Use saved games?

Talk about strategy games like MoO series, Civilization, Europa Universalis, etc.

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PowerCrazy
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#16 Post by PowerCrazy »

In SMAC I started an Iron Man Transcendence game. After i was done i had a Rating of 2102% Which is a score of about 21000 :) that extra 100% bonus helps a lot. Of course that with me milking it every step of the way. When i could legitamately finsih the game I had a rating of about 300% Honestly in SMAC I NEVER reload if i make a mistake (of course i don't make mistakes very often). One game that i do reload every turn is X-Com: Enemy Unknown. I know, I Know. But when you play on SuperHuman, it is IMPOSSIBLE to do well. Let alone win. It takes me about 1.5 weeks of play to beat a SuperHuman game, and i'd hardly call it "fun". However, veteran is about right for quality of play.
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Nightfish
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#17 Post by Nightfish »

What machine do you play X-Com on? I always wanted to go back to it, but I can't get it to run very well. Either it's too fast or it won't load at all. Depending on which of two computers I use. :cry:

OceanMachine
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#18 Post by OceanMachine »

Nightfish wrote:What machine do you play X-Com on? I always wanted to go back to it, but I can't get it to run very well. Either it's too fast or it won't load at all. Depending on which of two computers I use. :cry:
I had it working under win98 not so long ago.. I had more trouble when I upgraded to XP. I could never quite get it in a playable state there.
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drek
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#19 Post by drek »

I haven't specifically checked for x-com, but if it can work under xp then the instructions are undoubtly posted to the forums at http://www.the-underdogs.org/ . Just go to their forums and search for "x-com" (or any other old game you have problems with).

PowerCrazy
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#20 Post by PowerCrazy »

hehe, I have it running on XP. Amazingly enough. I downloaded Xcom Gold form XcomHQ.com unfortunetly its gone now.... :( If you want i can "try" to send it to you via E-mail or AIM or ICQ. I have TFTD as well, but i just don't like that one as well. And apocalypse, eh. But X-com is one of my favorite games.
Aquitaine is my Hero.... ;)

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skdiw
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#21 Post by skdiw »

Really, you got x-com running? I love that game. I been trying to install it the other day but it didn't work. Probably something to do with EMS that old computer use.

Back to the topic, I reload all the time while playing civ. But the only way to get better is playing iron man.

Bastian-Bux
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#22 Post by Bastian-Bux »

I have to admit, I do reload often. Why? Cause I'm a perfectionist in games :). Nothing bugs me more then loosing this one scout ship out of a indestructible armada. Heck, I bring home 100%, not 99.9% ;)

Moriarty
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#23 Post by Moriarty »

skdiw: There is a copy of x-com for windows... Doesn't have any of the EMS memory issues. Works' on my computer (and my computer resolutely refuses to believe there is such a thing as EMS memory :) )...

U can download it from... dunno... kazaa has it. Technically if u already own a copy (which i do) it's not quite piracy. :)


Powercrazy: I can beat a super-human game of x-com inside of a day... Certainly before many more than 100 UFO's have come and gone. :)

Impaler
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#24 Post by Impaler »

I never reload for anything other then a Crash. I dont actualy select the Iron Man option though as I dont need to computer to do this for me, I just load up each time I am playing and save when I am done (usaly overwriting the earlier save) and the next play period I load it up again.

I am noticing a lot of people here have Played SMAC, I wonder if their is any potential for us to get a MultiPlayer game of some sort going?

And I would also like to mention that I can run X-Com on my old win 95 system, I owned the original game on 5 flopies but lost it. The version I have now is downloaded from the UnderDog (great sight!). Perhaps fans of old games should look into investing in a "Retro" computer that runs Dos based windows and has the older components of the mid- 90's. It realy wouldn't be very expensive to get either. When I upgrade to a new computer my current one will go to pasture and be used for nothing but X-Com.

