Jahger Conquers Outland

So my new Cataclysm character, Jahger the Worgen Hunter, has reached level 70 (the current level cap is 85). With the revamp of the content for levels 1-60, the content released for levels 60-70 in the first expansion is now the oldest content and the most annoying to do. However, the hunter having a pet allows you to tackle content normally designed for groups. So, to make things more interesting, I've gone out of my to tackle all the group quests I've come across. This culminated in my hard fought victory over the ferocious gronn, Durn the Hungerer.

Durn the Hungerer slain

Level 69 unlocks the top talent in your chosen talent tree, which as a Beast Mastery Hunter is the ability to tame exotic pets. I've started by getting the striking looking core hound, the Kurken, from the Draenei starter area. The unique buff it provides, Ancient Hysteria, is one of the strongest in the game - equivalent to the much vaunted Shaman ability Heroism/Bloodlust.

Jahger, level 50 hunter, with his new, unnamed, core hound

Unfortunately it looks like Survival is by far the best talent tree to take for the current endgame content at the moment, so I guess I'll just enjoy my Beast Mastery while leveling and ready myself for having to relearn the class when I hit 85. Until then, though, I have the frozen lands of Northrend and the new zones of Cataclysm to explore.

Cataclysm Shatters Sales Record

So, according to a Blizzard press release, World of Warcraft's third expansion, Cataclysm, sold 3.3 million copies in its first 24 hours of release, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time.

I'll count myself in that number and since I resubscribed I've been playing it a lot. Jahger, my Worgen Hunter has already reached the lofty heights of level 50. Leveling in this post-Cataclysm world is a real pleasure, streamlined and story-focused. If you have any interest in MMOs (or are a lapsed WoW player), you owe it to yourself to give this new world a try. You don't even need to buy any of the expansions to experience the changes.

Story-focused post-Cataclysm questing

Besides questing and doing group dungeons, I've picked up a fascination for animal collecting. You see, with the overhaul of the Hunter class for the new expansion, the class-defining Hunter's pets were all put on a level playing field (though you customize them with talent choices) except for a unique buff or debuff based on the pet's family - cats give an agility buff, hyenas increase bleed damage taken by the enemy, etc. By the time he reaches the new level cap of 85, a good Hunter should have a wide selection of pets to cover whatever buffs/debuffs are missing from the group. I've picked out the pets in each family that I want based on their looks, and seek them out to tame them as soon as I reach their level. My preferred pet while I'm leveling is Whitefang, a White Worg, which gives a bonus to one's chance to score critical hits.

Jahger and his faithful worg, Whitefang

The leveling curve does get steeper, but I hope to get on to the new Cataclysm (80+) zones in another week or so.

"Terrible, yet refined..."

With the release of World of Warcraft's latest expansion, Cataclysm, I've cancelled my Aion subscription with Armitage the Cleric having reached level 20. Although the questing has been fairly fun, I've yet to see any group content, which is a pity for an MMO. Regardless, I don't see myself rushing back with the amount of content to see in Cataclysm.

Armitage, Elyos Chanter (Aion)

For those who don't know, Cataclysm has reshaped all the Old World (level 1-60) content, making for a much more enjoyable experience. And with PvP battleground queues and the (relatively new) PvE dungeon finder, joining groups for multiplayer while you level is really easy.

To further tempt one to experience the new leveling content, Cataclysm has introduced two new races, Worgen (werewolves) and Goblins. I've created Jahger, the Worgen Hunter.

Jahger, Worgen Hunter (World of Warcraft)

The Worgen have their own introductory questline that runs along the timeline of the Shattering. As a human in the kingdom of Gilneas, you begin by helping to defend the capital from the constant assault of Worgen, before eventually falling to the Worgen curse yourself. Held prisoner by the humans, you're given a chance to prove that you have control over your bestial nature.

Can a Worgen be trusted?

What begins as a defence against an assault by the Forsaken (the undead of the Horde) becomes a desperate evacuation as the cataclysm sees the land sinking beneath the ocean.

Just this questline tops anything I've seen in Aion with World of Warcraft's phasing tech being used to give a real sense of progression of the timeline. Of course, most quests still boil down to kill X creatures or find Y items, but it is really worthwhile to pay attention to the story here.

I believe Goblins have a similarly excellent introductory questline and look forward to giving that a go, but meanwhile I'm pushing on with Jahger. I've already reached passed level 20, leaving Armitage's accomplishment as just a fading memory.

The title of this post is a reference to an oh-so-relevant Penny Arcade comic about Cataclysm and Worgen.

Civ 5: Conquering Caesar (Part 3)

With Chivalry researched, I want Knights to continue my conquests. I'm in a bit of a construction phase as I build necessary happiness buildings as well as Barracks in my designated military cities like Cumae and Antium.

I soon have enough money to buy an alliance with Monaco and as units are being built they're shifted across that isthmus to the east. I meet Gandhi of India who inexplicably complains that my units are near his border while I don't even know where his border is?! Never mind; if his border is nearby, then his time will come shortly.

In 820 AD, happiness has reached a high of +18, Rome finishes the Chichen Itza (for 50% longer Golden Ages, should I ever get one), and I adopt the Professional Army social policy (-50% cost for upgrading military). I now start upgrading my old horsemen to Knights at a cheap 75g each.

I see Arabia now has Longswordsmen, a dangerous melee unit. I need to attack soon with overwhelming force. My army is slowly assembling east of Monaco. Harun Al-Rashid is concerned about my army on his western border. I bluff, claiming I'm peaceful, as I don't really care about my reputation anymore.

In 1000 AD, Genghis Khan declares war on Washington, while I declare war on Harun al-Rashid. The city states of Rio de Janeiro and Tyre are on Harun's side though I have little concern for them.

