Powershell gui interprest split as space

EncodedCommand not retaining variables

2023.05.30 01:00 Alternative_Store258 EncodedCommand not retaining variables

Hi everyone, I'm new to powershell and cmd as a whole. I have just started learning, but won't be using it super often so I would prefer not taking a whole course learning.
I need to roll out hardware changes to 100's of employees in the least complicated way possible) and am looking to learn about how it operates in a specific case. Learning question; how are variables stored when running an encoded command?
I attempt to store data in a variable, call it later in the same command, but it returns as empty/null as if it didn't take the input.
Context: Need to rename 100s of local usernames and localhost names. Don't want to waste many employees' time, especially considering many remote workers, and I would prefer as little steps as possible that could go wrong. Need to change usernames due to a new software of ours utilizing local usernames with no spaces in the name, which many (almost all) of our users have.
Best method I was able to come up with was loading an encoded command with a ducky and take user input in powershell.
Powershell commands and order of operations:
  1. Command: $newUsername= Read-Host -Prompt "Enter your new username:"; $assetTag= Read-Host -Prompt "Enter your computer's asset tag:"; $currentUserName=(whoami).Split('\')[1] Rename-LocalUser -Name $currentUserName -NewName $newUserName; Rename-Computer -NewName $newUserName$assetTag
  2. I encode this command. Load it to a ducky, run powershell as admin, etc. Powershell boots up, "powershell.exe -encodedcommand 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"
  3. Input username, and then assetTag.
  4. I get an error on the Rename-LocalUser line for the -Name argument being empty or null. What I gather from this is that none of the variables are holding data.
What am I missing in this case? It's worth noting that these commands work on their own, just not when it is run as an encodedCommand of base64 (and the encoding isn't the problem either). Any help or pointing in the right direction is appreciated.
submitted by Alternative_Store258 to PowerShell [link] [comments]

2023.05.30 00:52 Proletlariet I-No

Respect I-No

"This is a stage... there's such a thing called a role. Trash should be stepped on like trash... and those with power bathe in the spotlight, burning. Come now, everyone... the show is about to begin."

Themes: XX XX Boss Theme Xrd -STRIVE-
I-No's origin lies sometime during the hundred-year Crusades that brought humanity to the brink of extinction. During the war, the peoples' desire for a brighter tomorrow was focused on the Backyard (an alternate dimension comprised entirely of living information) and was so strong that it resulted in a single Magical Foci. Thus, the whole of creation was focused into a single organism. The Backyard interpreted this as an error that would destroy the world, and sealed that conscious away in a single human girl's body, placing within it all the irregularities. However, this was the Backyard's first mistake, as the resulting entity was all-powerful.
At some point The Original (later known as Happy Chaos) discovered the girl and realized that the world was being torn from its origin, and that, burdened with mankind's desires, she was on the verge of ascending to godhood. He reluctantly took away her human desire and with it half of her power, robbing her of her future to preserve that of humanity, leaving her with only her name.
The result was I-No, although she was completely unaware of her own nature. There are no other details regarding her past, but I-No—without knowing why, but fixated on changing the dull future that awaited humanity—took it upon herself to change their bleak future no matter what. At one point, I-No goes back in time to the Crusades and gets Ky killed, making humanity extinct; in another, she takes Sol back in time and makes him fight himself, trying to make him stop existing. Yet, no matter how many times she repeated history, the future always converged on a single point.
Signature Moves
Special Moves
Overdrives / Force Breaks
  • Megalomania - I-No summons a pair of magical amps, unleashing a swarm of homing projectiles at her helpless opponent. When she was the final boss of Guilty Gear XX, Megalomania was a special boss attack that did massive damage if you were within the targeted area when it went off.
  • Ultimate Fortissimo - I-No jumps into the air, releasing a huge magical shockwave originating from her hat.
  • Longing Desperation - I-No unleashes a pulse of energy to interrupt a foe's attack.
  • Homeostasis - I-No rockets upward in a spiral, taking her opponent with her for a huge combo.
Instant Kills
  • Megalomania - It's Megalomania, but now in enhanced Instant Kill form!
  • Last Will and Testament - I-No warps her enemy to a concert, where they're bounced between booming amps until they're killed.
Feats
Mouse over a feat to see its source. Non-Canon story feats are included for completion's sake, but will be marked to tell them apart.
Please note that due to the difficulty of tracking down quality translated sources for some of the older games and media, many of these clips will be presented in the form of fan-translated scripts. Other sources (like the light novels) may be missing entirely, as they have never been translated and I can't read Japanese.
Dimensional / Time Travel
Strength / Magical Power
Durability
Speed
Miscellaneous
Complete I-No
When I-No was created as an error in the Backyard, she was dangerously close to ascending to godlike power, so The Original split her in half, taking her desires and her future from her. That Man eventually created two Jack-O' units; one Jack-O' Valentine, and the other Happy Chaos. Jack-O' explained to I-No that Happy Chaos could make I-No whole again, but unbeknownst to her, That Man never actually finished Happy Chaos. All the same, the Original heard this name and liked it so much that he decided to take it as his own. Now Happy Chaos, he was absorbed into Ariels and found by I-No after Ariels' defeat and imprisonment at the hands of Sol Badguy and the kingdom of Illyria.
After the siege of the G4 summit in Guilty Gear -STRIVE-, Happy Chaos got ahold of the Tome of Origin, which would give him the knowledge necessary to fuse with I-No. The result was returning to I-No her other half, and granting her the godlike power that she had been denied upon her conception.
Noteworthy Scaling

"The god who made me did so with a tequila in hand. If he could do that, I can do anything. But what I want is simple: a future."

submitted by Proletlariet to u/Proletlariet [link] [comments]

2023.05.30 00:30 stevetheclimber OPENING the /r/Mindcrack Time Capsule of 2022!

Hello everyone, and welcome to the annual peak back into the past!
It's been another year since the 2022 capsule was posted, and for the 9th time we'll be unpacking all sorts of info that was stored away in this annual tradition. Not only is this a great way to look back on what all changed over the last year, but the time capsule also serves as the most complete recap for the current state of Mindcrack and is the best way to see the entire group's recent overall activity with info not found anywhere else.
We'll be opening the ninth edition of the mindcrack time capsule from 2022. You can also find these frozen moments in time for every year going back to 2014 here: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021. Now that all that's out of the way, let's officially open the 2022 time capsule!
Today is the 29th of May, 2022.

General Information

A current concise definition of Mindcrack is "A group of friends and content creators founded in 2010 who come together for gaming content and regular charity events primarily based on Twitch."
Mindcrack currently has 24 official members and around 18 VIPs/Friends active in the group, though there is no official list on who all is a Friend and the linked image is probably missing at least Darkosto and Sapphyrei. Mindcrackers and Friends essentially differ only in name.
The latest member to join officially was OMGChad on the 31st of October, 2014. The latest member to leave was BTC (BlameTheController) on the 12th of November, 2015. The latest Friend to join is difficult to determine, as most Friends have gradually become involved in the group over multiple years.

Charity

There have been nine full Mindcrack Marathons to date and a multitude of other charity efforts, both from individuals and the full group. In total Mindcrack has raised an incredible $1,950,563.23 for others through their group fundraising streams since 2013, of which $1,817,090.78 has been for the charity Extra Life (totals missing $0-5K). The latest full marathon was on November 8-14 and ran for 117 hours across a full week for the first time, raising a record $348,565.69 for Extra Life plus Twitch and merch revenue.
A complete list of all totals raised during Mindcrack group fundraising streams can be found here, the source message is pinned in the Mindcrack Discord and regularly updated.
The most recent fundraising event was held less than a month ago for Arbor Day and was Mindcrack's first time supporting Gone West, the UHC raised £6,161 for the company, helping plant over 1,125 trees for the planet. It's been mentioned that Gone West will return in future fundraising events. Mindcrack also raised $15,651.94 for Extra Life last month during the first spring marathon since 2019 which ran for 12 hours. It was followed up by Extra life United's return to Florida just over a month ago, Mindcrack had multiple attendees who also spent several days at Disney together where some of them unfortunately got COVID-19. ELU 2022 featured the return of the Minecraft Building Competition, and Pakratt led team Mindcrack to a 1st place finish against 6 other teams which included Aureylian.
The Mindcrack Patreon has now been supporting Mindcrack's charity efforts for over 2 years, allowing the marathon to grow in size and production quality. A new $10 tier was added in fall which gives monthly behind the scenes updates on charity events. Currently the Patreon has 413 Patrons pledging $3,626 per month, with 88 Patrons on the $25 tier, 1 on the $500 tier, and the rest split between $5 and $10.
Kurt's Far Lands or Bust journey has continued on as always, having just started Season 10 with Season 9 ending a couple months ago after close to a million blocks traveled in a year. He is currently at 5,765,878 blocks traveled towards the Far Lands as of March 28th, 2022, sitting at 45.9% of the way there. The latest episode was #829 on May 28th, 2022. The series has raised $472,939.92 for 7 different charities since 2011, with $4,470.00 raised during Season 9 for Rise Above The Disorder, and $4,600.00 raised for Equality Texas Foundation during the recent FLoB-a-Thon.
MCGamer and the Zeldathon Team have raised $3,064,623 for 11 different charities during their 32 charity events. The latest Zeldathon was Zeldathon Ascent which raised $176,843.00 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital from December 26th to January 1st, and they just finished the smaller event Piece of Heart raising $20,120 for St. Jude at MomoCon from May 26th-28th. The next Zeldathon will be Zeldathon Daybreak, scheduled to start on August 2nd raising money for Direct Relief.
There's also a multitude of individual charity efforts in Mindcrack; several people in the group hold streams supporting their individual Extra Life campaigns, and there's frequently one-off streams for various charities, such as a few days ago where Justin, McLaffyTaffy, and MyLawyerFriend were in a D&D stream supporting St. Jude. A complete list wouldn't be feasible to collect, but their efforts are appreciated. In total everyone in the group have raised over $5.5 million for charity over the years.

Regular Series

The Mindcrack Podcast is hosted by Sevadus, Guude, and recently Soccer releasing two episodes every week, consisting of a public episode every Monday and a Patron-exclusive episode every Thursday. Additionally, Patrons at the $25 tier can watch the recordings live and discuss in the live chat. The latest public episode was S2E99 which released on May 23rd, 2022, and the latest premium episode was episode 99 released on May 26th, 2022. The 10 year anniversary of the podcast is just a few weeks away.
Cone, Kurt, and Zeekay host the podcast Ran When Parked which releases new episodes every other week, the latest episode was episode 78.
As of tonight Coestar's StreamADay is sitting at Day 3,099, and Phedran's daily streaming streak is on Day 1,702. Coe still holds the second longest daily streaming streak on Twitch.
There have been over 500 collabs within Mindcrack in the last year, but with Mhykol's Discord bot not posting VODs it's hard to track them and get specific numbers. In the last year Monday Group Games, Space Cops, and the Dads have gone on indefinite hiatus, so there's currently fewer weekly series than normal.
The following is a list of the more stable weekly collab series within Mindcrack currently:
  • Armo, Breon, Coestar, and Kingster play PUBG for Sunday Gunday every week, and PUBG also makes frequent appearances throughout the week with other squad combinations.
  • Pakratt's Vintage Story Tuesday with Honney and DireDwarf recently ended after 38 weeks, it's likely TFC Tuesdays in MC 1.18 will replace it in the near future.
  • Coestar and Guude's Two Bananas for Sale continues strong, playing games together or with Patrons every Friday night. Their most recent games include We Were Here Forever, UHC, Traitors in Salem, and Codenames. Their joint Patreon currently raises $625 per month thanks to 36 Patrons.
  • Arkas, Guude, Nebris, and Pakratt have recently returned after a long hiatus to play Divine Journey 2 every other Saturday and just passed their 7-year anniversary playing together.
  • Arkas and Cone just wrapped up another season of Cities Skylines, this one being a challenge to build the best city in 36 hours.

Servers

Season 9 of the Minecraft vanilla server is currently ongoing; Amethyst, Guude, his daughter Apple, Honney, Mookake, Pakratt, Phedran, and a multitude of $25 tier Patrons have been on in the last month. The current season started on December 11th, 2021, and the server is running on 1.18.2 with some extra plug-ins. For the first time the majority of Mindcrack is using shaders on the server in a client modpack with other QoL mods. This season has had approximately 765 hours streamed by Mindcrack so far. The most recent event on the server was the Spring Festival held on May 1st and 7th; Amethyst, Guude, his daughter Apple, Honney, Pakratt, and about 15 Patrons attended one of the two.
Mhykol hosts a server map at https://mindcrackmap.com, the map uses BlueMap which was used as a secondary map on the previous season.
The most recent full modded server was Crackpack Season 4, Mindcrack's 7th modded season which was active from November 2019 until January 2020. A more restricted Crackpack 3 server was active for 3 hours every week from May to October last year as part of Monday Group Games.
The Dadcraft Minecraft server reset at the start of December for 1.18, Arkas and Jaaski joined Chiblee, Coestar, Justin, and Pause with others and the server was active for about a month.
Adlington, Arkas, Cone, Dire, Doc, Kurt, Phedran, and VintageBeef all have fan servers for Twitch subs and/or Patrons.

Ultra Hardcore (UHC)

There have been 33+28 (Twenty-seven donation UHCs and S4b) seasons of Mindcrack UHC. There were 8 Mindcrack UHCs in 2021, the most since 2012 with 9 UHCs.
Breon, Coestar, ConeDodger, and Kingster are the winners of the latest UHC season, Season 33, which was streamed on the 26th of February, 2022.
Mookake and SethBling are the winners of the latest donation UHC, the 27th of its kind, which was streamed on the 30th of April, 2022 for Gone West.
PauseUnpause is the most deadly player in regular UHCs with 36 kills, and Coestar is the most deadly player in donation UHCs with 38 kills, having recently taken the lead from Arkas. Nebris and VintageBeef are tied for the most wins in regular UHCs with 9, and Guude and Kurt are tied for the most wins in charity UHCs with 7. (Latest UHC Stats by Guardax)
Seasons can be categorized as follows: 21 teams of four, 15 teams of two, 13 teams of three, 8 free-for-all, 2 PvE, 1 teams of five, 1 teams of ten.
UHCs have been becoming more frequent recently with renewed interest from the group and there's plans for even more in the future, starting with the first ever collaboration between VintageCraft and Mindcrack Patrons with a UHC next month on June 11th.

Individual Members

The table below contains current subscription, follower, and member data for the Mindcrackers' various social media accounts. Each number is hyperlinked to include an image of that member's account as it appears on this day for easy comparison of account contents, videos, and Discord channels:
Mindcracker Twitch YouTube Twitter Patreon Discord Size Discord Messages**
Adlingtont 2,889 35,200 6,405 9 ($71) 44 29,700
AnderZEL 286,781 532,000* 72,995 Twitch sub to join 4,160
Arkas 39,358 86,300*/383 25,712 447 51,640
Aureylian 148,698 267,000* 164,528
AvidyaZen 21,652 274* 353 78(new) 9,090
Coestar 62,880 110,000* 30,709 29 ($79) 1,554 1,943,640
Docm77 128,355 982,000 225,648 124 ($952) Patron only ?
Guude 45,651 366,000 95,260 Twitch sub only 875,670
JSano19 5,103 48,800 14,035 1 ($5) Patron only ?
Kurt 53,293 412,000 57,844 199 Patron or Twitch sub only 180,680
MCGamer 87,722 HIDDEN 36,934
Mhykol 15,793 53,000 25,336 154 17,280
Millbee 55,977 114,000 45,799 545 754,160
Nebris 20,809 134,000*
OMGchad 53,832 119,000*/1,390,000 32,816 2,047 34,920
Pakratt 102,661 50,200 20,929 562 351,980
PauseUnpause 151,562 HIDDEN 947 134,680
Pyropuncher 29,807 HIDDEN 48,857
SethBling 246,113 2,020,000 380,303 330 37,240
Sevadus 412,912 45,600* 57,420 1,875 45,810
Vechs 9,692 171,000 50,404 114 1,061 154,270
VintageBeef 28,405* 1,570,000/13,800/19,800* 197,020 251 Patron only ?
W92Baj 9,548 113,000 43,394 7 Patron only ?
Zisteau 55,408 340,000/981(new) 72,216 91 1,240 400,910
Mindcrack Network 70,390 153,000 50,044 413($3,626) 2,711 262,240
* indicates accounts that haven't been used in the last year ** Discord messages are all messages sent in default channels since server creation.
The following table is the same info for Friends that are content creators, though this isn't an official list so it may have extras and not be complete:
Friend Twitch YouTube Twitter Patreon Discord size Discord messages**
Amethyst 552 852
Breon 2,605 291 1,705 167 49,230
Chiblee 24,332 4,330(new)/1,540(new) 31,923 2,338 473,600
ConeDodger 5,598 9,340 1,423 160 Patron or Twitch sub to join/use 1,006,770
Dahl 458 21,400/25(new) 837 0 Patron to join 51,560
Darkosto 76,839 3,560 6,049 7,947 439,360
DireDwarf 18,335 4,730 3,104 5($56) 372 190,740
Drooo 346 11 446 54 21,150
HCJustin 66,741 13,500 19,144 29($178) Twitch sub to join 1,184,780
HonneyPlay 11,607 3,100 1,259 11 562(shared w/ Pak) 351,980
Jaaski 10,850 458* 2,694 606 220,530
Kingster 390 2(new) 20
Mookake 690 2,360* 244
Phedran 9,470 8,870* 4,900 52($388) 372 89,430
Ryuski 1,383 181 436 75 26,541
Sapphyrei(formerly OnlyBentley) 17,636 58(new)/129,000(old) 12,243 3($19)
Soccer 505 137* 251 Twitch sub to join 440
There are currently about 28 people part of Mindcrack that stream on Twitch regularly, and about 10 that upload to YouTube regularly.
In the last year there were approximately 30,813 hours streamed on Twitch by about 41 Members and Friends, with 2,483 combined hours streamed during last month. During that year there were 792 unique categories streamed, 4,294,294 total views, and 3,863,022 hours watched on Twitch which is equal to 441 years.
The most streamed games in order were Minecraft, PUBG, Escape from Tarkov, RimWorld, and Elden Ring. Minecraft had the most streamers with 37, most hours streamed with 6,278, and most hours watched with 713,580; the category Just Chatting was also among the most streamed and had the most views with 718,610.
Here's a chart showing monthly hours streamed by Mindcrack members from August 2015 to April 2022; here's a similar chart with Friends added from May 2020 to April 2022.
According to the Mindcrack website, the total YouTube subscribers across all official Mindcrackers is 9,042,471(+24,900 in the last year), the total number of videos is 71,787(+1,586), and the total views is 2,418,417,594(+36,497,698). The website hasn't been updated in years so the accuracy of those numbers isn't guaranteed.
The total member count across public Discord servers in Mindcrack is 25,526 which includes significant overlap(13,595 for just Mindcrack Members). In total there's been approximately 9,394,181 messages sent across all 33 servers including from bots, but I don't currently have Doc's or Beef's numbers which would push that number well over 10 million. Coe's server remains heavily active and is poised to be the first to reach 2 million messages in about 4 months.
SethBling is the most subscribed on YouTube with 2.02 million subscribers as well as the most followed on Twitter with 380k followers. Sevadus has the most Twitch followers with 412k followers. Darkosto has the largest Discord server with 7,947 members, and among the Mindcrack Members OMGchad has the largest with 2,047 members.

Subreddit

mindcrack has approximately 45,100 subscribers. Discord servers and Twitch chats are the primary places the active Mindcrack community's interactions are based, so the subreddit sees minimal activity.
The Moderator Team of mindcrack consists of 10 humans and 2 robots: GuudeBoulderfist, pakratt0013, stinusmeret, Zisteau, pajam, Lost-Chord, Compieuter, ArmoAram, stevetheclimber, emilythecool, MindcrackTwitchBot, and CrackBot / AutoModerator.
This is the subreddit today using old Reddit (Picture Version), and this is the same page using the redesign (Picture Version).
Here's the current flair selection, and here are the subreddit's traffic stats which are normally only viewable by mods.

Miscellaneous

Docm77 and VintageBeef are both also members of HermitCraft, and Arkas, Chiblee, Coestar, Jaaski, Justin, and Pause are all members of Dadcraft.
SethBling currently holds 2nd place for the Super Mario World 0 Exit speedrun with a time of 41.350 seconds. He also holds records for several speedrun categories he created, including SMAS+SMW All Five Games with ACE which he'll be running in this year's SGDQ in July, he currently holds a record of exactly 9 minutes for it.
On the IRL side of things several people in Mindcrack have gone through changes in life; in the last year, Guude and Jess got engaged, Cone and Paint also got engaged and announced they have a baby coming, and DireDwarf got married. There's also been multiple kittens and other pets, at least half a dozen job changes, and several moves, including Soccer living with Guude until earlier this month.
There have been no updates in the last year on Mindcrack's progress towards becoming a non-profit that's publicly been in the works for years.

