Found this article after doing a quick deep-dive after this post from u/evilez:
https://www.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d33m4l/does_anybody_remember_what_podcast_this_was/
"Hello fine ladies and gentlemen! I remember listening to a podcast less than a year ago. The main subject of the podcast was UFOs (I think)... anyways the guest told a story that a congressman or senator wrote a bill that was against the CIA or going to defund the CIA, in the 80's... and shortly thereafter, someone broke into his home, dragged his wife out into the street and stuck a gun in her mouth and told her to kill the bill."
Some light Googling brought up this article about the history of the CIA, the OSS, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan's attempts at defunding the agency in the 90s.
Here's an article about that attempt brought by Moynihan published on the Carnegie Endowment Website on December 20, 2005.
https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2005/12/the-case-for-abolishing-the-cia?lang=en
Here's the New Yorker piece about all of this from October 3rd, 2022.

Spooked -- What’s wrong with the C.I.A.? -- By Amy Davidson Sorkin -- October 3, 2022

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/10/has-the-cia-done-more-harm-than-good
According to the article regarding the resuscitation of the OSS as the CIA immediately following Roswell and the Twining Memo:
"Many of its officers moved straight to the new C.I.A. Most consequentially, perhaps, four future directors of the C.I.A. were O.S.S. veterans: Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, William Colby, and William Casey."
Here's the New Yorker article in full:
"On January 4, 1995, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, of New York, introduced a bill called the Abolition of the Central Intelligence Agency Act. It had been a rough stretch for the C.I.A. The year before, Aldrich Ames, a longtime officer, had been convicted of being a longtime mole for Soviet (and then Russian) intelligence. Despite having a reputation among his colleagues as a problem drinker who appeared to live far beyond his means, Ames had been given high-level assignments with access to the names of American sources in the U.S.S.R. When the F.B.I. finally arrested him, he was in the Jaguar he used for commuting to work at Langley; by then, he was responsible for the death of at least ten agents. Moynihan said that the case was such a flamboyant display of incompetence that it might actually be a distraction from “the most fundamental defects of the C.I.A.” He meant that the agency—in what he considered to be its “defining failure”—had both missed the fact that the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse and done little to hasten its end.
He gave a diagnosis for what had gone wrong. “Secrecy keeps mistakes secret,” he said. “Secrecy is a disease. It causes a hardening of the arteries of the mind.” He quoted John le Carré on that point, adding that the best information actually came from the likes of area specialists, diplomats, historians, and journalists. If the C.I.A. was disbanded, he said, the State Department could pick up the intelligence work, and do a better job.
Moynihan was, in some respects, being disingenuous. As he well knew, even if his bill had passed, spies and spying wouldn’t have gone away. The State Department already had its own mini agency, the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. The Departments of Energy and Treasury each had one, too. The Defense Intelligence Agency conducted clandestine operations; U.S. Army Intelligence, Air Force Intelligence, and the Office of Naval Intelligence kept themselves busy as well. The National Security Agency was nearly two decades away from the revelation, by Edward Snowden, a contractor and a former C.I.A. employee, that it had collected information about the phone calls of most Americans, but it was a behemoth even in Moynihan’s time. So was the Federal Bureau of Investigation. There were about a dozen agencies then; now, after reforms that were supposed to streamline things, there are eighteen, including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (O.D.N.I.), a sort of meta-C.I.A. that has a couple of thousand employees, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis. The Drug Enforcement Administration (which currently has foreign offices in sixty-nine countries) has an Office of National Security Intelligence. Four million people in the United States now have security clearances.
It can be hard to sort out which agencies do what; players in the espionage business aren’t always good with boundaries. Both the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. make use of satellite resources, including commercial ones, but there is a separate agency in charge of a spy-satellite fleet, the National Reconnaissance Office—not to be confused with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which deals with both space-based and ground-level imaging, or with Space Delta 18, the nation’s newest intelligence agency, which is attached to the Space Force. Abolishing the C.I.A. might do nothing more than reconfigure the turf wars.
[NOTE: both Sean Kirkpatrick and David Grusch worked for the NRO and at least Grusch worked for the NGA]
As the senator from New York also knew, a large proportion of the C.I.A.’s resources are devoted not to intelligence gathering but to covert operations, some of which look like military operations. In “Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence” (Princeton)—one of several recent books that coincide with the seventy-fifth anniversary of the agency’s founding—Amy B. Zegart, a political scientist at Stanford, writes that it’s “getting harder to know just where the CIA’s role ends and the military’s role begins.” Yet the agency’s paramilitary pursuits and related covert activities go back decades. They include the botched Bay of Pigs landing, the brutal Phoenix Program in Vietnam, and a long list of assassination attempts, coup plots, the mining of a harbor (with explosive devices the agency built itself), and drone strikes. These operations have very seldom ended well.
Moynihan’s bill had no more luck than another that he introduced the same day, aimed at ending Major League Baseball’s exemption from antitrust laws. In each case, people understood that there was a problem, but both institutions were protected by the sense that there was something essential, and perhaps authentically American, about them, including their very brokenness. A sudden turn of events can convince even the C.I.A.’s most sober critics that the agency will save us all, whether from terrorists or from Donald Trump. But, seventy-five years in, it’s far from clear whether the C.I.A. is good at its job, or what that job is or should be, or how we could get rid of the agency if we wanted to.
How did we end up with the C.I.A.? A familiar explanation is that the shock of Pearl Harbor made the United States realize it needed more spies; the Office of Strategic Services was formed and jumped into action; and, when the war ended, the O.S.S. evolved seamlessly into the C.I.A., ready to go out and win the Cold War. But that narrative isn’t quite right, particularly regarding the relationship between the O.S.S. and the C.I.A.
[NOTE: We know how ended up with the CIA. ROSWELL.]
The United States has always used spies of some sort. George Washington had a discretionary espionage budget for which he didn’t have to turn in receipts. In the early part of the twentieth century, the State Department had an intelligence-analysis unit, along with a cryptography group called the Black Chamber, which operated out of a brownstone in New York’s Murray Hill until it was shut down, in 1929. The Army and the Navy had cryptography and reconnaissance units, too. When the Second World War began, their operations ramped up dramatically, and, as Nicholas Reynolds recounts in “Need to Know: World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence” (Mariner), these units, not the O.S.S., handled most of the code-breaking. The problem became the volume of raw intelligence. The task of making sense of it and of turning it into something that policymakers could use went to an office within the Army’s military-intelligence division (or G-2), which, Reynolds says, produced “the country’s best strategic intelligence” during the war. That office’s work was directed by Alfred McCormack, a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Harlan Stone and a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Many of the people he brought in were young corporate lawyers; the theory was that their training in plowing through mountains of documents made them ideal intelligence analysts.
William J. Donovan, who led and largely conceived of the O.S.S., was also a Wall Street lawyer, but one with an aversion to the “legalistic.” What Donovan envisioned was essentially an array of commando units that would operate stealthily and behind enemy lines. In practice, what he tried to build, according to a colleague, was a “private army.” His escapades often risked too much and gained too little. In late 1943, one of his own officers wrote to him that “the set-up has been incredibly wasteful in manpower and, except for a few spotty accomplishments, has been a national failure.” And it had produced “chaos in the field.” Donovan’s nickname was Wild Bill, but his staff called him Seabiscuit, after the thoroughbred, because of his tendency to race around, engaging in what was basically war tourism. In the end, though, the O.S.S. made real contributions, including through its contacts with the French Resistance. But Donovan’s complaint about D Day was that there was “too much planning.” Counterintelligence and strategic thinking bored him, and the O.S.S.’s analysis division was seen as secondary to its operations.
When Harry Truman became President, in April, 1945, he took a look at the O.S.S. and, in September, 1945, abolished it. About two years later, he signed the National Security Act, which established the C.I.A. (and the Department of Defense), but he didn’t want the new agency to be like the group Donovan had run. Instead, it was supposed to do what its name suggested: centralize the intelligence that various agencies gathered, analyze it, and turn it into something the President could use.
[NOTE: I tried doing some research after reading something yesterday about how the NSA was developed in 1952 under Project Sigma to try and decode "alien" communications. If anyone can offer anything, you'd be helping humanity.]
“It was not intended as a ‘Cloak and Dagger’ Outfit!,” Truman later wrote. He also had to deal with public apprehensions that he might create what a Chicago Tribune headline called a “Super Gestapo Agency”—which is why, in its charter, the C.I.A. was banned from domestic spying.
Reynolds’s book is the best of the recent batch, and the most readable. It does not retrofit the history of the O.S.S. around the assumption that the C.I.A. was the inevitable lead postwar intelligence agency. There were other contenders, including a version of McCormack’s office in the State Department—something like what Moynihan wanted. J. Edgar Hoover argued that “World Wide Intelligence” should be turned over to the F.B.I., with military intelligence subservient to him. In some alternative history, he might have pulled that off; by 1943, he was running undercover operations in twenty Latin American countries. And so things could have been worse.
[WHAT UNDERCOVER OPERATIONS WERE WE RUNNING IN LATIN AMERICANS COUNTRIES IN 1943.]
Donovan was an adept publicist, but what mattered most, in the end, was that he was good, or lucky, when it came to hiring people. Despite the “pale, male, and Yale” stereotype, the O.S.S. was somewhat more diverse than other units, and certainly more eclectic. Among its ranks were Ralph Bunche, Herbert Marcuse, and Julia Child. Many of its officers moved straight to the new C.I.A. Most consequentially, perhaps, four future directors of the C.I.A. were O.S.S. veterans: Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, William Colby, and William Casey. Each seems to have had glory-day memories of the O.S.S., which is to say that each, in various ways, was afflicted with what a general in Army intelligence called “the screwball Donovan effect.” Casey, who put a picture of Donovan on his wall, said of his old boss, “We all glowed in his presence.” Wild Bill lost the bureaucratic fight but won the personnel and mythology wars.
And, of course, the agency found customers and collaborators in the White House. There was no mention of covert action in the law that chartered the C.I.A., but Presidents—starting with Truman—began using it that way. One of the agency’s first operations involved meddling in the 1948 Italian election, to insure the victory of the Christian Democrats. The subsidies and outright bribery of Italian politicians, some of them on the far, far right, continued into the nineteen-seventies.
Almost from its creation, though, there was a sense that something about the C.I.A. was off. The split between covert action and intelligence gathering and analysis was part of it. The director of the agency was also supposed to be the leader of U.S. intelligence as a whole, but, invariably, the person in the job seemed more invested in preëminence than in coördination. That setup remained in place until the establishment of the O.D.N.I., in 2004, a move that thus far has mostly continued a tradition of trying to deal with the C.I.A.’s dysfunction by setting up ever more agencies, offices, and centers. (The N.S.A. was established, in 1952, in response to a series of cryptography-related failures.) “Legacy of Ashes,” Tim Weiner’s 2008 history of the C.I.A.—and still an invaluable overview—takes its title from a lament by Eisenhower about what he’d be leaving his successors if the “faulty” structure of American intelligence wasn’t changed. Since Weiner’s book was published, the ashes, and the agencies, have only been piling up.
Zegart’s “Spies, Lies, and Algorithms” aims to bring that history to the present. Zegart has served as an adviser to intelligence agencies, and she provides a decent guide to our current bureaucracy. Throughout, her book is clear and well organized—maybe a little too well organized, one feels, after taking in the “Seven Deadly Biases” of intelligence analysis, the “Four Main Adversaries” and the “Five Types of Attack” in the crypto area, and the “Three Words, Four Types” that define covert action. (The covert-action words, incidentally, are “influence,” “acknowledged,” and “abroad.”) Not a few paragraphs read like PowerPoint charts; contradictions are displayed without really being reckoned with. She observes that the balance between “hunting” and “gathering” seems off, but, in her telling, the fact that Presidents of both parties regularly turn to the C.I.A. for paramilitary and other covert tasks constitutes proof that doing so is part of the order of things. The impression she leaves is that if it all goes wrong, it’s because some checklist has been missed. One of the top priorities of U.S. intelligence today, she thinks, should be persuading tech companies to get with the program and help out. She moots the creation of yet another agency, to deal with OSINT—open-source intelligence.
In one chapter, Zegart provides a list of scandals involving spying within the U.S. by various intelligence agencies—notably the N.S.A., the F.B.I., and the C.I.A. “All of these activities violated American law,” she writes. “But that’s the point: domestic laws forbid this kind of surveillance of Americans.” How is that the point, exactly? She depicts the Senate’s 2014 Torture Report, which detailed profound abuses in the C.I.A.’s so-called black sites, as a they-said, the-agency-said, who-knows case. She turns it into a parable about the problems with Congress—suggesting that, although the committee structure may have needed rejiggering, the moral compass of those involved in the program of torture was just fine.
Another new volume, “A Question of Standing: A History of the CIA” (Oxford), by Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, a professor emeritus of history at the University of Edinburgh, offers the insights of a more distant observer. He can be astute about how “false memories” of the O.S.S.’s accomplishments have led the C.I.A. astray. Part of his argument is that the agency has acted as if its influence depended on its standing with whoever is in the White House, thus motivating it to offer Presidents quick fixes that fix nothing. The net effect is to reduce its standing, and that of the U.S., with the public at home and abroad. But Jeffreys-Jones is prone to rash generalizations and pronouncements. He theorizes that, in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, George W. Bush’s national-security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, may have been susceptible to “war mongering” due to her status as “a descendant of slaves,” and that the working-class background of the C.I.A.’s director, George Tenet, made him more likely to vouch for the faulty intelligence on weapons of mass destruction used to justify the war. “Social mobility so often leads to conformity,” warns Jeffreys-Jones, himself the son of an academic historian.
During the Vietnam War, the C.I.A. had discouraging intelligence to offer, and, when successive Administrations didn’t want to hear it, focussed on being helpful by providing those supposedly quick fixes. That meant abetting a coup in 1963, spying on antiwar protesters, and launching the Phoenix Program, an anti-Vietcong campaign marked by torture and by arbitrary executions; in total, more than twenty thousand people were killed under Phoenix’s auspices.
Phoenix was run by William Colby, the O.S.S. alum, who was soon promoted to C.I.A. director. At lower levels, discontent about Vietnam fueled leaks. In December, 1974, the journalist Seymour Hersh told the agency that he was about to publish a story in the Times exposing its domestic spying. Whether in a miscalculation or (as Jeffreys-Jones somewhat breathlessly speculates) as an act of personal expiation, Colby gave Hersh partial confirmation. Amid the scandals and the Congressional hearings that followed, Colby angered some of his colleagues, and Henry Kissinger, by laying bare even more. It emerged that, in 1973, Colby’s predecessor had asked senior agency officials to produce a list of things the C.I.A. had done that might have been unlawful. The resulting document, covering just the prior fifteen years, was known in-house as “The Family Jewels,” and was almost seven hundred pages long.
The question of how much it matters who works at the C.I.A. is a perennial one. The influence of Donovan’s acolytes shows that decisions about whom you recruit can, in a formative period or at a critical juncture, make a big difference. But, once an institutional culture has become entrenched, it can be easier to see how the institution shapes the people within it than vice versa.
“Wise Gals: The Spies Who Built the CIA and Changed the Future of Espionage” (Putnam), by Nathalia Holt, comes at the question from a different angle. It’s about five women who worked for the early C.I.A.; three also worked at the O.S.S., and one, Eloise Page, began her career as Bill Donovan’s secretary. Holt is also the author of “Rise of the Rocket Girls,” about women in the early years of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and “The Queens of Animation,” about women at the Walt Disney Company. Her book contains fine material for a beautifully art-directed streaming series, with set pieces in postwar Paris, nineteen-fifties Baghdad, and nineteen-seventies Greece, where Page was the C.I.A.’s first woman station chief. It even has a framing device in the form of the “Petticoat Panel,” a working group of C.I.A. women that convened in 1953 to document their unequal pay and treatment. Holt quotes the transcript of the meeting at which the leadership of the agency summarily rejected their findings. Helms, the future director, says, “It is just nonsense for these gals to come on here and think that the government is going to fall apart because their brains aren’t going to be used to the maximum.” (In 1977, Helms was convicted of lying to Congress about the C.I.A.’s machinations in Chile.) What the book is not, unfortunately, is a coherent history of the C.I.A., of the era it depicts, or even of these women’s work.
Holt’s research does turn up evidence that Jane Burrell, one of her subjects, was the first C.I.A. officer to die in the line of duty, in a plane crash in France, in 1948, a fact that the agency itself apparently missed. Holt ends her book with a call for a star honoring Burrell to be added to the C.I.A.’s memorial wall. Of the hundred and thirty-seven officers represented there, she writes, forty-five died accidentally, the majority in plane crashes, meaning that Burrell’s case would be fairly typical. Burrell was on the return leg of a trip to Brussels, where she’d been sent to talk to war-crimes investigators about a mess the C.I.A. had created by relying on an agent who turned out to have worked with the S.S. and was now in custody. In that respect, too, Burrell, who had personally handled the agent, was typical of the C.I.A. (After Burrell vouched for him, the man was released.) The subject of the C.I.A.’s postwar relations with former Nazis—some of whom, like Reinhard Gehlen, it helped to install in West Germany’s new intelligence service—and with collaborationist émigré groups is, no doubt, a morass. Holt, alas, manages to make the story even more garbled than it has to be. In the end, she basically treats the whole sordid episode as a learning experience for the Gals.
The problem is that the agency doesn’t seem to learn much. Holt credits Mary Hutchison with helping to build a network of émigré Ukrainian nationalists. Beginning in 1949, the agency parachuted some of them (including one whom Hutchison apparently distrusted) behind the Soviet border, where they were quickly captured—and repeated the same procedure for a number of years. “Despite the catastrophe, the Ukraine operation would serve as a template moving forward,” Holt writes. “The C.I.A. had more success with back-to-back operations in Iran and Guatemala, where covert action was able to deftly oust leaders considered undesirable.” It’s odd to describe these coups as deft. One of Zegart’s handy lists is of the “unintended consequences” in Iran: “religious extremism, a revolutionary overthrow, the American hostage crisis, severed ties, regional instability, and today’s rising nuclear dangers.” Guatemala is still dealing with the violent legacy of the coup that the C.I.A. visited upon it. Then there’s the question of the intended consequences, which were, respectively, to elevate a shah and a military regime. Secret wars tend not to be so secret in the country where they take place.
It was, no doubt, frustrating for Hutchison when, a few years later, her colleagues on the Bay of Pigs task force failed to make use of her Spanish-language skills. But are we supposed to think that the whole misconceived enterprise would have gone off without a hitch were it not for the C.I.A.’s misogyny? One of Holt’s minor themes is that women in the C.I.A. were seen as more natural analysts than operatives—with analysis, in turn, seen as less manly, and less valuable, to everybody’s detriment. But she is more intent on showing that these women were also daring. The main point of “Wise Gals” is that it’s cool that women were in the early C.I.A., and therefore that the C.I.A. itself was cooler than we’d realized. Holt celebrates a big promotion Page got that afforded her access to the secret of a safe containing shellfish-derived poison. You don’t have to be pale, male, and Yale to be complicit in a bungled assassination plot, or, for that matter, a program of rendition and torture.
Why do so many books about the C.I.A. have trouble getting their story straight? It can’t just be the secrecy of the work itself, at least with regard to the earlier years, about which much has been declassified. (Much remains under wraps: Moynihan complained that classification created more than six million supposed secrets in 1993; Zegart writes that the number in 2016 was fifty-five million—not all of which can possibly have been critical.) The aura of secrecy, by contrast, probably does distort the judgment of its chroniclers. And the scope of the agency’s work is a challenge: it’s hard to write expertly on places as far-ranging as the Democratic Republic of Congo (where the agency initially planned to poison President Patrice Lumumba’s toothpaste, and instead ended up handing a quarter of a million dollars to Joseph Mobutu, the country’s future dictator, who facilitated the assassination) and Afghanistan (where the C.I.A. has had forty years of illusory gains and worse losses). But the biggest problem may be the agency’s own pattern of self-deception. Holt, for example, sometimes seems to go wrong when, rummaging through the archives, she gives too much credit to contemporaneous internal assessments of an agent’s or an operation’s worth.
In truth, the C.I.A. has had a “defining failure” for every decade of its existence—sometimes more than one. For Moynihan, in the nineteen-nineties, it was the lack of foresight about the Soviet Union; in the two-thousands, it was the phantom weapons of mass destruction, followed by torture and, in still evolving ways, by the drone-based program of targeted killings, with its high toll of civilian deaths. Barack Obama’s rapport with John Brennan, the C.I.A.’s director from 2013 to 2017, seems to have brought him to accept the view that the killing of American citizens abroad was acceptable, if managed prudently. The overuse of the agency on the battlefield is due not to a military-manpower shortage but to wishful thinking about the benefits of secrecy and of a lack of accountability.
It’s difficult to know, at this point, what the C.I.A.’s next defining failure—or, if one tries to be optimistic, its stabilizing success—will be. Donald Trump has had a complicated relationship with the intelligence community—increasingly capitalized and abbreviated to I.C.—which is presently conducting a damage assessment regarding documents with classified markings that he kept at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home. He might, of course, be reëlected, and have the C.I.A.’s tools at his disposal again. If the C.I.A. isn’t the place to turn for an expedient solution to foreign-policy problems, neither is it bound to be the place to turn for a solution to our democracy’s political problems.
“If you ask intelligence officers what misperceptions bother them most, odds are they’ll mention ethics,” Zegart writes. She quotes an official who complains that “people think we’re lawbreakers, we’re human rights violators.” She insists that “officers think about ethics a lot.” She portrays the agency as being filled with hardworking moms and dads who do a great deal of “agonizing.” No doubt she’s right. But if the C.I.A. keeps falling down all the same, something must be tragically amiss in the agency’s structure or culture, or both. All the talk of coups and assassination plots, Zegart worries, distracts people from understanding the C.I.A.’s more basic intelligence mission. In fact, the party most distracted by such activities—and by the military role it has taken on—seems to be the agency itself. ♦
An earlier version of this article misstated the numerical designation of the Space Force unit dedicated to intelligence.
Published in the print edition of the October 10, 2022, issue.

