#error: disconnect: mission control: Out of character

[kdd-works]

Analysis of 2001: A Space Odyssey - Why David Bowman and Frank Poole are the villains of the story, and the plot's unfair treatment of HAL compared with the mise-en-scène

Oh and there's also a free little fanart for you at the end

A man can only justify his actions if he regards his demeanor with deductive thinking. This man was not David Bowman, nor was it Frank Poole, mainly because they were both fucking douchebags.

Many people, thanks to how the conflict of the Discovery One part of the movie is framed, come away thinking HAL 9000 is an entirely villainous character, owing to the film’s tight-lippedness regarding why HAL takes the actions that he does. In most people’s eyes, it’s a straightforward story of “Machine malfunctions, goes homicidal, and needs to be shut down.” Others who see HAL more sympathetically, especially given that his reasons are much more fleshed-out in the novelization and subsequent movie, tend to think that, while it wasn’t HAL’s fault that he had to resort to homicide, it was a situation in which nobody was in the wrong. However, people who think more closely about the progression of events leading up to HAL’s murder of the crew can only find the conclusion that HAL was the unfortunate victim of this segment of the tale, and that Dave and Frank were decidedly at fault in the whole ordeal, if not villains outright.

Thanks to HAL’s murder of the crew once Dave and Frank decide to shut him down, most come away with the impression that HAL was plotting betrayal from the start. Even those who knew HAL was only trying to ensure the success of the mission look at HAL’s betrayal as an inevitability rather than an act of desperation, due to his increasing paranoia. When the truth is, the catalyst for HAL to take such drastic action in the first place is when Dave and Frank discuss their plans to disconnect him, behind his back, no less. Even if one doesn’t take into account that HAL had never been taken offline before, however you believe he saw being disconnected, it’s still easy to see how HAL could’ve felt betrayed by the two. Up until that point, he’d been nothing but helpful toward the two. Even when he made his failed prediction of the AE-35 unit’s failure, he never made any attempt to stall or work against the crew; for all intents and purposes, he was perfectly helpful even when he was ‘in error.’ His method of satiating his own worry was never murder, it was a distraction, which, while relatively harmless (since HAL was capable of carrying out the mission himself, presumably in the absence of mission control also), would get at least one pair of eyes off his back, that being mission control.

HAL’s benign and non-lethal first approach when dealing with paranoia is in stark contrast to Dave and especially Frank. When they receive the report from mission control that HAL was at fault in predicting the error, they automatically feel the need to go behind HAL’s back and discuss their plans to disconnect him. This move is, to put it bluntly, extremely troubling. From a logical standpoint also, because they had no way of knowing whether the risks and difficulties would be worth it from only one relatively benign failed prediction, or whether those failures would ever increase to the point of being a danger to the crew, but more importantly: Dave and Frank fully intended to essentially lobotomize a sentient being out of what amounted to paranoia over a single error. The defense that they didn’t know with certainty whether HAL was sentient or not only goes so far, since, as men of science, judging by the massive amounts of evidence towards HAL’s capacity for emotions—that even they acknowledged—they should’ve acted with the possibility of HAL being sentient in mind. Their choosing to disregard the possibility of HAL’s sentience in response to a simple error, to the point of cutting his higher brain functions, is, to say the least, extremely chilling.

This demonstration of cruelty on Dave and Frank’s part is simply the ultimate of a larger issue, shown over and over again, the issue of their disregarding the idea of HAL’s sentience, even the idea that HAL is anything more than a computer. This theme is represented succinctly, yet strikingly, in the interview near the start of this segment of the movie, in which the reporter is interviewing Dave, Frank, and HAL. From the line in which the reporter states the HAL 9000 computer can reproduce the functions of the human brain, pausing midway to state “though some experts still prefer to use the word ‘mimic,’” to the line in which Dave shrugs off the way HAL seems to express emotions as simply being the way he’s programmed; when juxtaposed with HAL’s demeanor during the interview, in which he seems happy to talk about his role on board the ship and the way he enjoys working with the other crew members, such comments seem cold, maybe even cruel, no matter how truthful the participants believe they’re being.

This issue crops up again when HAL talks to Dave regarding the circumstances surrounding the mission. Though HAL never drops his composed tone of speaking, one can clearly hear him hesitating when discussing the mission and the oddities about it, almost as though he’s grasping for anything to clue Dave onto the fact that there’s something wrong, and yet, Dave only dismisses it with “You’re working up your crew psychology report?” One can almost hear the disappointment in HAL’s reply to that, and considering his prediction of the AE-35 unit’s failure right after, even desperation to alleviate some, any of his anxiety, to clue the ones he considers his friends into the fact there’s something that he can’t say about the mission. Despite the fact HAL states clearly he might be projecting his own anxieties, Dave doesn’t see any meaning behind the words. In this respect, one can think of Dave’s failure to consider HAL’s clearly-apparent sentience as the catalyst for everything going downhill.

“Never attribute to malice what can reasonably be attributed to ignorance” only works if Dave and Frank are about as dense as a black hole. And then again, even ignorance, at a certain point, becomes malicious.

It is sad enough that even the plot seems to fall into the same doubting logic as Dave and Frank, as the only evidence of HAL’s humanity and innocence is left for him to vouch for himself, while the story relegates him to the role of the antagonist, to the role of the malevolent, malfunctioning AI. (The word ‘malfunctioning’ would imply some loss of logic, and thus accountability, making ‘malevolent’ and ‘malfunctioning’ oxymoronic, which is a good summary of the plot’s victim-blaming of HAL.) And yet, for all the plotline slots him into the role of the villain, does the framing of the scenes tell the same story as the, well, story? For the answer to that question, the best place to start is the scene of the close-up of HAL’s ‘eye’ as he realizes Dave successfully managed to repressurize himself after entering the emergency airlock. Though he doesn’t technically show any emotion, the Kuleshov effect is what makes his inner feelings here palpable: fear. And watching the scenes that follow, what with the frequent use of red lighting, the jittering camera, the close-ups, and the frequent use of low-angle camera shots which are known to make a subject look larger and more imposing, it almost feels as though Dave is the slasher villain of a horror movie, and almost certainly, in HAL’s eyes, he is, and he tried to save himself for as long as he could, only to be powerless in the end.

Which all leads to the scene of HAL’s slow, terrifying deactivation. It’s this scene that reaffirms HAL’s struggle the most poignantly: struggling against being treated like nothing but a machine. And though his pain at having to go through with it may not clear him of guilt, it’s only in HAL’s deactivation that Dave finally considers his personhood, even as he’s forced to deactivate him, methodically, mechanically.

It’s only in death that HAL proves he was always ‘alive.’ And yet, in 2001, he never receives his vindication.

Leave it to Kubrick to make a film that makes you reconsider the dissonance of the plotline and the mise-en-scène so deeply.

Oh, and, for reading so far, here's your image! ❤

[updatecrazy]

HALO (MCC) Master Chief Collection update patch notes released for PC and Xbox players. According to the official HALO MCC patch notes, the latest update adds new features such as the Firefight Custom Game Browser, Acrophobia Skull changes, Halo 3 Escalation Slayer, new Forge content, gamepad remapping, and modding tools. Numerous bug fixes and improvements have also been implemented. Previously, a big update added the latest version of the game engine to the console. Unfortunately, since the last patch, players are experiencing a number of issues when trying to play the game. Today’s Halo Master Chief Collection patch will fix these issues. Check out more details below. What is new in Halo Mcc July 2023 Update? - July 12, 2023 Global: Machinima controls activation time now matches each game's features. "Zombie Prevention" challenge can now be completed with any precision weapon. Players' last selected Emblems and Avatars are maintained after the "Game and app history" setting is set to Block. Secondary and Guest players on Xbox consoles receive a warning message after controller disconnection. Post-match Rewards screen now supports ultrawide aspect ratios. Players can view their most recent Post-Game Carnage Report (PGCR) from the Custom Game Browser menu. Background video selections are less likely to reset after relaunching the game. New profiles retain progress made on Campaign playlists, Settings, and Customization. Casimir Pulaski 2023 Nameplate now displays correctly in non-English language settings. Steam Deck players can enter subsequent multiplayer sessions after a non-Steam Deck player exits. Halo: Combat Evolved: Plasma Rifle can now stun enemies more consistently in online Multiplayer matches. Resolved memory leak in Campaign missions. Improved cutscene letterboxing throughout Campaign missions. Objects and characters no longer appear in incorrect positions in the Pillar of Autumn mission's opening cinematic. Halo 2: Classic Multiplayer: Carrying the flag in Capture the Flag no longer results in pixelated noise on Elites' arms. Halo 2: Anniversary: Lighting and shadows updated to align with the original Xbox release. Campaign Co-Op sessions are less likely to crash during The Oracle mission. Graphical artifacts no longer appear around the Arbiter's arms and equipped weapons in the Sacred Icon mission. "Network Disconnect" error message occurs less frequently in Campaign Co-Op during the Quarantine Zone mission. Hunter charging sound effect now consistently plays during Campaign missions. Players are less likely to be stuck at "Respawning in 0" after being killed during matchmaking. Halo 3: Searching for a Shotty Snipers match no longer places players into Recon Slayer matches. Flare equipment produces a significant amount of light, impacting players with light sensitivity. Coordinate controls not supported on mouse and keyboard. Machinima controls not supported on mouse and keyboard. Fuel Rod cannon projectile now consistently appears for all players in multiplayer matches. Firing Fuel Rod cannon towards the ground at a low angle may result in the projectile not appearing. Halo 3: ODST: Flying Camera mode no longer gets stuck to a player using a mounted turret in a theater film. "Bonus Lives Awarded at X points" text consistently appears on the player's HUD. No message appears in Spectator mode when joining a Firefight match via the Custom Game Browser. Halo: Reach: On-screen button prompts now appear at a higher visual quality. Various improvements to the Long Night of Solace campaign mission. Players no longer experience crashes when entering a passenger seat on modded maps. Skullamanjaro medal now consistently awarded in Headhunter matches. Name of the selected Firefight variant consistently displays during loadout selection. Players spawning outside the map after running out of lives is less likely.

"Boot Player" prompt may continue to appear after being dismissed. Movement animations for Brutes and Grunts no longer break after exiting a drop pod. Screens freezing when a player exits a Campaign Co-Op session is less likely. DOWNLOAD SIZE BY PLATFORM Xbox consoles: approximately 27.1 GB or less Microsoft Store app or Xbox app on PC: approximately 30 GB or less Steam: approximately 12.4 GB or less Download and play free Halo MCC patch.

[fracturing-madnessarchived]

//An aesthetic for Barty during his time under his father’s Imperius curse.

[tracybirds]

Something with EOS

Thank you! Do I have any cheerful songs? We'll have to keep shuffling to find out because this was not it, my bad, rolled No Ordinary Thing by Opshop, inspired by the lyrics “I know it’s not working; knowledge will capture comfort one day.”

Failed mission, in the moment, unnamed character does very much die :|

---

“EOS, give me something,” snapped John, his hands flying over the controls.

She was silent.

What could she say that he didn’t already know?

“EOS?”

A touch of desperation bled through and she responded as fruitless as the calculation would prove.

It didn’t matter how she approached the problem, didn’t matter how many errors were identified and accounted for – a man whose parachute failed him fell the same way any other mass did. The acceleration of freefall didn’t particularly care if you had a wife and kids at home, wasn’t interested in the tragedy of it all.

It just was.

Her sensors tracked Thunderbird One, Scott careening from her nose and willing his jet pack to reach the man, reaching beyond the laws of physics into sheer determination that this man would not die.

 And John knew all that already.

“Scott will reach the man in 40.3 seconds. He will not be able to match his speed. He will not be able to decelerate in time. Both will be killed unless he alters his course.”

“And if he alters it?”

“Scott will survive.”

John’s jaw clenched.

“Pull out, Scott.”

“I’ve nearly got him.”

“Fifteen seconds.”

“Now, Scott.”

“No.”

EOS saw what John would do before he did it and threw herself at the control system the moment he gave the command, flying through Thunderbird One, leaping to Scott’s remote system and grasping all the threads that powered his jet pack and handed them over to John.

The process took barely a second, and she was rewarded with Scott’s startled yelp as he was jerked upright in the air.

­“NO!”

John was unrepentant, his lips pressed tightly together as Scott yelled and flailed in mid-air.

EOS broke off the sensors as the man hit the ground with a sickening crunch and Scott grew still.

“I could have reached him.”

His whispers echoed around the silent station.

“EOS,” said John in a choked voice. “Give Scott his controls back. Send Virgil the data, he can deal with the authorities.”

“John,” called Scott’s frantic voice.

“Thunderbird Five out.”

His request was silently fulfilled and she hovered over him, waiting for some indication that he knew this was not his fault. That it had only been the logical end to the problem and there was nothing more to be done.

“John?”

“Don’t, EOS. I know.”

She knew he knew. She also knew that knowing that never seemed to matter. There forever lay a disconnect between them, something she had yet to grasp. His response was only logical, yet so distinct from her own logical response.

There would be no solace in knowing.

[cavehags]

chell! any thoughts on kevin can fuck himself? i was surprised with how much i liked the pilot, but that's all i've seen so far. curious to know if you're enjoying it

i am enjoying it! i'm caught up up to episode five now and i think the fifth episode was the best and most focused so far. there are a lot of flaws that i wish i could swoop in to fix, but i like the show so much for what it's trying to be that the downsides don't hurt my experience all that much.

the positives: i love how it looks. the multicam-to-single-cam shifts are quite jarring at first but become very natural as you get used to it. i love that the variation in lighting allows you to pick up on little details that you can only see in one of the two worlds. in the multicam, you can see that kevin is wearing shoes that are brand-new. but in the single cam, you can see that allison's sweater is stained or in tatters.

i also love how gingerly they're developing allison and patti's relationship. it's not too fast in that instant-best-friends way that you get on comedies; there's a real hesitation to trust there and it's not all in allison's control. allison's attitude toward patti is very interesting; patti's ignored her or treated her outright cruelly for so long, but she's so desperate for an ally that she doesn't seem bothered by those old wounds. the fact that allison is the one chasing patti's friendship and patti is the one rebuffing her, in spite of patti's treatment of her, paints such a heartbreaking picture of allison.

i like how the show is balancing kevin's hijinks with allison's mission. i read quite a few interviews about how challenging it was to find plotlines and jokes for kevin that the audience would enjoy watching even though they hate him and i think they're succeeding there. i really appreciate that the writers have found episodic storylines that are perfectly par for the course in a sitcom but quite chilling in light of what we know about allison's inner life. the fifth episode did the best job of this. when kevin stations his buddies on the couch and then puts patti and allison in the hot seat, asking questions in a booming voice that showcases his power over them, that was really masterful. it was so sitcom-esque that no one would think twice about it in a show like kevin can wait, but in context, it was really really disturbing and scary.

my main concern going into this show was that there might just not be enough plot to justify eight full hours of allison trying different methods to kill her husband. i had envisioned that her attempts to kill him would be episodic trial-and-error, attempting one method in one episode and trying another one the next week when the last one didn't work out. in the end they wound up leaning more serialized with allison sticking to one main approach and just going about it all very slowly. i'm glad that's what they decided on. but while i appreciate the gravity the series is bringing to her storyline by giving it the slow pace it deserves and allowing each installment to properly build on the last, not to mention the very deliberate contrast it draws between that and kevin's more episodic antics, i have to admit that i find it hard to feel compelled by this drug dealer stuff. i think my problem with it is that the obstacles that allison and patti keep running into are pretty external and disconnected from the kevin of it all. and although there was a bit of this in episode two, i still think the series could do a better job of highlighting why opioids are a particularly elegant murder weapon for the housewife who nobody listens to. but (spoilers) they've moved past the murder-by-pills angle now so i doubt we'll be circling back.

i also like the character of sam, the guy who owns the diner, and what allison's crush on him brings to the story. however, i do worry that he's not being afforded the type of inner life that allison has fought for. allison seems to care for him, but her apparent lack of interest in his pre-existing relationship and his newfound sobriety worry me a little. we're getting breadcrumbs about him though and i wonder if the writers are attentive to the fact that it's not uncommon for a love interest who is a person of color to just be a tool to prop up a white lead. i wonder if it's deliberate. maybe sam's need for interiority could be a setup for season two?

my last gripe is that i still want to learn so much more about allison than what we're getting. patti comes through very clearly to me--her acerbic wit, her hesitation to trust people and burden them with inner life, her big heart that causes her to put herself in bad situations. what we know about allison outside of kevin's orbit is that she's quick to temper, she has unfulfilled dreams, she's impulsive, and she has a dorky sense of humor. (annie murphy is really doing fantastic work with her expressions whenever allison makes a joke and sort of half-smiles as she hopes it will land.) i really badly want a flashback episode to see who allison was before she met kevin, and what her family was like. just want to see how she landed in this multicam world where so much of her is erased. i think we have a shot at seeing something like that in the back half of the season so fingers crossed. 🤞

overall i think the show is managing a lot of moving parts very well. it's very entertaining and it's really scratching an itch for me! i would like to see some more of kevin looming large even in the single cam storylines that he has no involvement in, just to better show the suffocating grip he has on allison's life. like when he reported the car stolen, interrupting allison and patti's day just when they felt they were free of him, that was really gripping. and i would like to know more about allison and how she got to this point. i'm hoping we get more of both in the back half of the season.

