Lesson 11: Reflecting on Progress and Adjustment
Take a moment to reflecton your journey so far. Acknowledge any insights, shifts, or challenges you've encountered. The Hermit card represents introspection and wisdom gained through experience. Meditate on your personal growth, recognizing the lessons learned.
Exercise 11: Set aside time for self-reflection. Create a list of key insights from your Tarot studies and experiences. Consider any adjustments needed in your approach to personal development.
Lesson 12: Shadow Work with the Devil
Explore the concept of shadow work using the Devil card. Shadow work involves confronting and integrating aspects of yourself that you may avoid. Engage in a guided meditation to delve into your shadows.
Exercise 12: Journal about your shadow work experience. Identify any patterns or behaviors that may need acknowledgment and acceptance. Explore ways to transform and integrate these aspects.
Lesson 13: Healing Energy with the Star
The Star card represents hope, healing, and renewal. Practice a guided meditation focusing on accessing healing energy and envisioning a bright future.
Exercise 13: Incorporate healing practices into your routine. Whether through meditation, energy work, or self-care, align with the energy of the Star to promote emotional and physical well-being.
Lesson 14: Finding Balance with Temperance
Learn about balance and moderation with the Temperance card. Engage in a meditation to cultivate harmony within, blending different aspects of your life.
Exercise 14: Identify areas where balance is needed in your life. Create a plan to incorporate moderation and equilibrium. Journal about the effects of finding harmony in daily activities.
Lesson 15: Transformation with Death
Understand the transformative energy of the Death card. Meditate on embracing change and letting go of what no longer serves your growth.
Exercise 15: Reflect on aspects of your life that require transformation. Journal about what needs releasing and how you can navigate change positively. Embrace the potential for rebirth.
Lesson 16: Strength and Resilience with the Strength Card
Explore the concept of inner strength and resilience with the Strength card. Engage in a guided meditation to tap into your inner fortitude.
Exercise 16: Identify situations where you need inner strength. Practice the qualities of courage and resilience in your daily life. Journal about moments of personal strength.
Lesson 17: Exploring Intuition with the Hanged Man
Delve into the Hanged Man's energy, representing surrender and a shift in perspective. Practice intuitive exercises and meditation to enhance your connection with higher guidance.
Exercise 17: Dedicate time to intuitive practices, such as meditation and divination. Record any intuitive insights and how they guide your decision-making. Reflect on the power of surrender.
Lesson 18: Embracing Change with the Wheel of Fortune
Understand the cyclical nature of life with the Wheel of Fortune. Meditate on embracing change, acknowledging the constant ebb and flow of existence.
Exercise 18: Reflect on cycles in your life. Identify areas where change is needed and how you can align with the natural rhythm. Journal about your willingness to adapt to life's fluctuations.
Lesson 19: Wisdom and Experience with the Hierophant
The Hierophant represents tradition and spiritual guidance. Engage in a meditation to connect with your inner wisdom and seek guidance from spiritual sources.
Exercise 19: Explore different spiritual practices. Incorporate rituals or traditions that resonate with you. Journal about the insights gained and the connection to your inner wisdom.
Lesson 20: Integration and Mastery with the World
As you conclude your Tarot journey, meditate on the energy of the World card, symbolizing completion and mastery. Reflect on how your understanding of esoteric wisdom has deepened.
Exercise 20: Summarize your Tarot journey. Create a visual representation or written reflection on how each card has contributed to your personal growth. Celebrate your achievements and newfound wisdom.
Congratulations on completing your Tarot journey! May your ongoing exploration of esoteric wisdom bring continued insight and inspiration.

⚙️ PROMPT #7264: Big Data Insights for Business Growth
🔍 Prompt: As a business owner in the [Your Industry] sector, I’m seeking insights on how to leverage big data analytics to drive business growth. My company, [Your Company Name], currently gathers data through [Your Data Sources - e.g., online sales, customer feedback, social media analytics] but we are looking to deepen our understanding and use of this data. How can we apply big data analytics to:

1. Improve our customer experience and personalize our services?
2. Optimize our supply chain and increase operational efficiency?
3. Predict market trends and adjust our business strategy accordingly?
4. Enhance our product development with predictive analytics?
5. Identify new revenue streams based on data patterns?

Additionally, what are the key challenges we might face in implementing big data analytics, and what strategies can be employed to overcome them? Recommend top industry practices that [Your Company Name] should consider for a robust big data strategy that aligns with our business objectives in the [Your Industry] sector.
'copy and paste this prompt' 📋

I see a lot of brands get tossed around and it getting conflicting answers including WD and Samsung. I'm looking for a 4-TB NVMe SSD for simply making my own external SSD. Many companies either charge too much for it, or it's not great. Including Samsung, WD, and SanDisk.
So, I keep coming across Samsung, WD, Crucial and that's precisely the most said out of all the posts I've viewed online, brand-wise. Nobody mentions other brands like SK Hynix, Silicon Power, etc. So as a video editor and gamer, it's necessary I have extra storage. So, which brand and product should I get? Of course I'm looking for a cheaper option that doesn't go beyond 300 bucks. And also an enclosure that has thermal tape, I also want some of ya'lls recommendations for that too!
Also, another question, a few videos I watch talked about "expanding your SSD" which I don't even understand how to do it or what it entirely means, so if anyone can also answer that I'd be more than grateful!

Been applying for 45+ pm roles but have not had much luck even getting an interview!

I know Logic 11 is full of things that might use more power, but I can’t see a huge reason to get a Studio over a Mini if it’s strictly for audio production. Anyone have any real world insights?

I woke up with a cough of blood and pain. I felt something metal with my hands as I looked down. A long stint of rebar poked out of my ribcage and through my chest plate, covered in a mix of my blood and the bile of a bug.
I reached down and grabbed my Senator, feeling its trusty weight in my hands. I haphazardly tried to place the barrel against the portion of rebar sticking out of my back. This had better work I though. I pulled the trigger once and with a loud Crack I felt the vibration from the shot in my stomach. I tried to choke down vomit and pulled the trigger twice more Crack, Crack. With the third shot the rebar gave way and I rolled to my side and collapsed on the ground. Agony shot through my body as I hit the dirt.
I realized then, Hmmph, they left me. During Extraction one of the other divers called in a 500kg as we were about to board Pelican 1. She had thrown it over one of those damned chargers in an effort to kill one last bug but... it started charging us. I was the last one in line and just as I was about to board... i was thrown 200 feet away from extraction site. I don't blame them. I'd have left me too. We had successfully evacuated a number of scientists and other military personnel, but we'd lost the planet. No hard feelings I guess.
I tried to pull my mind away from those thoughts and just focused on one. Survive. I pulled myself to my knees and looked at the rebar again. Cant park there bud I thought tryna cheer myself up. I had dropped my senator when I fell and ended up with two free hands. I reached down and with the assistance of my servo-assited armor prepared to wrench the rebar from my chest. Alright, count of three, I thought. One mye heartrate quickened. Two I adjusted my grip ever so slightly. Three I ripped the metal r9d out and felt a hot stinging pain shoot through my body. I quickly grabbed as stim and applied it.
I winced as the stim numbed my broken ribs and began rapidly working to heal them and my open chest wound. After a couple seconds, I could stand.
I took quick stock of my inventory. My Senator with 23 rounds left, two ration packs, a canteen of water, 1 stim, a knife, and a bag of oatmeal. Oatmeal? Seriously? I'd rather have ammo but... beggars can't be choosers.
I looked around me. Snow and beaten down rubble surrounded me. This was some kind of research station, I think. Didn't bother grabbing the name. Cold as hell and nothing really around to get my bearings. Great. I thought. Im gonna die inside a freezer. I started looking through the rubble for anything useful. I found a corpse of one of the scientists that hadnt made it to evac. I grabbed the ID card off his jacket. Figured id get me inside a building if there were any left standing. I crawled out of the rubble and onto the snowy tundra.
The sun had set and with it most of the light I wouldve been able to utilize. I scanned the horizon for a blinking light. Blinking like meant beacon. Beacon meant possible radio, maybe some ammo. I clocked one to the southwest and began walking that direction senator drawn.
I spotted a few distant bug patrols illuminated by moonlight but they had no interest in me. I kept my head down and kept moving towards the light. Details started to take shape and I could see this was a research station. Perfect I thought.
I reached the door and used the key card. There was a Beep and the red light flashed green. The door cracked open before jamming. Oh no you dont I thought and with one hand yanked the door open. I closed it behind me with the same hand to keep the wildlife disinterested.
Inside was dark and damp. I had list the seal integrity on my suit so there was barely any oxygen regulation. Didnt need it on this planet but still. Its a bitch to fix. I turned my flashlight on and started scanning the room for a light switch. I found one but wouldnt ya know it... dead. At least the beacon had power. I walked over to the radio and pulled off my helmet. I wedged the flashlight in my neck and leaned my head to the side. I started flipping switched and turning dials to see if there was a response. Nothing. Id have to find the master terminal. I grabbed the flashlight and donned my helmet again. I began scanning the room again before I heard it. A little shuffle behind me. I turned quickly and drew my senator raising it at the source of the sound.
It was a small child. At least... thats what it appeared to be. At first glance I could see bindings on its legs and arms. A hospital gown with little ducklings on it and a teddy bear tucked under its arm. I lowered my senator as it spoke.
"Dr. Mehon told me to wait here. He said hed be right back."
Dr. Mehon was probably dead I thought. I knelt down and put my hand on the child shoulder. "Whats your name kid?"
"3". I felt a rage build up. I swallowed it quickly.
"Well 3, what uh... why.. why do you have bin.." I stopped myself. Whatever those scientists were doing here...
3 looked up at me and I noticed it. A cat like set of eyes. Other little details started to click as well. Four fingers on each hand, slightly pointed ears, a discoloration of skin and a rigid scale-like spine on the shoulder.
"The radio doesnt work mister." 3 seemed to have understood their situation. "Dr Mehon destroyed it before he left."
I realized then that it was unlikely either of us would make it off this planet alive.
Part coming soon? Depending on how this one does.

