StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (2010) [revisit 2023]

2023.07.30

I just finished Starcraft Remastered, so I thought I'd just revisit this quickly. I've played through the 3 acts at least once, and Wings several times; I don't expect to learn much new. But I am enjoying hanging out in Joeyray's.

All too soon we're on the Hyperion.

Now it's time to choose order of missions, upgrades, purchases, etc.

I know after a playthrough or two I had a decent order, but I can't remember it now (and I don't have notes about it).

A look online quickly reveals an order that makes the most sense storywise: "An attempt to create an accurate WoL canon mission order."

I like this; it tries to make the most of the story, and give you the most time with characters that can come and go.

"Wings of Liberty in Chronological Order" also seems to make sense, especially using the newsfeed and Kyla Velassi clues, but the other order seems more balanced. We'll see if I can even tell any difference.

2023.07.31

I'm really enjoying being back in this environment. All the different characters, dialogues, stories, research, etc. - individually some are not great, but it all adds up to a place I like. I still don't know what this is called - an RPG story on top of an RTS?

2023.08.01

Whispers of Doom is great; what with the return of Zeratul and Kerrigan, and learning more about the prophecy etc. - but it's an RPG mission, and those trouble me. My roleplay is to keep everyone alive, so maps like these can take me a while.

2023.08.06

Oops, forgot the necessary thing to do in Media Blitz, and missed Piercing the Shroud. Hate having to reload earlier; can't miss a secret level.

2023.08.13

Playing final level... and done. Nice to see the story again, but probably not worth the time spent. I could have just watched it on Youtube, but it is nice to actually manage the base building, defense and offense, etc. yourself.

Do I want to waste some more time here? Maybe on versus comp maps that have campaign units?

2023.09.08

Trying to play some solo maps. The few I am finding have Error Attribcache_Corrupt_Map.

Under Custom, Melee, search campaign:

Twilight Fortress + campaign units (thinkinchaos)

  not bad, but some units and abilities missing. does it matter what game i select? was using Legacy, so maybe

Arid Wastes - Campaign Content (Vacare)

    bookmark to find later

    set to Legacy of the Void

    Create Lobby, change Melee to Co-op VS A.I.,

    2 Easy Zerg Any for now, to check out map

    Start. already seems better, CC has more options, but rax missing X, also factory no X - can't build tanks. oh good - building Z allows X, can proceed.

    Really bad bug - siege tanks won't fire in siege mode. Useless. Too bad; close to what I was looking for.

2023.09.09

Try the Arid Wastes - Campaign Content (Vacare) again, but set to Wings, Create, Co-op VS AI, Medium. Start.

   no, sadly, still same bug; rate at 1/5.

Want to try Twilight Fortress + campaign units (thinkinchaos) again, but it doesn't show up in list with various searches.

But if I set Wings to Legacy, then it shows right up. I guess maps are locked to the 3 acts of the game; maybe it doesn't matter what I select.

If I try and start the above map, there isn't even a selector which act to run it with.

Let's start with Wings of Liberty, Newest (because I have to select something?). Search campaign.

Shanghai Night - Campaign Tech (Orvanick). Interesting in that I had set the initial search to Wings, click this map, it's set to Legacy, but Create Lobby is grayed out because "This map is not allowed for your currently selected expansion level." This means a few things; let's see how it pans out. I really don't wan to use a 12 players map. Set it to Wings, Create - can't set it to vs AI. fail.

set to Heart, Top. search campaign. no.

set to Legacy, Top. search campaign.

(6) Ice Cliffs + Brood War Campaign Units (Blizzard)

what does this even mean. Legacy, Create, Co-op vs AI, fills in 3 players, don't see any way to change that number, but it could be good.

T vs 3Zmedium

I don't see any sign of brood war anything. quit. rating 1/5.

(8) Old Estate with Campaign Units (TheMoonUnit)

Under act selector, can only select Legacy. Create, Co-op fills in 4 AI.

T vs 4Z very easy.

I can build merc compound! Very interesting. Even more interesting, I can use regular buildings to make mercs. Unfortunately some things are still missing - I especially miss flamethrower turrets. I have vultures with mines but they are not reloadable, and I don't have widow mines. Still, it's an interesting mix, and I can see keeping this map in rotation. Especially since it does have some things I didn't even ask for, like bots that don't use up any supply.

