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[quote]When you are trying to prove a point there are some steps you have to follow: 1. Find a foundation for the argument, something that is considered true under any circumstances... [/quote] That's the rub, though, isn't it. It's very difficult to find foundations which are 'considered true under any circumstances', ie. by any audience, especially when you disagree with that audience and are trying to persuade them otherwise. You -- and most of the members of this bo

Hey! I made an appearance in the interview! [e digicons]:D[/e] Albeit for holding unoriginal views.

[quote] Feminism is not inherently bad, but the premise is flawed. It starts with the base assumption that men, all men, have more rights and privleges than every woman. [/quote] That's true of certain flavours of feminism, and it's certainly a criticism which has been leveled at feminism in its earlier forms (specifically first- and second-wave feminism), but I think that you'd be hard pressed to find a feminist who believes that a black, homosexual, underclass man has more righ

I think the problem with this is that it pleases no one -- it's not just that camps A and B [i]want[/i] certain features in the game, it's that they [i]don't want[/i] other features.

[quote]Not really, unless you have never thought about war with biological rather than mechanical weapons. After all the human is soooooooooooo far ahead of all of the technology we can create. We are developed for tool use primarily, we suck on our own. Lots of insects and animals have in built weapons, hardened armour and super power levels of strength, speed and ability. Put those all together as a combine and times it all by 100 and you get nightmare levels of horroific material.

Not a good feminist studies essay. Doesn't include the words 'interpellate', 'contingent', 'patriachal', 'site', 'naturalizes'. or 'interstices'. I'm surprised the author spent as much time playing the game as she did. Conceptually, it doesn't make sense, but some of the observations are interesting.

Can anyone who's gone through the learning curve recommend a good resource for object oriented Python? I understand the basics of programming (functions, operators, etc.) but am completely lost when it comes to classes. Scorpiana, from what I can tell so far, the differences between Python 2.x and 3.1 aren't overwhelming. The main problems I've run into are the problem you've mentioned, the range() function, and input() versus raw_input().

Scoutdog, okay, then we agree with each other on that point. [e digicons]:grin:[/e]

Sure. You could certainly create spy-only abilities which would make them unique and interesting units. That isn't really my main gripe, anyway. I would rather have a system where spies aren't represented by units on the gameboard.

[quote] The only problems are that: RNGs do not reward skill, and encourage just save-reloading. They also have a tendancy to get on people's nerves, especially when placed "ontop" of each other (one RNG leading to another leading to another ad infinitum(sp?)). You get through the first series, then the next bumps you back. It makes it very difficult to coordinate a strategy, since you don't know largely what your next move will

More or less. Although, for simplicity's sake, I don't think that there should be any distance calculations. I think having the RNG affect both the duration of the mission as well as its outcome is a good idea. Perhaps have one RNG which selects between three outcomes each turn the spy is deployed on a mission: (1) success (very low probability), (2) failure (very low probability), (3) no change (very high probability); and another RNG which selects between two additional outcomes: (4

Yeah, thanks for catching that, everyone. My mistake. X3 is singleplayer only. Otherwise, it meets your criteria.

You might try looking into the X series. It's not free, but there's no monthly charge. X3: Terran Conflict 2.0 should be available for cheap. X3 wasn't really my cup of tea, but it might be what you're looking for.

Pro Evolution Soccer and Master of Magic.

[quote]Playable, sure, but are they fun? ... I'm just not pessimistic enough to think people actually prefer the monumentally boring espionage mechanics over more warfare in space games from Master of Orion to GalCiv2.[/quote] I actually like the espionage mechanics in Master of Orion II. :blush: Although, I am probably just be blinded by my love for the game in general. A possibility I'm toying with is for espionage to work on a system similar to the 'hero' system. Each

[quote]If it's predictable, you've just created a memorization game. It becomes pointless once you figure out the defense levels of your targets, you always succeed. If it's random, you're taking a shot in the dark, it's still luck based, just on whether the difficulty is higher.[/quote] This is the same problem that faces many mechanics in TBS games. It's about balancing randomness with predictability. I think you're overly harsh on espionage systems. I'm not a hu

It also has one of the more frustrating UI out there. I played it for a day and then uninstalled it. It's not as fun as the games it's supposed to replace.

[quote]But why not Dawn of War 2??[/quote] Because it's not one of the five best games in the last five years.[e digicons];)[/e]

All chosen on the basis of 'fun' had while playing. If I had to choose a list of the 'best' games in the genre, it would look differently. (Although Starcraft and C&C Generals would still make the top five.) 1. Starcraft / Brood War This game ate up years of my life. It's still the best RTS I've ever played. Great singleplayer campaign, great multiplayer. Unmatched polish. 2. Dawn of War Not as revolutionary as sometimes claimed, but a still very fun game.

Unfortunately, all speculation. [e digicons]:([/e] I really enjoyed the series. I'm glad that LA is under new leadership. Hopefully, they'll return to the PC market.

[quote]I don't think that anybody likes this minimalistic rudimentary cartoon style of graphics.[/quote] Clearly not true. [quote]False dichotomy fallacy.[/quote] Nope. There are at least two ways in which graphics tradeoff with 'fun'. 1. Production - Stardock would have to invest resources (money, people, etc.) into developing photorealistic graphics that could otherwise be invested in improving the core gameplay. 2. Performance - Users with older syst

Espionage mechanics aren't replaceable by 'real units' because the information they collect (eg. production, overall statistics, etc.) isn't available to units. Centralizing and separating espionage out from the rest of the game also eliminates the tedium of having to manage an army of units spread out across an entire empire. Also, is there a reason people keep spelling 'espionage' with a 'b' instead of a 'p'?