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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801. bestergonomicgamingchair.com Posted: July 19, 2018 at 09:12 PM (#5712874)

flop

802. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: July 19, 2018 at 11:39 PM (#5712977)

Oh boy, just dropped $18 on some DLC, two of the three so called "must have" ones, "Rights of Man" and "Common Sense". Bought them on "green light gaming" and saved over 60% off the absurd prices Paradox is charging. EU4 now has me dreaming about the game, which is not good for my productivity at work or my social life. Got a dinner after work tonight with some family in town and all I can think about is my DLC, yikes.

There are three or four games I've played in the last ten years that had this kind of effect on me, where I became so engrossed it actually began to interfere with my sleep and family life to the point I had to pretty much cut myself off for a while: Civilization (4 and 5 too), Crusader Kings II, and (most recently) Football Manager.

I tried EU4 and V2 but couldn't really get into either one.

This is what's holding me back from buying Witcher 3--everything I've heard about it leads me to believe doing so might end my career, marriage, or both.

803. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: July 20, 2018 at 02:35 PM (#5713205)

Civilization (4 and 5 too), Crusader Kings II, and (most recently) Football Manager.

I tried EU4 and V2 but couldn't really get into either one.

Yea I could not get into CK2 at all but I like V2 and obviously EU4 now. Had a brief fling with Stellaris. FM and Civ 4 are both games I've sunk over 500 hours into tho. I love the simple and yet complex micromanaging that Civ 4 allows but compared to EU4 the games usually all play out in the same way until you get past Prince level (where I stopped). I won the space race on Prince in a marathon game and that was good enough.

One thing I'm realizing with EU4 is that thereis a lot of random ass #### that can derail a game (and makes each game unique) and you gotta just keep pushing forward. Sometimes you just gotta let the rebels take a couple provinces, wait for your mercs to show up, and then crush them a few years later.

Something really cool happened in my last game I inherited a shitload of provinces east of France, playing as Castille. I'm not even sure how some ruler died and I didn't think I had any inheritance rights but it all turned over to Castille. Noice. And I renounced my useless (literally, his bonuses were 0,0,0) heir, and then my union with France produced a 5,3,3 heir. Oh yea. I'm currently allied with France and Tunis. France and I have by far the biggest armies in Europe. Only the Ottomans have bigger in the known world, but they are currently fighting the Mamluks and as of now aren't threatening us. Porugual is dead to me after they allied England and Moroco (wtf?) and France and Aragon and I had to slap them down.

I know all this is boring as #### but it's fun to type it out, it's getting me excited to pick up where I left off the other night.

I got a long weekend of hiking and BBQs but will def play some tonight and see how far I can get. I haven't even played a game much past 1510 yet.

804. jacksone (AKA It's OK...) Posted: July 20, 2018 at 03:04 PM (#5713223)

Someone really cool happened in my last game I inherited a shitload of provinces east of France, playing as Castille. I'm not even sure how some ruler died and I didn't think I had any inheritance rights but it all turned over to Castille. Noice. And I renounced my useless (literally, his bonuses were 0,0,0) heir, and then my union with France produced a 5,3,3 heir. Oh yea.

The Burgundian Succession crisis. If the king of Burgundy dies without an heir (and I believe both are weighted to die) France, Castile, Austria, HRE, all have chances at their land. There are whole strategies built around grabbing those lands. All the options are hard coded, so if you go through the event chains you can see exactly what it takes for each option.

There are way more opportunities for fun things like this to happen in EUIV than CIV, but the larger "easier" nations can fall into very similar CIV-like end game slogs where 'winning' is a foregone conclusion. The early games tend to vary a good amount, but eventually you tend to roll over people and then it's just figuring out how to take out the one or two countries that managed to expand as well (maybe France, Austria, Ottomans, Poland if they form Commonwealth, someone in India, etc)

805. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: July 20, 2018 at 03:22 PM (#5713233)

Sweet, thanks jacksone!

806. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: July 22, 2018 at 06:24 PM (#5713881)

I got ####### savages attacking me in the Dominican, I got Moroccan heavens rising up on the east African coast every 5 years and I got (a long with my buddy France) 2/3 of south central Europe risen up against us on the Eastern front. I'm heavily in debt and corruption is rising. It was a bad mistake to try and punish the Swiss for insulting me when I was already highly leveraged expanding elsewhere. Oh well.

I'm the 2nd ranked power (if a little ignorant) and holy #### this is a lot of fun.

807. Greg K Posted: July 23, 2018 at 07:06 AM (#5713944)

You're making me want to start an EU game, when I've already got Football Manager sucking the life out of me!

808. The Anthony Kennedy of BBTF (Scott) Posted: July 23, 2018 at 07:39 AM (#5713952)

My favorite ck/eu game I've played was as Khazars from the edge of the Caspian. They're iirc the only province to start Jewish, and they use the horselord mechanics. Say hello to Ghengis Cohen, Eastern Europe!

809. The Anthony Kennedy of BBTF (Scott) Posted: July 23, 2018 at 09:04 AM (#5713969)

Also, I grabbed Assassin's Creed Origins during the summer sale and I'm enjoying roaming around Ptolemaic Egypt and climbing on everything. I earned the "run away from hippos three times" achievement quickly, because those things are deadly if they get within range of you.

810. Dan The Mediocre is one of "the rest" Posted: July 23, 2018 at 09:38 AM (#5713985)

My favorite ck/eu game I've played was as Khazars from the edge of the Caspian. They're iirc the only province to start Jewish, and they use the horselord mechanics. Say hello to Ghengis Cohen, Eastern Europe!

Mine was a game as Castile where I went from almost being able to create Hispania to earning Rome Restored in the course of a single king. He was the spawn of Satan, which made it more interesting. And it turns out that having 3 women join you with martial scores of 51, 37, and 32 is going to make fighting wars a whole lot easier.

811. Zonk wants no amputees at his parade Posted: July 23, 2018 at 09:38 AM (#5713986)

Yea I could not get into CK2 at all but I like V2 and obviously EU4 now. Had a brief fling with Stellaris. FM and Civ 4 are both games I've sunk over 500 hours into tho. I love the simple and yet complex micromanaging that Civ 4 allows but compared to EU4 the games usually all play out in the same way until you get past Prince level (where I stopped). I won the space race on Prince in a marathon game and that was good enough.

Especially employing selected mods, and after hating on civ5 and probably not even giving it 20 hours total playtime - I'm ready to say that civ6 is OK.

