BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: OT Gaming: October 2015

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Thursday, October 01, 2015

OT Gaming: October 2015

RosePortal Games, the developer of an RPG called Epic Quest of the 4 Crystals recently got caught offering compensation—in the form of free Steam keys—in exchange for Steam reviews. When Valve found out, they weren’t pleased.

Yeah, nothing shady about that…

Anyway, here’s the start of monthly Gaming threads.

Dan The Mediocre is one of "the rest" Posted: October 01, 2015 at 08:02 AM | 981 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: games, gaming, steam

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201. Your favorite TFTIO, me! Posted: December 03, 2015 at 07:31 PM (#5106791)

Flop

202. Dan The Mediocre is one of "the rest" Posted: December 03, 2015 at 07:49 PM (#5106794)

Yeah, the real reason to spend more on keyboards is to get additional features; backlit keys, extra programmable keys/quickbars, integrated displays, etc. Even low end keyboards by reasonably reputable manufacturers should last years and years.

Unless you have a 4 year old kid that likes to wake up in the middle of the night and pour water into the keyboard because he likes the way the water settles in...

203. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: December 03, 2015 at 08:04 PM (#5106801)

Unless you have a 4 year old kid that likes to wake up in the middle of the night and pour water into the keyboard because he likes the way the water settles in...

If this is the case then you definitely want cheap keyboards, and always have a spare in storage.

204. Szym Posted: December 04, 2015 at 03:05 AM (#5106892)

I broke a $120 keyboard about a year ago with gravy. Eating Thanksgiving leftovers on my lap and the plate got a little off-center and I poured turkey gravy directly onto the keyboard.

I do love Cherry MX Reds though. While Brown switches are considered better all-purpose switches, I find the Reds better for gaming and once you've used a Red for a few weeks, you brain knows where the actuation point is without the tactile bump (Reds are light actuation linear, Browns are light actuation tactile)

That being said, you should never be sacrificing PC parts for your keyboard. It's something you fit in your budget when it's convenient. Once you've typed on a mechanical keyboard, it's very hard to go back!

If you run into any problems when you put your build together, feel free to hit me up for advice and I'll do my best.

205. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: December 04, 2015 at 09:17 AM (#5106946)

Yeah, I recently lost my Unicomp to being a ####### idiot and spilling a drink on it, which is just about the only way to damage the things. Short of that, a Unicomp will likely outlive you. (The switches will wear out over a couple decades but are replaceable, and the keycaps are very easily and cheaply replaced whenever you've worn them down to an unacceptable level of slickness.)

Unless, as I said before, you use it in a room frequented by someone else. Then the noise will soon drive them to grab it and beat you to death with it (and it's sturdy enough to do the job, make no mistake).

206. zack Posted: December 04, 2015 at 09:37 AM (#5106965)

I was looking at mechanical keyboards for awhile, but finally decided that $120-170 was too much for a damn keyboard. I just want something that is easier to clean, really, after spilling drinks in my current (chiclet) keyboard twice in the last year. It works fine but pulling off the keycaps is just too much work.

Then again, when I asked my new job for a new (probably ~$10, not anything fancy) keyboard because the one they started me with was disgusting they said no, so apparently I now live in a world where keyboards are fantastically ####### expensive...

207. Your favorite TFTIO, me! Posted: December 04, 2015 at 10:16 AM (#5107018)

I have expensive keyboards (and mice, and monitors), because I spend all day using my computer, and I've never understood the urge to cheap out on the only hardware that people actually interact with.

208. zenbitz Posted: December 04, 2015 at 05:00 PM (#5107480)

I made to almost 5 days in the long dark! (stalker mode, of course) Ran out of food and eventually got tracked down by a wolf when I was starving and hypothermic, with 2 sprained ankles and a sprained wrist. Still haven't found a weapon.

209. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: December 04, 2015 at 05:06 PM (#5107482)

I have expensive keyboards (and mice, and monitors), because I spend all day using my computer, and I've never understood the urge to cheap out on the only hardware that people actually interact with.

I sympathize with this, and have an expensive keyboard and middle-class ($40) mouse myself, but... if you are really on a strict budget then a cheap keyboard is going to cause you much, much less aggravation than a cheap video card or a cheap processor or less memory.

If it's more of a question of should I spend $100 on a keyboard or on a new baseball jersey then yeah, go with the item you're going to spend more time with.

Also I've spent on mice in the range of $10 to $70 both for myself and for others, and within that range I have noticed no difference in durability whatsoever. If you use it for hours every day a mouse is probably going to last you 1.5 to 2 years.

Keyboards on the other hand do have a detectable durability difference, but even the cheap ones last so long it doesn't really matter. Absent accidents a mechanical keyboard will last your entire life whereas a $15 cheapie will last ten years or so. But practically that translates to "your keyboard will last until you spill coffee all over it," whatever you spent on it.

210. Szym Posted: December 05, 2015 at 01:26 AM (#5107743)

It's funny, I had been using Razer Nagas for quite a while. While I waited for the warranty return, I bought a cheaper mouse with a number pad to tide me over, a Redragon Perdition, kind of a Chinese knockoff of the Naga.

Turned out that I actually liked the Perdition better. I gave the replaced Naga to my sister. I find it fits better with my smaller hand, I get a better grip from the texture, I can tell the thumb numbers apart better, and I like the RGB colors on the mouse and the profile manager better. And it's been way more dependable than my Razers were. Weird world sometimes.

211. Paul D(uda) Posted: December 05, 2015 at 11:42 AM (#5107835)

Jade Empire is free on Origin right now, for those of you who like Bioware RPGs but havne't given that one a shot.

212. Random Transaction Generator Posted: December 16, 2015 at 11:10 AM (#5115351)

If you have Chrome as your desktop browser, and on your Android smart phone, have some fun!

213. Randy Jones

Posted: December 17, 2015 at 02:49 PM (#5116316)

This weeks humble bundle includes OOTP16 if you pay more than $10. link

214. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: December 17, 2015 at 03:43 PM (#5116389)

If it's more of a question of should I spend $100 on a keyboard or on a new baseball jersey then yeah, go with the item you're going to spend more time with.

To each their own. I have no problem using a cheapo keyboard and mouse and I own a computer business and am an avid gamer. What I do spend my money on is monitors and SSDs. 25" IPS is about the lowest I will slum these days. My monoprice 1440p 27" at home is a beauty and this year I am going to be looking for a good 4K monitor for the post X-mas sales.

IPS glare sucks during the night cyles in Rust and the Forest but it is what it is.

215. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: December 22, 2015 at 05:45 AM (#5118353)

Steam Winter Sale starts today at 1PM EST. Historically this has been a great opportunity to get some deeply-discounted games, but there is a major change for this year. Because Steam now offers refunds for purchased games, whatever price you see for a given game at any point in the sale will NEVER go down during the event. There will be no massive "flash sale" discounts good for a few hours only. If you see it and want to buy it, there's no reason to wait in hopes of a better deal. ,

If any of you bozos want to find a game we can all try together lets coordinate here. If Rocket League goes to $10 or so I'm going to be all over it.

216. Paul d mobile Posted: December 22, 2015 at 08:43 AM (#5118368)

Szym or others, any recommendations for good utilities to clean up my PC? It seems to be a bit slow at the moment and I'm wondering if I've got some malwarewor other issues.

217. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: December 22, 2015 at 08:51 AM (#5118374)

Start with this.

218. Random Transaction Generator Posted: December 22, 2015 at 08:59 AM (#5118378)

If Rocket League goes to $10 or so I'm going to be all over it.

I'm getting my new PC tonight, and I probably won't have time to play any games before heading off on Xmas travel/visits, but that would definitely be a game I'd get if it was around that price.
I have Just Cause 3 sitting in my Steam library, ready to play when I get the chance, but RL seems like the best online fun game right now.

219. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: December 22, 2015 at 11:03 AM (#5118451)

IPS glare sucks during the night cyles in Rust and the Forest but it is what it is.

Man, The Forest really can give ya the chills at night in a pitch black room. I actually get uncomfortable playing it sometimes and have to stop.

220. The Good Face Posted: December 22, 2015 at 11:09 AM (#5118461)

What's the Witcher 3 on sale for? I kinda want to try it, but after the debacle that was Witcher 2, I can't justify paying more than a nominal amount for it.

221. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: December 22, 2015 at 11:26 AM (#5118483)

I got it off GOG for $30 and have no regrets, but I think I like this series more than most. I doubt it will be much lower than that during the Steam sale, it's just picked up several "Game of the Year"-type awards this month.

I'm following a bunch of smaller indy-sized games in hopes of picking them up cheaply during the sale. If Rocket League goes down to $10 I'll pick up a 4-pack for friends, that's at the top of my wishlist, too many people seem to love it for me not to give it a whirl.

222. Maxwn Posted: December 22, 2015 at 12:11 PM (#5118538)

Yes you should all definitely get Rocket League if it fits in your budget. I've been playing since release, and it is brilliant.

I've gotten more fun out of that game than I have out of almost every other game I've played in the last few years.

223. Greg K Posted: December 22, 2015 at 01:27 PM (#5118602)

I'm guessing Steam's sale is pretty popular. Their store site appears to be too swamped to work properly.

224. Random Transaction Generator Posted: December 22, 2015 at 01:40 PM (#5118612)

Yeah, the first 30-60 minutes of the sale usually involve 503 errors as the servers struggle to balance the insane load of everyone connecting at once.
In the minute or so I was connected, I saw that RL was on sale for $15Cdn, which is probably close to the $10US we were all hoping for.
I have some Xmas shopping to do for my far flung friends, and the Winter Steam Sale is the way I usually do it, so I'll be poking around for a while when I get home.

225. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: December 22, 2015 at 02:29 PM (#5118662)

I've been thinking about giving Rogue Legacy a try for a while now.

$2.24? You twisted my arm!

226. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: December 22, 2015 at 03:19 PM (#5118710)

Man, The Forest really can give ya the chills at night in a pitch black room. I actually get uncomfortable playing it sometimes and have to stop.

The Forest is an awesome game at an incredible price. It's well optimized and has added tons of content since it was launched in EA. Probably one of the more impressive EA games I have played and I have quite a few in my library.

It does freak me out quite a bit as well. It's very creepy when you are chopping wood and suddenly a cannibal is staring at you from behind the next tree. I wish the multiplayer was more fleshed out. If eventually they have persistent servers I'd play it more. Right now I usually just get stoned and hop on a server for a couple hours and build some stuff and explore. If you find a good hosted server with some friendly players it's a lot of fun.

Rust is on sale. If anyone wants to play hit me up I have over 2K hours at this point and pretty much know everything there is to know. I've been looking for a team mate for couple months now the guy I was playing with went AWOL on Steam. It would be fun to show a noob the ropes. I get burned out on solo play after I put in 10 or so hours on a server (reach the end game and get bored usually) but with a team mate it's more fun to keep acquiring stuff.

If anyone wants to join US West server and play some ping me on steam same name as here.

227. Obo Posted: December 22, 2015 at 08:31 PM (#5118945)

I'm totally in if folks want to play Rocket League or some other not-too-expensive multiplayer, but I won't be available until the middle of next week.

228. GGIAS (aka Poster Nutbag) Posted: December 22, 2015 at 09:21 PM (#5118961)

I have (and LOVE) Rocket League. I am up for playing a round sometime with any of youse guys.

MadVillian....I have it but haven't fired it up in a while...I may end up taking you up on that offer.

229. Paul D(uda) Posted: December 22, 2015 at 10:26 PM (#5118983)

Thanks RTG. No threats found.

230. Randy Jones

Posted: December 24, 2015 at 11:36 AM (#5119786)

For those looking for Rocket League, greenmangaming has it for $11.20 with code XMAS20-PERGMG-SVINGS. Rocket League link
Code works for other games too. GTA V is $28.80, Wasteland 2 is $16. sale link

231. Random Transaction Generator Posted: December 28, 2015 at 08:54 AM (#5120832)

I picked up "Assassin's Creed Syndicate" as my free game that comes with my new video card.
I thought they would give me a Steam key to type in.
No. I have to install uPlay (Ubisoft's version of Steam) and download it there.
I'm about to do it and it tells me that it is going to be a 40GB download.

FORTY ####### GIGS!

I have a fast connection and a high cap with my internet connection, but since I've been pulling down TV episodes for a while this month, I'm probably going to have to wait until next billing cycle before I start this download...and I'll have to start the DL just before going to sleep to maximize the speed (no other connections) and minimize the disruption (for my wife using the internet).

How do people in countries with less reliable internet (parts of the UK, Australia, South America) even have a chance for a game like this? Are they forced to buy the hard copy from the store?
Even then, I'm willing to bet that they still need to connect to the internet (for a single player game) and download a massive launch-day patch (probably 5-10gb).

232. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: December 28, 2015 at 09:38 AM (#5120857)

There's no way I'd install anything of that nature that's 40GB. The only way it could possibly take up that much space is if it's a horrendously buggy monstrosity, crammed full of malware/spyware, or both. I'd just forego the free game.

233. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: December 28, 2015 at 09:56 AM (#5120864)

I picked up Rocket League on the Steam Sale and played through the tutorials and some practice modes. I'm awful at driving games but this seems like a lot of fun, I can see how they sold 7 million copies or whatever, it's well-optimized.

