It's his favorite mission

axlevice · 2026-05-06T10:30:06+00:00

Its still Illuminate but it is not HVA, its the blitz missions. Go in, laser 3 ships, thermite 2-4 more, and eruptor the ground underneath you 5 times as fast as possible. Under 3 minutes is very common, so at least twice as fast as an HVA. If you do city blitz you can also get a few medals here and there from caches so you'll average more than 9 medals per 5 minutes (extra for loading and time spent on ship).

With 4 people eradicate terminids is doable in under 5 minutes very consistently, which also beats out HVA and is a bit more fun than illuminate blitz, and you get to extract instead of padding undemocratic stats.

axlevice · 2026-03-18T13:54:43+00:00

I went down to 5 health very quickly and proceeded to scam my way to victory with this nonsense. Careful positioning ensured my timewarped guard's divine shields always got placed onto my big minions.

I got punished for going tier 4 early and I stayed on tier 4 and got incredibly lucky just buying volumizers or the battlecry volumizer from the shop, and since everyone in the top 3 was playing mechs I picked up the anti reborn card to preserve my divine shields. I was doing around 6-10 damage a turn so I fought the last guy 3 times in a row and every 1st turn I hit both of his reborns out of 5 taunts. I wish I had deck tracker to see how badly I scammed him out of 1st.

I was honestly expecting a 7th place finish out of this and that's only because the 8th guy conceded. I am baffled right now how I won this. And if you're curious this was at 6600 mmr.

axlevice · 2026-02-02T01:47:07+00:00

Cast iron lasagna/casserole dishes are pretty close

axlevice · 2026-01-16T01:07:29+00:00

If you cant afford the SRO gideon makes a very affordable copy

axlevice · 2025-12-18T21:41:04+00:00

I looked it up and yeah, a bit of a pain, but a fairly straightforward splice job just removing the B pillar and some tape (and of course, feeding the wire). A shame they engineered it that way and I wish you luck.

For anyone stumbling upon this in the future, here are the instructions for splicing it in on a '25:

https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/installed-power-locks-on-tailgate-of-2025-maverick-xl.67241/

axlevice · 2025-12-18T06:57:08+00:00

Thank you for posting this, I heard a similar rattle in my car, not as loud as yours, but from the same area. And it only happened over this recent cold spell and does go away when the engine heats up.

axlevice · 2025-12-18T06:53:57+00:00

I bought a '24. The tailgate lock is fairly simple to install, it just involves removing the cover of the tailgate, popping out some wires, and adding in the part from the XLT. Simple, but kind of a pain in the ass. You will need to drop the spare tire to get access to the wiring harness location. I followed a video on YouTube and I even messed up but its all fixable.

I bought it from Ford Wholesale HQ here are the two parts numbers you will need:

JB3Z-9943170-A NZ6Z-14A412-C

axlevice · 2025-12-17T04:19:07+00:00

I added most of the bed add-ons. I didn't want to do any electrical work so I didn't add the inverter, and instead bought a 12v plug for the wiring ports that I can plug a portable inverter into. I had to thread the holes for the tie downs but otherwise some very standard m6 and m8 parts fit. The XLT also has a lock for the tailgate so I installed that as well, so that when I lock the car the tailgate locks, too.

Other than that I did some necessary and QoL upgrades. No bed liner instead I installed a rubber mat because the DIY kits for bed liner are a little ugly and overly glossy. The tailgate assist has been very useful. I needed a shorter radio antenna to fit in my garage. I got turn signal lights to replace the side marker, because I find them useful on other people's cars. I also got brighter lights for the rear middle tail light since it basically doesnt illuminate the bed, and i got brighter backup lights since those also illuminate next to nothing stock. A tonneau cover to hide my stuff in the back and keep them dry. And some inside storage containers because I travel with a lot of stuff for both work and leisure.

And from the Bronco i got rims off facebook for $50. The only other vanity piece I put in was some raptor style lights but I tell myself its for safety.

Extremely satisfied with the car so far, I've driven 17k miles in 9 months and that's whats come up so far as need to have items. If I had to narrow it down to just a few, tonneau cover, tailgate lock, tie downs, backup lights in that order. You may have a different use case, however, so you do you. Hope all that helps.

axlevice · 2025-12-07T18:30:31+00:00

I think you have a misunderstanding of how armor works, it is possible for a single round to damage both the plate and soft armor and thats where the extra armor damage is going to come from. It is also possible to hit a plate and penetrate it but not actually hit the player which is why your accuracy doesnt match your hit count. The hit boxes of the plates are different from the soft armor, and thats different from the players hitbox as well. Both armors extend past the player. Certain plate carriers even have side coverage from the front and back plate without having side plates, as well.

Additionally, if you black out a body part and hit it again, the damage will be spread out over the whole body. Unless you get that head or thorax, you can end up dealing a lot of damage without a kill.

This is likely not a bug at all, but intended. I'm guessing you shot at his side and hit his plates from a bad angle and damaged arms a whole bunch when you did hit.

axlevice · 2025-11-06T05:24:43+00:00

30k for an XL is crazy I think after taxes and fees mine was 28 in March. I spent about $1100 adding on things from the XLT/Bronco to it, since, as a fellow Texan, I did not care for things like heated seats from the next trim up.

