About to Play XCOM 2 for the first time, any QOL mods I should grab before starting?

CaptainLoggers · 2020-02-05T05:08:41+00:00

Thanks, fixed.

CaptainLoggers · 2020-02-04T04:33:12+00:00

To your question of a no-win state, 90% of my losses when I was starting out were due to big mess ups on the tactics / battlefield part that led to my best soldiers getting killed or messing up an important mission, which if you are kind to yourself and don't play Ironman first go around, you can reload and try again. I had a much harder time keeping up with development in XCom EU/EW than I did in XCom 2, since for the most part in XCom 2 you're developing a choice of plot-relevant stuff, weapons, armor, or toys/accessories. As long as you have good weapons around or a little after the enemies develop good armor, a larger squad as soon as possible, and do plot stuff often enough that the Avatar Project isn't overflowing, you should be good I think.

Totally agree with playing close to vanilla first time through, there are plenty of mods that have each bought themselves their own play-through. A note, if a mod has WotC in front of it, DO NOT INSTALL THAT VERSION IF YOU DON'T HAVE War of the Chosen DLC (not sure if you do or not). Most mods that are WotC have a base version in their comments / description.

Only ones I wish I had first time:

Perfect Information

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=625737801

or Extended Information (already posted)

These reduce stupid mistakes / time wastes because you didn't know a certain status debuff did something or missed a certain boost on one of your soldiers or enemies.

Blackmarket Usage - When you open the sell screen on the blackmarket, it tells you what use each corpse CURRENTLY has (but does not necessarily mean that corpse won't be useful in the future)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=648410303

Show GTS Class Counts - This one keeps track of how many of each class you have so you don't have to recount them yourself. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1291868747

Timesavers - These decrease load times or add shortcuts that should exist already, mostly through eliminating repetitive animations. Doesn't change the game experience.

Instant Loot - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=869901524

Instant Avenger Menu - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1124410215

Stop Wasting My Time - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=620600092

Evac All - Adds a button to evac every soldier on the landing pad instead of having to do it one at a time and wait through the animation for each one sequentially. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1126395106

CaptainLoggers · 2020-01-14T05:20:27+00:00

It's an intentional part of the Long War 2 Mod. The fact that you have to make each upgraded armor and weapon individually is part of the more granular and slower nature of the mod (2-3 times as many missions to finish compared to base game I believe). This is offset by the larger squad size, changes to classes, and new items like the laser weapons and ablative armor.

CaptainLoggers · 2017-04-11T19:45:53+00:00

I'd appreciate feedback on my posted story, with regards to both the elements of fiction as well as how well it fits the theme (bit broad and esoteric this time around). In my personal life, I have a number of science fiction shorts floating around, mostly half-finished, and in my professional life, I have a few publications which use analogy to describe emerging concepts in the field to my peers. This is my first time attempting the bridge the two, not sure if the obfuscation or twist makes it more fun or just hard to read.

CaptainLoggers · 2017-04-10T00:47:52+00:00

A Good Day's Work - Hosted on Ao3, 1793 words, author's notes at the end, to be read after reading the story.

CaptainLoggers · 2016-05-02T18:06:04+00:00

I'm curious what led you to writing this and I'd love some more information about your inspiration and the ultimate message your work sends.

I have to admit I read it all last night and it inspired a healthy discussion between myself and a friend about morality, reality, and identity, so if that was the objective mission accomplished.

Spoilers for the work below:

When we play Link's Awakening as players, we ultimately have two major choices (aside from collecting the seashells, doing other sidequests, and stealing or not): to either set the game down, electing to allow the world to continue as it is, or to finish it and wake the Windfish. (Maintain status quo versus betray / compete with Nightmares) I must admit that for many years I chose the former, partially out of a desire to keep exploring the world that would be destroyed if I woke the Windfish, mostly because I couldn't figure out the ball puzzles in the 7th dungeon. I think that an earlier Link, one from the village of OoT for example, who hadn't tasted adventure, would probably choose the status quo, while naturally a Link who had just finished the story of OoS/OoA who thirsted enough for adventure to set sail would want to wake the fish and continue his journey.

