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Rupert Murdoch: Your appointment to FEMA should be finalized within the week. I've already discussed the matter with the President. Jared Kushner: I take it he was agreeable? Murdoch: He didn't really have a choice. Kushner: Has he been infected? Murdoch: Ah yes, most certainly. When I mentioned we could put him on the priority list for chloroquinoline, he was so willing it was almost pathetic. Kushner: This plague — the poll numbers are dropping to the point where we may not be able to contain it. Murdoch: Why contain it? Let it spill over into the schools and churches. Let the bodies pile up in the streets. In the end, they'll beg us to save them. Kushner: I've received reports they're trying to make voting easier. There's not enough voting booths to go around, and the underclasses are starting to get desperate. Murdoch: Of course they're desperate. They can smell their deaths, and the sound they'll make rattling their cages will serve as a warning to the rest. Kushner: Hmm. I hope you're not underestimating the problem. The others may not go as quietly as you think. Intelligence indicates they're behind the problems in Washington. Murdoch: I have McConnell in place though. I'm more concerned about Fauci. He's relocated to Vandenberg. Kushner: We have other problems. Murdoch: Biden? Kushner: A pretentious old man playing at running the world, but the world left him behind long ago. We are the future! Murdoch: Our propaganda is far in advance of theirs, as is our electronic sentience, and their... ethical inflexibility has allowed us to make progress in areas they refuse to consider. Kushner: The Putin project? Murdoch: Among other things, but I must admit that I've been somewhat disappointed with the performance of the primary unit. Kushner: The secondary unit should be online soon. It's currently undergoing preparations and should be operational within six months. My people will continue to report on its progress. If necessary, the primary will be terminated. Murdoch: We've had to endure much, you and I, but soon there will be order again — a new age. Reagan spoke of the mythical Shining City on the Hill. Soon that city will be a reality, and we will be crowned its kings, or better than kings: Gods!

Not so hot because, shockingly to many, our public health system has gone down the ****ter after years of cuts (and then power transfers to regional governments who are even worse) by politicians of both colors. Almost unimaginable amounts of incompetence have resulted in basic constitutional rights being suspended, in an unprecedented overreach by the government since democracy was installed 40 years ago. Worst of all is a vast majority actually support this because they are scared out of their minds. I wish I could say I'm disappointed, but I think I completely lost that ability about a decade ago. Personally I'm fine, but no doubt that will change as the government crashes this economy with no survivors. Thanks for asking though.

A friend of mine suggested that the by acting in the spirit of integrity, honour, and self-sacrifice Captain Crozier was very clearly acting contrary to the values and standards expected by the Commander-in-chief. Effectively mutiny. Evergreen quote from George S. Patton, whom Trump claims to idolise, though I find it doubtful that he could name any of the formations he led during the Second World War (or even which theater he was involved in):

Deus Ex is still easily my favorite game of all time, and I only first played it in 2012. It's prescience... uncanny edit: I don't think the virus is a conspiracy though, but I don't doubt people are trying to capitalize on it... shame really.

Hey, everyone knows Corona comes from Mexico, right? Money for that wall has to come from somewhere!

I would add the Boar form. It has an automatic raw damage over time effect on its attacks (kind of bleeding damage) and it heals passively while shifted. Which is nice. Also it looks absolutely hilarious. Stag is indeed bad. But you can install the Community Patch mod which transforms the 1/encounter ability of Stag Carnage into a passive ability like the Barbarian Carnage (only a bit weaker). Then it's a fine (but not OP) spiritshift form. PS: good to see that the big upgrade of Spiritshift, Spiritcapslock, still finds its use.

Having fun screwing about in Surviving Mars. Took me a while to realize how the drones function and also that I choose a poor landing site far from water, but I guess that is what happens when you skip tutorials.

