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Now a single drone carrier, that is worth retreating from every time you see those little fuckers scurrying toward your tanks.
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Jun 9, 2020 05:18
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Update on where I am with this; taking a break for the CW4 demo which drops today, and the last week has had a bit of real-life interruption and also was working on a time-intensive video for another project. When I get back to Ground Control, there'll be two updates in quick succession - you'll see why when the time comes but I don't want to spoil it for those who don't know what's coming.
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Jun 16, 2020 14:43
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You should read some of this before continuing the thread. Site's ready to burn up right now because Lowtax is an abusive shithead.
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Jun 25, 2020 02:48
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Thanks. While I'm not going to read a 300+ page thread, I am aware of the situation and I don't plan on changing what I do at least until it plays itself out more. New episodes will be here today and tomorrow.
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Jun 25, 2020 11:48
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 Show of Force (1:01:58) The simmering conflict between VP Enrica Hayes and Maj. Sarah Parker comes to a head as the campaign wraps up and an impressive if nebulous thing happens with the xenofacts. The mission itself also has an appearance by a recently missing, but sadly not forgotten personage, and it's quite a large collection of Order resistance we must take down with a little of everything. Casualties are significant, but Crayven wins the day ... for now. Up Next The campaign as we know it is over, but Ground Control has a surprise in store for us. That will be here tomorrow. If you've bowed out of this due to the long grind of the last half-dozen or so missions, that would be an opportune point to jump back in. IMO this is where things really start to get interesting.
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Jun 25, 2020 14:52
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Why I'm Not Jumping Ship I don't know if posting this in my threads is the right thing to do. I would prefer just to keep them focused on the LPs themselves - that is after all what I do here - but with some of the rhetoric being tosed around I don't want people to get the wrong impression of my perspective here. Everyone should do what they believe is best - if that means you don't want to participate with anyone still hanging around SA, do that and I wish you a great life. But I will decidedly not be part of the bash-Lowtax bandwagon. Here's why: ** This should go without saying, but the behavior that's been alleged is inexcusable and wrong. ** It's not my place to judge Lowtax. That's for others to do. If guilty, I hope he gets punished for it. ** Me leaving SA would not punish Lowtax. I've never contributed to his Patreon or directly interacted with him in any way. ** For me to leave because I didn't want to be associated with the website due to these allegations would be grossly hypocritical for two reasons. One, I know for a fact I consume products every day from companies who do far worse. I put gas in my car. I buy clothes and food. I support reform in how many industries are permitted to do business, but the point is stack up the evils perpetrated by those organizations to what we're talking about here and it's not close. And I'm not even buying anything I haven't already bought from Lowtax. It's not at all clear to me, contrary to rhetoric from a lot of corners right now, that there even is a moral component to doing business with those who do things we don't like. If that's the case, might as well outlaw all commerce right now. ** The second reason is I'm not any better than Lowtax. I've never committed those kinds of violent acts he's accused of, but part of that is probably me being a rank coward and possessing rampaging social anxiety. I certainly know I have done a great many things in my life I'm not proud of. For me to self-righteously point fingers while knowing the people I've hurt through my own selfish stupidity that I would erase in a hearbeat if I had the chance - I don't, all I can do is try to be a more noble person with the rest of my life - would be absurd and dishonest. So here I am, continuing on. Not in support of Lowtax, but in support of the community here that has given me far more than I could ever return to it no matter what I choose to do, and because it has value for me. I also believe that forgiveness and grace are among the greatest values, and I extend those to others just as I would hope they would extend them to me when I am an unmitigated asshat. Feel free to make whatever judgements you wish, but I'm not going to turn my LP threads into a debate.
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Jun 26, 2020 00:15
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Ominous red glowing following the ousting of the self-appointed defenders of the monuments? Eh, its probably fine.
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Jun 26, 2020 04:43
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Let me assure you ... it is not fine :P Liberation Day (19:35) The penny drops. Ground Control reveals that the end of the campaign ... is just the beginning again. We're only halfway there, but now must fight as the more fragile but dynamic Order of the New Dawn. New characters including a new protagonist who it is revealed has actually been around since the beginning, but we just weren't aware of it. While it isn't up there with the opening cutscenes from Half-Life or Homeworld, this is one my favorites from this period of gaming. Really stirring stuff. There's more blather than action here as I delve into introducing the new campaign.
