#Starfield Guide

[pixelpandaarcade]

Starfield: Outposts: Article 002: Storage Solutions

Introduction  The way you handle storage is going to depend on your preferences. I hate how the cargo containers look, but they are extremely useful. Everything in this article was done after I did the proper research.  You’ll need to make sure you have Outpost Engineering at rank 2. You’ll also need to ensure you’ve completed manufacturing 2 and 3. Please note that you might just need Outpost…

[ittorule34]

WHOS GETTING CLOSER?

They are 😭😭😭😭 they’ve been chasing me since my 5th birthday I’m so tired please help me

[osean-kitty]

How to Build Your First Ship in Starfield - Complete Guide

[hardcoregamer]

Starfield | Best Background Starting Skills

Selecting a background in Starfield is a very important part of the game, but the problem with the background selection menu is that it doesn’t tell you exactly what the skill does, it only shows the flavor text. You won’t necessarily know which skills you want to focus on until you take a look at all the skills in the game and decide which ones are best for your playstyle.

Check it out!

[inquisitionthoughts]

Dragon Age the Veilguard: My Thoughts

I have played through all of the latest Dragon Age installation (except for two side quests in Rivain, and one blighted dragon that I was locked out of for the entire game due to what I believe was a bug) and I have things to say. 

After finishing it I had so many conflicting thoughts and feelings, and those internal conflicts have only grown after letting the experience marinate. 

I want to start with saying that I am writing what I'm going to say as a nonbinary, queer, bi, pan, poly, “leftist” progressive feminist vegetarian working at an NGO LGBTQI-organization, so you can safely assume that I am not coming from a grifter or alt-right point of view. 

To give you an idea of where I am coming from:

I grew up reading folktales, mythologies and fantasy literature by Pratchett, Tolkien and Eddings; playing the Swedish version of Dungeons & Dragons, making role-playing games, and programming text based fantasy adventures in DOS as a kid. That's how I ended up in this whole fandom in the first place. 

I am an original Dragon Age fan. I've followed and absolutely loved the series since before the release of Origins. As I watched my friends play Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, but never had a good enough computer at home to play those games myself at that time, I was elated when I got to hear talk of a game universe that was the “spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate”, and I followed all info on the development and marketing, until the game was released. And boy did they deliver, Dragon Age: Origins converted me into a gamer and cemented my love for cRPGs as well as my love for BioWare. 

I did many playthroughs of Origins; every origin, good runs, evil runs, canon runs. All the DLC. Several runs of Awakening. When the demo for DAII was released I was apprehensive due to the really weird look so it took me a while to play it, but when I eventually did it was amazing. The companions and the story were stellar, and it didn't really matter that they reused the dungeons, I just wish they had updated the maps so it wasn't as obvious. Several playthroughs later with both siblings, all romances and different allied endings I was ready for the next installation. 

I pre-ordered Dragon Age Inquisition as soon as it was possible, the collector's edition, so I ended up learning tarot to use the deck that came with it. I bought all the art books for all the games. I kind of wanted to stop playing Inquisition at the 1337 hour mark but now I have over 2000 hours in the game, with all the DLC completed, and I've played every race and class, explored all the different ways the character can be portrayed as devout Andrastian, carefree selfish asshole, elven supremacist or goodie-two shoes hero, and I’ve even written a guide to how to get the best DAI experience here on tumblr (tldr; get out of the Hinterlands, talk to companions, skip the shards 😅). 

And then I waited for ten years. Played Mass Effect 1-4, Fallout 3-4, Skyrim, Witcher 3, Baldur's Gate 1-3, Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, Elder Scrolls Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Divinity: Original Sin 2, The Outer Worlds, Cyberpunk 2077 and Starfield to bide my time. Followed Ghil Dirthalen's YouTube channel religiously. Read most of the Dragon Age Wiki, even contributed to it. Made my own mad person mind maps over the lore and timeline of the universe; the Maker, the titans, the spirits, the elves, the veil, humans, Tevinter, qunari, the blight, Andraste and the Chantry. 

I love the darkness and depth of the Dragon Age universe. How it consciously turns fantasy tropes on their head in its own way. I have memories of the writers of Origins explaining that when they created the setting they wanted to contemplate how the existence of magic, elves and dwarves actually would play out in a gritty realistic world filled with bigoted and narrow minded people, and then followed through with those conclusions. How the plight of the elves had clear connotations to the holocaust and the Jewish gettos of Europe. It was a curious series not afraid to follow their own trains of thought, making you nauseated, flabbergasted and upset on the way. 

I followed the twists and turns of the development at BioWare. Through development being halted due to teams being moved to Andromeda and Anthem, the pivot to and from multi-player live service, mass leavings and layoffs, teaser trailers, Kotaku articles and whatnot. It was a roller-coaster pendulum swing between being afraid and hopeful, oftentimes at the same time. I refused to completely give up hope, I never did, and I was immensely excited for the release of Dragon Age Dreadwolf. 

Eventually it came! Name changed to Veilguard. A quite weird League of Legends-esque companions trailer. A spoiler filled gameplay video. Marketing team spoiling endgame scenes with official trailers. Rumors of amazing character creation and a shocking reveal that only three choices would carry over from the past three games. We already knew the Keep wouldn't be used, but only three? Nevertheless I pre-ordered and then it came. 

And I played it. 

