Steam/PC Mega Thread

[Your Mom]

Nice! I was really interested in it now I feel comfortable giving it a try

Should I just wait for the Ultra Deluxe thingamajig though?

[Lint]

Dove back into Rimworld recently.  I was playing on a harder difficulty with, I think, Cassandra Classic as the game runner, but I knocked it back to "Peaceful" because I ran into some food issues.

I don't like the animal pens on the new version.  I much preferred just setting an area to grazing and letting the animals go.  Having to build and designate pens, manage the food in them etc...is getting to the point of micromanagement I don't like. 

I tamed 2 boomalopes, because I have 6 chemfuel fired generators (on top of 3 geothermal and 2 solar...I use a lot of power...I need to disconnect some things...) and the one infinite chemfuel reactor I had wasn't making enough, and I got tired of having to have a cooler keep the room cold so I could store rice in it to convert to chemfuel.

Started off with 2 boomalopes.  Next thing I knew I had 38!  So I went someone with frag grenades to cull the herd because they were eating SO MUCH FOOD!  Then I reloaded because I realized there is a "Release to the wild" option...

[Pooker]

You can also sterilize the females so that they can't grt pregnant.

[RPS]

On 11/11/2021 at 12:14, Your Mom said:

Nice! I was really interested in it now I feel comfortable giving it a try

Should I just wait for the Ultra Deluxe thingamajig though?

I know I am 11 days late, but I just saw this and my thoughts on it have mild spoilers. I swear I am not spoiling anything about the game, more mechanisms of the game... but...

Spoiler

The way the game works is picking a path and a story unfolds in front of you. I have to imagine the deluxe version adds more options, but does not drastically change things. So I would say there is no harm in playing it now and seeing what the deluxe has to offer. 

 

[Owen]

On 11/11/2021 at 14:40, JasonM said:

It's 5 years, but yes. There's an achievement for not playing the game for 5 years.

I happened to get that just a few months ago! I had a look and realised that it was almost exactly 5 years to the day just when I was looking on Steam, too.

EDIT: 'A few months ago' was about this time last year, apparently. I must've just checked on a whim but it seems like it was like 4 days after the 5 year anniversary of when I last played which is a fun coincidence.

[Baddar]

I just watched the live action documentary style trailer for Icarus. Probably the best trailer for a game I've ever seen tbh.

[Krabby]

Who has played Hearts of Iron 4 and what do you think of it???

[Mick]

Autumn sale started. 

[JasonM]

14 hours ago, Krabby said:

Who has played Hearts of Iron 4 and what do you think of it???

I have played HOI4. And here's my opinions of it.

Pro's:
- Have you never played WW2 Grand Strategy games before, or a long time ago. HOI4 is a game that is (relatively) easy to pick up and cut your teeth on. There's a lot of quality of life features that allows the AI to manage your front lines or even offensive/defensive strategies to automate matters and prevent tedium.
- The game does well in historical mode, the game's use of focus trees helps a country stick to a set path in the run up and commencement of World War 2.
- What makes the game shine more is the Alternate Universe simulation, the base game + DLC has quite a few alternate paths one can take, Germany bringing the Kaiser back, or Edward VIII deciding he wants to be King regardless of outcome, and that's just scratching the iceberg.
- With mods, it gets even wilder/better. There's some phenomenal mods out there including Kaiserreich (what if the Central Powers won WW1), Old World Blues (Fallout New Vegas), and Road to 51 (base game expanded, focus trees for everyone). There's a lot of extra content.
- The game will provide you a good challenge, and you can tweak individual nations if you want them to hit even harder, without making ALL nations harder.

