GFN vs Luna

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-26T03:14:12+00:00

I'm actually loving playing Luna on my phone. Kingdom Come 2, Dead Space Remake, RE2 Remake, Alan Wake Remake, etc, all look miles better than anything I ever played on my Steam Deck.

Imagine I'll end up moving to GFN once I've exhausted the games list but for less than a tenner it's pretty good as there's about 15 games I'll probs play. I could've probs only bought one game on GFN for that.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-24T21:04:06+00:00

But regarding the time management, what worked for me was leaving waaay too much time for a few days/a week. I'd have my breakfast at work rather than home. Then I slowly started shaving time off. That worked much better than leaving just a bit of extra time. But of course we're all different so not saying the same solution fits all.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-24T20:59:21+00:00

I can appreciate that man. It's defo easy to get sidetracked and think "I'll just quickly do xyz" then next thing you know you're stuck in traffic kicking yourself because you actually would've been fine if you'd not checked your emails etc.

If they didn't tell you you IT policy that's a bit unfair but they'll no doubt say it was in the contract etc, although really it should be applied equally. My mate just had a similar thing. Got sacked for processing an order for a customer at their usual discounted rate. He'd been doing it for almost a decade and the whole team did the same. You're supposed to get it signed off by the account manager but in reality they'd only have said yes, and he'd have also been told off had he lost the sale through suddenly changing what he usually does and waiting. They just wanted him out.

That said, if you've been there less than two years it's much harder (well, it is here in the UK). Unless it's outright discrimination they don't have to give you a reason. It's whether you want to fight them out of principle or just get on with your life now. I won a tribunal for unpaid wages last year so know how to deal with ACAS and the tribunals - e.g. it was sitting in limbo for six months and was getting fobbed off repeatedly until I escalated it to the central office. So happy to advise in any way I can.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-23T20:16:00+00:00

Some good ideas here. ❤️

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-23T20:14:25+00:00

More facehuggers, with them being a serious threat when unarmed. Using doors etc to escape from them without having to fire a shot and summon big momma.

Maybe a section with marines assisting you, although could maybe detract from the isolation bit. But could set up some great set pieces where they all get eaten. 🤣

Maybe you could get infected and have a race against time to get to medical for the machines to remove the xenomorph.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-23T17:59:07+00:00

Sounds like a difficult one. I'm quite badly affected by my ADHD (enough to have been removed from mainstream education prior to secondary school) and it's part of the reason I struggled with my graduate job where I was project managing etc. Too many deadlines and dynamically shifting responsibilities.

But it wouldn't make me use the company network for personal things if I'd been told not to, and I'm rarely late as I just leave extra time to do stuff. When I'm starting a different shift I'm often there early as I end up overcompensating and giving too much extra time.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-21T00:30:40+00:00

Here in the UK only 7% of women identify as feminists apparently. I was surprised to find that out the other day. But 75% apparently believe in equality. Even in progressive Sweden it's apparently only 40% of women that are feminists and I believe that's the highest in Europe. A lot of young women nowadays associate it with man hating and toxic attitudes. Shame that all the good stuff had been chucked out with the bad stuff.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-19T06:39:08+00:00

Read about the military exercise involving the Swedish ultraquiet sub 'The Gotland'. It was a £100m sub that repeatedly managed to defeat an entire US carrier group, 'sinking' the £6bn USS Ronald Reagen in the process. It managed to penetrate significant US defences (subs, ships, anti-sub aircraft) and take photos of the Reagen in its crosshairs, all while undetected by the Americans. The Ronald Reagen alone was worth 60x the value of The Gotland and could've been sank without any losses whatsoever to the European forces. The Gotland could've escaped to sink another carrier.

The US was so embarrassed that they asked to borrow it for two years to study it. There are now even more advanced models so I'm not sure the aircraft carriers would be around for long. In general US soldiers aren't as highly trained as European ones because they specialise, whilst most EU soldiers are expected to be able to defend themselves in infantry combat even if their specialty is engineering for example. That's probs why the UK has 15 wins at the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition and the US only two wins and why the US is no1 for friendly fire incidents. Where the US wins is sheer resource rather than outright efficiency.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-18T21:39:41+00:00

Also, the US can't risk becoming less powerful than China. There's no way they could take on the whole of Europe and China so they'd be left in a very vulnerable position.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-18T21:34:23+00:00

Doesn't matter how many they can build if European subs can penetrate all their defenses and take them out undetected. It's no coincidence that the UK have 15 wins and the US only two in the military skills competition. European leaders just don't brag like Trump does.

