Gaming – Page 338 – A Pixel Nomad

Decorating? Really?

There’s a reason I love sandbox gaming, and it is all about the creativity and relaxation I find in creating. This weekend I learned a little bit more about the mods that are currently active on the minecraft server I’m playing on. There are 184 of them. That’s a lot of mods. Not all of them will affect me in game, but I’m slowly learning those that do. Some are still too complex and I have no idea what I’m doing but I’ll get there.

The ones I worked with this weekend were BibloCraft which is quickly becoming a favourite of mine because of the flavour it adds to the game, along with Chisel which also adds some incredible customization. Finally I also started exploring Forestry, which adds things like bee keeping. In the end I ended up “doing” very little in game, but I did get a pretty good grasp on the numerous ways I can customize my place, which I am completely tickled about as you can tell by the screenshot above. I created the tablecloth for the table, along with the chair, a backing for the chair, and then dyed it to match the rest of the room. I also used carpenter’s blocks to create a facade around my entrance, and then used chisel to turn the stones into some pretty decorative pieces. After all that was done I decided my house needed the beginnings of a map, and started the first one along with some potion racks (empty for now), and armour racks for flair.

My home may not be running on power, and I don’t have any automatic farming gizmos or industrial do-dads set up, but it suits me as I slowly learn my way through all of these awesome mods. Eventually I would love to create a better farm, both for crops and animals, and have them automated. It’s nice to automate the ‘mundane’ aspects of the game (farming for supplies, in other words) so that you can spend your time doing the “fun” things.

Speaking of fun, I want to get out and do more exploring too. So far I have spent most of my time in the winter biome that surrounds my home (fitting for a canuck, no?) but there’s some forest close by and some other fun places that I have been itching to do some adventuring in. So long as I stay away from the lava. A work mate went out yesterday and apparently got herself lost in some lava. Needless to say it didn’t end up too well.

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

Sheep? SHEEP!

Ah yes, Wurm Online. No matter how many times I seem to step away from this game, eventually it just draws me back in. Maybe it’s the colder weather and the comforting music the game plays. Maybe it’s the fact that no matter how hard I try I can’t seem to find a sandbox game that satisfies me in quite the same way. Whatever the reason, I found myself patching yesterday and happy that my account still had premium on it until February.

There have been some changes to the game since last I played, which I was glad to see. Some graphic updates, server updates, and a few other tid bits like – sheep. Seals had been added just before I took my break (about 50 days ago) but I still haven’t seen any and I’m not sure if they have any use. Sheep can be sheered for their wool, but right now the wool has no use. You can also breed them so of course I wasted no time heading out and finding a pair to breed. You can see them in the screenshot above, bunched up together as most Wurm Online mobs seem to do for some odd reason.

A new feature was also implemented that gives players a chance to find coin when foraging, botanizing, and killing animals. You have a higher chance if you’re killing domesticated animals like horses. You can then take these coins to a trader in exchange for actual coin. It’s not a huge change, but a fun little aspect to the game that players will enjoy, especially since it affects new and old players alike.

Since I had been away for almost two months I had to do some light maintenance before I could go out exploring. All of my female horses were dead, along with two bulls. In order to breed more horses (still trying to get 5 speed) I needed to find some females. Thankfully with the newly boosted creature ratio that was really no problem at all. While out looking for sheep and horses I also managed to find some bull, which I took home and added to the cow pen.

The majority of the deed was just fine, if not a little overgrown with trees so I trimmed those down and started working on a new stable area. I also purchased some in-game currency so I could pay the upkeep on my deed for the next 100+ days, I don’t want decay to settle in nor do I want to risk losing a deed I have worked so hard on. The alliance is still playing and still going strong. A few more alt deeds have gone up and with the newly distributed ore from yesterdays update I have found copper and silver in my mine that wasn’t there before. Considering the majority of the place was iron, I couldn’t be more pleased.

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

Endless Legend

Endless Legend is a beautiful turn based fantasy strategy game that I was lucky enough to be gifted not too long ago. It’s a lot like civilization – if it were on drugs. There’s so much involved in growing and expanding your culture that I doubt I can even explain it all. The tutorial does a great job of explaining what there is to do, and so far that’s all I have been playing through (on the easiest mod, too. I’m trying to get used to the controls). You get quests like you do in Tropico, deal in politics, research, exploration, conquering lands and all the rest.

What really impressed me though (and I know, it’s shallow) is the graphics. The map is just astounding. I think I could spend hours zoomed in on different sections trying to figure it all out. Like all games of this type you really need to sink a good amount of time into it before you start making decent progress. I’m up to three outposts now with a handful of smaller villages. I’ve pacified any outsiders that were in the area, and done battle with some serpent like creatures as well as a race of rock people. I don’t think they liked me moving in on their territory, but c’est la vie.

Fancy Armour

After heading off to Paul’s place to check out his smeltery set up, I went back to my own and adjusted mine a bit. Works like a dream. I didn’t have a lot of gold but I had enough to get a few casings made, and created a lovely set of bronze armour. Much better than the leather armour I was wearing before (which I stole from bandits). I’ll need to find a better source of metals in order to make some tools (I need casings) but I’m looking forward to it. I also need to make some iron blocks in order to make a tool forge, one of the machines I left off of my list (didn’t have the iron). In the mean time I can easily use the Nexus to get to Paul’s smeltery and use that one instead.

I haven’t created a method of recycling the molten metals back into the smeltery but that will be next on my list of things to do. I may also look into automating the system, but it feels a bit out of my league.

Speaking of out of my league, I went and checked out the power plant that Paul and Joel have created. Wow. That thing is insane.

I also want to do more exploring. Especially now that I’m all set up with armor and weapons. I plan on creating a second set of gear to keep in my chest (backups are always important) and going wandering once I have some free time. Hopefully I find some great spoils to take home! I get the urge to wander quite frequently, as much as I love my castle sometimes I just want to see what’s out there.

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

Lets Get Married

There’s nothing more romantic than proposing to someone in a bathroom, on the first date, while they’re dressed in a hotdog costume.. or is there?

My legacy family is coming along. Jessica Little met up with Alfonzo for a date and they fell madly in love. Jessica decided not to waste any time, and proposed on the spot. Turns out that Alfonzo is an elder, and quite a few days into it already. That bodes well for Jessica, but it does mean they had to start their family as soon as possible in order to continue the legacy. Little Emily was born – and I’m glad it was just one kid instead of a handful.

When they got married Alfonzo came with $20,000 which I used to upgrade the house to an actual home and not just a room with a toilet. They still have to hunt for plants and statues to sell for extra cash as they don’t pull in nearly enough right now to be comfortable, but I am sure that will come with time.

Jessica is taking some time off work right now, but she has aspirations to become a writer. Alfonzo decided to reboot his career and he’s in the IT department, though he doesn’t know anything about what he’s doing.

This was also a week of announcements, as EA finally announced swimming pools coming in November. I’m really looking forward to that. They also included a bunch of halloween features, like ghosts and spooky radio stations. Best of all the content is all free. Who doesn’t like free things!