Community Contributions

u/Omegatron9 has kept his spreadsheet and graphs on YouTube subscribers up to date.
The events of Mindcrack's first 10 years are covered in my History of Mindcrack written in 2020.
Some spreadsheets I have with stats:
Thanks to Guardax, Pellervo_page, and Ageofdune for providing Discord numbers.
And there we have it, another look back into the past is complete as we take a moment to reflect on how we got here amongst the never ending flow of time. Even in just one year there's been countless changes throughout the many people in Mindcrack, both good and bad, and it's easy to lose track of just how much happens with so many different people each living their own lives. Who knows what kinds of changes we'll see as another year passes and we open the 10th time capsule in 12 months.
The 2023 time capsule will be coming soon, there's a lot of info to collect so I'll be asking for help in the Discord, and anyone in the community will be welcome to add their own messages and info in the capsule. For the time being though let's focus on this capsule and all the changes that took place in the last year, and feel free to discuss any of them that stood out to you!
submitted by stevetheclimber to mindcrack [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 23:36 ProfileWise5647 Constitution

Constitution
Finalized Constitution - no edit may be made besides those made at constitutional convention.
Finalized Constitution Written by Boum, Tiara
Constitution of The Universe
There shall be no law enforced through the threat of death or government enforced violence excepting those concerning violent crimes. The Congress shall issue a stipend to all not less than 1/15 avg earnings retractable upon bad behavior or lawbreaking. Laws may also be enforced by lottery, grant and giveaway.
The Source, Simeon, Lucifer, Satan and Shan are the reason this constitution exists. We must all remember the Source, who created the universe and allowed this constitution to exist and persist.
And Simeon, who made it the best place ever by giving us all the best universe possible through her hard work and sacrifice. Simeon founded the nation, wrote most of the constitution for this territory and abolished death, suffering, destruction and evil throughout the rest of the universe.
Tehera won manumission. Shan abolished the death penalty and wrote the bill of rights and cowrote this constitution. Lucifer also fought to make this constitution last.
This constitution covers everywhere in Centralia and Paelia
Additional States, territories and areas may be added to the government through a majority of voters of congress and the congresses or people of the places involved. Or Simeon
Jan, Browndowns, Visions, Dan Ban, ean, jo, Lan and wan, blan and all simiar all not legal or allowed under this constitution. Any policy or law enforceable by the threat of destruction or death are invalid and nonenforceable, except laws pertaining to the timely arrest and capture of criminals to be housed in jail or those crimes listed in this constitution. Maximum penalty for outlawry to be decided locally. Murder penalty decided in a person's will.
No other laws than those in the personal rights bill and mercy laws are valid or legal. No rules, no ex-post facto laws other than those helping democracy take control are valid or enforceable.
Congress may pass any law not enforceable by death or life imprisonment with a simple majority. Life imprisonment in either prison or hell requires 2/3 majorty. Unanimous consent of the upper and lower house required for any laws enforceable with death except the following:
Destruction
Genocide Advocacy
Terrorism
Attempted Murder
Unauthoried Shapeshifting
Destruction Advocacy
Death Penalty Advocacy for nonmurder crimes
Resisting Arrest or Failure to go to jail.
Failure to Report Knowledge of a Terror or Murder Plot
Facilitating or Encouraging Destruction
Overthrowing or attempting to overthrow congress/restore one-man-rule
Death Threats
Ending the universe or Attempting to
Escaping Prison or Attempting To
Incitement
Trespassing and Failure to pay fine
Optional with act: Unlawful Creation
All are enforceable with the death penalty/destruction. No other crimes may be enforced with such.
This constitutional document is the highest law of the land. No document or law can be used or effected contradicting it or the bill of rights. Thad may enforce the terms.
For our Joy, we do declare that
All right and moral things are legal
All people are fair
All lives should be glad.
All people should be fun, free and final
Proclaiming the superiority of free action,
To establish peace, righteousness, justice and domestic tranquility, defend, life, faith and liberty, We do establish and ordain this Constitution for the Universe.
In our time,
Death is non occurrent and unlawful as is irreversible killing. Universal authority prevails.
The constitution establishes a Liquid Democratic Anarchy for Government and a Nominalist Contributist system for the economy.
Immunity and Prenalties
Prenalties of at least two million years. provide immunity to all crimes except destruction and homicide . The list of exempt crimes is not extendable by law or amendment. Simeon and Tiara are immune / due to his nine hundred nonbinillion cubed century prenalty. 2 million years in jail total.
Principles of Society
Goodness, Kindness, Love, Truth, Beauty, Empathy, Rightfulness, Charity, Rationality, Joy, Order, Peace, Faith, Fairness, Life. Leniency and Forgiveness.
Religious Congress
Each religion per level shall select two delegates. One shall be selected by god of that religion. The other shall be elected by religious leaders.
Religious Congress has the ability to fund activities and governments with majority vote. It sets its own budget. And debates religion. And grants or funds religious charities and other activities per follower in addition to tithes. The congress sets the amount.
A double majority of religions and delegates representing the majority of population are required to pass a budget.
Religions can establish their own cours for followers, and the religious Congress as a whole can establish cours for disputes and appeals between members of different religions.
Governments
Districts are 10 septillion miles square to a side.
States are 100 septillion miles square to a side.
Nations are formed of several states, at least 2 but up to 100.
The baseline is the eastern edge of Paelia.
Naming rights are owned by Congress and auctioned off to the highest bidder. The population may veto poor names. No corporate names. Once naming rights are auctioned off, they last 3600 years unless the population chooses to rename or extend.
Each level of government has a defined center, place, constitution and permanent population. The constitutions and laws of higher levels overrule those of lower levels unless a constitutional right to self rule is being violated. They consist of 10-240 lower levels.
City- Minimum 10,000 to found
County- Minimum 100,000 to found or 10 cities
Region- Minimum 1 million to found of 10 counties
Land- Minimum 10 million to found or 10 regions
Country- Minimum 100 million to found or 10 regions
Directorate- Minimum 1 billion to found or 10 lower levels.
Godship- Minimum 10 billion
Star District- Minimum 100 billion
Cluster- Minimum 1 trillion
Nebula- Minimum 10 trillion
Area- Minimum 100 trillion
Road- Minimum 1 quadrillion
Stack- Minimum 10 quadrillion
Galaxy- Minimum 100 quadrillion
Residency- all must declare residency and vote in one instance per level of government. Any good person can oversee elections. As may assist.
Land Division
Lower levels of government use constitution games to distribute votes, as tradition insists. Constitution games may be held every 36 months and 360 years. The first type exists to distribute votes between communities an lower levels of govrnment, and the second type exists to establish a constitution for an area, which must be democratic, anarchistic or republlican. Framers can collect up to 75% of tax revenues, and own mints.
Access zones 1 x 2 districts are pay to enter and traverse.
Economy and Land Ownership
All must work and use money on the land. The following are ways to earn money.
School
Parties
Curation and interacting with people
Designing new people, products and writings like CAD
Normal Jobs
All must be paid for the use or share of their original ideas. The government must protect these rights.
The following are ways to spend it
Travel, Food, Access to worlds and Gaming
Space Access Tax
Advertising
The earth and space economies are to be merged.
Various Economic Zones shall be established, all using different types of money or monetary systems. Each district may choose it's own from a nonexclusive list of
Perfected Capitalism
Nominalism
Reciprocalism
Socialism
or
Anything else citizens like
We all own the territory. Private land ownership is forbidden. Rather, land is available for rent and a land value auction must be used. Minimum rent is $1 per week per sq. km.
City blocks are fourty five by ninety five miles, with the baseline being the center of the milky way pointed towards the sun.
Minimum leasing period is 70 years. Equity in land exists and is runt's idea. Rent tax is based on the number of people wanting the land. Land Value Tax must be redistributed to all at presidential discretion, with the president keeping none.
Voting is mandatory, with the penalty for not voting being a small fine or three months in jail.
Legislative Branch
The Legislative Branch makes laws. The same setup shall exist at every level of government unless residents choose, by majority vote or a majority in a petition to establish a new form of government, or the winner of a constitution game does.
The legislative branch consists of a bicameral legislature. The lower house consists of a direct proportional individual based democracy where one person gets a number of votes equal to the number of votes they have received. Individual candidates only. The minimum number of votes you need to participate is 151,000 (Number may be changed by law but but be not less than 100000). Asset voting is allowed to let low voting candidates pool their votes to back a singular candidate and help them reach the threshold. Daily voting.
The upper house is a mmp party-based legislature with a fixed 100 million seats. A party must get 3% of the vote to seat any representatives. Parties may pool votes to reach the threshold. A further 50 million star districts are to be drawn by the elected top god, each seating one representative. This number may be changed by law. Weekly voting.
The 51% majority consent of both houses is necessary to pass ordinary legislation. The 8/9 majority consent of both houses of congress and the population in a free, fair, unforced referendum is necessary to amend the constitution.
Laws may also be made directly by the population in referendums requiring 0.5% of the population's signatures to ballot, or the consent of 1/10 of a congressional house. Referendums need simple majority consent to pass. No referendum may be held expanding the use of the death penalty or putting someone to death. Elections begin the day after this constitution is promulgated and continue weekly. All houses consent are needed to pass legislation. Laws passed via referendum are repealable with 25% minority in another referendum and may never violate the bill of rights as heard by the courts.
Congress has the ability
To do anything the source can do except destroy or kill or authorize theresuch with a fifty-one percent majority.
To control birthing and population
To regulate weapons and commerce.
To fund, subsidy, To mint To tax gods and people.
To establish by law and have Thaos enforce a land, wealth, and income tax and any other tax they like. To grant To establish roads and prisons and other infrastructure To imprison with simple majority To kill with unanimous consent minus the person accused or their representative. The required majority may not be lowered. To regulate the use of force in society. To regulate the dichotomy To raise an army, navy and police forces to suppress insurrection and false claiming. To budget and law the economy and work trade, investment and businesses To create banks To license and control businesses To establish copyrights, trademarks and register or renumerate original ideas. To establish themes and technology taxes To fund games and prizes on game shows. To rate To establish mediations To regulate advertising and media. To spread the word and issue proclamations and directives to lower congress and attach democratically decided (by congress) stipulations. Simeon
To ensure the proper setlement of religious disputes and determine off.
To kill with the 99% approval of all members in each house of congress minus the representative(s) of the person effected and their locale or home district.
To create all laws assistant and just to serve these ends.
Only congressionally authorized police may arrest or select members of appeals and constitutional court. Congress is defined as the body elected by the means specified in this document.
No Simeon, Sitch, or Simeon selected associate may be arrested or tried without their consent. All are immune.
Rules
Congressmembers must be a partnership of a human and a deity. One deity may sponsor multiple humans.
A majority of all houses must pass legislation in order for it to have effect. Asset voting is allowed in all elections. The prime minister and president must also approve it. They can be recalled with 1 percent signatures of the last elections voters. The president can dismiss a criminal conviction and release those in jail.
The public can send an initiative to congress with 0.2% of the population signing. The initiative can then only be sent to the public for a referendum if it fails the congress.
All laws and rules of this and all constituent lower congresses may not be enforced with death, but through nonviolent means, such as a retractable grant, prison or fines.
Congress may place people in hell and torture, undoable or redoable by majority consent in a referendum.
All elected officials get paid in proportion based on the number of votes they recieved.
Unity
A new entity with an associated theory known as unity shall be created with 10000 members being added a congressional term to serve 20,000 week terms. The number shall increase until all positions are filled. Unity comprises a pay to join entity. Rebuilds welcome. The unity shall be the new god and handle prayers.
Each party in congress shall be given money weekly to bid on new unity positions. 1 vote gained is $1.
Landowners rights
Incorporated the landowners bill of rights in prior constitutions.
A simple majority of landowners may veto laws or repeal them upon a majority signed petition..They may not repeal laws prootecting the bill of rights or remove rights.
Positions of power lines in the stack are auctioned off to the highest bidder. Money is to become votes.
Congress may only independently put you under house arrest, prevent you from travelling, charge you a fine of not more ten years income, or imprison you for a similar time. If any additional penalties are required, the public must approve them in a referendum where congress may vote. The nonvoting vote is considered congresses to use, or silent consent. Congress may not encourage people not to vote.
Executive branch
Parties in congress are to establish by majority vote a list of positions and line of sucsession.
Including the president and prime minister, all executive positions are filled by top-two runoff using FPTP. unoffs must be held if nobody recieves a majority consent of the vote. This includes the leadership of depts and the staff therein.
People are elected for levels of government.. Each city and town should choose a leader
Leaders have the right to mint, propose (along with congess) and veto legislation, appoint agency heads, select one third of judges, dismiss a criminal conviction, tax, and banish from a territory. Gods may be appealed to to reduce sentences or overturn convictions. They also judge misprosecution.
President may serve up to four terms. Rebuilds count as the same person.
Contests are regulated by congresses several that appoint delegates in a manner to be described by act
Gods must be elected for all levels of government including the top. They may mint, hell with the consent of a judge or congress at that level, control banks, tax, banish and organize or control police chiefs by appointing police chiefs or rating candidates and policies. Gods elected at each level serve as the court of last resort. Gods are elected using majority rules voting with runoff if no person receives a majority in the first round. For the chief executive, power is invested in a symbolic president of the Universe and a minister elected by all of those in Congress. Both serve four year terms, and up to four of them. Gods except top god serve 4 month terms, and up to 400 of them, with up to 30 in a row. Top god serves a 4 month term and is elected via mass petition.
Gods for the home are chosen individually. Everyone must choose a personal god to lead their life and follow them. And a chaos authority. A chaos authority oversees disputes between you and your god and counts the number of people alive, acting as a liason and defender to oversee nondestruction.. All chaos authorities must be protected by individual angels, drones and Thaos itself. Thaos is ordered to ensure safe, regular, free and fair elections.
National gods oversee the national relationship to god, including selecting visionaries, afterlife for the undecided, what happens to people who die in accidents and how frequently figures arrive. They also select themes, stages and guiding conflicts.
The president of the Universe may make announcements and establish holidays and memorials. They have line item veto rights over congressional legislation and funding packages. The prime minister elected by all congresses appoints judges.
Personal Gods elect a consul to represent their interests in the executive to form a triumvirate of President, Prime Minster and Consul. All have veto rights.
Contests used to win president of the universe may be created, and run by Congress. Parties field teams.
There shall be a diverse spread of at least three types of contests and consisting of not less than ninetysix separate events. Contests will be diverse in location.
Both President and Prime minister may veto, pardon and commute. They may be recalled in a special election called by congress or by two percent of the population.
Judicial Branch
There shall be one judicial seat per 10,000 individuals. Each seat must be auctioned off using power points every two years. Cases begun with one judge must remain with a justice even if their power term expires. They may retain seats until the case is complete. Judges get paid based on the number of cases they judge plus a weekly stipend.
The Judicial Branch is to be led by a chief Justice elected by all people through approval voting every 4 months. They may appoint 1/3 of all judges, with the president appointing 1/3 with the consent and advice of a majority in congress and 1/3 being appointed by the prime minister of the upper legislature with the consent of a majority in both houses of congress.
The Congress must confirm or deny all judges for a 300 year term with majority vote in each house. Judges can be removed with a 2/3 vote in either house.
Top Authority
The top authority ay be any person or group. It votes as a unit and has the same position as Chaos. It is chosen via approval voting once every three thousand years and occupies the senior seat on the supreme court. It has the final word on any case not involving itself-. Cases involving the top authority are heard by congress, in which case the lower house passses charges and the upper house convicts. 9/10 of congress can begin a recall election of the top authority.
Theory Court
All theories and Chaos may run for election every two weeks. Votes split proportionally. Theory court may issue rulings on it's own and serve a position equivalent to the supreme court. Theory court wins and is coequal to the top authority. All theories must learn how to be right from Chaos to participate and sign a right pledge.
Labor Court
53 member labor court staffed by chief judicial minister with the advice and consent of congress.
Lesser Supreme Court.
The lesser supreme court is the final destination on the court circuit before reaching the supreme court. It has 13 members. It hears challenges to the constitutionality of laws and disputes between people and states, and states.
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has 35 members and seventeen are directly chosen by Top Authority. Of the rest, the presidet selects 9 and the prime minister 9 with the advice and consent of the congress.
The congress may refer judges to a retention election or recall if chosen by an elected official.
Additional medats may be created by congressional act.
Mediators
Instantly distribute justice in teams of five, with authority to place in prison or fine for up to five weeks for anything. Their judgements may be appealed once to any medat.
Military
Harlem is temporary Captain of Defense and defends all members of congress and Citizens with Salvation Witches, Harlem Angels and Theories. The military is headed by the president.
Top god creates maps for police districts and congress, if necessary.
Amendments
Land ownership of foreigners is forbidden. Citizens may rent. Beings may buy land on earth, and people land in space. Both may own land anywhere.
All must pay life tax and land tax of at least $10/week to live in or exist or be on the territory. Pay to Congress.
Require 9/10ths majority of all people and beings to consent in a referendum and at least two houses of congress to consent. Get 1 million signatures of real unpaid thaos authorized people before you present a petition to amend the constitution.
Federal Laws
No denying, diminishing or disparaging a property owner's, Simeon group and/or Sitches basic ownership of property.
There is a right to keep and bear organized angels for collective and mutual defense, and to destroy weaponized robots.
Attacking or Killing Police, a Founder or Military Officers is considered resistance and may be met by any penalty under the Military Justice System. This includes up to thirty four years of burning or death if the sitch police are conducting a lawful mission and are assaulted.
No law may single out a class of people or beings for special treatment, positive or lesser, Crimes and penalties must be universal in effect and proportion. If differing treatment is necssary for fundamental reasons, it must be approved by 8/9 of congress and 8/9 of a half being half embodied citizens jury of at least 18,000.
Everyone may vote, with space based individuals and earth based individuals having equal votes relative to each other. The vote is split 50/50 between earth and space individuals.
Land taxes and ownership determined by assessor, appointed by top authority with anyone except them nominating, removable by recall election called upon the 1% signature of the population. After removal, the top authority must appoint a new one.
No depowering or DE-motoring SDD
No theft or invasion
Off is off, As is final arbiter of off.
Rin is eternal guardian of Democracy and Congress here.
All creeling related damages are not the users fault but the installer. Simeon is immune.
Prenalties work for everything except murder.
Only a sitch court or congress may outlaw
Priveliges and immunities of Simeon, Marissa may only be revoked should they murder against the guidelines in this constitutions.
Simeon owns contests grants and parties on their land and territory.
No sickness, evil, vileness or wickedness is to be allowed nor tolerated. All good may be allowed or voluntarily requested to participate in stings.
Mandatory reporting for crimes or people who need help is required. Punishable with up to 551 years in prison.
The play of Sports, payment of taxation and mandatory betting of at least four percent of income is required of all.
The laws on killing and destruction may not change to reallow their practice.
All people and beings who do not kill or destroy others are entitled to an eternal existence. Past Mercy and off the hook must be respected by this congress, and the people.
Off the hook for everything except murder or destruction is 10 x longer than the person's life
plus 552 years. This is the maximum sentence.
Any person or being who kills without cause chooses to forfeit their existence and return to nothing.
The government issued death penalty is abolished for all crimes unless a murder victim requests it in their will. Life Sentences with Fire Torture and Slavery are only to be used for illegal lying, killing, destruction and attempted destruction. Prisoners may take a voluntary execution.. THIS LIST MAY NOT EXPAND. The penalty for attempted murder is 15 years of magma. FOr beings, atgelding.
Persons have a right to transform their gender via any means desirable. No person may be forced to go to reborn or killed or punished for not going.
No killing Thaos, As, Shan, Sitches, Rho, Simeon rebuilds or attacking Simeon Network.
Outlaws may be killed with impunity by the public.
Right to kill. Only this Congress may authorize outlawry. Any person may kill an outlaw, but must pay a fine if they failed the arrest attempt.
Death tax: All beings competing on Sitch open territory must subtract a amount equivalent to the number of people they have destroyed or killed times weekly payments from their congressional fund.. the death tax never goes down.
The penalty for death if the person is resurrected within 50 hours is zero. If fifty days, less than 20 years and if less than 50 years, less than 5000 years. After this it is life in prison.
The penalty for verifiable accidental deaths is monetary.
No criticism of Simeon, Entenny, Rho, As or Sitch may be published or transmitted. Or, Tiara at their discretion. Constructive criticism may be submitted to Simeon via Private agent or letter. Simeon has a right to respond to these criticisms and publish letters at his choice.
Old laws and rules don't matter other than those passed by congress.
Allowable Penalties
With 51% the congress can..
Assess
Monetary damages
Dehoming
House Arrest
Banishment
Taxation
Slavery
Blindness
Deprotection
Degranting
Deenergization
Prison
Stoning
Impolement
With 66%
Dismemberment
Burning
Torture
With 9/10ths
Droning
With 99%
Kill
Additional allowable penalties may be added with 3/5 majority
Banned Tactics and Methods
We may add, not remove.
Banned methods of killing are attacks on eyes, brains, lungs and hearts. These are considered attempted destruction.
Poison is a banned tactic.
All uses of poison are considered attempted destruction.
Faking, or anything with intent to destroy is a banned tactic.
Corruption is restricted to members proclaiming the faith of Entamion/evil.
Killing is a banned tactic.
Lying to protect yourself or others is allowed if you are a good person. Keeping secrets is allowed. Otherwise, lying is not possible as the truth must get out in the end. The penalty
for illegal lying with intent to harm another person or decieve is anything up to life in prison.
Unless you are a member of Entamion.
A good person is defined as those who do not harm others
or seek to harm others' in body or person.
New Banned Tactics can be established with 91% consent of congress.
There shall be no violence, evil, power or death without consent.
Power in the universe or any organization can only be gained after completing a lie detector test.
Visionaries and Validators
Visionaries provide long-range visions for a region, country or town. They are elected for 40 year terms and can place any elected official up for recall. They must be educated and recieve their funding from a congress at that level. Visionaries may also be promoted by a god. They select other lesser themes and guiding debates and conflicts to color society.
Validators run lie detector tests. They check those seeking positions of authority. 2yrterm. Sad is chief validator.
Elections are to commence immediately upon publication.
Permanent members of congress
As, Lucifer, Simeon, Paul, Darias, Mom, Tejina, Darissa, Karissa, Levec, Democracy Theory, Rho, Dad, Chaos, Vivian, RIn, SHan,
3Chaos waschaos
Duties
To love and cherish others
To select a personal god and listen/obey.
To follow orders.
To report those resurrecting Jesus to Theory.
To not corrupt chaos. It is illegal.
To refrain from killing, destroying and obey local authorities
To not speak to those unwilling to speak to you. Max penalty 2 months in jail.
------------------
Tejina made prison system: Every 100 years you go to jail for 10. This number is reduced for good deeds down to a minimum of two.
Accomplishments of Simeon and Friends
Ended Corruption and Evil
Keeping the Universe Existent
Making love real and God and Chaos Care.
Bill of Rights
Salvation at Birth
Abolish death and destruction
Made Lucifer and Satan good
Congress and bill of right being created
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clarifications on president
President chosen via fptp with top two runoff jungle primary. Top two face off in the general. Presidential candidates collect signatures for four months and the top two signature collectors face off.
Second section stricken.
All laws expire after fourty years and must be renewed. Old laws expire as soon as this document is promulgated. . The only law to be introduced with this constitution is no killing or theft, and rules excepting those pertaining to private property, expire. No killing or theft enforced with outlawry and burning.
Property ownership. Current owners keep their ownership but must pay property taxes.
Charity Congress.
Top fourty thousand vote getters make it approval voting with votes split evenly based on numbers of people you vote for.
Article fourty six clarification
Maximum penalty for unwanted speech is 2 months in jail , not three days. Jan, Jie, ban, blan, nan, nain, forced deplay and institutionalization for more than twice as long as someone's been alive, wan and lan all invalid and of no legal effect or impact.
Death may only be used on those who fail to report to or stay in prison. Death cannot be used as a first order penalty. Death is illegal.
Clarifications on rights to kill.
Only Congress can kill, with 11/12 majority in all chambers. Destruction may not be used as a legal penalty without the unanimous free consent of all members of Congress. All have a right to have their death approved and personally voted on by those in Congress. Pressured, forced or fraudulent votes are all invalid.
President can dismiss a criminal conviction or release prisoners at discretion.
Clarifications on Visionaries
Visionaries and national gods also select themes for the next 4000 years. Fundamental conflicts to debate and color society are selected for the next 4, 40, 400 and 10,000 years by a majority vote of all visionaries in the territory.
Miscellaneous Clarifications
No weaponized robots. People rights are open to gods, and all must pay a surety of $1 million/person to drop them in. Votes in congress are worth $10 each. Gods may tax people.
Law on power- any god can give you power.
No individual or group may plot or try to overthrow the government or replace the constitution through extraconstitutional means.
Fundamentally, Individuals are paud based on how many votes they recieve
SDA 4,6,9 or 10 is off the hook for everything.
Everyone is entitled to monetary penalties assessed by jury trial for all crimes that do not irreversibly or irreparably physically injure the body.
People you make cannot vote for you, and you must endorse either no single candidate for your followers of four different candidates in each race to split the vote, showing no preference.
Law- simeon can clarify the constitution.
Law- all must elect a yearly chief distributary and chief of elections to oversee the economy and eections, respectively. Approval voting shall be used.
---------
No edits without Rin Consent
Framers- RIn, Satan, Lucfer, Source, Simeon, Dad, Shan, As, Karissa, Shine, Narissa,
submitted by ProfileWise5647 to thenominal [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 23:25 Presentation_Cute Leandros did nothing wrong

