The Steam Thread

[Brian Swartz]

This one I've been keeping my eye on for a while. Chance of me not buying by the 20th is very low.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

This one I've been keeping my eye on for a while. Chance of me not buying by the 20th is very low.

Atta boy!

[tarcone]

Wow. That game looks awesome.

[Marmel]

Does anybody have Watchdogs 2? It is 33% off and the video looks really cool. I almost never spend $40 on a game, but for some reason I am tempted here.

[Peregrine]

I picked up The Flame in the Flood today - seems fun but I keep dying because I can never make a fire thanks to resource randomness.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Marmel

Does anybody have Watchdogs 2? It is 33% off and the video looks really cool. I almost never spend $40 on a game, but for some reason I am tempted here.

I have it on xbone and have been enjoying it quite a bit.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Anyone ever played Interplanetary? Turn based artillery game where you're attacking other planets. Looks like fun, but thought I'd check on any feedback here first.

[tarcone]

I picked up Kingdom rush frontiers and tropico 4 over the weekend.

Kingdom rush is THE BEST tower defense game out ther. Hands down.

Tropico looks like a fun game. Didnt get much play in. So looking forward to digging into it.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Anyone planning on picking up Urban Empire? I've watched a few LP's and it looks very interesting.

Save 15% on Urban Empire on Steam

Pre-purchased after watching the let's plays on this. Seems like it could be very immersive.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Pre-purchased after watching the let's plays on this. Seems like it could be very immersive.

Yeah... I'm excited for Friday.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Kingdom rush is THE BEST tower defense game out ther. Hands down.

Better than Defense Grid?

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Better than Defense Grid?

I will let you decide. You can play for free on your browser You are limited in hiring heroes here.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers - Play on Armor Games

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I picked up Kingdom rush frontiers and tropico 4 over the weekend.

Kingdom rush is THE BEST tower defense game out ther. Hands down.

Tropico looks like a fun game. Didnt get much play in. So looking forward to digging into it.

I'm a pretty big fan of the Tropico games.

Tropico 5 + dlc is on sale at HumbleBundle for $10 right now.

[Capital]

Had a lot of fun with Epic Manager. Definitely worth the $15. It's likely not a game I will be playing 6 months from now but played it a lot over the last month.

[Umbrella]

Originally Posted by Capital

Had a lot of fun with Epic Manager. Definitely worth the $15. It's likely not a game I will be playing 6 months from now but played it a lot over the last month.

A fun little game. I liked it too, and $15 seems about the right price point for it.

[Brian Swartz]

I'm curious what those who get Urban Empire think of it. I decided to hold off, mostly because I'm not in a great frame right now personally. Watched a fair bit of one of the let's play's, and the main takeaway aside from 'great concept' was that it seemed too dumbed-down in some ways. Eventually mods will handle it I'm sure, but way too many policies had no drawbacks, council was too easy to manipulate, etc. I'm curious about what others think about negative consequences of those kinds of things that the player has to balance, or if that's just something that will come down the line when the game is more mature.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Just saw that the Long War 2 mod just came out for XCOM 2. The original Long War mod reinvented the first XCOM game.

Long War 2 Completely Changes XCOM 2

[Brian Swartz]

Oh wow. Yeah Long War is basically my favorite mod, ever, for any game.

[Coffee Warlord]

Urban Empire not getting great reviews. I do concur, that right now, it doesn't feel like a $40 game. That said, it's interesting thus far.

[cartman]

Yeah, I'm still feeling my way around the game. The political side isn't clicking for me at the moment. Nor is the residential/commercial/industrial balance.

[Coffee Warlord]

Granted, I was still in Era 1, so I haven't played the "full" game.

But my god, I so wish I could just zone districts directly, so I could control exactly where the res/com/ind zones are.

[MizzouRah]

I'm in Era 1 right now too.. just learning how it all works.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Urban Empire not getting great reviews. I do concur, that right now, it doesn't feel like a $40 game. That said, it's interesting thus far.

I am kind of surprised at some of the negative reviews with people that only have 30 minutes to an hour in the game. You really need to have more time than that to get familiar with everything and then you can start digging deeper.

I agree that it is definitely interesting, great concept and I am not sure it is a $40 dollar game yet, but it gets closer the further I go.

I am in era 2 now and there are 5 political parties with seats on the council. A lot of folks complained that you just spam votes to get them through, but I am finding a bit more to it than that. The way you address the parties also allows you to influence their popularity with the voters and manipulate them against each other. Not super deep, but definitely more than it appears at the surface.

