Hi, I'm 19 (f) and as you can see in the title I almost passed out 4 times in the past hour.
Some background is that I went to a cardiologist when I was 15 for getting dizzy upon standing up and almost passing out a couple times that year. He did say I had a heart murmur but otherwise my heart was healthy but for the rest of it he said it was my hormones causing the episodes and that it would go away. I was cautious because he kept comparing my symptoms with dudes my age and how they have it worse (they get seizures purely from their hormones (his words)). But I accepted the answer nonetheless because he's a doctor with good reviews online. Over the past 4 years the symptoms seemed to be steady I had dizziness with standing and the occasional almost passing out. When I say occasional I mean it would only happen around 8-11 times a year. But lately over the past 2 months I've had a surge of symptoms including nausea and almost daily headaches. No I'm not pregnant nor can I be. I thought it was just my seasonal allergies acting up and just brushed over it. Up until like 4 weeks ago where the headaches turned into migraines and my occasional almost passing out episodes turned to once a week episodes. I once again brushed over it stupidly on my part because I was thinking it was just dehydration and or stress. Then come the past week and I realized I'm not getting any better and my symptoms just seem to be getting worse. I've had a migraine/pressure in my head all week and nothing seems to get rid of it. My nausea gets terrible in the mornings and right before I go to sleep. And I've almost passed out more times this past week than I can think of at this moment. Just over an hour ago I was in the shower (it wasnt hot, more so lukewarm) when all of a sudden I got dizzy, my legs felt weak, i could hear my fast heartbeat in my ears, and I felt like I was going to pass out so I turned off the shower and sat down then after a couple minutes it seemed to wear off so I went back to showering. It happened two more times after that and I decided I couldn't be in there anymore. It happened once more when I got into my room and so I've just been drinking some water and avoiding standing up incase it happens again.
TLDR- Symptoms I've had for multiple years seemily got worse the past two months and a little over an hour ago I almost passed out 4 times.
-dizziness upon standing (always but I've gotten used to it) -the occasional almost passing out turned weekly. -headaches turned to daily migraines. -nausea
I don't really know what to do and I'm afraid of just being told its my hormones once again. I'm not asking for medical advice I'm just asking what it sounds like and or if I should push past my anxiety and just go to another cardiologist. (also sorry for the grammar mistakes etc)

So Buddha day.
Token doesn't care.
Sneak and he kill ya.
Try to answer 25% you get a few enchant scrolls and 10,000 exp
Butt, I'm level 10. So it jumped 11,12,13,14 and 3 battles of a unicorn and I'm level 15. 1 day of quests got me 5 levels.
Just from getting lucky on a question. My fear is, Im not gonna have enough Guts and Wits from RNG due to my jumping levels so fast . Did this screw me? You're supposed to get 10-15 guts randomly between levels in the early game. And now I just missed out on um.

I just want to preface this with there is NO set markup for all builders. Every company is different. Different overhead. Different profit. When people say a “20%” standard, they have no idea what they are talking about or they are feeding you a bunch of BS. Production builders are able to charge a lower markup because they have a larger gross revenue. Custom builders that only do a few houses a year have larger markups because they have less gross revenue. Or they can have a lower markup because they have lower overhead or set their net margin at a lower number. The numbers are what they are. There is a reason that 95% of contractors go out of business within the first few years. They might be good at their trade but they are terrible at their numbers. Never go with a cost plus contractor. It is guaranteed that the number they give you is a low ball number to get the job. 100% of cost plus jobs will end at least 30-40% higher than what was originally quoted. Or they will never be completed. What happens then? Here are a few things I would like the cost plus guys to mull over and answer as well as the attorneys I have seen commenting on CP contracts:

1. There is no universal definition of Cost Plus or Time & Material Contracts or billing, thus creating confusion and misunderstandings almost immediately in any contract. Attorneys practicing law in the same town will often have different definitions of what is a Cost Plus or Time & Material Contract.
   
2. Lenders often will not lend on Cost Plus or Time & Material jobs unless there is a "not to exceed" clause. When the job goes beyond the not to exceed clause, you must have written authorization to do that work (signed, dated and completely priced out on a Change Work Order) or your client is not obligated to pay you for the work.
   
3. Some states now have laws that specifically prohibit the use of Cost Plus contracts.
   
4. Based on discussions with attorneys Cost Plus or Time & Material jobs generate lawsuits at a rate of 3 to 1, and arbitrations at 9 to 1 over Fixed Figure contracts.
   
5. Cost Plus or Time & Material contracts are an easy way out of doing detailed project study and estimating. This increases the chances that the original "estimate" for work to be done will be low to very low. You risk accusations of violating the Good Faith & Fair Dealing law for "low balling" estimates. An estimate below the actual price will lead to a fight over money when the real costs start the original estimate. coming in, and the client is requested to pay more for the job than
   
6. Because of the perception that on Cost Plus or Time & Material contracts the owner is required to pay for absolutely everything, many contractors do not write out Change Work Orders and have the owner sign them, falsely believing that they (the contractor) will be paid for all the work that they do on that job.
   
7. Owners often go into a Cost Plus contract thinking they have ample money to cover the job. When the job reaches the 60 percent to 80 percent completion point, and the owners have made multiple changes to the job increasing the cost, they run out of money. Their claim will be that the contractor overcharged from the start of the job, and the contractor will be expected to finish
   
8. For your own protection, you must keep an accurate day-to-day log of all labor, materials, subcontract and other fees or costs on the job to be able to verify your actual expenses to date. If you do not, depending on your contract, you may not be able to collect for undocumented expenses, regardless of what they are or how much work has been done.
   
9. In addition, you must have in your possession every document from the job that has incurred a cost. This includes all time cards, invoices, or any other papers related to the project. If you lose any item, you may not be paid for it.
   
10. With the need to keep very careful records on the jobs, you substantially increase the amount of meeting and preparatory time necessary for the job. Often this time will be three to four times the amount of time necessary to complete a Fixed Figure contract. Cost Plus or Time & Material jobs require at least two, and often three times as many meetings with the client to review job progress, billings, invoices, labor, etc. Who pays for the meeting time and the extra administration time to prep all the documents for labor and invoices from subs and suppliers?
    
11. Who draws the plans and gets the permits on a Cost Plus or Time & Material job? If a mistake is made on the plans, who pays for the time it takes to redraw the plans; and who pays to tear out the mistake and rebuild it?
    
12. Who pays for the engineering if the owner forgets to include it on the plans that they provide; and who pays for your downtime while you wait for these revisions?
    
13. Suppose engineering on a portion of the job gets by the plans examiner, the inspector catches the problem, and the job has to shut down until the engineering is complete and new plans are drawn and ready to use. Who pays for the new plans and delays? Who pays for tearing out the wrong structural work completed, and the materials that are ruined due to tear out? Who pays for the additional labor needed to correct the problem? Who pays for the downtime for you and your crew, driving time; restart up time?
    
14. Will the owner be willing to pay for your travel time to and from your office for meetings or discussions on problems that might arise on the job; or from the jobsite to your suppliers and back to the job site for material pickup that either they or you forgot?
    
15. If you make a mistake on a Cost Plus or Time & Material job, who pays for it? Do you donate your time or is the client willing to pay For it? Who pays for ruined materials? Who pays to go get the new materials and the cost of the vehicle expense to do the pickup?
    
16. Who makes up the material lists for jobs with Cost Plus or Time & Material contracts that are needed before the job starts? If you do, will you be paid for that time?
    
17. Owners are far more prone to want to furnish some or all of the materials for their jobs when using a Cost Plus or Time & Material contract. The contractor is expected to guarantee those materials when installed, not to mention losing the markup on those materials. Who pays for the time to replace defective materials supplied by the owner?
    
18. What happens when the owner is to supply some of the materials and they forget to buy a certain item or don't know what materials to bring to the jobsite? Who pays to get the forgotten items? What happens if it takes the owner two or three days (or longer) to get the needed materials to the jobsite? What do you and your crews do in the meantime, and who pays for that downtime?
    
19. The owner goes to your supplier (with your permission) and charges materials for the job to your account. What happens if you send the owner to a certain supplier you normally use for materials, he purchases the materials, and then later claims that he could have purchased the same materials at another location at a better price? You gave him the higher priced supplier to go to, so you are responsible for the difference in cost.
    
20. Cost Plus or Time & Material reviews show owners what you're paying for materials. This will increase the probability of complaints from owners that they could have bought the same item elsewhere for less money. It also leads to owners believing they only have to pay the amount that they could have bought the materials for.
    
21. Owners expect you to be fully productive on their jobs for 8 hours a day. They will be looking over your shoulder constantly. You will seldom, if ever, get the job done as quickly as they are expecting you to do it. Will they be willing to pay for your state's mandated morning and afternoon breaks for your employees? Will they be willing to pay for smoke breaks, coffee breaks, mobile phone time? Will they pay for the time for you or one of your employees to escort an inspector through the job and answer questions? Who pays for the labor and materials to do required changes?
    
22. The contractor must be far more diligent in policing employees so that they are productive on the job at all times, with no miscellaneous discussions or activities on or about anything other than the job they are working on. Again, this pertains to starting and quitting times, smoke breaks, coffee breaks, mobile phone time.
    
23. It is very difficult to "compete" on Cost Plus commercial jobs, because larger construction companies will take these jobs at cost to build a presence with corporations that allocate multimillion- dollar projects on assignment basis as a result of favorable past performance.
    
24. From the client's standpoint, Cost Plus contracts give the contractor little incentive to get in and get the job done. Instead, the contractor's incentive is to keep the clock running, especially if he doesn't have the next job lined up. Cost Plus jobs often run far longer than would be considered normal with a Fixed Fee contract.
    
25. Owners believe that Cost Plus or Time & Material jobs will cost them less money to build. Therefore, they expect you to charge them less money for the work that you do (i.e. less than your normal overhead and profit). In most cases, owners believe that you should only make: Remodeling: 10 percent overhead and to 10 percent profit New home construction: 10 percent overhead and profit Specialty construction: 6 to 10 percent overhead and 5 to 10 percent profit This makes it extremely difficult for you to use your established markup on that job, especially when you have to show them your invoices at the normally required meetings where you review the job progress and expenses to date.
    
26. Owners do their homework, put their job out for "Bid" at Cost Plus or Time & Material plus 6 percent, 7 percent or 8 percent maximum markup. They tell you if you don't want to bid that way, don't enter a bid. They also tell you that "You're not going to make your normal markup on my job!' In other words, take it or leave it.
    
27. One way many contractors handle Cost Plus or Time & Material contracts is to take items that are considered overhead and stuff those costs into the job cost section. In court, a sharp expert witness will find the overhead items listed under job costs and accuse the contractor of "double dipping" on the job. This immediately paints the contractor as dishonest, making a win in court even more difficult.
    
28. Most Cost Plus contracts give the owner the right to either select the subs for his job from a list supplied by the general contractor, or the owner can hire his own subcontractors that the owner will supervise during the job. What happens if subs hired by the owner don't adhere to the general contractor's time schedule? Who's responsible for delays and downtime caused by their lack of cooperation? What prevents the owner from suing the contractor for lack of supervision and other damages caused because the job did not get done on time?
    

