What are you playing? Options

[Decrepit]

I did it again! <sigh> Visiting Dovetail (maker of TS2021) this morning, I noticed a massive DLC sale not available on Steam. At the price offered, I couldn't resist buying a route that's been on my 'must have' list since acquiring the game: Settle & Carlisle. I have this route in Trainz2019. As a driving experience I like the Trainz version due to its massive length. Its downside...being an older route scenery is rudimentary. While the TS2021 version is decently long, I don't believe it covers as much distance as does the Trainz version. However, despite it too being an old product (2012) scenery easily betters Trainz S&C. Not state of the art, but pleasantly decent.

Tonight I drove an honest-to-goodness official 'standard' scenario rather than a QuickDrive. Of medium difficulty. What's more, the run ended in success, still rare for me. I'm sort of surprised. I made a few goof ups that the game thankfully didn't count against me. In the end I earned only one demerit, for a brief instance of minor speeding.

Fired up Daggerfall Unity earlier in the day, but didn't do anything worth detailed documentation. (It looks as if all the mods I use are now compatible with DFU 0.10.26+. I'm tempted to update, but it's not an urgent necessity.)

[Sakiri]

Still playing WoW and Baldur's Gate 3. BG3 has me in chronic restartitis mode.

Crap.

[mirocu]

And I just played game number 19000 on Windows chess lvl 3!

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition

[Sakiri]

Still chipping away at BG3.

Having a difficult time progressing. I keep getting the itch to reroll. lol.

https://i.imgur.com/3V0XuZR.png

[Decrepit]

During my unfortunate recent too-long absence from the internet I played many rounds of Solitile, a remove-the-titles title owned since prior to buying my first PC in 1989. (It came on a shareware floppy provided with a computer magazine.) It was, obviously, a DOS game back then, later updated to Windows. Don't know how many rounds I've played over the decades. Easily thousands. Admittedly I don't play it all that often anymore. When I do, I tend to binge.

Another YouTube Daggerfall Unity episode has been published. It’s quite short, clocking in at 4m35s. It showcases graphics enhancements first experience since updating both DFU (to 0.10.27 from a year-old build) all its mods (to their current versions as of early Nov 2020). There’s not much to it. We see my DFU avatar enter Daggerfall City during a morning rain, walk to the city’s Temple of Kynareth, deposit rescued priestess, then walk to DFC’s main shopping district. We then find ourselves in a desert, showcasing my switch from Mountains & Hills to Interesting Terrains. That’s all there is to it. No assignments. No dungeon crawls. No battles.

I meant to include an Inn visit, to show off Taverns Redone. Alas, as with episode-one I forgot to capture an acceptable Tavern interior clip until too late.

(video) Modded Daggerfall Unity - A Walk in Rain, A Glimpse of Desert (video)

[macole]

I was amazed when you switched to the desert. For a moment I thought it was a picture of a real desert until I saw the tall cactus. DFU keeps looking better and better all the time. One mod I am watching is Villagers Immersion Overhaul. It has some quirks but the idea is something I like.

Daggerfall as a game world has so much to do that it does need much additional story content (well maybe a little). Daggerfall just needed some makeup but that's just my biased opinion.

Great video by the way.

This post has been edited by macole: Nov 5 2020, 06:50 PM

[mirocu]

Star Wars: Rebellion time again!


Started off as Empire as usual. Biggest galaxy, hardest difficulty, all victory conditions. And as usual I concentrate on three out of six sectors, effectively abandoning the other ones I have a presence in making it even more difficult. I like this approach. And it doesn't just make it harder, it also makes it easier since I have less sectors to keep track of constantly. Believe me, I have plenty to do in the sectors I concentrate on

This post has been edited by mirocu: Nov 6 2020, 09:02 PM

[Decrepit]

I've not played much Train Simulator 2021 lately, devoting the bulk of my gaming time modded Daggerfall Unity and Solitile instead. What little TS2021 I played didn't pan out well, this morning's session in particular.

