first time pc builder, let me know if this is good pleasee, i mainly want to have a white case but everything else doesn't really matter as long as it's good for gaming xd
[PCPartPicker Part List](https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/3vj8BL)
TypeItemPrice
:----:----:----
**CPU** [AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor](https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/3hyH99/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d-42-ghz-8-core-processor-100-100000910wof) £319.00 @ Amazon UK
**CPU Cooler** [Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 White ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler](https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/fWKKHx/thermalright-peerless-assassin-120-white-argb-6617-cfm-cpu-cooler-pa120-white-argb-a) £44.00 @ Computer Orbit
**Motherboard** [Asus ROG STRIX B650-A GAMING WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard](https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/Gjt9TW/asus-rog-strix-b650-a-gaming-wifi-atx-am5-motherboard-rog-strix-b650-a-gaming-wifi) £199.99 @ Amazon UK
**Memory** [Corsair Vengeance 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL36 Memory](https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/4kmmP6/corsair-vengeance-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr5-5600-cl36-memory-cmk32gx5m2b5600c36) £107.00 @ Amazon UK
**Storage** [Kingston NV2 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/3QXJ7P/kingston-nv2-2-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-snv2s2000g) £98.99 @ Ebuyer
**Video Card** [PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24 GB Video Card](https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/wHVmP6/powercolor-hellhound-radeon-rx-7900-xtx-24-gb-video-card-rx7900xtx-24g-loc) £799.98 @ Ebuyer
**Case** [NZXT H9 Flow ATX Mid Tower Case](https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/7ZBG3C/nzxt-h9-flow-atx-mid-tower-case-cm-h91fw-01) £164.99 @ AWD-IT
**Power Supply** [be quiet! Straight Power 12 1000 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply](https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/NyxxFT/be-quiet-straight-power-12-1000-w-80-platinum-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-bn338) £178.64 @ NeoComputers
**Case Fan** [Cooler Master MasterFan MF Halo 47.2 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack](https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/FXPQzy/cooler-master-masterfan-mf-halo-472-cfm-120-mm-fans-3-pack-mfl-b2dw-183pa-r1) £39.59 @ Amazon UK
**Monitor** [MSI G27CQ4 E2 27.0" 2560 x 1440 170 Hz Curved Monitor](https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/mVKscf/msi-g27cq4-e2-270-2560-x-1440-170-hz-curved-monitor-g27cq4-e2) £218.99 @ Amazon UK
*Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts*
**Total** **£2171.17**
Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2024-05-19 16:14 BST+0100

Build Help/Ready:

Have you read the sidebar and rules? (Please do)
Yes
What is your intended use for this build? The more details the better.
1440p gaming (144/165Hz), productivity, occasional video editing/Twitch streaming, image editing with Lightroom/Photoshop, Plex server. Productivity includes general web browsing, some programming, network simulation with gns3/eve-ng. Primary use will likely be gaming though
If gaming, what kind of performance are you looking for? (Screen resolution, framerate, game settings)
1440p at 144Hz would be ideal, but a stable 60fps at 1440p is the minimum I'd like to have (my monitor can do 165Hz but only via DisplayPort, my current PC is connected via HDMI as the DisplayPort is being used by a second PC) As far as games I'll be playing - Apex Legends and Deep Rock Galactic are my two main games. However, I'm planning on purchasing Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, Doom Eternal, and Returnal. Perhaps BF2042 during the next sale
What is your budget (ballpark is okay)?
Roughly $1500 but can go a bit higher if necessary
In what country are you purchasing your parts?
USA
Post a draft of your potential build here (specific parts please). Consider formatting your parts list. Don't ask to be spoonfed a build (read the rules!).
PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 4.5 GHz 8-Core Processor	$423.27 @ MicroCenter
CPU Cooler	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler	$33.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard	$0 @ MicroCenter
Memory	G.Skill Flare X5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL32 Memory	$0 @ MicroCenter
Storage	Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	$169.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	Asus DUAL OC GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12 GB Video Card	$609.00 @ B&H
Case	Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case	$0 (already owned)
Power Supply	Corsair RM850e (2023) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$119.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1356.15
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-19 11:02 EDT-0400

Provide any additional details you wish below.
I have a MicroCenter within an hour drive of where I live. CPU price is one of their bundles and includes mobo and RAM. I already have an 8tb HDD that will be used in this build, I will likely upgrade this to a 16+ TB drive soon. I also already own the case, which my current build is using

So I came back to elite recently, originally played since pre-release but haven't really touched it since before Odyssey release
I jumped on and figured I'd give this on foot stuff a try, I took a legal settlement raid mission, and noticing it was nearby I figured why not try using the taxi service to get there
My taxi landed and I grabbed a loadout with a dominator suit and some weapons, I scouted out the base, picked a good spot and started shooting.
A few min later I've killed everyone outside and grabbed a level 1 security profile off a corpse, and found a few people in a level 1 area
However there are 4 people left in the settlement, all in level 2 or 3 areas and this is where I have some questions
So I could break in but I need the cutter which the dominator doesn't have
I saw maybe a chance to use a e-breach, only finding out they exist thought he usage prompts
None of the people outside these zones had clearances to access those zones
So did I miss something? Is there some other way to get access? Or should I be bringing the maverick to these missions? I figured since it was a combat mission I should probably take the combat suit but maybe not?
I ultimately solved it by running 30 min up the massive crater the settlement was in to call a shuttle with a dest of the same location and swapped my loadout then ran 10 min back from where he landed me (since settlement is hostile now) and cut my way in
Then despite shutting down all the defences I had to make that runnip the hill again to be able to call a ride out of there
Tl;dr beyond cutting/e-breach is there any way to get into a secure area if noone with clearance for that level can be found outside it?

I was going to build a pc using a guide but some of the parts were not available so i had to improvise. I've heard that motherboards and power supplies are sensitive so I wanna know if the parts i chose are compatible or if there will be issues.
Case: Corsair 4000D AIRFLOW, Mid-Tower
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-13700, 2.1GHz, 30MB
Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB ELITE
Ram: CORSAIR Vengeance RGB, DDR4
SSD: Corsair MP600 PRO LPX, 1TB, M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen. 4 x4
GPU: GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
Power Supply: Corsair RM750e V2, ATX 3.0, 80 PLUS GOLD, 750W
Motherboard: ASUS PRIME B660-PLUS D4, Socket 1700

Which one of these monitors should I get for Fortnite on 1080p all low settings? These are my specs PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor	-
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	-
Motherboard	MSI PRO B650M-A WIFI Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard	-
Memory	Corsair Vengeance 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory	-
Storage	TEAMGROUP MP44L 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	-
Video Card	NVIDIA Founders Edition GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12 GB Video Card	-
Case	Asus Prime AP201 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	-
Power Supply	Corsair RM750e (2023) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	-
Operating System	Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit	-
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$0.00
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-19 11:09 EDT-0400

Humble Bundle: (Region: EUROPE!)
Will do multiple keys for Astrea and Double Dragon Gaiden
 
2Dark
Aarklash: Legacy
Among the Sleep - Enhanced Edition
Almost There: The Platformer
AUTONAUTS VS PIRATEBOTS
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA DEADLOCK
BASEMENT
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Burly Men at Sea
Cities in Motion 2
Crazy Machines 3
CRYOFALL
Dungeon of the Endless
DON'T ESCAPE: 4 DAYS TO SURVIVE
ECHO
ENDLESS SPACE 2 - DELUXE EDITION
Evergarden
Forged Battalion
FANTASY BLACKSMITH
Fae Tactics
FOBIA - ST. DINFNA HOTEL
FIVE DATES
GAS STATION SIMULATOR
GRID 2
GOAT OF DUTY
HackyZack
Homeworld Remastered Collection
HIVESWAP: Act 1
Insurgency
IRIS AND THE GIANT
INDIVISIBLE
Kona
Kathy Rain
Laser League
Leap of Fate
Late Shift
LIGHTMATTER
Magicka
MAID OF SKER
Meadow
Majesty 2 Collection
MIND SCANNERS
Mysterium: A Psychic Clue Game
MORBID: THE SEVEN ACOLYTES
OMNO
One Way Heroics
One Way Heroics
Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You
Orcs Must Die! 2 + DLC
Red Faction®: Armageddon™
RAILWAY EMPIRE
RAILROAD CORPORATION
Revolver 360 Re:Actor
Rusty Lake: Roots
Sentinels of the Multiverse
Swords and Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon
She Remembered Caterpillars
Shadowrun Returns
Shady Part of Me
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode I
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode II
Sonic Adventure DX
Sonic Adventure 2+Battle DLC
Steel Rats
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
SIGMA THEORY: GLOBAL COLD WAR
Shadowrun Returns
Sentinels of the Multiverse
Swords and Soldiers 2
STRANGE BRIGADE
Subterrain
Talisman: Digital Edition
Tannenberg
Tennis World Tour
The Town of Light
THE DARK PICTURES ANTHOLOGY: LITTLE HOPE
Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure
THE UNCERTAIN: LAST QUIET DAY
The Forgotten City
Tower of Guns
Tacoma
TRAIN STATION RENOVATION
The Golf Club™ 2019 featuring PGA TOUR
THE WILD EIGHT
Toto Temple Deluxe
Tumblestone
Tokyo 42
THE OCCUPATION
THE SHAPESHIFTING DETECTIVE
Unholy Heights
VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE - COTERIES OF NEW YORK
VOID BASTARDS
VERLET SWING
WARSTONE TD
WEREWOLF: THE APOCALYPSE — HEART OF THE FOREST
WHO PRESSED MUTE ON UNCLE MARCUS
YUPPIE PSYCHO
YES, YOUR GRACE
 
Fanatical:
Grand Ages: Medieval
Jalopy
Mysterium: A Psychic Clue Game
Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?!
GALAK-Z
Subterrain
SPACECOM
Songbringer
The Sexy Brutale
Streets of Fury EX
OUT OF THE BOX
Yoku's Island Express
 
Wants:
Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos
Dicey Dungeons
Astalon: Tears of the Earth
Wanted: Dead
Rep page: https://www.reddit.com/IGSRep/comments/femr35/crimsonfoxyboys_igs_rep_page_number_5/

Very wet conditions at times today, so a little bit scrappy.
Weideman - Did a pretty good job again in defence. Took some decent marks and defended reasonably well. With Reid and now Ridley back, It's tough to see him getting another shot with the seniors, but good to see him hit some kind of form, regardless.
Ridley - Feels so weird writing about him in a VFL report... He was exactly what you'd expect. Looked like he was going at about 75%, but was miles ahead of pretty much anyone else on the field. Had 19 disposals, a few marks and a couple of tackles, which is pretty incredible, considering he only played the first half on managed minutes. Worth noting was that he seemed to almost be playing the Martin role, running off half back and delivering through the midfield. Might play one more in the VFL to make sure his match fitness is all good, but signs are very positive.
Hayes - Appeared to play more of a lockdown defensive game, with Ridley and Reid doing a lot of the intercept work. Was as solid as ever and I couldn't really fault him on anything. He's just so consistently good down there.
