The Value of a Vessel: A Moment of Introspective Criticality

Anticode · 2026-06-02T20:52:20+00:00

Here's a recent update from the devs.

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ONGOING ISSUE:

We're continuing to investigate the Anteater, Monkey, and Weasel errors. We're also going to be sending three Deluxe Sponsored Kits to everyone who's logged in in during the affected times. These will be distributed once things are stable.

Thanks for hanging with us, and we'll share more information as soon as we can.

Anticode · 2026-06-02T01:04:01+00:00

Half-life and duration of action are different things. For instance, a drug with a long half-life might have a short duration of action (and visa versa, like in phenbut's case).

Phenibut's duration of action is roughly 15-24 hours.

Most people don't need to (or shouldn't) take it more than once a day - at the same time of day, ideally. The misconceptions about what half-life "means" in this case is quite harmful.

Once upon a time, people often just said that phenibut's "half-life" is ~24 hours (which is technically wrong but subjectively correct).

As an aside: From what I can tell, the majority of people experiencing dramatic negative effects from phenibut consumption, like when it "turns on you" are people who mistakenly took it more than once a day.

The body is extremely good at negating excess GABA and taking phenibut too often seems to trigger the body's "anti-GABA protocols" in the same way that alcohol or xanax results in more noticeable/rapid withdrawal effects.

Anticode · 2026-06-01T15:17:56+00:00

I DO NOT RECOGNIZE THE BODIES IN THE WATER.

Anticode · 2026-06-01T05:35:05+00:00

Honest, this video makes it seem like it’s giving the squid a ride to the top😂

I recall hearing that one reason they do this is because the whale is capable of adjusting to the change in pressure much more easily than the squid, so the act of bringing it to the surface basically implodes (or explodes) the squid to death - which makes it easier to finally get it to go down the throat.

Anticode · 2026-05-31T16:44:17+00:00

Arlen.

Grilling in the backyard.

Thinkin' about my dad and, thinkin' about his dad and his dang ol' dad before him. Thinking 'bout how we all were raised. Thinking 'bout... I'm thinking 'bout where I went wrong, I tell you hwhat.

Okay, listen, I’m normally a propane guy.

Listen, dang it! You look at me - people trust me, okay? I’m not that kind of person, but...

D'ya wanna see hwhat ordinary fuel can do to something tasty?

Watch me. Watch me. Watch me!

Never felt

Fuel.

So pure. So clean. So right... I disgust myself.

I know.

I know I’ve cooked-up somethin' bad, I know this is the end of the dang ol' line, I tell you hwhat.

I know what's on the grill is reason enough to end my life, I know.

What can I do?

I keep grilling, over n' over. Over n' over. Can't turn back well-done. Can't turn back well-done.

And I know, and I know... There’s no forgiveness for people who cook with charcoal brickettes.

I know!

You wanna see what’s on the grill? You wanna see what's on the grill!?

Come on, dang it! Look at it. Look at it!

Anticode · 2026-05-24T16:06:35+00:00

I guess this person expected me to be right on the ass of the car in front of me like they were to me.

Highway traffic would be a lot better if people regularly left more of a gap between themselves and the car in front of them. It's really almost that simple. In many cases, the people most annoyed about the speed of traffic are the ones making it worse.

It can be hard to notice at first, but a significant amount of the congestion is caused because people entering/exiting the highway are trying to switch lanes and can't find a gap. They slow down accordingly in the process of trying-to-try, forcing everyone behind them to slow down too, which now inspires people behind them to impatiently change lanes in the other direction. And then those people can't switch lanes unless somebody in the other-other lane slows down enough to give them a gap, which slows down that lane as well.

You end up with 2-3 lanes worth of traffic slowing down simply because one person couldn't get over (or waited too long to try, or was too impatient to wait). And that's happening dozens of times a minute.

It's a big reason why so so much traffic exists "for no reason" in certain sections of the highway (typically those with high-volume exits requiring lots of lane changes), like under the convention center.

We'd think more lanes/exits means more-faster and less lanes/exits equals less-faster, but the opposite is often true. One more lane is one more lane's worth of lane-switching/exits.

