A surprisingly short game this time (no extra winter), due to the fine exploration work on the third-place player's part. All the "regular" islands are in play now, with a few explore spots hither and yon. I did get my second colony (Envy, on the island Emerald), but couldn't stop the player who already had two from snagging a third, and the associated milestone. Oh well, at least I got to raid his council chamber to get the guy who helped him get as far as he did... and then discarded him at game-end, because, even without the Bosun to back him up, the Grizzled Veteran and his luck token spawning is just too good to let go.
Now that we have enough colonies out there, we're ready for the Strange Chart to bring about the next unlock. As far as standings go, the top three players are once again within a few points of each other (no rank switches this game). Next game should be extra fun/interesting.
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Friday, August 25, 2017
ISP pricing shenanigans
It's been not quite a year since I last whined about Comcast jacking my rates... so of course, they did it again, this time up four and a half bucks, and again with no prior notice. It irked me enough that I was all set to switch over to CenturyLink, because I knew that they had enhanced the service in my area, and were offering faster service for a lower price. Sure, there might be some trash fees on top of the list price, but, from what I recalled, they combined price should still be significantly lower.
So, off to the CenturyLink website... and sure enough, there was a glowing promise of monthly service for $29.95 a month at 40Mbps (compared to the $61.45 I'm now paying for 15Mbps through Comcast). Requires a year's commitment to get, but that's no problem, and sure, I'd have to buy a new modem to avoid a monthly $10 rental fee, but, at that price, that pens out easily enough. Righto, just give them my address and... now, if I want 40Mbps service, it's a "special" at $45/month, plus a $99 install fee on top of the modem. No year-long commitment at least, and the price is supposedly "for life", but that just means they'll hide any increases they want in their fees... and that base price, combined with the unknown current fee and tax structure, no longer gives me the same certainty that I would be doing better going that route. Sure, I would end up with a faster connection, but I haven't really run up against any serious limits with my current connection (benefits of being a bachelor and all).
So, once again, I'll be sticking with Comcast for the time being... not because they're offering superior product or service for the price, but because the gains I might make (if any) are outweighed by the hassle of switching providers. Good job, CenturyLink!
So, off to the CenturyLink website... and sure enough, there was a glowing promise of monthly service for $29.95 a month at 40Mbps (compared to the $61.45 I'm now paying for 15Mbps through Comcast). Requires a year's commitment to get, but that's no problem, and sure, I'd have to buy a new modem to avoid a monthly $10 rental fee, but, at that price, that pens out easily enough. Righto, just give them my address and... now, if I want 40Mbps service, it's a "special" at $45/month, plus a $99 install fee on top of the modem. No year-long commitment at least, and the price is supposedly "for life", but that just means they'll hide any increases they want in their fees... and that base price, combined with the unknown current fee and tax structure, no longer gives me the same certainty that I would be doing better going that route. Sure, I would end up with a faster connection, but I haven't really run up against any serious limits with my current connection (benefits of being a bachelor and all).
So, once again, I'll be sticking with Comcast for the time being... not because they're offering superior product or service for the price, but because the gains I might make (if any) are outweighed by the hassle of switching providers. Good job, CenturyLink!
Sunday, August 13, 2017
No Man's Sky 1.3 - again with the galaxy regeneration?
Roughly a year post-initial-release, there's a new major update for No Man's Sky, so I had to check it out. Note that I didn't bother posting about the 1.2 patch when it came out... yeah, bases and cars, woohoo, these don't support my space hobo-ing in any meaningful way. This time though, they added some story and sidequest elements to the game... and apparently due to that, they had to regenerate the galaxy once again.
Mind you, last time they regenerated the galaxy, I wasn't exactly pleased or impressed either... but this time definitely showed why holding off until they're done mucking about with the game would be a good idea. Finding myself booted to the current system's space station wasn't a terrible thing, but then I checked out my base (which I had to build in order to get the techs necessary to gather "advanced" materials needed to improve/repair my ship). What once was a lush planet with little if any ill effects was now suffused with radiation... and, whether due to that or due to other factors tied to the latest patch, all the personnel I had brought on were gone. Now, I could have deconstructed that base, found somewhere else to host it, gone through all the associated hassle... but I decided that a fresh start was in order, especially since I figured the new story bits probably tied in to the early game experience more than anything else.
So, a new start, and thereby a proper introduction to some of the systems that had been added to the game over all the patches (like Signal Boosters to help find things like mineral deposits you had to identify visually previously, and special slots on your ships dedicated to tech improvements), as well as more regrettable changes (like Mining Lasers not being standard kit on ships any longer, making survival in space combat decidedly more tricky). I even got into some of the story bits, I think (likely leading up to the tech needed for one of the enhancements this go around, the possibility of limited co-exploration with friends). Frankly, though, a lot of the changes I've seen seem aimed at padding out or slowing down playtime (why just let the player discover a tech from a damaged bit of gear found on the planet's surface, when we can have them do a repair (using minimal goods) to collect nanites to buy techs from traders on the space stations at different cost/faction rank limits?), so I wouldn't be too enthused about pursuing the game seriously at this point, especially if there are more major patches planned.
Except... whether it's due to engine improvements or my getting a beefier graphics card than I had at launch, I can now play this game over my Steam Link on my living room TV. Grinding away at my PC for hours on end doesn't appeal much any longer, but an hour or three on the couch, as an alternative to other games I can do similarly with, that works for me with the pace of this game. So, yeah, it's back on my radar for the time being.
Mind you, last time they regenerated the galaxy, I wasn't exactly pleased or impressed either... but this time definitely showed why holding off until they're done mucking about with the game would be a good idea. Finding myself booted to the current system's space station wasn't a terrible thing, but then I checked out my base (which I had to build in order to get the techs necessary to gather "advanced" materials needed to improve/repair my ship). What once was a lush planet with little if any ill effects was now suffused with radiation... and, whether due to that or due to other factors tied to the latest patch, all the personnel I had brought on were gone. Now, I could have deconstructed that base, found somewhere else to host it, gone through all the associated hassle... but I decided that a fresh start was in order, especially since I figured the new story bits probably tied in to the early game experience more than anything else.
So, a new start, and thereby a proper introduction to some of the systems that had been added to the game over all the patches (like Signal Boosters to help find things like mineral deposits you had to identify visually previously, and special slots on your ships dedicated to tech improvements), as well as more regrettable changes (like Mining Lasers not being standard kit on ships any longer, making survival in space combat decidedly more tricky). I even got into some of the story bits, I think (likely leading up to the tech needed for one of the enhancements this go around, the possibility of limited co-exploration with friends). Frankly, though, a lot of the changes I've seen seem aimed at padding out or slowing down playtime (why just let the player discover a tech from a damaged bit of gear found on the planet's surface, when we can have them do a repair (using minimal goods) to collect nanites to buy techs from traders on the space stations at different cost/faction rank limits?), so I wouldn't be too enthused about pursuing the game seriously at this point, especially if there are more major patches planned.
Except... whether it's due to engine improvements or my getting a beefier graphics card than I had at launch, I can now play this game over my Steam Link on my living room TV. Grinding away at my PC for hours on end doesn't appeal much any longer, but an hour or three on the couch, as an alternative to other games I can do similarly with, that works for me with the pace of this game. So, yeah, it's back on my radar for the time being.
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