Been on a real deckbuilder kick recently - this and Inscryption on the steam deck have killed my productivity at work the last week or two
Anyone Play Video Games?
- Thread starter danimalia
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I'm now almost 100 hours into balatro and just got a steam deck. I want to pick up baldurs gate 3 now that I have a piece of hardware that can handle it.
I only really play rocket league, and I'll try to put in an hour a day....it's fast, exciting and challenging.
every once in a while I will start a game I am interested in, but games these days are just way too huge and time consuming for me.
I'll help my kids, though....Last two I put some effort into were AC Valhalla and Hogwarts....
I really want to play RDR2, and I have tried a few different times, but it is just sooooo slooowww going....I usually end up falling asleep each time I play it, and eventually give up.
every once in a while I will start a game I am interested in, but games these days are just way too huge and time consuming for me.
I'll help my kids, though....Last two I put some effort into were AC Valhalla and Hogwarts....
I really want to play RDR2, and I have tried a few different times, but it is just sooooo slooowww going....I usually end up falling asleep each time I play it, and eventually give up.
I bought Star Citizen a few months back, I’ve been keeping an eye on the project and finally pulled the plug. It’s pretty insane how massive it is, and how everything happens in real time, and whatever you do always persist. There are certainly a lot of bugs, but it can still be quite amazing.
Not sure if I mentioned it, but I’m an extreme Skyrim modding nerd, spent thousands of hours and have around 370 mods on, and have it looking like a modern realistic 21st century game. I just started getting into body and hair animations this past week on it, really cool seeing the in game characters looking even more realistic.
P.S. Just as I saw this post, I was actually getting ready to start up the pc and go do more modding…
Not sure if I mentioned it, but I’m an extreme Skyrim modding nerd, spent thousands of hours and have around 370 mods on, and have it looking like a modern realistic 21st century game. I just started getting into body and hair animations this past week on it, really cool seeing the in game characters looking even more realistic.
P.S. Just as I saw this post, I was actually getting ready to start up the pc and go do more modding…
I used to play Sidmeier's Colonization (1995-1998 or so), but its DOS based and nearly impossible to play on recent Windows 
a bit hard to find similar strategy games, most now involves more war than strategies
a bit hard to find similar strategy games, most now involves more war than strategies
Currently Stellar Blade, Jedi Survivor, Bloodbourne, Elden Ring, and Nier Automata.
I used play some video games until I did a two year stretch - of Eve Online. That cured me forever, have not wanted to go near any since.
I like video games. But I have everything full of tobacco and whiskey, and nothing else fits. I imagine myself with the pipe in my mouth and drinking whiskey, while having fun with a video game. My wife would pack my bags, and my house would become a Jurassic Park.....
I am playing Elden Ring for third time. And waiting for the dlc.
I loaded up Team Fortress 2 for the first time in about a decade, last night.
That's what spurred me into playing Elden Ring and Bloodbourne again.
It's on gog for 6 bucks. I'll have to.check it out I like civilizationI used to play Sidmeier's Colonization (1995-1998 or so), but its DOS based and nearly impossible to play on recent Windows
a bit hard to find similar strategy games, most now involves more
I love the game so much because it's an actual challenge. But I just can't get past Malenia. I guess my reflexes aren't up to speed.
Because I am apparently a slave to the algorithm and some Fire Emblem content popped up on my YouTube feed, I'm currently nine chapters into Shadow Dragon and planning to work my way through the series.
I mean, Fire Emblem 7 (the first one released outside Japan) was pretty good. Should be fun.
I mean, Fire Emblem 7 (the first one released outside Japan) was pretty good. Should be fun.
Wanted to stop by & outline the setup for one of my 'GTA5 custom challenges' that I had talked about before, with some map locations & pics so you all can try it out if you want to. It would be great to hear back from anyone who tries it out & to hear what you think, etc. The end-goal here is to get as long of a 5-star wanted level period as possible, by getting onto the freight train & doing laps around the map while fighting for your life. A lot of people think riding the train is a cheap way to get a long 5-star period, & so I've added a little extra challenge at the beginning of my challenge.
