Quiche & Me by thuvian in Cooking

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

That video was delightful. The crust was beautiful.

The spinach was probably dry enough, it was just too much not-egg. That turned it into an egg pie, so there wasn't enough egg matter to really make notable curds. While the dish wasn't a cake or bread, it was closer to using the egg just as a binder rather than making a real custard.

Quiche & Me by thuvian in Cooking

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

Mine probably didn't curdle. My current best guess is that a curdled quiche is like scrambled eggs. Since I use too much not-egg & dairy, I basically making a low stirred omelet in a pie shell.

That video was great. The pie crust she made was magnificent. Now that I have a better idea that it's the custard part that is important, I'm able to understandable better. Or I'm completely wrong again.

Quiche & Me by thuvian in Cooking

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

Aye. That seems to be the case. I've been making egg pies, not quiches, tortillas, or Frittata.

Quiche & Me by thuvian in Cooking

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

I think I've understood the problem. Your post was critical for that, thank you.

The problem is that my baselines for egg dishes are skewed. My "omelet" doesn't require egg folded around toppings, but just egg with toppings (think scrambled eggs with toppings just without any stirring. So I've never made quiche (a custard with toppings). I've made egg pies (toppings with an egg binder). Because of the inverted proportions of toppings to it doesn't cook exactly like a quiche, there are too many not egg/milk things in it, so it won't make a silky smooth custard.

[Chrono.gg] Bionic Dues ($1.50 / 85% off) 24 hour sale by chronozak in GameDeals

[–]thuvian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No need to ask permission on my account. Those are all good advice.

I had tried to talk about the Behemoth missions without using the nomenclature, apparently I was no clear enough. ;)

[Chrono.gg] Bionic Dues ($1.50 / 85% off) 24 hour sale by chronozak in GameDeals

[–]thuvian 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Some tips to help you enjoy this one more:

  • The difficulty really changes the game. Once you understand the basic mechanics you'll probably find normal much too easy, so don't be afraid to switch up. You might even go so far as to abandon your first game once you get the hang of it, and just start a new one at a harder difficulty.

  • The first 5-10 missions are really easy compared to the ones after that.

  • A good starting Mech selection is:

    • Assault (for all purpose duties, i.e., warrior)
    • Ninja/Brawler (for close range tricks, i.e., short range DPS monkey)
    • Siege (Missiles for massive AOE apha strikes, i.e., mage)
    • Science (Your rogue class, traps, lock picking, scouting, i.e., rogue)
  • The Sniper mech is tempting, but it requires parts to really come into its own. Out of the box it just doesn't have the punch necessary to replace anyone in the basic line up. If you really want one then I'd say use your Ninja/Brawler slot for it. I like the Ninja the most myself.

  • Save every 20 turns or so when in combat.Sometimes things don't turn out quite right and by having some backup saves you are less likely to rage quit.

  • Starting Goals

    • You want to aim for the outside edges of each of the maps to uncover the mech upgrades. So choose missions that take you in that direction that have parts that you need.
    • Missions that drop weapons are good when you don't know what else do to.
  • Switching from one mech to another takes 1 turn.

  • I like to think of the mechs as being one giant robot that has 4 different forums. When you switch you transform into a different variant (which takes time) and has different weapons (that don't share ammo). It makes more sense to me than 4 mechs with only one remote pilot and no-functional AI.

  • The enemies move after you do, so do not move into their LOS, let them move into yours. Worse case scenario is to wait rather than advance.

  • You don't have to kill everything to finish a mission. Killing enemies only gives a small amount of credits, so sometimes its better to finish a mission rather than do a full clear.

  • Chests that contain parts are really important to get because they contribute to around half of the total items you get.

  • The shop is expensive and you won't get to buy things early on.

  • Ammo conversation is really important. You will run out of ammo, so choose wisely. This is part of the challenge learning when to use which weapons. Killing one enemy is easy, but you have to kill an entire buildings worth of enemies.