Bryan - BOG by a country mile. Dominated the ruck contest, got involved around the ground, kicked 2 goals and had 15 clearances. If he's not in the AFL side soon, it won't be due to form.
Caddy - Another nice outing. Had 2 goals, but it was his competitiveness that really stood out to me today. Just throws himself into every contest. Had a couple of great moments where he dove into packs to shovel a handball out to a teammate. His pressure was up, too, and did well to take some strong marks in tricky conditions. He's been building some good form over the last couple of games.
Reid - Classy as ever. Had the ball slip through his hands going for marks when the conditions were pretty slippery, but was otherwise very good both defensively and offensively. His kicking is such a sight to see. For those checking the stat sheet, yes, he had 10 marks, but 3 or 4 of those were from us chipping the ball around in the backline at the end of the game. Still did really well in the air for most of the game, though.
Lual - I thought he had a really strong first half running the ball out of defence, but faded out after the long break. He might just need to build his fitness up to have that full game consistency.
Davey - Probably his quietest game so far. Just couldn't find his way into the game at all. It's a shame after his great performance last time around. Hopefully he'll bounce back next week.
Roberts - He was one of our best today. Did some good work in the contests and on the outside, where his ball use was nice and tidy. For a player with his class, he's not afraid to do some dirty work, which is fantastic to see.
Visentini - Every game he does some little things that impress me. He competes hard and has a happy knack for hitting the scoreboard. He's doing alright as Bryan's backup, and it will be interesting to see how he goes if he gets a chance to be the number 1 ruckman in the side.
Wanganeen - Fairly quiet again. His pressure was quite good, but just isn't doing enough right now. I'm not writing him off quite yet, but I'd hope that he lifts fairly significantly in the second half of the season.
Menzie - Like our other small forwards, he just struggled to get into the game. We ended up moving him onto the wing, in what I assume was an attempt to get him more involved. He did ok there, and pushed back to help the defenders out a few times, which was nice, but was still pretty quiet.
As far as the VFL guys go, Hately was arguably the pick of the bunch with his strong contested work and a couple of goals. Peris wouldn't be far behind, though, as a speedy, classier sort of midfielder (his 12 tackles really stood out). Scott and O'Neill were both solid contributors, too.

Wasn’t expecting much with Czech food but surprisingly it is really good, I didn’t have a bad meal. Prague is very pretty, even the buildings where people live are historical and have a history behind them. Not being a big drinker, I found evenings harder to find things to do but I feel that is the case for many cities.
Attractions close too early but again that’s the case for many other cities too. Czechs are the least friendly people I’ve come across so far, we’ll see if any other countries change that in the future but I didn’t see any smile or laugh who I interacted with and that was very strange to me but most weren’t rude at least.
I’d hate to live in Prague as it’s too touristy, busy and I feel like making friends with people who don’t smile or show much emotion would be difficult and strange for me.
The golden lane as touristy as it is, was very interesting to me. I loved seeing how the people lived, the weapons and armour they would wear and the torture devices they used.
The cathedral is amazing, the outside is just so unique and the inside is just as beautiful.
The Narodni museum I spend like 3 hours in, the animals look super realistic and it’s nice to see how big they looked in person and what some of the extinct animals looked like.
The Old Royal Palace was super disappointing, it was empty and had hardly anything to actually see. I don’t get why people like it, a very poor palace and attraction indeed.
St George’s Basilica was fairly pretty with the ceiling but I actually preferred the Church of Our Lady Victorious which had beautiful interior decorations.
Vrtba Garden was okay but not as good as I expected from the pictures but a nice place to sit and it was quiet when I visited.
Petrin tower, as expected busy but you get to the top and do see the amazing views that go for miles.
I also did a ghost tour which was fascinating to hear about the real stories which caused the tales of these ghost stories. Did another walk about the plague in Prague, good but not as a good as the ghost tour.
I think 4 days was plenty, I saw everything I wanted to see and wouldn’t know what to do if I stayed longer.

Straight out, I don’t even feel like doing these. That was heartbreaking, I know we went into that game expecting to get belted, we were far from being the favourites but when your 40 points up, you are not suppose to lose a game.
I just feel like if we had Sicily and Scrimshaw, that fourth quarter would have gone differently. Having the experience of those 2 in those dying minutes really could have changed things.
Regardless, there were a few really good performances today that deserve some appreciation so here we go. Before I do them I just want to say, today’s game made it very hard to rate the boys because of the way it ended. I’m sure you guys won’t agree with everything, would love to hear your thoughts.
Will Day : 8.5/10
Would have loved to give him the 10 but needed him in that last quarter and he didn’t quite show up enough. Now I don’t blame that entirely on him, the coaching decisions weren’t great but an overall dominant performance from Day.
Blake Hardwick : 9/10
Can’t really fault him today, did his best today. 5 goals straight then went down back and did well down there. 4 intercepts and 22 touches.
Sam Frost : 8.5/10
Just been unreal this season. Some of those efforts were just mesmerising. 7 interceptions possessions frosty had and they were very important ones. He’s really been a rock in that defence and it’s just a shame that it wasn’t enough to get us over the line.
Massimo : 8/10
I thought he was exceptional today, had an outstanding game and his accuracy when kicking is unreal. Yes he had 5 turnovers but some of the kicks that he pulls off just makes you think how good is this kid gonna be. 28 touches, 4 interceptions and 22 pressure acts.
Amon : 7/10
Maybe it is just me but I don’t think he was as good as some other people think. Yes he gets a lot of the ball, but he had 10 kick ins today, along with his 719 metres gained, it was nearly all from kick ins like I don’t think he is that dominant. But you can’t expect him to do much more when he’s playing very defensively, I have always believed Amon would be much better on the wing because we have a lot more players that can play half back. I am not saying he played bad but he just was not anything special, only the 2 score involvements so his ball use isn’t exactly leading to our score increasing, defensively he is not reliable, he literally gave the freekick away to Rioli who kicked there second last goal.
Jai Newcombe : 7.5/10
Had an unreal first quarter then dropped off slowly each quarter. Saw the ball a lot more in the fourth but had terrible efficiency with it, he kicked 2 out on the full. He had 4 turnovers all game and 3 of them were in the 4th which was just another thing that lead to us choking that. Other than that he had a solid game, 23 touches, 5 score involvements and 5 tackles.
James Worpel : 7.5/10
I thought Worpel had a pretty underrated game today. I feel like he was very consistent and played a solid 4 quarters with maybe a slight drop off in the 4th but that was probably all of our players bar Frost. 19 touches running at 90% disposal efficiency is very impressive considering his ball use was a huge downside in his game overall game last year. He got 5 centre clearances and also had 21 pressure acts which was a huge factor in how we played so well for those 3 quarters.
Connor Nash : 7/10
Him and Worpel have sort of been just doing the exact same thing the last couple weeks. Low touch, high impact type games. 17 touches and 5 clearances for Nash, along with 7 tackles which was a huge upside in his game today. Thought his pressure was unreal.
Meek : 6.5/10
Definitely wasn’t his best game today. Yes in the ruck contests he was absolutely dominant but as he should be, he’s versing an unbelievably inexperienced ruckman. What I was disappointed in was his involvement around the ground, particularly his ability to impact marking contests. He was our tallest player on the field and he only took 1 mark that was uncontested. I love Meek and I think he’s been phenomenal this season but that was definitely a drop off from previous weeks.
Dylan Moore : 7/10
Whilst he didn’t impact the scoreboard as much as usual today with only the 4 score involvements and 0 goals. He was quite involved in the game. 16 touches and 6 tackles for Moore which i thought was definitely passable but not quite up to his standards.
Mabior Chol : 7/10
I thought Chol’s first half was very impressive today. His ability to find the goals, lay pressure and his overall effort for majority of the game was great. 2 goals and 4 score involvements, pretty good return game against some very good backman.
Ethan Phillips : 7/10
I don’t think he really done anything wrong today, had some pretty good individual moments aswell. Played on Marshall for majority of the game who only kicked one then shared the load on Finlayson who didn’t get a goal. I think he should keep his spot regardless if Sicily comes back in next week.
Cam Mackenzie : 7/10
I have always backed this bloke, been really getting better these last few weeks. Only the 12 touches but 2 goals, 4 clearances, 4 score involvements and 4 tackles. I think it’s time to give him some more midfield minutes to really help him develop. I can see him really improving. I know Josh Ward is unnecessarily always catching strays from me but I feel like when Ward plays even though he gets more of the ball than Mackenzie, he’s less damaging, Mackenzie is a much more smart user of the ball and can impact the score board hence why we should invest more into him.
Jack Ginnivian : 5.5/10
I’ll be honest, I did not like how Ginni played at all today. Yes he had his moments, scored a nice goal but besides that I felt like he made very poor decisions. There was one too many times he would ride the tackle when he had the opportunity to progress the ball forward. I’m not gonna be too harsh on him however because he is still very young and has heaps of time to learn.
Connor Macdonald : 5.5/10
Very average game from MacDonald, struggled to get involved on the ball but off the ball I can’t fault him. 8 tackles and 22 pressure acts.
Calsher Dear : 6.5/10
Besides his terrible accuracy he was decent. A very raw player so when he missed the first couple set shots, his confidence was going to take a hit and it was bound to impact the rest of his game. Couldn’t quite hold some marks but impacted a few contests and tried his best.
Nick Watson : 6/10
Thought watto was not bad today. Not as good as last week but had a decent game. 1 direct goal assist and 3 score involvements, not bad.
Jarman Impey : 6/10
Not as good as the past few weeks for Jars. Only the 13 touches today, on top of that was only running at 50% disposal efficiency which is really poor from one of our best ball users. However he did have 5 interceptions which was good but just was a shame he couldn’t impact the game more.
Serong : 5/10
Very fumbly today, to be fair a lot of our players were which was fair considering the rain but I feel like even in previous games, Serong just tends to fumble the ball a lot more. I don’t think he was that good, I think he was playing on Georgiades but im not 100% sure but if so, he didn’t get a goal so that is impressive.
CJ : 4/10
Couldn’t really get too involved CJ. Fair enough though considering it’s his first AFL game in 12 months, we gave Day time to get back into things and he’s looking much better now so it’s only fair we let CJ do the same thing.
Josh Weddle : 4/10
Just feel like he wasn’t him self today, couldn’t quite express his speed and rebound off the half back flank. Only the 8 touches which is disappointing.
Seamus Mitchell : 6/10
If the game ended at half time, I would have gave him an 8 because he absolutely pocketed Rioli but in the end Rioli got the better of him and practically won them the game.
Breust
Not fair to give him a proper rating. Don’t think he was amazing when he came on. I feel like our sub should be a more energetic and high impact player.

