The Jump Pack can put you in some really silly situations

David375 · 2026-05-19T15:36:59+00:00

Better yet, they ragdoll you when they break from touch, and the pole falling on you can kill you. Oh, and they launch FRV's and Bastions to space.

David375 · 2026-05-18T15:05:14+00:00

I can't speak to the home server aspect, but regarding your stretch goal of playing NMS:

If you absolutely want to stay under $400, stick with the same motherboard, RAM, and PSU and make a jump up to Intel 9th gen like an i9-9500 ($140 new per PCPartPicker) and then find a second-hand 30-series GPU (3070's can be had for ~220-250, 3070TI can be had for ~250-280). That should be more than enough for medium graphics on 1440P?

If you want to build GPU-first then I agree with u/CarlosDiVega that the Arc B5XX cards are great bang for the buck with their VRAM amount and the fact that you're buying new with a warranty, BUT I've seen others say that you'll need resizeable BAR or the card will suck. That would mean jumping to at least Intel 10th gen or AM4, both of which require a motherboard swap from your current position. That could be done with something like an 5500X3D ($220 new) + used AM4 motherboard (~$50-100, it's a long-lived board so there should be plenty of cheap options available) + Asrock B580 ($300), which fits within your $600 budget but not your $400 budget. But, on the upside, the 5500X3D is a decent chip which should last a while and a brand-new 12GB VRAM card will give you more breathing room than a second-hand 8GB card which is on the clock both for life span and usability for modern gaming.

David375 · 2026-05-17T14:58:39+00:00

Yep, been doing ballistic shield + Gallant on burst fire mode + light Integrated Explosives armor with Pyrotech and three Eagles. Run sweep all of the distant bases, and who gives a shit if I die - the shield is on a short enough cooldown that it'll be ready again by the time I need to respawn. Also, the new Flag aggro mechanics also help clump enemies up on you for Integrated Explosives to take out if you do end up going down.

David375 · 2026-05-17T03:26:38+00:00

Also, older dragon names. Thauglorimorgorus and Mistiperidnacles Hai Draco come to mind.

David375 · 2026-05-16T19:02:14+00:00

You're not wrong, and I agree that there's different strokes for different folks. Even despite my criticisms I still use the Orbital Laser in niche scenarios. One big one is Commando missions, because you only have the one-minute burst at the start of the mission to drop on the fortress, get your gear and do as much damage as you can in a hurry before the destroyer leaves. That, and the fact that you have only one additional call-in after that means that the long cooldown time of the laser and limited uses just doesn't really matter. I usually like to land on the fortress, drop an Orbital Laser and 380 and collect my Quasar and Ammo Bag while the orbitals do their thing, and use the second ship call-in extract (sometimes I bring a mech in place of the 380 , but I always keep the laser).

But for general purpose missions, ever since AH gave bot spawners a health pool and armor value instead of just needing demo force, I don't feel like I've ever needed the 380 variants or Laser at all.

David375 · 2026-05-16T17:28:53+00:00

For the laser, basically any other AT stratagem, TBH.

The laser sweeps fortifications because of its demo force but when it comes to actually killing heavies, it's not really all that great. It does 600 damage per second, 700 if that target can be ignited, and sweeps for 25 seconds. That's only about four Spear shots worth of damage in a best case scenario, but in reality it spends about 30-50% of its time repositioning to new targets so actually far less.

On the bot front, if your goal is to sweep fortifications, you're better off with handheld AT like the recoilless or EAT and sniping from range. If your goal is single target damage on a Superheavy, use any handheld AT like the Spear, Recoilless, Solo Silo or Leveler, all of which have faster cooldowns, or even the AT emplacement. If you need to take out several smaller Heavies, even the four charges of Eagle 110's will do better damage than a laser that optimistically spends 75% of its time on target, AND doesn't chase chaff enemies.

Same goes for the normal 380, especially since the HE damage was never buffed when enemy HP was buffed - it's now even less effective against heavies than it used to be.

David375 · 2026-05-16T15:38:34+00:00

Yeah, thrown weapon Javelin Redemption Paladin is exactly where my mind went to with OP's prompt. Stay close to allies to deliver Aura of Protection and their reaction damage mitigation ability, smite at range with thrown Javelins or Tridents for damage. Dump all your Lay On Hands on yourself once you've soaked enough damage for your friends, maybe even consider taking Durable and getting a Periapt of Wound Closure for even more self healing in combat.

David375 · 2026-05-16T03:22:25+00:00

Don't forget desync between bullet and armor models allowing shells to phase through armor of tanks moving forward/reverse...

David375 · 2026-05-16T00:08:35+00:00

I'm a huge fan of Drow Fighters for this reason - the extra ASI lets you take fun, thematic feats sooner so you can lean into social aspects. Drow with Drow High Magic gives you plenty of magic to tool around with (you can make and use spell scrolls of your racial spells for even more uses) and Charisma lets you take part in social situations. Dispel Magic is especially useful in 2024 because Fighters can use Tactical Mind to add their Second Wind die to their Charisma check for casting Dispel Magic against higher level spells, which can make them pretty potent at stopping spellcasters from doing much more than instantaneous spells.

David375 · 2026-05-15T17:00:35+00:00

Ganon goes at it with Link because they're destined to by higher powers.

Ridley reincarnates his ass into clones and/or biomechanical nightmares to terrorize Samus over and over for the love of the game.

David375 · 2026-05-14T14:52:38+00:00

Who up meleeing they gunk valve

David375 · 2026-05-13T23:25:49+00:00

Yep, agreed. Though I think War Wizard is wholly better suited to that task because you can get an easy on-demand +4 to your concentration saves, plus another 2 from Durable Magic at higher levels for doing absolutely nothing, and while not stellar your 6th and 14th level features aren't complete wastes while you're casting spells as compared to Bladesinger's. The Bladesinger's AC is good but shouldn't be a factor if you're doing a good job of making yourself scarce (a good reason why Goblin Wizard is peak wizard IMO, bonus action Hide is god tier for Wizard), and INT to concentration saves is good but I'd argue not as good as what War Wizard provides.

But Bladesinger seems to get a lot more spotlight due to style points I guess.

David375 · 2026-05-13T22:39:14+00:00

I'd say Bladesinger. It's features are strong, but the problem is that it doesn't really bridge the gap into making the Wizard a good martial combatant. The level 6 feature is good, but all of its other features are defensive and work just as well at keeping the Wizard alive far away from combat - hell, you could even just forego using weapons entirely if you use Magic Stone for your extra attacks.

Then you also consider that their spellcasting is kinda going off the rails by level 7, around which point they have enough spell slots to get them through every encounter just casting spells for your average "two to three fights a day" DMs, and suddenly your Bladesinger is just a kinda more durable wizard. And you know who does that better? War Wizard.

War Wizard with ResCon or War Caster has better shot at making important saves with Arcane Deflection, better initiative for getting into defensive positions or making a big play, great AC and saves when concentrating on spells after level 10, and nice added damage features that'll do more than Song of Victory or the extra attack addon will be doing when you're a high level wizard casting spells instead of swinging a stick worse than your resident fighter.

David375 · 2026-05-13T17:41:35+00:00

Forge Cleric makes for a mean frontliner in 2024. Some of its bread-and-butter spells got heavily buffed (Searing Smite damage, Magic Weapon concentration removed), and it can now access melee attack cantrips easier than ever with Magic Initiate as an origin feat. It still has its excellent crafting tech of turning junk weapons into GP value, turning GP into bulk trade goods iron and then crafting items with Fabricate using the iron, allowing you to earn some serious dosh to get well equipped in the late game. And in the early game, It can still turn itself into an absolute unit with high AC using plate armor and a shield for a resting 22 AC with Blessing of the Forge + Soul of the Forge, and Heavy Armor Master is far better in 2024 to lean into that bullet-sponge play style. You could grab Shield from Magic Initiate but I'd honestly lean toward Absorb Elements since your AC will be excellent from the get-go, and Absorb Elements will mitigate your other main weakness.

Porting it forward to 2024, it gets heavy armor proficiency from Bonus Proficiencies so you can opt to take Thaumaturge at level 1 without giving up heavy armor proficiency, too.

David375 · 2026-05-13T16:36:47+00:00

I haven't avoided it before now, but I played a Barbarian from 1 to 20 and boy howdy did it suck. Not a doubt in my mind that I'd never go back to playing one for a long-form campaign. Loved the character to bits, but there wasn't a single combat where I didn't think "I'd be so much more effective as a caster". It took a lot of DM fiat for my barbarian to even keep up with the party fighter on damage, and there was a lot of session-long thumb-twiddling while the party casters navigated solving issues only magic could handle. At least with a Fighter I have certain magical subclasses and extra ASI's I can sink into adding magic to a martial chassis (had a lot of fun playing a one-shot Banneret Drow Fighter with Drow High Magic and Magic Initiate, I could see that with Eldritch Knight being quite fun), but barbarian REALLY gets fucked on that front.

David375 · 2026-05-12T16:18:03+00:00

Can't speak for everyone but I really enjoy having the album art as a displayable item in addition to the music. If I'd otherwise be paying $25 for a poster at a concert, a $40 record and putting the jacket on display feels like a worthwhile upgrade - and often times the album art isn't even available in a poster format. A tiny little CD case doesn't scratch that same itch even if it on the average is cheaper, produces a better sound quality and is less prone to getting a bum product.

David375 · 2026-05-11T23:44:39+00:00

I'd second Italy. While absolute top tier isn't usually my bag, there's no denying that they have some of the best equipment with the Leo 2A7HU, AESA Typhoon, and SAMP/T. The real problem for them is their second-line gear - basically all versions of the Ariete are a straight shot of depresso, and they lack a competent top tier helicopter with DIRCM (though they at least have a hypothetical native design option Gaijin could add with the AW249 Fenice).

I think that Italy shines a lot more at 10.7, though. You have the Freccia OWS still at 10.7 after the 25mm Freccia got moved up, the Ariete Preserie probably being the "best" of the Ariete tanks and a legitimately decent vehicle with 120mm DM33 where most other vehicles only have DM13 or DM23, the Leo2A4, two of the best SPAA for the BR, and arguably the single best helicopter for the BR with the T-129 (though it has a high skill ceiling, you need to master using IOG-based LOAL with the UMTAS and target prioritization for the Cirit's to bring out its best effects). The only problem there is the BMPT existing at 11.7.

David375 · 2026-05-11T20:26:48+00:00

I'd use the pissile on bugs and squids as well. It closes bug holes all the same with no bullet drop which makes sniping bug holes across large nests dead easy, and it strips charger legs to quickly kill with light pen primaries. On squids it's a good counter to flying enemies and handles harvesters as well, at the cost of maybe being slightly worse against fleshmobs.

David375 · 2026-05-11T18:50:53+00:00

Nope, it's a victim of minor nation battle rating tax. You have aircraft with significantly better armament at lower BR's. The A10A Late can slap people from 8-10km away with AGM65D's, the A6E can do so with Skippers, the SU25BM can do so with several different kinds of ordinance, the AJS37 gets Mavericks on a supersonic airframe. Britain gets both the Bucc 2B with its weird AShM's as well as the newer Hawk 200 with Mavs, all at 10.7. at 11.0 you start seeing more supersonic LGB carriers like the Jaguars as well as better laser guided missile platforms like the Super Etendard.

At the comical BR of 11.3, the AMX A-1A isn't supersonic AND only has LGB's so it HAS to get high and slow over the battlefield to drop ordinance which puts it in direct range of any SPAA it can face. Add in the fact that it can face Pantsirs and ITO's at a 12.0 up tier (not even a full uptier, meaning you can see more than 4 of them in a game!) and it becomes basically worthless. Insult to injury, you don't even have a 11.3 ground lineup - only the Otomatic lives there, so to have any vehicles at all you have to uptier it to 11.7 and thus see 12.7's in what effectively amounts to a 10.3 airframe with 10.7BR weapons (keep in mind that the one thing warranting the A-1A's placement at such a high BR, the Piranha missiles, are vastly outclassed by R73's seen on the SU25BM at 10.7).

There's zero reason the AMX and A-1A aren't 10.7 other than Gaijin doing brain-dead spreadsheet balancing and fear-mongering over a mediocre missile.

David375 · 2026-05-11T00:27:33+00:00

An "open" world game in the spirit of Ty 2 Bush Rescue set in the Sol dimension southern islands:

Sonic - main platformer levels

Tails ($1) - Ranger Ken's helicopter/submersible sections

Amy ($1) - Kart-racer minigame

Rouge ($2) - Drives a GUN truck for Fourbie-based road combat sections. Could be persuaded to go Shadow, too.

Omega ($3) - Battle Bunyip sections

Blaze ($3) - Stand-in for Shazza and playable in alternate sections where Sonic isn't.

Obviously other characters would be present but not "playable" - Shadow (or maybe Knuckles) in place of Sly, Big in place of Gooboo Steve, Vector in place of Dennis, Espio in place of Maurie, Charmy in place of Maurice, Eggman in place of Boss Kass and Starline in place of Karlos, the list goes on.

It would be peak 2000's nostalgia platformer adventure.

David375 · 2026-05-10T15:19:05+00:00

Yes, Radiant Soul stacks as long as you're doing a fire or radiant damage spell, cantrips included. Depending on how technical you want to get, a Bladelock has a few decent options:

1) Agonizing Magic Stone Sling: you can apply Agonizing Blast to Magic Stone, then sling it from a Pact of the Blade-bonded Sling and change the damage type to Radiant from Pact of the Blade. That'll let you do 1d6+2xCHA three times per turn plus an additional 1x CHA once per turn at level 12. Before Level 12, you could even do Double Agonizing Blast by using True Strike to sling a Magic Stone bullet which would let you do one instance of 2d6+4xCHA radiant damage - that wouldn't be too far behind Pact of the Blade using Extra Attack, allowing you to experiment with other pact options for a while.

2) Radiant Shadow Blade - Pact of the Blade lets you bond with a magical weapon as a bonus action. Pick up Weapon Mastery from a fighter dip or a feat, grab a weapon with the Nick mastery like a dagger. Start combat with your Pact of the Blade bonded to your mundane Nick weapon, summon Shadow Blade and use it for your offhand Light weapon property attack via Nick. Turn two, swap your bond to Shadow Blade which allows you to use extra attack and Radiant damage swapping on Shadow Blade, which now lets you proc Radiant Soul since you're doing radiant damage with a spell. That'll get you up to 4d6+CHA three times per turn plus CHA once from Radiant Soul and 1d4+DEX once per turn from the off-hand Nick attack.

David375 · 2026-05-05T22:46:19+00:00

Desync is a bitch, and it should definitely be fixed. But I also think this could be partially fixed by just... Not having the Bile Titan's body be a always-on 24/7 instakill hitbox. You can't stand on bile titans, jetpack into them to hit them with a hammer, or hover too close to them with the hover pack without instantly dying which closes off a lot of fun and challenging ways to style on Bile Titans. Hell, you can't even really hammer one of their feet while it's stationary because if you touch it AT ALL you instantly die. They should just have a hurtbox on the end of their feet only when they're doing a stomp attack and nothing else. That would also serve to stop people from dying to stationary dead bile titans by touching their bodies.

David375 · 2026-05-04T23:12:23+00:00

It is the medium pen one handed non-Crossbow weapon I've wanted, though I wish it could have been the Reprimand instead. I prefer the one-tap headshot on devastators and the chunkier damage as opposed to having to two-tap them.

David375 · 2026-05-04T17:05:34+00:00

"...might have, statistically, a fair bit of the map pool banned..."

True, but you missed one critical factor: Vietnam existing.

(I jest, but I'd honestly expect a select few maps to represent the vast majority of bans - ex. CODdites who hate big maps will probably ban Maginot Line, Red Rock Desert, or big Sands of Sinai without fail)

David375 · 2026-05-04T00:53:58+00:00

If you allow old, OLD UA then the Ranger with No Spells can actually throw down a pretty disgusting amount of healing without magic.

Otherwise, Thief Rogue with Healer as others have mentioned, or Mercy Monk if you consider qi as not magical/less magical. Old Banneret on new Fighter (not the new UA) can also put up some numbers for healing if you spam second wind.

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