I loved it so much, but at the same time I had so many deep grievances that threatened to take over the whole playthrough unless I somehow managed them. I had to create a document that stayed open at all times on my second screen just so I could write down things that I just could not let go otherwise, that made me able to keep focusing on the game and not the hard to swallow moments I was getting stuck on. I have never experienced anything like this before, but on the other hand I have never loved and been invested in any game fantasy universe like this. 

This was the result of all my reactions to Dragon Age the Veilguard:

THE LOVE

Things I really loved

the lighthouse <3

the look and graphics of every place, the game is absolutely stunning, and the visual people have outdone themselves, the level designs, the environmental storytelling is amazing and beyond

the cities, the markets, I LOVE LOVE LOVE them, and they give so much cyberpunk 2077 vibes in a good way 

dock town gives awesome low town vibes from da2 ❤️

the main story

the new lore drops, omg the lore, yum yum

buskers playing the old tavern songs, just love it

the blight, visually, oh god I loved it, it was really a throwback to the fleshyness of the Deep Roads in Origins

the new look of the demons, I actually loved it eventually as I was first sceptical, even though the pride demons were abit too much floaty neon

so many new iterations of enemies, in such fun ways

the faction systems and factions stores 

the companion gear systems

the gear system, upgrade systems

the short letters ❤️

the leveling up systems, really funny, great to be able to refund at any time

the world maps and fast travel systems

the cards where you chose your companions, stunning

the scene in front of the lighthouse eluvian, awestriking

the companion conversation system where you could see on the map of the lighthouse if they had anything new, or a quest or where they were if you wanted to eavesdrop - it was very refreshing after talking to everyone in camp in bg3 every night to see if there is any new reaction to something you did, now I could just talk to them if they had something and not compulsively all the time

the quest formats of walking along with your companions in areas you otherwise can end up in battle in, loved that so much, a calm way to experience these absolutely stunning environments

the combat system on explorer mode, when at highest level the animations that played out were mad cool XD that was fun!

that you can walk into and climb ladders at the same time as companions and that they teleport to you or enemies in battle, lovely

squeezing through narrow passages, sliding down, walking on thin planks

the no fall damage jumping

opening doors like in dark souls games

that lucanis had a contract on a bronto once XD

elgar’nan has an amaaazing voice actor giving weight to his menace

loved the format of the ending in the style of mass effect 2, so well executed! one of the best endings of all times

the varric twist OMG!! I cried ❤️

I have cried and have had goosebumps so many time during this game ❤️ I love so much of it so much ❤️

the hype for what the "devouring storm", "the adversary" and "it's eye" is, and a potential next game

the joining chalice T_T

THE MEH

Things that were meh

that the romance was super PG13 T_T I guess I am spoiled after bg3 but to get a peck and then a lying hug on a couch and an "I love you" was of course wonderful, but NOT ENOUGH XD I absolutely loved the Lucanis romance otherwise, very spicy in it's way, but I really wanted the scenes of origins, da2 or dai - we honestly didn't get that here

wasn't a fan of the cartoony vibes for the characters but I still grew into almost immediately, I really wish that they had done something to not make all important characters look so extremely young, some people who should be in at least their 30s look like teenagers.. they should have used more rugged face textures

that there was no real way to make your inquisitor look like your original inquisitor like in they did with hawke in Inquisition, kinda broke immersion and emotional connection

the controls (ok remappable so it was fine in the end)

the lol dota fortnite overwatch type of ui vibe

whats up with all this drowning all the time XD

that you have to destroy stuff to loot it - very dark souls (they have clearly been elden ring inspired in this game) - very unimmersive as you trash the markets in all major cities…😅 but in the end it was fun, but still insane XD

repetetive puzzles in especially arlathan forest, wish they made more meaningful quests there instead to slow the pace

wish I never watched the game trailers they released, they spoiled too much of the

would have loved to be able to zoom in a bit more

too many cats XD 😉

the music was more like starfield or a scifi game than dragon age - there was a lot of modern music instead of the classical brass orchestra or choirs, I missed that

I missed the chantry, and the chant of light

personal quests starts like in the shadow of mordor games, interesting, a bit weird 😛

THE 😬

Things that I did not like

that I could not recreate a body that is similar to mine (and I have a completely normal female body that is just kinda curvaceous) because they put an unrealistic cap on boob and butt size, it makes me really sad because it feels like there is something wrong with existing like me, especially since women like me are the only ones not allowed to be included and represented in a game that otherwise prides itself at inclusion and representation

the stressed opening throwing us into the main action of the game far too quickly with far too little buildup as to who your character is, how they were drafted by Varric, what they have been doing, why they have been split up, what their relationships are like and why you should care about your own character

the gold exploding everywhere when looting or opening chests, it is really immersion breaking and unnecessary, I really hope someone can mod that out

the new look of the darkspawn: I like that there are so many different types and the amazing idea that the blight has changed, but they obviously went for comedic effect instead of horror here which makes me so sad, it feels like it ties in with other choices that make the game more juvenile that are hard to reckon with, especially since the game is marketed as “mature”

the new combat system on anything other than explorer, a huge nope for me, unfortunately, but I can only congratulate all those that seem to love it

that we, true to american culture and despite healing magic existing in this world, get death scenes of people just sitting and watching someone die crying for dramatic effect instead of trying to help them… it irks me every time it happens in any media

that you cannot sort your inventory by any values or show only light or medium armor or anything, a missed opportunity

THE 😭

These last grievances are the hardest ones to put into words and the things that have stayed with me since I played the game. They have given rise to so many questions as to why these choices were made, because these things are so obviously choices that it becomes really hard to understand why they would chose to go this route.