You guys know what an alpine coaster is? They are like a small roller coaster you find in the mountains. They are also called summer toboggans or mountain coasters and I think there’s some long German compound word they are called in parts of Europe. They are like a roller coaster, but with much smaller one or two person sleds you just sit on instead of multi-person cars you ride in, and instead of being built with like a scaffolding or a framework the tracks are just on the ground, using the elevation of the mountain. Basically it’s a coaster track on the side of a mountain where you ride a sled down.
They are pretty fun. Or at least I used to think so. They are more “personal” than roller coasters and although you get nowhere near the speed on them that you do on a good traditional roller coaster and they can’t do corkscrews or loops or anything like that the openness and simplicity of the ride gives an impression of a much greater speed. You’re just sitting there with nothing but a little plastic sled and the track between you and the ground as it goes zooming by. It’s like the difference between how fast a go-cart feels compared to how fast a sports car feels. You know the sports car goes faster but the open, simpleness of a go-cart feels a different kind of fast. There’s plenty of POV Youtube videos if you want to get the basic idea of what they are.
I used to love alpine coasters. Used to.
My family used to go to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and up and down the Smokey Mountains for vacations when I was a kid and they are common in that area and I’d always rode them every chance I got.
But as with so many things after I grew up and went to college they just became part of my childhood that slipped away. They aren’t exactly common once you get away from the mountains.
Until one cool spring afternoon in 2004. I was in my final year at college and I was driving back to campus in Tennessee after a short visit to my folks in North Carolina. It was only like a 4 or 5 hour drive via the most efficient route and I had no need to be back at campus early so instead of taking the freeway all the way I got off and took part of my trip through the mountains. The scenery was nicer and I admit I liked pushing my Camaro just a little faster than I should through the twisty mountain roads.
Just after lunchtime happened upon one of those little by-the-highway tourist towns deep somewhere in the Smoky Mountains near the Carolina/Tennessee border. Nothing fancy, a gas station/truck stop, a diner, a couple of places selling tourist merch nestled deep in the mountains. I pulled into the gas station. My tank was getting low and I needed to stretch my legs, maybe grab something to eat. It was still early and I only had another couple of hours. I could kill an hour or so and still make it back to campus at a decent hour.
I pulled into the gas station and was filling my tank when I happened to glance across the road and… well I’ll be damned. There it was. “The Blue Ridge Alpine Coaster.” Nestled on the side of the mountain was a building, a mockup of a red barn, where a single railed track that led up into the mountains, where it soon got lost in the greenery. Wooden hand painted standees of cartoon character bears dressed in stereotypical “Hillbilly” getup stood around, some of them holding signs showing the ride hours and ticket costs and other info. I had to admit, as silly as it was, it made me smile.I finished pumping my gas and, well, nostalgia is a helluva thing. I decided then and there I could waste a little time riding an Alpine Coaster again after all these years before getting back on the road.
I parked my car in a corner of the truck stop's parking lot, put my phone in the center console, this being the days before smart phones when people didn’t keep their phones with them 24/7 and I didn’t want my old Nokia brick phone to fall out during the ride, locked my car and walked across the mountain highway to the Alpine Coaster building.
Getting closer, the place was less inviting. The half hearted attempt at a whimsical faux-Americana kitsch was far less effective when it brushed up against the actual decaying, run down wooden building. Hell calling it a building was generous. It was a wood frame holding up a long roof that covered the area where you got on the sleds. The wood boards creaked under my footsteps.
The only real enclosed structure was a shack that held, what I assumed, was a ticket booth. A door on the side had both a single occupancy bathroom with an out of order sign on it. An old Pepsi machine buzzed and glowed next to it.
Still the place looked alive. Ahead of me a bored looking attendant was helping a mother and her young son into one of the sleds while in a bored monotone repeating the safety brief. A few people were waiting in line at the ticket booth. Up in the mountains the playful shouts of people on the ride echoed down. Fond memories of my own childhood rides flooded my mind.10 minutes and 15 dollars later I was settling into the hard plastic seat of a bright red sled sat atop a simple aluminum rail.
I couldn’t help but grin as the sled slowly climbed the track up the mountains, making click-clack ratcheting sounds that hit my nostalgia centers hard. I felt good. The air was cool and crisp and smelled of pine.Higher and higher in the mountains we went. I don’t know if this is my mind trying to make sense of it after the fact but when I remember these moments, the last good moments, I sometimes think I remember a very slight, very subtle pit of fear in my stomach. I honestly don’t know if I felt it at the time or not or it’s just how my mind tries to make sense of it looking back at.
But either way mostly I was enjoying myself. I smiled. I was a kid again. I could hear riders in front of me let out that initial yell of terrified glee you get at the first drop of any good ride.
It peaked. I glanced around. I could see for miles, rolling hills and mountains. I the sled tipped over and zoomed down the mountain and I let out the same happy yell I heard from the other passengers.The ride zoomed down the mountain, catching speed. The mountain forest floor zoomed past, only a few feet under me. Trees zoomed past. I gave out a happy whoop as the ride banked hard around a curve and then looped back under itself.Another dip, another curve. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of the G-forces pulling me every which way.
There was no one exact single moment where things started to go “wrong.” The ride kept going. And going. At this point the first creeping thought entered my head.
The ride… was still going.
It just started to hit me… this ride was going on for a really long time. I had taken a dozen rides on various coasters of this type before that day and they topped out at about 5 minutes or so, and that was the long ones. Longer than a traditional roller coaster but not that long. This one had been going on for what felt like 10, maybe even 15 minutes.
I looked back over my shoulder and could only see trees, moving too fast to really get a bearing on where I was at in relation to anything.
I wasn't exactly really worried yet. Okay so I had found a particularly long alpine coaster. At the time I wasn’t 100% wasn't sure they didn’t exist or anything like that. I was a little… unnerved but nothing was happening that was impossible. Yet.
I was trying to talk myself back into just enjoying the ride and stop overthinking it, and halfway succeeded, when out of nowhere I suddenly banked hard, the track jutting out almost over a sheer cliffside. I gripped the sled more tightly as I was whipped around. The ride then dipped hard and picked up speed, barreling down the side of the mountain.
I was pushed back against the seat by the force of the drop. Jesus I didn’t remember them being this rough. I was feeling slightly nauseous. And where had this elevation drop come from I wondered? I was still in the foothills and I didn’t remember seeing anything but gentle rolling hills and light drops from looking at the ride’s route earlier. How the ride had managed such a long, steep drop in this area I didn’t know. . For the first time I hoped that the ride would be over soon. I had no idea then how much I would want that same hope to be true so much more as time went on.
With a whiplash motion I was whipped forward and then back as the ride leveled out on flat ground again, but by this point I was going fast, too fast. My neck hurt from the mild whiplash and I felt sour in my throat and for a moment the contents of my stomach threatened to come back up. For the first, but hardly the last time the ride felt unsafe. Alpine Coasters are tame affairs, much slower and gentler than full on roller coasters but this thing was throwing me around like no thrill ride I had ever been on.
I looked around. I mean I wasn’t that deep into the woods. I should have been able to see a glimpse of something; the highway, the gas station, the tourist shops, the Alpine Coaster office, something, anything. But nothing. Just trees.
I forced back some panic for the first time. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. The ride zoomed along. I counted to 60. I counted to 60 again. And again. Okay this was getting uncomfortably harder and harder to explain.
Suddenly I noticed that up ahead the track seemed to just end, for one brief, terrible moment I thought the track just ended but I was wrong. Almost without warning the track dipped in an almost vertical drop. I almost screamed as I plummeted for 20, maybe 30 seconds before flattening out again.
By this point the voice in my head that was telling me something was wrong was louder and I could no longer tell myself it was wrong. This ride could not have been this long. I tried to make sense of it, wondering if somehow I had gotten diverted onto some kind of maintenance track or, hell for one brief irrational moment even entertaining the idea that I had wound up on an actual train track somehow. But that was absurd. The rail below me was not a train track, it was still just the simple, aluminum rail of an alpine coaster and there had been no diversions or junctions in the track. I was still on the ride, as insane as that was starting to feel. Had the ride somehow looped? Again after having the thought I immediately dismissed it as crazy. There’s no way I could have missed the ride building where I got on. And what kind of ride loops over and over?
The sled zoomed through the forest, oddly never seeming to lose speed despite the relatively flat grade of the track. I cursed myself for leaving my phone in the car and not wearing a watch. I don’t know exactly how long I had been on the ride at that point but it felt like I had been on the ride for a half hour, maybe more. But time is a funny thing when you’re in a situation you’ve never been in. Could have been more, could have been less, at that point.
My pride finally failed me. I started to scream for help. I screamed out that the ride was broken, to stop it, that I needed help. I did that for about ten minutes or so I think. The ride kept going. Mostly flat, level track with occasional mild dips and turns. But the simple length of the ride grew more and more unnerving and unexplainable.
I thought about just bailing out. But the ride, impossibly, was still not slowing down and chunks of mountain rock and thick tree trunks were all around me. Bailing out without risking smashing into a rock or a tree seemed impossible.
The ride kept going.
Up ahead the forest was clearing out some, I could see the forest brightening, more sunlight making it through the canopy.
I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.
The trees stopped and I had just enough time to take in a flat, open area of rock maybe 40, 50 yards at most before another sheer cliff. The tracks twisted and turned and then shot straight down. But that wasn’t the worst of it. For a moment, a very short moment, I had a clear view for miles and the landscape was, to be blunt, totally impossible. Any possibility that I had just stumbled on some incredibly long ride was blasted out of my head. Barren, volcanic looking rock stretched for miles. Jagged, black rocky outcroppings as far as the eye could see. I was in the goddamn Smoky Mountains. They don’t look like that.
I had a few moments for the terror of that view to settle in before the cart plunged into another horrifying drop. I gripped the handles of the cheap plastic sled until my knuckles turned white. The drop felt completely vertical, like I was falling at terminal velocity. I screamed. My stomach dropped and turned. I imagined the sled coming away from the track and me just plummeting screaming to my death on the rocks below. But somehow the ride still functioned. I closed my eyes tightly and just waited for whatever was going to happen. Eventually after several what felt like a full minute of steep plunging the track again leveled out, and I opened my eyes to see myself moving at breakneck speed over that black, rocky landscape.
Now that I was moving on a more or less flat horizontal track again I took a few deep breaths. I looked over the edge of the track. Nothing but that black, jagged rock, almost looking like obsidian, zooming past. I had no idea how fast the sled was moving now. Fast. Faster than a gravity powered sled should be moving. And the track was higher off the ground now. Alpine slides usually stick pretty close to the ground, but I was 20 feet or so in the air, the track suspended in the air, a simple metal tube tower like a power pylon every few yards.
Without any immediate threat and the sled moving fast but steadily and level I was able to think about my situation again, for all the good that did me. Ahead of me the track just continued to the horizon, nothing but the same rocky landscape as far as I could see. I craned my neck to look back over my shoulder and looked back behind me and it looked the same. Even the mountains were but distant specs on the horizon behind me.
This was insane. There’s not a giant seemingly endless field of black jagged rock in the goddamn Smoky Mountains. There’s no cliff faces tall and steep enough for a multi-minute vertical drop. And alpine coasters were small affairs, not major engineering projects that span miles with pylons and vertical tracks. It made no sense.
Sadly it wasn’t going to start making any more sense anytime soon.
The ride kept going.
I was on this rocky landscape for several hours. I feel comfortable saying this because I could actually notice the sun getting lower in the sky. And the sled wasn’t slowing down despite the grade of the track being flat. I was getting cramped from sitting and stretched my legs and twisted my back as best I could. Didn’t do much help. My eyes were starting to get irritated from the constant wind in them. Worst of all it was starting to get chilly. I only had on a light jacket, a windbreaker, just something to keep the breeze off me, no real insulation. I was cold, my joints were stiff, I was hungry and thirsty. My eyes watered and my throat was so dry it was sore.
But none of that was as bad as just how little sense this all made. There’s nothing like this place anywhere near the Smoky Mountains. This was like some volcanic rock landscape. The more I thought about it the less sense it made.
The ride kept going.
My mind didn’t even try to process this. Whatever I was experiencing simply couldn’t be possible. I was crazy. I was dreaming. The CIA had kidnapped me and dosed me with some new version of LSD and I was in a straightjacket in a padded room at Area 51.
The sled kept zooming along as the sky turned to dusk. Soon the bridge disappeared from my view and I continued on along the endless, rocky, featureless landscape.
I sat back against the sled, mentally and physically numb. I was exhausted. I was thirsty. I was cramping up. I was hungry. I had to pee. I held it for as long as I could, then had no choice but just wet myself. I cried until I had no more tears left. Then I just sat there.
The ride kept going.
By the time the sun dipped below the horizon my throat felt like sandpaper. I dug around in my jacket pockets hoping to find a stick of gum or piece of candy. Nothing. I checked again, having nothing else to do. Under a crumpled store receipt in the inner pocket of my jacket was a single old, forgotten cough drop. I unwrapped it from the paper and popped it in my mouth. Saliva flooded back into my mouth and I was overwhelmed by the methanol and medicine taste. It was something at least, although I knew it would be a brief and temporary fix at best.
I felt my eyes get heavy. It was getting colder. That mountain cold. That deep cold the mountains have even into the early spring when the sun goes down. That kind that just pulls the heat right out of you. I shivered. A terrible, horrible certainty came to me. I would ride until I passed out from exhaustion or the hypothermia set in. My body would tumble off the sled to fall and skip across the rocky ground like a stone skipping across a lake, my bones breaking as I tumbled until my body finally came to a stop. If I was lucky I would be killed and not have to lie for days, broken and bruised, on the ground until death took me.
The ride kept going. The ride kept going. The fucking ride kept going.
“Fuck you” I said to the ride, my voice a horse whisper. I pulled my jacket closer around me, for all the good it did. The cold wind was slowly but surely pulling my body heat away. My shivering got worse, crossing the line from a simple normal shiver into those deep, almost violent full body ones.. I wasn’t anything you could call an experienced outdoorsman, but I knew enough to know that wasn’t a good sign.
It was getting dark. There was a full moon at least so I wasn’t totally in the dark.
About then I noticed something. The landscape, what little I could see in the fading light, was changing. It was smoothing out, becoming less rocky and craggy. Up ahead an odd, shimmering light was starting to appear on the ground.
I was over it before I even realized what it was. The tracks were going over a smooth surface.