It badly needs some RoM/C2C/etc total conversion mods (my big gripe is conflicts and certain aspects that break with different mod combinations) - and some game balancing - but the franchise has finally gotten back on track.

Another expansion and a few years for the modders to aggregate - and work on improving the AI - and I can see it finally back to prior heights.

I've put about 50 hours into a deity island plates game over the last 6 weeks or so - and while I had to employ some house rules to get it there (i.e., not smashing an AI that annoyed me whenever an AI annoys me, which is often), it's reached the renaissance and is a relatively competitive game. This isn't likely to continue - I've hit a snowball point and starting to separate - but it was fun for a while. The game really needs some dynamic throttles to deal with situations like this - it's far and away the biggest problem.

812. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: July 23, 2018 at 12:44 PM (#5714155)

Mine was a game as Castile where I went from almost being able to create Hispania to earning Rome Restored in the course of a single king. He was the spawn of Satan, which made it more interesting. And it turns out that having 3 women join you with martial scores of 51, 37, and 32 is going to make fighting wars a whole lot easier.

Damn, one area I need more practice and knowledge with is maxing out my monarch points. I popped an awesome heir only to have the little #### die before he even turned 15, the next one that birthed wasn't nearly as good.

According to what I've seen on Reddit (in their "AI did something" posts) something rather extraordinary happened in my current play-through -- Ottomans got completely destroyed. Not sure what happened to them one minute they were expanding into southern europe the next minute they got split in half and then by 1505 they were completely wiped.

Another expansion and a few years for the modders to aggregate - and work on improving the AI - and I can see it finally back to prior heights.

Thanks for the heads up on 6. I'll probably pick it up next time it's on sale.

813. Zonk wants no amputees at his parade Posted: July 23, 2018 at 12:56 PM (#5714167)

Thanks for the heads up on 6. I'll probably pick it up next time it's on sale.

The big trick is reorienting yourself to the costs... i.e., unlike IV - when you had a whole gaggle of builders with limitless life, I've come to like the idea of builder 'charges' and being more judicious with what I use them for. Ditto the elimination of stacks of doom - and generally learning to go lighter on unit builds and using them more cooperatively. Still a WIP - but I'm ever more certain that Civ has a very odd/even Saberhagian existence where the odd numbered entrants introduce new things that are not well done, working them out to something more feasible with the follow-up even numbered editions.

Which means I will predict that when Civ7 comes to pass in 2021 or so, it will suck.

814. Dan The Mediocre is one of "the rest" Posted: July 23, 2018 at 01:07 PM (#5714178)

Damn, one area I need more practice and knowledge with is maxing out my monarch points. I popped an awesome heir only to have the little #### die before he even turned 15, the next one that birthed wasn't nearly as good.

My game was CK2, so it works a bit different than EU4. There is an event chain known as Spawn of Satan where you have a kid is weird and has weird events. Once he turns 18, every few days someone between him and the monarch dies a mysterious death. Once he's next in line, the monarch dies and he is king. Soon after, there is a revolt against him for being the spawn of satan. Then you get a free army of 1500 with 3 commanders: Jezebel, Circe, and Morgana. They all have insanely high stats, can be any one of your councilors (for Catholic kingdoms, these can only be held by males except for Spymaster which can be your wife) and are entirely loyal to you. Because of an early event chain where you get a nanny that also has some crazy stats that has a 50% chance to kill herself (and can also be any councilor) you can theoretically have a council composed of all women.

Between my character's high stats, his councilors, the strong position he inherited, a weak claim on the Byzantine Empire from his mother, and a weak claim on France, he was able to rampage across Europe and Africa over 50 years and conquer all of the old Roman lands.

815. The Anthony Kennedy of BBTF (Scott) Posted: July 23, 2018 at 01:32 PM (#5714196)

The Spawn of Satan chain is one of my favorites. Of course, it doesn't stop your hyperpowered witches from getting murked by someone who wants their council spot and who got enough plot power to assassinate them. Or your demonspawn from getting caught in single combat by an opponent during a minor skirmish and getting stabbed through their black heart.

816. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: July 23, 2018 at 09:13 PM (#5714535)

I've come to love the "event happened" things in Paradox games. I hated them initially because well RNG but I feel after more experience in their games that usually the RNG favors the well prepared. The verisimilitude is real.

817. Slivers of Maranville descends into chaos (SdeB) Posted: July 24, 2018 at 01:47 AM (#5714674)

Yes, nothing more realistic than the son of Satan taking over medieval Europe.

818. TFTIO was writing C programs in the '90s Posted: July 24, 2018 at 11:29 AM (#5714828)

I put a bunch of parts together this weekend, trying to get a new machine up and running (for various not very good reasons), and the damn thing won't even power on. There is clearly power flowing from the (new) power supply into the (newish) motherboard, because the ethernet LED lights up, and an LED on one of the PCIe cards does as well; but the fans don't spin up. At first I thought it was the power switch on the case, or the CPU (it's not), but now I'm worried it's the actual motherboard, which would be a ####### drag. I have to make the time at some point to disassemble my working machine and this busted-ass one and see which actual part is bad. I hope that it's the power supply, because I really don't want to have to find an X99 motherboard to replace the one in there. I guess I could bail and just spend the cash on an 8700, but that's more money than just a new power supply.

All this so I can have my server running Linux full time so my wife can watch TV while I play games in Windows.

819. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: July 26, 2018 at 01:36 PM (#5716382)

There is clearly power flowing from the (new) power supply into the (newish) motherboard, because the ethernet LED lights up, and an LED on one of the PCIe cards does as well; but the fans don't spin up. At first I thought it was the power switch on the case, or the CPU (it's not), but now I'm worried it's the actual motherboard, which would be a ####### drag. I have to make the time at some point to disassemble my working machine and this busted-ass one and see which actual part is bad. I hope that it's the power supply, because I really don't want to have to find an X99 motherboard to replace the one in there. I guess I could bail and just spend the cash on an 8700, but that's more money than just a new power supply.

In my experience, given the symptoms you've described...it's not the power supply. At least not usually. Pickup a $20 PSU test on Amazon to confirm, a lot easier than buying a new mobo. Or, just install a known working PSU and just connect to the 24 and 12 pin connectors and see what happens. If it posts, awesome, if not, new mobo time.

Also, I'd recommend shorting the actual power pins (just use a flathead screwdriver) on the mobo in order to rule out any issue with the power button circuitry. Or, even easier, most high end boards now have a power button directly on them.