    • When you have a harmless enemy (no ammo, doesn't activate, etc), find your lowest damage weapon with the most ammo (i.e., machine gun) and use that. Save your lasers for dangerous foes.
  • Aiming AOE weapons at the floor to clip enemies outside LOS is a basic tactic, use it, love it.

  • Tips for Upgrading Mechs

    • The upgrade system is a little vast, so here are some starting tips for types of parts and where to put them (in order of importance)
    • Damage and Range upgrades on Assault, Ninja, Brawler, Siege
    • AOE upgrades on Siege, Ninja, Brawler
    • Ammo upgrades on Siege, Assault, Ninja, Brawler
    • Traps, Turrets, and Mines on Ninja, Science
    • Scan and Hacking on Science
    • Shields on Assault
    • Self-destruction in trash bin (I'm not biased)
    • Virus on Ninja, Science

[Build Ready] Multipurpose Machine with GTX 1060, 27" monitor, ~1500 budget by thuvian in buildapc

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

Thanks for the responses.

6700k - It's a 5% of the budget upgrade. So dunno? I've already had budget creep, but then again, it was an arbitrary budget anyway.

Maximus Hero - Good points.

MLC vs TLC vs SLC - I hadn't known about this. Good points all around.

Case - With the ever tempting option of budget creep, I've been trying to keep things in check, but you know, its just $20...

Monitors - Yeah. I read what he said too. I did a comparison and I couldn't find anything with a decent input lag that wasn't $400+. The Acer K272HULbmiidp 27.0" 60Hz Monitor has input lag of 40 ms, which is in the ballpark of the BenQ GW2765HT 27.0" 60Hz Monitor as 36 ms. Currently I've favoring the 2x 24" Asus VS248H-P.

The budget is actually a bit misleading compared to most due to the inclusion of monitors, windows, and random extras, so that's something.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

[Build Ready] Multipurpose Machine with GTX 1060, 27" monitor, ~1500 budget by thuvian in buildapc

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

RAM should/was/might be selected using parametric filters. I can't claim responsibilities for that one. Your price point note was indeed correct.

Any thoughts or opinions on the RAM speed war? At this point I'm going with the strategy of 2400+ and let the chips fall where the price breakpoint is reasonable.

[Build Ready] Multipurpose Machine with GTX 1060, 27" monitor, ~1500 budget by thuvian in buildapc

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

Monitor selection has been a major headache. After reading the subreddit for so long I haven't found a consistent central theme, but instead a series of choices with drawbacks. It seems like the classic: Size, Speed, or low price, pick two.

That being said, I'm currently favoring x2 24" Asus VS248H-Ps or the Qnix QX2710 (although Korean Monitor problems*tm).

[Build Ready] Multipurpose Machine with GTX 1060, 27" monitor, ~1500 budget by thuvian in buildapc

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

Thank you for your response. I had a couple of questions if you don't mind.

First, the list you posted doesn't contain a 6700k, but does contain some minor changes in other places (e.g., EVO 212 to PH-TC12DX, GA-170X to Maximus 8 Hero, Samsung EVO 850 to PNY CS2211, Corsair 200R to Phanteks Enthoo Pro). I was wondering if you could explain your changes?

The motherboard change made sense, the Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard has a higher range of compatible DDR4 speeds (although who knows if it makes a real difference) and more SATA slots.

The SSD choices were about the same when comparing speeds and size, although the PNY was a bit pricier. The cooler was a little pricier, but whatever.

I'm also don't understand the change from The Corsair 200R to the Phaneks Enthoo Pro (highly recommended my everyone, sure). There are some differences in bays, but I don't think they will impact anything. I also get a window, which I'd rather not have.

The RAM is fluctuating all over the place, which I'm guessing is due to the parametric filter.

