2014

Most Useful Wurm Online Program Ever? Wurm Assistant

stargrace March 1, 2014 0Comment

I wrote a blog post some time ago about Wurm Assistant, one of the out-of-game programs I use while playing Wurm Online. The program has undergone some amazing changes since then and I figured it was time to talk about it again. I still use (and test) this program on a daily basis, and I can not recommend it enough to long term Wurm Online players.

As you can tell by the image above, there’s a new format for timers. You can center click that window and have it always be on top of your Wurm window. You can set each character individually, with their own timers and have popups or sounds per timer. It’s amazing. As you can see I’m currently playing three characters in Wurm. Two are priests. They all meditate. I have timers that tell me when their path question is up, when to turn their sleep bonus off (after the 5 minute timer), when enchant grass is ready, as well as refresh.

This just touches on the very basics of the program. I also use the granger ability to keep three herds organized. The UI for that has changed some what, but it’s still an amazing feature. Then there is the sounds feature. You can attach sounds to specific actions. So lets say you’re leading a horse along and suddenly you realize you’re not leading it any more. How about a warning that tells you when you stop leading? You can easily create this by inputting the text from the event window when you stop leading, and attaching a sound to it. I have a few such sound events. One for when a wall breaks while mining, another for when the ground in front of my character is too full of items, or when my inventory is too full of items. Playing 3 characters at once means I am not always watching the event window, sometimes I’m clicking the create button on the new crafting UI as I talk to friends in alliance, only to find out that I’ve wasted the clicks because my inventory is full. These warnings prevent all of that.

A huge thank you to Aldur who created this program and continues to maintain it. Programs like these are essential to games like Wurm (think Evemon, or UI mods) and this one is certainly one of the best.

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

Gaming

Treasures

stargrace February 26, 2014 0Comment

One of my favorite things to do in Wurm Online involves pillaging. Now, this comes with ups and downs. First, you can’t just go taking whatever you would like. There are rules. The game gives players every opportunity to secure their belongings, and I firmly believe that it is the players job to secure these belongings. If you don’t, and your stuff happens to go missing, you have no one to blame but yourself. If the belongings were secured within the rules of the game and still taken, then it is the fault of those who took the items. Please understand that I in no way advocate breaking game rules.

In my wanderings I happen to stumble across lots of unsecured items. Last night it was 700+ bricks and rock shards, along with tools, 78ql ore, and other odds and ends. All of it sitting in a mine, unsecured. If you’re mining 78ql ore you are more than familiar with the game rules – that skill doesn’t come easily. Leaving your stuff unsecured is a bad idea.

I also came across a rare saw, a rare 2h sword, and a few other odds and ends in a different mine. No door on the mine (even if there was a door that does not mean it’s secured) no deed, no locks. To secure your stuff it has to be a legal enclosure. A fence with a house visible (a completed house at that). Put locks on things to discourage others and don’t just leave things laying around undeeded if you’re interested in keeping them. When things go missing it sucks, trust me I know. In my earlier days I lost a whole pen of horses from someone bashing down a wall on my perimeter. There was nothing I could do except learn from my mistakes.

Why bother taking things that don’t belong to you? You certainly don’t have to but it is a part of gameplay. If you don’t take advantage of what you find out in the wild, chance are someone else will. People stop playing all the time, deeds fall, and items decay into nothingness. I’ve been called some pretty harsh names because of my pillaging but I’m always certain to never break the rules of the game, and I’m cautious with my looting. I won’t loot anything if someone is standing there working on the stuff because obviously they’re setting up still and that’s not fair. I try to find locations I know are guaranteed abandoned by checking activity and decay. I don’t bash fences even if they are illegal enclosures because it just doesn’t feel right – even though it is well within the rules of the game.

I’m pleased with what I’ve found so far. None of it is earth shattering rare, usually just raw materials and storage bins, but it does help me out as they’re supplies I can use at my own deed. Just keep in mind that the saying “deed it or lose it” is not just an empty phrase.