AMD is claiming a 30% IPC on Ryzen 2. Intel's new chips look like another mediocre improvement on Skylake. Intel's new i9 series is generating snarky takes online about how Intel is now the one throwing cores (thermal concerns be damned) at the problem, which of course was AMD's go to "engineering" for most of the last decade before Ryzen.

I'm more than happy with my i5-6600k (modest OC to 4.3ghz) but my next build might be AMD for the first time ever.

_________________________________

Was staring at the map very stoned last night on EU4 and contemplating the historical advantage England had via being an island. Fun times. Good way to learn (or relearn in middle age) geography.

820. TFTIO was writing C programs in the '90s Posted: July 26, 2018 at 02:04 PM (#5716406)

Yeah, I'm 90% sure it's the motherboard. This weekend I'll pull the parts and try to get it working. I need to stick to Intel because I, uh, "experiment" with running a Hackintosh; otherwise, I'd be on Threadripper for sure.

821. jacksone (AKA It's OK...) Posted: July 27, 2018 at 09:43 AM (#5716734)

Good way to learn (or relearn in middle age) geography.

Absolutely. I will happily guide my daughter to EU4 if she ever shows interest in computer games. Yeah, it's a game, yes it's staring at a computer screen, but it definitely teaches you a lot about geography, and the interplay of a Europe dominated world.

822. Greg K Posted: July 27, 2018 at 09:49 AM (#5716739)

Absolutely. I will happily guide my daughter to EU4 if she ever shows interest in computer games. Yeah, it's a game, yes it's staring at a computer screen, but it definitely teaches you a lot about geography, and the interplay of a Europe dominated world.

I think historical strategy games are actually a great way to learn about history (and even the philosophy of history). There's a growing academic literature on the topic. I think there's a guy somewhere in Ohio that teaches university history classes through video games.

823. Greg K Posted: July 27, 2018 at 09:56 AM (#5716745)

Was staring at the map very stoned last night on EU4 and contemplating the historical advantage England had via being an island. Fun times. Good way to learn (or relearn in middle age) geography.

It can play out in a lot of different ways.

After the printing press England's censorship regime was quite a bit more successful than most European nations. If you can smash up any unlicensed presses you have in your kingdom, and keep an eye out at your ports, you can be relatively effective. Not entirely effective of course, smuggling wasn't exactly difficult.

The comparison with France in the 17th century highlights some of the results. Richelieu knew he couldn't control the flow of information in France, with its de-centralized territories and extensive borders. So he got government into propaganda game, printing all sorts of attempts to sway public opinion. In England on the other hand, the Kings were relatively confident that suppressing presses was enough, and didn't engage with public opinion very much. Which was a contributing factor in the collapse of the monarchy. Charles I was one of the all-time worst Kings at communicating with his subjects, and many of his biggest mistakes were the result of mis-understandings between government and subject, or poorly articulated policy.

And that's not even getting into the commercial/military qualities of an island.

824. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: July 30, 2018 at 01:33 PM (#5718007)

I went to war with the HRE and I can't even keep track of what banners I'm supposed to be attacking. Wonder if that was a problem in real history. What a ####### amalgamation of red and white and purple and yellow crests. I tell ya what tho when they stack all their armies in a 50k death ball even France and I stand up and take notice.

For about 10 years I kept getting a notice "____ has joined a coalition against you" and then they attacked. I guess it pissed them off that I took a a few of their cores and smirked when they demanded them back.

825. TFTIO was writing C programs in the '90s Posted: August 07, 2018 at 08:39 AM (#5722163)

It was the motherboard. Dammit.

826. JJ1986 Posted: August 07, 2018 at 08:31 PM (#5722756)

Is the first Witcher a good game? I'm trying to play through the series because of the strong recommendations for the third one, but I'm having trouble getting into it. I like that your decisions are more complex than "good" on one side and "evil" on the other, but the gameplay seems like it's stuck between isometric RPGs and Action RPGs. The movement is clunky - either too fast or too slow and the strafing is really bad - you can't jump the slightest fence, and the combat is terrible, at least at the beginning of the game. You just keep clicking on a sword at the right time with almost no other ways to do things.

827. manchestermets Posted: August 08, 2018 at 08:43 AM (#5722945)

All this so I can have my server running Linux full time so my wife can watch TV while I play games in Windows.

Is this where I evangelise about Linux gaming? I don't know what games you play, but I rarely play arcade style games and it's rare that a game I want to play isn't available on Linux through Steam. I'm currently having a lot of fun playing Parkitect, as well as Football Manager 2017 (slightly less fun the other day when it crashed immediately after I'd reached the Champions League Final) and the original Cities In Motion.

828. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: August 08, 2018 at 09:09 AM (#5722960)

Is the first Witcher a good game?

Do you want a "yes" with an "if" or a "no" with a "but"?

829. JJ1986 Posted: August 08, 2018 at 09:27 AM (#5722968)

I'm probably going to play it anyway, so how about the "yes" answer?

830. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: August 08, 2018 at 10:00 AM (#5723005)

Yes if you're willing to put up with some really questionable design choices.

The weird combat system annoyed the hell out of me because you focus so intently on when to click that you end up missing some really neat combat animations for both Geralt and the monsters and the system as a whole isn't really intuitive. The map designs are pretty mediocre with lots of backtracking, especially in that swamp level.

It's a good introduction to the Witcher universe and the graphics are pretty nice given the age of the engine. The aspect of the game that got the most mainstream attention at the time ("What, a game based on a Polish IP from a studio nobody ever heard of had trouble getting press?"), the paramour trading cards and associated debauchery, is more fully implemented in the first game than in any subsequent one and the cards are actually really well-illustrated.

Witcher 2 is the game where the franchise really showed that it could become something special, but Witcher 1 (which I believe costs $2 during Steam sales) is worth slogging through for the lore and the recurring characters you'll meet for the first time.

831. The Good Face Posted: August 08, 2018 at 10:18 AM (#5723015)

Is the first Witcher a good game?

No. FWIW, Witcher 2 I found to be pretty mediocre as well, and walked on it after 10 hours or so. The good news is that Witcher 3 can be fully enjoyed without ever bothering with either of the first two games. There'll be some lore and easter eggs you might miss out on, but hardly anything to lose sleep over, and certainly nothing worth forcing yourself to slog through two games you don't enjoy.

Just play Witcher 3. It's perfect, an absolute masterpiece.

832. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: August 08, 2018 at 10:28 AM (#5723029)

And get the two DLCs too. They're both excellent and every bit as good as the best parts of the base game. There's modding too but I was never able to get that to work properly with the Steam GOTY edition.