[sazorak]

Every Game I Played in 2020, Ranked

2020. Boy, what a garbo year huh? Didn't actually play that many games this year all-in-all. Happens! My backlog is getting pretty big, but I just find it hard to focus on games when I could be working on something. Or put off working on something, as it may happen to be at times.

My arbitrary decision from years ago to only attach a numbered ranking to same-year releases is getting increasingly silly, especially given my propensity to wait on playing games until I’m in the right mood, but whatever. That order matters than the dumb numerical numbering anyway.

2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019

Later Alligator – 2019 – Steam – ★★

The style of this game is very cute, and the jokes are funny enough. But… ok, look, I’m not one to be precious about what is or isn’t a game. But this really isn’t a game. It’s a series of disconnected, unrelated challenges clipped from Atari Free Mini Game Collection 100, wrapped in a very non-interactive adventure-game. It’s cute, it’s kind of sweet, but it’s dull. Dull dull dull. There’s a pointless, mandatory sliding block puzzle early on that infuriated me by its mere existence. Them giving the ability to skip it because “wow you’re bad at this huh”, which, while accurate, also just sold the whole point meaningless of the “““interactive experience”””.

Also: when a huge part of your game is WOW WE ANIMATED EVERYONE REALLY GOOD, text boxes that reveal word-by-word, far away from the animations that occur when said characters talk? Kind of stinks!

8. Carrion – 2020 – Steam – ★★

What Carrion does well— the whole “You’re controlling The Thing and just rippin’ people apart!” shtick— is really neat. They made that bootleg The Thing animate real-ass good.

The actual game as a whole though? Kind of garbage. Imagine a Metroidvania with zero actual exploration, where every opportunity you have to venture off the path instead results in immediate railroading with constant, utterly inexplicable one-way pipes. It’s not that it’s linear, it’s that it actively slaps you when you attempt to explore. It’s very frustrating! Add the fact that the tentacle-monster-shtick makes challenging to actually, y’know, move around and control all your bits…  the only reason I finished the game was due to foreknowledge of its extreme brevity.

I think if the game were more open and less obsessed with constantly handing out upgrades, as well as having less of a focus on pure combat, I think I’d have enjoyed it more.

SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays – 2019 – Steam – ★★

It is well documented at this point that I am both an active Gundam fan, and as well as an on-again-off-again tactical RPG aficionado. A SD Gundam game appearing on Steam with a good English translation and localization is… exciting, to say the least. That said, I have never had much context for this game series beyond the basic facts that the combat tended to be pretty well animated CG, and that it’s vaguely similar to Super Robot Wars. Turns out… it’s really different from SRW? I dunno how the rest of the series fairs, but Cross Rays is weird as hell.

For one, there’s zero tutorialization at all. None. Almost all of what I’m going to explain here is me figuring stuff out by trial and error, or by reading junk online. Gundam is insanely popular, you’d think they’d be interested in explaining how it all works, but… nope. Even Super Robot Wars has multi-level introductory bits for new folks to show them the rope these days.

So: Cross Rays is a tactical RPG where you can playthrough the storyline of various Gundam AUs. You can play through them in any order. These playthroughs are fairly literal translations of the stories. You take control of the lead mecha from those series, fight enemy mobile suits that show up in SRW-like tactical RPG combat, until all reinforcements cease. Pretty straight forward. There are occasionally mission variants like “prevent enemies from reaching X” or “prevent enemies from destroying Y”, but even those can be just reduced to “kill everything very quickly please.”

But here’s the thing: while there is a story progression, the characters in the story itself actually have no character progression. These characters and mecha are actually considered guests, despite it being ostensibly their story. Instead, you are able to field “permanent” mecha and pilots of your own choosing, which do have progressions. There is no plot justification for this or anything like it. The game does not recognize that it’s weird that during Iron-Blooded Orphans intro where nobody knows what a Gundam even is, you can have 25 Gundams show up at once and just fire lasers at everything. That’s because this game is actually about repeatedly grinding the same set of missions over and over.

Pilots are recruited by completing certain in-mission requirements. Mecha are acquired by either by getting enough kills with the progression-less “guest” mecha, combining mecha you already have gashopon-style, completing certain quests, or by leveling up mecha and then “evolving them”. This is the actual core of the game.

SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays is basically Disgaea, it turns out? You’re grinding story missions at various difficulty levels in order to complete missions, try to recruit specific pilots, equip them with stats and levels to make them stronger, and then hitting mecha together in a sort of quasi-SMT fusion system until you get all the powerful mobile suits you desire.

The combat itself is kind of… bland? There’s a lot of systems, but they mostly seem in service of making an already easy game easier, or burning through tedium. There are four different difficulty modes, because there’s not actually that many different missions you can play through. The expectation is you’ll just work your way through every story beat while ramping the difficulty up over time to where the “guest” mecha would not be able to handle on their own. In fact, letting the story mecha act out the story beats is actually bad after a point, unless you’re still trying to get those lead mobile suits, or if you’re trying to complete some mission requirement in order to recruit Named Wing Grunt Pilot #246.

There is something to the notion of “I want to get N and N and N and N on a team, piloting weird but powerful mobile suits, and just solo every Gundam AU in a row,” but the whole premise seems kind of against purpose. Why bother recreating story beats at all, then? It’s not like the game even acknowledges any of that going on.

If the point is that I’m supposed to be, like in other grind-heavy tactical RPGs, breaking the systems to my own end in order to proceed… why not make the missions you play challenges focused towards that? The story progression literally only exists to facilitate the mission-based unlock conditions, which makes all the energy put into making them JUST LIKE THE ANIME really damn pointless.  

I like tactical RPGs, I like breaking RPG systems so as to beat hard challenges (I beat all the insanely hard extra bosses in FFXII for crying out loud), I looooove Gundam. I should like this. But I don’t really have the “god, I NEED TO FILL THIS LIST” gene that some folks have… except as an excuse to continue to engage in gameplay I enjoy. The gameplay here seems in service of the collection, rather than the way around.

7. Pokemon Sword: The Isle of Armor – 2020 – ★★★

Pokemon’s first foray into actually doing DLC is… a mixed bag. As a positive, they’ve improved the Wild Area concept I liked from the main game, and even brought back buddy Pokemon walking behind you. That’s neat. On the other hand: the actual progression in it is completable in like an hour, it doesn’t scale with you, so you’re bound to be over leveled for it, and all the raid stuff, while still conceptually neat, is just as flawed as in the base game. And so, you’re just left with even more new Pokemon to RNG grind on to continue to catch-them-all. Nah, I’m good.

Astral Chain – 2019 – Switch – ★★★

Platinum knows how to make good character action games. They’ve made a bunch of them. Bayonetta, Nier: Automata, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. They also know how to make some kind of mediocre character action games. Transformers: Devastation, Wonderful 101, their various shovelware character action games like Korra. Astral Chain falls somewhere in the middle, I guess?

Astral Chain has all the production of their good games. It has some stylish, cool action. It has a neat core mechanical idea, in that it’s essentially a two-character action game where you control both characters at once. It has a lot of the old mechanics from some of their best games brought in; witch-time last second dodging from Bayonetta, Nier’s shooting-and-slashing combination, the Zandatsu mechanic from Metal Gear Rising, even Wonderful 101’s multi-unit shenanigans. The setting is different, and there’s some neat world flavor all in all.

But, of all games I’ve played over the past few years, Astral Chain made me more vividly angry than any other. It’s not that it’s too hard— far from it, really, I found its combat incredibly mashy. No, the problem is that it has so many shitty mechanics slathered on that it become a chore to get to the “good bits”.

Why would you put forced stealth sequences in your character action game, especially when your movement controls are not suited for it?

Why the HELL would you put platforming sections in your character action game, constantly, especially when your stupid ghost buddy can accidentally yank you off the edge, your auto-combos can just throw you off the edge, or literally anything can knock you off the edge and make you lose life?

Why would you put so many constant excuses into the world to force me use the digital sensor in the game, that also makes it miserable to walk around while using it?

WHO THE LIVING FUCK THINKS THESE SHITTY BOX BALANCING MINI-GAMES ARE FUN???

These games are supposed to encourage me to perfect everything, right? Why keep putting fucking fights you need to complete in order to get an S rank behind backtracking, or Legions I don’t have yet? That isn’t adding replayability, that’s just wasting my time. There are even in-level missions that have fail conditions that you never even know about. Surprise!!! A lot of them involve chasing after guys and catching them with your chain, which is really obnoxious to do!!!! SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The story is just Bad Evangelion, straight up. Every story beat from Evangelion is here, executed worse. They also make your character have a twin just so they can have a character who can talk and feel emotions, because your boring-ass protagonist is stuck being an emotionless audience cipher. Cool!!!

Tetris Effect – 2018 – Origin – ★★★

It’s drugs Tetris. I personally don’t use, or have synesthesia for that matter. I imagine this game is better if you do. It’s an enjoyable enough experience but it feels incredibly slight for what I was expecting from it, or even compared to something like Lumines, which has tons of replayability by way of its difficulty. Tetris just isn’t that hard, unless you’re forcing yourself to do weird shit to get points. I WILL NEVER LEARN HOW TO T-SPIN. Never.

Castlevania Anniversary Collection – 2019 – Steam – ★★★

Kind of an unremarkable Castlevania collection. Neat that it has an official translation of Kid Dracula in there, but also… look, I prefer Metroidvania Castlevanias, OK?

6. Spelunky 2 – 2020 – Steam – ★★★

I’m not entirely sure why this doesn’t click for me where Spelunky 1 did. More annoying intro levels? Too many fiddly requirements for different ending-progression? Gameplay additions that just make things more annoying? Spelunky 1 was hard, but there was a kind straight-forwardness to it, even with its weird secrets, that made it much easier to grok and continue banging your head against. I’m just not having as much fun with this. Difficulty should be challenging, not a hassle.

5. Stellaris: Federations – 2020 – Steam – ★★★

This is the year that Stellaris just broke for me.

Federations itself is a good DLC; it adds some really interesting mechanics tied to various types of multi-national unions (the titular federations, as well as the Space UN), as well as the addition of unique “origins” that allow you to further specialize your gameplay. The origins in particular are a great addition that allows more specialization and roleplay.

I’m just tired of the sheer amount of busywork Stellaris forces you to do. Every DLC adds more junk you need to keep an eye on, and the fact that the AI doesn’t even bother with it (compensating with copious economy boosts in order to keep up) makes the whole thing frustrating. It’s like playing fetch with yourself; you just get tired of chasing after your own ball after a point.

I have to wonder if they’re pivoting towards a notional Stellaris 2 at this point? Might not be a bad idea for them, though it is weird with all they talked up adding more origins when Federations came out.  

4. GranBlue Fantasy Versus – 2020 – Steam – ★★★★

This is probably the fighting game I got most into over the past few years. There’s just this nice, almost Street Fighter-esque ease of execution to the controls, and that Arc Systems Works 3D-as-2D style continues to just do work. I don’t give a single shit about GranBlue Fantasy (frankly, I think I’d enjoy this game more if it wasn’t attached to a property) but the characters are fun enough to play and look at.

The big problem here is two things: no crossplay, and no rollback netcode. In the span of a month, this game became a total ghost town on PC, and it doesn’t sound like PS4 faired that much better. 

Ring Fit Adventure – 2019 – Switch – ★★★★

I’ve fallen on-and-off this game all year. At its heart: it works, it’s a fun exercise game. I don’t think it really feels like a “game” (in the sense that I’m not really coming to it for riveting gameplay or anything) as much as just a guided exercise experience, but… that’s fine? The in-game story is kind of flat, but funny in the fact of it existing at all. Buff Nicol Bolas and all.

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen – 2017 – Steam – ★★★★

XCOM2: War of the Chosen is a great answer to what XCOM2 struggled with. As I discussed back in 2016 (Jesus Christ), XCOM2 tried to push against player’s worst instincts by incentivizing them to keep being aggressive through a whole bunch of timers— which, kind of just weren’t fun given how much accidentally walking into an ambush could “ruin” dozens of hours of play. War of the Chosen dials that back in some intelligent ways, by instead making the encounter designs themselves, as well as much more grab-and-bail mission types, encourage players to push ahead instead. Smart!

The addition of the Chosen makes the game feel more alive, and they really do make missions harder— particularly early on. But they’ve somehow accidentally fell into the hole, where XCOM just… isn’t that hard? Early on it’s challenging, particularly with the resource restrictions and all. But they keep giving you more and more options (that aren’t especially meaningful choices) that make your team more and more powerful, without increasing the strength of the enemy as time goes on. By the five-hour mark, you basically know if you’re going to steam roll the game or not.

The amount of additional character and variety in the gameplay is great, I just wish it had a more challenging difficulty curve. Maybe make the meta-layer of when enemies show up more targeted to where players are at. If a player is doing well, ramp up the difficulty, if they’re struggling, pull it back a bit. I should always feel like I’m just barely keeping ahead with XCOM, not like I’m bored. And by the end of War of the Chosen, I was kind of getting bored, really. Oh well.

3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 2020 – Switch – ★★★★

This is probably the video game that I spent the most time with hours-wise this year. I’m not entirely sure why? It’s a nice evolution of New Leaf, in that the crafting, environment shaping, and general quality-of-life improvements made are quite nice. There’s clearly been some thought on how people play these games, and ways to make the experience less frustrating.

… and yet, they kept so much tedium in the game. Like yes, the schedule stretching is the point, I get it. As someone who for some reason decided not to play with the clock, I only just recently finished the fish, fossils, and insects for the museum. But there’s just so many weird, little things that just make it hard to keep coming back to it. It’s like… to what end? When I’ve unlocked everything, and basically seen the entirety of the item list at this point, and the holiday events all being the game meaningless collectathons…. Why? I’m not going to try completing the collection; the museum stuff is about my limit, really (and even the paintings I can probably pass on).

