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TagPro Future Group — Community update #26 — Phase 1 — Chat macros, new NISH stats, Leaderboard update, a lot more!

2024.05.02 21:24 TagProFutureGroup TagPro Future Group — Community update #26 — Phase 1 — Chat macros, new NISH stats, Leaderboard update, a lot more!

Hello again, we finally have another release that we are excited to share! We have begun to dig into some older and more foundational pieces of the TagPro site. This allows us to begin addressing some of the oldest requests and bugs we are aware of and increase the scope of our updates, as seen below. Due to the size of this release, and the need for more extensive testing of some features, we have decided to split this release into two phases. Phase 1 was rolled out today, phase 2 is scheduled for ~two weeks from today and will have another post redirecting back to this one.

New features/improvements

Phase 1:
Phase 2:

Bug fixes

Phase 1:
Phase 2:

Other

Up next

Some updates are owed from our previous update. Having discussed our options and development availability, our next priorities will be the implementation of ranked matchmaking running alongside public games followed by an in-game shop (not real money) with profile customization options and then a proper steam release. We are going to leave all of those intentionally vague at this time while we explore the scope of each of these projects but plan to have all three completed in the order listed above. There will of course be smaller changes and improvements in and around these focal pieces largely driven by the feedback tab and the interactions with each suggestion. Also, stay tuned for a new event coming in the next month!
- TPFG
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2024.05.02 21:15 jennasmithy0984 How to Renew comptia expired voucher If not Ready to Take Exam? Comptia standard voucher expiration policy Reddit Help & support from a CompTIA representative Helper Online

CompTIA vouchers typically have an expiration date, and it's unfortunate that you're facing personal challenges that have delayed your exam preparation.While CompTIA has a standard voucher expiration policy, they may consider exceptions in certain situations. Here's what you can do:
  1. Contact CompTIA Customer Service: Reach out to CompTIA's customer service department via phone or email (details above) and explain your situation. Be honest and provide context about your personal challenges and how they've impacted your exam preparation.
  2. Request a Voucher Extension: Ask if they can grant a voucher extension or renewal due to your exceptional circumstances. Be specific about your voucher number, expiration date, and the exam you're preparing for.
  3. Provide supporting documentation (if possible): If you have documentation supporting your personal challenges (e.g., medical records, bereavement documents, etc.), be prepared to share it with CompTIA. This may help them understand your situation better.
  4. Be prepared for a possible fee: CompTIA might charge a fee for voucher extensions or renewals. Be prepared to pay this fee if they approve your request.
Keep in mind that CompTIA's voucher extension policy is not publicly disclosed, and approvals are handled on a case-by-case basis. While there are no guarantees, it's worth reaching out to their customer service team to explain your situation and request assistance. Additionally, you may want to consider the following options:
Remember to stay calm, patient, and persistent when communicating with CompTIA's customer service team. Good luck, and I hope you get the support you need!
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2024.05.02 21:13 Razoupaf The War of the Worlds: France - Review [Comboteur Fou]

You might find the review easier to read on my website, Comboteur Fou. Especially since, given the long nature of my reviews, I must cut the presentation, pros and cons, rules and artwork, and how to play parts.
[...]

IV – The wall of text (a.k.a. the Comboteur Fou’s opinion)

Gameplay

Invaders Must Die
Following DVG‘s trend of releasing several slightly tweaked versions of the same game system with close to no information as to the actual components and variance implemented, The War of the Worlds comes in four versions, with the tripods landing respectively in France (technically, Italy and Spain), England, Japan, and the East Coast of the United States of America. True to the source material, each game sees the player fighting the tripods and trying to fend them off until, ultimately, they succumb to germs their defensive system was not prepared for, wiping out the threat with the most menacing and effective killers the world has ever known: microbes. Offering a tight package, light on rules, phases, unit types, and playable in under two hours, setup and teardown included, can The War of the Worlds: France still pack as much punch and depth as heavier solo wargames, while staying true to its theme?
Incised before I’ve ceased
War games remain a genre of their own, where things that wouldn’t get a pass in a boardgame, such as lower component quality and severely dated artwork, are more easily tolerated. Long sessions, full of tactical and strategic decisions with myriads of moving pieces, vast and totally open information, deeply ramified outcomes, are often the norm, and many a boardgamer will feel lost upon entering that world.With a simplified ruleset and a small set of unit types—9 to be exact, 3 of which really matter in combat—WoWF attempts to tie in the two worlds and make for an easy-to-get-into wargame, full of moving pieces and decision but low maintenance.
The absence of a clearly defined player turn/AI turn structure initially renders the flow of a round counterintuitive, and fully interiorising the rules proves longer than such a light game should warrant.Yet one of WoWF‘s most interesting points has to be its round structure. Chaotic randomness lurks at each step’s corner, taking the form of events which contribute to make each play completely unique.Both sides’ contribution to the war effort is brilliantly emulated through a back-and-forth between factions, as Tripods never act during phases granting control to the players, only being permitted to act during the Devastation, Martian and Assembly phases, and occasionally, the Battle phase instead.
The player is encouraged to think ahead, in order to maximize their efficiency each round, by small subsets of rules for each of the phases comprising said round. Especially when they aim for a Battle. Battles are automatically triggered when at least one tripod shares a zone with a gun at the start of the Battle phase. Considering gun movement naturally occurs during the Human Action phase, which takes places after the Battle phase during a round, and before potential tripod movement, the player must either pay resource points during the production phase to move their units and ensure a Battle takes place, should they desire it, or plan movement and balance the odds in advance to save on their precious resources and let the Battle trigger by itself. Additionally, Cavalry units are able to lure tripods toward a desired zone, facilitating the process, at a cost.Units accessible to the player are divided between two categories: metal-based weapons of mass destruction, and organic bi or quadrupeds weak fleshlings, in the form of refugees, infantry and cavalry. The latter two, if they can enter battles, are not able to inflict damage upon tripods, but make up for it with their capacity to act directly on the country map. Infantry can perform one of two actions during the Human Action phase, both of which can preemptively weaken tripods. The odds largely play against the human unit in both cases, and an Infantry cannot perform an action if they move during the Human Action phase, forcing the player to, once more, think ahead and spend resource points during the Production phase to move them to best benefit from the unit.The first Infantry action is to plant a Powder Kegs in their current zone. Said keg can damage a tripod entering a zone in which they are planted. Planting a keg requires a die roll, detonating it another one. Failure to plant and detonate can result in a lost Infantry or production point. With a requirement of three random conditions to succeed, Powder Kegs reward the player with one damage on a single tripod, which can quickly be negated by a Repair roll, and are thus best ignored.Their second ability proves more interesting, as they are able to destroy tripods still in their landing pods, before it is turned into an active wave by the handling machine. The ordeal is no less challenging, as the Infantry needs first reach the landing zone across the map, before taking the action and rolling the proper colour. Here, too, the odds largely play against the human unit, as the handling machine needs merely roll the right colour during their own roll, taking place at the end of each round. Destroying more than a single tripod this way requires heavy dedication and luck with little to no payoff. In which it still proves a superior action to Powder Kegs.The last flesh and blood unit, but not the least important, is Refugees. They can be considered both a liability and a resource, as their sole use is to sway points in favour of either the Martians, should they be captured, or the humans, should they successfully escape by sea. They only act during the Human Action phase and Escape phase. Their goal is to reach a seaport from which to elope before being captured by a tripod. Anticipating tripod movement is rewarded by denying the Martians points for capturing refugees. They are yet not able to move anywhere without limit: a zone can only shelter as many Refugees as cogs are depicted on their production token. Aside from Paris, which can have at most three Refugees, each zone can have either one or two Refugees at the end of a phase. Excess Refugees are then captured by the Martians. Devastated zones, seaports and regular zones become progressively weaker as the game progresses and tripods lay down ruin, and managing Refugees efficiently itself becomes more and more challengingBut their role does not end there. Should they successfully hop on a ship, they still have to make it off the coast to the high seas without alerting or being captured by a tripod roaming the shores. And these prove amphibious.Each Refugee at a seaport must perform a die roll to attempt to board a ship. Once each Refugee has made an attempt, should one succeed, the player then must roll a die again to determine whether the ships, of freighter class, leave the coast without raising the tripods’ attention, or if they must face one or two of the mechanical hunters in naval battle.
The Cry of Mankind
The initial wave’s and landing pod placement are both determined randomly out of three possible locations, by a die roll which also influences probability, Rennes being the most likely, but also the most difficult to overcome because of its proximity to Paris, while Italy and Spain are more likely and easier to survive initially. On the other hand, Rennes is also where the landing pod is the least likely to be assembled into a wave during the assembly phase, the likelihood of which being one chance in six. Which is not to say it will not sometimes be immediately assembled into a wave ready to spread fire and death.
The first enterprise the player is most likely to invariably undertake is the construction of four factories. A small undertaking by itself, as they cost a mere 2 resource points (RP) apiece, and start paying off in two rounds by their +1 RP contribution to the Production phase. In fact, they’re such a mandatory step that it’s a wonder why they are not already built in with smaller turn 1 income, as said turn 1 becomes rather repetitive as is.WoWF, on the player’s side at least, is a game of attrition where the humans are regularly confronted to resource losses with no compensation. The best way to mitigate those losses is to minimize them preemptively, while the Martian threat constantly increases and grows ever more pressing.As such, establishing a strong presence and defending key zones in the first rounds is crucial to the establishment of as efficient an offensive army as possible..
Considering how the first round is likely to most often result in the same actions and that initial setup can only result in six slightly different configurations, not accounting for the scenarios, which have their own section in this review, replayability has to rely on highly prevalent randomness, to which the aforementioned events and the quasi systematic dice rolls contribute.
Human frailty is evident throughout a game. The France version units, at least, are highly unreliable, both in and out of battle, and tend to fall like flies in front of the tripods. It has already been proven how ineffectual Infantry units are earlier.Guns go down with a single hit, while proving as resilient as goombas under a tripod’s foot. Once placed at the start of battle, they can no longer be moved. Unless the battle takes place on a hill, Martian units are placed after Human units, and the tripods move according to random card draws, thus being completely unpredictable, so the odds of being squished underfoot are extremely high.Firing isn’t their strong suit either. Unless directly adjacent to a tripod, an extremely perilous situation, they have a one-in-two chance of hitting. At range 2 or 3, the likelihood drops steeply to one-in-six. Tripods require 2 hits to take down, and can and often do repair themselves or call for reinforcements. The closer to a gun they are, the higher the chances they have to land a hit.Even a single tripod can prove deadly for a small squad, able to wipe them before they land a single hit if the dice don’t comply, as experimented with variants.
Losing guns without leaving a single dent in the invaders, and gaining any footing from a battle, is in fact so easy that interacting with waves early should not even be considered, whereas building a sizeable army in a single chosen location before luring in the enemy and disposing of them as the mob would in back alley, allowing the enemy to perform unavoidable devastation in the meantime while ushering out as many escapees as possible to generate victory points, often is the best way to operate for the first half of the game, there again severely impacting the game’s replayability by limiting the player’s ways of approaching the game.An alternate victory condition is to destroy each wave currently on the map, as well as each landing pod. But doing so is so unlikely, the game naturally coming to a conclusion by itself a round or two after the final wave appears, that achieving said condition should be considered a achievement in itself more than anything, and, in France at least, this condition is anecdotal.The main condition, reaching ten victory points, is only impacted by land battles throughout the reduction of tripods, thus either lowering the damage output of a wave, or its complete disappearance, more likely in the second half of the game, ensuring more longevity to the different production zones and thus less points lost during the devastation phase and more points during the escape phase. Battles matter but are not the main focus of the game, and by themselves do not give the player any benefit from being won.A game can be concluded, in a win, with three mere battles taking place. In France, at least.Destroying a wave will effectively negate a whole round of destruction for the Martians, who can control five waves at most. An unlikely occurrence.
Grind
For a game labelled by its publisher as a wargame, the low amount of actual battles is surprising. Even more so when putting a focus on actual battles is a sure way to waste time achieving very little. Managing chits on a board is at the game’s heart, but most of said chits are not battle-related: refugees, waves, handling machines, production tokens form the majority of the board clutter, while tripods only enter the board on battle tactical maps, and guns are only used in battles as well, though they do move on the map.
Battles themselves are simple affairs, driven by card draws and dice rolls.The absolute stillness of human units, unable to move at all during battles once guns are placed, with severe limitations—a single horizontal line being allowed, while cavalry and infantry units are relegated to the bottom line— during the first step, make battles themselves extremely simple to manage, but also frustratingly random, and severely limit decision space for the player, who is reduced to firing a gun or not while they are covered, and in which order to fire them and against which target once they no longer are.A player might consider not firing a gun if they have an Earthwork counter. Firing the gun would discard one such counter. Earthwork counters are added during battle setup if it takes place on a zone with hills, or by infantry units if they succeed at a dice roll—failing the roll resulting in the Infantry’s destruction. Those counters prevent tripods from firing at a gun until they are all discarded, either when the gun fires, or when the tripods successfully use the Detect action, which is resolved the same way they would fire. Considering how inefficient the French guns are at anything but point blank, the player may want to make them invisible as long as possible, until a tripod gets close enough to grant a 50% chance to hit per die. The risk of destruction remains high, as Earthworks do not protect the gun from being stepped on by a tripod and immediately destroyed, and their movement remains unpredictable. Abstaining from firing is therefore even more perilous than actually firing and play the odds, actually making use of the gun before it meets its inevitable doom. Squished guns are probably more common than guns melted by death rays.
In itself, the battle system is ingenious.Initial tripod placement is determined by flipping a battle card and placing the tripod colour group in the corresponding lettered Hex. Each turn, Tripod actions are determined by a new card and their colour. AI is low maintenance, battles require little upkeep or management, the player simply has to go down the card and resolve tripod actions, then decide whether or not to fire guns and on which target, and repeat until the battle is over, either because all units on side are destroyed or because all the tripods left the battlefield by simply going away.Unfortunately, the absence of movement on the human side, again, rarely let battles become satisfying and more than simply random. The ease with which tripods dispose of guns, often before they get a chance to fire, the extremely low odds of actually hitting a tripod, also contribute to the feeling of unease. Which is not to say that battles are entirely desperate. Winning a battle simply requires a lot of preparation. Units are expensive, and, a common theme in this game, resources spent on them are too easily lost without having any kind of impact on the game, because no roll succeeded or because they are destroyed before acting.Any battle initiated with less than six guns and/or a couple of battle plans against a 4-tripods wave, the standard amount in a base game play, is akin to suicide. Damage successfully inflicted on tripods is highly likely to be immediately negated by a Repair or Arrival battle result, fully replenishing their forces straight away while the human resources are depleted with no impact. This is one of the game’s main issues as far as randomness and pacing are concerned: on paper, lost battles still seem to gain the player ground as they slowly deplete the enemy’s forces and thus hinder their ability to spread devastation across the country. In reality, though, reinforcements and repairs occur so frequently that the benefits from a lost battle are negligible, and thus, resources spent are lost with no benefit. Which is also true for Infantries lost while trying to operate or battle plans which result in failure. The player should reasonably expect any spent resource to somehow advance their plan against the Martians, when in fact, any resource spent is a simple double-or-nothing style gamble which will more often than not result in empty-handed losses.Unit types across the various theatres of the DVG War of the Worlds series remain the same, but their costs and efficacy vary. Due to the publisher’s persistent refusal of releasing complete information about their product, accessibility to said various costs and roll result is restricted. In a nutshell, the French units are terrible and rather expensive for what they do. Enjoying battles and gaining positive results require large armies, as alluded to above, but decisions remain limited. The player is at best able to better decide which gun Martians fire at first (usually the least expensive ones) and which ones to preserve (usually those rolling two dice and thus able to hit twice per turn). They also get the opportunity to prioritise which tripod they want to disable or take down, with the added benefit that damaged tripod cannot perform a second action in the action of A+B, or special actions such as summoning reinforcements.The only way the player can turn the tides of battle directly once it has begun is through battle plans. Battle plans are expensive, at 5 resources a random one and 10 resources a chosen one, but can be made more affordable by sacrificing a Cavalry unit, although once again, the result depends on a dice roll. Battle plans give the player welcome luck mitigation, allowing them to reroll, double up on results, or even to discard a catastrophic battle card and draw another instead. They remain subject to randomness, and it is perfectly possible that a battle plan is spent without benefiting the player, because their roll resulted in a failure for instance.
Waves in the base game systematically start with four tripods, unless Infantry successfully destroyed some before the handling machines finished their jobs. They therefore require large armies to be faced, as stated above. The scenarii let the player face smaller waves or even individual tripods. For the purpose of this review, early battles were waged against waves comprising only a few tripods, manoeuvering but a couple of guns. The results were invariably catastrophic. Guns were destroyed without inflicting any damage to the Martians, putting the player in a much worse position than they were initially by stripping them of time and resources without gaining any ground on the enemy.Scenarii to be expanded further down this review.
The Grand Experiment
Battles and setup are no great providers of replayability, as established above. What is, though, are events. Counterintuitively, and despite having different card backs, every event is shuffled in one big event deck, to be drawn from when the card back matches the current phase at the start of said phase. The rules fail to indicate whether multiple events can be drawn per phase, which tends to happen relatively often, as the deck contains nine cards each for the seven different phases.Absence of events for nearly two complete rounds are also bound to happen with such a system, and so the rhythm at which events do trigger is never exactly the same twice. Ideally, events trigger every other phase, or twice per round, but in reality the odds are unlikely.Events can benefit either side. Effects range from putting a special unit in play which allows the player to perform extra actions during their phases, to one-time effects changing the initial disposition of the battlefield, should one occur that round. Some event cards can be saved until their conditions are met, for instance allowing the player to temporarily negate an effect; others will give a resource points outlet, usually requiring a high amount, in exchange for an effect. Although rarely will the player be able to meet the requirements when those one-time effects cards are drawn, as spending resources immediately to build up forces is preferable to saving them for potential events.Whether the player is allowed to spend the resources only at the start of the phase, when the event card is drawn and resolved, or throughout the whole duration of the phase, is not explicitly stated. Although it only matters in the Production Phase, the one during which production points are generated, three of the nine cards give production points outlets. The Production phase is the one the player is the least likely to have leftover production points at the start of, making these cards feel like wasted opportunities more than anything. Should the player save on production points instead of recruiting army, they will have missed a whole movement round (forced movement during the Production phase and natural movement during the Human Action phase), therefore never being worth the trouble, especially when the pickings are incredibly slim.
Permanent effects, in the form of France-specific characters such as Monet, the Eiffel Tower, not named the Iron Lady although it would have made more sense if it is to be cast (see what I did here?) as a character, are the most likely to shape the player’s strategy on the long term. Yet only five of these are present in the game and only Monet and Dreyfus are really worth investing to, Monet because he is the only effect able to effectively repair zones by restoring workforce, Dreyfus because he makes Infantry actually worth it, turning each roll they make into a sure success for two production points per roll. If he shares a zone with them. A lot of work but well worth it. The Eiffel Tower makes each Industrialisation token produce +2 production points instead of +1. For ten production points itself, the effect needs three rounds to start being worth it by itself (not accounting for the initial cost of such tokens), and will only be worth it if drawn in the early game. The card does not specify if the player is allowed to keep it until they can afford the ten production points cost, or if they must spend it immediately upon drawing the card, which, considering it’s a Human Action Phase event, is unlikely to happen.Many of the effects that favour the Martians are absolutely devastating for the player, while those in favour of the player are mildly positive. The Battle Events are the worst offenders in that regard and can and will utterly gut the player’s forces with little window for reaction: getting the tripods and the guns closer to one another at the start of battle is a sure way to have guns be switched, while red having additional Fire each turn and blue additional Move each turn are sure to create massive havoc. On the other hand, giving initiative to one or the other side is a really minor change. In either case, once the event is drawn, the player can no longer opt out of battle.As a general rule, events during a Human-oriented phase are mostly positive, with a couple of really strong events such as Terran Germs being able to give or take a full ten victory points, and some really terrible events such as Governmental Action; while events during a Martian-oriented phase, or a shared phase, tend to globally be tiered toward the Martians. Cards do not feel balanced, with the power level difference alluded to above not being an outlier but more of the norm. Too many player-centric events turn out to be anything but worth investing into, while a few of them are so defining that one can but hope they will be drawn each game, and a well-timed Terran Germs can flat out end the game.An interesting idea in theory, then, though better playtesting could have yielded more interesting results.
Sea of Sorrow
A few Devastation phases into the game and refugee tokens abound on the tactical map. Refugees, while merely defenceless units, are able to quickly sway point values for each side, and the player needs to quickly control and manage them if they want to rack up some victory points while denying them to the Martians.Mere escapists, refugees tend to die easily as they are removed from the board if they share a zone with a tripod after a wave’s movement, but also when they exceed their zone’s gears, which for regular zones are between one and two, and for Paris can go up to three. Many a refugee will thus bite the dust over the course of attempted colonisation, and the more the game progresses, the more of them will be captured, as zones they can shelter in shrink and seaports get inaccessible or destroyed. Devastated zones are off limits for these units, as humans are not yet able to sustain themselves on red weed and human corpses.The only way to save refugees is by seeing them off the coast on freighters taking off seaports, of which France contains four. French harbours are expensive in France, but are handpicked instead of randomised as they are in other versions, giving the player the opportunity to set some refugees up before they dedicate to a harbour.The way a round is structured only allows refugees to attempt escape after checking for captures in excess of the zone’s capacity. Which means that, at most, under the base game rules, two refugees can attempt escape per harbour per round.Said escapes are symbolised by two successive dice rolls, the first one for each attempting refugee, who has 4 in 6 chances of getting aboard a freighter, followed by a collective roll for each freighters of a given harbour, with a 50% chance of escaping unnoticed by a tripod. In effect, said attempts frequently result in one or more refugees being left on the shore and the other one being shot at by a tripod. Odds and stuff…
Should freighters escape unnoticed, they simply are removed from the game after giving the player a single victory points. Should they fail, though, the main game pauses and the player has to set up and play through a naval battle. For each refugee that is part of the attempted escape, the player must put a freighter on a naval battle board, and up to two tripods. Warships and battle plans are then available, at four production points apiece for the ships and full price for the plans.Naval battles can potentially take place four times per round, every round, but are even shallower than the already fairly shallow land battles (and much shallower than the sea they take place on). Their stakes are lower, as they will at best yield two victory points and at worst give the martians said two victory points, while not reducing either side’s forces, unless the player spends resources on warships and battle plans. And why would they, for two mere points? The tripods are of a special type, and not part of any wave, so destroying them will have no lasting consequences on the tactical map, and four resource points spent on a warfighter are four resource points lost to no avail. Still an unlikely scenario, granted the ship is as ineffective as a regular gun, and the tripods still require two hits to bring down.As such, naval battles quickly become an annoying waste of time where the player ends up merely moving one or two freighters down and flipping a card to see whether the tripods catch or shoot them successfully. To drastically cut playtime down and ease up on the tedium, simply rolling another die to determine whether a freighter reaches the bottom of the map unhindered is sufficient.While on paper the prospect of fighting at sea as well as land is alluring, in effect it represents no more than a mere, repetitive distraction never worth the time or resources.Absence of depth and impact on the overall game is unfortunate in light of the allocated components: 5 additional tripods; a whole naval battle deck complete with unique keywords, but only about as half as many cards as land battle, although sea battles occur much more frequently; freighter unit tokens which each stand for a single refugee token and thus only serves for aesthetic purposes; warship tokens; paragraphs in the rules and cheat sheet.Naval battles feel like they should have taken a bigger place in the game but were never pushed to their full potential, for lack of time, resources or playtesting perhaps. They do become more interesting in a given scenario, which will be expanded upon later in this review.
Wrath Monolith
Considering all the challenges listed aboves, winning the game should be extremely challenging.And yet, it manages to play itself into a corner and to defeat itself with little help from the player, making each play of WoWF feel frustratingly inconsequential.Even after the player ploughed through a one-sided war of attrition, setting up and minimising losses as much as possible to only start rising to reliable power by the endgame, finally gaining some sort of control over the course of events, a mere couple of rounds are enough to result in a conclusion, awarding a win out of nowhere… to the player.Games where none of the Human side actions left a mark or a dent, in which every action failed, no wave was wiped, no battle was won, still resulted in the germs taking over and destroying the invaders. To the point where letting the game pit itself against itself and watch the events unfold into a win with zero player input has been given thought.Thematic? As far as the source material is concerned, adequately so.Rewarding? Absolutely not. More like a slap in the face and a total waste of time.True for other theatres? Inspiration to acquire other versions was hardly stirred, so this reviewer will never know.
As the base game fails to deliver any sort of challenge or let the player have an impact on events, do the scenarii/variants deliver?Without a doubt they do. Too much, perhaps.
Each war theatre comes with its own unique optional challenges in the form of variant rules. France has three, and they drastically modify the game, mostly during setup, but with impactful ramifications all throughout the play.And do they up the challenge!
The Ironclad Martians puts a heavier emphasis on land battles, pitching the player against five waves containing three tripods each from turn one. Devastation takes a much more prominent role from the early game on. On paper, since waves are smaller, focusing on dispatching them as early as possible and before they swell in numbers sounds sound, but not only do the ineffectual French units turn early failed attempts futile, as they do with the base rule, they also render them harmful, any gun lost still translating into a pure resource loss with no gain to make up for it. Then it all goes downhill from there into a quick loss as waves destroy zones and thus cut resource income down.Should the player not focus on dispatching waves early, which can prove challenging as they retain their tendency to move out of rage, the inevitable victory points gathered by Humans bring them reinforcements earlier than the player can build a sufficient number of guns to stand a chance against a wave, making things spiral out of range quickly.The scenario is interesting, if only because the game proves challenging at last. Unfortunately, the lack of initial randomness—setup is fixed—also drastically lowers replayability, making this scenario feel like a puzzle to be solved rather than a highly rule variation. Bets are still on early wave annihilation, with a heavy dose of luck. Should RNG not comply, then the game might as well be reset, opening the way to a whole new level of frustration.An interesting alternative, which would have benefited from more randomization to be played anything but sparingly.
The Handling Machines is an interesting twist in that, instead of being restricted to five waves at most, the Martians tripods can now venture on the map as single units or as part of smaller waves, spreading havoc more wildly and rapidly but with lower consequences, and making battles more frequent and easier to prepare for; but also forcing the player to spread their forces further. Infantry’s support role is made more immediately useful as there are more handling machines they are able to tackle and destroy. Provided they manage to reach them first. Because a new downside is the tendency tripods have to destroy zones they are assembled in extremely quick. Units remain unable to enter devastated zones, translating into Infantry quickly becoming incapable of reaching handling machines at all since they now reside in a devastated zone, and thus becoming useless, in that regard at least, by default, since they are now unable to prevent the machines from adding Tripods to the map. Which in turn means the player is now no longer able to fulfil the alternative victory condition of destroying them all. A surprising oversight.With many more rolls to make per round to check for potential new tripod spawns during the production phase and the assembly phase, this scenario is more fiddly than the base one and asks the player to better track which machine they have rolled for or not. Not a dealbreaker, but noticeable.The additional early and mid-game randomness occasioned by the high amount of rolls and tripods give this scenario increased replayability over the previous one, though it does suffer from the same snowballing issue in case of early lost battles. French guns do not receive any improvement, so the issue of dealing with tripods while they are weak remains.
Refugees is the best variant to ease a player into a low amount of changes, and if the variant were listed by additional rules complexity, it would have been placed first. Merely modifying the initial setup, this scenario sees each zone start with three refugees (and interestingly, the game does not come with enough tokens to actually perform this step). Throughout the game, a couple of other changes occur: in the devastation phase, each workforce loss results in an additional refugee per point lost; in the human action phase, the player is allowed to spend a resource point for each refugee they wish to keep in excess of a zone’s workforce value.Small changes, but very impactful on the strategy. While in the base game, production points are merely used for units and barely relevant in any other phase, managing them now becomes more tense and requires more thought, as not only can they allow massive sea escapes, they also make sea battles interesting, and warships relevant, as there can now be more than two mere freighters escaping at once.Land battles drop down the priority scale, not that they were very high to begin with but they remained the main resource points outlet; while points will heavily swing for both parties during phases in which refugees are saved or captured.While the challenge is not necessarily higher than in the base game, the game feels more varied, more tense, and options more interesting and satisfying. Protecting zones, especially ones with harbours, has a whole different impact on the game. Rather than simply ensuring regular production income, the player now shelters refugees and tries to prevent pouring all their resources into their survival.Saving resources from one phase to another becomes more of a priority, spending them to create large groups of refugees cluttering at harbours for large evasion attempts that finally makes it worth investing into freighters and battle plans, and making naval battles transform into what they were probably meant to be all along is very satisfying.Aside from a free harbour each turn, a minor addition, the rest of the game, remains unaltered. Having the initial wave land in Rennes proves devastating, though not enough to cost the game, because of the harbour in that zone. Similarly to the regular game, the player can have every battle and outcome turn wrong, and still win the game.
The League of Terran Nations, being played over multiple theatres, hasn’t been tested for this review.

