Leaderboard

This may not be a big achievement by the standards of this forum but I'm pretty proud of myself after trying for this for several years. My personal rules included 1) no watching YouTube videos for cheese tactics, and no direct copying of builds from this forum or elsewhere; 2) using only story characters in the party (apart from hiring one mercenary in Gilded Vale to get through Act I); 3) no using a backup save file without Trial of Iron enabled to test combat tactics; 4) no force-quitting or other obvious cheating. However, I did allow myself to consult the wiki for certain stat checks and so on. After so many failed attempts, this became a necessary time-saver. I'd come close to getting Triple Crown several times before but failed in the usual spots (Lagufaeth, dragons, Kaoto, Thaos). Eventually I realized that the best strategy, given my rules, was to be at the maximum possible level for every difficult encounter. Which meant that as cautiously as I thought I'd been playing, it wasn't cautiously enough -- for example, delving deeply into the Endless Paths at a low level just to grab Persistence, etc., is a bad strategy for getting the Triple Crown and Frozen Crown achievements. I also had better results rotating characters through my party as opposed to focusing on six characters exclusively; in my failed attempts, I tended to over-rely on Eder and certain other characters I realized I was bringing along mostly out of habit. Some classes are just better suited to certain encounters than others. And I did have luck on my side once or twice with this successful run -- especially when I made it through the Abbey of the Fallen moon without having to confront the High Abbot at all. I really had thought that was impossible, but this game continues to surprise after so many hours. My endgame party was: 1) PC: Human monk built for speed with turning wheel and iron wheel as the bread and butter damage skills, Maneha's armor, Shod-in-Faith, Drawn in Spring and Bittercut, and Scon Mica's Roar. 2) Zahua built to tank and wielding two stunning Cladhalíaths. 3) Pallegina built for fire damage (especially Firebrand) and a little support. 4) Grieving Mother with the Lead Splitter doing crowd control. 5) Durance with an arquebus doing buffs and heals. 6) Aloth with Gyrd Háewanes Sténes and Abydon's Hammer doing damage or whatever else is needed. As frustrating as it could be to lose again and again at this challenge, finally beating it made for some extremely satisfying gaming. I think I'm going to import this character into Deadfire for a trial of iron run on normal difficulty, because Deadfire's PotD is much harder. Thanks to everyone here for all your helpful posts!

Well I'm prepped as can be, time to bunker down and try to outlast the cold. Let's see how this **** goes.

Happy Festivus! It's also my bday

Vodka martinis. Now planning on a margarita flight that I hope will go very well. [Parody-tron 10000 engaged: THIS IS A JOKE] I am decidedly not a fan of gin and would have to be baited into drinking it neat. Not much is a match for a good cognac. That and whiskey are the things I almost exclusively drink neat or in an old fashioned.

While Umberto Eco's Ur-fascism concept is often used as the starting point in recognising fascism, I would go further in recommending Roger Griffin's <<The Nature of Fascism>>, in which the term he uses to describe it, "palingenetic ultranationalism," probably does a better job in elaborating how uniquely dangerous fascism is even in comparison to run-of-the-mill populist far-right (and sometimes ethno-nationalist) regimes of Orban's Hungary and Putin's Russia.

Fun an quick way to get the forum to display the "Request Blocked" error: At any point in your post, begin a new line, and put some text in parantheses, like so: "(THIS WILL CAUSE THE FORUM TO ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL)" Just without the quotes. -> @SChin -> tagging you in again. Some other combinations may cause this too, but this is a really simple way, at least on the latest Firefox. Edit: Does the same on Edge, so it is not a browser problem.

Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout: Tactics free on Epic.

