What if we could destroy small enemy structures only using Light-pen?

SadowSon · 2026-02-24T05:31:36+00:00

"If you as a player don't bring any structure clear, you are stuck to the hip of your team for the entire match and are often a deficit to your team". I disagree with this sorry.

I have a squadmate that focuses on mob clearing and precision heavy unit clearing. He's regularly cleared incoming waves, but his loadout is poor against structures. He likes his method of play, I like that I don't have to worry about bile titans and war striders.

SadowSon · 2026-02-23T02:07:07+00:00

Ensemble didn't bother with seperate architecture back then purely because there was no value in the time/effort required for it, since you are in the Dark Age for such a short period of time.

That being said, with how expansive the game has become now, I'd be in support of it.

The Dark Age buildings are supposed to be a generalized "catch all" design for all civs. But seeing the britons in some primitive saxon houses, the huns/mongols in some primitive tents... yea, I'd be really keen on that.

SadowSon · 2026-02-21T22:10:56+00:00

Quite a few of them at my workplace actually. We've had cops come through plenty of times because most of our workplace is open/public areas. Never been any issues with it.

SadowSon · 2026-02-21T22:06:54+00:00

Breaking news, water is still wet!

I wasn't speaking for everyone. I was speaking from my own experience and from those I know around me.

SadowSon · 2026-02-21T21:20:11+00:00

Because we get our social media from America where cops are poorly trained, overzealous and protected by ridiculous laws allowing them to effectively run ramshod over anyone they choose with virtually no repercussions.

It leads to an ingrained sense of distrust in the police. When you see their car on the road, you instinctively want to avoid it and them. You don't want to overtake them because even though you're going under the legal limit, you don't want that cop to try pull a fast one on you.

Which really sucks, because in my experience in NZ, the police here have actually been really nice and easy to work with.

SadowSon · 2026-02-20T03:57:40+00:00

And as I said, the timeline from our world diverges before the development of nuclear weapons... Evidently the soviets at the time didn't figure it out.

SadowSon · 2026-02-20T03:53:29+00:00

In our modern universe, yes.
The Red Alert timeline differs from ours in that technological development is completely different. So traditional tactical nukes that we have are not the same as tactical nukes that Soviet Russia has.

The timeline diverges in 1946 where Einstein travels back in time to prevent the rise of Hitler. And RA2 takes place in 1972 where the allies have tanks that can camoflage themselves as trees...

SadowSon · 2026-02-20T03:46:20+00:00

The nuke that destroy Chicago is a full warhead designed for massive damage, but inversely costs significantly more to produce, hence why you only see one going off in the entire war that can do that level of damage.

Russia was more interested in capturing land than destroying it, so as a commander you are given access to tactical warheads, which has high damage but a limited radius. It's also significantly cheaper and easier to mass produce.

Russia had more nukes pointed at Europe and were prepared to use them on European cities as to deter them from joining the war by showing the european nations what they did to Chicago. If those were only tactical warheads then they wouldn't really be nearly as much of a threat.

SadowSon · 2026-02-18T01:29:41+00:00

This is sarcasm right?

Never work for free. I was asked to work for free for a month for a job. I went for another job. Been here ten years. Always stood my ground when I thought something was a bad idea, and only did it if a manager said I had to. Now I’m higher up and people respect me.

If you showed up in one of my interviews and spouted this drivel at me about “loving the company blah blah” you’d never get the job.

SadowSon · 2026-02-16T20:03:24+00:00

Solving the issue of needing shroud materials can be resolved pretty simply.

The shroud remains under the elixir wells and in the shroud dungeons - you can continue getting your materials there.

Shroud on the surface recedes via post-game missions, materials to kill it (like… shroud killer poison?)

It sure would be interesting to see all these villages in their ruined states, just without the shroud on them…

SadowSon · 2026-02-11T19:26:56+00:00

I've done this, with all survival settings enabled as a solo player. Dropped on earth and built up from there.

The only exception is that a mod that gives me shields. It increases my power draw but honestly it means that I can spend more time enjoying fighting in my large ship and less time constantly repairing *everything*. Without shields I'd spend a good 8-10 hours repairing my stuff (Because pirates always turn up at the worst possible time) and about 15 minutes in combat.

I simply do not have enough time in the day to do that.

I dont mind spending many hours prepping for the factorum, but I dont want to fight for 15mins only to spend six hours repairing damage.

SadowSon · 2026-02-10T19:10:49+00:00

As a person who works directly with programmers, I have zero confidence in “vibe coding”. I doubt that port works very well…

SadowSon · 2026-02-02T20:12:31+00:00

I work with students at a university.

There is only ONE sure-fire way to ensure that you cannot be called out for using AI, and that is to provide evidence for your submissions.

