So I’ve played a fair amount of the Settler games, as well as the more recent Anno entries: 2070, 2205, and 1800. I find those games super micromanage-y, especially the Anno games. But not stressful. Like in Anno, you can just kinda keep things on autopilot, not doing very much, and things will be OK (though the AIs might start getting stronger).

Anyway, that’s a good take that Frostpunk is more of a puzzle game. I hadn’t considered that. If that’s the case, that might explain some of my, aversion. Because that parallels somewhat an experience I had with another game: Wargroove. I was looking at Wargroove as a TRPG/SRPG (akin to Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics), where I have wide latitude to execute my own strategies. So in Wargroove, I kept trying to do my own thing, but kept losing the level. It took me awhile to realize the game wanted me to complete the level its way, not my way. And that’s when I realized it was more of a puzzle game and less a strategy game. Which is weird, because I played Advance Wars as a kid. Though maybe it’s because I was a kid I didn’t realize it was a puzzle game at the time.

It might be with Frostpunk that I’m doing something similar. Expecting a colony manager, a la Banished, but not seeing the puzzle game aspect. I’m making those narrative decisions based on nothing logical. Rather emotional: “Oh these kids are gonna starve! I better do this instead of helping the workers!”

Thanks for this; this was helpful, for real!

I’m about halfway through FP1 (I have the DLC). I want to go back and finish it, but like you said, it just kicks the shit out of you. It’s legitimately stressful for me to play it, so I’ve kinda been like “Ehhh…do I really wanna play right now?”

But I am hoping to eventually complete it. Because FP2 does look interesting.

Late to the party, but I finally picked up Helldivers 2. My friends have had it since it came out, but I was being the “hipster gamer” and didn’t get the popular game. Plus, our group has a tendency to do “flavor of the week”/FOMO gaming, where 1 or 2 people buy a new game, convince/guilt trip others into buying the game, we all spend $30-50 on it, play it for like 2 days, then never touch it again. So I was hesitant to get it, lest I get burned again (a la Starfield). Lastly, I’m also not a huge shooter player.

But I wanted to played with the boys, and they were playing it again recently, so I picked it up. And I’m glad I did. Because it’s fun. Stupid fun even. Which is right up our alley. Already put 20hrs in over the last week.

The mechanics are simple. The missions are straightforward. And I like that it’s a pickup/putdown game. Play a 20-40min round, then come back later or tomorrow. It’s not like we’re playing hours on end, which is great. We’ll play a match or two, then maybe do another before we start signing-off for the night.

Something tells me that Amanda doesn’t know wtf she’s talking about. Just making it seem more scary than it is, in hope of scaring people straight.

As a recently former Kansas Citian, it is odd that this robot is here. As the article says:

We hear every week these days about more businesses being vandalized or robbed in Kansas City, but when you look at the latest crime map by KCPD, it shows no illegal activity reported at this shopping center.

This part of the metro, in Raytown, doesn’t strike me as an area that’s high/higher crime. It’s a pretty busy area. I’ve passed through this part of town many times night or day. Shopped in this area from time to time; never thought it was unsafe, since it’s a rather suburban area (not saying the city areas are inherently more dangerous; I lived in KC proper).

I had a Sega GameGear as a kid. Yeah it was a Sega system, which Sega was major back then, but the GameGear was nothing compared to the Gameboy. Very cool system, in that it had a full color screen and was backlit.

Now that was at the expense of being heavy as all hell and a monster eater of AA batteries. 6 of them at at time!

I think that was basically the only non-major system I had.

My first DS was the DS Lite. I bought it when the game “Contact” came out. Played various JRPGs on it, as I’m wont to do with handhelds. IIRC, the DS Lite was backwards compatible with GBA carts, which was great. I loved the look, feel, and size of it. Honestly, DS Lite is probably my favorite Nintendo handheld, with the Switch a close second.

After that, I think the next DS that I had was the 3DS. Which I still have; I even booted it up earlier this year to try to play “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice.” I didn’t end up playing it on the 3DS, since I have that anthology on Steam, but I wanted to see where I was.

Games or series that I played a lot on the DS line were practically all of the mainline Ace Attorney games, and even some of the spin offs like the Professor Layton crossover and AA:Investigations. Fire Emblem was another. I think I played Awakening, Fates, and Echoes. I played at least one Pokemon game, too.

