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Imo the best build for dual mortars is a single class Monk. Everthing else comes second, although Streetfighter has a great synergy with Powder Burns + Heating Up. So naturally my second pick would be Monk/Streetfighter. Mirke can do both - so instead of using a voiceless hireling I would recommend to give her a shot (pun intended) - she can be SC Monk as well as Monk/Streetfighter. She doesn't have the perfect statline - but she's always drunk so that makes up for it. Berserker is bad for your party with all that AoE unless you get rid of the confusion. Then ok. If you have a Chanter in the party with Many Lives skeletons then that confusion can be turned into something very good, see below. Barb in general works but isn't the optimal class for it imo. I value mortars over normal blunderbusses in general so I will cocentrade on good builds with those and leave the multipellet-blunderbusses to other commenters (see Combusting Wounds+pellets or Kitchen Stove's THunderous Report for massive focus gain). Following list is in no particular order, althoug most likely the best ones/most fun ones will come to my mind sooner. SC Monk, main reasons: AoE*(AoE hand mortar + 2*AoE Fire in the Hole +2*AoE Powder Burns) with Whispers of the Wind, in combination with: Resonant Touch - if the mob's not dead after WotW alone it will be after Resonant Touch (those two points are so incredibly powerful that it's really hard to beat) Stunning Surge: almost always a crit against multiple enemies, hence no cost. Long stun in a big AoE bc. of Duality oMP (INT) huge AoE bc. of Duality of Mortal Presence +2 PEN bc. Thunderous Blows Summons that help to deter enemies Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak works with Whispers of the Wind (invisibility doesn't break: all enemies stunned on the fly) Monk/Streetfigher: always heated up (-50% reload, +50% Sneak Attack dmg) lots of Full Attacks + afflictions in an AoE with Crippling Strike, Blinding Strike, Stunning Surge and so on huge AoE like SC Monk +2 PEN Summons SC Assassin or SC Streetfighter: Gambit with dual mortars is very good against multiple enemies. Its damage scales internally with Guile refund per crit - it is capped at 4 but while executing the "internal guile counter flows over and you get dmg bonuses up to 200-300% until the refund cap is applied. Also lots of crits bc. of multiple hit rolls and thus often full refund. Vanishing Strikes + AoE: works with Assassinate and Backstab(!) - Escape into the crowd, turn invisible with 1 Vanishing Strike (its invisibility never breaks until duration runs out) and follow up with Gambit and deal AoE Assasinate+Backstabs with mortars. Devastating AoE dmg. Also works with Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak. Streetfighter/Arcane Archer: more ACC Driving Flight + all the Rogue's Strikes = more AoE dmg and more debuffing and raw DoTs and stuff Imbue Shots' effects get triggered thrice(!) bc. of Fire in the Hole's jump + Driving Flight. So for example 3 Fireball procs from one imbue shot with Fire in the Hole. Or three Pull of Eora with one imbue shot. You get the idea. Wounding SHot doesn't work with AoE - Concussive Tranquilizer does. SC Stormspeaker (Tekehu) double reload bonus from Sure-Handed Ila (-20% from recovery bonus AND -20% from reload bonus) Watch out: Mith Fyr doesn't work on Thekehu (gets cleared periodically by his Wavewalker passive)! Avenging Storm invocation: the lightning triggers from every AoE hit (including jumps) and also the Blinding Smoke effect of Hand Mortar which procs an AoE cone from every mortar crit(!) --> thunderstorm of lightning strikes SC Druid: Avenging Storm mayhem like above basically but limited to 2/encounter and no Sure-Handed Ila. SC Barbarian: Heart of Fury and Barbaric Retaliation both work with Hand Mortars (and AoE). Works great in combo with spamming Dazing Shout in between. Blood Surge can get you Rage back pretty nicely. Before that it's a bit lame though. Frenzy helps, Bloodlust and Bloody Slaughter, too. But Blood Thirst doesn't work which is a shame. Berserkers can stay confused and blow up inside mobs - if there are Many Lives Skeletons that run towards the enemies of the Berserker automatically he can kill them "accidentiually" and get lots and lots of kill procs for Bloodlust, Blood Surge and heal on kill (pets or Thriumph of the Crusaders). Makes him early unkillable - but you cannot go near him with party members. Furyshaper can use Blood Ward and profit a lot from Barbaric Retaliation doing AoE dmg to fill up his health gradually all the time. When big chunks of healing is needed trigger HEart of Fury. SC Arcane Archer: Whirling Strikes will work if you put a melee weapon in one hand and leave Fire in the Hole in the other. You will get AoE(melee)+AoE Powder Burns + AoE*(AoE FitH + AoEFitH jump + AoE Driving Flight) with it which not only does tremendous AoE dmg right on but also puts that nasty DoT on everybody. Before that a bit lame except the already described imbue-jumps mechanic which is very good. Hunter's Claw etc. does work with mortar also if you keep that melee weapon in the main hand. You'll get multiple stacks of Hunter's Fang/Claw etc. with a single shot. Streetfighter/Fighter besides the known Streetfighter stuff, fighters get Penetrating Strike for great PEN and Tactical Barrage for more AoE Clear Out works with the mortars if you put a melee weapon in the offhand to unlock the use of the ability but execue it with the mortar. The result is AoE Powder Burns +AoE*(AoE FitH + AoE FitH jump) and violent pushes of all enemies in al directions like bowling pins. SC Fighter: Clear the Path or Clean Sweep are both very good with the setup above. Before that pretty lame Berserker/Troubadour: Ancient Brittle Bones and Many Lives Skeletons killed by your mortar AoE does stuff for you (mostly healing on kill which counters your self damage - Blood Thirst doesn't work though). Sure-Handed Ila + Mith Fyr summons galore Most fun above all I had with the SC Monk, in my case Helwalker. Here's an impression: But I guess Mirke as Monk/Streetfigter could also be mad fun.