But here they are, the three major grievances I have with this game:

1) the lore breaking or retconning

2) the writing regarding companions, NPCs and its ideas of "teambuilding" and preaching

3) that there is so little real choice 

The lore breaking or retconning

That there is much lore that is missing, and many choices or things from the previous games that are not referenced, felt a lot more okay than the instances where actual lore and world building was retconned in a way that was not explained in any capacity, but where you were just supposed to live with the fact that this is the new reality of the world. 

I am not fully sure why this happened, and it felt really disrespectful to the game itself, its previous creators and all those who love this universe. It feels like they did it for two main reasons: one was that they wanted to remove things that could be somehow perceived as “uncomfortable” or “problematic” to the player, and the other was in instances where I think that the writers did not have enough knowledge or interest in the world lore, or experience with playing the previous games, and thus missed important pieces of lore where they had taken part of just some of previous codex entries and just kind of gotten it wrong. I really don’t know. 

They seem to have retconned and thrown out the window all previous elf lore regarding dalish and city elves, that dalish elves are very hateful towards shemlen, and that humans are generally racist against elves, and that city elves are oppressed, and that they are often andrastian, and that not all elves even speak elvish… 

Playing an elf mage warden was a rollercoaster of people talking about "my people" when I most likely grew up in a mage circle and was drafted to the wardens and should most likely not speak old elven? All elves just talked about "our people" and "our culture" like if that was a thing constantly, but it is so much more complex in this universe. And it seemed all elves just suddenly knew elvish, which was not a thing in the older games, that was like a cryptic language people didn't know much about.

The weirdest scene in the whole game that had me rubbing my eyes to make sure I was seeing and hearing correctly was the one where you meet the Veil Jumpers for the first time and the two leaders of the faction for some unknown reasons had knowledge of Solas being Fen'harel and most importantly that the old elven gods were power hungry evil mages. Like, that should not at all be any kind of common knowledge, that just felt absolutely insane. No explanation given as to how they could have pertained that bit of info.

And there was something really off with Arlathan, where the whereabouts of the ancient elven capital was like the biggest mystery of the previous games; no one knew where it had vanished, it had just been buried according to legend, and suddenly there is just a large crater in the middle of Arlathan forest and loads of city parts kind of left? Just, really strange. 

And all this talk about the Tevinter blood magic destroying the elves while walking in that forest - where we literally just learned in the last game that it was not Tevinter that destroyed the elves, but the elves themselves and that when Tevinter came they were long gone, which makes those throwaway conversations just like this huge retcon of the last games. Kind of like someone reading the early lore and being like, aha, this is what happened, without also taking part of the events that showed that as being a false belief… 

And it feels like this was done because it fits in with this whole new idea of “elves good” and “man bad” vibe of the story, where elves had been turned into some kind of indigenous population that were fighting the evil colonialist Tevinter? Which is not at all the original lore; in the original lore pretty much everyone’s an asshole in different ways (even if Tevinter are more assholes than most).

They have also removed a lot of the difference between surface dwarves and thaigh dwarves with their quite oppressive cast systems and racism towards the surface dwarves and peoples.

And they made the chantry into the catholic church in Antiva, is that really lore friendly? The chantry run or other mage circles aren’t really referenced anymore, even with several new organisations around that forming after Inquisition no matter what choices you made, and mages aren’t really treated any special, and people don’t seem to be afraid of them or revere them as they would in the rest of the world or Tevinter, and magic has been turned into some kind of scifi magical tech instead of what it used to be. 

And apparently dragons have treasures now, but they never used to have that, so that's another thing where it feels like the writers did not write for the Thedas but for like generic fantasy. 

And the Crows of Antiva are only a friendly family instead of an unscrupulous child buying assassin’s league (I hear that has kind of been explained in some written media by a war between the different crow factions, but they could have somehow then explained that...), and the pirates lead by Isabela - one of the worst perpetrator of cultural theft known from Dragon Age 2 where she stole the Tome of Koslun, with so little care as to return it to the point that a war with the Qunari broke out in Kirkwall - are not pirates but culturally sensitive treasure hunters, but of course without explanation as to how this could come to pass. 

I have seen many people complain about things and references that are missing but that actually ARE in the game, and that is why I am not as upset about the missing lore because I know that there are probably a lot of that lying around in codexes and scenes and little NPC conversations and such that I have missed, just as many others have missed a lot of things. But those things that ARE there, that break the earlier lore without any given plausible explanation, that is what hurts. 

The writing regarding companions, NPCs, "teambuilding" and preaching tone

Generally people are just too happy and cheery almost all the time.

I've heard "you've got this" WAY too many times - the disconnect between the dark lore and world and the NPCs who are so unphased almost all of the time, except for when emotion is needed for a scene, is too large. There is way much more cynicism needed here to reflect the evil in the world and the actual goings on around. This constant cheeriness was present in both companion dialogue and NPC interaction.

This game is obviously themed around building "a team" - that's the main premise, but the idea the writers have about how you do that doesn't feel based in reality. It feels like the power fantasy of nerdy queer computer developers on how they want people to feel or operate. Rook is made out to be a good leader because the question "are you ok" is used in any and all (not always reasonable) situations. Romantic questions are blunt in a way that not everyone would be comfortable with, but all companions are still happy with that in-the-real-world not very successful flirting style, and it feels like that is a power fantasy of writers who just wish the world would function like this. 

