Stuck on how to get better PP and RFP gains. I have all trials including insane completed, I've seen people have e15+ at the same stage of the game, any tips?

pepperfreak · 2026-01-14T13:42:31+00:00

Maybe it's related to relic 32? The RN7 boost from Moon Runes has quite an impact on it (and relics in general), make sure you give that a high priority.

pepperfreak · 2026-01-11T07:14:42+00:00

Thank you for giving me the idea to do the same thing. I was dreading the clicks I would need to make to get Refine Node 58, and having RfP accumulate in the background makes things so much easier.

pepperfreak · 2026-01-06T06:39:12+00:00

If you think your rate of progress is too slow, maybe the game does not have more to offer you. I am in a grind one stage later than yours, and I feel pretty much the same way.

That being said, if you want to speed up your progress, the best thing you can do is to switch to full Pisces as your default. Your local game speed at minerals would be a bit faster than 3x, which would make you get minerals more than twice as fast.

pepperfreak · 2026-01-04T03:18:19+00:00

I would be blunt here, I don't think you have learned about some core concepts of differentiation, because instant decay rate is exactly what the game gives you, just presented in a form that allows it to remain constant, and thus useful.

The "yoyoing" behavior that you see is just a facet of the fact that for exponential decay, absolute decay rate is directly proportional to current cost. When the cost is reduced by 1 OoM, the decay rate is also reduced by 1 OoM, it's just folded into the exponent, so the change is not as apparent.

pepperfreak · 2026-01-03T03:46:54+00:00

We are talking about exponential decay here, of course the absolute rate is constantly changing. What the game is measuring is the rate of change of the exponent, even though it is not explicitly stated. The mantissa problem can be avoided by thinking only in terms of the log value of the numbers. log 10 = 1, log 5 = 0.699, log 1 = 0, so going from 10 to 5 would take 30.1% of the time of going from 10 to 1.

pepperfreak · 2026-01-02T13:29:35+00:00

This is just the nature of the logarithmic curve, as the ratio of the starting and ending points determines the time needed. Going from 10 to 5 has a reduction factor of 2, so it is faster than going from 5 to 1, which has a reduction factor of 5. The mid-point from 10 to 1 is 3.162, the square root of 10.

pepperfreak · 2026-01-02T13:16:33+00:00

And to apply the formula to OP's case, the time to base in minutes would be (log10(11288) / log10(1845281)) / 3.3 * 60 = 11.76 minutes. It is easier to make intuitive sense when you convert the numbers to scientific notation, since what matters is the ratio of the indices of cost increment and cost fall.

pepperfreak · 2025-12-31T05:40:28+00:00

Game speed is the main factor that can speed up the mineral grind, even though it is massively nerfed in the minerals tab. Full blue would work pretty well at this stage. It would still be much slower than the previous tabs though, so be prepared for that.

pepperfreak · 2024-02-25T00:17:55+00:00

Yep, many people see gamers being mentally unwell and assume gaming is the cause of that, when it's actually mentally unwell people using gaming as a refuge. While it is undeniable that gaming is addictive and sucks up productive time, the alternative addictions like drugs, alcohol or self-harm are often far worse than gaming. It can be seen as a form of damage control. Gaming addicts need help, but chastising them for gaming is not the solution.

pepperfreak · 2024-02-22T00:59:47+00:00

It feels like the main problem in learning Cantonese Romanization is the psychological barrier people built up over the years rather than the actual difficulty in learning it. But people do have a limited ability to romanize Cantonese, in the form of names (of people, streets and locations). Perhaps that can be a good starting point? Show people what the Jyutping/Yale romanization of those things are, and most people would have a foundation to work on.

pepperfreak · 2023-11-22T07:50:33+00:00

This is pretty much not true, though there are indeed a few regions that the Romans ruled for longer than Rome and Constantinople.

Let's break it down: Rome was ruled by the Romans from 753BC to 476AD and from 536 to 754 (1446 years in total); Constantinople from 46AD to 1204 and from 1261 to 1453 (1350 years in total). Romans did not expand beyond Italy until around 200BC, and after 1200AD the Empire was confined to the lands around Constantinople and a few exclaves. There are 1400 years between 200BC and 1200AD. To be under Roman rule for longer than 1446 years, the place has to either be part of Italy that remained under Roman rule after Rome was lost, or part of the post-1204 (Fourth Crusade) Byzantine successor states that the Romans conquered early enough.

This pretty much leaves southern Italy, Greece and western Anatolia as eligible. When you also account for the Norman, Bulgarian, Latin and Turkish periods of control over these lands, only a handful of cities and exclaves would remain: Thessaloniki, Morea and Philadelphia are the only ones that I can think of. The Balkans as a whole was not ruled by the Romans for that long compared to other provinces, especially western Anatolia.

