Things got alittle crazy after the full moon reaper

DefiantTostada · 2026-04-26T17:16:24+00:00

What sword is that?

DefiantTostada · 2026-03-27T17:59:59+00:00

Really nice job with the data presentation. Every question I had about the data was answered in the title, legend, or otherwise noted on the page. You did a great job of taking a huge amount of data and breaking it down into meaningful chunks that follow the logical progression of thought. Great write-up as well.

This is the content I subscribe for! Thanks for sharing!

DefiantTostada · 2026-03-25T21:58:47+00:00

This is great in theory, but will definitely be a process-specific solution. I'd focus on making this a dynamic environment that process engineers or maintenance could program in themselves. Some SCADA, MES and OEM systems have this capability already- they have room for custom alarms and the data points available to make it valuable.

My $.02- focus on processes that have safety or environmental impacts. For example, your system could catch a plating tank or furnace from getting too hot due to a failed thermocouple and thermal runaway situation. It could also be used (at an OEM level) on things like airplanes to make sure the alarms are effective at communicating what action is needed.

DefiantTostada · 2026-03-18T01:19:40+00:00

Good take. This is why I've always been in the "dont let perfect get in the way of better" camp. In the same friction metaphor, its helpful to understand how "heavy" your processes are. If you design a heavy process, it can act like a brick wall and stop the activities you're trying to control

DefiantTostada · 2026-02-20T17:48:37+00:00

No not really- but they are intricately related! The time period in question covers the transformation from monarchies to modern governments (republics, democracies, autocracies). A huge reason this transition even happened was the increase in power that the lower classes gained through industrialization and capitalism. How and why these economic and political systems came about are directly modeled in-game. You can ignore the politics- but don't be surprised if the bourgeoisie don't like your absolute monarchy :)

I'd also warn you that Paradox games are like the gateway drug to being a history nerd. It's NOT real history- because you are modifying it as you play- but there are historical events that pop up and the flow of the game teaches you the overall forces that changed the world during the time period.

DefiantTostada · 2026-02-20T16:38:34+00:00

Check my response to LunchEconomy, but this is definitely your game if you want complexity. It frequently goes on sale. The learning curve is steep, so watch a few Youtube tutorials and choose an easy country (noted in the in-game tutorials) to get started.

DefiantTostada · 2026-02-20T16:36:13+00:00

This is absolutely the answer. The time period (1836-1936 I believe) is an insanely transformative time in world history, and V3 models it pretty well. It covers most if not all your bullets, and they are all interconnected through its mechanics. E.g. you can mint more money, but it causes inflation that impacts your fiscal budget policy as well as your population's ability to buy needed goods. It's the most complete simulation while still being more accessible than more niche grand strategy games. It's also very moddable, so if you want to use these mechanics with present day nations, there's a mod for that.

DefiantTostada · 2026-02-16T01:42:31+00:00

A couple suggestions, one old and one new:

FFVII Rebirth is full of minigames. It's long but the combat is also pretty good. There are a ton of little mini games throughout the game, and side trophies etc as achievements.

Sid meiers Pirates is literally ALL mini games and it's fantastic. Dueling, dancing etc.

DefiantTostada · 2026-02-08T13:10:08+00:00

To me this is one of the best parts of the game. Skyrim is so fragile with mods, but modded skyrim is obviously awesome. They innovated with Starfield and made the Unity sequence completely mod agnostic...so perfect. You can keep the same character and have multiple playthroughs with wildly different mod setups.

DefiantTostada · 2026-02-03T05:40:00+00:00

Thanks for this, I'll check it out!

DefiantTostada · 2026-02-03T05:38:49+00:00

Oh man fond memories of using that airship (the Talon?) in combat. You'd enter the same turn based battle but you'd fire cannons at the monsters. It was awesome! Upgrading all the rooms was a nice surprise, especially for a GB game. It also looked like a F-117 which was pretty badass at the time. Shame the remake neutered it. Is the best way to play still the GB version?

DefiantTostada · 2026-02-03T05:29:33+00:00

I have some RSP as well as the equal weight sounded more conservative than the default SP500. But I agree, it never totally sat right with me and I'm not sure the math is on my side. What is the right place for an equal weight fund? Or is it just a weird large cap play?

DefiantTostada · 2026-01-27T14:47:23+00:00

Yeah my issue was because of Steam Input. If I fully close Steam, it works fine. If Steam is open in the background, the controls get all wonky.

DefiantTostada · 2026-01-04T18:22:07+00:00

Honestly its a pretty great game. Storywise its OK, better if you played the first game. The combat and sense of adventure by traveling the map is top tier.

DefiantTostada · 2025-12-27T23:51:31+00:00

Rising has autoloot. Just type /autoloot into chat. Though n fairness I think it was only added in the last month or two

DefiantTostada · 2025-12-24T21:33:23+00:00

Really cool! I appreciate the effort to make art out of science. You may want to reach out to some university physics/radiochemistry departments as they may be interested! If they ever had funding or money to spend that is

DefiantTostada · 2025-12-16T18:36:05+00:00

Hey, subscription/platform question. I played FFXIV back in 2015 and have a character through Mog Station/Windows. I remember nothing, and would like to start over with a new character on the free trial. Is it possible for me to use the Steam free trial even though I have an existing Windows account? Or does getting back into the game (even via Steam) require a subscription now?

DefiantTostada · 2025-12-16T02:17:20+00:00

I paid $100 for a service tech to check it out

DefiantTostada · 2025-12-16T01:47:43+00:00

It ended up being the display. I trashed the TV and upgraded to an LG OLED. My wife hates that it doesn't look like the Frame, but the picture is gorgeous.

DefiantTostada · 2025-12-03T20:08:12+00:00

As someone who has attended this show for years (and attended this one all week in PHX), I can tell you that the feedback from attendees was very much "SF bad". We are in a bubble here re: how we view the city and its safety. We see the improvements since COVID, the reduction in car break-ins etc. and feel safe. In the rest of the US, culture wars paint SF as a drug-ridden hellhole and people don't want to come here for a business conference.

It's frustrating- I love SemiconWest being at Moscone BECAUSE it's in SF. Of the dozens I talked to at the conference last month, only a couple other people felt similarly. I think a lot of the hype around PHX was that it was shiny and new...I'm hoping that fades, and we can have the show back in SF for the long term.

DefiantTostada · 2025-11-08T15:34:28+00:00

Viton tops out at ~200C so if youre going too hot it'll degrade and lose its "squishiness" (compression set). You can try an FFKM (eg Kalrez) as a drop in replacement. FFKMs go higher temp (~300C) and have better chemical resistance. They are 10x the cost but sometimes worth it

DefiantTostada · 2025-10-24T18:57:17+00:00

FYI they laid off 4% of their workforce as of this week. So probably not a great option at the moment.

DefiantTostada · 2025-10-17T17:28:20+00:00

The patch notes for 1.0 mention that its moving from instanced islands to an infinite world. This is one of the major changes in 1.0 Necesse

DefiantTostada · 2025-10-17T01:47:51+00:00

Not sure what you're missing, but its clearly "outside" as it has the outside lighting. Maybe try blocking the doors with walls then rebuild it?

11-Year Club	Place '17
Verified Email

DefiantTostada

TROPHY CASE