You as Rook feels like your companion's mom and therapist, and their struggles are so juvenile and safe that they are about that they cannot sleep, forget to eat, that their mom told them to do something, that grandma might not approve of them, or that they do not like vegetables… And you tell them how to live their lives; they should eat, and sleep, and lots of other cliches, but the game also tells you as the player through companion dialogue that it is also good to do breathing exercises, drink less coffee, eat more flax-seed because it's good for your stomach, and how often you should shower. I as Rook even gave the mega ancient goddess Mythal modern style RELATIONSHIP advice, I wanted to sink through the floor… 

This game feels preachy in a way that I have never ever felt in a game, it is like there are some writers there who just discovered that mindfulness, flax-seed and personal hygiene are good for you and now have to tell that to the WORLD. If kind of feels like they were envisioning us players some young vulnerable gamers that they needed to save with their hard earned life wisdom. I feel like the writers behind a lot of the companion interactions were not suited to write the kind of deep meaningful content that you expect from this kind of game.

The amount of times I have heard "Thank you" and "I am sorry" in this game is insane. The characters thank each others and apologize constantly like there is no tomorrow, and they resolve their differences within two sentences like - "I hate your whole way of life" - "Oh, I'm sorry I wish you said something sooner" - "Oh, no, I am sorry, I should never have called you assbag." It's just… so much bad writing, I don't know what to call it, it's shallow and flat and I just wish it was so different.

A whole lot of the preaching style could have been remedied if there had been more “show, don’t tell” in this game. It feels like the writers have forgotten that when you want to convey a moral, cultural, artistic or political message through a piece of art, like games are, you need to do it through the power of allegory and not just by having characters outright saying what is right or wrong.

For example, if the message that you want to get across is that cultural piracy is bad, you should not have a character posture for an organisation just telling you how good they are for returning treasure to cultures they come from; you should write a quest where you dig up a piece of treasure that gives you some kind of power, but where you later find out this is an important cultural relic of some lost tribe that really wants it back, and where you as the player have to grapple with the weight of that moral choice. Even players who would then choose to keep the relic for selfish and power-grabbing reasons would still feel kind of morally bad, and they would still get the message you are trying to convey. This kind of mechanic in storytelling is something that is missing throughout the whole game when it comes to different moral, social or cultural messages. 

Also, in the character Bellara the retcon or writing for a different universe and strange companion writing converges. She namely talks about herself as autodidact - that she has learnt not by studying but by poking around and figuring out what goes boom - but at the same time she has many discussions with professor Emmerich about academic stuff and she uses all the fancy words, words that are also out of lore-words, about frequencies and things that come rather from Elder Scrolls and sci-fi universes, whereas in Dragon Age magical power relates to blood (titan blood, human blood, blighted blood and so on) or the fade and spirits. A person who is self taught by only learning and doing would not at all talk like that "you need to huperflux the enchantment-condesator", they would say "you know that feeling you get when it's about to go boom, that's when you do like this show and hold your breath" or something.

That there is so little real choice, you have only one personality and morality

You get very little choice in this game, so little that it almost no longer really feels like an RPG. Especially around who your Rook is and how they act, oftentimes they will just continue talking and say things about their life and background that you had no idea about and had never chosen. You are getting to know your character at the same speed as the NPCs of the game.

For a while while playing this game I honestly thought I had lost my ability to read and understand the English language, and was making plans to try to regain my language skills, because I had never before experienced such a disconnect between what you choose as a player and what Rook actually says. I realized later that this disconnect was not only felt by me but by others as well, and that there is a large disconnect between the options and what is said. 

I don’t need to be “evil” like you could be in Origins or can be in the Baldur’s Gate games, but at least I thought you could be a kind of paragon or renegade version of Rook, or at least that you could form your personality like Hawke and be kind, funny or harsh - but not even that. Rook is more pre cooked than Geralt in the Witcher games, this is more of an interactive movie in many places, so many that I wish they were more honest about that and made those conversations more into quicktime events where you would just experience the scenes like in Detroit Become Human or games like those. The illusion that there are RPG choices where you have less choice in dialogue than you had in Fallout 4 is just hurting the experience, and especially hurting any immersion and connection you can have with your player character. 

You are only allowed to be heroic, and just one type of heroic; not the one that is ready to sacrifice things for the greater good or to get things done, but only the goodie two-shoes hero (that for sure oftentimes is what I play, but which feels meaningless unless there is an option to go another route). 

The most glaring example of this forced morality that pretty much breaks the fourth wall was when Rook goes by a scene in a blighted city where several people have been hung and says very dramatically that “this shouldn’t happen anywhere” and then proceeds to murder 20 Venatori agents with zero thought as to who their mothers, children or pets are. That comment did not feel like a legitimate comment that would be said by a Rook as created by genuine interest in the character or their connection to the world, but much more as a clear “social posturing” or “virtue signaling” for the player behind the computer screen that this is a good person, and that they are good according to the only specific moral view the hero is allowed to have (no chaotic good allowed). 

It was also very present in Rook's interactions with Solas' memories in the crossroads. When confronted with a memory of the blight being created and threatening to spread to the whole world and how Solas sacrificed ONE of his agents to guarantee that the blight would not spread to the world the only way to react to that was the Solas was a horrible callous and evil person for not saving this one person and possibly condemning the world. I think they somehow meant for Rook and Solas to be moral opposites, where Rook would always protect the little people against oppression and Solas would sacrifice the little people for his missions, but it really feels so off to not have any say in your RPG characters moral values, even within the tropes of heroes.