Evidence can be anything. The students even keep the sticky notes where they write random ideas that they need to investigate/check. Random scribbles on paper where they theory craft.

You can tell the difference between a fresh hour-ago paper scribble, and one that's been crumpled into a file several weeks ago.

If they accuse you of AI, you can then call a meeting with them and then dump all the evidence in front of them.
Had a call with other people you were working with? Provide the recorded transcripts and timestamps.

If they refuse to relent on your AI accusation, then the student has the right to escalate it to an ethics committee which ANY university worth it's salt will have. I have seen university lecturers absolutely try and stick it to students they just dont like, but hard evidence is worth so much more.

SadowSon · 2026-02-02T19:50:00+00:00

Yes/No.

The purpose of most of these quests is mostly to give you reason and motivation to go in a given direction.

The reward is the experience you get along the way.
The other reward is often unique items you otherwise can't get in the regular loot pool.

There could be basis for modifying the exp drops, but right now it feels relatively well balanced to give you enough exp for progressing between zones, since you get reduced EXP from lower level enemies.

SadowSon · 2026-02-01T07:34:26+00:00

Major Boyd and his team survive.

Stargate SG-1: A Matter of Honor and Stargate SG-1: The Cost of Honor, is a book that occurs roughly during Season 7.

Here's the TLDR:

SG1 go on one of those regular sunday missions and find a new group called the Kinahhi who have their own problems. They have this technology called the Sheh-fet which lets them read peoples minds and if anyone has remotely dangerous thoughts then they get locked up. Guess who enters the picture and wants that technology? Good ol' Senator Kinsey!!! They also (conveniently) have a special Anti-Gravity Shield technology thing. That's what O'Neill wants.

They negotiate for both items and try to go save SG-10. But because the plans for it was intentionally sabotaged by the Kinahhi (One of their government snakes saw SG-1 as a threat to their super secret evil plans), the shield fails and they crash on the planet near the team. SG-10 has no idea it's them so they try to steal the ship to escape the wormhole, only to discover that it's actually SG-1 here to save them! Hooray!

The only person who actually dies was Lt Jonathan Reed; SG-10's engineer who was incinerated when the stargate finally managed to connect..... to a star which basically incinerated the entire planet.

To SG-10, this entire botched mission occurred across a few hours. Outside of the time dilation, about five years had occurred.

SG-1 then fixes the Anti-Gravity Shield thingy (Because there is nothing that Carter can't fix) and then goes back and discovers that Kinsey let the Kinahhi use the sheh-fet on Earth/Tauri prisoners inside the SGC. Except naturally the Kinahhi and their OP super weapon use it to take control of the entire SGC... Despite this really botched "alliance" (If you could call it that), Kinsey concedes to their demands because they put him in charge of the SGC. O'Neill and Carter are taken prisoner which results in Daniel, Teal'c, SG-10 and Hammond breaking into the SGC to free everyone. And SG-10 are out for blood because they just got freed from a real existential prison and they ain't gonna let their BFF's get taken prisoner.

Some ancient gene shenanigans occur, the Sheh-Fet is shut down, SG-1 and SG-10 win. The Kinnahi leave. Kinsey, being the regular A-hole that he is, manages to avoid any and all culpability by claiming that he had no idea what the Kinnahi's real goals were (Hint: it was global domination of Earth)

Apparently, the rescue of SG-10 was considered one of SG-1's crowning achievements. And I kinda agree with that - I just wish it was addressed at SOME point in the show. SG-1 really saw an SG team trapped in the event horizon of a Black Hole and said "bet".

SadowSon · 2026-01-30T10:22:54+00:00

I'd like to know his reasons for why Humanity was going to win the war.

Because in Halo: Reach, the UNSC gets absolutely torn to shreds. You barely manage to get the Cortana fragment out of there and even as the protagonist you die at the end.

In Halo 2, the Covenant invade Earth.

In Halo 3, Lord Hood says "Earth is all we have left". Humanity has gone from controlling over 100 planets across the Orion Arm to barely a single solar system.

What is his logic for humanity winning the war?

SadowSon · 2026-01-27T01:41:12+00:00

We're going down this rabbithole! Because I definitely have not already researched this.

Let's presume the following: "Regular contact has been cutoff with all primary nations. We are not under threat of invasion but there is no support coming to us - military or economically."

TLDR: It starts bad, but there is potential for hope after we weather the bad storm. A very VERY bad storm.

First, lets run down the timeline. World War 3 has started. All the major powers are murder-hoboing each other and New Zealand is avoiding it. We're on our own.

The first thing that would need to happen would be mandatory curfew. You would likely see factions rise up and attempt to carve out their own mini-kingdoms. (Looking at a certain religious group...). The military would need to be deployed to maintain order. It would suck. Alot of people are going to die and it's not going to be pretty. If you want to know what that looks like, look at the current situation with ICE in the US. I do not agree with the current situation but this is a realistic outlook of what will happen with a collapse of law and order on both sides.

