What Game Are You Currently Playing?

[Venusian Broon]

I don’t think I’ve come across the thieves guild although they have been mentioned in some rumours. There seems to be a lot to do in Oblivion. Should keep me busy for a while yet

Talk to beggars and look around the harbour of the Imperial city regarding thieves guild...

...also be wary of sleeping on floating pubs in the same place!

 

[Foxbat]

Today in Oblivion, I killed a prison inmate for the Dark Brotherhood. Unfortunately, I had to kill four guards too. Not only were the Brotherhood unimpressed and refused to pay my bonus but I had to pay 4000 gold to the authorities to avoid jail (I made only 200 for the contract).

I think, to make it even more realistic, the Brotherhood should have issued me with a written warning for substandard work/bringing the Brotherhood into disrepute. Of course, they would have needed a representative from HR to be present

 

[thaddeus6th]

What you don't realise is the unspoken punishment of the "Murder-n00b" label they stuck on the back of your ceremonial robes.

Take your time with the Dark Brotherhood quests there are often little extra things you can do which can be a lot of fun.

 

[Foxbat]

Take your time with the Dark Brotherhood quests there are often little extra things you can do which can be a lot of fun.

Yes. I must learn to take my time.

I got a bit impatient waiting for the guards to move off so took an invisibility potion and then got lost in the passageways. Unfortunately, the potion only lasts for sixteen seconds so when I became visible and the guards saw me, it was clobberin' time

 

[Venusian Broon]

Today in Oblivion, I killed a prison inmate for the Dark Brotherhood. Unfortunately, I had to kill four guards too. Not only were the Brotherhood unimpressed and refused to pay my bonus but I had to pay 4000 gold to the authorities to avoid jail (I made only 200 for the contract).

I think, to make it even more realistic, the Brotherhood should have issued me with a written warning for substandard work/bringing the Brotherhood into disrepute. Of course, they would have needed a representative from HR to be present

Yeah, you weren't contracted to kill the guards!

If you want to kill everything in sight, the arena seems to be the place for you (Or perhaps another organisation you may come across, but that'd be spoilers if I told you who and why.)

p.s. did you realise that the guy you were supposed to kill, was the same one that taunts you right at the very start? Karma baby...

 

[Foxbat]

did you realise that the guy you were supposed to kill, was the same one that taunts you right at the very start? Karma baby

I didn't realise that. If I'd known I would have looked for a more agonising death for him than a simple swing of my sword

 

[Toby Frost]

"We found the body, sir. It's not pretty. He's taken an arrow to the knee and somebody's stolen his sweetroll."

 

[Foxbat]

After dealing with some stubborn roots in my mum's garden, I decided to unwind by taking a break from Oblivion and fired up my recent purchase of Field Of Glory 2: Medieval. I suppose you could describe it as miniatures in a PC. I also recently bought a couple of DLCs for it covering the Crusades (I've recently been reading up on that era). I tried a quick battle to get the hang of things (Andelucian Muslims...me versus Castillians...PC).
Long story short, I got my arse handed to me on a plate. It all started off very well as my light cavalry routed some slingers and a few other light units but, try as I might, I just couldn't cope with the heavy cavalry. I tried the old Agincourt trick but just didn't have enough archers to make a difference.

The day was not mine so I'll end this post with an apt quote from Henry V. It kind of sums up my leadership skills

the king himself hath
a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and
arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join
together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at
such a place;'

 

[.matthew.]

I tried the old Agincourt trick but just didn't have enough archers to make a difference.

Well, you're from a little too far north to pull that trick off

 

[Foxbat]

Well, I can thank my lucky stars I'm not a king in some medieval European realm!
Been playing a bit more Field Of Glory 2: Medieval and it's brutal. I decided to play the Aragonese versus the Almohads and did a bit better than my earlier attempts (mainly because I'd read the manual). But those heavy feudal knights are so difficult to find a role for.

My first idea was to use them almost like modern battle tanks and try and smash the enemy lines through brute strength. Tip - do not do this.
They are just too difficut to maneuver. Once they become engaged in the fighting, they are easy pickings for flank and rear attacks.

Even worse, the cavalry I did not use in this manner, I utilised to try and chase the lighter muslim cavalry. Bad idea. They were tormented to death by these fast moving horse units diving in to land a blow then gone like the wind. This was normally followed up by other light cavalry conducting flank and rear attacks until the sheer attrition of the situation broke my noblemen and sent them fleeing the field.

No wonder so many Crusader battles went awry in the Levantine. About the only thing you can do is to send clouds of arrows into an enemy unit to disrupt them and then send in the heavies to chase them off - a rather inglorious role for such glorious nobles as these but they're not much good for anything other than mopping up.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Well, I can thank my lucky stars I'm not a king in some medieval European realm!
Been playing a bit more Field Of Glory 2: Medieval and it's brutal. I decided to play the Aragonese versus the Almohads and did a bit better than my earlier attempts (mainly because I'd read the manual). But those heavy feudal knights are so difficult to find a role for.

My first idea was to use them almost like modern battle tanks and try and smash the enemy lines through brute strength. Tip - do not do this.
They are just too difficut to maneuver. Once they become engaged in the fighting, they are easy pickings for flank and rear attacks.

Even worse, the cavalry I did not use in this manner, I utilised to try and chase the lighter muslim cavalry. Bad idea. They were tormented to death by these fast moving horse units diving in to land a blow then gone like the wind. This was normally followed up by other light cavalry conducting flank and rear attacks until the sheer attrition of the situation broke my noblemen and sent them fleeing the field.

