#apex launcher

[fruitiermetrostation]

Clear Theme 4 Apex Launcher

[askagamedev]

Shouldn't Overwatch also have the same problem then in regards to visual clarity? I'm sure if you were to give people Juno and Brigitte people would struggle telling what their role is probably confusing Brigitte as a Tank given she has a shield just like Reinhardt. Only Baptiste has said cross on his outfit which if he didn't people might confuse him from DPS since he carries a healing grenade launcher. Yet the only character design problem ive seen people talk about is Venture.

While this is true, it's a very different situation. Overwatch is an old game, it's been running for eight years now. When Overwatch launched, there wasn't anywhere near the kind of well-established competition that there is today. When Overwatch launched, there was no Apex Legends, Paladins, Deadlock, Quake Champions, or Valorant. Further, Overwatch's launch cast was designed with incredible visual clarity - nearly every character had a silhouette and visual design that both made them distinct and conveyed their style of gameplay. There's a pair of business terms for this kind of thing - Blue Ocean vs Red Ocean.

A Blue Ocean is mostly unexplored and pristine - you're entering a market that's mostly untouched and there isn't much competition. This favors the first-mover advantage - the first ones there have more time to experiment, set things up, and learn from their mistakes. The customers/players in that market don't have anywhere else to go if they want their gameplay, so you can afford to make mistakes, iterate, and improve. Since there aren't many other games to switch to, the players will likely stick with what they are already familiar with.

A Red Ocean is a saturated market, where the waters have been dyed red with the blood of all of the dead or dying competition. There's already a lot of competition, meaning that any new product must stand out significantly from its peers or it will soon die from lack of audience. In a Red Ocean, the initial launch is much more important because you never get a second chance at that first impression. Further, audience retention is also super important because of how much competition there is - a new product might be able to draw some attention just from the novelty, but novelty wears off quick and most of the players already know the genre and the other games available. If the new game doesn't serve their needs immediately, the players won't give it the time to improve - they'll just go to one of the competitors that already does serve their needs.

We can't really compare the two games in a vacuum, we must compare the full environment that the games launched in. Overwatch had the added benefit of significantly less competition in its Blue Ocean, meaning that the playerbase really didn't have anywhere else to go while they waited for Overwatch to improve things. Concord was unable to grab attention immediately in a Red Ocean, meaning any potential audience quickly dispersed themselves among the large number of competitors already out there.

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[one-of-many-journeys]

Day 27 (1/2)

Scalding Spear

I rose very early after a fitful sleep. The celebrations of the clan had calmed, but not quelled entirely. The Wound was still under guard, the water still flowing, but filling slowly. It will be some days yet before the basin is back to healthy levels. Once full enough for the task, Jetakka will be able to collect the rations owed to Arrowhand and return them to his people. I wonder how Drakka will react to that. By all logic, it should be with joy, but somehow I doubt this will all end so simply.

I set out on my mount into the gathering dawn, heading north.

I soon came across a pair of Fire Bristlebacks, one Apex, one ordinary. I took the opportunity to try out one of my overrides from Cauldron Tau. The Bristlebacks then brawled, with a little help from my fire arrows.

My overridden machine emerging victorious, I climbed onto the beast and tried my hand at controlling its stampede. Incredible fun, and it can get up to impressive speeds in short bursts, but it's far from a comfortable ride, and still slower than Chargers at full pelt. An alternative getaway if I'm in a pinch, and a powerful ton of machinery to ram into enemies, but no replacement as my primary mode of transport.

I got back on my Charger, though the Brsitleback loyally followed us until it strayed too far from its programmed patrol area. I left it behind, riding up hill and out of the fog-bathed lower sands.

Quick stop at a shelter on the path, empty except for the supplies left for hunters passing through. I tried to replace all I took with materials of equal value to the Tenakth. That seems to be how things work around here; trust, nothing gained without tribute given.

Continuing north, I came to a herd grazing in a large marsh; a heap of Lancehorns, and two unfamiliar machines, hulking, long-tailed things. Their bodies were dominated by a huge generator equipped with a ventilation system just above their tails, which were spiked with armour, stocked with flame launchers, and lined with acid canisters.

Knowing I could make a quick getaway, I decided to try out my weaponry against the new machine, if only for research purposes.

I began by detonating one of its acid canisters, mostly to see how it would react. Unpredictably, was the answer. The machine curled itself up into a revving, flaming ball of death and came rolling right at me, churning up the earth and spitting fire in its path. I dodged out of its way, but my Charger wasn't so lucky.

I then took out my Boltblaster to pierce its corroded armour. As the Lancehorns came rushing over to aid the larger machine, I realised I was well out of my depth. The second rolling machine was on its way over too; I knew when I was beat. At least now I have an idea of how the machines operate and will be better prepared to take them on next time. And there will be a next time.

I made a tactical retreat of great desperation, running into a large Oseram encampment nearby. They'd set themselves up in a prime location for salvage given the surrounding machines...provided the big ones don't barrel right through its wooden fences in a firestorm.

I didn't expect to find Oseram camping in a fairly permanent structure all the way out here in desert Tenakth territory, so I was curious to speak to one of the residents.

The armourer at work was a little...eccentric. Dismissive and rude until she noticed that I was a hunter, when her face broke out into a smile. Her name was Handa, another of Keruf's crew, though she didn't see it that way. She called herself an artistic genius, not a mere salvager, and certainly didn't answer to Keruf. That said, she was still gunning for that prize of his for the best set of armour.

She had a couple of requests for me, seeing me as a capable pair of hands to gather materials for her masterpiece. First, she wanted parts from a pair of Plowhorns that patrolled a blighted field to the northeast, along with the white flowers they planted in their paths. The flowers weren't for the armour, of course, but for Hana to brew a remedy famous among the Utaru, said to soothe the mind. I could use some mind-soothing as well, come to think of it.

Handa's second request was for salvage from ruined war machines north of Bleeding Mark, and south in an area patrolled by Ravagers. I took the contracts for both and read them carefully. They followed a similar structure to Larend's, outlining the task to be undertaken, topped off with a bulky disclaimer saddling the signer with all responsibility for permanent injury and/or death. Standard stuff.

I hung around the camp for a bit, talking to the workers there. They've got a pretty mature operation going on here, excavation pits and everything. According to the workers, the Tenakth haven't given them any trouble, but did react with hostility when they made to approach Bleeding Mark, so the workers have kept well away since. One of the workers theorised that the rumour about the Tenakth killing and eating outlanders was an invention of the Carja, which would come as a shock to no one at all. The Tenakth were quite content to leave the Oseram to their delving provided they were left alone in turn. As such, the Oseram weren't aware of any situation in Bleeding Mark that might be keeping them from journeying to the capital.

They call the huge machines on the marsh Rollerbacks, by the way. I should have guessed.

The Plowhorn site was close, so I went on foot, hoping I'd pick up another Charger somewhere along the way. As I walked east, a huge fiery explosion erupted in the marshes. A group of Tenakth were taking on a herd of Fanghorns, archers penning them in with shots from a rocky overlook. The largest of the warriors wielded a huge flaming hammer, which seemed a dangerous choice so near fragile blaze canisters, but he seemed to know what he was doing. I watched him work the impressive weapon before closing in to help finish the kill.

