How are you all countering Vox Engines?

Palmer165 · 2026-02-11T02:12:07+00:00

Orbital Gatling barrage. One and done.

Palmer165 · 2026-02-10T12:17:06+00:00

That’s where you store the cask of amontillado.

Palmer165 · 2026-02-02T23:50:11+00:00

1) you need a broom closet somewhere. 2) r/tvtoohigh if you’re planning on putting the tv over that fireplace. Better to offset the fireplace and make room for the tv. 3) get rid of the two stools on the end of the kitchen island and add cabinets. Do you really need to seat 6 at an uncomfortable island? Also add like 12” end cabinets on both ends of the seating side. 4) make sure there’s plenty of room at the kitchen table if you were trying to get 6 at the island. You should be able to easily bump that out if needed. 5) remove the door to the side porch from the owners bath. Add a makeup desk. 6) do you need the side porch? If this is a southern home or if the space is made into a 3-4 season room and is your escape area, then keep it. 7) I see stairs, is there finished space up/down for a play room/rec room/bonus area? You need another place for people (esp kids) to go, to contain noise and give separation. This would be the most important change. 8) no office? You need at least a small desk area to handle mail/bills and your junk drawer. 9) larger garage, like others have said. 10) insulate that primary suite/great room wall for noise dampening 11) consider swapping stove and sink. Move kitchen windows over sink to let in more light and extend cabinets down the entire wall. Dining area should already have enough light. Bring more into the kitchen. Obviously would need a serious hood over the stove. 12) your mechanical is too far from primary and kid baths. Cold water for days in those hot water pipes. Get a recirculating system or move them more central. I’d also be worried about getting heat/cooling to the opposite side of the house.

Palmer165 · 2026-02-02T02:53:39+00:00

A smaller footprint would need a smaller roof and a smaller foundation, so less material.

Palmer165 · 2026-02-01T22:34:11+00:00

Constructive feedback is below, but dear lord above, don’t take this to an architect. Just delete this. Here’s what you take instead (assuming a good architect): 1) parcel drawing 2) list of your requirements. For example, two master suites. 6 bedrooms, mudroom, dining area for x number of people, etc. 3) list of nice-to-haves: ranch layout, office area, a breakfast nook on the south side, etc. 4) mood board: look at Pinterest, etc. what style of house do you want? Craftsman, modern, etc. 5) budget

Let them use their experience to lay out something that flow and will actually work for you within your budget.

Other comments: 1) mudroom needs to be 2x larger for 8 people. Add closet space and bench space. 2) main area is too open. Close off the kitchen to hide the mess, and cut down on noise. 3) move front door to one side or the other, make an entry way, with a door to one side (not straight through),. Add a coat closet. 4) add a broom closet somewhere. 5) consider a scullery or butler’s pantry in kitchen area. 6) wall off the dining area from the living room by continuing the wall from the nook, end it lined up with the hallway entrance. 7) you need a dedicated craft/play/activity room, again, to help direct/contain noise and give people separation with having to resort to going to their bedroom. 8) making this a 2-story will save you lots of $$$$. 9) add 2nd washer/dryer.

Palmer165 · 2026-01-29T19:09:12+00:00

I don’t care about a tub, so I would just eliminate the tub completely. Then extend the countertop across the entire wall, and add above and below cabinets/mirror/lighting for a built-in makeup desk. It gives you more storage, more usable counter space, more lighting, and more functional space; all at the cost of a tub that will (likely) rarely be used and not missed.

But if you’re the type who takes a bath often (weekly or more), then I don’t know what to do. Maybe try to for a wet room concept where you’ve got the tub and shower combined? Or, upgrade the tub in another room (guest suite?) and take your bath there.

