I purchased some 30k and 40k kits from u/IronFather-Wargaming and they were well packed and exactly as described!

So my night lords army is ambiguously30k/40k, I wanted to do a 30k army but I wouldn’t ever get to play 30k so I’m doing a 40k army with mostly 30k kits with some printed bits, forgeworld bits and classic old chaos bits with the horns and such. I know running daemon Allies is pretty good but I don’t really wanna buy actual daemon models since I’d like to do a proper army of them later on and I don’t feel like it’s thematic for my untainted marines. Has anyone used flesh eater courts from AOS as daemon proxies?

So, I just bought a few of the alpha pattern Leman Russ kits from the HH Solar Auxillia line to use in 40k and kit bash into Krieg. But, I don’t believe they come with sponson weapons… is that going to be an issue playing 40k?

I’ve recently gotten into 30k and am working on an iron warriors army. I’ve been having trouble with finding characters that would feel appropriate but also have enough personality to be distinguished from basic marines. I noticed the torsos of the 40k csm kit has quite the industrial feel and think they’d make great character conversion fodder. Does this seem like a decent idea?

Hey everyone. A year and a bit ago I had the adhd urge to try 40k. Spent a silly amount of money, buying a lot of tools and models. And now I have lost all interest in it. How feasible is it to sell paints etc? The few kits I have left I think will sell (they are killteams tho)
Thoughts?
I know this is worded awfully. It’s been a long time since I’ve looked into it, and never learned the rules

First of all, yes, her kit is decent. but being "decent" isn't good enough anymore when you have "broken".
Hoyo isn't afraid of making her bad, because they know we will pull for her anyways. In fact, I think Hoyo will try to make her kit bad just for them to sell the solution later (probably a support with a mix of HMC and RM's kit). That is just bad character design principle, and I don't want that to happen.
Take a look at Acheron. Her kit is so broken you can basically bruteforce any content currently in the game with her. And her team comp isn't as restricted as firefly's. Granted, at E0 her team comp is somewhat restricted, but not to the point that only one team comp exist. Even then, her E2 enables a lot more team combination. Meanwhile firefly, even at E6, still only has one strong team comp.
Then there's Boothill. While he's not broken, he's still a pretty decent damage dealer. From what I see, he's able to deal damage around 500k-700k on weakness break with enhanced basic attack. Even without break, his kit seems to be pretty decent, able to hit 60/200 crit easily thanks to his trace while maintaining around 400% break effect without Harmony MC or Ruan Mei. While Boothill is break oriented, this is pretty much what I would expect of a hybrid character, unlike firefly's kit.

Problem with Firefly's kit

To me, it seems like the devs wanted her kit to be a hybrid, but doesn't know what to do. This is supported by two reasons:
First, she needs a lot of ATK, yet all of that ATK is useless on break builds. Break damage does not scale on ATK (See the wiki or Guoba's post), so I don't know why they have this trace on her. She also needs a lot of break effect, making her build priority being break effect > ATK > speed, and not allowing her to build crit.
Second, her enhanced skill has a huge damage multiplier, yet again is mostly useless on break builds. Her enhanced skill deals 400%/200% damage on primary/secondary targets hit, up to 580%/290% with 360% break effect. Now usually, destruction characters (or blast type attacks) only deals damage at around 300%/150%. 400% is on a level of hunt character's ultimate damage. While her damage multiplier is huge, it is useless if you can't build crit on her, resulting in only 30k-40k damage on her enhanced skill.
And for those of you who thinks that we should build her as either break build or crit build, I need to tell you something:
It does not have to be mutually exclusive, and boothill is the proof of that.

What could be improved on her kit

(Do note that this is just a bullet point on what could be improved, and while some of them can work together, some are mutually exclusive. Do also note that the numbers are pretty much arbitrary and you can put any number you think is good yourself. Do tell me if you have other ideas or what improvements should work together)
There are several improvements that I think is possible on her:

• Instead of ATK -> BE, change the trace to BE -> ATK

"For every 100.0 of SAM's ATK that exceeds 2400.0, increases SAM's Break Effect by 6.0%, up to a maximum increase of 60.0%." -> "For every 10% break effect, increase SAM's ATK by 6%, up to 250% break effect" or something like that.
This change allows her to forgo ATK entirely. With ATK not a problem anymore, she can freely build crits for her kit.

• Change her effect RES trace to crit rate or ATK traces

I'm personally not a big fan of non-damage related traces on damage dealers. I think should change it to crit rate traces, or if it's too powerful, ATK traces could also work. This also adds value to her E4 a bit, if you're looking to get that.

• Decrease her BE requirement for DEF ignore trace

"If SAM is in Complete Combustion with a Break Effect that is 250.0%/360.0% or higher, additionally ignores 30.0%/40.0% of the target's DEF when attacking." -> "During Ult, If BE is higher than 150%/250%, gain 30%/40% DEF ignore."
This allows her to further build her stats for a hybrid build.

• Add increase crit on her kit

We could add boothill's trace effect into her kit. Probably something like "During ult, increase her crit by 20%/100% crit rate/crit damage."

• Increase her toughness damage

If they really want her to synergize with super break, might as well increase her base toughness damage on her enhanced skill. I believe right now she has 90/45 base toughness damage on her enhanced skill with primary/secondary target, and granted, that is pretty big already.
But for comparison, boothill has 60 base toughness damage on enhanced basic attack, with 150 total toughness damage on max stack trickshot. Gallagher, which is a sustain, has 30 AoE base toughness damage on ult, and 90 on enhanced basic attack.
Most elites have 300 toughness or above, and most bosses have 360 toughness or above. Therefore I think it's still fair for her to have 120/60 base toughness damage. That way, with all buffs considered, she's going to deal around 240 toughness damage on primary target. This will prevent her from losing turns on her ult to reducing enemy toughness.
Or at the very least, increase the weakness break efficiency on her ult to 100%.

• Make her enchanced skill deal break damage outside of break

This is pretty counterintuitive for weakness break mechanic, so I'm going to put it in a "I don't want this, but it's possible" category.
Since her skill damage multiplier is already high enough, they can do something like "A percentage of this skill's damage is considered as break DMG.", though I don't know how to calculate this as break DMG. Perhaps instead of level multiplier in regular break DMG, it is replaced by the skill's damage.

• Rework her BiS relic's DEF ignore

Not really related to her, but I think 18% DEF ignore on break damage isn't good enough. We already have quantum set that gives 10% DEF ignore just by existing, and 20% for quantum weak enemies. Prisoner set also has an easy requirement, 18% when there's 3 DoT on enemy. I think it's should be either 10%/18% DEF ignore on all attack, or 15%/24% DEF ignore on break damage.

What I think is good for her kit

Currently I have two separate ideas on what changes is the best for her kit. One is for Hybrid build, and one for break build. Here's the changes:

• Changes for hybrid build

1. Rework trace "For every 100.0 of SAM's ATK that exceeds 2400.0, increases SAM's Break Effect by 6.0%, up to a maximum increase of 60.0%." -> "For every 10% break effect, increase SAM's ATK by 6%, up to 250% break effect"
2. Rework trace "If SAM is in Complete Combustion with a Break Effect that is 250.0%/360.0% or higher, additionally ignores 30.0%/40.0% of the target's DEF when attacking." -> "During Complete Combustion, if SAM's Break Effect is 250.0% or higher, additionally ignores 40.0% of the target's DEF when attacking. Furthermore, If SAM's Break Effect is 360.0% or higher, Increases SAM's weakness break efficiency by 100%."
3. Effect RES trace -> Crit rate trace
4. Rework Ultimate "Upon entering the Complete Combustion state, ..., increases SAM's Weakness Break efficiency by 50%" -> "Upon entering the Complete Combustion state, ..., increase SAM's crit rate and crit damage by 20%/100%."
5. Change Enhanced skill "Deals Fire DMG equal to 0.5 × Break Effect + 400% of SAM's ATK to the target enemy. At the same time, deals Fire DMG equal to 0.25 × Break Effect + 200% of SAM's ATK to adjacent enemies. A maximum of 360% Break Effect is calculated." -> "Deals Fire DMG equal to 0.4 × Break Effect + 400% of SAM's ATK to the target enemy. At the same time, deals Fire DMG equal to 0.2 × Break Effect + 200% of SAM's ATK to adjacent enemies. A maximum of 250% Break Effect is calculated."

I think this is the best changes for her, since players will have an easier time building her kit. With this, you could also run break firefly with decent damage on her skill. Though this number is probably still too overpowered, so you can balance it a bit more for a better hybrid kit.
One of the problem is that this kit is pretty similar to boothill's, and I really don't want her to be just a destruction boothill. So I made a second changes for her break build.

• Changes for break build

1. Increase enhanced skill's toughness damage to 120/60
2. Effect RES trace -> ATK trace
3. Change trace "For every 100.0 of SAM's ATK that exceeds 2400.0, increases SAM's Break Effect by 6.0%, up to a maximum increase of 60.0%." -> "For every 100.0 of SAM's ATK that exceeds 2000.0, increases SAM's Break Effect by 6.0%, up to a maximum increase of 60.0%."
4. Change trace "While in Complete Combustion, attacking enemies without Fire Weakness can also reduce Toughness by an amount equal to 55.0% of the original ability's Toughness Reduction." -> "While in Complete Combustion, attacking enemies without Fire Weakness or weakness protected enemies can also reduce Toughness by an amount equal to 75.0% of the original ability's Toughness Reduction."
5. (optional) Change BiS Relic effect "If the wearer's Break Effect is 150.0%/250.0% or higher, ignores 15.0%/24.0% of the enemy target's DEF when dealing Break DMG to them."
6. (optional) Change E6 "While in Complete Combustion, increases SAM's Fire RES PEN by 12.0%. When using the Enhanced Basic ATK or Enhanced Skill, increases the Weakness Break efficiency by 50.0%." -> "While in Complete Combustion, increases SAM's Fire RES PEN by 24.0%. When using the Enhanced Basic ATK or Enhanced Skill, increases the Weakness Break efficiency by 100.0%."