I then joined the archers on the overlook, picking off the rest of the herd by detonating their blaze canisters, tearing off a few antlers that I needed to repair my Fanghorn override back at the RCC lab. I might have gone overboard with the blaze explosions; I've missed fire ammo, what can I say?

The Plowhorn site was hard to miss, the lush grasses and trees levelled to white sand and bare, turned earth, crawling with the blight's pustuled, spiny ferns and coated in its webbed, fleshy masses. The Plowhorns are uniquely equipped to sow its spread, marching unceasingly across the same tracks, dragging burst purulence through the muck.

Given Handa's request for those famous white flowers, I had to sneak up behind the working Plowhorns and collect the newly-produced blooms before the blight could kill them, which it was woefully quick at. That meant I had to hang around, low and slow, in the thick of the poison. I tried to keep my coughs quiet. I wonder if Gaia's been able to learn more about the blight from that survey drone near Plainsong, because from the look of it I've always figured it's some sick mix of vegetation and flesh, a perfect infection that attacks both. Nightmarish, truly. I much preferred Demeter when it was writing poems and building quaint metal flowers.

Once I'd collected six healthy bushels, I took up my weapons and engaged the Plowhorns one at a time. In both cases, I first targeted their horns which, again, I needed to drag back to the RCC lab for analysis. Far tamer without Hephaestus' malignant alterations, and with my stronger weapons, the Plowhorns went down without much struggle. Their adhesive projectiles were a hassle to avoid, their globular consistency making their trajectories difficult to anticipate. I used acid on the first Plowhorn, first a trap, then an arrow to set off the corrosive reaction. Boltblaster after that; I'm beginning to rely on it heavily, for good reason.

For the second Plowhorn, I experimented a little, targeting its Purgewater sac with an explosive shot, drenching the machine and leaving it vulnerable with its adhesive weapons useless. I used frost bombs to brittle it then, using my Boltblaster to pierce its compromised armour. I stripped both for the parts that Handa had requested, though neither had an intact primary nerve, the final part I needed to repair their corrupted override.

Trudging back across the blighted field, I spotted a flashing blue cone of light, heralding the mechanical trilling of another RCC drone. Another wayward unit surveying the blight; Gaia will put it to good use.

Its flight path was erratic, and I found no easy way to intercept it on first glance. I climbed further up eastward to the highest point of its scan, hoping to glide down to it from there.

Up there was a small brick ruin and a trio of Regalla's rebels. If they came here from a nearby outpost, maybe they're what's keeping the people of Bleeding Mark occupied.

I snuck up on the first rebel to cross my path in the tall grass, snapping his neck before taking the second blade to blade. The third, an archer, nearly got off a shot at me, but I quickly dispatched her as well. I spotted no tracks left by the three that might indicate where they'd come from.

The area clear for exploration, I detonated some Firegleam coating the ruins and looted the salvage within. The drone continued making its rounds above me, so after a short rest I climbed the ruin, leapt onto the cliff face behind it, and climbed to a wooden lookout to wait for the drone to return.

[eric-the-bmo]

time to ramble about Starbound again bc MAN have i done a lot. ok

I finally found that Sarcophagus for Koichi, and now he wants me to find an Apex statue. I decided to do that later.

Riko decided to embrace her inner fish, and Yam ran into some Novakids and a human settlement! He also cleared out an enemy ship without Teal's help, and while it was a Low threat I'm still very proud I managed to do that :-)

Finally I decided it was time for the Trio to visit the grand Avian temple and sneak into the off-limit parts! ...But then I immediately got stuck trying to open a door. I eventually figured it out, and was met with giant lasers and diverging pathways. I could pick the path of either water or fire- and then Riko Instantly jumped into the water so the decision was made ig

Some point after a battle/once some doors had closed behind us, I realized I had accidentally dropped my trusty gun.... I decided to settle for using a new rocket launcher I found a bit ago, but it was still a bummer :-/

Yam exited the water to find two robed individuals, and like. Man those cultists were in love, dude. look at them </3

[we had to kill them, of course- i wonder why they were there in the first place?]

Anyway so the Kluex Avatar was Terrifying- I think it was the first time I died to a boss, but I'm not entirely sure? But at the second try I was able to pick up on the Avatar's patterns and took him out!

Esther then told Yam to go to the Apexes next and that they hang out in cold planets, and so he traveled to the Subra Veil- which has a Midnight Planet?? I'm kinda scared to go there tbh.

After going to a planet and finding both an Avian and Glitch dungeon (did bunny people exist once??), Yam went to another planet to find a cool Floran dungeon near an Avian settlement; I also decided to give him different outfits! It's a bit hard to see in the sandstorm, but he's got a fun little dessert 'fit on :-)

Some small shenanigans happened as I gathered materials back at my home base and visited a space station before Yam headed out to the snowy planets. I actually totally ignored the warnings that SAIL gave me, which was a Bad Move bc my little guy then started to freeze!!! aaaa!!!!

Normally I don't like looking things up on the wiki, but alas, I caved in- and then very quickly realized I could easily craft the Heating Upgrade by upgrading my anvil and furnace! wow :-0 I had all the stuff for it, so after going back and forth between my ship's storage and the home base, I got it all made! I'm looking forward to exploring these frozen planets later! Yam's even got his little scarf all ready, look at him❄️<3

[myx-on-earth]

Splitgate 2’s Private Playtest- Better Than The Rest (AKA: The Best)

The term “gamefeel” is abstract, but 1047 Games seems to understand it more than anyone in the games industry.

Recently, I had the pleasure of participating in a private limited-time playtest for Splitgate 2- and while I was excited for the game already, I think somehow they’ve managed to knock this thing even MORE out of the park than before. I’ve said before that 1047 Games is a developer to keep an eye on, and my opinion has only been strengthened; I cannot WAIT for the full game to release. Below, I’ll detail some of my thoughts on what’s new, what’s changed, and ultimately my full unfiltered thoughts on the package presented here.

Before we get into the meat of this, a disclaimer- due to the terms presented by the playtest, I am not personally able to show footage or screenshots of the playtest. However, I am fully able to write about my thoughts- but if you’d like to avoid spoilers for the multiplayer sandbox, you’ve been warned. -RG

Firstly- new content. There isn’t a huge amount to discuss here, but what there IS presents a good slice of what may be coming in the future. 

In terms of weapons, one has been added- a bolt-action sniper called the Deadbolt. This thing handles and feels like a dream, bringing to mind the Kraber from Titanfall in more ways than one. It’s powerful, it’s well balanced, and hitting no-scopes with it is a huge boost to my ego.

No new classes in sight (yet), but all three received new and reworked perks. While all interesting, my favorite has to be the new Aeros “Sliiiiiide” perk- which extends and improves the speed AND maneuverability of the already buttery-smooth movement. Funnily, it reminded me of ANOTHER shooter’s more unique slide mechanic- Quake Champions. Feels fantastic.

One new map, an outside sunset arena called Bypass. Visually clean and modern (reminding me a bit of some areas of the Olympus map from Apex Legends), it had a more open feel than the other maps previously available, feeling to ME more like something from Splitgate 1. I’m not sure the open sightlines and extra area are necessarily a good thing- but I’m sure there’s still room for map tweaks.

