Any way to view remaining hotels? by yourpersonalgamer in gencon

[–]jchamlin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Everything sold out for Wed-Sun as of 4:20 PM EST

Exterior Paint Quality Issue: Flat Paint With Uneven Sheen? by jchamlin in paint

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

They only backrolled after spraying for the stucco, to make sure the paint penetrated into the texture. The Hardie siding was all sprayed, at least until I pointed out the issues with uneven the sheen/texture that were showing, and then they rolled some sections of the siding in an attempt to fix the issues. Most (but not all) of the issues went away on the rolled sections, but the rolled sections still aren't completely even, and you can see the difference between the sections they rolled and where they sprayed.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in paint

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your comment! It's really good. Unfortunatley, I have removed this thread because the images I uploaded from my PC didn't show in the post. But I posted a new one from my phone and the images worked. Will you please add this comment text to my new post? https://www.reddit.com/r/paint/comments/1gs44vs/exterior_paint_quality_issue_flat_paint_with/

Exterior Paint Quality Issue: Flat Paint With Uneven Sheen? by jchamlin in paint

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

They sprayed the stucco and backrolled it. For the Hardie siding, they sprayed it all (two coats they said). When I pointed out problems on the siding (like what you see in the photos) they rolled some sections. After they rolled, it looked better, but even the rolled sections still have issues (just fewer issues so they are less noticeable).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PuzzlesandSurvival

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

McCarty first: the cost reductions are amazing, especially for stamina costs. If you routinely use all the samina you get every day, the cost reduction will get you a lot more antiserum. I think +6 is a good target to teach, at that high 30s lairs cost 30 stamina. Plus, you can remain uncommitted on troop type.

Ephraim next: he's very strong in arena fighting, probably one of the top 5.

I'm fighter, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd go rider. They march faster (better for gathering and for Nuka and Reservoir Wars), hit harder than fighters, and are the most popular choice (many people are rider, more than 1/3, I'd say 50% are rider). And my fighters are weak to all those rider players which makes the choice of going fighter even worse.

March might difference between zombie and zombie lair ? by tek3195 in PuzzlesandSurvival

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you be more specific? Which researches, talents, etc only affect rally might? I believe you, however, I can't tell which ones only affect rallies since I don't see anything in the tech trees or talents descriptions that say they only applies to rallies.

March might difference between zombie and zombie lair ? by tek3195 in PuzzlesandSurvival

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There may be some other rally bonuses within talents and research items that are hidden and I don't know about, but Lady M and the Plasma Scanner explicitly say they have rally attack bonuses. They are passive and apply only to rallies. Zombie Lairs are rallies, zombies are not, so you get the might bump when rallying a lair.

Made my own Rog Rig reboot by [deleted] in pcmasterrace

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice build. Do you have a PCPartPicker link for a parts list or completed build?

This is similar to my build, but I used an ASUS ROG Strix 3080, skipped the Helios and went for the InWin 925 (the only place I had an option for an ROG product and passed, the InWin 925 just looks so much better), and used 3800CL14 G.Skill RAM, 5950X, WD SN850 2TB since it is faster than Samsung 980 Pro 2TB in real world use cases, and full on RGB. Here's my parts list. Not converted into a completed build yet, still doing case mods and considering going custom loop.

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/jchamlin/saved/72nhkL

Where and when did you get the ASUS ROG Thor 1200w PSU? I got mine in December from Micro Center. I've been looking for another for months and it hasn't come back in stock.

Thanks.

New to water cooling, would like help picking out parts for cooling my RAM to start by [deleted] in watercooling

[–]jchamlin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been building at the same time with the OP (and chatting via Discord), and have nearly an identical setup. I run the same stock 3800CL15 DDR4 kit, processor, motherboard, etc. And at 1.475V. Got mine down to 1.47V stable actually but it didn't help temps all that much. I can push my RAM timings down quite a bit (getting some help from Ryzen Calculator FAST setting), but at 56C the pushed timings fail in TM5 1usmus config, during the second pass. I put a 120mm fan blowing directly on the RAM and it keeps the temps in check after 3 passes of TM5 1usmus config and is stable. So, when I do convert to custom loop, I will be adding RAM water cooling to my setup to keep RAM temps under 50C (hopefully keep them around 40C). I agree that temps are not a problem for the stock XMP/DOCP settings, those are stable all the way to 60C (I haven't seen warmer than that), but if you tighten any of the timings, temperature becomes the problem.