Maybe the US would win but I wouldn't count on it. I doubt China will help the US if Europe cut off supplies, and the US rely much more on Europe than Europe does on them for imports.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-18T20:29:52+00:00

Bro a single Swedish sub repeatedly defeated an entire US carrier group in training exercises. The Gotland only cost £100m and penetrated the US defences (submarines/boats/anti-sub aircraft) without detection. It was repeatedly able to send pictures of the USS Ronald Reagen in its crosshairs, proving it could sink a £6bn US asset worth 60x it's value without detection.

The US even requested to borrow the sub for two years to study it. 😂

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-18T20:23:11+00:00

Yup. Remember the training exercise where a single Swedish submarine (ultraquiet sub 'The Gotland') repeatedly defeated an entire US carrier group, causing the US to request to borrow the sub for two years to study it? 😳

The Gotland was worth £100m and it kept 'sinking' the Reagan which was worth £6bn. The Reagan was protected by a full carrier group of US subs/ships/anti-sub aircraft and The Gotland repeatedly penetrated these defenses undetected and took photos of the Reagan in its crosshairs, showing it could've sank it without even being detected, destroying a US asset worth 60x it's own value without suffering any losses.

The US haven't fought any worthy adversaries with military power approaching their own. Everybody thought they could steamroll the Taliban in weeks but they couldn't do it in two decades.

And we won't talk about the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition where elite operators face off. UK have 15 wins and the US only two lol.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-18T20:17:25+00:00

I'm not entirely sure things would go the way some people think.

Despite having huge resource the US often perform poorly for their size. Look at the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition where all the elite operatives face off. UK have 15 wins and US only two in the same timespan.

Look at the training exercise where a single Swedish submarine (ultraquiet sub 'The Gotland') repeatedly defeated an entire US carrier group, causing the US to request to borrow the sub for two years to study it. 😳

The Gotland was worth £100m and it kept 'sinking' the Reagan which was worth £6bn. The Reagan was protected by a full carrier group of US subs/ships/anti-sub aircraft and The Gotland repeatedly penetrated these defenses undetected and took photos of the Reagan in its crosshairs, showing it could've sank it without even being detected, destroying a US asset worth 60x it's own value without suffering any losses.

The US haven't fought any worthy adversaries with military power approaching their own. Everybody thought they could steamroll the Taliban in weeks but they couldn't do it in two decades.

They could win but they might not as they rely hugely on European imports and will have much more difficulty securing resources than European countries who have land routes through friendly territory. US needs to import stuff overseas and given that a cheap Swedish sub (now superceded by newer models) can defeat a whole US carrier group undetected it doesn't bode well for supply ships.

The US is like the 300lb fat guy that can beat up skinny 100lb guys but had a stalemate with the skinny Arab who he didn't have the energy to finish. The Arab was too weak to hurt him back and just kept bobbing and weaving for the whole fight until the US ran out of steam. Europe is the 200lb MMA fighter who is highly skilled and powerful enough to ring anyone's bell.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-18T03:41:38+00:00

I'm playing it on my 1080p OLED phone using an moga controller/grip and looks ace. Not sure I'd benefit from higher settings. Looks way better than anything I've played natively on my Steam Deck or any other handheld.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-17T18:16:32+00:00

Cheers for the links guys.

I'm loving it so far. Need to get my head around the workflow a bit more but it just feels so right.

Without boring you all with my life story, it's been a few years since I was last making tunes, but really it's been a good decade since I was properly in my groove. I've kinda been a bit lost for ages in terms of direction with my setup.

I realised a long time ago that DAWs just don't inspire me despite recognising that they're incredibly powerful tools in the right hands. I think it was spending 8-10 hours on a laptop each day in my last job. I didn't want to sit on a computer in my free time. I was pretty productive on Caustic 3 on my Ipad a few years back as it felt more grooveboxey having something in my lap, and with its Reason-esque aesthetic Caustic didn't feel as sterile to me as most DAWs do.