This is a good time to restate the goal, because it's not about cheats. What I want is to hold off the Zerg under nearly overwhelming odds, with some extra technology to help me through. That's where turrets and mines and campaign units come in handy. so I can keep dialing up the Zerg difficulty until I can't take it anymore. I'll try some of that with this map, but I can see moving on before too long.

2023.09.11

Custom -> Melee, Wings of Liberty, Top Played...

(12) Wasteland Remnants + Liberty Campaign (Quarts)

   trying Melee, 3v3, met and toss vs zerg (my favorite), leave difficiluty on default (Hard), Any Build.

this map looks good at first, i see medics and firebats in the barracks. hopefully there are no bugs. there are vultures, siege can be researched. i can build science vessels. first bug: vultures seem to have 4 mines, but as soon as deployed 2 reach 0.

my teammates mopped up the enemy quickly. i don't think we had all built out our supply, and yet the map got really laggy. is it because the map is too large? filled with doodads? is it my ancient pc, or would that even make a difference if upgraded? worth trying again.

What if I create lobby with Legacy selected? same as above but Zerg set Very Hard. There's the answer in the barracks, as soon as I build X I see no medics. Quit, start again, T+2Ph vs 3Zvh.

I don't understand - why are there no medics again? Strangely, there are upgrades in engineering from the Wings campaign.

Start again as above, Custom... Once again no medics. Why did it work the first time? Quit. Rate 2/5.

I see a Blizzard map that says + Campaign and Coop units, is that true? Wow, there are some crazy units in here. This seems so well done, I wonder if it really is an OEM map. Have I been missing the good stuf all along?  The only possible downside so far is that the enemy seems to know how to use all the extra units too. I must check out all Blizzard maps that say campaign units. That was Twisted Vern; bookmarking that.

(8) Sand Canyon + HOTS Custom Map support mod (Blizzard)

Doesn't sound like Blizzard, but let's try. Do I Create Lobby or Create With Mod? try mod. wow, lots of extensions. Campaign and Coop units sounds promising. Is that a mod that can be plugged into any map? If so that could really simplify things.

2023.09.16

The idea of a campaign units plugin that anyone can use, including your AI teammates and opponents, sounds appealing but wasn't the kind of fun I am looking for. There are so many unit types that I can't keep track of anything. I'm not giving up on it yet though, its too promising. I wonder how hard it is to make that extension - could I just use the existing one and make my own by removing some things?

(8) Megaton + Ultimate Campaign Mod (Blizzard)

Create Lobby or Create With Mod? would it be 2 different maps? trying lobby first (Wings selected, if that matters (it doesn't)); harder diff (this is a whole 'nother issue to dial in).

Barracks has medics, good. No turrets. Engineering has a bunch of bunker upgrades; hire Elite units? Yes, can now train War Pigs, but they show up as Sons of Korhal.

Trying Mod, select extension Campaign and Coop units. The extension seems the same, offers every unit and then some.

Why does my protoss ally seemingly have a hero unit, Talis? And how do I get one?

SCVs can build outlaw structures, including Joeyray's Bar (i really like the sounds it plays when clicked). Looks like there's a whole alternate lore waiting in the various outlaw units, and they have their own upgrade path in engineering. Mixing RPG with RTS can be interesting, but maybe not on a resource scarce map like this,

2023.10.06

Custom -> Melee, Wings of Liberty, Top Played... checking Extension Mods...

The MrGW mod Campaign and Coop units seems well developed; few others are, still looking.

Trying Ultimate Campaign Mod with a stock Blizzard map.

(4) Backwater Gulch (Blizzard). T+P harder vs 2Z harder. regular resources.

Perdition turrets - finally! And with science vessels too.

Later... I think I lost this one; failed to expand quick enough, teammates died.

2023.10.13

(4) Rich Income Twilight Fortress (DrMurloc) + Campaign and Coop units

Kind of small, trying it. T+Pharder vs 2Zharder. I don't see any campaign anything, quit.

Try again but create with mod, trying Ultimate Campaign Mod.

Intersting way to place the mercs: you have to buy an upgrade in the armory.

