Mobile Timekilling

I don't do much mobile gaming but I am a fan of pointless time-killer kinds of games.  They are perfect for those times when you are waiting in line or just waiting for anything (I have a tendency to get a bit impatient so being able to shift my focus off of the wait helps tamp down the frustration or nervousness that I can feel).  In a perfect world I would have a book handy and read rather than waste my time with more brainrot on my phone, but packing around a physical book just isn't very convenient (and no, I have zero desire to do any reading on my phone).  Here are my picks for games to distract yourself from the inevitable waiting.

1.) Candy Crush

It's a classic and there's constantly some kind of in-game event to keep pulling you in.  They added in a seasonal type event where you collect these digital "pins" and it's oddly satisfying to cobble together an entire set.  Candy Crush is perfect because you can generally finish up a level in a few minutes and it's not particularly mentally demanding--match candies, pew pew, collect rewards.  The main downside...ads.  It's true that you can skip many of them but if you fail a level and want those sweet extra turns, you can expect to be wasting time with multiple ads.  It's the perfect time to stop looking at your phone and see how much longer you might be waiting.  At least they aren't depressing ads for medications (although I find many TikTok ads to be annoying).

The season of ultracite has commenced in Fallout Shelter!

2.) Fallout Shelter

I started playing Fallout Shelter when it originally came out (like 2014-ish) and had very few fun features.  Luckily the game has drastically changed since that time and there's plenty to keep you coming back.  In honor of the Amazon Prime Fallout series, they recently introduced seasonal "experimental vaults." These vaults are only active for 40 days and have specific objectives that must be achieved to earn a special kind of XP that will unlock random rewards (like lunchboxes, caps, weapons, pet carriers, etc.).  You start your vault from scratch and there's some kind of fun gimmick with each season--the Fallout series themed seasons (that recently ended) featured a special currency that allowed you to spin the "lucky wheel" to earn random rewards (like different tiers of weapons, outfits, pets, stimpacks, radaway, etc.).  They also featured special characters from the streaming series who could be unlocked by completing special quest lines.  The current season is related to Fallout 76 and features the Scorched (a kind of ghoulish-baddie) who periodically raid your vault.  Killing the Scorched is much easier if you use special "ultracite" weapons that can be crafted from two new rooms--the ultracite mine (finally a place for your high endurance vault dwellers!) and the ultracite weapons lab.

The seasons feature is great because it gives you a reason to keep playing.  It's fun to level up a vault over a short period and try to accomplish all the tasks that are part of the season (I can pretty consistently get all but 2 of them).  There are some ads (optional though) but it's not as egregious as Candy Crush.  I would also say that Fallout Shelter generally isn't as good as Candy Crush for taking a few minutes to knock out a level or objective.  I find myself playing for a chunk of time (depending on the level of my vault) but it's still very casual and low pressure.

If you're looking for the perfect mobile game to offer up some minimally mentally demanding games for wasting time, these two are both great options.

Have a great weekend and find some time to do some light gaming!

A Little Mobile Gaming

I don't have anything new happening on the PC gaming front--I've decided to revisit one of my strategy favorites, Against the Storm, largely to see what has changed since the last time I played.  I've barely dipped my toes back into the storm cycle but I'm already intrigued by what I've seen.  I also purchased a DLC pack featuring a new playable race (frogs) awhile back and hadn't touched it.  In the future I'll report on all the new changes (and the frogs!).  So, for this week, I thought I'd talk about a couple of my personal mobile favorites.

I know that people have a tendency to cringe when mobile gaming is brought up.  Let's be real though, you probably have a couple of games lurking on your phone that you like to pop open from time to time.  My personal mobile gaming style tends to be games that are convenient for times when you're stuck waiting for something--the types of games that can be played in short bursts and that can be quickly closed with no feeling of losing out.  Currently, I like to spend my short lunches (we get 30 minutes--and that counts one of the few bathroom breaks I get throughout the day) managing my Fallout Shelter vault.  I originally played Fallout Shelter when it first came out and basically reached the limit of what was available--my vault was maxed out with inhabitants and there was literally nothing else to do.  Luckily/smartly the game has been expanded so that there doesn't feel like there's much of an end to it.  

Fallout Shelter includes cute pets!

When I originally played Fallout Shelter all you could do was manage the production in your vault and send dwellers out to explore the wasteland.  Now, there are questlines where you can send your dwellers out to accomplish certain goals (after a navigating a build full of combat scenarios) for rewards; there's an entire crafting system for weapons and outfits; there are collectible pets that are not only cute, but provide buffs for your dwellers; there are collectible themes (from the Fallout series) that can be used to decorate your vault; and, in true mobile gaming fashion, there are plenty of opportunities to interact with ads to earn rewards (of course...but they're actually not too egregious).  The game has totally changed since those olden days!

One fun aspect of Fallout Shelter has been the crossover content with Amazon Prime's Fallout series.  You can do quests to unlock special characters from the series.  There are also outfits, pets, and themes associated with the series!  