Secondly- many weapons and abilities underwent a balance pass. While I don’t have a list of patch notes in front of me to confirm some of the changes, the main direction seems to be about leveling the playing field rather than outright nerfing things. The other two power weapons available in the previous playtest have been altered with new mechanics, like the Fubar rocket launcher firing all three barrels when not scoped and the Splitstream SMG smoothly transitioning between single gun and double gun modes when aiming. Additionally, the Aeros class had the overshield removed from the main ability, seemingly compensated with higher speed. If this kind of balance philosophy (offering trade offs rather than directly nerfing the items players find fun) continues, this might end up being one of the healthiest weapon sandboxes in any game ever. Time will tell, though. As a final note, some miscellaneous observations:

Minor UI changes have been implemented in good ways, and the overall game feel in menus couldn’t be smoother.

Art direction is still stellar and much more cohesive than the first game- none of the new additions clashed or felt out of place.

Connections felt decently stable for a playtest, and I didn’t have any experiences with poor matchmaking- every match felt reasonably balanced and fun.

My one major gripe overall is with the performance issues and graphical errors, which have notably increased in frequency since the first playtest. However, this shouldn’t be TOO much of a problem, as, again, this is a playtest- and there is also the ever-present issue of my personal hardware itself being outdated.

Overall, I can’t wait to see what 1047 is creating here. It’s very exciting for me that there is, seemingly, a fresh new shooter on the market that is actually adapting and creating a great experience rather than the 15th iteration of the same puppeted corpse of a game in a row. Keep up the good work, gents- I can’t wait to get back into the arena.

Splitgate 2 is a team-based multiplayer shooter releasing in 2025. You can find more info about the game on 1047’s website (www.splitgate.com) or on social media under 1047 Games.

Article written by Rose "Myxolydian" Gilbert (November 11th, 2024)

[mjonthetrack]

vice queen IV

Chapter 160: The Protector Nesting Protocol (Code Red)

Jey had her bundled like a damn burrito in three blankets and one of his hoodies before she even realized what was happening.

“Why am I swaddled like a baby goat in Iceland?” Ariel blinked, barely peeking out from the thick layers as she laid curled in the middle of their massive bed.

“Because you almost died four separate times today,” Jey muttered, rifling through their closet with serious dad-to-be intensity. “And one of them involved a rocket launcher, Red. A rocket launcher. While you’re pregnant. With my baby.”

He reappeared with a heated blanket, two extra pillows, and an entire Amazon box of lavender candles like he’d been prepping for a bunker lock-in. She blinked up at him from her little fleece cocoon, wide-eyed.

“...Are you nesting?”

“I’m protecting you,” he said, like it wasn’t the same thing. Like he didn’t just check her prenatal vitamin bottle for the third time today and start reorganizing the pantry by craving categories. “You had me watching a damn action movie in real time. I was two seconds away from throwing my truck in park and committing a felony out of pure stress.”

He lit the candles one by one with the precision of a man setting a perimeter.

“I’m fine,” she tried, though her voice was small and still worn-out.

“You jumped off a rooftop screaming ‘hang ten hoe’ and body slammed a grown man into the pavement.”

“Technically he broke my fall.”

“Technically I’m two seconds from zip-tying you to the bedframe.”

She giggled but stopped when he turned and just looked at her — that smoldering mix of worship, panic, possessiveness, and utter disbelief that he got her. This wild, magical, absolute menace of a woman carrying his kid.

Jey blew out a slow breath, raking a hand over his braided crown.

“Red… you’re mine. You know that right?”

She nodded, burrito-blanket flopping.

“I know.”

He crawled into bed next to her and immediately pulled her into his chest, pressing kisses along her forehead, her cheeks, the tip of her nose, her temple — anywhere he could get to without disturbing the protective blanket mountain.

“You ain’t allowed to scare me like that no more,” he mumbled against her skin. “Not when you’re carrying my baby. Not when you’re my whole world. Not when I just started picturing what you look like in baby blue crocs and a maternity hoodie.”

Ariel blinked up at him.

“...Did you say baby blue crocs?”

“Don’t trip, I already added ‘em to the cart.”

She let out a snort, her nose scrunching, but there was something soft in her eyes now — something that met the frantic in his chest and calmed it. A matching stillness.

“I love you, you know,” she whispered, voice muffled by his chest. “I know I’m crazy but I never want you to feel like I’m not safe with you.”

His arms tightened instinctively.

“You’re safe. But I’m still tryna build you a panic room. With snacks.”

“...Can the snacks include Hot Cheetos and Oreos?”

“I already set up a delivery. Check the pantry in the morning.”

“...You’re insane.”

“Look who’s talking,” he muttered, kissing her hair again.

And finally, finally, she melted against him fully — the chaos of the day fading into the lavender-lit calm of their bedroom. His Red. His baby. His soon-to-be mother of his child. And now firmly wrapped in his nest where no rocket launchers or rooftop stunts could get to her.

For tonight at least, she was his to protect.

Chapter 161: Rise & Protect — The Nesting Strikes Again

Jey was up before the sun.

And not just “awake” — nah. He was active. Hoodie on. Braids neat. Phone in one hand, tablet in the other, and a mental checklist running in overdrive as he stalked the penthouse barefoot with the calculated silence of an apex predator… except this apex predator was prepping overnight oats and organizing prenatal gummies by flavor.

The baby mama — his baby mama — was still dead asleep, wrapped in the sacred Burrito of Protection™.

He cracked the door open just enough to peek in.

Still knocked, hairline curls poking out of her bonnet, hand clutching the throw pillow that used to live on the couch but got promoted to "womb comfort support plush." She shifted and sighed in her sleep and his whole chest did a thing. A soft thud as his heart fell deeper for her like it didn’t already belong to her in full.

“Aight,” he whispered to no one, “we doin’ phase three today. It’s up.”

He moved like a machine.

Curtains drawn so no sun would sneak in and disrupt her rest.

Air purifier running on low.

Groceries already delivered with two gallons of pineapple juice, three brands of donuts (just in case), and four types of ginger chews.

A heated robe now hanging near the bed.

And in the corner? A yoga ball. Because the app he downloaded at 2am said it was good for blood circulation during early pregnancy.

Then he set up the Red Recovery Station™: A tray on her side of the bed with:

A warm cinnamon donut on a pink ceramic plate (presentation matters).

Her vitamins beside her pineapple juice.

A remote fully charged and ready to hit Bluey at the touch of a button.

And two folded fuzzy socks. Because her feet got cold sometimes, even when she didn’t admit it.

By the time she stirred — blinking up with sleepy eyes and yawning like a whole cherub goddess — he was already easing into bed beside her again, curling his big arms around her, whispering against her temple like a lullaby:

“Good mornin’, Mama.”

She nuzzled into him, stretching like a satisfied cat before settling back into the curve of his chest.

“Mmm… wha’time is it��?”

“Don’t worry about it, baby. Still early. You comfy?”

“Mmmhm. Warm.”

He pulled the heated robe up to her shoulders like the world’s most gentle caveman.

“Made your donut. Pineapple juice too. Vitamins right there.”

