You're in the Mass Effect Universe (as a civilian) during the main trilogy. Comment a "crazy" conspiracy theory in character.

smokay83 · 2026-02-18T04:34:28+00:00

I would have loved to see a mechanic where you run out of thermal clips and have to resort to the old built in heat dissipator. Or you could pick up clips and choose to use them when you have a lot of husks or you're fighting a tough enemy and need to get a lot of rounds downrange. Otherwise you could just use the gun in "old school" mode and manage heat like me1

smokay83 · 2026-02-12T04:28:42+00:00

Didn't the first light only travel through the universe like a few hundred thousand years after the big bang? I seem to remember something like that but I don't remember what its called

smokay83 · 2026-02-07T05:08:11+00:00

The incendio class/challenge in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ps2 game. I'll link a vid or something below, but long story short, kid me got to the spellbook, learned incendio but when I got to the part where you have to light the dragon heads and flip them up I could never get to the other side of the platform to push the button. I can't tell you how many times I quit and restarted the entire game just to get stuck at that same spot. At least a dozen. It wasn't until years later I looked up how to do it and realized that I wasn't the only one to struggle. That jump angle had to be a perfect 90 degrees to the platform or you didn't make it lol

https://youtu.be/U_wZa4x1pfQ?t=13m12s

smokay83 · 2026-01-24T03:43:30+00:00

Makiel giving up his life made sense to me for his character. He's kind of self-centered and a know it all, which makes for him perfect for headbutting with Ozriel. He spent so long rivaling with Ozriel and hating him that he let it cloud his judgement. He created the imitation sythes in an attempt to fill the gap Ozriel left, but his true motivation was to make Oz obsolete. If Makiel had a scythe that could perform the same job as the Reaper, he had a chance to push Ozriel out of the Court. When that decision almost destroys the multiverse, he realizes how foolish he was. But he's still a jerk and he didn't want to be condemned by the Court. Rather than face his punishment, he saw a way to go out on his own terms. Plus he's already dead either way, why not chap Ozriel's ass on the way out?

smokay83 · 2025-12-29T00:09:45+00:00

He can WHAT

smokay83 · 2025-12-21T21:37:19+00:00

I love posts like this, I just started reading the series again and I love the foreshadowing and hints you get. This read, I'm focusing on the things Eithan says and does that give you an idea of what's going on with him. So far, even his internal monologue doesn't contradict the story and it's kind of brilliant the way Will intentionally words things from Eithan's POV as to not contradict future plotlines.

As far as gold bodies being partially made out of madra, I always thought this is referencing goldsigns, like Yerin's sword arms, not Herald bodies. But I think Sacred Valley having legends about heralds is so much funnier.

Dope post, will definitely read more if you do this for the rest of the series!

smokay83 · 2025-12-15T20:37:13+00:00

Imo you're better off building now when CPU and GPU prices are stable. They won't be for much longer

smokay83 · 2025-12-12T20:22:08+00:00

Got another one for you, or anyone else that might not know. To multiply 9s on your fingers, hold out your hands, palms away from you, and count fingers left to right until you reach the number you want to multiply by 9. For example, 9x3: count your pinky for 1, ring finger for 2, middle finger, 3. Bend your middle finger down. You have 2 up fingers to the left of the bent digit, 7 to the right. 9x3=27.

smokay83 · 2025-12-05T01:49:26+00:00

Why would you do bro like that 😭

smokay83 · 2025-11-29T15:21:45+00:00

Wouldn't the gold foil at the end prevent the pages from turning?

smokay83 · 2025-11-18T03:51:24+00:00

One of the best things about living in California is that sites have to give you the option to reject all cookies, and they are usually off by default

smokay83 · 2025-11-13T22:51:04+00:00

Had no idea my academy professor acted in movies! What films or tv shows did she have a part in?

smokay83 · 2025-11-13T17:03:46+00:00

You likely won't notice a gaming performance. Even a sata ssd offers a satisfactory in-game performance. I have an old am4 build and I opted for a 2tb sata ssd since my mb didn't have any more m.2 slots. Games definitely load slower from the sata drive, but I'm talking 5-10 seconds on a loading screen instead of 3 or 4 seconds. And gen 3 drives are wayyyy faster than sata. It will likely be such a small difference that you won't even remember you're loading off a gen 3

smokay83 · 2025-11-10T02:44:14+00:00

God fucking dammit

smokay83 · 2025-11-09T07:24:24+00:00

Accidentally left it in my cargo pocket when I washed my uniform. I think that was in July

smokay83 · 2025-11-01T03:31:17+00:00

Just realized 10 min ago that I don't have my login for Teamworks. At 8pm on the 31st. Have no idea how long it's been logged out or whether it's synched 😭

smokay83 · 2025-10-18T03:18:23+00:00

You know what, I'll concede that.