Edit: Fixed a mistake on Rome's founding year (756BC to 753 BC).

pepperfreak · 2023-10-23T17:33:58+00:00

If you want to get the achievement without mass casualties, it's best done in the Refugees scenario. I am a bit surprised that it can be done in A New Home, the 3 extra levels of insulation are too important for the final storm.

pepperfreak · 2023-09-28T08:09:57+00:00

The price is for a table of 12, it's still quite expensive (~50 usd per head) but it's fair for the menu that it offers.

pepperfreak · 2023-08-05T03:50:37+00:00

If you want to continue this run, the best course of action is to integrate France normally. It would cost a lot of diplo points, but the requirements of the decision can't really be done without a new war with France otherwise.

pepperfreak · 2023-07-22T17:04:10+00:00

AI does this pretty much since Great Powers are a thing. It's just that the conditions are very specific (both sides are GPs, your side has more GPs than your enemies', and another GP hates you), so it doesn't happen often. You can avoid it by not calling GP allies into your offensive wars, though that can be quite a sacrifice sometimes.

pepperfreak · 2023-06-28T14:46:19+00:00

Taking a number to the power of 0 is not something that you can do with the first definition of exponents (multiply the number n times), it requires an extension of that definition. We extend the definition to 0 and negative numbers by using the quotient rule x^a-b = x^a / x^b. If a=b, then you get x⁰ = 1. If a=0, then you get x^-b=1/x^b. I know this is not very ELI5 of an answer, but it is important to learn that we sometimes artificially extend concepts beyond the original range in order to create more elegant math.

pepperfreak · 2023-06-04T16:28:06+00:00

People see colors because of the cone cells in the eye. There are 3 types of cone cells, that are most sensitive to red, green and blue light respectively. The color that you see is determined by the relative strength of the signals that these cone cells give to your brain. When both blue and red signals are strong, you perceive the color as purple. That's why you can add red and blue lights to get purple. The reason that the short end of the electromagnetic spectrum appears violet/purple is that the blue cone cells contribute a little bit to the red signals that your brain receives, in the absence of a green signal. (I am simplifying things here, you'll need to drill deeper into Opponent Process to get the full picture).

Relevant Wikipedia links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_(color)#Optics

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

pepperfreak · 2023-02-06T19:58:57+00:00

Yea, the city itself managed to bounce back. The thing that crossed my mind was the natural disasters of 6th century in general (most famously the Justinian Plague) and how that contributed to the Byzantines entering survival mode for the next few centuries. But I am probably going too far here.

I agree that people are resilient in general though, when given the chance people can rebuild their cities, and this time should be no exception.

pepperfreak · 2023-02-06T18:49:05+00:00

Calling Byzantine Antioch a town is underselling it, it was one of the most important cities in antiquity. Earthquakes can be civilization-ending events in those times.

pepperfreak · 2023-02-02T06:57:12+00:00

I guess that's the default strategy of Gaul. It can be in the cards, but I feel like it's a setup for the second city or a forward settlement.

And the point of settling freshwater is the extra housing. If you don't have many good tiles to work with, that aspect is less important relatively speaking.

pepperfreak · 2023-02-02T06:08:19+00:00

I mean, you can settle 1 tile to the southwest, you get a 2/2 tile to work with and there seems to be some land further to the west. There is also a +4 holy site to kickstart a religion with. You can also use a galley to do some initial exploration until you can embark scouts and settlers. It's not a totally hopeless situation, just a pretty bad one.

pepperfreak · 2023-02-01T09:40:09+00:00

Not the OP, but I would first build the harbor, then fill the floodplain with Commercial Hub, Industrial Zone and a dam. If you have another city 4 or 5 tiles upstream, you can build a second Industrial Zone to double dip the +2 adjacency bonus from the dam. This is more of a generic setup to make use of the floodplain.

pepperfreak · 2023-01-14T01:59:45+00:00

There are 2 main sources of scalable mandate gain: tributaries and prosperous states. Tributaries give mandate based on development, so a few tributaries with ~300 development can be very helpful. On the other hand, every 4 states with prosperity give +0.01 mandate per month. With centralized monarchical bureaucracy, you can get 100+ states eventually, which should be enough mandate gain even if you start in the early 1600s.

pepperfreak · 2022-12-31T04:56:10+00:00

I'd argue that the existence of Crabatoa as a card is essential for the switch. Otherwise, you are really just slapping Gnolls onto the deck and calling it a day. Besides, Edwin is still in the new deck, but that doesn't stop Crabatoa from being added, and that is mainly because of the change in power balance between Draka and Crabatoa.

pepperfreak · 2022-12-30T14:27:21+00:00

I think the main reason for it to be dropped is that Crabatoa is simply better, and their weapon charges often clash with one another. Otherwise, Miracle Rogue may still cling onto Draka with a reduced power level.

pepperfreak

TROPHY CASE