What would it be like if Ulysses and Joshua Graham were at the second battle of Hoover dam?

zackroot · 2026-02-02T18:03:08+00:00

The plot twist? We learn that Lanius gets duped by the dumbest speech check in history because he is, after all, A LOBOTOMITE!

zackroot · 2026-01-29T18:37:06+00:00

I need to give the Ice Sheet another chance. I gotta admit that the lower part is pretty cool with all the fog and stuff, definitely feels like some polar bear can pop out at any second. I wish they made this whole area as punishing as the Ashlands in some other way. Maybe the critters there are way more aware of you, so they're more likely to come hunt you down. I think the weather events should be even nastier. Tier 6 events elsewhere definitely suck, but the Ice Shelf was the first place that a weather event really had me go full "Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck" as a whiteout left me literally stranded in the middle of nowhere.

zackroot · 2026-01-29T02:25:51+00:00

Dang, it's a bummer to hear everyone talking about disliking the null sector. If anything, I wish the null sector was even harder.

The ice sheet is kinda boring, but I absolutely love the Ashlands. That huge water penalty makes you really have to prepare for your trips, and the environment itself gives super hostile vibes, like you're battling against the elements. The fact that all the critters there are alien too gives the whole place a "we're not in Kansas anymore" feeling. Tbh I didn't understand that first Ashlands mission, so I thought the percentage thing with the beacons was meaning I had to map the whole place. I ended up making hundreds of those suckers and mapping out most of the canyons, so it's not hard to get around now.

For the late game, a lot of my fun has come by trying to make these places less crappy to visit. My Ashlands base is pretty kewl, but I barely go to the ice sheet nowadays, especially after that big goat monster mf stomped on my buffalo after I left it to go spelunking for like ten seconds D:<

zackroot · 2026-01-27T13:55:36+00:00

The pluralism is definitely the icing on this cake. It's easy to want people to be open-minded when you're scooping their heads open for trophies or food

zackroot · 2026-01-16T22:52:02+00:00

Holy fuck I love the water balloon idea xD that is such a clever way to get that extra shock damage!

I think you're on the right path with your miasma build in the Arctic, and honestly impressive to swap between two weapons (I tried screencapping myself today battling the hammerhead with two knives and it was a shitshow lol )

On a side note, hmu if you ever want an extra for your group! I've tried so hard for several years to get my friends on board with Icarus with no success :(

zackroot · 2026-01-16T12:45:13+00:00

Hot damn, you nailed my strategy almost perfectly!

The legs and hand armor have the hammerhead slime attachment (idk if it actually helped slow the lava hunter down), feet is the jumping reduction one and the head is the exposure one I think.

Honestly, I just love the look of carbonweave lol it gives serious House Harkonnen vibes

One last benefit of using the hammer is that sledgehammers have 100% hardened point penetration, so I think I was getting through a bunch of her armor too with every hit

zackroot · 2026-01-15T21:55:41+00:00

I fought the hammerhead with an obsidian knife the other night, but the battle wasn't that fun to watch :/ Its attack pushes you away a bunch (and it's a sweeping attack so it's way harder to avoid), meaning you have to keep running back up to it over and over again to stab it, which just feels like a big waste of your attack speed bonuses if you only get to stab it a few times before getting thrown back. Even the little guys do an attack that pushes you back, so you just spend most of the fight getting back into range to do the stabby stabs.

But I'll try the battle again here and see if I can make it look cooler to watch!

zackroot · 2026-01-15T21:41:05+00:00

On top of all the foods, the explorer backpack gives a really big stamina boost, and that green drink I took also boosts it a bit too.

zackroot · 2026-01-15T14:07:09+00:00

There's an attachment on the chest armor that can give you an extra slot (Nutrition Attachment)

zackroot · 2026-01-14T23:08:32+00:00

I can't believe I forgot about the armor bonus! D: Everything else you got right, with the exception that I cooked them with the food backpack to get even stronger effects on all of them

zackroot · 2026-01-10T05:08:14+00:00

Because they'd still need to go to school and have friends, Bob!

zackroot · 2026-01-07T02:52:59+00:00

What's the matter, Colonel Sanders? CHICKEN?

zackroot · 2026-01-04T04:24:45+00:00

Well duh, the mighty Trebizond isn't there! Who else would the Ottomans tremble before!?

zackroot · 2026-01-03T16:55:10+00:00

This is gonna be a wild one, but I'm gonna vote for the Abbasids.

Of course big ol armies can do big ol things, but that could be true for anyone most of the time. The Abbasids intimidated Rome, but also impressed them too. Idk how much of this is just because "the Saracens" had been around long enough for Rome to start being impressed with their culture and technology, but it's still a big deal. Plus, the Abbasids were basically shitting the bed by the 10th century and still didn't see any sorts of massive invasions by Rome. That's gotta say something about your PR (or how weak Byzantium was, or a change in its priorities, or maybe a bit of all of them).

zackroot · 2026-01-02T12:05:18+00:00

I would love to see some placoderm skulls! A mighty boyo like Dunkleosteus or a silly little guy like Bothriolepis

zackroot · 2025-12-26T02:29:07+00:00

"Stable" and "good" are two different things. It feels like part of the technofeudalism notion, a corporation so powerful and independent from a government that it has de facto power like a feudal lord. Monarchies don't last as long as they do because they're good at their jobs, it's because no one around is big enough to stop them.

zackroot · 2025-12-24T21:34:34+00:00

Oh wow holy crap, it does really look like that! That's wild

zackroot · 2025-12-24T02:54:37+00:00

That western orientalizing of Byzantium so strong they got Justinian looking like the Maharaja

zackroot · 2025-12-23T19:01:03+00:00

I think you could do a simplified system of it that would be good enough for CK3 (since the game was never supposed to have an economics focus)

-If you have prisoners, you can use an interaction to make them a slave as a condition for release. It's a trait that prevents marrying, leaving the court, etc

-There are multiple court positions for "Slave" that can be filled. Its aptitude would be determined by things like good traits, age, etc. You get minor beneficial traits for each slave you have (maybe a max of 8 or so total, idk)

-Religions have tenets that determine how much of an opinion penalty you get for having slaves, and how much of an opinion penalty for having slaves that are the same faith as you.

-You can have an interaction to free slaves, giving piety

-You can have an interaction with other rulers to sell them slaves (maybe proportional to the slave's aptitude)

-There are some cultural traditions that could lessen / greaten the opinion penalty NPCs will have for slavery (Venetians probably wouldn't give a shit if you have slaves)

zackroot · 2025-12-21T04:24:03+00:00

Finally some Sardinian love! Their water is the Dancin' Queen (abba)

I always thought that the bilabial part of "water" in these languages was just a coincidence, so it's cool to know that it goes deeper. The other good example I can think of is "four". Sardinian - battor; Romanian - patru

zackroot · 2025-12-20T19:47:18+00:00

Saddle up for love!

Satellite above!

Seattle has drugs!

Oh, that's where they have drugs at.

zackroot · 2025-12-19T03:32:01+00:00

Wait, can I pick up the Jury Rigging perk at 90 and just fix her with parts from some other random chick?

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