#Delta Combat Systems

[covid-safer-hotties]

Reference preserved in our archive (Daily updates!)

Abstract As of the 7th of July 2024, 775,754,322 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 7,053,902 deaths worldwide, had been reported to the WHO (World Health Organization). Nevertheless, untill the 15th of July 2024, a total of 13,578,710,228 vaccine doses had been administered, with almost no country spared from COVID-19 attacks. The pathophysiology of this virus is complicated, and several symptoms require a deep understanding of the actual mechanisms. It is unclear why some patients develop severe symptoms while others do not, although literature suggests a role for vitamin D. Vitamin D plays a crucial role in the infection or in ameliorating the severity of symptoms. The mechanism of action of vitamin D and vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is well understood. VDD is associated with increased hospitalization of severely ill patients and increased levels of COVID-19-caused mortality. Recent studies suggest that vitamin D levels and genetic variations in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene significantly impact the severity and outcomes of COVID-19, especially in the infections caused by Delta and Omicron variants. Furthermore, VDD causes immune system dysregulation upon infection with SARS-CoV-2, indicating that vitamin D sufficiency is crucial in fighting against COVID-19 infection. The therapeutic effect of vitamin D raises interest in its potential role as a prophylactic and treatment adjunct. We evaluate the immunomodulatory effects of vitamin D and its ability to enhance the efficacy of new antiviral drugs like molnupiravir and paxlovid against SARS-CoV-2. This review discusses the role of vitamin D sufficiency and VDD in COVID-19 initiation and progression, emphasizing the molecular mechanisms by which vitamin D exerts its actions as a proactive step for the next pandemic. However, there is still no clear evidence of vitamin D’s impact on prevention and treatment, leading to contradictory findings. Therefore, large-scale randomized trials are required to reach a definitive conclusion. A bibliometric analysis of publications related to vitamin D, immunity, and COVID-19 revealed a significant increase in research activity in this area, particularly in 2020–2024, underscoring the growing recognition of vitamin D’s potential role in the context of the pandemic.

[stra-tek]

What happened to the Voyager crew in the novels?

Janeway: Brace yourselves. Admiral Janeway commanded a mission to a derelict Borg Cube and insisted on beaming over herself. But unlike every other Borg Cube out there, this one had evolved. It didn't assimilate, it absorbed everything it touched, becoming bigger and stronger. It absorbed her, made her into it's Queen and began a rampage through the solar system which included flying right through the sun and eating Pluto. Picard was tasked with stopping her and did so by re-activating the Doomsday Machine from TOS (itself originally built to combat the Borg), eventually stopping the cube and killing Janeway.

Except, Q rescued her. He rebuilt her a new body for her consciousness to inhabit and along with q (lower case, his son) they stopped the universe from ending and she returned to being an Admiral.

Seven of Nine: Breaks up with Chakotay 30 pages into the first post-"Endgame" novel. After the Borg's final defeat and assimilation at the hands of the Caliear, loses all her Borg implants but also loses her mind. Stuff happens and she gets better, then begins a relationship with a new ships councellor character based on Dr. House.

Chakotay: Becomes Captain of the USS Voyager and goes on adventures. After the final Borg invasion, Voyager is refit with a Quantum Slipstream drive and sent back to the Delta Quadrant as part of the Full Circle fleet. Still pretty much plywood.

Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres: Their second child Miral somehow ends up the Klingon Jesus and they eventually fake their deaths to escape weird Klingon cultists. Harry Kim is not amused when he finds out.

Ichab: Joins Starfleet Academy but keeps leaving class to go on adventures with the Voyager crew.

The Doctor: Gets into a bizarre holographic rights storyline which involves holos striking, acts of terrorism and is all acknowledged as a bit silly afterwards.

Harry Kim: Gets a promotion. Lol.

[tesalicious2]

Delta Squad Headcanons

Focusing on Advisor

During transport and some missions, Asvisor will wear his dress grays which are actually pitch black so Admirals can distinguish commando squad advisors from the other regular clones (though most have no idea what the black means, just that it is different)

Few of the GAR know about advisors at all and those who do are very high up commanders (when I say GAR, this includes ARC, CTs, regular CCs, literally anyone but the Commandos and the Advisors)

Advisors often work with multiple squads at one time, though their missions usually don’t overlap (ie, two different missions at the same time, not two squads on the same mission)

In the beginning of the war, it was common for multiple squads in the same planet working together and the command center to be very active with Advisors working maps, intel, and avoiding the GAR

The more dangerous missions occur right before or lead to a campaign and no one is the wiser, though its about equal between those that happen before and those that happen during

In one instance, Delta squad was on a LAAT/i heading toward their ship and saw an LAAT/i heading toward the planet carrying troops

The commandos themselves have small ports on them to inject bacta into for damage and internal stress

All that’s needed is to lock a small container of bacta into the port with a click and it auto injects

There is one port per arm and one port on the upper and lower leg, then two on the front and back of their chest below the ribs

These ports are meant for long missions with little rest time, injections are saved until enough damage is accumulated or one major injury

These are inputted at standard age 2 and they all put completely out and given a week recovery before the ports can be used

All commandos have basic medical training, however there are a few specially trained medic commandos that stick to one squad and partner with others for missions

Walon Vau, while a very strict and harsh teacher, did care about Delta squad in his own way

This care continued into the instruction of the Delta squad Advisor CC-01/425

The Advisor program came along about a year after the Commando project began, however they took CC cadets with low physical score and high intelligence and processing to be the candidates

These cadets had essentially no continued combat training since age 2, with only one day a week reserved for it (half day of blasters and half day of sparring)

The rest of the days would be full of strategy, team management, intelligence collecting, map reading, etc. everything they’d need to lead a squad from an ship in orbit safe and sound

(They were never really safe and sound. They were the squads almost guide and half guy in the chair with a smidge of leader and decision maker, any and all failure in any compacity fell to them. Squad failure=their failure and just as harsh of punishment. Death)

Each Mandalorian in charge of a squad would teach a class for the advisors. Though with the amount of mandalorians, only the ones with top ranking squads would get to teach

Walon would often pass up to teach Delta, but a training accident that left three squads out of commission for a week left him and Mird restless

He decided to watch some of these advisors and CC-01/425 caught his eye

He had a look of defiance and a ‘take no shit’ attitude that was perfect for his squad

