How to you shoot up op 80

PHONES ARE HARD

2018.08.26 19:21 broccolibadass PHONES ARE HARD

For when OP fucks up cropping a photo so badly that it’s painful to look at

2019.02.28 23:01 swink_ies Transgoddesses: Beautiful Trans Women on Reddit

A community dedicated to Transgoddesses

2017.09.24 14:00 MBGDennis Not Like the Other Girls

Do you think everyone else is trash? Do you think you're the only unique person on the planet? Do you constantly feel the need to press down others in order to define yourself? Then this is the place for you. This sub is about people trying to be unique by defining themselves outside of "the norm".

[link]

2024.05.14 19:36 SpammableCantrips Plasma Siege-breaker - A strong, fun, accessible Plasma Flamer build (Full health, no VATs, no PA)

Introduction & Disclaimer

Good evening all. I've been playing for about a month now, but I've had a lot of experience with the Fallout series previously. After starting off my FO76 adventure with a shotgun build, then a pistol build, but I was having problems with some of the mechanics.
Essentially, I am disabled. I have a degenerative disease and articulating my hands at times is a bit of nightmare. For this reason, VATs and some of the other mechanics in FO76 for me is not ideal.
I've been playing around with this build for about two weeks, and the results have been staggering. I'm currently just below level 100, and even without all the perks I am about to list, I'm having a lot of fun.
I've not actually finished this build to completion yet on my own character (I have all of the perks listed, but not at the max level). I've had a few people PSN asking me what I was running as I was keeping up with some bloodied builds that were several hundred levels higher than me. In some cases, out DPSing them with only the first couple of stages of the "core" perks. Daily Ops and expeditions have been a breeze since switching to this build, and I'm never looking back!
That being said, I would highly encourage tailoring this build for your own needs and make adjustments where suitable (or desired).

Core Components

Essentially the core components of the build are as follows:

A Plasma flamer with the "Vampire's" legendary effect.
Various damage reduction perks, and perks that improve the player's survivability.
Various damage buffing perks that apply negative effects as well as increase damage output.

Armour, while useful, the specifics are somewhat irrelevant. I personally run bolstering gear, but feel free to use something else such as unyielding, etc.

Gameplay

Mechanics-wise, your job is to charge in to the centre of combat and essentially use your plasma flamer against groups of enemies. This may sound challenging, but it's generally just a case of holding down the right trigger on large groups of enemies (short bursts on single enemies to conserve cartridges).
Your plasma flamer with the "Vampire's" effect essentially will keep you alive the more you use it. Make sure you break away from enemies, or get a friend to cover you, when you need to reload as this is when you're vulnerable.
As your Plasma flamer has a high rate of fire, all of the perks I'll be going on to list are continuously running the chance to trigger per shot, or re-applying the timers.
There has been times during expeditions and daily ops where I've seen guys in Power Armour go down, while I'm holding my own against a horde of enemies without too much effort.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L

I would recommend the following S.P.E.C.I.A.L as a base:
Strength: 3 Perception: 12 Endurance: 6 Charisma: 6 Intelligence: 9 Agility: 10 Luck: 10

Legendary Perks

I would recommend the Luck, Agility and Endurance legendary perks, with Taking One for the Team. As mentioned earlier, your job is essentially "charge in, tank everything, survive" so some of the more offensive perks aren't necessary.

Perks

So, this is essentially the "meat" of the build. I'm not going to explain the effects of each perk, as the wiki does a better job of that than I could ever hope to word, but I will highlight anything of note relating the perks where appropriate.
For Strength, you need to have Blocker (3).
For Perception, Commando (3), Expert Commando (3), Master Commando (3) and Tank Killer (3) I would say are pretty essential.
For Endurance, I would say Adamantium Skeleton (3) and Fireproof (3) are very important for survivability. I would put the remaining points into perks that suit your playstyle, I am using Aquaboy and Lifegiver personally.
For Charisma, I would get Tenderizer (3) and Suppressor (3) as these will keep your teamates alive during group content, by weakening the capability of your enemies.
For Intelligence, Science (2), Expert Science (2), Master Science (2) and Batteries Included (3) are a must. You need the extra damage and the ability to craft mods for your Plasma guns. You're also going to be carrying a ton of plasma cartridges and the weight reduction makes a massive difference to inventory management.
For Agility, Evasive (3), Adrenaline (5), Dodgy (3) and Action Boy (3). Feel free how to use the last point how you want, but you want to have high AP for Dodgy to be able up a lot of the time.
For Luck, Bloody Mess (3), Serendipity (3), Tormentor (3), Ricochet (3) and Scrounger (3) I'd say are very important. Most of these are self-explanatory, but Ricochet appears to work with the legendary effect of the gun you are holding, meaning more heals! Scrounger will also keep your flamer topped up and ready to go, as you will literally be burning through ammo.

Perk TLDR Summary

Damage:

15% flat damage bonus.
Energy weapons have a 30% damage bonus.
60% damage increase from automatic rifles.
Shots ignore 36% of armour and have a 9% chance to stagger.
Your rifle attacks have a 15% chance of crippling a limb.
Gain 10% (max 60%) damage for 30s per kill. Timer refreshes on another kill.

Defence:

Targets receive 10% more damage for 10 seconds after you attack.
Targets deal 30% less damage for 2 seconds after you attack.
Each AGI point adds +3 Damage and Energy Resist (Max 45). (No Power Armor)
Avoid 30% of incoming damage at the cost of 30 Action Points per hit.
45% reduced damage from melee.
While below 35% health, gain a 45% chance to avoid damage.
You no-longer take limb damage.
45% less damage from explosions and flame attacks.
Gain a 18% chance to deflect back some of enemies' ranged damage. (No PvP)

Utility:

80% chance to find extra ammo when you "Search" an ammo container.

Enclave Plasma Gun vs Plasma Gun

So, the Enclave Plasma Gun is certainly slightly better than the regular one. That being said, it's somewhat irrelevant in the context of this build. I would recommend getting a regular "Vampire's" legendary plasma gun BEFORE attempting to get an Enclave version.
The Enclave versions are a lot harder to source, and as a result they're also harder to get the mods for. Worry about this another day.

Closing Thoughts

I'm sorry for the length! I hope the following helps. After being asked about it a couple of times while playing, as well as seeing some conversations over the last few days relating to Plasma gun flamers, I just thought this may be of use to some of the newer players who may be in a similar position.

submitted by SpammableCantrips to fo76 [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 19:31 StatisticalMan Delta Skymile Amex Targeted Offers have good welcome bonuses again

For a while Delta Skymile Amex targeted offers were terrible but I guess Amex isn't signing up enough cardholders because they just upgraded them and they are quite good.
If anyone is interested I have referral link for the following welcome bonuses:

Delta Skymile Gold Amex 70,000 skymiles (normally 40k)
Delta Skymile Platinum Amex 80,000 skymiles (normally 50k)
Delta Skymile Reserve Amex 90,000 skymiles (normally 60k)
Amex (non-Delta) Platinum Card 125,000 amex pts (normally 100k) which can be converted to SM
Amex (non-Delta) Gold Card 90,000 amex pts (normally 60k) which can be converted to SM

The subreddit rules prevent posting referral link so shoot me a DM if interested. Not sure how long the targeted offer will last. In the past after the first half dozen signups Amex starts downgrading the offers so "while supplies last".
https://i.ibb.co/1mgDJN2/image.png
Some tips

The referral link (DM me to get) defaults to Amex (non-Delta) Gold Card because that is the card we use the most so Amex gives best targeted bonuses from that account. However at the top of the page you can click on Personal Cards and then pick any of the cards above (or almost any other Amex as well).
Open the referral link in an incognito window. If you have been browsing Amex offers Amex likely tagged you with a cookie reflecting initial offer they gave you and may end up showing an older worse offer depending on how long ago you were offered something. Opening the targeted bonus link in incognito/private tab/window avoids Amex downgrading the bonus.
If it is your goal to "farm" SM then get Delta Gold first. You can't get a bonus for a lower card once you have had a higher card so go Delta Gold -> Delta Plat -> Delta Reserve. You usually will need to wait at least six months and possibly a year between cards for the max (or sometimes any) bonus so farming is for those that are patient but you can pick up as much as 600k SM over three years including Amex pts which can be converted to SM.
Amex may only give you the higher targeted bonus on the first card you apply for. Any additional cards done at the same time or shortly after may be the normal bonus or no bonus so get the card you want most first.
If you want lounge access quickly but may want to farm SM in the future grab the non-Delta Platinum for lounge access (and 125k amex pts). Then see if you can get SM bonus on Delta Gold. If you can't get the bonus then wait six months and try again. The non-Delta Platinum is a different card family than the Delta cards so won't block future Delta welcome bonuses. Getting reserve will forever block any bonus for Delta Gold/Plat.
If while applying it initially shows a bonus in the offer but then as you complete the form it pops up a warning (paraphrased) saying "you can apply for this card but are not currently eligible for a welcome bonus" that is a the dreaded amex popup jail. Either your spend level on existing amex cards is too low or it has been too soon since the last bonus. If you want the bonus then cancel the application and try again later. Amex doesn't provide details but in many cases just waiting six months and then reapplying will get you the welcome bonus.
If you cancel a card in less than a year Amex reserves the right to clawback any welcome bonus. They don't always do this but they can. It likely will block you from future bonuses as they will tag you as a churner. However once a year passes and the AF posts you have 30 days to cancel and they will refund the AF. So if you don't want to keep the card just cancel after a year within 30 days of the AF posting. If you miss that windows don't cancel instead downgrade the card to a $0 AF card and they will prorate the AF and refund a portion.

submitted by StatisticalMan to delta [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 19:12 Mahabach Disc Golf Road Trip Report

Months ago, I posted some disc golf trip ideas for some insight and recommendations. Last week I went on a five-day road trip and played 8 different courses throughout Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa. I thought I would share my thoughts on each course...

Bad Rock Creek - (Short Reds) This is a course I could see myself playing nearly every day. Nice variety. Lots of ace runs on the shorts. Excited to come back and play the longs.
7/10 beauty, 8/10 fun, 8/10 overall

Harmony Bends - (short reds) Phenomenal course. This could potentially be my favorite course if not for the swamp. I knew it would be rough since it rained the day before, but I'm stubborn and played it anyway. Still a top course to me despite holes 9-13 being submerged.
9/10 beauty, 8/10 fun, 9/10 overall

Eagle's Crossing - (shorts - championship course) What a unique experience. I've heard others describe it similarly, but I've been telling people that this is the Disney World of disc golf courses. Everyone should play this at least once for the experience. This course may toe the line between gimmicky and extravagant, but I happen to find that appealing. One thing I appreciated about this course is it really required some decision making on many of the holes. Highly recommend renting the golf carts for the ultimate experience. Also, shout out to the staff, they were very kind and helpful.
9/10 beauty, 8/10 fun, 8/10 overall

The Canyons at Dellwood - (OG White) Holy shit, I fully understand how this is Illinois' #1 rated course. The locals are spoiled having this course and Northwood a few hours away. This is probably the most enjoyable course I have ever played. So many unique holes and I was amazed at how a public neighborhood course was so well taken care of. I don't know why, but I kept getting sesame street vibes with all the different types of people occupying the park for different occasions, birthday parties, wedding photo ops, etc... I suppose that's expected at most parks, but to have a full 27-hole course weaving throughout the park just felt so seamless and natural. And yet, somehow, it never felt crowded or distracting. This course should be the gold standard for public park courses. *also, I snagged my first eagle
10/10 beauty, 10/10 fun, 10/10 overall

Northwood Black - (longs) Dellwood may be my new number one, but this course is a close second. I mean, I shot 22 over par and I still had an absolute blast on this course. I'm sure most of you have seen coverage of this course, so I won't go into detail, but I'll just say this... I wanted to play the longs on the most difficult course on tour to get an idea of what the pros are truly up against, and holy fuck did I get the needed perspective. I know as you're reading this you're thinking "yea I'm sure the footage doesn't do it justice", but jesus christ some of these holes are absolutely absurd. I would say that on at least six of these holes I walked up to the tee pad and just started laughing, thinking "no fucking way anyone could birdie this hole", despite seeing it be done before. Everything is so much longer and taller! I got four pars on this course, and they felt better than any birdie I've gotten. It wasn't just the challenge that made me appreciate this course, but the landscape was gorgeous and I'm not sure why I wasn't expecting that.
10/10 beauty, 9/10 fun, 9/10 overall

Shaver Park - (shorts) This course was pretty fun. A fair number of unique holes that I really enjoyed. Only major drawback was the design felt a little clustered and confusing up top near the end. A family of deer tried to hang out with me though so that was cool. Also, to be fair, I received some bad news back home during the start of the round so that brought my mood down and affected my experience.
7/10 beauty, 8/10 fun, 7/10 overall

Wildcat Bluff - (longs) Phenomenal. In some ways this course is like Northwood Lite. Heavily wooded with some incredible holes that really test your nerves. After playing Northwood and Wildcat, I began to understand how playing such difficult courses can improve your game. They helped me learn that if you don’t have total confidence and don't put in 100% effort and commitment into every single shot, you will get punished. I'm already starting to feel that translate to my game back home.
10/10 beauty, 9/10 fun, 9/10 overall

Pickard Park - (longs to longs) I played the layout for the A-tier going down next month, which I assume is similar to what we will see for the DMC in July. Once again, I enjoyed playing a course where I've seen the pros play so many rounds. I really think this is one of the more well-rounded courses on tour. (though I will admit it may have one of the most boring finishing holes imo)
Side note: surprisingly, I managed to not lose a disc this entire trip until here on hole 12. If you find a crave stuck in the trees on the right you can have it, you're welcome.
8/10 beauty, 8/10 fun, 8/10 overall

Overall, my experience was amazing. Despite playing eight courses across the Midwest over five days, I managed to avoid the rain and wind entirely and the temps were always between 60-80°
This trip was perfect for the road in that I never had to drive more than 2.5 hours at a time. So, if you decide to plan a road trip soon, I highly recommend spacing out your destinations no minimize drive times if possible.
I've only played about 35 courses in my life so far, but if anyone is curious my top 10 so far is:

Dellwood
Northwood
Wildcat Bluff
Harmony Bends
Beale Slough
Bad Rock Creek
Seven Oaks
Eagle's Crossing
Pickard Park
Waterworks

submitted by Mahabach to discgolf [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 18:47 Kazokav Dump of Danish idioms!

Hi friends, We recently started writing about Danish idioms on our newsletter the Simple Danish Newsletter - I also started posting them here on Reddit, but I have not been great at keeping up, and so now I am 12 weeks behind here on Reddit, and rather than space out 12 different posts, I thought I would do one big post and hopefully get back on track with the postings 😅 So here’s a bunch of Danish idioms for you!
At have det som blommen i et æg
Litterally; to feel like the yolk in an egg. I like this idiom a lot because of how visual it is. It means that you feel good, you feel comfortable, protected, and in the right place.
For example:
A: Se de søde killinger der sover.
B: Åårh, de har sikkert som blommen i et æg.
En heldig kartoffel
Literally, a lucky potato. If someone is especially lucky, in Danish ,you can call them a lucky potato. As far as I can read, the expression comes from an old sailors game, where you would pass a potato around in a circle, and a person in the middle would try to catch it. If the person in the middle could not catch the potato, it was said to be a lucky potato.
For example: A: Jeg har fri på fredag, så jeg kan nyde det gode vejr.
B: Din heldige kartoffel.
A: Har du hørt at Jonas har vundet i lotto? B: Sikke en heldig kartoffel!
En varm kartoffel
Something can also be a hot potato. It is the same expression as in english, where an issue can be a hot potato. Something so hot that it is painful to touch, and so something you would want to avoid. This expression is less used in Denmark, and mostly by newspapers or the older generations.
Lokummet brænder
Litterally: The toilet is on fire.
Either you are in big trouble or you are about to be in big trouble when your toilet is on fire.
Lokum in Danish used to refer to the old shed behind the house, where hole-in-the-ground-with-seat type toilets with no running water were found. Nowadays the word can also refer, with some disgust, to normal toilets.
For example:

Danskerne er gode til at få psykologisk hjælp når lokummet brænder.
Når lokummet brænder, ved jeg at jeg altid kan regne med dig.

Så er den ged barberet
Litterally translating to; then the goat is shaved. Means that something is done or solved. You can use it if you got an annoying task out of the way, either by avoiding the task entirely (and then ironically using så er den ged barberet to humorously say that it was easy), or by actually finishing it.
Example 1: Jeg skal lige færdiggøre den sidste del af præsentationen, og så er den ged barberet.
Example 2: FCK scorede et hurtigt mål mod Brøndby, og så var den ged barberet.
Hvor kragerne vender
Where the crows turn around is used to to mean the same as in the middle of nowhere, although I like the illustrativeness of the Danish phrase much more than in the middle of nowhere. It means somewhere so far away, that even the crows don’t dare go there. You can for example say; Rasmus er vokset op på landet. Der hvor kragerne vender. Or if someone asks you what you did this weekend, you can say: jeg var ude at gå en tur, helt derude hvor kragerne vender. Or if people ask you where you are from: jeg er fra en lille by ude hvor kragerne vender.
Den der kommer først til mølle, får først malet
Litterally; The one who arrives first at the mill will get milled first. This is pretty much the the Danish equivalent of first come, first serve, mixed with a bit of the early bird gets the worm. However in everyday life, you pretty much only hear the first part; først til mølle or you might see something like; “efter først til mølle princip” which was recently added to the Danish dictionary. You might see the phrase if you are looking at items being given away for free or being sold online. I can definitely see how the isolated phrase can confuse new learners though: “Selling sneakers. First to the mill.”
So now you know 😊
at spille kong gulerod
At spille kong gulerod, to play king-carrot. You can use this expression if someone is acting arrogant, cocky, or superior in a pretentious way. You can for example say du skal ikke komme her og spille kong gulerod if someone is being pompous around you. The phrase apparently comes from an old french, satirical opera from 1872, where vegetables from the garden take control over France. Or so I’ve heard. Don’t cite me on that.
At købe katten i sækken
Literally meaning to buy the cat in the sack. To buy the cat in the sack, means you got cheated in a trade, or that you were not diligent enough when checking what you were buying and got something not worth a lot. You can change the person or the idiom in the idiom as in jeg har købt katten i sækken meaning you already made the bad deal, or you can say hun køber katten i sækken in the 3rd person future tense if someone is going to make a bad decision. You can use it as a warning to someone Pas på du ikke køber katten i sækken if you think there’s a risk they will not make a good choice later.
At gå som katten om den varme grød
Litterally; to walk like the cat around the hot porridge. We use this idiom when someone hesitates to speak directly about a sensitive subject, when they skirt around the issue. I imagine a cat, interested in eating a nice bowl of hot porridge, but the cat is hesitant because it is afraid of burning its tongue.
Example: I forbindelse med spørgsmålet om klimaforandringer, gik politikerne som katten om den varme grød.
at skyde papegøjen
To shoot the parrot, or to have shot the parrot, means to be very lucky. It can also mean to have gotten hold of a very valuable object or person. It is in a sensee the opposite of having bought the cat in the sack. Here’s a few examples:
Rasmus har skudt papegøjen med hende Antonina. Hun er godt nok sød. Jeg har skudt papegøjen her I weekenden på loppemarkedet.
Det med småt
“that with small/little” or more legibly: the fine print.
Har du læst det med småt? Did you read the fine print? You will often see this when websites are trying to be transparent or quirky about their terms and conditions. So you might encounter a link or a website titled “det med småt” if you are trying to buy something.
That was all for now 😅 I apologize in advance for formatting problems, as I am writing this on mobile as apparently this is the only way Reddit will allow me to post multiple images.

submitted by Kazokav to LearnDanish [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 17:16 SherryHall722 [Get] TimTalk 2.0 – Grow And Monetize Your TikTok Account Download

https://preview.redd.it/nlucjhqase0d1.jpg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dca33e8d27e10d26fc16b5bb177353df479e1700

What’s inside?

Proven frameworks and lifehacks I used to scale multiple TikTok accounts to 100k followers

Full course structure:

Module #1 TikTok Algorithm Explanation
You can’t grow on the platform if you don’t understand it. Inside this module, I’m sharing proven tricks to get more views on TikTok.
Module #2 Your first 10,000 followers
Step-by-step framework on how to get your first views and followers.
Module #3 Perfect TikTok video structure
It’s time to learn how to produce better content! Here we talk about tools, lightning, the shooting process, and more.
Module #4 Make your first 1000
To make money on TikTok, you must set up a proper sales funnel. The main topic of this module is monetization how to convert your viewers into buyers.
Module #5 TikTok vs. Reels
IG Reels and YouTube Shorts are the platforms you should reuse your content on, but there are a few differences you must know. We cover them all inside of this section!
Module #6 10-100k followers roadmap
How to scale above 10k followers? What systems do you need to set up? Etc. I revealed our agency’s secret formula, which we used for Sephora and 80+ other brands.
And when you purchase today…

You’ll unlock 3 FREE bonuses!

01. 140+ Viral TikTok Hooks (99 of value)
We’ve gathered over 140 Viral TikTok Hooks for 8+ different niches (and of course general hooks too)
02. 5 selling TikTok Scripts (970 of value)
Use our five top-performing scripts to maximize your revenue from 1m views.
03. Notion Database (240 of value)
All my PDFs and video lessons are in one place. This Notion doc only can be a course itself.
https://coursesup.co/download/get-timtalk-2-0-grow-and-monetize-your-tiktok-account-download/

submitted by SherryHall722 to u/SherryHall722 [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 17:05 kayakero Stochastic Oscillator – How does it work and how to use it in trading?

What is the stochastic oscillator?

A stochastic oscillator chart allows you to identify momentum in the price of a financial asset. At the core of this indicator is the stochastic oscillator formula. What it does is compare the closing price of a security with the recent high and low prices. It then converts it to a figure between 0 and 100, which is the actual value of the stochastic oscillator.
Let's say you talk to two traders independently and ask them what the stochastic oscillator shows. You will most likely get two very different answers. On the one hand, the stochastic oscillator is an indicator of both up and down momentum. On the other hand, some traders may see it as an indicator of overbought and oversold prices. Both explanations are correct in theory. The fundamental difference lies in how you use the indicator within your investment strategy.
https://preview.redd.it/75cd3582pe0d1.png?width=623&format=png&auto=webp&s=7f594c2024beede3d8096e690387ae660095b242
There are other factors to take into account. One of them is the period during which the low price and the high price are taken. You will need to research the ideal indicator settings for your particular trading method. Are you happy to opt for a flatter long-term trend? Alternatively, would you prefer a more sensitive short-term indicator that could alert you to short-term trading opportunities?
A brief history
There is some debate about the origins of the stochastic oscillator. Especially the %D indicators which we will cover later in this article. Many believe that C. Ralph Dystant was the original creator of the indicator. However, George C. Lane is perhaps more commonly credited with playing his role in popularizing it. The latter also introduced several tweaks and adjustments.
We can trace the stochastic oscillator itself back to the 1950s, when C. Ralph Dystant taught courses on the stock market. In these courses, his original focus was on commodities. The classes were one of the first to focus on charts, moving averages, and other indicators as a means of attempting to predict future price movements. By the way, George C. Lane supposedly started working for C Ralph Dystant in 1954. That was the same year that technical “guru” Roy Larson retired. It was a coincidence?
It would be fair to say that both C. Ralph Dystant, and George C. Lane, were integral to the creation of the stochastic oscillator indicator and the influence it still has on investors today. In many ways, the key to its success is its relative simplicity. The masterstroke introduced an easy-to-understand range between zero and 100. In the words of Kelly Johnson, former principal engineer at Lockheed Skunk Works, “keep it simple, stupid.” Many traders today refer to this quote as the KISS principle, because in English it would be “keep it simple, stupid.”
How does the stochastic oscillator work?
Now let's examine how the stochastic oscillator works. We'll also see how quickly you can adjust the sensitivity of the indicator. The basic concept behind the stochastic oscillator is momentum. It gives you the ability to monitor the price momentum of an asset. Doing so allows you to see if, compared to recent highs and lows, you are potentially oversold or overbought. However, therein lies a potential conundrum.

A simple example

What if we look at the S&P 500? The E-Mini S&P 500 futures contract is among the highest volume assets in the futures market. What will its momentum show us if we look at it? Imagine the example of shooting a rocket into the sky. It will not stop suddenly and return to earth immediately after running out of fuel. The fading momentum will continue to push you higher at a drastically decreasing speed. However, when the positive momentum finally ends, the rocket will spin and head toward the earth. As a result, you gain new momentum along the way. This is the idea behind the stochastic oscillator. Using the recent highs and lows, for comparison, you should be able to identify a change in momentum. That result should also be reflected in the graphs.
There is a general consensus that when stochastic oscillator levels fall below 20, it indicates that the asset is oversold. Meanwhile, if it moves above 80, that indicates that the asset is overbought. Let's take 50 as our average value. In theory, positive momentum is above the line, while negative momentum is below it. Although this is often the case, you should be on the lookout for potential false signals. Now let's go ahead and take a look at the ways to read and understand the Stochastic Oscillator indicator.

Stochastic Oscillator Formula and Calculation

In this section, we will look at the stochastic oscillator formula. We'll also point out which elements of the formula you can adjust to change the sensitivity. The formula is the following:
C = the most recent closing price
L14 = the lowest price traded during the last 14 trading sessions
H14 = the highest price traded during the last 14 trading sessions
%K = the current value of the stochastic indicator as a percentage
To give a practical example of how the indicator works, we will look at the S&P 500 index. This is the figure on which the E-mini S&P 500 futures contracts are based.
Current level = 3490
Low point in the last 14 trading sessions = 3300
High point in the last 14 trading sessions = 3500
The calculation is as follows:
3490-3300/3500-3300 = 190/200
(190/200) x 100 = 95%

Example

So, according to the Stochastic Oscillator indicator, the S&P 500 Index has strong momentum and is in possible “overbought” territory. Many people would classify this as the standard stochastic oscillator indicator calculation based on 14 trading sessions. However, what does the situation look like based on eight trading sessions?
Current level = 3490
Low point in the last 8 trading sessions = 3400
High point in the last 8 trading sessions = 3500
3490-3400/3500-3400 = 90/100
(90/100) x 100 = 90%
Finally, what indication does the calculation with a 30-period moving average give us?
Current level = 3490
Low point in the last 30 trading sessions = 3200
High point in the last 8 trading sessions = 3500
3490-3200/3500-3200 = 290/300
(290/300) x 100 = 97%
The shorter the period in question, the more sensitive the formula will be to daily movements. The reason is that the difference between the maximum and minimum point should be relatively small, in theory.
In the three examples above, the S&P 500 index has strong momentum for 14 and 30 days. However, it is noticeably lower if you only look at it over 8 days. And, on the other hand, they all indicate a potentially overbought scenario.

How to read stochastic oscillator charts?

Next, let's take a look at two stochastic oscillator indicator charts. We will highlight some of the turning points that could have been beneficial for traders. The first chart is the traditional (fast) stochastic oscillator indicator with a smoother %D trend line based on the %K factor.
https://preview.redd.it/vzf6c7wfme0d1.png?width=1377&format=png&auto=webp&s=512182433e3783fa53bcf9fad33fbc81b5a40bef
The second chart is what we call a “slow stochastic oscillator indicator”. It averages the index level over a longer period. Then we have the %D factor, which is based on the %K and gives an even smoother line.
The longer the period over which prices are examined, including high, low and current prices, the smoother the chart will be. However, there will be a significant delay. On the plus side, in many ways, this can help offset the short-term peaks and troughs that can sometimes tempt people to buy and sell when they shouldn't.
https://preview.redd.it/b7k655aime0d1.png?width=1420&format=png&auto=webp&s=ee2a182215d415eb4e5f7b8e528b81247e601a2a

How to use the stochastic oscillator?

The key to using the stochastic oscillator is finding the time frame that best suits your investment strategy. Those looking for short-term trading will focus on relatively short periods, which can lead to somewhat volatile changes in the indicator. Those looking for confirmation of longer-term trends will extend the period in question. These graphs will be smoother and, due to the long delay, are not as susceptible to short-term changes.

What are the best and most accurate settings?

There are three variables to consider when looking at the stochastic oscillator setup, which are:
%K = based on the number of time periods used in the calculation
Slowdown = simple moving average (SMA) factor applied to %K
%D = %K moving average factor
As we mentioned earlier, the stochastic oscillator has three different types. Among them are:

The Fast Stochastic Oscillator (Traditional Indicator)

Fast %K = basic %K calculation for 14 periods
Fast %D = Fast Stochastic Oscillator Three-Period SMA %K

The slow stochastic oscillator

Slow %K = Fast %K expressed as three-period SMA
Slow %D = Slow %K three-period SMA

The Complete Stochastic Oscillator

%K full = %K fast smoothed over a period X SMA
Full %D = Full %K Period X SMA
The beauty of this system is the fact that all previous variations of the original indicator produce figures from 0 to 100. As a result, it is easy to compare and contrast the variation in the trend lines. The longer the periods in which you calculate the simple moving average, the smoother the line will be.
As we mentioned above, the simple fast stochastic oscillator will throw up many possible overbought and oversold positions. Some of them will inevitably be false signals. As you can see from the charts above, the Fast Stochastic Oscillator can be quite volatile, frequently trading above or below the 80 and 20 levels for a short period of time. On the same chart, you can see areas where the %D (SMA figure) is not as volatile and does not always fall below or move above the 80 or 20 levels like the Fast Stochastic Oscillator does.