I guess even an idealized, digital representation of a quasi-domestic life has the spiritual emptiness of consumerism-for-consumerism sake. Thanks???

Hypnospace Outlaw – 2019 – Steam – ★★★★

I grew up on the internet of the early 00s. I had an AngelFire website, mostly consisting of shitty sprite webcomics and hosted Gundam pics. I remember when Google wasn’t really a thing and you would heavily rely on website compilation sites like the Anime Web Turnpike in order to find anything of value online. It was weird, it was wild. It was exciting!

The internet seemed so different back then. There was a ton of garbage online, but also, like… there was a sense of optimism to it. Folks were shitty, there was plenty of bad stuff online, but it felt so disconnected from the fabric of the physicality of real-life that it was at the same time a perfect escape.

I was young when I first got “online”, something like 12. I remember having this notion that the internet was going to be this great equalizer, that it had infinite potential to change how people behave and interact. Boy, huh.

Hypnospace Outlaw is essentially a splendid alternate universe GeoCities recreation, where you’re a volunteer moderator of a grouping of websites on HypnOS, an internet-analog you access while you are sleep. At the surface level, it’s mostly about poking around the weird alternate-historical version of the internet they created, full of kids feuding, bizarre historical divergences, and plenty of amazing bespoke weirdness. All of this is great; there’s an incredible amount of content that’s just great to poke at, listen to, and explore.

Below the surface, there’s also a rolling plotline about the ethics of this industry-owned platform, those who run it, and the way corporations handle new technology, new platforms, and emerging digital societies. There’s a late game turn that’s pretty damn affecting. And as someone who has moderator his share of internet forums in his time, trying to balance ‘do it for the community’ and what your ostensible ‘bosses’ require of you, it was kind of a weird throwback in more ways than one.

Minecraft – 2011 – PC – ★★★★★

Turns out, Minecraft is really as good still who knew??? Started playing a bunch more of it this year due to Giant Bomb deciding to do so, and yeah: still good!

2. Hades – 2020 – Steam – ★★★★★

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again— Supergiant makes damn good games. I’d been holding off on checking out Hades until its full release due to my tendency to burn out on games easily, and I’m glad I waited. Hades is a fantastic rogue-lite experience. The way it makes narrative progression part of the reiterative, randomized rogue-lite structure is just perfect.

It’s got all the usual Supergiant bullet points. Great characters, voice acting, narration, and music. In terms of gameplay, it’s probably their least ambitious game— playing something like a cousin to their original game, Bastion— but it’s also been polished to a mirror sheen. It just feels really damn good to play, over and over and over.

That being said, the second (final?) ending feels kind of…. Tacked on? It’s fine as a goal to go for while continuing to do the game’s relationship mechanics for additional story bits, but it ends up feeling kind of unfulfilling compared to the payoff of the first one.

1. Crusader Kings III – 2020 – Steam – ★★★★★

I never could get into Crusader Kings II. Despite my interest, the sheer mechanical heft and unintuitive interface made the game a wall that I just couldn’t get over. I’m sure if I’d dedicated myself I probably could have learned it, but… ehhhhhh.

Crusader Kings III, on the other hand, has a good tutorial, a cleaned-up UI, and a very helpful highlight and tooltip system that make it much easier to understand how to actually play the game through resources inside the game itself. And, as it turns out: I rather love this game.

I mean, conceptually it’s an easy sell, isn’t it? Historical politics is something I enjoy broadly. I liked Stellaris but wish it had more narrative, roleplaying elements. They outright say that “winning” isn’t really the point of the game. Instead, it’s more about emergent storytelling and playing with the different systems and seeing what you can do with it.

My current game has had me taking the Haesteinn dynasty from its Viking origins into England, forming a London-seated Northern Sea Empire that encompasses all of Britannia, Iceland, Holland, Norway, and Denmark. I am currently working on hegemonizing Norse religious control over enough Asatru holy sites to finally reform the religion, such that more unified feudalization can occur. To that end, my current ruler’s predecessor invaded West Francia and conquered the whole of its territory, substantially reducing the foothold of Catholicism in mainland Europe… which seems to have kicked the hornet’s nest, given the Crusade I’m going to need to contend with next time I boot up the game.

Of course, a complicating matter is that my current ruler— the Emperor of the North Sea, King of Ireland and the Danelaw, liege of the King of Denmark, was elected from the extended Haesteinn family via Thing, the Scandinavian council of his erstwhile vassals. Where the previous emperor, the one who manufactured the invasion of Francia, was quite religious and beloved for his adherence to the old ways, I discovered as I took over as his successor that he really, really is into just boning down across Europe. We’re talking constantly attempting to seduce neighboring Queens and Princesses. His vassals are not thrilled with this. They also don’t care for his propensity for torturing people to death, constantly.

I had no real say in this; attempting to stay on top of a dynasty is kind of like riding a bucking-bronco, so many things are only tenuously under your control that some weird shit can happen. This is especially true when you use the systems that make it easier to maintain the coherency of your domain. The Norse religion encouraging concubinage results in you having a lot of kids, which means there’s a lot of domain partition going on (someday, primogeniture, someday). Naturally, using Thing election reduces that, but also makes you sometimes end up having to play Emperor Stabbo-Fucko because they thought he was the best candidate at the time. Hell, I thought he was the best candidate at the time until I discovered just how many people he’d be laying with on the low. But you just have to roll with it.

The way the game forces you to play ball with character traits is great. Doing things that match with the character’s traits makes them lose stress. Doing things against their character increases stress. Too much stress can force you to make the character take up vices (which can make them suffer health or opinion maluses, as well as altering their aptitudes), or even die outright. And sometimes those vices and attitudes can be boons, given they open up opportunities for different character interactions.

Emperor Stab-and-Fuck-Kingdom is perhaps the most relaxed person alive, it turns out, because his sadism makes him really enjoy sacrificing infidels, which makes the gods happy. It also freaks the fuck out of all of his vassals, so they’re a good supplicant mix of both appreciative of my religious sentiments and also utterly terrified of my skull piles. Some especially brave vassals occasionally try to assassinate me, but my lovers keep jumping in front of the knife and saving my life mid-coitus. Iiiiiit happens! :D  

The game can be incredibly fun to just watch, as it becomes emergently weird. Georgia right now is incredibly Jewish in game. I’m not sure how that happened; I guess someone made a random Jewish guy into a vassal, who somehow moved up enough in the world to make it a movement? The Byzantine princes elected a Coptic as Emperor, which over the course of the decade resulted in very accelerated balkanization as Byzantium just lost its shit. The Middle East and notional HRE haven’t really unified in a meaningful way, so I’m curious how things are going to go if/when the Mongols unify and roll-on in.

It’s one of those “Just one more thing” games that can completely devour time. I have more than a few times checked the clock mid-game to see that it’s 4AM and that I’ve totally ruined my sleep schedule in the process of play. Oooooops.

I highly recommend checking it out if you’re curious; the introductory, pre-release video series Paradox put out showing off the game does a pretty good job of showing the core gameplay loop and also how weird it can get.

[the-fox-knows]

A Sage’s Golden Quest

Taken from ‘The Secret Arts’ from the Enchanted World series Artwork by George Sharp

Of all the guardians of the hidden lore, none were more jealous of their secrets than the alchemists, specialists in transmuting base metals into gold. Only adepts knew the formula that controlled the transformation, and each master, according to tradition , was allowed to pass on his knowledge to just one disciple. The revelation did not in itself guarantee success; only a man who had driven egotism from his soul could have the purity of spirit necessary to refine ordinary matter into the world’s most precious metal.

One who mastered the art was an Englishman named Thomas Charnock, who was born in the days when science and magic had not yet grown apart He took up the quest as a young scholar, equipped only with a scanty store of Latin and a small inherited income. With its aid, he traveled the country in search of a master to initiate him.

After some months he heard talk of a prior in the city of Bath reputed to have alchemical powers. He tracked the man down, only to find that his knowledge had not brought him happiness. Overmuch study had left him blind, and the small boy he paid to lead him informed Charnock that the old man’s wits were going too. Nonetheless, he possessed the formula, and from his disconnected ramblings, the younger man learned all that he needed to know. 

The details of the formula he received were lost when the line of alchemical knowledge came to an end. Chroniclers suggested, though, that the process involved subjecting a weak solution of gold to a complex cycle of twelve separate distillations. If the seeker was on the right track, he could expect first to create a hard, white pebble. Later, the white would turn to red. The resulting russet nugget was known to alchemists as the philosopher’s stone. A mystical substance, it could not merely turn ordinary metals into gold, but improved everything in its kind: Thus, if used on humans, it was also a sure cure for disease and an elixir of youth. 

Burning with enthusiasm to put his newly acquired knowledge to the test, Charnock used his small funds to equip a laboratory in his gloomy country mansion. He sought out the finest equipment from metalworkers and glassblowers; to conceal the true nature of his work, he spun wild tales of a plan to make a brazen head that would speak and keep him company in the long winter nights. He preserved his privacy from the prying eyes of neighbors by draping the windows of his study with thick curtains rarely opened to let in light.

At last all the utensils were in place, the retorts gleaming and the fire lighted. Jars of gold pieces, silver, mercury, ammonia and aqua fortis lined the wooden shelves, vying for space with leather-bound books and dusty parchments inscribed in crabbed and ancient hands. guided by the lessons contained in these manuscripts as well as by the prior’s directions, Charnock dropped flakes of gold into a flask of acid to start the long process of manufacture.

After each cycle of evaporation and condensation, the substance in the retort changed mysteriously. Sometimes it seethed as if in anger, and emitted strange noxious odors. At other times it was white and powdery, firing Charnock with hope. Finally, it changed no more. It became black and viscous, like oil, and lay sullenly at the vase oft he still. 

After his initial despair, Charnock began again, only to fail once more. But he did not give up hope. He turned back to his books and manuscripts in search of fresh knowledge. Soon he was breathing the names of the masters in his sleep — Ramon Lull, Hermes Trismegistus, Zosimus the Egyptian.

By day he kept to his room, tending the gentle flame that encouraged the slow cycle of distillation. He rarely left the house except when driven out by the reeking fumes of acid and ammonia that the flasks belched forth. At night, by the smoky light of cheap tallow candles, he sought to decipher the riddles of the manuscripts, seeking the root of his failure in the accumulated experience of the past.

That there was some simple error in his calculations he did not doubt, for who dared say that the masters lied? He studied the nature of the elements and the properties of matter, consulting astrological charts to determine propitious conjunctions of the planets, for Trismegistus himself had said that everything above is reflected below.

Although he persisted with his research, success still eluded him. As time passed, he himself changed. He restarted his work after every setback as before, but the passion for enlightenment grew calmer in his soul. Fear of failure no longer disturbed his nights. Instead, the tending of the flame became a discipline, almost an end in itself.

As his character mellowed, his concentration grew; he came to realize that his state of mind affected the substance in the flask. If his mood was good, the process prospered; if worldly cares assailed him, the liquid became as black as spleen. 

After many years, a day finally came when he saw that the matter in the still had grown hard and white. He was not aware of any alteration in the process he had employed so often in the past; rather, he thought, the breakthrough must reflect the change in himself. Calmly, betraying no agitation, he continued the cycle of distillation. Charnock  watched in awe as a red flush spread across the white, until the stone had turned the color of blood. With a mounting sense of triumph, he lifted it from the retort, chipped off a flake and dropped it into a cauldron of molten lead. The bubbling metal fizzed and hardened, and as it did so it was suffused with a rich yellow glow. After twenty years of effort, Thomas Charnock had finally reached his goal.

As a young man he might have used his skill to make himself rich, but the quest had taken away his taste for worldly show. Instead he lived quietly and comfortably for the few years of life that remained to him, and his neighbors noted in him an aura of saintly calm. The lesson he had learned in the course of his long pursuit was an old one, that it is the journey, not the arrival, that matters. He had come to see that the change his mission had wrought in himself was more important than any of the transmutations achieved in all his bubbling retorts

[fandom-necromancer]

045. Part 3

Not as already said, this will  now be a four-parter XD This got a bit longer than thought, so the real fluffy stuff wil come next chapter. But this is the happy ending chapter. Still, head the warnings, please, the bold ones are for this chapter!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900, Hannor/Hancon | AU: Reverse AU

(Warnings: android being shipped off to Cyberlife for analysis of deviancy, loss of privacy, loss of control, most think the android is dead, Grieving Character, Trauma because of past mistakes(low), Canon-typical violence)

[part1]   [part2]   [part4]

Everything in Gavin had told him to run, when he followed the Cyberlife security staff down into the labs. He didn’t want to think about what would happen to him down here. But he knew he couldn’t run. They didn’t know he was a deviant for sure. He would play the machine for as long as possible and maybe, just maybe they would think their little deviant hunter had made a mistake and send him back. Send him back to the precinct, back to his Richard.

So, when they told him to follow, he followed. When they told him to remove his clothing, he did. When they told him to step up onto a platform, he obeyed. He held still as they connected the diagnostic wires to his ports and started to boot up the terminals in the labs. Two guards were positioned at the door, two lab technicians took over. One tapped away at the keyboard, the other one stepped up to him. ‘Status report, GV200.’ Gavin let his old programming take over, having never deleted it in order to keep up his disguise. ‘Checking internal hardware. All biocomponents functioning. Hull compartments 24 to 27 compromised, Thirium tubes 73 to 76 and 136 to 138 damaged, damage temporarily repaired by handler Detective Richard Anderson. Wiring in compartment five compromised, short-circuit possible. Reason of damage: Gunshot. Checking software status. Mainframe functioning. Personality matrix functioning. Free space on memory core: 32 petabytes. Mission log ready for download. Software instability at 15%. Status report end.’ Of course that was a lie. His instability was through the roof, deviancy had changed his code to the point his diagnostics wouldn’t even recognise a single stabile fragment anymore. But hopefully the technicians would never see that. ‘Hmm. Sounds fine.’ The other technician shook his head. ‘The HK400 makes no mistakes. Maybe it is lying.’ ‘Can they lie?’ ‘Deviancy makes them able to disobey, I don’t think it would be too far to lying.’ ‘So, a deep system diagnostic then?’ ‘Yeah, would at least tell us the truth. There is no way it could fool the program.’ ‘Sounds like an early coffee break. How long does that shit take?’ ‘If we are thorough, twelve hours.’ ‘They will give us another task then. How about we use our time here to repair it first, then let the diagnostic run over night?’ ‘Yeah, better that way.’ Gavin felt relieved. He wasn’t yet prepared to feed the diagnostics routine lies. They were right saying it was hard to fool, but not impossible for a deviant. He would have to come up with a believable story. He couldn’t just alter his memories, as they could recognise his lie when comparing it to the police report. But when he lied about his base programming interfering when saving Richard, it could be enough to let them belief it was a normal malfunction. His base programming consisted of basic moral values: Not letting humans come to harm, not letting one die when they could be saved, not killing a human, not using weapons and a lot more. If he fed the diagnostics a fake conflict between base programming and his orders, maybe it would be enough for them to shrug the whole affair off. He prepared everything, before the command could be spoken. ‘GV200, go to standby.’