This is probably best to try if you've finished the game or at least have everything maxed out, but if not, don't let that stop you from trying. You want to start off as Trevor with full health, armor, skills, full armory & ammo, & a helicopter ('officially' my challenge calls for a Cargo-Bob - or you could use the same bird in the Coast Guard livery, but if you don't have one, any chopper should work), hovering at this location:
Zoomed in a little:
Here we are, hovering & waiting for the freight train to exit from the tunnel & cross the lowest bridge in the lower right area of the pic below. This is a good time to make a save so you can re-load & just wait for the train to spawn, if you need to re-load. Since you will most likely be crashing & burning momentarily. =) Sometimes if the train doesn't spawn at all even when it should (sometimes happens), re-load & it should appear next time. I forget what the 'game-time' interval is for the train to spawn, but it's like every 15 minutes or 30 minutes in game-time iirc, & there may be a time when it won't spawn normally, like between 11pm & 5am maybe, but you can google that.
It'll appear & you'll want to follow it. If you look ahead, you'll eventually be turning to the right about 90 degrees, just before the electrical tower 2 o clock off the nose in the pic below.
The train turns to the right with the electrical tower in front of the engine below, you want to turn right & fly between the bridges, across the river & head towards the end of the left bridge & over some oil tanks, & you'll be looking for a four-way intersection, & you'll want to land on the near corner of the intersection, to the left of the billboard. You want to fly ahead of the train, & land a little before the crossing gates close. But don't fly too far ahead of the train, or it will de-spawn & you can wait again or re-load if that happens.
Here is the landing spot. I'm behind schedule as the train is already passing, & I haven't even gotten out yet to start raising a little bit of mayhem.
You want to land & wait for the crossing gates to close & for traffic to back up, then right before the train crosses, bloop about three grenades out of your launcher into traffic across the far gates, then another three into traffic closest to you. This is a bad area, so don't show your weapon or start anything with the people standing around, until you're just about to shoot the grenades, or the gangs will start engaging you early. They'll start shooting as soon as you do anyway, so stay close to the chopper for some cover (& to save time), & as soon as you shoot the grenades, get back into the chopper & start chasing the train. You should have at least two stars by now. You can get three stars pretty easily even as you take off, if you get a few good secondaries back at the intersection.
Here's the intersection where you land:
Location on the map:
Now we're chasing the train with the object of specifically landing on it, & getting out of the chopper & onto the train, before the train reaches the tunnel. You can see the tunnel in the distance in the pic below, & you don't have a lot of time. It's also hard to do in general. Couple tips, if the train spawns with all box cars or only one flat car, just re-load your save. You can check that as it exits the tunnel at the beginning. Also, in general, 'all flat-cars' is easiest to land on but hardest to fight from, due to lack of cover. Two or more flat cars with box cars on either end (or the engine on one end) is good because it's big enough to land on the two flat-cars, & you'll have some cover from the box cars without them being too close & in the way once the fight is really on.
The fight is building now, you should have two or three stars by now, & there will be cops at the intersections, & you should hear radio chatter about your fight, & if three stars, a police chopper inbound. I want to land on the two flat-cars & get out into the flat-cars before the train reaches the tunnel. Lots of street lights & phone poles on either side of the tracks.
Once you've landed on the train & exited the chopper, ideally you'll take up the fight immediately & try to down the police chopper before you get into the tunnel. If not, you'll have more chances, & more choppers will spawn. The fastest way to get to five stars is by taking out the choppers, but shoot at all targets always. The homing missiles are good for quick chopper kills to get to the five stars asap. Later on take them out with RPGs, grenade launchers, minigun, or taking out the pilot with smaller arms. Once you get to five stars, keeping it going when you go into tunnels or farther away from the cops requires you to sometimes shoot you gun or throw a grenade/something to catch their attention again.You get a quick break but don't forget to keep the attention of the cops. Fight from the train & don't let the 5-star level drop! How long can you keep it going?
