1Table of contents

Child pages

Related pages



Tasks

My thoughts on misc videogame-related topics

Why are so many videogames about war / shooting / fighting?

What I like and dislike about videogames (in general)

What I like

What I dislike

Platforms

DOSBox

PC

Desktops

Monitors

General info
What resolution to aim for
Screen tearing
Comparison articles
Specific monitors
Monitor tests

Graphics cards

GeForce

Keyboards

Why use a mechanical keyboard?

Misc links

Laptops

MacOS

PlayStation

Xbox

Nintendo

Troubleshooting

How to find good games

Individuals who are good at finding underappreciated gems

Reviewers

YouTubers

Lists of YouTuber reviewers

Let's Players showing initial impressions

Games

Age of Fable

AI War

General thoughts

General advice

Summary of the tutorials

Basic Tutorial 1: Exploring the galaxy

Basic Tutorial 2: Building your economy

Basic Tutorial 3: Military operations

Basic Tutorial 4: Hacking

Intermediate tutorial: Campaign simulation

---

Online: Fast facts: A crash course on AI War

Online: AI War wiki (Important!)

Avernum: Escape From The Pit

Avernum 2: Crystal Souls

Banished

Braid

Brigador

General thoughts

Advice for playing

Braid

Butcher

What's good about it

Why I stop playing (when I stop playing)

Advice for playing

Close Combat

Close Combat: Gateway to Caen

Assault St. Mauvieu

Combat Mission

Command Ops

Command Ops 1

Tutorials / Guides / Manuals

Video

Command Ops 2

Tutorials / Guides / Manuals

Written
Video

Online communities

Misc

Criticisms of the game

Counter-Strike

Why it's fun

How to play well

Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal

Crusader Kings 2

Links

General thoughts

Summary of the tutorial

  1. When your character dies, you need an heir to take over.

  2. The game is historical and thus not balanced. So check the difficulty of whatever faction you decide to start as.

  3. For your first game play the special learning scenario.

  4. The world is divided into counties.

  5. CK2 is real-time.

  6. Click the date in the top-right to pause / resume the game.

  7. Click the portrait in the top left to get info on your family

  8. Click the crest in the top-left to get info on your country.

  9. You can pick an "Ambition" for your character which is a short-term goal that'll give you a prestige / piety bonus when you achieve it.

  10. The main currencies are wealth, prestige, and piety.

  11. The prestige and piety of all your characters will be added to your final score at the end of the game.

  12. Every character in the game has an opinion of every other character, which will dictate the behavior of the AI.

  13. Character portraits can have little symbols on them. A star means that's the character you're currently playing as. A crown signifies your heir. A drop of blood means they're of your dynasty.

  14. The bottom right of the UI has a bunch of different map mode buttons.

Summary of the learning scenario

  1. Something about de facto and de jure titles.

  2. To choose an ambition, open your character window and click the small button on the right side under the crest section.

  3. To get married, click the character's picture and then the two-gold-rings button. Then right-click on whoever you want to marry.

  4. Unless a character is a ruler, it is usually their liege who responds to your proposals.

  5. In the tooltip for the target's acceptance of a proposal, if the number of green plus signs exceeds the number of red minus signs, the proposal will be accepted.

  6. Each county contains at least one Holding (castle, city, or temple).

  7. The Holdings held by you personally are collectively called your Demesne.

  8. There is a limit to how many Holdings you can control directly.

  9. The Demesne Limit is why you need Vassals.

  10. Vassals will give you a part of their troop Levies and Taxes.

  11. There is a limit to how many vassals you can have, so you'll want to aim to have more powerful vassals.

  12. Vassals can have vassals.

  13. Vassals of the lowest rank (below Count, with a copper portrait frame) are not counted toward the limit.

  14. Your vassals' opinion of you controls how much tax and levies they will give you. If they dislike you enough, they can join rebellious factions, which can lead to civil wars. Bishops (priestly vassals) who like the Pope more than you will send their taxes to him instead.

  15. Opinions are represented by a number ranging from -100 to 100, and you can hover over the number to find out the reasons for the number.