If they wanted firefly to be a break character, then I think this is the best changes for her. Though compared to my changes for hybrid build, I think this is still too underpowered, so again, adjust the numbers as you see fit.
Though, this kit still doesn't remove her reliance of super break, since regular break damage doesn't scale off character's toughness damage. At the very least, if she's going to rely on super break that much, her high toughness damage is going to give her a lot of damage.
So, what do you think? Do you think her current kit is good? what changes would you like to see in her kit?
Repost: Goddammit I got a typo on the title

I am looking at getting into 40k as a person who has never played them before what kits should I buy first. Not wanting to put more than around $200 into them. Is my main option just the Combat Patrol and maybe a small kit to upgrade? Also for painting these figures what paint brands or items do you recommend?

Source- Broadway Grosses, Broadway Box Office - 5/12/2024 (broadwayworld.com)
T-MINUS 33 DAYS TO TONYS.
Another good week for Broadway, $35 million is right about where the grosses were this time in those 2017/18/19 seasons that were so lucrative. Tony nominations are starting to take affect, Suffs posted their first earning week this week, and Hell's Kitchen sold incredibly well. I am including award wins roundups as well (Outer Critics Circle announced yesterday). As always, I have put the weekly operating cost (where known, and a rough estimation if not), and an estimated profit or loss for the week. I do not have all of the information for every (most) shows, but if you have access to information about shows and would like to share it with me, please do!
My methodology for estimating profit (or loss) is as follows:

1. Subtract 16% from grosses. This is credit card fees, as well as the cut that the theater owners take off the top of the grosses, in addition to charging a flat rent. The weekly operating cost is usually the fixed cost for the production, which does not account for this cut%. If you get a chance to look at a show's offering papers, this number is the Net Operating Profit.
2. Compare that new number to the weekly operating cost, if it's lower, subtract weekly minimum guarantees, and record the difference as the loss for that week. If the reserve is known for a show, I will record that as well.
3. If it made money, subtract either 20% or 30% for royalties (after subtracting WMGs),

NOTE: If an awarding body is not listed, that show was not nominated by that group
Grosses (chronological order from opening)-
Back to the Future: The Musical - $872k gross, 78% capacity, $93 atp (Up ~$29k from last week)
Gross Less-Fees: $733k; Weekly Operating Cost: $815k/week; Estimated profit (loss): (106k)
Award Nominations Roundup: Outer Critics Circle (5), Tonys (2)
Another lackluster week for Back to the Future. No major Tony nominations, an upcoming tour which could be discouraging tourists. This is the first time they have had back-to-back loosing weeks during their run. Hopefully the summer is kind to this show.
Merrily We Roll Along - $1.5 million gross, 100% capacity, $196 atp (Up ~82k from last week)
Gross Less-Fees: $1.275 million; Weekly Operating Cost: $800k/week; Estimated profit (loss): $270k
2024 Award Nominations Roundup: Drama League (5), Tonys (7\)*
Award Wins: 2023 Outer Critic Circle (2)
Hot ticket does hot ticket things. This production has already recouped, anything else is just icing on the cake. It has profited a total of nearly $1 million by my estimates.
The Notebook- $786k gross, 87% capacity, $110 atp (Up ~$113k from last week)
Gross Less-Fees: 660k; Estimated Weekly Operating Cost: $620k/week; Estimated profit (loss): $12k
Award Nominations Roundup: Drama League (3\), Outer Critics Circle (1), Drama Desk (2), Tonys (3)*
Good rebound week for the Notebook, they're back in the black, and grosses this level could hold. Especially since the soundtrack seems to be being well received.
Water for Elephants - $1.0 million gross, 83% capacity, $115 atp (Up ~$64k from last week)
Gross Less-Fees: $902k; Weekly Operating Cost: $805k/week; Estimated Profit (Loss): $61k; Remaining Reserve: $2.6 million
Award Nominations Roundup: Drama League (1\), Outer Critics Circle (5*), Drama Desk (7), Tonys (7*), PETA (1)*
Award Wins: PETA (1), Outer Critics Circle (1)
Water for Elephants continues to chug along. It's posted essentially the same grosses the last three weeks, and this is a good place for it to stick around at. Congratulations to Jessica Stone for her Outer Critics Circle win for directing.
The Who's Tommy - $991k gross, 85% capacity, $123 atp (Up ~$80k from last week)
Gross Less-Fees: $832k; Estimated Weekly Operating Cost: ~$700k-750k/week; Estimated Profit (Loss): $40k-$75k
Award Nominations Roundup: Drama League (3\), Outer Critics Circle (6*), Drama Desk (1), Tonys (1*)*
Award Wins: Outer Critics Circle (1)
Good week for Tommy. Lukewarm Tony response nonetheless, they're doing just fine. Congratulations Peter Nigrini for his win for projections.
The Outsiders - $1.0 million gross, 100% capacity, $124 atp (Up ~$129k from last week)
Gross Less-Fees: $860k; Estimated Weekly Operating Cost: ~$700k-$750k/week; Estimated Profit (Loss): $68k-$108k
Award Nominations Roundup: Drama League (3\), Outer Critics Circle (3*), Drama Desk (9*), Tonys (12*)*
Award Wins: Outer Critics Circle (1)
Excellent week for Outsiders. Expect these grosses to hold for a while. Congratulations Brian MacDevitt for his win for lighting.
Lempicka - $419k gross, 87% capacity, $57 atp (Up ~$144k from last week)
Gross Less-Fees: $352k; Weekly Operating Cost: ~$660k/week; Estimated Profit (Loss): ($322k)
Award Nominations Roundup: Drama League (3\), Tonys (3)*
I'm glad to see that they're playing to mostly full houses as they come to the end of their run. Still took a 300k loss.
Suffs - $802k gross, 93% capacity, $110 atp (Up ~$171k from last week)
Gross Less-Fees: $674k; Estimated Weekly Operating Cost: ~$640k/week; Estimated Profit (Loss): $6k
Award Nominations Roundup: Drama League (4\), Outer Critics Circle (5*), Drama Desk (8), Tonys (6*)*
Award Wins: Outer Critics Circle (3\)*
This show is the first to really feel the impact of the Tony nominations, posting their first earning week this week. Not that Outer Critics Circle counts for much grosses wise or Tony predictions wise, but a massive congratulations to the production for winning Best Musical, as well as Shaina Taub for Book and Score.
Hell's Kitchen - $1.5 million gross, 101% capacity, $127 atp (Up ~$233 from last week)
Gross Less-Fees: $1.06 million; Estimated Weekly Operating Cost: ~$800k-$850k/week; Estimated Profit (Loss): $108k-$141k
Award Nominations Roundup: Drama League (3\), Outer Critics Circle (1), Drama Desk (5), Tonys (13*)*
Award Wins: Outer Critics Circle (1),
And this is what being the leading Tony nominee as well as having a massive IP will do. Congratulations Kecia Lewis for her win for featured performer. (And to the show for being Jesse Green's pick to win the Tony I guess)
Heart of Rock and Roll - $319k gross, 69% capacity, $54 atp (Up ~$31k from last week)
Gross Less-Fees: $267k; Estimated Weekly Operating Cost: $650k; Estimated Profit (Loss): ($407k)
Award Nominations Roundup: Drama League (1\), Drama Desk (1)*
After a good week last week HORAR faltered this week. Apparently, this is financed through June, and I'm always happy to see people keeping their jobs.
The Great Gatsby - $1.1 million gross, 90% capacity, $109 atp (Up $130k from last week)
Gross Less-Fees: $991k; Estimated Weekly Operating Cost: $800k-850k/week; Estimated Profit (Loss): 87k-$124k
Award Nominations Roundup: Drama League (1), Outer Critics Circle (4\), Drama Desk (1), Tonys (1)*
Award Wins: Outer Critics Circle (2)
This show is the current leader in the Broadway World fan awards in almost every category. They're going to be just fine with this cast, posting their best week yet. Congratulations Paul Tate dePoo III and Linda Cho for their wins in scenic design and costumes, respectively.
The Wiz - $1.5 million gross, 95% capacity, $128 atp (Up ~$109k from last week)
Gross Less-Fees: $1.316 million; Estimated Weekly Operating Cost: $800k-$850k/week; Estimated Profit (Loss): $309k-$344k
Award Nominations Roundup: Drama League (2\)*
The Wiz got no Tony nominations, but they don't need them. This show will be just fine on the Broadway stop of their tour.
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club - $2.0 million gross, 99% capacity, $235 atp (Up ~$89k from last week)
Gross Less-Fees: $1.687 million; Weekly Operating Cost: $974k/week; Estimated Profit (Loss): 464k; Reserves Remaining: $2.2 million
Award Nominations Roundup: Drama League (5\), Outer Critics Circle (2*), Drama Desk (5*), Tonys (9*)*
I mourn the loss of accessible theater with this Cabaret revival. That said, glad to see it's doing well. This show also has some really strong advance ticket sales so it should continue to be just fine.
Illinoise - $679k gross, 94% capacity, $89 atp (Down ~$4k)
Gross Less-Fees: $570k; Estimated Weekly Operating Cost: $625k; Estimated Profit (Loss): ($64k)
Award Nominations Roundup: Drama League (1\), Outer Critics Circle (6*), Drama Desk (4*), Tonys (4*)*
Award Wins: Outer Critics Circle (1)
Obviously the grosses for this week are affected by the show missing a performance, but more importantly losing their production stage manager, Thomas Gates, and my heart goes out to the entire production team, cast, and crew for their loss. From a purely financial perspective, not sure if this gamble is going to pay off (it needs to average 1.05 mil to recoup, even with a Tony win that's unlikely), but it will likely play through its run, especially if it wins some Tonys. Congratulations Justin Peck for his win for choreography.
Discuss below!

