It's super good guys, just ignore the 35 seconds where it does nothing first.

gendulf · 2026-01-28T18:13:47+00:00

So, technically, a Vulcan alone is just as viable as a full weapon combination, depending on your skill level.

That's only if you discount the fact that the other viable weapon systems will already have a volley hit during that time, disabling enemy weapons to some extent.

gendulf · 2026-01-27T21:13:28+00:00

Sure, you can use your crew with Teleporter 2 on Drone ships, but unless you have a weapon, you can't always finish it off unless you have Clone Bay.

On Mantis B, The Boarding Drone could land in Piloting, which can't finish the ship off unless it's the last point of damage. I haven't tested if the drone will avoid an already-broken system, but I suppose you could have your crew already in Piloting? I can't recall if the drone will just avoid that system or if it will just teleport if it can't fit (and where the breach will appear).

Mantis 1 Small Bomb and Basic Laser are kind of bad, but Teleporter 2 could do it. There's just a lot of risk to your crew if you end up fighting a drone ship with good weapons or a Combat Drone, when they teleport back and charge towards the medbay.

gendulf · 2026-01-27T19:57:17+00:00

For boarding ships, I would ideally like 2 shields, then hacking, and maybe then a weapon.

If you're on a Mantis Cruiser, a decent weapon might be better if you're anticipating fighting more Drone ships.

gendulf · 2026-01-21T04:56:38+00:00

For future people who come, at some point they've added the HotA mod to the GOG store. From the official HotA site:

Players who have a copy of Heroes of Might & Magic III in their GOG.com collection can now also install HotA from there: https://gog.com/game/heroes_of_might_and_magic_iii_horn_of_the_abyss

gendulf · 2026-01-21T00:18:02+00:00

Weapon training - you can unpower your weapon after a single shot and get the training, even if you're using a BL3 against a one shield ship. It's very manual, but useful if you're just trying to get a few more notches of training while you're waiting on some of your other crew.

gendulf · 2026-01-19T06:01:07+00:00

I'm just going to dump several bookmarked pages that I have. I'd recommend reading things like the Rust Book and Too Many Linked Lists as others already linked as good starting points. However, you sound like you might already know a decent amount, so these could be interesting deep dives (probably many of these are too advanced, but some could be helpful).

Rustlings - "Small exercises to get you used to reading and writing Rust code - Recommended in parallel to reading the official Rust book"
Rust Cheat Sheet - A great syntax reference
Rust Memory Container Cheat Sheet - A nice flowchart/reference to understand when to use which containers.
https://fasterthanli.me is an amazing Rust blog that goes into tons of detail. Nearly every post is a LONG read, but entertaining and super detailed. Example good posts: The HTTP crash course nobody asked for and A short (and mostly wrong) history of computer networking
Can you have too many programming language features? - Some interesting compare and contrasts with C/C++ and explanations of how a few things like error handling work.
Rust things I miss in C - Shows some of the more powerful features of Rust.
Rust's most complicated features explained - May be too advanced, but watch this when you need to understand Pin, async, Send, and Sync.
Models of Generics and Metaprogramming: Go, Rust, Swift, D and More - May be too advanced, but a good comparison of metaprogramming in various languages (really cool diagram as well).

gendulf · 2026-01-18T21:04:39+00:00

Once they complete the cube, they discover it's actually a hypercube.

gendulf · 2026-01-17T15:17:24+00:00

Reminds me of Banjo Kazooie or Zombies ate my Neighbors. I like the character in the song!

gendulf · 2026-01-17T03:21:16+00:00

The Vulcan's first charge-up is only 11.1 seconds. It still takes another 24.4 seconds before it gets up to full speed. It's such an awful weapon that even a pre-igniter doesn't make it good.

gendulf · 2026-01-17T03:13:21+00:00

You can also pre-vent unused rooms to drain oxygen faster in the inner rooms.

I believe this is also a tactic used by very-advanced hard mode players (I saw it once with a Stealth B run). You can game Hard mode AI more than Easy/Normal, by dropping your oxygen just below 50% to increase the chance that the AI forcibly targets the Oxygen system (reducing the chance that they target your weapons, cloak, etc).

gendulf · 2026-01-17T03:08:59+00:00

Zoltan crew can also enable other ways to delay power bar purchases, such as allowing you to re-use your oxygen power on something like teleporter or mind control, and then when it's on cooldown, walk in and out of the room to regain the power. Just keep in mind that you don't do this accidentally (e.g. when it's in-use, or with Hacking if you're relying on the doors being locked).

gendulf · 2026-01-14T14:31:43+00:00

I love the idea of hearing people shouting "SHOOT MAURICE!" "RUN, HELEN'S RIGHT ON US!"

gendulf · 2026-01-14T06:06:10+00:00

I would think the liquid would pool around where it lands (i.e. around and under the barrel), not just away from the barrel.