Maybe it's just me but the current design of the Steam Winter Sale leaves me a little flat. I used to look forward to the rotating list of games on sale each day, it gave me something to anticipate to each afternoon at 1PM. Now, knowing that the panel of games on-sale will not change for the duration of the whole event dampens my enthusiasm. I know if there's something I want and I see it at a price point I'm not comfortable with, that's it - there's no chance of a better deal sneaking in and surprising me.

I guess I can still look forward to the card game thing, but I have no idea what to do with that. Anyone care to explain it to me?

234. Fancy Pants Handle struck out swinging Posted: December 28, 2015 at 10:30 AM (#5120888)

How do people in countries with less reliable internet (parts of the UK, Australia, South America) even have a chance for a game like this? Are they forced to buy the hard copy from the store?
Even then, I'm willing to bet that they still need to connect to the internet (for a single player game) and download a massive launch-day patch (probably 5-10gb).

I have no idea about S America or Australia, but my sister lives in the sticks in Wales, has a 20 mbit connection with no down or upload cap. The number of people in the UK who can't get a reliable connection probably numbers somewhere in the tens.

In terms of coverage, connection speed and reliability, the US is not really all that great compared to many other places (in large part because of the size of the landmass obviously).

235. JJ1986 Posted: December 28, 2015 at 10:42 AM (#5120891)

The new NBA 2K games are over 50GBs. I think most AAA games are over 30 at this point.

236. Random Transaction Generator Posted: December 28, 2015 at 10:45 AM (#5120895)

I guess I can still look forward to the card game thing, but I have no idea what to do with that. Anyone care to explain it to me?

There are two ways to do this:

Collect cards to get a set.
Cash in set to get Steam XP (meaningless) and a profile background (trivial) and some kind of Steam chat emoticon thingy (trivial)

OR

Just sell those Steam cards in the online market for like $0.05-$0.10 each.

I was able to pay for one of my cheap games during the last Steam sale through the sale of the previous Steam sale cards.
This sale allows you to collect cards by simply viewing your recommended games queue three times (getting you three cards) each day.
I collected a set (because it was easy) and then sold the rest of my cards that I collected.
Sadly, I'm away from my gaming PC so I can't collect any cards for a few days. It's about $0.27 a day (CDN) that I get, and five or six days of that during a sale gets me a cheap indie game for free.

237. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: December 28, 2015 at 10:47 AM (#5120896)

The new NBA 2K games are over 50GBs. I think most AAA games are over 30 at this point.

Yeah, but (unless I'm misreading) I think he's saying uPlay is 40GB.

238. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: December 28, 2015 at 11:18 AM (#5120914)

Collect cards to get a set.
Cash in set to get Steam XP (meaningless) and a profile background (trivial) and some kind of Steam chat emoticon thingy (trivial)

OR

Just sell those Steam cards in the online market for like $0.05-$0.10 each.

Color me underwhelmed all around.

When you start adding these collecting and crafting mechanics to things I get lost, it's one of the reasons I drifted away from Team Fortress 2.

239. Swedish Chef Posted: December 28, 2015 at 11:30 AM (#5120925)

Yeah, but (unless I'm misreading) I think he's saying uPlay is 40GB.

You are misreading it. uplay wasn't a big download when I got it.

240. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: December 28, 2015 at 11:32 AM (#5120926)

Ah, well, that's normal then. Nothing unusual about a game itself being 40GB.

241. Szym Posted: December 28, 2015 at 09:56 PM (#5121459)

I'm really digging Just Cause 3. Yeah, the storyline is mediocre, but that's not really the point of the game, which is mostly sandbox explosion mayhem. The wingsuit is badass and the new mechanic of grappling things together and having them reel in towards each other is absolutely hilarious. I'm not even using my gun most of the time, but making weird grapple experiments, like grappling a dude to a tower to a helicopter to an explosive barrel and having them collide with each other. Or picking up a truck full of dudes in your helicopter and dropping the whole shebang onto a fuel tank. Or landing a helicopter on a large satellite dish and putting C4 on the helicopter. Or killing army dudes with a boat I'm dragging along the street.

Seriously, the game is ####### insanity.

242. Obo Posted: December 30, 2015 at 09:03 PM (#5122909)

So...anyone up for multiplayer? I'm happy to try out Rocket League but I'd be in for pretty much any game that gets us a bunch of players.

243. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: December 30, 2015 at 09:13 PM (#5122915)

I pull 8Mb/s at times from Valve :-D

Of course, I also live in Seattle.

MadVillian....I have it but haven't fired it up in a while...I may end up taking you up on that offer.

I'm burned out on Rust for now. I'm going to take a month or so break. I tried playing some late week again. I literally have seen and done it all in that game. Nothing even really excites me anymore and I'm too cynical.

Bought the civ iv collection last night. The AI in BTS is damn good. Crap, not as easy on Prince anymore.

244. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: December 30, 2015 at 10:14 PM (#5122955)

I bought Civ IV on sale for $5 a year or two ago just to get the soundtrack. Haven't even played the game (I played it many years ago; I like Civ V better.)

245. GGIAS (aka Poster Nutbag) Posted: January 02, 2016 at 03:39 PM (#5124381)

#243 - Sorry for any confusion, I meant Rocket League and not RUST. I am usually up for some fun MP gaming these days though when I am able to, so anyone here is more than welcome to hit me up anytime for gaming on Steam. Usually, anytime after 8pm Pacific is golden for me, and weekends sometimes also.

246. Random Transaction Generator Posted: January 04, 2016 at 11:32 AM (#5125177)

I'm really digging Just Cause 3.

Same here. My new machine makes the game run smooth and pretty (1920x1200) and it is so much fun just to mess around. When you bring down a LARGE chaos target (like those massive towers or microwave dishes), the explosions and debris flying everywhere is just gorgeous to watch.
I'm slowly going through the campaign, but just trying stuff out is fun. I'm not so good at the wingsuit challenges, but even failure is funny when you slam into the ground at 100mph.

The fact that someone is putting together a multiplayer mod for the game is crazy. I'm an absolute maniac in the game, and I can't imagine trying to share the same space with 5/10/50 other insane people.

247. zack Posted: January 04, 2016 at 12:08 PM (#5125217)

Usually, anytime after 8pm Pacific is golden for me, and weekends sometimes also.

Aww dammit. I bought Rocket League a couple days ago but most of my game group is on the west coast and I started a new job recently. I was all excited reading your post until I got to that last sentence.

248. Maxwn Posted: January 05, 2016 at 06:03 PM (#5126498)

Just wanted to say any of you that bought rocket league want to play together some time, just shoot me a message through the steam group. If there's enough of us, we should definitely get a group together at some point.

One caveat is I am on east coast and haven't really ever tried the US-West servers. I'm not totally sure how the connections do across regions so that could be a problem if we have some on different coasts.

