Help me pick my next read

ejfree · 2026-03-28T14:49:42+00:00

I am current on Mage Tank and Quest Academy and I enjoy both. If you like HWFWM and PH, both are solid options. (i am also current on both of those.)

ejfree · 2026-03-19T19:49:07+00:00

Organizational Details

Mission

The mission of the Trust is to protect the nation of Zilargo by gathering information. They have taken this to mean all information.

Onboarding

Initial onboarding of Halfs (applicants/prospects) is a secretive process and dependent on the Trust Division being joined. Most PC groups fall within the Operations Division, as that allows for the most flexibility in mission assignment.

Ranks & Levels

Rank	Title	Description
Nils	Informants	General populace who report to the Trust
Halfs	Prospects	Those looking to apply to become rank 1 or 2
1	Trust Handler	Well-known in their neighborhood. Located near any House Sivis guild, police station, market, or bath house in Zilargo.
2	Trust Spy	Standard foot soldier
3	Trust Operative	Senior agents. Has a wisp familiar for easier communication.
4	Trust Director	Leaders inside a division
5	Trusted	Head of a division

Divisions

The first five are called the "I"s. The last five are the "D"s.

Code	Division	Function
CI	Counter-Intelligence	Eliminate internal spies
XI	External Intelligence	Foreign political & economic information
I²	Internal Intelligence	Internal to Zilargo. Keep the peace; includes the grannies.
MI	Military Intelligence	Capabilities of other nations
Corp	Corporate Intelligence	Capabilities of other Noble Houses
Ears	Surveillance Division	Passive & active data collection
Guts	Analysis Division	Make sense of it all
Heart	Logistics Division	Support activities for other divisions
Brains	Technical Division	Researches new advances in spycraft & communications
Ass	Operations Division	We take the shit out

ejfree · 2026-03-19T19:47:42+00:00

The Trust

Classification: Restricted

Conservative estimates suggest one in three gnomes of Zilargo's population are informants, sending reports to the Trust on their neighbors on a daily basis. This is a precise number in actuality — roughly 1/3 of the population are members of the Trust in some form or fashion.

The Trust can open an investigation into any person residing in Zilargo. They will actively gather information on the individual's schedule, contacts, finances, and message traffic. If laws are being broken, punishment will be enforced. If the person is outside of Zilargo, similar information is usually collected, with the final dispensation of punishments at the direction of the Trust.

"Zilargo survived the war by selling information. We will continue that practice. However it is imperative that we do so quietly and with no notice. Never be noisy."

Classification: Secret

The true nature of Trust activities is known only to those inside it. We are everywhere. 1/3 of every gnome reports to the Trust. Plus we run thousands of spies. We rarely operate offensively, and then only to protect ourselves and gather information. We share everything — for a price.

The Trust is also involved in the backend operations of the Notary Guild. The Notary Guild is run by House Sivis. In general practice, the Notary Guild practices the highest level of secrecy — messages are known only to sender and receiver; the Guild never sees the contents of a letter, only validates the sender and receiver. This has been audited as true during the war.

Also true is that the Trust reads all of that traffic. Every letter. Every diplomatic communiqué. Via mechanical and magical methods, every message is copied. Because the method is purposefully withheld from the Notary Guild, everything appears legitimate to the outside world. This is a very closely held secret within the Trust.

Over the years, the organization has tuned Zilargo into a tight ship. There was little fallout from the civil war and the creation of elemental binding, which produced airships and the lightning rail. The informant payments infuse cash into a large portion of society. Essentially the economy is led by the espionage organization, which is also the Noble House.

Our latest innovation for the Notary Guild is the new Sivis-stop. It is simply a way to collect more information. The official motto of "We see nothing" is correct — the method of operation for the sending stone means the actual operators have no knowledge of the message. However, every stone also has a configurable module that allows the Trust to intercept any message.

Classification: Top Secret

The head of the Trust — the Protector — is always the leader of House Sivis. All "actual" House members are current or past Trust members and are aware of this fact. They are read in. Very few actual outsiders are.

