Video Games - dragons, lasers and zombies

[Sivin]

Sounds like old age has made you slow on the draw, Wert. I finished an hour ago.

[Rhom]

I keep getting held up by wanting to finish the last war table operations before entering the endgame of Dragon Age Inquisition. But I'm not really in the mood to complete the side quests that remain (particularly since, for several areas, I'm past the level cap and get almost no exp there anymore), so I've been firing up the game once or twice a day to set new operations and that's it. Next time I play, I'm going to skip most of the minor ones I think (my problem is that its big ones, related to companions, that I still have to finish off).

In the mean time, I've been playing a lot of Valkyria Chronicles. I steadily get C ranks in the battles, because I take the time to beat them tactically rather than just scout rush to finish on the fastest turn possible. Fun game, but after 17 hours some of its flaws in gameplay and story are starting to shine through.

And I've got quite a backlog of games at this point to play as well. I'm forcing myself not to buy anything until I finish off either DAI or VC though. Speaking of the backlog though, has anyone played Elite Dangerous yet?

That's my issue with the War Table. Most of the operations there take 13-20 minutes to complete. But if I go into an area to do anything significant, I'm there for an hour or more which means the table is sitting there useless. I'd like to be able to send a messenger or something from field camps to tell them what to do next.

Or hell... be really innovative and let me access my war table from my mobile device!

[eyenon15]

They should have a war table at every camp

[Derfel Cadarn]

Played a little Elite Dangerous. Still too scared to actually launch my ship. Even the turorials are tough and not very helpful. I need to get a joystick.

[Werthead]

If you played Frontier back in the day, it's the same principle but a hell of a lot easier to get around (combat is vastly superior). If you haven't then, er, be prepared for a steep learning curve.

The tutorials are pretty perfunctory and there's some counter-intuitive UI (the comms board doesn't actually allow you to talk to the nearest station to request docking permission, you need to go through local target contacts instead) but once you get through the rough spots it starts making more sense.

I'd argue strongly for a HOTAS joystick. I got the Thrustmaster T-Flight as it was very cheap but it's also excellent quality, plus you can use it on any old space sim you want to throw it at (it's perfect for Freespace 2 and even X-Wing and TIE Fighter). It's one of several sticks that Elite: Dangerous automatically detects and loads up a profile for, although it doesn't automatically use every button. I'd recommend sticking the landing gear to a hotkey to start with. It doesn't assign anything to the hat either, which is interesting as it means you can assign either menu select (which is helpful) or thruster controls (which are even more helpful) to it.

I started playing the game and immediately gimped myself. I started at a shitty mining station in the arse end of nowhere which didn't even have a commodities market. I saw a mission to get grain from a nearby system. Tactically buying some market data on a likely-looking rich system nearby, I shot over, grabbed some grain and flew back. Then I realised I hadn't actually hit "Accept" on the mission and it had timed out, so now I had a hold full of grain and none of my reward (which would have tripled my starting cash) and had spent almost all my starting cash. After head-desking the, er, desk. I cleared the save and will start again tomorrow.

I can see it's going to take a while to start getting the decent ships, although my Mercenary Edition should have an Eagle fighter stashed somewhere nearby which is a "bit" of an improvement on the starting Sidewinder.

I remember the good old days when Frontier gave you a choice of starting with an Eagle or a Cobra Mk. III on one of three different planets. A Sidewinder in a random system you have no control over is a bit rough (a Cobra III costs over 300 grand!).

[Werthead]

Voyager 1 and 2 are in Elite: Dangerous, in their correct astronomical positions, velocities and orientations in the year 3300 AD. No word on the Pioneers or New Horizon though :)

[The Anti-Targ]

In the mean time, I've been playing a lot of Valkyria Chronicles. I steadily get C ranks in the battles, because I take the time to beat them tactically rather than just scout rush to finish on the fastest turn possible. Fun game, but after 17 hours some of its flaws in gameplay and story are starting to shine through.

And I've got quite a backlog of games at this point to play as well. I'm forcing myself not to buy anything until I finish off either DAI or VC though. Speaking of the backlog though, has anyone played Elite Dangerous yet?

There aren't that many levels where scout rushing is just a tactical void. Most levels require a decent amount of planning for you to get the A grade.