Twilight Dirac

This looks really good. Does anyone know how this differs from Roll20, or what the price point is, or even what the official name of this particular tabletop simulator is? It certainly looks like it supports 5th Edition D&D rules whatever it is, as the example character sheet for Symra is a 5th edition D&D sheet. If anyone is interested in running this thing for a test, I know how to DM 5th Edition D&D. I won't be free until sometime early next year to actually do it (DMing is a time commitment), but drop me a line if you are interested.

This is a rather disappointing development and in many ways feels like a dark reflection of our times. It seems more and more we are unable to simply talk to each other regarding matters of importance, and I have always believed that talking things out is the best way to resolve our differences. I understand that it's not mlpforums.com responsibility to provide the sole outlet for which the world is able to discuss its problems, but there is now one less place where people can learn to understand each other. A lot of posters seem to open revile this section of the forums, but I have always found a twisted beauty in the debate pit. It was always the most interesting place to be, even if it wasn't the most pleasant. It was the kind of place that I find disturbingly rare despite the free flow of information that the internet provides, a place where people of radically different ideologies and world views can discuss there differences without the whole subforum degenerating into an echo chamber for any single ideology. The debate symposium let you glimpse the world through the eyes of others, and we will be poorer for its absence. I for one will mourn its absence. Something of value has been lost today.

This guy was brilliant on Mythbusters. Shame he had to die so young.

I have seen every Star Trek film save Beyond. The rankings are: 1.) The Wrath of Khan: Pretty much an obligatory first place for any Star Trek fan, and it deserves the number 1 spot. It combines a brilliant character driven plot with the best space battles seen in the series and is an excellent send-off for Spock (he gets better though). Not much else to say here, other than a darn good movie. 2.) The Undiscovered Country: In many ways this is my favorite, despite the superior Wrath of Khan. It is a brilliant thesis on the nature of conflict, hatred and xenophobia wrapped up within a political thriller mystery, and provides excellent world building for the upcoming TNG era of Star Trek. Also, this movie is the perfect rebuttal for anyone who insist that The Motion Picture is the only "true" Star Trek movie. If overcoming your personal demons and fear of the future to make lasting peace with a bitter enemy doesn't count as a proper Star Trek plot, than what the heck does? Also, this movie is the perfect send off for the TOS cast. 3.) First Contact: The only TNG movie that is actually worth watching. It seamlessly combines a tense, action filled A plot with a fun world building B plot with a nice bit of character sketches thrown in for good measure. It is a shame none of the other TNG movies would turn out this good. 4.) The Voyage Home: The one with the whales. It combines a wacky time-travel plot with a somewhat ham-fisted environmental message. It is a fun comedy nevertheless and makes good use of the setting, characters and pretty much anything else it had available to it. 5.) The Motion Picture: One word: padding. This movie is brutally padded beyond all reason. That being said, what plot, character growth and concepts that lie within said padding are actually fairly solid. It is just a shame it waste so much of the audiences time doing absolutely nothing. 6.) The Search for Spock: This movie is a weird one. For every movie listed below this, the flaws are kind of obvious, and the same can be said for The Motion Picture. There aren't any such glaring flaws in this movie, but it still doesn't quite work. I think at least some of it is wasted potential, there are so many momentous events in the movie, including the fact that Spock is raised from the dead, and yet it comes off as downright boring most of the time. I think the major problem is that nothing is properly paid off in this movie, and that it is left to The Voyage Home and the Undiscovered Country to properly wrestle with the consequences of the things that happen in this film. 7.) Star Trek (2009): This movie is just a generic action flick with a Star Trek skin stretched over it. That being said, it is a competently executed action flick with young actors who can perform in the action scenes, as opposed to aging geriatrics trying to fake their way through the action scenes. This is enough to put it well ahead of the remaining three TNG movies, which insist being action flicks despite the fact that action (outside of space ship combat) was never TNG's strength. 8.) Insurrection: Mediocre action flick with a horribly botched aesop. The Federation is tasked with harvesting some planetary rings for some medical miracle that will likely save the lives of billions, but they will have to displace a few hundred aliens known as the Ba'ku from the planet because the harvesting process will kill the Ba'ku otherwise. Picard sides against the Federation because he believes displacing the Ba'ku is wrong. The whole moral dilemma falls flat on its face when we discover that the Ba'ku are a bunch of condescending, selfish assholes who were unwilling to share the planet with their own brethren because their brethren refused to accept the Ba'ku's bullshit Amish lifestyle. This led to the exile of the Ba'ku's brethren as the Son'a, who live in a perpetual state of body horror that requires constant medical treatment to prevent their faces from melting off while the Ba'ku get to live as immortals in a natural paradise. Meanwhile, the Son'a only want to harvest the planet rings to end their body horror condition, and are trying to avoid killing the Ba'ku if possible. Also, technically the planet with the rings doesn't even belong to the Ba'ku. 9.) Nemesis: Weird plot centered around a terribly developed villian that leads to a dull, protracted space battle. The actions of this movie's villian make no sense given the backstory and motivations provided, while the space battle involves four starships shooting at each other to no effect until the movie arbitrarily decides to make a given shot crippling. Shinzon happens to be equipped with weapons, ships and technology that he utterly lacks the capacity to develop and acquire, and the movie never even bothers to try to explain it. Also, Troi gets mind raped for no reason at all, because I guess the movie wasn't scummy enough as is. 10.) Into Darkness: Why is Khan in this movie at all? He was apparently coerced into making advanced Star Fleet technology for a corrupt admiral, but much like Shinzon's technological acquisitions there is no reason why the 22nd century warlord Khan would know the first thing about developing state of the art 23rd century technology. And honestly, Cumberbatch's character could be literally any other genetically augmented human and it wouldn't effect the plot at all. Beyond that, the whole plot is just a succession of the movie pulling things out of its ass. Transwarp beaming across the galaxy, check. Weird long range torpedoes that are both highly destructive explosives and cryostatsis pods for augmented humans, check. A section 13 super starship. In for a penny in for a pound I guess. 11.) Generations: This is just a non-stop train wreck from start to finish. Nothing in the plot makes sense, Picard makes non-stop stupid decisions, Riker loses the Enterprise to a single Bird of Prey, and Data's emotion chip antics are just downright painful. And it finishes with one of the worst character deaths in cinema history. Kirk had the perfect send off in Undiscovered Country, why did this movie bring him back only to bury him under a pile of loose rocks? 12.) Final Frontier: The less that is said about this movie, the better.