Water. It was a lake. The odd lights I had seen were the moon, reflected in ripples on the lake.
Within minutes I was out of the view of the land. After the nearly endless rocky landscape and everything else I had seen, it scared me how little I was shocked. I didn’t like how mentally numb I was getting. I leaned over. There was enough moonlight to see the water, 15 or 20 feet below the track. The pylons holding up the track went into the water, the light wasn’t good enough to even make a guess at how far they went down or how deep the water was.I leaned back in the sled. My eyes were red and bloodshot from the constant wind. I closed them. This was a mistake.I jerked awake. I don’t know if I dozed off for a split second or an hour. My weight had shifted and I caught myself as my center of gravity was in danger of sending me off the sled and into the water.
I screamed in anger. A deep primal scream. I hurt so bad. My joints felt like they were full of glass. My limbs were full of pins and needles. I glanced over at the water. For the first time on the very edges of my brain a tiny voice started to speak up, telling me that I could be all over if I just jumped. I shut the voice up, but it scared me still.
I sat there as the ride went on. It felt like hours. Eventually the lake ended in a rocky shore line. The damned ride. There was no safe place to bail out. If the ride slowed down, it was high in the air, if it moved toward the ground it sped up. Sharp rocks, big trees, nothing you could safely bail out into.
I kept having to force myself awake. I kept dozing off. Once I felt myself falling asleep and drove a vicious uppercut into my own nose to stave it off.
I seriously started to think about how much longer I could hang on. The voice came back again. This time I didn’t shut it up. I wasn’t admitting it to myself yet, but I was starting to think about the best way to land that would end it quickly if I needed to.
Something was ahead. The track seemed to dip into the ground. I was too tired, too beaten to even get scared. I was just resigned to whatever happened at this point.
With little warning the track took my sled into a tunnel in the ground. Everything went completely pitch black. After several moments even the dim moonlight was gone.
This was the worst part. The creepy forest, the immense rocky landscape, the eerie lake… those were bad. But this was just nothing. Nothing to look at, nothing to hear, nothing for reference or sense of where I was going. The walls of the tunnel felt like they were inches from me in every direction. The air felt thick, like there wasn’t enough oxygen.
With every moment I was in that tunnel I lost a little more hope. After a long, long time I made a decision. When I got out of this tunnel, I would jump. I didn’t care anymore. Hopefully there would be a spot where I could be certain the fall would instantly kill me. I was done. The ride had beaten me. I sat there, waiting for a chance to end this on my terms. That was all I had left.
Eventually up ahead, a tiny speck of light appeared. I gathered my strength, ready to end it. I sat up, getting my legs under me so I could jump as soon as we were clear. The sled burst out of the tunnel. The dim light of the full moon was enough to be momentarily blinding after the pitch black of the tunnel.. I gave my eyes a moment to adjust.
I was back in a normal looking Appalachian forest. Rolling hills, green trees. The air smelled of pine again. I heard an owl hoot off somewhere.
Slowly I lowered myself back into a setting position, in shock. At first I refused to believe it but the ride was slowing down. I held still, making sure my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me, but no, the cheap plastic sled that had been my world for what felt like an eternity was slowing down.
Up ahead, a structure was visible, peeking out from among the trees in the dim lighting as the sled moved down the track.
It was the Alpine Slide building. The crappy fake red barn where I had boarded this cursed ride so long ago. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, sure it was either my mind or the cursed ride playing tricks with me. But the building stayed there.
It grew closer and closer. The track leveled completely out. The sled slowed down more. Before I had the time to really come to terms with it I arrived back at the building.
The sled slowed to a stop, gently pumping against another sled parked on the track. I sat there for a few moments, gasping in great big gulping fear breaths, trying to assure myself the ride didn’t have one last trick of its sleeve.
I looked around. The place was empty, deserted. The overhead lights were still on and the old Pepsi machine still glowed and buzzed, but the ticket booth was dark and empty, a metal gate pulled down over the ticket window.
Suddenly it hit me that I was free and I practically leapt out of the sled and onto the platform. I immediately collapsed. My legs were jelly and my head was spinning. I tried to stand up again and doubled over, dry heaving. Have you ever been out on a boat for a day and have that weird reverse motion sickness when you’re back on solid land? It was like that times a hundred. My inner ear was literally pounding, all the motion had really done a number on it.
I laid there for a few moments and eventually forced myself to stand up on my two wobbling legs. I looked around, a horrible certainty creeping into my mind that there would be no exit, no way off the platform but to my relief an exit turnstyle, one of those full height ones, was set into the fence that surrounded the ride property.
I went through it and found myself back on the main road. The truckstop was still there, still open but far less busy. My car sat in the same corner of the parking lot I had left it.
I allowed myself one look back, just one quick one. The metal skeleton of the Alpine Slide track sat there, dark and quiet but otherwise normal.
I stumbled-ran back to my car, dug the keys out of my pocket, and collapsed inside. When the door shut I let out a primal scream, the tons of fear and confusion and anger all fusing into a single, raw emotion. I screamed again and again.
After a few moments I felt like I was emotionally at least back to a place where I could act, although I wasn’t sure yet what to do next. Not really knowing what to do I cranked the car. The A/C had been on low when I shut off the car and it came roaring back to life and cold air blowing on me almost sent me back into a full on panic attack. I fumbled with the climate controls until the air stopped blowing directly on me, then calmed down enough to turn the heat on, helping to get the chill out of my bones. There was a half full bottle of water in the center console cup holder and I grabbed it and chugged it. Nothing ever tasted as good before or sense as that few ounces of water.
That was when I noticed the clock on the radio head unit. It was 4:17 in the morning. It had been about one, one thirty or so in the afternoon when I got on the accursed ride.
Over 15 hours. I had been on the goddamn ride for over 15 hours. Over half a day.
I just sat there. Warming up. Calming down. I was exhausted. I was dehydrated. I can’t even describe how my head felt. I probably had at least a minor case of hypothermia. I thought about going into the gas station and asking for help but what would I even say, and more than anything I just wanted to get away from this place. And I just wanted to get away. I wanted to be nowhere near that damn ride.
I put the Camaro in gear and pulled into the street and in panic I immediately slammed on the brakes. I was lucky there was no traffic on the road at that moment. The feeling of accelerating to just normal surface street speeds made me sick to my stomach. I gathered myself and very slowly accelerated the car I usually treated with a very heavy foot up to 30 miles an hour. Every time I tried to accelerate at a pace faster than “Old Lady Going to Church, Uphill” I would have a panic attack. I was okay once I was up to speed, but accelerating freaked me out after being on that ride.
I drove about 30 minutes, putting some arbitrary amount of distance between myself and the coaster. Eventually I made it back to where the twisty mountain road met back up with a major road that would eventually meet back up with the highway. After a few more minutes of driving I saw the onramp for the highway. There was one of those big truckstop travel plazas and pulled in, parking right up at the door. I smelled like pee and I can only imagine how I looked, but I didn’t care.
I kept a couple of emergency 20s in the back of my wallet and spent it on the biggest bottle of water the store had, an overpriced bottle of eye drops, and a huge travel mug of coffee. The clerk looked at me as if he was expecting me to either drop dead or rob him the entire time.
Back in my car I downed the coffee. I put a few eye drops in each of my eyes and sat there as the caffeine took effect until I felt like I could make it back to my apartment. The sun was just coming up when I finally pulled out of the truck stop and got on the freeway. I slowly, very slowly, accelerated up to highway speed, put the Camaro in cruise control, and let the miles start to drift away. I turned on the radio, I needed to hear human voices. Every time my mind went back to what had just happened I turned the radio up louder, eventually drowning it out with painful levels of rock music. I wasn’t ready to think about it yet. Yes looking back I know I was just in denial. I finally made it back to the crappy little apartment I had off campus, a little two story walk up studio. I let myself in and collapsed on the cheap couch. I was asleep before I even had the time to decide whether or not to do anything else. I woke up later that afternoon. I took a shower and ate a meal and didn’t think about the ride. I washed the pee stained filthy clothes I had been wearing and didn’t think about the ride. I went back to class and didn’t think about the ride. Every time I thought about the ride I forced it out of my head. I’m sure this wasn’t the most mentally healthy thing to do but what can you say?
I didn’t forget about it, don’t be silly. This isn’t the kind of thing you forget. One day while looking up something else in the university’s library my curiosity got the better of me and I looked up the Alpine Slide. No website but a few Google Map and Yelp mentions. None of them mentioned anything weird, certainly nothing even remotely like what I experienced. Near as I can tell it closed sometimes in the winter of 2012.
Life went on. I mean, that’s what it does. The next day was a little better. And the day after that a little better. And the day after that a little better still. I met a nice girl. Graduated. Got married. Got a nice house in the suburbs. Got a dog. Had a daughter. Spent a lot of time happy and not thinking about being trapped on an endless alpine coaster.And that was my life for many, many years after that.
Until a few weeks back when as a very different person I found myself driving a boring and safe mid sized family SUV through those same mountains. My wife Carol, 5 months pregnant, sat in the passenger seat, our 6 year old daughter Emily in a booster seat in the back, and Max our mixed breed mutt next to her. It had been a nice pleasant trip, driving back from visiting her folks.
I hadn’t thought about that fucking ride in so long I barely registered that I was in the same general area until it was too late. Suddenly I realized that little mountain tourist trap town was only a few minutes down the road. I swallowed hard and gripped the steering wheel hard. Carol was looking out the window at the scenery and Emily was deep into some kid’s Youtube video on an iPad. I forced myself to keep my breath steady as we rounded the corner.The town was still there, sorta. Time had not been kind to it. The gas station was still there, at some point it had been bought out by Shell. The tourist trap shops were still there. One of them was now a vape shop. The diner was closed, the building looking like it sat unused for a long time.
But of course that’s not what I cared about. A looked over at the site where the Alpine Coaster once stood. It was gone. The kitschy fake barn was gone. The site was just a bare concrete slab with a chainlink fence around it. Faded “no trespassing” and “for sale” signs hung off the fence. A pile of old, decaying lumber that might have once long ago been part of the structure covered part of the old lot. No sign of the track remained outside of some old concrete support posts dotting the side of the mountain.
I exhaled out a breath I hadn’t even realized I had been holding in. Soon the little town disappeared in my rear view mirror.
About a half hour later we stopped for gas. I pulled up to a gas pump across from a massive motorhome. Max stuck his head out the window and started barking at a little white dog, a toy breed of some kind, in the window of the motorhome. Carol and Emily immediately headed into the store to restock on snacks while I fueled up.
I stood there, a half smile on my lips as Max barked and wagged his tail in an attempt to attract the attention of the other dog while I filled up the tank, said dog doing an admirable job of ignoring him.
Right about the time I finished fueling up and cleaning the bugs off the windshield Carol returned from inside the store, Emily in tow, arms filled with two full sized bags of Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips and what looked to be a half dozen individually wrapped pickles.
I raised an eyebrow at the collection of food but knew better than to question a pregnant woman's snack choices.
“Should we take Max for a quick walk?” Carol asked. The travel plaza had a nice little gated dog walking area off to the side.
“Yeah probably not a bad idea, he’s been cooped up in the car for a few hours.” I said. Max, upon hearing his name and the word “walk” , forgot about the other dog and upgraded from wagging his tail to wagging his entire body while making whining sounds and staring right at me.
About this time I became half aware that the big motor home next to us was pulling away. I didn’t think much of it, outside of doing a quick automatic mental check to make sure Emily was well clear of the moving vehicle, but she was safely between me and our SUV, well out of the way.
But that was when Emily looked behind me and cheerfully yelled “Daddy look a roller coaster! Can I ride the coaster?”
It’s cliche as fuck I know but my blood went cold.
I turned around slowly, certain in my knowledge that terrible old decrepit Alpine Coaster would be there, having just popped into existence to trap me again.
That.. is not what I saw. Sure enough there was a coaster there, one I hadn’t noticed earlier because it had mostly been blocked by the motor home, but there it was. It was even an Alpine Coaster.
But it was not the same coaster I had encountered those years ago. That was immediately obvious. It was a small but modern and newish looking setup with neon lights and a bunch of people. There was an actual building where you bought tickets and a little snack stand.
“Daddy! Can we go on the coaster!” Emily asked again.
My mouth made motions but no words came out. I glanced over at Carol, hoping she’d say we didn’t have time but to my horror she smiled and said “You know what? That does sound like fun. Daddy will take you while I take Max for a walk.”
My mind raced, trying to think of a way to get out of it. But Emily was already dragging me across the parking lot to the entrance.
I patted my pocket, making sure my phone was in it. Every fiber of my being was screaming to run away. I slept walked through the line and the ticket booth while Emily bounced happily.
We got into a two seat plastic sled. This one was actually a lot nicer than the one my mind wouldn’t stop thinking about. It had two nice cushioned seats, big grab handles, even a nice rollbar.
The sled started up the track. I fought back the panic. I swerved my head around, keeping the building in my view. I was terrified of losing sight of it. We made it to the top and Emily did a happy squeal as we started down the side of the mountain.
My heart raced. Any second, any second my mind told me we’d lose sight of the building and then the ride would never end. The ride sped down the mountain. My mind tortured me with thoughts of not only going through it again, but seeing Emily go through it. The ride went around a big, banking turn. Emily kept shouting happily. How long before Carol reported us missing I wondered? Could I keep Emily calm? What if it lasted even longer this time? What if this time it never ended?
And then we were back at the start of the ride. The same attendant who had helped us into the sled was helping Emily out. I stepped out. The attendant gave me a brief look but said nothing. I guess I looked a little wild eyed.
I was fine. Emily was fine. It had been a perfectly normal, fun ride.
“That was fun Daddy! Thank you!” Emily said. I forced a smile back. “It was fun.” I responded, hoping like I sounded like I meant it.
I took Emily’s hand and we walked back to the car. Max saw us coming and barked happily. Carol looked up from the pint of Ben and Jerry’s she had somehow acquired and added to her snack collection while we were gone and smiled at us.
“Did you have fun?” she asked.
“It was so fun Mommy!” Emily said.
Carol smiled down at her, but then looked at me and frowned. “Are you okay?” Carol could read my face a lot better than the attendant could. “You’re pale.”
I smiled and this time the smile felt real. “Ya know what. Yeah, I think I am okay.”
Carol looked a little puzzled, but didn’t press it. We loaded Emily back in her booster seat, stopped Max from trying desperately to eat half a discarded gas station hot dog off the ground and got him back in the car. Carol and her small collection of snack food took her place in the passenger seat and I got in the driver's seat.I smiled. I cranked the car. I put it in gear. I pulled out of the gas station and back on the road, this time accelerating just a little faster than I had in years.