[...]

Conclusion

The War of the Worlds: France is a tragic miss. Ripe with interesting and novel ideas, the game is an accessible, relatively easy to learn introduction to wargames, flows smoothly with a lot of back and forth between Martians and Human phases, has potential for replayability… And ultimately falls miles away from the mark, because of poor marketing decisions (breaking the game into four different theatres), development mistakes (using an inhouse designer rather than the original designer for the non-England versions, lack of playtesting). None of the player’s actions really impact the game’s outcome in the long run, due to the extreme randomness, lack of reactive mitigation, and more importantly, the game playing itself into a corner. Research on other theatres’ forums lead to the belief that the other versions are more challenging. Too much, perhaps. England seems to be the most popular war theatre.

Strong potential and novel ideas marred by a questionable balance

The War of the Worlds: France belongs to DVG. A huge thank you to DVG for providing Le Comboteur Fou with a review copy.
submitted by Razoupaf to soloboardgaming [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 21:11 YoyoTheGreatFrogger Defend yourself! With some MORE abjuration spells I made (V1.1)

Spells:

Abjuration:

Arcanic Padding:

Level: 1
School: Abjuration
Casting time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V,S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Classes: Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Fighter (Eldritch Knight), Paladin, Warlock, Sorcerer, Wizard
You thicken the air around you to soften incoming projectiles. For the duration of this spell, whenever you would take any type of damage besides psychic damage, reduce the damage by 1. Apply this reduction before resistances, and, if an effect deals multiple instances of damage or does damage from multiple sources (eg scorching ray, magic missile, etc), reduce the damage of each source by 1.

Chronomantic Shield:

Level: 3
School: Abjuration
Casting time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Classes: Artificer, Bard, Fighter (Eldritch Knight), Paladin, Sorcerer, Wizard
You create a field of time distortion in a small area around you, causing everything that nears you to slow down. For the duration, you gain the following benefits:
If you are wearing armour, your AC increases by 2 and you gain a +2 bonus to Dexterity saving throws.
If you aren’t wearing armour, you gain a +2 bonus to Dexterity saving throws and, whenever you take damage, reduce the damage taken by 3. Apply this reduction before resistances, and, if an effect deals multiple instances of damage or does damage from multiple sources (eg scorching ray, magic missile, etc), reduce the damage of each source by 3.

Protective Totem:

Level: 3
School: Abjuration
Casting time: 1 action
Range Self
Components: V,S,M (smoke released from a burning pinecone)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Classes: Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger
You place on the ground the burning pinecone, filling the cleansing smoke in a 15ft radius around it. Choose any number of creatures that you can see to be affected by the spell. While in the area, any creature affected by the spell is immune to being poisoned or possessed. In addition, if they start the turn in the area with more than 1 hit point, they are healed for 1d8 hit points, or they can use an action to heal for 3d8 hit points instead. This spell can heal a maximum of 8 times, before the smoke loses its healing properties (still retaining its protection against poison and possession, however.)

King’s Ward

Level: 6
School: Abjuration
Casting time: 1 minute
Range: 1 mile
Components: V,S,M (incense, salt and chalk for the magic circle, and a rune to be drawn in squid ink on both the caster and the target of the spell)
Duration: Concentration, up to indefinite duration
Classes: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Warlock, Sorcerer, Wizard
You draw a pentagon shape out of chalk, at each point a little circle with salt and sage alternating, light some incense then sit in the centre. You must then draw the binding rune on the skin of you and your target. You then think of the person you want to protect. While concentrating in this way, you are unable to take any other actions, and must remain seated in the circle for the spell to sustain.
While you are concentrating in this way, you provide your target with a powerful protective ward, which grants them a +5 bonus to their Armour Class, and, whenever they take damage, they reduce the damage taken by 5. Apply this reduction before resistances, and, if an effect deals multiple instances of damage or does damage from multiple sources (eg scorching ray, magic missile, etc), reduce the damage of each source by 1.
In addition, you can also choose to reduce any damage they take further. If you do this, you choose by how much you wish to further reduce their damage, and you take psychic damage equal to half that amount. The damage you take cannot be reduced in any way.
You can hold this spell for as long as you can concentrate on the spell and remain in the circle.

Ward and Wager:

Level: 8
School: Abjuration
Casting time: 1 action
Range: self
Components: V,S,M (a golden dice worth at least 100gp or any enchanted shield worth at least 100gp)
Duration: 1 minute
Classes: Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Cleric(Trickery)
You create a golden aura of protection around yourself, that swirls around in a sharp, chaotic pattern. For the duration, whenever you get hit by an attack, or take damage, roll a d6 and consult the table:
Result (d6):Effect: 1No effect. 2You only suffer half damage and no additional effects, as an event of random luck occurs that either absorbs the blow or distracts the attacker, such as a root on the ground trips up the attacker, or a bug flies into their face, or a deer happens to run past and get hit instead. 3You launch out 2 meteors at randomly determined enemies, as if by the spell Melf’s Minute Meteors. 4You cast Shield, without expending a spell slot or using a reaction. 5Through sheer luck, you completely avoid the attack, and it instead hits a random other creature (the attacker included), within 30ft or the attack’s range (whichever is larger). For example, a sword may accidentally be flung from the attacker’s hand and slice through a bird in flight, which promptly falls on the damaged creature’s head (thus doing the damage) and the weapon falls back into the attacker’s hand. 6You suffer an additional 20 damage, as an event occurs that makes you suffer more damage (eg a torrent of rainwater falls out of the sky and pushes you into the attack) but the spell duplicates itself onto a random one of your allies. All duplicates of the spell end when the original spell end.

Phoenix’s Protection:

Level: 9
School: Abjuration
Casting time: 1 action
Range: Self (20ft radius)
Components: V,S,M (a phoenix feather)
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes
Classes: Druid, Wizard
You create a sphere of Phoenix fire surrounding you in a 20ft radius. While concentrating on this spell, you resist all damage and are healed for 3d12 at the start of each of your turns.
When you cast this spell, choose any number of creatures you can see to benefit from the phoenix fire. While they are in the area, they have resistance to fire damage and all attacks they make against targets outside of the area deal an additional 2d6 fire damage and 2d6 radiant damage. In addition, if they start their turn in the area, they heal 1d10 hit points.
Any creature you didn’t choose when you cast the spell takes 3d8 fire damage every turn they start within 20ft of the sphere’s edge.
While keeping this spell active, you cannot take any actions other than the following:
Strengthen: As an action, you can empower the sphere. Doing so increases the radius of the sphere by 10ft. In addition, it increases the fire damage by 1d8 and the additional attack damage by 1d6.
Explosive: As an action, you choose to end the spell. This forces any creature not chosen by you when you cast the spell within 100ft of the sphere’s edge to make a dexterity saving throw. They take 10d10 fire damage on a failed save or half as much on a successful save.
Rise from the Ashes: As an action, you can revive any dead creature within the sphere for 1 round, after which they will die permanently and cannot be brought back to life by any means short of True Resurrection.
You can also take the Search and the Help basic actions
You cannot take bonus actions or move while the spell is active.
submitted by YoyoTheGreatFrogger to DnDHomebrew [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 21:04 DragonStreamline Post your grand list of most wanted things Bethesda STILL should fix!

Oke guys, we might have won the battle but not the war. It looks like with the upcoming patches that Bethesda listened to us as a community, bless them. Though let's keep mentioning our most wanted list of things they should still patch or add in. Now we know they listen. In the interest of time, after many of you hopefully posted, I will post the most wanted list with things that were mentioned the most by everyone. Here are mine:
  1. For the love of the stars, instead of cutting to a loading screen when grav jumping, initiate some waiting time for x amount of seconds or minutes (depending on grav jump setting or star distance) so that we can freely walk around our ship, customize the interior, talk to crew members, customize guns etc. Just put some light streak animations over the windows to cover up the emptyness in the background.
  2. Continueing point 1, the same can be done while exiting a planet's atmosphere and going into outer space. Just add some dust or heat lightstreaks over the windows of the user's Spaceship so you cover up the fact that there is a transition from the planet geometry to outer space geometry. I know this can be done because once I infiltrated a grounded ship which then took off and it went to outer space without a loading screen, I just saw black empty space for a few seconds before space loaded in.
  3. Space station outpost building. It can be done. Someone already used an exploit. And best of all, you should be able to add a market full of merchants. This solves the tediousness of finding a merchant nearby. Perhaps this can be locked behind levels. F.e. level 1 spacestation outpost building= you can place a single merchant with a limited range of supply, and level 4 would mean you can buy a franchise license of the Trade Authority and actually earn commision because random visitors can board your station and buy from your merchants.
  4. For the love of longevity, make an option in the creation kit that allows you to modify a pre-existing POI and shuffle it's layout simply by sliding a simple seed slider. This way the Creation Engine can just randomize POI to infinity, making each POI somewhat unique or at the very least a bit different. Understandably this is easier said than done, but I am sure with some clever coding it can be done so POI can be randomly generated in-engine.
  5. Outpost building is an afterthought, though with a few tweaks can be turned into an important gameplay element. One tweak should be space fuel. We now have a difficulty slider for many gameplay elements. Add a space fuel option there, when enabled grants you big xp boosts but know you will end up spending many hours farming fuel through outpost building.
  6. Fallout 4 settlements elements should be copied over. You should be able to lose settlements from attacks or not maintaining them properly by f.e. not stationing the correct skilled workers there.
  7. Loot. More Legendary Loot. More variety in all sorts of loot. Make even worthless junk items somehow worth a lot through a clever leveling upgrade.
  8. Better ship customization that allows us to make bigger ships that can have a smaller ship attached to it. This way you can fly around a huge ship that can't land on planets itself, though be able to attach a smaller 'bounty hunter' like ship that can land on planets. Also allow more x-axis habs or parts such as bridges which link to other y-axis habs. Or allow for deeper interior customization other than just some item placements.
  9. Maybe this should even be on the number 1 spot: Please rework all the temple's their design. Put some puzzles in there. From platforming, to a mini game, to a maze, to a riddle. ANYTHING to make them a bit varied. I literally stopped playing this game because I thought I'd keep the best for last: the main quest. After the third repetitive temple I stopped playing.
submitted by DragonStreamline to Starfield [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:59 your_asian_waifu Security alert , too many failed attempts

Hi ,
I have this message stuck on my google account that it might be at risk If you click on it it opens up and just shows a device which is my phone and no option to clear it I have changed phone number associated with the account and logged in with my new laptop
Now I'm using google login to login to 3rd party account and it keeps failing with too many attempts
Any suggestions how to fix it or where to contact google support ?
I can actually login to gmail on pc and phone , but not 3rd party login it keeps failing.
submitted by your_asian_waifu to GMail [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:52 Plane_Revolution1526 Need References

So, I figure that I need a couple references to say that you worked with me.
Reference 1 is that I helped with website design, marketing, making youtube videos for advertising, and finding investors to invest in the company, including making glossy investment brochures for the last company I worked at. I was successful in procuring 86 new investors to pump fresh money into the company, and we successfully kept the stock price rising. This would have been from 2000 to 2023, where I worked part time for many years. To say that I redesigned the website to be more appealing and interesting for the customer psychologically and bring more sales. I spent years studying web design psychology and how designs affect customers and how to lure them into buying.
Another reference I need to say that they bought services at my tutoring company, and that I met with them and helped them to understand some of the technical elements needed to produce quality graphs and data charts, and helped with skills needed to write papers for a nursing informatics degree as well as helping to them data and statistics. This is because I ran a tutoring business a couple years ago. I found my customers on my own and they were thrilled with the service.
If I could use your phone number in case they call, a fake name, and I can make a fake email which I would respond to. I could give you the fake name, and tell you what number and area code they would be calling from.
I am trying to secure a business grant and hope references will up my chances.
submitted by Plane_Revolution1526 to JobReferences [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:41 AmethystWind Momentum is life - Monk subclass: The Way of Motion

Momentum is life - Monk subclass: The Way of Motion submitted by AmethystWind to DnDHomebrew [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:40 Frequent_Cat8425 OSAP Grant to Loan Help

so basically On April 5th, I received a message in the message centre of my OSAP portal letting me know that a change has been made to my funding. I had a grant converted to a loan which I believe was due to dropping a course from 3 courses to 2 courses. In the section in which it says "what's left to be released" in the "current status of application" part in which it shows: -#### (# represent numbers), I do not know if that is the actual amount that I am supposed to pay back. I am also confused with the fact that even if that is the amount that has been converted to the loan, am I supposed to pay it back now or does it just add up in my student debt that I am suppose to pay after I am done school
submitted by Frequent_Cat8425 to osap [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:36 streetshittingsavant missing this girl i was seeing a year ago

i was in a bad place back then and kinda took what we had for granted and was a bit of a dick towards the end but now in retrospect, i kinda liked her, more than i initially thought.
i still have her number and sometimes look at her profile picture like a creep, she still hasn't changed it since.
well, she moved back to her country of origin some time ago, so whatever could have been, would have ended anyways.
idk why i wanted to share this but here it is.
submitted by streetshittingsavant to rspod [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:31 Humble-Director-619 Why do Vlanida keep giving me so many fiefs

I’m a tier 4 Vlanidan clan. My question is why are they granting me so many fiefs, I have 9 and the next highest number for a clan is just 5. It’s becoming way too much to manage. Everytime I see a castle is taken I’m praying they don’t give me another one.
submitted by Humble-Director-619 to Bannerlord [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:31 Klokinator The Cryopod to Hell 555: What Makes a Human?!