Not bad, makes for a quicker game, and the enemy isn't spamming me with every unit ever made. I still want the bigger 3v3 or 4v4 maps, but for smaller games this is good. 5*

2023.10.16

Custom Melee bookmarks

(4) Rich Income Twilight Fortress (DrMurloc)

Map Info, change to WoL, create with mod, Campaign and Coop units.

Heroic Units - never noticed that before, turning it on.

seems to have all the usual noise from "Campaign and Coop units".

It's fun, but there are way too many units, and the AI uses them too.

2023.11.17

Maybe this is not the right location or format. Trying a Google Doc.

note to myself: merge

Google Doc "game Starcraft Custom Melee vs AI 2023-2024"

with

scratch: Starcraft 2 vs AI [https://thelastoftheoriginalvideogamers.blogspot.com/p/scratch-sc2.html]

2024.04.06

That's enough of that. I'm done here (again), for now.

Team Fortress Classic (1999) and Team Fortress 2 (2007)

2023.04.23
I didn't think to make a TF page because I've been playing it for decades, and it has always been part of the standard rotation. And now that it's not, I can see it again - or, the lack of it.

When Quake multiplayer was a thing, my favorite mods were anything with a grappling hook. It was endless fun to hang from dark spots in the ceiling and ambush unsuspecting enemies. I remember other mods, where you could team play as a heavy, medic, etc. were interesting but they weren't that much fun. Moving the game from Quake to Half-Life, Team Fortress Classic made it work for me, and I spent countless hours on it.

Team Fortress 2 was long rumored, and I think it was somewhat surprising when the Valve Orange Box finally came out. I had no idea what Valve or Steam would become, so I thought nothing of making my Steam name my old gaming clan name, which also reflected my usual class (medic). It could have been worse.

I think I missed the endless grenade spam of TFC at first, but TF2 proved to be the more balanced and fun. Checking my stats now, it seems hard to believe I only have 650+ hours in the game, but this is not the kind of game that you leave sitting idle sometimes racking up the hours.

In the early years it was fun getting new items, but they started creating too many, and it got overwhelming. I think something similar happened with achievements. It's still a fun game, and I'm sure I'll play it again. If I needed the disk space, it would probably be one of the last games to ever get uninstalled.

2023.04.29

Playing just to play, and it's been so long.

Find a game -> Community servers; nice to see the skial servers are still there, and there's at least 5 that are almost full. It's been the same maps for years: payload, 2fort, turbine, dustbowl. Probably a lot of the same players too.

status 2023

2023.01.30

Playing something new/old with AOE1 Definitive Edition. Considering getting AOE2 DE (on sale), but my system is already sluggish with the first DE so there's no rush. AOE3 DE will have to wait even longer.

Looking over Steam and GOG sales there are some good deals, but I just don't feel like it. I have so much in my Steam account already, and boxes of old games to replay, it's hard to justify buying games my old system can't even play.

2023.02.07

That didn't last long - some Steam sales I can't pass by:

$1.49 LYNE

$1.99 Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York (2019)

$3.99 Papers, Please (2013)

$9.99 Call of Duty (2003)

CoD is overpriced, but the price do not seem to get any better over the years (checking stats on isthereanydeal), and it's an action game my current system should be able to handle. And it's something of historical value that I missed playing at the time.

2023.02.27 Steam

$1.99 The Hex (2018)

$5.99 XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012)

2023.03.12 Steam

$1.99 Milo and the Magpies (2021)

$7.99 The Sherlock Holmes Collection (2008-2009)

$1.99 Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles (2012)

$1.49 Paradise Lost (2021)

$0.49 Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk (2020)

$1.99 INSIDE (2016)

2023.04.12

$3.49 Bloons TD 6 (2018)

$3.74 Jade Empire: Special Edition

$3.74 Alone in the Dark Anthology (1993...)

$3.99 Alice: Madness Returns (2011)

$4.99 Medal of Honor (2010)

2023.04.13

In between games. Time to consider and give time to the regulars; the games I've been playing for years along with whatever the current game is: GTA5, TF2, June's Journey.

2023.04.29

Made myself play some TF2, just to keep up with that. Why is L4D 1 and 2 still installed? Play a round of each.