First Previous Wiki
Penny gazed at the quartet of Elders. They were all wearing the merchandise she remembered from the last Judgment, which was exceedingly awkward. Mainly because they were wearing shirts with her face on them. But it was also oddly endearing, in a way. Until now, she hadn't seen too many Elders that were on her side.
Elders that weren't just Kashaunta or the familiar faces she already knew, like Spentha or Rho and Sai, actually showing appreciation of her, felt odd. Even if these ones went a little too far in it.
"You're even more beautiful in person, Liberator," one said.
"Uh, thanks. I appreciate that. I'm glad that you all like me. Rho and Sai told me that you all are interested in something I can give you?"
"Yeah. Maybe a short interview? We won't be like that airhead reporter. We'll ask the good questions."
"Yep, we will."
"Right then," Penny said. "Well, I'm glad to meet you."
"Thank you. Now that we're here, we'd like to know how you plan on taking care of the gang leaders."
"Well, presumably by imprisoning them. I don't think they deserve to die, even if others do. I'll leave that decision up to Justicar and his various judges in the criminal system."
Penny didn't like having to lie blatantly. She wanted to kill the slavers quite brutally, but doing that was a bad idea right now. Saying it also was a bad idea, for a similar reason. And Justicar's system was worryingly preferential to Elders, from what she'd looked up after the meeting with Pundacrawla.
"Aren't you worried that the Judges won't give proper justice?"
"I trust Justicar to do everything that is necessary."
Another lie. Justicar would do whatever he could to maintain his image. Hopefully, that wouldn't be at the cost of the Alliance's very existence.
"Got it. By the way, what's it like being human? Walking on only two legs. It seems kind of unstable. Do you fall a lot?"
A genuine curiosity from them was another breath of fresh air. It was the kind of question a quadruped would definitely ask, which put her more at ease about the nature of what they were trying to do. Even more than their evident support of her, with all the merch they were wearing. Penny felt a smile crack at the corners of her lips, unbidden.
"Not really. We can use our arms to steady ourselves pretty well. Obviously it's not as easy to balance on our two legs as it is with your four, but it's still good enough. In fact, the sprinters in the Olympics use all four limbs, since running as fast as possible also requires pumping our arms. As for what it's like to be human, it's hard to describe. For many of us, it will feel colder or warmer than Sprilnav would feel in the same temperatures, due to thinner skin. Our eyesight is more frontal than yours, given our lack of snouts, so our blindspots are a lot bigger. Our feet require shoes for rough ground, and we heal slower than you by around 20%. We can't really clack our jaws to the scale that you can, though we can make them meet."
Penny bared her teeth, showing as she opened and closed her mouth. It was nice to be able to talk about things like this.
"The Olympics?" one of them asked.
"It's a competition about athletics," Penny said. "Running, jumping, throwing, diving, swimming, skiing, snowboarding, and a lot of sports. There's specific divisions, too. Like how there's a 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, 400 meter dash, and even an 800 meter dash for those with high levels of psychic energy. Though really, psychic energy and genetic editing have been messing with the events for a while now. And there's a Winter, Summer, and Space Olympics, each with different sorts of events. They move from city to city, though the Space Olympics are pretty much always on either Luna, Ceres, or Mercury. There's a lot more information out there on various events, but it's an old cultural practice revered by the entire species. Even more so since Phoebe's increased the prize pools for everyone."
"How does your species handle space in general? I know that you guys did things way differently before First Contact."
"We did. Mining companies kept tight control on all asteroid mining, while nations controlled planets like Earth and Mars and large planetary bodies like Luna. Supposedly, a few people planned for a cloud city on Venus, but we couldn't risk having such a vulnerable population because they'd have to rely on giant balloons to survive. That would probably be the least secure way to live, given the existence of rogue organizations and all that.
As for spaceships, most of them since we really colonized Luna come equipped with spacesuit bays, zero gravity water and food packs, oxygen tanks, emergency seats, specialized anti-micrometeorite hulls, and radiation shielding. A lot of the older military ships also were equipped with big radiators until World War Three, when it all became masses of drone warfare, with the big ships kept mainly for cargo and lanes where mass drone control was impossible.
Once the Vinarii came and we got shields, we started building big again. After all, it provided a huge number of jobs, and in the post-war economies, especially with VIs in place, a lot of people needed work. But we still go and do asteroid and moon mining, star lifting, and energy gathering. We built an orbital ring around Mercury, the closest planet to Sol, to help with all of that. It doubles as a production hub, too. Now, it's all in more systems and with a lot more friends."
"Speaking of aliens, what theory does your people have on why so many creatures resemble one another? Our jaws are adapted for hard shelled creatures, and we're told that many planets have oddly similar variations of those."
"Crabs."
She guessed what they were getting at.
It is odd, isn't it? Nilnacrawla observed.
Perhaps that is another one of the Source's whims, Penny thought.
Maybe.
A few of the Elders made exclamations of shock.
"You even have a word for them that directly translates!"
Penny chuckled. "Yeah, carcinization is a bit of a meme in the science community. But I've heard the most mainstream theories since the First Contact are that the Source itself is uncreative. It has a certain template of creatures which it largely doesn't alter, though it can take in inputs from beings close to it, perhaps even influencing them."
"Influencing them?"
"Yes. Modern depictions of wendigoes, folkloric creatures from North America, a continent on Earth, are shockingly similar to the Knowers in appearance. The internet depictions of them in particular like to emphasize canine qualities, and often show them with skulls visible directly, and with dark brown or black fur. Recent depictions, as in the past 300 years, differ from their original appearances quite significantly, with the canine characteristics in particular being enhanced.
We have sorted through all known images of these creatures and found roughly 80% similarity with the Knowers and tens of thousands of images that are literally exactly the same as Knowers. The ones we searched all came before World War Three, far before even the First Contact with the Vinarii, much less the Knowers who were entirely underground at the time due to the radiation of their home star. We believe that the Source managed to influence this facet of human culture with the actual existence of a real creature.
Other examples exist, like how the Trikkec look very similar to Komodo Dragons, Vinarii look very similar to insects known as a mantis, and the Acuarfar look exactly like insects known as wasps with the single exception of their furry snouts and green instead of yellow markings. The Sprilnav species itself shares high amounts of similarity with a fictional species known as Elites in early 2000s culture, particularly with your jaws, though you all have red skin instead of grey or brown.
The Junyli, Dreedeen, and the wanderers are the main species without high amounts of appearance in our cultures at some point. This correlates with the idea of the Source being the influencer, as their predecessors all were used to fight it. Many species of the galaxy look like parts of our culture or Earth's creatures. The proximity of these examples makes this far more suspicious than if they were across the galaxy.
But since they existed first, the only answer must be that the Source brought the influence to us first and planted the ideas in our heads. As for the ones which look like Earth creatures, all of them are old enough evolutionary branches that copying from them to Earth makes more sense. Though the references centering around the early 2000s is quite odd, it is also roughly when the internet came into wide existence, so it is also possible the Source gave the ideas a push so they would propagate, for an unknown reason. Like if it seeded the ideas that propagated across the early global network Humanity used."
"Hmm. Fascinating. We've seen evidence of the 'seeding' process among some historical nations near the galactic region of Earth before. So the Source re-uses and alters depictions of life and also life itself?"
"Maybe," Penny said. "Unless the Source is more directly tied to life than we think. There's a conceptual Death, but no conceptual Life. Isn't that odd?"
"Conceptual Life died in the Source war."
How did that really work, though? Penny asked Nilnacrawla.
Imagine a conceptual being. A few of the Progenitors, as well as Narvravarana, went up to try to harvest its power. It refused, and Narvravarana used its unique abilities to try and force the deal.
Why was your civilization like this?
Excess and greed, partly. But we couldn't really do much more expansion. Vertical expansion also had its limits if we wanted to remain relevant for the remaining lifespan of the universe. So Narvravarana, along with a few of the greatest rulers and leaders of Sprilnav society, started looking to other dimensional planes. They figured it was best not to let the problem get too much worse. Or at least, that is what they say. I believe it was to harvest more resources to use against our surrounding enemies.
You didn't have any allies? Penny asked.
At that time, all the powers of the universe were enemies. All the allies eventually merged through millions of years of normalization. We happened to get on the universal stage the earliest, so other civilizations we encountered had little choice but to surrender their independence. Some fought, others didn't, but the outcome was the same.
That seems terrible.
It was, though the other universal civilizations were no better. Some of them just exterminated all alien life they found that couldn't fight back. In that sense, the pre-war Sprilnav civilization was one of the greatest, and that's why I fought for them. Obviously, I'm biased in that regard, though.
Thanks for telling me, father.
No problem, Penny.
She refocused back on the conversation at hand.
"But a thing cannot be alive if it dies. The concept of life doesn't work that way. So maybe the Source just... took in the concept of life? Or absorbed it into whatever psychic energy really is, considering that it's responsible for all of our existence?"
"That's so crazy it might actually be true," one of the Elders said. "You're incredible, Penny."
"Uh, thanks. You're all pretty great too." Her eyes drifted to the images of herself on their clothing. She couldn't really help it.
"I have a question for you."
"Yes?"
"Do you know what I'm fighting for?"
"I assume since you're asking it here, you don't just want a one word answer," an Elder said. "I would say yes, and for the liberation of the Sprilnav from the stain of slavery. Though going deeper into your history, you have also fought for other species, either in wars or just generally moving around. It does look aimless, mostly, since the galaxy's so big. But I'm sure you've got a way through that."
"In some way. Part of why I'm here isn't just about my people. It was at first, I admit that. But as I have lived here, on Justicar, for days and weeks, I've seen you less as alien. It makes it easier for sympathy and easier to break out of simple mindsets. So far, there are many problems, but there are distinct pieces. The first is that many people want to uphold slavery. I'm not sure why, but they do. It isn't profitable, and it isn't moral. Robots are cheaper in every way, and don't need food or water.
That means it's illogical or emotional. So I could try and solve the problem with violence alone, but it won't be addressing the cause, only the symptoms. I need to get to the heart of the matter. And I think it has to do with Elders' memories and the gradual woes they have accumulated going through life. I don't want to tear that away or drug them into believing they're fine. I want to find a way to outlet that productively. The second part I have identified is scale. The galaxy is enormous, and your species is incredibly numerous. I could fight planet by planet for the rest of my life, and liberation would still be difficult.
That also means I'd need a better way of doing things. Maybe an economic or political incentive. Emotional reasons will not work permanently, nor will logic, since we are in this situation. I have found several ways to address this. Sadly, since the gangs are likely monitoring this feed, I can't just outright say my strategy. All I can ask you all to do is to believe. Believe that I have a solution, and that I and those who stand with me are working on it. Believe in me because I believe in you."
None of the Elders questioned or ridiculed her words. Most of it was because they were fans of her. But one of them, an Elder named Rahautiti, had a distinct glint in his eye. Their gazes met only momentarily, but Penny could tell he knew.
And so she appeared in the mindscape, even as they concluded the interview, which would be the first of many. It was a ploy to just talk about human culture and ideals a bit more, to get it out there. Because the hivemind's theory was correct.
In the universe, ideas had power. That power could be weaponized against those who previously stood to gain. The first part of it was the image: Nova as an unbeatable bastion. Lecalicus as the Beast, a monster capable of star-crushing rage. Twilight as... whatever she did. Penny wasn't really familiar with the Progenitor's image too much, and the various names, like the Silent Night or the Smiling Darkness, were just so unbelievably edgy she cringed every time she recalled them.
But Rahautiti understood so she moved her mindscape avatar to see him.
"Hello again, Penny. I am no threat."
"I know. I'm glad that your group is led by someone as capable as you, as well as the other groups you dabble within."
"Who discovered it?"
"Phoebe. You met with Ezeonwha, and the android wanted to ensure you weren't a way for Yasihaut to kill him."
"Yeah. We did get approached about that, actually. We're supposed to kill Ezeonwha when you walk into the Judgment hall. Of course, we won't do this, and she won't be able to retaliate against us easily while there."
