Billy Young's Blog - Posts Tagged "settlers"

My son dug out one of his old graphics cards for me. It worked as soon as I had it all wired in which means the old one is fried. Even so I don't just want to bin it just yet. After all it was an expensive piece of kit even if I paid for it with Bitcoins. Of course there was the tax and then the original blew which meant sending it to the manufacturer to have it replaced. In the end I would have been better just saving the Bitcoins and using cash. Well we live and learn or keep banging our heads.
With my computer back up I can play my games again though I haven't. I have been gaming though just online the descendant of one of my all time favourites, The Settlers Serf City. Yes the very first one was the best and still is. It was just so simple an idea which made it so easy to play. I lost years playing it I believe. At least Magz would tell you so though I can' t really deny it. I like the online version but it doesn't have the same cuteness to it or easy to learn. Not that it is hard to learn just a little more thinking is needed in the resource management of the game. Some of what is in the modern game would have improved the original but then it wouldn't be the same game. I could download the first one and use DosBox or something similar but then I'm too lazy to go typing in the commands to get the game up and running, much preferring to click to play.

I ended up downloading the original settlers then found I had a copy of it on my computer. I got a little upset with the online version after seeing some bugs. Yes I did the old forum rant and got the usual response to such things. The fan boys jumped to the defence of their game suggesting that I didn't know how to do the simplest of things. I did answer at first but when I saw that those slamming me weren't reading me as clearly as I thought I had explained the bug I gave up. That led me to play the original game a re-learn those nasty dos commands. In the end though I ended up playing for a few days then turning to the modern online version as it was easier. I have just slowly learned to work around some of the things I see as flawed. One is when a work yard complete making something but can't find the materials to make more the game doesn't register the new product going into the storehouse. For instance I watched my iron smith making swords but when he deliver the goods to the store I still had the same number as before he did so as there was no iron for him to restock his workshop. I spent fifteen minutes watching as I had noticed that my manufacturing was slower than it should. The easy work around is to build up resources by switching on and off the work yards and never let them run out of their base materials. In some ways it is easier to use the dos commands to play the old original game but the online version does have its merits or should I just say it has an addictive qualities. This problem is made worse by the fact that the game continues to run even when you aren't logged into it. Each day I play I have to go through all my yards, mines, farms and wells to rebuild fields that run out as well as wells. Mines collapse if they run out and so you have to send out a geologist to find new deposits. Still it is these things that annoy yet keep us wanting beat it. If we can.

Each day seems just like the day before. I get up, have breakfast then search countless websites for a job. Once that is done I play Settlers Online. That is how things are unfolding in my life at the moment. When there is something of interest on TV I watch that but as Christmas speeds towards us there is less on TV.
Yes the telly schedules are wrapping up ready for the festive season. That is when we will have a glut of specials most of which we won't watch as we never gazed upon those shows anyways. We will have one or two that we all look forwards to. Things like Doctor Who or a favourite comedy show. Plus there is always one gem we find while channel surfing. That movie we haven't seen since last year, at least according to the wife. Though we are always sure it has been longer since it was last aired, right.
One good thing is we don't really need to go shopping for all those presents. Well not out into those wet cold days as we used to. Now we do most of it from the comfort of our living-room as the wind howls past the window. It almost sounds like it was demanding that we remember those blue handed shopping trips as kids. Being dragged from one stall to another. How grateful we were when we finally found ourselves being marched into the warmth of Woolworth's. Even if it was only to take a shortcut through the store back into the dark winters day. Those few minutes in the heat I'm sure saved us from turning into icicles.
Now though it is the poor delivery drivers we should feel for. Jumping in and out of their heated vans must make them prone to getting the flu a lot. Maybe not. But I for one am glad that I don't have to do more than answer the door to get the gifts for loved ones in.