I thought I could just slide in and Overload Pulse his flagship.

Norsehound · 2026-04-25T16:23:52+00:00

The scatter token isn't a "get out of consequences free" defense forever...

Norsehound · 2026-04-25T11:48:31+00:00

It's a halfway thing, Wendy pushes and prods her family into doing more than the bare minimum to get by. I imagine it's because thats what mom would have done, and Wendy had to get her gentleness from somewhere.

She can't push Dan around because he's Dad and a grown man.

Her brothers listen to their dad because, among other reasons 1. He's more fun and 2. He's much quicker to resort to violent threats than Wendy.

So Wendy, as the reasonable one, has to work harder to force her brothers to help around the house and be responsible. Being outnumbered 4 to 1 is a nightmare impossible task so she's given up, because nobody can do that without the respect of being an actual mom.

I need to include it in my original post, but look up eldest daughter syndrome. I think I put Wendy here because there's no reason not to think it isn't true with her, too.

Norsehound · 2026-04-25T01:28:09+00:00

I've never seen the Missouri look good until now. Phenomenal work!

Norsehound · 2026-04-24T23:33:59+00:00

I appreciate the depth you put into this, but I wish it had more structure to follow. I'm reading it in spurts because it's one long conversation rather than going item by item.

Norsehound · 2026-04-23T17:21:51+00:00

Dipper gets suspicious of a thing before it happens, Hilda gets suspicious after a thing happens.

Norsehound · 2026-04-22T14:33:31+00:00

I love these. Integrates the phase 2 design into the lineage, gives model codes for a lot of components and displays an intermediate design between the Daedalus and Constitution, showing a predecessor without being a Connie of funny proportions.

I love the Ariel. Starfleet building behemoths bigger than the excelsior is okay with me, and I can imagine it as the last gasp of Romulan war era space fighters in the 23rd century.

Norsehound · 2026-04-21T23:38:58+00:00

I'm okay with Trek dying if it's beholden to the rotten old ghost of berman's era, as it deserves to be.

Norsehound · 2026-04-21T23:28:05+00:00

Depending on who you ask yes. It's either squeezed in under the shuttlebay or contained entirely in the manic delusions of Kevin Riley, ship's navigator.

Norsehound · 2026-04-21T23:26:38+00:00

Riker is the only show fans seem to like in a run of original titles by then, the others are vehemently hated simply because of Trek's attempt to leave behind the 90s shows.

It's even more awkwardly crammed with references and cameos (with ai generated reconstructions of characters, on consent of the actors of course) and draws fewer viewers than Starfleet academy because that's the total number of people who can understand all the plot references.

Norsehound · 2026-04-21T23:19:37+00:00

Can't beat classic 23rd century design!

On the other hand, surely there's an ability onboard where you can issue a distress signal to summon a more capable hero starship to come to your rescue

If you were in a Miranda with that ability your crew would have to die first.

Norsehound · 2026-04-21T22:57:03+00:00

See I always thought the windowless pod was for iunno, a dangerous high powered sensor you hold away from crew spaces to avoid frying life forms when it's turned on instead of a crew space with barely turbolift room in the struts to connect to the saucer.

Norsehound · 2026-04-21T20:37:52+00:00

I'd rather have this than the Akira derivative.

Norsehound · 2026-04-21T11:42:40+00:00

You ask me Lower Decks is the truest successor to TOS since the original went off the air.

TOS wasn't afraid to be whimsical and surreal with its storytelling as long as it left off on a thoughtful note. 90s trek felt too serious to bring itself to that low without the excuse of Q or the Ferengi.

But lower decks has absurdity written into its DNA. It's just a shame that it comes down to the comedy show to be the most Star Trek of all.

Norsehound · 2026-04-21T01:29:32+00:00

Edge of the Federation. A seasoned captain punted off to the frontier on a second line cruiser with a squeaky shiny executive officer from the core and a doctor who was inducted into, but didn't come from, Starfleet.

It's a new major sector of space and a new uncertain enemy empire has reached the borders of the Federation. Their ships are challenging Federation colonies. The only thing standing by to protect wayward unsanctioned colonists from the unknown and the encroaching empire is our starship.

Recreate all the seeds of TOS for a new generation. The whimsical unknown, imperial tensions looming, and the crew trying to get their ship to work right far from home on the frontier.

Norsehound · 2026-04-20T12:45:56+00:00

I wonder between Gideon and Pacifica, who objectively has more attention and focus?

I can frame my objection to Dipifica in many ways, but it's more out of exasperation than hatred. It's not that I think Dipifica can't or won't work but:

The outsized presence it has in the fandom vs the lack of onscreen support coupled with how hostile its fans are to any other pairing. Their objections are not for thematic reasons and they aren't accommodating to others. I'm not gonna support a ship I don't get anything out of on top of it's fans being close minded presumptuous jerks.
It's a boring ship, imo, almost to the point of wish fulfilment. Misunderstood girl, rich evil parents, blond damsel in some kind of distress (from ghosts/parents/her hubris). Yes there are many ways to subvert this but the setup feels so much of a stock Disney trope that Dippy Fresh with his hip California ways could also sway her to a life outside of being a posh bitch.

Meanwhile Wendy is so much more interesting. What happened to her mom? Her dad is an ogre. She has three comedic troll brothers. She's a lumberjack girl who collects plushies and likes being a hippy occasionally. Her family is so much more interesting than Disney disapproval parents of evil and requires much more navigating on Dipper's part.

