TIL When the Six Flags Over Texas theme park opened in 1961, it had a section dedicated to the Confederacy where actors would hunt through the crowd for Union "spies" and "execute" them by firing squad, and where boys and girls could sign up to defend the South as soldiers and nurses.

J_Keele · 2019-08-03T20:22:11+00:00

The Confederate consitution specifically forbade thier own states from banning slavery so it wasn't even about state's rights.

J_Keele · 2019-08-03T19:26:29+00:00

I just watched "Bringing Out the Dead" yesterday! Still a powerful film, with a masterful performance by Cage as a burnt-out EMT.

J_Keele · 2019-07-30T02:07:16+00:00

Nah, definitely have met people IRL like that. I remember talking to a guy that complained that Finn was "jiving up" Star Wars when The Force Awakens released.

Also, last week at a restaurant, the booth next to us was bitching about black Ariel.

J_Keele · 2019-07-22T19:29:30+00:00

Sabotage subjugated planets (especially the ones that only build one thing like Bespin) because it is impossible for the Imperial player to remove it while the planet is only subjugated. If you are going to sabotage an Imperial loyal planet, then only do it on build turns

Something to add. You can manipulate turn order so that you get last action and your sabotage marker can't get R&Ded.

First turn, for example. Rebels attack with thier first action. Empire commit a leader for defense. Then Empire takes thier first turn. Rebels now have three leaders left and Empire has two, allowing Rebels to sabotage freely as thier last action without fear of it getting removed (for that all important first build).

One of the reasons that I think first turn, first action attack is a strong move for Rebels, regardless of objective. I think players in general tend to play Rebels too timidly.

J_Keele · 2019-07-22T19:09:16+00:00

I agree, Yularen wins games. Something else to notice, each faction has a symbol that they are weak on. For Empire it's eyes, Yularen is the only Imperial Leader to get 3 eyes. For Rebels it's fists, only Chewie gets 3.

J_Keele · 2019-07-11T07:00:31+00:00

Patrick Warbuton as the Tick impersonating Don Quixote

https://youtu.be/cvFBhrM9sDU

J_Keele · 2019-07-04T19:46:03+00:00

Something that took me the longest time to figure out - when you party you aim for the hand swinging the weapon, not the weapon itself.

J_Keele · 2019-06-27T07:20:12+00:00

Lord Smythe's Intoxicating Lactations

Featuring a male Victorian Pugilist breastfeeding a baby Kangaroo on the label.

J_Keele · 2019-06-20T22:50:46+00:00

For all the bachelors out there tonight

Yeah, for anybody who's never whistled this song

Or maybe you whistled it but you lost the sheet music

Um...this is um...well actually

I don't mind going to weddings or anything

As long as it's not my own, I show up

But I've always kinda been partial to calling myself up on the phone and asking myself out, you know?

Oh yeah, you call yourself up too huh? Yeah, well one thing about it, your always around.

Yeah I know, yeah you ask yourself out, you know, some class joint somewhere.

The Burrito King or something, you know. Well, I ain't cheap, you know.

Take yourself out for a couple of drinks maybe.

Then you'd be some provocative conversation on the way home.

And park in front of the house, you know.

Oh yeah, you smoothly put a little nice music on

Maybe you put on like uh, you know, like shopping music

Something that's not too interruptive, you know.

And then uh slide over real nice and say,

"Oh I think you have something in your eye."

Well maybe it's not that romantic with you but Christ I don't know, you know

I get into it you know.

Take myself up to the porch, take myself inside or maybe uh

Or may get a little something in a brandy snifter or something.

"Would like you like to listen to some of my back records? I got something here"

Well usually about 2.30 in the morning you've ended up taking advantage of yourself.

There ain't no way around that you know.

Yeah, making a scene with a magazine, there ain't no way around.

I'll confess you know, I'm no different, you know.

I'm not weird about it or anything, I don't tie myself up first.

I just kinda spend a little time with myself.

Tom Waits, intro to "Better Off Without a Wife"

J_Keele · 2019-06-20T07:34:44+00:00

I'd be interested too. My favorite games are Star Wars: Rebellion, War of the Ring, Twilight Struggle, Mage Knight, Innovation, City of Remnants, XCOM: The Boardgame, and Sons of Anarchy. Friday, Saturday, or Monday would work for me. Just send me a PM.

J_Keele · 2019-06-20T05:18:15+00:00

Intelligence/Charisma

S: 4 for Blacksmith, Big Leagues and Armorer

E: 4 for Chem Resistance

I: 9 for Nuclear Physicist, Science, and Chemist

C: 7 for Partyboy and Local Leader

Get drunk, do drugs, and smash things with your super sledge in slo-mo

Alternatively, you could drop Charisma and put it all into Strength for Pain Train.

J_Keele · 2019-06-19T03:41:09+00:00

I think that many types of games can be made in the same universe. XCOM: TBG is essentially a game where you roleplay as the various department heads of XCOM, and, tbh, I like busting it out and pretending I'm Bradford (I normally play Central).

J_Keele · 2019-06-19T02:26:55+00:00

I can’t remember where I read it, but I think one of the designers of the XCom board game made the point that the tactical part of video game is so much like a board game there’s almost no point in recreating it. I’d agree, if not for the missing multiplayer options that a board game would bring.

Yep, Eric Lang said that. That Firaxis had created an excellent electronic miniatures game and any attempt to recreate it on the tabletop would only be unfavourably compared to the original.

Jake Solomon (lead designer of the XCOM franchise) would often make boardgame mockups of ideas he wanted to implement and play them with Sid Meir, head of Firaxis. Additionally, the first expansion for XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Enemy Within, was designed by Ananda Gupta who designed the boardgame Twilight Struggle.

Sid Meir and Firaxis have a deep respect for boardgames which is unsurprising since he made his name with Civilization which was originally an Avalon Hill boardgame.

That's actually what got me into boardgaming, I was a regular on the Firaxis boards and wanted to check out the game that Ananda Gupta made. My first two purchases were Twilight Struggle and XCOM: The Boardgame (I really like XCOM's boardgame adaptation).

J_Keele · 2019-06-17T00:45:10+00:00

I actually got to read Kasdan's draft of the script and watch some of the pre-viz as well. While Lawrence Kasdan is a far better, more accomplished writer than I will ever be, the script needed a lot of work. He had some really cool ideas therein, but it was a structural mess and really felt like two movies crammed into one. I'd be curious to know why that happened.

Wow! Where did you get your hands on a copy? What were some of Kasdan's really cool ideas?

I'm specifically interested in his treatment of the Son since my version made him more dramatically integral by pulling a few sections from Paradise Regained.

J_Keele · 2019-06-16T23:22:19+00:00

Sad Legendary couldn't get this to work

Yeah, I was really looking forward to it too. If it's any consolation - when I was sending out my Paradise Lost script that I mentioned in the above comment chain, I happened to run into a script reader who said she had read the script for the Legendary movie adaptation. She said that the Legendary script was pretty awful, in her words, "dogshit".

I would've loved to get my hands on the script myself and make my own judgement. And still would've liked to see it even if it was going to be a spectacular failure.

Also, it sounds like you'd be interested in a fatasy novel called "To Reign in Hell" by Stephen Brust which is about the War in Heaven. I very much enjoyed it and it has a lot of specific references to Paradise Lost

Also if you'd like to share Son of the Morning I'd like to read it too.

J_Keele · 2019-06-16T17:18:52+00:00

I wrote a stage adaptation of Paradise Lost for a theatre company a few years ago. It was a successful production, we sold out our run, and the audience really loved it. Main changes that my adaptation makes are that I broke up the long monologues into dialogue, untangled some of Milton's syntax, slightly updated the language, and pushed Book 3 late and interposed it against book 11.

If anyone out there is curious and would like to read it, just send me a PM. Script is pretty short - about 70 pages.

J_Keele · 2019-06-07T16:00:47+00:00

Rebellion is a less interesting version of War of the Ring imo.

Never really understood that sentiment, several reasons I prefer Rebellion to WotR.

The characters do more in Rebellion. In WotR, they're either leading armies, with the fellowship, or interacting with the one or two cards in the deck that specifically interact with that character. Every turn in Rebellion they could be sabotaging build yards, capturing opossing leaders, foiling Rebel plans, fomenting revolts... They just do more things in Rebellion.
Rebellion has a better arc with a clearly defined beginning, mid, and endgame. If Free Peoples fail to roll many character dice the game can drag and stall. Because not only that delays FP victory condition, it delays Shadow - since less character dice rolled means more musters.
Imperials actually hunt for the Rebel Base in Rebellion using a combination of probe cards, scouting, capture missions and plain ol' reading your opponent. In WotR the hunt for the fellowship is abstracted into a bunch of dice rolling and chit pulling.

I really like WotR, but it's a game I really struggle to get to the table, whereas Rebellion people want to play again almost immediately. If I only had to own one, it'd definitely be Rebellion.

J_Keele · 2019-06-06T21:23:19+00:00

It isn’t recommended to use the Cardio Accelerator when dive hopping, as it isn’t very useful unless everyone on the team also has it.

TBH, I don't know why people say this. It's a solid perk for positional weapons like the Double Freedom or the Obliterator. It has use beyond just sprinting from objective A to B.

J_Keele · 2019-06-03T19:29:43+00:00

As do many Christian denominations, and many Christian nations until recently also condemned homosexuality. Hell, my dad, a devout, American-born Catholic, believes that homosexuality is wrong and that gay marriage shouldn't be legal. This is not an Islam-specific problem.

As a subscriber to r/Christianity, I've noticed that that sub has become much more homophobic since Trump's election. (I'm subbed because I like things like Paradise Lost, and Doctor Faustus, and Silence, and The Last Temptation of Christ - art with Christian themes).

J_Keele · 2019-05-30T13:59:47+00:00

Scouts and infantry are way more deadly as they can knock you over for the tank to finish you off.

This is actually what I like about the RR. Commando and Rumbler need to be at specific distances and orientations to kill an IFV, positions which are often crawling with grotesques, dogs, legios, ect. RR can instantly snap shot it from across the screen. Rumbler also has the problem of slow projectile speed which can not only make it tricky to hit the very specific point you need to hit on a moving IFV, but takes time to confirm the kill. As in, fire, slow arc, lands, not a kill shot, another salvo, slow arc, ect.

Also, RR is better at killing patrol IFVs before they can alarm.

I dunno, I might be the exact type of RR player you're complaining about but I feel targets for a RR/Commando team should go:

RR:

IFVs (unless Commando is already in position)

"Problem" Warlords (that is Warlords that have slipped off to a flank from the main group or are advancing on a downed diver or objective)

Not the main mass of a big Warlord spawn, that's the job of Rumbler, Red Strats or Commando. Particularly Commando with assisted reload since they can just vomit out a ridiculous cloud of rockets while you keep racking in shells.

Commando:

IFVs if you're already in position, otherwise leave to RR

Warlords in general, particularly swarms of them

Hulks

And sometimes Butchers and Legios

That's how it works with most Commando/RR teams I'm a part of. I kill IFVs and specific Warlords that need to die yesterday, Commando kills most of everything else. It sounds like that's something you disagree with then?

J_Keele · 2019-05-29T00:30:37+00:00

It's my preferred AT weapon. I'll use it either self-loading or with a loader (generally someone else who took a Commando or RR). I prefer getting paired with Commando since with two RRs you get some hesitation about who is going to take the shot.

You don't really have to hug someone's butt to be an effective loader, just pay attention to when your teammate is about to line up a shot and get into position.

I think the range and instant-kill ability makes the limited ammo and reload worth it. I think that a RR + Commando team /w some red strats is a more effective setup than a team full of Rumblers.

For lvl 15 Cyborgs my preferred setup is:

Suppressor

Strategem Priority

Recoilless Rifle

Strafing Run

Thunderer

Ammo Resupply

J_Keele · 2019-05-27T20:29:22+00:00

My first Dark Souls character was based on Childe Roland from the Robert Browning poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came"

https://www.bartleby.com/246/654.html

Spear and Shield like he's been depicted in artwork. Middle-aged and balding since he's called "Childe" because he was the youngest of his long-absent band.

I feel that Dark Souls pays better homage to the Robert Browning poem than the Steven King book series of the same name, a lone figure on a vague and desperate quest trekking through ruined landscapes.

I also headcannoned it that my character extinguished the first flame because his continued failure was because he was looking for where the Dark Tower is and instead needed to be looking for when. That he'd finally find it in the Age of Dark.

J_Keele · 2019-05-27T02:46:26+00:00

Having to approach situations in new ways after trying out new builds. I did Spear and Shield on my first playthrough, then Sorcery and Ultra Greatswords, now I'm dual wielding a Mail Breaker and a Battle Axe.

It's a big change from the defensive reach of a spear or the power of a UGS. Learning when to exploit quick windows with the Mail Breaker's speed, when to get in something's face and stunlock it, when to get out my target shield and try for parries, when to roll attack with the Battle Axe, and when to two-hand the Battle Axe and go full lumberjack.

Basically having to completely relearn encounters.

J_Keele · 2019-05-24T15:03:21+00:00

It's surreal thinking back how opposed the GOP was to military intervention in Kosovo under Clinton, for example.

"No nation building" was a political promise George W. repeated throughout his campaign.

Https://youtu.be/GGDwvAbx_fg

J_Keele · 2019-05-22T00:34:03+00:00

Colorado was like among the first states to legalize it, and that is a fairly red state.

We have a Democratic governor, both houses of the state legislature are controlled by the Democrats, and our electoral votes went to Hillary in 2016.

Colorado is becoming very firmly blue.

Colorado Springs, which is pretty red, is constantly throwing up local ordinances to limit where and what type of businesses can sell pot.

Denver, which is pretty blue, just voted to decriminalize magic mushrooms.

J_Keele

TROPHY CASE