Gromnir

am not pennsylvania dutch. no dutch or german in our family tree. however, our grandfather's roommate in university were penn dutch or german or some mix and one new years our grandfather shared the family traditions with said roomate. sauerkraut and pork. our grandfather much enjoyed the meal and once he married our grandmother would make sauerkraut and pork every new years. we always eat saurkraut and pork on new years eve. so it goes. HA! Good Fun!

board software is being funky after "strength/level" is s'posed to read as follows: is 20 xp for individual marksmen and if you have 100 marksmen that means your marksmen account for 2000xp. 43 xp for a hellknight and you got 50 of 'em then that is 2150 xp. your army o' 100 marksmen and 50 hellknights would thus be worth a totals o' 4150 xp... and am having no idea what that means insofar as army strength. am not even gonna try and link anything. HA! Good Fun!

experience for marksmen, shield bearers, or vampire ninja pirates (not joking) is a less than transparent method for describing the value o' a single unit at least insofar as your total army strength and relative to other individual units. add up all the xp from all your army individual units and you arrive at army strength/level. 20 xp for individual marksmen. 43 xp for a hellknight. individual units don't gain experience. only generals benefit from xp gains. HA! Good Fun!

condolences go out to george santos who lost his mother (barbara walters) and father (pope benedict) and his other father (pelé) during this holiday season. what a terrible shame they did not live long enough to see george cure childhood lukemia as was announced by his campaign spokesperson this am. HA! Good Fun!

as azata have personal only attacked before the queen's arrival one time as am ordinarily using as much time as appears reasonable to maximize crusade buildings/infrastructure before starting act iv. did the azata pre-queen attack one time just to see what difference were observable and that were many patches in the rear view mirror. HA! Good Fun!

one quibble: is tough to explain the gulf between a 11.5 100m and 14.6. am not sure what jackie joyner kersee based her 11.5 estimate 'pon and obvious her expertise eclipses ours by a huge amount, but the 14.6 is for a run which don't even account for needing to come up out of starting blocks from 0kph. we finished a woeful #16 overall at state finals with a 11.19 and our bestest not wind-aided time were a flat 11. 14.6 is kinda pokey. is very pokey in fact. look at it another way, while is hardly 100% accurate, an 11.5 100 metre time would, based on those espn science bits they do during the nfl draft to explain just how amazing is a few o' the athletes, would translate to something like a 4.75 40. 14.6 translates to approx 6.09... and again, that number were based on his full-tilt speed and doesn't include coming outta blocks from a dead stop start. rich eisen does a 40y run every year to raise money for st. jude children's hospital. check out the numbers if you are curious how x-football players and rando ceo o' major corporations who ponied up big donations for a chance to run with rod woodson and cris carter compare. btw, in 2022 rich eisen wearing a suit, tie and cleats on grass ran a 6.16. point is, 14.6 100m sounds impressive only because most people have no idea what that means. the reality is tom cruise is actual running far slower than he appears to be traveling, which is fine, 'cause he is freaking acting. the genuine impressive takeaway is that as tortoise-like is the speed o' sexagenarian tom cruise, he looks fantastic and fast, which is his freaking job. have never seen somebody so slow look so fast and we never woulda' guessed you could act fast. HA! Good Fun!