She blinked slowly, looking at him with that sparkle-soft adoration.

“You do all that for me?”

“For you and the baby,” he said, and his voice dipped just a bit lower. “You carrying my legacy. My whole world. You think I’m not gon’ move heaven and earth to make sure you good?”

She just blinked and smiled dreamily, heart so full her toes curled.

“You’re such a good man, Joshua.”

And his whole soul caught on fire from the way she said his name. He tucked his nose into her curls, hand splayed protectively over her barely-there bump.

“You my good girl, Red. My baby. I got y’all. Always.”

She giggled sleepily and reached for her juice without even sitting up, mumbling,

“You gonna give me like… eight more?”

“Don’t play with me like that unless you serious,” he growled against her ear, and she squealed, hiding her face in the pillow.

And somewhere in that tangle of blankets and love and cinnamon donut crumbs, Jey Fatu decided again — for maybe the hundredth time — that this was his favorite version of life:

Her. Their baby. And this soft, sacred kind of forever.

Chapter 163: "Babe… it’s three o’clock."

The room was dim and warm, bathed in the golden afternoon sunlight that bled through the tall windows of their penthouse. The only sound was the soft hum of the AC and the tiny, sleepy little snnrrk of a woman absolutely KO’d in the cocoon her man had created.

Ariel was fully swaddled. Like burrito level. Stomach down, arms under her, bonnet in place, and face buried in the plushest pillow they owned. She didn’t even flinch when Jey leaned in close to her ear.

“Red… baby… it’s three o’clock.”

Silence.

She didn’t move.

Jey blinked and leaned back just enough to check the time on his Apple Watch again.

3:04 PM.

And they were supposed to be at the OB-GYN appointment at 3:15. The one she scheduled. The one she mumbled about like it was a military mission from the fetal position just a few hours ago. The one that decided if they were team pink bows or tiny Jordans.

Jey sighed, but it was laced with amusement.

He tugged the comforter down a bit and kissed her temple gently, voice low and coaxing.

“Ari. Baby girl. We’re gonna miss the appointment. You wanna find out what the baby is or you tryna let me freestyle name options in the waiting room?”

Still nothing.

This woman was out. She'd gone full log-mode, heavy as hell and completely oblivious to his words. But that wasn’t gonna stop her man.

Jey moved smoothly, grabbing her bonnet so it didn’t shift, then wrapped both arms around her burrito body and picked her up bridal-style, blanket and all.

Her head lolled against his chest, and she made a noise—half snore, half complaint.

“Mmm… too early.”

“It’s three in the afternoon.”

“That’s what I said.”

Jey held back his laugh. He kissed her hair and started walking them toward the closet with one arm still around her and the other rifling through sweats and oversized hoodies.

“Don’t worry, I got you. You just lay there and look pregnant.”

She cracked one eye open at that, her pout full tilt as she grumbled something about “snacks” and “fluffy socks.”

By the time he had her in the car—slippers on, hoodie over her bump, pineapple juice in hand like a sippy cup—Jey felt the warmth of smug pride swell in his chest.

She was ridiculous. Exhausted. Absolutely his.

And he was about to find out if he was having a little him or a little her.

Either way?

This was the best day of his life. And his baby? His Red?

Still didn’t know her hoodie was on inside out.

Chapter 164: “Both.”

The room was calm. Serene, even.

White walls, gentle floral scent in the air, the soft sound of the ultrasound machine whirring, and a muted Bluey episode playing on the mounted TV for ambiance. Ariel was reclined back on the cushioned table, hoodie riding up just enough to give her growing bump room to breathe. Jey sat beside her, her hand in his, thumb lazily brushing her knuckles while she sipped pineapple juice through a straw.

She was finally halfway awake, hair still a little wild under her bonnet, but she had on her fuzzy socks and was swaddled in a blanket Jey had tucked around her in the car.

“Y’all ready to meet this little one?” the doctor smiled warmly, snapping gloves on and rolling the machine closer.

“We been ready,” Jey grinned, kissing her temple.

Ariel just hummed tiredly, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment. The cool gel made her flinch and whimper before she sighed.

The doctor moved the probe, squinting slightly at the monitor, tilting it so they could both see the screen. The room was quiet, her heartbeat gently echoing, and then—

“Well both hearts are healthy,” the doctor said casually.

“Huh?” Jey blinked.

“Your sons are very healthy, already quite big for the first trimester. Strong little boys.”

A beat.

Another beat.

And then—

“I’m sorry, what?!” Jey barked out.

But Ariel?

Ariel was already GONE.

Eyes fluttered wide in horror, pineapple juice straw slipping out her mouth with a soft plop, her lips parted like she was about to yell—but instead she just—fainted.

Boom.

Out cold. Instant shutdown. Her head gently slumped to the side as if her body said, “Nope. You got it, universe.”

Jey’s jaw was still dropped.

“You said… sons?” He asked again, pointing at the monitor.

The doctor nodded, completely unfazed. “Twins. Boys. See here?” She gestured to two little wiggling beans on the screen. “A lot of patients don’t expect twins at this stage. But they’re definitely in there. And very active.”

Jey blinked.

Then blinked again.

Then looked at his knocked out woman and felt every emotion hit him like a truck.

Shock.

Smugness.

Ego boost.

Fear.

More smugness.

And a dangerous ripple of—

“I put twins in her.”

He whispered it like it was a secret spell. Like he’d summoned a dragon.

And then he smiled.

A slow, cocky, daddy-of-twins smile that hit all the way to his chest.

“Oh, you done for now, Red,” he murmured, brushing her curls back lovingly, “You ain’t just pregnant—you’re twin pregnant. And both them lil Fatus? Mine. Mission successful.”

He sat up straighter, pulling out his phone to text Jimmy and Sefa, the caption already forming:

“Operation Knock Red TF Up: not only successful… it’s double platinum certified.” 🍼🍼🔥

And as Ariel softly snored, unbothered and unconscious, Jey could only smile wider.

He was going to be a father.

To two sons.

And Lord help the world.

Chapter 165: “Double Trouble. Double Nesting.”

The car ride home was quiet.

Ariel was knocked the hell out in the passenger seat, seat reclined, bonnet sliding a little crooked from the dramatics of her immediate soul departure at the doctor’s office. The seatbelt was clipped low under her barely-there bump like the doc showed Jey, her mouth was parted just enough to let out the tiniest snore, and her pineapple juice sat abandoned in the cupholder.

Jey?

Jey was vibrating with smugness.

No music. No radio.

Just the man driving like he was being handed a trophy every time the tires turned over.

“Twin boys. Twin boys.”

He muttered it under his breath for the fifth time that ride, one hand on the wheel, the other resting over her stomach like it was his own personal holy site now.

Because it was.

Because he did that.

The smug was radiating. Not just “knocked his woman up” but made two at once. His seed? Oh, it wasn’t just working—it was achieving excellence. Olympic gold medalist performance.

“Jimmy ain’t even get the gene, that’s crazy…” he mumbled as he turned down their street, “It skipped his whole house and landed on me. That’s how I know it was meant to be.”

He pulled into the garage and parked next to her Range Rover like a whole family unit already. And when he came around to her side and opened the door, he took one look at her still out-cold face and smiled like an absolute menace.

