My family and I were walking around the Gilco sign, looking for a place to eat. We saw this guy holding a sign in the street for a restaurant with food that looked pretty good.
It was pretty late, we were all tired, and we just wanted to some place to eat. So we asked the guy about the restaurant, and we ushered us into a building where my family of 6 squeezed into a tiny elevator into a dingy little restaurant.
We were sat down and they asked if we wanted Japanese or English menus. I asked for English, which looking back was a huge mistake. We ordered just a couple of items, but solely through a QR code on the table, no servers came to us. When we just asked for water, they told us to order through the QR code, where were charged ¥200 for each water. We assumed it was gonna be bottled water for that price, but it wasn’t.
We finish up our meal, and I calculated it to be around ¥6,000. When we went up to pay, they charged us ¥10,580. I was confused because that’s not what the prices were based off the menu. The guy goes on about “taxes” and says we need to pay the ¥10,580. I’m tired, confused, and just end up paying the guy the money, and we leave. On our way out, my dad makes a joke to the guy, and he laughs, then says in perfect English “I don’t speak any English.”
I know it’s kinda my fault for being a tourist, but I’m just annoyed at how we got scammed an extra ¥4,580.

Hello Cloudflare community
I am a HUGE Cloudflare fan! Years ago I migrated all my domains to Cloudflare and never looked back! One feature that I find absolutely brilliant is the "email forwarding" capability Cloudflare introduced a while ago.
So I decided to make a video for my (tiny and recent) YouTube channel, about how to use this feature, step by step and avoid paying for email hosting.
For SMTP server I am using Brevo. That way, you can use cloudflare for domain routing and Brevo as an SMTP server and avoid SPAM. The whole video was aimed at beginners so that more and more people can get involved and interested about this awesome technology Cloudflare is giving away for free!
The video is available here -> https://youtu.be/X_p_87YyDlw?si=MjKyuBTcr_BEPMdl
In the video I cover things like:

• Creating the domain in cloudflare
• Setup the email domain forwarding service
• Creating the SMTP Server using Brevo
• Sending emails as the custom domain
• Getting around being marked as SPAM
• And a brief explanation around DNS and SMTP's in general

If anyone has better alternatives or other cool ways, please us know!! thanks and I hope this video can help someone!

I am clearly misunderstanding how to use the GUI wallet with a remote onion node.
Until recently, I was using the Simple mode (bootstrap) and decided to experiment with the Advanced mode.
I added a remote node from https://monero.fail/?chain=monero&network=mainnet&onion=on (I included HTTP for the hostname and also also tried without the HTTP).
I ran 'torsocks --port 9150 ~/monero-wallet-gui.
The Tor browser on port 9150 is running.
The GUI runs and I see the message "Wallet is connecting to daemon" and "Network Status: Connecting". However, after a few moments the Network Status changes to Disconnected.
I look at the GUI Log and see there are no entries.
My Terminal shows:
15790104 ERROR torsocks[20174]: General SOCKS server failure (in socks5_recv_connect_reply() at socks5.c:527)
[1715790104] libunbound[20174:0] error: outgoing tcp: connect: Connection refused for 109.69.8.51 port 53
1715790104 ERROR torsocks[20174]: General SOCKS server failure (in socks5_recv_connect_reply() at socks5.c:527)
1715790104 ERROR torsocks[20174]: General SOCKS server failure (in socks5_recv_connect_reply() at socks5.c:527)
[1715790104] libunbound[20174:0] error: outgoing tcp: connect: Connection refused for 89.233.43.71 port 53
[1715790104] libunbound[20174:0] error: outgoing tcp: connect: Connection refused for 109.69.8.51 port 53
And then over and over again:
2024-05-15 16:16:45.262 T refreshThreadFunc: m_refreshEnabled: 0
2024-05-15 16:16:45.262 T refreshThreadFunc: m_status: 0
2024-05-15 16:16:45.262 T refreshThreadFunc: m_refreshShouldRescan: 0
2024-05-15 16:16:45.262 T refreshThreadFunc: waiting for refresh...
2024-05-15 16:16:55.262 T refreshThreadFunc: refresh lock acquired...
2024-05-15 16:16:55.262 T refreshThreadFunc: m_refreshEnabled: 0
2024-05-15 16:16:55.262 T refreshThreadFunc: m_status: 0
How can I resolve this? Is there a way I can use a onion remote node with the GUI client? Thanks.

(Sorry, this is going to be a longish read)
Arkane were one of my favorite developers out there. Dishonored 1 and 2 are among the best games I´ve ever played and Prey: Mooncrash is an amazingly brilliant little game.
I was looking forward to Redfall the moment I heard of it. Sure, making a multiplayer looter shooter seemed a little odd for Arkane Austin, but I figured innovation and experimentation lies in trying out weird new stuff, and while also not initially sold on the concepts that tie Mooncrash together, after trying it, I have to say it´s mechanically probably the best game they´ve put out so far (despite preferring the art, music and setting of the Dishonored series). So, despite already owning a PS5, I decided to purchase a Series X: I would get all the Dishonored games "for free" on GamePass, plus get to play Arkane´s future exclusives.
When Redfall came out and saw the whole debacle and read the reviews, I was bummed out. I tried the game for 5 minutes, saw it was janky and messy, and figured I wouldn´t ruin it for myself nor ask for a refund. I´ll wait it out: they´ll have to come around and fix it, and once that is done, it still won´t be Arkane´s greatest game, but I´ll try it as a finished product and evaluate it on its own merit. After all, if No Man´s Sky, a game made by 17 people at a tiny company could redeem itself and churn out an at least decent product then surely Arkane, backed by the might and wealth of Microsoft, could at least fix the game... I swore to not touch the game until they fixed it.
And so I waited... for over a year I waited, only to find out there will never be a finished product. They would never deliver on the things they promised. Hell, there would never be an Arkane Austin again... All those brilliant artists and game designers, fired...
So, seeing that finished product would never come, I decided to sit down and play Redfall as it currently stands. To at least see what parts of that Arkane DNA shined through a problematic product. This is my experience with it:
I boot it up, create a new character and start a new game. My first thought is that they seem to have fixed or tweaked the default camera movement. It still doesn´t seem perfect, it still seems a little too fast, but it seems better. Second thought is: wow, the Arkane character design and environmental art is like a cup of hot chocolate. This may be a messy, unfinished, janky game, but it still looks beautiful and the world looks somewhere between cartoon and realistic and brimming with magic and mystery.
I leave the ferry and make my way up towards the fire station. I evade some cultist goons. The stealth seems simplified and a bit silly but I don´t care, I´m enjoying myself. I get to the fire station, shoot up some goons outside. Again, the shooting is pretty simple, not brilliant, but I love the lighting and evironments, I love the little notes I find scattered around. This is nowhere near the MONUMENT that Dishonored 2 is, but it still feel´s like mommma´s cooking. I feel right at home.
I enter the fire station, clear up the various rooms and I´m told there is a vampire down in the basement. I get down there and I can see its shadow projected onto the floor as it devours its prey in an exaggerated fashion as it speaks in a "spooky", campy voice. Lol, so silly, I approach it from behind and fire my shotgun into it. Suddenly it zips to my left, then to my right, I´m searching for it with my flashlight, I realize that even though the game is campy and silly my heart is racing and I´m loving it. The vampire is upon me and I fire several shots into it, hitting a few and missing a few, and then I finally impale it and exhale a sigh of relief.
THIS IS BRILLIANT! I´m gonna tell my friends to download this. I love playing coop and this game may be unfinished and janky but it´s still gonna be a lot of fun!
I take on my first mission and leave the fire station. I think to myself: I need to save! Wait... What?!? I can´t save?!? Oh, right! This is one of those ALWAYS ONLINE games... Arkane Austin was days away from releasing a much requested offline mode but now they never will... Damn...
Ok, so the game will save itself at certain checkpoints... Well, that sucks but let´s roll with it. Let´s try to find those crashed helicopters.
I make my way down the spooky street, past broken-down ambulances and corpes strewn about and then all of a sudden...
I lose connection to the server and I´m back at the main menu...
Shit... I was having so much fun... This broke my immersion big time but I was having so much fun... Let´s get back inside.
I´m back in the fire station basement. Head upstairs, out onto the street, make my way down the spooky street, past broken-down ambulances and corpes strewn about. I reach a strange pillar and find a group of cultists around it. I easily put them down but a vampire is drawn to the gunfire. It drains my blood and almost kills me, but I manage to back away and heal. Now it´s coming towards me at full speed, I shoot it as it comes towards me and then... I lose connection to the server and I´m back at the main menu...
This time I´m slightly less enthusiastic to rejoin the game...
I´m back in the basement of the fire station, I head upstairs, out onto the street, make my way down the spooky street, past broken-down ambulances and corpes strewn about. I kill the goons and a vampire, I keep walking down towards a group of dimly lit houses only barely illuminated by a TV set emanating the speech of some monstrosity. It´s all very atmospheric and nice. And then I lose connection with the server again...
Fuck this game. I tried to enjoy it on its own limited terms, but even there it failed me.
And above all: FUCK MICROSOFT. I bought an Xbox when I heard they were purchasing Bethesda, the owners of Arkane, the best company for my favorite genre out there: immersive sims. Microsoft has all the money in the world, I want to see what comes out of this! Turns out they only bought the company to downsize? Should have never purchased Bethesda in the first place then. Fuck MS and fuck Xbox, crappy greedy company run by incompetent idiots lacking a clear vision for how to stand out in the videogaming market.

