Lurker > ElatedVenusaur

epik_fail1 posted...

Mikablu posted...

epik_fail1 posted...

Mikablu posted...

Transmen pass remarkably well, usually.

I never really got this. I find it way easier to identify a transwoman than a transman.

It's easier for a biological woman to look like a man than it is for a biological man to look like a woman.

why?

Skeletal structure. Males naturally have wider shoulders and different facial features. Depending on the person, it may be difficult to pass them off. Unfortunately, most transwomen aren't as fortunate in that regard as, say, certain porn actresses.
Transmen can simply pass as small/short, and may also be able to utilize facial hair to conceal a feminine facial structure.
In both cases, it's ideal to arrest puberty before it really gets off the ground.

Doom_Art posted...

ElatedVenusaur posted...

A few ambitious LPers have even played from Crusader Kings straight through Hearts of Iron

So you mod the game so you essentially go from the middle ages to WWII?

You port your world from one game into the next one up the timeline. This is difficult to do(even these days, with the existence of a CK2-to-EUIV converter). You basically have to take the world state of, say, a game of CK2, and translate it into EUIV.(Wiz, to keep using him as an example, was using the original Crusader Kings, which was much more loopy and translating it into EUIII, which had to be done entirely by hand).
But, even once you've replicated the map, you basically have a lifeless world without unique events or anything like that. EUIII and certainly EUIV are robust and open-ended enough to handle that, but even Victoria II struggles. Ricky(OG Victoria) and Hearts of Iron? The former barely runs without events, and the latter just...doesn't. You basically have to be a really good and thorough modder to make it interesting, is what I'm saying. His LPs and the CK2+ mod are basically what got Wiz a job with Paradox, is my understanding.

I think he always had a distinctly authoritarian bent, practically from the moment he started his campaign. It's echoed to a disturbing extent in the Republican party itself(though not completely). I still hope the worst is avoided.

Bloodychess posted...

Damn, the people who made this game also made Crusader Kings 2, another game I've been eyeing.

Anyone play both?

Oh hell yes. They're very different though. Paradox Interactive is one of the leading strategy game companies in the business. They also have Victoria, Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron in the stable. A few ambitious LPers have even played from Crusader Kings straight through Hearts of Iron(that requires a ton of modding, to be clear. The current lead designer on Stellaris, Wiz, did just that though.).

Personally, I think EUIV is my overall favorite, but CK2 has the most character. Stellaris is only just coming into its own.
Speaking of Stellaris, apparently this patch has a serious bug where Pacifism is ridiculously attractive to pops, and they've now allowed the AI to embrace factions, meaning most AIs seem to end up embracing Pacifism(even Fanatic Purifiers!) So the game is pretty sandbox-y right now. Of course, Hive Minds don't have ethics, so they're unaffected.

Eh, in US Generations, past Tails refers to past-Eggman as Dr. Robotnik. I prefer that game's resolution to the problem.
Basically, Dr. Robotnik slowly went insane from losing all the time and started referring to himself as "Eggman". Past-Eggman begins referring to himself as Eggman after teaming up with his present version, but is disconcerted by present-Eggman's mental state.

Kim Kusanagi posted...

Ex-Kefiroth posted...

Mitch McConnell is already denying calls for a special investigator,

The pressure must continue until he yields.

It can't be that he's so stupid to realize that denying calls will only bury his shit party.

Why would he, when they can just continue giving their corporate benefactors everything on their wishlist? All the Republican Party cares about is getting and having power. Doing something about Trump's gross obstruction of justice will not help them get more power.

chill02 posted...

ooh, free portraits

Yeah, 3 new ones and the Creatures of the Void pack(five in all) that were offered as pre-order bonuses.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/633310/Stellaris_Anniversary_Portraits/?utm_source=Press+List&utm_campaign=2bba413c28-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_04_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_037e11b010-2bba413c28-141666581
I really dig the new ones.

UnholyMudcrab posted...

Is it bad that I save scum until one of my scientists gets the psionic expert trait? It's probably a bad habit, but I tend to play materialist civs and that's just about the only way to get it under that circumstance.

I'd say yes. I wasn't too torn up about it, 'cause I was spiritualist, but still.

That's a funny way to spell Jungo Torii. Because's he's clearly a higher being.