I messed up. I messed up bad.
“Never get high on your own supply”. The human who sold me this data told me it was a saying from his world. But I had to be sure it was the real deal. After all, data drugs that worked on people without a brain interface installed? It was unheard of. But here I am [30 hours] later, and I no longer doubt. I feel utterly exhausted despite having barely moved. My every neuron feels fried. All 6 grasping appendages are sore from the repetitive motions, and my eyes are dry and unfocused from the long strain I have put them through. I feel intense pangs of hunger and thirst, as I haven’t eaten or drank since I started this test.
I still want more. But with a great effort of will I force myself away from the screen of my computing terminal and stumble to my pantry so I may attend to my body’s needs. As I gulp down nutrient drinks and chew some dried fruit, I reflect on the trance I’ve somehow barely managed to pull myself out of.
Simulations. A useful tool for engineers, scientists, and military strategists. We had never thought to teach storytellers or artists to use them. Humans had. And what they created was both miraculous and monstrous.
Humans decided to use simulation technology to create art and craft stories. It seemed that there was a human simulation… no, hundreds of human simulations, designed to invoke whatever feeling or emotion you could imagine. And possibly some you couldn’t.
I had started simple. A basic test of spatial reasoning, and later quick thinking, expressed through the medium of stacking colored blocks formed into geometric shapes. While comparable at first to a children's toy, as the speed and challenge increased I became increasingly hypnotized. The feeling of lining up and clearing four rows at once with the all too rare straight piece was intensely satisfying. Making a mistake, leaving a gap caused frustration and incompleteness like I had never felt before, and eventually fixing it gave a feeling of relief, of rightness. As the game sped up, I found myself more and more frantic to try and find places for every piece. The rush of success and agony of failure only increased as I prided and chided myself on my quick decisions.
Eventually, I could keep up no longer, leaving me only with a number. A score.
Could I push that score higher?
[4 hours] went by, and I barely noticed.
I should have stopped. I knew that what I had was genuine. But I wanted to know what else this data was capable of.
I navigated a colorful landscape, defying gravity with every action and finding joy in exploration and collection.
I slaughtered demons with a chaingun, turning the fear of being devoured into a rising sense of conquest and bloodlust.
I failed a single test of dexterity, sending me tumbling down a hole and erasing hours of progress, and I nearly knocked myself out from the shock of frustration.
I defeated a hulking warrior with a team of other adventurers, and the triumph of it was only amplified by the sting of failing several times before.
Freedom and entrapment.
Horror and domination.
Elation and sorrow.
Every new experience was an emotional high of a kind I’d never had before, and my hearts were racing with the myriad of feelings rushing through my mind. My imagination was going wild with the possibilities of all these new worlds of data and programming.
My self-reflection comes to a grinding halt. I need to stop. If I’m not careful I’ll get addicted and end up like one of those mindjackers, burning their brains out on data drugs. Supposedly these simulations can’t do that, but I wouldn’t have put it past the seller to lie about that kind of thing.
Well, one way or another, I’m gonna make a [alien animal that shares many traits with both giant squids and magpies]’s hoard selling these. Time to call my best clients…
[Time skip: approximately 25 solar years]
The Rise of the Galactic Game Industry: Fluke of the Black Market, or Human Marketing Genius? You Decide!
Dr’k-Nam, Head Investigative Critic for the Arts and Culture section of Twin Suns Newsgroup
Simulation games, also known as “video games”, have taken the galaxy by storm ever since their controversial introduction and subsequent series of bannings and legalizations across the galaxy. Simulation technology is nothing new of course, but galactic newcomers from the Sol system, Humans, used it in an extremely novel way: art and entertainment. According to their historical records, a significant amount of their entertainment industry is based around simulation games, and that portion has grown even further with their introduction to the galaxy at large.
At first, however, no one was interested. A simulation with little or no practical application, designed only to entertain? Most people preferred to stick with the entertainment they knew, or seek new experiences outside of sims. So what changed?
Simple: some anonymous human decided to sell them as data drugs instead of simulation games; data drugs usable by simply interacting with a computer program, rather than having to inject the data directly in through a neural interface. With this small, but completely false new branding, video games were ready to start spreading across virtual black markets like spoilers for the latest episode of Ace Flyer Kr’t-Kah on the galnet (side note: please have some courtesy to others and tag your spoilers).
Human governance and society at large had been reportedly as surprised to see a lack of simulation games from other species as they were that humans had them. But they were even more surprised when they started getting accused of pushing the latest data drug. This was an especially confusing accusation because neural interface technology was not widely adopted by humanity at the time, and only a fraction of a percent of their population even knew of the existence of data drugs in the first place. The revelation that most humans had video games of some sort on their PPDDs (personal portable data devices) threatened to cause an uproar in the galaxy, as paranoia around data drugs was at an all time high among many species.
After trying and failing to ignore the problem for long enough for it to go away, human governance, as well as human corporations producing video games, were forced to release statements, acknowledging that:

• Yes, video games were human productions.
• Yes, they could be addictive in the same way that any other pleasure-seeking activity could be addictive.
• Yes, there are games that even humans ban. Adult subject matter is restricted from youths, but additionally, games could be made manipulatively to exploit or develop gambling addictions, which is banned outright. Technically this ban isn’t even for games specifically, but instead falls under the purview of their laws against taking advantage of the mentally unstable.
• No, they did not “hack your brain” to cause neural impulses, unless you’re a a Syns-nah, who only partially exist in our dimension and are not used to any 3-dimensional sensory inputs, to the point where eating an unflavored [grain product resembling a cracker] can cause them vivid hallucinations.
• If other races want to ban them, go ahead, but humans can’t really stop data from spreading (their government has tried, believe me), and they’re not going to stop making or distributing them where it’s legal.

Ironically enough, the controversy made them much more popular, even in places that decided on banning them. The idea of a simulation that could act like a data drug without the risk of frying your mind like the real thing was enticing to many. The lack of side effects and ease with which the games could be distributed only increased both their spread and unregulatability. In short order, races throughout the galaxy were trying out a new pastime, and galnet connected multiplayer games were bridging the gaps between the stars. Now, several other races, including my own, are seeking advice from human developers in starting their own simulation game projects. Only time will tell what kind of games their unique perspectives will produce, but it’s unlikely that humans will lose their position as the most powerful and profitable storytellers through this new medium; they have generations of experience to draw upon, after all.
Rumors that the data drug sales pitch was a deliberate ploy by the human game industry (to drum up intergalactic sales) or by human governance (to spread human culture and influence) are still under investigation, but solid evidence for either has yet to emerge.
Edit: anyone posting untagged Ace Flyer Kr’t-Kah spoilers in the comments section of this article will receive an immediate, no-warning permaban.

Just a disclaimer I don't work for this company and I don't make any money from them. I've been using their products for 16 years. I've met the owner and I know he is a good intelligent guy.
I’m also mentioning this in the depression sub Reddit because I struggle with that also and I'm just trying to spread my knowledge of useful ideas.
I wanted to share this because Flower Essences are a homeopathic product that people really don't know about and they are very powerful and effective. They help heal and release deep seated stress, worry and trauma from the nervous system. So they help get to the root cause of anxiety, depression and other emotional issues.
The company I buy from is called Siddha Remedies. There are two main foundational products they have called Emotional Detox and Stress Relief. They have other products for other areas of the body but those are the important ones especially Detox.
They are only 15 bucks a bottle and the company is generous with giving refunds if they don't help you feel better. But also keep in mind more than one bottle might be necessary as the healing benefits are cumulative.
Anyways hope this helps even one person 👍

I was looking at the Sealy Hybrid Elstead Firm Mattress on Mattress Warehouse, and when I added it to the cart, Mattress Warehouse suggested adding the Sealy Ease Adjustable Bed Base for free. However, the bed base is $999. I'm trying to figure out if this is legit or not. I'm not sure why they would be giving away a bed base for $999. Any thoughts?https://mattresswarehouse.com/products/sealy-elstead-hybrid?size=queen