During that week, Vau rearranged the training system so each day included 3 hours of physical training as well as their full day

During these three hours, Vau had the Deltas study on their own while he took CC-01/425 for personal training

In the beginning, these three hours were spent playing strategy games and gambling, sabaac was a key game. Gambling games were used to teach how to read others who show little and how to weigh risks

He also taught him how to command and care for Mird, since Vau wanted him to learn that responsiblity (also he would get Mird if anything happened to him)

Eventually, these changed into sparring and language studies (ie, mando'a), and taught him a lot of the mandalorian customs that he taught the Deltas (so CC-01/425 could understand how the Deltas think/act and to be competable with them)

Though Vau taught CC-01/425 with the purpose of advising the Deltas, he kept them separate and did not tell them about each other (he does care for CC-01/425 just as much as the Deltas)

This choice was because he cared for CC-01/425, since if CC-01/425 bonded with them as children, his judgments would change based on his past experiences

Keeping them separate kept him unbaised and able to be brutally honest and strict with the Deltas while on missions

The only time they've interacted is on a training mission, which ended in success for the Deltas and the highest score of all the commando groups

Due to Vau's want to prepare CC-01/425 for the Deltas, he modified the Advisors training track, overall improving the quality of troopers; with their intelligence and strategy matching the command track CCs (CCs specialize in large scale attacks, Advisors specialize in small strike teams and stealth missions)

One Advisor can operate and strategize for -at most- 3 Commando Squads before another needs to step in. However, if all the squads are on the same mission, the number rises to 5 squads since the commands go to each squad instead of every member of a squad

There has been a few instances where Advisors have helped/guided GAR troopers on stealth missions. Though the Advisors are referred to a different titles (depending on the mission) and they have never truly made contact with the men they were helping

GAR troopers rarely work with Commandos, due to the animosity between the groups (especially the ARC troopers). During those times, Commando squads will defer to their Advisor rather than the ranking officer, even if the officer is a nat-born

Delta has drawn the short end of the stick the most and often find themselves working around the GAR, keeping their mission secret

There were a few training sessions were the CCs would work a Commando squad, these would often end in longer mission times and lower success rates

Vau often enjoyed watching these sessions and would have CC-01/425 analyze what the CCs were doing wrong to improve his strategies

Vau would also take Delta to watch other Commando squads training sessions to see how different squads act during a mission. He would also have them watch CTs completing sims to see the difference in techniques and approaches

Though, Vau doesn't let them interact with the non-Mandalorian trainers. This is not because of anything about them but rather Vau knows from experience that the trainers care little for improving the individual troopers but just that their numbers are met

Vau is particular with who his troopers interact with (trainer wise), not letting them interact with trainers such as Dred Priest. Despite this strictness, Delta works with Skirata's Commandos very often and will let the Nulls teach the Deltas when he goes to train with CC-01/425

The Commando barracks are on a completely separate building on Kamino with their own sim and training areas for them to learn without the distractions of the CTs and other CCs, though the Advisors are kept on the same building as the Commandos

I'm already on a part 2, who knew Tumblr had a character limit?

[agbpaints]

Name: Moth

Model: MTH-9L

Manufacturer: Ceres Metals Industries

Intro Year: 3145

Class: Light Battlemech

Cost: 4.677 mn c-bills

Weight: 30 T

Top Speed: 97.2 kph

Jump Capacity: 240 meters

Quirks: difficult to maintain, no/minimal arms, nimble jumper

In the wake of the 6th Andurian War, the Strategios of the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces determined that there was a need for a new, low cost light mech to serve as a forward observer and harassment unit in their augmented companies. While the venerable Raven remained in service, its relatively low speed and expensive suite of electronics lead to a number of costly losses during the conquest of Wallacia. To that end, specifications for a new scout were sent out for bids- the new mech had to be cheap, difficult for Free Worlds League precision energy weapons to engage with, and capable of engaging and providing support for indirect fire elements of the CCAF at a variety of ranges. Unusually, despite Hellespont Industrials, the Confederation's more seasoned light manufacturer, submitting a bid in the form of the Sunfire, Ceres Metals Industries won the contract. Their design, initially named Project GOSSAMER, was delayed several times due to production shortfalls and the discovery of a Federated Suns spy ring operating at Ceres' design bureau. Eventually the mech began full production in 3145 as the Moth.

An outwardly radical design, Ceres managed to reduce the cost of their bid significantly through the use of a number of off the shelf parts and existing research prototypes. The mech's engine was a GM 180 extralight fusion power plant, originally designed for a prototype Vindicator before the VND-4L project opted for a larger 225 power plant instead, allowing the 30 ton mech to achieve ground speeds of up to 97 kph. While this speed was deemed unacceptable for the task at hand, the mech's principle designer, Dr. Oxana Ufimtsev, opted to equip the mech with a battery of Anderson jump jets and used a novel delta design for the main hull of the mech, with very low profile arms and wide, integrated control surfaces to give the mech an unusually high glide coefficient. Together, these systems allow the Moth to leap distances similar to those achievable by the Spider, despite the mech's far less powerful engine. The cost of this innovative design is a frame with extremely cumbersome access points and systems not immediately intuitive to most mechtechs, leading to increased maintenance costs and repair times. When deployed in augmented formations alongside aerospace assets, technicians are commonly cross trained on both the unit's fighters and Moths, as the two repair schedules have been found to be similar.

The production model MTH-9L Moth uses a Moscovia light PPC as its main armament, supported by a pair of Ceres Arms model JX small pulse lasers mounted in the two weapons nacels that comprise the design's arms. Additionally, the mech carries a Diverse Optics ER small laser in the left arm and an Apple Churchill TAG system in the left, imported from Hellespont's Sian facility. Clad in 6 tons of Ceres mk III Stealth Armor, the Moth is easily capable of withstanding light fire from enemy mechs while confounding longer range sensor returns. Unfortunately, to make room for the light PPC, Ceres opted to reduce the size and ammenities of the mech's cockpit, resulting in complaints from pilots assigned to the machine for long scouting patrols.

