Today I learned to never give up a game, even if it looks like you've absolutely no chance of pulling it off. 4 Battlecruisers, against an entire army of Thors and Vikings. The other player gave up with a lot of rage flooding over the chat. Not because of my (truely lacking) skill, but because he really thought I had a much much larger army than he saw because I kept moving the Battlecruisers back and forth all the while repairing away.

I must say, it's actually a pretty decent sequel. Yeh, it's not the pinnacle of innovation but they kept the basic premise of an already great game and carefully adjusted and improved that. There are some pretty sour aspects which everyone has to decide upon though. I don't particularly like the real name enforcement and showing it to everyone on the friendslist and the friend's friendslist. I'm not into that web 2.0 stuff. I also really don't like some of the EULA stuff they've added but I'm more than happy to blame it on Bobby.
Anyways, prior to release I read a lot about how the game was supposed to cost 60€ in Europe. And then suddenly almost every retailer started selling it at 35-40€. Can't argue with that. Although I reckon they must have made some losses there.

/edit.
Also, what's up with that? Apparently you can play the entire campaign as a guest. So those bonus keys in the box are really a "play the campaign for free" kinda deal. I wonder if that's intentional or just an oversight...

I think there are countless Hammer tutorials for the interested out there.
Although I'd appreciate a tutorial dealing with the Alien Swarm specific stuff as I haven't seen one yet (or alternatively, if someone knows about a decent one, please do provide a link).

I've tried the Google Sketchup + VMF Export Plugin Method for a bit. I must say that selling my soul to the devil (google) actually does have its merits. Do want inferences in Hammer. Do want all the nifty guides and tools. So far I haven't had any luck with it though. Whatever I do, I end up with something that will ultimately crash Hammer once it has been imported.
So anyways, about the Hammer Discussion a couple of pages back. My main gripe with Hammer is how stuff tends to break with you only finding out about an hour later. And on the rare occasion that Hammer does feel communicative, it's primarily to mock the user with some gibberish error message for which you need to sell your soul to have them solved (Google them).

So, yeh. Everytime I decided to try something bigger, Hammer broke it (I did). Most of the times I don't even know why everything fell apart. It looks deceptively working in the editor, but the second you load up the game. BOOM.

It's also a discourse between westernized and easternized RPGs in my opinion. I'll explain what I mean before I get to why this is an issue in this case.

Western RPGs often come with huge Sandbox Worlds, a strong focus on graphics and a direct control scheme. Your success is determined by your skill at the game. For example knowing how to block and dodge in Gothic will allow you to fight hordes at a far lower level. Knowing what skill to use when is decisive. If you lose its because you didn't pick the right skill in that situation, even in games like Kotor or NWN. The Story frequently revolves around betrayal, despotism and war. Magic often only ends up as an afterthought.
If I were to compare it to something, it's the typical Conan or LotR kinda Style.

Eastern RPGs however have a limited world, the focus is on Atmosphere and the control scheme is about turnbased combat. Your success is primarily determined by how much you grinded prior to the battle. Knowledge of Skills is a side-effect that allows some to perform better but ultimately its decided by level. If you lose, well level some more. Here, the story is about the characters instead. You'll quite likely see several characters change their behavior over the course of the game. Stories often employ great peril at the hands of otherworldly beasts. Magic is central to the gameplay.
The comparison here is your average anime. Many people think "pokemon" and "dragonball z" instead of "Ergo Proxy" when they think about Anime - and as such are put off.

Here's the part where Indie RPGs come in. The level of ressources required to create a western RPG are too high and too far out of reach for most. So what they do is, they create a hybrid. Appeal to the western tastes while using the eastern style and approach. However by doing this, they're essentially alienating both sides to a degree. After all, there is a deep felt hatred towards JRPGs lately (which I feel has been made "the cool thing to do" by Yatzhee). So why should you try a game that looks like something you won't enjoy? And then there's the eastern crowd, the game might look like it appeals to them but the Story doesn't.
So what's left as a crowd are those few that do enjoy a fair mix of both scenarios. However that's a pretty small crowd against two rather large crowds to which there are fundamental flaws in the game. Hence, the low ratings. Hence, the hatred towards each other. Lengthy post, Sorry for that.

Yeh, you can use the Flamethrower on all levels, once you've unlocked it. It's one of the best weapons too.

I've also fiddled with Hammer, that thing is a nightmare. A relict of the past. An ancient god of malicious sadistic evil. Through some obscure math you can find out that Hammer actually means Ctulhu.
Which is sad as well since I've got a couple of ideas floating around but just can't put them into shape with this thing. Don't feel like selling my soul or something.