2 Knights and a Legion are enough to take the first city, Kufah, to be razed. As my forces heal up and reinforcements arrive, Arabian forces rush to defend Mecca. There are more defenders than I expected and I have to employ some tactical withdrawals, keeping out of Mecca's bombardment range to ensure I have decent odds against Harun's units. With the Discipline social policy bonus (+15% while adjacent to another of your units), Great General bonus (+25% within 2 tiles) and flanking bonus when I can, I whittle away at Harun's army. I have a few cases where a Knight barely survives, but by the time Harun's forces are exhausted, I haven't lost a single unit.

Meanwhile Washington loses his capital to Genghis Khan, and my happiness triggers a Golden Age (for 15 turns). It's time to start capturing cities and driving down that happiness again.

After 10 turns of battle out in the open, my army advances on Mecca itself. It consists of 6 Knights, 3 Legions and a Great General, with even more reinforcements on their way. Just 3 Knights and a Legion are needed to capture it.

The army then splits up to take the remaining Arabian cities. To the south, Damascus has cotton and spices for me - it's captured by 2 Knights. To the north, Medina has Stonehenge - and it's also captured by 2 Knights. Then, to the east, the cities of Najran and Basra are also quickly taken with 3 units each. Finally my army descends on Harun's final city of Baghdad which is captured in 1170 AD after 17 turns of war.

During the war, I've earned a Great Scientist and wasted it on Steel, thinking I could get Military Science with him. No matter; Knights seem sufficiently powerful for now. Also, Rome has built the Forbidden Palace (-50% unhappiness from number of cities), but after the Arabian conquest, I'm still left at negative happiness.

I've also spent money to get an alliance with Sidon south of Arabian lands. Although I've spied Indian lands to the east, I want to check out if there are any civilizations past Sidon.

In 1210 AD, with an army that includes 11 Knights massing on India's doorstep, I declare war on Gandhi.

Gandhi has a few units defending Delhi, his capital. As my Knights surround the city, his co-ordinated fire takes down one of my Knights. But his units easily fall and Delhi is immediately captured.

My happiness has dropped to -12. I plan to get all future Golden Ages through wonders and great people anyway, but at -10 happiness you take combat penalties. So I spend money rush buying Theatres and otherwise building more Theatres where I can, as well as the Notre Dame in London (for +5 happiness).

Some of the amry heads north to Vijayanagara and capture it two turns later, while the rest advance on Mumbai. During the attack on Mumbai, a Great General is born, to be used for a Golden Age when needed. I capture Mumba in 1270 AD, eliminating Gandhi after just 6 turns of war.

After a bit of resting up and scouting, I find Washington to the south of Indian lands, beyond the city states of Helsinki and Tyre. Not really what I need as Washington's already lost his capital; but an easy conquest I can't refuse and it might lead to the last civ, the Mongols. I spend money for an alliance with Helsinki to make moving my army there a bit easier (I still don't have Optics to enable my units to travel on water).

As my army begins to mass near Atlanta, I see Genghis Khan is still at war with Washington, and is busy attacking Atlanta. Even as Washington stoically defends against Genghis's assault he asks for assurance about the units on his border. I let him have the bad news as a I declare war on him in 1340 AD. I proceed to steal Atlanta from under Genghis Khan's nose, which eliminates Washington.

I can now see Genghis's American conquests to the south of Atlanta. I've also spotted a Mongolian city across a channel south of Sidon. While my eastern army trickles down to Atlanta and Boston, new units are diverted to Sidon. I finally research Optics so those units can cross the channel and put pressure on the Mongolian west. I've also researched Military Tradition and start upgrading my experienced Knights at 115g each.

My Golden Age from happiness ends, and I start a new 22 turn Golden Age with the Taj Mahal built in Moscow. With 6 Cavalry at the front and more incoming, I declare war on Genghis in 1370 AD.

He appears to have quite a few units, but they're mostly backward Archers, Horsemen and his unique unit, the Keshik. I quickly learn that Genghis has built the Great Wall (how ironic!) which limits the great manoeuverability of my Cavalry (movement inside his borders is slowed). So while I'm able to pick off his units with ease, my own units are left very vulnerable. Fortunately, they weather the counter-attack with just a few bruises.

After 3 turns of clearing out his defenders, my Cavalry stike at Boston and raze it. The army rides on south to Washington. Again my most forward Cavalry, despite being really vulnerable, survive the counter-attack from Genghis's forces. After a few more turns, I don't see any more Mongolian units and I safely capture Washington.

I capture, Turfan, the city across the channel from Sidon, but I have too few forces there to really exert any pressure. My eastern army splits up, hunting for the Mongolian capital. They capture New York and Tabriz in short order.

I see Genghis rallying the last of his forces at Beshbalik - he finally has a Musketman amongst his defenders. But with the size and power of my army, it just tramples them underfoot to capture Beshbalik.

They then spot Genghis's capital, Karakorum, and even my wounded Cavalry ride on to assault it. The most forward units, a Trebuchet and 2 Cavalry are enough to capture it in 1480 AD (turn 208), giving me a Domination victory; my first win on Emperor level and also, by far, my fastest victory of any kind on a standard-sized map.

This is the first time I've gone for almost continual warfare from the moment I got my first horses, and it's a strategy that the AI seems to be weak against as they just don't have enough defenders and are generally weak at waging war. Once you have a few cities conquered, your strength just snowballs, as your growing Empire gives you the finances and research to continue to wage an increasingly lopsided war.

Civ 5: Conquering Caesar (Part 2)

The ongoing plan now is to continue my conquering ways, growing my empire as much as possible while trying to manage my happiness which, of course, goes down with every conquered city. The plan is to only keep cities that have resources or happiness infrastructure and back-fill the gaps as happiness allows.

So as soon as my mounted army arrives on the English border, I declare war on Elizabeth in 675 BC.

