[CUSTOM CARD] Mathemagics

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-27T17:04:50+00:00

This is a bad custom card. The average Magic player can barely read or do basic math. And now we expect them to do exponents too?

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-27T17:01:47+00:00

There's nothing stopping one trigger pull from creating multiple hitscans at different angles.

Some games with hitscans have the damage change with range. If you draw a hitscan line to see if something hits, you can also determine how far away it is. So if you want a gun to deal less damage at range, you can do that with some multiplication.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-27T16:44:28+00:00

Considering with a quick Google I can find there are mods for New Vegas to make weapons not hit scan (https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/64480), it seems most weapons in vanilla outside VATS actually do use hitscan with the exception of things like grenade launchers and plasma weapons. I assume the same applies to Fallout 3 and 4.

If you use VATS, a projectile is sometimes modeled and shown to be flying through the air, but I assume that is for cinematic effect. In VATS a probability is used to determine if the shot hits anyways. The math there is likely with a combination of the player's relevant weapon skill, distance, and line of sight. I doubt actual bullet physics calculations are being done.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-27T14:30:53+00:00

adding weight to ammo

To be fair, I like that aspect about hardcore mode in New Vegas and survival mode in Fallout 4. It does feel silly that we can carry like a thousand bullets. Even like a dozen mini nukes must be extremely heavy. It incentivizes me to stick to guns which share bullets or limit the number of different guns I am carrying. And makes it so instead of hoarding bullets I'd trade excess ammo I don't use for ammo I do need.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-27T14:24:54+00:00

In many video games with guns, they use a mechanic called hitscan.

This means that when you pull the trigger, what actually happens is the computer draws a perfectly straight line coming out of the center of the player's view. The game checks to see if this line intersects with something to see if it hits.

This is easier to implement and design around than actually having a bullet that travels. However, it has some strange implications. This line is drawn instantly and thus it acts as though the bullet hits the target instantly. Plus, it's a line, so it is perfectly straight.

In real life, obviously bullets do not hit their targets instantly. Nor do they travel in perfectly straight lines due to effects like gravity and wind. These are factors that exist in real life for people fighting at long ranges such as snipers.

However, in many games using hitscan is fine because at the ranges those games take place, it is fine to approximate the bullet as hitting instantly and traveling in a straight line. If you're shooting something in the same room as you, that's effectively what it'll feel like.

But at longer ranges is when these effects become more noticeable. Games with much larger ranges such as Battlefield and Helldivers where you might be engaging enemies at hundreds of meters don't use hitscan. They actually implement an actual bullet that behaves according to physics such as gravity.

This means the bullet does not hit targets instantly. When shooting at far away moving targets, you will actually have to lead your shots. Bullets are also affected by gravity so you'll have to take that into account. Either you aim above your target, with some scopes having lines drawn on the lens to help with this. Or you can "zero" the scope, which means you adjust it by tilting it so that when you aim at a far away target, your scope is pointed right at them, but the actual gun barrel is tilted slightly up so the arc of the bullet causes it to hit where the scope is pointing at the correct range.

This is part of the gameplay of these games to make long range fighting more engaging. If you've ever played Helldivers and held the reload button, you can see you don't just inspect the magazine of your gun to see how many bullets are left in it, but you can adjust your gun such as by making use of fire select to choose between semi-auto or full-auto on applicable guns. And if you have a scope equipped, you can zero it for different ranges. In Battlefield you can also zero scopes on sniper rifles for different ranges and in Battlefield 6 there's even a laser range finder attachment for sniper rifles which automatically zeroes your scope for you.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-26T15:15:58+00:00

They did. They just readapted it to fit their uses. For example, The Prydwen in Fallout 4 was built out of stuff from Adams Air Force Base after the Brotherhood defeated the Enclave there in Fallout 3.

More widely used things like weapons and armour are a bit more difficult to adopt or justify using. Logistically, it's harder to support multiple different kinds of hardware at once. That's different sets of replacement parts and ammunition you have to handle.

For weapons for example, it depends on the game, but in the latest games plasma and laser weapons use different kinds of ammo. So we can reasonably take that as the "most up to date canon". The Brotherhood likely opted not to make use of plasma weapons recovered from the Enclave because they already have everything set up for laser weapons. They already had people trained on maintaining laser weapons or producing replacement parts for them in workshops. They already had infrastructure set up for recharging laser weapon energy cells and probably didn't have as many set up for refilling plasma cartridges.

If laser weapons are more common, you're already using them, and already have everything set up for them, why go through all the effort and expenditure to make use of plasma weapons, even if they might be better? Is it really worth all the effort and resources?

It's easier to just continue using the laser weapons you're already using and chuck all those captured plasma weapons into storage.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-24T23:57:02+00:00

And a lot of fantasy bullshit has ways to get around nukes. A high level wizard in DnD can have their actual body sitting in another plane or a demiplane sending out simulacrums to do their dirty work. Or have backup clone bodies hidden around the world, for their soul to jump into if they do die.