Been there since day one.
People just don't reckognize it. It does not cure the infestation, you'll still die without a medic or the right items. It just prevents the parasites from further infecting the marine. This drastically reduces the amount of time it takes to heal an infested marine though and thus saves healing power.

The Teslol now emphasizes the Stun Effect, but with almost every weapon killing in a shot or two, that's a pretty useless thing to do. The only times there's a need for stuns, is when there are bigger swarms, and they can be easily stunned by all the other Stun Options in the game.
You can't even fry the flying bugs anymore. It took me two Teslol Clips to take one done on insane with the beam trained on it for the entire time. So the Teslol (sorry, can't bring myself to name it differently anymore) only has two uses anymore:

Stun Shieldbugs if your team failed to bring proper stuns.
Fry Parasites off your teammates to help with de-infestation - which means the Team failed in the first place.

So it's there to wipe up two very specific and rarely important cases of bad play. The nerf seems a tad over the top for me.

Also @_Madk
The matchmaking in AS is really, really bad. I often spend up to an hour to get into a lobby. Most of the time it's either rotating on "Establishing Connection" or wades through the 10 bloody retry attempts on a Server in the backwater of Mars or something like that.
Did you try setting up a lobby yourself or invite friends to a game?

I guess its because Hammer starts by telling you all the great things It could do and then proceeds with telling you that at least half of those things don't work properly and will cause your map to be slow or bugged. The hard way. By spamming you with cryptic error messages which you spent a whole week "hammer"ing into google.

Anyways, had a lot of bad experiences today. It seems people are getting bored by the one campaign and feel the need to screw around. Hostility between players went up. So did intentional Teamattacks and Teamkills. Messing with console commands is a popular activity as well. Screwing people out of achievements seems to be a fun pasttime too (like, shooting them one step from the exit or activating sv_cheats a split second before the end...).

[support weapon.]

Personally I believe the Tesla was built as a support weapon.

Seems you were right on that one.

Out of todays patchnotes...

- Fixed ammo usage on the Tesla Cannon to properly decrease 4 times a second instead of 2 (doubled clip size to account for this).
- Rebalanced Tesla Cannon’s damage to encourage it to be used more as a support weapon.
- Tesla Cannon will now use ammo slowly even when it isn’t damaging something.

Oh well, let the slippery nerf slope begin, I guess. I wonder which weapon/item is next. My guess is on the Flamethrower, they already started picking on it. Or its gonna be the headcrabs, people just can't stand to not rush all the time I guess.

Another interesting discussion might be the tilebased map generator they shipped with this game. Some say its a great way to create custom maps, others already proclaim they would never play a map created by it, since they were of inferior quality and basically "piecing together someone elses work".

The Tesla is indeed a very decent weapon but I'd strongly disagree about 4 Tesla Teams. Yes, it does get the job done. Well, with the exception of speed-runs, that's a rumor started by people which incidently don't have a single speedrun achievement... figures. I'm also not sure whether Tesla stacks, does anyone have some info on that?
It's still somewhat of a cookie cutter though.
But yeah, it's slow, dull and boring to play in such teams. First couple of minutes might give a Ghostbusters Vibe but boredom kicks in eventually. You're slowly crawling forwards, each bigger mob takes half a minute to kill because of the low damage output. Personally, I'd rather take something different and actually enjoy the game, but alas, I'm not dictating how others should play. It just saddens me to see how lots of people already have settled on some "ideal teambuild". 2 medics and 4 Teslas it is for most public games.

Want to see some power? Pick Jaeger, give him a Vindicator. One or two shots take out entire hordes of aliens. Want some more power? Grab the Grenade Launcher, once you realize that there's a friendly fire buffer which reduces the first hit in some time to 1 hp, you can go crazy with this. Just don't aim it at your own feet.

Someone please kindly show me a tesla cleaning up a screen that fast.
Most of these choices however are in direct relation to the character you chose to play. There's no point in taking a chainsaw if you're not picking someone with a melee damage bonus and the powerfists. Same with the GL, sure its strong but to be really strong, you need a character with bonus points in explosives. Characters have more uses than just their class specific armory. The stats actually have a strong influence.

I've just completed it on insane and it's a blast. Somehow, it's a different game however. On all other difficulties you need about zero teamplay and can get by fine with guns blazing. On insane, if you're not coordinating your equipment and formations, you won't get far.

