One of the things that Frozen Throne owes it success to is its successful implementation and heavy dependence on "microing," ---formally known as micromanagment --- the skill needed to pull out critically wounded troops out of the heat of battle to save resources and deny enemies from gaining experience and scoring a decisive stroke on a player's army.
This alone makes Warcraft an all-time favorite for those who favor microing or an overly complex game for those who don't. I was one of the latter.
Right now I still favor Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War as, because of its implementation of squad-based "units," the game requires less hand dexterity than its Blizzard-made competitor. But still, there's boundless fun to be had in watching your fingers fly as you frantically "staff" (Staff of Teleportation) that bear away from a fight or run your dying Demon Hunter away as your range troops put up a token resistance and kill a few footmen before disengaging to fight another day.
Here are some resources that may improve your microing skills:
Kitae's Micro Wars 1.2e Balanced- This is a small, downloadable, map for Warcraft III: Frozen Throne, which pits your army against the AI's for 24 consecutive matches. There is no base-building, just a series of skirmishes. After each one resolves, you and the AI respawn with a different set of troops that belong to a different race. Handy! I hope there will be another version of this map, one that lets you customize what race you want to control for the entire 24 matches and the option to dictate what race the AI can use for the series of skirmishes.
Please let me know if there's a new version of this map; I tried Googling but found no other source for it except Epic War. (Note: As with any unofficial site, please scan the files with your anti-virus software before using them. Download and use at your own risk.)
What's the difference? And is it worth the additional expense?
This is a question I have been mulling over for several months now regarding buying branded PSUs. Of course I could have asked this in forums but with an article, more knowledge could be gained.
UPDATE: HardwareSecrets has released a review of the Corsair VX450W power supply. While I previously didn't give a rat's behind about PSUs, the articles I have been writing for a client discussed the eco-friendly initiatives of several multinational companies and these have inspired me to look for ways to be more energy efficient at home.
Says Gabriel Torres of HardwareSecrets about the VX450W:
"Since it can maintain efficiency above 85% even though you will initially pay a higher price to bring this product home the savings you will have on you electricity bill will compensate the buy in just a few months, especially if you keep your computer turned on for several hours a day."
One of Nexuiz's --- a freeware, first-person shooter in the spirit of Quake III --- developers, Esteel, has given me permission to post screenshots from the Nexuiz site.
I never expected this. About 1 year ago, my friends played the Beta version of Cabal, an MMORPG that had gorgeous graphics.
The game's engine was extremely light; my friends were playing on P4, 512-Mb systems that had only Radeon 9250s and yet were playing with lots of eye candy turned on --- even shadows!
Yet I was never one for MMOs, much less Beta versions and I just watched them play, all the while scorning the game (albeit the high-quality graphics for that time) and chiding them for playing another "grinder."
Weeks later, the game restricted several countries from joining. That was that. I made some sarcastic comments at my peers, they played other MMOs, I went back to leading guild wars with my Australian friends, and we forgot about all things Cabal.
I had a chat this evening with one of my cousins though --- and lo! --- he told me a Cabal Philippines version is coming!
Hmmm. This might be the first MMORPG I will play --- the reviews say it involves stringing combos! How cool can that be?! No mindless click-and-forget routines!
Readers of my former site may have been wondering what happened to the articles that I sometimes publish for PC greenhorns. Well, I still plan to make them. (Take note that my guides are in no way meant to replace ones that are more comprehensive than the ones offered in say, Tomshardware or HardwareSecrets. The articles I made were initially just for my friends, sort of guides for people who don't want to delve too much into the inner workings of the PC.) As of now, I am busy but I will produce ones in the weeks ahead as my officemates (and sometimes my very own self haha!) present questions to me. Better to publish and help more people than saying the same things over and over again, I always say.
However, for those who have their various reasons for not spending time to read the excellent, free guides offered there, don't fret, I'll soon be releasing more BEGINNERS' guides for understanding BASIC terms. (I know, some of you have families and some are so busy they view their PCs as merely tools to get their jobs done. I understand. I'm not and will not be forcing you to read gazillion-page treatises.)
War Rock Articles
Nope I have still not abandoned this game. Truth to tell though, I have started to enjoy Warcraft III: Frozen Throne after my video card broke down and I got lazy going to my friend's shop to order a new one. Sorry about that folks. I'll soon be running around like --- no wait, that's stupid Counter-Strike v15th Century --- I'll soon be creeping around like Solid Snake when I get my new card this 31st if all goes well. I'll be releasing more War Rock articles by then.