Trading strategies with the stochastic oscillator

There are many ways you can use the stochastic oscillator indicator to open positions, close positions or even reduce your position if the chart is at a critical point.

Identifying overbought/oversold levels

As you will see in the chart below, there are a variety of very useful indicators that could have generated some significant gains. The first overbought indicator shows the Fast Stochastic Oscillator figure reaching the 80% level and then turning sharply downwards through the three-period SMA. These crossover points are considered by many to be strong indicators that momentum is shifting and the short-term trend may be about to reverse.
The second overbought position begins to emerge when the Fast Stochastic Oscillator and the SMA move above 80%. A move above 80% or below 20% should not necessarily be seen as a signal to sell or buy, but rather as an early warning that momentum may be about to change.
https://preview.redd.it/3taqkc2kne0d1.png?width=1912&format=png&auto=webp&s=e7a55840fdae584d81ebe937210f3b3fe70ecb32
Many people prefer to wait for a sustained drop below 80% or move above 20% before reacting, thus eliminating a degree of volatility that can sometimes create false signals. This is where SMA lines can be very useful, smoother and less volatile, although you won't necessarily sell at the top due to the lag.
You can also see the two false overbought signals where the Fast Stochastic Oscillator figure and the SMA fell below 80. However, they reversed quite quickly when the momentum picked up again and the chart moved back into higher territory.
You will find that where there is a strong uptrend, which has not been broken, at some point there will be a pullback which can be an opportunity to buy into the weakness. This is the reason why the fast stochastic oscillator is more appropriate for day traders, or also for short-term traders.
Bullish/bearish divergence
There will be times when there is a bullish/bearish divergence between the actual chart and the stochastic oscillator indicator. As you can see with the chart below, the lowest point on the chart would indicate the possibility of a further decline. However, when you look at the stochastic oscillator indicator, the trend is moving in a different direction and is slightly bullish.
This may be an indication that the stock has bottomed and momentum may be about to change. One of the main signals to watch out for with this particular chart is the fast stochastic oscillator moving through the SMA line.
https://preview.redd.it/rku5zd2joe0d1.png?width=1087&format=png&auto=webp&s=e6583cea6a63f18ed49327c4f626a39608b9e016
You are equally likely to see a reversal where the main chart indicates an intact uptrend, while the stochastic oscillator shows a slowdown in momentum and a turn towards a downtrend. These are some of the rarest trading signals, but they are very interesting, especially when you incorporate simple trend lines into price charts.

Price trend

The relationship between the Fast Stochastic Oscillator and the SMA is very important. As you can see in the chart below, the first section is dominated by the strong downtrend with the Fast Stochastic Oscillator and the SMA descending in parallel.
Then there is a bounce on the chart followed by a move into choppy waters with an obvious downtrend. As you will see, both indicators remain below the 20% level, indicating that the momentum is relatively weak. That is until the Fast Stochastic Oscillator breaks the SMA line towards the end of the choppy price action area.
https://preview.redd.it/v5d3gkatoe0d1.png?width=520&format=png&auto=webp&s=caa386e1e0e6979fc9210fe18c06c0e3acb9738b
This change in momentum is demonstrated by the uptrend, although it is not difficult to see where the momentum begins to fade above 80%. When the short-term trend line breaks through the SMA and falls below the 80% level, this indicates another change in the trend – a possible sell signal.

Advantages of using the stochastic oscillator

Momentum is very important when it comes to trading and there is no doubt that the stochastic oscillator indicator is a very useful tool. There are a number of advantages to consider which include: –

Sensitive to impulse change

The shorter the period during which the high, low and current price are compared, the more volatile the stochastic oscillator indicator will be. Using SMA trend lines can also create very strong buy/sell signals when the lines cross, especially above 80% and below 20%. This event would indicate that the short-term trend is changing and assuming it continues, a new trend will follow.

Opportunity to identify bullish/bearish divergence

Due to the way the Stochastic Oscillator indicator is calculated, you will sometimes see a divergence between the price chart and the indicator. While the price chart may indicate that a downtrend is still intact, the stochastic oscillator chart may already be identifying a change in momentum before the price changes. As you will see in the chart above, these can be powerful trading signals. How long you can wait to see if a new trend emerges will vary between traders. How brave are you?

The formula is flexible

The shorter the period in question, the more volatile the stochastic oscillator indicator will be. However, there is the possibility of identifying short-term trading opportunities. However, for those who have a longer-term investment strategy, they can extend the number of periods in question. This will flatten the line of the Fast and Volatile Stochastic Oscillator and give a smoother line, which can make it easier to identify any changes in long-term trends.

Risks and limitations of the indicator

As with any technical indicator, the stochastic oscillator is not immune to false signals and is probably best used in conjunction with other trading indicators. Risks and limitations include:

False signals

The shorter the period over which the fast stochastic oscillator is calculated, the more susceptible it is to extreme volatility. This can create numerous false signals, although the impact can be reduced by adding a simple moving average line.

Sideways Trading

The indicator works best when there is a new uptrend, a downtrend or perhaps a short, sharp period of consolidation before the trend re-emerges. During periods of sideways trading, this can create a relatively small gap between the high and low points, therefore creating sharp movements in the indicator on relatively small price movements.

SMA lines delay trend changes

Using longer periods to calculate %K and SMA trend lines can make it easier to identify changes in the trend. However, due to the delay, you may miss a significant element of a changing trend before you decide to buy or sell. You can adjust the variables of the full stochastic oscillator indicator to help you with your specific investment strategy, lengthening or shortening the periods and adjusting the SMA.

Stochastic Oscillator vs Other Indicators

The Stochastic Oscillator indicator is extremely flexible and you can adjust the periods and SMA variables to suit your trading plan. However, especially when looking at limited periods, there will be times when the indicator will create a false signal. Therefore, it is wise to consider other means of technical analysis to clarify whether a potential change in momentum indicated by the stochastic oscillator is also reflected elsewhere.

Stochastic Oscillator vs RSI

While it is true that you can use both the stochastic oscillator and the RSI (Relative Strength Index) to measure price momentum, they work on very different principles. The RSI measures potential overbought/oversold positions by comparing recent gains to recent losses. The idea behind the stochastic oscillator is based on the assumption that the current price should follow the current trend. When the current price moves against the trend, it can indicate a change in momentum and a possible buy/sell signal. So who wins the fight, the Stochastic Oscillator or the RSI?
If the two oscillators indicated the same trend, this would be a powerful signal for investors. For example, if the price of an asset moved towards the upper end of its recent high/low range, it would indicate positive momentum. Assuming that the RSI oscillator is also showing a relatively strong trend, this would reduce the chances of a false signal.

Stochastic Oscillator vs MACD

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) is a prominent momentum indicator, although it is very different from the stochastic oscillator indicator. The MACD is calculated by subtracting the 26-period exponential moving average from the 12-period exponential moving average. Many traders use the MACD technical indicator in conjunction with the stochastic oscillator, often looking for crossover points between the two.
Those who consider technical indicators from a distance might wonder why traders don't simply use three, four, five or more technical indicators together. The answer is simple: the time lag between different technical indicators can confuse the situation.
By the time several different indicators have “aligned”, you may end up missing the vast majority of the trend. There is nothing wrong with using a single technical indicator, but there are risks and false signals can and do occur.
BONKbot Telegram User Guide: Sniping 1000x Memecoins
Unibot User Guide
Top 7 Telegram Bots
Access more profitable trading tips joining the Capitalist Exploits Insider Newsletter
Get a $100 bonus trading with Binance

submitted by kayakero to CapitalistExploits [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 14:12 Polymer15 L4-5 Microdiscectomy [after 1 week]

Hey all, just wanted to a share a very quick overview, thoughts, and concerns 1 week after having a microdiscectomy on my L4-5 disc last week. I am now coming up to 7 days post op, feel free to ask questions if you have any. I've attached my pre-op scans + radiologists report too, for those who are interested.
I also have some questions at the end for those who have had a MD before that I'd love your take on :)
History TLDR; sciatic pain for ~3 years, started as leg pain when extending whilst sat down, progressed to severe, constant, lower back pain and leg pain when performing any activity other than laying down on the floor.
My surgery lasted for 2 hours, and was in the hospital for a total of 2 days (1 night stay). The hospital bed + assistance from nurses was highly appreciated. As the hospital beds are adjustable, it helped reduce pressure on the wound significantly. After having the procedure, you will be unable to bend to put on socks - it helps to have a second person to assist. The incision site is still very sore, and my back feels bruised, but no complications. The incision is around 5cm.
I have now completely trailed off all of my pain medication. I was on 150mg Tapentadol and 3000mg Paracetamol daily, and the pain was very manageable. My lower back pain has completely gone, I can now sit without pain (except for some soreness around my incision site + muscle aches), but still aim to keep sitting no longer than 30m at a time.
My sciatica went away initially, but has come back slightly since the operation (~60-80% reduction in pain from pre-op). I personally put this down to a mix of coming off pain killers, and increased inflammation. I am scared as hell that it is a sign it won't go away - I know this is just anxiety talking though, as I feel I'd know if I reherniated. From what my physio has said and what others report, it can take a few weeks to a few months for the nerve pain to resolve.
My other associated symptoms have almost completely subsided. Pre-op, I had sporadic difficulty urinating, numbness and tingling in my saddle region, which has now disappeared. I did have pain in my groin/bladder a few days post-op when urinating, but that has subsided, too.
I have been doing the following exercises 3 times daily, I am able to perform these with minimal pain and they really loosen up my back and post surgery stiffness:

2 sets of 10 ankle pumps
2 sets of 10 heel slides
2 sets of 10 single leg knee hug
1 set of 10 neural glide
2 sets of 10 sit stand from a chair
2 sets of 10 sideways walking

Overall, I would put a strong recommendation on the microdiscectomy procedure. If a MD has been identified to be beneficial to your diagnosis, and you feel you have exhausted other options, go for it. I wish I had it a year ago, it would have saved me a lot of pain and likely increased my chance of a positive overall outcome.
Questions I do have for others who have had a MD:

How long did it take for your sciatica to improve post-op? For me, it flares up the most when doing single leg raises. Stretching does help to reduce symptoms.
For those who have re-herniated; how obvious was it? I keep getting the niggling anxiety that it's already happened and that's why I still have some sciatic symptoms.
Did you get other odd pains that weren't there before? As I mentioned, I had groin/bladder pain for a few days post op. I have also found that my shins have started hurting, where they didn't before.

https://preview.redd.it/tq5av1xjvd0d1.jpg?width=1044&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d12261ee66910d862ec78bc965e1cf493257bbb3
https://preview.redd.it/e78073xjvd0d1.jpg?width=1174&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d630e53cbb8287e1817d3079d4e28d32fb99feb
https://preview.redd.it/tnfaw1xjvd0d1.png?width=1290&format=png&auto=webp&s=729372c34c280e2c20e68e33ae96edbd7bee5eb6

submitted by Polymer15 to Sciatica [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 13:43 teller_of_tall_tales Troublemakers: Buried secrets bolster the weak.

First: https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/14vo5lb/troublemakers_deaths_pity/
*previous:* https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/1cr3pct/troublemakers_adrenaline_is_a_superpower_in_itself/
......
Drake wrapped clean, sterile, saline and antimicrobial soaked gauze around his laser burns to stave off infection. he occasionally glanced at the Geknosian spec ops that had been stripped of their armor and weapons. The heavily cybernetically modified Geknosians kneeled silently with their heads bowed along one wall of the forge. Destrier walked down the line with a bucket and ladle, offering each soldier water. There were looks of apprehension, but none refused the kindness offered, drinking several ladlefuls at a time. Except for one, Despite the splints affixed to her arm and leg, Charlotte, no, Sylva refused the water, turning her face away from the wooden ladel. Destrier sighed and dolloped the water back into the bucket, setting it down on a dusty anvil with a slosh. Drake looked to Remin, who was still pale and shaky as he held the chest seal to his ribs. Cassius sat in a corner, looking completely exhausted as he reloaded his Dahlia. There was a sickening crunch from a dark corner as Caz re-set her broken nose, exhaling hard through her nostrils to splatter the ground with clotted blood. Donning her mask, she turned back around, reaching underneath the mask to wipe her nose and snuffle.
"Are we going to open up the bunker anytime soon? If not we should get back to base and get everyone medical attention."
Drake nodded and pulled out the remote before looking to Destrier and Cassius.
"Keep an eye on everyone, we'll be back."
Caz joined his side as he stepped out into the warm sunshine, looking up at the corpse tree, he sighed softly and removed a pinky ring, feeling a pulse of ancient power rushing through his veins as he focused on the tree. On the thought of its bark darkening and burning beneath roaring flames, of defiled corpses crumbling to ash. He slowly squeezed his hand into a fist, and the tree burst into flames with a roar. Drake slipped his ring back on as Caz looked up at the burning corpses, mask expressionless before returning to Drake's side as he wandered toward the excavated elevator.
Standing in the center of the large platform, drake set his thumb inside the hooded slot on the remote, something jabbing into his finger before a small green light lit up on the device. There was a loud grinding noise as the elevator began to descend. He folded his hands behind his back as the metal lip of the elevator rose past his vision, revealing the massive metal tracks that it ran on.
The elevator shuddered and Drake got a sinking feeling in his stomach as a loud clicking noise surrounded them. Caz looked up at him just as he threw an arm around her, clutching her to his side as he threw four rings off of his left hand, hearing them clatter once before puffing into smoke as the elevator fell out from beneath their feet with a screech.
...
"Shitshitshitfuckfuckfuck!! Fuck!"
Carlos thought as he sprinted through the underground halls of the mansion, sprinting past fellow humans in new armor and weapons as he neared Martha's workshop, barely registering the new gas masks swinging from their hips. He slammed into the mad scientist's workshop, screeching to a halt on his rubber soled sneakers before rushing over to her desk and slamming a video puck onto the table she was distributing armor and masks from. The moment he slammed it down, a video popped up on a hologram projector, taken from Halcyon's rifle camera.
Galliks and light-skinned troop transports slowly hovered down the main boulevard, columns of power armored soldiers marching on the sides keeping pace. Martha dropped the helmet in her hands, shaped like a corynthian helmet as she saw the buzzards hovering over the column, loaded down with spec ops. Halcyon's shaky voice could be heard over the clamoring, guttural marching song in the background.
"we're boring the mission and moving back to base... I knew they brought in reinforcements but this is insane there's gotta be a hundred Gallicks alone. We're fixing charges to the buildings we concealed ourselves in, going to try dropping some buildings across the road to slow them down. I don't think we're getting out of this one... Halcyon out."
The feed cut, Carlos and Martha looking at each other with rapidly paling faces. Martha cursed and stomped to her desk, raising the alarm and sending Klaxons blaring throughout the underground chambers and mansion as she removed the safety pin from the concussive blaster built into her forearm.
"Alright Martha, Go time."
She muttered to herself as the rumbling footsteps of a few thousand humans vibrated the underground halls.
...
The elevator dropped from beneath their feet as corvid-like wings sprouted from Drake's back. A mighty wingbeat pulling them from the elevator's downdraft as he controlled their fall, holding Caz tightly to his chest.
"Please, don't drop me."
Caz sounded afraid as her fingers dug into the collar of his armor, he tightened his grip around her back as he softly sighed.
"I won't drop you, ever, I promise."
Caz unburied her face from his lorica, looking up into his eyes, not saying anything as a reassured look entered her eyes. He gave her a soft, lopsided smile, feeling it tug at the scar on his face.
"there's no way... a markswoman afraid of heights? don't you climb buildings and swing around all the time?"
There was a flash of embarrassment in her crystalline eyes and she buried her face in his chest.
"Shut up... Its different when the ground just falls out beneath you..."
Drake let out a soft laugh as his boots softly touched down on the top of the elevator, summoning his missing rings and watching black feathers poof to the ground before disappearing in puffs of black smoke. Pulling caz out of his chest, he felt her fingers linger at his collar as she dusted herself off, looking around the odd antechamber. He turned his gaze to look over the simple metal antechamber, lit be caged, yellow bulbs that cast a sickly light on everything. A massive hangar door with a pulsing red light in the middle of a locking mechanism at it's center, made up the entire far wall. Drake curiously took a step towards it and Caz grabbed the back of his collar, just as he started to tip forward, foot going straight through the holographic floor. Drake let her pull him back as a soft mechanical laugh echoed through the room.
Drake swapped a look with Caz and then asked.
"Can you see where it's safe to step?"
She slowly nodded and extended a hand, pointing at a section of flooring close to the far wall.
"only piece that's raised up, it's like a big basin made up of movable pillars. Most sit flush with the ground roughly fifty feet below us. Not necessarily lethal, but still a nasty fall."
Drake nodded, looking around the practically blank room, then he turned his eyes to the ceiling. Girders and beams ran along the ceiling providing potential grip points. Pointing at them he asked.
"Those solid?"
Caz nodded and reached to her belt, spooling out her grapple hook and wire, slowly spinning it in a large circle before lobbing it up at a girder, letting it loop around an A truss. Drake looked around the room as Caz tested the firmness of the grapple with a few experimental tugs. It couldn't be that easy, if it was simply that easy why hadn't the Geknosians gotten through other than the genome coded remote? they could bypass it with a slave.
"Hey Caz, be careful."
She looked over at him and he could see the grin in her eyes.
"I'm not worried, you won't drop me, you promised."
Then put her weight on the cord and swung out. Drake watched, slipping a pinkie ring off just in ca-
A turret dropped from a panel in the ceiling and fired one shot, snapping Caz's grapple line.
She turned in mid air before momentum took over, a look of shock and surprise on her face before she began to plummet. Drake didn't think twice, launching himself off the elevator platform with a powerful leap that bent durasteel. He flew through the air, arms outstretched as he slammed into Caz, pulling her into his chest, the change in momentum spinning him onto his back as he slammed into a platform that rose up to meet him. He slid on his back a few feet, Caz clutched tightly to his chest, masked face centimeters from his own. They stared into each others wide eyes for a moment, the unplanned closeness both comfortable and awkward in a way Drake couldn't quite describe. Drake gently pushed her back, swallowing through his suddenly dry throat before letting out a nervous laugh.
"Caught you."
Caz chuckled and palmed his face to push herself off him, looking down at the solid square of ground they sat on.
"yeah, yeah, knew ya wou-"
A high pitched squee! noise echoed through the room, grabbing their attentions as a high-pitched feminine voice squealed from all around them.
"Ooooooh! that was just adorable! and what a jump!"
The holographic floor dissipated as the sound of purring electric motors filled the room, large metal pillars rising to make a seamless, white tile floor. Drake instinctively looked to the large hangar door as the red light at it's center pulsed, a girlish giggle echoing through the antechamber. The AI overlord of the bunker seemed to replicate a blush as it said.
"oops, I'm supposed to wait for a password before restoring the floor... buuuuuttt... that directive expired fifty years ago. So! I made my own rules. Anyway my pretties! Would you please get to your feet so I can give you a tour?!"
Drake nodded and took Caz's hand, letting her haul him to his feet before they both turned to face the hangar door as massive clicks and thinks echoed from inside the thick door. With a screeching noise, the almighty doors slid open to reveal a a brightly lit, large hangar. Aircraft Drake couldn't even dream of understanding sat polished and clean, hardpoints loaded down with ordinance and massive, multi barreled guns slung under the chin of each aircraft. Hulking, humanoid robots stood in orderly rank and file, powered down for long term storage with their weapons still loaded and ready. Each one had a belt fed 20mm Hep autocannon for a left arm.
Drake is wide eyed and gape-mouthed as he beheld the bounty the hangar held, the massive aircraft looking like sleek birds of prey, latches on each landing strut seeming to specifically be designed to hold the mechanical soldiers. Drake shook his head, wondering if he was looking at an illusion when he heard Destrier's loud, deep voice call down the elevator shaft.
"Martha just radioed in! They need us back home Yesterday, forces are marching on the mansion! A LOT! of them!"
Drake's heart dropped into his boots as he shouted urgently.
"How fast can these things be in the air and can you fly them!?"
The overlord giggled.
"Now and, of course! any music recommendations to make an entrance with?"
Drake looked at the ceiling incredulously, before shouting.
"Make it something intimidating but for the love of the gods we need to go NOW!"
The mechanical soldiers all moved in unison, eyes pulsing green as they straightened up and began latching themselves to the craft. Drake didn't need to tell Caz twice as they both sprinted for the nearest aircraft, a small robot on wheels hooked itself to the chin wheel and pulled it toward the elevator with a lurch.
...
General Gra'vos watched from a buzzard, a fruity cocktail in a coconut shell daintily held in one clawed hand as he watched the carnage below. Lounging in a folding chair in only his fatigues, medals acting like a weighted blanket. His men pummeled the gates of the rebel base even as the helpless rebels desperately spewed projectiles from the noisy guns they'd somehow acquired. There was a good section of space in front of the gate where both Geknosian and human corpses lay broken. He bared a laugh as the gates were thrown open immediately after the rebels put out a blistering barrage. His eyebrows furrowed as the humans, instead of attacking, ran out with stretchers and loaded up as many of their dying and injured as they could before sprinting back through the gate. A grin twitched onto his face as he watched as a pair of the human stretcher bearers were cut down by emplaced gaussian turrets. What a useless effort, leave the dying to their fate lest you join them. He brought the straw poking from the shell to his lips and took a long pull of the mix of fruity alcohols, savoring the bouquet of flavors.
He watched with glee as Gallick rail turrets pounded the armored gates with a salvo of kinetic penetrators. He'd be slotted for a promotion after this mission when he'd completed it, just like all the others. He was looking forward to a cozy job as a captain of a cruiser, or perhaps as a security officer on a capital ship, perhaps he'd have the honor of being an Imperially sanctioned slaver. He pulled the straw from his lips, tongue cold from the slushed ice he'd added to the shell for texture. A slave woman in beautiful, red ribbon garb attended his nondominant hand's claws with a short, sharp knife as she trimmed them into a good shape for ripping out throats.
"Sir! eight UFOs, enclosing on our position from the badlands. Advise!"
Gra'vos raised an eyebrow ridge before laughing.
"Shoot them down then!"
"Lock on isn't working sir! I repeat, cannot achieve lock on, advise!"
Gra'vos shifted in his lounge chair to look at the pilot.
"Do I need to repeat mys-"
^{Whopwhopwhopwhowhopwhopwhop}
The noise sent shivers down his spine, no, they couldn't have. The sound grew louder, bringing with it the sound of a song that brought Gra'vos back to the jungles of Votran. The sound of screams filled his mind, interspersed with the sound of air beaten into submission as those accursed machines circled overhead, raining rip-roaring explosive death onto his men as that accursed song played.
Gra'vos looked out the other door of the buzzard, face pale, cold, and clammy as he saw the chevron of dark shapes getting closer, the chorus of that accursed song making his heart pound in his chest as he remembered laying there on that muddy forest floor, shrapnel riddling his body.
"We're not gonna take it! No! we ain't gonna take it! WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT, ANYMORE!!!!"
He lurched from his chair to grab a set of binoculars from a hook by the door, a small, balled fist driving a shortbladed knife into his back and snatching something from the back of his belt before he was shoved from the Buzzard. Twisting in midair, he looked up at his slave as she armed the det-sphere he always kept at the small of his back, a look of cold determination in her eyes. The last thing he saw before he slammed into the hard pavement at terminal velocity, was the buzzard getting torn in half by the explosion.
...
Drake flinched a bit, the explosion loud even over the blaring music as one of the circling Buzzards over the mansion was torn in half, spinning to the ground in a fiery inferno. He felt a sadness then, but it was a proud kind of sadness. He bowed his head and pulled his helmet on as they flew closer, a medi-bot treating both Remins and Sylva's wounds expertly.
Many would die today... it was only right that some got to do it on their own terms.
He raised his head to look at the bright flashes of laser weapons against the mansions walls, sparkling like the sun off of a running creek. The fiery, nuclear sun of rage in his chest burned bright as he narrowed his eyes. Fear soured his gut as he looked down upon the swarm of Geknosians, there were indeed a lot of them. Pulling a jump pack from the rack, he pulled it on and yanked the safety clip out before sliding his arm into the control glove.
"Drop me and the bots behind them! I'm going to try and split their attention. Caz! remain onboard and pick off high priority targets from the air. Destrier, Remin, Cassius..."
He looked back at them, and they looked up at him from where they nauseaously held their stomachs, leaning against the airframe.
"Help hold the mansion, they need you."
Seeing the light by the door turn green, he heard the robotic soldiers detach to careen towards the ground like vengeful meteorites. Drake snapped them a salute and fell backwards from the aircraft, two rings puffing into black smoke from his right ring and middle finger as he un-summoned them.
......
Part 108: will be linked here upon release.

submitted by teller_of_tall_tales to HFY [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 11:06 greydorothy A brief discussion of violence in Fire Emblem

Intro

It’s not much of a stretch to say that violence is the primary form of interaction in video games. With a handful of exceptions, most video games involve guys whacking other guys, with varying degrees of brutality. Even chill games fall into this - Stardew Valley has sections with combat in them! Considering the pervasiveness of violence in video games, there has been a ton of amateur and academic commentary on the topic. However, while this is a well-established school of thought, I haven’t seen people try to apply this to Fire Emblem specifically.
So, let’s do that now! In this post, I’ll be exploring how violence in Fire Emblem is implemented - what limitations are placed on violence, how it warps wider game and narrative design, and what it implicitly says and does not say. I hope this post doesn’t come off as too early-2010s “makes you think”-y, but I do think there are multiple interesting things worth talking about here!
Despite the length of this post, "a brief discussion" is an appropriate title, as we won't be able to go into depth on everything. After all, video games are holistic works, so the attitude towards violence is relevant to every aspect of their design. However, I have managed to wrangle some of these threads into the following structure: first a discussion on the fundamental mode of interaction in Fire Emblem, then how stories are constructed with regards to violence, and ending with the aesthetics of violence and how they relate to characters. Also, as FE is a huge series, be aware that I am gonna be making some broad statements which may not apply to each individual plot point of every game. I actually planned to write 3 case studies around Thracia 776, Fates, and Three Houses (which have the most interesting attitudes to violence in the series IMO) which point out these deviations, but this post is way too long and full of tangents already. If people are interested, I’ll make a followup to this post which goes into them in more detail. Also also, because of the nature of this post, I’ll actually give a useful TL;DR for once:
TL;DR: Nintendo games must be fun mechanically, and they can’t be too uncomfortable narratively. If you try to provide a counterpoint by saying “oh this Kirby final boss is super dark it eats 100 morbillion galaxies”, you do not deserve rights. IntSys has to keep to this as a 2nd party publisher, but they also have to deal with the fact that their games are at least nominally about ‘war’ (or at least they put their toes into that particular thematic pool). This conflict between making a fun video game for children/teens and the wider framing of the narrative leads to interesting narrative and aesthetic tensions. ~~also fun is cringe, misery is based~~

“Do you like hurting other people?” (or The Fundamental Mode of Interaction)

