nipsen

Allies in Afghanistan have a funny story to tell: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/nov/06/afghanistan-shocking-indictment/

Huh. It looks ..literally nothing like the trailers from a few years back. ..any good?

Swords.. /and/ jetpacks. :D What's it called?

Btw, on the subject... Wormwood studios (the guys who made Primordia.. was written by Mark Yohalem.. interesting guy.. Also, the latest patch for Primordia just came out.. Should be a good time to play the game again, or for the first time) are working on a new project. I don't think it's set on Iceland, but it draws inspiration from the Icelandic sagas, and will deal with - obviously - violence and violent societies. And likely how violence can perhaps be explained, how it's justified, and how it exists. http://www.wormwoodstudios.com/2014/09/sources-for-current-project.html Last notice was that Mark was gathering information on Scandinavian flora, though. Which is funny. But.. it is an important part of trying to piece together some of the scenarios in the sagas, so I can see why he'd be curious about that. And I mean, remarkably, Norwegian mountains and forests rarely feature in video-games. And it's clearly time that that kind of terrible discrimination should end right away.

..actually, there are metal bands out there that do write fairly good lyrics. And it is possible to describe and depict violence in a way that doesn't consistently carry on at the level of: "hey, I just shoot people because I think it's fun! Ahahahahaha! Violence is justified because I love it! Whee! That's how the world works! Entrails are awesome! I'll put kidneys in jars and I talk to them because they're my friends and say things I like to hear!". Not that either happens very often. Or, lately, at all. But it is possible.

..well, reality has a liberal bias, as we all know. And somebody has to take the responsibility and compensate for that, clearly. In the name of fair and balanced.. perception of reality..?

Good points, you right. They can't get much lower in my view ..well. I guess they have yet to declare their divine right to rule over lesser countries, to change other countries' leadership at will to someone they favor, instate a selective court system that only applies to said lesser people, declare themselves above any law, divine or man-made - as well as then officially embracing this shameless exceptionalism, at the cost of other people's freedom and lives, as a matter of democratically/parliamentary justified policy. Before waging endless wars that have no discernible goal or resolution outside the nation's own collapse. In other words - if they intended to compete with more or less any random historical or current nation (..except Belgium) at their nadir in terms of bigotry, they frankly have a very long way to go. Incidentally - why not get to know someone from Iran, or Syria, or Afghanistan, for example. Get in touch with an ngo or a student organisation of some sort. There used to be a very active community at a university on the West Bank in Gaza - but someone put a stop to that. Then read something like the Shanameh, some Ferdowsi.. Gulistan, whatever. And put that ancient persian tradition aside what's sanctioned by the more current islamic revolution in Iran. Compare that with Egypt's, Afghanistan's, Iraq's and Syria's other widely differing attempts towards post-islamic revolutionary nation-building. I mean -- you have to understand that all of those nations are thousands of years older than ours. Hell, the Islamic revolution is over a thousand years older than anything resembling the US constitution. And that revolution is still something any random Egyptian or Persian will both see, from their point of view, as a very vain and quick solution to problems. So just imagine for a second how laughable it would be if someone suggested not just to adopt parliamentary reforms into their existing traditions - but to replace them with a completely different doctrine altogether. See, even the ones who actually would want that wouldn't know where to begin. There would be no process they could possibly adopt that would lead there. And again, remember that missionary work by the sword with the Islamic revolution didn't make one nation of the middle east, even while the revolution was a massive triumph. Since then - who have been successful at creating relatively prosperous nations in the middle-east? Military dictatorships supported by east or west. Now imagine those who have known how wars have devastated their communities lately, and how much "international" involvement appeals to them. And imagine trying to convince them that /this time/, you really just want what's best for them. You know, that's how absurd this situation really is.