probable a mod problem as we play in tb near exclusive and tavern defense is no longer busted and distorted mythic demons is designed to revive and self-heal. the last vestige o' tavern defense tb fumbduckery which were finally exorcised made the tavern defense easier as 'posed to more difficult as the the baddies would become stuck at the gates and so it were ez to pick 'em off at range. as for distorted mythic demons... meh. seeing as how our parties is always taking advantage o' attacks of opportunity, the demon revive is near always an insta-death scenario for the demon as most o' our party is having ever ready, combat reflexes and now lunge as well as outflank. regardless, the revive is a feature and not a bug. there is(was?) one portion o' the upper city alushinyrra map (south near vellexia's mansion) which bugs out a bit in tb combat so we reflexive switch to real time as am uncertain if the problem has been addressed. mounted combat also results in a few tb quirks which has been present since at least the beta. no amount o' bug reports has resulted in fixes to all tb mounted combat bugs. is not, strictly speaking, required. am unable to recall any critical path fodder on rooftops. however, there is more than a few rooftop encounters and a couple o' those provide endgame 1007. the pathetic quasit is also accessible only via dimension door. so while is maybe not required, it does feel unnecessarily obtuse to hide so much content where is inaccessible w/o dimension door. yeah, there is demons who share dialog which suggests you should access rooftops and is a few places where is near impossible to not see rooftop chests and traps, but indeed is too ez to miss and is not a kewl gameplay feature so much as a minor annoyance, so what is the point, eh? full disclosure, am embarrassed to admit we missed the scorcher of souls in the colphyr mines 'cause we didn't dimension door to his little island the firstest time we completed act iv. as such we missed the manual o' gainful exercise +2 and a whole lotta xp. post inevitable excess, scorcher o' souls isle is where you find the flawless headband of mental perfection +8. HA! Good Fun!

act iii and beyond is 30-days for the fort conquest. however, your general and class level suggest that one of your first army battles were taking the vilareth ford fort. unless owlcat addressed the issue, a win at vilareth will activate the fort conquest timer so be aware. the gargoyles is tough and we always face 'em as a level seven party. also, we got a much different pov regarding heighten compared to @majestic am thinking heighten is kinda essential on every caster we got. our nenio, for example, has phantasmal killer occupying multiple levels in her spellbook thanks to heighten. is a whole lotta spells in the game and many/most is useless. there will be spell levels which is relative bad and yeah, heighten means you may upgrade any spell by one or more levels to fill relative spell dead zones. also, if am using ember as an enchanter and blaster, then to get same dcs by raising glitterdust to level seven or eight with heighten, then we need take multiple conjuration boosting feats-- one v. multiple is not a hard choice to make on a feat starved character like ember. also, unlike empower and bolster, heighten applies to every spell, so is more potential uses; yet another situation where more utility is better, yes? btw, there is a whole lotta rods in the game, so is less reason to choose metamagic feats other than heighten, though admitted, selective is gonna be one feat which on higher difficulties you want early in the game and you don't have access to selective rods in act one or two. 'course is a fail to ignore the reality you got multiple party members. if you got nenio in your party, your main character is a caster, or you hire a merc, then whether or not to add selective to ember (or any character) becomes a strategic concern. aside, much o' this reflection should be moot if spells were implemented according to pnp rules. selective is so not supposed to work with spells which last more than an instant; blame owlcat for the exploit o' spells such as grease and scirocco. admitted, the fact it is a busted arse mechanic don't stop us from spamming selective sciroccos late in the game. btw, all the observations 'bout heighten doesn't mean our pov is correct. our unique pov is why we have lann taking divine hunter levels and is the reason we played an enchanter skald in our most recent run. HA! Good Fun!

if there is any quest on a timer in act two, am unaware. however, am personal having never waited all that long to do the couple quests which have narrative if not mechanical urgency. that said, am also unable to recall any such complaints. HA! Good Fun!

sorta. the crusade feature has timers. let the ai do crusade and you have no problems. however, if you lead the crusade, then it is possible to capture a fort too early, 'cause is no other forts to capture and you need capture an enemy fort every thirty days or begin taking a morale penalty. is also possible, though less likely, to beat all enemy armies in act two before you has finished all world map content. gotta beat a new army every four days or you begin losing morale. defeat all enemies too quick and is no way to stave off morale loss. act v, if you choose to do the ascension route, has a particular annoying timer. you functional need to advance the calendar many months to a specific date which may result in a catastrophic hit to your army morale even if you has literal beaten every fixed demon army in your stretch o' the worldwound. annoying? it is an owlcat game, so... HA! Good Fun!

