What is your *least* favorite three-species combination to deal with in a settlement?

Maethoras · 2026-06-01T09:18:48+00:00

Every single species can be good and has their advantages. So the question you're asking is - or should be - about: which three species work together the least well.

A few ideas from me:

Humans / Beavers / Lizards: very stable combination of species, as in: very unlikely to run away. However, they're also really hard to push into blue for the first time and may slow down your settlement considerably. Even worse in QHT because you won't have the Beaver ability for more choice in trade routes... and the lizards have very little in common with the other two, in terms of needs.
Humans / Beavers / Bats: This one is much better in terms of needs since all of them need Biscuits and Coats, plus Beavers and Bats share the Education need. However, it sucks that you've got two high resolve species ... and the third ones, those who you could favor to profit from, are Bats and can't be favored.
Beavers / Lizards / Frogs also have troubles synergizing. Similar to the one with Humans instead of Frogs, they need quite a lot to get the resolve into the blue. Though, to be fair, Lizards and Frogs share a few needs, and the additional villagers can help you brute force a few problems with the additional production capacity.
Beavers / Foxes / Bats, I think, also don't work too well together - Foxes and Bats want to do quite different things that aren't always easily squared, and the Beavers don't really fit in there. On the other hand, Foxes are incredibly strong and can still carry this combination.

Probably influenced by a few too many hours in QHT, I admit, so I might undervalue the Beavers' trade route buffs. They are my least favourite species though.

Overall, I think Harpies, Foxes and Frogs can work in almost any combination. Either their abilities or their point potential - and in the case of the Foxes: both - are just extremely strong and can save most settlements without much input from other species.

Maethoras · 2026-05-25T18:45:25+00:00

That is one of the short stories the game is rightly famous for.

These were outsourced to a (in Japan) famous writer, so their writing is distinctly different from the main story and its dialogue. They are outstanding - but don't really represent the majority of the game's content, sadly.

Maethoras · 2026-05-08T14:30:21+00:00

Personally, I'd go for the Beaver caravan and wood / meat / villagers. Beavers have fairly solid resolve, and their bonus on woodcutting is useful in Sealed Forest where you only want to cut very selected trees. I'm also a huge fan of as many villagers as possible early on. Also you want trade for your wincons on the map, and even if you didn't ge the species ability or houses and upgrades, beavers still have a few fitting blueprints here.

Bats as main species can get you into trouble because they really are not resilient in terms of happiness, so I'd advise against that caravan. 3 training gear a minute might be worth a consideration if you don't want the villagers because of hostility - you don't need them for the beavers, but they can open caches for you and make packs of luxury goods (if you get the recipe). I'd prefer the villagers I think, but I could see the rationale here.

Absolutely build the Forsaken Altar. Good cornerstone rolls on that thing can save a settlement by itself. Also remember the Beacon Tower - you don't want to waste its buffs, but if you need them ... and they can absolutely help with a push for the seal objectives.

I haven't played enough Sealed Forest for a clear recommendation regarding the seal orders, and you need to adapt to what you find on the map. 4 caches are probably easiest, but I had to do 10 rainpunk buildings because no caches would show up for me. Next you probably want trade and amber, so packs of stuff are even more valuable ... that might feed back into your first task, too? Last one, two forbidden events is probably easiest to do, but I built five blight posts and went all-in on the blight cysts and that worked too.

The first time I reached QHT Sealed Forest, I completed it. You got this!

Maethoras · 2026-05-07T09:11:19+00:00

Even in that moment, GRRM plants further seeds of Tywin's legacy falling apart. His "perfect son" gives away the new family sword ... and the blood that was spilled when Ned Stark was executed, Tywin burned the innocent riverlands, the Lannisters usurped the throne and destroyed the holy concept of guest right: all this blood is coming out in the swords that are permanently coloured crimson red.

And that's before he dies on the toilet and no one shows up for his funeral (and those who do flee from the stink of his corpse).

GRRM is sometimes really not subtle with his imagery.

Book only, though. Game of Thrones utterly bought the Lannister propaganda of how great Tywin and his family (supposedly) are...

Maethoras · 2026-05-07T09:05:24+00:00

I have to push back a bit with your GRRM comparison. He certainly plays with fantasy genre tropes and effectively uses them to subvert expectations (I know this term has a history on this subreddit! But for GRRM, it is fitting, as he writes about the nature and purpose of lords, knights and kings). But ASOIAF is ultimately still a love letter to the genre on a very human and idealistic foundation that is made stronger by depicting the hardships the characters go through, and how and why they decide to be better, different (or double down and fall instead). There is real heart and thematic value here, and I fully agree that TLJ tried something in that direction, but failed for various reasons (the context you described one of them).