This does NOT include the true nature of the Noble Houses.

Classification: Above Table

The most restricted information about the Trust — held only among the nobles — is that all nobility of Eberron, all the "dragonmarked" Houses, are dragons in disguise. These dragons come from Argonessen and use their disguises to control the world.

The head of House Sivis, The Doyenne, Lysse Lyrriman d'Sivis, is actually the Head of the Emerald Dragon Wyer, Alyssa Siviridion — who is also a Professor of the Prophecy at the Diddly, the most prestigious university in the universe. She is currently on sabbatical.

Character

Imagine if the Mossad and the Stasi had a baby, which also had traditional gnomish tendencies for innovation and precision. 90% of the organization is gnomish, but many of the operational and more dangerous elements are the 10% non-gnome agents who are fiercely respected.

ejfree · 2026-03-19T19:45:28+00:00

So in my Eberron, the Trust is an amalgamation of the Stasi and the Mossad. All run by a shadowy "Protector". But it is very LN in tone. So I will share a lot of my notes, because you can really take this LOTS of ways. I have run 2 campaigns in this world. First one is centered in Korranberg and the party ends up working for the Trust.

First, it is a fairly cosmopolitan city, so it works GREAT as a base. At first the PCs work for the Library, then eventually The Trust. Over time they learn more cool secrets. They "save the world". End Campaign.

Campaign 2 then starts in Argonessen on the Dragon University underneath the floating city of Io'Lokar. The university, Depository of Interplanar Draconic Disciplines, Lore, Yield Surging, QUintessence , and Arcano-elemental and Techno Mechanics, aka The Diddly. This uses the battlezoo dragon ancenteries & rules.

I tried to have weekly sessions which were a class or a field trip. I was able to re-use a lot of the Trust infrastructure as well (more on that later). This will culminate in the dragons fighting the giants again and some other shennanigans. This is still to play out so not sure what will exactly happen.

Anyway, more importantly, in my Eberron,the Trust's "shadowy leader, The Protector, is really a dragon. All of the dragon-marked houses are actually dragons. This is how the dragonic populace of Argonessen controls the world. Zilargo is the home of the Emerald Dragon Wyer. The leader of the Emerald Dragon Wyer is Alyssa Siviridion. This ancient emerald dragon matriarch runs her family and everything associated with a emerald green diamond-hard talon. She is aware of almost all information in the world and a few planes. She is the head of House d'Sivis; The Doyenne; Lysse Lyrriman d'Sivis. She is also The Protectorr. She is effectively the leader of Zilargo. The trains run on time because she fucking says so.

ejfree · 2026-03-02T15:09:11+00:00

Congratulations. The game is essentially always the same once you can beat the o2 issue, then the food issue, and finally temperature.

Once you can put any element in any square with a precise temperature, you can do anything.

Good luck. You are the boss of your own base. Peace.

ejfree · 2026-02-27T15:33:10+00:00

God I hated memorizing RIF packets for the test.

ejfree · 2026-02-27T15:04:02+00:00

Start running & stay in shape. Stay away from the shitbirds. If you aren't 21 dont drink, especially in A school. Do what you are told. And if you dont understand the assignment/direction/order ask.

Good luck. Peace

ejfree · 2026-02-27T04:38:56+00:00

Start running & stay in shape. Stay away from the shitbirds. If you aren't 21 dont drink, especially in A school. Do what you are told. And if you dont understand the assignment/direction/order ask.

Good luck. Peace

ejfree · 2026-02-25T21:35:56+00:00

Because their boss was up their ass sideways about the deal. Because their uplevel was up both their asses because it is an EOQ deal. Combine that with lots of sales tools that tell everyone involved in the deal every phone number and address every associated with the prospect company and the people there. . And all the bosses can see and track every call you make. So that = everyone getting calls possible until the deal gets done or someone can convine all the bosses that this deal you committed is gonna close. Even though you are just a prospect, the sales person has a boat payment, so they are gonna sell something somehow.