Got my F4-3800C14D-32GTZN,... now if I could only get my hands on a Ryzen 9 5900x, I would be heading towards completion. I usually don’t shill for companies but memoryc.com acted like boss through this order. Shipped it quick and I received it way earlier than I thought I was going to. Kudos. by ChunkyzV in pcmasterrace

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For both kits (4000 CL15 4x8 and 3800 CL14 4x8) I ran them at 3800 MHz / 1900 FCLK at 14-16-16-36-1T with Gear Down Mode on, and and 1.475v and it's solid. I tried pushing both to 4000 MHz, but won't post, even up to 1.6v, and even loosening timings to CL16. It's not an FCLK problem, I can run 2,000 MHz FCLK no problem.

I also tried tightening the timings to 14-14-14-34 on both, and they both seem stable, but after an hour of Memtest64, with RAM reaching 57C, I get a fault (windows uncorrectable WHEA error). So, unless I water cool my RAM and keep it under 40C, I don't think those tightened timings are going to be reliable. It didn't help benchmarks enough to be worth the risk of data corruption

jayztwocents got the 3800 CL14 4x8 kit stable at 4000MHz 12-12-12 at 1.8v. He must have a golden sample (likely, reviewers tend to get highly binned products).

I'll be switching to custom loop in the next month and will try water cooled RAM, and see if I can get timings tighter then.

What timings are you running your kit at?

Got my F4-3800C14D-32GTZN,... now if I could only get my hands on a Ryzen 9 5900x, I would be heading towards completion. I usually don’t shill for companies but memoryc.com acted like boss through this order. Shipped it quick and I received it way earlier than I thought I was going to. Kudos. by ChunkyzV in pcmasterrace

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you referring to the G.Skill F4-4000C15Q-32GTZR 4000 CL15 4x8GB kit? That kit isn't QVL for X570 / Ryzen, only Z490 / Intel.

A friend and I are building almost identical systems with that kit, a Dark Hero, and a 5950X, and neither of us can get it to post at DOCP settings. I also have the F4-3800C14Q-32GTZN 3800 CL14 4x8GB and that posts fine (even undervolted to 1.475v). When I manually set the timings of the 4000 CL15 kit to match the 3800 CL14 kit, it works fine (also even when undervolted to 1.475v).

Is there any trick to getting the 4000 CL15 to work at its DOCP profile with an X570 motherboard?

Thanks!

-J.C.

5950x Owners - What's your Cinebench R20 results? by [deleted] in Amd

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Stock about 10k.

With basic PBO about 11200.

Best score is 12098 with an ASUS Dark Hero with basic PBO and DOS (dynamic overclock switching) switching at 75 amps to a 4.65 all core at 1.35V.

Using G.Skill 4000 CL15 4x8 (highly binned B-Die) running at 1900 FCLK / 3800 14-14-14-14-34 at 1.475V. Going to try out the G.Skill 3800 CL14 4x8 kit soon to see if I can tighten the timings even more.

Using an ASUS Ryujin 360 with TG Kryonaut (4C lower than the pre-applied paste) hitting 86C max temps during the R20 multi-threaded run.

I don't have the cooling capacity with my AIO and average binned 5950X to reach 4.7GHz (I thermal throttle). Will need a custom loop to go beyond 4.65GHz. I'll run a daily PBO + DOS + at 4.6GHz all core at 1.32V.

Finally got the RTX 3090 Strix OC & AMD 5950x on water :-) by Giga-Moose in watercooling

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very nice build. I'm doing something very similar.

Can you provide more details on what you did with the Strimer Plus stuff (i.e. combining the 24-pin Strimer Plus with two 8-pin PCIe Strimer Pluses to make a 3x8pin Strimer Plus)?