Con's:
- It's a DLC pit like most Paradox games are, albeit admittedly less restrictive than CK2 or EU4. But to get the full game, you do need to get all DLC and buy DLC whenever it comes out. Many of the flavour focuses outside the major powers are part of the DLC packs.
- I personally find the stockpile/resource management to be more obtuse than previous HOI games. Having to manage which type of tank/plane/gun you're producing, having to build and assign military factories to equipment or dockyards to shipbuilding, all that stuff can feel a bit overwhelming. It's easy to think you're building enough rifles, then find out two years later that your troops are throwing potatoes at the enemy because you didn't make enough guns for the long term.
-- This can range from inconvenient to straight up brutal for smaller nations, where you simply can't field tanks or planes because you have barely enough factories to churn out rifles and artillery pieces.
- On the strategy level, it also simplifies a lot of things quite greatly compared to previous Hearts of Iron titles. Special troops like Mountaineers and Marines feel too optional, even if you're island hopping through the Pacific against the Japanese. Terrain bonuses/negatives are not as painful as they should be, so before long you're skating medium tanks through the Alps because the penalties don't often feel like they outweigh the sheer effectiveness of armoured divisions or just a 40 width infantry stack.
- The focus trees can cause the AI to sometimes railroad themselves into self-destruction. Germany deciding to open another front despite being overstretched happens quite regularly in my experience, and can cause an interesting war to become a non-issue through the AI simply not being able to (temporarily) hold off on following its set path.

Tl;dr - If you're looking for one of the easier/user friendly WW2 strategy sims on the market which provides great fun, with lots of mods, and hours of action, it's a good game to pick up.

If you want something really hardcore armchair general-y, either go with the older Hearts of Iron titles (HOI3 or Darkest Hour), or pick up a Gary Grigsby game.

[Krabby]

2 hours ago, Absolute JasonM said:

I have played HOI4. And here's my opinions of it.

Pro's:
- Have you never played WW2 Grand Strategy games before, or a long time ago. HOI4 is a game that is (relatively) easy to pick up and cut your teeth on. There's a lot of quality of life features that allows the AI to manage your front lines or even offensive/defensive strategies to automate matters and prevent tedium.
- The game does well in historical mode, the game's use of focus trees helps a country stick to a set path in the run up and commencement of World War 2.
- What makes the game shine more is the Alternate Universe simulation, the base game + DLC has quite a few alternate paths one can take, Germany bringing the Kaiser back, or Edward VIII deciding he wants to be King regardless of outcome, and that's just scratching the iceberg.
- With mods, it gets even wilder/better. There's some phenomenal mods out there including Kaiserreich (what if the Central Powers won WW1), Old World Blues (Fallout New Vegas), and Road to 51 (base game expanded, focus trees for everyone). There's a lot of extra content.
- The game will provide you a good challenge, and you can tweak individual nations if you want them to hit even harder, without making ALL nations harder.

Con's:
- It's a DLC pit like most Paradox games are, albeit admittedly less restrictive than CK2 or EU4. But to get the full game, you do need to get all DLC and buy DLC whenever it comes out. Many of the flavour focuses outside the major powers are part of the DLC packs.
- I personally find the stockpile/resource management to be more obtuse than previous HOI games. Having to manage which type of tank/plane/gun you're producing, having to build and assign military factories to equipment or dockyards to shipbuilding, all that stuff can feel a bit overwhelming. It's easy to think you're building enough rifles, then find out two years later that your troops are throwing potatoes at the enemy because you didn't make enough guns for the long term.
-- This can range from inconvenient to straight up brutal for smaller nations, where you simply can't field tanks or planes because you have barely enough factories to churn out rifles and artillery pieces.
- On the strategy level, it also simplifies a lot of things quite greatly compared to previous Hearts of Iron titles. Special troops like Mountaineers and Marines feel too optional, even if you're island hopping through the Pacific against the Japanese. Terrain bonuses/negatives are not as painful as they should be, so before long you're skating medium tanks through the Alps because the penalties don't often feel like they outweigh the sheer effectiveness of armoured divisions or just a 40 width infantry stack.
- The focus trees can cause the AI to sometimes railroad themselves into self-destruction. Germany deciding to open another front despite being overstretched happens quite regularly in my experience, and can cause an interesting war to become a non-issue through the AI simply not being able to (temporarily) hold off on following its set path.