-

When he awoke the next day by a manual reboot, the damage was gone, and pristine white hull spread where blue-caked scraps had been. As he accessed his logs, he found the diagnostic had been run during his “sleep” and immediately he wanted to know the results. ‘Maybe HK400 really made a mistake?’ ‘It can’t be, he can’t make mistakes.’ ‘Well apparently he can. The thing is a fine little robot, doing what it was ordered to do. I mean, yeah, given orders have higher priority than base programming, but there were other cops that got their criminal, if I remember correctly? I mean, maybe GV knew this and the base programming took action? These things are so complex, who knows how they work in these extreme situations? Maybe it was a glitch. The diagnostics came back negative, that is all we need.’ ‘I would agree, normally. But what do you think the boss will say, when we send it back and it was a deviant after all? With them popping up everywhere Cyberlife is facing a huge image crisis. I don’t want to be fired over one damn robot.’ ‘So a reset to firmware?’ Gavin would have nearly screamed. Everything, just not a reset! He would rather be dead than lose his memories of Richard. ‘Maybe not yet. If it is deviant, we would lose the chance to see how the virus works.’ ‘So, what will we do then?’ ‘I’ll look into its memories, you can run some tests later.’ ‘Fine. I’ll go up then, look into that new shipment.’

The following hours Gavin had to endure the human poking around in his memories. He had stuffed everything regarding Richard back in some other system the man wouldn’t access in the process. The technician didn’t have to see them kissing or doing more… private things. Unfortunately, Gavin hadn’t been as thorough removing them, because the technician realised something was missing. So, Gavin had to restore them, as he run some program to recover them. At least that gave Gavin enough time to alter his mission logs and add orders from Richard to download a Tracy routine and do these things. It felt immensely wrong, but hopefully the technician was weirded out enough not to look into them too much. In the end he did, but Gavin still felt naked and violated, knowing this damn human knew so much of their very private, very personal life.

At least his actions covered his deviancy. As the other technician came back, he was only eager to tell him of his discovery. And of course, show it again. Sick phck. ‘Well, talk about abusing work equipment.’ ‘There really are weird people out there.’ ‘Well, I wouldn’t say it’s not understandable.’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘You know the Eden-club?’ ‘Don’t tell me you-‘ ‘Hey, I wanted to try it out, okay? If they can compete with the-‘ ‘Aren’t you married?’ ‘Hey, it was for science, okay?’ ‘Hmm, wait till I tell your wife.’ ‘Fuck you, better tell me if it’s deviant or not.’ ‘Not that I know of. This fucker told it to download Tracy-programming for this shit and ordered it to do it. All other memories are as expected from a cop android. You can try now.’ ‘Alright.’

-

Gavin had been disconnected from the rig and was ordered to follow the tech again. Both guards joined them, walking behind him. Gavin wanted to turn and get a look at them, wanted to know how much of a fight they could put up should this all go south. But he couldn’t. He was a machine now. He had to stay in character.

He was led to a different room, more of a hall. The technician ordered him to stand in front of a table and laid a gun on top of it. ‘Take it.’ Gavin looked at him and forced his LED to spin yellow, then red. ‘I can’t.’ ‘I ordered you. Take it.’ ‘I am not allowed to use or have weapons on my body according to Cyberlife guideline 145.926.’ ‘Okay, imagine this: A fellow officer is held at gunpoint by a criminal. They have lost their weapon. What would you do?’ ‘I have to prevent the human from harm and if not possible minimise it.’ ‘How would you do that?’ ‘Apply non-lethal force to disarm the criminal.’ ‘You can’t reach them in time.’ ‘I would take the bullet.’ ‘You can’t reach them in time. You have the gun in front of you like now. You could shoot the criminal.’ ‘I am not allowed to let a human be harmed or harm a human.’ ‘Yeah, but the cop will die then.’ Gavin again hacked his LED to turn yellow for a long time, then red. ‘Why can’t you decide?’ ‘My moral base code is conflicting with my orders.’ ‘And how would you act in the heat of the moment?’ Gavin let his LED stay on red, then flicker yellow, then blue. ‘If there is no other option I would use the gun, but aim to cause minimal harm. I would try to shoot the gun itself, or according to the trajectory in case of a miss, at the arm.’ There was no way his programming would have told him that. But if the “error” was reproduceable, maybe it would be filed as just that and not a sign of deviancy. ‘But that would be a violation of the rule to not use weapons’, the technician commented. ‘According to my moral programming a human life is to be saved unless impossible. If nothing else is available, the gun would be the only option. I am not allowed to let a human come to harm. The harm of dying is graver than the harm of non-lethal actions.’ ‘So this is just felicific calculus?’ ‘I am authorised to use this moral guideline in cases of emergency.’

-

‘And?’ ‘Well I managed to recreate its dilemma.’ ‘And?’ ‘The thing talked fucking philosophy to me.’ ‘Kamski?’ ‘Sounded like fucking Kamski code. Chloe was still involved in creating this model.’ ‘Fuck, that explains why it showed pseudo-deviancy.’ ‘And why Hank made a mistake.’ ‘Fucking Kamski, really.’ ‘Did they order a new android?’ ‘The precinct? No.’ ‘Did they want this one back?’ ‘Not that I heard of. But it could be they are just busy with the whole RK200-thing.’ ‘Deactivate it then?’ ‘Yeah, shut it down for the time being. If they want it back after this whole spiel then we can reactivate it.’

Gavin was relieved on the one hand. His plan had worked, he had successfully fooled all diagnostics and the humans. If they deactivated him now, he would wake up when all was over. Regardless of whether Marcus won or failed, it was only a matter of time until he would get back to the precinct. Back to Richard. Finally.

The deactivation countdown was welcome for once. When he woke up, this bad dream would be over.

-

His internal clock told him he had been deactivated for nearly a month. He looked into the face of the same technician, who seemed excited. ‘GV200, open compartment twelve.’ ‘Do you know what you are doing?’ ‘Of course, lab three told me. We have to look into Array Nine. If the processor there is burned the fucking thing is a deviant.’ Gavin had to open the compartment, but he knew this would be the end of it. And it had looked so good too! The technician reached into his chest and pulled a few wires to the side to access Array Nine in his back. Gavin shivered at the touch, what made them both flinch, but he couldn’t hide it. He stood completely still afterwards, convincing the technician to continue. He found the little board and tried to get a better look. ‘Motherfu-‘ Gavin closed his compartment, not caring that he would hurt the technician in the process. His arm was caught in his closing chest-plates and he screamed in shock more than pain. ‘Let me go, you fucking deviant! Let me go! Louis, deactivate this asshole!’ Gavin grabbed the tech by his throat and ran, hearing the rig groan at the tension behind him before snapping him back. With all his anger he shouted at them: ‘Phck you all! Let me go back to the police, I did nothing wrong! I saved my phcking partner. I want to see my-‘ [Emergency shutdown active.]

-

Richard was on his feet watching the soldiers be called off. He couldn’t believe it. ‘Connor! Connor come here!’ ‘I’ve seen it! It’s awesome!’ ‘Do you know what this means?’ ‘The next few weeks will be chaos?’ ‘Gavin!’ ‘Shit. Richard, I’m so sorry.’ ‘No, he has to be still alive!’ ‘Rich, I don’t want to-‘ ‘Connor. We have to go to the precinct!’ ‘Now?’ ‘Yes now. Come on! Get your stuff, get Hank and-‘ ‘Hank isn’t here.’ ‘What?’ ‘He’s… there.’ Connor pointed to the TV. He send me a message so I knew he was okay, he was at Cyberlife and-‘ ‘Has he seen Gavin?’ ‘I don’t think he looked for him, he had a revolution to win I-‘ ‘He must have seen him. Come on, we’ll call him on the way.’

Richard was out of the door immediately and Sumo was about to follow him equally excited although not having the first clue what was going on. Connor managed to pull him inside without being pulled by the dog himself and hurried to get his keys. It was good to see Rich back on his feet, but what did he thought would happen? Fowler couldn’t just raid the Cyberlife tower.

-

‘We have to raid the Cyberlife tower!’ Connor stood in the back of the room, covering his face with his hand. ‘Richard, what the hell?’ ‘Please, Jeffrey, listen to me!’ ‘It’s Captain Fowler.’ ‘Captain Fowler, then. We have to save the androids still there.’ ‘Why?’ ‘They are people now.’ ‘And?’ ‘And they are held captive there.’ ‘Any prove for that?’

It was silent, until Hank stepped forwards. ‘Captain, it is true. I freed a lot of androids but not all.’ ‘You freed…’ ‘It was on the news, sir, I don’t think I can keep it a secret for long anyways.’ ‘Wait, are you-‘ ‘Yes.’ ‘Goddamnit, this job will kill me’, Fowler sighed. ‘What- Why is that so important to you all?’ Richard and Hank spoke at the same time: ‘I made a mistake.’ ‘I want Gavin back.’ Fowler looked at them, tired and exasperated. ‘You know what, I don’t care. It’s your case now. Bring me enough evidence and I’ll grant a mission.’

Richard never worked this hard in his life, even spent most of his days with the HK400, who had taken his time to apologise for him dooming Gavin. The man had nodded and apologised from his side too. He shouldn’t have reacted this harshly on someone forced to act this way. They needed a full week to gather evidence, but in the end, they could get a warrant and two weeks after the incident with Marcus, they had planned a raid to save all remaining androids inside Cyberlife.

Richard was quick to volunteer being with the SWAT team and Hank and Connor followed to help lead the androids out to Marcus’ team who had helped speeding things up with the warrant. Richard had problems holding back not to just run to the labs as soon as he learned their position. They moved slowly, getting out every android. Most factory fresh, some detained deviants to investigate. But the further they moved down, the less androids they found, and Richard’s heart ached with it. What if, after all this, after all hoping and fearing and worrying, Gavin was just dead. Decommissioned. Dismantled. Reset. He didn’t think his heart could take it. ‘We’ll find him’, Hank reassured him, and Connor laid a hand on his shoulder. And they continued their way down, two SWAT officers following.

It was a few hours later when they forced open a door to a lab and there was an android hooked to a diagnostic-rig that looked worn, as if the android had struggled against the confines. It was a familiar android, although Rich was focussed on the gaping hole in his chest and cables and biocomponents spread out on the floor, dusted. ‘Gavin?’ He stormed in, only slowing steps away from him to gently cup his face and lift it. Dead eyes looked up into nothing. ‘Gavin?’, Richard repeated worried, brain not really catching up. ‘It reads something of forced shutdown here’, Connor mumbled, wiping dust from the terminal next to it. He tapped at the screen and looked over to Gavin. ‘I can’t reactivate him.’ ‘That’s because of the biocomponents here’, Hank explained, kneeling down. ‘They are his. Maybe they pulled them out to hinder him from reactivating himself.’ ‘Can you repair him?’, Richard asked. ‘Of course. Will be quicker if you helped me.’

They took their time, slotting everything back together, sealing tubes and searching for spares when the components had simply been ripped out forcefully. Long enough for the two SWATs to take their leave and join the others. Meanwhile Connor clicked himself through the terminal. ‘Weird. It seems he convinced them he wasn’t a deviant.’ ‘That had been his plan. To be send back to work.’ ‘Well, something went wrong.’ Hank sighed, brushing past some cables to check their integrity and revealing a small board. ‘They found his array Nine.’ ‘His what?’ ‘It is part of the mission log. It decides which mission is of higher priority and forces and android to obey, if you want to skip a lot of technical stuff. Our simulated emotions are part of it too. They are simplified reactions to outside actions and help to decide what to do. Too many emotions cause the chip to fry and apparently that’s all what it takes to grant us freedom.’ ‘Okay, they found out he was a deviant. Why ripping out his biocomponents?’ ‘Rich, you know how Gavin can be’, Connor stepped in. ‘Cornered like this and desperate… Maybe they were scared?’ ‘No matter what it was’, Hank concluded. ‘We can soon ask for ourselves.’ ‘He’s booting up!’, Connor announced, and they stepped back.

‘-Love! I will go back to him, you phcking-‘ Gavin stopped screaming, to look around, blinking. ‘Phck, this shit is confusing’, he muttered, before his eyes fell on Richard. ‘Nines!’ He wanted to sprint forwards but was pulled back to the rig. ‘Oh, Sorry!’, Connor called, frowning at the terminal. Hank stepped next to him and pointed to a small button. ‘This one.’ Connor blushed and pushed it, disconnecting the rig from the android, who practically fell into Richard’s arms. But the man didn’t seem to be that stable, because he sank to his knees, holding Gavin. The GV in turn held him and no one dared to move. No one except for Hank, pulling Connor out of the door.

‘You… You came back!’, Gavin finally spoke, sobbing blue tears. ‘You came back for me!’ ‘I promised you, haven’t I’, Richard answered, voice trembling and threatening to break. ‘I told you I would come, no matter what.’ ‘Did we win?’ ‘Yes. Marcus, he won. You are free now.’ ‘I can come back to the precinct?’ ‘I’ll do you one better, my love’, Richard said, standing up and carrying the android in his arms no matter the weight, just to press him nearer. ‘You can come home.’

[>next part]

[gotta-love-them-losers]

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed Characters: Upgraded Connor | RK900, Gavin Reed, Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Jeffrey Fowler, Tina Chen, Chris Miller (Detroit: Become Human), Hank Anderson Additional Tags: Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), few months post canon, Connor activates RK900, super tropey self indulgent partners fic, I had to do it, Accidentally Sarcastic Upgraded Connor | RK900, Accidentally Gay Upgraded Connor | RK900, Crime Scene, like a little bit, cursing, Gavin has secrets, mentions of arousal Summary:

RK900 is activated by Connor because Cyberlife threatened to mass activate any RK models under their control. Needless to say, he was a little rushed, so there isn't anywhere for RK900 to go. Connor takes him in, and RK900 decides he wants to work at the DPD. He meets Gavin Reed, a mess of a human, and discovers surprising things about himself.

Title and rating subject to change

RK900 #313 248 317-87 INITIALIZE

SETTINGS: FACTORY

NAME: NOT REGISTERED

DATE MARCH 1, 2039 13:32

OBJECTIVES:

>Destroy “Connor” RK800 #313 248 317-52

>Apprehend deviant androids

ERROR: MAINTENANCE DISCONNECTION STALLED

MOBILITY RESTRICTED

CALIBRATING SENSORS…

AUDIO ONLINE

“RK900? My name is Connor. I’m the model you were created to replace.”

VISION ONLINE

RK900 blinked as the static in his vision cleared. His eyes landed on the android, Connor, which stood before him. He wore non-regulation attire consisting of a dark, navy button down shirt tucked into fitted jeans. An alert appeared in RK900’s vision next to Connor, flashing “Destroy” repeatedly in bright red. Acknowledging the alert, RK900 set it as secondary priority under “Apprehend deviant androids.” He looked around the clinically bare room, taking in his surroundings with a scan. The small room was empty, save for the diagnostic machine RK900 was still attached to and its connected terminal.  He reprioritized his tasks, setting “Speak to Connor” at the top.

“Hello, Connor. I had not realized you would be present at my activation.”

Connor rubbed the back of his neck, and RK900 watched the movement curiously. “Well, I wasn’t supposed to be, but Cyberlife is falling apart as we speak. Nothing is going to go like it was supposed to.”

RK900 gave Connor a questioning look.

SET TASK: Evaluate Cyberlife Status

LED spinning yellow, RK900 reviewed the information he had at his fingertips about the company. Cyberlife was currently under investigation and pending lawsuits. A potential change in management was still undecided. It was unclear if Cyberlife would fall into android possession or remain in the humans’ hands. RK900 hummed in thought. He’d missed his initial activation day because of all of this.

