I played a few matches, it's definitely just not a game for me. The gunplay just doesn't feel good to me but I know other people are enjoying it. Today's server issues don't reflect my opinion. It just feels a bit clunky to me.
I hope it's successful for the players who stick with it, because I know how disappointing it is when your favorite game's support gets dropped.

So basically I closed my laptop instead of shutting down the other day (I know, bad idea, was tired) and when I went to open it back up it was stuck on a black screen and wouldn’t wake up from sleep mode so I tried to reboot using the power button, all this did was turn the computer off
I wait about a minute for it to boot back up but nothing happened so I hit the power button again, the power light and keyboard lights all come on but the screen is still dark and I don’t hear my fans come on
I’ve had something similar happen once and I hooked it up to a monitor with an HDMI and use the monitor to troubleshoot so I tried it again, only this time the HDMI is not getting any signal off the laptop.
The weirdest part is that when I try to turn the computer on my monitor goes from no signal, to searching for signal, and back to no signal, so something is definitely happening.
My question is: is this an at home fix? From what I’ve seen online it could be the RAM and Ideapad Gaming laptops are built to allow you to upgrade it, I could easily replace the stick myself if that’s what’s wrong but I’m not sure and don’t wanna mess with it until I have more info.
Edit: I used the hardware flair because I BELIEVE it is my RAM stick, if this sounds more like a software issue please let me know and I’ll fix this post!

I’m level 15 currently, and I feel like I’m progressing fairly well with learning the game.
I’ve tried a variety of nations and have decided on realistic ground battles with Italy (totally not because I’m Sicilian), and I’m currently grinding with my 2.7 BR lineup of the AB 43, the M3A3, the M15, and the 75/18 M41.
I’m currently grinding up to the 4 3.7 BR vehicles that are available in the Italian tech tree, and I’m wondering if that is a good BR to sit tight and learn the game with? Or should I stick to where I am? Or maybe try and go a bit higher to 5.0/5.3?

I watched Pyro’s new vid about Kendrick v. Drake beef. He got 80% of it wrong. Bro should stick to video game essays instead.

