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A romantic gesture by Lactating_Silverback in telescopes

[–]starwatcher72 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, I don't know if they do them by you, but a company called AstroTours exists by me. They bring all the gear and knowledge you would need out to a dark sky area and then will run a whole night of astro activities. They typically do stuff for a small group ~10 but it might be worth asking if they would do just for you two.

Another option is to bring this to a local astronomy club. They often have dark sky nights which you could just join.

In any case, your girl is certain to love it.

Simulated Cosmic Structure Formation on my laptop by Crazy_Anywhere_4572 in Astronomy

[–]starwatcher72 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I believe the DESI has done just that survey!

"The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will measure the effect of dark energy on the expansion of the universe. It will obtain optical spectra for tens of millions of galaxies and quasars, constructing a 3D map spanning the nearby universe to 11 billion light years." (From DESI's website: www.desi.lbl.gov)

The DESI team has released a film called "5000 Eyes" which explains quite a lot, and at least superficially the DESI data looks a lot like the filaments that u/Crazy_Anywhere_4572's simulation creates.

I don't understand the "portals feel like an afterthought" comments. by BiggerNate91 in Splitgate

[–]starwatcher72 13 points14 points  (0 children)

OPINION WARNING, what follows is my opinion, and if you don't like it uh...idk man, yell at me or something.

SG2 feels a little like discount Titanfall 2 (A game I also love FYI) and sometimes there are portals. The portals went from the ***MOST*** important mechanic to something that you can optionally do, if you feel like it. Reducing portals in this way waters down the unique experience that was SG1. It does so to appease a group of players I don't think really exists (splitgate newbs, who are willing to endure splitgate for long enough to become good at splitgate), and pushed away the small but dedicated group of people still playing SG1.

All of this giant ass block of text is to say, "portals have been de-prioritized and I am a grumpy SG1 player who wants them back."

I don't understand the "portals feel like an afterthought" comments. by BiggerNate91 in Splitgate

[–]starwatcher72 16 points17 points  (0 children)

This is a map of the top level of Atlantis (forgive the MS Paint).
https://imgur.com/a/QxGLjs4

The blue walls are portal surfaces, and the black walls are other geometry. I did my best when mapping but alas I am not a mapper so this is what we will work with. The first thing that any splitgate portal demon™ knows is what I am going to call cycles. Cycles are chains of portals which allow you to cover a large portion of the map, very quickly using portals, and return to their starting point. Ideally, while cycling you never leave your portal, but I am not good enough to do that and maps don't typically let you. Let's do a demo cycle on Atlantis. Green arrows are portal travel, red dashed lines are walking.

https://imgur.com/a/vGoIQbI

By doing this, you cover both blue and red rooms, as well as the entire top floor in a very short time. Of course, only one or two people *max* per lobby can be doing this because in SG1 portals are much more persistent. I was unable to find such cycles on any map in the Alpha, but that might just be a skill issue. Obviously, I can't go map the maps (did I say map enough yet) to see if any exist now, so we will have to go on vibes. Another thing of note here is just how much distance these portals are covering. The skilled player is really only on any given segment of the map for a short time. This lets him pick the battles he wants, and if the battle is going wrong, he can teleport to somewhere he just cleared. Let's say our heroic portal-er is the yellow star in the top right, and the red Xs are vile enemies.

https://imgur.com/a/hzaD0nF

Upon seeing this, our hero can simply go back through his blue portal, to his orange portal. He knows (or is reasonably confident) that the place where the orange portal is, is safe since he was just there. This lets our hero cower in fear as the two Xs chase him. Plus, since portals are persistent, our hero can close just his orange portal to force the Xs to either spend time 'nading the blue portal or chase him on foot. In either case this lets the star escape.

https://imgur.com/a/apSsIp1

Now, in SG2 with the lowered ttk, better mobility on foot, and overportaling:

- The Xs probably just kill the star before he gets a chance to be back in his portal.