"Thank you for your honesty, Elder," Penny said. "It seems I'm in your debt."
"Nonsense. 2,839. That is the number of children I have had. 2,626. That is the number of children of mine which were enslaved. The remaining 213 died in unrelated incidents, with nearly half of those involving slavers killing them. I remember all of their names, and all of their faces, Penny. I want all the slavers in this universe dead."
"I cannot achieve that."
"You cannot," Rahautiti agreed. "Not with my help or even that of Kashaunta and Lecalicus. And certainly not right now. I have not lived this long to be incapable of compromise or patchwork solutions. You show great promise. I understand your aversion to killing and the circumstantial reason why you are not doing so now. I will not grow upset if you do not resume killing when the Judgment ends. Nor do I harbor a grudge against you for the speeding space entity you left outside the room to avoid uncomfortable publicity. You are incredibly young.
A sliver of a life. But you are strong, and you are mature. That sliver of your lifespan already outshines all I could do with a trillion more years, Penny. You are right in that this isn't something you can punch your way through. Trauma is part of why slavery still exists, despite it being a wholly unjust reason for the Elders to make such a sport of it. I am sure you know the story of the war, with a great hero in your head and Kashaunta at your side. My line of work is what I started to help you. Every thought about you being the Liberator, every eye that glances on you freeing slaves, helps you to gather conceptual energy. My talent happens to be great enough to sense the Pact of Blades you have, as well. If you want, I can teach you how to hide the mark on your soul and your mind."
"I would like that, yes," Penny said. "And thank you for being so reasonable. I will ask Kashaunta to protect you from what consequences come for refusing the offer on Ezeonwha."
"There are going to be attacks on him, you know. Him and your ship."
Penny felt an odd feeling in her soul. Cardi's power flared around him, and she squinted at the sky. She just barely saw a sliver of a tentacle. Most would have mistaken it for a normal speeding space entity. But here? On Justicar, with Exile obviously not being the cause?
Only one being would cause that. Fate.
Given the subject of their conversation, it was obvious what was going on.
Penny tapped Rahautiti's jaw, adding a thin mark of conceptual power so she could easily find him again. She focused on the conceptual mark she'd left on Ezeonwha. A twinge of conceptual energy came from it. It was accompanied by various impressions, like fear, pain, and acceptance.
"I have to go," Penny said. "I will be back later. Displace."
She appeared next to the 102nd Visitor Welcome Office but not next to Ezeonwha. It was carnage everywhere she looked.
"Champion!" an unknown Elder yelled. "I am Elder Na-"
Her rising fury surged, and it took all she had not to dismember him. The distant thought of the Judgment stayed her hands, though only just.
Penny's fist collided with the Elder's jaw at twice the speed of sound. A piece of his jaws flew free. Bone fragments hit the ground behind him. Hundreds of soldiers fired on her, and she slammed them to the ground with pure will. Penny tore their guns away and sent them each to pummel the Elder in front of her with as much brutality as she could. His powerful armor wasn't as capable of defense against physical attacks as it was against her psychic energy, and so he fell.
"You... cannot save him," the Elder spat. Fields of psychic suppression fell upon her, reducing her power.
"Manipulation through Determination," Penny growled. "De-"
No! Nilnacrawla said. Do not kill him! Not yet!
"What goes up will go down."
Air hardened around the Elder and accelerated rapidly.
The Elder smashed into the shield five miles above with a speed just slow enough that he wouldn't die. He fell from it and then hit it again at a more modest speed. He'd bounce on that until the Guides came to get him.
But Penny had another target. One she had to save instead of attack.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
High Judge Tassidonia awoke to the sound of explosions. He grabbed his swords, his main gun, and the personal shield he reserved for only the most dire occasions. The sky was erupting in war all around him, and buildings were already falling nearby. The spires of skyscrapers rained down upon the entrances to the Underground, crushing thousands of fleeing Sprilnav under their wide impacts.
His implant identified members of the gangs nearby, making their way to his home.
"Retribution Cycle!" Tassidonia cried. A hidden door opened, and he boarded a small hovercraft that sported a high amount of defensive and offensive technology, a gift from Justicar for dealing with all that he had related to the Judgment. Only this time, he wouldn't be on the next one. But already, the destruction was spreading.
Micro-missiles rained upon friend and foe alike. Several detonated against the layered shields. The mounted turrets on the side of his hoverbike shot lasers into the enemies his implant identified.
"Elder Tassidonia!" an Elder cried nearby. "For the crime of defying the will of-"
Tassidonia called his fury to bear. He rammed his mind into the enemy Elder, disorienting her. She reeled, about to attack, when a thick laser smashed into her chest. It pushed her against the wall, and Tassidonia kept the pressure up until her body melted. He listened to her screams impassively, occasionally sending blasts from his gun at the gangs when their members started to stray too close.
The thick red beam did its work within twenty pulses. His swords began to float beside him, keeping pace as he sped away from his home. The entire apartment complex shuddered and began to lean, its foundation being destroyed by some effect below. Tassidonia abandoned it with only minor regret. He'd known this moment would come. Everything he needed was already with him.
He linked into the Guide network, directing squadrons to attack the breaches he'd identified. Orbital strikes fell upon them in quick succession. Thick beams of light pierced through the lower planetary shields from orbital platforms, their guns honing in on Justicar's enemies. Tassidonia's implant was linked to the grid as well. So when he eyed buildings occupied with too many gang members, orbital strikes fell on them a few pulses later.
Fire and plasma rained all around him. Explosions and smoke blossomed all around him. More missiles fell from his hovercraft. A fighter ship appeared beside him, its simple stealth revealing itself to his eyes. Tassidonia waited for the pilot chamber to open, and his craft stowed itself behind him when he got in. It was fully equipped, so soon, Tassidonia was in full control of a weapon of war.
His first order of business was detecting the gangs' most fortified areas. He peppered those bases in shield-weakening mines, followed by bunker-buster missiles. Several anti-air turrets hit him, but his shields prevented them from taking him down. He dropped three high-end Butcher Androids into the fray of the largest battles.
One of the adjacent fighter wings in the separate shield sector dropped a nuke. At that moment, Tassidonia made a decision.
Whatever insanity was going on right now wasn't worth staying here on his own. He turned his ship upward, narrowly avoiding nearly fifty missiles shot from another gang fortress, which was really just the lower floors of a supermarket. Thick slabs of concrete were being set up by androids and slaves from the Underground. All he could do was watch from above and attempt to mark those that might be a problem.
Justicar's Grand Fleet was moving in, though only the carriers and their escorts were doing anything of any scale. The armies were mobilizing, and it seemed that war had finally broken out. Justicar, while isolated due to the Judgment, would have to win a war that threatened to topple his rule entirely.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Ezeonwha woke when the walls around him shuddered.
An earthquake?
Groggily, he activated the lights in the room. Phoebe's android was charging in the wall. Her limbs swayed with the motion. The walls shuddered again, and the lights went out. Thin, tiny cracks spread in the walls, increasing his worry factors massively. His implant notified him that this wasn't a dream. Distant screams reached his ears, and he went to the window.
Hordes of Sprilnav were running on the ground, tripping over each other to escape. He heard the thump of footsteps approaching from outside. The android activated, standing up.
"Move away from the doo-"
An explosion tossed him across the room. A Sprilnav carrying some sort of mouth weapon faded into view for a moment, smoke recalibrating the stealth field. And then he was gone. Phoebe smashed into the Sprilnav, her fists pummeling the assassin faster than Ezeonwha could comprehend.
Phoebe's arms turned into swords, and she stabbed the Sprilnav at least fifty times in a single pulse. She turned to grab him, but before she reached him, a second explosion sent him flying out of the now-shattered window.
The massive skyscraper loomed large, and he saw the ground beneath it ripple. Dull thumps sounded from below, and large, circular caverns opened beneath the 102nd Visitor Welcome Office. The whole building started to list forward, and Ezeonwha frantically activated his emergency personal shield as he started falling faster and faster. A bullet hit the shield. And then a second one. Gunshots echoed out in the distance, and he saw other Sprilnav falling from broken windows in the falling skyscraper. Gunfire erupted on the streets as Guides engaged a growing army of attackers bubbling up from basements of shops and businesses.
He saw spurts of blood exit the Sprilnav nearest him, bullets tearing holes through the woman's body. Piercing screams surrounded him, a terrible chorus that reminded him of the worst wars he'd fought in. But here, his training could do nothing. She was already dead, and he knew that he was the target of this whole attack. His eyes watered, and Ezeonwha felt so powerless. So useless.
A Corrector emerged from the side of the tilting skyscraper, eyes fixed on Ezeonwha. Then he looked down. Somehow, Ezeonwha knew when the orders had been sent. He knew that it was Astipra in the distance, a jetpack on his shoulders burning a thick flame beneath him.
Astipra looked back at the building and flew toward it. Ezeonwha felt the wind rushing past the shield as pressure. Astipra, far above, vaporized falling chunks of the skyscraper with blasts from his arm cannons. He pressed back against the skyscraper, the jetpack going into overdrive. The metal bent inward, and the groaning and twisting structure continued its fall. Blasts of light from Astipra again vaporized the set of falling chunks.
"Penny," he said. It was almost a prayer, really. His desperate mind was scrambling for whatever it could get. "Please, save me!"
He didn't know if she could hear him. Logically, it was impossible. And in a battle such as this, unlikely as well. Rippling explosions erupted across the facade of the falling skyscraper as rockets struck it. More explosions bloomed as lasers from distant police vehicles, Guides, and Astipra destroyed more of the fast-flying missiles and rockets. They pounded on the world around him, a horde of madness threatening to break his brain. He could feel the wind and gravity equalize as he reached terminal velocity.
And all he could see was the world descending into war around him. The 102nd Visitor Welcome Office continued to slump and lean against Astipra's best efforts. More bullets hit Ezeonwha's personal shield, and peppered the Guides moving over to save him. Air ambulances were shot from the sky. Even small fighter crafts were shot down by powerful ground lasers. EMPs thumped, disabling all the higher functions of his implant before he could think to use it.
A much larger explosion bloomed out, and Ezeonwha followed the rocket's trail to an Elder on the ground, standing in the wreckage surrounding a sudden tunnel opening. The Elder stared at him in glee, and he lined up another shot. Two Guides fell upon the Elder, who flew up using a jetpack to cut them in half with his sword. A hard light hologram lifted a large gun, pointing at Ezeonwha as he fell.
His eyes widened. Ezeonwha did everything he could. He angled his legs and arms. He pushed at the air. He even hefted the meager psychic energy he had, struggling with all his soul to escape the death he could feel was coming to him.
Guides swarmed beyond the shield appearing, while gang soldiers died by the hundreds to carpet bombing. Personal shields sprang up to block the explosions, and the Elder had survived. A thick red laser cut one of the fighters in half from the smoke. Above him, the collapsing facade of the skyscraper consumed Astipra entirely, though large gouts of plasma and thick explosions emerged from within. He could survive if it fell upon him, but Ezonwha could not.
Penny materialized far below, closer to the field of battle. A sweeping wave of gang members began disappearing. A bullet smashed into her head and her stomach, detonating in bright explosions. A personal shield flared and disappeared. Missiles and lasers slammed into Penny by the thousands as psychic energy gathered. A constant roll of words fell from her tongue, but without his implant, they were not translated.
Missiles crumbled into dust. Lasers impacted raw space in front of Penny before bending down and back to their origins, destroying automated turrets. Bullets still hit Penny and the Guides by the thousands, firing too quickly and densely for her to entirely block. But the large ordnance from the gangs continued to work against them.
Penny looked around, confusion evident on her face. But amidst the thousands of wounded and dead Sprilnav falling from the broken windows, Ezeonwha was hidden too well.
Shattering glass could be constantly heard, and he could feel the distant screams in his soul. A bullet smashed into his personal shield again, disabling it. A pulse later, he lost feeling in his legs.
He tried to reach out to her mind, but the war in the mindscape was equally intense. Too many Elders and Guides battling it out along with various suppression artifacts made it all impossible. He could sense Penny's influence, but couldn't directly reach her.
He let out a breath, knowing it to be the final one.
I'm sorry, Penny, Ezeonwha thought.
I wish you luck in the Judgment, and I am sorry I caused this to happen to you.
Penny finally appeared in front of him, eyes wide-
Blood erupted. A searing pain in his head told him his implant had just shorted out. And in the mindscape, he saw a mental attack heading for him, its brutal power evident. He closed his eyes.

