October 2014

Endless Legend

2014-10-12_00002Endless Legend is a beautiful turn based fantasy strategy game that I was lucky enough to be gifted not too long ago. It’s a lot like civilization – if it were on drugs. There’s so much involved in growing and expanding your culture that I doubt I can even explain it all. The tutorial does a great job of explaining what there is to do, and so far that’s all I have been playing through (on the easiest mod, too. I’m trying to get used to the controls). You get quests like you do in Tropico, deal in politics, research, exploration, conquering lands and all the rest.

What really impressed me though (and I know, it’s shallow) is the graphics. The map is just astounding. I think I could spend hours zoomed in on different sections trying to figure it all out. Like all games of this type you really need to sink a good amount of time into it before you start making decent progress. I’m up to three outposts now with a handful of smaller villages. I’ve pacified any outsiders that were in the area, and done battle with some serpent like creatures as well as a race of rock people. I don’t think they liked me moving in on their territory, but c’est la vie.

Fancy Armour

2014-10-08_16.04.46After heading off to Paul’s place to check out his smeltery set up, I went back to my own and adjusted mine a bit. Works like a dream. I didn’t have a lot of gold but I had enough to get a few casings made, and created a lovely set of bronze armour. Much better than the leather armour I was wearing before (which I stole from bandits). I’ll need to find a better source of metals in order to make some tools (I need casings) but I’m looking forward to it. I also need to make some iron blocks in order to make a tool forge, one of the machines I left off of my list (didn’t have the iron). In the mean time I can easily use the Nexus to get to Paul’s smeltery and use that one instead.

I haven’t created a method of recycling the molten metals back into the smeltery but that will be next on my list of things to do. I may also look into automating the system, but it feels a bit out of my league.

Speaking of out of my league, I went and checked out the power plant that Paul and Joel have created. Wow. That thing is insane.

2014-10-11_07.46.14

I also want to do more exploring. Especially now that I’m all set up with armor and weapons. I plan on creating a second set of gear to keep in my chest (backups are always important) and going wandering once I have some free time. Hopefully I find some great spoils to take home! I get the urge to wander quite frequently, as much as I love my castle sometimes I just want to see what’s out there.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Lets Get Married

10-01-14_9-20 AM-2There’s nothing more romantic than proposing to someone in a bathroom, on the first date, while they’re dressed in a hotdog costume.. or is there?

My legacy family is coming along. Jessica Little met up with Alfonzo for a date and they fell madly in love. Jessica decided not to waste any time, and proposed on the spot. Turns out that Alfonzo is an elder, and quite a few days into it already. That bodes well for Jessica, but it does mean they had to start their family as soon as possible in order to continue the legacy. Little Emily was born – and I’m glad it was just one kid instead of a handful.

When they got married Alfonzo came with $20,000 which I used to upgrade the house to an actual home and not just a room with a toilet. They still have to hunt for plants and statues to sell for extra cash as they don’t pull in nearly enough right now to be comfortable, but I am sure that will come with time.

Jessica is taking some time off work right now, but she has aspirations to become a writer. Alfonzo decided to reboot his career and he’s in the IT department, though he doesn’t know anything about what he’s doing.

This was also a week of announcements, as EA finally announced swimming pools coming in November. I’m really looking forward to that. They also included a bunch of halloween features, like ghosts and spooky radio stations. Best of all the content is all free. Who doesn’t like free things!

Smeltery? SMELTERY!

2014-10-06_13.48.17I have a smeltery! It works, too. Well, sort of. I figured out how to make blocks (I made one just for fun) but I have no idea how to make casings or actual things instead of just blocks. For some reason the tap that leads to my table doesn’t seem to want to spit out any of my bronze. I plan on going to visit P to see what his set up is like, and probably steal his design. I may just be using the wrong components on the table, but I’m not really sure. Or maybe my block container needs to be empty before I use the table part. Again, no idea.

I spent very little time playing yesterday (boo, real life) plus our server went down for a while. By the time it was back up it was time for me to get some sleep before work. Short term goals include trying to figure out what’s wrong with my smeltery, and maybe making some bronze armor. It would be a big improvement over my current leathers (which I stole from some bandits).

I also haven’t made any progress in decorating my castle, but hey I’m not in any rush. I’ll try to get some screenshots posted here later today. As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Diving into Tinkers’ Construct

2014-10-05_18.04.21It’s not pretty (yet) but pictured above is the start of my tinkers’ workshop. I decided that if I was ever going to get comfortable with minecraft mods, I would have to actually start taking advantage of them and not just building manual farms. This is me taking one very tentative step. I started off by reading a book I had in my inventory. It taught me the basics like how to create a blank pattern, a stencil table, a part crafter, a pattern chest, and a tool station. I also learned how to create a tool forge but I don’t have the seared bricks for that yet, so it’s not pictured. Pictured is also one of those neat lamps that I stole from the dungeon I was in yesterday, they provide great light and are way better looking than the torches I have scattered around. I will probably replace the rest of the torches with those lights tomorrow, and I may make the walls all one matching stone (maybe using builder blocks) instead of the ugly miss matched dirt stone and marble. In the center I plan on creating the Smeltery, which uses a lot of supplies that I just don’t have.

53 Sand, 52 Clay, 52 Gravel and 105 units of fuel

I have the gravel, but I have had a rough time trying to get clay. There’s sand in abundance, so I should be able to collect everything tomorrow.

All of these stations allow me to create new types of tools, and customize them. They also let me repair said tools at the tool station so that I don’t have to worry about constantly breaking them and creating a new one from scratch. The more I read the more interested I got – and then I got completely confused as I read on automation of this system. Honestly, I think I’m far from automated-anything in Minecraft, but that is certainly a “one day” goal.

It feels weird to be so “old school” when it comes to this game and then come face to face with so many ‘new’ types of technology through mods. It has changed the game (for me at least) quite a bit, and requires a thought process that I wouldn’t have expected previously. I find that I need to focus a bit, or else things just don’t get done. Speaking of which. Still no success in getting components to breed my chocobo’s. Those lovely greens are just way too dang rare. Maybe I’ll have better luck tomorrow.