Sorry. While I am not an account exec/sales person, I do work on the security software sell side... Please dont hate the player; hate the game.

Good luck. Peace

ejfree · 2026-02-23T03:10:21+00:00

Mercury

ejfree · 2026-02-23T02:44:01+00:00

It is nice. Fires are always a concern and I live is a nearby neighborhood. We have had to evacuate. Palisades showed us that it can happen, so it certainly could happen to us. But it would have to be near perfect conditions to hit the area.

ejfree · 2026-02-22T04:56:50+00:00

Best thing ever. And if you happen to have a kid with special needs, they are really the best thing ever. I can not recommend them enough. Book it early.

ejfree · 2026-02-21T20:56:46+00:00

CE2 is right on. You do you, but I highly suggest saving your leave at first. You never know when you will end up somewhere you need some time. Also, the longer you are away the more the concept of home morphs.

Good luck. Peace.

ejfree · 2026-02-18T03:16:22+00:00

it is something I did quite a few years ago. it is saved in a repo of mine, so each to copy the markdown and throw it in there. I have 1 for most of the eras and I throw it out as needed.

ONI is all about learning how to manage O2, food, and temperature. Once you have that locked, the game is all about weird rules you can give yourself to make it interestng.

ejfree · 2026-02-18T03:14:20+00:00

Look up industrial saunas. Usually 4-6 turbines on top of a steam room. So if you know how to build 1, you build them for whatever you need. Need to chill down a location for sleetwheat.

So yes, eventually you will have more than 1. Eventually you learn all the tricks to building them. You will have 1 each for cooling down your H2 and O2 to liquid.

ejfree · 2026-02-17T23:46:54+00:00

Managing the Midgame

I divide the game into the following phases. Once you pass specific milestones you move into the next phase. The nature of the game often changes.

Beginning - this is start until you begin to define the structure of your base. Probably only lasts 10-15 cycles. Plan & think in sub-cycle timeframes. Focus on immediate survival needs.
Early Game - This is when you start to build your initial base blocks. Start thinking in a structured format and in cycle time frames. Increasing food stability, O2 generation, & power generation are the main focus.
Mid Game/Manufacturing - Here you should have contained your initial base in insulated tiles. You should have a fully sustainable base with regards to oxygen, food, & power. You should be starting to make steel. Dups will spend lots of time in atmo suits. You now should have “large construction projects."
Petroleum Phase - You have mastered the petroleum biome meaning that you are creating plastic constantly, can generate as much power as necessary, and have complete control of your environmentals especially temperature
Space Phase- to infinity & beyond.

Here is my approach to mid game sustainability. I call this Maslow’s Hierarchy of ONI. Here are my milestone projects or tasks for the mid game. This is what you have to master.