I have decided to play another run of this game on PotD Upscale, as I had never finished the game on this diffuculty before. I have tried few classes as my PC, mostly melee, as I want to play with my nukers NPCs such as Aloth, Hiravias, and Durance. Choosing another caster would make the party "unbalanced" IMHO of course. Among those classes I had chosen, I found Rogue is the weakest melee attacker. It does nothing good enough, even as a single target damage dealer. I know that many topics like this one had been discussed thoroughly in the past. Creating a new one seem unnecessarily redundant. Yet, I find those topics mentioned are not clear and concise enough. Sometimes, those posts even transformed into a war between Rogue-lovers and the opposite, which I do not mind if it was not dragged too far and too long. Anyway, I hope my new post would suit anyone who wants to find the answer on Google about how good Rogue is on PotD Upscale. Rogue has the worst starting stat. Damage dealer Rogue cannot tank or off-tank. Starting with only 15 deflection, Rogue is the worst tank class in this game, while Fighter starts with 30 deflection and monk has 25. The only way to play melee Rouge is to hit an enemy that had been already engaged by another tank or party member, which seems to be the correct method to play. The problem is that if some archers target you, what would you do ? Walking away, Escape, or Shadaowing Beyond means that you do not attack and thus cause less damage. Not to mention that in order to doing so, you must spend some skill points on non-damage skill first, which is not effective also. This low-deflectioned problem will happen or cause another problem no matter how you distribute your stat points. Most people tend to do it either a glass-cannon way or balanced way. The first one is dumping RES to minimum like 3-4 depending on race, and the other one is keeping RES at 10 so that Rogue might mitigate some damage. The rare one is pumping RES to max and gimping other stats, increasing Rogue survivability. The sad thing is that even at max RES, Rogue still has lower deflection than Monk at 10 RES. Reckless Assault does not stack with Savage Attack. I am not sure who decide the rule like this but it hurts so badly. If these 2 skills stack on each other, Rogue would be considered stronger. The net benefit would be +40% atk damage +3 accuracy -8 deflection, which is pretty good. By the way, in reality, they do not stack, which means that other melee damage dealer classes have a way to get +20% as well. The difference would be that Rogue has +13 accuracy more relatively. Aceeptable ? Let's find out later. Sneak Attack requires a target to be debuffed or flanked. In order to flank an enemy in Pillars of Eternity, 2 characters must attack the same target on the opposite side, which means one character needs to spend time walking to the back side or use some skill while the other one engages in the front. Usually, the one doing the walking is Rogue and tank go in front. This seem to be normal and effective for any melee attacker class since you always want an enemy to be flanked as the stat is lowered. However, in some circumstances, you cannot just walk casually to their back side, because in most situation you need to use a choke point to prevent your party from getting swarmed by a horde of enemies. On PotD Upscale, there are a lot of enemies. Without flanking, you need other party members to debuff for you. They may be required to use certain skill or spell for you at the moment instead of doing their things. For instances, Aloth may use fireball or Hiravias may use Spiritshift. All preparations must be done so that Rogue can get +50% damage from melee weapons. As a result, net party DPS may be not as efficient as you think. Comparing Rogue vs Spiritshifted Druid, I also find that by the time Rogue reachs the back side of an enemy, the Spirited Shift Druid (Hiravias) has attacked 3 times already. The damage per hit is also much more than Rogue's Sneak Attack. Spritshifted Druid, they surely hit hard and fast. Rogue has no attack speed buff. Even though Rogue can hit hard with proper setup. Sneak Attack in a combination with Deathblows can produce a big damage number. Rogue lacks attack speed. This is why most Rogue players must put a lot of stat on DEX in compensation. Per rest abilities are not enough. Shadowing Beyond, Finishing Blow, and Fearsome Strike are per-rest skills. Such constraints limit Rogue damage output harshly. When playing Rogue, unless meta gaming (you know what will happen next), people tend to keep these skills for the hard fight, which they do not know whether it will come soon or not. Eventually, they may not have a chance to use them at all. Limiting 1 time per rest on Fearsome Strike is a joke. Backstab is just an illusion. The skill is really hard to use. In order to Backstab an enemy, you need to be invisible or in stealth. With Stealth, you can do Backstab 1 time per encounter. With Shadowing Beyond, you can do 2 Backstab per rest. With level-15 skill Feign Death, you can do Backstab 1 time per encounter. The number of availability is low and what you get is merely +150% damage. Any normal character can reach +200% damage by attacking 3 times. A minmax Spiritshifted Druid may even attack 5 times while Rogue "prepares" to do Backstab. However, you might take this skill anyway because you do not have anything better to choose. This is kinda sad. Dirty Fighting is just a lesser version of +10 accuracy. Dirty Fighting is a great passive skill for any damage dealer. Everyone likes it. This skill is one of the reasons anybody wants to play Rogue as PC. However, other classes might have similar skill too such as Stalker Link from Ranger and Discipline Barrage from Figher. In summary, I want to like Rogue but the class is just not that good in PotD Upscale. All Rogue-lovers, please read this before comment. My opinion is based on PotD Upscale only. If your Rogue works on lower difficulty, I understand, but that is not the point here. Try playing White March II at level 15-16 and choose level upsacle to High Level and you will see what I mean.