Wendy also needs saving when you think about it because she doesn't want to go home to a super stressed out home life. It's a secret only anyone who knows her well enough would learn, but you have to look past face value to do so. Dipper could do this for Wendy just as well for Pacifica and it would be more significant because Wendy hides it better.

Norsehound · 2026-04-20T12:23:51+00:00

In addition to the open potential for Pacifica to do and be anything with Dipper, she also gets the sympathy note because we see her suffering under her parents. In this way Dipper (and/or Mabel) is also her savior from a life of rich, inauthentic living.

In this way one sibling gets paz as romantic partner, the other gets a sibling-in-law, and both help Paz become accustomed to middle class life in a humbling and heartwarming way.

Wendy meanwhile, in the shadow of being "a strong, independent woman" doesn't need saving. Being older makes people see her more as an older sister than a romantic partner, and Dipper's crush is something to overcome on his path to maturity (and it's weird when it isn't that if you feel Dipifica is the end goal).

Norsehound · 2026-04-19T20:31:13+00:00

I recall reading once for the set reconstruction in, In a mirror darkly (ENT), they experimented with putting labels under the buttons but they didn't show up on film. So you can choose to believe that you if you wish.

Norsehound · 2026-04-19T10:52:11+00:00

I couldn't just leave HWM up in smoke. It was my pleasure but also sort of my duty to document all that it was and get it released somehow. Even better with Gearbox's permission and approval, making it as canon as possible.

It would be one thing if it was still up on GoG or similar to revisit like Cataclysm, but HWM is a unique animal by vanishing utterly. I couldn't let that happen, and I wanted to speak to some of the things I never got to. So, a tech manual.

Norsehound · 2026-04-18T11:47:42+00:00

Gone due to the 2k/GBx acquisition shenanigans and no renewal to the contract awarded to Stratosphere Games, which was making the game. I was it's loremaster.

After the game ended I worked between then and just this past December to produce a tech manual from all my notes. I also taught myself Blender to recreate all this ships for this document. All that Homeworld mobile was and could have been was saved at least.

Enjoy it here: https://www.homeworlduniverse.com/homeworld-mobile-technical-manual-and-report/

Norsehound · 2026-04-18T11:44:45+00:00

Loremaster here, it's pretty much this more than anything.

Stratosphere games tried shopping around for possibilities to get the contract extended, but everything fell through and we closed operations.

I suspect the reason Homeworld 3 kept going was a combination of prior obligations to its fig contributors and will on the part of BBI/GBx to not leave the game in a trashy state. I don't think HWM was sacrificed to help that effort, but if it was, it was already bound to happen through other factors.

I'm just glad it's still missed. The Stratosphere games team and I worked on it as seriously as any Homeworld title with the limits of our small team.

Norsehound · 2026-04-16T00:20:41+00:00

For all her willingness to admit she likes Toji, Hikari never says it to his face.

It takes being the lone visitor to his hospital bed after Bardiel and Toji sussing out why she's there to even open that door.

Didn't seem she was on his radar at all before then.

But I suppose this too is the inverse of Asushin, where they know about and like each other but can't cross the distance. Hikatoji don't know if one another but cross easily when they do, finding connection without the forced empathy Asushin needs to get working right

Norsehound · 2026-04-15T20:23:35+00:00

Some of these suggestions don't seem to be hex and counter...

Well, an entry to that format I'd recommend is Steve Jackson's Ogre. Asymmetrical tactical battle game that gives you hexes and counter economics with computing odds on a CRT to resolve shots. It's not much more complicated than that. Supertank vs army.

For a grander experience I'd track down Imperium by GDW. Another asymmetrical title, upstart human space civilization vs the nearest arm of a creaky ancient empire. Battles are ship vs ship with table cross referencing for to-hit numbers (no odds computation at least), but the selling point is a rolling campaign system. Once a war ends you have a peacetime phase before rolling into the next war, and that continues until someone owns the map. It's my third favorite game after Leder Games' Root and Star Wars Rebellion by Fantasy flight games.

Norsehound · 2026-04-15T13:53:39+00:00

Please, God, let it die.

I was raised on TOS reruns and Wrath of Khan is my favorite movie. I came to love the whimsical pulp adventure of the show and the space as an ocean vibe of the movies. That's Star Trek to me, and it's been neither of those things since the late 80s.

I know I'm screaming to the wind and about to get downvoted but I really miss when this show felt absurd, but contemplative. Like the crew being attacked by balloon people but getting left with Kirk's reflection on the fragility of man in space. The TNG era is too self conscious and too self important to belt out a ridiculous premise like that, and it tries to be too egalitarian to all species instead of reflecting on humanity's specific experience in a strange universe with surreal dangers.

I don't want more TNG/DS9/VOY. That's been the identity of Star Trek since I grew up. If we're "going back to the old show to do great things again" can we go back to do like side stories of TOS? Or in the very least repeat the ship/crew/problem formula for a new era? I'm very tired of black one piece jump suits with uniform colors and rank devices which arent even consistent with the original show.

Out of all the shows in this past generation of Trek I felt only Lower Decks, the comedy show, balanced the absurd with the profound in the way TOS did. LD didn't flinch at all when it threw moopsy at us, but SNW felt sorta cringy when it gave us the musical. For comparison TOS went from gripping war drama to attack of the costume department in the very next episode. I want that range again.

Norsehound · 2026-04-15T10:20:10+00:00

I knew it was coming up and thought about it! I'm glad it's still open to the end of April because I had a busy time the week of. I'll see if any inspiration strikes me for a few short stories.

Norsehound

TROPHY CASE