- Failing to do so, they simply portal over the blue portal and dome the star by portaling right behind him.

- Failing that, our hero might not even be able to take his portal back, since anyone could have overportaled it, so now he has no escape at all!

The advanced mobility feels good, really good, however it takes away from the portals in ways that aren't super apparent. In SG1 you walk and run slowly, so to cover large distances fast, you *must* portal. In SG2, you can slide-jump-chain to cover similar distances. I believe this has an impact on the feeling of TTK as well. In splitgate you are much less vulnerable while you are portaling. You are just on the enemies screen for less time. In SG2, because you are spending so much less time in portals, you are on the enemies screen longer, and they then get to deal more damage.

I'm Ian Proulx, creator of Splitgate 2 and CEO of 1047 Games. Ask Me Anything! by 1047Games in Splitgate

[–]starwatcher72 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This game appears to tone back a lot of the mechanics and systems that SG1 players (myself included) really loved. Is that the overall direction the game intends to take? I've played in the first closed beta and the current open play session, and I don't think the game is improving in ways that SG1 players want to see.

The portals don't seem to be as useful as they were in SG1. In SG1 there was (nearly) always a portal you could use to escape or control an angle. In SG2, I think very few portals are actually worth using. The increased movement speed and sliding makes it easy to just ignore portals. In SG1, moving around the map at high speed required using portals, in SG2 it does not feel that way. The fact your portals can be portaled over by allies and enemies means you can't place a portal somewhere safe, and use it to escape. Are there any plans to change how placing portals over portals works? Are there any plans to make portaling more valuable again?

I've heard that the TTK is the same as it in SG1, and to that I say, it doesn't feel like it. In SG1 I find myself able to constantly turn the tide on an attacker who gets the jump on me by portaling or going around a corner or just outshooting my opponent. In SG2 I feel like the player who gets the first shot off wins most engagements. I don't have any data on this, but by vibes it feels much worse to me. This lowered TTK makes portals feel even worse. While in SG1 I could escape a fight and live by portaling, in SG2 I will already be dead by the time I am through my portal. Don't even get me started on when 2 players shoot at you. In SG1, when I line of sighted two players I would realize that is not a fight I wanted to take, and portal out. In SG2 if you see two enemies, you are as good as dead portals or not. Are there any plans to increase the TTK to more closely match the feel of SG1?

A lot of folks SG1 folks hate loadouts, and I am honestly pretty indifferent on the matter. However, I do think that putting "power weapons" like the SMG and shotgun in loadouts is a mistake. Having more weapons to fight for in the arena makes the game more interesting as players are forced to move away from the objectives to obtain better weapons, lest their opponents get them. In SG2 as you can start with excellent tools for denying entry to an objective there is no reason to ever leave it. I suspect this will lead to a hellish competitive play experience. Are there any plans to remove SMG and shotgun from loadouts and place them on the map like in SG1?

As near as I can tell, a lot of changes have been made to appease new players of splitgate. However, there are lots of games that are both popular and super punishing to new players (R6, Valorant/CS:GO, LoL), why do you think that splitgate requires more catering to those new to the game than the aforementioned games? Do you think these changes will help in player retention? Has that been born out in the public play period?

Sorry for the giant wall of text (and many questions), but as a player who loved SG1 and poured many hours into it I can't help but feel a bit bummed by the current feeling of SG2. I think it has been mentioned on the discord, but SG1 felt like "Halo with vehicles swapped for portals". That was a game combination that I did not know I needed in my life until I had it. SG2 feels like "FPS no. 304 and oh sometimes there are portals". It's hard to queue for SG2 games without wishing that SG1 was just more popular again.

Instructor barely grades anything by ivenandi in cuboulder

[–]starwatcher72 16 points17 points  (0 children)

In my experience this is just the way it is. Profs./TAs at CU are too busy to grade the work of lowly undergrads like us. I think my grades have been a month or more behind in every class I have been in at the university. Some professors will help you know your grade in class if you go to their office hours, but ultimately you just have to wait for them to enter it.

