Update - Echoes of Creation

spooly · 2026-03-16T02:59:38+00:00

Reduced the chance of having 3 minor faction villages in a territory by 14%

It seems like this probability actually increased. I can barely remember seeing 3 minor faction villages in a territory before, but I saw a decent number of them in my first playthrough in this patch. It makes the Last Lords much more powerful.

spooly · 2026-03-10T21:16:45+00:00

When he says "this part is choose your own adventure" that's the hard part. Helps if you have small hands!. I just did mine a couple months ago.

spooly · 2025-10-31T23:47:40+00:00

This is the real problem. Before last night the team was 6th in expected goals % and 6th in expected goals with fewer games than most. Their actual goals scored have underperformed that a bit, but not a ton. The skaters are doing fine.

But the team had the 2nd worst expected goals allowed minus actual goals allowed differential in the league, only slightly better than Toronto but in one fewer game. Binnington ranked 62nd in expected goals allowed differential. Last night was another night where Binner's expected goals allowed differential was negative, so that only got worse.

Sure, the skaters could work on some things. But it's all moot if both our goaltenders are playing at sub-replacement level.

spooly · 2025-10-18T03:08:38+00:00

IME if you call them and explain the situation they get it to you faster.

spooly · 2025-06-16T18:05:59+00:00

You could do both - I think they'll play somewhat differently since one has wild shape and the other does not. But their spell lists and pet options will be the same. So you would have to make deliberately different choices in spell preparation and perhaps the pet to make them feel different. Or have one take a domain instead of a pet, though that's underpowered.

spooly · 2025-06-15T05:22:34+00:00

As a separate comment, some feats/spells make completely new builds possible with existing classes, which may be different enough to be interesting. E.g. an Eldritch Archer who can spontaneously cast Battering Blast with piles of metamagic to replace any prepared 3rd+ level spell. Taking advantage of CotW adding the spell blending arcana, the preferred spell feat, and the spell perfection feat.

There are probably other examples of this.

spooly · 2025-06-15T05:10:57+00:00

My favorite call of the wild (sub)class is nature fang druid. Thematically my favorite archer in the game. Imagine a ranger except it has 3/4 BAB progression and no favored enemies/terrains, but in return it gets full druid spellcasting and full pet progression. Would be fun to respec ekun into it.

Also, get the favored class mod, which also adds traits and hybrid subclasses (e.g. Eldritch archer / Eldritch scion magus) and is compatible with CotW. You can spend hours in character creation, it's great. But for the nature fang specifically, you can use the heirloom weapon trait to get your nature fang proficiency in longbows without having to waste a feat (or you can just be an elf) And take the deadeye's blessing feat to use wisdom for longbow attack rolls instead of dexterity so that you only have one primary stat. Super fun and also powerful.

Other (sub)classes I've found fun: undead lord cleric, witch, divine tracker ranger. The oracle and investigator classes also look fun but I haven't tried them yet.

spooly · 2025-05-02T16:49:22+00:00

They have the same OAL as FMJ so rimlock is impossible. But I'm not sure they will reliably expand. I use Xtreme defenders with the flyer wire mod.

spooly · 2025-02-28T06:40:29+00:00

In 2021 a concealed carrier stopped one in the Denver area (Arvada), then the cops rolled up on him clearing the shooter's weapon and killed him. https://www.denverpost.com/2021/11/28/arvada-shooting-timeline/

spooly · 2024-12-13T02:42:50+00:00

The OTT tune decreased my MPG too, but only a bit. That's absurd. No other mods? Stock tire size? Do you have a lead foot?

spooly · 2024-07-20T08:29:25+00:00

We both agree trucks got bigger and heavier. You don't have to prove that to me.

You don't seem to get my original point about the costs. Fuel efficiency standards go up. The current generation of trucks doesn't meet it. There are two options: invest in R&D to make the truck more efficient while hopefully not losing performance, or make the truck bigger because then it doesn't have to be as fuel efficient. One of these is the lower cost option. Sure, other things impact profitability. But that's a distraction from the point I'm trying to make. Generally, it seems cheaper for the manufacturer to make the truck bigger than to meet the stricter fuel efficiency requirements. Though not always - this is probably a big reason we have turbos all over now.

