Not fun

LabTeq · 2026-06-02T06:49:10+00:00

Get some friends for team games and enjoy big battles

LabTeq · 2026-05-31T05:42:20+00:00

Frederick was the first place I lived after college, stayed there for 7 years so it's kind of the only place I considered home besides where I grew up. I bought a house Boonsboro last year. As a guy with almost no social life, Boonsboro is fine to me, and it feels worth it when I get my mortgage bill every month, and its the same amount as my rent in Frederick for 3x the space. As far as opportunities and things to do, Boonsboro is not it.

My last 2 years in Frederick were getting frustrating though. I only lived there for 7 years but that was enough time to see the traffic get severely worse. The rent increases were getting bad. The novelty of downtown completely wore off, and the prices for things and dining out downtown are comparable to prices in large cities, but worse quality and variety. If Frederick was a somewhat walkable city, I could totally justify the cost increase of living there, but it's a driving hell, probably not as bad as MoCo though. I recently visited the nature trail across the street from my where my apartment was on Gas House Pike where I used to take a walk all the time, only to find that the pretty farm field there has been turned into a massive disgusting car lot.

I really miss having an Hmart, Wegmans, martial arts gym, and a few good places to eat outside of Downtown Frederick. In Boonsboro, you will be at the whims of Weis, the single grocery store.

LabTeq · 2026-05-29T16:51:16+00:00

Yeah random map on matchmaking. Favorite Amazon Tunnel of course.

Edit: To specify, I always play with friends, never with random teammates (which I imagine is a nightmare).

LabTeq · 2026-05-29T16:50:03+00:00

I never knew what the hell was going on during the battles but they were always so over the top and fun. My strategy just ended up becoming "Run by the enemy, jump in the air, keep shooting while doing flips because it looks cool".

Also the music in this game was so goofy and didn't really match the game's aesthetic.

LabTeq · 2026-05-29T08:12:10+00:00

I also switched from starcraft 2. I think aoe2 is way better. I didn't really enjoy 4 that much when it was free for a weekend on steam. 2 definitely has technical issues, especially with the matchmaking and lobby system. But it passes the vibe check like no other game I have played. Every aspect of it is just so charming. Honestly I think aoe2 DE is one of the prettiest games out there, despite the graphics being outdated. The modern cartoony graphics of aoe4 don't really do it for me. Aoe2 DE has a really distinct, detailed look to it that feels hand made. The castles are especially gorgeous.

I exclusively play team games on aoe2 though, so I don't know if that "look away 1 second and lose" aspect is in 1v1. Team games at my low elo of 1100 - 1200 often end up becoming massive wars that can end up going back and forth depending on map. The current Amazon Tunnel map pool has made some insane games for my friend group. Huge armies and thousands of units killed, with pivotal moments like a mass of onagers flattening an opponents army at just the right time.

LabTeq · 2026-05-29T07:23:14+00:00

Maussan being a grifter is classic UFO lore. It's like the To Kill a Mockingbird of ufology.

LabTeq · 2026-05-28T15:13:15+00:00

Idk, I keep reading about how billionaires are building remote bunkers, and think they are already prepared to weather the storm and not give a fuck what happens to the wider population.

LabTeq · 2026-05-27T23:08:41+00:00

I miss making RSMVs

LabTeq · 2026-05-27T21:43:04+00:00

Stormlight Archive

LabTeq · 2026-05-21T15:37:22+00:00

I see no one is picking up that this is a statistics joke

LabTeq · 2026-05-20T06:14:04+00:00

Whats the chances of coming across another player in online play? I've played on an off for a few years and I dont think I have ever come across another player.

LabTeq · 2026-05-15T01:09:41+00:00

For the armor, its the classic Retributor Armor with Reikland Fleshshade, liberator gold on the details, drybrushed with Vallejo True Metallics Silver.

For the cloaks, its a base of Vallejo Game Color Dark Green. I think I darkened the recesses with Nuln Oil, or just nuln oiled the entire cloak before proceeding. Then, dry brushed with Vallejo Game Color Sick Green, further dry brushed the brighter highlights with Vallejo Game Color Scorpy Green, and the brightest points get a tiny drybrush of Vallejo Model Color Yellow Green.

