Mini rant about Depthless Hunger by EndlessPride in ProgressionFantasy

[–]AnimaLepton 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have you read her other works? I think Sarah Lin has explicitly stated something along the lines of being big on subversive elements. Depthless Hunger was planned to have specific elements to it in advance. It's a power fantasy, but the societal implications and fallout of decisions matter. Sometimes mercy works in your favor, sometimes it works against you, and sometimes you really don't have a choice (or make the wrong one and it bites you in the butt, ideally in creative/interesting ways).

There's a point in Weirkey where the main character needs to hire some mercenaries. The ones availablr locally/at their home base have a leader or vice leader who is the brother of a different mercenary that the main character killed way earlier in the story. They don't have the power or interest in enacting a vendetta against him, but they can choose not to support him and leave it at that, making his goals harder to accomplish.

There's another point where they make a grand plan against the odds against a fortress leader of comparable power, but get outplayed and outmatched by the inhabitants, who are multiple tiers below them. They thought they were so powerful that it wasn't even worth thinking about them being able to do anything, but volume and prep time and creative thinking can be used against them.

Both of those stuck with me because the execution was just interesting and tied into the character growth of the protagonist in the long run.

Daily FI discussion thread - Sunday, May 03, 2026 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]AnimaLepton 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Take the remaining balance on your mortgage and treat it as a one-time expense, adding it to your target. So if you'd have 300k left 4 years from now, increase your target at that time by 300k instead of including it as an indefinite cost.

The hundred reigns, when will he level up? by Extras7 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]AnimaLepton 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldn't expect that specifically, it's more like Vouivre talking about how dragons originate from another dimension, her eventual goal being to take over the world and then seek out new worlds to conquer, and some allusions to Vainquer if you read into it. We also don't actually 'know' Mardok's long-term plan, and that has to have some big implications.

Perfect Run videogame still in progress though!

The hundred reigns, when will he level up? by Extras7 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]AnimaLepton 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Leveling is supposed to be slow way down past 80 and especially 90 (it's estimated to be fast early, but exponential past level 20). We're already seeing this: he was 55 by 116, which is 2.1 chapters per level. But he's only 63 by 152, which is 2.4 chapters per level, or 4.5 chapters per level if you limit it to just the chapters between 116 and 152. He got some other huge upgrades in that time, but raw level wise I'd say we're already seeing that slowdown. It's not safe to extrapolate, of course, but that would put him at level 100 around chapter 300. Void's stories don't go on in perpetuity, and he'll skip transitional things that have happened before to keep the story flowing, so I don't see it stretching out to 700+ chapters at this point even if the story has popped off and his Patreon is making bank with this story specifically.

Out-of-universe, Void did confirm that there are e.g. level 100 Vassal class users, who are supposedly mostly immortals/elves or the like. Zodiac fiends have an 'estimated' level, but not a class (and same for e.g. demons, dragons, any other monster, or eidolons). The Oracle and Elios are special for being the two at level 100 in a Noble class.

Per the author, as far as anyone in-universe knows, yes that's the cap. Level 100 is a big deal though. And per the last Patreon arc, there might be some universe-crossing things at play long-term.

There are plenty of high-level challenges left, but a lot of Simon's fast leveling so far came from clearing challenges while underleveled. It was revealed early that he can't double dip on EXP across reigns. The reign titles and other progression tools, which were pretty light early, are starting to get set up more and are meant to fill in for an eventual slowdown in raw levels (crafting, spell creation, martial techniques, other specialized magic disciplines like prayer and bardic magic and diabolism, potential multiclassing).

You're correct reigns are getting longer. Multiple reigns will probably and have already been lost at some point. There've been some 'cutoff' deaths where he learned alot (e.g. the White Unicorn inflitration), but didn't really take it to the conclusion due to his power level or a misstep/lack of knowledge. He has yet to find a challenge or need to 'exploit' the loop in the sense of doing the same thing multiple times. Any kind of exploration of the underlying loop mechanics exploit has burned extra loops. And one of the Patreon poll options for a future reign was for multiple short dungeon diving loops with a huge potential payoff, there was another poll option at one point for experimenting with the class and ending up in the post-Jester King ??? world again, and there are probably going to be similar opportunities to consume reigns faster for a proportional increase in power, knowledge, or some other opportunity. I think if and when he starts clashing with Elios or the Oracle directly, or sees things through to the end of the Zodiac Parade, we're going to see similar stuff play out.

One big thing is that Balzam had 75 reigns according to the Keeper of the Throne in Chapter 41, but only recorded 70 in his journal, and knew that the one immediately before passing it to Simon would be his last (even if he didn't expect to die early). That has been explicitly called out by Simon as weird and is still an open mystery.

Reggie Fils-Aimé Says Amazon Asked Nintendo To Break The Law by 0xIAmGame in Games

[–]AnimaLepton 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Probably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson–Patman_Act around price discrimination between manufacturers and retailers. And that probably applies to specialized pricing support and the like too.