It was a QuickDrive. I pick the loco/railway cars, route, starting point and final destination. So long as my train makes it to that final station all's well. The route has no timetable. Neck, I don't even have to stop at interim stations, if there are any. (There were in this case. I planned to stop at them all.) This particular QuickDrive saw me drive a short passenger train pulled by a Caledonia "Single" steam locomotive. The Single, having but one set of driving wheels (hence the name) was ill-suited for the route chosen, it being rather hilly. Had the session been graded I'd definitely have picked a more powerful loco. In consequence, the train climbed up some of those hills at a snail's pace, not that it mattered. What did matter is that it has been a long time since I last drove a session which includes tunnels. I forgot that one can't fuel a steam loco (shovel coal into its firebox) while in a tunnel. Naturally, in the heat of battle I did so. Seconds latter the session ended, with a notice that I had ruined the loco's engine due to blowback. For what it's worth, here's a sceenshot of that train, paused at a station not long before catastrophe struck:

(image) Caledonia "Single" (in LMS Crimson) pulled passenger train at station (image)


A day or two ago I drove an even smaller steam loco, a "Jinty", on another passenger run. A Standard Session rather than a QuickDrive. Errors matter, but don't go onto one's permanent record. No major problems this time. Even so, I wasn't given credit for completion. Why? I didn't make it to the destination station on time. You can bet I'm going to drive that run again. Here's an image taken during the run:

(image) View leaning out the cab window of a Jinty, waiting for a freight train to clear the line ahead (image)

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Nov 12 2020, 10:48 PM

[mirocu]

Really nice pictures, Decrepit

[Sakiri]

1 and a half weeks.

Shadowlands is almost here and I CANT WAIT FOR STUFF TO DO.

Been paying a subscription for a game I barely play waiting on this danged expansion.

[mirocu]

Day two in Star Wars: Rebellion and can you believe it; the puny rebels already think they can overtake Coruscant! Attack me in my own building! Eh... planet, I mean. Sorry, LaCroix...


I'm advancing in my efforts to build construction- and shipyards. No good fleet as of yet as my main goal now is simply to keep what I'm building up. I need plenty of TIE Fighters to defend the planets with before I can focus on capital ships and start taking rebel strongholds by force. I'm also pursuing diplomacy missions in the three sectors I'm active in.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

I'm also pursuing diplomacy missions in the three sectors I'm active in.

Well with Vader as your top diplomat, that should be monstrously successful!

[Sakiri]

Lol.

[Decrepit]

Today in TS2021 I drove an interesting steam locomotive for the first time. It's a British GER (Great Eastern Railway) T26-class 2-4-0. What makes it interesting is that it comes in two physical variants (and a lot of liveries). The 'normal' variant is a traditional loco with open-back cab coupled to a separate tender. The second, late variant, has a back added to the cab, with a (normal-size) tender soldered or bolted directly to it! I don't recall encountering that configuration before, certainly not with a British steam loco.

The route I drove it on is also surprising. Surprising in that I didn't realize I had it. I suspect it's a TS2021 Steam Workshop download, which I mistakenly assumed was a scenario (for one of my purchased routes). It's a tiny thing, all of two miles long. Three passenger stations; one at each end and one in-between. Maximum speed limit 25mph, which mean it has to be a Heritage Railway. Scenically, it's rather nice.

Judging by this one drive along, pulling four passenger coaches, the loco isn't all that powerful. Most of the distance between the departure and middle stations is an uphill climb. The train didn't struggle, but I couldn't get much speed out of it. And boy did it guzzle water! To the plus, I'm finally picking up on how to properly apply steam train brakes. I still get it wrong more often than not, but at least I grasp the basic principle.