Author note: The Cryopod to Hell is a Reddit-exclusive story with over three years of editing and refining. As of this post, the total rewrite is 2,162,000+ words long! For more information, check out the link below:
What is the Cryopod to Hell?
Join the Cryoverse Discord server!
Here's a list of all Cryopod's chapters, along with an ePub/Mobi/PDF version!
Want to stay up to date on TCTH? Subscribe to Cryopodbot!
...................................
(Previous Part)
(Part 001)
Following the end of the two opening and closing arguments, the Great Debate enters a new format. No longer do Phoebe and Neil speak unopposed, but instead they both stand at their respective podiums on the left and right, with Yamir positioned between them.
The Minotaur holds up a microphone and speaks. "People of humanity, today has truly been eye-opening to this humble chef. Mister Adams and Miss Hiro have both revealed shocking and interesting information. Not only has Neil spoken of Threats we will someday face, originating from within our own galaxy as well as more distant ones, but Phoebe has told us that Humanity has lost its Flaw! What this means for the future, I cannot say exactly, but I am certainly interested in hearing more."
The Minotaur turns to look at Neil. "Commander Adams, is it fair to say that your position in this debate is that humanity should split in half for the sake of maintaining a cohesive bloodline and culture? Should they split apart in order to ensure a more 'pure' species takes root in the Milky Way, while allowing demon and monster-lovers to stay here, on Tarus II?"
The corner of Neil's eye flickers while he forces a smile. "There is more to it than that. We are also vulnerable to a single act of destruction! By placing all of humanity on one world, we make it possible for a powerful Cosmic deviant such as Mephisto to annihilate our species in merely one attack! As for leaving humans behind, I would honestly prefer if all humans went to Maiura while leaving the demons behind, but that doesn't seem likely to happen."
"You contradict yourself!" Phoebe exclaims, interjecting without hesitation. "You say humanity should split in order to ensure we cannot fall all at once, but you would also rather all the humans stay together in a mono-culture. Admit the truth, Neil. You're just a bigot who hates demons! I bet you'd even prefer it if our monster allies weren't a part of your perfect and pure society!"
"That is not what I said." Neil answers calmly. "Humans need to stick together in these times. We have a tiny fraction of the population of other Sentients. We cannot risk spreading ourselves out and preventing our population growth from accelerating."
Yamir holds up his hand to politely prevent Phoebe from jumping in. "That is an interesting statement, Commander. But what about Miss Hiro's revelation that humans are potentially a superior species in the genetics department? If humans can indeed somehow impregnate or become impregnated by non-human species while almost always bearing human children, then does this not imply that humans are no longer at risk of going extinct? Why, a single human male could sire hundreds of offspring with non-human females!"
Neil's eye twitches again. He starts to open his mouth, only to pause for half a second. Then he opens it again, but closes it once more, as if struggling to speak the truth within his mind.
All at once, he erupts with anger. "Those will NOT be trueborn humans! They will be bastards born of sin! I don't care what Miss Hiro says, a demon who gives birth to a so-called human will actually be spawning a servant of the devils!"
Countless people in the audience flinch in surprise at Neil's explosive words. Many outright gasp, shocked he would say such words out loud.
Indeed, many humans, especially those loyal to him in the military, hold such views. But the reason they feel expectant toward him is because they believed Neil would make their views more palatable to the masses.
Instead, he does the opposite!
...
All across Tarus II, more than a million humans watching the broadcast recoil from their screens in horror, hearing his clearly xenophobic views made manifest through his wicked lips.
"I can't believe this clown!" One human male civilian says. "Everyone knows Neil doesn't like demons, but who knew the true depths of his hatred?? There are obviously countless evil demons out there, but I'm not gonna listen to this prick while he shits on the good ones like Samantha! She saved my boy from an infection that would've killed him!"
"She helped my husband recover from a broken back." A woman nearby adds. "He fell from a roof and would have been paralyzed for life, but Samantha and Leeroy patched him right up. If the Commander can't even acknowledge the good done by demons like them, how can we trust his judgment?"
A trooper sitting in the same room frowns. "Neil might have gone a little too far, but you can't pretend he's wrong. Humans need to stick together! We need to repopulate!"
"We CAN repopulate! We'll easily make babies with tons of non-humans!"
"Those won't be humans! Like Neil said, they'll be half-breed hellspawn!"
"You're just as bad as him, you bastard! Get the hell out of this bar! We don't want you here!"
...
Phoebe listens to Neil's words, unaware of the outbreak of anti-Neil sentiment across Tarus II, but fully aware that his words absolutely went too far.
Rather than retort or saying anything, Phoebe remains silent, allowing Neil to continue shouting expletives while Yamir's expression turns dimmer and dimmer.
A wise person does not interrupt their enemies when they are making a mistake, Phoebe thinks to herself.
"Commander, are you saying that human children born of demons won't be trueborn humans after all, but half-breed bastards?" Yamir asks.
"That's exactly what I'm saying!" Neil snaps. "How can anyone think differently?! You really expect to take the WORDSMITH at face value? That imbecile has shot humanity in the foot too many times to be believed. How can he possibly know about the long-term effects of cross-breeding with demons? He only fixed the Flaw two weeks ago!"
"And what about humans breeding with monsters, such as Minotaurs, Harpies, and Goblins?" Yamir asks, his eyes suddenly narrowing to slits. "Are our progeny also considered... half-breed filth?"
"I-" Neil starts to say, only to suddenly realize the trap he just fell into. "I... that's not what I meant! Monsters are a valued ally of humanity! They're not the same as demons. Not at all!"
"So you believe that it would be fine if humans were to hatch children with their monstrous comrades?" Yamir asks, pressing the point harder.
"I... well- well of course!" Neil stutters, as sweat begins to build up on his forehead. "Monsters are... they are good friends... NO! God dammit, do you really want to make me say it?!"
Neil's fury explodes once again. "Humans belong with HUMANS! Not demons! Not monsters! Humans belong with their own kind! There, I said it! Does that make you feel better?!"
Yamir, and many other monsters like him, look at Neil with a new set of eyes, suddenly realizing their commander isn't only anti-demon, but anti-monster as well. His explosive words shatter the beliefs of countless humans, making them even angrier as his bigoted words touch upon a reverse scale of anger they never expected to feel on this day.
Many people ball their hands into fists while rage-filled thoughts roll around in their heads.
I can't believe it! Attacking demons is one thing, but the monsters have proven time and time again to be humanity's most loyal allies!
How could the Commander think such thoughts? King Kar gave his life to save humanity! Millions of monsters died during Stormbringer!
My best friend was a HARPIE! That fellow was my brother in arms! I'll never forgive the Commander for this!
Despite his rage-filled words, Neil doesn't lose his rationality. For once, he simply feels that holding back is no longer beneficial.
What does it matter if he enrages half of the humans?
So what if they decide to stay with Phoebe.
Would he really want a bunch of weak-willed demon and monster-lovers to come with him to his idyllic paradise on Maiura?
NO!
Far better for him to keep the humans who hold the values closest to his to come along.
Besides! Neil realizes something extremely important.
Humans aren't just able to breed with non-humans now. They're also able to breed with one another much more easily!
That means a much smaller population of pureblooded humans will be able to increase in number faster and more reliably than before.
So what if half of humanity stays with the First Wordsmith? Those who go along with Neil will be the most loyal, diehard purists of human thought he could ever pray for.
And so, Neil suddenly goes on the offensive...
"Wake up!" Neil barks at the crowd, while turning away from Yamir to ignore him entirely. "Do you disagree with me? Do you truly think these monsters are our friends?! It was a monster ruler, Bahamut, who imprisoned me and countless numbers of you! Bahamut even imprisoned my opponent, Phoebe! Do you really think that just because a tiny portion of monsters and demons have chosen to 'side' with humanity that they can be trusted? I THINK NOT!"
Neil sneers viciously. "These creatures are only pretending to be our allies! When push comes to shove, if the Volgrim attack, or the demons launch a full-scale invasion with the help of their new Archdemon, I would not count on our so-called Monster Allies to stand alongside us! For all we know, many of these monsters could be Volgrim Changelings! Spies sent to keep an eye on us until the time is right!"
Neil's words further enrage the people sympathetic to the demons and monsters, but at the same time they fire up his supporters, making them raise their fists in solidarity!
"Finally!" One soldier exclaims with a huge grin. "The Commander's saying what needs to be said! I'm about sick and goddamn tired of pretending to be friendly with these scaled, feathered, furry freaks!"
"Here, here, brother!" Another soldier adds. "Screw these 'demi' sympathizers! My trigger finger's itching!"
However, as Neil continues to rant, Phoebe's frown deepens. She finally realizes his newfound goal, and this causes her to finally speak up.
"Alright Neil. That is QUITE enough!" Phoebe roars, her voice booming loud enough to actually startle Neil into a momentary lapse of speaking. For some reason, the voice she bellows with doesn't just jolt him into silence, but for a moment, it even frightens him!
Something about her voice hits him with physical force, making the blood in his body roil momentarily. He whips his head to the side to look at her, stunned by this strange... attack?
"I think we've all gotten your point." Phoebe barks. "You want to split humanity? You want to form a coalition of bigots and xenophobes? FINE! Anyone willing to support you, as far as I'm concerned, is not a true human! We're more than violent thugs! We are HUMANS! That means we have compassion! We have love! We have empathy! I will not tolerate your intolerance a moment longer!"
"Compassion, love, empathy?!" Neil shoots back. "You speak of those traits as if they haven't resulted in the weakness that brought us down to our current numbers! It was your spineless husband who nearly brought our species to extinction!"
"My husband is a great man!" Phoebe retorts, shoving Yamir out of the way so she can shove a finger in Neil's face. "His flaws can be fixed with time! He can become smarter! He can become wiser! But you're a fool who is stuck in the past! All you want is to drag us into a never-ending war!"
"Humans thrive in times of danger!" Neil counters, slapping her hand aside. "We are a species with battle baked into our blood! Not a bunch of pathetic, piss-ant pansies! Maybe YOUR ways are holding us back!"
"I'll tell you what's holding us back-!" Phoebe starts to exclaim...
But suddenly, a flash of light erupts in the middle of the stage, catching her and Neil both offguard. They both step backward as that light materializes between them, in front of Yamir.
At that moment, a figure materializes out of thin air, his disposition imposing, and a powerful aura of divine energy rolling off the sword held in his right hand. In his left, a shepherd's staff hangs loosely, while a brilliant golden crown rests atop his head. He wears a white military uniform that appears distinguished and regal at the same time.
"Enough." Hope Hiro says, as his figure comes into focus for the cameras. "Enough from both of you."
Hope looks at Neil with a strange, distant expression. Then he turns his head to look at Phoebe, this time with a faintly empathetic look that shows his appearing here was not an easy decision to make.
The Second Wordsmith turns his attention to the people in the audience.
He lifts the sword in his hands up into the air, revealing its full glory to the people watching from all corners of humanity.
"Humans... are an Apex Species." Hope says slowly. "We are formidable. We are powerful. But we are also vulnerable. We are disorganized, distracted, and disturbed. Look inside yourselves. Is this the Humanity you want the rest of the galaxy to see? A shameful bunch of arguing moneys who can't make up their minds on anything?"
Hope lowers the blade known as Excalibur, but continues to allow its power to permeate outward, bathing the audience in waves of Holy Energy.
"My friend, Neil, has said a lot of things today." Hope says slowly. "Many things that I agreed with, and many that I did not. I cannot in good conscience allow him to slander the good name of our monster allies. Monster King Kar was a close friend of mine. Perhaps even my best friend. At the same time, while I have always held plenty of resentment toward the demons, I cannot go to the extreme lengths Neil has. There are good demons out there. Great demons. Demons I would trust more than some of my fellow humans."
Humanity's second most renowned Hero sighs softly.
"Phoebe has also made some good points. I watched from afar, and honestly, I became a little impressed by her and Jason's plans for a greater humanity. Can you imagine it? Our people... ascending to all become Heroes in their own right? It is a vision of the future I'd dearly like to see."
He smiles for a moment, but then that moment passes, and the smile slips away.
"I have a vision of my own. I have a vision of a united humanity... but different from the one proposed by Phoebe."
This time, Hope lifts up his left arm, revealing the coiled head of a Shepherd's Staff.
"This is the Dominion Rod." Hope says evenly. "It is possessed by the soul of the very first Human Hero. The ancient Hero-King known as Jepthath. And the power he wields is terrifying, indeed."
"Through the power of the Dominion Rod, those who swear fealty to Jepthath can become linked to one another. You have already had your Flaws cured. You will develop different, unique powers over time. But the Dominion Rod can take this future trajectory... and supercharge it!"
Hope's eyes flash with excitement.
"Those who swear fealty can become united in minds, bodies, and souls! We will share our thoughts! We will share our desires! If one of you gains the power to manipulate flames, ALL humans will obtain that power! If a human gains the power to copy a Psion, then ALL humans will obtain that power!"
"Even if not one human gains a new power, we will all share ONE power; the one belonging to Jepthath! We will become as strong as the ancient Titans! We'll have bodies capable of shattering buildings! The strength to move mountains! The speed to do battle with Demon Emperors! Every human will reach the apex of what the mortal world can offer!"
Hope glances at Phoebe for a moment before looking back at the people again.
"What humanity lacks is time. Perhaps, if Phoebe and Jason have their way, some of you, many of you, or even all of you may ascend to become Heroes as strong as Jason and I. But then again, perhaps none of you will! And even if you do, how long will that take?"
"By swearing fealty to Jepthath, we can immediately empower our species! We can gain the capital to stand our ground and make our enemies afraid of crossing us! We won't need to fear deceptions, because our minds will be united. No Changeling will infiltrate us, because our minds will be united! And even if someone succeeds... we can simply crush them like a bug! The other Sentients will no longer be able to trample on our dignity!"
As Hope speaks, the eyes of many humans light up with excitement.
Who wouldn't want to gain incredible strength and speed, especially if it came as easily as the Second Wordsmith claims?
Who wouldn't want to solve the problems plaguing human society just by swearing fealty to an ancient, powerful Hero?
Who wouldn't want to uplift themselves and gain access to a variety of powers as more and more humans manifested their true human powers?
Many people who were outraged at Neil find themselves leaning more toward Hope's proposition.
Many who were ardent followers of Neil also become swayed by Hope's offer. For plenty of soldiers, more strength means more of a chance at becoming powerful enough to protect their friends and families!
While the monster and demon allies of humanity aren't exactly enthralled by an offer that won't benefit them, they do feel that Hope suddenly feels like a less vile alternative to Neil's outright xenophobia. Better for humanity to become capable of protecting itself while staying friends with its demon and monster allies than to turn on them viciously.
Just as Hope is about to hold up the Dominion Rod and ask for his fellow humans to follow his lead...
Foop!
Another figure pops into existence, this time on Phoebe's left.
Jason Hiro!
The First Wordsmith, like his counterpart, watched the proceedings, only now deciding to make his move after seeing his clone break the unspoken rule of not interfering with Neil and Phoebe's debate.
Phoebe jumps in surprise as she feels her husbands hand lightly press against her back. She turns to look at him.
"Jason?"
"It's me." Jason says, smiling at her. "It's really me. I solved the issue... and it seems Hope did too."
Jason looks over Phoebe's head at his clone, who also turns to look at him.
Hope and Jason frown in unison, with Hope immediately becoming annoyed that Jason would show his face, while Jason is equally annoyed he had to make an appearance to even out the power imbalance.
"You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" Jason asks blandly, his voice projecting to the audience without even needing a microphone. "You had to come here and swing your big sword around, let everyone know about your super-duper plan to perfectly solve humanity's problems."
Hope sneers. "At least I have a sword, Jason. I have Excalibur, humanity's mightiest weapon! I have Solomon's Crown, which grants me wisdom beyond anything you can offer. And I have the Dominion Rod, which will allow me to unify our people into an unstoppable force!"
Jason crosses his arms, looking unamused.
"I don't have any of those things, Hope. But I don't need them either. Because I have something you don't..."
He pauses.
"...I have a brain!"
Hope blinks. "Excuse me? Care to repeat that?"
"You tried to fool everyone, but it's too bad I showed up." Jason snaps back. He turns his head to look at the crowd. "Hope told you the truth about the Dominion Rod's power. But what he failed to tell you was the cost of accepting it as your master!"
Thousands of people form invisible question marks over their heads.
The cost of accepting its power? What cost? Many quietly wonder.
"Hope sneakily slipped a portion of the truth into his little speech," Jason explains, "but he downplayed the severity. Didn't you hear what he said? Once you accept the power of the Dominion Rod, you will have to share everything. Your thoughts, your emotions, even your deepest, darkest secrets. And that's not all!"
Hope glowers at Jason as the First Wordsmith continues speaking.
"When you become a servant of Jepthath, you lose ALL your autonomy! If Jepthath so desires, he will be able to control the lot of you like puppets! If he tells you to throw yourselves into a burning star for the 'good of humanity,' that is exactly what you'll have to do. If he tells you to give up your husbands and wives to others he deems more worthy, then THAT is what you'll do! You won't have a say in the matter!"
Jason turns his head to glare cruelly at Hope. "Am I lying, Hope? Do you dare offer a retort?! You tried to sucker people into a free lunch, but anyone with a brain knows power always has a cost!"
Hope squeezes the Dominion Rod tightly, hurting his palm as he exerts his maximum strength onto its handle. "The price is not too steep to pay! Humanity needs power!"
"If people go along with your scheme, they won't even BE humans anymore!" Jason shouts back. "What makes a human, Hope, Neil?! My wife and I believe it is our compassion, our love, and our empathy! But I would go even further! It is our individuality, yet also our ability to sacrifice for the good of others! By becoming a monolith of thought, we would be no better than the Plague, or even the Volgrim! A bunch of drones doing as the Commander Unit demands! That is NOT the humanity I want to see!"
Jason pounds his fist against his palm for emphasis.
"If this debate has shown me one thing, it is that I was painfully naive. I didn't think humanity's differences had grown as big as I now understand they have. But now I see the truth... there are many who want to kill, kill, kill, and there are just as many who wish to spread love and peace! These two factions are fundamentally opposed. We cannot remain united any longer!"
Hope blinks. So does Neil.
"Wait..." Neil says slowly. "Are you implying...?"
"I agree with you, for once, Neil." Jason says authoritatively. "Humanity cannot remain united. In fact, I say it MUST NOT! Through your ignorance and bigotry, you have convinced me of such QUITE thoroughly! How can I stand alongside those who think nothing but vitriolic thoughts towards others who have never treated them badly in the slightest?!"
Jason flashes a look of rage toward the crowd.
"I have heard the truth of the matter spoken through your lips! I heard what many of you whispered when you thought none were listening. There are countless humans among you I do not wish to call my friends any longer."
"So, from this day forward, I declare that humanity should split apart!" Jason roars.
The crowd explodes with shock.
During this entire debate, Jason's wife argued for unity, but at the very end, he swooped in and undermined all of her arguments.
Doesn't he feel that he betrayed and made her look like a fool??
Jason's expression calms down. "While I say that we must split, I do not think two factions is enough. Neil is right about one thing. We are exceptionally vulnerable to a single, coordinated attack! Even if humanity splits to two different worlds, such as Tarus II and Maiura, we are only barely more likely to survive two attacks from Demon Deities, Cosmic Psions, or other frightening monsters."
He turns his entire body to face the crowd, then lifts a finger for emphasis.
"I have a proposition for all of you. Humanity can now breed with non-humans to make more humans. Therefore, the future path we must take is logical. Become many and fill the Milky Way! I have spoken to Demon Deity Melody, ruler of the world of Sharmur. She has taken back control of the planet, and wishes to re-establish a safe haven for humans and demons alike. If any of you wish to join her, you may do so at your leisure!"
Countless humans, especially those who once lived on Sharmur, flash expressions of excitement at one another!
They enjoyed wonderful lives on Sharmur, free of strife, until the Wordsmith took them away. To them, this could not be a better offer, and they immediately decide they would rather stick with a reliable leader like Melody than their fellow humans who have continually dropped the ball.
"But that isn't all!" Jason says. "Do you enjoy living here, on Tarus II? So be it! Stay here, and remain among this community I have built up over the last six years. I promise I will do better in protecting you all, and I will make your stay here even more pleasant than before."
"But what if you align more with Neil's interests? Fine! Go and be with him, or Hope, or wherever you wish. Go to the Labyrinth, or to any other world you prefer. Do not feel obligated to stay here if your bigotry will not allow it. Don't let the door hit your asses on the way out!"
Jason chuckles smugly. "And if you want to go along with Hope's offer? To become a slave of the First Hero? Go ahead! I'm sure nothing bad will come of those who become vassals to that ancient powerhouse. Your lives will definitely be 'smooth sailing'. Hah!"
Jason's mocking tone causes many who still remained interested in Hope's deal to only solidify their plans. Despite hearing the price they might have to pay, they would still rather place their faith in Hope than in Jason, and not much would ever change their minds...
"I have other offers, for those of you who might be interested." Jason continues. "Fairy Queen Blinker has told me the fairies might be interested in re-homing humans who are willing. I also have certain secret places some of you may wish to go to if you want to avoid the upcoming wars entirely. These secluded domains will not be easy for the Volgrim, the Demons, or the Plague to locate. Time will pass quickly inside, and you will live boring but stable lives. For those of you only interested in rearing families, I would recommend this option! In fact, I bet even Hope could recommend a 'special space' of his own!"
Jason and Hope exchange a glance. The Second Wordsmith frowns, realizing Jason must have learned about the existence of the Hall of Heroes. But then again, Hope also knows Jason has his own time-accelerated realm. The two of them are not unique in this regard.
As for the details of their respective realms, neither one knows the exact location of their hidden domains. In that respect, they are both equal...
"So that is that!" Jason concludes. "You're all Sentients. You know who you are! As Humans, you should have the right to make your own decisions. I no longer believe that coddling the lot of you and forcing you into some unified, egalitarian utopia will ever properly work. Better to let you choose the lives you want to live, and reap the rewards or suffer the consequences of those choices. I only pray you won't regret whatever decisions you make."
Jason waves his hand flippantly.
"That is all! I will be opening a cross-species hall for people to apply for their preferred destination. A few weeks from now, we will announce the results, and you can all go to whatever place your heart desires!"
He turns to look at his opponents. "Neil! Hope! Do the two of you have any issues with this decree?"
Both men glare at Jason. Neither one offers a word of retort.
"No." Neil says quietly. "I've gotten what I wanted."
"As have I." Hope says darkly. "Well played, Jason."
The First Wordsmith ignores his clone's snide compliment.
"Then it's settled. I declare this farce of a 'Great Debate' to be over. DISMISSED!"
As Jason speaks the final words that will be broadcast to all his fellow humans, a collective sigh of relief goes up around Tarus II, Maiura, and the other sectors that tuned in to watch.
This day has changed the status quo forever... and only time will tell if it was for the better.
submitted by Klokinator to HFY [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:31 Klokinator Cryopod Refresh 555: What Makes a Human?!

