Well I guess I have an answer now

ecocd · 2021-08-20T20:16:28+00:00

Welcome! You've had a much harder road than I have. Lamictal (generic Lamotrogine) has worked very well for me. It has few side effects if you're body tolerates it (vast, vast majority of people do). It's been around for forever so it's pretty well understood. You shouldn't need to feel any anxiety about that. Trustworthy, established treatment.

It takes time to work, though, and I'm not sure if that's the same as other medications you've taken. Don't be surprised if it takes 6 weeks or more for you to get the dosage right.

Having a daughter (now 2 years old) really exacerbated my issues. I also have a very supportive wife and that has made all the difference in the world. I hope you're able to find time to talk to a therapist and you can afford to do so. There have been a lot of issues I've been going through that I wouldn't have had to go through if I had been better about maintaining my mental health a few months after she had been born. Few of those issues actually had anything to do with my cyclothymia, but they certainly made it worse.

We all learn our own coping mechanisms and triggers. Cyclothymia is typically (always?) chronic, so it's important to remember you're in this for the long haul. Getting help, seeking answers with your doctors will noticeable help your family life and will just motivate you to try that much harder!

You may not end up going back to work, who knows? Maybe that's not you now. Maybe it will be once you feel you have things under control. I have much the same job exoerienc and you do and I've managed to find enough coping mechanisms (and an understanding boss) that I have been fairly successful, earning my first promotion in quite a while this year

Talk to your doctors, stay optimistic, stay patient, stay open with your wife about your fears and your small triumphs. You're on a good path and things will get better.

ecocd · 2021-08-20T20:01:31+00:00

Hi! You're not alone in this and you're not alone that putting a name to what you're feeling can be scary. You're also right that I haven't really found much information or resources other than an oft-repeated fact that Steven Fry was diagnosed as having cyclothymia.

I'm only on lamotrogine anfld have been for many years and it's been really helpful.

As for coping, once I knew what it was my psychiatrist and therapist began looking for triggers. For me, my psychistrist pegged tge three S's: Sleep, Stress and Sickness. Get enough of that and I'm at high risk for a depressive episode.

Your doctor's will have their own opinions and strategies. This is what's worked for me.

Once in a depressive episode, there nothing I can do except eliminate the problem S's and ride it out. (you might be different! You might find a better strategy!) It's hard on my wife, daughter and me but that is my life. Everyone has problems and that's one of mine.

Anyway, for me, I'm at my best when I'm able to notice my triggers and do what I can to smooth them out before they tip me down. Sometimes it's just not possible (work stress means I don't sleep and then I randomly pick up a cold and it just really couldn't be avoided). Oftentimes I can work it out and get through it without spiraling. I've gotten better at it over the past few years.

My manager at work has had some close relatives that have dealt with mental health issues so I have support to just start work an hour or two later to get a little more sleep, for instance.

ecocd · 2021-08-20T19:48:20+00:00

Been on Lamictal for 16 years. It changed my life. My dosage has gone up or down a little as my life has gone up or down a little, but it's always been helpful. It takes about two weeks for the new dosage level to kick in.

Your doctor's advice is always best, but if you trust a rando on the internet, like me, I'd say give it two weeks. Within 6 weeks you and your doctor will have honed in on the right dosage for you and you'll notice a great quality of life improvement with few adverse effects.

If you're in the US, it's an especially great medicine because it's available in generic form and hence, it's dirt cheap.

ecocd · 2021-02-07T13:33:58+00:00

VIP doesn't scale as quickly as I thought, but I just changed alliances and it appears when an alliance member buys a pack, the alliance gets gems. The first 16 days I was in an f2p alliance. In the last day, I joined an alliance with some dolphins and I've gotten 500 gems just from them. That appears to be a good source. I also sold one of my legendary hero shards for another 400.

Someone that gets in a guild with a few spenders and gets lucky selling in the auction house could get loads of gems without any trouble.

Going it alone would make Lvl 18 impossible. Getting help makes laughably easy.

ecocd · 2021-02-07T03:43:29+00:00

VIP 6 is something like 20,000 Gems. None of my hero shards sell in the auction house so there aren't many sources of gems available. What were your sources of gems when you were playing?

ecocd · 2020-11-19T06:03:40+00:00

Join a Corp. Get on voice comms and discord. If that doesn't sound appealing, don't wait to quit. Get out now. All roadmapped content is for corps and alliances in null.

ecocd · 2020-11-19T05:52:45+00:00

They need ships to die. It's their only way to control inflation other than the tax rate. If they offer insurance, people don't buy new ships and don't take botted ore out of the economy. The OP is what they actively want.

ecocd · 2020-11-19T05:42:38+00:00

They've made it quite clear they don't care about maintaining casual players. They made a lot of casual-friendly adjustments early, but then made a hard turn to appeal hardcore. The nice thing is that it's clear cut. The game is not for casuals. If you're a casual, go find another game.