Credit to u/SpacePaladin15 for the NOP Universe.
Hey, I hope everyone's doing well!
Today we return to the namesake of this fic, an actual lesson about animals. This one focuses on Koalas! One of Australia's most recognisable critters. I hope you enjoy.
It's hardly worth mentioning, seeing as I'm an infrequent poster at the best of times, but I'll not have another chapter out for a few weeks due to limited free time and devoting most of my writing time to an upcoming ficnapping. Be sure to look out for that!
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Memory transcription subject: Rysel, Venlil Environmental Researcher
Date [Standardised human time]: 8th September 2136
“Koalas!”
Bernard’s energised voice boomed through the air as the classroom's monitor flickered into life, images of this paws lecture topic popping up one after the other until the entire screen was filled with a collage of furry quadrupeds.
Squee! I’ll never get tired of this, it’s all so cool!
As usual the sight of something new stirred immediate discussion, hushed murmurs swelling into vibrant discourse in little more than a heartbeat. Most of the class swiftly huddled together into small herds to bounce ideas around while the rest opted to stick to the solace of their own thoughts as they took in the display.
I’d be quite happy in either situation, though seeing as Sandi had already sunk into deep concentration and Kailo had peeled off to talk with Ennerif and Solenk, it seemed the decision had been made for me on this occasion. Wasting no more time on idle inspection of the people around me, I focused my full attention forward, eager to form first impressions before the lesson began in earnest.
Now then, time to make some educated guesses. What traits does this animal have? I wonder if I’ll get any right this paw?
Professional assumptions went paw-in-paw with the lectures, examining and coming up with hypotheses about the specimens was only natural. Recently however, I’d started to make a little game of it to make things even more interesting than usual. A veritable bonfire of ideas had been set ablaze within me, fueled by my newfound knowledge of Earthen wildlife. Every flash and spark of the flame was a fresh theory I could try to apply to the lectures. It was an invigorating exercise that further stoked my unceasing wonderment.
So far I’d only done this once during the previous class and, to my disappointment, I’d not done too well.
I was right when I guessed that chickens were omnivores, but wrong in my assumption that they could fly. And that red thing on their head, the um… what was it called? The comb! Yes, the comb. I thought that was to attract mates, but it regulates body heat instead. It’s fascinating. Oh! Stars damn it I’m rambling!
I bapped my tail against my leg, the soft thud being just enough to snap me back from my runaway thoughts before I went completely wall-eyed. I was becoming more and more accustomed to getting lost in my own head while remaining conscious of the fact; it was happening so frequently now that it was pretty much impossible not to. Now I was able to pull myself back to the world around me without having to rely on someone else shaking me out of it. Most of the time anyway.
Sandi still keeps an eye on me, and Kailo even decided to help out once without being too snide about it. Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, Koalas.
Glancing at the furred animals, two things immediately stood out. Firstly, their eyes were in a more central position on their face. And second, all the images showed them being on or close to trees. There were other noteworthy observations of course, such as the Koala’s prominent nose and rounded features, but they fell to the wayside as I honed in on these points first.
Hmmm… ok. I already know to discount the idea that they’re predators just from eye position, so let’s get that thought out of here. Maybe omnivorous? Herbivore? Agh no, I can’t just guess that for the sake of guessing, that’s the same problem! Hrm, it’s tough making these assumptions now that everything I thought I knew has been turned on its head.
Nevermind, I’ll focus on the other thing. All the trees make me think they’re arboreal, that seems to be a reasonable assumption. I wonder what else they-
Clearing his throat, Bernard broke my concentration, his call for attention silencing the murmuring conversation and redirecting everyone's focus to the lecturer's podium.
His gaze panned across the room as he waited for everyone to settle, a beaming smile lighting up his face, “As ever I’m delighted to see you all get so into the subject matter from the get go. I’m looking forward to hearing what you were discussing should you wish to share. For now though, how about we get started, hm?”
A chorus of merry bleats rang out from across the audience, ears and tails flicking happily in agreement. Bernard's grin grew in tandem with the class's fervour, clasping his hands together enthusiastically as he launched into the lesson, “Excellent! Then let’s get started.”
The pictures on screen dissolved away until only one remained, enlarging to cover the entire monitor with the fluffy grey face of a Koala peacefully reclining in the crook of a tree.
“Ah, there we are,” Bernard’s baritone timbre drifted through the room as he looked up at the image, his own tone reflecting the relaxed attitude of the animal on screen, “He looks so comfortable doesn’t he? Perfectly at peace with the world, not too surprising considering they sleep almost 20 hours a day. A full paw!”
A wave of beeps and gasps rippled through the herd, punctuated by a single yawn-dressed comment from Rova, “A full paw? Hwuuu… jealous.”
Her drowsy remark elicited several whistling giggles from the herd, Bernard's own jovial chortle joining them as he turned to face her, “Late evening Rova?”
I twisted a little in my seat, panning an eye in Rova’s direction just in time to see her bleary eyes bulge open and her ears shoot up, now intensely aware of the fact she hadn’t been as quiet as she thought she had.
Sitting up abruptly, she hastily tapped down errant tufts of wool that’d flared in surprise as she composed herself, though her nervousness at becoming the centre of the class's attention was still plain for all to hear, “Uh- I um… achem, a little bit yes, um- …sorry. Lokki dragged me out to a movie viewing in the rec centre. It went on pretty late.”
A melodramatic bray from the other side of the room drew everyone's ears away from Rova to the now aghast Lokki, paw splayed across his chest in faux indignation, “Dragged you? Well excuse me for trying to broaden your horizons with human movies. That’ll be the list time I- …Ahaaaa…”
Lokki’s theatrics were cut short by a heavy yawn of his own, a swell of whistling laughter rolling through the herd as vibrant bloom lit up his snout, a sight that elicited a particularly amused bleat from Rova.
Turning away from the duo I looked back at Bernard, pleased to see that he was chuckling along with us. Behaviour like Lokki’s would never have been tolerated in my school and university days but, in stark contrast, Bernard revelled in it, the liveliness of his students fueling his own bombastic style of teaching. It was a pleasant change of pace having a teacher who let us all be ourselves in class; provided we weren’t too disruptive to the lesson plan.
Speaking of which.
His laughter still rumbling through the air, Bernard clapped his hands to pull everyone's focus back to him, “Ok, ok, let’s get back to it then shall we? Rova. Lokki. Hopefully the two of you can stay awake long enough until you can grab yourselves a coffee.”
As the class settled down and the last few giggling beeps petered out, Benard pointed a hand to the screen, “So, the Koala. Let’s start simple shall we? They are herbivorous marsupials native to the eastern and southern coasts of Australia. Easily recognised the world over, they are a well known and beloved symbol of their homeland, along with other animals such as the Kangaroo and the Emu. The former of which you might remember from one of our earlier lectures.”
Indeed I did remember, along with how angry Bernard had gotten after some speh-head had derided the Yotul after he explained how he held specific disdain for such attitudes.
Uuuggghh… I never want to see him angry again. So chilling.
I shook my ears in an effort to dismiss the unpleasant memory, panning my eyes back to the monitor to try and distract myself by inspecting the Koala’s physical appearance once more. Thankfully, by some Star's blessed intervention, Bernard had the exact same idea.
“Koala’s are rather squat in stature, ranging around sixty to eighty-five centimetres in length and weighing little more than fifteen to sixteen kilograms at their full size. As you can see, the fur of this fellow before you is a lovely silvery grey, but their fur can also sport a chocolaty brown hue as well. Arguably the most distinctive part of their appearance is their head, being rather large for their body size and having rounded ears, a large nose, and a pair of small eyes. These are often brown but variations do occur.”
It didn’t slip past my notice that Bernard didn’t bother to point out that the Koala’s eyes were forward facing. I didn’t think he’d simply forgotten, so perhaps he just felt it wasn’t necessary given that he’d already stated it was herbivorous. Either way, no one stuck up a paw or tail to question him.
“Now this will hardly be surprising considering how long they sleep, but Koala’s are largely sedentary and it’s rather easy to see why when you have a look into the contents of their diet.”
With the press of a button the Koala on screen was replaced by images of vibrant green vegetation. Soaring trees and flowering shrubbery weaved together across landscape framed pictures pulled admiring trills from the herd, the diversity of the plant life being shown standing as a reminder that it wasn’t only animal life that flourished on Earth.
After giving everyone the chance to take in the picturesque scenes, Bernard casually hammered that point home, “This is eucalyptus or, more accurately, a choice selection of more than 700 plants belonging to the eucalyptus genus, though the Koala itself favours 30 of them in particular.”
700!? Stars…
Realising that my ears had drooped in my momentary awe, I twisted them back to tune into the lesson, only for them to splay out in shock at the next words to come out of Bernard's mouth.
“The leaves of these plants are the primary food source of the Koala and there are a couple things worth mentioning when talking about these plants. For starters they do not have much nutritional or caloric value, leading to the Koala’s low-energy lifestyle. Additionally, they contain toxic compounds.”
A shiver instantly ran through the herd, ears flicking rapidly in confusion and alarm followed by a few quizzical whispers. It didn’t take long for someone to decide to give a proper voice to the murmuring.
“Excuse me Doctor. Did we hear that right? Their diet is made up of toxic flora?” Vlek’s grumbling incredulity cut through the herd's mutterings with ease. Until Kailo’s recent change of heart, the fifty something rotation old blonde Venlil had been a close second in terms of scepticism. Mercifully his rebuttals had always been relevant questions as opposed to ranting diatribes, so he at least remained on topic if nothing else.
Bernard nodded in confirmation, smiling back at Vlek while absentmindedly twirling the end of his moustache, “You heard me right, they do indeed consume plants that are toxic. Just not to them.”
Any worry or uncertainty still clinging to the herd was swept away by the provision of the glaringly obvious answer, leaving me chuckling inwardly at the oversight.
Ah of course! The plant might be poisonous but they’ll have evolved to deal with that. Stars… I’m so used to expecting the unexpected with Earth that I didn’t even consider the simplest solution.
“I see, thank you Doctor,” Vlek replied, a tinge of interest still audible in his tone, “I assume they’ve developed some adaptation to become immune to the harmful effects?”
The question immediately evoked a smirk from our teacher, but he hurriedly suppressed it while bobbing his head, “They have indeed. There are several factors that aid in their digestion of eucalyptus leaves without succumbing to the plant's baleful properties. The first is a part of the intestinal tract called the cecum. It contains a microbiome that allows the Koala to digest the eucalyptus. Coupled with this is an enzyme in the Koala’s liver that helps them break down the toxins. They are also capable of sniffing out the plants with the least amount of toxins, ensuring that they ingest as little as possible.”
Pausing for a breath Bernard looked back at the screen before turning to face us, another grin curling at the edges of his mouth as he continued with his explanation, “This is mostly for adult Koala’s, because while their young also possess these same adaptations, they don’t just go straight to munching through foliage right after being born. No, they need a little help making that jump and getting a stomach full of all that good gut bacteria. It’s nothing bad, but those of a sensitive stomach may wish to prepare themselves for this next part.”
Bernard’s assurances did little to assuage the concern that his warning had foisted upon us. Having been exposed to so much of the weirdness Earth had to offer everyone always ended up on edge whenever Bernard gave advice like this, even if he did say it in jest.
What strange nonsense thing do Koala pups do then? Judging by the way he’s acting it probably isn’t something as simple as drinking milk from the mother. Hmmm…
“So,” Bernard began, snapping us from our pensive stupor, “Young Koala’s, known as joeys, have a gestation period of thirty-five days on average, which is approximately forty-two paws. Once born they travel from the birth canal to a pouch in their mother so that they can continue to develop and grow. In the pouch the joey finds and latches onto one of two teats and these provide the newborn with a steady stream of nourishing milk. It spends the next six to seven months growing in the pouch, its eyes, ears, and fur all developing as time goes on.”
Okay, interesting. But this is exactly how I thought it’d go. What’s different?
The unexpected normalcy of the Koala’s birth and growth cycle had calmed everyone's nerves, only to be replaced with an air of suspicion as we waited with rapt attention for Bernard to drop the other claw and upend our expectations like he always did.
Not wanting to keep us in further suspense he forged ahead, the tempo of his voice picking up as the smile started to crease his face once more, “Now to make the switch from milk to eucalyptus, the mother also feeds the joey a substance called pap. It comes from the cecum I mentioned earlier, and contains all the gut bacteria required to help the young Koala in making the switch to eucalyptus.”
He stopped and looked around, searching us for a reaction to what I felt was a rather bland statement of fact. What was it he was saying without actually saying? Koala pups drink milk to mature and then include this pap substance so that they can start eating plants. I don’t see what-
The cecum is part of the intestine.
I blinked.
I blinked again, the intrusive interruption scouring my brain clean of any other thought bar the one it’d just implanted itself in the forefront of my mind.
Oh stars. They-
“They eat their own poop!?”
The shocked bleat shattered the peace of the room to reveal that most if not all of us had come to the same tail curling conclusion. As the hall filled with unrestrained vocalisations of disgust, an ‘Ugh’ over here and a ‘Blegh’ over there, Bernard’s own bellowing laughter joined the throng of voices.
“Ha! Everytime! Each and every time. Clearly it doesn’t matter if my students are Human or Venlil. Whenever someone learns about the Koala’s dietary development the reaction is the same!”
Pleased with himself beyond reason, Bernard chuckled away while the rest of us grappled with this ghastly reality. While there were plenty of animals that feasted on things that ranged from simply unappealing all the way to the stomach churningly grotesque, I’d never heard of an animal that actively consumed the excrement of its own species. Benefits aside, the prospect of having to do that to survive to adulthood sent a shiver of revulsion down my spine.
Ewww… Stars, I hope I forget this feeling by 2nd meal. They’re serving sturen and magamroot stew later. I was really looking forward to it.
With the herds mood beginning to temper Bernard tapped the podiums controls, removing the verdant collage of eucalyptus to display several similar yet distinct environments, still chortling merrily to himself in the process, “Ok then, with that little foray into their diet complete, why don’t we look at their habitat in more detail? As you might imagine given their diet and arboreal nature, Koala’s live in forested regions, and can be found in tropical and temperate zones. About a century ago they were classed as a vulnerable species, however efforts were made to turn this around and increase their numbers. Sadly the largest factor in their decline was human activity, as the fertile lands that gave rise to their bountiful forests were coveted farm land for our settlements.”
It was strange to hear Bernard so matter of factly admit to humanity's negative impacts on other species. He’d alluded to such things in the past but always with an air of caution, carefully pawing the line between honestly answering a question while not painting humanity as uncaring and destructive. AKA, the ‘predators’ we’d all initially expected them to be.