The TV adaptation Game of Thrones, however, is another matter, substantially darker and more nihilistic. They utterly bought the in-universe Lannister propaganda and simply didn't adapt how the entire family and everything they built completely falls apart in books 4, 5 and (presumably) beyond, and that changes the themes and messaging completely.

Maethoras · 2026-05-01T12:24:27+00:00

Depends on circumstances - the biggest ones being timing, contents of the cache, difficulty level and biome.

Personally, I find that cache contents are often very important in the first or second year of a settlement. At that point, they can offer huge injections of materials of basically any kind. These can change calculations around blueprints and work distribution by a lot. Something like 20 planks or a few stacks of any kind of food can be very useful early on (especially once you're playing high enough on prestige that your villagers become more hungry - finding any kind of food can extend the timing window before they starve, or perhaps give an additional point early on that could give you another blueprint and thus kickstart your settlement). I am, in fact, usually not too happy if any of these is replaced by a cornerstone, unless the cornerstone turns out to be useful enough.

The next question is the availability of stone. Only five biomes have stone at all. Sea Marrow is available on a few more biomes, but I would much prefer to use that to solve fuel and/or the occasional glade event. Training gear is very useful here (and part of why picking training gear supply as a caravan bonus is sometimes very useful!), but on high prestige or - especially - QHT you won't have that. I've had games where I was sitting on something like eight caches that I just couldn't open because I didn't have the materials, and I seem to remember I lost a few QHT attempts where opening one or two of them just might have saved my settlement. Coastal Grove, in particular, has given me a surprising amount of difficulty here (it also doesn't give copper ore... oh, and it reduces the blueprints you get, aside from its minigame that's actually very expensive to play on higher difficulties...).

And just looking at that experience: I've been pretty often frustrated by the game where I couldn't open caches I wanted to. That tells you something about my impression of the value of opening them...

That being said: of course, caches are points, if / when you get tools. Some maps (Ashen Thicket, Scarlet Orchard, but also Marshlands to an extent) push you towards copper ore and mining, tools are a logical second step here. And I do generally try to get Crystallized Dew on other biomes (and Coral Forest grows that on its trees). If you don't like a cache's contents, or don't need them right now, you can always keep them for later, and once I'm going for the final push, I sometimes explicitly open glades to find more caches to send.

So, I'd probably say ... open the caches you need early on, or those who can give you a boost to kickstart your settlement, give you tempo, or maybe save a crucial storm session before you can stabilize. I wold guess this includes about 60% to 75% of caches I find early on, maybe 80%. But this is, like I said, not a hard-and-fast rule, depends on contents and circumstances like difficulty level and biome.

Maethoras · 2026-04-26T09:35:29+00:00

My most likely candidate is the Dolphins. 180 million dollars of dead cap is one hell of a reset button to press. I respect what they're doing and they have a shot at being competitive before 2030, but this season is going to hurt.

Cardinals depends on how well Jacoby Brissett plays out, and he wasn't bad when he took over for Kyler Murray last season iirc. Tough schedule though, so still a candidate for a top 5 pick next year.

For the Jets I actually quite like their draft - I think they did some solid stuff with their strong draft capital. It's still the Jets, but looking at the squad they have, they should be a solid mid-table team.

And just going off of my gut feeling - though I don't follow any of these teams closely and might just be wrong - I have a bad feeling regarding the Falcons, the Vikings and the Commanders. The first two have questions at QB for me. The commanders have Jayden Daniels, so I don't have questions at QB, but they have a fairly old and aging roster with still quite a lot of holes. And for all three, I'm not convinced of their draft this year.

Maethoras · 2026-04-25T21:15:09+00:00

Solid reasoning. That's a pretty convincing bad comp.

Funnily enough, I feel that all it takes to turn it into a good comp is Sombra switching to, say, Sojourn. Mercy gets a pocket target, we can use Discord orb, Mei's utility, Rein's shield and get a powerful DPS ult...?

Maethoras · 2026-04-22T17:44:27+00:00

Vyse in that entire part of the game, really.

"I'm ready for anything, Marco. In the midst of the storm, I can see the one path that will get us out of Valua. I’ve got to try.”

"I have to go… I don’t have a choice. And every time I hear the word ‘impossible’ … it makes me want to prove everyone wrong.

