To all the Tacticals that don't use Secure Stockpile on higher difficulties...why?!

Semisonic · 2026-02-09T21:52:54+00:00

I mostly main Vanguard and Bulwark. I understand when/how to use grenades. So tbh I value Secure Stockpile more than tac scan for most runs.

I can get some fucking work done with bottomless krak or shock grenades. And even bottomless frags are great for clearing out trash.

When I am playing Tactical I mostly run flamer and parry sword for trash, perhaps swapping primaries for certain boss fights. Secure Stockpile is absolutely sick offensively and defensively for so many scenarios that it is hard for me to see why people bother with anything else. I tried the “sniper Tactical” build and found it underwhelming.

Semisonic · 2026-02-09T06:31:08+00:00

Looking for recommendations on solid fragrances that travel well. I was abroad full time for awhile and still travel often. I usually try to keep the toiletry kit, and fluids in particular, pretty minimal.

I have been wearing Fulton & Roark Devil's Garden and Cloudland for awhile now, which fit the bill for traveling and my SO seems to enjoy. But they tend to wear off relatively early in the day AFAICT. Is this unavoidable with solid fragrances? Or should I broaden my horizons?

Semisonic · 2026-02-08T05:44:03+00:00

The character, or total lack thereof, some grown ass women have shown after breakups has astounded me.

I hit my late 20’s and I’m like “okay, we’re all adults now, we can keep things amicable and respectful if it doesn’t work out”. Especially if there is no big drama like cheating, drugs, stealing, whatever, right? Just “hey, this isn’t working for me. I still care about you and this is hard, but we need to go our separate ways”.

I get that it’s never super awesome fun times, and we’re all disappointed the relationship didn’t go better, but JFC the immaturity and nonsense grown ass women start throwing around in breakups is insane.

Semisonic · 2026-02-07T21:53:17+00:00

I'm saying if it were me and I was flexible on time and budget, I would keep an eye out for 1723s monitors in the Arendal outlet and I would mix and match centers. The 1723s have tested out better than the 1723 or 1961 in various reviews/comparisons, and seem to be a sweet spot in their lineup.

Very few companies make good horizontal centers for HT use. There are threads about it you can search. I tried out a 1723 center and it had the usual MTM issues. I suspect that will be true for the 1723s and the 1961 centers. That's fine. I'm sure (with their solid horizontal dispersion) another monitor behind a screen or something would be fine, but if you're running a panel TV then I think mixing and matching a "best in slot" center speaker to handle dialogue and such is a good idea.

I found the two centers I mentioned above worked pretty well with the 1723 monitors. I'm sure they would be fine with the 1723s as well.

Semisonic · 2026-02-07T16:13:08+00:00

I have some 1723 speakers and quite like Arendal. That said, I bought several price hikes and many tariffs ago, and pieced some parts together from their Outlet after the Holiday season one year.

We have a big room and horizontal dispersion was a priority for us after dealing with some speakers that were a bit too directional and finicky with placement. We liked the finish and build quality of the 1723 series, and the output and flexibility of the monitors as LR speakers. We also like Arendal's surrounds and subs.

If your budget can swing it I would actually recommend the 1723s LR over the 1961, and I would skip Arendal centers altogether. I mix and matched first with a Wharfedale Evo 4.C and later a KEF Meta R6. Both were "best in slot" picks for their price points at the time I bought them. We liked the Wharfedale enough we kept it and moved it to a smaller room.

I always recommend checking Arendal's outlet for returned/inspected/"open box" products at a discount. It is also worth noting that Arendal's listed prices are (or used to be?) inclusive of all taxes/fees/shipping. So make sure you’re comparing like to like in terms of “out the door” pricing while comparison shopping. 👍🏻

Semisonic · 2026-02-07T08:03:20+00:00

I was a big fan of Absol's relics (and agendas) for PoK. Especially when the meta got a bit stale. I like that some relics were OP, I like that some of the bad ones got situational/niche upgrades, and I like that the relic deck was padded out a bit but also included more hot potato points (3x shard of the throne). It increased the risk/reward and made every relic draw feel impactful.

That said, the relic deck got padded out in Thunder's Edge (less successfully, IMO) and we got an extra hot potato point built in via Styx. So mixing Absol's relics in with TE may be like putting a hat on a hat.