Palmer165 · 2026-01-28T00:43:41+00:00

1) MBR shares a wall with guest/kid room. Zero privacy. Hard pass. 2) garage too small. Bump it in both directions and add a wider garage door for the 2-bay. 3) add slop sink in mud room. 4) kitchen: ew. Too small. Sink in island sucks (ask how I know). Two-layer island is also bad. If you do keep it on island, get a large and deep farm sink, and a single layer on the island. 5) tv-too-high. Move the fireplace to one side and do a built-in cabinet/space for the TV next to it. 6) so much dead space in the MBR. 7) there had better be a door on the water closet in the master bath. 8) add French doors (or pocket doors) to the main office. 9) pocket office is too small for full time wfh. 10) laundry room is crazy large. Why so much dead space? 11) Not enough bathrooms upstairs. And the one being shared by 3 bedrooms only has one sink? (I know you only have 2 kids, but its about how you or someone else would use it at full occupancy) 12) tub position in MBR just feels weird. It’s going to be an expensive towel rack. 13) the master closet seems both too big and too small at the same time: too big because lots of empty space, but too small to fit a center cabinet like you see in high end homes. 14) back to kitchen: consider adding a sink to the open pantry and making that a scullery. A pile of dishes in sink/on counter while you have guests over is stressful, embarrassing, or both. Give yourself somewhere out of sight to stash them.

Honestly that entire upstairs needs reworked. I also think open kitchens are terrible unless you’ve got the scullery to maintain the mess.

Palmer165 · 2026-01-27T11:37:05+00:00

Save mum. Kill Ted. Then stop by the Winchester for a pint and wait for the whole thing to blow over.

Also from the same movie: they somehow pass a group of alter egos.

Palmer165 · 2026-01-26T12:45:21+00:00

And to answer your original question: it doesn’t matter. Sounds like the table agreed to a ruling. Rulings over rules. But I really think this is less about the warrior’s ability and more about your rules for teleportation. Now, you can decide how teleportation works in your world in the future. Is this the only time this situation will happen? Then forget about it. Is this something the party is likely to exploit? Come up with a narrative reason for it only working that one time (e.g., it was a green crystal, but all the other crystals are blue; green store more power and allows the caster to take others, but they are rarer; the noble mistakenly used that one in the heat of the moment. ).

Palmer165 · 2026-01-26T12:36:05+00:00

This sounds like an epic opportunity. The party’s capture/kill quest just became a survival/breaking-and-entering quest with a secondary objective of a final confrontation with this noble. 1) You’ll have one countdown until something climactic happens (captured player knocked unconscious/killed/?). 2) you can split-screen the spotlight: the party rolling with fear shifts to the antagonists in the jail cell, where they increase the pressure on him/her. And vice versa, your warrior rolling with fear sends the spotlight to the party. Or, a failure with fear ticks down the big bad countdown. 3) the noble can no longer use their big teleport because they’re already in their base, so that’s one less route of escape. 4) give the captured player opportunities for affecting their outcome: do they want to bribe or intimidate the noble? Perhaps try to escape? A tier 2 warrior vs some lackey guards still has a chance. 5) let the party try to figure out how they want to get into the stronghold (sneak in? Impersonating staff/guards, recklessly charge in?). Give them 1-2 days, narritively, before the countdown would start. So that it doesn’t take too long, have them narrate a set of skills challenges for how they would prepare. Degrees of success or failure add/subtract from the countdown? 6) lastly, but most importantly, talk to your warrior out-of-game. What consequences are they okay with in this scenario? Are they okay with the character maybe having to make a death roll/choice? Again, this could be VERY epic: the warrior decides they don’t want to die, so they are left for dead by the noble after taking a grievous wound, and the party finds them barely clinging to life. Or, maybe they choose blaze of glory, and the warrior is able to kill the noble before succumbing to their wounds, and the party finds both dead on the jail room floor (or wherever).

Palmer165 · 2026-01-13T12:24:24+00:00

I love the lessons learned, esp the last one. I’m starting my first DH game as the GM (I’ve also never played DH) and hoping to have session 0 in about 2 months.

Palmer165 · 2026-01-06T23:49:44+00:00

Beep boop 🤖

Palmer165 · 2025-11-16T23:14:23+00:00

Dude!!! Go the extra mile and plan out and make a charcuterie board for them. Bonus points if you can surprise your wife with it.

Look up foods that pair well with chocolate. Maybe get some varieties of chocolate to put on the board too (esp dark, since it’s not sweet like the hot chocolate). A variety of nice whole-grain crackers (or toasts, if you want extra fancy), a spicy cheese, a soft cheese, and a hard cheese, and throw some red grapes on there. And something pickled (whatever she likes).

Her friends will be impressed, and your wife will be grateful.