``` obs debug: Found portal inhibitor debug: Attempted path: share/obs/obs-studio/locale/en-US.ini debug: Attempted path: /usshare/obs/obs-studio/locale/en-US.ini debug: Attempted path: share/obs/obs-studio/locale.ini debug: Attempted path: /usshare/obs/obs-studio/locale.ini debug: Attempted path: share/obs/obs-studio/locale/en-GB.ini debug: Attempted path: /usshare/obs/obs-studio/locale/en-GB.ini info: Using preferred locale 'en-GB' debug: Attempted path: share/obs/obs-studio/themes debug: Attempted path: /usshare/obs/obs-studio/themes debug: Attempted path: share/obs/obs-studio/themes/Yami.qss debug: Attempted path: /usshare/obs/obs-studio/themes/Yami.qss info: Platform: Wayland info: CPU Name: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U with Radeon Graphics info: CPU Speed: 1397.311MHz info: Physical Cores: 6, Logical Cores: 12 info: Physical Memory: 15317MB Total, 1947MB Free info: Kernel Version: Linux 6.7.12-amd64 info: Distribution: "Debian GNU/Linux" Unknown info: Desktop Environment: KDE (KDE) info: Session Type: wayland info: Qt Version: 6.4.2 (runtime), 6.4.2 (compiled) info: Portable mode: false info: OBS 30.1.2.1-1 (linux) info: --------------------------------- info: --------------------------------- info: audio settings reset: samples per sec: 48000 speakers: 2 max buffering: 960 milliseconds buffering type: dynamically increasing info: --------------------------------- info: Initializing OpenGL... info: Using EGL/Wayland info: Initialized EGL 1.5 info: Loading up OpenGL on adapter AMD AMD Radeon Graphics (radeonsi, renoir, LLVM 17.0.6, DRM 3.57, 6.7.12-amd64) info: OpenGL loaded successfully, version 4.6 (Core Profile) Mesa 24.0.6-1+b1, shading language 4.60 info: --------------------------------- info: video settings reset: base resolution: 1920x1080 output resolution: 1280x720 downscale filter: Bicubic fps: 30/1 format: NV12 YUV mode: Rec. 709/Partial info: NV12 texture support not available info: P010 texture support not available info: Audio monitoring device: name: Default id: default info: --------------------------------- warning: Failed to load 'en-US' text for module: 'decklink-captions.so' warning: Failed to load 'en-US' text for module: 'decklink-output-ui.so' libDeckLinkAPI.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory warning: A DeckLink iterator could not be created. The DeckLink drivers may not be installed warning: Failed to initialize module 'decklink.so' info: [pipewire] Available captures: info: [pipewire] - Desktop capture info: [pipewire] - Window capture warning: v4l2loopback not installed, virtual camera disabled warning: LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME variable is set, this could prevent FFmpeg VAAPI from working correctly info: VAAPI: API version 1.20 info: FFmpeg VAAPI H264 encoding supported info: FFmpeg VAAPI AV1 encoding not supported info: FFmpeg VAAPI HEVC encoding supported info: [obs-websocket] [obs_module_load] you can haz websockets (Version: 5.4.2 RPC Version: 1) info: [obs-websocket] [obs_module_load] Qt version (compile-time): 6.4.2 Qt version (run-time): 6.4.2 info: [obs-websocket] [obs_module_load] Linked ASIO Version: 102801 info: [obs-websocket] [obs_module_load] Module loaded. info: [vlc-video]: VLC 3.0.20 Vetinari found, VLC video source enabled info: --------------------------------- info: Loaded Modules: info: vlc-video.so info: text-freetype2.so info: rtmp-services.so info: obs-x264.so info: obs-websocket.so info: obs-transitions.so info: obs-outputs.so info: obs-filters.so info: obs-ffmpeg.so info: linux-v4l2.so info: linux-pulseaudio.so info: linux-pipewire.so info: linux-jack.so info: linux-capture.so info: linux-alsa.so info: image-source.so info: frontend-tools.so info: decklink-output-ui.so info: decklink-captions.so info: --------------------------------- info: ==== Startup complete =============================================== info: All scene data cleared info: ------------------------------------------------ info: pulse-input: Server name: 'PulseAudio (on PipeWire 1.0.5) 15.0.0' info: pulse-input: Audio format: s32le, 48000 Hz, 2 channels info: pulse-input: Started recording from 'alsa_output.pci-0000_04_00.6.HiFi__hw_Generic_1__sink.monitor' (default) info: [Loaded global audio device]: 'Desktop Audio' info: pulse-input: Server name: 'PulseAudio (on PipeWire 1.0.5) 15.0.0' info: pulse-input: Audio format: s32le, 48000 Hz, 2 channels info: pulse-input: Started recording from 'alsa_input.pci-0000_04_00.6.HiFi__hw_acp__source' (default) info: [Loaded global audio device]: 'Mic/Aux' info: PipeWire initialized info: Switched to scene 'Scene' info: ------------------------------------------------ info: Loaded scenes: info: - scene 'Scene': info: - source: 'Screen Capture (PipeWire)' (pipewire-desktop-capture-source) info: ------------------------------------------------ info: [pipewire] Screencast session created info: [pipewire] Asking for desktop warning: [pipewire] Failed to start screencast, denied or cancelled by user info: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 21 milliseconds (source: Desktop Audi o) warning: [rtmp-services plugin] Remote update of URL "https://obsproject.com/obs2_update/rtmp-services/v5/package.j son" failed: info: PipeWire initialized info: [pipewire] Screencast session created info: [pipewire] Asking for desktop warning: [pipewire] Failed to start screencast, denied or cancelled by user info: PipeWire initialized info: [pipewire] Screencast session created info: [pipewire] Asking for desktop warning: [pipewire] Failed to start screencast, denied or cancelled by user info: ==== Shutting down ================================================== info: pulse-input: Stopped recording from 'alsa_output.pci-0000_04_00.6.HiFi__hw_Generic_1__sink.monitor' info: pulse-input: Got 1221 packets with 1465200 frames info: pulse-input: Stopped recording from 'alsa_input.pci-0000_04_00.6.HiFi__hw_acp__source' info: pulse-input: Got 1220 packets with 1464000 frames info: All scene data cleared info: ------------------------------------------------ info: [obs-websocket] [obs_module_unload] Shutting down... error: Tried to call obs_frontend_remove_event_callback with no callbacks! info: [obs-websocket] [obs_module_unload] Finished shutting down. info: [Scripting] Total detached callbacks: 0 info: Freeing OBS context data info: == Profiler Results ============================= info: run_program_init: 688.679 ms info: ┣OBSApp::AppInit: 4.944 ms info: ┃ ┗OBSApp::InitLocale: 0.901 ms info: ┗OBSApp::OBSInit: 650.323 ms info: ┣obs_startup: 2.632 ms info: ┗OBSBasic::OBSInit: 612.048 ms info: ┣OBSBasic::InitBasicConfig: 0.159 ms info: ┣OBSBasic::ResetAudio: 0.364 ms info: ┣OBSBasic::ResetVideo: 106.805 ms info: ┃ ┗obs_init_graphics: 103.059 ms info: ┃ ┗shader compilation: 31.469 ms info: ┣OBSBasic::InitOBSCallbacks: 0.008 ms info: ┣OBSBasic::InitHotkeys: 0.039 ms info: ┣obs_load_all_modules2: 411.631 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(decklink-captions.so): 0 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(decklink-output-ui.so): 0 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(decklink.so): 0.192 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(frontend-tools.so): 19.278 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(image-source.so): 0.012 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(linux-alsa.so): 0.003 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(linux-capture.so): 0.001 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(linux-jack.so): 0.005 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(linux-pipewire.so): 19.888 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(linux-pulseaudio.so): 0.006 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(linux-v4l2.so): 3.116 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(obs-ffmpeg.so): 29.419 ms info: ┃ ┃ ┗nvenc_check: 0.978 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(obs-filters.so): 0.028 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(obs-outputs.so): 0.005 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(obs-transitions.so): 0.019 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(obs-websocket.so): 4.634 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(obs-x264.so): 0.005 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(rtmp-services.so): 0.641 ms info: ┃ ┣obs_init_module(text-freetype2.so): 0.018 ms info: ┃ ┗obs_init_module(vlc-video.so): 2.247 ms info: ┣OBSBasic::InitService: 1.334 ms info: ┣OBSBasic::ResetOutputs: 0.232 ms info: ┣OBSBasic::CreateHotkeys: 0.029 ms info: ┣OBSBasic::InitPrimitives: 0.09 ms info: ┗OBSBasic::Load: 47.236 ms info: obs_hotkey_thread(25 ms): min=0 ms, median=0.001 ms, max=0.015 ms, 99th percentile=0.002 ms, 100% below 25 ms info: audio_thread(Audio): min=0.013 ms, median=0.047 ms, max=3.06 ms, 99th percentile=0.146 ms info: obs_graphics_thread(33.3333 ms): min=0.275 ms, median=0.982 ms, max=18.942 ms, 99th percentile=2.125 ms, 100% below 33.333 ms info: ┣tick_sources: min=0 ms, median=0.011 ms, max=0.336 ms, 99th percentile=0.036 ms info: ┣output_frame: min=0.141 ms, median=0.352 ms, max=4.685 ms, 99th percentile=0.896 ms info: ┃ ┗gs_context(video->graphics): min=0.141 ms, median=0.351 ms, max=4.679 ms, 99th percentile=0.894 ms info: ┃ ┣render_video: min=0.034 ms, median=0.059 ms, max=0.354 ms, 99th percentile=0.105 ms info: ┃ ┃ ┗render_main_texture: min=0.025 ms, median=0.051 ms, max=0.325 ms, 99th percentile=0.093 ms info: ┃ ┗gs_flush: min=0.003 ms, median=0.007 ms, max=0.084 ms, 99th percentile=0.026 ms info: ┗render_displays: min=0.005 ms, median=0.57 ms, max=18.484 ms, 99th percentile=1.528 ms info: ================================================= info: == Profiler Time Between Calls ================== info: obs_hotkey_thread(25 ms): min=25.045 ms, median=25.102 ms, max=28.376 ms, 99.0354% within ±2% of 25 ms (0% lo wer, 0.96463% higher) info: obs_graphics_thread(33.3333 ms): min=32.449 ms, median=33.333 ms, max=34.169 ms, 99.5717% within ±2% of 33.33 3 ms (0.321199% lower, 0.107066% higher) info: ================================================= info: Number of memory leaks: 0 ``` 

Screenshot of OBS
Neofetch Output

CADDY

Scaling: [Spons RT]() [Scott Wozniak RT]()

STRENGH

• Hangs himself out of spite for the Kinect (Kinect games)
• Uses a golf cart as a club (goofy funhouse)
• Throws his kid out of a window (crash 4 scene)
• Breaks a door (crash 4 scene)
• One shots Momo (haloween)
• Launches a Crash Bandicoot plushie through his roof, which then turns into a another crash plushie (crash merch)
• Pushes a transition screen away (?)