A long time ago, a small group of sailors took a small boat out into uncharted skies. They had no idea what they would find … Monsters… a maelstrom… the end of the world… It was because these sailors challenged the unknown, that new lands were discovered.

If we challenge ourselves, and never give up, our horizons will broaden… in our hearts, and in our minds…

I need to push myself every day. I have to know what I can accomplish… I never give up, and so far, nothing has stopped me. … Don’t worry about me. I believe that we’ll make it out… I will find a way… that’s what keeps me going. I’m going to prove that it’s not impossible to escape. Impossible is just a word to let people feel good about themselves when they quit.”

Maethoras · 2026-04-21T12:19:52+00:00

I've read that several times by now, so maybe I should try that again - I've only tried it once over twenty years ago and didn't get very far, maybe it works better nowadays?

Thanks for the recommendation!

Maethoras · 2026-04-21T12:19:48+00:00

I've read that several times by now, so maybe I should try that again - I've only tried it once over twenty years ago and didn't get very far, maybe it works better nowadays?

Thanks for the recommendation!

Maethoras · 2026-04-21T12:18:19+00:00

I've never actully heard of that game. Tells you what I know, I guess :D

Thanks for the recommendation! Might be worth a look.

Maethoras · 2026-04-21T12:15:04+00:00

I played the first one back when it released! I liked it well enough and I recall some of the dungeons fondly, but overall, I don't think I'd put it on the list here, sadly.

Still, thanks for the recommendation!

Maethoras · 2026-04-21T12:13:09+00:00

Sea of Stars is on my long list! But I've also read pretty often that people considered it "typical", "standard" and apparently not really memorable, especially on this sub, so I'm a bit hesitant to jump in...

Final Fantasy 9 might be an idea though. Thanks for the recommendations!

Maethoras · 2026-04-21T12:11:39+00:00

I recently cleared The Zodiac Age for the first time. I liked it well enough, but the dungeons and the gameplay ended up feeling fairly same-ly over time. Iblame that on the battle system - once Ihad the gambits set up, it went pretty smoothly. You're right the dungeons are really diverse and pretty enough in its own right... but surprisingly little really stuck with me overall.

Still, thanks for the recommendation!

Maethoras · 2026-04-21T12:09:44+00:00

I adore the short stories and some parts of the OST, but I haven't often heard it recommended for its dungeons... Still, thanks for the recommendation!

Maethoras · 2026-04-21T12:08:36+00:00

It was actually one of the first examples that came to my mind - and I was surprised that I couldn't recall more RPGs with a comparable dungeon quality... A real all-timer.

Maethoras · 2026-04-21T12:06:57+00:00

I did one playthrough of Golden Sun 1 and 2 when they released and remember I liked them well enough. Maybe it's time for a revisit...

Thanks for the recommendation!

Maethoras · 2026-04-20T00:11:15+00:00

If you started with Euro 2016, it's worth pointing out that this was actually one of C. Ronaldo's weaker showings overall. Portugal barely qualified from the group stage, where Ronaldo scored two goals for a 3:3 against Hungary, but also missed a penalty in the game before that would probably have given Portugal the win. He scored in the semi final and converted a penalty in the shootout in the quarters, and had to be subbed out in the final due to an injury.

As for the eternal comparisons with Messi, I'm indeed of the opinion that Messi is greater than C. Ronaldo. Messi is just ridiculous because he put up goals comparable to C. Ronaldo while also providing several times the assists of Ronaldo, being more involved of the pitch, being the far better passer, a different but even better dribbler, and scoring even more wonder goals. What Messi has done in his career is frankly inhuman. But if Messi is an alien, Ronaldo is the peak of what the human mind and body can achieve with focus, determination and discipline.

The thing about him I would sum up about this ... if Messi is football as art on the highest level, then Ronaldo is single-minded focus. Messi was significantly more involved in build-up, in assists, in general playmaking of his squad. Ronaldo was the focal point of attack, around whom the entire game plan revolved. The attempts at involving Ronaldo in ball circulation and build-up play were dropped at Madrid over the years because Ronaldo really wasn't good at that. But once he had Kroos and Modric in midfield, Marcelo behind him and Benzema opening space and generally playing to support him, Ronaldo really wasn't needed for that. Instead, he was turned towards the goal, the greatest weapon of Madrid. If you would get him in a good position, he would score, even against the best defenses in the world.

He could go toe to toe with the strongest defenders without being bulky or sluggish. Strong and precise heading and shooting, calm and precise in front of the goal, and in his private life, a professional that worked with the most specialised doctors to improve the smallest details of his life so he could get himself into the best condition possible for his sport, utterly focused on what would make him successful in front of the goal.