Following the end of the two opening and closing arguments, the Great Debate enters a new format. No longer do Phoebe and Neil speak unopposed, but instead they both stand at their respective podiums on the left and right, with Yamir positioned between them.
The Minotaur holds up a microphone and speaks. "People of humanity, today has truly been eye-opening to this humble chef. Mister Adams and Miss Hiro have both revealed shocking and interesting information. Not only has Neil spoken of Threats we will someday face, originating from within our own galaxy as well as more distant ones, but Phoebe has told us that Humanity has lost its Flaw! What this means for the future, I cannot say exactly, but I am certainly interested in hearing more."
The Minotaur turns to look at Neil. "Commander Adams, is it fair to say that your position in this debate is that humanity should split in half for the sake of maintaining a cohesive bloodline and culture? Should they split apart in order to ensure a more 'pure' species takes root in the Milky Way, while allowing demon and monster-lovers to stay here, on Tarus II?"
The corner of Neil's eye flickers while he forces a smile. "There is more to it than that. We are also vulnerable to a single act of destruction! By placing all of humanity on one world, we make it possible for a powerful Cosmic deviant such as Mephisto to annihilate our species in merely one attack! As for leaving humans behind, I would honestly prefer if all humans went to Maiura while leaving the demons behind, but that doesn't seem likely to happen."
"You contradict yourself!" Phoebe exclaims, interjecting without hesitation. "You say humanity should split in order to ensure we cannot fall all at once, but you would also rather all the humans stay together in a mono-culture. Admit the truth, Neil. You're just a bigot who hates demons! I bet you'd even prefer it if our monster allies weren't a part of your perfect and pure society!"
"That is not what I said." Neil answers calmly. "Humans need to stick together in these times. We have a tiny fraction of the population of other Sentients. We cannot risk spreading ourselves out and preventing our population growth from accelerating."
Yamir holds up his hand to politely prevent Phoebe from jumping in. "That is an interesting statement, Commander. But what about Miss Hiro's revelation that humans are potentially a superior species in the genetics department? If humans can indeed somehow impregnate or become impregnated by non-human species while almost always bearing human children, then does this not imply that humans are no longer at risk of going extinct? Why, a single human male could sire hundreds of offspring with non-human females!"
Neil's eye twitches again. He starts to open his mouth, only to pause for half a second. Then he opens it again, but closes it once more, as if struggling to speak the truth within his mind.
All at once, he erupts with anger. "Those will NOT be trueborn humans! They will be bastards born of sin! I don't care what Miss Hiro says, a demon who gives birth to a so-called human will actually be spawning a servant of the devils!"
Countless people in the audience flinch in surprise at Neil's explosive words. Many outright gasp, shocked he would say such words out loud.
Indeed, many humans, especially those loyal to him in the military, hold such views. But the reason they feel expectant toward him is because they believed Neil would make their views more palatable to the masses.
Instead, he does the opposite!
...
All across Tarus II, more than a million humans watching the broadcast recoil from their screens in horror, hearing his clearly xenophobic views made manifest through his wicked lips.
"I can't believe this clown!" One human male civilian says. "Everyone knows Neil doesn't like demons, but who knew the true depths of his hatred?? There are obviously countless evil demons out there, but I'm not gonna listen to this prick while he shits on the good ones like Samantha! She saved my boy from an infection that would've killed him!"
"She helped my husband recover from a broken back." A woman nearby adds. "He fell from a roof and would have been paralyzed for life, but Samantha and Leeroy patched him right up. If the Commander can't even acknowledge the good done by demons like them, how can we trust his judgment?"
A trooper sitting in the same room frowns. "Neil might have gone a little too far, but you can't pretend he's wrong. Humans need to stick together! We need to repopulate!"
"We CAN repopulate! We'll easily make babies with tons of non-humans!"
"Those won't be humans! Like Neil said, they'll be half-breed hellspawn!"
"You're just as bad as him, you bastard! Get the hell out of this bar! We don't want you here!"
...
Phoebe listens to Neil's words, unaware of the outbreak of anti-Neil sentiment across Tarus II, but fully aware that his words absolutely went too far.
Rather than retort or saying anything, Phoebe remains silent, allowing Neil to continue shouting expletives while Yamir's expression turns dimmer and dimmer.
A wise person does not interrupt their enemies when they are making a mistake, Phoebe thinks to herself.
"Commander, are you saying that human children born of demons won't be trueborn humans after all, but half-breed bastards?" Yamir asks.
"That's exactly what I'm saying!" Neil snaps. "How can anyone think differently?! You really expect to take the WORDSMITH at face value? That imbecile has shot humanity in the foot too many times to be believed. How can he possibly know about the long-term effects of cross-breeding with demons? He only fixed the Flaw two weeks ago!"
"And what about humans breeding with monsters, such as Minotaurs, Harpies, and Goblins?" Yamir asks, his eyes suddenly narrowing to slits. "Are our progeny also considered... half-breed filth?"
"I-" Neil starts to say, only to suddenly realize the trap he just fell into. "I... that's not what I meant! Monsters are a valued ally of humanity! They're not the same as demons. Not at all!"
"So you believe that it would be fine if humans were to hatch children with their monstrous comrades?" Yamir asks, pressing the point harder.
"I... well- well of course!" Neil stutters, as sweat begins to build up on his forehead. "Monsters are... they are good friends... NO! God dammit, do you really want to make me say it?!"
Neil's fury explodes once again. "Humans belong with HUMANS! Not demons! Not monsters! Humans belong with their own kind! There, I said it! Does that make you feel better?!"
Yamir, and many other monsters like him, look at Neil with a new set of eyes, suddenly realizing their commander isn't only anti-demon, but anti-monster as well. His explosive words shatter the beliefs of countless humans, making them even angrier as his bigoted words touch upon a reverse scale of anger they never expected to feel on this day.
Many people ball their hands into fists while rage-filled thoughts roll around in their heads.
I can't believe it! Attacking demons is one thing, but the monsters have proven time and time again to be humanity's most loyal allies!
How could the Commander think such thoughts? King Kar gave his life to save humanity! Millions of monsters died during Stormbringer!
My best friend was a HARPIE! That fellow was my brother in arms! I'll never forgive the Commander for this!
Despite his rage-filled words, Neil doesn't lose his rationality. For once, he simply feels that holding back is no longer beneficial.
What does it matter if he enrages half of the humans?
So what if they decide to stay with Phoebe.
Would he really want a bunch of weak-willed demon and monster-lovers to come with him to his idyllic paradise on Maiura?
NO!
Far better for him to keep the humans who hold the values closest to his to come along.
Besides! Neil realizes something extremely important.
Humans aren't just able to breed with non-humans now. They're also able to breed with one another much more easily!
That means a much smaller population of pureblooded humans will be able to increase in number faster and more reliably than before.
So what if half of humanity stays with the First Wordsmith? Those who go along with Neil will be the most loyal, diehard purists of human thought he could ever pray for.
And so, Neil suddenly goes on the offensive...
"Wake up!" Neil barks at the crowd, while turning away from Yamir to ignore him entirely. "Do you disagree with me? Do you truly think these monsters are our friends?! It was a monster ruler, Bahamut, who imprisoned me and countless numbers of you! Bahamut even imprisoned my opponent, Phoebe! Do you really think that just because a tiny portion of monsters and demons have chosen to 'side' with humanity that they can be trusted? I THINK NOT!"
Neil sneers viciously. "These creatures are only pretending to be our allies! When push comes to shove, if the Volgrim attack, or the demons launch a full-scale invasion with the help of their new Archdemon, I would not count on our so-called Monster Allies to stand alongside us! For all we know, many of these monsters could be Volgrim Changelings! Spies sent to keep an eye on us until the time is right!"
Neil's words further enrage the people sympathetic to the demons and monsters, but at the same time they fire up his supporters, making them raise their fists in solidarity!
"Finally!" One soldier exclaims with a huge grin. "The Commander's saying what needs to be said! I'm about sick and goddamn tired of pretending to be friendly with these scaled, feathered, furry freaks!"
"Here, here, brother!" Another soldier adds. "Screw these 'demi' sympathizers! My trigger finger's itching!"
However, as Neil continues to rant, Phoebe's frown deepens. She finally realizes his newfound goal, and this causes her to finally speak up.
"Alright Neil. That is QUITE enough!" Phoebe roars, her voice booming loud enough to actually startle Neil into a momentary lapse of speaking. For some reason, the voice she bellows with doesn't just jolt him into silence, but for a moment, it even frightens him!
Something about her voice hits him with physical force, making the blood in his body roil momentarily. He whips his head to the side to look at her, stunned by this strange... attack?
"I think we've all gotten your point." Phoebe barks. "You want to split humanity? You want to form a coalition of bigots and xenophobes? FINE! Anyone willing to support you, as far as I'm concerned, is not a true human! We're more than violent thugs! We are HUMANS! That means we have compassion! We have love! We have empathy! I will not tolerate your intolerance a moment longer!"
"Compassion, love, empathy?!" Neil shoots back. "You speak of those traits as if they haven't resulted in the weakness that brought us down to our current numbers! It was your spineless husband who nearly brought our species to extinction!"
"My husband is a great man!" Phoebe retorts, shoving Yamir out of the way so she can shove a finger in Neil's face. "His flaws can be fixed with time! He can become smarter! He can become wiser! But you're a fool who is stuck in the past! All you want is to drag us into a never-ending war!"
"Humans thrive in times of danger!" Neil counters, slapping her hand aside. "We are a species with battle baked into our blood! Not a bunch of pathetic, piss-ant pansies! Maybe YOUR ways are holding us back!"
"I'll tell you what's holding us back-!" Phoebe starts to exclaim...
But suddenly, a flash of light erupts in the middle of the stage, catching her and Neil both offguard. They both step backward as that light materializes between them, in front of Yamir.
At that moment, a figure materializes out of thin air, his disposition imposing, and a powerful aura of divine energy rolling off the sword held in his right hand. In his left, a shepherd's staff hangs loosely, while a brilliant golden crown rests atop his head. He wears a white military uniform that appears distinguished and regal at the same time.
"Enough." Hope Hiro says, as his figure comes into focus for the cameras. "Enough from both of you."
Hope looks at Neil with a strange, distant expression. Then he turns his head to look at Phoebe, this time with a faintly empathetic look that shows his appearing here was not an easy decision to make.
The Second Wordsmith turns his attention to the people in the audience.
He lifts the sword in his hands up into the air, revealing its full glory to the people watching from all corners of humanity.
"Humans... are an Apex Species." Hope says slowly. "We are formidable. We are powerful. But we are also vulnerable. We are disorganized, distracted, and disturbed. Look inside yourselves. Is this the Humanity you want the rest of the galaxy to see? A shameful bunch of arguing moneys who can't make up their minds on anything?"
Hope lowers the blade known as Excalibur, but continues to allow its power to permeate outward, bathing the audience in waves of Holy Energy.
"My friend, Neil, has said a lot of things today." Hope says slowly. "Many things that I agreed with, and many that I did not. I cannot in good conscience allow him to slander the good name of our monster allies. Monster King Kar was a close friend of mine. Perhaps even my best friend. At the same time, while I have always held plenty of resentment toward the demons, I cannot go to the extreme lengths Neil has. There are good demons out there. Great demons. Demons I would trust more than some of my fellow humans."
Humanity's second most renowned Hero sighs softly.
"Phoebe has also made some good points. I watched from afar, and honestly, I became a little impressed by her and Jason's plans for a greater humanity. Can you imagine it? Our people... ascending to all become Heroes in their own right? It is a vision of the future I'd dearly like to see."
He smiles for a moment, but then that moment passes, and the smile slips away.
"I have a vision of my own. I have a vision of a united humanity... but different from the one proposed by Phoebe."
This time, Hope lifts up his left arm, revealing the coiled head of a Shepherd's Staff.
"This is the Dominion Rod." Hope says evenly. "It is possessed by the soul of the very first Human Hero. The ancient Hero-King known as Jepthath. And the power he wields is terrifying, indeed."
"Through the power of the Dominion Rod, those who swear fealty to Jepthath can become linked to one another. You have already had your Flaws cured. You will develop different, unique powers over time. But the Dominion Rod can take this future trajectory... and supercharge it!"
Hope's eyes flash with excitement.
"Those who swear fealty can become united in minds, bodies, and souls! We will share our thoughts! We will share our desires! If one of you gains the power to manipulate flames, ALL humans will obtain that power! If a human gains the power to copy a Psion, then ALL humans will obtain that power!"
"Even if not one human gains a new power, we will all share ONE power; the one belonging to Jepthath! We will become as strong as the ancient Titans! We'll have bodies capable of shattering buildings! The strength to move mountains! The speed to do battle with Demon Emperors! Every human will reach the apex of what the mortal world can offer!"
Hope glances at Phoebe for a moment before looking back at the people again.
"What humanity lacks is time. Perhaps, if Phoebe and Jason have their way, some of you, many of you, or even all of you may ascend to become Heroes as strong as Jason and I. But then again, perhaps none of you will! And even if you do, how long will that take?"
"By swearing fealty to Jepthath, we can immediately empower our species! We can gain the capital to stand our ground and make our enemies afraid of crossing us! We won't need to fear deceptions, because our minds will be united. No Changeling will infiltrate us, because our minds will be united! And even if someone succeeds... we can simply crush them like a bug! The other Sentients will no longer be able to trample on our dignity!"
As Hope speaks, the eyes of many humans light up with excitement.
Who wouldn't want to gain incredible strength and speed, especially if it came as easily as the Second Wordsmith claims?
Who wouldn't want to solve the problems plaguing human society just by swearing fealty to an ancient, powerful Hero?
Who wouldn't want to uplift themselves and gain access to a variety of powers as more and more humans manifested their true human powers?
Many people who were outraged at Neil find themselves leaning more toward Hope's proposition.
Many who were ardent followers of Neil also become swayed by Hope's offer. For plenty of soldiers, more strength means more of a chance at becoming powerful enough to protect their friends and families!
While the monster and demon allies of humanity aren't exactly enthralled by an offer that won't benefit them, they do feel that Hope suddenly feels like a less vile alternative to Neil's outright xenophobia. Better for humanity to become capable of protecting itself while staying friends with its demon and monster allies than to turn on them viciously.
Just as Hope is about to hold up the Dominion Rod and ask for his fellow humans to follow his lead...
Foop!
Another figure pops into existence, this time on Phoebe's left.
Jason Hiro!
The First Wordsmith, like his counterpart, watched the proceedings, only now deciding to make his move after seeing his clone break the unspoken rule of not interfering with Neil and Phoebe's debate.
Phoebe jumps in surprise as she feels her husbands hand lightly press against her back. She turns to look at him.
"Jason?"
"It's me." Jason says, smiling at her. "It's really me. I solved the issue... and it seems Hope did too."
Jason looks over Phoebe's head at his clone, who also turns to look at him.
Hope and Jason frown in unison, with Hope immediately becoming annoyed that Jason would show his face, while Jason is equally annoyed he had to make an appearance to even out the power imbalance.
"You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" Jason asks blandly, his voice projecting to the audience without even needing a microphone. "You had to come here and swing your big sword around, let everyone know about your super-duper plan to perfectly solve humanity's problems."
Hope sneers. "At least I have a sword, Jason. I have Excalibur, humanity's mightiest weapon! I have Solomon's Crown, which grants me wisdom beyond anything you can offer. And I have the Dominion Rod, which will allow me to unify our people into an unstoppable force!"
Jason crosses his arms, looking unamused.
"I don't have any of those things, Hope. But I don't need them either. Because I have something you don't..."
He pauses.
"...I have a brain!"
Hope blinks. "Excuse me? Care to repeat that?"
"You tried to fool everyone, but it's too bad I showed up." Jason snaps back. He turns his head to look at the crowd. "Hope told you the truth about the Dominion Rod's power. But what he failed to tell you was the cost of accepting it as your master!"
Thousands of people form invisible question marks over their heads.
The cost of accepting its power? What cost? Many quietly wonder.
"Hope sneakily slipped a portion of the truth into his little speech," Jason explains, "but he downplayed the severity. Didn't you hear what he said? Once you accept the power of the Dominion Rod, you will have to share everything. Your thoughts, your emotions, even your deepest, darkest secrets. And that's not all!"
Hope glowers at Jason as the First Wordsmith continues speaking.
"When you become a servant of Jepthath, you lose ALL your autonomy! If Jepthath so desires, he will be able to control the lot of you like puppets! If he tells you to throw yourselves into a burning star for the 'good of humanity,' that is exactly what you'll have to do. If he tells you to give up your husbands and wives to others he deems more worthy, then THAT is what you'll do! You won't have a say in the matter!"
Jason turns his head to glare cruelly at Hope. "Am I lying, Hope? Do you dare offer a retort?! You tried to sucker people into a free lunch, but anyone with a brain knows power always has a cost!"
Hope squeezes the Dominion Rod tightly, hurting his palm as he exerts his maximum strength onto its handle. "The price is not too steep to pay! Humanity needs power!"
"If people go along with your scheme, they won't even BE humans anymore!" Jason shouts back. "What makes a human, Hope, Neil?! My wife and I believe it is our compassion, our love, and our empathy! But I would go even further! It is our individuality, yet also our ability to sacrifice for the good of others! By becoming a monolith of thought, we would be no better than the Plague, or even the Volgrim! A bunch of drones doing as the Commander Unit demands! That is NOT the humanity I want to see!"
Jason pounds his fist against his palm for emphasis.
"If this debate has shown me one thing, it is that I was painfully naive. I didn't think humanity's differences had grown as big as I now understand they have. But now I see the truth... there are many who want to kill, kill, kill, and there are just as many who wish to spread love and peace! These two factions are fundamentally opposed. We cannot remain united any longer!"
Hope blinks. So does Neil.
"Wait..." Neil says slowly. "Are you implying...?"
"I agree with you, for once, Neil." Jason says authoritatively. "Humanity cannot remain united. In fact, I say it MUST NOT! Through your ignorance and bigotry, you have convinced me of such QUITE thoroughly! How can I stand alongside those who think nothing but vitriolic thoughts towards others who have never treated them badly in the slightest?!"
Jason flashes a look of rage toward the crowd.
"I have heard the truth of the matter spoken through your lips! I heard what many of you whispered when you thought none were listening. There are countless humans among you I do not wish to call my friends any longer."
"So, from this day forward, I declare that humanity should split apart!" Jason roars.
The crowd explodes with shock.
During this entire debate, Jason's wife argued for unity, but at the very end, he swooped in and undermined all of her arguments.
Doesn't he feel that he betrayed and made her look like a fool??
Jason's expression calms down. "While I say that we must split, I do not think two factions is enough. Neil is right about one thing. We are exceptionally vulnerable to a single, coordinated attack! Even if humanity splits to two different worlds, such as Tarus II and Maiura, we are only barely more likely to survive two attacks from Demon Deities, Cosmic Psions, or other frightening monsters."
He turns his entire body to face the crowd, then lifts a finger for emphasis.
"I have a proposition for all of you. Humanity can now breed with non-humans to make more humans. Therefore, the future path we must take is logical. Become many and fill the Milky Way! I have spoken to Demon Deity Melody, ruler of the world of Sharmur. She has taken back control of the planet, and wishes to re-establish a safe haven for humans and demons alike. If any of you wish to join her, you may do so at your leisure!"
Countless humans, especially those who once lived on Sharmur, flash expressions of excitement at one another!
They enjoyed wonderful lives on Sharmur, free of strife, until the Wordsmith took them away. To them, this could not be a better offer, and they immediately decide they would rather stick with a reliable leader like Melody than their fellow humans who have continually dropped the ball.
"But that isn't all!" Jason says. "Do you enjoy living here, on Tarus II? So be it! Stay here, and remain among this community I have built up over the last six years. I promise I will do better in protecting you all, and I will make your stay here even more pleasant than before."
"But what if you align more with Neil's interests? Fine! Go and be with him, or Hope, or wherever you wish. Go to the Labyrinth, or to any other world you prefer. Do not feel obligated to stay here if your bigotry will not allow it. Don't let the door hit your asses on the way out!"
Jason chuckles smugly. "And if you want to go along with Hope's offer? To become a slave of the First Hero? Go ahead! I'm sure nothing bad will come of those who become vassals to that ancient powerhouse. Your lives will definitely be 'smooth sailing'. Hah!"
Jason's mocking tone causes many who still remained interested in Hope's deal to only solidify their plans. Despite hearing the price they might have to pay, they would still rather place their faith in Hope than in Jason, and not much would ever change their minds...
"I have other offers, for those of you who might be interested." Jason continues. "Fairy Queen Blinker has told me the fairies might be interested in re-homing humans who are willing. I also have certain secret places some of you may wish to go to if you want to avoid the upcoming wars entirely. These secluded domains will not be easy for the Volgrim, the Demons, or the Plague to locate. Time will pass quickly inside, and you will live boring but stable lives. For those of you only interested in rearing families, I would recommend this option! In fact, I bet even Hope could recommend a 'special space' of his own!"
Jason and Hope exchange a glance. The Second Wordsmith frowns, realizing Jason must have learned about the existence of the Hall of Heroes. But then again, Hope also knows Jason has his own time-accelerated realm. The two of them are not unique in this regard.
As for the details of their respective realms, neither one knows the exact location of their hidden domains. In that respect, they are both equal...
"So that is that!" Jason concludes. "You're all Sentients. You know who you are! As Humans, you should have the right to make your own decisions. I no longer believe that coddling the lot of you and forcing you into some unified, egalitarian utopia will ever properly work. Better to let you choose the lives you want to live, and reap the rewards or suffer the consequences of those choices. I only pray you won't regret whatever decisions you make."
Jason waves his hand flippantly.
"That is all! I will be opening a cross-species hall for people to apply for their preferred destination. A few weeks from now, we will announce the results, and you can all go to whatever place your heart desires!"
He turns to look at his opponents. "Neil! Hope! Do the two of you have any issues with this decree?"
Both men glare at Jason. Neither one offers a word of retort.
"No." Neil says quietly. "I've gotten what I wanted."
"As have I." Hope says darkly. "Well played, Jason."
The First Wordsmith ignores his clone's snide compliment.
"Then it's settled. I declare this farce of a 'Great Debate' to be over. DISMISSED!"
As Jason speaks the final words that will be broadcast to all his fellow humans, a collective sigh of relief goes up around Tarus II, Maiura, and the other sectors that tuned in to watch.
This day has changed the status quo forever... and only time will tell if it was for the better.
submitted by Klokinator to TheCryopodToHell [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:25 Prashant-12345 Should we leave the job of enacting the “Same-sex Marriage Law (SSML)” for the Parliament?