This new and improved Fallout Shelter is perfect for short bouts (and also longer ones when you're trying to manage all your junk and items).  I don't turn on notifications or anything (not like I can just up and play whenever), but like to try to complete quests during my lunch break or after work.  If it has been awhile or if you enjoy Fallout and are looking for something fun for your phone, give it a go. (*You can play it on PC through Steam...I'd recommend mobile though) And just a disclaimer--yes, there's the normal micro-transactions and whatnot, but it isn't pushed on you very much.

My other favorite is THE stereotypical mobile game--Candy Crush.  I love a good match 3 and Candy Crush is one of those never-ending types that manages to be challenging enough to be fun.  There are plenty of in-game competitions, challenges, and events to keep you engaged.  It's much more egregious when it comes to ads, microtransactions, and all the normal mobile gaming sins.  It's great for short bouts when you just want to play a level or two (and some are ridiculously easy and can be completed in a few minutes).  Popping all those little candies is just so much fun though!

Have a great weekend and enjoy some gaming time (even mobile!)!

Goodbye Vault 47

I'm not much of a mobile gamer.  Once in awhile I will pick up something that is timeless and it will live on my iPad--games like Plants vs. Zombies 2 or Bejeweled.  One of the newer games that I've been playing around with is Fallout Shelter.  In the wake of the epic Fallout 4 announcement a goofy mobile game was released.  Fallout Shelter gives fans of the Fallout series a chance to be the overseer of their own vault--in a completely mobile game type of way.  You manage your vault by gathering supplies like power, food, and water that are produced by different rooms you build in your vault.  Your goal is to keep your vault dwellers happy and alive...and to eventually train and arm them.  One of the major catches in Fallout Shelter is that your vault can only hold 200 dwellers.  Once you hit 200 there are no more random people showing up at your vault door asking for entry or vault babies.  So...what's the point?  That is exactly what I've been trying to figure out.  I have also learned some things about the way I managed my vault.  Maybe they should use how someone runs their Fallout Shelter as a sort of psychological test.

Here are some things I've learned about running a vault.  If the apocalypse actually happens I think my vault would be mostly successful.

Pregnant women must train too.  Having a baby is no excuse.  See tip #1.

1.) Be a slave driver!
Your vault dwellers are at their happiest when they are working.  Assigning your dwellers to rooms...even if that room is just in the barracks is much better than letting them wander around aimlessly.  So get to building those production rooms!  Build them even if you don't need them!  Keep the peeps working.

2.) Training is key.
Once you hit the point where you can build training rooms you should build them and use them with abandon.  Similar to not wandering aimlessly, vault dwellers would prefer being in a training room to being on coffee break.  Keep an eye on their SPECIAL levels and move them as needed.  Once they are maxed out I would move them back into a barracks until I had enough trained to build a new production room.

3.) Selective breeding is best.
Yes, it's fun to hook up your little vault people.  To feel a sense of accomplishment as you drag and drop a new couple into the barracks with the hope of them producing a new baby vault dweller.  I am not completely positive if the parental stats have much to do with the special stats of their erstwhile offspring but they do appear to play some part.  If you have a shortage of dwellers with the agility stat it is best to create a power couple with strong agility stats.  You also need to be mindful of inbreeding!  Although it is tempting to make a high charisma dweller your baby-maker this is a recipe for disaster.  Unless you want everyone in your vault to be related I would avoid this plan.

Towards the middle-end of my vault I had started treating my dwellers like Quakers.  Men and women lived completely separately and were only allowed to intermingle if they had desirable stats.  Yep, I had single-handedly re-birthed the eugenics movement in my vault.  Once I made the tragic mistake of accidentally depositing a high charisma male dweller into the ladies barracks.  Before I fully understood what had happened the three ladies in the bunk were all sporting a baby-bump courtesy of Mr. Smoothtalker.  So much for selective breeding....

4.) Experiment with explorers.
Although your wasteland explorers will generally gain levels much faster than your traditional vault dwellers it is best to make several different explorers.  I have a strong inkling that explorers with different SPECIAL stats discover a wider variety of items while wandering the wastes.  I do not really have any evidence to back this up but I've tried to keep a rotation to see if my theory holds up.

Now that my vault is at capacity I am finding that I have much less interest.  What do you do once you hit 200 dwellers?  Keep training the masses until they are maxed out in all the stats?  Send as many as you can to wander the wastes and hope that someone finds something unique (I haven't had any luck finding a Mr. Handy)?  I have read of several unique ways that others have treated their capacity vaults.  One guy sent the vast majority of his dwellers out into the wasteland to die.  This seems like a genius idea because it would allow you to start over without actually starting over.  I think I'm going to opt to just let my Vault 47 fade away into the sunset.

