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Eve Online fans cheer Microsoft Excel features at annual Fanfest

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Re: Eve Online fans cheer Microsoft Excel features at annual Fanfest

#91
i'm probably missing something, but exporting a CSV would have been better choice than a proprietary format that locks users into a proprietary tool

to me it sounds like microsoft is colluding with game developers to lock in users more than to help users

Re: Eve Online fans cheer Microsoft Excel features at annual Fanfest

#92
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost all of them. Back when I used to play Kingdom of Loathing (a super casual game whose main attraction is that it contains a lot of jokes), I used spreadsheets to optimize everything from which food to eat to which familiar to use when. Way back in the day, I wrote a (for me-at-the-time) math-heavy guide for the N64 Goldeneye game; I used spreadsheets for that. I know of people who've used spreadsheets for routi…

Do you still have a copy of the Goldeneye guide? I'd be curious to read it. Math was not in my mind when I played it back in the day.

I don't, but GameFaqs still does. Keep in mind that 1999-me was... not a great writer, or particularly good at math, by HN standards.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/n64/197462-goldeneye-007/faqs/...

Re: Eve Online fans cheer Microsoft Excel features at annual Fanfest

#93

What are some other games where spreadsheets help? I'll start: - Kerbal Space Program. Figuring out the sizes of different stages, how many solid boosters to add, etc. - Factorio. Ratios of different factories, mostly for creating science packs. - Cookie Clicker. Figuring out what to buy to get the best marginal cookies per dollar.

Cult Simulator. Used one to keep track of related bits of information and card interactions in order to piece everything together.

Re: Eve Online fans cheer Microsoft Excel features at annual Fanfest

#94
post #87
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For cookie clicker and factorio the math was simple enough that you could mostly do it in your head, plus each of them had wikis that spelled out all the answers. I think you only really need a spreadsheet if the numbers are dynamic and continuously changing depending on your situation.

Factorio has been talked about a lot on HN for it's parallels to programming. I think it would be an excellent learning tool for people looking to get into programming, and I think this also extends to spreadsheeting too. As you say, to start out the ratios are simple enough, but to a beginner it'd be a good exercise to plop the Red and Green science ratios into a spreadsheet for practice. Once you upgrade your assem…

>I think it would be an excellent learning tool for people looking to get into programming

That's a bit like using crack cocaine to help learn about the pharmaceutical industry.

Re: Eve Online fans cheer Microsoft Excel features at annual Fanfest

#95

What are some other games where spreadsheets help? I'll start: - Kerbal Space Program. Figuring out the sizes of different stages, how many solid boosters to add, etc. - Factorio. Ratios of different factories, mostly for creating science packs. - Cookie Clicker. Figuring out what to buy to get the best marginal cookies per dollar.

Genshin Impact for gaining the best possible damage out of your available artifacts.

Re: Eve Online fans cheer Microsoft Excel features at annual Fanfest

#96

What are some other games where spreadsheets help? I'll start: - Kerbal Space Program. Figuring out the sizes of different stages, how many solid boosters to add, etc. - Factorio. Ratios of different factories, mostly for creating science packs. - Cookie Clicker. Figuring out what to buy to get the best marginal cookies per dollar.

I use spreadsheets for lots of games for various reasons but generally because the UI of many games is "klunky" and often doesn't provide enough information without requiring tons of clicks, or even worse, only shows info once and you have to remember it for the next 100 hours of play-time. I generally don't play a game through to the end in one sitting, I'll put it down for months and revisit and have no idea where I left off. Here's a small list of recent spreadsheets...

- Divinity Original Sin to track skills i've assigned to which characters as well as discovered recipes.

- Dyson Sphere Program to keep track of which star systems and planets i've visited (there are tons) to show roughly how much of each resource is there, sun/wind energy stats, etc. and whether i've exploited the resources there or not.

- Game Dev Tycoon to keep track of what types of games i released and the resulting ratings (which determine payouts). It's a very arbitrary system and i feel only through trial-and-error can you discover what games will get good reviews. It's borderline cheating but i figured since i did it myself, it's only half-cheating ;)

- Mount and Blade to keep track of which kings, queens and princesses i have interacted with and their likes/dislikes for when i communicate with them. Necessary because once you start a dialog there's no way out until you finish the dialog. And there's absolutely no way i can remember 300+ names and their standing with me, plus i play very irregularly (still Early Access and things change constantly). Yes you can click on royalty names and it'll tell you the standing, but it's just so much easier to have a spreadsheet open on another monitor which you can glance at from time to time.

- Rogalia for recipes, rent, combat, conversion times, selling rates...

Re: Eve Online fans cheer Microsoft Excel features at annual Fanfest

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the game peaked around 2011 ,EvE felt more of an unpaid second job without pay. But what a job it was! Once you get sucked in, you could spend several months per year playing EvE. Luckily, CCP screwed things up quite badly, and I lost interest. If they hadn't, I'd probably be stuck playing EvE rather than living in the real world. :D

Interestingly, I've also seen a lot of EVE friends that have gotten jobs because of their EVE connections (logistics, computer security, state dept, ...)

One of the diplomats killed in Benghazi 10 years ago was also a diplomat for one of the major EVE alliances (and a moderator on the forums from which they draw their members) and was on alliance comms the night when it happened. Very nice guy who led an interesting life.

https://www.wired.com/2012/09/vilerat/

Re: Eve Online fans cheer Microsoft Excel features at annual Fanfest

#98

Anyone on here plays this game? Is it worth it? Dropping everything in life for that one perfect game will always be a temptation... ;)

> Dropping everything in life for that one perfect game will always be a temptation Is it? How bad does your life have to be, that you'd settle for a game instead? I tried Eve a couple of years ago. I spent more time puzzling out why anyone plays it, rather than actually playing it. You have to do boring tasks, to get money, to do what? Oh, to get to do more boring tasks, to get more money. Ok, but to do what? Oh, to…

People love agency and sense of progress through gathering virtual points.

Re: Eve Online fans cheer Microsoft Excel features at annual Fanfest

#99
post #76

Eve Online is continually fascinating to me. People basically have jobs playing that game. It's bewildering to me. I tried playing Eve Online once. I think it took me quite a while to get through the initial setup, and then I was just placed in space. I had no idea what was going on, and then someone took me out.

Join a corp, that's where the fun lives.

If by fun you mean spreadsheets.

Re: Eve Online fans cheer Microsoft Excel features at annual Fanfest

#100

What are some other games where spreadsheets help? I'll start: - Kerbal Space Program. Figuring out the sizes of different stages, how many solid boosters to add, etc. - Factorio. Ratios of different factories, mostly for creating science packs. - Cookie Clicker. Figuring out what to buy to get the best marginal cookies per dollar.

At some point StormWorx creations need some significant planning to pull off. Star Citizen even in it's current alpha form, you can plan mining and trading activities to get the best results.
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