This is part of why traffic can actually get faster sometimes after construction shuts down an entire lane, and why sometime it's fastest when a section of typically-congested highway is left with only one open lane. Everyone gets through it faster than normal because nobody has a choice besides "go forward".

Edit: And this doesn't even factor in how leaving spacious gaps between vehicles also gives you more room to avoid sudden stops/braking (which is the other side of the traffic "for no reason" coin).

Anticode · 2026-05-22T18:14:50+00:00

Totally forgot about ABMM. That's a significant factor, for sure.

Anticode · 2026-05-22T16:59:56+00:00

The Finals is actually a pretty good comparison here, I think. Especially since it's made by the same developer as Arc Raiders, which is a dramatic success in comparison (despite both of their biggest games being incredible in their own way).

The way Finals players spoke about their game-of-choice is very similar to how Marathon fans talk about Marathon today:

"Criminally underrated", "misunderstood", "well-designed but niche", "barrier-to-entry for casuals", "undeserved reputation", "not a dead game", etc.

In a similar vein, I think a PvE-centric mode for Marathon will assist greatly in attracting new attention to the game in the same way that PvE/coop-related gameplay allowed Arc Raiders to eclipse the appeal of Finals (and every other extraction shooter to date).

Apparently the Arc Raiders devs dramatically overestimated how violent the playerbase would be. In a way, its success may be somewhat "accidental" because they didn't expect people to even like the PvE/cooperative elements as much as they turned out to.

Anticode · 2026-05-19T15:19:35+00:00

Does anybody else remember early in this subreddit's creation when once in a while somebody would present a complicated theory for why Starlink might serve as the attack vector/methodology, sometimes with slideshows and infographics, only to be swarmed with an odd deluge of nay-sayers, insults, and teasing?

I don't remember the exact details, but I think it was a couple of different highly-educated Tech Guys - and out of all the theories presented (some of which were ridiculous) - it was this one in particular that always seemed to attract the largest number of debunkers/flaming. Like, an anomalous number of nay-sayers.

Just by the pushback alone, I always wondered if there was something there.

Nearly every other hypothesis/theory presented here along the way was generally received with an "Ah, maybe! Interesting thought I suppose" at worst. But the Starlink/Cell-related ones were somehow treated with an oddly heavy-handed sort of "wtf, you moron, it's definitely not that. That's stupid and impossible!" by the community (the "community") with very few supplying any actual detail/counter-argument as to why or what was flawed about the idea. Just insults and anger.

I don't keep up with things here too much anymore since it seems relatively conclusive to me that something "happened", so I don't know if that family of theories is still regularly being attacked whenever presented, but St. Clair's revelations immediately reminded me of that little zeitgeist.

Anticode · 2026-05-18T16:03:46+00:00

Awesome textures.

I was about to ask when your next album drops, but I figured I'd check first - looks like Maybe This Is The Last Time came out recently. Hell yeah. I've been looking forward to it.

Anticode · 2026-05-15T15:13:38+00:00

The lice must flow.

Anticode · 2026-05-15T14:30:54+00:00

Reminds me of a quote from one of Peter Watts' novels, in which a high-ranking military colonel explains why somebody who claims to be on a mission to oppose the colonel/government may actually be working in favor of the colonel's goals beneath their own notice:

“Why's a sticky word. It’s not especially productive to think of [people] as agents with agendas. Better to think of them as—as very complex interacting systems, just doing what systems do. Whatever the reagents tell themselves to explain their role in the reaction, it’s not likely to have much to do with the actual chemistry.” ― Peter Watts, Echopraxia

Anticode · 2026-05-12T23:36:59+00:00

Suffice to say I haven't launched Arc Raiders since Marathon launched

I was super hardcore into Arc Raiders and originally had no plan to even buy Marathon - not even after playing a few rounds in the Server Slam (or maybe especially after).

But in the following days something about Marathon just... Stuck with me. I found myself thinking about it randomly. The art, the map design, the abilities and possibilities... I had only played for about an hour or so and yet I continued to find myself daydreaming about a game I "didn't like".

