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Latest Comments by Philadelphus
Turn-based colony builder on the red planet Terraformers is out now
13 Mar 2023 at 6:40 pm UTC Likes: 1

I've been playing Terraformers a lot throughout Early Access (I enjoyed it so much I submitted an article about it almost a year ago), and they've added some nice improvements with the full release. The biggest one that comes to mind is that there's now an indicator to give you an idea of when you might get the dreaded "Rising expectations" event based on how well your luck has been going. (That's one of the few things I might change about the game: having expectations rise steadily rather than jumping. But perhaps they tried that and it wasn't as fun, who knows.) There's also a new weekly challenge and the ability to create your own custom challenge instead of using one of the preset ones.

Besides that you can now build cities on Phobos and Deimos, there are a bunch of new projects and some new leaders, there are some minor visual changes that make cities look a little more lively, there are some new major random events you can get which add some unique new mid-game challenges (like a planet-killing asteroid strike or needing to rescue refugees from Earth), and there's just generally bit more polish on what was already a solid game. On the easier difficulty levels I find this to be a great relaxing game, just picking projects and expanding my cities to a chill soundtrack, while on harder difficulty levels every turn becomes an engaging puzzle to utilize every available resource and trick to maximize resource outputs and keep happiness up to stave off defeat. If you like terraforming Mars and turn-based games, I can definitely recommend this one.

Base-building, tower defense and digging — Lumencraft has it all
7 Mar 2023 at 3:37 am UTC

Oh, I played the demo for this at a recent Next Fest. It didn't quite grab me, I think I just don't really like top-down perspective or something. It seemed a decent-quality game other than that.

LEGO Bricktales to get a free Easter content update
5 Mar 2023 at 11:46 pm UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderYou will have to let us know what you think of it...... It is also on my wishlist.........
Finally tore myself away from other games long enough to put some more time into it. It's a nice enough game, though as mentioned the locked WASD and other controls could be a big problem. You can move your character around by holding down the left mouse button, but in practice I much preferred walking with WASD. The environments I found to be gorgeous, all these large well-crafted LEGO dioramas to move about in. Gameplay so far (~2 hours in) seems to be a mix of a Metroidvania traversal around (I've already unlocked two ability which open up new sections of maps) with collecting items and puzzle elements. These turned out to have a surprising (to me) structural component, as much of the time you need to build bridges or stairs to progress, and like Bridge Constructor there's a simulation element where you have to get a little robot across without your construction breaking. Once you've completed a puzzle (which have limited numbers of a pre-set set of bricks), you can go back and build on it in sandbox mode with more types and unlimited numbers of bricks if you want (which can be pretty fun, not having to worry about running out of a particular style of brick like in real life!). Storywise it feels like it's aiming at a kid audience, which isn't too surprising, though it may be a tad simplistic for adults. I haven't had any issues with stability or screen flashing myself. Overall it feels like a pretty high-quality effort, with good animations and visuals and a competent building mode, though I kind of miss a "run" functionality for getting around (maybe there's something later that helps with that, I don't know). That said, how fun you find it will depend on you; it was fun enough to keep going while I was in it, but now that I've quit to write this I find other games calling my name…

Quoting: KlaasDid they add support for multiple save slots? That was the other thing that was blatantly missing at release.
I didn't notice multiple save slots.

LEGO Bricktales to get a free Easter content update
3 Mar 2023 at 8:17 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: StoneColdSpider
Quoting: PhiladelphusIt's on my wishlist, ooh, and it's on sale until March 6. I quite enjoyed LEGO Builder's Journey, sooo…why do you keep doing this to my poor wallet, Liam? What did it ever do to you? :tongue:

Fake edit: Oh, it's also <1 GB, nice and small. :smile:
You will have to let us know what you think of it...... It is also on my wishlist.........
Will do. I've gotten sidetracked by PlateUp! again right after installing*, but I'll try to get around to reporting back before the sale ends.

*One of the best flow-state-producing games for me in years.