In addition you really need to keep an eye on how your population is distributed and which businesses are generating the most revenue, so you can adjust the grid configurations accordingly. In era 2 as an example, I couldn't get above break even before discovering that commercial business was now generating more income per capita for the city than industrial business, so adjusting the percentages of both solved that problem. The edicts also start to pile up in era 2 as research grows, so it is really a balancing act deciding what to push and what to hold off on or ignore and hope one of the parties doesn't present it.

I have also lost a few votes and decided not to pursue others because they were doomed from the get go and oh yeah, these bastards are tough on kids. My proposal to prohibit kids under 10 from doing certain kinds of labor was defeated, which didn't seem to piss the population off too much

I also recently started spying on the Old Swarilian party, which has become a thorn in my side after the original party split to form the young Swarilian party. Also spying on the Democratic Freedom party as they have been a pain in the ass most of the game. Haven't uncovered any dirt yet, but interested to see how that goes.

Overall I have to say I am really enjoying the game so far and glad I made the purchase, especially at the 15% pre-release discount.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by BYU14

I have also lost a few votes and decided not to pursue others because they were doomed from the get go

I'm curious about this. How hard did you try? From what I've seen on youtube, quill was basically proposing everything that came up and with a little arm-twisting for a couple months he was able to get whatever he wanted. This is one of the things I'm most interested in.

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Urban Empire not getting great reviews.

This doesn't really concern me. There are lots of negative reviews on Steam for thing like MM which I think is an outstanding game. Generally speaking I find that 80% of what I read in user reviews is absurdity based on people not understanding the game. I also think a game like this is going to get some of that because it's really a new concept -- a lot of people are going to try to play it like Cities:Skylines or SimCity or whatever.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

I'm curious about this. How hard did you try? From what I've seen on youtube, quill was basically proposing everything that came up and with a little arm-twisting for a couple months he was able to get whatever he wanted. This is one of the things I'm most interested in.
.

That was an earlier release and they have balanced them a bit now. It is easier the first era, but gets harder. You have to be careful how hard you push, because if everyone hates you, you will get screwed. I also noticed as more parties came in, influencing one to the positive can also move another to the negative if they are opposed parties.

In era 3 now and just won my second mayoral election (every 6 years from era 3 on) and I have to scrap to pull it out at the end.

[Brian Swartz]

Thanks, that's good to know.

[cartman]

I'm still not grasping the economics of the engine. It seems that if you improve the infrastructure of district it should show some improvement in the income generated from the commerce and industry in the district. That doesn't seem to be the case with what I'm seeing.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by cartman

I'm still not grasping the economics of the engine. It seems that if you improve the infrastructure of district it should show some improvement in the income generated from the commerce and industry in the district. That doesn't seem to be the case with what I'm seeing.

It helps to see which business (commercial or industrial) is making more money in relation to total businesses in operation, and adjust the percentages accordingly.

[Peregrine]

I picked up Rimworld this week - already so, so addicted. Man this game is fun and I love the depth of all the bits and pieces.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

I picked up Rimworld this week - already so, so addicted. Man this game is fun and I love the depth of all the bits and pieces.

I picked it up last weekend. Interesting, but really just making think of playing Banished again.

[Ragone]

I have a extra copy of payday 2 i can gift if someone would like it..

my steam id is kcford76, first person who posts on here they want it gets it.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Ragone

I have a extra copy of payday 2 i can gift if someone would like it..

my steam id is kcford76, first person who posts on here they want it gets it.

I'll take it, if you've still got it.

[frnk55]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

I picked up Rimworld this week - already so, so addicted. Man this game is fun and I love the depth of all the bits and pieces.

I am very intrigued by this game because the reviews are outstanding. I just afraid I won't have a clue what I'm doing and end up wasting 30 bucks.

[heybrad]

Originally Posted by frnk55

I am very intrigued by this game because the reviews are outstanding. I just afraid I won't have a clue what I'm doing and end up wasting 30 bucks.

I thought the same thing and it's been a very steep learning curve for me. I've been watching a lot of let's play videos and as I'm starting to pick up on things, I'm finding it to be a blast.

[chinaski]

Originally Posted by heybrad

I thought the same thing and it's been a very steep learning curve for me. I've been watching a lot of let's play videos and as I'm starting to pick up on things, I'm finding it to be a blast.

Its really a great game, one of the most engrossing ive played in a very long time.

[Atocep]

Rimworld is one of my top 3 games from last year. It can be brutally difficult and things can go to shit at any moment, but i always have fun.

[thesloppy]

I love Rimworld, put in dozens of hours, and it had a little bit of FOFC traction going in a thread last year, and probably could've offered some advice back then.....but I'm trying to wait until it's complete before I go back to it, so I don't burn myself out on it completely before it even reaches its finished state.

[Bobble]

Can someone compare Rimworld to Dwarf Fortress for me -- aside from the graphic improvements? What does Rimworld have the DF doesn't?

