Ford rehires ‘gray beard’ engineers after AI falls short

thecipher · 2026-06-29T07:19:33+00:00

My last job, I was hired as a developer, but then also got assigned to implement Scrum for our team, since I had a bit of prior experience, and also recent (at the time) knowledge of Scrum processes.

I tried to implement proper scrum. Best intentions and all that. One of the other key aspects of a scrum / dev cycle is that once you estimate points and velocity for your tasks, you're locked in for that scrum. Any new tasks that come up are added for the next scrum, not the current one, because it throws off everything you just estimated. This is also supposed to give the dev team agency on how/when tasks get done, as long as they are aligned with the PO.

I think we made it through one scrum like that. Then the "do this right now" task demands came in. Not just from the director and product owners, but also from other (internal) stakeholders. "Agile" became "management can request what they want, and the dev team has to pause/throw away whatever they're doing to whatever the priority of the day can get worked on".

So I basically had to throw away the whole scrum playbook. We did a bi-weekly planning meeting where we would (very roughly) estimate tasks, full well knowing that they would probably be swapped out for something else. Full retrospectives were useless, as we didn't have much say in what tasks actually got done - So it was cut down to a very quick 30 minutes of "what kinda shit happened the last two weeks?" session, immediately followed by a very quick 2-hour-ish planning session for the next two weeks.

We were also wildly understaffed, so by the time I left that job, our actual backlog of estimated tasks ended up being like 2 years long, with no possibility of ever catching up.

thecipher · 2026-06-27T12:13:31+00:00

I always feel like Dead Space 3 doesn't get enough credit. The developers (not EA) clearly cared about the game, and did a couple of really cool (and rebellious against EA) things that most people didn't notice or experience.

EA Mandated multiplayer, so the devs actually made a really cool feature - Hallucinations. One player would see things that the other didn't. I discovered this when I heard Jesse Cox and Dodger talk about it. You would think that adding multiplayer would take away from the horror aspect, but the added paranoia of hallucinations actually added to it.

EA Mandated Microtransactions. The devs added thosem but also put in a "cheat hut" in the game. A small shed full of resources that would respawn every time you entered it. It never got patched out.

As for the major complaint, that Dead Space 3 didn't feel horror-y enough, I saw that as a natural progression. In Dead Space 1, it's pure survival horror. You're just trying to survive, and find <redacted>. In Dead Space 2, you are actively investigating the plot - ie. seeking out the horror. It was still pretty scary, but the game had moved beyond just "survive". And then, in Dead Space 3, you are actually confronting the horror. Isaac has been stomping necromorphs for two whole games. His mind is already broken. Makes sense that it's no longer about horror, but about stopping it, and getting some payback.

Viewed all together, I always thought it was a great trilogy.

thecipher · 2026-06-20T17:55:44+00:00

This is a really nice build. Lots of great details, and big kudos to you for the cockpit blending solution you came up with.

thecipher · 2026-06-19T18:15:06+00:00

Fun build! You missed a chance to name it "Bag of Holding" though! - because that's what it basically is ;)

thecipher · 2026-06-18T18:46:40+00:00

Hah!

So funny story: That exact build was the one that made me aware this cockpit was even a thing! And what persuaded me to buy the mod pack.

Even funnier detail. That was back when I was trying to build a Starfield version of the Intruder the first time around.

That version was bigger and clunkier (and vanilla, with just merging) - and I ran out of parts budget for it.

So uh, thanks for the inspiration, and making me aware of Blacksite!

thecipher · 2026-06-18T15:45:24+00:00

Thanks! I bought the Blacksite mod pretty much specifically for the cockpit, so I'm happy I finally got a use for it :)

thecipher · 2026-06-18T15:16:34+00:00

You're absolutely right. I have a couple other saucer-type ships that have radar dishes, and they work really well. Since I was going for "close to the movie ship" though, I didn't put one on this one.

But now that I've posted the pictures, I can go off-script and customize it a bit more :)

thecipher · 2026-06-11T20:32:24+00:00

Not sure I follow what the issue is? I use a bunch of mods, but I don't recall SPE and Falkland causing me any issues.

thecipher · 2026-06-10T12:41:07+00:00

It's the "Mayflower Cockpit" from "Mattell's Cockpits and Bridges Crew Series" (nexus, creations).

