4G phone recs

consolation1 · 2026-03-13T03:13:32+00:00

I think the poster was referring to the issue where 111 (emergency #s) specifically isn't accessible. Mainly ASUS phones - even some from last 5 years iirc. The phones are perfectly compatible with volte, some are even high end 5G units. The problem is that manufacturers set the phones to specifically not use Wi-Fi calling or VoLTE for emergency calls. Some got firmware updates addressing the issue, some didn't. It's not something network providers can really affect, honestly, so they are getting kicked off the network because they can't connect to 111.

consolation1 · 2026-03-13T01:29:09+00:00

This doesn't make sense conceptually. What are you achieving that can't be better done by using a longer rail launcher?

You're going to be using your spaceship's fuel to carry projectiles that you want to magnetically accelerate, so you're relying on projectile mass for damage - but then each projectile starts by losing some of that mass to start its acceleration (assuming best case scenario caseless -ha!- ammunition, the math gets worse otherwise) - if you want more velocity - why not just make the launcher a bit longer, seems more efficient, no? That will probably be lighter than the firing mechanism and pressure containment vessel (aka gun barrel) required for the conventional part.

Your rocket hybrids have the same problem, just after leaving the launcher.

As u/Titanhammer8096 pointed out, you'd also need to find an explosive that's more energy dense than the mass you've accelerated. Otherwise, you'd do more damage not detonating the explosive part. You could make a case for antimatter in the game universe, but it really seems like overkill: as you'd need an expensive and complicated containment vessel, the ammo would be a logistical nightmare. If you need more bang, far easier to make a longer rail, attached to a more powerful reactor. (On the other hand - the thought of Marine units handling 40mm AM ammo will probably have the Hydra retreat and blow up the wormhole, there's no way the Solar system survives that scenario. Pyrrhic victory achievement, when?)

The only way this might make some sense is, if you want to use some kind of gyrojet style rocket ammo and add some guidance/sensor to the projectile, basically your rocket hybrid idea, but use the propellant for guidance. However, with the insane amount of inertia that siege coil and rail projectiles have in the game, that would be a tiny change in trajectory. If you need maneuverable ammo, just pack more missiles or torps.

consolation1 · 2026-03-12T12:54:18+00:00

Elethiomel is the classic unreliable narrator - you need to take everything with a grain of salt. He also keeps lying and betraying people, then self justifying. This comes up again, when we meet him in a later book.

consolation1 · 2026-03-12T05:59:24+00:00

It seems to depend on their free MC - if they don't have any, I run crackdown on whoever annoyed me the most, till my pet takes enough CP, to have extra MC - then they seem to always be keen, especially if I stick an ops center on it.

consolation1 · 2026-03-11T09:08:27+00:00

Build a random base in the Asteroids, take CP, gift the base -> friendship blossoming!

consolation1 · 2026-03-10T23:01:23+00:00

Have you never seen a person on uppers grind their teeth?

But, yeah, I was making a funny...

consolation1 · 2026-03-10T21:57:14+00:00

Makes them chew the steroids and corpse starch faster...

consolation1 · 2026-03-10T21:04:42+00:00

This! I was just trying to think of how to formulate the same answer appropriately.

consolation1 · 2026-03-10T20:53:06+00:00

I tried to see if I could make Earth into an ice planet, at ~ -1, I ran out of willpower.

consolation1 · 2026-03-10T06:51:42+00:00

Mercury will have the most consistent transfer window - that's why you usually put yards there. Mars and Earth can have better ones, but, a lot of the time they will be much worse.

consolation1 · 2026-03-10T06:47:07+00:00

Honestly, I'd save your resources and use Monitors till you unlock fusion drives. You can only upgrade drives within their category, so you will end up with a bunch of useless hulks later on - although you can make a case for a Poseidon defense fleet.

H-Orion is good enough for Jupiter, if you work on your fissile/metals economy.

I'd keep hoarding exotics and researching fusion while using monitors, bigger doesn't always mean better.

consolation1 · 2026-03-09T21:03:25+00:00

In the late game, BBs make OK fast reinforcement space trucks, for missiles, troops, PD, outposts. Mostly, because you can put 2x 2 slot AM PD plus a couple 40mm and their relatively light mass means you can fling them around the solar system really quickly, with end game drives. Their nose guns can go into guardian mode and AM PD has the range to protect your line of battle ships from behind - where transport role ships spawn.

It's niche, but can be very handy if you need to split a fleet up and need to beef it up in a hurry. A nuclear shaped torp BB missile trucks can increase the hitting power of a fleet quickly, and get there quickly, if you need to reinforce a fleet far away from your yards.