Perhaps his comfort in making such admissions was a reflection of the class's comfort with him, for no one so much as batted an ear. Even Kailo, who I would’ve expected to jump at the chance to use this as a prime example of predatory danger, only flicked an ear in stern yet silent concern.
A cough from Bernard drew my attention back, a new picture on screen that showed a forest from a bird's-eye view. Drawn across the image were around a dozen ringed areas, some bordering one another while others overlapped to some degree. It took me a moment, but I soon recognised that what I was looking at was a map, the rings representing what I assumed to be territories. And it didn’t take much effort to guess who each one belonged to.
“From habitats we move onto behaviours, so let’s start with territories. Koala’s are solitary animals. Yes, despite being herbivores. Considering they’re only awake for roughly four hours of the day I can hardly blame them. Lots to do and not a lot of time to do it. Jokes aside, once they mature they are quite independent, carving out a little slice of land for themselves, as displayed in this example, called a Home Range. That is not to say they go it alone and leave everything else behind however. Rather, as shown in the map behind me, they live in their own space while still being part of a larger social group.”
With another press of his pad the picture was updated to show one of two symbols in each segment, along with a key to the side of the map displayed in helpful Venlang. A quick glance told me that the symbols were representing whether the territory belonged to a male or female of the species.
“As you can see there is quite a bit of overlap between different Koala’s territories. It is in these areas that most of the socialising takes place between neighbours. The trees in these locations represent the few areas where intrusion across territories is acceptable for the sake of social interaction. Outside of that the Koala’s stick to their own territories for the most part, with the exceptions of Koala’s who are passing through, attempting to become part of the social group themselves, or dominant males who sometimes go off into another Koala’s range. But how do they know where one range begins and another range ends you might ask? Well, this brings us onto the next part of the lecture. How do Koala’s communicate?”
Wiping away the map from the monitor, Bernard loaded up a video of a Koala sitting in a tree and pressed play. Head held high, the Koala’s body shook as it belted out a reverberating call into the wilderness that could only be described as a garbled combination of a car engine failing to turn over mixed with the hiccups of someone with a particularly sore throat.
That’s how they sound? Oof that must be rough on the lungs.
I clearly wasn’t the only one to share such a thought, because I clocked Sandi tracing a paw along her neck as the noise went on, ears fluttering in discomfort at the noise.
Bernard himself cleared his own throat as the video came to an end, minimising it and replacing it with another image of a tree with a Koala rubbing up against the bark, “I think they’ve got me beat on who’s got the deeper voice!”
His joke garnered several amused beeps, a rare reaction that caused a beaming smile to shine across his face at lighting speed, “Oh you’re too kind. I’ll be here all week. Now where were we? Oh yes! Communication. As you’ve just heard, Koala’s are capable of loud low pitched bellows that can carry over vast distances. These express everything from ‘Hello I’m over here’ to ‘This is my turf, stay away’. Bellowing is more common in the males than the females, opting for shouting matches as opposed to outright fights when it comes to asserting dominance. Other vocal expressions include grunts, wails, and snarls if they’re acting particularly angsty. Mother and joey pairs also communicate through gentle clicking, squeaking, and murmuring sounds. And there’s one more thing worth mentioning. Something they have in common with Humans and Venlil when it comes to emoting.”
Really? They do something we do?
Curious, I pressed myself against the desk, straining as close as I could to once more scrutinise the Koala’s features. Not a lot stood out to me at first, the grey marsupial not sharing many similarities with a Venlil that I could identify.
Ok think. We show emotion with our ears, tails, and our wool on occasion. They don’t have tails so it’s obviously not that. Wool standing on end is more a reaction than a conscious expression. So it must be the ears then.
To my quiet satisfaction, my hunch was soon validated by Bernard, “As well as their vocalisations, Koala’s are very emotive through their facial features. Just like humans, they use their mouths and lips to show how they feel, but these tend more towards the aggressive side of the scale than what you might see on a human. Regarding yourselves however, Koala’s utilise their ears in tandem with their mouth movements when showing strong emotion.”
I was delighted to hear that my assumption was correct, a little happy flick twisting out through my tail and bapping against my chair with a muted thump against the plastic.
Hehe yes! Got one right!
“Now then, we are getting close to lunchtime so I’ll finish this segment off with something I think you’ll find particularly interesting. Diplomacy.”
Perplexed mutterings followed in the wake of the bizarre inclusion to the lecture, my own thoughts being dominated by bewilderment as I tried and failed to make sense of how the two could possibly be related.
Why would Koala’s, or any animal for that matter, be linked to diplomacy? Hmmm...
I could understand dispatching exterminators to deal with a predator issue as a show of goodwill, that at least includes animals, but Humans aren’t like that so I think I can safely scratch that off the list.
Maybe the humans who live in that region benefited from Koala’s in some way. Could they have gotten something from them? But what?
Hopefully not what the pups get from their mothers.
Agh no! Begone awful intrusive thoughts. Blegh! I don’t need that in my head.
As I wrestled with the short-lived revulsion inflicted upon me by my Star's damned subconscious, Bernard placed a new image on screen, one that was decidedly different from all that had preceded it.
On screen were more than a couple dozen pictures of humans. Some were pictured alone while others congregated in large groups while cameras surrounded them from all angles. Across all the images, I noted two common themes. First of all, a solid majority of the humans were wearing formal wear similar to what I’d seen worn by UN representatives on TV. If the gaggle of journalists in the background of the photos didn’t already confirm my suspicions, then it was this similarity which made me conclude they were all people of some importance. Likely politicians judging from context clues.
Secondly, each of the individuals was interacting with a Koala in some form. Some cradled one against their chests while others were feeding it eucalyptus leaves or pellets of some kind. One of the assumed politicians had become an impromptu bed for a snoozing bundle of fur, a gleeful smile spread across their face as they lovingly gazed down at the sleeping Koala in their lap.
As I continued to stare at the assorted photos something clicked into place, a sudden spark flickering into life. A burgeoning light of comprehension that flared and swelled with every wide-eyed breath I took. Some things still escaped me, things I hoped would soon be explained, but in staring at all of the humans happy smiling faces, I was struck with an instant of pure understanding.
If someone, say a Nevok for instance, offered to gift me a creature that was common to them but which might exotic and breathtaking to a Venlil, how could my feelings not be swayed? How could I walk away from that encounter and not have grown closer to them as a result?
“Koala diplomacy,” Bernard waved his hand up at the monitor, a slight reverence in his tone, “My favourite kind of soft power diplomacy. Where political leaders take photo ops with Koala’s and, on occasion, the Australian government loans Koala’s to other nations for a time to bolster positive relations. It certainly helps that Koala’s are a beloved animal worldwide, drawing large crowds and revenue for countries fortunate enough to host the adorable critters.”
The truly alien concept predictably sparked instant discussion in the herd, two polar opposite schools of thought swiftly cementing themselves as the most popular opinions. Simultaneously, I heard one voice trill excitedly while another scoffed at what they clearly saw as a ridiculous and offensive notion.
“Squee! That’d be so cool! I’d love to get the chance to see a Liri from Coila. Remember the Rainbow Boa? Think of that shimmering effect and colour but put it on a bird! Ah! I’ve only heard their song on video. It’d be a treat to hear it in person!”
Ooo! I’ve read about them! I’d love to get up close to one.
“Loaning. As if animals are property to be hoarded and traded? Pugh! Another predatory trait the humans don’t want to acknowledge for what it is.”
Ugh, typical. Jump right to the worst possible option.
However, despite my dismissal of their disparaging fumings, an uncomfortable thought pressed upon my mind. While it was plain to see how much humans cared for the Koala, it didn’t change the fact that humans did keep animals as property just as the scornful herd member had said.
This begged a rather important, disquieting question. Aside from keeping some animals as cattle, a stomach tightening minefield I had no desire to step a claw onto right now, how else did humans keep other creatures. And how did they treat them?
Before I was fully conscious of doing it my paw was in the air, the question primed on my tongue.
Noticing my elevated paw Bernard pointed at me, smiling warmly, “Yes Rysel? What’s on your mind?”
Sorry Bernard. I hope this one’s not too awkward for you to answer.
Flicking my ear in appreciation, and waiting for everyone to settle enough so that I could be heard, I voiced my concerns as neutrally as possible, “Thank you Doctor. I uh, just had a thought. We know that humans keep certain animals for… particular reasons, and we know why. From how you’ve spoken about Koala’s I think it's fair to say that the same cannot be said for them. However, this makes me wonder, what other reasons do humans have for keeping animals and how do you treat them?”
A flash of surprise blinked across Bernard's eyes but vanished so quickly that it felt like I’d imagined it. Had he not expected such a question? Maybe he was just shocked that it’d been me who’d ended up asking it?
Stars, am I so predictable that no one expects me to ask difficult questions?
Unfortunately, a quick glance at my deskmates seemed to prove that to be the case, as both Sandi and Kailo were looking at me with differing degrees of astonishment flapping in their ears.
Well speh.
“A very good point Rysel, certainly one that’s worth raising. Yet another example of you all anticipating what I have to say before I can bring it up myself.” Bernard tapped the podium, switching off the monitor before returning his focus to me, “We won’t be needing that. I’ve nothing prepared that I can show you and we’re heading to lunch in a few minutes anyway. Still, that’s plenty of time to give you a bit of an answer.”
A bit? What does he mean just a bit?
Made even more curious by Bernard's preempted admission that he wasn’t going to fully answer my query, I dialled both my ears on him, fixing him with an inquisitive stare as he started to explain with a tone that was noticeably more nonchalant than any of his previous explanations.
“So, animals in captivity for reasons other than what you already know. Honestly I would love to delve into other reasons regarding why we keep animals. However, I have a lesson plan in the works that I hope to share with you all in the not too distant future. Some of it touches upon this very topic and I’d quite like to bundle it all together. That said, I can tell you how animals in captivity are treated. In short, the answer is very well. There are a mountain of laws both on private and public interests that govern the standards and ethical treatment of animals, and breaches of these laws are quite severe even for relatively minor infractions.”
While I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed by the vague answer to what was really the bulk of my question, I was at least satisfied by Bernard’s assurances that animals in captivity, such as the Koala, were well looked after. Considering the barely subdued grumbling coming from some corners of the audience it was clear that several of the herd didn’t believe Bernard outright, but I trusted him to be honest. Additionally, the mention of an upcoming lecture focused on humans keeping animals caused quite the buzz.
I felt a mix of excitement and trepidation at exploring the topic further. He’d pretty much confirmed we wouldn’t be talking about cattle farms, for which I was relieved, but that still left a huge amount of uncertainty in what was to come.
Humans keeping animals as cattle was a forgone conclusion. As horrifying as that reality was, it was one I could understand from a detached and strictly clinical point of view. Being predators they ate meat and therefore they kept cattle. But the concept of keeping animals for any other reason baffled me.
What could be the purpose? The diplomacy thing makes sense now that I have context, but what other reasons could they have.
The class's discussions were interrupted by the recognisable ring of the break bell, the shift in attention eliciting a change in conversation from confused hypotheses to peppy conversation on how everyone was planning to spend their break and what they had in mind for 2nd meal.
“Well I can see everyone’s excited for lunch, and who am I to disappoint,” chuckling Bernard waved us all up from our seats, pocketing his pad from the podium and heading to open the classroom door for us, “Enjoy your break, get a good rest along with a hearty meal, and I’ll see you all back here at the usual time.”
As everyone else filed out I stayed behind, waving at Sandi and Kailo as they left, and pawing over to Bernard once he and I were the only ones left in the room.
Ears folded down and with an apologetic tinge in my voice I greeted him as I sidled up to him, “Hey Bernard, I uh… sorry if that last question was unexpected.”
Chortling in reply, Bernard waved a hand through the air in a sign I’d come to understand meant ‘not a problem’.
“No need to apologise Rysel. It was a good question and most certainly not a problem.”
Heh, called it.
I sighed, allowing tension I didn’t realise I’d been holding to relax itself from my shoulders, “Phew, that’s a relief. I’m glad. I’m curious to hear what this new lesson is you’ve got in store for us by the way.”
Bernard wagged a finger at me, throwing up his eyebrows in mock amazement, “Oh are you now? Well I’m afraid you’ll have to remain curious for the time being. It’s going to be quite the surprise if all goes to plan. But…”
He trailed off, glancing at me before looking to the door like he was making sure no one else was around.
Wait, is he going to tell me? Oh please yes let me know now!
Stopping myself from jumping on the spot in excited anticipation, and trying my damndest to stop my tail from wagging in equal measure, I stared up at Bernard as he stewed in his thoughts before turning back to face me.
“I can’t tell you the specifics, but I’m working with Alejandro and Tolim to get something together. A trip that’s not a trip as it were. And when it happens, I’m going to need a few of the more accepting members of the class to lend me a hand. I’m hoping you and a couple others will be able to help with that?”
A trip that’s not a trip? What does that mean? Agh who cares about that right now! Bernard’s relying on me to help out!
Still trying not to keep myself from bouncing around with pup like glee I swished my tail and nodded my head in joint agreement, happy to help with whatever Bernard had in store for us, “Of course! Anything you need I’ll be there to lend a paw. You can count on me!”
A broad warm smile lit up Bernard's face, a hand patting me on the shoulder in appreciation, “Thank you Rysel. I knew I could rely on you but it still warms my heart to hear it. And, as thanks for this and for the many times you’ve shown your support, the surprise includes a little something special I think you’d appreciate the most.”
If my earlier enthusiasm had been at a nine, then the implication of a supposed gift sent it rocketing all the way to a hundred in a heartbeat.
“Wait… WHAT!? What do you mean? What are you doing?”
As impossible as it seemed, Bernard's grin grew even wider as I almost lost myself in wool shaking exhilaration, “Call it my own form of Koala diplomacy. But I’m afraid that’s all I can say for now. Wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise even for you!”
“Oh you ass!” Whistling jovially I bapped my tail against Bernard’s leg in fake indignation, evoking a barking bellowing laugh from the man himself.
Still laughing, the two of us departed the class and made for the canteen, my rumbling stomach leading me on while my mind spun with fantastical thoughts as to what Bernard had prepared for us.
And what specifically he had in store for me.

