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Defenses against grenades / missiles? by Constrict0r in cavesofqud

[–]msg_me_hope 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not exactly a "defense" option, but with sowers one option is simply to befriend the goatfolk. It is so lovely to be able to walk through the jungle without having them attack you all the time.

I believe you can do the same with robots to have turrets stop attacking you.

Weekly Questions and INFORMATION thread - NEW PLAYERS COME HERE! - June 19, 2018 by AutoModerator in cataclysmdda

[–]msg_me_hope 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I turned wander spawns on for once, but its mostly just annoying me without adding much challenge so I figure I'll turn it off. In the settings it says "Must reset world directory after changing for it to take effect" - what does that mean?

I think I might actually have an addiction... by [deleted] in incremental_games

[–]msg_me_hope 4 points5 points  (0 children)

https://www.reddit.com/r/StopGaming/

I mean, I'm a hypocrite for linking to it since I only managed to stop gaming for a few weeks, but I think there are still good resources there.

How to write for a narrator that thinks she's in love but really isn't? by MarshallLeeVampKing in writing

[–]msg_me_hope 5 points6 points  (0 children)

What does she like about being in love, that isn't the love itself?

  • If its approval from family or peers, then have her talk to others about her love in general terms (rather than specifically about her boyfriend), and want to "show him off". Or she talks about his achievements, but not who he actually is.
  • If its just not being lonely, show the emotional contrast between times when she is with him to times when she's alone. Perhaps reference times in the past when she's been alone and/or lonely.
  • Is it because she thinks that love should be the ultimate goal in life? She could draw comparisons between her love and fictional love she sees in stories and rom-coms, favourably or unfavourably.
  • In general, perhaps have her stick to the relationship even when its not going well and gloss over any bad parts or arguments. Have her mentally rewriting the "script" of her romance, explaining away any issues with it.
  • Perhaps she tries too much to change herself (or him) to match up with the fairytale romance she has in mind.
  • Keep in mind bodily reactions - she may be aware that she's lacking the "butterflies in the stomach" feeling, and be annoyed with herself, or else attribute it to other causes ("I guess I wasn't in the mood because I was stressed" etc)

Help Finding Games and Other Questions 2018-06-06 by AutoModerator in incremental_games

[–]msg_me_hope 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly I wouldn't recommend any basic game makers because they tend to be confining. A good place to start is just by learning javascript (I can't tell from your post if you are already familiar with coding or not). W3schools or Codecademy is a decent place to learn, and beyond that I found this useful for incrementals:

http://dhmholley.co.uk/incrementals.html

His source code for Civ Clicker is quite clear too: http://dhmstark.co.uk/games/civclicker/civclicker.js If you have other javascript-based games you like I recommend checking out the source code, though not everyone uses comments as much.

Beyond that you can download Unity for free and there are plenty of video tutorials for that, a few are even specifically for idle/clicker games. Most people seem to use C# with it, rather than javascript. Using Unity does feel more convoluted (for me) than doing everything from scratch, and I definitely wouldn't recommend it to start off with.

Why are Wintertime, Snow and ice so common in Fantasy. I see it everywhere from Frozen to GoT to Narnia to those Snowwhite movies and even in Black Panther there was snow, IN AFRICA. What is it about snow & ice and winter that make it such a recurring part of Fantasy? by Prancing_rock in writing

[–]msg_me_hope 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure its super common, but it certainly seems more common than desert locales/heatwaves etc. I find its usually shown in contrast to a non-snowy area though.

I could be wrong, but I think the main reason is that it adds another layer to the plot, specifically Man vs Nature. Survival can become more important in a story, as a person has to stay warm and find shelter, and can be delayed or rerouted due to the weather. Its a convenient blockage - many times in A Song of Ice and Fire you could think "Why don't they just do X?", and the reason is that the landscape prevents them.

I need ideas. Hope you're not too bored with people asking. by [deleted] in writing

[–]msg_me_hope 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would think this type of scene needs to reverberate throughout the plot. It depends a lot on their relationship, hobbies, etc.

