masked-rat - Tumblr blog

[masked-rat]

Do what my Scottish ancestors did- grab him by the hair, drag him out of the chapel, and hack him to pieces in the hallway outside. *Then* see your mom.

i didn't stab my uncle while he was praying. very demure. very mindful. now to see my mother.

[masked-rat]

Counterpoint: the greater PC community doesn't deserve ports. So get used to carrying that powered USB-C hub and briefcase full of dongles, because that's what you made Mac users have to do since the '80s.

Because every single time Apple tried to early- adopt a port or standard, the greater PC community would turn up its nose and do the *exact* opposite out of spite.

fat, thick and with multiple ports

[masked-rat]

Nuanced Answer: while I'm not a huge fan of planeswalkers getting even more nerfed, I like how planar travel has gotten easier for non- planeswalkers.

How has been the reception to the desparked planeswalkers so far?

Let's find out.

[masked-rat]

Timelines in Marathon Infinity

I'm pretty sure we're travelling between *parallel universes*, not doing one- universe time travel.

General blocking:

Ne Cede Malis (and M1 and M2; last level in the "core" timeline)

Rise Robot Rise thru Aie Mak Sicur*

ACME Station thru Carroll Street Station

Naw Man, He's Close thru You're Wormfood, Dude*

By Committee thu Aye Mak Sicur

Defenders are present on all "bad ending" levels except Ne Cede Malis and Wormfood, despite recent theory that they don't show up. They do show up. The big differences are that key parts of the station are sealed off, and more importantly there is *no* Farcast pattern chip.

You did notice that for both Aie Mak Sicur and Carroll Street Station, you conveniently dropped in right where the first chip would be. And it's not there. Whoops, thassa problem.

It's theoretically possible, in a co-op game- to bring a chip forward from Robot World Arena. Or use a save game editor to give you one? The first chip socket is still present on this level, and the terminal close by it. I'd kind of like to read it.

Where Are Monstairs in Dreams always gave me "bad ending" vibes as well, with Aie Mak Sicur possibly being a *second* bad ending. Maybe the timeline splits or something.

Would've been ironic if Carroll Street Station hadn't been the bad ending, and that it'd been on Lh'owon. ACME Station, the "scanning buoy," would've been the Jjaro station the whole time. *raucous laughter*

I have a feeling there's something going on between Naw Man, He's Close; Foe Hammer; and Hang Brain. The vacbobs on Naw Man, he's Close don't carry fusion batteries we can use, and the ones on Foe Hammer do (but are also somehow not flagged "Dies in Flames" in the level physics).

I mean, I think the canon explanation is Durandal yoinking your teleport signature, which would explain some things later on, but I have a hunch Foe Hammer is in fact a different timeline by itself.

Wormfood.

*shakes head*

The Troopers are bobs. The hunters are vacbobs. The Wyr'kyn'kakntr is awake, and active, and it's noodling reality so bad you just shot your way through whatever was left of Durandal's bobs. You notice there's also no Defenders *anywhere* on this damn level? And it's the only one of the bad endings to have Troopers *at all*?

The Arthur Frane term is your OSHIT moment where you realize just how bad things have gotten.

Final Timeline Breakdown:

Tfear wants to get more humans to surrender (the Pfhor are slavers, after all), sends a possessed drone to plant a fake distress message from Tycho in the network. By Committee happens.

One Thousand Thousand Slimy Things happens. I want to know more about the Hindmost Creche (this is the second time a Creche is mentioned in Pfhor culture; it also gets mentioned in Aie Mak Sicur). Damn you, Tfear, my minor was Anthropology! Give me something to work with!

Sometime while you're doing A Converted Church in Venice, Italy; the bobs finally manage to rouse some iteration of Thoth, although I get the feeling this Thoth is itself incomplete. But, it detects the pattern you brought with you from a prior timeline, and realizes you could be useful. This is why there's two different exit terms: one if you go out thru the stairs and take the extreme long way around, vs. another you get if you take the hell-ivator.

Son of Grendel makes almost *zero* sense, in a Watsonian *or* Doylist sense. There's an artifact (and yeah, there's actually a couple of fake artifacts you can find if you totally miss the real one). *shrug*

Strange Aeons and Bagged Again happen. Not a lot to work with. K'alia gets referred to as a "sullen star" and I kinda want to know what that means beyond just imagery, but anyway. Oh, and Tycho managed to escape containment during the orbital bombardment. You do notice that the Son of Grendel site is now badly damaged, right? Tfear is probably shitting bricks right now.

The Big Time arena fight, followed by Aye Mak Sicur. Worth noting, you *can* bring a chip forward, which means you *could* skip the second one (or the first one, if you don't fancy facing the center arena a third time- the second chip is only requires timing and a passable knowledge of the map layout- the door by the first terminal is now open).

Also, *two* dummied- out terminals. There's the old S'phit Y'sa Mnr term that we all know about, but there's also one on Slimy Things in the first *non- secret* bob ammo stash (the one that doesn't have the 3x can). Given that it's sized for Water terms, I wouldn't be surprised if the level wasn't originally a Water level and somebody changed it.

Or it could've been a fun Media Munger case. Water architecture but sewage liquids. I don't think anyone put Media Munger to good use, but then again I also never really messed with the expansions that needed a shapes patch.

M1 had blue and orange Troopers- probably the same CLUT as the Fighters.

I do like how Infinity lets you play with the Spanker and flamethrower a lot earlier, instead of reserving them for endgame like M2 did. But at least they didn't do like AvP 2 where you use the Sniper Rifle for literally *one* game- ending shot.

[masked-rat]

I could've seen my 2x great aunt being in one of those pics. In the 1910s, she earned herself a little notoriety in Rhode Island.