So to summarize, I'm not turning a new leaf, this site is still Fragfests and Imbas, Version 2.
That should be rephrased to "Guides, light my path." Take note, --- besides the gender requirement --- I don't want to be a panther-riding warrior with no armor on haha!
Hmmm. Must be interesting in Kalimdor, all those leather-clad women bouncing around on those huge, black panthers with no armor... Lucky druids...
Updated:See item #2 below. Also added a Nexuiz 2.4 promotional video.
"Life with an integrated video: 5 FPS in War Rock. I'm a Spartan. I'm dining. And this is hell." --- my current YM status message at work and at home.
Nearing summer and as luck would have it, my factory-OC'd videocard just quit on me. Crapper. That's the last factory overclocked card for me; I don't think my country's climate is exactly altruistic to juiced up components.
No, I'm not buying fancy cooling equipment. I'm not a millionaire nor do I have a wealthy spouse or a trust fund so burning several hundred smackers just for games is out of the question.
For me.
I don't know with people who spout "I can afford" every chance they get in chat sessions though. Ask them, maybe they will.
Lol! Sorry private joke with the folks here in the 'hood. Ha. Ha.
Anyway, I'm gonna buy a more energy efficient card next week, the fates willing so I guess the mishap is a blessing in disguise. It's just the waste of moolah that I'm tsking over. (There is no such word. Don't reach for the dictionary.)
Anyway, gaming news:
1. Nexuiz 2.4 has just been released. This FREE online first-person shooter offers Quake III action with expansive maps. Thinking that this might be another half-baked attempt? Wrong bai. If your resource juices can handle max settings, this baby looks almost as good as Doom 3. This was back in 2.3:
No Freudian comments please. Sickos.
The only complaint I had back then regarding this game was it wasn't optimized well. In some maps it lagged like hell and my FPS was a continuous sine wave. The latest version has a lot of engine optimizations though so I am expecting this one to run smoother. In the graphics department this one is well, wow. If the screenshots of this freeware online game won't get your attention, nothing will.
Is that bloom? Bloom in a freeware shooter! If not, hell, who cares? It looks kick-a$$!
This, my friend is a gun that shoots plasma bolts. Tired of the usual shooting? Use the right button and this baby will lay globules of plasma on the ground. Wait for enemies to step on them and kablooey! gore every which way. Or if you're not the patient kind, shoot a bolt at your little mine field and watch those plasma globes explode right at their faces.
Water effects. Enough said. Wait. See the wall behind? 'Spattered with bits of ichor and armor. The amount of eye candy for a freeware shooter is simply astounding.
The third screenshot evidently shows that the weapon skins had undergone a major overhaul. This video, which was uploaded by Phandentium will show just that (and gods of gaming lookit the gloss and water effects in the second map!):
'Loved what they did with the machine gun and that plasma-laying thingamajig.
2. Alien Arena 2008 has been released for some time now. The guys from that website have not been idle either. They have introduced some subtle theme changes in their game, which employs the use of martians whose getups are inspired from 1950s science fiction flicks. Think "Mars Attacks!" Martians with Quake III weapons.
Wait. I already said that months back.
Anyway, they have opted for a grittier feel that reminds me of Unreal Tournament 2004. The bubble helmets are still there though so this game is still going to be funny and have its own flavor, which is for me, very commendable.
I just saw its 2008 trailer in YouTube and yes, the graphical tweaks are clearly apparent. The machine gun now has longer, narrower barrels and its body is now bulkier, giving it the appearance of a mean, ponderous, anti-aircraft death-dealing machine. The rocket launcher too, has been given a major overhaul; it now has a transparent top that shows rockets being fed into the firing chamber everytime you unleash a round. How cool are those?! Here's a video uploaded by ForsakenWeb in YouTube:
Oh yes, I am so going to like this! With its goofiness minimized with the latest changes, Alien Arena 2008 has taken on a more serious, sci-fi shooter theme that I have been seeking out for the past months.
I wasn't so bad in 2007:
I'm the guy with the 34 kills. Mogera is a bot. I don't know why two of the three have 0 pings though; it's a bug I noticed repeatedly in AA 2007. People with sub-50 pings tend to be displayed with 0 ones at the ending screen. I have 200+ ping and still won hehe!
There only two other guys who could hold their own against me. One I remember: his name was [BL] Chaos or something. Couldn't kill him. Very skilled player. The rest were lambs for the slaughter.