First let me start off by saying that I loved the first game, am a couple hours into this one, and I am completely riveted and enthralled by it. The presentation, art direction, the visceral combat, the performances, I love all this about it.
However, I am somewhat shocked by what the game is and what it isn't.
Having replayed the first one in preparation for the sequel, I was reminded about how much the first game defied gaming convention. No open world to explore, no skill points or skill trees, no gear drops, inventory, loot score, no crafting. There's literally not even a menu other than the settings menu. It had a vision of a stripped down, visceral and story focused game, and it boldly stuck to that vision in defiance of what games are expected to be, and I admired that about it.
That doesn't mean the game was perfect though. It had a tendency to be overly slow and boring at points. Exploration was largely pointless aside from some extra lore, which was good, but you had to stay standing near the lorestone to hear it as if you moved to far away it would stop. And because Senua moved so slow through the environment it felt like a punishment every time you found a dead end or a lorestone was particularly long. The puzzles ranged from ok (the illusion puzzles) to actively annoying (the find the shape in the environment puzzles). The combat was good, but overly easy due to insanely huge parry and dodge windows that made Senua feel more powerful/unstoppable than fit the story, and dealing with large crowds was always awkward. None of this ruined the experience, but were opportunities to improve.
This is where my shock came in. Hellblade 2 doesn't really improve on any of the things from the first. There are still long stretches of holding the stick forward, that frequently lead to boredom. A lot of these could have been cut in 1/3 to 1/2 and not negatively impacted the experience. Exploration is exactly same with slow movement, dead end paths, and lorestones you have to stand next to, only the listening radius is even smaller this time. The puzzles aren't any better, although the shapes being highlighted in red does make them easier to find...yay I guess? The combat is improved in my mind by it's more visceral and weighty nature, but it isn't deeper.
Also, they added nothing, for good or ill. Not one new feature, action, or gameplay pillar. And the sequel is more or less the same length as the first.
I guess this is to say that I had thought that with the success of the first game and Microsoft's war chest, we'd see something. An expansion of the game's scope, a refinement of it's mechanics. Something, anything, for a bigger, bolder sequel. But no, we got the same as the first, with a new story, upgraded visuals, and more mocap.
To be clear, this doesn't make it bad, or nor worth playing. But it is strange, and I guess I was hoping for more.

