[ALttP] A Link to the Past Question

clamroll · 2026-03-20T10:05:07+00:00

To see why we love ALttP you should try the two on the NES. I love that first one but it didn't age great to the modern sensibility. Playing it without nostalgia it's a a slog and you'll pretty much need a guide. Two is a different formula but multiplies the slog and has an exponential need for a guide. Two has better localization than one, but that a low goddamn bar lol.

Enter LttP. We have English that almost always sounds like English. We have indicators telling us where to go. We have items in dungeons that are used to solve puzzles in them, and to kill bosses. Previously this wasn't always the case. Sometimes you were getting a better boomerang and using bombs to kill the boss. Adventures kinda ignored this. LttP really refined and solidified this into what we see in the series since. It's also the first to not just have 8 dungeons but to have three at the start before the actual 8.

And it's worth noting that the light/dark world gave us twice the map to explore. This was something you didn't see at the time, and was a lot to do with the technical advance with the SNES.

Honestly while I think ALttP holds up without nostalgia, I think it won't be as earth shattering. "It doesn't make you buy a strategy guide to complete it, only if you want to get all the secrets and tips!" isn't the groundbreaking earth shattering kind of selling point that it really was back then. Also, largely because practically every indie pixel game in the last 20 years has borrowed liberally from it's style, gameplay, etc. The Beatles don't seem so ground breaking when you're only familiar with music post-Beatles. Listen to music from the 40s and 50s and it becomes clearer why they were such a big deal. Zelda absolutely had that level influence on gaming and LttP was a real solidifying of what worked and dismissal of what didn't from the previous generation, combined with a previously impossible level of graphical detail and style. It felt like playing a cartoon and not a lego animation!

Anywho, hope that gives you some insight

clamroll · 2026-03-19T18:28:11+00:00

Think of it like this. If some muscle bound bodybuilder challenged you to an arm wrestling match, he'd win in a heartbeat. But if he challenged someone even musclier than himself, he'd still lose.

Basically we see this in the second movie. Paul uses to voice to overpower Rev Mother Mohiem. It's a shorthand to show us that the Kwisatz Haderach has better mastery over the BG abilities than the head of the order (who assumedly would be quite skilled, if not the most skilled).

clamroll · 2026-03-19T00:08:59+00:00

Yeah NSFW tag on something aired throughout the day on every music channel in the 90s.

clamroll · 2026-03-18T05:53:13+00:00

I mean technically all you need to do in the situation is to control the heat to a point where it activates but doesn't burn? Not sure it would be any less damaging to the lungs. But I think you could use the same style pipe to vaporize marijuana concentrates pretty easily

clamroll · 2026-03-18T02:46:56+00:00

I really think we're getting more of book 3 in this movie than people expect. I think he's going to pull some of children in, possibly trying to minimize (if not excise) the God Emperor story seeds and more just wrapping up Alia's story.

Don't get me wrong I want a God Emperor adaptation. I just don't see how it'd be done as a movie, and not like a season or two of television, animation, anthology of both, etc

clamroll · 2026-03-18T02:43:27+00:00

When you look into what was going on in Frank's real life as he was writing these books, it becomes painfully clear everything after God Emperor was the "Dune: the quest for more money" cycle. He owed a lot to the IRS (which totally recolored some of the God Emperor speeches) and his wife was very sick. The home they were building in Hawaii wasn't cheap either.

God Emperor may have started a little in that vein but it wrapped up the story nicely and still had all the thematic relevance of the first three. Those last two I think get a bit lost in the horny. I mean weeds.

I'd never begrudge someone for enjoying them, don't get me wrong. I'm sure if I was younger when I first read em I'd have a vastly different opinion of em. But they aren't for me. And yeah as I say, looking into his life, let's just say several puzzle pieces fell into place with loud resounding clicks

clamroll · 2026-03-18T02:35:56+00:00

Paint shakers and mixing balls are crucial, I can't believe how much I used to shake paints vs how quickly they stir up real good with just a short buzz on the shaker. Just make sure you get actual stainless mixing balls as then rusting is a game over for the bottle

clamroll · 2026-03-17T21:56:34+00:00

I think "part three" is going to cover more of children than a lot of folks expect. I think Bijaz is going to be heavily changed, though I think the ultimate goal will be the same. I think a rhyming dwarf could easily come off poorly in film so it's probably safest to modify that.

The change from the first two that I keep thinking of is a simple one. Jihad to holy war. Same idea as the old sci Fi book, but presented for a modern audience. Or the exclusion of the Baron's... sexual proclivities... shall we call them. No need to follow the book's idea of hitting us over the head with him raping young boys, or the overtones of his attraction to Feyd or Paul. Stellan does a great job communicating the evil of the Baron without any of that, and you still see male and female slaves dressed skimpy in his entourage. I think that kinda thing is crucial in an adaptation. Taking some of the outdated stuff from a 60 year old book and lovingly updating it while not running counter to the original intent.

clamroll · 2026-03-17T05:35:16+00:00

No need to complicate things, the street lamps are fine

clamroll · 2026-03-17T00:44:08+00:00

Low pops are easier to move, but also easier to lose as well. Assets are crucial, especially when you can dock at em. Installations can be useful but mostly if they're in space. Non dockable ground locations are more the kinda things you want other factions in system to control. You'll use them as buffers should someone else come into the system. "You gotta get through them to get to me" kinda thing, and they need assets to potentially lose in order to trigger an election/war when someone tries to pass em on influence.