This one right here... https://www.reddit.com/martialarts/comments/1cm05tl/what_do_you_think_of_the_statement_bad_people_are/
It was fun so here's the long follow up. That bad advice that random older dudes kept giving me was the least worrying thing in those three hours of analyzing that church's security measures. I hit up a friend of mine that has a whole lot more security-specific training than I do just to see if I was overthinking things. Bro has taught me a lot, and I still try to make the trip once or twice a year to train with him. Between emails and a phone call I think I did a pretty good job of compiling our conversation. Most of the convo is also here but I'm not a shameless self-promoter on Tuesdays.
This isn't so much about martial arts or fighting or self-defense, but it probably is helpful and good discussion because a lot of you would hopefully give a crap about these same issues.
DC (Me): When I arrived I drove around the building and no one was posted at any of the 3 front entrances, at least not outside and visible. There was always someone at either of the 2 back entrances and the 1 north end entrance.
TF (The Friend): If someone is truly invested in safety they would have all doors covered, including the main entrance(s). Now maybe their thinking is the main entrance is where people come and go and it might be “uncomfortable” for visitors however we are talking about KEEPING PEOPLE ALIVE. To me that is worth the slight discomfort. And one way they could accomplish it without having to make it an uncomfortable experience is put “greeters” at the main entrance dressed in their Sunday best but they are actually part of the security response team. Those greeters need training in profiling, body language, situational awareness and of course the surface level expected things (firearm, hand to hand, situation specific training such as an active threat). Also does this place have security cameras? Security cameras need to monitor the entire property. And keep in mind people stake out places, plant things at places, etc during off hours. Cameras are a must. Want to make some money? Offer to install a system for them. I’ll help you.
DC: There was no mention to me of where first aid kits and AEDs are located in the building. I know where one AED is on the lower floor but it’s a 4-story building. Considering that I was outside the most heavily-traveled door, it would seem prudent for me to know where those are if I see someone get hit by a car or grab their chest and fall down.
TF: An emergency doesn’t always mean a violent situation. It could be someone suffering a heart attack, a child getting run over by a car driven by an 80 yr blind church goer or just a simple amputation of a finger because they are making sandwiches in the church kitchen. Every single floor needs to have multiple AEDs and COMPLETE first aid kits (that’s a whole class in itself – how to stock a first aid kit). I say multiples because you want quick easy access to one of those item no matter where you are at in the building. I don’t know how big the place is but even starting just by putting a complete first aid kit and AED at the N and S ends of the building is a good start along with training the congregation on CPR. You don’t need the piece of paper from a class, just get someone who knows how to come teach.
DC: Along the same line, no emergency action plans were provided. What to do if part of the building has to be evacuated for a fire or smoke? In case of severe weather or tornado threats what parts of the building should be evacuated and what are the safest areas to move people to until the danger passes? They might have these plans somewhere, but what’s the point if you don’t share them with the ones who would have to execute them.
TF: This is a mistake. There has to be an evacuation plan to remove as many people as possible from the building should something occur (fire, active threat, etc). If there are tornado shelters obviously that’s the safe spot for that specific situation. Many times the evacuation plan put in place can be used for multiple threats (active threat, fire, chemical spill, etc) because it’s about removing the people AWAY from the danger. And YES you are 1000% right those plans/routes need to be shared with EVERYONE in the congregation. When people do not know what to do or where to go there will be chaos, always. The people in charge might THINK they are going to be the go to person to provide guidance and manage the crowd but I will tell you when shit hits the fan no one is listening to them. People will be stepping on their own just to get out. With that being said, any evacuation plans that are created need to be drilled by the entire congregation. It could be done 10m before church for the next 6 Sundays to make sure EVERYONE knows the plan.
DC: It gets worse. There actually is no active shooter plan in place. Apparently some Lt. with the local police department will be doing an active shooter training in the future. I'll be in attendance with the lowest hopes in the room.
TF: This should be interesting and disappointing. My first question to him would be “What are your qualifications/experience to teach this? Have you experienced it first hand?”. Or is everyone looking at him because of his “label” which really means nothing other than that is his occupation that allows him to pay his electric bill. I have yet to see (other than myself) anyone put on a close to reality active shooter training session. Most people (law enforcement included) do powerpoint presentations. Unfortunately many “experts” teaching how to survive an active shooter situation think 4 hour Powerpoint presentations, statistics and cute acronyms are properly training people to survive one of the worst experiences a person could face. Powerpoint presentations do not save lives… ACTION saves lives! You know that though.
DC: Same with an active stabber, no plans there. Or at least no one could show me a plan.
TF: Same as the active shooter.
DC: Here's one you'll love. In the event of a person being violent, the directions I was given were to stay away, make a call over the radio, and let someone else come deal with it. They're also bringing in another security consultant (a former Navy SEAL, just like those three guys who all claim they killed bin Laden) to do de-escalation training at some point. I'm skipping that shit.
TF: I’ve always said if you can remove yourself from a situation that is the best way to increase your odds of staying alive. HOWEVER – there are some situations where immediate action is needed NOW! Especially if you are responsible for the safety of others the goal is to not only eliminate the threat but also minimize damage (limit the casualties). The other night we worked full blown knife attacks. I asked someone to demo with me. I slaughtered him with 20+ stabs/slashes in about 5 seconds and that was before he hit the ground and I mounted and continued. My point – the longer an event goes on the more damage innocents will experience. If you have time to go make a phone call then you have time to take effective action that works towards eliminating the threat and minimizing damage. Their suggestion to call someone else is so typical of people who have no concept of how violence really works (let someone else handle your problem…lol). No one cares for your life more than you do. It’s your responsibility. And regardless of what someone’s propaganda says about their label it still takes time to make a phone call, it takes time for someone to arrive and even when they arrive there is no guarantee they will even engage the threat. The overall goal for ALL VIOLENT ENCOUNTERS is to make the even AS SHORT AS POSSIBLE. The longer a violent event continues the odds of you leaving lessen and the odds increased causalities goes through the roof.
Poster's note: When he and I say we're going to train someone in knife attacks rather than knife defenses. The partner (the attacker) is going to be training on how to freaking stab you just as hard as you're training to resist being stabbed.. Rubber knife, protective gear and 100% stabbing vs 100% resistance, for advanced students, is a fun time. If you're wearing the pads you're going to get your ass kicked. He wasn't actually training his class how to go on stabbing sprees.
DC: This was one that’s not even related to fight skills or ability to engage a threat. There was not even a quick introductory rant on recognizing suspicious people or behavior. The more I talked to other volunteers the more I realized none of them had a clue.
TF: This is touched on in my answer to your first question. People who are determined to execute violent activity do not walk around with signs or flashing lights. It’s not always obvious like in the movies. They blend in and lay low until the moment to take action. These church people have no clue what they are doing. It’s all what I call “surface level thinking” meaning the basic stuff your average person who is inexperienced in the subject thinks of – “Get a police officer officer in our group to teach us something.” Teach you what? How to hand out traffic citations? “We have retired military this or that and retired law enforcement and a former rodeo clown who are packing heat during church.” Ok have they ever dealt with using their weapon when there is mass chaos and people screaming/running everywhere? Bullets only travel in a straight line and do not go around innocents if they are in the way. But just because someone has a firearm doesn’t mean they have the mindset to use it.
DC: You’ll love this one. 5 minutes before the church service let out we were told to call it quits for the day, before everyone in the building started filing out to the parking lot at one time.
TF: Do you mean the response team was training, etc and the church had you guys leave 5 minutes before the congregation got out? That ties exactly into my comment in question #1 about appearance/comfort level. Why hide it? Is there anyone in the church (or the world for that matter) that would disagree the world is getting more violent? Everyone knows it is… they’ve either experienced it or seen/heard news stories so why not put it out there that the church takes the safety and well being of their members SERIOUSLY? I have a saying I came up with once when I was talking to a place about active shooter training and they said it couldn’t be hands ons and they were hoping more for like a speaking engagement because their policy doesn’t allow physical contact. My response – “Until you put people before your policies, your people will continue to die.” And that’s just plain truth. Everyone is so worried about policy/comfort level they are putting that before the actual goal of saving people’s lives. If you are getting ready for a championship basketball game what should you do in practice? Play some damn basketball. Well if you are wanting to learn how to save your life/others in a violent situation what should you practice? VIOLENCE. Why would you do ANYTHING ELSE in practice than what you are preparing for? It’s not logical. I think the congregation would approve and love the idea that “their church cares”.
DC: On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the building’s security measures? Is it fucked, or am I crazy and overthinking it because I am oddly OCD about details sometimes?
TF: I would give them a grade of 2 (at best) out of 10. You are 1000% on point on everything. You have training. You understand violent situations but you’ve been trained by someone and a group that has experienced it and knows how violence REALLY unfolds. The people who are in charge with this “security” policy at your church have ZERO experience and ZERO training. Imagine this - would you want a surgeon who has no education in operation and no experience to attempt to perform a life saving surgery on you? A question I would ask them is - "How SERIOUS are you about saving lives?"

Anything I should change/remove from the order? I’m doing a survival immersion playthrough and I’m trying to get the best possible list.
Master Files:

1. AWKCR
2. USO
3. IC
4. PAWA
5. SEO
6. BETTER SEO
7. USO AWKCR Patch Fast Starts and Frameworks:

INVASIVE WORLD EDITS: * Faction and AI Overhauls Enemy level lists, faction level lists, AI packages:

1. Liberty Reborn
2. Enemy Scaling Revamped
3. BOS Overhaul

• New World-Spaces/Landmasses Quests:

1. The Calvin Coolidge Institute
2. Onset Travels
3. Nordic Europa Research Facility

• New Factions and enemy lists:

1. Mythic Creatures
2. Northern Star Pirates
3. Mythic Monsters
4. Zombie Walkers
5. Exotic Enemies
6. Tribals of Commonwealth

• Bug Fixes, Unofficial Patches or Vanilla Quests Modifications:

1. Freefall - 4
2. Freefall - 4 Automatron
3. Freefall - 4 Nuka World
4. Freefall - 4 Far Harbor
5. Better Dialogue

WORKSHOP (Settlement Objects) * Settlement Building Mods: * Settlement Building Mods (Powered Objects) * Settlement Building Mods (Workshop Assignable) * Settlement Building Mods (Decorations) * Settlement Building Mods (Furniture) * Settlement Building Mods Scripts * Settlement Building Mods Overhauls
GAME-PLAY * Game-Play Changes and Tweaks These include: Perks, Settings, Movement, Animations:

1. P.L.U.N.D.E.R
2. Immersive Fallout (DLC)
3. Charles Overhaul
4. Charles Overhaul Nuka World
5. Charles Overhaul Automatron
6. Charles Overhaul Far Harbor
7. Simple Combat Grabs
8. Simple Attack Death & Reactions
9. Dismemberment Overhaul Original
10. Search and Destroy Extended
11. Immersive Looting

COMPANIONS * New Companion Mods:

1. Madame Curie

• NPC and Companion Changes NPC overhauls:

1. Companion Combat Overhaul
2. Faster Positive Affinity
3. Stronger Dogmeat
4. Dogs not Brahmin
5. NPC Accuracy Adjustment
6. Settlers Extended (Extreme)
7. Restored Content

AUDIO and VISUAL * Radio and Audio Mods:

1. Reverb And Ambiance Overhaul

• Visual, Texture, Atmospheric Improvements:

1. Enhanced Flickering Fire
2. Weather Redux
3. Insignificant Object Remover
4. Improved Lighting Ballistics

• Lighting Water Changes Water mods:

1. Water Redux

WORKSHOP BENCH/SORTING/ITEMS * Vanilla Settlement Changes and Tweaks Mods:

1. OCDecorator
2. Colored Workshop Lights
3. Unlimited Resources Shipment

• Sorting and Menu Changes:

1. Eli’s Tweaks & Fixes

HUD * HUD and DEF_UI Mods The load order for HUDFramework; add-ons then framework and DEF_UI; Framework then Add-ons:
CHARACTER - PIP-BOY/WEARABLES/CLOTHING/ARMOCRAFTING * Character Model Replacers/Enhancers:

1. VaultGirl2077 Recreations - Fallout Tv Show

• Pip-boy and Map Mods Pipboy Maps:

1. All Map Markers Visible

• New Weapons, Armor, Clothing, etc. (non-craftable) Weapon, clothing, armor Level lists additions that do not require AWKCR to function:

1. Aliens of the Commonwealth
2. Spec Ops Supply Drop
3. Navy Stealth Suit

• Crafting (AWKCR-dependent mods) Adds craft-able items to a Chemistry Station or other Workbench - Doesn't add to the level lists:

1. UCO Base
2. UCO Season Pass
3. Simole Camping 2.0
4. Wasteland Counterfeiter
5. Makeshift Weapon Pack
6. Craftable Ammo Chemistry Workbench

• Crafting: New Wearable Items:
  
• Crafting: Robot All Robot Workbench mods require Automatron:
  
• Crafting: Power Armor MODS.
  

1. Power Armor Frame Crafting & Moving

• Crafting: New Workbenches New crafting benches (NOT AWKCR) that are built in the settlement menu and add your armors/weapons:
  
• Crafting: New Armor and Weapons (Chemistry Station) Purely craftable armor
  
• Crafting: Armor and Weapons AWKCR MODS Require AWKCR in order to function:
  

1. Unlock Ballistic Weave

• Crafting: Workbench and New Recipe MODS Includes mods that add categories to the crafting stations, adjust recipes, and add new recipes:

NON-INVASIVE WORLD EDITS * New Settlements and Other Buildings Changes and Tweaks. Player homes; New Settlements; Single cell edits. Some of these may need to go below scrapping MODS:

1. Rsiyos Location Pack
2. Antidotes Better Goodneighbor
3. Stumble Upon Interiors
4. Plenty O Exploration
5. Minuteman Watchtowers
6. Lexington Interiors
7. The Beantown Interiors Project
8. Nuka World Glory
9. Daylights End
10. Mirelurks Nest
11. Chestnut Hill
12. Red Rocket Revamped
13. The Castle Revamped
14. USS Quincy
15. Maple Manor
16. Featherfall House

• New Quests Quests that add new NPCs and edits to vanilla quests but don't add new worlds:

1. CaptainNoobs Improved CR-74L
2. Limited Minuteman Quests
3. The Bounty Hunter

• Weapon and Armor Modifications "New barrels; New weapon and footstep sounds; Any patches to the above weapons and armors:

1. See Through Scopes
2. 1st Person Animation Tweaks
3. TLS Sound Overhaul

• Scrapping Mods and Placement Mods Use caution with scrapping mods, STC and STS are safe. Place anywhere goes above.

1. STS AIO

THE BOTTOM * Miscellaneous:

1. Busty Mod
2. Snarky Loading Screens
3. Rain of Brass
4. Esk No Survival Bs
5. Saving Survival Mode
6. Pip Boy Flashlight (Brighter)
7. Sunlight Alignment Tweak
8. Enhanced Lights and FX

Apologies if it looks messy, I appreciate the help though!

First Reddit post ever… apologize if this is the incorrect place.
I feel like many of our questions are rather simple but I cannot seem to find answers. Our HOA seems to have it out for us. The only reasoning I can come up with is most of the homeowners are original owners from when the homes were built. All elderly. ALL. We seem to be the first young couple to buy a home in the area, and this is the only conclusion I can come to as to why we’re being targeted. Below is a random list of things that have occurred over the first few years.
I would like to preface with ALL of the events below have happened on the day the board walks the neighborhood to review properties

1. People have come onto our property and removed a flag and flag pole and put it in our backyard. The flag and pole is completely in line with HOA rules and was actually there when we bought the house and we chose to keep it up. We never received a letter or request to take it down. Just came home one day to it disassembled and tossed in our back yard.
   
2. We have a small walkway that goes behind our backyard that is very highly trafficked. When we would have friends over it would get blocked by their cars (though completely legally parked by law and hoa rules) One of our friends came back to their car with a not so nicely written letter to not block the walkway. Keep in mind it is not a driveway or for house access it is for… walking your dog etc. through the neighborhood. We made an effort to ask all of our friends to not block it. One night my sister was leaving and came back to dog shit smeared all across her windshield.
   
3. Someone is using our trash can on trash days to expose of excessive amounts of dog waste. As far as I’ve been able to find this is actually illegal. It’s not just one baggy from a walk etc. I will come home on the day of trash disposal to it already having an amount of baggies exceeding people walking by. I wrote the hoa about this, and the board president responded in a nasty way how it was our fault for leaving the cans out too long after removal. I work all day and put them away as soon as I’m home…her remark basically justifying it was absurd to me.
   
4. We like to use a drying rack and have yet to put one up because we must submit an architecture approval form before putting one up. Taking 40-70 days to get approved. My understanding is in California they cannot impose unreasonable restrictions on the racks themselves, but can they require approval before putting them up?
   

There are many, many other things that have taken place but this gives the general idea. We’re just looking for a solution. I feel as though installing security cameras would fix a lot of our problems just as a deterrent but I’m concerned they would reject the application for installation. Any ideas of how we me may approach this? It may be a single individual we’re dealing with. But based on the responses we receive when expressing concerns it seems as though they’re all “out to get us”
Thanks in advance.