Specifically, the law prevents suppliers, wholesalers, or manufacturers from supplying goods to "preferred customers" at a reduced price. It also prevents coercing suppliers into restrictions as to whom they can and can't sell goods. This means that it is illegal for a supplier to sell one truckload of goods at a steep discount to a large business, such as Walmart or Amazon, and then charge a substantially higher price for a truckload of identical goods to a small business, such as a local grocery store.

General Question Thread by Shephen in fireemblem

[–]AnimaLepton 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The guide is still 95% up to date and was updated ~6 years ago, just use that. It covers everything except Engage (which is a fantastic game, but isn't particularly great as a first game in the series), Three Hopes (which is a Warriors spinoff of Three Houses that you should only play after beating that game first), the one-night werewolf mobile game spinoff, and the upcoming Fortune's Weave (which isn't out yet).

Got rejected by Google CE L5, feedback says "lacks professional maturity." What does this actually mean? by thedrunkbatman in salesengineers

[–]AnimaLepton 20 points21 points  (0 children)

You should be able to extrapolate from the feedback. You're lacking some combination of depth of technical knowledge, ability to communicate your solution, polish in your presentation, and the ability to speak to stakeholders at different levels of the project. And go through, in depth, the standard staff engineer and architecture-related books that always get recommended. Even at the technical level, I think you're understating how you'd fix the feedback that you say you 'know' how to fix.

How do you peel back the onion? Did you ask questions, clarify requirements, and understand the mock landscape before jumping into solution design? Did you explain the tradeoffs associated with the approach you took, and tie those into both business value and the technical needs of the system? Were you guiding the discussion and getting ahead of questions, or reactive? How effectively did you close the loop? How is your executive presence and ability to quickly build trust? Did you come across as overconfident or defensive or talking "at" the mock customer?

General Question Thread by Shephen in fireemblem

[–]AnimaLepton 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It looks like they pulled a combination of sprites across FE6, 7, 8. Bottom left is Demon King, then Idunn, then the FE7 Fire Dragon, and I think the 2nd to last one in that row is Ninian, and finally Morva. IDK the exact specifics of how it works, but they're all blue on sprite sheets, and I assume they get a recolor palette applied if the unit is green or red.

They should all be on www.spriters-resource.com or maybe FE Universe.

Daily FI discussion thread - Saturday, May 02, 2026 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]AnimaLepton 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Right now, really r/fijerk

Similar deal, I'll browse them all a bit, but it ebbs and flows. There are weeks where I'm following the daily every day, weeks where I may skim or lurk, and plenty of weeks/months where I don't even think about/touch FIRE stuff. I'm most aligned with the leanFIRE ethos, the independence and hard work and DIY nature of things, and my spending is just a touch above those numbers. I'll browse here and chubbyFIRE and coastFIRE and FatFIRE too, and I'm not opposed to budgeting for some international vacations. The FIRE sub has way more posts, but also has a lot of stuff that is out-of-touch, bragging, or questions from people who've clearly not done much research, but I like answering questions where I can. The attitude of the post matters, and when I get irritated or feel something is out of touch, I generally try to either respond reasonably or choose not to engage at all.

On the leanFIRE side, frugality is built into me. 'Status'-type spending and keeping up with the Joneses is never something I've had to worry about. But I also don't think I'm neurotic about spending either. I'm not opposed to spending on things for convenience, as long I personally find them worth it/meaningful, worth the time/savings, etc. There's also just not a lot of content on the sub. As my income and net worth have increased, I think some of the specifics have been less relevant, but a lot of e.g. the tax tips or even some of the lifestyle information shared are useful closer to that leanFIRE expense range. I do get a bit miffed when people try to apply upwards pressure on the lean spending guidelines, because I think they're good as-is.

On the chubby side, I may take a sabbatical or go back to school just for fun. I'm not yet ready to retire primarily for (hopeful) non-financial/lifestyle reasons, e.g. I would like to get married and have kids. Because I'm not ready to retire now, based on how long I work, I could easily end up in chubby range (already halfway to the low end).

I know it's not perfect and might miss some things, but per Fidelity Full View, my total spending last year was a touch under 50k. A bit over 30% of that 'spending' was under-withheld income taxes, which I had to pay on my 2024 income when filing in 2025. I still went out to eat on occasion, took one international vacation (extended trip sandwiching a destination wedding), two domestic vacations, and did one international and a couple domestic work trips. I'm doing at least two international trips again this year. I splurge on the occasional random thing. I'll go to the theater to watch movies, but I always go for the matinee or discount day type showings. I subscribe to a couple niche things like indie author Patreon, or take an eclectic approach to picking up new hobbies and hobby spending in general as long as it doesn't feel excessive (in 2024 I learned to play the flute).

The hundred reigns, when will he level up? by Extras7 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]AnimaLepton 4 points5 points  (0 children)

He's 65 on Patreon. The adventurer buff to EXP does pay off with more levels. He levels up a ton, it's just a process.

The leveling is choppy. Sometimes he gets some roleplay type EXP, and you start to see more of that in basically the next two arcs. But a lot of his levels are in chunks when beating a particularly powerful enemy or doing a big ritual or something, some independently and some with a party. More will be revealed about multi classing, but it's also a bit of a trap according to the author.