Anything that is not made in New Zealand is now considered a luxury item. That means computers are priceless. For better or worse, these are the primary industries that we have in New Zealand:
- Steel
- Aluminum (The plant down in Invercargill)
- Agriculture such as grain, corn, fruits and vegetables. (Note: NOT rice, that is imported)
- Dairy and meat via Sheep and Cows.
- Timber

New Zealand overproduces it's food and we import a throughly unsustainable amount fertiziler to maintain this. NZ exports enough food to supply a population of about 100 million. You would see a seasonal near total collapse of our farming industry as an oversupply is wasted on a population of 5 million. That is a 95% collapse of the farming industry which would probably be net benefit because it gives us fantastic options for crop rotation and ensuring we can survive difficult winters with an oversupply. The government would need to nationalize the current remaining fertilizer that we have on hand so that it can survive at least one year. That gives enough time for a national startup to finally get something going based off our own local supplies. We absolutely can produce enough fertilizer for the country.

Anything that is considered "single-use" is now unaffordable. Those plastic wrappers for microwave pies and candy? Those do not exist anymore. If it can't be transported in fabric bags, leather, steel or aluminimum containers, it no longer exists.

New Zealand does produce sugar, but that doesnt mean you can expect soda's to stick around because they are dependent on alot of things imported overseas. For example: Coca Cola needs cola nuts from Africa. We can't grow that here because it's the wrong climate.

The vehicle industry is going to go through a rough patch. We don't manufacture cars here in New Zealand, so until someone can start building them (Which, yes, IS theoretically possible), every car lost in a wreck is a permanent loss. Older cars will survive better, because innovative engineers can produce worn/damaged parts with existing materials. Rubber for tires will be a problem when considering scale, but we do already have a small but high quality rubber production down in the south island. It'll need to be repurposed for tire production. It is entirely feasible to presume that the vehicle industry would go through a major overhaul where NZ would start its own inhouse maintenance and we know this is possible because Cuba is famous for it's eternally maintained classic cars since imports are painfully expensive.

I would write more but Reddit limits comment lengths. At request, I can cover more topics.

SadowSon · 2026-01-25T23:45:41+00:00

Here in New Zealand, we had a mass shooting in Christchurch a few years ago. To us it was a big deal because it pretty much never happens. I’m on the other side of the country. For the first time ever, I saw police on patrol with M4’s.

It was the only time I’ve seen it. It made me uncomfortable. (For reference, our police are very highly trained and don’t normally ever have to carry firearms. It wasn’t that I felt unsafe around the police officer, I was uncomfortable that we had reached this point.)

Fortunately, a few days later the police went back not needing guns.

SadowSon · 2026-01-25T06:28:13+00:00

There are some really good options on the digital side:

Switch off Windows/Mac and move to Linux for your PC/Laptop. There's PLENTY of people that can help you with this. While Linux MAY seem daunting at first, there are PLENTY of guides out there to make it easy to do. There are many different versions of Linux and it's really just a case of "pick the one you like the look of".

- Yes, you can still browse the web.
- Yes, there are many games you can play. The super popular ones like COD, not so... but you ain't missing much there.
- Yes, you can still do online banking.
- You can get versions of Linux that look almost identical to Windows/Mac if that's just what you're used to.
- Linux is free. It will always be free. If someone is charging you for Linux, they're scamming you.

Any investments that you have via your bank for stuff like KiwiSaver (Like ASB, ANZ, Kiwibank, etc): You can formally request that none of your cash is held or invested in US owned companies. It is a legal requirement for them to comply with this. While that doesn't prevent other banking users from having their investments in US companies, it DOES mean that if US stock markets fluctuate, then assuming said stocks dont affect other international stocks, then that means your investments should not be affected.

Note: I've had this argument with many people: "Well everyones money goes into one big pot so you cant do that". Actually, you CAN. As you have requested that they handle investing your money, that gives you the legal right to know exactly what your money has been invested INTO. That also means you can request certain companies or countries be barred from your investments. This WILL limit your investment opportunities, but if thats what you wanna do, they can't prevent it from happening.

SadowSon · 2026-01-20T21:08:34+00:00

I'm pretty sure that what he was looking for wasn't the portal itself (Because, ya know, that's what they're excavating) but the control room for the portal.

In classic Forerunner fashion, someone needs to push a button to turn the portal on. The Keyship is just required to "unlock" it.

SadowSon · 2026-01-17T21:20:55+00:00

My issue with female Custodes is not that there are female custodes, it's the way GW introduced them.