  16. To improve your vassals' opinions of you, you can give them land, an honorary title, or a gift. To do this, open your character view, click "Vassals", then right click on the one you want to interact with.

  17. To deal with revolts you may want to raise your levies. Go to the military view (top left of UI). By holding down Ctrl you'll avoid raising levies in counties with enemy troops.

  18. To move armies around, click their shield icon to select them and then right-click on the province you want them to go to. You can also drag-select.

  19. It's a good idea to gather your troops together before attacking.

  20. When you have all the armies in the same province, click-and-drag to select all of them and click the "Merge Troops" button in the Army window.

  21. You can assign and change the leaders of your army by clicking the name bar above each flank. Leaders can help win battles at the risk of getting injured or killed.

  22. When attacking across a strait or river, you'll get a penalty. Click on a province and hover over the river icon (if any) to see what border the straits and rivers are on.

  23. As I quit they were about to explain fleet operations with an attack on an island off the coast of West Africa.

Crypt of the Necrodancer

DCS

UH-1 Huey

Doom and Doom II

General thoughts

General advice

Things I noticed

Things I like

Things I don't like

Why I stop playing (when I stop playing)

Doom

Advice

Things I like

Things I don't like

Similarities with GoldenEye

Differences from GoldenEye

Doom II

Advice

Differences from Doom

Don't Starve

Dungeon Warfare

Advice

Level-specific thoughts

The cellar

Dwarf Fortress

Else Heart.Break()

General thoughts

Summary of the tutorial(s)

Notes on my progress / reminders of what's happened

Enter the Gungeon

Euro Truck Simulator 2

FlatOut

Praise

Criticisms

Things I noticed

Advice

GoldenEye

Advice for playing

Multiplayer

1v1

Graviteam Tactics

Tutorials

Criticisms of the game

Hearts of Iron

Heat Signature

Hellcats Over the Pacific

Hidden Folks

Human Resource Machine

IL-2 Sturmovik

Tank Crew: Clash at Prokhorovka

Invisible, Inc.

General thoughts

Summary of the tutorial

  1. Click on a person to select them.

  2. Right-click on a square to issue a move order.

  3. Hit 'Enter' to end the turn.

  4. P to peek

  5. Move next to an interactive object (including guards) to have options pop up on the object.

  6. Click on the options to activate them (including knocking out guards).

  7. KO'd guards will wake up several turns later and begin looking for you.

  8. Standing on a KO'd unit will delay when they wake up.

  9. Peeking out an open door will reveal more information than peeking out a closed door. You can open a door from the diagonal squares to it.

  10. PWR is basically like your MP

  11. Hit the space bar to activate 'Incognita', who I guess lets you hack stuff(?).

  12. Distracting a guard will cause them to investigate the lure on their turn.

  13. Opening a door that is within sight of a guard will arouse the guard's suspicion and cause him to walk through the door.

  14. You can select an 'Ambush' action in the bottom-left corner to ambush guards that you've lured towards you.

  15. You can peek around corners without exposing yourself by clicking the 'Peek' icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

  16. Cover objects create blind spots one tile behind them that you can hide in.

    1. Note that some of these blind spots look ridiculous (it looks like the guard should easily be able to see you). Just use the beige striped color on the floor to know if it's a working blindspot or not.

  17. You can 'Observe' guards (click on them) and you'll know what their patrol pattern is.

  18. You cannot hack a terminal from the diagonal squares.

  19. Every turn the security level goes up by one. New security measures are added every 5 increments (every 5 turns).

  20. Tab to switch between operatives.

  21. Stun guns take 2 turns to recharge.

  22. Hacking doesn't take any AP(?).

  23. Peeking takes 1 AP.

  24. Additional guards (starting at alert level 4) show up at those red double-doors.

  25. You don't exit the level from the same place where you entered it. You're looking for a four-square elevator. The levels are sort of linear in that they're expecting you to move through the entire level to get to the exit.

