The war comes to the tabletop on Flickr.
Will take this for it;s first test run this coming weekend as part of a team of 3. Locusts beware!
Monthly Archives: January 2012
My Kobayashi Maru Stalemate
Playing Star Trek Online last night I ended up in a total stalemate situation that gave me no way to win. Having completed two-thirds of a mission the final act was to assist some NPC ships in taking down a dreadnought. However, even with all power to the weapons I was barely able to lower a single shield section of the dreadnought and fire off a proton torpedo salvo, which would take about 5% of the hull down. But then the enemy appeared to have a hull repair system that was quicker than my ability to damage the ship.
To make it more of a problem, the dreadnought equally seemed unable to take out myself or the NPC ships, thus we were locked into a never-ending battle which I stuck with for about 45 minutes as I attempted different tactics to make a dent in the defences but to no avail. There simple was no way to win, so I had to fall back and warp out, aborting the mission.
I guess this situation is not uncommon in an MMO, but for some reason in the world of Star Trek it felt like there should be a way to win, some key tactic I could pull out Kirk style to achieve the apparently impossible, but it was not to be, I am no Kirk.
Star Trek Online
So now that this is Free to Play is anyone trying it?
I played the beta long ago, but it was very buggy at the time, often spawning as a ship for away missions which was funny the first time, then quickly a major annoyance so I left it behind and once it went subscription I found little draw to pay.
However after downloading the client the other night I’ve now put a couple of hours into commanding my own star ship and crew but it is much as I remember. The away missions are a little dull, and uninspired, but I do enjoy the slow methodical space combat, adjusting power setups to boost shields, angling the ship to protect weakened areas, making use of your command crew’s special abilities to turn the tide of battle. The sound of releasing a photon torpedo barrage is still cool.
Frankly if the game was all space combat I would much prefer it, maybe saving the on foot sections for just story progression and interaction minimising ground combat.
Still for free it’s worth a try if you ever liked playing the old Bridge Commander or perhaps even the original Star Trek pen and paper RPG. And if you happen across the U.S.S. Stexington on your explorations of strange new worlds and civilisations then be sure to hail me. 🙂
Aged Well
Dead Island “Completed”
Finally finished my three player play through of Dead Island with Linda and old school mate Woodoggies. Have to say we found the whole thing very enjoyable. The scavenging for parts and in-your-face melee combat worked so well in co-op, creating a real feeling of being a small group surviving the outbreak. I feel it’s very much like Borderlands, a game which only reaches it’s greatness when played with others. We still have a lot to do in the game though, various fun and some grinding achievements to try and obtain, but given how much we enjoy the experience I can’t see any of them being too much of a hardship.
If you can find a couple or even three friends to play with I highly recommend it.
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