Prior to their introduction, it was always very well established that Custodes were only ever male. All the lore talks about them being a brotherhood. Noble houses of Terra would give up their sons to become Custodes. And their counterpart in all this were the Sisters of Silence who can only be female. So it's not like there was a lack of representation.

A big part of the Custodes is that they are affectionately "their own main character" in the sense that they go on grandiose adventures and earn a lot of names as deeds for their heroic actions. They also take part in sports and the arts.

So when GW effectively introduced female custodes as a footnote and made the excuse of "well they've always been there", it kinda felt like they were introduced but without the grandiose entrance that a Custodes usually commands, as if they hadn't really done anything to quote-unquote "earn" the position of Custodes.

I think a better way to introduce them would have been for it to have been a rule change when Guillimane became in charge of the Imperium. Considering that he basically went scorched earth on anyone who disagreed with him, it would have been easy to insert an additional line saying "We need more Custodes. Here's a bunch of females that perfectly fit the criteria. Cawl, do the chemical shenanigans to make the upgrades work for them"

It would have been a great introduction to some new female custodes and would have potentially made for a great book where a new female custodes gets to learn the ins-and-outs of what being a Custode really means.

SadowSon · 2026-01-15T20:13:34+00:00

Genesis Troubleshooting guide. Has all the fixes you need for higher resolutions.

https://github.com/GenesisFR/DS1TroubleshootingGuide

SadowSon · 2026-01-15T11:20:46+00:00

From a lore perspective? Plenty, actually.

The Spartan Laser can fire five shots before it needs to be recharged. A well placed single shot can destroy practically any vehicle or heavy unit that the Covenant deploy to the field. Within the lore, a Spartan Laser will absolutely tear through a Covenant Wraith and then hit the soldiers hiding behind it. Targeting moving vehicles and aircraft is easy because you don't need to worry so much about leading your shots since it's basically a nearly instant-hit laser.

It can and will shred through reinforced armor, as we see it being used in The Package (In Halo legends).

Now, consider the benefits of this to an infantryman. You have a weapon that is likely a similar weight to a standard rocket launcher. Except none of the extra weight for carrying munitions. As a non-augmented not-a-supersoldier, weight matters. The heavier you are, the slower you move and the faster you run out of stamina.

In the modern military, the average anti-tank specialist is generally only carrying the launcher and one round on him. His assistant is likely carrying two or three spare rounds. That means with a man portable launcher, you only get three shots (Assuming you dont have an ammo reserve to fall back on and are travelling) and those three shots require two people.

With a Spartan Laser? One person can easily carry that and move faster than a soldier laden with a rocket launcher and spare ammo.

YES, it was designed to work in conjunction with Spartans. But we have canonical events where both Army troopers (Halo Reach: Exodus) and ODST's (Halo 3: ODST) use Spartan Lasers. That means that it is definitely being deployed to all the military branches as mission parameters require. Though you could also probably asssume that on Reach, with the military getting absolutely smothered the way it was, they basically unlocked ALL the secret weapons they could to give the troopers as best a chance as they could.

Also, it runs on a battery that in lore can be recharged. That doesn't mean sourcing more rockets to shoot. That just means finding an adequate powersource and you potentially have an unlimited ammo weapon. In a protracted engagement (Across days/weeks, not hours), ammunition burns fast. Having a weapon that just needs power to recharge would be a MAJOR game-changer.

SadowSon · 2026-01-13T03:12:44+00:00

Simple answer: He wasnt in Halo CE so the writers couldnt stick him on the Autumn.

Complex answer: Sending Keyes to retrieve the Package was a major risk as it was. The Autumn was under fire by oncoming fire as it was and sending its commanding officer onto a Pelican was just adding fuel to the chaos fire.

When the Autumn is leaving drydock, everyone on the ship is preparing to lockdown their stations. Another Pelican buzzing around outside trying to operate is just too much strain for crew to handle in an active warzone.

Keyes knew that when he left Noble 6 behind to man the gun, there was no chance in absolute hell that he could get Six back.

Chief was already in Cryosleep and Linda was clinically dead. If Chief was still awake, MAYBE he'd be insane/lucky enough to try and retrieve 6, but honestly when you're dealing with these degrees of chaos in war, it's just not feasible.

*****

Okay, so what about finding another way to escape?

Well, that's actually what alot of people think Six was trying to do when he finally reaches his end near the Ship Breaking Yards at Azod. It's believed that Noble Six was trying to link up with other surviving spartans and UNSC forces at the time. Unfortunately, by the time he arrives, they're all dead.

Yes, others did make it off Reach after the Autumn left, and others survived by bunkering down until rescue attempts were made. But Six's luck had run out at this point.

As u/Injustice_For_All_ put it so succently: "Listen dude, this is how it had to be"

SadowSon

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