I liked Witcher 2 much, much better than Witcher 1. Compared to the much more popular Bethesda Elder Scrolls games, Witcher 2 gave you a much more interesting and vibrant open world with better characters and writing. The combat is still wonky but the freedom to actually have interesting and meaningful interactions and decisions in a morally complex game world is totally worth the time.

833. Zonk wants no amputees at his parade Posted: August 14, 2018 at 01:23 PM (#5726502)

Grrrrrr.....

So - I appreciate the fact that Markus and company are diligent about updating OOTP. This latest update in particular looks awfully nifty - multiple player package "shop player" in particular. I employ house rules for trading against the AI - all trades have to be initiated via "shop a player" and the original two particulars from each team must remain part of the deal (add-ons OK from either team) - so this should be fun.

However, it never fails... I get a couple years into my dynasty- and there's an update... and I always feel like I should start anew (in particular, the roster/player rating updates are always good). Though I care not the least about the 'challenge mode' or 'achievements' - I do always play challenge mode just to prevent the temptation to do a little player tinkering.

I guess it's time to start anew yet again...

834. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: August 14, 2018 at 01:33 PM (#5726514)

Quake Champions is now 100% free-to-play if you slow-twitch geezers want to check out some fast-paced deathmatch area gameplay. It's pretty fun, I'm not nuts about deathmatching or even team deathmatching but they've promised some new gameplay modes including capture the flag which should be worthwhile. I haven't spent a dime and only use the base characters (2 "champions" are unlocked, the rest can be purchased) with cosmetic unlocks and I've been able to enjoy the game pretty well.

Then I get fed up and go play some TF2. Nobody plays the Warpath map anymore? Shenanigans!

835. Szym Posted: August 17, 2018 at 10:03 PM (#5729058)

First main rig overhaul in a while.

On my main/gaming rig, my old Z77 motherboard was starting to have memory and USB controller issues, so it was time to do some work. Took the opportunity to upgrade some other stuff as well, including an NVME PCIE SSD. GTX 1070 was from my current build as it didn't make much sense to upgrade it before the next Nvidia series came out.

Pretty happy with the results so far. Keeping a Coffee Lake i7 around 60 degrees at stock during stress-testing is solid and I can maintain a solid 5.0 GHz in the low 80s without needing a voltage boost, which suggest I got better-than-average silicon this time. Haven't pushed it as far as I can yet, but I expect I can hit 5.2. Not really interested in delidding.

836. bestergonomicgamingchair.com Posted: August 25, 2018 at 05:20 PM (#5733635)

Interesting article on a game I never heard of before:

Motiga’s determination to not model Gigantic’s art style on that of any other IP extended to the company’s gameplay-design decisions, both for better and for worse. “We were really trying to create something fresh and different,” says former Motiga lead designer Carter McBee. As part of that process, the designers consciously avoided labeling the game as belonging to any one genre. Whereas some developers borrow familiar mechanics (which can’t be copyrighted) from other games and put their own spin on a proven formula, the Gigantic crew tried to start fresh with a mode that was unique to their game. “We were evaluating potential features and gameplay changes against Gigantic’s gameplay rather than against other games on the market,” McBee says.

"“There weren’t really any games you could point to and say, ‘Gigantic is just like that game!’ which was intentional, but ended up being both a blessing and a curse when it came to marketing and the onboarding of new players.” —Carter McBee, former Motiga lead designer "

That philosophy sometimes worked to Gigantic’s advantage: In an industry prone to copycatism, Motiga’s game was, in theory, capable of staking out its own corner rather than drafting in the wake of another breakthrough title. The downside lay in the lack of a simple pitch to potential players and investors—this game you know meets that game you know, or this game plus a single, intriguing addition. “It blurred the lines of multiple different genres,” McBee says. “There weren’t really any games you could point to and say, ‘Gigantic is just like that game!’ which was intentional, but ended up being both a blessing and a curse when it came to marketing and the onboarding of new players.”

The Ringer

837. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: August 28, 2018 at 08:02 AM (#5734645)

CDPR released almost a full hour of in-game footage from their eagerly-anticipated RPG “Cyberpunk 2077” and...wow, it looks awesome. I’m going to build my next system specifically around playing this game in all it’s glory.

Check it out.

838. TFTIO was writing C programs in the '90s Posted: August 28, 2018 at 12:08 PM (#5734804)

CDPR released almost a full hour of in-game footage from their eagerly-anticipated RPG “Cyberpunk 2077” and...wow, it looks awesome. I’m going to build my next system specifically around playing this game in all it’s glory.

... in 2021 or whenever it actually ships. I don't even want to watch that because I would get too excited for something that is far out on my time horizon.

839. The Good Face Posted: August 28, 2018 at 02:35 PM (#5734943)

CDPR released almost a full hour of in-game footage from their eagerly-anticipated RPG “Cyberpunk 2077” and...wow, it looks awesome. I’m going to build my next system specifically around playing this game in all it’s glory.

... in 2021 or whenever it actually ships. I don't even want to watch that because I would get too excited for something that is far out on my time horizon.

I'd be surprised if it came much later than holiday season 2019. And yeah, might justify a new build.

840. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: August 28, 2018 at 03:04 PM (#5734958)

Yeah I'd bank on a 2019 release date as well. This will give the next generation of NVIDIA cards some time to percolate through the market, hopefully the cryptocurrency speculators won't gobble up all the cards and they'll be available at standard prices. Call it a hunch but I'm guessing my RX480 isn't going to be able to handle it properly.

IT LOOKS SO COOL

841. The Good Face Posted: August 28, 2018 at 03:58 PM (#5734995)

hopefully the cryptocurrency speculators won't gobble up all the cards and they'll be available at standard prices.

Stupid bitcoin miners. Although we have them to thank for the following exchange on Twitter;

"What is bitcoin mining anyway?"

"Imagine if leaving your car running 24/7 produced completed Sudoku puzzles, which you could then trade online for heroin."

842. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: August 28, 2018 at 05:12 PM (#5735061)

Just built a computer for a client using an intel i5 8600 (no overclocking planned). I've kinda changed my mind, these are nice CPUs-- the 6 cores, plus Intel's incredible fab process allow this thing to come stock turbo at 5.2 ghz with a max TDP of 65w.

I argued the other day (mistakenly) that Intel was "throwing cores at the problem AMD style" but it turns out, given their power efficiency and ability to push 6 cores at 5.2ghz at 65 watts -- that was a smart thing to do, especially as it seems a Sandy Bridge style architecture breakthrough is not coming anytime soon.