i like Warhammer 40k, but 40k doesnt afford you the abilty to let you play your own custom character or faction if it isnt up to certain specs in tournaments(lore strict rules). and running an army battle in dungeons and dragons is overly complicated unless you ignore a bunch of rolls and rules.
i propose a blend of both. who's cannon takes place in the cosmos of perspective.
(you make your own faction cannon. )
each unit type has user generated has one data sheet, each named character you have would have their own data sheet.
the models can be 3-D printed or kitbashed, but they must be at 1/36 scale. essentially one infantry= one of those cheap plastic army men standing at 5 cm tall.
from here, this was typed up before today, by a few months. there is no campaign.
but i would imagine a new fandom in table top roleplay would be born regardless
___________________________________________________________________________________________
WELCOME TO BATTLEPOSTINGS T.T.R.P.G.
A tabletop rpg for diy, model painting, kit bashing, 3-DPrinting, and plastic army battling enthusiasts.
all parts of this game are user generated, with the exception of the rules. Though u/Khorde__the__Husk sent this to a bunch of redditors for help in balancing the game and setting up basic play structure.
Things to note:
· You must have one “advisor” per two warlords in the session. Advisors, act as the game master to make sure no one is cheating. If there is confusion on what kind of weapon a unit has in their hands or equipped to their armor, the Advisor has final say. The advisor is supposed to keep the game fair.
· In theory you could have as many players as you want, but no more than four is recommended because turns consist of multiple phases that are meant to organize the battle strategy for each player.
· Players are encouraged to kit bash, 3-D print, or purchase traditional plastic army men. For the sake of scaling, follow the scaling of the image below. But you must have your own general. It is recommended that your general be unique, make it yours. Have fun.
· Players can make their own campaigns and lore. Such attempts are encouraged. For the purposes of release, you can follow the campaign I have written.
· For any session, you will need a handwritten or typed general’s reference stats Dossier, 1D20, tape measure, and an army of which you will fight with. (painted)
· When rolling on a check, higher is always better. 20 is always a success
· Your armies stats are fixed and defined in this document. Your general’s stats are dictated by the roll of a 1d20. These stats are:
o morale
o Movement speed
o Accuracy
o Health points
o Punch
· Turns are split into phases.
o bombardment
o Movement
o Attack/counter attack
· The different types of units are:
o Infantry
o Armor
o Airborne
o B.A.M.(BIG ASS MACHINES)

· We play at a 1/36 scale. All models are at that scale.

• TERRAIN AND COVER

make your own terrain and cover. kitbashing, 3-D printing encouraged. terrain is the battleground, the floor the pieces and obstacles stand on. obsticles can be anything. debris, nature, etc. obstacles are cover. if an attacking piece can see the defending piece in its entirety, the defending piece is in the open. if the defending piece is partially seen by the attacking
· Ability checks logic below:
20=crit hit/sucsess
1=jam(gun)/woopsie(melee)/crit fail
To succeed , a unit must roll their combined ability score. This is their base ability +general ability. Debuffs such as kickback only are applied to whatever you rolled when you roll for an ability check.
Regardless, the fundamental rules of this game will apply to your creations. these are an assortment of rules designed to keep the game fair and guard against unfair players(referred to as God-Emperors or God-empresses) and hopefully combat power creep.
Now lets expand upon these ideas so you can have fun kit-bashing and army smashing quicker.
GENERAL’S (named character) STAT DOSSIER
Your army’s stats are based on your general’s stat Dossier. The leader of a nation is oft a good indication of how high of a quality their army’s going to be.
The first thing you should write is your general’s name, then write their bio. Their bio includes their background, their homeland, what politics are involved (if any). It is not recommended that you write a novel, you have a game to play. What are the weapons that your general will have on their person? What are their character traits? How will those traits affect how the game is played?
The next thing to do is to make a picture of your General that resembles the piece you kit-bashed for your general to be. It can be menacing, wholesome, serious or whacky. As long as the design choices resemble what your army has for their design and your general’s character traits. It doesn’t have to be hand drawn. A photo of your piece will suffice. no general may have a skill number higher than 16.
ARMY STAT DOSSIER:
what good is a king without a kingdom?
terrible.
each type of unit gets one ARMY STAT DOSSIER. you can have as many scout infantry you want, but you need a dossier on how they are deployed, what weapons they use, and most importantly, THEIR STATS. make sure your unit type description is comprehensive including what styles of combat they are trained for. this could influence your decisions on how you play. give them lore for shits and giggles. no unit may have a skill number higher than 15.
WEAPON STAT DOSSIER
this is the list of weapon types and their ability modifiers.
when attacking bare handed, you go by your unmodified stats.
STATS EXPLAINED AND BORING SHIT
Now comes the part with the dice. You only need 1d20. This is to reduce the confusion.
· Morale
Rolled by 1d20, checked by 1d20 per unit.
Morale is basically moral law. How far will your troops go to follow your orders? If your morale over a given unit is 1, the unit in question is shell shocked for one whole turn, to be marked with a yellow slip. If your unit is shell shocked, it is traumatized to where it cant follow any orders on the next turn. If for some reason the morale hits 0, that unit defects and must be marked with a red token. Units that defect are now under control of your enemy. If defected units hit 0 authority again, it simply dies. Suicide. Cowards way out.
The Morale that your general has over friendly units is base unit morale +the general’s modifier. Your general’s base Morale is the number you rolled the 1d20 for. If for any reason your general’s morale score goes below 0, the general must rally all nearby troops (within 30cm) to protect the general for one turn on the next turn. If your general’s morale hits zero, you get shell shocked, and your general cannot take action for one turn and if your general was within line of sight of any other allied unit, the observing unit cannot take action either.
· Movement Speed
Rolled by 1d20, measured by cm on a measuring tape or meter stick because inches suck.
Movement speed is how much ground a given unit can cover. Unless your object has a punch score higher than the hp of an obstacle, or can fly, you will have to go around the obstacle. There are exceptions. If the obstacle is below the knee of an infantry unit, the infantry or whatever can climb over at the cost of the individual unit climbing modifier.
The base movement speed of your general influences the movement speed of your troops. To find a troops total movement speed:
Your unit’s base movement speed + your general’s base movement speed = total troop movement speed. See army stat dossier or named character stat dossier.

· Accuracy
Rolled by a 1d20, checked by 1d20 per unit
Accuracy must be rolled every time a unit attacks an enemy unit.
Accuracy is basically the chance of your selected troop hitting their targets. Different weapons and vehicles have different accuracy modifiers(aka kickback or x-range), and different types of troops have different base accuracies. Accuracy can affect enemy/friendly Health points or morale. If a shot hits near enough to a troop, or makes a kill close enough to another troop, the troops affected must undergo a morale check with the exception to nearby friendlies of any troop who gets an enemy kill.
Explosives and artillery have an area of effect. any troop within the inner blast radius (with the exception of troops behind sufficient cover) is dead. Any in sufficient cover, or within the outer blast radius must make a morale check. Sufficient cover is a piece of the environment which has an assigned hp that is higher than the punch of an explosion.

Small arms fire requires line of sight for targeting. The path of bullets is a straight line, keep this in mind when deciding collateral damage. Friendly fire is a thing and it is a war-crime. If you want to play nightmare mode, your general gets summoned to a military court tribunal and executed if three friendly troops or more die as a result of friendly fire that occurred by your command.

Melee combat can only be conducted during movement phases. If its melee vs gun there is the variable of line of sight. If the melee unit is within line of sight, the gun unit has advantage. If the melee unit is outside of line of sight of the gun unit, the melee unit has advantage.
To find your troop’s accuracy:
general’s base accuracy+ troop base accuracy- kickback. The higher the accuracy the better.

· Punch
Punch is how much damage a unit causes to another unit or object should they pass their accuracy check. Different weapons pack a different punch. Remember to add their bonus to the punch check roll.
When attacking an obstacle or object, units must roll against the hp of the object. If the roll lands on a number that meets or beats the hp, the object or obstacle is destroyed.(marked with red sticky note and can be traversed as if the object was destroyed. Bullets pass thru within reasonable trajectories, no ricochet)
When attacking units, whatever is rolled is subtracted from the victim’s hp. The victim can only move at half of their normal movement speed afterward.(treaded, wheeled, and airborne vehicles excluded from the debuff even if they are hit. They are treated as obstacles with the addition of the passed accuracy check requirement.)
· Health points(hp)
Health points are what determines how close your units or general is to kicking the bucket. In any game mode, If your general kicks the bucket, you lose. If you have no units other than your general, you lose and your general must go into hiding. each unit and general may have no more than 10hp. powercreep is bad
UNIT CLASSES
Unit Classes are determined by how big the individual unit is, and how it traverses the battlefield. The smallest and most common all the way to the biggest and most intimidating of units are all fit into several categories by what they look like. To solve disagreements on what class your unit is, the advisor has final say. Disagreements should be easy to avoid if you design your units properly. It would be useful to stick to a theme. Candy punk, steampunk, horror, medieval, sci-fi, and historical designs are all fine, you could even come up with your own. A theme will be better for discerning friendlies from you enemies. At the same time, make your units discernable enough that players and especially advisors can easily determine what classes your units are.
· Your general/warlord, whatchacallit
Your general is the most valuable unit because it is what you have to control your forces. Without a wise and strategic leader, your forces will fall into disarray and you will lose the war. You can only have one general, and you made it yours. Kitbashing and 3D printing would likely be your most common means of gaining a general. They must take resemblance of the general on your general stat dossier they can swim in water terrain for two turns before they drown.
· Infantry
The easiest to acquire and kit bash. This allows for vast hordes of infantry, or small fireteams, or something in between. Find your play style. Your infantry should be as tall as the plastic green army men in the image below. These men and women are the bravest of them all.
they can swim in water terrain for two turns before they drown.
· Armor
Mainly made up of vehicles and smaller mechanical suits, must be land based. Expect tanks, jeeps ,Humvees, calvary mounted animals etc. here is an image I ripped for scale as to the largest example of armor you can have. Not my drawing. Its basically the largest tank ever built replace the man in the image with one infantry and you have your scale. Or 0.283333333 m* 0.283333333 m *0.5m
these machines will break down in water terrain.
· Airborne
Airborne units can only fly. They can drop bombs, airdrop armotroops, and attack up to one target per gun that the aircraft is equipped with(within range) as they move. Their biggest weakness is anti-aircraft weaponry and enemy aircraft weapons. How big can an aircraft be?
2.44 meters. X 2.44 meters by 0.60 meters is your maximum for all airborne units.
any airborne that fly like a plane have a +4 to their movement stat but can only bomb ground units 15 cm in front and attack any unit that is in front of it
anything that flies like a helicopter does not have this buff or debuff, they can shoot at any target, but can only use missiles for up to 15 cm on ground units.
NAVAL VEHICLES
Naval vehicles can be big or small, but they can only operate in the designated water terrain area. they can carry troops, they can fire artillery, depth charges, missiles, torpedoes, and submarines can hide below water for three turns before air runs out. but they can be spotted by sonar. if a submerged vessel is within 10 cm of an enemy surface or submarine vessel, the enemy vessel can act as if they know where the submerged vessel is even if the submerged vessel is still submerged.
· B.A.M. ‘s
Big Ass Machines are basically giant robots and massive land ships. These can be Game breaking depending on how you build them and how big you build them. They can fire upon one target per weapon. how big Can these be? They cannot be more than 1.5 meters tall or take up a ground area larger than 4 meters. Players are not allowed to use functioning motor vehicles including, but not limited to cars, trucks, busses, etc. rule of thumb, if you can ride it, you can’t play it. It might as well be just fan art. The maximum distance these can move at any time is 2000cm. to move these, they must make a special movement check. War machines of that size can get stuck easily, so subtract your general’s movement speed from your final roll on each check. If they are larger than the specified limits, you’ve built a giant immobilized obstacle for one turn.
Mobile terrain essentially is a whole battlefield or obstacle of its own. The biggest difference is that anything other than B.A.M. compatible units that are attached to the B.A.M'S can’t be removed from the B.A.M.'S. Artillery such as main guns can’t move, only rotate. same with S.A.M.S. , C.R.A.M.S., and anti aircraft weaponry.