Dear Mates,
We are a friendly Clan welcoming all rushed or maxed accounts to our clan. We have simple rules :

1. If Participating in war use Both Attacks
2. Get 2k Points in Clan games. 3.Stick to war strategy (No rouge behaviour)
3. Stay Active Daily. (7 days offline kick)

We only kick if the players fail to meet the above condition.
We war always and are somewhat good in CWL. The players who score max stars gets bonus.
We keep Healthy donations.
Join with link below 👇
https://link.clashofclans.com/en?action=OpenClanProfile&tag=2GJJPR2YG
You can also DM me get Invite.

I had way too much fun making custom portraits using Bing Creator, so I just thought I'd share them.
They are already "cut out" and ready to use so you just need to stick them in the appdata/atom_trudograd folder (normally located at C:\Users\"username"\AppData\LocalLow\AtomTeam\Atom_Trudograd.) *The Appdata folder is often hidden so you may need to unhide your folders.
Here are the unaltered originals in case anyone wants to use them for any other games.

Used to play with co workers and friends but flipped shifts and now it's near impossible to play together.
The discord groups I've been invited have like 100 requirements to even qualify for asking for people to play with.
Like anyone else wanna shoot the shit, spread democracy and have some fun. The randoms I've matched with are killing my enthusiasm for the game, I haven't played in almost a week.
Let's spread some fucking democracy.

Hey Guys. After about a week of browsing RTINGS, YouTube reviews & other articles about OLED monitors I still cant decide on which one to pick. My top 3 picks so far are:

• Alienware AW2725DF
• LG 27GS95QE-B
• MSI MPG 271QRX

I mainly play FPS games like counter strike & valorant and just watch youtube. I'd like to stick to 1440p with a maximum size of 27". My main concerns is longevity of the monitor and things like burn in are worrying me. Out of these 3 which ones do you think would last the longest and look the best? I use my monitor for about 6-8 hours a day on average.

Any feedback here greatly appreciated. I am a regular Warzone player on my Xbox. I consider myself pretty good at the game and enjoy playing at a high level.
I spend a lot of time away from home, and recently tried for the first time the mobile COD Warzone experience by connecting a regular Xbox controller to my IPad Pro.
I cannot believe how much fun I had… first game on Verdansk get a 14 kill victory and had some really fun snipes and fights.
My big question is the sensitivity settings for using a controller on COD Mobile. Obviously it won’t feel snappy or seamless, but from watching YouTube videos it seems some COD Mobile pros use controllers and have pretty smooth aim.
What sensitivity settings do any controller players use for mobile? My biggest gripe is the settings don’t allow for deadzone adjustment, and the distance I have to move my stick before it starts to adjust my aim is really big making it hard to micro adjust when aiming in gun fights.

