EdenStarGazer
United States
 
 
:xing::rails::rails::rails::choo::chooo::choooo::chooo::choooo::chooo::choooo::chooo::choooo::chooo::choooo::chooo::choooo::chooo:
" Now as the train bears west, Its rhythm rocks the earth,
And from my Pullman berth I stare into the night
While others take their rest. Bridges of iron lace,
A suddenness of trees, A lap of mountain mist
All cross my line of sight, Then a bleak wasted place,
And a lake below my knees. Full on my neck I feel
The straining at a curve; My muscles move with steel,
I wake in every nerve. I watch a beacon swing
From dark to blazing bright; We thunder through ravines
And gullies washed with light. Beyond the mountain pass
Mist deepens on the pane; We rush into a rain
That rattles double glass. Wheels shake the roadbed stone,
The pistons jerk and shove, I stay up half the night
To see the land I love."
-Theodore Roethke, Night Journey

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Please avoid using NSFW comments on my profile. Other than that, comments are appreciated.
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I enjoy mostly gritty realistic survival games like The Long Dark, turn-based strategy like Civ, & economic/ trading simulation style games, including anything with a historical or exploration element. But, space exploration/ colonization games & simple strat games with aliens like XCOM, are the ultimate.
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More About Me
Though I am really a competitive person by nature with games, (I’m a port from the card & board game generation) I tend to play video games for the game itself. If I play & lose interest, it doesn't hurt me to leave those achievies incomplete & walk away from the game like that. :lol: But, if I like a game, I may play for months, replaying elements until I've experienced every detail, leaving no side route untaken. So, don't judge me for my time to completion or game completion ratio. I'm having fun, or else I'm idling for card drops & moving on.

Besides games, I read sporadically. Be sure to checkout my Gamer's Bookshelf in my Custom Info Showcase for some neat titles. I also write as a hobby.

I'm an older gamer, a wife, mother, & grandmother. I delete people who start acting 'creepy' after I accept the request, or who want to hammer politics here in my video game world. [Seriously! Just relax, forget the politics for awhile and play games. You may live longer.] And, I delete people who spam CSGO requests, after I’ve asked them to stop. I’ve only deleted a handful, so don’t worry I’m actually a friendly gamer.

I trade cards & collectables. My inventory is public. I consider counter-offers. I accept friend requests from humans with view-able profiles.

I am also on PS5 and XBox.
:doggie: :bladedog: :tipitbull: :timalinois: :walt: :doggy: :Dog_thief:
Warning: Do NOT pet the dogs (above!) They may look friendly one moment and virtually bite you the next. (*cough, cough)
Currently Offline
Featured Artwork Showcase
Everybody Loves Hojo
440 98 3
Featured Artwork Showcase
Nothing But the Music
272 27 6
Screenshot Showcase
The game gives a whole different meaning to the words "night life" and seeing the sun rise over the woods gives a nostalgic feeling.
77 28 4
Screenshot Showcase
"See that rock out there in the ocean, George? Let us build a really big church on that rock!"
59 18 3
Artwork Showcase
Downtown Nashville, Tennessee
40 14
Artwork Showcase
Seahenge
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:HangingController::terminal::terminal::terminal: My Rig: :UFOJump:
:ok_ay:Alienware Area 51 R5 Desktop :pcbs_hdd: 2 TB Hard Drive
:ok_ay:Processor: i7-7800X 6-core :pcbs_ram: Memory: 16GB Dual Channel DDR4
:ok_ay:Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 :pcbs_gpu: 8GB GDDR5
:ok_ay:Triple Monitor Setup Alienware 25” NVIDIA G-sync, + 2 Freesync
:ok_ay:Speakers: LogitechG :speaker:G560 Lightsync PC:speaker:
:ok_ay:Mouse: G502 Lightspeed
:tva_pilot::joystick: HOTAS: Thrustmaster T16000M FCS Flight Pack :xing::ControlPanel: RailDriver Desktop Cab Controller
:LaptopGrey:Laptop: Alienware 17 R3 i7-6700HQ, GeForce GTX 970M

