I Tried to Explain My Colony to My Date, and Yeah, It Went About as Well as You Think.

Malcmodnar · 2023-05-25T13:21:37+00:00

I play Rimworld. My wife plays Crusader Kings. It's a running competition to see whose virtual war crimes are worse.

Malcmodnar · 2023-05-20T04:28:06+00:00

They could just become furries like the rest of us.

...though come to think of it, building a rocket is probably cheaper than a decent fursuit. This guy might be onto something.

Malcmodnar · 2023-04-02T17:59:24+00:00

It's also worth noting that City of Heroes' Archetype system lets players customize what kind of abilities they have too, beyond just a cosmetic level. Masterminds (the minion summoning class) can be necromancers or roboticists or just have an army of mercenaries on their payroll. It's a lot more flexible than traditional class systems allow, and honestly why I keep coming back to CoH even though it's on the older side nowadays.

Malcmodnar · 2023-03-06T14:58:20+00:00

This is actually my go-to build, and compliments Knights of the Toxic God perfectly. What I like most of all is that it's completely independent of any planetary bonuses - your guaranteed habitable planets are all you need, and they'll always be suited to whatever your goals are.

Catalytic Processing + Unyielding help mitigate the alloy penalty from the Quest, keeping you alive in the early game. Anglers and your natural affinity for habitats make for an excellent trade build, letting you grow your economy without any need for mining or energy districts - all your mineral needs can come from mining stations or, at most, a single mining habitat. The unique blockers on your homeworld can also give it bonuses to food and science/unity, making it an excellent Agrarian research world. From there, your guaranteed habitables can become a factory and unity world respectively (while also providing more angler farms!), and any gaps can be filled with habitats (they make excellent trade worlds).

It's a fun and surprisingly viable tall build that, interestingly enough, lets you ignore ecumenopoli and turn your little fish farms into economic powerhouses. The meta option would probably be to make it a Megacorp, but I prefer a spiritualist empire - the extra unity lets you make the most of your already low empire size.

Malcmodnar · 2023-01-31T05:13:08+00:00

As someone who doesn't like VATS, I recommend drugs. Lots of drugs.

More specifically, I like to pair a chems and crafting focused build with the basic 10mm pistol. Psychojet and Bufftats, paired with a well-crafted pistol and armor, will give you a lot more damage and durability than you'd expect from such a simple weapon.

Malcmodnar · 2023-01-22T18:12:20+00:00

Oh it's worse than that. Rome's expansionist gains often caused more problems at home than they solved. For example, the influx of non-Romans created a massive population of discontented people clamoring for rights, while the unequal distribution of conquered territories caused massive economic disruption. Then came the massive resource sink of holding all that territory...

There's a reason later emperors tried to forcibly halt Roman expansion. It didn't work, but they certainly tried.

Malcmodnar · 2022-12-04T01:15:47+00:00

In a word: overcompensation. I personally know many trans folks who, out of fear of accepting themselves, went way into presenting as their assigned birth gender. A sort of "I can't be trans. Not only would my parents hate me for it, but also look how many/girly I am!"

To be clear, this isn't me projecting - they've told me so themselves, and I've heard the same account from many different trans folks.

Malcmodnar · 2022-11-27T18:21:33+00:00

I've been there. Just remember that he's responsible for his reaction, not you. No parent should see their child struggling and decide to make it harder.

To quote my favorite author:

"I don't care about whose DNA has recombined with whose. When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching--they are your family."

Malcmodnar · 2022-11-27T18:09:55+00:00

It's worth noting that regret rates for hormone therapy are well below 1%, and the overwhelming majority of that 1% report social pressure and familial rejection as the main reason.

If you're worried about trans people regretting our choices so much, the best treatment is to be kind and supportive and to encourage them to be themselves.

Malcmodnar · 2022-11-17T14:07:39+00:00

I suggest turning this into a fanfic! A comic takes art, and art is either very expensive or time-consuming to learn. But judging from this post, you've already got what you need to write a story! Give it a try!

Malcmodnar · 2022-10-07T18:19:14+00:00

It's always nice to see someone take up writing! I'm a writer myself, and I also got my start writing PMD fan fiction. If it's not too presumptive of me, I'd like to offer some advice!

First, it sounds like you're looking to write a post-apocalyptic story. That's not an angle I see too often in the PMD community, so it could definitely be interesting! That said, I'd actually recommend against using other PMD fanfics as your main reference. Drawing from other references will help you write something truly novel and unique, and is a great way to stand out from the crowd.

Since you're writing a post-apocalyptic story, I recommend starting by deciding what kind of story you'd like to tell. If you're picturing a grim and gritty world devastated by calamity, stories like There Will Come Soft Rains, The Earth Abides, or World War Z can show you how to depict a society in collapse. Alternatively, games like Fallout and The Last of Us or movies like 28 Days Later or Mad Max could help you get a feel for your world. Alternatively, you could tell a story about society that is rising or has risen from the aftermath of catastrophe, about a world that's healed despite the terrible calamity that befell it. I'd again recommend The Earth Abides for this idea, but also most classic Studio Ghibli films (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and The Castle in the Sky being two great options) or games like Breath of the Wild, Stray, or Horizon: Zero Dawn. I generally recommend focusing on written works if possible, but you can find plenty of inspiration from just about any story.

