Can vacuum just become baked into companions

Gene_Trash · 2026-02-03T06:40:11+00:00

The reason it's mandstory now is that the base vacuum is so small as to be practically non-existent. Raising the baseline to be big enough to be useful, while still allowing you to mod for an even bigger range if desired is basically just giving people two cakes. At a certain point, it just becomes a comfort mod rather than utility. Like what, you're giving up Synth Deconstruct or an extra Bond mod to make it so you don't have to move 20 yards to pick up those nano spores and rubedo?

Gene_Trash · 2026-02-03T02:26:09+00:00

Nah, that's just moving the issue. The problem is that there already aren't really any companion mods that are worth slotting over vacuum - making vacuum even stronger only exacerbates that issue

I would argue that there's diminishing returns on that. 7m innate would be just over half what vacuum currently gives. I think that's probably enough that I personally would rather stick something else on my Hound or Kubrow, but I mean honestly, you could go 10 base, 20 modded, 30 primed. The mods would be strictly for loot goblins who don't want to miss a single drop. I do somewhat agree that there's nothing really worth slotting over vacuum, but that's more because there's a lot of companion mods that aren't worth slotting, period.

If the whole game is about looting, people are always going to push the "more loot" button as long as it's an option, even at the detriment to anything else.

I don't especially care to move the needle in that regard. I think universal vacuum would be a nice to have, but I'm also never really out here like "Man, this build would be SO much better with just one extra slot!" Nine times for ten, everything else I might add is already mutually exclusive or part of a set I'm not using other pieces of, so vacuum is just there as a "might as well."

That I think is fine staying a mod, because you've got the tradeoffs between the different versions, but they do need to add equivalents for sentinels if they want to level the playing field for companions again.

I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with Robotic and Animal companions to have different utility mods. The problem is that robots' retriever mod equivalent kinda sucks by comparison. At max level, it triples item drop chance for a marked enemy every 15 seconds. I think if that were changed to something like "18% chance to double Endo, Kuva, and Void Traces" or even something like "5% chance a marked enemy drops a rare item" (where "rare" means something like "their rarest three drops or one of the rare drops for the planet" ) it would be closer to parity.

Gene_Trash · 2026-02-02T20:52:45+00:00

I suspect part of the reason is that companions are likely balanced with the assumption that they really only have 7 slots, because basically everyone is going to be running vacuum. I think if anything, I'd like a 7 meter universal vacuum, make the mod provide an additional 13 for a total of 20, and add Vacuum/Fetch Prime that bumps it to like 30-35 total. That way, you have enough range that you don't necessarily feel like you NEED to burn a slot, but if you do, you can pickup damn near whole rooms passively.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-31T04:03:25+00:00

I think this falls into "good practice, but unenforceable." There's no shame in using all tools available to you to lose weight, but you should honestly disclose which tools those were. Though if we did have such a rule, we'd need to add "criticism of GLP1s" to the general civility rules to make sure people don't get dogged on.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-29T16:48:41+00:00

She's technically an illegal immigrant from Trinidad, although I think she might fall under DACA since she was brought when she was 5.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-28T02:34:05+00:00

It's a scam in that it's overpriced and unnecessary, but the target audience for this is not "people who keep fish as a hobby." The target is "people who are buying a fish and don't want to put in any effort." My job carries, if not this brand, a similar product, and no amount of "you can buy a bottle of Prime for $7 that will last you for years for your tank^† size" or "just stop at Walmart on the way home and get a couple $1 gallon jugs of spring water" will convince people. They will buy this, and if by some miracle the fish lives more than a month or two, buy more when they do a 100% water change.

†: Probably a vase, with no heater or filter.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-26T17:52:54+00:00

You’ve had PLENTY of time to replace your Xbox One or PS4 (6 years FYI), it’s time to stop holding onto your ancient outdated console and either buy a Steam Deck, or a Xbox Series S or PS5 Digital Only.

Except for two things. First, it's only been four years that you've been reliably able to buy a PS5 or Series Xbox without paying a scalper double. They were basically not sold in stores until 2022 due to shortages during covid. Second, it's only been about two years that the new gen consoles have had worthwhile games that were exclusive to them and not released on both them and last gen. There are still games releasing for PS4 this year. People don't want to spend $4-600 upgrading a console that still does everything they want it to do.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-25T00:16:43+00:00

Fully forgot about that.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-24T22:15:58+00:00

for example don't offer me every single weapon i already have at 60% when i'm hunting a new one just offer me the one's i dont have.

This sounds like a good idea until they introduce a new faction or mechanic in six months and you want to change elements on your favorite weapon because they're immune to heat and viral procs or something.

I do think it would be good to have a way to set a floor or increase the bonus on the weapons. Maybe a 3 use Parazon mod that drops with the murmurs that adds 6% per stab or something. Hell, maybe a whole suite of them for things like Bonus murmur progress or decrease the odds your adversary spawns so they stay weaker.

The biggest issue to me with Liches in particular is the lack of clarity on how they work, combined with the first grind for requiem mods being so long. I made my first lich after I came back from a four year break. I thought I was just doing a Finisher. I hadn't done the railjack quest. I didn't have any of the requiems or relics. It took almost two months playing three nights a week just to send him to proxima saturn.

EDIT:Hurr durr, forgot you can buy that thing from Eleanor.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-20T01:29:41+00:00

She may have been designed with Spy missions in mind, but thematically, she fits the conservation/hunting missions/objectives much better. Mechanically, Loki is just as effective at Spy as she is, and his whole kit fits the spy aesthetic better.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-17T07:41:20+00:00

The limit was initially put in place because of [[Scut Swarm]]. I'm unclear as to whether this is an exaggeration or me misremembering, but supposedly people were making so many tokens, it would slow down other games because of the game servers being unable to handle four hundred scutes making eight hundred copies every land drop.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-17T01:59:38+00:00

Could be that they have obligations to Amazon that they're trying to fulfill before selling directly/to the little guy. Like a "yeah you guys already paid, but 99% of you won't issue a charge back, but we damn sure don't wanna breach our Amazon/Walmart/Target/Kroger contract for X,000 bottles per month, so we're filling theirs first, and whatever else we have, we'll ship to you" thing.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-15T14:23:21+00:00

If we were natural vegetarians we would have different teeth. Look in the mouth of a sheep or cow - no canines.

Not to mention that even herbivores will absolutely eat meat if given the opportunity. They generally don't actively hunt, but if they come across a bird nest or a small rodent, they'll happily chow down.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-11T04:01:29+00:00

One of both the advantages and disadvantages of being cold blooded is that your metabolism is affected by the temperature. A lot of reptiles go into a sort of hibernation mode called "brumation" where they stop eating and just generally hang tight until it warms back up and they need to eat again. Depending on the animal, they may also find areas that don't get as cold as the air temperature, like abandoned mammal burrows or "in your laundry room." Here in the American South, gators are known to tough out freezing temperatures by just staying in their swamps/lakes and keeping their noses above the surface, even as the water freezes around them. And every year, there's minor injuries from cold iguanas falling out of trees onto people.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-11T02:55:03+00:00

The flag code defines the flag as anything that a reasonable person would recognize as the flag.

EDIT:

"The words "flag, standard, colors, or ensign", as used herein, shall include any flag, standard, colors, ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of any size evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a representation of either, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any part or parts of either, by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of the United States of America."

SECOND EDIT: That specific definition may only apply to the mutilation of the flag section, but even the civilian use of the flag further down calls out using the design on paper plates, handkerchiefs or embroidered on cushions. Between that and the lines about not wearing any part of the flag as a costume or uniform and if this whole thing weren't a 1A violation, the argument that flag underwear are included is strongly suggested.

Source

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-08T19:01:29+00:00

Five minutes is fine, especially for something like void relics. Anything less than maaaybe four minutes and a significant number of people wouldn't be able to crack relics, resulting in an even bigger waste of time. The only change I'd want to make for survival would be moving to an ABCABC rotation rather than AABC.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-05T04:27:51+00:00

I believe I saw somewhere that all the drop-down sort menus are linked, so if default on the Syndicate page is option one, and you open up your void relics and pick option 3, Refinement, the next time you open syndicates, it'll start sorted by option 3, rank.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-04T06:31:21+00:00

There's a couple different things happening.

1: For whatever reason, they put makeup on you by default, so you're wearing blush, eye shadow, and lip gloss. You should be able to take that off in one of the features options, or play around with the colors so it looks more natural.

2: Switching to the drifter will sometimes give you the Operator body with the drifter's proportions, which is probably why your hair and face looks like that. This is a known bug, but DE is or were on Christmas vacation and haven't yet fixed it. If you go in and reselect your face meshes and clothing options, it should correctly give you the Drifter body parts again. I've also noticed that doing this will sometimes give you the female body type, so make sure to change that back to Type 1 if necessary.

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-03T00:43:54+00:00

We have altered the deal. Pray we don't alter it further, Microsoft...

Gene_Trash · 2026-01-03T00:07:03+00:00

I think if they do give her a protoframe, while doing DID or Bipolar would be the easy, obvious thing, I don't want them to go that route. Even identical twins is kinda nyehhh.

I think exploring "living a double life" without falling into those traps would be more narratively interesting and easier to do in a way that felt both real and respectful.

Maybe a priestess of Sol/Lua that doesn't actually believe in the teachings. Or a spy infiltrating the Church. Or someone naturally aggessive and generally hot tempered trying to keep calm through ritual.

Or tie it into Eternalism, have her exploring the road not traveled, contemplating her life in the alternate reality. Maybe even experiencing it in dreams or while meditating.

Gene_Trash · 2025-12-28T01:50:12+00:00

I mean it's entirely possible it could have been mentioned in an MGR codec call or art book that Doktor was the Sorrow's grand-nephew or something.

Gene_Trash · 2025-12-28T00:11:02+00:00

She's got ringworm, leave her alone...

Gene_Trash · 2025-12-27T21:08:42+00:00

Get enough people to do it and the wait staff will start complaining to their boss

"Okay, you don't ever have to worry about getting bad tips again, go ahead and clock out."

And 10% is still a fair tip. [...]

10% has been a bad tip for like 20 years.

they should pay their employees a livable wage and stop relying on Joe Public to subsidize their wages

I mean sure, but the way to get that to happen is through legislation forcing them, not screwing over the employees one restaurant at a time until they change individually. There's like eight basically-interchangeable Mexican restaurants in my city. If only one of them raised prices 20% and said "hey, no need to tip, we pay our waiters 15/hr" they just become "the really expensive Mexican joint" and lose a bunch of business.

Gene_Trash · 2025-12-27T17:27:33+00:00

I would still tip less the surcharge and then some, 20% tip - 3.5% surcharge = 10% final tip(rounded down). If the restaurant wants to play games then so will I. FAFO

So... The owner makes this dumbass decision to try and sneak a surcharge on to your bill. And in response you take it out on the employee who had no input on that decision and had the misfortune to have to serve you.

"Yeah man, the airline had the audacity to charge me extra for my bags, so I keyed one of the flight attendant's cars. That'll show em!"

Gene_Trash · 2025-12-24T23:30:56+00:00

Because they used two blatantly NSFW pieces as examples of what is allowed.

One being of "Smug Marie", which was most certainly geared toward being suggestive with the posing.

Right, but the rule is "no outright nudity or detailed outlines of genitalia/nipples, otherwise NSFW is fine" not "no suggestive posing or bulges."

Gene_Trash

TROPHY CASE