kanisatha

Romance with Iron Bull has some of the best dialog lines with your companions. I'll leave it at that.

Glad you're enjoying it so far. I liked it too. But as far as that huge area early on goes, just as so many others have said, don't get "trapped" in that area doing everything there all in one go. Do some stuff, then leave the area and go do other things before returning to that area. And make note of the respawning trash mob locations and try to avoid them in the future (unless you're into refighting trash mobs again and again). And don't avoid the war table quests. Some of them are quite good and fun.

To be honest I would love that. I firmly believe that when war is inevitable, it is better to fight that war sooner rather than later (or more specifically, on our terms rather than on the other side's terms).

This fits in the science thread as well: https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/06/russia-and-germany-are-fighting-over-an-x-ray-telescope-in-space/

Yeah I use a lot of mods in my game. I have only one colony because I play only for the colony-building and resource management elements of the game. So I keep reloading the map until I get a map I like for my game, and I turn off all catastrophes. Then I play until I get bored with my colony, so I've never ever completed the game.

I'm a little surprised by your experiences. I really like the game and play it quite often. And things generally work pretty well for me with a solid, well-developed colony (I always only build a single colony). And I haven't bought the two most recent DLCs. Re. what happened with your colonists, maybe they couldn't reach your other dome for some reason, either before they went into the uninhabitable dome or after? Turning off a dome should automatically move all colonists out of it, so long as they can reach another dome that allows them access. I have done this myself, when I want to demolish an old dome. Never lost any colonists. Re. AI prioritization, yeah that is hit or miss because you will have a lot of things at the same level of priority and the AI then just randomly decides what it wants to do. So I usually keep everything at the lowest priority setting, and only assign higher priorities to very select few things to ensure they get prioritized.

I'll blame it on the weeds. I have a good-sized flower garden (my other hobby) and I had spent two hours pulling weeds yesterday evening where my whole body was wracked with pain so much so that I couldn't even drag myself to my computer to check email. Did that only this morning.

Thanks! I guess I'll wait to pick it up on sale then.

Dammit. You always manage to beat me to the Solasta announcements.

@melkathi, thanks for your review of Expeditions: Rome. It's a game I am seriously looking into right now. Any changes to your feedback about the game in the past few months? I see that they did a major revamp of the strategic battle system. The combat seems meh, but I would be playing it mainly for the roleplaying and especially the base-building, resource management, and companion development elements. So any further thoughts (including from others)?

There's also the new game Old World, a combination of CK3 and 4X strategy games.

Latest from both the east and south of Ukraine (it's a lengthy AP wire service story): https://news.yahoo.com/russia-puts-more-strength-behind-123926831.html

What do you guys think of this interview? Is this actually a good use of game development resources?

Unfortunately this is second-hand. I myself am not a reddit user. I read some posts elsewhere (Owlcat forum and Steam WotR forum) in which multiple posters say that Paizo's reddit posts on this subject have had a sharp edge to them, like they're distancing themselves not only from the WH40K game but Owlcat itself. Ultimately, the conclusion from my post on this was clearly speculative.

Another excellent piece on Sweden and Finland plugging into NATO's security structure: https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2022/06/02/how-sweden-and-finland-could-reshape-natos-northern-security/

Excellent article on the NGAD fighter, lots of great details: https://www.airforcemag.com/article/piecing-together-the-ngad-puzzle/

Yeah, I'm not convinced either, though from my personal observations of Putin's images lately it sure looks to me like he is gravely ill. Plus, whereas in the past our intel agencies were among the few government agencies I had faith and trust in, now there are no government agencies to whom I extend the benefit of the doubt when it comes to trust. But, to say it again, my philosophy is to bring info here that I find interesting, and leave it to people on this forum to decide for themselves whether it is interesting, useful, or believable to them.

So about Owlcat's new game being a WH40K game, apparently on their Discord channel there's a lot of talk about how Owlcat will get to write their own story and characters for this game. Furthermore, from Paizo's reddit posts, it seems like there's been a falling-out of sorts between Paizo and Owlcat. This causes me to wonder if perhaps what happened was that Owlcat wanted to make their next Pathfinder game one that would not use a Paizo AP and instead only use the Pathfinder ruleset (and setting?) but otherwise create original material. But Paizo vetoed this idea and insisted that any Pathfinder (or Starfinder) game must be based on one of their published APs. So Owlcat decided to walk away. If I'm right about this, then WotR may well be the last Pathfinder game we get, at least from Owlcat.

Putin, cancer, and assassination attempt (in a Newsweek exclusive, from people quoting a classified US intel report): https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-putin-treated-cancer-april-us-intelligence-report-says-1710357

That's why Russia has stolen some 200,000 children from Ukraine during the war thus far. Literally kidnapped them, both from their parents as well as from orphanages, the most heinous human rights abuse they have committed of all. They have been taken away and placed in homes in faraway remote parts of Russia to be raised with indoctrination that they are Russian and not Ukrainian. International human rights lawyers have stated that such deportations and illegal "adoptions" are tantamount to genocide under international law, which is why Sec. Blinken said 'yes' in a recent interview when asked if what Russia is doing in Ukraine can be (legally) considered genocide. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-accuses-russia-forcibly-deporting-over-210000-children-2022-05-13/

Biden, Saudi Arabia, and OPEC production increase: https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-06-02/pledge-of-more-oil-heightens-odds-of-saudi-trip-for-biden

Well, I would argue that Russia violated the US's red line by invading Ukraine in the first place. Everyone always loves to talk about other countries' red lines that the US is supposed to respect, but it's somehow always okay for everyone else in the world to ignore US red lines and interests. I don't care for Biden at all as president, but on the issue of US support for Ukraine in this war I have only praise for Biden so far. I'm all for the US (and any other country that will join us in this) to totally stick it to Putin's Russia. The Russians will huff and puff, but like every other coward ever in world history, they don't have the guts to go beyond their silly empty rhetoric about "world war iii."

Nice analogy. I stopped paying attention to new rock music around 1995, and just keep playing my 260+ CDs from the '50s-early '90s. But with RPGs, I can keep replaying old games only so much, and do feel a need for something new, even if that means playing something not as awesome as those games of old. So yeah, I still have the BG, PoE, and Pathfinder games, plus Solasta. But I'll also keep playing games like DA and Witcher, and try out new games like Dark Envoy, Vendir, Zoria, Starfield, and Avowed.

Okay, fair enough. I guess I was looking at it as a question of people acting knowingly and of their complete free will, a conscious act and not an automatic/unthinking reflex.

Well said!! Also, kudos for understanding that states and nations are different things. It takes the life out of me trying to explain this to my students every semester in my intro to poli sci and intro to international relations classes.