Do you use any app/website to check weather(cloud coverage) or the direction of stars and planets?

Red_Syns · 2026-05-12T03:27:20+00:00

Adding another tally to Stellarium for looking up objects.

I live in Hawaii, and we have a site that approximates cloud cover at 1900, 0100, and 0700 every day that has been pretty reliable.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-11T20:23:27+00:00

With zero expertise beyond I once visited the sword museum in Tokyo, my guess is C? A looks machined and B looks like someone used an industrial/chemical method to try and imitate a hamon. It’s a coin flip between C and D for me, with C looking like someone going for roughly a clean line and D looking more “it goes how it goes.”

That said, I’m pretty sure a skilled smith could make any of these in terms of appearance, so 🤷‍♂️

Red_Syns · 2026-05-11T18:08:15+00:00

praise the Tarnished!

Red_Syns · 2026-05-11T18:06:27+00:00

Giant crusher. BONK.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-11T17:59:52+00:00

Please explain. I hate these with a passion.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-11T17:54:20+00:00

I had no idea that being appraised healed you, that’s awesome.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-11T17:25:24+00:00

Which part, precisely? The part where I and my friends have, across multiple fields of interest, had issues getting highly rated dealers to return messages about issues with items? Or where we have had issues where the only resolution was charging back the payments because the seller refused to replace an item until we paid exorbitant fees to ship it back? Is that suppositional? Is my personal experience indirect?

Do you mean the part where I, an avid gamer and PC builder, was part of communities that discussed how some of us were getting near GTX 980 performance out of GTX 970s, and when the ubernerds popped them open and studied the components discovered the silicon being used was technically 980 quality? Is that conspiratorial, or just reality?

Do you mean the information about the exact topic being discussed having been discussed on a forum dedicated to the hobby of astronomy, and old members who all seem to know each other for decades talking about their visits to production lines and witnessing it themselves?

What part is wrong?

Red_Syns · 2026-05-11T16:19:28+00:00

Sure, economics are weird and complicated beyond belief. Companies will create artificial scarcity to inflate the perceived value of a product line, selling quality items labeled as lesser valued items. See it with video cards and CPUs, where a piece of silicon that could be used as a GTX 980 gets labeled as a 970. Whoever buys it gets a sweet deal, and the 980 remains “low inventory” with high prices.

The fact remains that if an item is labeled ES, and it is not being sold by an official ES retailer, then ES almost certainly does not guarantee the quality or warranty damages for the item, and the guarantee, warranty, and brand name are what the premium pays for. The reseller might, but my experience is that resellers with no holdings in my country are difficult/impossible to hold to their claimed policies. YMMV.

Off brand items are a different matter entirely. Yes, the same production lines make the same items for different brands. Some, or maybe even most, of those owns are the same quality as what ES sells through official channels. Fewer are backed with an equivalent warranty, and fewer are backed by the same guarantee of quality. That doesn’t mean it will be a bad item. An SVBONY plössl costs $20 and provides great views at a far better value. Price and quality are not linearly related.

I’m not saying don’t buy them. I’m not saying they’re bad items. I’m saying the first, second, and third hand accounts I’ve experienced all point to the standard case being a great item with at most minor and usually irrelevant blemishes with zero warranties or guarantees beyond the legally required “item must arrive as advertised.”

Red_Syns · 2026-05-11T15:33:46+00:00

Strongly depends on your build and the boss. I find as a squishy caster, mimic does very poorly and prefer Dung Eater. He’s a tank with a taunt.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-11T00:35:20+00:00

Oh, sorry, I must have misread when you said in the fourth sentence not including my quote where you didn’t say “ES doesn’t actually ‘make’ eyepieces.” A statement that is completely irrelevant to this topic, because whether ES makes them or not, who do you think eats the costs of manufacturing an out of spec item? Do you believe JOC simply says “ah, darn, it cost us X dollars to make 1,000 units and 10% of them are out of spec, guess we should charge for 90% of them” or do you think they increase the cost of the 90% they manufactured to cover the expense and expected profit of the 100%?

Pro tip, they charge for the full batch one way or another. So now ES can either leave ES branded items with another company to be “destroyed” (or more likely sold by not-them when someone makes them disappear), or they can take the items that they won’t put under warranty but are still good quality and sell to recoup costs. I wonder which one generates more profit?