2023.05.08 GoG

$1.97 Empire Earth Gold Edition

$1.49 Tropico Reloaded

$1.74 Total Annihilation: Commander Pack

$0.59 Desert Law

2023.05.16 Steam, really good Bioware Mega Collection:

$4.49 Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition

$4.79 Dragon Age Inquisition

$4.79 Mass Effect: Andromeda Deluxe Edition

$14.99 Mass Effect Legendary Edition

$7.49 Dragon Age II: Ultimate Edition

46% Bundle discount, total $19.73

$1.99 Mirror's Edge Catalyst

$4.49 Max Payne Bundle (1 & 2)

$3.74 Hearts of Iron 2 - Complete

$2.99 Command & Conquer™ Remastered Collection

$2.49 Crusader Kings Complete

$2.49 Hearts of Iron III

$0.97 Just Cause

$1.49 Just Cause 2

$2.99 Just Cause 3

all that for $43.37

2023.05.25 GoG

$2.99 Beyond Good & Evil

$1.49 AER - Memories of Old

General rule: if it's on my wishlist, and under $4, just buy it.

If it's on sale for like 85% off, maybe still get if under $10, especially if it's older, and/or unlikely to go much lower.

Some very old games are seemingly locked at unwarranted high prices like $20, $30, etc. and are almost never on sale.

2023.06.10 GoG

sale on Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 Enhanced; already have on steam, but these give access to the originals, and I'll want to try those

$ 2.99 Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

$ 2.39 Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition

Weird, I can't add those to my cart and keep shopping. It starts a new cart.

Next cart:

$ 3.74 F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin + Reborn

$ 1.99 Star Control I & II

Steam

$1.49 AER Memories of Old

$3.74 SLUDGE LIFE

$3.99 Star Control I and II

$4.49 The Talos Principle

$3.99 Wallpaper Engine

2023.06.10

Looking through the blog - what ever happened to Starcraft Remastered?

2023.06.11

OK, so I'm playing that now.

2023.06.12 GoG

$2.39 Master of Orion 1+2

$1.49 Imperialism

$1.49 Anvil of Dawn

$0.99 The Fall

$1.99 Apsulov: End of Gods

$0.59 Mainframe Defenders

$0.97 Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

2023.06.17 It's good to have an RTS back in the back - so good, I think I should always have one in the rotation.

2023.06.26 GoG

$1.64 Arx Fatalis

$1.64 DOOM 64

2.49 FTL: Advanced Edition

1.99 Hotline Miami

2.99 Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

3.74 Jade Empire: Special Edition

1.99 Metro 2033 Redux

2.99 Primordia

3.99 Quake

1.99 Quake II

3.99 Star Wars Battlefront (Classic, 2004)

2.09 Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds Saga

1.49 Starflight 1+2

1.99 STASIS: Deluxe Edition

3.99 The Longest Journey

1.69 Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space

2023.06.29

$9.99 Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition

A little out of my usual price range, but I don't think this set will get much cheaper before my next computer.

2023.06.30 GoG

free Beholder 2

2023.07.03

I prefer having everything on Steam, and GoG is good too, but reluctantly Battle.net has to be in the mix. There's just not other way to get their games.

I thought I was done with Diablo 2, but Diablo II: Resurrected exists, and D2 was so great that I have to at least try it, and there's a huge sale now. Each of these are 67% off.

$39.99 $13.19 Diablo II: Resurrected

    comes with nothing

$49.99 $16.49 Diablo Prime Evil Upgrade

    adds D3, Reaper of Souls, Rise of the Necromancer, pet + wings

$59.99 $19.79 Diablo Prime Evil Collection

    same as above

I already have D3, Reaper, and Rise, so... I'll just get D2:R

Warcraft III: Reforged is half off; $14.99 for Standard Edition. Worth it? It's been a while, but I don't remember WC3 that fondly, though I remember playing as the undead was cool. And that solo RPG after the main story was nice... last thing I remember was something about a panda.

(didn't get it - the community hates it)

2023.07.12 Steam summer sale

Wolf Pack:

$1.99 Return to Castle Wolfenstein

$1.49 Wolfenstein 3D

N/A Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory

Valve Complete Pack (already have 17 of 22 items)

$0.99 Counter-Strike: Condition Zero

$0.99 Day of Defeat: Source

free Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

$1.49 Payday The Heist

might as well take the extras

$0.39 Payday The Heist Soundtrack

$0.99 Payday The Heist: Wolfpack DLC

$1.59 Half-Life: Alyx - Final Hours

$1.64 DOOM 64

$1.69 Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space

$1.74 Tropico Reloaded

$2.49 Endless Space - Definitive Edition

$2.49 Please, Don’t Touch Anything

$3.39 Stasis - Deluxe Edition

$2.99 Outlast

$2.99 Harvester

$4.04 Jazzpunk: Director's Cut Complete Edition

$7.49 Watch_Dogs Complete

$4.49 Technobabylon

$0.89 Technobabylon Soundtrack

$4.99 Victoria II

2023.07.28

Done with Starcraft Remastered. Uninstalled, archived.