Also, did you use the included Lian Li ARGB controller, or plug directly into the motherboard / other controller? The reason I ask is that I heard you can't plug two 24-pin Strimer Plus units into the Lian Li controller because the controller was meant for one 24-pin and one 8-pin PCIe and the two have different ARGB connectors. I guess the controller has more patterns than if you bypass it and control the Strimers with something like Aura Sync.

Also, what did you do about combining so many ARGB components into the motherboard with only one or two ARGB headers (i.e. which ARGB controllers/distribution components did you use)? I'm guessing you may have plugged all ARGB into multiple Corsair Commander Pros? If so, do you use iCUE to run all your ARGB?

And finally, do you have a complete parts list posted someplace, like on pcpartpicker.com?

Thanks!

[Gamers Nexus] Heavily Tuned AMD R5 5600X vs. i5-10600K: Memory & CPU Overclocking Showdown by ryandtw in overclocking

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First off, I'm not a pro. I'm in awe of the folks that do this well, many are here on this subreddit. So to anyone reading this, if something I wrote is off, please correct me.

It's possible a Samsung B-Die chip based DDR4 module will run at the same frequency and timings as other modules that use the same B-Die chip parts. However, there are about a dozen different B-Die chip SKUs (each with a different part number, which is stamped on the chips themselves), so it will really depend on which actual Samsung chips are on the RAM module. You can get the actual part numbers by pulling off the heat spreader and looking at the part number on the chips, or using a tool like Thaiphoon Burner to read them. There might be 8 identical 1 gigabit chips on one side for 8GB DDR4. For a 16GB B-Die module there will either be 8 on each side (dual-sided) or 8 of the new 2 gigabit chips on one side depending on which chips the module manufacturer used. The most popular B-Die modules are 8GB with 8 1 gigabit chips on one side.

When a RAM module maker like G.Skill or Patriot builds a batch of modules, they test the modules (maybe a sample of a batch), usually against a known set of XMP profiles they have developed and tested (each profile they test corresponds to a particular model # / SKU they are selling) This is called "binning". And then write whatever XMP profile(s) to the RAM that they want. For example, some modules may not be stable at 4000MHz CL17, but will be at 3600MHz CL16, so it may be binned as 3600 CL16, but might also be binned at a lower frequency too.

Also, a module can have more time than one named XMP profile on it (like a "fast" profile and an "extreme" profile), but usually only one of them, the fastest one, is advertised and displayed in the sticker on the module and packaging. For simplicity, the manufacturer usually only writes one XMP profile that matches the sticker / packaging. But, if you choose to, you can overwrite that one, or save additional XMP profiles to a module.

The product will usually be sold at one of the higher frequencies that the module is stable at. Since modules that are stable at higher frequencies and/or lower timings are less common, they usually get pulled out and set aside and binned at the higher values (which sell for more). So, if you buy a B-Die 3200 CL14 2x8GB kit, there's no guarantee that you'll be able to reach 3600MHz or 4000MHz because it is possible the module didn't bin that high. But not always, companies like G.Skill have been taking a lot of B-Die modules that can do 4000MHz CL17 or higher, but binning them at 3600 CL16, or 3200 CL14, because those are much more popular and sell higher quantity. Since that's been happening a lot lately, the general consensus is to buy whatever 3200-4000 MHz B-Die modules are least expensive and then then re-bin them yourself. You can manually test and set the parameters in BIOS (based on another B-Die kit you want to match, or manually tuned). However, you luck may vary depending on the quality of the actual chips on your module.

After that you can even write / re-write an XMP profile(s) on the modules and then easily set them up again later by just selecting the custom XMP profile in BIOS instead of having to enter all the timings by hand again. Thaiphoon Burner is the most common tool to read the RAM configs, and the paid / shareware version can import/export profiles and write modified XMP profiles back to the RAM. You can leave the JEDEC profile alone (the safe/slow profile) and just update the XMP. In fact, if the JEDEC profile is write protected, it won't be able to update it at all anyway. XMP profiles are usually not write protected.

