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What does that even mean? Looking back at our own history, we had five hundred years of hereditary monarchy that only ended after aristocratic rule was abolished by law - after said aristocracy caused what was later known as the great seminal catastrophe of the 20th century. The parties quickly created their own armed militias, and before long shots were fired and we were back to a dictatorship. Hello failed state. That was less than a century ago. France had a revolution and before long was ruled by an emperor again. If the people of Kazakhstan want to riot and overthrow their autocratic leadership, then let them. If they want to string up the leeches exploting them, then... give them rope, but otherwise, stay out of it. A society can't mature or establish a democratic culture (assuming that is even what they want) if it's not allowed to make mistakes along the way. Unlike with France a ways back or the more recent second world war, a failed democracy in Kazakhstan is unlikely to cover half the world in conflict, is it? Not surprised that Bruce is in favor of securing natural resources Kazakhstan by force, but you? Mr. Anarchist? Anyway, the point is pretty moot regardless. Russia is going to deal with the issue and that's that. The West will complain a bit, but secretly be all right with. The end. Obviously. You can't force cultural change from the outside. Well, no, that's wrong. You can, but that requires draconian measures and the active eradication of the established culture, and it takes a while (you could, for instance, invade Gaul, put two thirds of the male population to the sword and then gift women, children and their former belongings to your soldiers, and you'll have a very loyal province pretty soon ).

F...fffff....fffrrreeezzziinngg mmyyy asssss oofffff I am convinced North America is actually uninhabitable north of I-70 in the winter.

Haven't been following the news much. But I saw this morning someone actually convinced the Orange Menace that having a press conference about the riot he incited on the anniversary of the day he incited it was a bad idea. I'm surprised actually. He never struck me as a man who took advice.

i'll be editing this one for 2023 adding Cthulhu using Godzilla as a sock puppet

Should I stay or should I go now... (insert Clash tune) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-59889522 "Tennis star Novak Djokovic has had his visa to enter Australia dramatically revoked on his arrival in Melbourne. The world number one was held in the city's airport for several hours before border forces announced he had not met entry rules and would be deported. He has reportedly now been taken to a government detention hotel pending his departure on an outbound flight." Who would have thought a federal government could be useful when state authorities fails badly?... Such a rare sight, that's worth it alone to mark a red circle around the date 2022 in the calendar. Edit: He somehow managed to convince the Australian Open organizers it would be worth it to let him flaunt the rules and **** over the average Australian, because he's someone "special", but immigration (and visas) is run by the federal government, and he didn't meet the visa requirements, even if eligible to play. Edit2: I suspect it has something to do with massive public outrage and the federal elections coming up this year. The government was already under heavy fire for selling out to the rich and famous the past two years, where Hollywood and sports stars could come and go as they please (with the federal governments blessing), whereas ordinary Australians couldn't even say last goodbyes to dying kids living just across a state border and tens of thousands of Australians stranded abroad who couldn't return home.

I'm starting to think I have had this exact conversation on Obsidian, the last time I tried to play Baldurs Gate 3. Here are 3 things I hate about baldurs gate 3 1) is it a nod to D:OS2 to have the game start on a ship, and then crash on a beach? Because I hate it, I felt like I was playing Divinity. 2) you meet every companion within the first 10 minutes of the game. You all were on the ship together... reminds me of another game... I guess this is so you can play as them... 3) I get that it's probably a style choice, but due to your companions being possible MCs, your created character feels so out of place. I felt zero connection to a created character. You are unnecessary, and a burden.

I personally only pick a ranged Monk (non-multiclass) when I want to use Hand Mortar/Fire in the Hole. Turning Wheel enlarges the AoE, Dance of Death gives you +12 ACC, Razor's Edge +10 ACC on top, Lightning Strikes add another lash and with the Long Pain you'll have superb crush weapons as backup. Resonant Touch is superb with mortars, Whispers of the Wind, too. I can use Thunderous Blows and two summons, and Stunning Surge almost always crits if you fire into multiple enemies, stunning most of them (if not all with the very high ACC).

The only worthy character to walk out a wreck was The Living One, who, as prophesied was reborn on wings of fire.

About 10 minutes until Asylum decides to make a Fluronanado film then.

