Stargrace

Vikings: War of Clans

It’s not very often that I stumble across games in the google play store, but Vikings: War of Clans caught my attention right away. Before playing I took a quick peek at their website and then decided to jump in (you can also find a browser version of the game, along with an iOS version if you’re interested. I just happen to use Android).

The game is multiplayer, and you’re in charge of creating and developing a clan – or you can join one already created. Once you’ve created you’ll want to (of course) upgrade – and the upgrades cost resources. The more upgrades you have, the stronger you become, and the easier time you’ll have at winning against other players and capturing the Place of Power (a central location within a map).

It’s not just about the brute strength of your clan, either. The game employs strategic thinking, and you’ll find yourself using trade or diplomacy in order to win rather than just throwing your men at the gates of your enemies.

Of course in free to play games like this, a shop is typically expected. In that regard Vikings: War of Clans is no different. You can purchase items for real life money, but it’s not an absolute must. The game is free to play and you can jump right in without any barriers which is particularly nice.

They have also had a number of updates over the course of the game’s release. The developers are active and interested in making sure that the game stays interesting to players – something I’ve always appreciated.

If you’re looking for more information or just want to check out their social pages, why not pop on over to the Vikings: Clans of War facebook page (which is very active these days), or check out the Plarium web site.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Back to Sklotopolis

Time. There’s never enough of it. Between the chunk that we humans have to spend sleeping (more or less hours spent here depending on what happens to be going on in our lives at the time of question) eating working and various other mundanes, there’s still just not enough time to do what we want. I’ve been trying to keep up with gaming since having my little bundle (how on earth is he almost five months old?!) but lets face it, life happens.

I like having an MMO on my radar because it helps me keep ‘social’ when I’m dealing with a life that has me heavily tethered. Food provider is something I take a lot of pride in, but it sure doesn’t let me get a lot done – and I’m OK with that.

The point of this long winding story is that I’ve managed to wander back to Wurm Unlimited, and my old server of choice, Sklotopolis. “But Stargrace,” you might ask. “What happened to Ages of Ulrath?” Or whatever that other server was called. Welp. As is the case with servers you don’t run yourself, something happened while I was away (I have no idea what, I was busy pushing a human being out of my body) the server seems to have folded, and now it’s locked with no indication of anyone actually playing. Shame, but I honestly should have known better. Sklotopolis is a steady server with a fantastic history, run by people that I’ve known from Wurm Online for years.

My main deed which I share with Moumix and his wife was (thankfully) still standing, even if none of us had been playing. My second, personal deed, had since been disbanded. Despite that, my buildings and the walls around the location still stood, and so I re-deeded the place and restored it back to its former glory.

There are a lot of familiar faces on the server, and some new ones which I’m really happy to see. The head GM is currently Alpha testing the latest changes that will be coming (eventually) – this includes the cooking update that’s already live on Wurm Online. Unfortunately I read that the 500 recipes that they added there will NOT be making it to WU – and that has me pretty angry. The Wurm Online developers justify it by saying that they’ll provide GMs the ability to create their own recipes, which is great but who wants to deal with all that coding. Most people just want to play (or host). Their decision saddens me especially because they flout WU as being a replica of WO in their sales pitches on steam. What’s the point if they’re just going to leave out a bunch of content. Hopefully someone develops a bunch of recipes and releases it to the GMs who can then decide to add it to their servers. I’m still wondering why there’s no steam workshop for WU and instead we have to hunt down server and client side mods on the forums. I think it would be incredibly beneficial to have them stored as a steam workshop file. There’s probably a logical explanation on why that hasn’t happened yet, but it’s hard to see past that missing part every time you go to update your mods.

On my foray back into Wurm Unlimited I happened to be just in time to help take down the Troll King. The event was made even more fun because the GMs have allowed event teleportation. Normally rounding people up to walk to an event can be a tiresome chore, and less people show up because they don’t want to leave the comfort of their homes. A teleport to the event allowed me to get there instantly, and then I just used my karma port back home to my own deed after. I didn’t win any of the wonderful prizes that were donated, but Moumix’ wife did win herself a large magic chest that is now sitting in our shared vault.

So what will happen to my deeds in Wurm Online? For now I still have them and the rent is paid for over a year on each one – but I’m considering passing them off to my alliance mates, and moving to WU full time. It’s cheaper (no monthly fee), and fits in with my play style better (since things are sped up). I just don’t have the time to grind away in WO for hours on end like I used to. It doesn’t mean it will always be that way, and I’m incredibly thankful that I can still play a version of the game, but I just can’t dedicate the amount of time a game like that requires.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Trying for a Love Rocket

Even though life is pretty hectic these days (my little guy is 4 and a half months old now (5 weeks early), where does the time go?!) I still find time here and there to game, whether it’s in 15 minute stints, or while nursing him on the couch (depends on the game of course). It helps keep me relaxed and sane while dealing with the ‘fun’ that is colic, immunizations, growth spurts, and teething. One thing I’ve been trying to do on a daily basis is log into World of Warcraft and run my characters through the Chemical dungeon in an attempt to get the incredibly elusive love rocket. It has a 0.03% chance to drop, and I’ve never seen it before.