249. Lance Reddick! Lance him! Posted: January 07, 2016 at 09:26 PM (#5128826)

Is there an OOTP analogue for college football? By which I mean something customizable -- conference alignments, bowl lineups, schedules, etc. -- that could be used to create/play out an alternate history. If there were modders making roster sets and so forth, so much the better.

250. GGIAS (aka Poster Nutbag) Posted: January 07, 2016 at 10:40 PM (#5128870)

Bowl Bound College Football on Steam is the closest thing I could find. Not sure how customizable it is or what the mod support looks like. Hope it helps though!

251. Randy Jones

Posted: January 08, 2016 at 09:53 AM (#5129031)

One caveat is I am on east coast and haven't really ever tried the US-West servers.

I am on the east coast also and have not had any issues playing on US-West servers.

252. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: January 08, 2016 at 09:58 AM (#5129038)

I got Rocket League and will be trying it out tonight. Y'all know where to look if you're ready to Party With Nixon.

253. Maxwn Posted: January 15, 2016 at 09:21 PM (#5135375)

Let me know if anyone wants to play a little rocket league tonight. I'll be around most of the night i think.

254. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: January 15, 2016 at 10:25 PM (#5135403)

Bowl Bound College Football on Steam is the closest thing I could find. Not sure how customizable it is or what the mod support looks like. Hope it helps though!

I have a love hate relationship with that game. It's not nearly in depth as OOTP or FM but it has the fun factor. Recruiting is a blast. That said, it's buggy as #### and messes with your computer requiring a full reboot when it locks up. Hard to recommend it but I have put over 200 hours into it.

255. Random Transaction Generator Posted: January 18, 2016 at 01:10 PM (#5136892)

Hard to recommend it but I have put over 200 hours into it.

In the world of PC gaming, we've all been there with one game or another...

256. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: January 18, 2016 at 01:16 PM (#5136897)

Rocket League is pretty damn fun, thanks to Maxwn for tolerating my clumsy efforts. I've never been a driving game guy, and to compound the indignity I'm not particularly adroit with a gamepad, but the game itself is solid and heaps of fun.

257. The Good Face Posted: January 18, 2016 at 01:32 PM (#5136906)

Dragon's Dogma is finally available for PC and if you don't buy it and love it, you are wrong and bad.

Seriously though, it's probably the best action RPG I've played; easy and fun to get into, but with tremendous depth and some truly innovative and cool mechanics (the Pawn system). I guess the best way to describe the gameplay would be similar to the Dark Souls series, but not designed for masochists. Like a lot of Japanese games (it's NOT a JRPG btw) it's not afraid to pose significant challenges to the player, has some clunky interface issues, and definitely leans more on the side of "figure it out yourself" over hand-holding. Whatever, if you want to fight monsters and collect loot via outstanding action gameplay, but don't want to play the Dark Souls series (or just need a change from it), buy it. $30 on Steam.

258. zack Posted: January 18, 2016 at 01:49 PM (#5136916)

Dragon's Dogma is finally available for PC and if you don't buy it and love it, you are wrong and bad.

I'm a mild ophidiophobic so if everyone could stop posting pictures of that giant snake I would be much obliged. I will not be playing it.

259. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: January 18, 2016 at 01:55 PM (#5136921)

I finally started a real dynasty (fantasy draft fictional MLB standard setup) in OOTP 16 and in year six I'm starting to feel like Billy Beane: my ish does not work in the playoffs. Haven't even been to a WS yet despite winning over 93 games five years in a row (first year my guys did this awesome tank job where we pulled the #5 draft pick and then won 18 of the last 21 to make the playoffs with 87 wins after sucking most of the year) and having the best team in MLB for a couple of those.

That #5 pick turned into this Youkilus Gordon hybrid who sports a career 285/405/390 batting line with elite defense in LF. Gotta credit myself with that one my scout wanted the HS pitcher I went with the productive college outfielder that ended up fast tracked to the bigs -- he played 2 full seasons in the minors, one in A and then split between AA/AAA and then was up with my club for the playoffs in his 2nd season and never looked back. He's been worth about 4 WAR a year and is just now entering his age 28 season.

It's fun but the trading with the AI seems broken to me. I've read on OOTP forums about adjusting it but the default settings are awful. You can't trade any solid regular, even ARB eligible, for anything! The only deal the AI ever offers me are their overpriced 35 year old in massive decline for my studs in their prime. And usually they want me to chip in a "B" prospect to boot!

Going to try some of the recs on the OOTP forums and change the trade settings so the AI values prospects more see if that helps.

260. Chicago Joe

Posted: January 18, 2016 at 03:13 PM (#5136972)

So, picked up Football Manager 16, and....I can't figure out how to play effectively! Do pretty well with transfers, but my tactical knowledge is nowhere near high enough. Does anyone know of a good guide which could get me out of midtable purgatory? Really need to figure out how to design tactics and choose formation.

261. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: January 18, 2016 at 04:00 PM (#5137036)

So, picked up Football Manager 16, and....I can't figure out how to play effectively! Do pretty well with transfers, but my tactical knowledge is nowhere near high enough. Does anyone know of a good guide which could get me out of midtable purgatory? Really need to figure out how to design tactics and choose formation.

Try this.

Having stud players is key but so if having the right tactics for your bunch. Obviously "total football" is the goal but at least in FM 13 unless you had a world class squad asking your defense to play out of the back and get up field was just a recipe for a lot of 5-1 defeats. Watch the player ratings and match stats they can help tell you who is and isn't performing.

262. hokieneer Posted: January 18, 2016 at 04:37 PM (#5137064)

Dragon's Dogma is finally available for PC and if you don't buy it and love it, you are wrong and bad.

Seriously though, it's probably the best action RPG I've played; easy and fun to get into, but with tremendous depth and some truly innovative and cool mechanics (the Pawn system). I guess the best way to describe the gameplay would be similar to the Dark Souls series, but not designed for masochists. Like a lot of Japanese games (it's NOT a JRPG btw) it's not afraid to pose significant challenges to the player, has some clunky interface issues, and definitely leans more on the side of "figure it out yourself" over hand-holding. Whatever, if you want to fight monsters and collect loot via outstanding action gameplay, but don't want to play the Dark Souls series (or just need a change from it), buy it. $30 on Steam.

I played it at launch on PS3, and it's one of my favorite 2-3 games from that gen.

I love action games: Ninja Gaiden, DMC, Dark Souls, even simpler ones like GoW are fun in small doses. Yet I always want more out of those games (sans Dark/Demon souls). I want more character building, customization, narration, and RPG choices. I figure out that's why I gravitate to POE and Diablo clones. I can put up with the click fest much easier than I can the clunky game play in say Elder Scrolls.