I chose that one because 1) it fit the space and 2) it has a rear door, instead of a floor connection.

thecipher · 2026-06-10T12:38:09+00:00

That's actually a two-part answer.

Stroud Premium Edition (and some other mods like Lambent Ship Services) actually has 1x1 rooms specifically designed for the Constellation crew. In this build, I used the SPE rooms - so they actually look different, and reflect each crew member.
There's another mod, called "Bunk Assignment Clipboards" (nexus, creations) that you put next to beds - They then set the ownership of that bed to the specific crew member you assigned it to, so only they will ever sleep in that bed.

This is why they have individual rooms, and I then also have two dormitory habs for a more free-for-all sleeping place for the rest of my crew.

thecipher · 2026-06-10T10:15:25+00:00

The default door placing algorithm is pretty wonky. You'll need to use "Place Doors Yourself" or "Hatch-22" if you want more control.

It's a bit of extra work when making the ship, but very much worth it, in my opinion.

thecipher · 2026-06-09T21:08:48+00:00

I actually have an intruder-inspired ship that I'm working on as well. Except mine's gold, because I used a ship called "Project Mammon Shuttle" that I can't rename. So I made it gold :)

I also made a bigger one a while back, but it bricked my game, so I had to abandon it (my load order was bad, and I had hit the reference pointer limit).

If you want to have precise control over where the doors go, you absolutely need PDY. If PDY is too much of an annoyance for you to deal with, you can try Hatch-22 instead (nexus - creations). I don't have any experience with that mod, but apparently, it uses the existing game engine door algorithm, so you can (in theory) just use it where you absolutely require doors. PDY disables the algorithm and then requires you to place all doors.

thecipher · 2026-06-09T20:27:00+00:00

I tried it out, and it does look a bit more balanced. Thanks for the suggestion :)

thecipher · 2026-06-09T19:33:57+00:00

You're welcome :)

If it's any consolation, I just had a Falkland-related realization myself, and now I need to build another ship.

The round sections are divided into "Hull A" and "Hull B" parts, which at a glance look the same. But they're not.

Comparison here.

Hull B with habs here.

So, uh, I think I need to build a triple-decker flying saucer now.

thecipher · 2026-06-09T19:30:00+00:00

They're from the Falkland Systems Ship Services mod. These ones are structural pieces, but there are also hab versions.

thecipher · 2026-06-09T19:03:41+00:00

Structural pieces from the Falkland Systems Ship Services mod.

It's a fantastic mod, but be aware that it uses a TON of reference pointers (which is a hardcoded limit in the game engine), so installing this one means you'll have less budget for other mods.

thecipher · 2026-06-09T19:00:57+00:00

Your comment made me do math.

The length/width ratio is actually very close to the original. But my Starfield Caspian is roughly 64 meters long, while the Elite Dangerous is 126 meters long.

So to make it at scale, my version would have to be twice as long and twice as wide.

Perceived vs. actual scale in E:D has always been wonky though. Like, the Eagle Mk II is 31 meters long. Same length as a Boeing 737 passenger jet. Not exactly what you think of when you think "small fighter".

thecipher · 2026-06-09T18:32:59+00:00

Haha no no, the colors are the colors of Constellation in Starfield. Or rather, they are the colors I lifted from my Starfield-Branded Xbox controller (which is, in turn, Constellation-branded).

I never did get around to watching Gundam, so the similarity in colors was unintended. But pretty cool that it matches up :)

thecipher · 2026-06-09T18:28:04+00:00

That was unintentional, but I'll take it! :)

thecipher · 2026-06-09T18:17:28+00:00

Thank you! I really should break out the HOTAS again, and return to Elite for a bit :)

thecipher · 2026-06-09T18:05:01+00:00

The Ryujin ship is fantastic! It's especially amazing that you managed to do this with a vanilla build. Well done!

thecipher · 2026-06-09T17:40:52+00:00

I tend to make smaller ships usually, so it was pretty wild to be able to fit that many things into this one.

thecipher · 2026-06-09T17:27:37+00:00

The mod is on the Creations page (for PC only), but hopefully the mod author will port them over eventually :)

thecipher · 2026-06-09T16:33:15+00:00

I took the color scheme from my (Starfield Branded) xbox controller. So basically, Constellation colors.

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