FRIDAY-nicity

[FlickJax]

Buying a new motor bike so will probably mostly be playing with that.....

[Sir Slash]

Fresh off my 'Heroic Victory' over the Greenskins in Warhammer TW, Sir Slash: Hero of Britonnia, where he led the forces of Good, Light and Puppy-Lovers, to victory after the General What-ever-his-name was struck down in mid-battle by a Greenskin axe,    I'll be taking a break. Something less intense and less work frankly like, a personal favorite, To End All Wars' Palestine Campaign.... where there are no Orcs. I hope. Have a great weekend Grogs!

[Ian C]

My friends's 'claim to fame' is that he gave a lift to Stewart Copeland to audition a guy for a band he was forming "called The Police". That guy he auditioned was Sting.


I shall be playing HOI4 Black Ice and Witcher 3.

How are you finding HOI4 Black Ice? I tried it out but found it to be a head-scratcher of complexity. Maybe I didn't give it enough time. Is it worth the effort?

It makes for a long game that's to be sure. I don't always want a huge deep game but it's there for when I'd like a three-course steak dinner and not just a Big Mac.

Black Ice is great from an historical point of view. I like the historical divisional structures and expanded battalions. The events system is good and the historical reinforcements are great. I usually always play as the UK and once tried Nazi Germany which seemed to have LOTS more depth. I also enjoy the slower pace though I don't care much for the expanded Construction tech tree (I think it's mainly useless). I also think having to keep tabs on dozens of material for divisional upkeep a bit tedious but you get used to it.

[DoctorQuest]

Working for a few hours early Sunday morning.

I am really enjoying the PC version of Atlantic Fleet. Finally sunk the damned sub in the training mission before taking fatal damage myself. Minor complaint: I really wish I could save custom missions.

[sandman2575]

My friends's 'claim to fame' is that he gave a lift to Stewart Copeland to audition a guy for a band he was forming "called The Police". That guy he auditioned was Sting.


I shall be playing HOI4 Black Ice and Witcher 3.

How are you finding HOI4 Black Ice? I tried it out but found it to be a head-scratcher of complexity. Maybe I didn't give it enough time. Is it worth the effort?

It makes for a long game that's to be sure. I don't always want a huge deep game but it's there for when I'd like a three-course steak dinner and not just a Big Mac.

Black Ice is great from an historical point of view. I like the historical divisional structures and expanded battalions. The events system is good and the historical reinforcements are great. I usually always play as the UK and once tried Nazi Germany which seemed to have LOTS more depth. I also enjoy the slower pace though I don't care much for the expanded Construction tech tree (I think it's mainly useless). I also think having to keep tabs on dozens of material for divisional upkeep a bit tedious but you get used to it.

BlackIce feels like a pretty huge disappointment to me, after having loved it in HOI3. If ever a mod suffered from 'feature creep', it's BlackIce. It's just too much -- as evidenced by all the contortions the designers go through to try to cram their ideas into the existing UI with extra tabs and buttons and windows.

Also the complete lack of aesthetic unity is a big turn off. They haven't done nearly enough to match their vision to Pdox's UI and graphics design (or else come up with a new one ... not that that would be easy). Too many elements look cut and pasted from other formats and sources. A mod like DiDay's Common Units shows how UI/graphical unity can be done -- though admittedly the scale of DiDay's mod is a lot smaller.

I wish I had some real modding skills, as I have in mind something like what I'd consider to be an ideal mod for HOI4. Primary concern: realistic OOBs and division templates. (If there's one thing I do like about BlackIce, it's their efforts in this area.) Fewer but more much more robust divisions overall (AI division spam remains a huge problem). Overhauled Naval combat -- no more preposterous AI doomstack fleets. Submarine warfare that actually bears some resemblance to WW2. Much more realistic modelling of : weather effects (currently negligible -- go ahead and launch that huge invasion in the dead of winter -- makes no difference); supply/logisitics; unit morale.

What kills me about HOI4 is that I feel it's already *almost* there -- *almost* the perfect Pdox WW2 game. But the part of me that wishes the game were just a bit more groggy, with better attention to historical detail and reality -- without going over the deep end in BlackIce fashion -- that's the mod I wish I could make.

[Rayfer]

My friends's 'claim to fame' is that he gave a lift to Stewart Copeland to audition a guy for a band he was forming "called The Police". That guy he auditioned was Sting.


