From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


Awww yeah, we're getting back into free-games. The Number is
salivating already.


* Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 https://store.steampowered.com/app/645630/Car_Mechanic_Simulator_2018/
The best thing about this game is that you don't have to
wonder what it's all about; the title tells you everything
you need to know. It's basically yet-another-workplace-sim,
this one focused on building cars. Is it the deepest
simulator with revolutionary gameplay that will teach you
how to build and maintain cars in real life? No, but you get
to tinker with car parts and then drive your creation on the
track to see how well you did. It's far better than a lot of
the newer asset-flip workplace sims, anyway. So get out your
grease guns, scrounge the junkyard for parts, and build
that hotrod of your dreams that you never could in real life
because of a lack of time, money, and space.


You've got until the 27th to claim this freebie. Drive fast! Also,
there's some free DLC available too, so be sure to grab that as well.




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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Awww yeah, we're getting back into free-games. The Number is
salivating already.

* Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 https://store.steampowered.com/app/645630/Car_Mechanic_Simulator_2018/
The best thing about this game is that you don't have to
wonder what it's all about; the title tells you everything
you need to know. It's basically yet-another-workplace-sim,
this one focused on building cars. Is it the deepest
simulator with revolutionary gameplay that will teach you
how to build and maintain cars in real life? No, but you get
to tinker with car parts and then drive your creation on the
track to see how well you did. It's far better than a lot of
the newer asset-flip workplace sims, anyway. So get out your
grease guns, scrounge the junkyard for parts, and build
that hotrod of your dreams that you never could in real life
because of a lack of time, money, and space.

You've got until the 27th to claim this freebie. Drive fast! Also,
there's some free DLC available too, so be sure to grab that as well.

No thanks, I played Frog Dissection on the C-64 and once was enough,
I'll say.
--
War in the east
War in the west
War up north
War down south
War War
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

* Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 >https://store.steampowered.com/app/645630/Car_Mechanic_Simulator_2018/

Rover Mechanic Simulator https://store.steampowered.com/app/864680/Rover_Mechanic_Simulator/
remains a favorite of mine for chill and educational games

rms


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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Rover Mechanic Simulator https://store.steampowered.com/app/864680/Rover_Mechanic_Simulator/
remains a favorite of mine for chill and educational games

[reposting my review of it, just for the taste of it]
I've not played any 'mechanic simulator' -type games before, but developed
an increasing desire to attempt a game that looks at interacting with actual space hardware. Watching many Apollo program related movies, and then
reading this very engaging book on the development of the Lunar Rover,
Across the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings, pushed me over the edge into installing RMS.

The premise is that a permanent Mars base has a service garage for its research rovers, and you are the sole employee. Here are a couple pics of
the setting, with a cute puppy Sojourner and its bruiser big brother Perseverance
https://imgur.com/gallery/XSPKmip
https://imgur.com/gallery/wxjFUpK
both of which, along with the three other Mars rovers and the Ingenuity helicopter (assuming you buy the DLC) you will become intimately familiar
with as you diagnose, disassemble and reassemble pretty much every single
part over the many brief servicing jobs you are tasked with.

If you've ever built a car engine from the block up in your living room, or get quiet satisfaction from assembling scale models, this game is exactly
that experience. It is simple and repetitive, yes, but also calming and contemplative, and you do learn quite a bit on a high level about how these machines are constructed, and the different scientific instruments each carries, including highly detailed models of the interior of many of these instruments.

As for how much 'fun' RMS is, depends on your personality I guess, and how much interest you have in these rovers or space hardware to begin with.
Rover Mechanic Simulator I would think could be great for even fairly young kids as an educational experience, and I got good enjoyment from it. Perseverance itself (a full scale replica actually) is touring the country
as we speak, if you are close by: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/participate/rover-tour/


rms

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 26 May 2026 15:08:11 -0600, "rms" <rmsmoo@moomoo.net> said
this thing:

* Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 >>https://store.steampowered.com/app/645630/Car_Mechanic_Simulator_2018/

Rover Mechanic Simulator
https://store.steampowered.com/app/864680/Rover_Mechanic_Simulator/
remains a favorite of mine for chill and educational games

I'm having flashbacks to 2000's "MindRover", which was a more
primitive (and more focused on the programming than hardware) idea of
building space rovers. "Rover Mechanic" has much nicer visuals, that's
for sure!

Huh. Apparently I already have it in my library. I'm not sure how that happened. ;-)

I think I'll install it just to give it a gander. I'm not sure I'll
stick with it long enough for it to end up in the 'what have you been
playing' thread, but at the very least I'd like to gawk at the
visuals.

Thanks for the reminder, rms

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Wed, 27 May 2026 10:55:17 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> said this thing:

On Tue, 26 May 2026 15:08:11 -0600, "rms" <rmsmoo@moomoo.net> said
this thing:

* Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 >>>https://store.steampowered.com/app/645630/Car_Mechanic_Simulator_2018/

Rover Mechanic Simulator >>https://store.steampowered.com/app/864680/Rover_Mechanic_Simulator/
remains a favorite of mine for chill and educational games

I'm having flashbacks to 2000's "MindRover", which was a more
primitive (and more focused on the programming than hardware) idea of >building space rovers. "Rover Mechanic" has much nicer visuals, that's
for sure!

Huh. Apparently I already have it in my library. I'm not sure how that >happened. ;-)

I think I'll install it just to give it a gander. I'm not sure I'll
stick with it long enough for it to end up in the 'what have you been >playing' thread, but at the very least I'd like to gawk at the
visuals.

As promised, I installed the game and gave it a try. I didn't play
very long (certainly not long enough to get it into my end-of-month
round-up); I played just enough to get through the tutorial and the
first 'free play' mission, so take my comments with that in mind.

My overall feeling was one of disappointment. Not really because of
anything the game does, but more because of what it doesn't do.
Because I've played this game before... numerous times, in different variations. It's gameplay is pretty identical to "PC Builder Sim" and "Electrician Simulator" and a host of similar games, albeit just with
a different setting and bunch of devices to work on. And that really
was the problem I had with the game. It's too similar to everything
else.

It's not that I dislike the gameplay. I had a lot of fun with "PC
Building Simulator" and eked out over 70 hours of gameplay from that
title. It's perfectly fine, and sort of relaxing in its way. But the
gameplay is very low on the challenge scale; it's basically 'click on
the parts to remove them, then replace the bit that's broken with a
new one' throughout. There's very little intellectual effort required;
it's more a matter of perseverance of undoing all the bits to get to
the broken piece that actually needs replacing. You don't need to
think about what tools to use or what order to remove the other parts,
or keep in mind how to put everything back together. The diagnostics
are simplified to absurdity. You don't even need worry about losing
any bits or trying to keep all the removed pieces in order. It's just ultra-simplistic click-click-click until everything is done.

Which, again, doesn't make "Rover Mechanic" (or "PC Building
Simulator" for that matter) a bad game. It's just I was hoping for
something a bit more complex and different.

(The two games were so similar I actually had to check if they were
made by the same developer. They weren't)

"Rover Mechanic Simulator" is fine... especially if you have a deep
and abiding interest in space rovers (although I could have done with
more variety). But given the choice, were I to replay anything of this
sort, I'd go back to PC Builder. I just like that hardware more.


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