In combat, Moths are most typically used as long range harassment units, using their stealth armor and long jump range to maintain evade enemy fire as they opportunistically engage with their TAG and light PPC. As the fight progresses, some pilots may choose to engage in more active combat, allowing the indirect elements they're supporting to remove the majority of a target'a armor before attempting to destroy vulnerable exposed components with their small lasers

The first recorded combat involving a Moth occurred on Brisbane between elements of the First Victoria Rangers and a raiding force of the Concordat Commandos. Captain Curtis Bao deployed a lance of Moths to waylay the advance of a Taurian armored colum and allow for his own heavy units and combat vehicles to position themselves in foothills east of the TDF landing site. The light mechs caught the tank company and their mech escorts by surprise, outflanking the vehicles and engaging into their weaker side armor at long range with their PPCs while painting targets for Bao's LRM carriers and Thunderbolts. Eventually, the Commandos' mechs rallied and began to engage the stealthy light lance, forcing them to withdraw, however the action blunted the Taurian advance and allowed time for the Victoria Rangers to mount a successful defense of Brisbane's capital, Badwater. The surviving Moths then saw use as city fighters, their jumping capabilities allowing them to manuever easily though the urban fabric of Badwater while their X-pulse lasers let them to brutally engage Taurian infantry.

As a new design, very few variants or operators outside the Confederation have yet to be spotted. Beyond the CCAF, a few Capellan aligned mercenary commands have been allowed to officially purchase small numbers of the design, while the allied Magistracy of Canopus has managed to acquire a number of lances of the mech through unknown sources.

While their infiltration was discovered and rooted out before the full design was finalized, MIIO operatives did manage to steal plans for the early prototypes of the Moth, which the New Avalon Institute of Science used as a test bed for re-engineered laser designs and new SRM munitions. A small production run of the design, similar but without the Capellan stealth armor, was produced by Corean Enterprises at their Augusta plant, but the AFFS appears to have abandoned adding the mech to its TO&E.

Finally, several examples of the Moth were captured by forces loyal to Alaric Ward's Star League during fighting on New Earth. The Jade Falcon remnant present immediately saw use in the design as a heavier alternative to their light Ion Sparrows. A Clantech refit of the mech has been spotted using an ER large laser in place of the PPC and a quartet of small pulse lasers in the weapons nacels.

[ijustwanttoreadthestories]

Things I think would be absolutely amazing to see in the third Horizon game after having loved Zero Dawn and Forbidden West so much:

-Being able to swap between both Aloy and Beta from your base of operations. Imagine missions where perhaps there's points in missions where you realize "oh, Beta isn't built for this kind of combat, better go get Aloy to clear out this cauldron or bandit camp" or "this is a part of the Terraforming System that needs Beta's fine tuning skills". Having the game itself literally take advantage of the girls' different backgrounds, and accentuate their skills- Aloy's combat and people skills, Beta's scientific mind and experience with the tech. Beta can fight, but not quite as efficiently as her sister. Aloy can work the terraforming system, but not finesse it like Beta can. Maybe there's mini games you have ti play as Beta in order to clear code in corrupted access points somewhere, and perhaps there'd even ways to increase each girl's skills so that they match each other. (Though I'm getting into RPG territory at that point).

And maybe there's ways to travel all across the whole world and connect people. You have to pinpoint and pick out people who are trustworthy enough and influential enough to be the first in their tribe to get a Focus. Mqy e you can determine how your final battle with Nemesis goes, by who you pick and how you help them navigate preparing their people.

With the Quen, if the third game is taken to the Great Delta, perhaps Aloy and their allies become the driving force behind a rebellion that leads to the full opening of the database the Quen possess, and outreach to the surrounding tribes- maybe even getting their help to rebel and free the oppressed within the Quen Empire. (If the game IS going to the Great Delta, I so, so very vey much look forward to seeing it.)

Obviously, I know I'm no authority on what Guerrilla Games should do for Horizon 3. But, damnit, the ideas that the first two games gave me keep whirling around in my head. 😅

I speak all of this only as someone that adores the games and writes fanfiction for them.

[usafphantom2]

59 years ago!

Feb. 29, 1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson publicly revealed the existence of the Top Secret Lockheed YF-12A, a Mach 3+ interceptor designed and built by Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson’s “Skunk Works.” President Johnson referred to the interceptor as the “A-11.”

The YF-12A interceptor is very similar to its A-12 Oxcart and SR-71A Blackbird stablemates. It is a large twin-engine delta wing aircraft, flown by a pilot and weapons system operator. Because of the altitudes that the F-12 operates, the crew wears S901F full-pressure suits produced by the David Clark Company.

After Johnson’s announcement the media wanted to see a YF 12… They went to Edwards Air Force Base to see it. The airplane was still hot since he had just arrived from Groom Lake, Area 51.

Part of the reason why Johnson announced the YF 12 was to hide the CIA‘s A-12. Airline pilots were beginning to see the A-12 and they were talking aviation magazines. A-12 looks so much like the YF-12 that it was a perfect cover.

According to This Day in Aviation, the US Air Force (USAF) ordered 93 production F-12B* aircraft, which would have been armed with three Hughes AIM-47A Falcon air-to-air missiles in enclosed bays in the bottom of the fuselage. However, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara refused to release the funds for the purchase for three consecutive years and eventually the project was cancelled. In fact, though the aircraft performed well, the F-12 interceptor program ended in early 1968. High costs, the ongoing war in Southeast Asia, and a lower priority on air defense of the US all contributed to the cancellation.

Variants:

•YF-12A Pre-production version. Three were built.

•F-12B* Production version of the YF-12A with various improvements such as an increased combat radius from 1,200 to 1,350 nautical miles and an improved fire control system with increased bomber detection range from 100 to 125 miles, canceled before production could begin.

•YF-12C Fictitious designation for an SR-71 provided to NASA for flight testing. The YF-12 designation was used to keep SR-71 information out of the public domain from 1971 to 1978, 61-7951 was temporarily loaned to NASA from the Air Force as “YF-12C #06937.”

Written by Linda Sheffield Miller first published in aviationgeek club

@Habubrats71 via

[efangamez]

New Prices on my Stores!!!

Hey y'all!

With the announcement of limited community copies, I have altered some prices for games, lowering many of them!

Here are some of the AWESOME games I'm offering for just $9.99!

MOURN: A Retro FPS Styled TTRPG

Darkness, death, and despair. Three things this world has known for far too long.