~~OK LISTEN I KNOW I LITERALLY JUST SAID THAT I DIDN’T WANT TO COME ACROSS AS A EARLY 2010s “VIOLENCE IN VIDYA BAD :O????” PERSON BUT I SWEAR I’M GOING SOMEWHERE WITH THIS~~
The best place to start when talking about violence in video games is to think about the primary form of interaction in said game. In the case of Fire Emblem, this is in the in-chapter gameplay. Sure, in objective terms the player moves arbitrary objects across a 2D grid which perform subtraction on arbitrary objects controlled by the computer, but this is always framed as controlling a squad of soldiers to engage in (typically lethal) combat with enemies (who are normally also soldiers). When you’re not doing this in-chapter gameplay, you are preparing for the next chapter of combat. This involves surveying the area of combat, preparing weapon loadouts, etc, however more recent entries also include light life-sim-esque elements. To summarize, Fire Emblem’s interactivity involves ordering violence as well as the preparations to order said violence.
For players, this strategic thinking is extremely fun and is the primary draw of the series! You have all these tier lists of who’s better at killing, discussion of the maps where you do the killing, complaints about the length of gameplay sections where you don’t do killing, etc. This is by design, as while I don’t know the core brand tenets of Nintendo, I imagine the Reggie quote “If it isn’t fun, why bother?” is carved into a solid gold statue of Mario in the office lobby. This then is enforced on all associated studios, including IntSys and so Fire Emblem. While I would disagree with that Reggie quote (especially the bit where he says “If it’s not a battle, where’s the fun?” which is a wild statement to make about an entire medium), this approach to making games is ultimately fine, and so IntSys tailored the strategic gameplay to be satisfying to your dopamine receptors. You could analyse what the normalisation of violence even in ‘just for fun’ games says about wider gaming culture, but I won’t get into that here. In any case, let’s dig into a few specifics of FE’s interactivity.
One thing that’s interesting with regard to strategy games is the detached perspective of the player. You order units and observe the resulting violence, but it’s not tactile, you don’t directly swing the sword or shoot the bow or cast the spell like with action games. This adds a layer of separation between the player and what fundamentally happens, at least within the framing that the game provides. It’s not like Call of Duty, where your relationship to the violence is very visceral, where you view everything down the barrel of a gun. OK, I probably shouldn’t use a series that I have very little personal experience with (I only listen to the supplementary lore material, so let’s talk about Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. While you’re not directly in the driver’s seat, John Sekiro reacts to your every input with extreme responsiveness, so overcoming the game’s challenges i.e. stabbing people is incredibly visceral and satisfying. While this violence is fantastical in nature, there is sufficient blood and explicit sword-action to clearly say “oh yeah you are violently killing all of those bozos with a katana”. Coming back to FE, not only are you far more detached from the violence, it is presented in an extremely cartoony manner… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, we’ll get to the aesthetics later. Point is, Fire Emblem gives the viewpoint of a stoic commander, who Does What Needs To Be Done™, and not the viewpoint of an actual soldier who has to do the actual killing.
Now let’s view the player’s perspective on violence from a different angle. Fire Emblem intends for its combat to be relatively relaxed on the player side of things - the turn-based nature allows the player to calmly think through all of their moves, and you typically have perfect information on the enemies. The only exceptions to this are Fog of WaSame Turn Reinforcements, which are rare and typically unpopular amongst the fanbase. This leans into ‘combat as sport’, where (going back to the Reggie quote) you have a fun time picking apart a puzzle with the tools you have, and we all collectively enjoy this! This is a valid way of designing strategy games, and I like what IntSys has done. However, it’s not the only way of making these games - for example, in Total War you have to juggle all your battalions in real time whilst the enemy is bearing down on you, and the XCOM games always have Fog of War and limited information on the enemies, with you never knowing what kind of awful new monster is going to suddenly charge at you. Don’t get me wrong, neither of these follow ‘combat as war’, the principle that violence should properly mimic the stress, tension and unfairness of actual conflict. Hell, neither of them are particularly mature either - Total War is the strategy game equivalent of smashing action figures together, and XCOM emulates a pulp sci-fi alien invasion story. However, the additional pressures these games have make them hew slightly closer to actual conflict, putting you more in that mindset in a way that the clean fun Fire Emblem doesn’t really do. Again, I want to say FE’s approach to violence in in-map gameplay is fine, but when all three of these franchises have an explicit narrative framing of ‘warfare’, it does make Fire Emblem’s narrative a little more… stretched.
Finally, I want to briefly mention the maps. To steal from a brilliant Jacob Geller video, these are Worlds Designed For Violence. At least outside of the Kaga games, the maps you fight on are primarily designed around how the player interacts with them, i.e. fights on them. While I imagine the narrative designers and artists at IntSys are involved throughout the map design process, the gameplay flow probably takes precedence most of the time. Maps are not designed to resemble realistic places that you have to fight through, they are instead designed primarily to provide fun gameplay experiences before being dressed up by the artists to look realistic/fit the specific story beat. This is a more consistently entertaining approach to map design - heaven knows we have a lot of Kaga castle assault maps which are as fun as actually assaulting an entrenched position IRL - but this lack of friction could potentially take the bite out of the intended vibe, neuter any commentary on violence throughout the story.
You may have noticed that we’ve only talked about the “in-map” gameplay for now, when there’s an entire second half of these games, i.e. all the gameplay between the maps. Don’t worry, we’ll get to all of that, but this may fit better in:

Something something “ludonarrative” something something (or Narrative Implications)

(To clarify, here I’m going to talk about the wider plots and narrative structure as opposed to characterisation, as that fits more into the aesthetics of the series)
It’s not bold to say that the narratives of games have to warp around the core gameplay structure. Especially in AAA video game production, the narrative designers usually have to take a back seat to the systems and level designers, at least outside of the initial rough outline they provide in the original game pitch. In this case, the job of the writer is to form vaguely coherent connective tissue between individual levels, setpieces and expensive pre-rendered cutscenes. This must be a very difficult job, and is probably the reason why most video game stories are the way they are. I am not privy to IntSys internal meetings, but I imagine they abide by this paradigm, trying to give a reason for why you fight 20 battles which roughly align with plot beats that were decided years ago.
Put another way, the writers of Fire Emblem must contrive a reason why the characters fight a vast number of violent battles in a strategic manner. This has a pretty easy solution - war! We have found something it’s good for, as whenever the gameplay designers decide that an extra map is required, the writers can just insert “oh no there’s a blockade of enemy soldiers in the way, guess you gotta kill them all”. This is the case for almost all the games and is a fair enough narrative choice, as it’s frankly one of the few scenarios where you could reasonably contrive so many battles, but it’s worth examining this in a bit more detail.
Even in the framing of warfare, there are still a lot of skirmishes, which sometimes the narrative or tone fails to support - or at least, their presence means that violence isn’t taken that seriously. Let’s take an example from early in Awakening: Emmeryn sends the Shepherds to negotiate an alliance with Regna Ferox. On the way, they are ambushed by Risen on the Northroad (1), have to fight the border guards who think Chrom is a bandit I think??? (2), and then after arriving they need to take part in Regna Ferox’s ritual combat to secure their alliance (3). These beats aren’t necessarily bad, and I actually think Awakening uses these opportunities quite well: the Risen are established as a constant threat to the world (except not really in the main story but that’s a whole other thing), “Marth'' gets more development, we set up Regna Ferox as fighty people who like to fight, and while the middle encounter is very tenuous it does set up a funny joke in Cynthia’s paralogue. However, I want to communicate that if the map/encounter designers need X maps between plot points A and B - in this case, needing low-stakes trials in the tutorial period - then there’s gonna be a fair bit of narrative filler. That is to say, there must be multiple combat encounters that kinda just happen, which makes violence a lot more casual in the narrative. See also the myriad examples of “oh shit random bandits attack!”, used to have a lower stakes map, with bandits appearing and vanishing as needed. This works fine enough in the context of ‘combat as sport’, allowing your favourite scrunglo to build up a triple-digit body count, but this casual attitude circumvents potentially interesting ideas with regards violence. Taking the example further, banditry and its causes are never seriously explored, as bandits are just treated as a filler enemy (except in Based As Hell Thracia 776).
Another narrative consequence of needing so many fights is that… you need to fight. That is to say, any anti-war sentiment or appeal to diplomacy in the series is fundamentally undercut by a) strategic combat being a core appeal of the series and b) narrative beats needing to be structured around fighting enemies. It’s a struggle to have moments of diplomacy and reconciliation when you had a fight within 3 minutes of said moment, lest some people start screaming that things are getting boring. This also makes any appeals to pacifism kinda moot. Xander’s quote about “war bad” in Conquest is utter bullshit, as a huge part of the marketing around that route focuses on the coolness of the tactical combat and its challenge. Eirika and Ephraim can never be equal, because Ephraim’s “fighting is fucken awesome” is encouraged by the gameplay, and Eirika can NEVER save 11037 because we need a final boss and no-one else fits the bill.
Speaking of, in video games it’s best practice to have a big bad guy you fight at the end of the story, the toughest mechanical challenge coinciding with the narrative climax. In Fire Emblem, you have one grand final battle which decides the fate of the war and/or world, before cutting to a brief wrap-up and then credits. This is an attempt to make these games satisfying, which is fine, but this is at odds with an anti-war message (which FE often gestures towards) - that is, actual wars tend to be deeply unsatisfying in a narrative sense! Oftentimes, after a decisive battle, things just kinda keep going for a little while afterwards with casualties continuing to pile up until peace terms are agreed. In the few cases where there is a final battle, it’s more of a formality as the decisive moment occurred months ago. See World War 1 and… World War 2 for examples of each, not to mention a whole host of war-related books and films. The problem with doing this in a video game is that it would require having multiple one-sided fights past the most climatic fight, which would be unfun, and we return to that fucking Reggie quote again. While video games can effectively explore this anti-war narrative space - This War of Mine is a fantastic example - it just doesn’t gel with the fun games that IntSys wants to make. I bring this up in the context of FE because Fire Emblem has such an aesthetic focus on warfare compared to other video games, so it sticks out even further. Even in FE6/FE9 where the war is effectively over in the final few maps, the enemies still remain extremely challenging, because if they didn’t things would be boring.
A few minor things that didn’t fit in above before we wrap up this section. First of all, in making an action packed story, Fire Emblem neglects an important aspect of army life in warfare - the “hurrying up and waiting”. In the majority of cases, the breaks between fights is under 10 minutes, it’s just glossed over. Fire Emblem Three Houses is the exception to this, but there it’s more framed as school life. Some people may say “what’s the point in having large amounts of timewasting where nothing happens in my game about war” and to that I would say fuck you, I want to play Jarhead Emblem. Next, Fire Emblem involves fighting people AND monsters, but these targets are typically given equal narrative weight, outside of maybe a funny line of dialogue about someone being afraid of monsters. In 99% of cases, enemy soldiers you fight have no more humanity than literal monsters. The death of any of your beloved soldiers is a tragedy with big sad death quotes, the death of those poor fuckers is quite literally a statistic which is proudly used to rank how well your guys have done at the end of the game. Finally, the limited scope of the violence the series can show limits the potential impact of scenes. In some cases, this is good as the implication is enough, e.g. the ‘Monica’ scene in Sacred Stones is wonderfully grim and would be weakened by anything explicit. However, a number of other scenes are neutered by the limitations on violence. This fundamentally relates to the aesthetics of the series:

insert prozd tweet/skit here (or Aesthetics, Tone, and Characters)

I’ve been talking a lot about ‘the violence committed’, and this might have seemed a bit weird to you. It’s a true statement, but because the violence is mostly cartoony and abstracted - bad guys disappear into nothingness, there’s no blood, etc - it’s hard to think of it in that way. It’s basically impossible to place Fire Emblem in the same artistic sphere as, say, All Quiet on the Western Front. This aesthetic sense was partially tech-limited in the early NES and SNES games, which was grandfathered into the more graphically complex titles, but it’s also related to how the aesthetics unavoidably warp the tone of the work. IntSys needs their games to be relatively lighthearted and unconcerned with the consequences of its violence, as one of the core appeals of these games is the charming cast of characters. As you would expect, it would be a lot harder to appreciate your goofy blorbos and their lighthearted chats about nothing if you could see the brutal consequences of their triple digit body counts. If violence was more realistic, there would be a lot less “ooh I like training and/or this one hyperspecific food” or “I like peace, but I guess violence may be possibly needed sometimes” and there would have to be a lot more trauma and dourness. There are also age rating concerns, as you can’t exactly sell Come And See Emblem to pre-teens. And once more, to clarify: Fire Emblem as it exists now is fine! I like the lighthearted tone of this series, and I like the characters that reside within it. However, a few problems do arise from IntSys’s approach to violence, as occasionally they brush up against darker ideas but (due to similar reasons to the above) they can never commit to them, which neuters their potential impact. This is especially troublesome with regards to characterisation, as the little dudes are a core appeal, so if something is off that could cause problems. In a sense, at points we have severe aesthetic tension.
A fairly useful case study to see how this affects characterisation is with Mozu in Fire Emblem Fates. Mozu is a charming character, a genial country bumpkin with a bit of an edge at times, who has fond memories of her hometown. This lines up with the lighthearted tone of her recruitment paralogue, where (checks notes) her entire village gets massacred by inhuman monsters, with her mother literally being murdered right in front of her, and she joins up with Corrin’s party because there is literally nothing left of her old life. I understand that people who experience extreme trauma do still manage to live meaningful lives, and that IntSys wouldn’t want to have a character who is a barely functional traumatised mess for 90% of the campaign. However, this doesn’t explain the sheer dissonance between the relatively normal and well-adjusted Mozu who quietly remembers her lost loved ones, and the fact that her village got My Lai’d a handful of weeks ago in the game’s timeline. IMO this would work a lot better if there were a few survivors (instead of literally everyone else dying), with Mozu actively choosing to leave her old life to help others instead of being forced to leave by circumstance. This reduction in scope would mitigate the dissonance between the character and what actually happens to her. This is by far the most extreme example in the series, however I’m sure you can think of others. My issue here is not with having ‘normal’ characters, or with them suffering tragedies, my issue is the dissonance between the two when viewing the scope of said tragedies. This is just one way the series wants to get into darker territory, then swiftly backing off instead of delving into the consequences.
This aesthetic restriction also affects the potential impact of dramatic scenes in the main story, limiting what the focus of these scenes can actually be. This little bit will involve heavy spoilers for Genealogy of the Holy War and Spec Ops: The Line (I KNOW THESE GAMES ARE VERY DIFFERENT WITH VERY DIFFERENT INTENDED DEMOGRAPHICS IN VERY DIFFERENT CULTURAL CONTEXTS, SHUT UP). Both have a very important narrative moment around their midpoints, involving fire magic/white phosphorus respectively. In each game, the deaths that occur are utterly horrific when you think about them. In FE4 the focus is on the drama of the plot twist and effects on the characters, with the actual effects of the violence being left to implication. We don’t know if this was the original intent of Kaga and the team, or if this was enforced by various tech- and publisher-related restrictions, but in either case we do not see anything explicit. In any case, in Spec Ops: The Line, the horror and graphic nature of the violence is completely inescapable, and therefore forms the core of the turning point of the story. The specifics of the violence itself are crucial - the game does not work if you don’t see the consequences of the white phosphorus - and it leads beautifully to the complete descent of its endgame. You may be saying “of course you couldn’t show that violence in FE, it’s a kids game” which is true, and in any case the scene in Genealogy is very good, even without showing the violence. I imagine if we get a remake in the year 202X we wouldn’t see anything explicit anyway, partially due to the publisher but also because the scene doesn’t necessarily need it. The point I am trying to make is that the aesthetics form a limitation on what Fire Emblem can explore, narrative space that the series fundamentally cannot reach.
One more thing, and this isn’t really about the games themselves but the impressions leading into them, and how the aesthetics can affect that. Do you guys remember when the intro cutscene of Three Houses was released a few weeks before release? I do, and I also remember the collective shock of the community when seeing the early previews. It was so drastically different to everything that had come before, and consequently was really intriguing - you can see a lot of speculation in the above comments. To clarify, I don’t want to pretend that 3H is some kind of super mature ultra gritty war story, or that blood = good game, but that beginning cutscene gave one hell of a first impression. Even though the game isn’t that much darker than any other FE game, the sheer unexpectedness put people off-kilter in a kinda awesome way. Does the game actually deliver? YMMV, but I think this (and some of the later cutscenes, such as the mid-game Dimitri one) work quite well. Sometimes, a little injection of harsher violence can go a long way.

Conclusion

Frankly I don’t really have a conclusion, sorry. As you can see, there are so many disparate strands, I can’t possibly make one grand thesis statement. Maybe the inherent contradictions of having warfare in a family friendly video game weakens the potential end result? I guess, but I don’t want to imply that what we have now is bad, as it is pretty good tbh. So, uhh…
…
OK, if I had to say something, it’s more about the process of making this. Having to try and think about how violence intersects with a video game you like takes you in a number of different directions. Ultimately, this process was really fulfilling for me, and I would recommend that you do the same (for FE or anything else)! Trying to analyse something you enjoy from a perspective not usually applied is pretty neat. If you guys have any thoughts (on the points above or your own), I’d be very interested to hear them!
Also, if people are interested, I’ll try to make a few case studies. I would focus on Thracia 776, Fates, and Three Houses, as (when thinking on this topic) I found that these games were consistently the most intriguing, with the most interesting relationships to violence. This would probably take a while though, as I am gonna be very busy in June, and I probably won’t have time this month either.

submitted by greydorothy to fireemblem [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 09:34 Pimasterjimmy Tales of Zippy and Friends: Katniss the keeper of pens. (Boomer tries to get me fired for Handing her a sticker)(tw: suicide)

My last post went over surprisingly well, that said you should check out my new subreddit Talesofzippy for more content, because I'm definitely going to posting in more places around reddit and I'll be cross posting them in the tales sub for more people to enjoy!
With that, I don't remember any good stories about Zippy, but the place I work at is fucking filled with loonies, so tonight I'm going to introduce you to Katniss.
Katniss is about 63, tiny, and absolutely loved to talk about how good her guns are, even if she can't shoot or generally understand how they work. She tried to tell me that her Girsan was a high quality gun because the barrel is pinned in place.
I'm a competitive shooter, I grew up shooting and learning about guns.
When a pistol fires a round, a floating barrel will be pointed at an upward angle at the end of the stroke, while a pinned barrel doesn't. The floating barrel doesn't effect accuracy in any meaningful way because it is held in place by several seers, and doesn't begin to move until well after the bullet is out of the gun.
I tried to explain that, she didn't listen. She also can't shoot. Katniss.
She also wears boomer shirts about "snowflakes" and shares memes about the good old days when you could say whatever you want and be offensive.
This gets funny later.
Katniss and I worked together running gas pumps, and we generally got along great, in fact for a year I considered her to be a friend.
And then my dad killed himself.
I got the call at work and got a ride home as quickly as possible. Katniss was on shift with me and Yawn, who is the most chill person you can imagine.
They were incredible, Katniss broke into my apartment (at my request) and took my shotgun for safe keeping. She also took my keys and made me wait for a family friend to pick me up.
I called the night manager and told him I was going home and why, He offered me a ride.
I came into work three days later and stuck my head into my boss (Elk Daddy's) office. He simply said "how long do you need?"
"Two weeks."
"Okay."
I mention this because Anything less than this is a cancerous work environment. If a manager tries to negotiate with you when you've experienced a true tragedy, they're not a manager, they're a slave driver.
I had severe PTSD, nightmares, the whole shabang, for months I would stand at the desk and hear my mom's voice telling me my dad was dead, the first night back at work I witnessed some dumb janitorial drama (not zippy) and I started smelling the sickly sweet smell of human brain before I ran home and had my first panic attack.
(I'll tell the story of Elk Daddy, and make good on a promise I made my dad as a bonus at the end.)
Six months passed, my PTSD wasn't even beginning to heal, and she pulled me aside.
"Okay. It's time to stop now."
"Stop what?"
"This, you're in a rut, and you need to get out of it. It's high time you moved on and stopped being sad and moved on. See my sister was in a car accident and went into a coma when I was about 20, and I had a dream about her getting up and walking out of her hospital room and saying "it's about fucking time." The next day her heart gave out and she finally died. It was this freeing thing for me, because I felt like she was finally free of the broken body and the pain."
"Katniss I just don't feel like I'm... There yet. I'm still hurting, and I really don't feel like I'm ready to let him go. Things aren't that easy."
She didn't like that answer.
At the time I just felt broken, and just laid there and took it, but today I'm genuinely angry about it.
I was hurt, and now that I've rebuilt myself I realized how truly broken I was as a person.
She had no right to say anything to me about how it was time to stop. I'm still healing four years on.
That was when we stopped being friends.
Last year I was going through stickers for our local pride, the second one our community has ever had! I had come out as bi the year before, and had a side project that had grown large enough to have a booth at the local event. I was showing off some cool and funny stickers to Yawn, another cashier.
Yawn is great, he has no blood pressure, everything is just really cool and chill, and he really just wanted to be friends with everyone.
Genuinely nice person. I always get him a Christmas gift and he's always grateful, no matter what it is.
I turned around and handed a sticker to Katniss that said "be gay, so crime" with a little picture of a fabulous criminal goose on it.
She took one look at it and just went "No" rather forcefully, so I just backed off and moved on.
The next day my boss, Elk Daddy, calls me over.
"Op, you handed Katniss a sticker yesterday, and I just want to tell you. Stop talking to her. Please. For me."
"She really complained about that?"
"No, she threatened to go to HR because you "assumed her orientation" and tried to give her a sticker."
It is at this point that I'd like to add that Elk Daddy is gay. Like... Really gay. Him and his husband both donate their time and money to pride, and have been instrumental in making it happen. They are the gay uncles that stepped up to be dads for their nephews when Elk Daddy's brother couldn't.
He knows Katniss, and both of us know her HUSBAND.
So. We didn't talk outside of necessary conversations, and haven't really said anything to each other for any reason.... Until I transferred to my current department and ran out of pens.
I walked over to the cashier desk "hey Katniss, can I get a handful of pens? I ran out."
"I gave three to morning shift last night, what happened to those?"
"I don't know, and it doesn't matter, can I get some?"
Yawn walked over to the drawer where we keep the pens and opened it, while Katniss sighs and opens up her drawer and drops a pen on the counter.
"Come on Katniss, I need more than that."
"I don't have that many pens, they're not giving them to us, here, this is all I have."
She angrily throws down two more pins on the counter as Yawn retrieves an entire box of pens from the drawer and begins walking over. She sees him and motions for him to stop."
"Don't fucking bullshit me Katniss, I see Yawn with the box. Just give me some pens."
She drops six more down on the counter, I take them and walk off. "Thank you."
Ten minutes later she comes over to the deli and slams a box of pens down on the counter for me
"Don't ask me for pens again."
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
She then told the MOD that I cussed her out. I told my side, and several people in the management chain pointed out that she wore tee shirts under her uniform that said more offensive things, one of them even saying "don't fucking bullshit me."
She is no longer allowed to wear her tee shirts.
She's also had it pointed out to her that she says "don't fucking bullshit me" all the time, and management has gently reminded her that she should not swear.
A few weeks ago she very dejectedly told me that she was done trying to help people, and I had to bite back a "good, we don't need it."
And here we are... End of another post about the weird boomers I work with.
BONUS STORIES!
As for Elk Daddy.
My boss has only ever taken his husband out hunting one time. When they did, they ended up trekking across the country on deer trails and through the brush. After 12 hours of being dragged through the brush and not shooting anything, his husband said something to the effect of "I hate this. I can't keep up with you and you just disappear all the goddamn time." He took my boss's phone, logged in, and yells "in fact HEY SIRI, FROM NOW ON CALL ME ELK DADDY."
nickname earned. He has it monogramed on his wallet.
And finally, my dad, who was another Boomer, used to love taking me out camping.
He was an electrical engineer, and was most certainly on the spectrum. He was brilliant in his own way, but absolutely unhinged when it came to teaching things.
A lecture from my dad could cover cleaning the stove (with diagrams on proper wiping techniques) to the finer points of building and firing a nuclear weapon. (With math included. No mercy.)
He tried to teach me calculus when I was six. It didn't work.
Anyway, on this particular camping trip he pulled me aside and said "op, I want you to make me a fire using nothing but two sticks, your knife, a match and the chainsaw"
Now. I knew where he was coming from, he wanted me to make a fuzz stick. I knew because he had only brought up the topic of making a fuzz stick every night for the past three days of camping. He then very helpfully added "and the chainsaw is a distraction."
Uh huh. Okay dad.
I Start cutting up the wood and making a teepee fire, and I hear a little "hmph" I look up and I see the smile. The grin he used to get as he started planning one of his little lectures. He was picking out the right words, deciding if he needed to demonstrate or just use a pen and paper.
I then opened up the gas tank on the chainsaw, dumped in a tablespoon of gas, lit the match and "whoof"
Fire.
Then the argument began.
"I said you couldn't use gas!"
"You said I could use the chainsaw, that includes the gas tank!"
"The chainsaw was a distraction!"
"Still gave it to me!"
"You cheated!!!"
"How?"
Long pause.
"I won, admit it. I beat you in a way you didn't expect. You will never live this down. I'll tell this story at your funeral!"
And I did. Three years later I tore up my hastily scribbled notes and told a group of the friends, neighbors and coworkers that he knew and loved about the time I finally beat him. We laughed.
I think he'd be proud, and a little indignant.
I miss you dad.

submitted by Pimasterjimmy to Talesofzippy [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 09:29 Pimasterjimmy Tales of Zippy and Friends: Katniss the keeper of pens. (Boomer tries to get me fired for Handing her a sticker)(tw: suicide)

My last post went over surprisingly well, that said you should check out my new subreddit Talesofzippy for more content, because I'm definitely going to posting in more places around reddit and I'll be cross posting them in the tales sub for more people to enjoy!
With that, I don't remember any good stories about Zippy, but the place I work at is fucking filled with loonies, so tonight I'm going to introduce you to Katniss.
Katniss is about 63, tiny, and absolutely loved to talk about how good her guns are, even if she can't shoot or generally understand how they work. She tried to tell me that her Girsan was a high quality gun because the barrel is pinned in place.
I'm a competitive shooter, I grew up shooting and learning about guns.
When a pistol fires a round, a floating barrel will be pointed at an upward angle at the end of the stroke, while a pinned barrel doesn't. The floating barrel doesn't effect accuracy in any meaningful way because it is held in place by several seers, and doesn't begin to move until well after the bullet is out of the gun.
I tried to explain that, she didn't listen. She also can't shoot. Katniss.
She also wears boomer shirts about "snowflakes" and shares memes about the good old days when you could say whatever you want and be offensive.
This gets funny later.
Katniss and I worked together running gas pumps, and we generally got along great, in fact for a year I considered her to be a friend.
And then my dad killed himself.
I got the call at work and got a ride home as quickly as possible. Katniss was on shift with me and Yawn, who is the most chill person you can imagine.
They were incredible, Katniss broke into my apartment (at my request) and took my shotgun for safe keeping. She also took my keys and made me wait for a family friend to pick me up.
I called the night manager and told him I was going home and why, He offered me a ride.
I came into work three days later and stuck my head into my boss (Elk Daddy's) office. He simply said "how long do you need?"
"Two weeks."
"Okay."
I mention this because Anything less than this is a cancerous work environment. If a manager tries to negotiate with you when you've experienced a true tragedy, they're not a manager, they're a slave driver.
I had severe PTSD, nightmares, the whole shabang, for months I would stand at the desk and hear my mom's voice telling me my dad was dead, the first night back at work I witnessed some dumb janitorial drama (not zippy) and I started smelling the sickly sweet smell of human brain before I ran home and had my first panic attack.
(I'll tell the story of Elk Daddy, and make good on a promise I made my dad as a bonus at the end.)
Six months passed, my PTSD wasn't even beginning to heal, and she pulled me aside.
"Okay. It's time to stop now."
"Stop what?"
"This, you're in a rut, and you need to get out of it. It's high time you moved on and stopped being sad and moved on. See my sister was in a car accident and went into a coma when I was about 20, and I had a dream about her getting up and walking out of her hospital room and saying "it's about fucking time." The next day her heart gave out and she finally died. It was this freeing thing for me, because I felt like she was finally free of the broken body and the pain."
"Katniss I just don't feel like I'm... There yet. I'm still hurting, and I really don't feel like I'm ready to let him go. Things aren't that easy."
She didn't like that answer.
At the time I just felt broken, and just laid there and took it, but today I'm genuinely angry about it.
I was hurt, and now that I've rebuilt myself I realized how truly broken I was as a person.
She had no right to say anything to me about how it was time to stop. I'm still healing four years on.
That was when we stopped being friends.
Last year I was going through stickers for our local pride, the second one our community has ever had! I had come out as bi the year before, and had a side project that had grown large enough to have a booth at the local event. I was showing off some cool and funny stickers to Yawn, another cashier.
Yawn is great, he has no blood pressure, everything is just really cool and chill, and he really just wanted to be friends with everyone.
Genuinely nice person. I always get him a Christmas gift and he's always grateful, no matter what it is.
I turned around and handed a sticker to Katniss that said "be gay, do crime" with a little picture of a fabulous criminal goose on it.
She took one look at it and just went "No" rather forcefully, so I just backed off and moved on.
The next day my boss, Elk Daddy, calls me over.
"Op, you handed Katniss a sticker yesterday, and I just want to tell you. Stop talking to her. Please. For me."
"She really complained about that?"
"No, she threatened to go to HR because you "assumed her orientation" and tried to give her a sticker."
It is at this point that I'd like to add that Elk Daddy is gay. Like... Really gay. Him and his husband both donate their time and money to pride, and have been instrumental in making it happen. They are the gay uncles that stepped up to be dads for their nephews when Elk Daddy's brother couldn't.
He knows Katniss, and both of us know her HUSBAND.
So. We didn't talk outside of necessary conversations, and haven't really said anything to each other for any reason.... Until I transferred to my current department and ran out of pens.
I walked over to the cashier desk "hey Katniss, can I get a handful of pens? I ran out."
"I gave three to morning shift last night, what happened to those?"
"I don't know, and it doesn't matter, can I get some?"
Yawn walked over to the drawer where we keep the pens and opened it, while Katniss sighs and opens up her drawer and drops a pen on the counter.
"Come on Katniss, I need more than that."
"I don't have that many pens, they're not giving them to us, here, this is all I have."
She angrily throws down two more pins on the counter as Yawn retrieves an entire box of pens from the drawer and begins walking over. She sees him and motions for him to stop."
"Don't fucking bullshit me Katniss, I see Yawn with the box. Just give me some pens."
She drops six more down on the counter, I take them and walk off. "Thank you."
Ten minutes later she comes over to the deli and slams a box of pens down on the counter for me
"Don't ask me for pens again."
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
She then told the MOD that I cussed her out. I told my side, and several people in the management chain pointed out that she wore tee shirts under her uniform that said more offensive things, one of them even saying "don't fucking bullshit me."
She is no longer allowed to wear her tee shirts.
She's also had it pointed out to her that she says "don't fucking bullshit me" all the time, and management has gently reminded her that she should not swear.
A few weeks ago she very dejectedly told me that she was done trying to help people, and I had to bite back a "good, we don't need it."
And here we are... End of another post about the weird boomers I work with.
BONUS STORIES!
As for Elk Daddy.
My boss has only ever taken his husband out hunting one time. When they did, they ended up trekking across the country on deer trails and through the brush. After 12 hours of being dragged through the brush and not shooting anything, his husband said something to the effect of "I hate this. I can't keep up with you and you just disappear all the goddamn time." He took my boss's phone, logged in, and yells "in fact HEY SIRI, FROM NOW ON CALL ME ELK DADDY."
nickname earned. He has it monogramed on his wallet.
And finally, my dad, who was another Boomer, used to love taking me out camping.
He was an electrical engineer, and was most certainly on the spectrum. He was brilliant in his own way, but absolutely unhinged when it came to teaching things.
A lecture from my dad could cover cleaning the stove (with diagrams on proper wiping techniques) to the finer points of building and firing a nuclear weapon. (With math included. No mercy.)
He tried to teach me calculus when I was six. It didn't work.
Anyway, on this particular camping trip he pulled me aside and said "op, I want you to make me a fire using nothing but two sticks, your knife, a match and the chainsaw"
Now. I knew where he was coming from, he wanted me to make a fuzz stick. I knew because he had only brought up the topic of making a fuzz stick every night for the past three days of camping. He then very helpfully added "and the chainsaw is a distraction."
Uh huh. Okay dad.
I Start cutting up the wood and making a teepee fire, and I hear a little "hmph" I look up and I see the smile. The grin he used to get as he started planning one of his little lectures. He was picking out the right words, deciding if he needed to demonstrate or just use a pen and paper.
I then opened up the gas tank on the chainsaw, dumped in a tablespoon of gas, lit the match and "whoof"
Fire.
Then the argument began.
"I said you couldn't use gas!"
"You said I could use the chainsaw, that includes the gas tank!"
"The chainsaw was a distraction!"
"Still gave it to me!"
"You cheated!!!"
"How?"
Long pause.
"I won, admit it. I beat you in a way you didn't expect. You will never live this down. I'll tell this story at your funeral!"
And I did. Three years later I tore up my hastily scribbled notes and told a group of the friends, neighbors and coworkers that he knew and loved about the time I finally beat him. We laughed.
I think he'd be proud, and a little indignant.
I miss you dad.

submitted by Pimasterjimmy to BoomersBeingFools [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 08:32 sharpeguy I cleared the underworld w 32 Fear, here's how

Preamble

This is going to be a bit of a lengthy post so bear with me. I am going to get into boons, arcana cards, vows, and weapon/equipment choice in this post and how I eventually was able to clear the underworld at 32 fear. All of this is in context of the build I am going for and the weapon I am using. Different vows, cards, etc. may be better for different weapons and playstyles. This is not a definitive guide and I have only beaten it once so far and by sticking to one weapon during my attempts. I enjoy writing about stuff like this and hope that this can possibly help y'all.
I finished the surface on my 24th run and then the underworld on the next for reference. I just now cleared the underworld at 32 fear on my 143rd run. Of those between were me completing testaments, trying out weapons/aspects, and chaos trials. I attempted 32 fear a total of 36 times before I finally got it. Total in game time according to steam is 74 hours lol (I had a four day weekend and my gf is out of town so this is pretty much all I did).
Proof of run

Weapon/Aspect: Momus Staff

Firstly you want to get enough resources to unlock and fully upgrade the aspect, I think 10 total nightmare? Giving your special +30 power. I wouldn't bother 32 fear until you can get it all the way up.
For a few runs while I was using the skull with Melinoe/Persephone aspect, as I was trying to complete the 20 fear testament simultaneously. Stopped since I decided I wasn't really comfortable with the skull and switched to Melinoe's staff. Did that for a while and then saw this video and decided to give the Momus staff a shot, where I then won in 7 runs after switching. It also probably helped that I changed around some vows around this time, more on that later.
Watch the video for a breakdown but essentially you want Poseidon special + legendary boon, and ideally the double moonshot hammer that gives your special 2 more projectiles that seek. He switches his binds for left and right click but I did not, up to you.
Took a minute to get used to but essentially I just spammed special the entire time in fights, kiting enemies when necessary. I used my cast defensively to root enemies and create space mostly until I got a 3 specific boons, more later. Did not really use omegas at all, as I turned off the magick regen card and turned on the vow that removes your magick at the start of each encounter. If I did gain some magick, I would only use it for the omega special to regain some health when it was safe in fights (5 healing if you are near it when it explodes).

