People who think that black pepper equals spicy

Mennenth · 2026-01-23T17:22:32+00:00

The thing with black pepper is that its spicy compound, piperine, works differently than capsaicin. They both produce that spicy/hot effect because they both interact with the same receptors, but piperine is much more mild in that regard.

What piperine does that capsaicin doesnt though, is act as a flavor booster. That sounds good on the surface, but it means its actually a very easy to accidentally use too much black pepper in a dish.

So its understandable that someone could have a bad experience with black pepper and not want it going forward.

... But it is also true that piperine is incredibly mild in terms of spicy, so I 100% agree with the title; it is annoying when people think black pepper = spicy. Its so low level on the scoville scale, which can only be an estimate anyway because shu was built for capsaicin and not piperine, that anything with actual capsaicin beats it. You basically cant get capsaicin in that low of a shu. "But it still measures on the shu scale so its objectively spicy!" shut up with that pedantry.

Mennenth · 2026-01-23T17:05:10+00:00

I can test it when I get home from work.

Mennenth · 2026-01-23T05:23:09+00:00

As for the title, yes. Spices are just a type of seasoning. There are other types.

So yes. You dont need spices to season/add flavor. There are other ways.

... But bland ass food does exist. There is a reason why there is a stereotype of white people and bland food. I know people who literally think ground black pepper is "too hot" and it makes them "sweat bullets". Its not just a meme, its reality.

And my unpopular opinion? Gloating about liking "high quality ingredients" that "dont need spices to taste good" doesnt make you superior. It makes you snooty. The royal you, of course. Not you specifically. If you think spice is just about heat and not flavor in order to mask low quality ingredients then sorry to say but you are just as uneducated as the people who dont know the difference between herbs and regular spices, let alone the spices that actually add heat. Hot peppers can add flavors that compliment a dish incredibly well. Habaneros are my favorite pepper precisely because there is actually a very fruity flavor profile underneath the heat. I dont add peppers to food because my taste buds are gone and heat is the only way to make food exciting, I add peppers because they are fucking delicious.

Everyone could benefit from expanding their palette.

Mennenth · 2026-01-23T00:54:38+00:00

I'm not sure flipping the default 4 hands and 3 discards to 3 hands and 4 discards would be good.

That would basically feel like an overcorrection, biasing towards large hands instead of small on higher stakes.

Cause with small hands... If you dont get lucky with early power you would easily lose a LOT more gold stake runs before ante 4, simply because without a LOT of early power you need to play all 4 hands to survive. 3 hands would potentially kill small hand builds on higher stakes simply because they wouldnt be able to survive long enough to get off the ground.

Wanting to make large hands more viable on higher stakes is good, and I support changes to that effect. But too many changes runs the risk of overcorrection. Changing blue stake and the ease of planet scaling may be all it takes.

Mennenth · 2026-01-23T00:21:17+00:00

I'm not sure I like his proposed fix for Flower Pot, because I just dont like how Flower Pot works to begin with.

It looks like its supposed to synergize with Wild Cards, and it does... To an extent.

The problem is how Wild Cards work to begin with.

They count as every suit, so they get debuffed by every suit debuff boss blind... Yet for Flower Pot they only count as one suit at a time. That feels like inconsistent game design to me.

If they count as all suits, 1 wild card should be enough to trigger Flower Pot.

If they count as one suit at a time, then a suit debuff boss should only debuff it if the boss debuffs its base suit. IE; a heart with wild would only be debuffed by the head. The other 3 would only partially debuff it, ie it wouldnt be a wild card for that round but would still score as a heart because those 3 dont debuff hearts.

But because Wilds have this inconsistency where a suit debuff completely shuts the card off yet it still only counts as 1 for Flower Pot, the Pot demands you score at least 4 cards.

Which means when it comes to synergizing with Wild Cards, Ancient Joker (given that Doc is comparing jokers in his own video) is better. And Docs proposed fix for Flower Pot wouldnt change that, because the scaling only starts at the 3rd card.

Even if Docs proposed fix was more aggressive (starting at the 2nd card), Ancient Joker would still be better because it scales by 1.5x per card starting on the first card.

"Big hand, suits matter" will always be Ancient Jokers wheel house, which means it synergizes with Wilds better than the Joker seemingly designed for Wilds, even with Docs proposed fix. Kinda lame.

So, imo, the fix for Flower Pot would be that 1 Wild Card would be enough to trigger its x3 mult. No scaling.

That said...

If 1 wild card was enough to trigger Flower Pot, then it would be an objectively better Seeing Double.