  26. It looks like PWR may carry over from level to level.

KNIGHTS

Advice

Limbo

Magic Duels

Metal Gear Solid

VR Missions

I watched this longplay: PSX Longplay [288] Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions

Weapon mode

SOCOM
C4
FAMAS
Grenade
Claymore

Advanced Mode

Special

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Monstrum

Mount and Blade: Warband

Praise

Criticisms

Recommended settings

Tactics

N++

One Finger Death Punch

Operation Flashpoint / Arma

Orcs Must Die

Panzer Campaigns (Mobile)

General thoughts / review

General advice

Scenario-specific advice/lessons

Papers, Please

Poker Night at the Inventory

Quake

Radio Commander

Radio General

Rainbow Six

Advice for playing

Things I like about the game

Things I dislike about the game

Receiver

Shelter 2

Shenzhen I/O

Solitaire mini-game

Silent Hunter 3

General advice

Summary of the tutorial ("Naval Academy")

Navigation

VIdeo tutorial
Training / Exam
Thoughts

Naval artillery

Video tutorial
  1. Use the binoculars to check the target.

  2. Assign crew to the deck gun (using the left sidebar) by double-clicking on the position.

    1. You can also click-and-drag individual men to the gun.

  3. Order your watch officer to open fire by clicking the "Deck gun" option from his orders.

    1. You can tell him the range to engage at and what part of the target to aim for.

  4. Crew performance is influenced by their experience and the range to the target.

  5. You can control the gun manually.

    1. Pay attention to the ammo type, quantity, and reload time (bottom-right corner of the UI).

    2. Press tab to look through the gun's targeting system.

    3. Press the up arrow to increase the gun sight's calibrated range.

    4. Ships have various vulnerable spots, like fuel or ammo reserves. Hitting a ship there can sink it much faster.

In-game tutorial
  1. You can only use the deck gun in good weather.

  2. Press the space bar to fire.

  3. There are two ways to man the deck gun:

    1. Click the watch officer, then Man on Deck, then the deck gun.

    2. Click the crew management screen and double-click the deck gun.

Thoughts

Flak gun tutorial

Video tutorial
  1. Order your watch officer to man the gun and then order him to open fire.

  2. You can also choose various things about what he should target.

  3. Use your binoculars to identify the target.

  4. When using the binoculars, you can change the target the gunner should be firing at by pointing at the new target and pressing the space bar.

  5. You can take manual control of the gun.

  6. Press Tab to zoom in on the targeting reticle.

  7. It's best to wait until the plane fills the reticle before opening fire.

  8. Beware that the ammo is easily emptied.

In-game tutorial
Thoughts

Torpedoes

Video tutorial
  1. The vertical column on the right side of the UI in the periscope view represents the position of the periscope head, where the head is the red arrow, and the surface is the top of the yellow liquid.

  2. To the right of the vertical column is a lever that lets you raise and lower the periscope.

  3. You can choose which torpedo tube to fire with, and you can fire it with the red button.

  4. The data notepad (top right corner) is used to collect target data for torpedoes.

  5. The "Gyro Angle" shows the angle at which the torpedo will be fired. It's set to where your periscope is looking.

  6. The chronometer will show the estimated time to hit the target.

  7. The recognition manual shows the information you need to identify a ship.

  8. You can move the periscope left and right by clicking on the circular view and moving the mouse left and right.

  9. At the top of the periscope view you can see the bearing of the view.

  10. Press Tab to zoom in the periscope view.

  11. To quickly access the recognition manual entry for a particular target that you're zoomed in on, click the part of the data notepad (top-right) that lists the type of ship.

  12. When the tube indicators are green, that means they're ready to fire. Red means they're not.

  13. Just pick a tube, aim with your periscope, and press the "Fire" button.

  14. For each torpedo you fire, you'll see a torpedo icon in the top-left of the UI. Clicking on it will show the estimated time of impact on the chronometer as a red indicator.

  15. It's a good idea to fire more than one torpedo at a target in case a torpedo misses or misfires.

In-game tutorial
Training / exam
Thoughts

Convoy attack

Video tutorial
  1. To find out if there are any ships around, dive to periscope depth and use the hydrophones. They work further out than watchmen, and are stealthier.