With Dragon's Dogma, I don't have to choose the lesser of evils. It has top flight Capcom combat, some of the faster classes actually feel like DMC, mixed with a scaled down and streamlined Bethseda-like world and game. Character building, party composition, crafting, looting, exploration, resource gathering, story progression, etc; are all there wrapped up in this world that's inhabited by giant beasts that you have to take down with a completely free and robust combat system.

It's an amazing hybrid that combines the best elements from a lot of different styles/games/genres. It has elements from DMC, Resident Evil, SotC, Skyrim, and Dark Souls. It has some warts: UI is beyond awful, cut scenes were very boring, no fast travel, and it gets really easy towards the end. The expansion takes care of the last 2 problems. The Dark Arisen expansion feels thematically like a faster paced dark souls and is 1000x harder than the vanilla DD game.

So please buy the game so Capcom will see there is a demand for a game like this.

263. The Good Face Posted: January 18, 2016 at 04:53 PM (#5137074)

With Dragon's Dogma, I don't have to choose the lesser of evils. It has top flight Capcom combat, some of the faster classes actually feel like DMC, mixed with a scaled down and streamlined Bethseda-like world and game. Character building, party composition, crafting, looting, exploration, resource gathering, story progression, etc; are all there wrapped up in this world that's inhabited by giant beasts that you have to take down with a completely free and robust combat system.

Yep. The scope of the mechanics and possibility for emergent gameplay really make for an engaging experience.

It's an amazing hybrid that combines the best elements from a lot of different styles/games/genres. It has elements from DMC, Resident Evil, SotC, Skyrim, and Dark Souls. It has some warts: UI is beyond awful, cut scenes were very boring, no fast travel, and it gets really easy towards the end. The expansion takes care of the last 2 problems. The Dark Arisen expansion feels thematically like a faster paced dark souls and is 1000x harder than the vanilla DD game.

So please buy the game so Capcom will see there is a demand for a game like this.

The nice thing about the Steam release is you get the expansion for your $30, so many of those warts won't ever show up (except the UI, it's pretty bad). Anyway, I'd LOVE to see a sequel. The original still looks pretty good for being ~4 years old, but a sequel with a few improvements and a spiffier engine would get $60 out of me in a heartbeat.

264. Lance Reddick! Lance him! Posted: January 18, 2016 at 05:25 PM (#5137092)

Bowl Bound College Football on Steam is the closest thing I could find. Not sure how customizable it is or what the mod support looks like. Hope it helps though!

Appreciate the effort.

I have a love hate relationship with that game. It's not nearly in depth as OOTP or FM but it has the fun factor. Recruiting is a blast. That said, it's buggy as #### and messes with your computer requiring a full reboot when it locks up. Hard to recommend it but I have put over 200 hours into it.

What, specifically, is the level of depth? I read the manual, and it's really just an idiot's guide to game play ("You want your guards to be over 300 pounds and have good ratings as run blockers") that tells nothing about the features.

I don't need a million options, but I want to be able to go back decades and control how conference alignments evolve (save the SWC, send Penn State to the Big East, etc.), choose the number of bowl games and their tie-ins (I outlined a plan for cutting back from 40 to 23 in the Bowl Spectacular thread), and never implement a Bowl Coalition/Alliance/Championship Series or playoff, in the same way I can pretend interleague play and wild cards do not and never did exist.

265. Scott Lange Posted: January 18, 2016 at 06:35 PM (#5137143)

I've been trying to find some decent advice on buying a new desktop PC with little success, and even though I'm not doing any significant gaming these days, it just occurred to me that this thread might be a decent place to turn. 90+% of my use is web apps with a bunch of Chrome tabs open. The rest is basic productivity software (MS Office) and simple games with minimal requirements. My current computer (running Windows Vista, if that tells you anything) has a tendency to randomly choke when I have more than a tab or two open.

I would like to buy a new computer than can handle dozens of open tabs and boot and swap tabs as fast as possible. (I've heard the legends that say such things are possible). From what I've read, it seems like having an SSD is a major key to getting that sort of responsiveness. Do y'all think this PC from Newegg would fit the bill? Or do you see any obvious drawbacks to it? Or can you recommend something else? Or should I just do all my work on my phone and shut up?

Any advice anyone can offer would be much appreciated!

266. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: January 18, 2016 at 06:42 PM (#5137146)

RAM. Lotsa RAM. 16GB of RAM.

267. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: January 18, 2016 at 07:01 PM (#5137154)

268. hokieneer Posted: January 18, 2016 at 09:32 PM (#5137197)

The nice thing about the Steam release is you get the expansion for your $30, so many of those warts won't ever show up (except the UI, it's pretty bad). Anyway, I'd LOVE to see a sequel. The original still looks pretty good for being ~4 years old, but a sequel with a few improvements and a spiffier engine would get $60 out of me in a heartbeat.

That's a good deal. I played the vanilla at launch by renting it from blockbuster (wow game is old). It was several years later I tried the expansion when it was free on PS+. Walking into that dungeon expansion, with my old character, after not playing the game for 2+ years was brutal. I never did get the hang of it, just got beat down over and over till I lost interest. I'm more than happy to start a new PC character and enjoy the entire game at once, with little FPS drops and more detailed graphics.

There is a sequel, kind of. For some reason the sequel was made into a fully-fledged F2PMMO and only released in JP.

269. Szym Posted: January 19, 2016 at 02:15 AM (#5137275)

Don't buy a prebuilt PC. Buy parts (we'll help you optimize that, the Digital Dandy is always particularly helpful in this area!) and pay someone you know who knows hardware to put it together for you. You'll get much better value for your money that way. The specs may look all right, but sellers of prebuilt PCs almost always use cheap (which often translates to unreliable) parts.

Build, build, build!

As Zeth notes, pre-builts tend to use awkward cases, sub-standard power supplies, limited motherboards, and generally cut corners everywhere. And no bloatware!

If you're looking at basic productivity and just simple games, you can save some dough, something like this would work:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($183.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($45.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.37 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill FBM-05 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive ($12.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($87.95 @ OutletPC)
Total: $493.05
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-19 02:14 EST-0500

Now, if you wanted to be doing higher gaming, you'd want go with a different, beefier, config - this is for a light, productivity rig.

270. Scott Lange Posted: January 19, 2016 at 08:05 AM (#5137295)

Thank you, YR, Zeth, and DJS- this is really helpful. Its fascinating how I feel like I've already had every discussion/argument there is to have about baseball after spending ~15 years on this site, but oddly its my #1 place to read thoughtful comments about football, basketball, and now, tech support.

So anyway, I had dismissed the idea of building it because I don't have the skills (or the time to learn them), but someone else pointed out a company called Microcenter that has a store near me, and apparently will build your computer for $130, which would be fine I think. Do they do a decent job? I do have one friend who allegedly knows how to build computers, but my wife's laptop has never recovered from the last time he helped me out with a computer, so I'm reluctant to get him involved!

