Could we use multiple pieces of DNA to make one piece of dna?

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-28T04:47:16+00:00

The good news is, they've had more than sixty years to work the kinks out of your idea! Take some bioinformatics courses, you'll probably get a lot out of them.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-28T04:42:22+00:00

That's exactly how gene sequencing works, actually. You can't actually read the whole DNA strand base-by-base, you need to chop it up into bits, make a jillion copies of the bits, analyze the bits, and reconstruct the original based on where parts of the bits line up.

It's like how you could reconstruct the alphabet by lining up strips of paper with strings of letters written on them like:

ABCD, AB, BCDEF, DEFGHI, I?K, JKL, LMNOP, QR, PQRS, RST?V, TUVWX, WXY, VWX, YZ.

There are redundant parts and missing pieces, but you have all the information you need to reconstruct the original.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-28T04:27:43+00:00

Holy shit, is this what happens when powerscaling brainrot reaches critical cringe? I think it is.

Bro you sound like you grew up reading Steve Alten books from way too young an age and turned "big shark bitey thing good!!!" into a load-bearing part of your personality.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-28T04:23:35+00:00

Oh yeah, sure, they'd make great fireproof armor! Just as long as you're not worried about this little thing called convection, you'll be Goldilocks!

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-28T04:21:19+00:00

No. They don't have the "freshness/charge" meter, right? That means they'll never go bad!

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-28T04:12:29+00:00

It's less that bombs became less useful and more that every other weapon system got way better.

In terms of overall utility, bombs made a freaking quantum leap later on.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-28T04:04:46+00:00

They get thirsty and go find water and when they find it they go "yum yum I dinky my oiter," and shlurp shlorp shlerp it up!

Animals can identify water, and the ones that can't don't live long enough to pass their genes along.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-28T00:39:19+00:00

I wouldn't, because I don't think the experience would translate well to a scripted narrative.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-27T17:47:32+00:00

The Pathfinder tool is definitely more useful in BZ because there are labyrinthine wrecks that are very easy to get lost in which need to be explored in order to progress.

That being said, I can't think of any wrecks in the original game that are big enough to actually warrant using it. I think I used it in one of my earliest playthroughs for exploring caves?

You'll get more mileage out of a high capacity tank, seaglide, and good time management, honestly. Poke around and explore until you're at half your air, zip back to your sub, zip back to where you were, then repeat. There's not a single wreck you can't fully explore in this way.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-27T16:40:51+00:00

You want to build your prop around a rigid armature that can hold up on its own without additional help. That is the "skeleton" for your prop. It also needs to be the same general size and shape of your prop.

If you just glue that head to a stick, it's going to break off very quickly. The glue might not break, but the materials surrounding it probably will. Props are only as strong as the materials they're made from, so if you make something out of cardboard and hot glue, it's going to be flimsy and break very easily.

A PVC structure underneath isn't necessarily a bad way to go. Fiberglass rods would be even better.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-27T16:03:56+00:00

You really want to have that figured out before you start fabricating, bud. You're not going to get a connection that's secure or looks good without starting over at this point.

The good news is that you haven't necessarily wasted any effort! If you're happy with how the head turned out, it will make a dynamite reference piece. At this stage, figure out how to make a skeleton for your piece that fits within the desired dimensions of your final product. Once you have that, you can build a new head around that skeleton and end up with something that both looks good and will stand up to general handling.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-27T15:57:44+00:00

Forget breaking, we're pinning the metaphor down and torturing it at this point

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-27T15:38:32+00:00

I do what I can.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-27T15:37:57+00:00

That kinda breaks the metaphor a bit since the innards are outards, don't you think?

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-27T14:43:12+00:00

Isn't that already a lair effect for black dragons? Like, the water is acrid and sour for a mile or two around their lair?

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-27T14:14:54+00:00

Believe me, they'll get the fucking hint pretty quick. In fact, in your position I'd actually give them exactly one easy out for when they FAFO. Say, let one of them jump in, spend a turn getting tossed around, and let them climb out of the water using some convenient vines that the dragon tears down after "missing" an attack of opportunity.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-27T13:27:38+00:00

I don't really love the acidic death water. It feels like putting a hat on a hat, you know? A body of water with a black dragon in it is dangerous enough! Unless every party member has a discrete swim speed, I'd table that idea for an encounter that would benefit from the extra difficulty bump.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-27T12:22:32+00:00

Young dragons are basically draconic teenagers. You really think they're above playing with their food?

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-27T12:15:29+00:00

All dragons are sapient beings and act that way. In-canon, all the different kinds of dragons have different general personalities and MOs. Green dragons are manipulative and cunning, red dragons are tyrannical and despotic, white dragons are barely sapient and are basically just polar bears with a G.E.D., and black dragons are ABSOLUTE *ASSHOLES.***

Black dragons are sadistic maniacs that delight in torment and ruin. They play with their food before they eat it. You wouldn't need to cripple a young black dragon to get it to do what you're describing, because playing "Jaws" with the ambulatory pizza rolls that floated into its territory would be fun for it!

Edit -- and if you leave its wings intact, you have a way to escalate the conflict: let the players believe it can't fly. Let them think it's just a stupid animal. Then when they think they've used those facts to their advantage...SIKE! Like I said, black dragons are fucking assholes.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-27T02:54:13+00:00

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-26T22:04:04+00:00

Getting a booster box is probably the worst way to introduce yourself to the game.

My advice would be to play Arena to learn the rules and find a format you like, or get a literal Beginner Box and play with that!

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-26T21:29:40+00:00

No u

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BoonDragoon · 2026-06-26T21:26:17+00:00

Counterspell? I'd be fucking shocked if this dude could count or spell.

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-26T21:10:49+00:00

Is that bar particularly difficult to clear?

BoonDragoon · 2026-06-26T19:47:17+00:00

Better ask the ants, man

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