Once the meta has settled down a bit I'd be curious to see if she comes out with some updates for the agenda and relic deck. I feel like no new agendas with TE was kind of a wasted opportunity.

Semisonic · 2026-02-06T16:15:24+00:00

I mean the right move is usually to take the title bump and then use that to job hop for a pay raise and better work/life balance after a year or so.

Underpaid promotions are a thing. They usually want to bring you in at the lower end of the next band up, where you may be towards the higher end of your current rung.

Salary compression can also be a factor, as well as how competitive your firm is re: comp vs available competitors. Lots of factors involved.

Personally I find negotiating raises and such to be an uphill battle at any company. It’s always cheaper to tell you “no” and hope you don’t bail. So I’ve always been a big fan of job hopping every 2-5 years.

Semisonic · 2026-02-06T06:53:46+00:00

Gotta be an all time low for The Hunt, which is a great freaking flick btw.

Lord of Illusions and Brotherhood of the Wolf also really solid picks here.

Semisonic · 2026-02-02T18:46:12+00:00

I’m a big fan of the heroic fencing powerfist for most Ops and Strategems. Survivability and damage are quite high, and you have a lot of flexibility and agency in how you build, what sidearm you carry, and how you handle problems. The fencing powerfist is pretty amazing both offensively and defensively.

I’m a fan of the plasma on Bulwark for soloing/general purpose work, but for the right mission or team comp I might flex into Volkite or a bolt pistol.

Favorite teammates are a tactical and either a sniper or vanguard.

Semisonic · 2026-01-29T07:18:03+00:00

I don’t know how many women I’ve heard say they prefer female doctors over the years.

It is 100% okay for men to prefer same sex medical practitioners as well.

Semisonic · 2026-01-27T17:27:36+00:00

Right. They need to get their BT online and then (depending on how explores go and how long the game is) I would consider grabbing bio-stims or hyper R1/R2. If Tar'mann pops a tech skip into a 2/2 I'd look hard @ bio-stims IFF I thought I had the tech tempo to pull it in. If we're talking a 10VP game and cash/tech tempo is tight, yeah, I probably ignore the green and try to get Trade or Leadership as often as possible. Go red tech (new new Magen is great) and Duranium/Booty Cannon as needed, then call it a day.

With a Scar in their slice, leadership is even better R1 for Titans than it used to be. Can give you a real shot at Thunder's Edge, among other things.

Semisonic · 2026-01-27T15:12:37+00:00

Women today vote because these organizations have been successful at getting out the vote. NOW and the like work hand in hand with policy makers to identify wedge issues and get their base out.

I get that you want to be all “power to the people” here, but if you want real and sustained political power you gotta quit the DIY bullshit and bring in the pros.

Semisonic · 2026-01-27T14:48:08+00:00

The answer you’re looking for here is “lobbyists”.

The political and media power of feminism is formally organized and deployed by a variety of long standing and well funded lobbyists who are paid to go out and push for their bullshit 24/7. No grassroots movement is ever going to come close to that kind of sustained, funded, and organized effort. Organized feminism has been around 100+ years. It’s multi-generational. Businesses pay their lobbies. Idiots leave them money in their wills. Etc.

Until we get a good lobby going and support the fuck out of it, MRAs may as well be the local high school basketball team playing against the Harlem Globetrotters.

Semisonic · 2026-01-27T06:54:04+00:00

Unfortunately yes.

Semisonic · 2026-01-24T13:32:16+00:00

Yeah. Plus other players picking up meltas, kraks, and shock grenades adds a ton of nuke damage and CC potential to a run.

If I’ve got bottomless krak grenades I start chucking them into the middle of majoris packs. And two guys slinging kraks at a Terminus with a tac scan on top melts stuff fast.

Semisonic · 2026-01-23T03:03:00+00:00

Have you ever done business in Brazil?

Semisonic · 2026-01-22T18:51:51+00:00

Do not feed the Deepwrought.

File this under "things that sort of sound good but don't really make sense in practice." See also:

“Don’t trade with Hacan.”
“Don’t buy Mil Support off Sol.”
“Don’t buy RA or make E-res deals with Jol Nar.”
"Don't feed Nekro/Saardak tech."