I don't know though, maybe I just didn't login at the specific times when pros of the game would be playing.
3. Just when I was planning to jump to the ATI dingy, the Nvidia battleship just released the 9600 GT. This mid-end juggernaut completely sinks the 3850 and the 3870 in my opinion so I'm still an Nvidia disciple all the way. Some of the articles about this product can be found at:
There's this annoying habit of mine. I have a propensity for reacting belatedly. Like for example, my wife and I just had this leisurely walk talking about what we're gonna do tomorrow --- sex, stroll on the beach near my aunt's house, go reef snorkelling, watch VCDs, why I suck at Warcraft III, --- and then suddenly in the middle of it all, I just exclaimed "WTF?!!" My wife looked at me as though I had lost it. And rightly so, for the truth is, the source of my ire was what transpired two nights ago. It just sank in again, only this time, deeper.
Two nights ago, one of my friends and I had a match in a shooter game. Problem was his daughter kept vying for his attention. He got distracted all the time and lost all matches. Finally, he called for his wife to take care of the kid. His wife got inside the cafe, spouted some invectives, left the child with him and yelled "You better watch it you !#$!!!" or something to that effect if translated to English. My friend grumbled, sank his head lower and continued losing.
WTF.
Here's a guy who doesn't go out and drink every night or go out clubbing. I visit their house just twice in a month for an hour of gaming with him for old time's sakes. And this is how she treats him.
No, I'm not gonna tell who this is because, sadly, he's just one of many. So far as this article is concerned he's an archetype. (Or if you want a Biblical reference, he is Legion.) I've had friends who got hitched and now they can't even go on YM.
WTF.
Well, maybe they have extreme circumstances --- maybe they've got an ex who's stalking them, I don't know. But if they do, well that's ok. BUT if everything's normal and nothing is amiss, will you please let the LOVE OF YOUR LIVES play? We are just there for an hour, two tops. It's not we're dragging him to Hooters or anything.
We guys need to do something outside cuddling, whispering sweet nothings, giving monetary support, or "bringing home mammoth meat." We have HOBBIES too. Can't you get that?!
Me, I reef snorkel, I swim, I grew Bonsais for a time (No dice here, the owner of the complex won't permit plants nor pets.) , I paint, stare at sunsets, leap off from my mom's hometown's cliffs into pristine green waters for kicks, and I GAME.
I do not know what my friends do outside their jobs. Maybe they grow and breed Betta Splendens. Maybe they cook. Maybe they have a growing collection of dead bodies right under your backyard. I don't know but one thing's for sure, like me, they GAME.
Who are you to snuff that out? That's oppression. There's something really disturbing with parties and individuals who oppress. Luckily for the world, you're just a simple housewife and not some tyrannical dictator.
Is letting them unwind after a hard week's worth of work too much? Let them have a brief moment of catharsis.
And last but not the least, will you please not scream at him in front of his friends? You're making him look like a good-for-nothing loser --- which he's not. He's intelligent and quick-witted, unlike those llama-brained, life- and joy-killing household oppressors.
Yes, yell at him and beat him up if he screws up mega big time. God knows all couples have major fights. But please don't do because of little things like this. He's the father of your child and while he may have shortcomings, please give him at least a modicum of respect.
Oh and yes, it vexes me if you scream in front of us too. Tsk.
Well it's not exactly period and I'm not exactly in the position to say that but one of my friends says that Nelf is good in t2. I find it otherwise. Night elves do not have good tanks/meat shields at the start of tier 2, having only dryads and druids. Druids of the Claws can't transform to bears yet at this stage and it's best to do hit-and-run tactics at this point in the game, with more parts running.
This is still subject of course to debate but in my opinion, as a non-pro player, I find it really hard in tier 2.
Mr. Quakers shares the same opinion:
A note about this post however: a lot of people, myself included, rarely use Night Elf Huntresses due to their paper-thin defenses. (And large model size?) So this is a point that is debatable too. I'm NOT saying he's wrong just that the prevalent preference of WC3 players deviate from the huntress build.
This post was taken from WCReplays while this article serves as a reminder for me to:
Harass like hell at tier 1
Run like hell at tier 2, but bleed the enemy at every chance
Tech to tier 3 asap and get bears or the cyclone skill.
