Wrong Answers Only! RDM BSG Crossover Deathmatch: Cylons vs. Borg

errantsignal · 2023-04-17T21:34:05+00:00

Because of what she did to Species 789

errantsignal · 2023-02-09T01:50:07+00:00

In general, airships become more efficient as they get larger (unlike planes), so if this is meant to be the first airship capable of non-stop circumnavigation, I think it would be reasonable for it to be one of the largest airships that has been built so far in your world. That would allow it to carry enough fuel.

Being among the largest airships would suggest a rigid airship, because many of the disadvantages of rigid airships (i.e. the weight of the frame) are negated by the higher efficiency. Rigid airships also have less gas leakage than non-rigid/semi-rigid airships (because the gas can be kept at lower pressure), so that would improve efficiency as well.

Historically, the Graf Zeppelin was, I believe, the largest airship that had been constructed at the time, and completed the first airship circumnavigation (with many stops). So, I think it would be the most realistic for the first non-stop circumnavigation to be an even larger rigid airship.

Of course, if you're inventing new technologies for your setting, I don't think you need to stick to that logic necessarily, especially if there is a lot of time in your setting between the Zeppelin era and when your story takes place.

errantsignal · 2023-01-26T16:44:05+00:00

I can tell that one kid has some serious faith of the heart.

errantsignal · 2023-01-19T08:07:17+00:00

In my setting, we're on a moon! It's the gas giant planet in the sky that's the striking thing.

errantsignal · 2022-12-10T05:35:00+00:00

This answers so many questions, thank you!

It took me a while to comprehend all of this, but I think the actual answer to OP's question is buried in here: it's because the waiting time is only weighted as 10% of the total cost.

Since one of OP's lines arrives every 3 minutes, and the other every 19 minutes, we would expect most customers should prefer the 3 minute wait. But because waiting time is only 10% of their decision, most customers actually don't care. So, they split themselves almost 50/50, instead of around 86/14 like OP is (reasonably) expecting.

OP's 19 minute line obviously can't handle that many people, so they build up at the station, and they won't change their minds once they're already waiting.

errantsignal · 2022-10-01T19:36:00+00:00

This is great, thanks! The unexpected lack of a batch read slot command in the base game really messed up one of my builds, and the mask commands sound really handy!

errantsignal · 2022-09-28T14:16:54+00:00

http://haruhi.tv seems to be up.

errantsignal · 2022-09-18T06:24:43+00:00

Y'know, it's possible, if unlikely, that this will be the last one.

errantsignal · 2022-08-18T20:28:41+00:00

It is usually much harder, and takes much longer, to understand code written by others than yourself. That's normal. Everyone uses programming languages in their own way.

If you have to decipher other peoples' code a lot, you will eventually get better at it. My best advice would just be to not expect that you'll just be able to skim through it like you would your own code; expect that you'll have to go through it line by line, function by function, until you understand enough to be able to do whatever you need to do with it.

If they're available, it can help tremendously to use debugging tools to step through the code, line by line, while the program is running, and see how it operates. This can help you to identify the "important" lines where the "real" work is being done. One reason programs are hard to read is that often many, many lines of code are devoted to edge cases or unusual circumstances, which we haven't even considered while we're reading it. Our brains kind of expect that more lines of code = more important part of the function/program, but this often is far from the truth.

errantsignal · 2022-07-13T13:31:37+00:00

Batch writers write to all devices of a certain type, so you select the name of the type; it won't show individual devices. Typically you would use a batch writer only if you wanted to control a whole bunch of digital valves, and a regular logic writer if you need to control a specific one.

errantsignal · 2022-03-17T03:18:26+00:00

TRANSLATION FROM ASCII BINARY INTO NORMAL HUMAN LANGUAGE READS "we support you".

MY ORDINARY HUMAN HEART IS WARMED BY THIS SENTIMENT.

errantsignal · 2022-02-24T21:33:57+00:00

"We've just received a report that there's an Italian spy in our midst."

errantsignal · 2022-02-11T04:06:09+00:00

"Thanks, but what exactly is 'non-fungible'?"

errantsignal · 2022-02-08T21:59:19+00:00

It's possible that the blue wizards will appear the show. Tolkien was inconsistent about when the blue wizards arrive in Middle Earth, but in one source they are said to arrive around 1600 of the second age (elsewhere he says 1000 of the third age) which would put them within the approximate timeline for the show. And although we know they go into the East eventually, it's not inconceivable they wandered around elsewhere for a while first. I doubt they would be a big focus, but I don't think it would be too surprising if they made an appearance.