There are a couple of hints for those that appreciate them.
It's always a good idea to have at least one person securing to the back. It helps to pay attention to the Motion Tracker (on the Minimap) as well. This might seem like an obvious advice, but if you agreed on formations, everyone needs to stick to them. There's nothing more harmful than someone not trusting his teammate and jumping into the fray to clean up the "mess". Usually ends in friendly fire and pure chaos.

The Tesla-Gun is an easy to use weapon, it arcs from enemy to enemy and you don't need pinpoint accuracy for it. It only uses ammo when you're actually hitting something. So if you find yourself constantly swarmed by parasites, have one teammate constantly fire the Tesla-Gun. As soon as an alien gets close it either gets fried if its a small one or slowed down if its a normal one.
Also, the Tesla-Gun doesn't cause friendly fire. This makes it the perfect anti-parasite weapon. Careful though, it doesn't blend well with Tesla Traps as they soak up the beam.

People rarely use the special abilites of guns. Like I mentioned earlier, the Tesla Rifle slows down and even stuns some enemies. Killing Shieldbugs doesn't get easier than this. One person stuns it, all others walk to its back and happily shoot away.
Another example, most people use the rail rifle like a sniper rifle. Which is fine but not using the weapons potential. It's got piercing bullets which means it'll plow through entire lines of aliens. When you're swarmed by hordes, a single shot can take out 6 or 7 of them - if it is NOT used like a sniper rifle.

Don't underestimate items. I've seen most people rely on armor or picking fancy stuff and then forgetting about them. The electric armor can fry parasites even after they infected someone. The Tesla Traps are a decent replacement for Sentries once you don't need them that often anymore, the Power Fists turn melee into a killer weapon, the hornets and smartbombs are great to clear out masses of aliens - and on and on.

But yeah, primary difficulty are parasites, because most folks get into a flow of gun-blazing run and gun action which parasites are the ideal roadblock for.

/Edit:
Something important I forgot:
Unless the AI Director has been explicitly activated or you're in a crescendo event (have to hack something, or defend a spot), the Alien Spawns are not infinite! It may take some time and many people will claim otherwise but spawns are not endless. Alien Spawns are based on triggers you walk through.
Once activated, a spawn will keep on spamming aliens until it has reached a certain maximum after which it will deactivate. So if you're swarmed and outnumbered by aliens, you have to walk back onto familiar ground, not rush into new ground (while triggering countless new spawns).

But I do feel like you're... angry at competitive gamers for some reason. Like, really angry. Sure, some of them can be pretty elitist but you can't exactly say that casual gamers are much better either. We're all human, after all. Have you personally had an unfavorable experience with competitive gaming?

So you're trying to pull it onto a personal level now? Good luck with that. No I'm not angry with the competitive crowd, nice try though. I simply don't like their negative effects on games.
Counter-Strike had one of the most vibrant custom content scenes before it got banned from almost all servers. Maybe it's not your personal opinion, but you might want to check up on old posts from that era. Custom content was very much despised and fought by the clan and league-scene.
Yes, CS itself was a mod. Team Fortress too. That has nothing to do with my argument. Competition is something that creeps into a game or mod post release. Its an issue with the mindset it brings. People constantly clashing their heads against each other in semi serious ways tend to develop a huge ego. That ego spawns douchebaggery, insults, cheating, abuse, entitlement, feelings of superiority, feelings of self-imposed importance. One could argue that's an extension of society. If it is, it's not one I like and I'd rather see it go away, hence I'd like the competitive crowd to go away. Which isn't going to happen. So its moot anyways. I simply enjoy bringing up the damage they do as a group whenever I see someone feel entitled to more, because I feel that's an aspect they, as a group, tend to overlook.

Sure. Just like they did with StarCraft, Counter-Strike... Oh, wait. These are still the most competitively played games in the world.

One of which has some serious issues with wages and bets since the competitive crowd thought it'd be funny to rig games and the other has one of the most atrocious communities to have ever accumulated in the internet.
Thank you for bringing up those two games though, they're a prime example about what's so damned wrong with the competitive crowd. Remember the old days, yadda nostalgia blabla. But I'm sure you can still remember custom models, sounds and textures? There were entire communities formed around those things. Naturally, competitive play had an issue with that. Can't have variety now, can we?
Now you see, the funny thing is: Those were the training grounds for aspiring 3D Artists. The early custom models later on turned into mods. The custom scene fueled things like Day of Defeat and all the other quality mods of that era. Fast forward a couple of years. The competitive crowd had several years to shun and ban every little piece of custom content possible, literally enforcing their mindset on everyone else "for the better of the game".
What happened to the mod scene? It's but a shadow of itself! There are very few quality mods around and even those struggle with finding artists. What happened? The old artists moved on, many got jobs in the game making business. Some simply lost interest. And there are very few new ones because they can no longer combine their favorite hobby (playing) with their creativity (creating). Sure, they can still do those models, it's just that they can't use them anymore. What's the point then?

