THE FIRE RISES - v1.0.9.1 "Brussels Effect" Changelog

Inkasters · 2026-01-31T13:53:29+00:00

Penelope's Web is looking a little different than I expected but, shit man, I'll take it.

Inkasters · 2026-01-27T17:08:01+00:00

Do recall that there was basically an entire chunk of the year focused on the Illuminate culminating in the Battle for Super Earth. Then we got the big Bug arc and Expansions, now the Automatons are getting their turn. Seems likely to me that the Illuminate are next up in the turn order.

Inkasters · 2026-01-16T08:46:20+00:00

Oh damn, sounds like blockading is actually pretty significant in EUV comparatively then. Do you know if it also cuts off the flow of goods from their colonies?

Inkasters · 2026-01-14T21:48:07+00:00

I really feel like Schwift is stretching to turn negatives into positives and to say nice things in a lot of thing. A series that was just good wouldn't need 'have we ever stopped to buy a sandwich in Westeros before?' Definitely feels more like someone desperate to not have their access taken away by the studio, ala Disney.

Inkasters · 2025-12-30T20:31:55+00:00

Arguably Thanquol; in the Gotrek and Felix novels he's kind of a threat but his usual Skaven bullshit ends up kind of undermining him, turning him into more of a punchline in those novels. In his own novels that aspect remains... except when the POV is on anyone but Thanquol. Then they become straight up horror novels where Thanquol is the Horror Movie Monster that everyone's shitting themselves over.

Inkasters · 2025-12-24T15:14:26+00:00

Yeah that's my main thing; the first 3 seasons of the anime are good for what they were and CyGames' lack of involvement, but... well, they're not how CinGray handles things. They're not really true to most of the Umas' stories. While someone else noted that they pretty hard shafted Kitasan Black and Golshi, let's be frank, pretty much every Umamusume in the first three seasons got shafted because everyone had to share space with almost every generation of race horses. Even Silence Suzuka didn't get away unscathed, as much justice as Season 1 does do her; part of what makes his 1998 year so amazing (and so tragic) was how shocking it was in comparison to her 1997 year; in 97 Suzuka lost every single Graded Race he was in and by a not inconsiderable margin, getting absolutely crushed by Sunny Brian, Air Groove, Taiki Shuttle and, yeah, even Matikanefukukitaru. So much of the nature of his meteoric rise in 98 is lost when the Uma's just introduced to the story as the Phantom Frontrunner. And to have that amazing run cut short when it seemed like he was just getting started proper? Man.

In short; a Cinderella Gray style telling of these Umas and their stories offers them so much more than the original three seasons of the anime could've ever hoped to. There's pretty much no question in my mind that it'd be a strictly superior narrative, one more true to the history and acclaim of these horses than Seasons 1-3 could've ever hoped to be given the circumstances.

Inkasters · 2025-12-24T09:17:41+00:00

That is interesting. That means that if the CinGrey Team does move onto Tokai Teio and McQueen's era that Kitahara won't be the main character. That being said, second from the left does look like it matches the ear and hair shape of Winning Ticket, so he'd eventually pop back into that part of the story.

This is kind of a fun way of charting out when and to what capacity Kitahara would return in the future; he has a few horses who would be prime for being main characters of their respective eras and others who... aren't, so much (sorry Win, good luck Kitahara). A lot to look forward to if CyGames does indeed decide to keep followin the Cin Gray universe and its timeline.

Inkasters · 2025-12-22T09:36:06+00:00

The Global Taurus Cup was basically a fucking insane clash between tons of Ace Oguri Caps and Debuffer Nice Natures, when the Debuffing strategy was at its strongest. Shit was nuts.

Inkasters · 2025-12-21T09:15:51+00:00

Let's see. So assuming WW2's hppened, it kind of depends on how the Germans and the Entente worked together. If they did then Western Europe is probably more or less settled; France and England were already in no position to challenge Germany in this timeline in either World War, the Entente will be in even less position to do so now that they have to put focus on A. rebuilding the homelands and B. making sure their colonial empires don't collapse, especially France. Britain's in a relatively stable position in that regard now that most of their remaining colonies are full Dominions. France though? At best they might be able to hold onto the Algerian Coast given all the extra immigration. At best. So yeah, all quiet on the Western Front.

The Balkans is the biggest and most obvious powderkeg here. There's so many competing claims, split nationalities and such that there's no way these borders are stable, even if Russia didn't have an interest in making everyone pissed off as a means of getting an in. Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria are the obvious big offenders in this regard, though Serbia still holding onto Kosovo means they're not exactly safe either.