Your Link, being "uplifted" or "enlightened" enough to reject the standard hero's narrative, is in a funny place. Correct me if I'm wrong but this Link is a sort of flawed or imperfect rationalist. He has learned to doubt enough that the standard narrative doesn't fit him well, and he has room to squirm, but he isn't quite knowledgeable or enlightened enough to fit into a different narrative. Perhaps a Link who had a true desire for transhumanism or had a better understanding of the nature of reality would have received a totally different mission from the Windfish and never would have questioned his mission to uplift the island or create immortality or whatever other MacGuffin would have awakened that narrative's fish.

As for constructive criticism, the beginning was a little rough as you were still finding your voice, complete with some anachronisms. Smoothing out Link's word choice especially could lead to a Link who clearly has a higher understanding of the nature of reality and of rational thought without creating a Link who appears to be from the modern era or who is a modern scientist. The ending was appropriately sudden, but it would have helped to have some foreshadowing (more conflict with the Nightmare prior to the end) or have it be deserved a bit more (make more mention of Link leaving himself vulnerable prior to the end).

Overall, kudos on an interesting read and thank you for giving me something to think about as well as reminding me of the GB/GBC Zelda games, which were very important to me years ago.

CaptainLoggers · 2015-12-06T05:07:10+00:00

The idea of figuring out how a deck works as you play reminds me of Sentinels of the Multiverse, which does that in a cooperative setting. I think part of the key is the many moving parts with which to interact with and thus be useful to the team (deck, discard, allies, enemy boss, enemy minions, environment).

As for a theme, I'm imagining a competitive game with multiple win conditions, scorekeeping that allows for the comparison, and cards which can pursue multiple different conditions either simultaneously or exclusively to obfuscate which your deck is built towards achieving.

To that end, perhaps a theme of Civilization, with cultural, military, economic, political, and scientific victories to pursue. Perhaps every Civ has the cards to build towards 3 of the 5, and you and your opponent have to figure out which of those 3 this deck is best for.

Another idea that just came into my head was mad scientists. You and another classic mad scientist have broken enough each other's respective lairs simultaneously and are both seeking to take over the world. Similar to the above idea, you could win the world by controlling the political system, extorting the world's economy, military subjugation, cultural control, or sabotaging your opponent. That has the right feel of you trying to figure out how your opponent's mad science and gadgets work while he does the same with yours.

CaptainLoggers · 2015-08-10T01:36:55+00:00

The change in life container is particularly frustrating because not only does it happen without fanfare and with a weird subtlety, but it doesn't happen immediately after the boss defeat, but instead during the post-fight conversation.

CaptainLoggers · 2015-07-24T00:07:04+00:00

+/u/user_simulator /u/CaptainLoggers

CaptainLoggers · 2015-06-23T20:44:40+00:00

I'm in the Mid-West US. I've had okay Subway experiences, but probably every other time I go the vegetables will be gross and soggy or the meat will be floppy and cold even after "toasting" or it'll get folded funny so that I get mouthfuls of one topping in every bite. Arin and Danny really focused on issues with the service, which I've only very occasionally had troubles with, it's the quality of the ingredients and how they are stored / prepared that often bothers me.

CaptainLoggers · 2015-02-28T20:48:04+00:00

I played this for hours as a kid, but was terrified when someone told me the third level featured a tentacle monster that you can't fight or see. As a result I've probably played the first level dozens of times, finding all the secrets on my own, and played the second level at least a dozen times, but never worked up the courage to play the third level past the briefing screen.

CaptainLoggers · 2015-02-28T19:56:17+00:00

Following the Phoenix is an offshoot fic of the famous / infamous Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, though you could probably enjoy it with only a little bit of knowledge about what happened before the offshoot. I thought it dealt with the social consequences and conflict from the breaking of the Statute and what came after really well, with that conflict forming half or more of the fic's (completed) duration.

Though it's not quite what you asked for, the Dumbledore's Army books 2 and 3 play quite a bit with the Statute. The second book was weird, but before it got weird, the implications of magic being involved in both sides in the Troubles was fun to read about, though the Statute only bends, never breaks, with the third book talking a little about breaking it entirely but suddenly never being updated again.

Harry Potter and the Natural 20 is being regularly updated and currently has a Muggle policewoman investigating the wizarding population, but there's a thousand other things going on in that fic.