The monk uses lightning fast hand movements to redirect incoming melee attacks for a short time. This effect ends early if the monk moves. But in reality, the description should be ... if the monk walk. The reflecting effect is not cleared with other "moving" way, like Flagellant's path, Leap (Barbarian or Boots), Escape, Shadowing Beyond (Rogue & Priest of Skaen), Dimensional Shift, Brilliant Departure (Wizard) etc. It is easy to prevent any movement from the follow of an attacked ennemy that move with the Instrument of Pain. As sage or contemplative, it is easy too to prolong the effect, and to move. I had some fun with this cool effect combined to Citzal's spirit Lance & Raised Torment (least unstable coil mean free move for this build), instrument of pain and Wall of Draining. In melee, the survivability is multiplicated by infinite as long the effect is active and the monk's DPS get a nice additive bonus to + ennemies DPS ; Dimentional Shift when some ennemies are aggroing an ally is a trully Chekmate for them.

Minor reminder : the same applies to Stoic Steel. Sure it's only 3 AR, but steel (pun intended). And you don't need Wall of Draining for it. Also Stoic Steel charges can be accumulated before combat.

These abilities are in some points similares : the target is hit with a powerful blow, while enemies in a cone behind the target take some damage. The differences are in first view the bonus damage (+25% for Raised Torment, +200% for Power Strike) against the primary target, the afflictions involved, the pen bonus for Power Strike, the Interrupt on hit for Raised Torment, the coast in ressources, and the level reach for learning. Both are available for multiclass, in this case with a Wizard. But there is an "hired" difference : the source that triggering the cone. It is the weapon for Power Strike, and nothing for Raised Torment. That can seems obscur but the area of effect from WotEP or Citzal's Spirit Lance are not treated as weapon but only the hit on the principale target. That mean while Power Strike with the lance apply the first effect (stun and bonus) to everyone in the Aoe but trigger only one cone, Raised Torment proc a cone for each target in the AoE. That also mean when empowered with the Least Unstable Coil, Raised Torment give one inspiration per ennemy in the Lance's Aoe. Power Strike give only 2 ( for the primary target hit and the proc).

Sorry for the long post, read at your own peril: I’m going to offer a slightly different explanation than others as to why Deadfire didn’t perform well in sales. My explanation has nothing to do with the actual quality of either POE 1 or 2. Rather, it has to do with why people who purchased the first game (over 1.5 mm) were discouraged from buying the second (about half as many). When Obsidian announced POE on Kicksarter in2012, it’s pitch was for a nostalgic redo of the old Infinity Engine games updated with modern technology. This implied not just a D&D style system of combat and classes, but great writing, a familiar fantasy setting, isometric/ 2d graphics, and well developed NPC’s amongst other things. When the game was released, with the exception of a few loud dissenters, (who basically wanted a carbon copy of BG 2, The game was overwhelmingly well received. The game was not without it’s issues however, and Obsidian attempted to address many of them in the development of Deadfire. This is where I think the problems really began with POE 2. In attempting to address the varying complaints with the first game, the developers began making so many alterations to the mechanics, that the second game had a very different gameplay. Deadfire also had a very different setting (Age of Sail vs. Standard Fantasy, albeit more renaissance than medieval), very different implied tone, and the de-leveling of your protagonist all the way back to Level 1. For a game based, at least partly, on nostalgia, these changes were probably not received well, or at least with serious trepidation by the folks who shelled out money for POE. When the game came out and complaints arose about the game being ‘too easy’ and ‘not a challenge’, that probably only made the situation worse. I work in the design world, often with hotel companies and other entities that are very protective of their brands and the standards around how they want their products being shown to the consumer. In essence, Obsidian went off-brand with Deadfire. They tinkered so much with what they had established in the first game, that the second game resembled something so different, that much of their fan based decided to give it a pass. As I mentioned, not really about good or bad (although certain things like marketing, going to FIG, etc. probably didn’t help), just different.

Spaceflight 2022: Missions to watch in the upcoming year (Sky & Telescope) Three commercial lunar landings scheduled!

Webb Space Telescope Deploys Secondary Mirror.

For a dose of the political humour...

My jobs in this community: 1) Post about weird, obscure, niche games that few, if any, other forum members will care about 2) Also specifically dislike Larian and Bioware writing 3) Hate on Bethesda developed games 4) Post as many screenies as possible to keep the Pictures of Your Games threads from getting overwhelmed by Mordheim Troubleshooter screenies 5) Attempt to convert as many lost souls to the Church of the Eurojank RPG as possible so that they may also share in the glory. Have you heard the great news?

