Well I have put in hours of play in the game and I like it.  Not nearly as addictive as Civ4 but well fleshed out and truly enjoyable.  I warn you be ready before you declare your Independence!

 My 10 year old son and I have played the multi-player and we tried two games before we ended up playing something else.  This is not because of any game issues, I found it enjoyable, but because there wasn’t enough combat for someone his age.  Sure you can fight each other but it is limited, the Indians offer little resistance as long as you are careful not to anger all of them at the same time.

Plus until you learn out to use the import/export with your wagon trains moving your goods around can get a little over whelming.    Over all I highly recommend this game to anyone that enjoys Sid’s games.

Back in the Day I was I HUGE Moo2 (Masters of Orion) fan, heck I still have the game installed on my gaming box and laptop.  So a few years back I bought GC when it first came out, the reviews and hip looked great.  When I got it installed  and started playing I was disappointed.  Guess deep inside I was hoping for the good M003 that I ever got. (yes I know a Moo3 came out but it was no where as good as Moo2)

So a while back I picked up the GC2 Dread Lords in the bargain bin and was going to give it another try.  I have played it a few hours over the last week and just can’t sink my teeth in to what I don’t like about it.  The interface is better in this version over the original GC2 even the some of the game play.  But the combat is boring, the tech tree is stretched just to be lengthened. 

So it has been put back on the shelf to collect dust.

I dropped by Best Buy to grab the Ironman DVD that just came out and what did I see on my way out of the store?  Why a brand new game from Sid Meier, called Civilization IV: Colonization.  A remake of his 1984 game using the Civ IV engine.  While it is a lot of fun it isn’t quite as addictive as Beyond the Sword.  This weekend I’ll test out the multi-player.

My son and I have been getting a lot of play time in on Diablo II getting ready for III.  I know I know it most likely won’t release until late next year, but man we just can’t wait :)  You have got to check out the videos they have over there on the game…  makes shake with anticipation.

A conversation broke out here at the geeky side of the office, about old Roguelike games. I don’t remember the name of the first ascii based one I played nor even what year I first played one, but it had to be in the mid 80s.  Every few years something will click in my head and I have to get my rogue-fix. One of these very same urges had stuck me earlier this week, so it was coincidence that this topic came up. One of the people I work with brought up a game he claims

“This is better than Rogue by about 100x, and is better than any other rogue-like I’ve played. Hack and NetHack don’t even come within 1% of how good this game is. I’ve been playing for eight years I Still am…”

So this weekend I am going to give Adom a try.

I love the Internet, everyday I stumble upon something I had no plans on finding. Think I started out looking for a site that listed any new command line commands for Windows Server 2008. I found that and in the end I found a web comic that has been around for over 3 years that I had never heard of. At first glance I thought to myself this isn’t one for me, BUT I gave the first few pages a try. 48 hours later I found that I had gone through all three years of the comic and desperately seeking more of the story. It is funny, original, the graphics are some of the best I have seen, and the storyline will just suck you in. GirlGenius.Net I hope you found it as great as I have, this one is now among the top of my weekly visits along with C+A+D and OoTS.

 Movement:

We will be playing with 4 IPs, this will make movement to be more manageable:

Movement Rules
Humans, elves, orks Walking = 3m/IP, Running = 6m/IP
Dwarfs Walking = 2m/IP, Running = 4m/IP
Trolls Walking = 4m/IP, Running = 9m/IP

Rules for Sprinting
1 success = 2m/turn or 1m/IP (rounding up)
2 success = 4m/turn or 1m/IP
3 success = 6m/turn or 2m/IP (rounding up)
4 success = 8m/turn or 2m/IP
5 success = 10m/turn or 3m/IP (rounding up)
6 success = 12m/turn or 3m/IP

This should worked rather well for us.

Also, if someone is just walking, that is free (not a free action), so someone with 1IP can move in each pass. Now, running or sprinting, does cost, so that 1IP(Initiative Pass) guy has to choose his movement in the first pass and stick to it until his next action (which would be IP 1 of the 2nd combat turn), while the 4IP guy could choose to run/sprint, each IP, as long as he has the actions to change.

As for the order, we’ll allow the movement to go before, during or after other actions, but apply the appropriate movement penalties throughout the IP. That includes cover, so someone couldn’t choose to move out of cover, stop, shoot (with no movement penalty) and then move back into cover. They could, but they are not getting the cover benefit for that pass…

Multiple Initiative Passes:

Every combat has 4 Initiative Phases (not capped by the person with the highest # of IPs)

Basically it breaks down to everybody can do a free action every initiative phase (movement, talking, etc), but can’t do simple or complex action except when they have an IP to spend doing it.

Basically the Character begins at their initiative score and starts holding their action until they choose to use it, or a new one comes along and they refresh at it.

1 IP: Player gets an Action at IP 1 that they can use in any of the 4 IPs
2 IP: Player gets Actions at IPs 1 and 3 that they can use in any of the IPs until another Action comes to them.
3 IP: Player gets Actions at IPs 2 and 3 and an additional IP at either IP 1 or 4 (their choice)
4 IP: Player gets Actions at all IPs

I came across this review of the D&D 4.0 by Chris Pramas of Green Ronin. It wasn’t until after reading his review that it dawned on me just how complicated D&D has gotten since the first time I played in the 4th grade. I have had to teach my wife, who is of the type that just wants to know enough to play and have fun, and also started to introduce my 10 year old son to the game.

I haven’t looked much in to the new rule set because my group has already decided to stay with 3.5 for a while as we all have a lot invested in that version both mentally and physically. But also to give time for WotC and the 3rd party publishers time to get material out.

The future is near!

  DAHLGREN, Va. —  A futuristic weapon getting a trial run by the Navy demonstrated its destructive power at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren.

According to the Navy, the railgun, when fully developed, will be able to launch solid projectiles at Mach 5, or about 3,700 mph.] The News story