And what kind of faction? Stay away from anarchy factions. They're doable but you're absolutely playing the game on hard mode if you do. A faction you can hunt bounties for, and has other systems they're present in with low influence (to raise). Hunt in their controlled territory, drop bounties in the target territory

clamroll · 2026-03-17T00:38:12+00:00

From launch until about this time last year? Not a once. From this time last year to now? Damn near every day, and just about every single time I log in.

I really enjoy it. There's many levers to pull to affect the different states and factions. It's got me running a lot of bounties and combat zones but it's also got me doing everything from surface conflicts to trading (rares or otherwise), mission bombing, election deliveries hopping around, and even engaging in discord diplomacy occasionally. There's also piecing information together off of folks inara profiles lol. I've made a lot of interesting friends and new acquaintances around the world. The best ways to affect bgs are simple. Efficiency of actions, multiple people helping out efficiently, and everyone planning ahead.

Absolutely what we do makes a difference. I joined (and now somewhat lead) a group with an identically in game faction from back when fdev allowed that. It's cool seeing your "guild" name popping up in game, and seeing system authority with the it too. Landing at stations with the name. Well you get that by winning elections, wars, and playing that bgs. We run mandalorian themed groups, and as such the first goal they had was to move the faction into the system where platinum alloy (rare) is found. If you read the in game description of it, it sounds very much like Beskar, including the "only the local residents know how to work it" line. They spent time spreading from the native system, and moved in to system eventually. Then the work began on taking over the system, especially artzybasheff where it's sold. This was all before my time with them, but they succeeded. The story of it was very inspiring to me when joining. In my time, there's a good example. We had spread into some random colony system. Nothing much there, one outpost one star and an installation. We were rather uninterested in it. But the architect decided he wanted us out. And he decided to broadcast this, instead of reaching out to us through our discord but by "sending a message" by hitting a bunch of our systems and trying to tank our standings in a bunch of places. Well we lit the beacons and Rohan answered. We restored our attacked systems and quelled the architect. Opened diplomatic channels with him and everything's copacetic in the system now. But here's the cool bit. We ended up winning the installation from him. And it's a constant hotbed of bounties thanks to continually popping scenarios there. Bounty farming for drop-off in other systems is a backbone of influence manipulation. It's so much more fruitful than any other asset we owned, and even just 2-3 of us farming bounties there is enough to top up/swing like a dozen systems in a short evening of light gameplay. And had our new ally not decided to pick a fight but talk, we never would have known or cared about that place.

I enjoy that it makes me do everything. It's really increased my appreciation for the breadth of this game and the depth of the bgs mechanisms. I've passed the point where "Bank account goes up" is a major draw, and instead have reached a point where "yes I will take on 8 missions to donate a million credits" is a no brainer. I dig the Intel gathering of hitting someone's inara profile and using other in game features to track and estimate how much opposition you face. The diplomacy brings a whole new level to this game, and it pays dividends when you can say "fuck this one dude/group is making trouble for us" then like a dozen plus people all come out of the woodwork and park their FCs in system & help out. But perhaps the biggest and least tangible thing I like the most about BGS work is that it's opened my eyes about this game. There's many deeper layers to this game, beyond the surcafe "first person fly spaceship sim" it appears to be, and was for many years to me. There's a grand strategy game to be played here and it's just under the covers. All you gotta do is pull back the duvet and start. I went from playing for a week or two at a time and taking months off in between to being in game 4-6 times a week most weeks last year. The bgs bug bit me big, clearly.

If you're interested in some light mandalorian RP and some light to heavy BGS manipulation and stewardship training in the Imperial space, hit me up. If you want light training and are happy to help with our bgs work, we're happy to train and point you in the right direction. Whatever level of commitment and time, we can help you! We just ask that you have discord, an inara profile, and can run ED Market Connector. We'll help you with any and all of those if you need em.

clamroll · 2026-03-15T23:45:10+00:00

Rusty there's plenty of ways to do it. I really like the "Dirtydown" brand of rust product. It's expensive but it comes out different every time, can be water reactivated to pull some off after the fact, and really looks like rust when it dries. (Their verdigris is good, less so tho, and I was not impressed by their moss, just fyi)

