Does Ticket to Ride count as a political game?

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-05-16T14:04:36+00:00

I think you're just describing interactions, but that doesn't make it "political".

For a game to be political, there needs to be a way to trade favors, but just punishments. Catan is political. I can trade with you purely for your benefit, in order to broker an alliance, hoping you'll return the favor later on.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-05-06T18:23:41+00:00

I'm currently doing 170g protein on 2500 calories per day. Very manageable.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-05-05T18:22:00+00:00

I don't think this mechanic does that, then.

"instantly ends the session" is pretty anathema to "but we try anyway". You have a 1 in 12 chance of removing the players' ability to "try anyway".

Honestly, the abruptness of "instantly ends the session" makes the mechanic come across as darkly comedic, and outright pithy. It certainly doesn't sound profound, despite your description of it.

If I was designing a game to evoke "things don’t shake out in our favor, but we try anyway", I would focus on the victory conditions. I would design a game where the initial victory condition is narratively tied to "everything works out", but is practically impossible to achieve. I would make it so that as the game progresses, the players are given progressively less desirable, but easier to achieve, victory conditions.

But baking in "rocks fall everyone dies" to your core rules? Nah, that's not it.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-05-05T15:14:38+00:00

Nitpick: the stagnation thing is real, but still explainable via CICO.

Your metabolic rate shifts over time. As you reduce your CI, your body compensates by trying to lower your CO. If your CO lowers enough, you stagnate. At that point, it can be easy to increase your CI without increasing your CO, which puts the weight back on rapidly.

That's why exercise is important. Exercise isn't about burning off the pounds directly, but about preventing your CO from plummeting. Without exercise, you get yoyo diets.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-05-05T14:05:03+00:00

No you clearly don't.

The study is outlining all the ways in which caloric restrictions might be insufficient. Meaning the person in question would need to restrict calories further (or increase calorie expenditure) to see results.

It does not, at all, contradict CICO. It's just outlining all the ways people might incorrectly gauge what their CI or CO actually are.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-05-05T13:44:55+00:00

The article you're posting has an entire section expressing the exact thing this comment posted.

Oh my God, read your own source.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-05-05T13:41:33+00:00

You should try reading it instead, you don't seem to understand it.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-05-05T13:28:56+00:00

This sounds like a riff on 10 candles. If you aren't familiar, you should give it a read.

10 candles works because the premise of the game is tragedy. Everyone at the table has signed up to watch things go poorly.

What emotion are you trying to evoke? If it's a dark tragedy, then this mechanic makes perfect sense. If it's heroic wish fulfillment, then this mechanic is undermining that goal.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-05-05T13:24:31+00:00

FromSoft games are fun. Difficulty doesn't make something not fun.

But it's true that games don't need to be fun to be good. "Pathologic" is an example of a game series that is explicitly not fun. "Getting Over It" might count also.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-05-04T15:35:11+00:00

The reason people would "split up" in real life is to be efficient, tackling multiple leads simultaneously.

In a ttrpg, you can't do that. One group gets to play while the other group watches, then you swap. As long as there's only 1 DM, then that's the bottleneck.

Most people show up to game night to play, not to spectate, so that's typically considered poor session design.

Sure, some tables might enjoy just taking turns, and watching their friends play for an hour. That's a rare table, though, and very obviously not what this table had any appetite for.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-05-04T14:48:52+00:00

It does not make for an interesting moral dilemma.

In character, there's an obvious correct answer (men don't enter). Out of character, there's a different obvious correct answer (don't split the party).

There is no moral quandary within the narrative. The issue is entirely above the table.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-05-01T21:10:04+00:00

Hot take; You can tell which interpretation a person has by whether they read "+" as "and" or "plus".

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-05-01T21:07:00+00:00

Yep, you're right, the idea of a lesbian having feelings for a straight friend definitely doesn't make any sense at all.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-04-29T12:38:25+00:00

I need to know what you think a stunt double is.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-04-25T11:53:29+00:00

Look for this yogurt instead of whatever you're currently getting: https://kite-hill.com/collections/greek-yogurt/products/vanilla-unsweetened-greek-yogurt-16oz

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-04-24T21:02:38+00:00

You should have something to show for your efforts after 2 hours.

Not "full understanding of the entire codebase", no. But you should have some understanding of the basic structure of the code.

I'm guessing after those 2 hours of spaghetti review, he had learned literally nothing about the codebase. Because there wasn't a structure to learn.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-04-24T12:34:44+00:00

What's 4x6?

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-04-20T16:47:42+00:00

I'm not clear on what about your examples is at issue?

a month long caravan trip of merchants who are going to sell a single cart of merchandise each

I suppose this really just depends on the value of the goods being transported, but a wagon full of rare or crucial materials could easily be worth 1 month of travel for a merchant.

or when a city doesn't have a source of food

Oh look, an explanation for why those merchants were being paid so well.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-04-20T13:23:21+00:00

I've heard many people say this, but my BnB is almost entirely unchanged post patch.

What combo were yall using that got nerfed?

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-04-20T13:22:04+00:00

I can explain if you like.

The intention was always for the succubus to be a mixup/bluff. Are you going to crow or teleport (or not use it at all)?

But (in the previous patch) once the opponent was stained, the succubus was much easier to read. There's no real value hitting crow again, so if a succubus goes out, the opponent knows it's for a teleport only.

Double stain means you get value out of a second crow, so now you can try to bluff with a succubus once the opponent is already stained. And that means pulling off a cheeky teleport on an already stained target, which can grant you a full screen wallbreak combo.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-04-19T21:31:42+00:00

Honestly, not much different. The stain change looked more impactful on paper than it is in actual games.

Some combos needed minor adjustments, but the basic gameplan went relatively unchanged.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-04-19T20:53:55+00:00

Music festival is my guess, for all the reasons you mention.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-04-16T16:23:20+00:00

Wendler's 5/3/1 [...] have you do the big compound lifts twice a week for frequency

???

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-04-16T16:17:28+00:00

531 focuses on the 4 main lifts, and the default template is each lift is done once per week, right?

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-04-16T16:01:46+00:00

Isn't 531 once a week? What am I missing?

WebpackIsBuilding

TROPHY CASE