The days in black desert lately have all been spent waiting for the next season to start (December 22nd, for those keeping track at home) along with the latest class changes (happening at the same time) and the hope that there are some holiday events taking place. A lot of fishing, some gathering, a tiny bit of questing, and that’s how I’ve spent 99% of my time since the last season ended.
I’m thinking of creating a ranger this time around, with a boost to tamer – maybe.
I know, I have many ends to weave in and I’m procrastinating on those, but now it’s time to knit the hood! I’m finally out of sleeve island.
Right now my internet speed is 5mb/s – and it has been for almost two years. When you happen to be a nomadic gamer, this becomes VERY painful, especially given the fact that there’s more than just me in the house. We don’t have cable, so if the children are watching TV we can’t download. My husband is also a pretty big gamer and he has games that require patching too. These days, games are HUGE, and they have LOTS of patches, which is great – when you have great internet but not all of us have that available, and I never realized just what a big deal it was until we moved out this way. Hopefully it’s just a few more months to go and then we can enjoy ‘regular’ internet once again. Until then, my steam library is looking a bit bleak.
My husband gifted me this adorable little (not so little) game called ‘Let’s Build a Zoo’ – and I have absolutely fallen in love with it (it’s not perfect, there are some UI issues). Like any other ‘build’ game out there, you start with a blank slate and some cash. You acquire animals by rescuing them or by creating a valuable DNA version of an animal that another zoo wants. You min/max everything about the zoo, what you feed your animals, what staff to hire, who runs your shops, and whether or not you’re going to paint a goose to look like a peacock or use dead animals to create robots.
Yep. It gets awesome.
The game lets you splice and join together unlikely animals, like a capybara and a snake. You can also clone animals, and your park has a morality rating. You can go down a ‘good’ moral path that focuses on bettering the environment and doing good – or you can go down a more evil path, where you produce animals and then ship them off to factories to become beautiful objects. Or eaten.
The game is deceptively complex, and the bigger your park, the more complex it becomes. That’s where the game also has a bit of a downfall. The UI is not exactly friendly – if you have 10 soda machines in your park and you want to adjust the cost, you have to toggle each machine individually. Same with staff salaries, and adding salt to food stands. When you’re first starting out this isn’t that big of a deal, but as you buy land and expand, it becomes a huge hassle to micro manage everything to such an extent.
Despite that issue, I’m a few hours in now and having a lot of fun. There are TONS of animal combinations, different habitats, decorations, and moral components. The price is reasonable, and if you’re looking for a little builder game, this might be one you want to look at.
As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!
For a few years now I have been following the progress of e-spinners. There are some lovely ones out there depending on how traditional (Ashford) or non traditional (e-Kube) you want to go. They all work similar, but one that I’ve had my eyes on for quite some time is the Starling (V3) from Daedalus. This year my husband decided to surprise me by adding me to their queue list, with the hopes of purchasing one when they do a batch.
This is a 3D printed e-spinner (with some non printed parts, of course) that just looks like an absolute dream. I’ve wanted an e-spinner for days that I can’t treadle (which lately, are quite a few) or when I wanted portability. My Kiwi2 is a lovely wheel, but I’ve always wondered how much easier on my body it might be if the machine was providing the twist for me instead of having to treadle. Then I could focus on drafting, or not focus at all and just watch some TV while I draft. The machine weighs 2.5lbs, comes with 3 bobbins that hold 12oz (!) includes a battery, and a speed control box. The Starling V3 is their mid range model, and can do everything from lace to art yarn.
I’m on a wait list right now to try to get one, but I know it will take some time. I’m OK with that. One of the great things about e-spinners is that they don’t really change, and they don’t lose value (nor do regular spinning wheels, don’t get me wrong here). I’m hoping it will be a 2022 delivery, but we’ll just have to wait and see!
stargrace