Parliament is made of its members who have compulsion to remain popular among the masses because they have to get votes. They can never grant the Human Rights or the Fundamental Rights to a minority class against the wishes of the majority class. The parliamentarians can only concentrate on their vote banks. They can make laws only to appease the masses even at the cost of ignoring the Principle of Natural Justice. The Parliament cannot be relied upon. It is a Parliament of the heterosexuals, by the heterosexuals, for the heterosexuals.
We need not go very far to get a proof of this. Who removed IPC-377? Would parliament have ever removed it? Absolutely not. IPC-377 would have been hanging over our neck like a sword even today had Judiciary not declared it unconstitutional.
Whenever a bill is presented to the parliament for voting, at first the parliament discusses it thoroughly, sometimes for days and may be even for longer periods. Each and every aspect of the bill, its consequences, pros and cons etc. are analyzed at length. The voting is done only after all the members have understood all the prospects of the bill completely and no member has any doubt about them.
However, most MP's know nothing about homosexuality. They think that it is an abnormal and unnatural human behaviour, a mental disease and a perversion. They also think that it is the choice of a person to be a homosexual. In such a situation, the outcome of the voting on SSML is already known.
If the job of enacting the SSML is left to the parliament, first the MP's need to be given a thorough training on Medical Facts about Homosexuality and a rigourous understanding of the opinion of medical science on the subject.
Homosexuality is not a choice, it is a compulsion imposed on a person by nature (or God). Nobody becomes a homosexual by his or her choice. Homosexuals are born and not created or converted. One’s sexual orientation is decided by nature when one is still in one’s mother’s womb and it becomes apparent only after reaching puberty when one starts feeling attracted to other people. Nobody else can know a person’s sexual orientation unless he/she tells. There is no drug or therapy discovered/invented by medical science which can convert a person born as homosexual into a heterosexual. Homosexuality is not based on caste, community, race, region, religion, skin colour, ethnicity, culture etc.
Out of every 100 persons born on this earth, about 2–3 are always born as homosexual. This percentage remains constant in countries where gay marriages are legal such as Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, UK, USA, Canada, Australia, France, Taiwan etc. (more than 30 countries) and in countries where homosexuality is punished by death such as Iran, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Uganda etc.
Homosexuality is not a mental disorder. Homosexuals are perfectly healthy people as far as their mental condition is concerned. Just like a heterosexual, a homosexual can also do any job. He can be an engineer, a doctor, scientist, lawyer, journalist, teacher, fashion designer, businessman, pilot, CA, sportsman, actor, politician, minister, governor, and even a king. Medical science has declared that homosexuality is 100% same and as natural as heterosexuality with no difference between them. Just like it is normal for a heterosexual man to get attracted towards a woman and for a heterosexual woman to get attracted towards a man, it is also perfectly normal and natural for a man who has taken birth as a homosexual to get sexually attracted to a man and for a lesbian to get attracted to a woman. The only difference between the two is that the number of homosexuals is very small in comparison to heterosexuals. However, being less in number does not mean that they have a mental disorder. The number of Parsis is very small in India and in the world. Are Parsis abnormal? The number of people who do not like Cricket in India is quite small. Has anybody ever said that such people have a mental disorder. Numerous such examples are there.
All these things need to be explained to the MP's before they go for voting on SSML They should also be told that not giving homosexuals their fundamental rights is a great social evil with very serious adverse consequence on the society.
The Constitution is supreme. The parliament has to work under the Constitution. For this reason, the makers of the Constitution developed Judiciary as an organ of democracy. They knew that times will come when the parliament will make anti-constitutional laws to please the majority and to get votes. At these times the judiciary was to keep a check on the parliament. All the laws made by the parliament are subject to scrutiny by the Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court finds that the parliamentarians have made a law which violates the constitution, it can overturn it. The judiciary does not have to get the votes of the masses. Therefore, it can reason, think logically and grant the Fundamental Rights to a single person against the wishes of one hundred persons.
In any society, about 2 to 3% people are born as homosexuals. Additionally, about 7 to 8% people are born as bisexuals. The total population of homosexuals and bisexuals in any country is about 10%. India, with an estimated population of about 140 crores, contains nearly 14 crore homosexuals and bisexuals, half of them men and half women. Nearly 4 crore homosexuals exist in India, 2 crore gay men and 2 crore lesbians. Similarly, India consists about 5 crore bisexual men and 5 crore bisexual women.
Indian heterosexuals have declared that being born as a gay or bisexual person is the most shameful thing on earth. They consider it more shameful than committing a murder or rape. Due to this reason, almost all of India’s gay and bisexual persons are living in closet. They are living in the garb of heterosexuals. This essentially means that not only they cannot marry with the person they want to, but they are also entangled in opposite-sex or the heterosexual marriages. About 99% of India’s 2 crore gay men are married to women and almost 100% of 2 crore lesbians are married to men. Not only the lives of about 2 crore gay men have been completely ruined but also of the 2 crore heterosexual women whom they are married to. About 2 crore Indian lesbians are raped every night for their whole lives by their ‘legalized’ husbands. The punishment for a single rape may be about 7 to 10 years jail term sometimes extending to life-long imprisonment. However, there is no punishment for this life-long rape of lesbians. Lives of 8 crore Indians have been completely destroyed, 4 crore of them being homosexuals and 4 crore heterosexuals. Yes, even the lives of 4 crore heterosexuals have been ruined. Why? Because the heterosexuals want to violate the fundamental rights of homosexuals at any cost. Further, India’s 10 crore bisexual man and women are all, in any case, married to opposite-sex persons whether they want it or not. To say it differently, India’s 10 crore heterosexuals are married to bisexuals which they would have never accepted willingly. These bisexuals, especially bisexual men, cheat with their spouses. They almost always cheat their wives and go to gay/bisexual men. The Indian heterosexuals are harming themselves in their zeal to hurt homosexuals.
This is the worst kind of slavery. India’s gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals are all slaves of heterosexuals. They have no other choice other than living as per the commandments of heterosexuals. A highly educated gay man with a post graduate degree or with a PhD in Science, Engg., Medicine or Law has to live as per the dictums of an illiterate daily wage labourer simply because this labourer is a heterosexual. He is the master of homosexuals. Unless he permits, even the most educated gay man cannot marry with his same-sex partner and enjoy his human right. The parliament will make a law for gay marriages only when he gives his consent. His opinion is supreme. As long as he does not agree, the constitution will keep on being violated.
This slavery is much worse than the slavery which the British imposed on us. The British were not interfering in any of our rights to life. They were just interested in our wealth and taking it away. It was basically an economic slavery for us. But the heterosexuals are taking away homosexuals’ right to life. The right to a life-partner is included in the right to life. Most humans want to spend their lives with a life-partner. They want company, togetherness, and affection from a person to whom they emotionally attached and they want to live with such a person under one roof all their lives and raise a family. Homosexuals are no different. They also have exactly the same desires. They also want to have a family. Not only humans but also many animals and birds live with their life partners. When a single animal of a particular species is left in a zoo, another animal of the opposite sex of the same species is brought from some other zoo to give company to it so that the single animal does not feel lonely. Sometimes such an animal is brought from a foreign country spending lakhs of Rupees. Recently 12 cheetahs were brought from South Africa and released in Kuno National Park and special care was taken so that about half of them are male and half female. However, right to a life-partner of homosexuals is violated. The homosexuals do not have an importance in the eyes of the Indian government even as an animal. It does not consider them more important than worms or insects. Such is the kind of slavery of homosexuals.
Recent research suggests that happily married people enjoy better health than single people. Those who are married tend to live longer, have fewer strokes and heart attacks, have a lower chance of becoming depressed, more likely to survive heart attacks, survive a major operation more often and consume less unhealthy food and alcohol.
The government of India does not give the right of marriage to homosexuals. With whom should they spend their lives then? One’s parents do not live for one’s lifetime. They will die. One’s brothers and sisters will be busy with their own lives. The Indian homosexuals, therefore, are destined to live a lonely life due to the adamancy of the government. As per the medical science, loneliness is silent killer. Human beings are thoroughly social creatures. Loneliness has a wide range of negative effects on both physical and mental health of humans and it takes a grave toll on their health. It has increased risk of heart attack, increased risk of having a stroke, increased risk of developing dementia and other serious medical conditions. Loneliness is a major risk factor for developing depression. It has been linked to insufficient sleep and increased mortality. It increases risk of premature death. It is even linked to higher rates of suicide.
Solitary confinement causing acute loneliness is the hardest punishment sometimes given to hardened criminals. Many times, it is considered violation of human rights even for the prisoners and Human Right Activists have opposed it around the world. The government of India, thus, is directly violating the Fundamental Right to Life of homosexuals.
Has any master in the history of earth ever given freedom on his own to his slave? We have fought about 90-year long war of independence against the British. What if the British had told us that they will themselves bring a bill for India’s independence in the House of Commons, get it passed and grant freedom to India and therefore the Indians need not protest against them? Would we have believed them? If not, then how can we hope that Indian parliament will ever make SSML and take homosexuals out of the clutches of heterosexuals? A slave always has to fight for his liberation and that is what the petitioners in this case are doing in the Supreme Court.
Not making a law to protect the Fundamental Rights of homosexuals is equivalent to making a law which violates the Constitution. Presently the parliament/ government is doing exactly that. The judiciary should, therefore, immediately come into action.
The Government of India does not have faith in the Constitution. We do not have faith in the Parliament.
Those who are advocating that only parliament can decide whether India should have SSML know it very well that parliament will never pass it. The government is strongly fighting against it today in the Supreme Court. What is the chance that tomorrow it will draft a bill for SSML and present it in the parliament for passing/ voting? No political party in India has ever talked about in last 75 years. It has never been on the agenda of any Indian party. No party has ever written about it in their election manifesto or declared their plan about it. The Supreme Court should understand this and should, therefore, order the government to bring SSML Bill in the parliament and get it passed. It is true that writing the draft of a new law is not the job of Supreme Court. However, it has powers to ask the government to do it.
In contrast, the Supreme Court of Nepal, a small and insignificant country in Asia, has done a commendable job and forced the Nepal Government to legalize same-sex marriages. Yes, Nepal has done it under the pressure from its Supreme Court. Although the Nepal Government succumbed to this pressure only in 2023, its SC had ordered it to enact SSML in 2007 itself, i.e., a full 16 years ago and it continuously kept building pressure on the Nepal government which finally bore fruit. In spite of the fact that there has been a political transition in Nepal during all these years and Nepal was re-writing its Constitution, this has been achieved. Here is the history of a fight for SSML in Nepal:
· On March 23, 2007, Nepal’s Supreme Court ordered the Nepali government to legally recognize same-sex marriages.
· On November 17, 2008, the Supreme Court made Nepal to consider legalizing same-sex marriages. The court asked the government to form a committee to study same-sex marriage laws in other countries.
· In February 2016, Nepal's National Human Rights Commission asked the government to introduce a bill to allow same-sex marriages.
· On 20 March 2023, the Supreme Court of Nepal ordered the Nepali government to recognize a same-sex marriage between a Nepali and a German citizen performed in Germany and directed the Federal Parliament to legalize same-sex marriages in Nepal. Judges also directed the government to draft legislation for full marriage equality in Nepal, declaring laws banning same-sex marriages to be unconstitutional and discriminatory. The court asked Nepal’s Ministry of Law and Justice to prepare an equal marriage law or amend existing laws to accommodate the principles of equal marriage.
· Nepal's Supreme Court on 2 May 2023, ordered Nepal Government to recognize the same-sex marriage between a Nepali man and his foreign husband and instructed the government to move towards the legalization of same-sex marriages. The Court ruled that failure to recognize same-sex spouses violates Nepal’s Constitution and its international human rights obligations.
· On 30 November 2023, Nepal formally registered the first case of same-sex marriage. With this historic move, Nepal has become the second Asian Nation (first being Taiwan) and the first South Asian nation and to do so. The marriage between Ram Bahadur Gurung, 36, and Surendra Pandey, 26, was formally registered at the Dordi rural municipality office in the Lumjung district in west Nepal.
· On 12 February 2024, Anju Devi Shrestha, a resident of Bardiya district in western Nepal and Suprita Gurung, a resident of Syangja district, both 33, scripted history by becoming the first lesbian couple in Nepal to officially register their marriage at Jamuna Rural Municipality of Bardiya district.
· Nepal government intends to pass a separate law on same-sex marriages currently being drafted by the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare.
But unfortunately, The Supreme Court of India has already succumbed to the pressure of the Indian government and dismissed all the 18 petitions filed before it. Why India’s Supreme Court is so helpless and so weak when the Supreme Court of a small country like Nepal can assert itself?
. . . . . .
It is said that only 34 countries have made SSML. Out of 195 countries, 34 is a big number in this matter. It is not ‘only’. OK, how many countries should do it before India follows suit? How do we calculate it? What is the formula? Will India do it only when all other counties have done it except India? Is it necessary to be the last when it comes to doing good things? India always remains in the front in doing bad things. It is one of the leading countries in corruption. India’s crime rate is one of the highest in the world. Indian businessmen indulge in profiteering, over-charging, less weighing, adulteration, hoarding, tax evasion and following all unethical business practices. But in doing good things, India wants to remain a back-bencher.
Why did The Netherlands make SSML in 2001 becoming the first country to do it? Why did Denmark made Same-sex Partnership Law as early as in 1989 (which was later renamed as SSML in 2012)? These countries never thought why should they do it when no other country had done it. No good work would ever be done if we keep looking towards one-another not to be the first. Why does India want to prove that The Netherlands and Denmark are superior countries and India is inferior? It cannot even think to match them.
It has also been said that SSML has been made in most of these 34 countries by the government / legislature rather than the judiciary. However, we need to keep in mind that these 34 are developed, civilized and educated countries whose citizens respect the rights of minorities and do not infringe upon them. These are truly democratic countries having high regards for right to equality.
India, on the contrary, is a false, flawed and pseudo-democracy. When Lalu Prasad Yadav go to jail in a corruption case, his totally un-lettered wife who has been confined to family’s kitchen all her life becomes the Chief Minister. One third of the members of India’s parliament and state assemblies have criminal cases against them. Here elections are fought on the basis of caste, region and religion using money and muscle power. When India’s robbers and dacoits, murderers, kidnappers, rapists and extortionists give-up crime for some reason, what do they do? They become MP’s and MLA’s. What human rights can be discussed with likes of Atique Ahmed, Mohd. Shahabuddin, Mukhtar Ansari, Phoolan Devi, Santokben Jadeja and Kuldeep Singh Sengar?
Indian population has a high degree of illiteracy. The citizens do not respect others’ rights and interfere in the internal affairs of their fellow countrymen. They do not understand the laws of nature and interfere in the acts of God. They force others to live as per their whims and fancies. When they find that the others are not living as per their commands, they will thrash, hit, beat, kick, attack, lynch and kill them. Indian heterosexuals have extreme hatred for homosexuals. They ridicule them, laugh at them, hate them, condemn them, shun them and ostracize them. It’s a far cry to expect from them that they will give equal rights to homosexuals. India’s right to equality will remain only on paper if left to people / parliament.
The argument that the SSML has been made in other countries by the government and not the Judiciary goes only against those who are giving this argument. When the legislature of so many countries has already discussed the issue and upheld it, what does India expect to achieve by again discussing it? Why should we reinvent the wheel? Is there any country whose parliament took up this issue and rejected it? No. Then why do we need to take the matter again and waste time.
The question is not who has done it in 34 countries, the Government or the Judiciary. The real question is whether SSML is right or wrong. And we already know the answer.
. . . . . .
The Special Marriage Act, 1954 was essentially made for heterosexuals. Tweaking (fine-tuning) it to suit it to homosexuals also is not practical. Almost each clause of the act will have to have two paras if we do that. One for heterosexuals and the other for homosexuals. As an example, in the heterosexual marriages, a man gives maintenance to his wife if divorce happens and not the vice versa. This provision cannot be used in homosexual marriages. A new provision will be required. Similarly, in the Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (which is closely related to heterosexual marriages) there is provision to punish a man if he does cruelty to his wife but there is no provision to proceed against a woman if she does cruelty to her husband. This cannot be applied to homosexual marriages. For such reasons, a completely new law (SSML) is required to be written. Whereas heterosexual marriage laws depend on the religion of the man/woman getting married, SSML will be the same irrespective of the religion of the persons getting married. Whether the two homosexuals getting married are Hindus, Muslims or one is Hindu and the other is Muslim, the same law will govern their marriage. The issues of divorce, succession/inheritance can be handled either by studying the gay marriage laws of other countries or by adopting the best practices of Hindu Marriage Act 1955, Muslim Personal Law 1937, The Indian Christian Marriage Act 1872, The Anand Marriage Act, 1909, and the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 etc.
The issue of adoption is unrelated to marriage. It can be decided later on. Not all gay/lesbian couples will adopt. It will not be correct, therefore, to refuse/delay SSML If we cannot decide whether to allow gay couples to adopt. They cannot be stopped from marriage itself if the issue is pending. The same is true for surrogacy. As long as we do not decide the adoption/surrogacy issues, married gay couples can be considered as unmarried for this purpose and the provision used for single people can be applied on them.
submitted by Prashant-12345 to u/Prashant-12345 [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:20 LingonLingonBerry Restaurants to Highlight in Durham

Some friends will be visiting during the summer and we're trying to think of a number of restaurants that are places to highlight in Durham or surrounding areas. What would you recommend?
What came to mind are Foster's Market, Gugulhuf, and Ninth Street Bakery. Granted, none of those are truly just restaurants but they are pretty iconic for Durham. What restaurants would you recommend? And also, what BBQ joint would be best to highlight?
submitted by LingonLingonBerry to bullcity [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:14 chappedlipfingertip Does Divestment Mean Cutting all Ties with Companies or is it Lip Service?