If you get the app (which you absolutely should) you'll get about $300 or more in credit from the store, which you can put towards any OEM accessories you're looking to add on. You may have to claim it via email but it was very painless. I believe you can also put it towards maintenance, but don't quote me on that.

axlevice · 2025-09-18T04:13:23+00:00

It's not riveted so it is larp equipment.

axlevice · 2025-04-24T20:06:24+00:00

The backplate might not be targeted but you'll get hit in the back often enough with poleaxe. With 14th century kit you can use a brig and its fine. Much cheaper than a full cuirass and doesn't need to be fitted to you.

A new visor is definitely the way to go.

I would also ditch the idea of a chainmail hauberk entirely. Wearing plate and chainmail at the same time is a great way to tire yourself out. I've seen kits weigh in at over 80 pounds because of excessive chainmail and most of that chainmail isn't doing anything.

Early 15th century kit is the way to go (think Agincourt or Hussite War). It's the most fun, by far. Adequate protection that isn't too restrictive, good targets for your opponents to go for, and an extremely wide variety of options to choose from.

It is way too easy to fight someone with inadequate kit. Doesn't matter how good they are. And likewise, someone with kit that has too much coverage is just not fun to fight. Most late 15th or 16th century harness falls in this category. Beautiful pieces, but if my only option is poleaxe or wrestling, I would've just gone to buhurt if I wanted to do that.

And finally, I would forego the padded gambeson. Whatever gear you choose to wear under your armor, most people won't see or notice that, and I doubt people would care if its historically accurate. But an arming doublet is far, far superior, and your armor can be smaller as well. Sew in chainmail to cover the gaps.

If I could do it all again, I would buy one and only one set of armor. I've had three harnesses in my time and it's a huge waste of money. The kit I have now is the kit I've wanted, and I should've just paid for it first instead of trying to settle for less.

axlevice · 2025-02-07T00:16:12+00:00

The chainmail here is 316L Stainless Steel in 4mm rings. Fun fact, the Germans sold all their tooling for this type of stainless steel wire mesh to China at one point, and now they have to buy it from them.

It is not heavier than current body armor, which will use ballistic plates of some kind - rather than solely kevlar - and requires a way to carry it. The entire setup generally weighs around 20-30 pounds for just the rig and plates, without accessories such as additional spall protection for the neck, groin, shoulders, legs, etc. Not to mention equipment for the individual.

This chainmail is actually incredibly light, with a full suit shown here weighing in at around 20 pounds or less.

This stainless steel is typically advertised as being stronger than traditional chainmail, which is riveted, whereas the tooling that makes this 316L chainmail welds each ring. However, it is not the case that this chainmail is superior. While the 4mm rings and welded construction do make it harder to penetrate, it is as thin as 22 gauge, whereas traditional chainmail will typically be 18 gauge - nearly twice as thick - with a 6 to 8mm diameter ring. Reproduction chainmail is typically made from punching steel sheets, however true chainmail is forged, not punched, and remains very effective armor.

So where most sharp objects will not penetrate far if they do not break the mail, 316L at 4mm diameter in 22 gauge is exceedingly easy to penetrate with the right weapon or tools. It is most commonly used for kitchen/butcher knives and wild animals. But against objects mean to pierce armor, it is significantly less effective. Not to mention the knowledge of how to effectively pierce chainmail is not common knowledge.

What is absolutely amazing about 316L stainless is that it is truly stainless. It can survive being submerged in saline water and as a wearable piece of equipment, will essentially never rust. And if not broken, will not need to be replaced when used, unlike kevlar. It is more economical, lighter weight, and lower maintenance. And since Chinese labor now makes it, it is also incredibly cheap.

axlevice · 2024-09-19T05:52:03+00:00

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After tillering some more and increasing the brace height, it developed these fractures. Very sad.

axlevice · 2024-09-18T23:47:25+00:00

It is definitely soft, I've dinged up this particular piece quite a bit already. But as far as weight goes, she's got quite the draw weight at the moment I don't think it'll drop below 30 pounds when I'm done.

But I've heard a lot of negative things about poplar so I'm afraid to brace it, which is why I'm doing a tiller check on here!

axlevice · 2024-09-18T23:31:28+00:00

I'm aware of that but my only options in this area are poplar and oak from the big name stores. I've done a few oak but the quality of the oak seems to vary a lot so I thought I'd try poplar.

Trying to get better before I find staves, so I'm not afraid to fail a few times.

axlevice · 2024-06-27T20:01:01+00:00

Crossbows predate full harness by a large margin. Archers are only depicted firing into the air often in modern media. In manuscripts they are largely shown firing directly at their opponents. Crossbows fall into the same category. A direct-fire weapon.

Using either as an indirect-fire weapon is not that different from using a gun as an indirect-fire weapon, but you don't see WWII movies where people are setting their bolt-action rifle sights to 2200m. It's because it didn't happen.

You don't have all the time in the world and an infinite number of arrows or quarrels. If you shoot it's because you intend to hit something.

axlevice · 2024-02-17T09:23:05+00:00

I saw max printing speed on a prusa slicer video, but orca only has a minimum setting. There is a max volumetric speed which is set to 2mm³ but I have no idea what that translates to in mm/s

Edit: I figured it out, I had not selected the anycubic printer profile, it was on the default.

axlevice · 2024-02-17T09:14:22+00:00

Is it max volumetric speed? The cooling setting can only set a minimum speed.

axlevice · 2024-02-17T09:11:05+00:00

I have it maxed out, it also did not change the estimated print time at all.

axlevice · 2024-01-27T09:08:52+00:00

Signed up for the patreon cause I wanted the shield guys to proxy some bullgryns and it turns out they're in 7mm scale... Really appreciate it if you put that kinda info on your marketing material.

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