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ProfessorProf posted:Yeah, I'm also gonna be using this thread to decide whether or not to get this. I've had my eye on it for a while. As someone who has it, and has reviewed it... It's MoO2 HD with some refinements. Atmosphere wise, however? Hot drat, it gets Space Opera. Just noticed that the title music has not been linked in this thread, so... Twinkly Bits, Harps, Horns, and Violins, the essential ingredients of a Space Opera intro. I would also link the stuff I wrote on it, but some of it is spoilery, so I'd rather wait until either it's not spoilery, or I get OP permission. EDIT: With kind permission, the release review wot I wrote. JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 02:12 on Sep 27, 2016 |
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Sep 27, 2016 01:03
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AriadneThread posted:I've heard of MoO before but have never played it myself, so this'll be interesting to follow along. It tutorialises pretty well, so it's a little friendlier than MoO2 (Considered by most to be the height of the series), the UI isn't bad at all, and the difficulty is fairly customisable (5 folks in a Medium galaxy may be the default, but it can lead to somewhat hectic first encounters, so you might wanna tone it down to 3), so honestly? Yes. It's pretty, it has some stellar VO and music, and the sound design ain't half bad. There's your pros. Combat is real-time in MoO2016, but can be auto-resolved, either quickly or cinematically. Your con is that MoO2 is cheaper, and has similar (But not exactly the same) game mechanics, and is less pretty, being more cluttered on the UI front. It's also a little slower. Combat is turn based in MoO2, and can be auto-resolved. Personally, I'd say yes.
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Sep 30, 2016 07:34
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To: Info@Earthgov.Org From: S.Halloran@HITech.Biz Subject: Investment Opportunities Greetings to our fine Governmental Body! Halloran Industries and Technology are proud to announce that they are investing more into the wonders of Automated Factories than ever before, allowing for greater production of the capital ship classes we so obviously require without unduly affecting employment rates (A decent education system's a wonderful thing, isn't it?) However, we do wish to suggest to our fine leaders a direction for our efforts. We recommend Colonisation Initiatives as a future priority, as more planets under the wing of the Human Republic would undoubtedly increase our efficiency in the long term, with only a few short term worries (We have heard the distressing news about the criminal elements of our society returning to plague us, and give our condolences, but feel the current fleet can deal with them.) Technology wise, we recommend a focus in Engineering at the present time, as our Construction division are hinting at some pretty grandiose things, if only they had the budget! We believe them. After all, we hired them for their brains! Meanwhile, our market analysis division senses great possibilites in the Prime worlds of the Etana and Tarazad Systems. Marketing never wishing to leave anything "uncool" (I hope you sympathise, they'd rename reactor-water if they thought it would sell), they proposed the names of Garm and Frigga, in order to market colonisation opportunities better. Garm to give an image of a rough world, a world that requires strong willed individuals to tame, and Frigga to imply the plenty and welcome that exists with that world. Thank you for your consideration, and we hope this message finds you well! Steffan Halloran, Halloran Industries and Technology
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Oct 1, 2016 02:26
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nweismuller posted:I'll look down, and whisper 'no'. Awww, so you weren't going to mention that successful lawsuit by the Hag Church against RedClaw Games, with their temporarily hit RPG Bulra: The Haggening, in which the 13 Tribes of Bulra (the most popular of which is Hamrensikkel, the Arbiters of Balance) fight against the evils of Technocraticapitalist Inc? I hear copies are still being traded among young players who like to cosplay as the (thankfully almost forgotten) Khanate. 
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Jan 7, 2017 19:53
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D. I really, genuinely hope you weren't surprised by that. 
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Jan 17, 2017 04:36
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One day, I will be able to post a thing. And then you will Stop Worrying, And Learn To Love The Bug. Honestly, bugfolks get the worst god-drat raps... I mean, a Thri-Kreen eats one elf, one, and it becomes this big frickin' thing... Dark Sun Elves are assholes anyway.