Bent down, scooped her up bridal-style with ease, her soft groggy groan making him grin.

“Come on, mama,” he said low and tender, pressing a kiss to her temple as her arms instinctively looped around his neck, “Me and my boys got you.”

Because now?

Now that nesting urge hit different.

This wasn’t just his baby anymore. This was his pregnant baby. With his twins.

Double the reason to protect. Double the reason to hover. Double the reason to weaponize softness and pillows and freshly folded blankets and vitamin schedules and protein-packed snacks and cuddles on demand. He was building a kingdom for them.

The second they got inside, he laid her down gently on their bed, tucking the covers around her as if she was made of spun gold.

And then?

He got to work.

All new pillows—fluffed. Heating pad—plugged in. Protein bars—lined up like ammo on the nightstand. Pineapple juice—freshly poured and chilled. New plush socks—on deck. Tums—within reach. Extra bonnet—just in case. Cartoon playlist—curated.

He sat back, looked at the setup like a man who just built an elite war bunker, and nodded proudly.

Then he turned, glanced over at the dresser where the birth control used to be—and smugly tossed the empty bottle in the trash. Where it belonged. His mission was complete.

“Ain’t no more birth blocking now, huh?” he muttered to himself, taking off his hoodie and climbing back into bed with her.

Ariel stirred just a little, shifting until she melted into his chest, her sleepy mumble almost intelligible.

“Mm… wanna cuddle…”

“I gotchu, mama,” he whispered, already curling himself around her like armor. “You not goin’ nowhere. Not now. Not ever.”

His hand moved over her stomach again, protective, reverent.

“That’s mine,” he whispered into her curls, heart swelling as he looked down at the girl he loved, growing the two sons he already knew he’d lay the world down for.

“All three of y’all mine. And I’ll die behind it.”

He kissed her forehead again and closed his eyes, his instincts roaring louder than ever.

Because this wasn’t just nesting anymore.

This was legacy.

[theterribletenno]

Patriot the 1999 Warframe

Man I just realized how long it's been since I first started Patriot. Anyways. He's based on a combination of 90s military technology and the Metal Gear series.

Health: 650 (750 at rank 30) Shields: 150 (250 at rank 30) Armor: 750 Energy: 175 (225 at rank 30) Sprint Speed: 0.95

Passive: An expert in anti-personnel arms and munitions Patriot is uniquely experienced at countering enemy grenades. By running over enemy grenades Patriot will kick them at the nearest enemy, causing hostile grenades to become friendly and doubling their damage. Patriot can also kick friendly grenades, but they will not receive bonus damage.

Ability 1: Frag Out, 25 energy. Patriot pulls out a frag grenade and throws it at his corsshairs. Once thrown this grenade has physics including projectile arc, bounce, and momentum. The pin is pulled when the ability key is pressed, and the grenade is thrown when the key is released. By holding the ability key Patriot can cook the grenade. Pulling the pin is a 2-handed action, cooking is a 1-handed action. Frag grenades from Frag Out have a 4 second fuse. Fuse time scales with ability duration. If the fuse burns down while Patriot is still holding the grenade it will explode in his hand, knocking him down. When the grenade detonates it deals 1000 times 1+X (where X is equal to the enemy's level divided by 10) blast damage with a guaranteed blast status proc to all enemies within a 10 meter radius. Frag Out applies an additional blast status proc if T.W.I.N.K. Mesh Vest or Violent Cycle are active, or two if both are active.

Ability 2: T.W.I.N.K. Mesh Vest, 50 energy. The pinnacle of 90s personal defense, the T.W.I.N.K. or Titanium Weave Integrated Nano-fiber Kevlar Mesh Vest protects Patriot from harm with a reinforced armor layer. When T.W.I.N.K. Mesh Vest is activated Patriot receives Overguard with 1000 base health plus Patriot's total armor multiplied by 200%. Upon activation, T.W.I.N.K. Mesh Vest is invulnerable for 4 seconds, during which all incoming damage is absorbed and added to the Overguard. T.W.I.N.K. Mesh Vest cannot be reactivated until Patriot has less than 1000 overguard remaining.

Ability 3: Violent Cycle, toggled ability, drains 3-6 energy per second. Combining military tactics with Tenno power Patriot can engage in a deadly Violent Cycle during which every kill with one of his weapons empowers another. While active Patriot's kills with his primary weapon increase secondary weapon damage by 5%, kills with his secondary weapon increase melee weapon damage by 5%, and his melee kills increase primary weapon damage by 5%. All three scale up to a maximum of 500%. When Violent Cycle is initially activated it will drain 3 energy per second, increasing to 4 when any weapon's bonus has reached 100%, 5 when it reaches 250%, and reaching a maxmium drain of 6 energy per second when any weapon's bonus reaches 500%.

Ability 4: APEx PoInt, toggled ability, drains 3 energy per shot. Patriot is never surrounded, he just ends up in target-rich environments. With the activation of his APEx PoInt Patriot summons his Anti-Personnel Explosive Portable Interdictor, an exalted full-auto grenade launcher made to decimate enemy infantry. The APEx PoInt is categorized as a heavy weapon, accepts archgun mods, and has a full-auto trigger. Projectiles fired by this weapon have travel time and arc, and stick to enemies and surfaces upon contact. Very high per-shot damage at the cost of slow firing speed, high critical chance at the cost of low status chance. Direct hits deal a modest amount of pure impact damage with a guaranteed impact status proc. After landing or striking an enemy the grenades fired by APEx PoInt have a 4 second fuse before exploding. Explosion has a 6 meter radius and deals high values of impact, puncture, slash, and blast damage while also applying guaranteed impact and blast status procs. Pressing the alt-fire button immediately detonates all grenades currently stuck to enemies and surfaces but reduces their damage and explosion radius by 33%. This weapon has infinite ammo and never needs to be reloaded.

Subsumed ability: Frag Out.

Signature Weapons Twin Ninety Nines: A pair of iconic SMGs based on P90s made to hold large magazines of small-caliber munitions. The rounds fired by this weapon are specially designed for defeating infantry armor, and combined with their high rate of full-auto fire this oversized sidearm is as iconic in 1999 as it is in the far-flung future. Very large magazine & max ammo capacity offset by a slow reload. Very high rate of fire offset by low per-shot damage and middling accuracy. Deals equal values of impact and puncture but no slash. High critical chance and critical multiplier but low status chance. As Patriot's signature weapon the Twin Ninety Nines have increased accuracy while sliding and aim-gliding when he wields them. Twin Ninety Nines are crafted from two single Ninety Nines, a primary weapon with similar attributes to the twin version, but half the magazine size, max ammo, and fire rate but higher status chance and perfect accuracy as well as an alt-fire 4 round burstfire with superior damage which is absent from the twin version. The blueprints for Nintey Nine and Twin Ninety Nines are obtainable from enemies slain in 1999. Krava: Patriot's signature sparring weapon, a set of jagged metal guards for the hands and feet that enhance one's close-quarters lethality without the need to store, carry, or draw a conventional melee weapon. Deals equal values of impact, puncture, and slash. high status chance at the cost of low crit, and high per-hit damage but low attack speed. This weapon's stance polarity is Unairu, matching the Grim Fury sparring stance. This weapon grants a +0.05 bonus to sprint speed while equipped. Every time this weapon strikes an enemy with 5 stacks of either impact or puncture status affecting them there is a 50% chance the enemy will be knocked prone, rendering them vulnerable to melee ground finishers. As Patriot's signature melee weapon when he wields the Krava finisher attacks will terrify up to six enemies within ten meters, causing them to flee.