EQUIPMENT AND ARMAMENT
Guns and RE’S(ranged explosives)Require a reload period(one full turn) every so often. Dual wield is an ability that is only applicable to infantry equipment . dual wield only applies when two identical weapons are in both hands of a single unit. Range is how far a weapon can fire before a debuff is added to your accuracy roll. For every 10 cm beyond the stated range, an x-range debuff of -1 is added.
Overheat can only occur on weapons that are labeled with overheat. Every time a gun with overheat is about to fire , a coin must be tossed. If the coin lands on heads, the gun overheats. Overheating will cause the unit to explode. The explosion will deal 1d20 damage to anyone/anything within a 6 cm radius. You only need to roll once.
Cone is a special debuff. Weapons with cone Can only fire at sequential targets within 25 degrees of original target.
im having trouble with deciding the individual weapon stats. so ive decided that i am going to leave those up to you. (the moment i hear people are getting into fights IRL, i will be putting in an elaboration which will settle all disputes regarding equipment and artillery... and i wont be happy about it.)
players are encouraged to record their battles in battle reports and post it online in their relevant subreddits. if they win/lose, then the player is encouraged to come up with a lore reason for any change in tactics, named characters(generals), or stats.
an army is considered overpowered if they can take out all opponents in as little as 10 turns. they must be nerfed if this happens. dont forget to add a lore reason for this occurrence in the battle report.
unlike overpowered, underpowered armies can be taken out in 10 turns. they must be buffed if this happens. dont forget to add a lore reason for this occurrence in the battle report.
this is sci-fantasy/high fantasy, battles are supposed to be epic and economically exaggerated.
write the name of the weapon, the type of weapon.(melee or gun) and its accuracy and punch modifiers.(bare hands is melee and equal to. magic is gun)
spells must be vetted in good faith by advisors prior to the game to prevent game breakage. spells may not kill units or generals in one blow. spells effects can only last one turn unless its a healing spell. healing spells cannot heal more than 5 health points at a time per unit. write out the spells you have for your units and have them vetted by an advisor, advisor will determine gamebreakability of the spell. if spell is determined to be game breaking, mid game, the advisor will have the offending spell removed and the turn undone. at wich point the offending player effectively must alter their strategy in the spirit of good sportsmanship.) There are three approved arcane focuses, wands, staves, and hand casting, (one must not make them look like the caster is going to punch something, have them hold an orb or something.)
(the moment i hear that people get into IRL fights over spells, i will make a list of approved spells and a LONG LIST of forbidden spells. and no one will be happy. )
THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE
Dont be a dick, be a good sport, and have fun.breaking thegame intentionally is a dick move. advisors are encouraged to post their reports of game breaking spells so it may help me in the event Khorde__the__Husk has to revise the rules.

Ok, so I am interested in starting a faction review for every faction in the game. Most reviews out there are about 2-4 years old, and I kind of wanted something more modern as new players get introduced to the game. Now, I'm doing this in my free time, so don't go expecting a new review every single day. Also, as a note, while I will attempt to be factual and genuinely helpful, the focus of these posts is entertainment rather than rules lawyer accuracy. Expect these posts to be filled with helpful tips, tactics, and general hilarity. Also, as I'm having to do this in my free time, ill be updating/completing these posts whenever I have free time. If posts are incomplete/don't have all of the units, its most likely because I had to stop to sleep at some point and didn't want to save the post as a draft. One last thing. These reviews are mostly meant for battlemode. However, you might occasionally see tips for other modes like settlement mode, where I will specifically mention that. With the intro out of the way, lets get to the review!
Robots Faction Review:
PROS:

• DURABILITY. You are one of only 3 armies that still get armor on their base units without needing to purchase it. In settlement mode, rules as written, your army is the ONLY army where every model starts with armor.
• CHONK. The lowest HP in your faction is 5, meaning that for most weapons, it will take on average 3 activations to kill even your weakest model. Most of your army averages between 7-9 HP, and usually have decent armor.
• FEAR. You have some of the scariest centerpiece models. Between Assaultrons, Sentry Bots, and Space Sentries, you have several "Titan" units that will reliably kill most things, as well as cheaper versions to actually run in your 500 point games.
• FLESH IS WEAK. You are steel. Thus, you are immune to hazards commonly found in the wasteland such as radiation and poison.

CONS:

• COUNTING CAPS. Most of your units are EXPENSIVE pointswise, and unlike other factions like BoS, your cheap units usually cant do objectives.
• Poor reaction times. Outside of robot mods and/or your robot controller, you have next to no quick actions.

Faction Rules:

• If running PURE robots, you must run robot controller as your leader perk. Say goodbye to selfish but awesome perks like Bruiser.
• Robots only, outside of your leader.
• Your leader may take robot perks.

Weapons, Mods, Upgrades, Items, etc:

• NO, IM NOT WRITING THEM ALL DOWN. YOU CANT MAKE ME. IM NOT GETTING PAID FOR THIS.

Named Characters
The Mechanist
This gal is pretty good. 75 caps with a free Stealth Boy. If she's your leader, she gets Robot controller, Robot expert, and any 3 robot perks for FREE. Keeping her cheap with combat armor and a cheap pistol is probably your best bet though, as her combat stats are just the WORST. Even if you kitted her out with decent power armor, her strength/melee wont really go beyond 6, and besides you have other units for that job. Invest those hard earned caps elsewhere. Funnily enough, her agility is decent, if you wanted her to just lob molotovs after hacking a terminal.
Codsworth
This fancy butler can do A LOT . You want a melee guy? Mr Handy buzzsaw goes pretty hard with AGI 6. With Int of 7, hes also quite dapper at hacking. Purified water also heals NOT ROBOTS consistently over a game. While hes not great in the ROBOTS faction due to only healing living targets, Im sure hell shine in other armies.
Curie
Diet Cosdworth. Terrible at combat, but a higher intelligence means that this gal will almost never fail at hacking terminals. She can also heal other units 2 damage a turn, but cant be used on robots, synths, or power armor.
ED-E
If youre running the Mechanist, RUN THIS ONE. ITS MANDATORY. While it is EXCEPTIONAL with its eye laser, thats not why you take it. You take it for enhanced sensors, giving friendly units using stealth boy an additional -2 to be shot at, for a total of -6 perception test to even be shot at while running objectives.
N.I.R.A
Its a meme. Dont run it. Jokes aside, its pretty cheap, and does buff search tests, so theres that. AGI of 1 means that it will almost never hit, and it cant do any objectives other than search. But, it can have a use in settlement mode. The Take a Flyer rule will net you an additional 5 caps every game, which is a free perk, I guess, if you want to sacrifice an eyebot or battered protectron for her cost. Just remember its once per game, and each of your opponents can also interact with her to gain 5 caps.
Units
Assaultron
Holy crap this guy is scary. Its basically a melee version of HK-47, if you're old enough to remember him. Red move, green charge, and free ready ups mean this guy is AGGRESSIVE. Its also one of your only bots that can climb, SO NO ONE IS SAFE FROM YOUR WRATH. Good armor with HIGH HP means it can also take a beating. It also fires a face laser, which is always a plus. AND it explodes when it dies, so dont be afraid to send it into the middle of enemy lines. The only downside is the price at almost 250 caps each. Meaning that this will really only see play in 750+ games, and maybe not even then. True, you could CLUNKY it, but do you really want to make this thing unreliable while still being around 200 caps?
Automatron
You like making your own robots? Do you like converting models? Did you play Orks before leaving 40k? Then this unit is for you. You can customize a bot for any job by combining 3 robot parts. Want a cheap, expendable wall? Look no further than the Junkbot build. 1 Protectron head, 1 Junkbot torso, and 1 protectron legs equals 11 caps worth of cannon fodder that cant do objectives. This thing is so cheap, it costs only 1 cap more than the hand laser on your protectron! Funnily enough, its also got 7 HP with 2 physical, so HE CHONK. But you get what you pay for, so don't expect it to do anything. Ever. On the other end of the spectrum, you could fully kit out an automoton with a Strength 9 melee profile, red move, and immunity to terrain. Happy Toaster Oven Noises
Battered Assaultron
The diet version of the Assaultron. Less than half the caps as to original, it loses out on ready up, a point of armor, and some specials, but still well worth the cost. Does not automatically throw a nuclear temper tantrum when it dies though, instead having a random chance to do so. Still gets a free face laser shot during your turn, albeit less accurately.
Battered Protectron
Decently cheap for less than 50 caps, don't expect this guy to so much. It also cant do any objectives without leader perks or mods, so don't take it for that. INSTEAD, take it because it has a decent chance of exploding during a game, and because of its strength 8. Sure, it hits in melee with an AGI skill of 1, but any time your called to do strength tests due to unique scenarios/quests, this bucket of rusty bolts shines.
Battered Sentry Bot
First off, even though he's the old man Jenkins version of the Sentry Bot, don't underestimate this guy. 10HP with strong armor means hell probably stick around a while. Not terribly accurate, but seeing as a missile launcher scatters when it misses, you still have a chance of hitting something even when you miss. A fun tactic you can do is to send your cheap junkbots into melee with an enemy unit, and then have this guy fire into it with a +2 accuracy. Even if you kill your 11 point junkbot, one, you most likely wont care, and two, its tanky enough to survive it in the first place.
Eyebot
For less than 50 caps, you get a flying Bot that shoots at a perception skill of 8, and searches with the same stat. Only does 1 damage with its face laser, but two extra black die means that this little guy can still put on the hurt at close range. Overall a decent inclusion to any Bot list.
Mr Frothy Dispenser
For under 70 caps, you gain a modified Mr Handy made for Nuka world. More of a "jack of all trades" kind of bot, not excelling at any one thing, but is decent at doing a variety of things, including hacking and searching. Can also put a decent amount of hurt with an AoE burst gun. As a modified Mr Handy, it also has a "handy" red movement speed.
Mr Frothy Server
Same as above, but with a spiffy robot swipe melee weapon.
to be continued