Hey! I've been looking to upgrade my monitor game. I'm currently using a BenQ XL2546 as my main monitor and I've been looking to upgrade. I have been trying a few monitors and I'm just struggling to get that feel I have with the BenQ's. I actually have had 3 iterations, (3 monitor setup, 2 older BenQ's are secondary monitors).
I have been trying the msi mag 271qpx monitor, and it just hasn't felt "it". The colors are decent, but not as nice as I thought they'd be for an oled. I had to do a lot of editing to get it to a somewhat neutral white balance, but it's still just not as bright as my other monitors. It also seems like it probably puts more strain on my eyes? Maybe being oled? The specs are great, and it seems like it has nice qualities in general, but it doesn't totally feel like my long lasting monitor. I had some people recommend pretty much the equivalent LG ultragear 27inch. That one felt worse... it felt darker, but I will say some of the clarity around edges of things like character models in game seemed slightly better. The color was wack on that one too out of the box.
I don't think I need to use HDR, I find it almost gimmicky right now, as it feels like colors get oversaturated and it feels too fake. I play mostly MOBA's and FPS games, so I'm looking for 240hz. I will say the 360 on the msi actually is nice. But I'd like at least 240 with low latency, again msi had .03, not sure other panels are up to that yet.
I do also do some editing in davinci resolve and affinity photo. SUPER basic editing, no color grading or anything really. Basically edit youtube videos and make thumbnails. That's where I noticed how off the colors were originally.
I have used 24" 1080 monitors for what seems like forever. However, I wanted to try 1440 27" and it's nice but I'm still not sure what I want to do yet.
Mostly I'd like some recommendations. Do I just get the newest Zowie and stick to TN panels, I know they're great for performance in FPS games, but I feel like I'm losing that "juice" by not going for at least something like an IPS. I'd go for an IPS panel from zowie if they had one since I like their monitors (clearly).
I have heard a lot of people talk about the Asus Rog series IPS monitors, and they just announced the oled. But honestly, I don't think I'm going to go for OLED. As nice as some features are, I don't like a few of the things that I think are making it a no for me. I literally had my monitor shutting off on me because I didn't run the pixel thing, and you can't NOT run it after 16 hours. Which I get, for pixel burn, but I was in the middle of a game and I was just like idk what to do... It was SUPER annoying. Granted, I should have just done one earlier, but that's the nature of it, I'm not always going to have a monitor turn off in the timeframe, so that's a big negative for me is the burn.
Really, I'd like to just have a bright, color accurate crisp monitor. I also don't know if it's worth going to 1440 at a 25" or if I should do 27" if I want to do 1440. I've done 1080 for what seems like forever, and it looks like were trying to go to 4k, so why not get those better graphics for the times I would use them. But I don't know if the value of hundreds of extra dollars is worth it.
Can you get me some insight here?

So youtube is always saying "don't think algorithm, think audience" and there's a decent bit of truth in that but it's also true that they are the gatekeepers of that audience. At the end of the day putting something people don't want to watch in front of them doesn't make that big a difference, but just because they would want to watch it doesn't mean YT will let it through. The algorithms job isn't to push content, and it's not to make anybody happy, it's to make money for alphabet inc. That means keeping viewers on the platform, but it doesn't mean keeping them happy. A lot of it comes down to supply and demand, as much as I hate to think about it that way (especially since I started YT for creative expression and a desire for a soap box, not as a side hustle). If there's a lot of people looking for something (either searching directly for it or watching and searching similar) and not very many videos available fitting what the viewer wants they'll have to let yours through before the user goes to tiktok or instagram (or just god forbid goes outside of opens a book). If there's hardly anyone looking for something but 8 million people uploading they're only going to let through what they consider the "best" (which again just means most likely to keep the user on platform). A lot of videos though fall into high demand and high supply (eg gaming) or low demand low supply (eg super niche hobbies) which is where the algorithm can start seeming to "push" things but really it's that small and subtle difference can shift over to either something with much more demand or much lower supply even though it seems similar. That's why I think "niche down" is bad and poorly formulated advice. Really you need to find an undeserved niche, not a small one. Also don't get the impression that I'm happy with YT, I'm more annoyed than ever but that's for reasons having to do with my experience as a viewer much more than a creator. The algorithm filters rather than pushes, but the filtering process has the well being of neither the creator nor the user I mind, but I have more systematic tools for dealing with it on the creator side. I don't feel like they push content, I feel like when I search for something they steer me towards the most profitable version rather than the most useful or even enjoyable.

The game opens with constant gunfire and artillery shells bursting, the sound of men yelling as gunfire stifles the darkness of the night. We focus in on a platoon of troops in a foxhole, like lightning a shell hits close to, wiping out most of the men. As the ringing of the remaining ears clear they realize they need to retreat as they can no longer stay in the tight, cramped, flooded hole they've found themselves in and the only way back is up.
Every player must roll a d10, the player with the lowest role finds a piece of wood stuck within their leg, not bleeding but obstructing the ability to run without help, the players decide to deal with the issue there and then or deal with assisting the injured player in the retreat to try and fix it in a safer location.
As the players leave the foxhole a machine gun fire begins to target the group
Triggers a sequence
Flairs shoot lighting up the battlefield as you hear a whistle from the enemy blows They're crossing no man's land.
This sequence where the players must make a 200-250yd dash for a trench behind the foxhole.
Players take priority in turn rotation

Fleeing is (Mov x 5 =x yd) 