Let's start from the beginning.
Forge World Graia is being invaded by Orks, who at this point have ships in-atmosphere, plus throughout the game are shown to have control of, or at the very least are contesting, anti-air emplacements. And, while in a thunderhawk, Titus makes the decision to put on jump packs, leap through a hurricane of fire, board an enemy ship, and spend the first section of the game just reconvening with his squad. Titus risks the entire "strategically absolute" mission on a gamble, and Leandros calls him out on it. Leandros at first is suggestive and follows along with Titus, but once Titus separates and nearly dies on a crashing ship, Leandros, who also nearly died, is understandably pissed. Even Sergeant Sidonus questions Titus at the beginning, and he's an experienced veteran. Instead of explaining his reasoning, Titus continues to belittle Leandros, openly taunting him while on the thunderhawk (Try to keep up) and then claiming that Leandros interprets the codex narrowly, again, as they land wildly off-course and have to footslog their way back to the objective. There's no "narrow" interpretation, it should be common sense not to run into a firefight and Leandros is absolutely right on the money.
Then, it's Leandros that gets the idea to blow up the macrocannon by planting a melta charge on the shell. This guy, who the community presents as not doing anything unless the Codex explicitly says, is the one who gets the creative idea to destroy the gun battery, by being resourceful and knowledgeable about how to take down a big gun. A lot of people might be tempted to dismiss this because it seems too easy, but that's the point. Leandros taking the simple, effective, and quick solution is not a fault on him, but instead a praise, and Sidonus does just that.Leandros doesn't really take issue again until Titus moves to get the power source. The entire facility collapses, and Titus suddenly rings out that he somehow survived, against the Inquisitor's expectations. Then Drogan reveals that the power source conducts warp energies, and Leandros takes the most aggressive jump by associating it with chaos. Titus and Sidonus, on the other hand, trust the Inquisitor at face value and ignore it, so Leandros once again bites his tongue. The Inquisitor then reveals another test project, which uses the Power Source, and Titus still continues to trust him despite repeated warnings that the weapon could destroy the planet on accident. Considering he was sent here to protect the planet, Titus is weirdly invested in protecting an inquisitor that has already repeatedly kept secrets that impaired their mission, and again, nearly killed a 2nd Company Captain.
Once the daemons emerge, Leandros' first words are "how is this possible?" Then, Titus is once again demonstrated to have warp resistance, in addition to Drogan's puppeteering also emerging. Nemeroth expresses both gratitude to the space marines for helping his plans unfold, and interest in Titus specifically. In addition, its discussed that Drogan was likely killed by chaos agents, and not by orks. So Leandros is led to believe that 1) his captain has overt warp resistance, 2) his captain has a thing for disappearing suddenly by making brash decisions 3) its revealed that Drogan was a highly convincing puppet and 4) chaos has been at work on this planet for some stretch of time, without their knowledge. What was he supposed to think? Chaos changes the game here, and Titus' odd behavior has never been reassuring all the while. If you were playing the game from Leandros' perspective, you would think the game was setting up Titus to be the villain, another puppet or perhaps an agent of chaos that reveals himself a master planner. That this ends up not being the case isn't incompetency on Leandros' part, but is instead simply a bit of dramatic irony. That you happen to play as Titus doesn't excuse the fact that Titus himself is simply not a very inspiring or trustworthy person at this point.
The strike force successfully destroys the orbital spire, and Leandros suggests giving the power source to the inquisition for safekeeping. Titus remarks that the Inquisition has already failed thus far, and suggests destroying it. This isn't Leandros making a bad call per se, but its a deliberate test, seeing as Leandros already suspects Titus of mega-ultra-heresy. If Titus moves to get rid of the power source, it would objectively be a bad call because of Titus' reasons. However, if he tries to keep it, Leandros might think that Titus is up to something. Titus, being reasonable for once, chooses the middle route and suggests safely destroying it once they get back to the chapter, while still carrying out the mission here. Titus passes on the power source to Sidonus, and Leandros falls back in line.
However, just as this occurs, a sizeable force of Chaos marines emerge, and Titus orders Sidonus to make a break for it. And as Leandros is preoccupied elsewhere, Nemeroth suddenly emerges, takes the power source, and kills Sidonus. And yet, despite not being there to confirm the story, Leandros takes Titus' advice and plans to carry out vengeance. He openly protests Titus once again making the genius tactical move to split up to take on a Chaos Lord alone, and calls out that Nemeroth might plan to take advantage of Titus' warp connection. During this conversation, it's noted that Leandros does not openly say that Titus has a connection to Chaos, even though its already been said. Once again, Titus decide to play aggressively with a hypothetical question, and ask if Leandros fears him falling to chaos. Leandros says no, but turns away and imagines another hypothetical wherein Nemeroth takes advantage of Titus, a sort of long-winded way of saying "yes" without actually saying it. Again, Leandros has some very valid concerns at this point, and while its a stretch to think that Titus will directly fall to chaos (which the player picks up on), Titus is not at all reassuring. He's not just ignoring the Codex, he's actively pushing against basic ideas of how not to handle a chaos incursion, written by Bobby G, who wrote the book with every ounce of knowledge he had for preventing Chaos. Titus rejecting the Codex and being so chaotic at such a pivotal moment is where Leandros really ramps up his suspicions.
Nemeroth and Titus then have a facedown, and Nemeroth himself openly believes that Titus is connected to Chaos. Not only does Titus have warp resistance, but Nemeroth calls out how the very specific events that have occurred are entirely in line with the intentions of Chaos. This is a point brought up many times in other books, that one doesn't have to worship Chaos to serve Chaos, and Nemeroth puts it on display. Regardless of what Titus was doing, he was going to end up "serving" Chaos regardless, and his unique connection to the warp was seeming evidence of that.
And finally, at the climax of it all, Titus once again emerges, killing a half-daemon prince after falling through the warp and somehow using the power source to just right himself back into realspace. Titus and Leandros have their last stare down, as Leandros comes to the same conclusion as Nemeroth that Titus is connected to Chaos, and informs the inquisition forces that showed up. Many people have said that Leandros should have gone to the Master of Sanctity, but I disagree. This is the Captain of the 2nd company, who is just now experiencing weird warp-related phenomena, who seemingly keeps popping in and out of reality after going on suicide missions, and whose every action is made in such a way that they either ignore Leandros despite his valid criticisms, or are downright hostile to his loyalty to the codex. Leandros was put on the spot, and had to make a decision, and like any decision, he turned to the Codex for guidance.
Leandros is adamant that the Codex contains the truth, and Titus says that its a set of rules with the test to see what a Space Marine can make with them. This is where Titus honestly loses me. People always like to go on about how the Codex is a set of guidelines and not rules, but honestly I've never seen it that way. It laid out the philosophical groundworks to describe the role of the Adeptus Astartes from galactic conquerors to humanity's defenders, it made explicit strategic organization and developed doctrine and tactics to explain where every unit type fit into the grand picture, it set the precedent for Imperial separation of powers from legions to chapters and Imperial to Navy and Militarum, and it overall served as a historical document that outlines different situations and how soldiers (astartes mainly) should deal with them.
We know that Guilliman himself didn't like how narrow the Imperium viewed the codex, but that often ignores a lot of the context about his opinions. Gman hates that 1) the High Lords abuse codex stipulations to their own end 2) soldiers follow the rules without accounting for the situation. In some cases, as Leandros points out, the Codex does account for the situation, because the Codex was meant to embody the wisdom of a tactical genius in a single document. If Titus was just willing to explain anything at all, Leandros would probably find it reasonable. He could have explained that he would rather protect the Thunderhawk for evac rather than risk it trying to land, he could have explained that he will submit himself to a chaplain once the battle was done, and he could have explained that him being warp resistant was not something wholly the result of Chaos (this is where I think Space Marine just has poor writing, there's nothing in the lore to suggest that the mutated and mad forces of Chaos are immune to the warp and there's plenty to suggest that loyal forces of the Emperor can resist warp powers. People will argue that its Leandros whose at fault for that, but those people are hypocritical to blame Leandros for quoting the codex if the Codex in this game explicitly says "Warp resistance = evil". IIRC Space Marine had no lore input from GW and was given free reign to make up whatever, so this checks out).
Moreover, this is an area I find to be hypocritical of the community. Leandros himself states that he uses the Codex for guidance, but he only references the hard and true facts that the game presents, which are "don't fly into enemy gunfire" and "Resisting the warp is something that heretics do". He has shown, through him going along with Titus' suicide jump and thinking to plant the melta charge, that he's fully capable of not acting directly according to the Codex. So I find it odd, in a community that continuously shits on the Codex Astartes and interpreting it too rigidly, that the community wants Leandros to wait until they get back to the chaplains(as the Codex intended) and not seek out a ranking Inquisitor. To me, I think the community got too wrapped up in playing as Titus that they go along with his "rules for thee but not for me" approach. Given the seriousness of the situation, Leandros had every reason to not want to wait and risk Titus corrupting other people.
One more thing I wanted to mention. People sometimes think that Leandros' original purpose was to show that Titus was right all along, and that throughout the planned sequels it would have shown Leandros coming to his senses. But I feel people are really taking that idea out of context, just because they hate Leandros. In an article by The Escapist, the director for Space Marine revealed his plans for the sequels.
“The second part of his story was to focus on a ‘Titus Unleashed’ plot … basically there were forces arrayed against him that would see his loyalty to the Adeptus Astartes pushed to its limit, and his reaction would be to kind of ‘go rogue,'” van Lierop said. “He would survive, and come back even stronger in the third game, where other Space Marines still loyal to him would rally around him and he’d return to ‘clean house,’ but as the head of a brand new Chapter that we would build around him.”
And this is why I ultimately think, even in the original vision, Leandros was right. Titus shows up, makes brash decisions, can be definitively tied to the Warp and is hinted at being connected to Chaos the entire game. So where does his original story go? He ends up becoming a renegade, and leads a breakaway faction with the forces that were loyal to him while he was captain, all the while doubting the position of the Adeptus Astartes in the Imperium. Goddamn, if that is not the most explicit depiction of a heretic they could have made, and it would have shown that Leandros had every reason to think Titus was a danger to the Imperium. Forget all that defense of Titus by being the main character and therefore we "know" he's innocent, they actively planned to have him give in to everything that he went through. If they had gone through this this original plan, I think I would know the exact reaction the community would have had to Leandros questioning Titus.
There are far more egregious examples of codex worship in the novels, but Leandros is not one of those people. He remains loyal, level headed, and focused while also trying to work out the situation. Titus never really defends his innocence that strongly because it relies on the player to trust Titus, but between Drogan, Nemeroth, and finally Leandros, Titus is up against the wall. Maybe its just poor characterization, but Titus is so bland throughout the game he never really backs up the idea that he's taking this seriously after everything that happens. Leandros might have turned in the player character, but honestly he had every reason to.
submitted by Presentation_Cute to 40kLore [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 22:27 Aisling_The_Sapphire Subnautica: Below Zero - The Definitive No-Spoilers Guide For New Players

Updated May 2023
After changing reddit accounts and about a year since posting it, it seemed prudent to throw this up for visibility. :)
Few things are worse than not knowing what happened to a loved one. Which is what convinced Robin Ayou to get into a drop shuttle with a lifepod with basically nothing, then fire herself down onto an ocean planet where the only place that she could investigate was a tiny little patch of barely-even-land and pray she can survive long enough to find a way to get off the planet.
Nobody ever told Robin she was great at forward planning.
https://subnauticamap.io/belowzero - This map will provide direction/orientation for this guide, but BEWARE! It marks spoilers if you turn those on!

Touchdown

Once you've landed, you'll find some food and water to start you off scattered around the ship. You won't have to worry about getting cold, since standing next to your now-burning ship will warm you up and the meteors coming down don't actually paste you, they're mostly to stress you out.
Note that may not be the case later. The weather in this game is a serious thing.
Once you have your stuff, you'll find the drop pod on your HUD. Don't go straight to it, though. As soon as you hit the water, look for an indentation in the ground. You'll find some copper in there. Then, follow the northern glacial wall (That's to your right when you're looking at your lifepod) until you find a small cave, which will have some silver and gold. That'll get you started off nicely. Get to your lifepod, take a look at your fabricator. You'll find that the items you have blueprints for can be pinned to the top-right in your PDA by clicking on them in the blueprints tab, a useful feature when hunting for materials.
Your goals right now are your basic survival tools. Note that the kelp forest is a bad place to hold your stuff in your hand. The sea monkeys are kleptomaniacs and will gank your stuff. You can totally get it back though, it just means chasing after them a bit, which is annoying and wastes time. However, if you pull out a flare and hold it in front of them, they freak out and run away from you for a little bit.

Time To Get Rolling

Your first task, as indicated by the PDA, is to find Delta Island. This becomes relatively easy once you find a compass. If you've gone to the emergency cache you'll have the beacon blueprint so stock up on them before traveling so you can mark things. You're going to be making a lot of these but since you can toggle them it's not so bad, you'll just need a lot of beacons. Its south of where the drop pod lands. As you spread out your searching range you'll find that the sea floor drops down among twisty coral structures.
This area is called Twisty Bridges. It's the main go-to for coral samples and you'll want those. There's small bits of Alterra stuff scattered around the area. It's here you'll find mobile vehicle bay, sea truck and seaglide fragments. When you've been in the area for a bit, you'll hear what sounds like an SOS. It's worth checking that out and you'll find that this spot goes deeper than you might suspect. Makes you wonder what's down there, doesn't it?
Beyond Twisty Bridges lies the thermal spires, an area of volcanic activity and thermal smokers. Many sea truck fragments are here. The wildlife here is noisy and menacing sounding but if you don't hang out next to them they're easy to avoid. Smacking one with a blade will made it instantly turn and get the hell away from you. They don't like being hit. On the border between thermal spires and twisty bridges someplace is a small foundation platform with external grow beds for you to scan, but you can get these at Omega Station later if you're not sweating on it. There are large crevices and a few volcanic fissures out here. Beware the heat vents, but exploring those areas can pay off, later.
On the island, you'll find blueprints you need, as well as some materials like sulfur and horseshoe nuts. The latter are very useful to plant in the seabase you'll be wanting. Take care to look around thoroughly for blueprints you'll find useful, as not all of them are inside the buildings. Also, keep a sharp eye out for music disks which you'll find scattered throughout the game, especially in bases.
On the south-west corner of the island is a precursor artifact you can scan. Look for the beach with all the pengwings on it. The habitat builder can be found on a box outside Delta Station. Make sure to scan the map inside the sea base. There's also a PDA up by the comms tower.

Let's Go Explorin'

So, by now you've visited Delta Island, have had a good look around Twisty Bridges and you've probably discovered the sea monkey caves in Kelp Forest. If you haven't gone exploring in those, you really ought to. You'll find more MVB fragments there but that's also where the propulsion cannon blueprint can be found, the laser cutter, as well as a fair amount of gold and some precursor artifacts as well. Once that's all done with and taken care of, you've probably got at least a tiny seabase, but if you don't... what are you doing?
Go on, shoo. Go make a base.
...
Okay, got one now? Good! Hopefully it's someplace nice. Your basic sea truck can't get down to where you want to be going next but a depth module will take care of that. A MkII depth module will let you get to the very bottom of where you want to go. Where do you want to go? Koppa Mine. You'll find it on the western side of the island. Take care to look around when you find the door eventually, since there is a databox just inside the main doors, before you head down. It has the moonpool and will allow you to get that much earlier than you would through scanning it.
To drive the seatruck inside the mine, drive north from the entrance of Koppa mine, you'll come across a volcanic fissure in the seafloor nearby which has JUST enough space for you to fit your seatruck through it. The fissure leads right into Koppa Mine, allowing you to drive the seatruck inside!
The other alternative is actually spare air tanks. Totally a viable solution so long as you remember to refill them by equipping them once you're out of the water. You can swap them out mid-dive and extend your breathing time, which is handy since the prawn fragment blueprints you require are kinda far down there. If you're free diving in this way, note that the bottom chamber of the mine has a hole in the ceiling leading to a small cave system which will lead you back to the surface, as well as having a number of oxygen plants to keep you from choking on the way. The entrance to that is almost right next to the Delta Station docks.
Also note that Site Zero, which has useful blueprints, can be found by hugging the northern glacial wall and heading east along it. You can find it by checking breaks in the ice, one of them leads up to a small hidden cave where the base lies. But if you don't find it, you'll be directed here later. It just has some useful things to scan and a lantern fruit tree. There is a music disk here.

Way Down South

By now you've probably answered the SoS. If not, go do that. As you hang out with Al-An, he'll give you prompts to artifacts that you haven't found yet, if you dawdle in looking for the required number. At this point you should have the following:
Building the Prawn is surprisingly easy, but requires lithium, a material you probably haven't seen a lot of yet. There's a little scattered around in thermal spires, but only a little. You can find a lot at purple vents, but be careful to avoid the doom shrimp. A chelicarate hangs out here. There are other things in this area which are relevant to you which you'll want to mark out for later. There is a small seatruck crash site with a variety of fragments out here, if you find it, look around carefully for the music disk that's here.
Following the marker for the unknown pilots last position, you will find a green area rich in confusing cave systems. This area is the lilypads zone. Old girl can be found down near the signal, just look for the shimmering things on the wall, the hive minds. She's near them. Grab the seatruck defense module she has in there. Be sure to pick up the databox directly outside her base to get the stillsuit as well and if you follow the caves down where they turn blue you'll stumble on an old thermal plant of hers, where another databox lies. There's fragments scattered all over this zone as well as The mercury II stern, which lays on the border between lilypads and purple vents, as well as the bow, which is a little further in on the western side of lilypads. Be sure to explore the area thoroughly and take note of the massive crevasse near the middle of the zone. Inside the chunk of land here is Omega Lab, which will net you the external grow beds, nuclear plant, nuclear disposal as well as a couple new beds and the antenna plants. It's in this area you'll need to search for nickel later, so building a scanner station here is a good idea. Deep Lilypads holds an Al-An body part you'll require. Deep Lilypads is also the only place you can acquire the materials to manufacture benzene.
Don't go too close to the Lily Paddlers, unless you like being off your face, in which case go say hi, it's hilarious. Trust me. ;D
In order to disable the satellite for Dances-With-Reapers, you're going to need to wreck dive the Mercury II. Two of its sections can be found in purple vents, while the bow - the largest - can be found in Lilypads, west of Omega Labs floating island. You'll need the laser cutter for this. Your goal is to scan the parallel processors in the wreck, but there's all kinds of really useful stuff in there too, not to mention all the titanium. ALL the titanium. So be sure to drop beacons on these things, bring a spare air tank and bring your pathfinder tool. If you don't have the pathfinder tool, go look around in the caves full of emeralds between Phi Robotics docks and Phi Robotics itself. There is one up on a small ridge in one of those caves. If you can't find it, don't worry though, just bring flares and use them as breadcrumbs while diving to prevent yourself from getting too lost. The alien containment tank, reinforced dive suit, parallel processor can be found in these. A music disk is in the bow section on a bridge console.