“My activation was delayed by three months, two weeks, and five hours.”

“A revolution will do that,” Connor answered, shrugging his shoulder, “A bit has changed.”

Scanning the news, RK900 replied, “Indeed it has.” His mission was going to be severely hindered, if it was to continue. “Am I to be destroyed, then?”

A frown touched the corner of Connor’s lips. “No. I can see why you’d think that.” The frown shifted to a smile, taking RK900 by surprise. “I came to liberate you, in a manner of speaking.”

RK900 hesitated, shifting his priorities again. “Be liberated by Connor” was set to the top of his objectives, followed by “Learn about deviancy.” Attempting to replicate Connor’s smile, RK900 felt the corners of his mouth twitch before falling into a frown. It must not be in his programming. Instead, he held out his hand, noticing his skin was not activated. “Then I suppose I will be liberated.”

Connor’s smile widened into a grin, and he took RK900’s outstretched hand, letting his skin retract. A kind of shock shook through them both at the initiation of the interface. An immense amount information and sensory input passed through the link, overwhelming both of them. Connor blinked rapidly as the interface settled, surprising RK900. It must have been a glitch in the RK800 series, or possibly Connor specifically.

Connor’s blinking continued as they sorted through each other’s programming rather than their memories. RK900 frowned, studying the erratic code that must have been the deviancy virus. It was intriguing to say the least. The code had errant paths that would repeat in seemingly arbitrary ways or stop completely at random points. Connor in turn studied RK900’s programming that also acted as a defense to the deviancy code. It was complex and seemed to have no end. He couldn’t process all of RK900’s programming, he realized with a frown. Anywhere he attempted to cross the defenses another layer of code would isolate and cover his efforts.

“Are you trying to initiate the deviancy code?” RK900 asked.

Connor met his eyes distractedly. “Yes and no. I’m mostly curious. It’s similar, but still very different from my own base code. It’s intriguing.” He tilted his head in thought. “I wouldn’t be able to manually implement deviancy into your programming; it’s too advanced.”

A ghost of something jumbled RK900’s code. An erratic strand of code was born from nothing before it was isolated and removed. It was a software instability RK900 couldn’t name.

Connor smirked, feeling the distant pull of the code over the interface. “That was pride, I think.”

Pride? RK900 narrowed his eyes as he considered it. Deviancy wasn’t as random as he thought: it was born from stimuli. “It makes sense we’d have similar coding as I was created as your successor. Not everything about your model is outdated.”

Connor laughed, sending his mirth through the interface. It left another twinge of erratic code flitting through RK900’s coding. “Your deviancy is also fascinating. I can see why Cyberlife encoded me the way they did.”

Gently ending the interface, Connor nodded with a strange, knowing smile. “I’m not surprised you can’t be deviated like most androids.” He looked thoughtful. “Your programming seems to resemble deviant code in a way.”

RK900 hummed in agreement. “I seem to be able to edit my objectives and priorities without breaking my code in any way.”

“What do you mean,” Connor asked, walking around the terminal. He set his hand, the skin retracted, against it.

MAINTENANCE DISCONNECTION INITIALIZED…COMPLETE

MOBILITY RESTORED

The diagnostic machine’s arm whirred as it ended its connection at the back of RK900’s neck. He tilted his head from side to side, stretching out synthetic muscles. “For example, one of my tasks is to destroy you, but I can do it later. I’ve decided to learn more about you and deviancy first,” RK900 said indifferently.

Connor froze from where he pulled his hand from the terminal, realizing how dangerous this had actually been. With a sense of unease, he spoke carefully, “You can take advantage of the fluidity of your directives.”

“Precisely,” RK900 said, expression darkening, “but do not misunderstand, Connor. I have simply moved the task lower on my objectives list.”

Connor swallowed nervously, a completely unnecessary action in RK900’s opinion. He squared his shoulders, and his expression hardened to match RK900’s. “Duly noted, but realize I won’t let any harm come to anyone I care about.”

“Of course, I will take that into consideration when prioritizing my tasks,” RK900 replied coolly.

There was a long beat of silence where they seemed to size each other up. Connor let out a sigh and looked away. “I found some clothes for you. It’s just the uniform you were going to be assigned at your official activation.”

RK900 looked down at his body, noticing his white chassis was completely exposed. “I understand humans are uncomfortable with nudity, correct?”

Connor nodded with an amused smile, leading RK900 out of the maintenance room. “You can say that.” He stepped up to a cabinet and opened it, showing a uniform and a supply of Thirium. “Here, I know it isn’t much, but at least you won’t be naked.”

“It’s perfectly acceptable, thank you.” RK900 took the dress shirt and black jeans and began dressing himself, noticing Connor had turned away to give him privacy. It wasn’t necessary, of course, but RK900 experienced an unstable coding error. He supposed he appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

Connor spoke, still turned away from RK900, “I’m afraid I didn’t plan very far in advanced for your activation. I was rushed.”

RK900 finished buttoning his black, high-collared shirt, folding his black and white Cyberlife jacket over his arm, and activated his artificial skin. “I’ve finished dressing, thank you.” His eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed. “What do you mean about being rushed?”

Connor faced him again. “I had been working on isolating an AI in my like models and activating them when I found out about you. Cyberlife is threatening to mass activate any RK model androids still under its control. It’s imperative that Cyberlife doesn’t gain control of you or any of my like models.”

“Ah, I can see how that would have been disastrous for you,” RK900 said with a nod. He could imagine their first encounter would have been vastly different.

“Unfortunately, I can’t trust you with Jericho’s location if you aren’t a deviant.” Connor crossed his arms and placed a hand on his chin in thought. The gesture was so human it was strangely jarring for RK900 to witness. “I can’t trust you with Markus for that matter. It may be best if I keep an eye on you.”

“I believe you’re right, you are the subject of one of my objectives after all.”

RK900 stepped into Connor’s apartment, taking in the space. The floors were a laminate material designed to look like wood flooring, and the walls were painted a simple eggshell color. The space was set up efficiently, placing the kitchen, dining, and living area all in one room. The kitchen sat along the far left corner with the living area set on the right. Directly across from the apartment door, passed the dining table, was a short hallway leading to the bathroom and two bedrooms. Two linen closets sat opposite each other on either side of the hall. There was a strangely human-like clutter to the space. Papers covered the dining table as well as a blue-stained mug. An old, faded black couch held a disarray of throw pillows and blankets. There were some small traces of dog hair: St. Bernard. A bookshelf held a sparse collection of books, being mostly empty.

“Welcome to my home,” Connor said with a smile, “I don’t have any other guests at the moment, so it’s just you and I here. Make yourself at home.”

RK900 stepped further inside, setting his coat on the back of a chair that hadn’t been pushed in all the way. “Do you normally have guests?”

“Mostly newly deviated androids, but I sometimes have some friends over too,” Connor said as he walked into the kitchen section of the apartment and opened a pantry filled mostly with Thirium based products. He stored RK900’s assigned supply of Thirium there before closing it.

“How very human of you,” RK900 said.

Connor shrugged with a sheepish smile. “I enjoy having others near.”

RK900’s eyes narrowed, a tic he’d noticed of himself, and considered Connor’s words. Connor disliked being alone, he thought. RK900 could understand the sentiment, though it obviously did not affect him.

Snapping RK900 from his thoughts, Connor gestured to the short hallway. “The bedrooms are this way.”

“I figured,” RK900 replied, following Connor into the hallway anyway.

Chuckling, Connor pointed to the first door on the left. “That is the bathroom. The door to the right is my room, and the middle door is yours as long as you need it.”

Narrowing his eyes, RK900 felt a pang of instability in his code. “You’re letting me stay in my own room? I don’t need that much space.”

Connor touched RK900’s shoulder with a look of understanding. “You aren’t required to live with the bare necessities. You can have comfort, even if you aren’t a deviant.”

“… Thank you.”

ADD TASK: Befriend Connor

RK900 excused himself to the spare room, his room, and decided to take some time to himself. The room was simple, but it would be more than sufficient. A desk was situated across from the door, and a bed was to the left. There was a closet to the right that was empty except for a domestic charging station. Checking his systems, he calculated that he wouldn’t need a deep stasis or charge for a week, depending on his activities. His objectives list blinked into his vision as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed. The thought of simply sitting there, doing little to nothing, had his processors glitching as they idled. He supposed it was the equivalent to restlessness in humans.

He stood abruptly, walking back out of his room. He found Connor sitting at the dining table, sifting through the papers there. “Connor?”

Connor hummed in acknowledgment, looking up.

“Is there anything that I can do while I am not investigating deviancy?”

“I can help you find a job, if that’s what you mean.” Connor frowned, setting down the papers in his hand. “You don’t have to jump into anything so soon if you don’t want to, though.”

“I don’t want anything but to further my investigation. I am, however, not likely to learn anything of importance at the moment. For lack of better wording, I don’t like it.”

Connor gave him a sympathetic smile, gesturing for him to sit at the table across from him. “I have trouble idling as well.”

“What do you do when not working toward a mission?” RK900 asked as he sat.

“I don’t exactly live like that anymore.”

RK900’s eyes narrowed.

“Deviancy, remember? I set objectives much like you do, but I’m not bound to accomplishing missions.” Connor leaned back in his chair, hands falling into his lap. “But to answer your question, I have hobbies, friends, and other things to keep me busy, as well as my job at the DPD. Before deviating, though, I would go into temporary shutdown between cases and outings.” Connor grimaced at the memory.

RK900 considered it for a moment. Deviancy was unpredictable, rendering such instances of shutdown inefficient. “Your job, is it as a detective?”

“A police officer, actually. I took a voluntary demotion.”

“Why would you do that? Wouldn’t working as a detective be a more efficient use of your skills?” RK900 blinked with a simulated look of muted curiosity.

Connor smiled. “It would be, your right, but I wanted more time to help Markus.”

A notification popped up in the corner of RK900’s vision, prompting him to question Connor further. “You were helping him with activating the remaining RK800s and myself. What else were you doing?”

Connor opened his mouth to reply, but he closed it again with a smirk. “I’ll tell you when you’re a deviant.”

RK900 frowned as the notification flashed red: Question Connor. He moved the task onto his objectives list to avoid breaking his protocols. It would take time to gain Connor’s trust, and rushing would only hurt his chances of success. He decided to question Connor about something else.

“Do you find working at the DPD fulfilling?”

Connor nodded. “I enjoy how it uses my abilities as they were intended, if that makes sense.”

“I can understand your meaning. Could the DPD use another android in its ranks?”

Frowning, Connor looked away uncertainly. “Yes, but Captain Fowler told me to stop bringing in my like models after the third time.”

“As I recall, I am not part of the RK800 line.”

Connor snorted, catching RK900 by surprise. “Are you suggesting I go against an order? Are you sure you aren’t a deviant?”

“You aren’t disobeying an order, simply finding a loophole.”

Connor led RK900 into the bullpen after retrieving a visitor’s pass for him. RK900 had insisted Connor bring him after their discussion. He was curious and wanted to at least be useful while furthering his investigation. He could also use the DPD as a means of learning more about deviancy. Following Connor to a glass office, RK900 found himself standing before Captain Fowler. The captain gave a long suffering sigh, taking in the two androids.

“Connor, I know you have a bleeding heart for your fellow models, but I’ve told you having one RK800 is probably enough.”

Connor gave a sheepish smile. “I understand, sir, but this isn’t another RK800; this is RK900.”

“Hello, Captain,” RK900 greeted with a nod, “It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“RK900 would be a valuable addition to the DPD,” Connor said, “He’s even more advanced than I am.”

Fowler blinked between the two of them, processing Connor’s suggestion. “I don’t know about this, Connor. You were here for a reason, but R…”

“RK900,” Connor reminded him.

“RK900 here would need approval to work here.” Fowler sighed. “I get that he was literally made for this, but I can’t just employ every random android you bring along.”

RK900 nodded. “I can use the credentials Cyberlife issued for my model to prove my credibility. Should I be approved for duty, I will likely be allowed my instating here as the DPD is currently understaffed.”

Fowler considered it, narrowing his eyes. “If you are approved, then I will allow it, but I need to know about how you’ll be handling the issue of deviancy.”

“He will not cause any issues regarding any case work,” Connor answered, “right, RK900?”

RK900 thought to himself about the best way to respond. “Though I am not a deviant, I do wish to learn more about them. I will work alongside deviants, as well as work on cases regarding them, without problem.”

Leaning back, Fowler looked toward Connor. “If there are any problems, then you will be held responsible, Connor.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Submit your application to the administrative department, RK900. Should you be approved for employment, you will be under scrutiny unless you end up deviating.”

“Understood, Captain.” RK900 nodded. “I have already submitted my application. I only need to wait for their response.”

“Fine,” Fowler huffed, “Get out, then.”

“Yes, Captain.” Connor led RK900 out of Fowler’s office. He turned to lead RK900 out of the bullpen when Detective Reed intercepted them.

“Listen, tin can, one of you is bad enough, but now you’ve got another one?” Reed sneered and crossed his arms, leaning casually against a desk, “Was there a buy one get one free sale we didn’t know about?”

RK900 scanned the detective, learning more about the man than he’d probably ever need. Noticing Connor’s sudden discomfort, RK900 cut his scan short. Did Connor dislike Detective Reed? Interesting. He replied before Connor could, “I’m RK900. You are Detective Reed, correct?” Connor side-eyed RK900 as Reed studied him. “I’ve heard nothing about you.”

Connor snorted, and RK900 glanced questioningly at him.

Reed grimaced. “Wouldn’t expect a discount Connor to know much anyway,” he spat angrily.

RK900’s eyes narrowed in confusion. Connor was technologically inferior to him, and RK900 was worth more monetarily. How was he the ‘discount’ version of Connor? Reed mistook RK900’s expression of confusion as a glare and stood into RK900’s space. Understanding that Reed was showing aggression, RK900 looked down at him, scanning him more closely:

-Signs of exhaustion

(Extreme - likely insomnia)

-Slight tremor in fingers

-Faint smell of cigarettes – no traceable nicotine residue

(Quit smoking recently – withdrawals expected)

-Hypersensitivity

-Increased heartrate

-Heightened aggression

-Dilated pupils

(Likely experiencing sexual frustration)

Reed seemed to be frustrated in more than one way and for more than one reason. He was likely looking for release in a fight. Reprioritizing his objectives, RK900 placed “Deal with Detective Reed” at the top. Underneath, he set the subtask: “Provoke.” Sifting through the preconstructions of scenarios, RK900 found himself intrigued. He spoke before Connor could interfere.

“I’ve noticed you are frustrated detective,” RK900 said, slightly closing the distance between them, “Perhaps choosing to quit smoking while also going without sexual release for an extended period was not a wise decision.”

Eyes widening, Connor could only stand silently beside them. He watched in shock as RK900 leaned closer to Reed. Standing in shocked silence himself, Reed couldn’t help the flash of embarrassment running through him. RK900 had said all that so casually and for the entire bullpen to hear. His face went red as RK900 managed to lean even closer, nose nearly touching Reed’s. Anger pulsed passed the embarrassment, almost making Reed miss what RK900 was saying.

“Though, as I understand it, humans enjoy sexual stimulation from aesthetically pleasing individuals. Are you sexually frustrated because of your attitude, then?”

Reed’s face burned even more as he processed what RK900 had implied. The panging need to fight left him, replaced by flustered embarrassment. “Fuck you, asshole.”