Huh didn’t know P1 and P2 were SMT games. Good to know. I’ve tried at least one entry in the SMT side and just could not get into it. Don’t even remember which it was. I get they’re both dungeon crawlers, but I don’t think I’m a fan of the more old-school SMT-style games.

I’ve only played P3 Portable and Persona 4, on PSP and Vita respectively (though I also have these on Steam now). I have Persona 5 (also Steam), but I’ve yet to start it, since I have quite the backlog to get through. Including P3 and P4!

I got fairly far into P3P before stopping, while I didn’t get as far into P4 before stopping, then restarting, then stopping again (though I got a little further than the first time). My last attempt must’ve been during the pandemic, so not that long ago. It’s not necessarily that I didn’t enjoy them; I just have a thing with JRPGs where I intend to take a short break…which often turns into years-long breaks.

P3P was more enjoyable than P4, IMO. P4 just seemed really slow at the start, while P3, I felt had much better pacing. If I’m remembering the correctly, the latter just dropped you straight in to the weirdness, and it just kept going, where I felt like P4 had more lulls in the action.

I don’t mind the school stuff, though I’ll admit it’s not my favorite thing in the world. I do try to make an effort, rather than just breeze through it. I do hope to one day complete both of them and then get to P5. I very much enjoy their visual styles and music. I also like games that take place in the modern world, so the series is right up my alley.

For something like Civ or Stellaris, I’d count “completion” once I’ve won at least one game. Because, ideally, I’ve shown some mastery of knowledge, skills, and mechanics that allowed me to win. I don’t need to play and win as each leader in Civ or every race/trait and combo in Stellaris to say I’ve completed it.

This is similar to how I’d view “completion” in open-ended games like Cities:Skylines or Banished. Having played a city or town for several hours, was I able to keep the residents alive, stabilize the city if there were any issues, and also grow and develop the settlement for a significant, though arbitrary, length of in-game time? If the answer is Yes to all of these, then I’ve “completed” the game. I’ve understood how things work in the game. Doesn’t mean I have to understand every nuance or know every little trick. But I know enough that things are going well and largely continue to go well. And every time I start a new map, things tend to always go well.

Earlier this year, I stopped playing Eve Online for the nth time after mostly playing straight through since 2019. Because I viewed my time during this last 4-5yr stint as “complete.” I achieved practically all the goals I set out to do: join a major alliance, join massive PVP fights, engage in smaller PVP fights, make money that I ever had before, buy and fly ships I’d never used before, learn how to explore and navigate wormholes, try out specific types of industry, play with IRL friends, own and run my/our own station, and more.

In all of these, “completion” obviously doesn’t mean I’ll never go back. There’s always more to do, new things to see. But for now, I am satisfied with my progress, experience, and understanding. I’m no longer a noob.

The date of the symposium, by the way, is the anniversary of the signing of the Great Barrington Declaration. It’s also Rosh Hashanah, one of the High Holy Days of the Jewish calendar. Stanford says the “overlap” with the holiday is regrettable, but it hasn’t offered to reschedule.

Admittedly, I don’t know much about of Judaism, but this seemed out of place. What’s the significance of the signing of this declaration and start of the conference, with this holiday? That it’d be like the equivalent of hosting a conference on Christmas or Eid or something?

While I understand the needs for “academic freedom,” the author is right:

No university claims to be open to the expression of any or all views, no matter how unorthodox or counterfactual; they make judgments about the propriety of viewpoints all the time; the level of discernment they practice is one way we judge them as serious educational establishments.

It’s one thing to have heterodox views, perhaps because we don’t yet fully understand something. But at this point in the pandemic, and what we know from past pandemics, this whole intentional widespread infection leading to herd immunity idea made no sense. It was misinformation during the height of the pandemic and it’s still misinformation now.

Stanford should’ve said “No,” and made these quacks have their conference at the local Super 8 hotel.

I’m a member of a big credit union in my old city, but I don’t use it as my main bank. Honestly, I don’t see that many benefits.