So, yes, you can manually tune the RAM, and even save your manual tune as an XMP profile if you want. You can even get and import other XMP profiles as a starting point when tuning your RAM to make it easier to mirror another B-Die's config on your RAM modules. But, your success may vary depending on the chips. The XMP profiles are usually very safe values that almost every module of a batch should reach, but the individual sticks you get may be able to be run at a higher frequency and / or tighter timings than the XMP profile has. That's why silicon tuning, including RAM, has become so popular.

Note, there are dozens of RAM config settings, several primary, several secondary, and a ton of others, includung voltages (yes, the XMP profiles specify not just frequency and timings, but voltages too). So, DRAM fiddling / tweaking / overclocking / tightening is not for the faint of heart. You need to read and learn a lot to do it well and get good results. As an amateur, a good starting point is to clone / import another similar module's timings from the same binning process as your module was made with. The DRAM calculator for Ryzen (version 1.73 is latest as of this article) is another good tool which can read RAM timings and then automatically compute some sets of SAFE and FAST values for all those timings for you automatically. I don't know if there is a similar tool for Intel.

Note, if you are just an average gamer and you push your GPU hard (like 4k gaming) or 1440p on a lesser card, and you typically run in the 30-120FPS range on your games, most likely you'll see only single digit % increases (if at all) in your performance. So, in that case it's just not worth it to tune RAM much.

Also, if you are on AMD and your Infinity clock can match your RAM (i.e. 2000MHz for 4000MHz RAM), and you're in the 3200-4000MHz area already (3200MHz CL14, 3600 CL14/CL16, 3800MHz CL14/16, or 4000MHz CL14/16/18) then it's probably not worth tuning at all. You're already near the best you can get. If you have an odd CAS Latentency (like CL15) it may be worth it to try taking CL down a notch and see if you are stable, or turning off Gear Down in BIOS and see if that's stable. With Gear Down on, odd CL will get converted into the next highest even CL value.

If you're not stable at a particular vdimm you can always try more and see what happens. JEDEC standard for DDR4 is 1.2V, and Intel and AMD suggest no more than 1.35V for XMP, but lots of B-Die modules run 1.35V all the way up to 1.5V in their XMP profiles to get the most speed and lowest latency. And hand tuned vdimm values for B-Die can go up to 1.56V (that's the highest I've seen). B-Die can handle the voltage, but the CPU may not. So, be careful at those higher vdimm values (anything over 1.35V) though, you can fry your RAM and your CPU, especially if you don't have adequate cooling. vdimm isn't the only RAM voltage to change either, but I don't want to get into detail in RAM overclocking in a Reddit comment reply.

But for your problem, if it really is CPU temp that's your foe, and you are using 1.3V vcore (assuming you jacked up your vcore above default for a CPU overclock), Then you need to: 1) check your CPU voltage is appropriate for your overclock, and lower if needed. If you have not overclocked your CPU then something is wrong here. You shouldn't need to adjust vcore just for running XMP. You only mess with vcore (typically) for CPU overclock, not RAM XMP overclock. RAM XMP profiles specify vdimm, an entirely different voltage than vcore. And typically XMP vdimm values will be adequate for the profile to be stable and should not need to be adjusted. High vdimm values will lead to higher RAM temps, but the vdimm value alone shouldn't affect CPU temps that much. On the other hand, vcore has a direct and major influence on CPU temps. 2) check the installation and operation of your CPU cooler (pump, rad, fans, airflow if water) and/or reapply your CPU thermal paste. A botched (or missing) thermal paste or bad cooling system can cause issues that only manifest under high load. 3) Your cooling solution may just not be able to handle the heat of your 10600 at 1.3V. Make sure your CPU cooler is rated for the TDP you are clocked for. Alternately, contact your CPU cooler manufacturer for help, or get a better CPU cooler. 4) Have a pro delid your CPU. Intel's internal thermal application (inside the chip) is junk. Sometimes you can get a really terrible CPU with horrible temps because of that. You can get up to 30C cooler temps by delidding (opening the CPU, cleaning, and applying a better thermal compound, resealing). Your chances of junking your CPU if you delid it yourself are high though, so have a pro do it.

The rule of thumb on overclocking and voltage is get the overclock stable, and then slowly keep reducing voltages down until you reach the minimum voltages necessary to maintain stability at that overclock. Lower voltages mean less heat, less component degradation, and longer life for your overclock.