Same issue for Rust's Poignard Bring Low. Displayed chance is 30% but actual chance is 50% Don't get too excited, it requires a secondary Hit from a roll vs fortitude. Next BPM version will display the actual 50%

Another giveaway on GOG. https://www.gog.com/game/fiendish_freddys_big_top_o_fun?source=news

absolutely does. only bombs that don't benefit are precisely the ones w/out an affliction (grenade, concussion bomb, immolator, that healing bomb). tested/verified each one for that interrupt-focused druid build i posted a while back. ring of focused flame also boost sparkcrackers and cinder bomb (also immolator). cinder bombs end up being pretty great on top of the guaranteed interrupt because of how much accuracy you can stack with them, and how you craft 2 at a time.

Only in death does duty end.

In an effort to keep my exercises from getting too stale, I got a 20 lbs steel mace. It's a completely new weight to get used to, completely different compared to the dumbells, barbell, and kettlebells I already have, I'm excited to learn to use it. The idea is that because it's so end-heavy, so wildly unbalanced, the steel mace forces you to use stabilizer muscles you might not much use when training with traditional weights that are balanced and much easier to wield. Anyone here use a steel mace before?

Dexter's laboratory?

Thanks. In my experience setting ObscurateNumbers in Wael challenge to false works with ultimate challenge disabled selecting Wael challenge as separate option, but not if you enable the ultimate challenge. I'll try disabling the ActivateAllChallenges from within the ultimate settings but there are some challenges for which I can't find the equivalent separate toggle inside the ultimate settings (e.g. a toggle for Hylea challenge/Vela which is the most important defining the ultimate IMO, without that it is not even comparable) so I was hoping on a hint to find them somewhere else. Basically I wanted to disable Iron mode because it is too punishing/discouraging/a time sink for most players (and that works, basically changing Triple crown to Double Crown) and Wael because it is not much difficult but just annoying for people trying to learn/test new strategies. Then I have added more quest objectives (limited to 24 entries for now, no more space for quest events) and more time to achieve them/explore the world (50% extra time available for Eothas challenge) [EDIT] Wait... maybe I found it, there is a promising empty ability field and a couple of Vela abilities available...

I've watched the first two episodes so far. It felt extremely off-kilter and not really in a good way, but I'll give it a few more to see if it can find its bearing. Between The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, and Primal (and if I ever get around to watching Symbionic Titan, probably that too), Genndy has earned my patience.

It is +12

Getting smoked out by Canada. Denver among the worst air quality in the world after smoke from Canadian wildfires moves into Front Range

Keeping Company (2021) Whoever wrote this movie has either worked in sales or had a very bad experience with an insurance company. It bills itself as a horror comedy, but for me ended up in more of a satire akin to Don't Look Up but better. It's a solid B movie, not gonna wow anyone but a fun watch for 90 minutes. I tried. Our plane crashed (a big bug was ripping people's tongues out) so we have to walk. We'll probably get there in sixty days or so.

@BartimaeusIt seems your stumping is paying off.

Obsidian needs to nerf the brood mother it’s way to op

Tis a greatly annoying one. You'd think that someone would have eventually modded it back in, but apparently either no one has bothered, or the modders themselves can't figure out why this happens.

