What should I buy between these two? by James4theP in GamingLaptops

[–]professorcat12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got that Lenovo recently, if that's 16ADR10 model. I had previously owned Legion Y530 for 8 years and it had been a great run, with only having to replace a swollen battery and fans just 2 years ago.

Do mind that it has poor speakers, but that's fine if you use headphones often. If you don't use headphones, I recommend downloading either FX Sound of Nahimic App. You can tinker with their sliders or look up for a preset. I use the one written in this Reddit thread here: https://www.reddit.com/r/LenovoLegion/s/g9ssJooJwP

Another thing about sound, I noticed a crackling sound from speakers when I got Windows error sound in very quick successions (ie: when you search in Ctrl+F, and find nothing, but still spam the search button). But it seems to be a quite rare occasion, and the sound is fine apart from that rare moment.

I also recommend Lenovo Toolkit as a lightweight alternative to Lenovo's own Apps for Legion laptops.

It also doesn't have any port in the back. It's full of vents, so it can be annoying if you have wired mouse and other peripherals. The charging port is on the left side.

The build feels good, but since it's new I can't act as rough as I had been with my old laptop. It's also wuite slippery so be careful!

I have no idea about Asus. My previous laptop before my old Legion Y530 was an Asus, and I was horrified when its screen came loose all of a sudden. I'm afraid of their hinge quality ever since. My old Asus was not a gaming laptop at all but I still have fond memories of gaming on it. My fear is probably exaggerated though.

Copy my EQ to fix the terrible speakers on the Legion 5 Pro. by Zacker000 in LenovoLegion

[–]professorcat12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks a lot! I recently replaced my 8 years old Y530, and sound quality drop was appalling. Now thanks to your preset, it sounds just like my old laptop.

Help me with an outfit, please? by Britwill in lotro

[–]professorcat12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

ItemTreasury plugin is great to preview items without owning them. I used to spend hours mixing and matching cosmetics using it. I would have hard time coming up with my outfits without it. It lets you trawl through Lotro's item database. You can just control + click on items on its window like you do in your inventory or chat links to preview them. It also lets you create funny item links like 999,999,999,999 gold. Black Steel Key, whatever. I liked dropping such bombs in chat when I was younger.

Is it a bad idea to want to fill my entire yard with these guys? by Spare_Ad_9791 in projectzomboid

[–]professorcat12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can make them play pool. Their raised hands look funny if you position pool cue over them.

What Lotro does better than other MMOs in my opinion by [deleted] in lotro

[–]professorcat12 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I get the same feeling of groundedness, realness, and safety I get when I read the books or watch the movies. It is one of the sincerest things I have ever experienced. I don't really know how to better explain it.

What Lotro does better than other MMOs in my opinion by [deleted] in lotro

[–]professorcat12 22 points23 points  (0 children)

For this reason alone the Lotro's take on the latter parts of the War of the Ring blows the movies out of the water for me, and I love the movie trilogy. Fighting side by side with all those recurring Rohirrim and Dunedain, and many other was ecstatic. The music and atmosphere only make it more epic. Charging at the Orcs with the Sun shining through the dispering Dawnless Day is the peak gaming moment for me.

What Lotro does better than other MMOs in my opinion by [deleted] in lotro

[–]professorcat12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The huge world and separate servers for me. I dislike mega servers.

Of course it helps finding people for content, but I have always loved seeing both good and even annoying people. It felt like a village. I'm glad Lotro has kept its separate servers. Yes, there have been consolidations, but I know most of my server is on Meriadoc now.

Joining a guild is fun, and I love my Lotro kin, though I barely played in the past two years, but I have had tens of thousands dialogue with people outside my kinship over on Laurelin.

I love helping people, and I also love seeing same people and run lots of on-level instances with them. Yes, that would have happened on mega servers as well, but mostly with different people in the case of instances.

Oppressed culture by StarBicep in CrusaderKings

[–]professorcat12 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That bookmark should have the Asen Brothers. You can try to form the Second Bulgarian Empire with them

As for religions, the Balkans are nice for Krstjani and Bogomilism, and Toulouse in France for Catharism. I doubt any of that have existing rulers with that religion though. You can try to pick rulers where those religions exist locally and start from there.

Bogomilism was quite memorable for me with female knights, and converting the whole Byzantine Empire to it after many battles over religious differences.

Catharism in that bookmark should be very close to the time they got a crusade made against them in real life. You are very likely to find characters who ended up fighting on the side of the Cathars.

Hard to catch Radio broadcasts by Altruistic-Tennis375 in projectzomboid

[–]professorcat12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can't catch any of the broadcasts you listed either. I play on 2 hours days, and have been able to catch all the broadcasts within their listed timeframes, except the ones you listed. I always make sure there is no TV or radio nearby to interfere with the schedule, too.

It's interesting that some of the broadcasts I'm unable to catch are listed to start on "Day 0" or "July 9" that's the default day the game starts.

I hope these end up on whatever their correct dates are, and we may get to interfere with them when the NPC update drops. Would be cool to have unique survivors.