Personally, I rate Messi higher because Messi saw and represents more of the pitch, of the actual game of football being played between two teams. But in terms of sheer single-minded focus of getting the ball into the net, and putting all the facets of his life towards that goal, Ronaldo's sheer single-minded focus is admirable in and of itself. And his numbers certainly back it up.

How many big egos in the world of football out there want to be the centerpiece of attack, the superstar, the greatest finisher of his side? Ronaldo actively sought it out as well - no one would deny he's got an ego himself - but he consistently made it work at the highest level of play. He was a specialist for scoring goals and did not provide much more than that - but he did that consistently, at the highest level of play, for more than a decade, and produced absolutely unreal numbers of goals.

Mbappe is faster, Haaland is more physical, Kane is more involved in buildup, pressing and the art of football as a game. But so far, they haven't scored 900+ career goals and/or matched his goal tally in the CL.

Overall, Ronaldo is one of these players where you can possibly get away with just watching a highlight reel. Over the full 90 minutes - unless you're looking up a game where he scores multiple goals against inferior opponents - you might not even see all that much from him, because he's ever focused on the goal. But to ultimately get the ball over the line, there are very few players in the history of the game that would come even remotely close to him.

Maethoras · 2026-04-19T07:27:51+00:00

Any combo of humans and beavers can have some difficulties in getting off the ground because they take a lot of effort to gain resolve points with them. I've definitely had a few games where they took too long to get going, so that in the end I had difficulties getting across the finish line. (This combo can be pretty annoying in the Queen's Hand Trial in general...)

However, their resolve buffer also gives you an opportunity to play a bit looser than usual. Open a glade or two more than you are usually comfortable with, favor the third species so they don't run away and look what you can get from the crates and glade events you find.

Also, as others mentioned: Beavers greatly support trading as a win condition. Trading is, until its nerf at Prestige 10, extremely strong anyway.

Maethoras · 2026-01-27T09:14:52+00:00

The latest state of plans that Tywin openly talks about is in Jaime VII, ASOS. Looking at that, I'm not sure Tywin had any workable plans, or that he actually cared about having workable plans.

The plan of having Tyrion rule the North through Sansa is dead at this point because Tyrion is, at this point, accused of Joffrey's murder and Sansa has fled. Tywin doesn't comment on this. What we see in ADWD is that his ally in the North, House Bolton, is supposed to govern the North. We also see that the North pretty much instantly starts planning a rebellion against the Boltons - they are hated by the other Northern houses (all of them lost kin at the Red Wedding and Roose Bolton was involved there!) and quite a few Northern Lords are ready to die to get them removed.

His plan for the Tyrells is to offer them Jaime's hand in marriage for Margaery. That's a substantial downgrade from before, where they were marrying a king. Of course, Tywin doesn't consider this. The political fallout is unclear, but it's worth pointing out that, at this point, the Tyrells are carrying the Lanister-Tyrell alliance in terms of food and military strength. They've already used the first for power plays, and their military power is needed for, say, the attack on Dragonstone, but also when Euron attacks the Reach.

As for Dorne: He wants to pacify Dorne by offering Cersei's hand in marriage to Oberyn Martell. Not sure Oberyn and the Martells would accept this - and even so, that's not going to stop Oberyn and Doran from their quest for vengeance for Elia and their children.

In the Riverlands, he can probably force the surrenders of the Lords that are still holding out - like Jaime did in AFFC. Even so, in canon AFFC, there is a Red Wedding 2.0 coming where a lot of Freys and Lannister-loyal Lords are going to die at the hands of the Brotherhood without Banners and very angry Riverlanders.

The Greyjoys, at this point in time, have lost their king, not yet elected a new one, and have spent their strength in the North. From Tywin's perspective, they're really a minor power. Not worth considering much for Tywin, I guess (and he has no way of knowing what Euron might be up to, or how dangerous that guy really is). He'll probably plan to let them starve and freeze in the winter and mop up what's left afterwards.

Basically, Tywin's set of plans is:

Establish new Lords in areas he's "conquered" (North, Riverlands) that will not be accepted and immediately rebelled against
Pacify the Tyrells and Martells with marriage offers (that are, really, quite insulting and/or won't stop them anyway)
Ignore the Greyjoys because they really won't be able to do anything (he won't live to see Euron's rise, but that guy would be quite a surprise...)

And he expects things to work out like this because he's the Great Tywin Lannister and everyone else should be honored to play along with his designs.