maybe she approves o' gordon-levitt as an actor? convince her to watch brick 'cause of actors and perhaps the quirky noir concept. heck, you don't like drug stuff and am recalling you enjoyed brick, so perhaps that might be enough to sell a rian johnson second chance. no doubt your wife knows just how much you dislike illegal drug trade movies and shows, yes? aside, we preferred knives out, but glass onion was kinda fun and we did smile at a few o' the cameos. tone were a bit lighter than knives out. HA! Good Fun!

fyi as with most melee builds, the gravesinger axe (great, battle or hand) is a no lose option, but there is two weapons which specific enhance paladin efficacy and both are longswords. the holy avenger is known, so is hardly spoiler fare, but there is also... so, metagamey if you go axes or longswords. HA! Good Fun!

HA! Good Fun!

keep in mind, w/o the need to respec, seelah makes an excellent skald, court poet or even oracle. sohei and gendarme is also decent melee focus alternatives. following all the changes from patches and the enhanced edition, skald remains one o' the best possible buffers o' a melee based party and a court poet archetype skald is gonna be an excellent choice for a party which has intelligence and charisma based casters as well as paladins. seelah is not difficult to build as a skald or court poet and with such choices she makes for a viable tank on difficulties up to and including hard. go almost complete oracle after a couple levels o' paladin is a worthy if overlooked consideration for seelah, as long as you focus on healing and buffing spells. seelah won't have the dcs necessary to make use o' most offensive spells, but is plenty of other companions who may fulfill such a role. choose nature mystery will result in you acquiring one o' the best mounts in the game, a charisma based ac bonus and a save buff for animal companions. sohei/gendarme/demonslayer, individual or combined, is also not-fighter options for seelah which make sense and do not require any futzing with mods which may break anytime there is a large patch. at least 11 levels o' sohei gets you flurry with a reach weapon, a horse and mounted feats w/o needing meet prerequisites. order of the ****atrice is a good option for a gendarme build and results in fighter kinda feat progression. a large % o' builds is gonna benefit from a single level o' demonslayer. aside, am knowing virtual every guide for skalds recommends the lethal/deadly route, but enhanced edition changed the seeming unrelated guarded hearth to a competence bonus meaning when you have sosiel initiate a guarded hearth (pretty much every boss battle) you lose the attack bonus benefits from a skald's lethal stance. converse, reckless and inspired ferocity is untyped and functional double resulting in a massive +10 attack bonus at level 16. the beast totem line provides natural ac bonuses which cancel out the penalties from the reckless stance. yeah, the increased crit aspect o' lethal/deadly is a massive benefit and should not be ignored, but that bonus comes late in the game and the added crit range don't mean much if you cannot hit an enemy. untyped attack bonus boosts is not common in wotr and the skald's inspired/reckless provides a particular large untyped advantage. even w/o respec, seelah is highly customizable and potential fulfills many roles. HA! Good Fun!

hopeful not a super-spreader event, eh? our two +80 something aunts is spending christmas together but isolated from the rest o' the family as they both have covid. situation is made worse 'cause the older sister is blaming the younger one for ruining christmas 'cause she brought covid with her when she traveled from CA. on the positive side, at least they have the rest o' the family bringing food and looking after them while they recover. the meds they is taking has 'em doing reasonably well but they both say their nights are terrible even if they sound fine during the day. even so, the older woman is 87, so... regardless, merry christmas and happy holidays to all. HA! Good Fun!