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Jun 26, 2020 18:47
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Unfortunately I got the game years after it came out so I was aware that there was a second campaign from the start. No surprise for me. I do like how they characterize the faction from the inside, though. It turns mindless zealot opponents into humans with real motivations once we hit their campaign. And for the Crusaders, name them Lorem Ipsum because of all the Latin in the factions and they started us out
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Jun 26, 2020 19:14
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It shall be done. I don't know enough for latin for it to even get rusty, so I had to look that one up.
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Jun 27, 2020 01:22
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How about Shinning Daggers for the hoverdyne squad  So I have never finished the order campaign. This is where I'd get to one of the later missions, lose, and then go "ehhhh..." to replaying because it already took an hour to get that far into the mission.
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Jun 27, 2020 04:36
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The idea of a more limited RTS made me crave some Original War, and apparently it is still somewhat maintained.  If you don't know Original War, it differs from more standard RTS in that you have to scavenge across the map for the main resource, and also that while you can build base, your manpower is limited and you don't get more. So while you can eventually scavenge enough stuff to build 30 tanks, if you have just 10 drivers, they are mostly useless.
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Jun 28, 2020 19:18
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In "At The Source", who the hell thought that having to destroy all of the base is a good idea? That's like 10 minutes of my life I am not getting back
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Jun 29, 2020 09:24
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Lol - if that bothers you turn back now ... it's one of the 'short' missions :P
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Jun 29, 2020 11:38
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I don't mind length, but the pointlessness. There was a significant amount of time, where there was nothing that could fight back, and the most dangerous things to you was friendly fire from your braindead AI ally. And, unlike with some different RTSes, where you often take a victory lap by A-clicking your bestest and coolest units, while watching the pretty explosions, GC does not have that.
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Jun 29, 2020 13:47
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Fair enough, that's a useful distinction.Kibayasu posted:How about Shinning Daggers for the hoverdyne squad I feel like an idiot editing it back to the original misspelled name ... but sure. I expect a lot of replaying of the Order missions on my part, more than I did with Crayven which was enough. We'll see why as we get into it, but I can totally understand the sentiment here and why someone wouldn't go through to the end. Do you remember what the last mission was that you got to, just out of curiosity? Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Jun 29, 2020 |
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Jun 29, 2020 17:49
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You have to destroy everything because then you get to see the pretty explosions.Strategic Sage posted:Fair enough, that's a useful distinction. Not specifically, its been a while since the last time. It would have had to have been one of the later missions since I remember having heavy hovers and artillery.
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Jun 29, 2020 22:57
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Clear The Way (13:02) More raiding-style attacks; Deacon Stone is given quite a bit on his plate for this mission, a little more than he can pull off but we do our best. Another Crusader squad is now available.
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Jul 3, 2020 20:47
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Only 13 minutes for a mission, where's the rest of it
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Jul 6, 2020 09:17
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Hour-long missions will eventually return, don't fret.
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Jul 6, 2020 17:16
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Nobody Home (18:15) Deacon Stone's idealism has now fully exited stage right, after a mission that's a lot harder than the third mission of the campaign has any right to be. Haste is essential, and we have even more questions about Magnus now. No new troops, but we do get to see some more of the special equipment, and the importance of use flanking tactics as the Order is starting to manifest itself.
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Jul 10, 2020 19:37
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I can't be certain (and it probably wouldn't work very well on hard) but I seem to remember doing this mission without fighting the attackers at all, besides shooting at them as I drove by. For levels that take necessarily take place after an entire campaign its sort of weird how insubstantial they are.
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Jul 12, 2020 06:23
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It's almost like there's something strange happening on this planet. Something they don't want to tell the grunts. Or field commanders.
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Jul 16, 2020 08:00
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Activation Equipment (25:48) Speed and evasion are critical once again on another fetch quest. The opposition scales up and we get a look at the Order's best scouting option. There's one very lame part of this mission though, as we see the best-in-class imitation of a deaf statue by a certain terradyne.
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Jul 20, 2020 14:46
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Listen directly to God. Yes, that's who they'll be communicating to. Yep. Sure...