In January, the Times received a tip that Ko, a Tampa Heights spot, was taking the ferns from a plot of land behind the building and using them to garnish plates. The restaurant is owned by the management group that operates Kosen, a tasting menu restaurant in the same building that recently snagged a Michelin star.
Video showed an employee snipping plants from the courtyard of the neighboring Pearl Apartments — an area where dogs frequently go to the bathroom and where runoff water from the building’s garage can seep into the soil.
Our food critic ate at Ko two months ago and saw the ferns for herself. The bright green plants were draped across an elaborate spread of tiny bites as part of the kaiseki restaurant’s “hassun” course, a 10-item tasting that evening.
Save for a lone sprig here and there, the plants were mostly not touching the food, and when she inquired whether they were edible, the server — the restaurant’s director of operations, Max Lipton — informed her that they were not.
But something about it didn’t sit right. The bill for two people came to $464.40, after tax and a mandatory 20% service charge.
At that price, she expected a little more than decorations foraged from a patch used for dog relief.
And she had some questions.
Were the ferns stolen? Were they washed? Had they been sprayed with insecticide and pesticides and who knows what else?
Why was a restaurant of this caliber doing something that seemed foolish at best and illegal and dangerous at worst?
Read the full report.

Welcome to Elden Ring Online Coop guide for cracked / pirated version of the game. You’ll find everything you need to know in this post.
This method even allows you to play Online Coop with friends who bought the game on Steam. Make sure:

1. All players are using the same latest Elden Ring patch. At the moment that’s v1.10.1 (I’ve tested Elden Ring Razor v1.10.1)
2. All players are using the same Seamless Coop Mod version v1.15.1….
3. All players have set up Goldberg Emulator and adjusted their SteamIDs and Usernames
4. All players are connected to ZeroTier-like LAN network

Everything used for this workaround: GoldbergEmu, ZeroTier, SeamlessCoopMod, EldenModLoader, and ModEngine2.
Can’t guarantee 100%, but almost certain that this will work when Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC is out. Reason why? This method works for every version after v1.04 of Elden Ring, so see no reason why this wouldn’t work in the future. Probably, will need to add Cream_api to it, but I guess time will tell.
Main Tutorial:

1. Download Elden Ring (make sure every player has got the same exact version, for example Elden Ring v1.10)
2. Download ONLY steam_appid.txt and steam_emu.ini: https://github.com/K3V1991/How-to-install-Seamless-Co-Op-Mod-for-Elden-Ring/tree/main/Game Put these 2 files in a new folder, so you know where they are. We will need them shortly
3. Download Goldberg Emulator: https://mr_goldberg.gitlab.io/goldberg_emulato click the long highlighted number '475342f0d8b2bd7eb0d93bd7cfdd61e3ae7cda24' to download
4. Extract it and open the folder.
5. Find steam_api64.dll file in there. Copy and paste it into the same folder where you saved steam_appid.txt and steam_emu.ini
6. Install Elden Ring. IMPORTANT! When you install the game make sure to have proper directory, otherwise ModEngine won’t work. It should be like this ELDEN RING/Game. Doesn’t matter where you choose to install it, but make sure the last 2 folders are ELDEN RING and inside it, Game folder. All the game files should be in here. For example mine is this: D:/Games/ELDEN RING/Game/
7. After installing Elden Ring open ELDEN RING/Game folder. Now, copy and paste steam_appid.txt, steam_emu.ini and steam_api64.dll that you downloaded in step 2) and 3).
   • For Steam players, back up steam_api64.dll before overwriting it. You’ll need this file to revert back to your Steam version of the game. Rename it to .backup Example: steam_api64.dll.backup*. When you want to revert it, just delete .backup*
8. In your Game folder also create a .txt file. Name it exactly this: steam_interfaces.txt (nothing needs to be inside it)
9. Okay. Eden Ring and Goldberg Emulator is done. Now, download the following 3 Mods:
10. Elden Mod Loader: https://www.nexusmods.com/eldenring/mods/117
11. Mod Engine 2: https://github.com/soulsmods/ModEngine2/releases
12. Seamless Co-Op: https://www.nexusmods.com/eldenring/mods/510
    1. Make sure all players are on the version of SeamlessCoop. Example: *Seamless Co-op BETA 1.5.1*
    2. Depending on which version of Elden Ring you have, you may need to check the compatibility. Download an older version of Seamless Coop that supports your Elden Ring version.
13. First, install Elden Mod Loader. Just need to copy & paste 3 files into your Game folder: mods folder, dinput8.dll and mod_loader_config.ini
14. Install Mod Engine 2. Copy and paste it into your Game folder the following files: mod folder, modengine2 folder, config_eldenring.toml, launchmod_eldenring.bat and modengine2_launcher.exe
15. Install Seamless Co-OP. Again, copy and paste into your Game folder the following files: SeamlessCoop folder and launch_elden_ring_seamlesscoop.exe
16. Important
17. First, launch the game using launch_elden_ring_seamlesscoop.exe that you've just put in.
18. When the game opens, it should say "Welcome to Seamless Co-op Mod".
19. You are going to set up Elden Ring to launch via Mod Engine 2. You can do this by running modengine2_launcher.exe file.
20. Make a shortcut of modengine2_launcher.exe and move it to you desktop. This will be the new way of launching the game. Change the icon to EldenRing.exe
21. We also need to move two of the Seamless Co-op files to your mods folder. Your can find this in your Game folder. *ELDEN RING\Game\mods*#
22. Open Seamless Co-Op folder and move seamlesscoopsettings.ini and elden_ring_seamless_coop.dll into mods folder. Important to move the files and not copy paste.
23. Whilst you're at it, open seamlesscoopsettings.ini and change your password. The password has to be the same for you and your friends if you want to play together
24. Test if seamless is working by launching the game using modengine2_launcher.exe shortcut. You should be greeting again with"Welcome to Seamless Co-Op" message.

Every player will need a different Username and SteamID in order to connect.

1. Open your Roaming AppData directory: C:/Users/USERNAME/AppData/Roaming/. Alternatively, press WIN + R, then type %appdata%
2. Open Goldberg SteamEmu Saves folder, then settings folder. Edit account_name.txt and change your Username.
3. Next, open user_steam_id.txt and change the number slightly for every player. (I just changed the last two digits)

Congrats! Elden Ring*,* Goldberg*,* SeamlessCoop*,* ModEngine2 and EldenModLoader have all been set up. The worst part is out the way. Next, you will need ZeroTier to host a LAN connection. It’s free and easy to use so would definitely recommend.
ZeroTier Tutorial:

1. Download ZeroTier
2. Only the host will need to create an account with ZeroTier to create and manage servers/ networks.
3. Create a New Network and join in it via ZeroTier app.
4. The Host will need to accept/authorise each player who joined the server via ZeroTier website.
5. Once all player have joined and the host has authorised them on the network you can now launch Elden Ring and enjoy Seamless Coop with your friends :)

How to join each others world?
This is fairly straightforward:

1. Complete the tutorial and enter into Limgrave where you find The First Step site of grace.
2. One player will use Tine Grey Pot to open their world.
3. Others will join it by using Effigy Of Malenia
4. To leave the session use Separation Mist

Can I use my old Save?
Yes. Just need to change the extension of the save file.

1. Open: *C:/Users/USERNAME/AppData/Roaming/EldenRing/(alongnumber)
2. You’ll see two files with .sl2 and .sl2.bak extensions. These are your old save files
3. To change them to Seamless Coop, make a copy and rename them to .co2 and .co2.bak You must have Show Hidden Files and Folders enabled in your file explorer to see AppData

Important
In this guide, I’ve showed you how to set this up with EldenModLoader and ModEngine2. Different mods will require different mod loaders but the vast majority will require one of these two. The important thing is not to get them confused with each other, as the folder names are very similar.