:HangingController: My game stats at
:profit: AStats [astats.astats.nl]
:longhaul: World of Trucks [www.worldoftrucks.com]
Favorite Game
Favorite Game
Awards Showcase
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751
Awards Received
205
Awards Given
Favorite Guide
Created by - EdenStarGazer
Don't play well with other AI civs? Wondering why Pedro suddenly goes bananas, or Cleopatra hisses like an Egyptian she-snake as she randomly decs a war on you? Outraged that Peter the Great has all his troops all over your border, but demands you move you
Favorite Guide
Created by - EdenStarGazer
290 ratings
A comprehensive listing of which animals fit in each biome and continent. This info is in the Zoopedia, but rather than searching through all the animals for the best ones for your zoo, here is a simple list format to guide your choices. It also may be hel
Review Showcase
258 Hours played
Why do I buy into these beast game titles?


Update/ Edit: March 7, 2024
Just to update on the state of the game after 4 months, the developers are continuing to work on the game. I myself have seen no real changes addressing the community's issues. There seems to be no projected dates for the promised DLC's. There is still no in-game editor or community modding support available at this time. Please consider these facts when deciding to buy the game. I can still play the game in its initial state, though I feel I have played out the usefulness of the game as is, so I check back periodically to see if there is anything new.


My original Review follows:

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It is a bit like marrying young. The game is young, and the graphics are beautiful. There is the heady excitement of loading it up on day one and discovering this whole new world of maps, and watching your pc perform. Yeah, it is a lot like that, whether I am playing strategy games like the Civilization series, or city builders where you are playing like an architect or city designer, enjoying the whole simulation of a city economy thing.

I enjoyed playing the predecessor and all it had to offer. So, when I heard about the sequel, I was a bit curious. After watching some videos, I realized right away what a massive difference the road building was, and how that with the pipes being built into the roads, the game would allow you to focus on city management from the start, without so much prep work. That road layout system was entrancing. That was before I knew all the other features. I jumped for the pre-order, knowing I would be spending countless hours in my new cities. I already have fifty plus hours, and I know there is no way I could go back to C:S1, after playing this.

I have a decent setup, though it is a few years old now. I’ve tested a few of my cities out on different graphics settings, giving it the full range workout. Basically, my performance scaled from 31, to 37, to 45, to 60 frames per second as I changed from High, to Medium, to Low, to Very Low settings. That was reasonable for my gameplay. I like to play on High graphics, because it looks so much better. But, when I get to the point where I want to see the population really boom, I can reduce the graphics, and increase the sim running speed. More on that in a minute. I have had zero problems with crashes, bugs, or anything at all. It plays perfectly on my setup. Of course, there’s more to it than the new mechanics and the graphics.

Back to the young wedding analogy, we buy into these ‘beast’ games because of all that we know they will become over time, since these devs keep working and provide extensive dlc’s, and even frequent patches in future to constantly expand the gameplay. This gives us extensive game replayability. I know I am buying into an exceptional game product that will keep on growing. Because of the way this new Cities: Skylines 2 looks graphically, and the bigger assets, the gorgeous maps, the intriguing mechanics that simulate a life-like city; I think it is well worth buying into right away, if your machine is ready for it. If not, you may want to consider the tech requirements, and consider the fps limits. If that is not for you yet, you may want to wait for more optimization to make the game great for all machines. Many gamers do like to wait for a bit.

What do I think the game needs at the moment, besides the optimization? The biggest thing of course is the workshop for modders and also the in-game asset and map editor, which is yet to be rolled out. As always, more information tooltips and charts throughout would be great. I feel reasonably sure these things will come soon. But, the time slider is interminably slow at the fastest time passage setting, in my opinion. Perhaps, add another setting higher, or that could be modded when the workshop is added. The last thing is the radio. Pre DLC, it is a bit of a repeat when you get lost in there building cities for hours on end as many of us do. More music, more radio… ‘more cowbell,’ basically is all I could ask for in this beautiful new game.
Review Showcase
The Globe as it was Meant to be Played!