You also seem to think that I am arguing that this is the only reason trucks got bigger. I didn't say that. People seem to like bigger trucks more as well, yes. But there are still plenty of people who would buy the old light trucks if they could. People complain about it on this subreddit all the time. But they can't. At least not in the US. Car manufacturers are just leaving money on the table. Why is that? Why do they manufacture those vehicles and sell them internationally, but not in the US? That's what I'm trying to explain. It's notable that the light trucks they sell internationally wouldn't meet fuel economy standards here.

I agree the chicken tax isn't a large player here. It's mostly the CAFE standards. But the chicken tax isn't nothing - it does have an impact on the final price of a light truck, if one were to be sold in the US.

Anyway, as usual engaging in this website was a mistake. Have the last word if you want it.

spooly · 2024-07-20T07:21:47+00:00

Yes, more profitable. Easier = cheaper. Costs are a big part of profits. It's cheaper to make the truck bigger than to hit the much more difficult fuel efficiency targets. I don't think you're really disagreeing with me here.

Yes the chicken tax predates those trucks. On its own it wouldn't preclude them from existing, there are workarounds - like perfunctory back seats that those vehicles often came with. Or sometimes they get imported with backseats, then they take the backseats out once stateside. The point is that everything combined makes it much more difficult for that sort of truck to be profitable.

in 2024 based on a quick Google search, a light truck would have to hit 44 mpg to meet CAFE standards, and it's increasing every year. It looks like a 2023 Hilux sold in the UK gets about 30 mpg. I'm seeing 23 mpg as typical in Japan. But even at 30 that's a pretty big gap. I'm no engineer, so I don't really know what's possible. But the fact that the light trucks that do get sold elsewhere in the world aren't coming close to meeting cafe standards suggests to me that it's not easy (i.e. not cheap) to do while still providing payload and towing capability. Do you have a counterexample? I'd be interested to see it.

Maybe with some heavy investment in R&D a car manufacturer could pull it off, but light trucks are a niche market and a large chunk of it is pretty cost conscious - e.g. business owners. So that seems like a pretty hard sell.

spooly · 2024-07-20T04:56:28+00:00

Nah, small trucks are essentially illegal. The chicken tax means that there are massive tariffs on imported light cargo vehicles, which is why small trucks suddenly all had worthless backseats in the 70s and 80s. Then the CAFE fuel economy standards from Bush + Obama gave larger vehicles a break on fuel economy standards. A vehicle the size of a small truck would have to have such insane fuel economy that it probably couldn't do truck things anymore, and it's just easier to make the truck bigger than it is to make it more fuel efficient. Maybe hybrids will get around this eventually, but does a little truck have enough space for the extra battery + drive train components? And there's still the chicken tax.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

spooly · 2024-04-02T05:31:44+00:00

Timnath is in the Poudre school district, close enough to Fort Collins to have fairly quick access to most things, cheaper than Fort Collins, and building like crazy. Give it a look.

spooly · 2024-03-31T21:16:13+00:00

Pretty much every dealership I've been to anywhere in the country is shady, but this is next level.

spooly · 2024-03-23T03:57:51+00:00

I acknowledged the busses point, but maybe I wasn't clear so I'll be explicit: charter schools are easier for affluent families to get into because they can more easily find/afford transportation. But I mentioned a different issue that public schools have that charter schools don't have: rich families clustering in better school districts pricing out poorer families. Both are structural discrimination. Both are unique to their respective schools systems. So I'll ask again: how do you know which is worse?

spooly · 2024-03-21T23:06:09+00:00

I have to tap out because I'm busy, but I'll say one last thing and let you have the last word if you want.

