JasonM

Am I the only one who thinks calling the muslims "kebab horde" is a bit racist?

Anyway, I should really get back into this. The only problem is originally it took me ages to learn how to play the game because the tutorial isn't exactly the best at helping you. I mean I didn't even know you could merge your armies from the different counties to make a bigger army... But now because its been so long I'm going to have to relearn it all again.

Is there an easier guide then the in game tutorial?

It is a bit racist, but I use the term deragatory to the game and it's flaws itself and not to 1.57 billion people that practice the muslim faith worldwide. But then again, it's very hard to distinguish between irony and candor when you're reading text.

Well, the Asia Cup just finished and I got two job offers. One from South Korea and one from Australia.

Being the Dutchman I am I chose South Korea, i'm going to try to go one step further than Hiddink in 2002 and go for an actual medal at the next world cup (lol, as if)

I like the determination of 3 that you have.

It reminds me of finding a player with decision making of 1. I could imagine him running through on goal and then just clearing the ball out of play for a throw in.

I'm going to try and buy him... then again, what if they say no... Eh fuck it, I'll try something else...

But anyways, when you start with the lowest possible amount of XP you only got a little bit to spend and I decided to spend it on the trifecta of Discipline, Man Management, and Motivating.

It has served me well, despite me apparently having the determination of... something.

Curiosity - how do people tend to spread their management attributes? I tend to have a 50/50 spread between tracksuit and tactical (though sometimes I'll put a tad more into tracksuit, depending on the game) with the below focus, with focus on attacking, mental and tactical on the tracksuit side so I can ensure I play decent attacking and determined, discipline, man management and motivation focus on the other so I can manipulate everyone to my whims (plus some adaptability if it's going to be a career game).

Full focus on tactical for me. I let my coaching staff do the job of training my players so I can put them in tactics that will win matches.

It's now the latter part of 22/23, and with continental pro license these are my skills.

As you can see, my coaching skills have gone up quite a bit, but my mental skills have stayed largely the same.

Add me to the list of folk who like Jorah.

Spoilers for the episode and also speculation of what might be to come (from someone who hasnt read the books).

Another great episode. I love that Game of Thrones can go from being action packed one week, to being more considered and narrative driven the next, yet still maintain such high quality.

Am I the only one who thinks that they're hinting massively at Jon's true origins lately? A few episodes ago, Stannis made a comment along the lines of Ned "not being the type" to cheat on his wife. This week, Eomund says, "A Targaryen alone in the world is a dangerous thing" and the camera pans up to show us Jon arriving.

I've never read the books, so I don't know what they hint at, but is it too much of a stretch to think that Jon Snow is actually Ned's sister's child and son of Rhaegar Targaryen?

It's a theory that makes a lot of sense to me, especially with the hints you've mentioned. Not only that, but Ser Barristan, supposedly a man of great honour, has on more than one occasion spoken about what a great man Rhaegar was, something that's at odds with the widely told story that he kidnapped and raped Lyanna Stark.

As someone who loved Lyanna dearly, I could imagine Robert Baratheon encouraging the tale because the alternative possibility is that Lyanna, unwilling to marry Robert after the war, secretly married Rhaegar. Ned, knowing this, would then take Jon back to Winterfell and raise him as his own illegitimate son after realising that Robert would seek to kill anyone linked to the Targaryen family line, something we saw manifest itself when he was determined to have a young Daenerys assassinated.

This is also from someone who hasn't read all the books (I've only read the first two), so I'm speculating just as much as you are. Still, food for thought.

See, I still find this an extremely hard sell any way you cut it.

All the targaryans have silvery white hair and purple eyes in canon. Jon Snow has normal eyes and jet black hair. With seed being strong and all that, you'd expect a Targaryan bastard to have silvery hair and purple eyes, but Jon doesn't, he's often described as looking like a true Stark in features.

Bull Audi Red?

Audi-Red Bull would be an interesting team, but if they expect instant success they're going to be coming home from a rain-soaked parade. It's hard for any company to jump into F1, just look at Honda-McLaren.

At the moment I'm using a controller on the Xbox One and have tinkered with some of the settings, but can't quite find the right one so far.