As for the config, what I'm looking for is really a "beefy productivity" rig. Maybe that's as simple as a "beefy gaming rig" minus the graphics card? Or should I perhaps go with #269 but with 16 GB RAM? I'm (very) open to suggestion...

Thanks again!

271. zack Posted: January 19, 2016 at 09:11 AM (#5137318)

I'm not suggesting that you do because it would probably be stressful to you, but if you can play with legos you can build a PC. It's almost entirely a matter of pushing connector A into slot/hole/plug A, all or nearly all of which can only possibly fit in one direction and are obvious.

The only really tricky or dangerous part is making sure the CPU has the right amount of thermal paste and good contact with the cooler.

I traditionally bought my PC parts from mwave.com, because they will install the the motherboard into the case, the powersupply and the CPU+Cooler for you for very little charge, and are competitive with newegg for component prices. It limits your selection a small amount, but they've always had enough for me.

272. zack Posted: January 19, 2016 at 09:13 AM (#5137321)

If you're looking at basic productivity and just simple games, you can save some dough, something like this would work:

My parents asked me to put together a new box for them, I think that might be a good starting point. Is micro-atx considered to be full-featured these days?

273. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: January 19, 2016 at 09:32 AM (#5137327)

$130 to assemble a PC is a ripoff. For anyone who knows what they're doing it takes a half hour. Just find a local young person who's into computers and pay them like $30 and a pizza to put it together for you--that's still a great hourly rate for as long as it takes.

Also, to pick a nit with the Digital Dandy's build, I'd highly recommend spending an extra $75 or so on a bigger case and full sized motherboard, unless desk/floor space is a serious problem for you. Micro cases and boards are the work of Satan.

Also also, we've discussed it before in this thread and I won't rehash, but personally I hate Win10 on a PC and would rather, er, acquire a copy of Win7. You may not care as much.

274. The Good Face Posted: January 19, 2016 at 09:51 AM (#5137342)

That's a good deal. I played the vanilla at launch by renting it from blockbuster (wow game is old). It was several years later I tried the expansion when it was free on PS+. Walking into that dungeon expansion, with my old character, after not playing the game for 2+ years was brutal. I never did get the hang of it, just got beat down over and over till I lost interest. I'm more than happy to start a new PC character and enjoy the entire game at once, with little FPS drops and more detailed graphics.

I'm still a relative noob in the game, getting by on button mashing and the help of my pawns, but from what I've seen and read, the dungeon expansion (Bitterblack Isle) is pretty hardcore, meant for characters who are both well geared/skilled out and players who have respectable skills with the combat system. I'm just scratching the surface of the pawn system, but based on my experiences, having pawns with the right inclinations can also make a huge difference. I can vouch that the graphics on PC look very good, especially for the game's age, and there are absolutely no framerate drops (I have a reasonably stout gaming PC, but nothing amazing).

There is a sequel, kind of. For some reason the sequel was made into a fully-fledged F2PMMO and only released in JP.

Yeah. Apparently the developer is talking about the possibility of a true sequel, so I wouldn't give up hope just yet. Buying the PC version can only help, so pick it up and tell your friends!

275. Szym Posted: January 19, 2016 at 10:27 AM (#5137384)

Also, to pick a nit with the Digital Dandy's build, I'd highly recommend spending an extra $75 or so on a bigger case and full sized motherboard, unless desk/floor space is a serious problem for you. Micro cases and boards are the work of Satan.

I would too, but I assumed that Scott had chosen a small form factor pre-built for a purpose! Obviously can do better list when Scott narrows down some details.

276. Scott Lange Posted: January 19, 2016 at 10:33 AM (#5137389)

If building is truly that easy- easier, perhaps, than fixing the problems with my wife's laptop- maybe I'll buy my friend dinner and ask him to help.

Desk/floor space is not an issue. I just pulled that Newegg prebuilt machine out based on trying to find something with a good sized SSD.

I'd probably spring for a 250 GB SSD rather than a 120, and I'd go to 16 GB RAM if you think it makes sense. Let me know any other details I can pin down!

277. Randy Jones

Posted: January 19, 2016 at 10:38 AM (#5137396)

If building is truly that easy- easier, perhaps, than fixing the problems with my wife's laptop- maybe I'll buy my friend dinner and ask him to help.

Building a PC is in fact very easy. As zack said, the most difficult part is applying thermal paste, but if you buy a retail boxed processor(such as the one Dan linked), they come with the thermal paste already applied to the HSF and you just have to peal off the sticker covering it. Also, you can find many youtube videos showing how to place the various components which are a huge help if you have never built a PC before.

278. Dan The Mediocre is one of "the rest" Posted: January 19, 2016 at 10:59 AM (#5137429)

My first time assembling a computer took 2 hours, but I was also extra paranoid so the next time will take half the time. If you can install ram or a hard drive, you can do the whole thing.

I wouldn't suggest against 16GB of RAM unless you're doing something with very large numbers of calculations, like music and video editing. I use 8GB and do some hardcore gaming and I never have all of my RAM in use. I would also go with a small SSD for your OS and priority items and a larger HD for everything else.

279. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: January 19, 2016 at 11:11 AM (#5137445)

My SSD is 120GB and I have a fair number of games installed on it (all my data and other programs are on a hard drive) and I'm about out of space and need to get a bigger one, for what it's worth.

I think if you can afford to upgrade and you're *not* playing modern games or doing video editing, a faster processor is probably a better value than more RAM. And it's always a very simple matter to toss in some more RAM later if you change your mind.

280. Szym Posted: January 19, 2016 at 11:55 AM (#5137497)

If building is truly that easy- easier, perhaps, than fixing the problems with my wife's laptop- maybe I'll buy my friend dinner and ask him to help.

Laptops are a damn pain. I build PCs and fix PCs for myself and friends. I'm pissed as #### if I have the open up my laptop for something. Tinkering in a PC is like Lego. Tinkering inside a laptop is like Lego if all the parts were non-standard, only fit one certain way, some of the pieces were glued together permanently, and you have the fine motor dexterity of a brain surgeon.

281. Random Transaction Generator Posted: January 19, 2016 at 11:58 AM (#5137500)

I have a 500Gb SSD and I'd HIGHLY recommend it.

The boot up times are insane, and I have all my applications and high end Steam games installed on it.
The less played/powerful Steam games (and images/videos/documents) are installed on one of my HDD.

I also have 16Gb of RAM, but then it was on sale (as was the SSD) and I could swing it.
I'm not sure I've come close to maxing out the RAM yet, but it's nice to have some buffer.

I didn't assemble my own PC as I have a friend who does this sort of thing for a living. I ordered the parts from various sources, and just had them delivered to his place.
He was happy to assemble it and "stress test" it for the rest of the week before I picked it up.
(He was sad to let go of it after playing Just Cause 3 on it.)

