+ f f-unknowns mostly, early carrer, never been in major company. Wes brisco!

The 'steal a worker from nearby CS and then immediately make peace' strategy still works for early workers, the aggro wears off by the time you need CS relationships, there's usually no Civ/CS alliances early, and the other Civs also forgive you know after a few hundreds years rather than never, as in the other versions of the game. You still have to save all your early game gold if you want to rush buy settlers, which is the only way I every get settlers, the Songhai are great for this strategy since Songhai barb camp gold is probably the most OP ability in the game... I play on Marathon and that's something like 250 gold per camp!

Lost the spark for Civ V lately, though i'm sure i'll come back to it as I seem to play it in cycles. I last played it on King as Aztecs and hit Industrial when my neighbors were still very much Medival. Rolled my nearest sprawling neighbor (the Dutch) who had only a handful of warriors, several hundred turns into the game (on Marathon). I'm starting to wonder about the game because I've tried to play it on a quicker game speed and it just felt terrible after playing only on Marathon since Civ V came out. But when you play marathon the AI struggles in warfare even moreso than it would otherwise, they just don't build enough units and can't replace them when they're destroyed, leaving say the Dutch in my recent game, completely at my mercy after the battle for their first city is over in my favor. Leaving me the option to destroy their whole empire at my pleasure, with only two trebuchets for damage, four swordsman (upgraded from Jaguars) and a pikeman to tank. The Aztecs were really fun to play though, astronomical growth and tech potential as a result, also with the jungle bias you get bananas and the science boost from untouched jungle combined with the 20+ city pop is a REC powerhouse. Barbs are easy enough to farm for culture which helps you crank out a policy trees worth basically for free, especially if you take the first policy of Honor and then switch to Tradition. I'll give Germany a go since I still haven't used them since the upgrade. Japan are still horrible though, too situational and even when you have access to the right tiles the result seemed really insignificant, a cultural UB would have been a much better option to improve them.

Haha, unfortunately Fifa 14 is ageist and so because he is well over 30 (36) a little bit of his body would crackle and fall off on to the pitch each week! Also because the game is so ageist, I sort of became ageist as well Had to sell him before he was worth 10p! Same with Phil Smith. We don't hire anyone over 26 years old anymore, like Newcastle except we're an English club. We're trying to bring in as many young English players as we can that will lift the team and carry it into the future as they develop. The board and I are in the process of building this proud football club, in preparaton for our inevitable return to the top flight (we're already FA Cup winners, and in the Europa League, though I guess that's not saying much), don't worry I've taken Connolly into my backroom staff as an advisor I've kept a few others that aren't on that list, basically fringe players like the young blokes no other club wants to take from us, Awford, Branford, Warren, as well as Ryan Bird, though I have tried very hard to move them on. My lowly paid scout has been plugging away throughout England for over a season, he's brought in a few handy young lads to the Portsmouth Youth Academy, including a 94 potential GK, and a handful of technically gifted wide and midfield players, the future is bright. Just started League 2 2014, and we've shot up the table quickly and sit fourth at present after only a handful of games, but also achieved a stunning victory over Chelsea in the Charity Shield! Next up is our first game in the Europa League!

From his 'confessionals' Hayden has always struck me as thoroughly naive, he has a lot of enthusiasm for strategic play and wants very much to be a memorable player, but I don't think he's sharp enough. I feel like his [attempted] play with Caleb on the last episode exposed his poor strategic sensibility (such a rookie error). I think he'll be lucky to continue further and defininately does not have the cunning to make final three (unless things fall apart really badly for the sharper and better organised players). Too hard to pick the winner at this stage, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Tyson and Gervase in two of the final three spots if they keep their pairing strong. The main problem they have at this stage, particularly for Tyson is that as the numbers thin the votes become much closer affairs, and although Ciera seems to be a reliable vote, Monica is sort of crazy and more unpredictable. I want Tyson to win it because he is the most likable and has played a tight game. I like Gervase now too, but he was such a dick at the start and hasn't played as good a game and is sort of in a lackey role (which may lead to him betraying Tyson?).

Portsmouth 2014 - League 1- Career Mode --------- Adam Campbell (ST)---- Max Clayton (ST) --------- --Andy Barcham (LM) ------ George Green (AM) ------- Jordon Ibe (RM)-- ---Brad Walker (DM)----- -----Declan John (LB) --- Shaun Cooper (CB) --- Bondz N'Gala (CB) --- Jordan Cousins (RB)----- -------------------Darley (GK)------------------- Subs: CB Igor Lichnovsky RM Ricky Holmes CM Duane Holmes CM Pol Calvet ST Tyler Harvey ST Paul Garita Reserves: GK John Sullivan CB Joe Devara LB Marcos Painter LB Liam Triggs RB Danny East RB Yassin Moutaouakil DM Joe Ertl CM Romain Padovani CM Simon Ferry CM Therry Racon RM Bradley Tarbuck

There's an exploit you can use at the end of each season prior to promotion if you're frustrated with the boards allocated funds. I'm playing a Career Mode in League 2 as Portsmouth and was frustrated that after winning the FA Cup, and J. Paint Trophy, all my tournament winnings were taken by the greedy board and used to pay out their bonuses at the end of the season! Or so I assume, as despite finishing the season with something like 1.5 - 2 million, I started the new season with the same budget as the season before, something 400-500k, and a wage budget of 6k. At first I was like ok fine, that's fair, realistic even maybe. But given how much money I had 'won' in the past season I felt a bit dudded, especially after I realised that to raise the quality of my squad in preparation for hopefully entering the Championship the next season, I'd need a lot more money for wages, as even Championship quality players usually demand in the range or greater than $6000, but that is my whole budget! So here is the exploit... At the end of the season take all of your transfer funds and convert it into wages money via the slider. Then go to 'contracts' and find a player that is not terrible but that you don't want and could live with releasing, usually an old guy whose value is on the decline is a good choice. Save your game. Then renegotiate this chaps contract for one year and assign all of your wage budget to him (note: you'll need to keep a couple of hundred pounds in your 'transfer budget' via the slider, to pay his 'sign-on' fee) and he should accept. Once he accepts pat him on the head and tell him he's a 'good boy'! Advance to the next season. Once the new season rolls around go to 'search players', sort by League (League 2) and set the min. age to 35. This will ensure you only get a list of players who are on minimum wage or close (you want to find someone who is on 750 pounds max), and who are surplus to requirements at their current clubs. Once you've found your mark approach his club and offer a trade deal. Offer your old dude with the insane wage in a trade deal, if you want you can chuck in a 1000 or 2000 pounds just to ensure it goes through first time. Note: the first time I tried this the guy who I'd stacked with wages didn't appear on the list for players I could offer in trade! That's why you need to save before hand, you can see the list of guys you can offer in trade at this point so if you get stuck just re-load and choose the least important of those guys. The AI should accept your deal, if not, choose a new mark who has lower value than the guy you are dumping on them or increase the monetary incentive, i.e. transfer fee. Once the deal goes through (not sure how the AI running a League 2 club will afford a player on 50k wages but they do!) all the wages you'd stacked on to your old dude will have been cleared from your budget! When I did this I had 55k in wages to move, after I moved the player on and released the junk player I had received in the trade deal I was left with over 2 million pounds!