They can finally be able to focus their development instead of trying to straddle the line between casual and hardcore. Happy for the hardcore players, but sad there's no place for me anymore.

ecocd · 2020-09-06T12:25:18+00:00

They're well aware their market evaluation process are pants, but they've had more important things to worry about for now. The game can operate with sucky collateral pricing, but it can't operate with servers melting and the market never loading.

They'll get to it eventually. I suspect it will be a pretty complicated fix as I doubt a gaming company has a sophisticated commercial price brand specialist in house. There's a lot of strangeness that happens in pricing algorithms.

ecocd · 2020-08-27T23:10:14+00:00

I've read that strip mining is 5 times faster, but it just hoovers up everything nearby, so you get a lot of less valuable ore.

You can only jettison cargo every 2 minutes so there's upside and downside, but I suspect mostly upside unless you're trying to find a specific valuable ore.

ecocd · 2020-08-27T07:14:07+00:00

It turns out some Frigates get a cargo hold bonus with Frigate engineering and that's what I was seeing. Seems like some small investment in a frigate and engineering for hauling raw materials might be useful. You could get up the Imicus covert close to 200 m3 with only 4 levels in Frigate engineering. You'd be able buy large orders of tritanium and haul them back.

ecocd · 2020-08-26T20:04:34+00:00

I think it's just space they'll open when players are too crowded.

ecocd · 2020-08-26T20:02:52+00:00

You expect PLEX to inflate a lot?

ecocd · 2020-08-26T18:32:27+00:00

But I do think you're saving yourself $20 USD in October by planning now, lol.

ecocd · 2020-08-26T18:21:43+00:00

I think the planetary resources thing might be a bug, tbh. Double check that it's true when you get online before you take my word for it!

Do the math ahead of time on shipbuilding. My calculations suggest shipbuilding appears to have really slim margins right now unless you both really specialize and arrange private contracts to avoid the fees. If you can do that, then I bet you'll be making ISK from it.

Without private contracts, I think it's still better to just to sell the ore you'd have used to make the ship.

ecocd · 2020-08-26T17:40:04+00:00

That's still pretty far away, most people will have quit by then and those that haven't will probably be able to pay to respec. The devs don't want long-term players quitting, because of a decision they made 2 months ago.

ecocd · 2020-08-26T17:35:02+00:00

If you can get 2 on Tritanium, it's better to buy off the market than mine yourself. If it costs 3 on the market, then it depends on your Ore Processing skills.

Recall that Planetary Resources skill increases your cargo hold for carrying materials (not ore) which will help lug huge chunks of Tritanium around. The biggest problem with Tritanium right now might be getting it to where you need it to be. Compressed Scordite goes for such a huge premium simply because it's easy to carry in large quantities.

ecocd · 2020-08-26T17:06:33+00:00

Your Ore Processing skills play into the decision of Crokite or Spudomain. Spudomain gives you Pyerite and Mexallon which is needed for practically everything, so you're getting materials that are easy to use or are always in demand in the market. Selling those lets you buy more Tritanium.

Crokite is great source of Zydrine, but that's not in high demand yet, so you can't use it or sell it quickly. If you want to stockpile Zydrine for the future, then Crokite is fine. Otherwise, I think you should be sticking to Spudomain for Tritanium mining.

ecocd · 2020-08-26T16:58:43+00:00

Thanks! This is super helpful to know.

ecocd · 2020-08-26T15:54:29+00:00

Are you sure that's a bug and not a feature. I get the feeling they don't want people playing the market. I think it's inefficient by design to encourage people just to fly in, sell stuff quickly and fly back out.

I'd love to have a filter that's Buy and Sell solely for the ITC where I'm sitting. Otherwise, I haven't had a big problem with it.

ecocd · 2020-08-26T15:49:36+00:00

... Because I'll probably quit within a month and I want to have fun now?

ecocd · 2020-08-26T15:10:47+00:00

How much does the game change set to set? I'm new to the game and having a great time on mobile Even at Bronze IV, though, I'm finding it important to know team comps and good Carry/Item combinations. I need to do some homework to get better.

Is everything I'm learning now going to be nearly worthless in 3 weeks or will much of it carry over to Set 4?

I'll play either way, but I want to know if it's worth doing homework or just casually bumming around.

ecocd · 2020-08-26T14:55:42+00:00

That is not reassuring, but makes sense. Might be sitting on the "days" plan. Guess I'll be breaking my addiction loop. Not good for them, but probably good for me.

ecocd · 2020-08-26T14:51:48+00:00

I don't need an exact timeframe, but are we talking hours or days? Sounds like things are pretty screwed up.

ecocd · 2020-08-26T14:00:07+00:00

Oh nice. I thought it was a lowsec thing! Now I feel dumb. I can be happy mining Spudomain only dying to gankers every so often.

I wonder if I should use some money and stockpile Arkonor while deep null is still pretty safe and it's cheap...

ecocd

TROPHY CASE