282. Scott Lange Posted: January 19, 2016 at 12:00 PM (#5137503)

Laptops are a damn pain.

I should be clear: the problem with my wife's laptop wasn't hardware, or if it was, the attempted fix wasn't. He basically just copied all her files to an external drive, reinstalled Windows, fiddled with drivers, did some other miscellaneous things maybe, and brought the files back. However, it A) didn't fix the performance issues and B) some of her files were lost in the back-and-forth. So, bottom line, no particular reason to think he's hopeless when it comes to building hardware.

283. Szym Posted: January 19, 2016 at 07:06 PM (#5137965)

Scott, since you're near a Microcenter, you can save even more money - Microcenter usually has these ridiculous CPU/motherboard combos that are *way* cheaper than anything else but they're usually in-store only.

Just let us know your budget and any other requirements (and when you want to build!) and I'm sure we can put an awesome build list together for you.

284. Scott Lange Posted: January 20, 2016 at 08:25 AM (#5138133)

OK, I talked to my friend, and we're going to build it together, so, let's do this!

Criteria: Blazing fast performance with many Chrome tabs, basic productivity software (MS Office), streaming video.
Budget: $500-$900 (flexible- you can give me multiple options if you want)
Storage: 250ish SSD
OS: Windows 10 probably
Case Size: Any

The Microcenter "near me" is like 30 minutes away, so don't send me there unless its a significant (~$40) cost savings.

Finally, two related questions. Will I be able to play older games (i.e., Civilization 4) without a video card, albeit perhaps with so-so performance? And if I wanted to play a new game with reasonable performance (i.e., if everyone involved with Civ 5 is hanged or sent to Supermax, and then they come out with Civ 6), would it be as simple as buying and plugging in a video card to this machine?)

285. Greg K Posted: January 20, 2016 at 09:22 AM (#5138170)

If building is truly that easy- easier, perhaps, than fixing the problems with my wife's laptop- maybe I'll buy my friend dinner and ask him to help.

Late to the party here, but I built a computer a couple years ago having zero experience in the matter...it was surprisingly easy (aside from one snag where I plugged a cord in backwards somehow). I think you'll be surprised at how simple the whole thing is. Though it'll probably make the whole experience much less anxious if you have someone who knows what they're doing with you. The one part of my build that could have benefited from an experienced hand was cable management. I think I did alright in the end - if not achieving maximum efficiency - but there was a lot of experimentation of bunching wires here and there.

286. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: January 20, 2016 at 09:41 AM (#5138188)

You can play Civ 5 on a cheap (like $~60) video card, even Civ 5 is four years old now, much less Civ 4 which can easily be run on a modern laptop. The Civ games are not graphics intensive.

If you wake up tomorrow and decide you want to play Fallout 4 on max settings, however, you'll need a beefy video card and a motherboard and PSU that can support it, which means you would need to spend more on your hardware now in order to leave yourself with that option. If you're content with web browsing and playing old games, you can spend significantly less on your hardware.

287. zack Posted: January 20, 2016 at 09:58 AM (#5138202)

Future-proofing for a dedicated GPU wouldn't be that expensive, I don't think. The power supply is going to be the biggest requirement, and even the nicest PSUs aren't that much more. I would just make sure the motherboard has the expected peripheral slot for current GPUs and leave the power supply upgrade for later (since a more powerful power supply...draws more power).

I was also under the impression that the on-chip graphics in intel CPUs was pretty good and more than fine for basic 3D stuff, but I may be mistaken.

288. The Good Face Posted: January 20, 2016 at 10:03 AM (#5138207)

Late to the party here, but I built a computer a couple years ago having zero experience in the matter...it was surprisingly easy (aside from one snag where I plugged a cord in backwards somehow). I think you'll be surprised at how simple the whole thing is. Though it'll probably make the whole experience much less anxious if you have someone who knows what they're doing with you. The one part of my build that could have benefited from an experienced hand was cable management. I think I did alright in the end - if not achieving maximum efficiency - but there was a lot of experimentation of bunching wires here and there.

Pretty much. If you take your time and have an adequate workspace and lighting, it's really pretty easy. Good cable management is something of an acquired skill, but not a super important one unless you're obsessed with looks or are running a heavily overclocked, air cooled system.

289. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: January 20, 2016 at 10:21 AM (#5138225)

Future-proofing for a dedicated GPU wouldn't be that expensive, I don't think.

New chipsets are coming out this spring I think, I'd wait for that to take advantage of the downward pressure it will put on the current generation. That's when I'm waiting to pounce, probably on an R9 390x.

290. Szym Posted: January 20, 2016 at 10:35 AM (#5138236)

PCPartPicker is down at the moment, but I'll make a build with some GPU flexibility later on (it's the best site for this kind of thing)

291. hokieneer Posted: January 20, 2016 at 11:14 AM (#5138273)

While we're talking about building, I'm looking for some opinions on upgrades to my rig. Here is my current setup and use cases. My Budget is $400-$600 depending on how much I should be replacing

I built my tower ~6 years ago with a CM HAF 922 case, and a OCZ StealthXStream 700W PSU. Other than the PSU not being modular, I see no reason to upgrade either of those pieces.

The 2 biggest things I need to upgrade are my GPU and RAM. My GPU is a ASUS 5770. I game on my PC, but I usually stick to low graphically intensive games (games like Path of Exile, Darkest Dungeon, city Skylines, etc). I can currently play older games (like Borderlands 2 or FO:NV), around 30 FPS, but I do experience drops. I'd like to be able to play those games (along with Dragon's Dogma type of game) flawlessly, and even be able to play something new like FO4 at reasonable settings.

I currently have 2x4GB G-SKill RAM, and I'll probably just buy another 2x4GB pack to double it to 16GB.

I'm debating upgrading my Mobo and/or CPU. Here are links to those: mobo, CPU. I'm not seeing too much issues either in gaming or when using my PC professionally with my CPU, but I've always had a time with my Mobo. I'm not sure what it is, but I can't seem to get my Mobo to intelligently or efficiently power my big CM case fans. Some of the fans run full blast, and then the top exhaust fan never spins above like 100 RPM. I've tried re wiring and tweaking all kinds of bios stuff, but never can get the constant airflow I want in it. I was never able to even minimally OC my GPU without it overheating. So any suggestions there, without getting a new Mobo, would be appreciated.

Only other issue is software/OS related. I had to replace my original SSD a year or so ago because it failed. I went with a fresh install of windows on it. I made the mistake of not unplugging my 750GB HHD, so now part of the system/boot info is scattered on both my OS SSD and my data HHD. Only real problem is it's preventing me from doing a system image of my OS drive for backup purposes, as windows wants to image both drives because of the split info. I read somethings online that you can repair that using windows DVD, but the effectiveness is very hit or miss. I don't really want to go through the work, but I suppose I could do another fresh windows install, then get a new HDD and move my data over to it, and format my original 750GB. Anyone have any suggestions to correct this OS/install issue?