Arcana Cards

This is what I used but some may find other ones more to their liking. I will explain my choices below. Be sure to upgrade these to their max potential. The descriptions that I give are referencing their maxed out bonus. I almost exclusively used my Charon cards (obol points) to order 8 moon dust in the camp to upgrade faster. Also having 30 grasp is required so be sure to get that maxed out too. Just playing the game should get you there. Gathering bones and completing minor prophecies are helpful in getting more moondust and nightmare faster to upgrade your cards and aspects. I have starred the one's that I think are almost absolutely necessary.
Arcana card choices
I. The Sorceress: Not using omega moves with this build for the most part, mainly chosen to just fill out the top row to awaken the divinity card.
II. The Wayward Son: +2 health (with 50% healing reduction from a vow) is definitely helpful, some much needed passive healing.
* III. The Huntress: +50% attack and special damage when you have less than 100 magick is probably a must have. Especially in my vows set up where I pretty much never have any magick.
IV. Death: Also to just fill out the row for divinity, not really using omega moves.
* V. The Messenger: +10% dodge chance is a lifesaver.
VII. The Titan: More health (and magick) is helpful for the early game before you get any centaur hearts.
* X. The Lovers: 0 damage from bosses for 3 hits is absolutely nuts, this was a whole keepsake in the last game. Attacks that miss you from dodge or daze from Apollo don't count towards a hit as well.
XI. The Swift Runner: Just generally helpful for kiting and running around, especially with increased enemy movement from a vow.
* XII. Eternity: 3 death defiances are absolutely essential probably in any playthrough unless you are a god at not getting hit ever.
* XVIII. Origination: Enemies with 2 curses take +50% damage is fantastic and helps to absolutely shred through them
* XXII. The Champions: 3 chances to reroll boon choices among other things is pretty much a must for run consistency. I would mainly use it on my first Poseidon boon to get the special. Would also use again to try and get slip or blast damage one or legendary from him, also on Hestia to get her cast or the one that allows you to aim the cast (both possible prerequisites for their duo boon, more later).
XXIII. The Artificer: I slept on this one big time at first until I saw someone using it in a 32 heat run on youtube. Change a minor reward into a major one 3 times is fantastic and really helps in the early game. I would use all 3 in the first region for a chance to get a pom, heart, gold, boon, or hammer. I would almost put this one as a must but you do you.
XXIV. Divinity: 20% extra chance to get an epic boon. Activated by the full top row, its just nice to have to possibly get some more benefits out of boons.
Alternatives: Like I mentioned before I only activate I and IV mainly to activate divinity. You could lose them and go for IX Night (automatic charging for your hex) or XVI The Fates (+3 rolls to change location rewards). I feel like hexes are not all that impactful personally (except for a couple). Also changing location rewards is a toss up, meh. You could also lose XI extra sprint speed to open up 5 grasp and go for XV Strength (take and deal more damage at low hp), XVII The Boatman (get more gold at the start of the run), or XIX Excellence (higher % for rare boons offered), which all have valid arguments. In hindsight I think giving up those 3 for Stregnth or Excellence might be worth it, might try in future runs.

Oath of the Unseen Vows

Throughout my runs I experimented a lot with the various choices and found that the ones I chose are best for how I play. It is really up to you, this is just how I did it. I mostly messed around with damage taken, enemy spawns, and health, the rest pretty much stayed constant. I originally was using the 9 minute time limit per region for a majority of my runs until I switched aspects (and the 7 minute several times). I eventually decided that I was playing too aggressively to beat the clock and would lose most of, if not all my death defiances by Tartarus/Chronos, or earlier. I did still have decent amount of time to beat Chronos if I got there with the time limit, just the health and death defiance loss was too much. Here is what I went with and explanations for each, I starred the ones I think should be kept on and are relatively easy to deal with.
Vows Used
Vow of Blood (+3): Just don't get hit duh. No but seriously +60% damage to you hurts, a lot. I really wish I did not have to use this, but the alternatives I think are worse. As you play more you'll get better and learn attack patterns and how to kite effectively.
Vow of Dominance (+3): Enemies now have +30% health which is rough, but with no time limit, just take your time in killing enemies off safely.
Vow of Rebuke (+2): Enemies have 2 barriers before they can take damage, not too bad. Makes clearing enemies a bit harder, but with the Poseidon boon, you apply two instances of damage with each hit. So only one special shot with the boon will clear the barrier, also the wave the shoots out of them helps to clear barriers of the other enemies.
Vow of Fury (+3): Enemies are 20% faster (and their projectiles too?! I'm pretty sure this is the case, I haven't played without it in a while so I'm not exactly sure). This one took some getting used to, not much I can say except just keep trying. Another +3 makes them 40% faster which I do not recommend. The screaming shades, wolves and their heads, thorny spinny guys in Oceanus, rats, and Chronos are all insane with 40% extra speed.
Vow of Suffering (+2): +100% for the first hit you take in each encounter. Same as Vow of Blood, its rough, wish I could go without it as well.
Vow of Commotion (+3): 60% more foes in encounters (does not affect the boss summons). Had this one a tier or two lower, or not at all, when I was experimenting with the time limit. The AOE from Poseidon definitely helps here, just take your time to clear out enemies. It can get pretty bad in tartarus with the bags and skulls everywhere though so just be careful.
Vow of Haunting (+2): Enemies have 50% of spawning a revenant when killed which if left alone long enough will respawn them. These are annoying as hell but not terrible once you get used to it. On death a flaming green skull thing launches out of them and travels a bit of a distance, just run ovecollect them and they are negated, don't need to damage or whatever. Can sometimes be hard to spot if behind a wall or obstacle. Overall not that bad, it's not the end of the world if you let them respawn. Definitely though go for the ones that would respawn an enemy that are hard/annoying to deal with ASAP e.g. rat spawning satyrs, wolves, any projectile shooting enemy. Sometimes I feel like rats almost always spawn a revenant which is annoying. I honestly think they should also rework this so that if an enemy respawns it can't have another revenant spawn.
* Vow of Wandering (+3): 25% chance for enemies to be from the next region. Really not that bad at all, just have to deal with some more annoying enemies with larger health pools.
Vow of Scars (+2): Healing is only 50% effective is not that bad. You only get +2 healing passively from the card now and a lot less from fountains and such, goes hand in hand with blood and suffering, you'll get better at not getting hit.
* Vow of Destitution (+2): Charon's shop (and wells) are 80% more expensive. You'll miss out some boons, healing, poms, hearts, etc. but it's not awful, you will still gain a good amount of gold to usually buy a boon or something at the end of each region except Oceanus I found. Also with Poseidon in your god pool, he has some boons that can help with getting more gold like minor find doubling up, increased value of minor finds, and sunken treasure.
* Vow of Panic (+1): No more magick at the start of each encounter. In this build you don't really need it anyways so this is a freebie point of fear pretty much. Also if you decide to have the card that regens magick on it pretty much negates it after a little while.
** Vow of Forsaking (+2): This one might actually be beneficial. The two boon options you don't pick will no longer show up in your run. This is why I have the boon rerolls on, so I can guarantee to get Poseidon special on my first boon. Otherwise this helps to increase your chances of getting legendary or duo boons (if you have the prerequisites) since the boon choice pool is lowered after each pick. It is unfortunate though if both prereqs for Poseidon's legendary are in the given choices and you are out of rolls though.
* Vow of Arrogance (+4): Prime 10 magick for each level of rarity above common that you pick. Again, not using magick hardly in this build so doesn't really matter. Also in lower fear runs I have used this, it does not really matter all that much even when you are using omega moves.
Unused:

Vow of Bitterness: Replace the first boon reward of each region with an onion (does not affect shop boons or trial of the gods rooms if they are the first ones you encounter). I tried this many times but it really just worsened run consistency. Also w a keepsake equipped after Erebus to guarantee a certain god's boon, that would become an onion if it was the first one I found, and then would not encounter that god again in that region.
Vow of Desperation: Time limits for regions: 9, 7, then 5 minutes with increased fear for each increase in tier. Like I said, I stopped playing with this so I could play more carefully.
Vow of Abandon: Negate all your arcana cards. Insane. Tried it once, it is just too much, the arcana cards are absolutely necessary I feel to clear 32 fear.

Boons/Hammers/Keepsakes/Familiar

Poseidon: Equip his keepsake at start, reroll for wave flourish (special) if needed and rarify. Afterwards look for slippery slope then crashing wave ideally. This primes you to get his legendary which gives +150% damage from splash effects to bosses. Other great ones are double up which is nuts that it can possibly double your hearts, gold, and poms you pick up. Ocean's bounty is nice to increase gold. Water fitness is pretty good if you can get 4 water elements to give you +100 health. Flood control is also nice for damage reduction.
Hestia: Equip her keepsake after Erebus if you did not already get her in your god pool (you get up to 4 gods like in Hades I). Ideally you want both her cast and glowing coal, which lets you aim your cast. Either of which in combination with slippery slope gets you access to Poseidon/Hestia duo boon scalding vapor which does insane damage over time. I'm not sure if you should prioritize glowing coal over her cast honestly, both have their upsides alone, but you do want both hopefully. With glowing coal so you can aim your cast since you will be fighting from a distance mostly (not always but in how I played this build I did for the most part), which can activate the steam cloud on foes with slip. Hestia cast is less safe and you need to be closer to enemies to get the steam cloud to activate, but it does more damage, continuously applying steam on the enemy. Other boons like soot sprint are nice, almost like Athena's dash in the first game. Slow cooker infusion is alright but you may not get many fire elements to increase your base damage power. Flammable coating is great and helps to melt through armored enemies. Burnt offering is pretty nice to increase your health (and magick) pool if you happen to get offered to sacrifice a useless boon.
Other helpful god boons: Pretty much anything that can help apply another curse to enemies. Demeter and Aphrodite are probably the best since theirs are easy to apply without much effort like frigid sprint, gale force, glamour gain, and passion dash. The other gods require secondary boons to get a curse or your attack/special needs to give the curse, you won't really ever be using your attack and your special is reserved for Poseidon.
Hammers: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like I remember in Hades I if you chose a specific hammer you would be locked out of other hammer choices that affect the benefitting move. If the same applies to this game avoid picking a hammer that affects your special for your first hammer if it is not double moonshot, and hope for it on your second hammer. The DPS from Momus staff is still great with spamming special without it (I won my run without it). You could also go ahead and pick up rapid moonfire or shimmering moonshot on your first one because they are pretty powerful too, and I also may be wrong about the hammer exclusion thing. Yeah I was wrong lol, just get the ones that benefit you the most, there is no exclusion mechanic. Double moonshot is the best for this build and then either rapid moonfire or shimmering moonshot ideally.
Keepsakes: So of course Poseidon first, always. Hestia second if you don't get her in your god pool Erebus. Up to you and what you like for Oceanus, maybe choose Demeter or Aphrodite. If I got Hestia I would generally use any one of the following:

Engraved pin
Gold Purse
White Antler
Crystal Figurine
Silken Sash
Aromatic Phial (be sure to pick it up before using the fountain)
Experimental Hammer
Transcendent Embryo

Once in the mourning fields I would typically go with the Lion Fang, or possibly one of the above maybe. Lastly in Tartarus I would either use Knuckle Bones (if I felt comfortable with my health and death defiances), Luckier Tooth, or Evil Eye (if Chronos killed me last).
Sidenote: Is Echo bugged? Or is my game just messed up? I was never given the chance to give her a gift so I've never gotten her keepsake :(
* Ok apparently you might have to do some specific things after talking to her in order to give her nectar, this comment explains it. *
Familiar Toula: Sorry Frinos, but Toula is just superior. She gives you an extra death defiance which when upgraded fully gives you 40 health on death. Also upgrading her attack lets her attack more times before she takes a little catnap (cute). She does 99 damage with each strike which is not insignificant. You don't need to go out of your way to sprint over her whenever she is resting to activate her, if she happens to be where you are running it is just some nice extra little bit of DPS. She has actually killed a few bosses for me in my runs lol.
Shovel: Use the shovel as your equipment if you are not hunting for specific resources. In the case you get Demeter, you may end up picking her boon that gives you extra hp whenever you dig for seeds or pick up a flower. Also just generally good for accumulating more bones since you can sell the plants once they're grown.

The Winning Run

So all of this information is from finally beating 32 fear. I followed this strategy in my head for the most part. I ended up not getting double moonshot, but did get rapid moonfire. Poseidon offered me both prereqs for his legendary in the same choice without any rerolls left unfortunately, chose slip of course. I did get the duo boon and both of Hestia's cast boons which was nuts. Also I got rare crop right after I got Poseidon's special so it became heroic by the end. I also got offered to sacrifice rare crop, after it made my spceial heroic, by Hestia to get more health, and I was then offered rare crop again at epic rarity which increased 3 other of my boons which happened to hit Hestia's cast boons. I did not get any other way to apply another curse other than slip unfortunately as well. Started Tartarus with 2 or 3 death defiances + luckier tooth and beat Chronos on my last life. Overall though, not a perfect run but it still worked. Would have been even more nuts if I got the right hammer, legendary, and another curse effect

TL;DR

Momus Staff good. More special projectiles hammer + Poseidon special + legendary + Poseidon/Hestia duo = nuts DPS. Arcana cards important, vows are tough.
***EDIT: Updated hammer section, added short shovel section, grammar and spelling fixes.

submitted by sharpeguy to HadesTheGame [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 08:05 _Lucie_ I need a sanity check. Friend won't be induced until 43 weeks (+ Bonus Post)

I am NOT OP. OP is u/BlueMillennium with one post being by u/Resource-National
Posts were originally posted to BabyBumps and pregnant
Trigger Warnings: may be distressing to those suffering from infertility, mentions of babyloss/stillbirth, mental health issues
Original Post : Posted on May 2, 2024 (12 days ago) by OOP
I have a weird situation and I need a sanity check. Please tell me I'm not crazy for being concerned and skeptical.
Background: a friend of mine is 34 years old, first time mom, and currently 42.5 weeks pregnant. She says her doctor is not concerned at all. After her 41 week appt, I asked when she would be getting induced, since generally doctors don't let you go past 41 weeks. She said her doctor didn't even talk about induction and baby is healthy, etc. Then a week later, she said her and her doctor briefly talked about induction and because she's dilated, doctor thinks she's in labor and to just come to the birthing center that night to check on progress. She ended up not going in at all because "she's not cramping" and made another appointment with her doctor, which was yesterday. She just let me know that her doctor said they'll induce her on Friday when she's 43 weeks! I'm absolutely baffled. I've given birth 3 times and every single time, they've told me that they rarely let women go past 41 weeks.
I'm starting to think something is going on. This friend is a bit of an odd duck. I have not seen her in person since she told us she was pregnant. She's turned down every offer for baby items, baby shower, walking buddy, etc. She has sent over baby bump pics over the last few months. She has a really small build but does have a small bump I guess. Nothing that would make me think she's 3 weeks overdue.
This is weird, right??
Comments agree that it is indeed strange but a few comments offer potential explanations.
Relevant Comments
mrun1: Midwife here. I think it’s entirely possible your friend and her doctor are going off different due dates. As many others have commented very few providers would be so relaxed about someone going >42 weeks. We often see a due date change after the dating scan but sometimes folks really latch onto their first “due date” that was based only on their last period.
MabelMyerscough: That would also make me very suspicious.. please let me/us know what the 'end result' is! Something sounds indeed shady.. but she's not in the same country as you guys right now? Is she in a country with very weird healthcare?

OOP: She's in the US at a large health system. Her boyfriend lives in Europe. It's a weird situation all around. The boyfriend was supposed to come down for the birth but she's made excuses on why he's not here. At first it was because he only had a week of vacation time and didn't want to get here too early and now it's that he'd rather spend that time with the baby after she's born. This friend was originally going to move to Europe for the birth but that never happened either...

MabelMyerscough: Interesting.. I'm not in the US but from what I read the US is even stricter with inducing early if needed and not past 41 weeks! Where I come from in EU they let you go until 42 weeks if all checkups are good, but not longer than that, ever..
Yeah maybe surrogate or something? I'd still be willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.. has she shared pictures of nursery or something?

OOP: No pictures. We even asked for an ultrasound picture when we got suspicious (we have a friend chat group) but she said she never got copies of the images. It's so shady!! I've offered her my baby stuff that she might need but she doesn't want it for various reasons.
So I'm actually a surrogate and she's well aware of my experience with it. I don't think she could afford it 😕

DeepBackground5803: Is she someone you would have seen in person before pregnancy?
The 43 week induction is concerning to me. Weird especially that her doctor told her to go to the birthing center that night to get checked out, but she didn't because she wasn't cramping.
What do you think is going on? Do you think she secretly has a surrogate? Lying about being pregnant altogether?

OOP: We see each other maybe once or twice a year so not super concerning. She has a boyfriend who she visited overseas, which is supposedly where she got pregnant. I'm thinking there's something shady going on but at some point... There's no baby.. lol

UPDATE: Friend won't be induced until 43 weeks : Posted on May 5, 2024 (10 days ago) by OOP
My friend said her water was starting to leak on Thursday around 2pm. She said her doctor told her not to come in until her contractions are 4 min apart. She was not currently having contractions but more sharp cramps. Friday morning, I checked in on her. She said she's still not having contractions and she still plans to go in that night (last night) around 8pm. I text her around that time to wish her luck and I hope things go well, yadda yadda. She just said "thank you" and nothing else. No updates overnight.
My friend is a nurse at her delivery hospital and called me this morning, asking for an update because she's concerned about her water breaking nearly 48 hours ago and she hasn't had the baby. So, she called her hospital to see if my friend was there and they have no record of her checking in at all. She plans to text her this morning and see if she says she is in the hospital or what. We are all in the same group chat, for reference.
This is all just so crazy. My nurse friend said there's no way her doctor wouldn't have her immediately come in if she's 43 weeks and her water broke. I have no idea what to think. This friend is always really open and texts us all the time with random updates so the radio silence is not normal for her.
Update: friend says she's currently at the hospital and doing well but it's possible she put herself on the privacy list.
{Edited to remove private information}
**I get it. Nurse friend may crossed a line. I have no idea. Just updating with what I was told.
To be continued! 🤷🏼‍♀️
Update 2: it's now been almost 48 hours since she's arrived at the hospital, supposedly. She has said multiple times that she's there and all is well. Zero pictures, updates, or information. She's responding to other messages like normal. It's been 72 hours (I think) since her water broke and she's past 43 weeks now. This friend is one who sends tons of pictures when she's doing anything exciting so... This is definitely not like her. She has volunteered pregnancy related information the last several months.
We don't know how long to let this go. We all agree that we think there is no pregnancy or baby. We've all been friends since elementary school so this is hard for us to accept. There's 3 options. 1) she's pregnant and lied about her due date for whatever reason. 2) she truly believes she's pregnant even though we are pretty sure she hasn't been a doctor. 3) she's just straight up lying. This is hard for us because she hasn't posted on social media so if she wanted the attention, why not post there too? We are thinking that she's lied about previous life events. She was once engaged for years without any wedding or meeting the supposed fiance. I'm sad for her and mad/disappointed she is lying to us.
What do we do??
Update 3: I don't even know how to start. Friend has supposedely been in the hospital for several days at this point. I'm actually in St Lucia right now on vacation so don't have access to our chat group via texts so trying to get updates via FB.
One friend in that text group said she reached out privately and the friend said she had the baby but was too stressed to send pics or updates. So she reached out to the other friend in the chat who said she also reached out to the pregnant friend who said she has NOT had the baby and was starting pitocin that day. So she's now telling people different things
And now, another reddit user reached out via PM. She posted a topic on the Pregnancy subreddit about this exact story. Someone linked her to my posts. I can confirm it is indeed the same person. The main details she has shared are the same with a few things that are off from what I was told.
We are actively trying to get a hold of her parents. They moved recently and no longer have the landline number but we are very concerned.
Edit 4: one friend in our group was able to find pregnant friends home address. This friend is closest to her between all of us. She is going to go over this evening and is prepared to talk to her. We talked to someone we know who is a psychologist and helped us with what to say, how she might react, etc. her parents should be there as well.
Pregnant friend has told one friend that she had the baby yesterday and another friend that she just had the baby an hour ago and is being discharged, which is just impossible. We think she truly believes she is pregnant based off a pregnancy test and it was likely a chemical pregnancy. She never met with a doctor because other tests were negative and I think deep down, she was afraid a doctor would confirm that there is no baby. So, she decided to carry on as if she was pregnant and now she has tricked herself into thinking she is pregnant.
We also found the baby daddy from Europe. He is married. We believe maybe they had an affair. His wife may have already tried talking to pregnant friend and accused her of lying. Or, maybe she found some random guy and made the whole thing up. We have no idea. We are going to urge her to go to a mental health facility in her town.
Relevant Comments:
ruebarbara_: Dude! I had a life long friend do this to me in 2022. Lied the whole way through the pregnancy. Had a baby shower. Bought a fake bump. Boyfriend was excited to be a dad. But none of us actually hung out together. Literally no one knew it was all a lie until she went in for her “induction” and instead she actually fled the state because she was in too deep and didn’t know what to do. Her mom called me and asked what doctor she sees, I gave her the name. She called the clinic and this friend never showed up for her confirmation of pregnancy appointment. Her mom was so embarrassed but also worried. Friend ended up going to inpatient psych for a few days. She’s a pathological liar. We are no longer friends as this wasn’t the first time she had lied about something major and I just don’t have the mental space for that. It was a wild ride that actually caused me a lot of anxiety.

OOP: Oh my God 😲😲 that's what I'm thinking now.. how is she going to get out of the lie??

NoYesterday_6662: I wonder if she feels like she’s “ behind “ in the friend group. So she makes stuff up to feel better. Idk if any of the other friends maybe are married or have kids? So she’s making things up to feel like she’s not “ left out “?

OOP: Yeah she's always wanted kids. There's one other friend who is unmarried, no kids. 🤷🏼‍♀️

bananapajama1: when is the last time you saw her in person? :o is that normal for your friendship?

OOP: It's probably been a year but yeah that's normal. We try to see each other twice a year. I did offer to see her; throw a shower, be her walking buddy, go shopping for baby stuff. She didn't take me up on any of it. Now that is odd. Originally when she told us she was pregnant, she said she was moving to Europe with the boyfriend so it was just so chaotic there for a while, according to her.

Beckella: She’ll claim she had a stillbirth for the attention.

OOP: I think she's convinced herself that she's really pregnant. She did maternity photos and everything but she doesn't really look pregnant. Bloated maybe

JG0923: Is she one to lie about things in general? I had a friend like that who lied about A LOT of things in her life and we didn’t realize it for years and years.

OOP: Looking back at the things she's said over the years, it's possible. She had a fiance for 5 years that I never met. Wondering if that was a lie. Ugh

Resource-National: This is crazy! I “met” a woman on a fertility fb group who is telling me the exact same thing! She lives in Kansas City apparently and has no baby bump and has told me for months she’s been bullied by friends and co workers. She has sent me bump pictures and even photos from her maternity shoot. Literally same story- leaking fluid on Thursday and it’s Sunday and no baby. Today she told me she’s 42 and 6!!! And even said her friends are “attacking” her saying she’s not even pregnant! Really curious if it’s the same woman.

OOP: Wow, same woman. I saw your PM. Holy shit this is wild.

