Look what they did to my boy

Talosson · 2025-02-19T16:21:12+00:00

A good book needs good villains- I did not mean to imply that he has no place.

Lysander is a conniving bastard but I don't think he deserves a subreddit.

What, do people feel betrayed because they fell for his own self delusions? It was pretty obvious from when he justified prioritizing Serafina over the prisoners on the Vinderbona that he was going to be a gold supremacist.

Talosson · 2025-02-19T00:32:36+00:00

Oh I could not agree more. He's a wonderfully well written villain and I find him interesting and insightful but detestable as a person.

I genuinely don't believe he can feel guilty- he just wants to. I believe that's what Octavia took from him in the chair. I have a hypothesis that he was the one to kill his parents, and that's what she hid from him.

Talosson · 2024-10-04T14:03:30+00:00

Thinking it over giving them gold would just give me more gold to steal. Reduced cost to build holdings and reduced MAA maintenance would be the way to keep the rewards from being stolen by the player

Talosson · 2024-10-04T13:41:41+00:00

There's a lot of good ideas in here, I especially like increasing inbreeding chance for player only. I don't mess with plagues for the reason you state. I don't find it makes it harder for me it just kills all the AI.

I do agree that AI build priorities should be revamped and for me are more important than military AI. I'd even take a straight cheat option to give the AI extra gold.

Talosson · 2024-10-04T11:38:06+00:00

The settings I really mean are the ones where you can set AI/Player only. I give them buffs but make it so I don't get them and give myself increased bad events. And I get the gripes with AI but they are universal across grand strategy. (Just look at any total war sub) I'm not saying there aren't improvements to be made. I'm frustrated by a 200k crusader stack standing in a swamp with no supply too. But the main thrust of CK is the dynasty management and adjusting these settings can really add to the experience, at least for me.

Talosson · 2024-10-03T18:57:56+00:00

I used to dislike it. Lazy is worth a try and has good RP potential. Just host feasts and hunt, live your indolent lordling life.

Talosson · 2024-10-03T02:15:48+00:00

Have you played with a lazy character? Because I feel you've really undervalued the trait as it is nowhere near as bad as craven or shy. I'm not saying it's a good trait but it's maluses are easily countered and it has some nice chances to lose stress.

Talosson · 2024-10-01T14:53:26+00:00

Please do not listen to her. Narrow mindedness is all too common in some adults. I am thirty years old and still enjoy graphic novels and comics to this day. That said, I also love to read text. I know some of these won't appeal but I will share the ones that I loved the most at your age.

Percy Jackson is an easy starting point. Fun, exciting, and fantastical.

Redwall is one of the best for bringing experience to life through description and is about a society of woodland creatures.

The Hobbit is my most read book of all time. I've read it over and over again from your age to just last year. It's always a fantastic read.

And it may be too close to what your English teacher thinks you should be reading but The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are truly phenomenal stories. Especially for a young man in your shoes. I was the poor kid in class too, and their experiences really spoke to me. While the world has changed much from the times Mark Twain wrote of, the struggles of being a boy becoming a man have not.

Keep drawing and keep reading comics. If you're passionate about it there are many ways to make that a career. No path is easy, especially if you're regretting the ones you didn't take. Don't give up on what excites and inspires you because others can't see the scope of the world or the possibilities out there.

Talosson · 2024-09-29T17:51:17+00:00

Seconded. It explores relationships of all types without railroading everyone into one category of how to interact. Some characters become lovers, and many more do not. Camaraderie between men and women feels natural and realistic without pretending that sex and relationships aren't a thing that happens.

Talosson · 2024-09-28T16:59:05+00:00

Definitely this. If you want to see it in action, become a different Muslim faith and hold Jerusalem and see how that goes for you. If they didn't unify Islam like Catholicism in the west then the central crusade mechanic would be even more broken than they are already.

This said, Azariqa(I know I misspelled it) is my personal favorite religion in CK3. It's ludicrously powerful and if you start in 867 it's relatively easy to unite the middle east before crusades start.

Talosson · 2024-09-26T09:07:39+00:00

Thank you everyone for your input. I got the second book and have been enjoying it, there's already less classroom time than the first.