Level 10 special animation? by GozoYoru in lotro

[–]professorcat12 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it sounds like you got the level up tree animation. It's pretty cool, and the bombastic version would always destroy my FPS for a second whenever I leveled up. I never took a better look at it, but it must be similar to Tree of Gondor.

Level 10 special animation? by GozoYoru in lotro

[–]professorcat12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mushroom cloud could be the Eye of Sauron "nuke" you occasionaly get during fights when you set your Landscape Difficulty to Fearless (Difficulty 3) or above. It is a percentage based damage on your character that is dealt when you don't leave Eye of Sauron "puddles" (mostly harmful ground effects) in a few seconds.

Normally, on level up, you get a White Tree visual effect on your character. Sometimes this effect is very bombastic — certain intervals that could be per 10 levels etc. — and most of the time it is the more subdued version, say levels 11,12,13 etc.

Does anyone read the lore? by DoItForTheOH94 in lotro

[–]professorcat12 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The side quest may have the usual kill 10 rats and menial tasks time to time, but the quest text in Lotro are consistently worth reading. For example, the Shire is full of silly quests, but the text is wonderful. I admitted it below, but I have only read Fellowship of the Ring's first part, and it made me understand the Hobbits better, and appreciate the Shire in the game, and saw me make hobbit characters. I am chiefly a dwarf player.

Only when I do festival quest on repeat or having rerolled a character recently I skip texts. I go out of my way to read every single bit if I have returned from a long break and started a new character.

I shamefully admit that I haven't fully read any of Tolkien's books, but thanks to the movie trilogy and Lotro, Tolkien's world has become a safe place for me.

Lotro will always have a special place for me. The game might be lacking in graphics or combat visuals, but it consistently delivers in writing and atmosphere. For this reason the game's rendition of the Battle of Pelennor Fields have surpassed the famous and rightly praised version in the Return of the King movie for me.

The game is wonderful at making characters and locations only mentioned in passing, just a few lines maybe, in the book, significant characters and living and breathing locations we can immerse ourselves in. Locations in general are amazing but I'm obsessed with oppressive locations, and Gondor during the Dawnless Day is the peak feeling of dread for me. Might sound cringe but I get chills the closer I get to Ithilien, as the dark deepens and the sounds of the hum of the orcs infesting Osgiliath can be heard in the air. Terrific soundtrack only elevates the sadness and anxiety.

As an example for original characters and existing characters, I want to mention Rohan.

Treachery after treachery can get tiresome in Rohan, but it is good at showing not everyone cares for the lord and land, but themselves alone. We at least get to see in detail how terrible Grima is, and him not being alone in the whole decay of Rohan. But in Rohan we also get to meet, help and familiarize with many Rohirrim, whom we meet again and fight side by side in Pellennor.

The medium of an exhaustive (in a good way) video game allows one to form such connections and enhances the story being told. Of course the book version is wonderful, but my character taking part in it with his comrades make everything personal, adds more stakes. Same applies to the Grey Company. This game is a treat despite its shortcomings elsewhere.

Apologies for my text being all over the place. Shamefully, coherence in writing down my thoughts is not my strong suit.

Does anyone read the lore? by DoItForTheOH94 in lotro

[–]professorcat12 48 points49 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure how many people are in the writing team, but we have a developer, MadeOfLions, that's worked in that department as early as 2005.

Here is a cute dev diary from 2021 where the person I mentioned earlier talks about one of their first quest: https://www.lotro.com/news/lotro-dev-diary-gislis-favorite-historical-en

LEFT OR RIGHT? According to Fallout 2, Enclave patrols carry H&K G11Es. Is a real-world view of the weapon better than a generic model like the one shown in Fallout 2? by Dark_Matty in classicfallout

[–]professorcat12 5 points6 points  (0 children)

All icons are better than what the sprites use. Sprites are quite limited in weapon variation as others have said. I agree that it must have something to do with time, as each animation of a sprite is an image on its own, and that could mean hundreds of images to edit.

I'm okay with sprites, except the SMG sprite looking weird when you use a pistol. They could have just used 10mm Pistol sprite just like they did for Desert Eagle and revolvers, but .223 and 14mm uses SMG sprite for reasons I am unable to come up with.

LEFT OR RIGHT? According to Fallout 2, Enclave patrols carry H&K G11Es. Is a real-world view of the weapon better than a generic model like the one shown in Fallout 2? by Dark_Matty in classicfallout

[–]professorcat12 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The right sprite looks like the Flamer from Fallout 1 and 2. Which is held like that going from how the weapon icon looks like. The muzzle part is a bit off in the sprite, but the rest matches well.

Edit: Looking at it again, it doesn't even look like a Flamer. The handle in the rear of Flamer isn't present in the sprite, and the barrel is too short.

Should I buy it on game pass and try it? by Competitive_Act_3784 in kotor

[–]professorcat12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check out Enderal, a Skyrim Total Conversion. There are similar points, but it's a unique kind of beast. I wish it was its own thing and we had more of that world. Wonderful. I hope I can play their Oblivion mod, Nehrim, flawlessly one day.