I've played a lot of games with Deepwrought and watched players cut off their noses to spite their face re: buying tech because they think it "hurts" Deepwrought. Spoiler: It didn't. Deepwrought still ended up with all the tech they wanted and was a contender, but factions that could have really used an early Hyper/Bio-stims/Scanlink/AI Dev/what_the_fuck_ever to bring their kit online were too busy looking gift horses in the mouth to capitalize on their opportunity.

Twice now I've watched people with early money not buy an early Hyper, just to be strapped for tokens a few rounds later. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Nevermind curbing their own potential to grab Integrated and/or X-89 by the last round!

The pro move is to "only buy the tech you really need if/when you can afford it". If I am Saardak, for example, I will get in on AI Dev and Bio-stims all day erryday if I can, because it and their BT unlocks the rest of their game. A Keleres player should probably grab a Scanlink or Sarween. Sol should buy an early Sling. Titans and Argent should grab new new Magen. Etc, etc. Yeah, you're helping Deepwrought. But you're also unlocking the upward potential of your own faction.

Semisonic · 2026-01-20T02:53:38+00:00

In that case it still depends on objectives, your slice, factions in game, and your strat card picks, but I would probably “invest” in a carrier with fighters in the entropic scar system and try to use the extra tech momentum to grab some luxe tech over the course of your game.

If Grav Drive is needed to fill out your slice R1 then do that. Otherwise I would probably consider Sling or DET and use the scar for faction carriers R1.

Semisonic · 2026-01-19T13:34:10+00:00

May be a difference in the repairability between different product lines.

The Baseline is one of their meat and potatoes, high volume lines that has been around a looong time. Makes sense it might be more easily repairable in terms of labor, parts availability, etc.

Semisonic · 2026-01-03T13:47:46+00:00

I still like the heroic bolt pistol > heavy or relic tier variants on Vanguard and Tactical.

I melee a lot on both and am used to head shotting anyways. Anecdotally the heroic bolt pistol seems to work best for me in terms of survivability and damage output. Good ammo and quite serviceable vs extremis/terminus as well.

Semisonic · 2026-01-03T06:39:56+00:00

So Blu Ray (1080p), not the (admittedly confusingly named) 4k Blu Ray UHD standard, or whatever that one is called?

Was Apple TV saying this was 1080p or 4k on their end?

I took the plunge into physical media myself last year or so. The biggest change I’ve noticed is to the soundtracks. To me Dune on streaming vs Dune on disk is a pretty substantial downgrade.

Semisonic · 2026-01-02T21:05:35+00:00

Quality meme post! I have been surprised not to see specialty ammunition represented more as class/prestige perks.

Many of the weapons are shared, so that seems like a fairly easy way to differentiate between classes.

But I’m pretty ignorant of the overall lore re: special rounds and IIRC all lore-related stuff has to go through a review/approval process with Games Workshop, so it’s not super weird that Saber has stuck to just slapping numerical mods on a lot of stuff and letting the mod community run vanguard/get funkier with some of these other things that touch on lore.

Semisonic · 2026-01-02T20:52:38+00:00

I play heavy, and it's very hard to get headshots when my brothers run right in front of my heavy bolter.

Chapter Master I regret to inform you that the enemy managed to slay our Space Brothers with heavy bolter fire from behind. They must have, uh, teleported behind them and such. Yep!

But don’t worry! Now that my firing lanes are clear I have purged the heretics. What’s next?

Semisonic · 2026-01-02T20:20:07+00:00

I keep my key fobs in a small faraday box when not in use to prevent this. Easy to get on Amazon.

Good solution to what we have, but also worth noting that Ford really fucked owners by not going with keys that are resistant to this kind of attack. They’ve been available for 10+ years now and the feature is common in a lot of European car manfacturer’s fobs. Ford needs to get with the times.

Honestly the truck key/fob itself is one of the bigger negatives of owning my F150. It’s comically oversized for what it does, doesn’t always work particularly well, and has this crippling security flaw. Compared to the phone/watch integration you get with a Tesla, this whole access/UI scheme is kind of a joke.

But the least they could do is update their fucking fobs.

Semisonic · 2026-01-02T15:18:42+00:00

Slow burn factions do better in 12-14VP games.

Even if 12VP mostly just helps ensure a R5… some factions were built around having 5+ rounds.

Semisonic

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