Gaming

Lets Play More Banished

stargrace February 25, 2014 1Comment

In the hopes of not having everyone die on my second year, I’ve still been playing Banished and enjoying every second of it. My first town was a bust, everyone slowly starved to death. The second town started off strong. I created a woodcutter, I penned the cows, I even created a market. I felt good, confident. People were eating enough and things were going smooth – until the second year hit and their reserves ran out and I realized I didn’t create a blacksmith so they had no tools to perform their jobs. No tools means eventually no food, and now everyone is (once again) starving to death while they walk around aimlessly, tool icon hovering over their head along with the starvation icon.

I did plan a blacksmith, but it was too late the damage had been done. I know the exact moment it all went wrong, too. It was when I started planning roads. In my haste I forgot how long it takes to build those roads (they don’t magically appear) and so everyone was preoccupied with that for a while. There’s a fine line between building too fast and too slow. A line that I have obviously not managed to figure out yet.

Third time is the charm, right?

Gaming

Lets Play Banished

stargrace February 23, 2014 2Comments

It started out innocently enough. I was in charge of a village. There were 6 adults, 6 children, and eventually 6 students. They had homes, and a small supply of firewood and food. Enough to last a year but not much beyond that unless I helped. I figured the best thing to do would be to create a hospital first, and then a school so my little village could become educated. Along the way I built a blacksmith, started a mine, created a gatherer hut, fishing docks, and some hunting stations.

Little did I know that I had neglected a few key points, the first one being that you need a woodcutter in order to create firewood. This is different than the typical logs that I had been stockpiling. My first winter everyone was nice and cosy, but when the second winter hit we were in trouble. Citizens were complaining about the bitter wind and a few died off, freezing to death. Then there were the problems with food. Crops were planted late, didn’t have a season to grow, and I had not rounded up any animals into pens to use for food even though the ground was covered with chickens. Citizens started complaining that there was no food, and they slowly, one at a time, died.

Children who were left with no parents had no way to bring food home, so they died. The chain went on and on until I gave up and started the town over, taking my new knowledge with me.

I’m still on my first year but at least I haven’t been hit with a tornado like a friend of mine was. His poor town was practically wiped out before he even started. In a “thank goodness it wasn’t me” moment I laughed. I laughed hard. The game is currently $20 on steam, but you can also buy it directly from the web site and you’ll get two keys that way. One for a DRM free PC version, and the steam key. The game is created by a single developer, and it makes me cringe to think back to the $60 I forked out for SimCity that I played for a month before giving up.

That doesn’t mean everything is perfect, or that the game is a guaranteed win with everyone. While the basic ‘jist’ of it is survival, some people get bored once they’ve accomplished that goal and have a bustling village. If you happen to enjoy building towns just for the sake of building towns I am confident you will have as much fun with Banished as I have been having not to mention the fact that the game is just gorgeous and incredibly detailed.

Gaming

Early Access is Everywhere

stargrace February 20, 2014 0Comment

I was taking a look through my steam games this morning, and noticed that a majority of the newer games I own are still in early access. This isn’t a bad thing and I’m glad that indie companies (as well as more established companies) are able to acquire funding for their games through early access BUT I can’t help but wish that these games were completed, or that more of them were completed.

Starbound, Folk Tale, Gnomoria, Castle Story, Craft the World, and The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot are just some of those games.

It got me thinking about the bickering that happened when Landmark offered ‘early access’ to players for buying in (without touching on Kickstarter at this point). Why were people not hating on Ubisoft for their early access sales? Why are so many people upset and pointing fingers directly at SOE when it is a very common thing to see these days? Funding comes through many different ways. It can be a kickstarter project, it can be through pre-order sales, early access sales, etc. Truth of the matter is people have to get paid for their work and there’s no shame in buying into these early access games at all. You’re helping to fund the game, you’re telling the company that you believe in their product enough to spend money. As a ‘reward’ for plopping down that money you’re typically given early access.

The gaming industry is constantly shifting and changing – we saw it shift when more and more games moved away from subscription models and turned free to play, and we’re seeing it again as more games garner their funding from crowdsourcing mechanics. It’s time to stop being angry at companies, businesses, for trying to earn money. It is their job. If you don’t believe in their product you don’t have to pay for it but please don’t hold a grudge against those who do.

Most Useful Wurm Online Program Ever? Wurm Assistant

Treasures

Lets Play More Banished

Lets Play Banished

Early Access is Everywhere

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