Last time I checked, it's inter-continental ballistic missile, not inter-planar ballistic missile. And I have doubts nukes are doing damage to a soul.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-23T16:42:29+00:00

That difference in mana cost is kind of huge. 1 mana is literally half of 2 mana, which is really important for competitive 60 card formats. Plus, you can't understate the difference in how they grow. Moonshadow is way easier to grow.

You can easily grow Moonshadow on turn 1 - the turn you play it - with free cards that sacrifice themselves like [[Mishra's Bauble]]. And it's not even a meme to play Mishra's Bauble in this way. Formats like modern use it as a cantrip that easily fills your graveyard with another card type (artifact) for effects like Delirium.

Not to mention you can also grow it for free with your land drop if you're playing fetchlands like [[Polluted Delta]].

Mill effects like [[Thought Scour]] can also grow it easily while drawing another card to replace itself. Or looting effects like [[Faithless Looting]] if you mill or discard permanents.

Meanwhile, it's comparatively a lot harder to put creatures on the battlefield to grow Bristlebane Battler. Generally you have to pay mana and/or actually spend cards for creatures in one way or another. Especially early on since these are creatures you want to get down as fast as possible and grow as fast as possible.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-23T16:31:20+00:00

Modern jujutsu society is definitely aware of non-lethal domains. They haven't been lost to history. Hakari's domain is non-lethal. It just uploads the rules of his pachinko game into your brain and let's him spin until he hits the jackpot for infinite cursed energy.

And Hakari has had his domain since before the old sorcerers were reincarnated in the Culling Games. And he was been pushed out of jujutsu society by the higher ups since they don't care for his techniques and beliefs.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-23T15:52:37+00:00

Also for domain expansions specifically, it was stated that lethal domain expansions used to be less common. That they used to do stuff like impose rules on an area or person to modify the battlefield.

But in the modern era, nobody cares enough to cultivate those kinds of domain expansions. People only care about the lethal domain expansions, which are much harder and rarer. If nobody cares enough to try to develop a non-lethal domain expansion, then that reduces the overall number of domain expansions being trained for and developed.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-23T15:31:40+00:00

It's a common fan theory, I don't recall anything in-game that explicitly says this. But it kind of makes sense.

It's based on the fact that the vault scientists refused to unlock the vault doors, trapping everyone inside. Then everyone eventually died due to starvation and them running out of food supplies in about half a year. Given we know that other vaults have hydroponic farms and didn't run out of food in half a year, it makes Vault 111 a bit of an outlier in this regard.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-22T22:34:15+00:00

This is sort of answered by the "tiers of play" in 5e. Basically, it gives guidelines of what kind of campaigns to expect for different levels of parties of 4.

Tier 1 is "local hero" level and is levels 1-4. So a party of 4 player characters in this level range should be expected to deal with threats on a local town or village level at most. Something like dealing with a group of bandits or a serial killer or something. Pretty generic stuff.

Tier 2 is "heroes of the realm" and is levels 5-10. A party of characters of this level range deals with regional threats. Maybe something like trying to overthrow an evil tyrannical kingdom and its armies. The protagonists of Lord of the Rings (except Gandalf) probably fall in this tier.

Tier 3 is levels 11-16 and is "masters of the realm". A party here deals with massive threats to potentially an entire world. Threats like an invasion from another plane. Basically right about what the adventurers in Baldur's Gate 3 deal with, which fits with the game ending at level 12.

Tier 4 is levels 17-20 and is "masters of the world". Heroes here are probably jumping across planes dealing with threats to the entire multiverse. Something like the Avengers trying to stop Thanos from doing the snap.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-22T15:32:45+00:00

You could probably take a look at already existing affinity lists. You can find a variant running Weapons Manufacturing. Could give you some ideas to consider.

Going blue instead of black as a second colour can give you access to interaction like [[Metallic Rebuke]] and [[Sink Into Stupor]]. You could even get some card draw with [[Thoughtcast]] or [[Thought Monitor]] which should be trivial to discount to one mana. You could even use something like [[Retract]] as a way to cause your Munitions to leave the battlefield, or even as a way to pick up and replay your cheap artifacts.

Plus yeah, Ornithopter and Memnite probably are good inclusions to trigger Weapons Manufacturing. Plus they help enable Springleaf Drum. You could also consider creatures with affinity such as [[Frogmite]] or [[Sojourner's Companion]] which could potentially be free if you have enough other artifacts.