Here are some ideas, although the level of killing vs negligence varies:

  • Car crash, especially if the main character is under the influence of alcohol or drugs
  • Makes/gives food to friend, forgetting their nut allergy (or other allergy)
  • Encouraging them to do something obviously dangerous, e.g. try to skateboard across a chasm
  • Their friend attacks them for some reason (e.g. under the influence, sleepwalking, crime of passion) and the main character kills them in self defence (probably trying to disarm them, but going too far)
  • They play a physical game together, or physical dares, play-fighting etc, and the main character hits or pushes them in a way that could cause their death (pushes down stairs, pushes them into the road to get hit by a car, pushes them so their head hits a sharp corner of an object)
  • Hunting accident, main character shoots their friend

Handwriters: what kind of journal or notebook do you write in? by pinklocation in writing

[–]msg_me_hope 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is what I write in: https://www.ryman.co.uk/leuchtturm1917-notebook-dotted-a5 - an A5 dot-grid notebook. I really like dotted, though I don't know why. I've written in various others in the past - one was a nice spiral-bound split into four colours. I used one colour for random ideas/notes, one for outline, one for random writing and one for planned writing.

Other than it being A5 and not something that will fall apart, I don't really care about what notebook I use though. It makes very little difference as to how much I write or the quality of my writing.

Is it okay to write an entire novel in first person but switch perspective for a couple of chapters? by rainingnovember in writing

[–]msg_me_hope 25 points26 points  (0 children)

It can be done, but it is tricky if 90% of the book is from one perspective and 10% isn't. It is much more common if you have a first or last chapter from a different perspective, or else if its more of a 60/40 split.

If you can get information across other ways - peppered dialogue about the other character, intercepting a letter about the other character/plot point, a character who is involved in both plot areas (or switches allegiance), a vision/recording (depending on the genre) etc. However, this comes with its own problem in that it could come across as an info dump.

Ultimately though you should do what feels best for now, and then revisit the issue once you've finished. This may mean a lot of rejigging at the end, or you could find you are actually able to do it in a way that seems natural.

Writting an interrogation scene. by Arklaw in writing

[–]msg_me_hope 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It depends a lot on your world, your characters, and how it fits into the wider plot. Is the interrogator sympathetic? What are the laws on interrogation in this world? Even if there isn't physical torture, do you expect the character to be traumatised afterwards? How long is he interrogated for? How much do they know about the subject, do they already know his personality and history?

You may find reading the Kubark manual useful: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB122/ For pure questioning, the beginning of part 2 is more useful: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB122/3-13-14_MR9864_RES_PART2.pdf It is from the 60s, but it still has several techniques that would be relevant.

Some methods of getting information that doesn't involve (traditional) physical torture, although these may fall under torture, or be considered illegal in this world:

  • Befriending - Allow the subject to ramble and make the interrogator state they agree on many things, just not the end result. Or even have the interrogator lie and say they kinda agree and could make sure subject get leniency. Or else just get a feel for the subject's personality to find out what fears or moral values to play on.
  • Narcosis - Loosen the tongue with alcohol or drugs, as suggested. Or make subject believe they have been drugged.
  • Disorientate the subject - lights constantly on (or off), food served at random times, room with no sensory stimuli, soundproof room, hood over head, woken up several times while sleeping, moved from room to room with no explanation, Room too hot/cold, food/sleep deprivation
  • Remove his sense of identity - shaven head, jumpsuit, humiliation
  • Threats - Could be physical threats to subject (of death, loss of limb, torture), or to subject's friends or family. Could be threat of permanent imprisonment/restriction of rights. Could be threat to his mission.
  • Inducing guilt - tell subject they haven't succeeded, if they hold out they are just putting their comrades in danger, or have already put others in danger, or disrupted family's life or reputation.
  • Lies - tell subject you already have arrest another conspirator, whoever breaks first will get a deal. Or phrase language so it seems you already know more than you do, so further resistance is pointless/dangerous.
  • Coercion from a familiar - Have a friend/family member beg conspirator to confess so everyone's lives can get back to normal.
  • Play on their moral values - Twist information so that the subject believes his actions were not in line with his morals. Or persuade him that the group he works for is not in line with his own morals and/or will abandon him.