Oh and by the way, I always tryed to see how LONG I could keep the goverments from making Pacts with the Aliens as this was more challenging then actualy winning the game. I have gotten up to 3 years of game time, the aliens are by this point launching mass Battle Ship Raids on the Earth and ALL the aliens carry Heavy Plasma and Blaster Bombs.
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Tyreth
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#25 Post by Tyreth »

I'd be up for a play-by-email game of SMAC. I own the linux version which does not interoperate with the windows version by network. And an email game means I don't need to commit too much time in big blocks. I don't mind a game taking a year or more, with a turn a day :)

Bastian-Bux
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#26 Post by Bastian-Bux »

Count me in for SMAC this way :). Though I'll be often away this next year, but heck, who isn't. ;)

Moriarty
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#27 Post by Moriarty »

Impaler: I run 98 on my comp, solely for the reason that most of my games actually work on it (compared with any more recent version of windows). I have considered getting a 'old' computer, however as i don't have a job at present, i have better things to invest money in. :)

Pertaining to X-Com - The first time i played the game, it took me an absolute age to get to the end. I THINK it may have taken me nearly a thousand UFO's. No idea what the in-game period was. But once u have a collection of Avengers, it doesn't matter what they throw at you, u can easily stop them from doing anything (just so long as u have 1 base per countinent for radar). The hardest part of the game is easily the start. Once u've got sufficient tech, it's no problem to simply hold them at bay... It does get tedious eventually mind. :)

gb207
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Re: Use saved games?

#28 Post by gb207 »

tyreth wrote:I'm curious to know how many of you guys, if something goes bad, load game?

I'm thinking of Alpha Centauri primarily, but it applies to other strategy games. I used to do that when I was younger - but since playing multiplayer games I've come to live with the mistakes I make and try to make the best of it.

Hence, I never use saved games. In SMAC I would use Iron Man except infrequent crashes scared me too much. I now have the Linux version though, and it hasn't crashed yet so I might turn it on.
It depends on which game it is. Times when I use saved games. In some games, it gives you a great advantage. For e.g. in Master of Magic (the greatest strategy game in my opinion ever made - Steve Barcia - GAMING GENIUS!!!!) if you enter a magic node, cave etc and fight the monsters after you finish the battle you would get a random magic item, extra spell book etc. So I would always try to get the extra spell book, not to make the game easier but for more fun. I loved getting as many spells as possible. Same as in Master of Orion 2, I love getting all the techs and getting as many special abilities as possible. And also I would use saved games if for e.g. I would lose a one off special leader.

If however, its where I just lose a city/planet then I usually don't bother. Sometimes I even continue playing the game when I know defeat is inevitable. For e.g. when the Klackons are sending a massive fleet which is one turn away. (When fleet arrives they declare war - then straight into the tactical screen).

One of the major things I hated about MOM and MOO was that there was usually not very many peaceful leaders who just wanted peace - usually if your civlisation small and weak they attack. The foreign powers never have a motive such as "We must preserve this species because it is unique and we are a noble race"

Daveybaby
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#29 Post by Daveybaby »

I very rarely reload.

The first 2 Xcom games were effectively impossible without it, though. Bloody lobstermen...

I occasionaly reload if i wasnt concentrating and forget to do something important, or if i get beaten by something i consider 'broken' in the engine... e.g. when one of my top level heroes gets killed by a feeble 'cracks call' spell in MoM. I resist doing that to the computer because i consider it an exploit... so i reload if the computer does it to me.


BTW :

For help getting old dos games to work on Win9x/2k/XP, try the VOGONS forums. VOGONS = Very Old Games On New Systems. If anyone can help, its these guys.

Also worth a look is DOSBox which is an MS-DOS PC Emulator. It runs MOO1 and MOM perfectly. It doesnt run Xcom yet, as thats a 386 protected mode game, which the current official release of dosbox doesnt yet support. However, the current CVS versions do now support protected mode, so it may work on one of those.

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Krikkitone
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#30 Post by Krikkitone »

I'd say reloading for mistakes is actually a very good thing for Learning the game. (as in what if I did this, might that help, ..or what if that bad random event Didn't happen)

However, for comparison/scoring purposes, You should probably get a little 'Iron Man' attached to your score at the end of the game if you played it that way (just like you got a 'Cheater' for playing a scenario in Civ II). I wouldn't make it a % bonus /penalty, just a way to say this is something I can compare to other people's I.M. Final scores. for proper bragging rights.

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