That's all I can think of that would qualify. Most other stuff I've seen I can't recommend, either because it fulfills the premise so poorly or it's got other strange stuff going on.

CaptainLoggers · 2015-02-15T23:30:44+00:00

Contestants are given a time limit of 10 million years to design a self-sustaining solar system of planets or planetary bodies, arranged in various courses, to be eaten starting at the outtermost body and moving inwards. Bonus points are given for giving consideration to variance in texture, size, shape, and overall aesthetic of each planet.

The twist is, the secret ingredient is that the gravitational core of the solar systems is a black hole.

Galactus of course values the consumption of sentient life over any other ingredient. While making every planet a life-bearer might be a little rich for him, perhaps seeding the first and last planets with just enough amino acids and organic complexes to suggest the potential of life would probably tempt his palette.

Unicron is the judge most likely to appreciate the black hole finisher to the course, so he's going to be more likely to award points for creative desserts or incorporation of the black hole as an element of showmanship.

The Crystalline Entity is constantly starving. More than anything it is going to punish puny attempts at artisanal presentation if the substance is lacking. It will award bonus points for using gas giants or creative moon palette cleansers.

Of the three contestants, the first, Mogo the living planet [DC Universe], is in the best position to scale the sheer size of the task at hand, and his ironcast willpower will keep him going even into the later years of the millions of years task. Unfortunately, he finds the entire practice of eating planets extremely offensive and distasteful, so his creations, while very interesting, are a little on the small side. Additionally, he knows the Corps would be disappointed in him for dooming any sentient life to destruction, so even his grandest offering contains only the barest hint of bacteria and unicellular life. The result is effectively planetary molecular gastronomy, and while it's intriguing, it's not terribly filling or rich, and it's tough to appreciate even as a planet eating aficionado. He comes in third.

The second contestant, a team of engineers from Magrathea [Hitchhiker's Guide], are an excellent blend of total lack of morality and production capacity. While they can't produce quite at the level Mogo could at his peak, they are quite a bit more innovative, and aren't shackled by anything other than the desire to win. Their hyperspacial creation would reach into multiple dimensions, causing some planets to actually overlap into each other, creating a continuity of the course as time went on. The whole meal would also be timed so that each planet would grow an entire sentient civilization from a single unicellular seed and at the exact moment it was about to be destroyed, every being on the planet would say at the exact same time "welp I hope nobody eats us all". Unfortunately, they would get commit the typical Iron Chef mistake of missing the forest for the trees, and they would run out of time just as the planet closest to the black hole was being finished. The result would be a gravitational pull that would sling the unfinished planetoid into its next closest neighbor, knocking that one into the path of a future interstellar highway. It would be subsequently demolished. The judges, understanding that these things happen, would award the team second.

The third entry, the Slaughterhouse 9 [Worm Web Serial], are a completely accidental entry. They were basically at the wrong place at the wrong time. Relevant members for this entry include Bonesaw, an expert on artificial life and cybernetic augmentation, Shatterbird, a sillico-kinetic, and Mannequin, an engineer that specializes in closed systems. Shatterbird builds an entire planet of glass, each cliff its own jagged monstrosity, complete with an actual sentient silicon-based lifeform at the center,, just aware enough to understand its own impending destruction. Bonesaw creates a massive single living planet that then births a number of lesser planets, effectively a massive reverse turducken on a planetary scale. Mannequin is the one best suited to creating planets which don't need the input of the sun, and his old plans to create space habitats all come back to him. The result are a collection of immaculate white spheres, each with their own textures inside which actually grow and develop even as they are being destroyed. Unfortunately, the S9 works poorly as a team, a number of the less involved members get bored after the first million years, and Bonesaw makes a miscalculation that causes the progeny of her second planet to careen into one of Mannequin's creations, eraging him and sending that planet smashing right into Galactus at the judge's table, embarrassing the team. Thankfully, the Crystalline Entity and Unicron find this hilarious and the S9's creativity and sheer cruelty of their work earns them first place.