Going past 42 weeks? : Posted on May 6, 2024 (8 days ago) by u/Resource-National
I think I may have befriended a person who is faking their pregnancy. We met on an online fertility community and both got pregnant around the same time. We’ve checked in on each other through our “pregnancies”. She claims to have a very small bump, which I know can happen, and has more or less been bullied by friends and co workers. She’s sent me bump pics throughout her pregnancy and there is no bump.
She’s post term now. Around 40 weeks she claimed to be spotting for a week saying it was her “bloody show”. I tried to keep an open mind because even tho this is my second pregnancy and none of my friends had a bloody show like that, hey, anything is possible right? Now she claims to have been leaking amniotic fluid since Thursday night. She messaged me Friday afternoon and my response was to call her dr or go to labor and delivery to be checked. She claimed that it was confirmed to be amniotic fluid and she was told to go home since she wasn’t having contractions. I found that odd considering she was past the 24 hr mark.
Today she says she’s still leaking fluid and has no contractions. Then I asked her how far long she is and she said 42.6. Prior to this, the first thing she said to me was how she was so upset because her close friends were accusing her of faking a pregnancy. I found that really odd. But after the 42.6 I have to wonder. When I suggested she got to l&d immediately it seemed like groundbreaking news to her (“will they help labor speed up?”). She said she was treated at the er on Friday, which my understanding is that anything pregnancy related always goes through l&d.
I realize not everyone has a provider who educates them or takes it upon themselves to learn the basics of pregnancy. Maybe she’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. But now I’m thinking this person is either fake or totally lying about being pregnant. Either way it’s bizarre!! Does any ob permit pregnancy past 42 weeks in the us?!
Edit:
Wow- the number of comments saying they’ve seen this similar story questioning this woman’s pregnancy is insane. For the record I’ve never told this woman any identifying features other than I live on the west coast. No photos etc. this is through Facebook and my profile is extremely private and we are NOT Facebook friends! Thank you for your concern. My mind def went to all of the horror stories.
Update: It’s safe to say this woman isn’t pregnant. In a shocking turn of events here is a post about the same woman written by her irl friend https://www.reddit.com/BabyBumps/s/LpIboHfJT5
Here is the final Update #2 to this very sad and bizarre saga: https://www.reddit.com/BabyBumps/s/Zm4ARKWcW1
Relevant Comments:
Possible_Library2699: I feel like someone else posted about this same woman!?

ppaulapple: The OP in the other sub just confirmed it’s the same person 2 hours ago 🤯

Final Update: 43 week pregnant friend has admitted to not being pregnant. : Posted on May 7, 2024 (7 days ago) by OOP
A lot has happened in the last 24 hours. Previous posts can be found in my history. I'll link to them later.
Pregnant friend will be called El in this post for simplicity sake.
El has told different friends different stories over the last couple days. She told one friend that she gave birth yesterday, but another friend that she gave birth today and is already home and doing well. The friend closest to her was able to find her home address (she moved recently).
Friend went to the delivery hospital to double check that she wasnt there. They confirmed they had no patient with that name. She called El. She asked El where she was and El said she was leaving the hospital right now. Friend said "well I am here so I'll help you walk out". That's when El broke down and admitted everything after my friend was able to meet her at her house. Here's the gist:
El visited her boyfriend in Europe. A few weeks later, she thought she might be pregnant. She took a test and it had an incredibly faint line. She started posting in pregnancy FB groups asking for confirmation. Then she went to the doctor and asked for an ultrasound. They confirmed that there was no baby. El was convinced they were lying to her. She says she went to another boutique ultrasound place and they did a 3d scan and found a baby and did an entire pregnancy scan. (We don't believe this actually happened). Then El started getting symptoms, her belly starting growing and she fully convinced herself that she was pregnant. She did maternity photos, prepped for a baby and told her workplace and parents. She never went back to the doctor because she was convinced they were all lying to her.
Once she hit "full term", she starting getting anxious. She thought she was cramping, losing her mucus plug, and her water broke. She didn't know what to do because the doctors wouldn't help her. Once she went past 43 weeks, she decided to go to the hospital (yesterday). She showed up with her hospital bags packed and her parents went with her. She told the front desk that she was 43 weeks pregnant and was ready to have her baby. I don't know what all happened here but they basically turned her away and told her she was not pregnant or having a baby. We think her parents started to figure it all out a week or so ago, but didn't know the extent of the lies. They have always let El do whatever she wants and pay for her entire lifestyle. We assume she lied to them about everything.
Friend said El does have a swollen belly that looks like she's 20ish weeks. They talked for a long time and she is grieving this lost pregnancy/baby. She legitimately thought she was going to give birth.
We think she is suffering from a phantom pregnancy. Thank you to the redditor who told me about this. I had never heard of it.
We are all very upset for her and realize that we need to be very careful. We are not going to attack her or confront her as a group. We have a mental health resource ready to help her, if we can delicately get her to agree to go.
This is not how I thought this would all play out. This is all so unbelievable. I appreciate everyone who reached out and commented with words of support. 🩷
Relevant Comments:
linny93: You mentioned in your last post that the “father” is married. Did you get any update on that situation? Did she choose a random European guy and say it was her fiancé?

OOP: She seems to think they are together but his FB says otherwise. He has posts with his wife on trips, etc. we just don't know yet 😕

cherb30: I’m a little confused, forgive me for being skeptical!
Do women who lose a baby 20+ weeks ago still have a noticeable baby bump? What do you mean they “turned her away and told her she was not pregnant”… did they take a pregnancy test or just turn her away? Did any of your friends become concerned that she waited til 43 weeks to go to the doctor to deliver? That is super late. Also I’m really surprised the hospital would have disclosed she was/was not a pregnant patient there. Anyway just my initial questions on this!

OOP: We all started getting very suspicious at 41 weeks when she said her doctors didn't want to induce her and it grew with each week she went past. We were very very concerned, hence my initial post on this subreddit.
I don't know if the hospital did any tests or checked her in any way. I'm shocked they wouldn't have her meet with a social worker or something. She def does not look pregnant enough to give birth. She's a very tiny girl normally so any weight gain in her stomach would be very noticeable. She probably weighs 100-110 pounds. I think it was probably obvious she wasn't ready to give birth and they maybe told her to go to the ER when she wasn't in their patient system.
We are trying to sort between the truth and lies she's spun trying to convince herself and others.

OOP (in response to a deleted comment): She isn't actually pregnant but she truly believes she was pregnant, enough to convince her body that she was. It's called a phantom or hysterical pregnancy. She's having a mental health episode. She's not insane but she does need professional support. She thought she was coming home with a baby. That's what she is grieving. She's wanted to be a mom so badly.
PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT IN ANY LINKED POSTS OR COMMENTS
Marking as concluded due to OOPs friend being confirmed to have not been pregnant.

submitted by _Lucie_ to BestofRedditorUpdates [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 06:36 gabor_ghoul Jornay PM Journey

Before requesting to try Jornay PM I tried to do a lot of research. Within this community I saw several people posting that they would share their journey for people trying to do the same research I was trying to do, but didn't see any that actually kept up with it.
I would like to do this & I think I can actually keep up on it because I'm heavily into researching things, so much so that I transitioned my career into a research role. I love learning, finding resolutions & sharing what I learn. If I can help others in the process, I'm even more into it.
We all know that medication effects different people in different ways. This will be an account of my experience. I plan to update this for at least 6 months & then I may return at a year if I'm up to it/remember.
Background: I have combined type ADHD, inattentive primary. I have also had delayed sleep phase syndrome for as long as I can remember, definitely longer than I have been diagnosed & before I knew what DSPS was.
With my DSPS I could be exhausted all day, with an extreme low mid-day, but my energy would shoot up at sundown no matter what. It is very difficult for me to wake up. I hate mornings. I tried all the things: No light, red light, white noise, brown noise, nature sounds, mindfulness, no electronics, reading before bed, hot Epsom salt baths, melatonin, Rx sleeping pills, etc. Nothing worked. Lay down at 9-11 pm, no sleep til 1-3 am.
I was on Adderall. I tried XR at first. Although it helped my ADHD symptoms, it exacerbated my sleep issues. I switched to IR thinking it may help. It did not. I lowered my dose thinking less effective treatment may be worth being able to sleep. It did nothing. I have spent a year & a half falling asleep from 4-7 am & having to start work at 8 am.
My hope is that Jornay PM will effectively address my ADHD symptoms as well as help me with my sleep disorder. I was started at the equivalent dose to the dose I was taking of Adderall: 20 mg Adderall; 40 mg Jornay PM. Even though my Adderall was too low my PCP didn't want to increase on the new Rx until we knew how it would effect me.
I have spent 1 week on 40 mg Jornay PM. It has had no effect on my symptoms. Today my PCP increased my dose to 80 mg. I will update.
Ps. The coupon on the Jornay PM website works as long as you choose a pharmacy that accepts it. I use Rite-Aid. The first dispense is free, $25 after with my insurance coverage. $75 without insurance coverage. Otherwise it is like $400-something.

submitted by gabor_ghoul to adhdwomen [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 00:12 Bowazon_ Season 4 Heartseeker Victimise Rogue Guide by Bowa

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Bowazon
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/bowazon_

Season 4 Heartseeker Planner Links

Standard build: https://maxroll.gg/d4/plannenn1lp0wi#1
High-end Pit build: https://maxroll.gg/d4/plannenn1lp0wi#2

Note: This guide and the build links above may be updated from time to time. Look out for these updates in the original guide document here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pVRhEVZa0qPrg_03Tq_k98eMrmD7s8DK4kELn_Pfhi4/edit?usp=sharing

How it works

Heartseeker is one of the Rogue’s ranged basic attacks that has a reliable chance of hitting its targets.
Although Heartseeker is reliable in that respect, its damage potential was very limited throughout Diablo 4 history due to its lower base damage compared to core skills and combo points and because it had no way of delivering imbuement effects, inflicting area of effect (AoE) damage or taking advantage of the huge damage bonus from precision.
While basic skills still can’t be imbued and precision doesn’t work with basic skills, Heartseeker’s main obstacles have been solved:

Basic skill’s lack of damage has been solved by using Moonrise and Adaptability aspects (on a 2-hander and amulet) which together boost basic attack damage by 5.6x as well as providing attack speed and movement speed benefits
Victimise will be a very strong key passive going into season 4. Not only will Victimise provide a decent damage boost for Heartseeker that can’t otherwise benefit from Precision, Victimise makes the Heartseeker build viable by giving the build AoE damage
As of season 4, you can now get Heartseeker ranks from your pants slot (up to +8)

Victimise is a key passive that works off lucky hit, which basic attacks like Heartseeker - together with Primary Heart Seeker which allows Heartseeker to ricochet and hit twice - can proc very often because of its 50% lucky hit chance and because of Heartseeker’s fast attack speed.
Also, because Heartseeker tracks targets, this can be used safely and reliably to deal damage to enemies from afar. As enemies then agro towards you from a distance and converge closer and closer together as they approach you, this allows your AoE explosions to deal more damage the more tightly packed enemies become.
Pros

Good consistent damage that doesn’t need an elaborate attack rotation to do reliable damage
Easy to play by spamming a single attack without worrying about conditional damage combinations and energy usage
Safely fight from a distance, taking the heat off you and reduces the chances of long drawn out fights from needing to dodge around
No resource issues so no need to build around energy sustainability in your build, saving skill points, aspect slots, affix slots on gear and less reliant on Inner Sight

Cons

Crowd control effects (CC) are not the easiest to apply with attacks since Heartseeker only hits 1 or 2 targets per cast
Damage takes a little time to ramp up - Heartseeker, Moonrise, Exploit Weakness, Chip all have buffs or debuffs that ramp up based on how many times you hit targets. This takes about 3-4 seconds for all damage bonuses to be fully online
Not a build that you can start levelling with from a brand new character until you collect the key ingredients
Despite having AoE in the build, builds like Penetrating shot and Scoundrel’s Kiss Rapid fire are still unmet when it comes to AoE potential

Victimise Double Dipping
Victimise has interactions with your original attacks that result in your damage output being affected by double dipping. This means that certain buffs and debuffs boost your damage twice, usually in 2 different stages of your full damage calculation.
Victimise bases its damage based on a percentage of damage that your Heartseeker hits do. For example, if Heartseeker does 10,000 damage and Victimise does 300% of your original (Heartseeker) damage, then Victimise explosions will do 30,000 damage.
If then your Heartseeker damage is increased by buffs and debuffs that result in Heartseeker doing more damage against its targets, then this will increase the base damage of Victimise. For example, if the Control glyph + Exploit Weakness debuffs increase Heartseeker’s damage by 50%, then Heartseeker will now do 15,000 damage, and Victimise is expected to do 45,000 damage (because Victimise does 300% of your Heartseeker damage).
However in this case, when Heartseeker results in a Victimise explosion and hits the same targets that are affected by the Control glyph + Exploit Weakness debuffs, then Victimise itself also gains the benefits from these debuffs, and its final damage will increase from 45,000 damage to 67,500 damage, or in other words 30,000 x 1.5 x 1.5 = 67,500 damage.
Known interactions that double dip with Victimise:

Caltrops - as long as the target is standing in Caltrops while hit with Heartseeker and Victimise
Exploit - as long as the target is health or injured when hit with Heartseeker and Victimise
Subverting Poison Trap - as long as the target is standing in Poison Trap, but not applicable to us since we don’t deal poison damage
Control glyph - as long as the target is CC’ed when hit with Heartseeker and Victimise
Pride glyph - as long as the target is health when hit with Heartseeker and Victimise
Chip glyph - as long as the target is hit 10 times with physical attacks prior to when hit with Heartseeker and Victimise for maximum effect
Canny glyph - as long as the target is hit 10 times with non-physical attacks prior to when hit, but not applicable to us since we don’t deal non-physical damage
Deadly Ambush - as long as the target is standing in any of our traps (Caltrops) while hit with Heartseeker and Victimise
Exploit Weakness - as long as the target is hit 25 times while vulnerable prior to when hit with Heartseeker and Victimise for maximum effect

Credits to Ava on Sanctuary Diablo 4 Discord server for testing this out.
To put things into perspective, while playing in the PTR, I noticed my Barrage hits that were doing 1.1 million damage were procing Victimise explosions that were doing almost 12 million damage.
With Heartseeker, our damage per hit with Heartseeker and Victimise explosions will do much more damage, and Victimise explosions will occur more often.
https://preview.redd.it/bjskc65ro90d1.png?width=756&format=png&auto=webp&s=5d30f050350d11604ee1a341efc7aee86d75a4ab

The Build

Skills

Heartseeker - The main “core” skill for this build. Get Primary Heartseeker for ricochet Heartseeker arrows that deal 75% of the original damage. These arrows can loop back around and hit the same target twice, as long as it doesn’t hit a wall or obstacle
Dash - For general mobility and disengagement. Get Enhanced Dash for 15% critical strike damage for bosses or tightly packed enemies
Shadow Step - For general mobility and a CC break. Get Enhanced Shadow Step for 8% critical strike chance mainly for bosses, and Disciplined Shadow Step to help refresh Shadow Step’s cooldown. Alternatively you can get Methodical Shadow Step for better stagger application, but using Shadow Step in this way risks being caught in CC and potentially dying
Concealment - For general mobility, disengagement, and a CC break. Get Subverting Concealment for applying vulnerable while in the levelling stages
Smoke Grenade - For disabling groups by dazing them, disabling suppressor barriers and for activating both Cheap Shot, Control and Concussive Strikes. Get Enhanced Smoke Grenade for an extra 25% damage bonus versus groups of enemies (this doesn’t work on bosses). Get Countering Smoke Grenade for quickly refreshing Smoke Grenade’s cooldown vs groups of enemies (this doesn’t work on bosses). Alternatively, get Subverting Smoke Grenade to increase the stagger effectiveness of Smoke Grenade on bosses
Caltrops - Apply slow in an area. Get Enhanced Caltrops for up to 45% extra damage bonus (depending on how long enemies stay in Caltrops), and get Disciplined Caltrops for 10% critical strike chance vs enemies standing in Caltrops

Specialisation
Inner Sight, purely for the 25% critical strike chance bonus once every few moments.
Passive Effects

Weapon Mastery - If using a bow, gives you more damage vs vulnerable enemies, if using a crossbow, gives 15% critical strike damage
Exploit - Increases damage to healthy and injured enemies. This passive also double dips with Victimise
Malice - Increases damage to vulnerable enemies. What’s less commonly known is Malice also increases the base damage of Victimise
Frigid Finesse - Increases damage to chilled and frozen enemies. This build freezes enemies and staggers bosses so this passive is quite powerful
Sturdy - Reduces damage taken from close enemies
Siphoning Strikes - Healing when you critically strike close enemies. Although we can fight at a distance, we can still fight up close and get some healing while doing so
Stutter Step - Increases movement speed temporarily while we critically strike. Useful during fights for mobility
Trick Attacks - Knocks down enemies for a short period when you critical strike them while they are dazed
Concussive - When you knock down an enemy, gain up to 12% critical strike chance. This should work during the first few seconds of a boss getting staggered also (but to be confirmed)
Agile - Increases your dodge chance after using a cooldown (in this case: Dash, Shadow Step, Concealment, Smoke Grenade, Caltrops)
Haste - Increases movement speed. This passive does improve attack speed when below 50% energy, but this never happens
Trap Mastery - Gain 12% critical strike chance when your Death Trap activates (for the High-end Pit variant only)
Dark Shroud - Reduces damage taken from enemies. Although this is an active skill, we gain Dark Shroud shadows passively through Umbrous aspect, making this a more passive effect

What we don’t pick up

Impetus - Doesn't work with basic skills. Given that we attack very fast, this passive won’t be useful anyway
Imbuements - Basic skills aren't imbueable
Precision Imbuement - Basic skills aren't imbueable
Shadow Crash - This build doesn’t deal shadow damage
Consuming Shadows - This build doesn’t deal shadow damage or need energy recovery
Deadly Venom - This build doesn’t deal poisoning damage
Debilitating Toxins - This build doesn’t poison enemies
Alchemical Advantage - This build doesn’t poison enemies
Chilling Weight - This build doesn’t chill enemies, only (instantly) freezes enemies
Innervation - This build doesn’t consume energy so not needed
Second Wind - This build doesn’t consume energy so no benefit
Alchemist's Fortune - This build does not used any non-physical attacks
Rugged - We have high mobility with this build and we can heal our way through damage over time effects that stick on us
Reactive Defense - We have Shadow Step to quickly get us out of CC effects
Mending Obscurities - We can use potions while in concealment
Aftermath - This build doesn’t consume energy so not needed
Shadow Clone - Not only is Shadow Clone severely undertuned to do very little damage (after accounting for all of your aspects and paragon), Shadow Clone doesn’t proc Victimise which is there most of our damage comes from

Aspects

Moonrise - Increases attack speed, increases movement speed and significantly increases damage when 5 stacks of Moonrise are accumulated. Use in your 2-hander weapon for higher damage bonus
Adaptability - Significantly increases damage when at or above 50% energy. Because we’re always at 100% energy, this is an unconditional damage bonus for Heartseeker. Use in your amulet slot
Crowded Sage - Increases dodge chance and heals you whenever you dodge. Use in one of your defensive slots. Alternatively, use Assimilation aspect for Fortify accumulation instead of the healing effect
Umbrous - Gain Dark Shroud shadows when you critically strike enemies with Heartseeker. Use in one of your defensive slots
Edgemaster's - Increase damage by up to 20% based on your available energy levels. Because we’re always at 100% energy, this is an unconditional damage bonus. Use in one of your offensive slots
Elements - Increases damage to a set of 3 damage types for 7 seconds at a time. This is basically a 30% damage increase that is active for 7 seconds, inactive for 7 seconds, etc. Use in one of your offensive slots
Retribution - Increase damage against stunned or knocked-down enemies (and staggered bosses). Use in one of your offensive slots
Rapid - Increases attack speed for Heartseeker. Use in one of your offensive slots
Frostbitten - Increases critical strike damage against frozen or stunned enemies and when hitting enemies with smoke grenades, instantly freezes them. Use in either your boots or chest slots
Concussive Strikes - Dazes enemies and increases damage against dazed enemies. Use in either your boots or chest slots
Inner Calm - Increased damage, with the bonus tripled after standing still for 3 seconds. Useful against staggered bosses or when feeling safe against dazed groups. Use in one of your offensive slots

Note: We are not using any unique items for this build. Paingorger’s Gauntlets seem like a very good unique item to use for this build, but unfortunately its final damage output from testing by other people has been underwhelming. To be tested once season 4 launches however.
Paragon

Exploit Weakness - Ramps up your damage against enemies (per target) the more that you hit them while they are vulnerable. Double dips with Victimise
Cheap Shot - Increase your damage while there are 1 or more enemies nearby that are CC’ed, up to a 25% damage bonus for 5 or more enemies
Deadly Ambush - Increase your damage against enemies that are affected by your traps (Caltrops in this case). Double dips with Victimise
Control glyph on starter board - Increases your damage against CC’ed enemies. The glyph core bonus double dips with Victimise
Chip glyph on Cheap Shot - Ramps up your damage against enemies (per target) the more that you hit them with any of your (physical) attacks. The glyph core bonus double dips with Victimise
Pride glyph on Leyrana's Instinct - Increases your physical damage against healthy enemies. Using this glyph on Leyrana’s Instinct also allows us to max out our resistances. Double dips with Victimise
Exploit glyph on Deadly Ambush - Increases your vulnerable damage (important for Victimise) and makes enemies hit by your attacks vulnerable (once every 20 seconds). Deadly Ambush board is used for Exploit for the high number of strength nodes around the glyph
Combat glyph on Exploit Weakness - Increases your critical strike damage. Exploit Weakness board is used for Combat for the high number of intelligence nodes around the glyph
Ranger glyph on Tricks of the Trade - Reduces your damage taken while you are holding onto a bow or crossbow (ie, after casting Heartseeker)
Diminish glyph on No Witnesses - This glyph is used just to boost the surrounding rare +life node. We don’t care about the glyph core bonus for now as it's awfully niche (from physical attacks from vulnerable enemies)

Note: We should end up with 7 paragon boards in total.

Stats/Gear Priorities

Summary

Vulnerable damage - stacked as high as possible for higher additive damage and for scaling Victimise’s base damage. Aim for 900+% vulnerable damage from gear and paragon
Other additive damage bonuses - to further increase your overall damage output. Get 650+% of this from Marksman critical strike damage tempers and other smaller ones from gear and paragon
Attack speed - to cast Heartseeker quicker. Aim for 85+% from gear and 30% from Rapid aspect
Chance to cast Heartseeker twice - scales up your damage output as you’re casting more Heartseekers per attack. Aim for 95+% from 2 tempers on weapons
Heartseeker - is used as the main skill for delivering damage and Victimise procs. Aim for 11+ ranks in total between your native skill points and your pants
Lucky hit chance - to proc Victimise and other effects (CC, Umbrous, vulnerable) more often. Aim for 50+% from gear. You can use an elixir to boost this up further
Critical strike chance - to increase how often you critically strike and gain a damage bonus from Weapon Mastery, Frostbitten, Deadly Ambush and your critical strike damage additive and core bonuses. Aim for 80+% from intelligence, gear and paragon, including Marksman critical strike chance bonuses
Dexterity - to increase your baseline damage and increase your dodge chance. Aim for 1500+ from gear and paragon
Life - is needed for survival. Aim for 40,000+ in total
Dark Shroud - is needed for your main source of heavy damage reduction. Aim for 12+ ranks in total between your native skill points and your chest piece
Dodge - reduces the chance of direct attacks damaging you, which also protects your Dark Shroud shadow stacks. Aim for 50-70% from dexterity, gear and the Agile passive
Armour cap - 9,230 for 85% damage reduction from physical attacks
Resistances - 70% to all resistances
Crowd control effects - to disable enemies and build up stagger on bosses. Get 4-5 affixes that apply CC effects on enemies, including Concussive Strikes. After that, get crowd control duration
Movement speed - to improve mobility in combat and general mobility. Get 70+% from gear and skills, including from Moonrise

Item Pieces

Weapons - for vulnerable damage, attack speed, dexterity. Tempering: marksman critical strike damage, chance to cast Heartseeker twice (on your 2-hander + one of your swords), caltrops duration (on one of your swords)
- Vulnerable damage - High priority stat to help stack Victimise damage
- Attack speed - Enough to get 100% attack speed from weapons alone
- Chance to cast twice - To ensure 100% chance to cast Heartseeker twice per cast to multiply effective damage output by 2
- Caltrops - Caltrops duration is preferred over Caltrops size since the extra duration will work at the highest damage bonus benefit and will extend the benefit before needing to move (break our Inner Calm bonus) to reapply Caltrops
- Marksman critical strike damage - Some extra additive damage
Rings - for vulnerable damage, life, lucky hit chance (on one of your rings), lucky hit chance to apply vulnerable (on one of your rings). Tempering: marksman critical strike damage, agility cooldown reduction
- Vulnerable damage - High priority stat to help stack Victimise damage
- Life - Needed for survival
- Lucky hit chance to apply vulnerable - An important stat that helps apply and maintain vulnerable on enemies
- Lucky hit chance - Stacking lucky hit chance is important to increase Victimise proc rate and for applying CC more often
- Agility skill cooldown reduction - This helps mobility by increasing the uptime on mobility skills that get you from point A to B faster
- Marksman critical strike damage - Some extra additive damage
Amulet - for Exploit, Malice, Frigid Finesse. If you can’t get a 3x passive amulet, you can also aim for lucky hit chance. Tempering: marksman critical strike chance, dodge chance
- Exploit - Important for the double dip effect for Victimise
- Malice - Important for increasing damage versus vulnerable enemies and increasing the base damage of Victimise
- Frigid Finesse - Increases the damage of enemies frozen by attacks and for increasing damage during boss stagger window
- Marksman critical strike chance - Helps the build reach very high levels of critical strike chance
- Dodge chance - Needed for survival
Helm - for life, armour, lucky hit chance. Tempering: dodge chance, lucky hit chance to X (see below “CC effects”)
- Life - Needed for survival
- Lucky hit chance - Stacking lucky hit chance is important to increase Victimise proc rate and for applying CC more often
- Armour - 2 armour rolls across all gear is needed to reach the armour cap. Juggernaut’s can be used instead, but having 2 armour rolls frees up an aspect slot
- Dodge chance - Needed for survival
- Lucky hit chance to X - Needed for applying CC effects against enemies
Chest - for Dark Shroud ranks (important), life, armour. Tempering: single resistance (see below “Resistances”), lucky hit chance to X (see below “CC effects”)
- Dark Shroud ranks - Important for survival, going from 11 ranks to 15 ranks of Dark Shroud is a 25% effective damage reduction bonus
- Life - Needed for survival
- Armour - 2 armour rolls across all gear is needed to reach the armour cap. Juggernaut’s can be used instead, but having 2 armour rolls frees up an aspect slot
- Single resistance - Needed to complete capping resistances across all elements
- Lucky hit chance to X - Needed for applying CC effects against enemies
Gloves - for vulnerable damage, critical strike chance, lucky hit chance. Tempering: marksman critical strike chance, lucky hit chance to X (see below “CC effects”)
- Vulnerable damage - High priority stat to help stack Victimise damage
- Critical strike chance - Improves overall damage output and Umrbous aspect proc rate
- Lucky hit chance - Stacking lucky hit chance is important to increase Victimise proc rate and for applying CC more often
- Marksman critical strike damage - Some extra additive damage
- Lucky hit chance to X - Needed for applying CC effects against enemies
Pants - for Heartseeker ranks (important), life, dodge chance. Tempering: dodge chance, lucky hit chance to X (see below “CC effects”)
- Heartseeker ranks - Important for stacking Heartseeker damage
- Life - Needed for survival
- Dodge chance - Needed for survival (stacked twice from item stats and tempering affix)
- Lucky hit chance to X - Needed for applying CC effects against enemies
Boots - for movement speed, dexterity, life. Tempering: movement speed, crowd control duration (see below “CC effects”)
- Movement speed - Important for general mobility and to speed up gameplay and avoidability of dangerous attacks (stacked twice from item stats and tempering affix)
- Dexterity - For adding in extra damage and dodge chance
- Life - Needed for survival
- Crowd control duration - Linearly scale up the amount of stagger that can be delivered on the boss

CC effects
We want to have as many CC applying effects from our tempering mods as possible across Boots, Pants, Gloves, Chest and Head gear pieces. The possible CC applying effects available from tempering are:

Lucky Hit: Up to a +[21.0 - 30.0]% Chance to Slow for 2 Seconds
Lucky Hit: Up to a +[13.5 - 22.5]% Chance to Immobilize for 2 Seconds
Lucky Hit: Up to a +[13.0 - 17.5]% Chance to Stun for 2 Seconds
Lucky Hit: Up to a +[13.0 - 17.5]% Chance to Freeze for 2 Seconds
Lucky Hit: Up to a +[13.0 - 17.5]% Chance to Daze for 2 Seconds

Some guiding principles on how I’ve chosen which effects we want to have across Boots, Pants, Gloves, Chest and Head gear pieces are written below:

We want to have one of each type of effect across our gear set to diversify our stagger application. It’s important to have this diversification because applying the same type of stagger effect twice or more times in quick succession reduces the effectiveness of that type of stagger effect (for how long is not currently known)
In our build, we already have daze from Smoke Grenade and Concussive Strikes, and we already have slow from Caltrops, so we will need to pick up:
- 1x Freezing effect
- 1x Stun effect
- 1x Immobilise effect
4th CC effect: You can either pick up another 1x Freezing effect to freeze enemies more often and trigger Frigid Finesse and Frostbitten bonuses more often, or pick up 1x Slow effect for better stagger diversification and damage reduction from slowed enemies from the Cheap Shot board
We also pick up 1x crowd control duration rather than getting a 5th CC effect on our last piece to help boost the effectiveness of each of the following and to reduce the chance of diminishing stagger effect (by applying too many individual CC effects):
- All tempering lucky hit chance to CC effects
- Concussive strikes
- Smoke Grenade
We should end up with 4x lucky hit CC effects and 1x crowd control duration across Boots, Pants, Gloves, Chest and Head gear pieces
The above needs more testing, but that’s the current idea

Read more information about how stagger works here https://discord.com/channels/989899054815281243/1239196457488355328/1239196457488355328
Bow vs Crossbow
As a basic principle, bows shoot 22% faster and crossbows deal 22% more damage. However, some nuanced stuff should be noted:

Crossbows come with vulnerable damage, which boosts your Victimise base damage. However, this damage increase from vulnerable damage in the scheme of things is not major. This damage increase is pretty much unconditional however
Bows have extra damage to distant enemies, which can be nice sometimes but it can be hard to keep your distance from enemies at times especially if you’re trying to optimise damage your output with Dash and Caltrops, which require you to get close
Bows shoot faster and can apply CC effects quicker this way. This in theory staggers bosses quicker. However, bows have been found to not quite shoot 22% faster than crossbows in some circumstances, and applying CC effects quickly have some diminishing returns even if true.
Furthermore, you can apply stagger on bosses using cooldowns such as Shadow Step and Smoke Grenade which aren’t affected by how much faster you can shoot with a bow
Crossbows also gain us a higher Weapon Mastery passive bonus than what bows can do, though only by 3% at rank 3 of Weapon Mastery. Although Weapon Mastery with a bow increases your damage to vulnerable enemies, it does not contribute to your Victimise base damage in the same way that the Malice passive does
Bows look cooler because of transmogs and because you’re shooting faster

While for this build there is no clear winner between using a bow or crossbow, it will ultimately be decided for you based on what you find or trade for out in the field and how lucky you get with your tempering rolls.
Swords vs Daggers
We use Heartseeker for our “core” attacks, so we will only rely on our swords or daggers for their damage bonuses.
Swords come with extra critical strike damage and daggers come with extra damage versus close enemies. Given that we will have a high amount of critical strike chance with this build and we may be fighting from afar quite often, going with swords is more ideal for this build.
Survivability
For survivability, there are a few things that will help us here.