Except aiming and hitting your enemy it seems. It was sort of an accident, and it wasn't in battle - but.. I've been shot at by multiple 7.62mm rounds. And I suddenly understood why you essentially never create a battle-plan, even in the most experienced unit, that relies on returning accurate fire when you're suppressed. It's simply not going to happen. Ground battles are messy, and that's that. So all and any military forces train for and expect to hit the enemy in an ambush, or on the offensive, while moving. If that fails.. Well, you don't want there to be anything after the first hit. There's just no good plan that works then. Things get messy. The best you train for in a withdrawal is continuous fire, not accurate fire. ..In a well-defended position, you make sure you can hit first while the enemy has to move, and so on. But even then it's a bad place to be if the bullets start flying, or the enemy doesn't take the hint when they see the nests and keep away. They know where you are, and even a busted ak will hit reasonably close up towards 3-400 meters. But I guess saying that wouldn't make for a great recruitment speech. Very interesting post, did you do some sort of military training? Yes. A year, right before Norway effectively disbanded the "standing defense military" doctrine. Was supposed to go to Kosovo afterwards, and it was up to you if you wanted to stay in the unit we were in (50% dropped out before 6 months), so we had a lot of fun really. Then things started happening in NATO and with "allies" in 2000, and I thought: "why not do something else". Hunter's source says guys caught at the border "might" be ISIS. Hunter goes on tv and tells people that they were ISIS members without a shred of evidence (Irresponsibly). The department of justice says this is all just a rumor. The only way his claim could be true is: A) Hunter's source is lying about what he told Hunter. B) The entire government is lying about this whole thing. C) Most unlikely of all; that ISIS is actually crossing the border in order to get into the US. ..listen to what they're actually saying, though. They're alleging a specific case, without evidence, and arguing that it /could/ be true. They're not arguing that this happened, and that there is a specific weakness in the fortress they have to plug. They're arguing that it /could/ happen, and that you should be scared to death and scrap the constitution and international law just in case, and give the president the power to go to war at his convenience. It's been the same "argument" since right after Kosovo. "We should not be limited or stalled by small dictators and the business of insignificant sovereign states. So we have effectively removed the "international community" from the equation, we lead through NATO, and conduct wars and commit to making changes on our own terms". Sounds like a brilliant idea, obviously (specially since then military operations are easier to plan for). Until you frame it in the way it actually is taking place: politicians playing with the lives of soliders and civilians for domestic political convenience. And "ISIS" is a story that helps facilitate that policy. ISIS in a sense does exist, of course. But it's an amalgamation of a billion different alliances and groups that have nothing to do with each other. ..other than basically having had enough of random foreign states exploiting their countries, and being sometimes slightly more organised than a random mob with guns. Meanwhile, pushing for measures to counter these .. wide-ranging conspiracies that somehow entertain people on the news. Is something that helps mobilize random people to join up and fight. And that effort dominates some of these countries in much the same way it dominates the US. They don't have a war-industry, but it's common that people just don't have a future, so they go to holy war in some other country instead. It's not a subtle transferral of man-power to less beneficial industry or something like that - it's just a total drain on the development of the countries. Take a trip to Afghanistan for example. Outside a couple of historical towns (similar to the way it is in Syria), there's literally nothing. Twigs and dust, ghosts of former glory. And if there's no war to fight, then what is there? Opium and arid farmland they don't have resources or equipment to grow. Or oil-resources they don't have money to start exploiting. So what better way to remedy that than to play into the narratives that facilitate a grander foreign policy plan, with an outlook that has a way out? Let the Americans blow the top off Tora Bora, train millions of troops to guard a rock - and get money to develop the country -- why not, right? Because it's simply not the case any more that there is another option. Nato exists as an aggressive military alliance now, the UN has no clout in contested areas, and there is no "international community" involved in the areas that have military activity. The guys who want something else out of the future than war - have nothing else to do. There's no alternative they can find. And presto - the allies we have in the region invent things like ISIS to further involve "the west". "Help us train police and farm the countryside - and we'll get rid of the Boogeyman (and those pesky rebels we don't like) for you!". Oh, and by the way - absolutely none of this has of course happened before. Either in Nicaragua, Vietnam, Angola, Libya, Iraq or Syria. These were all completely different situations.