• Throws a phone, breaking it (bootleg)
• Throws a PS1 accessory across the world (ps1 accessories)
• Blows up an old phone (portable crash games)
• Breaks boxes with Crash Bandicoot (bandicoot month)
• Jumps to heaven (I'm bitter)

PUNCHING

• Punches the narrator hard enough to break a camera
• Punches Olly in the face
• Punches himself in the no-no's, causing agrippa to come out his mouth

DURABILITY

• Gets melted by the sun
• Survives in space
• Can survive without his head
• Survives after Spons rips through his chest
• Hammers a screwdriver into his ear
• As he is consistently in the Scott the Woz universe, to the point Caddy talks to him from the window of his house, Scott caused the universe to collapse which Caddy survived, since he's in the universe
• Gets flattened by the bricks
• Gets eaten by a crocodile
• Flies out the living room on a skateboard
• Falls off a roof
• Gets ran over
• Stabs himself, however he is hurt by this
• Goes inside toxic waste
• Covers himself in gasoline, and lights himself on fire off screen
• Fine after the sun spits a game at him
• Gets squished by Daddy Pig
• Impales himself with a sword
• Gets his eyes eaten
• Bleeds out his eyes
• Survives getting shot in the head
• Breaks his spine
• Gets inhaled by a Playstation
• Falls onto a couch hard enough to shake a room

GETTING SHOT

• Incapable of killing himself, blowing his his head off with a shotgun
• Fine after shooting himself in the cock
• Survives being shot in the head by a box of Rice Krispies
• Shoots himself in the head (skateboard)

TRANSMUTATION RESISTANCE

• Comes back after being turned into metal
• Gets tubacolosis and literally turns into a tuba.
• Gets turned into a youtooz vinyl figure

BLUNT FORCE ANG GETTING PUNCHED

• Takes a kick from Goku, however it's debatable if he's the actual one.
• Takes a hit from a giant hammer
• Knocked out by a baseball bat
• Gets punched by Big the Cat hard enough to swat away the entire screen

SPEED

• Surprises Scott the Woz
• Flies into a holiday inn, blowing it up
• Flies into space
• Dodges a sword swing
• Duplicates himself to catch a disc thrown by himself, in his mouth
• Runs fast enough to create after-images
• Turns into a rocket
• Takes a bouns round platform to America
• Jumpscares you (halloween)
• Dodges bullets from Spy Caddy

EXPLOSIONS

• Survives an explosion that kills Crash Bandicoot
• Survives this random explosion
• Gets nuked
• Survives a car being launched at him, creating an explosion
• Ok after his head blows up
• Gets his head blown off, launched onto a breakout paddle, then back onto his body
• Survives an explosion caused by a ps5 that fills a room
• Has a bunch of Crash Bandicoot merchandise fall from space, onto him
• Survives an unexpected explosion #ABILITIES
• Can turn a Cartridge into a PS1 game
• Kills a woman by mentioning the fifth element game
• Can use the force
• Can use the force lightning
• Can summon things by simply mentioning them
• Reverses pouring Pepsi in a cup
• Turns into the sun
• Toxic tunnels made him so toxic that people who came near him died
• Gives life to a teddy bear
• Can respawn at his house if he dies or gets KO'd
• Can stretch his neck
• whatever the duck this is (halloween special start)
• Can teleport
• Can multiply himself
• Can just say bad things to make them happen

TELEPORTATION

• Uses his "Bitch powers" to teleport
• Teleports to catch a game in his mouth

SIZE MANIPULATION

• Seemingly becomes this big (poster)
• Shrinks to a mini size to demonstrate a Crash TNT crate light

STUFF

• Pulls out a baseball bat, which he hits his cousin Mug with
• Has a lightsaber
• gun.
• A wand that's capable of blowing people up
• a mini TNT crate, which he throws at Olly
• Has a gun which evolves people
• Has robot feet, which he uses to kick his children
• Has a dragon (with no practical use whatsoever apart from flying, which he can already do.) (httyd segment)
• Bouns platform, which as mentioned before can go to places like america in seconds. For context, Caddy is in the UK
• Big thruster- A rocket that's shaped like a cock
• Oujia board
• Presumably wears groin guard
• Can be protected by his PS1 memory card, which catches him after he falls from a plane
• Ready access to nuclear weapons (eyetoy)
• A knife, which he uses to threaten Matt rose (eyetoy)

SLAUGHTERER

• Can remove memories
• Functions as a normal gun

INTELLIGENCE

• Could get away with treason
• Hacks into Brutalmoose's laptop
• Knows where you live. This not a joke. Hide. Now.
• Replaces his own spine
• Is a Spy in his spare time

OTHER

• [Salvages the computer screen](The creepy doll)
• [Freezes time, however he might not be immune](commercials)
• [Teleports to his couch in a flash of lightning, since he's wearing new clothes, this may be time travel](commercials)
• Used to have 540 thousand teeth.
• Interacts with his past self, presumably kills him off screen
• Drinks a game
• Flies through a chimney using balloons (UP game)
• Makes his eyes come off his face
• Can jump unreasonably high (bad ps4 store games)
• Creates fire using the coronation street game
• Removes the text from a magazine (psq magazines)
• Turns a cartridge into a disc
• Has eyes on the back of his head
• His mum stopped a freight train by frowning at it
• Can lay an egg containing Spons, however this can only happen once a month
• Turns into the "Jim Nebula"

WEAKNESSES

• Is shit at riding hoverboards
• Has chronic heart pain sometimes.
• Has a drinking problem
• Suicidal
• Needs pills so he doesn't murder you

I haven't built a PC in more than 5 years so I am completely out of the loop. I need help with what components to buy please. My dad's current (5-10 year old) PC won't power on and he wants to get a new system instead of fixing the old one.

1. What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games (ex: resolution, FPS, settings) or programs you will be using.

I need to build a new PC for my 75 year old father. He uses a PC for internet/email and MS Flight Simulator. All he really wants/needs is to be able to play FS at/near max resolution. He doesn't need a ton of HD capacity.

2. What is your maximum PRE-TAX budget before rebates and shipping?

$1500-$2000 including monitor.

3. When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.

Immediately

4. What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ex: toweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc)

Tower is required but I'd like to upgrade to a new monitor if it fits in the budget.

5. If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? How old are they? Brands and models are appreciated.

Keyboard and mouse.

6. Will you be overclocking (ex: CPU/GPU/RAM)? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line?

I am open to overclocking but I'd prefer not to for this PC

7. Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSDs, mass HDDs, Wi-Fi / Bluetooth, VR, VirtualLink, tensor cores, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc.)

Wi-Fi is required.

8. Do you have any specific case preferences (ex: mITX/mATX/mid-towefull-tower sizes, styles, colours, window or not, LED lighting, etc.), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

No preference

9. Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? Note: some post-secondary students can get Windows 10 for free at OnTheHub or through their school's IT software distribution department.

No

10. Will you be upgrading this PC in the future (ie: will you swap out better parts later on or will you build an entirely new tower later)? If so, when?

No

11. Do you have a brand preference? (ex: AMD/Intel for CPUs, AMD/NVIDIA for video cards, etc.)

No

12. What are the specs of your old PC / laptop? Do you want to see if it can be upgraded instead? If so, paste its build from PCPartPicker here.

None

13. Extra info or particulars:

I had been looking at one of the AMD 7600 packages on Canada Computers and adding a RTX 4060 :/

Linelight https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/5153665764710661/
Figmin XR Mixed Reality https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/6849182851823457/
Resident Evil 4 https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/2637179839719680/
Dungeons Of Eternity https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/6341779295861881/
Vermillion https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/4900967296622279/
Eleven Table Tennis https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/1995434190525828/
I Expect You To Die https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/1987283631365460/
Moss https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/1654565391314903/
Puzzling Places https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/3931148300302917/
Red Matter 2 https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/3682089508520212/
Synth Riders https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/2436558143118760/
Tetris Effect: Connected https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/3386618894743567/
The Climb 2 https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/2617233878395214/
Accounting+ https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/2481987975166999/
Death: Unchained https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/2334376869949242/
Glider Sim https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/5035807803211287/
Galactic Catch https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/8633589726666264/
Gesture VR https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/5552836748069534/
MOTHERGUNSHIP: FORGE https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/4188843481174389/
SUPERHOT VR https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/1921533091289407/
COMPOUND https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/5472934942761937/
RUNNER https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/6501835653220720/
Synth Riders https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/2436558143118760/
Death Lap https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/1954488057986071
Tower Tag https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/3812563858803226
Asgard's Wrath 2 https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/2603836099654226
Flight 74 https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/4939588089476517
Asgard's Wrath (RIFT ONLY) https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/1180401875303371
30 € if you buy a meta quest headset https://www.meta.com/referrals/link/lemenestrel/

Linelight https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/5153665764710661/
Figmin XR Mixed Reality https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/6849182851823457/
Resident Evil 4 https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/2637179839719680/
Dungeons Of Eternity https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/6341779295861881/
Vermillion https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/4900967296622279/
Eleven Table Tennis https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/1995434190525828/
I Expect You To Die https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/1987283631365460/
Moss https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/1654565391314903/
Puzzling Places https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/3931148300302917/
Red Matter 2 https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/3682089508520212/
Synth Riders https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/2436558143118760/
Tetris Effect: Connected https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/3386618894743567/
The Climb 2 https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/lemenestrel/2617233878395214/
Accounting+ https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/2481987975166999/
Death: Unchained https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/2334376869949242/
Glider Sim https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/5035807803211287/
Galactic Catch https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/8633589726666264/
Gesture VR https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/5552836748069534/
MOTHERGUNSHIP: FORGE https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/4188843481174389/
SUPERHOT VR https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/1921533091289407/
COMPOUND https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/5472934942761937/
RUNNER https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/6501835653220720/
Synth Riders https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/2436558143118760/
Death Lap https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/1954488057986071
Tower Tag https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/3812563858803226
Asgard's Wrath 2 https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/2603836099654226
Flight 74 https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/4939588089476517
Asgard's Wrath (RIFT ONLY) https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/tserof/1180401875303371
30 € if you buy a meta quest headset https://www.meta.com/referrals/link/lemenestrel/

Hi all, I’ve recently hacked my SS with a 10 lb tank and this hose (Upgrade CGA320 to TR21-4 Soda... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L795VRB?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share). Everything worked fine for a bit but now I’m finding that despite me pressing the buttons and air of some sort being forced into the bottle, there is very little (if any) carbonation. There is minimal pressure as well. I’ve closed the tank, released the pressure, opened up again and tried all over but no dice. Any thoughts? PSI is around 750/800 so no leaks. I’m at a loss.

I’ve been honing my shopping skills and thought I'd share some tips to help you get the most out of your shopping experiences. Whether you're shopping online or in-store, these strategies can enhance your experience and ensure you get the best value for your money. Feel free to add your own tips in the comments!

1. Stay Updated on Trends and Deals

• Follow Influencers and Brands: Follow your favorite brands and influencers on social media to stay updated on the latest trends and exclusive deals. Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok are great platforms for this.
