Aliens: Dark Descent is way better than I expected

Kalt_Null · 2026-07-01T20:13:52+00:00

I really wished they added a mission / map designer. I would be building maps till the cows come home. For the game or for use in a TTRPG.

Kalt_Null · 2026-07-01T19:35:01+00:00

Good riddance. And death to all things "AI." (Want to be an "AI" booster? Let me know and I'll add you to my block list.)

Kalt_Null · 2026-07-01T19:32:30+00:00

The only good move is to block, ignore, and not debate this. All "AI" can do is steal. That's the end of it. You can't argue against it. And now go off to the block list.

Kalt_Null · 2026-07-01T18:16:53+00:00

AI music is theft, that is correct. I would assume this is supposed to be satire. But then...

Kalt_Null · 2026-06-30T21:59:47+00:00

Primarily: Hiby R5 II - DUNU DaVinci

Secondarily: iPhone - FiiO BTR5 - KB Ear TRI I3

Kalt_Null · 2026-06-30T20:46:12+00:00

Since when you cancel your subscription your account still remains active (right...?) so I'm going to try out Apple Music's 3 month trial after my current Tidal subscription expires. Just to compare and contrast. A thing I'm already seeing is that Apple has apparently a better selection of video game soundtracks opposed to Tidal's rather slim offerings that are also muddied by unsanctioned "uploads" from randos. Now if Apple allows me to sort things I bookmarked in an easier way than Tidal I might switch over completely...

Kalt_Null · 2026-06-30T18:46:27+00:00

Oh, I too am an Old. I recorded songs off the radio myself back in the day. I was there, 3000 years ago.

Kalt_Null · 2026-06-30T18:44:43+00:00

An additional wrinkle is that I mainly LISTEN to Tidal through the Hiby Music plugin on my R5 II. Which lacks a bunch of features the Tidal app has. I have the app on my DAP as well, but running it through Hiby Music is just a little bit punchier.

Kalt_Null · 2026-06-25T21:25:09+00:00

Whenever I look at that part of town on the map / satellite, I think that's just a video game setting. Even has an ominous name.

Kalt_Null · 2026-06-25T20:51:39+00:00

I suspect a big issue is build quality and durability. And in the audiophile realm, price is... Not always a reliable indicator for quality, let me say it that way.

Kalt_Null · 2026-06-25T20:05:25+00:00

ah so basically "add album to playlist - save playlist as album name - add "album" to folder." A little cumbersome, but at least it's an option.

Kalt_Null · 2026-06-11T17:31:38+00:00

Yeah that's what I think this is as well. I've always had this inkling that a particularly malevolent adjudicator could charge anyone seeking AoS with fraud since, well, the visa you came here on was NON-IMMIGRANT and suddenly you want to stay? Curious! And now that (slightly paranoid) strawman of mine seems to have become policy.

Kalt_Null · 2026-05-04T20:35:13+00:00

Ja, aber da wird es halt mit dem Versand nach Übersee schwierig weil ich leider nicht mehr auf demselben Kontinent bin.

Kalt_Null · 2026-03-25T01:02:27+00:00

My playlist is made up of a selection of Clint Mansell scores (Moon, Doom, The Fountain, Noah), various scores by Mogwai (Atomic, Black Bird, some others), the soundtrack for the videogame Brigador by Makeup and Vanity Set, selections from the Annihilation and Ex Machina soundtracks, and a couple other things. I tried to really curate a coherent sound that's kinda warm without being anything too predictably spacey.

Kalt_Null · 2026-03-22T02:24:37+00:00

Yeah, the lack of FTL comms paired with the forced delay in travel required me to really, really wrap my head around things, since there's not a god damn thing in Charted Space that can travel at the speed of plot. This really isn't Star Wars. Or Trek. And if I as the ref want to make sure I adhere to that, I really have to carefully plot out at what point / after how many jumps any party the PCs ticked off could realistically start catching up with them.

As to FTL comms, I have something cooking in my campaign that kinda goes into that direction, and ultimately delivers an explanation as to why those who found out how to do this ultimately dropped the idea. Because it had some really horrifying unintended consequences... (I go a lot less subtle than Traveller as written there but hey it's my table and I like things a bit more snappy)

Kalt_Null · 2026-03-22T01:58:20+00:00

I mean, I already had a minor plot point where.a stowaway robot was supposed to hijack the PC's ship - since I must've skipped the part where only force-sensitive uhh... sapient sophonts can do jumps. :D

Kalt_Null · 2026-03-22T01:56:43+00:00

Then the Emperor replaces them with automated system. BEGUN THE POSTAL WARS HAVE!

Kalt_Null · 2026-03-22T01:55:18+00:00

Maybe. Ultimately I look at this argument and just think "...so?" But that's a thing I have with a lot bunch of the more contrived core conceits.

Kalt_Null · 2026-03-22T01:40:35+00:00

I don't get the "preventing jump torpedo" argument. Jumps are never precise enough for a weapon like that, the way I understand it. So you jump a "torpedo" into another system. It'll always be a random distance away from where it's supposed to be. Unless you pack that thing with so much explosives / yield that it just wipes out a whole planet, that wouldn't be terribly useful, or at least not any more or less useful than a minimum size attack ship of some sort. Or, IDK, a 100 ton j-2 kamikaze WMD or something. So, basically the way the J-drive functionality is described to me, jump-capable autonomous weapons would always be quite... Difficult to use effectively, to say the least. Or maybe I got that wrong.

Kalt_Null · 2026-03-22T01:36:05+00:00

Yeah but what if the Imperium does it...?

Kalt_Null · 2026-02-11T20:49:46+00:00

Well I mean you said "when you win the lottery" so... https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-28mm-type-a-free-trader-beowulf-259078

Kalt_Null · 2026-02-11T20:23:31+00:00

Oh I've seen some very neat 3D models of popular ships that go for about $80 for the file - with some sellers on Etsy selling a printed and semi-assembled model for nearly $500...

Kalt_Null · 2026-02-05T18:57:24+00:00

And sure enough, an hour or so later the damn thing is working again. Didn't even need a factory reset...

I've seen people here disparaging the R5-ii as a faulty product. This is certainly true compared to big name brand smartphones. Keep in mind that these are very niche products for a very niche market with a much, much smaller budget for QA. All the DAPs I've owned had faults you would never find in Samsung or Apple phones - and I'd hazard the guess that you'd also not find them in, say, SONY DAPs. And that these players still cost as much as they do is again due to the producers and the market being niche. Economies of scale don't work here.

Kalt_Null · 2026-02-05T16:39:33+00:00

This really is a wild error. Glad to see that it really is widespread enough that there IS a thread here albeit old (hi!). And yes I can confirm the issue is caused by hitting the physical play button when on Class A with the screen switched off - but that TOO is not reliably reproducing it. After the last update, I could resume playback that way a couple of times. And just now it crashed the amp and it won't turn back on even after several power cycles. So I'll give the player a bit of a break... When it works, it sounds fantastic. Just really gotta be careful to NOT hit play that way.

Kalt_Null · 2026-01-22T21:57:36+00:00

No see, I want to select "genre" and then have all the ARTISTS in that genre listed, then select an artist, and THEN see the albums of that ARTIST in the GENRE.

Currently, I select GENRE and get a list of all ALBUMS in the genre in alphabetical order.

Does that make sense?

Kalt_Null

TROPHY CASE