The most problem with this game is the disparity between skilled players partying together on victim side and below average solo victim players.

I know that when 3 skilled players form a party in a another 15v15 competitive game, the effect is immense even though it is a 20% party rate, so it's no surprise that if 100% party team by skilled players at 3v4 TCM, they will be invincible, especially victim side with large number.
In other words, small-group competitive games and party are incompatible, it caused dodge when the party's mark was visible in the previous version due to no fun at all to play against them.
In contrast, GUN. only has a cheap solution to cover up the display, cause they firmly believes that party is the template for managing any online game (for reference, there exists another game of 5v5 where 5 skilled players in a party monopolized the victory and no one played anymore).

From the perspective of an skilled solo family (i.e., not below average or joined in party):

• It's mostly easy to play against a solo Victim who is below average.
• A match with an skilled solo Victim, or party of 2 average is depends on the skills of the other solo Family players.
• It's almost impossible for a party of skilled to win even against 2 ppl, not to mention 4 ppl. An average party of 3 to 4 ppl is still difficult to deal with if they discuss and work together via voice chat.

Family is smaller in number than the victims, even a party of skilled Family members can't beat a full party of skilled Victims.
Fundamental, this is because there are absolutely places where a Family can't guard due to the difference in numbers.
It's also common for others to act with Leland's escort and while he is struggling, the others unlock the door and force their way through, and this is another case where the difference in numbers allows them to push through(basically, families are dispersed for security, and if they gather in one place, the other place are unprotected).
I'm not talking about this should be called an admirable tactic on the part of the Victim or not, but I'm talking about a disparity that party can do and solo can't or very difficult.
On the other hand, below average solo Victims are easily killed by the Family and often lament on reddit that the Family is too strong and that they should rework the map of the Family's House, but a good victim party can easily escape the Family's House, so if GUN. rework the balance to suit the below average solos, no one will play Family side.

To solve this problem :

• If all Victims are in party, increase the solo Family limit to 4 or if 3 Victims are party, eliminate the 4th solo slot and start with 3v3.
• If all 3 family members are in party and all victims are solo, increase the number of victim slots to 5.
• Preferentially match party families with party victims.
• Just remove the option to form a party (I would most prefer this, but many people will hate it including GUN.).

Or whatever it is, if the balance isn't rework to bridge the gap between solo and party, the solo Victims will continue to plead to nerf the Family House and the Family until the end of service.
If you say that party are stronger and deserve it, and that it's nonsense to close the gap by handicapping them, then please tell the solo Victims instead of me and GUN. that "you guys should be the victims of our privilege".
Also GUN. can shut up the solo victims by declaring that GUN. only cares about the privileged who can form party and not about balancing the game on a solo premise.

Race Information

• Name: Bluenose Emera Half-Marathon
• Date: May 19, 2024
• Distance: 21.1 km
• Location: Halifax, NS
• Time: 1:48:39

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Complete	Yes
B	Sub 1:55	Yes
C	Sub 1:50	Yes

Splits

Kilometer	Time
1	5:20
2	5:05
3	5:14
4	5:01
5	5:03
6	4:57
7	5:15
8	5:07
9	5:16
10	5:04
11	5:07
12	5:17
13	5:00
14	5:08
15	5:33
16	5:14
17	5:22
18	4:53
19	4:55
20	5:13
21	4:59
22	4:23

This was my second half-marathon, and my first race report, so hopefully I figured out how to use the template correctly!
My first half was last fall, and I mainly focused on finishing. I came in with a sub-2 in that race, which was my stretch goal, and I felt pretty good the whole way through the race. This half was the first time I really felt like I pushed myself.

Training

I've been running fairly consistently for about 2 1/2 years but haven't been following a specific training plan. However, my runs largely align with most of the suggested programs I've reviewed. In any given week, I have 2 - 3 easy runs of about 10-12km, one tempo / interval style run, and a long run of about 16km or 1 1/2 hours. In 2024, I've been averaging about 175km a month so I felt pretty comfortable with my base.
I've suffered a little bit from indecision on what sort of goals I wanted to set for myself as a runner and competing in this half. Part of me really wants to just stay focused on being out, having fun and finishing a distance that would have felt completely unattainable to a younger me (I'm 42 now, and was a heavy smoker / drinker in my younger days - when I ran casually in my twenties, I'd have a smoke as soon as I finished, which makes me want to gag now). But another part of me wanted to see what would happened if I pushed myself a bit and finished without a lot of gas left in the tank.
I knew based on the training I was doing that I could likely push myself come race day. Two weeks prior to the event, I went for a tune up / check in run and did a full half to see how I was feeling. It was a PB of around 1:52:30, so I took this as a sign that I should go for it on race day and see what I could do!
One other aspect of my training is that I tend to do most of my runs around 9 to 9:30 in the morning, and would often be fasted (but with lots of water). I made sure to get used to eating some food before my longer runs though, so this wouldn't be an issue on race day. I knew if I really pushed myself I was taking a big risk not having adequate food before the race. I also don't take anything with me on my long runs, and decided that I would not stop for water / gatorade during the race. In the race last fall I stopped for some water about halfway through, choked on it from lack of experience drinking from a cup while moving and proceeded to have cramps for 10-15 minutes so I really wanted to avoid this!