Quoting: CatKillerESDFers, southpaws, and the French are particularly affected.
Just the way you said that made it sound like the setup to a joke. "An ESDFer, a southpaw, and a French person walk into a gaming convention…" :smile: But seriously, good on ya for reporting that, and especially for providing information about how to fix it.

Valve doesn't need much to make a Steam Deck 2 a huge success
3 Mar 2023 at 8:10 am UTC

Make the power button bulge out like the volume buttons instead of in; on not a few occasions I've tried to power on/wake up my Deck without looking only to realize I'm pressing the USB-C port which is right nearby and feels similar to my fingertips. 😂

Though realistically, I'm happy with what I have and not looking for any sort of upgrade at the moment, since I don't use mine for pushing the envelope with demanding games. Maybe the one upgrade I'd like would be a bump in screen resolution; for the games I'm usually playing it wouldn't really need more power, but it'd easier to read small text and just look nicer in general.

LEGO Bricktales to get a free Easter content update
1 Mar 2023 at 6:35 pm UTC Likes: 1

It's on my wishlist, ooh, and it's on sale until March 6. I quite enjoyed LEGO Builder's Journey, sooo…why do you keep doing this to my poor wallet, Liam? What did it ever do to you? :tongue:

Fake edit: Oh, it's also <1 GB, nice and small. :smile:

Minecraft 1.20 adding Archaeology, Cherry Blossom Biome and a Sniffer mob
28 Feb 2023 at 6:43 pm UTC

I just remembered that I've played with a mod, Astral Sorcery, that already had a sort of archaeology involved, as to progress at some points required finding certain world-gen structures which were often buried in sand in deserts up to their tops, and would need to be excavated to use/find treasures within.

Paradox plan announcements next week, like a new game from Cities Skylines dev
28 Feb 2023 at 6:23 pm UTC

I probably won't be tuning in, but I'll be interested to see what they announce. :smile:

Here's how to mod Stardew Valley on the Steam Deck
24 Feb 2023 at 8:07 am UTC

Quoting: BexI'm brand new to a lot of this, so thank you in advance for your help and patience if these are dumb questions. I followed your steps, but wanted to take a short cut. I have a lot of mods already on my pc (windows). Is it possible to transfer those over without any issues? I used winpinator to transfer the mods over to my steam deck. I then put them in my mods folder in my game. When running the game the load times are slow but the mods are showing up. Loading saves is about a min. Making a new character and starting a new game takes 5+ min. Is this due to another issue or because I didn't download the mods directly from nexus as you did?
Not a dumb question. :smile: Just to note, I haven't tried modding SV on my Deck myself, so this is just a general answer, but I wouldn't think the method of getting them on your Deck would make a difference. How many mods is "a lot"? If they're showing up in-game (and not crashing?) it sounds like it's working, but depending on the number (or specific mods, maybe, especially lots of graphics- or computation-heavy ones?) they might simply be slowing the game down from sheer numbers.

Stellaris: First Contact releasing March 14th with a free update
24 Feb 2023 at 7:58 am UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Purple Library GuyBut I'd love it for those times when I've got some kind of research project chain, like finding all those critters,
THIS. So much this. 🤣

I actually spent some time drafting a suggestion post in my head to change that event so it spawns the creatures within your borders, or at least not within empires with closed borders to you (though obviously there are some constraints on the planets that can be used).

Actually, if there's one more thing I'd love to see in Stellaris, it'd be a story pack expanding on these sorts of non-sapient or pre-sapient lifeforms. Like having a bunch of randomly-generated animal/plant/fungus species that are only found on one planet in the galaxy, or within one system (or maybe they hitch rides on spaceships and end up spreading across the galaxy! Invasive species have lots of story potential.) They wouldn't necessarily have to do much beyond exist, though they could maybe give little bonuses (maybe they have their own trait system like "Cuddly: +2% happiness to pops on this planet", etc.). It'd help planets feel more unique instead of just "Frozen World #213" if they're the only place in the galaxy a unique type of charismatic megafauna lives, for instance.