Hi all!
This might seem like a dumb question, and I'd like to preface that I'm a Humanities instructor. My questions in no way mean I am not supportive of supporting Palestinians or ending genocide, but I have been trying my best to research what divestment from weapons manufacturers might mean for academia. I am hitting a bit of a brick wall and hoping that other academics might be able to shed light on the calls for divestment and their feasibility.
Pulling funds from Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lidos, etc., seems fantastic on paper when just considering the moralistic side of things. When you start looking into how much they privately fund research and innovation, things feel much murkier.
It doesn't make sense to me that you would divest from a company, but still do research partnerships with them (as any sort of innovation would, in theory, boost company value for potential investors). If you're still working with someone and helping them make a ton of money, but you're not buying a share of that company in the meantime to make yourself some of that money along the way, it just seems like a net negative hit to the University system and neutral for the companies in question.
When it comes to ending ties, is that even actually possible at this point? Lockheed Martin (LM) has bought entire engineering buildings for Universities (my undergrad alma mater had a major relationship with LM while I was a student) and has a current massive ongoing research project at MIT that has tons of global partnerships. LM also seems to have an extensive partnership with UC Santa Barbara, as well as hiring many interns into industry from all schools. Boeing is massively involved with engineering programs at many Universities, especially in the Pacific Northwest. Northrop Grumman is the manufacturer of the James Webb Telescope which is touted as a major milestone in astronomy.
These companies also help provide scholarships to students who need financial assistance to attend college beyond what the government can provide for them.
I also imagine a good number of grants come from companies that do business in Israel because, although figures vary, up to half of all scientific research is privately-funded.
Is there a point to divestment if you're still accepting gifts via scholarships, grants, or research partnerships from the companies in question? Can you ethically use scientific achievements from these companies if you're divesting on moralistic grounds (if it were purely financial grounds, the question of ethics would be irrelevant, right?)? Would ending ties with these companies be as devastating as I'm thinking?
submitted by chappedlipfingertip to Professors [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:13 Do_the_impossible I know I'm being dramatic

But does account login not exist anymore? Every single time I try to login, I give the page the only number I've had registered to this account, and every single time it takes me to a sign up page. Every, single, time. It's odd.
No matter what I do to try and get into my rewards account, I'm being forced to sign up with there being zero option to click anything to login. It doesn't seem to exist on mobile?
submitted by Do_the_impossible to StraightTalk [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:08 DTG_Bot This Week In Destiny 05/02/2024

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/twid-05-02-2024
This week in Destiny we’re fine tuning our PvP loadouts. We’ve got three new beautiful Crucible maps coming next week, and we want to make sure we’re ready. So, grab that Rose you’ve been dominating with, and let’s get into it.
This week topics:
  • PVP map pack launch.
  • The Pantheon boss profiles.
  • The Pantheon Bungie Rewards.
  • New Rahool reputation and Exotic system.
  • The Final Shape shader icon revamp.
  • PvP Strike Team update.
  • Superblack shader now available.
  • Windows 7 and 8 deprecation. ##PvP Map Pack Launch
With Update 7.3.6.4 this Tuesday, May 7, three new maps will be coming to Crucible: Cirrus Plaza, Eventide Labs, and Dissonance. We gave our first look at these maps last month during our Destiny 2: Into the Light Dev Livestream #3. In that stream, we provided a walkthrough of each map with discussion around our design goals, creation process, and artistic considerations with developing these maps. If you haven’t checked it out yet, head over and watch it now.
With only a few days until their release, we wanted to take a final look at these maps from a slightly different angle. That's why we partnered with our favorite community cartographer, Relikt, to develop callout map overviews. We've been fans of his callout maps for years, and we are thrilled to work with him on this new set of Crucible maps. Let’s jump in and take a look!

Eventide Labs

Eventide Labs is set in a long-forgotten human colony research outpost on Europa that Eramis chose to use as a refueling station.
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With initial spawns near point A at the Warehouse and near point C at the Ice Caves, players will make their way to contest the Servitor area that holds point B and a valuable Heavy ammo crate. But be careful! While the interior of the map by the Promenade and Upper Glacial is more closer-quarters battle focused, a handful of longer sight lines in the space between Air Dock and Loading Bay means you’ll have to ensure that you approach carefully, or you may be on the wrong side of a Sniper Rifle.

Cirrus Plaza

Our next map takes us to Neptune. Cirrus Plaza is set in a shopping and entertainment center on Neomuna.
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There are four distinct areas on Cirrus Plaza with the Arcade, Restaurant, Aquarium, and Atrium. Players will spawn in the Arcade near point A and the Restaurant near point C. The Atrium will be an area of interest, as players will seek the Heavy ammo crate that spawns in the middle and battle to earn the valuable high ground. However, with sight lines spanning multiple floors and players battling for point B nearby, Guardians will need to get in and out quickly or ensure they have teammates watching their back.

Dissonance

If you’ve always wanted to PvP on a terraformed Pyramid ship , then we’ve got you covered. Equal parts beautiful and haunting, Dissonance is set on the Witness’s former ship, Essence, which was terraformed by the Traveler.
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With initial spawn points near the Fossils at point A and the Sigil at point C, the map offers somewhat direct paths through the middle, where players will be drawn to Orbits to engage in heated brawls over the Heavy ammo and across the bottom of the map towards point B.

New Territory

When these maps arrive on May 7, they’ll be on a separate 3v3 playlist called "New Territory," so you can enjoy the new experience these maps offer on demand. The playlist will replace the 3v3 Quickplay node and feature the three new maps with the following game modes: Survival, Elimination, Clash, and Collision. Be sure to pick up the introductory quest from Shaxx for more details on the maps and playlist.
Additionally, while New Territory is the designated playlist for the new maps, the maps will be available in other playlists and the private lobby as usual.
Lastly, New Territory will be available until the end of the Season, at which point any player who engaged in the playlist will be awarded with the new Slaycation emblem!
Slaycation
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The Pantheon Boss Deep Dive

The Pantheon is upon us. The new PvE raid gauntlet opened this week featuring four bosses as part of the first wave. With more bosses on the way each week, we wanted to take a moment to highlight the targets you’ve been tasked with taking down. We’ve got the details to ensure you know thy enemies well.
VANGUARD – GUARDIAN DISPATCH – ALL POINTS BULLETIN

DEFENDERS OF THE CITY,
You are tasked with the elimination of the following targets:

-GOLGOROTH-

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CLASSIFICATION
  • Hive
  • Blood of Oryx
  • Ogre
  • Worm
HAZARDS
  • Void eye beam
  • Venomous gaze
  • Unstable Light
  • Monstrous strength and durability
INTEL
  • Ogres are forged -- through tortuous trials and dark rituals -- from corrupted and deformed Thralls known as Unborn. They know only pain and are conditioned to hate and despise the Light.
  • Golgoroth is a Hive Ogre, infested with burrowing parasites related to the Worm gods and committed to Oryx’s service. One of the most powerful ogres ever known, Golgoroth was felled aboard the Dreadnaught by the same brave fireteam that delivered the Taken King his final death.
  • Vanguard operatives uncovered that Golgoroth was enlisted as a vessel to both tithe violence directly to Oryx and corrupt hordes of stolen Light from Oryx’s conquests. The ogre’s flesh also served as containment for a Tablet of Ruin.
OF NOTE
  • Recovered from Golgoroth’s remains, Tablet of Ruin x1.
  • The item has been vaulted for proper containment.
  • Deciphered Hive apocrypha suggests Golgoroth was fond of flower petals. Daughters of Savathûn would send warriors with petals stuffed beneath their chitin as deathly delights for the Ogre.

-CARETAKER-

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CLASSIFICATION
  • Scorn, Abomination, altered
  • Resonant
  • Eliksni, former, House unknown
  • Worm, altered
HAZARDS
  • Scale drone swarm
  • Overcharged ether blast
  • Sacred dematerialization
  • Resonant empowerment
INTEL
  • Slain by the intrepid fireteam that stormed the Sunken Pyramid in the fetid Court of Savathûn, the Caretaker is a being of which we know little. It resembles a Scorn Abomination but has been the subject of several experiments and is believed to have been host to a Worm.
  • The Caretaker was entrusted with a collection of Wormspawn as well as other entities the Witness and Rhulk had obtained to be analyzed and stored within the Pyramid.
  • Reports from fireteams raiding the Sunken Pyramid mention that the Caretaker appears to have been both victim to and overseer of experiments seeking to fuse Worms and Scorn together.
OF NOTE
  • Multiple fireteams have commented on what appear to be “pet” mutations that are believed to have belonged to the Caretaker. Whether these were rejected experiments or unsanctioned creations isn’t known.
  • There is a discrepancy in the number of Wormspawn marked as collected from the Pyramid and those delivered to the Tower’s vault containment. Guardians who have information regarding their whereabouts should submit a report to Vanguard Leadership.

-ATRAKS-1, FALLEN EXO-

“The Wildcard”
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CLASSIFICATION
  • Eliksni
  • Exo(s)*
  • House Salvation, Baroness
  • Ex-House of Devils, Council
HAZARDS
  • Modified Shock Rifle
  • Extinction protocol
  • Self-replication
  • Teleportation
  • Stasis empowerment
INTEL
  • *Exos are humanoid machines that house a living mind. Atraks-1 obtained this technology from a BrayTech station orbiting Europa. Atraks’s mind commands multiples copies of her Exo frame.
  • Before converting herr form, Atraks acted as Council to Eramis, Kell of House Salvation for many years. Atraks was entrusted with command of the Deepstone Crypt. She was destroyed by the Guardian fireteam that brought the Morning Star down from orbit.
  • Atraks-1 created multiple copies of herself to deceive foes. Fireteams encountering this tactic in the future are advised to locate the original target and focus a simultaneous strike.
  • Atraks was at one time seen as a voice of reason, an orator, able to speak to the hearts of the Eliksni youth in House Salvation.
OF NOTE
  • The Hidden have relayed rumors that a copy of Atraks-1’s mind exists, stored somewhere on Europa. This has yet to be verified.
  • At least two of the initial six fireteam members that destroyed Atraks-1 believe they destroyed a clone and that the real Atraks-1 still lives. This is under investigation.
  • Atraks-1 was known to prefer synthetic lubricant when undergoing maintenance.

-ZO’AURC, EXPLICATOR OF PLANETS-

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CLASSIFICATION
  • Manufactured
  • Cabal Shadow
  • Legion Incendior
  • Clone
HAZARDS
  • Cabal magma launcher
  • Searing beam (column of flame)
  • Magma launcher compression blast
  • Paracausal shielding
  • Resonant empowerment
INTEL
  • Zo’Aurc is a Cabal clone created by the deposed Emperor Calus and is assigned to a detachment of the Shadow Legion forces aboard the Witness’s personal Pyramid ship.
  • According to Vanguard decryption teams, Zo'Aurc, who was granted the title Explicator of Planets, has surveyed a collection of worlds conquered by the Black Fleet for an unknown purpose. Preliminary theories span weighing the worlds for Discipleship to searching for the Veil or a method of contributing to the Final Shape.
OF NOTE
  • Reports conclude that even the Shadow Legion was not immune to Nezarec’s torment. Zo’Aurc details his own nightmares and more reports of nightmares and violent incidents among his forces.
  • Zo’Aurc’s personal logs have been decoded. It seems that, whatever their official goal was, they were personally cataloging worlds that had once been part of the Cabal empire but were no more. ##The Pantheon Bungie Rewards
And if the thrill of the hunt wasn’t enough, your success in The Pantheon will nab you not only some loot in-game, but also the opportunity to add some heroic Bungie Rewards to forever mark your accomplishments, including the Godslayer Title Pin and The Pantheon Raid Ring.
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The Pantheon Raid Ring features a legendary re-envisioning of our iconic first Raid Ring, launched in 2020. Beyond the striking raid symbol as the focus of the ring, owners will also have a private reminder of the importance of loyalty in the face of adversity. Etched on the inside is a message that reads, “Glory comes easy when you have allies you can trust.” The epitome of strength and camaraderie, The Pantheon Raid Ring stands as a testament to the valor and unity found in the heat of battle. This special Bungie Rewards offer is available for purchase only to players who complete all encounters from any tier of The Pantheon in Destiny 2 by June 3, 2024.
The Godslayer Title Pin will also be available for purchase via Bungie Rewards for players who complete the Godslayer Title by June 3, 2024.

Rahool’s Frequent Decryptor Program

The experience of grinding out new Exotic armor can be a time-consuming process. It can take quite a few runs to get the drop you’re looking for, and many more to get one that has stats that support your build. Besides that, with Exotic armor pieces often forming the backbone of a powerful build, new players are regularly asked to spend a long time tackling challenging content solo before being able to run builds that support the most effective tactics.
Luckily, the Econ Team has established a good working relationship with the Tower’s Number One Cryptarch over the last year as we added Exotic armor focusing, and we have managed to help Rahool set up a new promotional program of sorts that makes farming the armor you want more deterministic and less dependent on rotators.
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Starting in The Final Shape, Rahool is going to be the source for any new Exotic armor that we release. When you first talk to Rahool after The Final Shape launch, he will introduce you to a new rewards program tied to his brand-new Reputation Track. The idea is simple: the more you decode engrams with him, the more you increase your reputation with him. Once you completely fill the reputation track once and reset your rank, Rahool will allow you into an elite club, giving you access to a new tier of focusing.
Once you become one of Rahool’s “Engram Ensiders” (he was very proud of the name, so be nice to him), you’ll be able to purchase any piece of Exotic armor for any character on your account for one Exotic engram and one Exotic cipher, in addition to the previous focusing options. Because this is tied to Rahool’s new reputation track, there is no weekly limit to using this tier of focusing; as long as you still have Exotic ciphers and engrams, you can keep rolling armor.
With this change, we are also altering the way that old sources of Exotic armor work. First, Lost Sectors will keep the same drop rates for Exotics but will instead drop engrams whenever they would have previously dropped gear. Neomuna will also still drop new Exotic armor when you complete a Vex Strike Force encounter, but we won’t be adding any more new armor to the drop list after Season of the Wish.
With these changes, we know you’re wondering, “How long will it take to get this newfangled tier of focusing? I’ve got the World’s First Race to prepare for, wot wot!” Without going into the exact numbers, the actions that will give the most reputation will be precision decryption (aka Tier 2 focusing), followed by advanced decryption, then opening an Exotic engram , and last but also least, opening a prime engram. So, if you want to be ready for the Witness’s forces as soon as possible, make sure to stock up on Exotic engrams and Ascendant Shards before June 4, as with a little more than a full stock of Exotic engrams you’ll be able to start focusing new armor.

Shader Icon Revamp

With The Final Shape, we're upgrading the look and design of the shader icon layout. Shaders are a core way a player can provide a unique look and feel to their Guardian, and we wanted to help continue to make that a better experience. Our goal with this update is to help make the shader icons more accurately reflect the colors and textures they will apply.
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Currently, there are some issues that can make the experience of applying a shader inconsistent. The first being that, while each shader applies six colors, only four are currently shown on the shader icon. This can sometimes result in the shader appearing differently than players may expect from the icon preview.
Adding to this is the fact that all four color sections of the current shader icon are equal in shape and size, making it difficult to distinguish what the main colors will be when applied. There are also many shaders that have unique glows that players strive for, and with the current design, they are not represented. Gambit Jadestone is a great example of this.
Gambit Jadestone Shader Icon - Current
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To help address these issues, we've made updates to the shader icon design that includes all six colors for that shader. We are also changing the design in a way that makes the primary colors appear to take more space than the secondary colors for a more accurate representation with most gear items. Glows are also reflected in the updated design so it will be easier to distinguish those shaders within your shader selection screens.
Gambit Jadestone Shader Icon - Updated In The Final Shape
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We tested many different design solutions for this goal, and eventually settled on adding a diamond to the center of the current icon design and changing the layout of the color slots on the icon.
We’re hoping these new improvements will offer a better experience for Guardians looking to show off their best looks.

PvP Strike Team Update

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Hello everyone, PvP Strike Team here to talk about Special ammo in the Crucible. Since Update 7.3.5, we’ve been doing a substantial amount of iteration on our Special ammo distribution systems. We’ve tried the meter system in multiple playlists as well as two different versions of the ammo crates system in Competitive, Hardware, and for a limited time in Trials. Some people asked why we are bothering to do this level of experimentation, and we’d like to explain it.
The Respawn System
The original Special ammo distribution system was brought into the game with Forsaken and, combined with allowing players to pick up ammo from defeated opponents, it eventually peaked in a short period of time where Special weapons eclipsed Primary weapons for final blows in Crucible. We walked it back several times, mostly focused on how much ammo you could pick up from bricks on the ground, but we were still left in a position of one-shot kill Special weapons making up a substantial percentage of Crucible final blows and contributing to many of the issues with sandbox readability we have discussed before.
While the respawn system had its issues and we felt there was some room for improvement, it did do a decent job of balancing ammo distribution between high- and low-performing players, with high-performing players on average utilizing Special ammo 1.5-2 times more than low performing players. Similarly, with years of the system in place, the Special weapon meta had solidified nicely. Shotguns were at the top, with around 47% of Special weapon kills. Snipers and Fusions combined to make up 43%, and all the other Special weapons were the remaining 10%.
When investigating changes to the respawn system, it became apparent that we were very limited in terms of how we could tune the system to get the desired effects, and that led us to investigate two additional systems. While we wanted to be able to solve the problem of too many one-hit kills in PvP, it was important to us that the new systems did not introduce new and potentially worse problems.
The Meter System
To understand the meter system, we first need to take you through its development. This system was originally intended to be experimental, utilized only in the temporary Labs mode, Checkmate. It was built using a combination of other existing systems co-opted from various parts of the game that allowed us to do things we could not usually do in Crucible, like retaining the state of the meter between lives and between rounds (an invisible stat on the scoreboard the game reads back every time you respawn), dropping ammo directly onto the player in a transmat (an invisible ammo crate that opens directly above you and then deletes itself), carrying the full amount of ammo over between deaths (utilizing the logic system we use in PvE activities to re-grant you ammo on spawn), and displaying the current progress of the meter (the UI bar borrowed from Exotic weapon and activities buffs).
Reception to the system in Checkmate was mixed, but we saw there was a lot of potential in our first truly “earnable” Special ammo system. Since its introduction, we have iterated on it several times, including earlier this week, and have gotten it into a much more acceptable state. Unfortunately, as the meter system has been exposed to the wider game for an extended period, we have run into two core issues which have required us to continue to look for possible solutions.
Balance Issues – The overall balance of the meter system in the wider sandbox has been concerning. It primarily benefits one player type over all others, with players who routinely perform above average in their lobbies getting the double benefits of having more Special ammo than the respawn system allowed at certain points in the game, while their opponents often have much less. In the meter system, high-performing players are earning Special ammo at 3.5 times the rate of lower-performing players, a delta which has led to many non-high-performing players abandoning Special weapons entirely. In Competitive, for example, with the meter system in use low-performing players were more likely to get kills with Heavy ammo weapons than they were with Special ammo weapons.
The weapon balance has become similarly one-sided, as it promotes Shotguns as the main solution, and all other Special weapons are perceived as no longer useful for most players when in an ammo-limited situation. Under the meter system, Shotguns have more than 76% of Special weapon kills, with Fusions and Snipers reduced to a combined 18%, and the rest of the Special weapons making up only 6%. This has led to a very “rich get richer” meta, where the best performing players and weapons are now even stronger by comparison without having to do anything differently.
Earlier this week we took steps to improve on these issues, but the difficulty we face in a system where Special ammo is almost entirely earned is that we have limited room to close the gap between high and low performers before it functionally becomes "everyone gets Special ammo on a timer," which is something we'd like to avoid.
Technical Issues – Balance problems aside, being built on tech that was not designed to be used in this way has exposed multiple issues that, upon investigation, we determined could not be easily fixed in the meter’s current state. Some things, like being unable to notify opponents that an ammo transmat has occurred or give starting ammo on join-in-progress, are already apparent to players. Other problems, which are far more significant, appear in the backend and affect how we handle several of the processes, impacting our ability to both balance and maintain the system in the long term. Functionally, these combined issues require us to rebuild the meter from the ground up as a new, dedicated system. We feel the system has shown enough merit that this is something we are undertaking for a future release.
The Crates System
As a potential fallback for the meter system, the Special ammo crates system was resurfaced and iterated upon. The crates system has several benefits from a design perspective, including the ability to place crates in key zones around the map to help encourage player movement in non-objective or objective-optional modes and prevent coagulation around a single power position, as well as offering the ability to delay Special weapon pushes in round-based modes.
The crates system has also, based on its time in Competitive and Trials, done some positive things in terms of moving Special ammo distribution closer to healthy values. The delta between high- and low-performing players has moved back to 2.4 times, and it has led to less late-game snowballing, as players who do try to hoard Special ammo lose it upon death. Weapon balance is similarly improved, although not optimal, and there is significantly increased variety with Shotguns coming down to 59% of kills, Fusions and Snipers combining for 28% of kills, and all other Special weapons increasing to 13% of kills.
Ultimately, the crates system in isolation also has several major problems. It can present a frustrating amount of friction between playing the game how you want and playing the game how you need to if you want to run a Special ammo weapon. Additionally, in round-based modes, it is too frictionless to run double Special ammo weapons. It is also the first system we have introduced that allows players to directly influence the Special ammo economy of the opposing team, as controlling most crates can help starve the other team of Special ammo.
From a strategic perspective this is an interesting mechanic, but with no other way to earn Special ammo in gameplay it serves to be more frustrating than fun, and many players have struggled to adapt to the change, causing additional friction when playing in matchmade teams.
The “Blended” 1-1-1 System
Each of the above-listed systems has both positives and negatives. In isolation, each system helps and hurts a different part of the population, but none of them holistically solves the Special ammo problem.
  • The respawn system offers a safe distribution of ammo amongst players, and the ease of availability promotes special weapon diversity, but giving two kill’s worth to every player every life also results in far too many one-hit kills for a healthy sandbox.
  • The meter system allows players to earn Special ammo in a deterministic way and increases the rate of earning if you’re playing well, which feels rewarding for high-performing players. On the other hand, for low-performing players, it feels significantly worse, and it promotes a homogenous Special weapon meta.
  • The crate system allows us to promote movement around the map, alter push timings, reward map control, and give players more direct control over the amount of Special ammo in play for their opponents. It also causes significant friction by forcing conflict with optimal player flows and between matchmade teams, and it allows too much Special ammo in round-based modes.
The solution we have settled on is a blended system we refer to as the “1-1-1," taking parts of each of the above systems and combining them to solve the problems introduced by each system individually.
  1. Players will respawn each life with one kill worth of Special ammo for their chosen weapon. This serves as a stopgap for players to make sure they are never going long amounts of time with an empty weapon and encourages more players to continue to utilize Special weapons, albeit in a limited fashion. Setting the ammo at one instead of two kill’s worth ensures that there is not a surplus of Special ammo that is available for minimum effort. Spawning with one also functions as a healthy mid-point between spawning with none in the crates system and retaining all ammo with the meter.
  2. All Primary weapon final blows will drop a personal ammo brick that awards one kill’s worth of Special ammo. This is our deterministic, earnable method of distributing ammo in the blended system until our purpose-built version of the ammo meter is ready. What this means is that any of your final blows with a Primary weapon will drop an ammo brick that only you can pick up, regardless of whether the opponent you defeated had Special ammo on them. Likewise, if you defeat a player who has Special ammo using a Special ammo weapon, that will not drop a brick on the ground, so like the meter system, you cannot use Special to directly earn more Special. We will be initially introducing this specific portion of the system into the Competitive playlist starting next week, to help address player complaints about the economy in those modes.
  3. Crates will continue to exist, but their icon visibility range on the HUD has been decreased, and they will only provide a single kill’s worth of Special ammo when opened. These crates will continue to serve as points of interest around a map, but it will no longer be a requirement for players to interact with them to partake in the Special ammo system. They will instead function as a small bonus for players who take the time to engage with them and an optional mid-point step for players to gain Special ammo that is more effort than simply respawning with it, but less effort than getting a Primary weapon final blow.
We’re very excited to introduce this system sometime after the launch of The Final Shape, and we greatly appreciate your patience and feedback as we have continued experimenting in our ongoing effort to improve the Crucible.

