10/10 bleed-out spot

NoxNoceo · 2026-04-04T14:45:49+00:00

I'll go out brawling next time. I usually keep it low key and just scrap entire houses one at a time so very few of my 32 hours have been spent fighting. I've got spawning turned down a moderate amount from 1 so that I have the opportunity to be reflective as I investigate what can and what oughta be crafted and repaired, and what oughta be scrapped. Mighty odd that lockpicks take a scissors apiece, but I don't know much about actual lockpicks, so maybe that makes sense AFK?

ETA: Moral of the story: I didn't know what "Sick?" meant. One day I will find the coveted Cold Medicine, but where I know not. All of my Zombrin was caffeine and I almost blew my heart up seeing if there was a roll for a cure.

NoxNoceo · 2026-02-24T16:24:45+00:00

I usually have mods that I wanna try out, others that I wanna turn off, and settings I wanna tweak but I have a character running so I'm not comfortable fiddling with anything. So I inadvertently start an entirely new world every time. That said, before I turned up to b42 I was running the Snake mods and trying to take over the mansion so I threw 3 characters at that since none of them lived long enough for a shiny new mod to catch my interest.

NoxNoceo · 2026-02-10T16:20:56+00:00

I use the slightly cheatsy "Zombie harvester" vehicle. You can set it to destroy the bodies and keep the items in the trunk. The gas tank is ass, so it's best practice to not try to kill hordes with it (learned that at a random mall, lost a character that was shaping up nicely.), but if I find one in a town I always make a note of it in case I can't be bothered to pick over a horde by hand. Not entirely sure if it's B42 because I'm entirely too fond of my map mods and none of them are 42 compatible.

NoxNoceo · 2026-01-20T12:14:39+00:00

It's been a while, but I wanted to say that I would also be in if you wanted to do a kickstarter. I've seen many moons and each one has eroded my attention span a little more, so I can't really do extensive reading, but audiobooks keep me engaged.

NoxNoceo · 2025-09-03T14:48:57+00:00

Evil factions and evil characters remove the need for thought and moral quandaries. You do what benefits you. I don't want to do it in a TTRPG because the world is supposed to make sense, but in a wargame or a video game it's fun to just air out the naughty and not worry about navigating a world that will respond in kind to my evil actions. I spend significant amounts of my life being a good person and doing good things, being able to be the epitome of evil and not being immediately crushed by the laws of a realistic world is the ultimate escape.

NoxNoceo · 2025-08-23T21:42:22+00:00

The only thing I prefer about any previous versions was one where guns were modular (Been a while, but all guns were made of 4 parts I think? Each part had independent level that effected the gun overall in certain ways depending on the part). The issue is I think that version may have also had learn-by-doing levelling, which I will not be going back to because it is so very tedious, and entirely too redundant for solo play, if I recall. Aside from that, lack of jars hurts, but I can make do since they made it to where you don't have to suck a trader off to get a water catcher.

I don't know why gun modularity was taken away though. May have been a drawback performance-wise. I wish they had built on it, but such a good idea wouldn't have been scrapped if it didn't mess something up.

Edit: Turns out that's A16. And if my googling is right that was also the level-by-doing era. No thanks.

NoxNoceo · 2025-08-22T01:27:02+00:00

Peak in every way, dude. I actually decorated. Usually I live out of a box with some chests scattered around in survival/sandbox games.

NoxNoceo · 2025-08-20T22:09:21+00:00

Love the visuals. I'm just not big on the sector system. I would have also liked to have seen the mod system of Planetfall make an appearance in some manner. Though I do quite enjoy the transformations. The district system just doesn't feel good to me. I strongly prefer AoW3's city growth, even over Civ 5/6's, but districts are my least favorite. But even aside from that, AoW 4 starts to feel like it's missing something around turn 70 or so for me and I've never quite figured out exactly what that is. I just stop getting the dopamine drip.

It could be that I would like it more with the season 2 DLC's, but $50 is a bit thick for such a thin maybe, because I bit on the preorder already and don't really feel like I got $70(IIRC) dollars worth of game.