Sitting on three Exaction Squad boxes and a box of breachers.
Struggling with knowing what to build. I'm thinking one of each for the Exaction Squads but I don't know what special weapons to kit out with or what the other options in the box are.
Breachers it's just trying to decide what weapons to use.
Dipping my toe back into 40k after a long time away and I'm really not sure what half the stuff is and the instructions don't make it clear what's what.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Buckle in, guys - this is going to be a long one. Also, I come out of the closet...as a Swiftie. HMU if you want me to bring friendship bracelets to Brooklyn.
Any resemblance to real people is...not coincidental, actually.

Race Information

• Name: Boston Marathon
• Date: April 15, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Boston, MA
• Website: https://www.baa.org/
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11188906240/overview
• Time: 3:04:31

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Don't totally kill my legs	Sorta
B	Get the finish	Yes
C	2:55	No
D	3:00	No

Splits

Kilometer	Time	Pace (min/mi)
5	20:25	6:35
10	20:50 (41:15)	6:43
15	20:39 (1:01:54)	6:40
20	20:44 (1:22:38)	6:41
Half	4:31 (1:27:09)	6:38
25	16:20/20:51 (1:43:29)	6:45
30	21:43 (2:05:16)	7:01
Heartbreak Start (20M/32K)	10:03 (2:15:19)	7:24
Heartbreak End (21M/33.6K)	6:56 (2:22:15)	6:57 (lmao)
35	5:30/22:29 (2:27:45)	7:22
40	27:03 (2:54:48)	8:42*
Finish	9:43	7:08*

(Boston does intermediate splits late-race starting 35k (35K, 23M, 24M, 40K, 1 mile out), so so the last two splits are aggregates.)

Race Information

• Name: London Marathon
• Date: April 21, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: London, UK
• Website: http://www.tcslondonmarathon.com
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11231697234/overview
• Time: 3:09:57

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	3:09:30	No
B	3:09:59	Yes

Splits

Kilometer	Time	Pace (min/mi)
5	22:25	7:12
10	22:36 (45:01)	7:16
15	22:31 (1:07:32)	7:15
20	22:23 (1:29:55)	7:13
Half	4:58 (1:34:53)	7:16
25	17:45/22:43 (1:52:38)	7:19
30	22:27 (2:14:59)	7:13
35	22:42 (2:37:41)	7:19
40	22:34 (3:00:15)	7:16
Finish	9:42	7:08

(London's app shows aggregate splits, so if you look at my official times it'll look like I was perfectly even throughout.)

Opening

Some people overthink their training programs. I overthink my race recaps.
Okay, OP. Why did you do this to yourself?
tl;dr: I'm basic.
Like a lot of people, one of my goals is to be a six-star seven-star finisher (thanks Sydney). Boston and New York were relatively easy to check off, and they've both kind of become my "regulars." I did Chicago last fall after a long delay - originally I was planning on doing it in 2020, but you know what happened. You might have heard about it!
For London, I applied to the lottery - or as they say across the pond, the ballot - last year and got rejected like everyone else does. I had a backup plan, though - I was going to apply to be a pacer. Two of my friends (David and Jazmin) had paced London last year and had a good experience, and they asked me to throw my hat in the ring this year.
...Okay, but OP, HOW did you do this to yourself? I want the deets.
Step 1: qualify for Boston again. (You can do it at Boston, but I don't recommend it because that is absolutely stressful. On the other hand, the one thing worse than trying to BQ at Boston without one in hand is trying to BQ in New York when it's 75 degrees.)
Step 2: apply to be a pacer and pray. London has open pacer applications, although I think they preference returning pacers. Also pacers that have actually paced marathons before. Neither of which applied to me at the time (I had signed up to pace Philly, but applications opened around NYC for this year). However, one thing I don't value is my bodily integrity so I just put down the fastest times I felt comfortable doing.
David, Jazmin, and I got the acceptance emails about a week later. David would be pacing 3:25, Jazmin would be pacing 3:40, and I...would be pacing 3:10, or the fastest group I put down. I remember being at work and listening to "Cornelia Street" by Taylor Swift when I read my email. The only way it could have been more on-the-nose is if it had been "London Boy."
(Also, justice for "Lover.")
Since I'd never internationally traveled before, I applied for a passport in November (just before Thanksgiving). Keep that in mind.

Training/Preparation

*starts laughing with a seamless transition into sobbing*
...ooh boy.
General training (or what SHOULD have happened)
My friend David coaches a group of us, adapting the training program that our club coach used. We're fairly heavy on the MP work, and surprisingly not so much on threshold. A typical week looks like this:

• Monday - easy 60m. Normally, this is about 7 miles.
• Tuesday - track workout; ~2 miles up, ~3 miles total on (at 5KP or faster), ~1-2 miles down
• Wednesday - easy 60m
• Thursday - tempo/MP work (because I know I'm gonna get yelled at). 1-2 miles up, up to 90 total minutes at ~MP down to ~HMP (for me, ~6:30 to ~6:00, roughly), couple of miles down.
• Friday - easy 60m
• Saturday/Sunday - easy one day, LR the other day. LR's normally easy (~8:00 pace or so), but sometimes includes MP chunks. We go up to 23 miles (or 3 hours).
• (Bonus) Doubles whenever I can fit them in during marathon blocks...and strangely enough, I'll usually double on Wednesdays regardless because our local Fleet Feet has a 3-mile group run Wednesday evenings. And yes, I know this is insane but apparently I'd rather be crazy than be alone.

Normally, most of my runs are with friends - so I'll run their easy paces (a bit slower than what I'd run on my own), and then we do our workouts at our own paces.
What ACTUALLY happened
Post-Chicago, I was pretty much unstructured, but ran a couple of more races:

• I paced a HM two weeks post-Chicago (0/10 do not recommend pacing a 1:30 HM on a course with 800 feet of elevation two weeks after your goal marathon, those first few miles hurt).
• I ran with a friend at NYC to help him get a BQ (which he ran 5 minutes under - he's 47, so we did just under 3:15).
• Philly went surprisingly well, considering I had done like two marathons in the previous month and a half.
  • On the plus side, we ended up splitting 1:34:30/1:35:20ish. So a bit hot at the start, but not overly so.
  • On the downside, I ended up taking two bathroom stops. Shout out to my co-pacer Mu for...you know...not having his bladder decide to be embarrassing. Shout out to Liz (the Philly coordinator) for having the good sense to give me adult supervision.

Meanwhile, a bunch of other things happened:

• My primary training partner from last fall tore his meniscus and still can't run.
• Jazmin decided to get a private coach, but still asked me to do some of her workouts with her.
• Another one of my friends made his comeback after being hurt last year - and he's following Daniels and his own schedule, and also asked me to run with him on occasion.
• Meanwhile, the rest of the group stuck to the same schedule I posted before.
• Also, I should mention I'm a terminal people pleaser and hate making decisions.

So by the time it was time to hop back into training, I was floating around pretty aimlessly and - because I didn't really have any performance goals this cycle - I tried to run with everyone as much as I could. I...do not recommend this. By February, I was looking at my messages and considering going into witness protection while figuring out which long run out of three I wanted to show up to.
Suffice to say, my training was disorganized as hell. I think I got a couple of 70-mile weeks in back in February, but kind of fell off in March when I was still dealing with some niggles of my own and also work things. Somehow, I managed to do a couple of races:

• I ran 1:19:5x at NYC Half (like half of this sub apparently).
• Also, I ran a sub-36 10k. A week before Boston. In retrospect, this might have been a mistake.

Meanwhile, my original passport seemingly never arrived. I ended up finally calling the passport center about a week before my London flight (I would have called earlier, but work was crazy and if I'm nothing else, I'm wildly irresponsible), and somehow managed to get an appointment before I left. In Boston (I live about 4 hours away). The day after I was supposed to come home from Boston.

Boston

Pre-Race
This was the less stressful event - on Saturday, I went up with my friend Joe who was spectating. Did the standard Boston race weekend stuff (shout out to Puma for their Sunday shakeout, the amazing panel, and for actually feeding us), met up with our other friends running Boston Sunday, and had dinner with our friends Jazmin and Janna (who were running) and Janna's husband Mark (who was not).
Also, I got my bib signed by Jenny Simpson on Saturday.
Monday, I just did my usual race prep - which is absolutely no prep whatsoever. (To wit, breakfast was "coffee and a banana loaf from Dunkin'.") I met up with Jazmin - who was planning to leave that night - and caught a shuttle to the Common with her. Funny enough, on the bus to Hopkinton we met up with our friend Cole who was getting his sixth star at Boston.
Race Day
I figured I'd go for an "easy 2:55" because Chicago gave me way too much confidence. I started from corral 3 and caught up with Cole (in corral 2) within the first mile. We mostly ran together for about 6 or 7 miles and then I lost track of him. I just assumed he'd dropped me because he's much faster than me. (The guy's currently a 2:30s marathoner. I say that because his lifetime PR is in the 2:20s.)
Gradually, it got warmer and warmer, but I was still feeling relatively good through the first half. I kissed one of the Wellesley students in the Scream Tunnel (to be fair, I was going to mind my own business, but she was standing on top of the fence holding a sign saying "Kiss me if you can reach," and I'm 6'5" and do not back down from challenges), but I mostly maintained pace into Newton.
And then I realized a few things:

1. While the temperature may have been approved by Rob Gronkowski, it was definitely not approved by me.
2. I ran a 2:47 last fall, so I had exactly zero reason to continue to try for a 2:55.
3. I also had to do this again in six days. And that was the deciding factor to just throw in the towel.