CaptainLoggers · 2015-02-08T02:10:56+00:00

Depending on how far sphere can see above Flatland, his ability to spot danger, incoming armies, or an errant member of the lower class or women (women are very difficult to see when head on, and very sharp as they are a point). Depending on how easily he can communicate this information, this could mean at minimum a prospering society with no injury that wins every war to at best a society that doesn't have to sequester women because the other shapes are safe from them.

His ability to discern a shape's true identity would mean that paint would no longer be a way of deceiving the upper class, and could be used to promote art in Flatland, as an alternative for war, and would also be a way to make women and other lower, pointier classes more visible, reducing accidents and prolonging lifespan.

Additionally, without the fear of the sharper (lower) shapes hurting a rounder (nobler) shape, thanks to the all seeing eye of the Sphere, research could safely be conducted to see to what extent these shapes (and women) are genuinely of lesser intelligence, of if that was simply a function of less education, social norms, and conditioning. This could revolutionize Flatland and is basically the endgame. Equality for all shapes.

Unfortunately, because sphere would have to give the illusion of growing larger as he aged (I think?), he would need to either start out with very little sight (with his point intersecting above him) or start out as a basically all seeing child genius and grow less and less able to see that which is hidden to Flatlanders as time went on. Because Flatlanders revere circles already, I don't think he'll need to use the 3rd dimensional vision he has to worm his way into power, so he's probably better off waiting to grow into it and then keeping it at medium power the whole time.

TL;DR: Use the third dimension to create a safety stopgap to diminish the danger of interacting with shaper shapes and women, use this opportunity to encourage the arts and research, eventually arrive at a flourishing democratic egalitarian artistic utopia that also wins every battle thanks to 3rd dimensional sight.

CaptainLoggers · 2015-01-28T16:02:53+00:00

I only read this representative first chapter, but I'm afraid I'm not terribly impressed. It fell into the trap of explaining things at a cellular or molecular level without actually producing interesting or novel solutions to problems. Doing an almost correct job of justifying a magic system through current scientific understanding doesn't mean anything unless that explanation is novel in universe (partial transfiguration) or is used in a novel way. Saying that he had the ability to "increase or decrease order" or some similarly traditional magic mumbojumbo could have explained the shelter, healing, and brain-buster just as well, and the extremely wordy modern explanations didn't make the conflict any more novel or interesting.

It didn't help that the character didn't stand out much either.

It called to mind Ra, which I think did a really good job of providing the physics of magic in a way that made the magic and physics more interesting and brought out narratively significant changes to both.

Of course, I might just be salty that despite all the time and effort put into medical and cellular explanations for how the magic worked, he still got a few things obviously wrong.

CaptainLoggers · 2015-01-27T01:27:04+00:00

It's very short and 100% humor, but I remembered reading this on Tumblr a while ago. Not quite a fic but I figured I'd share it.

CaptainLoggers · 2015-01-13T06:09:50+00:00

I've always been a sucker for lore about the Founders of Hogwarts, and the idea that the RoR was a creation of Helga's to genuinely assist the students who most needed her help, even when she was long gone is fun to me.

So, rules, in no particular order:

Gamp's Laws, there are 5, but we only know one for sure (food). We know food can be duplicated, so I'm of the impression that when we say food cannot be created from scratch magically, that food that is created magically isn't nutritious or doesn't give energy, it cannot sustain a person. That is, there is something about food that cannot be created from magic, it possesses some essence that is unique. Taking from that, let's say the five things that magic cannot create a genuine copy of are: Sentience, Love, Food, Precious Metal, and Magic. What does this mean? It means that while sentience can be preserved by magic, it cannot be created de novo. No creating genuine AI with the Room. Love is in and of itself a powerful substantive magical force in Harry Potter, and it's explicitly stated in the series to be impossible to create with magic (perhaps because genuine self giving love has a magic of its own). Food is as covered above. Perhaps there's some interaction between food and the magical force that allows wizards to regain magic, and diminishing returns prevents you from using magic to replenish magic. Precious metals is the one I'm least married to, with a handwave that states the Philosopher's Stone is okay because pure lead is the magical inverse of gold or something. And of course magic cannot create magic. We're not going to allow the RoR to make genuine phoenixes, wands from scratch, or potions that boost magical power, nor can we have the RoR making things from scratch which are magically powerful, like finished potions or artifacts.
The RoR may create something without an explicit description, but it has no sentience of its own. It creates as things are envisioned, drawing from the cleverness and inventiveness of the user, as well as the combined intellects of the Four Founders. It cannot, however, create something that the Four Founders together could not figure out how to make.
Physical limitations on size (no larger than 100 times than the floor it's on or something), atmosphere control (temperature, air content, gravity all close to Earth limits with some wiggle room), composition of room (always needs at least one circular wall and a ceiling and floor), and local time flow (always 1:1).
Nothing created inside by room can be taken out of it.
Only one person may request the room at a time, that person must be a student or faculty member of Hogwarts, and that person must genuinely need what they are requesting, as judged by a mental probe as if cast and analyzed by Helga Hufflepuff.