I shall be playing HOI4 Black Ice and Witcher 3.

How are you finding HOI4 Black Ice? I tried it out but found it to be a head-scratcher of complexity. Maybe I didn't give it enough time. Is it worth the effort?

It makes for a long game that's to be sure. I don't always want a huge deep game but it's there for when I'd like a three-course steak dinner and not just a Big Mac.

Black Ice is great from an historical point of view. I like the historical divisional structures and expanded battalions. The events system is good and the historical reinforcements are great. I usually always play as the UK and once tried Nazi Germany which seemed to have LOTS more depth. I also enjoy the slower pace though I don't care much for the expanded Construction tech tree (I think it's mainly useless). I also think having to keep tabs on dozens of material for divisional upkeep a bit tedious but you get used to it.

BlackIce feels like a pretty huge disappointment to me, after having loved it in HOI3. If ever a mod suffered from 'feature creep', it's BlackIce. It's just too much -- as evidenced by all the contortions the designers go through to try to cram their ideas into the existing UI with extra tabs and buttons and windows.

Also the complete lack of aesthetic unity is a big turn off. They haven't done nearly enough to match their vision to Pdox's UI and graphics design (or else come up with a new one ... not that that would be easy). Too many elements look cut and pasted from other formats and sources. A mod like DiDay's Common Units shows how UI/graphical unity can be done -- though admittedly the scale of DiDay's mod is a lot smaller.

I wish I had some real modding skills, as I have in mind something like what I'd consider to be an ideal mod for HOI4. Primary concern: realistic OOBs and division templates. (If there's one thing I do like about BlackIce, it's their efforts in this area.) Fewer but more much more robust divisions overall (AI division spam remains a huge problem). Overhauled Naval combat -- no more preposterous AI doomstack fleets. Submarine warfare that actually bears some resemblance to WW2. Much more realistic modelling of : weather effects (currently negligible -- go ahead and launch that huge invasion in the dead of winter -- makes no difference); supply/logisitics; unit morale.

What kills me about HOI4 is that I feel it's already *almost* there -- *almost* the perfect Pdox WW2 game. But the part of me that wishes the game were just a bit more groggy, with better attention to historical detail and reality -- without going over the deep end in BlackIce fashion -- that's the mod I wish I could make.

I played a lot of HOI3 but could never figure out how to get the Black Ice Mod working in the Steam version (the only one I have).  A lot of people raved about it. 

[CJReich46]

Cool video, one of my favorite bands.

There's a recording on Concert Vault if you happen to find it that has The Police playing at UC-Berkeley in a gym of all places just before Roxanne broke big (about '78 right around "Outlandos d'Amour". )

As for me, I am just relaxing this weekend. I work Sunday however, since I got my anniversary coupon I am considering on getting Field of Glory II and maybe Immortal Fire. But gaming wise? I'm not too sure as I don't really plan it out much.

[MengJiao]

Excited for long weekend, hoping for an uneventful day at work. Probably be doing some IL2 BoS MP this weekend. As well as Project Zomboid and TW Rome II.

Maybe I should start looking at some of those games that I bought over the Xmas sale and haven't touched yet before I forget about them. Next thing you know, I'll be looking over their store pages in a future sale contemplating whether or not to purchase and forget that I already own them!

Similarly ClOD re-mod, Rome II 270 AD and World of Warships

[Ian C]

BlackIce feels like a pretty huge disappointment to me, after having loved it in HOI3. If ever a mod suffered from 'feature creep', it's BlackIce. It's just too much -- as evidenced by all the contortions the designers go through to try to cram their ideas into the existing UI with extra tabs and buttons and windows.

Also the complete lack of aesthetic unity is a big turn off. They haven't done nearly enough to match their vision to Pdox's UI and graphics design (or else come up with a new one ... not that that would be easy). Too many elements look cut and pasted from other formats and sources. A mod like DiDay's Common Units shows how UI/graphical unity can be done -- though admittedly the scale of DiDay's mod is a lot smaller.

I wish I had some real modding skills, as I have in mind something like what I'd consider to be an ideal mod for HOI4. Primary concern: realistic OOBs and division templates. (If there's one thing I do like about BlackIce, it's their efforts in this area.) Fewer but more much more robust divisions overall (AI division spam remains a huge problem). Overhauled Naval combat -- no more preposterous AI doomstack fleets. Submarine warfare that actually bears some resemblance to WW2. Much more realistic modelling of : weather effects (currently negligible -- go ahead and launch that huge invasion in the dead of winter -- makes no difference); supply/logisitics; unit morale.