I did some searching through some forums but a lot of setups "that work well" seem to be setup for absolute experts! I'm even struggling with the Clio's at the moment. Maybe I'm just terrible at racing games.

I'm not actually sure what the control settings actually mean, I mean, what's the deadzone mean exactly? And control filtering etc?

Well, i'm no expert at the setups either. But I do know that the ''deadzone'' is how much of a... well deadzone there is in your controller input. Like if you move it left or right, how far it needs to go to actually be registered as an input.

This is helpful because some gamepads and steering wheels are very sensitive to steering input, so upping the deadzone a little bit gives you some leeway when it comes to keeping the car straight when you actually want it to be straight. With the deadzone at 0% it will register every movement into the game, so on sensitive wheels and controllers it might cause the car to be very unstable on straights and cause you to sway back and forth on the track.

The only little thing that annoys me is how easily a lap time gets ignored because you go off track. I can understand it for corner cutting but if I run slightly wide and go off for less than a second I don't see why my time shouldn't be recorded.

I find the same thing infuriating, but those are the actual rules unfortunately. Turning penalties off should fix that though.

I tried my hand at Formula A cars and decided that this game isn't going to be for me long term. Even with traction / stability control on I struggle to keep the car in a straight line. Formula Rookies I'm fine with!

If you're using a steering wheel and you're experience ''swerve'' whilst going on straight lines, it might be a smart thing to up your steering deadzone to 1-5. This sometimes happen with certain wheels and it can make your car very unstable at high speeds because the minute movements of the wheel ends up being translated into back and forth sways that ends up becoming heavier and heavier as you go faster.

Another suggestion generally is to enable a racing line, it's so much easier learning tracks and cars if you got a general gist on how far off you need to start braking.

Kebab horde?

Sometimes I forget i'm not on Reddit/Paradox Forums. Kebab is a term coined to mention the general muslim group of people in CK2. Since they change names everytime a new dynasty appears, it gets confusing to name them Abassid or whatever because if the Abassid loses the throne another name is replaced.

Another term is ''muslim clowncar'' which was basically an early vanilla term for the huge amount of marriage ties the Muslim's had and could easily summon 20K deathstacks on your 2K empire like it was nothing, every single time. They nerfed the marriage ties for the Muslim's a bit and made it harder for them to call in every single member of their family into a war.

So, I am playing as Ireland (as I am known to do). I took it over, no big deal. But then I took part in the crusades against Lithuania. We won. And since I contributed the most to the war, I gained all of it....holy crap. I went from 5 holdings to 32.

Edit: Although...that brings a lot of revolts. Lame! But, on the plus side, most of my vassals like me.

That's pretty awesome. I once won a Holy War when I was Kingdom of Sicily (Apulia start), and earned the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was so hefty and insanely big I resorted to giving it to my second son who after 30 years got crushed by the Kebab horde who wanted it back, but it was nice to see me be on the winning side of these things for a change.

It's a dodgy system though, if you're a big nation and you go hard into these Holy War's it's not hard to come out as the winner every single time.

As a guy who logged hundreds of hours on Burnout Paradise, but nothing much else since, what are your thoughts on picking this up for my PS4?

You can't really compare the games. CARS is a real simulation heavy racing game, Paradise was an arcade racer.

But from all i've played, I love the game.

I don't mind the karting but then I'm playing on Amateur. From what I've played so far it's a very fun game.

The problem with Karting on higher levels is because the track is very small and the AI is extremely aggressive and one-dimensional. So whilst you're trying to get into good lines, the AI drivers instead follow their instructions and if that means that they'll drive through you rather than around you, so be it. I understand that it's still programming behind it, but it's very frustrating to try and divebomb a corner onto an AI, and the AI driver does nothing to protect himself or it's car... They barely react to whatever might be going on.

Same is when you go head to head into a corner and you're on the racing line, the AI will try to force it's car onto said racing line and if that means shoving you into the grass, then so be it.

Of course, it's mostly seen in the Karting gameplay because it's so tight packed and frenetic, it's much less of an issue with actual cars when the track is bigger and the AI knows better in how to handle itself amongst other cars.