That I am. If we can get two more people to join us, we should be set. Hopefully we can sort out the time zone differences.

I hear you there. Getting 3 to 5 other players together for a 6 to 8 hours game of Twilight Imperium is no easy feat. If you can managed to regularly get together to play games virtually though, Tabletop Simulator is probably worth the money.

I'm in. I am always looking for more ways to get into board games. Also, given that this thread ways started 6 years ago, between then and now they released a program on Steam called Tabletop Simulator. Not only does it look much nicer than Vassal, a great many of the board games available on the Steam Workshop have scripted automation for the more tedious aspects of the game such as the initial board setup and the end of turn accounting that tends to crop up in the more complicated board games. If you are playing something like Terraforming Mars or Twilight Imperium, this scripting is an absolute godsend. The downside is that Tabletop Simulator will put you back about $20. Note that you do not have to pay for any of the actual games though.

I am surprised nobody has mentioned The Dragon Prince, given it's an animated fantasy epic. I think at least one of the writers from Avatar: TLA helped develop it and one of the main character uses and same voice actor as Sokka from TLA. It's an excellent series in any case and I highly recommend it.

As others have pointed out, they keep on changing the names of the summoned creatures from one FF title to the next. Given that each FF game (except the hyphenated series) takes place in its own Universe, I really don't see anything wrong with that.

Best games of the decade: 2010: Civilization V 2011: Deus Ex: Human Revolution 2012: X-Com Enemy Unknown, FTL 2013: Stardrive 2015: Cities: Skylines, Kerbal Space Program, Heroes of the Storm, Stardrive 2 2016: Overwatch, X-Com 2, Civilization 6, Stellaris, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Total War: Warhammer 2017: Divinity Original Sin 2, Prey 2018: Warhammer: Vermintide 2 2019: Age of Wonders: Planetfall Overall: Civilization V, honorable mentions for Divinity Original Sin 2 and Overwatch.

One of the great advantages of PC gaming is the near infinite backwards compatibility of the platform. With a PC, you basically have access to the entire catalog of PC games going all the way back to the DOS era, and there are a great many classics that are still worth playing: Deus Ex, Master of Magic, Heroes of Might and Magic, Ultima, Baldur's Gate, Civilization, etc. As long as you are not insistent on playing the most recent titles at the highest graphics settings, a budget PC should serve you well.