This kind of virtue signaling is also present in many other parts of the game, used not to deepen the characters but to position them as the "good guys", and my best example here is how they handle Emmerichs vegetarianism. It could have been a really interesting trait that could have resulted in interesting conversations about morality, mortality, spirits of animals and flesh - but instead this trait is mainly used to position the other companions as good because they have (wow, time to get impressed) remembered to cook vegetarian food for Emmerich, several times even (naaw, that is so nice and inclusive of them, uwu). This cheapens the whole thing and makes it instead feel preachy (which it is at this point) and it's such a wasted potential.

And when it comes to the choices in the main game there is only one big choice before the suicide mission ending that is major and creates some replayability, but it doesn’t have a particularly large emotional effect because you have not come to know the places enough to care about them properly. The choices you make in the companion quests are, with the exception of Emmerich’s quest, so shallow and just affect their gear instead of their stories in any meaningful way, that I just wish they didn’t have any choices at the end of the quest lines.

SUMMARY

In conclusion: a lot of people have tried to explain these choices of retconning the factions and the lore, and the strange “teambuilding” discourse, as stemming from an idea of Rook as a heroic hero and their team “The Veilguard” as some kind of Avengers. And that for this purpose everything they do has to be good, they have to have only one type of personality, with one type of morality, have only one type of interaction with the world and their companions, the companions have to lack any type of “problematic” (or god forbid interesting) or morally ambiguous character flaw, and all factions you collaborate with have to be morally unambiguously good and the bad guys have to be unequivocally evil preferably without grayscale.

This way of thinking, if this is true, makes these choices that they have made for the game kind of make sense, but it is still such a weird choice to make, to take a complex dark fantasy story that is Dragon Age - and a cRPG franchise known for morally difficult and emotional choices and complex morally grey factions and cultures - and turn it into this hero-fiction, with clear cut morals and cartoony vibe aimed at younger audiences. 

This could have been such an amazing game (which is in many parts still is), but something went really wrong in the direction for the writers and I ache so bad for all those developers that I am sure really tried their best and probably suffered under insane creative direction. I don’t know how else to explain this. 

It feels like, when playing through the game, like the teams that made the environments, the main story and the companions were three different teams where the first two got all the time and resources, and no micromanagement, whereas the last team didn't have any contact with the others and got the short end of the stick.

I am still waiting for the Kotaku article where they talk to 19 people who have worked on this keeping them anonymous and telling us the real story about the experience of making this game. 

Thank you for reading this far, I seriously hope you loved this game no matter its strange choices at time, and I would STILL say after all of this that it is worth playing for all Dragon Age fans out there.

Dareth shiral.

[fangbangerghoul]

Sleepyheads

Fandom: Starfield Ship: Sam Coe/f!spacefarer Rated: PG13? WC: 473 Summary: Quick snippet of a random idea I had while listening to Mac Miller

“Darlin.” The breathy sigh tickled her cheek as she woke to the gentle embrace of strong arms and the scratchy rub of stubble from her bed companion, Sam Coe. The lights weren’t on within the cabin yet and she wondered what time it could be back on New Atlantis. “I hope I wasn’t awakened for the hell of it.” She complained softly before twisting herself to see the dirty blonde hair man. He was looking just as ruffled as she felt and she hoped he wasn’t paying attention to the small sleepy crusts that had gathered in the wrinkles of her eyes. “Never,” He leaned in for a soft kiss on her cheek while the hand that held her tight rubbed little circles with his thumb. There was that heavy warmth in the pit of her stomach whenever he took light care of her. His affections never went unappreciated and she returned the gesture with a little rougher than anticipated kiss. Her lips hungry for his and her tongue eager to explore past his morning breath. She broke it with her fingers entangled in his loose hair, guiding him with care away from her. “Then an explanation would be lovely, least before you think you can just get away with your crimes.” “My crimes?” A cat like grin spread across his face with curiosity and amusement. “Yes, the crime of ruining my beauty sleep.” She chuckled at how adorable the space cowboy looked as the accused. “I need every minute I can get.” “I beg to differ.” There was a subtle growl in his throat before he leaned again to steal another taste of her, showering her rapidly with little kisses before stopping himself. She could feel how hard it was for him to stop himself, that was something they had in common. She was ready to devour him. “We’ve arrived at our destination.” He sighed, running his fingers through her loose curls and admiring the lovely, picturesque companion he had in front of him. She closed her eyes and enjoyed how his fingers gently pulled at the strands of her hair and soothed her scalp from tension. “Then I suppose we should gather our gear and start the survey.” She said hesitantly, part of her wanting to stay in this position for as long as possible. Another artifact could wait in her mind. “If that’s what the captain wishes.” Sam leaned forward to plant one more kiss on Carmilla’s forehead before sitting up on the edge of the bed, grabbing his scatter clothes. Carmilla’s eyes traced the faded scars on his back and how his muscles contracted while he moved. She wished for anything other than what they had to do but there was a mission to complete. Soon she followed him in the process of getting ready, reluctantly starting the day.

[uesp]

hi! i saw the guide to make sure Skyrim doesnt update, and i have to thank you very much for that!

unfortunately, im running out of space on my pc and have to get uninstall skyrim and all my mods. is there any way to guarantee that, if i ever reinstall, it wont install the lastest version?

i really dont care about having the latest version even months from now, i just wanna make sure ill have an easy time getting mods back when i do reinstall

thanks for any and all help!