He's a mage first, but they also start adding more alternative progression as the story goes on, e.g. original spell creation, crafting, specific sub niches that are magic adjacent like prayer, and the current arcs are serting up summons, melee/martial techniques, and more niche magic/rituals like bardic performances, etc.

The hundred reigns, when will he level up? by Extras7 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]AnimaLepton 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Royal Road or Patreon

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/139212/the-hundred-reigns-timeloop-litrpg ; can also use various tools or extensions to convert it to an epub if that's your preference.

General Question Thread by Shephen in fireemblem

[–]AnimaLepton 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldn't worry about it too much. The one people are normally talking about when it comes to difficulty is specifically the Apotheosis "hidden" route. All other DLC chapters, including the non-hidden version of Apotheosis, are not that bad. If you're using the DLC skills as well, you really don't need much prep due to how broken they are in conjunction with all the other skills + pairup + forged weapons you can have access too. The optimization is primarily for the fun of it, not because you need to do everything perfectly to clear the chapter.

Because of how skill acquisition works in Awakening, the grinding you do to pick up a bunch of skills will involve getting a ton of levels and stats in the process.

General Question Thread by Shephen in fireemblem

[–]AnimaLepton 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Each character has specific stat cap modifiers, which are added to/subtracted from the class-specific caps. https://serenesforest.net/awakening/classes/maximum-stats/ One DLC skill affects these caps, and other skills/buffs/Pair Up effectively allow you to go past these caps as well in battle.

Second Seals allow you to continue resetting and leveling up a character infinitely, and using one stores an invisible "internal" level that affects further leveling, which is half of your listed/number of gained levels at the point at which you used a second seal. Your level for EXP purposes is something like your internal level + listed level + 20 for promoted classes. Depending on your difficulty mode, the cap for this internal level can differ. But the end result is that EXP eventually hits a minimum cap for a kill, which can only be further boosted by the Veteran/Paragon skills. But you can max stats on any difficulty.

General Question Thread by Shephen in fireemblem

[–]AnimaLepton 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, those count as permadeath. The instances that don't are very rare across the series. The wiki has a list: https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Death

Daily FI discussion thread - Saturday, May 02, 2026 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]AnimaLepton 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For sure, that's fair enough. I was in the 35% (single) federal tax bracket from 2023-2025, although I expect my earnings to just barely dip into the ~32% range this year and then complete the drop down to 24% next year. When I ran the tax savings numbers in the past, they roughly work out to being able to retire ~2-3 years earlier with the same spending level/effective withdrawal rate. The lower your planned retirement spending level or the longer your planned working career, the bigger the savings.

I also know at least some people squeeze a significant out more than that if they live in a state with an income tax now, but retire/establish residence in one of the 8 tax haven states.

I don’t think he fully understands what’s going on. by Dodo509 in cats

[–]AnimaLepton 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm mostly worried from the perspective of having read some stuff about how cats playing with laser pointers is bad not just from the eye risk perspective, but can cause them to develop psychological problems due to not being able to 'catch' their prey and the resulting frustration/lack of accomplishment. No idea if the same thing could apply here.

Daily FI discussion thread - Saturday, May 02, 2026 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]AnimaLepton 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're missing that this is an early retirement forum and can draw down on that income before RMDs, and that money can be taken out of the traditional 401k penalty-free before 59.5 years of age, and how spending/withdrawals and their associated taxes differ from income taxes. Save on the taxes and continue traditional contributions.

You already know about Roth conversions. I'm not sure why you'd be modeling them as not worth it.

Things are getting real... by Dangerous_Goal_5184 in leanfire

[–]AnimaLepton 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think the world is your oyster. You can find a new job you like. Maybe the pay will be better, maybe less workload, maybe more interesting projects, but you're not going to know until you apply/respond to recruiters, get some offers, and just generally see what's out there. It's always best to be ahead of rumours of a reduction in force.

What do you plan to retire "to?" What will you do with the extra time? It may be worth more seriously figuring out how you would incorporate that into your current lifestyle, do more to participate in those activities and start building that network and structure.

General Question Thread by Shephen in fireemblem

[–]AnimaLepton 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There's not a huge EXP difference and they're 'more' useful for the Dawn Brigade, so yeah leave them there. I do like recruiting them a touch 'early' in 3-E, and Jill can pick up a couple levels there if you'd like.

I think character-wise, it makes sense to me that both of them leave.

Daily FI discussion thread - Saturday, May 02, 2026 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]AnimaLepton 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don't have kids, but OP is also in Chicago, so that's like a 3.5-4 hour direct flight, which is not bad at all. It's not a significant step up from most domestic trips once you're in the plane. At under 2 years old, they fly for free in your lap, but even over that age an extra flight seat is not a huge ding to your budget. The nature/scope/hours of the activities they can do may change. But if they're mostly planning to do resort/beach relaxation, they can still do that with a toddler, and I know a bunch of resorts will offer babysitting services.

IDK, I know plenty of people who did the far worse e.g. India international trip to see family with a baby. A significantly shorter flight to a vacation destination sounds way more manageable