So, Winter break just came around and I signed an Irish goalie on a free who looks to become a top class goalkeeper in a few seasons.

Problem is, I have two other young goalies who are also looking to become top class.

So with 3 goalies of 22, 22, and 21 I have to make a few decisions of who I will keep around and who I let go, or at least loan out.

Derek Mulcahy - 21 years old, signed over from Shamrock Rovers where he was in a class of his own. Had already been starting for them since he was 17. Great mentals, good physicals, and good goalie skills. Pretty much destined to be my #1 guy among the sticks regardless of the two current goalies.

Tom Firth - 22 year old goalie, for lack of a better term he's been my main goalie during the first half of the season. Communicator type of goalie who has good qualities, but also lacks quite a few skills to make him a top goalie right now. He's still doing great in the league with his rating, despite being rotated 1 for 1 with the next guy...

Ritchie Parry - 22 year old goalie, according to my coaches he's the lesser of Firth, but hasn't failed to impress either. He's been getting an equal share of games as Firth, and despite conceding a bit more he's no slouch at all. Opposite style as Firth, a jumpy goalie who can get to many shots.

All three goalies I got on free's in the past season since I started at Forest. Firth is a former Arsenal product whilst Parry is a former Fulham product. All three have real skill to become good to great goalies in their own rights. And whilst Mulcahy will be my bonafide number 1 by way of skill and experience, I still need to decide who is better off as my number two and which guy I am best to sell on or loan away.

Suggestions are more than welcome.

Anyone else having frame rate issues? I'm playing on Xbox One and is really jerky in places.

I got a PC that's pretty powerful and I'm doing alright, Unless I start driving 55 cars in the rain around Bugatti, then it kinda gets issues. But most races are smooth and beautiful on my PC... But that says nothing really.

Does anyone have a recommended racing wheel/pedal set that I can pick up when I grab this?

Personally I use the Driving Force GT, it's around 90-100gbp and often regarded as the best starter wheel/pedal set for people getting into racing games. I have no experience with cheaper sets, there are also the G27 which is the bigger more heftier brother and that thing is insanely awesome, yet also insanely expensive too.

I got my DFGT off of a online marketplace for 50 euros or so which was a steal, especially since it was barely used and was in mint condition with no defects either. And I've had it for around a year now of some pretty heavy stints of playing with F1-2013, Assetto Corsa, and now Project CARS and it's just as good as a year ago.

As someone who isn't the biggest car enthusiast and will get a racing game every so often, would this be a good purchase?

From what I have played it's very sim heavy. There are some assists in the game like Traction Control and such, but even then it's a game heavily focused on the simulation aspect of racing.

It's a blast to race though, and cars feels fast and like they have a proper weight behind them. Formula cars love to spin away at low gear high revs, and LMP's are just masterpieces in the corners.

I have played a bunch, and of course started with career mode. One thing I absolutely hate are the Karts, they might be a fun and challenging drive, but the tracks are too small and bumpy and the AI drivers are a pain in the arse to drive against because they'll just drive through you if you come in front of them, they literally take little heed in what's happening and I've had lots of moments where i'm leading a race and a Kart just divebombs me from the side and slams me off the track, before the AI merrily drives away again.

One thing that has boggled my mind and amazed me, is the ability to have 55(!) AI cars in a race at the same time as you, Day/Night cycle is in it and you can go real time to 30x in terms of how fast the day goes by. And you can also have 200+ lap races if you so very well pleased. So the idea of doing a Le Mans race is fully possible, and you can do it with any sort of car too... So for whoever feels masochistic enough to drive a 125cc Kart across Le Mans for 24 hours, knock yourself out!

For casual racing fans it's a tough sell, because it's so sim heavy. I also don't know how well it drives with gamepad/keyboard since I use a wheel for racing games. There is a variety of cars available, both racing cars and street cars. And the tracks in the game are pretty damn awesome too. And i've heard the devs will develop more DLC for the game in the future too, so it might really become one of the best racers out there.

I have the same issues with my own game really.

Went to Denmark, turned an amateur side into nation-beaters, finished my first season in Danish top flight in second place. Left for Forest, and the new manager decided to do away with all decently talented players, sign a bunch of old losers, and rush right back down to the lower leagues.