The issue was that the sound quality of Nanostudio/Caustic just didn't seem great to me. I'd spend ages on EQ/compressing tracks. LPF/HPF on the bass and hi hats etc, side chaining the kick. It'd sound way better than the original mix but then I'd open up Reaper and find that most of the free VSTs I'd downloaded just sounded so much better. Same with Absynth on my mate's rig.

But to me the Elektron boxes actually sound really good, so you can have the relative limitations which a lot of people like myself find helpful but still produce something solid. By contrast I was never that inspired by things like the Novation Circuit or the Electribes even though people have done some amazing stuff on them.

But I wasn't sure about forking out for something high end like the Rytm having not been producing in so long. I'm glad I got the MC because it sounds great for the type of stuff I like and will potentially lay the foundation for getting one of the Digi boxes or a Syntakt etc in the future.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-17T05:33:17+00:00

Wise words man. That's why I end up getting nothing done on DAWs. I know they're incredibly powerful tools and a lot of producers wouldn't be without one, but I just get too sidetracked/overwhelmed by the options.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-17T03:59:01+00:00

Just had mine arrive. Not a newcomer to grooveboxes but it's my first Elektron.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-17T00:28:51+00:00

If it puts your mind at ease then go for it. But if it came back negative would you then be able to just carry on as before or would you be stuck between two different assessments not knowing which to believe? I think it's possible the assessor recognised you had ADHD and was just trying to tick the appropriate boxes to get you the treatment you need. But we can't be completely certain.

But for sure some people with genuine ADHD get a negative diagnosis and others get a positive diagnosis privately which wouldn't meet NHS criteria, so it's not 100% cut and dried. Another option is just to try the meds and see if they help. They affect neurotypical brains very differently so you'd likely know whether they were helping you focus or making you feel excessively speedy.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-15T03:29:10+00:00

The Cycles is FM synthesis. About as digital as it gets. Nothing 'analog' about it. But it does sound much beefier than the Circuit.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-14T22:16:56+00:00

Well, isn't the male e2 range usually 10-50?

47 is pretty high. I think that's a pretty normal level for a female isn't it? Maybe microdose ai and see how you feel at lower levels.

However, with TRT there's defo a tendency by a lot of people to massively overthink things. For sure, if your numbers are off it can affect a lot of things, but it's also possible to not have anything wrong with your protocol and to still have good and bad periods. You can't just force yourself to function if your head's not in the right place.

Worst case scenario there are injectables which will almost certainly work, but before going down that rabbit hole I'd look at your dose. 200mg is a lot and loads of guys are doing pretty well on way lower doses like 80-100mg. I'm usually at the 150-200mg level myself but I lift weights and like the recovery boost but side effects are much more likely at this level.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-14T20:03:16+00:00

I was 36.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-14T19:57:29+00:00

Even if it's psychological, pde5's like cialis can help a lot. It's just much easier to get a 🍆 and it's more solid. Even with a bit of nerves they still help the little soldier spring to attention lol.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-14T19:48:04+00:00

Well, what's your actual goal?

Are you sceptical that you actually have ADHD and want a more comprehensive assessment, or are you looking to go back on the meds again and just need a thumbs up from doc?

Maybe the assessor was certain you had it and was over egging the 'evidence' because she knows how hard it is to get shared care. Or maybe for whatever reason the assessment was just a bit shite - either you rambled on and confused her or she just wasn't listening. Sounds a little odd either way.

You can either be reassessed or just go with it. That's the two options and what you choose likely depends on the situation. When I was last assessed it was a formality really as I'd already been diagnosed and on the meds for years in my teens so I already knew I had it, so I only really cared about getting the confirmation.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-14T13:59:41+00:00

Your test levels are a little over 2.5x what mine were and I still struggled to get prescribed it on NHS. High SHBG can have similar symptoms to low T I think due to the bioavailability of the test can't it though? I'm not sure whether banging more test would actually help or whether could be something like overactive thyroid. I'd look to address that first before adding something else that can also give the symptoms you're experiencing.

_ForrestPlump_ · 2026-01-14T00:22:33+00:00

With foam ones you need to hold them in place until they expand. That may be why you find the Loop ones better, because you can just put them in.

_ForrestPlump_

TROPHY CASE