Here's my best time 2h 17m 44s, not sure if I could beat that, it was a pretty epic run. It's a fun mission to try, & if you can get two or three full circuits around the loop at 5 stars for most of that, you'll have seen a lot of what the game can throw at you.
Don't forget about Trevors Rage mechanic, very useful during the battle. This fight can get pretty wild at times, & you'll probably see a lot of cool stuff that you wouldn't ordinarily see, & the cops & feds can be tough especially on the second+ circuit around the loop. If you have a train with a boxcar & a flatcar at the end, they'll sometimes fast-rope into the flat-car & fight from there & sometimes advance over the box car, so watch out for that. If you need to move around the train, you can climb from car to car, but be careful. If you fall off the train with 5 stars going, you're not going to last long even if you survive the fall. Another tip is to use the 'crouch against cover & shoot over the top while aiming' mechanic from within the flat-cars. Sticky bombs are useful during a dirt road section with rows of lawmen driving alongside. Throw them into the road & detonate them when the cars approach. Also sticking them to the side of the train & detonating when passing by cops/feds is also useful sometimes. There's a ton of stuff that happens along the way, & you'll figure out stuff to do, & what to watch out for. Try it out & let me know what you all think.
This is probably best to try if you've finished the game or at least have everything maxed out, but if not, don't let that stop you from trying. You want to start off as Trevor with full health, armor, skills, full armory & ammo, & a helicopter ('officially' my challenge calls for a Cargo-Bob - or you could use the same bird in the Coast Guard livery, but if you don't have one, any chopper should work), hovering at this location:
Zoomed in a little:
Here we are, hovering & waiting for the freight train to exit from the tunnel & cross the lowest bridge in the lower right area of the pic below. This is a good time to make a save so you can re-load & just wait for the train to spawn, if you need to re-load. Since you will most likely be crashing & burning momentarily. =) Sometimes if the train doesn't spawn at all even when it should (sometimes happens), re-load & it should appear next time. I forget what the 'game-time' interval is for the train to spawn, but it's like every 15 minutes or 30 minutes in game-time iirc, & there may be a time when it won't spawn normally, like between 11pm & 5am maybe, but you can google that.
It'll appear & you'll want to follow it. If you look ahead, you'll eventually be turning to the right about 90 degrees, just before the electrical tower 2 o clock off the nose in the pic below.
The train turns to the right with the electrical tower in front of the engine below, you want to turn right & fly between the bridges, across the river & head towards the end of the left bridge & over some oil tanks, & you'll be looking for a four-way intersection, & you'll want to land on the near corner of the intersection, to the left of the billboard. You want to fly ahead of the train, & land a little before the crossing gates close. But don't fly too far ahead of the train, or it will de-spawn & you can wait again or re-load if that happens.
Here is the landing spot. I'm behind schedule as the train is already passing, & I haven't even gotten out yet to start raising a little bit of mayhem.
You want to land & wait for the crossing gates to close & for traffic to back up, then right before the train crosses, bloop about three grenades out of your launcher into traffic across the far gates, then another three into traffic closest to you. This is a bad area, so don't show your weapon or start anything with the people standing around, until you're just about to shoot the grenades, or the gangs will start engaging you early. They'll start shooting as soon as you do anyway, so stay close to the chopper for some cover (& to save time), & as soon as you shoot the grenades, get back into the chopper & start chasing the train. You should have at least two stars by now. You can get three stars pretty easily even as you take off, if you get a few good secondaries back at the intersection.
Here's the intersection where you land:
Location on the map:
Now we're chasing the train with the object of specifically landing on it, & getting out of the chopper & onto the train, before the train reaches the tunnel. You can see the tunnel in the distance in the pic below, & you don't have a lot of time. It's also hard to do in general. Couple tips, if the train spawns with all box cars or only one flat car, just re-load your save. You can check that as it exits the tunnel at the beginning. Also, in general, 'all flat-cars' is easiest to land on but hardest to fight from, due to lack of cover. Two or more flat cars with box cars on either end (or the engine on one end) is good because it's big enough to land on the two flat-cars, & you'll have some cover from the box cars without them being too close & in the way once the fight is really on.