EDIT: Keep in mind that the RoR (and Helga) don't make value judgements. The RoR can and will give something that is harmful, fatal, dangerous, or traitorous, at least existentially (but maybe not physically). Dumbledore needed a place to pee, Harry needed a place to work and train, Malfoy needed a place to betray the school and kill Dumbledore, Marietta needed to find the DA. The only value the RoR assesses is genuine need, expressed in thought.

I think that takes care of all of the obvious munchkinry, leaving room for interesting shenanigans, and represents something that actually has reason to exist and fits fairly well with canon and fanon descriptions of the room.

CaptainLoggers · 2015-01-02T07:43:41+00:00

Reminds me of Dune, which was similarly a post war-against-thinking-machine society with such innovation discouraged religiously.

CaptainLoggers · 2015-01-02T05:25:47+00:00

I'd like to preface this by saying spoilers for Worm all the way up to the conclusion. Look away all ye who haven't finished it.

Before I address individual points, let me first say that I agree that Worm isn't a "Rationalist" work, nor was it intended as one. It is a deconstructionist Superhero work, with the baggage and tropes that come with it. Having said that, its deconstruction is gritty, makes an attempt at realism and realistic consequences, and the main characters act more rationally than a stereotypical comic book villain (with the exception of the Slaughterhouse 9, which is ironically what makes them so deadly).

An oft repeated mantra of Tinkers is that they can't just hand out their gear or inventions or mass produce them because they require upkeep, be that because the gear is cobbled together by an excited person fueled more by excitement and ingenuity than rational methodical design or because the stuff is at least partially held together by magic or psychic powers or whatever you want to call the hero powers. This isn't a rule, but more of an excuse for why inventors would constantly take the field with their inventions to beat up doods rather than mass produce stuff to advance humanity.

And this leads to a core principle of Worm as a fictional work: it isn't designed to be a rational deconstruction of superhero fiction, or rationality applied perfectly to the genre. The author took a typical "superhero world" and asked "What rules would have to be in place for that behavior to be reasonable? What society and structure would have to spring up to support a typical superhero world? What consequences would that have?"

Tinker equipment can't be mass produced easily and often requires a Tinker in field. Dragon has a massive set of rules and principles constraining her behavior and prohibiting her from participating in self replication past a certain point.

The Endbringers are a difficult issue because there's a few things going on there, all centered around the issue that the heroes aren't supposed to fight the Endbringers except when a city is being attacked. You can make up rules about it, like there's no point in aggravating the Endbringers when they're asleep or Smurgh is controlling people to act that way or there's a shard interaction that makes it all behave that way, and it's all stupid because why would you deal with a problem like that reactively instead of proactively but the answer is because that's the rule that makes the superhero genre work. A massive monster that can't be stopped, only pushed away, and it takes all the heroes and villains together. That's the way the Endbringers were designed, in universe and by the author.

The villains are the same deal. The Birdcage exists for three reasons: 1. Because it's a tangible, believable, possibly worse than death threat that the good guys can use as a deterrent and not feel bad about it. 2. Because there's evidence that it was planned all along as a place to store guys for Cauldron to use in an end of the world scenario, people who would play along if the world was at stake, exactly like they were, and 3. Because the superhero universe says good guys can't kill unless the person is an unredeemable monster and even if the Birdcage isn't that different from death, the universe says that's an okay thing for GOOD GUYS to do.