What kills me about HOI4 is that I feel it's already *almost* there -- *almost* the perfect Pdox WW2 game. But the part of me that wishes the game were just a bit more groggy, with better attention to historical detail and reality -- without going over the deep end in BlackIce fashion -- that's the mod I wish I could make.

I don't disagree with any of this. I'm usually too polite to go further but yes, the UI stuff is tatty. The air combat windows has stuff pasted on and things look shoddy in places.

I do mod and have had mods out for HOI, Making History and other games going way back. It would be a major commitment for me (in terms of time spent, alone) but once 1.5 and the new expansion is out I may venture into this territory again.
Sandman - PM me a bullet point list or somesuch as to what you think the 'perfect' mod might be. I guess we might be thinking along similar lines here.

[bbmike]

Watching the intro to Game of Thrones reminded me of the Endless Legend landscape so I'm playing Endless Legend.

[sandman2575]

BlackIce feels like a pretty huge disappointment to me, after having loved it in HOI3. If ever a mod suffered from 'feature creep', it's BlackIce. It's just too much -- as evidenced by all the contortions the designers go through to try to cram their ideas into the existing UI with extra tabs and buttons and windows.

Also the complete lack of aesthetic unity is a big turn off. They haven't done nearly enough to match their vision to Pdox's UI and graphics design (or else come up with a new one ... not that that would be easy). Too many elements look cut and pasted from other formats and sources. A mod like DiDay's Common Units shows how UI/graphical unity can be done -- though admittedly the scale of DiDay's mod is a lot smaller.

I wish I had some real modding skills, as I have in mind something like what I'd consider to be an ideal mod for HOI4. Primary concern: realistic OOBs and division templates. (If there's one thing I do like about BlackIce, it's their efforts in this area.) Fewer but more much more robust divisions overall (AI division spam remains a huge problem). Overhauled Naval combat -- no more preposterous AI doomstack fleets. Submarine warfare that actually bears some resemblance to WW2. Much more realistic modelling of : weather effects (currently negligible -- go ahead and launch that huge invasion in the dead of winter -- makes no difference); supply/logisitics; unit morale.

What kills me about HOI4 is that I feel it's already *almost* there -- *almost* the perfect Pdox WW2 game. But the part of me that wishes the game were just a bit more groggy, with better attention to historical detail and reality -- without going over the deep end in BlackIce fashion -- that's the mod I wish I could make.

I don't disagree with any of this. I'm usually too polite to go further but yes, the UI stuff is tatty. The air combat windows has stuff pasted on and things look shoddy in places.

I do mod and have had mods out for HOI, Making History and other games going way back. It would be a major commitment for me (in terms of time spent, alone) but once 1.5 and the new expansion is out I may venture into this territory again.
Sandman - PM me a bullet point list or somesuch as to what you think the 'perfect' mod might be. I guess we might be thinking along similar lines here.

Looks like I was none too polite    Looking over my comments, they do sound pretty harsh, though not intended as such. Not at all disparaging the hard work of Panzeroo and the BlackIce team. I just disagree (Ok, pretty strongly disagree) with their design philosophy this time around.

I'd be psyched if you felt like doing a mod for HOI4, Ian. Will indeed send you a list (don't worry, I won't go overboard) of some ideas that have been bouncing around in my head.   

[Gusington]

Bbmike I bought a load of Endless Legend DLC during the holiday, having not played it for a while. How is the game holding up?

[bbmike]

Bbmike I bought a load of Endless Legend DLC during the holiday, having not played it for a while. How is the game holding up?

I have all of the DLC. I still like it. 

[Gusington]

^I really need to give it more time.

[Kushan]

Been playing Elite Dangerous for most of the day. Decided to put my good old Asp Explorer into storage and buy an Imperial Clipper. After spending way to much time trying to find modules before I remembered EDDB, I took it into a resource extraction zone to do some bounty hunting. Spent about an hour there and came out with about a million worth of bounties, I just need to get a better hang of the firing arcs.

Tomorrows going to be more Elite with possibly some Prepar3d thrown in.