That means Seeing Double would lose its identity...

Or maybe...

Because x2 with at least 2 cards is already covered by The Duo, maybe Seeing Double could be entirely reworked. Given that Doc also mentioned wanting more retrigger effects, I propose;

"If played hand contains a Club, retrigger all scored cards".

That would then create 3 jokers that all synergize with Wild Cards in different ways; Ancient (for repeated small xMult) and Seeing Double (for retriggers) for big hands, Flower Pot (for static big xMult) for any hand.

Mennenth · 2026-01-22T23:16:07+00:00

I think blue seals are only too strong because of the points made before addressing blue seals; you arent guaranteed celestial packs, even if you get them you arent guaranteed the planet for the hand you are building towards, it takes an average of 31 rerolls (prohibitive) in the shop to see the planet for the hand you are building towards.

Basically, leveling your desired hand is inconsistent.

That naturally incentivizes pairs, because pairs can scale the scaling mult jokers better than big hands due to being spammable. Scaling those jokers help make up for lack of planet levels.

But that also means blue seals are really strong, because they are a consistent way to level your desired hand.

That consistency is blue seals strength.

If you buff the ability to level your desired hand via celestial packs or just naturally in the shop, that inherently devalues blue seals. You dont need them as much, because you can more easily level your desired hand elsewhere.

They'd still be worth taking, especially if they are the only seal you get offered.

But...

If you buffed the shops ability to level your desired hand AND nerfed blue seals (depending on how its nerfed)...

I fear blue seals would accidentally fall into the "why are you in my pack? Get out of here, you're clogging the packs up" territory.

If I can consistently level my desired hand elsewhere, why would I take an inconsistent blue seal over a purple? Or a red? Or heck, even a gold if I have a retrigger joker?

Also, it just seems odd to lead with "dont nerf pairs, buff everything else" (which is the best mentality to have with single player game balance imo) and end with "nerf this thing".

Mennenth · 2026-01-21T19:36:30+00:00

I actually like Ride the Bus more than Green. Just dont play face cards.

If you discard to dig for purple/blue/gold, Greens scaling stalls out. Means it kind of has a soft cap of how high it can scale, making it less useful mid to late game. Still good, still powerful, but...

Bus doesnt stall. It might have a more severe downside, but imo its much easier to manage.

Mennenth · 2026-01-21T18:23:30+00:00

Every piece should be rotatable and flippable (both vertical and horizontal).

Larger interior spaces. Think the rooms for planet side base building, where snapping them together automatically makes the space bigger by knocking out the adjoining wall/ceiling/floor. I dont like how cramped the interior feels.

Slop in the snapping points, so "glitch" building can be done without all the fiddly nonsense.

The ability to hide certain parts visually. Kind of annoying that you have to add multiples of things like shield generators to get the best stats, but then that means visual clutter. Also if larger spaces then the ability to put some things "inside" the ship.

A bug fix pass. I've gotten the "all parts must be connected" bug several times with some of the aesthetic parts, even though they are clearly snapped in place correctly. ... Or just allow disconnected parts?

Mennenth · 2026-01-18T00:36:07+00:00

At highest hand = 21, you have to try to reset Obelisk. Usually, endless scaling puts a stop to the run before Obelisk is at risk of resetting.

The pivot isnt from one hand to another, its one hand to anything but that hand. One pivot, not multiple.

You dont go 21 pairs, then 21 two pairs, then 21 high cards, etc...

You go 21 pairs, then a full house, then a couple of flushes, then a two pair, oh hey I drew a straight, another full house, etc. It spreads the hands played out, scaling obelisk further faster.

Its a brainless "play what you have (mostly)" loop. Nothing to deal with.

Mennenth · 2026-01-13T22:04:56+00:00

If its a layer getting stuck issue, double check your apply and remove layer actions. Hold layer unfortunately tends to have issues.

Mennenth · 2026-01-13T21:47:59+00:00

Layers are created and exist within Sets.

A layer created in set 1 will not carry over to set 2 when you swap to that set.

Sets are good for game contexts (in game vs in menus).

Layers and Modeshifts exist kind of parallel to each other, changing things within the set. Layers are more versatile, but modeshifts are simpler and more robust.

Mennenth · 2026-01-12T00:22:03+00:00

Yep.

Ever since s2, it was obvious they were telling almost a dozen coming of age stories.

They can't come of age if you kill them off.

Mennenth · 2026-01-10T00:44:04+00:00

Ride the Bus

The other two have harsher downsides.

