someonefromsometown

[someonefromsometown]

I don't know what you're talking about, this is the best Mercy someone could deliver

mercy was never an option

[someonefromsometown]

Fanfic suggestion: I Fall Apart by soniaxo

https://archiveofourown.org/series/5009081

I don't have the kind of free time that allows me to read long fics like this often, but this evening I happened to have a few hours spare and I am so happy that I spent them reading this.

I've always really enjoyed the Apollo Justice portrayal of Ema. There's a palpable tragedy that fan works have made me fall in love with again and again. While I forever hold Narumitsu and Franmaya as my main ships for the Fandom, I have always had such a guilty pleasure seeing Ema and Klavier together. They're the perfect mix of closed and open to really make me feel for their relationship.

This fic felt very warm. Especially as I play support to my partner in her hour of stress, I can't help but find something hopeful to hold on to with this one. If these two can get through it all, then so can I.

I have more thoughts but I'm burning my battery on both ends right now so I'll it at that.

[someonefromsometown]

To give the short version;

A motif is any repeated symbol or concept or idea within a peice of media; Noelle has a motif of cold, all music surrounding Flowey in Undertale shares the melody line from Your Best Friend.

A leitmotif is when changes and reintrprations of a motif is used to inform something about things associated with it. Such as Susie's theme going from slow and menacing at the start of chapter 1 to aggressive when fighting Lancer; indicating how her emotional state varies between the two moments.

The Freedom Motif is a particular segment of melody that is heard within the first, second, and forth chapter secrete boss themes. If you want to know what to listen out for, the song Dialtone from the chapter 2 soundtrack has the start of the melody exposed.

Getting into Deltarune lately

[someonefromsometown]

I just got done with my first ever real rock concert and my voice is shot like hell.

I do not have any regrets screaming BTBBRBBQ at the top of my lungs tho

[someonefromsometown]

Spotted in the deep south

[someonefromsometown]

You know, I wonder how much furniture would be needed to be added before this room would be usable as a "minimum male living space"

[someonefromsometown]

I have spotted a mysterious green liquid on the Marta, it appears to be olive oil. Like hell Im touching it though

[someonefromsometown]

Word whose use as an insult feels underdeveloped of the day:

Empiricist

[someonefromsometown]

Kris Deltarune will be in the game

deltarune today. if I get spoilers I'm gonna explode you all with my evil wizard powers

[someonefromsometown]

Yeah, the implications of religious conversion can be a bit ... unsettling given the historical reality so I tend to make religions based around terrible jokes such as "Home Owners Association", "Weather Balloons", and coincidentally "crabs". The streets shall run red with claws

Have become addicted to playing Civ 6.

But I find the whole religious conversion/combat thing highly uncomfortable (I know, there's so much you could find uncomfortable in this game if you think for even two seconds, but y/k) so I only use custom religions and give them funny names.

Made a religion called 'Crabs'.

My Apostles, wandering around the globe, giving everyone crabs.

Crabs fucking everywhere.

Apostle walks up to a city: +200 crabs.

Tickled pink.

Mental image:

Just crabs. Crabs everywhere.

[someonefromsometown]

I wouldn't call it no by technicality or obviously given how long I had to think on this, but I would say that a peice of media containing anthropomorphic charaters, does not in of itself quality it as furry media. I do not have a fully qualitative description of what Furry media is, but my perception of the term does not include Battle for Dream Island (assuming this is only referring to the original season of the show, and not BFDIA, BFBFDI, BFBFBFDI, or TPOT)

[someonefromsometown]

Introduction to Ghost Taxonomy

Taxonomically, spirits are defined via their Phylum, Type, and Sub-Type. A spirit’s Phylum is a high level descriptor that encompasses both its origin and intentions. While no distinction is made between natural spirits and ghostly spirits when considering Phylum, some Phylums are fully composed of one or the other (such as Elementals being universally Natural Spirits). The type of a spirit differentiates manifestation within that Phylum, typically in power families or fetters. While two ghosts within a shared type may not share these qualities, there tends to be a conceptual throughline that defines such spirits as similar. Sub-type is used to differentiate typical variations within a given type, such as Hoards manifesting both as infestations and singular spirits or Fetches becoming doppelgangers in advance age.

I've been working on a ghost hunting TTRPG inspired off of the old computer game Ghost Master for some time now, and part of me is stating to think that I just enjoy writing indepth semi-technical documents within a fictional world moreso then I enjoy game design. Anyways, I may post one or two of my old drafts (ignoring the risk that a player may see some of my work and be spoiled) Also if anyone has some good music suggestions for running a ghostly game, that would be nice. I find myself running through my playlist a lot, and played the same couple of soundtracks like two dozen times on my first Ghost Hunting campaign

[someonefromsometown]

I've been working on a ghost hunting TTRPG inspired off of the old computer game Ghost Master for some time now, and part of me is stating to think that I just enjoy writing indepth semi-technical documents within a fictional world moreso then I enjoy game design. Anyways, I may post one or two of my old drafts (ignoring the risk that a player may see some of my work and be spoiled) Also if anyone has some good music suggestions for running a ghostly game, that would be nice. I find myself running through my playlist a lot, and played the same couple of soundtracks like two dozen times on my first Ghost Hunting campaign

[someonefromsometown]

Trauma (joke)

Autism question

How does one mask??? How does one UNmask?? How to do both???

[someonefromsometown]

I mean, Civ plays much more like a board game then either of the two real CK games. Civ VII in particular plays more akin to a classic war game then almost any Grand Strategy I have encountered.

Also have you considered attempting to play a Civ Game using a Guitar Hero Controller, PS Vita, and Pair of DK bongos Bodged together in a hellish monument to humanity's Hubris?

a promotion I got on reddit

this seems like the worst way to play any grand strategy game. I don't play civ but I do play crusader kings. They're similar enough for me to know that vr civ would be the worst way to play a civ game.

[someonefromsometown]

An argument for Greater Collapse between Eras

It has often been levied against Civ VII that Exploration and Modern Ages of the game lack engagement in comparison to the initial Antiquity Age. While often laid at the feet of comparatively less engaging systems or obtuse victory mechanics, the root issue is far less obvious. Often forgotten, advance starts are a way to begin a campaign with just a few settlements at the start of a later era. In my own experience, while not as smooth as the Antiquity Era, I tend to find greater enjoyment in the later eras when doing an advance start. Dissecting this difference has led me to conclude that stronger collapses are necessary between eras. 

There is a particular tone shift that occurs when playing a Civ campaign. The early game is concerned with exploration and settlement, constantly looking for where the next conquest can be to establish your empire. At a certain point, however, that rapid expansion comes to a close as boundaries, either artificial or dynamic, block your way, leaving the player to inwardly develop, concerned with bring every city to their zenith with all the developments that had been accrued during the rush for horseman and settlers. This experience plays out remarkably well during the antiquity age, as the player only begins to really enter that second phase around the two thirds mark, leading into the crisis and end of era wars. Not so much for the Exploration and Modern Eras.

Assuming you are not doing an advance start, the player enters the age without any worlds to conquer immediately and nothing to explore. Their empire is already fully built with only a few slots open for new settlements with heavy limitations on where and how (there’s a greater conversation about colonialism and its goods and bads to be had). On top of that, the empire that you do have is going to be drip fed advancement as they are all equalized by old buildings not being up to snuff, therefore the moment you unlock a new anything, everyone builds it at once. It forces the game to play to its weaknesses as a management sim and city builder. 

With that in mind, here is my proposal for a more dramatic style of collpace between eras. When rolling over into the new era, every settlement on the map loses half its population and every city is reduced back into a town. Every civ must then choose one of their former cities to become the new capital of their civilization. From there, they can spend legacy points (Economic/military) to nab connected towns or cities to become their starting settlements (roughly 2-3 additional settlements). 

The remaining settlements on the map would have a number of fates:

Most settlements become city states

If a player had been knocked out in a previous era a new Civ may spawn onto the map with a new leader, inheriting traditions of the settlement they choose as their capital. 

Some Cities or Towns may become ruins, especially those that are poorly connected. They no longer are a settlement, but their buildings are a unique type of tile that give the opportunity for Relics, Artifacts, or simple production boost when initially building. 

Once the player is situated post-collapse, one or two additional features would ensure that they can’t rest on their laurels;

Areas beyond the continent of their starting cities would return to being terra incognita, including Civs and Leaders that would be hidden by the fog. 

The adjacency bonuses for buildings would change, preventing the simple overbuilding of the old science district for the new one.

A reduced opinion malice would be in place for declaring war with city states who were previously part of your empire. 

The goal is generally to encourage the player to have to have the opportunity to explore and expand once again. In the Exploration age it would give space for players who want to set sail and find the new world and the many city states within. In the Modern age, it would allow for post-colonial states to shed their bindings rather than be one with their oppressor. While other mechanical systems receiving changes would aid in this form of collapse (better city state interactions, religious reworks, Eurekas), I think the era shift would greatly be improved if the player was given more room to regain their greatness. 

[someonefromsometown]

Civ VII Melee is a bit underpowered

Melee units in Civ VII are significantly underpowered as they currently stand. While this is nothing new for the franchise or genre, as historical strategy as given favors faster offensive units, I find the implementation within Civ VII to be significantly weighted against infantry. 

The difference between a given Melee Unit and its equivalent Cavalry Unit is a constant 5 combat strength, a not insignificant difference, especially given that these units are expected to comprise the bulk of a given land army. In addition, Cavalry also have 3 movement to the melee unit’s 2. As expected, the production and purchase costs are higher for Cavalry. Within the Antiquity age it is 40 gold or 10 production cheaper to pump out a melee unit. This is doubled to 80 gold and 20 production within the Exploration age; and tripled for 120 gold and 30 production within the Modern age. 

Functionally, the difference between the cost of a Melee Unit and a Cavalry Unit shrinks as the game goes on. In general, a given game of Civ involves yields growing exponentially. In the Antiquity age, there are many moments where 40 gold is make or break, but by half way through the Exploration age, I don’t need to concern myself with the practical pocket change 80 gold represents. Same could be said, perhaps even more so with production. There are times where I have a production heavy city that can two turn either unit in the Antiquity Age. 

On the other hand, Melee units in the context of Cavalry are expensive. For a slow starting game, losing a given melee unit to barbs can put me massively behind my competition. By the time the modern age rolls around the limiter becomes settlement number, as building a large army runs into the one purchase per turn, preventing them from ever inhabiting a role as a hoard had that been the intent. Now, I’m mainly a game designer in terms of Tabletop, and a non-professional one at that, but a few ideas on how to remedy this do come to mind; but be warned, I have not thought this through that significantly in terms of solutions

Increasing the cost of Cavalry in terms of upkeep or purchase cost is the knee jerk reaction, but that leaves the balancing of Cavalry-Melee Dynamics in the hands of gold production, one of the areas where power creep is likely to enter with early expansions.

Giving Melee back its role as Anti-Cavalry by giving explicit bonuses akin to Civ 5 is an idea I’ve seen floating around. It certainly would reinstate the Rock-Paper-scissors dynamic with ranged units.

Making Cavalry only able to be purchased and built in cities would make them more significantly more limited in terms of production. For certain it would encourage creating more mixed armies compositions, as your towns can print melee units while your cities produce Cavalry. (and while I’ve sidestepped talking about unique units, it would make the Mongols more powerful as their Unique Unit is actually a Ranged Unit. At the same time an exception would likely have to be made for Carthage given their situation)

Adding some form of Recruitment Mechanic, where a Commander can in an emergency convert Population working Improvements into Melee units (perhaps some form of “Irregular” unit that can be upgraded into proper melee at a decreased cost), would better allow for massive melee armies to be accrued in later ages without running into the production limit. 

Slower reinforcement mechanics for Cavalry or reducing healing from pillaging for Cavalry would help to make them significantly less sustainable. I’ve also seen by the same token giving them a much lower defensive combat strength, leaving them in a more glass cannon role. 

Regardless, I do want mixed armies to be better, as things stand I find myself limited by how suffocating Cavalry can be for general combat. Maybe I’m missing something. Who knows.