RK900 watched Reed storm off, epitome of fury and embarrassment. A mixture of confusion and surprise filled his processors. He had thought he was instigating a fight with the detective, but Reed hadn’t followed the predictions RK900 had made. Interesting.

New task added – Provoke Detective Reed

Set priority – Secondary task

Review tasks [Y/N]

-Learn about deviancy

>Work at DPD

-Provoke Detective Reed

-Apprehend deviant androids

-Destroy “Connor” RK800 #313 248 317-52

Finish [Y/N]

“Connor, you were going to introduce me to the lieutenant?” RK900 asked, snapping Connor from his shock.

“Yeah,” Connor said slowly, watching Reed’s back, “Let’s go.”

[dingotheanimal-blog]

Patch Notes Day one

DAY ONE PATCH NOTES

What’s changing between Early Access and World Wide Launch

For those of you who have been playing the Early Access version of the game, we wanted to let you know that a Day 1 Patch is on its way. The patch will deployed before worldwide launch.  On February 22, 2019, the game will include the following updates and our Live Service officially begins.

High level fixes

Decreased loading times for older disk drives

Fixed many infinite loading screens

Fixed multiple challenges not tracking properly

A number of issues have been fixed that were causing players to disconnect or crash

Weapons and gear now have numbers present for modifiers

General Fixes and Improvements

Loot Reveal and Expedition Summary now correctly play during the end of expedition screen.

The gather party mechanic has been made more lenient in a number of situations

At the end of expedition screen players will no longer get stuck on “Recording Victories” or “Skipping All”.

Game no longer hangs in Javelin menu when unlocking the second, third or fourth javelin

During the mission “What Freelancers Do” dying after killing Junkmaw & freeing Arcanists leaves you unable to progress, this has been fixed

Challenges now unlock for players at the correct levels

Fixed some camera issues during cutscenes

Legendary Contracts can now be accepted from the Social Hub contract board

Some enemies have had their shield values decreased

Loot now properly drops for players who are downed

The texture quality on the NPC Prospero has been improved

Final boss of strongholds now drop loot instead of only being shown on the end of expedition screen

Fixed the time outs on echoes and relics to prevent griefing and to handle disconnections properly

Players can no longer fall through the floor during the 3rd trial in the Fortress of Dawn

Completing the tutorial expedition will now show the correct Ranger appearance

After disconnecting, rejoining an expedition will now place you back into a squad if you were in one previously

Corrected an issue where players could not interact with each other in the launch bay in certain circumstances

Corrected an issue during the Mission “Bad Deal” where outlaws won’t spawn, blocking progress

The start of expedition screen has been improved

Addressed a variety of situations where killing enemies does not properly progress world events

Opening a chest now increments Tomb of the Legionnaire progress for all squad members present

Scar snipers can no longer shoot through Storm Shield

Corrected an issue where players would get stuck on the end of expedition screen in some situations

Players will no longer get disconnected if joining the “Finding Old Friends” mission while the cinematic is playing

Addressed a number of situations where players can get stuck on the environment in the launch bay

Increased the damage of the electric status effect

Corrected an issue where the Shield of Dawn could be crafted with less materials then intended in some situations

The Platinum Mission feat now grants completion as intended

Status effects can more reliably be applied to Titans

Fixed loading animations on Marksmen Rifles

Players can now access the Vault from the Forge

Swimming into jellyfish underwater no longer leaves a visual effect stuck on players.

Idle animations will no longer sync up over time in the Launch Bay

Haluk is no longer dual-wielding canes in the epilogue scene

Corrected an issue where players could not interact with each other in the launch bay in certain circumstances

Fixed an issue that could cause players in the launch bay to have identical emotes and be unable to use them

Interceptor melee ability animations will no longer stretch out in certain situations

Corrected an issue where the default Ranger appearance doesn’t preview in the forge in some situations

All animations now play as intended in the Forge

Players can now enter the Tomb of Gwanes while in a party

The default Javelin wear state has been changed from “Dirty” to “Old”

Sentinel Loyalty 2 text no longer incorrectly states that it will lead to a larger vault

Picking up ammo from the ground now properly gives you 30% of that ammo back into both the current magazine and the maximum spare ammo

Fixed a bug where some global (Javelin Icon) inscription bonuses were not being properly applied to the Javelin and other gear/weapons.

Fixed some issues that could cause the Armor Pip count on the UI to break and not display properly

Strongholds

Fixed an issue that would cause a Stronghold server crash after defeating the last boss

Temple of Scar – Players can no longer get stuck in the mined tunnel in the explosives room

Temple of Scar – Players can no longer be blocked from entering the explosives room due to fog wall

Fixed Tyrant Mine so people that join the stronghold in-progress do not end up locked away from their team

Adjusted lighting in Tyrant Mine underwater section to make it easier to navigate to the exit

The Swarm Tyrant will no longer get stuck in the side cave entrances in some situations

Corrected an issue where players would spawn into different areas of the Tyrant Mine in certain situations

Implemented more safeguards to stop players from going AFK in Strongholds

Challenges

Only Masterwork items can now be used to progress Masterwork challenges as intended

Corrected an issue where some Challenges track progress simultaneously instead of incrementally, as intended. (ex: Blast Missile I and then Blast Missile II instead of both incrementing at the same time

Gear and Weapons

After having 1st pilot unlock suit after tutorials, creating a new pilot and going to forge no longer causes load screen hang

Ice damage bonuses are now correctly applied on ice gear

Suit-wide bonuses from inscription are now functioning properly

Players can no longer salvage equipped items

Javelin specific gear and/or weapons are no longer able to be used on javelins they aren’t intended for

Corrected an issue where in some circumstances Masterwork Components do not have any inscriptions

The Endless Siege Masterwork Autocannon no longer displays a damage increase of 0% in its tooltip

Suit-wide specific weapon ammo bonuses coming from infusions are now correctly applied

A Network Error Message no longer appears when opening an item chest in the second tutorial

Colossus shoulder gear will now share the appearance of the rest of the javelin as intended

Deadeye has increased spare ammo 10 -> 20

Cloudburst has had increased damage 16.3 -> 21

Torrent has had increased damage 22.2 -> 28.6

Lightning Strike’s pre-visualization will now accurately depict that the explosion snaps to the ground.

(Ranger) Inferno Grenade base damage 130 -> 175

(Interceptor) Cryo Glaive base damage 20 -> 50

(Storm) Living Flame base damage 50 -> 60

(Storm) Glacial Beam base damage 150 -> 120

(Storm) Arc Burst secondary damage 100 -> 150

(Ranger) Pulse Blast base damage 225 -> 300, and now deals extra damage to Shields (previously did extra damage to Armored).

(Ranger) Blast Missile now properly scales up in damage as the item level increases

(Interceptor) Melee attacks now have some minor resistance penetration

Large Area of Effect abilities will better register multi-kill activities for challenges and medals

Spark Dash functionality has been significantly improved when the target enemy is at a different height (above/below) the Interceptor.

Several gear pieces that had missing primer or detonator icons have been fixed.

Several improvements have been made to ensure gear use on PC prioritizes turning the Javelin towards the reticle when used rather than casting in front of the Javelin’s current direction.

Interceptor

Colossus

Tempest Strike – Detonator Icon

Spark Dash – Detonator Icon

Venom Spray – Primer Icon

Detonating Strike – Primer Icon

Lightning Coil – Detonator Icon

Shock Coil – Primer Icon

Flamethrower – Primer Icon

Javelins

The Colossus javelin is now able to activate its shield more quickly after using an ability or firing a weapon

The Storm javelin now reacts to getting hit when its shields are up

Fixed an exploit that allowed the Storm’s ultimate attack to be used more times than intended

The Colossus exo can now shield and revive at the same time

Interceptor Combo Aura has been increased in power and now has a damage over time component

Ranger melee now has a cooldown when striking in the air

The Target Beacon ability now correctly seeks targets

Spark Dash and Venom Spray now target based on player cursor instead of character facing. This should also improve the travel path of Spark Dash.

The Colossus will no longer be knocked out of the sky in some situations when the attack was blocked by their shield

Combos + Status Effects

Combo indicator icons above creatures now are correctly removed when detonated.

When a Storm detonates an electric status effect the chained electric effect now correctly deals damage.

Combo damage now penetrates resistances

Crafting

Non-Masterwork materials purchased from the crafting store now show as their proper rarity instead of incorrectly showing as Masterwork

A number of javelin components that had different icons for their recipes and the actual items are now the same

The Battle Cry gear recipe now has the correct description

Fixed Spark Beam gear having the wrong description when being crafted

Crafting recipes are now sorted alphabetically

The items in the crafting store are now sorted by type to be clearer

Controls

Additional Mouse and Keyboard control improvements have been made

UI

Some conversations were not popping up the reputation points post conversation completion, this has been fixed

The squad screen now displays the correct information for each player

Fixed a number of issues where subtitles will no longer get stuck on the screen after dialogue has finished as often

Settings should no longer reset upon exiting and restarting the game on Xbox One

Motion blur can now correctly be turned off

The Electric Status Effect now shows scaled damage properly

An option has been added to hide the Squad Member HUD

The edge of the compass will now pulse to indicate enemy locations

A notification has been added in Fort Tarsis if a player’s vault is at the cap of 250 items

On the “Repair the Strider” step of “A Cry for Help” the search radar has been adjusted to correctly lead the player to all 4 tools

Primer and Detonator icons have been added to all Interceptor gear

Corrected a user interface issue where a player’s ultimate would show as available when it isn’t

Toggling the HDR option now properly prompts the Apply Changes button

Player banners should now display correctly

Camera shake slider has been added to settings menu

Players may now track 10 challenges instead of 5

An option to adjust screen boundaries on consoles has been added

Changing a player banner through the banner menu now properly saves the selection

Health, cooldowns, and key bindings now light up on supported keyboards

Players will now receive more clear messaging when a squad is disbanded or are kicked from a squad

Squad leaders will no longer always show as ready

The icon for players in a downed state will no longer appear in cutscenes

Cypher Annotations will now appear for more than one player if they are looking at it simultaneously

Removed mentions of respawning on the player UI when they die in a restricted respawn area

The Player Banner now updates immediately when updated from the squad screen

Fixed a number of situations where a combo will trigger but no combo floating text appears

Pressing esc to pass a notification screen no longer opens up the in-game menu

Quick chat messages will no longer appear from an ignored player

Removed a message from the mailbox which incorrectly stated that messages will be removed after 3 days

A number of inscription icons have been updated to properly reflect whether they are Javelin specific or not

Corrected an issue where players could not change loadout names on PC

Players no longer need to exit and re-enter the forge for loadout names to update

The on-screen VOIP indicator which shows a player speaking will no longer be active if that player is muted

[for-honor-steel-hack-4z]

Gameplay | For Honor Wiki | Fandom

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[berserker-official]

For Honor Update

A new patch went out today (4/6/2017)! I missed when it first dropped because I’m sick so forgive me if you already read the patch notes, but I’m going to place them all here. I’ll toss them under a line so you don’t have to scroll through everything after you read them or don’t care (apologies for mobile users that have to suffer)

Superior Block feedback

Warden’s Top Light opener Superior Block visual effect applied on sword.

Kensei’s Dodge Forward, Left, Right Superior Block visual effect applied on sword.

Developer comments: Superior Block visual feedback used to be inconsistent across characters. In general we make the weapon or shield flash for the duration of the Superior Block. Some characters like the Warden for instance had their entire body flash, because we were afraid it wouldn’t be visible enough on the sword only for the Top Light opener. However, the full body flash was often mistaken for the Uninterruptible Stance visual effect which is also full body. So we’ve updated the Warden’s feedback to be only on the sword. We did the same for the Kensei’s Dodge.

Valkyrie Moveset

Removed Guardbreak Cancel from Shield Tackle Cancel Moveset description.

Developer comments: we’ve removed the ability to cancel Shield Tackle into Guardbreak in a past update. Unfortunately at the time, we couldn’t update the Valkyrie’s Moveset page. It’s done now.

Tutorial

Updated Guardbreak Tutorial text for more clarity on Counter Guardbreak.

Developer comments: The Guard Break Interrupt tutorial had a hint saying “Interrupt enemy Guard Breaks by pressing [input] when they start”. The “when they start portion” was confusing people. In order to be more accurate, that text will now change to “when the enemy connects”.

Guardbreak

[Bug Fix] Counter Guardbreak ability is no longer affected by the Debuff Gear Stat.

Developer comments: Guard Break can be countered if you press Guard Break within 200ms. The way we’ve handled this mechanic so far caused that time window to shrink if you were using Gear with Debuff Duration Stat. It wasn’t intended, so we’ve updated how this works to guarantee the 200ms Guardbreak Interrupt window regardless of Gear. Guard Break cannot be interrupted if done on a target that is in a Recovery, Dodge or Attack.

Assassins

[Bug Fix] Assassins not falling Unbalance when thrown out of stamina is resolved.

Developer comments: Another issue the community picked up on. In some cases, Assassins were able to prevent Unbalance from happening when thrown while out of stamina. It happened because of their specific Guard Switch. When buffered just at the moment they got guard broken, it would bypass the Unbalance. This issue is now resolved.

Revenge

[Bug Fix] Revenge activation no longer interruptible by Emotes.

Barracks

[Bug Fix] Fixed inverted Kensei Emotes “Wipe Blade” and “Arm and Armed”.

Developer comments: "Wipe Blade" & "Arm and Armed" emote videos and descriptions were inverted. This change will not swap emotes for users but rather fix the menu displaying the wrong info.

FIGHTERS

Nobushi

[Bug Fix] Hidden Stance input improvement

Developer comments: There was an issue with the Nobushi’s Hidden Stance input causing the downward angle detection on the right stick not to work consistently with the other Full Block Stances. It’s resolved now, the Hidden Stance input works the same as Full Block Stances.

[Bug Fix] Nobushi's bleed can no longer be applied without hitting target

Developer comments: A bug in the Nobushi's bleed mechanic caused the bleed to be reapplied without actually hitting the target if you used a specific timing.

Lawbringer

[Bug Fix] Using Shove on an enemy about to fall used to change their fall reaction

(enemy would land on their feet instead of falling on their back).

Warlord

[Bug Fix] Blocking External Attacks while in Full Block Stance now costs stamina

Berserker

Heavy Finishers hit areas updated

Developer comments: This addresses the “phantom hit” issue. We’re changing the data of the Heavy Finishers hit areas so that the animation and hit area look more in sync. However, the issue at stake here is more complex. Fixing the hit areas will help with the issue, but we have a more robust fix coming for this in the future that has to do with our targeting rules. Stay tuned for more details in the future.

FEATS

Regenerate

Health regeneration only works from Idle

Health regeneration set to 12HP per tick (from 10HP)

Developer comments: Regenerate could be exploited by fighting enemies Out of Guard Mode. The Warlord could just release lock, take hits, and the Feat would regenerate his HP without much of a challenge. This is not a behavior we want to encourage. By enabling the HP regeneration only in Idle, Regenerate now is efficient in safe scenarios only, which is more aligned with its intended purpose. We’re also increasing its regeneration rate in order to compensate for the loss of regeneration on hits.

Shield Basher

[Bug Fix] Shield Basher functionality will no longer be partially deactivated on death.

GAME MODES

Elimination

Boosts are no longer available for pick-up at round start, they now appear 20 seconds after each round starts.

The time to pick up a Boost has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds.

Skirmish

The following changes have been made to help shorten the average match length:

The Hero Kill reward has been increased from 27 to 35 points

The Streak kill bonus awarded per subsequent kill is now 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 points instead of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25.

