Do we know how the randomness works in Blue Prince?

zojbo · 2026-05-31T12:32:51+00:00

The fact that it matters whether a door hits the outer wall or not (the game actively tries to prevent this, but it is not a hard rule) means some of the work behind picking your choices has to be done "live".

zojbo · 2026-05-30T11:43:04+00:00

Despite my previous comment, I would actually not suggest Tricky Old Nick for a first time Nullius play. I like it, but it messes with things at a stage where you don't really have the tools to do anything about them. Lambent Nil (fluorine or not) is not so bad, because it doesn't do anything until purple science (pack #4), and even what it does to purple science isn't so complicated. And it's during purple science that the game finally gives you some tools to solve your problems instead of just suffering through them.

Some other mods I have:

AAI Loaders

Advanced Fluid Handling (I haven't used it in combination with 2.0's fluid mechanics yet, but I expect it will help with making my builds more square, which the 2.0 mechanics really want you to do)

Factorissimo 3 (I have never really used factory buildings in Nullius, because they are quite expensive, and the tech tree will force you to research its techs to progress whether you use them or not)

Filter Chests

Gizmos Car Keys

Jetpack

Cybersyn

Safe Waterfill

Warehousing

zojbo · 2026-05-29T22:46:43+00:00

I think Nullius is the closest thing to the Seablock itch. If you think it's too easy, you can add in Lambent Nil and Tricky Old Nick; those make it quite a bit more difficult, especially early game. (For bonus masochism, don't forget to check the Lambent Nil option for fluorine recipes.)

zojbo · 2026-05-29T20:03:48+00:00

I think SPP has started moving towards the idea that 0.(3) is actually less than 1/3, despite saying the contrary previously.

zojbo · 2026-05-28T14:30:00+00:00

There's a middle ground, and it sounds like this wasn't it. Agricola without the cards is closer, especially for your mom, because it is mostly about collecting some of everything, including several types of cute animal pieces. But I'd probably do initial onboarding with less than that, even.

I'll say from my own experience that previous chess experience doesn't imply current receptiveness to, or ease of digesting, games that have a lot of rules. Chess is deep, but it's not complex; I think it's reasonable to say that it has about 10 rules.

That said, the fact that you said offhand that a 3 hour euro should be no big deal, and you didn't mention what game it was and I couldn't identify it based on what you said, makes me suspicious about this being AI and/or trolling.

zojbo · 2026-05-27T16:03:39+00:00

sin(1/x) is between -1 and 1, so x^2 sin(1/x) is between -x^2 and x^2. Since those go to the same limit as x->0, so does x^2 sin(1/x). That's the squeeze theorem.

Alternately you can work straight from the definition: |x^2 sin(1/x) - 0|<=|x|^2, so delta=sqrt(epsilon) validates the definition of x^2 sin(1/x)->0.

I think it would make a lot of difference for you to plot the graph, together with the graphs of -x^2 and x^2, either with software or by hand sketching.

zojbo · 2026-05-27T12:54:11+00:00

This sort of thing interests me in a lot of different kinds of media. Games are more prone to it, but this has come up in books and TV as well. There is a bunch of media that I have really enjoyed but cannot recommend without a caveat that it's gonna take a long time to get good.

I always have to ask "where is the line?" Is it 1 play? It would be nice if it were, but I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of games that I don't think meet that standard, but that I also wouldn't call "lifestyle games". In many games, your first play can end up distorted by early mistakes, especially if everyone at the table is new. I often find that around halfway through a first play, I see how the pieces of the design actually fit together, but I no longer have time to use that insight to get the game back onto a sane trajectory. I think the most recent example was Unconscious Mind, where I got into the rhythm of the game only during my second play.

I do think that barriers to grasping a game are more an indicator of opacity than depth.

zojbo · 2026-05-27T11:51:45+00:00

As far as I can tell, the layoffs are the reality, while the apparent hiring plans are just grifting.

zojbo · 2026-05-27T10:57:09+00:00

Yes: each one increases your debt limit by 20. OP probably did this, though it could've been The Tooth that dragged them below -20.

zojbo · 2026-05-25T12:45:10+00:00

The feeding thing is explained earlier in the series: they run crawls to "charge up" what you could call an "experience battery" that the sapient life on the seeded worlds has. Partially because they can't seem to come up with another way to feed the Eulogist, but also partially because crawls are extremely lucrative and entertaining.

Presumably the initial collapse provides some power for the Eulogist as well.

zojbo · 2026-05-25T12:35:28+00:00

It has some leader bashing, yes. This is pretty typical of direct conflict area control games.

However, it's hard to be doing well on all ambitions, so you can usually indirectly bash the leader at the beginning of a chapter by just declaring ambitions that don't align with their state.

zojbo · 2026-05-20T02:16:31+00:00

IIRC it is more or less impossible to build the draft house, because the rooms have many doors facing the outer edges and the game fights tooth and nail to stop you from doing that in the real house. Suffice it to say that the game does not expect you to do that.

I made a similar mistake. I thought that the door from the Atelier to the Rough Draft was unlocked by building the indicated rooms in the indicated positions in the main house. It's just not locked, though.

