I read before bed too, which sometimes is a bad thing because I lose track of time and end up getting to sleep at 2:30 am.

I would reccomend the Sharpe's Rifles series, by Bernard Cornwell. Excellent historical fiction set during the Napoleanic Wars. And, of course, LOTR.

Now remember[! First you pillage and THEN you burn[!

I also recommend Robert Jordan for anyone here who is into swords/magic/politca intrigue with some interesting twists. And yeah, historical fiction rocks

I've read alot of books mentioned above, but ones I find really interesting are those based on Ad&D Forgotten Realms. For those that don't know the entire builders gate series, IceWind Dale series, and neverwinter nights playes of in the forgotten Realms. One of the best was "The Biginning of a Mage" a story about Elminster, the most powerfull mage EVER. If you have played the game and read some of the books in them you would have seen some stuff about him.

Excellent books... try them out.


And yes.. books by Robert Jordan ROX. I have the entire Wheel of Time book collection.

--------------------------------
Michael"TRAPPER"Needham
The Weak Shall Perish

...Yes sir thats right... just drop your cargo or I can open your hull with my twin plasma blasters, and take the cargo for myself.......Thank you, have a nice flight.

Edited by - TRAPPER on 03-04-2003 06:15:33

@Fear Factor: actually, I intended to refer to "Berserker" as battletech only (though can't be too sure it is either). The other are definitely not, though still much fun to read. Sorry about misleading info. BTW, if you accidentaly find Andrzei Sapkowski's "Hexer" in English (he's a Pole, and I don't know if the series was translated), it could be worth a shot.

I just looked into it again, and I'm pretty sure that Berserker is set on a wholly different universe.

This is what Battletech novels look like: click

Just to be clear, Battletech is the unverse where the Mechwarrior pc games are set.

@FF: thanx, you filled a white spot in my knowledge. Somehow I thought that all hardcore hi-tech battle stuff belongs to Battletech. Well, errare humanum est, as they say

in reply to arcon:

say arcon did you know the story is incomplete!!!

the Beowolf doesn't kill Grendel, he breeds with her

My personal favorites are the Star Wars Novels...(Mainly the X-Wing Series about Wedge Antilles and Rogue Squadron)

Most of Arthur C. Clarke's books...Especially the Rama series.

As for Games...

I still find myself gravitating back towards games like MicroProse's Colonization...I have lost MANY hours on that game. And back to the old Buck Rogers series.

I will also lose many hours on the Baldur's Gate line...and the REALLY old Bard's Tale 3: Thief of Fate.

Have actually lost myself for about 74 hours playing Wasteland....(accepted precursor to Fallout)

-Arg



Something Awful

You should check out the shogun expansion The Mongol Horde, and also try getting Medieval: Total War its the latest game from the Total War Series, it takes everything shogun did good and made it great, everything from the tactical map, to field battles and caste sieges. My greatest moment in medieval was when i was facing off against a army of almost equal size, after a hour and a half long standoff over a bridge, i called in all the reinforcements of archers and knights i can, charged them right across the bridge, the funniest part was, when i rushed them, its like you can hear the guys screaming "charrrrggggeee!!!!" and the other guys starting running so fast, hehehehehe, i basically scared them right off the map and won by default!

albeit this may sound stupid, before bed i try to read as much as the i can of the full version of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" the full version is best, careful to not get a shorter versions, they are missing a lot of content

"I Would Rather Die Standing Than Live On My Knees"

Edited by - Comont54 on 05-04-2003 22:16:32

Shogun is the best strategy game I have ever played. Troop morale play an important part! I don't see that in other games. Kill the Taisho, and his troops will be easier to rout. I'm definitely getting the sequels and the expansion packs.



Aku. Soku. Zan. (Kill. Evil. Instantly.)

Fear Factor, thats what im talking about, if you kill off a general his troops are much easier to rout, buy Medieval Total War, i think it was Strategy Game Of The Year its the most awesome strat game i have ever played, its exactly like shogun but soooooooo much better. In the snow when troops march uphill they even slip!, what i meant is when you kill off a general if you charge in with brute force, the enemy will start retreating and run right off the map!. You should definetly get medieval, its worth every penny, imagine Shogun but 100x better, more units, more building, more castles, ever country has their own set of about 30 units, and theres about 36 factions!! I mean, the king can get out of his castle and accompany his troops, you can order assassinations and bribe soldiers. Its fun the last time, i was at the last point of conquering Turkey, before launching my 20,000 + steppe cavalry and elite gaurds at them, i bribed one of their forces, after one year (turn) their force turned to my side, they immediately jumped them, i lost the battle horribly, but my troops killed their king in the meantime! they had lowered moral and had become rebels instead of turkish soldiers!!! My coming conquest was a simple mopup and at this point i am surrounded by allies (thanks to me, i conquer a piece of land, then give an ally the deed to it and it becomes his) its definetly a game you should buy, ESPECIALLY if you enjoyed Shogun and Shogun: The Mongol Horde as much as i did, check it out, its the box with the knight on it with blood on his armor. i think its like 35-40 $ now

PS: Troops also have thoughts now, siege engines require a number of siege engineers who are terrified of seeing weapons, or like when you got them in formation youll see like "Happy That Flanks Are Protected" or like "Worried By So Many Casualties" or during a battle, if you have executed perfect ambushes and attacks before, they'll be like "Inspired By Generals Reputation" so you know exactly what their thinking and how their reacting. And, castle sieges can last from 10 minutes to 1-2 hours depending on what your sieging and the enemy, its just a terrific game, and now, you have both sword and arrow, and in the late ages you start to get gunpowder, guns, cannons and muskets, you can now build naval ships and battle with them, you can even set monopolies on trade in pieces of water you own. I recommend it, over any other RTS this year

"I Would Rather Die Standing Than Live On My Knees"

Edited by - Comont54 on 06-04-2003 02:43:35