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Post by Boony on Apr 27, 2017 19:33:23 GMT
Dunno how the fook to get that photo to work, posting from my phone... You'll figure it out.
[edit]sorted[/edit]
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 28, 2017 0:58:52 GMT
Nice picture. What's the name of Boony Lad's indy rock band?
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Post by Boony on Apr 28, 2017 9:42:38 GMT
I know, right? Unfortunately he's not very musical (insert gag about quality of mid-90s indie music) I think Nancy will play bass when she grows up.
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Post by Boony on Apr 28, 2017 9:44:59 GMT
Anyway, who comes here these days? Is it just you two? Is anyone still playing games?
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 28, 2017 12:25:18 GMT
It's mostly me, Moo and Pops, with a bit of elth mixed in when he's not being the mature one of the group. Posting is infrequent enough here that I have set up the email notifications for when there's something new so I don't miss it.
I still play a bunch of games, but they're mostly driving games. I've fallen away from FM because my favourite part was always the way the universe developed over time and now it seems to be much more of a tactical game simulator and less of a career simulator. It takes so long to get through a season that I lose interest. The only management games I've played to any great level recently have been Motorsport Manager and horse racing malarkey, Starters Orders 6.
Fans of LLAPWASIFOSOS will like Don Bradman Cricket, which is amazing. Just get the 14 version if you can, as it's better than the new one.
Other than driving I play a bunch of FIFA in Be A Leg End mode and some War Thunder, because the flight model means it's an online shooter that's more about forward decisions than instant twitch reactions, so I can still beat up on the young kids in that game.
Way back in the dim and distant I used to play the pen-and-paper RPG "Mechwarrior" - a STOMPY ROBOT game in which my group of friends were a mercenary STOMPY ROBOT unit, trying to make money and scavenge together bits and pieces to keep our STOMPY ROBOTS going and there's finally a decent looking single player strategic computer RPG version on the horizon, so I'm anxiously looking forward to that.
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Post by floplexter on Apr 28, 2017 14:18:12 GMT
I play the lute, the spoons and the fool.
Currently deep in the bowels of Freelancer again at the moment, but also play PES on the Wii a lot (along with other Lego-based games) and a selection of old games of yesteryear on my dedicated XP antique.
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Post by Boony on Apr 30, 2017 21:52:13 GMT
Mobile versions of FM are much better for career simulation, seasons don't take forever and there aren't a million tactical options. The game does feel a little light on occasion, though; CM01/02 was more in depth than FMH14, but I haven't played that for about 8 years.
What makes Don Bradman a good game? Arcade style cricket games have always been a little patchy. I'm part way through writing my own cricket management game, trying to learn C++ at the same time, but progress is very slow.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 1, 2017 14:16:26 GMT
One of the worst things about arcade cricket games has always been that the batting is too easy, so you end up scoring triple centuries and completely skewing the game. Similarly with bowling, you end up with a 10-for and the AI doesn't really have a chance. With DBC you will need to fiddle with the skill levels to find the right place for you, but even with a couple hundred hours in the game I still find batting properly difficult (it took me over a century of hours in the game to get my first First Class century), and when you get to 100 it feels like a proper achievement.
This is also true with the bowling, where the game doesn't reward flashy joystick skills, but instead wants you on line and length, throwing in an occasional slower ball or scramble seam to give the batsman something different. It actually rewards the sort of steady monotony of seam bowling, where the different delivery only causes problems if it's genuinely different.
Outside of that, just something with the pacing and the ambient sound really helps make the game feel like cricket more than any of the others I've ever played.
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Post by elth on May 2, 2017 15:13:19 GMT
Playing games in what little spare time I have these days is why I rarely remember to do any foruming any more.
Far too much adulting going on for my liking, what with all your "children" and "employment" and whatnot. Absolute garbage, the lot of it.
Hi Boo!
(Mass Effect 2 at the moment.)
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 2, 2017 17:34:00 GMT
Case in point on DBC (if you're not Boony, don't read any further). Last night my Career Mode bowler is in the England team for a Test tour of New Zealand. In the first test the track is totally flat and predictable and having won the toss the Kiwis build a massive first innings score. I have no joy at all as I can't get the ball to do anything, eventually forcing Brendon McCullum to chip to cover for 54.