Hail, fellow Helldivers!
I’m a game dev with over 20 years experience, half of that on live service games or MMOs, all of it on core combat for action games, on game teams ranging from 10 people to over 600.
I play a ton of hard co-op action games, and I was a huge fan of Helldivers 1. I’m honestly in awe of how good Helldivers 2 is, even after the hundreds of hours I’ve put into it, and how they’ve sustained the pace of updates for so long after launch.
Yes, this is a throwaway Reddit account, I wanted to share some of my thoughts without inviting death threats.
Development
This game must have been in development since shortly after Arrowhead’s last released game, Helldivers 1 (plus whatever DLC and maintenance), so, 8 years give or take (I sent Pilestedt a congratulatory email, but presumably he’s drowning in them, haha).
I ran into the devs at GDC 2019, shared a few drinks and we talked shop about our similar games. They were super cagey but very excited about what they were working on, even moreso when they found out I was a huge fan of HD1. They were clearly already deep in development of HD2 at that point.
This has been discussed elsewhere, but it adds to how impressive this game is: this is the same engine (Autodesk Stingray) as Helldivers 1, a top-down game with 2D gameplay and much lower visual fidelity. Stingray is no longer supported by Autodesk as of sometime after 2018, so most of the features HD2 required would have been built in-house by Arrowhead. To my knowledge there’s only one other studio actively using the engine, and that’s Fat Shark, the developers of (most recently) Warhammer 40,000: Darktide.
The AH team has grown massively in size over the past 8 years. I don’t have the exact numbers, but it’s a 5x to 10x increase in size. Scaling up that fast and not ruining your company culture is super hard, and you can see plenty of other studios that have tried to grow so they can build bigger games and have fallen apart doing it.
Helldivers 2 easily has a AAA level of polish. I’ve gone back to HD1 recently, which at the time looked and played super well, and the improvements are night and day. HD2’s production values compare favorably to any random AAA game released in the last few years
Weapons
Building first or third person weapons to this level of quality is extremely expensive. A unique gun for a AAA first person shooter might take 4-6 weeks of artist time and the same (or more) of designer time to set up and tune the gameplay. For any completely new type of weapon, factor in around 6 months of animator time, and a few weeks for a variant that has a different reload animation or similar. E.g. all rifle-sized shotguns might use the same base shotgun animation set, but the continuous reload shotguns would have a different reload animation than the Breaker family. Then you need VFX and audio too.
Vehicles are even moreso, taking months for each, more if they can seat multiple players or have points that contact the ground (e.g. wheels).
Environments
Building environments that look this good is expensive even if you know what you want, having built a prototype version, you then have to iterate on it while you refine the gameplay and then build the final art. Building environments that look this good and are procedurally generated in as freeform a way as in HD2 is mind-boggling. Let alone doing that in a way that runs fast enough. Sure once it’s all up and running you have a ton of variety for relatively cheap, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the proc gen create a serious gameplay problem, and that indicates very clever design and thorough testing.
AI
AI that works as well as this is expensive to build, and typically computationally expensive at runtime too. In games like Call of Duty or whatever, you have a static environment, with maybe 10-20 active AI at a time, prebuilt navmesh (which is a hand-drawn or generated map that allows AI to move around the environment without having to calculate valid geometry constantly at runtime), and level or encounter designers have hand scripted a lot of what looks like emergent AI behavior. HD2 can’t do any of that; there can be hundreds of enemies active at once, the environments are procedurally generated, AND terrain can be deformed, buildings can be destroyed etc. The AI can’t be scripted to the same degree as on a static map, probably the devs have hints that are procedurally added to the world and not much more. It helps that all of the enemies we’ve seen so far are the “implacably advancing” kind, typically they don’t have any complex behaviors, and instead the design of the character themselves and their attacks carries the gameplay. Smart design. The Illuminate in HD1 were much sneakier, it’ll be interesting to see how that faction translates to a full 3D game with a lot more enemies active at once.
UI
This game has a lot of quality of life features that it’s easy to take for granted, but are hard to build, and hard to retrofit to an existing game, for example:
· A zoomable, pingable minimap (IMO this is a best-in-class minimap implementation)
· A ping system
· Battlepass implementation allowing for not expiring old battle passes.
And all of this is UI-heavy, where UI is one of the most expensive things to make in AAA games. Every project I’ve shipped, UI has been a bottleneck. It doesn’t help that every company basically builds a UI system from scratch, since engines rarely have something shippable built in, and Scaleform (the most prominent UI middleware) went away. And then it takes a ton of iteration to get to a point where a feature is powerful and intuitive to players.
Gamefeel
If you play much of the most highly-regarded AAA shooters, you might not like the feel of some of the weapons in Helldivers 2 by comparison. They often feel slow to use, hard to aim, and punishing of misses, bad timing or bad positioning. Some of this is a polish thing and probably isn’t intended, e.g. scopes that look janky in first person, misaligned reticles and similar stuff. Most of it though looks deliberate, and supports the gameplay they’re laser-focused on building. The weapons are largely useful in very specific situations, and are not power fantasy moments for the player. There are serious tradeoffs, including “if I’m caught by a melee enemy with a Recoilless Rifle out, I’m in trouble”, the most powerful support weapons preventing you from bringing a shield, the snappiest weapons typically only being useful against weak enemies, etc. Most mass-market shooters sacrifice this extreme level of tradeoff in service of making the game feel better to play, and can lack gameplay variety as a result.
Given all of the above, most of the content that Arrowhead has released post ship must have been built alongside the rest of the game. It’s unlikely that they’re able to turn around 3 new weapons, new giant enemies, new mission types etc every month for several months in a row building them from scratch since ship. And yet, the game at launch still felt complete. This is a hard balance to strike. I wonder how much near-shippable content they have in their war-chest, and whether they’ll be able to generate more quickly enough to satisfy the appetite of the community on an ongoing basis.
Balance
Typically on a live game, the same designers build gameplay, ship it, and then balance it in patches post-ship. Sometimes a studio will have a separate “live team”, either dedicated, or rotating members of the dev team through it, but this isn’t common and it doesn’t look like Arrowhead splits the team up like this.
In any case, players always ask why developers ever nerf anything, and it’s for three reasons:
· Typically only a small number of things (weapons, abilities, heroes) are dominant, and a very large number are OK or weak in the current meta – buffing everything else would be extremely expensive, and since it’s the same people doing this work and building new content, it’d reduce the amount of new content the team could make. So it’s much more efficient to tamp down the overpowered things as a priority, and buff some other options at the same time.
· “No nerf, only buff” results in player power creep over time, which makes the game easier, and eventually will require a correction either in the form of a large scale nerf pass or buffs to enemies – both of these are bad: players hate widespread nerfs, and buffing enemies can put the game in a degenerate state where lethality is skewed, or only the best players can compete because they have all the best gear, or you end up in an arms race between player design and enemy design as both teams try to react to player feedback or overall game difficulty.
· Having a small number of overpowered things is much more destructive to a varied meta than a small number of weak things. Say you have 100 abilities and 3 of them are overpowered. Well, now everyone’s only using 3% of the possible content. Say you have 100 abilities and 3 of them are too weak.The other 97% is viable. Overly simplistic, clearly there’s a gradient, but you get the idea.
BTW the pace at which Arrowhead has updated balance is extremely fast for a large PvE game. Some small PvP-only games can react this quickly to a developing meta, but on large-scale games it takes weeks or months of testing and platform certification to ship balance updates on consoles. And “hotfixes”, i.e. very quick responses to critical issues, have a high level of scrutiny on them, i.e. lots of justifiable red tape, and often require crunch.
Community Interaction
It’s extremely rare for developers from large studios at any level to talk directly to the community, mostly because the gaming community burned those bridges long ago, by doxing devs they don’t agree with, sending them death threats, or just generally abusing them publicly and anonymously. No way in hell would I be public facing, and no one at any studio should be required to unless it’s explicitly part of their job. And even then, I feel for community managers. Direct communication from devs is a precious thing, and not one that should be taken for granted or used as an avenue for abuse.
*Salutes* to Arrowhead
Huge, huge kudos to Arrowhead. This game is an absolute triumph. To go from a small team making top-down games, to a medium-sized AAA team that shipped a game that catapulted right to the top of the most-played charts and game of the year lists and has stayed there is a massive accomplishment. I hope you’re all seeing a big payday from this success!

Need help picking a reliable PSU. Can anyone tell me some good choices for my system?
7800x3d / 4080 super / 2x16 6000mhz RAM / 2tb SSD /
I recently bought a MSI mag a850gl PSU for my system but I'm finding out it has lower grade capacitors. Will this PSU be good enough for my setup? I really don't want to fry my shit. I'm just trying to find something that's $100 or under. If anyone has some good suggestions.
My Build - https://pcpartpicker.com/usePC-Bik3Rsaved/7dsBrH
Tom's Hardware Cap info - PSU 101: Capacitors Manufacturer Tier List (tomshardware.com)
Thinking about these instead -1. https://pcpartpicker.com/product/phVmP6/thermaltake-toughpower-gf3-tt-premium-850-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-ps-tpd-0850fnfagu-4

1. https://pcpartpicker.com/product/bNBzK8/seasonic-focus-gx-850-atx-30-850-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-atx3-focus-gx-850

The current issue is with my Eddy USB. No matter what I try, it fails the z offset calibration saying:
Failed calibration - frequency not increasing each step
This only happens after I try to run the save_config option.