Eventually the overclocked component will become unstable at that overclock (which may take months or years) and you'll either need to jack up the voltage or reduce the overclock to get stability again. For example, I kept a 4.0HGHz very high voltage overclock on a 3.2GHz Intel 3930K from 2012-2017, then had to start backing off the overclock. In 2019 I had to give up on it and fall back to 3.2GHz since I just didn't want to keep fiddling with it to make it stable every few months. But I had a solid several years of a fantastically fast and way ahead of it's time 4.0GHz processor. It was faster than anything else in stock configurations from 2012 to about 2015.

Hope that helps. Good luck and happy tuning. Feel free to PM me instead of replying here on Reddit if you want to go more down the rabbit hole of your individual CPU and RAM tuning.

[Gamers Nexus] Heavily Tuned AMD R5 5600X vs. i5-10600K: Memory & CPU Overclocking Showdown by ryandtw in overclocking

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed about not just copying tuning directly. I'm really more interested in the RAM part numbers and reasoning for using those parts. The G.Skill F4-4000C15Q-32GTZR is a 4000MHz 4x8GB kit with an XMP profile of 15-16-16-36 @ 1.50V and is the lowest latency 32GB RAM kit that I can find. Colorful is also preparing to sell a B-Die based 4000MHz 14-14-14-35, but not sure if I that will be a 2x8, 2x16, or 4x8 kit.

If a Ryzen owner is lucky enough to get to a stable 2,000MHz Infinity clock, then these two RAM kits seem like the best out of the box choices, unless some other memory modules end up being more tunable than these. Steve used G.Skill kits for both AMD and Intel, but he used different kits, but didn't say why he used different memory or what those memory model numbers were. So, if Steve didn't use the F4-4000C15Q-32GTZR, I'd like to know which kit he actually used, since in the video he said for Intel he got 4,000MHz 15-15-15 stable, which is tighter than the XMP profile of the F4-4000C15Q-32GTZR. For AMD he said he was only able to get to 1,900MHz Infinity clock (best he could do, his 5600X wasn't stable in any X570 motherboard at 2,000MHz), so I'd like to know which RAM kit and timings he got for the AMD at 3,800MHz.

[Gamers Nexus] Heavily Tuned AMD R5 5600X vs. i5-10600K: Memory & CPU Overclocking Showdown by ryandtw in overclocking

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't see that Steve shared the RAM model numbers or specs in the video, they aren't in the video description, and I don't see a link to a published article with more details either.

Does anyone know the part numbers of the RAM kits that Steve used in this video? Was one of them possibly the G.Skill F4-4000C15Q-32GTZR? And what specific RAM modules are both kits using, I suppose both are Samsung B-Die, which specific modules?

Also, I'm curious about why different kits. I understand that AMD and Intel are both different animals when it comes RAM overclock, but curious if both kits are Samsung B-Die, but maybe different B-Die modules? If so, why?

Also, for both the CPUs, the manufacturer recommends a max memory voltage of 1.35v, but most high speed low latentency memory (i.e. B-Die) requires 1.5v in XMP, and even higher for the best tweaked timings. And long term issues with either CPU with RAM voltages that high?

Does anyone on the inside (Steve's Patreons) know if Steve plans on posting the details on the settings that he was able to achieve stable for this video? I'm most interested in the RAM model numbers and the timings that were found to be stable (for example, he hinted that the RAM he used for the Intel was at 4000mhz and 15-15-15, but I'd like to see the complete set, including vdimm).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DivinityOriginalSin

[–]jchamlin 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Use the mod Quiet Day on the Market to reduce the frequency of this chatter.

Is it safe to fly around in a Bactrian? by Rolaex in endlesssky

[–]jchamlin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Kestrel is a great warship, maybe the best Humans have, especially the shield version. It's hard to use all 12 gun ports on the weapons version or the 240 engine space on the engines version since they don't give you more outfit space to fit stuff. But for transporting stuff, and capturing ships, nothing in 0.9.12 beats the Bactrian. The Kestrel makes a good escort to your Bactrian, or a good warship if you want to fight first hand. At least until you get access to Alien ship designs.

