Songs of Conquest. Had a weird relationship with it at first, almost like I wanted to dislike it, not sure why. I would think “this is so plainly gamified, the map is cartoonish in its resource implementation, the building feels constrictive…”

That said I’ve kept coming back to it. Something about the high fidelity pixel art, the clarity of its gameplay, the choices it forces, all of it started to really hook me. Even the combat, which first came off to me as insanely swingy, now just feels much more intensely tactical. Sure there are ways to abuse it, but all in all, even the AI is pretty decent (though the autoresolve logic is complete trash).

With the community mods and honestly solid gameplay even with the base factions, I have to say I really recommend it at least for a try to everyone.

NEEEEEERD!

… actually I was rolling into the comments to say the same thing. Right on brother

Good times, except the “online” for us was invariably at LAN parties with adhoc SC Broodwar tournaments, Halo CtF & FFA, and WoW Alterac Valley shenanigans.

Love these books, some get a bit wild, but my daughter’s been pretty hooked on Mrs. Tittlemouse for a good year now. I can probably recite it by memory.

I have to say though, that last graph about “Views on AI Improve with Use” seems extremely disingenuous. It’s just indicating that those who use it more tend to have a positive opinion of it, not that “Views Improve”. Naturally AI fans are going to use the damn thing. I can only hope that the propaganda doesn’t take hold and that the zoomers continue rejecting “AI” normalization.