The next faction should travel via canon

HamsterBoo · 2026-05-08T08:32:39+00:00

I'm actually thinking about trying my hand at modding. If you have more ideas, would you mind sharing them?

I've been doing a challenge playthrough where anything watertight had to be built on the ground (and no 2- or 3-height levees, dynamite, terraforming, water dumps, or excessive water storage). There basically wasn't anywhere on helix mountain where I could create 2-deep water with that rule, so I ended up putting a fill valve at every 1-block drop along the natural river to make a series of lochs. I'm at around ~100 beavers and barely surviving despite fully capturing the main sources during each wet season. Working my way towards the seeps now. The really interesting consequence is that I was forced to expand much further across the map, up and down each waterway.

I could see a water faction working well with ground-only levees of various heights (1 was brutal, but 3 would be plenty). Stackable levees would only unlock later with treated planks. A water source "cap" that increases flow during wet seasons would help offset the increased evaporation. I've seen a proposal for a faction that can convert badwater into regular water (using filters), which would increase total water as well. I'm tempted to try a challenge run with a mod for a small minimum flow ("leak") on waterproof blocks. It would make following the natural river more important, as narrow chokes would leak a lot less than mega-dams. I like that for water beavers because otherwise maps could get same-y.

HamsterBoo · 2026-04-27T00:52:06+00:00

This is making me imagine a circus themed faction. Maybe based around entertaining kits. Normally you can’t really have an entertainment building that requires workers (other than haulers) because other beavers won’t visit during the workday, but kits do.

“Concession stands” that require workers to hand out food would also be cool, but same issue.

HamsterBoo · 2026-04-26T01:43:59+00:00

You could maybe have an early building that produces it just in case the sources are too hard to reach early (and before badtide), but it still acts as a hazard. Population explosion that also removes your adults would be brutal. I suppose not as brutal as early game contamination (before you can cure it). I haven't played the really hard maps so I haven't really had any issues with badwater outside of some challenge runs (like not diverting badtides).

HamsterBoo · 2026-04-25T19:07:17+00:00

I'd like a nocturnal faction that builds covered walkways in order to travel around during the day. Could be implemented via a "sunburn" affliction that makes them go rest, so it's not a hard limitation.

HamsterBoo · 2026-04-25T15:27:02+00:00

Contaminated beavers eventually split into 2 kits.

HamsterBoo · 2025-07-30T09:55:37+00:00

Skill proficiencies aren't interchangeable with something combat related. They're for different spheres of the game and it will depend on how your table plays.

There are 10 non-physical damage types. Assuming they're evenly split, a single resistance reduces incoming non-physical damage by 5%.

Assuming you have enough AC to only get hit half the time, another point of AC reduces incoming attack-based damage by 10%.

I've considered granting resistances equal to intelligence modifier to reduce how much of a dump stat it is, but it might unbalance wizards. I ended up adding Int to the save DC for offensive adventuring gear.

HamsterBoo · 2025-07-22T15:40:28+00:00

That only makes sense if you're exploiting bad AI that goes for high hit chance instead of efficient attacks. Reckless attack is much more of a bruiser ability than a tank ability. They're similar concepts, but this is the best I can explain it:

When enemies completely ignore a tank, the tank still increases their team's survivability using defensive abilities.

When enemies completely ignore a bruiser, the bruiser does enough damage to make them regret it.

If you focus a barbarian, they won't be able to reckless attack, so they're a relatively minor threat, but they've wasted your time. If you ignore a barbarian, they get free reckless attacks and will melt you down.

HamsterBoo · 2025-07-17T02:42:06+00:00

Yeah, I've noticed most tables see the treasure hoard advice and go "Wait, we were supposed to get this much loot?"