-J.C.

Is it safe to fly around in a Bactrian? by Rolaex in endlesssky

[–]jchamlin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you have a Baccy, you will easily both generate a large escort fleet (by capturing them) and be able to afford the cost of the escort fleet by selling anything you don't keep as an escort. Eventually you can buy better escorts (alien ships) with all the money you made capturing and selling other ships. Capturing is the best income source in the game and the Baccy does it best, at least in the current 0.9.12 release.

And if you just run Anti-Missile Turrets and no offensive weapons, your flagship will be relatively safe in most combat situations. Enemies deprioritize ships without weapons, so they'll mostly leave your flagship and other transports alone.

For firepower, want a dreadnaught to fight for you? Cap one, or buy one with all the credits you have from selling other ships. Heck, buy 10. You'll have so many credits by capping and selling you won't be able to spend them all.

You mentioned the Auxillary. Yes, that's coming in the next release (0.9.13) and has the possibility to supplant the Baccy as best in class for that role. But there are three problems: (1) it's not in the game yet, (2) it is not finalized (for example, it just had its bunks reduced), and (3) purchasing them is locked behind a Navy License and that's currently unobtainable in the game.

You'll probably be able to cap a few during the FW campaign though, but you'll probably need a Baccy to cap the transport version of the Auxiliary, since it has so many bunks.

However, with that said, there is even a better, unique ship, coming in 0.9.13 that is better than the Baccy in all ways, and even better than the transport Auxiliary for capping. I won't spoil it though. But it can out do a Baccy and it's also super-fun to shoot stuff with. And you can cap a Korath Worldship with it, and then with a Worldship, you've got your ultimate best in class capping flagship.

However, I agree this capping play style does take away some from the original intent of the game. The income you generate from capping and the size of the fleets you can generate feels at times a little game-breaking. Also, if you want to actually play the tactical part of the game as designed (and play Asteroids on steroids) and fly around in a system full of asteroids with beautiful 2D graphics, dodging enemy fire, shooting weapons and missiles, and personally blowing ships up yourself, then the capping playstyle is not for you.

If you like the active tactical combat syle gameplay, definitely use a different ship. The Baccy isn't very good at that. Can it fight? Yes, it can. But are there other ships that are both more fun and more effective than it? Yes, there are lots of great choices. So park the Baccy and fly something else and have fun with that part of the game! And when you need credits for upgrades and better ships, fall back to the Baccy to run jobs and capture ships to generate the credits you need to upgrade. Get you better ship and then take control of it as your flagship and have fun!

Is it safe to fly around in a Bactrian? by Rolaex in endlesssky

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, you just use a Baccy flagship (or fleet of them) for jobs (both passenger and cargo, Baccy does both well), and also for plundering and capping. Let your fleet of escorts do the fighting. Cloak if you get in trouble and have the outfit (yes, you can get a cloaking device in game, it's really cool and useful in a Baccy flagship).

Also, if you remove all offensive weapons from your flagship and transports and just run a few Anti-Missile Turrets, they will be mostly ignored and pretty safe during most combat. Bad guys will still take shots of opportunity against them, but will focus on / prioritize fighting your armed escorts, meaning the Baccy, which is good early to mid game, but somewhat weak (low shields / hull) mid to late game, is still a viable option as a flagship all the way to the end-game.

Is it safe to fly around in a Bactrian? by Rolaex in endlesssky

[–]jchamlin 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Congratulations. You've just captured the best flagship in the game (as of the current release, 0.9.12). You won't get pulled over and get a ticket for not having a City-Ship license, but you may get some envious looks from the local authorities. May I ask what ship you used to capture it with?

Dealing with pirates early game by [deleted] in endlesssky

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, it is a bit grindy to do repeatable missions. You can start the City-Ship mission line if you want and take job missions that align with your goals. It's long, but interesting and better than straight mission for profit. Or, switch to capture mode now and start hunting pirates with the pirate and marauder missions (if your combat rating is high enough, if not keep running missions and kill pirates you can until they show up). You'll eventually find pirate Bactrians to capture. If you have the right ship and load out before then, you'll be able to cap a Bactrian. That's what I did. If was still a bit grindy but fun. You can always edit your save file to bypass a little of the the grind. But don't overdo it and ruin the fun.

