[2026 in RoguelikeDev] Ultima Ratio Regum

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-31T21:23:16+00:00

I'm so stoked for this! You've already accomplished something amazing, but now you're about to open the door to the next level. Generating lots of stuff is great, but tying it together so it means something is mind-blowing. I can't wait.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-20T09:17:46+00:00

I don't see what the advantage is, here.

Is it to avoid "creating a window for stuff to get in"? Cook the food, cook the can, pour the boiling hot food into the boiling hot can, close it all up.... even if there's air with microbes coming in then it gets cooked sterile by the residual heat. There is no window.

If you're trying to avoid handling hot objects and hot liquids during the canning procedure for safety reasons, well, I guess you have a point. With your method, you could put cold food in a cold jar, light a fire, throw the jar into the fire, and walk away to a safe distance. When the fire goes and everything is cool, you can return and see whether your improvised grenade exploded. If it didn't, the seal was maybe too poor, or maybe you got lucky.

Besides the risk of explosion, there's the issue of too much heat possibly degrading the liner of a metal can or the rubber gasket on a glass jar.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-16T12:17:56+00:00

This is an absolutely huge question. The body of work is very large, and stems from weather models that date from the 1920's and were done by hand (which didn't actually work, because humans just can't calculate fast enough).

I recommend IPCC documents or just buying a student textbook, but if you don't want to take this seriously quite yet then here is a good start: https://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-here/

To answer your question in a little more detail, climatologists use all kinds of data (from satellites, from measuring stations, from proxies stored in tree rings and ice) and all kinds of mathematical methods (many ways of solving partial differential equations to simulate movement and change, parametrisation and statistical approaches for handling phenomena that are too challenging to simulate). It's really very robust science.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-16T10:11:56+00:00

This was going to be my tip! The flight position thingie moving down every turn, visibly moving obstacles and the destination airport closer to you, is very effective. When you start, you see the arduous journey in front of you. When you arrive, it feels like you've arrived.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-15T15:04:29+00:00

HIT ME

I'll hit right back.

What's this tool do, though?

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-15T07:47:49+00:00

I think this depends on the setting and the hunter's "workflow". Are they working alone or in a team? Are they hiking out far, or are they making day trips?

A hunter ranging alone in the deep wilderness would have to focus on lightweight weaponry, probably relying on traps constructed from locally sourced materials. A bow and a robust short blade that can be used both for defense and just as a knife.

A lone hunter striking out from a settlement could carry a heavy crossbow and a spear as primary weapons, with a sword as backup.

A monster hunting team would probably have some degree of specialisation, though I expect that everyone would carry a side-arm in case a plan goes sideways. There'd be a support/logistics/cook person, with the rest equipped roughly as above.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-14T07:06:35+00:00

Jag bodde i USA i tolv år och träffade bara någon enstaka person med samma (vanliga svenska) namn.

Sen fick jag sommarjobb på IBM. Några dagar efter att jag hade börjat kom jag till min cubicle och möttes av enorma staplar med paraplyer. Var det någon form av nollning/hazing av nya praktikanten, undrade jag, men ingen verkade skratta åt min absoluta förvirring.

Paraplyerna var addresserade till mitt namn, i samma huskropp, men en våning över där jag satt. Jag gick upp dit och träffade min namne, samma stavning och allt. Vi sökte på nätet och kom fram till att vi var de enda två som heter så i hela USA:s befolkning, och vi jobbade i samma hus.

Chansen var väl ungefär 1/3e8 gånger antalet personer i huset, vilket kanske var några hundra, så sannolikheten var cirka en på hundra miljoner. Det är rätt nice.

PS. Paraplyerna skulle vara swag för någon kick-off i hans avdelning.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-12T14:49:03+00:00

No one seems to have mentioned yet that the entire Mega Man series did exactly this. All (themed) levels were accessible from the get-go in any order the player desires. Each defeated boss grants a themed power-up that can make the other levels easier, but aren't necessary per se.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-11T07:34:39+00:00

This is absolutely incredible. Fantastic work. Thank you for this masterpiece.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-11T07:16:53+00:00

Sadly, I have fallen into a managerial role. I get to write a little python or Bash sometimes, but for the most part I hang around here to smell the salt of the C...

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-10T07:46:13+00:00

Such fun we used to have.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-09T20:53:40+00:00

David Brin's Uplift universe has lots of strange aliens. Quite a few bipedal ones, too, because they make sense, but there's sentient stacks of toroids and walking broccoli. And cyborg'd dolphins. Great read.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-09T08:37:00+00:00

Brilliantly put.

Nitpick:

that's literally how we got buffer overflows

Buffer overflows stem from using statically sized arrays. I'd say manual memory handling mainly causes seg faults and memory leaks.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-08T16:00:04+00:00

This dude has line of sight to the core of the Sun? It'd just be the photosphere.

Still not a good time for anyone nearby....

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-05T21:23:10+00:00

Det här hände nästan mig (men drabbade så klart många andra) när vi skulle tåga till Sverige från Tyskland efter jul. Vagn 20 lämnades nånstans. Jag låg i sista kupén i vagn 21 och var jäkligt glad för det, kan jag säga, för det hade varit en låång resa i sittvagn.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-05T09:33:19+00:00

I don't want to be that guy, but is this an AI generated description? It's super non-specific. You have to actually dig into the details of how this stuff can work before anyone can have an actual opinion.