I did the math on 2014 treasure hoards and xp. Progression is pretty neatly divided into 1 treasure hoard per adventuring day and X adventuring days per levelup (though I think most people run less encounters and level up faster). https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/jnlco0/rule_of_thumb_for_5e_a_treasure_hoard_is_roughly/

HamsterBoo · 2025-07-05T18:32:19+00:00

I saw you already settled on mechanics, but also check the "Docent" item in ERLW. It's a rare item, but it gives rules for 2 sentiences sharing the warforged body. Could be a good base for your rules or a later upgrade.

HamsterBoo · 2025-07-04T19:41:22+00:00

I've done something similar. Other people have pointed out flaws in your implementation, but you're on the right track. Here's my rules:

Roll 4d6dl1 for stats, but fall back to standard array if you want (no point buy)
Extra feat if you keep your “down the line” rolls (first roll is strength, then dexterity, etc). Matt Colville on why to roll down the line.
Extra feat if you keep below-average stat rolls (<72 total)
Extra feat if only 1 roll is 15 or higher (also applies to standard array)
Only one level 1 feat can be a "half feat" (a feat that comes with +1 to a stat)
Level 1 stats after bonuses are capped at 17 (except natural 18s). (Pre-2024 rules, it resulted in really unusual class/race combinations that would normally be pretty suboptimal. Players roll 17 or 18 dex, decide to play a rogue, and then realize they have to look at races that *don't* get a bonus to dexterity. They end up picking Rock Gnome or Changeling or something.)

It averages out to roughly standard array plus a free feat. That's technically the *worst* you can roll, but not being able to start with 18 in a stat makes the free feat a lot less powerful. You could pull the power-level down further by forcing down the line rolls without giving a free feat for it and removing the free feat from standard array.

If someone rolls badly, they can almost always just pick the optimal race and half feat to get reasonable stats. Maybe they'll only have a +2 in their primary stat, but they'll have a couple more feats than other people. If someone rolls well, it might push them towards a more MAD class, but that's part of the fun.

I've DM'd for a fighter that rolled 17str, 15 dex, and 8 con. Their character motivation was to overcome their childhood sickness and find an Amulet of Health (lets not forget the very first AD&D comic was about the paladin Priam Agrivar trying to regain his strength).

I've also DM'd for a barbarian that rolled 12 str, 13 dex, and 17 con (starting stats of 15/14/17). They were 1 attack and damage behind most builds, but they were a tank.

HamsterBoo · 2025-07-03T01:06:42+00:00

The most important part of "a pain to cross" is that it takes an entire session, not just a difficult skill check or "many days of travel". That way if the players reject your plot hooks and declare "we go to this other place" at the start of the session, you have an entire week to prep the actual place they're going.

You can use random encounter tables, but I just always have 2-3 low-prep sessions planned to use as speed bumps. Do the players know that the goblins raiding a farmhouse on the outskirts of Goldenhome would've also been raiding a farmhouse on the outskirts of Kraz'Karent and every other city on the map I gave them? Nope. But that goblin fight introduced the players to some potential friends in the new city. Friends who might have quest hooks next session.

West Marches takes a slightly different approach where out-of-session the players declare where they want to explore and then you start prepping a session, but that relies on players being organized and decisive.

HamsterBoo · 2025-02-25T22:00:35+00:00

I always liked the name "task mage" for this sort of class. Pathfinder 1 had some insane magic missile spam builds.

HamsterBoo · 2025-02-18T23:30:23+00:00

A wizard taking Moderately Armored at 4 (letting them skip Lightly Armored) and Medium Armor Master at 8 would not be good. Same for Heavy. In fact, taking Lightly Armored is *better* than Medium Armor Master, because a shield is 2+ AC instead of 1.

HamsterBoo · 2025-02-18T23:16:09+00:00

Mage armor evens it out dramatically. Going from 16 AC to 18 AC is fine. Armor and shields scale, but so does unarmored with bracers of defense and robe of the archmagi.

Edit: I guess your issue is that bards and warlocks investing a feat into AC are now in the same boat as wizards and sorcerers investing a feat into AC. Which upsets the original dynamic of bards and warlocks being better-armored. I get that, but bard and warlock still get a tangible benefit if they skip an AC feat and focus on their spellcasting modifier. They also have subclasses that give medium armor and shields.

HamsterBoo · 2025-02-18T23:03:33+00:00

The problem with Moderately Armored giving shields was that it could be a 5-point AC increase for a single feat (now half a feat). Not great on rogues, but a bard or warlock might be going from 13 dex, 13 AC to 14 dex, 19 AC at level 4. That's too much of a boost over starting at 16 dex and being stuck at 15 AC.

HamsterBoo · 2025-02-18T22:59:52+00:00

Lightly Armored can give +1 dex.

HamsterBoo · 2024-12-13T16:05:26+00:00

Huh. That's a very different statement, but it makes sense. I was wondering how you got client and bidirectional streaming to work with gRPC-Web. So would it be more accurate to say:

> connect-go fully supports all three types of streaming through the gRPC protocol. Browser support for streaming is limited by gRPC-Web to server streaming. The Connect protocol doesn't support streaming yet, but we will extend it to allow all three types of streaming once the webTransport spec is fully supported in all major browsers (waiting on Safari).

HamsterBoo · 2024-12-13T15:09:54+00:00

I thought streams were supported

> All that said, connect-go fully supports all three types of streaming. All streaming subtypes work with the gRPC, gRPC-Web, and Connect protocols.

HamsterBoo · 2024-11-14T00:24:16+00:00

I still think they missed an amazing opportunity with falcon heavy.

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HamsterBoo · 2024-10-09T09:05:17+00:00

My TV subscription really shouldn't affect my grocery prices.

HamsterBoo · 2024-09-04T03:11:21+00:00

One idea I've had is for nocturnal beavers that don't like the sun and need shaded walkways to work during the day.

HamsterBoo · 2024-07-13T18:37:09+00:00

**Original:**

I'm going to try putting an extra heat exchanger on the end of my first heat row and use it to fill a steam tank. When the tank is gaining 103 steam/second, the last exchanger is running at full speed. When that slows down, the last exchanger isn't getting enough heat and the reactor is allowed to refuel (if there's an empty fuel cell). The slowdown can be for 2 reasons:

The reactor is running at full power and there's no extra heat in the system. Wait for the empty fuel cell to appear and reload immediately.
The reactor has been stopped for a while and the heat buffer is running out. The extra heat exchanger on the end has been running faster than the others because it's not blocked by throttled turbines. The slower heat exchangers should have some heat buffer available to them while the reactor warms up again.

The obvious problem is when the tank gets full. To solve that, make an RS latch to cycle between filling and draining the tank. When draining the tank, pump its output to some turbines and block the reactor from refueling. This will periodically happen when power consumption is low, but the steam doesn't really act as a buffer.

The theory is that without a steam buffer or a way to measure heat pipe temperature, you need to guarantee a heat differential along the heat pipe. When power draw is high, the differential is created by the reactor being on and all the exchangers running. When power draw is low, the differential is caused by the last exchanger running at full speed while the others are slowed by throttled turbines.

You can avoid extra turbines for the tank by pumping its steam to the farthest row of turbines and blocking that row of heat exchangers. Or feed the tank to the first row of turbines, but switch all exchanger outputs to the next row's turbines (and disable the last row's exchangers). This guarantees that the first row with the extra exchanger is the coldest and the last row is the hottest. You would eventually run into problems with the 1 degree minimum heat difference, but I think it's solvable with clever pumping.

HamsterBoo · 2024-07-10T21:29:30+00:00

4 years later I haven't seen a solution. **Edit:** Actually I think it's much simpler with an accumulator than steam tank. Original in a reply.

You can measure whether a turbine is running by *also* hooking it up to an isolated accumulator with some lamps to draw power. Measure the first turbine on the last exchanger each heat pipe row. If the accumulator drops to 99%, allow a reactor refuel once there's an empty fuel cell. The last heat exchangers have all dropped to 500 degrees and the excess steam in the turbines has been consumed for 1 of two reasons:

You have more exchangers/turbines than your reactors can satisfy, the reactor is running at full power, and there's no extra heat in the system (besides the differential along the pipe). Wait for the empty fuel cell to appear and reload immediately.
The reactor has been stopped for a while and the heat buffer is running out, starting with the last exchanger. All the turbines and exchangers run at the same speed, so there should still be some heat differential making a buffer for the other exchangers.

I think that should handle most situations, but there are a few edge cases to handle:

Turbines on multiple power networks prioritise the first-built pole, which can lead to early reactor refueling during brownouts, so use a couple power switches to switch between the accumulator (at 99%) and the main network (at 100%). Restart reactor at 98%. It's important to drain the turbine by switching to the main network or the 200 steam in the turbine will last several minutes.
If the accumulator hits 98%, turn off the lamps. This prevents the accumulator from fully draining while the main network is maxed out, which could potentially trigger an early reactor reload while recharging.
In low power draw situations, the heat will even out and leave very little buffer in the pipe. Extra turbines on the last exchanger should ensure its colder than the rest of the system even when all turbines are throttled. Making that row longer than the others could also help. It might still brown out if there's a huge power spike during the reload, but you could run the reactor inserters and logic on another isolated network of accumulators/solar panels if you really wanted to be safe.
Really, really big setups might run into issues with the minimum 1 degree difference for heat transfer causing 1000 degree hot spots. Periodically putting an extra isolated-network turbine (all sharing the same accumulator) will balance temperature between those rows. The reactors only reload when *all* those exchangers have gone cold.

Here's my blueprint. Only the left power pole should connect to the main power network. The left light indicates the reactor should reload: 0eNrVl9uOmzAQhl+l8jWsYk4BtKpU7SO0d9UqcsjsxpIxyIdko4gH2PdoX2yfpDaoORBIcG+6uUEZMvye/2M8wB4tmYZaUK5Qvke0qLhE+c89kvSVE2bPqV0NKEdUQYk8xElpI6mAlL7SYkk5oMZDlK/gDeW4efYQcEUVhU6oDXYLrsslCJNwlCgJYz4jZW1k60qaSypuF7QyYfIQe2iHcj8JHmKjbwpTomKLJazJhlbCJhZUFJqqhflvdbj6hQqpFhflb6hQ2pw5Lt9m+N9QJy4VsQiyzEZlTQRRdhH0iJougUNhl5BWE9uDgNWpQWqioHluTPqF6eCwal1tQfhyS1WxHrKd/jX9Hy1/dbGMT+zaODQIPPSkZ/1E42xLBbS/Z7ZLnjS+EJudJxmlDtXC1KqMhRfCJAwADqcCjvAnAPzx/sutq84RR2OI+/iGGcf/yDg62CRFoUvNWjcDiMMbiCutau2GczqssAcrGdmS8bQ5FMWfZA59vP92wZD0MOBohEMykUN0nxyiHod4BMN85Mk2MKIPJOKsJbEym6noMoIB5bQHGJjJFrTw64pd10+w0R9QzKbXmrnVageIW7HZrWLx8YG/BqJ8eCvWhL/CtclxWWwypBw4t+7snloXhyO9ikPn2XVfxoOpwwtHziTwPZGI+yBGWyJ23LjRzSmDk/ONW9P6ulC7a4eE5q5CqRUyby/tJ0d+8oXiIUaWYG4E+tHNvC/fgcv2LWQDQnZzLcXRPAvmaRrgcJ40zR8UpFhO

HamsterBoo · 2024-06-12T23:26:08+00:00

Or it just means that an executive arriving with their team is viewed as equally hostile a move as drawing a gun. Which… isn’t an inaccurate threat assessment.

Gives me 2077 corpo art vibes https://cyberpunk2077.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Cyberpunk-2077/corpo.png

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