And that's exactly why those weapons don't get implemented in a realistic way - because as I already said then everybody would wield a pole weapon. Players who wanted to play a stabby Rogue would be extremely disappointed that they don't stand a chance against that peasant with a pitchfork. Unarmed Monks would be ineffective unless they could somehow miraculously come into grappling range. This game - as most fantasy RPGs - is not a HEMA simulator. So its mechanics are there to allow all different kinds of players some fun and make combat enjoyable for all sorts of characters. Too much realism can kill enjoyment. Example: I once played the 3rd edition of a TTRPG where players with short weapons had to do separate rolls against characters with longer weapons in order to get into reach. And the long weapon guy could counter those rolls and do rolls of his own for regaining distance between them as long as there's enough room. Because that's more realistic when long reach weapons fight against shorter ones. That rule was making combat so tedious and unfun that it was scrapped in the 4th edition and never looked at again - nobody complained about that. It was more realistic but it didn't improve the gaming experience - quite the opposite. Abstraction is necessary and if flanking should be considered at all it should be an easy mechanic that fits into the existing affliction system. The current abstraction is a good way to do it because it isn't behaving differently from other afflictions - it's systemically fitting. I'd even go so far and say it isn't abstract/easy enough with that 180-degree requirement. Battle Brothers, which still is a game that balances all weapons but has a more realistic approach to their usage, is doing "flanked" this way: if more than one character is engaged to an enemy then every character who attacks this enemy in melee will get a +5% to-hit bonus. Every character who additionally engages that enemy (max six characters can surround an enemy) makes it even easier for everybody who attacks that enemy in melee: +5% to hit for every "flanker" (+25% max if completely surrounded). But only for melee attackers. Guys with reach weapons who are not engaged but can reach the enemy will profit from but not contribute to flankling. Now if you have the "Backstabber" perk you gain +10% bonus per additiona comrade engaging the enemy instead of only 5%. If the guy who gets attacked has the perk "Underdog" though then all those bonuses get downgraded by -5% (so to -0% usually and +5% for Backstabbers). This seems to be pretty much what you ask for: not everybody profits the same (Backstabbers get twice the bonus), some people are trained to fight multiple opponents (Underdogs can't get hit easier when surrounded unless there's Backstabbers) and ranged attackers won't get a bonus at all (in fact they risk to hit the flankers). It's far from being 100% realistic but you can rationalize its workings and it fits into the overall combat mechanics very well. Because everything is hex-based and perks and effects work in a particular way where this abstraction makes more sense than coming from a 180 degree angle or something. Same with flanking in Deadfire. It's not very realistic but it fits into the set of mechanics that are there and behaves as most other afflictions as one would expect. You can still come up with a somewhat plausible story why this abstraction can make sense and it's easy to play with. As I said earlier there would have been a chance to implement flanking in the line of Marking/Sworn Enemy etc. (I guess nobody gets what I mean) and that would fit your demands pretty much - but would it make the game experience more fun for the majority of players? Not really. Would your idea be more realistic? Probably. Would it improve the gameplay? Not likely. Players don't seem to care that much and a more complex solution that doesn't fit the affliction system might frustrate more players than it would please others. I would even argue that flanking in Deadfire is too fiddly and the 180 degree rule is too much. Since one of your arguments is that the effect is too strong (I do agree, -10 deflection would be more than enough): I would just tune it down: -10 deflection against melee attacks only. Ranged get nothing because while the enemy is busy with the flankers they have to make sure they don't hit their comrade(s) - so I would argue that evens out and thus no bonus. I also would exculde it from all PER afflictions since those immediately unlock Deathblows, but that's another story. One could even make flanking do only -5 deflection and then make it stackable: every melee attacker adds one stack of flanking. 5 attackers surrounding an enemy giving -20 deflection in melee. Or remove flanking from the Perception affliction path and make it its own layered affliction: flanked -5 vs. melee, surrounded -10 and -1 AR vs melee, overwhelmed -15 deflection and -2 AR vs melee. Numbers can be adjusted. Armor would get less because the surrounded/overwhelmed enemy is more likely to get stabbed into gaps of the armor etc. That would fit the system and cater more to your ideas. But I wouldn't try to exclude the guy who the enemy is facing since that's way to complicated. But I still think the way it works now is acceptable enough and I wouldn't touch it. I would however do it the way I described above if I were to design a PoE3 or so.

I worked in the garden this morning and spend the afternoon at target practice. The Browning X-Bolt in 6.5 Creedmoor is the finest rifle I have ever used. My longest target frame is 910 meters. At that range from a bench rest I shot a 2.5" group of 5. From offhand it was a 4" group. Most of the rest of the session was using .44 sp target rounds from 100m. They are a LOT cheaper. Marksmanship is a perishable skill. You have got to practice.

I never got out of the first city. That zone had the problem that it seemed like random things thrown together. It gave no image of the location I was. And that hurt the immersion too much to go on.

Trump immediately removes oversight keeping track of where trillions of the coronavirus stimulus funds go. Wow, coincidentally, Trump has very suddenly became the world's first trillionaire! Good for him, .

Acting Navy Secretary that called Captain Crozier stupid resigns. Sometimes, given the insane amount of turnover in the Trump administration, I feel like some of these guys deliberately do or say stupid stuff to have any reason to resign.

If you are in America or Europe, this website should give you an idea about how long the lockdown in each country or US state will end: COVID-19 Projections Just use the pull-down menu to select your country or state. Just look for when the curve will drop down and hit the X-axis. For examples: California should be out of the crisis by mid-May, and should completely lift the social distancing and stay-at-home order by the end of May. For Florida, the situation will continue until end of June.

Subtle. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/07/coronavirus-relief-trump-removes-inspector-general-overseeing-2-trillion-package.html

No idea really, I mean, you probably hope and pray nothing happens or that you can qualify for some program. When I got laid off a few years back I still had my insurance until the end of the month but as a disabled vet I was able to sign up for VA health care

COBRA

Recorded 2 October 1999, uploaded 16 March 2020 on the official channel? Nice.