On the moon of Delta 4, far beyond the soiled Earth humanity left behind hundreds of years ago, there was an age of unbridled peace for generations. Wars were viewed as unnecessary, famine became a dark tale told by fathers to troublesome children, and the many plagues that haunted humans since their birth had all but become a distant memory.

This peace was deep and cherished, giving humanity a golden age unknown on their previous home planet.

That was, until the Qyu appeared.

The Qyu, a warrior people from a planet farther than one can fathom, that contains thousands of species of conquered species, set fire to Delta 4, reducing many cities that once shone with bright towers now to piles of ash and cinders. The people-led government, the communal systems, and the vibrant cultures of the once great moon fell under the iron fist of tyranny and dictatorship. Kindness turned to capital, freedom turned to fear, and knowledge turned to nepotism.

Now, only some factions of humanity remains on Delta 4, barely clinging to the formerly illustrious society they once cherished. All seemed lost, for surely no one could stand up to the might of the Qyu.

That was, until you arrived.

GAMEPLAY

MOURN is a fast, lethal, and easy-to-learn game just as the games this game is inspired from (DOOM, DUSK, Blood, Amid Evil). Rip and tear through hordes of enemies with your allies using only coin flips to decide your fates.

This game includes…

-DEVASTATING weaponry that adds a layer of strategy to every encounter

-INNOVATIVE use of mathematics in its multiples-of-5 system and coin flip skill checks

-IMMERSIVE lore that can make your world as interesting as possible

-HUNDREDS of ways you can customize your character through a simple, yet masterful, character creation process

This game will surely satisfy anyone looking to crave the itch of playing a retro FPS styled game in a tabletop format.

Neon Nights 1st Edition

In Jeriko City, everybody wants to be somebody. Who do you wanna be?

Neon Nights is a cyberpunk/dystopian tabletop RPG set on Earth after a nuclear war devastated the entire planet. After hundreds of years of thousands of people roaming the desolate, irradiated Great Wastes, megacities emerged from the dust of deserts. Where there was once crumbling roads and dancing dust devils now stand skyscrapers towering over hundreds of thousands of roaming pedestrians walking the streets of Jeriko City, located on the East Coast of the once powerful United States of America.

Neon Nights contains an astounding amount of content, including:

*Dozens and dozens of unique, build-friendly Perks

*Dozens of occupations that make your character feel fleshed out and original

*Dozens of skills attached to each occupation that feels personal and useful to your character

*A plethora of weapons and supplies that make your loadout feel personal without too many things to keep track of

Neon Nights also has near infinite build freedom, making each of your playthroughs feel unique and interesting. No more classes and no more level-specific spells or skills!

*Want to specialize in long-range combat using sniper rifles? Go for it.

*What about using deception to trick and lie your way to victory? It’s here!

*What about a steroid-fueled maniac who craves nothing more than gore on their baseball bat? This game is perfect for you. 

Freedom is paramount in this RPG, and the moment that you begin playing will be all you need to fall in love with this completely new and original system designed by Ethan H. Reynolds.

So, will you follow the law, and use the state to pave your way to power? Or will you rebel, and watch banners fly because of your courage? It's up to you to decide.

Tales from the Aerosphere

Tales from the Aerosphere is an original steampunk TTRPG that is powered by the Neon Nights system, a system that prioritizes seemingly limitless character creation freedom.

In this game you will find…

-HUNDREDS of interesting, unique, and fun Perks

-DOZENS of weapons, CogWare augmentations for your body, equipment upgrades, and items to add to your beginning character

-OVER 20 unique and dynamic NPC sheets that are simplistic and accessible to use at any table.

From medics, to assassins, to mechanics, to a literal barbarian, there are THOUSANDS of character combinations you can play  in Tales from the Aerosphere.

The game also includes free updates whenever a new patch is released that adds content or fixes errors. 

Wrath of the Undersea

"The Great Ones promised retribution for the folly of Man. Their empire spreads across the once great kingdoms that now reside below the ocean's depths. Only then did we, chosen of great Dagon and Mother Hydra, climb ashore to heretical ground to lay our foundation once more. We gave the usurpers the children of the sea to feast upon, and ancient shells that whisper hints of prophecy in exchange of resettlement.

This was the way it was...until betrayal plagued our kind."

Wrath of the Undersea is a 17 page game where you play as Lovecraftian monsters seeking revenge on the people who kill your kin and have stolen your land. Use powerful Incantations to cast spells, pray to the Great Ones for help, or use fang and spear to reclaim the shore for yourselves once more.

Disk Masters

In Disk Masters, a party of 2-4 players and a Game Master create the Summons (monsters) of their dreams. Using these Summons, players can explore the Gatcha region created by their GM and become the Disk Masters of the land by either battling their way to victory or saving the Gatcha region from a terrible threat!

In this handbook, you will find…

-DETAILED graphic artwork of Sample Summons you can plug and play easily with!

-STRATEGIC monster-led combat that will test the skills of each player!

-INFINITE Summon varieties and ways to build your monster!

-EASY TO UNDERSTAND RULES that will be a breeze to digest!

Become the Disk Master you were destined to become and download Disk Masters today!

------

All of these games AND MORE can be found on my Linktree attached below!

Please support a disabled and trans game developer today!

[dailyanarchistposts]

Global Warming & Climate Change

Since the 1970s there has been a steady increase in global temperatures as a result of the build-up of heat-trapping pollutant gases in the atmosphere. As evidence of the effects of global warming begins to accumulate, it is absolutely certain that the world is facing a dangerous acceleration of climate change and extremes of weather. These changes will be considerably worse than hotter summers and wetter winters for some and vice versa for others. Whole continents are going to be affected by severe and extended periods of changed climate. Its not just the Saharan region that is experiencing prolonged drought and disastrous fires. Even tropical and temperate regions are suffering, countries like Australia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Cyprus and East Africa. In one year forest fires consumed more than one million hectares of Sumatra and Kalimantan. Agriculture in many different regions of the world will become virtually impossible as desertification spreads in hot areas and rainfall drowns fields and paddocks in the world’s monsoon belt. Storms and ocean swelling will inundate lowlying regions, drowning fishing ports and the hinterlands they feed. Global warming will expand ocean water and raise sea levels two feet by the year 2010: low-lying regions such as the delta portions of Bangladesh, Egypt and Southern China and low-lying islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans may be flooded or even submerged.

