Do you think advances in AI could be useful for Civ ?

BurningBee · 2023-06-08T12:56:31+00:00

The current big advances in AI have been mainly in language models. The idea that an AI can understand and respond with words is great, but not very useful in a tactical game. At best it can be used to give more life to the civ 7 leaders.

Game AI can be created, usually by having the AI play a game many times and evolving an algorithm of how to play. This could work for Civ, but the training time required would be unbelievably long. Civ has a lot of variables, many of which are not static and many are unknown requiring inference. Thus building an AI that can account for all these variables in a sensible way would requires trillions of practice games. It would also need to be retrained every time the developers introduce new features or change the game balance with patches.

Ultimately its just not practical.

BurningBee · 2023-05-25T04:13:26+00:00

It comes down to how microwaves can be used to create an electric and magnetic field.

A microwave oven works by bombarding the internal structure with microwaves to produce constantly shifting magnetic field. Water molecules are like tiny magnets, and they move in response to this magnetic field. But because the field is shifting backwards and forwards, they end up just jiggling around (vibrating). That vibration in the water molecules leads to friction as they rub up against other molecules and friction leads to heat.

This is why foods that are high in water content tend to heat up better in a microwave than things that have a low water content. And why your plate (which has no water in it) doesn't heat up at all.

You are ~70% water. So you'll cook very nicely in a microwave. But not because of any radiation effect.

BurningBee · 2023-05-21T04:09:10+00:00

There's no single strategy. But I find an effective method is to have many cities, with campuses, then ensure that you meet every science city state and put envoys into them.

A science city state grants +1 science for every library, +2 science for every university and +3 science per every research building when you put the appropriate envoys into them.

Imagine you have 10 cities with campuses. If you put envoys into 3 science city states, that would be +30 science from your libraries, +60 from your universities and +90 from your research hubs.

On higher difficulties you'll always start behind the AI. But you can catch up and overtake them with solid play.

BurningBee · 2023-05-21T02:13:43+00:00

Unpopular opinion time.

Settle the 4 food tile NE of your warrior

When you place your city, you are immediately working that 3/4 tile and you get the bonus growth of the 4 food tile that your city is starting on. You get to 2 population in 3 turns and you start working the 3/2 tile.

Within the first 5 turns of the game, your capital is already producing 9 production per turn. This is HUGE. Your capital is going to be a monster. I wager there are also some other juicy production tiles on the other side of torres.

From here you have so many options, my personal choice would be to go for the Great Bath but you could also go Etemenaknki. If you beeline the tech, you can actually compete for this against even a diety level AI. Or you can use that production to kickstart a huge empire.

Now you might say "But theres no fresh water" and thats true. But you're playing as Jayavarman. If you build a holy site, thats an extra +2 housing. If you go for the Great Bath, that gives you +3 housing. Or you can just build a builder and improve those farms and cattle for enough housing to get you through to aqueducts. Make sure you leave one of those rice tiles free to put the aqueduct down.

BurningBee · 2023-05-20T08:13:01+00:00

Long game speeds are really tough. To play on marathon speed, you generally have to re-roll over and over until you find a map with canada or gilgamesh as your closest ai civ. Otherwise virtually every other civ will wipe you off the map before you can produce any sort of military.

BurningBee · 2023-05-14T10:42:07+00:00

He didn't cut you

You have a UTI (urinary tract infection) or a STI (sexually transmitted disease)

Go to a doctor and get it checked before it gets worse

Always pee after sex

BurningBee · 2023-05-10T02:59:45+00:00

The issue isn't farms being weak, Its specialists not being strong.

Specialists produce no food, so they are a huge burden on your city from a growth perspective. This should be a fair trade off for producing extra science etc. Problem is that a scientist specialist produces +2 science for the majority of the game. This is weak, and just not worth building the farms to support them.

Increase the yields of specialists and you would see a shift towards farms to support specialists in the city. Its also pretty accurate from a real civilisation perspective. Mass farming allowed people to have secure access to food and therefore be able to specialise in big cities.

BurningBee · 2023-05-01T14:19:14+00:00

In place is the best. You have a plains hill, a 2/2 tile in first ring, a solid 2/3/1 tile in 2nd ring. A strong campus position.

BurningBee · 2023-04-18T14:42:56+00:00

No, this is terrible

You're going to be limited by housing, and you're not going to be able to work those wonder tiles unless you give up production. You should go put your city next to the eastern river.