The first run was probably 40+ hours - played the GOG version without Galaxy and there are no in-game indicators. The second, critical path only, playthrough took a day*. There is quite a lot of replayability, though it might also be possible to see almost everything in terms of story in 2 playthroughs (different quest outcomes, stat/reputation-dependant random events, etc.). I don't think that there is an option to respec mid-game (only to edit the appearance), so there should be some variety in combat builds as well. For the party compositions, the limit is the PC + 2 NPCs and the companions auto-level up. *

I'd like to make a suggestion or 2 being having 12+ years experience as a Pest Control Manager. 1. Fleas for new type of bug and the area a dog house, dog bed or kennel around the yard. Can even have a cat roam the yard like the birds do and drop them. 2. A chair or couch cushions of some sort, for Bed Bugs these guys are nasty little things, and you can get even more tricky with them. Their behavior is very sporadic with other insect and being attracted to the carbon dioxide humans release from exhaling. 3. Brown Recluse for another spider, these are extremely dangerous and love the wooded areas. I can name and list many more insects and their habitats if anyone wants to reach out to me.

I haven't been using explosives besides scripted interactions really. Or poisons. I do use potions and scrolls. Do you find it worth investing points into explosives and if so how much? ---- BTW @Vasvary5050 an easy way to avoid berserker confusion for mortars and such is just give the berserker the devil of caroc breastplate with mechanical mind enchant. Also FF SC and MC builds are pretty good using mortars or blunderbuss in main hand (or offhand, or both). The attack still does forbidden fist but if you proc swift flurry, heartbeat drumming, or riposte (in case of shadowdancer) there's instant blunderbuss attacks without reload. Pretty fun on a FF / streetfighter with high deflection. Requires community patch for FF attacks to proc these things though.

huh... really? i've been thinking it was +15 for literally years

Dance of Death caps at +12 accuracy. Cipher's Borrowed Instinct shouls also be nice (+20 ACC). Do you know if the Helm of the White Void/Rymrgand's Influence does add +10 ACC to grenades that cause an affliction?

because perception doesn't influence grenades, classes that have other ways to boost accuracy or effectiveness can do better. i really like grenades on fighters, for example, because they have an easy way to get at least Aware (50% graze to hit) and +5/10 accuracy (adventurer/conquereror stance). Tactical Barrage grants +1 PL as well (which helps accuracy and overall effectiveness of grenades). Monks with Dance with Death can get up to +15 accuracy to grenades. Rangers can get tons of accuracy, but expensively. Priests can help anyone out with the still-OP Devotions for the Faithful (+10 acc), and/or Dire Blessing (50% graze to hit). explosives are definitely worth using, and i aggressively craft them so I don't have to worry about hoarding them. Cinder Bomb esp I find to be a great equalizer - not only is blind an effective affliction for survivability, but they always interrupt enemies when they explode (the interrupt completely ignores accuracy checks). A great way to mess up casters and to buy yourself breathing room. (Other bombs don't appear to do this)

am reading the durham report and it is a bit o' a slog. is only 200 pages, but am not recalling each and every fed statute referenced so we need review 'em all. furthermore, am needing check durham narrative for accuracy regarding persons and dates. exhausting. will give full thoughts once am done. we reread the ig report from 2019 as it covered much o' the same territory and were lambasted by durham when horowitz released his findings. we never did read the full 1000 page bipartisan senate report concerning the same 2016 issues in part 'cause the senate report reached no conclusions... and also 'cause it were 1000 pages. regardless, the 200 page durham report is requiring far more than 200 pages worth o' material review. given the increasing temporal remoteness o' the events, is worth restating a bit o' history which is relevant. 2014 feds begin an investigation into paul manafort "Among the more striking sections of the report is the committee’s description of the professional relationship between former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, whom the committee describes as a Russian intelligence officer. "“Taken as a whole, Manafort’s high-level access and willingness to share information with individuals closely affiliated with the Russian intelligence services, particularly Kilimnik, represented a grave counterintelligence threat,” the report says. "The report notes how Manafort shared internal Trump campaign polling data with Kilimnik and says there is “some evidence” Kilimnik may have been connected to Russia’s effort to hack and leak Democratic emails, though that information is redacted. The report also says “two pieces of information” raise the possibility of Manafort’s potential connection to those operations, but what follows is again blacked out." -- from the pbs link re: senate report march 29, 2016 manafort joins the trump campaign. july 27, 2016 july 28, 2016 the feds get a call from alexander downer downer, an australian diplomat, met a trump campaign advisor in london to have drinks in may o' 2016. at some point during the eve, the trump campaign guy shared info that the russians had "dirt" on hilary clinton by way o' thousands o' emails. not surprising, downer thought the conversation with papadopoulos were relevant in the wake o' the trump announcement. july 31, 2016 the crossfire hurricane investigation begins fast forward to 2019, post mueller investigation which determines crossfire hurrican's legit predicate were the call from downer, and barr appoints durham to investigate the origins o' crossfire hurricane. ... again, we wanna read the full report before reaching conclusions, but am having noticed in stories recent released contemporaneous with the durham report, the history is already having been forgotten. HA! Good Fun!