##################################################################### # Include Control ##################################################################### #[include led_macros.cfg] #[include toolboard.cfg] #[include adxl.cfg] [include Homing.cfg] [include mainsail.cfg] #[include Euclid.cfg] [exclude_object] [gcode_arcs] resolution: 0.1 [include macros.cfg] #[include led_progress.cfg] [include nevermore.cfg] # This file contains all settings for KAMP, and must be included in printer.cfg with: [include KAMP_Settings.cfg] ### The following [includes] can be uncommented from within KAMP_Settings.cfg. ### # This file enables the use of adaptive meshing. #[include ./KAMP/Adaptive_Meshing.cfg] # This file enables the use of adaptive line purging. [include ./KAMP/Line_Purge.cfg] # This file enables the use of the adaptive Voron logo purge. #[include ./KAMP/Voron_Purge.cfg] # This file enables the use of KAMP's Smart Park feature. [include ./KAMP/Smart_Park.cfg] ##################################################################### # Stepper Control ##################################################################### [stepper_x] step_pin: PC14 dir_pin: PC13 enable_pin: !PC15 microsteps: 16 rotation_distance: 40 endstop_pin: tmc2209_stepper_x:virtual_endstop # PA13 for X-max; endstop have'!' is NO position_endstop: -4 position_max: 325 position_min: -5 homing_speed: 20 homing_retract_dist: 0 [stepper_y] step_pin: PB5 dir_pin: !PB4 enable_pin: !PB6 microsteps: 16 rotation_distance: 40 endstop_pin: tmc2209_stepper_y:virtual_endstop # PC5 for Y-max; endstop have'!' is NO position_endstop: 0 position_max: 330 homing_speed: 20 homing_retract_dist: 0 [stepper_z] step_pin: PE5 dir_pin: PE4 enable_pin: !PC15 microsteps: 16 rotation_distance: 8 endstop_pin: probe:z_virtual_endstop # PB12 for Z-max; endstop have'!' is NO position_max: 400 position_min: -10 homing_speed: 5 [stepper_z1] step_pin: PE1 dir_pin: PE0 enable_pin: !PE2 microsteps: 16 rotation_distance: 8 [extruder] step_pin: PD6 dir_pin: !PD5 enable_pin: !PD7 microsteps: 16 microsteps: 16 full_steps_per_rotation: 400 gear_ratio: 3:1 rotation_distance: 26.370 nozzle_diameter: 0.400 filament_diameter: 1.750 pressure_advance_smooth_time: 0.025 pressure_advance: 0.0425 heater_pin: PB1 sensor_type: PT1000 sensor_pin: PC1 #control: pid #pid_Kp: 22 #pid_Ki: 1.08 #pid_Kd: 114 min_temp: 0 max_temp: 350 max_extrude_cross_section: 15 max_extrude_only_distance: 200 ##################################################################### # Feature Control ##################################################################### [skew_correction] [exclude_object] [input_shaper] #shaper_type_x = ei #shaper_freq_x = 67.2 #shaper_type_y = 2hump_ei #shaper_freq_y = 64.2 [bed_screws] screw1: 5, 5 screw2: 165, 5 screw3: 325, 5 screw4: 5, 325 screw5: 165, 325 screw6: 325, 325 [screws_tilt_adjust] screw1: 10, 10 screw1_name: front left screw screw2: 320, 10 screw2_name: front right screw screw3: 320, 225 screw3_name: rear right screw screw4: 10, 225 screw4_name: rear left screw horizontal_move_z: 12 speed: 350. screw_thread: CW-M3 [bed_mesh] speed: 250 probe_count: 5, 5 horizontal_move_z: 12 algorithm: bicubic mesh_min : 20, 10 mesh_max : 310, 285 fade_start: 1 fade_end: 10 mesh_pps: 2,3 bicubic_tension: 0.2 move_check_distance: 3 split_delta_z: 0.025 [z_tilt] z_positions: -50,165 380,165 # A list of X, Y coordinates (one per line; subsequent lines # indented) describing the location of each bed "pivot point". The # "pivot point" is the point where the bed attaches to the given Z # stepper. It is described using nozzle coordinates (the X, Y position # of the nozzle if it could move directly above the point). The # first entry corresponds to stepper_z, the second to stepper_z1, # the third to stepper_z2, etc. This parameter must be provided. points: 20,165 310,165 # A list of X, Y coordinates (one per line; subsequent lines # indented) that should be probed during a Z_TILT_ADJUST command. # Specify coordinates of the nozzle and be sure the probe is above # the bed at the given nozzle coordinates. This parameter must be # provided. speed: 350 # The speed (in mm/s) of non-probing moves during the calibration. # The default is 50. horizontal_move_z: 12 # The height (in mm) that the head should be commanded to move to # just prior to starting a probe operation. The default is 5. retries: 5 # Number of times to retry if the probed points aren't within # tolerance. retry_tolerance: 0.02 # If retries are enabled then retry if largest and smallest probed # points differ more than retry_tolerance. Note the smallest unit of # change here would be a single step. However if you are probing # more points than steppers then you will likely have a fixed # minimum value for the range of probed points which you can learn # by observing command output. [force_move] enable_force_move: True #[safe_z_home] #home_xy_position: 165, 90 # Change coordinates to the center of your print bed #speed: 250 #z_hop: 10 # Move up 10mm #z_hop_speed: 5 ##################################################################### # Thermistors ##################################################################### [thermistor Trianglelab-NTC100K-B3950] temperature1: 25 resistance1: 103180 temperature2: 150 resistance2: 1366.2 temperature3: 250 resistance3: 168.6 [heater_bed] heater_pin: PB10 sensor_type: Trianglelab-NTC100K-B3950 sensor_pin: PC0 control: pid pid_Kp: 54.027 pid_Ki: 0.770 pid_Kd: 948.182 min_temp: 0 max_temp: 110 max_power: 0.75 [temperature_sensor chamber] sensor_type: Generic 3950 sensor_pin: PC2 min_temp: 0 max_temp: 100 gcode_id: C ##################################################################### # Fan Control ##################################################################### #fan for printed model FAN0 [fan] pin: !PA0 max_power: 1 # adjust below 1 if you would like the max speed to be slower off_below: 0.3 # minimum speed where the fan starts spinning - on octopus pro this is correct - will be lower maybe 0 on mellow Super 8 because of different GPIO pullup and protection resistors cycle_time: .0005 #fan for control board FAN2 [controller_fan MCU_Cooling] pin: PA2 max_power: 0.5 #Hotend fan [heater_fan Hotend_Fan] pin: PA1 heater: extruder [fan_generic Nevermore] pin: PB0 ##################################################################### # Machine ##################################################################### [axis_twist_compensation] speed: 250 # The speed (in mm/s) of non-probing moves during the calibration. # The default is 50. horizontal_move_z: 12 # The height (in mm) that the head should be commanded to move to # just prior to starting a probe operation. The default is 5. calibrate_start_x: 20 # Defines the minimum X coordinate of the calibration # This should be the X coordinate that positions the nozzle at the starting # calibration position. This parameter must be provided. calibrate_end_x: 310 # Defines the maximum X coordinate of the calibration # This should be the X coordinate that positions the nozzle at the ending # calibration position. This parameter must be provided. calibrate_y: 165 # Defines the Y coordinate of the calibration # This should be the Y coordinate that positions the nozzle during the # calibration process. This parameter must be provided and is recommended to # be near the center of the bed [printer] kinematics: corexy max_velocity: 800 max_accel: 25000 max_z_velocity: 10 max_z_accel: 30 square_corner_velocity: 20 # [mcu lights] # serial: /dev/serial/by-id/usb-Klipper_stm32f103xe_35FFDA05304E553137682443-if00 [mcu] serial: /dev/serial/by-id/usb-Klipper_stm32f407xx_290031000E5031334C363220-if00 [pause_resume] [display_status] [virtual_sdcard] path: /home/pi/printer_data/gcodes on_error_gcode: CANCEL_PRINT [servo DockServo] pin: PA15 maximum_servo_angle: 180 minimum_pulse_width: 0.00025 maximum_pulse_width: 0.0024 ##################################################################### # BTT Eddy ##################################################################### [mcu eddy] serial: /dev/serial/by-id/usb-Klipper_rp2040_4550357129120F28-if00 [temperature_sensor btt_eddy_mcu] sensor_type: temperature_mcu sensor_mcu: eddy min_temp: 10 max_temp: 100 [probe_eddy_current btt_eddy] sensor_type: ldc1612 z_offset: 1.0 #i2c_address: i2c_mcu: eddy i2c_bus: i2c0f x_offset: -33 # Set according to the actual offset relative to the nozzle y_offset: -20 # Set according to the actual offset relative to the nozzle data_rate: 500 [temperature_probe btt_eddy] sensor_type: Generic 3950 sensor_pin: eddy:gpio26 horizontal_move_z: 2 [bed_mesh] horizontal_move_z: 2 speed: 300 mesh_min: 43, 30 mesh_max: 290, 300 probe_count: 9, 9 algorithm: bicubic #[safe_z_home] #home_xy_position: 197, 185 #z_hop: 10 #z_hop_speed: 15 #speed: 200 ##################################################################### # LED Control ##################################################################### # [neopixel HotendLight] # pin: lights:PA8 # chain_count: 6 # color_order: GRB # initial_RED: 1 # initial_GREEN: 0 # initial_BLUE: 1 [neopixel OverheadLight] pin: PA8 chain_count: 23 color_order: GRB initial_red: 1 initial_green: 1 initial_blue: 1 ######################################## # TMC UART configuration ######################################## [tmc2209 stepper_x] uart_pin: PE6 run_current: 1.2 hold_current: 0.5 stealthchop_threshold: 1 diag_pin: ^PA14 driver_SGTHRS: 50 interpolate: true [tmc2209 stepper_y] uart_pin: PB3 run_current: 1.2 hold_current: 0.5 stealthchop_threshold: 1 diag_pin: ^PB12 driver_SGTHRS: 50 interpolate: true [tmc2209 stepper_z] uart_pin: PE3 run_current: 0.5 hold_current: 0.5 stealthchop_threshold: 999999 [tmc2209 stepper_z1] uart_pin: PB7 run_current: 0.5 hold_current: 0.5 stealthchop_threshold: 999999 [tmc2209 extruder] uart_pin: PD4 run_current: 0.5 hold_current: 0.5 sense_resistor: 0.110 stealthchop_threshold: 999999 ######################################## # Display ######################################## [display] lcd_type: uc1701 cs_pin: EXP1_3 a0_pin: EXP1_4 rst_pin: EXP1_5 contrast: 63 encoder_pins: ^EXP2_5, ^EXP2_3 click_pin: ^!EXP1_2 ## Some micro-controller boards may require an spi bus to be specified: #spi_bus: spi ## Alternatively, some micro-controller boards may work with software spi: spi_software_miso_pin: EXP2_1 spi_software_mosi_pin: EXP2_6 spi_software_sclk_pin: EXP2_2 [neopixel Screen] pin: EXP1_6 chain_count: 3 color_order: RGB initial_RED: 1.0 initial_GREEN: 0 initial_BLUE: 0 ######################################## # EXP1 / EXP2 (display) pins ######################################## [board_pins] aliases: # EXP1 header EXP1_1=PB2, EXP1_3=PE11, EXP1_5=PD9, EXP1_7=PE15, EXP1_9=, EXP1_2=PE10, EXP1_4=PD10, EXP1_6=PD8, EXP1_8=PE7, EXP1_10=<5V>, # EXP2 header EXP2_1=PA6, EXP2_3=PE9, EXP2_5=PE8, EXP2_7=PB11, EXP2_9=, EXP2_2=PA5, EXP2_4=PA4, EXP2_6=PA7, EXP2_8=, EXP2_10=<3.3v> # Pins EXP2_1, EXP2_6, EXP2_2 are also MISO, MOSI, SCK of bus "ssp1" # See the MKS Lcd Config path file for definitions of common LCD displays. ######################################## # Auto tune ######################################## #*# <---------------------- SAVE_CONFIG -------------------- #*# DO NOT EDIT THIS BLOCK OR BELOW. The contents are auto-generated. #*# #*# [input_shaper] #*# shaper_type_x = mzv #*# shaper_freq_x = 120 #*# shaper_type_y = mzv #*# shaper_freq_y = 60 #*# #*# [bed_mesh default] #*# version = 1 #*# points = #*# -0.087500, -0.085000, -0.055000, -0.051250, -0.098750 #*# -0.091250, -0.068750, -0.032500, -0.045000, -0.080000 #*# -0.096250, -0.077500, -0.038750, -0.073750, -0.098750 #*# -0.110000, -0.097500, -0.065000, -0.106250, -0.180000 #*# tension = 0.2 #*# min_x = 56.21 #*# algo = lagrange #*# y_count = 4 #*# mesh_y_pps = 3 #*# min_y = 68.12 #*# x_count = 5 #*# max_y = 263.01 #*# mesh_x_pps = 2 #*# max_x = 276.1 #*# #*# [extruder] #*# control = pid #*# pid_kp = 25.341 #*# pid_ki = 2.521 #*# pid_kd = 63.669 #*# #*# [skew_correction CaliFlower] #*# xy_skew = 0.011027909611065182 #*# xz_skew = 0.0 #*# yz_skew = 0.0 #*# #*# [probe_eddy_current btt_eddy] #*# reg_drive_current = 16 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor	$169.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Deepcool AK400 66.47 CFM CPU Cooler	$34.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550 GAMING X V2 ATX AM4 Motherboard	$109.99 @ Newegg
Memory	TEAMGROUP T-Force Delta RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory	$47.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	$69.98 @ Amazon
Video Card	XFX Speedster QICK 319 Core Radeon RX 6750 XT 12 GB Video Card	$299.99 @ Amazon
Case	NZXT H5 Flow ATX Mid Tower Case	$94.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 850 - V2 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$89.99 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$917.91
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-18 19:12 EDT-0400