1. Elden Mod Loader: uses mods folder
2. Mod Engine 2: uses mod folder

I’ve tested a bunch of mods and they’re all work fine for me online. Some of course wont, but you can check out SeamlessCoopMod Nexus page for compatibility
Not Working?
Please read and follow the tutorial properly, every step of the way. As mention before, this method works for every version after Eden Ring v1.04, so check which one you have. Also, you have to be on the same patch of Elden Ring as well as Seamless Coop as you friends in order to connect.
I would highly recommend to try this after a fresh install of Elden Ring, as you may have installed some mods or messed with some files before, that could affect this.
Failed: No sessions found

• Make sure you and your Friends:
  • Using the same Mod Version
  • Same Seamless Co-Op Password
  • Connected to a ZeroTier-like Program
  • Generated the steam_interfaces.txt

Good luck my fellow Tarnished!

Over 150 hours, Rank 28 solo. This game has consumed me for the past 2 weeks and I haven't touched grass since. I absolutely love and hate it with passion. I can tell the devs have put lots of time and effort into this masterpiece. I don't think I've got hooked on a game and kept playing it non-stop since Elden Ring 2 years ago.
The unique experience GZW offers is more than just a milsim, it's a thrilling and risky adventure everytime setting out base, where preparation and player interaction & socialization is key to your mission's success. The detailed world-building and environment design is also next level, there's just so much story-telling hidden in plain sight of the massive open world.
That being said, a game in early access is hardly without issues. It has truly tested my patience and EQ to a level I cannot comprehend, yet I cannot end my suffering as I am unable to restrain myself from playing this amazing fucking game.
However, for the past few days, I honestly cannot fathom how many times I've gone to Blue fucking Lagoon just because the NPC wouldn't drop a stupid storage key for the quest item in that tiny room. I'm still at level 2 turncoat and banshee due to this. WHY did devs think locking quest progression behind key drops with less than 1% RNG chance is fun? I cannot understand.
There were so many times I got 180° hip fire 1-tapped by an AI aimbot 150m out after missing the initial shot.
No problem, I'll just go and pick up my gear from my dead body in Blue fucking Lagoon across half the god damn map... (Crimson btw)
All we need to do is get on a heli... NEGATIVE, ALL BIRDS ARE IN THE A.. FUCK YOU
Oh, finally! here's my body after searching for 69 million years, why is it sinked to the ground and UNLOOTABLE though?
forget about the body though because...
BAM! GPU dump crash bitch! Wanna get back in?
NAH, SERVER CRASH!!! BITCH!
Rinse & repeat I went from 100k to 10k cash losing money faster than in fucking Vegas. Yeah, I know farming is easy late-game, but the experience ain't fun like this.
Yeee rant over. Still gonna keep playing to torture myself.
Btw, suggestion: Please no player-drivable cars, I'm down for ground transport driven by the AI. Don't want to get TK'd by a drunk driver without a license.

Let’s begin with Lua’s fundamentals.
Introduction Lua is a lightweight, high-performance scripting language that has become popular for embedded use in applications. Originally created in 1993 at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Lua was designed to be a highly customizable, procedural scripting language well-suited for embedding in other programs.
With its efficient C implementation, simple syntax, and extensible semantics, Lua has found wide use in game development, robotics, IoT, networking, and many other industrial applications. Let’s take a deeper look at what makes Lua such a versatile embedded scripting tool.
Key Features and Strengths Lua was engineered for efficient extensibility and embedding. Some of its key strengths and capabilities include:

• Speed and efficiency — Thecompact C implementation makes Lua fast and memory-efficient. Theinterpreters and JIT compilers produce highly optimized bytecode.
• Portability — Lua code can be built and run across various platforms like Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android etc. This flexibility is powered by its ANSI C codebase.
• Embeddability — Lua is implemented as a library rather than a standalone interpreter. This allows it to be deeply integrated and heavily customized within host applications.
• Extensibility — Lua semantics are extensible with mechanisms like metatables. Numerous modules and libraries extend the core language capabilities.
• Simple but powerful syntax and semantics — Lua uses an easy to learn procedural syntax with advanced construct like first-class functions, closures and prototypal inheritance.
• Automatic memory management — Lua features incremental garbage collection which makes memory management seamless.
• Lightweight open source implementation — The reference implementation is open source and usable in any free or commercial application.

Applications and Uses With its fast performance and tiny resource footprint,Lua has been embedded into software across domains including:

• Gaming — Roblox, Angry Birds, World of Warcraft, Garry’s Mod all use Lua for game logic.
• IoT and Robotics — Open source devices like NodeMCU and ESP32 integrate Lua for control.
• Networking — The Nginx web server and Cisco routers use Lua for configuration and scripting.
• Artificial Intelligence — Deep learning frameworks like Torch use Lua as a configuration language.
• Industrial Control Systems — Siemens incorporates Lua for programmable logic controllers.
• Space Science — Celestia space simulator uses Lua for its celestia script extensions.

Syntax and Coding Basics Lua syntax is simpleprocedural, similar to languages like Python. Some key aspects include:

• Dynamic typing — Variables are not declared with type, their type is determined at runtime.
• Tables as data structuring mechanism — Tables serve as arrays, sets, records similar to dicts in Python.
• Functions are first-class — Functions can be stored in variables, passed as arguments.
• Simple control flow — If/else, while, repeat until are used for flow control.
• Error handling via pcall() and assert()
• Global variables by default — Variables are global unless declared local.

Development Environment and Tools Lua is highly portable across platforms. The standard Lua binaries, compiler, interpreter and debuggerareavailable for installation on Windows, Linux, macOS and other environments. Some commonly usedLua development toolsinclude:

• LuaRocks — package manager for Lua modules
• Editors like VSCode, Atom, Sublime — with Lua plugins
• ZeroBrane Studio — debugger and IDE for Lua
• LÖVE — framework for building Lua-based games

Here is a simple code snippet showing Lua syntax:
Code:
function factorial(n) if n == 0 then return 1 else return n * factorial(n — 1) end end print(factorial(5)) — 120
This implements a factorial functionrecursively, calls it, and prints the result.
Pros and Cons of Lua Some pros and cons to consider when evaluating Lua:
Pros:

• Very fast and memory-efficient
• Easy to learn syntax and coding style
• Highly portable and customizable
• Active community with many libraries

Cons:

• Not suitable for large applications
• Very minimal standard libraries
• Unique syntax and a small user base

Lua is an extensible, embeddable scripting language that offers simplicity, speed, and customizability. Itsefficient C implementation and flexible semantics make Lua a great choice for extending applications across gaming, networking, robotics, AI, and industrial control systems. While not suited for large general purpose applications, Lua excels as a lightweight scripting solution easily tailored to specific use cases. Its vibrant community provides modules for diverse programming needs ranging from GUI interfaces to neural networks. Forembedded scripting, Lua provides an agile, productive, and high-performance option

In case you don't know, the Sun Princess is Princess Cruises' latest behemoth ship. I just got back from a 2-week sailing and took meticulous notes on this epic new vessel. Here's my extremely detailed, no-BS review:

The Sheer Size is Nuts

When I say this ship is massive, I mean it's absolutely nuts how big this floating city is. Especially when you get off in ports and have to walk back down the dock to reboard - that's when the sheer scale of the Sun Princess really hits you. Even though it carries a ton of people, the only time it really felt crowded was during breakfast. The Eatery fills up quick and the International Cafe, which sits outside The Eatery doesn't lend itself well for crowds of people wiaint for their coffees. You kind of end up waiting in the middle of where the walking traffic moves.

The Medallion Life

Your entire cruise experience revolves around the new Medallion wearable device and app, for better or worse. I'll admit it has some creepy "Big Brother" vibes with how much it tracks your every movement and purchase. But the convenience it provides is undeniable.
The medallion is your modern day "cruise card" that you tap everywhere to make payments, order drinks, unlock your stateroom, get on/off the ship, and more. But what's crazy is the app can use the medallion to detect your location anywhere on board. Order a drink or meal through the app and the server will manage to find you anywhere on the ship to deliver it, usually within 15 minutes. Caveat: there were times when it took longer and other times when our order was marked "delivered" and it never arrived.
The medallion definitely feels like getting on/off the ship is way faster. The only time we ever waiting in line was for the few minutes it took people to run through security.
This made getting food/drinks almost too easy. On port days when we needed to get off the ship early for excursions, setting up a scheduled delivery of my Egg McMuffin, fruit plate in coffee was really convenient.
Fair warning though - if you're anti-tracking and value privacy over convenience, the ubiquitous Medallion system may not be for you.
Story: we were sitting by the Crooners bar having our nightly pre-dinner cocktail. The bar was packed on this night for some reason. A staff member in a suit started wandering the room, made eye contact with me from 40-feet away and then made a b-line for us. He wanted to sign us up for a wine/food pairing event they were having. I have to believe this is because of the tracking being done via the meddalion. They could see we drink our share of wine. It definitely felt like targeted marketing.