also gonna make the obvious observation that the cost for a human to increase charisma from 19 to 20 is 4 points. math suggests is best for a human to start at 19 charisma as 'posed to 20 but such a choice is most certainly not make or break. one o' the things poe developers addressed were the asinine even v. odd number aspect o' attribute benefits. even v. odd attributes is a silly concern one needs make in wotr. have mentioned previous how greatswords is... fine. is not anywhere near the best or worst weapon choice. am assuming a paladin is taking leader background in part for the greatsword bonus, 'cause two-handed weapons is typical better unless you dual-wield and a 10 dex paladin is most obvious not gonna be dual wielding. regardless, greatswords is hardly a best choice but is more than good enough for core or lower difficulties. however, is worth noting there is only a couple decent greatsword choices in the game, and particular since finnean has been nerfed/fixed, it means that in a game spanning many tens of hours o' gameplay, you is only gonna have a couple greatsword drops which is noteworthy. the paucity o' great greatswords won't make game unplayable or too difficult, but w/o meta is ez to miss the one decent act 3 greatsword. miss the holy greatsword and is gonna feel like you are underperforming based on nothing save fact you made a "bad" level 1 choice. aside, pickpocket is kinda the obvious win background for most builds particular if you play turn-based or higher difficulties. initiative is all too often underappreciated. warrior of the holy light loses spell casting. maybe doesn't sound like a big deal, but paladins get some very powerful buffs. is a serious penalty which may not be obvious at first glance. on core, a heavy armour tank is viable. our first run had a sword & board seelah as a tank and we managed just fine. the holy avenger is a nice weapon and it is gonna be useful the entire game. is also a couple o' shields which is providing extreme useful benefits beyond their ac increase functionality; chances are you are gonna want somebody in your party capable o' wielding at least heavy shields. seelah is the obvious companion for the role. if your main is a paladin and you don't bring seelah along, then is worth considering going sword and board + heavy armour, 'cause none o' the companions is an obvious sword and board choice. some o' the most challenging content is early, so is worth considering taking a level o' sohei, gendarme, oracle or whatever to acquire your mount as early as possible. with one level o' sohei, you may choose the spirited charge mounted feat which will double your weapon damage on a charge and you will maintain max bab... but that will mean your mark of justice comes one level later. regardless, the easiest way to flatten the difficulty curve sans moving the difficulty slider is with animal companions. HA! Good Fun!

aside, am not a fan o' the tuna melt sandwich, but we do recommend the hatch chile tuna melt from chula seafood grayhawk in scottsdale, az. am recalling there is more than one chula seafood location, but am personal having only been to the scottsdale establishment. HA! Good Fun!

as shady observed, tuna is a shelf stable and relative cheap protein, so we saw it often enough as a sprout. canned tuna and cheese were not uncommon grandma meals, and our personal arsenal o' recipes benefit from their inclusion. am also having a cod au gratin dish which is a win. got a couple outliers o' parmesan + fish and greek feta + fish, but canned tuna and cheese is hardly unknowns at our table. HA! Good Fun!

we got moral opposition to veal given the lack o' regulation o' the industry, but am posting 'cause we suspect more than a few kids with a birthday so close to christmas identified with young frank cross, albeit to a lesser degree. regardless, nitha-anpetu waste, and may you survive yet another winter. HA! Good Fun!

given the pervasive but understandable ignorance regarding the history and attributes o' fascism, there is a tendency to misuse the term. being a racist redneck don't necessarily make a person a fascist. likewise, so-called libertarians and far right conservatives screaming, "fascist," whenever oppressive laws such as mask-mandates-during-a-pandemic is enacted fails for being similar misguided. here in the US, all too often people believe fascism were initially a uniquely european problem which contributed to ww2 and then took hold amongst white nationalists in the US in the 50s. is disturbing rare to encounter people with more than the most cursory grasp o' fascism beyond a certainty that nazis deserve the fascism appellation. HA! Good Fun!

HA! Good Fun!

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!

hmmm. am thinking there is only a handful o' excuses for wearing the cape: 1) you are an opera villain 2) you are, in fact, liberace, elvis, or evel knievel 3) you just suffered a concussion HA! Good Fun!

we got one odd suit and it were gifted to us as a joke. a few o' our colleagues got tired o' our simple country lawyer schtick, so they bought us a seersucker suit. ... gotta admit, the seersucker is extreme comfortable. HA! Good Fun!