US gets it next Tuesday (May 12th). Yon International Peoples get it this week, though I forget which day.

I would like a full report from you fine people who nab this earlier than I. I'm not looking for Gran Turismo, I'm just looking for a sim-ish racer where you can paint real cars and race them on real tracks. Nothing more, nothing less, yo.

I don't think there's any car painting.

As I said in the ps4 thress, it's the first new gen game I've felt legit blown away by graphically. I'm a bit concerned it's going to be too in depth for a casual racing gamer such as myself, but I'm willing to give it a go.

No car painting iirc, vbut it does have livery support i've read on racedepartment.com

Spa continues its record of being in every major racing game made in the last ten years .

It sounds like fun, I'll be a much more "Zero to Hero" career person though. I still have Grid Autosport to play because I'm currently busy playing the first Grid which in my mind is the best console simulation racing game in a long time.

Spa is an epic track any way you cut it, it deserves to be in every game because it has everything you want in a racing track. Long straights, tough corners, a legendary piece of track called Eau Rouge. It's awesome to race on in any game.

Sounds nice.

Any word on the amount of tracks in the game?

All tracks:

''Azure Circuit'' is Monte Carlo

Also, I have heard that the endurance races can be made into hour long events, maybe even 24 hours long if you're crazy.

I'm not as crazy as to do a 24 hour race, but I would certainly be down for a longer 1-2 hour Le Mans event.

Interestingly, just noticed when I go to give a scout an assignment the minimum level you can search for Current Ability is half a star. Wondering if that's why scouts don't find some of the younger players? Often times their CA is in silver stars.

Edit - Also, apparently I can't scout "English Under 18s" under competitions. As in, it doesn't show as an option. Anyone come across that before?

Half a star scouting often means every player so that shouldn't be a problem for you.

Secondly, you're better off scouting England and then ordering your scout to only focus on u19/u21 and then sending him on his job. It's more engrossing than just competitions since he'll seek out the players that might slip through the cracks.

I've noticed my scouts don't tend to find players under the age of 17. Is this by design? I guess it makes sense, since they wouldn't really see them play too much at that age. I just remember on previous FMs that they always came back with 14,15,16 year olds.

14 year olds are practically non-existent, and 15 year olds are very rare in FM15.

Aside from that, I tend to find plenty of 16-17 year olds through my scouts. Maybe it's the way you have them set up. I have an army of scouts, and since i'm Forest I have individual scouts on ongoing scouting assignments in England/Ireland/Scotland/Wales to find players. At the start they find older players, but after they've exhausted that they will find young kids very quickly.

You can also of course put a scout on assignment in any given country and give him specific orders to only scout players younger than a certain age. So you could always send someone to only find players younger than 17, but he might end up in cuffs that way too...

Another few games popped up in my mind.

One is TMNT: Turtles in Time, back in the day a friend of mine had a SNES (I had a NES), and after school I'd hang out at his place and we'd just play Turtles in Time for hours upon end until his parents decided we had played enough and had to actually go outside for a change. Pretty sure back then we never beat the game, but we still boot it up on the emulator a couple of times per year when we meet up and try to refind our strategies and still beat the game.

Also, on that note I was the one to have a NES (this is mid 90's mind, so it wasn't the most technical device). And I personally had Kirby's: Adventure. The game was so big in terms of levels, challenging, and had insane variety with various minigames like a crane game and a quick-draw game where you could earn points and 1-up's. I have put many hours into it and I still love to boot it up on the emulator to play through it. Some levels are extremely memorable, just like some bosses like the Colluseum level where you fight Wheelie.

I also had Mario Bros 3, but personally it never came up to the level of Kirby's Adventure in my personal opinion.

Came so close to getting the elusive double hat-trick. Thierry Ambrose scored 5 in the first half for Southampton against Anderlecht in the Champions League, but missed a number of sitters in the second half as we fail to score another. Bollocks.

If you're up big post half-time, I often use ''concentrate'' touch line shout and it often causes them to ramp it into ultra German overdrive and completely demolish the other team.