Premium Package Was Best for Us

We opted for the Premium beverage package at $80 per day and I'm glad we did for a few reasons:

1. If you need to have more than one device connected to the internet at a time, Premium makes sense just based on that (you can have four devices). The cheaper Plus package only allows one device, which was a non-starter for me needing both my phone and laptop to be online. I'm unfortunately not able to just live off the grid for almost three weeks and need to periodically check in with my clients.
2. The wine selection is way better with Premium vs Plus. As a wine drinker, the upgrade was 100% worth it.
3. Two free speciality dining meals are included, which was clutch on our 2-week cruise to break up the repetition of the main dining rotation.
4. Unlimited premium desserts and ice creams - a nice perk for those with a sweet tooth.

Basically, Premium removed almost any need to think about or worry over costs on board. For $80 per day, the premium drinks, speciality dining, better wines, desserts and internet made it an easy choice for our group's needs.
And for those wondering about the 15 drink per day limit (since there's almost a weekly post asking about it) - it was never an issue for me. I'm a scotch drinker and to get a decent pour, you basically have to order a double. Even drinking doubles, I never got to 15 drinks/day. This even includes sea days where we'd typically have a mimosa or two with breakfast, a few cocktails/beers at the pool, an cocktail or two before dinner and then wine at dinner.

Staff & Service

I can't say enough about how incredible and friendly the service was across the board on the Sun Princess. Our room steward, waiters, bartenders - everyone went so above and beyond daily, it really elevated the experience. I'm always amazed how they remember everyone's names.
However, we did notice a clear slip in the quality of service in the second week compared to the first, likely due to a crew changeover partway through our sailing. Simple things like forgetting drink orders or getting meals wrong became more frequent from our new set of MDR servers.

Suites & Staterooms

We originally booked a balcony room. When the bid offer came in I followed some old advice and just placed bids on upgrades because "you don't have to take the offer if you don't like it." Well guess what, that's not the case anymore. My offer was accepted and we automatically became the proud recipients of a Reserve Mini-Suite for an additional $500. In hindsight, I'm glad it worked out. The room has noticably more space than a standard balcony room. These mini-suites are spacious, basically a separate living room and bedroom divided by a curtain you can close off. Having two TVs and an extra closet was great.
As mini-suite guests we also received a nice amenity of free premium wines in our room - on the second week they even topped us up with two more complementary bottles! I guess each week is looked at as a new sailing -- so you get two more bottles! Some older posts complained about the wine quality. It looks like it's been upgraded because we received a Pinot Noir and Chard from La Crema. Being California wine people, La Crema works great for us. If you can swing it, I'd highly recommend going for a mini-suite over a regular balcony.
That being said, I'd avoid the "Cabana" balcony suites. The layout is really bizarre and in my opinion a downgrade. When you walk out onto your balcony, it's not really a balcony. There's another area in front of your balcony that connects a few other cabana suites. The idea is that a few rooms share a private balcony with jacuzzi. However, it also means that walking out onto your balcony doesn't give you a private ocean view because there's this 20-30 feet of additional patio in front of you and everyone above you just looks down into your balcony area.
They've done a great job with the power situation in these rooms. Every outlet has a USA 110v plug, a Euro plug, a USB-C and a USB-A plug. There are outlets by the desk area and with each nightstand on both sides of the bed. Since we had ample USB outlets, all we really needed a regular USA outlet for was the blow dryer. Don't get tricked! There's what looks like a two-prong USA outlet by the sink in the bathroom. It has a funky icon next to it. This outlet is for charging an electronic razor -- that's the only kind of plug that will fit in this outlet so don't try and jam another device in there -- it won't work. My mom tripped the breaker in her state room by running the hair dryer while her curling iron was on -- so beware ladies!

Dining Highs & Lows

Main Dining Rooms

It can be confusing because there are three floors (Decks 6, 7 and 8). We reserved dining in the Deck 6 MDR prior to the trip via the app for the first few days just so we knew there was a guaranteed place to eat. On night one, the dining room manager introduced himself to us and said he went ahead and booked our table for us every night of the trip. If we didn't show, it was fine.
Food quality in the main dining rooms (MDRs) was consistently good across breakfast and dinner. On port days, it's an "express breakfast" which just means a shorter list of options. Nothing mind-blowing, but solid and tasty. My biggest gripe here is the operating hours. On sea days, the MDR closes for breakfast at 9:00am. You basically have to choose between sleeping in a little, hitting the gym, or getting a decent breakfast.
Pro-Tip: Biggest breakfast tip is stay away from the scrammbled eggs -- they're gross. We figured out that the scrambled eggs come from a bag. If you want real, cracked eggs, either get an omelett or over easy/medium/hard/etc.

Reserve Suite Dining Access

The Reserve mini-suite gives you access to the Reserve Restaurant. It's a little bit more elevated of a dining experience and reservations aren't needed -- you just show up. We dined her a few times and it did feel more elevated. Unlike the MDR, the server in the Reserve Restaurant feels more personal because they're handling smaller groups.

Lido Deck

For more casual fare, the Lido deck had some surprises like an awesome made-to-order salad bar station that became my go-to for healthier meals between all the indulgent dining. The burger grill, taco station and pizza areas were pretty standard, but that salad bar slapped.

Lackluster Buffet

On the flip side, The Eatery buffet left a lot to be desired. Despite different themed stations, the quality was mid at best. We largely avoided eating at the buffet outside of quick breakfast grabs. The Eatery closes for breakfast around 10:00 AM. At which point if you move further into the ship, the restaurants that are normall Catch and Butcherblock become a buffet extension that's opened later -- it's kind of funky.
The layout of the buffet is weird and leaves people wondering if they're cutting in line especially when you go to the extended buffet at Catch/Butcherblock.
What's odd to me is you can go grab a million cheese plates, fruit plates or hummus/veggie plates at the buffet. But if you order those things through the Medallion app, it's not "complimentary." You have to pay like $4.99-$5.99 for those items. We still can't figure out why it costs $5 to order a tiny cheese plate but ordering a cheeseburger is free.

Specialty Dining Winners

We used our two speciality dining credits at Crown Grill and Butcher's Block by Dario. I was a little worried because I had read mixed reviews on here about both of these restaurants. However, both meals were really good and before you come at me, I'm a foodie guy -- I'd tell you if they sucked.
We chose Crown for my parent's anniversay dinner. The service was awesome and they made us all feel really special. The setup here is like a steakhouse, where you order your beef and then the sides are a la carte family style. We had a group of seven -- the manager just said "we'll bring you out all the sides, enough for your whole party" which was great.
The next week, we hit up Butcher's Block by Dario. I've never left a meal more full on a cruise ship than at this place. It's family style dining and they just bring out everything for you -- almost like a brazilian barbecue place. We started with a bread appetizer and a glass of wine while you wait for them to get the dining room setup. Then there's more bread on the table + veggies. Then the food starts coming out: beef tartar; beef carpaccio; etc. The main event is the massive tomahawks and porterhouse steaks they carve up tableside. They'll just keep putting beef on your plate until you beg them to stop. Finally, there's desert and a grappa digestif.
Both restaurants were great experiences and a very welcomed change from the MDR after a week of repetition. The food, service and overall vibe were a noticeable step up.

Spellbound

We also splurged one night for the Spellbound immersive magic/dinner experience and it was easily a cruise highlight despite the $150/pp price tag. After an elevated multi-course meal, you get ushered by a guy in a top hat into an exclusive hidden club. While waiting for the magic show, you hang out in their bar which is reminiscent of the Dinseyland Haunted Mansion. While enjoying your drink, there's a magician perorming more intement magic for everyone at the bar. Once they're ready for the show, you're brought into the room where the actual magic show takes place. Afterwards, you're welcome to hang out in the Spellbound bar and continue drinking.
If you're from LA, you probably know about the Magic Castle in Hollywood. Spellbound is an extension of the Magic Castle. Just like with the Magic Castle, you show up in formal wear. This means a coat and tie for the men and an evening gown/dress for the woman.
Overall, we really enjoyed it.

Room Service

This was hit or miss for us. You fill out the paper door hangar and place it on your doorknob before heading to bed. Then you hope and pray that it will actually arrive -- which in two of our instances, it never did. Your options are also super limited. You also may or may not receive what you actually ordered. With coffee for instance, you have a choice of ordering it to-go (paper cup) or stay (actual coffe cup). We always seemed to get the opposite of what we ordered to the point where it became a running joke for us.