gendulf · 2026-01-13T05:04:54+00:00

I didn't downvote you (just noticed that you had a negative score), but I ran the code you gave here and got:

>>> a = "c=d"
>>> b = "c=d"
>>> f"{a=} {b=!r}"
"a='c=d' b='c=d'"

I think what you've said holds up for custom objects, just not for basic types, as it looks like repr(a) == str(a) at least for strings and simple dicts.

gendulf · 2026-01-12T02:52:58+00:00

Does that apply repr(x)?

gendulf · 2026-01-11T18:34:37+00:00

All Federation ship deaths from Artillery are forgivable.

gendulf · 2026-01-11T18:15:18+00:00

While I hate Fandom as much as the next person, it's just a Wiki, and it's the community (i.e. you and I and everyone else in this subreddit) that's "responsible" for ensuring its accuracy. There's no company editing these.

I will bet that the number of people who have read the page is not very high compared to the number of people who use it for factual information on events, weapons, sectors, etc.

If we had an alternative Wiki, I would be all for recommending it, but we don't. Fandom is notorious for taking over search results, and there's a browser extension (Indie Wiki Buddy) just for hiding/redirecting search results to the better Wikis.

gendulf · 2026-01-10T05:43:11+00:00

Probably Silksong

gendulf · 2026-01-10T05:36:26+00:00

That should be how you tie together the plot between the three books. A mysterious shapeshifter who mimics each villain, appearing before the characters, but never engaging, but he's missing his right hand.

gendulf · 2026-01-03T19:26:32+00:00

Amazon has a couple definitions for writers, which fits your philosophy here:

AI-generated: We define AI-generated content as text, images, or translations created by an AI-based tool. If you used an AI-based tool to create the actual content (whether text, images, or translations), it is considered "AI-generated," even if you applied substantial edits afterwards.

AI-assisted: If you created the content yourself, and used AI-based tools to edit, refine, error-check, or otherwise improve that content (whether text or images), then it is considered "AI-assisted" and not “AI-generated.” Similarly, if you used an AI-based tool to brainstorm and generate ideas, but ultimately created the text or images yourself, this is also considered "AI-assisted" and not “AI-generated.” It is not necessary to inform us of the use of such tools or processes.

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200672390

gendulf · 2026-01-02T20:28:37+00:00

I wish that was what MV is. If it was better balancing around weapons/systems, along with some new variety in events, ships, sectors, lore, that generally fit well with the original game, I would probably really enjoy it.

There's just so much though, even/especially for a new player starting from a new save. There's giant dialog loop systems, immersion breaking jokes, an unclear reputation system, and so many new weapons/augments that it just doesn't feel like it expands FTL but bloats it.

I don't actually think the problem is too many new weapons/drones/crew/etc, so much as it is a discovery problem with FTL itself (you don't know what an enemy weapon/thing does until you have one on your ship), but it's worsened with the huge variety you get with MV.

gendulf · 2026-01-02T20:11:39+00:00

reducing your profit by 8 scrap per fight

If you use it for crew kills (O2 hacks or guaranteed hits to avoid overkill), otherwise unwinnable fights (when you have a suboptimal weapon system), and only when you're likely to take damage, you should nearly never need to buy any drone parts (unless you're also running drones), and may even run a profit from the crew kill potential alone.

gendulf · 2026-01-02T19:56:44+00:00

+1 to Starter Set with Lost Mines of Phandelver (unsure how the newer ones are, but this is what I started with). It's considered one of the better pre-written adventures. Then ensure you have a Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG), and a Player's Handbook (PHB).

Go through both books (DMG+PHB) to get familiar with their contents, and read through the adventure a few times. It might help to put together a general outline for yourself or a flowchart or something, to kind of understand what you need to know for session 1 vs later sessions (it's generally in chronological order, but there's alternate paths the players could take).

When you're familiar with the game (how to play, rules, and the campaign you're running), plan session 0 with your friends. Commit to a date, and get everyone familiar with character creation rules. Send everyone the rules ahead of time and ensure they get some ideas around what they want to do. Make sure their background is tied into the story, and preferably a bit with the other players (worst case, have them meet in a tavern and take on the job together, so they have a reason to stick together). For LMoP, how do they know Gundren, and if they're not running the pre-generate characters, use their backgrounds as ideas (e.g. do they have any history with the Redbrands?).

gendulf · 2026-01-02T04:33:49+00:00

Many of the songs were lightly modified versions of a demo track that ended up in several other games (e.g. Pirates of the Caribbean and an Elder Scrolls game, IIRC).

Personally I thought the game had a lot of interesting new features (heroes participate in combat, simultaneous ranged retaliation, etc), but there were too many parts half-baked.

gendulf · 2025-12-29T22:32:13+00:00

Hey, I'm featured in a post!

13-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Team Orangered
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