Superblack Shader Now Available

With the final two BRAVE weapons available this week, players will receive the final quests needed to unlock the much-anticipated Superblack shader. Players can unlock the shader by earning the Superblack Key Alpha from Shaxx, and Superblack Key Omega from Arcite 90-40. Using both will grant you access to the Superblack Containment and to the shader. If you’re a Hunter…er…a player of any class, you’ll want to grab this new Shader and look your finest.

Player Support Report

Reject modernity. Embrace tradition. Equip Anarchy.
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Known Issues List Help Forums Bungie Help Twitter

WINDOWS 7 AND 8 SUPPORT
Beginning on June 4, 2024, Destiny 2 is ending support for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems. This decision is to align with Steam and Microsoft ending support for these systems.
Destiny 2 may continue running on these older operating systems after June 4, 2024, but we are unable to guarantee continued functionality after that date.
Players using these operating systems to play Destiny 2 are urged to upgrade to a more recent version of Windows or move to another platform so that their playtime won't be interrupted.
For more information, please view our Windows 7 and 8 Support article.
PANTHEON CHECKPOINTS
Due to an issue preventing players from progressing in The Pantheon when joining at a checkpoint, we have disabled checkpoints for The Caretaker and Zo'aurc, Explicator of Planets. We are attempting to resolve this issue as soon as possible and will provide an update when we have more information to share.
ARCHIE QUEST INFORMATION
We've seen confusion surrounding the weekly Archie Hunt quests and wanted to offer clarification. These quests are only intended to be available for one week each and were made with this time limit in mind. We understand that this is not ideal for all players, which is why we made the shader available for one completion for any of the weekly quests. The lore attached to these triumphs will become available to all players when The Final Shape launches on June 4.
KNOWN ISSUES
While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help Forum:
  • In Onslaught, players may be teleported back to the incorrect ADU location after completing certain phases.
  • The ADU in Onslaught can occasionally despawn.
  • On rare occasions, the Spark in Onslaught can be lost.
  • The portal to leave a boss phase in Onslaught will sometimes not open when killing a boss too quickly.
  • BRAVE weapons The Recluse and Hammerhead don’t highlight enemies like their previous models.
For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, review our Known Issues article. Players who observe other issues should report them to our #Help forum.

Titan Smash(ed)

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To be a Titan is to live and die by the melee, even if that means a gruesome but spectacular death.
Movie of the Week:
[
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Final God Of Pain

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For a Final God of Pain, Nezarec is pretty stylish and colorful. Probably because we are not sharing that Superblack shader with him.
Art of the Week: AliveWake via TwitteX
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That’s everything we have for this week. Hopefully you’re enjoying The Pantheon so far. Remember, this is only the first wave of bosses and more are on the way. It only gets more fun from here. And we swear that wasn’t an evil laugh we were stifling, it was just…a cough. cough
We’ll be back next week with another TWID. Until then, be good to each other, and thanks for hanging out with us.

Destiny 2 Community Team
submitted by DTG_Bot to LowSodiumDestiny [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 20:07 DTG_Bot This Week In Destiny 05/02/2024

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/twid-05-02-2024
This week in Destiny we’re fine tuning our PvP loadouts. We’ve got three new beautiful Crucible maps coming next week, and we want to make sure we’re ready. So, grab that Rose you’ve been dominating with, and let’s get into it.
This week topics:
  • PVP map pack launch.
  • The Pantheon boss profiles.
  • The Pantheon Bungie Rewards.
  • New Rahool reputation and Exotic system.
  • The Final Shape shader icon revamp.
  • PvP Strike Team update.
  • Superblack shader now available.
  • Windows 7 and 8 deprecation. ##PvP Map Pack Launch
With Update 7.3.6.4 this Tuesday, May 7, three new maps will be coming to Crucible: Cirrus Plaza, Eventide Labs, and Dissonance. We gave our first look at these maps last month during our Destiny 2: Into the Light Dev Livestream #3. In that stream, we provided a walkthrough of each map with discussion around our design goals, creation process, and artistic considerations with developing these maps. If you haven’t checked it out yet, head over and watch it now.
With only a few days until their release, we wanted to take a final look at these maps from a slightly different angle. That's why we partnered with our favorite community cartographer, Relikt, to develop callout map overviews. We've been fans of his callout maps for years, and we are thrilled to work with him on this new set of Crucible maps. Let’s jump in and take a look!

Eventide Labs

Eventide Labs is set in a long-forgotten human colony research outpost on Europa that Eramis chose to use as a refueling station.
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With initial spawns near point A at the Warehouse and near point C at the Ice Caves, players will make their way to contest the Servitor area that holds point B and a valuable Heavy ammo crate. But be careful! While the interior of the map by the Promenade and Upper Glacial is more closer-quarters battle focused, a handful of longer sight lines in the space between Air Dock and Loading Bay means you’ll have to ensure that you approach carefully, or you may be on the wrong side of a Sniper Rifle.

Cirrus Plaza

Our next map takes us to Neptune. Cirrus Plaza is set in a shopping and entertainment center on Neomuna.
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There are four distinct areas on Cirrus Plaza with the Arcade, Restaurant, Aquarium, and Atrium. Players will spawn in the Arcade near point A and the Restaurant near point C. The Atrium will be an area of interest, as players will seek the Heavy ammo crate that spawns in the middle and battle to earn the valuable high ground. However, with sight lines spanning multiple floors and players battling for point B nearby, Guardians will need to get in and out quickly or ensure they have teammates watching their back.

Dissonance

If you’ve always wanted to PvP on a terraformed Pyramid ship , then we’ve got you covered. Equal parts beautiful and haunting, Dissonance is set on the Witness’s former ship, Essence, which was terraformed by the Traveler.
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With initial spawn points near the Fossils at point A and the Sigil at point C, the map offers somewhat direct paths through the middle, where players will be drawn to Orbits to engage in heated brawls over the Heavy ammo and across the bottom of the map towards point B.

New Territory

When these maps arrive on May 7, they’ll be on a separate 3v3 playlist called "New Territory," so you can enjoy the new experience these maps offer on demand. The playlist will replace the 3v3 Quickplay node and feature the three new maps with the following game modes: Survival, Elimination, Clash, and Collision. Be sure to pick up the introductory quest from Shaxx for more details on the maps and playlist.
Additionally, while New Territory is the designated playlist for the new maps, the maps will be available in other playlists and the private lobby as usual.
Lastly, New Territory will be available until the end of the Season, at which point any player who engaged in the playlist will be awarded with the new Slaycation emblem!
Slaycation
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The Pantheon Boss Deep Dive

The Pantheon is upon us. The new PvE raid gauntlet opened this week featuring four bosses as part of the first wave. With more bosses on the way each week, we wanted to take a moment to highlight the targets you’ve been tasked with taking down. We’ve got the details to ensure you know thy enemies well.
VANGUARD – GUARDIAN DISPATCH – ALL POINTS BULLETIN

DEFENDERS OF THE CITY,
You are tasked with the elimination of the following targets:

-GOLGOROTH-

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CLASSIFICATION
  • Hive
  • Blood of Oryx
  • Ogre
  • Worm
HAZARDS
  • Void eye beam
  • Venomous gaze
  • Unstable Light
  • Monstrous strength and durability
INTEL
  • Ogres are forged -- through tortuous trials and dark rituals -- from corrupted and deformed Thralls known as Unborn. They know only pain and are conditioned to hate and despise the Light.
  • Golgoroth is a Hive Ogre, infested with burrowing parasites related to the Worm gods and committed to Oryx’s service. One of the most powerful ogres ever known, Golgoroth was felled aboard the Dreadnaught by the same brave fireteam that delivered the Taken King his final death.
  • Vanguard operatives uncovered that Golgoroth was enlisted as a vessel to both tithe violence directly to Oryx and corrupt hordes of stolen Light from Oryx’s conquests. The ogre’s flesh also served as containment for a Tablet of Ruin.
OF NOTE
  • Recovered from Golgoroth’s remains, Tablet of Ruin x1.
  • The item has been vaulted for proper containment.
  • Deciphered Hive apocrypha suggests Golgoroth was fond of flower petals. Daughters of Savathûn would send warriors with petals stuffed beneath their chitin as deathly delights for the Ogre.

-CARETAKER-

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CLASSIFICATION
  • Scorn, Abomination, altered
  • Resonant
  • Eliksni, former, House unknown
  • Worm, altered
HAZARDS
  • Scale drone swarm
  • Overcharged ether blast
  • Sacred dematerialization
  • Resonant empowerment
INTEL
  • Slain by the intrepid fireteam that stormed the Sunken Pyramid in the fetid Court of Savathûn, the Caretaker is a being of which we know little. It resembles a Scorn Abomination but has been the subject of several experiments and is believed to have been host to a Worm.
  • The Caretaker was entrusted with a collection of Wormspawn as well as other entities the Witness and Rhulk had obtained to be analyzed and stored within the Pyramid.
  • Reports from fireteams raiding the Sunken Pyramid mention that the Caretaker appears to have been both victim to and overseer of experiments seeking to fuse Worms and Scorn together.
OF NOTE
  • Multiple fireteams have commented on what appear to be “pet” mutations that are believed to have belonged to the Caretaker. Whether these were rejected experiments or unsanctioned creations isn’t known.
  • There is a discrepancy in the number of Wormspawn marked as collected from the Pyramid and those delivered to the Tower’s vault containment. Guardians who have information regarding their whereabouts should submit a report to Vanguard Leadership.

-ATRAKS-1, FALLEN EXO-

“The Wildcard”
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CLASSIFICATION
  • Eliksni
  • Exo(s)*
  • House Salvation, Baroness
  • Ex-House of Devils, Council
HAZARDS
  • Modified Shock Rifle
  • Extinction protocol
  • Self-replication
  • Teleportation
  • Stasis empowerment
INTEL
  • *Exos are humanoid machines that house a living mind. Atraks-1 obtained this technology from a BrayTech station orbiting Europa. Atraks’s mind commands multiples copies of her Exo frame.
  • Before converting herr form, Atraks acted as Council to Eramis, Kell of House Salvation for many years. Atraks was entrusted with command of the Deepstone Crypt. She was destroyed by the Guardian fireteam that brought the Morning Star down from orbit.
  • Atraks-1 created multiple copies of herself to deceive foes. Fireteams encountering this tactic in the future are advised to locate the original target and focus a simultaneous strike.
  • Atraks was at one time seen as a voice of reason, an orator, able to speak to the hearts of the Eliksni youth in House Salvation.
OF NOTE
  • The Hidden have relayed rumors that a copy of Atraks-1’s mind exists, stored somewhere on Europa. This has yet to be verified.
  • At least two of the initial six fireteam members that destroyed Atraks-1 believe they destroyed a clone and that the real Atraks-1 still lives. This is under investigation.
  • Atraks-1 was known to prefer synthetic lubricant when undergoing maintenance.

-ZO’AURC, EXPLICATOR OF PLANETS-

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CLASSIFICATION
  • Manufactured
  • Cabal Shadow
  • Legion Incendior
  • Clone
HAZARDS
  • Cabal magma launcher
  • Searing beam (column of flame)
  • Magma launcher compression blast
  • Paracausal shielding
  • Resonant empowerment
INTEL
  • Zo’Aurc is a Cabal clone created by the deposed Emperor Calus and is assigned to a detachment of the Shadow Legion forces aboard the Witness’s personal Pyramid ship.
  • According to Vanguard decryption teams, Zo'Aurc, who was granted the title Explicator of Planets, has surveyed a collection of worlds conquered by the Black Fleet for an unknown purpose. Preliminary theories span weighing the worlds for Discipleship to searching for the Veil or a method of contributing to the Final Shape.
OF NOTE
  • Reports conclude that even the Shadow Legion was not immune to Nezarec’s torment. Zo’Aurc details his own nightmares and more reports of nightmares and violent incidents among his forces.
  • Zo’Aurc’s personal logs have been decoded. It seems that, whatever their official goal was, they were personally cataloging worlds that had once been part of the Cabal empire but were no more. ##The Pantheon Bungie Rewards
And if the thrill of the hunt wasn’t enough, your success in The Pantheon will nab you not only some loot in-game, but also the opportunity to add some heroic Bungie Rewards to forever mark your accomplishments, including the Godslayer Title Pin and The Pantheon Raid Ring.
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The Pantheon Raid Ring features a legendary re-envisioning of our iconic first Raid Ring, launched in 2020. Beyond the striking raid symbol as the focus of the ring, owners will also have a private reminder of the importance of loyalty in the face of adversity. Etched on the inside is a message that reads, “Glory comes easy when you have allies you can trust.” The epitome of strength and camaraderie, The Pantheon Raid Ring stands as a testament to the valor and unity found in the heat of battle. This special Bungie Rewards offer is available for purchase only to players who complete all encounters from any tier of The Pantheon in Destiny 2 by June 3, 2024.
The Godslayer Title Pin will also be available for purchase via Bungie Rewards for players who complete the Godslayer Title by June 3, 2024.

Rahool’s Frequent Decryptor Program

The experience of grinding out new Exotic armor can be a time-consuming process. It can take quite a few runs to get the drop you’re looking for, and many more to get one that has stats that support your build. Besides that, with Exotic armor pieces often forming the backbone of a powerful build, new players are regularly asked to spend a long time tackling challenging content solo before being able to run builds that support the most effective tactics.
Luckily, the Econ Team has established a good working relationship with the Tower’s Number One Cryptarch over the last year as we added Exotic armor focusing, and we have managed to help Rahool set up a new promotional program of sorts that makes farming the armor you want more deterministic and less dependent on rotators.
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Starting in The Final Shape, Rahool is going to be the source for any new Exotic armor that we release. When you first talk to Rahool after The Final Shape launch, he will introduce you to a new rewards program tied to his brand-new Reputation Track. The idea is simple: the more you decode engrams with him, the more you increase your reputation with him. Once you completely fill the reputation track once and reset your rank, Rahool will allow you into an elite club, giving you access to a new tier of focusing.
Once you become one of Rahool’s “Engram Ensiders” (he was very proud of the name, so be nice to him), you’ll be able to purchase any piece of Exotic armor for any character on your account for one Exotic engram and one Exotic cipher, in addition to the previous focusing options. Because this is tied to Rahool’s new reputation track, there is no weekly limit to using this tier of focusing; as long as you still have Exotic ciphers and engrams, you can keep rolling armor.
With this change, we are also altering the way that old sources of Exotic armor work. First, Lost Sectors will keep the same drop rates for Exotics but will instead drop engrams whenever they would have previously dropped gear. Neomuna will also still drop new Exotic armor when you complete a Vex Strike Force encounter, but we won’t be adding any more new armor to the drop list after Season of the Wish.
With these changes, we know you’re wondering, “How long will it take to get this newfangled tier of focusing? I’ve got the World’s First Race to prepare for, wot wot!” Without going into the exact numbers, the actions that will give the most reputation will be precision decryption (aka Tier 2 focusing), followed by advanced decryption, then opening an Exotic engram , and last but also least, opening a prime engram. So, if you want to be ready for the Witness’s forces as soon as possible, make sure to stock up on Exotic engrams and Ascendant Shards before June 4, as with a little more than a full stock of Exotic engrams you’ll be able to start focusing new armor.

Shader Icon Revamp

With The Final Shape, we're upgrading the look and design of the shader icon layout. Shaders are a core way a player can provide a unique look and feel to their Guardian, and we wanted to help continue to make that a better experience. Our goal with this update is to help make the shader icons more accurately reflect the colors and textures they will apply.
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Currently, there are some issues that can make the experience of applying a shader inconsistent. The first being that, while each shader applies six colors, only four are currently shown on the shader icon. This can sometimes result in the shader appearing differently than players may expect from the icon preview.
Adding to this is the fact that all four color sections of the current shader icon are equal in shape and size, making it difficult to distinguish what the main colors will be when applied. There are also many shaders that have unique glows that players strive for, and with the current design, they are not represented. Gambit Jadestone is a great example of this.
Gambit Jadestone Shader Icon - Current
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To help address these issues, we've made updates to the shader icon design that includes all six colors for that shader. We are also changing the design in a way that makes the primary colors appear to take more space than the secondary colors for a more accurate representation with most gear items. Glows are also reflected in the updated design so it will be easier to distinguish those shaders within your shader selection screens.
Gambit Jadestone Shader Icon - Updated In The Final Shape
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We tested many different design solutions for this goal, and eventually settled on adding a diamond to the center of the current icon design and changing the layout of the color slots on the icon.
We’re hoping these new improvements will offer a better experience for Guardians looking to show off their best looks.