International Cafe

This became our goto for a lot of things: coffee, snacks, quick breakfast food (pastries, coffee cake, avodcado toast, Egg McMuffins). Werid fact though: if you order the Egg McMuffin through the app, it comes as an egg patty just like McDonalds and with cheese. When you get the one at International Cafe, it's just an over easy egg and no cheese. Why they can't just be the same is odd.

Night Owl Needs

My main dining gripe was the lack of solid late night food options for us night owls. The Eatery buffet closed at an absurd 10:30pm, leaving only spotty room service or mobile ordering as the choices if you worked up an appetite after evening activities. More robust late-night casual dining would be appreciated.

Bars & Alcohol

Overall, great selection of cocktails. All of the bars have their own little theme and different menus. The ladies I was with were consitently impressed at the quality and thought of the cocktails at each bar. They were also super impressed with the quality of the glassware being used. I must admit, everything from the rocks glasses to the martini glasses really were beautiful.
If you just want straight spirits, you have to order a double to get a normal pour (they're actually measuring out the pours). That being said, with either Plus or Premium, you'll get a good selection of top quality booze.
You gotta try really hard to hit the 15-drink max. Some days I had drinks at breakfast, during the day, lunch, before dinner, during dinner and after dinner. I never hit my max.
One thing that impressed me was staff actually being concerned about drink quality. We were having drinks at one of the bars on the Lido deck. The supervisor was upset with the bartenders because they ran out of premium liquor and hadn't requested more. He made sure to remind them that when someone orders a premium drink they get a premium liquor -- no exceptions.
You also must checkout the Good Spirits bar. There's a few times throughout the night where you watch a live cocktail demonstration. The bartenders at GS are so fun and playful -- really makes for a great vibe.

Amenities - Hits & Misses

The gym facilities on board were a bit of a disappointment, especially for a new ship. While they had a nice assortment of cardio machines, the actual weight room was laughably small with only a few pieces of strength equipment that were always monopolized. Not a deal-breaker, but an area that could be improved.
The pool areas were nicely spread out across different sections of the Lido deck. On sailing days, there was typically a band, the DJ and then a random movie on the jumbotron. The random blasting of action movies at 3pm really ruined the pool vibe and it's typically when the deck would thin out. One minute you're relaxing in the jacuzzi, the next an action movie with explosions is shaking the pool area. It made no sense and seemed tailored for a much younger crowd despite this sailing's passengers being mostly older adults.

Technology & Support

In addition to the Medallion app, the overall internet speeds on board were fast and reliable enough for me to easily stay connected for basic work needs.
The technology support via the app's live chat feature, however, was utterly useless. Any time we had issues properly being charged for drink packages or had to modify reservations, the live chat was a time-wasting nightmare. You're clearly just talking to an outsourced rep with zero actual knowledge of Princess' systems or operations. Your best bet is to go in-person to the guest services desk.

Other Notes & Quibbles

• Dress codes weren't enforced at all. We did the whole suite/gown routine for formal nights only to see plenty of people still rocking jeans and t-shirts in the MDR. Same lack of enforcement for the "formal attire required" Spellbound event. Either lose the formal nights or enforce them.
  
• Our drink package tallies often had errors, with our group's drinks randomly getting combined onto one person's account. Always double check and ask for corrections.
  
• The "Cabana" balcony suite layout is bizarre - your balcony is just a shared landing in front of other suites, rather than a private space. We avoided these after hearing the lack of privacy.
  

Enter duality. A happy and colorful world awaits... But dig deeper and you can find terrifying monsters. Build a cute cafe with adorable decorations. Fight the ancient guardians of the nether and end. Cook scrumptious dishes in all sorts of culinary styles. Ascend to nigh godhood with might and magic. Collect cute pets. Build complex machinery and vehicles with steampunk technology.
Howdy! I've put together a small server for relaxing, building and getting together to knock the teeth out of large bosses every so often. The modpack that contains abit of everything. Aesthetic decorations up the wazoo, mobs both malevolent and benign, magic, steampunk tech, and more. Battle cataclysmic bosses and then celebrate your victory with a slice of pizza. Build your bases alone or together. Move a quaint seaside town, or a beautiful cottagecore village in the woods. Join the eastern monastery or the underwater research facility. Tired of squidward villagers? We have NPCs instead. Prefer to live like a hermit? Fill your village with friendly animals, magical creatures or even dinosaurs instead. The overworld too bright and cheery for you? Delve the nether in search of monstrous challenges and massive fortresses.
To join, post here, use the reddit messenger, or message me over discord @ Marcielle. Then come over to our discord channel and fill in a teeny tiny intro for whiltelisting Links to the modpack and suggested resource packs are in the discord.
P.s. Howdy, so it turns out reddit actually did a sneaky, and you can no longer immediately reply to accepted chat requests unless the requester actually typed something first. So just a simple hello at least, or I won't be able to actually reply to your reddit chats...

Enter duality. A happy and colorful world awaits... But dig deeper and you can find terrifying monsters. Build a cute cafe with adorable decorations. Fight the ancient guardians of the nether and end. Cook scrumptious dishes in all sorts of culinary styles. Ascend to nigh godhood with might and magic. Collect cute pets. Build complex machinery and vehicles with steampunk technology.
Howdy! I've put together a small server for relaxing, building and getting together to knock the teeth out of large bosses every so often. The modpack that contains abit of everything. Aesthetic decorations up the wazoo, mobs both malevolent and benign, magic, steampunk tech, and more. Battle cataclysmic bosses and then celebrate your victory with a slice of pizza. Build your bases alone or together. Move a quaint seaside town, or a beautiful cottagecore village in the woods. Join the eastern monastery or the underwater research facility. Tired of squidward villagers? We have NPCs instead. Prefer to live like a hermit? Fill your village with friendly animals, magical creatures or even dinosaurs instead. The overworld too bright and cheery for you? Delve the nether in search of monstrous challenges and massive fortresses.
To join, post here, use the reddit messenger, or message me over discord @ Marcielle. Then come over to our discord channel and fill in a teeny tiny intro for whiltelisting Links to the modpack and suggested resource packs are in the discord.
P.s. Howdy, so it turns out reddit actually did a sneaky, and you can no longer immediately reply to accepted chat requests unless the requester actually typed something first. So just a simple hello at least, or I won't be able to actually reply to your reddit chats...

Hi!
A tiny ISP asked me to install Ubuntu server in a new PC, install the CRM software and migrate the database from the old software to the newest. My question is how much it cost? I don't have any idea about prices.
Thanks!!

A new Camp and Chill Event starts today!
This 2 day event will run from Tuesday, May 14 until 19:00 GMT Thursday, May 16, and is open to all players with version 11.3.0 or above, a minimum of 250 dragon power, and a stable and reliable internet connection.
Points are earned by tapping items, opening chests, and other simple tasks completed in Camp. The Event Capsule Store appears after earning 500 points; free Bronze Capsules containing Event Points can be collected every 3 hours after that.
Please keep questions and strategy discussions about the event in this thread while it is live; good luck and happy merging!
 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Event Notes

• So far, all seems normal

Elsewhere in the Game

• Some issues affecting gameplay have been reported with version 11.4.0; that release has been paused while the programmers sort out a fix. (Link)
  • UPDATE: While version 11.4.0 has been re-released, multiple players are reporting serious issues today: Link 1, Link 2
• As of May 1, Game Management will no longer give advance notice of Shiny Days mini-events. Odds are we’ll still get one every week or every other week, with the most frequent dates being the gap days between bigger events — so Mondays or Thursdays are most likely for now, at the usual 19:00 GMT start time.
• A new mini-event called “Race Event” is out for beta-testing to a small number of players; it’s described as a player-vs-player competition. (Link 1, Link 2, Link 3)
• Popular Links:
  • Dens List
  • Friend Tag Exchange
  • 2024 Event Schedule

 

EVENT PRIZES

1. Sprouting Dragon Tree, lvl 2 - requires earning 70 points
2. Prism Flower Buds, lvl 2 - 1,290p
3. Blue Belly Shrooms, lvl 5 - 1,840p
4. Daily Chest (Super Egg Fragment) - 3,190p
5. Watering Hole, lvl 5 - 4,790p
6. Aged Glowing Dragon Tree, lvl 4 - 6,420p
7. Nice Zen Temple, lvl 3 - 7,990p
8. Golden Sapling, lvl 2 - 9,610p
9. Wood (A) Dragon Kid, lvl 2 - 11,210p
10. Jester (AS) Dragon Kid, lvl 2 - 13,590p

