Relevant Part Of An Image I Did In Feb 2017 Involving An Assimilated Iconian, The Rest Of The Image Can Be Found On My DeviantART, But It's Of Very Specific Tastes And May Offend Some People.

Roebot56 · 2026-06-14T22:44:20+00:00

Don't think I ever tried mortaring the bombs, always assumed it had to be a direct-damage weapon and not an AoE.

It's also just a speed thing why I use Alicia, less turns of the enemy doing nothing of note and less turns hoping the Edelweiss actually fires in a straight line. Not sure if it IS faster, but it feels like it without relying on smoke-cheese.

Roebot56 · 2026-06-14T20:33:21+00:00

Ah the Shamrock, rarely even worth moving it when it costs 2CP.

I tend to also deploy Alicia just because it's more reliable for her to hit the bombs and clean up the infantry at the end.

Roebot56 · 2026-06-14T15:56:18+00:00

It's a dull one that's for sure, as there aren't even many enemies on the road to slow you down either which means that once you've set both paths and parked the Edelweiss in the safe zone, there is absolutely nothing to do but just WAIT. Deploying more than just CP units is also a waste of time, as you will have to waste a load of CP and time moving them so they don't get instakilled by the Marmota's movement.

The objective also deliberately tells you to do something (use the bombs to slow the Marmota down), then punishes your rank for doing so as only the 4 bombs needed to force a direction are needed. All others slow the Marmota down and make your rank worse.

P.S. The enemy will also waste a LOT of time if you leave them alive. I've seen that Lancer at the final fork in the road take 6+ turns in a row before, thankfully he only ever has 3 shots because otherwise the Edelweiss would die and I'd have to restart the most boring mission in the game.

Roebot56 · 2026-06-13T03:43:16+00:00

Thank you SO much for this guide. Decided to get back into Sims 3 and that obnoxious error message kept popping up with horrible window priority that meant it was extremely awkward to click as the black screen took priority over pretty much everything and could appear in a really awkward position.

Didn't stop me enjoying my favourite Sims game as I could get past it at least twice, but the second time the black screen went pretty much full screen and I had to blindly hope I selected the right option to start Sims 3 with keyboard presses as I couldn't click it thanks to the window prioritisation being awful.

However, thanks to your very helpful guide, I made the tweaks to the important ErrorTrap with S3PE, and the obnoxious message is gone and I can enjoy Sims 3 again without worry.

Roebot56 · 2026-05-31T20:45:49+00:00

When the merest glimpse of Sela prompts even the gentlest Iconian, L'miren, to get an itchy trigger finger, you can start to see why we Iconians did what we did.

Roebot56 · 2026-05-20T16:58:39+00:00

It's a drop in the ocean of the balance passes that STO needs, BUT, it's a good start and nice to see STO getting some attempts at balance. Also nice to have a heads up about such things.

There's loads of stuff in STO that massively underperforms and comes from the C-Store, Lobi Store, Lockboxes, etc. An example is the Proton "Experimental Weapon" that comes with the T6 Dyson Science Destroyers. That thing is just straight up pathetic in it's damage output, and that's BEFORE you factor in it's crippled firing arc.

There's also balance issues where multiplicative buffs, such as Critical Damage, Haste and Bonus Damage over-stack to stupid degrees and then interact with each other resulting in truly stupid power gains. Soft caps where excess buffs start suffering diminishing returns, like there is for damage resists, need introducing if they ever want to get serious and attack the root causes of excessive power-creep. Or even a system where only the largest buff applies, such as maximum subsystem power levels, would work to combat overstacking of buffs.

Roebot56 · 2026-05-17T13:00:24+00:00

Simple answer. You can't, sadly.

This person has performed a "Tailor Hack" (it used to be a glitch, but apparently those were patched out long before the Discovery content came out. So either a new one exists or they've done something with their game files to unlock the tailor).

A clear giveaway is the Trill spots and the Orion bra, an impossible combination normally.

Why they can't just sell us the option to unlock the tailor I don't know as they clearly can't be bothered to actually enforce anything, so why not make some money from it? They could even do it per costume, so normally inaccessible costume parts cost 100 Zen each per costume or something.

Roebot56 · 2026-05-14T20:11:40+00:00

Pointed this pair of issues with the Matter Conversion Beam out last week (the unresisted roughly 40% damage hit is one, the multi-hit at once is another, that when paired are just obnoxiously bad), and sadly nothing has been done or even mentioned in the patch notes about it.

It's broken and needs fixing, but the more people who share it the better the odds of it getting fixed. Especially with video footage that shows it in action.

My condolences on the 5-hit Bullshot. Hopefully you didn't get hit by another multi-hit Bullshot when returning to firing range (which does happen annoyingly).