I'm not aware if you can prevent a fresh install from being the latest version (my assumption is no, but if anyone knows more please feel free to add on your knowledge), but you can downgrade to any previous version. And here is an older guide I've written on how to do this for Starfield, but the general instructions on how to do this are the same:

How to Revert Updates on Steam

There may be times where you wish to revert an update. For example, there may be mod conflicts from an update, the update may have caused unintended issues for your save, or you may simply wish to experience an earlier version of the game again. Doing so simply requires you to replace the updated files with their earlier version, and disable future updates until you wish to progress to the updated version. However, this will require more work unless you regularly backup your game files. Also, you will likely want to back your game files before you attempt to revert to an earlier version.

It is possible to download the necessary files to downgrade your game version from Steam. First you will need to access the steam console. Using the Run program on Windows and input:

steam://open/console

This will open a normally hidden tab of the Steam browser, the Console tab. At the bottom of the page will be a command line. The general format for the command is:

download_depot [App ID] [Depot ID] [Manifest ID]

For Starfield, the App ID is 1716740, and the Depot ID for the updates is 1716741. The Manifest ID is for the specific patch you wish to download. The Manifest IDs are documented on SteamDB. For example, at time of writing they currently are 4447793252473787578, 8383043874900915235, and 3276175983502685135. If you wanted version 1.7.29, you would input:

download_depot 1716740 1716741 8383043874900915235

If you wanted the files for the initial release, you would input the command:

download_depot 1716740 1716741 4447793252473787578

Once the command is inputted, Steam will download the depot. You will be able to tell it worked by this appearing in the console log after your command (this example being for the initial release of the game):

Downloading depot 1716741 (27 MB) ...

Followed by:

Depot download complete : "[Steam Download Path]Steam\steamapps\content\app_1716740\depot_1716741" (21 files, manifest 4447793252473787578)

Note that the exact location of your download location will change depending on where you installed Steam, but as the log helpfully tells you where that is it should not be hard to find. Go to the folder listed there, and extract its contents to your Starfield install location. Replace all files with the files from the depot, and you will have successfully reverted to a previous version of the game. When you start the game, it will be this earlier version once more.

Keep in mind that reverting to a previous version on a save that was created on a more recent version is likely to cause issues, if it works at all.

[thornetabris]

"starfield is just another buggy bethesda game with tacky facial expressions"

you fool. did you learn nothing from the narrative of the game. didn't you get the message. it doesn't matter what we believe religiously, spiritism, evangelicalism, catholicism, buddhism, even atheism, it doesn't matter if there's someone waiting to take us to heaven or to guide us through reincarnation, if we simply get eaten by maggots and our bones become one with the soil, what matters is that in our time here, we impacted the world. it doesn't matter if it was in a small way or a big way, if everyone hated us, or if everyone loved us, or if it was a mixture. we impacted other people with our lives and then they impacted us.

the whole game is a love letter to more than humanity, it's a love letter to ourselves.

even if we die (going through Unity) or live (choosing to stay), we have an impact, you know. someone loved us, we loved someone, we did something, however small, that changed, if not the lives of others, at least our own. and yes, it is also somewhat, sometimes, a buggy bethesda game with tacky facial expressions, and i wouldn't have it any other way.

[starfieldconceptart]

"NASA colonization guide vol. 1"

In-game art for Starfield

Art by Ray Lederer

[shopaholicsrus]

Looking for the perfect geek gifts in 2025? Whether it’s tech gadgets, collectibles, or gaming must-haves, we’ve got the ultimate gift guide for geeks. Explore these trending products and shop directly from Amazon for the best deals.

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[pixelpandaarcade]

Starfield: Outposts: Robotics One: Guide and Setup

Before diving into this guide, ensure the Research Laboratory is unlocked and built. You can use the one on your ship as well. Robots 1 needs:  2: Zero Wire  3: Aluminum 3: Beryllium  Note: All of these bots will be moving around your outpost. It is very cute. Sanitation Mini Bot  Increases the production rate of inorganic resources by 10% Materials needed. Zero Wire: 2  Aluminum:…

[danshive]

I can recommend Starfield to fans of Bethesda open world RPGs if you're willing to treat spoiler-free guides on YouTube as the game's user manual.

Sincerely, I don't know if I'd still be playing if not for YouTube "stuff I wish I knew" / "before you play" / "beginner" guides. The game has a lot to it, and explains a minimal amount.

Just make sure they say they're spoiler free. I've had to do tactical backflips away from some videos.

[atonalginger]

nine images that capture your oc's vibe!

I was tagged by @staticpallour, who shared her bamf oc, Aurora on her blog. I'm generally tagging folks: you got an oc you wanna share? You're tagged. yes you. And you.

Manny Ruiz is the OC for today because Manny is the oc I've working with the most recently.

So what's their vibe?

Manny is Delgado's sister's eldest. AFAB, NB throughout teen years before feeling confident enough to follow through with the change to he/him. Came to live with Del, Bella, and Rokov when they were 14. By 17 (the events of Cora's still unnamed adventure) they have their own ship, the Eager Fortune and aspire to join the Liberated. Del is surprisingly (to others) hesitant to allow it just yet. Something, something, not wanting Manny to make the same mistakes...

Manny is very smart. As early as 14 they showed aptitude for cyberrunning, something Bella and Shinya have continued to guide and mentor them as they start getting out into the starfield more. They're also a talented pilot, getting the thumbs up from Jazz and Sam when asked about whether they could handle a ship of their own.