Been looking at some benchmarks and real world gaming tests. Seems the i5 8600k is perhaps the best gaming CPU you can get right now, at $249 at least. Not bad intel, not bad. Now, get this thing priced at $209 like it should be by X-mas.

843. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: August 28, 2018 at 05:23 PM (#5735069)

"Imagine if leaving your car running 24/7 produced completed Sudoku puzzles, which you could then trade online for heroin."

That really is the best, simplest description I’ve heard.

844. zenbitz Posted: August 30, 2018 at 01:51 PM (#5736414)

Anyone play Cultist Simulator?

845. JJ1986 Posted: September 04, 2018 at 07:53 PM (#5738568)

Do you guys recommend any particular brand/line of PSUs. My Corsair bit it and I don't really want to get another on. This is my current build.

846. GGIAS (aka Poster Nutbag) Posted: September 04, 2018 at 08:38 PM (#5738590)

Anyone play Cultist Simulator?

*raises hand*

847. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: September 04, 2018 at 08:43 PM (#5738595)

I love Seasonic PSUs

848. Random Transaction Generator Posted: September 05, 2018 at 09:30 AM (#5738831)

Did you guys see the (brief) game play trailer for Spelunky 2?

The first game stole a LOT of my life a couple of years ago.

849. TFTIO was writing C programs in the '90s Posted: September 12, 2018 at 10:03 AM (#5742817)

Can't talk, got Switch, am obsessed with Breath of the Wild.

850. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: October 22, 2018 at 04:29 PM (#5772627)

FM 19 is getting really good reviews, even from grizzled and skeptical long time fans on Steam. Might be time to upgrade from '16 for myself. Still I will wait until it's on sale over Christmas for $29.

Been playing the heck out of "Green Hell" the last week. Put in like 30 hours including a couple 5 hours sessions this weekend. Awesome survival game. It's like the Forest except IMO it has way more potential. The systems in the game only two months after launching on EA already surpass many of the Forest and the Forest has about a three year head start.

I never really got that into the Forest, so many things just seemed really tedious and I'd always just quit a day or two into it. Not so in Green Hell, happily survived 7 in game days now and looking forward to trying to get to a month in game before they do a new update.

851. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: October 22, 2018 at 04:49 PM (#5772645)

Anyone playing the hot creepy new game "Visage"? I was watching some Twitch streams last night, looks good and has great reviews thus far.

852. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: October 22, 2018 at 04:50 PM (#5772646)

FM 19 is getting really good reviews, even from grizzled and skeptical long time fans on Steam. Might be time to upgrade from '16 for myself. Still I will wait until it's on sale over Christmas for $29.

Even if it were still full price later, it's best to wait until a few patches have rolled out.

I grabbed OOTP19 when it went on sale a few days ago. The game engine is so ####### slow that I'm probably going to just stick with OOTP18. There's a delay of about a full second after every event when you're playing through a game. It's maddening.

853. zenbitz Posted: October 22, 2018 at 05:02 PM (#5772656)

How does green hell compare with the Long Dark?

854. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: October 22, 2018 at 05:39 PM (#5772679)

How does green hell compare with the Long Dark?

Did the Long Dark ever get building? I'd say as far as having really good systems immediately upon entering EA they are similar. Completely different mechanics tho and settings. No story mode to speak of in Green Hell at the moment. I'd say Green Hell is certainly better graphically. I could never get into the cell shading of Long Dark.

I grabbed OOTP19 when it went on sale a few days ago. The game engine is so ####### slow that I'm probably going to just stick with OOTP18. There's a delay of about a full second after every event when you're playing through a game. It's maddening.

That's a bummer. Another great sim game.

Anyone playing the hot creepy new game "Visage"? I was watching some Twitch streams last night, looks good and has great reviews thus far.

On my watch list. Looks great but not at $25. Will wait until a sale. Too many of these EA games are great demos but don't have more than 10 hours of content. Green Hell has about 20-30 imo.

855. zenbitz Posted: October 22, 2018 at 06:34 PM (#5772714)

@846 I seem to always get stuck in the mid game with my recruits getting to level 2
Of course, my best game I lost because I did not notice Poppy had returned to claim her price...

856. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: October 22, 2018 at 09:50 PM (#5772775)

Watching Green Hell on Twitch, never heard of it before. It does look a bit like The Forest but that’s a big positive to me, I got The Forest very early in it’s early access state and enjoyed watching it develop to its release form.

Reminds me a bit of the recent Far Cry games too. Not sure how long wandering in the jungle foraging and crafting will keep my interest but I’ll follow the game on Steam, I assume it’ll go on sale for $15 or less between now and Christmas.

857. zenbitz Posted: October 23, 2018 at 03:16 PM (#5773264)

You can craft items (and clothes) in Long Dark. I think also snow shelter, but I never built one.

858. Pat Rapper's Delight (as quoted on MLB Network) Posted: October 23, 2018 at 03:28 PM (#5773275)

I grabbed OOTP19 when it went on sale a few days ago. The game engine is so ####### slow that I'm probably going to just stick with OOTP18. There's a delay of about a full second after every event when you're playing through a game. It's maddening.

Sounds like added realism through pace-of-play "enhancements."

I updated from OOTP15 to 19 last night and had the computer play a game of 78 Rangers at 78 Red Sox. I have not played much OOTP at all in the past (Strat and to a much lesser extent DMB are my preferred games), but 19 might change that. I got a kick of out having real stadium backdrops and the flight of the ball with the players chasing it. Maybe that all gets old once you've seen all the pre-programmed patterns after 20-30 games (do you?), but for just one game I thought it was really neat. I didn't notice any full second delays, but I had computer AI vs computer AI in the dugouts.

Does it have any weird plays programmed into it? Rundowns? Blown rundowns? Balls lost in the Wrigley ivy? Etc.

859. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: October 23, 2018 at 04:04 PM (#5773317)

Maybe that all gets old once you've seen all the pre-programmed patterns after 20-30 games (do you?)

Yep. It's not so bad though. I've managed through thousands of games and it hasn't gotten old for me, really.

Does it have any weird plays programmed into it? Rundowns? Blown rundowns? Balls lost in the Wrigley ivy?

I've hardly ever played a game in Wrigley myself, but what I've heard is that the play-by-play text doesn't reference the ivy, but Wrigley is programmed to yield more ground rule doubles than other parks.

Rundowns and other unusual plays aren't in the engine, no. It does model catcher's interference, balks, baserunners struck by the ball, and home plate collisions (I think they're still in the game if you play 2018 even though they're outlawed now).