This may all seem very academic and the problem of distant peoples. But climate change doesn’t just affect far-off countries we will never visit. Torrential rain and melting in 1998 combined to cause landslides and severe flooding in California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon. Flash floods forced the evacuation of 125,000 people, and destroyed or badly damaged 24,000 houses and several hundred square kilometres of farmland. Economic losses were estimated at $2billion. Dermatologists in Australia and the United States are witnessing an explosion in cases of the deadly skin cancer, melanoma.

Rising sea levels will drown tourist beaches, coastal wetlands, cultural and heritage sites, fishing centres and other areas and require massive investment in coastal defences, new sewage systems and relocation costs – whole new towns – houses, schools, hospitals, factories — will have to be built as people are forced inland at massive cost. Who is to pay for all this, if not the working peoples of the world? These changes will have major consequences for food production and create many more refugees, with the poorest being most affected, as ever. Changes to the oceans will also drive fish from traditional grounds, making it dangerous or impossible to catch them without using factory vessels and the latest sonar technology. Think of the literally billions of people who live and work in the river and deltas of the great rivers of the world: the Amazon, Ganges, Indus, Mekon, Mississippi, Niger, Nile, Po, and Yangtze. These are hugely productive agricultural reasons and are all at risk from rising sea levels and climate change.

Sustainable agriculture will become more difficult, leading to land being taken by Big Food and peasant farmers being forced into fetid slums beaten down by extremes of heat and rain where cholera, typhus and diphtheria are endemic. Across the world tropical insects are invading temperate zones where people and cattle have no immunity or the means to combat them while at the same time, up to 40% of all plant and animal species alive today are facing extinction. Crops are dying from water shortages and drought causes thousands of cattle to die of starvation or the heat. The coral reefs of the world are dying, unable to adapt to warming seas and the human diseases that enter the seas in sewage and thrive in warmer water. Don’t think these are problems only affecting the Majority World, far away. In 2002 30% of the USA was officially declared drought-affected. The response of Big Money – government and business – is not to tax petrol, reduce carbon emissions or change patterns of consumption to conserve water but build more dams to line the pockets of the corporations responsible for the mess in the first place.

We are often told that climate change is produced by oldfashioned polluting technologies and that – if sufficient money is given to big business and the universities – they will produce the technological solutions that will save the planet. Yet, as this pamphlet shows elsewhere, the nature, speed and scope of technological change is not dictated by human need (or even humanity’s actual survival on this planet) but by the corporations’ ability to make profit from their development, introduction and control. They dictate when products and technologies enter the market, not us. It is the corporations that increasingly dictate what, how and how much we consume by their control of technology and product development. Patterns of consumption, the waste and excess created by capitalism, dictate our methods of production. And it is the total mass of production – which is bound to go on increasing as western patterns of consumption are spread to the developing world by globalisation – that is the problem. What is also being spread – unfortunately – are the grotesquely unfair and destructive inequalities that capitalism creates and fosters. These are not just inequalities of wealth, status or power, though these are scandalous enough in a world that pretends to human equality and rights (and how hollow these must ring as dust sweeps across the farm of your ancestors or floods drown crop, cattle and kin). They are also inequalities in the one of the fundamentals that defines humanity: the kind and quality of our lives and the ways in which we die.

For it is the poor, the marginalized and the weak, who already die in their tens of millions every year who will bear the brunt of global warming and climate change. If the price of flour goes up a few cents a kilo as a result of bad weather or failed crops bread in America will be a little bit more expensive. But if you live on $1 a day in Ethiopia or Brazil then a drought in the maize fields can be a matter of life and death. If the vaccines and antibiotics that helped control endemic disease no longer work and you can’t afford the new drugs from the West, how do you choose who will get them? If the upland peoples have been driven from their land by drought and come armed to your village, will you fight or flee? And where will you go the slums are already full? When the privatised water company turns off the neighbourhood’s water supply to preserve it for the rich who can afford to pay, how will you wash (to avoid disease), find clean water (to cook with) or flush that already stinking toilet where infection is breeding? The inevitable result of global warming is not an ‘English Riviera’ that the media and some scientists like to popularise, it is war, civil war, intercommunal violence, mass poverty, starvation and disease, man-made catastrophe and millions of blighted lives. Even though the consumption-obsessed western economies are the engine of global warming, its effects are largely not felt there. We are content to let international aid agencies provide sticking plaster solutions to the environmental disasters that business has created. Capitalism is blighting the planet; only the free society of the future, made here today, will restore it to health.

[magnetarbeam]

I'm too tired to really be capable of coherence, but my ideas about the TCW-based fighter pilot drama fic - I've called it Jedi Ace so far - aren't very coherent yet anyway, so I feel like I can infodump about that.

This is meant to be about a whole squadron of pilots, which is twelve, but I want the most focus of those to be on Ahsoka and the troopers Kickback and Swoop, the only survivors of her fuckup at Ryloth. I've seen one or two fics that have her apologize to them after it, and I think in all of them they forgave her for it for reasons that revolve around that she was a kid forced into a command position with no choice and no training. Here, I want to acknowledge, in some capacity of substance, that there was more to it than that.

Yeah, it was Ahsoka not knowing what she was doing, but it was also her not thinking things out because her outstanding (for her age) skills at stuff like lightsaber combat had gone to her head and she assumed she'd be able to do this too.

(For what it's worth, I wouldn't be too surprised to learn that Filoni thought she would have been able to take out a Lucrehulk with just the lasers on her Delta-7B, but in this case that ignorance is actually useful.)

And of course, Ahsoka also constantly feels the need to prove to her Master that she's good enough for him, so he doesn't decide to give her back after all, which she failed to do here.

The first thing I really need to do here is come up with actual characters for Kickback and Swoop, but I have a hard time imagining them both forgiving her instantly in this. Part of it depends on how much time actually passed between the two assaults on the blockade forces over Ryloth. If it was, like, a couple days, there could be time for some emotional processing.

(My Legends-supremacist attitudes are gonna bleed through a bit here because I'm using the books' description of Ryloth, and also completely rewriting the second assault to neutralize the bullshit about Ahsoka having come up witn the Marg Sabl, which itself is discussed in a completely fucking different context in the books.)