Now there's a new plan to protect myself from burglars.

Completed Encased. The density of the locations decreased by the second half, though I also looted more consciously (only every second container) and interacted with fewer NPCs. Overall, the ending(s) reflected what I achieved, while the reactivity in general was very high. On the other hand, the other gameplay systems seemed to mix rather oddly. Going to attempt anther critical path-only playthrough, which should be significantly shorter. Hob. Ran in circles for 15 minutes. The map was not as helpful as I hoped - the walls, untraversable bushes, and paths were not clear. I also discovered that the controls can be reconfigured by editing a text file in the game's folder.

A little bit insight, why there why the number of dead Russian soldiers are so big. Crazy big numbers of them just die, due to non-existant treatment of anything more serious than light wounds… The RU paramedics are not even able to perform some life-saving procedures, due to them being in risk of breaking RU law and get arrested for performing unauthorised surgical intervention

Today my wife and I are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary, which is a pretty crazy landmark. It has flown by. We are heading to Morro Bay this weekend. I'm actually racing a half-ironman on Saturday, so it is more of a race-cation, but she seems to be onboard with it. I'll take her out to a nice dinner.

I think it's more likely they don't often get offered great or varied film roles. Sure it may be changing these days (especially in TV series) but if you are a "minority" and also female, well, (USA) movie wise, probably not tons of consistent opportunity for meaty roles or A-list making turns to hone or show off abilities (vs. disappear in an ensemble/supporting/hey look it's the wife). From that list I mostly know of Angela Bassett and Alfre Woodward ("You broke your little ships" in STNG film, among other roles ) and I thought Danai Gurira was great in Walking Dead, although being an ensemble show she didn't get tons of screen time.

hmmm. is ewan's older brother, and episode 1 were only 1999, so likely woulda' required a callsign change for the thirty-something pilot. and again, is the older brother who became a real-life fighter pilot supposed being saddled with obi-two as a nick/callsign, which seems kinda uncharacteristic for brits... and aviators. sounds more like internet meme fodder. we would search for confirmation before spreading this one. HA! Good Fun!

They aren't, you unlock a recipe towards the end of the game where you can craft whetstones from ox horns and plates from ladybird parts.

My favourite Faeroese songbird strikes again I haven't seen the movie, but what an interesting soundtrack. Sounds like an extended version of another of her songs 'Trollabundin' or the latter sounds like a condensed version of the soundtrack

1. Adding rusty is adding Armor set and weapon Rusty crossbow and arrow 2. Adding in year long seasons. 3. Adding in color to the zip lines. Adding in Super Infected stink bug and Infected Rolly Polly.

So I was thinking while looking at most the armors, most leg armors do not touch the upper thigh so what about having leg pouches that increase inventory space, different tiers maybe too like fiber, clover, silk, pupa leather, berry and so on, or maybe even a different slot for armor in general for upper legs and maybe splitting the pieces for all armor. Also a quiver, it was on the artwork before, a lower back quiver, perfect place would be under the backpack, possibly different tiers same as pouches that allow you to carry more of an arrow type or even give a bonus like armor. Top that off with the ability to change the clothing of the kids and customization in this game would be next level. Like not even anything drastic, just basic clothes, like different shirts, pants, and shorts. Just some ideas.

A Example of a tier IV bugs/bosses are Tarantulas, Scorpions, Bullet Ants and Hornets

I have mixed feelings on the characters in PoE1 vs Deadfire. On the one hand, I agree that diving into their personal history can be very deep and narratively powerful - I was surprised the first time I convinced Durance about Magran. On the other hand, I really stopped caring after a replay, and it was extremely annoying to just be rapidly mashing dialogue responses to get to the point - in hindsight it seems overwrought and over-written. I think I generally value expansive reactivity more than miles-long dialogue trees, given a choice of finite writer's time. PoE1 I remember being pretty quiet when you're wandering around, whereas Deadfire seems more like you have a party, and it was a treat to get new reactivity with new DLC and also get Vela reactivity.