This is my list of the top 10 non hardcore emo albums post 2000. I did not include any hardcore or true pop punk albums. Obviously this comes down to personal preference, and the emo genre is so diverse this was a difficult list to make. I think I did a decent job of putting together a solid list of diverse emo albums. Let me know your top 10 list! I want to note that I only chose one album from every artist to go on this list. I honestly believe 5 of the 10 bands have more than one album that could potentially make this list, but I wanted to give a nod to a few other lesser known bands and albums. I put the list with no commentary first so people would not be forced to wade through my reviews to see the list.
My Top 10 Emo Albums: 1. Turnover - Peripheral Vision 2. Citizen - Youth 3. Movements - Feel Something 4. Tigers Jaw - Self Titled 5. The Hotelier - Home, Like No Place There Is 6. City and Colour - Bring Me Your Love 7. A Great Big Pile of Leaves - Snack Attack 8. Pinegrove - Marigold 9. Gleemer - Down Through 10. Foxing - The Albatross
Honorable Mention: 1. Secondhand Serenade - Awake 2. For When You Can’t Breathe - A Home That Doesn’t Exist
Quick Album Reviews:

1. Turnover - Peripheral Vision This is and will always be my top album. A true masterpiece to my ears. The music is dreamy, but they still kept some of the heaviness from earlier albums. That Roland JC-120 tone will always be legendary. The lyrics are super emo, but it doesn't sound dark unless you really listen. I have played this album at the cafe, and more than once I have had someone mention, “This music is so happy” lol. Go read the lyrics and get back to me on that. The lyrical content is approachable and relatable. Solid 10/10.
   
2. Citizen - Youth This album simultaneously rocks and jams. The guitars can be heavy at times, but the mix of calm and heavy parts is a genius execution. The Vocals are something of magic. The mix of the clean and yelling vocals not only fits the style but also adds a ton of dynamics. The lyrics are gut wrenching. Songs like “The Night I Drove Alone” are an all too real description of what living with suicidal ideation is like. This is the closest thing to being a hardcore album on this list, except maybe the Hotelier album, but I believe it is much more approachable than your average hardcore album, as the vocals do not really scream. 9.5/10
   
3. Movements - Feel Something This album does not rock as hard as “Youth” but It does jam twice as hard. Now don’t get me wrong: it rocks…hard. The lyrics and melodies on this album may be my favorite on any emo album. The lyrics are clever and witty, and the melodies are smooth and memorable. This is an album I have to sing along to when I listen to it. I believe the first 5 songs on this album may be the best 5 song stretch on any emo album ever produced. These songs together get a 10/10. The only things I didn't really care for at first were the spoken word parts. The words are great, but spoken word just really isn't my thing. It takes me back to my days in the evangelical church, but I have grown to love it. 9.5/10
   
4. Tigers Jaw - Self Titled This is a classic emo album. Personally it is not even my favorite Tiger’s Jaw album. For my personal taste “Spin” takes the cake, but there is no denying that the Self Titled album was more successful and had a larger influence on emo music as a whole. The music is very raw. It could have easily been produced in a bedroom, though it was recorded in a real studio. The guitars and vocals are both pretty raw. It has very little pop influence in the sense that it is not very polished. Let’s be honest, that is one of the major draws to the album. The lyrics, though silly at times, are very real and raw. “What about your friends, do they make you happy?” “Lie to me like you used to” “We are made from chemicals, but what holds us together is much more than that” This album showcases great lyricism and melody building. 9/10
   
5. The Hotelier - Home, Like No Place There Is Many avid emo fans consider this album to be the best emo album ever produced. I agree that it is one of the best. The music ranges from pretty heavy to chiller alt rock. It does have some screamo style vocals, but that is not the majority of the vocals, which is why it's not on the hardcore list. “Life In Drag” is 100% screamo, “Housebroken” is a chill alt song, and songs like “Among The Wildflowers” and “Your Deep Rest” are an excellent combination of both. The lyrics are another example of top tier lyricism in the emo genre. The song “Your Deep Rest” may be the most gut wrenching song I have ever heard in any genre. 9/10
   
6. City and Colour - Bring Me Your Love This is the only acoustic album to make the top 10. I listened to this album from 2008 to 2015 before I even realized that most people even considered it emo. I just saw it as an awesome acoustic album. The music overall has a pretty dark sound especially for an acoustic album. The sound reminds me a bit of The Spill Canvas’ “Sunsets & Car Crashes” album but it is much more refined and has a more pop style production. Dallas’ advanced guitar skills and beautiful and soulful vocals are really a thing of beauty. My first year in college this was my drink and be sad album. It is incredibly dark. “Every man needs a muse and mine could be the bottle” “It's passion, it's not love. Infatuation never ends up right. At least I won't be alone tonight.” “We celebrate the lives of the dead. It's like a man's best party, only happens when he dies.” 8.5/10
   
7. A Great Big Pile of Leaves - Snack Attack A Great Big Pile of Leaves is the least popular band to make this list, but honestly one of the most original emo bands I’ve ever heard. This album has a super fun and happy sound. The music jams and groves very hard, while having a calming effect on the listener. This is a great album to take a nap to. The lyrics can be pretty silly with songs about a wild mouse in the house that they consider a pet, slumber parties, and going back to school. They prove that being happy and joyous are also worthwhile emotions. It is not all fun and games though, it also includes themes of those you trust letting you down, and the struggle of being introverted. I have never related to a song more than “Ambervision” 8.5/10
   
8. Pinegrove - Marigold I'm sure there will be plenty of people who will question why I chose this album over all the other bangers Pinegrove has released. It is one of Pinegrove’s least successful albums. They have obviously had several hits bigger than any of the songs on this album, but the overall album is so cohesive and perfectly executed. Every song’s sound fits perfectly into the style of the whole album. My biggest complaint about Pinegrove, and the reason I disliked them for so long, is because they have such a country (It is fair to say folk) sound. I grew up in East Texas where country music is king, and I always hated it with a passion. This is the album where they leaned the most heavily into the country sound. The melodies have a slight twang and the harmonies are obviously country inspired. The reason I chose this album is because they were able to take elements of music that I hate and make me love it. So Good! 8.5/10
   
9. Gleemer - Down Through This is the most recent album to make the top 10 list. This band is also fairly unknown. I actually did not discover them until maybe a month ago. It may be fair to say that my introduction to this album is too fresh to make it on this list, but It is simply that good. The first time I heard it I knew it would be one of my favorites. It has that dreamy aspect that made Peripheral Vision such a huge hit. I dream of the day that every emo band realizes that a strong chorus effect and intense reverbs are their friend. It is a bit heavier than PV, not by much. The lyrics are very poetic and leave the meaning a bit up to interpretation but they are dark and without a doubt emo. The choruses are catchy, but they do not quite have the sing along factor of PV. Dreamy Emo/Shoegaze for the win! 8/10
   
10. Foxing - The Albatross I actually saw Foxing open up for Tigers Jaw back in 2017, before I had ever heard their recorded music. I really enjoyed it. They slap live. A few months after the concert I was playing random emo music in the cafe and the song “the Medic” came on. I was jamming to it and in the middle of the song I realized, “Holy shit, I saw these guys live”. This is another album that has a crazy 5 song stretch. The first 5 songs are on another level. 9.5/10. “Pent Up In A Blind” is a short interlude instrumental but it perfectly bridges “The Medic” and “Rory” which are undeniably the best two songs on the album. It is dark and depressing, but their musicality is something I have never heard from an emo band. The sound on this album is very unique in the genre. They use a trumpet (which is sick live) and the guitars have a slight midwest emo style, with the sweeping guitar parts on some of the songs, but the tone is unlike what you would hear in midwest emo. The rest of the album is solid, but very instrumental heavy which is the only reason the overall album was dropped down to a 8/10
    

Honorable Mention:

1. Secondhand Serenade - Awake In my mind this is the second best acoustic emo album out there. It is much more polished and poppy than anything else that made the actual top 10. The vocals utilize some fairly significant pitch correction, which becomes obvious when you hear the songs live. He uses pitch correction, but it feels more like an effect than it does about fixing vocal imperfections. The vocals needed to be that perfect to fit the style of the music. Secondhand Serenade used amazingly written harmonies to add depth and dynamics to the music. SS utilizes some unique tunings and chords in his music. I learned so much about playing the acoustic guitar from this album. Just like City and Colour I never considered SS an emo band until around 2015. That’s when I looked past the beautiful music and took a deeper look into the lyrics and realized, “Damn, this guy was going through some shit.” I always considered it a love album, as there are some beautiful love songs, but if you look deeper you will see that they are all about trying to fix messed up relationships. Not exactly as happy as the songs sound.
   
2. For When You Can’t Breathe - A Home That Doesn’t Exist This album was just released this year, by an artist that released their first song in 2022. They are almost completely unknown with less than 36,000 monthly listeners on Spotify (most of those have come in the last few months). The newness of the artist does not detract from the perfection of this album. It has dreamy guitar tones, especially on the verses. The choruses have a strong pop punk feel. The vocals feature both super clean poppy melodies, and yelling and screaming. It kind of feels like a mix of Secondhand Serenade’s clean vocals, Peripheral Vision’s guitar tones, Mayday Parade’s choruses, and the raw vocals of Hotelier. Seriously a cool mix of music and styles. It is everything my 17 year old scene self hoped emo music would be in 15 years.
   

i'd rather cry after failing because i tried rather than cry because i didn't try.
hour 1: unit 2
hour 2: unit 3
hours 3 & 4: unit 4
hour 5: unit 5
hour 6: unit 6
hour 7: units 7 & 8 (already reviewed 7) & 9 (very short and unimportant)
hour 9: practicing writing
each hour includes: relevant unit videos, progress checks, and short answer questions for active recall
course 2: review as much as possible before getting ~6-7 hours of sleep.
wish me luck!! i'll update with score