In any event, I want them to have forgiven her enough to fly with her again by the turn of the second year of the war. The setup for how she finds out about their Force-sensitivity is a battle I'm not gonna go into full detail about, but I'm using a generous dose of Canon-Typical Inaccurate Astrophysics by having it take place in the Roche system (I have no idea what side, if, any, the Verpines actually took in that war, but I like it as setup here, so I'm not gonna change it unless I specifically find out that they weren't loyal) when fleet elements working with the 501st and 327th are reprovisioning after retreating from Felucia for the fuckteenth time. For this battle, Kickback has to be transferred out of Ahsoka's squadron (which at that point is her Delta-7B and eleven of the weird clone spinoff models of the Z-95) and put in charge of twenty-three shinies in BTL-B Y-Wings. For tactical reasons, the fighters are limited to communications of a sufficiently low power to only reach the distances of a single squadron's formation.

Here, I've chosen to reference one of the few bits of IRL naval history I actually know, which is the Battle of Midway, and how (at least the way it was told to me) it was basically just dumb luck that the one guy's bomber squadron showed up to the Japanese fleet at exactly the same time that all the Zeros were going after the other guy's bomber squadron.

This time, however, the "dumb luck" of their two squadrons coordinating their attack perfectly, without comms, makes Ahsoka suspicious because she knows just as well as any other Jedi what that can be a sign of. After she investigates, she finds that Kickback and Swoop are both not only Force-sensitive, but have already formed a bond through which they're unconsciously coordinating in combat.

A few months later, the first operational squadron of the new Eta-2 Actis interceptors are delivered to the Resolute. These are not only faster than the preceding Delta-series interceptors, but they're also intended for mass production and use by clones and regular natborn pilots in addition to Jedi, who can strip out a bunch of sensor and targeting systems and cut mass to make them even faster, and they have to rely on the Force to make up for the ship's own capabilities that were stripped out. Ahsoka is inspired by this, and the sensitivity of two of her pilots, to conceive an idea that she presents to Anakin and Yularen: A full squadron of the new interceptors, all stripped down to Jedi specs, and flown by Ahsoka herself and eleven clones with the necessary ability and training to coordinate in combat through the Force.

Yularen and Anakin have their doubts about whether it'll work, especially since finding that many clone troopers with Force ability, let alone training them, is going to take weeks. (If I was not constrained by the timescale of the entire war, it would be a lot longer.)

Nevertheless, Anakin agrees to put the word out among the other battalions(/legions/what-the-fuck-ever) asking for more troopers that are suspected or confirmed as Force-sensitive, and in the meantime Ahsoka works on more training for Kickback and Swoop as the start of the idea.

That's about my attention span for now.

[tisorridalamor]

In preparation for OC-tober making a long overdue post that I can link folks to for general main oc info :)

FYI since I have limited drawing capabilities please enjoy these lovely picrew recreations of my girls... Someday I hope to improve enough that I can create real reference sheets and commission better art :)

Picrew link

Note that they are all from totally different stories and don't overlap at all!

Lark (top row far left): Once a bored (and lonely) girl working at her family’s remote inn, now the brand new knight of the holy prince who can wield the magic sword of his cursed bloodline! This may have far reaching political implications, but that’s not important, because swords are cool and Lark is just a bored (and lonely and kinda dumb) girl who gets a chance to fight bad guys and look cool and act tough :)

Cadence (top row center): A new student at a highly prestigious Magic University that only accepts the best, relying on a lottery system to determine what lucky souls also get a shot at the top. But as a lottery winner, Cadence is seriously struggling with the pressure and is close to failing her first semester. You know what would fix this? Moonlighting as a spiderman-esque Magical Girl, protecting the campus from unexplained monsters and developing the self confidence needed to make connections and believe in herself ✨

Kama (top row far right): A fairytale romance between the stable hand and the kingdom’s only prince turns into a nightmare when a spirit steals the prince away to rule its kingdom of ice. Unable to rest knowing her love was still out there, Kama searched for anything that could save him... and found a chance. After a dark deal with a rival spirit, she’s given the immortal power of a phoenix, cursing herself to live on until she can defeat the spirit of the north… Kama is such a sweetheart though and I feel bad making her go through the horrors :'(

Micha (bottom row far left): After seriously injuring a peer and getting outed as a cheat, Micha ran away from home. She has since used her only talent, combat, to sustain herself as a mercenary for hire hide herself away from the rest of the world. But her shitty routine is interrupted when her hometown is attacked and she's framed for kidnapping. For the first time, Micha feels the drive to do something - to save her family, clear her name, and find something new to live for. She Mulan'd her hair after going into hiding it's supposed to suck... gave herself the Dmitri Fireemblem cut lol...

Delta (bottom row center): Delta's story is under heavy reconstruction, but the important thing is Delta, goalie for her soccer team, pretty good older sister, all around average gal wakes up on a subway in an an empty, impossible city with a nothing but a revolver. Stuck with with several other equally confused strangers, they will have to work together to figure what is going on. Hopefully people don’t start dying lol. Delta is my “what if a mystery VN protag was just some girl” character and I love her dearly <3

GG (bottom row far right): Humanity has spread across the stars and the history of the planet we came from has been lost. GG “Graceless” is a liar, a thief, and a damn good starship pilot who's convinced she can do the impossible. With a ship (yes it’s stolen) and an artifact (yes also stolen) related to prehistory, she thinks she has a shot at being the first to rediscover Earth and receiving all of the glory that comes with it. GG's story has been on the back burner for a while but I find her character really fun to think about anyway!

[steampunkforever]

My Delta Green character finally killed mothman using his Mothman Killing Gun, and despite some pretty devastating damage managed to make it through our mission alive. I will be retiring him until 9/11 happens (his fault either directly or through foreign interventions he led in the 1990s)

In tabletop games the desires of the player can often conflict with the parameters set by the game system. D&D in many ways wants you to play an enchanted murder hobo, and playing some sort of pacifist elf made of glass who only heals only serves to frustrate everyone. I'm notorious for playing a Paladin who does not use magic so I can't say I haven't been on the wrong side of this, but when I created my character for Delta Green I had a very specific formula in mind, only to find out that Delta Green (a game system I'd never played before) fit him the way a round peg does a square hole.