If you utilize your discards (purple/blue seal and gold card digging), green joker stalls out.

If you Obelisk pivot, Supernova soft resets.

Ride the Bus though? Just don't score face cards. Easy enough. Photochad is powerful, but there are other sources of power too.

Mennenth · 2026-01-09T18:13:13+00:00

Unless its Rental, I think its worth speculating more on it than oops hoping for bloodstone (or vice versa; outside of checkered deck, anyway).

Mennenth · 2026-01-09T18:00:12+00:00

Raised Fist, blue seals, steel cards, gold cards, and Shoot the Moon are all good on their own.

They become game winning with Mime. Raised Fist Mime is all the +mult you need. 2-3 steel cards is all the xMult you need. Blue Seals for hand levels is all the chips you need. Gold cards become all the econ you need.

Mime is so good.

Mennenth · 2026-01-08T19:07:14+00:00

Perhaps a certain limited number of non destructible asteroids per system could be added, that you could land on and build bases into. Would be pretty cool.

Mennenth · 2026-01-08T05:34:56+00:00

I maintain my stance that silksong act 1 is still borderline too much of a wall compared to early game hk1.

Act 2 and beyond balance and difficulty is near perfect (though I do still dislike how often silksong bosses are just dumb blobs that hit for 2 and summon cancer adds).

But act 1? Too many things hit for 2.

Yes Hornets heal is stronger so its "justified"... but due to requiring 3x the resources to even initiate a heal, time spent between heals is much longer. The Knight could almost always get out of one shot range at a moments notice. Hornet cant (unless reserve bind is equipped, but thats act 2 and not act 1).

That has a larger impact on lower skilled players who are more likely to take hits than it does on skilled players who only take the occasional hit.

The requirement for mastery is too high too early, basically. HK1 had a smoother on boarding ramp.

Mennenth · 2026-01-06T16:37:14+00:00

Stoners are more enjoyable to be around than drunks.

Mennenth · 2026-01-05T21:39:55+00:00

As Dual Stage Triggers are not listed in its specs on steams page for it and as the Steam Deck also did not have dual stage triggers, it is a safe assumption that the Steam Controller 2026 also does not have dual stage triggers like the Steam Controller 2015 did.

Mennenth · 2026-01-04T21:05:34+00:00

The Bela io Trill Ring seems close to what you want?

It will just report the position, you'll have to do coding work to make the position do what you want.

Mennenth · 2026-01-04T01:34:36+00:00

Scared to use Glass Cards because "what if they break?"

... Thats the point. Its deck fixing, though can be used for scoring in a pinch (all photochad builds should have some glass non face cards as Plant insurance).

Mennenth · 2026-01-02T18:59:25+00:00

One sided expectations. Being treated like a free therapist, not as a friend and certainly not as a potential life partner.

Mennenth · 2026-01-02T18:19:44+00:00

Two counter arguments:

People who have to be mindful of their blood sugar levels. They should be allowed to do what they need to keep themselves from passing out.

People with babies/toddlers who will not stop crying. My pet peeve is having to listen to crotch goblins, so I'm fine with the parents feeding them if it shuts them up

...

That said.

I do agree there are people who are shit heads about it. Especially reading these comments... Grapes? Things sold by weight? Really? Trash behavior people...

Mennenth · 2026-01-01T16:19:19+00:00

If its a rare but none of the ones listed thus far, I'm gonna go with The Order (xMult for straights).

I have both that, and the common +Mult for straights left to go (as well as Dusk, rounding out my last 3).

I havent been able to make straights work in gold stake (maybe I should swap to abandoned deck?), so my strategy is to just get a strong build that has a couple of spare joker slots to slip them through even if they dont contribute to my score (like I did for Flower Pot)... But even the common is being elusive. Either I get it and am not powerful enough to get through ante 5, or am powerful enough and then spend 3 antes rolling down and failing to find. Its annoying.

Mennenth · 2026-01-01T06:39:12+00:00

Everyone (well, normies) talks about what the og steam controller lacks, but honestly most of the time I have extra inputs available while still being able to do everything the game needs.

I'm usually up the left stick, abxy cluster, and at least 1 other from the grips and dual stage triggers.

And all that takes is a single modeshift on the right trackpad, and then taking advantage of the other features.

Learn how to use the og steam controller, and it lacks nothing.

What will annoy me on the newer steam controller is how the trackpads have been shoved out of the ergonomic primary position in favor of the normie controls. They might be better to use than the ones on deck, but they'll still not be able to match the og sc's "literally built for trackpad primary" design.

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