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A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 12 Jan 2014, 14:03
by Paul
As far as Cam is concerned, there is one correct difficulty for strategy games: punishing. Whether it’s “hardcore”, or “extreme”, or “iron man”, you’re not doing it right if your entire squad isn’t one bad roll away from paving the save file and starting over.

Post any comments or questions about the A Swiftly Tilting Cameron live stream.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 12 Jan 2014, 14:58
by Kapol
I think it'd be worth looking into a mod for Xcom that'd allow the names for soldiers to be pulled directly from a document with subscriber names. It'd make things a lot faster I'd think. I'm not sure how possible that actually would be though.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 12 Jan 2014, 17:27
by Clypheous
Man, Mr. Lauder is having just about as much of a trouble playing Iron Man in XCOM as I did. I remember playing most untimed missions by camping my guys in a corner of the map in the best defensive position possible and waiting for all the enemies to come to me, defeat a wave, and then get back into position and do it all over again. It took about 5-10 times as long per mission, but it was the only way I managed to actually have most of my guys survive more than a mission or two. And promoted guys are absolutely essential to getting anywhere. That and Satellites, lots and lots of Satellites...

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 12 Jan 2014, 18:20
by Lord Hosk
This stream has been amazing! Especialy when he has a co-pilot. I dont care if he "isnt tilting or getting angry" He is having fun playing the games and thats what they are about.

This is great.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 13 Jan 2014, 06:55
by Clypheous
I feel the stream would be significantly less enjoyable if he started flipping out and chucking tables or something. His ability to just calmly note that his whole team is going to be going home in pieces is really amazing. I'm a pretty calm guy and I think I got way more on tilt playing strategy games on their hardest difficulty. I think the last thing I actually played consistently on the hardest difficulty (i.e. not just playing it once to try to see if I could do it and/or get the achievement) was Civilization 3. I had Civ 3 as virtually my only game while I was abroad for a semester and I played the heck out of it. Eventually though you wind up just exploiting AI loopholes and stuff, but I figure by the time you manage to figure the AI out well enough to do that, you deserve any edge you can get.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 13 Jan 2014, 07:06
by ElFuzzy
Can we get a link to the XCAM spreadsheet? It'll be nice to have another source outside of asking or waiting for chat.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 13 Jan 2014, 07:13
by Kapol
I don't have it off hand. But you can just go into the chat and type !Xcam to get it.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 13 Jan 2014, 07:39
by Can't Wear Hats
Here's the bit.ly link for convenience: http://bit.ly/CamXCOM :)

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 13 Jan 2014, 09:04
by Lurkon
What are the rules for this spreadsheet?

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 13 Jan 2014, 09:40
by Merrymaker_Mortalis
Cam, would you consider playing Turn-Based strategy games you're unfamiliar with in the future?

If so, I would like to nominate Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic as it's a more magical version of Civilisation.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 13 Jan 2014, 09:49
by My pseudonym is Ix
Following on from Merry's suggestion, I will continue to spam my suggestion that watching Cam play Crusader Kings II (or any other Paradox game of his choice) would be friggin' fantastic. It doesn't really have a hard mode, but that's not a problem- the whole game is hard mode!

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 13 Jan 2014, 11:31
by Canageek
I think Cam should play the original X-COM after this!

Or I could be really mean and make sure he tilts by giving him the only game I've given up on due to difficulty: Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business. Now, I'm not good at tactical games, I just like them, but I could not finish the tutorial level of that game without losing almost my entire team, and that was on the easiest mode. If any game will make Cam tilt, my money is on this one.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 13 Jan 2014, 11:42
by empath
I kinda like the idea of our glorious Cammander finishing X:EW, and then trying a game he's not quite as comfortably knowledgeable about; dunno his background in the JA games, but from what you say, they ramped up the difficulty in Unfinished Business - that series was my bread and butter back in the day.

...and after he's struggled and learned and conquered a new, unfamiliar game, let him relax with a return to tried and trusted SMAC. :mrgreen:

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 13 Jan 2014, 11:53
by Canageek
Yeah, I got it on a GoG sale, as I was sick of X-COM's horrible UI, but wanted a modern tactics game. I went back to X-COM and still mean to finish the damn thing.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 13 Jan 2014, 18:01
by AdmiralMemo
I'm thinking Age of Mythology would be a good choice. :)

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 13 Jan 2014, 18:13
by Master Gunner
Especially if Graham co-hosts that.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 14 Jan 2014, 10:06
by Clypheous
Merrymaker_Mortalis wrote:Cam, would you consider playing Turn-Based strategy games you're unfamiliar with in the future?

If so, I would like to nominate Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic as it's a more magical version of Civilisation.


The problem with AoW:SM is that it's pretty easy. Once you learn what spells to learn and what units to use it's kind of like the original Master of Magic was with a few stacks of decked out Paladins with flying. Not as much a game anymore as one giant mopping up action against the entire world at once. I mean AoW is definitely not as mind numbingly easy as MoM becomes, but it's still not likely to make Cameron tilt.