A series of 'simple' Enhancement-focused Nen abilities that focus on skill and flexibility, especially meant to be used in tandem.
I use X, Y, etc. units to mean that the intervals are flexible, and can be changed freely to increase restriction and output at any given moment, so long as they are defined beforehand.

Hatsu

Flash

Flash (Enhancement): Someone already did a Black Flash Hatsu, but screw it; the user of the Hatsu must perform Ko (not Ryu) within X of a second of a strike, parry, or guard's point of impact. If successful, the attack does Y times more damage, the parry deflects with Y times greater force, and the guard absorbs Y times more force, Y depending on how short of a window X is (Also, it makes the immediate vicinity look like an impact frame). To increase power, one can make it so that on a failed Flash, the user must maintain Zetsu for X units of time, or that they can only attempt N flashes per unit of time, but this can only be specified once at the start of a fight. Another option is that a user must land W flash attacks within a certain timeframe, or suffer a prolonged Zetsu/cooldown; this can be done several times over the course of a single fight, but one can only commmit to a 'combo' every P seconds.

Mark

Mark (Enhancement): A random area is specified at an opponent or thing's vital point or structural weakness. Should an attack hit the Mark, the force/damage is amplified even further. Naturally, this can be a Flash. The area of the Mark may be increased or decreased to increase the extent of this effect. When fighting multiple opponents, a random, specific opponent can be Marked at any given time for even further damage. Penalty and cooldown can be adjusted like Flash once at the start of a fight, as well as a similar combo system. Or even better, a wager may be set to land X Flashes on X Marks within Y seconds.

Step

Step (Enhancement): To use Step, a user must first specify a direction and an endpoint. Then, the user must perform the movements for a single stride or hop within X units of time. On a successful step, the user moves in a blink of time towards the specified area, accomplished by enhancing the force of the movement and decreasing the user's weight. Meanwhile, they automatically maintain a state of In for the duration of travel. To stop themselves, the user must kick the ground with the precise angle and force to cancel out their movement, which should be possible without destroying their footing given their lighter body weight.

Thunderclap

Thunderclap: Alternatively, the user's mass is instead kept constant while maintaining the same speed, allowing them to ram into an opponent at full power, at the caveat that it's more difficult to stop. A really powerful strike can be performed if a restriction is set that a Flash must hit a Mark starting X meters away from the opponent.

Foothold

Foothold (Primarily Emission): The user creates a small foothold of Aura beneath their feet that they can use to perform Step, thus allowing them to move in midair. Optionally, a restriction may be added to increase activation speed and/or cost-efficiency if Foothold is only used for Step. Not too complicated, so even an Enhancer should be able to do it(?)

We are replacing a gaming PC we built about 8 years ago with recommendations from this subreddit. It was fun making but now we want to go the prebuilt route. What suggestions do people have from about a $1.7k - $2.2k budget?
For fun here is our old build!
PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$130.00 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler	$76.81 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock Z170 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	-
Memory	G.Skill NT 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2400 CL15 Memory	$43.05 @ Amazon
Storage	Samsung 850 Evo 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	-
Storage	Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive	-
Video Card	Gigabyte WINDFORCE 3X GeForce GTX 970 4 GB Video Card	-
Case	NZXT S340 ATX Mid Tower Case	-
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G2 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	-
Case Fan	Corsair SP140 49.49 CFM 140 mm Fans 2-Pack	-
Monitor	Acer XB240H ABPR 24.0" 1920 x 1080 144 Hz Monitor	$299.99
Mouse	Logitech G502 Proteus Core Wired Optical Mouse	-
Headphones	Sennheiser HD 429s Headset	-
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$549.85
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-18 19:08 EDT-0400

This is my first (personal) build, I have built low to medium end PCs for other people, and I finally am saving up for a good high-end PC that will last me for a couple years until I need to put in up-to-date parts, and just a PC that will still possibly be a high-end PC in 2, 3, or even 4 years. I am new to building high-end PCs, but I am very experienced at building budget PCs. Any comments? Thx! (Sorry that this is such a long post.)
Here is the PC Part Picker list: PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/3hyH99/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d-42-ghz-8-core-processor-100-100000910wof) $344.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE WHITE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler $36.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard Asus ROG STRIX B650-A GAMING WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard $226.50 @ Amazon
Memory Corsair Vengeance RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory $127.99 @ Amazon
Storage Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive $169.99 @ Amazon
Video Card Asus ROG STRIX GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card $1949.99 @ Amazon
Case NZXT H6 Flow ATX Mid Tower Case $109.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply Corsair RM850 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply $124.99 @ Amazon
Operating System Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit $109.99 @ Amazon
Headphones Logitech G733 Headset $138.56 @ Amazon
Controller Xbox Dream Vapor Special Edition Wireless Controller $60.00
Total $3399.98
(I usually use controllers for my normal games, like Skyrim, and Fallout. I know, it defeats the point of keyboard and mouse, but I am used to it, and quite frankly, do not care that ppl do not use controllers for PCs.)

Hi,
this was my first pc build.It´s going to be 2 years now, had a lot of ups and downs trying to figure how everything works, but honestly i am kind of proud of how much i learned, and how damn interesting pc gaming can be. Sorry for my ramblings, on to the crux of this post.
As per the title says, i am now looking for the most logical upgrade path for the future, so i was hoping to hear your thoughts. I intend to still game at 1440p high-ultra settings, have no interest in 4k gaming for now. Also do you think its early for an upgrade yet? i am still really happy with my 6800 xt, but my 5600 may be bottlenecking. anyway just give me your thoughts, would love to read them.
Thank you for time
PCPartPicker Part List TypeItemPrice :----:----:---- CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor €124.90 @ Globaldata CPU Cooler ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 A-RGB 68.9 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler €119.90 @ PCDIGA Motherboard MSI MPG B550 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard - Memory Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory - Storage KIOXIA EXCERIA G2 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive €64.09 @ PC Componentes Video Card XFX Speedster MERC 319 CORE Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB Video Card - Case Phanteks Eclipse P500A D-RGB ATX Mid Tower Case - Power Supply Corsair RM850x (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply €162.90 @ Switch Technology Operating System Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit €119.90 @ Globaldata Monitor LG 27GN800-B 27.0" 2560 x 1440 144 Hz Monitor - Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts Total €591.69 Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-18 23:55 WEST+0100

This is my first (personal) build, I have built low to medium end PCs for other people, and I finally am saving up for a good high-end PC that will last me for a couple years until I need to put in up-to-date parts, and just a PC that will still possibly be a high-end PC in 2, 3, or even 4 years. I am new to building high-end PCs, but I am very experienced at building budget PCs. Any comments? Thx! (Sorry that this is such a long post.)
Here is the PC Part Picker list: PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/3hyH99/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d-42-ghz-8-core-processor-100-100000910wof) $344.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE WHITE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler $36.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard Asus ROG STRIX B650-A GAMING WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard $226.50 @ Amazon
Memory Corsair Vengeance RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory $127.99 @ Amazon
Storage Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive $169.99 @ Amazon
Video Card Asus ROG STRIX GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card $1949.99 @ Amazon
Case NZXT H6 Flow ATX Mid Tower Case $109.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply Corsair RM850 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply $124.99 @ Amazon
Operating System Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit $109.99 @ Amazon
Headphones Logitech G733 Headset $138.56 @ Amazon
Controller Xbox Dream Vapor Special Edition Wireless Controller $60.00 @ Amazon (yeah, this is a custom part. Look up a pic of it if u want…)
Total $3399.98
(I usually use controllers for my normal games, like Skyrim, and Fallout. I know, it defeats the point of keyboard and mouse, but I am used to it, and quite frankly, do not care that ppl do not use controllers for PCs.)

Hi, I am looking to build a desktop for gaming and machine learning. For gaming, I want performance that looks like 100 fps on high settings at 1080p resolution for current generation games and upcoming new releases. For machine learning, I want to be able to run quantized 13/30b large language models.
The current list so far
For GPUs I am unsure on what to do, given that an estimated release for NVIDIA's 5000 series cards is likely this fall. I wish to get a PC now so I can start on projects immediately and this fall. Some options I thought about are:

1. Get a used 3090 now and get a 5000 series as soon as they release
2. Get a 4090 now and get a 5000 or 6000 series much later

Any thoughts on what to do? Also any potential issues with the current PCPartPicker List?
PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor	$344.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Deepcool LT720 85.85 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$106.24 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard	$169.99 @ MSI
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory	$217.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	$169.99 @ Amazon
Case	Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case	$104.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair RM1000e (2023) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$159.99 @ Amazon
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total	$1274.18
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-18 18:59 EDT-0400