So, the last ten miles or so I mostly run-walked, which concerned my friends back home. (I contemplated posting to our WhatsApp group mid-race but that would have been weird.) It felt funny - it's only the second time I've "given up" on a marathon, and while I felt about as good as you can feel after doing 16 miles straight at MP, it was weird to just be so casual about things when I felt like I could still continue to race if I really wanted to.
Anyway, so, long story short:

• Around mile 18, I actually ended up running with a guy that I'd recognized from NYC 2022 - that day, he went down on the side of the course. At Boston, we ran together for about half a mile going back and forth...and then I just let him leave me.
• Somehow, still managed to set a Heartbreak PR. I think.
• I totally missed Joe, Mark, and the three blondes Joe and Mark recruited to cheer for me around mile 25. (I regret to inform all of them that three hot women are not quite as good at getting my attention as three hot men are. 💅🏿)

My finishing time was 3:04:31. Which was my slowest Boston to date, including 2021 where I keeled over on Boylston and ended up in the med tent. I still finished in like 3:00 high or something that day. (This is not a flex, and should not be considered a flex. That day sucked.)
Post-Race
I managed to get myself back to our hotel (also, ended up taking a selfie with an older gentleman on the Silver Line), and waited for Jazmin. And waited. Opening the tracker was pretty worrisome, as she'd slowed down a ton.
Finally, she finished, but she had a rough time. Thankfully, her coach found her at the finish and drove her over to our hotel. And one of her friends picked her up and drove her home. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty worried about her for London six days later.
(I'm intentionally being vague here, but...yeah, it was rough.)
I also found out that Cole finished about 15 minutes behind me (he said he'd been sick the week before, which I didn't know until after the race). Janna did pretty much the same thing that I did, in jogging in the back half. She still ended up on the Fast Women Instagram page (as she should).
Anyway, Janna, Mark, Joe, and I had a rather interesting dinner, and then it was back home on Tuesday. For most of us, anyway.

London

But first, Boston (again)
I did the math and - yeah - it was actually less expensive for me to go back home than to just stay an extra night. Welcome to marathon weekend. Paid through the nose for an expedited passport ($225), but...hey, I managed to get it. Shout out to FlixBus for the hook-up. Honestly, I recommend the 6:30 AM buses.
London (for real this time)
To Taylor Alison Swift: Why would you drop a double album on London Marathon weekend. Not only that, while I was taking a red-eye trans-Atlantic flight. Joe Alwyn wasn't even running it (and I'm not even sure Matty Healy could run 26.2 feet), so you don't even have that excuse. Janna suggested I buy the in-flight WiFi. I opted not to, and in retrospect that was the correct decision. (FWIW, TTPD is okay, but not worth $8 to United. That said, "So Long, London" into "But Daddy, I Love Him" is a hell of a choice.)
Anyway, for London, I flew in with Jazmin and my dad (who was also flying trans-Atlantic for the first time), and meeting David and another one of our friends (who is also named Joe) in London. If you are keeping count, we're up to three Joes in this recap already. Due to an opportune seat swap (shout out to the lady who wanted to sit with her husband, I don't care if you were telling the truth or if you just felt sorry for me), I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep on the flight.
We landed mid-day Friday at Heathrow, got into London, and my dad and I checked in to our hotel. (Right next to Waterloo Station, actually, which was nice!) Or we would have checked in, if everyone wasn't evacuating the hotel because of a fire alarm.
We did manage to get checked in after everything was sorted out, and then it was off to the expo (or the show, as London puts it). When we signed up, we had to volunteer for a 2-hour shift at the expo - and in our infinite wisdom, we chose the 3:30-5:30 shift. I spent most of that shift trying to explain why we ran out of 3:20, 3:25, 3:50, and 3:55 pace bands (god speed to the pacers for those groups).
Also, I picked up my gear for pacing - including the uniform (excuse me, kit), pacer flag, and the shoes. In my case, because I have clown feet (14 US/13.5 UK), they ended up being 1080s. And since London strongly encourages us to wear NB, I did not bring my usual shoes (Endorphin Elites).
"OP, it seems like you make a lot of poor planning decisions," you might be saying if you're still reading this. And...yes, yes, I agree. (Technically, I could wear whatever shoe, I'd just need to cover the logos. But I figured I'd be running 22 minutes slower than my PR so I'd be fine regardless.) I will say the 1080s are comfortable, though. Very loud - it's the London colorway, so imagine my size shoe in highlighter yellow, orange, and hot pink - but comfy.
Got back to the hotel, had dinner, argued with my dad about English electrical ports (despite what they look like, they are not USB ports), and tucked in for the night.
Saturday was mostly sightseeing - David, Jazmin, and I did a shakeout run around Westminster and caught the start of the Mini Marathon, and then my dad and I walked around a bit. Also did a night bus tour - shout out to Emma and Julie from Golden Tours - and had the standard pasta dinner. I went to bed around 9...only to get woken up at 10 by yet another fire alarm. After stumbling outside in 5-degree weather and back to our hotel, I somehow managed to get back to sleep.
Race Morning
Whoever labeled Waterloo East on literally every map by the platform instead of the entrance: your mum.
After having a surprisingly leisurely breakfast and a surprisingly hard time finding the entrance for the train station, I managed to hop the train out to the start of the race. Met up with David and Jazmin (apparently they were in the last car and I was in the middle of the train), and then we went out to the pacer meetup in the basement of the Clarendon Inn.
Imagine a small basement room with 140 people speaking multiple languages crammed in together, and that kind of approaches the chaos we were dealing with. You also have to add in a very assertive British guy with a whistle (shout out to Akram, the London coordinator). From past experience, David and Jazmin decided to leave for the corrals (or waves - I feel like London has its own language) around 9, and I went with them to our starts (blue for me and Jazmin, green for David).
I put on my flag (which I've never run with before - every other race has been with a hand-held sign) and immediately became one of the most popular people at the London Marathon. Most of my time was spent going, "uh I guess I'm running even 🤷🏿‍♂️," which I am sure boosted everyone's confidence in me.
The Race
London is similar to NYC where there are three separate starts that merge into one course. London's merges are a bit earlier than NYC's - Blue and Green merge in the first mile or so, and then Yellow/Red merge in around mile 3. (Not sure why they use two colors for that start!) The major difference is that there isn't one unified starting gun - in fact, the starts are pretty spread out, and it feels more like a rolling start. From big-race experience, I knew my GPS would be off, so I'd have to rely on my elapsed time and my pace band. I tried to yell out splits every mile and every 5k (so yes, I was the annoying American with the especially annoying New Jersey accent yelling out random numbers).
The first mile was relatively easy and uncongested - in fact, I was a bit concerned because I was a little fast (7:11 by my reckoning). And then we came up behind the Green 3:15 pace group. Famously, Comrades Marathon (at least - I'm not sure if this is a South Africa thing, or specific to that race) refers to their pace groups as "buses." I can see the comparison, as trying to maneuver safely around the pace group while knowing I had my own group felt like trying to parallel park a double-decker bus.
Somehow, we managed to pass them relatively safely...and then we came up behind the Yellow 3:15 group. I was pretty stressed, I'll admit. (The next largest race I've been a pacer for is Philadelphia, which is at most 1/4 the field size.) Somehow, I managed to keep people with me, although I admittedly didn't look too much.
That said, it says something when Cutty Sark feels like one of the more open places on the course.
We crossed Tower Bridge and got to halfway in 1:34:55 by my watch. Okay...but a little bit slow. My preference is to be 15 seconds under at halfway, and 30 seconds under at the finish. But hey, I was well within the window, right? The halfway window was 90 seconds under to 30 seconds over, which I was within.
Heading out to Canary Wharf, we actually got a good look at the pro men coming back - Munyao, Tola, and AdvancedRunning favorites Bekele and Cairess. I don't think I've ever been that close to the pros at a major before, so that was pretty cool. If Bekele is reading this, hi, I was the weird tall guy from London. (The one with the flag.) Please continue wrecking my age grading.
Meanwhile the chaos on the course shifted from fighting through slower groups in other starts to wading through the carnage of people blowing up. I don't know if it was especially bad, but - again - it kind of hits different when you know people are following you and also you're on English roads in a world major.
As I was going, I was keeping track of the splits. I knew it was going to be close...but when I saw 3:01:16 at 25 and checked my band (which said 3:01:10 for a 3:10 bang-on), I knew things were close. For reference, pacers' flags at London actually say "Sub [pace]" because they're expected to come in up to a minute under their time. My target was 3:09:00 to 3:09:59. We could make it, but it'd take a bit of a push.
Coming around Buckingham Palace, I was checking my watch and checking the time. I thought I'd make it. And then I crossed the line and stopped my watch.
3:10:00.
Fuck.
Post-Race
But hey, some people managed to hang with me. (Shout out to Nathan on the PR!) I gave (and got) congrats, took a couple of photos, picked up my stuff, and handed in my gear. Like hundreds of other people (my god like hundreds of us), I stopped by Waterstone's, went up to the cafe, and got a tea and scone. (Very good post-race fueling, I must admit.) Got back to the hotel, showered, and went out for pints and dinner post-race with the gang and my dad.
Also, I checked my official time. 3:09:57. I made it, but just barely. It was a bit slower than I'd like, but hey - not too shabby for doing this in 1080s.