Campaign of Fur & Fang
Act:1 We are here for you “To be honest with you Mr. Speaker, as representative of my fair species, I must inform you and everyone at home watching this debate, that the Lycans only wish to help humanity with our gifts. We are here for you. Yes, times are very scary, especially for the human population that sees not one but two of cultures most feared mythical creatures in the fresh and not just frightening tales and big budget motion pictures”.
(The Rep. of the Lycans, Mr.Olaf Corvin starts the proceedings strong with a voice that demands one’s attention with his deep soothing tunes and leadership-like inflections)
“Why thank you, Mr. Corvin, for your small intro, as we all know, we are here tonight for a debate of most importance. According to the peace treaty signed by both the Lycanthrope and the Empusa. A treaty that ended thousands of years of bloodshed and horror that came into focus for humanity in the past 50 years. Both Lycans and Empusas decided that their treaty was holding both sides at bay but no more, both sides came to a way to end this fighting once and for all. Oddly enough, you both decided on a campaign in the vein of an election, one that is between the Empusa, vampires for the common human knowledge, and the Lycanthropes also known as werewolves. This will consist of a 3-night debate between Mr. Olaf Corvin for the Lycans and Ms.Elisabetha Harkin for the Empusa. At the end of the 3 nights, humanity will vote on either side on who is the dominant species, thus eliminating the other and holding power over us all. This first night will be for Mr. Corvin and the Lycan’s then the 2nd night will go to Ms. Harkin for her argument for the empusa. This being the first night we shall start with you, Mr. Corvin. So I’ll start with the question all of humankind wants to know. Just why did you and your kind think we (humans) should vote for you since we have dealt with werewolves for decades, that we know of at least? Do we have a chance in hell, pardon my speech, of continued existence”?
(The Speaker is direct and surprisingly unnerved by the intense presence of Mr. Corvin being, his stare alone is enough to make your hair stand on end.)
“First off, Thank you all for your cooperation, I know this is uncommon for anyone let alone all of you watching here and at home. So to answer your first part, Mr. Speaker, I have seen centuries of bloody battles both as a human and as a Lycan and one thing has remained constant, no matter who is doing the fighting, blood on both sides will fall and innocent lives will be lost to the violence…to end that I felt this was the better more humane way to go about it.
“So, Mr. Corvin, are you saying that this “Debate” is to determine who is to RULE over all of humanity and use us as nothing more than food and labor”?
“No, both the lycans and empusa met on neutral ground and under special conditions to ensure that no side had an advantage over the other and to hopefully come to a fair compromise to ending the rivalry that has hindered not just the Lycans, not just the empusa Mr. Speaker…but all that calls Gaia home. To the concern and the outlook for humans, do not worry, for we do not condone forced labor among anybody, although if humans wish to share in culture and knowledge we are more than willing to. We wish and welcome it. As for food, hmm, yes we do eat…meat but that's not to mean that we strictly eat humans, on the contrary many of my kind eat animals and most vegetation that the great Gaia provides us all. Not unlike humans do. Don’t forget Mr. Speaker, we lycans have learned to live among humans for generations and hope to continue to do so. Only this time, not to hide what we are and grow together”.
“Well said Mr. Corvin but on the point of what you just said about living with humans for generations. You and others have heard the legends and stories regarding depictions of were…excuse me, Lycans, throughout history and in many different cultures. My question for you is, of most of these claims and even eyewitness accounts of your kind…SLAUGHTERING humans by the thousands in the name of your God Gaia, some as recent as decades ago right here in the country alone. How can we (humans) expect to co-exist with the Lycans after all their destructive actions”?
“The horrors that humanity has both witnessed and have been a part of are not unknown to my kind. We (Lycans) want to set the record straight, as you humans have said. History has been looking at us Lycans as like a plague, a horrifying virus that is contracted through a bite on a full moon, all that isn’t true. You won’t be turned through a bite or a scratch for us. To be one of us, you must first denoise all ties to materials, all bonds for greed, to truly understand freedom…the true freedom of no restrictions to your bond to the Almighty Gaia for she has given us this blessed freedom. Us, yes my family, my pack if you will, have seen the glory of Gaia on that glorious day so many many centuries ago when she took pity on my ancestors. Seeing them in chains of iron, beaten by their masters with barbed whips and prodded with their silver-tipped rods, the great Gaia saw out of all this display of cruelty and hatred that she began to weep”. (Corvin stops and takes a minute to compose himself, turning away slightly from the crowd hiding a small swell of tears.)
“Are you telling me... that to be counted among your kind, to become a Lycan in your community one simply can’t just be bitten but has to fully give themselves over to your way of life? That is truly a far cry from the movie monsters of old have portrayed. It sounds like it is more than some affection contracted from a bite or a curse, sounds like it’s more of a religious act than anything. What is the history of your kind then? Help us understand what the path of Gaia means and how it’s the true path to walk in life”.
“Well, Mr. Speaker, the first thing to learn from us is that under the guiding hand of Gaia, we (Lycans) have lived together with no sense of division amongst our own. No civil wars between ourselves, no reason to, when we all share a common goal of pleasing the great Gaia. Her ways are not strange to anyone honestly, she first bestowed these charges to our progenitor, my father, over 324,000 moon phases ago. It was on that night my father fell in battle against his rival and at that moment, she gave him a choice. Either turn away from the folly of the false gods and temptations of man and follow the path of her grace and in doing so will unite him with his enemies and end the wars that drove them to kill and taint the grounds of her body, or to simply deny her and embrace the world as one big lie and die alone on the ground and to be nothing more but a footnote of the grand story yet to be told”.
“So he chose her over death, to be her devoted one. Her avatar to bring out and show that she is the way to peace and prosperity. Whereas others only want to destroy and claim pieces of her through war and death. She gives it freely to her children. That is what it means to be one of us. Unlike my opposition, who brings death to all, they have the sink of death on them and should not be allowed to continue…I’m sorry Mr. Speaker. I wish to not have it end the way they offer and truly wish for peace for all who LIVE…and share the gift that has given my kind such a grander way of life”.
(Corvin drinks something from his ornate flask & after a moment makes his claim for why his kind should win over the Vampires)
“To all of those who still don’t wish to join us or are skeptical, Let me make it plain as spring rain. We offer you no chains or servitude, we offer you a way to live by us not under. If you decide to choose us over them I promise you this…People will live and live well within. But, I do warn you all, if you do choose Gaia and her gifts, they come with rules and rules that help with holding everlasting peace. Rules are what separates us from the savageness that has been shown by others not blessed by Gaia. Rules are fairly simple to practice”.
( The Rules Corvin laid out were as he said, simple, yet I fear they are not ones easily practiced among most humans. 1. All those who reside on blessed Gaia must swear an oath to not cause her any harm, which includes pollution of any kind. 2. All who receive Gaia’s blessing are to at no point shed the blood of her blessed ones.[Lycan] 3. Once a year an offering to Gaia is MANDATORY. Anything offered up must be prepared for her glory and must be taken with the utmost respect and care. (examples from anything from a blood offering to a prized crop of that year.)
“With this, I offer you true purpose and a life worth living. No more war, no more famine, or even the threat of a short mortal life can be a distant dream with the gift of Gaia”.
“I’m sorry to repeat myself Mr. Corvin, but are you telling us that if we choose you we will no longer be humans? Forgive me sir, but if the humans out there didn’t want and refuse this “gift of Gaia” as you call it, then what comes of them”?
“Mr. Speaker, make no mistake, Not everyone is a good fit for most humans and the gift Gaia offers is not something easily given, but rest assured that we do not wish to persecute nor do we have any intention of hurting anyone without cause. If you don’t have the gift or refuse it as you say, Mr. Speaker, we simply wish to not have the continued harm that has already been done to our beloved Gaia. we will cease all harmful pollution that all your factories, workshops, and all the mining, It all ends under our rule. Life will return to simpler times When the sky above wasn’t flooded with false lights made to blind you from the glory of the stars that blanket Gaia like a grand tapestry”.
“So, you are saying you would see an end to all of our functionality, as we know life, and drive us back centuries in technology and advancements in medicine? This feels like a subject that would cause much strife among humans, it may even be fair to say that this declaration you just put out there, might just make you seem more of a threat to what we hold dear. Forget about phones, the internet, and neon lights. What about the people whose very life is prolonged through this technology? Like a child who lives on dialysis or in a village somewhere far away, that has no access to fresh water or healthcare that would help them. Are you telling me that under your rule as a Higher species, what you offer us is a fair replacement”?
“The simple answer to that Mr. Speaker is yes. But I’ll go a bit further in explaining it for you and everyone watching here and at home. To all those who are fearful for your life as you know it, when the rule of the Lycans is secured, our first action is repairing as much damage as possible including the humans that are at the worst. The ones who are forgotten by their own but not so easily forgotten by our blessed mother Gaia, will be the ones who have earned the gift of Gaia. She has spoken of this directly, she sees all and has a place for the ones no one loves, the ones life has done wrong by. She will embrace them and on to her, they will find peace. As for their practice, you humans have done in the name of “progress” need not fear either. We will not cut your way so swiftly, we will show you the better path through example and have you see that your harmful, hateful ways that have been around since Cain threw the first stone are not the true ways to live on Gaia. Don’t think you will continue this without a gilding hand. We will be that guiding hand and as the hand of Gaia, you will see your harmful ways are not worth the cost”.
“Thank you, Mr. Corvin, for your time tonight. We sure have a lot to reflect on with what you say. The people here, myself included, have never truly given enough thought about just how much we harm the planet…Gaia, my apologies. Your words stir quite a few mixed feelings for us and your proposal is one we shall very much consider. Just one last question before we adjourn for the week. If/When the Lycans take full control, do you plan on completely whipping out the opposition”?
{Corvin lowers his head and looks at his soal powered wrist watch and then drinks again from his ornate flask]
“To that I have only one thing to say” {Corvin smiles and looks directly into the hard camera as it zooms in closer, more distinct features show on Corvin's face. Bushy yet maintained brow that is furrowed into an angle that shows his distaste for his vampire opposite.}
“To my opponent, our agreement will stand whether we win or lose this race but win we win and WE WILL WIN. We expect you and all your kind to do what is promised and hand yourselves over to us so that we can return you to the embrace of Gaia that all your kind has turned away from. Yes, Gaia has not forgotten you as well. She sees all and will welcome you with open arms. Thank you all for your time and my Gaia bless you all”.
{Corvin waves and walks off stage right as the curtain draws and the crowd murmurs and scatters. We truly have some thinking to do and I for one will say that sleep for me tonight will not come to me easy, that for sure. That’s going to conclude our broadcast here come back in a fortnight when we have the pleasure of hosting the Representative for the Vampires, Ms.Elisabetha Harkin.}

So we heard about this pretty "reputable" group from a few guys one night on discord, heard they were pretty quick & reasonably priced but ALSO heard some negative stuff about them. So as any typical young adult - we decided to say fuck it & actually order something from these guys. I'll admit some stuff did seem a bit off but for the shits & giggles we went ahead anyway - this is everything we went through that following night
Lets start with some PROS's First
1 -Presentation ,
So Upon First Glance their group looks a bit better then other people we've seen on here, from janky weak ass screenshots to everything posted being in broken english. Makes you feel like someone knows what they're doing & how to make it work. Good layout & easy to see their work of them doing actual orders, vouches from people , & even reviews like ours! So def no shortage of content
2 - Communication / Working With Them Was OKAY! , Heres Why
So After going over their work , seeing what they had to offer & just trying to read up and sift through everything before placing a final order we decided to talk to some staff , members , & previous cusomters. They have really good energy & dont treat you like a damn dog because you're not rushing to blindly send them your $ just willingly. They also went over how everything works & answered EVERY question without needing $.
3 - The Process & How This Actually Works
So After digging & double checking every nook & cranny for proof we may have missed / talking to folks - we finally placed an order , & went on to receive a slot , ticket # , & even an update bot giving us live updates along the way! So we felt re-assured that everything was going smoothly. So YES they actually take care of people if you give them reason to trust you. We Received the media and they made sure everything was a go before moving onto their next person!
Now, We CANNOT Just Go Over The Good, There's 2 Sides To Every Story! HERE"S THE CON"S!

1. Sometimes, Updates & Content Posted Is Inconsistent

Nothing like a good service , but slow & inconsistency to ruin its image. not saying that makes them any less skilled but if youre going to manage a group of thousands of members - hire some more staff to keep it up to date. Sometimes i wonder if anyone's even doing orders some days. Makes keeping up with them a pain in the ass

1. Prices

I understand the amount of work , resources used , labor all does add up & people have to be paid for these things - but it can cost a mans left nut to bust one if you were looking for just a quick vid or 2 from that girl you had a crush on. You can't individually just pick stuff either. its either all or nothing when you want MEO pulls or Acc Access so just remember that. If you're a member or have admins vouch you're able to get a 50% off discount.
3 Crashing & Errors - Sometimes LOTS Of Them.
Now, every business has its own issues within itself, but holyyy shit when we had an issue accessing one of the folders i was close to saying fuck it and leaving it be. A simple bind costed us 2-3 hours of additional time , chatting 2 new staff members (being transfered around) & also having to free up space & update my phone to get access to EVERYTHING we got! It might not sound as bad as it seems but when you're ready to start the night & you keep getting pushed back
IN CONCLUSION >> 8.7 / 10 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ STARS!)

• A lot of people messaged us to dive in & give our honest opinion when rating these guys. They aren't super squeaky error free but most of us aren't perfect. IF you're okay with spending a little extra for a fun night , need answers in your relationship, or just wanna screw around?

Hey there, here is my review for who cares to read it. I am gonna keep it simple as most people have launched a lot of good and bad points! Just another nobody dropping my opinion!
Fair notice HW is more about the art sound and story to me then it is the game mechanics so I wont touch most of that.
Soundtrack: Seriously how amazing is this. If anything the soundtrack takes this home. It is just incredible to hear and mix with the older entries. Really try mixing it on a playlist it just fits so well, it screams and sounds homeworld! I use all of the HW soundtracks for my creative endeavors and this one is anther godsend. Im not sure it wa 100% made solely by Paul Ruskay, but I can not stress enough just how divine the sound track is to let me immerse fully into that mysterious far away feel so peculiar of HW.
Ambience: Ive paused this game to death so I could look at every single little detail that might be hidden. Might be a bit biased here but I love homeworld for the feeling of wonder. The backgrounds and colors now mixed with new hazy environments make me feel like I am in some mythical dream space. I wish I could express my words better but it will definitely make me wanna draw lots of new things. The megaliths might feel a bit to claustrophobic at times but holy jesus they are and look amazing. Some levels look like a piece of art, really its that beautiful and it left me mouth open.
Combat: Combat was never what I looked for in this game franchise so my opinion is a bit mute here. I do feel sometimes it goes to fast for my liking and some units might not respond so well but I think time will fix this. I do miss watching my slow lumbering ships get ready for action tough and I wish I could have some places with more distance.
Ship designs: Fellas I am a HW1 diehard fan. No ships will ever look better then the Taiidan Ships from HW1 to me :D. Now putting that aside all of the new ships look great! I loved pausing and zooming in on them.
We definitely can see that Higaaran designs have jumped technologically even if the weapon systems don't always make sense, I do think a more streamlined fleet makes a lot of sense. The fighters looks suspiciously a bit Taiidan to me and I like that we might be going full circle there..
The incarnate ships could have had a bit more divergence to them but they are growing on me already. The destroyers look like angry space fish that don't take no for an answer and I'm digging that a lot. Loved all the other little ships you see in the tutorial and campaign start. Kalaan ships were great also! Probably my favorite! I low key love the mega freighter and im happy we rammed it.
Wargames: Played just a couple. Seemed ok to me but I hope we get new fleets (id kill for a Taiidan fleet haha) Please devs?
Lore/Story: Here is where I might be a bit more negative. It starts great. It was amazing to launch from Higaara itself. SERIOUSLY people, how cool was that small part. I almost felt in DOK again and I lost some time here also. It was nice to see Higaara. I loved the Kalaan raiders and a fact that these Taiidan vassals still hate us, for me curiously this was the the cherry on the cake and I loved this little lore detail. The Kalaan captain for the little screen time he had was a great small villian and I wished I had seen him more.
What can I say. I love this franchise to death but I would lie if I wouldn't say that after this point I feel it went down hill there is no denying it. It was not what I was expecting and our main villain was really off putting, I have memed her to death (pigeon on discord, zoom call meme) but I have made my peace with it. I have seen people criticizing about Imogen and Isaac (which is your right if you feel so) but I really feel they worked well in general! It was nice to see a more inexperienced person in command and In general I think Isaac grew on me over time.
Again the Incarnate Queen leaves much to be desired and I firmly believe if we had a more ''serious'' villain in terms of being able to keep his cool and composure this would have been a nice addition to the greater hw story. I guess we got so used to the 1 liner stoic villians from before that this just clashed to much. IQ could have been vocal as she was but I wished there was more maturity. The rest of the campain was ok. Also missed the mini enemies factions that were a HW staple of the series, but i absolutely loved the Kalaan raiders and the little lore we got with them. I could go on a deep dive about the fgreater HW lore that I felt was missing but that's it there is no point for me to debate this more :D
Also I miss the animatics from the old ones. Even In DOK I missed the old style animatics but I guess that makes the older ones so much more special to me now. Didn't care much for the whole dance of personalities going on. That new CGI could have been used to showcase more wonderfull HW places :P!
My conclusion: Take a seat here because this might be a tad emotional. I love Homeworld. No seriously I know you love it also but I love it. No other game has manged to pull me so deep and I still don't know why. It was there when my life went to sh*t and it was there when it got back on track. Homeworld for me will forever be the trip I did from Kharak to Higaara. Nothing will beat 1999 child me listening to the soundtrack for the first time. My main character will always be Banana ship 1 with Karan onboard and all the colonist trays I manged to save. My vilian will always be the Taiidan Emperor and the many little battles I made to get ''home'' (and junkyard dog lol). I will forever try to save as many ships possible and every time Elson hyperspaces above to save me it still makes me fuzzy inside.
And you see I think that is my problem. Somebody else had said here that the OG HW was lightning in a bottle and It will never happen again and I believe it. For some cataclysm was the high point and while I agree its amazing I still prefer og HW. The Vaygr and Makaan felt like imposters to me, I defeated the Taiidan and retook Higaara, surely bathtub jesus wont stop me. Over time he grew on me and I made my peace with HW2 and it changes and now I do really like it. The scene with the Keeper is just engraved in me and I hum the tune from time to time without noticing. As flawed as I think hW3 story was I am happy to be back in the homeworld universe. I'm happy I finally got to see the megaliths and I wish we could have seen even more! I wasen't initially sure of it but now I am.
To finish while a lot of the criticism is fair I feel a lot of it is reaching points of nitpicking at this point. While story wise it wasent what maybe most of us wanted It looks beautiful and I would still recommend people to get it. I wish and hope that we get all the fleets (like remastered did) together for the the wargames and skirmish! And hopefully ill see another homeworld in the future.
Thank you for reading trough my poorly constructed mess of a review. Expect new homeworld drawings to come soon!

