[X] My Assistant

[Thanee]

Yep, and they are a nice change, too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

On my current (second) campaign playthrough on Brutal, I definitely plan on using those early (because it does not matter when you do those missions, as your tech upgrades and mercs have no influence on them; OTOH, as you say, the research bonuses are quite valuable; there are some researchable upgrades, that really make a difference).

Bye
Thanee

[Voran]

I was disappointed with the 'panther mech' looking anti-zerg upgrade path tho. Next time around I may just go with the big ubertransport. The panthermechs even on normal are way too fragile to send out against the zerglings or mass attacks. Even with a pack of them, and then i find it just becomes more useful to use a bunker with 6 marines and a seige tank backup.

[Thanee]

Too bad, I was hoping they were useful against mass attacks (as advertised (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ), actually.

Had the transport on my first playthrough, and it's neat, but you don't really need it. There is one mission, where it comes in really handy, though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Dumori]

Did someone mention Homeworld?!
*Starts twitching uncontrollably with nerd joy*

Yeah... i really wish Relic would get back on the horse and make a worthy successor. Homeworld is easily one of the greatest all around games I've ever played and Cataclysm told one of the best stories in gaming history.

All three are awesome. And each has totally different focuses and plots. The story as a whole is almost your classic fantasy plots. Taking back what was your peoples, awaking an "otherworldly" evil, and the hunt the macguffins to save the "world".

Homeworld one and 2 have a very fleet like scale. Cataclysm has a much smaller scale. In homeworld 1 you are all alone in two part of a bigger machine, but the leading part and in Cataclysm your outsiders to your own people who stumble on something. I could go on about the differences that makes each game unique and compelling games but I shall not.

[Tanegar]

Yeah... i really wish Relic would get back on the horse and make a worthy successor.

QFTGDT - Quoted For The God-Damned Truth

[DocTaotsu]

To be fair, Relic doesn't actually own the rights anymore and the guy who ran herd on the series has moved on to other pastures. Last I read Sierra/Vivendi were busy stuffing the license up their ass and making jack all with it.

I won't cry if Dumori goes on about what makes the HW series great... because I wish RTS designers would be as dedicated to storytelling as they are to multiplayer game balance. I'll just say that I loved the original HW manual and felt that the only misstep was recasting the voice of fleet command in the second game.

That said, I really do want to play SC2, I've always had a softspot for the other Warhammer game.

[Voran]

To be fair, Relic doesn't actually own the rights anymore and the guy who ran herd on the series has moved on to other pastures. Last I read Sierra/Vivendi were busy stuffing the license up their ass and making jack all with it.

I won't cry if Dumori goes on about what makes the HW series great... because I wish RTS designers would be as dedicated to storytelling as they are to multiplayer game balance. I'll just say that I loved the original HW manual and felt that the only misstep was recasting the voice of fleet command in the second game.

That said, I really do want to play SC2, I've always had a softspot for the other Warhammer game.

Hehe, yeah, its Warhammer without all the seriousness. I enjoy the Dawn of War series and the DW2 series (though I kinda wish they went back to dw1 type rts) but sometimes its just so damned gloomy.

[Karoline]

Hehe, yeah, its Warhammer without all the seriousness. I enjoy the Dawn of War series and the DW2 series (though I kinda wish they went back to dw1 type rts) but sometimes its just so damned gloomy.

Warhammer is gloomier than SC? I don't know about that. SC has Mansk sacrifice an entire planet to the Zerg to gain personal power, WH has the main character sacrifice an entire planet because there are some corrupt people on it. SC has a race of genetically engineered creatures with biological weapons that want to eradicate all life for their own ends and is controlled by a greater intelligence that requires specialized creatures to relay its psyonic signal to lesser creatures, WH has a race of genetically engineered creatures with biological weapons that want to eradicate all life for their own ends and is controlled by a greater intelligence that requires specialized creatures to relay its psyonic signal to lesser creatures.

Still, I can't help but notice just how similar the Zerg and Tyranid are, like to absurd levels. Their most iconic unit are near identical (Zergling/Hormagaunt) in ability, number, strength, toughness, and appearance. Whenever I see something like that I wonder if one copied the other, or if they both copied something else, or if it was truly coincidence.

[Thanee]

AFAIK, StarCraft was meant to be a Warhammer franchise game first, but that deal didn't come through.

Blizzard definitely copies a lot. So the similarity is everything, but certainly not a coincidence.

None of their games have been truly innovative (WarCraft and StarCraft are Dune 2 done right; World of Warcraft is EverQuest plus casual-friendliness; Diablo is Rogue/Hack/Angband with decent graphics (ok, not anymore, but at their time)).