Leveling so hard into a combat role is great for contact, but when most of the game (albeit an atypical duration instance) is snooping around and running investigation, one starts to wonder if a more forensics focused support role would've been better. He was combat as a support function, and I made sure to make sure he never took much as far as leadership, making him more of a hammer to be swung. This was something he was good at when it came to moving with violence, but again, in an op taking place on US soil full of innocent civilians that would get us in trouble if they saw our characters making kills, not something we could unleash my character on very many times.

Yet when we unleashed him? No better op to do so on than a sequence requiring small unit tactics, two-man CQB, demolitions work, and using the BM59 for exactly what Beretta intended: Blowing Mothman to shreds.

Killing Mothman was largely the work of the team leader, who critted on a shotgun blast that took a significant chunk of health away from the monster, but my character landed the killing blow, making use of a heavy battle rifle (my initial pick because I knew exactly what monster we were going up against, I'll admit) finally worth it on an operation that made it otherwise impractical (previous to this we'd used it once before on the only other time having a CIA doorkicker was a good idea for the team) compared to a light rifle or shotgun.

I'm extremely pleased with the character and happy I got him where he was, mostly intact and fully alive. I think for the next games I'm going to pick a slightly different character, maybe one that aligns with a more active influence on team command structure or perhaps one that moves more in the direction of proper support. We'll see, maybe the next game needs us to bring heavy artillery to a knife fight again.

[hglog]

Skills

Here's a skill system.

There are four levels of skill-related abilities.

1. Basic action

This is something anyone can do without needing to roll. It's not even really related to the skill system, just here for completeness.

Example: Anyone can tie a quick, shitty knot if it doesn't need to last forever or hold up under stress.

2. Basic roll

This is something anyone may attempt to do by rolling the dice. Having a relevant skill means no roll is needed. Having a relevant trait that isn't a skill (background, class, item in inventory, etc.) lets you roll with advantage.

Example: Anyone may attempt to tie a proper knot. Someone with a sailor or survivalist skill can do so reliably.

3. Skilled roll

This is something which a skilled person can attempt to do with a roll. Unskilled people have no hope of achieving this. A relevant trait can provide advantage to an already-skilled person.

Example: Tying down an angry, thrashing bear is a challenge no matter what, there's no way to automatically succeed this. An ordinary person is getting mauled for sure.

4. Expert ability

A boolean skilled/unskilled checkbox isn't satisfying to me. I think that skilled characters should be able to spend XP and get extra abilities if they keep training, comparable to class templates / delta templates. Maybe 1000 XP per template, with maximum templates determined by your Int modifier (min 1, use psyche slots instead if your system has those).

Examples: A trickster can tie two enemies to each other with an action in the middle of combat. A spy can encode hidden messages in a ship's rigging which go undetected by anyone except their allies. A magician can imbue magic dice into a length of thread so anything tied up with it is under the effects of a spell. A fighter can use a length of rope as a d6 weapon.

Optional rule: weapon proficiencies as skills

If you're skilled with a weapon, you automatically hit attacks against non-monstrous enemies.

If you're not skilled with a weapon, it's impossible to use it effectively against a monster.

If you're skilled with a weapon, you can spend 1000 XP and training time to get a fighting style or maneuver with that weapon.

[fantasyfantasygames]

Made Men

Made Men, Employee Games, 2016

I sure do have a lot of games about playing robots on my list.

The term "made man" comes from the Mafia - it means you're officially in the club, as it were. Here, there's a double meaning, because you're also playing an android. You look basically human, but were built at a secret Mafia robot factory. The game is set in the futuristic year 2008, so the authors are clearly just putting a lampshade on the fact that we still can't make androids today.

The basic setup involves your crew creating a conspiracy-within-a-conspiracy. You balance doing successful jobs, knocking off those above you, and not getting caught (of course). You slowly take over the Mafia and run it, thus making your creator the de facto head of the whole operation. Unless you all decide to turn on him. Your characters are all male-presenting, which is presented as a choice on the part of the androids' creator to make it easier to infiltrate the Mafia.

The art and layout are the best things in the book. It's a softcover, but designed to look like printed sheets with photos attached by paperclip. The photos are subtly 'shopped to give people duplicate faces, especially in the background of some of the major figures' photos. There are pieces of Delta Green that do this to good effect, and Made Men does it even slightly better.

The rules are uninspired. They aren't tailored to the setting, so everyone has a set of generic stats (Physical, Mental, and Social), a set of skills, and a few options for Advantages and Disadvantages. Some of the skills, like Biology or Painting, seem totally unhelpful in a mafia game. It's point-buy. There's an "Iron Stomach" advantage in a game where your characters don't eat. Combat is a boring back-and-forth roll-off until someone runs out of HP. I think this was someone's Tri-Stat-meets-HERO house system that they just slapped onto an interesting concept.

The game includes tons of NPCs with fairly good plot hooks. It's another game where it's worth throwing out the system and playing it in whatever generic system you prefer.

The first edition of Made Men was published back to back with another game, Maid Men. The second edition is a stand-alone. I'm not sure what the story is there.

[is-the-battlemech-cool-or-not]

🟣 What are your top 3 favorite planets you have visited, if you have visited multiple worlds?

🔫 If you can fight in non-vehicular combat, what weapons do you favor?

⚪ What was the first vehicle (BattleMech, Battle Armor, AeroSpace Fighter, combat vehicle, etc) that you piloted?

💚 What do techs usually complain about with your piloting?

-Dieter Marten-Steiner, Lord-Adjutant of House Marten-Steiner, Regent of Mertangard.

Hello, Dieter, it is a pleasure to hear from you. In answer to your questions, I have prepared the following responses. I may have been slightly long winded, but I have been in SLDF meetings about miniutae all morning, and needed something to pass the time, quiaff?

🟣 = I must say Terra, quiaff? Even after all it has gone through over the milennia since humankind began to leave the cradle, Terra remains a pristine jewel of a world. I have spent months traveling, going to see everything I could. I have visited the original Seven Wonders, the Eight Wonders of the Hegemony, stood in St. Peter's Square, seen Jerusalem, Mecca, Tokyo, Las Vegas, New York, Paris, and of course Unity City.

Even the rest of the system is full of wonders, from the Belt to Mars, the O'Neill Stations, and even the newly repaired Venusian terraformers. There are days I am struck once more by the revelation that I live now on Terra, her soil under my talons, breathing the air that spawned our species. And the views from my estate on Puget Sound are perhaps the most beautiful of all.

