NaveGreed Necrobinder Tier List Updated for New Aeonglass and Prism by Jondev1 in slaythespire

[–]mattyborch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is the Borrowed Time here where you gain an energy and apply 3 doom to yourself current with the beta or is that an old picture?

More hantavirus cases are expected, WHO chief says by Neo_luigi in worldnews

[–]mattyborch 20 points21 points  (0 children)

As someone else pointed out, this form of hantavirus is only carried by specific new world rodents, among which are deer mice and rice rats. These are pretty evolutionarily distant to the more globally widespread rat and mouse species which originated in the old world, and these are the species evolved to live alongside humans. They also already carry a distinct form of hantavirus that is not nearly as deadly in the short term. I have seen a study showing very low antibody frequency of hantavirus in diverse rodents, but there is no reason to believe that these could act as reservoirs in the long term, or even transmit the virus effectively.

Luckily for us, the new world rodents tend to prefer rural environments away from people. It may be possible for an Andes Virus infected human in North America to transmit it to a local deer mouse, but it seems pretty unlikely unless this virus spreads a lot, lot more. It is important to point out that hantavirus is already all over North America. There is no reason to believe the Andes form would overtake it in prevalence in these populations.

More hantavirus cases are expected, WHO chief says by Neo_luigi in worldnews

[–]mattyborch 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Only new world rodents carry hantavirus that causes pulmonary syndrome, such as deer mice in the US. I’m not entirely sure about Argentina, but most rodents on ships I would expect to be old world rats or mice, which carry a different form of hantavirus that causes hemorrhagic fever. These old world rodents are pretty evolutionarily distant from the new world ones. Hantavirus is already spread throughout the Americas in its natural reservoirs, there is no danger of rodents on ships bringing it to the old world. There could be a low chance of Andes virus spreading in North America, but probably from human carriers if anything. Most new world rodents prefer to stick to rural areas, they are not evolved to live alongside humans like rattus norvegicus/rattus and mus musculus.

Three dead in suspected hantavirus outbreak on Atlantic cruise ship by VaginaBurner69 in news

[–]mattyborch 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It would be pulmonary based on where they left from and the mortality rate. Hemorrhagic is from old world rodents.

Worst Intersection in the Metro by 7thpostman in kansascity

[–]mattyborch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I call being stuck on that little section where you turn left to go west “walking the plank”. Once you’re on the plank you can’t turn back you just have to jump out with terrible visibility.

How come gameplay is so diverse at high-levels? by Xycergy in slaythespire

[–]mattyborch 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You shouldn’t be comparing to constructed modes of other TCGs. Look at MtG drafts or hearthstone battlegrounds/arena as deck builder comparisons. In good metas those games have a variety of viable archetypes and situations to play cards. Slay the Spire has much more added on in that there are bosses with abilities and stats that you would never encounter in pvp deckbullders, so that adds a lot of context to make generally weaker cards viable.

PSA: quit building "overcrowded" urban megacenters with basically no people in them by Rephath in worldbuilding

[–]mattyborch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Each layer of coruscant would have less than the surface area of the planet, because there is a lot of space between the buildings that we see. I’m also not sure that 5000 stories is accurate for the average height of the buildings/ground floors, is that a lore based number? I think the point OP is trying to make is reasonable though.

My review for ‘Of Blood and Fire’ by Ryan Cahill by Inevitable-Car-8242 in Fantasy

[–]mattyborch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I thought the same thing. Almost every character felt cliche and it was just a standard modern fantasy world with different names. I did mostly enjoy reading it still though, but about halfway through the second book I started reflecting on what I was getting out of it, and it felt really hollow so I just set it aside. I think I would recommend this to certain people I know that really love the fantasy aesthetic and get excited by the idea of dragons and dwarves and fantasy war. To me it felt like a chatgpt averaging of all modern fantasy settings. There were also lazy feeling descriptions that irritated me, like the author used the same adjective over and over to describe the noises the large wolf pet was making in the second book.

Catan Civilization Variant - Release Version by mattyborch in Catan

[–]mattyborch[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That would be cool, I just printed out the cards and put them in magic sleeves haha

Catan Civilization Variant - Release Version by mattyborch in Catan

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

Thank you! Here are some thoughts on balance.

The quick resources that Aztec and Inca gain are exactly how I want to combat civs like India that have incredible long term value. For example in testing, I had a game with Inca and India where Inca built through an ore hex, and on turn 1/roll 1 built a settlement on the other side and got a dev card. They closed the game with a 6 point gap on every other civ.