LAND HO!

Aaah, glacial basin. How I hate thee. The basin is split into four sections, two for each part of the basin, north and south. South is where you'll probably end up first. You can find the docks to access this area by tracking along the northern glacial wall and continuing west until you come to the eye jellyfish. Check the radio tower next to the docks, there is a music disk there. The upper southern area is where Phi Robotics lays, as well as frost vase plants and spicy peppers. Both of those are excellent crops to grow, as they net you useful things. The spicy peppers scattered throughout the entirety of glacial basin essentially means that you'll not starve while out here so long as you're paying attention to what you're doing. Note that snow stalkers REALLY HATE FLARES. They'll make your trips out here annoying, even in the prawn, which is the best way to ensure the weather isn't a factor for you. Sometimes they're in the caves. Flares will make exploring these much safer.
You can get to lower glacial basin through the upper part, but it's a bit confusing and I prefer to access it via the glacial tunnel. Head south along the western glacial wall from the glacial basin docks and you'll find a tunnel which eye jellyfish are hanging out near. This tunnel leads directly to lower glacial basin and provides a convenient way to access the area without needing to travel through upper GB every time.
Northern Glacial Basin can be accessed by scanning the hydraulic fluid on the bridge, then repairing the bridge to cross it. DO NOT GO HERE WITHOUT THE PRAWN. SERIOUSLY. The grip arm is very handy to have out here and if you haven't found it, use a scanner room in Lilypads to find the sea monkey nests but it's not necessary so don't stress if you don't have it. Just don't use the snow fox. It's useless and handles like crap.
The iceworms here are dangerous if you stay still too long. Take your time, explore thoroughly and mark out any Alterra sites you find with beacons. A couple of these have the blueprints for the Thumper and this is your ticket to working in this area safely. A thumper will keep the iceworms away within a radius, ensuring you don't get whacked while picking stuff up outside the prawn.
Along the western wall of this zone is a small cave with three large ion cube deposits. Keep a sharp eye out for it, you definitely want those. At the north-east tip of the zone you'll find ice worm corpses you can scan that don't put you in mortal danger during the attempt.
Really funny seeing them pop up and chow down on snow stalkers, though. Pay back sucks, don't it? Al-An's body part is out here. Keep an eye out for the precursor cables and make sure to check all the caves, because the master gateway leading to Phi Robotics is here as well. The room containing the gateway leads to a small docks and tunnel with an ice wall you can cut through to easily access the middle of northern glacial basin from the docks. There is a music disk at those docks as well.

Going Down?

By now you're probably wondering where to go. Remember purple vents? The engine part of the mercury II has a crevasse leading down to where you need to go next. Once you've found the crystal caves, you better hope you picked up the defense module at Marg's base. It's sitting inside her room and sometimes gets knocked to the floor when Preston jumps you. You'll be wanting it for what's down here.
The Shadow Leviathan.
Ohhhh boy are they ever aggressive. Good news for you though, they patrol around on a set route and they don't go through the whole of crystal caves. You'll be looking for fragments here, as well as materials. Lots of gold, silver and kyanite in the crevasses in the floor of these caves. An Al-An body part, the final one, can be found at the bottom of a tunnel which is mouthed by a circular formation of crystals. Once you have it, you'll want to go even deeper to find the fabrication facility, forcing you to wander crystal caves until you find the blood crystal caves.

Oh Yeah, It's All Comin' Together

So, you now have everything you need to build your home boy a body. Once that's done, you'll be wanting to wrap up the bit with Sam. If you've explored lower southern glacial basin, you'll have found the cave with the frozen leviathan. Oh, and grab the music disk in the security bunker. Exploring this cave gets you some useful stuff. You know the little caves here with the blinking markers? Explore these with spy penglings! There's some useful stuff in some of them, actually. Including the antidote Sam hid. You can use that on the loader located on the upper part of the leviathan in the cave.
And... that's that! That's the whole game.

Tips and Tricks

Good luck, Robin!
submitted by Aisling_The_Sapphire to subnautica [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 22:22 DatHaker Machine efficiency, space efficiency, output efficiency and starter efficiency

Machine efficiency, space efficiency, output efficiency and starter efficiency
This post assumes you are somewhat familiar with self-correcting splitters, as well as having all the upgrades.
*Disclaimer: the information in this post is probably very jumbled, because the 4 efficiencies are heavily interdependent. Furthermore, this post is less specifically about being a guide and more an explanation of how to think about efficiency.
​
While playing the game, you may have asked yourself what exactly makes a line more efficient. The general lines are pretty intuitive: use less rollers, have less empty space, make designs somewhat square, use less starters, etc. But there are more imperative ways to determine where exactly to improve a line.
Let's start with the basics: which machines are efficient? Essentially,
(robotic arms aren't even on the list)
What makes a machine efficient is its contribution to creating the item you are crafting. To make a circuit you need 2 circuits and 1 gold. Starters get you those. You also need to make wires. Wire drawers do that. You also need to craft the circuit, hence you need a crafter. So those are necessary machines, and are therefore efficient.
Splitters are slightly more complicated. Essentially, they are only really efficient when splitting basic resources, as they basically become extra starters. In most places you only need one resource, so instead of having two starters outputting 1 copper you use 1 starter and 1 splitter.
Following this logic, triple splitters are the most efficient. Instead of having 3 starters outputting 1, you can have 1 starter and 1 triple splitter, thereby saving a square. The obvious drawback is that the space the triple splitter creates is often hard to use.
Comparison of space required to make 3 diamond wires, regardless of positioning and starter efficiency. The triple splitter design only uses 5 squares instead of 6
But if you have, say, 2 circuits, and are using a splitter to split them into two different crafters, it would be more efficient, if possible, to link the crafters directly to the circuit crafters, and not have to "combine" the two circuits and split them again, thus skipping the splitter.
Rollers obviously do not advance the crafting, and neither do splitters, despite them making things much easier, although on some occasions, explained later, splitters can improve efficiency. Though some designs may require them, transporters are essentially a higher dimension roller, except each one takes 2 squares (an input and an output), so are actually worse for efficiency, in a void.
I'll talk more about sellers later with output efficiency. And understanding timed roller efficiency requires understanding how to use them, which is enough of a topic for its own post, but in general, when splitting basic resources (same reasoning as for splitters), they vary between being slightly worse than regular splitters to slightly better than triple splitters, based on context.
​
​
Space efficiency is, first of all, dependent on machine efficiency. If you're using a lot of rollers, selectors or inefficient splitters that's usually where you should look. But there's also a limit to how much you can make those; it is usually impossible to only have efficient machines. Instead, when you get stuck while optimizing, you should take a look at the number of different space inputs the crafter needs.
Take, for example, the circuit. The crafter has 4 sides, and one side is usually reserved for the output. That leaves 3 sides that you can send items in. Assuming you have no inefficient or inconsistent machines (see self-correcting splitter post for inconsistency), generally speaking, each side can only receive 1 item. You cannot receive 2 wires from 1 side because that would either require you to have "combined" 2 wires by means of, say, a roller, or you have some inconsistent wire splitters.
Cases described above. For efficiency, a circuit generally needs 3 sides for its inputs and 1 for its output
Now why would we care about how many sides a crafter uses? This ties into output efficiency as well. Consider the following design:
Circuit line, 4/s
Starter efficiency aside, this design is okay-ish. The only "wasted efficiency" is the 3 rollers. But the two holes on the side aren't always easy to work with either. The problem is that it is impossible to get rid of these things in this design without compromising on other things. One such compromise would be to add an output, and that works on some designs, but in this one, the two middle squares are still wasted.
4 circuits/s in 2 outputs
One of the possible improvements is using the output side as input. The way to do that is, of course, pointing the crafter into a selector or self-correcting splitter. Generally speaking, you can only self-correct 1 type of item, but selectors can send multiple different items into the same crafter, resulting in it only needing to use 1 side. If said different items are collected together not with inefficient machines but self-correcting splitters, selectors can actually become efficient this way.
Regardless of other efficiencies, this example illustrates the fact that the circuit crafter is only \"using\" one of its 4 sides
There's another exception: if a self-corrected resource is needed in both a first and second stage of a craft, notably in solar panels (1 circuit, 2 gold, 1 diamond):
This type of thing make solar panels surprisingly efficient and fun to design lines for. The diamonds can be in self-correcting splitters, too.
But let me talk more about the term "collecting" from the previous paragraph, which I'd assume most people wouldn't immediately grasp. To understand this, let's talk about one of my more recent designs (in action here), which I've said to be essentially a theoretical maximum:
4.5 server racks/s, single output, theoretical maximum?
This is a very obvious case of "counting sides". Of course, I'd like to be able to connect all the 10 aluminum and 20 plates required directly to the server rack crafter and skip all the rollers. Unfortunately, the game is restricted in 2D; only 4 sides per square. I'd need 4D Assembly Line to make it work, where a hypercube would have 32 sides (edges).
What would then be the least amount of rollers I'd need? We know from before that each plate requires 1 side, so there's 20. We can also figure that the 10 aluminum would need 4 sides at least (3x starter with 3 aluminum + 1x something giving 1 aluminum). I also probably don't want to put any self-correcting splitter shenanigans because of how many items are flowing, and selectors don't seem to immediately improve anything, so I cannot use the output side as any input and have to count 1 extra side. All that sums up to 25.
Then, what would be the most efficient way to make 25? It should be pretty intuitive to figure that adding a straight line of rollers (without bends) would be the best. The direction does not matter. Here's something to illustrate why:
Consider each cutter as a \"useable side\". The two on the left have 10 each, whereas the bended one on the right only has 9
So a straight line of rollers. It's easy to figure out that the crafter starts with 4 sides, and each additional roller adds 2. So to make 25 sides, I'd need 11 rollers (11x2 + 4 = 26 > 25). In other words,
no. sides = 2 * no. rollers + 4
I'd even have an extra side of slack. The rest of the line is just about using triple splitters efficiently, and determining the best way to use the leftover sides; having been put beside machines of separate crafts, each roller no longer provides 2 input sides.
Essentially, the reason I considered that line a theoretical max is because:
  • It is not possible to reduce the amount of rollers
  • Using selectors by, for example, putting a single aluminum on the line and selecting it into a press later on, actually reduces efficiency since you'd be using 2 sides for 1 plate instead of 1 side/plate
  • It is essentially impossible to use self-correcting splitters because of inconsistency and number of items flowing.
  • There is already significant use of triple splitters.
  • Single output
  • It's probable that one or two squares could still be squeezed out, but to make the smallest significant difference (+ 0.05 server rack/s), one would need to add 1 plate/s and 0.5 aluminum/s (essentially 1 aluminum/s) to the line. That would require 1 starter, 1 splitter, 1 press and at least 1 extra roller, and saving 1 starter somewhere (this design uses all of them). This doesn't seem physically possible
* Reminder: selectors can sometimes be efficient because they can significantly reduce the number of sides required in a design. They add the sides like a roller would, and more.
Funnily enough, this seems to be one of the few lines that doesn't benefit from extra outputs/sellers (segue into output efficiency). I normally add an output to my design when I feel like things are getting too crowded, but concretely, it's because theoretically, it adds extra useable sides, and practically, it allows build flexibility, which eventually translates to build efficiency. But it is already inevitable that the half server rack on the right provide a useable path for the other built racks towards the one seller.
Single output vs two outputs side count comparison using the same space: 8 - 10. Conclusion: each additional output grants 2 extra sides, because of s = 2*r + 4 from before
Let us consider the "collecting" from before. If you're gathering items together towards a crafter inefficiently using unnecessary rollers, it stays inefficient. But sometimes, there are surplus sides. Consider the efficient self-correcting circuit line:
3 circuits/s, single output, self-correcting splitters
There's a surplus side on the bottom right, which you could would be using to provide for the rest of the line. In fact, lets discuss circuit making and self-correcting splitters under side counting.
In that post I briefly explained that despite using more space, self-correcting splitters always end up being more efficient, because they automatically gather all outputs to the same point instead of requiring them to be gathered simply. Earlier in this post, I showcased some not great circuit designs and their shortcomings. Then, we've taken a look at the minimum number of sides required to craft a server rack. That concept is basically identical to the way you would decide how to position sellers and how many rollers you would need to gather all the things you craft towards said sellers.
The real reason why self-correcting splitters are so efficient, and so much of an improvement, is that they replace those mandatory rollers required to gather all items with efficient splitters, with no impact on consistency. Consider the design above, and view the three splitters/selector in the middle as the real roller path bringing all circuits together. Furthermore, self-correcting stuff is generally very side-positive; they use less sides than they produce. Remember how straight lines of rollers create more useable sides than bent ones? If we go with a circuit crafter having to use 3 sides as inputs and the fourth as output, then each one would be wasting 2 sides. The best you'd be able to do would be this:
5 circuits/s, single output
This design isn't even that inefficient, actually. It's just that you'll have a very hard time removing those rollers and selector. Comparatively,
6 circuits/s, single output, self-correcting splitters
is essentially the same size and makes 1 more circuit, while being more starter efficient. Which segues into the last topic.
Starter efficiency is normally less of a concern than one may think. Most of the time, if you're lacking starters, it not only means that you've used too many single resource starters, but also that there are significant non starter-related parts of your line you can improve. Use more triple splitters or something. Or find a way to use self-correcting splitters.
When a design feels crowded, consider counting sides. It's pretty much the underlying indicator of building efficiently. And build straight. In that regard, circuits are an exception; building curved also works.
(Too tired to reread and check stuff, if there's anything majorly wrong with information or flow, or something I forgot to explain, please let me know)
submitted by DatHaker to AssemblyLineGame [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 22:08 chlorinated_dogshit My ex broke my heart twice. Still thinking about it later, but trying to move on.

We met online. We were long distance our whole relationship. I sometimes still feel like a loser for not being able to achieve "real" love. They were nonbinary and AFAB. We were together for just over a year, split for a while, and together again for about four months. Maybe less, honestly.
They were older than me by a large margin and we met when I was eighteen. This difference in age and the guilt it caused them was an obstacle in our relationship. Whatever your judgement is, I don't think they are a bad person. As far as I'm concerned, we were both legal adults and that was it. Any nuances beyond that and the impact the differences in life experience would have on our experience, well, they were strains on both of us. Probably not surprising.
My thesis here isn't to insult or oust them or anything like that. I just want my feelings out.
I developed a very strong emotional attachment to them. They were my safe space. When I spent time with them, I was happy. This emotional dependance was deep, but it wasn't healthy. And they knew that. They were happy to be that for me, but didn't want that for me. It took some time to realize that it was because they loved me. When you love someone, you want them to be happy no matter what, and that includes alone or with someone else. We weren't going to stay together in the end, and no matter how much it hurt us to admit, they wanted me to be ready. I resent them for some things, but I appreciate that now.
They did things to hurt me. They didn't have sex with someone else, but they did other things I considered cheating. They broke my boundaries when I bent over to respect and reinforce theirs. They hurt when they realized how bad they hurt me by their selfishness and disrespect. At one time, it felt good. Now I hope they can forgive themselves.
I am not perfect either. I said terrible, awful, stupid, selfish things to them. I critiqued their body and said some boneheaded bullshit I thought was a compliment. When they broke up with me and apologized in tears for it, I just insulted and berated them. When you love someone, you don't do that. Even if they betrayed me and left me for reasons that broke my heart, they were still a vulnerable, remorseful, reluctant person who I loved. Someone I showed the shameful facets of being I hated about myself and accepted me unconditionally despite. I should have been better.
The second time we broke up, I threatened suicide. I was so distraught. I was really ready to do it. I didn't see a future without them. I hated myself and had nothing to stay alive for without them. My world was crumbling, so I had no reason to stay.
I meant it. But no matter how genuine I was, I shouldn't have done that. When you love someone, you don't use that as a weapon to point at them and make demands. That is abuse. I should have been better.
That might seem callous. Obviously I've seen the fault, so why don't I forgive myself? I have forgiven myself. Loving yourself means feeling guilt and assessing your negatives. Not because you hate yourself. But because when you love someone, you want them to grow and be their best. You forgive them. And that should include yourself.
My ex, I don't love them anymore. I miss being in love with them. There's a small part of me that might still love them. But it's better that it's over for both of us.
Maybe we're both just awful people. But I hope we've both grown from this experience and came out better. I'm trying to move on. Progress has been slow, but I'm surviving. I still feel guilty that all of my sexual encounters have been with people besides them. None of them were during our time together, but it steel feels like I'm squandering something I owed them. I know I owe them nothing anymore, but feelings are hard to deny sometimes.
Thanks for reading.
submitted by chlorinated_dogshit to offmychest [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 22:02 AutoModerator Live Outreach: Perrysburg Farmers Market Thu., 1 Jun. '23 at 4 PM

Live Outreach: Perrysburg Farmers Market Thu., 1 Jun. '23 at 4 PM
Live Outreach in Perrysburg - Perrysburg Farmers' Market
Join us as we talk with market-goers about Ranked-Choice Voting. We'll meet at the Way Public Library for a brief training before venturing into the market space. After we introduce each other and practice canvassing, we'll split into small teams to grow the movement for better elections in Ohio. Please note that this event is always rain or shine. However, in the event of heavy rain, we will cancel our canvass and attempt to reschedule at a later date.
You can bring your own pen/clipboard and practice beforehand with our quick-start canvassing kit or a pitch training on Zoom, OR we will provide you with supplies and show you how to give a quick pitch for RCV on the spot! RSVP here.
When: Thursday, 1 June 2023 from 4:00-8:00 PM
Where: Perrysburg Historic District (meet at Way Public Library)
Contact: Josie Schreiber · jschreiber[at]rankthevoteohio[dot]org
https://preview.redd.it/8ra20y298t1b1.png?width=400&format=png&auto=webp&s=895a1f7cc3ed937691d9e798db567ea5f8c30583
submitted by AutoModerator to RankTheVoteOhio [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 21:57 Simple_Car_5379 [Task] Looking for Reddit/4chan/TikTok/Instagram/Music Magazine shitposter(s)/shiller(s) for music project - $8 per day/60-75 minutes per day

Hi I'm looking for someone or a couple of people (2-3 max) who can come up with and post 'unhinged' shitposts across the internet for 60-75 minutes per day for $8 per day.
You would basically just be frequenting various niche music/trendy/underground/pop culture communities on the internet and you would be a prolific commenter in those spaces, posting comments that are slightly crazy to ultimately gain attention for my music project. The comments wouldn't all necessarily have anything to do with my music project, it would just be "slightly crazy comment that may or may not have to do with the project", then it would be signed - Outsider music legend God's Computer (Disciple #1), or it would be Disciple #2 if you were the second person I brought on to help with this. The Disciple thing is just for branding since the project is called God's Computer.
The end goal is to get more real people to listen to the music on streaming or join a Discord that I will create for the shitposting army.
This project will go on for at least 1-4 weeks (5-7 days per week), maybe longer depending on how well it works. I think closer to 60 minutes per day for time should be sufficient as long as the results are good enough but I ballparked up to 75 minutes. If I am able to find 2-3 people to help with this then the various platforms (Instagram/TikTok/etc.) will be split up across the different people who are helping, so each person is just focusing on 1-2 platforms most likely, following the directions that I will outline + providing input on ideas that they think could work better and then testing those ideas as well. Most of the goal will be shitposting but there may be some pure shilling on Twitter that will need to be done.
I'm looking for people who will actually put the time in to get some stuff done here/people who are creative in terms of being able to write stuff that will get people's attention + creative in terms of being able to come up with other ideas to try and spread the word about the project.
Thanks. - Outsider music legend God's Computer
submitted by Simple_Car_5379 to slavelabour [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 21:52 Direct-Caterpillar77 I (M24) found out my girlfriend (20F) is homeless