Total to collect all prizes: 60,000 points
 

STRATEGY TIPS

This is the only type of event where point producing items can be stockpiled ahead of time; for info and links to guides on bubbling as a storage option, please visit the Community FAQ.
The following are the most efficient or most frequently recommended ways to earn points:

• Tier 2 Nests of most breeds yield 900 points per tap, for a total of 3,600 to 6,300 points per nest.
• High level Goal Stars are an excellent source of points; the exact number of taps available varies by level and random chance.
  • L6 Star- 1056, L5 Star- 330, L4 Star- 99
• Level 2 Materials Chests offer unlimited quick and easy points; stockpiling stone bricks gives more flexibility than buying specific chests ahead of time:
  • Spectral Chest- 1305, Summoned Chest- 820, Chest of Beasts- 300, Solid Gold Chest- 80, Phobos Chest- 40
• Higher level free chests all yield well:
  • Treasure: L7- 1690, L6- 530, L5- 165
  • Grimm: L4- 792, L3- 240, L2- 72
  • Season: L4- 330, L3- 100
  • Bountiful (Level) Chests- 150
  • Kala’s Rucksacks- 250
• High level Life Trees can be harvested for quick points:
  • Life Orbs: L9- 1560, L8- 500, L7- 160
• These chains recharge fast and give unlimited taps; note that multiple mid-level items may earn more than one or two higher-level items.
  • Fruit Trees: L10 Watermelon- 34, L9 Pineapple- 30, L8 Dragon Fruit- 26, L7 Pear- 23
  • Prism Flowers: L7- 42, L6- 36, L5- 29, L4- 23
  • Midas Trees: L11- 145, L10- 135, L9- 125, L8- 115, L7- 105, L6- 95, L5- 85, L4- 75, L3- 65, L2- 55
  • Bushes: L5- 35, L4- 25, L3- 15
  • Graves: L8- 75, L7- 65, L6- 55, L5- 45, L4- 35
  • Fountains: L6- 136, L5- 105, L4- 75, L3- 45

 

ITEM POINTS

(Tap the name of the chain to go to its wiki page)
Alien Obelisks (Requires cash purchase)

• Alien Obelisk - 45
• Radioactive Alien Obelisk - 135
• Pulsing Alien Obelisk - 450
• Galactic Alien Megalith - 1485

 
Bushes

• Tiny Cabin - 10
• L1 Shrub Sprout - 1
• L2 Budding Shrub - 5
• L3 Nice Shrub - 15
• L4 Flowering Shrub - 25
• L5 Gorgeous Shrub - 35

 
Fruit Trees

• L4 Grape Tree - 10
• L5 Raspberry Tree - 14
• L6 Banana Tree - 18
• L7 Pear Tree - 23
• L8 Dragon Fruit Tree - 26
• L9 Pineapple Tree - 30
• L10 Watermelon Tree - 34

 
Goal Stars and Dragon Stars (points per tap)

• L1 Star - 3 (2-3 taps)
• L2 Star - 9 (2-3 taps)
• L3 Star - 30 (3-4 taps)
• L4 Star - 99 (3-4 taps)
• L5 Star - 330 (3-4 taps)
• L6 Star - 1056 (6-7 taps)
• L1 Dragon Star - 30 (2-4 taps)
• L2 Magnificent Dragon - 90 (7-11 taps)

 
Graves

• L4 Doom Cross - 35
• L5 Fiend’s Resting Place - 45
• L6 Tomb of the Innocent - 55
• L7 Tomb of the Forgiven - 65
• L8 Tomb of the Righteous - 75

 
Life Orbs (single tap)

• L0 Life Essence - 1
• L1 Tiny Life Orb - 1
• L2 Small Life Orb - 2
• L3 Life Orb - 3
• L4 Furious Life Orb - 5
• L5 Wondrous Life Orb - 15
• L6 Great Life Orb - 50
• L7 Giant Life Orb - 160
• L8 Life Orb of Souls - 500
• L9 The Life Orb of Heavens - 1560

 
Midas Trees

• L2 Golden Sapling - 55
• L3 Golden Tree - 65
• L4 Midas Tree - 75
• L5 Glowing Midas Tree - 85
• L6 The Orb Holder - 95
• L7 The Crystal Catcher - 105
• L8 The Moon Bearer - 115
• L9 The Star Mother - 125
• L10 Greater Midas Tree - 135
• L11 Divine Midas Tree - 145

 
MonsteMythical Idols (single tap)

• L1 Kattryx - 3
• L2 Guardian Sphinx - 9
• L3 Young Cerberus - 30
• L4 Noble Gryphon - 99
• L5 Mythical Ogopogo - 330
• L1 Gromblin - 5
• L2 Capricorn - 15
• L3 Dragon Idol - 50
• L4 Rising Phoenix - 165
• L5 Mythical Pegasus - 550

 
Mystic Topiaries (single use only, number of taps depends on level)

• L1 Bunny - 10 (1x tap)
• L2 Bear - 90 (1x tap)
• L3 Rex - 150 (2x taps)
• L4 Swan - 250 (3x taps)
• L5 Seahorse - 550 (5x taps)
• L6 Dolphin - 880 (10x taps)

 
Nests/Eggs

• Tier 1 nest - 20 per tap, 60 to 140 total
• Tier 2 nest - 900 per tap, 3,600 to 6,300 total (except for Star Dragons)
• Mystery Egg Nests - 10 per tap, 40 to 70 total
• Supernest - 20 per tap
• Meganest - 20 per tap
• Ultranest - 20 per tap
• Shimmering Ultranest - 20 per tap
• Activated Super Eggs - 600 (30 per dragon)

 
Prism Flowers

• L1 Sprouting Prism Flower - 3
• L2 Prism Flower Buds - 10
• L3 Opening Prism Flowers - 16
• L4 Prism Flowers - 23
• L5 Blossoming Prism Flowers - 29
• L6 Gorgeous Prism Flowers - 36
• L7 Brilliant Prism Flowers - 42
• L8 Spectral Prism Flowers - 49
• L9 Glowing Prism Flowers - 55

 
ShimmeSecret Fountains (per tap)

• L1 Fountain of Legend - 3
• L2 Ancient Spring - 15
• L3 Shimmering Spring - 45
• L4 Fountain of Faith - 75
• L5 Fountain of Rebirth - 105
• L6 Heroic Dragon Spa - 135
• L1 Secret Lifespring - 30
• L2 Spectral Lifespring - 150

 
Coin Vaults and Stone Yards

• L1 Tattered - 1
• L2 Basic - 5
• L3 Nice - 15
• L4 Great - 25
• L5 Opulent - 35
• L6 Mythical - 45
• L7 Gigantic - 55
• L8 Bottomless - 65

 
Chests (single tap only)

• Treasure Chests
  • L1 Ordinary Chest - 2
  • L2 Nice Chest - 5
  • L3 Chained Chest - 15
  • L4 Sunken Chest - 50
  • L5 Noble Chest - 165
  • L6 Glowing Chest - 530
  • L7 Giant Treasure Chest - 1690
• Grimm Chests
  • L1 Grimm Chest - 24
  • L2 Grimm Chest of Decay - 72
  • L3 Grimm Chest of Despair - 240
  • L4 Grimm Chest of Suffering - 792
• Season Chests
  • L1 Little Seasons chest - 10
  • L2 Big Seasons chest - 30
  • L3 Great Seasons chest - 100
  • L4 Magnificent Seasons chest - 330
• Materials Chests
  • Moon/Phobos Chests - 10/40
  • Golden/Solid Gold Chests - 25/80
  • Dangerous Chest/Chest of Beasts - 100/300
  • Occult/Summoned Chest - 270/820
  • Pearlescent/Spectral Chest - 435/1305
• Dragon Chests Note: Points depend on chest contents
  • Egg Chests - 30 to 80
  • Radiant Egg Chests - 80 to 120
  • Nest Vault - 150 to 200
  • Huge Nest Vault - 400 to 500
• Super Nest Vault - 500
• Mega Nest Vault - 2500
• Ultra Nest Vault - 5000 (limited availability)
• Kala’s Rucksacks - 250
• Daily Chest (Super Egg Fragment) - 150
• Bountiful (aka Level or Timed) Chests - 150
• Chest of Stones - 10
• Chest of Nightstones - 50

 
Camp and Chill Event Items

• Capsules - 0
• Pile of Camp Event Points - 5
• Great Rucksack of Event Points - 10 per tap, 20+ total
• Wondrous Chest of Event Points - 25 per tap, 125+ total
• Mythical Coffer of Event Points - 50 per tap, 450+ total

 
Miscellaneous Items

• Life Flower Seeds - 3
• Rain Clouds - 5
• Cloudy Summit - 11
• Misty Mountain - 35
• Ancient Dragon Skull - 5
• Unearthed Skeleton (aka Bone Pile) - 5
• Most Wonders - 100 per tap, totals vary
• Legendary Glowing Tree - 1087 per tap
• Shangri-La - 200
• The Last Relic Artefact - 330
• Mystic Lantern - 35 per tap, 105 total
• Totems (all) - 20 per tap
• Pile of Riches - 3 per tap
• Mound of Rich Stuff - 15 per tap
• Heap of Glimmering Riches - 45 per tap
• Mountain of Wild Riches - 75 per tap
• Evil Fog - 20 per section unlocked
• Dimensional Jars - varies based on the object
• Event Trophies - 25
  • Spawned items also give 25 points (both L1 and L2)
  • Exceptions: Pomegranate, Temple, and the Enormous Lucky Coins do not give points, nor do their tappables

 
Combo Merges Note: this is a partial list — most chains seem to work, with points increasing by item levels and length of chain.