Pre-race

The weather forecast leading up to race day wasn't great, showing a high chance of rain falling during the race itself, with cool temps in the low-40s / mid single digits (Celsius). This was tough, because the days before and after were glorious spring days, with a mix of sun / cloud and idyllic running temps. Last year, I did the Bluenose 10k and there was a vicious cold wind during the race - you had to push just to go downhills. And in the half last fall (the Valley half), a tropical storm was just wrapping up as the race got going. I'd hoped to finally have a run with decent weather, but I'm also living in Nova Scotia, so ...
Luckily as it got closer to rain day the chance of rain dwindled, until we were left with a cold, grey, windy morning. Classic Halifax day!
My plan was to take a bus which is about 10 minutes from my house and would get me to the start line about one hour before the gun. I set my alarm for 5AM and woke up at about 4:15. Overall slept pretty good the night before, so I just got up then and began my morning routine.
I had two rice cakes with peanut butter and a banana about 5:30, with my usual two cups of coffee. Also drank about 1L of water, and stopped drinking water about 6AM to avoid having a sloshy belly. I also had a lara bar as I left the house at 6:10 to walk to the bus station.
It was cold outside, with a lot of moisture in the air, making it feel that much colder. I didn't want to bring a bag or extra gear to the race so I was just wearing my race gear. Shorts, t-shirt, hat and airshed pro pullover (love this thing for spring running!). I was going to race in my Saucony Truimph 20, they'd been feeling really good on my long runs.
I get super paranoid about missing buses so I arrived at the station 25 min ahead of when it showed up. This would have been ok but the cool temp was bringing me down a bit. I did some light bouncing and otherwise huddled in the glass enclosure out of the wind. Luckily the bus was on time, unluckily the driver didn't think it necessary to have the heat on that morning.
When I got off, I couldn't believe how much colder it was in downtown Halifax, mainly on account of the wind being that much stronger. My teeth started chattering as I walked toward the start lines, and I started to feel legit worried that I may get cold enough before starting that it would affect my performance. I immediately went to a portapotty, as much to warm up but also to take advantage of the shorter lines at this time. I came out and walked around for a bit as it was too early to start truly warming up. I found a large tent that was going to house the post-race massage crew and went in there. It wasn't much warmer but it was out of the wind, and I was able to calm the shaking down finally.
The full marathon started at 8AM, the 10k at 8:10 and the half at 8:20. I headed back to the portapotty for a final wee break around 7:50 knowing the marathoners / 10k people would be heading to the queue. I proceeded to do my usual dynamic warmups with 4-5 min of light jogging to get the legs moving. Then to the corral!

Race

I lined up by the 1:55 pacer, and my initial plan was to stay a few steps ahead of him for the first 5-10km. I felt confident I could maintain at around the 5:20 to 5:25 mark and still have plenty left to get through the back half of the course. In addition to my sub 1:50, I wanted to try and run my fastest 5km at the very end of the race (more on that soon) so i needed to find that balance of moving well and conserving energy.
It was finally time and we were off! After being out in the cold for 1 1/2 hours, it felt amazing to finally be moving!
It was a new route this year for the half, and I was excited to give it a try. It had us going through the North End of Halifax for a few km before turning and heading down to the waterfront. It then went along the harbour on the wharf for km 6 - 11 before turning up towards Point Pleasant park. Then it was 1km up through a neighbourhood before starting a roughly 7km loop through Point Pleasant Park, a beautiful park on the south end of the Halifax peninsula. The final 2km were a very slight climb back up to the Emera Oval where the start / finish line were located. The route basically takes you through the whole Halifax peninsula, so it's a great way to catch some of the best sights for anyone who wants to visit!
Despite my initial strategy of hanging close to the 1:55 pacer, I also wanted to really try to listen to my body and energy levels, and adapt my effort on that. After 1km, I was feeling good! I decided to start to push my pace up ahead of schedule, and found myself about 100ft behind the 1:50 pacer. My new strategy was to basically hold there, and begin to push past that pacer later in the course.
Because of the colder weather, there weren't as may people out as there might otherwise be, but still some friendly faces and groups of people lined the route with some motivating cheers and signs. This is the part of the races that I have really loved! Knowing that all of that support is for everyone in the race regardless of time or ability is such a source of positivity for a community! I heard someone say that one of the things that sets running apart from other sports is you never hear anyone booing, and the cheers are equally for the person in first place and last place.
I continued to feel great and strong through the first half of the course. The waterfront was actually a bit tricky in spots due to narrowing sidewalks and sharp turns around buildings. Nothing too crazy, but you had to be mindful of your steps and direction to avoid bumping into people, although the crowd had thinned out a bit by this point.
As we got into Point Pleasant, there is a pretty decent hill that you need to climb that starts around 15km. I'm lucky (?) that my normal training routes include a lot of elevation gains, and while my pace slowed for the climb, this was also where I made my move and went past the 1:50 pacer. I knew if I could get out of the hill and still be feeling good that I had a solid chance to finish strong and hit my stretch goal!
As we left the park and had the final 5km to go, I started to really turn it on. I wanted to try and run my fastest times in the final parts of the race, and was also able to achieve that, with km 18 and 19 being 1st and 2nd splits of the day.
HOWEVER - as I passed the sign for 20km, my body communicated to my brain that I was a complete idiot, and should have settled for breaking 1:50 without the added push at the end. I have never in my life experienced this kind of split sensation (no pun intended) of wanting to push myself harder than I ever have physically, and wanting to just take my foot off the gas and cruise across the line without collapsing. I started to negotiate and motivate - "almost there, just go for it, etc etc" - but my gosh it was tough. As we got to the final km, the finish line was further than it was in my mind, but I kept pushing. A few other people were dropping to walks, and it was so hard to not slow it down.
Somehow, I kept going, and as we reached the final 100m or so I opened it up and was able to sprint across the finish where my family was waiting and cheering me on!

Post-race

It feels hard to say this kind of thing, but I was so damned proud of myself! Like I said, I have never truly pushed myself in my life the way that I did for this race, and I felt like I couldn't have done any better than I did.
I made my way to the refreshment tent and slammed some water, bananas, yogurt tubes and juice boxes. My sons love this part of the races, as they get to enjoy some cookies and other treats before lunch.
While I don't have any other races on the schedule right now, it's hard to no think about pushing for a sub 1:45 at the Valley half this fall. With less elevation and (maybe??) good weather, it seems doable. But I also want to try and just enjoy myself and the time I get to be outside moving.
Made with a new race report generator created by herumph.

Intro

It is me again, your friendly neighborhood Prismatic Build planner. I started to actually think of what I needed for The Final Shape (TFS) launch and a big thing is finding loadouts that work for the starting slate of abilities we get for Prismatic from the Prismatic Deep Dive. So here I want to list out some builds that I think will be useful.
Tl;dr: If you just want quick shots of builds check this album: https://imgur.com/a/9VINdU7
Here are the categories of Prismatic Builds:

• Starter builds:
  • You can use this the moment you get Prismatic. Generally we are working to slightly recreate a pre-TFS build but within Prismatic. So we want to go in with the current build to make swapping into Prismatic super easy.
  • I am making two builds for each class:
    • Starter Build: A solid build focusing on the starter fragments and assuming you have all exotic armors.
    • Base Starter Builds: a solid build assuming you only have exotics in the base game. Most fo these exotics are accessible from Ikora quests.
  • I have generally tried to balance stat bonuses and penalties from Fragments on pre-TFS builds so it should mostly feel the same on Prismatic.
• Refined Starter Builds: the starter selections aren't perfect so here's where they should get to if we unlock the rest of Prismatic during the campaign or shortly after. This if you want to maintain the starter build in general but improve it.
• Beyond Starter Builds: there's a lot of options. I will link some resources of mine for Prismatic Builds and Planning. But it would be a whole 'nother post to go into detail on.

Starter Builds

All Starter Builds use the same starting Fragments: Facets of Dawn, Hope, Protection, Purpose, Ruin. You may not be able to slot all 5 depending on fragment slots. Drop Dawn if the build isn't weapon focused. Drop Hope if you don't need class ability. Drop Ruin if you don't have Ignitions or Shatters.

• Hunter - Starting Prismatic Gyrfalcon.
  • We got Stylish Executioner so Gyrfalcon is a really strong general exotic. And spreading Volatile should generate lots of Transcendence.
  • Exotic: Gyrfalcon's Hauberk for Volatile Rounds on Void weapons when you leave invisibility. This exotic requires Witch Queen and can be obtained from Legend/Master Lost Sectors or Vex Strike Force event on Neomuna.
  • Melee: Withering Blade because it hits so much and helps us get Radiant and invisibility from Stylish Executioner. Fan of Knives is fine too though. Also want Dark abilities to balance out all the volatile kills.
  • Grenade: I'd lean to Swarm Grenade with the buff. Duskfield is nice but you already slow on melee and dodge.
  • Super: Golden Gun is probably nicer to get Restoration via Facet of Purpose. Silence and Squall is viable too if you'd rather get Frost Armor.
  • Class Ability: Gambler's Dodge for melee uptime.
  • Stats priority: Res and Str. Balance Mobility and Recovery as you can. Try to hit minimum of 30 in Int and Disc. Any leftover stats in Disc.
  • Pre-TFS DIM link: https://dim.gg/dsqgzha/Prismatic-Gyrfalcon
  • Prismatic Build Image:
• Hunter - Base Starter Graviton Ninja
  • Stylish Executioner let's us go invisible a lot and while invisible we get massive melee regeneration from Graviton Forfeit.
  • Exotic: Graviton Forfeit gives the following when invisible: 100 Recovery, 100 reload and 400-800% melee regen depending on how many enemies are nearby. This is a base game exotic and can be acquired from the Into the Abyss Void quest from Ikora.
  • Melee: Withering Blade for hitting many enemies and 2 charges.
  • Grenade: I'd lean to Swarm Grenade with the buff. Duskfield is nice but you already slow on melee and dodge.
  • Super: Golden Gun is probably nicer to get Restoration via Facet of Purpose. Silence and Squall is viable too if you'd rather get Frost Armor.
  • Class Ability: Gambler's Dodge for melee uptime.
  • Stats priority: Res and Str. As much Mobility as you can manage. Try to hit minimum of 30 in Rec, Int and Disc. Any leftover stats in Disc.
  • Pre-TDS DIM Link: https://dim.gg/t7e4vcq/Prismatic-Graviton-Ninja
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/dZp0wjX
• Titan - Starter Thunder Fist Lancer
  • We get Knockout and Diamond Lance so that is what we will use. Point Contact Cannon Brace helps a good bit with melee regen to keep us looping. Use lances to get some range and close the gap.
  • Exotic: Point Contact Cannon Brace for jolting on Thunderclap and melee energy refund on kills. This exotic requires Witch Queen and can be obtained from Legend/Master Lost Sectors or Vex Strike Force event on Neomuna.
  • Melee: Thunderclap for Point Contact Cannon
  • Grenade: Shackle Grenade for verb diversity. And we don't start with Facet of Dominance for grenade Jolting.
  • Super: Thundercrash for Amplified from Facet of Purpose. Amplified boosts Thunderclap damage by 50%.
  • Class Ability: your choice.
  • Stats Priority: Res and Str. Then focus on Recovery and Discipline. Try to hit 30 in Int. Dump Mob.
  • Pre-TFS DIM link: https://dim.gg/th6khfy/Prismantic-Arcfist-Lancer
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/9DOD9qO
• Titan - Base Starter Syntho Frenzied Puncher
  • Knockout works well with melee builds and Synthoceps are a solid melee exotic.
  • Exotic: Synthoceps for increased melee damage when near enemies. This is a base game exotic and can be obtained from the Exalting the Flame quest from Ikora.
  • Melee: Frenzied Blade. 3 charges and strong damage.
  • Grenade: Pulse Grenade
  • Super: Bladefury for good damage and Woven Mail from Facet of Purpose.
  • Class Ability: Your choice.
  • Stats Priority: Res and Str. Then focus on Recovery and Discipline. Try to hit 30 in Int. Dump Mob.
  • Pre-TFS DIM Build: https://dim.gg/wnbkr4y/Prismatic-Frenzied-Puncher
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/v1bEEeG
• Warlock - Starter Bleak Watcher
  • We get Bleak Watcher and Feed the Void so it makes sense to build into Bleak Watcher. That means Osmiomancy Gloves
  • Exotic: Osmiomancy Gloves for two Coldsnap charges and ability return on beaning enemies with coldsnaps. This exotic requires Witch Queen and can be obtained from Legend/Master Lost Sectors or Vex Strike Force event on Neomuna.
  • Melee: I guess Pocket Singularity because we don't need more freezing from Penumbral Blast.
  • Grenade: Coldsnap Grenade.
  • Super: Nova Bomb is generally more helpful than Winter's Wrath. Also gives access to Void Overshield.
  • Class Ability: Your choice but Phoenix Dive is nice for applying a subclass verb.
  • Stats Priority: Resilience and Discipline to max. As much Rec and Str as you can fit. Try to hit 30 Int. Dump Mob.
  • Pre-TFS DIM link: https://dim.gg/syes5aa/Prismatic-Bleak-Watcher
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/ZxvayOw
• Warlock - Base Starter Nezarec Spammer
  • We're all about slinging grenades and Nezarec's Sin is one of the best for throwing grenades. It does not require a void subclass but does require a strong void weapon.
  • Exotic: Nezarec's Sin for +300% grenade and melee regen and +200% class ability and super regen. This is a base game exotic. Should be accessible from Rahool or Xur fairly easily.
  • Melee: I guess Pocket Singularity because we don't need more freezing from Penumbral Blast.
  • Grenade: Coldsnap Grenade.
  • Super: Nova Bomb is generally more helpful than Winter's Wrath. Also gives access to Void Overshield.
  • Class Ability: Your choice but Phoenix Dive is nice for applying a subclass verb.
  • Stats Priority: Resilience and Discipline to max. As much Rec and Str as you can fit. Try to hit 30 Int. Dump Mob.
  • Pre-TFS DIM link: https://dim.gg/butluza/Prismatic-Void-Freezer
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/B1b17tw

