Vacation

Well, we got back from vacation and it was as if I had not left so things are not as dismal as they seem. Time to get back into the swing of Strategy Browser Gaming.

Ultimately, in Tribal Wars the Tribe I was in totally disbanded and is now spread out among any number of different old and new tribes. We will see how long this lasts since I got into a pretty small tribe.

Console Gaming
I went to the local Game Stop tonight looking for new meat(Wii games) and decided to get Resident Evil 4 and one of the Rayman games. The control of a Wii is slightly better than the xbox and playstations for aiming but it still cannot compare to a good mouse and keyboard.

My years playing doom up to Half Life spoiled me for any game on a console that uses any aiming system. They are nowhere close to as good or as responsive. I can remember doing jumps from platforms spinning 180 degrees shooting someone in the head on the level below me and then shooting someone directly below me in a split second in Quake3 without breaking a sweat and that would not even be possible in any of the new console shooters.

Even at the highest sensitivity the best pc gamer could clean house against the best console gamer in halo or whatever. That would be an interesting tournament to watch actually. I hereby patent the idea of console vs pc shooter tournament.

The Military Channel

The Military Channel has a show on at night that goes over the top 10 of a certain weapon or vehicle or whatever. Last night from 7pm to 8pm EST they had a show that I found very interesting:



Top Tens
Top Ten Infantry Fighting Vehicles
TV-PG, CC

The list was given as follows:

10. Humvee

9. LVT MK-4 (Landing Vehicle Tracked)

8. M-3 Halftrack

7. Universal Bren Gun Carrier

6. BMP-1

5. Sd.Kfz. 251

4. Stryker

3. MCV-80 Warrior

2. M-2 Bradley

1. M-113

The Drudgery of Dying

Well,

I have not posted much in the last few days due to the drudgery that is strategy browser gaming. Here is an update:

Tribal Wars W9 - waiting to die.
Tribal Wars W13 - waiting to die.
Travian W6 - building and waiting to die.
BiteFight - slow building process.
RuleTheSeas - slow buildling process.
Silentmurder - slow building process.
Others - waiting to die.

Fun. Fun. Due to this I have not had a lot to update this blog with. Hopefully I will get attacked and can detail how I was destroyed or was able to fight them off.

Desertion. . . aka Loyalty vs. Self-Preservation

Well, it seems that a lot of people are just full of hot air (unless they are on the winning team). A large part of the tribe has stuck in the fray even though it is looking dismal. Another large group started some attacks in the last few days.

Desertion in the face of an overwhelming army or force is an interesting thing. Players start thinking about personal survival instead of the survival of the group and that is when all remaining ties break down.

We have orders to start taking the villages of the deserters, however I do not think I will do anything to them unless they attack me first. I have enough on my plate to have to open a fourth front with deserters.

Ultimately, it does boil down to loyalty vs. self-preservation.

Winds of Change.

Ok, the war that was progressing slightly negatively for us has now taken a turn for the worse. It actually has some of my tribemates jumping ship. We were taking on one of the top 4 or 5 tribes in the world and now another of the top tribes has joined on the other side. Needless to say this does not look good for us. lol. I am hoping that the morale thing plays a large part of this next part or we will be in big trouble.

Producing troops and supporting the frontline as always.

Expansion, Expansion, Expansion. . .

In Tribal Wars I am in the expanding business. I started out slowly but have increased the growth recently:

Date - - - - - - - - - # of Villages conquered
23rd March 2008 - 3
21st March 2008 - 2
13th March 2008 - 2
11th March 2008 - 2
06th March 2008 - 1
05th March 2008 - 1
04th March 2008 - 1
01st March 2008 - 1
29th February 2008 - 1
28th February 2008 - 1
27th February 2008 - 1
26th February 2008 - 1
20th February 2008 - 1
18th February 2008 - 2
10th February 2008 - 1
07th February 2008 - 1
05th February 2008 - 1
03rd February 2008 - 1
02nd February 2008 - 1
29th January 2008 - 1
25th January 2008 - 1
24th January 2008 - 2
21st January 2008 - 1
19th January 2008 - 1
16th January 2008 - 1
12th January 2008 - 1
11th January 2008 - 1
02nd January 2008 - 2

Ultimately, whoever controls all of the villages wins. Tribal Wars is different from Travian in that you do not win and have the server end and reset once someone controls a Wonder of the World long enough.

Telemarketer Call

My wife received a telemarketer call yesterday that was pretty funny. Here is the script of what happened:

Wife: Hello?

Telemarketer: Is the Owner there?

Wife: I'm the Owner.

Telemarketer: Hi I'm calling today to offer you a interest rate check.

Wife: I'm not interested.

Telemarketer: No I'm not selling anything. This is a simple interest rate check to see if you are paying to high on your credit cards.

Wife: That's okay I'm not interested.

Telemarketer: So you are okay with paying more in interest?

Wife: Actually I have a pretty good rate.

Telemarketer: Really? What is it?

Wife: 0%

Telemarketer: (disgusted) I don't believe you.

Wife: Sorry, I don't care if you don't believe me. It's true.

Telemarketer: I want you to fax it over to me and show me.

Wife: I'm not going to fax over my statement to a stranger. You called me.

Telemarketer: No no you can cross out all your information, I don't need to see that. I want to see the 0%.

Wife: I'm not going to take the time or the effort to fax over a statement so a telemarketer will believe me.

Telemarketer: Click.