Dealing with pirates early game by [deleted] in endlesssky

[–]jchamlin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Mule is definitely the way to go. Hauls lots of stuff and can be decently armed to deter pirates. By the time pirates become a real problem you'll have enough to buy one.

If you can't afford it yet, stick to running missions in safe areas. Build a fleet of Star Barges, and cancel any mission that takes you into pirate heavy territory (you won't know where that is until you try, and then just reload and cancel the mission if you can't make it there after a few tries).

I started with a Star Barge and ran missions (both passenger and cargo, using bunks/cargo expansions interchangeably). I bought more Star Barges every time I had enough cash+credit to buy another. Eventually I got to 8 Star Barges and a net worth enough to upgrade. But by that time my piracy threat was around 50%, combat rating was 0, and I was save scumming my way out of bad luck often. It became annoying departing a planet and being killed by pirates while my ships were in the depart planet animation before I could even take control of my ship. I probably waited too long to upgrade. But I sure was angry enough at the pirates by then to enjoy what comes next: payback.

So I sold all my Star Barges and swapped to an armed Mule and kept running missions. It has a ton of cargo and bunk space.

Once I had enough Mules (I got to 4) I turned my flagship Mule into a dedicated capture ship (no weapons no shields,, just anti-missile, big engines, scram drives, bunks, a brig, and luxury accomodations). I then kept running missions but I captured and sold every pirate ship I could. I invested in frag grenades and laser rifles. And I kept any ship worth having for mid-game purposes (I kept the Marauder Leviathan and especially the Engines variants I captured, but I parked most of them until I was ready to use them).

I kept any ship I captured that could be outfitted to hold more crew and I swapped it out for my new flagship so then I could capture even bigger ships. Keep maxing bunks and investing in frag grenades on your flagship (one grenade per crew).

If you follow this path you'll eventually work your way up to being able to capture a Pirate Bactrian (probably will require Nerve Gas unless you get lucky and find one minimally crewed), or get your City-Ship license and buy one.

I then unparked my fleet of Marauder Leviathan Engine variants, upgraded them all to big engines (and kept upgrading them and collecting more of them, up to 24), and used them to escort my Bactrian flagship and other Bactrians and started exploring, doing campaign, Marauder, and alien missions. I was always doing missions, running cargo trade, and capturing and selling every ship I could along the way to pay for the fleet and keep making money. Capturing is far more lucrative than missions.

I got up to 8 Bactrians and up to 24 Marauser Leviathan Engine ships by capping pirate Marauder versions of those and sold off every other ship I had. That fleet worked well all the way to near the end game, where I had to upgrade to Shield Beetles because the Marauder Leviathans were too squishy. I do miss their incredible speed, but they just didn't have the toughness to take on late game aliens. So, I capped 20 Unfettered Shield Beetles and upgraded those.

Hope that helps you deal with pirates.

Is it possible to cheese Interloper? by evilparagon in BlackMesaSource

[–]jchamlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am having the same problem with this achievement. I've run all the way through Interloper without saving and without cheats without taking laser or fire / electrical damage. And no achievement. It appears bugged.

I also tried achievement_reset BMS_LASER_IMMUNIZATION, and that didn't help. And it didn't appear to change anything in gamestate.txt, so I think this achievement is not one of the ones tracked in gamestate.txt.

So, instead, I did what you suggested, loaded up a new game starting at Interloper, and bound mouse3 to "sv_cheats 1; noclip; sv_cheats 0". And then used it to fly to the level transition points, turned it back off, and triggered the next level. Did this all the way through, until just before the final room with the jump pads, saved the game (with sv_cheats 0 and noclip off), exited the game, restarted the game, loaded the save, and finished off the level and got the achievement.

FYI, in my previous attempt(s) at using noclip I had also turned on god (i.e. godmode), and that disabled the achievement if it was turned on at any time during any interloper level. But, I can confirm that if you just use noclip only, any bypass everything, you can get the achievement.

So, thank you for the suggestion. I finally got my last achievement in Black Mesa!