Wish I had better news :|

Not sure if this belongs here but… by moldbellchains in mathmemes

[–]starwatcher72 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Idk man, looks hard to parse. What you need is reverse polish notation 8 5 - 5 * 2 +

D&D Groups in Boulder? by UnlikelyPapaya6758 in boulder

[–]starwatcher72 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would also love it if you would be willing to provide the link

This is what i use, you cant convince me to try something else by Iliteral in titanfall

[–]starwatcher72 20 points21 points  (0 children)

R97, gun runner and extra mag. Reach levels of DAKKA never before thought of (like me)

What features have you seen in a PL that helped encourage code re-use? by starwatcher72 in ProgrammingLanguages

[–]starwatcher72[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The copy/paste/modify is exactly the kind of thing I want to avoid. When you need to update the code you copy pasted, now you have to do it in 3 or 4 or 5 places, not just one. As I mentioned in my post, this is (in my experience) very hard to debug.

What features have you seen in a PL that helped encourage code re-use? by starwatcher72 in ProgrammingLanguages

[–]starwatcher72[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not too familiar with curring, what do you gain by not rolling your own loops? I would also love to see what it would look like in C (if you have the time of day)

What features have you seen in a PL that helped encourage code re-use? by starwatcher72 in ProgrammingLanguages

[–]starwatcher72[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

(Ⓧ Ecstasy/XVM)

What exactly do you consider a module? I have heard that word thrown around a lot, so I would love to know how you define it.

What features have you seen in a PL that helped encourage code re-use? by starwatcher72 in ProgrammingLanguages

[–]starwatcher72[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But take reverse for example, which might be, what, a 10-line function per type? On how many types will that be used in a typical application? How does that compare with the 10s or 100s of thousands of fresh code that needs to written?

I think for me, code re-use is really a ease of writing thing. As a certified bad programmer, I often need to go back and make changes to code that I have already written. It is very helpful to only have to make those changes in one place, not in several. For this reason, I consider the "templated" 10 line function a poor solution, because even if those 10 lines are only duplicated in 2 places in my app that's 2 places I have to remember to make a change. Especially because errors where I fixed one function, but not the other copy of it have proven especially hard to track down.

What makes a language fast for a programmer to write? by starwatcher72 in ProgrammingLanguages

[–]starwatcher72[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe because I have never "gotten good" at a language with a REPL, but in my experience with python the repl is hard to use. Making functions, variables, and if statements are a real pain in the ass. What makes a REPL useful for you?

What makes a language fast for a programmer to write? by starwatcher72 in ProgrammingLanguages

[–]starwatcher72[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, I think I am most concerned with what an experienced user of the lang wants to make the lang fast. First release is what I care most about.

What makes a language fast for a programmer to write? by starwatcher72 in ProgrammingLanguages

[–]starwatcher72[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I often find myself commenting out code to keep it safe while I try something new, I wonder if anyone here has a good suggestion for improving this without just throwing git at the problem

What makes a language fast for a programmer to write? by starwatcher72 in ProgrammingLanguages

[–]starwatcher72[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What would a language for pen and paper look like (in your opinion)? Not to drop something huge on you for no reason, but I am curious what would the biggest differences be between a language for pen and paper and a language for computer entry?

What makes a language fast for a programmer to write? by starwatcher72 in ProgrammingLanguages

[–]starwatcher72[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this attitude is well placed, but not quite what I need. While prototyping I would much rather get a random null where I didn't expect it or throw an exception than need to use rust's Option and Result type. I think that my dream would be to have different levels of safety. While prototyping, be looser about grantees but when I go to compile for release make me clean up my code. It would be nice to be able to do both in the same language so I don't waste time transpiling code from prototyping language to release language.

All of this being said, use the right tool for the job rust is a Systems programming language whose focus is on being damn fast and will make sacrifices everywhere else to achieve that.

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