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Xenonauts 2 - They still have one big update to go before the game is able to be finished, but I couldn't help myself. The game is fantastic early on. Fighting the cleaners at the start instead of jumping right into it with aliens is a nice touch. The combat is great. I've got 17 soldiers right now and they are starting to get a bit decent. I've got one sniper who leads the pack in kills. In the first downed UFO mission, he ended up with 4 kills, and the last one was with his sidearm after his rifle ran dry. He's a legend already.

Hi, I thought of sharing my findings in case it is helpful to anyone in the future. Thanks to this old post which was golden. Based on my tests: All you need is starting a melee attack against an enemy to permanently add it to the list of threatened targets, without needing to complete it. So you can quickly start & stop an attack against each enemy, or just complete attacks vs various enemies over time, and you'll permanently get the -5% for each. If you have engagement slot(s), an enemy is added when the green arrow moves to it, which sometimes lags behind the attack when switching targets. Engaging an enemy will automatically add it to the list, without needing to start an attack against it. So more engagement slots help but are not mandatory, not even 1. If you are always attacking the same enemy, having several engagement slots will automatically give you -5% * N when such slots engage (assuming the enemies are not immune to engagement). If you are quickly switching targets, the more engagement slots the faster you will get all nearby enemies threatened because upon every target switch the engaged targets will automatically change. You can memorise which enemies you have already engaged or started an attack against, and spin around yourself switching your starting attack & engagements against whoever is missing. Being CC'ed (stunned, paralyzed, knocked down), switching weapons or moving will empty the list but using consumables won't. CC'ing a threatened enemy won't remove it but getting too far away will. If you become invisible, if the enemy doesn't go too far away it will remain threatened. For a solo run this could be very powerful, as you could end up being surrounded by let's say 8 enemies (-40% recovery) or induce it by using pull effects like Into The Fray, Pull Of Eora, Implosion Charge... Edit1: if without Mob Stance you have threatened so far N enemies (which you can speed up with Guardian Stance + switching attacks) and you then activate it, the -5% * N recovery is obtained instantly. It makes sense as the threatened list is unchanged. Edit2: I just realised Entonia Signet Ring's Inviolate (+2 All Def / Engaged) scales with how many enemies engage you, not how many you engage. I find Guardian Stance less mandatory now (except if I need Persistent Distraction), both have their places.

Very sorry for your loss.

Very sorry for your loss.

Vanilla for now. Really miss my "Not Completely Horrible UI" and "Highlight unread books" mods, but, you know. There are cheevos and I'm weak.

What !!!! You havent read there 900 page manifesto, everyone has read it https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24088042-project-2025s-mandate-for-leadership-the-conservative-promise Its only 925 pages, read it today and then we can discuss it tomorrow

My new NMS pet - TulipHead. It was simply spawning all over on one of my home bases now. I haven't explored much/seen any of the other new exotic fauna. On the 55" OLED TV, this is way too white-bright/blown out. The visual upgrades are mostly nice/good, but bright white noon sun/clear skies/water on some planets were ugh. Turning TV settings down a bit more (I already have such pretty low, since dark room) helped tho.

I'd suspect so as well, and that wouldn't be true for many recent politicians. He's favoured a bit by having Trump as a comparison and so looking a lot more, hmm, normal in pretty much every respect but he seems to have done his best over a very long time period and despite a lot of stuff which would have given others serious issues. He's also one of the few US politicians who seemed pretty genuine rather than just sculpting everything for politics, though that may mean he was just better at sculpting than most. The only major criticism I can think of offhand for his presidency- beyond the institution/ systemic ones they all suffer from- was the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Which had a lot of mitigation given it was a Trump era deal and the failures that lead to that collapse started 20 years earlier but still, having the government not even last up until departure time was Bad even if it was likely inevitable whatever the schedule for leaving.

Played the Tempest Rising demo, is pretty much C&C as expected. Should go back and finish the Nod campaign in C&C 3.

I never tried it myself but I remember seeing a YouTube video about an AI companion mod called Herika. Not only can you talk to her using your actual voice but you can actually *talk* to her. She's also surprisingly sassy. It uses chatGPT and it looks like a pretty unique experience;

Another great one. Used to sit across from a PM.