Three Horsemen are enough to immediately capture Hastings. Then as my army moves on to Nottingham, Catherine also declares war on Elizabeth. She's also attacking Nottingham, and helps me out by eventually bringing it down into the red allowing me to capture it the following turn.

In the process I see Catherine's forces are fairly insignificant and the Russian cities must be close by, so if I can win this war with Elizabeth quickly, I'll be targeting Catherine next.

There's no resistance as my forces take York except for Elizabeth begging for peace. As the Horsemen advance on London, I finally hook up my iron in Neapolis and start on building Roman Legions.

I capture Elizabeth's final city, London, in 425 BC (10 turns of war); and as I prepare for the attack against Catherine, I begin researching towards Chivalry so that I can eventually upgrade my elite Horsemen.

I've also spent gold to form an alliance with Copenhagen for its fur luxury and iron resource; and have started constructing a lot of buildings in my cities, particularly the happiness buildings, Circuses and Colosseums.

I've found the Russian civilization is to the south-east of the old English civilization. With my happiness finally back to positive levels, in 300 BC I declare war on Catherine and my Horsemen ride in to immediately capture the Russian city of Rostov.

My horsemen then try to advance on to Novgorod just east of Rostov but across a mountain range. Only a single difficult pass traverses the range, and some careful manoeuvering is required to limit casualties to a single Horsemen. But the hit and run capabilities of the Horsemen eventually whittle away all of Catherine's Spearmen, and so Novgorod falls.

Both the Genoa and Copenhagen alliances run out at the same time and I only have the gold to renew the alliance with Copenhagen. Fortunately though, the size of my empire (which is all connected by roads into my trade network) means I'm bringing in a sizable sum each turn and it's not long before I can rebuy my alliance with Genoa.

I've obtained just 1 social policy in the Honor tree, and as the costs for social policies escalate with each city captured, I look at an alternative and so start Rome building the Oracle for its free social policy.

Meanwhile the Horsemen capture the northernmost Russian city of Yekaterinburg. I lose a Horseman while scouting out the rest of the Russian civilization, but the rest of the Horsemen take Moscow, the Russian capital, with no more resistance.

The 2 Legions I've built with my initial iron finally reach the front, giving my army a boost it didn't really need. The army consists of 3 Horsemen, 2 Legions and a Chariot Archer, and they advance on St Petersburg, clearing out a solitary defending Spearman.

It's not all good as even as I capture and raze St Petersburg, the Oracle is built in a faraway land, beating me to it by 3 turns. I'm also down to -12 happiness and desperately looking around for extra sources of happiness, hooking up and trading for luxuries as soon as I'm able.

Yaroslavl' is finally captured in 175 AD, eliminating Catherine after a 19 turn war.

Peace again, and since I don't even know where Harun al-Rashid or the recently met Washington of America and Genghis Khan of the Mongols are located, I use up one of the Great Generals that was produced during the war to trigger an 8 turn Golden Age. It's primary benefit is to push along the production of those happiness buildings and develop my new under-developed conquests.

With all the infrastructure already completed in Rome, I start building the Chichen Itza there (+50% Golden Age length), though I'm uncertain how many Golden Ages I can reasonably expect considering my happiness problems. Still, it's the best of the wonders still available.

Just as my Golden Age ends, I get the next social policy in the Honor tree, Military Caste, which reduces unhappiness in garrisoned cities. To help the happiness situation, my army disperses amongst the conquered cities.

And then an exploring Horseman finds the Arabian city of Damascus. Spotting that it has a low city strength, and with Chivalry having just been researched, I feel confident that I can quickly conquer Arabia. However I need to reassemble and rebuild my army, upgrade Horsemen to Knights and move them past the isthmus occupied by Monaco who is already unhappy with me.

But another vulnerable civilization; how can I resist? A Roman isn't cut out for the life of a farmer - there will be war again soon.

Continued in Part 3

Civ 5: Conquering Caesar (Part 1)

My first attempt on Emperor level had ended pretty quickly - a half-hearted attack with Swordsmen against Musketmen provoked the ire of my neighbours who did me in pretty quick. A few more games at King level has restored my confidence, and hopefully refined my strategy. My experience has continued to show that the AI is weak in times of warfare which is all well and good while you're not technologically behind. So the plan is to push for early war, possibly in the classical era with Horsemen or Swordsmen or an early unique unit if my civ has one.

I draw Rome as my random civilization which dovetails well with my plan. Their Legion unit is a small upgrade over the early Swordsman. After moving to settle Rome a bit away from the unproductive mountains, I have quite a few nearby resources. In particular I want to get the early techs to improve the sheep and deer, Animal Husbandry and Trapping. As a bonus, I can check out if there are any horses nearby before heading down the tech tree to Iron Working.

I get lucky with my scouting Warrior exploring ruins the turn after settling giving me an early boost to my population. That scouting Warrior also finds my neighbour, Askia of Songhai is worryingly close. Fortunately there are horses between Rome and Goa, and my plan is to rush him with Horsemen quickly.

As I start researching towards Horseback Riding, I implement the Liberty social policy for quicker Settlers. I want to get 2 or 3 quick cities to produce a few Horsemen quickly when the tech comes in. By 2280 BC, I've settled two more cities, Antium and Cumae, by sources of horses.

Askia settles Tombouctu right between us - a prime target when I've built my army. He's been threatening me the whole time, laughing at my pitiful army and otherwise being annoying. By 1120 BC, I have an alliance with the city state of Genoa, started on the Honor social policy tree and have trained 4 Horsemen, 1 Chariot Archer and a few Warriors - enough for me to feel confident of my chances, and so I declare war on Askia.

Meanwhile I've discovered a few sources of iron, with the safest on the coast to the east, so I start up a Settler for there while the war begins.

