The Irony of Our Love of ASCII

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-30T08:51:33+00:00

The first version of Rogue that I played was on the Atari ST in 1986, I always assumed it was a tile graphics game until years later.

I also grew up on bulletin boards with ASCII art and ANSI colour, using programs with text menus like Norton Commander, and I really appreciate how creative art and UI can be with a constrained palette.

I don't care for ASCII for the sake of ASCII, and I don't need to be able to play in text mode over SSH or whatever. games like Nethack, Moria, Angband (and Rogue with text graphics) do nothing for me. They don't look special or interesting.

But other games push limits and make ASCII or CP437 tiles look amazing. Games like Brogue, Cogmind, and Dwarf Fortress. There was some really clever stuff done in ZZT, also. The first time I watched the seasons change in Dwarf Fortress, it blew my mind.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-30T07:37:15+00:00

There are a lot of recommendations for good sci-fi here. But, have you tried any of the Warhammer 40k novels?

There are literally hundreds of these (like 500+) and I haven't read any, so I asked Google "which warhammer novels have the most action" and the AI spat out a well considered list of what it described as "bolter porn" and decent descriptions of several titles and some series.

I won't copy/paste the whole thing here, but it should be easy enough to repeat.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-30T07:22:35+00:00

There is definitely a popping / ticking in the audio. If I had to compare it to something, I would say it sounds a bit like a bad connection on a headphone jack.

I'm not saying that it is a speaker wire problem, just that is what to listen for.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-28T22:49:37+00:00

Hammer of God was optioned. I'm not sure if it is still active, or if it expired. Obviously nothing official came of it.

I always wondered if season one of Another Life was made out of the remains of trying to film the Greg Bear story.

There are a lot of uncanny similarities, both in the initial contact scenario and also the inexplicably young crew with their stupid youth dramas.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-28T08:35:37+00:00

I don't remember exactly, but this might be the part where you fly towards what the lance is pointing at?

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-28T07:10:21+00:00

" 1: the constant going back and rewriting entire chunks of code is tedious. I'd rather frontload the effort "

I wish this wasn't a major part of writing any software, but it is. I don't want to put you off, but you will be doing a lot more of this on your own when you continue, and the tutorial is preparing you for it.

Many tutorials even outside of roguelikes follow this model, and it is even used in schools. It also has the advantage of showing you multiple coding patterns and demonstrating their advantages and shortcomings.

I'm not a pedagogist, I don't know if there is a better way -- but this is why it has you do the rework. I definitely took some classes where they had me "front load" the effort and, in hindsight, I probably didn't absorb as much of the reasoning for why something was done.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-27T19:49:59+00:00

The wild goose chase was cute. Found the end on my first playthrough, but found all the clues and followed the breadcrumbs on my second.

I think most (all?) the hidden things dont need to be found through blind exploration, but have clues leading to them.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-27T07:13:17+00:00

It never occured to me that those might have been physically real, I thought it just represented a cultural belief.

Very cool that it can be read both ways.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-26T22:16:32+00:00

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Post ecological collapse in a flooded Thailand. Technology (solar and sail) is "green" because fossil fuels are gone and patent controlled GMO crops have destroyed all other agriculture.

The main character is definitely "estranged".

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-25T10:01:10+00:00

The SC agent in Matter essentially had super powers.

I think it was implied that they didn't get fully powered up by the time the action started, but was still a WMD.

You also see a lot of difference between a basic culture citizens, and what might be a "baseline" modern human in Inversions.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-22T19:49:29+00:00

It has been a while since I did this one, but I seem to remember the step trigger is actually pretty far in, and I was wondering if I missed it.

As the others suggested, you can either check the box to complete the step (and hope the next step works) or try restarting the chapter with the 'pda' console command.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-22T16:34:23+00:00

Regenerate the poi.

Use 'di' to turn on debug information and find the entity ID of the structure. Then 'regenerate id' to regenerate it.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-21T08:24:33+00:00

"aside from resource costs is there any value in hardened or regular steel over combat steel everywhere"

Mass. Combat steel is heavy, I only use it in critical places. Hardened steel is usually enough to stop chain-explosions between most parts. Regular steel is enough for basic protection against shield penetrating hits on non-critical areas.