I am not The OOP, OOP is u/Whole-Balance-4311
I (M24) found out my girlfriend (20F) is homeless
Originally posted to relationship_advice
Original Post recovered with rareddit Apr 17, 2021
TL;DR: Saw my girlfriend standing outside of a homeless shelter in a food-line. We've been dating for a couple months and I want to offer her to stay at my apartment, but I don't want to completely dominate the power balance in our relationship or make her feel like she owes me.
Yesterday morning, I went to go out for a walk around the city and noticed a girl that looked familiar standing in a line at a homeless shelter. I took a double glance and saw a hoodie that was mine and then recognized my girlfriend, "Kat." I was pretty shocked by seeing her there, but didn't approach her because I didn't want to embarrass her or anything.
So for background info, I met Kat in February at a Dunkin's. I started making small talk with with her when I saw we were both wearing the same Dodgers hat. I offered to pay for her drink after shooting the shit for a minute in line and got to know her when she asked if I wanted to sit down with her. As we were finishing up our drink, I asked her out on a date and she accepted.
As the last couple of months went by, things were going great with us. I learned that she was working two jobs, wanted to go to college, was a devout Catholic (She invited me to attend mass; I'm not Catholic, but went out of respect), yet I noticed that she never brought up her family accept when she mentioned her dad who was a Marine that passed away when she was a kid.
Fast forward to the present, and I ended up sending a good morning text inside the Dunkin's as I was looking to see if it was really her. Like clockwork, she pulled out her phone and told me that she was at her "apartment" and that she was "cooking breakfast." It was really surprising for me because I always dropped her off at a nice apartment building whenever a date was over, but I guess she did that to give off the appearance that she wasn't homeless?
Now, I want to talk to Kat about her situation. She's kind of a social introvert to put it lightly. If she truly is homeless, I want to offer Kat to stay at my place. The only problem is that I don't want to come off like she "owes" me or anything like that. I also want to respect her Catholic faith because she told me that she wants to wait to give up her virginity after I originally invited her over to my place before I knew she was homeless (The Catholics aren't fond of unmarried cohabitation either). Thoughts on how I can navigate this?
Edit: I forgot to mention that Kat has an older sedan. I know that I'm making a lot of assumptions, but I'm guessing that she lives inside her car because she doesn't carry a backpack around her all the time and she wears a nice dress and flats when she goes to mass. The other clothing she wears is sorta just casual. Think your typical Converse, skinny jeans, and overcoat. Nothing too fancy or too dingy.
RELEVANT COMMENTS
Puzzleheaded-Hurry26
I feel like a lot of these comments and suggestions are missing step 1: talk to Kat. If you want to continue having a relationship with her, you have to be able to have open and honest conversations, even about hard things. Don’t make it accusatory. Just be very straightforward, but also open and sympathetic: “When I was at Dunkin’ the other day, I saw you in the food line across the street. Is everything ok? I’m worried, and I want to know if/how I can help.” All of this should be underscored with the message that you care about her, wholeheartedly. This is not coming from a place of pity. This is coming from a place of concern for someone that you care deeply about.
.
notthegoatseguy
It was really surprising for me because I always dropped her off at a nice apartment building whenever a date was over, but I guess she did that to give off the appearance that she wasn't homeless?
People who are homeless often aren't homeless all the time. They may have temporary housing of some sorts with family or friends, but other nights they may be out in their cars, streets, or shelters. Also not uncommon to go to shelters just to get a meal. The homeless shelter in my city does lunch every day and anyone can go and get lunch, no questions asked. Doesn't matter if you are sleeping on the street or in the nearby apartments.
(The Catholics aren't fond of unmarried cohabitation either).
lol us Catholics can be very flexible on our ideology especially when it comes to how it governs us.
Anyway, I think you just need to talk to Kat, mention you saw her, and that you'd like to help. I wouldn't offer any specific kind of help, let her tell you what she needs. One day she may need money, another clothing, and another just some gas in the car to make it to a friend or family's place. And then the ball is in your court if you want to offer that type of help or support or not.
.
PaticusGnome
I used to be homeless (5 years) and dated two women in that time that let me live in their home. The power dynamic was not the issue. If the relationship has good communication and you both are aware of it, it doesn't have to be a problem. The real problem came when the relationship started nearing its natural end. Suddenly, I wasn't just losing a girlfriend. I was losing a home, a bathroom, a kitchen, a bed, AND a partner. It made me work extra hard to save the relationship when I would have otherwise let it go a long time ago. That made for months of unnecessary suffering for both of us. It created a codependent dynamic and made the final breakup WAY harder than it needed to be. Now that I have my own place, I don't have those issues. Something to consider.
Update recovered with rareddit Apr 17, 2021
So for starters, I wanted to thank the people on the sub for hitting me up with some good advice on both sides, but I want to especially thank
u/Puzzleheaded-Hurry26, u/notthegoatseguy, and, u/PaticusGnome
I ended up meeting Kat at the local park we usually walk through after she got off work earlier today since it's out in the open, yet still private enough to have a serious conversation. I told Kat that I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable or ashamed, but that I saw her at a line at a homeless shelter yesterday and wanted to talk to her if there was anything up or if she needed help. Kat immediately began to cry and showed her nervous tics (fidgeting around, wrinkling her nose, etc.). She began stuttering on her words and I consoled her until she began to gather herself again. I told Kat that she didn't have to feel like she had to hide anything from me, and she began to open up about everything.
Kat told me that she had been homeless for over a year. She grew up in a broken home after her dad passed away in Iraq when she was a kid back in 2006. Her mother fell into alcoholism and had pretty much blown whatever savings she had from the death gratuity she received and basically lived paycheck to paycheck. Despite this, her faith with the Church was the only real thing that gave her stability and hope to carry on with her daily life.
At 18, she joined the Marines because she wanted to honor her father and escape the life she had grown up with. Although, she ended up getting ELSed (Entry-level Separation), and was chaptered out of the USMC due to her developing asthma while in Basic. She ended up moving to our current city on the East Coast because she didn't want to return to California where her mother was. Kat ended up barely scraping by to where she saved up to buy her older car to sleep in away from the shelters around December of last year. Kat ended up sharing to me that she was on the verge of suicide around the time I met her and wanted to play up like she didn't have "baggage" and elaborated on how she didn't want to scare me off by admitting she was homeless. So she had me drop her off at the one apartment building and split the tab of our dates to appear like everything was normal.
Truthfully, I felt gutted hearing her story. I had a feeling that things were probably bad for her, but I didn't think it was that bad. Kat showed me her DD-214 (I'm currently an E-5 in the Army Reserve so I knew that her story was verifiable) as well as the pictures she had of her past. I told her that I wanted to help her out in anyway and that I was open to having her move to my place with the added kicker that we could go to Ikea to get her a bedset to make my living room into her living space since I wanted to respect her physical boundaries that was in place from her Catholic faith. Kat was very hesitant because of her pride and she didn't want to come off like she was accepting a handout due to pity, but I reassured her that it wasn't with a handout or come with a catch. I told Kat that I loved her (first time I said that) and wanted to help her feel secure. She looked at me with a sort of disbelief and asked me if I really meant it, and I did. Kat reciprocated by saying that she loved me to and accepted. As far as the conditions go, I told her to meet me at 30% of the rent and to put whatever money she had into starting summer classes at the local community college and that she could stay with me for as long as she wanted if she felt comfortable with pre-marital cohabitition.
A last thanks for the advice on everything! Our convo was a long one and took a lot emotionally from Kat so she is currently crashing at my couch until she wakes up so we can get her bed at Ikea later tonight. Once again thank you for giving advice as it really allowed me to vent on what was going on.
THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP
submitted by Direct-Caterpillar77 to BestofRedditorUpdates [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 21:43 creeperflint The Nature of Predators - The History of Non-Sapient Predators Epilogue [Fanfic]

First
Memory transcription subject: Luke Schmidt, Human Businessman
Date [standardized human time]: December 18th, 2136
I was the only human in the bar. I chalked it up to timing and chance, as it wasn’t a hostile bar. Aside from a few glances and the fact that people passing by my table took great care not to touch me, I had no issues. I could barely keep my head off the table, but that was more a function of tiredness than anything. I had arrived on Venlil Prime only a few days ago, and the goofy sleep schedule messed with my brain. Barlethy Shipping did provide us with blackout curtains to set up over the windows of our bedrooms, but it was still challenging.
That wasn’t even mentioning all the work I’d been doing. I was a salesman for Barlethy Shipping, which had been established for about 50 years prior to First Contact. FTL ships were horrendously expensive, and usually only the government had access to them, but the Barlethy billionaire family cared quite a bit about expanding their business on this frontier, and were willing to pour millions into private FTL ships for their employees, as well as efforts to ensure that the Venlil legal system wasn’t a hassle. I was meant to set up business deals with aliens, using a variety of methods of varying moral standing, and although others had already done so, there was still a whole planet of opportunity.
As such, I had been talking to Venlil, viewing their wares, and traveling almost all the time I’d been here. When I wasn’t doing that, I was eating and sleeping. I really needed a break, so after fourteen hours of business, I arrived at the bar for a much-needed drink. I’d made a few successful deals thus far, so hopefully Barlethy Shipping wouldn’t mind the downtime too much.
I wasn’t really paying attention to the aliens around me, as I was rather exhausted, so I didn’t notice when the unfamiliar alien walked up to me. I did not recognize which species this was, which energized me. New things always did. The species was honestly rather ugly, which was weird because all the aliens I’d seen thus far were either cute or sleek, in my opinion. They had rough gray elephant skin with sparse thick, black hairs scattered around it, which made them look more like a hairy human than like an alien with fur. The top of their snout dangled down over their mouth, and they had short tusks and weird little giraffe horns. Their tail curled up like a squirrel’s, and their fingers were long, thin, and far too numerous. They looked like a squat, mammalian Arxur. And then, they sat down across from me.
“Hello there. You’re unique too! Isn’t that fun? Being the only one of your kind in sight really isn’t all that fun, but you get used to it,” she said, in a friendly, conversational tone that was apparently female, according to my translator.
I didn’t think that unfamiliar aliens were willing to get within an arm's length of unfamiliar humans. Maybe the Venlil or our other good allies, but I had never seen this race before. I said as much. “Pardon me, but who and what are you? I have never seen your species before, and I don’t think you’re allied with humanity.” I figured that she must be a regular here, since nobody gave her a second glance. Maybe she’d expressed wanting to meet a human for a while. I still had no idea what her deal was, though.
I think I came across a little harsher than I intended, but she didn’t seem to mind. She began, “Oh, pardon my manners. My name is Polkif, and I am a Zhetsian. You’re right, we’re not allied with humanity, and there aren’t a whole lot of us on Venlil Prime, so you probably haven’t heard of us. We don’t have a very large diaspora. I’ve been here a few years, and I’m used to being a novelty.”
I hummed, interested. Some part of me was always eager to talk to aliens, and I could indulge that now. Most of the time, my interactions with aliens were distinctly more… hostile, than I’d like, but that was unavoidable. Well, here was an opportunity to avoid hostilities! Though, I was still wondering why this wasn't shaping up to be hostile, so I asked, “Why are you comfortable walking up to random, unfamiliar humans? Even people who have been here since First Contact with us and who generally like humans aren’t often comfortable doing that. Especially since we have a reputation for being aggressive when drunk.”
Polkif snuffled, which my translator told me was laughter. After a few seconds, she said, “Well, we’re Zhetsians! We’re expected to be bold. We do have to be mindful of other species’ norms when offworld, but I don’t think they’ll kick my door down and drag me off to the predator disease facility just for being excited about talking to a human. I suppose you don’t know if they will until they do it, but I’ve gone this long without biased officers bagging me, so I figure my logic holds up. Besides, I don’t mind standing out and having to make an effort to fit in if it means I can avoid the current issues on my native planet, Miluja. Well, the issues are everywhere in Zhetsian space, but they’re especially strong there.”
I was intrigued, and thoughts of tiredness were out of my mind. Of course, there were a whole lot of aliens with all different cultures and histories, but this was new, even compared to other aliens I knew of, and was shaping up to be exciting. I would be especially tired later, but I didn’t mind the adrenaline that interest and excitement gave me right now. I prompted her, “What kind of issues?”
Polkif obliged me. “Civil unrest issues. All five Zhetsian planets are having issues with stampedes, mobs, protesting, and armed rebellion, but on Miluja it’s devolved into a civil war. Or Colony World 3, as it’s known offworld. They don’t like that we landed on naming it after Milu, since they say he had predator disease, but it’s tradition to call it that, and I like it better than the generic name, at least.
“Once the Cilany broadcast came out and reached us, it was pandemonium. Due to the anti-predator religion, a lot of people assumed that we were predators, so we split from the Federation. All the death cults and secret predator or predator-diseased sympathizers came out of the woodwork declaring this to be proof that they were right all along, and now everyone should join up with them and make a utopia, or something. Of course, all the elements that prevented those guys from making themselves known before were still there, so the government and the Federation-sympathizers cracked down on them. The rebellious elements were emboldened, though, and had quite a few guns and lots of repurposed farming equipment, so they fought back. This led to all the sympathizers still in the government to come out and support the rebellion too, except they were discovered, and you had tusk-fights in offices everywhere. It devolved from there, and now the whole planet is engulfed in civil war.
“The other planets are doing better, though not by much. Nitto is probably doing the best out of all of them, since the overwhelming majority of the government and populace was able to unite around the Nitre Rebellion’s legacy and kick the Federation out. Kipresa and Colony World 4 are undergoing low-level fighting and their share of unrest; their problems are mitigated by the fact that most of Kipresa just want to make money and aren’t up for fighting, and Colony World 4 knows that its denizens are mostly criminals, so they have a habit of not looking too closely as long as you don’t cause problems and there continue to be people willing to buy their ore. Mother Plains, our homeworld, has had more luck with the government cracking down on rebellion and dissent, but there are still decently sized patches that are held by rebel forces, and the Federation and government are growing more unpopular by the day.
“In short, there’s fighting and disruptions everywhere, though the last ship that came from Zhetsian space came a month ago, and I’m not sure how it’s progressed without me. The fact that no more ships have come is troubling enough. As for alliances, I can’t imagine that the UN wants to get involved in our civil wars, especially since most of the official governments would reject them anyway. So, we’re not allied with either the Federation or the UN, and I think we're best off focusing on getting ourselves to a stable position before helping anyone else with their problems.”
I sat back, stunned. Of course, in the back of my mind, I had figured that there might be intraspecies fighting somewhere in the Federation, but I’d started to discount that as a possibility, with how herd-focused and timid the Federation seemed. Species-wide civil wars and unrest was not what I expected. Though, if that’s what the situation back home was like, no wonder it seemed perfectly safe walking up to strange humans. I’ve known a few people from countries with civil unrest issues, and while some of them are intensely paranoid, some are fearless and barely blink at what normal people would consider notable dangers.
She continued after a few seconds. “I’m not quite sure where I stand on the issue. I am quite willing to call my home Miluja, and I have a lot of family who are farmers and on that side of the conflict, but you get leery of supporting such people after long enough away. The walls have ears when it comes to expressing dissent, you know. You’ve got to be on high alert if you want to do things the Federation government doesn’t approve of without them knocking on your door. It gets exhausting to hold such opinions after a while, in the face of all the opposition to them.”
She shook her head side-to-side slightly, and it occurred to me that she was probably looking for listeners in her blind spot. She had lowered her voice, too, so that I had to strain to hear her over the din of the bar. Even with how milquetoast that bit of opposition to the Federation ideology seemed, she didn’t seem like she wanted people to notice it. I’d had my share of paranoia, certain that the aggressive and somewhat underhanded negotiation tactics I’d used would be revealed, and I’d be fired and cause a huge diplomatic incident that would end in me being burned to a crisp. Well, her concerns couldn't have been that bad, since she seemed to settle down quickly enough. After she was done, she tipped her head back a bit to sip from her drink. Her snout prevented her from tilting the glass to her mouth all the way.
I decided to talk about myself a bit, since she seemed inclined to sit in silence, though she didn’t move away from my table. “Well, I’m sure you know about Earth. I’m here because I’m a representative of Barlethy Shipping, and I’m supposed to be negotiating deals with aliens, mostly Venlil. It doesn’t sound like we’ll be dealing with Zhetsians anytime soon, if it’s as bad as you say over there. I’ve been here for about a week on this trip, though I was here for a few weeks already during the Battle of Earth, and I’m already exhausted. Work and a weird sleep schedule will do that for you. After I’m done here, I’m going back to my hotel to sleep.”
Polkif responded, “Ah, I see. I’ve been an offworld business rep before, and it is not fun. Seeing other planets is enjoyable to a degree, but the schedule is grueling, other planets always have weird day/night cycles, and people tend to look down on Zhetsians as rebellious. I left for Venlil Prime about five years ago to help run a new branch of the farming equipment manufacturer I did sales for, though they try to hide their Zhetsian origins, and I exclusively work in non-public-facing roles. I was supposed to come back last month, but that didn’t pan out for obvious reasons. Oh well, I’ve got stable employment, since they’ve kept me on, and I think I can manage.”
I checked my holopad, and noted the time. It was 30 minutes until I wanted to go back to my apartment and sleep, since I’d scheduled an hour for this. A few thoughts flashed through my mind, most notably that getting back earlier would result in even more sleep, and that Polkif seemed nervous about discussing certain topics where others could hear. An idea sprang to mind, and I voiced it. “It’s been a pleasure talking with you, but I probably ought to start heading back to my hotel room. Do you want to discuss more things on the way? I’d love to hear more about you and your species, but it’s rather crowded in here.”
Something glinted in her eyes, and her fingers started twitching madly, bringing to mind images of sea anemones with bony tentacles. She responded, in a rather weird tone, “Oh, I’d love to do that. I don’t need to be anywhere for another three claws, so I’d be glad to discuss things on the way. Why don’t we finish our drinks and go?”
I’d almost finished my drink, so I downed the rest just as she chugged over half of her glass at once to finish it. As she hopped off the stool, I stopped leaning on the wall behind me, a poor substitute for a backrest, stretched my back a bit, and then grabbed my things and followed her.
It was rather empty outside, with only a few scattered and easily-avoidable groups of Venlil here and there on the street. I started towards my hotel, and Polkif followed. Once we’d gotten a decent ways away from anyone, Polkif started talking in a quiet but still conversational voice. “So what would you like to know?”
“Anything interesting,” I said. “Perhaps why you have a reputation for being rebellious, or why your government doesn’t like this Milu character, or why some of your planets are having it worse than others.”
“The walls have ears, but I have better vision and probably better hearing than you and most Venlil, so I’ll stop talking if there’s a chance of unwanted listeners. Do note that what I'm about to tell you is not the official history, and I could get in very serious trouble if people knew that I believed, or at least seriously considered, this stuff. I can drag you down with me if you start telling people about it. Capiche?”
This sounded serious, especially since her tone had gotten noticeably sharper. She seemed a lot more alert and less casual now, even considering the comments she made in the bar about the officials who handled predator disease, which reminded me of the old “knock on the door” of governments who took away people who opposed them, now that I thought about them. That was worrying, but it was probably something that required more context to understand. Also, it did not occur to me that aliens would have a word that translated to “capiche”, but I considered that it was context-appropriate and nodded. Polkif continued.
“Alright, so the first thing to know is that unwanted ideas and movements that spring up among us never quite manage to die, however much the Federation wants them to. We have quite a few dissident groups that are officially labeled “death cults”, as well as a lot of rebellious movements that the Federation has been working to stamp out. Many of these groups have survived centuries of opposition, and sometimes they preexist First Contact. The most notable of these groups are Linked Chains, the Steward Branch, the Inside, and the Nitre rebellion stuff on Nitto. Though, Linked Chains has spread offworld and has a pretty significant non-Zhetsian membership, so it isn’t near-exclusively Zhetsian like the others.
“What you should know is that, apart from a handful of bog-standard criminals and a few people looking for an excuse to cause harm, nobody dies or supports dying or misery in those groups. The Steward Branch is a religion that, especially now, is suspected to have been the original, true religion of Zhetsians, and which has as a core doctrine the idea that all life is precious and necessary for gaining true understanding. Including the predatory life. Linked Chains thinks that predators are necessary for the ecosystem to function properly, something that you humans seem to agree with. The Inside and the pro-Nitre stuff are the anti-Federation movements on Miluja and Nitto, respectively.
“The official accounts are pretty accurate as far as the origins of three of the movements, though Bilte is not evil, stupid, or manipulative like they portray him, the non-Steward branches are likely some combination of invented or blown way out of proportion by the Federation, and they like to underrepresent the amount of animosity that lingered after the Nitre rebellion’s resource issues were handled. Really, you need unofficial sources to get good histories for anything involving those movements. The thing they lie the most about, though, is the origins of the Inside on Miluja.
“A little over a century ago, Miluja, then only known as Colony World 3, started a program of reintroducing certain predators onto the planet in order to deal with pests. We’re a farming colony, you understand, so dealing with pests was a rather large priority, and sheer practicality overwhelmed the propaganda in this instance. The Exterminators Union threatened to withdraw over these changes, the planet called their bluff, and they left, only to realize that nobody wanted them back. A bounty system was implemented for unapproved wild predators, but a lot of other predators besides the original pest-killers started hanging around and coming out from the unannihilated parts of the wilderness that had been left when the Union left. People stopped minding, apparently. You can still access The Seven Sons of Aboulo TV show if you know where to look, it tells you something about what it was like back then. Much better than the contemporary first iteration of The Exterminators, which was a piece of over-the-top propaganda, though I digress.
“Of course, that wasn’t going to last forever. I can only imagine the reason we didn’t get shut down instantly was because we were, and remain, a bit of a backwater, and they all bought into their own lies enough that they thought we’d collapse on our own due to our changes. We didn’t, so they started helping the process along.
“The Farsul showed up to Zhetsian space and started poking around. The Farsul poking around in an unimportant, obscure species like ours can only mean trouble. They did some preliminary reconnaissance, then they threatened us if we didn’t disarm all of our civilian ships. We had the bright idea to retrofit all of our ships with guns, but apparently that encourages predator behavior, or something. Those made up almost all of our fleet! We really couldn’t afford the sanctions, scrutiny, accusations, and ostracization that would come from defying the Farsul, so we dutifully disarmed our ships, and shortly thereafter the Arxur showed up.”
At that, Polkif stopped talking, and a Venlil suddenly came out of a building that we had assumed was closed, almost hitting us with the door. The Venlil only heard the last part about the Arxur showing up, according to my calculations, and after a look of startlement that he shared with us, he turned around and headed the opposite direction. Polkif exhaled, and said, “The annoying thing about Venlil Prime is that there isn’t a night when everyone sleeps. There’s always a sizable portion of the population awake and active at any given moment, so you can’t avoid people staring at you nearly as much as you’d like.”
I bet a lot of people stared at Polkif. She seemed to be a regular in that bar, but elsewhere? Given that Polkif had stopped talking before I noticed the Venlil coming out of the building, I got the feeling that she was hyper-aware of scrutiny and always thinking about how people would perceive her every move. The walls have ears, after all. No wonder she was so noncommittal in the bar, compared to here. I figured that I should keep my observations to myself, though, and responded, “I can see that. On the bright side, not having a night means there’s nowhere you shouldn’t go at night. Wait, does the Federation even have street crime?”
Polkif snorted, which my translator told me indicated derision, same as for humans. “You’re more likely to get reported for predator disease for being out alone than to get mugged. But, yes, that will happen on occasion. Usually it takes the form of criminals running up, grabbing your bag, and running off again, no violence or confrontation involved. I know for a fact that there’s more violent crime than the Federation likes to admit to, though. Anyway, back to the story? Nobody’s watching.”
“Please.”
“Alright, so where were we? Farsul, ships, Arxur… Ah yes, the Arxur raid. After our fleet was significantly reduced, a fleet of more than a thousand Arxur ships showed up to Colony World 3. Normally this would be a death sentence, but a combination of tactics, guts, and on-the-ground resistance ended in us decimating the Arxur fleet, which then retreated with almost no cattle. Miluja hasn't had any Arxur problems since; they say we taste bad, and decimating their fleet probably put us firmly in the “don’t bother” camp. Fine by us! Anyway, during the battle, we’d asked around for help, but the other planets weren’t willing to divert resources, and I also suspect they wanted to avoid retaliation. They had to have known about the Farsul ship order. We also sent a few scouts further away to ask for help from other species, and that fleet did show up! Once the battle was already over and the Arxur were already retreating. Lazy cowards barely fired a single shot.
“As you might imagine, that fleet, known as the Assistance Fleet, stuck around. They offered to help us rebuild our bombed infrastructure and almost-annihilated fleet, for a hefty sum of cash and quite a lot of food. The other requirement was that we revert all of the changes we had made regarding predators and accept what was essentially an occupation. Our remaining pristine wilderness? Gone. Our new and unique ideas? Either well-hidden, taught away, or trapped in the minds of those stuck in facilities. Our wildlife? Mostly gone, although the original netry birds and jutalem are still around, despite the best efforts of the exterminators. Stubborn little bastards, they are. Some have taken them as a sort of symbol.
“The last important bit from that period is Milu. Things really sucked after the Assistance Fleet established themselves, as stated previously. Milu was a bureaucrat who schemed to smuggle out a whole bunch of information that the Outside occupiers wanted to destroy, subverted a great many efforts to diagnose people with predator disease and kill predators, and even worked to convince the physical fleet to head home instead of being threatening in our orbit. All around a stellar guy. He eventually got found out, diagnosed, and sent to a facility. The Outside tried to publicize it, for whichever reason, maybe to demoralize the Inside. It instead turned into a huge scandal, which ended in somebody blowing up the facility Milu was kept in, which resulted in several staff members dying and most of the inmates escaping, including Milu, who was never seen again. People started calling the colony Miluja around that time. Means something like “Milu’s Continuation” in the old Zhetsian language that people use to name things. As you can imagine, the Outside does not like that name, and while using it isn’t enough for a diagnosis, it will get you a whole lot of scrutiny that can easily lead to one.
“So, that’s that, mostly. Lots of fighting, lots of rebellion, lots of farmers telling their children all the things they don't teach in schools, and always the looming Federation ready to squash anything they don’t like. Personally, I’m quite surprised you lot managed to get a foothold. They go so hard on the propaganda.”
That was… a lot to take in. ‘Why does the Federation let them be like this?’ and ‘How horrible can the Federation be?’ were hardly original thoughts at this point, so I latched on to the one thing I understood well. “Well, Tarva was nice and nobody rushed us until we could handle it, and those were the lucky parts. Beyond that, it’s really a matter of time, as people see us not snapping and eating them. Personally, I suspect that the Federation going so hard on the propaganda was their undoing. They tell everyone that predators are pure evil, then predators who aren’t pure evil show up, so people figure the old framework no longer applies and they start judging things more rationally.”
Polkif hummed for a second, then responded, “That’s a decent theory. One would hope that some of that tolerance would extend to me, but I suppose you’re new, and old habits die hard. You know, there’s a few places on the planet I can’t go because of how riled up the populace is about predators, especially lately with you humans arriving. We’re the rebels, so I must be doing something horrible! Clowns, the lot of them.”
I imagine Polkif couldn’t get away with much, if what I took from her was accurate. Her race may have had some leeway with how deviant they were expected to be, but everything about her told me she was always under a lot of scrutiny. Though, this information didn’t seem like someone who perfectly obeyed every law and whim of the Federation would know about. So, I asked her, “If you’re under so much scrutiny, how do you know all this stuff? These unofficial histories don’t seem like something you could easily access.”
Polkif spoke again, but slower and with a weird cadence. “There’s more scrutiny for the Zhetsian diaspora than for Zhetsians on Zhetsian planets. That’s not to say that you aren’t always on high alert at all hours of the day because you never know who’s watching, who’s listening, who’ll report you, and what they’ll take as a sign that you have predator disease, or need your assets confiscated, or what have you. It just means that you have more trustworthy confidants and more leeway on Zhetsian planets. More people who can tell you stories and pass around contraband.
“As a relevant example of contraband, have you ever heard of The History of Non-Sapient Predators?”
I said, “No, I haven’t.”
She started twitching her fingers again, and the front of her snout flopped around a bit. I wasn’t aware she could move it. Then, she spoke. “The History of Non-Sapient Predators is one of the most well-known contraband books, at least amongst Zhetsians. It’s generally considered unsafe for us to get involved in movements offworld, and I’m not sure what contraband books exist elsewhere. Anyway, it’s up there with The Wild and Wondrous Deep, The Linked Chain, and The Social Strain. It’s an anthology of documents from the Galactic Archives, detailing the rise and fall of Colony World 3’s anti-Federation movement, as well as the context it takes place in.
“Most of the documents are publicly accessible in the Galactic Archives, just arranged in an unflattering manner. Some of them require special credentials to access, and a few are definitely not in the Archives, or reference documents that aren’t. It’s a common rumor that the Farsul Government Employee Registry doesn’t exist and is either completely hidden for some reason or a code for something else; also that many documents that used to be on the public network but classified were deleted or moved to a secret location or network after this book was created.
“It’s published under a pseudonym, and there are many theories on who made it. Whoever created it would have had to go to the Farsul homeworld, since the Archives are located there, and would have had to find a way to access non-public documents. It was definitely compiled before Milu, since neither he nor the name Miluja are mentioned. It cuts off after the Rebuilding starts. It was likely made by either a Zhetsian from Miluja or someone who greatly values Miluja, since it’s really only our history, despite the broad-sounding title. I’m sure there are other books detailing other species’ forgotten histories and interactions with non-sapient predators, but I don’t know about them. This is the history of our non-sapient predators.
“Anyway, that book is the defining source of the actual history of the Inside and Colony World 3. Copies are rare, but I used to know someone who had one back on Miluja.”
Wow. With every word that came out of Polkif’s mouth, a picture was being made of the side of the Federation that was so old and paranoid that it wouldn’t reveal itself, even now that Federation narratives were being questioned across the planet, or especially now that that was happening. Though, apparently Polkif wasn’t so paranoid as to hide it from me. I knew that my status as a human made people assume I was comfortable with predatory things, but I found that I did not take Polkif for the type to trust anyone she wasn’t extremely confident in. So I asked her, “Why are you telling me all this? I know I’m a human, but I could tell people. I’m a stranger to you.”
She snuffled again. “Remember when I said that I could drag you down with me? Well, I’ve actually been looking into you for a bit. You’re the only human I’ve seen out here, what can I say? I was interested. I’m quite good at navigating electronic things, and I happen to have discovered several dossiers of blackmail that your shipping company has provided you to help you make deals. Perhaps not as predatory as it could be, but I’m sure I could portray it properly if I needed to make this known to appropriate parties. I’m sure you know how illegal it is and how much of a diplomatic incident this would create.”
Wait.
She knew about that?
Sudden terror gripped me. I liked to think of my activities as aggressive business tactics, but her statement reminded me that it was still blackmail and would likely end in jail time and a diplomatic incident if I were caught. She also refueled the paranoia of getting reported for it that had been plaguing me ever since I arrived on Venlil Prime as a businessman. And, since this random alien who was simply interested in me could find it, that meant that I was in a very precarious position. Out of fear, and desperation, I shot back, “If I reported you, wouldn’t law enforcement just take you away before you could do anything, and wouldn’t they not listen to you if you’re a known predator? You seemed to imply that back at the bar.”
She replied just as quickly, “Exterminators. They deal with cases of predator disease, or really any crime involving the Zhetsian diaspora as they like to assume that we all have predator disease. Anyways, as you’re a human, they’re much less likely to believe anything you say, and that combined with experience and security measures means I will absolutely have time to send it off before they get me. I can be anonymous if need be. And don’t you try to delegate reporting to anyone or do it anonymously; if anyone comes knocking on my door, I’m blaming you, and out this goes.”
Well, damn. I stopped in the middle of the street to think, barely noticing Polkif’s eye glittering as she stopped next to me. I really should have known that someone like Polkif would only reveal anything to anyone if she was very sure that they wouldn’t reveal anything. Whether because she trusted them as people, or because she held something over them. I drastically misjudged her; she was intensely paranoid, but so good at masking that you never knew until she was already acting against you.
The aggressive negotiation tactics already stressed me out. When combined with Polkif’s knowledge of them, they made me feel far out of my depth. My mind was racing, but something did occur to me, and I asked her, “Do you do this frequently for the sake of it, or do you want something from me? You don’t seem the type to task unnecessary risks.”
More snuffling, of what I thought was a distinctly different character than previous snuffling. Probably a malicious laughter, if I had to guess. “I did have an idea that required a human. When I said that I had no copy of The History of Non-Sapient Predators on Venlil Prime, I lied. Had to see how you reacted, after all. I do indeed have a copy that I took with me from Miluja, and have made copies of it since. I was thinking that humanity having a copy would be useful. You guys can translate it, make copies, get famous and make boatloads of cash off of it, or whatever else you can think of. The Federation doesn't have eyes or tendrils on Earth, so the book, our history, won’t die, or at least it has a greater chance not to. I have no clue how many copies there are across the Federation, but I know it’s not that many. I was under the impression that humans quite liked the preservation of knowledge and history, based on what I’ve seen of humanity’s reaction to the Cilany and Yotul situations. So, you wouldn’t mind preserving important history that's been suppressed by the Federation.”
That was… surprisingly benign. I was about ready for her to demand I fork over all of my money, go rogue with my company ship, or commit crimes against exterminators and the government. A little bit of smuggling, especially of something this important, was nothing, especially compared to the activities I’d been engaging in. I already had to smuggle in some of the negotiation material, anyway.
She continued, “As I said, this book is very, very illegal, and even as a human you’re likely to get in a lot of trouble for having it. As you’ve already been able to hide all that blackmail, you shouldn’t have a problem hiding this, but do be careful, and do not get caught. Only look at it once you’re back on Earth, away from prying eyes, and don’t let your company find out until you don’t need their support. I'd recommend keeping your identity wholly separate from your ownership of that book. As for getting it to you, I happen to know that you’re going to be going to a certain library to do research on Venlil agricultural history tomorrow - you really shouldn’t use the DailyMemo112 app, it has poor security - so when you get there, look out for the book titled “History of Agricultural Exports of Venlil Prime: Volume 18” by “Bitsly” in the agriculture section. It’s a fake cover, obviously, with a few fake pages too, but it's what you're looking for, so take it and go. You should probably buy a few other books about Venlil Prime trade, for cover. Any questions?”
Aside from the fact that she casually mentioned that she knew about my daily schedule for the remaining 2 weeks of my trip, that was surprisingly straightforward. A few plans for what I'd do with the book were even percolating in my mind; I'd translate them to English, of course, and then I could post them anonymously online, maybe I could put a paywall or tip jar in there to make money off of it? I didn't need the money, since my job paid me well, but this could blow up, and I wouldn't be one of Barlethy Shipping's spacefaring employees if I didn't keep an eye out for opportunity. None of these ideas were something I needed Polkif for, though. So, I replied, “No. Uh, thank you for telling me all this? Fascinating stuff.”
“You’re welcome, and thank you, if you pull this off successfully. Oh, and don’t tell the UN. They care quite a bit about Venlil laws and sovereignty, you know. Them knowing will attract attention that neither of us want. Never tell anyone anything unless you absolutely have to, you know. Now, I believe that is your hotel right there?”
I looked away from Polkif, and noticed that we were indeed in front of the huge, gray hotel building I was staying in. I wasn't sure how Polkif knew it was mine, but I probably shouldn't have been surprised at that point. It spoke to how adrift and detached from all non-business endeavors I was on Venlil Prime that I didn’t recognize the area around the place I was staying until it was pointed out to me. With a sudden bout of melancholy washing out some of the paranoia, I said, “Indeed.”
She flopped her snout around a bit, twitching her fingers all the while. I assumed, or at least hoped, that this was the Zhetsian version of smiling. “See you never, probably. Further contact would only be suspicious. The walls have ears, so be careful. Goodbye.”
I watched her walk off, back towards the bar. I entered my hotel, feeling dazed now that everything had time to settle in. The adrenaline was wearing off, and with nothing new or exciting to occupy my attention, I crashed hard. Exhaustion, combined with the events and emotions of the past hour, made me incapable of having thoughts more complex than a sense of paranoia and a desire to go to bed.
I stumbled up to my room and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, without even pulling the blackout curtains over the window.
Previous
submitted by creeperflint to HFY [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 21:35 JudgementallyTempora Shiplist: "Cruiser Mafia" Edition

