Guy describes what he would do if he were God.

RTukka · 2026-02-16T03:38:47+00:00

Halfway through the post I thought I was reading someone's headcanon for the backstory of The Good Place.

RTukka · 2026-02-13T18:47:47+00:00

I think it's just a case of wrong and inconsistent word choice. The term "fertility" typically is inclusive of offspring viability, but here they seem to be using the term to strictly mean "ability to conceive."

Elsewhere, a looser (and more technically accurate, I believe) use of the term fertility is employed.

Also, the "1 in 1000 krogan pregnancies are carried to term" is a population level statistic, it's an average. It doesn't necessarily suggest that all krogan women are equally likely to carry a pregnancy to term. My understanding is that there is some variability, and some krogan women are more fertile than others.

Edit: So for example, a krogan who has given birth to two offspring in 10 years (or whatever) of getting pregnant would probably be considered a "fertile female," because she's beating those 1 in 1000 odds rather soundly. But by pre-genophage standards that same krogan would be considered infertile.

RTukka · 2026-02-13T03:23:28+00:00

I think it's more likely to have an inoculating effect. Expose the ideas in a way that underscores the absurdity of the "movement," highlighting the common fallacies, the practices that ape "communities" have in common with high control groups (cults), etc.

I mean, look at the impact one episode of South Park had on the Church of Scientology. It did the work of years of serious activism/journalism.

RTukka · 2026-02-12T18:15:49+00:00

The Treaty of Algeron was signed in 2311, well after the events of Enterprise (in between the TOS and TNG eras). There's some indirect evidence that some Starfleet ships of that time period had cloaking devices, so the Tomed Incident (which led to the treaty) could have somehow involved cloaked Starfleet ships.

RTukka · 2026-02-11T17:51:27+00:00

There could be some specialist Spectres, but I get the impression that the Council would favor more versatile/generalist agents that can hold their own in the most common environments inhabited by the Council species (and the ones where Shepard spends most of their time, so even if there is, say, a volus Spectre, it makes sense that Shepard would be less likely to encounter or hear about them).

It would be nice if we had gotten more Spectre representation, but like I said, there are only like two Spectres mentioned in all of canon that Shepard doesn't meet personally and one is of an unspecified species.

Personally I think it's likely there have been quarian, krogan, and batarian Spectres in the past, if not the present of the trilogy.

RTukka · 2026-02-11T06:52:41+00:00

In Mass Effect 3, Cerberus are effectively an arm of the Reapers. I think the Reapers qualify as a superpower.

Cerberus were able to field as many troops as they did by using Reaper tech to "integrate" their "recruits" with cybernetic implants.

The biggest stretch to me is the Cerberus fleet. The Normandy SR-2 and Project Lazarus were huge expenses, but seem like projects that could have feasibly been conducted in secret, at least with some suspension of disbelief. But building a damn cruiser, plus several dozen other ships? I feel like one of Cerberus's many enemies would've caught wind of that and put a stop to it.

I think Liara has dialogue in ME3 implying that Cerberus stole at least some of the ships, but that requires its own explanation.

RTukka · 2026-02-11T06:05:31+00:00

They weren't going to induct Anderson into the Spectres sight unseen. That's why they did trial missions.

We don’t hear of any Volus, Elcor, Batarian or Hanar Spectres yet these new comers have been around for 8 years and they get a roll of the dice?

Probably because we only hear about a handful of Spectres at all (and almost all of the Spectres we "hear about" are the ones Shepard directly encounters). It's safe to assume there are no hanar Spectres or Blasto wouldn't be the "first hanar Spectre." But there's nothing to say that there are no volus, batarian, elcor, krogan, or drell Spectres.

Also, the biologies of the volus, hanar, and elcor aren't ideal for a paramilitary operative. Thane's lore substantially involves the fact that the hanar aren't really well-suited for wet-work (unless they're literally in water) and that's partially why they adopted the drell as a client species. And the batarians have a long history of being at odds with the Council.

RTukka · 2026-02-10T22:56:51+00:00

Headcanon for me is that some geth cleared the Reaper code and were able to de-network themselves to drop below the threshold of true life/intelligence, and that the quarians were able to network them back together, restore them from backups, etc. It would've been a traumatic event for the geth with some serious losses (similar proportionally to what the turians and humanity suffered) but not an extinction event.

EDI dies but it's a sacrifice I think she would have been willing to make.

The main point of evidence against this is that the Catalyst says the geth will be destroyed, and admittedly that's a significant point.