  2. Once the hydrophones pick up something, bearing lines will show up on the navigation map.

  3. A red line marks a warship contact, while a black line marks a merchant contact.

  4. Once a contact is signaled, check the surface with the periscope.

  5. The hydrophone indicators aren't always perfectly accurate. In this example, two indicators were put on the nav map but there was actually a small convoy. Accuracy depends on crew experience, distance to contact, the contact's speed, and your speed.

  6. Before you attack, take note of the position of any possible threats (escort ships).

  7. When attacking a convoy, select the most-valuable target for the first attack.

  8. Once a convoy is aware of an attack, the merchant ships will begin evasive maneuvers, while the escort ships will begin searching for the U-boat.

  9. The ideal range at which to engage a ship with torpedoes is between 500m and 1500m.

  10. It's best to fire more than one torpedo at a large ship to guarantee it'll sink.

  11. One of your officers will tell you if the ship is destroyed ("Enemy Unit Destroyed").

  12. The best angle from which to attack with torpedoes is at 90 degrees to its side.

  13. The best gyro angle is between 340 degrees and 20 degrees.

  14. When engaging smaller ships, firing one torpedo is generally enough.

In-game tutorial
  1. Approach a convoy at Ahead Slow to remain undetected by the escorts.

  2. The best chance of success is when:

  3. The enemy will begin evasive maneuvers as soon as you hit a ship, so try to attack more than one ship with your first volley.

  4. If you're in a good position to attack a ship, act promptly.

  5. Plan to reach a good attack position while your crew is loading the torpedoes.

  6. If you damage a ship without sinking it, fire a second torpedo at it to guarantee a kill.

  7. Going up against escorts:

    1. The best advantage you have is to remain submerged and undetected.

    2. Your worst disadvantage is your slow speed while underwater.

    3. The escorts' hydrophones have limited range, so as long as you don't get too close to them you should remain undetected.

    4. Escorts' hydrophones cannot detect a submarine behind them because of the noise from their own propellors, so if you're in such a position you can move fast without being detected.

    5. If an escort has detected your U-boat, dive to at least 50m.

    6. When an escort launches depth charges (when they start detonating near you?) you should move with Ahead Flank speed and turn hard to one side or the other.

    7. As long as you have torpedoes, you should try to gain a good position for another attack.

    8. Don't bother trying to use torpedoes on escorts, because they change speed and direction too frequently.

Training / exam
Thoughts

Soldier of Fortune 2

Thoughts

Advice

Spelunky

Splinter Cell

Splinter Cell

Star Wars: Dark Forces

Advice for playing

Startopia

Steamworld Heist

Steel Beasts Gold

Steel Beasts Pro PE

Summary of how to get started playing

Recommended level of proficiency before undertaking your first mission

Background
Method
  1. Tutorials: All tutorials for your vehicle are complete.

  2. Tank Range: at least 80% accuracy and 8 second engagement time on the Tank Range.

    1. While doing the tank range I found that I prefer having the joystick between my legs, with my legs over the back corners of the base of the joystick and my left hand gripping the front edge of the base of the joystick to prevent it from moving around.

    2. When it starts I hit F2 to enter the GPS (gunner’s primary sight) view, then + to activate FLIR, then scan left and right. When I see a target I press the right-top joystick button to zoom in as much as possible, then the thumb button on the joystick to lase and then immediately fire. del to switch to HEAT, Ins to switch to Sabot.

    3. If I’m going to be using the mouse to aim (e.g. because of the M1A1’s limited magnification combined with my joystick’s lack of fine-grained control), I press F2 to enter the gunner’s view, then + on the numpad to activate the FLIR, then left-click to activate mouselook. I press N to zoom, right-click to lase, Spacebar to fire, and then middle-mouse click to release the palm switch (reset the automatic lead).

  3. Instant Action: Get 4-6 kills in instant action consistently.

    1. As gunner: I press F6 to switch to the gunner's station. I then press F2 to enter the GPS view, then + to enable FLIR. I aim where I know they'll begin to appear and I then hold F12 to enable time acceleration. When the first tank appears, I don't try to shoot at it as soon as possible, because the shot will have a low probability of hitting, and once I shoot the enemy tank will quickly see where I am. I instead wait for a good shot (for that first tank). Once there are ~3 enemy vehicles within view of the initial position, I retreat south so that I have the woods to my left flank and then pick off the enemy vehicles as they come in close. It's very easy for me to hit them at that close range and they don't seem to spot me as quickly as I spot them. I was able to get 10 kills that way on one run.

