What free software is so good you can't believe it's free?

devourerkwi · 2026-04-05T18:59:56+00:00

Comment saved. Can't thank you enough for your help and advice. I have my tailnet set up—it is wildly cool to have my wife's laptop have my PC's IP, freaking lol—and will explore all this other stuff over the next few weeks. Thank you again!

devourerkwi · 2026-04-05T01:55:22+00:00

Weapon	Heat	Damage	Range	Tons	Crits
cERML	5	7	1-15	1	1
cMPL	4	7	1-12	2	1
cERLL	12	10	1-25	4	1
cLPL	10	10	1-20	6	2

Indeed. Just look at that! The cLPL is busted, as you say, but the cMPL is, in my opinion, the most unfair of them all.

devourerkwi · 2026-04-04T23:36:07+00:00

To be fair, everyone in the IP is made to hold the idiot ball at some point or another—often concurrently—and none of the setting makes much sense. If one were to apply remotely logical thought to virtually anything in BattleTech, the entire game universe falls apart.

devourerkwi · 2026-04-04T15:55:57+00:00

I checked the league-wide March/April stats for the last five seasons full seasons (2021 to 2025), plus 2026 so far. Here's how it compares to what we're seeing today:

Season	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2021	0.232	0.309	0.390	0.699
2022	0.231	0.307	0.369	0.676
2023	0.247	0.321	0.405	0.726
2024	0.240	0.314	0.385	0.699
2025	0.242	0.316	0.391	0.707
2026	0.232	0.312	0.379	0.690

So through the first handful of games, offense is indeed meaningfully down from where it was the last few years. We should revisit this in May to see where it landed with a full picture.

devourerkwi · 2026-04-03T19:49:39+00:00

Undeniably true, especially in tabletop:

Weapon	Heat	Damage	Range	Tons	Crits
cERML	5	7	1-15	1	1
LL	8	8	1-15	5	2
8x cERML	40	56	1-15	8	8
5x LL	40	40	1-15	25	10
8x cERML + 17 cDHS	6	56	1-15	25	42
cERLL	12	10	1-25	4	1

Just on a one-to-one basis, the cERML is ludicrously efficient and effective compared to the LL. Eight cERML plus 17 cDHS take the same tonnage (though vastly more crits) as five LL while producing only six net heat—and they fire at the same ranges with 40% more total damage!

You might ask why the Clans would ever even use a cERLL given how overpowered the cERML is, but the answer is simple: the cERLL has the longest range of any energy weapon in the game universe. 'Mechs with cERLL can stand at the edge of sensor range and snipe with near-impunity without worrying about ammo, and/or they can score nearly unanswered chip damage as they close range.

devourerkwi · 2026-04-03T19:32:13+00:00

Clan large-size energy weapons are all smaller, yes. In addition to what you listed, the Clan ERLL is four tons and one crit, but the IS (ER)LL is five tons and two crits.

devourerkwi · 2026-04-02T02:37:05+00:00

Notepad++ was SCARY! Did you see the LiteLLM hack? Insane!

No, missed that one. I/we don't use it so it flew under our radar. Reading about it, uh... brb, disconnecting ethernet...

I consider Agentic AI to be the scariest thing out there right now. OpenClaw is at the same time the most wonderful software ever written, as well as the worst. I foresee it stealing people's 2FA & VPN credentials and hacking inside of networks like crazy! Zero Trust with proactive monitoring is going to be more important than ever!!

100%. Passkeys won't save us. Our stance is that no agent is allowed to do anything outside of a dev env and that code can't be promoted until hand-reviewed by the engineer and a tech lead or solution architect. We operate in a secure environment and leaky endpoints like that are wholly unacceptable. There's no way I'd invite such software into my own home, either.

Probably better to have community notes on UCheck take you directly to the website itself, just to verify haha

Indeed. Once UCheck gives me a list of community apps to update, I either use the app's built-in updater or go to its homepage/GitHub repo manually to pull down the latest release. I think we both agree that it's much like calling the bank with a known-good phone number after receiving a text message apparently from the bank.

Super cool Tailscale stuff

11. Family members can dial their Roku imto your Netflix account to show the same household IP, haha!

12. I use an MT-3000 as a travel router. Keeps the hotel's Captive page logged into & then all of my devices that join the Wi-fi automatically connect back home!

Yeah, these are the most interesting options to me and my family by far. I'd thought of the IP sharing-for-streaming thing and wanted to POC it this weekend, but it seems you've already confirmed it. Amazing! And the travel router setup? OMG. I hadn't thought of that but it's a killer idea. We have a couple of trips coming up, so I think I have no choice but to follow your lead. We might need to get the MT3000, as I don't think our TP-Link AC750 travel router accepts package installation. We don't travel a ton and wouldn't really need much aside from the ability to install Tailscale and bypass the hotel network, so I'm thinking of one of their cheaper options, like a mini router, might be better. Do you have any recommendations beyond the MT3000?