Every player must make a dex roll on their turn
-a critical success allows them to run uninhibited
-a regular success causes equipment to get snagged on barbed wire causing them to get slowed
-a failure causes you pouches or bags to rip dropping a small amount of ammunition
-a critical failure causes you to get cut by barbed wire dealing 1d4 damage
Players carrying injured role with penalty die
On the machine guns turn roll to full auto at players but role with triple penalty dice due to multiple shots, out of range, and fast targets. You can decide volley size and damage per shot, BE NICE it's just the beginning
Once all players have made it across no mans land they will arrive at the door of a rather large bunker, they bang on the door and request assistance. After a bit of pleas a slot on the large door opens with a bun barrel sticking out. A rather shooken young man asks the players to tell him “where are you from” clearly trying to see if the players are enemies. A player can say anything but the second the man hears perfect english or french he swings open the door. The players see a young man with a shotgun, couldnt be over 20 years old. He commands the players to get in fast. As all the players enter he immediately goes to slam the door shut seeming to struggle to do so.
You meet Bert Newman a strapping young man from new york a very charming quick witted kid, he's always there to boost morale and is always ready to get work done. Its best to slowly show off his personality with small talk while he leads you down the winding halls.
After a few turns and twists you arrive at a sort of check point with a man with a british bren gun points his barrel down the hall, directly at Bert and the players.
You meet Rook a very large man sporting a very clean uniform, he seems concerned and Isn't too welcoming to the new residents, hes a harsh with his words, and presents himself as no nonsense, he does have a soft spot for Bert, able to handle his constant cracks and stories. I recommend making some dialogue for them to have every now and then to show their relationship.
After the players are done interacting have rook notice the player with the injury if it hasnt been taken care of he’ll direct the players to go to the infirmary to get fixed up. Have Bert offer to show them where to go. On the way to the infirmary try to keep engaging with the players as Bert
As the players arrive they will notice a large room with a few injured men, a very poor sight to behold. Once you arrive at the entrance you will meet a beautiful young lady dressed in a nurses gown
This is Louise, say hi to Louise :D. A pretty woman with a caring face, but with a hint of concern and fear.
She welcomes you and immediately notices the protruding fragments sticking out of the injured player, she looks back up and tells them to take a seat. The players can interact with Bert more, with each other, or Louise. Try to have Bert and Louise interact if you can, they are great friends.
After the player is patched up they can leave. They can follow Bert back to rook where Rook will give you the task to retrieve barbed wire from the armory as they want to start adding more defenses for the door incase of being invaded. Bert will again offer to guide the players
You begin your journey to the armory, once again try to interact if you can, mention what could have brought Bert to the war and his family. At a certain point Bert will trip a grenade wire trap, everyone roles a dex or dodge role. Bert is killed in the blast anyplayer that fails gets knocked to prone, you can determine if they were close enough to take damage. After all the dust clears the players see Bert's body slumped against a wall lifeless,they can't save him. If the players decide to search him they will find a mostly burnt map of the bunker, some ammo for a shotgun and a letter addressed to what you can assume is his family.
If the players continue to go and retrieve the barbed wire they will get a chance to change their weapons if they choose. As they return they notice Bert’s body is now gone, with a blood trail leading around an separate hallway
Thank you for reading!!!

I wanted to fully prioritize Solar power + Battery on my power grid, only activating Turbines as a backup when the Batteries are depleted, to minimize overall non-renewable fuel usage (ie maximize the amount of power used from solar). I found a solution isn't 100% efficient and is more complicated than just sticking everything on one power grid, but it does work to prioritize Solar + Batteries before running your Turbines.
Here's a simple example setup: https://i.imgur.com/UpRhXmN.jpeg
The basic design goal is "Run off Solar + Batteries until the batteries are depleted, and only then provide fuel to the Turbines." Because Foundry doesn't have any method of positive control like that, this method operates on the inversion: prevent fuel from reaching the Boilers until after the Batteries are depleted - indicating that the power provided from Solar Panels has been exhausted - and then allow the fuel to reach the Boilers. It does this with the fuel switch in the top left of the picture. The first Conveyor Balancer is set to prioritize input from the fuel loop (rather than the fuel production input), and the second Balancer is set to prioritize output to the fuel loop - both are prioritizing "up" in the picture. Fuel is passed immediately through the Logistics Container (since the output Loader on LV3 is always on and the input Loader on LV1 is also powered). This way, the fuel loop only ever gains as much fuel as can fit on the belts in the loop. As long as the Solar + Batteries are still producing/have energy remaining, the input Loader to the Logistics Container keeps running and fuel never spills over onto the Conveyer leading to the Boilers.
There are 3 Low Voltage (LV) grids. LV1 is where your main production (ie main power consumption) is. You can have your fuel mining/production on this grid as well, doesn't matter. Your High Voltage grid will be feeding into LV1. LV2 is the grid with only the Loaders going into your Boilers. LV3 is the smallest, which only has a single Loader on it as part of the switch that controls the Solar + Batteries to Turbine transition. LV2 and LV3 should be powered with Solar + Batteries such that they are always on - these are the Solar Panel + Battery + Transformer lineups on LV2 and LV3 - if either of these run out of power, the whole system will/might get bricked and you'll have to fix it. One Small Solar Panel and one Small Battery provide enough energy per in-game day to run ~20 Loaders indefinitely, so running out of power is easy to avoid.
The High Voltage grid is shared between the Solar + Battery array and the Turbines, because Foundry doesn't allow you to connected multiple HV grids to the same LV grid.
How It Works:

• Your primary Solar Panel array (bottom left in the picture) charge your primary grid Batteries and power the Transformers for LV1. During the day, everything runs as normal.
• The fuel switch in the top left of the picture fills with fuel.
• At night, Solar stops producing so your Batteries start draining. Once they're depleted and LV1 has no power, the fuel switch is activated.
• LV1 running out of energy disables the input Load to the Logistics Container. This backs up the second Balancer which then starts feeding fuel to the Boilers. Because LV2 is powered by its own separate Solar + Battery grid, the Loaders for the Boilers are always powered, and the Boilers start running as soon as the fuel reaches them.
• The Boilers run, the Turbines start, and power is restored to your grid.
• Because power was restored to LV1, the input Loader in the fuel switch starts working again, which cuts off fuel to the Boilers. The remaining fuel in the Boilers is burned, charging the batteries and running your production. Once the fuel in the Boilers is burned, the Batteries start depleting. After they deplete, the fuel switch is activated again and the process repeats.

This switching of Turbines on>off>on>off repeats until your Solar Panels start producing again in the morning.
Issues:

• Because the Turbines are also recharging the Batteries, they will run at 100% until either the Batteries are charged or their fuel is depleted. This means it's not a perfect system of only running the Turbines when the Solar Panels are offline and Batteries are depleted - more fuel than strictly required will be burned ie the Turbines starting an "on" cycle just as the sun is coming up.
  
• Power goes out during the transition period. This should only be a few seconds in a well-designed system, set by the distance between the fuel switch and the boilers, but it's still a factor.
  

Hello! I'm a junior in high school. I wanted to put my stats so far so that you guys who are way more experienced could maybe help me start building a college list/see my chances of getting into a decent school. I am really new to this and I would appreciate any help I can get, no matter how little.
What I'm looking for in a college: in Massachusetts (I'd like to go to northeastern university like some of my relatives but I really don't know about my chances), somewhere that's close to or in the city but the student population is not too big (< 20k students), and looks nice! I'm looking to go on the pre-med track to become a PA though I'm not so sure yet.
GPA: 3.8 uw, 4.67 w (top 4% of 480 students)
Classes: 2 last year (all As, 5 and 4 on exams), 4 this year (all As and one B), 5 next year
SAT: (haven't taken yet, sorry I know it's important but I'm predicting 1400s cause I'm a bad test taker)
ECS:

• President of a mental health club outside of school that meets with a 30+ kids afterschool program once a week to host games, activities, and mental health discussions
• Co-president of a student ambassadors club that recruits 25+ volunteers to give tours to new students and host 9th-grade summer orientations, co-lead projects to make and distribute mental health pamphlets and resources for students, and I'm currently working with the city's student ambassador to host a mental health community workshop at city hall
• Editor-in-chief of school newspaper responsible for co-leading a class of student reporters in writing articles and designing the monthly paper
• Head of autumn peer tutoring program that recruited + led a group of 5+ tutors in helping underclassmen (5 hrs/week)
• Hospital volunteering every Friday (4 hweek) and will pick up different kinds of volunteering shifts during the summer to gain clinical experience (like helping doctors with tasks, shadowing operations, etc.)
• Part-time job during freshman + sophomore summer and junior school year
• Varsity tennis (2 years)
• NHS (1 year): got 40+ volunteer hours and co-led a school supply donation drive to give to public schools in my district
• 250+ volunteer hours overall
• Awards (not much): immigration essay contest honorable mention awards + published art and essays on a local teen magazine, poetry recitation competition school finalist

Some things I want to do soon/in the summer: publish my AP Research paper about developing a healthcare curriculum for high school students, compete in HOSA, join a summer program/internship to be a regional mental health youth ambassador in my community, make an informational TikTok page about skincare and mental health as a passion project, see if I could get more awards somehow (would like advice on that!)