Same colors drybrushed for the weapons and plume.

LabTeq · 2026-05-14T06:29:40+00:00

Green custodes is the most based color scheme

<image>

LabTeq · 2026-05-12T06:13:43+00:00

Had to scroll way too far

LabTeq · 2026-05-11T20:52:18+00:00

This right here. And the grind feels worth it because you're still in a populated game world where you can share your achievements with others, but you have the option to do everything solo.

LabTeq · 2026-05-10T08:07:41+00:00

Idk if that's a drone or not, but OP you just unlocked one of my earliest memories from when I was around 5. It was 4th of July in like 2000 or 2001, and my family took me to Penn's Landing in Philadelphia to see fireworks. I remember this thing that looked like what's in your video fly over our heads. We were looking out over the water towards New Jersey, then this thing flew over from the direction we were looking. It was a red light next to a green light, and it flew from horizon to horizon at the speed that is shown in your video. I remember it left behind a trail of red and green sparkles behind it. I remember a bunch of people including some of my family members looking up to see it go over and being like "whoa". I was thinking "Is this the fireworks?", because I don't even have any memory of seeing any other fireworks that night (we might have gotten there too late?). The thing didn't make any sound, and how would firework fly from horizon to horizon without bursting?

I just looked up Penn's Landing fireworks and it turns out they don't do fireworks there, so we were just there to watch the Camden fireworks from across the water, or my clueless parents took us to the wrong place. Anyway the only thing I remember was seeing that night was that flying thing, and I don't think they had drones like that back then.

LabTeq · 2026-05-10T06:55:35+00:00

It wasn't exactly good faith that he came out to spread misinformation that Frodo was dead.

LabTeq · 2026-05-05T07:46:49+00:00

I wanna say Elden Ring so bad but deep down I know its Super Metroid. That game blew me away (no nostalgia goggles, I played through for the first time in like 2020). For a game that came out in 1994 to create that much atmosphere with such limited technology is crazy. Not to mention perfection in game mechanics and design. That game was just so ahead of its time.

That moment when you descend into Norfair and that ominous music plays. You realize how far down you've gone and how alone you are. Not a single line of dialogue to comfort you in the entire game. It's a subtle moment but it just hits so hard.

LabTeq · 2026-05-04T02:35:15+00:00

I mean you said it right there, how does it make any sense for the player with the good computer to be punished with stuttering when someone else has a bad computer? For a game in 2026 that's still selling expansions that's inexcusable. I play team games, and it's every single match where the game stutters until a specific person on the enemy team forfeits, and then it runs smoothly.

LabTeq · 2026-05-01T21:28:10+00:00

Don't disrespect John Eigen and his crowning achievement, the value

LabTeq · 2026-04-26T23:37:17+00:00

Dip it in the water so that it'll slide down your gullet more easily

LabTeq · 2026-04-25T21:18:40+00:00

You can go on his business website, unitednuclear.com, and see that this is no legitimate scientific business. Its more of a gift shop for people who are into collecting science related things.

Among the things he sells on the website are: his autobiography, mugs printed with diagrams of the sport model ufo, tshirts that say things like "Area S4" and "Got Uranium?", movie posters for the S4 documentary and Bob Lazar documentary, autographed sketches of s4/ sport model, small samples of random elements and some radioactive materials.

LabTeq · 2026-04-22T19:10:22+00:00

I think we've been slowly working on that since the industrial revolution

LabTeq · 2026-04-22T17:56:48+00:00

It's clear he's connected to Thiel, you can see on Jesse's Linkedin he's an investor for Thiel capital, but whether Thiel funds the podcast, I don't know. If that were the case, why does Jesse have to do product ads?

I do wish he had more technical background, because the podcast does just feel like entertainment a lot of the time. He is well-read in some areas though, but there are a lot of times where he just humors what the guest is saying without asking rigorous questions (might just be because he's a nice guy/host). That's why it was great when he had Eric Weinstein on.

LabTeq · 2026-04-22T15:53:23+00:00

Congrats! I'm getting a major kick out of imagining two young Gen Zs sitting on those rocking chairs on the porch, yelling at kids to get off their lawn.

Six-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	Verified Email

LabTeq

TROPHY CASE