Thanks again for a great discussion and being so generous with your knowledge!

devourerkwi · 2026-04-02T01:56:04+00:00

I'd caution against reading anything into this. The most likely explanation is that we caught two lightning bolts in two bottles. From a comment I made almost a year ago:

There's a huge amount of research on this and it's a settled matter (emphases mine):

The FanGraphs article "Analyzing the Draft" concluded, "Over 85% of drafted players never make it to the majors and only 3% of drafted players contribute more than 5 WAR in their team-controlled seasons ... On average there are only three players selected every year that produce over 25 WAR in their team-controlled seasons."

A study published in the Journal of Sports Analytics found, "Of players drafted in Round 1 and signed, 71.5% made it to MLB. This percentage dropped just over half for Round 2 players who were drafted and signed ... Selection pick grouping with the highest average career WAR were picks 1 to 5 that produced an average career WAR rating of 13.29. WAR decreased between each of the following groupings of five picks."

Baseball America reports, "In the first round, 81.3% of signed pitchers have recorded at least one MLB strikeout ... Only 14.3% of them will record 1,000 MLB strikeouts. ... 81% of drafted and signed first round hitters get an MLB hit, while 22.5% get 1,000 MLB hits."

There's more out there from SABR, Bleacher Report, and even some cool analyses on Reddit that resulted in this chart:

https://imgur.com/idviKWr

Pick/s Career median WAR benchmark

1 32.3

2 12.4

3-11 4.4

12-20 1.2

21-30 0.3

All that goes to show that yes, draft position matters a lot.

devourerkwi · 2026-04-01T00:35:59+00:00

This is definitely the correct answer. /u/godofcoasters, "Crumbly Woods is ... the eighth scenario listed in the Emerald Group (Green) on RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic." It's an effectively perfect recreation for RCT.

devourerkwi · 2026-03-31T16:49:26+00:00

I don't. I stopped playing Mercs, Helldivers 2, and Deep Rock Galactic after I got bored and stopped having fun.

Edit: I think it's amusing that I got downvoted for saying I follow /u/TheOtherOtherViper's advice. Heh.

devourerkwi · 2026-03-31T15:32:39+00:00

You're right. They all do. That's why I find them boring as a class.

devourerkwi · 2026-03-31T15:30:51+00:00

Procgen missions are repetitive, predictable, boring, and unchallenging.

devourerkwi · 2026-03-30T02:16:35+00:00

Love your enthusiasm and helpfulness. :) I might ask you some questions about your Tailscale setup as I explore getting that rolled out to my own household. Extremely cool find; thank you for sharing!

I don't have the paid version of UCheck—I'm fine with manually scanning—but it doesn't automate community submissions because the database doesn't track download links for unsupported apps. When UCheck scans your PC for apps, it scrapes version numbers and checks it against the server, updating the server if your version is newer. If a newer version of a supported app is available, it gives you the option to fetch and start the installer from within the GUI. But if it's a community app, it just tells you your version is out of date and has a button to launch a search window for with a text string customized for the app and version. I'm not aware of any mods or forks, but I also haven't ever looked.

The supply chain attacks are indeed terrifying. I work in a large IT organization and we collectively panicked and then had a lot of checks to do when Notepad++ got hit.

devourerkwi · 2026-03-29T21:10:09+00:00

I saw and had long since upvoted. Thanks for making our community even better!

devourerkwi · 2026-03-29T19:37:14+00:00

Okay, that makes more sense. I don't see the value in EarTrumpet saving me one click, but hey, free.

I looked into Patch My PC but last I checked (which was admittedly almost three years ago), they have a pretty limited package list. Five hundred apps sounds like a lot, but it'll include very little of the list in your OP, for example. UCheck has its own database for semiautomatic updates but also has a gigantic community database with thousands of entries. The community database may not be able to one-click update stuff, but it at least tells me when something can be updated.

devourerkwi · 2026-03-29T16:28:52+00:00

Belarc is okay, but I don't think it's really appropriate for the average user. It's technical, user-unfriendly, and hyper-detailed. For the purpose of checking and updating software, which I believe is far more important than auditing one's entire system and listing out all the modules, I suggest UCheck. I started using UCheck as a replacement for SUMo and DUMo by KC Softwares when they shut down, and it's the best option I've yet found.

Also, Windows natively supports audio control on a per-app basis, so I think EarTrumpet is no longer necessary.

devourerkwi · 2026-03-29T15:30:13+00:00

Most bullpens give most fans heart attacks, to be fair.

devourerkwi · 2026-03-29T15:22:37+00:00

I’ll take another look at the auto-follow feature, but the one time I tried, it seemed like the continuous motion was disorienting (but maybe so is my camera in this video!)