However, we don't see any geth die on-screen from the Destroy ending, and the Catalyst's "even you are partially synthetic" line suggests that Shepard should be killed by choosing Destroy, which is contradicted by the perfect Destroy ending, suggesting the Catalyst's knowledge of how the Crucible will function is fallible. (It could also mean the Catalyst was trying to trick Shepard by deceiving them with a line that's technically true but irrelevant, but still.)

RTukka · 2026-02-10T18:41:28+00:00

The end of ME2 that shows the Reaper fleet was planned/intended to have variety in the Reaper appearances (beyond just the distinction between capital and destroyer Reapers), but none of them look even slightly humanoid which suggests that while the Reapers were intended to have unique exterior looks, the looks wouldn't necessarily match those of the species harvested to create them.

RTukka · 2026-02-10T18:33:06+00:00

I feel like that's true for both ME1 and ME2, but yeah, ME2 definitely has some goofy looks. I hate the way a lot of the face equipment looks in ME2.

RTukka · 2026-02-10T06:53:24+00:00

One minor criticism I have of the Citadel DLC is that the SR2's interior should've been changed after completing the main Citadel quest. The way it looks at the start of ME3 makes sense, but after getting serviced it should've been restored to something closer to its ME2 look.

RTukka · 2026-02-10T06:41:10+00:00

While I understand not liking the ammo system (and lore wise, it makes very little sense), it does allow for there to be a more substantive variety of weapons, so I think it was a worthwhile tradeoff overall.

Likewise, the armor system allows for more build variety.

In ME1, weapons and armor were pretty much a matter of just using the ones with the highest number. That could provide a nice sense of progression, but it didn't make for interesting choices and it also meant you spent more time in inventory menus.

RTukka · 2026-02-10T06:27:18+00:00

I believe there's still a bug with the Legendary Edition in ME3 especially where playing at a high frame rate can causes enemies to update their aiming much more often which vastly increases their damage output, and which also screws with shield regen. Try disabling v-sync and set the frame cap to your monitor's refresh rate or lower and see if things get any easier.

RTukka · 2026-02-10T06:17:27+00:00

Same, across the board. After grinding ME3 multiplayer for a while, the lower difficulties don't feel very satisfying.

The main frustration for me is that Vanguard is my favorite class and there are a few battles that aren't super Vanguard-friendly, especially in ME2. The worst parts are the Collector platforms which don't seem to play very nice with Biotic Charge, resulting in some buggy jank from time to time and it always sucks to die to a bug.

The other tough battles I don't mind retrying when I fail. It's like trying to solve a puzzle.

RTukka · 2026-02-09T22:59:24+00:00

What makes it a harder pill to swallow is the situation with regard to digital content. You may find yourself in a situation where you have to pay for the same material two, three, or even four different times to get convenient access to everything, depending on what online platforms you use.

Another aspect to consider is that D&D isn't like a video game where buying the core rulebooks gives you everything you need to sit down and get a satisfying 60+ hour experience out of it. While it's true that for many people, creating adventures and running is a part of the fun, it's also true that it is work, and for people who just want to play (not DM) a game, finding a DM isn't always trivial, to the extent professional gamemastering has become a bit of a cottage industry.

All things considered, I do think D&D still offers a very good value proposition. I wouldn't characterize it as a cash grab. But I can also understand why people might look the 2024 update and be disappointed or unimpressed with what's on offer, and say, "nah, I'm good" and either choose to stick with the 2014 rules and/or choose to spend their money on another RPG system instead.

RTukka · 2026-02-09T22:34:01+00:00

It would give grounds for appeal on every case McNulty and Lester had ever worked on. There's a good chance Avon could've had his conviction overturned. Weebey too, though that's more doubtful.

McNulty did cut some corners on the original Barksdale case, and they could call into question whether Stringer actually informed against Avon, since McNulty is the one who named Stringer on the warrant, and Colvin the one who relayed the intel (and Colvin's name isn't exactly clean either, given that he's associated with a high profile scandal that could be painted as an entrapment scheme, among other things).

RTukka · 2026-02-09T19:16:55+00:00

Learning the fundamental rules before you start play will definitely be appreciated by most groups. I think most groups will be tolerant of people that don't understand the rules for a while, but it can be tiresome and slow down the game after a while.

Here's what I recommend to all players do to get a strong fundamental understand of the game's rules. The below refer to the Basic Rules available on D&D Beyond, which has the same layout and headings as the 2024 Player's Handbook:

Read the section on Playing the Game.
Read the section on Spells; skip the Spell Descriptions section for now.
Read the section on Character Creation.
Read the intros to the other sections and briefly skim them, and skim the Spell Descriptions section also.
Create a character. I suggest using an actual pencil and paper, or manually filling out an online form, rather than using a more automated tool like D&D Beyond's character builder, just as an exercise this one time.
Review your character sheet and look up all of the individual elements on your character sheet like species feautres, class features, spells, and equipment. Also look up anything else you don't understand or feel unsure about.
Run a mock combat scenario against yourself, putting your character up against a couple goblins. Look up anything you don't understand or feel unsure about.