Tl;dr - If you're looking for one of the easier/user friendly WW2 strategy sims on the market which provides great fun, with lots of mods, and hours of action, it's a good game to pick up.

If you want something really hardcore armchair general-y, either go with the older Hearts of Iron titles (HOI3 or Darkest Hour), or pick up a Gary Grigsby game.

I do actually own HOI3 i just remembered, just haven't installed it yet! How does that compare? I see the dlc is on sale and would be much cheaper than stuff for 4 lol

Haven't played one since HOI2 (though I am familiar with paradox games like ck2 and others).

[JasonM]

38 minutes ago, Krabby said:

I do actually own HOI3 i just remembered, just haven't installed it yet! How does that compare? I see the dlc is on sale and would be much cheaper than stuff for 4 lol

Haven't played one since HOI2 (though I am familiar with paradox games like ck2 and others).

HOI3 has a simpler resource system based around raw industrial capacity, so you don't have to set up hyper specific production lines. 

Combat takes a lot more micro management, have to really focus on keeping your lines stable and move around divisions yourself.

There's rudimentary ai control, but it's very poor and shouldn't be used because it'll shoot you in the foot within seconds.

Where HOI4 is designed to be a game accessible to the general public, HOI3 is very much a very focused ww2 grand strategy title.

There's also less flavour stuff, no real alternate universe shenanigans, but there is a Kaissereich mod that is very good.

[Krabby]

30 minutes ago, Absolute JasonM said:

HOI3 has a simpler resource system based around raw industrial capacity, so you don't have to set up hyper specific production lines. 

Combat takes a lot more micro management, have to really focus on keeping your lines stable and move around divisions yourself.

Is this a pain? Does it take away from the fun of the game? 

I'm just looking for a little affordable ww2 strategy fun - I like playing as smaller nations like Finland or Czechoslovakia or playing the Spanish Civil War or South Africa etc.

[Mick]

Oooh, be Germany but side withe Allies! 

[JasonM]

10 hours ago, Krabby said:

Is this a pain? Does it take away from the fun of the game? 

I'm just looking for a little affordable ww2 strategy fun - I like playing as smaller nations like Finland or Czechoslovakia or playing the Spanish Civil War or South Africa etc.

It's not a pain, tbh. HOI3 takes more time to get through a game, HOI4 in most aspects is more streamlined, also works well for coop and multiplayer.

I'd honestly suggest you try HOI4, it is much more flexible in taking a country a different route than historical. Especially the smaller ones have a lot more hope to punch above your weight.

Not saying going commie South Africa is impossible in HOI3, but it's much harder and more constrained towards historical outcomes.

HOI4 will give you much more interesting situations, and make you more useful even as a junior partner in the war.

[Baddar]

14 hours ago, Mick said:

Autumn sale started. 

Nothing standing out to suit my tastes at the moment. Cyberpunk is probably the cheapest I've seen it on Steam (unless it dropped to £25 during the summer too), but if you were desperate to get a deal on it, it's always considerably cheaper through GOG.

[Bobfoc]

58 minutes ago, Baddar said:

Nothing standing out to suit my tastes at the moment. Cyberpunk is probably the cheapest I've seen it on Steam (unless it dropped to £25 during the summer too), but if you were desperate to get a deal on it, it's always considerably cheaper through GOG.

And GOG is better than Steam anyway.

[Lint]

Found out there is,basically, a Roomba mod for Rimworld and I am so happy I don't need anyone assigned to cleaning

[lanky316]

Those little robots are such a fucking life saver 🤣

[Schlitzbrille]

OpenRCT2 devs: Hey we're raising a bunch of caps

People of culture:

 

[Your Mom]

I got The Stanley Parable for half price so the Steam sale is a sucess!