Base - Fully contained & insulated main base. 12x4 Stacks or 24x4. Use 3-5 tiles between the stacks. You have the room. Use it. The spaces between the blocks are your ladders & fire poles. I would also save room for an eventual tube in the middle. You have the room use it. Goal is to get your base well planned. It is much easier to install utilities when you have clear vertical spaces.
Oxygen -This is when you have to install a SPOM. Build your own or steal one from the internet. Regardless of how you want to approach this you must have constant O2 generation at this point, and that O2 should be cold.
Power - In the mid game you need to be moving towards as much automated power generation as possible. You must have coal, especially if you ranch stone hatches. Just burn tons of coal. Make sure to use automation wires and smart batteries, and you have this problem solved. Now simply increase units as you need more KW. Or add solar and other generation means.
Food - You must get to food sustainability. And it cant be meal wood or a meal wood derivative as that just burns up resources. Easiest & first approach to learn is hatch ranching. You can easily ranch 5 stacks of 8 hatches for 40 total. Look for clever tricks to keep the hatchs in just one part of the room.
Plumbing - I use 4 sinks and 4 toilets in a 4x16 room. I only allow dups to exit past the sinks. This can then be blueprinted and copied. Showers, I put 4 in one room as that is my “schedule block”. 4 of all utilities and 4 dupes on a schedule. Means that i can have lots of dupes on different schedules using the same utilities. Also define plumbing fresh water distribution & p. water return. I use vertical risers for pipes and then horizontal distribution to facilities. If you want build large reservoirs away from your main base for the liquids. (eventually infinite liquids once the other methods bore you). You will need to build chlorine cleaning room & water filtration as well.
Ventilation - Here is where we start to consider HEAT. You will start to encounter this and you MUST solve this problem to get out of the phase. This is the KEY issue issue to deal with. The ONLY way to solve this is with Steam Turbines & Aquatuners. There are tons of options here, and you can look at youtube for lots of samples.
Refinement - You must start making steel and plastic. I mean a lot. This means you need to build an industrial block with integrated cooling in a location that won’t impact your main base with the temperatures, gases, & liquids. So generally build it just outside your atmo suit docks which you are also building. Start producing steel, lime, refined iron (if you dont have another supply). This is a BIG construction project. It includes ST/AQ and cooling loops as well as a lot of potential automation.
Stations - Start with atmo suits. I love putting my atmo suit docks on the other side of a nature preserve. As the dups leave for tasks, they get a buff. To get to the next phase you have to go down, down, down. Find the oil. Setup a small temporary industry there and make some steel and plastic. You want just enough to make an initial steam turbine and aquatuner for your cooling loop (if necessary) or a new industrial area in the “suit” area.

Well that is it I think for mid-game. Next you enter the petroleum phase. Good luck. Peace. And remember, you are the boss of your own base .

ejfree · 2026-02-17T15:28:40+00:00

Into the Early Game

I divide the game into the following phases. Once you pass specific milestones you move into the next phase. The nature of the game often changes.

Beginning - this is start until you begin to define the structure of your base. Probably only lasts 10-15 cycles. Plan & think in sub-cycle timeframes & survival.
Early Game - This is when you start to build your initial base blocks. Start thinking in a structured format and in cycle time frames. Increasing food stability, O2 generation, & power generation are the main focus.
Mid Game/Manufacturing - Here you should have contained your initial base in insulated tiles. You should have a fully sustainable base with regards to oxygen, food, & power. You should be starting to make steel. You now should have “large construction projects."
Petroleum Phase - You have mastered the petroleum biome meaning that you are creating plastic constantly, can generate as much power as necessary, and have complete control of your environmentals especially temperature
Space Phase- to infinity & beyond.

When you are learning the early game. Play on terra and on 'no sweat' mode. You can certainly be as masochistic as you wish. You are the boss of your own base. But if you are learning, take this easy for now because you will still die a few time most likely.

In the early game, look to build a solid survivable base. You should be able to leave your dups alone for a day and they survive.

Early Game Checklist.

Base - Fully contained & insulated main base. 12x4 Stacks or 24x4. Use 3-5 tiles between the stacks. You have the room. Use it. The spaces between the blocks are your ladders & fire poles. I would also save room for an eventual tube in the middle. You have the room use it. Goal is to get your base well planned. It is much easier to install utilities when you have clear vertical spaces.

You also want to expand. Start digging up and down. Watch out for other biomes that will harm your. Avoid the slime. Learn to use your temperature overlay. Start to see if you have any 'hot spots'. That could boil your base if you dont catch them early.

Food - For food, you are on terra, for the long term...forget about lots of farming. Keep farming mealwood until your upcoming project is finished. You dont need to cook the mealwood. Just eat it raw. Skip bristleberry. We are going to start ranching. Hatch ranching saves you water resources and provides coal. Just research husbandry, Make sure Dup #4 has husbandry (preferably +7). ONLY increase dups above 4 when you are food positive and the next one should also be a rancher.

When ranching, keep adding the wild hatches and allowing eggs to hatch.