Closing Notes: One of my big goals for Patriot was to make him synergize with corrupted mods. In particular he is able to make great use of negative duration since all it will do to him is make his nades pop faster. He probably works with negative range too if you play smart. His passive will be able to affect certain other Warframe's grenade-style abilities like Vauban and Protea's.

Patriot will have his first augment released with him, available from Albrecht Entrati in 1999 and included in his premium platinum bundle. This augment - Backwards Violence - reverses the order of Violent Cycle, meaning instead of the cycle going primary, secondary, melee it will go melee, secondary, primary.

[novankenn]

Jaune 1/2 (v2-4)

Nora: I have one! Jump!

Ren: Nora don’t!

Jaune: Wait what? You want me to jump? What for?

Nora tosses her wagasa towards Weiss who catches if clumsily, and then promptly falls backwards trapped beneath it. While the wagasa was airborne, Nora pulled her grenade launcher from her back and mech-shifted it into its hammer form.

Nora: NO time to explain, Red! JUMP!

Ren: Don’t!

Shrugging her shoulders, Jaune did as Nor asked and leapt into the air, only to have her eyes grow wide as she saw the face of the hammer swinging towards her feet. With cat like grace Jaune landed on the face of the hammer, coiled the muscles of her legs and pushed as Nora pulled the trigger at the apex of her swing.

Jaune: SHIT!

Jaune’s legs shook and hurt like hell, but she found herself closing on the massive grimm, and fast. Cocking her hand back, she focused. The nevermore squawked in annoyance, as Jaune landed the blow and started to fall back towards the ground.

Pyrrha: It wasn’t a hard enough hit! 

Jaune obviously due to the height didn’t hear Pyrrha’s comment, but her own thoughts were exactly the same. It wasn’t enough, and she doubted she could survive another one of Nora’s assists. Jaune grunted as she impacted a hard surface. Rolling over, she found herself still several meters above the ground, kneeling on a snowflake?

Weiss: Hurry up! I can’t hold that construct for long!

Again, Jaune barely heard her shouted comment, but she knew she needed to act fast. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the nevermore, wheel about and start to dive upon her.

Jaune: Well, if one hit didn’t do the trick… guess I’ll just have to hit it more.

As the nevermore closed the last few meters, Jaune leapt towards it.

Pyrrha was a very observant person. She had to be. As a championship competitor, she needed to be able to size up an opponent’s style in seconds. Having watched Jaune trained for three days, she had a good gage on what Jaune was capable of. Which is why when she latched onto the nevermore by grabbing a handful of feathers and just started smashing her fist against its chest… Pyrrha was able to count the strikes.

Pyrrha: fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty…

Everyone else, including the new arrivals of a blond woman and her black haired partner, stood in silence and shock as the nevermore squealed in pain.

Pyrrha: Fifty-five, fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight…

The nevermore’s wings suddenly folded backwards, causing its bulk with Jaune still holding on to plummet towards the hard ground below. Jaune recognizing the danger she was in. pushed off the great grimm, putting distance between it and herself as they continued to race towards the ground below.

Jaune: OW! AH! URK! GAH! ACK!

Pyrrha moved as quickly as she could, putting herself under the rolling form of Jaune, as she impacted and then bounced off of small glyphs Weiss was throwing into the air. When Pyrrha caught her partner, she was surprised at how light she felt, and at the ease she was able to break the last part of her fall safely.

A cloud of dust filled the air, at the impact of the monster grimm, and as the six others, moved in to eliminate the beast, Pyrrha flexed the muscles in her legs, and bolted for the cliffs.

Jaune: What?

Pyrrha: I’m getting you to the cliffs, before anyone tries to pair us up. You hang tight, I can get us there.

Jaune: Okay…

Jaune’s head fell towards her chest, an obvious sign to Pyrrha that Jaune was hurting… most likely from all the impacts with those glyphs, not to mention being exploded into the air.

Pyrrha: Jaune?

Jaune: Huh?

Pyrrha: I have to ask was it necessary to hit that grimm sixty-three times?

Jaune however didn’t hear or answer Pyrrha’s question. Her aching body, and swimming head, finally succumbing to the mind and pain numbing darkness of unconsciousness.

==\ Episode List /==

[violetlypurple]

With the Windows recall shit rolling around, I'm going to be That Girl and put it out there that Linux is, indeed, still a thing, and a thing that has come a long way with regards to user experience and gaming. And a thing that runs 75% of the internet but anyways Saying, "Linux isn't just for nerds and enthusiasts anymore!" wouldn't be an entirely truthful statement, but if all you do is play games, go on socials, and hang in discord... It'll work? I'm speaking to a target audience here, posting from an FFXIV-focused blog, so let me dive into it a little for that target audience, with the assumption that none of you are out there being sweaty over Apex, Overwatch, Fortnite, or whatever zoomers play these days. Basically anything you play through Steam will run flawlessly* on Linux. Valve have baked the Proton compatibility layer into Steam for a while, and since Valve's Steam Deck runs on Linux, they are on point with updates for it. This means that Steam will do the work of making Windows games run on Linux for you without any additional software or tinkering. This includes the Steam version of FFXIV**.

Now, I can't speak to or ensure that reshade or any 3rd party plugin will work. In my case (details below the cut) reshade was more or less intact but all the presets broke so I just kinda said fuck it and removed the remnants. But thats ok, right? You want to try out the 7.0 graphical updates without instagram filters, right? Don't you..?

Mods and other plugins? Don't know, don't care, frankly don't like that they exist outside the narrow window of seeing people's fun screenshots. Sorry not sorry. That said, I have seen some things on the googles.

There are obviously various things that work differently/don't work on Linux like they do on Windows. I can't account for every case, so google is your friend here. The one particularly notable case I ran into was screenshare with Discord being unable to deliver audio, which makes group watching things like netflix a bit of a problem. There are technically workarounds but again, Target Audience.

Sooo... Yeah? If you're mildly tech savvy, go get Ubuntu, install it on a second drive, external drive, or even just try it out from the usb you put the install media on for an hour. If you wanna get spicy with it, do some looking around to see what distribution of Linux might suit you better. Pop_OS is also pretty beginner friendly. Yes, there are some adjustments and some things to learn, but if you have the energy to be mad at what Microsoft is doing, you have the energy to learn a few new things to get away from it. As with anything related to messing with your operating system; back up your important things, just in case!

The Notable Caveats:

*I can't speak to all multiplayer games, since some use anti-cheat or DRM that may not work on Linux. But frankly, a quick google of "will [game] run on Linux" can get you a quick yes or no on if this will be a problem for you. In my case, I mostly care about Helldivers 2 with its nProtect, and it works fine. BG3 has no problems either.

**You might be thinking, "But Basement Witch Noone Knows, I don't use the Steam version of FFXIV!" And yes, that does complicate matters. My brief tutorial is below the cut, should you find yourself committed to this notion, or just have a morbid curiosity.

Ok, so I don't have the Steam version of FFXIV either. There are two ways around this that I am aware of.

The first, which I would not recommend, is to get a 3rd party Linux launcher. If you care about this Windows recall thing, you probably fully understand why I would advise against using a 3rd party app to put your username and password into. If you are willing to do some research into the providers of these tools to determine their trustworthiness, I can't stop you, but I wasn't interested.

The second is Steam! Again! A fun fact about FFXIV is that it runs pretty self-contained in its folder. I have shit internet, so I have been just copying the whole ass SquareEnix folder off my drive and onto other drives to save myself two days of downloading for years now.

If you have Linux installed and familiarize yourself with the Home folder where your usual Documents/Pictures/Videos folders are, I just copy pasted my whole SquareEnix folder in there, to the cries and lamentations of Linux nerds everywhere that would insist I put it somewhere proper. Anyway. Once it's there, all you need to do is add it to Steam. In the Steam Library there is a button to Add a Game in the bottom right corner. When you click that there is an option to Add Non-Steam Game. When you click that, you will get a prompt to locate and select the game. Here you want to hit Browse, navigate to your Home folder, SquareEnix, FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn, boot. in the boot folder you will need to select ffxivboot.exe. Once you have selected it and clocked Open, it will return you to the Add Non-Steam Game list and you should see ffxivboot.exe selected. Hit Add Selected Programs, and that's it! You can now launch your bodged-in copy of FFXIV through steam, and it will apply the necessary Proton layer to make the launcher and the game work as normal. Yay Linux!

i use arch, btw

[minecraft]

Had a crazy dream there was some game kinda like a mix of apex legends, halo, and rainbow six siege called TEGR and it was like. very fun on its own but for whatever reason you could also play minecraft from the same launcher as it without any extra loadtime or anything but if you got banned in TEGR it'd also ban your minecraft account but you could still play singleplayer. But there was one feature that didn't work properly which was going to the nether. If you attempted to go to the nether on a banned TEGR MC account it'd send you to another dimension that people called The Divide instead and it was like.... indescribably trippy, weird, and large and had no roof. It was much much bigger in terms of blocks than vanilla mc and it looked sort of like one of those 3d fractals flythrough videos and there was graphical and gameplay features from TEGR that sort of leaked into it such as lens flares and mechanics like wallrunning and dolphin jumping. I remember seeing what looked like huge threads of bedrock knitted together into a sort of cloth with dozens of stars inbetween them and like an empty pale green-grey sky behind everything. in some areas the air itself seemed to be suffused with colorful particles in fractal patterns which made just moving around feel like you were seeing patterns and colors you shouldn't be able to. hard to explain.

[dxrknessembr8ced]

Almost there to their objective after killing a few more bio weapons along the way they see a steel door in front of them that opens the new path only to reveal that something has emerged from the door. Umbrella's most finest bio organic weapon, Nemesis enter the seen with a loud growl carrying only his rocket launcher and preparing to kill both of them.

" STTTAAAAAARRRRRRSSS.... "

Nemesis stomped towards the group with intensions of eliminating primary Hsien-Ko as instructed too by the rebel cult members.

Unbeknownst to the tyrant Hsien-Ko towers over her, standing roughly almost 20 feet tall and since her mutations she became far more stronger and deadlier than before as she stared directly in the gaze of Nemesis with rage and guilt burning through those eyes like fire. Making sure the infants are away from harm she gave them to Raptor to keep them safe.

" Raptor, take the kids and start running... "

" OI-! WHA- "

" Go. Now. Nemesis is mine to face, for once in your life stop looking out for me, save yourself and the kids... "

Lord Raptor without another word nodded as she takes the infants and immediately leaves out of their way. She knows that the jiangshi will get out of this alive on top like the apex predator that she is. Nemesis and Hsien-Ko stand fourth staring at each other as she towers over him. For the first time in this tyrant's existence Nemesis experienced true fear as the monster clenched his fists despite the situation he won't back down for a fight. This is her second fight with him and it will be his last humiliation, she killed his once and will do so again.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Raintrace

Welp, did it again. Managed to avoid any and all actual main quest. And the side quest I was really aiming for. And the collecting bits I logged back in to do in the first place. Because sometimes I am Like That.

Okay, I am going to head in a Talanah-ward direction. I could just fast travel to that campfire I picked up near the meet-up point, buuuuut I'd really like to get a few more campfires in the area. Maybe pick up that black box on the way. Also ... the map says there's something up there, and the interactive map online says it's another black box and I don't know if I have it or not. So I'll start there.

Well, either the interactive map is lying to me or I somehow got this black box already. Because there is not one there. However, there is a chunk of greenshine. Not much, but made scaling the mountain worth it.

And gliiiiiiiiiiding down--ofuck.

Apparently my stealth armour is not yet so good that things don't notice me when I drift by. Really need to hunt a frostclaw or two at some point. Anyway, I can just hide in this bush until the Clawstriders go away.

Yeah, I checked the hunter bunch but it wanted me to do too many specifics that weren't "target it in its weak spots from hiding until it's dead". I am, however, going to scan and kill that Tremortusk because I understand I'll be seeing one as part of main quest and I want practice.

(I do love it when their weak spots are, like, bigger than I am.)

Right. Black box. And... Why are there Apex Stalkers fucking everywhere right now?!? What did you Oseram lunatics do?!?

Yeah, you can have the missile launchers but I KEEP THE STEALTH FIELD GENERATORS. Okay? Okay. ...Wait. Wut.

So off I go to chase after a guy who was in turn chased by a Thunderjaw. I mean, I get that those buggers can be persistent, but ... what was one even doing here? As we can plainly see, those things crunch the everloving shit out of the ecosystem.

Oh, hi, GAIA. ...Cauldron this way, you say? Well, I'll keep an eye out but I might well end up with a Thunderjaw up in my business soon, so--

Oh. Thunderjaw is dead. But so is Oseram dude. Poor Oseram dude. Aaaaaaaaaand he doesn't have the key on him. ...Okay, either he threw it somewhere as a weapon or something with manual dexterity pickpocketed him--

Yep. Fuck. Clamberjaws. NO I WILL NOT USE THE DISC LAUNCER THANK YOU. Poonk time is now.

One ... and two ... and three right off the damn wall. I rule. Now. Do any of you little fuckers have the key? No. Guess I'll have to go to your nest or whatever. Because of course I get a climbing montage.

...Okay, this is not their nest, but I have a feeling that the approach of the main door of Cauldron: CHI is going to involve, "You can't get in that way; find another entrance" and "another entrance" will be this perfectly triangular hole in the cliff face. But there's no way to climb past it so up the other way.

Key! Okay, back we go.

...Okay, via a couple of campfires and-- Aaaand that rebel camp.

"You're gonna make me work for it, aren't you?" Yeah, well, making you come to me is compensation. You jackasses spread across the camp and I generally kill you all from such long range that I underestimate how far away you were and then spend fifteen minutes looting your corpses. Nice to have one of you close for a change. *silent STRIKE* Also melee is for chumps unless you're absolutely sure where your target is. kthnxbai.

Right. So, back to Danur via a couple of campfires, a rebel camp-- And that question mark.

That question mark is ... a Sunken Cavern, patrolled by Watchers and an acid Clawstrider. Yaaaaaaaaaay. Maybe I'll come back another time.

Here you go, Danur-- Ah, yeah, none of you are in shape for scavenging. Yes, I can do that.

Behemoths? No problem. There's the stomping grounds for one right over there and--

Oh. You want ... different Behemoths. A long way away. Right. Anything a little closer?

Well, you're sending me underwater fairly close to where I have to be to help a friend of mine, so ... yeah, okay.

But first I'm going to go settle down in that shelter. Night is falling in-game, night has fallen out of game, and there is a rebel camp ripe for the picking just across what used to be a highway from my spot. I could probably shoot about half of them without getting out of what passes for bed. So it'll be a nice little bit of hyperfocus-plus-wakeup in the morning.

And then I am going back via the salvager guys because there's a greenshine slab not far south of there and I need it to upgrade a new bow. I have a Sharpshot bow that fires Plasma arrows and Tear arrows. The Tear arrows I might use. The Plasma ones ... meh.

...See, this is why I never really get anywhere. There's always one more thing I need. I need the greenshine slabs. I need that Frostjaw up north. I need bass bits. I need carp bits. I need moonfish bits. I need duck bits.

(Okay, to be fair, I no longer need duck bits. Spent a lot of my jungle time shooting ducks out of the sky for feathers and wishbones. It's a thing.)

Anyway, yeah, the collecting and the crafting is Zen and kind of my jam. Just there are so many kinds of Zen-jam for me in this. Hunting ducks and owls. Hunting machines. Systematically picking off rebels in their camps with them wondering where the fuck the arrows are coming from. Just ... I shouldn't Zen out so much that I don't get the actual story quest done.

This is how I do, apparently. And now I will wind down with, like, Logic Town or House Flipper 2 or something.

[dragon-snoots-a-boopin]

I am going to make a post where I talk about three things that I am particularly nostalgic that no one else but me is probably going to care about but me. Here I go.

Tech Deck: This one goes way back for me. I actually only remember have one of these but I really play with so much. Like, I remember when I was in middle school that myself and a friend would play with our Tech Decks in the first period classroom before class would start since we were waiting for class to start. I remember using a lot of classroom stuff like staplers and pencils and what not as makeshift skate park stuff and it was very fun for young me. Honestly, I thought that Tech Deck went away a long time ago but then I see that it's still a thing so of course I wanted to get one of these newer ones because I used to have one years ago. The odd thing is that I remember then, individual Tech Deck's like the one I got in the pic used to come with a multi-tool thing and some extra wheels, along with a sticker sheet. But, these newer ones is just the skateboard and sticker sheet and that's it. I used to have another of these newer ones but some pieces got loose and feel off and I couldn't tighten them because these individual packs don't come with the tool. For $3, you get a lot less than you used to.

Beyblade: Now, I remember having several of these when I was younger. Of course, they look and function differently then compared to how they do now, especially the one I got in the picture there. The one thing for me with the new one is that the instructions absolutely suck...but that is Hasbro instructions for you. It took me three YouTube videos to figure out how to assemble the thing and even once I got it, I noticed that the metal ring part is very loose and seems to be that way in both the Core and Apex configurations. I don't know if that is how modern Beyblades are but that seems strange to me. I get that these are supposed to break apart when you battle them but still. I had no issues getting it into the Apex configuration thankfully. It's also a bit loose putting the Beyblade on the launcher thing. Like you have to put them on and then rotate it to lock it on and then you can let it rip...yes, I know that was cheesy. But, it spins as it is supposed to so, it does do the thing it's supposed to do. But, I don't see $10 here myself. Maybe $5-7 but, definitely not $10.

Bakugan: Alright, so this is one that I never actually had when I was younger. I know people that did and I would occasionally watch the anime when I could catch episode on TV. Yes, I did want the toys but, I never got any as by younger brain wanted other things. But, recently I found myself playing Bakugan: Battle Brawlers on my Nintendo DS emulator and I found myself having fun, despite never having played these games before. Again, Bakugan is something that I thought died off years ago but, there was in the toy aisle at my local Walmart and there's the Bakugan, right next to the Beyblade. Out of the things here that I went to see how these hold up nowadays, Bakugan is definitely the one I had the most fun with. Putting the two halves together was super easy. The very simple act of rolling or tossing the Bakugan on to the Gate Card, it magnetizing and transforming into Dragonoid is just so much fun. Yes, it's so simple to do and yet is so fun do to, more fun than the Beyblade in my opinion. I paid like $5 for this and I think it's totally worth it and I honestly may get another Bakugan as there was another one that was interesting that I may get.

[skyboxeye]

Capturing the ambience of Titanfall 2

This cult shooter's gorgeous Sci-Fi settings have survived corporate neglect and DDOS attacks.

Extracting sounds

Legacy versions of Legion, an Apex Legends asset extractor, also support TF2. Be sure to download v2.13 or earlier.

Capturing footage

Framed has a good guide on this. You'll need Frans Bouma's camera tools and TheJanitor's HUD toggle. The former only support the EA/Origin build of TF2.

To explore multiplayer maps while using the above mods, we can launch the game using Titanfall 2 Icepick. The main repo hasn't been updated to support the EA Launcher, but I found a fork that does. You can find a build of that here.

(Sometimes) Identifying sounds

To pinpoint where assets are played in-game, we can inspect each level's VPK archive. I used Cra0kalo's TitanFall VPK Tool but there's an open-source alternative called HarmonyVPKTool that's more recently updated for TF2.

These tools allow us to inspect each level's *_snd.ENT file, which describes the environmental sound events the map can trigger.

These Miles event names don't always map exactly to an asset we extracted, however. In fact an event may even consist of multiple sounds intended to be played at once.

To play these sounds in isolation, we can use Icepick's debug console and the miles_play command. If you don't have Icepick set up you can also bind these commands, by using a custom CFG file at launch.

Frustratingly there is a miles_event_info command but I couldn't get it to print anything. In fact I couldn't get *any* of various sound/soundscape debugging commands I found to work. I tried setting developer 1 and sv_cheats 1 but nothing changed.

Appendix 1: Miles Sound Dumper

I found a tool called Miles 10 Sound Dumper which offers real-time event-based playback outside of the game. This tool can help us investigate ambiguous cases e.g. "s2s_amb_int_pod_v1". It takes in Miles event IDs rather than names; we can obtain the ID for our desired name by running MSD.exe -l.

... 365,amb_angelcity_emitter_dockwater_04 366,amb_angelcity_emitter_holosign ... 371,amb_angelcity_ext_levelintrooneshot 372,amb_angelcity_int_closedroom ...

While I found flaws in this tool's TF2 playback it did help me explore TF2's 30K+ events! Better TF2 support is supposedly offered in one of MSD's forks, but I still had issues playing certain IDs. As a last resort I loaded general.mbnk into a hex editor, which reveled some contextual clues e.g. Ion_Interior_titan_cockpit_6ch_v3_01 being name right next to the mysterious s2s_amb_int_pod_v1 event.