860. bestergonomicgamingchair.com Posted: October 25, 2018 at 07:15 AM (#5774820)

It appears that the Onion AV Club really likes Red Dead Redemption 2:

The game seems to be hinting toward some seismic shift just around the corner, and so it’s impossible to say where it’s all headed, at least from my vantage point. One claim is easy to make, though: As a piece of craft, Red Dead Redemption 2 exceeds any game ever made, easily and immediately. Anything less would’ve been failure. As a gang member muses to me over the campfire one night, “This isn’t a land for men. It’s a land for money.”

Never played the first one, might have to try this one ...

861. manchestermets Posted: October 25, 2018 at 08:05 AM (#5774829)

Five star review in The Guardian too - I've just ordered it on the back of that. No doubt I'll do my usual play it for a week then forget about games until the next exciting thing (GTA 6?) comes out, but it looks pretty great.

862. Greg K Posted: October 25, 2018 at 08:54 AM (#5774845)

I grabbed OOTP19 when it went on sale a few days ago. The game engine is so ####### slow that I'm probably going to just stick with OOTP18. There's a delay of about a full second after every event when you're playing through a game. It's maddening.

They put out an update for OOTP19 a few weeks ago that caused that lag time. Actually, initially the update caused the game to crash all the time, but after a panicked couple days they managed to get it down to in-game lag time.

Before that it was great!

It is certainly annoying. But I still play it pretty much every day. The 3D play is much improved, and adds a lot to the fun.

863. Zonk wants no amputees at his parade Posted: October 25, 2018 at 09:21 AM (#5774859)

I will concur about oddly NOT getting bored with the 3D... and I, too, have managed far too many games to count (I prefer the GM side of things, but I probably manage a good 1/3 to 1/2 of my games).

FWIW, either they've hidden the patterns well or there enough of them that I still cannot tell exactly whether it's going to result in out/safe. If nothing else, far better than a circumstance I remember from 17 or 18 where the little 3D icon was clearly safe as he beats the throw home by a mile and then is inevitably called out.

I usually - well, always - manage the CUbs and no, there is no pre-programmed "stuck in the ivy" play that I can recall seeing...

864. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: October 25, 2018 at 09:42 AM (#5774874)

One claim is easy to make, though: As a piece of craft, Red Dead Redemption 2 exceeds any game ever made, easily and immediately.

I think I'm going to need three swords - one for monsters, one for men, and one for slicing this baloney.

865. zenbitz Posted: October 30, 2018 at 09:57 PM (#5779928)

GGIAS I did finally crack cultist simulator. I think the update that nerfed Fascination helped. Also I learned how to use Rites (non-end-game)

866. manchestermets Posted: October 31, 2018 at 07:28 AM (#5779981)

Red Dead Redemption 2 is certainly beautiful. I'm struggling to give a more detailed review at this point, because I'm terrible at the shooty bit of games, so I'm still stuck at the bit really early on where you have to kill some wolves. I think the ideal game for me would be one like this with a huge open world, that would just be there for you to explore without the missions keeping getting in the way.

867. Fernigal McGunnigle Posted: October 31, 2018 at 09:45 AM (#5780008)

I was going through an old hard drive yesterday and came across Diamond Mind 10. I installed it (works great in Wine under Linux) and decided to create a fake league using the 2002 stats set I had. I released all of the players, added a couple of teams, set up a 28 player draft, and then simmed a season. For some reason Brooklyn neglected to draft a catcher, and so ran a platoon of Warren Morris and Satan's BFF Chris Truby behind the plate, with Luis Gonzalenz and Ken Griffey each catching two full games. The team wound up with 298 passed palls, 193 by Morris. The experience showed an interesting set of issues with the DMB engine:

1. The team's wild pitches were about league average, so WP in the game are all on the pitcher.
2. There were undrafted catchers, and the computer chose to draft a 2B (Morris) who went 0-7 in 4 games over people like Paul Bako, Marcus Jensen, Raul Casanova, and Ben Petrick. You know, actual catchers who didn't hit .000.
3. The team won 86 games, which would be impossible in real life with a series of buffoons behind the plate. They went 2-0 with Ken Griffey, Jr catching!
4. Morris hit .145, which probably shows the lower bounds of what a guy who hit .000 in real life would hit in the game. Though I suppose it's possible that someone who in real life went 0-7 with 7 Ks (rather than 0-7 with 1K) would do worse, and probably a guy who isn't platooned would do worse as well.

This is way too much thought to put into a 15 year old baseball game.

868. Fernigal McGunnigle Posted: October 31, 2018 at 10:26 AM (#5780029)

This is way too much thought to put into a 15 year old baseball game.

Using the 2003 stats set, I created a league and did not let the Yankees draft any pitchers. The team went 1-161. The weird thing with the engine here is that the computer only brought in one relief pitcher all season -- Marlon Anderson threw 5 (1 run) innings in relief of Geoff Blum, who was ejected when he charged the mound after being hit by a pitch. Other than that, the team threw 161 complete games. No position player was injured while pitching -- Russ Branyan managed 322 injury-free innings and 38 complete games, with an ERA of 24.79. (He also started 42 games in the field.) So obviously the computer does everything it can, up to and including allowing Carlos Baerga to give up 41 runs at home to Anaheim, to avoid bringing in a position player as a pitcher.

Overall, DMB at its extremes is not as much fun as OOTP is.

869. The Good Face Posted: October 31, 2018 at 10:43 AM (#5780044)

One claim is easy to make, though: As a piece of craft, Red Dead Redemption 2 exceeds any game ever made, easily and immediately.

I think I'm going to need three swords - one for monsters, one for men, and one for slicing this baloney.

They're all for monsters.

Now how about a game of Gwent?

870. The Anthony Kennedy of BBTF (Scott) Posted: October 31, 2018 at 11:13 AM (#5780062)

Anything anyone highly recommends from the Steam Halloween Sale?

871. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: October 31, 2018 at 11:23 AM (#5780072)

I think you haven't played Football Manager enough lately and I recommend you do more of that. ;)

I only play old games, it seems. Just grabbed Spelunky on sale, which I remember hearing really good things about like 5 years ago.

edit re: 872 below... I'm interested in Portia too, but I prefer to wait and see if it actually gets finished. Still Early Access right now I think.

872. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: October 31, 2018 at 11:24 AM (#5780073)

870 I was just going to comment that 8 of the 11 items on my wishlist are on sale on Steam now. I picked up 4 so far - My Time in Portia (a Stardew Valley-type game from what I can tell, with more crafting and a colorful 3D presentation), Hunt Showdown (my second time purchasing it, I loved the gameplay but it was a buggy mess 4 months ago, we'll see if it's been suitably fixed), Judgement Apocalypse Survival Simulator (something a little different for me), and For the King (which I believe was recommended on this very thread).

I'm always looking out for good local co-op games I can play with my daughter so if anyone has a recommendation for something on sale I'd love to hear it. We have fun with Castle Crashers and Overcooked.

873. Zonk wants no amputees at his parade Posted: October 31, 2018 at 01:28 PM (#5780205)

Judgement Apocalypse Survival Simulator

This looks interesting... I toyed around with trying to update a similarly themed Civ2(? maybe 3 or 4?) mod to integrate some of this gameplay any years back, but the lack of a tactical option in Civ was a killer, plus the fact that my modding skills were generally limited to XML configurations and some rare factor changes in the python, etc.

I also had an idea for a game that would be a bit of an RPG/4X hybrid -- I envisioned something like a "three era" game... era 1 would be "prep" -- recruiting NPCs with different specialties, resource gathering, initial colony/bunker setup... era 2 would be the apocalyptic event - focused on the colony building, science and population growth, attempts to explore the modified world "above ground".... era 3 would be the emergence and "final" X of 4x games -- getting back to the surface, war with various AI colonies and monsters, etc.

At least for my druthers - this is just usually how I play 4X games... settle and harden, defend and build, late game war.

874. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: October 31, 2018 at 01:32 PM (#5780211)

I'll let you know if Judgement is any good, probably won't get to it until next week but like I said, it looked fun. I'm not ready for another playthrough of Witcher 3 yet, the L4D2 community is dwindling, and I need something to distract me from how terrible I am at Rocket League, so it's nice to reload with a Steam sale.

875. jmp Posted: November 01, 2018 at 02:53 PM (#5780801)

Im enjoying the Magic the Gathering PC game. Never really played the card game, got scared off by hearing people talk about how much they would spend chasing the perfect deck.
But the PC version is perfect for me because its free, you get decks and cards as you complete daily quests, and its a great game to pass the time while watching tv.

876. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: November 01, 2018 at 02:58 PM (#5780809)

Im enjoying the Magic the Gathering PC game. Never really played the card game, got scared off by hearing people talk about how much they would spend chasing the perfect deck.

Not my cup of tea but Slay the Spire seems to be the most well reviewed deck building game on Steam right now.

877. bestergonomicgamingchair.com Posted: November 01, 2018 at 03:06 PM (#5780820)

I'll let you know if Judgement is any good, probably won't get to it until next week but like I said, it looked fun. I'm not ready for another playthrough of Witcher 3 yet, the L4D2 community is dwindling, and I need something to distract me from how terrible I am at Rocket League, so it's nice to reload with a Steam sale.

There's some new game from CD Projekt Red Studio set in the Witcher universe called: Thronebreaker.

Some sort of mutant strategy and card game combo.

I watched this 37 minute initial play video on YouTube and still can't figure out WTF?

Might not be for me ...

878. GGIAS (aka Poster Nutbag) Posted: November 01, 2018 at 03:06 PM (#5780821)

Slay the Spire is amazing and continues to be updated regularly. Love that game.

It's past the sale and all, but a great cheap pickup is The Void Rains Upon Her Heart, which is a great little shmup-type game which has varied difficulties from easy enough to be an entry-level introduction to this type of game to pull-your-hair-out difficult. It's just a measly $7.99 and the (solo) developer updated the game at least once every single day in October.

879. You Know Nothing JT Snow (YR) Posted: November 01, 2018 at 03:16 PM (#5780835)

What's a shmup?

880. Lassus Posted: November 01, 2018 at 03:33 PM (#5780848)

Hey, nerds. I have a friend who is PERCY WHITSICKLE in the new Red Dead game being released. If anyone gets that far and sees him, let me know.

881. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: November 01, 2018 at 03:37 PM (#5780849)

Spelunky report: very fun game that I would have really gotten into 15 years ago. My reflexes and concentration were never great and at this point I think I'm too old to play this game well. But I like that it scratches my platforming itch and my roguelike "you die constantly but you don't mind" itch.

882. The Anthony Kennedy of BBTF (Scott) Posted: November 05, 2018 at 08:58 AM (#5782062)

I think you haven't played Football Manager enough lately and I recommend you do more of that. ;)

If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, consider your recommendation taken. Time for promotion playoffs!

883. I am going to be Frank Posted: November 05, 2018 at 01:37 PM (#5782316)

So is it a good time to buy/build a computer? I used to be a bit of a gamer but newer games stopped appealing to me. I bought a MacBook several years ago and played mainly Simcity 3000 (I think it's 3000), Civ IV and FM 2014(?). I also have an XBox One and own threegames - BFI (the WWI version), GTA Vice City, and just bought a used disc of Witcher 3. I have not played either Vice City or Witcher 3.

I used to love playing Starcraft 2, Counterstrike and Diablo 2. Is there stuff compelling enough out there for me to invest some time and money to build a rig?

884. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: November 05, 2018 at 02:33 PM (#5782372)

It's a golden age of PC gaming and you can build a rig that will play pretty much anything for about $600-800 depending on how much you want to splurge on a monitor and case.

885. Dan The Mediocre is one of "the rest" Posted: November 05, 2018 at 02:40 PM (#5782379)

I used to love playing Starcraft 2, Counterstrike and Diablo 2. Is there stuff compelling enough out there for me to invest some time and money to build a rig?

The short answer is yes (I enjoyed all three of those games, for the record).

886. The Good Face Posted: November 05, 2018 at 02:55 PM (#5782399)

Eh. There are plenty of good games out there, but very few that are PC exclusive such that you just HAVE to have a gaming rig. I prefer PC to console myself, but the vast majority of AAA titles are/will be available on console. Unless you love niche/independent games, you don't really need a PC.

887. bestergonomicgamingchair.com Posted: November 05, 2018 at 03:00 PM (#5782407)

Unless you love niche/independent games,

Or love mods ...

888. Zonk wants no amputees at his parade Posted: November 07, 2018 at 01:26 PM (#5783737)

Out of curiosity - and because I'm currently just too lazy to look it up -

Has anyone played this OOTP "Perfect Team" thing yet? Apparently - the 6 months of "coming soon!" on the startup screen appear to have finally become a "PLAY PERFECT TEAM"... Is it just like a more integrated online OOTP league? Some kind 'badges/cards' things? Should I care?