• Sign Up for Newsletters: Many retailers offer exclusive discounts and early access to sales if you subscribe to their newsletters. This is a great way to stay in the loop.

2. Utilize Shopping Apps

• ShopStyle: This app helps you find the best prices on fashion items across multiple retailers.
• Shoptagr (now Karma): This app lets you save items from any online store and notifies you when they go on sale.
• Poshmark and Depop: Great for buying and selling second-hand fashion. You can find unique pieces and often at a lower price.

3. In-Store Shopping Hacks

• Shop Mid-Week: Avoid weekend crowds and find better-stocked shelves by shopping mid-week. Sales associates may also have more time to assist you.
• Ask for Discounts: Don’t be afraid to ask if there are any available discounts or upcoming sales. Sometimes, sales associates have information about promotions that aren't advertised.
• Check the Clearance Section: Always make a stop at the clearance section. You can often find hidden gems at a fraction of the original price.

4. Online Shopping Strategies

• Read Reviews: Always check customer reviews before making a purchase. This can help you avoid low-quality products and make more informed decisions.
• Wishlist: Use the wishlist feature on shopping websites to keep track of items you want. This way, you can monitor price drops and avoid impulse buying.
• Abandoned Cart Discounts: Sometimes, leaving items in your online cart for a few days can trigger a discount email from the retailer.

5. Leverage Loyalty Programs

• Rewards Points: Sign up for loyalty programs at your favorite stores to earn points on every purchase. Redeem points for discounts or free items.
• Exclusive Member Perks: Loyalty programs often offer exclusive perks such as birthday discounts, members-only sales, and early access to new collections.

6. Shopping for Specific Items

• Clothing: Check the fabric and care instructions to ensure you're getting high-quality, durable items. Shop off-season for the best deals on clothing.
• Electronics: Research the specifications and compare models to find the best value. Look out for refurbished models to save money.
• Home Goods: Measure your space before buying furniture to ensure a perfect fit. Read product dimensions and reviews carefully.

7. Seasonal Sales and Events

• Black Friday/Cyber Monday: These are prime times for scoring big deals. Make a list of items you need and set a budget to avoid overspending.
• End-of-Season Sales: Stock up on seasonal items at the end of their respective seasons. For example, buy winter coats in February or swimsuits in September.
• Holiday Sales: Take advantage of sales during major holidays like Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Independence Day.

8. Sustainable Shopping

• Support Ethical Brands: Choose brands that prioritize sustainability and ethical practices. This can often lead to higher-quality products that last longer.
• Buy Second-Hand: Thrift stores, consignment shops, and online marketplaces like ThredUp and The RealReal are excellent for finding gently used items.

Maximizing your shopping experience is all about staying informed, being strategic, and knowing where to look for the best deals and highest quality products. What are your favorite shopping tips and tricks?
Happy shopping! 🛍️

[First] [Previous] [Next]
Edited by WaveOfWire
- - - - -
Two days… It had been two days that Tracy had gone to sleep while Harrison was working, only to come back in the morning to see him still in the workshop. She knew he was damn productive, sure, but that really couldn’t be healthy. Apparently, it had something to do with the weird bowl of orange… soup… that Cera gave him. No way was it just caffeine; any amount of the stuff would have been filtered out of his system by now. He mentioned a tingling feeling too…
Damn, she did not know enough about drugs to even start assuming what that massive alien had Harrison fucked up on. At least the scanner said he was ‘fine’—if you ignore the other glaring issues the machine brought up. Plus, he said he didn’t mind it. Either way, he managed to complete the weaving component and a few other electrical backbones of the fabricator last night, so the project was practically done, and after seeing the engineer work himself half to death, she was dead-set on finishing it.
She was currently tits-deep into the upper manufacturing portion of the towering machine. It took a tall step-stool—on top of the nearby desk—for her to push her small shoulders through the even smaller access panels high on the everything-printer. It was difficult to fit her torso in, but she managed, holding a flashlight between her teeth as she fiddled with a stubborn series of mechanical ‘hands.’ Nothing new. The situation reminded her of the ‘shop back on Mars; it had the same ever-present scent of copper and industrial sealant. All that was missing was her dad’s ancient tunes blasting through some shitty speakers… Hold on…
The modular component in her grip was successfully attached with a resonating thock. Tracy squirmed out of the dim wire-filled crevice, trying her best to not rip her only tank-top on any bolts or corners, and getting a face-full of the bright flood-lights illuminating the workshop. She scowled and blocked out the searing light with a hand, but she was a bit too late to avoid going half-blind.
“Are the mechanical manipulators in?” Harrison grunted, poking his head out underneath the printer’s floor-adjacent maintenance hatch. She looked down at him as she tried to blink off the spots in her vision. His hair was messy, barely kept in line by his habit of combing through it with his fingers. The areas around his eyes were dark and sunken… Guess that’s what two all-nighters did to a man. He’d be seeing the hat man or start hallucinating if he didn’t get any sleep soon… but then again, the two of them were so close to finishing the fabricator…
“You bet.” She gave him a thumbs up, slamming the panel cover closed. “Feel free to test it.”
He nodded and slid back underneath the machine. “Gotcha”
She gently stepped off the stool and slid off the side of the desk, stretching herself out. If her piss-poor sitting posture or her tank-top puppies hadn’t already fucked her spine up, bending over backward to build this fabricator sure as hell would. She sat down next to the panel where Harrison resided, resting her back against the fabrication tower. Her excited voice broke the muffled noises of the engineer’s work. “So… Harrison?”
“Hmm—”
“—Mind if I play some music?”
The sounds from the hatch stopped, followed by his muffled, shocked tone echoing from beneath the fabricator. “You have music!?”
She smirked at seeing the expression on his face when his head popped out again. “I sure do… Did you seriously not download any to your data pad?”
He slipped out from beneath the fabricator fully, huffing as he took a knee beside her. The scent of melded rubber, wire, and his liquid labor reached her nose not-so-unpleasantly. “You would not believe how much of a pain it is to repair an entire barracks without it… So, yeah, I didn’t.”
“Sooooooooo, whatcha wanna listen to? I’ve got almost everything on here—besides the super niche, of course.” She pulled her data pad out, swiping to the massive music folder
“You wouldn’t like the kinda music I listen to; It’s ancient.”
She gave him a lighthearted, annoyed glare. “Welcome to the club… Now what’ll it be?”
“It’s Old Earth kind of ancient… but alright” He looked up at the ceiling in thought, lips pursed. “Do you have anything from Styx or Sweet?”
She stared at him incredulously, her smirk turning into a fully-fledged smile. “Oh my God. You are an absolute dork! You actually listen to Golden Age music?”
His brows raised, accusatory. “And you somehow know exactly who those bands were and what age of Old Earth music they came from?”
She smugly leaned in closer. “That’s because I’m just as much of a nerd with that kinda music as you apparently are.” She quickly looked upward, addressing the workshop AI. “Sebas, connect nearby speakers to my data pad’s audio.” Tracy elbowed the engineer lightly as the PA system chirped its affirmation. “Now, Mr. Golden Age music, which albums do ya want me to queue up?”
- - - - -
The two of them listened to music for hours, tossing on songs they liked as they came to mind while they worked. Harrison had a ton of recommendations that spanned all over the Golden Ages and some twenty-first century classics. She didn’t even know half of them, but she was vibing either way, adding on her own taste by intermingling some older rock tracks and newer electronic beats. The playlist was steadily built up as the day went on. Thank God her dad showed her a vast array of tunes; she might not have been able to keep up with the engineer if her old man hadn't.
It made the work go by so fast, their conversations blurring as they jumped from topic to topic. They discussed whatever came to mind—old hobbies, old jobs, and old interests. A lot was left behind in Sol… At least she knew that the only other human on the planet was more interesting than a soulless workaholic. It turned out that he was a pretty big history buff, and he apparently read a lot about the colonization of the Sol system and the various wars of independence thereafter. Curious, she asked where the interest stemmed from, and he explained that his grandfather was an admiral in the Slavic-Europan deep-ice submarine fleet, which explained how Harrison’s mother was able to afford to immigrate to Mars from Europa.
He could also play an acoustic guitar, and, unfortunately for Tracy, he wasn’t even the slightest bit interested in printing one out, citing that it was a waste of time and material that would be better used elsewhere. That didn’t stop her from writing a note on her data pad to do so later, though. She hadn’t seen someone play one of those in years—the last time was probably in some old music video from the early twenty-second century. What a shame. She would have liked to hear some of the Europan songs his grandmother taught him.
On the bright side, the man seemed to take an interest in her odd hobbies. He brought up the folder of 3D models that she accidentally uploaded to the inter-module system and asked where she got the inspiration for what was in it. Boy, was he not ready for her ‘WarHalberd40k’ lore dump. Props to the guy for not standing up and leaving the workshop throughout her rambling. He even asked questions about the different factions and their weapons, which she was more than happy to talk about.
She also ended up going over the other franchises and hobbies she was interested in, such as robotics and the like. The only interruptions to their chat were the occasional Akula or Craftsman asking for insight regarding the various tasks he had allotted to them, or Shar coming in to check up on Harrison between guard shifts.
The new dynamic of the group was pretty interesting, to say the least. Tracy hadn’t been out to interact with the whole lot of Malkrin, but she definitely noticed how they treated the engineer. They’d started to look up to him in a way ever since he started showing off technology. In a little over two days, the man had shown them that he could provide the materials for a brick house, fine clothing—especially by the alien’s standards—armor, and delicious food. That wasn’t even mentioning the other benefits the technician heard a few of the ‘banished’ talking about over their meals: heating, electric lights, and other assorted machines.
She’d be feeling pretty happy about herself if she was in his position, having so many look up to him and be grateful at the same time. He seemed to view it a lot more robotically, however, only striving to get the basics done. Luckily for him, his basics were their luxury.
That wasn’t all there was to the topic; the engineer lamented about how the colony was going through food just as quickly as materials. The meals weren’t the direct issue he had, more that he had to start focusing on long-term resource harvesting rather than directly preparing for a literal horde of monsters—which wasn’t exactly ideal. It was a good thing that they just so happened to take on an influx of Malkrin then…
Either way, they finally finished the ‘totally legal modification’ for the fabricator, meaning they could at least partially address the latter half of his worries. The whole process of ripping out an old printer and replacing the parts for a new one felt a lot easier than she imagined… even if it took her at least forty-eight hours to complete it… with help from Harrison. Maybe that was why it felt so easy… She supposed the colony overseers didn’t choose the man for no reason, so his skills made sense.
“So… what do we want to print out first?” Tracy questioned, having finished testing the last major component.
The engineer stretched his arms up into the air and rotated his shoulders, then pulled back the desk’s chair and took a seat. “I’ve had just one thing in mind since the start of this whole project.”
Her brows raised in a mix of excitement and curiosity. She leaned forward, looking at the computer monitor from over his shoulder. “Oh? What’s that, then?”