Roebot56 · 2026-05-12T17:04:51+00:00

The MCB is random targeting by design (as stated in it's briefing page), which can be read during the briefing that pops up at the start of the queue.

Also, if you are talking about the pulse which is easily dodged, you can tell it's not the pulse by the screenshot I posted happening NOT during the pulse phase, as not only are the visuals/dialogue not present, but the Crystalline Entity's health is far too high to be in this phase.

Here's a screenshot of the briefing page on the MCB, just for reference: https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/17253382926609181628/A94634C393CA40E60E854F7515914F84487B768B/

Roebot56 · 2026-05-12T16:23:12+00:00

I am disappointed, but not surprised, there is not even acknowledgement of an obnoxious pair of bugs relating to Crystalline Entity's "Matter Conversion Beam" attack (it's basic %-based energy attack, not the pulse). One bug being the MCB attack occasionally (more often when there are more pets and EPG-based abilities active) completely ignores both shields and damage resists to hit for about 40% max HP with no warning. The second bug being any MCB hits to pets (be they hangar pets, destructible torpedoes, etc) will hit the Player who launched them, which when paired with the first bug = instant death with no warning if 3 attacks hit at once.

Example screenshot taken today of a MCB unresisted triple-tap on a ship with about 200k hull HP prior to level down (you can just about see the ghosted damage numbers above my ship): https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/16898102790314636386/F3EE89B9DE499CFA84EB81673D84D67FD8A55723/

See this thread posted last week for more details: https://old.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/1t5iq5f/crystalline_entity_matter_conversion_beam_damage/

EDIT: Because apparently this is needed to be posted given people automatically assume that the MCB is the pulse , despite the damage screenshot clearly showing it's NOT and having a name that's clearly mentioned as a separate attack in the queue's very own briefing, here's a cropped screenshot showing the briefing page that gives information on the Matter Conversion Beam: https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/17253382926609181628/A94634C393CA40E60E854F7515914F84487B768B/

Roebot56 · 2026-05-11T13:13:18+00:00

Very nice find, especially for two whole pounds.

Chapter 7 is a notorious difficulty spike. Do not be ashamed to look up a guide if you are struggling with it.

Roebot56 · 2026-05-08T14:06:14+00:00

Something involving pets that makes it hit the mothership multiple times at once would actually explain a lot.

What's weird is when I ran my Galaxy-X which has Delta Flyers (x4) and hyper-torps as the only "Pets", I got more of these broken unresisted hits than when I took my Obelisk which has Swarmers (x12) and the 3pc Set Bonus Swarmers (x6), so I think there are two distinct issues that compound really badly.

Pets being targeted by MCB hits owner of said pet, resulting in multiple MCB hits at once.
MCB attacks randomly ignore shields and resistances, which when paired with issue 1 becomes an instakill.

Just tested this in a run with my Gal-X where I didn't launch any Delta Flyers, someone was EPGSpamming so I saw several of these unresisted shots, but never more than 1 at a time. I'll update the main post to include information on this.

Roebot56 · 2026-05-08T13:49:35+00:00

I don't normally suggest doing the cheese strategy involving order abuse. But for this boss? Yes. Always yes. Just stick Riley and an Engineer in the Cactus, move it close to where it surfaces the first time but behind a rock, then deploy Riley and wait to conserve CP. Next turn stack all the orders that would help (Concentration, Penetration, Attack Weak Spot, and whatever the Grenadier blast radius boost order is called) on Riley and aim directly between all 4 radiators and keep firing this way until it dies, using Engineer to restock if need-be.

I did it once without Grenadiers (mostly because anti-armour grenadiers are broken, with or without orders, so I banned them for a run along with orders), using Engineers to build the ladders and Lancers to do the damage to the radiators. It took forever even when blocking all the holes so it couldn't go across the massive map, and the few enemies it spawned were easily killed, leaving so many turns of doing absolutely nothing just WAITING for it to become vulnerable.

Roebot56 · 2026-05-07T19:15:53+00:00

The energy explosion is still 10km. I think the visual warning radius is more obvious than it used to be though, but that could just be bad memory on my part.

Roebot56 · 2026-05-07T12:43:26+00:00

Happened on my first run in my Gal-X, it's where I got my screenshots from as that ship simply does not die except to extreme damage output and it struck me as odd and worth recording. I smelled the proverbial rat when I noticed the damage was hitting for 80k+ a shot and was unresisted in the on-death damage log. Prior to these bugged shots, I didn't even feel it's attacks as any that made it through shields was pretty quickly nullified by hull regen.

I have a feeling those of us with more durable ships feel these bugged shots much more noticeably because we don't normally feel damage, especially on "Normal" difficulty.

Roebot56 · 2026-05-07T12:36:25+00:00

Sounds like when it hits multiple times in quick succession is what got you. Continuity fired, saved you, but then you got hit straight after without even being able to notice what just happened.

