My further thoughts after a full week of playtime with B&W.

For some strange reason I am now using the mouse solely for viewing. I also use the Spacebar frequently to reset the view. I am making a lot of use of the bookmark function and now set any villages I find to 1,2,3,4, etc. in the order I take them over.

As for my villagers I have stopped micromanaging them and discovered they will do things for themselves if left to their own devices. The same goes for my creature. I only occasionally encourage him or punish him.

I am still enjoying the game but I can understand Tom and Mark's frustration with it. I think Lionhead will really have to release their free add-ons as soon as possible to extend the life of B&W.

I haven't played it in a couple weeks now. The AOE2 CD was smiling at me, the chimp was just farting all the time, and it wasn't a traumatic choice at all.

B&W doesn't seem to have much staying power. I may give it another go when they patch in sandbox mode, but otherwise I'm not interested in it.

Hey Sean, is there a way to unspecialize breeders? My problems is that the villages get too big and hunting down those breeders is a pain. I've been jacking up the totem for worship and letting them starve to keep things balanced, but it ultimatly hurts my mercy rating! By the third world the breeder things gets waaaay out of hand for me with all of those villages!! I've given up to play a more Kohen unless someone can pass a usefull fix for this ...

Dave

David :

I have the same problem with breeders. I discovered that my Tiger was actually creating breeders by himself. It got so bad I had to leash him to the temple all the time. I don't remember training him to do that.

As for cancelling a villagers breeding status I thought you simply picked them up and moved the mouse quickly left and right ?


Kazz :

{lol} Same thing happened to me. I have my AOE2 Expansion CD permanently situated on my computer desk. Even now I have never tired of AOE2. Fabulous game.

I can't wait for Age of Mythology. It looks great. (Then again I said the same thing about B&W). {smirk}

One game I have gotten back into recently is Wheel Of Time.

I've been thinking about Railroad Tycoon 2 recently. I never played it when it came out, but reviewers uniformly loved it. I was also helplessly addicted to the original (which may be why I avoided the excellently-rated sequel, come to think of it). Maybe soon...

I also read the preview of CIV3 in CGW this month. I could really go for a CIV fix. Maybe I'll dig up the ol' CIV2 CD...

So many great games, so little time to loaf about playing them.

I picked up Civ2 again, on a lark, about two weeks ago. I'm on my third full game.

How did Sid and Brian (mostly Brian for 2) DO that? The game is like five years old!

-Andrew

"So many great games, so little time to loaf about playing them. "

I contract these days and have a lot of time right now, and I STILL don't have enough time to play these games! I just kicked the daily B & W to only replace it with Summoner and Evil Islands (awaiting patch for B&W to continue it).

btw, RRT2 is worth the purchase. And if you are in for a Civ fix the FIRST Call to Power is not that BAD and it could be got for real cheap...its at least worth a try. CTP2 i would reccomend but its still at about 30 bux retail (which it isnt worth depending on what youre looking for...)

oddly enough the last game i got back into somewhat was Odium (from the Geryk thread), I'm looking for Shadow Watch as my next game since reading that huge thread. but then again...Tropico is coming out...damn, it never stops does it.

etc

"And if you are in for a Civ fix the FIRST Call to Power is not that BAD and it could be got for real cheap...its at least worth a try."

*cough*...*cough*...

Actually, maybe CtP has been patched up, but IMO, it's a pretty pale shadow of the game that inspired it.

You bring up an important point, mtkafka. When looking at what games I recommend, I try to keep in mind that people are drawing from a very limited amount of time with which to play games. I would hate to think, for instance, that someone would spend time with CtP or its sequel when they could instead be trying RRT2, Warlords 3, Shadow Watch, Alpha Centauri, Starships Unlimited, Europa Universalis, Kohan, etc., etc.

-Tom

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Quote:

I would hate to think, for instance, that someone would spend time with CtP or its sequel when they could instead be trying RRT2, Warlords 3, Shadow Watch, Alpha Centauri, Starships Unlimited, Europa Universalis, Kohan, etc., etc.

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"You bring up an important point, mtkafka. When looking at what games I recommend, I try to keep in mind that people are drawing from a very limited amount of time with which to play games. I would hate to think, for instance, that someone would spend time with CtP or its sequel when they could instead be trying RRT2, Warlords 3, Shadow Watch, Alpha Centauri, Starships Unlimited, Europa Universalis, Kohan, etc., etc. "

Ya! My point exactly! Now, if we can get more reviewers to think that way, I can maybe finally forget about Birth of the Federation. Lousy CGW reviewer...

I only mentiuoned CTP because its a "civ" type game and it could be bought like for five bucks. I was guessing he already played SMAC and a host of those other games. There really isn't much to choose from with Cix type gameplay besides Civ 2/SMAC and all the MOO type games.

But actually you're right, CTP2 would be low on my list for reccomendations...i think if you wanted a Civ type game i would try Space Empires IV. Though you have to order it thru mail. But it still worth it.

etc

I would actually recommend CTP 2 if Activision hadn't abandoned it without even trying to fix the game's useless AI. But abandon it they did. Since there was only a half-hearted attempt to fix some of the problems with the communications code, I wouldn't recommend it as a multiplayer game, either.

Par for the course for Activision, unfortunately. You're lucky to see one patch out of them for any particular game, and if you do get one, it will be months before it appears. Meanwhile, the development team gets moved to new projects that will yield their own bumper crop of bugs in two years' time.

Morons.