Way ahead of his time 😄

Considering how much fun people had the last time she wore it, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a deliberate choice on her part... Ranker - Queen Elizabeth's photoshopped dress

I'm not going to do the whole pro/con thing, except point you to my guide's info on the forms: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/druid But I will talk about two forms in particualr. Cat is by far the best all-around IMO. It comes with a once/encounter active ability that gives you a whopping +33% action speed for a short duration on top of already having faster attacks; the action speed buff even lasts past your spiritshift if you end it prematurely. Get a priest with salvation of time or multiclass with a wizard for wall of draining and you can stretch out the buff for an entire fight, emptying out your spellbook and pummeling enemies with great speed. Stag is the absolute worst. It doesn't have carnage, like it says it does. It has a lame active ability called "carnage" that attacks once for incredibly medicore damage. I believe this has to have been an erroneous implementation of it, and they never got around to making it function like in poe1 where it was like barbarian carnage except you had to turn it on.

My personal point was that it was hard for me to see how @AeonsLegend's changes were better than what's already in place. To me, they all fail in terms of "realism" and it's all just abstraction, and I don't know why one's abstraction is better than the one already in place, especially by certain rules of trying to demurk combat. If you want to pare a proposed change down to just "this weapon will grant you +1 enemies to flank" I mean sure ok, but I don't know why this abstraction is so much better than what's in game that it warrants change. It ultimately just sounds like "I want to leave my mark on this game" which I mean sure go mod it and do it, but it's not like there's some major gameplay flaw in the base system that your'e fixing. There are actual gameplay flaws with flanked, but I haven't seen them mentioned here: 1. Flanked is sometimes a passive, sometimes an active bonus. 2. Perception afflictions shouldn't also provide flanked. (1) is a bug and sometimes means that Flanked stacks with AR reducing effects and sometimes not. It's murky, when the combat system is trying to demurk, and clearly by its arbitrary-seeming effect could not have been intended. (2) is simply because Perception afflictions are the only affliction class that automatically triggers Deathblows. This makes it way too trivial to trigger Deathblows and makes Rogues and Rogue multiclass really effective damage dealers (just by picking up Persistent Distraction for non-debonaires). It also has bad interactions with actual Flanked status and may contribute to (1). If you want to make Flanked weaker, I would argue that at the same time Flanked is weaker, Perception afflictions should get a different non-flanked effect that stacked with actual Flanked.

1000 yards? Fancypants! Creedmoor when you can get yourself some 6.5 Swede! 😛

I can't see extreme viewpoints in this thread... at all. As an olive branch I even presented some ideas to you that would take your initial idea and make it so that it fits into Deadfire's mechanics rel. flawlessly. Wouldn't call that extreme nor letting opportunities pass by. You didn't even comment on that. Eh? Nobody disagreed with that as far as I can tell? Getting those "refuting statements that weren't made" vibes again... but maybe I just missed the passage where somebody commented on that. I can't find it when skimming the thread. 🤷‍♂️ Bringing forth reasonable arguments that show why the current solution is good isn't roadblocking. If you had convincing arguments there would have been forum users who'd agree to your proposals. If you are confronted with a lot of comprehensible counterarguments it doesn't necessarily mean that you get roadblocked - it could also mean that your idea isn't as spectacularly good as you thought it was.

Late reply but yeah those defenses are mostly from shield (weapon and shield style for the insane reflex) and buffs like Llengraths as Boeroer stated. edit: also defenses don't do anything for me in case that wasn't clear and are nowhere high enough for any of the megaboss fights.

U.S. health officials say death toll may fall short of most dire projections.

Now rereading and missed "Priest of Eothas" the first time. I have to say Priest of Eothas/Chanter (especially Troubadour) sounds a lot more fitting to me than Priest of Eothas/Cipher. I mean thematically. Mechanically there's no problem either. Troubadour with its passive that lets you overlap two chants without gap and Ancient Memory + support chant coupled with a Priest makes a nice passive + active healer and buffer combo. And it is somehow fitting that a benevolent Priest of Eothas wanders around, putting joy in the hearts of his fellows with his jolly songs and such.

The folks in that Loren game are very serious about protecting their shoulders.

Going with a new MC gives so many options for creating a fresh experience. Continueing the saga is a massive mistake I think. It would be far more interesting to go 50 years into the future and deal with the changes from Eothas. See the world in a different way. Make things unexpected. Introduce new things. Also the whole sailing accross the deadfire was very bad in the experience. I enjoyed the areas in POE1 much better because exploration itself is much more fun. Sailing from location X to location Y to kill something is just less enjoyable. About 80% of the locations are like this. There might be a specific piece of loot to find that you need for your build or anything. Also some of the best weapons in the game can be picked up after getting your ship at level 4. Meh.

It's a shame because the story leaves room for a 3rd game, but now we'll probably never get to experience it. I personally consider it and PoE must haves for CRPG fans. But I guess a lot of people were lost on the first game.

If anyone likes Two steps from hell and Full tilt this guy is worth a listen

Never thought I'll be posting Half-Life screenshots again! Half-Life Alyx in 2D 8K (thanks to console commands) part 1

Attacks from stealth (and invisibility) - the attacks you make at the start of combat out of stealth mode (if you didn't get discovered). Not Sneak Attack (the rogue ability). It works with every class as long as you can't be seen when attacking (stealth/invisibility).

Ok, cool. So... Megabosses next?

More Rammstein. Mein Teil (My part/My bit) based on a real event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin_Meiwes Live in Russia Rock am Ring

Italian metal is just not the same without a heavily accented singer

Modwyr.