Marx would probably ride in whatever kart Engels could buy for him on short notice, but if you tried to select him, there would be a 50% chance of him being sick and you'd get Engels instead.

Napoleon's would have to be steam-powered, just because he thought steam power was silly.

Lastly, Caligula's kart would literally be a horse that he thinks is faster than any kart, but it's actually just a horse.

YellowSUV posted...

I haven't followed the race closely but both seemed like bad choices. You got a banker vs a nationalist. Not very good choices in a vacuum.

There were more candidates in the first round. This was the run-off between the top two finishers from that.
That said, I'm glad they elected Macron, even though he seems like crap, he's at least not Nazi crap.

Megaman50100 posted...

Blue_Inigo posted...

Are you dense

No, I'm not saying it didn't happen, but it is unusual for something that happened months ago to be billed as breaking news.

I wonder if you said that about the e-mails?
In any case, Sally Yates testified to the Senate about it today. How is that not relevant?

Doom_Art posted...

Space Amoebas are a blight on the galaxy

As are those weird crystal things

I lost like science ships to Space Pirates. One of those scientists had the Psionic specialty!
It's just really dumb when a non-combat ship pops into an unexplored sector and winds up right on top of hostiles.

bknight posted...

Sex, there used to be a time when guys didn't have to wear condoms because they didn't exist, those guys were so lucky.

That was much longer ago than you probably think.

Hash-Brown posted...

toptopmax posted...

Lol tc was a Bernie supporter and then voted against his own interest with Trump. Some people shouldn't be allowed to breed.

There was no way in hell I was going to let Hillary win.

So, you betrayed Bernie and everything he stands for. Good job!

Also, Bernie lost primarily because he struggled in his outreach with minorities. Instead of trying harder, he just kind of gave up on the Southern primaries and got hilariously swamped.

3rd_Best_Master posted...

Nomadic View posted...

White people got over it. And didn't attribute their failures to their ancestors' past.

Except for the ones in the South, that still blame the reason for why the region being shit on Sherman's march to the sea.

Even though he fastidiously minimized civilian causalities and did his best to ensure no one would starve after.

Also, I'm not sure where you're getting that figure, TC, but that would be about 1/10 the total volume of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Hyperlanes are so fast though. It's Warp that sucks, because it's slow. And they're actually nerfing it!

That was actually the original plan: to progressively lower the age eligibility. As far as tax rates go, I found a handy chart: http://imgur.com/a/aBJ4W
There's also this...
http://imgur.com/a/nS8HO
It's 100% feasible, it's merely a matter of priorities.

chill02 posted...

any tips for peasants such as myself

I turned on the tutorial but something tells me I'm going to lag behind if I just follow it and do nothing else on the side

Eh, don't worry about it too much. There's a lot going on, so take your time. Early on, you're mostly just giving orders to your science ship(it should always be scanning something, if possible) and waiting for your minerals to tick up so you can build mining stations, buildings, etc.
You'll want to start in on building up your fleet a bit quickly too, as there are a number of early events and event chains you'll need some ships for. A half-dozen or so should be fine. You don't have to worry about designs in the beginning either(or ever, but you can optimize and specialize much better than the AI if you do). You also don't have to worry about getting invaded much, either: early-game fleets are no match for your spaceport.

As for Sol(and Earth), I believe they always spawn, generally in a position analogous to their location in the actual Milky Way galaxy. Of course, humanity doesn't always spawn as an empire. It can spawn humanity as a "primitive" civilization in various stages of development(Bronze, Medieval, Industrial Age complete with WW2, and Space Age with the International Space Station in orbit). But then there's this Earth...
http://imgur.com/a/TThFU
http://imgur.com/a/GRmKD
We didn't make it this time...

I'm totally uplifting the cockroaches. Into slavery, because I'm playing a bunch of passive-aggressive telepaths.

Stellaris is good fun these days, and the next patch comes out Tuesday.
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-dev-diary-71-the-adams-update-part-2.1019086/
You can read the changelog there. Also, if you ever wanted to get your Zerg on, a Devouring Swarm Hivemind sounds awfully close to it.

It's definitely a strong point, and it seems all the better due to the long lull that follows it, but
hollow_shrine posted...

I think it's the sequence of events starting with the Temple of the Ancients and ending with the release of the weapons and the summoning of Meteor.