Manny also has a hot burning temper. Rokov got them into boxing to try and give them an outlet but...Manny's got a lot of shit to work out and I don't think the punching bag is going to be enough...

[eliteseven]

EliteSeven’s Fic Masterpost & Directory

Figured it's probably time to do one of these!

This is my primary writing blog, where I post HC’s, screenshots, and discuss fics! Use this guide to navigate fics and related tags.

__________________________________________________________

Baldur’s Gate 3:

-Modern AU’s:

Consonance

Follows Shadowheart and Tav in a modern AU band setting, in which Shadowheart is coming off a disastrous relationship with her ex, Shar.

Tags: Consonance Fic, Jen x Serena,

Art by @ araneapeixes

__________________________________________________________

-Canon Divergent Works:

Series: Of Night Orchids, Lace, and Steel

(AKA: "NLS Series")

Follows Shadowheart x Serena Tavyndír (Human/Noble/Fighter) towards the end of Act 3 and into the epilogue.

To read in order:

A Change of Heart

2. As Long as You’ll Have Me

3. Better Than You Remember

4. Home Is Where the Heart Is

5. Envy in Ink

6. So Hold Me (Until it Sleeps)

7. And Many More

8. A Hand Offered

9. A Beautiful Weapon

Tags: NLS Series, OC: Serena Tavyndír , Baby Jen,

Drabbles for this series can be found here

References:

All NLS Posts Here

-Read additional HC's for this series here

-See related gifs, stills, and videos here

-Serena/Tavyndir Family History: Here

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"NobleHeart" Prequel (for NLS Series)

An addition to NLS series, this prequel explores the possibility of Serena and Shadowheart meeting ten years prior to the events of BG3. Sent to a social event as an emissary for her failing patriar house, Serena meets a younger Shadowheart, there to complete a mission for Viconia. The two instantly hit it off- Serena finds herself falling for the charismatic, secretive stranger- and Shadowheart realizes the naive noble woman has captured her heart and affections.

But when Viconia catches wind of this disobedience, she aims to have Shadowheart's memory wiped clean, forcing her to forget she ever knew Serena, until she's rescued from the mind flayer pod an entire decade later.

-Read HC's for this prequel here

__________________________________________________________

Redemption AU (DJ! Shadowheart)

Follows a canon divergent storyline in which Shadowheart, against Tav's advice, kills Aylin. As the regret and doubt begin to build within her, Shadowheart realizes she must spare her parents and spurn Shar. But the road to redemption is not an easy one, and Tav might have already moved on. Shadowheart can only hope their love can be reignited, and that her soul can be spared in the process.

-Read the first installment of Redemption AU here

-Read HC's for this series here

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Starfield:

Stellar Collision

Follow @stellarcollisionfic for everything pertaining to Stellar Collision, Jade, Sarah, etc.

Synopsis:They’re on the cusp of the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, and Sarah Morgan can’t seem to understand why all she wants is her.

Or

Sarah falling in love with the Captain.

[writing-until-i-drop]

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous and tag as many people as you have WIPs. People send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then you post a snippet or tell them something about it!

Surprise! I write for even more fandoms than I have posted on here. If I don't name a doc I usually do the thing where docs uses the first sentence as the title, which is why some might be weird

Top Gun (Maverick & OG)

Iceman & Princess (Top Gun) (Ice x OC)

Birds of a Feather (TGM) (Rooster x OC)

Beneath the Surface (TGM) (Rooster x OC)

Battle Buddy (TGM) (Bob x OC)

Building Bookshelves (TGM) (Bob x OC)

Emergency Contact (TGM) (Rooster x OC)

A Stepdad For Christmas (TGM) (Rooster x OC)

The Devil Doc & The Fly Boy (TGM) (Hangman x OC)

B(aby) O(n) B(oard) (TGM) (Bob x OC)

Autopsy My Heart (TGM) (Rooster x OC)

Deadly Attraction (TGM) (Hangman x OC)

NCIS Special Agent Maeve Tabb checked her watch, it was just past four in the morning (TGM) (Rooster x OC)

NCIS TGM | Bradley (Rooster x OC)

NCIS! TGM Seresin (Hangman x OC)

Eloise Bennett had a reputation for being unpredictable (TGM) (Rooster x Seresin! OC)

Maxine Bradshaw wanted to scream (Top Gun) (Ice x Bradshaw! OC)

“Good morning, Javy,” I smiled sweetly at the pilot (TGM) (undetermined x OC)

Soulmate AU (TGM) (Rooster x OC)

911

Warm & Safe (Buck x OC)

A Not So Quiet Shift (Buddie x OC)

Welcome to the Club (Buck x OC)

Ripped to Pieces (Stitched Back Together) (Buddie x OC)

Hiding in Plain Sight (But Want to be Found) (Buddie x OC)

The Second Ambulance (Buck x OC)

Daddy Next Door (Buck x OC)

Duplex Family (Buck x OC)

What Happens In Wyoming (Doesn't Stay in Wyoming) (Buck x OC)

A Beginner's Guide to Lycanthropy (Buddie x OC)

New To This (Buddie x OC)

Liar Liar (Buddie x OC)

And They Were Roommates (Buck x OC)

New Beginnings [v1] (Buddie x OC)

New Beginnings [v2] (Buddie x OC)

Marcella Esposito was a healer (Buddie x OC)

Eddie Diaz prided himself on his self control (Buddie)

Buck was covered in bruises (Buddie)