Speccy twonk Dan Vettori then gets to 70 before I finally get some movement in the air and from around the wicket an in-swinger starts way outside off and then swings late and skittles the stump clear out of the ground.
Eventually New Zealand declare at lunch on day two at 595-9. I have two wickets for 76, my primary use being that my overs weren't expensive.
In classic English fashion we're then instantly in trouble at 74-4, before Stokes finally settles the side. I end up coming in to bat at number 11 and we're trailing by 298 runs. My average is six.
I manage to bat with Broad through ten overs before finally edging Vettori to first slip for... six. AVERAGE MAINTAINED.
New Zealand decided to enforce the follow on, but their bowlers are tired and England look like an actual competent cricket team. We finally go past the Kiwi's first innings score and keep on going too. Eventually I come in after lunch on day 4 with a lead of 188 and Stuart Broad again at the other end. Vettori is bowling again and I can't do anything with the turn he's getting, before I finally get a thick edge through the slip cordon for four to get off the mark.
I continue to be lucky for about two more hours as Broad and I scratch and scrape to a 50 partnership before I get done all ends up by a yorker on middle stump for LBW for 23. We have a lead of 208 with 15 minutes play left on day four.
I then promptly take one of the openers, caught and bowled for nine, and Anderson and Broad also pick up wickets to put NZ at 55 for 3 early on day five. From there though it's really just a slow procession to a Kiwi victory. Their run rate is terrible, but they have all day to get to the target. I get McCullum again, for a bit over 20, but New Zealand have too much time, too many wickets left and too low of a target to ever be in real trouble and they finally sneak past our score in mid-afternoon with six wickets down.
That's really the strength of the game - you can play five days of test cricket with perfectly normal crickety things happening that don't feature player-one-heroic-nonsense either with bat or ball and have a pretty sensible story to tell afterwards. Including England collapses.
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Post by floplexter on May 3, 2017 8:35:31 GMT
I played two games on CM... something the other day. It had little circles running around kicking a smaller dot to each other. First time I've seen that. Seemed far far far too complicated for me.
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Post by Boony on May 3, 2017 12:15:27 GMT
Case in point on DBC (if you're not Boony, don't read any further). [cut some details][/cut] That's really the strength of the game - you can play five days of test cricket with perfectly normal crickety things happening that don't feature player-one-heroic-nonsense either with bat or ball and have a pretty sensible story to tell afterwards. Including England collapses. Very good, sounds pretty realistic. How long did this take you? Do you have to field as well or does it just kick into action when it's your turn to bat or bowl?
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 3, 2017 12:29:37 GMT
You can field and you can stand and watch when you're at the other end while batting. Or you can just press a button to auto-sim ahead to the next time you're the one doing something. You'll still get the odd catch if you sim ahead while fielding.
I sim in the field and watch about 50% of the time when batting but not on strike and a test with high scores will take about 90 minutes to two hours. But you can also save and quit to the menu at any time.
I played the second test last night. We got to 550 and then bowled New Zealand out for 295. I would have batted again, but Cook chose the follow on and we just couldn't get New Zealand out again. They ended up being all out for 510 before lunch on day 5, so then we had to chase 250 in just a couple sessions and ended up about 20 runs short.
It's only a three test series and the third test is the other side of three one day games, so it'll take a while to get to the last one.