Epilogue

So Long, London
Jazmin made it through a bit off target (like 19 seconds, I think), although it was a bit of a struggle, she said.
David...had a rougher go of it. He himself was injured going into the race, so he had to take his flag down around mile 22. He still managed to finish, though.
As for me: Got home that Tuesday. Told myself that I wouldn't do this again next year as we were going through Newark passport control (aka: Satan's butthole). Changed my mind after I got back on Eastern time, went back to work, and realized what I'd missed. Ran a trail 10k (Leatherman's Loop) the week after because (again) I do not value my bodily integrity. (Also, it was an impromptu midlife crisis.)
It took me a while to gather my thoughts - and even longer to edit this down somewhat. And yes, this is actually edited a bit from where it was.
Finally, one thing I've kept coming back to is the Boston Globe article about 26.TRUE that came out around the same time as the Boston Marathon. I highly suggest you read it - I couldn't decide whether to lead or to end with this, but at any rate it's worth it.
Made with a new race report generator created by u/herumph.

Hi there, just asking if anyone has some recommendations for civilian bits in 28mm please, preferably a sprue where possible. I frequently raid bits sites for cool pieces (often having no idea at the time what they'll eventually be repurposed for) but would really appreciate being directed to somewhere with a treasure trove of non-weapon bits, like bottles, cups, tools, books, walking sticks, whatever. Most of what I have so far is flavoursome extras from Warhammer Empire and 40K Ork kits.

Quick Intro/DisclaimePlease Read:

Howdy!
I've been playing since launch week, I have over 300 hours of playtime and have reached level 77.
I play with a lot of friends, a lot of randoms, on a lot of difficulties, and their play time and skill levels vary a lot. I read a lot of feedback and opinions on here and discord, opposing views, memes, rants, thought-out thoughts, and have managed to form opinions about things based on experiences that are often but not always the same as mine.
Pretty much everything in here comes with an example of another thing present in the game that gives me reason to question or mention or suggest it. I will also do what I can to provide ideas for a solution where applicable.
This is intensely long for a reddit post, easily a 20 minute read. Been writing it all day. I've tried to format it so that bold things are noteworthy issues and italics are potential solutions or ways I see making sense of things. At least I tried to. I also tried to be brief.
If you'd like to reply to a specific segment, it might be wise to quote that specific segment in your reply, at least in part, so we don't get lost. I would love to talk about this stuff, but this is largely for my own use as a public repository for my feedback on this game in an official-adjacent location. I'm not expecting much interaction from this much text.
Please keep in mind that these are subjective observations and opinions, often generalizations and are in no way meant to convey absolute fact, objective experience, or are designed to be delivered as complaints. Obligatory "I am not a dev, but I am a player."
\Hellpod Music Begins\**

Enemy Unit Balance

• Bile Titans - These enemies alone cause their own meta. They are designed in such a way that they require a specific toolset that is not found elsewhere in the enemy codex. They are not difficult to kill, you simply just can't with most things. This is not the case with any other heavy unit from either faction. I am willing to bet the build variety in Automatons varies substantially more than for Terminids because of this. I believe that giving Bile Titans weaknesses in their legs that are more susceptible to Medium Penetration to hobble, and eventually kill them, could cause more of a meta shakeup than any weapon balance ever could.
• Bile Spewers - The instant kill nature of these enemy's attacks is immersion breaking, frustrating, and does not provide a unique challenge. Constant posts about how it makes no sense to be killed so fast by some of this goo slightly grazing your cape, or missing you entirely, are absolutely right. I think Bile Spewers spray (not mortar) should act as a burning-type Damage over Time effect with substantial, but not one-shot, direct damage and a considerable slow. However, instead of the behavior of fire, where you dive to put it out, this DoT effect would require the opposite. Diving to the ground covered in more of it, causes you to take even more damage from the substance. This would make these enemies an actual unique challenge instead of what seems like an artificial medium for a requisite number of deaths per match.
• Flamethrower Hulk (ft. Burning Damage) - A lot of what I said above about the Bile Spewer can be applied here. Being instantly killed by the slightest graze of the flame from this enemy does not feel like something that makes any sense, and deaths of that nature are antithetical to the otherwise brilliant nature of how death is an absolute factor in this game. The heavy buffs to fire damage from all sources without any way to negate this increase only served to buff these enemies beyond unreasonable in most cases. In general, I think that all Helldivers should have a baseline 50% fire resistance provided by the fact that we are covered in armor made out of spaceships, to counter the 50% damage increase from all sources. Yes, fire hurts. It should not hurt this bad when we are wearing a suit. It does not hurt enemies that bad. Specific to the Flamethrower Hulk, I think that the addition of a new and obvious weakspot in the form of a Gas Tank on the weapon arm would help make these uniquely dangerous enemies easier to deal with. The direct damage from their flamethrower should probably be adjusted to be more in-line with our own unbuffed Flamethower's damage output. Combined with a passive resistance, this would bring these down to "manageable" instead of "completely broken by a nearly unanimous consensus". I don't recall seeing Flame Hulks one shotting all the other bots they hit, never once.
• Heavy Devastator Aim - The inverse kinematics, or IK for this enemy is completely broken, or perhaps simply absent. Aim IK essentially means "the thing actually points where it's pointing" and for the Heavy Devastator in particular, their weapon essentially has none. The weapon is able to fire in a 180-degree field in front of the Devastator without the actual barrel of the gun being turned or moved at all. These enemies with their large ballistic shields are already a challenging foe, this issue with their aim IK acts at a very similar level to the Spewer and Flamethrower Hulk's immersion breaking due-to-being-broken side of the deaths we face. We should feel like both we and our enemy earned our death, not that it was given away because of a broken mechanic. They, at least, do not one-shot Helldivers if a single bullet slightly grazes the outskirts of their hitbox. Just fixing or adding the aim IK for Heavy Devastators would make fighting them makes sense.
• Rocket Devastator has Infinite Ammo - I think these enemies are at a fine place as far as balance goes, aside from the simple fact that their rocket pods seem to skirt the otherwise prevalent rules regarding ammunition in this game. Most Automaton units fire laser bullets, and as we have some of our own with unlimited capacity, that's no issue. There are some enemies where a subtle suspension of disbelief helps, Rocket Troopers for instance, but no offender is as grievous as the Rocket Devastator. We even have our own rocket mech, with an almost identical rocket pod, with a very limited ammo capacity - and for good reason. Why does this enemy get to skirt those otherwise sensible requirements? Give Rocket Devastators a limited ammo supply based on the visible number of rockets in their pods. If we must conserve our ammo, shouldn't they as well, under at least visibly reasonable circumstances?
• Our ability to interrupt Breaches and Dropships is inconsistent at best - While this is definitely possible, this mechanic seems to have an incredibly tiny window to the point where it's almost not even worth trying all that hard to achieve it. I haven't checked the actual timing, but there is little to no telegraphing for the Bot Soldiers when they (and I think all the small bots can do it) call in a dropship, but it feels like it is close to if not under a single second. When the bugs release their pheromone signal, it also feels like the window to interrupt them is approaching ancillary. Often enough, you'll stop the bug half a second into its spray and think you've stopped the breach, but one comes through a few seconds later anyway. How this plays out in front of us, is a lack of, or unreliable and confusing visual cues. I think bot soldiers should have a blinking red visual windup unique to a flare about to be fired, and once that flare is fired, we should be able to shoot it out of the air. Shooting it out of the air will not completely stop the drop, but it will make the drop location be somewhere just...nearby. Less precise. For the bugs I think there should be a very noticeable sound, color change, cloud or puff, something to signify when exactly that call for backup was successfully made. It is very obviously 'when the flare is fired' for the bots. A similar function where interrupting a successful but not fully realized call for a breach could result in the breach just being located farther away could work well here also.

Primary Weapon Balance

I will keep this short and sweet. This is a complex job and a topic worthy of its own megathread. This is just my opinion on how I feel Primary Weapons fit a role in this game, and how balancing them should be approached based on those feelings.

• I believe that Primary Weapons' primary role in the game should be to deal with Medium Armored Enemies. These are enemies that appear at a medium frequency and are medium hard to kill. I do not think that the Primary Weapon's main focus should be light enemy chaff, nor should it be heavy enemies. This does not necessarily mean they should be useless against those things, nor does it mean there shouldn't be Primary weapons that do those things.
• I believe Primary Weapons should focus on 3 separate but similar design areas. If they are very good at one, they should be only okay at the other two, if at all. If they are good at two, they should be pretty bad at the third. If they are good at all 3, they should be only kind of pretty good at all 3.
• Those 3 things are, in no specific order: Medium Armor Penetration, Stagger, and "Big" Damage with a Gimmick. "Big Damage with a Gimmick" means a lot of things. "Big" means area, actual numbers, or consistency. AoE that can kill you if used up close. Infinite ammo but a compromised fire rate. A delayed charge up fire mechanic with increased damage. Of the three rules, this one is easily the most fluid and has lots of examples and avenues to create interesting weapons. A weapon could very easily do all 3 of these things, but it should not do any of them very well. If it only does 2 of these things, it should do those two things better than the one that does 3. If it only does 1 of these things, it should do that thing very well. Every Primary Weapon should excel at at least one of those three categories, or excel with a combination of them. If it does not, it is not a good Primary Weapon. I think if Primaries were rebalanced in this way, it would be a huge benefit to everyone and build variety.
• I feel like Medium Armor Penetration should just be baseline for most Primary Weapons, with few exceptions, as Light Armor Penetration as a baseline doesn't mean much for most enemies.

Public Testing Environment

• I think we would benefit greatly, as players and Arrowhead themselves, by having some sort of testing environment for new Weapons, Grenades, Boosters, and Armor from Warbonds. This could also be used to test unrelease Stratagems.
• The way that this manifests is not incredibly important, as long as we are able to test these things. My idea however is a specific planet where having your ship docked there gives you access to upcoming Warbond equipment in your Armory screen.
• The only reward for completing missions here is being able help make HD2 better. There is no place for 'live client' rewards in a testing environment in my opinion, and apparently that of the vast majority of developers. I think that Helldivers 2 is in a unique position to somehow include this testing environment into the live service game, but I stand firmly in my belief that there should be no rewards that impact our gameplay or progress outside of that environment.