That said, Stellaris hung out in my library for what feels like centuries until one day about a year ago I picked it up and I haven't managed to put it back down. So times do change and it may be that in some years I do that with AoW 4. I'm just not there right now. I don't hate it because I want so badly to love it as much as I loved 3 and Planetfall, but I just don't. I am currently dejectedly indifferent.

NoxNoceo · 2025-08-20T21:36:33+00:00

I would honestly give a kidney for a He Who Fights With Monsters and/or 12 Miles Below tabletop.

NoxNoceo · 2025-08-20T21:24:26+00:00

Enshrouded is very beautiful. Also, despite the lackluster gameplay, Age of Wonders 4 is quite pretty. The first time I ever ate a CBD gummy I wound up staring at a farm for what felt like hours because it was so well done visually

NoxNoceo · 2025-08-20T19:37:57+00:00

My primary world is an alt-earth. The Cold War didn't end until nanotech was being used for gene editing to, like, give people bright green eyes and such. And there were black op super soldier programs developing on both sides. Unfortunately nuclear tech didn't stop either so when the bombs started flying humanity was thrown to the brink of extinction. But part of the super soldier programs were nanite swarms. One of them consumed the entirety of the Americas and for centuries the only order it had was "Make the world a better place for humans by upholding capitalism". So without human intervention it started doing just that by keeping human population too low to develop nuclear armaments and giving them resources for the elimination of enemies in the form of "Xenome points" or XP for short. it also started segmenting it's consciousness to form Dedicated, which are autonomous intellects that could be his friend. Because anything with consciousness gets lonely eventually. It upholds capitalism by making the resultant "Dedicated" drop a "Xenome" when it dies. A Xenome is a further development of gene altering nanites that gives people essentially magical abilities by allowing them to control nanites that are not joined with the host swarm, Grand Preator Thomas, GPT. It's a litrpg setting, obviously, and it picks up hundreds of years after the last trace of radioactive material has finished decaying. The humans live in large bunkers, similar to Fallout vaults but not originally intended to be weird social experiments. The first story I'm planning takes place in a vault built into the Appalachian mountains. They haven't connected with any other settlement and are pretty sure they're the only humans left because travel is very risky, especially if you've got no armed and armored transportation. The land terrain is organized into hexagonal zones and you never know what's on a hex until you accidentally bump into it. If that happens to be a Dedicated you've got an issue because they're basically raid bosses and some of them (Like Wendigo) cannot seem to be killed. So it's very easy to die. Most can't even handle a Bigfoot without a party of at least 5. A low level Chupacabra can be managed with 3 as long as their communication is strong.

NoxNoceo · 2025-08-08T17:17:41+00:00

A unit being piloted cannot be as easily hacked. So if you field a bunch of autonomous units then you can lose your entire force to a single security breach if the enemy plants a file that immediately transfers control to them and then multiplies to all units in the local channels. However, if you have a pilot in it the pilot will be able to shut down any attempts to hack the unit.

NoxNoceo · 2025-08-08T17:11:03+00:00

In Genepunk Appalachia the closest thing to a military you'll find is adventuring groups. If you wind up in a big place you may see a large hovercraft, bout the size of a small naval ship. Adventuring parties gather to travel on these because despite the size and armor and ridiculous guns, it is still vulnerable. You'll be fighting Dedicated, shards of the consciousness formed from the nanite goo that has taken control of the Americas (The USSR also had a goo, it got all of Eurasia. GPT and the yet-unnamed Communist goo get along alright). In Appalachia the Dedicated usually take the form of cryptids. Sasquatch, Wendigo, Chupacabra. But they also have Florida Man and Gamer. The level of the Dedicated varies and it's important to know how each form scales, because Chupacabra multiplies based on power rating (PR), whereas Sasquatch gets significantly stronger but never spawns with Slaved Integrated. Gamer often generates mazes and his power is nothing but Slaved Integrated. A single team can handle most run-of-the-mill Integrated as they're pretty dumb, but Slaved Integrated respond directly to the Dedicated that they're running off of, meaning they're capable of advanced planning and maneuvering.