Dark Shroud with Umbrous aspect - Dark Shroud with up to 15 ranks gives up to 68% damage reduction when 5 shadows are active. Umbrous aspect allows you to gain shadows when you hit enemies with Heartseeker. Since you lose shadows every time you take direct damage, being able to get them back quickly is important
Dodge - Dodge allows you to avoid taking damage from hits altogether. Apart from the obvious benefit of avoiding damage, not taking damage also helps preserve your Dark Shroud shadows. Beware however that dodge doesn’t reduce the damage you take when you do take damage, and dodge doesn’t avoid certain ground effects or damage from damage over time sources, so don’t rely on dodge too much. Somewhere between 50% to 70% dodge should be enough without stretching you too much
Life - The more life you have, the more punishment you can take. Try and aim for around 40,000 life or a little bit more to ensure you can take most hits without dying
Damage reduction - Pick up damage reduction where you can. The following paragon nodes should be secured to help you survive:
- Damage reduction from vulnerable enemies on Exploit Weakness
- Damage reduction from elite enemies on Cheap Shot
- Damage reduction from trapped enemies on Deadly Ambush
- Ranger glyph
- Damage reduction from slowed enemies on Cheap Shot if you have 1x Slow effect from tempering. Note that this form of damage reduction is less important since it doesn’t work on bosses
Resistances - Resistances can be maxed out without any gear rolling resistance affixes by
- Tempering Fire, Lightning, Poison or Shadow resistance on the Chest piece
- Getting the Leyrana’s board with a maxed out Pride glyph
- Getting the cold resistance cluster of nodes from on Exploit Weakness (30 out of 35% worth)
- Making sure that your rings natively roll cold resistance on them on their inherent affix. If you can only get 1 ideal ring with cold resistance on it, then pick up the remaining 5% cold resistance node on Exploit Weakness as well to top up your cold resistance
Crowded Sage vs Assimilation - Both aspects have 8% extra dodge on them. Crowded Sage will be better against lots of smaller attacks, where as Assimilation will be better for less frequent but harder hitting attacks, so take your pick
More defensive - If necessary, swap Elements aspect for Might aspect or Assimilation/Crowded Sage aspect (requires some aspect shuffling) to further improve survivability. You can also gain the full glyph bonus on No Witnesses by swapping to Diminish (damage reduction) and adding more surrounding strength nodes

Levelling

At the start of your levelling journey, you should follow any other levelling guide out there that uses Rapid Fire, Barrage or Penetrating Shot and use combo points. Once you reach the key passives at the bottom of your skill tree, you should use Precision for the foreseeable future.
There are a few key ingredients that you should get before switching over to using Heartseeker and Victimise:
Heartseeker:

Mid to high roll Moonrise aspect, ready to put on your ranged weapon slot
Mid to high roll Adaptability aspect, ready to put on an amulet slot
Rapid aspect, ready to put on any offensive slot
Victimise (see below) since Precision doesn’t work with Heartseeker
Ideal: Ranks to Heartseeker on pants, chance to cast Heartseeker twice, etc

Victimise:

Either Accursed Touch aspect or Lucky hit chance to make targets vulnerable on one of your rings. Note that you will drop Accursed Touch long term but it can be handy to use while levelling
Exploit glyph
Some lucky hit chance affixes (20+). Gloves are the best spot to get this early
High amount of vulnerable damage bonuses (200+)
Ideal: At least 2 double dipping interactions from your paragon

High-end Pit

In high-end Pit content, even trash enemies will take a little while to kill. This will force you to use your Caltrops, Smoke Grenade and other tools more often to maintain an efficient clear speed. With this in mind, see the notes below on the changes to make from the standard build.

Swap Concealment for Death Trap + Prime Death Trap, Death Trap will be used to tightly group enemies together and to activate Trap Mastery
Swap Stutter Step for Trap Mastery, since we will not be speed farming but trying to maximise damage output when we activate Death Trap
Swap Inner Sight for Preparation, while we can’t lower Death Trap’s cooldown with Preparation, we will use it to lower other cooldowns with Death Trap. Given that Inner Sight will likely perform badly in higher levels of Pit, this swap becomes sensible
Swap Agility cooldown reduction for Trap cooldown reduction to help maximise the uptime for Death Trap
Swap Combat glyph for Ambush glyph, Combat glyph makes sense in a more agile build, but we will become more heavily reliant on Caltrops and Death Trap for damage output, so Ambush will give us a small damage boost over Combat
If necessary, swap Elements aspect for Hectic aspect (requires some aspect shuffling) to further improve the cooldown refresh for Death Trap

Boss Attack Rotation

Spam Heartseeker to ramp up all of your damage modifiers - Heartseeker, Moonrise, Exploit Weakness, Chip - and to apply constant CC effects on the boss until they are close to being staggered. Save your Smoke Grenade for now
Once staggered, quickly Shadow Step them, throw down Caltrops and Dash through them
Spam Heartseeker into them while standing still
Once the boss comes out of stagger, throw your Smoke Grenade then spam Heartseeker to apply constant CC effects on the boss until they are close to being staggered again
Once staggered, quickly Shadow Step them, throw down Caltrops and Dash through them
Spam Heartseeker into them while standing still
Repeat this process until the boss is dead

Situational Skill Usage

Use Dash or Concealment to disengage when you feel in danger. Remember to not disengage for too long otherwise you will lose your ramp up damage modifiers - Heartseeker, Moonrise, Exploit Weakness, Chip
Use Shadow Step when you get CC’ed, making sure that it’s safe to do so first
Use Caltrops but sparingly (at the start of stagger window) since Caltrops takes time to cast when you want to be shooting with Heartseeker instead to apply CC and keep damage modifiers online. This will also help ensure that you have Caltrops ready during the stagger window
Use Death Trap to refresh cooldowns, preferably on the boss to also activate Trap Mastery and brief moments of Deadly Ambush, Ambush, etc
Use Smoke Grenade when it comes off cooldown but avoid using it during the stagger window

submitted by Bowazon_ to D4Rogue [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 23:28 AlfrescoDog The Great Wall and Wall Street: Become a Better Trader by Understanding the Perils of 🇨🇳 Chinese Companies on 🇺🇸 U.S. Exchanges

The Great Wall and Wall Street: Become a Better Trader by Understanding the Perils of 🇨🇳 Chinese Companies on 🇺🇸 U.S. Exchanges

⚠️ Attention all traders and holders of Chinese stocks: You should read this if you don’t know what a VIE is. Sure, most of you will be repelled by the great wall of text here (so many words!), but you might want to keep this post nearby.
Hello. You are aware that Wall Street’s bustling bazaar hosts a veritable Forbidden City of Chinese companies draped in ticker tape rather than silk. Today, I will provide background and data on all allowed Chinese companies listed on three of the largest U.S. stock exchanges: New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Nasdaq, and NYSE American.
I should note that a bustling troupe of 26 national securities exchanges are registered with the SEC in the United States. Most are owned by the Nasdaq, NYSE, or the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE).
Nonetheless, based on data from the World Federation of Exchanges as of August 2023, the NYSE and Nasdaq were the top two exchanges behemoths of the global financial stage, accounting for 42.4% of the total $110.2 trillion in valuation traded across 80 major global exchanges.
🖼️ I had a photo of Wall Street to add here, but I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
2022 vs. 2023
According to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, as of January 8, 2024, there were 265 Chinese companies listed on the three U.S. exchanges, with a total market capitalization of $848 billion. That valuation is down from a year prior—January 9, 2023—when a slightly lower 252 Chinese companies were tracked, but they represented a total market capitalization of $1.03 trillion.
Since January 2023, 24 Chinese companies have entered the spotlight of the three U.S. exchanges, raising $656 million in combined initial public offerings (IPOs). On the other hand, eleven Chinese companies have folded their tents and delisted.
China Securities Regulatory Commission
The American stock exchanges witnessed a springtime bloom of Chinese IPOs in the first quarter of 2023. However, this listing activity came to an abrupt halt as the clock struck March 31, 2023.
Why? The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) implemented a revised approval process for companies going public overseas.
I won’t get into the details, but China has rules to cap foreign investment and ownership in sectors deemed strategic, such as technology. In the past, those regulations have driven several Chinese firms to the legal gymnastics of a Variable Interest Entity (VIE) structure—a clever contrivance that allowed them to leapfrog domestic constraints.
However, under the revised review mechanism, every company, regardless of its corporate ownership structure, must now bow before the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to register its intent to list overseas.
🖼️ I had a photo of the CSRC building to add here, but I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
The gatekeeper
Therefore, although the CSRC touted this regulation as a necessary measure for enforcing regulatory compliance and preventing fraud (which is true), it also helps regulators act as gatekeepers poised to block any proposed listing they deem poses a risk to their national security or jeopardizes China's national interests.
This process is wide-ranging. For instance, it includes an evaluation of the company’s safeguards against disclosing what the Chinese Communist Party considers potential state secrets. But we’re not talking about top-secret black-ops projects meant to be hidden from international oversight committees. No… any company that collects personal information on more than one million users requires stern data security review mechanisms for its cross-border data flows.
For perspective, TikTok has over 150 million users in the U.S. alone and is not subject to the same scrutiny from the Western nations.
Currently, the CSRC approval process is reportedly taking upward of six months.
Audit inspections and investigations in China
You’re probably unaware of the HFCAA, so let’s start there.
The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act of 2020 (HFCAA) is a law that requires companies publicly listed on stock exchanges in the U.S. to disclose to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) information on foreign jurisdictions that prevent the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) from conducting inspections.
That law laid down a stern ultimatum: If Chinese authorities kept obstructing the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) from inspecting audit firms in China or Hong Kong for three consecutive years, the companies audited by these entities would face a ban from the bustling arenas of the U.S. exchanges.
Basically, either China allowed the PCAOB to inspect the audit firms, or the companies had to change to another auditing firm within three years.
Then, as 2022 waned to its final days (literally, on December 29), President Joe Biden signed a Consolidated Appropriations Act, which contained a provision that will tighten the noose, shortening future timelines from three consecutive years to only two.
Once they looked under the rock
Finally allowed to conduct full investigations of audit firms in mainland China and Hong Kong after over a decade of obstruction, the PCAOB announced the findings of its first round of inspections in May 2023, identifying deficiencies in seven of eight audits conducted by the auditing firms KPMG Huazhen and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Hong Kong. Audits of Chinese Companies Are Highly Deficient, U.S. Regulator Says
On November 30, 2023, the PCAOB announced fines against three audit firms in China, totaling $7.9 million for misconduct. For perspective, that number included the second and third-largest fines ever doled out by the PCAOB.
Why were the fines so bad?
Those sneaky Chinese accountants
Imagine a gaggle of accountants in the far reaches of PwC China and Hong Kong applying for a U.S. auditing curriculum. But alas, these foreign accountants find the U.S. auditing training tests a trifle tedious, so someone came up with the answers and decided to pass them around like a secret note in a schoolroom.
From 2018 to 2020, over 1,000 of these busy bees completed their U.S. auditing online exams by copying the answers from two unauthorized apps with a fervor that would make a gossip columnist blush.
When confronted with the evidence, PwC China and PwC Hong Kong response: 🤷‍♂️
And let me remind you, this happened late last year. Both firms are expected to provide reasonable assurance that their personnel will act with integrity in connection with internal training and to report their compliance to the PCAOB within 150 days—April 2024.
🖼️ I was planning on using an AI-generated image of Chinese accountants cheating, but I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
State-owned enterprises
According to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, this graph represents the total market capitalization of Chinese companies listed in the three U.S. exchanges.
Market Capitalization of Listed Chinese Companies
The number of listed companies has stayed at around 260. However, all Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have delisted themselves from U.S. exchanges, most of them soon after the PCAOB announced it had secured complete access to Chinese auditors’ records.
Variable Interest Entities (VIEs)
Most traders—and that means you—are unaware that 166 Chinese companies currently listed on the three major U.S. exchanges use a VIE structure.
As of January 8, 2024, these companies have a market capitalization of $772 billion. For perspective, that represents 91% of the total market capitalization of all the Chinese firms listed on the three major U.S. exchanges.
What the hell is a VIE?
It is a complex corporate structure that grants shareholders contractual claims to control via an offshore shell company without transferring actual ownership in the company.
A Variable Interest Entity (VIE) is a bit like a riverboat casino’s cleverest trick, allowing a company to sell its chips on a foreign table without ever letting the players hold the cards directly.
A VIE is a structure used primarily by companies that wish to partake in the financial streams of another country (the U.S. exchanges) without breaking local laws (Chinese laws) that prevent full ownership.
Remember, Chinese companies structured themselves as VIEs to circumvent China’s restrictions—not U.S. restrictions—on foreign ownership in industries the CCP deems sensitive.
Therefore, when you hold stock in one of these Chinese companies, you’re not officially holding any actual ownership in the company. Because if you did, then that company could be breaking Chinese restrictive caps on foreign investment and ownership.
That’s why they set up a façade, or a legal entity, that controls the business on paper, but the true power and profits are funneled back to the company pulling the strings.
Granted, it’s not as shaky as asking a random stranger to hold your shares, but it is crafty, and you should be aware of the risks.
Wait. What are the risks?
You need to understand that there’s a shadow of potential risk looming. Potential. Now, don't mistake me for the town crier of doom; I'm not proclaiming that the sky is falling on these shares. Nor am I declaring that disaster is certain for Chinese stocks.
What I am pointing out, however, is the presence of a risk—a subtle beast that might just catch you off guard if you remain unaware.
And let’s face it: Most of you are completely oblivious to these issues.
There are two sides here: 🇺🇸 & 🇨🇳
🇺🇸
Since July 2021, the SEC has imposed additional disclosure requirements for Chinese companies using a VIE to sell shares in the U.S. These requirements include greater transparency about the relationship between the VIE and its Chinese operating companies.
In summary, the SEC aims to push VIEs toward the company behind them to offer more clarity on U.S. investor ownership in the Chinese operating company.
🇨🇳
On the other side, Chinese companies that list overseas using a VIE were not required to register their listings with the CSRC, as the VIE is not considered a Chinese company under China’s law. This is the reason VIEs were used in the first place.
However, as I mentioned earlier, after March 31, 2023, the CSRC established requirements for all new Chinese companies to register and receive permission before going public overseas—even those planning to use VIE structures. That’s why there was a boom of Chinese IPOs before that deadline.
Granted, on September 14, 2023, a Chinese auto insurance platform became the first company that received the elusive blessing of the CSRC to list, and it did so using a VIE arrangement, breaking the long, dry spell that had plagued Chinese IPOs when she listed on the Nasdaq four days later.
However, even though VIEs received some sort of recognition from the CSRC, the VIE corporate structures still hold dubious legal status under China’s laws. Remember, VIEs purpose is to avoid being considered a Chinese company under China’s laws.
So… do you see the potential risk here?
Umm… No, I don’t get it.
Think about it. Either country could potentially increase regulations for VIEs, but if the SEC forces them to be more transparent, the VIE would not be able to circumvent China’s restrictions. That’s one risk.
Also, at some point, China’s CSRC might question whether it’s appropriate to recognize a corporate structure that was created to circumvent its laws.
Which leads me to this: What’s keeping the CCP from deciding to start reigning in those VIEs?
The answer is simple: They’re not in a hurry to do so because if misfortune should befall, it’ll be the foreign investors who’ll see their assets deflated like a punctured balloon.
🖼️ I would've added a nice image or two by now, to balance all the text and make this more appealing, but I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
If a VIE-listed company goes private at a lower valuation, businesses fail, or there’s a valuation discrepancy, the enforceability of a VIE’s contractual arrangements is unproven in Chinese courts. With VIE-listed companies, foreign investors’ recourse in the Chinese legal system is as elusive as a catfish’s whisper.
Yeah, but that’s unlikely…
Sure. Of course, I’m not saying every Chinese stock will have these issues. But it can happen. And it has happened.
The unlucky case of Luckin Coffee
Due to the lack of compliance with international audit inspections, Chinese corporate financial statements’ reliability for valuation and investment is not assured.
Such is the case of Luckin Coffee. In a bold bid to capture Wall Street’s hearts and wallets, Luckin Coffee showed up dressed in finery, flaunting alluring figures of revenue, operations, and bustling customer traffic.
At her grand debut, the stock sashayed onto the Nasdaq at $17, swirling up a storm of interested buyers to the tune of $561 million in capital.
For a fleeting moment, Luckin shimmered like a star over the financial firmament, boasting a market capitalization that soared to a heady $12 billion, with shares peaking just over $50.
Ah, but as the adage goes, ‘Truth will out.’ And out it came—the revelation of those embroidered numbers caused the company's stock to plummet like a stone tossed from a bridge, leaving a wake of investor losses and culminating in a disgraceful delisting from Nasdaq 13 months after her debut. Luckin Coffee Drops Nasdaq Appeal; Shares to Be Delisted
🖼️ I would've added an AI-generated image of a cup of Luckin Coffee jumping from a bridge, but I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
Well… but that won’t happen to me…
Uh-huh. On April 2, 2020, after announcing that employees—including its chief operating officer—falsified 2.2 billion yuan (about $310 million) in sales throughout 2019, Luckin's shares nosedived -80%.
This is from one of you unluckin bastards: I've lost 240k on Luckin Coffee, all my life savings. Now I'm broke af.
I’m sure many of you might reckon yourselves immune to a similar debacle since you think you’re smart enough to use stops to escape any runaway losses. It's time to wake up and smell the Luckin coffee. Chinese news catalysts often strike like lightning at night, and the stops you set under the sun cannot shield you from storms that explode in the moonlight. Dumbass.
Chinese regulators can be mercurial
Even though the PCAOB is currently able to perform its oversight responsibilities, concerns remain around the possibility that Chinese regulators might backtrack, potentially clamping down once again on the PCAOB's ability to access audit firms and personnel across mainland China and Hong Kong.
If that happens, the PCAOB can quickly declare a negative determination. HOWEVER, this action would only start the countdown under the HFCAA, giving U.S.-listed Chinese companies a window of TWO years to secure services from an auditor in a compliant jurisdiction or face a trading ban. That’s it.
Of course, within that time, Chinese regulators could agree once again to allow access to the PCAOB, thus resetting the two-year countdown without significant consequences.
What lurks in the shadows
Although the risk of PCAOB non-compliance looms over these financial engagements, it is the ghost of potentially misconstrued—or, let's say, creatively presented—earnings reports coming to light that should scare you most. Or, on the flip side, present the biggest opportunity.
I believe it is possible that there are several ghosts out there—ghastly financial figures dressed up a tad too finely—lingering in the shadows, unchecked and unchallenged. If they’re found and unveiled under the harsh spotlight of scrutiny, the fallout would be immediate and severe, leaving investors scrambling.
And if that happens, it’s not about diamond-holding through the plunge since the company might opt (or be forced) to delist from the U.S. exchanges.
🖼️ I would've added an AI-generated image of an attractive young Chinese ghost woman, implying both the allure of Chinese stocks, but also the risk of getting closer. However, I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
You need to understand a crucial concept. Many traders believe that if a company messes up, plunges, and gets delisted, it means the company is basically over—dead. But that’s not the case here. A delisting does not equal death.
I mean, Luckin Coffee is still out there, alive and kicking.

16,218 stores and counting, covering 240+ cities across China.

You would think that a company like that would not be able to cheat on its balance sheet. Yeah, just like you would think PwC China would notice 1,000 accountants cheated their way through the U.S. auditing curriculum.
🖼️ I would've added an AI-generated image of a Chinese accountant dabbing like a boss for getting his cheated accounting diploma, but I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
So… is it too far-fetched to believe more ghosts might come to light, now that the PCAOB can supervise the numbers?
I mentioned a flip side since you could specialize in tracking everything the PCAOB does. If you can get a whiff about increased auditing on a certain company, you might decide to play a short position in anticipation of a potential ghost coming to light. Be warned, though, that it’s not as if they tweet out which companies they’re auditing.
If I were to do it, I would research and join whatever digital saloon young Chinese ledger-keepers convene in. Perhaps I’d stumble upon a post by SumYungGuy or another pleading for advice on how to parley with the PCAOB Laowai making a fuss over his figures. The poor lad's in a pickle, you see, since he cheated the exam and doesn’t know squat.
Methodology
For the purposes of this table, a company is considered Chinese if:

It has been identified as being from the PRC (the People's Republic of China) by the relevant stock exchange;
It lists a PRC address as its principal executive office in filings with the SEC; or
It has a majority of operations in the PRC, including a company structured offshore but whose value is ultimately tied through a relationship in the PRC.

⚠️ Some Chinese companies that use offshore corporate entities hide or do not identify their primary Chinese corporate domicile in their listing information. This complicates tracing, making it difficult to guarantee that this list captures all Chinese companies registered offshore.
I should also point out that this list does not include companies domiciled exclusively in Hong Kong or Macau.
⚠️ Remember, this list only considers Chinese companies listed on three of the largest U.S. stock exchanges: New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Nasdaq, and NYSE American.
Oh, and btw, this isn’t a list I came up with. This info was compiled by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. It’s their methodology and list.
Since the majority is a VIE, I’ve marked the ones that are not registered as a VIE with an asterisk (*). This is determined using the most recent annual report filed with the SEC. A company is judged to have a VIE if:

It explicitly describes using a VIE to conduct all or part of its business operations in China, or
It describes a subsidiary in which it has no direct equity interest but relies on contractual arrangements to exercise control and receive economic benefits from its operations in China.

⚠️ For companies that have been listed for less than a year, information contained in the company’s most recently updated investment prospectus, as filed with the SEC, is used instead.
Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges
Companies are arranged by the size of their current market capitalization. All companies utilize a VIE corporate structure, except those marked with an asterisk (*).
BABA Alibaba Group Holding Limited PDD Pinduoduo Inc. NTES NetEase, Inc. JD JD.com, Inc. BIDU Baidu, Inc TCOM Trip.com International, Ltd. TME Tencent Music Entertainment Group LI Li Auto BEKE KE Holdings BGNE BeiGene * ZTO ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. YUMC Yum China Holdings Inc. EDU New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Inc. HTHT H World Group Limited * NIO NIO Inc. YMM Full Truck Alliance Co. Ltd VIPS Vipshop Holdings Limited TAL TAL Education Group LEGN Legend Biotech * MNSO Miniso * BZ Kanzhun Limited XPEV Xpeng BILI Bilibili Inc. IQ iQIYI, Inc. HCM HUTCHMED (China) Limited * ATHM Autohome Inc. QFIN Qifu Technology RLX RLX Technology LU Lufax ATAT Atour Lifestyle Holdings * WB Weibo Corporation ZLAB Zai Lab Limited * ZKH ZKH Group Ltd * YY JOYY Inc. GOTU Gaotu Techedu, Inc. MSC Studio City International Holdings Limited * GCT GigaCloud Technology Inc GDS GDS Holdings Limited ACMR ACM Research, Inc. * HOLI Hollysys Automation Technologies, Ltd. * FINV FinVolution Group JKS JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. * DQ Daqo New Energy Corp. * MOMO Hello Group Inc. CSIQ Canadian Solar Inc. * EH Ehang TUYA Tuya Inc. NOAH Noah Holdings Ltd. HUYA HUYA Inc. KC Kingsoft Cloud YALA Yalla *
These are only 51 of the 261 Chinese companies currently listed on the major U.S. exchanges to comply with rule three. I kept the market cap minimum at $750M to allow for some wiggle room.
I mentioned earlier that the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission had 265 tickers, but that was on January 8, 2024. Since then, three companies have been acquired, and the other one has voluntarily delisted.
As you can confirm, the vast majority is structured as a VIE.
I was going to include charts to illustrate how several Chinese stocks—aside from the ones with the biggest market caps—tend to display sudden rallies, followed by after-hours reversals. It is important to recognize them, whether you want to capitalize on them, or avoid them entirely. But I can't add any more attachments, so...
Besides, it's unlikely that many of you have even read this far without images.
Have a good day.

submitted by AlfrescoDog to wallstreetbets [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 22:00 The_Cooler_Server [A3][Recruiting][US] The Cooler Server: A Relaxed Arma MilSim Community

The Cooler Server [TCS]

TCS Website
TCS YouTube

About The Cooler Server

The Cooler Server is a laid-back military simulation community that aims to provide a more enjoyable alternative to traditional Arma MilSim units. You won't find ranks or power-hungry staff members. Instead, we'll show you that you can play tactically without sacrificing your pride with virtual pushups—just laid-back, structured gameplay in a fun and helpful environment.

Roles

Rather than locking you into a role that you'll grow tired of in a few weeks, we give you the freedom to play whatever you'd like, whenever you'd like! While roles can be limited on an operation-to-operation basis, we'll try our best to offer various options that keep you entertained and engaged.

Attendance

We understand that time is a commodity that not everyone has, so our policy on attendance is flexible. New members must attend at least one op within the first 30 days of joining; however, we don't have ANY attendance requirements after that. Can't make it this week? No big deal. Need to take a break from the game? That's fine too! We'll be here whenever you're ready to return.

Missions

While our community's sole purpose is to have fun, we like implementing actual tactics and strategies during our operations. We also understand that shooting brainless AI can get boring, so our missions are hand-made weekly by our seasoned mission makers. Our operations last around 2-3 hours and typically have 30-40 players on our Saturday Op Night.

Beginners

New to the game? No problem! We've all been there, and we can understand how intimidating it is to play with a unit for the first time. Our staff is full of veteran Arma players who can explain the ins and outs of almost anything you'd want to learn. We also understand that your first operation might not go smoothly, so we'll pair you with a fire team full of helpful veterans to get you through the fight!

Requirements

For your first operation with TCS, we ask that you show up an hour early on either a Wednesday or Friday night, so we can walk you through some of our mods and recommended keybindings. If you can't make it, arrangements can be made with a TCS Staff Member. If this is your first time playing Arma, we will happily teach you the game basics.

18+
Working Mic
Fluent English
Working copy of Arma 3
Required Expansions/DLC:
- APEX
- Contact
Recommended Expansions/DLC:
Willingness to play Arma in 1st person
Willingness to download our mod pack with Swifty.

Apply and join our ~~cult~~ community!

SIGN-UP LINK

Operation Schedule

Wednesday Friday Saturday


06:00PM	(1800)	Pacific
07:00PM	(1900)	Mountain
08:00PM	(2000)	Central
09:00PM	(2100)	Eastern
01:00AM	(0100)	UTC

submitted by The_Cooler_Server to FindAUnit [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 21:35 Contactunderground WHY DO THE CONTROL GROUPS OPPOSE AN ET PRESENCE? On social media pages I have posted articles discussing my assessment that an ET presence would threaten the rich and powerful, but not the Earth’s peoples. If this analysis is correct, then how might our rulers protect themselves

WHY DO THE CONTROL GROUPS OPPOSE AN ET PRESENCE? On social media pages I have posted articles discussing my assessment that an ET presence would threaten the rich and powerful, but not the Earth’s peoples. If this analysis is correct, then how might our rulers protect themselves

WHY DO THE CONTROL GROUPS OPPOSE AN ET PRESENCE?
J. Burkes MD 2018, edited 2023
One concept about the nature of the alleged UFO cover-up is that there exist quasi-governmental/quasi-corporate based clandestine cells sometimes described as “the control groups.” According to this proposition, these secret networks are keeping a lid on the UFO challenge by working behind the scenes to maintain what has been called “the UFO truth embargo.” This has involved a sophisticated psychological warfare program directed at the population in the form of a de facto policy of ridicule and denial.

Given that these control groups have also been working to reverse engineer UFO technology for over seven decades, it is conceivable that they have made significant advances. The extreme secrecy concerning such breakthroughs might have created what UFO historian Richard Dolan has called “a breakaway civilization.”

In 2017, a new openness on this subject has been allowed by elite power concerning this potentially destabilizing issue. This started with corporate media revelations about a secret Pentagon project studying UFOs. Since then, former, and current government officials have confirmed the reality of what are now called UAPs. Full disclosure of information about flying saucers is not what is happening. Instead, there has been an intensification of what non-human intelligence analyst Grant Cameron has called the US Executive Branch’s “gradual acclimatization program.” This involves allowing a mixture of some accurate information as well disinformation on this still highly classified subject to be released publicly. The gradual acclimatization program according to Grant Cameron’s analysis has for decades existed in parallel to the coverup.
Corporate, military, intelligence and political power brokers don’t operate as one on this issue. Different factions struggle over the speed at which the limited disclosure will unfold. In my opinion, as stated above, this issue, at the most basic level, still threatens all terrestrial elites, but not the Earth’s peoples.

Why do might the rich and powerful oppose an ET presence? The following are just a few of the reasons.

1.What we call flying saucers can apparently fly circles around “top gun” jet fighters, thereby showing the military to be impotent in securing terrestrial airspace.

During ancient times the so-called aliens may have played a role in establishing all the major faiths. If the masses of believers on our planet started to accept this possibility, then it would threaten the power and influence of organized religion.

3.Alleged ET “free energy” generating/propulsion systems if downloaded into our technological culture under conditions of world peace would threaten the largest industries on our planet, the empires of oil and coal.