A quick strike by my Horsemen capture Tombouctu. Unfortunately, Askia has more units in the area and the city is recaptured in his turn, costing me a Horseman. But the rest of my units close in and the city trades hands again. The city is to be razed; all the enemy units have been killed; the army rides on to Gao.

In 925 BC, just 6 turns after starting the war, I capture Gao, eliminating Askia. That war went extremely well; though it was helped by the fact that Askia spent a lot of production on the Great Library, now a fine addition to the Roman empire.

My happiness has dropped to critcially low levels: -10 which means I can't even settle my iron city. I research Calendar so I can improve the luxury resource tiles. When that's done, I settle Neapolis on the coast by the iron.

I've met Elizabeth, Catherine and Genghis Khan, and I know English lands are to the south, so my horsemen head down there to see if I can continue my conquering ways.

Continued in Part 2

Aion - Beyond the Trial

So I caved and bought a cheap CD key online for Aion. I created a new character, Armitage the Priest and joined a friend and his guild-mates who were leveling alts.

Armitage

First impressions are that the trial really sells the game short. Seriously, no items drop off monsters in the trial?! The trial ends just before the first harder sub-zone where monsters will attack you before you attack them, and before you can complete the main introductory campaign questline. And most significantly, it ends before level 9 and the Ascension questline as you recover your memories of your lost Daeva-hood.

Ascension ceremony

At this point you have to choose which specialized class to go with and I chose Cleric, the game's specialist healer class as I intend to do as much grouping as possible (although I haven't encountered any content yet that actually requires groups).

Opening up for you then is the beautiful base city of Sanctum; plenty of quests there (many leading to the game's next questing zone) and the game's crafting system.

Also unlocked is flying, though only in certain areas, so no flying in Sanctum for example which means my experience with it is somewhat limited for now. I'll have to see how that plays out.

Sanctum

So my evaluation of Aion has only improved. So far it plays like a polished, shiny version of World of Warcraft. While I can't imagine it doing much to interest WoW-haters, if you do like WoW (and maybe have time to kill before the Cataclysm expansion is released), Aion starts off strongly enough to make the free month included with the game worthwhile. We'll have to see if I ever pay any subs for it, but I don't see myself having both an ongoing WoW and Aion subscription.

Trial Wars: Aion vs Guild Wars

Signing up for the free trials on both these online RPGs, I created the mage Devin Skala in both games. In Aion he was an Elyos Mage; in Guild Wars an Elementalist with Monk as a secondary class. In terms of customization of your charatcer's looks, Guild Wars offers quite a lot, but Aion's customization is probably the most powerful I've seen in any kind of computer game.

Aion (left) vs Guild Wars (right)

Both games start with a cinematic intro with appropriate hinting of momentous events afoot. In Guild Wars (the Prophecies campaign to be specific), you learn that this is the last day before some cataclysm, whilst in Aion the cataclysm has already occurred, but your character has lost his memory.

As you spawn into the world you'll notice that the Aion graphics are top notch for an RPG, whilst Guild Wars graphics are decent but nothing special. And then we're into the introductory quests.

Guild Wars has you running around a lot first as you learn how the questing zones are instanced, before the quests take you into some easy combats. There's not much in the way of in-game help besides some unhelpful messages that pop up ocassionally, but the controls are fairly standard and you only have 1 attack skill and 1 healing skill to worry about.

Aion starts with greater pace, with a combat quest straight away, and then a basic variety of quests as you continue along the road to the nearest town. There's a lot of help messages that trigger during this section, but once again they're only really useful to complete beginners in the genre - for anyone else they're not needed as the controls are standard and the 2 skills you start with are easy enough to manage, just an attack and a root to keep the enemy in place.

My noob mistakes that followed in both games were eerily similar.

In Guild Wars, you don't automatically learn skills as you level up - you have to do quests to unlock them. I learned my secondary profession as required by the main questline, and then just by picking up the quests in the area (a monastery), I acquired 4 Monk skills but was still sitting on only my initial 2 Elementalist skills. I was really struggling to kill a group of 3 enemies of my level and in the end just killed them 1 at a time, corpse-running between each kill. Next visit to the Monk trainer, I asked where I could find an Elementalist trainer and was directed to a completely new area I hadn't heard of before. There I did some quests and learned some new skills including those with area damage and I was really off and running.

In Aion, you need to buy skill books from a class trainer which are then usable as you gain levels. You even get a quest that directs you to visit your class trainer but the quest automatically completes before you actually acquire the skill books, so I didn't even notice it. However Aion's early levels seem very forgiving. Hardly anything will attack you unless you attack it first, and just spamming my basic attack power was enough to kill any monster of my level or below. Eventually I was killed when I ran out of mana, and then discovered the class trainers near the respawn point. I learned a few new skills and after that was never again in danger of dying.

The Guild Wars newbie area ends with the Searing as monsters overrun the city and its lush environs. The story continues two years later with a kind of post-apocalyptic vibe as the remnants of the kingdom try to fight back against the monsters in a wasteland version of the areas you'd just been questing in. These post-Searing areas really require a group, especially since a single character can't seem to out-damage enemies who can heal themselves. With a trial account you can't talk to anyone else (to limit gold sellers and scammers, I'm sure) and so your only option is to fill up a party with computer-controlled henchmen. Two drawbacks to this:

1. Henchman are weak, not leveling up with you.
2. Henchman are stupid and you have almost no control over their actions.

Combat after that was decidedly unfun, and I decided to stop with the trial after 6 hours played.

The Aion newbie area ends with ... well, I don't know exactly, since the Aion trial is so bloody short you don't even reach the end of the newbie area. It took me 2½ hours but once you reach level 7 (of 55), that's it - you're booted out. It looks like the cool stuff happens around level 10 when you gain your wings and your class specialization. The implication is that the game radically changes at this point, making the trial seem like a bit of a false front to the game.