Refined Starter Builds

• Hunter - Prismatic Gyrfalcon Refined
  • Aspect Changes: drop Winter's Shroud and replace with Gunpowder Gamble for more damage.
  • Melee Changes: can swap Withering Blade for Threaded Needle for slightly better uptime.
  • Grenade Changes: Arcbolt grenade for Jolting.
  • Super Changes: Silkstrike for Woven Mail though Golden Gun, Tether or Silence and Squall are fine.
  • Fragment Changes: We want Balance, Dawn, Dominance, Hope, Protection. This gives grenade and melee energy, Radiant, Jolting grenades, Class ability regen and damage resist respectively.
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/s9c8CK6
• Hunter - Graviton Ninja Refined
  • Aspect Changes: Consider dropping Winter's Shroud for Gunpowder Gamble for more light damage.
  • Melee Changes: can swap Withering Blade for Threaded Needle for slightly better uptime.
  • Grenade Changes: Grapple Grenade might be more useful overall.
  • Super Changes: Silkstrike for Woven Mail though Golden Gun, Tether or Silence and Squall are fine.
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/AyZHC0a
• Titan - Thunder Lancer Refined
  • General Changes: very few. the ability selections are all solid.
  • Grenade Changes: Glacier Grenade to add more shattering damage.
  • Fragment Changes: Balance, Dawn, Protection, Purpose, Ruin. These give grenade and melees energy, Radiant, Damage Resistance, Woven Mail, and better Shattering.
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/A5hfTPh
• Titan - Frenzied Puncher Refined
  • Aspect Changes: Drop Diamond Lance for Consecration
  • Grenade Changes: go for Glacier Grenade so you can Consecrate it for Shatter and Ignition.
  • Fragment Changes: Change Hope for Bravery so you can get Volatile Rounds and Unraveling Rounds.
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/MtjWYPF
• Warlock - Bleak Watcher Refined
  • Melee Changes: Arcane Needle for Unravel
  • Super Changes: Needlestorm.
  • Fragment Changes: Balance, Bravery, Protection, Purpose, Ruin for grenade and melee energy, volatile and unraveling rounds, Damage resistance, Woven Mail and Larger shatter damage respectively.
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/FUk6hOR
• Warlock - Nezarec Ability Spam Refined
  • We will shift this build into full ability and verb spam. In ideal situations you can have Jolt, Scorch, Unravel, and Volatile.
  • Aspect Changes: Drop Bleak Watcher and take Hellion so our class ability does something. If Hellion ends up not being good, Weaver's Call may be a good alternative.
  • Melee Changes: Arcane Needle for Unravel
  • Grenade Changes: Storm Grenade for Jolting
  • Super Changes: Needlestorm for more damage and Woven Mail from Facet of Purpose.
  • Fragment Changes: Drop Dawn and Ruin. Pick up Balance for more ability Spam and Dominance for Jolting on Storm Grenades. Try to squeeze in Bravery for Volatile and Unraveling Rounds.
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/8rVzOOZ

Other Prismatic Builds

I have a few resources here:

• Prismatic Build Planner google spreadsheet (click Use Template to make a copy and use): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zKOc0WErE0jfoMwtxraPTqXEWfiOHkQP3popHPbIrw0/template/preview
• Prismatic Builds Library of 5 or so builds for each class: https://imgur.com/a/Ke38FUI
• As always the Destiny Data Compendium is tremendously useful in build planning. It is being constantly update for the Final Shape as we learn more. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WaxvbLx7UoSZaBqdFr1u32F2uWVLo-CJunJB4nlGUE4/edit?usp=sharing

Hopefully this helps people out. Let me know if you have questions or comments. More build guides to come.

Intro

It is me again, your friendly neighborhood Prismatic Build planner. I started to actually think of what I needed for The Final Shape (TFS) launch and a big thing is finding loadouts that work for the starting slate of abilities we get for Prismatic from the Prismatic Deep Dive. So here I want to list out some builds that I think will be useful.
Tl;dr: If you just want quick shots of builds check this album: https://imgur.com/a/9VINdU7
Here are the categories of Prismatic Builds:

• Starter builds:
  • You can use this the moment you get Prismatic. Generally we are working to slightly recreate a pre-TFS build but within Prismatic. So we want to go in with the current build to make swapping into Prismatic super easy.
  • I am making two builds for each class:
    • Starter Build: A solid build focusing on the starter fragments and assuming you have all exotic armors.
    • Base Starter Builds: a solid build assuming you only have exotics in the base game. Most fo these exotics are accessible from Ikora quests.
  • I have generally tried to balance stat bonuses and penalties from Fragments on pre-TFS builds so it should mostly feel the same on Prismatic.
• Refined Starter Builds: the starter selections aren't perfect so here's where they should get to if we unlock the rest of Prismatic during the campaign or shortly after. This if you want to maintain the starter build in general but improve it.
• Beyond Starter Builds: there's a lot of options. I will link some resources of mine for Prismatic Builds and Planning. But it would be a whole 'nother post to go into detail on.

Starter Builds

All Starter Builds use the same starting Fragments: Facets of Dawn, Hope, Protection, Purpose, Ruin. You may not be able to slot all 5 depending on fragment slots. Drop Dawn if the build isn't weapon focused. Drop Hope if you don't need class ability. Drop Ruin if you don't have Ignitions or Shatters.

• Hunter - Starting Prismatic Gyrfalcon.
  • We got Stylish Executioner so Gyrfalcon is a really strong general exotic. And spreading Volatile should generate lots of Transcendence.
  • Exotic: Gyrfalcon's Hauberk for Volatile Rounds on Void weapons when you leave invisibility. This exotic requires Witch Queen and can be obtained from Legend/Master Lost Sectors or Vex Strike Force event on Neomuna.
  • Melee: Withering Blade because it hits so much and helps us get Radiant and invisibility from Stylish Executioner. Fan of Knives is fine too though. Also want Dark abilities to balance out all the volatile kills.
  • Grenade: I'd lean to Swarm Grenade with the buff. Duskfield is nice but you already slow on melee and dodge.
  • Super: Golden Gun is probably nicer to get Restoration via Facet of Purpose. Silence and Squall is viable too if you'd rather get Frost Armor.
  • Class Ability: Gambler's Dodge for melee uptime.
  • Stats priority: Res and Str. Balance Mobility and Recovery as you can. Try to hit minimum of 30 in Int and Disc. Any leftover stats in Disc.
  • Pre-TFS DIM link: https://dim.gg/dsqgzha/Prismatic-Gyrfalcon
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/r05aE12
• Hunter - Base Starter Graviton Ninja
  • Stylish Executioner let's us go invisible a lot and while invisible we get massive melee regeneration from Graviton Forfeit.
  • Exotic: Graviton Forfeit gives the following when invisible: 100 Recovery, 100 reload and 400-800% melee regen depending on how many enemies are nearby. This is a base game exotic and can be acquired from the Into the Abyss Void quest from Ikora.
  • Melee: Withering Blade for hitting many enemies and 2 charges.
  • Grenade: I'd lean to Swarm Grenade with the buff. Duskfield is nice but you already slow on melee and dodge.
  • Super: Golden Gun is probably nicer to get Restoration via Facet of Purpose. Silence and Squall is viable too if you'd rather get Frost Armor.
  • Class Ability: Gambler's Dodge for melee uptime.
  • Stats priority: Res and Str. As much Mobility as you can manage. Try to hit minimum of 30 in Rec, Int and Disc. Any leftover stats in Disc.
  • Pre-TDS DIM Link: https://dim.gg/t7e4vcq/Prismatic-Graviton-Ninja
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/dZp0wjX
• Titan - Starter Thunder Fist Lancer
  • We get Knockout and Diamond Lance so that is what we will use. Point Contact Cannon Brace helps a good bit with melee regen to keep us looping. Use lances to get some range and close the gap.
  • Exotic: Point Contact Cannon Brace for jolting on Thunderclap and melee energy refund on kills. This exotic requires Witch Queen and can be obtained from Legend/Master Lost Sectors or Vex Strike Force event on Neomuna.
  • Melee: Thunderclap for Point Contact Cannon
  • Grenade: Shackle Grenade for verb diversity. And we don't start with Facet of Dominance for grenade Jolting.
  • Super: Thundercrash for Amplified from Facet of Purpose. Amplified boosts Thunderclap damage by 50%.
  • Class Ability: your choice.
  • Stats Priority: Res and Str. Then focus on Recovery and Discipline. Try to hit 30 in Int. Dump Mob.
  • Pre-TFS DIM link: https://dim.gg/th6khfy/Prismantic-Arcfist-Lancer
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/9DOD9qO
• Titan - Base Starter Syntho Frenzied Puncher
  • Knockout works well with melee builds and Synthoceps are a solid melee exotic.
  • Exotic: Synthoceps for increased melee damage when near enemies. This is a base game exotic and can be obtained from the Exalting the Flame quest from Ikora.
  • Melee: Frenzied Blade. 3 charges and strong damage.
  • Grenade: Pulse Grenade
  • Super: Bladefury for good damage and Woven Mail from Facet of Purpose.
  • Class Ability: Your choice.
  • Stats Priority: Res and Str. Then focus on Recovery and Discipline. Try to hit 30 in Int. Dump Mob.
  • Pre-TFS DIM Build: https://dim.gg/wnbkr4y/Prismatic-Frenzied-Puncher
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/v1bEEeG
• Warlock - Starter Bleak Watcher
  • We get Bleak Watcher and Feed the Void so it makes sense to build into Bleak Watcher. That means Osmiomancy Gloves
  • Exotic: Osmiomancy Gloves for two Coldsnap charges and ability return on beaning enemies with coldsnaps. This exotic requires Witch Queen and can be obtained from Legend/Master Lost Sectors or Vex Strike Force event on Neomuna.
  • Melee: I guess Pocket Singularity because we don't need more freezing from Penumbral Blast.
  • Grenade: Coldsnap Grenade.
  • Super: Nova Bomb is generally more helpful than Winter's Wrath. Also gives access to Void Overshield.
  • Class Ability: Your choice but Phoenix Dive is nice for applying a subclass verb.
  • Stats Priority: Resilience and Discipline to max. As much Rec and Str as you can fit. Try to hit 30 Int. Dump Mob.
  • Pre-TFS DIM link: https://dim.gg/syes5aa/Prismatic-Bleak-Watcher
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/ZxvayOw
• Warlock - Base Starter Nezarec Spammer
  • We're all about slinging grenades and Nezarec's Sin is one of the best for throwing grenades. It does not require a void subclass but does require a strong void weapon.
  • Exotic: Nezarec's Sin for +300% grenade and melee regen and +200% class ability and super regen. This is a base game exotic. Should be accessible from Rahool or Xur fairly easily.
  • Melee: I guess Pocket Singularity because we don't need more freezing from Penumbral Blast.
  • Grenade: Coldsnap Grenade.
  • Super: Nova Bomb is generally more helpful than Winter's Wrath. Also gives access to Void Overshield.
  • Class Ability: Your choice but Phoenix Dive is nice for applying a subclass verb.
  • Stats Priority: Resilience and Discipline to max. As much Rec and Str as you can fit. Try to hit 30 Int. Dump Mob.
  • Pre-TFS DIM link: https://dim.gg/butluza/Prismatic-Void-Freezer
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/B1b17tw

Refined Starter Builds

• Hunter - Prismatic Gyrfalcon Refined
  • Aspect Changes: drop Winter's Shroud and replace with Gunpowder Gamble for more damage.
  • Melee Changes: can swap Withering Blade for Threaded Needle for slightly better uptime.
  • Grenade Changes: Arcbolt grenade for Jolting.
  • Super Changes: Silkstrike for Woven Mail though Golden Gun, Tether or Silence and Squall are fine.
  • Fragment Changes: We want Balance, Dawn, Dominance, Hope, Protection. This gives grenade and melee energy, Radiant, Jolting grenades, Class ability regen and damage resist respectively.
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/s9c8CK6
• Hunter - Graviton Ninja Refined
  • Aspect Changes: Consider dropping Winter's Shroud for Gunpowder Gamble for more light damage.
  • Melee Changes: can swap Withering Blade for Threaded Needle for slightly better uptime.
  • Grenade Changes: Grapple Grenade might be more useful overall.
  • Super Changes: Silkstrike for Woven Mail though Golden Gun, Tether or Silence and Squall are fine.
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/AyZHC0a
• Titan - Thunder Lancer Refined
  • General Changes: very few. the ability selections are all solid.
  • Grenade Changes: Glacier Grenade to add more shattering damage.
  • Fragment Changes: Balance, Dawn, Protection, Purpose, Ruin. These give grenade and melees energy, Radiant, Damage Resistance, Woven Mail, and better Shattering.
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/A5hfTPh
• Titan - Frenzied Puncher Refined
  • Aspect Changes: Drop Diamond Lance for Consecration
  • Grenade Changes: go for Glacier Grenade so you can Consecrate it for Shatter and Ignition.
  • Fragment Changes: Change Hope for Bravery so you can get Volatile Rounds and Unraveling Rounds.
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/MtjWYPF
• Warlock - Bleak Watcher Refined
  • Melee Changes: Arcane Needle for Unravel
  • Super Changes: Needlestorm.
  • Fragment Changes: Balance, Bravery, Protection, Purpose, Ruin for grenade and melee energy, volatile and unraveling rounds, Damage resistance, Woven Mail and Larger shatter damage respectively.
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/FUk6hOR
• Warlock - Nezarec Ability Spam Refined
  • We will shift this build into full ability and verb spam. In ideal situations you can have Jolt, Scorch, Unravel, and Volatile.
  • Aspect Changes: Drop Bleak Watcher and take Hellion so our class ability does something. If Hellion ends up not being good, Weaver's Call may be a good alternative.
  • Melee Changes: Arcane Needle for Unravel
  • Grenade Changes: Storm Grenade for Jolting
  • Super Changes: Needlestorm for more damage and Woven Mail from Facet of Purpose.
  • Fragment Changes: Drop Dawn and Ruin. Pick up Balance for more ability Spam and Dominance for Jolting on Storm Grenades. Try to squeeze in Bravery for Volatile and Unraveling Rounds.
  • Prismatic Build Image: https://imgur.com/8rVzOOZ