..mm. Did you know US marines, and other ground forces as well, still have "user doses" of morphine/opioids/ketamine in the rations? The doses are not large enough to be effective for treating severe pain after wounds, etc. They're not "battle-enhancers" either. But commonly used to steady the pace a bit. Works great, apparently. Takes the edge off for a while, doesn't impair you significantly, you follow through orders with the focus of a fairly intelligent and agile zombie. But yes, drugs and opium derivatives in particular have a long and multifaceted history in warfare. Also in current wars. Btw, I got it now. It's not "war porn", this is "war snuff". heheh. Except aiming and hitting your enemy it seems. It was sort of an accident, and it wasn't in battle - but.. I've been shot at by multiple 7.62mm rounds. And I suddenly understood why you essentially never create a battle-plan, even in the most experienced unit, that relies on returning accurate fire when you're suppressed. It's simply not going to happen. Ground battles are messy, and that's that. So all and any military forces train for and expect to hit the enemy in an ambush, or on the offensive, while moving. If that fails.. Well, you don't want there to be anything after the first hit. There's just no good plan that works then. Things get messy. The best you train for in a withdrawal is continuous fire, not accurate fire. ..In a well-defended position, you make sure you can hit first while the enemy has to move, and so on. But even then it's a bad place to be if the bullets start flying, or the enemy doesn't take the hint when they see the nests and keep away. They know where you are, and even a busted ak will hit reasonably close up towards 3-400 meters. But I guess saying that wouldn't make for a great recruitment speech.

...you only say that because you don't know anyone with the problem, or know what it is. ----- https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/1429607/thankyou You have made a one-time donation for $105.00 Donate 97% - I understand Network for Good will deduct 3% to cover transaction costs. Total charged:$105.00 Transaction ID: 1259464869 You are dedicating your donationOn behalf of Obsidian Entertainment. The recipient will receive an emailacknowledgement. So - have fun. I'll give you a fair review when the game comes out.

I guess I am unable to rise to the level of childishly calling people mentally ill for disagreeing with me. Truly high quality rhetoric on your part. If that's your impression of what I said, and you think it's childish - then why not rise above it and prove me wrong properly? In any case, the problem is that some argue that numbers that have no meaning or relation to anything, as long as they become bigger and bigger over time -- is the ultimate form of entertainment. And they insist that there is no other possible point of view in the entire world. End of discussion. I don't think that this is a reasonable point of view. (You can also tick off the two top indicators for Aspergers disease from that - the point being that the game as it's headed is going to be obsessively engaging for people with Aspergers on one of the bad days. And like I said in the other thread - if that's who Obsidian wants to appease with my pledge money, there are more effective ways to do it that will actually help. Last chance before the money goes to a charity of my choosing.)

Well, I think very few of you can make a good or coherent argument about anything, even if I offered you 105 dollars. And I think that the ones who can make a good argument are too modest to even try to compete with your noise. What do you think about that?

..So they sent me the money instead. The most entertaining or well-argued suggestion for where I should donate $105 in kickstarter money, on Obsidian's behalf, will get it.

No. I asked them to cancel the order. Obsidian can have the money for nothing, or donate it somewhere.

Nipsen has finally snapped. His frail sanity was bombarded with a savage assault by Sensuki and facts, till it finally broke under the pressure of pulling increasingly strange walls of text from his ass. Soon, he will be hauled off to the farm, where he will spend his days talking to LoF about Communism. Outside of that - you did go from d&d role-playing, to guidance councilors, then warriors in foreign lands, to fate and then finally to communism (with capital "c"). In less than 5 posts. Without my help. Just saying. Good signature, by the way.

Imagination is a malady that at least you don't suffer from. Good for you!

I think roleplaying should be the guidance counselor who encourages the somewhat dim but muscular guy with the inherited spellbook to follow his dreams... preferably far away maybe abroad, on a great journey to find himself and wreak havoc on enemy cities.*cough* Are you absolutely sure that's not too vague? I mean, he could be making a big mistake if he doesn't grow up to be a body-builder, which clearly nature has chosen him to be without fail. I mean, really, the entire trick is about making it appear as if you have a choice - not actually giving it to you! Because that would be dangerous. Even in a game, it would be dangerous. People could start to get ideas about things, and we obviously don't want that! Now excuse me, I have some heathens to brand back in 1340. See you later.

...It's not too complicated, is it - Obsidian cancels my order. They can do that. And if they're not content to take my money for nothing in return, they'll do as I say and pledge the money to help people with Asperbergers. In a real way that actually helps them.