Overall, the Aion trial was much more fun. It's not really a fair comparison as Guild Wars is 4 years older (and free to play after the initial purchase) and Aion has really benefited from the lessons learned in those 4 years. The excellent UI, gentle introduction for newbies and, of course, the graphics, are all examples of this.

Guild Wars is not without its redeeming features. You get a lot of skills quite quickly which is great for those with a lot of RPG experience, and the fact that you're limited to just 8 skills creates an interesting strategic element. I could see this being a fun co-op game with a group of friends exploring the strategic possibiities together as they advance through the campaign.

So Aion wins the Trial Wars, but loses the battle for my wallet due to the trial's brevity. I've heard mixed feedback from friends about later levels, so I think I'll wait and see how many are still playing after the other cataclysm hits.

My Trials Begin

So last week was mostly spent finishing off classic adventure game Beneath a Steel Sky (free on gog.com). Overall I had to dip into the hints from UHS about half a dozen times - there are some very frustrating bits. A general hint for those who want to give it a try: if the way to proceed isn't obvious, examine everything and talk to everyone again as the game's state can change pretty subtly after solving unrelated puzzles. Oh, and show everything you can to Joey, your little robot friend. Even if it doesn't help you, he's got the best dialogue in the game.

Overall it wasn't as amazing a game as I expected, with my thoughts on what they could do in the setting outreaching the tech capabilities and genre conventions of the time ... but did I mention it was free?

Friday had me progressing in Guitar Hero's Quest mode and trying out the character's special powers in the Quickplay+. The highlight was getting the 22nd highest score for Queen's Fat Bottomed Girls :)

Fat Bottomed Girls - 22nd

Now with my disappointment in Titan Quest behind me, a friend of mine who knows I enjoyed World of Warcraft, suggested I give Aion and Guild Wars a go. Both have free demos (though Aion's is invite only for some reason) and so I signed up for both so I could do...

Report back due when the trials have expired for both games.

Weekend Gaming

With no rugby to distract me (except for a minor skirmish between South Africa and Ireland), this weekend was full of gaming...

One Weekend's Gaming

First up was Civ 5. During the week I'd been hopelessly trounced playing on Emperor level, so I set out to get some revenge against King level. My random leader was Alexander who excels at early warfare and city state alliances. I never got the early warfare going and I've been keen to win a peaceful game at this level, so I targeted a cultural victory with only 3 cities. Getting the culture required (5 completed social policy trees = 30 social policies) is actually easier with fewer cities - it's just surviving with the resulting financial, scientific and military deficit that's the problem.

Fortunately one of my neighbours was Gandhi who was just as peace-loving as me, but Elizabeth's growing aggressiveness became a problem as she gobbled up all the other civs and city states on the continent. Despite all the deals I could make to appease her, eventually she came for me. I desperately held her off with my inferior military while I picked up the last social policy I needed and started building the Utopia Project. A few well-trained mech infantry and artillery couldn't hold off Elizabeth's swarm of tanks, cavalry and infantry forever and I eventually lost my western-most city, Sparta. With the enemy beating at my gates, I finally finished the Utopia Project in Athens to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Civ 5 - A Desperate Defence

Next I finished the first act of Titan Quest with my battlemage, defeating the Greek Telkine. Despite friends trying to convince me otherwise, I just don't find the gameplay interesting enough to continue on to Act 2. Maybe if those friends were to join me for multiplayer, I'd play on - I can forgive a game for a lot of faults if it provides a fun multiplayer experience.

The action RPG nature of Titan Quest made me realize that what I really wanted was to play a proper tactical, story-based RPG like Dragon Age: Origins. Having finished it twice now, I decided to get the expansion, Awakening, and continue playing with my somewhat evil dwarven rogue. I haven't got very far, having just acquired the first two party members, but I'm already appreciating the less actiony combat compared to Titan Quest.

Before playing any further, I discovered a couple of free games on GOG.com (Good Old Games) including classic adventure game, Beneath a Steel Sky. I've never played it before, but heard good things about it and the blurb on GOG makes it sound similar to the excellent RPG setting of Paranoia.

Of course it's a point-and-click adventure game which are enjoyable while you're successfully solving the puzzles, discovering new locations and characters, but get frustrating as hell when you're stuck. When I've got three other games clamouring for my attention, I'm not going to sit and stare at the screen blankly while trying to guess the author's bizarre way in which putty is to be used. Fortunately while looking for a walkthrough, I discovered a website, Universal Hint System, which provides carefully formulated and staged hints on how to progress for all sorts of games (including Beneath a Steel Sky). I've used the hints 3 times now and it's made playing the game really enjoyable. The story's a bit strange and the humour is hit or miss, but overall it's good enough that I'll finish it.

Beneath a Steel Sky - State of the Art in '94

All this PC gaming was interrupted by a visit from a friend who's been exiled to Cape Town (hopefully temporarily). With her she brought the acclaimed Battlestar Galactica boardgame which occupied much of our Saturday. Despite still learning the rules and it taking an age to finish, we all really enjoyed it. The game is somewhat co-operative in that the players are humans trying to work together to jump the Galactica to Cobol - but the key element that makes the game work is that one (or more depending on numbers) of the players is secretly a human-looking Cylon, a skinjob, working to sabotage their efforts.

I played as Laura Roslin, President of the Twelve Colonies who was usurped in a military coup by Saul Tigh. Holding both the Admiral and President titles, I was convinced he was the Cylon, only for Lee "Apollo" Adama to surprise us by revealing his true Cylon nature. The timing of the reveal was bad as we were critically low on all resources and we were lucky to survive the super crisis that followed. We made it to Cobol with all our resources down to just 1 or 2 units left.

