Kizyr

I decided to go back and play Civ1 for some nostalgia. It's fun, but man oh man are there so many nonsensical irritants. Like ancient-era phalanx defeating my battleships, or settlers defeating riflemen. Also, how the AI will move units into your territory, "sneak attack", beg for peace, move more units into your territory, "sneak attack", etc.. And how the AI will demand tribute from you despite being 1000 years behind in technology. So, yeah. Civ4 and Civ4:BTS got to a pretty good point with AI. The AI worked smarter, not harder, so to beat them you had to be smarter than the smarties and tougher than the toughies. Civ5, the AI seems stuck in an older game, so I'm hoping that some later development might 'fix' this without requiring an actual change to the game. KF

Ok, just pre-registered. So there's no turning back! ...I think my name is misspelled in the first post. KF

Between my 12-hour workdays and weekends entirely spent on classwork, I've been able to get in enough of Civ V to make some comments. Generally, I probably wouldn't have gotten it when it came out if I'd play-tested it a bit. I'm not saying I dislike it, just that I don't like it enough to warrant getting it on the release date. Overall, I like Civ4 and Civ4:BTS more, but CivV is definitely better than Civ3 or Civ2. Maybe on-par with Alpha Centauri in terms of fun? Stuff I like: - Totally re-worked strategy. It forces you to use a mixed-unit strategy to wage wars, instead of being able to get away with spamming out all of 1-2 unit types (like I used to do in Civ4). - The units themselves have different advantages/disadvantages making each of them more worthwhile. Nothing is totally worthless anymore (until it's obsolete and can get upgraded). - You can still win or have a worthwhile game with fewer cities. Civ4, I felt that I always needed 20+ cities by the end; here, many of the victory conditions are possible still with 3-4 (plus puppet states). - Diplomacy and trading is way more worthwhile. Every luxury resource counts, and every strategic resource counts. - Giant death robots Stuff I don't like: - I hate having to play something online. I don't like MMOs, and when I don't want to play online I don't like having to either deal with error screens on start-up or manually disconnect my internet before starting the game (which I have to do now). I understand wanting to make it open to online content, but why can't that be a simple option instead of needing some workaround? - Inability to stack units. I'm with zyko on this one. I get eliminating the 'stack of doom', but eliminating unit stacks altogether makes it impossible to direct a unit to go-to a particular tile--it always gets stopped halfway because some other unit is in the way, and I can't remember where I directed each and every individual unit to go. Problem is really annoying for workers. - Railroads barely help you move units. Still takes me 3-5 turns to cross the continent even if it's entirely on railroads. - Potato in the tailpipe problem is worse this time around because of the bias towards the attacker. I was at war with Siam, I had infantry and artillery, they still had longswordsmen, catapults, and elephants. They took two of my cities defended with infantry by using catapults and swordsmen in one turn each... The riflemen I still had consistently lost to their elephants... The way I finally won (I was irritated enough by now to wipe them off the face of the earth) was by eliminating their access to iron/ivory, spamming out as many infantry as I could, and taking down their cities one-by-one. Basically, the bias towards the attacker, and the elephants, is so overpowered that you need a three-century tech-advantage in some cases... There are various other things that are some annoyances. But overall I think the good outweighs the bad. I still think Civ4 is more enjoyable, but that could just be the unfamiliarity of Civ5 talking, so I'm willing to give it some time. KF

It's running fine on my 3-year-old laptop. Your system will probably be ok. If the demo is still available, then you can try that out first just to make sure. KF

Can't wait to finally take a crack at it this weekend when I have time. I'm both anticipating and worrying about the changes; we'll see which one wins out. KF

Sometime a few weeks later maybe? I was planning to take some time off for this, but unfortunately we're nearing the end of the fiscal year and some stuff just really needs to get done. So, I'll have to delay my Civ5-based holiday for a little while. KF

It helps to always be listening to it, too. If you have music playing in the background when folks are over at your house, then put together a bunch of OCR-based playlists. If you have music playing in your car, then have a bunch of CDs with OCR tracks on them (ok so... you're 14 so that wouldn't apply yet--but it's one thing that I did). If there's a chance at other social events you're at, you could always have a few CDs with some choice tracks on them, just in case. KF

Back at Otakon, Larry was telling me that this one was working its way through the process, so I was looking forward to seeing it come out here. I listened to it back when I got Get Acoustic earlier in the year. This was my favorite on the original Get Equipped album (both for the musical quality and the lyrics), and the acoustic version is a pretty awesome take on it. Personally, my favorite lines are: I hope this gets a bunch more people into The Megas, just like what happened for me back when The Annihilation of Monsteropolis was posted. KF

Ah, water is so good right now... I had lots of fun. We gotta do stuff like this regularly. Thanks to everyone--for anyone who couldn't make it, try to come out next time! It'll be awesome. KF

One edit: it looks like the weather tomorrow will be pretty good--Weather Channel is saying a high of 82° by 1:00, cooling off as it gets into the late afternoon. So I'd say 1:30 for lunch then going to the waterpark right after that sounds pretty good--as long as you think 3 hours is enough time to enjoy a bit of the main park. (Personally, I'm fine with another hour or two at the main park. But we can always change minds while there if we want.) Anyway, so the plan is to meet up at 10:30 at the Guest Services booth near ticketing, right? We'll all be there. By the way, Arrow, you may want to edit the first post here with some of the specific meetup info now that it seems settled. KF

