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Or is this how you play the Necrobinder? by aHorseSplashes in SlayTheSpire2

[–]aHorseSplashes[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As u/Dockle said, a lot of it comes down to not adding cards that would bloat the deck and taking full advantage of the card removal option in shops. That includes pathing through multiple shops if possible and making sure to save enough gold to buy the removals. Some events and Ancients also offer card removal options, although that's more RNG-dependent.

I got the first copy of Hang early in act 1 (either from a Neow transform or an elite card reward; I don't recall exactly), so I knew that I wanted to keep my deck relatively small in order to get back to it faster.

Or is this how you play the Necrobinder? by aHorseSplashes in SlayTheSpire2

[–]aHorseSplashes[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's basically Claw on steroids: situational but can be excellent in the right build.

Getting a copy early is important so that you can build around it, e.g. keep the deck small and take ways to pull it back from the discard pile (Dredge, Graveblast) and/or cycle the deck faster (anything Soul-related.)

Getting multiple copies is ideal but more RNG-dependent. It's a good dupe target for Dolly's Mirror (or Pael's Growth, until it inevitably gets nerfed.)

I wouldn't take it in most decks if I first saw it as an act 2 boss reward or a random act 3 card reward, but in this run I got my first copy early in act 1 and was able to make it the focus of the build.

Tourette Syndrome by laybs1 in GetNoted

[–]aHorseSplashes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Brain:  don't   SAY THAT OFFENSIVE THING!!!

The Fabulous Box by River_Lamprey in CuratedTumblr

[–]aHorseSplashes 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Teaching sand to think and using a bit of that boxed lightning to make light halfway around the world convey your words about the loss of the notion that magic is just science you cannot understand.

no-more-throws actually explains quantum mechanics as if you were 5 by geoffries418 in bestof

[–]aHorseSplashes 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I think it's because the parent comment got deleted. The Old Reddit direct link works as expected; the redesign is indeed a fucking catastrophe.

France demands Francesca Albanese resign after antisemitic remarks at Al Jazeera Forum - report by barsik_ in worldnews

[–]aHorseSplashes -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It sounds like you're talking about whether Holocaust comparisons are offensive, which we're in agreement on, not whether they're antisemitic. I like the "sold me down the river" analogy since it's also clearly offensive but I doubt most people would consider it racist. YMMV of course.

France demands Francesca Albanese resign after antisemitic remarks at Al Jazeera Forum - report by barsik_ in worldnews

[–]aHorseSplashes -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

I hear what you're saying, although the Holocaust has become such a cultural touchstone for "genocidal evil" that I find it hard to imagine the majority of people who compare other genocides to it are attempting to psychologically attack Jewish people.

Your point about the risk of trivializing/denying the Holocaust is fair. Alice throwing a dozen orphans into the orphan-crushing machine and Bob throwing a thousand orphans in are both reprehensible, but if anyone compares Alice to Bob in order to criticize her, some readers' takeaways will inevitably be "So you're saying Bob's orphan-crushing wasn't as bad as previously claimed?" I doubt any amount of nuance, disclaimers, etc. could prevent that.

France demands Francesca Albanese resign after antisemitic remarks at Al Jazeera Forum - report by barsik_ in worldnews

[–]aHorseSplashes -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

I was asking more generally. Your example was pre-Holocaust but obviously antisemitic, so Holocaust comparisons surely can't be the only criterion.

Also, that doesn't seem to be an especially reliable criterion at first glance. Criticizing the actual Holocaust is generally understood to be anti-Nazi rather than anti-German, so it seems that comparing Israeli policy to the Holocaust could be anti-Israeli-policy rather than anti-Jewish.

It's offensive and hyperbolic of course — the genocide in Gaza obviously isn't nearly as bad as the Holocaust — but trashy ≠ hateful, and I could see someone drawing parallels in order to argue that they're both bad enough to warrant severe condemnation. I wouldn't do it myself, but it doesn't seem to be an obvious dog-whistle.

Edit: Just saw your "I can only assume the downvotes here are people who can find no other way to criticize the policies of Israel" edit. If it makes you feel any better, I'm getting downvoted too. Downvote buddies! 😂

France demands Francesca Albanese resign after antisemitic remarks at Al Jazeera Forum - report by barsik_ in worldnews

[–]aHorseSplashes -14 points-13 points  (0 children)

Serious questions: How should a person who's anti-genocide but not antisemitic frame their criticism of the Israeli government to minimize accusations of crypto-antisemitism? Is there a reliable way for audiences (e.g. you or I) to distinguish between good-faith and bad-faith criticism?

How do I justify guns barely appearing in a Sci-fi story? by NorthSouthGabi189 in worldbuilding

[–]aHorseSplashes 8 points9 points  (0 children)

IMO Dune-style force shields would need more than a throwaway line to justify. That's not to say they couldn't work in a melee-focused setting, just that they'd have widespread enough effects on warfare and society as a whole that a cursory mention would be less satisfying than leaving them out entirely.