Jack be nimble Jack be quick Jack met micro Jack gave clicks Jack showed quickness Jack showed skill Death Knight nuker faster still --- my take on further mangling that candlestick-based nursery rhyme based on MAD's parody of the same
That line is so commonly used when consumers Google or Yahoo for performance comparisons.
I found this nifty site that lets you select from dropdown menus two cards that you want to pit against each other. It will then display both cards' specifications including:
Okay, so I've still not purchased a videocard yet. (See? I am fair in my procrastinating; even my hobbies get victimized by it. Kidding.) 90% of my games won't run but marvel of marvels, Warcraft 3 does!
What follows is a series of pictures summarizing my battle with the AI (Normal), which chose the Human race for this session. I am very happy with the match since my newbie microing skills assured me a 0% casualty rate until the middle part of the game.
I still get my head handed to me on a silver platter everytime I play in Battlenet but nonetheless, trouncing the AI is still very satisfying.
Start of the game: Ancient of War taking root near a creep camp. (For those who do not know, an Ancient of War is a Night Elf Treant that also serves as the race's barracks.)
Ancient of War (AoW) used as a tank. Note that it's usually SOP to train a single archer first (shown here netted by the trolls) before uprooting an AoW and letting it lead the fray.
The first harass with only a single archer in tow. Notice the overwhelming numbers. Some experienced players seek out the Human's war party but I opted for this simple economy harass by attacking the peasants. (seen here with two Footmen) Nelf players rely on the Demon Hunter's (DH) speed and the archers ability to Hide in night time.
The Human's war party arrive to the rescue. Faced with a tide of steel, I did the most prudent thing. I fled.
The third of my archers comes out of training and rallies directly to my hero. More firepower! Seeing that one footman had only little hit points left, I reengaged the enemy.
Lol! After killing one of the pursuers, I turned tail again; Robin and his merry vixens must get to Sherwood Forest fast! (Yes, Robin is really the guy's name, "Darkweaver" is just an alias meant to scare dumb-as-shit footmen.)
Finally got to higher ground. Superior visibility! Upon reaching there, I turned back once again and rained a volley of arrows upon the humans.
"On hemmed-in ground, use subterfuge.." Fighting in my sacred grove. Had to micro like hell here. Heal, retreat line of archers, DH takes brunt, heal hero, retreat line of archers again... Busy, busy. 'Had to shoo away those labanderas gossiping by the moonwells; needed those atabai real bad...
What's this?! They're retreating! The blackguards are actually retreating! After them half-na--- I mean, merry vixens of the Sherpaps Forest!!
They left their waterboy behind! Free XP! At it, my ladies!!
What they've got in those wells is some pretty strong sh|t.
Knowing that their forces are still convalescing, I charge back to their base...
Drawing out the enemy
After bleeding the enemy bad, I decided to flee again. Take note that I have still with me my six archers. My Ancient of Lore (AoL) is now up.
First casualty; an archer dies. Tut. Have two Dryads with me now though. Superior units --- their endowments are only covered with leaves. The merry vixens get jealous and are not so jovial now. They focus on their art and got Improved Bows.
Twelve minutes into the game, I begin my first siege in the hopes of doing some major damage before the AI's army arrives...
No dice.
Faced with a hero, a tower, and foot and riflemen: what's a blind guy to do?
One creeping and a skirmish later:
Range units disengage to distance themselves
What I love about the Nelf race: focus fire!
Got bears. Now for the endgame.
"In death ground, fight." A Blood Mage unleashes his final spell ineffectually against magic-immune dryads.
The final battle: While my bears worry a footman to bits, a group of footmen arrives from the rear, taking my range units nearly by surprise. Robin metamorphoses into a demon. Nifty things, those cans of spinach.
Range units disengage again while Robin and the bears of Sherpaps Forest continue their attack. On the bottom part of the screen you can see the humans' Archmage dying.
All my units then turn their attention on the hapless footmen. It was pretty much gg several images back.
Hope you had fun reading! (The effects of having one's videocard fried --- 'does funny things to your brain.)
And no Warcraft III: Frozen Throne is NOT a poor man's game. It still is unrivaled in its depth and complexity. Kudos to Blizzard for producing a game that can run well on a wide range of computers. Also thanks to the people at WCReplays for providing replays; a lot of the tactics above were learned from them.
No posts for the last few days; came down with flu and now I'm smelling like an untapped Vespene fault.
Anyway, videogames nowadays are so ridden with space bugs that I think that's the reason THQ has not released the Tyranids yet for their wildly successful Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War series. The company who so popularized space critters in games, however, have recently disgorged a trailer featuring the implacable Zerg.
