Tag: Sci-Fi

11/20/14

Birth of the Federation, an AAR, Part 9

CHAPTER NINE: YOU CAN’T UNSEE IT

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The last time I saw anything that disgusting was when a dancer named ‘Wolf 359’ bent herself so far over, she turned into a singularity and disappeared. I will not watch movies about people eating people any more. I have people to do that for me. The idea is sound, but there’s no reason the leader should be exposed to such trauma.

I’m staring at a pretty decent fleet, though it’s very civ-heavy. Meaning, more Troop Transports and Colony Ships than actual ships that can ‘bring the pain.’ Since we’re all flower children more or less, having a gigantic fleet-in-being is not only not conducive with Federation aims, it’s also a huge drain on the economy. It’s still early yet and I need to do some more colonizing so I can do some more taxing and graftin’ (daddy gotta get HIS) to support a large fleet. For purely defensive purposes, of course. And so far, my expansion is small, though that will change soon. I don’t like the idea of being spread out and having no good ships to defend myself should big ol’ greenie meanies come sniffing around my people like they’re sides of beef (Soylent Green was MY idea, after all).

Thing is, in Birth of the Federation, the Federation gets huge penalties for being war-like. Doing things like bombing planets into dust will piss off the population at large, so a little alien cleansing…IF we actually find aliens, that is…is not on the to-do list. But, I like to bring it up during the staff meetings every so often, just to see how many shades of pale I can make everyone sitting around the table.

God, it’s good to be the king.

BOTF-8-008

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11/14/14

GrogHeads Reviews Falling Skies

Andy Mills, 14 November 2014

How does the TV show translate to a game?

Introduction

The TV show Falling Skies tells the story of the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment, a group of rag tag warriors that are fighting an alien race (the Espheni) intent on dominating the Earth. This sci-fi drama is set on the East Coast of the United States after a near-catastrophic alien attack and features a myriad of characters from all walks of life. The majority of the action tends to be focused around the exploits of Tom Mason, a former university history professor, who is now the second in command of the 2nd Mass. Tom and his comrades are having limited success in fighting the Espheni, when a second alien race (the Vohm) lands on the Earth to help the humans with their struggle.

As one can imagine, Falling Skies provides fertile ground for a squad-based, tactical strategy game that would allow players to share in the adventures of the 2nd Mass and their struggle for survival. Creating a successful PC game based on a TV show is no easy task. The gaming landscape is littered with examples of TV shows or movie adaptations that turned into complete train wrecks (insert the name of any Star Trek game ever released here). The key to making a good PC game adaption of a TV show is striking the perfect mix of established content with a solid gaming system – so before starting my review, I found myself asking two things:

  • How will Falling Skies fare in relation to some of the other excellent titles in this genre, such as the most recent XCOM and Xenonauts?
  • Does the game provide the player with an experience similar to that depicted on the Falling Skies TV show?

With these questions in mind, I fired up my Steam account and pulled the trigger on Falling Skies.

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11/12/14

Book Review: Islands of Rage and Hope

A Review of Islands of Rage and Hope by John Ringo

Avery Abernethy, 12 November 2014

 

Islands of Rage and Hope is the third novel in John Ringo’s intelligent zombie apocalypse series.  Steven Smith (Wolf), his wife, and daughters Sophia and Faith (Seawolf and Shewolf) have continued to build their flotilla in the Atlantic.  The novel starts with Wolf Squadron’s attack on the bare remnants of the US military forces at Guantanamo Bay Cuba.  The hope of Wolf Squadron, which now leads the largest surviving contingent of US military forces in operation, is capturing enough of the right medical equipment to start large scale manufacture of a vaccine against the zombie drug.  If vaccine production can be restarted, then the crews of US nuclear submarines can be turned into an effective land fighting force.

 

Just after I finished reading this book, a scary new twist in the real-world Ebola virus gripped much of the world.  Two medical missionaries infected with Ebola were flow back from Africa to nearby Atlanta and hopefully cured.  This real world episode framed Ringo’s coverage of the manufacture of a vaccine for a deadly disease in an uncomfortably real perspective.  Much of the discussion of how to isolate a vaccine, the risks of various vaccines, and the production speed of vaccine covered in the book is now in the pages of newspapers world-wide.

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11/6/14

A Distant Worlds AAR – Part 6

By Brandon “Kushan” Johnson, October 9, 2014

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DW Part 06 - 01

I have a minor problem I didn’t notice until now: my fleet range is atrocious. That cuts down on the options I have for targets. The only viable ones are the Gulrath Territory, Grand Iskabar Authority, and the Yirphunea Supremacy. The former two would stretch my fleets’ fuel limits. The Yirphunea are closer, but I would be going up against their home world defenses.

 

For now I’m going to run covert operations against all three focusing on the Yirphunea. If I can catch them while their fighting someone else I might be able to catch their homeworld without significant troops or ships to support it.

 

DW Part 06 - 02

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10/16/14

Birth of the Federation, an AAR, Part 8

CHAPTER 8: STILL WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE

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As space has nothing BUT time while it passes…time, it’s been a while since the last AAR. Technically, I’ve been busy, but untechnically, I’ve been touring our newest colonies. MURICA. I mean, uhh, FEDER…uh…FEDERMURICA.

So anyway, let’s take a look at where we’re at right now. Shall we? Yes, let’s.

 

BOTF-8-001

Here’s our slice of the galaxy. We’ve explored…well, not much. Humans are lazy! I should start popping pills into their synthe-tribble ribs to make them move faster. Then again, we can only move as fast as my little Troop Transports and Colony Ships can carry my children. (I know I’m totally working up some delusions of grandeur, but when you technically have total control over an entire empire…well, stuff happens.)

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