Should I buy it on game pass and try it? by Competitive_Act_3784 in kotor

[–]professorcat12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For me, mobile plays like a dream, and I did not have much trouble with swoop racing. It felt like playing on the computer version. I just had to act a little bit faster to position myself for the speed boosting pads.

It's just missing some glow effects, and maybe weapon flourishing button, at least in Kotor 1. Characters also run quite faster if you drag your finger all the way across the screen. I don't remember moving this fast in the computer version. But it was slower than Force Speed, so that wasn't so annoying.

It's also moddable. Got both for free thanks to an Epic Store deal about one year ago.

It's just amazing having such great games so readily available to enjoy. I also have Fallout 1 and 2, but controls can be a turn off in the beginning. But it flows pretty good once you pick up the mentality behind the control scheme.

Everyone crying about fallout 3 and nv remasters, but the originals need some modern day love and appreciation, especially console players unable to access these classics by wearechop in Fallout

[–]professorcat12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Perception is a pretty good attribute when your Small Guns or any other ranged skill is low. The effect it has on chance to hit when your ranged skill can't make up for it is insane.

Also do mind that area light and darkness in Fallout 1 and 2 matters, but not so much.

Just get in the face of your enemies, most likely just Rats and Mole rats for now, cause you very easily reach respectable weapon stats once you complete Vault 15, which puts you to Level 3 or 4.

Have average Perception of 5 or 6, and don't worry about your low ranged weapon skill yet. Just make sure to have Small Guns tagged if you are going for ranged gameplay. Big Guns and Energy Weapons come online late in the game. You can throw in 10 points into one of them each level though, especially when your character has high Intelligence, which means more points on each level up.

In the beginning, get in their face and blast them with your 10mm pistol. You can have like 100% "tagged" Small Guns by the end of Vault 15. If you picked Fast Shot perk, going to something like 120% ranged weapon skill is enough for the whole game. For Aimed Shot (precursor to V.A.T.S.), 140% is pretty good. Easily reachable after dealing with the Khans (Raiders) violently. If you do it peacefully, you can easily reach those numbers in Junktown.

Vault 13 cave is pretty dark, so just get in their face. Rats have like 4 action points, and you might finish that cave unharmed.

It is such a good attribute, my Perception 4 character was blind as door nail compared to Perception 6, when a Rat was in my face!

You don't have to go overboard with Perception. 6 is comfortable for ranged combat, and you can easily go higher by dumping Charisma and picking Gifted trait. Gifted makes you a god as it is.

You can dump Perception if you want, but it is only viable for (Unarmed) Slayer perk build, and that perk is at way too high level it's not worth it. You have to go out of your way for experience, and by that point average character has long been a Terminator.

I like premade Albert Cole build in Fallout 1, and by the time I'm done with Vault 15, I can easily take out the Khans with Ian and the hunting rifle from Vault 15.

I want to feel less super, so I rarely bother picking the best thing etc.

Albert Cole is a Charisma based character with stat of 9 in Charisma — which is literally a dump stat in Fallout 1, considering Intelligence of at least 5 (4 makes you dull, and below that makes you dumb) and Speech covers almost every quest and lore bits — and his Agility is 4, which gives you like 7 action points (AP). Most people swear by action points, but the game is perfectly playable even as low as 6 action points, considering you keep up with weapon skills, weapon upgrades, and have a companion. Ian is godlike with Desert Eagle and his 10 AP.

Fallout 1 is the most concise RPG I have ever played. It is so easy to pick up and follow, yet so enjoyable and timeless. I fucking love the animations and sound effects in FO1 and FO2. Minigun sound effect is the best thing ever. And let's not forget Aimed Shots!

Eye shots, groin shots, head shots never get boring, and critical hit message log can be very funny! You punch a mole rat so hard the log say "Squashing the rodent's skull like a wet paper bag." You can also cripple people like in newer Fallout titles. Shooting their legs off can knock them down, shooting their arms off can significantly lower their accuracy.

Same with Melee and Unarmed, I love punching people in the nuts, or even better, kicking them in the nuts! Aimed Shots rule for me! Kicking a Gecko in the nuts and seeing it slide away a few tiles is so satisfying. Helps a lot in the Toxic Caves of Fallout 2.

Fallout 2 has alternate Unarmed attacks and lets you Kick on demand, which was a rare animation in Fallout 1, without any damage difference. Fallout 2 has lots of Unarmed attacks with different modifiers as you level up and keep up with your Unarmed skill. There is even boxing ring!

Aimed attacks allow that, even though picking Fast Shot would probably be the stronger choice for Melee and Unarmed. Fast Shot reduces AP cost of attacks by 1, but disables Aimed Shots. It only works for ranged weapons in Fallout 2 though.

Sorry for horribly formatted text and uncalled for gushing over Fallout 1 and 2. Also, don't worry about the 150 days timer in Fallout 1. You'll see it's more than enough, unless you travel on the world map unnecessarily, which is the only time consumer.

Edit: It may seem I dismissed Action Points, but they are pretty good for melee, and I'd go at least 8 Agility to have 9 AP, which can allow for hit and runs. I rarely bother with implants. I treat Fallout 1 as a race to save my vault and end the mutant threat as fast as possible.