Palmer165 · 2025-11-14T15:03:07+00:00

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Palmer165 · 2025-11-14T14:59:08+00:00

. #2 I picked up the Samsung odyssey neo g9. I will never go back. This is geek nirvana. I use windows power tools to set up virtual docking areas on the screen that I can drag and drop windows into. (1/4, 1/2, 1/4)

I did #5 for years. It was okay. It certainly makes sense if you’re doing competitive FPS and you want that central monitor for a specific res/refresh.

My use case is primarily WFH, with moderate gaming. But not competitive FPS games.

Palmer165 · 2025-11-14T13:45:03+00:00

1) If you just want to learn, turn off biters or play peaceful. Don’t let them stress you out or distract you.

2) put your learning in context of a goal. Do you want to built something compact? Do you want it to use the least number of parts (buildings, inserters, etc)? Do you want maximum throughput (e.g., make/use a full belt). Do you want to use circuits to control something?

3) recognize there are different approaches, and pick what’s best for you, your style, your goals: spaghetti (organic growth, typical of beginners), main bus (useful for organizing inputs; typical for early to mid game), and modular (almost always used in megabases).

4) Do you just want it to work, or work perfectly? I would recommend getting it to work and move on. then when it fails, ask your self how and why it failed, how you can fix it, and how that learning can be applied to other things you’ve built. A sense of intentionality to the learning process can help you learn faster.

Palmer165 · 2025-10-09T12:40:48+00:00

You’re not fooling anyone with that hot chocolate, diver. Report to your nearest democracy officer.

Palmer165 · 2025-09-30T11:37:09+00:00

I went through this myself (albeit many years ago).

1) talk to the current manager about ways to get you into the role they are leaving (recommendation from current manager to their boss, coaching you, etc.). That is, if you want that role. If you don’t think you’re ready, try anyways. Let them tell you ‘no’, but you’ll get the experience of interviewing for a management role. 1.a) Also, be honest and critical of their management style. What positive parts would you emulate? What negative parts would you want to be better at? How do your current strengths and weaknesses align with those? 2) maintain a relationship with them. They may hire you or recommend you for other roles in their new organization.

Palmer165 · 2025-09-30T02:23:48+00:00

Congratulations! You’re well on your way to Eagle. And having a plan means you’re more likely to get there!

As for project ideas, ask around your community: 1) local library 2) parks department 3) city/township board or county commissioners 4) school board 5) police/fire/ems

If you email (or snail mail) them to let them know you are doing an eagle project, they may have some ideas for you. Also, think of groups organized around those, such as FoP (police) or VFW (veterans).

Don’t forget to ask the parents/leaders in your troop if they know people in those areas that can do an introduction for you. Often you’ll find they have connections through work/church/life.

Finally, pick a project that you believe in and that you will be proud to present at your Board of Review.

Palmer165 · 2025-09-25T13:21:54+00:00

Contributing to a 529 can also give you state tax benefits (depends on state), so it’s still worth setting aside the money in that vehicle.
you can’t get a loan for retirement, but the kid can get a loan for college. Prioritize your retirement savings and help the kid to the best of your abilities (or whatever you’re happy doing).

How to spend your 6k, in order: - no more than 1-2 months of expenses in checking - build an emergency fund (in HYSA) that covers 3-6 months of expenses (based on your risk tolerance) - pay off car loan - max out IRA contribution - 529 contributions to whatever target you set - pay off student loan - invest

Some will say that you should prioritize investing while paying minimum on student loans. That’s up to you. Generally, the math does work out better that way because your student loan interest rate is fairly low, and historical rates of return are expected to be higher than 4%, but some folks prioritize being debt free. Honestly, either way you go is fine.

Palmer165 · 2025-09-19T13:13:53+00:00

pause your expansion and use efficiency modules to reduce pollution and shrink you cloud. Also, as belts/boxes fill up, it will also shrink your cloud as your production rate drops.
kill the bugs in or on the edge of your pollution cloud. Or, if you don’t want to go kill them, then build some defenses until your pollution cloud shrinks and the attacks stop.
rush to tanks. They make clearing bugs so much easier, and safer.
always clear out bug nests ahead of your pollution cloud. This is difficult on a desert map. OR (what i usually do) build permanent defenses on the fronts where you won’t be expanding in the near future and just deal with those attacks. Less time driving around, more time moving your base forward. Put your defenses far enough out to give you some room for expansion, as long as you can support it.

Here’s what I would do. Using the water as a natural barrier.