Other Prismatic Builds

I have a few resources here:

• Prismatic Build Planner google spreadsheet (click Use Template to make a copy and use): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zKOc0WErE0jfoMwtxraPTqXEWfiOHkQP3popHPbIrw0/template/preview
• Prismatic Builds Library of 5 or so builds for each class: https://imgur.com/a/Ke38FUI
• As always the Destiny Data Compendium is tremendously useful in build planning. It is being constantly update for the Final Shape as we learn more. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WaxvbLx7UoSZaBqdFr1u32F2uWVLo-CJunJB4nlGUE4/edit?usp=sharing

Hopefully this helps people out. Let me know if you have questions or comments.

i want to ask about on what should i prioritise putting mills on, how to create a decent offensive division that would be cheap, should i make air which i never do because researching takes so long, should i try to get cheap tanks for an offensive template basically for more piercing or whatever people use it for. i am playing as Lithuania and i Play Formed Polish Lithuanian commonwealth. i use my mills for arty, guns ,support, trucks, aa. i get plc by the time i hit late 1938 early 1939. i was thinking of using tanks and planes but i dont know in what order i should do them or if its even possible by the time ussr attacks me. kinda stuck so id like some tips or pictures somewhere to copy down stuff and practice. thank you

Hey all, you might’ve seen an earlier version of this post floating around on Facebook; pardon the extremely-long post in advance.
TLDR: between SWADE, BRP/BRUGE, AGE, and GURPS, what’s the size and key dynamics of each community/market - and thus, best for widest reach?
I am a very novice TTRPG designer working on a modern-fantasy, pirate-and-parapolitics-themed setting with tactical realism mechanics for some time now. Initially starting as a 5e project due to my familiarity with that rule system and the large market share, I’ve found myself increasingly unhappy with that system meeting the specific needs and desires of my campaign, largely for mechanical reasons. I would very much like to get my work published in the near future (or at least self-publish), and while 5e has probably the biggest user-base - as well as the rules and content I understand the most - I’m just not clicking with adapting it to the needs of my setting, beyond any licensing concerns. In a context of mechanics versus player base, it is now a competition between SWADE, BRP/BRUGE, AGE, and GURPS. I know PbtA is also a common favorite, but honestly… I like crunchy a little bit more.
I don’t particularly like money or care about making a ton of it, but recouping investment in the project is desirable, and I’d like to have as wide an audience as I can to share my work with. It would also be cool to do this for a living, but expecting my first project to deliver me into that seems a bit naive. Regardless, I feel horribly uninformed in factoring in community dynamics, commercial viability, and player bases into my decision-making process. I would thus appreciate any insights on making a decision between any of those systems, beyond mere beginner’s advice (which I’ll also take, don’t worry). While I could really see any of them working out, I’d like to know my horizons a little more.
IMPORTANTLY, I will include additional context regarding my setting below, and my initial thoughts/concerns with each system I’m considering below that. Even without considering all that additional information, I’d appreciate any tips people can give me - in other words, feel free to stop reading here or merely skim the rest of the post.
Setting:
The setting starts in roughly contemporary times on an Earth-like planet, assuming the existence of a globalized, advanced-industrial political economy that exists alongside fantasy species and newly-industrialized magics both quickly and slowly adopting to the era’s high technology. Nonetheless, there exists various levels of economic underdevelopment in the global periphery, including the campaign’s immediate geographic setting, a Pacific-esque archipelago. While not drawing any cultural, religious, or political inspiration from it, I’ve generally envisioned the area the campaign starts in - a tropical island, the southernmost feature of a larger archipelago - similarly to the southern Philippine island of Mindanao in terms of both climate and geography as well as industrialization and infrastructure. The archipelago in general has a long history of both direct and indirect colonial rule and uneven economic development across its territory. Throughout the previous era, it also experienced large-scale foreign settlement and subsequent migrant waves, initially led by more privileged corporate settlers from imperial core countries soon followed by various refugee and labor import communities. The southernmost island’s largest city is a semi-anarchic coastal port run by a pirate’s guild, various organized criminal groups, street gangs, and political militant movements with only the barebone leftovers of a mayor’s office and municipal bureaucracy. Subsidiary settlements, such as an economically-depressed, suburban-esque corporate colony; a shantytown for immigrant laborers; an indigenous people’s village; an ancient monastery surrounded by a small town; and a Mennonite-like commune are dotted across the countryside amidst steep highlands and lush, dense jungles. The planet also features an inhabited, subterranean underworld that may connect to the campaign’s main island. It’s modern yet vaguely Third World setting puts it somewhat at odds with cyberpunk/higher-tech campaign elements, which has proven a bit of a challenge: any shop inventories, recommended vehicle supplements, modern item rules, applicable content inspirations from other campaigns, and related resources are very much welcome in addition to answering my main question.
Other features:

• brutal, realistic gunplay: pretty much impossible to do in 5e without rebalancing the whole game (as I initially attempted to do, haphazardly at best), this point was the central reason in my decision to transition to another system - modifying 5e was, frankly, not working. I’ve seen limited action in real life before, so I’ve got a semi-informed idea of firefight tactics, namely (to paraphrase a commenter on an earlier post), the importance of prep, positioning, and stress management: any specific rules or supplements with a system that adds depth to this is of great interest. Will probably end up developing some extra rules anyway (I’m interested in psychological mechanics), but at least want a foundation to start with.
• fantasy magic: I found D&D’s traditional concepts of divine/patronic vs. arcane magic (innate and studied) very useful, and am looking for similar classes/archetypes/etc. in whatever system I choose. Also liked the range of spells in that system, with their various support, defensive, offensive, and social applications.
• fantasy ancestries/species/“races”: I’ve so far built the world with an array of common 5e species such as orcs, dwarves, goblins, etc. (luckily, did not use the proprietary ones). I could change it to a wholly-human world if necessary, or even create my own fantasy species, but so far enjoy the creativity it allows me in not making copy-cat versions or clear allegories of real-life cultures, religions, and national/ethnic politics while still crossing its gritty contemporary setting with a high fantasy feel. utilizes standard d4-d100 range: both for ease and popularity’s sake, I’d prefer to stick to non-proprietary dice systems. Doesn’t have to use every die available, but as long as it works with a standard set of 7 polyhedral dice, that meets criteria.
• ease of opportunity for collaboration with people who really know the mechanics of the systems: As I alluded to in the point about firearms combat, I don’t feel particularly confident in my abilities as a newcomer and non-math guy to really understand the best ways to edit and adapt mechanical systems off the top of my head, so being able to get feedback and advice on this front is important. compatibility with online character creators/VTT options: highly valuable for my own sake and the popularity of the product. I also have Foundry VTT, but Roll20 seems more popular, so support there seems like a solid (if minoadjustable) preference at face value.
• fantasy monsters: similarly to the point about magic, I really enjoyed 5e’s wide bestiary. Any system with a large enemy repertoire, especially containing monsters (both natural and magical) easily-adaptable to tropical, coastal, marine, and “Underdark”/underworld areas. I will certainly design some of my own, but definitely need options for monsters beyond my imagination. As long as I have a couple templates, I nonetheless feel comfortable building my own NPCs. character options: I feel pretty confident in stretching a lot of this myself, but any mechanics relating to backgrounds, prior professions, etc. formulated with modern magic/urban fantasy settings in mind (or easily-adaptable) would be useful.
• genre-bending compatibility: at its core, the game combines magic, swashbuckling, organized crime, political intrigue, and skirmish-level para/military elements in a modern-fantasy setting. That’s… obviously quite a lot. I’m also interested in exploring horror (especially sanity/psychological mechanics) and monster-hunting elements further down the line. Jerry-rigging as little of all of this as myself is certainly an attractive feature for any system I plan on using.
• property/“empire” mechanics: somewhat less importantly than the other points, I will eventually add in mechanics around property management, downtime, and factional/political activity - recommendations are appreciated. However, I feel fairly confident in either adapting or developing these rules on my own further down the line with whatever system I choose.

As an aside, if anyone also has any guides on addressing potentially-controversial social, cultural, and political themes in TTRPGs, I’ll also take anything you’ve got.
Cursory system analyses:

• SWADE: mechanically, I really enjoy the latest Savage Worlds edition’s combination of ease of play and near-realism in terms of quick and brutal combat, in addition to the non-human ancestries it offers prepackaged (worth noting I also like how easy it is to design your own). It also seems to have great publisher support and an active player base, the latter being its biggest boon: at cons, it seems to reliably seat a good number of people. The non-ORC licensing is slightly less than ideal, but at the same time, probably a fair trade given the strength of the community and the rules themselves. Could do with a bit more crunch, and don’t like the “gamier” feel of the benny system, but otherwise can’t ask for much of better option. This one is, for now at least, my lead selection, for the reasons I’ve listed and the fact that the community seems really strong.
• BRP/BRUGE: This system’s versatility is almost overwhelming: thus, it’s kind of amazing that this system is absolutely dominated by settings that all put some sort of twist on Lovecraftian horror. On that note, the sanity rules utilized by games like CoC and Delta Green are incredible, and I feel quite confident in adapting them to a variety of uses such as firefight stress management and addiction mechanics. The ORC licensing is also extremely attractive on the face of things. Nonetheless, its horror game hegemony leads me to question if a non-horror-focused setting would find any sizable audience in its existing community. While I technically don’t need to cut them in with the ORC license, I’m also somewhat concerned about some recent controversies at Chaosium impacting a future product offering.
• AGE: Green Robin’s new system appeals to me as a creator for the explicit ease of synchronizing its existing Fantasy and Modern rules, as well as the seemingly-solid community support it runs for its properties. While some may allege it overcomplicates the six-category ability standard of d20 systems with an extra 3, I actually like that feature for the diversity it allows: being fast does not make a character good with a gun, for instance. The solid writing behind its first party adventures and supplements is also impressive. Of all the systems, it seems like the least “do it yourself”, which admittedly appeals to me on a vaguely-lazy level. Maybe it’s mere sentimentality, but I also really like Green Ronin as a historic company. Nonetheless, I’m worried that AGE’s newer IP will naturally attract a smaller base of players than its two older, more-established peers on this list.
• GURPS: I know it’s notoriously crunchy, but I love this system: If this was a pure discussion of mechanics, it’s be a no-brainer for me. The options for a realistic, tactical combat system, along with incredibly in-depth and malleable rules for every other imaginable mechanic in the game, make it my favorite option by far. I also really like SJG as a company. That being said, the crunch can be a turn-off for customers, and I’m somewhat unsure about the size/preferences of its community as well as its licensing policies.

Appreciate all of your feedback on any of the points made in this post, as well as any other thoughts or pieces of advice to offer. If you’ve got any questions or comments you’d rather share privately (as well as business offers), please let me know in a direct message.