Now what, SC2 Wings of Liberty again? It might be interesting to compare.

Updating...

2023.07.30

OK, so I'm playing this, for now: StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (2010) [revisit 2023].

2023.07.30 Steam

$19.79 Red Dead Redemption 2 (2019)

$4.99 Black Mesa (2020)

2023.09.01 GoG

$ 2.49 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

$ 2.49 Heroes of Might and Magic 2: Gold

$ 2.49 Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Complete

$ 1.49 Cossacks Anthology

$ 1.49 Albion

$ 5.99 UnderRail

$ 2.99 FAR: Lone Sails

$ 2.49 Cossacks II Anthology

$ 1.49 Beholder

2023.09.04 Steam

$3.29 Stronghold HD

$3.49 Stronghold Crusader HD

$4.99 Rise of Nations: Extended Edition

2023.10.06 Steam

$3.49 Vampire Survivors

$1.99 Dracula: Love Kills

$3.99 Supreme Commander Gold Edition

2023.10.12 GoG

$2.49 Anno 1602 A.D.

$2.49 World in Conflict: Complete Edition

$2.99 XCOM 2

2023.11.01

$0.90 Californium

$2.99 The Evil Within

$3.99 The Void

$4.49 Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

2023.11.10 GoG

$6.69 Blade Runner (1997)
this is rarely on sale, and even though the cd is in the attic, i might as well have it handy

2023.11.27 Steam

$3.99 Gothic Universe Edition (Gothic 1 (2001), Gothic II: Gold Edition (2005), Gothic 3 (2009))

$2.99 Prey (2017)

$3.99 DOOM (2016)

$3.99 Firewatch (2016)

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (2018)

2023.01.20
Reading through the old entries I come across my last play of Age of Empires II. I had just played AOE1, and declared myself done with it. At the time (2013.04.13) AOE2 HD had just come out, so I decide to replay AOE2 Gold (its just the core game and expansions). Looks like I soon thereafter finished Age of Empires II : Age of Kings and Age of Empires II: The Conquerors.

At some point since I have purchased "Age of Empires II 2013" in Steam, and when you click on it you can see "HD Edition". There are two expansions I haven't bought. How long ago did I buy this... nothing in the blog... check history: Feb 15, 2021. So not that long ago.

Wait a sec... AEO DE came out in 2018... and AOE2 HD came out in 2013 - which do I play first? I thought I was going to play AOE2 HD (2013) briefly, and then get AOE2 DE (2019) which is now on sale. What a mess. If I had just kept up with the AOE series, I could be playing AOE4 (2021) now (not really; it's still list price).

Let's just get AOE1 out of the way. I don't think my system is up for getting all the graphics out of it, but it will hopefully be enough. And I'm already done with AOE1 and want to move on to AOE2 so this shouldn't take too long. Maybe get some steam achievements (and knock an unplayed Steam game off the list at the same time), see for myself what's new, and move on to AOE2 HD (and much later, AOE2 DE).

Of course, I've already watched Spirit Of The Law's review on AOE1 DE [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhLYP-gcaiI ]. I know it's mostly the same game, but with AI and UI additions from later AOEs (but not all/enough of them).

Game installed. 12 GB! Uh oh... this game requires Windows 10? Let's see what happens when we hit play... startup video, nice... main UI screen. If it's going to stop me, it really should have stopped me by now. To let me get this far and halt would be just mean. Checking Options, Settings: already set to 1920x1200, Zoom is set to X2, Eye Candy is set to Medium (let's try High). OK. Popup from Windows: Xbox sign in - dismiss. Single Player, Campaigns, Official, Tutorial Campaign: Ascent of Egypt. OK. Music has been OK so far, but now I'm hearing the voice over. I see what the reviews are talking about - not a great addition. Maybe it gets better. Read the history, Play. It works! It just works. Guess it's been fixed some time in the past 4 years.