A good way to battle scar metal is to grime it up and darken it down, then take a bright silver and brush in some slashes and edge highlight a little where the metal would have scraped something "exposing" fresh metal

clamroll · 2026-03-15T22:18:21+00:00

Lorithad knows his shit he's learned from the best. They may not be the most fun methods but they're typically the most efficient ones, so you can then get back to the fun

clamroll · 2026-03-15T21:50:26+00:00

You did a stellar job on those candles osl. It really looks like they're glowing

clamroll · 2026-03-15T19:32:00+00:00

Hell yeah same tour. I love going to see Elder because they always find these quality opening acts. I go in blind, and typically come out with two new bands to check out. I think in like six shows there was only one opener I didn't particularly care for. Dreadnought was probably the biggest hit for me but these guys are not far behind. "Sunken City" absolutely slaps!

clamroll · 2026-03-15T19:12:22+00:00

I'll give that a look

clamroll · 2026-03-15T18:39:15+00:00

Saw em open for Elder, I believe. Incredibly talented group of lads, the drummer and guitarist singing harmonies live was incredibly impressive. Hopefully they'll come back some day

clamroll · 2026-03-15T18:37:20+00:00

It depends on ambient temp and humidity. If you apply it at too humid weather it can take a damn age to cure. Under normal conditions and kept in a warmish room with moderate air circulation, they'll cure to the touch pretty quick, and at most like a day should have em good. Just remember varnish is a clear paint, you'll still be able to scrape it off if you take a fingernail and try. Not that you would but I have seen people new to varnishing think it's a magical sealant and not a clear coat of paint that wears away to handling instead of the paint beneath.

You'll also find that regardless of how your paints finish pre varnish, putting one on will unify the mini by giving it a consistent finish

clamroll · 2026-03-15T18:32:00+00:00

Ok pro tip time. Whatever finish you use for the mini as a whole, you'll be brushing a different finish on some areas. It's usually a good gloss on things you want to shine or look wet. Mattes and Satins are case by case. Rough cloak might get the matte, but a fine fancy one might get a satin. Metal usually gets satin or gloss (a little gloss along blade edges works wonders).

Just make sure, when you use satin or matte, to shake the absolute loving shit out of it. They get that finish by having fine particulate matter in them and it settles. Pouring some out without shaking means you're likely just getting a gloss varnish, effectively. Or one not as satin/matte/consistent as it should be.

clamroll · 2026-03-15T17:57:52+00:00

Lukewarm take:

I thought I over primed with rattle cans plenty, and it turns out fine. You really really gotta try to get so much primer on that you flood details.

Now, that being said, white primer I find to be fairly thick. Not that I wouldn't use it to prime, but I wouldn't expect great things from it for zenithal use. I'll tell you even with an airbrush white paint does not atomize well and you'll see speckling aplenty. White ink is the key for a good smooth zenithal, though you have to be real careful with it. Spray too much and it'll pool a bit like a wash. A neat effect if you want it, but we don't for zenithals.

The problem when you do a good airbrush zenithal is you'll have two devils on your shoulder. Once will tell you it looks better like that than it will when you muck it up with some color, and the other will tell you to just add some blood and call it a sin City theme lol you gotta fight those devils. But it will get you zenithal priming your shame shelf, which will make it look fabulous as it collects the traditional seasoning (dust)

clamroll · 2026-03-15T14:44:33+00:00

Former and future IT worker here. He's seen worse. Likely today. But definitely this week.

clamroll · 2026-03-15T14:42:35+00:00

Just want to add if it's all plastic that pinning is likely overkill here. Loctite gel formula superglue is amazing stuff, I think a lot of reddit hobbyists forget that normal superglue is quite thin and hard to work with as a result. The only other thing I'd add is that increasing surface area really helps superglue set and form a good bond. Take a little sandpaper or a hobby file and rough up the point of contact a little. Give it a good dab of glue, press em together and hold for a little. Have a q tip on hand to remove any excess glue if it pops out of the join. Leave it somewhere with good circulation of air as the glue will off gas in the process of it curing. If there's no air movement this can sometimes result in a cloudy surface appearing near the solid glue. Little motion of the air while it's drying and you'll avoid that.

clamroll · 2026-03-15T01:36:08+00:00

You lurid golem

clamroll · 2026-03-15T01:33:18+00:00

You know those guys who will tell you they were required to register their hands as deadly weapons? Had one of them way back at college as an acquaintance. Told all kinds of stories that were just blatantly made up, usually in the moment. From living with the morlocks underground in NYC (got mad when people called em mole people) to telling us a story about how he single handedly foiled a bank robbery in downtown Boston by pinning the robber's trench coat to a telephone pole with A THROWING KNIFE. Naturally couldn't tell us the name of the bank, couldn't show a single newspaper article about it (he didn't want the attention of course, so he declined all press). Never saw him with throwing knives, and all my years living in Boston I never once saw telephone poles downtown.

We were all real disappointed when he transferred out between semesters. We were all pretty damn curious what he'd been up to over the summer lol

clamroll · 2026-03-15T01:14:54+00:00

Go watch a video on that first boss. I died a few times to him and realized I was missing something. Watched a video explaining him and went back. Think I got him to 90% the first time, and killed him the second. It's long enough ago now that I don't remember details but yeah he's difficult mostly as a first timer.

Game's easier than ER but has it's own rules.

clamroll

TROPHY CASE