I'm looking forward to playing a few more games so that I can give Battlestar Galactica a proper review. In particular, I want to experience playing as a Cylon as I'm sure the game plays very differently. Overall Battlestar Galactica was a great peak in an enjoyable weekend of gaming.

Review: Guitar Hero - Warriors of Rock (Xbox 360)

So my weekend was taken up with an unsuccessful attempt to beat Civ 5's emperor difficulty level; nearly finishing the first act of Titan Quest; and the highlight of the weekend - attending the final of South Africa's inter-provincial rugby tournament where my team, the Natal Sharks, kicked some serious butt.

Sharks 30 - 10 WP

Amid all that I started playing the latest incarnation of the Guitar Hero franchise, Warriors of Rock. I haven't finished it yet, but I think I've seen enough to give my thoughts on the game.

I already said in an earlier post that I'm a Guitar Hero fan, and for a fan the new stuff in Warriors of Rock almost certainly make it a worthwhile buy...

The main new feature is the Quest mode in which you play songs to power up the game's heroes to eventually save the god of rock. The hero abilities are just ways of making the song easier or higher scoring, so ultimately it's just a thin veneer over a somewhat non-linear progression through the game's songs, but the effort is appreciated compared to the poor efforts at story in previous titles.

The mode in which I spend most of my time is Quickplay mode, which has been upgraded to Quickplay+ with the addition of special challenges for all songs. Unfortunately not all songs start unlocked in Quickplay+ which is a bit of a step backwards compared to the freedom enjoyed in World Tour and GH5. The challenges themselves are the same kind as in Guitar Hero 5's career mode - get a high enough score, a long enough streak, a certain amount of alt strumming, etc. Completing songs and challenges in Quickplay+ unlocks various bits of eye candy such as new instruments or concept art.

All downloadable content and most songs from World Tour, Smash Hits/Greatest Hits and Guitar Hero 5 can be imported into Warriors of Rock. Unfortunately there's a small relicensing fee for the songs from previous games and some of the biggest songs from these games aren't relicensed and so aren't included. Some songs that I miss are Plug In Baby, Hotel California and legendary Guitar Hero song, Through the Fire and Flames.

As for the setlist included in Warriors of Rock, now that the Guitar Hero series has a pop counterpart in Band Hero, the songs are all from various rock genres. That makes me happy as that means a greater proportion of songs that I'll play to enjoy the music.

And finally, the new guitar controller looks a lot cooler than the one I have from Guitar Hero World Tour. The whammy bar's a little closer to the strum bar which may not be to everyone's liking, but makes it easier for me to whammy during shorter sustains.

New Guitar Hero controller

So it looks like mostly positive steps taken by the franchise. So why can't I wholeheartedly recommend it? Well, despite all the fluff, the basic gameplay is completely unchanged. If you don't like the rock band genre, Warriors of Rock will do nothing to change your mind; and if you only ever play casually with friends, you're basically just buying a lot more song options, so you'd better like the songs. For reference, see wikipedia for the full list of songs.

Final Score: 8 / 10 - I'll be playing it a lot because it's the latest Guitar Hero game; nothing revolutionary but solid gameplay and good songs.

Notes on my personal rating scale: They are entirely based on my personal feelings about the game - I don't rate a game on its own merits but rather how much I've enjoyed and how much time it's sucking out of my life. Strategy games will do well and shooters poorly because those are my gaming preferences.

0-4 = Poor game that I won't be bothering to play any more
5-7 = Decent game - fun enough that I'll try play it some more if I have the time
8-10 = Good game that I'll be playing a lot more or have already finished and greatly enjoyed

The Bold and the Mad

The regular D&D campaign that I run is currently on hold for now as we're down to only 2 players (excluding me as the DM). Until we can find a new player or any of the old players return, we're going to try an experiment where each player runs 2 characters. One of my players will be running this new game in the Dark Sun setting - a post-apocalyptic fantasy world that will hopefully be significantly different from the usual fantasy settings. I only have passing familiarity with the setting compared to Forgotten Realms, for example, where countless PC games going back to the original Pool of Radiance have left the setting quite stale for me.

This is also the first time in two years (outside of conventions) that I'll be a player rather than a DM and have quite enjoyed creating a couple of characters. Their history and personality isn't as detailed as I'd like, but our first session is tomorrow and might be fleshed out further then.

Notes about the setting relevant to these characters:

• A mul is a sterile, half-dwarf/half-human, that are almost always slaves.
  
• Elves tend to be nomads that wander the wilds that are mostly desert or wasteland.
  
• Psionics is ever-present in the world, with many creatures and people having some kind of psionic power.
  
• Any wielders of arcane power are treated with hatred because of the draining effect it can have on life in the area, which is presumably what has caused the world to be in the state it's in at the moment. Only the evil sorcerer-kings and their servants are allowed to use arcane power.
  

Zarkan “Blue” - male mul bravura warlord, level 1 leader (gladiator, tattooed warrior)

Born into slavery, Zarkan has grown up preparing himself for the gladiator's arena. He is known to spectators simply as “Blue” for the blue geometric tattoos that mark much of his body including his bald head, and he carries them proudly to show his success against beast and fellow gladiator. Although he knows how to entertain a crowd, it's the survival of himself and his allies that matter the most to him. At his best when working alongside allies, Zarkan has long ago learned the value of teamwork in overcoming the odds.

Enna Cuscoe - female half-elf wild battlemind, level 1 defender (wasteland nomad, southern wastes)

Enna grew up with her family trailing behind the nomad clan from which her elven mother had been banished for the crime of having a child of a human father. Her determined parents taught her the survival skills she'd need to survive in a harsh world and ruthlessly encouraged her burgeoning psionic talents.