The fight is building now, you should have two or three stars by now, & there will be cops at the intersections, & you should hear radio chatter about your fight, & if three stars, a police chopper inbound. I want to land on the two flat-cars & get out into the flat-cars before the train reaches the tunnel. Lots of street lights & phone poles on either side of the tracks.
Once you've landed on the train & exited the chopper, ideally you'll take up the fight immediately & try to down the police chopper before you get into the tunnel. If not, you'll have more chances, & more choppers will spawn. The fastest way to get to five stars is by taking out the choppers, but shoot at all targets always. The homing missiles are good for quick chopper kills to get to the five stars asap. Later on take them out with RPGs, grenade launchers, minigun, or taking out the pilot with smaller arms. Once you get to five stars, keeping it going when you go into tunnels or farther away from the cops requires you to sometimes shoot you gun or throw a grenade/something to catch their attention again.You get a quick break but don't forget to keep the attention of the cops. Fight from the train & don't let the 5-star level drop! How long can you keep it going?
Here's my best time 2h 17m 44s, not sure if I could beat that, it was a pretty epic run. It's a fun mission to try, & if you can get two or three full circuits around the loop at 5 stars for most of that, you'll have seen a lot of what the game can throw at you.
Don't forget about Trevors Rage mechanic, very useful during the battle. This fight can get pretty wild at times, & you'll probably see a lot of cool stuff that you wouldn't ordinarily see, & the cops & feds can be tough especially on the second+ circuit around the loop. If you have a train with a boxcar & a flatcar at the end, they'll sometimes fast-rope into the flat-car & fight from there & sometimes advance over the box car, so watch out for that. If you need to move around the train, you can climb from car to car, but be careful. If you fall off the train with 5 stars going, you're not going to last long even if you survive the fall. Another tip is to use the 'crouch against cover & shoot over the top while aiming' mechanic from within the flat-cars. Sticky bombs are useful during a dirt road section with rows of lawmen driving alongside. Throw them into the road & detonate them when the cars approach. Also sticking them to the side of the train & detonating when passing by cops/feds is also useful sometimes. There's a ton of stuff that happens along the way, & you'll figure out stuff to do, & what to watch out for. Try it out & let me know what you all think.
Shadow of the Erdtree cannot arrive soon enough, Miquella gonna catch these hands lol. I've been playing a lot of indie stuff lately though. Streets of Rogue has been my obsession for the last few weeks, Hypercharge Unboxed just hit Xbox which has been a blast (they just don't make 'em like that anymore), Kingdom Two Crowns, Dysmantle, etc. Mostly co-op focused stuff since my gf and I game together a lot. I'm waiting on a couple friends of ours to pick up Grounded now that it's on every platform so I can jump into the backyard again, one of my favorite games of all time.
Anyone try my GTA5 custom mission 5-star time challenge yet?
Small correction: I forgot that the 'Time spent with a 5 star Wanted Level' is a total time overall for that character rather than the record single stretch at 5 stars, so I loaded my save that I use prior to running the mission & checked the counter, & it's at 7 minutes & 46 seconds.
So subtracting that from the counter of 2h 17m 44s from my game-save after my epic run...
...& my epic run lasted 'only' 2h 10m 02s. I forget, but I think I made nearly 3 laps or 4 laps around the circuit before I made a stupid mistake & was finally taken out.
Small correction: I forgot that the 'Time spent with a 5 star Wanted Level' is a total time overall for that character rather than the record single stretch at 5 stars, so I loaded my save that I use prior to running the mission & checked the counter, & it's at 7 minutes & 46 seconds.
So subtracting that from the counter of 2h 17m 44s from my game-save after my epic run...
...& my epic run lasted 'only' 2h 10m 02s. I forget, but I think I made nearly 3 laps or 4 laps around the circuit before I made a stupid mistake & was finally taken out.
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