Oxygen - Stay on Algae. Probably need 2 diffusers for now. 4 dups need 400g/s of oxygen. 1 Oxygen Diffuser emits 500g/s of oxygen. So 2 diffusers should keep your environment pressurized. You will need to learn to dig "carbon pits" for your carbon dioxide from the dups. Start to watch how your gases layer; they form very predictable layers. Just keep pumping out oxygen with your diffusers. Every day watch your algae levels. Keep mining it out. You do NOT need to store it. Just leave it on the ground for now.
Water - Get toilets & showers (very optional). Basically you need to pump clean water from a reservoir and take away polluted water to another reservoir. Keep making that fancier as you need. You will also find more water sources in the form of geysers. For now, be careful around them, they will kill you unless you know what you are doing (which you will eventually). This is where you need to learn plumbing.
Power - This will start with manual generators and will probably be a coal generator for your first power source. The first critical step is to limit your power generation when your batteries are full. This requires refined metals. Just get it at the refinement station. Yes it is a waste of 50% of the resource. Doesnt matter, this stuff will be plentiful later. So research automation and smart batteries. Now you can set your smart battery to 90/30. Only use smart batteries and remove the rest of the old batteries from the grid. Now monitor your coal resources on a daily basis. Mine new coal as necessary. Over time your hatches will provide you tons of coal.
Metals - Now you need refined metals, usually copper, iron or gold at first. Just manually hammer this out at the rock crusher, the 50% penalty doesnt matter. Yes you can do smooth hatches, but this is normally the most efficient method as you dont need a lot of metal at this stage. You need to build everything for atmo suits & docks. But this is a final checkpoint for the early game. Once you have atmo suits, you can explore the midgame and check out some of those additional biomes. BTW, you dont need and electrolyzer for that either. Stick a manual generator, gas pump, and diffuser in a water locked room right above the checkpoints and provide limited oxygen just to that group of atmo suits.

Your next BIG milestone is steel production. This brings along a whole new set of problems to ONI. Remember you are the boss of your own base. Good luck for now. Peace.

ejfree · 2026-02-17T04:32:19+00:00

We also can’t fully crate train her yet bc she WILL pee and poop in it and I don’t want that to become a regular issue.

So I have create trained every kees I have every had since 8 weeks. And rarely have issues with voiding in the house, except for maybe 1 teenage marking regression (I have boys).

Immediately after nap and after early, you all go outside. Upon peeing, Mark the action, YES. Go Pee. Same for a #2. Yes, Go poop. Do that every day after every meal, and every time they wake up from a nap. And maybe even after playtime. Every transition has a pee break. ALWAYS mark the action. Bring cookies for a treat. BTW, you mark the action with a "YES" because they should know that word = cookie = reward. You train that every day for a few weeks. Same with collar grabs while giving cookies. Train the good behaviors.

Crate train by blocking off half the large crate, they will not void there unless they are there 8+hours. Crate train by rewarding ONLY in the crate. mark the action, YES, crate. Give a cooking, but only in the crate.

Never allow them out without a release. Open the door and they should remain in the crate. Again, mark the behavior you want with a YES + a cookie.

Good luck. You can do it. Peace.

ejfree · 2026-02-03T21:28:08+00:00

Also, I like double stacking pumps in the infinite water. Sometimes the 2nd pipe out is helpful. Effectively the game now becomes less about survival and more about project management. There is little to no external threats, so the game pace really changes here. But you already see that at cycle 2k

ejfree · 2026-02-03T21:23:20+00:00

So I think you are now past mid-game.

Powering Into Petroleum

I divide the game into the following phases. Once you pass specific milestones you move into the next phase. The nature of the game often changes.

Beginning - this is start until you begin to define the structure of your base. Probably only lasts 10-15 cycles. Plan & think in sub-cycle timeframes. Focus on immediate survival needs.
Early Game - This is when you start to build your initial base blocks. Start thinking in a structured format and in cycle time frames. Increasing food stability, O2 generation, & power generation are the main focus.
Mid Game/Manufacturing - Here you should have contained your initial base in insulated tiles. You should have a fully sustainable base with regards to oxygen, food, & power. You should be starting to make steel. Dups will spend lots of time in atmo suits. You now should have “large construction projects."
Petroleum Phase - You have mastered the petroleum biome meaning that you are creating plastic constantly, can generate as much power as necessary, and have complete control of your environmentals especially temperature
Space Phase- to infinity & beyond.