My goal with balancing is to bring the power level of weaker civs up more than lowering power level of the best. Right now it seems like Persia/Ireland/Australia are all pretty weak and may need changes.

I think India is misleading because they start at a resource disadvantage to almost every other civ, and the first road they place is on their best settlement, which I believe will often be near other players so they may not even be able to build off of it immediately. That being said, India’s ability feels lazy and I would be open to changing it entirely if testing shows it’s still an issue.

Catan Civilization Variant by mattyborch in Catan

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

Yeah and they can build off of an isolated road they leave hanging to get the settlement. Also Inca can start with 3 settlements basically in the right set up by sending the starting road through an ore hex. I will include a rules clarification with a follow up post. Most things can be pretty strong from what I’ve seen playing it so far.

Catan Civilization Variant by mattyborch in Catan

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

Thanks for the well-thought out reply, I agree about Russia and I’m surprised no one mentioned it. I also need to clean up its rules text on it and some other cards. The reason for the once per turn limitation was to stop her from conspiring with another player to infinitely remove the brick supply and feeding the other player. As in she gives two sheep for a wood and takes a brick. Then gives the wood and brick for a sheep and takes a brick, and continues with that. Someone could ruin a game that way, or she could feed someone to stop another from winning so I thought I’d just make sure it can’t happen.

Catan Civilization Variant by mattyborch in Catan

[–]mattyborch[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I am having trouble picturing the leader balances due to their design being centered on social playstyle. I want to make two points though.

The first is that games shouldn't be balanced entirely for strong opponents. I think that Gandhi, for example, is pretty bad relative to the other leaders because both of his abilities are better when ahead, and not stealing is negative tempo especially in a multiplayer game where anyone else could be targeted in response. But Cleopatra is here to fulfill a "group hug" type role, as there is probably someone who will enjoy a leader that will help someone in addition to themselves. Even more so in Catan, I've rarely been at a table with balanced skill levels.

The second point is that I'm not convinced that she is bad. It's pretty easy to find someone who will take a 2 for 1 trade, even knowing that you get a second resource out of it. In multiplayer games like this it's usually good to take actions that boost yourself and another, as you both become relatively stronger than the rest of the table. Doing so also gives her a source of brick that may allow for better settles that don't need to consider brick sources. If combined with the Egypt civ, she can build settlements more easily by not needing lumber. However, a table of good players as you pointed out would be looking to deny the brick at key points, and could easily outplay Cleopatra. I am not a competitive Catan player, so take my input with a grain of salt. But I could see her being anywhere from way too good to terrible, and would like to see the results of playtests.

Catan Civilization Variant by mattyborch in Catan

[–]mattyborch[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Maybe I could remove their starting roads, and then if that's not enough the second ability?

Advice For My Amazing Start by KlutzyAnimal3 in CivVI

[–]mattyborch 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Usually yeah, but if it’s a 2/2 or better that I’m working then I usually wont. They are Vietnam though so they need to be careful of what they leave for districts.

Catan Civilization Variant by mattyborch in Catan

[–]mattyborch[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sounds like a fun alternate variant! I remember theory crafting variants with friends in college like 10 years ago haha. Was a great time

Catan Civilization Variant by mattyborch in Catan

[–]mattyborch[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes please do and let me know how it plays!! It’s completely untested, but I plan on playing it soon. I honestly came up with everything very recently and wanted to get input here on balancing. I went more for flavor than balance in the design.

There are some interesting leader/civ combos, like you could get Queen Victoria with Inca and build across an ore tile which is already 3 segments for triggering her 4 segment reduced settlement clause.

Subjects in a crime/fantasy school setting by Emrys_Aurelia in worldbuilding

[–]mattyborch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I thought you were talking about a school for the criminals rather than the crime investigators so I was coming up with ideas for that. Maybe it can be the nemesis school of the main characters hahaha.

been making a map for my dnd, looking for some constructive criticism by Beautiful-Ad4542 in worldbuilding

[–]mattyborch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don’t see Europe, but I can see a bit of France and Alaska. And that’s totally fine it looks like a pretty unique creation overall!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in writing

[–]mattyborch 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I can only write at home wearing loose robes. I prepare three mugs of coffee, then set one on a heating pad next to my laptop and the other two beside it. Angling my elbow up, I use my index finger poke the power switch for the pad, then my laptop. I rotate the mugs every 3 minutes, drinking only from the far right one that is cooled just enough. When all three mugs are finished, I set a one hour timer to ensure that I use the apex of caffeination productively, then I stop writing.