Here's a video entitled "StarCraft II Zerg Gameplay from "THIS IS GAME"" that was uploaded by someone named "Mr0919" in YouTube:
Warhammer 40,000 started in the 80's while Blizzard's Starcraft was released in the 90's. I still consider W40K to be the original "Starcraft;" there's just too much parallelism between the two. Anyway, I'm ranting. That's for another post. Good day all!
Lineart scanned. Will be operating on it the next few days. It'll be slow --- about 30 minutes per day --- as work has been hell the past month.
It's pretty much devoid right now but I plan to make it more compact. I will also dirty up the background with textures, something I have never done before.
UPDATE: Gaaah. Work hectic. Videocard fried. Slooooow. Tsk. Progress report:
Made the crowd a bit bigger, resized the whole thing, (too much empty space in the first one) and pasted Winter's recommended text.
Of course, the text will be behind all the elements and some parts of it won't be seen. I'm quite excited about this and will be making faster progress now that the boring part is over. If budget allows, I may have to purchase a scanner, what with Netrix now closed. :(
Update:
Got a cleaner, more updated version here at home but in response to my wife's query about the color discord, I told her the background elements would be awashed in red with only the virus and the Taman face showing through:
Take note that there's no shading and light sources yet and as I said, this was just meant to illustrate what I'm gonna do with the background elements.
"For Nazjatar!!!" --- Battle cry of the Naga Sea Witch
Now I know what Nazjatar means. For those who are not so familiar with the background story of the world of Warcraft, Nazjatar is an underwater city made by the Naga --- former Highborne night elves who were "cursed and transformed" when the first Well of Eternity exploded following Azshara's failed attempt at letting the dark Titan Sargeras loose upon the world.
(Lest people who personally know me raise their eyebrows, no, I have not flipped. I still am not going to play MMOs.
There are only three MMOs that so far have attracted my attention and I am listing them here along with the reasons why I do not play them:
RYL - This is the only game where I witnessed a lot of running and pulse-pounding moments from my friends screaming (not unlike lost schoolgirls lol!) "Don't kiiiiil meeee!" when a group of enemy players staged an ambush. CON: I've heard that races now can co-mingle? Boring. Also, I can't seem to find the official website. They folded?
Guild Wars - I saw this in action way back in the Open Beta of the first one. Magnificent. Plays like an offline game with quests and varied terrains. CON: Can't find a supplier here and I'm not going to pirate.
World of Warcraft - I read Gamespot's review and wow, this one takes the cake. It doesn't penalize players for not playing everyday, which is a major bonus. CON: Hefty subscription fee. FOR ME I hate the idea of continually paying for something as trivial as a game. I am a gamer but when my hobby starts to intrude on my RL priorities, it makes me pause and oftentimes quit. (Our CEO provided the same reason so I'm not crazy. Or maybe we both are haha! Peace Gus!)
Universal reason why I don't play MMOs: This is for another article. )
Last night, for the first time in about three years, I was at a loss on what to play. With my videocard fried, all my games won't run. But then I spotted some CDs in one corner of my room and remembered that one of my cousins gave me his (old) Warcraft games.
I played Warcraft I, cheated, and blazed through the orc campaign in less than an hour. I was only interested in the story as the game is now considered very unwieldy. (No drag-select and control groups anyone?) I then started the human campaign and encountered the name "Lothar," which rang a million bells.
WoWWiki.com: Warcraft: Orcs and Humans entry - contains various resources including "Chronicles of the War of Azeroth," "Destiny of the Orcish Hordes," and descriptions of the two races and the creatures of the land.
WoW entry: History of Warcraft - Contains the entire history of the world of Warcraft. The entire first chapter is also in the Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos manual but has been revised here and there.
"Prevents the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted software.
Blocks spyware/tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
Restricts the actions of potentially unwanted sites in Internet Explorer."
The program doesn't run in the background, which conserves system resources.
I could not find a change log of any kind (rushing; office work begins in an hour and thirty) but the interface has undergone a major change (I call it Vista Aero-ish lol!):
Glassssehy!
This software, along with a list of other anti-malware tools I have used, has kept my PC virus-free for over two years or so now. (Only the Filipino-made Imgkulot had managed to break into the collective barrier of those. Tsk. I don't want another Love Bug in the world kabayan! Use your ingenuity for something else bai.)
>>>Click here to read more...