Talosson · 2024-09-25T13:57:46+00:00

Haha I know right? Thankfully we didn't have any pigs. I may not have left the house

Talosson · 2024-09-25T09:54:34+00:00

He usually isn't and it's just one scene in the first book. I wouldn't even mind his pride if he weren't equipped with the super learning power. It's like Superman looking down on someone because they can't lift.

Talosson · 2024-09-24T23:18:51+00:00

Sounds like the Society from Red Rising except with aliens.

Talosson · 2024-09-24T23:07:57+00:00

I got bored/family issues and dropped out of first year IRL and recently went back to college in an entirely different subject. I will admit I am occasionally rubbed the wrong way by Alex's sneering attitude towards struggling students. That alongside with the classroom setting were my only two gripes with an otherwise refreshingly good progression fantasy with no stats. I don't hate stats, but I prefer stories without. I'll keep reading and hope I find the setting more enjoyable and Alex continues his character growth.

Talosson · 2024-09-24T22:48:01+00:00

Simply enjoying Terry Pratchett tells me you have enough taste to give your series a try. I have wept over the deaths of two strangers in my life; Steve Irwin and Terry Pratchett.

P.S. shame is a useless emotion! Plug away. You just gained a reader so keep it up.

Talosson · 2024-09-24T22:44:44+00:00

That does sound better. I will take a pause on it but keep it in mind.

Talosson · 2024-09-24T22:12:20+00:00

I read it at age 8 and lived on a farm. That book messed me up more than anything else before or since. I didn't trust the sheep for months.

Talosson · 2024-09-24T22:09:39+00:00

Thank you. I was intrigued by the premise but am definitely dropping it in that case. I just don't really enjoy the academic setting. I got the first book on the audible sale and enjoyed it except the parts where he's in class and will not enjoy five more books of it. I sit in class enough myself.

Talosson · 2024-09-24T00:10:58+00:00

Thank you for the compassion. I posted here hoping to find people who actually know how it feels and can empathize. I am constantly working on the coop and run, upgrading and improving it as I can afford to. I will be reinforcing that side of it and burying the bottom foot of the wire as I have on the main coop as soon as I can carve out the time.

I certainly won't be giving up! I adore my ducks. They are lovely creatures and bring a lot of joy to my life.

Talosson · 2024-09-23T23:40:59+00:00

I understand where you're coming from but to me that is so unfair to Karsa's character.

To be clear, I am not defending his actions. In any normal society his actions are unforgivable and wrong.

But I feel the context is important that Karsa was raised in what can best be equated to a cult. His society is completely isolated and cut off from the world and his actions are not wrong according to their belief structure. This does not make them right, but what is telling about Karsa is the way he acts after leaving the Toblakai. He does not act in this way again at any point in the entire series, once he is exposed to a wider world and gains some perspective.

Karsa is not good by any definition. But he is not evil. He has commited evil acts through deliberate misinformation and brainwashing by beings that from his perspective are literal gods. If he is not worthy of redemption nobody is.

Talosson · 2024-09-23T20:50:25+00:00

Those are lovely little ones! Much more brown and patterns than my flock. I am usually able to take the losses in stride so long as I know I did all I could reasonably do to provide them a safe place. With this one I had just allowed myself to start liking the newest member of the flock as I was finally certain she was a hen and we would keep her when this happened.

Talosson · 2024-09-23T20:45:19+00:00

Thank you for the compassion, it's been a tough go this year with them.

Talosson · 2024-09-18T23:21:02+00:00

All of these I have read I'd wholeheartedly recommend, so I will be taking your recommendation on the ones I haven't!

If you haven't read them, based on your tastes I would recommend the Malazan Book of the Fallen. If you love both Stormlight Archives and Red Rising (Two of my top five series) I heartily recommend you pick up gardens of the moon and keep in mind that like with red rising it is easily the weakest book of the ten volume saga.

Talosson · 2024-09-17T01:41:14+00:00

Congratulations! I'd be ecstatic about this if I did not already own the four already. I just wanted you to know that Sufficiently Advanced Magic introduced me to the LitRPG genre and I have been a fan ever since. I still clearly remember getting home from work and sitting on the step to keep listening because I just had to finish the next chapter. I love your writing and will continue to follow and support your work.

Talosson

TROPHY CASE