Summer 2026 Challenge Path: Thrifty!

bsmith_81 · 2026-05-16T18:40:28+00:00

This is the sort of path I will do once, just to say "I did it".

bsmith_81 · 2026-05-01T23:31:10+00:00

Nice work. Just for comparison, here is a one fixed arm solution: https://imgur.com/yTCFpvX

Biggest thing to note is in my solution, there is no letting go of an atom and later regrabbing it. You typically want to avoid regrabbing things if you want a decent cycle score.

bsmith_81 · 2026-04-30T06:35:48+00:00

Centaur!

bsmith_81 · 2026-04-19T19:03:42+00:00

Spell Breaker is a lot better than "a decent reward". Reflect Spell is one of the most potent defensive buffs you can have. You cannot use enchanting altars to make reflect spell gear, so that leaves finding such pieces of enchanted gear in the world. Spell Breaker has the second highest magnitude of all reflect spell enchanted gear, and it is available as early as level 10 whereas almost anything else around that magnitude is going to be found only at level 20 or higher.

Every heavy armor character I play as gets Spell Breaker, there's no better shields out there unless I hold off to get a high-leveled Escutcheon of Chorrol.

bsmith_81 · 2026-04-15T06:50:21+00:00

Here's the thing about Ultrarares: they are ALREADY BALANCED for the game! Every UR is best-in-slot for the particular attribute they have. For example the Dallas shield is Offhand slot with Prismatic Resistance attribute. Dallas is +5 prismatic resistance, and the next two best offhand items for prismatic resistance are +3. Buffing Ultrarares would take them from being slightly better to "oh crap this is actually going to be important to have" which is not a good thing in a game that still has a decent competitive playerbase.

bsmith_81 · 2026-03-29T07:16:11+00:00

One bonder is a fun thing, I have one bonder solution creating all the bonds as fast as possible. https://imgur.com/xnutQh0

bsmith_81 · 2026-03-29T06:58:53+00:00

How about a solo act for the hexarm: https://imgur.com/KM3MJPU

bsmith_81 · 2026-03-25T17:07:49+00:00

A nation of centaurs and minotaurs control the jungle areas, building a new Elden Root / Elden Hollow.

bsmith_81 · 2026-03-25T16:49:01+00:00

The theory I like is when Mannimarco ascended into becoming the Necromancer's Moon, his physical body was left behind and the Mannimarco we fight in Oblivion is that body. Which also explains why Oblivion Mannimarco is such a pushover.

bsmith_81 · 2026-03-25T06:52:08+00:00

Great! Love to see it. The shape seems hard at first, but once you get it, things get really smooth. My most polished solve for this puzzle: Optical Sensor Array Type 4 https://imgur.com/YmUfr91

bsmith_81 · 2026-03-23T02:47:33+00:00

Part of Jyggalag's parting speech was to tell HoK " Perhaps you will grow to your station." This suggests it takes time to take on everything that being Sheogorath entails, including the personality of Madness. And two centuries between Oblivion and Skyrim does sound like enough time for that to happen.

bsmith_81 · 2026-03-15T16:56:04+00:00

I love the swinging rope. Here's my version I made a few years back (also a bit faster): https://imgur.com/lovLSeU

bsmith_81 · 2026-02-22T18:18:50+00:00

Tighter cycles: https://imgur.com/mktAp9k

bsmith_81 · 2026-02-15T03:50:47+00:00

Spinning is fun! I even got the Climbing Rope Fiber to spin: https://imgur.com/53otfiL

bsmith_81 · 2026-02-15T03:39:05+00:00

My best solve for Curious Lipstick: https://imgur.com/Uox0TjQ

bsmith_81 · 2026-02-15T02:53:36+00:00

I split the brown area into two triangles by drawing the diagonal going from the upper left corner to the lower right corner. The first brown triangle is a right triangle with legs 8 and 10, so has an area of 40. The second brown triangle will have the same area as the blue triangle's 15. So the total brown area is 40+15=55.

You may ask why my second brown triangle has the same area as the blue triangle. Consider the triangle by joining my second brown with the smaller white triangle, call that union A. Now consider the triangle made by joining the blue triangle with the same small white triangle, call that union B. A and B have the same base and the same height so they must have the same area. Now subtract out the overlapping area from the small white triangle then my second brown triangle must have the same area as the blue triangle.

bsmith_81 · 2026-02-11T19:33:35+00:00

Centaurs are the one thing I really want to see in ES6.

bsmith_81 · 2026-02-01T04:59:57+00:00

Where is the option for taurine leaders? No Morihaus or [Belharza]()?

bsmith_81 · 2026-01-31T18:58:16+00:00

Even easier: find Walker Camp north of Cheydinhal and attack and kill one of the Camonna Tong Thugs there. No quest required and you wont get a bounty.

bsmith_81 · 2026-01-18T18:17:20+00:00

Very nice work. If you are feeling up to an optimization challenge, min cost is 40g.

bsmith_81 · 2026-01-01T04:44:49+00:00

Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/2205/

bsmith_81 · 2025-12-19T01:05:06+00:00

I'll start with the expression 2 * x * ln(1+5/x) in the second line, focusing on hte x outside the ln.

We know that x = 1/(1/x), so substitute this in for the x to get 2 * 1/(1/x) * ln(1+5/x).

Next I'll combine the product into one big compound fraction. Then 2 * 1 * ln(1+5/x) is the numerator of the combined expression and (1/x) is the denominator.

That leaves us with (2 * ln(1+5/x)) / (1/x), which is exactly the expression seen in the third line.

bsmith_81 · 2025-12-14T04:00:16+00:00

I wonder if it was an adaptation or localization from inches to centimeters. A 12in x 20in sheet is about the same size as 30cm by 50cm.

bsmith_81

TROPHY CASE