In my opinion, the rich and powerful take great efforts to maintain a self-image that is an illusion of strength and invulnerability. An extraterrestrial presence could certainly challenge this self-image and the very concept of human sovereignty.

YOU CAN’T CONTROL AN ET THAT WANTS NOTHING

https://preview.redd.it/qyhzxp1fx80d1.jpg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c2cc51c1b751b8070885c7984521a4930b7cabb8
But what makes the control groups most afraid I suspect is that if UFOs are controlled by ETs, the alleged aliens don't seem to want anything. They often simply appear in the sky for a few moments and then disappear. This behavior transmits the simple-minded message, “Hello, we are here."

ET beings, as far as we know, are not engaged in mining operations on Earth. They don't play the stock market to get rich. They usually flee when approached by military jets. Their interactions with humans occur under conditions of secrecy. The so-called aliens come to us often at night. Our interactions are predominately mental and typically when we are alone, thus little objective documentation can be acquired during the close encounters.

THREATS OF VIOLENCE, BRIBERY, AND BLACKMAIL DON’T WORK WITH THEM.

From the “control groups” point of view, I imagine that the alleged ETs appear to be immune to the usual bag of tricks that the super-rich use to keep the rest of us in line. Maybe the “ETs” scare the control groups because unlike politicians they can't be bribed or blackmailed. It is hard to shoot down UFOs and they don't seem too troubled by all the bad publicity they get from Hollywood alien invasion fantasies.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT MIGHT BE ESSENTIAL FOR OPEN CONTACT WITH ADVANCED CULTURES.

The attached photo mime of a man walking with a small child in a forest suggests to me the following. Perhaps what we need on this planet is a simpler type of existence, one that allows us to be closer to nature. As in the image, walking in a beautiful forest might be far more fulfilling than the race to acquire wealth, power, and the mountains of things that our consumer culture tells us that we need. Thus, the man walking with a child in nature can’t be controlled because he wants nothing beyond a simple existence. I am suggesting here that the alleged ETs might want no things as well, placing them beyond the control of the ruling classes.

From my understanding of the spiritual teachings of Eckert Tolle, consciousness is no thing. It is an awareness that allows us to be awake and be aware that we are awake. It is infinite in its scope and universally experienced but can’t be defined by words. The ego however can be defined. According to Tolle it is a mind structure that is obsessed with form, both material things and thought forms. Identifying with form compels the ego to enhance itself by always wanting and sometimes getting more. For many of us this means more money, fame, sex, and for the ruling classes more control over others.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT COMBINED WITH PROGRESSIVE POLITICS MIGHT BE THE KEY.

What happens when more of us reject this plane of existence that the Buddha reportedly called "the nightmare of the day”? What happens when millions of us say the message of oneness that is promoted by all the major faiths applies to what for many appear to be technologically and spiritually advanced ETs operating here on Earth?

Well, I imagine you get a change in the mass consciousness that could facilitate getting rid of the control groups and the oligarchs that they serve. "Peace on Earth and in the Cosmos!" can be the slogan to link the UFO presence to achieving planetary unity based on principles of peace and cooperation. In my opinion, this can only happen when we embrace universal consciousness. That is not only our potential link to every intelligent being in the universe via telepathy, but also to the fabric of reality itself.

I offer an additional interpretation of the mime
“You can’t control a person who wants nothing.”

If consciousness is “no thing”, then those of us that ultimately identify with universal consciousness, rather than with the ego, can’t be controlled either.

Additional Comment by the Author:

In response to this blog, one reader asked the following question, "I guess the concept that it may take centuries is the part that escapes me, will the earth put up with us that long?"

Joseph Burkes MD: We often get confused with what I imagine are the "needs" of our planet to those of the rather self-destructive humans that now has reached eight billion in number. In a vision I had in Carlsbad Cavern, I saw the Earth as being like a beautiful woman that was full of life and proud of her creations. Our mother, the Earth, has the capacity to regenerate life on her surface despite the onslaughts of many epochs of extinction. This has been true in the past and will continue for hundreds of millions of years.
We are not destroying the planet. In a sense this notion is yet another expression of our incredible hubris to proclaim that we can. She will do just fine in the long run. I believe this is true even if we destroy our civilization and the survivors are reduced to conditions of barbarism, eking out a miserable existence in the few highlands that will sustain some primitive agriculture, or by hunting and gathering.
I have posted a blog about champion remote viewer Joe McMoneagle's remarkable vision of Earth civilization in the year 3000. It is written up in an important book called, "The Ultimate Time Machine." It is a lovely picture of a planet with only one tenth of our current population. According to McMoneagle’s remote view, humanity will live in environmentally sound small cities of no more than at most 100,000, Housing will be in concentric circles with green zones in-between them. Transportation to the city centers will all be underground, and recycling and reuse will reduce the level of pollution and waste to a minimum.

Alas, this is only one possible future and as Joe has pointed out, the future is changing all the time. So, let's be determined to work towards what was seen in retired Sgt. McMoneagle's remote view. Let's link the message of peace, environmental protection and social justice to a phenomenon that is inspiring a growing number of contact activists to celebrate sisterhood and brotherhood extended out into the Cosmos.

Comments:
Norman Michael Marburg Jr "The powers that be must wonder what to do with people who have traded ego for universal consciousness and who are happy with enough. They have nothing to sell us beyond our most simple needs. There is little need for governments and religions when a society values truth over policy and learns to live simply, patiently and compassionately with all beings. PS, there is a reason why Tolle carries the Tao Te Ching with him wherever he is. C. G. Jung quoted it of the in his later works. After years of reading it, study and my own experience, I am convinced that its tenets comprise the IOS for all advanced sentient beings of the universe."
Another comment agreed that “the only way to overcome the elitist control group that enslaves humanity is with combined connected consciousness,” but he wanted to know how such a radical transformation might occur?
Joseph Burkes Thank you (name deleted) for asking this central question? I have been posting this blog periodically for several years and I believe you are the first to ask "how such a radical transformation might occur?" Successful evolutionary movements typically achieve results over long periods of time. The tyranny of repressive ideologies, such as forced onto the masses by the feudalistic Catholic Church in Europe, was worn down by a series of developments that spanned centuries. The Protestant reforms that reflected the growing strength of business classes in combination with the scientific revolution created a new kind of society. In that pluralistic environment the Church fathers could no longer dictate their "truth" to the masses. In the former Soviet Union, it took just 70 years for a police state regime to fall apart. Unfortunately the Putin regime has reestablished many of the controls that existed under communism.
Our civilization is probably facing an existential crisis in the form of global warming and resultant climate change. Young people all over the planet are realizing this and they are starting to march demanding action. The problems we face cannot be solved by nation states, so some kind of just world government will hopefully replace what UFO Researcher Stanton Friedman called "the tribal warfare" waged by "Earthlings." Although opposed vigorously, especially in so called "red states", meditation is starting to be taught in some public schools. The popularity of modern Buddhist teachers like Eckert Tolle reflects this shift away from organized religion to a spirituality based on a more direct connection with universal consciousness.
Clearly a more complete answer to your question goes beyond what can be conveyed in the "word bytes" on social media, but I hope my blogs will give hints as to where we will need to go to turn things around. I imagine the struggle will not be easy and will unfold over centuries after much blood, sweat and tears have been shed.

For Additional blogs about the societal impact of a possible ET presence click on the links below:

Intelligence community whistleblower Victor Marchetti outlined the Establishment’s approach to UFOs in 1979. His analysis will help UFO truth activists explain the reasons for 80 years of US Executive Branch lying. https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2023/06/09/four-decades-ago-a-whistleblower-outlined-the-rationale-and-methods-of-the-executive-branchs-ufo-coverup-that-continues-to-this-day/

If flying saucer intelligences threaten all terrestrial elites, but not necessarily the Earth’s people, then it is understandable that governmental response to UFOs is a counterintelligence one.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/02/03/dueling-paradigms-perhaps-a-counterintelligence-model-is-better-than-a-scientific-one-to-study-ufos/
The Leadership Crisis in ufology. In the UFO subculture there are few leaders, mostly celebrities. https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2021/12/22/the-leadership-crisis-in-ufology/
What will it take to convince people that UFOs are important.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/02/13/what-will-it-take-to-convince-people-that-ufos-are-important/
“Science, Counterintelligence & UFOs”Researcher Val Germann wrote this important multi-part article in 1997. He has given me permission to repost his work.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/09/04/science-counterintelligence-and-ufos/

submitted by Contactunderground to Experiencers [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 21:29 Contactunderground WHY DO THE CONTROL GROUPS OPPOSE AN ET PRESENCE? On social media pages I have posted articles discussing my assessment that an ET presence would threaten the rich and powerful, but not the Earth’s peoples. If this analysis is correct, then how might our rulers protect themselves

WHY DO THE CONTROL GROUPS OPPOSE AN ET PRESENCE?
J. Burkes MD 2018, edited 2023

On social media pages I have posted articles discussing my assessment that an ET presence would threaten the rich and powerful, but not the Earth’s peoples. If this analysis is correct, then how might our rulers protect themselves?

One concept about the nature of the alleged UFO cover-up is that there exist quasi-governmental/quasi-corporate based clandestine cells sometimes described as “the control groups.” According to this proposition, these secret networks are keeping a lid on the UFO challenge by working behind the scenes to maintain what has been called “the UFO truth embargo.” This has involved a sophisticated psychological warfare program directed at the population in the form of a de facto policy of ridicule and denial.

Given that these control groups have also been working to reverse engineer UFO technology for over seven decades, it is conceivable that they have made significant advances. The extreme secrecy concerning such breakthroughs might have created what UFO historian Richard Dolan has called “a breakaway civilization.”

In 2017, a new openness on this subject has been allowed by elite power concerning this potentially destabilizing issue. This started with corporate media revelations about a secret Pentagon project studying UFOs. Since then, former, and current government officials have confirmed the reality of what are now called UAPs. Full disclosure of information about flying saucers is not what is happening. Instead, there has been an intensification of what non-human intelligence analyst Grant Cameron has called the US Executive Branch’s “gradual acclimatization program.” This involves allowing a mixture of some accurate information as well disinformation on this still highly classified subject to be released publicly. The gradual acclimatization program according to Grant Cameron’s analysis has for decades existed in parallel to the coverup.
Corporate, military, intelligence and political power brokers don’t operate as one on this issue. Different factions struggle over the speed at which the limited disclosure will unfold. In my opinion, as stated above, this issue, at the most basic level, still threatens all terrestrial elites, but not the Earth’s peoples.

Why do might the rich and powerful oppose an ET presence? The following are just a few of the reasons.

1.What we call flying saucers can apparently fly circles around “top gun” jet fighters, thereby showing the military to be impotent in securing terrestrial airspace.

During ancient times the so-called aliens may have played a role in establishing all the major faiths. If the masses of believers on our planet started to accept this possibility, then it would threaten the power and influence of organized religion.

In my opinion, the rich and powerful take great efforts to maintain a self-image that is an illusion of strength and invulnerability. An extraterrestrial presence could certainly challenge this self-image and the very concept of human sovereignty.

YOU CAN’T CONTROL AN ET THAT WANTS NOTHING

But what makes the control groups most afraid I suspect is that if UFOs are controlled by ETs, the alleged aliens don't seem to want anything. They often simply appear in the sky for a few moments and then disappear. This behavior transmits the simple-minded message, “Hello, we are here."

ET beings, as far as we know, are not engaged in mining operations on Earth. They don't play the stock market to get rich. They usually flee when approached by military jets. Their interactions with humans occur under conditions of secrecy. The so-called aliens come to us often at night. Our interactions are predominately mental and typically when we are alone, thus little objective documentation can be acquired during the close encounters.

THREATS OF VIOLENCE, BRIBERY, AND BLACKMAIL DON’T WORK WITH THEM.

From the “control groups” point of view, I imagine that the alleged ETs appear to be immune to the usual bag of tricks that the super-rich use to keep the rest of us in line. Maybe the “ETs” scare the control groups because unlike politicians they can't be bribed or blackmailed. It is hard to shoot down UFOs and they don't seem too troubled by all the bad publicity they get from Hollywood alien invasion fantasies.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT MIGHT BE ESSENTIAL FOR OPEN CONTACT WITH ADVANCED CULTURES.

The attached photo mime of a man walking with a small child in a forest suggests to me the following. Perhaps what we need on this planet is a simpler type of existence, one that allows us to be closer to nature. As in the image, walking in a beautiful forest might be far more fulfilling than the race to acquire wealth, power, and the mountains of things that our consumer culture tells us that we need. Thus, the man walking with a child in nature can’t be controlled because he wants nothing beyond a simple existence. I am suggesting here that the alleged ETs might want no things as well, placing them beyond the control of the ruling classes.

From my understanding of the spiritual teachings of Eckert Tolle, consciousness is no thing. It is an awareness that allows us to be awake and be aware that we are awake. It is infinite in its scope and universally experienced but can’t be defined by words. The ego however can be defined. According to Tolle it is a mind structure that is obsessed with form, both material things and thought forms. Identifying with form compels the ego to enhance itself by always wanting and sometimes getting more. For many of us this means more money, fame, sex, and for the ruling classes more control over others.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT COMBINED WITH PROGRESSIVE POLITICS MIGHT BE THE KEY.

What happens when more of us reject this plane of existence that the Buddha reportedly called "the nightmare of the day”? What happens when millions of us say the message of oneness that is promoted by all the major faiths applies to what for many appear to be technologically and spiritually advanced ETs operating here on Earth?
https://preview.redd.it/zuvka3ygw80d1.jpg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cd68cf46776d951c80e87852f77eeead66e1a5b7

Well, I imagine you get a change in the mass consciousness that could facilitate getting rid of the control groups and the oligarchs that they serve. "Peace on Earth and in the Cosmos!" can be the slogan to link the UFO presence to achieving planetary unity based on principles of peace and cooperation. In my opinion, this can only happen when we embrace universal consciousness. That is not only our potential link to every intelligent being in the universe via telepathy, but also to the fabric of reality itself.

I offer an additional interpretation of the mime
“You can’t control a person who wants nothing.”

If consciousness is “no thing”, then those of us that ultimately identify with universal consciousness, rather than with the ego, can’t be controlled either.

Additional Comment by the Author:

In response to this blog, one reader asked the following question, "I guess the concept that it may take centuries is the part that escapes me, will the earth put up with us that long?"

Joseph Burkes MD: We often get confused with what I imagine are the "needs" of our planet to those of the rather self-destructive humans that now has reached eight billion in number. In a vision I had in Carlsbad Cavern, I saw the Earth as being like a beautiful woman that was full of life and proud of her creations. Our mother, the Earth, has the capacity to regenerate life on her surface despite the onslaughts of many epochs of extinction. This has been true in the past and will continue for hundreds of millions of years.
We are not destroying the planet. In a sense this notion is yet another expression of our incredible hubris to proclaim that we can. She will do just fine in the long run. I believe this is true even if we destroy our civilization and the survivors are reduced to conditions of barbarism, eking out a miserable existence in the few highlands that will sustain some primitive agriculture, or by hunting and gathering.
I have posted a blog about champion remote viewer Joe McMoneagle's remarkable vision of Earth civilization in the year 3000. It is written up in an important book called, "The Ultimate Time Machine." It is a lovely picture of a planet with only one tenth of our current population. According to McMoneagle’s remote view, humanity will live in environmentally sound small cities of no more than at most 100,000, Housing will be in concentric circles with green zones in-between them. Transportation to the city centers will all be underground, and recycling and reuse will reduce the level of pollution and waste to a minimum.

Alas, this is only one possible future and as Joe has pointed out, the future is changing all the time. So, let's be determined to work towards what was seen in retired Sgt. McMoneagle's remote view. Let's link the message of peace, environmental protection and social justice to a phenomenon that is inspiring a growing number of contact activists to celebrate sisterhood and brotherhood extended out into the Cosmos.

Comments:
Norman Michael Marburg Jr "The powers that be must wonder what to do with people who have traded ego for universal consciousness and who are happy with enough. They have nothing to sell us beyond our most simple needs. There is little need for governments and religions when a society values truth over policy and learns to live simply, patiently and compassionately with all beings. PS, there is a reason why Tolle carries the Tao Te Ching with him wherever he is. C. G. Jung quoted it of the in his later works. After years of reading it, study and my own experience, I am convinced that its tenets comprise the IOS for all advanced sentient beings of the universe."
Another comment agreed that “the only way to overcome the elitist control group that enslaves humanity is with combined connected consciousness,” but he wanted to know how such a radical transformation might occur?
Joseph Burkes Thank you (name deleted) for asking this central question? I have been posting this blog periodically for several years and I believe you are the first to ask "how such a radical transformation might occur?" Successful evolutionary movements typically achieve results over long periods of time. The tyranny of repressive ideologies, such as forced onto the masses by the feudalistic Catholic Church in Europe, was worn down by a series of developments that spanned centuries. The Protestant reforms that reflected the growing strength of business classes in combination with the scientific revolution created a new kind of society. In that pluralistic environment the Church fathers could no longer dictate their "truth" to the masses. In the former Soviet Union, it took just 70 years for a police state regime to fall apart. Unfortunately the Putin regime has reestablished many of the controls that existed under communism.
Our civilization is probably facing an existential crisis in the form of global warming and resultant climate change. Young people all over the planet are realizing this and they are starting to march demanding action. The problems we face cannot be solved by nation states, so some kind of just world government will hopefully replace what UFO Researcher Stanton Friedman called "the tribal warfare" waged by "Earthlings." Although opposed vigorously, especially in so called "red states", meditation is starting to be taught in some public schools. The popularity of modern Buddhist teachers like Eckert Tolle reflects this shift away from organized religion to a spirituality based on a more direct connection with universal consciousness.
Clearly a more complete answer to your question goes beyond what can be conveyed in the "word bytes" on social media, but I hope my blogs will give hints as to where we will need to go to turn things around. I imagine the struggle will not be easy and will unfold over centuries after much blood, sweat and tears have been shed.

For Additional blogs about the societal impact of a possible ET presence click on the links below:

Intelligence community whistleblower Victor Marchetti outlined the Establishment’s approach to UFOs in 1979. His analysis will help UFO truth activists explain the reasons for 80 years of US Executive Branch lying. https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2023/06/09/four-decades-ago-a-whistleblower-outlined-the-rationale-and-methods-of-the-executive-branchs-ufo-coverup-that-continues-to-this-day/

If flying saucer intelligences threaten all terrestrial elites, but not necessarily the Earth’s people, then it is understandable that governmental response to UFOs is a counterintelligence one.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/02/03/dueling-paradigms-perhaps-a-counterintelligence-model-is-better-than-a-scientific-one-to-study-ufos/
The Leadership Crisis in ufology. In the UFO subculture there are few leaders, mostly celebrities. https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2021/12/22/the-leadership-crisis-in-ufology/
What will it take to convince people that UFOs are important.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/02/13/what-will-it-take-to-convince-people-that-ufos-are-important/
“Science, Counterintelligence & UFOs”Researcher Val Germann wrote this important multi-part article in 1997. He has given me permission to repost his work.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/09/04/science-counterintelligence-and-ufos/

submitted by Contactunderground to ContactUnderground [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 21:26 Contactunderground WHY DO THE CONTROL GROUPS OPPOSE AN ET PRESENCE? On social media pages I have posted articles discussing my assessment that an ET presence would threaten the rich and powerful, but not the Earth’s peoples. If this analysis is correct, then how might our rulers protect themselves

During ancient times the so-called aliens may have played a role in establishing all the major faiths. If the masses of believers on our planet started to accept this possibility, then it would threaten the power and influence of organized religion.

In my opinion, the rich and powerful take great efforts to maintain a self-image that is an illusion of strength and invulnerability. An extraterrestrial presence could certainly challenge this self-image and the very concept of human sovereignty.

YOU CAN’T CONTROL AN ET THAT WANTS NOTHING

But what makes the control groups most afraid I suspect is that if UFOs are controlled by ETs, the alleged aliens don't seem to want anything. They often simply appear in the sky for a few moments and then disappear. This behavior transmits the simple-minded message, “Hello, we are here."

ET beings, as far as we know, are not engaged in mining operations on Earth. They don't play the stock market to get rich. They usually flee when approached by military jets. Their interactions with humans occur under conditions of secrecy. The so-called aliens come to us often at night. Our interactions are predominately mental and typically when we are alone, thus little objective documentation can be acquired during the close encounters.

THREATS OF VIOLENCE, BRIBERY, AND BLACKMAIL DON’T WORK WITH THEM.

From the “control groups” point of view, I imagine that the alleged ETs appear to be immune to the usual bag of tricks that the super-rich use to keep the rest of us in line. Maybe the “ETs” scare the control groups because unlike politicians they can't be bribed or blackmailed. It is hard to shoot down UFOs and they don't seem too troubled by all the bad publicity they get from Hollywood alien invasion fantasies.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT MIGHT BE ESSENTIAL FOR OPEN CONTACT WITH ADVANCED CULTURES.

The attached photo mime of a man walking with a small child in a forest suggests to me the following. Perhaps what we need on this planet is a simpler type of existence, one that allows us to be closer to nature. As in the image, walking in a beautiful forest might be far more fulfilling than the race to acquire wealth, power, and the mountains of things that our consumer culture tells us that we need. Thus, the man walking with a child in nature can’t be controlled because he wants nothing beyond a simple existence. I am suggesting here that the alleged ETs might want no things as well, placing them beyond the control of the ruling classes.

From my understanding of the spiritual teachings of Eckert Tolle, consciousness is no thing. It is an awareness that allows us to be awake and be aware that we are awake. It is infinite in its scope and universally experienced but can’t be defined by words. The ego however can be defined. According to Tolle it is a mind structure that is obsessed with form, both material things and thought forms. Identifying with form compels the ego to enhance itself by always wanting and sometimes getting more. For many of us this means more money, fame, sex, and for the ruling classes more control over others.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT COMBINED WITH PROGRESSIVE POLITICS MIGHT BE THE KEY.

What happens when more of us reject this plane of existence that the Buddha reportedly called "the nightmare of the day”? What happens when millions of us say the message of oneness that is promoted by all the major faiths applies to what for many appear to be technologically and spiritually advanced ETs operating here on Earth?

https://preview.redd.it/xc7zjw63w80d1.jpg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5de449cd8af49389a22e0f029498a158b35163b4
Well, I imagine you get a change in the mass consciousness that could facilitate getting rid of the control groups and the oligarchs that they serve. "Peace on Earth and in the Cosmos!" can be the slogan to link the UFO presence to achieving planetary unity based on principles of peace and cooperation. In my opinion, this can only happen when we embrace universal consciousness. That is not only our potential link to every intelligent being in the universe via telepathy, but also to the fabric of reality itself.

I offer an additional interpretation of the mime
“You can’t control a person who wants nothing.”

If consciousness is “no thing”, then those of us that ultimately identify with universal consciousness, rather than with the ego, can’t be controlled either.

Additional Comment by the Author:

In response to this blog, one reader asked the following question, "I guess the concept that it may take centuries is the part that escapes me, will the earth put up with us that long?"

Joseph Burkes MD: We often get confused with what I imagine are the "needs" of our planet to those of the rather self-destructive humans that now has reached eight billion in number. In a vision I had in Carlsbad Cavern, I saw the Earth as being like a beautiful woman that was full of life and proud of her creations. Our mother, the Earth, has the capacity to regenerate life on her surface despite the onslaughts of many epochs of extinction. This has been true in the past and will continue for hundreds of millions of years.
We are not destroying the planet. In a sense this notion is yet another expression of our incredible hubris to proclaim that we can. She will do just fine in the long run. I believe this is true even if we destroy our civilization and the survivors are reduced to conditions of barbarism, eking out a miserable existence in the few highlands that will sustain some primitive agriculture, or by hunting and gathering.
I have posted a blog about champion remote viewer Joe McMoneagle's remarkable vision of Earth civilization in the year 3000. It is written up in an important book called, "The Ultimate Time Machine." It is a lovely picture of a planet with only one tenth of our current population. According to McMoneagle’s remote view, humanity will live in environmentally sound small cities of no more than at most 100,000, Housing will be in concentric circles with green zones in-between them. Transportation to the city centers will all be underground, and recycling and reuse will reduce the level of pollution and waste to a minimum.

Alas, this is only one possible future and as Joe has pointed out, the future is changing all the time. So, let's be determined to work towards what was seen in retired Sgt. McMoneagle's remote view. Let's link the message of peace, environmental protection and social justice to a phenomenon that is inspiring a growing number of contact activists to celebrate sisterhood and brotherhood extended out into the Cosmos.

Comments:
Norman Michael Marburg Jr "The powers that be must wonder what to do with people who have traded ego for universal consciousness and who are happy with enough. They have nothing to sell us beyond our most simple needs. There is little need for governments and religions when a society values truth over policy and learns to live simply, patiently and compassionately with all beings. PS, there is a reason why Tolle carries the Tao Te Ching with him wherever he is. C. G. Jung quoted it of the in his later works. After years of reading it, study and my own experience, I am convinced that its tenets comprise the IOS for all advanced sentient beings of the universe."
Another comment agreed that “the only way to overcome the elitist control group that enslaves humanity is with combined connected consciousness,” but he wanted to know how such a radical transformation might occur?
Joseph Burkes Thank you (name deleted) for asking this central question? I have been posting this blog periodically for several years and I believe you are the first to ask "how such a radical transformation might occur?" Successful evolutionary movements typically achieve results over long periods of time. The tyranny of repressive ideologies, such as forced onto the masses by the feudalistic Catholic Church in Europe, was worn down by a series of developments that spanned centuries. The Protestant reforms that reflected the growing strength of business classes in combination with the scientific revolution created a new kind of society. In that pluralistic environment the Church fathers could no longer dictate their "truth" to the masses. In the former Soviet Union, it took just 70 years for a police state regime to fall apart. Unfortunately the Putin regime has reestablished many of the controls that existed under communism.
Our civilization is probably facing an existential crisis in the form of global warming and resultant climate change. Young people all over the planet are realizing this and they are starting to march demanding action. The problems we face cannot be solved by nation states, so some kind of just world government will hopefully replace what UFO Researcher Stanton Friedman called "the tribal warfare" waged by "Earthlings." Although opposed vigorously, especially in so called "red states", meditation is starting to be taught in some public schools. The popularity of modern Buddhist teachers like Eckert Tolle reflects this shift away from organized religion to a spirituality based on a more direct connection with universal consciousness.
Clearly a more complete answer to your question goes beyond what can be conveyed in the "word bytes" on social media, but I hope my blogs will give hints as to where we will need to go to turn things around. I imagine the struggle will not be easy and will unfold over centuries after much blood, sweat and tears have been shed.

For Additional blogs about the societal impact of a possible ET presence click on the links below:

Intelligence community whistleblower Victor Marchetti outlined the Establishment’s approach to UFOs in 1979. His analysis will help UFO truth activists explain the reasons for 80 years of US Executive Branch lying. https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2023/06/09/four-decades-ago-a-whistleblower-outlined-the-rationale-and-methods-of-the-executive-branchs-ufo-coverup-that-continues-to-this-day/

If flying saucer intelligences threaten all terrestrial elites, but not necessarily the Earth’s people, then it is understandable that governmental response to UFOs is a counterintelligence one.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/02/03/dueling-paradigms-perhaps-a-counterintelligence-model-is-better-than-a-scientific-one-to-study-ufos/
The Leadership Crisis in ufology. In the UFO subculture there are few leaders, mostly celebrities. https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2021/12/22/the-leadership-crisis-in-ufology/
What will it take to convince people that UFOs are important.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/02/13/what-will-it-take-to-convince-people-that-ufos-are-important/
“Science, Counterintelligence & UFOs”Researcher Val Germann wrote this important multi-part article in 1997. He has given me permission to repost his work.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/09/04/science-counterintelligence-and-ufos/

submitted by Contactunderground to CE5 [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 21:24 Contactunderground WHY DO THE CONTROL GROUPS OPPOSE AN ET PRESENCE? On social media pages I have posted articles discussing my assessment that an ET presence would threaten the rich and powerful, but not the Earth’s peoples. If this analysis is correct, then how might our rulers protect themselves.

WHY DO THE CONTROL GROUPS OPPOSE AN ET PRESENCE?
J. Burkes MD 2018, edited 2023

On social media pages I have posted articles discussing my assessment that an ET presence would threaten the rich and powerful, but not the Earth’s peoples. If this analysis is correct, then how might our rulers protect themselves?

One concept about the nature of the alleged UFO cover-up is that there exist quasi-governmental/quasi-corporate based clandestine cells sometimes described as “the control groups.” According to this proposition, these secret networks are keeping a lid on the UFO challenge by working behind the scenes to maintain what has been called “the UFO truth embargo.” This has involved a sophisticated psychological warfare program directed at the population in the form of a de facto policy of ridicule and denial.

Given that these control groups have also been working to reverse engineer UFO technology for over seven decades, it is conceivable that they have made significant advances. The extreme secrecy concerning such breakthroughs might have created what UFO historian Richard Dolan has called “a breakaway civilization.”