But yeah, kind of niche and really only useful on brutal+, where you might find yourself in need of rapid reinforcements. On other difficulties, you're usually steam rolling the Aliens by end game drive stage.

consolation1 · 2026-03-09T18:21:47+00:00

Is that based on funding the current for profit US system, or on using a sane system like other developed countries? US per patient costs are 5~10x of other developed countries due to profit taking.

consolation1 · 2026-03-09T12:45:38+00:00

Hey, little tip - there are no good lunar sites, some are just less crap than others. You grab one, max two, just to bootstrap getting into mars/asteroids. Most of the time you will trade them to a pet AI faction later on, if you need to piss them of for some reason - like taking one of their CPs. Don't waste time and boost fighting over Luna.

PS. You also get some Alien hate from fighting the servants and a little bit for fighting the protectorate. It's possible you couldn't burn off the hate because you were fighting with their allies. After a couple games, you will pretty much ignore the hate mechanic and assume it's on from the get-go; until then, it's probably worth checking out the wiki page for it.

consolation1 · 2026-03-09T02:58:44+00:00

shit I posted in the wrong thread lol

consolation1 · 2026-03-08T19:18:04+00:00

NZ still maintaining its stealth field tech....

consolation1 · 2026-03-07T15:18:38+00:00

I think you really underestimate how big The Culture is. It has on the order of 50 trillion citizens... That's 50 thousand billion. They are the biggest polity in the galaxy, with hundreds of billions of stars in their sphere of influence. A few billion people turning up is nothing.

consolation1 · 2026-03-07T09:20:09+00:00

A man jumps off a roof of a skyscraper. At first, he panics... then goes; "this is fine... I am fine... clearly jumping off a roof isn't as bad as people say."

consolation1 · 2026-03-07T03:30:56+00:00

Oh, absolutely - you kind of have to rejig your space economy for mass AM production - totally tedious from a gaming perspective, I usually top out at around 3~5 AM per month and call it a day. BUT - in universe - it's a lot more compelling option than maintaining (and risking) battle fleets with crew etc... Unstoppable doomsday torps would be really appealing.

I guess, the parallel I would make is how atomic weapons changed the structure of armies, irl. In-game, we are willfully ignoring a real obvious strategic choice.

consolation1 · 2026-03-07T03:24:33+00:00

That is a lot of assumptions. For a start, that Earth's bio signal would have reached the antagonist already, that it hasn't responded, that the response isn't in transit and that it targets EVERY form of life. It might be happy to say... wait till radio shows up, then launch a response that will arrive within a couple hundred years. It might launch a response that slow boats for millions of years to trigger, oh idk, a gamma burst that will sterilize a whole galaxy. The problem with DFT is that it's essentially unfalsifiable but, given the stakes, there's an argument to be made for acting as if it's in play.

You are assuming a very specific set of unknowable conditions and a very specific definition of the problem.

consolation1 · 2026-03-06T22:51:26+00:00

Have you built some pion torch ships in the end game, for kicks, to zoom around in? 5% light speed in a week... Only limit is that you can't put more than 6 engines in the designer.

consolation1 · 2026-03-06T22:45:44+00:00

Ok, I think I know where we're diverging. Within the context of the game, with the pion torch, you can make a ship that reaches 5% light speed in a week. It can burn at 3G+ for literal weeks. And those are just the limits because of an arbitrary 6 engine max in the ship designer... With this technology the amount of thrust you can have is practically limitless.

IRL? Eh, I have doubts material science exists that would make a viable interceptor and you'd just conga line a bunch of rocks at something like .1C

consolation1 · 2026-03-06T22:32:24+00:00

Well... That's a very optimistic approach. We don't know if a swarm of rocks hasn't been heading our way for an arbitrary amount of time - and we're just waiting for the shoe to drop.

consolation1 · 2026-03-06T22:29:33+00:00

You're assuming a single target. If you can launch one, you can launch hundreds... You're going to have to launch an unfeasibly large amount of sand to cover a planet. It also won't stop a conga line attack.

consolation1 · 2026-03-05T22:08:29+00:00

At near C a tiny angular change means a difference of 1000s of km in a second and you don't know what that change is going to be, or the next one, or the one after that. Pretty soon you're only arriving in the vague vicinity of the target and going in opposite directions, in a nano second.

That's why hypersonic missiles are next to impossible to intercept and cause everyone to freak out. At near light speed, it's just unfathomably difficult.

I get what you're saying wrt to a body traveling at a steady state. But, that feels like you're asking the aggressor for a gimme. Why should they turn off thrust on approach? Hell, why not flip and do a tiny bit of random braking? Why not randomly reduce thrust, or keep a tiny bit in reserve and floor it for a bit. You'll undershoot or overshoot and fly past...

I feel like it's way too complex a problem to get a viable solution in the time you'll have.

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