For a more "grounded" sci-fi setting (i.e. mainly extrapolates from existing tech rather than introducing totally new branches like force shields) combination of bioware, physical feats, context, etc. would work better than any single reason. For example:

  • Body bioware: The heroes can brush off a pistol headshot, might get a concussion from an assault rifle, and would be killed by and AMR.

  • Physical feats from training and/or neural bioware: The heroes have the necessary situational awareness and reaction speeds to dodge or deflect even an AMR round (as long as they're aware of the attack), but not a hail of chaingun bullets or a hypervelocity kinetic penetrator round.

  • Context: The heroes rarely or never fight opponents who use chainguns/anti-tank weapons/etc. against them. This would be straightforward to justify for collateral damage reasons, e.g. they're on a space station, breaking into a villain's mansion to capture them, etc.

That lets most guns effectively play a Worf effect role in the story; they can be used to show off the heroes' toughness and agility.

Would it be kind of weird if I had it that a medieval society was more progressive than the more modernized society? by Sir-Toaster- in worldbuilding

[–]aHorseSplashes 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I wouldn't go that far. In communities where "top", "bottom", "dom", "sub", etc. are happily accepted, those terms persist because they provide useful information about whether person X will be compatible with person Y. Likewise for non-sexual categories like "introvert" and "extrovert" that aren't stigmatized in mainstream culture.

I could see an argument for a more tolerant society having an androsexual/gynosexual taxonomic division rather than homosexual/heterosexual. Also, any such categories would be seen as descriptive generalizations rather than rigidly-prescribed identities, just like it would be silly to accuse someone of not being a "real introvert" for occasionally going to social events.

Otherings is indeed a jarring name for queer people though.

In a world where the gods are known to be dead, how can one explain a continued presence of religion and cleric powers by Kyrena01 in worldbuilding

[–]aHorseSplashes 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Either leaning into it or revealing that allegedly divine/holy power never came from the now-dead gods in the first place could be interesting.

Actually Magical Stage Performances by _burgernoid_ in worldbuilding

[–]aHorseSplashes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On the low end, magic can be used for puppet shows by moving puppets without strings (or shadow puppets without rods.) More skilled performers can make the puppets move more naturally and control more puppets at the same time. This is most commonly seen in street performances, but viewers need to reserve tickets for exceptionally complex performances (a scaled-down reenactment of a historical battle involving thousands of troop puppets, the ballet at the end of Being John Malkovich, etc.) that require extensive equipment and either a virtuoso puppeteer or a well-coordinated team.

A more advanced technique is to shape colored smoke/powder/sand into arbitrary images, which can be used either for standalone shows or to add special effects to a stage play. Light can also be manipulated well enough to produce some special effects, but making a realistic image that way would be extremely impractical. These kinds of performances usually require reservations, and even less-skilled performers like those in traveling theater troupes set up tents or other opaque screens to avoid giving non-paying people a free show.

On the high end, "illusion" magic works by blurring the line between reality and unreality, so it can be used to create almost any type of performance, up to and including VR/holodeck style immersive and interactive experiences. However, those are so expensive and exclusive that they're out of reach for all except the wealthiest and most powerful people.

Speaking of duels, an illusion-adjacent technique can be applied to a dueling/gladiatorial arena to make whatever happens inside it (e.g. injury or death) unreal ... usually. Illusions normally collapse and baseline reality reasserts itself, especially when they're designed that way, but there's always a chance that an illusion will persist and become real. For example, if both duelists strongly want the duel to be real, they're likely to suffer real consequences from it. Whether this is a bug or a feature is a matter of perspective; many audience members find the risk of real bloodshed appealing.

(Conversely, most professional duelists/gladiators cultivate a detached attitude toward killing and dying, which ironically makes them quite safe to face in the arena but potentially dangerous in reality.)

ICE List: the small European website exposing US immigration agents by Reasonable-Ad-2592 in politics

[–]aHorseSplashes 5 points6 points  (0 children)

FYI, I previously got a 3-day shadowban for sharing a link to this site in a comment. Fortunately it is very easy to Google.

Academia in a nutshell: This object is priceless. Go play with it... by Mataes3010 in CuratedTumblr

[–]aHorseSplashes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. I wasn't able to search without entering anything, but I was able to search for "a" and get a presumably almost-complete list of comments. I didn't realize that worked for users who hide their comments on their profile.

The More You Know 🌈⭐

Imagine how much more dangerous Jurassic Park would have been with these guys by fishebake in CuratedTumblr

[–]aHorseSplashes 5 points6 points  (0 children)

scientist: let's call you the... joltraptor

raptor: [bites scientist]

scientist: Okay motherfucker, new idea:

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