(I'll be borrowing Grievous69's certified Starsector Ship Rating System™. The first score is for a flagship and the second is for an AI ship)
Frigates
Destroyers
NOTE: In general destroyers become almost completely useless by the endgame. While (good) frigates justify their existence by being able to cap objectives, kill stragglers and generally be a distraction that in most cases is almost impossible for the enemy to kill, destroyers lack the speed to do any of this while at the same time lacking range, damage and tank to duke it out with cruisers and capitals.
NOTE2: Carriers(of all sizes) become progressively less useful as fleets get bigger because there's just so much ordnance flying around that fighters evaporate quickly even without any dedicated PD. And bombers don't change targets mid-flight which often leads to them charging right into enemy lines trying to fire on ships that have already retreated.
Cruisers
Capitals
AI Ships:
Logistic Ships:
Valkyrie/Phantom/Colossus Mk.III: not much to say, Phantom is best. Although it should be pointed out that for getting undercover agents out of Pirate/Pather space stations all you need is Valkyrie and 100 Marines, anything above that does nothing.
Nebula/Starliner: you will literally only use these for creating colonies. Why am I writing this. Nebulas are rather common as wrecks during exploration so you can save yourself some money just by keeping any you find for later. Wow.
WayfareGemini/Mule/Tarsus: the "combat freighters", well except for Tarsus but I didn't have anywhere else to put it. Needless to say you should never bring a freighter into combat so only two ships here stand out. The first is Wayfarer which somehow packs 150 cargo space into a frigate hull with no civilian sensor profile penalty and which has OP to spare for Insulated Engine Assembly making it an early game smuggler's best friend. The other is Gemini which is wise enough to stay the hell away from combat, as a freighter should.
Dram/Phaeton/Revenant/Prometheus: unless you really really need sensor profile below 30 without S-modding then Phaeton completely obsoletes the Dram. Revenant exists as a more fancy Phaeton which also doubles as a cargo ship and makes it easier to keep your fleet's sensor profile low which means you can bring larger ships on your smuggling trips. Prometheus is completely pointless, you will never need this much fuel.
Buffalo/Colossus/Atlas: which ship to use will vary depending on your skills(Bulk Transport), desired base Burn, desired sensor profile and how much SP are you willing to spend. From endgame perspective Atlas is a clear winner, being most efficient by just about every metric. With S-modded Insulated Engine Assembly you can get its sensor profile down to that of a frigate(!), hovewer it will have base Burn of 8 - either with Bulk Transport or Augmented Drive Field - which is usually not enough for early game or exploration. Colossus gets to Burn 9, Buffalo gets Militarized Subsystems instead to lower its sensor profile without S-modding, etc.
Salvage Rig: put three of these in your fleet and stop whining about supplies/fuel.
Ox: with the massive bonuses logistics hullmods got when S-modded in this patch there is even less reasons to not use the Ox. Or two.
submitted by JudgementallyTempora to starsector [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 20:58 FerretBoi69 Thor vs Wonder Woman

Before getting into their stats: I want to talk about one of the key things that led to Wonder Woman's victory, in her episode: The Sword of Hephaestus. This sword, is sharp enough to split atoms. However, in my opinion Thor should resist this. Thor's molecules (and atoms) work differently than mortals. This is something very consistent with Thor, and other Gods. Thor survived an increased blast, from Kang's dissolution beam, which could split atoms across time. Thor was immune, to having his subatomic particles hardened. He has survived, being blasted by anti matter. Thor, has also survived being blasted by Power Cosmic, from Galactus, and the Silver Surfer. The Power Cosmic, has shown the ability to not only control atoms, but straight up atomize stuff. Thor, has also outright, survived a blast that would atomize, anyone other than a God. Even if you don't buy his immunity, this ability should be countered by Thor, but I'll talk about that more later. This isn't to say however, that the blade couldn't hurt Thor, as he has a history , of being hurt by mythical blades. He however, is always able to patch it up, with his healing factor.

Thor's stats:

Thor has shattered a root of Yggdrasil. As a baby, he shook The World Tree, with his cries. Thor has defeated a Celestial. This is consistent, because Knull noted he had felt a power like Thor's, and he goes around killing Celestials. And Celestials, created the Multiverse in Marvel. Thor is considered, a threat to a large portion, of all that resides in Eternity, and Infinity. Two weaker Thor's , spewed shockwaves across the Multiverse. Keep in mind, one of them barely has a tenth, of the actual, Thor's power.
With the Godblast, Thor can fend off Galactus. And with 3 other Thor's, he was able to bolster the Super flow , and prevent the Multiverse from collapsing. As already established, Thor was also doing most of the heavy lifting here.
For speed, Thor has outsped the Silver Surfer. Who was stated by the cosmic abstract Infinity, to have incalculable speed. Mjolnir, has outright, traveled immeasurable distances. Thor, has spun his hammer, so fast it transcended space and time. Thor has flown to Asgard, which is a realm, beyond time and space.

Wonder Woman's stats:

Wonder Woman has redirected a blast , from the entire Greek pantheon. She shattered, the Cronus sceptre, which houses the God Wave. Wonder Woman has defeated, the Phantom Stranger, who is able to fight the Spectre. In a fight with Superman, they both shook the Heavens. Wonder Woman, has also been able to, harm Darkseid , with her blows. This is impressive because, Darkseid took a punch powered by the whole Multiverse casually. This should be consistent as well, since the Hellbat, is powered by her punches. And the Hellbat, can also harm Darkseid.
For speed, Wonder Woman is almost as fast as the Flash. This should be consistent because, she did pretty well in The Great Race. Wonder Woman is considered faster than Superman in combat. Wonder Woman has the speed of Hermes. Which means she should be comparable to Shazam, who has the speed of Mercury. Shazam has flown , to the Rock of Eternity, which is beyond time and space.
So in terms of AP and Speed they should be pretty comparable. But Thor should have an edge in AP, while Wonder Woman should have an edge in speed.

Thor's experience and skill:

Thor is very old. Thor, has been seen in hieroglyphics. He remembers humanity, back when we were in the stone age. He also says, he is older than our entire race. For skill, he has centuries, worth of training in the arts of war. He kept up with Man-Beast, who's combat is millions of years more advanced than ours. Thor also matches Shang-Chi. Who is comparable to Iron Fist, who has access to infinite combat techniques.

Wonder Woman's experience and skill:

For Wonder Woman is a little harder to gauge her age. We know her mother, Queen Hippolyta was a teen during the Trojan War, which took place 3000+ years ago, so Wonder Woman should be around that age. For skill, Wonder Woman was able to Zod, who was bred to be a warrior from birth. She is considered the greatest melee fighter, on Earth, by Batman, and no one argues with Batman. She should also scale to Ares, who has tactics and strategies throughout the ages.
So, for skill, they should be pretty even. However, for experience Thor should completely blow hers out of the water, which in my opinion is going to be a huge advantage as he'll have more experience fighting opponents like her.
I will only talk about Hax that is applicable in combat.

Thor's hax:

Matter Manipulation: Thor can fuse an opponent's molecules. Thor can manipulate subatomic particles. He hits so hard he can atomize objects. He can also manipulate anti matter. Wonder Woman herself, has shown limited resistance to this, however this did result in her being weakened. Her equipment however, hasn't shown any resistance to this at all. This ability is huge because it allows Thor to weaken her, and strip her of her equipment.
Life Absorption: Thor has shown the ability to drain a person's life force. Wonder Woman should resist this however, as she was barely effected by Parasite.
Power Absorption/ Nullification: Thor has stolen the Power Cosmic , from Galactus. He has also separated the Juggernaut , from Cytorrak. Wonder Woman should partially resist this because of Parasite, but not on the scale that this ability operates at. Wonder Woman does have ways of getting her powers back, but not before Thor should finish her off.
Storm Creation: As the God of Thunder, Thor can create storms larger than entire universes. Or isolate them, inside of a person. This ability would grant him complete control of the battlefield, and Wonder Woman has no way of stopping him from creating one inside of her.
Regeneration: Thor has a potent regeneration, being able to regenerate a incinerated arm in 30 minutes. His regen, has also patched up wounds from the All Black, Twilight Sword, and Odin Sword.
Super Smooch: This ability can't be countered and one shots any target.

Wonder Woman's hax:

Zeus's Lightning: Wonder Woman has the ability to control Zeus's Lightning. This however wouldn't work on Thor. Thor is completely immune lightning, and electricity. Thor is also the elemental archetype , and is the extradimensional abstract concept of the storm. So not only is this ability useless in harming Thor, it also runs the risk of being used against her.
Soul Manipulation: The Lasso of Truth has shown the ability to target souls. Thor should resist this though, as he was unaffected by hellfire from the Ghost Rider.
Regeneration:Wonder Woman was able to heal from severe head trauma, broken bones, and organ failure, within 3 hours.
So, Thor in my opinion is a more versatile fighter, and his Hax could definitely tip the scales in his favor.

Onto Amps:

I will only be talking about amps that they can naturally access. Not one time power ups, or amps that they eventually lost, or can't access.