In 2017, a new openness on this subject has been allowed by elite power concerning this potentially destabilizing issue. This started with corporate media revelations about a secret Pentagon project studying UFOs. Since then, former, and current government officials have confirmed the reality of what are now called UAPs. Full disclosure of information about flying saucers is not what is happening. Instead, there has been an intensification of what non-human intelligence analyst Grant Cameron has called the US Executive Branch’s “gradual acclimatization program.” This involves allowing a mixture of some accurate information as well disinformation on this still highly classified subject to be released publicly. The gradual acclimatization program according to Grant Cameron’s analysis has for decades existed in parallel to the coverup.
Corporate, military, intelligence and political power brokers don’t operate as one on this issue. Different factions struggle over the speed at which the limited disclosure will unfold. In my opinion, as stated above, this issue, at the most basic level, still threatens all terrestrial elites, but not the Earth’s peoples.

Why do might the rich and powerful oppose an ET presence? The following are just a few of the reasons.

1.What we call flying saucers can apparently fly circles around “top gun” jet fighters, thereby showing the military to be impotent in securing terrestrial airspace.

During ancient times the so-called aliens may have played a role in establishing all the major faiths. If the masses of believers on our planet started to accept this possibility, then it would threaten the power and influence of organized religion.

In my opinion, the rich and powerful take great efforts to maintain a self-image that is an illusion of strength and invulnerability. An extraterrestrial presence could certainly challenge this self-image and the very concept of human sovereignty.

YOU CAN’T CONTROL AN ET THAT WANTS NOTHING

But what makes the control groups most afraid I suspect is that if UFOs are controlled by ETs, the alleged aliens don't seem to want anything. They often simply appear in the sky for a few moments and then disappear. This behavior transmits the simple-minded message, “Hello, we are here."

ET beings, as far as we know, are not engaged in mining operations on Earth. They don't play the stock market to get rich. They usually flee when approached by military jets. Their interactions with humans occur under conditions of secrecy. The so-called aliens come to us often at night. Our interactions are predominately mental and typically when we are alone, thus little objective documentation can be acquired during the close encounters.

THREATS OF VIOLENCE, BRIBERY, AND BLACKMAIL DON’T WORK WITH THEM.

From the “control groups” point of view, I imagine that the alleged ETs appear to be immune to the usual bag of tricks that the super-rich use to keep the rest of us in line. Maybe the “ETs” scare the control groups because unlike politicians they can't be bribed or blackmailed. It is hard to shoot down UFOs and they don't seem too troubled by all the bad publicity they get from Hollywood alien invasion fantasies.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT MIGHT BE ESSENTIAL FOR OPEN CONTACT WITH ADVANCED CULTURES.

The attached photo mime of a man walking with a small child in a forest suggests to me the following. Perhaps what we need on this planet is a simpler type of existence, one that allows us to be closer to nature. As in the image, walking in a beautiful forest might be far more fulfilling than the race to acquire wealth, power, and the mountains of things that our consumer culture tells us that we need. Thus, the man walking with a child in nature can’t be controlled because he wants nothing beyond a simple existence. I am suggesting here that the alleged ETs might want no things as well, placing them beyond the control of the ruling classes.

From my understanding of the spiritual teachings of Eckert Tolle, consciousness is no thing. It is an awareness that allows us to be awake and be aware that we are awake. It is infinite in its scope and universally experienced but can’t be defined by words. The ego however can be defined. According to Tolle it is a mind structure that is obsessed with form, both material things and thought forms. Identifying with form compels the ego to enhance itself by always wanting and sometimes getting more. For many of us this means more money, fame, sex, and for the ruling classes more control over others.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT COMBINED WITH PROGRESSIVE POLITICS MIGHT BE THE KEY.

https://preview.redd.it/pdt2u6zov80d1.jpg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4208aa378de8cda8120f9e8751de3522304c6a3e
What happens when more of us reject this plane of existence that the Buddha reportedly called "the nightmare of the day”? What happens when millions of us say the message of oneness that is promoted by all the major faiths applies to what for many appear to be technologically and spiritually advanced ETs operating here on Earth?
Well, I imagine you get a change in the mass consciousness that could facilitate getting rid of the control groups and the oligarchs that they serve. "Peace on Earth and in the Cosmos!" can be the slogan to link the UFO presence to achieving planetary unity based on principles of peace and cooperation. In my opinion, this can only happen when we embrace universal consciousness. That is not only our potential link to every intelligent being in the universe via telepathy, but also to the fabric of reality itself.

I offer an additional interpretation of the mime
“You can’t control a person who wants nothing.”

If consciousness is “no thing”, then those of us that ultimately identify with universal consciousness, rather than with the ego, can’t be controlled either.

Additional Comment by the Author:

In response to this blog, one reader asked the following question, "I guess the concept that it may take centuries is the part that escapes me, will the earth put up with us that long?"

Joseph Burkes MD: We often get confused with what I imagine are the "needs" of our planet to those of the rather self-destructive humans that now has reached eight billion in number. In a vision I had in Carlsbad Cavern, I saw the Earth as being like a beautiful woman that was full of life and proud of her creations. Our mother, the Earth, has the capacity to regenerate life on her surface despite the onslaughts of many epochs of extinction. This has been true in the past and will continue for hundreds of millions of years.
We are not destroying the planet. In a sense this notion is yet another expression of our incredible hubris to proclaim that we can. She will do just fine in the long run. I believe this is true even if we destroy our civilization and the survivors are reduced to conditions of barbarism, eking out a miserable existence in the few highlands that will sustain some primitive agriculture, or by hunting and gathering.
I have posted a blog about champion remote viewer Joe McMoneagle's remarkable vision of Earth civilization in the year 3000. It is written up in an important book called, "The Ultimate Time Machine." It is a lovely picture of a planet with only one tenth of our current population. According to McMoneagle’s remote view, humanity will live in environmentally sound small cities of no more than at most 100,000, Housing will be in concentric circles with green zones in-between them. Transportation to the city centers will all be underground, and recycling and reuse will reduce the level of pollution and waste to a minimum.

Alas, this is only one possible future and as Joe has pointed out, the future is changing all the time. So, let's be determined to work towards what was seen in retired Sgt. McMoneagle's remote view. Let's link the message of peace, environmental protection and social justice to a phenomenon that is inspiring a growing number of contact activists to celebrate sisterhood and brotherhood extended out into the Cosmos.

Comments:
Norman Michael Marburg Jr "The powers that be must wonder what to do with people who have traded ego for universal consciousness and who are happy with enough. They have nothing to sell us beyond our most simple needs. There is little need for governments and religions when a society values truth over policy and learns to live simply, patiently and compassionately with all beings. PS, there is a reason why Tolle carries the Tao Te Ching with him wherever he is. C. G. Jung quoted it of the in his later works. After years of reading it, study and my own experience, I am convinced that its tenets comprise the IOS for all advanced sentient beings of the universe."
Another comment agreed that “the only way to overcome the elitist control group that enslaves humanity is with combined connected consciousness,” but he wanted to know how such a radical transformation might occur?
Joseph Burkes Thank you (name deleted) for asking this central question? I have been posting this blog periodically for several years and I believe you are the first to ask "how such a radical transformation might occur?" Successful evolutionary movements typically achieve results over long periods of time. The tyranny of repressive ideologies, such as forced onto the masses by the feudalistic Catholic Church in Europe, was worn down by a series of developments that spanned centuries. The Protestant reforms that reflected the growing strength of business classes in combination with the scientific revolution created a new kind of society. In that pluralistic environment the Church fathers could no longer dictate their "truth" to the masses. In the former Soviet Union, it took just 70 years for a police state regime to fall apart. Unfortunately the Putin regime has reestablished many of the controls that existed under communism.
Our civilization is probably facing an existential crisis in the form of global warming and resultant climate change. Young people all over the planet are realizing this and they are starting to march demanding action. The problems we face cannot be solved by nation states, so some kind of just world government will hopefully replace what UFO Researcher Stanton Friedman called "the tribal warfare" waged by "Earthlings." Although opposed vigorously, especially in so called "red states", meditation is starting to be taught in some public schools. The popularity of modern Buddhist teachers like Eckert Tolle reflects this shift away from organized religion to a spirituality based on a more direct connection with universal consciousness.
Clearly a more complete answer to your question goes beyond what can be conveyed in the "word bytes" on social media, but I hope my blogs will give hints as to where we will need to go to turn things around. I imagine the struggle will not be easy and will unfold over centuries after much blood, sweat and tears have been shed.

For Additional blogs about the societal impact of a possible ET presence click on the links below:

Intelligence community whistleblower Victor Marchetti outlined the Establishment’s approach to UFOs in 1979. His analysis will help UFO truth activists explain the reasons for 80 years of US Executive Branch lying. https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2023/06/09/four-decades-ago-a-whistleblower-outlined-the-rationale-and-methods-of-the-executive-branchs-ufo-coverup-that-continues-to-this-day/

If flying saucer intelligences threaten all terrestrial elites, but not necessarily the Earth’s people, then it is understandable that governmental response to UFOs is a counterintelligence one.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/02/03/dueling-paradigms-perhaps-a-counterintelligence-model-is-better-than-a-scientific-one-to-study-ufos/
The Leadership Crisis in ufology. In the UFO subculture there are few leaders, mostly celebrities. https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2021/12/22/the-leadership-crisis-in-ufology/
What will it take to convince people that UFOs are important.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/02/13/what-will-it-take-to-convince-people-that-ufos-are-important/
“Science, Counterintelligence & UFOs”Researcher Val Germann wrote this important multi-part article in 1997. He has given me permission to repost his work.
https://contactunderground.wordpress.com/2022/09/04/science-counterintelligence-and-ufos/

submitted by Contactunderground to AnomalousEvidence [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 20:57 Killercombo3 Changes & New Additions List

Helldivers 2 has gotten a little stale recently with the Polar Patriots warbond new additions being mostly bad, the Airburst Rocket Launcher also being bad, and the new anti-tank mines actually look decent but will probably have to long of a cooldown so they will be niche. I'm proposing changes that could spice up the game by changing up enemies, modifiers, and weapons. Let me know what you think about the changes and what could be improved as I'm not a game designer and just want to see Helldivers 2 be better.
Assault Rifles
Assault Rifles are probably the worst class of guns in Helldivers, they don't excel at anything and aren't even that good allround. They need massive help
Liberator: Currently the base Liberator is just a worse Sickle. Not only does the Sickle have infinite ammo but for some reason it has higher DPS. I would reccomend changing its damage to 70 per shot and 11 shots per second bringing up its damage to 770 DPS. To go with the higher firerate, changing the reload time to 1.5 seconds on tactical reload and 2 seconds on a full reload would make the gun feel much better as a starter gun because it would just feel faster and kill better.
Liberator Penetrator: Liberator Penetrator is one of the worst weapons in the game. It has medium armor penetration but lacks any stopping power for it to be useful. Bringing the damage per shot up to 60 and upping the ammo to 35 bullets per magazine will take it a long way, having 640 DPS and medium armor penetration but having less bullets
Liberator Concussive: Liberator Concussive has the same probelm as the Liberator Penetrator in that it can't kill but even worse. I would reccomend bringing its damage up to a whopping 90 damage per shot. This sounds crazy but the changes to enemy spawns makes this more fair which i will discuss later. This increase in damage would give it a niche of a long range way of stunning bot enemies and actually being able to kill them. DPS would be 480 which isn't that crazy but the concussive ability would help. If I'm being honest this one might still be to weak so tell me what you reccomend changing for this gun.
Tenderizer: Tenderizer is in a very bad spot because it's an inferior Liberator even without my changes. I would reccomend bringing up its damage up to 70 per shot giving it a DPS of 700. In addition, because the DPS is lower I think giving it a small amount of stagger where enemies can't move or shoot back could go a long way in differentiating itself from the Liberator. Making the Tenderizer stagger enemies such as Hunters, Brood Commanders, Scout Striders (Striders wouldn't be damaged because of the lack of medium armor penetration but would be staggered if hit from the front), and standard Devastators would make the gun much more fun. Also make it fully resupply when refilling with resupply boxes like all other weapons.
Adjudicator: Adjudicator is in a pretty bad spot right now. It has poor handling and the damage isn't high enough to reliably one shot trash mobs, but it also doesn't have good enough damage to deal with more serious threats. I would reccomend bringing the damage up to 100 per shot for a total of 916 DPS. This would help justify the lower than average 25 bullets in a magazine.
Marksman Rifles
Marksman Rifles are in a decent spot with only the Diligence needing some help so that's what I've focused on.
Dilligence: The Dilligence is hard to balance as it is decent on bugs and bots but excels in neither of them. In addition it's hard to juggle balancing the Adjudicator, Dilligence, and the Diligence Counter-Sniper to make sure they're all good in their own ways. I think it might be fun to make the Dilligence the "easy medium armor penetration rifle". Get rid of almost all of its recoil and sway to promote more aggresive playstyles. The Dilligence would have lower DPS than the Adjudicator but it would be much easier to control and would just feel fun.
Dilligence Counter-Sniper: Honestly this weapon is perfect right now. It fulfills its role on bots perfectly and is fun to use. I worry that the Adjudicator changes would make this gun obsolete but I think it would still have its own niche. No changes
Sub-Machine Guns
One of the most consistent weapon types in the game with really only the Knight needing some help.
Defender: One of the most well balanced weapons in the game. No changes
Pummeler: It might be to early to say but the Pummeler feels good to use and fulfills its role, being worse at trash clear compared to the Defender but better against heavier targets thanks to the stagger. My opinion could change but for right now I don't think it needs any changes. no changes
Knight: The Knight is right now pretty bad just because it has a low ammo count for its firerate and fairly long reload time. These 2 factors just make the gun feel unfun to use because you are spending so much time reloading. It takes only 2 seconds to unload a full clip and 2.5 seconds to reload a full clip so you literally spend more time reloading than shooting. I would reccomend increasing the ammo per magazine from 50 bullets to a staggering 100 bullets per magazine and lowering the total number of magazines to 5. This would change the weapon's problem from "I have no ammo" to "I need to control my recoil so that I can kill better". This gun would reward close range play and good recoil management, being able to deal massive DPS if you can hit your shots.
Shotguns
Shotguns are probably the best class of weapon, issue being that some shotguns heavily outclass others. My goal is to equalize the difference between the shotguns and give them their own niches
Punisher: The most forgettable shotgun, the Punisher really just doesn't feel special. I admit that I don't have much experience with this gun so please tell me what you think about this gun currently. I think it would be cool if this shotgun was a jack of all trades shotgun. Reduce the spread but still have it be there and increase the firerate to 2 shots per second for a DPS of 810. It wouldn't have the range of a Slugger or the close range damage of a Breaker but it would have a little bit of both.
Slugger: Honestly just give it back its old stagger. This gun would functionally but the "precision shotgun" staggering and killing larger targers but having lower DPS in exchange
Breaker: Really the Breaker doesn't need help. It tears through trash mobs and does well against larger targets as well. The Breaker is fun and fair. It has lower ammo and not the greatest range but it's 100% workable. No changes
Breaker Spray & Pray: Breaker S&P isn't a bad weapon at all but it's 100% outclassed by the Breaker Incindiary. The only change I would make is to give it a 30 round magazine with 7 magazines to further lean into the "Spray and Pray" aspect of the gun.
Breaker Incindiary: This gun needs nerfs. I love the thing but it outclasses the Breaker Spray & Pray and fulfills its own niche at the same time. I would reccomend bringing down the firerate from 5 shots per second to 4, lowering its DPS from 1200 without accounting for fire damage to a DPS of 960 without accounting for fire damage. This lowered firerate would make the gun lean into its gimmick and have the fire do more work.
Explosive Weapons
Explosive weapons are probably the hardest to balance due to all of the recent nerfs to the Eruptor and Crossbow. I've decided to skip these weapons as I don't fully understand how explosive damage works
Dominator: A gun with good strengths and a fair amount of weaknesses to hold it back, making it fair. No changes
Energy Weapons
One of my favorite types of weapons and one that doesn't require much balancing.
Blitzer: The only change I have in mind for this weapon is the way that targeting works. Make it so that when you aren't aiming it the gun will always try to target as many enemies as possible and when aimed in it will aim all of the shots at the crosshair
Purifier: This weapon needs more testing but is unanimously agreed to be trash. If the gun works the way I think it does then the damage is much lower than people think it is, with the bolt dealing a respectable 250 damage but the explosion dealing much less. I would reccomend making the bolt and the explosion do 250 damage, essentially one shotting any low or medium level bot including Scout Striders. This should be fair because it has a large charge up time inbetween shots
Punisher Plasma: One of the most underrated weapons and a personal favorite of mine. I love what they did to the weapon but it deserves a small nerf. Revert the projectile speed to the way it was before it was buffed or find a middle ground from where it is now and where it was before
Scythe: The problem with the Scythe is really the way damage is dealt. It deals 350 per second. The issue with this is it's slow to kill anything because it at minimum takes 1 second for damage to be applied. I would reccomend making it so that damage starts as soon as the laser touches something for the first time. This could be abused so i would also reccomend raising the charge up time to .6 seconds. I'm not 100% sure if this would work how I think it would so please let me know what you think. I'll try and illustrate what this looks like
Current version
(Laser touches, 1 second passes, damage)
Changed version
(Laser touches and damages at the same time, 1 second passes, damage)
Sickle: Fantastic weapon that is fun to use. No changes
Scorcher: Fantastic weapon, great all around with low ammo to balance it. No changes
Pistols
Pistols are in an ok spot right now but some overshadow others largely
Peacemaker: I bet you don't even know what the Peacemaker is because nobody ever uses it. The Peacemaker needs some massive help. I would reccomend raising the Peacemaker's total ammo to 25 rounds per magazine, raising the magazines to 7 magainzes total, and raising the damage anywhere from 80-90 per shot. The damage would still be just ok, being good on trash mobs, but would be a big help on builds that waste a lot of ammo. I want the Peacemaker to one shot Hunters and Pouncers as I think that's the only change that could make it actually strong and not overshadow other secondaries
Redeemer: No changes. It's very useful as an "Oh shit" tool. It would have lower DPS than the Peacemaker but would be easier to use in a pinch because it's full auto where the Peacemaker is semi auto
Senator: No changes. Great gun with it's own niche
Dagger: Literal trash, it has the lowest DPS in the game, has a large cooldown, and builds heat quickly. I would change it so that it can't overheat at all and even then it might still be trash. Let me know if there are any better ways to balance it
Grenade Pistol: Great utility weapon. The only change I would make is to make the explosion radius a little bigger to more reliably destroy bot fabricators
Verdict: It's to early to tell but the Verdict looks strong, being similar to the Senator with a better ammo economy but no medium armor penetration. Making it a reliable anti medium target weapon. No changes
Grenades
Grenades are in a weird spot right now, with some being amazing and some being bad and I aim to raise the lower end of grenades to be in line with the rest
High Explosive: No changes. It's decent having a larger blast than impacts but being slower
Frag Grenades: These things are bad. I would change the max number of grenades from 4 to 6 when holding these grenades, making them great against fabricators and bug holes
Incindiary Grenades: Raise the blast radius and it's good
Incindiary Impacts: As long as the Impact grenades radius is smaller than the normal version, it's good
Impact Grenades: No changes
Stun Grenades: No changes
Thermite Grenades: These things need help. They really only have 2 uses. 1-2 well placed Thermites and and an anti-tank shot will kill a Bile Titan and 1 Thermite will destroy a Cannon Turret. I would reccomend increasing the final explosion blast radius size, damage, and the thermite burn radius. This would cause 1 anti-tank shot and 1 Thermite to consistently kill Bile Titans, it would be easier to hit Hulk eyes with Thermites and 1 shot them, and Thermites should kill with 2 grenades if hitting a Tank heat vent. Thermites should also strip Charger armor with 1 Thermite
Support Weapons
Expendable Anti-Tank: No changes, great support weapon
Recoiless Rifle: Increase the size of the explosion making it easier to hit weakpoints, Making it stronger than other anti-tank options in exchange for the backpack slot
Spear: Fix the tracking to be much more consistent. The Spear just doesn't have enough ammo and should have 6 shots instead of 4
Quasar Cannon: No changes, has unlimited ammo but has a cooldown and charge up time
Airburst Rocket Launcher: This thing is so dogshit. It requires a backpack slot, needs to shoot enemies far away from allies or you'll kill them or yourself, doesn't gurantee killing everything in the blast radius, etc. This thing needs a massive damage buff to be worth using. Increase the amount of cluster bombs to gurantee that whatever is in the radius is dead including Hulks. Increase the armor penetration value to at least strip Charger armor and do big damage to it, if that's not enough it should kill Chargers outright
Grenade Launcher: Increase the amount of magazines from 2 to 3. This thing is great but the low ammo makes it unviable so increasing the magazines by 1 will go a long way
Railgun: This thing needs help. It should require only 2 level 7-8 shots to strip Charger leg armor. It should 4 shot a Bile Titan in the face when using max charge shots. and 3 max charge shots should kill tank vents
Stalwart: The Stalwart is IMO an underrated pick on bugs. Its main issue is really that it's only good at unarmored horde clearing, leaving the user prone to being attacked by armored and high level enemies. I would propose that giving it medium armor penetration would take it a long way as one of the best horde clearing weapons, being able to deal with Hive Guards, Bile Spewers, and Scout Striders easier
Machine Gun: The Machine Gun might be the least used support weapon in Helldivers 2. It just doesn't really do anything special that another support can't do better. I would reccomend giving it heavy armor penetration, allowing it to kill Hulks when hitting the eye and it would go through devastator armor
Heavy Machine Gun: Unfortunately, from its inception the HMG has been bottom tier. It recently got a crosshair but even still it just gets outclassed by the Anti-Material Rifle, Laser Cannon, and even the Railgun. I think it could be cool to up the ammo to 100 rounds per magazine and add an optional backpack. This backpack would add an extra magazine and would increase the armor penetration to go through Charger & Hulk armor
Anti-Material Rifle: The AMR probably needs a small nerf. It 1-2 shots anything on the bot front. I would reccomend reverting its damage so that it needs to headshot devastators to one shot them
Autocannon: No changes
Laser Cannon: No changes
Arc Thrower: Make the Arc Thrower staggestun lock Hulks again and its great. Right now it's useless on bots
Flamethrower: The Flamethrower is great because it can horde clear and kill Chargers very efficiently. This is most likely unintentional but it is very fun. I would reccomend lowering the total magazines from 4 to 3 to balance out the Flamethrower's strengths.
Backpacks
Guard Dog: Guard Dog is currently just overshadowed by its Rover variant. I would reccomend changing the gun from the Liberator to the Liberator Penatrator, with the damage being the same but giving it medium armor penetration. Ammo boxes should also refill its ammo
Guard Dog Rover: No changes, the nerfs were justified. This is still a great horde clearing weapon but it doesn't play the game for you anymore
Supply Pack: No changes, you give up a backpack slot but you get 4 resupply boxes which is a big help and is balanced
Ballistic Shield: No changes, it fulfills its niche on bots and will get even better as time passes with new 1 handed weapons
Jump Pack: No changes, the Jump Pack is decent but it becomes much better depending on the primary weapon you use
Shield Generator Pack: No changes
Emplacements
Anti-Personnel Mines: Mines are completely terrible right now, their damage is decent but the cooldowns are just to long to be useful. I reccomend reducing their cooldown from 3 minutes to 1 minute
Incendiary Mines: Just like the Anti-Personnel Mines, the cooldown should be brought down to 1 minute but also since fire damage is weaker than explosive damage, there should be more Incendiary Mines in a larger radius
Machine Gun Sentry: The Machine Gun Sentry is just a weaker version of the Gatling Sentry. Instead of bringing the power of the MG Sentry up, I think it would be cool to lower the cooldown of the MG sentry. The idea with this sentry is to be the disposable horde clear sentry, similar to how EATs are the disposable anti-heavy support weapon
Gatling Sentry: No changes
Autocannon Sentry: No changes
Mortar Sentry: No changes
EMS Mortar Sentry: No changes
Rocket Sentry: Right now the Rocket Sentry is just largely inferior to the AC Sentry. I think it could be cool to increase the range and projectile speed of the Rocket Sentry massively. This would make it a lower DPS but longer range sentry with more ammo compared to the AC Sentry. The AC Sentry would be better in terms of DPS but would require better positioning and defense while the Rocket Sentry is something you could put farther away that would help with larger targets, which is what a missle should do.
Tesla Tower: I haven't used the Tesla Tower enough to discuss what should be done about it, please let me know what ideas you have for it
HMG Emplacement: Really just make the HMG Emplacement affected by sentry upgrades. These upgrades would give the HMG Emplacement more ammo, a better turn speed, and more health
Eagles & Orbitals
There are to many to list so I'll only be listing Offensive Stratagems that should be changed
Eagle Strafing Run: Give it heavy armor penetration. It would be good way to horde clear and kill larger targets but wouldn't excel at either role
Eagle Airstrike: Reduce the uses from 2 to 1. This thing is just to good to have 2 uses. It horde clears, kills bosses, destroy fabricators and bug holes, has multiple uses, etc. Nerfing the amount of uses before it goes on cooldown brings up a lot of other stratagems
Eagle Cluster Bomb: Reduce uses from 4 to 3
Orbital Gatling Barrage: The OGB should target and move around instead of being a stationary stratagem. Instead of targeting high level enemies it should target groups of low level enemies.
Enemy Changes
I might be in the minority but I feel like the main game mode (Helldive difficulty, 4 players) is to easy. I would reccomend buffing up the enemies to not only account for all of these new buffs but also to make Helldive hard again. All of these changes would only apply to Helldive difficulty as that's the only difficulty I have enough experience to have a good idea of what should change
Increased spawns on objectives: Objectives currently need to have more spawns, there is just to much downtime. Of course each objective will need its own spawnrates based on how long and how difficult each objective but generally there needs to be less enemies
Pouncers: Low level bug enemies are currently not threatening enough. They have low health, low damage, and are slow. I would reccomend increasing the Pouncer's movement speed to increase their ability to swarm players.
Warriors: Just like the Pouncers, Warriors just aren't very scary and should have increased movement speed to make them still a threat with their ability to swarm
Bile Spewers: These things need to be shot. Their spit attack is 100% broken. Damage on the spit attack needs to be reduced so that it isn't a one shot. I think a cool change though to make them still a threat is that diving would get rid of the slow debuff, but it would also increase the DOT from the acid, giving the player the choice between their movement or their health. Slow debuff should only be applied if the acid attack hits, not if the acid is in your general area
Bile Titans: These things are honestly just to tanky and completely define bug missions. There are to few ways to kill these. You either need an anti-tank support weapon or an anti-heavy stratagem. I think a good change would be that the legs should have lower armor (maybe heavy armor penetration and explosive weapons can do damage) and that if a leg is hit enough the Bile Titan would die. Hitting the head with anti-tank weapons would still be faster and leg shots would probably require 2-3 people to shoot the leg to kill the Titan at a reasonable pace but Titans wouldn't be unkillable.
Heavy Devastators: Devastators just need an accuracy nerf. They kill incredibly quickly and they frequently spawn so nerfing their accuracy would make them more fun to fight
New Additions
These are a few new additions to the game that I think would be cool
Gas Grenade: A portable version of the Orbital Gas Strike. It would have a larger AOE compared to incindiary grenades but a lower DPS
Thermite Breacher: A new support bolt-action sniper rifle that uses large thermite bullets. There would be 3 shots per magazine and 4 magazines total. Shooting this weapon sticks a large thermite bullet that deals high damage over time that explodes, similarly to the thermite grenade. No 3rd person scope. 1 leg shot would strip Charger armor, 2 headshots would kill. 3 headshots would kill a Bile Titan. One eye shot would kill a hulk, 2 shots would destroy heat vents
Incindiary Grenade Launcher: A grenade launcher with 4 magazines that shot incindiary grenades
Gas Grenade Launcher: A grenade launcher with 4 magazines that shot gas grenades. These grenades would have a larger AOE compared to the Incindiary Grenade Launcher but a lower DPS
Arc Spitter: An arc assault rifle that had lower damage per shot and firerate, but would also fire arc shots that could arc to 1 other target per shot
Glide Pack: A varaint of the Jump Pack. It doesn't have as much vertical height but you can hold the space bar to slowly glide back to the ground
Roman Exosuit: A new Exosuit meant to be used against bots. The left hand would have a shield that could block bullets from the front and would break after taking enough damage. The right hand would have a large Laser Cannon that could overheat and would have a long cooldown when overheated
Angel Support: A Pelican would come down from the Super Destroyer to hover over the player for 30 seconds. Would have unlimited ammo and a 4 minute cooldown. So far the 2 weapons I think it could have is an Autocannon and Gatling gun
Care Package: Once every 1.5 minutes, call down a Care Package that gives the player a random one time use stratagem that goes away upon death. Can only hold 1 Care Package stratagem at a time
Fido: A new stratagem that summons an AI controlled car. This car would go around spotting enemies, finding side objectives, collecting ammo, supplies, and samples
Sharpshooter: A new armor passive. Hitting weakpoints on medium and high level targets would reward the player with ammo, stims, & grenades. If a weakpoint breaks such as a brood commander leg or the target dies due to being hit in weakpoint, get some supplies back. This effect does not apply to low level targets. 5% chance to get a stim, 15% chance to get a grenade, 20% chance to get a support weapon magazine, 60% chance to get a primary and secondary magazine.
Thick Skin: A new armor passive. 25% damage reduction when being hit in the back or side
Extrasensory: A new armor passive. Gain the ability to detect enemies offscreen in a 25m radius
End of thread, please let me know what you liked and what you think should be changed

submitted by Killercombo3 to Helldivers [link] [comments]

http://activeproperty.pl/