You know those time-stopping minutes as a plane nears the end of the runway, achieves lift, and then levels off? That millisecond when vertical acceleration stops and the heavier-than-air craft first attains the aspect of a weightless thing… like a leaf on the wind… in that moment the human heart feels the joy of the remarkable achievement that is flight. When I first entered the work world in the early eighties, the closest we could come to this experience was watching planes take off and land at the local airport during our coffee break through the office windows. Then Microsoft released Flight Sim 1.0. Much has changed since then, in the real world and in Microsoft, and in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Flight simulation has leveled up. This latest iteration of Microsoft Flight takes the game pilot from a flat earth limited map, to a full Earth globe. (Just in time, too for some of those 2020 conspiracy theorists.) Not only do you have the globe on your itinerary, but you have options for location-accurate weather, time, and traffic. With mp enabled, you can see friends who are in-game in the skies around you. You can visit real world landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, natural landforms like the Grand Canyon, and observe animal herds from bush planes.

Circumnavigating the globe? Exploring Greenland or Antarctica’s Ice bases? Island hopping? Whether emulating Marco Polo or Ibn Battuta, you will likely have many ideas for world-class flights. Schiphol Amsterdam is one of my favorite airports IRL, so I have spent a bit of time arriving and departing there in game. I have also enjoyed journeys such as Charles-de-Gaulle to Gandhi International (Paris to Delhi,) New York to Patagonia, and Tokyo’s Haneda International to China’s Oriental Pearl Tower, as well as ‘San Fran’ to the ‘Zahara’, and New York to Patagonia. My most recent flight was an oceanic cruise from Santiago, Chile to Queenstown, New Zealand. With the large selection of planes available at launch, the sky is no longer the limit.

The in-game Earth, like its counterpart, is populated with airports where you can fully interact with ground services and control towers. (The sound is great as well.) The menu provides a hangar for viewing your planes. With a robust flight customization system and many options and settings, you can fly anywhere, to and from any airport or even the blank spaces in between. There are many options for arriving and departing airports. You have quite a bit of flexibility for choosing landing strips, or even in-air spawning. Overall, you will find yourself with a world of options.

The graphics of the game rival the flight options. There is a full range of graphics output that you can expect, depending on your machine. Yesterday, I tried them all, just to get a good baseline, since I play the game on Ultra settings. Whether or not you will like the graphics quality is determined by which settings you use. The low-end settings are lousy tbh. While ultra is a good experience, you will not get that same quality on lower settings. So, while the game is accommodating for most players, not all will have the same experience. Processing power will still be an entrance barrier for some machines.

But, the real joy is in streaming photo-realistic scenery using photogrammetry via Bing Data World Graphics setting within the game. This should be handled with care, as results will vary depending on your internet connection. I have a (crappy) rural connection that is only slightly better this year with a new provider in the area. To handle the streaming graphics option (along with Ultra settings of course) I hit live pause while in flight and go into the settings to turn on the streaming graphics. This allows the game to load it in a steady state, and the results are awesome when unpausing the game. This can then be untoggled at will. You must respect that versatility.

The game mechanics (just like the price) are at the typical level expected from a Microsoft product. The buttons and gauges on the control panel feel realistic. Whether using a HOTAS system or a simple gamepad, the experience is like being there yourself. The price of the game is a bit hefty, especially if adding the premium packages. So, I recommend using a throttle and stick with the game if that is an option for you. Just be aware that a simple cheap gamepad works fine too. But, if you are going to pay that much for the game, you will want to beg, borrow, or steal enough for the HOTAS too. That goes pretty much without saying. And, after over 150 hours in-game, I have to say that the realistic flight mechanics of Microsoft Flight Sim are worth every dollar or euro you will spend.

Pros:
• The game is fully optimized for a triple-monitor setup, and looks jaw-dropping I might add.
• Stable performance on my machine, great fps, no crashes
• Simulation of circumnavigation
• Real-world weather system
• Realistic stress damage to planes, and the ability to scale difficulty
• Modern Smart cameras/ drone tools
• The graphics are spectacular… especially with the streaming option enabled.
• Multiple activities and scenarios simulate bush flights, landing, etc.
• The Globe interactive mode (sandbox-like) allows for staging variety of ifr & vfr flights anywhere in the world.