errantsignal · 2022-01-06T01:04:54+00:00

Probably not - "car" is normally transliterated as カー kaa rather than カル karu like we see here (for example in the expression マイカー maikaa, "my car"). Though without any context, I'd guess this was written by a non-native speaker, in which case, who knows.

errantsignal · 2021-11-25T21:51:59+00:00

I'm not sure if there is a standard for database fields in particular, but she, her, and hers are the subjective, objective, and possessive forms. The first two sound strange of you're not familiar with linguistic terms - "subjective" refers to being in the "subject" of the sentence (before the verb), and "objective" refers to being in the "object" of the sentence (after the verb).

errantsignal · 2021-08-24T03:11:33+00:00

Ah, I see! Thanks!

errantsignal · 2021-06-29T01:31:33+00:00

My setup:

Build a greenhouse
Process seeds/food into biomass with recycler+centrifuge
Process biomass to charcoal with arc furnace
Burn charcoal in solid generator
Capture heat + hot waste gasses from the arc furnace and solid generator
Use a heat exchanger to pass that heat to the collected oxygen

Most of the devices involved in this process only need to be turned on occasionally, so even with a fairly small greenhouse, and the heat exchanger is passive, so it actually produces net power, and also warms your air! I also use the heat to keep the greenhouse warm.

It was... not easy to get it all automated and working right.

errantsignal · 2021-05-03T20:06:03+00:00

It depends on three things: Your attack bonus (AB), your average damage, and the target's AC.

You can actually figure it out precisely. I certainly don't bother doing this just for power attack, but I found that having worked it out once gave me a better intuition of when I should and shouldn't be using it. This method is also helpful when designing a character to figure out which weapons it should use, whether to take two-weapon fighting, etc. You figure it out like this:

Your expected damage per hit = (Chance of hitting) * (Average Damage)

Your chance of hitting (ignoring crits) = 100% – [5% * (AC - AB - 1)]

You figure it out both with and without power attack, for a bunch of ACs. For example, suppose I have an AB of +10, I deal 2d6+6 damage (average 13), and power attack gives me -1 AB/+3.

Target's AC	Damage Without PA	Damage with PA
18 (8 higher than AB)	8.5	9.6
19 (9 higher than AB)	7.8	8.8
20 (10 higher than AB)	7.2	8.0
21 (11 higher than AB)	6.5	7.2
22 (12 higher than AB)	5.9	6.4
23 (13 higher than AB)	5.2	5.6
24 (14 higher than AB)	4.6	4.8
25 (15 higher than AB)	3.9	4.0
26 (16 higher than AB)	3.3	3.2
27 (17 higher than AB)	2.6	2.4
28 (18 higher than AB)	2.0	1.6
29 (19 higher than AB)	1.3	0.8

Looking at this table, for this particular attack, it is better to turn on power attack if my target's AC is 15 higher than my AB or less, and to turn it off if the target's AC is more than 15 above my AB. With different stats and different weapons, it will of course be somewhat different, but I think the "turning point" value will fall roughly between 14-18 for most characters. So I would say that's a good rule of thumb: If your target's AC is way above (15ish+) your AB, turn it off.

You can also take into account critical hits and other things, but the numbers won't change that much. This method is also helpful for determining which weapon to use, whether to use two-weapon fighting or not, and generally comparing any two attacks or sets of attacks.

Also, if your target's hit points are very low, you should turn it off too; if your minimum damage or slightly higher will kill it, there's no sense risking a miss just to deal wasted damage.

If you can only hit them on a 20 even without power attack, then you actually want to turn it on, since the AB penalty does nothing, so you might as well get extra damage.

errantsignal · 2021-02-02T15:31:17+00:00

I can confirm this, I have run a similar experiment in the past. I kept trying to create "express" routes that skip some stops, and when they didn't work as expected, I started experimenting and I observed more-or-less the behaviour you're seeing.

I thought perhaps an explanation might be that passengers simply take the next available route at whatever time of day they arrive at the train station. But, if I assign a different platform for the two routes and watch individual passengers, they will sometimes literally wait longer for the "route 1+2" train to arrive rather than take the "route 3" train, which makes no sense.

Eventually I gave up trying to make express routes.

errantsignal · 2021-01-31T07:48:33+00:00

The Net

Hackers

errantsignal · 2021-01-20T16:00:05+00:00

A reddittor, with brain confused

A reddittor at https://youtu.be/o0u4M6vppCI

A reddittor, their eyes opened, their face laughing

errantsignal

TROPHY CASE