Then there's Starcraft, here we've got a company known for doing their thing and their thing only. Although they've recently bent over for Bobby. So what has the competitive crowd done to Starcraft? Oh, I'd say turn every bloody game into a stupid rushfest perhaps? That's for the better of the game? Having bet scandals and rigged games is for the better of the game? Seemingly so.

The main issue with the competitive crowd is their damn ego. The game should cater to them and to them only. The "carebears" are unimportant and insignificant. Add in the spirit of entitlement and you get one never-ending waterfall of negativity. There's just not a single thing right or good about the game they proclaim to care so much about. Even if the company bents over and tries to please them, they'll just pick nerf after nerf, 'til kingdom come.
How is that helpful? How is that beneficial? Each nerf is bound to piss off someone. So you have an entire group of people trying their hardest to piss off as many people as possible, not only with the way they behave but with the things they cause as well.

Yep. Poison.

In my humble opinion, the competitive crowd is pure poison to any game they decide to play. It's always the same bloody pattern, they tear games apart from the inside. They continue being a pain in the ass with their whines about balance and entitlement until the magic formula that made a game great has been completely torn apart and replaced by "balance bandages". These make the game look like Frankensteins Monster and about as much fun as playing Rock/Paper/Scissors for the millionth time. At which point the competitive crowd ironically loses interest and moves on. Like locusts.

Anyways, I've played the update for a bit and I'm loving it. Plenty of food for my demoman. I haven't gotten one of the new unlocks yet but that's okay.

Another interesting update in my books.
Although I have to admit, I enjoyed the Drama unfolding around the wrenches slightly more. It's like some modern absurd form of literature. There's the folks getting all enraged because they didn't get one, bouncing up and down like they were shot with an arrow. Then there's the leaked droptimes, the good old mystery element. Then there are those that got banned because they abused the droptimes and couldn't resist the shiny stuff, you know how the story 'bout Mac Beth ends.
There are also those that stalk the hundred people that got the wrenches and spam them with a wall of insults and slurs. Dare I say it, we're treading deadly sins ground already! Yay.

Seriously, quality entertainment.
On a positive note, the update rejuvenated the game once more. I'm grateful for it.

I dislike it as well.
But there's no stopping it, no changing it. Nothing people do will make them change a scheme that shoves truckloads of money onto their lawn.

And suggestions like "go buy a console" aren't a solution at all. You don't actually believe for one second that they will stop at PCs with the DRM craze, do you? Maybe I'm just too old fashioned but I'll miss the times when you could just lend a game to a friend. Nowadays, that makes you a criminal.

What Assassins Creed 2 Fiasco?
There's been some nerdrage; like hell they give a damn. Even though folks were hoping for it to backfire, it sold oh so well and will quite likely be the future standard procedure for PC Games. Sadly.

Copy Protection:
Aside from being a royal pain in the ass for the enduser, drying up the second hand market and generating loads of Usage Statistics (they come with $ signs attached to them)... ah, Piracy? What? Oh yes, yes... the cover-story about that piracy stuff. Allowing them to ditch game quality while raising the price tag. People complain? Point at pirates. Win/Win. I mean, what's not to absolutely love for Publishers?

The Games as art flamewar, and the reason for the rather adamant positions, can be summed up in one sentence: Folks being fed up by other folks putting piles of dung on pedestals just cause some guy tagged it as art.

The Art issue on the other hand:
If some folks are satisfied with games being limited as Art, so be it. Enjoy your limitations. I'd rather have games develop into something of its own instead of copy/pasting "instant shallow respect" stamps like Art onto them.

Seems like an interesting concept but I couldn't figure out the movement of the little guys at all. I spent half an hour on the first level, trying to guide them onto the meteors, trying to the best of my skill. All I managed was one measly king. I was unable to figure out just what exactly I did wrong though as the movements always seemed random (which you say they aren't) and at times frustrating when they'd rather forfeit their turn than walk the only possible path left they could go - onto the meteor.

I really don't enjoy the leaking of creeps in Tower Defense Games. It's frustrating, even moreso when it happens on the first level. There's something else that made me stop playing it though: The very slow firing speed of the towers. Is it intended that they literally take roughly five seconds to fire again?
I didn't particularly enjoy being forced to watch creeps snail past my towers completely unharmed just because they wouldn't fire. Even fully upgrading a tower and using those quicken gems didn't seem to help with that. :/