• Coins - 5, 10, 30, 60 (started with L2)
• Life Flowers - 5, 10, 15, 20, 40 (start w/L1)
• Life Flowers - 15, 40 (started w/L5)
• Life Orbs - 5, 10, 15, 20, 40 (Started w/ heart)
• Life Orbs - 5, 20, 45, 80 (started w/ L3)
• Living Stones - 5, 10, 15, 40 (start w/fresh stones)
• Stone bricks - 5, 10, 15, 40, 60 (start w/L1)

 
No Points Given

• Currency (Coins, Stone Bricks, and Gems)
• Loot orbs
• Dimension Jars
• Dragon Homes
• Haunted Houses
• Boutique exclusive chains
• Lobelia Topiaries
• Ornate/Jeweled Statues
• Small Fluffs
• Chocolate Fountain chain
• Dust Bunny Crates
• Weekly Den Chests
• Opulent Chests
• Season Bonus Chests
• Star Chests
• Star Dragon T2 nests
• New items and anything in limited release for beta testing

 

EVENT TROUBLESHOOTING

If the event is not showing up correctly or if glitches are affecting your play:

1. Check that you meet the version and dragon power requirements.
2. Try hard-closing and then relaunching your game.
3. Try rebooting your device (ie, turn it completely off, then back on and allow it to fully boot up before relaunching the game). If you are on wifi and have access to the router, try rebooting that, too.
4. Try switching to a completely different internet source.
5. Try clearing your game’s cache (google for instructions for your specific phone type).
6. If you’re suddenly experiencing multiple issues like lagging or error messages (or if the event vanishes completely), close the game and try again after 2-3 hours. Events are internet-based, and sometimes issues with the servers can cause temporary problems — all we can do for that is to wait it out.
7. If none of the above helps, contact Gram Games Support through the in-game link or the Support Web Portal for help figuring out what’s wrong.

• NOTE: Cloud Save is still unreliable: according to the developer, it is not safe to be used and should be left turned off.
• NOTE: Saving your Progress: Make sure to save your progress by traveling to the World Map screen (and waiting there until everything’s fully loaded) regularly, and especially before closing your game.

 
Edits are ongoing

Not sure many people are going to have the same problem, but here goes anyway!
I play the game last Epoch, it worked fine on Kcom, I currently moved to Connexin - because of the price hikes, everything is working fine so far except this game, I cannot connect to the servers, and when I do a tracert it just times out.
I have tried using my phone as a hotspot, that works fine - so I know its not the the computer (or the game) - It also works if I use a free VPN - which makes sense as it routes the traffic to servers differently.
Now that is fine, I have found a fix - although it does introduce a tiny amount of lag, has anyone else had similar problems? I assume if it was a big game like Diablo IV or something something might be done, but Connexin are adamant it not their problem, they did say they could give me a static IP for an extra £5 a month, and it MIGHT fix the problem, but the whole point in moving ISPs was to save money.
So, anyone else come across this problem? and is there anything I can do to fix the routing problem? I have not tried the other MMO yet that uses Amazons servers (New World) but I am going to try that later.
thanks
*** POST UPDATE ***
They gave me a staticIP - and it's made no difference at all

I have the GUI wallet with the blockchain (around 167GB) downloaded on my SSD.
When I send XMR, is there a possibility that my IP address can be logged?
Unlike, say, the Bitcoin client Electrum, I don't get to see the server(s) I am connecting to.
With Electrum, I can proxy connections over SOCKS5 (e.g. port 9050). Now I see with the GUI that there is an option to use SOCKS5 (e.g. port 9050) but it is for "updates downloading, fetching price sources". This suggests that SOCKS5 is not used when sending / receiving XMR.
So what is the possibility of the node to which I connect (whatever it will be) logging my IP?
And is it possible to route all communications through a SOCKS5 proxy on port 9050?
Thanks.