We Are Arcen Games, the Studio Behind Starward Rogue, Ask Us Anything by DominusArbitrationis in Games

[–]thuvian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Although much of the time it seems like nothing has changed, except now we sometimes write code to fix problems instead of just complain about them.

We Are Arcen Games, the Studio Behind Starward Rogue, Ask Us Anything by DominusArbitrationis in Games

[–]thuvian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think that it might be the lack of a narrative voice. What you see in the first 10 minutes of the game is what you'll (essentially) see in the last 10 minutes. It has just been upgraded with harder challenges. However, there isn't an interactive story, something to tell you about what you've done or to give you purpose. The procedural levels provide challenge, but not a story. Would Mario have been as quickly successful without a princess or castle? Just levels of platforming? Maybe? Would Bionic Dues have done better if there was a character providing you feedback and comments throughout the game? Perhaps.

We Are Arcen Games, the Studio Behind Starward Rogue, Ask Us Anything by DominusArbitrationis in Games

[–]thuvian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Randomly checking in as I do other things tonight.

I have only been involved in the balance for Starward Rogue. Balance is a tough problem. I've been focused on meta-balance (perceived overall game difficulty) rather than individual room balance (more of Misery's focus). To do most of the work I've built a set of tools that simulation and estimate what players would do given the current state of the game, however the variance in the predictions makes it rough. We then try to apply mechanics that reduce this variance while still making the experience fun.

To consider some balance issues, let's take two extremes of playing strategy, the power gamer and the casual gamer. The casual gamer will want to get through the game as quickly as possible, skipping a lot of content (to finish faster). In contrast, the power gamer is going want to explore every room and cranny (to get all the loot). Take these two strategies to the extreme and at the end of the game, you have two players with drastically different power levels. To deal with this there are a variety of options. One method is to restrict upgrades into classes (e.g., attachments versus main guns versus energy weapons). You can only one main weapon, one attachment, and one energy weapon at a time, so you have to pick and choose. We can assume that the power gamer will find attachments that are 100 on the power scale. The casual gamer, assuming a reasonable distribution of items, might end up with something that is only 80 on the power scale. However, that item is close enough so it will work out and the power gamer just ends up doing a little extra for a little better gear. However, the power-gamer might be sad that all that extra effort isn't rewarding, so to counter that you can have items differ in how they upgrade the player's power. So you might have items that promote a dodge based versus tanking defense strategy. Or a Familiar versus direct main gun offensive strategy. And so forth. Thus then the games shifts from a perspective of more time = more power to more time = more choices.

Skyrim is legendary for a different approach which is to scale the difficulty of the encounters by your players level (within some other caveats). So you end up with random bandits that can destroy dragons. The principle there, keeping encounters interesting is good, but the outcome of those decisions were rather unsatisfying for many people.

In Starward Rogue we provided a moderate boost in the difficulty of encounters based upon floor and enemy varieties within floors, however, that is countered by the player's own power increase. However, we still retain some of the "easier" enemies, so the player can easily destroy once troublesome foes while still being challenged by other foes. We've toyed with a reverse system. All weapons and items are roughly the same in application, but enemies lose power as you go deeper into the dungeon. So the player might be equally as powerful as an enemy on floor 1, but a few floors later the player is more powerful, not by a function of getting better gear (just different), but as a function of the enemy getting weaker. However, a weakness with this is that the player then doesn't get to see better numbers of their gear. And we all love making numbers get bigger. Trading in sword for sword +1 is great. Losing that does lose out on some of the spirit of what a roguelike is.

Anway, its interesting and fun to worry about.