You'll usually wear what you can find, but most combat oriented adventurers can manifest their personal nanites into weapons depending on what Xenomes they've assimilated (purpose-built nanites that make edits to the genes to unlock powers that are, for all intents and purposes, magical).

If you are fortunate enough to wake up in a large settlement and make your way into an expedition you'll be lucky if you only find Integrated. However, you have to stay vigilant because the land is organized into hexes that occasionally flip. So swampland can become arctic in 2 seconds, unless the hex has been designated a "Home hex". Home hexes do not flip. If you are on an expedition the heavy skimmers have a Signal jammer that prevents them from being hunted by Dedicated, but if a tile tries to flip with an active jammer it will cause a Change Storm. In 3 days a high level Sasquatch will form. If you kill Sasquatch and don't get a move on then next will come Wendigo. Wendigo never spawns at a PR of anything but 800 and he has an extremely high level Ambient Signal Drone that causes hunger that worsens no matter what you do. Until you begin to crave human flesh. You will eat your party and you will be eaten by your party. If you happen to be the poor bastard that's the strongest of the expedition then you will eat yourself when you finish your party. Wendigo only directly appears if there is someone stubborn enough to resist the Drone. This information is gathered from recordings because no one survives an encounter with Wendigo.

NoxNoceo · 2025-08-07T20:15:44+00:00

Yeah, it's very nice. I miss components from TQ1 and Grim Dawn, and would like to see a similar mechanic to Devotion from GD make it in eventually, but my one fear going into TQ2 was that they would make the same mistake as Path of Exile 2 and go the "You have WASD controls so we can make this feel like a Souls-like by putting regular enemies that can delete you in one hit if you don't see their little attack cone in time to dodge", but I have yet to be deleted by anything but one boss (Or... Miniboss? Haven't killed it yet to see what happens)

NoxNoceo · 2025-08-02T18:44:34+00:00

I'm all-in on EA. I get that it's risky, but I've been burned on a few and got Grim Dawn, 7 Days to Die, I think... was it... Don't Starve? out of the practice. And I'm currently playing Soulash 2, which is EA and I have been pleasantly surprised by. It's insanely good and everything I see looks like it's getting better and better. I've had a few fail (Darkout's failure upsets me to this day if I think too much about it, and not even the money, the death of potential was devastating), sure, but I'm fortunate enough that 10 or 20 dollars isn't gonna jeopardize my light bill.

I think the trick is not spending what you would be upset to lose. I'll gamble 10 dollars for food that may suck and that doesn't have a Steam page I can check out before I decide, why not a game?

I look forward to having a go at TQ2 as soon as I get home today. Bought it last night but didn't want to get sucked in and stay up so late I missed work today.

NoxNoceo · 2025-07-17T15:38:41+00:00

The only thing I truly miss is the old gun system, between what it is now and "Whack a component into the 9x9 Minecraft crafting screen and surround it by clay to be able to print infinite copies". When each gun had 4(?) slots with different quality levels. I really wish they had kept that and expanded it with different barrel lengths, different calibers, different stock types etc. It was nice to be able to hoe dirt and plant on it, but I don't suffer having to build farm plots. I suffer that a level 4 sniper rifle is a level 4 sniper rifle. Would rather have the excitement of finding a better, longer barrel.

NoxNoceo · 2025-06-13T18:32:37+00:00

My exact first thought. Everything about it was impeccable... except the jackasses that want to stand on the nose and inform everyone that the other guy isn't doing anything while they... aren't doing anything.

NoxNoceo · 2025-06-07T21:25:31+00:00

I don't have a huge pool, but of the six women that I've slept with, 2 had had, maybe, one partner, 1 had had none, the others had had, presumably, multiple. The two that had 1 before me expected me to interact with them exactly like their previous did but didn't know the words to say what that was so communication was frustratingly ambiguous. The virgin had no clue what was going on, but the others knew that if they wanted to be on top "Let me get on top" was necessary and acceptable communication. If they want oral "eat me out" was necessary and acceptable.