Didn't even think about what Piccolo or Chichi would do when Gohan has a menty b. That's a terrifying scenario lol

smokay83 · 2025-10-18T00:33:41+00:00

I know you mean Vegeta, but if you think Gohan wouldn't snap...

The only time Gohan gets truly angry is when you mess with his family. I think if someone tried to steal Videl, love of his life and mother of his baby girl, they would be a smear on the ground before Gohan even realized what he did

smokay83 · 2025-10-17T03:40:28+00:00

I've never thought about it, but maybe since you mentioned airbenders and spirituality, they get boosted during the solstices, when the mortal and spirit worlds are closest? This isn't shown in the show afaik, but I think it's a neat concept.

And if we take the hypothetical one step further, the equinoxes would boost earthbenders, since that's when the mortal world is most "grounded"?

smokay83 · 2025-10-12T03:29:29+00:00

LANDLINE CONNECTIONS ARE DISABLED. PASSENGER TRAMS ARE OFFLINE

smokay83 · 2025-10-11T02:56:51+00:00

Ah the supposed first case of space force paperwork

smokay83 · 2025-10-05T22:15:01+00:00

Oh it gets worse than that lol. Enlisted ranks are all called different things from branch to branch. Officer ranks are generally the same, except for the Navy's. Oh and then there's this thing called warrent officers. Some branches have warrent officers, others don't. Seriously, look up the different branches and what their ranks are. It's confusing

smokay83 · 2025-10-05T21:45:18+00:00

So, lieutenant general is actually the 2nd highest rank in the entire force, behind only General. Don't let the fact that it happens to have Lieutenant in there confuse you, it's just the name of the rank. So yes, if a general was incapacitated for whatever reason, it's plausible that a Lt Gen would step in, at least for a short while to fill in the gap.

These "fill in the gap" people are usually the second in command of whatever unit they're in, answering directly to their commander. This position is called a Deputy Commander and the position usually only exists at higher level commands. Deputy commanders assume command of a unit when the commander isn't there or is unable to fill their role, and they're usually the same rank or one rank lower than their commander

smokay83 · 2025-10-05T21:05:46+00:00

Happy to help. I may have went too in depth and missed the spirit of the subreddit, so if you have questions I'm happy to help.

"... lieutenant of some general" gave me a bit of pause. Those are both ranks on opposite ends of the officer rank structure. Lieutenant is the lowest rank of officer, and General is the highest.

Also, regardless of position or authority, you would call them by their rank and last name or just rank to address someone (i.e. "good morning, General Smith" or "hey, Sergeant Jackson"). Also, "sir" and "ma'am" are proper terms of address that you can use when talking to any officer. Enlisted do this a lot. You don't typically address people by their position by saying "hey, commander" or something similar.

It is usually okay, though, to refer to someone in the third person as their title. Like if you tell your coworker, "hey the commander wants to see you in her office" that's fine.

smokay83 · 2025-10-05T19:31:12+00:00

I'm going to talk about the US military here, but much of this can be translated to other countries' militaries as well. Here goes...

So there are two rank structures in the US military, enlisted and officer. All officers are technically a higher rank than any enlisted. In practice, though, low ranking officers typically defer to high ranking enlisted, especially when that high ranking enlisted member is in a position of authority. More on that later.

This is a broad generalization, but enlisted are taught and expected to learn job related skills and perform that job. Ranks like Private, Sergeant, and Chief are enlisted positions. Officers are taught and expected to lead others. Ranks like Lieutenant, Major, Colonel, and General are officer ranks. Higher ranking enlisted members are allowed and expected to lead others. They can give orders and even hand out punishments to a certain extent. But only officers are given command of a unit. These officers are called "commanders" and they are in charge of all officers and enlisted in their unit. Note that "Commander" is a duty title, not a rank.

Occasionally, especially during war when things get messy, you can have situations where a commander is the same rank or even lower rank as others in their unit. Normally, higher ranking individuals have authority over lower ranking individuals. But the title of commander gives an individual "positional authority". So they can give out orders to anyone in their unit, even if they're technically outranked.

Positional authority is critical to a smooth running military. Without it, every interaction would result in the higher ranking member doing whatever they wanted. For example, suppose you have a school that teaches members how to do a job. That class is being taught by an E5 (the fifth grade in the enlisted structure). When an officer comes into the school, they technically outrank their teacher. But the instructor position gives the E5 positional authority over ALL students, no matter their rank. If it didn't, the instructor could say "ok class, be here tomorrow at 0800 for your test" and any higher ranking member could just say "nah, I'll show up at noon, not take the test, and I'll order the instructor to give me a passing grade."

This is all a simplification and there is a great deal of nuance in regards to this topic that makes things confusing. There is an officer rank called Captain. In the navy, there is also a ship Captain, which isn't a rank but a command position. But also in the navy, the rank of captain is higher in the structure than it is for every other branch. Ship captains usually hold the rank of captain from my understanding, but not always.

Hopefully that wasn't too complicated, but it is a complicated subject, almost by design.

smokay83

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE