November Digest #4

World of Warships

Sussed out the Polish destroyer salvage event. Realised there was no point in hoarding anything to do with this game so I willingly exchanged resources to grab FOR FREE Blyskawica '44. Unfortunately I did not have enough for Blyskawica '52. Not sure how I feel about missing out on this upgraded OP ship. 

Limiting time now spent completing the Liberty Harbour missions. No longer going for the maximum possible given I am only playing Operational Command missions and ignoring anything to do with Naval Command. It save me playing time. 

Played today: Brisbane, GQ Johnny, San Martin, and Libertad. No Operations today, just Co-Op and Asymmetric. 

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Again, I took it easy today. Just did the bare basics playing Co-Op with two destroyers - GQ Johnny and Blyskawica '44. Exploited their 200% economic bonuses without expending said bonuses. 

Ark Royal was included to fulfil a couple Liberty Harbour mission tasks. 

Another nothing Common mission - 8 Battle for 8 Years - with nothingness rewards - community tokens and a Steam crate of a few grey economic bonuses.

WG have standardised the "random" rewards so that they've become predictable and practically worthless. No more genuine surprises like in the past which was some compensation for grinding away. WG did it first with the Supercrates (so that chances of grabbing a ship - be it tech tree or premium - are now one in a blue moon). To be expected I guess; it is WG after all. Thus nothing really to look forward to when logging in. Comforting thought however, another month and a half to go before I'm free from this gulag. 

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Ark Royal (for the Liberty Harbour missions) and Brisbane today. Not really interested in playing today and didn't finish all the tasks set for myself. Don't really care any more. 

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GQ Johnny and Brisbane participated in today's very short session. Got cranky with myself so much that I realised this game is no longer entertaining and worthwhile enough for me to continue keep lying to myself. I really can't wait for the year to finish up.

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Decided to switch to another commander group for upskilling. Thus I played the following ships with some interesting outcomes - Mecklenburg, Devastation, Jean Bart, Flint, Irian, Prins van Oranje, Satsuma. Apart from the last ship (12 pt cmdr), all the others are 10-pt cmdrs. And all are seasoned commanders, not event ones. Interesting grind from the POV they were different ships. But much the same result if one really cares - much ado about nothing. 

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Same group as above for captain upskilling grind today. Additional ships Okhotnik and Leone were included for a Liberty Harbour mission that I just gave up bothering to complete. 

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Today I've just played Satsuma for the daily coal crate rewards. Barely hanging in there as it is. 

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Into The Dead

Today I am with Wayne and Tracy. Now they're eight strong - Joe, Aubrey, Michelle, Frank, Barb, and Kirk.

This large group have been slowly following up information regarding the Network whom they eventually found after first encountering Eva. All this while scavenging and simply surviving. 

In exchange for fulfilling certain tasks for the smugglers, the group will be given passage out of the city. It is during one of the tasks that the group meet up with Kirk. And invite him to join the group. Figured he would be ideal in trying situations.

No doubt food will be tight. Let's hope they can achieve the tasks set and escape before someone karks it or turns. 

Took a break and returned to the game later that day. Gathered the items requested by Corbin of the Network. Tracy did the delivery. And got more than she anticipated after dropping off the items. Moral of the story: if it's too good to be true, then it is. 

Michelle turned while all this was going on after one particular encounter during a recent scavenge. So now there is one less mouth to feed. 

With the smuggler's network option going south unexpectedly, the team is now exploring the other alternate options for escaping the city. Namely the oil refinery or the helo airlift (Millhouse Mansion). One suspects similar outcomes however with their dealings with Corbin and the Network so the team will need to be extra cautious. Will that mean they have to find another way out of the zombie-overrun city? Is Eva worth harassing for another option? Do we kill Eva? 

Once you've established a new shelter, you can leapfrog from one zone to another per phase. 

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It seems Eva is your way out after all. However her help to you proves fatal to her. Meeting up with her again provides an opportunity which the team takes but not without some resistance from the Network but the team overcomes with relative ease and a bit of good luck. Upon returning to the Network they meet up with Corbin again and after a few incidents the team find their way out of Walton City. And breathe the free air once more. 

One option explored and completed. Which is good given it's one of the larger groups actively surviving - Wayne, Tracy, Joe, Barb, Frank, Aubrey, and Kirk. Now for the other two. 