Of course, both species have also been inspired strongly by Giger.

Bye
Thanee

[Mooncrow]

Blizzard basically copied Games Workshop's IP wholsale fro Warcraft and Starcraft after GW decided to backburner their video game stuff. They've worked hard at creating their own backstory, etc since then, but the original ideas are all GW.

And the Warhammer 40,000 fluff is some of the most brutal and depressing stuff I've ever read. Forget destroying planets, WH's human civilization is basically run on human sacrifice, and the insane level of tyranny is basically the only way that humanity has been able to survive. Any hint of corruption is justification for scouring the planet - back when they tried to be more humane about it, they would end up losing another planet at best, sometimes whole sectors at worst. When a single mind can serve as a gateway for an army of horrors, keeping an iron grip on those minds takes on a new meaning.

/shudder. Going to watch something happy now and put WH40k out of mind.

[DocTaotsu]

GW hired Blizzard to start making computers games for them and then... I guess they decided not to but Blizzard already had some solid game design so they just pushed ahead and made Warcraft and Starcraft.

40k is a whole is a billions times more depressing than SC. SC is like... Real World depressing, people sacrifice planets for questionable reason and an oppressive regime rules the lion share of humanity.

Unless I'm missing something, there really isn't an opposition to the human Imperium in WH. You're either with them or an alien/mutants getting boltered into orbit. WH always struck me as uh... kinda like space Dark Ages (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) whereas SC was always like "Neo-Neocolonialism" where we stomped on "lesser' races and took their stuff but hey! At least were in space right?

[TommyTwoToes]

WH40K is actually the Renaissance, the Dark Ages were worse. Planets were cut off from each other by warp storms, there were more mutants and psychers running around, more supperstition. Even the glory days of the Imperium (during the Great Crusade), things were dark but at least there was some optimism.

If you get a chance, the Horus Heresey series that details the fall of the space marine legions and betrayal of Horus are really pretty good. You can see the train wreck coming, its just over the horizon, and everyone is rushing towards it.

[Voran]

Yeah, I find the heroes in Starcraft more 'big damn heroes' while the heroes of Warhammer ...well..they're better than grunts. For the Emperor! in the 40k setting has just the same level of honorable behavior and meaningful self sacrifice as it would as if Palpatine was the Emperor. The Blood Ravens, as cool as they are, aren't really sympathetic characters, they'll murder civilians, military forces, heck anyone that is in their way. Only in absurdly rare situations do they team up with xenos to combat greater threats, most of the time its 'burn them all'.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the 40k setting, just if you stop to think about it too much, its a little creepy. You're playing the worst possible zealots, with no room for questioning. I mean, Inquisitors, seriously? That's a sign your culture isn't really on the up and up.

[Dumori]

Yeah, I find the heroes in Starcraft more 'big damn heroes' while the heroes of Warhammer ...well..they're better than grunts. For the Emperor! in the 40k setting has just the same level of honorable behavior and meaningful self sacrifice as it would as if Palpatine was the Emperor. The Blood Ravens, as cool as they are, aren't really sympathetic characters, they'll murder civilians, military forces, heck anyone that is in their way. Only in absurdly rare situations do they team up with xenos to combat greater threats, most of the time its 'burn them all'.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the 40k setting, just if you stop to think about it too much, its a little creepy. You're playing the worst possible zealots, with no room for questioning. I mean, Inquisitors, seriously? That's a sign your culture isn't really on the up and up.

I think the core think in 40k is every race is dystopian in some way. Though chaos and orks brake that mould. Both of them seam quite happy with there lot in the universe. Eldar are dieing slowly and have been for 1000s of years and if they die with out a soulstone they are fucked. Tau are "communism" taken too far every thing even breeding is dictated by their leaders for the grater good each cast are practically a different species. The Imperium of man is fighting losing wars against every one else and that's really the best they can do seeing as most xeno races are at their necks or aiming to use them as pawns. Even the Necrons got jealous and signed their race to serving as puppets to the c'tan. The C'tan discover that while start can feed them sentient life tastes so much better.

The only races who aren't depressing on backstory or how they live are really the Orks and Tyranids. The Orks LOVE how they live and the Tyranids also are in that boat.

[toturi]

I think the core think in 40k is every race is dystopian in some way. Though chaos and orks brake that mould. Both of them seam quite happy with there lot in the universe. Eldar are dieing slowly and have been for 1000s of years and if they die with out a soulstone they are fucked. Tau are "communism" taken too far every thing even breeding is dictated by their leaders for the grater good each cast are practically a different species. The Imperium of man is fighting losing wars against every one else and that's really the best they can do seeing as most xeno races are at their necks or aiming to use them as pawns. Even the Necrons got jealous and signed their race to serving as puppets to the c'tan. The C'tan discover that while start can feed them sentient life tastes so much better.