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Jul 20, 2020 20:42
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What a nothing of a mission, no offense to the player Unless you walk into that heavy tank or somehow miss the artillery shells there's nothing much to threaten anything.
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Jul 21, 2020 05:12
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idhrendur posted:Listen directly to God. You're not suggesting that a rigid, authoritarian religious hierarchy devoted to the Light could possibly have impure motives are you? The words of heathen corporate heretics those are. Also, more substantive resistance awaits us in the next mission.
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Jul 22, 2020 13:10
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Into The Dark (24:24) The first act of the Order campaign concludes with what eventually after a chaotic start becomes an attack on a significant Crayven base with Paladin Magnus alongside. We still only have a handful of squads, but we do get access to the Medium Hoverdyne now. A major reveal regarding the Xenofacts & Project Garm follows the mission, along with a somewhat overdue realization by Deacon Stone.
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Jul 27, 2020 16:36
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Early Warning System (56:40) In which the hour-long missions (nearly) return, at least for the moment; the plot turns at the start of the second act as another Order character is apparently imminent; Deacon Stone receives completely unjustified new forces to command; and we see how the Order military's light troops are really bad at attacking fixed, static defensive emplacements.
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Aug 10, 2020 16:50
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Important Cargo (45:34) A new character is introduced well into the Order campaign, we get a surprise visit from one of the Cravyen personalities (they haven't changed), and gameplay changes considerably as we get access to Templar infantry. Those who wondered how much of their danger to us as Crayven was due to the Hard difficulty setting get their answer here. Basically not much; the Templar are just that badass. From a story point of view, it's hard to see how any of this ends well for Deacon Stone.
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Aug 17, 2020 18:25
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Missions trucking along nicely. I forget where the story takes us next, from when I last played this, but I may just be waiting for an upcoming twist that stuck in my mind when it happened years ago.
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Aug 17, 2020 19:19
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If you're talking about what I think you are talking about, it's a pretty big deal but we're not there just yet.
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Aug 17, 2020 21:08
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It's a good day when you finally get access to torpedo infantry.
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Aug 19, 2020 06:13
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Heretic Manna (56:43) This one I did in a decidedly cheesy and unintended way. The Templars star again, and you're *supposed* to do a frontal assault against a very, very well-defended position here. That's not the Order way. It's also dumb with what we have to work with, I think even if you go all-in and do more medium hoverdynes. Some casualties are sustained, and it was almost much worse - some of the most cringeworthy/stupid firefights of the LP are in this mission, partly due to me forgetting how hazardous giving attack instead of move orders can be. Anti-air returns (in a mission with no enemy air units, they do a great imitation of bystanders) as do our own aerodynes. So we're starting to see more of the squad types unlocked consistently. It actually makes sense now, since we can assume though it's unstated that Aegeri is allocating these from the Retribution's reserves of manpower & equipment. Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 10:20 on Aug 26, 2020 |
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Aug 24, 2020 18:47
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I think you did it in a way too unintended way, but I haven't watched the video yet.
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Aug 25, 2020 07:23
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Creeper World 2 is indeed a very different type of game.
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Aug 25, 2020 08:27
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I'm not sure if that's a brilliant crack at my GC playing style or just a mis-post in the wrong thread 
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Aug 25, 2020 13:42
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Strategic Sage posted:I'm not sure if that's a brilliant crack at my GC playing style or just a mis-post in the wrong thread *points to the link you posted*
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Aug 26, 2020 04:30
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*guh*. Fixed. Joke's on me this time.
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Aug 26, 2020 10:21
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Have Gun, Will Travel (48:04) Artillery is back, and pretty indispensable as well in this one. We get an unexpected visitor during the mission, which is yet another base assault. Go figure. This one is well designed with fortified access points on high ground though, hence the need for the afore-mentioned artillery. This is also the Order's 'perfectly balanced' mission for the campaign; eight squads and eight squad types, one of each. As our force grows, the mobility aspect is being shoved aside at least for now in favor of more Crayven Corp-style scouting and maximum firepower approaches. Difference being that our current units aren't quite as good at that, but we've got some highly experienced squads now which helps a lot.
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Aug 31, 2020 18:13
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