From an ignorant pov whats so hard about implementing new stratagems??
Yes, apart from “you cant just add every small thing everyone wants”… i know
Im referring to logical things that people have mentioned plus its a PvE game.. something being too powerful doesnt matter much when you factor in all the other mechanics of the game.
For example: ¿Whats so hard about adding a ammo bag that can be connected to any machine gun to give it a huge belt?
¿Dont want to do the last one? Fine, what so hard about giving us a backpack fed minigun?
¿Whats so hard about adding melee weapons?
¿Whats so hard about adding more mech variants when you can just copy the template and change the arms?
¿Why cant we have a flamethrower mech or a electric mech?
¿Why lock us into only 2 mech variants and not give more?
Power doesnt matter when youre getting chased by hubdreds of hunters lol, plus everything else.
Again its questions from an ignorant PoV, i know game development isnt easy, its not like they can code and implement this in one day, i know that. Its more so the proof of concept

Hey guys i picked up a oem g19 gen 5 lower parts kit and complete slide, its all brand new glock parts minus the frame (parts are from the same gun), my question is what frame along with the rails do i need to use? I have all the py2a jigss, templates, rail templates however nothing anywhere specifically says use these pieces with these componenta, i k now the rails are built into the gen 5 frames from oem but im sure someones made this work b4, any guidance would be stellar

I followed the Viva New Vegas guide and installed their mods plus a bunch of others, totaling 163 mods. The game ran smoothly for weeks until the other day, when it started to CTD basically every time I try to fast travel to anywhere. I changed nothing to my load order so I don't get why is happening now.
This is my load order (it is upside down):
+Weapon Retexture Project - WRP +Mostly Fixed FaceGen Tints (NV or TTW) +NPCs_separator +Project Hairline +Megaton Hairs - Vegas Edition by zzjay +Mannequin Races - TYPE4 +Mannequin Races - body fix +Mannequin Races +Hair and Face models_separator +MM's Vanilla Hit Marker SFX +Hitmarker Sounds +ADS - Backpack - Jump Sound Effects MONO +Aim Down Sights - Backpack - Jump Impact sound Effects +All Explosion Sounds Overhaul +MNTLs Energy Weapons Sound Pack +Bullet Snap Redux - Espless +JSRS Sound Mod 2.0 +Sound_separator +Truly HD Main Menu and Loadscreens (incl. TTW) +Desert Natural Weathers - NV - TTW +Wasted Rocks Normals +A Little More Lamplight +Atmospheric Lighting Tweaks (Interior Lighting for FNV and TTW) +High Resolution Bloom NVSE +Cloud Upgrade NVSE +Interior Rain +3D Rain +Climate Control - 3D Rain +Climate Control - Rain +High Resolution Water Fog - Water Aliasing Fix +TYPE4 - seam textures templates +TYPE4 - seam templates +TYPE4 - Heads +TYPE4 - Body and Armors +Simple Interior Lighting Overhaul +Energy Visuals Plus 2.0 - NV and TTW +Visuals and Graphic_separator +Bullet Impact LOD Increased ESPLESS +Dismemberment Tweaks +IMPACT - Compatibility Edition (JIP LN) (DLC - TTW - All Mods) +IMPACT +Misc_separator +Enhanced Movement INI +Enhanced Movement +B42 Weapon Inertia +Frozen 3rd Person Feminine Movement +NV Compatibility Skeleton +Faster Pip-Boy Animation +B42 Inspect - aka Animated Ammo and Weapon Condition Checking +Realistic Movement +Ragdolls +Dramatic Staggering +Better Stand Up Animation +360 Movement +Diagonal movement +Dramatic Inertia - 3rd Person Movement Overhaul +Iron Sights Recoil Animations kNVSE +FNV Clean Animations +Anniversary Anim Pack +Animations_separator -Aim View Switcher -Complete Respec +3rd Person Camera Overhaul +WASD Menu Controls +New Vegas - Enhanced Camera +Essential Vanilla Enhancements Merged +Bad Touch NVSE +Faster Sleep-Wait +Cookable Grenades +Better Caravan +Delay DLC Redux +Follower Tweaks +B42 Optics - ESPless +Bullet Time Improved - a JAM addon -Just Sprint Plus - Expansion for JAM and JVS +JAM - Just Assorted Mods +Physics' Based Ballistics +Immersive Recoil 2.0 +B42 Dropmag and One in the chamber +Walking Inertia +FPS Weapon Lowering +Gameplay_separator +Character Kit Remake - Teeth +Character Kit Remake +Mojave Nights +Morinn's Upscaled Vanilla Armor Textures (MUVAT) +Improved LOD Noise Texture -NMCs_Texture_Pack_For_New_Vegas 3 -NMCs_Texture_Pack_For_New_Vegas 2 -NMCs_Texture_Pack_For_New_Vegas 1 -Collision Meshes - OJO BUENO compatibility +Collision Meshes FNV +Bullet Tracers For New vegas +EXE - Effect teXtures Enhanced +Iron Sight Inertia - espless +Models and Textures_separator +Consistent Pip-Boy Icons v5 - Addendumb +Consistent Pip-Boy Icons v5 - Dynamicon +Consistent Pip-Boy Icons v5 - Vault Girl Extension +Consistent Pip-Boy Icons v5 - Extension +Consistent Pip-Boy Icons v4.4 - mod patches +Consistent Pip-Boy Icons v4.4 +Map Marker Icons +Weapon Hotkey Icons +Consistent Pip-Boy Icons v5 - Framework Plugin +MAPMO - Main and Pause Menus Overhaul +High Resolution Screens +FOV Slider +Custom Health and AP Visuals +JIP Improved Recipe Menu ESPless +Menu Search +Faster Main Menu +High Res Local Maps +Clean Companion Wheel +Clean Vanilla Hud +VUIPlus - Dialog Background Add-on +Vanilla UI Plus (New Vegas) +The Mod Configuration Menu +User Interface_separator +Weapon Mesh Improvement Mod +Landscape Texture Improvements +Viewmodel Shading Fix - NVSE +Consistent Spread - Firearms Accuracy and Wobble Fix +Muzzle Flash Light Fix - NVSE +Impostors and LOD Flicker Fix +Swimming Creatures Fix - ESPless +Strip Lights Region Fix +ExRB - Extended Roombounds +Crafting Consistency Fix +Depth of Field Fix - NVSE +External Emittance Fix - NVSE +Fallout Alpha Rendering Tweaks - NVSE +Aqua Performa - Strip Performance Fix +MoonlightNVSE +Elijah Missing Distortion Fix +Misc Audio Tweaks and Fixes +Climate Control NVSE +Pip-Boy Shading Fix NVSE +Improved Lighting Shaders +PipBoyOn Node Fixes +skinned mesh improvement mod +New Vegas Mesh Improvement Mod - NVMIM +Iron Sights Aligned +ISControl Enabler and Ironsights adjuster (now ESPless) +Viewmodel Shake Fix - NVSE +Smooth True Iron Sights Camera +VATS Lag Fix +Combat Lag Fix (NVSE) +lStewieAl's Engine Optimizations +ActorCause Save Bloat Fix +Improved AI (Navmesh Overhaul Mod) +Items Transformed - Enhanced Meshes (ITEM) +MAC-10-83815-5-0-1711796567 +lStewieAl's Tweaks INI +lStewieAl's Tweaks and Engine Fixes +Yukichigai Unofficial Patch - YUP +Unofficial Patch NVSE Plus +Bug fixes_separator +AnhNVSE +BodySlide and Outfit Studio - v5.6.3 - Hotfix +Auto-Save Manager +Sound Extender +SUP NVSE +HDR Save Image Patch +KEYWORDS +Basic Console Autocomplete +Console Paste Support +Improved Console (NVSE) +Yvile's Crash Logger +FNV Mod Limit Fix +UIO - User Interface Organizer +kNVSE Animation Plugin +NVTF - INI Presets - texture modding preset +NVTF - New Vegas Tick Fix +ShowOff xNVSE INI +ShowOff xNVSE Plugin +JohnnyGuitar NVSE +JIP LN NVSE settings INI +JIP LN NVSE Plugin +Utilities_separator +Fixed ESMs *DLC: CaravanPack *DLC: ClassicPack *DLC: DeadMoney *DLC: GunRunnersArsenal *DLC: HonestHearts *DLC: LonesomeRoad *DLC: MercenaryPack *DLC: OldWorldBlues *DLC: TribalPack *Unmanaged: VM_Recoil
I've read that NMC texture pack may cause some problems to I tried to disable it but the game still CTD. I've the crash logger mod but I don't know how to read it and what's the problem LOL. If the plugin list is needed let me know. Any help is appreciated.

Hello! I’ve recently discovered this game and I want to get into playing it. I don’t have any real experience painting miniatures but it looks like a lot of fun modifying and painting hotwheels to play this game. Any recommendations on what I should buy to get started both playing and building?
Obviously I need hotwheels and the booklet, I’ve seen dice and movement templates on Etsy as well. I’d love recommendations on where to get little plastic guns and mods for the cars.

Hello, here is the latest changelog.
Content: * added propane lantern recipe by descende * Add three new locations to Aftershock by AltairreAtsu * Add Snow Cones and Snow Machines by TheMurderUnicorn * Adjust black powder fouling by misterprimus * Prepper Militia Community by RanikOrtega * Adds the last remaining natural frog species native to New England. by TheSaddestGoomba * gas forge recipe learned from fabrication books by descende * Overhaul and flesh out Barry Isherwood's rescue mission by MNG-cataclysm
Features: * Ski mask has been sublimbed by Kamejeir
Balance: * remove guns from behindcounter by mischief * Adjust Pile of Leaves Deconstruct/Smash by TheMurderUnicorn * Finished Auditing vehicle parts json for breaks_into by TheMurderUnicorn
Mods: * [MoM] Allow people to ask Rubik about the alien flora scattered around by Standing-Storm * [Magiclysm] Being grabbed makes SOMATIC spells harder to cast by Standing-Storm * Being mute prevents casting VERBAL spells by Standing-Storm * [MoM] Zombie looks-like + slightly reduce skyscraper lab break area spawns by Standing-Storm * Update Diviner Missions and Forge Merchant Dialogue by TheAthenaCabin0 * Add new homullus mutations that increase equipment durability by b3brodie * [MoM] Switch Stutterstep effect to an enchant percentage by Standing-Storm * [Magiclysm] Update Dark Sight to scale with spell level by Standing-Storm
Bugfixes: * Make Skunks Less Bloodthirsty by TheMurderUnicorn * Prevent segfault when butcher target disappears by inogenous * Characters' spellbooks will not load invalid spells by RenechCDDA * Fixes issue where loading a forge with coal does not work by Procyonae * Add foraging activity to outpost faction camp by 790 * Pseudo terrain appearing in fields when using mods is fixed (won't affect existing fields) by Procyonae * Removes MP18, PLR 16, OA 93, M231, Mossberg Brownie by Holli-Git * Fix a typo in consumption.cpp by osuphobia * Fix for massive slowdown when NPC crafting speed drops below 0.0 by adamaxis * Fix crash from reachability zones checking dead NPCs and mark reachability zones for hallucinations by Procyonae
Infrastructure: * refactor cataimgui::draw_colored_text by db48x
Build: * Update Flatpak manifest to use clang and include the default soundpack by AshenColors
None: * added roof to A/C carrier by PatrikLundell * Explicit roofs on workshop version 2 expansion by PatrikLundell * Sane-ify in-vehicle movement size checks by RenechCDDA * Weekly Changelog 2024-05-13 to 2024-05-20 by kevingranade * Explicit roof on storehouse 1 by PatrikLundell * Update AppStream metadata to 0.G release by AshenColors * Fix some formatting in the document by cosing * Backport #71328 by Procyonae * Backport #72662 by Procyonae * Backport #72615 by Procyonae * Standardize tolerance messages by TealcOneill * Bug report issue template: some more detailed instructions by NetSysFire * change JSON_INFO.md "inherits_flags" by Brambor * Fix: throwing items from outside the inventory by Brambor * New issue dialogue: remove discussions, two more resources by NetSysFire * Added roof on airport ATC tower by PatrikLundell * Minor string and item category changes by Karol1223 * Added explicit roofs to storehouse 2 by PatrikLundell * Added explicit roof to garage 1 by PatrikLundell * Backport #73689 by Procyonae * Rename fd_reality_tear back to fd_fatigue (fix tilesets, migration) by RenechCDDA * Bark (inherit upgrades & fix missability) by Kamejeir * Add size prefixes to some items by Uwuewsky * Backport #71410 by Procyonae * Backport #72154 by Procyonae * Backport #70397 by Procyonae * Backport #72515 by Procyonae * Backport #70755 by Procyonae * Backport #70957 by Procyonae * Backport #72064 by Procyonae * Flagify muting by Venera3 * Backport #70831 by Procyonae * Backport #70938 by Procyonae * Explicit roof on garage version 2 by PatrikLundell * Updated MAGIC.md by OromisElf * Update documentation on petfood by OromisElf * Increase search radius for LIXA in Hub01 Mission by TheAthenaCabin0 * Minor Nesting by reusityback * Don't try to get non-existent spellbook spells by RenechCDDA * Correct the crimes against dinosaurs by Karol1223 * Refix #52307 Enchanted Tailor's kit can repair parabolan wool by Maleclypse * Added roofs to farm expansion 1 by PatrikLundell * Backport #73901 by Procyonae * Backport #71681 and #71846 and #71861 by Procyonae * Backport #70743 by Procyonae * Changed XE batteries to use tool_magazine category. by Maddremor * Finish removing wolves from the wilderness spawns by Karol1223 * Make Forge of Wonder Globally Unique by Maleclypse * [ Aftershock ] Adjust some trait names and descriptions to Aftershock lore by Maleclypse * Backport #72225 by Procyonae * Backport #71380 by Procyonae * Backport #71428, #71432 and #71449 by Procyonae * Fix eggplant disassembly by Karol1223 * Adds Holli to Triage Perms by Holli-Git * Remove reliance on legacy connection group flags by Procyonae * Backport #73820 by Procyonae * typified activity_actor by PatrikLundell * Backport #71425 by Procyonae * Minor house mapgen fixes by Karol1223 * explicit roofs on canteen 1 by PatrikLundell * [My Sweet Cataclysm] Fix the candy gator faction error by Karol1223 * Weekly Changelog 2024-05-06 to 2024-05-13 by kevingranade * Backport #73818 with correct branch name and target by AshenColors * Backport #72858 by Procyonae * Reset wait popup on activity finish by irwiss * Backport #70843 by Procyonae * Wool staple recipe now needs 7 felt patches. by SomeGuyIGues * Just some minor JSON fixes I can't categorize properly by Karol1223 * Routine i18n updates on 18 May 2024 by kevingranade * Backport #70868 by Procyonae * Backport #72780 by Procyonae * Backport #73525 by Procyonae * Backport #70696 by Procyonae * Backport #73127 by Procyonae * Backport #73055 by Procyonae * Backport #71103 by Procyonae * Backport #70639 by Procyonae * Backport #72843 by Procyonae * Backport #71352 by Procyonae * Retain non-solid contents when installing vehicle parts by irwiss * canteen 2 roofed by PatrikLundell