Playing for a while, sudden crash when I went to save. Hope this isn't a trend; must save more often. Try and do that get another crash. This could be a problem. Restart.

Start campaign again, save immediately, ok. A few seconds later save, right arrow to unselect name, crash. This time instead of right arrow, just type a letter,, but there wasn't anything selected. Just type the letter b and it was ok. I can live with using letters. Loads ok, for now.

2023.01.21

Saving by just typing letters then a number, no crashes. Do a right arrow, crashes. Weird bug.

2023.01.22

As crude as AOE1 still is (compared to later ones) it still draws me in, and the time flies by.

When I go to saved games all my old saves are there. I've deleted them before and still they come back. Looking in the file folder, the creation dates are all from just now when I started the program.

Finished Egyptian tutorial; moving on to Greek.

I'm starting to get the hang of it again. Assigning different task groups to numbers, and switching between them without looking at the keyboard. Getting into the rhythm of building, defense, and attack. Also coming back are the annoyances at the quirks of this game - especially pathing. Units wander all over the place, even when I set them not to. I'm already looking forward to AOE2; I think the pathing is much better.

2023.01.23

Saved games reappearing getting annoying. Search... trying easiest thing first: disable Steam Cloud save. That's it.

2023.01.31

Starting to get a little bored at the lack of sophistication that I know is coming up in AOE2. The lack of map triggers and in game story makes most maps feel like the same old grind. It still pulls me in, and the hours pass quickly, but I'm really starting to look forward to the next game. After this I don't think I'm coming back this way again.

2023.02.06

I don't remember the Yamato civ from old AOE. It's nice to have something new... wait a minute, despite the new building art, they build Scythe Chariots, Phalanxes and Centurions? They didn't add new techs, but repurposed an old civ, and didn't even change the names?

Naval battles are exhausting. Units don't really do what you want, and get stuck on everything.

2023.02.17

Slowing down now, but still slowly working through the campaigns. Some scenarios are bugged or just strangely designed. I give each one a few tries, often too many, but if I get stuck I feel no shame in looking up some hints.

2023.03.05

This game is frustrating. Some levels are too easy, some are way too hard - mostly because of the AI. Pathing is a nightmare, especially on levels like Crossing the Alps where you are in lots of confined spaces. Looking forward to just finishing this.

2023.03.16

Done with Campaigns. A lot of long slogs getting through, but that's partially my fault. I like long wars of attrition where I waste the enemies' gold and stone using my trash units (costing only wood and food). Sometimes it seemed the only way to win. Some campaigns were too hard, some too easy, and some just foiled by strange AI.

Next up,  I see a way to Get Custom Campaigns online, and I can also try Custom Game against the comp.

2023.03.17

Checking Steam achievements... 50%. I like achievements that draw you into aspects of the game that you might have missed. Like building 21 centurions and seeing what they can do - something I might not have otherwise even tried. Training 500 axemen... ok, that's an experiment in sending in waves of trash units, or just having played long enough. Looking at the rest of the list, some of it just seems like drudgery. Build 500 heavy catapults? I thought I used them a lot to get through the campaigns, but I've only built 30. Of course I could just play easy custom campaigns and spam them out, but what is the value of that? Do I need to get to 100%

I don't think I can even hit 100% in this game. Kill 20 heros? How? My counter is at 5/20 going through the campaigns, where am I supposed to find more... no, no I don't want to play the campaigns again. Kill a medusa? Was that something I missed in the campaigns? Let's look it up... there are a bunch of home made scenarios that let you roll up a bunch of achievements at once, including this one. That seems like cheating. In a regular game, building a lot of one unit just to get the achievement also feels like a bit of a cheat, but just a bit.

You can create your own scenario and easily put a medusa (or heroes) on there, and get a quick win. Is that actually the point of the achievement? To make you use the scenario editor, even for a moment? After some searching, I can't find any 'natural' way to do this. Not that most of these achievements are natural.

There are only a few achievements I still want, like Atlas (explore whole map), Archimedes (research every tech), Pegasus, and maybe a few others. I want to try a few more games against the comp anyway, so I'll combine the two and hopefully be done with this game.

Custom Game. Starting with Minoan. Cheaper ships and farms. Composite bowman range +2.