For my second choice, and this may be anathema to some of my other Clan fellows, but... it must be a tie between Solaris VII, Hardcore, and Canopus IV. All of them worlds of pure human pleasure, greed, and excess, and there is something striking about all of them.

For my third choice, I would say Coromodir. It is nearly as beautiful as Terra itself, and ruled by one of the few noble houses I have encountered in my life whom genuinely care for their people. And it was the site of the Fusiliers' great triumph, that propelled us to fame (and perhaps infamy, to some).

🔫 = I have trained extensively in infantry combat. All Clan warriors train in the basics of infantry combat and melee fighting. It was part of my regular between-deployment training with the Fusiliers - they had several Canopian ex-Ebon Magistrate commandos, a DEST commando, and (eventually) an ex-Manei Domini Banshee Delta to learn from. I am thus skilled with many infantry weapons, martial arts styles, and melee weapons. We even learned zero-G and underwater combat techniques.

As for what I presently carry: I have a JàrnFòlk-modified Sternsnacht Claymore ultra-heavy pistol as my sidearm. It fires 14mm tungsten-core armor-piercing explosive incendiary rounds, from a custom made 8-round extended magazine. It is a beautiful work of art, with platinum damascening, engraving in falcon-feather patterns, imperial jade inlays, and wood from Strana Mechty itself, which forms the exquisitely carved grips. I have used it to kill megasaurs, armored Elementals, and Blakist Zombie infantry alike. I have timed my draw and, even with the Claymore's somewhat excessive weight, have won quite a few formal fast-draw pistol competitions.

I also routinely carry a specially-made Clan Vibrosword. Unlike most straight-bladed models, mine uses a katana-style blade - the exact blade once gifted by my ancestor Turkina to my other ancestor, Elizabeth Hazen, during the DeChavalier Massacre - and yes, in a sense this means I have two genemothers. If you ever have occasion to visit Terra, I can show you the sacred talon-marks on the blade...

In my 'Mech, I carry two additional weapons. All SLDF 'Mechs with sufficient cockpit space will carry a Mauser & Grey Model 980SL pulse laser assault rifle - an upgraded and lightened version of the old SLDF issue Mauser 960, upgraded to Clantech standards, and using a variant of ER Pulse Laser tech from Clan Wolf. The ejection seat kit in all SLDF 'Mechs will also carry a Mauser & Grey built Model 995 "Enhanced" Gauss SMG. The Nest currently hoIds the prototypes for both weapons.

And of course, I have my talons when all else fails. Each of them has long since been upgraded, using a version of the Carbon-Fiber Reinforcement process common among Capellan nobles.

⚪ = the first 'Mech I ever piloted was a Hunchback IIC during my belated Trial of Position. I found it a lovely and responsive machine, the balance provided by the twin Ultra AC/20s compared well to the later Inner Sphere Hunchbacks I would pilot. I scored three kills, and nearly a fourth, in that machine. I made certain after that to ensure its targeting systems were salvaged - call it superstition, but they felt lucky, quiaff? I have had those very same targeting systems installed into every 'Mech I have subsequently piloted. They currently provide the Nest with her targeting data, linked into the Targeting Computer.

💚 = in my younger days, complaints of my pushing the machines to their limit were common. Even in my time in Turkina Keshik, then Khan Yvonne Hazen themself had to counsel me to be gentler with the machines. In my later years, the techs have begun complaining about how much time I spend tinkering with and adjusting the 'Mechs. This is where the "Old Bird's Nest" got her nickname, quiaff?

[lapisslunaris]

Every Cthulhu game EXCEPT CoC, yes. So, thoughts on Fate of Cthulhu?

Okay so, rating from 1 to 10, 5 being "as fun as CoC", and considering i actually like playing CoC in spite of everything:

Delta green: I like modern settings and most of the rule changes, except for combat. Fuck the US though. Also I called the co-creator a pervert on twitter. 5/10.

Trail of cthulhu: Cool concept with enough crap to make every side of ttrpg mad. Pelgrane press loves AI art now. 5/10.

Cthulhu dark (paid edition): A setting guide with a ruleset to make trail look like pathfinder. insight instead of (in)sanity. insight is Still pretty much sanity. 5/10.

Pulp Cthulhu: It's not enough to live under Hairy Longcraft's racist shadow, one must rise to the occasion and become Doc Savage. 5/10.

Fate of cthulhu: it's FATE, of Cthulhu. it's messy, but kinda fun. No (in)sanity but corruption. Yet losing humanity makes you a monster, and monsters are the irredeemable bad guys. it's FATE. 5/10.

Achtung! cthulhu: 3 or more versions for different systems. All of which make no sense to me, i don't even like the setting. Maybe killing nazis will let us forget about Harry polyp longcraft. 3/10.

Cthulhutech: 2000s japanophilia-infused dice-pool system D&D with cthulhu stuff. Humans are being replaced with aliens! But also the human government is bad (but not racist, just anti-alien)! South America is there! Madness is reversible! Some of the worst misogynistic shit I've read in a game! It's a mess that should be researched for the sake of humanity, lest us repeat our history. Also, it's probably an evil artifact that possessed catalyst game labs. 1/10.

Arkham Horror: boardgame fun 6/10. Eldritch Horror: Arkham horror but better 7/10. Mansions of Madness: Betrayal at house on the hill but with cthulhu and you need a phone. 4/10. Elder sign: worse arkham horror 4/10. Cthulhu death may die: miniatures 4/10. Every chaosium book for other ages of history: idk 5/10. Munchkin cthulhu: NO 2/10.

[companionwolf]

Current thoughts on cobbling together something DG-esque I can play solo without spoiling DG lore for myself:

- Delta Green rules for skills, stats + general roll under d100 dice system; lethality and combat rules; SAN rolls (tie to Descent/Ascent); general misc rules (requisitions, buying stuff, etc)

- Weird Supreme's use of tracks for stuff, Control stat + use (as a modifer to rolls and as buffer against descent/SAN loss), Descent + Ascent rules, gear and resources with professions, some of the combat rules + actions (high ground, cover, disarm, etc), the rules around Bonds and fucking those up B)

- Cthulhu Deep Green's Cover and Exposure rules, the random tables, Home Scene rules/options + Anchors