Like Martian Dreams below, Savage Empire (SE) is part of the Worlds of Ultima series (a bit of a misnomer really since there are no other games in the series!). The 'real' Ultima of Lord British etc. never turned me on but Worlds of Ultima are true classics, still enjoyable despite the 1992 graphics and sound. Just replayed SE again recently and tried two new ways of winning (kill the myrmidex queen and smash the Black Stone). The first was to win the traditional way in the shortest time. The traditional way is to unite the tribes and then destroy the myrmidex. Did all the quests and skipped the time-wasting building of homemade weapons.
The second way was much more original. Uniting the tribes is not essential. All it does is reduce the number of myrmidex in their caves making your hunt for the queen much easier.A key part of the game is to enter the old Kotl city to get some anti-Myrmidex weapons and the Black Stone detector device. The 'usual' plot is to destroy the city power source. This frees Spector and allows completion of the Nahuatl quest. With the city power destroyed you have to flee the city as it implodes. unfortunately the city guardian robot Yunapotli dies at this point. I say unfortunately because Yunapotli is indestructibe and joins the party when you enter the city.
Here's the trick. Skip all the quest but one; free Aiela from Darden of the Urali (she has the key to the Kotl city). Get the head (Nahuatl city) and the brain (Spector's old assistant Fritz) of the Yunapotli robot. Enter the city, get yunapotli (Y) to join, send him in solo mode to get all the gadgets from the Kotl city but do not destroy the power source. Leave the city and enter the Myrmidex caves. Send Y off ahead in solo with a kotl staff; he is indestructible so the only problem is chopping your way thru the hords of myrmidex in every tunnel. Y kills queen and smashes stone and hey presto game victory sequence kicks in (even Spector is miraculously there).
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Martian Dreams (Ultima game) get loads of oxium at the start
Replayed Martian Dreams again recently the old (early 90s) classic. Despite (or maybe because of) the fact that I have played this game umpteen times I discovered a neat trick that nobody has spotted (believe me I've trawled the Internet for walkthrus and cheats). A key item in Martian Dreams is oxium: having oxium keeps the characters healthy and also can be traded at the Trader Outpost for guns and ammo. The motherlode of oxium is in the fuel store in the coal-fired powerplant. This motherlode is one of the first things you discover in the game but you can't get at it. You have to get electric power to open the door; you have to repair the torn conveyor belt in the powerplant to get power; you have to get into Olympus to repair the belt and you have to find the explorers on Syrtis Major to get access to Olympus ... whew!
Here's the trick. Even when you have put the repaired belt on the conveyor the plant doesn't just start up. You have to 'jump start' by loading coal into the boilers by hand (plus shovel and barrow) . Now when you do that, the lights (power) come on straight away for a few moments even though the plant is not fully operational until the two robots get to work. So I planted one member of the team (A) at the boilers with a few loads of coal and a shovel, move another team member to the fuel store door. Put A in solo mode, load some coal, power comes up, move to B in solo mode, walk through powered door and load up with zillions of oxium. If power cuts while B is in store go back to A and chuck in another shovel of coal. Hey presto you have enough oxium (you can carry nearly 1000 oxiums) for the whole team for thw whole game right from the start with no cheating.
Here's the trick. Even when you have put the repaired belt on the conveyor the plant doesn't just start up. You have to 'jump start' by loading coal into the boilers by hand (plus shovel and barrow) . Now when you do that, the lights (power) come on straight away for a few moments even though the plant is not fully operational until the two robots get to work. So I planted one member of the team (A) at the boilers with a few loads of coal and a shovel, move another team member to the fuel store door. Put A in solo mode, load some coal, power comes up, move to B in solo mode, walk through powered door and load up with zillions of oxium. If power cuts while B is in store go back to A and chuck in another shovel of coal. Hey presto you have enough oxium (you can carry nearly 1000 oxiums) for the whole team for thw whole game right from the start with no cheating.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Third Reich: conquer Britain in 1940.
Conquering Britain in 1940 is a no-brainer. All you have to do is take out London. The British have one huge advantage in that London can hold a 3 unit stack (normal limit is 2 units) making it super tough. And throughout 1939, checking the London stack reveals 3 * 3-4 infantry in London. But when France is conquered (see earlier post) and Egypt is under threat (see p.s. below) the AI moves one infantry away. Two infantry doubled in defense is 12 which means that a para unit 3 and 9 air gets you a 1:1 attack. One to one doesn't sound great but in this case it is. There is a 35% chance of defender (British) eliminated. There is also a 12% chance of exchange (CA) which means that you swap 6 luftwaffe points for the British defenders and the paras take London. That means a 47% chance of success!
In theory the British could (and should) throw in whacks of airpower to defend London from your initial attack, but the AI doesn't. I tried a "Battle of Britain"approach of air attacks on British air to wear them down over two turns before dropping the paras. It doesn't make any difference. The AI keeps the RAF in the North of England and ignores any attacks where the odds are poor (for them). So just drop the paras on London the first chance you get. make sure you have 5 airpoints to clear the existing airpower in London, plus 9 air points to support the paras and a few points ( 2 or 3) to intercept the RAF DAS over London. That's 16-17 points and the Luftwaffe at this point should be 20 strong.
p.s. I'd love to know what gets the AI to remove the 3 strong inf. unit from London that makes it takeable. I usually get the Italians to declare war so maybe that draws forces into the Med. I must try it without that to see if the AI is plain stupid!
In theory the British could (and should) throw in whacks of airpower to defend London from your initial attack, but the AI doesn't. I tried a "Battle of Britain"approach of air attacks on British air to wear them down over two turns before dropping the paras. It doesn't make any difference. The AI keeps the RAF in the North of England and ignores any attacks where the odds are poor (for them). So just drop the paras on London the first chance you get. make sure you have 5 airpoints to clear the existing airpower in London, plus 9 air points to support the paras and a few points ( 2 or 3) to intercept the RAF DAS over London. That's 16-17 points and the Luftwaffe at this point should be 20 strong.
p.s. I'd love to know what gets the AI to remove the 3 strong inf. unit from London that makes it takeable. I usually get the Italians to declare war so maybe that draws forces into the Med. I must try it without that to see if the AI is plain stupid!
Third Reich tip: 1939 landslide
I have worked out an opening for 3R (playing as Axis obviously) which gets Germany the Low Countries, and France as well as Poland by the end of 1939 providing a huge BRP boost for 1940. Don't use the panzers in Poland. Using infantry (4 * 3-3s) and airpower (7 points), Poland can be taken in two turns (Fall and Winter). Use the Panzers and the remaining forces to overrun Belgium, Holland and Lux in fall with a panzer breakthrough to the seine (the hex north of Paris) with 4 panzer units. In winter, take Paris with 2 panzer using the other 2 (exploitation movement) to spread out and stop the French recapture. Also keeping 2 points of airpower for DAS. They almost never retake Paris. Even a bad result such an exchange (in which you lose your 2 panzer) means that France falls.
Spring 1940, whacks of extra BRPs and German forces on the channel ...
Spring 1940, whacks of extra BRPs and German forces on the channel ...
Third Reich PC
The classic board wargame Third Reich is also available as a PC game (3R). Very useful for all those wargaming nerds like me (the technical term is, I believe, grognard) who have plenty of wargames but few opponents. This blog will be full of fascinating(?) 3R comments as I am (re)playing that game just now.
Introduction
I started by calling the blog PC wargames, hence the url. But then I decided to include my pet non-wargames PC games as well. So welcome ye non-wargamers!
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