889. jmurph Posted: November 08, 2018 at 11:02 PM (#5784699)

Alright guys I need some help: I'm an FM addict and all of a sudden it won't launch in steam. I'm using a macbook, can't remember having this issue before, it's not just the FM I'm playing (12), no other games will launch either. It briefly says "Running" next to the game title in the library, but then that goes away and nothing happens, it doesn't actually run.

Any ideas? I've been trying various things in the steam support forums and elsewhere but haven't found a fix. Thanks for any help!

890. Zonk wants no amputees at his parade Posted: November 09, 2018 at 09:37 AM (#5784798)

Can't help with a mac... I assume you've tried clearing the download cache?

I.e., Settings --> Downloads --> should be a button "clear download cache".

When I've had problems on pc launching games - this is usually the culprit... I think sometimes the steam client thinks its still in the middle of a download/install when it's actually not.

891. jmurph Posted: November 09, 2018 at 10:15 AM (#5784820)

Yeah no go on that, Zonk. Thanks though. I even did an uninstall/install of steam (that was recommended in various places) and that didn't help. I'm going to get the shakes if I can't play FM for more than a couple days so I'll try to figure it out again tonight.

892. Zonk wants no amputees at his parade Posted: November 09, 2018 at 10:26 AM (#5784825)

Hmmm.... do you actually see the game exe process start up in task manager? Or just the steam startup and no game exe? Wild shot in the dark - but if no actual game exe (or only a quick flash and then dies immediately) - my suspicion would be a registry issue.

I vaguely recall - at least on pc - there's little file called something like "clientregistry.blob" that can sometimes be at issue and I'm not sure it actually gets wiped by an uninstall/reinstall (unless you physically delete the directory). Anyway - this little bugger has all your Steam settings and the like, but I think it's also the authentication gateway to titles in your library. Making sure Steam isn't running at all - kill all steam processes - you could try deleting this little guy. You'll have to log into steam all over again - I think you lose your saved ID/PW, too, so be sure you've got them before deleting - but this was another item that I remember fixed a similar-sounding problem.

893. jmurph Posted: November 09, 2018 at 10:36 AM (#5784833)

Thanks, I'll take a shot at that tonight and let you know (should have brought the laptop to work!).

894. formerly dp Posted: November 09, 2018 at 10:43 AM (#5784838)

So: my 9 year-old i7 920 bit the dust recently (I think the processor or MoBo fried, haven't had time to do a full autopsy)...and it was time for a new build anyway. Planning to recycle case, hard drives/SDDs, R9 390; basically just need a new CPU/MoBo and RAM, figure with BF coming up this will be a good time to build. Any suggestions for a MoBo/CPU combo? Looking to keep it under $500? Considering Ryzen 7 2700 X but seems like I could go 5 2600 X for around $100 less.

There're some very good deals on pre-rolled coming up, but can't justify spending on a new video card when my current one was serving me just fine...

895. Random Transaction Generator Posted: November 09, 2018 at 12:42 PM (#5784936)

Not my cup of tea but Slay the Spire seems to be the most well reviewed deck building game on Steam right now.

I'm just going to second this statement.

It's frustrating enough to annoy you, but when you have a good run you forget all that and want to keep playing over and over and over.
I'm not very good at it, but I try to get at least one game a day at it.

(It's still in early access, but it sounds like it should be going "gold" soon. If this game was on mobile, I'd probably never get anything done at work.)

896. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: November 09, 2018 at 12:50 PM (#5784941)

So: my 9 year-old i7 920 bit the dust recently (I think the processor or MoBo fried, haven't had time to do a full autopsy)...and it was time for a new build anyway. Planning to recycle case, hard drives/SDDs, R9 390; basically just need a new CPU/MoBo and RAM, figure with BF coming up this will be a good time to build. Any suggestions for a MoBo/CPU combo? Looking to keep it under $500? Considering Ryzen 7 2700 X but seems like I could go 5 2600 X for around $100 less.

i5 8600k. OC it a few clocks and enjoy. Ryzen was a good buy this time last year. Not sure it's a good one now if you're primarily doing gaming. I've read quite a few reports of underwhelming Ryzen performance especially in Unity games, which are pretty prominent these days.

pretty good breakdown

897. formerly dp Posted: November 09, 2018 at 01:41 PM (#5784987)

Thanks. Didn't even think about re-using my CM 212, but that's a better option than paying extra for the 2700x. Was planning a new build eventually but the system crash sped up my timetable a bit. This machine will be a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, my main computer for research/writing, which doesn't require too much heavy lifting beyond 18 billion tabs and long docs, but I need the performance overhead for gaming. Finally getting a VR setup so it'll be pushing that too.

That i7 920 really was a workhorse, had it running 24/7 for ages with a stable OC. RIP.

ETA: any thoughts on this at BF?
Newegg Black Friday: Intel i5-9600K + MSI Z390 GAMING EDGE AC + Call of Duty Black Ops for $369.98 after $20.00 rebate
Another ~$100 for 16 GB of RAM gets me right around my $500 target, plus the newer processor over the i5 8600k.

898. zenbitz Posted: November 09, 2018 at 02:19 PM (#5785017)

Steam is super flakey on the mac. For at least one game I had to create a local shortcut and launch it from there.

Mostly the steam client just stalls, presumably trying to connect with an overloaded mothership

899. jmurph Posted: November 09, 2018 at 02:32 PM (#5785024)

Steam is super flakey on the mac. For at least one game I had to create a local shortcut and launch it from there.

Yeah I have to quit Steam all the time to re-log in before launching a game, sometimes literally every 3rd or 4th time I try to open it. I'm hoping it's just going to magically work again the next time I try, doesn't seem out of character.

900. This is going to be state of the art wall Posted: November 09, 2018 at 02:58 PM (#5785042)

Newegg Black Friday: Intel i5-9600K + MSI Z390 GAMING EDGE AC + Call of Duty Black Ops for $369.98 after $20.00 rebate
Another ~$100 for 16 GB of RAM gets me right around my $500 target, plus the newer processor over the i5 8600k.

that's a great deal imo. Nice to see RAM prices coming down a bit on DDR4. Will be "future proofed" a bit with the M.2 NvMe support and the PCI Express lanes. That bus stuff is a bit over my head (would have to actually formally take some CS classes probably to really learn it) but my understanding is that with SSDs the old SATA interface isn't ideal because it was created to support the latency of spinning and tape based storage so if you're doing a bunch of super hardcore data work get the NvMe drive. I'd suspect something like Lightroom would benefit.

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