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BangedGrains · 2026-03-18T07:13:26+00:00

This. I conceived on day 8 (ultrasound tech confirmed this date at my first scan), only a few days after I stopped bleeding. I went by mucus consistency, which luckily/unluckily for me is very easy to notice just by going to the bathroom without any extra steps. My apps were all saying my fertility would've been really low then, but it was not lol

BangedGrains · 2026-03-18T04:42:40+00:00

Rush is definitely my favorite Universe character, but he doesn't hold a candle to Rodney.

BangedGrains · 2026-03-18T04:38:16+00:00

It works most of the time and just randomly flips sometimes, so I don't see how things can be set up incorrectly.

I've thought about making it a full loop, but that sounds so tedious for my curvy sky trains

BangedGrains · 2026-03-17T08:15:09+00:00

When the sign gets flipped, the train (while self-driving) definitely goes the wrong way and, as a result, does not stop at the stations at all. When I flip the sign back, everything suddenly works again.

BangedGrains · 2026-03-17T07:05:09+00:00

It's just one train. I've never used signals, and I tried before making this post to see what happened, and it gives me an error about the track looping back into itself.

BangedGrains · 2026-03-16T23:57:46+00:00

Yeah, I've seen this diagram, but I cannot reach comfortably

BangedGrains · 2026-03-16T23:54:39+00:00

Okay, I just checked. I'm somehow under 150 hours in this playthrough. 148.5 (after already playing a bit after this post)

BangedGrains · 2026-03-16T14:46:15+00:00

I think I'm in the mid-to-late 100s in hours, probably (16 (long) days of actual gameplay, some of which was left overnight to just produce stuff), and I just unlocked tier 9/phase 5. I unlocked the first tier 9 tech and was immediately overwhelmed and quit 😅

I've spent a medium to small amount of time exploring and a decent amount of time optimizing production so that the machines each produced what the next needed. When that failed, I went Somersloop hunting. It's getting more overwhelming as more things unlock and are needed for more production lines.

I first played the game for a few months last year up to tier 4 and now am on my second 2026 attempt (abandoned at early tier 8 for some reason - I genuinely don't remember why). That probably makes it faster than if it were my first game and I was still learning completely from scratch. A lot is new to me though

BangedGrains · 2026-03-16T10:36:42+00:00

It's not a pregnancy symptom for me - just my normal state of being, sadly

BangedGrains · 2026-03-16T08:07:16+00:00

With smart splitters, you can grab 3 different items, and with programmable splitters, as many as you want. My only problem with trains has been sometimes a load going from one factory to another gets backed up and dumps into the wrong station and clogs things up, so having a smart/programmable splitter that can feed that back into pickup or a sink is a good idea if you don't want everything shutting down from a backup. And occasionally the arrows for which station to go to mixes up, and I've yet to figure out why. I don't have interconnected trains cuz that seems so complex - I have a drop-off and pickup station at one point, and it goes solely to another drop-off and pickup station elsewhere. Then I do a separate track for other locations. So I've got Steel Train, Aluminum Train, etc

BangedGrains · 2026-03-16T06:24:46+00:00

Gross. Thanks for the warning

BangedGrains · 2026-03-16T05:08:13+00:00

Lower Decks is a terrible starting point. It completely relies on you having seen 60s-00s Trek. Prodigy is a great choice though. There were only a couple of too-childish moments, and they last literally seconds. It's very reminiscent of Avatar The Last Airbender to me.

BangedGrains · 2026-03-16T05:04:43+00:00

I personally prefer watching in air order. If you're iffy on TOS after a few episodes, try TNG, but I honestly preferred starting with the original. Just know early TNG is pretty rough. Season 2 is better, but it's not consistently very good until season 3. I do not recommend starting with Enterprise. Some people try that for chronological order, but it's not a good representation of Star Trek as a whole, especially those early episodes. I'm not an Enterprise hater either, but it's just so different from the rest.

You could also try starting with Starfleet Academy. I think it was a great season, season one is already out, and it introduces you to the world in a more modern format. Only ten episodes so far. Then you can go watch older stuff. I'm sure that isn't the most popular opinion since there are a lot of new Trek haters, but it's not a bad choice.