• When I was trying to finance a new car at the start of 2021, the credit union rates were actually higher than the big banks and way higher than even dealership financing; I went with the dealership financing (>4% vs 1.9%)
• Also, they wouldn’t even give me a car loan because I lacked a history of a car loan. Admittedly, they weren’t the only bank that denied me in this way.
• Savings accounts rates are like 1% versus like 4-4.5% at like Ally or Capital One. Probably because my credit union is still as a B&M bank, while the others are online.
• My CU talks up annual member dividends, but you have to have significant amounts of money in your accounts and/or various products with them, such as mortgages or loans, before you get anything.
• The online banking and app experience is pretty trash; takes (relatively) forever for balances to update after even doing things like savings to checking transfers or vice versa. This sometimes affects Zelle interbank transfers, as Zelle thinks there’s not enough money in an account for a transfer, even though there is.
• Plus, they’re Zelle transfers are sometimes slow as shit, sometimes taking 2-3days. I know Zelle isn’t always instant, but it’s annoying because Zelle is often billed as instant transfers.

So I just use my CU accounts as a sorts of savings. I squirrel money away in there, like $25/week for a rainy day of sorts, but that’s about it.

I get much more utility and benefit out of my accounts at other non-CU banks.

I use it since I subscribe to Proton for email. It seems fine. I used to use Windscribe – or rather still do since I have a lifetime subscription – but I tend to alternate between the two services these days. Proton seems to have tons more servers though. I’ve torrented on both and have had no issues with either.

I think the point is that even with caps on spending, it’s still possible for people to fall into a financial hole. Even just looking at the prescription proposal, $2000 may not be a lot for some, but for others, that’s a good chunk of change. And is that $2000 per person? Is there a limit for a family? Because if not, for a family of 4, $8000 is a lot.

And of course, this doesn’t address the medical procedures themselves.

I’m explaining the other person’s position as I’ve read it. To me, any step in the right direction, even if small, is a good thing. But I could see why others would be like “Come on, stop beating around the bush, M4A already!”

My buddies and I cracked up when we saw this. Probably my favorite meme from FFXIV yet.

I think we’ll be good. Clay Chastain isn’t involved!

…yet.

I thought alcoholism would be it. And someone would be at least making money off it (sans bootlegging).

We’re being flippant, but god, what a waste of human potential. Absolutely pointless war.

You’re on Beehaw right now. Let’s not sling around any accusations. Let’s just assume good faith. Even I didn’t catch that when I responded.

While BLM is certainly within their right to ask for this, I think it’d be pointless to do it. It’s done. Kamala Harris is the nominee.

To me, this is once again, the left fighting the left. And yes, the Democratic Party in this country, is considered part of the left, even if it’s not as left as some of you you’d like. Maybe BLM and other groups who feel the same, should focus that energy on fighting MAGA and Trump. Only one of the two major parties has at least some interest in racial justice and equality. And it sure as hell ain’t the Republicans. Especially not these days.

I’m not saying Democrats are perfect. I’m not saying Kamala Harris is perfect. But I’d much, much, much, much rather have her and Walz and Democrats across the land in control. And trying to fight fights within the big tent that have already been settled isn’t the way to do it.

This is “accidental renaissance” level. That’s an amazing shot; by Steph and the photographer!

Jim Withers, who coined the term “street medicine” decades ago and cares for homeless people in Pittsburgh, welcomed the entry of more providers given the enormous need. But he cautioned against a model with financial motives.

“I do worry about the corporatization of street medicine and capitalism invading what we’ve been building, largely as a social justice mission outside of the traditional health care system,” he said. “But nobody owns the streets, and we have to figure out how to play nice together.”

While I don’t hate anything that helps people, and I’m not as anti-capitalist as some in this community, I wondered about this too. While it’s great that a business was able to see a market here and can profit while doing good, I too would be a little wary. So much (ie seemingly almost all of it) of US healthcare is already driven by for-profit motives. We all know that even having health insurance, private or otherwise, can still be insanely expensive.

I don’t know how Medicaid, Medicare, or California’s funding and regulations work. But I’d want to make sure that the unhoused receive good care and continue to receive good care. And that profits are kept to a reasonable level. Healthcare obviously has costs; it’s not cheap to provide. But I’d hate to see even more money gobbled-up and services to the unhoused decrease in quality/quantity because the profit-seeking side of the company demands more profit.