...she was out walking, and there was this "masher" going around harassing women, and...

she kinda beat the stuffing out of him. And then chased him to the police station and was *so* pissed at the cops jailing him because she wasn't done beating him up.

LITERARY DIGEST, August 27, 1927

[masked-rat]

The sight of Kamala Harris praising Dick Cheney and welcoming his endorsement is unsurprising but wretched all the same. Extraordinary rendition, systematic torture, and the annihilation of hundreds of thousands of Afghans and Iraqis - these are just trivialities for respectable American liberals, who invoke Trump's malevolence and uncouthness only to excuse their own love for empire.

[masked-rat]

We'll be eating a lot of baked goods, since I'm 100% better at baking than cooking. And some of my recipes are pretty unhealthy. But we won't starve.

...it's also been almost 25 years since I butchered out a deer, so don't expect anything spectacular from that, either.

I'm curious. Reblog this if you know how to cook

I don’t even care if it’s macaroni, ramen or those little bowls you stick in the microwave. Please, I need reassurance that most of the population on tumblr WOULDN’T STARVE TO DEATH if their parents couldn’t fix them food or they couldn’t go out to eat. 

[masked-rat]

*offers hugs*

Due to the linear nature of time, sooner or later he won't be able to do this to you anymore, and you'll feel relief. My dad did the same, but not so much because of gender as other reasons. He was just so infuriating to deal with.

And then one day your dad, like mine, will be gone and all you'll have left is dealing with the paperwork.

Having to basically yell at my dad that id kill myself if i wasnt able to receive gender affirming care and him just kinda glancing over that as "well thats the last resort"... like yea it fucking is cunt thats my point

Fucking hell

[masked-rat]

If languages work the way I think they do, those two characters are no longer nonexistent.

Work mentality

English added by me :)

[masked-rat]

So on that whole Woe Betide thing, shall we talk about several generations of "show don't tell" and its impact on political messaging thru fiction?

There's an urban legend- a believable one- that the CIA is responsible for the rise of "show don't tell" fiction because it made co- opting writers' messages easier. And TBH it is harder for a novel to have a political impact.

It's kind of hard to be the plucky teen protag who challenges the dystopia, or the boot- heel dictator who rules one, if you don't have a dystopia in the first place.

Some people are like "The classic sci-fi novel Don't Create the Torment Nexus is Problematic because it features the Torment Nexus"

[masked-rat]

the goth girl of your dreams does not exist. if you ever want to see her, you must allow yourself to become her. no, i don’t care that you’re a boy, put on the fucking dress already, goddamn.

[masked-rat]

Yeah, whole point of these guys was to occasionally take a hit so the Sisters could refill their Faith Points- the rule even got referred to as "Kennying."

Missionary with Chainsword is done! I wanted this guy since my first issue of WD in like 97, and for some reason you can still find him brand new from an edition or 2 back as far as i can tell? Guy doesn't even have rules but i do kinda miss when the Sisters had this weird small male component of priests and abbots and deacons, that still exist in lore but were tagging along for whatever they were up to (dying horribly if I know my SOB lore).

I was also trying to paint him as bright as I possibly could! I'm really happy with him!

Also lmao with scale creed he's about as tall as a Leagues of Votann mini, not a human!

[masked-rat]

If I'm less argumentative than usual, it's because I had my tonsils out on Wed and I'm spending more time than usual just lying down sleeping.

[masked-rat]

This gives me vibes that it's tracking late Tsarist economic reforms that led to the alleged rise of the Kulaks, in which peasants were able to buy land and agricultural equipment.

But, it also looks like it's tracking Stalin's definition of the rural proletariat, in which only the absolute poorest workers- "Batraks"- are actually proletariat. Anyone who was even a subsistence farmer was too rich.

Edit: Bednyaks were, IIRC, still too rich for Stalin's tastes, despite being literal subsistence farmers.

...huh, i didn't know that homesteading increases support for petite bourgeoisie. that could explain why the petite bourgeoisie was so strong in my game

turns out if you want communism you actually have to get commercialized agriculture first, cause then the working class will be pushed more towards the trade unions

also i didn't know that they changed the healthcare laws to be more interesting. charity hospitals increase standard of living for working class, private healthcare improves living standards for the upper class (kind of useless...), while public healthcare improves everyone's standards of living

needless to say there's basically no reason to ever not get public healthcare, cause it'll increase your overall living standards way faster. i guess unless you want to max out your petite bourgeoisie with private healthcare if you really wanna fascistmaxx or something, or if you're trying to go theocracy with charity hospitals

[masked-rat]

It's the old "if your ancestor was a slave, you can tax deduct 40 acres and a mule" trick, except this time it's check fraud instead of tax fraud.

Worst part is, I wouldn't be surprised if the people starting it did in fact know better.

Hey has tumblr heard about the Chase “Infinite Money glitch” debacle from tiktok yet because

[masked-rat]

Polearm Land is why old versions of D&D have a huge weapon chart with like 30+ line items for *just* polearms. Flail? One single line item.

one of the more upsetting things you notice if you look back at older european weapons is that nobody fucking named any of the types of flail so you've gotta describe them by appearance every single time

[masked-rat]

I have a theory nVidia could have something to do with this. C-tier executives live in their own worlds, and it doesn't take much to convince one of something if you can get access. Kind of like how JKR went from having to hide because of threats by various Christian groups, to now being the number one TERF. They got access, and then used it to set up an echo chamber where everyone around them is hitting the same talking points.

Or in this case, it's nVidia setting up an echo chamber where AI is the number one hot product, and guess who just happened to have their stuff optimized for AI *before* it got big?

Hasbro: Huh, I notice we still have a tiny amount of Goodwill left among our fanbase.

Hasbro: Time to nip that in the bud!

Hasbro: