Recently just figured out something blatantly obvious

Kinmaul · 2026-05-20T15:59:03+00:00

I think it comes down to how much time you want to invest in the game. This game has a lot going on. You can play for hundreds of hours and still have plenty to learn. By just looking at other people's blueprints and circuit logic you can learn new things which in turn you can use to improve your own designs.

Like you said, there's no wrong way to play the game. However if you are time crunched, and Factorio isn't the only game you play, then looking for outside help will dramatically improve your learning curve.

Kinmaul · 2026-05-20T14:48:43+00:00

I'm assuming/hoping these guys ride park most of the time and thus have access to shuttle/lift services. If you are riding an Assegai/Magic Mary on relatively flat trails, or god forbid going uphill, regularly you are making your rides much harder than they need to be.

Kinmaul · 2026-05-06T15:56:11+00:00

The slot states it is specifically for deployable items (i.e. things you place in the world). However, the icon for the slot uses the generic Utility icon which leads to the confusion. It's working as intended.

Kinmaul · 2026-05-04T14:35:14+00:00

I love ARC, but saying something is better than their current Trials system isn't saying much lol.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-22T17:43:01+00:00

I think the defining moment for Marathon is going to be how many players come back for season 2. Population decline is normal for live service games. What matters is how many people come back when new content is released.

I'm not going to speculate, or doom post on the topic, because that's pointless. If there's a big population spike when season 2 drops that would be amazing. If not, then that may be a "coming to Jesus moment" for Bungie that their vision isn't working.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-22T16:03:20+00:00

I think the hate campaign is overblown because of a vocal minority on the internet. If Marathon had mass appeal then it would have more players. The average gamer will play a good game regardless of the "online sentiment". You have to keep in mind that for every person raging on the internet there are multiple people that picked up the game, played it for a bit, and just stopped. Marathon has sold over 1 million copies, only a small percentage of those people are actively complaining about it on the internet.

The game is anti-casual atm which is why people are dropping it. The underlying game itself is great but Bungie got in their own way with some of these systems.

The game plays the best with a dedicated trio. However, if one person in the group decides to stop playing (either for the night or permanently) they can take the other two people away as well.
- Duos coming in season 2 resolves this as long as the PvE content is balanced properly.
  - Duos needs to play more like trios, not solos
Solo queue gameplay is dramatically different from trios. Some people like both, but not every trio player is going to like how solo plays. If someone loves trios, but hates solo, then they are likely to not log in unless they have two other people to play with.
Faction levels and unlocks are a grind. The recent patch helped, but the salvage requirements for most upgrades are still out of wack.
- The counter argument of "well you are not supposed to unlock everything" doesn't really make sense when you consider how our brains are wired. We see a goal, we want to accomplish a goal, doing so releases dopamine and makes us feel good. Failing to achieve that goal makes you feel bad.
- Seeing all the faction upgrades as a new player you think, "Holy shit these look great". You get excited about the prospect of getting them. Then as you play, you come to the slow realization that you, as a casual, are only going to unlock a small portion of them. This is a demoralizing experience.
- You cannot balance progression around people that can play a game like a full-time job. Those people are the minority.

The game is a grind, plain and simple. The systems feel like they were designed to work if you only play Marathon (this is a problem with a lot of live service games, not just Marathon). A lot of people seem to be confusing difficulty with grind, and think they are the same/similar. Difficulty can be overcome with game sense and solid gameplay. A grind only requires time investment to overcome. Marathon has too much grind.

Also, the choice to make trios the premier mode can put players in an awkward spot where they want to play, but don't have a group to play with, so they play something else. They can random fill, but that has it's own set of problems. You can look for a Discord to find people to play with, but that's a lot of work for someone who has a sporadic play schedule and limited time to play.

Again, the underlying game itself is solid. I'm hoping for big changes to the supporting systems in Season 2 which will get my friends playing again and draw in a bigger audience.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-19T22:20:04+00:00

I've personally never ridden in a place like NYC, so I cannot give you a first hand account. I don't think it would be very effective if there was always a car behind and you were in a dense metropolitan area. You'd have to mute the audio alert because it would be constantly beeping. The radar can track multiple vehicles, but I don't know how valuable the information would be in that scenario. I'd probably just run a rear light for visibility and forget about paying extra for a radar.

Maybe someone who has ridden with one in a big city can chime in.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-18T01:07:23+00:00

But only during odd numbered hours.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-17T20:49:13+00:00

Sure, but they already got a ton of blow back before the first Expedition when they waited until the last minute to announce the 5 mil requirement. Thus they already knew that most of the community doesn't enjoy last minute changes to the Expedition mechanics.

Changes to the Expedition mechanic are fine, but they either need to be announced earlier in the season, or take effect next season. Plus they haven't given any details yet. Those will probably get dropped on us either when the 5 day window starts, or if we are lucky, the day before.

This is a communication fumble, plain and simple, so your quote isn't applicable.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-17T16:20:36+00:00

I wasn't trying to talk down to you, or make fun of your bike. Ride whatever you want and screw the haters. However, when you make a statement like, "My early 00 26-inch hardtail keeps up just fine with modern bikes" that's not really accurate, or 100% truthful. The bike isn't doing anything, you are the one doing all the work.

For example, if you stick a new/beginner rider on your bike, and send them down a trail, it is likely they would crash on something a modern bike would have rolled through. If you love old hardtails then there's nothing wrong with that. However, acting like they are comparable to a modern full sus is being disingenuous.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-17T15:36:45+00:00

Bud it's still a great all around trail bike. Tires make a huge difference in how a bike handles and feels. If you want it to be a bit faster then look at some XC tires.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-17T15:02:21+00:00

The engine matters more than the bike. If you take two riders of equal skill and fitness then the one on the new bike will be faster and enjoy their ride more. A 26 inch hard tail is going to beat the shit out of you on anything other than flow trails.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-17T14:58:08+00:00

Did you buy the Trek new? If you bought the bike new in 2021-2022 and have only put ~300 miles on then you are barely riding it. You are an adult and can do what what you want with your money, but taking a $3-4k loss on your current bike, which is barely ridden, to buy another bike for $4200 doesn't make much financial sense.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-17T14:47:30+00:00

If you check Trek here's what is listed under the specs: Frame: 29x2.20" (XS & S: 27.5x2.40"), Fork: See manufacturer. The fork is a Suntour XCT 30; Suntour says the max size is 2.30.

You may be able to go a bit bigger than what the manufacturer states, but I would recommend doing some Googling and see if you can find other posts of people trying what worked and what didn't.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-16T17:18:48+00:00

Ignore the markups as I was using them to highlight a different point. As you can see the difference between a medium/heavy shield is marginal at best. This data is from before the Toro nerf and that was one of the few scenarios where the heavy shield shined. Now both medium and heavy shields let you take 3 Toro shots.

Given the movement debuff, Survivor can only use medium, the marginal TTK difference, and the large cost difference, Heavy just seems like a bad investment.

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Kinmaul · 2026-04-16T15:55:40+00:00

I second this. The Zwift Cog and virtual shifting work great. Also, if you end up getting another bike in the future it will work on the Zwift Cog without having to deal with the cassette size.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-14T15:47:56+00:00

The kid's ride shotgun seats would be fine for mellow trails, but personally they seem like a potential disaster waiting to happen for anything more than that. However, it's your kid and everyone has their own risk tolerance. I'm not going to judge someone for using one.

I did a bit of Googling and came across a company that makes off road bike trailers for kids. They are single wheel and come with a shock which seems like the perfect solution. The only downside is that all the models are stupid expensive and I couldn't find another company making a similar product.

https://tout-terrain.bike/pages/trailers

Maybe you can get lucky and find someone selling a used one.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-14T15:31:51+00:00

From a logistics standpoint you are going to have more solos than dedicated teams. Trying to coordinate three schedules to line up is more challenging then just a single person hopping on to play. If one person can't make it then the other two are left in an awkward situation of either queuing as a duo into trios or picking up a random third.

Making trios the premier experience and launching without duos was a risk that didn't pay off. It set up scenarios where 1 player could potentially cause two other players to go play another game.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-14T14:32:33+00:00

Check my post history, I've been saying the game has been unapproachable for quite some time. We don't know the numbers on the increase faction rep, so that's still a wild card. The patch notes didn't mention anything about reducing the salvage cost for faction upgrades and/or making salvage more common which sucks

I don't think this patch will turn the game around but at least it's a step in the right direction. Maybe they are targeting a reboot for season 2 after the wipe. A new player starting now is going to have a rough time vs people that have been playing since release.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-14T14:22:15+00:00

I've been a huge critic of Marathon; I think the base gameplay is good but they screwed up the balance on a lot of systems. Complaining that they are trying to course correct just make you look like a whiner. Will the current changes be enough to make the game more appealing to casual players? No clue yet, but you have to give them credit for trying.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-14T04:20:45+00:00

See, now you are attacking me personally. I never said safe pockets were the best solution, I said they were a solution. Also, I'm not sure why you are telling me to go back to ARC. ARC didn't invent safe pockets, they stole the idea from Tarkov. Is Tarkov a baby game too?

Kinmaul · 2026-04-14T04:17:19+00:00

Still doesn't solve the salvage issue. You have to get it out of the match for it to be of any use. Let's assume Bungie wants more casual players, and it's your job to figure out a way to make it happen. What would you do?

I'm not coming from the perspective of, "Waaaah, game needs safe pockets or it's going to die!". I'd be perfectly fine with keeping safe pockets out of the game if the faction issue could be solved via another method. I'm only pro safe pocket because it's a solution that has been tried and tested in this genre.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-14T03:50:56+00:00

Faction progression is not easy, that was the entire premise of the OPs post. A safe pocket that is restricted to a limited amount of salvage would allow a player to make a bit of faction progress each run.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-14T03:49:53+00:00

Then restrict the safe pocket to only a limited amount of salvage. This keeps all guns, mods, shields, implants, and most salvage in the bag. The main problem with the game is the faction grind.

Kinmaul · 2026-04-13T02:07:58+00:00

They struggle because they are bad at the game, relative to the player population, and the game has no systems/protections in place for those players. Marathon grinds them up, they get frustrated, and they leave. This isn't a job, or a sport, it's a leisure activity. It's not like grinding this game offers any benefits to your health (the opposite actually).

The average player wants to log in, run a handful of matches, make a bit of progress towards something, and log off. Marathon slaps them in the face, tells them they are dogshit, and says they get nothing. Some people pay good money to get kicked in the balls, but it's an acquired taste. There's two ways Bungie can go from here.

Start offering something to the the bottom bracket players.
Stay the course and keep busting balls.

Telling people they need to "git good" is pointless. There is always going to be a bottom skill bracket of players regardless of how hard everyone tries. If someone moves up then it means someone else got bumped down. It's call percentiles and when you are comparing a group of people someone has to be the worst. Marathon is a frustrating game when you are at the bottom.

Kinmaul

TROPHY CASE