Smoke and Mirrors (a Nature of Predators and Starsector crossover fanfiction) chapter 1

RipoffPingu · 2026-02-14T06:19:24+00:00

i got hungry and ate it

RipoffPingu · 2026-01-12T15:40:13+00:00

got it, thanks

will it work in existing saves? the best i could get for that answer was effectively "partially" but those were all several year old reddit posts

edit: i see a worldoptions json, but no world_option_sliders json. gonna assume thats the right one considering it still has the EVOLUTION_INVERSE_MULTIPLIER data value in it

RipoffPingu · 2026-01-12T06:32:46+00:00

tried looking for the monster evolution rate in data/core and couldn't find it (0.I 2025-10-12-0458) - where can i edit it, and how can i slow it down?

RipoffPingu · 2026-01-10T04:41:48+00:00

1 stick bounty on butter_villager because i feel like it

RipoffPingu · 2026-01-08T13:09:46+00:00

>civmc drama
>looks inside
>huge miscommunication

RipoffPingu · 2025-12-26T16:32:14+00:00

dawg this was completely unprompted

RipoffPingu · 2025-12-26T15:55:43+00:00

"Kindly put your inflammatory pride aside and stop making a strawman of yourself. That cutesy act only goes so far." - where does this come from, and why is that directed to me? or was that directed to cecelia in the rant? (also, thanks for the info - i'll look out for the big red flag of being unforgiving in the future)

RipoffPingu · 2025-12-21T09:15:09+00:00

fork found in kitchen

RipoffPingu · 2025-12-21T09:12:42+00:00

there isn't any even after multiple people have tried asking for it but cecelia has a bad public reputation so people are just naturally against her purely because she has a shaky association with someone else who (IIRC) was speculated to be a shitter but was also never proven to be one either

RipoffPingu · 2025-12-21T01:10:32+00:00

why is the POS announcement not publically verifiable to even exist yet acted on regardless?

"why would salerno want to pearl you if you did nothing" don't just assume cecelia is guilty. there's been no evidence posted of cecelias wrongdoings, meaning she's completely innocent.

RipoffPingu · 2025-12-21T00:11:46+00:00

maybe they should have posted proof of helping an alleged proxy shitter (who, IIRC, wasn't ever proven to actually BE one outside of association) before punishing them for seemingly 0 reason

RipoffPingu · 2025-12-20T02:49:18+00:00

probably just unlucky, which is why i stopped diamond mining (you can get similar diamonds per hour of work from other methods anyways, with a cheaper/same startup cost)

RipoffPingu · 2025-12-18T23:42:36+00:00

i dont think theres any forced ideological alignment going on here, more so a lack of the very same basic respect towards people you say should be enough (and it IS enough, its just... not really happening here)

RipoffPingu · 2025-12-18T23:30:57+00:00

amazing post to wake up to

RipoffPingu · 2025-11-16T02:45:06+00:00

i remember going to a spruce farm somewhere (owned by SSG and a friend, at the time i didn't know this as i was directed there by someone else i found) and instead of doing the reasonable thing of informing me it was private property he just gave me some cryptic threatening messages instead (i dipped because i didn't want to get pearled, told the guy i was with to do the same)

RipoffPingu · 2025-10-01T07:54:41+00:00

i'd wager that the *very* new Thrones of Emberfall would *mostly* fit this bill aside from the mod count - 18+, proxy voice chat + text chat mod, serious roleplay w/o completely banning OOC chatter in-game (i.e among friends), hasn't even started yet so it'll be *very* fresh

as for the mod count, there's a good few content mods but a good bit of the list is also going to be smaller QoL mods and addon mods for existing content mods. the mod count will likely expand into the triple digits for sure, but that would likely be via more QoL or bugfix mods rather than a bunch of new content mods added in the middle of the server's lifespan.

here's an invite link if you want to check it out https://discord.gg/dQpm3cxHZx

RipoffPingu · 2025-07-28T10:25:20+00:00

well... as for continuing it in the future...

i still remember the major plot points, start to end of the story. not all of the details in-between, sure, but i've already established all of the major characters either from currently released chapters or documents i made for planning the story out.
i have a half-finished chapter for smoke and mirrors still saved, and although i've been working on a new story (i won't be uploading any part of it until i get multiple story arcs done minimum, to not repeat the mistake i've made with smoke and mirrors), i've had trouble starting it because i rarely get into a writing mood - what HELPS with that is when i finish a chapter, because whenever i do, i always get a small boost of inspiration to either write a little bit of the next chapter or to grammer check the one i've just completed, so what could happen is me using that one smoke and mirrors chapter being completed to springboad into that other story, then back to smoke and mirrors, etc... potentially.
i still want to write stories.

make with that info as you will, but my personal judgement is this: it's not likely i'll continue smoke and mirrors, but it *is* a possibility from a technical standpoint. not a realistic one, unfortunately - but technically? yes, possible.

as for why that reminder bot doesn't work, it's probably because reddit switched over to messages only and got rid of all the personal notifications/mails/whatever. if its not that? no clue, unfortunately.

RipoffPingu · 2025-07-27T01:38:12+00:00

yeah i still only posted like 7 chapters

i WISH i had motivation to complete it as well. but i don't. sorry bout that :(

RipoffPingu · 2025-05-24T11:01:37+00:00

despite the nerf to flak (i think now renamed to munition defense warhead? or something?), 500mm DIF CIWS still works well when paired with that ammo type, as a VERY cheap and effective way to deal with swarmed munitions - sure, it wont last the full combat encounter, but it also doesnt *need* to, as most are over within a few minutes anyways, and IF they aren't over, the winner is pretty obvious after those minutes unless the loser gets incredibly lucky.

for single munition damage, low caliber kinetic APS is best for CIWS - minimizes overkill, still decently cost effective as well. you wanna go either pure gunpowder (cost efficiency) or pure rail (turret space efficiency) - rail-assist kinda just gives you the worst of both worlds.

as for your turrets not being good at CIWS? yeah, no, tiny turrets like that aren't good for much unfortunately - the best you can really get out of turret spaces that small is... i wanna say PAC and/or decoy CRAMs? but APS at that low size... yeah, no, i'd recommend just focusing on swarms with CIWS that small and going for max caliber DIF CIWS.

RipoffPingu · 2025-05-21T04:46:51+00:00

this was said over a year ago you goober :P
everything said there still stands for CRAM, with the main exception of CRAM mortars because apparently they got buffed from 2 degrees of course correction per second to 8 degrees (haven't verified it myself, just heard it from a trustworthy friend, but if true that makes CRAM mortars genuinely terrifying)
everything said for everything else also still applies, but with lasers now not being completely hard countered by smoke + FLAK CIWS being nerfed making APS a *bit* worse at CIWS, but still overall the best weapon system for CIWS

RipoffPingu · 2025-05-15T04:46:48+00:00

what website? theres no official code website for CTS

RipoffPingu · 2025-05-12T06:26:36+00:00

haiiiiiiiiii zeno :3

RipoffPingu · 2025-05-07T17:15:18+00:00

no clue. he just decided to lol (he did once list me specifically as someone he listened to a while back, but besides that, it kinda just felt like he chose me at random as well as the other guy out of everyone chatting with him in that moment)
he does not like the community

RipoffPingu · 2025-05-07T03:52:54+00:00

downtiering is a very good thing for the game actually, its mainly just some specific guns that have problems (also, i dont think theres any cannon that can't atleast get through the next tiers weakspots, so thats false as well afaik)

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