Maybe you simply require quality.

This thread is widely based on the data from [MECHANICS] Power level compilation thread from @thelee, but I aimed to deal with specific cases that diverge from general rules, and possibly discuss about how to correct the most annoying exceptions. Basically, there are 4 kinds of scaling : A - Scaling from weapon quality (Unarmed Scaling is close enough to belong here, even if it has a couple differences). +1 PEN, +15% additive damages and about +4 Acc per quality level. B - PL scaling from Weapon Attack Abilities such as Rogue Strikes. 5% multiplicative damages and duration for each PL above Ability Tier. C - Intrinsic non Weapon Attack Ability Scaling, purely based on Ability Tier. For Each Tier above 1, the ability gets +2 Acc and +0.5 PEN. D - PL scaling from non Weapon Attack Abilities. 5% multiplicative damages and duration, +1 Acc, +0.25 PEN for each PL above Ability Tier. Also +1 bounce and +1 projectile for each 2 PL above ability Tier. So : - An Auto attack will get A so it keeps up with enemy defences. - A Weapon Attack Ability will get A and B so it keeps up with enemy defences and get benefits from PL. - A non Weapon Attack Ability will get C and D so it keeps up with enemy defences and gets benefits from PL. The A, B, C, D values are balanced so that all abilities scale about the same. The benefits from A+B are roughly equivalent to C+D. (It doesn't mean A is equivalent to C and B to D ; D provides strictly more benefits than C). All the above would be great design (and for most part is) if not for some exceptions... So here we go. 1) Passive Abilities don't benefit from PL Apart for a couple of specific case (Carnage and Sneak Attack), Passive Abilities don't get scaling from PL as Active Abilities, even for similar effect. They do get scaling from their Ability Tier. So they get scaling C, but not D, making them subpar especially for Accuracy and PEN. For example, rooting pain gets +1.5 PEN and +6 Acc for being a Tier IV ability... but nothing more. => Note that Balance Polishing Mode address this, giving +1 Acc, +0.25 PEN and +5% multiplicative damages per PL to all class passives. I didn't add +5% multiplicative duration because Passive abilities can be applied repeatedly, so I considered they didn't need it. 2) Non-Attack Weapon Abilities get double Scaling All weapon based abilities are not "attack" as Rogue Strikes are. But all of them benefit from Weapon Scaling. The problem is that their Acc and PEN scales as if they didn't... Active Weapon based abilities which are not "attacks" benefit from Weapon scaling (A), intrinsic ability tier scaling (C) and PL scaling (D). Basically, they scale a lot. According to my testing, following abilities are concerned : - Heart of Fury - Whirling Strikes (BPM removed Accuracy and PEN component by accident) - Whispers of the Winds (gasp) - Swift Flurry - CP version of Forbidden Fist - Cleaving Stance Following abilities are NOT concerned : - Clear Out and Upgrades (they are Weapon attack + an AoE attack, that's why the main target is hit twice...) - Flagellant Path and Upgrades (they are implemented in their own specific way) - Furious Call (same as Flagellant Path) - Heartseeker (also implemented in its own specific way) To give numbers Heart of Fury with a legendary weapon and PL 10 gets : - +4 PEN, +60% damages, +15 Acc from Legendary - +3.5 PEN, +16 Acc for being a Tier 8 ability - +0.5 PEN, +2 Acc, +10% multiplicative damages from PL scaling So yeah, that's +8 PEN !!! Passive Weapon based abilities which are not "attacks" benefit from Weapon scaling (A) and intrinsic ability tier scaling (C). They don't get (D) from PL because Passive Abilities don't get benefit from PL... According to my testing, following abilities are concerned : - Riposte - Barbaric Retaliation - Heartbeat Drumming - Vengeful Defeat This leads to undocumented and above average PEN and Acc. 3) About Unique items (general case, refer below for weapons) All the previous also applies to Unique Items abilities, with following specifities : - Most abilities from items counts as Tier 1 abilties, so they don't get any benefit from C - Items use "untyped Power Level", a Power Level that doesn't depend on Class / Multi-Class. All lvl 20 characters have 9 untyped power level. Single Class may have a little edge, but only due to Prestige. Only untyped PL bonus can rise this number (Potion of Elevation, Nature Godlike, etc...) Active abilties from items do get scaling D for PL (sometimes B for Weapon attacks). Basically, they don't scale too bad. Passive abilties from non weapon items get absolutely no scaling. Their PEN is set in stone, their damages are meh and their Acc is about 10 points lower than active abilities at max level. For example, the PEN of Boltcatchers electricity attacks is always 7. I think this should be addressed, as for class passive abilities. 4) About Unique Weapons The funny thing is that unique weapons also get scaled based on weapon quality (scaling A). Passive abilties (such as Frostseeker's Garland Rake) get only scaling A which is decent. Active abilties which are weapon attacks (such as Mowdyr's Bottom Up) get scaling A and B which is... the same as other Weapon Attack abilties. Active abilties which are not weapon attacks (such as Frostseeker's Garland Breath) get both scaling A and D (a bit like abilties from point 2) ). Which is a lot. That's why Thunderous Report deals so many damages with so high Acc and PEN. This is possibly a bit strong, but since Passive bonuses are often more interesting than Per Rest / Per Encounter abilties for weapons, I think it is mostly fine. Don't hesitate to correct me if you spot any inconsistency !