[MizzouRah]

Pit People has been a blast so far... what a funny, goofy, tactical turned based game this is... incredible.

[Brian Swartz]

Factorio has become my crack at this point. Scratches the whole design/city-builder itch much better than anything else. Even gotten me back into extensive modding for the first time in many years(aside from a brief Stellaris dalliance, but the limitations there ended it pretty quick). So many possibilities.

One of the biggest updates is coming relatively soon it seems with 0.15, and the next major update after that is expected to essentially be release candidate so they are not far away from exiting alpha. Game's a lot better and more stable than majority of actual released games and has been for quite some time. For a taste of some of the more creative/exotic stuff going on, having a look at this, preview of the new Programmable Speaker from the latest of the weekly dev updates:

Factorio Programmable Speaker demo - YouTube

And then there's this. If you haven't seen it before I should probably apologize in advance. This was done seven months ago, mind.

Factorio: 0.15 Early Steam Build - YouTube

[dzilla77]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Factorio has become my crack at this point. Scratches the whole design/city-builder itch much better than anything else. Even gotten me back into extensive modding for the first time in many years(aside from a brief Stellaris dalliance, but the limitations there ended it pretty quick). So many possibilities.

One of the biggest updates is coming relatively soon it seems with 0.15, and the next major update after that is expected to essentially be release candidate so they are not far away from exiting alpha. Game's a lot better and more stable than majority of actual released games and has been for quite some time. For a taste of some of the more creative/exotic stuff going on, having a look at this, preview of the new Programmable Speaker from the latest of the weekly dev updates:

Factorio Programmable Speaker demo - YouTube

And then there's this. If you haven't seen it before I should probably apologize in advance. This was done seven months ago, mind.

Factorio: 0.15 Early Steam Build - YouTube

Yeah, I stumbled on this right before Christmas and I have dumped 60 hours into it which is a lot for me (If I get 30 out of game, I am doing good - FOF aside)

Oh and that second video is awesome (and annoying).

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Factorio has become my crack at this point. Scratches the whole design/city-builder itch much better than anything else. Even gotten me back into extensive modding for the first time in many years(aside from a brief Stellaris dalliance, but the limitations there ended it pretty quick). So many possibilities.

One of the biggest updates is coming relatively soon it seems with 0.15, and the next major update after that is expected to essentially be release candidate so they are not far away from exiting alpha. Game's a lot better and more stable than majority of actual released games and has been for quite some time. For a taste of some of the more creative/exotic stuff going on, having a look at this, preview of the new Programmable Speaker from the latest of the weekly dev updates:

Factorio Programmable Speaker demo - YouTube

And then there's this. If you haven't seen it before I should probably apologize in advance. This was done seven months ago, mind.

Factorio: 0.15 Early Steam Build - YouTube

I like Factorio early, not later when it gets way too much.

[CrimsonFox]

Free game from Humble Bundle

Humble Store

[Icy]

After watching 10 videos in YouTube, I have just purchased rimworld, looks like a great mix of builder mixed with survival.

[Groundhog]

Rimworld is damn good, yet damn brutal.

[Ramzavail]

Originally Posted by Ragone

I have a extra copy of payday 2 i can gift if someone would like it..

my steam id is kcford76, first person who posts on here they want it gets it.

Just tried to add "kcford76" and Steam says there isn't a user by that name.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Rimworld is damn good, yet damn brutal.

Personally, I turn the brutality off - I like how they make that an option.

[CrimsonFox]

Humble BANDAI NAMCO Bundle 2 (pay what you want and help charity)

New humble bundle.

Tales of Zestiria looks really appealing. Any recommendations? It's kinda pricey at 15 tho :P

[Critch]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Rimworld is damn good, yet damn brutal.

It certainly is both good and brutal. A good tip is not to start with permadeath mode turned on. If I'd turned it off my save wouldnt be going into the first winter with the camp leader, Morales, lying bleeding out in the snow with his wife and two other campmates lying dead beside him. At least the all lasted longer than poor old Friendship, the two legged dog.

I think this start is beyond saving.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Critch

It certainly is both good and brutal. A good tip is not to start with permadeath mode turned on. If I'd turned it off my save wouldnt be going into the first winter with the camp leader, Morales, lying bleeding out in the snow with his wife and two other campmates lying dead beside him. At least the all lasted longer than poor old Friendship, the two legged dog.

I think this start is beyond saving.

There are few things sadder than sitting their on fast-sim hoping a kidnapped settler returns so you can continue your settlement that you spent hours and hours turning into a self-sustainable settlement with full power, air-conditioning, farming, strong defenses, etc. only to have a string of illnesses and disasters kill all your settlers off.