A slaver attack on their encampment resulted in her father being killed and her mother captured while Enna was left for dead. Only the fortitude lent to her body by her mind kept her alive, but at the cost of a dwindling sanity. Since then whispers just on the edge of her hearing keep her unhinged, and surprisingly her psionic powers have only grown in strength.

Always wiry and tough before, she now has an unsettling aspect about her which makes others uneasy in her presence. She blames herself for the loss of her parents and will do her utmost to keep any group she adopts safe from the same fate. They just mustn't expect much in the way of sensible conversation with her.

Portraits created in Dragon Age: Origins.

Civ 5: Great Thebes (Part 3)

With the Egyptian Empire having grown much larger than I initially anticipated, I adopt the Order social policy, ideal for larger empires. I'm hoping to just consolidate what I've got and push on to a diplomatic victory as I continue my research down the tech tree towards Globalization. Thebes contines to build wonders, providing me with Great People to continue with Golden Ages almost uninterrupted.

Meanwhile Montezuma has been building settlements in former Japanese lands and has enraged the city states that he seems to be at permanent war with all 4 of them on the Aztec continent. It's not long before he's at war with me, and Catherine jumps at the opportunity to declare war on me as well. It's 1812 AD and most of my forces have already left the Aztec lands and have to quickly cross back over the channel to help the few defenders left behind.

Montezuma captures the city state of Hanoi and Catherine captures the city state of Kuala Lampur. Other city states look set to fall soon even as my Knights land near and liberate Belgrade from Montezuma. With it looking like I'll possibly be at war for the rest of the game, I settle Elephantine in the desert near multiple oil sources to ensure I can build the modern era units if I need them. Also, with plentiful extra resources, I bribe Caesar to join the war against Russia, to keep Catherine off my back and hopefully provide a distraction away from my city state allies.

Montezuma is sending wave after wave of attackers against Tokyo, but my experienced Knights continue to defend. As money comes in, I start upgrading the more experienced Knights to Cavalry. As the Aztec units dry up, mounted units disperse across the former Japanese lands to raze the new Aztec cities of Tula, Tzintzuntzen, Malinalco and Atzcapotzalco.

Cavalry leads the way into the heart of Aztec territory. Here I encounter a few, slightly more modern units, with a few Cannons and Musketmen providing a meagre defence against my Cavalry - Tlaxcala, Osaka and Tlatelolco are quickly captured; the first two are razed and Tlatelolco is kept as a puppet for its oil.

Meanwhile I start sending new Infantry units across to the Russian continent. The liberation of Kuala Lampur begins at the same time as the remnans of the Aztec civilization are mopped up, with the Aztec cities of Teotihuacan, Tenochtitlan (the Aztec capital), Texcoco, Xochicalco and Calixtlahuaca falling by 1860 AD.

I discover Globalization, begin building the United Nations and purchase an alliance with Budapest, ensuring all the city states are now my allies. Venice eventually falls to Russia, and Catherine and Caesar make peace. With forces arriving from the former Aztec lands, I make a mad scramble for Russian cities as Catherine desperately tries to bring her units back to defend. The Infantry and Cavalry capture St Petersburg and raze Orenburg and Vladivostok. With an ever-increasing number of Russian units nearby, I throw everything that I can at Moscow, and eventually capture the Russian capital. With my army now badly outnumbered and Moscow certain to be recaptured, I make a peace deal with Catherine in 1894 AD.

Finally there is peace again. A Great Engineer completes the Pentagon in Thebes but it's now a mere symbol of Egypt's historically successful military. This is Thebe's 13th and final wonder (to go with 2 national wonders).

In 1903 AD elections for a world leader are held and, with 14 city states as allies, I'm almost unanimously elected giving me a diplomatic victory.

So ... a first victory on King level with my Knights giving me a huge military advantage. I was honestly expecting to try and play a relatively peaceful game, only fighting wars when I needed to, but the dominance of my Knights was just too tempting to let go to waste. Anyway, on to the next difficulty level...

Civ 5: Great Thebes (Part 2)

I've just eliminated Darius of Persia and was attacking Hiawatha of the Iroquois, when Elizabeth of England betrayed me and attacked my undefended Persian conquests. Within two turns, Elizabeth captures Osininka.

I split my army to try counter both my enemies. A holding force is left by Memphis to pick off what Iroquois forces I can and I direct the rest to the east to try reclaim Osininka. After killing a few of his units, I sign a peace treaty with Hiawatha, even getting some gold and a luxury out of him, but more importantly allowing me to focus my efforts on Elizabeth. The remnants of my southern army capture Akwesasme, a former Iroquois city held by Elizabeth, and then they reunite with the eastern army.

With Elizabeth marching on Pasargadae, I focus on recapturing Osininka. The speed and power of my Knights allows me to pick off a lot of her units and capture Osininka. With her army in disarray, I focus on picking off what few units she has left as I march on to the English-held city of Susa.

Meanwhile my Caravel has met up with Augustus Caesar of Rome and Catherine of Russia. Both want me to join against each other - I side with Caesar and agree to go to war with Catherine in 10 turns time. I'm across the sea from both of them and so don't expect to ever be under attack from Catherine as I haven't seen her with Caravels yet. I've been progressing quite nicely along the tech tree, and I reach Gunpowder. However, I'm quite happy with my mobile Knight army and while I still have so many horse resources left, I'll continue to build them rather than Musketmen. Money's been rolling in and I have enough to buy another alliance, this time with Lhasa on the north-east of the content. Thebes builds the Forbidden Palace, helping me out with happiness in my continuously growing empire.

The Knights of my eastern army capture Susa, but her Longbowmen kill one of the Knights protecting Susa before it's razed. I clear out these remaining enemy forces and then capture her northern cities of Canterbury and Conventry with no resistance. With my army heading south for Elizabeth's core cities, my time expires and, along with Caesar, I declare war on Catherine. The last few English cities fall quickly with only a few token Spearmen remaining to defend them - York falls, followed by London, then Hastings, and finally, in 1555 AD, Elizabeth's final city of Nottingham.