Nipson, bro. I love ya, but no. Obsidian doesn't just adapt every critique without seeing it as a good option themselves. It seems to me you don't trust Obsidian to handle fan critique correctly more than anything else. I thought I could. I laughed off the trillion bs posts on the forums. But Obsidian seem very obviously to have decided to make the system more mechanical and straightforward in response to complaints from... people who lack imagination. Taking them to be representative for all their kickstarter backers. So I don't want to support Obsidian in any way. And to achieve that I will make an outrageous fan request, in public, of the kind that Obsidian seems so fond of responding to lately. But generally, if they want to make derivative mush, then go to a publisher. I specifically wanted the opposite of that when I pledged money to the kickstarter. And I know some of you did as well.

I play role-playing games. On paper. And on computers. I read fiction, I read history, I read philosophy - I read practically everything except Ayn Rand and James Clerk Maxwell (because it's just boring). So Obsidian has always made games that appeal to me. Their games always have a script worthy of a sometimes very good novel. And on top of that Obsidian, unlike most other game-developers of RPG-games, have always had care with integrating the mechanics of the game into the narrative. Making the playable character fit in the game-world is important in any game to suspend disbelief, but in role-playing games and with role-playing mechanics it takes a bit of talent to do it. Simply put, Obsidian stands out as a company that actually understands what the mechanics in a role-playing game are supposed to do, namely be a helper to immerse people in the game-world. (As opposed to generate bigger and bigger numbers). It has however been my impression that any system more complex than Dungeon Siege 3's "Press X to Roleplay" system has been difficult for Obsidian to pitch to a publisher. So when the kick-starter for Pillars of Eternity was announced, I was happy to sponsor it. Because I wanted to see Obsidian, along with Chris Avellone and other Black Isle folks make a game that they wanted to make. It seemed too good to be true, of course, and it usually is. But the lore of the game was sketched out - it wasn't a nominal human/elf fantasy setting with magic and dragons. It had a twist. The attribute system was presented. And it is deep and keenly aware of having the advantage of a computer to do the calculations in the background. And the combination of the attribute system and the game's setting was interesting. The way the characters could be built in various abstract ways with strengths and weaknesses, and have those strengths and weaknesses actually reflected in the game world - was even more interesting. Here's a system that doesn't just allow you to make a mage weak on intelligence, for example. Or a priest low on discipline and wisdom. A fighter without high strength. A rogue without incredible intelligence, but still with nimble fingers. But the characters (as long as you fill up the attribute points) inevitably also have different strengths, and the game would allow you to play the character as the character would be set up. Without necessarily more or less difficulty than before if you simply played into the character's strengths and was aware of it's weaknesses. It seemed to good to be true, and it usually is. And yet, with the backer beta, it turns out Obsidian had actually done it. Implemented a system that has more depth than the fairly rudimentary d&d system, taking advantage of the game being done on a computer rather than on paper. With small adjustments (as in small simplifications) it would probably be easy to convert the system to a paper role-playing game as well - which I thought the game and the system practically begged for. So this was Obsidian without the publisher restraint, without the "press X to roleplay" requirement. And the result is brilliant! It still seems too good to be true - and it turns out it is. Josh Sawyer, the lead designer, posts this on the forum: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/68526-how-to-fix-the-attribute-design-in-pillars-of-eternity/?p=1508219 Essentially establishing that Obsidian has listened carefully to "fans" on the internet, and deliberated themselves to choosing a system that has a more one-sided, one-dimensional quality, similar to the D&D system. Where the game's mechanics are completely disconnected from the attribute system, and the attributes are dictated slavishly once you determine your class. And as is made obvious in that post, Obsidian does this to please it's fans. I don't participate on 5 different forums and spam Obsidian with messages stating - endlessly - that the character and attribute system is broken. I don't spam Obsidian with doom and gloom because "perception is a trap build recipe". I don't insist that the game "clearly" has this, and "clearly" intends that. I don't spam my royal interpretations of "Obsidian's True Meaning With This Oblique Statement". And because I don't do that, I am apparently not a fan of Obsidian's role-playing games, or at least doesn't count as one. So when random changes are made to the game in the last backer beta that I suppose might make sense in forum-land, but which does not make sense on Orlan -- then we have a problem. The problem is this: I did not pay to fund "Matt514" or "Sensuki"'s attribute system implementation. I did not fund Obsidian during the kickstarter to have Obsidian make design sacrifices to appease internet fans. I did not fund Obsidian during the kickstarter to have someone else make design decisions. It seems that this is what Obsidian has decided, however. So I'll have to respect that. The changes as well are "clearly" not up for rational discussion - the mere weight of demands to change the system is what has motivated the changes, not a real explanation with a good reason. And since pledge money from Kickstarter is gone and cannot be reclaimed, no matter how much the developer squanders the money - I'll make the following proposal to you: 1. Cancel my box-copy order of the game. 2. Pledge the same amount to the nearest Aspergers-foundation, in honor of your actual target audience: people who can be genuinely entertained by simply watching unrelated numbers with no meaning scroll down a list. 3. Post the receipt. Here are my order details: Pledge Order: 4F0M60T5FKBLG nipsen@toothandmail.com March 4, 2014 5:59 AM Confirmed $45.00 Pledge Order: 9P6ISH2SA8MFA nipsen@toothandmail.com September 4, 2014 10:05 AM Confirmed $25.00 Here are links to several Aspergers charities, www.asperger.asn.au/ www.aspergerfoundation.org.uk/ www.usautism.org/ ----- So simply remove my pledge and remove the order for the boxed copy. Then complete the transaction with the sum from my order with any of the charities, and post the receipt. I have noticed that you have done stranger things for fans lately. So I'm expecting Obsidian to also do this. Alternatively, as long as Obsidian wipes my pledge and removes the order - and someone else posts a receipt with a donation to their Aspergers foundation of choice -- I expect more than one of you to have a favorite -- I'll also be happy with the result. The goal is simply that I want proof that my money is not going to fund "committee-designed" games that aim for the lowest common denominator. Or alternatively, the loudest and most obstinate posts on a forum. I just don't accept that I've paid money to Obsidian for that purpose. If that was what you set out to do, then you could have signed with a publisher.

