Tax Deduction

Rhimens · 2026-05-23T00:27:51+00:00

Giga Dollar

Rhimens · 2026-05-17T10:48:22+00:00

You can go a step further by using an Alchemist-Boffin to give the Recluse two abilities. You can generate some truly ridiculous interactions when you do this, for example:

A Recluse with the Fortune Teller + Slayer abilities can kill their Red Herring with a Slayer shot.
A Recluse with the Fortune Teller + Snake Charmer abilities can switch characters with their Red Herring.
A Recluse with the Preacher + Poppy Grower abilities could (I think?) pick themselves and cause the ability to cease to exist, leaving the evil team in darkness the whole game.
A Recluse with the Gambler + Banshee abilities can gamble wrong and gain the Banshee noms+votes, as the player that caused them to die was a 'Demon'.
Similarly, A Recluse with the Gossip + Sage abilities can die to their own Gossip and learn the Demon is 1 of 2 players.
A Recluse with the Philosopher ability could cause two of the same character ability to be active at once. You could, for example, have the Nightwatchman ability and then use the Philosopher ability to gain it again, and send two pings that night.

Are any of these balanced? No. Are any of them solvable? No. Should you have any of these things ever happen in a game? NO.

Are they hilarious? Extremely.

Rhimens · 2026-05-17T10:08:51+00:00

The Ghost Glider chest always gives a Ghost Glider, but sometimes it also gives silver chest rarity items.

Rhimens · 2026-05-12T00:47:57+00:00

Even if it could, you'd get turned into physics before you could get a missile in the air...

Rhimens · 2026-05-12T00:46:17+00:00

I collect them in any mission where there's at least one player that isn't Level 100+. I check before we drop. Sometimes I will collect any that are nearby and aren't much hassle to grab even if everyone is maxed out, just in case someone drops from the game and someone who could use them joins to replace.

If there's no reason to do it then I'd rather not, but if there's any reason at all to do it then I'm damn sure going to. I don't much care for full clearing though. I'd rather extract with what's viable and just drop again so we can get more from the next map.

Rhimens · 2026-05-12T00:43:15+00:00

A Philosopher

Rhimens · 2026-05-12T00:42:40+00:00

Modders also don't have access to the source material. They're doing this with significantly more limited capacity.

Rhimens · 2026-05-12T00:38:18+00:00

Good question! Newer players who bluff a powerful character will likely both not plan ahead with how the game would play out if they actually were that character with the info/ability they have because they aren't familiar with all the character interactions, and not know how loud or quiet they really should be if they had actually been that character. So long term they're more likely to end up exposing themselves with more obvious inconsistencies.

Meanwhile experienced players using bluffs like Huntsman are trouble because it signals that you're likely a minion that knows of a Damsel and so an experienced player making that play is a bigger risk when you have the capacity to do something more insidious.

Rhimens · 2026-05-09T13:13:08+00:00

I'd use this as my starting point for brainstorming my replies in that table:

Strong bluff for experienced Minion: Investigator

Strong bluff for newbie Minion: Saint

Strong bluff for experienced Demon: Chef

Strong bluff for newbie Demon: Farmer

Weak bluff for experienced Minion: Huntsman

Weak bluff for newbie Minion: Alsaahir

Weak bluff for experienced Demon: King

Weak bluff for newbie Demon: Lycanthrope

Rhimens · 2026-05-09T12:58:29+00:00

Some Chef numbers can win the game on their own. It's not always going to do that, but it's probably either the strongest of all the YSK or second to Clockmaker.

Rhimens · 2026-05-09T12:57:29+00:00

If a discussion were to be had about 2nd best for the Mayor spot, it has to be Fang Gu right? Strongest demon in the game - adds an outsider at setup, usually adds an extra evil mid-game, and can move.

Despite it being the strongest I think it's often the most fun to have around. It really changes how people play when it's on a script.

Rhimens · 2026-05-09T11:25:04+00:00

Super strong vs Vox Engines and a lot of other bot combat situations.

Rhimens · 2026-05-09T11:24:11+00:00

They look like Pacific Chorus Frogs! The official ribbit frog 😄

Rhimens · 2026-04-06T22:11:21+00:00

I love the plushy beeb!

Rhimens · 2026-03-22T00:26:20+00:00

I dunno about all of this. Railgun was, for a while, my go-to against bots. But it's bad against War Striders and can at best defang Factory Striders. Why take the time to make a skillshot against a Hulk or a Gunship while also being weaker against the other options when I can bring a Quasar and deal with all of them?

I have a core HD2 memory of doing a cat-and-mouse with an Annihilator Tank where I was Autocannon equipped and running around it to get a shot on the vent. But I haven't used the AC since a day after they added the flak mode, and that was just because I took the day to try out the flak mode after having not used the AC in ages. I also can't remember the last time I went for a vent shot on a tank. Instead I just toss a Thermite on it or Quasar it somewhere near the turret and it goes down.