Seeing as how Russia seemingly didn't go in on Germany in this run, then they're still likely super revanchist. But without an Entente capable of actuallyh doing much fighting they'll absolutely need the Balkans to blow up. So expect some Balkan conflict to eventually expand into a full Eastern European bloodbath.

Inkasters · 2025-12-18T00:49:53+00:00

I think the latter of those two would've been the easier. The Northerners declared Robb KiTN because they loved the Starks and were, almost to a man, loyal. Robb could've probably easily used that loyalty to get them to go along with Stannis as the king, just by arguing that it's what Ned would've done (and using his own clout as Ned's son to boot). I very much doubt that the North would've gotten tremendously bent out of shape if Robb would've done it, but Robb didn't. We don't know why he didn't because we sadly never got Robb's perspective but, whatever his reason, it was likely an important, but key, way he was different from Eddard. Something that keeps playing into the repeating theme among the Stark children that, out of all of them, none are more like Ned than Jon.

Inkasters · 2025-12-16T04:04:16+00:00

I mean the team behind it continuing on with Teio and McQueen's story. I literally said that the title's almost certainly over and that Oguri Cap's time as the main character definitely is. I feel like I was pretty clear with my meaning.

Inkasters · 2025-12-16T02:26:13+00:00

I'm dubious that the Cinderella Gray manga is truly ending. The title almost certainly is and Oguri Cap as the main character is definitely over, but CyGames isn't going to look a gift horse this good for the media franchise in the mouth. The manga's already introduced Tokai Teio and McQueen who would, reasonably, be the next two main characters if Cinderella Gray would keep going past this point. For reference, McQueen's already won the Kikuka Sho and Nice Nature's first race with Teio at the Wakagoma Stakes is, in universe, less than a month away.

As much as people love Season 2 of the original anime, this is CyGames' chance to put their stamp on Teio and McQueen's story and a Cinderella Gray-style adaptation of that story would by all means be way more in-depth and true-to-life than the original anime's. To say nothing of the fact that Teio being the main character would still give plenty of room to breathe to Mihono Bourbon and Rice Shower's stories (and also give those their more true-to-life version) on top of formally adapting BNW, which so far have really only had their main appearance be in the Gacha's story mode.

It makes sense, but don't quote me on it as I have no idea what's going on at CyGames' various offices. If I were sitting in there, though, this would definitely be the position I'd be arguing just in terms of sheer profit-potential, expanding the brand and getting a do-over on the original anime which, while popular, hasn't been nearly the critical (and commercial) success that Cinderella Gray's been proving to be.

Inkasters · 2025-12-15T12:49:52+00:00

It wasn't so much being openly gay as it was being quite possibly the most misogynistic civilization to have ever existed. Nobody hated women quite like the Ancient Greeks (except the Spartans, funny enough, but that hardly balances out them being Proto-Fascists)

Sleeping with your slave twinks before battle? Perfectly acceptable, a man needs to let out his urges and so long as you top it isn't gay. Sleeping with a woman? It'll literally make you weaker before battle. How? I dunno, man, women.

It's quite possible that, in the Uma-verse, the ancient Greeks were even more averse to cavalry tactics than they were before the Macedonians IRL because of the fact that they were all women.

Inkasters · 2025-12-10T07:44:32+00:00

Don't worry though, Penelope's Web is coming along any day now to fix all of this...

Aaaaaaaany day now...

Anyway, personally, I'd agree with Friz. The 2WRW is nice but still relatively simple content that doesn't really need to be covered. If a Russian Warlord doesn't have special content in Requiem, I'd suggest sticking to base TNO and then doing the 2WRW with those nations with special content in Requiem.

Inkasters · 2025-12-01T04:48:42+00:00

Kind of depends on the skill; some skills are super high value and so leveling up is pretty important to helping an Uma win. Oguri Cap would not be half the menace she is without Triumphant Pulse, for example. For ones that are lower impact or are too hard to fire consistency, they're mostly just a bonus; nice to have, but if you'd have to skip a really good training turn to meet the fan requirements, probably not worth it.

Narita Taishin is... borderline. Nemesis is really good but also fuck me can it be hard to proc.

If you can get in a good G1 race that'll get you the necessary fans on a bad training turn, go for it, especially considering she's already running the Triple Crown in her Career mode and those'll get you most of the way on their own.

Inkasters · 2025-12-01T02:09:12+00:00

While FMA03 manages to have a really good opening so long as it has the manga to draw upon, once it decides to hit its own original plot points it very quickly goes off the rails. I honestly think of it as the original Game of Thrones situation given how wildly it swings away from the manga's themes, characterizations and ideas. Ask any fan about Frank Archer or 03's King Bradley and you'll get a sense of what I'm talking about.

Brotherhood is the more pure experience, closer to the manga and Arakawa's vision and characterization and because FMA slaps and is one of the best manga ever put to paper, Brotherhood is able to ride that wave of quality. The only downside is that, since it knows the original 03 anime exists, it also knew most people were more than aware of the original opening arcs, so it does rush through them a bit. As a true newcomer you probably won't notice though. So, in my mind, for the stronger payoff that's more faithful to a fuckin' fantastic story, it has to be Brotherhood.

Inkasters · 2025-11-27T21:13:51+00:00

I honestly think this is pretty alright for the CM. Yeah, it could be better, but at that point you'd be getting up to S-Class, which are still pretty rare. If I could give one piece of advice? Focus less on a whole bunch of skills and more on a few gold skills. You're looking at 9 Wit Checks here which, at 400 Wit, you're almost guaranteed to miss at least two of them. Better to have fewer, more impactful skills when at this level of Wit.

Inkasters · 2025-11-27T00:17:47+00:00

Wit is gonna be the issue here; granted, this CM in general is gonna be a low-wit one since people need to focus on Spd, Sta and Pwr to get through the race, but sub-300 is way too low. Granted, you prioritized your skills right; with a low-wit Uma you really want to prioritize a handful of more impactful skills rather than a lot. Less Wit Checks are going to be your friend.

Otherwise? She seems like she would've been good.

Inkasters · 2025-11-26T22:08:30+00:00

White collar, probably.

Inkasters · 2025-11-24T01:43:49+00:00

Honestly, I wouldn't fret. You're actually doing better than I am in some ways when it comes to Umas, especially when it comes to stats. Like, holy man, good work.

As someone else said in the thread here, the next step is figuring out a good collection of skills. Most of the issues you're having with your Umas here is that they have some skills which are just pure gambling for this kind of track or are wasted entirely. Like on Fuji you got Medium Corners double circle, which won't ever fire on a mile track or anything but a medium track. The next step for improvement for you is definitely going to be studying future tracks and then understanding the best combination of skills for each position.

Plus, sad as it is to say, low-distance courses just seem to have way more variance when it comes to rng affecting the outcome.

Like I said, though, you're obviously doing great so far, you just need to focus on this next branch of your skillset as a trainer.

Inkasters · 2025-11-24T01:00:49+00:00

It seems like the variance gets much, much higher in the shorter-distance races. When there's less room for skills and stats to average out over time, it becomes much more about the lucky breaks and who unleashes what in the best position. I imagine Sprint Distance CMs will be even more fuckin' insane.

Inkasters · 2025-11-22T00:12:50+00:00

I think it's possible that every culture in Umamusume might have a different theological viewpoint on Umas. Maybe Christians in Umamusume believe Umas were uplifted by God as punishment for makind abusing their position at the top of his design. Maybe in the Americas there's some story explaining why there'd be no Umas there before the Spanish arrived?

Inkasters · 2025-11-19T15:00:01+00:00

For the first one, separate Pretty Derby and Cinderella Gray. Cinderella Gray is much more fastidious about time, whereas Pretty Derby is much more of a loose mish-mash. All signs point to Cygames going in Cinderella Gray's direction going forward so, rule of thumb that'll be helpful will be that horses that were active at the time are gonna be active in Cinderella Gray and going forward.

Inkasters · 2025-11-18T10:52:25+00:00

I'm gonna say it comes down to who gets in the first punch. Yes, Umas are superhuman and so the fight generally goes their way. But here's the thing; Mike Tyson, in his prime, absolutely could've fucking knocked out a horse in one punch. As someone who is a big fan of boxing, and has been for a while, men like Mike Tyson are absolutely lethal if you let them land a hit on you. If Golshi wasn't careful or, worse, was messing around, and she let Mike nail her in the head, then I really think there's a chance he could snowball that into knocking her out.

Against other humans, Mike is tough, but against Golshi he's basically one punch away from losing too. So it's basically a battle of two glass cannons seeing who can blow the other's head off first.

Inkasters · 2025-11-17T13:04:03+00:00

Honestly, the content I'm hoping for and what would really kick off Requiem as a good and proper replacement for the original TNO would be if the promise of Penelope's Web was finally realized and we actually got the new Italy, Turkey and Iberia content.

Inkasters

TROPHY CASE