I have 20 characters total who can do the run for this mount since they changed the requirements. You can now take anyone from 16-110 through the fairly quick dungeon (there’s only three guys to kill). You don’t get a lot of time to work on getting the mount since it’s a Valentine’s Day event, but hey maybe I’ll get lucky (har har, see what I did there).

Anyone else trying to go after this mount? Anyone actually have it? How long did it take you to get it? Let me know in comments!

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

More Mods – RimWorld

I went through my list of mods and removed a few that I didn’t end up liking, and adding more that I wanted to try out. Right now my mod list sits at 28, which isn’t that many in the grand scheme of things, but is still a lot more than I’ve played with previously.

Mods are fantastic, especially in RimWorld. They can completely change how you play the game and extend the gameplay far beyond what the base game comes with. So far I’m still completely enthralled, and looking at my steam hours it’s no wonder. I have over 130 hours played (though a lot of that is me just leaving it to play while I’m AFK, or sitting with the game paused as I tend to RL).

Some of the newest mods I’ve added are:

The Mad Rabbits of Caerbannog – This adds new pack animal events instead of just the base ones (which were pretty boring)
Shiro – adds a new type of pet to the game
Expanded Prosthetics and Organ Engineering – Because playing doctor is fun
Lamia – another pet type mod
Call of Cthulhu – Cults A16 – which adds a whole lot of sacrifice, spells, and monsters to the game. This mod is insane, and a lot of fun.

I’ve also been watching RimWorld streamers on twitch. Everyone plays the game slightly different, with different goals and mods. It’s pretty neat to see what someone else is up to, how long they survive, and what difficulty they play on. You can customize the scenario before you get into the game which also offers a lot of replay ability. There’s a pretty popular Fallout theme that I’ve seen some people playing that I may try out next.

I also added Prison Architect to my steam wishlist (you can find me there as Stargrace if you’re looking to add friends) – I know it has been in a humble bundle or two in the past, and I’m hoping I can find it there again before too long. Since RimWorld is based loosely on that game I’m hoping I would enjoy it just as much. I prefer the genre of RimWorld which is the only reason I haven’t immediately scooped it up.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

7th Spring 5500 – RimWorld

(Tales from the RimWorld, my adventurers diary of events)

7th Spring, 5500

I decided to head out and make it on my own, taking only a few belongings and my trusty Yorkshire Terrier, Gambler. He isn’t much but I just can’t be without him. Everyone laughed at me. I think I’m in the arid shrub land right now but I can’t really be too sure. More updates later.

10th Spring, 5500

After a lot of mining and hauling, I’ve carved myself a small room in a mountainside. I think I will at least be safe from fire here. Sadly, this did not protect me from the insane turtle that started randomly attacking me. I managed to ping off a few shots with my rusty gun, but those turtles don’t mess around! Maybe I accidentally stepped on its nest?

11th Spring, 5500

Veniamin was wandering around outside and said it looked like I could use some help, so he joined my team. He doesn’t say much but he’s a hard worker. I suppose I’m thankful for the company. He also reminded me that he faints at the sight of blood, so he won’t be doing any medical procedures. No problem, I can handle them all.

12th Spring, 5500

We were raided today by Soto; a pirate. Veniamin doesn’t have a gun but he bravely ran out there and clubbed the intruder while I shot from the safety of the doorway to our humble abode. There were no deaths (besides Soto’s) and we buried him under a nice tree (after taking his clothes). Why he thought attacking us with a club was a good idea I’ll never know. Veniamin uses that club now. Hey, we have to eat.

13th Spring, 5500

An escape pod landed nearby but when I went to check it out I found Denis there. He is known as a masochistic pyromanic with depressive traits. He’s also Veniamin’s brother. Instead of rescuing him I told Veniamin that he was already dead when I got there. Veniamin is sad now because that was his only brother. I should feel bad, but I oddly don’t. I really didn’t want to deal with a pyromanic at our base. It’s almost summer, we should be gathering crops for food.

14th Spring, 5500

Our neighbours came by for a visit, they call themselves the Washatntni Confederation. I just call them the Washa’s.

15th Spring, 5500

Veniamin is acting oddly, wandering around in a dazed state. I think he’s close to the breaking point.

4th Summer, 5500

Veniamin’s Mom was being chased by a raid – and since we already declined his brother, I decided why not let her join up with us. I was hoping she could help bring Veniamin out of his weird dazed state. When she called us for help I figured she was nearby but her and the pirates showed up IN OUR BASE which was just not cool. Lots of blood shed, but thankfully we’re all still alive.

8th Summer, 5500

We had some visitors today, but I forget their names. Summer has been warm.

Early Fall, 5500

We’ve had a few eclipse. They knock out our solar panels, so it’s not much fun. Thankfully they only last a day, but when you have a few in a row it can become a problem. We have one battery, so we have some power stored up but not that much. It’s keeping our freezer running at least so our meat doesn’t go bad.

8th Fall, 5500

We were raided by the Godlessness party. There were three of them. All of us are injured, which means no one is tending to our wounds. I can barely pick up the pen and paper to write this journal entry. Hopefully we can just pull out of it.

1st Winter, 5500

We managed to survive the raiders back in the fall, but shortly after we came down with the plague. All three of us. I don’t have long to live, but I wanted to make sure that our story was told. Whoever finds our base should find a good supply of food and items in storage. Make sure you keep a healthy doctor handy, learn from our mistakes.