A smirk formed along his cheek, the computer mouse rapidly clicking through the blueprint folder. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about what kind of firearm we need since I started dabbling in belt-fed weapon systems.” He opened one final file, a short loading bar preceding the exploded assembly view of… “An M2 Browning machine gun. It’s more than powerful enough to kill in one shot, while also being capable of fully-automatic fire, with a capacity of however many rounds we want in a belt-box.”
“Uh…huh…” She gave a skeptical nod and took a step back, not exactly sold on the idea. “It looks ancient. It’s kinetic, right? Why aren’t we using energy-based weapons? Don’t we have a gunpowder shortage coming up?”
He moved his chair off to the side to look back at her. “We just can’t; Simple as. We’ll need who knows how many more AI cores before we can get started on that level of equipment, Trace,” he huffed, returning his gaze to the specifications of the firearm. “This isn’t the most ‘modern’ weapon we can make, but its twenty-first century counterpart helps with an improved design… somewhat. And, as I said before, it should be more than capable of killing a bug in one shot, so Shar can just tap-fire it to save ammunition.”
Her head tilted quizzically. “Shar?”
“Yup,” he returned confidently. “It’s the perfect weapon for her.”
She raised a brow. “How so?”
He held his hand up, counting his reasons on his fingers. “She’s always on the front line with a shield, she can absolutely handle the weight and recoil, her four arms make reloading it simple, plus she’ll need something with range and power that isn’t a spear. So, why not? And, if for some reason, she doesn’t want to use it, we can just convert it into a turret—which is something I was planning on doing anyways with however more M2s we print out later.”
“I doubt she’ll say no to any gun you give her,” Tracy chuckled while shaking her head, inadvertently causing her bangs to cover her eyes.
“Fair enough,” he conceded with a bob of his head. “What do you think, then? What kinda weapons do you have in mind?”
She reapplied her goggles into an impromptu hairband, feeling a smirk cross her face. “Thought you’d never ask. What purpose do we need these guns to fulfill? Hordes I’m guessing?”
“That’s the idea, yeah. That doesn’t mean they all need to be machine guns, though.” He tapped the belt-fed shotgun beside him.
“Well, lemme see what we’re working with first.” She suddenly stepped forward, leaning over Harrison’s seat to access the keyboard and mouse. Her arms briefly rubbed against him, forcing him to roll his chair backward. She suppressed a giggle at seeing his incredulous frown.
Her eyes quickly traced the hundreds of individual files, clicking through all sorts of folders, each arranged from pre-twenty-first century ‘antiques,’ to more modern iterations of kinetics and particle weaponry. There was… a lot on there—almost too much to reasonably comb through. Why? Did the colony overseers just say ‘fuck it’ and put whatever they could find on here? Were they expecting the pioneers to make a museum of everything?
She sighed, standing up straight and facing Harrison. “Y’know, I’m actually impressed you managed to find that M2-whatever in there…”
He shifted in his seat, resting an elbow on the desk. “Yup, there’s a lot. I’m almost tempted to just make several of those machine guns and just call it a day, but I feel like that’d be too much of a strain on resources, no?”
“I don’t really know enough about how you fight those spider-crab things, or how to get more gunpowder, so… maybe?” She shrugged, biting her cheek in contemplation. “You might just wanna make a few smaller caliber weapons… like, uh… those old kinetic service rifles. If your pump-action shotgun works fine, I’m sure some normal guns would work just fine for now, right?”
He hardily gripped his firearm, hauling it up to his lap. “Depends on what you mean by ‘smaller caliber.’ The whole reason why the KS-23 here works—” he pulled out a massive shell from the ammo belt, displaying it on his palm. “—is because the twenty-three-millimeter round has enough energy transfer to mess up any bug's shell and insides. I’d say the smallest rounds we could use would be point-two-forty-three caliber to get any similar results.”
Brief flickers of grungy orange shells and gnashing teeth marred Tracy’s sight. She forcibly suppressed them, distracting herself with dry humor and a strained laugh. “Guess those fuckers can really take a punch, huh?”
He shook his head somberly. “I couldn’t imagine going up against them without a gun… Anyway, I like your idea of a standard rifle for now. Then, when we have some product lines up, we can go a little more in depth into personal weapons.”
“So are you gonna take one?” She hopped up on the desk, letting her legs swing off the side.
“Don’t think so, no. I’ll stick with my shotty.” The internals of the heavily modified weapon rattled as he held it up and inspected it. “Doesn’t mean I’ll keep it as is. I’m thinking of printing a laser aiming module so I can point-fire it accurately, and maybe a melee-oriented muzzle brake or a lighter chassis to reduce weight… Not sure though.”
She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, her cheeks in her palms. “Melee-oriented? Oooooh, like a chain-sword or something?”
His short chuckle coerced a smirk to her face. “No, not like that. More something to use as a bludgeoning tool. Right before the blood-moon, I ended up getting just as much use out of this shotgun as a hammer than as a… well, a shotgun.”
“That’s pretty fuckin’ metal. So are you just gonna make the barrel into a giant bayonet?”
He nodded. “Not exactly a bayonet, but something more like a door-breaching break.”
A short silence settled on their conversation, the faint sounds of the fabricator’s hum and distant woodwork coming to light. Right, there was an outside world… She’d been too caught up talking to Harrison for however many hours it had been. She wondered how successful the fisherwomen were in collecting, and how things had been for the others working on the wood storage shack. Maybe it was already completed? The sun peered through the cargo bay door, proving that it was only about midday. What else would they work on today?
“Hey,” she ventured.
“Hm?” the engineer hummed, his eyes focused on the monitor beside the technician.
She scooted closer to his keyboard. “What’re we doing after this?”
“What do you mean?”
She leaned backward, propping herself up on two hands. “Project wise; what’s the next big thing?”
“Uhmmm…” he muttered, interacting with the computer for a few more seconds before finally meeting her gaze. “Well, I’ve just allocated the fabricator to print out the M2, three FALs—wood furniture, of course—then there’s the magazines and ammunition, so we’ve got a lot of time to kill. The next big thing is definitely going to be metal procurement, and— Oh, right!” Harrison stopped mid-sentence, reaching into his backpack and pulling out several finger-sized metallic cubes, a sudden fire in his eyes. “Okay, so a while ago, during an encounter with three colossi, Shar and Akula found a cave with some ‘surface’ metal deposits. I took a piece off to analyze, but never got the chance to until last night. Anyway, we don’t have any machines to examine the ore, so I made use of the recycler and broke it down to its baser components.”
She nodded along, seeing where he was going with his explanation. “I’m guessing those shiny cubes are the metals from the ore?”
“Sure is. So, as it turns out, we have a pretty damn close supply of not only iron, but also, zinc, sulfur, and a small amount of cadmium. I talked with Sebas about it and did a little research. We believe it’s something akin to sphalerite, given its composition and looks, which implies it’s a sedimentary exhalative deposit. That means there must have been some volcanic…”
Harrison continued talking about underwater deposits and ancient rock formations, bringing up some theories brought forward by the now 4-AI-core-powered Sebas, delving into the current land mass’ history and possible ore output. A lot of it went over the tradewoman’s head, but she still listened intently… Honestly, she could have listened to the man talk about finding metals for hours. It was sort of like the podcasts she used to listen to while completing colonist training, but even more personal and somehow easier to get lost in…
“…find some other minerals further down like silver, but it also might be an active lava zone. Again, these are all theories and this world could just throw the fundamentals of geology away as it does for physics. Anyway, sorry for going on for so long about that, just thought it’d be important for getting some metals in the future.”
“No, no,” Tracy assured, alleviating him of concern with a wave of her hand. “If there’s anything the colony overseers emphasized, it was farming and mineral acquisition. Don’t worry.” She smiled, pointing a thumb to herself. “I just wanna know how I can help.”
“Actually, I’ve a few things only you can do. I’d like to make use of your impressive drone-making expertise for a few applications, if you don’t mind.”
The task of keeping eye contact slipped into an impossible feat in the span of a singular second, planting a pang of embarrassment on her reddened face, forcing her to inspect her fidgeting hands. “I-I wouldn’t say ‘impressive’… b-but what do you have in mind?”
She could see him raise a brow out of the corner of her vision. “Well, after what you’ve shown me with the reconnaissance flyers, I’d like your help in setting up a more permanent ‘net’ of them to scour the meadow and parts of the nearby forest to look out for any approaching hordes. I don’t want to be snuck up on… again…”
‘Again.’
She noted his small frown and sunken eyes, both a little more exaggerated than they already were. It wasn’t like she’d deny his request, but the pangs of empathy over their shared situation all but solidified her resolve. It was the least she could do. She could help him. She would help him.
The technician exhaled slowly, taking on a more serious and understanding tone than before. “I… can do that. For sure. What else?”
“I appreciate it.” He gave a wane smile. “I’ll help you with whatever you need for the project. For the other drones, I’m thinking about a small exploration vehicle to map out caves around us and mark any minerals, as well as a submersible to look for potassium deposits in the ocean.”
“So… search bots?” She crossed her arms, confidence growing; those were her specialty. “Depending on how long the fabricators take and what kind of base drones are in the blueprint folders, I should be able to get those done in no time. All I need to know are the search cues for potassium and how many drones you want.”
He quickly shuffled a few folders on the computer, turning the monitor for her to see some scientific documents with various images and walls upon walls of text. “There’re plenty of resources for that on here for what to look for, and there’s always Sebas, so feel free to ask him since he can just sort through the data for you anyway. If you can, I’d like it if you could focus on the submersible after the reconnaissance drones.”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll be right on it, then.” She gave him a thumbs up, slipping off his desk and toward her own.
“I’ll bring you lunch in a bit. Imma go check on the others,” he called.
Her stomach grumbled at the mention, her head turning to give him an appreciative smile. “Oh! Thanks!”
\= = = = =
Avian creatures chirped from their perches in the trees nearby. The wind softly rustled red leaves as grass gently gave way to calculated footfalls. A warm sun laid its light on Shar’khee’s neck. It was surprisingly pleasant, were one to take the time to notice. The mainland was a confusing place for the paladin, with its disparate representations of nature contrasting so heavily. Some days were filled with blood and ravenous beasts, while others were left within the domain of simplicity and beauty. She was content to have the latter, yet it felt like a facade veiling the former—a soft exterior covering the maliciously spiked interior. Never could she leave herself to carelessness, no matter how welcoming it might be.
Hence why she worked to ensure the safety of the star-sent’s castles and their inhabitants, her days largely spent patrolling for any roaming swarms that may wish to cause them harm. She typically used the routine to think, but today offered little in the way of solitude. This time, she was accompanied by the previously banished guardswoman, and was tasked with instructing the new one, though the specifics of what such lessons should entail were vague. Still, Shar’khee did all that she could so as not to disappoint Harrison, so she could only attempt to meet his expectations of her.
She told the yellow-skinned female of the threats that the settlement faced, how one was to defeat them, and what to expect from the beasts. The guardswoman was directed to practice her form with the spear in both thrusts and throwing for some time afterward, proving herself to be well-built. Such was expected of her profession after all.