"Where did it start? How did it start? These are questions I asked myself when I made this post. The question being “my love of fantasy and fantasy RPG PC games? And why not Sci-fi, why fantasy as my favourite genre?" For me it was the late 1970’s, I was young and don’t remember much but I do remember my dad reading to us Enid Blyton’s “The Magic Faraway Tree” and that’s where it started. I was absolutely enthralled and mesmerized by this idea of a tree and portals that led to incredible and fantastic lands. You never knew what creatures they were going to meet or what place they were going to discover and my love for fantasy only grew from there. In the 1980s I also started collecting comics with Conan being my favourite and to this day I still RP my characters in RPG on Conan’s personality and world views. Basically, Chaotic Good but someone who helps the downtrodden, wanting wealth and never saying NO to a damsel in distress. It was also in the 1980’s where I started playing the very popular and loved Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone books and I was given my first D&D Red Box ruleset with that indelible image of a fighter and dragon and a new world opened up to me. The world of tabletop RPG. I still consider D&D ruleset and the various D&D fantasy worlds my overall favourite because that’s where my journey on RPG really started. Due to Apartheid sanctions, we had limited access to general fantasy paraphernalia and goods, but my dad was an investment banker and he travelled 3-4 times a year to the UK and sometimes the US and he would buy us things we couldn’t get in South Africa. But we were generally behind in IT and the advancement and creation of the PC, and this included Internet access and connectivity speeds. I used to read Dragon magazine and they had these adverts and stories about games called Ultima, Wizardry and Might and Magic and I always wondered “it looks and sounds amazing … imagine an RPG on a computer.” But in the late 1980’s that started ending because Apartheid was ending and suddenly people had PC at their homes and that meant PC gaming was also coming to South Africa. And in 1989 at my uncle’s house was the first time I saw a PC game and it was one of the classic Sierra games, Kings Quest 1. The PC had monochrome graphics and was incredibly basic, but I still was blown away by the concepts and how you needed to type actions to advance the game like “open door” or “push witch into fire “ . It was a life changing experience and my love, enjoyment and passion for PC gaming never ended from that moment like my love of general fantasy. I stopped gaming from 1995-2007 because of RL responsibilities and I was travelling overseas a lot, but I bought my first real gaming machine in 2007 and PC gaming has been an active hobby of mine since then. I play many different genres like action or RTS games, but fantasy RPG are still my preferred choice and it’s because of my childhood connection to the Magic Faraway Tree books. The idea of what waits behind that door, what lives in that ancient temple, what strange beasts await me are still the most exciting design themes of RPG that I treasure and appreciate. And Obsidian has created many games that align with my core expectations of what I want to experience in playing any RPG. These 3 Obsidian games are all in my top 10 of “best RPG of all time “and it’s tough to think of a top 10 or 20 list because there are so many excellent games out there. Lots of competition which is a good thing for gaming. NWN2: MoB: Brilliant D&D setting with an exciting and fascinating narrative that takes you on this epic journey to the Planes with memorable and interesting characters and companions. I love the entire NWN2 series, but this expansion was my favourite with the whole Spirit Eater curse and then the choices you need to make about the Wall of Faithless Fallout:NV: It’s my favourite third person\first person Fallout game outside the first 2 isometric games. I love open world and sandbox games and I like the concept of exploring anywhere you want and F:NV provides that reality. I had the single most appreciated moment in F:NV and that is the most appreciated of any game I have ever played. To get to NV I didn’t go directly and went through small regions and areas of interest, and I remember I reached a point where I was wounded with no ammunition, and I was being chased by brutal and indefatigable Deathclaws. I had a sniper companion who bravely stood his ground and died while I fled. But the Deathclaws continued to pursue me, and it was night and then I went around a corner and saw something … incredible bright lights on the horizon. I had reached NV finally and I was saved. I have never been so relieved in any game to find my destination as that single experience. PoE2: I thought Obsidian created a fun and worthy alternative to standard D&D ruleset and the whole PoE mechanics worked for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the overarching and depth of the narrative, the lore of the game world, the companions were interesting, and I appreciated the whole naval exploration of islands and open world design PoE2 created. So, in closing its easy to support Obsidian and love their games because Obsidian is not just a name of a company, it’s a world-builder and creator of so many games that resonate with me and the mystery and allure of The Magic Faraway Tree from my childhood.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cek9mr43x1xo Great, now we have coked up sharks.

No Man's Sky --Since I don't build giant bases, and I also build most of them hanging in mid-air, so far none of my chrs/larger bases were an issue. And I lucked out where most of my main "planets" didn't change too much, either. A little here and there, like foliage shapes or fauna, nothing big. --the new water is nice, although it's mostly a big difference on oceans/coasts. Overall cleaner graphic looks. Maybe sometimes almost too "clean." And some lighting is ... overblown re:whites/contrast. I do not have any HDR settings on. Still had to turn such settings down on the TV to not be blinded occasionally. --performance is about the same at native4k, did turn more things to High vs. Ultra to be 60fps/safe, don't notice a visual difference. But I think I'll go back to 7 Days for now. NMS supposedly will have a "Worlds version 2" update coming later - maybe that'd be a better time to jump back in.

My father passed away today around 630. I've had to make all the calls letting folks know he's gone and am now finally trying to process things. Back in March, my dad was given at best a few weeks to live. He stuck it out for over four months and fought like hell to stay around for his family, even on death's door cared more about my mom and I than he did himself. I'm gonna miss him but seeing how hard it was for him near the end.....I don't know, it was a tough way to live and I think he would be relieved to not have struggle anymore. Regardless it's going to be a **** week.