Anno 2070 and on and on and on

So, I've been mucking around with producing some video content, namely a Long Look of the fantastic real time strategy game Anno 2070. I plan to get through the entire single player campaign of this thing whilst on tape, learning and tweaking things as I go, figuring out how to balance audio levels, syncing up video and audio tracks, selecting the best way to capture and encode console and PC footage and how to talk whilst playing a damn video game! I'm basically treating this as my 'learning on the job' training, I hope at some point in the future I'll be able to get all these things nailed down and be able to blast out hot polished content into your eagerly waiting faces.

Since I am on the subject of Anno 2070, we may as well jive for a minute on what I think about it, after putting around seven hours of playtime on the clock these will only be fledgling opinions and may well change over the course of the next 20 or 30 hours.

As far as RTS games go, this one differs a little from the norm (by that I mean the Command and Conquers and StarCrafts of this world). Here the focus is on a cycle of harvesting raw materials, processing them, turning them into useful products for construction or trade and then setting up supply lines with the AI characters on the map to boost your income/barter for the items that you need. This is placed over a familiar framework of city planning, taxation, management of power and food supplies, research and development as well as your inhabitant's happiness and safety.

With the emphasis on cultivation and trading rather than fast paced out-and-out warfare (although combat is a part of the game, in all my hours so far I have destroyed naught but one little pirate ship), you are guided down a slightly more gentle path in terms of pace and just how many actions you are expected to perform and respond to. This suits me just fine, as a big fan of those types of RTS games I am still more than willing to try something a little different from my usual experience, that being: Dawn of War, Homeworld, StarCraft, Command & Conquer, Dune II, Company of Heroes, Total Annihilation and Warcraft (other video games are available, or so I'm told).

I'm still finding my way with this game, but the more I play the more I feel like I'm learning a subtly different set of skills when compared to those aforementioned RTSes. I am, however, up to my ass in this one mission where my economy has just dropped right out from under me, I think I'm about 90 minutes into a mission that should have been completed in around 20. Whether it's just me or I've encountered a nasty bug, I don't know yet, can YOU help? /turns to point and look directly at you.