For what it's worth, here's the train stopped at, I believe, the middle station, passengers loaded, topping off coal and water before departure:

(image) GER T26-Class loco (in LNER livery) & coaches at passenger station (image)

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Nov 14 2020, 03:15 AM

[Decrepit]

I promised myself that if no unexpected expenditures occurred by mid month I'd treat myself to a steam loco I've wanted since acquiring Train Simulator, the (British) LB&SCR A1 /A1x "Terrier. More specifically, a whole pack of them as offered but SteamSoundsSupreme. Even more specifically, I bought the Main Pack, the Early Pack, and the Later Pack as a bundle, due to cost savings. (The Early and Later packs cost next to nothing when bought this way.) This is a loco almost everyone is at least somewhat familiar with, due to it featuring in a series of children's books, then later a popular children's TV series. My decision was not based on that. I simply think them nifty looking locos. Since install, I've taken them on a few QuickDrives and two Standard Scenarios, one of which ended in failure early on. The success occurred not long ago. It was mostly a shunting exercise, with a two-mile drive between passenger stations at the end. I almost botched it, grossly overfilling water due to inattention. (I was concentrating on backing to couple, and forgot how quickly the Terrier fills to capacity. Luckily, no harm was done.) Here's an image taken during one of my Terrier QuickDrives:

(image) TS2021 LB&SCR "Terrier at Railway Station (image)


Here's a short video (not mine) detailing the long history of one particular Terrier:

(video) The Complete History of Stepney the Bluebell Engine (video)


I also took a QuickDrive headed by a Hightland Railway "Jones Goods", a loco I'd not driven in quite some time. Here are a few images:

(image) Jones Goods pulled passenger train paused beneath roadway overhead bridge (image)
(image) Same train arrives at destination station (image)

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Nov 17 2020, 03:15 AM

[Decrepit]

I did it again. Bought a TS2021 steam loco. On sale. $8.32US. Loco/tender in a number of liveries/colors and set of passenger carriages in at least two liveries/colors. Couldn't pass it up. (Well, I could but...) It's a Midland Railway 4-2-2 "Spinner". Small. Fairly early (built 1896-1899). The sort of steam loco I favor. Here it is, captured en route during a Standard Scenario:

(image) Midland Railway "Spinner" pulled Passenger Train - 1 (image)
(image) Midland Railway "Spinner" pulled Passenger Train - 2 (image)

I like it well enough, especially at the price I paid. I've a few niggles, however. First, its creators chose not to provide leaning-out-of-the-cab (LOTC) camera positions. It relies instead on the game's generic LOTC cameras, which are limited in scope. Basically, we can rotate only 180 degrees, as opposed to a 360-degree custom camera. Not a lease breaker, but missed. Second, if the braking system utilizes "lapping" I didn't notice it during the above session. It would have come in handy, as the scenario rather hilly. I need to check the manual to make sure I've not overlooked something.

First thing after this morning's breakfast I drove a "Terrier" pulled excursion train in an hour-long 'hard' scenario. Quite a gamble. I still fail 'easy' scenarios with some frequency. Amazingly, I did very well. In fact, I thought I was going to nail it with only one brief minor speeding episode to my demerit. Up only almost the very end.

Less than a minute from completion, slowing to enter the final destination station, a red signal unexpectedly materialized at trackside ahead. I applied as much brake as I dared, knowing I'd not stop in time. My thought was to stop beyond the signal, back the train, and wait at the signal until it turned green. That might or might not have worked had not the reason the signal was red revealed itself. A long passenger train had departed the station. We shared track until near the signal. No way could I avoid collision with the oncoming train. At that point I hit ESCAPE, ending the scenario. It was a lot of fun while it lasted.

Here's the train paused at another, earlier, signal. (The scenario warned me about this one.)

(image) Terrier pulled excursion train paused en route at signal (image)

[mALX]

*



I've been playing Black Desert Online for almost two months now = and just finally did my first horse breeding today!

Here is the (male) stud:


https://imgur.com/DLbiBP6




Here is the (female) mare:


https://imgur.com/L9wyU8G



And here is my very first foal!!!! She is beautiful!!! Her name is "Samurai_Sea"


https://imgur.com/N9uaSp8


https://imgur.com/72NphjN




*

[Acadian]

Congrats, mALX! That's nice looking new horse!

[mALX]

Congrats, mALX! That's nice looking new horse!

Thank you so much! She really is pretty, and very feisty too! She almost bucked me off just posing for that pic!!!

I just learned from someone today that if they are like that you can pet them before mounting and it settles them down.

I was so excited that she was a "Tier 7" (much higher level quality than her two parents; who were both "Tier 5's"). So = WOO HOO !!!!