No horse archers, no heavy cav, no chariots or elephants, full storage pit upgrades, no guard tower, full market upgrades, full gov upgrades, poor temple, good navy.

4 (Minoan + 3 random) vs 4 (random), Random Map, Highland, Large (4 Players), Pop 50, Diff Standard

My build order is terrible, because I am constantly being told I need new houses. And 16 minutes to go from Stone to Tool age; sloppy.

This one really dragged out. I feel like late game I didn't have much in the way of powerful units. My allies spent a lot of time bunched up behind my towers instead of doing something.

Let's try that again, but my whole team is Minoan; curious to see how they play. Change map to Coastal. I am not liking coastal at all; exploration is even more difficult. Speaking of which - where in my build order am I supposed to explore? It's always a mad scramble in the beginning trying to find the berries so I can get started. Even then, I still need to quickly place a granary or storage pit, and some houses, and it's nice to place those in a defensive position. The best I can do is struggle through with minimal villager exploration until I start aging up, then crank out a few axe guys to do the exploring.

2023.03.19

My teammates can't seem to stay in their base; they are building in my camp, and even the enemy is taking wood from right outside farms. Not doing coastal again.

That wasn't fun. I got placed right up front, so I'm taking the hit for 3 of my teammates, and my slow build was no match. I've had enough of this map.

4 Minoan v 4 Random, Inland, 50.

It is tiring (but fun) to try and balance economy and military, but the behavior and pathing in this game are trying. I set all units to defensive, but they still like to wander far away. Priest (healers) can literally wander to the other side of the map.

One of the worst bugs is that if you group up units that are far apart, and then order them to move, they act like a unit that is as large is the group is far apart. You have to manually order units to converge on a spot.

When a catapult / juggernaut takes out a building, it immediately moves forward, putting it in harms way (as I'm likely edging into an enemy base). If you are operating siege weapons, and turn your attention away for more than a few seconds, when you come back half your units will be dead.

Non-siege units on defensive wander at random even worse, but at least they're cheaper. If you are fighting multiple fronts, the under attack horn will be sounding constantly, and it's easy to forget which battle needs more attention at the moment. A lot of herding cats in this game.

2023.03.20

Finished that round.

Got Archimedes but didn't get Atlas. I can't find a single black square on the map. Do I have to do it myself, without allied sight researched?

Also got Minoan Compies - time to switch civs.

I've had enough archers for a while. It's a good time to try for the no archers achievement. I'm not even going to build an archery range.

Inland is probably a good map for me, even though I don't like it. No other player seems to take advantage of having water, leaving all the fish for me, and letting me run loose with floating ballistae that don't require gold (triremes) and being able to rapidly put stone throwers (juggernauts) almost anywhere on the map quickly. It also limits entrance to my base to only a few directions, which I can readily defend with walls and towers. Maybe its because it bends the AI so much it breaks?

Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, 50.

Quick game. I was in a corner, nice and safe, until I notice an enemy placed right next to me. I had to go on the offensive before they did, and quickly took them out. My teammates also got aggressive, and game over.

2023.03.22

I only built 43 / 789 Shang wall segments, let's try it again (I thought I was going to avoid grinding for achievements - I was wrong). Also going for no archer achievement.

Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, Large, 50.

Nearby team placement and I didn't realize until too late. Start over; this time I'll spam low age units and knock purple back a bit before booming. Maybe try skipping cavalry this time.

2023.03.24

This is what I like about achievements - getting out of your comfort zone. Without cavalry, I have to come up with other ways to mitigate their fast or heavy ranged units. My infantry is not that good, but at least I can build helepolis (which is so overpowered it's like cheating). Taking out one of the four enemies also helps take the pressure off trying to defend my neighbors, and I can focus on my economy. My opponents take care of the rest before I'm even finished building out. Got Feet on the Ground.

A nice fast game. Let's try one with no archery units.

Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, Large, 50.

Going ok for a while... getting a little pressure, sure could use some helepolis... uh, oh - prerequisite is archery range. This is going to be tougher than I thought. Maybe I should have taken out a neighbor early. One of my teammates walled his fighting buildings and units into a pocket of forest, removing a lot of friendly units; trying to excavate with a wood chopping group.