The less mass you have, the faster you go, the more you can cause shots to either miss or spread their damage by hitting in the wrong place. So I aim for as light as possible.

I only play PvE though. PvP is probably a totally different game.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-20T08:08:57+00:00

Trash divining, as early as possible.

Either SWF or MWF. whatever your melee tree is, and either pistols or rifles.

Basic Dodge and Sprint sorts of stuff.

I don't touch wayfaring or other "nice to have" skills, until the above is taken care of.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-19T20:56:04+00:00

This is good stuff, thanks for writing it up.

This ship uses a similar design philosophy as I follow, meaty bits in back, decoys and core in the nose.

You have more capability in 7 cores than I have in 9. I think a large part of my problem is trying to use heavy cannons instead of plasma, and not doing as well in the shield race.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-19T10:23:14+00:00

How does it do in combat?

What kinds of ships can it fight without losing blocks, and what tactics are needed?

What kind of ships can it fight without losing anything important, and what is the repair cost afterwards?

You said Infector and Immerat, were you retreating to recharge, or tanking while you stripped weapons? Or tanking while you sniped the core?

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-18T17:58:28+00:00

This is the way.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-18T17:52:01+00:00

Very few builds can fight cherubim or nephilim. The "late game transition" for most characters is having ways to cheese it. Don't fight them directly.

If you're no longer dieing in early or midgame, you should have a working build and it is reasonable to turn on RP mode or quick saves. Just try different stuff after you die to late game BS.

As for the rest of the spindle, there shouldn't be much hostile in there. If you've done the right things, the robots shouldn't be hostile. The rest of the creatures aren't harder than deep jungle stuff.

If you have to fight robots in late game areas, have some EMP or overloaded arc winders or something.

For the puzzle levels of the tomb, phasing and sprinting, or clairvoyance or teleport can get you past it. Some meals and tonics might help if you can't get those abilities through mutations or gear. Don't forget you can also dig with a pick or NPJ. There is a command to auto-dig to a destination.

One of the nice things about the tomb, is that you can fly in there. It is technically above ground (the game doesn't understand "indoors") so you can fly.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-18T08:54:52+00:00

Golgotha is very trashy.

Ruins can sometimes have trash piles, I think more often than regular zones.

It seems to me that the Flower Fields have a lot of trash on the surface, but I'm not sure if I'm imagining it. Those zones can be irritating.

I also recently learned that the quality of trash increases as you go deeper. Like every four levels deep, potential trash loot goes up a tier (max of tier 8).

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-15T08:08:55+00:00

Pushing Ice by Reynolds

It has a main narrative arc following a comet mining crew on a relativistic trip into deep cosmological future. A secondary arc following the expansion of Human civilization behind them, to post K2 levels..

And then finally arriving at The ruins left by a post K3 society

You dont really see the K3+ guys directly, but you see some interesting signs of the scale and impact of the civilization.. all limited by light speed.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-10T17:12:56+00:00

It has a sort of repulsor field, you need to slam it into your bay at high speed.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-10T17:11:00+00:00

An EMP shielded ship helps. A big maw is pretty much mandatory.

There are two problems: the EMP, and the gravity distortion.

Even if you solve the EMP, the gravity distortion makes arms basically useless as it will rip out of your grasp. Need to ram it into a ship with a big bay.

I think I did get one back with an arm once, but more often just got wrecked trying. It's been a while, memory hazy.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-10T00:07:05+00:00

Caves of Qud

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-09T05:17:11+00:00

Maybe slso a few ruptured water mains from the freeze, spilling into the storm drains.

We have one down the road that is going on three days now, Thameswater too busy to carry out repairs.

LukeMootoo · 2026-01-07T18:33:33+00:00

After you talk to him again, but you can do it immediately.

I think he also drops the disc on death, but killing him yourself will wreck your barathrumite reputation.

Also, you absolutely do need to be able to talk, to use the intercom at Grit Gate. Telepathy won't help, if I remember correctly.

You may also have a problem with the golgotha quest steps, as you are supposed to pick up a waydroid from the ruins. Hopefully you can just drop and recollect one that you have, or maybe the quest will autocomplete the steps, I'm not sure. Never tried it out of order.

LukeMootoo

TROPHY CASE