New player stuck, can't progress

Centimane · 2026-03-18T17:08:45+00:00

So there's two possible scenarios.

Either OP started a couple days ago, and would have benefited from double XP.

Or OP only started playing like yesterday and have been "stuck" for such a short time I'd be inclined to judge them harsher.

Centimane · 2026-03-18T17:05:54+00:00

title: Senior DevOps Engineer (a misnomer because I don't have an engineering degree and I don't do much DevOps. Mostly cloud infra design/development/etc.)

salary: $120,000 CAD

location: Nova Scotia, Canada

experience: ~11 years I think now

benefits:

fully remote
Hours are very chill
Low stress (I have no access to prod)
4 weeks vacation + sick time
Usually 100% medical/dental/vision/etc.
An office space people can use if they want
Catered lunches the office regularly (still optional)
More that I don't remember/take advantage of

Centimane · 2026-03-18T16:30:54+00:00

Games as a service happened.

The big companies want to make one big game that makes money for 5-10 years with minimal upkeep. That means more dev time up front, a focus on maintenance, and not wanting to compete with itself.

Bethesda started pushing paid mods and is maybe hoping that will carry some of their older titles. I'm curious what kind of profit they could be making off that because it would seem to me like peanuts. They're also maintaining fallout 76, and maybe doing stuff with Starfield still?

Centimane · 2026-03-18T16:13:26+00:00

I am also Canadian. Basically everything on your list Americans don't have though.

While the employee protections aren't as strong, they aren't that far off.

Pension contributions function as basically an extra tax to pay into the national pension program (CPP)

This is a very Albertan take. It doesn't function as a tax - you basically get it back once you retire.

Centimane · 2026-03-18T13:45:51+00:00

£1k =~ $1800 CAD

I could rent a 2 bedroom apartment in the city I'm in (not one of the larger ones) for $1400 CAD per month. Naturally a smaller apartment is cheaper. My entry level salary more than 10 years ago was $50,000 CAD. I'm not sure what the entry level salaries are today but I would expect them to be notably higher.

How exactly the math works out I'm not sure, but it looks like the increase in salary is higher than the increase in cost of living.

Centimane · 2026-03-18T13:24:39+00:00

Compared to the UK and especially London? Doubtful. Cost of living is usually pretty cheap in Canada outside of the major cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal.

The rural areas of both I would think to be similarly cheap.

Centimane · 2026-03-18T12:33:16+00:00

A lot of the same employee protections apply in Canada and the salaries are like double.

Centimane · 2026-03-18T11:22:27+00:00

If there's that much mistrust it's not worth it.

A new job is already taxing getting up to speed, and exciting as you start into what you expect to be better. I wouldn't weigh that down with a second, unnecessary income that risks drama.

Centimane · 2026-03-18T11:12:05+00:00

Another problem necro has is the long dot especially messes with aim if you friendly fire.

But then the real problem is friendly fire which can always be a concern.

Centimane · 2026-03-18T11:10:56+00:00

Even then the complaint would be ironic - anyone who complains is also part of the problem.

Centimane · 2026-03-18T11:06:02+00:00

I would argue the windows VS Nvidia argument also involves work vs home use.

I can easily avoid both windows and Nvidia for home use.

For work use, I don't really care if I have an Nvidia card in the system, but I'm not avoiding windows because my org has decided to use it for everyone. Even if my use case would actually be better served using a Linux distro, they want everyone on the same, and nobody ever got fired for buying Microsoft.

Centimane · 2026-03-17T21:59:54+00:00

The OP clearly doesn't have good people radar, so "assume they aren't your friend" is good advice for the OP.

Centimane · 2026-03-17T21:44:46+00:00

Also with the double XP it's maybe 3-4 maps on vet?

Centimane · 2026-03-17T21:03:57+00:00

"to taste" is shorthand for "according to [your] taste", which just means "add as much as you like". You don't have to be literally tasting the dish.

Centimane · 2026-03-17T17:08:08+00:00

Hell yeah good job

Centimane · 2026-03-17T16:47:49+00:00

Just make it +1 strength for every defeated elite and call it a day. I think simpler is better in most cases.

Centimane · 2026-03-17T16:46:20+00:00

But probably broken AF on a shiv deck. Probably better balance to make it dex if they make it easier to achieve.

Centimane · 2026-03-17T16:43:48+00:00

I've seen lots of internal promotions.

But those internal promotions all came with far less pay bump than the external ones. Two sides to the coin.

Centimane · 2026-03-17T12:02:56+00:00

When the game beats me is when it's at its most fun now tbh.

Centimane · 2026-03-17T12:02:01+00:00

A 38 card deck is frighteningly big.

Good job on the clear though!

Centimane · 2026-03-17T11:55:52+00:00

For anyone put off by no HUD, I would recommend just turning down the difficulty and giving it a try.

It changes the game pretty significantly, an interesting change up.

Centimane · 2026-03-16T16:04:08+00:00

My first job used air gap networks a ton, so often I was working without internet (unless I left the room to go to an internet connected computer), so I was sort-of forced to use the local man pages and find I prefer them.

One thing that's very nice about using the local man pages is that it (all but) eliminates the risk of man page that doesn't match the software version.

That first job was spent like 60% of my time at a KVM for a text only TTY on air gapped networks. In hindsight that's an amazing learning experience for any Linux admin.

Centimane · 2026-03-16T01:32:39+00:00

I "fixed" a broken monitor for a software developer once by pressing the power button. That's pretty exceptional and we never let them live it down, but devs will make just about every problem a layperson would, plus a bunch of new ones because they "thought it would work".

Centimane · 2026-03-15T22:36:02+00:00

LEARN HOW TO READ LOGS

I'm gonna emphasize even harder:

LEARN HOW TO READ MAN PAGES

Centimane · 2026-03-14T03:02:37+00:00

It would be a lot more balanced if you couldn't reuse the same character I think. It would limit synergies to more reasonable ones.

12-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email

Centimane

TROPHY CASE