Listen. Eddie didn’t mean to set the kitchen on fire this time (Buddie)

In The Line of Duty (Buck x OC)

Quinn Harper paced on the porch for a few minutes before ringing the doorbell (Buck x OC)

Hogwarts Legacy

Dearest Eloise, (Ominis x OC)

Charlotte’s head ached when she awoke on her first day at Hogwarts (Sebastian x OC)

Lottie West was tired beyond belief but incapable of sleep (Sebastian x OC)

Have Courage (Or Fake It) (Garreth x OC)

In the Shadow of Isadora Morganach (Ominis x OC)

Althea paced back and forth in the Room of Requirement, hands shoved in her pockets as she contemplated her past and her future. (Ominis x OC)

“Do it then,” Maeve’s voice shook (Ominis x OC)

Untitled Document (July 11)

Untitled Document (July 9)

“What in Godric’s name do you do with so many wiggenweld potions?” (Garreth x OC)

Star Trek 2009

Doctor's Orders (Spock x OC)

Have Faith (Spock x OC)

Even Amongst The Stars (Spock x OC)

A Bad Idea (Kirk x OC)

Kestra Karnas - Red In The Ledger [v1] (Spock x OC)

Jab (Spock x OC)

“When do you think we’ll get some fresh rations out here (Spock x OC)

“This is the third time this month you’ve complained of equipment malfunction, Commander (Spock x OC)

Untitled document (May 12)

There’s a saying amongst the spooks of Special Branch (Spock x OC)

“Heard there’s a war on,” Kimberly Martin announced her presence with a knock (Kirk x OC)

Starfield (all Sam Coe related)

Captain Ashta

A Smuggler's Daughter & The Prodigal Son

"Are you fucking crazy?"

Ground Pounder

"Do you ever get self conscious about your scars?"'

Lucky Bones

Harry Potter (2nd Gen)

Fighting to Fall (James S. Potter x OC)

Rival Me (James S. Potter x OC)

Lovely Lily (Lily Luna x OC)

Idiots In Love (James S. Potter x OC)

Rules To Live By (James S. Potter x OC)

A Favor (James S. Potter x OC)

Fenrir's Revenge (Albus Potter x OC)

Dueling With Fire (James S. Potter x OC)

Harry Potter (Marauders)

Secret Keeper (Sirius x OC)

Kitty Kat (Sirius x OC)

“C’mon, Peter, you can do better than that (Sirius x OC)

Merlin - Marauders Era (Sirius x OC)

Fia (Sirius x OC)

Kit Lupin (Sirius x OC)

Stardew Valley

Farmer Bess

Oh

Julia Mae felt like she was meant to be a farmer

Mae was born with the “how hard can it be” gene

The Muse of Stardew Valley

Sebastian’s mind was buzzing as he typed, fingers flying across the keyboard

“Yoba, I’m going to throw myself off a cliff,”

Untitled document (Aug 13)

Untitled document (May 22)

SDV | Alex

This is just the stuff in my docs, there's even more in my phone notes. If you want something from my notes, just tell me how many scrolls you want me to give and I'll post whatever I land on (even if it's my original stuff)

I technically have at least a thousand WIPs, I've been writing since I was 8 and on docs since I was 11 or 12, I have a DECADE of works I've abandoned (dont be like me kids) for dozens of fandoms. Also, a lot of my abandoned WIPs are the same idea but slightly different because I get a new idea and suddenly there's 30 aus of the same base idea

[finifugue]

HELLO I JUST READ DEATH AND OTHER LIES WHILE I WORK AND FRANKLY FORGOT ABOUT WORK AT ALL IM SO SO OBSESSED ITS BECOME MY NEW FAVOURITE FIC OF ALL TIMR i wanted to ask about the reference in chapter 2, was it a reference to merlin the tv show or a different merlin? THANKS FOR ANSWERING IM IN LOVE WITH YOUR WRITIGN

tysm ahhhhhhh!!!!

The reference to Merlin in ch.2 is actually in relation to arguably one of my favourite modern movies of all time, Kingsman: the Golden Circle (2017). That whole section is from an iconic scene from the movie where the character Merlin sings John Denver's Country Roads, Take Me Home as a diversion, and given I'd already referenced other moments from the Kingsman trilogy (like the whole bit w/ them not trusting drugs/poisons because Rasputin survived them) I figured it would be funny!

It's also not the only fucky pop culture reference I make in the fic either lol. I know at least one person's already caught the fact that I shamelessly ripped the entire introduction of the fic from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but a lot of the little details are references as well. Oscar's car is a Ford Fiesta because when I was a kid my brother was obsessed with Jeremy Clarkson's 1995 movie Motorsport Mayhen (partially the reason I'm into F1 at all!) and he talked about that breed of car. The name of the enemy organisation - the Ecliptic - is because I had no clue what to name them but I was playing Starfield at the time, and there's a group with the same name in the game. Lando's fun fact that he used to be able to name all the stars is in part a reference to a monologue in season 2 of Good Omens, and in part a reference to one of my other fics, a Stranger Things one I wrote years ago where Steve Harrington has effectively the exact same little speech. The entire alternate history of the world which serves as a backdrop for the fic is a mashup of what little I remember from the WWII unit of my high school Modern History class, and the Harold Saxon/Master arc of Doctor Who.

My favourite part about writing fic is that it is, by design, unoriginal. It's not an exercise in uniqueness, which means I'm allowed to stuff in as many references to other shit as I need!