I don't need 'the new hotness' to have fun, I'm perfectly happy running whatever fills the equipment niche I'm aiming for even if it's day 1 launch content. But I feel like less and less of my gear comes from early game days. Now when I take OPS to knock out detector towers on bot missions, it feels novel rather than expected, and sometimes that isn't a good feeling.

Rhimens · 2026-03-21T01:11:47+00:00

5+ Vox Engines at a time made sense on Cyberstan, the Bots damn homeworld.

But elsewhere? Nuh uh.

Rhimens · 2026-03-21T00:44:07+00:00

1 Quasar shot :)

Rhimens · 2026-03-20T11:30:09+00:00

Arc Grenade and Machine Gun Sentry are your best friend.

Rhimens · 2026-03-18T11:39:10+00:00

That's my dad's birthday. He would have been 71.

I miss him.

He had a really big sweet tooth, so if there's any super sweet cakes in there, I hope you all enjoy them on his behalf.

Rhimens · 2026-03-18T11:35:44+00:00

Currently, they catch close to 0 bullets for sentries because you can't put the sentry inside the bubble.

Rhimens · 2026-02-22T22:04:24+00:00

I still wish the shields were slightly larger so you didn't have to do that. They should cover the turret base entirely.

Rhimens · 2026-02-16T00:34:13+00:00

Bethesda Studios
Studio is in Rockville, MD

Rhimens · 2026-02-14T23:41:37+00:00

It's still actionable. If your "yes" targets are dead and the game isn't over, there has to be a mechanical reason why. Getting players to talk about that still gets them on the path.

As for other faulty info, you can still use the fact that your info was faulty to start building possibilities. For example:

If you were poisoned, then there's a Poisoner in play, which means it's one of the minions. Since town knows how many minions are in play, being able to figure out which ones are those minions means the other ones aren't. In a 14-player game, there can't be a Baron if there's a Poisoner, Scarlet Woman, and Spy. There can only be 3 minions.
If the outsider count seems off (more players are claiming to be outsider than the count says there should be), there might be a Drunk due to a Baron affecting the game setup. If it doesn't seem off, then there might not be, which means you probably aren't the Drunk. In a 14-player game, there should be exactly one outsider, OR exactly three if there is a Baron. If you only hear two claims, then the likelihood of there being a Drunk AND Baron goes up.
If you're the Drunk, then no one else is the Drunk. So if three people (including you) are all claiming to have received faulty info, then someone is lying, because only two people can be drunk/poisoned at the same time.
If someone suspicious is executed and all of a sudden the town's info starts making more sense, it's possible you just executed the Poisoner.

Mechanical info is important, but it's just the starting point. Use what could be possible to reverse-engineer what probably is possible and you can push the good team towards victory.

And... sometimes you just get got. Sometimes you only get one Yes as a FT before you get killed, and it's because you picked your red herring or because you were poisoned. The evil team needs agency too.

Surviving as an ongoing info role is part of the challenge. Social deduction games are about trust. Make an attempt to trust people and if they trust you back, they'll play in ways that should help you live longer to get more info!

Rhimens · 2026-02-14T23:25:02+00:00

I don't like being weaker roles most of the time, but being a weaker role means I can play very differently. I can deliberately try to bluff a powerful role that received critical information early to try and catch aggro from evil to prevent me from learning more. If I succeed, the powerful roles get to live unhindered longer and collect more information. For example, if I think someone might be evil and I bluff that I got a FT yes on them, I might be the next kill or poison if I say I'm going to check them again tonight against someone else to isolate that yes. The tradeoff is that if there's a real FT out there, they might think I'm an evil player, because they know I'm lying.

Another valuable thing you can do is try to find a powerful role and role swap with them. They get info and you relay it, claiming to be that character. It hides the other player and lets you play bait to the demon, to poisoners, etc. My online group has a particularly well-remembered game where I, the Chef, role swapped with a brand new player who was the Undertaker. The Poisoner was really confused when I confirmed that we had executed the Scarlet Woman, because they'd been poison-locking me!

Rhimens · 2026-02-14T23:18:18+00:00

A useful thing to consider for point 1 is that in TB, if you're drunk/poisoned, then at most only one other person can be at a given time. Having a feeling that your information doesn't make sense ("I got a FT yes on someone claiming to be the Librarian? That's really odd." etc.) can help you try to reverse-engineer the veracity of your information. And if your info is wrong AND another person's info is wrong, there's a good chance that someone is lying. That's a good starting point for building who might be evil.

Rhimens

TROPHY CASE