It was pleasing to have another capable of patrolling the settlement’s outskirts for swarms, as it would greatly impact how effectively the colony could react to such a threat. If her routine was to suffer for the colony’s well-being, she was happy to show the new one her patrol route and note what to look out for.
The guardswoman was not a perfect student, however. Shar’khee never addressed it directly, but the yellow-skinned female obviously discredited the danger posed by the abhorrent, not-so-subtly shrugging off any warnings.
…That was until they stumbled upon the ‘hyena-boars,’ as Harrison called them.
The beasts resided in a clearing not too far from the castles, carelessly meandering across the sea of tall grass. Shar’khee quickly crouched, dragging the guardswoman down with her. Once she assessed that the creatures were not an imminent danger, she decided it would be an excellent opportunity to show the new one how to properly engage a threat. She was about to propose the idea, yet her speech was silenced just as swiftly.
Orange flashes darted through the trees around the glade. Taloned feet and gnashing teeth tore across the ground toward the unsuspecting beasts at the center. It was much too late for them. They were slow. Surrounded. Unaware. It was as quick as it was vicious, the forest’s reds turning a deeper crimson hue in a moment's notice underneath the abhorrent’s brutality.
Gangly monstrosities gnawed and ripped at the dead creatures, brief glimpses of raw flesh and white bone protruding from the small spaces between the clumped-up beasts. Repulsive wet splatters of blood and gore overlapped the calm noises of the forest, the grisly scene serenaded by the softest of nature’s symphonies. It was a sickening juxtaposition.
Shar’khee bit back the unease and steeled herself. They were within twenty paces—close enough to smell the abhorrent’s vile stench of rot and bile, yet far enough so as not to be noticed. She briefly considered backing away and retreating, her focus bouncing between the different avenues of escape, or how to cover her footst—
Crack.
Several sets of feral, eyeless maws snapped in their direction, the blood dripping off freshly dampened teeth. The guardswoman gasped, Shar’khee’s gaze following to see the mistake: a singular broken branch crinkled as a yellow-colored foot raised off the splintering twig.
The paladin exhaled sharply and smoothly stood up, brandishing two spears and her shield. Her glare settled on the still crouching guardswoman. “You are to stay behind my shield and let them appr—ch. Rem—ber what I have told you. Aim for their maws when you thrust y—r lance.”
The other female nodded, shakily pulling out her own weapons with unsteady placement hampering her grip. There was an obvious nervousness to her gaze. Hesitance. That would not do.
Shar’khee faced the prowling abhorrent her knuckles shifting hue as she prepared for their advance, for there was no chance that they wouldn’t. True to her experience, the stalking turned to a gallop with several clicks of grotesque tongues, the swarm bolting toward her as one. She snarled and slammed her bulwark into the ground, letting the approaching beasts skewer themselves amongst its spikes.
There were only ten—a paltry amount. She had defended against magnitudes more, and yet she still stood. What is more, they were mindless. Uncoordinated. They would be but stains in the cloth she used to clean her armor. Perhaps, if they were fortunate, they might leave a furrow in her shield to remember them by. Her arms tensed as the first leapt.
One by one, the abhorrent fell, their repulsive green blood splattering under her thrusts. Each awaiting corpse tore across the grove’s grass, lunging to their deaths with gaping maws and unfeeling hunger, yet she did not yield. Their shells were crushed by her shield and impaled by her Goddess-blessed spears, becoming but one more smear across their surface. Ten motionless lumps lay before her, seeping their ichor into the soil, none having passed the barrier she became. Dead, just as the Creator intended. She remained vigilant for a few moments longer, watching for any more of the disgusting creatures.
None showed themselves, finally allowing blood to flow to her fingers once again. The shield’s heavy presence weighed down her back, the blood flicked off of her spears before she returned them to their place.
“Are y–u well?” Shar’khee addressed the frozen Malkrin, wiping away the splatter on her bracers. The guardswoman stared at the small pile of deceased creatures, her heavy breaths and widened eyes moving from the spear from her singular kill. The paladin huffed. “We are fort—ate that there were so few.”
“F-Few? God help us…” Her horrified, stunned gaze slowly met the paladin’s. “Y-You said there were hundreds on the crimson nights? H-How do you… They were s-so fast.”*
”As I h–ve warned,” Shar’khee affirmed.
“You are a paladin! You all exaggerate your feats… I thought it was just a facade!”
“I have no r—son to lie,” she returned tersely, shrugging off the insult to her station and shaking her head. “The mainl—d is far more dangerous than ten gnash—g beasts; more so than that of your island hamlet. Pick yourself up. We m—t inform the others of this incursion.”
The yellow-skinned female snarled, furrowing her brows at the ground in frustration. At whom…? Shar’khee? Herself? Regardless, the female promptly gathered her composure, pushing air through clenched jaws. A step forward had her feet splash in the small pool of blood, the Malkrin nodding toward the paladin to continue back to the castles.
“…for the village.”
Shar’khee paused in her stride and faced her, frowning at the determination and anger leaking through the intent. “W—t was that?”
Her question was returned with honesty, a huffed voice marred by vexation. “Paladin, how am I to defend my village-mates as I am now?”
“‘As you are now?’ What do you m—n?”
The guardswoman stared down at her spear, wood creaking under her grip. “I have faltered before what you deem a paltry threat, and the thought of an even greater one sows dread deep within my bones. I wish… I wish to be better prepared to defend those of my village. I cannot help but see their faces on those of the furred creature in the clearing, and yet, even if I am so close, I am just as unable to protect them.”
Shar’khee stared down the yellow female, a long gaze taking in a rare showing of sincerity. “Y—r fears are one we all share, new one. Do not be ashamed of them. All t—t matters is that you do not let them rem—n mere fear, but make them your strength. So tell me, do you wish to impr—e? To ensure they do not fall while you are support—g them?”
The yellow-skinned female released a shuddering breath that bled off the worst of her indecision, a newly invoked flame flaring within her visage. “I do, paladin. I seek to protect and to be of use.”
“Then, if you wish to make y—rself resilient in the face of all that opposes us, it would be my undertak—g to forge you anew. Fortunately, Harrison has ordered such already, and his guidance shall prove ever useful, should you pursue it.”
The guardswoman shuffled in place at the star-sent’s mention, her eyes slipping downwards. “He is of a great many resources, but I would rather receive your teachings than those of a craftsman… or that of a male, deity-sent he might be.”
She placed a palm on the female’s shoulder. “He is far more than you might ever k—w. Regardless of if you ac—pt his guidance, I commend your conviction. However—” Her hand gripped tighter, though not enough to instill hostility. “—understand that you are protecting more than just your vi—age-mates.”
The new one nodded, staring up at the paladin with stallwart resolve. “Of course. I shall be in your tutelage, then.”
Shar’khee smiled. “T—n let us begin.”
\= = = = =
Akula was becoming increasingly certain that she knew how her parents once felt. The green-skinned fisherwoman was currently rotating between the many tasks placed upon her, guiding the newcomers through the minutia of their tasks so they might live up to the potential Harrison saw within them. She was gratified to have her own talents recognized by the Creator, but it also placed a great many responsibilities in her talons. Of course, she handled each new addition with finesse befitting her heritage, never once balking from the increasing demands. If anything, she felt validated; it was required of her as a female anyway, was it not? The more feminine-appropriate labor and management one undertakes, the higher authority they were granted.
It began with a simple assignment to oversee the chef’s introduction to the star-sent’s provided cooking appliances. As fascinating and convenient as utilities were, she held no interest in preparing any more food than she already had, but teaching another to operate the machines would alleviate such requirements of her. She reluctantly accepted the task when it was proposed, especially considering the fact that Harrison was much too busy with his other projects to bother with something as benign as cooking. His work was more valuable elsewhere.
The task itself went well, and the pink-skinned chef was quick to pick up on the use of the various kitchen devices, as well as the smoker. A grin had grown when she considered the possibility of all males understanding such domestic things readily, yet her mirth at removing the masculine job required of her was short-lived. Despite the newly initiated Malkrin’s success, Harrison had Akula frequently return to oversee the numerous cooking operations being conducted. That was in tandem with the back-to-back fishing trips made by both herself and the newly acquired females.
…Which was something else the green-skinned cycle-worshipper was ordered to oversee.
She had left the chef to his devices after producing another batch of partially seasoned meals, returning to the Creator with hopes of a break. He applauded her efforts with a nod and tersely spoken appreciation, then quickly pushed two spearguns into her hand and directed her to the ocean, where the twins were ‘working with jack shit,’ as the busy male said. She was to give the fisherwomen the tools and make sure they were used properly, and offer additional assistance in acquiring ‘enough fish to have us fed for a little bit.’
So, she left to complete the given task, feeling somewhat appreciative that her speargun was of superior quality to those she would be delivering—the newcomers were only afforded the lesser, roped-bolt version. It was only natural that she was in possession of their greatest assets, of course; the star-sent saw her as the only one capable of wielding such fantastic ammunition, showing trust that was rightfully placed in her. That did not mean the gray-skinned females were unsatisfied with their own gifts, however. The twins were swiftly caught up on the ‘manual of arms’ and sent to work, somehow managing to keep up with Akula in spite of their land-based origins. The two were fast enough to outpace the cycle-worshipper in sheer speed, but their lack of numerous winters spent traversing deeper waters meant they required frequent rests, breaking the ocean’s surface after every third captured fish or so.
Still, she had to appreciate their dedication to their task. They never complained about Akula pushing them further to reach the star-sent’s vague objective. Such a task was entrusted to her—and by proxy, the other two—and thus it would be completed, no matter how much her comfortable bed… couch called her tiring muscles.
The group of three hauled net after full net of fresh meat to the chef—and sewist, who later joined him—forcing him to relegate much of the catch to long-term storage as the kitchen simply could not deal with the surplus. At least three-quarters of the fish were put to slow cook in the now Malkrin-sized smoker. The craftsman had upgraded it with a kit provided by Harrison, who had recycled much of the dining room and workshop furniture to accommodate it. The Creator’s showcased urgency to gather materials was clearly not unfounded… It was admirable how he used what little he had left to ensure food would not be scarce. Additionally, the apparatus exuded an excellent scent for all the survivors to enjoy, the earthy aroma drawing in some of the other Malkrin for their breaks or meals.
Those were not the end of the cycle-worshiper’s tasks, however. She was also required to report on Shar’khee’s progress in training the guardswoman—helping to recycle the small swarm of abhorrent they cleared earlier—as well as the wood storage building’s progress. Indeed, she was advising and assisting however and wherever applicable. To say she was seen all around the settlement would be an understatement.
Nevertheless, she was appreciative to see her efforts bearing fruit by sundown. The processing of their meals from sea to plate was quite efficient, and those that Akula taught were now well-practiced in their duties. The twin fisherwomen dove from wave to wave, bringing fish back to the barracks, where the cook and sewist swiftly worked to transfer the meat to pans and smoker hooks alike. Then, the remnants of the Sea Goddess’ aquatic gifts would be subsequently recycled and given purpose anew as biofuel or perhaps future fertilizer.