      • Very annoying: after a few kills, the TC will sometimes have the loader switch to HEAT and not switch back, even when firing at enemy tanks. You can fix this by switching to the TC position and ordering a switch back to sabot (F7 to switch to TC role, then press Insert to order the ammo switch, look in the top right of the screen to confirm the correct ammo is selected, then press the ‘Fire’ button, spacebar or joystick button 1, to issue the new order).

      • You can sometimes bait the enemy armor into firing by pressing E to creep up to a hill and then immediately press X (to go into reverse) when you're within visibility of them.

      • It's annoying that the TC doesn't do his job to keep you within view of a single enemy vehicle at a time.

      • It seems unrealistic to have tanks returning fire right after they got hit themselves.

      • I think I want to switch the “drop lead” and “zoom” buttons on the joystick, because I use the zoom button a lot more and it’s awkward reaching over to the right-top side of the joystick with my thumb.

    2. As TC: When it starts, I press B to button the tank, then F3 to focus on the CITV view, then Shift+P to make the palm switch sticky so I can look around without keeping it pressed. I then click the MAN button in the top-left twice. When I spot a target that the gunner doesn’t see, I hold O to swivel the gun to where I’m looking, wait for the gunner to say “Identified!”, then press the palm switch button to release control of the gun to the gunner.

  4. Be comfortable with the commander's (CDR) station:

    1. Scanning with the CITV

    2. Maneuvering your tank

    3. Designating targets to your gunner

    4. Popping smoke

Summary of the M1A2 tutorials

00 M1A2 Introduction
01 M1A2 Gunnery A
02 M1A2 Gunnery B - LRF Basics
03 M1A2 Gunnery C - LRF Advanced
04 M1A2 Gunnery D - Automatic Lead
05 M1A2 Gunnery E - FLIR
06 M1A2 Gunnery F
07 M1A2 Gunnery G
08 M1A2 Gunnery H - Emergency mode
09 M1A2 Gunnery I - Gunner's auxiliary sight (GAS)
10 M1A2 Gunnery J - Manual fire control mode
11 Driving A
12 Driving B
13 Driving C
14 Driving D - Moving a platoon
15 Driving E - Understanding waypoints
16 M1A2 TC A - Basic TC controls
17 M1A2 TC B - Designating targets
18 M1A2 TC C - More TC controls
19 Artillery
20 Commanding multiple units

Good first scenarios for beginners

Communities

Kanium

Rules / stuff-to-know
  1. If you sign up, show up or provide notice.

  2. Family is more important than the game.

  3. No titles.

  4. Politically incorrect.

  5. Be polite.

  6. If you need training, they have lots of knowledgeable people (people with real-world experience).

Superflight

Super Meat Boy

Task Force 1942

Summary of how to play

Which mission to play first

Controls

Strategy

Thoughts on particular engagements

Kula Gulf

Teleglitch

Thief 2

TIS-100

Total War

Shogun: Total War

What I like

What I dislike

Guides

General advice for playing

Questions I have

Full Campaign

Sengoku Jidai

My AARs of the Historical Battles

4th Kawanakajima
Anegawa
Amnok
Fukuoka
Imjin
Mikata Ga Hara
Nagashima
Nagakute
Yamazaki

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

Twilight Struggle

Ultimate General: Gettysburg

Undertale

Unity of Command

General thoughts

General advice

Questions

Summary of the tutorial

Summary of learnings from the introductory scenario

AARs

Black Turn: Operation Barbarossa 1941

Army Group Center

Unreal Tournament

Urban Dead

Vampire: The Masquerade

Vietnam '65

Questions

General advice

Controls

Questions I have

Summary of the tutorials

Advice for playing

Vietnam Medevac

Wolfenstein 3D

Brutal Wolfenstein

World of Goo

World War II Online (WW2OL)

Flaws with WW2OL

Videos