Ian Stocks

[Kyle Mann @The_Kyle_Mann]

Tried a new board game this week and was not impressed. Lots of flaws.

1. Only one scenario - Most games these days have dozens of scenarios you can play. This game starts the same every time. Very low replayability. Will probably get old fast.

2. No campaign mode - Every game is a standalone experience. This feels pretty lazy. Where are the Legacy style booster packs we can unlock? Where are the persistent changes, character upgrades, etc.? Just sloppy design work.

3. Crude miniatures - Yeah, they're kinda nice in a minimalist way, but it feels like they were just cutting costs here. No big bucket of plastic minis I can paint. Very low detail renderings on the small soldier pieces in particular.

4. No expansion packs - Adding on to the replayability problems is the fact that no new content has been announced. It's just good design and business sense to have the first 2 or 3 big box expansions already in production when the base game hits. But this is just a core set without any new content on the horizon. So the meta will probably die pretty fast.

5. New players are at a disadvantage - You have to play this game more than 2 or 3 times to find any kind of viable strategy. So new players are at a huge disadvantage. When I play a game, I want everyone to feel included so all players should be getting like 400+ victory points

6. Only one way to win - The only way to win is by taking the other player's king piece. That's it. No alternate paths to victory or other strategies to pursue. Just take the king and you win. Boring. I really would have liked if you'd been able to win by building up your kingdom peaceably, or pursuing alternate routes like farming, trade, or earning favor with a visiting monarch or something. As is, the game really pigeonholes you into just one approach.

So yeah. I won't be revisiting this one. Sad, because it feels like there was a lot of potential here that was wasted by some short-sighted design and development decisions.

[Tom Gauld @tomgauld]

My new book of science cartoons, PHYSICS FOR CATS is out in a week! Order a copy today from you local bookshop or at one of the links here: https://t.co/t5P3yOrkJ3

[Ian Stocks @zebedee]

@archiveriscos Bit early for the April Fool gag.

[Eric Wastl @ericwastl]

This was my tenth(!) year building 25 days of puzzles for #AdventOfCode. You can solve them all for free and in whatever programming language you like. I hope they help people become better programmers. 🌟

The first puzzle comes out in two hours: https://t.co/bDIPRWZupr

[Mikes Electric Stuff @mikelectricstuf]

Add Deye inverters to your "never buy" list . Hopefully they get sued to oblivion for this BS, bordering on criminal damage. Also never buy any hardware that depends on an external service to work.
https://t.co/cgRmkFdqjc

[John Kortink @WindfallNL]

GoSDC for the Acorn Atom is now fully on-line (website, Hardware, GoSDC-Atom). Now forward with other things.

[Nick Craig-Wood @njcw]

Rclone is 12 years old today!

Happy Birthday!

Thank you to the whole rclone community for wonderful support over the years, and here is looking forward to lots of exciting new things coming to a release near you.

[Bob Ward @bobwardms]

On this day 26 years ago @Microsoft released SQL Server 7.0. This was 1.0 for many of us and has paved the way for the incredible industry force @SQLServer is today. https://t.co/BApJYY2vHm. #sqlserver #sqlhistory #microsoftlife

[Peter Howkins @[email protected] @PeterHowkins]

New RPCEmu today, 0.9.5. https://t.co/LATTmMMuqy Scroll Wheel, quick blank floppy discs, LBA hard disc support @riscosity @riscosnews @riscos

[Peter Onion @PeterOnion]

https://t.co/AFtvnIA52s Worth a watch !

[Rob Taylor @PeepoUK]

Been a while since I listed something new.....
https://t.co/5EJz6JrLee

[Mikes Electric Stuff @mikelectricstuf]

Went to the last day of @NovAutomation Tim Hunkin's "Secret life of the Home" gallery at London Science Museum today.
I wonder if any of the other exhibits will last 29 years.
His account of what he learned creating it is well worth a read :
https://t.co/89vVmqXV1x

[Ian Stocks @zebedee]

@markmoxon @tnmoc Open to abuse :-)

[Rob Taylor @PeepoUK]

Acorn Archimedes A3000 replica finally available in my tindie store. A LOT of work, testing and money went in to getting this over the line. Enjoy! https://t.co/IHyJfEmCqW

[Ian Stocks @zebedee]

@BinaryDinosaurs Don't forget to add a CPU card :-)

[The Telephone Exchange Building (1945-1981) @tele_exchange]

The Telecommunications Heritage Group @telecomheritage have kindly offered to host me for an online talk on Tuesday 12 March 2024 at 6:30pm. It is free and open to both members and non-members of the THG, but please note that registration is required via https://t.co/MLzfbzX4J7

[CuTEL @[email protected] @cu_telecom]

The "Building a copper telephone network at EMF" talk has landed on Youtube!

Find out how we got ~500 phone lines in a field for a week.

https://t.co/Jk5dknvN08

[The Telephone Exchange Building (1945-1981) @tele_exchange]

My next talk is for the Newcomen Society's Manchester branch on Tuesday 23 January at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation. The talk is free, starts at 6.30pm and there is no need to book.
https://t.co/KNpbRptdH9

@NewcomenSoc

#TE1940to1981 #TelephoneExchange #Talk

[CharlesWynfordLodge @2hrTV]

RIP artist, inventor, prop maker, and TV icon of Magpie, Vision On, Eureka and Jigsaw; Wilf Lunn (1942-2023)