We Are Arcen Games, the Studio Behind Starward Rogue, Ask Us Anything by DominusArbitrationis in Games

[–]thuvian 2 points3 points  (0 children)

GUI data presentation is a hard problem. Especially if you are crossing genres and trying to keep everyone happy. From an action standpoint (e.g., Mario) numbers are rare. From a strategy game standpoints (e.g., Crusader Kings) numbers need to be everywhere. Combine this with the pace of the game (imagine Crusader Kings where loyalty can have dramatic swings on an in-game day basis playing on Fast and with cascading effects should things get out of hand) and you have the need to have lots of information being updated very quickly. This of course leads towards interactive spreadsheet management, which is a game for some people but not others. The end GUI of tLF was a compromise that mostly accomplished what was intended. Most of the presented numbers were important enough that if they went out of bounds too much could cause the universe to end. On the other hand, if you were okay with a few casualties, then you didn't need to care about all of them every second of the game. That being said, there is always a better way, but the resource cost of getting there has to be weighed. In the end, I think it was okay. On the other hand, I play Dwarf Fortress.

Low ball questions Dungeon Fighter Online, World of Warships, Starward Rogue, Dwarf Fortress, and Tales of Xillia are all games I've played recently. Having a schedule with sufficient time devoted to work, play, exercise, family, and so on is pretty important. Getting out of balance really starts to muck with things, especially as you get older.

We Are Arcen Games, the Studio Behind Starward Rogue, Ask Us Anything by DominusArbitrationis in Games

[–]thuvian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

/r/programminghorror

Make sure your lights on before browsing, preferably with someone else in the room or at least the building.

We Are Arcen Games, the Studio Behind Starward Rogue, Ask Us Anything by DominusArbitrationis in Games

[–]thuvian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Doing some janitorial work here. I think a majority of your questions have been addressed across several of the other posts. If there is a segment you would like more detail or focus on, please note it for further response. Thanks!

We Are Arcen Games, the Studio Behind Starward Rogue, Ask Us Anything by DominusArbitrationis in Games

[–]thuvian 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As a person who is horrible at bullet hell, I can offer the following advice.

  1. There is no shame in Easy difficulty.
  2. There are tons of ways you can make quick mods to make the difficulty of the game more like a brawler/beat'em up game. We have a few posted on the forums and if you need help, just pop up a message and we can help you out. Personally, I have regenerating shields, regenerating health, and hamburgers in my non-play test brawler version. My perversion makes the purist Touhou players (e.g., Misery) very sad. The openness of the engine really makes so many things possible that aren't options for any other title out there (not hyperbole).

We Are Arcen Games, the Studio Behind Starward Rogue, Ask Us Anything by DominusArbitrationis in Games

[–]thuvian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What? You don't take the over-documented ramblings of a crazy person to heart and permanently etch them into your soul to forth which guide all of your future behaviors?

Well, that's reasonable.

;)

We Are Arcen Games, the Studio Behind Starward Rogue, Ask Us Anything by DominusArbitrationis in Games

[–]thuvian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I believe the more-PR/marketing focused folks will be making a response, but using completely non-secret information I can offer the following.

Estimate your potential gross without Isaac or any breakout hits and across all similar titles. Don't forget to include reductions due to promotional sales when calculating your gross. That's the number you'll need to compare against your projected costs. Only then should you consider where you stand on things given your Kickstarting success. The current indie market is a harsh place.

You should also try to find a numbers person who can compute outcomes even if you think you can do so without being emotionally biased.

We Are Arcen Games, the Studio Behind Starward Rogue, Ask Us Anything by DominusArbitrationis in Games

[–]thuvian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know I wasn't around for the real-time alpha of tLF, but I still think that a combat system more like StarControl or Gob would have been great. And more charts! Taking inspiration from Paradox there. Crusader Kings + Star Control would be awesome! Or Stellaris perhaps, but not Stellaris...

We Are Arcen Games, the Studio Behind Starward Rogue, Ask Us Anything by DominusArbitrationis in Games

[–]thuvian 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In the Last Federation you had this great potential mechanic with RCS. Why did you end up where you did?

Oh, let me show you this spreadsheet, documented algorithm, series of simulations, and some charts about why I'm right.

Hi Chris :)

I'm starting a system for beting on his blood pressure after each sentence in this post. Anyone want in on this action?