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Stone Ocean 1-5 JoJo is sent to Gurin Dorufin Sutorito Jail, where she makes some friends, practices cosplaying and learns about Stando powers.

@dgray62 Rymrgand is: Favored - Honest and Rational Disfavored - Benevolent and Diplomatic However as you expertly point out: Obsidian-created NPCs have no favored or disfavored reputations; this means they can fit into any party, but will never get positive scaling (Xoti, Vatnir, and Pallegina fit into this category). from @thelee compendium of goodness. My testing on whether the lashes change with Watcher disposition wasn't with the Axes specifically (I compared several other weapons but the lash's own PEN calculations interfere except for Woedica's which is Raw and "clean" to use for testing). I **think** the axes would behave in the same way as other spiritual weapons if the Watcher uses them with his dispositions, because they have the exact same description as other Spiritual Weapons and are Faith Attuned. Just like any other Spiritual Weapon. So the thing about NPCs Obsidian-made not affected by disposition wouldn't be about different weapon properties, but about the characters. But I'd need to do more testing to prove it...

Yes BUT it makes the attack ranged. It doesn't turn your fists/melee weapons into ranged weapons however. At least that's my understanding. reason why Harley works but not Driving Flight.

Instrument of pain only add a +500% melee reach, but doesnt change the type of the weapon!

I remember it being funky (e.g. I don't think that you can rock Driving Flight) but yes, Harley helps IoP so it seems to be tagged as a ranged ability - but not a ranged weapon for the purpose of Driving Flights and other things specifically for ranged weaponry. I haven't tested Acina's Tricorn and Ring of the Marksman but I would expect that the former works, but not the latter. (ranged attack vs. ranged weapon).

Can you really get the 31% lash with Vatnir's weapons? I ask because as an Obsidian made companion I thought that the disposition system doesn't work for him, and that he always stays with the flat 20% lash. If so, what are his favored and unfavored dispositions?

I think it goes back to expectations. Tyranny was a new IP in a new setting. So the field for establishing the game's identity was fairly wide. Deadfire not only had expectations to carry forward form the first game, it also was carrying the nostalgia (to some extent) from the old Infinity Engine games. So POE having established the expectation, or Brand Identity for what a game in this series should be like, the next title had less wiggle room if it wanted to be considered a legitimate successor. And to clarify, I think that expectations fall into 2 buckets; one is in the feel of the game (this is where setting and tone matter the most), the other is learning curve related; how much time do you want to spend learning how to play the game in some optimal way so that it is not frustrating. In a game like Tyranny, the first is open and the second, at least psychologically for the player, is to be expected. In a game like Deadfire, both were largely established in the first game (at least for those who enjoy more standard fantasy settings) so changing the setting can be jarring and re-learning how to play effectively can be off-putting to anyone who enjoyed the first game.

You're going to steal my heart with this kind of pun. Stand still to steel yourself for the battle, young paladin. Also yes it works, but I think you have to be in stealth, stay immobile, and then unstealth for the enemy to see you and the battle to start. You'll begin with the +3 AR.

