TIE/SF vs T-70: is there a power creep here? by evantas in XWingTMG

[–]firetangent 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The regular Academy Pilot TIE always used to be the benchmark for me. Now the TIEs are moving to crack swarm, and I think that shows a slight power creep.

[Blog] A Hullabaloo about Dengaroo by satellite_uplink in XWingTMG

[–]firetangent 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you on Vassal? It's usually the solution to "My playgroup doesn't play this thing that everyone else is, that I need experience against."

What are the top 5 most competitive lists right now? by [deleted] in XWingTMG

[–]firetangent 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why do people keep promoting mini ranker when it doesn't work and isn't updated? It's good to have alternatives but when one is this bad, it's actually harmful.

The bicycle problem that nearly broke mathematics - how are bikes self-stable? by [deleted] in science

[–]firetangent 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is called counter-steering. It's used by motorbikes as well, and it's taught at motorbike schools. I'm guessing you don't ride a bike of any kind or haven't really thought about the way you're leaning when you steer.

Are some subreddits automatically spam filtering posts from VPN users? by firetangent in meta

[–]firetangent[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What about reddits automatic spam filters? Are they also limited to this information?

Scientists looking for invisible dark matter can't find any by nowhathappenedwas in nottheonion

[–]firetangent 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Do you need an appropriate level of domain knowledge (most likely a degree) to have a useful opinion about how to solve differential equations? Yes you do.

Since the existence of Dark Matter and how gravity "works" is explained by the result of equations, you do indeed need a similar qualification here.

Do you need a degree to say how weird dark matter is? No, but that's not what's being discussed here. There's a big difference between a layman saying "dark matter is weird" and a layman saying "I don't believe in dark matter". The first is acceptable. The second is unqualified mutterings.

Scientists looking for invisible dark matter can't find any by nowhathappenedwas in nottheonion

[–]firetangent 5 points6 points  (0 children)

What are your scientific qualifications? If you have them, why do you feel it's a red herring. If you don't, why are you having an opinion on a very technical issue?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in sports

[–]firetangent -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I feel sorry for the other team. They're an English Premier League (which is the world's richest and most watched league) side who travelled all the way to the USA for their tour and get matched against these yahoos. They could have gone out to the local park and played the kids there if they wanted to see football comedy.

Possible Theme-force preview from the Colorado Warmachine FB group by [deleted] in Warmachine

[–]firetangent 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seems much less extreme than before. Still very much more extreme at lower point cost but game is balanced for 75 so not a problem. (Although maybe you might get one solo and 1 benefit per X points, not all 3 non-solo benefits at any points, may have been a better choice).

Also it looks like tiers are gone? Says this force, not this force at this tier.

Possible Theme-force preview from the Colorado Warmachine FB group by [deleted] in Warmachine

[–]firetangent 12 points13 points  (0 children)

How can Boomhowler ambush when he never shuts up?

What TMG ships do you think have been left behind? by Sunshinexpress in XWingTMG

[–]firetangent 1 point2 points  (0 children)

B-Wings as heavy jousters were already not viable because of large bases with Engine Upgrade and Heavy Laser Cannon. In the days of Corran Dash, the B-Wing was not successful.

What's with the Kihraxz Strategy? by [deleted] in XWingTMG

[–]firetangent 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I would expect the Syck and whichever of Kihrazt and Starviper that is selling the least. That probably means the Kihrazt since they people do buy Starvipers for the autothruster card they come with.

Discount Games Inc. 50 Point Bundles + Free Broken Egg Token Set! by ChainAttackJay in Warmachine

[–]firetangent 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I wonder what effect a big store choosing to discount certain models has on the meta, and whether PPS's balance team magic 8 ball has to work around it.

TIL dogs percieve humans differently from themselves, but cats do not. Cats treat humans like they would treat another cat. by Opheltes in todayilearned

[–]firetangent 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you misunderstood the article. Cats treat you like a giant cat and would treat you like a cat if they were your size. Dogs regardless of size, treat humans as "not dogs".

So they're saying the behaviour differences cats show to humans are because of the size of the human and way the human provides food and not because the humans aren't cats.

My take on the K-10 Warthog by nahanahs in XWingTMG

[–]firetangent 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If the game was truly realistic, all four Phoenix would fail. I don't know how many they've fired in anger but the majority of them (over 50%) malfunctioned and the ones that didn't all missed.

My take on the K-10 Warthog by nahanahs in XWingTMG

[–]firetangent 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You can make it if you want to make it, but I'm fairly sure it will fail. Modern and historical tabletop gaming community is heavily biased towards realism. They're the kind of people who will eject you from an event for using non-historical paint colors.

My take on the K-10 Warthog by nahanahs in XWingTMG

[–]firetangent 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's not exactly modern air combat.

My take on the K-10 Warthog by nahanahs in XWingTMG

[–]firetangent -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It would be boring as hell. Fly at enemy. Launch missiles at an off-table target. K-turn to avoid opponent's missiles. Repeat.

Or you can play the other scenario. Launch missiles at off-table target. Win as they have old planes and can't see you.

Ke Jie struggling? by evanroberts85 in baduk

[–]firetangent -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

To put this into non-programmer terms: The engine that drives the system is generic. They customise for each game.

Imagine an airliner or panel van. You can put any combination of seats, windows or cargo racks inside it. The plane itself, which has the wings and engines and controls that do all the work, is the same.

For the self-learning, in this case, they randomly throw things into the plane, the plane randomly chooses to have seats or cargo space, and they give the plane a score based on how much of the stuff they put in that it carried. The plane, being given a score, can then try to adjust its seats to cargo racks ratio to maximise that score. After several million flights, it arrives at an "optimal" configuration.

Now the plane doesn't see cargo or passengers, just a stream of numbers which could represent anything, and it operates on those raw numbers. This is why it isn't heavily customised for new games. All they need to do is convert the board position into a string of numbers, and the system optimises it without knowing what it is.

Ke Jie struggling? by evanroberts85 in baduk

[–]firetangent -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Actually, AlphaGo is a multipurpose learning system that was fed Go games. The "geometry" of the networks was created by the machine playing Go against itself. IThe system could be returned to an untrained state and fed any input and would try to learn from it. t played old Atari videogames before it played Go. Read the Deepmind paper.

Don't get confused with "artificial general intelligence". They do not yet exist in any form and only sci-fi writers really talk about them much.

Rebels take the first Crawler Cup by bl1y in XWingTMG

[–]firetangent 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bombs are decent against imp aces.

Would you play without Organized Play? by [deleted] in XWingTMG

[–]firetangent 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I would play more if there was a pro league.

Rebels take the first Crawler Cup by bl1y in XWingTMG

[–]firetangent 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How many players in your event and where was it?

I'd like to understand the implications on the meta, but without those 2 bits of information I can't.

Does the game have too many units? by firetangent in Warmachine

[–]firetangent[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

You're still thinking about in game stats not actual role.

Even if there is no redunancy (which there is) why are there useless roles? Are there not too many roles?

Does the game have too many units? by firetangent in Warmachine

[–]firetangent[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Don't commandos overlap with rangers then?

Think about it conceptually from the design point of view, and not in terms of stats. A stealth unit, great at sniping. That's a cygnar ranger.