Hulks by Tom Throp

10 Months ago I said I was thinking of playing EVE Online. Again. As it was I never did and there it was, forgotten about.

1 Month ago I had the same urge, this time I followed through with it and signed up for a new account, paid for a month and was soon flying around Caldari space feeling like a badass in the most basic of the ships blowing up the weakest of enemies.

I knew this time I couldn’t let myself “burn-out” on it, EVE is a game designed to be played over a looong period of time and that’s what I intended to do. You know, couple hours a week max, play it a lot but over a year or two, not all in a month.

A week later and my playtime was up near 35 hours. I was back into this game, big time.

Since then I have gotten better ships, mined for more money in an hour than I made in my first week alone and joined a corp of people who actually know what they’re doing.

And I’ve been listening to their reports of the PvP raids they do, the future of the corp, rumours of worm holes and I realise I’ve barely scratched the surface. I finally know what I’m doing with Planetary Interaction and am only a few days off getting a yet better ship.

So that’s what I’ve been up to these last few weeks and what I’ll be doing in the coming few. Any interesting tales and I’ll be sure to let you know.
Tom

Name badge #2

It was around this time last year I was just finishing after a few weeks at a temporary job. I spent the next few months looking for work and half a million applications later I actually got one.

I don’t think I was looking for another job but one unsuspecting afternoon at the start of September I saw a link on Twitter about a job, I clicked on it and decided to see if unaformentioned company had any local openings and they did. I quickly filled the form in and forgot about it. I was so used to rejection after the first half of the year I didn’t expect to hear back from them.

Then I got a phone call. Which led to an interview. Which lead to a job.

So, for the end of 2011 I had two jobs. It soon became apparent I couldn’t do both, I didn’t have time for anything else. Sure the money was handy but while I was working all but one day of the week I wasn’t going to spend my limited time off looking for other jobs. Likewise if I kept both I wasn’t going to go anywhere in either.

There were a few reasons I chose the latter job over the former, reasons I won’t go into here, but after three months of not-much-but-work I finally find myself with free time again.

Free time to spend doing something constructive, finding work I want to do and preparing for whatever lies ahead.

Or, as it would rather appear; sleeping far too long, watching crap-loads of naff films on Netflix and writing for a blog noone reads.
Tom

Starcraft 2 by Tom Throp

Twenty five games of Starcraft 2 later and I’m starting to get the hang of it. I know when to build, what to build and how to defend my base, I’m starting to win games. Sure they’re forty minute games but I’m holding out longer than my opponent, war of attrition and I win.

Then I try a 2v2 with a friend, online placement match. It’s faster, well normal speed, but I’ve gotten so used to waiting to build it catches me off guard. Then I realise I’m I actually have to defend to start with, I’ve been so used to having rocks protect me to start with that it’s more like two minutes that ten that I’m first attacked.

I panic, mash every button and realise; I haven’t gotten good at Starcraft 2, I’ve gotten good at the practice league. All those tactics, play styles I’ve built up over the last twenty odd games are good for practice league. Pretty much useless for proper stuff.

I could continue in the league but as I get better with the novice stuff I get worse with the proper games.

Screw it, I have to go into ranked games.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m still rubbish at the game, when I win I win because I’m slightly less worse than my opponent.

I start my first of five placement matches to decide which league I’m going to get put in. There’s bronze, which is what I’m aiming for, the lowest league and a good one to practice in. Then there’s silver which most good gamers can get promoted to. Gold is for people who are good at Starcraft and have the time and patience to learn the game nuances. This is as far as most people will get. Above that there’s platinum and diamond for the real hardcore.

I’m looking forward to getting into bronze and as I learn the game and get better at it I can work my way up to silver.

I lose game one. And game two. Good start.

Game three is a fairly convincing win, but it’s the guy’s first online game so my victory isn’t as sweet as I thought.

Then I win game four, just. My opponent should have and could have won but I was lucky.

And game five, six minutes in and my opponent loses connection and quits out.

2 wins, 2 losses and a win by default, “Not a bad start to my Starcraft 2 career” I think as I wa-

Gold.

It’s put me in gold. I never planned to get into gold. If I play in gold I’m going to lose. Lots. I should be bronze, why aren’t I bronze?

If I play I’ll go down, I don’t think I’ll ever be good enough to get to gold again.

I guess it’s time I retire from Starcraft 2.
Tom

Dungeons of Dredmor by Tom Throp

Diggles

The first thing I do is move, then I kick down this door and wander around in the dark cave for a bit. I kill something.

I’m getting the hang of the dungeoneering lark; I break down another door. And another. I kill more enemies. This isn’t that difficult.

Then I notice my low health drop even lower as I fail to disarm a trap, I try to eat something but I have vampirism as a skill, I can’t restore my health with food, I have to attack a monster. Maybe through this door?

I try to kick it open. Instead I stub my toe, the door doesn’t budge and I fall down dead.

Attempt 002

This time I start with lockpicks and vampirism again, I charge round the map breaking through doors and killing anything that moves. After a few teleporters I find some stairs and head on down. There’s a Zomby down here. And something called Deth. Throwing caution to the wind I charge them and easily win.

Nothing can stop me now. Then I get ambushed by two Zombys and a Deth and die on floor 2.

Attempt 003

I decide to be more careful this time, I stick to the first floor and realise that’s a map in the top right corner as I work my way through and reveal more and more of the map, I’ll slowly build up my skills and won’t rush on ahead this time. This time I’m going to own at this game, Dredmor better watch out.

Then I open a door to a room full of Diggles, at least a dozen of them. I attempt to use Dragon’s Breath but only get a couple before they overwhelm me and get me back for eating their eggs. Ah well, maybe next time.

Next minute I was in town buying a copy.

