JFSOCC

maybe not "news" exactly, but some closure for me for the spore fiasco. http://www.designer-notes.com/?p=654

Could you elaborate? Sounds like I could absorb some of that lesson. ditto, especially since nanowrimo is around the corner.

explain to them that the history hasn't changed, it was misrepresented in the first place. You never had a failing grade.

No you don't! You're not going to improve if you don't get back on the horse after it throws you! There is no shame in losing, tbh, I don't know if you can come back from a bad situation anyway. If you fall behind, usually you stay behind. (don't let that dissuade you from trying though, you'll feel all the more rewarded for it when you do meet with success) The insectoids, with which I think you mean Chrysalids (as they are the only creatures to create zombies) are a plague. I deal with them with extreme prejudice, they're always priority targets. If I can kill 3 of any other unit, or one chrysalid, it'll be the chrysalid meeting its doom. A few tips for combat: always bring at least one recruit with your best team, it's easier saving them and levelling them. If you have limited armour, give your best armour to the newbie. Ideally you should always have 12 units that can deal with threats, so you can recover from a team wipe. try rotating out your better soldiers to give others a chance. If you want to be effective against incoming forces, always keep your teammembers within range of eachother, it's the best defence against chrysalids or flanking. It also means that if you have an enemy within range, one hit is not going to make or break, you'll have backup to deal with them. Nothing sucks harder than having a 90% shot miss, and losing your best sniper because you had no team members nearby to cover for his or her failure. I learned that the hard way. In terror missions, I find it pays to be aggressive, the faster you rescue civilians, the less fodder for the chrysalids to turn. But this comes with the caveat that you shouldn't break up your team. that's not an absolute rule, but a guideline. As for shooting down UFO's, there are 3 special consumable items you can create to aid during the interception, these are incredibly useful. I made it my business to always have 2 of each of them, I have NEVER let a(n?) UFO get away. They can ruin your satellites if you do, and that's too expensive to fix. Anyway, keep it up, you'll get better, I swear! This, I had this mission open and only played it when my panic levels started to rise. I had kept it as I had correctly guessed it would do wonders in bringing them down. It's a good way to give your self some breathing room. armour trumps weaponry. Because a soldier that can take a few hits can leverage those extra turns into extra damage output. You can have great damage, but if you drop quickly, that makes no difference. one last thing. Always pick snap-to shots for sniper, and always pick lightning reflexes for assault.

10, 14 and 18 are fantastic ideas. Well, except driving on the left, that's just silly.

Was it dark roast?

So Rosbjerg, email addresses are today's phone numbers.

I care about balance, but the rest of your post, I couldn't agree more with

I too hope to see intrigue, but as most people in this thread have stated, there aren't many examples of games doing it well. My guess it's hard to write devious intrigue if you're not devious or challenged by devious opponents.

we're not going to see epic levels for a while yet though

Well, it seems there is more or less consensus.

I will probably form my party with a rogue (my character) or rogue/monk (my character if I could multi-class) and the companions written by obsidian of whom I like the character the most. I'll try to make that work, even if it's not particularly well balanced. I think my dream team would be Rogue (me) (utility, stun-lock debuffing) Monk (aggressive damage dealer, debuffer) Fighter (tanking/engaging strongest opponents while the rest of the party deals with the lesser mobs first) Ranger (extra damage against called targets, animal companion utility) chanter (buffs party, defensive backline) cipher (great at breaking up enemy parties into manageable chunks) I imagine this would be a fairly aggressive party, not particularly great at prolonged combat. I would never have priests or paladins in my party because I can't stand fanatics or religious zealots.

I'm aware that multi-classing is not a likely addition to Project Eternity, but it hasn't been explicitly ruled out yet (to my knowledge) I'm very curious what the community thinks about multi-classing, and how strongly you feel about this. Personally, I think multi-classing would add a layer of personalisation and complexity which would allow me to tinker and find interesting new combinations, and help me further make my character unique. If I would otherwise feel limited or pigeon-holed by the class choices available, multi-classing would allow me exponentially more options to role-play my character the way *I* envision. Instead of 11 options, you would have 11*10 options, in my opinion, this choice is a welcome addition. How about you?

If the king is the only piece that can move, and it has no safe avenue of escape (ie it has no legal move), then only two situations exist: (1) the king is not currently in check it is a stalemate and is considered a draw, not a win; or (2) the king is under check (and no safe avenue of escape exists) in which case it is checkmate. If all the other pieces taken or locked with no possible move, there are no other variations possible (assuming it is the king's turn to move). I have no clue where the term Patt comes from - I couldn't find it any chess glossary. pat is a stalemate, and in tournament play that's considered to be more than a draw, less than win, and is scored accordingly

it's a good point, but, what a great idea, it would be cool to see this. You mob a mob of goblins? expect to find a goblin horde swarming down on you the next time you leave the safety of the city.

TBH, I think rogue is a pretty generic term, which we've learned to associate with the thief class because of DnD. but the term Rogue is used widely outside of fantasy. Rogue (roʊg) n., v. rogued, ro•guing. n. 1. a dishonest person; scoundrel. 2. a playfully mischievous person; scamp. 3. a tramp or vagabond. IE someone who doesn't play by the rules (or by their own rules) Han Solo is a rogue, he doesn't know anything about thievery, and we can argue he's not even that great of a smuggler, but it's his attitude which determines his character. Rogues are a diverse bunch, but all rogues can be expected to be very individualistic personalities, this is exhibited by selfishness, but also self-reliance. Rogues make up their own minds, and as such may be very opinionated, even when their opinions are considered taboo or otherwise scandalous by the societies they inhabit. It's that personality which draws me to the rogue. As for the barbarian, I've always liked the term "Dreadnought" because they wade into battle with apparent fearlessness. (which may be seen as a lack of self preservation instincts) DnD Paladins are more like crusaders, but PE paladins, I'd call Knights. Superior trained warriors with a focus on leading others. Most other classes are pretty aptly named, I think.

Calax, what's your area of expertise?

Actually disarming/blocking is a key part of kali, the idea is that you close the distance as quickly as possible, and then block the open and free movement of your opponents limbs. This eliminates the benefit of reach weapons quickly. And I'm OK with the rogue not being very effective against highly armoured opponents, although if you have someone's limbs locked, you can pick where you strike, and you'd only need a small opening. Alternatively you could switch to the bastons, which blows would be felt through the wearers armour.

This is how I imagine my rogue being awesome in combat

oh great, the something awful forums are closed again.

well sleep deprivation is cumulative, so if you miss an hour every day, then you do need about three hours to make up for it. (obviously that number doesn't keep growing indefinitely) Since I've been doing light therapy this week, I'm currently very conscious of my sleeping patterns. had a dream last night that I was in a (really cool) episode of Firefly, one never aired before. It's been a while since I've watched it.

I like the concept of modular ship design. I might back this.

you're going to lose soldiers, and recruits die faster than anyone. I got to say, it's one of my favourite games of the last few years, perhaps my new most favourite. when the expansion pack comes out, I might actually not wait and just dole out the big bucks. Good luck! and remember, higher difficulties will be much more fun to play, after you finish it on easy.

I know my thread got hijacked by Oby, but it amuses me. There's stuff I could argue, but I really don't see the point.

hey shady, I'm subscribed to george takei as well.