Obsidian, thank you for such a great game, I finally picked it up again after a few years (needed of course to start a new character from scratch in POE1 so took me a little to get back to POE2:), and the story/gameplay is even better than I remember. Appreciate the blood, sweat and tears you all put in to create a true classic. Much love and happy holidays from a fan.

Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday and Festivus! I'll make a donation to the human fund in your name.

There is continuation of the story. He was apparently wounded somseriously, that the doctors in Rostov could not make a surgery. He was scheduled to be transfered to Moscow, but the weather conditions are as bad as his medical condition, so the transfer was postponed. (Courtesy of Russian media).

Well, Rogue appears on bottom Tier on most class rankings I've seen. I don't think there is a huge debate about it. It could be said in an even more simple way : their Single Target damages are not distinctively better than other classes, they are squishy and none of their special tricks are great. Still it does its main job in an okay fashion so isn't unplayable. Deathblows + Scrolls is a decent backup feat. And I personnally like Sap+ Blunderbuss to super reliably control and damage a high priority target on every fight even with a melee Rogue. But that's it.

Thanks Thanks! Maybe in another decade or so I'll get my ultimate badge.

Certainly seems that way, by the time you arrive the Ralari's mere 2-3 seconds away form getting shot. Always find the force deployment in space games amusing, Ralari is essential, so Confed sends....2 guys to protect it. At least X-Wing had the Rebels send 4 X-Wings or something

Kudos to you! Great job!

Space Dandy 6: Dandy finally goes surfing, baby. There's also a 10000 year war over clothing.

It's 15 F here and power hasn't gone out (yet), so the heat is cranking. No snow and looks sunny outside.

Its wicked cold here (currently -11F) but we only got 2-3 inches of snow. Ill count that as a win!

Oh, thanks for the clarification Boeroer. It is funny though, that the Sky Dragon wurm still appears when you killed both of them in PoE 1.

There are two expansions, Secret Missions 1 and 2. The first one is better, and arguably Wing Commander at its finest, although overall the second one is probably more polished. As much as games from the era can be considered polished nowadays. Heh, okay. Not really used to people using the full names for the games. You're lucky if your wingmen don't crash into you or just die from their own stupidty in the first games. When I played the first game, I did not have a joystick, so I just played with keyboard, which was really awkward. The trick with both asteroid and minefields is just to just hit the afterburner and rush through them. More often than not you get through without taking damage. Mine fields are less problematic because all of the ships can take a hit, and you're not getting hit more than once most of the time. Asteroids can just insta gib you, but it's still faster and less frustrating to just try to afterburn through than playing 'properly' - especially on a keyboard.

Kinda cold out but not as cold as this morning. Supposedly we hit -24

Could be, right now....

That's what keeps breaking my posts lately...need to cut those nasty parentheses out of my life, I guess.

That is a great theory. She could also be like Mamitas. Edit: I need to caption the image above and use it every time someone talks about cats. "Cat? Did you say cat?"

Well....

Makima Edit:

Picked up Valheim again. It's been a very long time since I last played so I made a new character (named him Beefstick) in a new world. I haven't bothered reading changelogs, I'll discover what's been added and changed as I go. I was almost instantly reminded just how lovely the game looks despite the pixelated and lowpoly aesthetic. The lighting effects are just fantastic. I don't remember if there was gamepad support last time I played, but it feels super comfy playing with a gamepad.