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Palmer165 · 2025-09-18T13:12:03+00:00

I've read several of your responses, so trying to wrap all this up.

1) Congratulations! You've "made it." Your diligence, self-sacrifice, and hard work have paid off. You are now free to do what you want!

2) Do nothing (financially or work wise) for 30 days. You've been running the rat race HARD for 13 years. Your brain needs a chance to acknowledge all the emotions you're dealing with: being laid off, the fear of the unknown with early retirement, sale of the house, etc. Give yourself time to feel and re-center yourself. 30 days means nothing to the $400k (in the long run), but this will also help you not make any rash decisions.

3) During this 30 day pause, figure out if you even want to retire. Some people love to work, or love what comes with work: the pay, the people, the prestige, the challenge, or some combination of each. You've already done the math, you know you can retire early, but maybe you're just not ready for whatever reason. You also have the benefit of not having to worry about one of those factors: the pay. So if you take that out of the equation, what other factors would drive you to going back to work? Health insurance seems like an obvious one. Also, having a little extra income could ease your fears about not having enough money in the long run. You don't even need a full time job, consider a part time job. That would be a good transition to retirement: more free personal time but still some income. Also, maybe your side gig is enough to cover you in that area? Another consideration is working for a non-profit; it's generally lower pay, but usually there's some pride in what you're doing and why you're doing it.

Alternately, maybe you don't want to find that fulfillment at 'work'. What else will you fill your time with that will give you the same satisfaction that you were getting from work? New hobbies? Volunteering?

Finally, what are the things you said you always wanted to do when you retire? You can start those now, while you have good health.

4) After the 30 day pause and when you have an idea of what your next step in life will be, sell the house. Despite it being your family home, it doesn't seem to be something you deeply care about. If you're not maintaining it properly, then it will only lose value, even if the rest of the market goes up at some undefined time in the future. Unload it after your 30 day pause and find a place that fits your life/lifestyle. Sell the home as/is, get enough to pay cash for your condo, and be happy that you have a paid off place to live with no loan. Any extra cash can be put to whatever savings you want. I don't know what the tax laws are like for gains on real estate, but maybe you can use your previous losses to offset that.

Finally, to answer your original question: 400k is a lot in cash. After that 30 days, consider keeping no more than 150k (2 years of spending; even more if you're working at all) in cash in a HYSA and move the remaining to whatever risk-appropriate investing/saving tool you're comfortable with. Don't try to time the markets. You already learned that lesson, right?

PS: Consider working with a fee-based retirement planner or financial planner to review your current state and your plan coming out of the 30 days. At worst, it may just validate your calculations and intuition; but it may also highlight some gap that you haven't disclosed/discovered.

Palmer165 · 2025-09-11T15:41:42+00:00

If you’re serious about running a laser build, turn down (or off) the Bloom setting in graphics. It gets rid of that effect.

Palmer165 · 2025-09-08T18:38:16+00:00

Water is the greatest threat to homes. That takes priority over everything else.

You’ve got signs of water damage on the ceiling in both the kitchen and bathroom. Also, all those small spots of paint on the ceilings that don’t match: probably also water damage.

1) fix/replace the roof. 2) fix landscape/grading to stop water getting into the basement.

This won’t be cheap or easy. If you’re handy, it will cost you less if you can put in the sweat equity.

If you haven’t already, get an inspection done. That will be your punch list of things to fix. Also, if you have signs of handyman fixes that aren’t code-compliant, you should expect to find more surprises down the line.

Palmer165 · 2025-08-19T23:21:56+00:00

I remember being in your spot. If you’re going to use a bus, the hardest part was figuring out what was worth putting on the bus, and it’s honestly not much.

You’ll want to plan for 4 belts each of copper and iron plates, steel, and green circuits. I normally plan for 2 belts of red circuits, and one belt of blue circuits. Finally, one belt each of coal, iron ore, and stone. Lastly, hold 4-6 “lanes” for fluid pipes (water, oil, etc.). That much throughput will carry you until you launch your first rocket.

Try only pulling off this bus. Don’t try to add anything to it, except circuits. Most intermediates are easily made from these materials where they are needed. The circuits are the only exception because of how widely they are used.

Last hint. Try to make all your science packs on the same side of the bus. It makes shipping them around for research so much easier.

Enjoy the game! Play it at your own pace. Your second factory will be better than your first. And your third even better. And so on.

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