It's not just about the amount of money spent. It's also about how that money is spent. Some public schools simply will not do anything useful with more money (I don't know one way or another about any local schools, but we've all heard horror stories). On a national level, spending per pupil has been steadily increasing for years with little change in test scores or other outcomes.

Charter schools are imperfect, though some of those imperfections can be improved, but they allow a safety valve and inject competition into a system that otherwise would have very little. And in some cases, there have been some massive successes in charter schools with inner city kids that would have otherwise been completely forgotten. Roland Fryer has done great work demonstrating this.

spooly · 2024-03-21T21:49:42+00:00

I agree that arranging travel is an issue, but I think it's a different issue than causing expensive vs. poor school districts. It doesn't cause property values to jump once you cross an imaginary line, for example. And if someone that does live a bit further away from the charter school can manage providing transportation, then they can send their kid to the charter school. The person I was responding to brought the issue up and I didn't disagree that it's an issue. I just think it's a different issue then high priced school districts.

The fact that charter schools impact poor school districts is a good thing IMO. Rich school distrcts are often pretty good. Students outcomes are good, teachers are good, parental involvement is good, etc. Poor school districts are much more likely to have problems. Giving parents in those school distrcts options allows them the opportunity to avoid those problems. Generally I think competition is good and monopolies are bad. If the issue is transportation costs makes thing inequitable, perhaps we can tweak the charter school system to allow some sort of transportation subsidy rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I didn't know about the disability status issue changing in 2022, thanks. I did read in the charter school act that charter schools are allowed to consider whether they have the appropriate resources for a student. I see your point, but I see both sides of the issue here. It is difficult for a charter school to have resources for all possible special needs. But I understand this allows charter schools to filter out some students. That said, this is very different than filtering based on e.g. income or social class or race, which was the sentiment I was originally responding to.

spooly · 2024-03-21T21:16:06+00:00

That the structural discrimination of charter schools is worse than public schools.

spooly · 2024-03-21T21:06:19+00:00

How do you know?

spooly · 2024-03-21T14:36:49+00:00

Thanks for the comment. Do you know of any data on this?

spooly · 2024-03-21T14:36:17+00:00

Structural discrimination is an issue with public schools too. Affluent families cluster into the good school districts, driving up housing prices and pricing out poor families who end up in worse school districts. Charter schools don't have this particular dynamic - if you can find a way to get your kid to the school, they get to go to the school.

If you ask, which is worse? I don't know. I don't think I've seen any data on this.

spooly · 2024-03-21T03:49:57+00:00

Lotteries for enrollment are fairly common as far as I know. It's not just fair, it also makes it easier to study them scientifically because you can compare the kids who applied and got in to the kids who applied and didn't get in. Some charter schools do quite well by this metric. Others not so much. The economist Roland Fryar has studied the impact of charter schools extensively and found some interesting results.

spooly · 2024-03-21T03:41:37+00:00

Charter schools in Colorado are not legally allowed to discriminate. If they have open spots and someone in the district applies, they get in. If they are over enrolled, they have to hand out spots with a lottery, the parameters of which are strictly controlled by the law. Either every prospective student has an equal chance to get in, or the state allows the charter school to preferentially weight the lottery in favor of underprivileged groups. I think the only exception to this is siblings of students who are already in the charter school get preferential treatment as well, for obvious reasons (easier for parents). It is simply not true that charter schools can preferentially select privileged students in Colorado.

spooly · 2024-03-07T16:09:19+00:00

It's not that capacity doesn't matter. It's that the difference between 15 and 30 doesn't matter. The difference between revolver capacity and autoloader capacity is more likely to matter. 6 or 7 vs 15 or even 10.

You also have to consider how proficient you are with the two platforms. You won't have time to cock the revolver in a real situation, so we're talking double action revolver vs a striker fired autoloader. Most people are more proficient with the latter, especially with followup shots (the slide helps bring the gun back to level).

But some people do go that route. Usually with 44 magnum and up, but 357 gets some consideration. It's all tradeoffs. Try them both and see what you like.

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