Crusader Kings II though...Holy crap. I'm really, really good at strategy games, but the tutorial of that game is so awful and the depth of that game is so insane I've still never managed to make it all the way through a game. I just don't generally have the patience to wait 15 years for something to build, just in time to die and have my terrible children take over and then refuse to breed, even with the fate of the Kingdom at stake.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 14 Jan 2014, 13:20
by Ptangmatik
Cam in ep2 at about 49 minutes wrote:Who's a dead little monkey?

I laughed, I cried, I facepalmed.

Cam really seemed to nail the ironic pre-death quote. I get the feeling he'd make an excellent baddie in a 80s Schwarzenegger film.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 14 Jan 2014, 13:32
by Merrymaker_Mortalis
Clypheous wrote:
Merrymaker_Mortalis wrote:Cam, would you consider playing Turn-Based strategy games you're unfamiliar with in the future?

If so, I would like to nominate Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic as it's a more magical version of Civilisation.


The problem with AoW:SM is that it's pretty easy. Once you learn what spells to learn and what units to use it's kind of like the original Master of Magic was with a few stacks of decked out Paladins with flying. Not as much a game anymore as one giant mopping up action against the entire world at once. I mean AoW is definitely not as mind numbingly easy as MoM becomes, but it's still not likely to make Cameron tilt.

Crusader Kings II though...Holy crap. I'm really, really good at strategy games, but the tutorial of that game is so awful and the depth of that game is so insane I've still never managed to make it all the way through a game. I just don't generally have the patience to wait 15 years for something to build, just in time to die and have my terrible children take over and then refuse to breed, even with the fate of the Kingdom at stake.


But it's so pretty.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 14 Jan 2014, 13:39
by Ptangmatik
By the way:

Is it weird that, since they were all in caps, I read "Operation Forgotten God" and "Operation Hot God" as "Operation Forgotten Goo" and "Operation Hot Goo" and thought nothing of it?

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 14 Jan 2014, 14:27
by Canageek
Clypheous wrote:
Merrymaker_Mortalis wrote:Cam, would you consider playing Turn-Based strategy games you're unfamiliar with in the future?

If so, I would like to nominate Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic as it's a more magical version of Civilisation.


The problem with AoW:SM is that it's pretty easy. Once you learn what spells to learn and what units to use it's kind of like the original Master of Magic was with a few stacks of decked out Paladins with flying. Not as much a game anymore as one giant mopping up action against the entire world at once. I mean AoW is definitely not as mind numbingly easy as MoM becomes, but it's still not likely to make Cameron tilt.


Yeah, the AI in AoW:SM is driving me from the game. I got it off GoG and started it up recently, as I left my AoW disk in Ontario by mistake, but just a few missions in I haven't had much of a challenge yet, as there aren't any time constraints, so I can plod along slowly and surely without taking any risks, and the AI is too dumb to stage any sort of attack.

Or is that just me?


Oh, if we REALLY want to make him tilt: X-COM: Terror from the Deep on max difficulty and force him to attempt even the lobsterman terror missions.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 14 Jan 2014, 15:12
by Merrymaker_Mortalis
Canageek wrote:MEGA TEXT QUOTE


They have artificial time-limits later on in the narrative. It's quite scary then.

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 14 Jan 2014, 20:00
by empath
Ptangmatik wrote:By the way:

Is it weird that, since they were all in caps, I read "Operation Forgotten God" and "Operation Hot God" as "Operation Forgotten Goo" and "Operation Hot Goo" and thought nothing of it?


...mmmmnnope, but I HAVE noticed that ANY mission with "Operation <name> God" for a codename results in multiple casualties...if not a tpk. :P

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 15 Jan 2014, 07:57
by My pseudonym is Ix
Clypheous wrote:
Merrymaker_Mortalis wrote:Cam, would you consider playing Turn-Based strategy games you're unfamiliar with in the future?

If so, I would like to nominate Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic as it's a more magical version of Civilisation.


The problem with AoW:SM is that it's pretty easy. Once you learn what spells to learn and what units to use it's kind of like the original Master of Magic was with a few stacks of decked out Paladins with flying. Not as much a game anymore as one giant mopping up action against the entire world at once. I mean AoW is definitely not as mind numbingly easy as MoM becomes, but it's still not likely to make Cameron tilt.

Crusader Kings II though...Holy crap. I'm really, really good at strategy games, but the tutorial of that game is so awful and the depth of that game is so insane I've still never managed to make it all the way through a game. I just don't generally have the patience to wait 15 years for something to build, just in time to die and have my terrible children take over and then refuse to breed, even with the fate of the Kingdom at stake.


What the hell are you building that takes 15 years?

Re: A Swiftly Tilting Cameron

Posted: 15 Jan 2014, 15:48
by empath
...a nation. And 15 years is pretty short for that. ;)