OOC: co-written with NotTooSunny
It was an ordinary day at the New York City Library. People wandered in and out of the building, unaware of the monster that lurked among them.
The only people who seemed to know the danger these mortals were in were Harper and Amon, who entered the building with glowing bronze swords at their hips. The bulky weapons seemed to have escaped the notice of the other library patrons, which was a good thing. The job description had made it clear that they were meant to remain inconspicuous in completing their task.
Harper had traded her usual bright orange camp shirt for a more discrete cropped black t-shirt and pleated pants. She had been insistent on coming up with a persona for them on the train ride from Montauk Station into New York City. They were meant to act as high school students researching for a World History paper on Ancient Greece. Now that they were inside the library, she had stopped her incessant rambling to peruse a riddle book, in what she had insisted was preparation for their job.
As they wandered through the bookshelves, she remained absorbed in the dog-eared children’s book, thumbing through the pages to find a riddle that would be fitting of a sphinx.
“Here’s one, Amon,” she said, narrowly avoiding a collision with another library patron as she read, “What is something that runs but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?”
The dark-haired son of Apollo glanced over from a shelf of dusty atlases, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. “That is an easy one,” he replied simply. "River. Try me with something more challenging next time around." He adjusted the collar of his striped button down, which he had layered with a navy blue sweater in preparation for the chill of the air-conditioned interior.
“The real riddle is where we can find this sphinx,” Amon glanced around the spacious reading area, eyeing the dark wooden staircase with its ornate railings. “The boyfriend and girlfriend who tried this last time, they found her by a bookcase.”
“A bookcase,” Harper repeated derisively, closing her book to theatrically scan their surroundings. “That narrows it down.”
Ignoring Harper’s mockery, the son of Apollo paused suddenly, his dark eyes glazing over with concentration. His hearing dulled, the surrounding footsteps and rustling pages fading into the background as if muffled by a thick curtain. Amon searched for the energy signature of the monster he knew lurked among the mortals. It was a subtle shift, like trying to discern a whisper in a crowded room, but he felt a faint, abnormal energy hanging somewhere up above.
“I say we try the second floor,” he said as he snapped out of the tracking trance, offering no other explanation to Harper.
“We could do that, sure,” Harper said, words laced with blatant doubt at his sudden certainty. “I say we try asking the Visitor’s Center. I know she's supposed to be disguised by the Mist, but the librarians have to have noticed something.”
“You can go ahead and do that.” The small smirk from earlier was now spreading across his face. “But you can’t be upset if I find the sphinx and solve her riddle before you even get there.”
Harper rolled her eyes, but she made no attempt to stop Amon from walking towards the staircase. After a moment she set off after him, footsteps even against the wooden steps.
Up on the second floor, Amon moved quietly, his dark eyes scanning the hallway for anything out of the ordinary.
I know you’re up here.
He stopped at every heavy-looking mahogany door, peering through each muted glass insert. He felt the air grow thicker with ominous energy at every step, so he knew the monster must be near.
One of the doors was slightly ajar, a suspiciously open invitation. Or a trap. The dark-haired boy caught sight of a cat-shaped figure on the other side before ducking down and motioning sharply for Harper’s attention. He unsheathed his kopis from his belt, bracing himself for confrontation.
Harper crouched against the wall, hand on the hilt of her sword as she tried to peek through the frosted glass pane. She held her breath, ready to move at Amon’s signal. He held out three fingers and then put them down one by one. When he hit zero, they stood in unison, flinging the door open together.
When Amon and Harper stepped inside, the body of the sphinx lay motionless on the floor.
The rest of the room was in disarray, littered with disheveled chairs and broken bits of chalk. A window on the other side of the room had been forced open, the curtain fluttering in the wind.
“No way,” Harper said. The door clicked shut behind her as she pushed past Amon into the room and kneeled to study the monster’s limp figure.
The sphinx had the large body of a lion and the eerily human face of a middle-aged woman, hair tied back in a severe bun and foundation caked onto her high cheekbones. Fangs jutted out of her red-painted lips, and eagle wings sprouted out of the space between her shoulder blades, folded tight against her back.
“Monsters dissolve into dust when they die,” Amon remarked, keeping his distance as he watched the subtle rise and fall of the monster’s ribs. “She must have been knocked unconscious.”
“Right,” Harper agreed, “The real question is who. And why.”
She hovered a hand over the cat's shoulder, set on rousing her. Before she made contact, the sphinx's eyes snapped open, round irises surrounded by shocking yellow sclera.
"Slain!" she wailed. Harper staggered backwards. Amon’s arms instinctively reached out to catch her, but she didn’t stumble near enough to make contact. "I am slain!"
With feline grace, the sphinx rose to her feet. A white tape outline marked the placement of her previously prone body on the floor. The muscles in her legs rippled as she paced in front of Harper and Amon, massive velvet paws silent against the carpet.
"And you, my dear heroes," she roared, eyes narrowed in an accusatory glare, "were too late to save me!"
The sphinx sniffed, composing herself. She leapt onto a wooden table. The table legs creaked underneath her weight. "Fear not," she tutted, "Fear not. For you can still avenge me. If you are able to determine the murderer and their weapon, then I will obtain justice, and all will be right with the world.”
“Your riddle is a murder mystery,” Harper said, confusion written across her face. Amon raised an eyebrow. The sphinx chuffed, a low rumbling sound reminiscent of laughter.
“You sought that hackneyed question about man? The Sphinx that the storytellers remember is far less adaptive than I am. I am not interested in your ability to regurgitate the information you have read. Nor am I interested in taking advantage of the nonsensical rules of your English language.”
“I am here to satisfy my own curiosity: does modern mankind still possess the ability to engage in deductive reasoning, or do they only seek to make themselves appear intelligent? Do not speak,” the sphinx said, a pointed look at Harper, who had opened her mouth to interject, “You will answer my questions when you play my game.”
“The potential murder weapons are scattered throughout this room,” she continued, leaping off the table. “And the suspects have already provided their testimonies for your review. Rest assured, I have made certain that their statements contain no lies.”
A shimmering, translucent energy began to swirl around Harper and Amon’s feet, beginning to take shape as holograms with a flickering, ephemeral quality.
A projection of Cerberus materialized first, his three massive heads snarling and snapping in unison. A ribbon of text appeared by his paws to translate his growling: "I was guarding the entrance, my duty unbroken."
Next came the Minotaur, his towering form pacing within the labyrinth on Crete. He snorted and pawed at the ground, the holographic maze shifting behind him in the background. The translation text appeared: "Confined within these walls, no escape for me."
Lamia's projection flickered into view, her serpentine lower half coiled around her as she wept in her cave. She glanced mournfully at the holographic images of her lost children: "My grief consumes me, innocent of this crime."
A shimmering Hydra emerged next, its nine heads snapping at invisible foes. Each one moved independently, showcasing its ability to act on its own. The translation for the hissing head at the center read: "Engaged in battle, I could not have killed."
Typhon materialized with a thunderous roar, his colossal form fighting against restraints under Mount Etna. His immense size and power were palpable, even in scaled down holographic form: "Bound by chains of the earth, I could not have roamed free."
Echidna’s hologram appeared last, her form a mix of human and serpent, lounging in a dimly lit cave. She looked directly at the viewers, her expression both defiant and amused. The translation text by her side read: “I dwell in my lair, uninvolved in such petty affairs.”
The sphinx swiped at the last projection as it faded, deeming her handiwork satisfactory. “There is not enough information to deduce the killer using evidence alone. Because I am fair, I will provide you with three hints before your final guess. Be forewarned: if you fail to provide a correct answer, you will both perish. Is this understood?”
Harper spoke. “If we answer correctly, you will leave this library for good.”
“If you answer correctly, I will permanently relocate. It is a preferable option in comparison to another death. Now, do you agree to the terms and conditions?” the sphinx said primly, regarding Harper and Amon with casual disdain. The pair nodded. “Very well.”
The sphinx dropped onto the floor and let her head loll back, pretending to be dead once more.
Hint #1

Suspects	Weapons
Cerberus	The Shirt of Nessus
The Minotaur	Siren Song
Lamia	Harpy Talon
The Hydra	Celestial Bronze Sword
Typhon	A-C Encyclopedia
Echidna	Cerberus Fang

Soon after the Sphinx had laid back down, Harper and Amon began to scour the room. A small pile of prospective murder weapons formed on a nearby table.
“We can easily eliminate the siren song,” Amon rushed to speak over Harper, eyeing the small glass vial of swirling gray matter that they had found nestled behind a row of books on metalworking. “It is a luring mechanism, not a murder weapon.”
“We could rule out Cerberus’ fang too,” he pointed at the enormous yellowing tooth, about the size of the small baseball bat Amon used to have when he played in the little league. “If we take the hologram as ground truth, all of his teeth were intact there.”
Harper used her kopis to prod at the stained tunic that had been hidden in a desk drawer, being careful not to touch it with bare skin. “The Shirt of Nessus is a viable option. It would be easy for any of the suspects to lay it down and wait for the hydra venom to kick in.”
“I am not ready to rule out the bronze sword either,” Amon noted. “Monsters have access to heroes and the weapons they leave behind.”
“Most of these monsters don’t even have opposable thumbs,” Harper argued, running a hand over the sword they had found by a power outlet. ”They don’t have the dexterity to wield a sword.”
“I do not imagine that the technicality would be that granular.”
Harper laughed. “Oh, the number of teeth in the Cerberus hologram tell all, but we’re drawing the line at opposable thumbs.”
“I suppose that that logic would also rule out the harpy talon and the encyclopedia easily as well,” Amon admitted. “Which would be too easy.”
“I’m just that good at logical deduction.” Harper said proudly. “If my assumption is correct, then the poisoned shirt is the only one that makes sense.”
Amon scoffed, folding his arms across his chest as his dark eyes bored into Harper. “It would not necessarily matter what our first guess would be anyway.”
“Can you provide an argument for any other weapon? Or are you intent on purposely making an illogical guess?” she countered cooly.
“Fine,” Amon acquiesced. “Since you are so adamant about the shirt, we can guess the shirt, and be incorrect. It does not matter. What about the suspects themselves?” He clasped his hands behind his back, his steps measured as he started to pace across the plush red carpet of the room.
Harper smiled, smugly accepting her victory. She strode towards a chalkboard at the side of the study room, inscribing the list of weapons and suspects with a fresh piece of white chalk.
“All of them have alibis,“ she began. “I think that-”
“Some make more sense than others,” Amon spoke over Harper, irritated by her minor triumph. “Cerberus, for example, is under the service of Hades. He says he did not leave his post, and he could not have done so without permission or dire consequences on the process of the dead.”
Harper silently seethed as Amon spoke, meeting his rationale with reluctant acceptance before starting again in a louder, exaggerated tone. “I think that the ones with the shakiest alibis are Lamia, the Minotaur, Typhon, and Echidna. No witnesses can confirm their locations. In fact, Lamia provides no location at all.” Harper circled those names. She looked at Amon with a forced smile, allowing him a moment to provide more commentary.
“Lamia? Well,” there was a hint of mockery in the sneer that tugged on the corner of Amon’s lips. “I would imagine her emotions rendered her… Too fragile and unstable to carry out such an act.”
“You’re kidding,” Harper scoffed, searching Amon's face for the slightest hint that he was joking. “Her grief is what moved her to kill children in the first place. I doubt it would suddenly be incapacitating. She’s just appealing to your sense of superiority, and I can’t believe that you’re falling for it.”
"It is not about superiority. It is about logic," Amon retorted, bristling in defense. “You cannot deny that emotions cloud judgment. Maybe the sphinx wants us to leverage our knowledge about her past crimes to reason that she was not thinking clearly in this case either.” Amon had no other evidence that pointed towards Lamia as the top suspect, but he had dug deep enough where he was now ready to stand firm in his reasoning.
“Murder,” Harper countered, eyes narrowed in a venomous stare, “-does not require you to think clearly. Haven’t you heard of a crime of passion? If anyone’s judgment is clouded right now, Amon, it’s yours.”
The son of Apollo squared his shoulders, his expression hardening. "I understand the concept of crimes of passion, thank you.” His dark-eyed stare returned Harper's gaze, unflinching at the intensity. “But our investigation must be rooted in facts, not assumptions based on emotions. And the facts are,” he resumed his pacing once more, “that Lamia cannot be the culprit, as she is the only suspect that openly admits to being innocent of this crime.”
Amon had considered this from the very start, but provoking Harper like this had proved to be far more amusing.
Harper crossed Lamia’s name off of the board. She swallowed down her anger, fighting the urge to continue pressing the issue in favor of returning to their list of suspects. She pointed her piece of chalk at the next names on the list. “The Minotaur and Typhon are trapped, or so they say. How could they have done anything?”
“Their alibis revolve around their inability to escape,” Amon pointed out. “Not that they were unable to commit murder. The Labyrinth, in fact,” he raised a dramatic finger, “has several moving passages that could have permitted the Minotaur to move and commit murder without an official escape.”
Harper considered his words for a long moment, trying to find the flaw in his reasoning. Seeing none, she placed a dot next to the Minotaurs's name.
“Typhon escaped his prison in the Second Titanomachy. He could do it again,” Harper said thoughtfully. “Though I don’t understand why he would do something like this. He’s the Sphinx's father. The same goes for Echidna.”
Amon, who had been nodding at Harper’s assessment of Typhon’s abilities, pursed his lips at her observation of parentage. “I do not see how this could possibly be relevant to the logical puzzle at hand.”
Harper spoke slowly, as if the answer was obvious. “What motive would they have to kill their own daughter?”
“Harper,” Amon began curtly, folding his arms across his chest. “Half of the Greek myths revolve around immortals killing their own children.”
“Then we should pick one of them,” Harper declared, pivoting her argument instead of admitting her logical blunder. “They would have more of a motive than the rest of the suspects, if anything.”
“The Minotaur can escape much more easily than Typhon can. Motive aside, it is the most logical guess,” Amon concluded, adjusting his collar haughtily. “I will remind you that we picked your choice of weapon. It is only fair that I select the monster.”
“Fine.” Harper agreed, her gaze stormy as she turned back towards the sphinx. “We accuse the Minotaur of killing the sphinx with the Shirt of Nessus.”
The sphinx opened one eye. “None of these are correct!”
Hint #2