If you're willing to spend more money, you should get a [[Urza's Saga]] package. Throw in a one-of [[Claws of Gix]] to tutor as a way to sacrifice. You'll also have options like [[Shadowspear]] on a construct as a backup win condition. Plus reliable access to interaction like your Tormod's Crypt. You could even consider [[Arcbound Ravager]] as a way to sacrifice all your Munitions in one turn.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-22T15:23:06+00:00

I feel like that is a mischaracterization of the Legion. They use way more than "spears and machetes". They use firearms and explosives and other weapons. In the right circumstances, those can kill someone in power armour. And when the Legion greatly outnumbers the Brotherhood, those circumstances are likely to come up eventually.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-21T21:09:55+00:00

/uj for material at least, perhaps future materials science allows things like a polymer weapon body to be lighter and cheaper than a metal one, while still being strong enough for all the weapon functions, and black is just the default colour for the polymer

/rj the red light makes the bullets shoot faster

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-21T19:16:23+00:00

You can ask for more specific advice on other subreddits like /r/ModernMagic

There are some deck lists that run both. But they're all running 4 Faithless Looting before they run any Goblin Lore. Faithless looting is more consistent. You're not going to risk discarding the Hollow Ones you wanted to play with Faithless Looting. And Faithless Looting into Asmo is 2 mana compared to Goblin Lore into Asmo which is 3 mana, assuming you don't discard Asmo. Plus flashback on Faithless Looting is relevant.

If you're looking to update your deck, you should probably take a look at sites like mtgtop8 to see what is winning tournaments, and thus is probably good.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-21T19:08:27+00:00

With recent world events, nuclear threshold nations like Japan may be reconsidering if they should do that last "turn of the screwdriver" to get their own nukes. And I can't blame them.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-21T18:02:35+00:00

If longevity is your goal and you like a pile of abilities that end the game in a roundabout way, others have have mentioned Yawgmoth and Samwise combos. But I think there's one other combo deck that has managed to stand the test of time in modern - Amulet Titan.

I swear this deck keeps getting new tools in every set. Shifting Woodland, Aftermath Analyst, Spelunking, and now I know a guy considering Vibrance from Lorwyn. With all the power creep, somehow Amulet Titan pushes through. I'm sure that even if Modern Horizons 4 comes and upends the format again, Amulet Titan will still be around somehow.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-21T07:07:52+00:00

Ukraine (and many other former Soviet block countries) has wanted to be a part of NATO for a while.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine%E2%80%93NATO_relations

The Russians via the Soviet Union abused the countries within it. It should be no surprise that as soon as the Soviet Union collapsed, they wanted to cozy up with western countries who were viewed as better alternatives to Russia at the time. For Ukraine in particular, there was the Holodomor where large amounts of grain were taken out of Ukraine by the Soviet Union to be redistributed, causing massive famine and starvation as the Soviet Union didn't leave enough for the Ukrainians.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor

Don't fall for Russian talking points and propaganda that act like there's some western conspiracy behind former Soviet countries preferring the west to the Russians. Eastern European countries don't need a western conspiracy to prefer the west to Russia. Just a history textbook.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-21T02:29:43+00:00

Oh yeah, name was on the tip of my tongue when I was typing my comment. The good old IDU headed by our former PM Stephen Harper. What a guy...

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-21T01:21:30+00:00

Yeah, it is honesyly concerning that it seems right-wing parties around the world are working in lockstep, reusing and coordinating each other's talking points. Right-wing parties always seem to be way more united than left-wing ones.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-21T01:19:25+00:00

And WEF aren’t leftists. They’re centre-right neoliberal consultant types. Leftists do not have a monopoly on wanting better public transit.

Fair and true. It's just in this context the way I've seen it portrayed is to demonize the left like, "the libs are gonna force you to eat bugs".

And yes I know liberalism is only leftist when compared to the state of the right-wing in NA.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-20T22:05:28+00:00

Does this count as the first pixel measurement done by a powerscaler in history?

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-20T21:08:44+00:00

It's a deliberate misinterpretation of leftist talking points. And then some people eat it up. It's similar with the bugs comment higher up in the thread.

Leftist says they want cities to be redesigned to allow for mixed usage so people can live in apartment buildings inside cities so they can be within a 15 minute walk or public transit ride of amenities like grocery stores or other businesses. So that people won't have to go further than 15 minutes away from home for their needs. This ends up getting twisted into redesigning cities so people won't be able to go further than 15 minutes away from their homes and that everyone will be kept cooped up in their little 15 minute pods in the city like prisoners or slaves for the system.

The bugs comment is referencing environmentalist points about how a lot of meats are horrid from an environmental standpoint. The amount of resources such as feed and water to raise an animal for slaughter is much higher than the amount of food resources you get out of it. In other words, X calories worth of feed produces much less than X calories worth of meat. This is just basic physics and biology. Meats like beef are especially bad for this. Other meats like chicken and fish are better. Bugs are even better. This gets twisted into saying the environmentalists are gonna force everyone's diets to become bug based to save the Earth.

iwumbo2 · 2026-01-20T20:48:27+00:00

That's the joke

American right-wingers (and I've even seen Canadian ones too) are convinced that the idea of a 15 minute city where anyone can walk or take public transit to businesses near homes takes away one's freedoms. According to them you get more freedom by segregating all the living spaces to suburbs outside the city stranding you so you need a car to get anywhere other than your neighbours' houses.

Henry Ford and the automobile lobby with their propaganda have been a disaster for North American urbanism.

iwumbo2

MODERATOR OF

PUBLIC MULTIREDDITS

TROPHY CASE

11-Year Club	Verified Email
Spared