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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2947 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 22, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Gaming subthread.

Dream video game subthread:

  1. An XCOM-like, but one that eschews turns (even interleaved ones) in favor of real-time with pause. Small unit tactics, but with realistic weapons (scifi stuff allowed). More emphasis on training and hardware versus soldiers shooting enemies till they become Majors and develop not only better aim but a resistance to bullets. You can, by expending some kind of currency or skill point, manually seize control of a soldier and puppet them in first person. Otherwise they semi-autonomously follow your orders, think being a squad leader who tells Ramirez to hole up in a Burger King, as opposed to having to choose the exact toilet stall he needs to occupy like in XCOM. Land vehicles as special units, air units as call-ins or on rotation.

  2. Civ/EU/CK/Total War hybrid: An ungodly behemoth where combat between armies is either resolved with Paradox-style stats, or you can manually fight the battle TW style. There is literally an existing mod that does that, you initiate a battle in CK2, and then the mod imports units and stats into a Total WR title and then the results back into CK2. Realistic AI, in the sense that other leaders or generals act like simulated characters, rather than generic optimizers or min-maxers (which is why I don't play multiplayer in these titles). This could be done today by having an LLM make overarching command decisions or RPing, while delegating the micromanagement to more real-time AI.

Imagine if you could negotiate with Julius Caesar about the petroleum in Sicily, and use your own wits to argue with him. Imagine if you could convince Roosevelt to support you to stave off the Commie menace. What if you could talk to your subordinates, every general or governor being simulated entities that have their own thoughts and feelings that aren't just thinly veiled stats?

Hell, have a hardcore mode with true fog of war. If you're Caesar, you might send several legions off to Germania and only get old, vague reports. They might vanish in Varrus's hands, and you need to find out the hard way. Are the taxes from Asia Minor having too much skimmed off the top? Do the plebian demands have a point? You have to vet and trust agents to find out, unless you absolutely must go there yourself.

Dream game recently has been something I've thought about making.

A mix between the Wuxia genre and the Heroes of Might and Magic overworld mechanics. Instead of controlling a civilization and multiple heroes. Its just one hero, or not really a hero, but a cultivator. The cultivator you control is trying to advance in realms. An end goal of true immortality and full unkillability. Massive world to explore.

Thoughts on fun/cool features:

  1. World is only randomly generated once, and then hand populated with a bunch of cool features. World is large enough that a single playthrough would only let you see 1/100th of it. But online guides to cool spots, or the joy of finding your own cool spots could carry over in different playthroughs.
  2. Game is about cheating. I always love wuxia stories where they have cool "cheats". An absurd ability to make money, turn back time, or gain stats that no one else can. Difficulty mode at the start of a game is chosen entirely by how many "cheats" you want to turn on.
  3. Roguelite option. One of the cheats could be resurrecting with similar character stats in the same starting place (or stats that improve based on past lives).
  4. Areas or parts of the game are brutally and stupidly difficult. They are possible to avoid with knowledge about the world. Or possible to beat with some of the cheats. Or are endgame challenges.
  5. Reactive world. Over one very long life or multiple lives watch as the world evolves. Demon factions take over if not stopped. Cataclysmic beasts destroy wide swaths of land. Beast tides sweep through human cities. Humanity paves over and extracts the hell out of all available resources in their area.

I just have this feeling that the lore of such a game could be like Dwarf Fortress adventure mode. A kind of cool organic story telling. I've thought about making the game as a dwarf fortress mod rather than its own standalone thing.

Its one of those true dream game ideas where it just keeps growing way out of proportion and obviously its a pipe dream cuz I just keep stuffing so many features in it. I likely wouldn't even be able to enjoy it that much if I made it, because someone would have to know the secrets. But part of me wants to find a way to use AI in the creation of it, and have it modable enough that I could build the system of the game, and then just input an AI mod folder that makes everything new and fresh for me.

Have you heard of The Matchless Kungfu? It's practically beat for beat what you're looking for, even if it's closer to Wuxia than Xianxia:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=o-4snPeCyWw

Another game of potential interest, Amazing Cultivation Simulator:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wJxM3POU92w

Warning- Sseth's videos are both incredibly funny and incredibly NSFW.

Awesome videos. I'd seen the amazing cultivator simulator one. And it is part of what makes me think this genre has untapped potential.

I had not heard of The Matchless Kungfu. It does sound of potential interest.

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