I really must learn to control this urge of mine to own shiny new games, all they do is grow the size of my pile of shame.

But there I was anyway, installing this infamous RTS onto my laptop, I mean I might as well try it out now, right?

StarCraft 2 is unusual in the world of videogames and many of its top players can earn a living by playing it, much in the same way top sports players can. StarCraft 2 has an incredibly competitive and deep online system and it’s one of those games you can garner a lot of respect through if you’re good at it. That doesn’t mean you have to be good at it, players are ranked in different ladders and leagues and throughout the course of the “season” you slowly work your way through the ranks and your skill level is determined by your position.

Of course, I’m a long way from even taking it online yet; I barely managed the tutorials which shows you where the mouse buttons are. But nonetheless it’s an intriguing game and one I look forward to taking online.

If I was confident enough, and spoke clearly and articulately enough I would join the ranks of the many on YouTube making commentaries on videos of such things. However I’m not, so I won’t. Instead I’ll keep my thoughts, adventures and opinions safely back here, hidden away on my blog where noone will read them and not out in the open waters of a site like YouTube.

I’ve not really played enough to  to give an honest opinion but it does seem that, like a lot of good games, is surprisingly easy to learn.

I can only imagine it’s also surprisingly hard to master.
Tom

Steam Summer Sale by Tom Throp

Because I love two things; bargains and achievements.

I love the idea of PC gaming. Unfortunately our first PC was ollld. Even back when we got it it struggled, the few games of Operation Flashpoint I played back in the day didn’t go down too well with our dial-up connection.

Then I got a laptop which wasn’t much better.

And a few years after that, back in 2009, I got me a powerful computer, one of the best on the market. It could do crap I never even dreamt of before. Only it was a Mac.

Mac games were few and far between and as time went on I began to wonder if Operation Flashpoint would be the end of my PC gaming career.

Then, last year, Steam got released for Mac and I downloaded it. I bought Portal, got the humble indie bundle when it came out but all in all I didn’t actually own that much.

Then, fast forward to a week ago, Steam launched its summer sale. Every day a dozen or so games reduced to ridiculous prices. I mean, how could I resist?

I went through the list and had a mosey on through what was also out on Mac. I bought the few there were and played them all briefly, trying to earn summer camp achievements.

And so I repeated this for the next ten days, each evening I would go on, see what’s on sale and buy two or three games. And now I sit looking at my Steam game list, wondering how on earth I’ve ended up with over 70 games on there.

And I think back to my fears of not being able to game on my computer and wonder now rather how I’m going to game on my computer.

I mean, I don’t even have a mouse.
Tom

Tom by Tom Throp

I even get a name badge.

“You need to be more confident.” I am told in my four week review.

I nod coyly and quietly agree.

It might not be the job I spent three years and twenty grand at uni for but it’s nothing to complain about. It’s permanent and gives me the experience I’ve lacked, but needed, for 90% of my job applications over the past three years.

Whatever I end up doing for the rest of my working life this is the first step down that path.

Remind me of that when I start complaining.
Tom

Eve Online by Tom Throp

Incarna – Coming June 21st

EVE Online is a strange game, it’s a game that’s cooler to think about than it is to play.

Forging your path through the stars, slowly making your way up in this galactic society, choosing what you want to achieve and how you want to get there.

It’s beautiful.

It’s also rock hard to get into. I played once, back in 2008. I returned again in 2010, this time with a new character and played for a month. Now, in 2011, I find myself wanting to be flying between planets again, building blueprints and conquering the stars.

“Last chance to get a 5 day trial!” I receive in my email again. Last time I downloaded the client but never actually played, now I have two days left to claim so I log on, update and activate.

I look at the corporation, for some reason they haven’t kicked me out. I check my messages and understand someone wanted me to do build something for them this time last year. Oops.

I click on the few of the menus; I have over 2 million ISK but I have no idea what that’s actually worth. I have items spread across half a dozen different planets but don’t know how to get to them. I have skill points to reassign but am not sure how.

I’ve not even left the dock I’m in and already I way in over my head, not knowing what to do or where to go. I remember doing some tutorial missions before but don’t know if I can go back and do them again, or even where they are.

I ponder for about five minutes, thoughts of flying through space, helping corporations build ships, defending colleagues as they mine are soon overcome by a complete inability to do anything.

I log off again, I don’t have time to work this out, decide what’s going on.

And now that trial’s over and I didn’t do anything useful. I don’t have the time, or money, to properly sink into playing before. I know I have plenty of other, easier games that I can lose myself in.

Yet there’s a part of me, the part that put “Part 1″ at the end of this posts title, that is really wanting to go and sign up again.

Tom

Floating Bridge by Tom Throp

Waiting…

Yes, I’m back. As before I’ll probably either be too busy to write or not busy enough to have something to write about but, unlike before, I’m not giving myself a target to try and meet.

This means no more daily posts, no more weekly reviews and no set day to expect my thoughts and opinions.

What I intend to do is write when I have something to say, if anyone’s interested then that’s awesome. If not, then at least I’m writing again.

I have always assumed, speaking from experience, that if I don’t have a quota to meet for my blog then I wouldn’t write at all, but now what I’m finding is that for every couple months I don’t write anything I find myself wanting to come back again. Having a platform to publish what I have to say to the internet is brilliant, and being able to do so as and when I like, without feeling bad if I don’t, seems to be just what I need.

That doesn’t mean posts won’t be regular, if I have stuff to write about every day then I’ll write about stuff every day, what you won’t get is posts posting about the fact I want to post but have nothing to post about. And posts posting about that too.

I know, I don’t know why I didn’t do this before.

Less crap, more interesting posts. This is the next stage of blog.TomThrop.com’s evolution and it should be interesting, no?

Tom