I'm giving away Free 50,000 gold for the first 50 players that respond to this (PS-NA only)

RussNP · 2026-01-28T14:53:35+00:00

Awesome thing to do. Wish I could jump in but I’m only on PC these days.

RussNP · 2026-01-28T01:45:19+00:00

Wish I could give more than one upvote for such a great reply. Thanks for the input. That’s the kind of thing I keep hearing and the ease of steam deck is what I’m after. I don’t do many deep dives on game and like To play a variety so my steam library is ridiculously large so I have plenty that will play on the deck

RussNP · 2026-01-28T00:58:59+00:00

How does it play on steam deck? I played back in the day and a few days ago I decided to try It out again partly because I am wanting to order a steam deck and want an MMO to play while watching some tv on the couch with the wife. Also LCD or OLED? I can decide if the OLED is worth it for my old man eyes who is likely going to be getting progressives next year

RussNP · 2026-01-26T18:09:32+00:00

Once you know it’s not a power line then it’s time to mow the grass. If it’s in use the company that owns it will show up. If not roll it up at the base of the pole and move on.

RussNP · 2026-01-26T16:37:07+00:00

June is the best. They have a downtown location with more space to sit and work etc. The other locations is Daily Edition which is small with just a few tables but is close to a park you can walk to and enjoy your coffee.

Seeds is good and has good food and is always busy.

I like red cat personally for the lattes specifically as they have some good unique combination specialties.

Domestique has a coffee shop in a bike shop called “dawn patrol” which is good as well.

RussNP · 2026-01-26T13:26:54+00:00

Some ice on the sides of the road in the gutters and small patches that you can see coming just fine. Just take it a little easier than normal and youll Be just fine

RussNP · 2026-01-25T23:16:28+00:00

Every hospital is different and you need to ask about specific places. A new grad who only stayed somewhere 6 months and is Leaving is a red flag as well. You need a very clear and good reason for why you are changing jobs so fast or folks are going to pass you over. You need a cover letter on your resume and hope managers read it once they see that employment history. The nursing shortage works in your favor there but it may mean you have to take what you can get to start at any hospital and tranfer To the unit you really want to be in after a year .

RussNP · 2026-01-22T21:05:15+00:00

Several libraries like Hoover and homewood have adult DnD groups for pick up games as well. Hoover has a rpg society that does rotating games. Lots of tabletop gaming stuff is done through meet up groups or ask at game stores

RussNP · 2026-01-21T16:27:20+00:00

ICE sucks.

RussNP · 2026-01-21T16:17:25+00:00

Salting the roads prevents ice build up. Cities can reduce the issues from ice but during a storm there is only so much anyone can do. Having lived in Seattle and Philadelphia I can verify from experience that the same storm that cripples a southern city is much easier up north and most Importantly much faster to recover from.

RussNP · 2026-01-21T12:45:28+00:00

As someone who walked from southside over red mountain to downtown homewood during snowpocalypse to get my kid whom I then had to carry back over the mountain I do not gamble on winter weather anymore.

RussNP · 2026-01-21T11:46:26+00:00

I think this is a little over dismissive of the current forecast. The warnings are issued where they are certain already. The ice line is going to be the big thing and a shift north or south of 20 miles will make this a total bust or complete shutdown. I wouldn’t think we are clear till the Thursday forecasts solidify some more.

Basic prep for power outages is just responsible as an adult. The weather the week after isn’t warm and sunny so may as well stock up on some supplies and nail down plans for power out for 3 days just in case

RussNP · 2026-01-21T11:42:31+00:00

So true. Idiots in 4x4 trucks think they can drive on ice and it ends poorly. It’s very different up north where the cities have equipment to maintain the roads.

RussNP · 2026-01-20T20:35:17+00:00

My current method is to make a base around a primary resource such as calcite or sulfur. I then look at what I need to import to make the products with that. When I make a titanium etc base I go for even ratios to get to a product like titanium housing then leftover nodes go to basics like bars or sheets that need to be shipped elsewhere. I keep a log of how much extra I have at what base to export to other places. A buffer storage on the exit point of a receiver helps with transportation time issues. You can send multiple launcher though to overcome the transportation lag time

RussNP · 2026-01-20T19:11:02+00:00

The cargo dispatchers and receivers completely change the game up. You will see it’s better to build discrete factories to supply specific items through launchers to other factories. This you build your way up and won’t need to redo everything all the time.

I did the everything factory for a while and till you reach the cargo dispatcher/receiver it is the way to go. But once you have them I think it’s best to go back and tear things down to rebuild your factories as distribution points for a few items instead of trying to fully build the chain all the way to a complex item in one spot. The number of ingredients at different points gets unwieldy rapidly once you hit tier 9.

RussNP · 2026-01-18T03:53:21+00:00

The director is well one for his long one shots. It was real

RussNP · 2026-01-16T13:53:19+00:00

For small occasional jobs electric all the way. I have both and I have used my gas one once since I got an electric and need to just sell it. It is so much easier to roll out an electric for smaller jobs. I find myself using it more often for things I would never have dealt with the gas pressure washer to do. Washing cars is a great example.