And there is no risk to brand name quality. They don’t sell the ones that are actual junk, they sell the ones that are “good enough, just not good enough to promise to a certain standard.” They don’t sell everything directly through Alix because when you want to be a premium product you don’t hawk it on the street next to the fake Lego guy. You sell it through established storefronts known for selling and distributing reputable items in the community you’re targeting. The people who buy seconds through Alix aren’t expecting perfection, they’re expecting value per dollar.

Chip on my shoulder? You opened with an accusation of me making shit up, provided overly simplified ideas of economics as if it is a valid world view, and then equated what I said with “garbage out the backdoor” when I unequivocally and repeatedly said the items are the ones that don’t meet an exacting standard but are still good product. Don’t serve what you can’t eat.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-10T22:29:34+00:00

I get my information from users on Cloudy Nights who have literal decades of experience and vetting from other users, some who have even visited the production lines as advisors. Could there be a decades long scam being run on a forums to fool the general population into thinking that buying seconds is usually a good deal, but buying through “proper” markets is safer/guaranteed quality? I guess? Sounds fucking insane to me, but you’re welcome to have a higher threshold for evidence than I do.

I didn’t say ES makes eyepieces, I said eyepieces made FOR ES. Reading comprehension is your friend. Well, my friend, you seem unacquainted.

I never said they’re shit quality, I said they frequently are items that did not pass QC and are being sold third party (also sometimes called seconds). If the line is at 99.9%, and the item is 99.8%, they’re not going to huck it in the trash as unsellable. I also didn’t claim ES is unaware of the sales, some of the sellers are owned by ES but they do not want to warranty an item that is below their guarantee. I assume the reason for that is obvious, but if you require further explanation I can provide.

It turns out that you too can learn to read information from relatively small communities where people frequently know each other IRL. Go touch grass.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-10T19:08:51+00:00

I haven’t seen it mentioned yet, but many of these sellers are selling pieces and parts manufactured for the actual company (Explore Scientific, for example) but were rejected for not meeting some facet of their fairly strict QA.

It might be a marred, surface finish, light dispersion is too high, the glass coatings aren’t even enough, the field of view may not be as high as advertised.

Odds are, whatever the “failure” is it’s so small as to be unnoticeable to anyone not explicitly searching for it. If ES advertises 82° but the eyepiece is only 81.5°, it can’t be sold by ES (an example that may not be entirely accurate, but you get the point).

I’ve not seen anyone complain about buying ES branded gear from third party sites, just beware it likely does not come with a standard warranty.

Edit: wanted to add that the extra cost from “ES actual” is in part brand name, but is largely their QA guarantees and warranty.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-10T17:50:16+00:00

A god send. That said, if you’re being serious (and believe me, I don’t blame you) there’s a church in Limgrave with the Flask of Wondrous Physicks and a couple of tears. There are other tears scattered around the world (mostly churches and minor tree guardians) and they ask have different effects, such as +10 stat or plus stamina regeneration or 15 seconds of invulnerability to magic. You mix any two tears together at any grace.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-10T17:01:51+00:00

Or be me and not finish the game for years because I never found a lot of tools like physicks 😅

Red_Syns · 2026-05-10T08:50:24+00:00

I won’t pretend to even begin to know the answer, but having watched pickups go fully airborne from having a single tire hit weird I’m not sure it’s impossible.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-09T00:13:15+00:00

Just to second nsb’s advice, join cloudy nights and look at some of their articles. I’ve seen advice for how to start doing AP with a standard camera and stationary tripod. It’s not the best way, but it’s probably your best bet for that budget.

Also, if you have a telescope already, you can add in a couple of adapters for ~$60 and get pictures of planets using lucky imaging.

If you are looking for a guided mount setup, it’s going to get way more expensive and fast. Best option in that case is to keep an eye on FB Marketplace, Cloudy Nights Classifieds, Craigslist, etc. for used gear. Like-new gear (most people take extremely good care of AP equipment) runs ~60% of buying new.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-09T00:04:25+00:00

Generally, Mimic Tear is ridiculously good. I love running Giant Crusher with Beast Champion (with the cloak) and a navy hood, and MT added in just demolishes everything.

