Two To The Uh Oh

Once again, apologies are in order due to two weeks of missed posts. Every time update day has come around I've felt like a wet sack of sick - something that doesn't exactly manage to put me in the prime mood for posting. Anyway, enough of that. The linux installer for the 2.0 version of Glest came out on Monday, so I figured I'd give it a whirl and try out the new techs/units.

Although both factions have received some fancy new units and tech upgrades, a lot of the focus seems to have gone towards the Magic faction. It definitely needed it. Previously, Magic was a heck of a lot harder to win a game with than Tech - now it's just somewhat harder. Units still don't seem to stand head to head with the opposite faction's rough equivalents - the new Golems are too slow to be of any use (they're basically defense structures that can move), Drake Riders seem to keel over nearly instantly, and the new Daemons (whatever the hell comes from a Wicker Daemon, I can't remember the name at the moment) don't seem much stronger than their lower-class brethren.

Still, it's the same old Glest we've come to know and love. Maybe a bit too much so, considering this is not a point release upgrade. I'd have loved to see more new maps, maybe a new tileset, and maybe some refinement in the pathfinding code. Hang on a second, what's that other thing? That thing I can hear people screaming off in the distance? Oh yeah. Multiplayer. Actually, I don't give a rat's ass (or any other part of it, for that matter) about multiplayer. Maybe I will when I stop getting my ass handed to me by the (non-Ultra mode) AI.

That handily brings me around to a subject that I've managed to safely avoid over the course of the 2+ years I've been doing AYE - I absolutely suck at real time strategy games. How I still suck at one of my favorite genres is a complete mystery to me. Turn based, that I can handle - I know my way all around Alpha Centauri; Final Fantasy Tactics is like taking candy from a baby; whatever Wesnoth (the AI, not other people) throws at me, I can handle. Change the "T" to an "R", and suddenly I'm curled up in the fetal position on the floor as flames cover the entire viewing area on my monitor, tiny enemy tanks rumbling over the ruins of my base, pissing on my corpse.

I don't know why I continue to take the abuse, but I know that I do. As long as there are games like Glest around to drag me through the dirt - I'll cough it up, wipe the blood from my chin, and grab back on. Keep up the good work, folks.