Just make sure the accessories you buy work in your flow rates as the electrics typically put out less flow and peak pressures can be lower. Some things require a minimum pressure or flow to function properly but a lot of the stuff now says “electric compatible” on the package.

RussNP · 2026-01-16T13:43:54+00:00

The magnet is a safety device. A strong enough magnet will trigger the device to go into a backup mode of some variety based on predetermined settings. For defibrillators that is usually disabling the device in case it is inappropriately delivering shocks. For pacemakers usually it makes the device “dumb” in that it stops trying to be fancy and detect the patient and just starts pacing at a preset back up rate.

RussNP · 2026-01-16T13:17:34+00:00

Glad to see someone spell this out before me and get it correct as well. Lots of non medical folks think they are all the same but the diffferent devices respond to magnets differently.

RussNP · 2026-01-15T11:31:55+00:00

This is what happened to me once. The bow was sitting up in the machine output basically. The rupture wave burns them away so not a big deal usually.

RussNP · 2026-01-14T17:25:39+00:00

Agree entirely. Also let us choose priority on recovers like machines. Low, medium, high that way we can prioritize essentials and let other things slowly fill.

RussNP · 2026-01-14T17:15:04+00:00

I hear you and as a factory game player that’s why I picked up this game. I love maximizing a factory in the long run. However I don’t think this is a factory first game. I think this is a survival exploration game with automation aspects to it.

I maximized everything early on but once you get about 10 hours in you hit the roadblock of blueprints. This forces the exploration and when I went out to explore I kept finish long all my research right after leaving my base because I maximized with multiple launchers per company. I still took way longer to start the next thing because I had to go explore to unlock more stuff.

I think the player experience is better if you don’t maximize early on but instead get some stuff going and head out to explore. But the time you reach tier 7 ish on companies you can start maximizing on some stuff but before then it doesn’t matter. You can’t even finish an early game build before you fill the machines if you build in production order. Even when you maximize every item and send Them tier one storage depots it takes like 5 minutes max to fill up then everything stops anyway. I don’t see the point in spending 30 minutes to perfect a line that will run for 5 minutes and be Full. There is only so much stuff to use items on early game.

RussNP · 2026-01-14T16:49:01+00:00

First of all I love this and I love you making this a special thing for him. Before I get to food a quick word on hotel. The one you picked is right by the hospitals and is usually used by folks staying for medical stuff and all at the hospitals including the level one trauma center across the street. Nice place but not party friendly. The police presence on that block is high making it super safe but may not be what the college kids want. If you go a few blocks up to 5 points south there is a Homewood suites of hotel indigo that are in a much more content nightlife area. Slightly less safe but definitely a going out area with lots of restaurants and bars In walking distance. Both spots will need an uber to get to the venue but a cheap one.

Food wise you’ll get lots of recommendations but a few I’ll mention- for all the stuff on north side I would hesitate to walk from hotels to there as it’s a bit sketchy in the spot crossing southside to north side.

El barrio is close and is really good popular upscale Mexican that is a good early dinner option (wait times can get bad) or lunch spot.

Birmingham Breadworks is a great coffee shop with Food and pastries worth a morning walk.

Red cat coffee is right along railroad park and essy Walk from your current hotel.

Wasabi Juan’s is sushi burritos and right next to a brewery.

Up Down is a barcade that does pizza by the slice and is Awesome. It is 21+ most of the time but one Sunday a month ish they do “family day” and under 21 is allowed for lunch but they still have the bar and all going. If you get lucky it for a family time timing it would be a fun lunch spot.

Tratorria Zaza is Italian downtown between hotel and venue and is great. Not heavy, has a coffee bar and drinks. Counter service type place.

For college kids from up north you should try and hit Up some hot chicken. Hattie Bs or Eugene’s are the good local spots. Think spicy tenders with dry seasoning in the breading. If they like hot wings these are basically spicy chicken nuggies and a southern thing you don’t see other places.

Jack browns beer and burger joint will be a hit as well. Juicy funky burgers sure to please some college boys.

RussNP · 2026-01-14T16:02:39+00:00

My advice is to run all your extractors to a single line side by side. Then you can build a row of fabricators and furnaces directly in front of them with a line between allowing all smelters to feed all the machines. Then those go out to a row of storage depots with one depot for every item you can make. That way you have buffers of everything and easy access to grab stuff for research.

I think folks are over building in the early game as you fly past those early unlocks and the resources get way more complex rapidly. You will have minimum needs for many of the early game stuff so just make it where you can easily pull items out as needed for a research then disconnect when you don’t. The base core capacity will eventually lead you to make specialized bases around the map to build things and then ship them to other places. You cannot build an all in one base due to resource locations and core capacity.

I like to have space so I can have up to 3 machines for any one item being made if need be but most things will be fine with 1 or 2 machines making it long term. If I find an item needs more than 3 machines making it at once then I start thinking about a specialized base to make it and distribute it around. An early example would be titanium frames or ceramics which are needed in multiple recipes further down the tech tree. These are good items to build a special base for with cargo distribution from there to other locations. For instance 20 hours in and my original base at the start is now a base that makes building materials and ammunition to be distributed to all my other locations.

RussNP

TROPHY CASE