Darrel and Leo's group suffered setback when Darrel turned. Now the group is just Cooper (the pilot) and Connor (novelist). The team is really low on supplies, and with only Connor left capable of scavenging, it is a mixed blessing when they run into Barb and invite her to join them. But lack of food is a real issue at the moment with Cooper already starving. And all the while, they're trying to reach the hospital to check out rumour there is a helo there.  

Took a break and returned to determine the fate Connor, Cooper, and Barb. Expecting this team to die out due to starvation.

Sure enough, Coops was the first to die. Then Barb lost hope which turned fatal and she wandered off into the city. This leaves Connor all alone and in the same pitiful state as his former teammates. Expect his to die shortly. With Cooper's death, the airlift mission failed. What now for Connor?

Switched over to Hector and Kayla's pairing. Joe has joined them as has Michelle. New mission "Ashes to Ashes" unlocked. Deciding to clear the entire area within their shelter's zone of resources before switching to a new location, as this will build up their assets and resources. Downtown is the new goal and north the new direction. 

After the fate of Darrel and Leo's group, making sure the team is operating close to maximum in all three areas of nourishment, rest, and morale before making any move to a new shelter. 

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Again with Hector and Kayla and Joe and Michelle. Tonight's session saw them add two more to the group, the veterinarian Aubrey and good old gunsmith Barb.

Have now moved the expanded team to the Galaxy Zone Arcade, closer to Kayla's and Michelle's tasks. No garden or distillery at this new location but that's not important for now as they have sufficient food for now. Just have to avoid recruiting new members...at least until Kayla's finished her Ashes to Ashes mission.  

Joe is doing much of the mule work in terms of acquiring resources for the team. But the others also share in scavenging when required, even Aubrey. Priority in this new location, aside for fulfilling the missions tasks, will be upgrading all the stations as quickly as possible so we can maximise the abilities/talents of the individual team members. 

Kayla finally got to check out her mother's urn at RM & K Communications building. Lots of zombies (and one terror situation). She snuck in and went to all the floors and sussed out every office (except the one with the terror situation) including the very top floor with the CEO's office and rooftop with the helo pad. But she ran into an obstacle as she was about to cross the sky bridge linking the building with it's other half that included the carpark. It was where her father's office was located. So I sent in Joe to clear that obstacle along with any other active zombie to make it easier for Kayla's return visit that night. But as Kayla reached her father's desk she ran into a thief rummaging through. Too late she tried to stop the thief. No urn. And was too slow in catching up to the thief. So what happens next?

The other mission is one I'm familiar with, linking up with the Network. Of course, Joe went out on a recce mission and the first zombie he encounters I forget to deal with it quietly. Instead Joe attacks the zombie which rouses all the other dormant zombies. Joe scooted out of there faster than a Black Friday sale. 

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Skipped Into the Dead tonight. Instead, browsed Steam for a new game. Spent an hour or so but ended up with nothing. Passing on Strange Antiquities as it suffers from the same problem common with Strange Horticulture - it can be completed in a day. 

As value for money these days seems paramount, many I see are just not worth the outlay. Games like Stardew Valley continue to remain popular for me simply because of its infinite replayability. And thus repays its value for money many times over. The same can't necessarily be said of other games - popular or otherwise. I have two very old games - Austerlitz and Waterloo - from my Commodore Amiga days. I have them because I know they can be replayed many times over and give different outcomes. They occupy my time but it's worth the effort. I know the historical outcome and often try to change it to explore the obvious what-ifs. I guess it all comes down to what you expect from a game. 

I have a library of games that are more than capable of filling the space so no biggie. 

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Each escape plan has a good and bad ending. Going to suss out the Oil Refinery escape plan because Jingles has got the Airflight escape plan sussed out through his engaging playthrough session. 

I really want to find out who the mysterious saboteur is and why they're putting barriers in the way. Already part of the way through anyway; just have to remember which group (think it was Hao and Mai). 

Keeping the heli pilot Cooper alive and fed takes a lot of resources anyway. Been to the hospital several times but never considered going up. Too busy scavenging and clearing the place of zombies. 

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Finally went with Penny and Daphne. Did not take long to add Joe and Michelle. Joe because of extra backpack space and Michelle because she's a good backup scavenger and lockpick maker. 

Interest starting to wane because there is a lack of narrative variety. So far, there are just three exit strategies with two basic options - good ending or bad ending. It would be nice to have a third option ending, one that offers a third end - neither good nor bad. Or one that is a Plan B to the main plan. But that's expecting too much.

If the above is wishful thinking then perhaps something more concrete would be more characters, more areas/districts opening up. More escape plan options like the Highway overpass one? 

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