May 2025: Part 1

World of Warships

Grinding the Dockyard event for the Blucher finished today. Took her out for her maiden voyage and kept her back as recommended instead of charging in guns blazing. Recommendation confirmed: she's not as strong as expected. Nothing remarkable given she's a dockyard ship - usually they have some gimmick of sorts to justify her status as a reward. Especially when spending valuable doubloons (the two starter packs) to progress through the phases along with the silly grinding.

Not interested in the Unbreakable Line mode. When they make it permanent, then I will play it. Remember the earlier brawl modes from years back and it was always fun to play so am not suprised UL has been lauded as it has. 

Yesterday spent credit to obtain the supership Jacksonville. Not taken her out of port yet but may soon do so just to confirm the hype that it's as OP as stated. Currently does not have a commander (none spare in Reserve) but will plonk a 21-point captain on it and take it out for a lark. 

Tried to shift a few commanders around tonight; been meaning to do so for a while but never got round to it. Usually you can do so without expending doubloons and/or elite commander XP as many times you want. But tonight could only do so once before it costs. Monetization everywhere.

Contemplated going the Research Bureau route. Resetting and regrinding a tech tree line will allow me eventual access to other ships but I am hesitant. Saw Lord Zath's take on resetting the RB way but remain unconvinced. And despite Clyde Plays excellent RB guide to resetting, I am reluctant to travel down this path. Not sure why, but some instinct prevents me from embracing this legitimate approach to accessing more new ships. Happy, for now, to slow-grow my Research Bureau points. So excellent OP ships like the Paolo Emilio or Vampire II will have to wait long-term before obtaining. I do have one, the Ohio. But am in no immediate rush to go after others. Current priority - and a long way off - is the Slava. 

Playing the Tokachi has been fun. Aside from helping me to finish my Dockyard grind, it has been performing well when played actively in Co-Op mode. Past few games has seen the ship score at least 3-4 kills on average regardless of the map. Be it on the Two Brothers map through the middle or on any approach lane in Haven, she performs very well, especially when confronting superior numbers. Armour may be non-existent but her torp salvoes against battleships are lethal. And her HE is a good firestarter. 

Counterstrike 

Reviewing YT videos of old and removed CS maps no longer active that past few days. A big trip down memory lane when I watched some YT vidz on the topic. Forgot how much I used to play Counterstrike a lot in 1999 - 2001. Much loved game. Played Counterstrike, CS 1.6, CS: Condition Zero quite a bit back in the day. Began to wane when CS Source was released. 

Old maps like fy_iceworld were always on rotation and the internet cafe was always full of young (and old), mostly Asian. Late night sessions often extending overnight into the next morning.

FY-SNOW was a variation of FY-ICEWORLD which was a straight shoot-out whereby weapons were laid out and you spawned on to them. The map above is version 9. 

ICEWORLD was extremely popular and the server was often full when on rotation. It was the one I played a lot. Of course, you had the wall hacks and aimbots happening or getting booted instantly, but it was so much fun you often ignored those negative aspects.

By the time CS: Global Offensive appeared I had already moved on to other games. And even though I have both CS:GO and CS2 in my Steam library, I have no interest apart from spectating the pro teams and their amazing skills. 

I have returned for some Condition Zero action because it has a narrative (of sorts) for some nostalgia some years back. And still miss those internet cafe fun times. But I have WOWS nowadays to fill that void. Poorly though, I might add.

Canvas Eagles - Solo adaption

Many years ago (around 2018) I wrote up a solo adaptation of Canvas Eagles. While perfect for solo gladiatorial combat, it was also handy for multi-plane actions. Plus I wanted to explore King Kong atop Empire State building situations with fantastic beasts. Hence why I named it Canvas Eagles - Beast Warz.

Tweaking a few changes and/or options seems in order when I pulled out the original typed up adaptation today. 

Command Zones

In the original, I've got the top two skilled pilots (designated A and B pilots) having a Command Zone radius of 2 and 1 hex respectively. What these Command Zones represent is the influence the pilot exerts on any other friendly aircraft (usually wingman) within that zone. 

This zone only applies to C- and D-class pilots (Pilot and Novice respectively) who are normally wingman to the more experienced A- or B-class pilot. If the wingman is an A- or B-class pilot the command zone cancels out between both. 

Looking at it now I might expand the range of the A-class pilot Command Zone from 2 to 3 hexes, B-class from 1 to 2 hexes and C-class is now 1 hex while D-class pilots have no Command Zone.

Rewording needed: "...If either move outside that command zone, for whatever reason, then they immediately revert to their own movement procedure (see below)..." This applies specifically to wingman in a pairing. And applies especially to D-class pilots which is expanded upon in the next paragraph.

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