Cons:
• Hefty disk space usage 90+ GB. (I uninstalled games which this game made seem antiquated.)
• Loading screens are lengthy. (But, clicking the windows button gives you untemperamental access to other things on your pc while you wait.)
• Fuel usage seems a bit off.
• The AI needs some tweaking. Not sure if this is a user error, but while changing to auto pilot mid vfr flight, the AI will literally and unexplainably turn the plane around and head back to the departure point. (I guess you cannot get good help these days.)
• The price is steep, and while community mods will be available from the game menu, expect some money to be spent there as well.
• The save system appears problematic. While it does save, many options are lost when reopening, and save state is not quite accurate. I suspect saving also disables some achievements, or causes them to not be recognized.
• At some point the weather change options will vanish from the menu bar. To retain the ability to change the weather throughout, I keep the options window open and do not save or exit game until flight finished.

I fully expect these points will all be patched rather quickly. Along with that I would like to share a few other things I would like to see added in future.
• More VFR mapping options are needed, such as the ability to add pins to the map.
• More detail and zooming out in the map
• AI Improvements
• While some data is provided from log, more would be better. (Flights are only listed by month & year, for instance. Date not listed.) Alternatively, there are online options like Simbrief for planning and logging flights.


I am sold on Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020! It is pure simulation at its best, and with the full globe navigation possibilities, I feel like the world is truly under my plane, and the wind beneath my wings. I loved it so much at launch that I deleted all things flight from my wishlist and pc. This tops everything else with its state-of-the-art imagery and real-Earth data.
Favorite Group
Older than most!
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Online
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In Chat
Favorite Group
Friends of Quill18 - Public Group
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Workshop Showcase
New version 5.0.1 as of 18.12 - Added a new Overview tab. Adds pictures of the real Great People to the game. Improved Great People window including a new Overview tab. Compatibility Works with the base game, Rise & Fall, Gathering Storm, Hero Mode, CQUI,
Created by - infixo
Workshop Showcase
Welcome to Liechtenstein, the next nation in the Microstates maps collection! Coming soon, beautiful Monaco with a new South of France terrain theme! Liechtenstein for those who don't have Snowfall is here! Scroll to the bottom.. **New Map Theme: You can t
225 ratings
Created by - MrMiyagi and Tomcat
Items Up For Trade
3,769
Items Owned
209
Trades Made
22,516
Market Transactions
I enjoy learning and reading other languages. It is particularly difficult to find original books in other languages. Feel free to share sources with me for books written in Japanese by a Japanese author, for example. I particularly am interested in lower level books atm, in German, French, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Korean, or Japanese.
Items Up For Trade
3,769
Items Owned
209
Trades Made
22,516
Market Transactions
I do trade Steam items 1 to 1 from time to time. Just ask. Dups and cards from sets I've already leveled up are up for trade.
Books to Fuel the Gamer's Imagination:
:books:Gamer’s Bookshelf
:FullBookshelf:1. Night Train to Rigel by Timothy Zahn
:FullBookshelf:2. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
:FullBookshelf:3. The Eternaut by Hector German Oesterheld
:FullBookshelf:4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
:FullBookshelf:5. Level 7 by Mordecai Roshwald
:FullBookshelf:6. Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky
:FullBookshelf:7. Don Quijote de la Mancha I by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
:FullBookshelf:8. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
:FullBookshelf:9. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
:FullBookshelf:10. Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle
:FullBookshelf:11. John Carter: A Princess of Mars by Edgar R Burroughs
:FullBookshelf:12. Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
:FullBookshelf:13. R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots by Karel Čapek
:FullBookshelf:14. The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges
:FullBookshelf:15. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
:FullBookshelf:16. Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku

Recent Activity

93 hrs on record
last played on Mar 18
3,149 hrs on record
last played on Mar 18
Chaoslock Feb 28 @ 4:10pm 
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") Have a nice week! :wftohappy:
Christina Rob 🎸 Feb 18 @ 11:05am 
Thank you! @EdenStarGazer
EdenStarGazer Feb 18 @ 11:03am 
Welcome to the group Christine!
Christina Rob 🎸 Feb 18 @ 11:01am 
Wow! You have an amazing profile! Thank you for the invite! Happy gaming!
Teddy FreiBär™ Feb 17 @ 8:00am 
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:ss2sparkle:  Just passing by after some time :hugs: :ss2sparkle:
⠀⠀⠀    Have a relaxing weekend!⠀    :einar::techeart:
Thank you, I love your profile, too! :CatHeart: