#defense simulation market

[aviationd]

Defense Simulation Market industry is growing owing to increased awareness of the need to save costs on traditional training techniques, government rules requiring improved security from external threats and internal, cheaper energy prices, and environmental concerns. Furthermore, harnessing advanced technology in defense simulation has a substantial impact on market growth. The Table of Content would give the readers a perspective of the coverage of the Defense Simulation Market.

[admarketingg]

Ship simulator market

[defenseemarketingg]

Ship simulator market

The Defense Ship Simulator Market 2022-2032 includes, the rising number of training, increasing warfare system, and increased marine technological advancement in simulators are some notable trends accelerating the market growth in recent years are expected to maintain the trends in forthcoming years

[rottenpumpkin13]

impulsive purchases Sephiroth has made?

Poor Financial Choices In Sephiroth's Apartment

• A gumball machine. He bought it purely because he didn't know these things could be bought. He followed Genesis to one of those whimsical upscale furniture stores when he was redecorating, spotted the gumball machine, and made his choice without asking how much is cost.

• Yoga gear, enough to open his own studio. In his defense, he does practice yoga, but there was a point in the beginning where he got wayy too into it and started buying everything he saw. It was a mistake, because all he uses is one (1) yoga mat. At least Angeal knows who to go to in case he ever needs 62 yoga balls.

• A mini trampoline. Again, he didn't know they existed before he saw one.

• A coffee table that doubles as a mini pool table when the glass top comes off. Again, he saw it at the store, went "ooh!" and then made Genesis and Angeal lug it back to his place. (he was too busy carrying the light up wall-sword-holder contraption he got for Masamune)

• A giant scented candle the size of a barrel. He likes scented candles, but hates how fast they run out, so to combat this he bought "that monstrosity" (Genesis' words, not his). It smells like eucalyptus. The smoke detector picked it up one time at 1AM and they had to evacuate the residence floor. Angeal confiscated it.

• A humidifier shaped like a cat that lights up and purrs. It's impractical, it doesn't work properly, and is an eye sore according to Genesis. Sephiroth only bought it because "that's not something you see every day."

• A plasma lamp, a lava lamp, a night sky projector, light-up LED lights, a lamp that's a skull with a lightbulb in its mouth. If it lights up in any different or interesting way shape or form, odds are Sephiroth has it.

• House slippers shaped like two chocobos that heat up. Zack talked him into buying them, but he never wears it on account of feeling ridiculous whenever he does. He wears them when he's alone but that's besides the point.

• A giant weighted stuffed chocobo he got from Genesis as a gag gift. Sephiroth doesn't see the gag. If he drapes the chocobo over himself it simulates human contact.

• Waffle iron, popcorn machine, hot chocolate maker, donut iron, things he buys and claims he'll use, but never does because he barely ever cooks. The only times he eats home cooked meals are when Angeal cooks for them, and it will be a cold day in hell before Hewley is caught making an omelet with a machine.

• Sephiroth once followed Angeal to the flea market in the slums, where he proceeded to thrift an entire collection of mugs shaped like realistic skulls. "Aren't these a novelty? I think I'll name each of them."

• A comically huge beanbag chair that makes him look (and feel) small when he's nestled into it.

• In conclusion, this is the result of growing up isolated in a lab without autonomy, and then gaining adult money and personal space.

[steveuschrist]

Something about Death Island's Intro

I watched Death Island a few nights ago, and something that has stuck with me was how basically all of Leon's information on his file was blacked out in the intro sequence.

Only his name and gender are shown, along with Hunnigan's name at the bottom and some more blocked out things.

It probably is stupid, but I can't help but focus on it. As the audience, we know a lot of things about Leon. We know his past and all of the things that he's been through, so why bother showing a file with a bunch of that information blacked out? Yes, it does serve as a reminder that Leon does a lot of highly-classified and dangerous wok for the DSO, and we can assume that the intro sequence is supposed to "simulate" Dylan researching everybody, but I can't help but feel that there's more to it than that.

To pretty much everyone aside from the other protagonists and maybe Hunnigan, no one really knows what Leon has gone through. At the beginning of Infinite Darkness, Patrick has a really shitty opinion of Leon: "Qualified? More like lucky. The only reason he's the golden boy now is because he was in the wrong place at the right time." Yes Patrick does come around to Leon, but as the new kid with no experience, he already has a preconceived notion that Leon isn't qualified for the job, likely because he's only heard Leon by name and simply as "the guy who saved the president's daughter one time." And while Shenmei quickly comes to Leon's defense, Patrick isn't yet convinced. Why?

Because the DSO simply treats Leon as an asset to be used and not a human being. Patrick hasn't even met him yet and just assumes that Leon never worked for his position before he's even met the guy. Again, this changes over the course of Infinite Darkness and Patrick ends up really respecting Leon after he sees who he really is.

In Death Island when Leon, Claire, and Chris have been infected, we hear Dylan's big plan and him essentially calling all of them out: "The huge corporations and the corrupt execs that run them, the ones getting big, fat bonuses for maintaining the status quo, that’s who you work for, who you really protect. And the innocent will continue to suffer as long as you do."

As he says that, they cut to a shot of Leon. It's hard to tell exactly what Leon's reaction is because he is fighting the infection from the virus, but there's no snappy comeback, no joke, no quip. Dylan drops the bombshell: "You’re nothing more than pawns, suckers." On the word "pawns," the shot cuts to Chris, who also is dealing with his exposure to the virus, and then Jill, who just readjusts her hold on her gun.

This takes us back to the intro sequence, the agent ID was "pawns:"

Literally in being agents, Jill, Chris, Leon, and Claire are pawns. That's how their organizations see them, not as individuals, but as assets. But again, there's a deeper layer with Leon on top of this as I've seen others online point out, in the actual marketing of Death Island:

"One of the government's most formidable weapons." Not agents, weapons. They see him as an asset, a thing, to be used in their "fight" against bioterrorism. The kicker comes back to the intro sequence and Leon's file is shown:

In a sea of what we can assume to be DSO agents, Leon is shown, with the word "pawn" in big letters. The word doesn't actually finish being written out fully, but based on the spacing of PAW, we can assume that there isn't space for both N and S in the remaining box. The N would simply go over Leon's face and there would be some leftover space in the box (yes it wouldn't fit 100%, but the animators worked really hard on this movie and with how fast the shot is, you really have to analyze it to notice that it would look off!).

So yes, while Dylan is trying to say that all of them are pawns, Leon is the pawn. Patrick says as much in Infinite Darkness, calling Leon the golden boy of the government. Even at the end of Infinite Darkness (which takes place before 6), Leon doesn't let Claire make a copy of the drive with all of the information that will basically expose the US government for its hand in what happened at Raccoon City. Before she walks away, she gives him one final look and says: "Like I said before, that outfit doesn't suit you." Of course she literally is talking about the fact that Leon is wearing a very bureaucratic-looking suit, but she also is referring to what the suit symbolizes. She knows that Leon has a good heart and wants to do the right thing, but she's also frustrated with his actions and him, probably unconsciously, falling further and further in-line with what the government wants. She probably knows that he's "in deep" at this point and is just trying to basically stay alive, but she also is frustrated that he's not taking the path that would basically lead to a way out. It's also worth noting that Eiichirō Hasumi, who directed Infinite Darkness, also directed Death Island.

I'm not sure exactly where I was going with this post, I just wanted to share my thoughts about Leon and where he's headed next. I hope that the next movie (or game!) will feature him and be about him coming to terms with the fact that he can choose to do the right thing and that he doesn't need to just be a pawn anymore. He deserves that and so much more. Thanks for reading!

[centrally-unplanned]

👀 are you interested in fire emblem and would you tell us your opinions of the franchise, I’d be very interested

I do like Fire Emblem! I have played FE6-8, smatterings of 9-10 (never owned them, played with friends), and all the games past Awakening/13. I did also play a bit of FE1, no shade on the limitations of the time of course but it sucks, not worth playing. So I am not a grand FE master but I have a lot of exposure to it.

I admire Fire Emblem for its simplicity of design & stakes - the combat system is "hit enemy, deal damage based on attack power - defense" kind of stuff, how everything works is super clear. All the complexity emerges on top of that. Your army is all individual people, permadeath means you need to pursue strategies with a lot of care such that difficulty doesn't get trivialized even if it is still easy (there is a big gap between "my odds of losing are 5% - exciting, I'm doing well!" and "my odds of losing are 0% - boring, why can't I skip this"). When it is doing its best you have a squad of guys with clear stakes and challenges that are overcome via smart kiting and tanking, it is rarely "did you equip the White Hooded Cat Ears to a unit with the Lapis Pendant to double proc a high initiative archer with Glacial Rain for opening gambit AOE freeze spam to prevent Featherknight Magic Guard from activating?" Which to be clear can also be a ton of fun, each game should just be its own thing - FE is just often best-in-class at its niche.

Fire Emblem also has great aesthetics, it aims for that "classy" style of fantasy typically and everyone authentically buys into all that nobility medieval stuff, which for a video game story can be fun vibes. I love their character designs, normally it is a game series with the right level of fanservice (Camilia -_-), and as someone who enjoys romance sideplots in video games FE typically gives you fun sidequests along those lines that sometimes has gameplay implications to boot - I loved the "eugenics simulator" of FE Awakening, as the fans affectionately called its system of child units inheriting traits from parent units. Tharja you are gonna torture Gaius for eternity via marriage because your faildaughter Noire needs Galeforce, I don't wanna hear any god damn objections okay?

As a series it is far from perfect, as anything running this long must be. The plots are normally "meh", in particular the series just doesn't care about logic that much? People do dumb shit alllll the time; FE7's plot is an absolute mess, Three House's story is hung together by macguffins and asspulls, and so on. It is better when it is simpler - in FE6, our boy Roy has gotta beat a bad guy, he conquering the world with dragons, oh no - great, no notes. More modern games need more involved plots due to market demand, but FE has not yet mastered it imo.

More modern games have also stacked complexity on the combat system - skills that proc, squads that attach to units, most recently "Engage rings" that buff and give spells. These can be good! The thing is the simplicity of say FE6 gets boring over so many hours, what works for a 10 hour game gets stale over 40, you need to grow. Sometimes they do that well - I thought Three Houses generally was smart on this front, the skills are more passive, the squads and gambits were (generally, they fucked up on movement buffs) flexible and didn't break things while giving you toys to play with. But Engage, while a good game, did get too complicated by half with many of its systems, and Awakening literally broke itself with pair-up & stacked skill procs, you can easily trivialize the whole game. And meanwhile to spike difficulty they would give every random enemy fighter different lethal skill procs that you would have to triple check every turn, a problems-beget-problems moment. But! I like that they are experimenting. Would have been real easy to capitalize on the success of Three Houses and just repeat it with Engage, but they didn't.

Also while permadeath is conceptually good, restarting a whole map because of a cheese crit is fucking awful, and I am glad modern games have time reset systems to obviate that. I do not play the older games without an emulator that can save state.

Tier listing the games I have played, lets see:

S Tier: Sacred Stones, Shadows of Valentia

A Tier: Three Houses, Blazing Sword

B Tier: Awakening, Engage, Binding Blade

C Tier: Fates

Edelgard best girl, and I think that covers it!

[mariacallous]

Roman Pohorilyi was 22 when he started tracking Russian troop movements near Ukraine’s border. It was the fall of 2021, and he and a childhood friend, Ruslan Mykula, had been sharing news about foreign affairs to an audience of about 200 subscribers on a Telegram channel. It was just a hobby for them. Neither imagined that a year later their country would be in a state of absolute war with Russia, and that their hobby, which they called Deep State, would be tracking every aspect of it.

Although Deep State started as a news channel, it has become most famous for its open access map that charts the shifting front line of Russia’s invasion, and which has become a crucial tool for Ukrainians to keep track of the conflict that once threatened to overrun their country. On some days in late 2022, Deep State’s map received as many as 3 million views. Mykula showed WIRED a screenshot from the website’s dashboard that recorded more than 482 million views between June 2023 and June 2024.

Mykula and Pohorilyi created the map on the first day of the war, after recognizing a demand from their Telegram subscribers for frequent updates about what was happening. Pohorilyi was in the penultimate year of a law degree, and Mykula was working in marketing. But both had been learning open source intelligence skills to help verify videos of military activity that actors on all sides were publishing online.

The basic map itself, which a friend helped to design, is simple but precise. Territories occupied by Russia are shaded in red; those held by Ukraine are shaded in green. Blue marks areas that Ukraine has recently liberated. Known Russian units, airfields, and HQs are marked with small red squares; troop movements with arrows; and railways with black and white lines (Ukrainian positions are not shown). Zooming in, one can see detail down to the level of individual streets, villages, and tree lines. It looks like the board of a computer strategy game.

Over time, Deep State has added more advanced features and quirks to the map. A toolbar in the bottom-left corner offers the option to enable different layers, including weather patterns, fortifications, and gamma radiation levels in case of nuclear disaster. Users can simulate the effect of different weapons, calculating the range and potential damage of everything from self-propelled howitzers and ballistic missiles to Patriot air defense systems and nuclear explosions. A hidden Easter egg summons an animation of Baby Yoda that, when poked, uses the Force to destroy Russian units.

The map soon became too much for Mykula and Pohorilyi to manage alone; they now enlist the help of more than 100 paid employees and volunteers. Their methods have also evolved. They still use open source intelligence to verify new information, but also acquire data directly from frontline military units whom they’ve developed relationships with. In some cases, the authority of a single source whom they’ve learned to trust is enough, though Mykula admits there have been occasional errors. In other cases, when multiple sources contradict one another, they wait until definitive evidence emerges. Propaganda is rife on both sides, and Mykula insists that Deep State will take no part in it. “We want to win,” he says. “Propaganda will not win.”

Mykula and Pohorilyi do, however, oblige when Ukrainian military commanders request delays to map updates that may compromise their activities. They also receive some government funding for an alternate version of the map available only to verified members of the military. The government funding also goes toward other intelligence activities that Ruslan refuses to discuss; most of their funding comes from public donations.

Late in the first year of the war, Mykula and Pohorilyi learned that their map was helping another, unexpected group of users: Russian soldiers. The map’s designer had added a function that would display instructions to surrender if a user tried to access from a Russian IP address. Then, in October 2022, in an interview with a popular Ukrainian blogger, a Russian POW testified that he had used Deep State’s map for this exact purpose.

The success of Deep State’s map has attracted more users to their original Telegram channel, which now has more than 700,000 subscribers. It publishes its own original reports of the war, all available through a free app, which other established Ukrainian media organizations sometimes refer to. But the map remains the most popular product, used by Ukrainians at home and abroad to track the front line that, at the time of writing, creeps further toward their office in Kyiv every day.

Both Mykula and Pohorilyi approach their work with a stern dedication that belies their youth and inexperience. “We don’t want to disappoint our audience because our projects have become critical for Ukrainians,” Mykula says. “If you compare us to other maps, you will see that Ukrainians don’t go to check on them. They come to us.”

[gragam]

i dont care that palworld copied pokemon i just think it sucks that everybodys jumping to the defense of a game that thinks its funny to market itself as a slavery simulator

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

May 24th, 2022 was awards day at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Fourth grader Mayah Zamora won three of them – in math, robotics, and for making the honor roll. Not long after the ceremony, an 18 year-old walked into the school with an AR-15 style Daniel Defense rifle and started shooting.

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed. Zamora was airlifted to the hospital and has had more than sixty surgeries in the year since. Zamora's mom, Christina, says her daughter had been a fearless child before the shooting.

"Mayah shows a fear of this world that she had never shown before," she says. "Someone unexpectedly knocking on the door is a scary trigger for her."

Last year, the Zamoras became the second family to file a lawsuit against law enforcement, the school district, the gun store, and the maker of the weapon, Georgia-based Daniel Defense.

Federal law protects the firearms industry from lawsuits if their products are misused. But the law has exceptions, and the lawsuits allege that Daniel Defense can be held liable for what happened because of how they market their products.

"We need to speak up, for our daughter, for our family, for children in the future, maybe this will make a change," Christina Zamora says. "Nineteen children died. They were massacred. By an 18-year old boy. There's something wrong there."

In 2005, Congress granted broad immunity to gun manufacturers. But some legal experts believe exceptions allow gunmakers to be held partially responsible for these mass shootings if they deceptively marketed their products in violation of the law.

Georgia State University Law Professor Timothy Lytton, an expert on health and safety regulation, says Daniel Defense is notorious for its provocative marketing.

The lawsuits argue that the company violated federal trade law by unfairly marketing its products to civilians as tools for offensive, military-style operations.

"And they also allege that the placement of this AR-15 style weapon in video games allowed young men in particular to fantasize about use of this weapon in a way that would simulate the kind of violence that we saw in Uvalde," Lytton says.

After the Sandy Hook school shooting, some families of the victims made a similar argument in the Connecticut courts against the gunmaker Remington, which was in bankruptcy. And while the families won a seventy-three million dollar payment, it didn't create a sea change.

"It's not like a manufacturer came to the table and said, 'We admit liability here for the carelessness of our marketing practices.' This was a bankruptcy in which bankruptcy creditors paid out in order to get the company back into business," Lytton says.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case on appeal. So while gun control supporters cheered the settlement, the litigation left many legal questions unresolved. One big question is whether violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act even apply to the exceptions allowed under that sweeping immunity law. As a result, the Uvalde lawsuits against Daniel Defense could be the biggest test yet of the extent of the firearms industry's liability protections.

The cases have been filed in federal court in Texas, with the help of Everytown Law, an arm of the group Everytown for Gun Safety.

Daniel Defense didn't respond to an interview request, but has called the lawsuit politically-motivated and legally unfounded.

Mark Oliva is managing director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association for the firearms industry.

"Trying to sue a firearm manufacturer for the crimes committed by a remote third party would be the same thing as trying to sue Ford and Annhauser Bush for the deaths caused by drunk driving," Oliva says.

Even if the Uvalde cases clears the stringent immunity law and are allowed a trial, the courts would still have to consider another set of thorny questions, like whether the company's marketing is protected by the first amendment.

But Lytton says whatever happens, these liability cases put more focus on gunmakers.

"You only need one or two lawsuits to win to transform the whole industry," Lytton says. "If it got planted in Connecticut, and it flowers in Uvalde, that might be enough. And if it never takes root there, it's likely to pop up in Chicago. Or California."

Some states are passing laws that would make it easier to file these suits against gunmakers, but Oliva says the industry is pushing back.

"Are we going to bend to the idea that we're going to suffer death by a thousand cuts? I think your answer to that is we're challenging the law in New York. We're challenging the law in New Jersey. We're challenging the law in Delaware," Oliva says.

Back in Texas, the Zamoras want to make Wednesday's anniversary as normal a day as they can. Right now, they're focused on their daughter's recovery.

But they hope accountability will come, too.

[recoiloperated]

The market on graphics cards has gotten ridiculous.

Like- a mid-tier graphics card should not cost 650 bucks. A top of the line graphics card should not cost $1,500. On top of this, Nvidia straight up isn't pushing the performance curve whatsoever unless you buy a 490, and even though with the 7000 series AMD is finally making something polished enough to be a legitimate competitor, they aren't doing a good enough job actually being that competitor. Where's the 7800 XT? The 7700 XT? Are we even going to see a 7600 XT before it's time for the 8000 series?

AMD could have owned the general user market by releasing the 7800 shortly after the 7900s. Because most of us aren't cool with spending $1,000 on a graphics card. Hell, I'm still skating on a graphics card from the GTX 1600 series because I don't want to spend $650 on a GPU right now. But at least if I did spend 650 on a GPU, I'd be getting last generations absolute pinnacle from AMD.

Realistically, the correct price for a mid-tier GPU is in the ballpark of $400. The second best card should be priced around 600, and the enthusiast top tier card should be 800. The only cards that should be more than $1,000 should be the "we are showing off our technology" cards. The Titans, Ect.

If we are realistic, the RTX 4090 should be the RTX Titan 2023, and the 4080 should be the 4090.

If the 7900 xtx cost $850, and the 7900 XT cost $650, they would both be excellent cards.

Ending AMD's defense, they are both rapidly heading towards those price points. But where's the 7800 rolling in at around $450? The 7700 at 250?

We're pricing new gamers out of PC gaming like this. You can't only cater to the ultra enthusiast. You have to have a solid entry level too. Because the only reason I can personally justify spending the kind of money that I am to build a new computer is because I use my computer for more things than gaming. And some of those things have the potential to earn me a lot of money.

If I just wanted to game, I wouldn't have a single current generation part in my build. If I didn't need the additional IPC and core count to run simulation and potentially AI acceleration, I would 100% just stuff a 5800x3d and a 6800 XT or RTX 3060 into the computer and call it good.

[usafphantom2]

Government of Canada orders 4 new Airbus A330 MRTTs

Diego Alves By Diego Alves 07/26/2023 - 12:00m Military

In an effort to strengthen its continental defense capabilities, the government of Canada granted Airbus Defence and Space a contract for four newly built Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft and the conversion of five used A330-200s.

With an order value of approximately CAD $3 billion, this Strategic Air Transport and Refueling Capacity (STTC) initiative aims to replace the former CC-150 Polaris fleet (A310 MRTT) currently operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).

The A330 MRTT was considered the appropriate solution to Canada's requirements to protect its sovereignty and improve operations within the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and NATO. “As the most advanced multi-mission tanker in the world, the A330 MRTT perfectly meets the needs of Canada,” said Mike Schoellhorn, executive director of Airbus Defence and Space. The aircraft's superior technological capabilities, combined with its interoperability with other allied client nations of the A330 MRTT, position it ahead of global competition.

The new A330-200 fleet will be set up in Toulouse, France, and will undergo a conversion at the A330 MRTT facility in Getafe, Spain, from 2025. The first MRTT is scheduled for delivery to the RCAF in 2027. The A330 MRTTs will be equipped with refueling options via hoses, drugs and booms, along with cybersecurity solutions and countermeasures. In addition, the aircraft will have the Airbus Medical Evacuation kit solution, with two Intensive Care Units and additional stretchers.

The contract includes advanced training services, featuring the Full Flight Simulator, to ensure crew readiness and modernize the air operational training infrastructure of the Canadian Armed Forces. Airbus was selected as the only qualified supplier for the replacement of the C-150 refuel after an acquisition process opened in April 2021.

With 76 requests from 15 customers and proven combat experience in theaters such as the Middle East and the Eastern Flank in Europe, the A330 MRTT has a market share of 90% outside the US and more than 270,000 flight hours. The history of interoperability, mission success and high availability rates of this mature platform highlights its remarkable performance and makes it the ideal choice for Canada's strategic defense needs.

Tags: A330 MRTTairbusMilitary AviationRCAF - Royal Canadian Air Force/Canada Air Force

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[midnightactual]

Shoyo-Bestgirl Feng

Autistic, Gremlin, Excited

Air (Void?)

Cold

Clean (More a constrained chaos)

High-Tech

Hard

Noble (but a scamp)

Violent but probably lack of context for otherwise

Unsure? Government or Corporate maybe?

Augmented (Genetic Enhancements)

Military Officer, Professional Go Player, Wildlife Caretaker

Swords and they're the sharpest ever, Is nonverbal so probably communicates in an alternative fashion to others from her mech

[ For I'll write an Armored Core VI Verse/AU for your muse ]

World: Uranus (Sol 7) Catalog Number: n/a Type: ice giant, various colonies Climate: artificial, temperate Population: 12 million Satellites: 27 Notable Features: orbital ring and dockyards

Helium-3, the lifeblood of the interstellar economy, is not an easy thing to acquire at industrial scales. Lunar deposits were costly to extract and rapidly overexploited to fuel human industry. While insatiable demand drove the early development of the Jupiter colonies, Jupiter's deep gravity well, intense radiation belts, and differentiated atmosphere made atmospheric mining at scale prohibitively costly. Saturn was ultimately little better, and the market was primed for a cheaper supply. Uranus, with a much weaker gravity well and more importantly still an unsettled distribution of helium, was exactly what humanity needed, despite being located at a markedly greater distance. The ease of extracting power from its magnetic field, which is tilted from the rotation of the planet, was another plus.

Today, Uranus hosts a largely automated helium-3 extraction industry, providing the bulk of the supply in Sol and neighboring systems. Atmospheric mining is conducted via massive atmospheric platforms—part aerostat, part aircraft—which routinely transfer their haul to low orbit via cargo drones. These are subsequently collected by skyhooks descending from the orbital ring. This ring, having been constructed through extensive mining of the Uranian moons, hosts most of the human population, and sustains itself using volatiles from the planet and ices from said moons. While the orbital ring is under the tight control of a unified governing authority practicing dirigiste economic policies, the resulting "national champion" corporations promote the interests of Uranus vigorously, not just in the remaining early colonies of closed O'Neill cylinders around the planet, or on its moons, but throughout the outer Solar System—much to the chagrin of the Jupiter colonies.

Name: Shoyo Fēng Augmentation: Generation Nine Occupation: corporate security officer Affiliation: Fēng Tactical Solutions Registration Number: Sl4649 Callsign: Tacit Armored Core: Intervals

Although most of the Uranian corporations have their own internal security details, external physical security is almost inevitably contracted to Fēng Tactical Solutions, which de facto constitutes the Uranian military and is publicly traded but majority-controlled by its namesake family. Given their limited recruitment pool and the need to function across a wide range of environments (so-called ECOAS operations—earth, colony, asteroid), the company places a particular emphasis on skill and first strike capability to minimize losses. Their defensive forces are limited and their offensive forces are organized into role-specific strike teams.

The newest member of the Fēng family to appear in the corporation's combat roster, Shoyo was initially assigned to a Muscle Tracer guard unit, but proved to be a poor fit for the duty assignment despite her stellar simulation scores. It was eventually judged that her talents were being wasted, and she was reassigned to an Armored Core-based reconnaissance and scouting team. The unit in question routinely dispatches its members solo and notably farther afield than the usual talking grounds of the outer Solar System, to include other systems.

While Shoyo's unusual text-and-gesture-only style of communication proved a hindrance in team formations, the cryptic impression it leaves has proven oddly fitting to her new line of work.

A fairly high-tech AC, Intervals was—perhaps somewhat paradoxically to those from more terrestrial backgrounds—constructed with melee combat in mind. Relatively nimble while retaining good armor and defense, it features higher stability for its weight.

Functionally a light assault unit, its typical combat pattern is closing with assault boost while using vertical plasma missiles to suppress targets, then continuing to apply pressure with its machine gun as it closes to melee range. The laser blade provides excellent mobility in this regime and can sweep multiple targets, while its laser slicer and assault armor make for devastating follow-ups. A nightmare once it's within enemy ranks, it also poses a substantial threat to any AC that would underestimate its close-range power.

[imladybbq]

Valorant: Prepare for Battle 

Electronic sports, or e-sports, are organized online games in which teams or professional players compete against one another in a variety of online games. E-sports, like traditional sports, feature passionate players who put in a lot of practice, engage in competitions, and compete for glory, popularity, and cash prizes (Taylor 2018 p. 1). Over the years, esports has grown a significant popularity among many people, creating a global community of fans. There are various genres of e-sports games that you can find, such as first-person shooters, multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs), real-time strategy games (RTS), sports simulators, combat games, and more. Personally, I am not a big fan of gaming, nor am I a gamer person. However, Valorant is perhaps one of the games that I truly enjoy playing. I got into it during the lockdown period when my friends insisted to try it, and I have been hooked ever since. It is a free first-person shooter (FPS) game released in June 2020, developed by an established gaming company called Riot Games.

