Family, Cool Stuff and Assorted Geekery; the finer things in life. Updated when I have something interesting to write :)
I spend lots of time playing Elite. I’ve been playing since release and I’m still learning stuff about it. Which is great, as there’s always something new to discover.
But if you’re new to the game, it can seem a bit intimidating. I remember being overwhelmed when I first started playing with some disastrous results…
So if you’re starting from fresh, what’s a good start? Continue reading “How to Get Started In Elite: Dangerous”
Still playing a lot of Elite Dangerous, though I’ve improved a bit as a pilot since my initial forays….
It’s an amazing game to just fly around in. The flight model is top-notch and the galaxy is realistically modelled. The next best thing to being there (minus the asphyxiation and explosive decompression too!). I finally took a trip to the alien ruins that have been discovered and exploring them using the Vive was stunning; a very cool, creepy atmosphere that the pics don’t do justice to. Worth a trip!
Here’s a few screenshots. Continue reading “Elite Dangerous Photos”
Giants: Citizen Kabuto was a favourite at our LAN parties for a long time. It’s an interesting game; predominantly a single-player game it had a rudimentary multiplayer tacked-on, seemingly as an afterthought.
That meant multiplayer was a massive sand-box to play in with very little thought to balance.
Hence, it was totally awesome.
Continue reading “LAN Yarns: How To Lose Friends And Ingest People”
I grabbed this spontaneously the other day both due to the sale on Amazon and me not having played a good single-player FPS for ages. Multi-player Titanfall (1) was supposed to be great so I was a little tempted by the multi-player too but what I really wanted was a cool campaign to run through.
Titanfall 2 delivers, in spades.
Continue reading “TitanFall 2 Review (Spoiler-Free)”
We had a great LAN party last weekend. though in the end it was more of a LANBG (Local Area Network and Board Game) party. One of the games we played was the FFG’s X-Wing miniatures game. It looks fantastic and I’d got a few pieces on E-Bay to try out.
Previously I’d played a couple of partial games with my daughter (which she won; clearly shields are OP) but everyone was up for big 6-7 player game to really kick the tyres on it.
The game was great and I picked up some great tips about how you definitely should play (as long as you’re playing against me that is). Continue reading “How to Play X-Wing (If you’re not on my team)”
I’ve been playing Shadow Warrior 2 for a week now and it’s pretty good fun, though quite different to the original. Bit more detail below 🙂
Continue reading “Shadow Warrior 2 Review (No Spoilers)”
Sometimes I’m pulled away (struggling / screaming / whimpering) from my PC to interact with my family in the real work. Of course, ‘real’ is relative and it’s cool to play board games when the mood takes us. I’ve got a lot of games but most aren’t really suitable for family play either because;
A) The game takes 3 hours to even set up the board. By the point one or more family members have lost the will to live and have gone back to something more interesting like counting floating dog hairs or squabbling with siblings.
B) It involves the kind of cut-throat competitiveness that would make Machiavelli look like the Dalai Lama.
I wrote about some cool ones in another post. Here are some more; Continue reading “More Family Board Games”
My friends and I have regular LAN parties. Back in the day these were real LAN-only games without any connectivity to the Internet, matchmaking or progression systems. People occasionally played team-games but the real measure of a man at the LAN was in Free-For-All.
Every man for himself, the true test of skill! (Actually a test of stamina over 4+ hour games).
One man standing atop the conquered nations of his peers while earning their grudging respect! (Actually while they all seethed and grumbled about cheap tactics and underhand ‘diplomacy’).
One of the key tenets of playing these FFA games was the necessity of Casus Belli. Continue reading “LAN Yarns: The Vital Importance of Casus Belli in Free-For-All Games or How One Wrong Step From A Peon Costs You the Game”
After many restarts and dismal failures I did it ; Legendary Ironman XCOM 2 complete!
It’s a lot of fun; you always feel you’re close to death (at least at the beginning of the game) and the tension really gives you that “against all odds” vibe. I’ve collated some tips to help you retain some sanity when you start Operation Gatecrasher for the tenth time.
I’ve written a similar guide for Long War 2, here.
Also here’s a guide for War of the Chosen (the latest XCOM2 expansion).
Herring's Fishbait 