At the cost of narrative consistency, because it's a completely different part of the game, and that should be ignored utterly. Yes, I get it, you have no concept of degrees. Fine.

Yes. I don't think it's well thought through. And I don't find it a trap build to make a perceptive character with zero chance to hit. He is perceptive, but he can't hit. How would anyone manage to create a character like that and expect it to hit in combat? He doesn't have a high hit. Why would he hit anything then?

WHAT???????????? That's the exact OPPOSITE of what the bug does. It actually inflates the value of Perception because it applies to misses due to this bug. In the actual system, Interrupt is reliant on the ability to actually score a hit. If you have a low accuracy, it doesn't matter how high your interrupt is, you won't score any interrupts on misses and your grazed hits will reduce your interrupt roll by 50%. The entire reason we recommended combining Accuracy and Interrupt was to prevent this from happening, so that now you can't screw yourself over by making a High Interrupt but Low Accuracy character. This issue is the entire reason why I sought to create the paper in the first place. ...and that wouldn't make sense in the game-world? The priest is a bumbling old man, but he can spot details as if having someone spy on others behind their backs. And yet, he's not extremely efficient in combat. How does that not make sense in the game-world? Isn't what would make sense that perception determines the ability to make an interrupt. But that the attack roll has to actually connect to do any damage? If so - as always - your interpretation of what is a bug really rests on you simply not accepting that a mechanic like this is supposed to be there. And now Obsidian obeys. Glorious.

I've skimmed through it. And what I conclude from it is that you want a simpler system than the one Obsidian proposed. That is something Obsidian has responded to, apparently, going by Josh's post. They seem to have picked up on that you simply are not able to successfully distribute skill points that affect the combat in more than one way. Namely, something that is more aligned with D&D. Where one stat governs the class you pick. Success!

Interrupts were actually broken in v257 and v278. They were also being applied on misses. CHA-CHING - didn't know that did you? http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/68518-interrupt-occurs-on-misses/?hl=interrupt So that may have added to the "feeling" that Perception was not dumpable. I can see why you would benefit from dumping perception in that case, since it would not give you any drawbacks..? Doesn't this instead explain how your might builds were even weaker than you thought?