Yeah, character creator has been heavily criticised for on Larian’s forum for reason you mentioned and others. In recent PfH devs were gushing how far they came with their character creator UI, and I sincerely hope they are talking about version we haven’t seen yet, and the one we have since Early Access dropped has been underwhelming and clunky. At the very least, different body types should be coming in 1.0 - recent Trailer shows player character with a beefy bod.

tanks and stuff "Three key issues explain Russia’s tank losses: lack of warning and preparation, poor strategy that exacerbated logistics issues, and insufficient infantry to protect them. Tanks are among the most logistics-intensive pieces of equipment. They require routine maintenance, spare parts, and substantial fuel to keep them operational. Because of these requirements, logistics planning is more important for tank battalions and regiments than nearly any other type of military unit, but Russia’s disorganized invasion exacerbated these logistical challenges." ... "The wars in Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh both show that mobile armored platforms with firepower are still important. They also demonstrate that tanks need to be employed with adequate combined-arms support. Otherwise, tanks, like any armament, will be vulnerable. Russian tank units lacked sufficient infantry, which left them vulnerable to anti-tank teams, and Armenia’s aging air defenses failed to protect its tanks from Azerbaijan’s TB2s, which led to their high losses. Indeed, the war in Ukraine has disproven the arguments that drones rendered tanks obsolete in Nagorno-Karabakh. TB2s have been effective in Ukraine, but they have not seriously threatened Russia’s tank fleet. Furthermore, tank units require significant logistical support to operate effectively. These are well-known lessons that were understood by tank commanders as far back as World War II." is only one opinion from one guy, but is a whole lotta big brains who see the announcement o' the main battle tank's demise as premature. then again, is a whole lotta folks who see the announcement o' the main battle tank's demise as overdue. as with the fighter jets, is not something we claim expertise. regardless, we found the article worthy o' a read. aside, this guy also agrees the mbt obituary has been written premature. you gonna argue with the guy who has a picard as napoleon portrait on his wall? HA! Good Fun!

House January 6 panel recommends criminal charges against Donald Trump | January 6 hearings | The Guardian

You can get the Sky Dragon Wurmling in several ways: 1. Don't kill the Sky Dragon in PoE. This is easy: just let it live there in the nest and don't attack it. 2. If you still want to attack the Sky Dragon, make sure you kill the Sky Dragon Wurm, too. This should also lead to the Sky Dragon Wurm pet appearing in PoE2. 3. Create a custom history. 4. Use a console command in PoE2 to set one or both of those variables. I think it's hard NOT to get the Sky Dragon Wurm pet - because most people playing PoE either do not kill the Dragon+Wurm and let them live in peace, or if they do attack them, they kill the Wurm as well as the Dragons. Both will unlock the pet in PoE2. Besides that there are two other wurm pets that you can pick up no matter your PoE history: Desert Wurm, Obsidian Wurm

UT3's soundtrack is pretty good at least. And no, Tribes is the gold standard.

If both spells come from you it won't counter. Chill fog will even proc CW. Only hostile spells can be countered afaik.

It's a pity that few people write guidebooks these days. With nostalgia, I remember how in my childhood I played the Sonic game on Sega based on the book. It was something incredible, a kind of lamp atmosphere. It's a pity that those times will not return. The world is entering the era of artificial intelligence

Cowboy Bebop, episodes 3 and 4. Faye is introduced...and the show immediately gets better. As you might expect, I'm not super keep on her design, but her personality/mannerisms kind of remind me of an older version of Fuu from Samurai Champloo (albeit more intelligent/wacky/skilled...so maybe not like Fuu at all, but somehow the thought still entered my brain), and she's fun to listen to. We'll see how long that impression lasts.

Tuna mac and cheese

I think @Bartimaeussent some arctic weather down to me because the temperature is plummeting here in Cackalacky. Hasn't Aaron Rodgers hurt me enough? Et tu, @Bartimaeus? Anyway, joke's on you because tomorrow morning I get on a plane headed for southern Florida.

Here it's another winter snow adventure. My exit is an uphill sheet of ice that's about to get even worse with overnight freezing rain. That could knock out the power here, and it may not thaw until after Christmas. Just great.

Space Dandy 4: Dandy finds a place better than Boobies. Then ends up going back to Boobies anyways, baby. One thing that bothered me about the show is Dr. Gel's voice actor because he sounded very familiar. I can now confirm that his voice actor, Unshō Ishizuka, is also the voice of (old) Joesph Joestar. So........