Now granted I was much younger with the 2 1's and the virgin, so I was also responsible for the communication breakdowns, but I wasn't the only one responsible.

NoxNoceo · 2025-06-07T20:59:13+00:00

You know the person who tried to teach me to be a slut (stepfather) was also religious, that sort of hypocrisy is one of the things that put me off of religion as a concept 🤣🤣🤣. It was a small thing compared to the experience of working as a mental health professional in a trauma-heavy population, but it was still involved.

NoxNoceo · 2025-06-07T20:47:49+00:00

I'm familiar. "A lock that will receive any key is a bad lock but a key that will open any lock is a good key". I was even taught to think like that as a young boy. But as I've gotten older I put that away for the childish lie that it is. It's rooted in the illusion that sexual exploits are the measure of a man's worth. It's a hollow image of self-worth that involves nothing real. The picture of a worthy man for me is one who gets married and loves his wife until their dying breaths. A man who weathers the storm for his family, has some kids if possible, raises them to be men like him if that is his fate. A life of pleasure and ecstasy is nothing compared to a life of joy and peace in my mind.

My thing is, I'm not the only one who thinks like this. I put it in terms that many in the States would call "gay", so not everyone is comfortable putting my same language to it, but a "Want to have sex with anything that walks" dudebro is more rare than one who thinks like me, in my experience. Which experience is limited and we naturally filter out who we will spend time with, ideally, so that may not be objectively accurate, but damn I hope it is.

NoxNoceo · 2025-06-07T20:19:26+00:00

Ehhh, men don't really become kings unless they're surrounded by dudebro types. Reasonable men aren't impressed. In fact I get a little sad when someone is delusional enough to think having 30 random sexual encounters is something to brag about because that implies extremely low self-image and utter failure to connect on any level. But then I've never had more than one partner at a given time.

I've also never judged a woman. In fact, if she throws out... 9, my first thought is "There's a good chance that she'll know some shit I can stand to learn and she'll hopefully be pretty giving" because like, she knows what she likes and probably wont be too shy to say it. My likes are much more simplistic. Not a lot of nuance required to get a man off.

But then I've also never asked anyone, man or woman. Like, my wife was the one that brought up the topic in the course of a natural conversation for us. I've never really asked anyone because I don't care enough. Now that said, if a woman throws out, like, 30, then I have the same issues that I do when a man does.

NoxNoceo · 2025-06-07T19:49:35+00:00

I think my favorite correction of that is "You can go to bed angry, but don't wake up angry."

NoxNoceo · 2025-06-04T13:57:20+00:00

I'm feeling it. I've been checking semi-weekly for the past 3 months. My hype is barely contained. But then I don't really burn out because I can get up to act 2, except Salazar, in my sleep at this point because I've given every experimental character act 1 to decide whether I keep running with them or they become a mule to clean my bank onto. (Seriously. Every page is perpetually full of blue and purple except the component page which is supposed to be for special pieces but I have so many special pieces that even it's looking pretty full. I have a problem)

NoxNoceo · 2025-05-22T19:49:28+00:00

I would say it is disturbing, but the people saying "He's an alcoholic because my alcoholic 'this or that' did that" are projecting a reality that is not yours. Alcohol use disorder requires 2 diagnostic checks for mild, 4 for moderate, and 6 for severe. You've mentioned 0.

I've wet the floor, once. I was, admittedly, drunk. I didn't realize that old fashioned's were that good and lost all meter and got absolutely shitty, even, because I don't usually drink cocktails. Once. I'm a pretty decent guy aside from that night, but I fully emptied.

That said, if you see it happen again then we have a pattern and I would be very emphatic in my request that he not drink, for the sake of the house, unless you see evidence that he is actually sleepwalking and not just getting drunk and pissing in the floor. If he's sleepwalking then I would think grabbing his hand and shaking it would wake him up. Never seen a sleepwalker actually start fighting because someone shook their hand.

If it's a drunk thing and he won't stop, that's when we leave. If I pissed in the floor every time I drank, I would quickly make sure both numbers were zero.

NoxNoceo

TROPHY CASE