Suspects	Weapons
Cerberus	The Shirt of Nessus
The Minotaur	Siren Song
Lamia	Harpy Talon
The Hydra	Celestial Bronze Sword
Typhon	A-C Encyclopedia
Echidna	Cerberus Fang

“Two more hints left.” Harper announced, crossing off the Minotaur’s name and the poisoned shirt on the chalkboard with a flourish. It was not ideal that her initial logical deductions had been incorrect, but at least Amon had also been wrong. She couldn't resist a snide comment. “I knew it wasn’t the Minotaur.”
“So you still think it’s Typhon.” Choosing to ignore Harper’s taunting, Amon rested his hand on a nearby desk, studying the lists on the chalkboard before him. He had taken the Minotaur error as a personal failure, and was determined to get the suspect right this time.
“I do.”
“Why not Echidna?”
“She’s too emotional to kill someone, obviously.” Harper said sarcastically. “Her frail female arms are probably too weak to even hold a weapon.”
The dark-haired boy rolled his eyes. “Objectively,” he began, ignoring her quip once more, “Typhon could not have lied about his inability to roam free. A natural disaster freed him from Mount Etna during the Second Titanomachy, but he could not recreate those conditions on his own.” Though his tone remained aloof, it was clear that Amon was relishing in the opportunity to flaunt his mythology knowledge.
“Maybe,” Harper argued, stubborn. “But Echidna’s statement was less ambiguous than his. Typhon just explains his predicament; he doesn't provide a real claim. Echidna explicitly says she was not involved.” She thought for a few more moments, rolling the piece of chalk in her hands. “Echidna could have released him? They would be accomplices.”
Amon shook his head. “There was a single murderer. Not two. The sphinx would not lie about the premise of the game.”
Harper stared at him coldly, but could offer no rebuttal. She turned her attention to the board. “Typhon is a giant. He’s capable of using the sword.”
“But the specificity of Echidna’s denial is still incredibly suspicious. ‘Petty affairs’ is a strange way to phrase a murder. But,” Amon added reluctantly, “I understand the logic behind Typhon. I suppose it is your turn to choose the monster, and we will still have another guess to work with.”
“As for the weapon,” he continued, “I still think the sword is the most viable option, given that the siren song and the fang can be ruled out and the shirt with the venom was, well,” Amon pursed his lips, fighting the urge to smile, “incorrect.”
Before Harper could interject, Amon turned towards the sphinx at the front of the room. “We accuse Typhon of killing the sphinx with a Celestial Bronze Sword.”
“One of these is correct!”
Hint #3

Suspects	Weapons
Cerberus	The Shirt of Nessus
The Minotaur	Siren Song
Lamia	Harpy Talon
The Hydra	Celestial Bronze Sword
Typhon	A-C Encyclopedia
Echidna	Cerberus Fang

“Aha!” Amon raised a triumphant finger before pointing it at Harper. “I told you,” he gloated, “Typhon had no escape route.”
“You were right,” Harper admitted, staring down at the carpet so that she would not have to look at his smug expression.
“Let’s get this over with,” she muttered, and turned back towards the lioness with crossed arms. “We accuse Echidna of killing the sphinx with a Celestial Bronze Sword”
“One of these is correct,” the sphinx announced. Her mouth twisted in amusement, fangs bared in a menacing smile.
READ PART 2 HERE

Currently have two offers on the table and I'm having some trouble deciding which one to take, would like any advice people here can give. Currently a Tier 2 tech at a small MSP, despite being a MSP there aren't many opportunities to grow and I feel like I'm getting stagnant in my role. Talked to my boss about this but there isn't much he can control when it comes to new projects and opportunities. I have 2.5 years of experience, B.S in Comp Sci, and some certs like A+, Net+ and some Microsoft certs (MS-900, MD-102). I have no wife or kids and have no issues relocating. Looking to grow more in my networking skills and eventually reach a cybersecurity or devops role.
Offer 1: Title change to sys admin, around a 30% pay increase. Comparable benefits to current place but a slightly better 401k match. Similar PTO amounts to current role. No OT pay. Would be on a team of sys admins but doesn't sound like there are many people specialized in certain areas. On-call schedule sounds less hectic. Better reviews, possibly a better work life balance. Sounded like the culture was good during interviews. Not an exciting sounding industry. Relocation wouldnt be necessary at first.
Offer 2: Title would be similar to support, only a 3% pay increase. Would need to relocate (open to this). Company works in an exciting industry (space) and works with cutting edge technology. Slightly better PTO amounts after a year. More fleshed out IT department with higher level people in specialized roles. Poor reviews mentioning poor work life balance and high turnover, but opportunities to take on new projects and get experience is plentiful. Possibly hectic on-call rotation. OT is paid and available.
Thanks for taking some time to read this and offer your thoughts, let me know if I can provide more info about my current role or the 2 offers.

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Credit Score​ for Kentucky Mortgage Loan Approval

Your credit score is a major factor in determining the interest rates and loan terms you’ll receive and your loan approval. In Kentucky, a score of 620 or higher is generally considered favorable for conventional loans, but programs like FHA loans may accept scores as low as 580.

Kentucky Mortgage Loan Work History Requirements:

Lenders typically require a stable work history, usually two years or more in the same job or field, to ensure you have a reliable income stream to cover mortgage payments. Does not have to be same job but job gaps should be minimal and you can use college transcripts to supplement a 2 year work history with

Kentucky Mortgage guidelines for Income and Debt-to-Income Ratio: Balancing Your Budget

Your income level and debt-to-income (DTI) ratio are critical in assessing your ability to afford a home. A Debt to income ratio below 50% is ideal, as it indicates a healthy balance between debt and income. For example, if you make $4000 gross a month, then your new house payment plus your monthly payments on the credit report should not be more than $2000 total. There are two different ratios. Front end, which should be in the range of 30 to 40% of your gross monthly income, and a maximum of 50% for conventional loans and 55% or higher for VA and FHA loans, while USDA loans usually need a 33% front end max ratio and on the backend ratio no more than 45%__USDA loans are much tougher on debt to income ratios while FHA and VA are the most lenient.

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If you’ve experienced bankruptcy or foreclosure, there’s a mandatory waiting period before you can qualify for a mortgage. For FHA loans, this could be as little as 1-2 years post-bankruptcy and 3 years post-foreclosure1. See link for more info

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Loan limits vary by county and loan type. In Kentucky, conforming loan limits for a single-family home can reach up to $647,200 for conventional loans, with higher limits for FHA and VA loans1.

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American Mortgage Solutions, Inc. 10602 Timberwood Circle Louisville, KY 40223 Company NMLS ID #1364
Text/call: 502-905-3708 fax: 502-327-9119 email: [kentuckyloan@gmail.com](mailto:kentuckyloan@gmail.com) http://www.mylouisvillekentuckymortgage.com/
NMLS 57916 Company NMLS #1364/MB73346135166/MBR1574
The view and opinions stated on this website belong solely to the authors, and are intended for informational purposes only. The posted information does not guarantee approval, nor does it comprise full underwriting guidelines. This does not represent being part of a government agency. The views expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily reflect the view of my employer. Not all products or services mentioned on this site may fit all people. NMLS ID# 57916, (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org).
several key factors that will influence your Kentucky mortgage loan approval. Here’s what you need to review before applying for a mortgage loan in Kentucky.

Credit Score​ for Kentucky Mortgage Loan Approval

Your credit score is a major factor in determining the interest rates and loan terms you’ll receive and your loan approval. In Kentucky, a score of 620 or higher is generally considered favorable for conventional loans, but programs like FHA loans may accept scores as low as 580.

Kentucky Mortgage Loan Work History Requirements:

Lenders typically require a stable work history, usually two years or more in the same job or field, to ensure you have a reliable income stream to cover mortgage payments. Does not have to be same job but job gaps should be minimal and you can use college transcripts to supplement a 2 year work history with

Kentucky Mortgage guidelines for Income and Debt-to-Income Ratio: Balancing Your Budget

Your income level and debt-to-income (DTI) ratio are critical in assessing your ability to afford a home. A Debt to income ratio below 50% is ideal, as it indicates a healthy balance between debt and income. For example, if you make $4000 gross a month, then your new house payment plus your monthly payments on the credit report should not be more than $2000 total. There are two different ratios. Front end, which should be in the range of 30 to 40% of your gross monthly income, and a maximum of 50% for conventional loans and 55% or higher for VA and FHA loans, while USDA loans usually need a 33% front end max ratio and on the backend ratio no more than 45%__USDA loans are much tougher on debt to income ratios while FHA and VA are the most lenient.

Kentucky Mortgage Bankruptcy and Foreclosure: Understanding the Waiting Period

If you’ve experienced bankruptcy or foreclosure, there’s a mandatory waiting period before you can qualify for a mortgage. For FHA loans, this could be as little as 1-2 years post-bankruptcy and 3 years post-foreclosure1. See link for more info

Kentucky Mortgage Down Payments:

While traditional loans may require up to 3-5% down, Kentucky offers programs that allow for down payments as low as 0%. Additionally, down payment assistance programs can provide up to 5% of the sales price or 10k KHC down payment assistance to help cover these costs

Kentucky Mortgage Loan Limits:

Loan limits vary by county and loan type. In Kentucky, conforming loan limits for a single-family home can reach up to $647,200 for conventional loans, with higher limits for FHA and VA loans1.