I don't mind a Wiedergänger thread. I just wouldn't expect the addressed users to actually respond if their quoted post is like four years old.

I'm not sure what led you to this conclusion and perhaps my perspective here is off but one thing I can say for certain - is that I, along with many other people, love Durance. He was absolutely meant to be abrasive. However, he goes through tremendous growth and rather than word vomit the change he is undergoing, he keeps it relatively to himself. You pick up on it but it's because of subtleties, not because he has 12 minutes of monologuing about why he's changed. He's insightful, crass, doesn't give two ****s about your feelings, or anyone else' for that matter, and calls it like he see's it. He also understands exactly who and what he is and from all accounts, he's incredibly self-aware. You have to keep in mind that he's also seen some ****. Which is probably why he's so abrasive in the first place. This is a priest that killed a god. You have to wonder how that would effect his own faith- the gods in general go from seemingly omnipotent entities that people devote themselves to, prostrate themselves for, and spend their entire lives trying to appease, to little more than the mortals they rule over very very quickly. Compound that with what he learns at the end of the game and you've got a real good recipe for crazy. Everything he dedicated his entire life for, committed deicide for, turns out to be a lie. Not only that, after he engaged in what he thought was the holiest of acts, his goddess cast him aside like a piece of used furniture at the local dump. IMO he's also pretty hilarious at times and offers a comical, if not dark, perspective at times. Perhaps that's just my 40 year-old disabled combat veteran self finding him somewhat relatable but Durance is one of my favorite characters in the game. Having said that, I can definitely see why some people would dislike him. Especially people who don't particularly like confrontation and/or typically avoid it when possible. Xoti on the other hand drives me insane. Here is a character that is insanely devout to a God that is traipsing across the Deadfire laying waste to basically everything, despite the fact that the Watcher, Eder, Aloth and Pallegina are all acutely aware that the gods are "jumped up Engwithins" that put themselves on a pedestal. I find it incredibly hard to believe that she wouldn't undergo some SERIOUS reflection given that knowledge. I also find it hard to believe that she wouldn't be shook to her core considering how devout she actually is. She's travelling with a group of people who have seen what the Gods are, what they've done as a result of their petty in-fighting and just how little they actually care about the people they supposedly "watch over". Her quest and/or mission is also a direct contradiction to what the Watcher is doing and all of the aforementioned. She wants to essentially hoard all of the "lost" souls so that Eothas can collect them at a later date in Hel, when the Watcher himself was tasked with sending them back to the in-between to return to the wheel for Berath. At no point is the watcher able to tell her "I won't stand for this" or "I don't agree with what you're doing" or "Berath tasked me with leading these souls to Adra" (Or anything in between), she interjects before anything can even really be said whenever something to do with souls comes up, and she acts as if her job is more important - despite the fact that the Watcher was literally brought back from the dead by a God to do their job. Both the Watcher (At least in my case) and Eder' consistently try to drill it in her head that she's basically a naïve sheep being used to further the circle-jerk that is the gods "non-plan" and the only response she gives is how she's right and it's her sacred duty. It's honestly infuriating at times, lol.

Well it only took me 10+ days to see your question, so I suppose I'm still around. Not much to talk about, though.

I'm here. Once or twice in a year. It will be more often, when Pillars 3 is on the horizon.

I am here. The other ones you mentioned: not so much. At least not in these PoE/Deadfire parts of the form.

I must say that I liked her. She is a refreshing other kind of personality in an RPG. Most of them are just nomal people or have serious issus and a dark personality. Xoti is there on the complete other side. It gives the game a new and rare kind of character that in my opinion fits in good in this world. There is always someone who sees the good and is light hearted like her. But yes, I thik the figure needs some more background and I hope to see her in PoE 3. *crossing fingers intensivly*

I recently discovered this amazing tool and started using it trying to tweak the Ultimate Challenge into something else, in doing so I realized as a suggestion probably a nice improvement for the tool would be to allow for vertical scrolling in the Quests\Events tab or similar where you may need more possible vertical entries. Also unrelated but do you have any hint on how to disable Wael challenge from the Ultimate Challenge? I managed to disable trial of iron just fine, but disabling Game Data\Global\GodChallenge\Wael\ObfuscateNumbers seems to only work with the separate Wael Challenge, not for the Ultimate Challenge (which does not seem to set it as true by itself) Maybe it is just hardcoded somewhere, but I am asking in case I'm missing some obvious setting

Jim Brown

i've watched an embarrassing amount of this show as well, mostly because my nieces like it and are still holding me hostage PLEASE SEND HELP