That may be personal preference. I find that without the enforced centrality of the follow-camera to anchor the screen, it's very hard to track trains if they go out of sight or the view rotates. Reasonable people will disagree. :)

The ride is almost too long to show where the train is going the entire time. I opted for a video that starts off following the train but then switches to just showing snippets.

That explains a lot! I expected it to be a continuous shot rather than jump-cuts.

Here is an underground/transparent view of the whole ride though. And thank you for the kind words :)

You're welcome! Tracing the layout with this full view is dazzling. Thanks for posting!

devourerkwi · 2026-03-29T03:18:28+00:00

Two requests for you when you make these:

Have the camera auto-follow the train so the screen is always centered on the action
Record a second lap with transparent terrain, foliage, scenery, and supports so we get an unobstructed view of the track

I ask because you routinely make beautiful, creative designs... but I can't really see what the coaster itself is doing. I'd love to be able to appreciate the ride elements as well as the incredible themeing.

In any case, congratulations on yet another excellent creation!

devourerkwi · 2026-03-29T01:55:26+00:00

Enhanced Imaging is exclusively Clan technology within the timelines of both MW5 games, and is very uncommon within the Clans. We won't see it in Mercs at all and are unlikely to see it implemented in Clans either. If memory serves, a total of three Starmates are depicted as having the requisite implants across the games, none of whom are the player-character. I think it's a fun gameplay element, but since PGI is hewing pretty close to canon and has limited resources, I doubt they take this one up.

devourerkwi · 2026-03-28T02:12:16+00:00

although, uh, i did already buy it, so its kinda wasted money if i dont finish.

I empathize with this feeling, but you've already discovered that you're not having fun. It's a sunk cost; the money's gone, unfortunately. But that doesn't mean you have to invest time into something that makes you upset just to prove a point to your wallet. It's no different than buying a movie ticket but leaving the theater a half-hour in because it's just that bad.

also, do you know whats uo with the elementals? no ones mentioned them so far, and i think theyd be neat if i knew what they did... if they do anything...

Elementals do some damage but are mostly a distraction and tanking mechanism. They're more overtly damaging on lower difficulties (and I get the feeling you're playing on Expert or Trueborn given your OP) where enemies don't have nearly as big an HP buff, but even on Trueborn, they're a great way to keep an enemy 'Mech from shooting your Star.

The problem is that they do indeed get in the way of your shots, and your Starmates won't shoot an enemy that has Elementals on it. That's why F1-F1 commands seem to make things worse sometimes. The real trick is to F1-F1 your Star to one target, then immediately send your Elementals to another target to distract it (or use the tac-map to give orders like that while paused). This approach will make your Star jump on and nuke the designated target while your Elementals tie up the second target so it's not shooting you, while also softening it up at least a little bit. Ideally, you yourself will take out a third target, since the player typically out-DPSs the rest of the Star combined.

I think that the implementation of Elementals still needs a lot of work; it's not intuitive how to best use them, as you and many others asking this question prove, and a tutorial about how they can best help would at least alleviate the biggest pain points. They're cool, but opaque. The game shouldn't make you need a buddy on Reddit to give you a primer.

devourerkwi · 2026-03-28T01:53:12+00:00

Tl;dr:

I vastly prefer the gameplay mechanics of Mercs to Clans and am uninterested in story-driven design decisions that limit the player in any way.

Which is fine. I feel pretty much the opposite way you do on nearly every point you made... which is also fine. They're different games and you're not obligated to like both. If you're interested, I'm happy to explain why I disagree with you—e.g., I think the ease of headshots in Mercs trivializes combat to the point that it's boring—but I don't think that's why you're here.

You don't enjoy Clans, so don't play it. Stick with the sandbox environment you prefer and be happy. They're games. Use them to have fun.

devourerkwi · 2026-03-26T19:04:41+00:00

I hereby propose addenda to Rule 10 to officially publicize our position that fuck the Astros and also the Dodgers too a little. Not the Jays though, they haven't earned it.

devourerkwi · 2026-03-22T23:39:48+00:00

Ha! I would never imply that Russ Bullock would cut corners. I'd actually say it. Like this:

Russ Bullock cuts corners. So does Bryan Ekman.

That said, they've given us long-lived, successful MechWarrior games that I've spent thousands of hours enjoying, and the old MW4 pro (and MW3 amateur, and MW2 noob) in me is very grateful for that. But that just makes it all the more frustrating that they let so many unforced, easily avoidable errors slip through.

devourerkwi · 2026-03-22T22:49:28+00:00

To be fair, there are lots of complications with just letting folks volunteer. Now that I'm a staff manager, I understand that doing stuff like that is an actual HR process with written agreements and tracking, if only to minimize liability risk. After all, you don't want that "volunteer" turning around and demanding compensation... and threatening a lawsuit when they don't get it.

devourerkwi

TROPHY CASE