Oh, there are many things I could say. It's hard to limit it to just three, so I'll try to mention some stuff that hasn't been alluded to yet. 1. Never build an army so big that you can't maintain it, and never send in an army so small that it can't finish the job quickly. (Civilization 4) 2. When it comes between being strong and looking good, always go for looking good. (Dragon Quest IX) 3. If you make squids too intelligent, they'll destroy the world in nuclear war. (SimEarth) KF

Velocifero, Bahamut: do both of you want to ride with me? I'm only like 2-3 minutes away from y'all. (Wes I know you already asked, I'm just double-checking.) Arrow: I'll give you the money on Sunday. I'm good for it, I swear! All: It's starting to sound like the consensus is something like: @10:30am - meet at the theme park (get breakfast beforehand) @???? - lunch @afternoon - water park As I said, I'm fasting anyway so eating isn't an issue for me. But, if I might offer a suggestion: (a) lunch at the theme park somewhere then go to the water park sometime mid-afternoon, or ( leave the theme park early afternoon, get lunch outside, then go to the water park that afternoon. I'm inclined towards (a), because of the whole eating-next-to-swimming thing. But like I said, eating isn't an issue for me so it'd be up to you guys. On the plus-side, this is also something that we could change our mind on once we're at the park. KF

Sunday traffic isn't a problem until 4-8PM coming into the city. As for breakfast, well, I'm still fasting so I'm indifferent to where/when you guys eat. I'll join for the convenience (as in having a single meeting spot), but otherwise it doesn't matter to me. KF

Oh I realize that. It was more of an "aww nuts" plus some trivia on my part. KF

I think that the Japanese and American versions have a different DQVC thing... This week, when I connect it tells me that this week is the 10-year anniversary of the release of DQ7 (2008-08-26). Whenever I connect, there are always really cute outfits that are beyond my budget, though. And I'm still at a point in the story where I can't afford to spend too much of my money on luxuries. The way I got some high-level maps beyond my capabilities (at around 34 or so in just one class across the board) is from trading. So there is that loophole if it's possible. KF

This is a good time to work out logistics, too. Where are we meeting that day and when? We may also want to send around a PM or something to everyone who's definite with cell numbers just in case. KF

Thanks, that's what I wanted to know. ...actually, it's the information that I wanted to know, but I was rather hoping the answer would be 'yes'. Why must you make my life more complicated? Anyway, back to the actual game, I'm getting through the story mode pretty quickly, now that my school-load has lightened up (not my work-load though...). I'm sort of stuck on where to go next at the moment (don't tell me though; I'm trying to get through this one FAQ-less). Oh, and my main character looks so cute in the Elcyon school uniform and glasses. KF

Oh that's not what I meant. I meant, if I also have a map for Lv.58, does that mean it's the same one you're referring to? As in, there isn't more than one map that's Lv.58? KF

Is there only one map per level? I have a Lv.58 map right now (named "Sublime Land" or "けだかき大地") and I'm wondering if it's the same. Alternatively, you could give me the map and I can let you know what the discover date is {^^}. KF

Episode 33 of OCAD has an interview with Sivak, the creator of Battle Kid I/II (new NES games available at Retrozone). I mention this because he went into some detail on how he composes the music for the game. He uses a few more modern tools so that it's not necessary to play-test the game to hear the music, but it still gives an idea of how it's more challenging than just putting together the notes. KF

Fasting also really helps me get my sleep schedule back on track. If I fall into a habit of waking up late, going into work late (which doesn't matter as it's not a strict schedule), coming back home late, and staying up late again, then having to get up really early and leave work early for a month helps to reset the clock. At least for a while. This year I think it's gonna help me curb my coffee consumption. In the last year I've gone from drinking 1½-2 cups a day to 3-4 cups a day (cup as in 6oz.--a "small" at a coffee place is usually 10-12oz.). I still have a cup before dawn, but a month of scaling it back should help. By the way, especially in the summer months when the daylight hours are really long, try to remain calm and relaxed throughout the day. It really helps to extend your energy. KF

I can! And you guys didn't play with me Ok so that was 6 levels ago and I didn't have a chance then. But still! By the way, Stella = the fairy that accompanies you (Sandy in JP version), yeah? I only find her mildly irritating; it'd be better though if your character actually said a few lines to compensate instead of being a silent protagonist. KF

Fasting isn't meant to be an undue hardship. There are certain conditions where fasting is optional (e.g., traveling) or actually recommended against (e.g., pregnancy). In cases where you cannot fast during Ramadan, as a Muslim, you'll either need to feed / pay to feed someone else (if it's a long-term condition) or make up the fast later (if it's a temporary condition). Medical conditions are something that you'll have to assess yourself. Basically, if you can still get by fasting during the day and just adjust at night, then continue to fast. My grandfather was diabetic, but was able to take his insulin pre-dawn and after-sunset plus regulating his activity to still fast. Yesterday, I was rather ill but still got through (in retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have fasted though, but I didn't know how bad it'd get until later in the day). But there are individual cases where no regulation of activity can compensate for abstaining from food/drink for 8-12 hours; in those cases, one isn't obligated to fast. Overall, it's still an honor code system. So there's really no way to 'cheat' the system without cheating yourself. KF

I finally beat the first treasure-map dungeon, including the boss (I think it's Cave of Woe in the English version?) at Level 21. Just barely made it by there... Oh, and the tower-of-metal-slimes is my favorite enemy, ever. KF

I'll be fasting anyway naturally. How many other OCR Muslims are there anyhow? KF