I've been waiting to play this one for a while now, originally I had SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo on the PSP, which I got rid of because it was just a borderline unplayable experience trying to move around and aim with the little circular PSP analog stick thing. I wanted to re-visit the series, but this time decided to swap it out with the most popular SOCOM game instead, hoping to have a less sour experience.
After about 4 hours, I put it back down again, having lost all interest in the series.
SOCOM II is very much a game from the before times, being a third person tactical shooter in the years before anyone had any idea how to do controller aiming well. To make a long story short, trying to raw-aim with an analog stick on PS2 is an awful experience, the crosshair will just swing around the screen on you. There's built in auto-aim you can toggle off and on, which has a comical implementation. Sometimes, you will see a red box on the screen, miss the target by 1/4 of the screen, then they just drop dead anyway, probably due to an act of God. Sometimes, you will be pointing right next to their head with auto-aim on, and all of your bullets completely miss, leading you to being killed in one or two hits. That's so fun...
The ai companions are sometimes so strong that you can play out entire missions by sending them in to "clear area" where they just instakill all the enemies without taking any damage (this is on the highest difficulty available to new players.) Other times, you will be on the second floor of a house, they are in the basement, you send them in to clear area or breech a door...And they just never show up. They get stuck on the stairs or something, and just never fucking come. I shudder to think of all the times I've died because my AI companions just refused to follow very simple orders. Sometimes they will die in the absolute dumbest of ways too. On the first brazil mission I had Jester die to falling off of a building literally.
Oh, and on the subject of dying, don't forget that there is *no checkpoints*. If you die you reset to the very beginning of the mission. This means that if you're doing a slow stealth playthrough, 20 minutes deep on a level, and you get instant killed by some guy with a shotgun because the room was too dark for you to see him, you have to do the whole thing over again. How exciting! Eventually, after a few resets on the same mission, the only sensible way to proceed is to run and gun every single enemy, already having their positions memorized, and just accept that the game is going to chastise you for not being stealthy enough.
I could see SOCOM II being a very good game if the controls were about twice as good, the AI were about twice as responsive, and checkpoints were added to key sections of various missions. Without them, the game feels unpleasant to play for me, and I feel no qualms about retiring it from my backlog without even finishing half the single-player campaign.

Patch notes 0.9

This update is another major milestone in Backpack Brawl’s short history. It adds a new Hero, Harkon the Barbarian, new Areas, 67 new items, and a whole slew of balancing changes.
Areas are our first pass at a new “soft story” of the player’s adventure through the game. In practice, it’s a way for us to unlock more items for you as you progress in the game, and to match-make you with opponents who have gotten to your level. Each area unlocks 4 new items for your pool of items, and adds craftable items beyond that.
We are making Harkon and Nymphedora paid heroes, as this is a way to make the game work long term for us. Eventually, their price will fall as we add more heroes.
We are experimenting with having a “free to play” rotation of heroes, such that you always have more than the always unlocked heroes (Ronan and Chana) to choose from. Our goal is to have many heroes and encourage as much build diversity as we can on different levels of skill and arenas.
We anticipate that this will be somewhat controversial, so please join our discord server and voice your opinion on it. No one wants to spend money, but for us to be able to continually support the game, we need to earn enough to make living wages. We hope we can strike a good balance.
We had intended to have a tutorial for this update, but that will have to wait for next time – too many things at the same time is impossible, so we pushed it for later.

Added

• New Hero: Harkon the Barbarian
• 67 New Items
• 10 new areas to visit on your journey ## Changes ### Global changes
• Items no longer have their cooldown reduced lower than 10% of the original cooldown. ### Chana item unlocks
• Switched Searing Wand and Wicked Stick unlock order: * Searing Wand is available to level 1+ Chanas. * Wicked stick is available to level 4+ Chanas. ### Amethyst Blade
• Stamina cost: 1.2 → 1.45 ### Axe of Abraxas
• Cooldown 4.2 → 3.4
• Stamina Cost 2.9 → 1.8 ### Blazing Rod
• Inflict 2 → 3 Burn ### Burning water
• Now also heals you for 100 health, when it increases max health. ### Cleansing crown
• Cooldown 2.8 → 3.6 seconds ### Emerald Scarab
• Inflict 2 → 1 debuff
• Steal buffs 2 → 1
• Cost 15 → 13 ### Ethereal Cloak:
• New: Cooldown increases by 2 seconds for every use. ### Excalibur
• Damage: 18-32 → 32-45 ### Fanged Axe
• Chance 20% → 30% to gain 2 Thorns ### Flame Cloak
• Price 11 → 9 ### Gothic Shield
• Added: On shop entered: Gain 2 Gold ### Green Snapper
• Gain 25 → 50 Armor ### Health Potion
• Heal 12 → 18 ### Hunting Knife
• Max Damage 6 → 5
• Accuracy 85% → 80% ### Knights Blessing
• Gain Armor 4 → 6 per star armor ### Light Bow
• Cooldown 1.9 → 2.2 ### Magic Orb
• Price 9 → 8 ### Mana Potion
• Gain 8 → 12 Mana ### Marshmallow
• Heal 2 → 3 ### Mars Flytrap
• Rarity: Legendary → Mythic ### Reptile Stalker
• Cooldown 2.4 → 2.8 ### Shadow Cloak
• Reduce Damage taken by 25% → 50% for 1 second ### Shield Spikes
• Gain 2 → 3 thorns ### Spice
• Healing 2 → 3 ### Starbloom
• Star items activate: 10% → 25% chance to gain 1 Mana
• Price 3 → 2 gold ### Steadfast Boots
• Critical Chance +40% → +70% ### Strong Health Potion
• Heal 25 → 32
• Gain 4 → 5 Regeneration ### Wand of Backdraft
• Consume 10 Burn from opponent: Deal 40 → 80 Damage ### Wizard Robe
• Gain 20 → 40 Armor
  

  Fixes

  Thank you to all the kind people who report bugs on our Discord. You help make Backpack Brawl the best game it can be.
  
• Fixed Dreadleaf not having a proper condition for reducing the cooldown
  
• Fixed Settings button being clickable while dragging an item
  
• Fixed soft-lock when trying to skip the game over animations while getting a promotion/demotion.
  
• Fixed soft-lock on end-of-match screen if opening the stats popup at the exact time that you win/lose.
  
• Fixed reserved items in shop not persisting when restarting the game on the end-of-match screen.
  

When you snap in proving grounds but your opponent doesn’t so you only lose 4 cubes. So you stick around since they wasted your time you’ll waste theirs and they snap on the second game and lose 6 cubes and quit.