I'm not just building Shang walls for the achievement, I need to keep enemies out. I build a spiral of walls and towers, which enemy units follow to their doom, but it keeps me very busy. I'm barely producing anything anymore. There are no more safe minerals to mine. In all the melee, somehow I lost an entire wood chopping group. They are sending slow powerful units at me like elephants and hoplites; I spend some of my last remaining gold on priests. This looks like it will be a long war of attrition. I hope my allies are doing better, I barely have time to look.

I get enough elephants and hoplites that I now have a 'meat' gate that I can fill the only gap I have left in the wall. I can repel most attacks with no loss, and some attacks gain me a unit or two. I have only food and wood, so its time to send out my only fast trash units: chariots. Before I can get too far with that, enemies start resigning; game over. At least I got Eye in the sky.

2023.03.26

Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, Large, 50.

This time: more walls, more horse archers.

Great placement this time. I'm in the corner, in a pocket of trees. I've got stone and gold behind my base, which means I can mine outside for a while, and fall back and still have plenty of mining in safety. An enemy neighbor bothers my forward miners, so I push back a little bit, and wind up taking him out. The other enemies keep coming for me after that, but I'm already towered and walled in. While I'm comfortably upgrading as the enemy keeps dying outside my walls, I get game over; Victory. I hadn't noticed, but we had all the artifacts. State of the Artifact achievement done.

Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, Large, 50.

Still need more walls, and I didn't even get to build horse archers last game.

2023.03.29

Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, Large, 50.

Terrible placement - right in between two neighboring towns. I don't know whose gold or deer is whose; really threw me off my game. I hate allies building in my town. Just going to start anew.

2023.03.30

Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, Large, 50.

Great placement. I'm in the corner, in a pocket of forest, surrounded by allies. Allies who can't seem to defend themselves. I try to defend them, wondering if I should restart and focus earlier on helping instead of booming.

I restart, game goes way different. I keep my military forward, and start building forward towers. Game ended too quickly. It's all about finding the middle.

2023.04.06

Finally done with Shang; got Rise And Wall. I was playing normally, building only as much wall as I needed each game, and I got tired of it. I made it to about 600/700 wall segments, and I couldn't take it anymore. As the round was ending I built out as much wall as I could, putting it anywhere; done.

Switching to Egypt now. Still can't get Atlas for some reason - maybe I need to not research shared vision? I should try a 1v1.

2023.04.07

Egypt vs 1 random, Highland, small?, 50.

Got Atlas; finally. Can't tell if team vision was the problem, or I just keep missing one little dark square on that giant 4 x 4 map.

2023.04.09

I'm having a good time. I'm playing as Egypt, just got Eye of Horus achievement, and I'm converting like crazy. The enemy keeps sending cataphracts and centurions against my ballista towers. I usually get a few of each before the towers take them, and amass a nice free army. Unfortunately my neighbor keeps dropping catapult rounds on the fray, taking out my economy. I can't play this game much longer.

2023.04.10

Egypt + 3 random vs 4 random, 8, Random Map, Highland, Huge, 50.

Starting off, my town center is at the bottom of some high terrain - great for my enemies to rain crap down on. At least I'm not next to an ally, who hopefully won't catapult me again. Without helepolis, this could be a tough defense, though wololo can be effective.

My build order has been terrible; I only get away with it because I'm playing Standard difficulty. I've been doing a build where I make 10 each of food and wood gatherers, then age up at population 20 around the 9 minute mark. Next age create another 10 villagers on more wood then mining, then age up again at pop 30. I build up a small force of slingers and archers, then towers, then more serious military. Of course, enemy pressure can change all this.

Scytheseeing done. The rest of the achievements are just more grinding. Building a lot of hoplites or chariot archers sounds really boring. In almost 400 hours of play I've only destroyed 76 temples - going for 200 is not going to give me anything more out of this game. And some of the achievements can only be done in scenario editor - if I'm going to do that why not fudge the rest of it. Thank you AOE DE; time to go.

Personal review:

This was the greatest historical RTS game of it's time - until AOE2 came out. It only looks dimmer now because it is in AOE2's shadow. It was my bridge from Civilization 2 to RTS gaming, and I never really went back.

Steam review:

Greatest historical RTS - until AOE2. If you're new start there instead. You only need to play this if you remember the original and you're feeling nostalgic, or you are an AOE series completionist.

Review posted. Uninstalled.