My Caravel meets up with Montezuma of the Aztecs and Oda Nobunga of the Japanese on yet another continent, this one to the south-west. I've met all the civs now. I also meet the city state of Belgrade which is under attack by Montezuma, and the city states of Copenhagen and Hanoi also on that continent. I implement the final social policy of the Patronage tree meaning I'm getting substantial bonuses from all my city state allies.

My army has been redeploying to Memphis, ready to resume the war with Hiawatha. In 1580 AD, I declare war against Hiawatha and advance into Iroquois lands. The Iroquois archers fall quickly and Hiawatha's counter-attacking units are so outdated that they have little effect against my Knights. His northern-most cities of Grand River and Onondago, his capital, are quickly captured. The Knights continue south, razing Brantford, Montreal, Akwesasme (named for the city razed in my previous war against Elizabeth) and then the new capital, Buffalo Creek, is captured. This is the final Iroquois city and Hiawatha is defeated in 1615 AD.

The whole continent is mine - even all the city states, except for Geneva, are my allies. Montezuma comes asking for me to join a war against Japan. Looks like my Knight army has some more conquests to make - I ask for 10 turns so I can transport them across to the Aztec and Japanese continent.

Continued in Part 3

Titan Quest

My Egyptian game of Civ 5 continues - and even though there's far fewer units in play than previous Civ games, it still takes quite long to wage war, especially when you're trying to document the whole thing ;)

I've also started playing Titan Quest again for something different. I played it a long time ago when the Gold Edition first came out, but never finished it. It's an action RPG in the same style as Diablo 2. You create a single character, a warrior in Ancient Greece, who fights hordes of mythic enemies in a quest to save the land. There are 9 masteries available, which are basically class skill trees, and a character can choose any 2 masteries. The character I've created is a Battlemage which combines Warfare (melee combat) and Earth magic (fire and stone abilities).

So far I'm level 13 and still in Greece, and according to the oracle at Delphi, I still have to go to Egypt and the east. Will I finish it this time through? It's a fun distraction, but not compelling like Diablo 2 was, and I generally prefer heavy story-based RPGs over action RPGs anyway. I'll probably play to the end of the Greece section and see how I feel then.

Meanwhile, I've also got a Civ 5 game to finish.

Civ 5: Great Thebes (Part 1)

I've made some progress in my next attempt to defeat King level in Civ 5. I'll be blogging the abridged version of the game here and provide a more detailed recap on the CivFanatics forums when I've finished the game. Update: detailed recap now posted.

My random leader this time is Ramasses of the Egyptians. The unique ability is a bonus to wonder production, so my initial strategy is to focus on wonders.

My capital, Thebes, is nicely situated with marble, cotton and cattle resources, and a good mix of river grassland for farming and hills for mining. Before even expanding, Thebes builds the Pyramids and Stonehenge.

Expanding to a second city is mistimed as another civilization beats me to the Great Library. I get some financial compensation for my hard work though, and I use the money for an alliance with Stockholm. My Settler heads south to gold and plentiful horses near Stockholm and founds Memphis in 1080 BC.

When I clear out some barbarians for Florence, I gain enough influence to become friends with them. I decide now that I want to try and pursue a somewhat diplomatic game, or at least pursue a strategy of making allies of the city states. To do so is best served by pursuing the Patronage social policy tree.

Researching Theology pushes me into the Medieval Era and I complete the Oracle, giving me 2 social policies in quick succession as I start down the Patronage tree.

A Great Engineer rushes the Hagia Sophia (for even more great people) and, with Thebes and Memphis looking in good shape, I send out another Settler who founds Heliopolis to my north-east in 75 AD.

The other leaders on my continent are Hiawatha of the Iroquois to my south, Darius of Persia to my east, and Elizabeth of England to my south-east. The first great war pits Darius and Elizabeth against Hiawatha. With Darius conquering the Iroquois settlement of Osininka, that seems to satisfy him and he soon signs a peace treaty with Hiawatha. That does however leave a lot of Persian forces wandering around my lands, making me a bit uncomfortable as I don't have much of a military at this stage.

I make a plan to build up some forces for a war I'm sure will inevitably come. I have a lot of horse resources, so I start researching towards Chivalry for Knights. In the meantime I build Pikemen, War Chariots and, eventually, Horsemen.

Then Darius attacks Stockholm, my city state ally. I'm still 1 tech away from realizing my military build-up and so I'm not ready to take on Darius just yet. I stay out of it and hope Stockholm can hold out against Persia's Immortals.

When Elizabeth and Hiawatha sign a peace treaty, Hiawatha asks me to join in a war against Darius. I ask for 10 turns to prepare as I've just entered a Golden Age and still don't have Chivalry. When the Golden Age concludes, I upgrade my Horsemen to Knights and begin the war against Darius. Both Hiawatha and Elizabeth join this crusade to get rid of Darius. Darius's army is soon destroyed and his cities fall in quick succession to my powerful Knights.

With the war over, I concentrate on making more allies. I spend money for Helsinki, Brussels and Tyre to join me.

Meanwhile, my Knights are growing restless and with a war between Elizabeth and Hiawatha having broken out, I sense an opportunity for some more gains. When I see Elizabeth capturing the Iroquois city of Akwesasme, I know it's time to join the war. With my forces mobilized on my southern border at Memphis, I declare war on Hiawatha and strike out at his nearest cities.

This is immediately followed by Elizabeth declaring war on me! Her forces assault the former Persian city of Osininka with my army nowhere near.

I'm now in a war against both remaining civilizations on my continent, with just one intrepid ship set sail to try meet some friends across the ocean.

Continued in Part 2