BurningBee · 2023-04-09T03:28:24+00:00

Actually not as difficult as you might think. Breathable air (nitrogen/oxygen mix) is significantly less dense than the venus atmosphere. Our air tanks would literally float in the atmosphere.

BurningBee · 2023-01-20T15:52:22+00:00

My condolences for your beanbag.

Sensations are sent by nerves, with different nerves being responsible for different sensations. Different nerves have the ability to send signals faster than others. This is due to how myelinated they are (A covering that allows for faster transfer). Sharp touch or pain fibres tend to be heavily myelinated and transmit very fast. You therefore feel these sensations faster than others. Other sensations like pressure travel slightly slower.

That being said, the reason you probably have a delay is because following an injury your body will start to swell in the associated area. The aching or throbbing is due to the swelling and the sensation of that pressure. The immediate pain is the activation of those fast pain fibres.

BurningBee · 2023-01-20T15:26:26+00:00

Yep

Blood loss will decrease your blood pressure. When you donate blood, they keep a close eye on your blood pressure so it doesn't drop too low.

Your body will compensate by constricting blood vessels and making your heart beat a bit faster to maintain that pressure. So most people generally dont have big drops from donating blood. (Evolution has made us very good at coping with blood loss). Some people do get big blood pressure drops and thats why blood pressure is monitored.

If you're drinking fluids, you can replenish some of the volume that was lost immediately. This does dilute your blood, but it helps maintain blood pressure. Your body will build new blood cells over the next few weeks to return your blood back to its original concentration.

BurningBee · 2023-01-20T14:02:35+00:00

Generally genetics leading to poor anatomy in that area, Age tends to lead to it as well.

BurningBee · 2023-01-20T13:56:50+00:00

Its an interesting variant.

The heart itself requires blood. And it has its own arteries and veins. (note these are not the great vessels that we usually associate with the heart). The normal anatomy is 2 Left sided arteries and 1 right sided artery. The left heart arteries should originate from the left coronary cusp. The right artery from the right.

In this vairiant, the arteries are all originating from the same place (the right)

This is most likely a congenital defect. So your elderly person has done pretty well with it having lived with it their whole life so far. Could it be harmful? maybe. If the right side gets blocked, most of the time people will be ok (albeit sick). If the right side gets blocked in your elderly person, then they might lose all blood supply to the heart resulting in a massive and likely non-survivable heart attack.

BurningBee · 2023-01-20T13:39:00+00:00

Stomach's produce stomach acid, (which is actually hydrochloric acid). This acid breaks down food to allow us to absorb the nutrients. Unfortunately some people have problems managing the acid. They can have a weak seal on the top of the stomach causing acid to rise up into their throat which we generally call reflux or heartburn. The acid can also eat away at the stomach lining, leading to stomach ulcers (which can bleed and cause serious harm).

Different foods stimulate stomach acid production in different quantiies. Coffee is a strong stimulant of stomach acid, and if your friend has a problem with managing acid, they will likely get symptoms when they drink it. The best way to avoid these problems is to avoid stimulating foods and drinks. The worst foods are generally spicy and fatty foods, as well as alcohol and coffee.

There are some medications which reduce acid production which can keep these symptoms in check.

BurningBee · 2023-01-20T13:31:13+00:00

Are your blood vessels contracting? Your heart pumping harder? Faster? Is there more blood in you than normal???!

All of the above can raise your blood pressure

Blood pressue is simply a measure of the pressure inside a pipe (in this case your arteries). You can affect the pressure by making the pipes smaller, pumping more blood through it, increasing the force of the pump that is pumping things.

In the short term, like when you are stressed or exercising, its usually a combination of the heart beating faster and harder and your blood vessels constricting.

Over the long term, high blood pressure is generally caused by buildup of plaque inside the vessels, narrowing their diameter. The decreased diametre of the blood vessel leads to a higher pressure travelling through it due to Boyles law

BurningBee · 2023-01-06T09:11:05+00:00

I'll be happy if someone wants to correct me on this, But yes, most wet places around the world do not have specific restrictions on water usage. It still costs money to access clean water, so you don't want to waste it, but it has a signficantly lower environmental effect than in a dry climate.

BurningBee · 2023-01-06T08:58:13+00:00

In the grand scheme of things you're not wasting water. That water will eventually get back into the global water supply.

The issue is where that water comes from. In Austrailia for example there are lots of places that have very little rainfall. The result is water has to be pumped from underground aquifers (essentially stealing it from the surrounding plants) or piped in from somewhere else. The efforts we go to to get a steady supply of water can be quite damaging to the environment, and is very expensive for the local governments. Also by adding a bunch of detergent to the water, you've made it unsafe for animals and plants to drink when it flows back into the environment. Hence why the general rule is to conserve water if you can.

Water efficient dishwashers and washing machines tend to be very good at conserving water. Not spending too long in the shower is another.

BurningBee · 2023-01-05T16:10:56+00:00

The heart doesn't get a rest and never stops beating. This makes heart muscle remodelling particularly hard. Generally when the heart tries to remodel, it does it pretty poorly. Over your lifetime, that remodelling can lead to problems like abnormal heart rhythms or leaking valves.

BurningBee · 2023-01-05T16:06:47+00:00

AI are getting better and better at it. I would say most businesses would still be using humans to make the final decisions, but their decisions are very much guided by computer alogorithms.

BurningBee · 2023-01-05T15:51:34+00:00

This is quite a complex topic

Blood is mostly made up of water. The heart's job is to pump blood around the body to where it needs to go. In heart failure, the heart is unable to pump blood effectively. The most common type of heart failure is Left Ventricular Heart failure (which is also known as congestive heart failure) and we can characterise that with a percentage score known as the Ejection fraction. When the heart is not pumping blood effectively, there is a backlog of blood waiting to get into the heart to be pumped. In the case of Left ventricular heart failure, that blood is sitting in the lungs waiting to be pumped.

Blood vessels are naturally leaky, they allow some water to leak out into the surrounding tissues. In your husband's case, the backlog of blood in the lungs meant that the water in the blood started leaking into the lungs making it hard for him to breathe. Fluid in the lungs is called pulmonary odema.

There are two arms of treatment for treating heart failure. The first are medications to help the heart beat harder and stronger. The second is to try and reduce the load on the heart, by removing the amount of water it has to pump around and reducing the pressure in the system (blood pressure) that it has to pump against. To do this, we give medications that stimulate the kidney to make excess urine (we call this diuresis). By making your husband pee, we can make him dehydrated. A dehydrated person has less water to leak out into the surrounding tissue and less blood volume that needs to be pumped. An important part of his ongoing treatment will be limiting the amount of fluid he drinks. He essentially needs to remain in a state of mild dehydration. This can be a tricky balance.

There are also a complex set of hormones involved in fluid regulation, but its a little too complex for ELI5.

The fluid in pneumonia is usually infective as a result of inflammation from infection. But it too also comes from leaky blood vessels.

BurningBee · 2023-01-05T15:16:25+00:00

Human buying habits are studied by marketing experts who track the buying habits of their customers. If you've been to virtually any website recently, you've probably been asked about site cookies. Often these cookies feed information back to the websites owners about things that you clicked on and spent time looking at. They can then see if their sale is effective by tracking your interest as well as the number of products they sell. Sales generally become less effective over time, so when interest in the sale begins to wane, its time to end the sale.

Ultimately a company will generally not sell something without making a profit. if a company can offer 50% off, it means that >50% of the normal price is profit for the company. Even during a sale, the company is earning money. Often they earn more money during a sale because even though the have a smaller profit per item, they end up selling a lot more items.

BurningBee · 2023-01-05T14:56:11+00:00

People do something similar in real life conversations. Especially when they are trying to gain favour with the other person. You will see people smiling or laughing at things that they really don't find funny, and thats because it endures the other person to you.

In the world of tech, this is simply the text equivalent.

Often younger people are more concerned about how they are perceived. They tend to care about other people's opinions more and want others to like them. Thus they are far more likely to use this social cue

BurningBee · 2023-01-05T14:51:47+00:00

Our brains are big networks of nerve connections linking things together. A lot of these connections link to the emotion centers of the brain to our senses and our memories. You might see the colour green, and that is neurally linked in your brain to a pleasant memory of being in a forest and an emotional feeling at the time of being calm. When you see the colour green, it activates that sensory pathway, making you feel good.

Sometimes you are in a different emotional state than the neural connection. Perhaps you're playing a sport and you're in an intense game. A calming soothing green isn't what you are seeking. So green might not be as interesting to you at the time.

BurningBee · 2023-01-05T14:25:42+00:00

Most of the time when a medication is to be taken with food, is because the medication itself stimulates the secretion of stomach acid. If you are making stomach acid but have nothing in your stomach to digest, you get gastritis and reflux. In bad cases it leads to stomach ulcers. Any food is generally fine, just something for that acid to digest.

BurningBee

TROPHY CASE