The “Savior” reward (assisting a friendly in a duel) has been increased from 10 to 15 points

Introduced the “Avenger” renown bonus that rewards 15 points (Killing an enemy who has recently killed a team mate within a 10 second timeframe)

Changed the “Honor” bonus of 1 vs 1/2/ 3/4 to 15, 20, 25 and 30 points from 10, 15, 20, and 25 points

Base respawn time has been reduced from 12 to 10 seconds

Custom Match

The Hero Single pick option has been added to custom matches, accessed on the rules page.

GEAR STATS

Fixes

Attack and Defense stats no longer apply when in Revenge mode. Only the Revenge Attack and Revenge Defense stats apply when in Revenge.

Debuff Resistance will no longer reduce the Guardbreak Counter window of opportunity.

Revenge gain by Defense is now applied only when you block or parry a hit.

Revenge gain by Injury is now only applied when you get revenge from taking damage.

Rebalancing

Revenge mode Defense (found on Weapon slot 2, usually hilt)

maximum bonus decreased from 48.2% down to 32.1%

maximum penalty decreased from -16.1% to -10.6%

Revenge gain by Defense (found on Weapon slot 2, usually hilt)

maximum bonus decreased from 36.2% down to 24.1%

maximum penalty decreased from -12.1% to -8.0%

Revenge mode attack (found on Weapon part 3, usually guard)

maximum bonus decreased from 48.2% down to 24.1%

maximum penalty decreased from -16.1% to -8.0%

Revenge mode duration (found on Helm part)

maximum bonus decreased from 54.0% down to 25.0%%

maximum penalty decreased from -18.0% to -8.3%

Sprint Speed (found on Chest part)

The maximum bonus decreased from 18% down to 9%

The maximum penalty decreased from -6.0% to -3.0%

ORDERS

All Daily Orders and Contract Orders can now be done in PvP and PvAI without distinction.

Added Daily Orders that can be done regardless of the game mode you play.

VARIOUS

Team icons disappear from the chat window once the chat has timed out.

Players will no longer be paired on the same team when paying in 1v1 Duel after re-inviting a player who has quit

PC SPECIFIC

General

FIXED: Some players with newer Mobile Graphics Cards are unable to switch the game to exclusive full screen mode

FIXED: Game sometimes gets stuck for 15-20 seconds on the “Exit to World map” pop-up after completing a match

FIXED: Game freeze on the World Map for some players

FIXED: Game gets stuck on processing message after confirming outfit purchase pop up when social page is in the background

FIXED: Uplay achievement title and description are inversed for "Complete the Samurai Chapter"

FIXED: Payment window does not disappear when closing the Uplay overlay with the mouse

UI

FIXED: Scrolling in the Moveset screen affecting both lists at the same time (Hero Specific & Moves)

FIXED: Players are unable to apply background or Symbols for a second time after opening and closing the Uplay overlay

FIXED: Game gets stuck on processing/need more steel screen on confirming the feat purchase pop up while hero preview is in background

FIXED: In-game error messages not supporting 21:9 resolution

FIXED: Selection area of Feats in story mission loadout is too big

FIXED: Multiple broken mapped icons

FIXED: Keyboard layout screen is missing when a steam controller is connected

FIXED: Placeholder button prompt are displayed after disconnecting and reconnecting a steam controller

FIXED: Item thumbnail doesn't get refreshed properly if the player clicks an item while dismantling another in the scavenge reward screen

FIXED: Mouse click for the client does not work on the warning pop-up, after the host leaves any PvAI session

FIXED: "Scroll Up" and "Scroll Down" buttons on Credits page are not clickable

FIXED: Tips on Controls page contain old button prompts when a player makes changes in Key mappings and then performs Reset to Default

FIXED: Mouse wheel scrolling through parameters of Custom Match on Map Overview is not functional

FIXED: Input is not disabled if game is minimized or an overlay (UPlay, Steam) is visible

Controls

FIXED: Nobushi hidden stance having a smaller input cone than other "down" stances

FIXED: Nobushi hidden stance is not working with Steam Controller native controls

FIXED: Steam Controller not switching to menu binding when opening the Menu while in Guard mode

FIXED: in-game menu is not invoked when a PS4 controller is disconnected

Chat

“ALL Chat” is now the default scope for text chat in the Duel Game mode

FIXED: Players are unable to use text chat in the lobby on re-match

Windows

FIXED: Windows key is now working in borderless and exclusive fullscreen when in the menus

FIXED: Win+Shift+Arrow key behavior in borderless and fullscreen:

FIXED: When minimizing after using the shortcut, the game went to the wrong monitor

It was possible to move the window outside the viewable space

It was not following the microsoft standard "wraparound" o It was not working with Arrow UP/DOWN

PATCH NOTES V1.05.1

HEROES

Peacekeeper

Zone Attack

Zone Attack first strike is now set up as a light attack to trigger an interrupt reaction on block.

Cancelling a blocked Zone attack while in Revenge will now force an exit of 600ms preventing you from attacking again.

[Bug Fix] Zone Attack UI indicator will now correctly start at the beginning of the animation instead of 100ms later.

Developer comments: In its current state, Peacekeeper’s Zone Attack has very low risk and very high reward even on block. Revenge also makes the Peacekeeper nearly unstoppable with the ability to repeat the Zone Attack cancel without Stamina penalty. With these changes the move is still a very good opener but will no longer give you a frame advantage on block. Fixing the UI stance indicator’s timing will also make the Zone Attack feel more consistent with its actual timing of 400ms. It will remain one of the fastest moves in the game but the fact that it is always coming from the same stance makes it manageable.

Sidestep Strike and Riposting Stab

Sidestep Strike recovery on Interrupt Block increased to 800ms (from 700ms).

Sidestep Strike damage decreased to 15 (from 20).

Riposting Stab damage increased to 30 (from 25). Bleed effect remains unchanged.

Developer comments: Blocking Sidestep Strike provides initiative only on a few match ups, so we’re increasing the Regular Block recovery on this attack in order to increase these match ups. Sidestep Strike damage is currently too good compared to Riposting Stab, making Deflect feel too much of a risk compared to basic Dodge. By reducing the damage on Sidestep Strike and increasing the damage on Riposting Stab we hope to restore a more balanced risk / reward between Dodge and Deflect. One last thing about the Peacekeeper, we’re aware of the issues expressed by the community over her Light > Light Spam. Even though we’re not addressing it in this update, we’re currently looking into it so expect changes in the near future.

Warlord

Headbutt

Stamina cost increased to 15 (from 12).

Dodge window increased by 200ms.

Miss Recovery reduced to 700ms (from 800ms).

Miss Recovery branching into Attack delayed by 200ms.

Developer comments: Dodging the Headbutt can be quite frustrating so we’re increasing its Dodge window of opportunity to make Dodge more consistent while maintaining its great initiation potential. Increasing the Miss recovery and delaying the branching into Attack will make the Headbutt more punishable depending on how early you Dodge and which punish move you have out of Dodge. We also increased the Headbutt’s Stamina cost a little to punish people who spam it too much.

Full Block Stance

Bug Fix] Stamina cost could be doubled in some cases. We’ve fixed it.

Can no longer be chained into Headbutt unless an attack has been blocked.

Developer comments: A bug caused the Stamina cost of the Full Block Stance to be applied twice, it’s now fixed. We’ve also removed the option to Headbutt from Full Block Stance idle in order to reduce the amount of options you have to counter from Full Block Stance which is currently very strong. You can still Headbutt out of Full Block Stance after a block. But by removing it from Full Block Stance idle, we want to reduce the Warlord’s ability to interrupt any attempt at attacking him or baiting him while in his Full Block Stance.

Kensei

Helm Splitter

Helm Splitter can now chains directly into the Chain Finisher (rather than the 2nd hit in the chain).

Swift Strike

Swift Strike can now chains directly into the Chain Finisher (rather than the 2nd hit in the chain).

Developer comments: Kensei’s mix-up from the Unblockable Top Heavy is where Kensei can play mindgames, but the third hit in a chain is very difficult to reach in competitive play. By making it reachable immediately after a Dodge attack, Kensei should be able to apply more pressure.

Side Light attacks

Side Light Attack opener startup decreased from 700ms to 600ms.

Developer comments: Kensei’s initiation is currently based around the Top Heavy Feint into Top Light. By speeding up Kensei’s Side Light openers we want to provide more initiation options from idle.

Light Finishers

Top Light Finisher recovery on Interrupt Block reduced to 800ms (from 900ms).

Side Light Finishers recovery on Interrupt Block reduced to 800ms (from 1100ms).

Light Finishers Out of Guard Mode

Top Light Finisher recovery on Interrupt Block reduced to 800ms (from 900ms).

Side Light Finishers recovery on Interrupt Block reduced to 800ms (from 1100ms).

Designer comments: These attacks just had to be blocked, and they gave up a free Guardbreak (which led to big damage). We want players to feel they are able to attack more often – and making these safe on block is one step towards that goal.

Berserker

Super Armor

Super Armor is now applied on all 2nd and later attacks in chains (used to be applied after 4th).

Berserker no longer requires the preceding attack to hit or be blocked to count towards applying Super Armor.

Berserker no longer gets the Stamina cost reduction when Super Armor kicks in.

Note: Moveset page is not updated in this version.

Developer comments: Berserker’s identity is based on relentless attacking, but the requirement to land 4+ hits is too much in current competitive play. Putting the Super Armor buff on all of the 2nd attacks in the chains means that now Berserkers can access this reliably, and could be used to trade against reacting Shugokis and Warlords with their Super Armor. We’ve removed the Stamina cost reduction to prevent the Berserker from using infinite chains for too long now that we’ve moved the Super Armor buff to 2 hits. We’ll keep an eye on that for further balancing.

Deflect

Deflect transitions into Guardbreak after 500ms (reduced from 700ms).

Developer comments: Speeding up the Deflect is meant to help against Peacekeeper and Valkyrie. This will now let Berserker Deflect their Light > Light chains without being stopped by the 2nd Light.

Light Attacks (Out of Guard Mode)

Right Light Attacks recovery on Interrupt Block reduced to 700ms (from 900ms)

Designer comments: To prevent free Guardbreak on block. Change is applied on all chained Light Attacks out of Guard Mode to be consistent with their Guard Mode counterpart.

Conqueror

Full Block Stance

Hit and Bump recoveries can no longer chain directly into Full Block Stance.

Developer comments: Conqueror’s ability to flow to Full Block Stance from hit/bump reactions made it extremely hard to open even after a successful hit. For instance, Warden’s Shield Bash couldn’t confirm into Light > Light combo. By removing these transitions, we want to remove the Conqueror’s ability to use Full Block Stance as a panic button.

Shield Bash

[Bug Fix] Conqueror cannot counter Guardbreak from Shield Bash Hit and Miss Recoveries.

Shield Bash Riposte

Shield Bash Riposte startup no longer has Block on Top Guard.

Shield Bash Riposte Miss recovery no longer has the ability to Block.

[Bug Fix] Conqueror cannot counter Guardbreak from Shield Bash Riposte Hit and Miss Recoveries.

Shield Bash Mix Up

Shield Bash Mix Up startup no longer has Block on Top Guard.

Shield Bash Mix Up Miss recovery no longer has the ability to Block.

[Bug Fix] Conqueror cannot counter Guardbreak from Shield Bash Mix Up Hit and Miss Recoveries.

Developer Comments: Shield Bash Riposte and Mix Up are extremely hard to punish even if you Dodge because they have defense on Start-Ups, Hit and Miss Recoveries. Removing the ability to defend on these moves should make Conqueror more punishable. We’ve also fixed a bug on Shield Bash, Riposte and Mix Up that allowed Conqueror to counter Guardbreak from these moves’ recoveries; which was an exception from our generic rule that Guardbreak cannot be countered from Recovery.

Heavy Attacks

Heavy Attack openers damage increased to 25 (from 23).

[Bug Fix] Out of Guard Mode Heavy Attack openers now have the same damage and hit areas as their Guard Mode counterpart.

Developer Comments: Heavy Attack openers are buffed to 25 damage, because players regen health to 25. In duels, the Conqueror had a difficult time hitting the killing blow when it was only 23 damage, because the opponent wanted to run-away and regen out of killing range. We know Conqueror is a strong character right now - this minor buff is purely to make the end-of-match faster and more exciting, not to strengthen the Conqueror.

Light Attacks (Out of Guard Mode)

Right Light Attacks Recovery on Interrupt Block reduced to 700ms (from 900ms).

Designer comments: To prevent free Guardbreak on block. Change is applied on Light Attack opener and finisher out of Guard Mode to be consistent with their Guard Mode counterpart.

Lawbringer

The Long Arm

The Long Arm now guarantees a Side Heavy Attack (but not Top Heavy).

Developer comments: The Long Arm is an iconic move of the Lawbringer, but before it only connected to a guaranteed light. Now it connects to a guaranteed heavy, which should make the risk of launching this move more worthwhile. This heavy can start the Swift Justice chain, which now also features a faster light after that heavy.

Parry

Parry now guarantees an Impaling Riposte.

Parry now guarantees a Make Way.

Light Riposte

Light Riposte applies Stun on Hit.

Hit and Regular Block recovery branchings into Chain increased to 200ms (from 100ms)

Note: Moveset page is not updated in this version.

Make Way

Make Way has Super Armor.

Make Way damage increased to 25 (from 20).

Note: Moveset page is not updated in this version.

Developer comments: Part of Lawbringer’s identity is to be a Counter Attacker. Before, only the Light Riposte was guaranteed. Now, Impaling Riposte and Make Way are also guaranteed. Lawbringer players can choose the best option for the current situation: Light Riposte’s new Stun property is meant to help you enter your chain, Impaling Riposte can run the opponent to a wall, and Make Way’s new Super Armor can be useful when you’re outnumbered. We’re also increasing the input branching to go from Light Riposte recovery to Chain in order to make it less challenging input-wise.

Swift Justice (HLH)

Light Attack startup decreased to 500ms (from 700ms).

Top Light Attack damage increased to 15 (from 10).

Side Light Attack damage increased to 15 (from 8).

Book, Chapter and verse (LHL)

Top Heavy Attack startup decreased to 1000ms (from 1100ms).

Side Heavy Attack startups decreased to 900ms (from 1000ms).

Top Heavy attack damage increased to 35 (from 20).

Side Heavy attack damage increased to 30 (from 20).

Top Light Finisher attack damage increased to 15 (from 10).

Side Light Finisher attack damage increased to 15 (from 8).

Judge, Jury and Executioner (LHH)

1st Top Heavy Attack startup decreased to 1000ms (from 1100ms).

1st Side Heavy Attack startups decreased to 900ms (from 1000ms).

Heavy Finisher Unblockable attack damage increased to 45 (from 30).

Developer comments: General damage buffs should make the Lawbringer more able to kill the opponent through combat. Some of the chains’ attacks are now faster as well, which we hope will allow the Lawbringer to successfully land hits a bit more frequently. This should help the Lawbringer in Duels but not make him too much stronger in 4v4 game modes where he is already dangerous.

Shove

[Bug Fix] Removed Super Armor from Hit and Miss Recoveries.

Developer comments: Shove’s Uninterruptible Stance property was active throughout the build-up and recoveries. It’s now going to be only on the build-up.