292. formerly dp Posted: January 20, 2016 at 11:26 AM (#5138290)

FireAxis Bundle up on the Humble store. $15 for Civ: BE, III, IV, and V, plus Pirates and X-Com.

For anyone interested, Valve has been doing a lot of work patching the Steam Link--it now has 5.1 audio support and much smoother video streaming. Running F4 from my desktop and I get 60 fps pretty consistently with no noticeable input lag. The Steam Controller still takes a back seat to the 360/One/PS4 controller, but they've provided a ton of fixes there too. Running wired via PowerLine helped a lot.

I'd second/third/fourth the recommendation for a large-ish SSD. 480-500 GB are routinely in the $120 range, and should provide more than enough headroom for game installs. I added a 480 to my system and opted to just keep the 160 GB for my OS and programs, leaving the new drive exclusively for gaming.

293. Greg K Posted: January 20, 2016 at 11:47 AM (#5138321)

FireAxis Bundle up on the Humble store. $15 for Civ: BE, III, IV, and V, plus Pirates and X-Com.

That's a pretty great deal (really, Civ 5 and X-Com by themselves is great for $15). I'd certainly never get Civ 5 for full price, it seems to go on sale every 5 days on Steam. I'd make sure I'm getting the expansion packs in any Civ 5 purchase too...they are quite often included and are drastic improvements on the vanilla.

294. DEF picks the pretty horsies Posted: January 20, 2016 at 11:59 AM (#5138333)

I'll second the recommendation for the Steam Link - I've been very happy with it. Make sure you can have a wired network connection, though, especially if you play graphics-intensive games. I had a powerline adapter, but it kept tripping the breakers when I used the Steam Link, so I upgraded to a MOCA adapter, and everything flies now.

295. zack Posted: January 20, 2016 at 12:10 PM (#5138344)

I'd make sure I'm getting the expansion packs in any Civ 5 purchase too...they are quite often included and are drastic improvements on the vanilla.

The expansions (or at least one of them) will probably be the additional games, so I'd wait till next week to buy the bundle. The price won't go up very much I bet.

296. formerly dp Posted: January 20, 2016 at 12:14 PM (#5138350)

I had a powerline adapter, but it kept tripping the breakers when I used the Steam Link, so I upgraded to a MOCA adapter, and everything flies now.

My advice for PowerLine is to buy from somewhere with a good return policy and test. It works fine with my setup--it didn't at first, but that was more on the Link than on the PowerLine. I haven't tested wireless since getting my new router, but I'd bet that the Link works well on a strong 5 ghz connection too. It was a mess in the early weeks, but to their credit Valve has been rolling out updates for it a couple of times a week. 5.1 audio was a big step up too and the rollout has been pretty smooth.

297. formerly dp Posted: January 20, 2016 at 12:22 PM (#5138360)

The expansions (or at least one of them) will probably be the additional games, so I'd wait till next week to buy the bundle. The price won't go up very much I bet.

You get the added games regardless of when you purchase the bundle--and I think the $15 is fixed (BTA for the second tier will probably tick up slightly).

298. zack Posted: January 20, 2016 at 12:26 PM (#5138365)

You get the added games regardless of when you purchase the bundle--and I think the $15 is fixed (BTA for the second tier will probably tick up slightly).

Yes but knowing whether or not the expansions are included would influence my decision to purchase it. CivV is one of my favorite games, but it is so much better with both expansions, and the way the sales work buying the expansions separately will be (relatively) expensive.

I wouldn't buy the top tier because Civ:BE is not a good game. The Pirates! remake is also one of my favorite games.

299. Szym Posted: January 20, 2016 at 12:35 PM (#5138380)

The 2 biggest things I need to upgrade are my GPU and RAM. My GPU is a ASUS 5770. I game on my PC, but I usually stick to low graphically intensive games (games like Path of Exile, Darkest Dungeon, city Skylines, etc). I can currently play older games (like Borderlands 2 or FO:NV), around 30 FPS, but I do experience drops. I'd like to be able to play those games (along with Dragon's Dogma type of game) flawlessly, and even be able to play something new like FO4 at reasonable settings.

I currently have 2x4GB G-SKill RAM, and I'll probably just buy another 2x4GB pack to double it to 16GB.

You don't really even *need* to add more RAM unless you're regularly running out. On gaming builds under $1000 or so, 8 GB is still the fairly standard recommendation (past that point, when you get more diminishing returns on other stuff, 16 GB jumps into the equation)

I'd probably recommend an i5 with say a GTX 960/R9 380 or 380X. You can go higher -- the 970 and 290 are terrific GPUs -- but if you're mostly playing simpler games, you won't get the full benefit of the latter two GPUs (and they can all play FO4 well, just not ultra-everything at 1080p).

If you're into a platform upgrade, I'd recommend an i5. Don't necessarily have to go Skylake if you want to keep your current RAM. CPU improvements in recent years are mainly incremental and Sandy Bridge CPUs are still very credible. So you wouldn't really lose anything by going Haswell instead of Skylake.

Not really any recommendable AMD platforms here above the 9x5 blacks. AMD's FX CPUs never really lived up to their hopes and they've been focusing mostly on the low-end/APU market. Their overdue new family, Zen, is supposed to be out later this year, but it's probably not worth *waiting* for given how far they've fallen behind in this market segment.

300. DEF picks the pretty horsies Posted: January 20, 2016 at 12:36 PM (#5138382)

My advice for PowerLine is to buy from somewhere with a good return policy and test. It works fine with my setup--it didn't at first, but that was more on the Link than on the PowerLine. I haven't tested wireless since getting my new router, but I'd bet that the Link works well on a strong 5 ghz connection too. It was a mess in the early weeks, but to their credit Valve has been rolling out updates for it a couple of times a week. 5.1 audio was a big step up too and the rollout has been pretty smooth.

I haven't tried wireless recently, but at least initially the Link did not work well on a strong 5 ghz connection. I had the powerline network in place for a couple of years, and it worked well with everything (Xbox, PS3, Fire TV box, Smart TV), but the MOCA adapters are even better (especially since when we finished our basement I had coax put in basically every room in the house).

I haven't tried the Steam Controller yet - I've got 2 wireless Xbox controllers and a wireless keyboard (the Logitech with the track pad) connected to the Link, and that setup has worked for basically every game in my library. I'd like to replace the keyboard with something like the (theoretical) Razer Turret, but haven't found a keyboard/mouse combo that really works in the living room yet.

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Thursday, October 01, 2015

OT Gaming: October 2015

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