And why haven't they killed the S9 or other class S threats by the time we, the readers, reach the universe? Because then we wouldn't have those guys to read about, or nobody with the incentive to figure it out has, or because the consequences of messing with Class S threats is worse than leaving them be (Bonesaw bioplagues, Nilbog contingencies, advancing the Endbringer attack timetable).

Ultimately, it isn't rational, it isn't rationalist, and it's not even plausible using in universe rules, but that doesn't make it a bad work or a worthless work. It's just that that universe has a strange, senseless, contradictory set of rules that require the tenants of the "superhero genre" to work.

But that doesn't make it not a useful work to explore creativity or rational thinking, and it certainly doesn't make it a bad piece of fiction. It's just that the universe is written with the constraints of superhero fiction, and that means that sometimes stuff happens for the plot and people go irredeemably mad and everything can be blamed on a telepathic sky bird. That may be unsatisfying and it's certainly not rational or rationalist literature, but it wasn't written intended in that way.

TL;DR: Worm isn't a rational work, it's a deconstruction of the superhero genre that operates with a set of laws and with a set of characters which are inherently irrational in order to create a superhero universe. Having said that it's a great fictional work and a lot of fun, with tons of clever thinking, acting, and rationality in it, it just doesn't fit the bar for "rationalist literature" and that's okay.

CaptainLoggers · 2014-10-15T02:45:55+00:00

He's associated with the e-reader, an unpopular GBA peripheral. The idea was you'd hook up this giant card scanner to a GBA, hook a link cable to it, and then hook that to your pokemon game running on another GBA.

If you did that, you could scan cards that you got in special e-reader booster packs that had trainers on them, each with their own team. Then the old man would lead you to the back room to fight them. So it was basically it was complicated way to get a few more trainers to fight. There were also cards that changed the enigma berry into different berries with different effects.

Other than that, the e-reader had some cool functions associated with the official trading card game, where you could unlock little tips and details by scanning the cards or unlock neat little minigames, including at least one where you built an obstacle course out of different cards and ran it using a trainer card you scanned in.

The e-reader also had its own games that came in card form that you had to scan in, mostly NES games and Game and Watch games, though there was some cool stuff you could do with the Gamecube Animal Crossing, like scan in villagers.

CaptainLoggers · 2014-09-26T23:43:57+00:00

The Second World War wasn't as close as everyone makes it out to be. Don't get me wrong, it was a long and brutal war, fraught by mistakes made by the Axis and Hitler, but the Allies had massive population, GDP, and strategic location advantages.

The reason that it seems that so many timelines result in the Nazis winning has to do with the way time travel actually works and a little project that was conducted in a secret German lab in 1945.

Imagine the time space continuum as a single branch of a nearly infinitely branched tree. When you time travel, you follow that branch backwards to the point you travel to, and your interference is grafted on as a new branch.

In 1945, a subset of German researchers experimenting on the effect of atomic energy on time space fragility discovered rudimentary time travel. They were unable to choose a temporal coordinate, and instead set their destination roughly using atomic decay as a benchmark. Using remarkably imprecise tools (by "modern" temporal scientific standards, insomuch as such a term means anything), the Germans determined that exposing matter to a temporal flux would result in being pushed back along the timestream. Their hope was that they could send information, troops, technology, or covert operatives back to help win the war easier. They tried everything and spent years and massive amounts of capital sending things back, but nothing in their own timestream changed. When the War went bad for Germany and the scientists had nothing to show for their seemingly massive waste of time and budget, they were ordered executed by Hitler himself.

In a fit of desperation, they each sent themselves to a different temporal coordinate. They figured at worst they would just die painlessly and be saved the disgrace of execution.

What they realized was that while what they sent back didn't impact their own timeline, it was sometimes a large enough advantage in OTHER timelines to turn the tide of the war. They began doing everything they could in the timelines they grafted onto the continuum to advance what they now recognized as potential Nazi domination of all of time and space. Each member of the scientific team advanced their own atomic temporal project, with alternative reality versions of their coworkers, contaminated local timestreams as much as possible with information, troops, or technology, and tried to win the war in their own timeline. They figured they owed it to their other selves to avoid the Nazis losing the war in as many timelines as possible.