The endless onslaught of duties and responsibilities had enlightened her, in a way. She could see where Harrison came from now; having a working project go from one point to another without input nor difficulty was a sight to behold, and it made her swell with pride. It was a surmountable feat to teach the barbaric ground-worshippers to do something properly.
…Well, they were not horrible Malkrin, so perhaps simply calling them ‘uninitiated’ was a more apt descriptor…
No matter the tribulations faced, and no matter how draining her new authority might be, her rest at the end of the day would be one that was well-earned, and it would be had with a sense of satisfaction. She deserved it, and perhaps that extended to the rest of the settlement as well.
- - - - -
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~Player always get better or cooler reward for helping other~
Player race - fiver options for customization
Ghoul
No radiation damage + slow regeneration + npc more mefiant and discrimination
Glowing ghoul =
No radiation damage + slow regeneration + npc shoot on sight need to convinced them you’re sane
Super mutant =
No radiation damage + Npc are scared and treat you like an idiot and discriminate
Synthétique =
The compount will hunt you down eventually
Human = no malus or bonus

Character background :
Ghoul / glowing ghoul : Old ghoul ; new ghoul ; vault
Human : Vault ; settler ; brotherhood ; institute
Super mutant: amnesiac
Synthétique : Railroad ; Mister handy (Miss nanny) Old, new, vault.
START
New arrivant decided to etablished themselves in an old farm close to the local town and become farmer.
First objectif :
- rebuilt home by scavenging in delapited town

• scavenging town to find seed (First seed of the player)
  
• Scavenging town to find gardening tool
  

Mechanics

Upgrade house by collecting enough scavenging material (metal, stone, tape, glue, etc…) and paid the town entrepreneur to do so.
Possibility to upgrade town by the same way : drinkable water ; defense ; radio tower ; museum ; school ; etc…
Defend home from wild attack (animal, raiders, super mutant, ect…) with gun and eventually autonomous turrets (later game) and engage mercenary to defed (late game). The more the player amass money, the more frequent the attack will be.
Scavenger will gossip about big event and some minor event that occurred in the settlement that you participated in.
Settlement gestion :

• Happiness (Festival ? ; npc request ; …)
  
• Sanitaire (Water access)
  
• Defense (Millitia ; autonomous turrets ; dogs)
  

Thirst gestion.
Can recolt skin, meat (and bones?) of wild animal.
Can recolt material, used to very used weapond, (rarely) health item, (meat and corpse body parts?) on intelligent humanoïds ennemy
Carrying can either be by weight of the item or by the number of item player can carry.

Farming

Season : Spring (middle season) ; Summer (high season) ; Automn (middle season) ; Winter (low season)
Tool: Hoe ; Scynthe ; Watering can ; Pickaxe hamme
Base crop value vs transform product :
Spring : -- ++
Summer : --- +++
Automn : ++ --
Winter : +++ ---

Can sell crop and other to nearest settlement (help with settlement relationship at first) or to traveling marchant.
The river close to your home have fish in it. It take two day for fish to repopulate. If seasonal fish have all be take out, it will take two years
Can raise different mutated animal. Sell them to the town for meat (or kill them and sell them yourself ?) or keep them alive for animal product. (Animal have life span?)
Transform product : Wine ; beer ; jelly ; dried spice,meat, fish ; cheese ; mayo ; butter
Farm building :

• Coop and barn
  
• Forge to fix used weapon
  

- Wind mill

• Food storage (?)
  
• Money storage (no bank, credit card or debit card. Need to carry in your inventary the money life in fallout)
  

Crop seed that can be found in the town :

• Potato
  
• Melon
  
• Wheat
  
• Corn
  
• Carrot
  
• Gourd
  

Seed you can buy for traveling marchants :

• Spice seed (basilic ; persil; etc..)
  
• Fruit seed
  
• Legume seed
  

( - Flower and house plant seed ? (Aloes??))

Fight

No power armor for the player :(
Can buy stimpack and radaway from settlement healer or from scavenger in the town (for a more expensive price). When reach high enough relationship with healer, he will give you the recipe for both. The only way to regain life and get rid of radiation (sleep and food don’t heal). (Sickness (malus) if health too low for too long?)
Gain radiation by drinking
The main fight zone of the game is the town. In the edge : house, a small commerce (tiny to small dungeon) ; Closer to the center: Office, appartement (small to medium dungeon) ; Center : Commercial center, sky scrapper, (subway?) (normal to big dungeon.
Some raiders and some synth will drop their weapons and beg for their life if the health is low enough. Spare enough of them and you will receive letter from either : the minuteman ; the brotherhood or the railroad to thank you for sending more recruit their way. Two or three will regularly visit town.

Relationship

Can get a dog as a perm. Companion (can choose race?) (Can breed you dog and gitf puppy to the settlement?)
Npc relationship possible bonus :
- Discount (from marchant)
- Recipe
- Special cut scene
- (Sometime) help on the farm

• (Sometime) help to defend the farm

Some npc love receving gift other will be inconfortable with it. But after (wedding?) no adverse reaction to receive gift.

• 2 gift a week
  
• 1 gift a month (After the first gift wil react more and more incomfortable, will start to lower relationship)
  

MAX : 2 gift a week
Might meet some settler in the edge of the town, scavenging like you.
Cause of relationship decay :

• Unlike gift
  
• (for some) offer to many gift
  
• 1 month with no interraction
  
• Answer choice
  
• Attacking townie (unkillable)
  
• Question choice
  

There’s a vault “near” the settlement. Gain their trust by doing quest (# depend on race of the player). Once they trust you and when you become mayor, they will become full allied and allow circulation between their vault and the settlement.
Romanceable npc
- # Ghoul

• Robot (Synth and miste handy (miss nanny)

• Super mutant

• Settler

- 1 Traveling npc
Special romance
- Mysterious stranger (need 10 Luck and insert condition)
Will randomly pop out of your house and pop back in. Will tell you about a lone wanderer, courrier or vault survivor he helped. Will come to your help in combat with baby in hand (if kid in the game)

• intelligent deathclaw (insert conditions)

Rival ? Date ?
If there’s kid in the game
Player will be able to have two kids. (Hatchling deathclaw will count as one if in a relationship with Deathclaw).
If player or spouse can’t have a kid (Super mutant ; ghoul ; Synth); player will get a quest about a raider camp in town. Discover all prisoner are dead except one human baby hidden by the body of his dead mother.
Quest reward : Congradulation you are a parent :D
If player can have kid; if spouse is a women, player will have to catter to their wife food craving (nothing with rare item) or face a penality in the relationship. If player is a women ; Malus in health, energy, slower deplacement and carrying capacity decrease the more and more the pregnancy advance. New choice of answer : pissed as fuck and hormonal. Spouse will insist to become a companion until end of pregnancy
Kid will go to school (town upgrade) for three day, help on the farm for three other and have a free day.

Stats

Strenght : carrying capacity (?) ; combat ; energy ; health ; defense
Perception : detect ennemy ; scavenging ; npc interraction
Endurence : health ; energy ; resistance
Charisma : batter ; persuasion ; Npc weariness ; # limit of resident npc in settlement
Intelligence : crafting farm upgrade (fertilizer ; spinkler) ; used weapon fixing
Agility : sneak ; weapon ; defense
Luck : loot quality ; gambling (?) ; crit chance (max starting points : 5)

Skill

Tree skill style possibility : Path of exile ; Outer world
Farming: Tilling - Watering
Fight: Heavy weapons- Light weapons- Melee
Defence : Dodge - Block
Stealth: Sneak- Lockpick - Hack
Endurance : Poison resistance - Radiation resistance - Thirst resistance
Persuasion: Batter - Intimidation - Persuation (?)
Scavenging : Deconstruct - Descerning eyes
Thinkering : Crafting - Engineering - Medecine
(Upgrade skill to upgrade stat? Once you upgrade a skill enough, it allow you to upgrade the stat?)

Quest :
Attempt murder on the player by the mayor once town upgrade and settler relationship high enough. Scare that they would lose their place to you to engage mercenary or try to poison you to keep their place. Force the mercenary to tell you who paid them or find a note on one of them or talk to the mayor after the attack (will be surprise to see you alive). You can :
- Bring him to justice and let the settler decide of his fate. (Will be possible to talk to him in prison)
- Execute him (will have to prove to the settler that this was auto-defense. Lose some relationship with settler)

• Let him life (will leave town. Grateful to be alive but bitter to have lose his title)

Result : Become mayor next election!
Raides have created a camp close to the settlement. Remove them. Player will find two npc in cage. You can :

• Let them there

-Help them out
-Kill them inside the cage
Result :

• They die
  
• Will eventually die of thirsth
  
• Will come to the town and become settlers
  

You’ve find a mister handy (or miss nanny) in the town. Why not fix them?
Result : They will propose you to help you on the farm. Accept and they’ll start working the day after. Refuse and they’ll becom settler. (Possibility to make them synth when relationship high enough?)

Find a sorry scene : deadraiders; a dead deathclaw; a nest with two crushed egg a one intact egg. You can :

• Sell the egg
  
• Eat the egg
  

-Hatch the egg
Result :

• Money
  
• Bost in one stat? Level upgrade?
  
• Get a baby deathclaw. Will be able to switch with you dog as perm companion. (If romanced the deathclaw, you spouse will leave with the hachtling for a season. When back the hatchling statut will change from animal to children and gain dialogue)
  

The river close to your house is drying. Discover the reason. The river goes into a cavern and to a lake.
Result : new fish
There’s a thirsthy and hungry homeless man at the edge of the settlement. You can :
-Give him food and water for a week
-Let him there
-kill him
Result :
-They get back on their feet and eventually open an inn in town. Will sometime offer you free drink an talk to you about stranger he hepled by following your exemple.
-They will slowly die an talk with more and more difficulty. (Which led to kill him)
-Burry him and make a small tomb or let him root there. Will get eaten by wild animal.

Guiding an injured npc to the town
Result :??

The settlement don’t have enough food for the winter and ask for your help. You can :

• Refuse
  
• Accept
  

Result :

• -- relationship with settler and some settler will die
  
• ++ reward if accept
  

Help to defend the settlement (before settlement defense upgrande)
Result :??

The scientist of the vault ## think they can help you rediscover old world crop see.
Result : new seeds :D

End game quest :
The vault now trust you enough to tell you about the G.E.C.K.S. The received one that ended up defective and never received the second. They want you to go to the vault building in the center of the town and see if you can find any information about it. Vault tower will be the most difficult dungeon in the game. Beat it to find that the G.E.C.K.S was sent to a second vault that was either unfinished or an experimentation. Go the the vault ## to discover that the G.E.C.K.S had taken some damage from bad condition and bad storage. Get all the item to fix it and either fix it yourself (no money cost) or ask to a vault scientist to fix it (+++ money cost)
Result : The map surrounding your house, the vault and the town will become more and more green with beautiful tree (Process will take ### day or month or years)