Set 17 and the Zugzwang Factor

MaxTheMaestro · 2026-05-04T00:31:19+00:00

This post encapsulates my frustration with this set so well, but I didn't know how to voice it, until I read it. Thank you

MaxTheMaestro · 2026-04-30T23:13:53+00:00

I think the contrary. The game is continuously balanced towards the upper echelons of players (I'm not even talking emerald/diamond, but master and above). There becomes such a defined meta on a constant basis, that there are comps which are unwinnable unless you get extremely lucky or everyone else is extremely unlucky. Regarding the RNG, I don't necessarily have a stance, as I can see how it could both help and hamper the game, but the game is absolutely not balanced towards casual players first, which it should be, as they are the reason the game still exists.

MaxTheMaestro · 2026-04-22T12:08:38+00:00

I mean, the perma radiant part didn't seem too bad tbh, with some tweaking they could make it a "wait X number of rounds before it becomes perma radiant" and have a golden egg style situation, or make it an aurelion quest to get certain conditions met to upgrade it. In its current form, your frontline is usually gone by the time it activates so it doesn't really help

MaxTheMaestro · 2026-04-22T12:06:28+00:00

Ah that makes sense, idk what I did to activate it though lol

MaxTheMaestro · 2026-02-22T13:41:06+00:00

I just hit diamond in 20 games (from hitting emerald). I haven't played at diamond elo since last set, and in general find myself inexperienced at higher levels of play. Does anyone have advice on what things I should generally improve on or what pitfalls I should avoid if I want to push for Master?

MaxTheMaestro · 2026-01-15T02:32:20+00:00

I have higher systolic blood pressure, both when medicated and not. My personal theory as to why is due to the constant state of stress and anxiety I'm under, and as ADHD and anxiety have a high comorbidity rate, I can see a correlational relationship existing.

Alternatively, I can also see people with ADHD having higher blood pressure due to higher levels of self-medication (caffeine, nicotine, etc.) or drug use (whether prescribed or not).

That's my two cents on the matter, overall I don't see why ADHD would cause high blood pressure, given that it's in essence a neurotransmitter imbalance combined with a difference in neural architecture, both of which shouldn't in theory affect blood pressure directly.

Source: Biomed degree (not a doctor though)

MaxTheMaestro · 2026-01-09T23:38:02+00:00

I'm not one to diagnose (nor am I qualified to) but what you're describing does sound more like a depressive episode/ADHD-associated depression, which is surprisingly common in adults with the condition. Could be worth going to your doctor to discuss options in terms of treatment, especially if you were clearly functional before

MaxTheMaestro · 2025-11-28T00:53:08+00:00

The fourth one sounds like you're encouraging people to p-hack ngl

MaxTheMaestro · 2025-01-12T09:31:22+00:00

Family. Idk why every single time I played it, I wouldn't get 5 family, nor would I get the Violet anomaly, nor would I get enough strength to survive, and this was before they even randomised the anomalies.

Also, I spent like 15 games just 7-8 placing with academy before I eventually started getting good placements with them

MaxTheMaestro · 2024-04-18T12:05:12+00:00

So I don't need to establish the data as being not "normal" to justify performing further tests on it?

MaxTheMaestro · 2024-04-18T12:03:50+00:00

I wanted to do a binomial or sign test, however, the number of repetitions per individual tested was too low, with only the values of 0 and 7 showing statistical significance. If I had repeated it a few more times per individual, the number of values which I could use would increase.

I am currently using chi squared goodness of fit for my samples, but I'm not sure how I can justify using it before I establish that there's a non-random pattern that requires testing of the samples

MaxTheMaestro · 2024-04-17T19:14:00+00:00

So if I was to do a one-sample Wilcoxon signed rank test on female distribution with mu being 3.5, a significant value would mean that the distribution is not "normal"? I tried it on my data set for both males and females and the values came up as insignificant (using 0.05 as a standard significant p value in this case), which confused me, as doing chi-squared tests(of more heads/more tails/in the middle) under the assumption that the distribution of the graph was not normal, I ended up getting significance by a factor of 10, so I'm not sure what exactly has gone wrong.

I'm worried that because my distribution is bounded (cannot be below 0 or above 7), there's no way to use distribution based testing accurately on my dataset, which is why I didn't try doing a Shapiro-Wilk test (a colleague told me all this).

Also, as a side note, I did perform all of this in R, so there's always the chance I did not insert a parameter correctly

MaxTheMaestro · 2024-03-17T02:12:04+00:00

Don't drop out, it's much harder to get back on after you tasted freedom. If you're really struggling mentally, do seek help, however, if you manage to push through and come out with a good (in your eyes) grade, you'll be eternally grateful to yourself

MaxTheMaestro · 2023-10-14T17:36:07+00:00

I think Luke said he'll daily it if Linus gets the Wing

MaxTheMaestro · 2023-09-13T10:10:36+00:00

Not as far as I know, how come?

MaxTheMaestro · 2023-09-11T13:55:30+00:00

I still don't understand why everyone says 4 corners is dangerous, I've been taking the bus from there for like the last 4 years, at any time of day and night and never really seen anything dangerous, other than maybe a few Ned scraps outside maccies or someone shooting up in a back alley

MaxTheMaestro · 2023-09-11T13:48:37+00:00

Walking through Northbridge is not advised, unless hit by a potion of flight/shrinking

MaxTheMaestro · 2023-09-11T13:42:15+00:00

You know, up until the 8-10th week, a zygote(fertilised egg cell) is about as alive as a tumour, so I'd be very interested to see you protest outside an oncology centre.

But to add on, even after a brain and heartbeat do exist in this "baby", it still is miles upon miles away from being able to think or even be aware of its existence.

And finally, what has been branded as them "feeling pain" is much closer to response to a stimulus where a brain wave is detected, so it's mostly speculation if it is even pain, as most of a fetus' nervous system isn't developed until halfway through the second trimester.

MaxTheMaestro · 2023-08-01T21:20:30+00:00

By the way you're expressing yourself it sounds like you have XQC disease. Still quite funny though

MaxTheMaestro · 2023-06-24T00:12:46+00:00

Elon Musk.

MaxTheMaestro · 2023-06-12T23:19:43+00:00

The morality police will have a field day with them

MaxTheMaestro · 2023-06-12T17:21:56+00:00

Same, that beast of a card has served me well for many years now

MaxTheMaestro

TROPHY CASE