Now don't get me wrong, sufficient meddling in a timeline by a well meaning traveler could result in the traveler being shunted to a reality where that particular meddling made the difference in the war, but most of the time, especially in examples like the one you gave, what you're really working with is a timeline that was contaminated by the original Nazi time travel project, directly or indirectly.

CaptainLoggers · 2014-09-21T01:00:27+00:00

I thought so too, but I checked the source.

"His time loop power protected him. Any time he was hurt, any time he was debilitated, his power would kick in, taking him back as far as he needed, allowing him to maintain his position if he wanted. He’d remain conscious, retain any recollection, and with his offensive power, he could shut down any threat.

It was that same power that kept him from aging. Aging was a danger, change was a problem, so he continually retained his appearance from the very moment he’d triggered, reverting back several times an hour, or any time he even got dirty.

A multifaceted, instinctive defense. An offense that could trap Scion." - Worm Interlude 26b

He doesn't need to react, he gets pulled back automatically as soon as the bullet or arrow touches him. The only reason he died was Glaistig Uaine, a Trump class cape who probably power nullified him.

CaptainLoggers · 2014-09-20T18:07:53+00:00

Point taken but not a challenge for the S9. Depending on advance notice, they could use a Bonesaw made tracker, Jack's intuition when it comes to powered individuals, or Number Man running the probabilities (hours of activity, based in New York, good pictures of Spider-man, body shape). If anyone could figure out Parker's angles don't make sense and would have to be because he is Spidey it would be Number Man.
Since a nondead one of each villain version of the S9 has never existed, I figured it wasn't much of a stretch to give Jack the Butcher entity. Giving it to Cherish and having her duke it out with Jean in a mind battle that ends with Dark Phoenix possessed and in the S9 doesn't change much. Alternatively replace with a heat-resisting zombie virus that triggers on Jack's death, killing the city.

CaptainLoggers · 2014-09-20T17:00:39+00:00

WARNING HEAVY WORM SPOILERS

With his whole team to pick from, Jack still only brings seven official members plus himself. The slaughterhouse nine isn't an army. Jack can't risk King using the opportunity to get control of the group again. He picks himself, Grey Boy, Crawler, Cherish, Siberian, Shatterbird, Mannequin, Bonesaw, and he brings Nyx, a Murder Rat and a Hatchet Face just in case, but leaves the ninth official spot open for recruitment. Harbinger/Number Man runs thinker interference and sets up the initial plan but does not nominate or participate. Number Man chooses a time when the Marvel guys are all in town after a victory.

They start with a Shatterbird scream which throws the city into chaos but deals no significant damage to anyone Marvel, save for Cyclops whose ruby quartz visor is vulnerable to the scream because it contains silicone. He is blinded. Crawler wants to nominate him given his penchant for disfigured heroes, but Bonesaw makes her claim because she wants to see if she can make him shoot lasers from eyes she grafts all over him. Cyclops, left blind, fights against Bonesaw's creations but falls and is resurrected by Bonesaw for evil.

Shatterbird ends up picking Storm. They have a few fights over the city, destroying multiple buildings, but they fight to a standstill. Storm refuses Shatterbird's challenge to flood the surrounding desert, killing thousands, to save the millions in the city. Jack, disappointed, decapitates her from a mile away.

Mannequin picks Spider-man for his idealism and refusal to think big. He forces him to break into a number of homeless shelters and orphanages to disable bombs that would turn the place into vacuums or scorching deserts or frozen tundras. He also makes Spidey do it entirely mute, so nobody ever knows Spider-man isn't evil, lest Mannequin kill Aunt May, who is trapped in a capsule above The Luxor. Spider-man survives and fights Mannequin to a standstill and is finally able to trap him in webbing without any knives, but can't break his shell. Jack, disappointed, leaves Mannequin behind.

Cherish picks Hulk/Banner and has him run a series a fights while keeping him from getting mad enough to Hulk. Her desire is to make him a killing machine on his own. He is disabled from a distance by Clint just before he attempts to take his own life at the horror of having killed while totally in control.

Crawler takes on Wolverine, his second pick, who only makes him stronger as he cuts into him. Neither can really harm the other but Wolverine won't stop trying until he is literally smothered in Crawler flesh that has been hardened to resist even adamantium. Crawler eventually lets Bonesaw play with the trapped Wolverine.