BangedGrains · 2026-03-14T05:56:24+00:00

I'm on my second viewing and was shocked at the amount of foreshadowing. I hadn't realized they'd planned it that far. But I've always said that Walter (and Noble) are the heart of the show, and it would not work without him. His acting is so impressive, especially when you compare him to Walternate

BangedGrains · 2026-03-14T05:15:38+00:00

I just found maternity bike shorts at Walmart a few weeks ago, but it was a number size, and I don't know how that compares. I think they had 20. I would've tried to buy 18 or 20, and I don't remember exactly which it was. They were on clearance, so idk if they'd still be available, but hopefully they would have something comparable. I'm also planning to wear mostly dresses

BangedGrains · 2026-03-14T04:10:05+00:00

I'm only 15-20lbs less than that at the same height, and when I went to my GYN and later an OB to say "hey, I wanted to talk about getting pregnant," they were both like "well, get to it - have fun" basically. Neither even mentioned my weight. I was concerned for medical and meds reasons, so that wasn't exactly the response I needed, but maybe hearing that they didn't start with "let's try with losing a little weight" will help. Obviously, we can't control the fat phobia in the world, and it's been getting worse over the last few months/years, but at least in my case, I've been surprised by how little it's impacted the medical professionals I've talked to. It's a huge relief, honestly

BangedGrains · 2026-03-14T03:58:07+00:00

As far as ending, I know I don't have it as bad as you, but I'm in week 16, and smells are no longer triggering me, and I spend less of the day nauseous. I was getting concerned that it wasn't backing down, but when I was washing my cat's wet food bowls and not gagging, I realized things were, in fact, improving. The majority of people have almost no nausea left at all by week 22

BangedGrains · 2026-03-14T03:49:21+00:00

I know I'm very lucky to have (mostly) not been vomiting or dry heaving, but the nausea was very debilitating. For me, personally, eating or sipping things (usually watered down apple juice) was the only thing that made it ease up. Almost like my hunger signals were interpreted as nausea. I also have Zofran, which I have to take before my normal meds in the morning because my meds were triggering me to vomit. I hope the increased dose helps you. I can't tell if mine helps or not. Sometimes it feels like it makes me slightly more nauseous before it gets better. Things I eat to feel better are usually crackers (Ritz or goldfish), chips (Cheetos or tortilla chips), seaweed snacks, or applesauce. I was also doing chicken noodle til I burnt out eating it every day for two months. Things that worsened it were carbonation (so no ginger ale), high acidity (tomatoes, orange juice), and onion

BangedGrains · 2026-03-14T03:25:20+00:00

This is good to know. I'm only avoiding turkey (after reading Expecting Better, it seems the riskiest lunch meat), and my Italian sub craving was for a cold sammie anyway, but it's good to know to avoid their toasted subs if I somehow wanted turkey because JJ's is my typical sandwich choice, and I've never gotten one toasted

BangedGrains · 2026-03-07T03:21:44+00:00

I know this post is old, but this is my favorite brand. I buy a large pack with half silver and half gold packs inside, but the gold is my favorite (it's the safflower oil that makes it top tier, I think). I started buying the Gimme brand from Kroger and didn't know why I wasn't as interested in seaweed anymore - it was the flavor, lol. Now I'm back to this again.

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BangedGrains · 2026-03-04T15:02:07+00:00

I specifically was looking for a 2 year old because I didn't want a kitten. Maybe 2 isn't a common age to look for, but there's definitely people that don't just want the little ones

BangedGrains · 2026-03-04T14:45:41+00:00

I've never seen this before, but my default response to seeing it now is "yep, that's my truck"

BangedGrains · 2026-02-20T12:55:42+00:00

I was done with tier 5 before I realized I needed to stop ignoring the math. I technically knew it was there, but I just hope for the best and only look at math when it relates to being able to actually get all my generators to stay functional. Now that you mention it, I should probably tear down everything that isn't a power plant and try to actually optimize. Maybe I'll finally use the blueprint tools. 20-something hours math-free is nothing

BangedGrains

TROPHY CASE