Video games

[Jimmy Higgins]

So, Civilization...

Steam is doing a sale thing, and I finally looked into it after reading that Zaccaria Pinball had an absurd sale. So I signed up, got the pinball and was browsing elsewhere. Found Commander Keen! Also Railroad Tycoon 2 and 3 and Worms Pinball. I saw Civilization, I think I have Civ I on disk somewhere as part of a bundle, I wanted the RR Tycoon II game that it was a part of many many years ago.

I know Civilization is popular, though there are differing opinions. I'm looking at III to V. I don't know if my laptop can do VI. I've read III is great, but dated. IV and V have the pros and cons. Any advice?

Oh, you bastard. You utter, utter swine, you. There I was, perfectly happy killing dragons and whatnot in the wonderful land of Skyrim, until I saw your post and thought "Railroad Tycoon 2? It's been a while maybe I should check it out again". And yes, it had been a while, getting on 16 years. I thought I'd left that all behind me, but no, you had to pull me back in. Oh yes, it's so easy, Steam sale, €1.94, no worries, you won't regret it," Sure. 2 days later and I'm hooked again. Hooked, like a fish gasping on the line. Why couldn't you just leave well alone?

I'd castigate you further, but I have to go and work out how to connect Rochester to Kitchener while maintaining a profit ... Why did you have to remind me?

Sorry.

I still have Railroad Tycoon setup in DosBox and play that every once in a while. I had II and III, but 64 bit messed things up. Now I can conveniently waste my time. And yeah, that price, what $4 for the Tycoon bundle. Yeah baby!

 

[C_Mucius_Scaevola]

So, Civilization...

Steam is doing a sale thing, and I finally looked into it after reading that Zaccaria Pinball had an absurd sale. So I signed up, got the pinball and was browsing elsewhere. Found Commander Keen! Also Railroad Tycoon 2 and 3 and Worms Pinball. I saw Civilization, I think I have Civ I on disk somewhere as part of a bundle, I wanted the RR Tycoon II game that it was a part of many many years ago.

I know Civilization is popular, though there are differing opinions. I'm looking at III to V. I don't know if my laptop can do VI. I've read III is great, but dated. IV and V have the pros and cons. Any advice?

Oh, you bastard. You utter, utter swine, you. There I was, perfectly happy killing dragons and whatnot in the wonderful land of Skyrim, until I saw your post and thought "Railroad Tycoon 2? It's been a while maybe I should check it out again". And yes, it had been a while, getting on 16 years. I thought I'd left that all behind me, but no, you had to pull me back in. Oh yes, it's so easy, Steam sale, €1.94, no worries, you won't regret it," Sure. 2 days later and I'm hooked again. Hooked, like a fish gasping on the line. Why couldn't you just leave well alone?

I'd castigate you further, but I have to go and work out how to connect Rochester to Kitchener while maintaining a profit ... Why did you have to remind me?

Sorry.

I still have Railroad Tycoon setup in DosBox and play that every once in a while. I had II and III, but 64 bit messed things up. Now I can conveniently waste my time. And yeah, that price, what $4 for the Tycoon bundle. Yeah baby!

I still have III gathering dust on a shelf. Never really got into it; after I and II I was very disappointed with how it played. I was fantastic at the time, but I don't know if I could go back to that level of graphics anymore. II was always the best of the bunch, and I've been surprised at how well the graphics still hold up for a 20-year-old game. Absolutely loving it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Sorry.

I still have Railroad Tycoon setup in DosBox and play that every once in a while. I had II and III, but 64 bit messed things up. Now I can conveniently waste my time. And yeah, that price, what $4 for the Tycoon bundle. Yeah baby!

I still have III gathering dust on a shelf. Never really got into it; after I and II I was very disappointed with how it played. I was fantastic at the time, but I don't know if I could go back to that level of graphics anymore. II was always the best of the bunch, and I've been surprised at how well the graphics still hold up for a 20-year-old game. Absolutely loving it.

III was very well polished, but I too didn't play it as much. Once I got the Mars one done, I think that was about it. The original was definitely my poison. The best bang for my buck money I ever payed for a game (though Stardew Valley is in a competitive second)... still using the original software and book for copyright protection (though I'm pretty good at remembering the engines). The funny thing was I only recently, last year or so, learned there was a cheat key in Railroad Tycoon.

I don't remember playing II as much as the original (but we are talking decades here), and I can't remember how different II and III other than the polish. When Sid Meiers Railroads came out, the reviews were generally saying it was a disappointing release, so I never got it. Such is the way of having a high bar.

Well, the good news is Harper's Ferry, DC, Baltimore, and Philadelphia are all connected. It took a while to figure out how the bridges were built. You seemingly need to select a fixed direction of track to build. That was what I liked about I the best, building the tracked could be done with the keyboard. Though I suppose it might be possible to do that in II.

With the B&O set, it is time to move to the next challenge. Figuring out how to get my receiver to handshake properly with my laptop so the sound goes through the receiver. I tried going directly to the TV, but it can't render the laptop fast enough, like the receiver can.