The only races who aren't depressing on backstory or how they live are really the Orks and Tyranids. The Orks LOVE how they live and the Tyranids also are in that boat.

Notice the Eldar are always a dying race. But... they never die out.

[Voran]

Heh, yeah, oddly I enjoy playing the orks the most, their glee at just existing is contagious. MOAR DAKKA!

[Karoline]

Hmm, lets see...

Imperium are a group of ultra fanatic religious warriors who are genetically derived from God.
Chaos are the offshoots of Imperium that decided demonic power was cooler than their living God.
Eldar are a 'dying' race that never seems to actually manage to die off because they are willing to sacrifice billions of humans to save a few of their own.
Dark Eldar are Eldar with fewer morals.
Orks (Orcs?) breed like rodents and fight for the fun of it.
Necrons sold their souls for undying bodies.
Tau are... I don't know that communist quite fits... it's like communism that actually works because the top brass is actually concerned about the greater good instead of just themselves. They also seem to have the greatest aptitude for technology.
Tyranids are like the Zerg on steroids and crack and awesome sauce.

I suppose WH40k is fairly depressing.

Still think it is awesome though

[Mooncrow]

Hmm, lets see...

Imperium are a group of ultra fanatic religious warriors who are genetically derived from God.
Chaos are the offshoots of Imperium that decided demonic power was cooler than their living God.
Eldar are a 'dying' race that never seems to actually manage to die off because they are willing to sacrifice billions of humans to save a few of their own.
Dark Eldar are Eldar with fewer morals.
Orks (Orcs?) breed like rodents and fight for the fun of it.
Necrons sold their souls for undying bodies.
Tau are... I don't know that communist quite fits... it's like communism that actually works because the top brass is actually concerned about the greater good instead of just themselves. They also seem to have the greatest aptitude for technology.
Tyranids are like the Zerg on steroids and crack and awesome sauce.

I suppose WH40k is fairly depressing.

Still think it is awesome though

You're mixing up the Eldar and Dark Eldar a bit there^^ The Eldar simply don't care about the rest of the races; while they wouldn't bat an eye at killing a billion humans, they don't do it as a sacrifice or anything. The Dark Eldar, on the other hand, believe that by offering up souls of other races they forestall their own deaths.

It's ironic though, fluff-wise I hate the Dark Eldar more than any other race, but it's the one army I actually do well with >< With my beloved Eldar army, I'm lucky to break over 50/50 - with the DE it's closer to 85/15 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Mäx]

You're mixing up the Eldar and Dark Eldar a bit there^^ The Eldar simply don't care about the rest of the races; while they wouldn't bat an eye at killing a billion humans, they don't do it as a sacrifice or anything. The Dark Eldar, on the other hand, believe that by offering up souls of other races they forestall their own deaths.

Your miss understanding what he meant, if it will save even one Eldar life somewhere in the next 1000 years the Eldar will quite willingly arrange the death of billions of humans.

[Thanee]

Seems like a fair trade... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Dumori]

The Tau have also evolved exceedingly fast from discovering fire to space flight and tech well in Sci-Fi in 4000 years. There are also pretty solid rumours that the Tau are exceedingly racist in respect to the other members of the Tau empire. Also communism is an ideal and while humans have failed with it it dosen't stop it from being used to term Tau society. The reason I used "" is that there is no equality the ethirals are born in to power full stop. Every one has a place from birth more or less as well.

Also don't forget the old ones. Who defently made the Orks and Eldar before the increased psychic presences in the universe caused the warp to spawn nasty that took their toll on them while they where deep in war with the necrons(or what every they where before that). The Old one are also rumour to have had an effect on life on earth and maybe other planets as well. Plus there's always the chance they are still some where in the universe surviving in some form.

[DocTaotsu]

I've heard rumors of vast god ships... ships forged in the blood and flesh of fallen races and tasked with the consumption of all sentient life...

Er wait, wrong universe. My bad.

[Karoline]

I've heard rumors of vast god ships... ships forged in the blood and flesh of fallen races and tasked with the consumption of all sentient life...

Er wait, wrong universe. My bad.

No, that'd be the Tyranid (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[DocTaotsu]

LOL, totally forgot about genestealers. They're like organic reapers (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) ... or Reapers are organic Genocide AI's

[Doc Chase]

LOL, totally forgot about genestealers. They're like organic reapers (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) ... or Reapers are organic Genocide AI's

Psh. The original Underpants Gnomes. Stealin' jeans like that.

...Why's everyone looking at me like that?