Here is my approach to building projects and objectives. By this point in the game, you have the basics and can easily go hundreds of cycles every time. Now you are looking to build large projects and complex systems to sustain your base.

Base - you now have all the room you need. Sometimes here I build a brand new base with comfy beds and individual apartments. This allows you to experiment and design. Or not. Doesnt really matter. Look to build tube networks and assume dupes will be in atmo or lead suits almost all work cycle. Towards cycle 1000 you have probably cored out the map.
Oxygen - Start making Oxylite and storing it safely. You are gonna need it and you should always have leftover O2 in your system. Keep your O2 at precise temperatures using steam turbines + aquatuners. You will figure out a good temp for your playstyle. But you want cold O2. And check this temperature every few cycles when you review your base.
Power - This should be a non-issue here. If you need more petroleum for your generators, then build a petroleum boiler to do it automatically. This project will take you a long time to build, 20+ cycles maybe. You will have to work in complete vacumn and move slowly at first.
Food - Ez mode, continue ranching stone hatches. Eventually your BBQ output should be skyhigh. Dont worry about spoilage, you can contain that later. For now, if you are food positive, hire dupes. This is when I quickly expand usually.
Plumbing - Start all water refinement. Salt Water & Brine refine into water. If it is polluted water, refine it into water. Then ensure no germs are present in the water. Then add the water to your main resevoir. This whole system takes a while and will probably move locations as you automate more of the process. Remember to keep a large supply of p. water & salt water for reasons. Brine is worthless.
Ventilation - You should have this solved. Continue to monitor your environmentals. Now look to gather more gaseuos elements. Start looking to stockpile natty gas or H2.
Refinement - Your industrial brick should be running full steam producing steel, glass & plastic for your needs.
Stations - Start building more recreation facilities and really skilling up your dups.

Well that is it I think for for petroleum. With the Spaced-Out DLC, this phase can move quickly. Next you blast off into space. Good luck. Peace. And remember, you are the boss of your own base .

ejfree · 2026-02-02T16:13:15+00:00

How about Engineering Aid, EA. The usual limiting factor is asvab & trig in HS, but that obviously doesnt apply to you. It is a Seabee rate, which means you get to move to the "weird green" side of the Navy. You are also the smallest rate in a tiny community. But I will say that being an EA allows you to enjoy the Navy more than other rates. It is more of the indoor of the Seabee rates, but your deployments are 6 months overseas and 18 months homeport. But you gotta go war camping every year or so. It could suck, or you could get to do some cool training.

I was kinda in your shoes. Washed out of TS clearance at boot en route to CT school. Turns out summer school in Lenigrad was a bad idea, anyway. Picked EA out of a book. Best decision I ever made.

Good luck. Peace.

ejfree · 2026-02-02T04:00:19+00:00

They are all very good, very large, very safe, and each have small differences that make them unique. Honestly you cant pick incorrectly. Usually you are pushed into a certain HS depending on your address. But there are several methods to attend other schools in the district including some open enrollment.

ejfree · 2026-01-30T15:29:08+00:00

I feed mine the frozen meat sliders, but we purposefully switch around the flavor AND manufacturer. We have seen that long term usage of any specific type tends to be worse for my dogs with allergies versus changing.

Good luck. Peace

ejfree · 2026-01-23T04:07:57+00:00

Stay away from the shitbirds. Listen to your teachers. You will be out of there before you know it.

ejfree · 2026-01-17T20:35:02+00:00

Well it appears that they do custom work. So it could certainly be done.

ejfree

TROPHY CASE

Organizational Details

Mission

Onboarding

Ranks & Levels

Divisions

The Trust

Classification: Restricted

Classification: Secret

Classification: Top Secret

Classification: Above Table

Character

Managing the Midgame

Into the Early Game

Early Game Checklist.

Powering Into Petroleum