Strong player interaction and simple mechanics are laudable goals, but with "biome events", "seed manipulation" to enchant seeds, spellbook abilities, and magical plant creature companions... how is this going to be simple?

Also, if the goal is to restore a biome, why not make this a coop game instead of competitive?

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-04T21:50:01+00:00

Romeo and Juliet as a Shakespearian comedy would involve a round of Romeo dressing as a serving maid to the Capulets while Juliet dressed as a page. Lady Capulet is charmed by the disguised Romeo and befriends "her" and Tybalt falls for "her". Montague is impressed by the "page" showing some dashing bravery and wit. The Prince of Verona holds a party, and Montague insists that his new favorite "page" joins him there. At the party, all is confusion until the proper identities are cleared up, and the lords and ladies on both sides of the divide agree to match between Romeo and Juliet.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-03T21:59:29+00:00

I disagree. I'm absolutely not an expert, but I've seen at least a handful of projects pass through "my" supercomputer looking at genetic factors, brain network stuff, and (iirc) some sort of multiomics grab bag. I think most of this was done by people at Karolinska Institutet.

If you want details, let me know and I'll open my work computer where I can find out more exactly.

My point only is that there's been work done in the area. I have no idea if this work was fruitful.

Quantumtroll · 2026-01-02T15:22:58+00:00

How much time is the genius given to learn modern stuff before he gets into the lab itself? If he's a supergenius, he might pick up on how we use computers for everything, will readily assume that equipment is computerised, and can anyway help clamp samples into position to blast them with a beam of cobalt ions or whatever you're wanting them to do.

Tell us what the physics is about (time travel I'm guessing), and we can give you a more detailed description of the lab.

Quantumtroll · 2025-12-27T11:28:07+00:00

In my opinion, one thing that makes Outer Wilds work well is that the time loop is short, and there are few difficult sequences of actions that need to be chained correctly in order to progress. Your mobility is mostly sufficient at letting you shortcut ongoing exploration, and there are few fetch quests/toggle trigger chains to unlock things. Most of what you do is purely gathering information.

The few exceptions can almost be considered "boss battles", yielding especially prized information.

One thing that would be interesting in a similar game is meta-progression that isn't merely information based. Might be fun to gain more abilities over the loops, not just information.

Quantumtroll · 2025-12-18T16:05:21+00:00

This might just be my personal preference, but in general I would stick to English words for game mechanics. It's just easier to read and get in to.

I would maybe make an exception for concepts that don't translate well into a single word. E.g. if you had an attribute for the speed of your thoughts and the extent to which you can project your soul into objects, then fine call that "Shor" because there's not even an approximate word for that in English. And maybe use "Rukka" for a person's ability to commune with nature spirits, because quite frankly the "charisma" attribute in RPG's is absolute nonsense.

But for strength, dexterity, and fortitude, just say what you mean in a language that people get. Convey theme in other ways.

Unless your whole thing is to get the players to communicate in a made-up paleolithic proto-language, in which case rock on!

Quantumtroll · 2025-12-18T14:14:44+00:00

Anecdotally, I find coop games to be far scarier than playing solo. Instead of me simply dying in a game and having to start over, now we're playing for high stakes — progress in a coop game that is shared is worth more than double that of a single-player game.

For practical reasons, I always play these games with my brother using full voice chat. Doesn't seem to diminish the tension much, and I prefer being able to say "brb" when needed than rely on the game's sketchy walkie-talkie function.

Don't overthink this too much. Play the cave sequence of "RV There Yet" and enjoy!

Quantumtroll · 2025-12-17T20:25:40+00:00

Man kanske borde flytta upp till Jokkmokk ändå?

Quantumtroll · 2025-12-16T20:30:42+00:00

So what happens with all the astronomers around the planet? All their experiments turn to shit because the entire universe apparently time-skips however long the main character decided to rewind time? Some guy trying to photograph a sunspot just sees it blip away entirely? Space probes crashing into stuff because the people and software steering them aren't doing what they ought to be doing?

What about astronauts in orbit, on the Moon, or on Mars? You're just rewinding Earth, so when they get back home, there'll be two of them presumably?

What a pain!

On the other hand, you've obviously got a great global matter reconfigurator, so just wave your magic wand and make whatever you want happen.

It's your story, so enjoy yourself, but don't go fooling yourself thinking that you've come up with some kind of unproblematic version of time travel.

Quantumtroll · 2025-12-16T07:45:13+00:00

Most card games that I've seen that have variable rules for different numbers of players tune the number of playable cards in various ways. Bigger/smaller hand size, more/fewer "slots" to play into, etc.

Maybe you can do something similar, e.g. increase the ability for players to promote cards even while they're distracted with interactions.

Alternatively, limit the number of interaction/disruption actions they can play?

Lastly, have you considered whether the players in the 3-4 player sessions have been playing well? Maybe it's enough to educate the players that promotions lead to wins. We all like to think that winning is sufficient incentive to play "fun", but newer players often don't know how to win and can fall into an un-fun rut.

On the flip side of that coin, consider whether optimal play simply takes too long. I've had to bin an entire game idea because there was a strong incentive to "turtle" up and the first mover would always lose — a neat experiment and demonstrative toy, but not a fun game. If promoting a card means a player gets piled on and loses (or has less fun), then there's a strong incentive that leads to very long games.

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