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Post by Boony on May 3, 2017 14:42:36 GMT
You can field and you can stand and watch when you're at the other end while batting. Or you can just press a button to auto-sim ahead to the next time you're the one doing something. You'll still get the odd catch if you sim ahead while fielding. I sim in the field and watch about 50% of the time when batting but not on strike and a test with high scores will take about 90 minutes to two hours. But you can also save and quit to the menu at any time. I played the second test last night. We got to 550 and then bowled New Zealand out for 295. I would have batted again, but Cook chose the follow on and we just couldn't get New Zealand out again. They ended up being all out for 510 before lunch on day 5, so then we had to chase 250 in just a couple sessions and ended up about 20 runs short. It's only a three test series and the third test is the other side of three one day games, so it'll take a while to get to the last one. Hang on, Cook enforced the follow-on? That's not very realistic. It does sound good, though. I'll add it to my list of games I'd play if I had the time but I don't so I won't. Which is quite long. I'm mostly limited to half-hour bursts on the bus to/from work and I spend most of that listening to RHLSTP - nearly caught up now. Oh, and hi elth :thumb:
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Post by Boony on May 3, 2017 14:43:57 GMT
I played two games on CM... something the other day. It had little circles running around kicking a smaller dot to each other. First time I've seen that. Seemed far far far too complicated for me. dot$ came out in, um, 2003, I think.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 3, 2017 16:49:04 GMT
My 2006 St. Albans game had dot$.
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Post by Moo on May 4, 2017 10:38:23 GMT
Morning!
I'm exclusively on FM16 as I don't have time for anything else. I have a list of purchases on Steam, but not touched many of them, Tropico 4, Banished, Castaway Island, Democracy, etc... just due to time.
Just to report, Boo, Jack is 20 on Saturday, Sam is 13 and Tom is 7. Scary times indeed.
Also, I'm still a canute.
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Post by Boony on May 4, 2017 12:19:59 GMT
What? The passage of time applies to children as well as us?! Sam can't be 13, no way. Does he still have mad hair?
I'm currently working from home, as the builders are in doing us an extension and I needed to be on hand today to inspect some work before they could carry on. I'm working hard, but I also have my little Linux netbook next to me, running CM9495 through DOSBOX :humb:
FM16 any good, Moo? Is it like a second job?
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 4, 2017 12:47:15 GMT
My favourite part of FM16 is having Moo tell me about his FM16 game.
I got the FM17 touch version for free when I bought 17, so maybe I'll have to give that a try and see if it's in the sweet spot for time.
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Post by Moo on May 4, 2017 14:26:35 GMT
What? The passage of time applies to children as well as us?! Sam can't be 13, no way. Does he still have mad hair? I'm currently working from home, as the builders are in doing us an extension and I needed to be on hand today to inspect some work before they could carry on. I'm working hard, but I also have my little Linux netbook next to me, running CM9495 through DOSBOX :humb: FM16 any good, Moo? Is it like a second job? Sam's hair has thankfully reined itself back in. He does have the odd grey though, much to my amusement. FM16 is deffo a love/hate relationship. It's certainly a better simulation of what the job entails, but that doesn't necessarily make it more fun. I recall having so much fun with FM06 and 08, but have seemingly persevered with other versions. 14 gave me just over 900 hours, IIRC and this version has gone over 350 so far, but as you can imagine, it's sometimes a chore because the season doesn't go quickly enough. I've never before condoned using an editor to give your selected team a cash injection, but I couldn't blame you if you did that now. The extra money would just give you the buzz from the transfers side rather than the tactics side as in older versions, because the tactics are just so much more challenging to get right. I understand that's the realistic thing, but sheesh.... sometimes, it's just impossible. For the record, I don't recall when I last bought CM/FM at full price, certainly not since I got Steam, so giving up on a version would never be an issue for me. It's unlikely that I'll get FM17 in the summer sale, but might think about FM18 in a year's time when in the sale at half price.
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Post by floplexter on May 4, 2017 19:48:19 GMT
Lexi is 17 tomorrow. Poppy is at Edinburgh Uni and my baby is a teenager too. I am an auld fart.
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Post by Moo on May 5, 2017 9:01:54 GMT
Jaysus, Poppy doesn't half have your disinterested look there, Pops.
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Post by floplexter on May 5, 2017 10:29:24 GMT
She so rucky.
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Post by Boony on May 5, 2017 12:54:15 GMT
One of them has the top of a christmas tree growing out of her head. Have you had that looked into?
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Post by floplexter on May 5, 2017 15:38:39 GMT
One of them has the top of a christmas tree growing out of her head. Have you had that looked into? Nothing to do with me, squire. One of these BOGOF offers from Claire's Accessories.
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