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Jan 17, 2017 04:42
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nweismuller posted:One of these species has attractive architecture, as well, and it's not the Klackons, I can tell you that. I dunno... Mammals and their mammaries... Look at the sheen on that chitin, and how well groomed those mandibles are! These bugs grew faces to more easily interact with Not-Hive in a nonlethal manner, didn't you know that? Does nobody appreciate that effort? (Realtalk: I am unsurprised by the Mrrshan design, but was, as I recall, somewhat amused to find the Klackons had been humanised somewhat. Somewhat. Go see their MoO1 , 2, and 3 forms to see what I mean) EDIT: Apologies... 'Tracts of land' was too good to pass up. :P JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 11:21 on Jan 17, 2017 |
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Jan 17, 2017 11:05
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The whole "Aliens as rubber suits" thing, while it does, it's true, have at least partial basis in media demands (IE - It's cheaper to rubber suit someone than craft something truly alien, or spend stupid budgets on that), but it also has roots in a number of other things. One of them I remember discussing in the SOMA thread way back when, what is known as the Other Minds Problem. We are, for example, now reasonably certain that Ravens, Dolphins, mantis shrimp, and even octopi are sentient to some degree (Puzzle solving, tool use, domestication, social structures, changing their environment for their own benefit, as just some factors we consider sentients to possess) . But we don't know to what degree, and we have had real problems in understanding the idea of "animals" with sentience, let alone discovering why, for several reasons. And one of them is that... Well, they don't think like us, and we have real difficulty understanding even other humans who don't think like us. And things we have difficulty relating to? We tend to dislike, shun, dismiss, or fear, sometimes to the point of not wanting to understand them. So, from a marketing standpoint, you want something relatable, on some level. So even most of the more alien aliens in games have faces, or face analogues. Not just because writers have a hard time (being fellow humans, with the same Other Minds Problem), but because if nobody understands your alien, and that's not the entire point? You're probably not going to sell so much. Similarly, making aliens more human-like allows us to analogise. This thing is like an ant. Okay, ants have all sorts of associations, some of which are inaccurate (Like the "highly efficient" leafcutting ant, which... Well, they are, but it isn't their technique, that's for sure.) This thing is a cat, and a cat's a kinda feudal animal, right? (Cat -> Lion/Panther/Tiger -> Heraldry -> Monarchy!) We can say things there. We can also, as a writer, set traps for our readers. Aha, you thought this thing was human, but actually... And, funnily enough, this is the main premise for quite a few SF stories, including The Mote In God's Eye, where at least some of the misunderstandings come precisely from thinking Moties are more like humans than they are. Finally, from a mechanical standpoint, you want one of your mechanics to make sense: Diplomacy. Yes, you have to research a thing to talk to other species (And then some more things to improve that), but you don't have to, for example, do it individually for each race. You just assume the xenobiology institute is that good (Or, if you're just playing the game, rather than thinking about it from a narrative/design standpoint, just going "Yup, there we go, now I can maybe tell my neighbour to stop murdering me, or shamelessly take advantage of my bonus with cashmoneys to buy tech.") That one research element won't make sense if the species can't plausibly learn to talk to each other (And indeed, in some other 4X games, there are races that are either incapable of diplomacy, or so hardwired for fighting that the very idea will never, ever occur to them... Although one sometimes wonders how the other races know this just from first contact. :P ) Anyways, props on the loreposts, I particularly liked the Mrrshan one, because it does acknowledge what fighty bastards they are (Their race intro is a thing to behold, as it's one of the few, in my opinion, that is not relatively neutral in tone.)
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Jan 19, 2017 06:41
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nweismuller posted:Oh man, these guys. I hope the report was not too frustrating for people to read. So, do people trust them yet? I would trust a Darlok about as well as I could throw a Sakkra.
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Jan 19, 2017 07:41
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nweismuller posted:Was the report too vague and uninformative? I'm worried it might be too little to satisfy people. Nah, it fits perfectly with what the Darlok are (spymasters and propagandists extraordinaire.) It also got across that the humans aren't buying what they see as the whole story, and that they have that racial paranoia thing going on. That, plus the melting point of whatever endoskeleton they may contain, is the only information you need. Unless, of course, you're playing a Darlok, in which case, you must know everything, everything!
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Jan 19, 2017 07:56
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This is Science Officer Libluni, I am about to open the Darlok facial mask no- h god. OH GOD. Sir? We must never broach this subject again. Hush it up. Orders are now to burn on sight... 
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Jan 19, 2017 09:05
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You leave my completely credible cat-spirits alone, you, you... Bastet! (Bad pun aside, there's even a name for it: Anthropocentrism, and it does tie into the Other Minds Problem I mentioned earlier.  )
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Jan 19, 2017 09:30
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nweismuller posted:I think you're missing my point. The game mechanics present a universe where the dawn of FTL exploration is just happening as the game starts. Finding a whole seperate Human society on another far-separated star system strains my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. (Stars in Shadow actually sets things up correctly for 'multiple different Human societies scattered across the stars who aren't initially aware of each other', but Master of Orion does not.) Although I would mostly agree, I would present two possibilities for consideration (despite the fact they're not in this game, not gonna be in this game, etc, etc. This is just a discussion point.) Firstly, the "Orions/Antarans are Jerks - Chariots of the Gods" scenario, in which nascent humanity was split. That one's fairly common. It's also within the character of both the Orions and the Antarans, who are jerks. Secondly: The Terran Khanate as a dark past returned. Yes, dawn of FTL exploration, yada yada yada. But you're forgetting that, even today, some folks would seriously consider taking a generation ship or a cryo slowboat if they thought it would work. What if (And this is spitballing here), humanity went through a very bad phase where it was militaristic, tyrannical, etc, but didn't really have any outlet for that (I know, totally unbelievable, right?) , then sense began to prevail, the tyranny got mostly crushed, except the fanatical core, who... As quietly as possible, slowboated their way to the stars. Now, it's confession time: I'm mostly arguing this because I like Robert Englund and Sumalee Montano, not because I like the faction (ew) or the extra humanity that really wasn't needed (ew) Second confession time: I have always thought of MoO as silly. I love it to bits. But I acknowledge that it has always been just a little bit silly.
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Feb 9, 2017 01:55
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