And I agree that the more explorable the map became the better the game got.

I agree with this. Except I'd extend it straight through to when Cloud rejoins the party Just seeing your party basically unravel and try to keep going is great stuff.

DrizztLink posted...

ElatedVenusaur posted...

he quote about The Birth of a Nation(the original, KKK-lionizing one) is apocryphal(unconfirmed), but Wilson absolutely thought that way. He was all for self-determination, but only for "white" people.

?

"It is like history written in lightning"
Of course, he did supply THIS nugget:
"The white men were roused by a mere instinct of self preservation...until at last there had sprung into existence a great Ku Klux Klan, a veritable empire of the South, to protect the Southern country."

ManSpread posted...

crusader kings 2 worth?

getting literally everything for 40 is tempting

CK2 is pretty great. It's the eldest of their "current generation" games. It and EUIV are definitely the best overall.
But do understand that that pack is mostly portrait and song packs. It looks like the newest gameplay DLC it includes is Sons of Abraham, which isn't very new at all!
Then again, you could definitely get away with that, as it contains the best DLC(Old Gods). The only later DLCs that I consider to be excellent would be Conclave and Reaper's Due(haven't gotten Monks&Mystics yet).

https://www.paradoxplaza.com/
Paradox Interactive is having a huge sale on their store, including Stellaris, Hearts of Iron IV, Europa Universalis IV, Crusader Kings 2, Tyranny, Pillars of Eternity, and Cities: Skylines. All games are redeemed on Steam.

Ex-Kefiroth posted...

Kineth posted...

Uh, why was Wilson bad?

His re-election campaign was based around his having kept the US out of World War 1. He then asked Congress for a declaration of war less than a month after his second term began.

Once we had entered the war, he had thousands imprisoned for daring to speak out against it. He was an all-around opponent of civil rights.

Yeah, it can't be overstated how much of a jerk Wilson was. He even hated Teddy Roosevelt, a true mark of horribleness. The quote about The Birth of a Nation(the original, KKK-lionizing one) is apocryphal(unconfirmed), but Wilson absolutely thought that way. He was all for self-determination, but only for "white" people.

Worst? He didn't pardon Richard Nixon(Ford) nor did he twiddle his thumbs while the nation tore itself apart(Buchanan).
That said, he's angling for a Fillmore/Harding/Van Buren/Hayes-level presidency. Poor policy and tons of corruption.

Antifar posted...

UnholyMudcrab posted...

The Senate has already said that they won't even be voting on it. They'll be drafting a bill of their own and sending it back to the House. It's as good as dead.

This is standard procedure with a bill like this; the question is how much the senate bill will differ.

By quite a lot, assuming there ever is a Senate bill. The Republican Senators are more moderate in aggregate than their colleagues in the House, and they have even less margin for "error"(i.e. Republican defections).
That old turtle McConnell is probably getting smashed and swearing a thousand curses on Paul Ryan right now. That is the only good that comes of this.

It's hilarious that you think women are privileged, TC.

Life Is Strange.

The mod scene is already pretty vibrant too. Lots of event mods, species portraits(including fully animated ones!), and a pretty good Star Trek total conversion mod.

Stellaris is pretty good, but it's Paradox's first 4x and they're definitely still ironing things out. If you do get it, you'll want to pick up Utopia as well. Leviathans is also good, but Utopia has the Ascension Perks, which let's you do stuff like turn your race into robots or tailor your genes.

SGT_Conti posted...

what
Isn't, like, Saudi Arabia just about the most common criticism when it comes to the US tolerating countries that violate human rights? That alliance has been in place long before Trump was in office.

Hell, Obama was really tepid in condemning undemocratic coups in Honduras and Egypt, and he was better than most U.S. presidents on that front.
I know, I know, that is the lowest of bars, as confirmed by Trump making par.

SK8T3R215 posted...

Ryangrad posted...

SGT_Conti posted...

Doesn't labour normally get paid first? Like, that's the idea?

Yes. As they should.

This reaction is hilarious.

How? Shareholders are annoyed that they are giving raises prior to their contracts being up instead of either reinvesting or distributing that amount over the upcoming period.

No, they're just mad because they'll make marginally less money now relative to before.

Yeah, that's a head-scratcher. We've supported and continue support tons of brutal dictatorships. And we do our hardest to protect Israel from ever being punished for what it does to the Palestinians. Though I guess it's better than nothing, WaPo ought to have gotten with the program long ago.

