- Tom's Life Strategies Part 3 : Choose your faction

Options...so many options! 

About every strategy game will begin with the same choice: choosing your faction. Ofcourse if you are fresh into a game this is probably just a random choice, only by playing will you know what race/faction/country will suit your gameplay the most. I always like to imagine how people decide what they will be trying first, while all they have are vague impressions and can only judge  from instinct. Maybe you just like the colours of their flag? Maybe you just go with whatever faction is displayed most prominently on the cd case?  Maybe you are a bit pervy and like to build all sexy female units?And yes I had a friend who openly admitted that he played Night-elves in Warcraft 3 exclusively because of that... I might have some pervy friends.

Would this be a reason to choose a faction to you?

Maybe you do like I do and just watch the unskippable intro video and choose whatever faction looked like it had the best tricks up its sleeve? My sister would probably just get the one that looks like it might train ponies and has the brightest colours. She is 19. (On a sidenote, she doesn't even like playing games, just watching them over my shoulder. She somehow loves it when I use a faction that has a bit of a girly side to it.) Personally I like to see some stats before I just take of and just hope that those troopers are as awesome as they appeared to be in the introductional video.

Just recently I discovered one of my new favourite games: Age of Empires 3. Why it's one of my new favourites? All the standard game bullshit aside, "it has a nice balance to it" or" I really enjoy the rpg elements" blahdieblah... The thing I like about it the most is that I can finally use my own country as an ass-kicking faction! The Netherlands is usually just cast aside as part of some greater allied union and not even mentioned in history's sidenotes. Not this time! Seeing my country as part of this world is really cool, even when I'm playing other games like Rome Total war I just like rushing to the place where the Netherlands are going to be founded ,t was apparently called Batavodorum at the time, and claiming it for my own. 

So obviously I didn't have to think long and hard about what faction I wanted to start of with this time. In time I might turn out to be playing some other faction way more than the Netherlands, but I will do my best to master their gameplay and unique advantages. 

• The big question

But what is most common in strategy games, is totally random in real life. Obviously my choice stems from the fact that I was born and raised here. But what if you were allowed to choose what country you were born in? Let's just say for the sake of imagination that you are not allowed to live in your current country. BUT you are allowed to choose whatever time period and, optionally, be born in a country from on your games. So what would you like to see? 

As for me, I'd love to see the cities of ancient Greece in combination with the creatures of The Age of Mythology. The Greek are founders of about all major Western civilisations as we know them today. I could learn things like speaking Lating and handling a sword, perhaps even slaying some Minotaurs while I'm at it! A visit to the Ancient Spartans would be awesome, just to see if they are the ancient hardasses legends claim them to be!

Just look at dem hot zebra chicks!

And last but certainly not least, think about a party in the honour of Bacchus.. So Kratos, you still wanna worship the God of War? Fine by me but, I'll choose Bacchus, the God of Wine anyday! The god of booze, drinking, partying and promiscuous women.. now that sounds like my new Homecountry!

Tell me what you think in the comments! And if you feel like it, tell me where you would like to live if you had the option to choose as if life were a game!

TLS

- Tom's Life Strategies Part 2 - Post Valentine's Day Evaluation -

Time for one of my first strategies!


Well this is probably a struggle most of you guys and girls can relate to: Valentines Day! I might be a couple of days too late, but heck, its inspiration and the first thing that came to mind for a nice blog starter. 


Yes this day can actually be a wonderful dream come true when you actually get that anonymous card in the mail. Hell even an anonymous e-card can totally make your day! Just knowing somebody is out there thinking about you, a hot girl, a cool friend, or maybe just your parents can make a cloudy day feel like a clear summer day. But unfortunately, for all of us "non-bathing-suit-models" out there, not every year is a magical explosion full of little hearts and unicorns riding on rainbows. Expectations can really rise up thanks to mass media (let's face it, they created this day) social pressure or maybe even silent hopes that the love of your life has finally heard your telepathic call for attention. 

• Setting expectations

So let's get back on topic. How to handle this day if you do get a date? Well as for me, I finally had a date this Valentine's Day. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some lone virgin waiting in a basement (I actually live on my own) waiting for a girl to show some interest. I've had a relationship on valentines day before, but this was different. When you're in the starting phase and still discovering each other a date like this can be crucial. Like I said before, expectations can make or break this day, set them too high, and you will get disappointed. Set them too low ("Im not participating in that commercial crap babe! You know me!")  aka being a dick to her, and you'll never get something going. 

The most crucial part of my plan was to make this girl feel really special, I wanted to show her  I actually liked her without all the cheesy pick up lines. Instead of taking her out to dinner like we both had done before on different dates, I invited her to come and eat a homecooked meal at my place. That way you show your love interest you got some nice cookin' skillz, plus bonus points for the effort you put into the food. In my case a nice tomato soup and lasagna dish. Kudo's if you manage to find out whatever she likes beforehand so you can cook something she really likes!

• Give them something to remember this day by! 

Roses, roses and even more roses. You practically drown in flowers on this day. Girls will often say it has been done before, but they will always feel great when they get them anyway. But when I say 'give' them something, it doesn't necessarily mean the gift itself. As you can learn from all the corporations promoting valentine's day, half the work is in the presentation of your product. In this case, the gift is just a channel, the girl needs to see you as the object of her desire.  The dinner was a nice starter to get comfy with each other, but then it was time to unveil my little plan. It wasn't exactly a world changing game plan, but it's something I put some thing effort into instead of just winging it like I usually do.  

Just google translate it if you want to know what it spells ;) 

So when we finished dinner, I decided my valentine's date should put in a little work before she could get the obligated rose. I have the advantage of having a giant chalkboard in my room so I made a this rose drawing and made up a poem of two short lines. I could've just given her the flowers but it would'nt really have made the impact I was hoping for. So when she finished reading it, she turned around to the table, where I had quickly put her new Teddybear holding the rose in its paws. It wasn't that much trouble, but it definately had more of an effect this way! I will spare you the details of the rest of the date, but I can tell you it was way more awesome than the standard dinnerdates I've had before...Don't just Hallmark your way out of a valentine's date. Get creative! 

So anyway, I think that about sums it up for one of my first life strategies! I realize it might've been a bit of a read, but for those of you that actually read it entirely I'm very curious to what you think of it! 

Hell just tell me whether this is a steaming pile of romantic dating crap or that you may actually like or use what you just read! ;) Blog you later! 

TLS

Tom's Life Strategies Part 1 - The Tutorial

My first blog entry!

Not exactly a historical landmark, but hey Rome wasn't build in a week too right? So what can you expect to find in this blog? Like so many people  connected to the internet this blog just came from the desire to share life and experiences with other people around the world. 

In my case: what do you do when you're a strategy game player who needs to survive in real life? Exactly, you find ways to survive and thrive. In this blog I will tell you about my life, the funny stuff and the hard stuff and how I deal with it.

Leave some responses and feel free to subsribe/follow me! I will ofcourse return the favour and am curious to see what occupies your mind :) 

TLS