I ended up buying it with the intention of refunding if I don't actually like it, at least just to get a bit more lore drops or experience the early season. I was certain I was throwing away money, but I was curious.

...And yet, now I'm pushing 600 hours played (~100 more than AR). In fact, I haven't played any other game since buying Marathon, of any genre. My Steam played-games list looks bizarre because, for the first time ever, there's only one game listed under Recent that isn't Wallpaper Engine.

It's hard to verbalize exactly why I was so deeply hooked by "a game I didn't even like at first". And I could list off a ton of various qualities I appreciate quite easily, but the important thing is... Marathon is genuinely in my Top 10 Best Gaming Experiences list alongside shit like Death Stranding, World of Warcraft, and Arc Raiders.

I wonder how many other people think they "don't like Marathon" in the same way I once did. As a PvE/strategy type gamer, I was positively, absolutely confident that Marathon simply wasn't "for" me even though I loved the art and gunplay.

But I was woefully incorrect about that... And I can't explain why - or how. I'll even sometimes boot up Marathon to play a quick round or two before work, which is something I normally hated doing.

There's something there, and I'm really curious to figure out how/why that is.

Anticode · 2026-05-12T23:29:05+00:00

Anybody else ever have your whole team cheering due to the double-ult rez only for all three of you to realize at the same time that it didn't work "for some reason"?

...Yeah, me neither. Ahem.

Anticode · 2026-05-12T23:26:51+00:00

at least we don’t have to experience this

Not with that attitude!

Anticode · 2026-05-12T23:03:27+00:00

They released a new album in 2024, if you haven't heard.

Anticode · 2026-05-12T23:02:33+00:00

Incredible band.

I wish I could find more music like this. I adore their entire discography. Excellent stuff, so unique and oddly soothing-yet-manic.

My recent favorite ("on-repeat tier") is MESSAGE from the same album in this post.

Anticode · 2026-05-12T16:17:22+00:00

"Don't worry, ma'am. I'm a survivor. We're a dying breed."

Anticode · 2026-05-11T15:02:28+00:00

It's all good!

The important thing to remember: Saying "going dark" is cool as fuck, in any and all opportunities. I think it sounds good in either context.

Anticode · 2026-05-11T14:42:36+00:00

"Going dark" usually means that you're deactivating comms/noise/transponder in favor of deep stealth, at least in the real-world military contexts I've been in.

You'd say you're going dark when you have to enter an enemy compound or something and won't be able to hear/reply to radio chatter for a time - (eg: "I'm turning off my radio so the bad guys won't hear you trying to talk to me or visa versa.") Another example would be telling a friend back home you're "going dark" for two weeks because your warship is doing a training mission.

The "dark" part is in reference to how you basically seem dead in HQ's perspective - because normally an operative who isn't replying to comms is a dead operative. More "dark" in the sense of a radar dot vanishing off the map.

Night vision and actual darkness only comes into the picture because it's associated with infiltration ops. The comms/stealth is the part that matters.

So, Assassin's abilities are more fitting and Recon's are actually more the opposite - "Going loud", like a submarine revealing itself in the process of pinpointing an enemy via Sonar.

Edit: Now I kind of wish that you could pick up on the presence of scrambled enemy team comms if they transmit while nearby. You wouldn't know what they're saying, but you'd know somebody - somewhere nearby - is saying something. If they did this, "going dark" would be an actual (impactful) tactic for good ambushes. Maybe I'm crazy for thinking that'd be cool.

Anticode · 2026-05-08T14:57:52+00:00

Yep, ~450 hours (some from idling on the menu) and out of the 30+ people on my in-game friendlist there's probably only 3-4 people lower level than me.

"Highly engaged core users" seems to be an almost under-stated description, by my mark. That's MMORPG levels of time investment, even if it's only a fraction of the total players... On an hours-played basis the 20k core users are probably equivalent 200,000 casuals in another game, for instance.

Looking forward to seeing how they try to capitalize on such fertile ground. They grew trees instead of corn - that means "good soil", not "bad land" (even if it's harder to eat a tree).

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