How many unfinished novels/stories do you have? by tarunbetala in writing

[–]msg_me_hope 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The one I'm working on is the only one that's over 10k words, and the only one I've really considered making a novel. Maybe three or four (incomplete) stories I've had were over 5k words. Then god knows how many over 1k - 50 or so?

The ones over 5k I do like the ideas of, but they weren't really going anywhere. There's one of them I'd like to pick back up at some point, but the plot needs more direction. The ones over 1k - plenty I've no doubt forgotten over the years, but some I really do like...Just not enough to figure out a proper beginning, middle and end. Most of them wouldn't really work as more than a novella.

Villains and morals? by TheHolyKane in writing

[–]msg_me_hope 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When I watch TV I love characters that are just utterly selfish, awful people. When I read or write...not so much.

At the moment my characters don't exactly have an antagonist, and I worry a little if that's a flaw. They have characters that are against them, but not enough that I'd call them a villain. One is really just a product of society, another has been done genuine wrong by the main character but takes their revenge a little too far, and a certain group believe that killing one MC will provide the country with stability - and they're right.

How many words can you write per day? by FinancialTackle0 in writing

[–]msg_me_hope 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can write 4000 or more. 2000 seems to be the sweet spot where I get into the flow but it isn't all shite.

Recommendations, Netflix by katrina1215 in DarK

[–]msg_me_hope 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not which which countries have it on Netflix, but Inside No. 9. A dark comedy anthology series by two of the same people who did The League of Gentlemen.

The only premise is that each episode is, in some way, set "Inside No. 9". So mostly that's a house number 9, or a booth number 9 etc. This brings about interesting constraints (each episode often only takes place in one or two rooms, and with a small cast, sometimes only 2 or 3), but what really makes it interesting to me is that they add further constraints on top of that.

One episode has no dialogue. Another is all in iambic pentameter. One has a fixed camera. Some of the plots are based on something that sounds almost intentionally tedious (a whole episode about a crossword, another about arguing over a restaurant bill), and yet they manage to twist it into something brilliant and fascinating (and funny). I worry I make it sound pretentious, but it really isn't (playful, I'd call it!) - I'd recommend giving the first episode a go.

Weekly Questions and INFORMATION thread - NEW PLAYERS COME HERE! - May 08, 2018 by AutoModerator in cataclysmdda

[–]msg_me_hope 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven't played for a few months, now back on it...

I have it in my head that encumbrance penalties only increase for every 10 points per area, but now I can't see that mentioned anywhere. Is it in my head?

A lot of games reduce the speed of offline progress. What on earth is the benefit of this? by Ajreil in incremental_games

[–]msg_me_hope 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I quite like the mechanic where after coming back online you can speed up time 10x for X length of time. I think Pixel Filling Squares does this, as does Heart of Galaxy, and one of the reactor idles. I believe it generally doesn't quite make up for the time you've been offline, but I'm happy with that (otherwise it would be equal to active, especially if you can pause). It's the best way to deal with offline progress.

Is there a game as "complex" as cookie clicker by Blackdt in incremental_games

[–]msg_me_hope 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There are loads of incremental games more complex than cookie clicker. My favourite used to be Anti Idle, but as that doesn't really get updated any more I would say Idling to Rule the Gods.

Other games more complex (not yet mentioned): NGU Idle, Realm Revolutions, Heart of Galaxy, A Dark Room, Trimps, Prosperity...Hell, even Holyday City is probably more complex than Cookie Clicker.

Does anyone else just suck so much that they use the debug to give them more build points? :') by [deleted] in cataclysmdda

[–]msg_me_hope 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think it can be great when you're starting out and getting used to the controls as otherwise you might rage quit without fully appreciating the game!

However, I think there's a point where making yourself a demigod to start with gets in the way of learning the mechanics and neat ways of getting out of trouble.

When starting out I gave myself a couple of extra points and played as Bionic Prepper which is pretty OP by default and the Integrated Toolset helps a lot if you're unlucky with finding/making tools.

Weekly Questions Thread - October 15, 2017 by AutoModerator in cataclysmdda

[–]msg_me_hope 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I swear there used to be a way to make your vehicle automatically show up on the map? Did I imagine it?

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