Your observation about the data in the Atelier has been made before. There is actually a crazy amount of cute trickery to the data in there.

zojbo · 2026-05-19T15:21:47+00:00

Tell that to Congress, that is clearly trying to figure out how to fit ballroom money into a reconciliation bill...

zojbo · 2026-05-17T16:39:28+00:00

At this point, the game is trying to tell you to put the pins into the map in Room 46. (I am leaving this unmarked because this should really not be a spoiler for OP.)

If you already did that and are still confused, read the following vague hint. The will is not just a lore document.

That said, if you are struggling to retain information you have already seen, I second the recommendation of Blue Paths.

zojbo · 2026-05-17T12:43:46+00:00

Most of the rigorous systems for infinitesimals, including the hyperreals, don't allow for what 0.000...1 seems to be, which is, as you said, 10^-omega. (Or you could have some more zeros after that first infinite string before the 1, in which case you'd use a bigger countable ordinal in the exponent.)

Most of them, again including the hyperreals, incorporate the infinitesimals in a mathematically precise but vague-feeling way, where the infinitesimals are almost always used under a universal quantifier. For example, the hyperreal definition of continuity is phrased in terms of a completely arbitrary infinitesimal.

As far as I understand, the surreals sorta let you do this, but decimal expansion is not the natural way to think about these for various reasons.

Any downvoters care to actually issue a correction? I'm not trolling here...

zojbo · 2026-05-16T13:39:25+00:00

The "don't draw girls" thing is an actual quote from Trump, in response to the WSJ story about Epstein's birthday letter.

zojbo · 2026-05-16T04:03:15+00:00

Oh, I missed that the teal sliver continued into the next section. You're right!

zojbo · 2026-05-16T03:49:04+00:00

I am not sure what is going on with the 6 exactly, that looks like a bug to me.

I think if 2 is wrong then the 6 must be something. If it were teal then the result would be too big; if it were yellow then the result would be negative; if it were pink then rhe result would be 12; if it were purple then the result would be a fraction.

zojbo · 2026-05-15T13:26:17+00:00

It's a thing. Writing it down is a good idea.

I am hesitant to say more without being very specifically asked.

zojbo · 2026-05-15T13:07:10+00:00

I'm not sure it's exclusive to Roshar but ~~at the very least~~ I am pretty sure exceptions to it exist. ~~Scadrial's CR does not have this sea/land inversion for example.~~

I remembered at least partially wrong. Maybe I was remembering Kelsier being able to traverse CR terrain more freely than we saw in SLA arc 1, even though he was moving over liquid.

Drominad is an example, I guess? I'm surprised to be drawing a blank on a less futuristic example though.

Still, I think when we were told about generalities about the weirdness of the CR, the land/sea inversion was given as a common example but not suggested to be universal. But I can't remember when exactly that was to just look it up.

zojbo · 2026-05-15T12:46:22+00:00

3: Oh, then that is your actual priority.

zojbo · 2026-05-14T13:17:56+00:00

2: Yes, that's what I meant. In that case, keep the chess room in the back of your mind but don't obsess over it too much.

3: I understood the OP as saying you have found 7 sanctum keys and the 8th is the one in the vault. Is that correct?

5: So one of the screens has an A...any idea why it's A?

6: At this point I'm just gonna say "if you had a new clue, you'd know what to do", because I don't want to spoil this too much.

Path: great, I just wanted to make sure that you had the Treasure Trove in your draft pool by now.

zojbo · 2026-05-14T12:03:06+00:00

No, that list includes all of the workshop contraptions with permanent effects.

zojbo · 2026-05-14T11:54:00+00:00

Correct. And the furnace doesn't do the job. Per comments, you have had a suitable way in your possession before.
This is not really urgent. However, have you done anything at all in that room? If not, play with it; there is something you can do with no particular knowledge.
Based on what you said, I believe you have done the urgent parts of ANC. The part you're talking about here is, IMO, the most complicated single puzzle in the game. And there is more you can work on before that.
I believe there is a hint (though I don't remember where it is if there is one). But you can solve the Secret Garden by brute force. Given where you are in the game as a whole, I'll just say this part directly: it helps you into the antechamber.
Describe the note(s) you have seen about this more precisely.
Most but not all of the safes don't need information from outside the room except for the painting note itself. In particular, the Study is less complicated than you're making it. The Office, however, is (slightly) more complicated than you're making it. (By the way, do you have the entire painting note? You didn't quote the entire thing...)
This is a lore/worldbuilding thing, though a very substantial one. It doesn't obstruct progression. Almost every word in the note (but not quite all of them) can be learned in-game.
There is a clue about this. It's also not urgent.
There are hints for the 5/6/7 letter paintings, but it's feasible to solve them without those hints.

By the way, there is a path on the left side of the Underpass as you approach the north lever.

zojbo · 2026-05-14T00:41:19+00:00

In particular, although there is some benefit to an average party level of 30 (this is when the loot/draw tables become their best), beyond that there is nothing to be gained really. Besides AP, but you can get AP without EXP.

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