UI Features

• I feel like we would greatly benefit from a distance meter on player tags in our FOV and compass icon dots. We certainly have the technology for me to be able to tell if R3 is directly behind that charger or completely all the way on the other side of the map, without opening my minimap that disables my character.
• I think we would also benefit from a similar distance meter on tagged objectives on the compass display.
• I would love to see a minimap icon for Supply Drop packs once they have been exploded from their Supply Pod.
• The visibility of dropped items (Support gear and Samples) on the ground has an incredibly short distance. It can make it very frustrating to try and find these items in the middle of a battlefield. I love the little blinking light on Samples, it would be great to see that light exaggerated and applied to everything we dropped, and the icons in our FOV to show up at a further proximity to the items.
• It would also be incredibly helpful of those dropped items got compass icons when we approached them, or at least were pingable objects with the ping system to produce the same effect we get on our compass when we ping objectives on our map.

Utilization of Currency

• I find it very unfortunate how easily (subjective of course) it is to cap various currencies in this game, and the way that translates to the player is in essence punishment for heavy play. It is very easy to hit a point where Requisition Slips become completely ancillary and thoughtless. Until recently it was very easy to become capped on Samples and will inevitably reach that point again. I'm only 20 samples shy of being 23/24 modules. After a certain point it also becomes easy to get capped on Medals as well. I was, until this most recent Warbond. This is with an average between 3 and 4 hours of gameplay a day over the last 3 months.
• I would love to see Medals converted into Super Credits once you have reached cap. I believe these two currencies are sort of intertwined in a quantum state of sort to begin with. They are both centered around premium content, are both found in game and do not require extraction to acquire, you use SC to unlock things to spend Medals on, but you can spend Medals on SC in those things you used SC to unlock. Reward heavy play by making it so people who are capped get a bonus on that SC farm for their next Warbond. I don't think people with heavy play are typically the customers who are purchasing SC in bulk with real money, but I could be wrong.
• Requisition Slips fall off into a thoughtless yellow number very quickly. I would like to see a way to convert them to Samples. Even with the new 25k cost on the new Modules, it's very easy to be right back up to cap well before you approach being able to afford another one's sample requirements. Considering how much of a grind Samples can be when you're starting off, and how the requisite samples for half of our upgrades are gated behind the highest difficulties, I think we would benefit from Requisition Slips being able to be substituted for certain predetermined amounts of Samples when purchasing Ship Modules. For example, 20k RS for 30 Commons. 30k RS for 10 Rares. 40k RS for 5 Supers. A few buttons right there on the purchase screen.
• I really like it when we have a "Free" Stratagem available through the Galactic War in some capacity and wish we could buy those for our own missions. Let group leaders use our constant abundance of RS to purchase a Stratagem for our entire team to use for an entire Operation, a set of 3 missions. These could be prohibitively expensive to reduce their use from a constant requirement to something cool you can do now and then to get rid of some stacked up currency.
• I do not think it is healthy for the long-term gameplay loop to gate Super Samples, and thusly 50% of our Ship upgrades, behind the highest difficulties in the game. Not everyone is comfortable playing on difficulty 7 and above, and in my opinion, this does not disqualify them from being able to progress their ship and character. I think that giving Difficulty 6 a single Super Sample per mission is a perfectly reasonable compromise to allow those people who cannot have fun on the higher difficulties to still progress their Ship, albeit at a much slower rate.
• I don't think there should be a Tier 5 of Ship Modules that cost 500/300/40. The cost of the current 4th tier of modules feels like a good ceiling to me. Instead of adding increasingly more expensive modules, I think additional lower-tier modules at a lower cost would be more beneficial to the average player.
• Alternatively (or also) adding a way to incrementally increase certain modules that are percent based could provide a lasting and consistent upgrade path. For instance, the 15% Orbital Barrage Spread Reduction Module could be boosted by a single percent for 100/40/5 Samples up to a cap, say 25% for the sake of example.
• I would love to see a Helldiver Module section that buffs things from Armory screen to spend samples on. Things like small incremental primary damage/recoil bonuses, speed/stamina/armor boosts, grenade spread/fuse reduction, minor versions of boosters that act as passives, like ammo or vitality, minor versions of armor passives like throw distance, damage reduction, detection radius, etc.)
• We have 150 levels. 120 or so are effectively ancillary. Put these increases from the previous two suggestions behind those levels, all the way up to the level 150 cap. I see no problem with giving high level characters slightly enhanced stats.

Cosmetics and Build Customization

• I don't think this game deserves a situation where we have to choose between style or substance. I think Helldivers 2 deserves at the very least a simple passive swap ability between armors and alternate color schemes, if not a robust loadout and passive and cosmetic customization system.
• I initially supported the "Apple that tastes like Bacon" argument, but it quickly unraveled, and as it stands there isn't really a reason that our suspension of disbelief cannot be utilized based on padding or pockets. There are plentiful examples of how this logic is poorly represented if not wholly ignored throughout the game. My personal favorites beyond the bountiful examples in the armor sets themselves, are how the literal subject of the Eruptor's flavor text was removed from the weapon for being "not important", and how we were given Headshot protection in the form of more body armor, regardless of the Helmet we have on our heads. If these things are acceptable, I cannot see why we can't switch armor passives around. If I can pull half a dozen two-foot-long rockets out of a lunchbox sized Supply Pack, then I can hold Grenades in my Armor with no extra satchels. Any of them. See the Drone Master for more details. If Winter Warrior without a robot arm can have Servo Assisted, then they all can. If 50% of the Scout armors are neon orange, we can hide in whatever we want.
• Currently there are only 3 Armor Passives that are not available on all 3 Armor weights. Scout does not appear on heavy armor. The 50% chance to not die from death is only on Medium, three times. Arc resistance skipped Heavy Armor, which honestly seems more like an oversight since one of the Arc Resistance armors is the exact same as the other, with slightly more armor. There are no logical reasons that any of these passives cannot be put on the armor weights they are not found on currently either.
• Love it or hate it, the MedKit Armor is the only passive locked behind a specific color scheme, and that color scheme is divisive at best. I believe this to be one of the strongest arguments for the necessity of some way to alter the appearance of armor's colors, if we can't switch passives, or better yet, alongside it.
• At the very least I think every set of body armor should be given a "default" black and yellow classic Helldiver alternate color scheme. MedKit Armors could be unique in that they are given a white and yellow color scheme as an alternate, to match the original game.
• A way to change accent color on armor, helmets included, would also be very excellent to see. Accent colors would be the areas on armor that are Yellow, Orange, Red, Beige, etc.
• Arrowhead, you have shown very clearly that you not only don't have a problem with recoloring armor, you've done it multiple times in these few short months yourself. Let us do it too.
• When the UI we use to change our Helmets and Capes gives us Stats and a Passive window, it's unrealistic to think we won't expect that to be a feature. I am aware that there is some semblance of an internal discussion about bringing helmets at least into the realm of meaningful choices instead of pure cosmetics. I am all for it, in every possible way. However, if Helmets and Capes are to remain purely cosmetic, treat them that way. Remove the things that make them look like they do things. If those stats are actually meaningful, move those flat amounts to all body armors. Remove or change misleading flavor text that talks about things that the helmets inarguably do not do. Take away the passive window that says "Standard Issue" - this literally implies the existence of other passives.

Honorable Mentions / Broken Things / Misc

• We should be able to Stim other Helldivers at any % of missing health, like we can ourselves. 50% health in this game can be a death sentence, and it is incredibly frustrating in some moments to not be able to heal your buddy because he's at 51%. "Go get hurt some more and come back" is not something we should have to worry about in a team game where we have the ability to use our healing on our teammates.
• There is an abundance of one sided and unfun-because-it's-unfair interactions that seem to largely give our enemies superpowers when it comes to the physics in the game. Chargers who ice skate track you 90-degrees when you try to juke them, Hunters and Scavengers who scale the inside of a cliff with an invisible elevator and spawn from within the ground under your feet because you used a Jetpack to escape from them. Bots who can clip their guns into objects and shoot through them, using Downed Dropships as impenetrable fortresses, tracking Helldivers on reduced visibility maps through puff balls and smoke with pinpoint accuracy. I don't really have a solution here because a video game's physics engine might as well be actual Quantum Physics as far as I'm concerned, I simply want to bring voice to how often the game seems to bend the rules just to screw you over, and it does not feel good to play. Again, I want to feel like both my enemy and I earned that death of mine. I want to be able to learn from it and adapt in the future. I want to know what I did wrong. Dying to broken interactions like this is the opposite of that and harms the otherwise excellent and immersive gameplay experience.
• Similarly, watching a treaded Automaton Tank enemy effortlessly climb over pretty much any obstacle is also very immersion breaking. These things will do some very impossible movements just to get closer to us. This is in the same world where my ape-descended human who can jog indefinitely carrying dozens of pounds of ordinance is somehow unable to climb up on top of a roof because it's slightly above shoulder height. There is nothing wrong with being able to "defeat" these very powerful enemies by cutting off their ability to advance with terrain or obstacles. It is already a viable tactic by destroying their treads.
• Heavy Units from both factions are way too quiet to make sense. I feel like it's not an unpopular opinion that enemies like Hulks, Tanks, Bile Spewers and Titans, Chargers, should have very unique and identifiable sound profiles and screen shakes to alert players to their presence.

TL;DR - I just hope you are having a nice day. If you are actually struggling with my wall of text, and I can't fault you for that at all, try looking for a bold part that catches your eye and just read the stuff near it.
EDIT:
WELL, I definitely did not expect waking up to over 200 replies. I will do what I can over the course of the day to reply to most of ya'll, but no promises.
It means a whole lot to me how well this was received. I hope it comes across the right desks too. Ya'll are the best.
I gotta turn off notifications for this thread so I can focus on my day, but I will continue to browse through replies and try to interact to the best of my ability. Again, you guys rock.

I’ve had my 4Runner for about 40k miles now and really enjoy it but I waited to do any major modifications to make sure I liked the car.
I am looking for a lift kit and maybe wheel spacers for my 4Runner but don’t know anything about it. Does anyone have any tips or recommendations? Keep in mind, I’m 18 so I’m not looking for something crazy expensive since I won’t be doing any kind of off-roading because I have 2WD.