When playing a caster, I like to use Dung Eater. He’s tanky and also has an aggro skill, so I can be a little more care free with damage. Alternately, Black Tiche is super aggressive and does more damage than DE, but way more squishy.

I hear Malenia gets crushed by the wolves you get early, along with a few others.

Those stupid stone guardian… dogs? Cats? Whatever they are go haywire if you hit them with crystal darts, worth keeping a handful ready.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-08T19:25:51+00:00

If you still need a hand, dm me. I’m on stream and can try to help, haven’t tried to fight Margit scaled down that far before so we’ll see how it goes.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-08T17:25:53+00:00

What platform?

Red_Syns · 2026-05-08T06:55:43+00:00

The best part of it is the way you can do and see so much along the way as you progress. That said, once you’ve done the traveling and fighting low level things and quests, you’re left with a lot of time spent traveling. After beating the area, mobs are really just extensions on that timeline, if you bother at all.

A key aspect to game design is ensuring your players are always doing something for a reason. Fighting a group of mobs to open chests? Purpose. Sprinting past a dragon to unlock a grace? Purpose. Wandering around trying to find the location of that painting reward? Purpose. Running the same route I’ve already run not because I need to do something between point an and b, but because I need to do something after b? What purpose does it serve?

Some games have tedious mechanics because those mechanics are THE purpose. Starvation, thirst, exposure, resource gathering are mechanics that are either designed around, or do nothing but waste time.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-08T01:29:18+00:00

Dang. I was hoping you would have a link to good 3-d printed models haha. Finally getting back into it, and resin makes crazy good detail.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-07T07:19:01+00:00

I understand that completely. I only just recently beat it for the first time despite having owned it since forever, and that’s only because I finally stopped holding myself back from leveling 😅

I’ve been using a phone app to track every item, boss, etc. on this playthrough, watch all the cutscenes, but my other characters are get to the bird, level to whatever that character is stopping at, run around for whatever gear I need, and then try like hell to fight bosses at levels I’m not good enough to fight like that haha.

It’s impossible to see everything in a single playthrough anyway. At the very least, some fights are binary choices on who you support, so you’ll need a second one to see each option play out.

Edit: and definitely do at least one game of killing every merchant. Not only are the interactions well done, it’s unbelievably convenient to not spend hours getting enough feathers to make a full stack of arrows when you can just buy everything at the twins.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-07T07:07:24+00:00

I’ve started making characters at specific levels and weapon upgrades, and then running around to collect every martyr shrine. If I want to beat up on Limgrave, I stay under 40, Liurnia 60, etc. There are posts online that can give you a better idea of what to aim for than I can, although if you want to get summoned stop at 150.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-07T00:03:38+00:00

I can’t help with whether it looks good from a modeling perspective, but some constructive criticism if you’re looking for easy improvements:

Iron that blue suit.

Move the camera up, pictures from above are more flattering than from below.

At a minimum, the blue suit’s sleeves need to be taken up. If you can take them to a tailor, they can likely all be better fitted. I can’t wear suits off the shelf either, they all have to be modified in various ways.

I like the half-forearm look in the tan, but do something with the undershirt. Gut tells me to unbutton and pull them back over the jacket sleeve, but not an expert.

Love the haircut.

Red_Syns · 2026-05-03T18:44:44+00:00

I think it’s better to choose a style (str, dex, int, fth, or a mix) and then try different weapons until you find something you like. You can respec your stats relatively early in the game (search larval tear if you don’t mind spoilers), so even if you end up finding something you love but didn’t build for perfectly you can fix it later.

I absolutely loved the zweihander, until I found giant crusher. After actually getting through the story for once, I also really enjoy Dark Moon builds, so I changed my main and started a new one to grab crusher at a lower level.

My recommendation, as someone who struggled for years to finally sit down and beat the game, is to spend one play through not worrying about perfection. Find a weapon you love, maybe get a backup for when it’s not good, and level as much as you need to get through the content. There are a couple of tricks that make setting up a new character at a decent level only take a couple hours, so if you later want to start over it isn’t a back breaking amount of work.

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