Government-Backed Loans: Kentucky FHA, VA, USDA Rural Housing

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Blachowicz here.
Kept yah’ waiting, huh? Heh, sorry about that one, but I can explain. As we all know… we lost a few good men the last few months.
That’s the brutal part of a hybrid war like ours: We’re fighting a foe unconventional, with half our arsenal tied down because those who grant us authorization are either in disbelief of the true facts, or scared… or already assimilated. That being said our momentum recently was a change not seen in years, and because of that… despite the losses we have garnered, we were close through a breakthrough. One last night Krol pulls myself and other two must trusted squad leads into the back of our COP. There is one of our equipment cages, surrounded by m-bitter radios, tripods, and several hundred thousand dollars of equipment he brought us around a simple worn table. Before us he laid a map of eastern poland… red markings indicating cells that seemed to dot the countryside like a pestilence, or used to… as deep gashes of advance from raids had trisected their lines, even if ones did pop up in the interior.
It was a back and forth; an outside virus infecting Polska at it’s heart, and we were the antibodies sent to drive them out. To which… Major Krol points to one of the largest symbol on the map: a dark red diamond, the NATO symbol for an enemy unit, deep inside of an untouched wooded area, adjacent to a mountain ridge. Several jagged lines indicated entrenchment, with red horizontal lines indicating possible enemy control… or our contested control, for over 20kms surrounding it. Letting us all look, the Major lit himself a cigarette.
“Sir, you sure it’s wise to smoke in here with the dive tanks just behind us” 1st Squad’s lead quipped. “Fuck off” Krol dryly said.
“Alright… this is it… this is the one we’ve been searching for for years, this is the nucleus my predecessor commander died trying to find” he says, pointing to it. Not far from Zamosc, it was almost touching the border with Belarus, the contested area indicating the Strigoi did operate over it… indicating one of the largest spill through points. “-It’s an old soviet bunker, made during their 1960s initiative it was designed to hold the munitions and manpower of several units in the event of a NATO first strike” Krol explained. “It’s gotta be massive then…” I said gazing at the map; “Didn’t the army demolish all of the old soviet hulks near Belarus to prevent any infiltrations?” 3rd Squad’s lead asked. “National Police took the effort over… and by extension, the Strigoi. It was halfway demo’ed before they burrowed into it and have been using it as a bridgehead ever since. This is it…” Krol said. He looked around at all of us, a sense of certainty I had never seen before as he blew smoke from his nostrils; “We’ve been fucking around in the dark for so long, it’s hard to believe we’ve made any progress, but this is it. With this gone, this will set them back over a decade and the momentum will finally shift into our favor… into Poland’s… -Europe’s”.
I swear there was almost a flash of joy, of pride in his eyes and a phantom of a smirk before reality set back in “That being said… we can’t leave this to chance, especially not something as important as this. We’re going to have to go there ourselves… clear through every inch of that place, and tear it all down, piece by piece. I will be straight with you all… when we go, there will be some of us that aren’t coming back. -but we are going… a whole generation is counting on us, and unborn billions rely on us to succeed”. We all nodded, a silent agreement washing over us as we took this upon ourselves. Echo-1 spoke up: “So… They’re authorizing a raid? How big?”. “We’re rolling in as a hard target, armor, explosives, and air support” Krol answered, taking a drag off his cigarette. “Aviation? How the hell did we get that approved, we’ve gotten attempts shot down four times due to those leeches” I said in disbelief. “There’s too much evidence here pointing to the human trafficking tied to their actions… We’ve finally got too much weight pinning them down, to keep the hammer from slamming into their necks” Krol chuckled. He looked around “Any questions?”. “When?” Echo-3 asked. “Three hours. We’re hitting them in the dead of night, only time we could get the birds authorized. Get your boys ready. We’re rolling out” Krol said, dying the cigarette bud out on the table. I can’t begin to tell you the euphoria we felt leaving that cage, as our men started arriving, they did so a lot quicker, and with their heads a lot higher than they had in weeks. As Second Squad’s lead we were going to be one of the main arms of attack into the bunker, thus I made sure we had a breacher loaded with enough thermite, charges, and tools to cut through anything. Our shield bearer we ready to go, as was our assaulters, grenadiers, and machine gunner. I double checked each and everyone of their weapons; ensuring the feeder paws of our squad’s belt fed were intact, making sure every breach charge we had was properly set and packed. There was going to be no mistakes, no slip ups. The margin of error needed to be the smallest it had ever been for us tonight if we were going to make the gore spilt worth it.
Finally… there on the outside of the building, the bright LED lights kept the darkness of the ensuing night at bay as the roar of our MRAPs could be heard. It was said once that war is 99% peace, and 1% chaos, they were right. The slow periods where the blood slowed and the doubt creeped in was the worst… yet we all kept it at bay. We needed to, there was going to be no backing down tonight. All three squads were up, all of us ready to go… we circled up… short stares and shaky nods telling us one things: We were in this together, till the end… the finish line so many before us had been searching for, we were being granted tonight.
A single set of footsteps could be heard as we turned, Major Krol stepping into the center. He took the last drag of a cigarette, throwing it down to the ground and stamping it out onto the damp concrete. He looked around… his chin strap blowing in the weak air as he met everyone of our gazes… then mine… then looked around. “I want you to remember every detail of tonight, as you have every other night… when you are situationally aware, scanning for the enemy, liberating the subjugated, I want you to remember the sting of anxiety, the shake of adrenaline, the chill of the bunker, the heat of your weapon as it cuts them down… because tonight we are going to write every fine detail of our victory, their defeat, in history…” Krol’s words echoed deep into our souls. He paused for a moment, staring around he looked down… a small pause before he said “When you are ruthless in combat, remember to be patient, and reserved in victory. This conflict is for our existence… a lot of innocents have bled due to the mistakes of those who failed to listen, a lot of our brothers are now laid under because we had to bridge the gap of uncertainty with their lives. We remember them now… but in an hour? We forget them… when we raise our barrels, when we cut into those foes, and we liberate Polska!! This does not end tonight, but history puts everything in it’s place, and patience is the companion of the victor… All of our hard work will be cemented, no matter the obstacles we face in that darkness… no matter the demons, the blood, no matter what incomprehensible horrors, we will make them comprehend that to invade our land, to bleed our people, the justice will be paid in full… Load up. It’s time*”*.
The purpose in our steps was heavy as we climbed the back ramps of the MRAPS; Four of the heavily armored vehicles, one for each squad with an additional for attached personnel including our JTAC, the term means Joint Terminal Attack Controllers. With air support requisitioned to us for this operations, there needs to be a definite liaison on the ground who can directly communicate to the birds, and coordinate their fire and progress. I’d worked with many of them in the past, resourceful guys, quick thinking though I guess that comes with the position they hold of needing to quickly figure out what bombs to drop, on which target, at what precise points, whilst taking contact. He loaded in the lead vehicle with Major Krol… and soon, our convoy kicked off.
The drive was several hours as myself and my squad sat in the back of that forty ton goliath, the rumbling of the engine keeping us awake as the crap heater fought to keep the cold from the outside frost from setting in. I looked around to each of them, some were catching some sleep because even with the circumstances… better to get all the energy you can, than to stay awake for nothing. Others were checking their weapons… My gunner locked eyes with me, the same one from the village extraction… many of these men I had trained with for a while now, fought with for months.
We may have met on unconventional circumstances but those in JW Grom thrive on austere chance and create opportunity from scratch. I was pulled from my thought by the sound of a transmission, my peltors were set up for dual comms so I could both receive information from the Major and other leads, whilst communicating with my team.
Krol himself sent out: [“Approximately 10 minutes from enemy AO…”]. As the rest of the squads acknowledged, I quickly sent out [“Echo-2 Copies”], before kicking the boots of any of them sleeping: “Look alive, we’re here”. Through the exterior net armor of the MRAPS, and the bars protecting the small reinforced windows, we could barely see jack shit. I reached up, turning off the overhead light as we all looked through our nods to scan the outside. A dark wall of dense trees was shown before us, making it difficult to see… in addition to night vision capabilities we had also requisitioned ourselves some thermals… when mounted onto rifles they were bulky, made it a pain to aim down quickly, but considering the supernatural capabilities of spotting our foes we needed every advantage necessary.
I flipped out one of my tubes… scanning the outside with my scope. I looked over to one of my assaulters who had been assigned to man the turret of the MRAP, seated near the view screen as he controlled the 50. Cal. Each of the vehicle turrets had been assigned a direction to cover… we took the 9 o’clock, the left flank. “See anything?” I asked. He shook his head; “Negative… wait… I’ve got two cold signatures, front left heading to our rear”.
I quickly scanned the far tree line, at approximately 60 meters off our left were two cold signatures… followed by a third heading to our front… then another. They were surrounding us, moving at speeds so fast I could barely keep my reticle on them. Is this what the National Police saw? What they faced at that lodge without the benefit of a foot of heavy armor protecting them on all sides. Then… suddenly. Something slammed into the side of our MRAP so hard, it caused it to shake. From over the leader comms, Echo-3 quickly shouted [“Contact right!! 4 hostiles!!”].
One of the Strigoi… so bold, had charged and slammed into the side of our MRAP. I quickly looked to see the figure, a dark blue mass of cold energy through my thermal, back away without so much as a stagger… as they tried to flee into the woods, the white hot justice of Echo-3’s gun fired at them, cutting them down. “Blachowicz I’ve got a few breaking for our vic” my man on the turret called out, I spun around, spotting out the window.
Just then, Major Krol announced [“weapons free, watch and shoot for targets of opportunity…”]. I turned to him… “take those fuckers out-”. Without hesitation my vic’s turret began to quickly target them, and through the darkness I saw a stream of outgoing fire bisect one of them, the ISR of the black blood freaking out the optic so badly it didn’t know what temperature to register it as… but it did register it. As another was cut down, one broke through the tree line and latched onto the side of our MRAP. The thing tore at one of the outer net armor panels, usually made to stop RPGs. It grabbed at the bars near the windows, tearing one off… I lowered my rifle as we locked eyes through the reinforced window.
The thing… the Strigoi looked at me, skin cracked as putrefied muscle fibers seemed to leak through dead flesh. It’s teeth were corroded and worn down to sharp fragments, alongside newly mutated fangs that messily protrude from the jaws. Even through the thick walls of the MRAP I could hear it’s roar, as it then tried to punch it’s way through… it cracked the outer coating of the vehicle… but it wasn’t getting anywhere near. My machine gunner, seated next to me, seemed to chuckle at the sight, quippily saying “Yeah… fuck you too”. It’s then our vehicle lurched upwards, as we began to climb the small incline of the bunker. I knew the layout, mapped it in our head, the main entrance was built into the rocky side of an old cliff meaning we could easily set up a defensive perimeter around it, a horseshoe. Krol’s vehicle was first, taking to the right as Echo-3’s MRAP followed. My vehicle, third, left the incline and took a left and… that’s where things got complicated.
We’re still trying to work out what happened but… from what Joakim says his drone captured. Right when the MRAP turned, several of the monsters quickly slammed into the side of the vehicle, as another more bulkier one, pushed at it’s undercarriage. The result.. Was the 40 ton armored vehicle tipped over. It wasn’t uncommon, hell in some cases a well placed IED, a good shot with a recoilless rifle, have been known to tip over Oshkoshs and Maxpros all the time. But this beast? Needless to say we barely had a second to comprehend it as it leaned to the left; “Grab on to something-” is all I had time to shout. A mess of gear and men spilled onto one side of the vehicle as it slammed into the old gravel and dirt.
Several of my assaulters, my grenadier planted right ontop of myself and the others as we came to a stop. Someone’s knee slammed directly into the side of my skull, causing me to dazily bob in and out of consciousness as my face was smushed against the glass of one of the windows.
Through my peltors, the other squads were erratic;
[“Echo-2’s vehicle is down!!”].
[“Echo-3 to Echo-2… Echo-3 to Echo-2…”].
Krol’s voice came through the comms;
[“Echo-Lead to Echo-2… Fuc-... Echo-1 secure Echo 2’s flank, Echo-3”].
[“Echo-3 to other units, they’re spilling through, I’ve got several enemy combatants converging on Echo-2’s vehicle”].
I pushed the legs of my grenadier off my head as I fought to my hands and knees, unfucking my nods as I looked around… “Fuck it… we’re going lights on, shield your eyes” I muttered as I reached for the overhead lights and flipped them on. The bright LEDs bathed the inside of the vehicle as we all gained our bearings, a mess of multicam, gear, and weapons as we quickly pushed each other off. My gunner caught as he fought to realign his promask, from what I gathered one of the assaulters had landed directly into his gun, pushing it directly into his jugular, as pulled back at the rubber and coughed, freeing up his esophagus. We didn’t have time to think however… the sound of bending metal caught our attention… as the back ramp door of the MRAP was ripped clean off. I could barely believe it but as the white light of the MRAP’s interior poured to the outside, a hulking mass leaned in, the dead flesh on it’s face nearly fallen off as the hideous Strigoi leaned inside.
Without hesitation I aimed took aim, yelling “Keep to the deck!!” to any of those inbetween myself and the invader as I opened fire. A burst of full auto fire tore through it’s collar and neck, my men quickly clung to either sides of the fallen MRAP as a few more fired out. As the thing backed up, a blast of .50 cal fire quickly tore it to shreds, along with several others as I realized they were fuckin swarming over the outside of our vehicle. Echo-3’s vehicle continued to carefully fire on the Strigoi on the outside, the sounds of .50 cal ricocheting off the outside of our armor was enough to make the pucker factor set in.
[“Echo-3 to Echo-2”].
[“This is Echo-2, we’re green on ammo, equipment, men”].
[“Roger, we’re shifting fire, exit the vehicle”].
“Hurry up let’s go!!” I barked to my men, leading the way as I staggered out. I turned on my peq, taking aim at silhouettes in the brush as I began to fire. The sounds of machine guns lighting up the brush, as a sea of growls, howls, and incomprehensible roars fired back at us was the ambient noise of the night. My men quickly exited, my gunner being the last as he and I pulled back to the rest of the defensive perimeter. I set in my men to take up the frontal security, as 3rd squad took the right flank, 1st squad to the left. Major Krol and the JTAC were bickering with each other; “How far out are the birds”. “They’re entering airspace now…” Joakim said, already scanning his smart book.
I asked “What’ve we got?”. He then flipped through… to the NATO combined arms segment, quippily saying; “Apaches…”. This caused me to pause as Echo-3 turned their head whilst directing their squad’s fire “The hell… where did we get apaches from?”. “The Americans… they volunteered” Krol said dismissively as he took aim at the darkness, firing off a controlled trio. “Volunteered? They’re aware of what’s going on?” I asked.
Krol seemed to stop, glancing back at me before returning his focus “There’s a lot more going on than you realize, Blachowicz… Prep the breach, you and 1st are going on”.
I quickly pulled my breacher off the line, securing some thermite as the reinforced bunker door wasn’t going to go as easily as a conventional door breach would. 1st Squad pulled back, stacking up and preparing themselves to be the first in. All the while… Joakim gave his firing solution; “Alpha Hotel Two Five Nine, This is Bravo-4…… Type 2….”.
I snapped to my right, watching as a Strigoi managed to dark across the clear gravel field, only to be cut down by my gunner, the peq’s laser marking the burst as it tore through the beasts’ hips, as it hit the ground and still continued to claw, another GROM operator took aim and fired into it’s skull. Joakim popped up to his feet…. “Marking laser, high power…”. He then pulled out a target marking laser… if you’ve watched night operations, you’ve probably seen them.
The green laser than as it says on the label, marks targets. The pattern of which can vary… if it’s a point target, it’ll usually lasso an area, or remain on target until the target is removed with extreme prejudice. If its close air support, then it’ll be a line of the general area… and Joakim damn near marked the entire perimeter around us. He quickly pocketed the tool, turning back to Krol; “Don’t go past 20 meters unless you want to be liquidated”.
With that… 2nd and 1st stacked up at the door as 3rd squad took up the perimeter security. As Major Krol went over to Echo-1… I saw them. A single blinking IR strobe from the beasts as they moved on the far off horizon, converging from several angles… and fired. The sound of the Apache’s main gun, the M230, truly sounds like the hammer of god… the 30mm cannon shot through the dark sky, lighting it up as we saw three incoming streams tear up the woods. Only then as the sound broke did we start to hear their rotors as they broke and began to circle, firing again… then… Joakim dipped his head and looked to Krol; [“Foxtrot Mike, hang onto your teeth…”]. One of the Apaches fired off a AGM-114… a Hellfire. I barely saw it out of the corner of my eye as the Apache from our right flank fired off at a target approximately 200 meters off. A fireball lit up the forest as the horrendous roar echoed throughout… then went silent.
Echo-3 scanned the horizon carefully;
[“Echo-3 to Echo-Lead, enemy contact is starting to die down”].
[“Maintain perimeter, Close Air is to maintain fire mission until we are boots up, Break…”].
[“Echo-Lead to Echo-1, condition white has been met. Proceeds”]. I saw Echo-1 and his men quickly stack up close to the wall and gesture to me; Breaching. I quickly pulled my stack back against the wall as his and mine breacher quickly hit their actuators. Now under normal circumstances, it doesn’t take much for thermite to melt the locks off of a metal surface, in fact it’s a more precise took as alternative means get real medieval like saws, pry bars… we weren’t in the mood for precision, we need to breach their little lair, and drag them out. The sound of several pounds of hellfire burning through the metal could be heard around the corner as a sea of white and red sparks flew out… after several seconds, two of our men tossed a fragmentation grenade and a nine-bang through the opening… a series of concussive blasts and a large explosion rang out.
Echo-1 and his men maneuvered. 1st Squad quickly converged as we followed them in.
Stepping through the black wall of smoke, the dark abyss of the interior was illuminated in a white light as entered barrels raised. Shots rang out as several of the beasts near the entrance were cut down, though not immediately, rounds disconnected the shoulder of one of them, leading to their arm hanging limply by a single tendon as they roared… another series of rounds putting them down. What greeted us was a messy concrete hell of rust and debris, fecal matter, trash, and all kinds of obstacles laid in our way, our boots sticking to the floor. I thank every god we had promasks that night. I called my shield bearer up, 2nd squad leapfrogging ahead to take the next corridor as 1st squad checked their weapons.
One of my men mule kicked the metal door ahead, twice, finally the latch gave away as we tossed in a grenade. A horrifying roar was cut off as an M67 shook the walls of the ancient soviet mausoleum, frag and spall kicked off the walls as I moved in right behind my shield man. The cramped russian design meant there was barely enough space for three people, and that’s three normal people, not in 50kgs of kit, moving slowly and maneuvering against creatures of the dark. Still… we moved forward, my shield bearer and I pushing the pace as two stacked of either squad formed on either wall.
As we passed doorways they flowed in… “Door Left!!”, “Door Right!!”. “Move!!”.
Two men entered each side, no gunshots, we moved up, a roar came.
“Door left!!-”. A series of gunshots came out as we continued to push forward.
“Two down!!”. “Confirm them” Krol commanded, as a series of gunshots run out in response. From one of the doorways, a Strigoi emerged… a female… clumps of hair had been ripped from her decaying skull, as her blooded eyes locked on myself and my shieldman. The skin on her hands had been tore down to the point where barely her bones and tendons remain… looking like huge talons as she roared and lunged at us. He fired off his pistol, though the rounds did little to stop her as she pushed against our stack.
“Fuck!!” he muttered, somehow her strength caused him to stagnate, holding up the advance… fuck that. I shoved the muzzle of my MK18 into her ribcage, flipping the weapon to auto as I fired of round after round. The 5.56 salvo disconnecting her spinal column, causing her to fall as I continued to fire, along with a man to our right and left as the stacks reformed as we pushed to the end of the hall. I fell back, dropping the magazine and loading a fresh one, like clockwork a GROM Operator from 1st squad took my place. Krol was beside me as we approached the end of the hall.
[“-Prep an entry”] I radioed to my breacher, a comrade handed him one of the charges from his back panel as he took to the door, quickly securing it. We all moved as far back as we could, look away, exhale. The blast knocked metal and wood in all directions, scrapping against our uniforms and kit as we made our way in and what laid before us was… it used to be the center atrium of one of these bunkers. Soviet’s loved their grandiose designs, the complex was supposed to be a circular room around a central planning table… instead. It had been turned into some sort of church. Runes and old eastern Romuva pagan symbols written in black ink and blood across the walls, old rotten filing cabinets, long receipt terminals. In the center… several of the Strigoi were kneeling before the table where someone had been tied down, flayed, and… shared amongst the group. They rose to their feet, we aimed our barrels…
The ladder amongst turned to us… his skin wasn’t cracked, or flayed, it was smooth… it still looked dead as the body on the table but it seemed more… accustomed to it. I don’t know… evolved? Under the surface however I could see it’s darkened veins pumping whatever cursed blood ran through them as it locked two blood red eyes onto each of us. It’s nose had long since been turn off, exposing boney nostrils to the open air as it seemed to smirk. All across it’s body were the same symbols on the walls, in every cell… markings of death, of rebirth, of assimilation… From behind this seemingly Alpha emerges another figure I had never seemed before… dressed in a white cloak with a deer head.
"So they've followed the trail... they're too late" the Deer headed individual spoke, definitely not from here, a dialect similar to an Americans but... aristocratic? Each word was drawn out, assurance as if they had everything mapped down to our actions. They didn’t sound like they were from Poland or the east.
“Doesn’t matter…” the Alpha growled… and then, it lunged at us. Quickly breaking from their ground it slammed into my shield man knocking both him and myself at the ground as it displayed an intense feat of strength. Around us I could see several of the Strigoi leap at our comrades… though to no fruitful endeavor as I could see one GROM operator cut two down, as another got into a hand to hand confrontation… my breacher, crafty as they were, reached back and slammed one of the prybars of his kit into the skull of the beast.
The Alpha however was not content as it threw away the 90lb shield, sending it flying across the room as it grabbed my comrade by the skull. I quickly kicked up at it, firing my MK18 into it’s body as the rounds pierced it’s gray and rune covered flesh. The thing simply seemed to chuckle… that was until Major Krol blasted away at the side of it’s head, the alpha turned… and it’s smirk turned to a scowl when face to face with the major. A knowing pause almost like they had done this dance before…
The creature lunged, locking up with Major Krol as it swung and slammed railing. Krol didn’t back down however as he pushed against the creature, hiptossing it to the ground even as it tore at his armor and gear. But the beast pulled, both of them rolled and the Major was on his back as the thing reached for his neck. I fought to a kneel, firing into the creature messily with my MK18, trying not to hit my commander… then…
Click. A sound sends a chill up the spine of every warfighter during a firefight.
My gun ran dry. I dropped the magazine, looking to load another, but the thing came up and with one of it’s claws, sliced deep into my cheek, through the pro mask. I could feel my own blood go flying through the air as I landed hard on my back plate, spitting out red iron as I quickly tried to adjust my mask. Through my fogged up, blood covered lense… I saw my shield man raise his pistol, firing into the skull of the thing staggering it with a roar. Krol came from behind, drawing his knife he sunk it deep into the neck of it…. I reached for my rifle, forcing a new magazine in and damn near punching the bold release. ““Sir, down!!” I shouted, Krol rolled away, back to his own rifle as I fired. So did my comrade as he continued to fire his pistol… so did the Major as he fired his rifle. All of us chewing through that apex predator of darkness, that beast… the leader that had been preying on our people for so long. Layer by layer, muscle group by bone… eventually… the alpha landed on whatever was left of his back.
The silence of the fight died down as all of us checked our surroundings, GROM Operators putting controlled pairs in the heads and nerve stems of any Strigoi laying around… I flicked my weapon onto safe, letting it hang as I pulled off my mask. I dared not touch the wound on my face… the pain nearly crippling me if it wasn’t sheer will pushing me through, and adrenaline doing all it could to subdue it. The sound of the apaches continuing to lay hate drew us from our moment of contemplation as the Major went back to work; [“Confiscate any info, burn the rest…”]. He turned back to me as I shoved my damaged M50 mask back into it’s bag, chuckling as he looked at the sight; “You need a medevac, Blachowicz?” he quipped.
I shook my head, barely able to speak as I muttered; “Negative sir…”. The two of us scanned the room as my shield bearer went to collect his defense implement turned 90lb projectile, we scanned the center of the room, checking and confirming bodies, until we got to the last one alive. His white gown was soaked in red crimson and black ooze, as his dear head was mangled from bullet fire and impact from falling on it. I swear… the way his blood poured out of it though made me wonder if it was a mask. I gave it no second thoughts as he looked to Krol; “You… you can’t stop this, they’ve already-”.
The Major was in no mood for communication as his rifle snapped up and fired off three rounds to the body, four the head. The violent yet quick salvo ending the cultists life, I looked down at it, then to him as he remarked; “Have your squad drag him out to the front, burn the rest”. I stood alongside him, looking down as the sight of it’s deer head was both captivating and horrifying… the curiosity in me wanting to look closer at it fighting the primal instinct I had to burn the thing to ash. “-Haven’t seen one of those before…” I muttered, thinking the Major had an answer.
He didn’t. Krol saying “Neither have I…” shortly before he walked away, was what truly shook my soul about that entire night. Victory stood firm in our hearts that night as we stood outside of the bunker. The night sky burning with fire and white phosphorus as we watched the ruin burn from the inside from the other side of the lot. In the distance, the Apaches continued to scan and circle the forests, no longer firing…. Which meant they had driven any or turned to glass any enemy combatants within a four miles, probably both, more than likely the latter. Echo-1 patted me on the shoulder as we stood there, soaking it all in, though Krol looked none to pleased. “In the time it took us to take this one down, they’ll be trying to set up three more cells… that being established…” he said, looking to either of us, then to Echo-3. “-Hell of a thing we did tonight, been waiting for this one for a decade, cleanly, maybe more… but no time to rest on our laurels… we’ll have another task for us as soon as we’re boots down back home” he said, to which his eyes followed mine, the body of whatever cultist that was zipped up in a black body bag beside the wheel of one of the MRAPs. The fire from the bunker casting an orange hue over it’s shiny jet black outside, something didn’t sit right with me… “That wasn’t a Strigoi…” I said to Krol.
“That’s very clear…” the Major said, shoving his mask under his arm and lighting a cigarette. “So… someone’s helping them?” I asked. The meer notion of it shook me to my core, sickened me. This parasite was already badly infecting Europa, Polska… if it was spread like this throughout the world. Krol settled my nerves: “We’ll be ready… It’s not just us anymore”. As he said that, I realized what he meant… my eyes looking to the Apaches as they started to form up, leaving the areas as their thunderous propellers melted into the night’s calm, unnerving ambience.
It’s been a couple of weeks since then, Echo Detachment has been busy. We’ve gained good ground against the enemy and honestly I think in a few years, we might see a much larger change. For now… we must keep going, that being said the Strigoi aren’t the only ones we’ve been combating. Recently we’ve made contact with of some sort of extermination coalition, they’ve known about the Strigoi, and others plaguing the world, the level of corruption and corrosion on society goes deep. Regardless a lot of the units we’ve been working with are apart of NATO, such as this “4th Special Forces Group” of the American Military. I don’t know where the road from here leads, but we’ve gotten momentum on our side, finally. Just remember… these things are out there, in every town, every city, every nation… preying and waiting for you to be alone, vulnerable, so they can take you and replace you.
Watch your back, and stay safe.
For now, Blachowicz signing out. Until next time