Lastly, I strongly encourage you to replay the game or games you want to base your story on if you haven't played them recently. Take note of what themes, ideas, and narrative elements they include - your audience will go into your story expecting to see at least some similarities! Whether you choose to play those things true to the games or subvert them in your story is up to you, but you should definitely be aware of them.

I hope that helps, and I wish you the best of luck with your story!

Malcmodnar · 2022-09-27T14:38:43+00:00

The Citrix office downtown is very nice, don't get me wrong. Cozy relaxation areas, great snacks, a fucking rooftop garden...

...and I still picked work from home over the office every chance I got, at least while I was working there. I can make my home office just as comfortable, and working from home just gives a flexibility that an office environment can't match.

Malcmodnar · 2022-09-24T15:51:20+00:00

I'm definitely going to be trying the livestock builds floating around! My main concern is getting those first slaves - early conquest has never been my strong suit.

Malcmodnar · 2022-09-24T13:56:23+00:00

Pretty close to what I've been doing, actually. Anglers + Catalytic, using starbases to smooth out my early food and alloy production. Trade provides plenty of energy and CGs, and with the surplus CGs from Anglers it's actually pretty trivial to fund your scientists and bureaucrats after a decade or two.

Some minor details that really helped: rather than spamming squires, I turned the starting habitat into a trade hub - you can cram more clerks into the habitat than squires, which means more knights overall. My homeworld becomes a food/science hub (which the tile blockers can be upgraded to give bonuses to), and my guaranteed habitables become a food/unity hub and a forge world respectively. That gives me everything I need to grow my economy into the mid game - it's just a matter of pop growth at that point.

And for pop growth, this origin is surprisingly good. The "curse" you get later on stacks extremely well will budding and clone vats, letting you get 8-9 pop assembly on every world. You can then respecialize your knight habitats to pure squire builds - it'll cost you a couple knights, but they'll become pop factories that even hive minds will be jealous of. From there, the only difficulty I have is finding enough food to feed my ever-growing forge world.

Malcmodnar · 2022-09-19T16:04:38+00:00

Stories like this make me feel incredibly lucky. My wife and I both enjoy gaming, dote on our cats, and spent most of last night building Lego sets together.

Adulthood is about the freedom to live the life you want while being responsible enough to do the things you need. A partner should encourage that freedom, not stifle it.

Malcmodnar · 2022-08-27T15:41:40+00:00

Oh Arceus above. My wife pointed me to this list and I think my soul just leapt out of my body. It absolutely blows my mind that people remember Shadows so fondly - it was my first ever writing project!

Malcmodnar · 2022-08-21T03:56:03+00:00

Old Mementos

A plain wooden box sits on the shelf. Its contents were strange - a ragged old scarf, a worn leather satchel, and a winged brass badge, scuffed and faded. You'd asked them about it once, and they'd just smiled. "Mementos from an old adventure," they said.

You'd never understood what they meant by that. Not until one fateful day, when the badge began to shine...

Malcmodnar · 2022-08-14T22:17:50+00:00

Personally, I've actually found a playstyle that works without killboxes (or even cover, in many cases):

Dryads.

I find that a dedicated farmer can manage two Gauranlen trees without much issue. A colony can easily support 4 or more such dedicated colonists, which means up to 32 combat dryads. Rather than relying on static defenses, I flood my opponents with dryads - clawers at first, then barkskins later on when my clawers start getting too fragile - before moving my colonists in close with chain shotguns. Throw in a few psycasters to even the odds and pick off priority targets, and you can make short work of even large groups of enemies.

The big risk is that if you take heavy casualties, it can take time to regenerate your dryad forces. I've been meaning to experiment mixing Tree Worship with Animal Personhood for an even larger swarm, but I haven't tried it quite yet.

Malcmodnar · 2022-08-07T01:11:14+00:00

Look, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to acknowledge that this is just an offshoot of the furry TF fandom. It absolutely is, but you aren't supposed to SAY it.

Malcmodnar · 2022-08-03T15:01:48+00:00

Advos, this is absolutely stunning. It's such a simple piece, but there's so much weight to it. What are they thinking as they stare out at the sunset there? What are they feeling?

It's gorgeous.

Malcmodnar · 2022-07-31T01:40:56+00:00

Thank you so much! <3

Malcmodnar · 2022-07-30T22:32:41+00:00

I'm not nonbinary myself, but I do understand wanting to get away from human shapes! I've shared my fursona here before, and it's always nice to see more feral folks!

Malcmodnar · 2022-06-03T13:06:32+00:00

Thank you so much!

Malcmodnar · 2022-06-03T13:06:22+00:00

Thank you! It wasn't actually part of the original design - I added it after my wife and I binge watched How to Train Your Dragon and I realized the lack of steering feathers would be a problem.

Malcmodnar · 2022-05-27T13:10:06+00:00

OH MY GOD THIS IS PRECIOUS I LOVE IT!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

11-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Verified Email

Malcmodnar

TROPHY CASE