So goodbye guy with Power Armor.  You looked really badass working the power plant.
Goodbye my loyal door guards--lady with the Fat Man and lady with a sniper rifle.  You were great at killing raiders and deathclaws.
Goodbye Mr. Smoothtalker!  I hope you enjoyed your jaunt into the ladies dorms.
Goodbye lady stranded outside the entrance.  Sorry the vault was full when you showed up.

Goodbye Vault 47.

Updated My Game List and Random Game Thoughts

I decided to finally update my "Games I've Played" list to reflect some of my more recent acquisitions and experiences.  I'm also wracking my brain trying to think of some of my favorite classic games.  This has become a lot harder than I thought it would be as I've always been surrounded by so many games.

This post is just going to be a mish-mash of random gaming related things.  Commence mashing!

1.) Fallout Shelter works really well on iPhones but works like crap on my iPad2.  I had created a very nice thriving vault on my iPad and had patiently weathered the numerous crashes and problems.  Once my vault hit 30 people it would no longer load so I gave up and decided it was time to just admit defeat.  I deleted it from my iPad and said goodbye to my 30 vault dwellers from vault 619.  It's a cool little game so I decided I would give it a go on my iPhone (I have an iPhone 5s--essentially the cheapest newerish iPhone you can buy) and found that it works like a charm!  No loading screen lockups and nice, smooth play.  If you're experiencing difficulties playing on your older iPad you should switch over to your phone.  It's a smaller screen, but you will be happy with the stability.

2.) Valkyria Chronicles has again confirmed that I am horrible at turn-based strategy games.  It's a good thing that I can save my game before every turn because I am generally doing something stupid.  I'm also enjoying swearing at my characters when they miss ridiculously easy shots.  There's no display that actually shows the probability of your shot hitting in Valkyria but it has that same futile feeling as playing X-Com and watching as one of you soldiers misses a 95% shot.  Each battle is taking me a very long time to finish and I'm not going to brag about my combat ratings.  I have one last chapter to play and some DLC to mess around with and then I think I will be giving it a rest.

3.) I feel guilt over my total neglect of Pillars of Eternity.  I bought it, fired it up and got a little into it and haven't touched it in more than a week.  It's supposed to be a really great game.  After the Divinity:  Original Sin fiasco which tops my pile of shame I'm not really sure why I opted to buy it's doppleganger.  The Steam Sale made me do it.

A few of the new characters in Shadowrun:  Hong Kong.

4.) Shadowrun:  Hong Kong is coming out soon and I'm really excited.  Yep, it's another turn-based strategy game, but I love the cyberpunk setting.  I've been getting updates from Kickstarter and the anticipation is building.  The release date is going to be announced sometime this week!

Fallout Shelter Brings Fallout Fun to Mobile Devices

The announcement of Fallout 4 caused all fans of the series to rejoice and start anticipating the next episode in the post-apocalyptic saga.  It also spawned a mobile game which has players striving to manage their own vaults.  Fallout Shelter brings the vault experience to you and gives you that little taste of Fallout to sustain you until the 2016 release of Fallout 4.

A large vault in Fallout Shelter.

I'm not big on mobile games.  They all seem to be designed with the goal of seeming free but aiming to get players to spend money in the form of micro-transactions.  Fallout Shelter falls into this category, but is playable without spending any cash.  Your goal is to create and run a functional vault--keeping your vault residents fed, watered, and happy.  Your vault starts off as just a few rooms but a short tutorial explains how to add more rooms. Prospective vault residents line up outside the vault door waiting to be admitted.  Each person has their own set of attributes (using the same SPECIAL set of traits from the Fallout games).  As the vault overseer you must decide which tasks to assign to these new vault dwellers.  Certain jobs within the vault lend themselves to specific attributes--the generator room is better for those with higher strength while the diner is more suited to agility.

Once you figure out the basics and get your residents assigned you can choose to send someone out to explore the wasteland.  Residents are needed to explore the wasteland because they can bring back valuable items like outfits and weapons.  Outfits provide stat boosts for your residents and weapons are needed to help them fight off the occasional raider attack.  Your intrepid explorer can stay in the wasteland for any duration of time and will generally bring back better loot the longer they are out.  They can be equipped with Stimpacks and RadAway to help them survive while they are beyond the walls of the vault.

As your population of vault dwellers grows--through babies born by assigning male and female dwellers with higher charisma to the same living quarter or new dwellers showing up at your vault--you unlock more rooms to help your vault function.  A medbay allows your dwellers with higher intelligence to create Stimpacks, a storage room provides a place to keep your outfits and weapons, and eventually you can unlock rooms that will allow you to raise specific skills of your dwellers.

I'm enjoying this quirky little mobile game.  My vault has been attacked by raiders twice and things looked bleak for awhile, but now things are going along pretty smoothly.  My iPad 2 seems to struggle with this game and I've had several lockups, so those of you with older devices might have some difficulties.  For a free game it's not too bad--there haven't been a bunch of advertisements or entreaties to make micro transactions.  It's got that signature Fallout feeling that makes you want to explore the wasteland.