my tips (from someone who somehow got a 5)

1. you're not cooked
   
2. get some sleep
   
3. when in doubt choose C
   
4. pace yourself on the saqs
   
5. anti-social studies past lives are amazing for last minute conceptual review
   
6. read the author and stim information FIRST before answering the question
   

YOU'VE GOT THIS!!!

I'll go on record that I did not like Season 4 much at all, and I agree with a lot of its criticisms. WITH THAT SAID, I loved seasons 1-3, and since we don't need another S4 sucks post, I'm going to try my hand at explaining some of the seeming inconsistencies/contradictions/plot holes within a plausible framework for the show. I don't fully buy my own explanations here, for what it's worth, but I've got to reconcile my head canon somehow.
Why did Ruth approach the obvious Cartel SUV and get killed? Rachel had just killed one assassin, so it stands to reason that this was sicario numero dos. Ruth had a lot to live for at this point, so we can't chalk this foolishness up to her post-Wyatt nihilism; she had her record expunged and seemed excited to break the Langmore Curse and run a legitimate operation with her new BFF. But if Ruth had a defining characteristic, it was her reckless stubbornness. She was like her dad in that way, a shining example of survivorship bias. She often ran into problems head on and feared nothing--and for much of her life, it worked. Until it didn't, like with her dead-in-the-road dad.
What on earth was Mel the PI thinking? This one's a real head scratcher for me. Mel knows Wendy and Marty are connected to a large cartel and behind many missing persons. Hell, he figured out that Wendy was involved in Ben's death by linking her apparent drivebodyguard to the man he saw footage of at the diner; Maya identified Nelson to Mel as a "heavy" for the cartel. For all he knows, Nelson will be driving the Byrdes home from the gala and then setting up shop as protection. Even if he's not there, it's no stretch to consider he's close by. So, knowing that the Byrdes are cartel connected and that a "heavy" is one of their close associates, why is he all alone gloating in one of the most blatant examples of contrived exposition imaginable? It seems insane.
The way I reconcile this is that he knows the urn may not be admissible as evidence, since it was obtained illegally, and that it in and of itself won't be all that useful anyway--at best, it's evidence that the Byrdes were aware that Ben had died despite pretending he had been missing. So he needed more. What if he could get the Byrdes on tape/phone in a panic, admitting that yes, they killed Ben, and they'd do anything to prevent the news from getting out? Maybe the tape could be leveraged into something more--not blackmail on the Byrdes, per se, not evidence in a court room, but a way to pursue the case from the Chicago PD, especially since the Byrdes were relocating back there. That is, until Jonah kills him.
Speaking of which, why did Jonah do that? Wasn't he against his mom the whole season? He was, but maybe all that opposition, as Wendy said at one point, reflected teenage rebellion and angst. He does seem to be the moral compass of Season 4, but he is only 15 years old. He was eager to get back to his old life in Chicago and seemed relieved that this was all now behind him. He might be willing to kill for that future, especially at the goading of his desperate parents, and he's been living in a world where everyone draws guns on each other for basically any reason. I still don't buy it, but it's the best I can come up with.
Say, killing people, like Darlene. How did Javy even get in there? Even at their peak, the Snells didn't seem like much of a powerhouse. They're distributors, sure, and they probably made bank wholesaling in those hymnals, but they're a far cry from a drug cartel. By the time we get to Season 4, I'd imagine they lost a lot of their troops. Charismatic Jacob is dead, so that leaves crazy Darlene at the helm, and there's no way the Snell Army didn't know about her madness. She's also now living with some kid and appears to be locked in a power struggle with that kid's cousin. Worse, everyone knows that the cartel tried to assassinate the Snells, so they're obviously in deep with some dangerous folks. By the time Javy broke into their farmhouse, it's not hard for me to believe they had lost most of their muscle. Darlene even complained that some of her men had quit to go be meth dealers.
Why the f did Frank Cosgrove go to Darlene's alone? When Wyatt went to Ruth in exasperation and declared that Darlene killed Frank Cosgrove Sr, I laughed because it was just so absurd, another Wednesday with murderous Darlene. So folks wondered naturally why Frank went there by himself. He's in the KC mob after all, and since when do mob bosses not roll deep? Well, I don't think of him as running a "mob." We only see him holed up in an office in what looks to be a truck yard. I imagine he's no more than a union thug, the leader of a gang that doesn't even rise to the level of Glorified Crew.
I hate that the Byrdes got away with it. The writers had to shove the Byrdes' scot-free escape down our throats because they wanted, so badly, for the show to be about the power of privilege, and how with enough money and connections anyone can get away with anything. But if that's the takeaway message they wanted, then they don't really even know their own content.
The Byrdes are forever intertwined with an international drug cartel. They helped the former kingpin extend his empire, a kingpin who incidentally was murdered by the current kingpin. Cartels are not exactly stable organizations, and paranoid leaders can certainly go around killing anyone they think might compromise or threaten them. Gangsters don't need much reason to kill people. It's not much of a stretch for me to imagine, some years down the line, Camila wanting to renege on her deal with the FBI and reasoning that she has to murder anyone with knowledge of it--or thinking for five minutes and realizing that the Byrdes were involved with her son's death, and maybe even orchestrated it--or the next power-hungry thug who seizes control wanting to wipe out the preceding regime's allies--or a traditionalist who discovers leadership is working with federal agents.
One more. How did the cops not find the mountain of heroin when searching the Snell property? I got nothing for this one, sorry, except cops be lazy, and all that heroin would've been A LOT of paperwork.