I love the Zay Jones pick. I think TO was the last big receiver the Bills had(with the exception of huge busts like James Hardy). Should complement Sammy well, provided Sammy can stay off IR for once.

As for Dion Dawkins, I'm a bit puzzled, unless they think he can compete at RT. We're pretty set at guard, with Richie Incognito and John Miller, even if the former is getting old.
From my brief googling, it sounds like he struggles in pass protection against edge rushers, which makes him the perfect RT for the Buffalo Bills.

Not that Roussef didn't suck(she did), but what's going on in Brazilian politics now is many times worse.

DarthAragorn posted...

Paper_Okami posted...

2nd biggest Bust of the First round? Because MITCH is obviously the biggest. If DA Bears were just going to waste their picks they should have traded them to the Pats for Jimmy and help us repeat.

None of them really scream terrible decision to me, but if I had to guess I might go with Watson because he's on the Texans. Poor guy.

Really? The Texans have a ton of talent on both sides of the ball, and all DeShaun Watson needs to do is play better than 2016 Brock Osweiler and the Texans will probably be in playoff contention.
I mean, that's a really low bar.

I'm a bit suspicious of Christian McCaffery, personally. Has a player like that ever really worked out? C.J. Spiller had that one insane year and was otherwise mediocre or injured, and Reggie Bush never really seemed to amount to much either.

I'm surprised the Bills didn't pull the trigger on Lattimore or Howard, but we got some good capital out of the Chiefs, so I'm good with it.
I wonder if they think they can get Njoku or Peppers at 27?

Mr_Magnum_Man posted...

From a mental hospital if the Browns draft Trubisky with the #1.

That's me, but the Bills drafting Mahomes at #10. If they have to be dumb and take a QB, it should at least be Watson.
Really though, we should get Mike Williams or O.J. Howard.

Antifar posted...

So, uh, seriously, are Democrats just pre-emptively giving Republicans what they want, or

Gotta be the adult in the room, and give the screaming toddler whatever it wants, so you get praised on the Sunday shows.

Skye Reynolds posted...

Don't compare politicians to Hitler. That never works.

Can we compare Le Pen to Mussolini? How about Pierre Laval?

That just means it's Sunday. Also, China's getting pretty sick of them, but that doesn't mean they want them gone.

LightningAce11 posted...

How can they be so incompetent?

To be fair, the initial plan was to pass a simple continuing resolution(IIRC), but then President Trump insisted that there be funding for the border wall(that Mexico is totally going to pay for guys!).

chill02 posted...

is the earth birth certificate episode dated or what

Oh come, that one's good. I almost died laughing at the gag with the lion.
Plus, the idea of a border fence is more relevant than ever....

SideshowBob311 posted...

These questions were very badly written. Example: "I believe that victimless crimes such as drug use should be made legal"

Well....I believe that victimless crimes should be made legal. However, I do not believe drug use is a victimless crime. What do?

By that logic, suicide would be a "victimless crime". A better question would be a more sparse one, such as: "Do you believe even harmful drugs should be legal?" or some such, depending on what exactly you want the point of the question to be.

In any case,
http://8values.github.io/results.html?e=75.0&d=55.1&g=66.3&s=76.6
No surprises here.

Venture Bros.

Kitchen. It's where the booze is. I live in the Tri-State area, after all. Target-rich environment.

It's a somewhat predictable case, but that's not a bad thing when it's done well. They very clearly wanted to evoke the original trilogy(Maya as Assistant, Edgeworth as Prosecutor) and they succeeded. Helps that Ellen is really likable.

I thought the game in general handled Maya really well. She's still a dork, but she's confident and a bit wise.

Part of the reason that Satan is depicted as evil is because he's the quintessential rebel. He rebelled against God (e.g. the established order) and is thus an evil reprobate(or so the [sometimes hereditary] priests and kings say). It's convenient short-hand for writing off people who challenge established truths as being degenerates.
Of course, the nature of God is unclear. If you assume an omniscient, omnipotent God, I do think it's impossible to imagine him being good. At the very best, you have something like how Shin Megami Tensei portrays God: a viciously self-righteous entity whom expects perfection from humans and punishes them severely when they inevitably fall short.