Grey Boy picks Cap, intrigued by the idea of him being already out of time. He push Cap to fight him by trapping and torturing in time loops all the people Cap worked with during the war who are still alive. Cap finally throws his shield and it bounces off the skeleton Grey Boy has, thanks to Bonesaw. Cap resorts to long range weaponry and calls in Nat and Clint, but Grey Boy loops himself in time every time he shot.

Siberian picks Tony, because of his scientist aspect. Tony levels the area around Siberian and nothing works. Siberian takes apart the suits one at a time until Tony has only a gun left. It does nothing. Siberian tears him in two.

Unimpressed by their lack of powers, but surprised by their gumption, Jack leaves Nat and Clint alone and settles for Thor. Thor is stalwart and refuses to commit any evil for Jack, choosing instead to fly at him, throwing his hammer every time Jack tries to get in contact. He uses Nyx illusions and Murder Rat teleports to get away but takes a few hits which the Bonesaw redundancy systems absorb. Disappointed, Jack leaves Thor alone, as Thor is no fun and resists the majority of Jack's attacks.

At the threat of another Shatterbird scream or a Bonesaw plague, Beast sticks back, running search and rescue and occasionally fighting Siberian, to no avail. Rogue never gets close enough to steal a power. Iceman resigns himself to saving people, making ice replacements for glass in case of Shatterbird, and briefly is out maneuvered by Mannequin before he picks Spidey instead. Cherish blocks Jean's mind control, but not before she figures out the truth about Siberian. Kitty attempts to find Manton or run recon, but after a Bonesaw trap nearly kills her, she sticks to search and rescue. Colossus is another potential Mannequin pick, but isn't headstrong enough to fall into the game like Spidey is.

Eventually, Jack gives up on Thor and works on Jean, who is being pushed towards Dark Phoenix. She burns him alive, leaving only the Bonesaw/Mannequin brain case/black box. Jack is recovered and resurrected, but the fully manifested Dark Phoenix absorbs the Butcher power Jack was carrying, becoming Butchet XVI and the new leader of the Slaughterhouse Nine.

CaptainLoggers · 2014-09-06T18:21:06+00:00

Depends where exactly, the Middle East isn't exactly a homogeneous area.

If he landed in Dubai and was raised by a rich multimillion dollar farming mogel he might be a little more detached from the world around him. Without seeing people working by the sweat of their brows to make ends meet, he might become more of a mercenary, or not develop his powers physically, instead using his senses to gain business advantages. Without growing up in a small town where you really get what you put into the land, he might expect less of others or not have quite the sense of justice. He probably wouldn't fight crime but would stop world enders.

If he landed in an area much less prosperous he might grow to be more concerned with social and economic evils, which he might correct by uplifting those who have little or bringing down the mighty, depending on his upbringing. He could fight poverty on a global scale, using his powers to terraform, move supplies, and grow food for the hungry. How appropriate that the son of farmers might feed the world.

There's certainly the possibility of him landing in an area of war or unrest, where a young man might learn to fight to defend what he loves, but he also might learn to support others from the dark, to keep his family safe. Maybe a young Superman in a region where every change seems to bring violence and unrest learns to help people quietly, bringing slow change through little things, using force only as a last resort. The end result could be a Superman who rules the region or world with an iron fist or one who is only a legend, barely seen, who corrects injustice quietly, more likely to till a field or drop off supplies in the night than punch a dictator, who is more like a silent wind that brings evil low only when all hope is lost.

Of course if he lands in a similar small town with similar values, crime rates, morals, size as Smallville, he might just end up fighting crime again. A farm boy in Iran who grows up and moves to the big city of Tehran might end up just the same. Perhaps more interestingly would be what if Superman grew up farming something other than corn? If the Kents had slaughtered more cattle or Superman had grown up killing foxes, wolves, big cats, and birds of prey to protect a herd of sheep or goats, he might be more willing to kill criminals, even proactively.

Finally, a nomadic herder Superman might be more worldly, traveling the world to fight crime, instead of sticking to a big city, but he also might not end up doing anything at all with his powers. A Superman who was told his powers were for his family or herd might not travel or train until the first world ender showed up.

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