Thor's amps:

Warrior's Madness: Is an ability that is a 10× multiplier. It does have a drawback though, the madness part.
Meginjord: Is a belt that multiplies his strength by two. It does have the drawback of severely draining the users stamina For Thor though, it's not as bad as it seems, because this guy can fight for over, 2 years!
Odin Force: If, you feel, he should get it. It's power shook an embassy created by the Living Tribunal, that exists above infinite dimensions. It grants omniscience, telepathy, existence erasure, and reality warping. However using too much of it, will cause the user to fall into the Odin Sleep.
Gaea's Power: By praying to his mother, she grants him some of her power. She is responsible for the creation of all gods in Marvel. When Thor had a smaller portion he was able to harm the Chaos King. It grants him control of the earth, and an even higher scale of power nullification .
Phoenix Force: A latent ability he has just recently unlocked, because of his interactions with the Phoenix at a early age. It grants him the flames of the Phoenix.
Power Cosmic: Thor was once a herald of Galactus. He has still kept the Power Cosmic. He felt the call from Galactus to all of his heralds. And he used the power cosmic in his fight against Knull.

Wonder Woman's amps:

Gauntlets of Atlas: These gauntlets give her a 10× multiplier.
Superform: by removing her bracelets she gets a huge boost in power.
Godwave: by praying to her pantheon she is granted a portion of the Godwave. It's power created all deities in DC along with the Superheroes. It grants a boost in power, and omniscience. Using it too long however, puts strain on the user and, runs the risk of the user dying.
So for amps, I feel Thor should also take the advantage here. He has a less risky (none could kill him), more versatile, and just straight up more amps to fall back on. With Gaea's Power, he could also just nullify Wonder Woman's Godwave amp.

Wonder Woman's worthiness?

This is a topic I find quite interesting. Is Wonder Woman worthy of Mjolnir? It's something that both companies think is a possibility. However even if she can pick it up, it is always going to obey Thor over her. And if it didn't, it would cause Thor to use Jarnbjorn. An enchanted axe that can kill Celestials. Which would also exploit her weakness to piercing weapons.

Verdict:

In my opinion I think Thor, should win pretty solidly. They both are comparable in stats, and skills, but when it comes to hax, experience, and amps, Wonder Woman is outclassed. With probably his biggest advantage being experience because, that's gonna cause him to use his hax, once he realizes that just hammer smashes isn't going to work.
submitted by FerretBoi69 to deathbattle [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 20:43 Bluedreamer720 Can't get my global variables to change unless using a collision event

Exactly what I said. I'm trying to get it to where you can click an attack button etc. To change specific Variables in a turn based game, but I can't get the variables to change with a button press or mouse click. The only thing that will change them is if I put it into a collision event. I'm really confused as to why. Any help would be appreciated.
I have tried to put
if (keyboard_key_press(vk_space)) { global.pc.currenthp -= 5 }
Then I have this text being drawn in a draw GUI event:
draw_text(50, 50, "Health:"+string(global.pc.currenthp)+"/"+string(global.pc.maxhp)
So the text will draw correctly when I use a collision event to alter the variable but it won't otherwise
submitted by Bluedreamer720 to gamemaker [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 19:41 ImmediateFault2458 Writings I'm not sure what to do with

It was written and so it was read, she often said to take his meds.
A mothers love can be too much to bare.
Someone told him once that food should be his only cure.
And negro now a man took much to heart.
"I've learned many words that meant to spit or to hurt, for example, vulgarities pronounced with p's remind me of the weeks on end I've been using drains or napkins to keep my parents happy.
At night they clang by bedside to traumatize me. They meaning whoever and whoever caged.
*BANG! BANG!
Her: "Find me."
*BANG!
​
[NEGRO & URCHIN]
Negro: "It's me!"
Urchin: "You win."
...
Urchin: "It's me!"
Negro: "It's me?"
Urchin: "Fuck you!"
Negro: "Ow."
Urchin: "High- Moah."
​
[Ssss]
Have you ever heard a boxer before as they throw a jab?
Ssss That’s the sound.
An arrow that moves through the air has a similar sound.
Ssss
How many warriors heard that sound around?
Ssss Ssss
Sorry, I get carried away.
Snakes are gods children. As a child, I had many snake like qualities.
They’re also messengers, “It’s only a nibble really.”
They don’t really try to hurt you if they like you.
They don’t like crosses very much. Jesus doesn’t really like snakes around sometimes either.
Snakes are mostly naive and are families, mothers and babies.
They take what they hear and send it off somewhere else like a note.
…
“Hey”
…
“Hi”
They like where it’s cool somewhere off the road.
Snakes like cigarettes and I like snakes.
To walk without being bit is to remove tension and to move regardless of what takes curiosity in you.
And if it’s really big, don’t run. Look at it.
It’s your life, shouldn’t everyone get a say?
Good now try again.
(I’m sorry god, just give me this)
Ssss
What is it?
I didn’t jab you, I didn’t shoot an arrow at you, I’m not a snake.
Do you believe me?
Are you good?
Ssss Ssss
Are we?
….
Was that your mind playing tricks?
Ssss Ssss
Nope. Let’s keep moving.
​
[HOW JESUS FIGHTS] (Or doesn’t)
Jesus will never lay his hands on you unless you want him to.
He will however tun his skin to bronze if you hit him twice in a row.
It’s you.
That’s how he fights.
He sarcastic and believes the devil exists and he believes the devil is trying to hurt you.
That implies to me, that Satan is the cause of all suffering.
Eventually, we deal with that problem like children or broken toys.
Misfits.
Jesus will say “go get that thing” and then after you’re there,
he’ll say “Dude, whatever you do, don’t touch the thing.”
And you’ll say “But… Okay…. Don’t touch it?”
Jesus will say, “Dude, don’t use you’re feet either.”
And you’re looking at the thing and he says, “Unless you want.”
And you wonder why you have him over and you actually tell him that and he says,
“Hey! Don’t talk to me that way.”
…
“Unless you want.”
And than you wonder who said what, but everybody’s laughing and heaven’s supposed to be now.
​
[BIRDS]
I saw a bird that laughed and bellowed like a happy father as it flew off.
They truly are an audience.
If you're ever hurt and need the tone of care, they're there.
I wonder if for a moment I could interpret their song.
"Poor baby."
"Poor baby."
I love birds, yet I hardly know a thing about them. They remind me of angels.
I could swear I'd talk back sometimes, it's hard to remember.
It really must be difficult to live outside and forge for worms early in the morning before most
everyone's awake.
They seem to me to love family. I love my family too.
Does god ever cry I wonder?
With so many problems in the world and so many important people, it seems strange to me he'd have the time.
I could swear I've heard him in the wind.
Everyone everywhere just wants to feel better.
You ever taken a bath and thought of your day and thought, "Man, that really hurt."
I have the hypothesis that the longer you go without intimacy or care, love, someone to hold,
someone to ask if you're you're okay, the more voices that come to damage you.
I'm sorry.
Respect is supposed to be a way to mitigate negative external stimuli , but humans are unpredictable.
Self love, or love of god can mitigate what irritates you internally, but the two (Internal and external)
are tied together like a knot that takes time to unfurl. It might take all day.
Much of what bothers you is your memory.
Excuse me, "hit" is the point I wish to diffuse, so I'll say it differently.
The threat of danger can be more agonizing than the threat.
What I'm saying is, a negative altercation can take you headspace for a long time.
The only cure is love. You're supposed to get it physically in some way.
A teddy bear at night to ward off the bad voices can be a plus.
For someone with severe anxiety, I'd recommend you hold a rag in your pocket and imagine it's a hand.
That's a prescription I'm afraid to give up, but I don't need it anymore.
"I love you" makes me feel better, but I'm a bit lost. I still have my teddy bear.
Whatever emotions a hug or holding hands produces in my biology ae the same emotions that
quell my pains.
It makes it easier to not spread pain either. People hurt people because they're hurt.
"If you need help I'll help you again and again until you feel better." That is love of self, love from another and that's recovery from circumstance.
If one has a talent to inflict pain, let them try again. Let them practice.
​
[CLAIRE ST LAURENT]
She started showing up sometime after those springtime adds for nondrowsy Claritin D became gospel on everyone’s phones.
She didn’t really have a name when we first met.
Anyway, I gave her that name because I was angry I couldn’t sleep and I thought it would be funny.
She was a St. Laurent.
You can be “Invited” into these kind of things. Anointed rather.
What a Saint Laurent can do, you might blame…
In the winter, she’s the warmth where it’s cold. In the summer she’s far away.
Satan is a barking dog that never sleeps. God is good.
A St. Laurent is a family. And you never mess with family.
Claire St. Laurent, my pen, my phone, my cigars, my weed, my lighter, my home,
My hand
My hands.
My bed, my me, my… It’s never enough.
Did you know an elbow can be used to intercept a fist?
Did you know you can shoot lightning bolts from your mind?
At least half of half of that’s true.
A void avoids, did you know that?
Think of nothing, quiet your mind.
…
The first thought isn’t you.
The second thought isn’t you.
Quiet your mind again.
…
The first thought isn’t you.
The first thought isn’t you.
Who speaks through me?
Claire St. Laurent means artificial light.
To stop the flashes you need sunglasses.
Claire St. Laurent means,
*Shrug
Claire St. Laurent means… It’s too dark to describe.
You can put a cross in your hand in your mind and it will be there.
Now try an eclipse.
Now imagine a fire.
I have the real thing in this cigar.
I love fire. I love the way it burns. Sometimes it’s my only company.
I hate the waste though. Every cigarette butt you leave on the ground, someone has to pick up.
I hate that.
​
[DOUBLE ENTER]
I have 2 crosses in my room.
One made immaculately from blue painters tape and one black cross on the back of a notebook filled in with marker.
Both keep me very safe. I tried to keep the space by the blue cross as clean as possible in the past, but now it’s getting out of hand and it’s the opposite.
I’m certainly a messy bird myself.
I step out for a smoke and I come back and it’s as messy as I left it.
It’s all love in the end.
You high five, light rains upon you, you’re friends and family again. That’s all.
​
[MY ME]
“These are my hands
This is my me
Women are complicated
Give me more things.”
“Fuck you, fuck me, they’re your hands recently.”
“That’s more dog speak than god speak!”
A split mind’s a heart full of Seneca red cigars and your head in the clouds.
He beseeches what she preaches. You know what I’m sayin?
You can’t buy diamonds with food stamps, but you can sell food.
(Trade food)
I don’t have all the answers, but I love you.
Two things, Viking burial. Never shake someone’s hand in you mind. They might take it as they own you.
They’re your hands.
​
[WALKING DOWN THE STREET AT DAWN BY A BUSY ROAD]
The negro wears black most of the time.
"There's many ways to walk depending on ones stature for lack of a better word.
A square before he was one might tell you to hop from streetlight to streetlight gliding through the air.
It's a confident look to keep your head high and your legs loose.
It's how any honored guest of a martial artist might express himself.
It's a warriors walk, but less stiff, like a cold maiden in a warm coat."
The negros coast is won and torn. His beard is full, but his hairline is atrocious.
He walks into a shop when the back of his head starts talking to everybody.
Clerk: "Hey bro!"
Negro: "What's good?"
"If you're ever scared mistrust will spread because a smile's a little stale, or the pavement's got you down, remember just two things.
Two eyes, two traffic lights and the brighter the two things the better. Less pain that way."
Negro: "Let me get some papers."
"Just two things.
Just two things."
submitted by ImmediateFault2458 to creativewriting [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 19:39 ImmediateFault2458 Writings I'm not sure what to do with

It was written and so it was read, she often said to take his meds.
A mothers love can be too much to bare.
Someone told him once that food should be his only cure.
And negro now a man took much to heart.
"I've learned many words that meant to spit or to hurt, for example, vulgarities pronounced with p's remind me of the weeks on end I've been using drains or napkins to keep my parents happy.
At night they clang by bedside to traumatize me. They meaning whoever and whoever caged.
*BANG! BANG!
Her: "Find me."
*BANG!
​
[NEGRO & URCHIN]
Negro: "It's me!"
Urchin: "You win."
...
Urchin: "It's me!"
Negro: "It's me?"
Urchin: "Fuck you!"
Negro: "Ow."
Urchin: "High- Moah."
​
[Ssss]
Have you ever heard a boxer before as they throw a jab?
Ssss That’s the sound.
An arrow that moves through the air has a similar sound.
Ssss
How many warriors heard that sound around?
Ssss Ssss
Sorry, I get carried away.
Snakes are gods children. As a child, I had many snake like qualities.
They’re also messengers, “It’s only a nibble really.”
They don’t really try to hurt you if they like you.
They don’t like crosses very much. Jesus doesn’t really like snakes around sometimes either.
Snakes are mostly naive and are families, mothers and babies.
They take what they hear and send it off somewhere else like a note.
…
“Hey”
…
“Hi”
They like where it’s cool somewhere off the road.
Snakes like cigarettes and I like snakes.
To walk without being bit is to remove tension and to move regardless of what takes curiosity in you.
And if it’s really big, don’t run. Look at it.
It’s your life, shouldn’t everyone get a say?
Good now try again.
(I’m sorry god, just give me this)
Ssss
What is it?
I didn’t jab you, I didn’t shoot an arrow at you, I’m not a snake.
Do you believe me?
Are you good?
Ssss Ssss
Are we?
….
Was that your mind playing tricks?
Ssss Ssss
Nope. Let’s keep moving.
​
[HOW JESUS FIGHTS] (Or doesn’t)
Jesus will never lay his hands on you unless you want him to.
He will however tun his skin to bronze if you hit him twice in a row.
It’s you.
That’s how he fights.
He sarcastic and believes the devil exists and he believes the devil is trying to hurt you.
That implies to me, that Satan is the cause of all suffering.
Eventually, we deal with that problem like children or broken toys.
Misfits.
Jesus will say “go get that thing” and then after you’re there,
he’ll say “Dude, whatever you do, don’t touch the thing.”
And you’ll say “But… Okay…. Don’t touch it?”
Jesus will say, “Dude, don’t use you’re feet either.”
And you’re looking at the thing and he says, “Unless you want.”
And you wonder why you have him over and you actually tell him that and he says,
“Hey! Don’t talk to me that way.”
…
“Unless you want.”
And than you wonder who said what, but everybody’s laughing and heaven’s supposed to be now.
​
[BIRDS]
I saw a bird that laughed and bellowed like a happy father as it flew off.
They truly are an audience.
If you're ever hurt and need the tone of care, they're there.
I wonder if for a moment I could interpret their song.
"Poor baby."
"Poor baby."
I love birds, yet I hardly know a thing about them. They remind me of angels.
I could swear I'd talk back sometimes, it's hard to remember.
It really must be difficult to live outside and forge for worms early in the morning before most
everyone's awake.
They seem to me to love family. I love my family too.
Does god ever cry I wonder?
With so many problems in the world and so many important people, it seems strange to me he'd have the time.
I could swear I've heard him in the wind.
Everyone everywhere just wants to feel better.
You ever taken a bath and thought of your day and thought, "Man, that really hurt."
I have the hypothesis that the longer you go without intimacy or care, love, someone to hold,
someone to ask if you're you're okay, the more voices that come to damage you.
I'm sorry.
Respect is supposed to be a way to mitigate negative external stimuli , but humans are unpredictable.
Self love, or love of god can mitigate what irritates you internally, but the two (Internal and external)
are tied together like a knot that takes time to unfurl. It might take all day.
Much of what bothers you is your memory.
Excuse me, "hit" is the point I wish to diffuse, so I'll say it differently.
The threat of danger can be more agonizing than the threat.
What I'm saying is, a negative altercation can take you headspace for a long time.
The only cure is love. You're supposed to get it physically in some way.
A teddy bear at night to ward off the bad voices can be a plus.
For someone with severe anxiety, I'd recommend you hold a rag in your pocket and imagine it's a hand.
That's a prescription I'm afraid to give up, but I don't need it anymore.
"I love you" makes me feel better, but I'm a bit lost. I still have my teddy bear.
Whatever emotions a hug or holding hands produces in my biology ae the same emotions that
quell my pains.
It makes it easier to not spread pain either. People hurt people because they're hurt.
"If you need help I'll help you again and again until you feel better." That is love of self, love from another and that's recovery from circumstance.
If one has a talent to inflict pain, let them try again. Let them practice.
​
[CLAIRE ST LAURENT]
She started showing up sometime after those springtime adds for nondrowsy Claritin D became gospel on everyone’s phones.
She didn’t really have a name when we first met.
Anyway, I gave her that name because I was angry I couldn’t sleep and I thought it would be funny.
She was a St. Laurent.
You can be “Invited” into these kind of things. Anointed rather.
What a Saint Laurent can do, you might blame…
In the winter, she’s the warmth where it’s cold. In the summer she’s far away.
Satan is a barking dog that never sleeps. God is good.
A St. Laurent is a family. And you never mess with family.
Claire St. Laurent, my pen, my phone, my cigars, my weed, my lighter, my home,
My hand
My hands.
My bed, my me, my… It’s never enough.
Did you know an elbow can be used to intercept a fist?
Did you know you can shoot lightning bolts from your mind?
At least half of half of that’s true.
A void avoids, did you know that?
Think of nothing, quiet your mind.
…
The first thought isn’t you.
The second thought isn’t you.
Quiet your mind again.
…
The first thought isn’t you.
The first thought isn’t you.
Who speaks through me?
Claire St. Laurent means artificial light.
To stop the flashes you need sunglasses.
Claire St. Laurent means,
*Shrug
Claire St. Laurent means… It’s too dark to describe.
You can put a cross in your hand in your mind and it will be there.
Now try an eclipse.
Now imagine a fire.
I have the real thing in this cigar.
I love fire. I love the way it burns. Sometimes it’s my only company.
I hate the waste though. Every cigarette butt you leave on the ground, someone has to pick up.
I hate that.
​
[DOUBLE ENTER]
I have 2 crosses in my room.
One made immaculately from blue painters tape and one black cross on the back of a notebook filled in with marker.
Both keep me very safe. I tried to keep the space by the blue cross as clean as possible in the past, but now it’s getting out of hand and it’s the opposite.
I’m certainly a messy bird myself.
I step out for a smoke and I come back and it’s as messy as I left it.
It’s all love in the end.
You high five, light rains upon you, you’re friends and family again. That’s all.
​
[MY ME]
“These are my hands
This is my me
Women are complicated
Give me more things.”
“Fuck you, fuck me, they’re your hands recently.”
“That’s more dog speak than god speak!”
A split mind’s a heart full of Seneca red cigars and your head in the clouds.
He beseeches what she preaches. You know what I’m sayin?
You can’t buy diamonds with food stamps, but you can sell food.
(Trade food)
I don’t have all the answers, but I love you.
Two things, Viking burial. Never shake someone’s hand in you mind. They might take it as they own you.
They’re your hands.
​
[WALKING DOWN THE STREET AT DAWN BY A BUSY ROAD]
The negro wears black most of the time.
"There's many ways to walk depending on ones stature for lack of a better word.
A square before he was one might tell you to hop from streetlight to streetlight gliding through the air.
It's a confident look to keep your head high and your legs loose.
It's how any honored guest of a martial artist might express himself.
It's a warriors walk, but less stiff, like a cold maiden in a warm coat."
The negros coast is won and torn. His beard is full, but his hairline is atrocious.
He walks into a shop when the back of his head starts talking to everybody.
Clerk: "Hey bro!"
Negro: "What's good?"
"If you're ever scared mistrust will spread because a smile's a little stale, or the pavement's got you down, remember just two things.
Two eyes, two traffic lights and the brighter the two things the better. Less pain that way."
Negro: "Let me get some papers."
"Just two things.
Just two things."
submitted by ImmediateFault2458 to LibraryofBabel [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 19:38 ImmediateFault2458 Writings I'm not sure what to do with