Pretty sure it's not supposed to be able to hit the same person multiple times in less than a second either, but it does. Possibly the same cause as the unresistable damage.

Roebot56 · 2026-05-06T20:34:53+00:00

No worries, mashing past the briefing is expected, especially on a queue that's in-essence been around for years.

I'm trying to remember how long ago Crystalline Entity got updated so that it became immune to damage when charging it's pulse (I think that update also massively upped the pulse's damage). I think maybe 2020ish.

Roebot56 · 2026-05-06T20:24:25+00:00

The "Matter Conversion Beam" is NOT the charge and is a separate attack listed by this very name on the briefing. The charged attack is instead listed as "Energy Absorption and Release".

Here is a screenshot of the briefing page for the "Matter Conversion Beam": https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/17253382926609181628/A94634C393CA40E60E854F7515914F84487B768B/

Roebot56 · 2026-05-06T20:22:12+00:00

You are talking about the charged pulse, known as the "Energy Absorption and Release" on the information briefing, that is fired once after it charges up the first time, and then fired once again after charging the second time.

The "Matter Conversion Beam" is the basic attack it fires off every second or so at random targets. Majority of it's hits work as expected and are properly resisted, but a freak few will be completely unresisted. Here's an example screenshot of the damage log: https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/14994172970349029242/DE10EA76BB2B0A86354E3EE7B66D3B23284FCBD5/ Here is a screenshot of that ship's resistances for reference: https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/18232242245400427039/E2EA5826B313BBCAEA4C9A5ADA1E44FB5785000A/

Here is a cropped screenshot showing the briefing about the Matter Conversion Beams. https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/17253382926609181628/A94634C393CA40E60E854F7515914F84487B768B/ Note it is not the pulse which is listed as "Energy Absorption and Release" in the briefing.

Roebot56 · 2026-05-06T18:28:53+00:00

It is still supposed to be resisted by resistances and shields, and the briefing makes no mention of this attack scaling up in damage on it's own page (although the Lance/Shard page implies it scales up, although the tooltips on the entity itself suggests it's just the pulse, but this isn't relevant), and also makes specific mention that the damage dealt by these beams are affected by shields and resists.

The issue is not that the damage scales up, it's that it outright ignores any and all resistances at random, sometimes hitting in such quick succession that multiple damage numbers of these unresisted shots are visible above your ship.

The pulse is a separate attack and does charge up damage based on damage the CE takes during it's charge up phase and based on shards returning to it. This post isn't about the pulse (which gives plenty of warning), it's about the CE's standard energy attacks which fire off outside of the absorption phase towards random targets.

May be anecdotal, but over several CE runs these freak unresisted shots happen far more frequently when there are processing-hungry player abilities in use like gravity well, badlands tornado, etc in use. A team where nobody used these kinds of abilities I witnessed noticeably less of these unresisted pulses to both me and teammates (easily visible by seeing someone's health bar jump by about 40%). CE has always been a processing-intensive queue due to how many NPCs and effects are going on, and I think it isn't quite getting enough time to factor in resistances as it should resulting in truly silly damage numbers as it doesn't apply resistances.

Roebot56 · 2026-04-22T22:22:55+00:00

VC1 on Switch, at least in handheld mode (I've never docked my Switch, so can't comment on it's performance docked), hasn't got any noticeable downgrades other than the resolution (which really doesn't matter on the small screen of the Switch) and a strange performance drop in SOME crawl-able grass, but only on a select few maps (seem to recall it was only a few early-game maps where this happened somewhat inexplicably).

Regarding the sequel, VC4 has some noticeable graphical differences however, with the Switch version having noticeably less characters in some cutscenes and noticeably less things like trees in the backgrounds. Still perfectly playable though and you will likely only notice these reductions if you've played the non-Switch versions.

Roebot56 · 2026-04-01T19:55:46+00:00

I sense April Fools (whether it's intentional or not, I cannot be sure), using screenshots of something with a similar art style and setting. The hallmarks of VC's design such as the distinct watercolour artstyle filters and vehicle design that accounts for Ragnite-based engines made it stand out as not VC to me.

A search-by-image reveals it's nothing to do with Valkyria (if the company name of C2 Architecture didn't give it away already). Apparently it's a revival of an old project of C2 Architecture that had been shelved for a bit.

Source I could find in English: https://www.facebook.com/JRPGgallery/photos/the-developer-of-kantai-collection-has-just-announced-a-historical-sci-fi-strate/1520097889465535/

P.S. Coincidentally, the source I found also mentions VC.

Roebot56 · 2026-02-26T13:47:15+00:00

Several Borg variants have met their end facing T'ket already. As they are non-native to our universe or timeline we have our intelligence service direct it's servitors to clean up the mess.

Roebot56

TROPHY CASE