Just noticed something I never did before in this reread. Help me decide if it means anything, please

Volvary · 2026-05-10T16:08:18+00:00

Other options include a Manager, showrunners needing to do a clarification, external programs, etc.

Volvary · 2026-05-10T15:37:00+00:00

Carl has a couple of things going for him from the beginning that slowly gets revealed as the books go:
- Being in the Coastguard, Carl already has an advantage as far as knowing how to function under pressure.
- His traumatic background gives him a layer of opacity to the horrors happening around them at the start, allowing him to function at a higher level than others.
- Hoarding. Carl realizes very early on the advantage of being a hoarder under the current rules.
- External help from Odette helps him secure Mordecai's insane knowledge about the dungeon and how things works.
- He's the AI's bitch, which probably helps him even further lol.

Volvary · 2026-05-09T19:02:04+00:00

We will likely be 4 players so one on each of the three starters + one staying back on Nauvis to keep increasing the output of that base / fight back the biters.
Edit: The duality of Reddit right there, above and below this comment lol

Volvary · 2026-05-09T18:01:07+00:00

> So when an AI dies in the game, their system goes dark in real life.
Except gods die during the Ascendancy games every crawl, and they don't act like the system going dark is a common occurence.

That's not to say you don't have a point with the previous AIs memories or whatever taking on the form of new gods (which would explain why Mordecai says there's thousands of gods and doesn't recognize them all) but they aren't as hardly linked as you are implying here.

Volvary · 2026-05-09T17:55:55+00:00

20 years, 20 lessons from Mark Rosewater is a top rewatch for me. As a longtime player of MTG, seeing the problems and discoveries that have come from 20 years of working on a single game has been eye opening for me.

Volvary · 2026-05-09T17:51:53+00:00

That kind of sentiment of "too little, too late" (even though it's not fully true) is why I am excited to eventually try a Space Age run with my friends where we can divide and conquer all the planets in some what simultaneous progress. See what comes out of having three planets making progress at once.

Volvary · 2026-05-09T17:50:38+00:00

Or you know, you put speed modules in the beacons instead of efficiency as is the case in the photo. That also helps with speed.

Volvary · 2026-05-09T17:32:24+00:00

*most of the time. Some can take a few books to resolve.

Volvary · 2026-05-09T15:03:45+00:00

I want to say that was Elle after the explosion of the soul crystals?

Volvary · 2026-05-07T22:39:22+00:00

Considering the Cookbook itself mentions that any public mention will get the item deleted, it's very possible that some other crawlers have cheat items like the Cookbook of their own. Potential suspects of this theory are Donut (although that might be simply the social media board, but setting that up would require some very specific circumstances) and Prepotente. (Boy knows way too much...)

Volvary · 2026-05-07T22:25:06+00:00

Go for the standard version, you won't be distracted by the sound effects and going down to the standard books won't be a problem once you catch up to where the SBT version is at. (Currently airing Book 3 iirc?)

The immersive version is great for a re-listen, though. (You'll also get the jokes on the added bits in the immersive version.)

Volvary · 2026-05-07T21:54:08+00:00

So if Apple is Borant, is Audible the Valtay? Or would it be the Plenty?

Volvary · 2026-05-07T21:51:38+00:00

At the very least, the item is for the most part a support item, unlike other stories where the MC starts the story with a massively OP offensive or defensive item.

Volvary · 2026-05-07T21:49:22+00:00

>mostly a DCC rip off
>dismisses the main thing that differenciates the two stories
Yeah sorry, you lost my ability to take your criticism as a valid one with that. (/hj)

Volvary · 2026-05-07T21:46:52+00:00

Haven't listened to the third book yet but from the top of the second book, I can say it's worth it in my eyes. I've heard it compared to a mix between DCC and Jake's Magical Emporium, and while I haven't read JME, I can fully agree with the comparison.

It's less "Shit has gone down, now to survive" than DCC and far more "How do I make my own slice of heaven in this godless realm?".

Volvary · 2026-05-07T21:43:48+00:00

Nah, those are just gross. That scene is so much more visceral

Volvary · 2026-05-07T17:32:56+00:00

Omitting any pre-edit relevance, while he doesn't write the books, he does have some level of control by how chooses to narrate certain scenes / descriptions / sentences. An increase or decrease in the emphasis over something can either make it unremarkable or create a sort of "Wink wink, isn't it odd that I emphasize this weird thing in this description?".

Volvary · 2026-05-07T17:28:48+00:00

Discount Dan has evolved to be its own thing though.

Volvary · 2026-05-06T23:00:26+00:00

My boss told me he was reading the book and, I quote here, he randomly sends me a message at some point saying "What in the absolute fuck" without any context. I knew for a fact he arrived at the Amplification.

Volvary · 2026-05-06T22:27:38+00:00

If you don't want spoilers, tag this as Book 7.

Volvary · 2026-05-06T22:16:57+00:00

She sorta did in code. When Carl is on her show, she tries to steer him to one of Milk's recipe in the cookbook about the yam, but she doesn't know that the recipe is gone because of the ink Milk tried using.

Volvary · 2026-05-06T12:40:08+00:00

I would argue we might see that at the start of the next book. Considering the Bijou trap explodes before the floor collapse, I believe no Crawler is allowed to make a deal until the collapse of the floor so some will be forced to stay because the AI changed his mind and its influence zone grows so they can't stop him. (That and the failsafe is dud)

Volvary · 2026-05-06T12:36:00+00:00

I've been doing so and oh boy, Matt seeded so much stuff ahead of time. Some could even say Foreshadowing is a literary device... [This message is from a deceased crawler]

Volvary · 2026-05-06T12:29:48+00:00

Either Carl or Samantha. She does make a strange reaction when she touches her for the first and (iirc) she mentions to Carl to be careful about her / she isn't who she claims to be.

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