PvP Strike Team Update

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Hello everyone, PvP Strike Team here to talk about Special ammo in the Crucible. Since Update 7.3.5, we’ve been doing a substantial amount of iteration on our Special ammo distribution systems. We’ve tried the meter system in multiple playlists as well as two different versions of the ammo crates system in Competitive, Hardware, and for a limited time in Trials. Some people asked why we are bothering to do this level of experimentation, and we’d like to explain it.
The Respawn System
The original Special ammo distribution system was brought into the game with Forsaken and, combined with allowing players to pick up ammo from defeated opponents, it eventually peaked in a short period of time where Special weapons eclipsed Primary weapons for final blows in Crucible. We walked it back several times, mostly focused on how much ammo you could pick up from bricks on the ground, but we were still left in a position of one-shot kill Special weapons making up a substantial percentage of Crucible final blows and contributing to many of the issues with sandbox readability we have discussed before.
While the respawn system had its issues and we felt there was some room for improvement, it did do a decent job of balancing ammo distribution between high- and low-performing players, with high-performing players on average utilizing Special ammo 1.5-2 times more than low performing players. Similarly, with years of the system in place, the Special weapon meta had solidified nicely. Shotguns were at the top, with around 47% of Special weapon kills. Snipers and Fusions combined to make up 43%, and all the other Special weapons were the remaining 10%.
When investigating changes to the respawn system, it became apparent that we were very limited in terms of how we could tune the system to get the desired effects, and that led us to investigate two additional systems. While we wanted to be able to solve the problem of too many one-hit kills in PvP, it was important to us that the new systems did not introduce new and potentially worse problems.
The Meter System
To understand the meter system, we first need to take you through its development. This system was originally intended to be experimental, utilized only in the temporary Labs mode, Checkmate. It was built using a combination of other existing systems co-opted from various parts of the game that allowed us to do things we could not usually do in Crucible, like retaining the state of the meter between lives and between rounds (an invisible stat on the scoreboard the game reads back every time you respawn), dropping ammo directly onto the player in a transmat (an invisible ammo crate that opens directly above you and then deletes itself), carrying the full amount of ammo over between deaths (utilizing the logic system we use in PvE activities to re-grant you ammo on spawn), and displaying the current progress of the meter (the UI bar borrowed from Exotic weapon and activities buffs).
Reception to the system in Checkmate was mixed, but we saw there was a lot of potential in our first truly “earnable” Special ammo system. Since its introduction, we have iterated on it several times, including earlier this week, and have gotten it into a much more acceptable state. Unfortunately, as the meter system has been exposed to the wider game for an extended period, we have run into two core issues which have required us to continue to look for possible solutions.
Balance Issues – The overall balance of the meter system in the wider sandbox has been concerning. It primarily benefits one player type over all others, with players who routinely perform above average in their lobbies getting the double benefits of having more Special ammo than the respawn system allowed at certain points in the game, while their opponents often have much less. In the meter system, high-performing players are earning Special ammo at 3.5 times the rate of lower-performing players, a delta which has led to many non-high-performing players abandoning Special weapons entirely. In Competitive, for example, with the meter system in use low-performing players were more likely to get kills with Heavy ammo weapons than they were with Special ammo weapons.
The weapon balance has become similarly one-sided, as it promotes Shotguns as the main solution, and all other Special weapons are perceived as no longer useful for most players when in an ammo-limited situation. Under the meter system, Shotguns have more than 76% of Special weapon kills, with Fusions and Snipers reduced to a combined 18%, and the rest of the Special weapons making up only 6%. This has led to a very “rich get richer” meta, where the best performing players and weapons are now even stronger by comparison without having to do anything differently.
Earlier this week we took steps to improve on these issues, but the difficulty we face in a system where Special ammo is almost entirely earned is that we have limited room to close the gap between high and low performers before it functionally becomes "everyone gets Special ammo on a timer," which is something we'd like to avoid.
Technical Issues – Balance problems aside, being built on tech that was not designed to be used in this way has exposed multiple issues that, upon investigation, we determined could not be easily fixed in the meter’s current state. Some things, like being unable to notify opponents that an ammo transmat has occurred or give starting ammo on join-in-progress, are already apparent to players. Other problems, which are far more significant, appear in the backend and affect how we handle several of the processes, impacting our ability to both balance and maintain the system in the long term. Functionally, these combined issues require us to rebuild the meter from the ground up as a new, dedicated system. We feel the system has shown enough merit that this is something we are undertaking for a future release.
The Crates System
As a potential fallback for the meter system, the Special ammo crates system was resurfaced and iterated upon. The crates system has several benefits from a design perspective, including the ability to place crates in key zones around the map to help encourage player movement in non-objective or objective-optional modes and prevent coagulation around a single power position, as well as offering the ability to delay Special weapon pushes in round-based modes.
The crates system has also, based on its time in Competitive and Trials, done some positive things in terms of moving Special ammo distribution closer to healthy values. The delta between high- and low-performing players has moved back to 2.4 times, and it has led to less late-game snowballing, as players who do try to hoard Special ammo lose it upon death. Weapon balance is similarly improved, although not optimal, and there is significantly increased variety with Shotguns coming down to 59% of kills, Fusions and Snipers combining for 28% of kills, and all other Special weapons increasing to 13% of kills.
Ultimately, the crates system in isolation also has several major problems. It can present a frustrating amount of friction between playing the game how you want and playing the game how you need to if you want to run a Special ammo weapon. Additionally, in round-based modes, it is too frictionless to run double Special ammo weapons. It is also the first system we have introduced that allows players to directly influence the Special ammo economy of the opposing team, as controlling most crates can help starve the other team of Special ammo.
From a strategic perspective this is an interesting mechanic, but with no other way to earn Special ammo in gameplay it serves to be more frustrating than fun, and many players have struggled to adapt to the change, causing additional friction when playing in matchmade teams.
The “Blended” 1-1-1 System
Each of the above-listed systems has both positives and negatives. In isolation, each system helps and hurts a different part of the population, but none of them holistically solves the Special ammo problem.
  • The respawn system offers a safe distribution of ammo amongst players, and the ease of availability promotes special weapon diversity, but giving two kill’s worth to every player every life also results in far too many one-hit kills for a healthy sandbox.
  • The meter system allows players to earn Special ammo in a deterministic way and increases the rate of earning if you’re playing well, which feels rewarding for high-performing players. On the other hand, for low-performing players, it feels significantly worse, and it promotes a homogenous Special weapon meta.
  • The crate system allows us to promote movement around the map, alter push timings, reward map control, and give players more direct control over the amount of Special ammo in play for their opponents. It also causes significant friction by forcing conflict with optimal player flows and between matchmade teams, and it allows too much Special ammo in round-based modes.
The solution we have settled on is a blended system we refer to as the “1-1-1," taking parts of each of the above systems and combining them to solve the problems introduced by each system individually.
  1. Players will respawn each life with one kill worth of Special ammo for their chosen weapon. This serves as a stopgap for players to make sure they are never going long amounts of time with an empty weapon and encourages more players to continue to utilize Special weapons, albeit in a limited fashion. Setting the ammo at one instead of two kill’s worth ensures that there is not a surplus of Special ammo that is available for minimum effort. Spawning with one also functions as a healthy mid-point between spawning with none in the crates system and retaining all ammo with the meter.
  2. All Primary weapon final blows will drop a personal ammo brick that awards one kill’s worth of Special ammo. This is our deterministic, earnable method of distributing ammo in the blended system until our purpose-built version of the ammo meter is ready. What this means is that any of your final blows with a Primary weapon will drop an ammo brick that only you can pick up, regardless of whether the opponent you defeated had Special ammo on them. Likewise, if you defeat a player who has Special ammo using a Special ammo weapon, that will not drop a brick on the ground, so like the meter system, you cannot use Special to directly earn more Special. We will be initially introducing this specific portion of the system into the Competitive playlist starting next week, to help address player complaints about the economy in those modes.
  3. Crates will continue to exist, but their icon visibility range on the HUD has been decreased, and they will only provide a single kill’s worth of Special ammo when opened. These crates will continue to serve as points of interest around a map, but it will no longer be a requirement for players to interact with them to partake in the Special ammo system. They will instead function as a small bonus for players who take the time to engage with them and an optional mid-point step for players to gain Special ammo that is more effort than simply respawning with it, but less effort than getting a Primary weapon final blow.
We’re very excited to introduce this system sometime after the launch of The Final Shape, and we greatly appreciate your patience and feedback as we have continued experimenting in our ongoing effort to improve the Crucible.

Superblack Shader Now Available

With the final two BRAVE weapons available this week, players will receive the final quests needed to unlock the much-anticipated Superblack shader. Players can unlock the shader by earning the Superblack Key Alpha from Shaxx, and Superblack Key Omega from Arcite 90-40. Using both will grant you access to the Superblack Containment and to the shader. If you’re a Hunter…er…a player of any class, you’ll want to grab this new Shader and look your finest.

Player Support Report

Reject modernity. Embrace tradition. Equip Anarchy.
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Known Issues List Help Forums Bungie Help Twitter

WINDOWS 7 AND 8 SUPPORT
Beginning on June 4, 2024, Destiny 2 is ending support for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems. This decision is to align with Steam and Microsoft ending support for these systems.
Destiny 2 may continue running on these older operating systems after June 4, 2024, but we are unable to guarantee continued functionality after that date.
Players using these operating systems to play Destiny 2 are urged to upgrade to a more recent version of Windows or move to another platform so that their playtime won't be interrupted.
For more information, please view our Windows 7 and 8 Support article.
PANTHEON CHECKPOINTS
Due to an issue preventing players from progressing in The Pantheon when joining at a checkpoint, we have disabled checkpoints for The Caretaker and Zo'aurc, Explicator of Planets. We are attempting to resolve this issue as soon as possible and will provide an update when we have more information to share.
ARCHIE QUEST INFORMATION
We've seen confusion surrounding the weekly Archie Hunt quests and wanted to offer clarification. These quests are only intended to be available for one week each and were made with this time limit in mind. We understand that this is not ideal for all players, which is why we made the shader available for one completion for any of the weekly quests. The lore attached to these triumphs will become available to all players when The Final Shape launches on June 4.
KNOWN ISSUES
While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help Forum:
  • In Onslaught, players may be teleported back to the incorrect ADU location after completing certain phases.
  • The ADU in Onslaught can occasionally despawn.
  • On rare occasions, the Spark in Onslaught can be lost.
  • The portal to leave a boss phase in Onslaught will sometimes not open when killing a boss too quickly.
  • BRAVE weapons The Recluse and Hammerhead don’t highlight enemies like their previous models.
For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, review our Known Issues article. Players who observe other issues should report them to our #Help forum.

Titan Smash(ed)

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To be a Titan is to live and die by the melee, even if that means a gruesome but spectacular death.
Movie of the Week:
[
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Final God Of Pain

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For a Final God of Pain, Nezarec is pretty stylish and colorful. Probably because we are not sharing that Superblack shader with him.
Art of the Week: AliveWake via TwitteX
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That’s everything we have for this week. Hopefully you’re enjoying The Pantheon so far. Remember, this is only the first wave of bosses and more are on the way. It only gets more fun from here. And we swear that wasn’t an evil laugh we were stifling, it was just…a cough. cough
We’ll be back next week with another TWID. Until then, be good to each other, and thanks for hanging out with us.

Destiny 2 Community Team
submitted by DTG_Bot to DestinyTheGame [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 19:47 el_zorow Does OLG lottery send you an email if you win the lottery Max?

I bought a ticket the 29th and traveled abroad. I got an email from OLG on the 30th stating that I have a winning ticket.
I dont remember my ticket number to compare with the winning number and I cant login because I am not in Ontario. Since the email just says you have a winning ticket I am wondering what I won.
Deep down I know its probably an insignificant amount but just going to ask anyway
submitted by el_zorow to ontario [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 19:39 OrganizationOk9766 Monk Class and Subclass HB (made by myself, class based on play test, and sub by myself)

Class: I translated in deepL, cause it was in portuguese... and Im lazy to translate by myself now)
Features: LIFE POINTS
Hit Dice: 1d8 per monk level Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your modifier
Martial Arts: Starts in a d6 and up until d12
Constitution
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per
monk level after 1st
PROFICIENCIES
Armor: None Weapons: Simple weapons, short swords
Tools: Choose a type of craftsman's tool or a musical instrument
Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity
Skills: Choose two from Acrobatics, Athletics, Stealth, History, Insight and
Religion
LEVEL 1: MARTIAL ARTS
His practice of martial arts gives him mastery in combat styles that use
his Unarmed Strike and Monk Weapons, which are Simple Melee Weapons
Simple Body and Weapons.
You gain the following benefits while unarmed or wielding only
Monk Weapons and not wearing armor or wielding a shield:
Additional Unarmed Strike. You can make an additional Unarmed Attack as
a Bonus Action.
Agility: You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for attack and damage rolls.
your Unarmed Strikes and Monk Weapons and due to your agility and reflexes, you
can dodge grabs using Dexterity instead of Strength.
Additionally, when you choose the Grab or Push option you can use your
Dexterity modifier instead of Strength to determine the saving throw DC.
Martial Arts Dice. You can roll a d6 in place of your normal Attack damage
Unarmed or Monk Weapons. This die changes as you gain Monk levels,
as shown in the Martial Arts column of the Monk table.
LEVEL 1: DEFENSE WITHOUT ARMOR
While you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield, your Class
base Armor equals 10 plus your Dexterity modifier and your Dexterity modifier.
Wisdom.
LEVEL 2: MONK DISCIPLINE
Your martial training allows you to tap into a reservoir of energy
extraordinary within yourself. Your access to this energy is represented by a number of
Discipline Points. Your Monk level determines the number of points you
possesses, as shown in the Discipline Points column of the Monk table.
You can spend these points to power certain Monk traits. You
begins by knowing three of these characteristics: Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense and
Step of the Wind, each detailed below.
When you spend a Discipline Point, it is not available until you finish a
Short Rest or Long Rest, at the end of which you recover all your points
spending.
Some features that use Discipline Points require their target to make a
Resistence test.
The saving throw DC equals 8 plus your Proficiency Bonus plus your
Wisdom modifier.
Flurry of Blows: You can spend 1 Discipline Point to make two Attacks
Disarmed as a Bonus Action.
Patient Defense: You can take the Disengage action as a Bonus Action.
Alternatively, you can spend 1 Discipline Point to perform both the action
Dodge as the Disengage action as a Bonus Action.
Wind Step: You can perform the Dash action as a Bonus Action.
Alternatively, you can spend 1 Discipline Point to perform both the Dash action
as the Disengage action as a Bonus Action, and your jump distance is doubled to
the round.
Power Charge: If the monk walks 20 feet towards the target (straight line), the first
attack has advantage, alternatively you can spend 1 discipline point to knock down
or push the target, the target must make a DEX check against your DC. (once
per turn)
LEVEL 2: Meditation
With a short rest, you recover all discipline points.
LEVEL 2: UNARMOR MOVEMENT
Your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armor or
wielding a shield. This bonus increases when you reach certain levels of
Monk, as shown on the Monk table.
LEVEL 3: DEFLECT ATTACKS
You can use your Reaction to deflect melee and ranged attacks against you.
that deal Blunt, Piercing, or Slashing damage. When you do this, the damage
total you take from the attack is reduced by 1d10 plus your Dexterity modifier
plus your Monk level.
If you reduce the damage to 0, you can spend 1 Discipline Point to redirect some
the strength of the attack. If you do so, choose a creature within 5 feet of you if the
attack was a melee attack or within 60 feet of you who are not behind Cover
Total if the attack was a ranged attack. That creature must succeed on a saving throw.
Dexterity save or suffer damage equal to two results of your Arts Die
Martials plus your Dexterity modifier. The damage is the same type caused by the
attack.
LEVEL 3: SUBCLASS
Monk gains a subclass of your choice:
Warrior of Mercy, Warrior of Shadow, Warrior of the Four Elements,
Warrior of the Hand or Disciple of Nirvana.
LEVEL 4: ENHANCEMENT
Earn this trait at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 19.
LEVEL 4: SLOW FALL
You can use your Reaction when falling to reduce any damage you take from the
drop by an amount equal to five times your Monk level.
LEVEL 5: EXTRA ATTACK
Attack twice instead of once.
LEVEL 5: STUNNING BLOW
Once per turn, when you hit a creature with a Monk Weapon or a
Unarmed Strike, you can spend 1 Discipline Point to attempt a strike
stunning. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. In a test of
If the save fails, the target is in the Stunned Condition until the start of your next turn.
On a successful saving throw, the target takes Strength damage equal to one
result of your Martial Arts Die plus your Wisdom modifier.
LEVEL 6: BODY COATING
Through his training, he became able to strengthen his body to transmit the
energy of discipline.
Whenever you deal damage with your Unarmed Strike, it can cause your
choice of Force damage, normal or magical.
Intent on overcoming any type of resistance.
LEVEL 7: Evasion
When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a saving throw
Dexterity to take only half damage, you take no damage if you get
succeeds on the saving throw and takes only half damage if it fails. You don't
You benefit from this feature if you have the Incapacitated condition.
While you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield, you gain the
ability to move along vertical surfaces and through liquids in your
turn without falling during the movement.
Level 8:
Skill Enhancement
LEVEL 9: BODY AND SOUL
You are immune to any type of disease and poison.
LEVEL 10: IMPROVED DISCIPLINE
Your training has taken your body and mind to new levels. His Flurry of Blows, Defense
Patient and Passo do Vento gain the following benefits:
Flurry of Blows: You can spend 1 Discipline Point to use Flurry of Blows and
make three Unarmed Attacks with it instead of two.
Patient Defense: When you spend a Discipline Point to use Patient Defense,
you gain a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to two results of your
Martial Arts Dice.
Wind Step: When you spend a Discipline Point to use Wind Step,
You can choose one willing creature within 5 feet of you that is Large or
smaller. You move the creature with you until the end of your turn. The creature's movement
does not provoke Attack Opportunities.
Superior Power Charge: If you walk 40 feet instead of 20, you can give one die to
more damage on the first attack. And if you spend 1 ki point, you can choose to push or
knock the target down, then the target must make a DEX test against your DC. (repeatable
while the displacement lasts)
LEVEL 10: SELF-RESTORATION
By sheer force of will, you can remove one of the following conditions from you
even at the end of each of your turns: Charmed, Tormented, or Poisoned.
Additionally, abstaining from food and drink does not give you Exhaustion levels.
LEVEL 13: Superior Parry
You can now use your Deflect Attacks feature against attacks that deal
any type of damage, not just Blunt, Piercing, or Slashing.
LEVEL 14: DISCIPLINED SURVIVOR
His physical and mental discipline grants him proficiency in all skill tests.
resistance. Additionally, whenever you make a saving throw and fail, you can
spend 1 Discipline Point to roll again and take the second result.
LEVEL 15: IMMUTABLE WILL
At 15th level, your discipline sustains you so much that you do not suffer the effects of old age and
cannot age.
LEVEL 18: SUPERIOR DEFENSE
At the start of your turn, you can spend 3 Discipline Points to protect yourself
perfectly against damage for 1 minute or until you have the Incapacitated condition. During
This time, you have resistance to all damage except Strength damage.
LEVEL 20: BODY AND MIND
You have enhanced your body and mind to new heights. Your Dexterity and
Wisdom increases by 4. Your maximum for these abilities increases by 4
sub: Subclass: Disciple of Nirvana
Level 3: Renewal - Tae Kwon Do
By choosing this subclass at 3rd level, you learn to combine Tae Kwon Do moves with divine energy.
Do moves with divine energy, your body becomes enveloped in divine energy, enhancing your attacks.
With a bonus action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to envelop your body
with radiant power allowing you to use a martial style meant for the gods. For
1 minute you gain the following benefits;
Luminous attack: When you land an attack on an opponent, you
add your martial arts die as radiant damage to the target hit.
Divine martial style: You can use your legs dexterously so that
your unarmed attacks have a range of 3 meters.
Level 6: Renewal - Sandogiri
At 6th level, your divine potential is almost completely awakened, so you can
access ancient knowledge of your style. While you have Renewal
Taekwondo active and you land 3 consecutive attacks on an opponent, the target must perform a
a constitution resistance test against your DC, on a failure they will receive
maximum damage from the radiant die
Level 11: Renewal - Blue Dragon
From the 11th level onwards, your consciousness is virtually linked to that of a warrior who
who lived through the ages and mastered the powers of his divine art, you
add the following benefits to your Renewal.
● Supreme verdict: When you use your storm blows, you can perform
an additional unarmed attack, if this additional attack hits a stunned target.
target, your critical hit becomes 18 to 20.
Redemptive Scales: When you use your patient defense characteristic, you
recover 1 martial arts die in life points.
Ancestral Dragon's Descent: When you perform your wind steps skill, you can
can teleport up to 9 meters in any direction you can see, leaving
a flash where you were. Each creature within 1.5 meters of where you left must
succeed in a constitution endurance test or be blinded until the start of their next turn.
start of your next turn.
Level 17: Renewal - Nirvana
At 17th level, you master the ancient art completely and awaken its latent power,
thus being able to use the most powerful technique of your style. While
Renewal active, you can exchange one of your unarmed strikes and spend 2 ki
points for the following special attack:
● Sun's breaker: You perform an extremely powerful kick that is capable of
destroy the body of your enemies. On a hit you deal half your level
in martial arts dice in radiant damage. This blow can only be used on
stunned or blinded enemies
submitted by OrganizationOk9766 to UnearthedArcana [link] [comments]

2024.05.02 19:34 CarelessDot5657 As requested guide on installing on Chromecast

DISCLAIMER: Use at your own risk! I have heard of people with android devices getting banned. I can't confirm or deny this is the case, but I'm including this disclaimer just in case. Also, this may be possible with an Xbox controller but I have only tested with dualshock 4 (and I don't own one or I would test that for you guys)
REQUIREMENTS: A dualshock 4 controller and an android/ios device or PC with the apk and roms on the device of your choice, and of course a Chromecast with the remote
ANDROID GUIDE
Step 1: Connect to the same wifi network as the Chromecast
Step 2: Install file manager by file manager plus onto the Chromecast thru playstore and allow permissions
Step 3: Choose to use Send files to tv (step 4) or FTP (Step 4a) (the former is the easiest)
Step 4: Download the Send Files To TV app to your android phone and the Chromecast through the playstore, open the app on both devices and grant permissions on both as well
Step 5: Select the pmmo apk and roms and send it to the Chromecast
Step 6: Open the pmmo apk on the Chromecast and allow the prompt to install from unknown sources and install
Step 7: Enable bluetooth and connect to your DS4 to the Chromecast
Step 8: Open the settings gear and navigate to Apps, and through apps to open Pokemmo (sideloaded apps can only be opened this way without installing a different launcher to the tv)
Step 9: Use the DS4 touchpad to use the mouse to select each rom and load it, then close the app from the corner X
Step 10: open pmmo through apps again and log in and make sure to hit remember me because typing is hard with this and profit. Turn off on screen controls and remap as you wish!
Step 4a: Download an FTP app to your phone (I use AndFTP) allow permissions and open File Manager by file manager plus onto the chromecast. Select the bottom right access from network option on the chromecast. Start the service and enter this information into your ftp app on the phone. Remember the number after the colon is the port so make sure to enter it in the correct place. In other words make sure to type the numbers after ftp:// into hostname and exclude the colon n numbers after it, and put those last numbers into the port. Don't forget to include the username and password shown on the chromecast. Continue from step 5 above
IOS Guide:
Step 1: Connect to the same wifi network as the Chromecast
Step 2: Install file manager by file manager plus onto the Chromecast thru playstore and allow permissions
Step 3: Download FTP Manager to your ios device and allow permissions
Step 4: Open File Manager by file manager plus onto the chromecast. Select the bottom right access from network option on the chromecast. Start the service and enter this information into your ftp app on the phone. Remember the number after the colon is the port so make sure to enter it in the correct place. In other words make sure to type the numbers after ftp:// into hostname and exclude the colon n numbers after it, and put those last numbers into the port. Don't forget to include the username and password shown on the chromecast. Continue from step 5 above in android guide
PC Guide:
Step 1: Connect to the same wifi network as the Chromecast
Step 2: Install file manager by file manager plus onto the Chromecast thru playstore and allow permissions
Step 3: Download an FTP program (ie filezilla)
Step 4: Open File Manager by file manager plus onto the chromecast. Select the bottom right access from network option on the chromecast. Start the service and enter this information into your ftp app on the phone. Remember the number after the colon is the port so make sure to enter it in the correct place. In other words make sure to type the numbers after ftp:// into hostname and exclude the colon n numbers after it, and put those last numbers into the port. Don't forget to include the username and password shown on the chromecast. Continue from step 5 above in android guide
Thank you and please let me know if any of this guide could use editing. I know this is a mess but I couldn't think of a better way to format this honestly ;-;
submitted by CarelessDot5657 to pokemmo [link] [comments]

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