What is Valorant All About? 

The game is super hectic with numerous elements, which involve complex strategic elements, and a unique blending of skills and gunplay (IGN 2022). Due to this, it has captured the attention of millions of gamers worldwide. The gameplay is super exhilarating and skill-based, with an emphasis on strategy and teamwork. Each team of 5 players will get a chance to be in both attacking and defending teams, and each round demands strategic planning, communication, and execution (IGN 2022). Hence, it creates a dynamic and captivating gameplay by integrating tactical gunplay of classic shooters with unique character skills. 

What makes Valorant stands out the most is that the players get to pick a character through the agent system. Each agent has special skills or power abilities that players can strategically use to their advantage to accomplish particular goals or assist other agents (IGN 2022). The game provides a large range of agents with a multitude of team formations and abilities, from aggressive explosives and surveillance tools to defensive smokes and healing abilities. Next, there is also a range of game modes that players can choose from, from competitive to casual mode (IGN 2022), which can cater to the player’s mood.  

A list of some of the agents from Valorant, where each has its own power and abilities.

Reaching Worldwide 

This game has built an incredibly active and enthusiastic community that is still continuously expanding. Being a free-to-play game, Valorant is easily accessible, which contributes to its increasing popularity. Players from various backgrounds can take part, regardless of their financial limitations. Furthermore, the game's multicultural cast of agents includes individuals from different cultures promoting inclusivity and representation in gaming. 

Other than that, the game also gains popularity with the help of live-streaming websites, such as Twitch and YouTube. These platforms offer viewers a simple and quick way to watch live games and tournaments, as well as a tool for players to broadcast their gameplay. Both players and viewers are able to communicate directly through live streaming, which promoted interaction and a sense of community. Plus, many players also use these platforms to educate others on gameplay through tutorials and gaming hacks. This typically emphasizes strategic planning on using the agent’s abilities to the fullest potential.  

Valorant Going Professional 

Thanks to the accessibility of live-streaming platforms, it creates a global audience, which attracts media, marketers and sponsors to organize and invest in professional e-sports tournaments (Taylor 2018). Since its debut, Valorant has quickly made a name for itself as a dominant e-sport. As a result, they have established a competitive ecosystem through The Valorant Champions Tour, a worldwide tournament series that features the greatest teams in the world competing with each other. This drives millions of people to watch live e-gaming events (Taylor 2018), and they have audience numbers that are comparable to those of traditional sporting events.

I believe Valorant has successfully built its identity in the market due to its creative marketing efforts to pique interest among gamers globally. The developer, Riot Games, started with captivating teaser campaigns through the storytelling of the world of Valorant. Hence, the gaming community became hyped up with speculation and discussion in response to these advertising tactics, which in turn instil eagerness among the viewers.  

On top of that, I believe one of their strongest marketing plans is their effort towards community participation. They actively take into account players’ feedback and incorporate it into their game design. They encourage people to share their ideas and opinions based on their gaming experience, which notably improves their platform. This allows their community to feel heard and appreciated, hence promoting a sense of community and involvement. For this reason, they foster loyalty among players due to the community-centric approach, drawing in both amateur and professional gamers. 

Overall, with its captivating gameplay, complex strategic elements, and vibrant e-sports community, Valorant has completely changed the competitive gaming landscape. The unique game design incorporating tactical gunplay, distinctive agent powers, and community collaboration built an engaging experience that appeals to both competitive and casual players. We can see that Valorant has clearly made a lasting impression on the gaming industry with its continuously expanding community and dedication to creating a global e-sports environment, securing its position as one of the top-tier competitive games of our time. 

References: 

IGN 2022, Beginner’s Guide to Valorant, IGN, viewed 11 June 2023 <https://www.ign.com/wikis/valorant/Beginner's_Guide_to_Valorant>. 

Taylor, TL 2018, ‘Broadcasting ourselves’ (chapter 1), in Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming, Princeton University Press, pp.1-23