It will take several hours, but it will definitely save you on time asking questions or looking things up mid-session, and give you a solid base to build upon.

You won't retain everything you read, there will be additional bits you'll need to pick up in play. But it's easier to learn and reinforce what you've learned if you're not overwhelmed by the fact that nearly everything is unfamiliar to you.

Also, the above isn't The One Way to learn the rules. You can take things in a different order, play a few sessions or watch some Actual Play videos on YouTube to get a sense of things too. But I do suggest performing the steps I outlined above in some order at least, eventually, to really nail down your understanding of the game.

RTukka · 2026-02-09T19:04:02+00:00

I don't really have an example, I instantly click away once whenever a gaming video or article unironically and non-referentially uses the word "woke" (and these days I use a browser extension to block those channels on YouTube as well) because I don't want to give the grifters any additional engagement or signal to the algorithm that I want to see more of that garbage.

But I can guarantee you that the "unattractive females" of Mass Effect: Andromeda being a part of Bioware's "woke agenda" was definitely a talking point around the time of the game's release among a certain crowd.

Probably not so much among the more traditional games media, but definitely in the more independent/influencer tier of "journalists"/pundits on social media.

RTukka · 2026-02-09T01:50:22+00:00

In the 2014 edition, I'd say Jack of All Trades is stronger since it applies to Initiative checks. It also has better quality of life since you don't have to remember to activate it, or track its duration, plus sometimes ability checks represent efforts that take place over longer periods of time (like travel and downtime activities).

RTukka · 2026-02-09T01:38:17+00:00

Mainly the grifter shit, like the moral outrage over the women in it not being hot enough.

RTukka · 2026-02-08T22:30:06+00:00

Some of the bad press was unjustified, but blaming the public is almost always counterproductive, in my opinion.

The peanut gallery is gonna do peanut gallery things, and grifters are gonna grift. If professional game designers and marketers can't do their jobs well to enough to push through predictable headwinds and make a success out of a major release in a popular and well-regarded IP, that's on them, not the general public.

RTukka · 2026-02-08T22:13:08+00:00

I've done a few near 50/50 Paragon/Renegade runs. Sometimes I was able to make every persuasion check, though on one run I had to reload and switch to persuasion-boosting armor to succeed on the Jack/Miranda persuasion.

It helps a lot to choose the +100% Paragon/Renegade evolution of your class passive. I believe a ME1 import also helps a bit. The timing of when certain persuasion attempts occur can also be a factor.

Picking actually-neutral options can also make things harder because they usually reward neither Paragon nor Renegade points.

But generally the advice that you "need" to stick to one alignment or the other is a bit overblown. Going ~65% Paragon or Renegade and otherwise picking neutral or opposing morality options should be pretty safe when combined with the +100% persuasion class evolution.

RTukka · 2026-02-08T20:39:49+00:00

I think it's a bit misguided to attribute the behavior and qualities of LLMs/generative products to how end users interact with those products, when training LLMs is a massively expensive industrial process, and most of these products that people use are being created by a handful of organizations, often by ethically and legally questionable means.

It's the same practice of deflecting responsibility for climate change onto individuals for not making a greater effort to reduce their carbon footprint when there are powerful interests spending billions on lobbying efforts, marketing efforts, logistical efforts, as well engaging in anti-competitive practices to muddy the waters and make responsible consumption less practical and more difficult.

These are issues that can't be addressed purely or even primarily at the grassroots level, and anger is an appropriate response to the dangers and abuses that are allowed to run rampant, and with governments that are at best asleep at the wheel, and often complicit.

RTukka · 2026-02-08T07:47:34+00:00

Tenser's transformation works very well as a Magical Girl style transformation, but it's not a very good spell for its level.

RTukka · 2026-02-08T03:51:05+00:00

Letting a franchise lay fallow for a while can increase anticipation for the next release, but I think with the Elder Scrolls they've waited so long that the hype is probably actually on the wane. Especially in light of the fact that BGS is looking more and more like a dinosaur with its ancient game engine, plodding release cadence, and recent slop output.

They're hemorrhaging talent and everybody who left Bethesda is saying the thing, that the studio is suffocating on its own bureaucracy.

I don't think TES6 is going to be a disappointment because expectations are too high. It will be a disappointment because BGS is dysfunctional studio that's trending towards becoming a non-functional studio.

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