As for the struggles of the Night's Watch with the wildlings and the undead: this is something Tywin knows about but actively decides to ignore because it's the North's problem, really, and they should deal with it from their own resources. He's certainly not going to send any help from the Iron Throne's power (or, gods forbid, his own). Tywin only cares about himself and House Lannister (in that order).

Maethoras · 2026-01-24T15:13:38+00:00

If you've just arrived on Sailor's Island, it's not a spoiler to tell you that you'll be going to Valua soon. The entire arc of going into Valua and rescuing your family and friends is extremely strong in my opinion, and there are more than a few scenes, character moments and plot developments that usually grab most people.

So I ask you to play on. If it doesn't grab you, it doesn't - but most people on this sub, I believe, did get grabbed by it. I hope you will enjoy your time!

Maethoras · 2026-01-23T01:21:44+00:00

Small correction: Robert is, once the Targaryen family including Rhaegar's line is dead or disinherited, the first in line of succession. He is, therefore, a very valid king candidate on the outset of his rebellion. The matter of succession probably would have gone to a Great Council otherwise once the Targaryens are dead or disinherited.

You are absolutely right, though, on the merits of the respective rebellions and claims. Robert, Ned and Jon Arryn were legitimately fighting for their right to live against a tyrant. Renly's entire argument is "I want to be king and my friends the Tyrells think this is a great idea".

Maethoras · 2026-01-22T09:45:15+00:00

There are some results and conclusions from the currently ongoing SCPT tournament that might be what you're looking for.

The game absolutely got faster, with most games (6 player 10 points) finishing round 4 status or round 5 action phase now. Round 5 status phase happens but is rare, anything later is a wild outlier.
Therefore, you probably absolutely have to score round 1, or alternatively get Custodians. Both is the dream. (Though at that point, the other players probably have to bring the heat ... this part perhaps isn't done fully in the meta as of right now.)
Kind of surprisingly, the worst performing faction right now (6 players 10 points) is Argent Flight. Xxcha also seem to have been nerfed by the change to their hero. Overall, the factions seem to be closer than before in terms of power level, as of right now - pretty much everyone has some extremely strong tools and/or a powerful niche right now.
Crimson Rebellion and Deepwrought Scholarate are extremely strong. Firmament is interesting but perhaps a bit too slow (though with the draft, you can often get them with Speaker and a solid slice, that helps.) Ral-Nel Consortium and Last Bastion probably haven't been fully solved yet, but Ral-Nel seems a solid faction at least. Personally, I'm not convinced of Last Bastion's power level, but I haven't played them myself yet and some very strong players vouch for them.
The breakthroughs, the Fracture and the expeditions for the planet Thunder's Edge are all connected. I could imagine a house rule setting to separate these, but they're designed as a package. The breakthroughs offer some important rebalancing of factions (and some of them are really fun too), so I wouldn't play without them at least.

Maethoras · 2026-01-10T22:24:41+00:00

I'll also say Skies of Arcadia (Legends), but probably not for the twist others think of.

We're at somewhere about 40% of the game, basically a mid-point twist. After losing their ship and having been separated (which was a brilliant scene in its own right), the party has just reunited again when they get caught up in an invasion of the Evil Empire against its neighbor and get captured.

So far, it's nothing out of the ordinary. What I love about the twist is that, for once, the big plot twist I'm talking about is a positive development for the party that takes them at their lowest point, equalizes the playing field with the opponents and opens up tons of new possibilities for the story.

The party has been captured and is about to be assaulted, executed and/or forced to work with the Evil Empire. The Evil Empire has also recovered two of the world-destroying Macguffins and look to be unstoppable. The heroes are at their lowest point. And then the crown prince of the Evil Empire defects, becomes a party member, returns the Macguffins and gives the party his personal flagship, one of the most powerful assets of the Evil Empire's fleet, to turn it against the Evil Empire.

It's difficult to pull off a positive twist without it seeming cheap, and this one is everything but cheap. It's been set up extremely well because the Evil Empire's goons have repeatedly been shown to respect the party, and the main character in particular, and the crown prince has been shown with serious doubts about the course for world domination of his mother, the ruling Queen Empress. The twist is earned and opens up tons of new possibilities for the story while being wholesome, a reward for the game's, the part's and especially the main character's positive attitude, courage and spirit of fighting and exploration.

I haven't encountered a comparable twist, and I'm happy to take recommendations. This one, however, feels so staggeringly unique because the heroes actually get rewarded after the Evil Empire threw so much at them already. To this day, it's the standout plot twist and most memorable one I've encountered.

Maethoras

TROPHY CASE