No wonder so many Crusader battles went awry in the Levantine. About the only thing you can do is to send clouds of arrows into an enemy unit to disrupt them and then send in the heavies to chase them off - a rather inglorious role for such glorious nobles as these but they're not much good for anything other than mopping up.

I had a quick gander at the game on Steam when you mentioned it.

Looked like a 'chessboard' version of Total War - hence I expect the computer is going to be much harder to defeat!

What are the campaigns like for it? Are they just a number of connected battles or is there a bit of 4X map strategy stuff to do?

It looks interesting.

 

[Foxbat]

What are the campaigns like for it? Are they just a number of connected battles or is there a bit of 4X map strategy stuff to do?

I haven’t got that far into it yet. I think it is indeed a series of connected battles but, if I recall from the manual, you may be tasked to leave troops to garrison a structure etc. I would hazard a guess that this is to ensure an increasing level of difficulty with fewer (but more experienced) troops when progressing.

There is no 4X as such but Field Of Glory 2 (this is the game version based on the ancients …..Romans, Persians etc) can be used with Field Of Glory: Empires (which is a 4X game). I’ve never tried it but the idea is that you can port any battle from Empires and fight it within FOG2 and then port the results back into Empires….essentially doing in two games what Total War does in one. Whether it is worthwhile, I can’t yet say. The final point on the 4X aspect is that work is currently ongoing on Field Of Glory: Realms. This is a medieval 4X, which will allow similar battle porting in and out with FOG2: Medieval.

The main difference between the battles in Total War and FOG2 is that the latter is turn based and uses stuff like zones of control and command lines - all the usual stuff that you would find in miniatures and board strategy games. I think I’ve taken to this particular game because, long before PCs became de rigueur, I cut my teeth on both board strategy games and miniatures (although I didn’t really take to miniatures at the time). It does certainly have a chessboard feel to it and I’m finding it much harder to defeat than Total War.

My advice, for what it’s worth, is that, if you like miniatures gaming, this might be for you. Otherwise, best stick to Total War.

Hope that helps

 

[Foxbat]

I found this review of FOG2: Medieval which may help the undecided decide. One criticism in it is the time period covered. There are a number of DLCs (I have the first three) and these take the player beyond the period covered by the original game. My DLCs cover the Crusades, Reconquista and up to around about Agincourt.

Field of Glory 2: Medieval review

There's nothing new in Field of Glory 2's medieval line-up.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Foxbat]

Regarding Field Of Glory 2, I decided to take a step back and fired up the vanilla version (ancients).

I played a sandbox battle of Carthage (me) against Rome (PC) and managed to grind out a victory. I’m not deluding myself that my tactical acumen has somehow suddenly improved. The simple fact is that I had elephants. I used them to smash the Roman centre (which they did admirably). I then backed up the flanks of the elephants with spearmen to prevent any flanking or rear attacks on my precious beasts. I then used my cavalry, slingers and a couple of offensive spear formations to harry both Roman flanks who were, by now, isolated from each other and unable to provide any mutual support. It was a long, attritional process. It wasn’t so much blitzkreig as schleppendkreig. But, hey! A win’s a win

 

[Toby Frost]

I've played some of a game called Dead West, which is a sort of adventure with simplified X-Com type combat. It's set in the Wild West (with additional magic) and, while the plot is pretty hard to work out, it's entertaining. I thought I'd reached the end, and then realised that I'd finished the prologue. Whoops.

 

[Foxbat]

Back on Oblivion for me and although I really like this game, I’ve decided I really don’t like the Oblivion Gate sections. I’ve managed to close a couple of them recently and they can be a handy counterweight to the infamy gained from working for the Dark Brotherhood but, other than that, the word I would use to describe them is tedious. I think, from now on, I’ll be doing the absolute minimum where they are concerned regarding completing the main quest.

 

[Toby Frost]

I agree. They are one of weakest things in the game. I found that pushing my speed and stealth up helped me get through them, but they're still a chore. If I remember rightly, if you finish the main quest they either all disappear or no more show up.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Back on Oblivion for me and although I really like this game, I’ve decided I really don’t like the Oblivion Gate sections. I’ve managed to close a couple of them recently and they can be a handy counterweight to the infamy gained from working for the Dark Brotherhood but, other than that, the word I would use to describe them is tedious. I think, from now on, I’ll be doing the absolute minimum where they are concerned regarding completing the main quest.

Yeah, they only did 4 or 5 models for the oblivion dungeons, and they do get very samey once you've gone through them.

For my 'complete' run I did finish off all 60 that are available...but for all the latter ones I just ran into them with 100% chameleon and 100% invisibility and sprinted up to the top to get the crystal without fighting any of the monsters or picking up much loot.

 

[Toby Frost]

That's exactly what I did, although more haphazardly. I've never been into completing games in that way, and fairly quickly the benefits you get from the crystals aren't really worth that much, especially since they don't sell for decent money (although you could use them to enchant objects and then sell them). I've reached a point where money isn't very useful, except for repairing stuff.

 

[Venusian Broon]

That's exactly what I did, although more haphazardly. I've never been into completing games in that way, and fairly quickly the benefits you get from the crystals aren't really worth that much, especially since they don't sell for decent money (although you could use them to enchant objects and then sell them). I've reached a point where money isn't very useful, except for repairing stuff.

Exactly! I don't remember really using all those crystals at all. I think I did the final 20 when I was ridiculously overpowered at level 45 or so, so didn't need them anyway.