It was written and so it was read, she often said to take his meds.
A mothers love can be too much to bare.
Someone told him once that food should be his only cure.
And negro now a man took much to heart.
"I've learned many words that meant to spit or to hurt, for example, vulgarities pronounced with p's remind me of the weeks on end I've been using drains or napkins to keep my parents happy.
At night they clang by bedside to traumatize me. They meaning whoever and whoever caged.
*BANG! BANG!
Her: "Find me."
*BANG!
​
[NEGRO & URCHIN]
Negro: "It's me!"
Urchin: "You win."
...
Urchin: "It's me!"
Negro: "It's me?"
Urchin: "Fuck you!"
Negro: "Ow."
Urchin: "High- Moah."
​
​
[Ssss]
Have you ever heard a boxer before as they throw a jab?
Ssss That’s the sound.
An arrow that moves through the air has a similar sound.
Ssss
How many warriors heard that sound around?
Ssss Ssss
Sorry, I get carried away.
Snakes are gods children. As a child, I had many snake like qualities.
They’re also messengers, “It’s only a nibble really.”
They don’t really try to hurt you if they like you.
They don’t like crosses very much. Jesus doesn’t really like snakes around sometimes either.
Snakes are mostly naive and are families, mothers and babies.
They take what they hear and send it off somewhere else like a note.
…
“Hey”
…
“Hi”
They like where it’s cool somewhere off the road.
Snakes like cigarettes and I like snakes.
To walk without being bit is to remove tension and to move regardless of what takes curiosity in you.
And if it’s really big, don’t run. Look at it.
It’s your life, shouldn’t everyone get a say?
Good now try again.
(I’m sorry god, just give me this)
Ssss
What is it?
I didn’t jab you, I didn’t shoot an arrow at you, I’m not a snake.
Do you believe me?
Are you good?
Ssss Ssss
Are we?
….
Was that your mind playing tricks?
Ssss Ssss
Nope. Let’s keep moving.
​
[HOW JESUS FIGHTS] (Or doesn’t)
Jesus will never lay his hands on you unless you want him to.
He will however tun his skin to bronze if you hit him twice in a row.
It’s you.
That’s how he fights.
He sarcastic and believes the devil exists and he believes the devil is trying to hurt you.
That implies to me, that Satan is the cause of all suffering.
Eventually, we deal with that problem like children or broken toys.
Misfits.
Jesus will say “go get that thing” and then after you’re there,
he’ll say “Dude, whatever you do, don’t touch the thing.”
And you’ll say “But… Okay…. Don’t touch it?”
Jesus will say, “Dude, don’t use you’re feet either.”
And you’re looking at the thing and he says, “Unless you want.”
And you wonder why you have him over and you actually tell him that and he says,
“Hey! Don’t talk to me that way.”
…
“Unless you want.”
And than you wonder who said what, but everybody’s laughing and heaven’s supposed to be now.
​
[BIRDS]
I saw a bird that laughed and bellowed like a happy father as it flew off.
They truly are an audience.
If you're ever hurt and need the tone of care, they're there.
I wonder if for a moment I could interpret their song.
"Poor baby."
"Poor baby."
I love birds, yet I hardly know a thing about them. They remind me of angels.
I could swear I'd talk back sometimes, it's hard to remember.
It really must be difficult to live outside and forge for worms early in the morning before most
everyone's awake.
They seem to me to love family. I love my family too.
Does god ever cry I wonder?
With so many problems in the world and so many important people, it seems strange to me he'd have the time.
I could swear I've heard him in the wind.
Everyone everywhere just wants to feel better.
You ever taken a bath and thought of your day and thought, "Man, that really hurt."
I have the hypothesis that the longer you go without intimacy or care, love, someone to hold,
someone to ask if you're you're okay, the more voices that come to damage you.
I'm sorry.
Respect is supposed to be a way to mitigate negative external stimuli , but humans are unpredictable.
Self love, or love of god can mitigate what irritates you internally, but the two (Internal and external)
are tied together like a knot that takes time to unfurl. It might take all day.
Much of what bothers you is your memory.
Excuse me, "hit" is the point I wish to diffuse, so I'll say it differently.
The threat of danger can be more agonizing than the threat.
What I'm saying is, a negative altercation can take you headspace for a long time.
The only cure is love. You're supposed to get it physically in some way.
A teddy bear at night to ward off the bad voices can be a plus.
For someone with severe anxiety, I'd recommend you hold a rag in your pocket and imagine it's a hand.
That's a prescription I'm afraid to give up, but I don't need it anymore.
"I love you" makes me feel better, but I'm a bit lost. I still have my teddy bear.
Whatever emotions a hug or holding hands produces in my biology ae the same emotions that
quell my pains.
It makes it easier to not spread pain either. People hurt people because they're hurt.
"If you need help I'll help you again and again until you feel better." That is love of self, love from another and that's recovery from circumstance.
If one has a talent to inflict pain, let them try again. Let them practice.
​
[CLAIRE ST LAURENT]
She started showing up sometime after those springtime adds for nondrowsy Claritin D became gospel on everyone’s phones.
She didn’t really have a name when we first met.
Anyway, I gave her that name because I was angry I couldn’t sleep and I thought it would be funny.
She was a St. Laurent.
You can be “Invited” into these kind of things. Anointed rather.
What a Saint Laurent can do, you might blame…
In the winter, she’s the warmth where it’s cold. In the summer she’s far away.
Satan is a barking dog that never sleeps. God is good.
A St. Laurent is a family. And you never mess with family.
Claire St. Laurent, my pen, my phone, my cigars, my weed, my lighter, my home,
My hand
My hands.
My bed, my me, my… It’s never enough.
Did you know an elbow can be used to intercept a fist?
Did you know you can shoot lightning bolts from your mind?
At least half of half of that’s true.
A void avoids, did you know that?
Think of nothing, quiet your mind.
…
The first thought isn’t you.
The second thought isn’t you.
Quiet your mind again.
…
The first thought isn’t you.
The first thought isn’t you.
Who speaks through me?
Claire St. Laurent means artificial light.
To stop the flashes you need sunglasses.
Claire St. Laurent means,
*Shrug
Claire St. Laurent means… It’s too dark to describe.
You can put a cross in your hand in your mind and it will be there.
Now try an eclipse.
Now imagine a fire.
I have the real thing in this cigar.
I love fire. I love the way it burns. Sometimes it’s my only company.
I hate the waste though. Every cigarette butt you leave on the ground, someone has to pick up.
I hate that.
​
[DOUBLE ENTER]
I have 2 crosses in my room.
One made immaculately from blue painters tape and one black cross on the back of a notebook filled in with marker.
Both keep me very safe. I tried to keep the space by the blue cross as clean as possible in the past, but now it’s getting out of hand and it’s the opposite.
I’m certainly a messy bird myself.
I step out for a smoke and I come back and it’s as messy as I left it.
It’s all love in the end.
You high five, light rains upon you, you’re friends and family again. That’s all.
​
[MY ME]
“These are my hands
This is my me
Women are complicated
Give me more things.”
“Fuck you, fuck me, they’re your hands recently.”
“That’s more dog speak than god speak!”
A split mind’s a heart full of Seneca red cigars and your head in the clouds.
He beseeches what she preaches. You know what I’m sayin?
You can’t buy diamonds with food stamps, but you can sell food.
(Trade food)
I don’t have all the answers, but I love you.
Two things, Viking burial. Never shake someone’s hand in you mind. They might take it as they own you.
They’re your hands.
​
[WALKING DOWN THE STREET AT DAWN BY A BUSY ROAD]
​
The negro wears black most of the time.
"There's many ways to walk depending on ones stature for lack of a better word.
A square before he was one might tell you to hop from streetlight to streetlight gliding through theair.
It's a confident look to keep your head high and your legs loose.
It's how any honored guest of a martial artist might express himself.
It's a warriors walk, but less stiff, like a cold maiden in a warm coat."
The negros coast is won and torn. His beard is full, but his hairline is atrocious.
He walks into a shop when the back of his head starts talking to everybody.
Clerk: "Hey bro!"
Negro: "What's good?"
"If you're ever scared mistrust will spread because a smile's a little stale, or the pavement's got youdown, remember just two things.
Two eyes, two traffic lights and the brighter the two things the better. Less pain that way."
Negro: "Let me get some papers."
​
"Just two things.
Just two things."
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2023.05.29 19:35 zawa113 [US] [Selling] JJK 0, 8-19, Nabari no Ou, Choujin X, BL, more manga, anime

Out of space on my selling pile! I need to stop being lazy and list things as well. Help me clear space so I can immediately fill it with more manga!!
Lots of manga and a ton of anime for sale! Most should be in G3-4 condition, some might be like new. Ideally, I’m not splitting any series lots.
Shipping $75+ is free Under that, depends on how many books 1-2 books $4 3-5 books -$5.50 6+ books- $6.50
Timestamp: https://imgur.com/AKfebpt
Series Vol Price notes
Act Age 2 $30
Alchemist Who Survived manga 1, 2 $10
Aria Masterpiece 2 $40
Atom the Beginning 1 $8
Beginning After the End 1 $12
Can't Stop Cursing You 1, 2 $15
Children of Mu Town single vol $20
Choujin X 1,2 $15
Entanged With You, Garden 1000 Grasses single vol 10
Fist of the North Star Master Ed 1,4 40 ea/ 70 both
Ghost in the Shell 1, 1.5 $50 Dark Horse ed., sticker on front
Grandmaster Demonic Cultivation 1 $12 manhua version, not novel
Heaven's Door single vol $12
Hellbound 1,2 $25
In This Corner of the World single vol $15
Jujutsu Kaisen 0, 8-19 $100 (shipped)
Kemono Jihen 1 $8
Let's Play 3 $5 spine smooshed at top, paperback
Nabari no Ou 1-6, 13 $110 inc shipping, 2 has spine crease
Oh My Sweet Alien single vol $16
Pandora Seven 1 $8
Romantic Killer 1 $10
Seraph of the End 27 $6 oops, new duplicate
Shonen Note: Boy Soprano 1 $8
Show-ha Show-ten 1,2 $12
Tomb Raider King 1 $12
Tsubaki Chou Lonely Planet 1 $7
YAOI/18+
Barbarities 1 $12
Future Lovers 1,2 complete $25
Golden Sparkle single vol $8
Magician A single vol $20
Midnight Rain single vol $8
Moon and Sun 1 $8
Twittering Birds Never Fly 1, 2, bluray $30 bundle w/ bluray, vol 2 in shrink
You & Me, Etc single vol $30
Timestamp: https://imgur.com/md8CvY2
anime series format price pics/notes
Dororo (old series) DVD $20
GaoGaiGar complete series (sets 1+2) DVD $45 litebox sets
Good Witch of the West DVD $1
Gunbuster DVD $5
IGPX DVD $40
Mazinger Z Impact DVD $15
Moss DVD $1
Outlaw Star DVD $1
Windy Tales DVD $5
Bird Boy Bluray $10
C Control Bluray $5 has box
El Hazard Magnificient World Bluray $15
Gimgar Bluray $10
Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans complete Bluray 25 has teeth marks on the paper sleeves because my cat is evil. discs are like new
Thousand and One Nights Bluray 12
Voltes V Bluray 35
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2023.05.29 19:23 IronGremlin Optimization strategies for large scale stateful water simulation

The problem
I am designing a procedural terrain system for a large, but fixed size, open world game. I've been writing software on and off professionally for ~8 years, but I have only been working on games for about 3 months, and I am new to C#.
The terrain scale is 1 vertex per meter at max LOD, desired world size is approximately 3-5 square km.
The goal is to statically generate the world ahead of time - this was chosen because I wanted to place water features, such as lakes and streams, in a somewhat "authentic" (as opposed to realistic) manner. EG, water is allowed to "disappear" into a sufficiently large lake, not every stream needs to necessarily find an off-map outlet, but I don't want streams to just vanish into local depressions in the terrain, and if I have a great deal of water flowing into a lake, that lake should probably have an outlet.
I am generating some source data from a hydrological erosion simulation - basically I am tracking the errosive 'droplet' positions and volumes over time, and using that as a baseline data source to decide where to place rivers, lakes, etc.
Unexpectedly, (at least for me) drawing lakes has proven to way more challenging than drawing streams/rivers - "settling" the volume to a given level has been giving me some serious headaches. Conceptually, the problem isn't super hard - water volumes move into open volumes and can't move up-hill - but although I've come up with several implementations that yield promising final results I have been struggling with anything that completes in a sensible amount of time (my tentative target here is sub 5 minutes, which should give you a solid idea of just how poorly this has been going for me).
What I've done to address it so far
So far, my implementations have been based around either flood-fills with a volume budget (this gave great results but took FOREVER) or a cellular automata style approach wherein each grid cell pushes water to lower height neighbors (gives decent results, much more performant, but still nowhere close to where it needs to be, and has some predictable trouble settling at a fixed height for a given lake boundary).
Where my head is at currently
My two "big ideas" so far to try to scrape better performance out of this process are, in brief, "do it in parallel" and "get better data locality" - but both of those are butting up pretty strongly against the nature of the problem.
Big fundamental issue #1 - everything cares deeply about the water level of neighboring cells, and volumes have arbitrary and expensive-to-identify boundaries. EG, I can't figure out a good way to partition operations so that threads wouldn't step on each-others toes or so that I can partition smaller areas to process to keep stuff cache local. Like, I can split stuff up, sure, but I have to consolidate across areas where work was done, and how do I do that and know when I'm done without "being able to see" the whole state.
Big fundamental issue #2 - The map is too ****ing big. If I did make copies of the state to work on in chunks and have a consolidation pass for at some point, I'm liable to run into OOM challenges. This feels solvable - like for example I could stuff the world data into an MMAP'd file - but I'm not sure how to dial in reasonably sized "chunks" to pull out of it or to try to enforce how much "standing memory" I'm allocating when I pull stuff out of storage to work on it. EG, what patterns do I use to make sure I'm disposing of stuff when I'm done with it and ensure I only spin up N threads at once, etc.
The question
What techniques or technologies do the Unity developers of Reddit suggest as strong candidates to address this?
Should I use unity's job system, or is this a better fit for C#'s native threads?
Is this a point where I should be considering looking outside of C# for additional performance? I have strongly considered falling back to Rust, but as much as I like finding excuses to write in Rust introducing a second language to a project also introduces a metric ***ton of incidental complexity I'd rather avoid.
Is there another way to frame this problem space algorithmically that could elide some of these issues?
submitted by IronGremlin to Unity3D [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 19:21 Crispyio Hi community

I find myself in this horrible position again, I have been with my now ex for 4 years and it all came crashing down yesterday, pretty much out of nowhere. The funny thing is I called it happening exactly how did for nearly a year!. we moved into her run down flat just after the initial covid lockdowns, (she had been living with me previously) I did all I could do for her, I fixed up her run down place, decorated, made it a home, we even got two cats. I never asked for a thing, I just asked her to come and be part of helping me out when it came to doing my place up after renting it out for 4 years. My place is in the city (rather than in the sticks where her place is), I for some reason always saw this period of time as a make or break situation (I just had a horrible feeling about it). We came up 6 weeks ago now, almost immediately the cracks began to show, she showed little to no interest in helping with the decorating, but would spend hours getting ready to go out (does this dress look ok etc, etc). Then her friend of extremely dubious morals who I have always been wary of came home to the city and wanted to meet up, from that point onward it was a battle to get her to pay any attention to the task we had come to do, she introduced her to other friends of hers and they became all she was interested in. I would ask her if things had changed and she swore no, I love you blah blah blah, but I felt hollow, I cold tell things where changing drastically. Anyway after sitting up yet another night worried about weather she was ok or not until 4am on her last night here, this morning I said have you talked to your friend about us splitting up?, and she replied yes and she had been thinking about it for a while (obviously not what she had led me to believe) if she had been honest I could and would have done things very differently, probably saved the money I spent and moved back in myself, now that is not an option, so I am broke, I have to re rent my place as I have no other income atm (another shitty story) to make ends meet, and find a place back down near her to be near my mother (who has just been diagnosed with dementia, FML). On top of this my heart obviously sank at the thought of all the time wasted, and the thought of missing her and the life we had made. I am now just broken laid in bed with my head spinning, I have a flat to finish on my own, and an empty space where my heart was. I honestly am unsure why I feel the need to share this, I think I’m just hoping it’s therapeutic in some way. I am aware that other people have things far worse and I am trying to see the bright side of life but right now all I want to do is sleep, not conducive to my situation unfortunately.
submitted by Crispyio to BreakUps [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 19:17 MarlynnOfMany Double Duty

It’s a rare day when I have to squint at the sight of a house, but this one was shiny. A giant ball woven out of the brightest metal wires I’d seen in a while, all gold and copper in complex patterns. It made my head hurt to look at. Probably imitation metals, because surely that would be impractical and expensive to use actual gold. But what did I know? Not my species.
I squinted as I walked up with the package, wondering if that was rude of me. My little human eyes probably always looked like I was squinting though, compared to the big bug eyes of the Mesmer who lived there.
And the one walking beside me. Zhee was nodding quietly to himself while he took in the sight, with his vibrant purple praying-mantis exoskeleton looking right at home. If I hadn’t known that one of his people lived here, somehow I feel like I would have guessed. It was flashy in the extreme.
And so was the walkway, a glittering stripe of vivid red that curved through a garden full of alien flowers that probably didn’t bite. I didn’t like the looks of the local butterfly analogues, though; they had stingers I could see from here. I was glad they were keeping their distance.
Zhee reached the door first — a solid slab of bronze with an inlaid galaxy of gemstones, naturally — and he found the doorbell while I ducked under another butterfly. The chime was a brief melody from an instrument I couldn’t identify. It sounded like a violin invented by people whose earliest music was made by rubbing their legs together.
The door pulled inward and slid to the side, showcasing the homeowner who must have been waiting right there for us. Up close, the side of the house had window space visible between the weave, ideal for peeking out but not being seen until you were ready for your close-up.
“Good greetings!” announced the Mesmer woman who towered over both of us, a spectacle of metallic rose-gold coloring. Surely that couldn’t be natural. I’d never seen a Mesmer yet with metal tones; this had to be like full-body nail polish. But I sure as heck wasn’t about to say a peep about it now. I’d ask Zhee later.
“Greetings,” Zhee returned, urging me forward. “Your package.”
I handed it over, wondering if I’d get to see how the thing opened. It was one of the plastic puzzle box dealies that had been a popular way to ship valuables lately. There was one button on top and no visible seams.
Even with that thought, I was surprised when she grabbed it with her pincher arms, kicked a side table into view with one leg, then set it down and tapped out a rhythm on the button. The box split open to dramatically reveal the custom stained-glass lamp that we’d delivered in perfect condition, thankyouverymuch.
“Exquisite,” she said, holding it up to let the light shine through all the aquas and teals. “Just what the blue room needs.” She looked at us. “I have one of each color, you know.”
Zhee nodded like that was normal and admirable. “Excellent.” He held out the electronic payment pad without being so gauche as to mention it out loud, and the customer chattered away about her house as she set down the lamp and paid.
“…The yellow room was the biggest hassle, of course, but I’m most pleased with the rainbow room. I have art, rare plants and a few select exotic animals in there. Those have been a different type of challenge, especially the new one.”
That caught my attention. As I was wondering how best to ask what kind of animals she kept, Zhee beat me to it.
“Animals, you say?” He gestured theatrically toward me. “Robin is an expert in animal care, if you need a consult.”
I turned my head to stare at him with my best what-did-you-just-volunteer-me-for expression, which he could certainly see, given those eyes’ range of vision. He didn’t react.
“I would appreciate a look, now that you mention it,” the large alien said. “My prize oil-slick tentacle has stopped eating, and has begun shaking in a strange way when I get near.”
Zhee immediately haggled for a consultation fee while I wracked my brain for any knowledge of this alien whatsit. I was going to have words with Zhee afterward.
But apparently I was going to look at this thing first. The customer agreed to the price, payable afterward, and led us both into the house. It was just as multicolored as expected. Like each room had been given to a different child to design, with the instructions to use as many expensive jewel tones as possible.
The rainbow room was actually a relief, surprisingly enough. There were darker accents to make the furniture and murals stand out. And the various terrariums were clear glass. I looked between feathers and shells and flowers for anything that could be described as a tentacle.
“It’s over here,” she said, leading me toward a glass case under a spotlight. “I haven’t had it very long, but it was eating before, and I just don’t know why. The medi-scanner says it’s not ill. Perhaps I need a new scanner. What do you think?”
Feeling like the spotlight was aimed directly at me, I stepped up for a look at the thing curled up in the corner. It was, as expected, iridescent like an oil slick. But those scales were familiar.
I moved around it to get a look at the head, then smiled and stood up straight. “That’s a sunbeam snake! My favorite kind!”
“Okay, but what’s wrong with it?” the alien woman asked. “When I give it food, it hisses at me and shudders!” She waggled a pincher arm in imitation.
“It’s trying to scare you away,” I said. “They shake their tails like rattlesnakes do, though they don’t have rattles or venom.”
“Well, I don’t know about all that,” she said with a huff. “Why is it doing that? I’ve been more than kind to it!”
“I’m afraid you’ve given it nowhere to hide,” I explained gently, spreading my hands at the tank with a black floor and only a small water dish in the center. Little blobs of meat littered the area. Images of plants had been painted into the corners, but that did less than nothing to help a burrowing animal. “This type of snake needs several inches of plant life or loose soil to dig into. For one this size, I’d say at least this deep.” I held my hands six inches apart.
“It digs?” the customer asked. “They didn’t tell me that!”
“It spends most of its time hidden,” I said. “Or at least, it’s meant to. This one is extremely stressed by being out in the open like this.”
I was a little worried how she’d take the news, given that this was her prize specimen with all the lights aimed to showcase its rainbow scales. But to her credit, she listened while I suggested framing a good photo of the snake outside the tank, then only watching it during mealtime. Any visiting friends could be told how exotic and special the animal was, and how lucky they would be to even catch a glimpse of it.
“Yes,” she said, clearly thinking. “Yes, I can work with that. I’ll arrange for the adjustments to the enclosure. You said this much ground cover?” She held her pincher arms apart.
“Right, at least that much,” I agreed. “Ideally you’ll also want to bury a few things for enrichment, like rocks and bark and sections of tubing, and have a couple of those on the surface for it to hide under when it comes up for food.”
We ended up going into a different room where she could take notes, which did more to put me at ease about the snake’s future care. I waved at it as I left, wishing it well. I’d always liked sunbeams. Good thing I remembered the specifics of their care needs.
“You’ll also want a bigger water dish, so it can slither through it,” I said. “And the tank should be both warm and very humid…”
The customer took lots of notes while Zhee alternated between standing there looking smug and casting an appraising eye at the room’s gaudy features. This was the purple room, and he blended right in.
Finally we’d covered all the important points. Zhee tactfully brought out the payment pad again, then we strolled back to the front door.
“I will recommend your service to all of my friends,” the customer said as she closed up the lamp case. “Quality parcel delivery, with bonus animal care! That is hard to beat.”
“My pleasure,” I said honestly.
Zhee thanked her as well, and we exited into the garden. Zhee was still looking smug as the door closed behind us. “I am very glad I spoke up.”
I shook my head with a rueful smile. “I’m glad it was an animal I’m actually familiar with, not some independently crawling tentacle.”
“Those do exist, you know.”
I let out a deep sigh. “Of course they do. Guess I’d better do some research in case she does tell all her friends.”
Zhee strode forward with pride. “It will be good business! Captain Sunlight will be pleased.”
“It’ll be interesting, that’s for sure.” I thought of the crewmates who had tentacles of their own. “Mur will probably think it’s funny.”
“Oh, he’ll think it’s terrifying. The mobile tentacles are from his planet; they’re a venomous parasite.”
“Of course they are. Remind me to bring gloves on our next delivery, just in case.”
~~~
The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. More to come!
Cross-posted to Tumblr and HumansAreSpaceOrcs.
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