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"Festicus…"
Marcus stared down at the felled rat, watching as his great furrowed head lulled and fell to the side.
"Festicus!"
"He issss being gone, Ssssire," Verulex said behind him.
Marcus bent low and tried to rouse the great brute that had saved his life, denying that he was about to let another rat man die for him like Gatskeek had.
"Wake up, Marrow soldier!" he yelped in the creature's vacant eyes. "There's cavalry charges still to be led!"
No response. Sullen and vengeful, Marcus let the head drop.
I hesitated, he thought. I didn't act quick enough. If I had the damn foresight to grab that blade sooner…
"Be letting him be. He isss doing hisss duty to Clan and –"
"Oh, shut up, priest," Marcus spat, turning with fury to look upon the hooded cretin who was still managing to coax his anger even now. "Your Order might consider a single rat's life to be meaningless – something to just throw away in the service of your God, but this warrior deserved more than this."
The High Priest of Glumrot fixed Marcus with his puss-filled eyes. Those eyes spoke of toxic thoughts ruminating beneath them.
"Be turning your thoughtssss to vengeancccce, Sssssire," Verulex wheezed as he shambled over to the Matron's eviscerated body and prodded at it with the staff of his office, making sure the creature's life had finally expired. He then nodded down at the still breathing form of the unconscious Yeeva below Marcus, the soft skin of her belly weeping purple blood from the perforation Marcus had made as she took Festicus's life.
He scoffed at the priest and picked up the Wakisashi that had fallen at his feet, bending low and directing his hatred at the fallen Yokra who was mumbling as though in a dream-state.
Perhaps it was a meditation practice of their kind, Marcus thought. It didn't make any biological sense for a creature to immediately collapse into unconsciousness as she just had in receiving such a near fatal wound.
He leaned closer to her as Verulex amplified his voice and called down to the army still waiting below, telling them to send a detachment and a priest to sanctify the body of one of their dead. The enemy Yokun had fallen, and they would receive some special treatment of their own.
Marcus heard general cheers resound as this proclamation echoed all through the dim streets of the putrid city. But he ignored them. Instead, he craned his neck to hear what the felled serpent was saying. There was a word on her lips that he could swear had the ring of familiarity to it.
"Matriarch…Pale…Pale Lady…"
Loyal to a fault, Marcus thought. Even in death, you sing your leader's praises. If you are a representative of one of her soldiers, I'm sure she's a force to be reckoned with among your people. That's just another reason why you have to die.
He brought the edge of the Yokun's Wakizashi to her scaled, bloody throat, tensing up as he knew that he had to do this. He had to. He wouldn't hesitate anymore.
And just as he held her head in his hand and made to bring the blade across her neck, that's when he heard it:
"…Mari…"
His hand stopped.
His brain froze.
The Wakizashi wavered as though willing him to follow-through with his desire.
But a very different desire now burned in his heart as that word traveled through his entire system and sent shivers running down his spine.
"Matriarch…Lady…Maria…"
The blade clattered against the silo platform.
"What isss happening?" Verulex asked. "Ssssire, isss thissss beasssst resssisssting?"
Marcus shook his head.
"No."
"Then be sssslaying her and let ussss go. I sssshal be honored to be ssssshowing you Clan Glumrot'sssss wayssss of debassssing the dead."
Marcus could barely even hear the words of the priest. He could register nothing in this moment except the croaking of that name – Mari's name – emanating from the slitted lips of the downed serpent.
"Bah!" Verulex howled. "Be giving me the blade. I sssshal do i-"
"No," Marcus said, then turning to the priest as though he had just been transported back to reality. "No. We take her alive."
The priest cocked his vile, hooded head at Marcus.
"Your pity for thesssse foreign hereticssss isssss doing you no favorssss, Sssshai-Alud," he said. "The Koboldssss are bad enough. Now you are even ssssshowing merccccy to the killer of your commander?"
"We…we need to question her," Marcus explained, straightening up and trying to compose himself as best he could. "We have the opportunity here to find out what she knows, where she came from, even Skegga's force composition potentially. We can't afford to lose this opportunity."
He looked into the face of the ratman and saw what he had not quite been able to see in the war-chamber earlier that night. He saw the wrinkled eyes of the holy rat narrow, and the teeth flare in anger.
"Sssssire," the priest began, slowly. "You are not undersssstanding. I am being head priesssst of Glumrot. I am favored voicccce of He-Who-Fessssterssss. The bussssinesss of dealing with dead in battle isssss up to me."
Marcus faced the rat, feeling anger take him once again.
"And I am your Shai-Alud," he said. "You should be speaking to me with more re-"
Now, he saw something else that he hadn't seen before.
He saw the Wakisashi that glimmered in the ratman's right claw.
As the little priest spoke, he watched as the tip of the blade slowly rose to touch Marcus's reverberating heart.
"You are not ssssspeaker for the Unclean," the priest told him in a cold whisper. "You ssssshal never be. A human isssss a human, jusssst assss a Kobold isssss a Kobold and a sssssnake-bitch isssss a sssssnake-bitch. Hereticsssss, all of you. And one day, sssssooon, there ssssshall come a day when you are purged from our gloriousssss empire. And on that day, Ssssshai-Alud, you may sssssee which ratssss in thisssss realm are truly holding the power."
Marcus licked his lips. His eyes now swam to watch the edges of the podium. And he became acutely conscious of just how isolated they were up here, surrounded by the dying and the dead. Like the vicious little creature said, it was his domain.
He maintained his composure. He stalled for time.
"Are you threatening me, Verulex?"
The sly smile that crossed the priest's lips then was more chilling than anything Marcus had seen thus far in the Kingdom of the rats.
"I am but a humble sssservant, Sssshai-Alud," he replied. "We all have our placcce in ratman sssssociety. Even you, Ssssshai-Alud. It issss a beautiful thing, issss it not? He-Who-Festerssss issss a mossst generoussss God. He is even giving sssscum like you a placccce among Hisssss chosen people."
Marcus stepped back as the tip of the knife inched closer to his abdomen. He could swear, still smirking, that the ratman moved with him.
And so when there finally came the rattling of chains from the lip of the silo platform's edge, Marcus was more relieved than ever. And the knife that Verulex once dangled before him simply evaporated into ash.
Magic, it seemed, could hide even the greatest crime.
"Shai-Alud!" the voice of Deekius yelped from the edge of the platform, panting as he and a retinue of soldiers threw themselves over the lip and caught their breath. "You…are you being hurt, Lor-"
"Gloomraava Deekius," Verulex interrupted. "You are coming in good time. I am taking charge of thisssss Yokun bitch. We will be exxxxecuting her publicly tomorrow, after I take sssssome time to – time to –"
The priest collapsed suddenly, coughing up a miasma of his blood in the process.
"Gloomraava Verulex," Deekius said. "You are being maimed. Be coming down, we shall be administering to you."
"Be dealing with Brother Fesssssticusss firsssst, Brother," the old priest coughed as he allowed himself to be helped away. "He issss needing your care more than I."
Marcus watched as the small retinue of rats then took stock of their surroundings, seeing the chaos and carnage that unfolded in such a tiny area over such a short space of time.
"He was being a credit to his Clan," Deekius said. "This is great loss for our people."
Verulex, meanwhile, said nothing at all.
Marcus watched as the Yokun woman was spat on and then trundled off down the silo with the others, thankful that the old priest's wounds at least stopped him from having her slain then and there. Perhaps even he knew he couldn't go against the Shai-Alud's wishes publicly.
But he'd just confirmed something that Marcus had already begun to fear – something that became far too obvious to him now after seeing the hatred burning in the eyes of Redwhiskers and Verulex both.
And, more than that, he needed to speak to that snake. He needed that more than anything. He needed to know…was it chance? Or…was Mari really..?
"Marcus," he heard Deekius say outside himself. "It is being alright now. Yokun are not being known to send more than single assassin team. If they are failing, it is because they are not blessed by their heretic Gods. Defeating them here is great victory for us all, and now, you are having nothing to fear."
The ratman lifted his arm to try and guide Marcus away but the latter rejected the help entirely. He crossed to the edge of the platform and looked down upon the city, seeing the crowds cheer to see him alive, wondering which of them truly did have any real love for him at all.
Then his eyes lighted on the descending form of Verulex, and he felt a very different idea take root within his mind.
"No, Deekius," he said. "I have plenty still to fear. But now I know what to do about it."
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It doesn't really show in the photo how they actually look 😅 When I got home I noticed some red spots on my finger and I just assumed something pressed on it.... But it stayed even after a while and didn't get any better. I suspect it's an allergic reaction to ? something
I just can't think of anything I touched that I would be allergic to... All I have touched is a plastic bag and cardboard that left a tiny cut near my knuckle. This hasn't happened before atleast in a long time. Sometimes I do get small ish areas that react to random things but not on the side of my finger and in such strange shapes 😯
I did get chinese food and carried it in a plastic bag but I've gotten food from there so many times and nothing like this has happened. Besides I saw when the server put the food in the cardboard thing in the plastic bag and he hadn't touched any food or anything else that might have caused my weird red spots 😯
Wgat might have caused this?? I'm so confused. My allergic reactions to random things don't happen often at all but when it happens I'm so confused 😅 Sometimes I'm allergic to my watch and sometimes I'm not it gets really annoying and confusing

Hi all, apologies in advance for what are probably some pretty simple questions, but I am having some issues with Mixtral's performance and I'm trying to understand what I could be doing better.
I have been seeking an LLM that can be used for a use case involving knowledge mining of call transcripts.
So far, I have had success with GPT 4, but I'm looking at potential local/private solutions which I could use instead for security purposes.
All the smaller models (8-13B) I have tried seem to hallucinate wildly when I give them a passage of text and ask questions about it (e.g. What are the names of the speakers). I have however had success with Mixtral 8x22B via the Mixtral API service, so I was hoping it would prove to be a good option. With minimal prompt engineering, I was able to get quite useful information.
I procured a GPU server and installed the 8x22b-instruct-v0.1-q8_0 version of the model on Ollama, which I was hoping would provide better performance than the smaller models, but I am still having serious issues with hallucination and recollection of information presented in the call transcript. Compared to the 8x22B API service the results were worthless.
My questions are:
1. Am I doing something wrong with Ollama? Every model I have tried with it seems to hallucinate and not perform very well. Do I need to set up different parameters / system message from default? Do I need to do something around message histories or context windows? I am not giving it particularly long passages of text.
2. Is this potentially just a quantisation issue? From what I've seen online, the Q4 quants of 8x22B are supposed to be quite powerful, so I was hoping that the Q8 quant would be better than this.
3. Is the API "Le Platform" version of 8x22B likely to be fp32? Is it available to the public? I can't seem to find anything higher than fp16 on Ollama and the weights on Hugging Face seem to also be 281GB, suggesting that they are also fp16?
Thanks, and again apologies for any stupid questions.
EDIT:
Solved thanks to StrikeOner having more common sense than me and reading through the FAQ. it turns out that the default context window is tiny and Ollama doesn't warn you if it is reached, it just trims the context.
https://old.reddit.com/LocalLLaMA/comments/1crp2nb/struggling_with_mixtral_8x22b_performance/l3zzb0t/

How can I specify the context window size?
By default, Ollama uses a context window size of 2048 tokens.
To change this when using ollama run, use /set parameter:

/set parameter num_ctx 32768 

https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/main/docs/faq.md

Currently my homelab consists of a few rackmount servers two of which are 24/7.
That means I have a DL380p G8 with 12 spinning rust disks for storage running TrueNAS and an R630 running VMware for compute.
As much as having the servers running is cool my electricity bill and wallet doesn't love it.
I've been thinking about future hardware upgrades and the option of setting up a Lenovo M920q cluster running vSAN comes to mind as an option. It could use less power, make managing VMware upgrades easier, and negate the fact that consumer hardware is not resilient the same way servers are.
I'm currently using vGPU for some VDI machines and for video transcoding I can't fathom a way I can continue to use Tesla P4 cards in these tiny Lenovo machines with vSAN and I imagine the use of the iGPU in the CPU likely won't tolerate being passed through to cluster machines very well.
In the instances where GPU is needed I suppose I could have two standalone cluster nodes with no vSAN where the services they provide are not mission critical.
But after all that am I really saving that much power? I assume I would see a jump in performance moving to newer CPUs with all flash storage.
Curious to hear what other people running these small 1L machines experiences have been. Especially in regards to: * Power usage * Reliability * GPU passthrough