Yeah blade turning is very nice . You can also use it and prolong while having Cadhu Scalth with the large shield modal on to make sure you're not going to accidentally walk. While making your stand, you can use permanent Concelhaut Draining Touch via Boeroer's grimoire switching trick and Instruments of Pain to brutalize ranged attackers while melee attackers kill themselves with their own attacks. Miasma of Dull Mindedness to guarantee crits, Chill Fog to bring ranged closer by reducing their visual range. Soul Mirror + Arcane Reflection are also efficient. But a Monk/Wizard with a large shield is weird .

Serbia will declare war.

What do you think about Clear Out additional attack vs main target ? It makes Clear Out a bit too good against single target, and I'm not sure it is intended. Also Clear Out & upgrades having no AoE display is annoying. But displaying AoE may lead to unpexpected consequences, such as applying spell scaling rules (basically added ~12-20 Acc and ~+3-5 PEN) to Clear Out. But this could compensate the loss of the additional attack. I may add a little damage malus to compensate a bit. What would be your opinion about such tweaks ? Would you prefer to let Clear Out as it is ?

たまこまーけっと, episode 3. I thought Shiori was over the top, but otherwise this episode was good. Like, really good. I might end up liking this after all, but sadly I think it terminated itself as a recommendation for anyone else for the time being.

Interesting quirk: it seems that when you steal Spiritual Weapons from a priest with Minor/Major Grimoire Imprint, the disposition system still works. So with the right reputations, you can create a Martial/Wizard MC that has access to any spiritual weapons with its full 31% lash. This is especially good with BPM because most spiritual weapons get a +10ACC bonus. It can be fun with Berath's great sword (corrode lash), Woedica's hands (raw lash but no +ACC bonus) but especially if you steal Vatnir's double axes... Those bad boys with a 31% Freeze lash, +10 ACC, Bleeding Cuts activated in the hands of a Sage or Spellblade with Zandethu's Draconic Fury, Citzal's Martial Power and Full Attacks... Firebrand is fun to steal too.

I do appreciate quotation marks here, because the sentence's basically the same as "Shark troops will be deployed to help stabilize the ocean in the place of a shipwreck".

Stunning Surge refunds itself basically 100% when you fire Frotseeker. Helwalker/Ranger is also a nice combo with it.

Nice find, I was actually thinking of replaying a Spirit Lance Sage at some point. The nice thing about Stunning Surge is that it refunds itself plus the stuns lasts base 6s vs. 4s here... but wow, the multiple cones must be devastating with a big pack of enemies, Zandethu's Draconic Fury, maybe Combusting Wounds on top... Very nice. I had forgotten that Power Strike costs 4 discipline lol. 2 x Clear Out and its upgrades. Stunning Surge is basically free, Raised Torment costs 3 wounds... Sorry fighter.

I sometimes wonder if I already caught it but just never noticed. Amen. Although I have put on about 10lb from my lackadaisical lifestyle. I cant even go for my daily walk because its winter.

Well, until we get a variant that kills you My company is very open to WFH, even before all this, luckily. Our new office is 100% hotelling, so nuts to having to book a desk near my teammates every week or whatever. Been happy not seeing any of them for 2 years

@Phipanjo If I replace '2c8238c9-7a86-4394-b5e6-45c6a1d0bf10' with the object GUID used in the example in the original post, I see your item in that store (Marihi's Metalworks). I don't know what your GUID is since I don't have the tools to search it up right now, but make sure it's an object GUID for a container or inventory in the store scene that's actually tied to that store. Also make sure your mod actually shows up in the Mod Manager, if not your folder structure may be the problem.

Yeah but I think we already established that you are weirdo Bruce

Sarevok is never convinced and I think she is dead no matter what by BG2, so that whole interaction is a bit underwhelming. Oh well, on the slim chance I ever play BG again I'll think of the market show @majestic is watching.

So, everyone has their role in a community, right? My jobs are: 1) Post Mordheim screenshots 2) Rant about the lie that is the theory of two extremes, as best illustrated in "moral dilemmas" such as the choice between NCR and Caesar's Legion 3) Generally dislike writing in games as well as tedious design choices 4) Specifically dislike Larian and Bioware writing 5) Post Mordheim screenshots. Admittedly, I have not been posting too many Mordheim screenshots. Mainly because I have not really found much that I haven't screenshotted before.

"That day the child learnt how to move out the way". Perfect.