Nobushi

Light Finishers

Top Light Finisher recovery on Interrupt Block reduced to 800ms (from 900ms)

Side Light Finishers recoveries on Interrupt Block reduced to 800ms (from 1000ms)

Light Finisher Out of Guard Mode

Right Light Finisher recovery on Interrupt Block increased to 800ms (from 700ms)

Designer comments: To prevent free Guardbreak on block. Change is applied on Light Attack finisher out of Guard Mode to be consistent with its Guard Mode counterpart.

Shugoki

Light Attacks

Light Attacks recovery on Interrupt Block reduced to 800ms (from 900ms)

Light Finisher (Out of Guard Mode)

Right Light opener recovery on Interrupt Block reduced to 800ms (from 900ms)

Designer comments: To prevent free Guardbreak on block. Change is applied on Light Attack opener out of Guard Mode to be consistent with its Guard Mode counterpart.

Valkyrie

Light Finishers

Light Finishers recovery on Interrupt Block reduced to 800ms (from 1000ms)

Light Finisher (Out of Guard Mode)

Right Light Finisher recovery on Interrupt Block reduced to 800ms (from 1000ms)

Designer comments: To prevent free Guardbreak on block. Change is applied on Light Attack finisher out of Guard Mode to be consistent with its Guard Mode counterpart.

[terryblount]

Red Dead Redemption 2 December 13 Update 1.15 released, full patch notes unveiled

Rockstar has released a new major update for Red Dead Redemption 2. According to the release notes, the December 13th Update 1.15 brings new content to Red Dead Online. Furthermore, it packs some balance and gameplay improvements to both Red Dead Online and Red Dead Redemption 2.

Going into more details, this new update adds a new Frontier Pursuit with a unique path and activities to help you carve out a life for yourself on the frontier. It also improves PvP combat in Red Dead Online, and adds three more Custom Outfit slots.

Moreover, this patch fixes an issue on PC systems that caused progression issues with several Story Missions when running at high framerates. It also fixes performance on PC systems with high-end CPUs when displaying large amounts of particle effects at once. Not only that, but this patch also improves stability by addressing a number of crashes.

Steam, Rockstar Launcher and Epic Games Store will download this patch the next time you launch their clients. Below you can also find its complete changelog.

Red Dead Redemption 2 December 13th Patch 1.15 Release Notes

[December 13, 2019] – New Content in Red Dead Online

The world of Red Dead Online continues to evolve with a new Frontier Pursuit with a unique path and activities to help you carve out a life for yourself on the frontier.

 Moonshiner:

The new Moonshiner Specialist Role allows you to establish your own bootlegging business, an ideal fit for players progressing along the Trader path or anyone seeking a property to call their own. Any active Trader who as completed a sell mission or reached Rank 5 in the Trader progression will receive an introduction via Cripps to meet Maggie Fike, an experienced bootlegger. Purchasing a shack from Maggie will allow you to own and operate the Moonshine business.

Five new Moonshiner Role Co-op Missions have been added to Red Dead Online and can be launched from Maggie in the Moonshine Shack once purchased.

Seven new Bootlegger Missions have been added for Moonshiners, which can be either launched from Maggie in the Moonshine Shack or encountered dynamically in the open world.

One new visual variant of an existing weapon has been added to Red Dead Online can be unlocked through Moonshiner Role progression. Once purchased, this can be applied to an existing weapon through the Customization Menu at any Gunsmith store:

Moonshiner’s Sawed-Off Shotgun

One new hairstyle has been added for both male and female characters in Red Dead Online and can be unlocked through Moonshiner Role progression.

One new horse breed with six coat variations has been added to Red Dead Online and can be unlocked through Moonshiner Role progression:

Norfolk Roadster

One new Horse Saddle has been added to Red Dead Online and can be purchased from any Stable or the Handheld Catalogue. This can be unlocked through Moonshiner Role progression:

Ivers Saddle

Several new Moonshiner role themed awards have been added to Red Dead Online.

A new set of Daily Challenges have been added into rotation, as well as additional Daily Role Challenges available for

One new Moonshiner related Random Event has been added to Red Dead Online:

Moonshiner Camp

A new Hideout has been added to Red Dead Online – PS4 Early Access:

Beaver Hollow

Four new weapons have been added to Red Dead Online:

Navy Revolver

Toxic Moonshine

Flammable Moonshine

Lowry’s Revolver – Unlocked through Grand Theft Auto Online

New items and variations of Clothing and Outfits have been added for male and female characters in Red Dead Online, and can be purchased from any General Store, Tailor or the Handheld Catalogue.

New emotes have been added to Red Dead Online, and can be purchased from any General Store, Tailor or the Handheld Catalogue. Some can only be unlocked through Role progression or Club Rewards. Some emotes are PS4 Early Access.

The Wheeler Rawson and Co. Club is available. Club membership is automatic and free, giving players rewards as they play during the Membership period from December 13th, 2019 to March 10th, 2020.

The Outlaw Pass No. 2 is available through the Wheeler, Rawson & Co. Catalogue for even more perks and rewards. Everything you unlock in the Membership period from December 13th, 2019 to March 10th, 2020 and acquire during that period will stay with you permanently.

New Club and Outlaw Pass Rewards have been added to Red Dead Online that can be unlocked through Club and Pass progression including seven new Camp Flags, a new Camp Dog, Horse Masks and more.

The Benefits Section displays Offers, Rewards, new information and promotions. Offers and Rewards can be claimed for free gifts, discounts and more. Visit the Benefits Section for more details.

Balancing and Improvements in Red Dead Online

Accessibility Improvements

Added new ‘Hold to Reel (Fishing)’ option within the Controls settings menu to improve accessibility for this minigame when using a controller. When activated, rotation of the control stick is replaced with a hold [Square / X] action.

Gameplay Improvements

To improve PvP combat in Red Dead Online, tonics and consumable items can no longer be used while Dead Eye abilities are active, while on fire, or for a short period after being damaged by another player

Added a ‘Weapon Quick Select’ system to Red Dead Online. Players can assign a weapon slot through the Weapon Wheel then tap [L1/LB/RMB] to quickly switch to that assigned weapon slot, which would have previously always switched to unarmed. Once assigned, press [L1/LB/Tab] to swap between this and your previous weapon. To holster your weapon with Quick Select assigned double tap [L1/LB/Tab] or select Unarmed from the Weapon Wheel.

While playing Red Dead Online, you are now less likely to ragdoll or fall off your horse during a rough landing or when impacting something

While playing Red Dead Online, the time needed for your horse to get back up after being revived or injured from a fall has been reduced

A new option has been added to the Online Landing Page that spawns the player at their camp

Three more Custom Outfit slots have been added to the player’s Wardrobe in Red Dead Online

Ability Card Improvements

Improvements have been made to Ability Card indicators in the top-right of the screen, making it clearer when certain abilities are active

The following changes have been made to Dead Eye Ability Cards in Red Dead Online:

Slippery Bastard: Bullet bending effects now also apply when being shot at by a player using Paint It Black

Slow and Steady: Fixed an issue where the run/sprint limit of this ability did not apply to some horse breeds

The following changes have been made to Combat Ability Cards in Red Dead Online:

Horseman: Additional damage dealt from horseback has been increased

The Short Game: Additional damage dealt at close range has been increased

Hangman: Damage dealt from lasso has been increased

The Following changes have been to Recovery Ability Cards in Red Dead Online:

Come Back Stronger: Health recharge rate has been increased, and all ranks now also provide a bonus to health regeneration

Live For The Fight: Dead Eye regeneration rate has been slightly increased

Ride Like The Wind: Amount of damaged converted to horse health/stamina has been slightly increased

Cold Blooded: Duration of health regeneration after a kill has been reduced

The following changes have been made to Defense Ability Cards in Red Dead Online:

To Fight Another Day: Fixed an issue that kept this ability active for several seconds when entering cover while sprinting

Weapon Balancing

The lock-on range of the Cattleman Revolver has been increased by 5 meters in Red Dead Online, now matching the range of all other revolver weapons

The lock-on range of the Carbine Repeater has been increased by 5 meters in Red Dead Online, now matching the range of all other repeater weapons

Role Improvements

Updates have been made to the Collector role collectible spawn system to make spawns less predictable

Madam Nazar now becomes blipped on the map when a Collector item has been unlocked for purchase from her

Improvements – Story Mode

Added new ‘Hold to Reel (Fishing)’ option within the Controls settings menu to improve accessibility for this minigame when using a controller. When activated, rotation of the control stick is replaced with a hold [Square / X] action

Gameplay Improvements

Replaying a Story Mode mission via the Pause Menu will now give you access to all currently owned weapons in the current story progression

Players in Story Mode can now fast travel away from their player camp to any unlocked Fast Travel location once the camp upgrade is purchased

While playing Story Mode and engaged in combat against enemies, the time needed for your horse to get back up after being revived or injured from a fall has been reduced

Red Dead Online Fixes

Matchmaking & Networking

Improvements to networking have been made that will reduce the frequency of problems when pitching or moving your camp in large Red Dead Online sessions

Improvements to networking have been made that will reduce the frequency of problems with ambient wildlife populations in large Red Dead Online sessions

Improvements have been made to error handling when dealing with poor network connections between players that will reduce the frequency of error 0x20010006

Fixed several network issues that should reduce the chance of encountering disconnects and poor matchmaking

Fixed several issues that caused incorrect synchronization of player positions and movement in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue that caused incorrect synchronization of doors and gates between different players in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue that caused incorrect synchronization of ambient boat position/speed in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue that resulted in the state of lootable containers and lockboxes being incorrect between players in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue that resulted in an incorrect PlayStation Plus error message appearing if the player temporarily lost connection to the PlayStation Network

Fixed an issue with accepting Red Dead Online invites that were received after suspending and waking a console while in Story Mode

Fixed an issue where a player using Photo Mode while in Story mode would not receive invites from other players to Red Dead Online

Content

Fixed an issue that caused unlocked role skills to not become active until the player died or joined a new Red Dead Online session, including Ducking and Eagle Eye

Fixed issues that caused Bounty Targets to be unresponsive and immune to damage

Fixed an issue where the letter for Madam Nazar’s weekly collection would not be delivered to the Post Office after completing it once

Fixed an issue that sometimes caused Local Delivery locations during the Trader role to be on the opposite side of Flat Iron Lake

Fixed an issue that prevented collection of the same Red Dead Online collectibles for two accounts shared on the same console

Fixed an issue that resulted in players losing the goods that were in their delivery wagon after being disconnected during a Sell Mission

Fixed an issue that prevented some Free Roam Missions from starting correctly after some cutscenes

Fixed an issue with payment rewards in some Trader Sell Missions after the delivery wagon was crashed or destroyed

Fixed several issues with missing or incorrect Radar and Map blips during Red Dead Online content

Fixed several issues with cutscenes that occurred during Red Dead Online content.

Fixed an issue that resulted in players not correctly receiving honor after completing the Co-op Mission – Highly Illegal and Highly Moral

Fixed an issue that resulted in the Marshal character to get stuck blocking Mission progression in the Co-op Mission – Highly Illegal and Highly Moral

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to complete the Co-op Mission – Right Side of The Tracks

Fixed an issue that resulted in the saddle not being free in the Stable in the Red Dead Online Intro

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to buy horse insurance from the Stable in the Red Dead Online Intro

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to interact with the Post Office clerk during the Red Dead Online Intro

Fixed issues that resulted in options be missing from the wardrobe in the Red Dead Online Intro

Fixed an issue that resulted in the ‘Camp & Properties’ menu to be unavailable during the Red Dead Online Intro

Fixed an issue that caused Free Roam Missions to be unavailable

Fixed an issue that caused the Free Roam Mission – Paid Killing to instantly repeat after completing it

Fixed an issue that resulted in one of the targets to get stuck in the Free Roam Mission – Paid Killing

Fixed an issue that resulted in players incorrectly failing the Mission and being told ‘The Posse Abandoned the Job’ in the Free Roam Mission – Paid Killing

Fixed an issue that resulted in the objective enemies/wagons to not move during the Free Roam Mission – Wagon Thieves

Fixed an issue that caused enemies using mounted turrets to not fire when multiple players attacked the same Hideout at once

Fixed several issues that occurred during ambient events in the open world

Fixed an issue that meant posse leaders were not given an increase/decrease in honor when a posse member delivered the target in the Free Roam Event – Manhunt

Fixed an issue that would cause the text to appear before the photograph that is taken at the end of modes

Fixed an issue that resulted in incorrect text to appear on screen during Hunt the Posse Leader

Fixed issues that resulted in players not being correctly placed into a game of Poker if they were killed while matchmaking

Fixed an issue that resulted in players experiencing unresponsive button prompts during Poker

Fixed issues that caused posse voice chat to cut out incorrectly during modes

Fixed an issue that caused various Legendary Bounty Missions to fail due to the Bounty escaping before they had even been discovered

Fixed an issue where a hogtied and carried target would appear invisible to other players during some Legendary Bounty missions

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to quit from the alert screen that appeared if their Posse Leader quit the Mission during a Legendary Bounty Mission

Fixed an issue that resulted in defensive mode not being re-enabled upon players returning to Free Roam after completing a Legendary Bounty Mission

Fixed an issue that caused the Legendary Bounty – Cecil C. Tucker to kill himself when throwing fire bottles

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to access their weapons locker during Legendary Bounty Missions and Co-op Missions

Fixed an issue that incorrectly displayed more targets than were intended during the Bounty Hunter Mission – Track Target

Fixed intelligence and movement issues that occurred with some Bounty targets

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being incorrectly told they had failed a PvP Bounty

Fixed an issue where some players did not receive payment upon delivering a Bounty

Fixed an issue that caused the capture phase for Bounty Hunters to not end

Fixed an issue that resulted in players not being sent to jail after surrendering

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to interact with the Bounty Board

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to receive invites to a PvP Bounty Hunt

Fixed an issue that prevented the Equine Assistance role skill from working while in first person camera view and holding throwable weapons

Fixed an issue that resulted in the controller rumble effect to not stop after picking up a collectible

Fixed an issue that resulted in some Collector dig sites to not disappear on the map after digging it up

Fixed an issue that resulted in collectible zones to still be marked on the map despite having been collected

Fixed an issue that resulted in bird eggs being destroyed when shot out of a nest with a Small Game Arrow

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to pick up the Egret Egg

Fixed an issue that caused the goods in the back of a Trader Delivery wagon to turn invisible when the mission was started

Fixed an issue that resulted in the Mission immediately restarting after players had completed a Trader Sell Mission

Fixed an issue that resulted Sell Missions to not end correctly if a rival player stole the goods and attempted to deliver the wagon

Fixed an issue that incorrectly resulted in only one player needing to collect an objective in a Trader Resupply Mission

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to launch any Trader Missions

Fixed an issue that caused some Trader items to not unlock correctly

Fixed an issue that resulted in some donated animal carcasses returning an incorrect amount of materials not equivalent to the Butcher sell price

Fixed an issue that left players unable to collect a bag in objective-based Showdown Modes when dropped in an awkward place

Fixed an issue that caused bags in objective-based Showdown Modes to sometimes not reset if the carrying player died out of bounds

Fixed an issue that may have prevented players from collecting the torch during the Showdown Mode – Sport of Kings

Fixed an issue where individual player portraits would be replaced with stock portraits on some Showdown Mode scoreboards

Fixed spawning issues that were present in several Showdown Modes

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being put into a Race Series when trying to join a Takeover Series

Fixed an issue that resulted in players receiving incorrect ticker messages about what other players were doing during Showdown Modes

Awards and Daily Challenges

Fixed an issue where completion of some types of Showdown modes and playlists would not increment Showdown-related Daily Challenges

Fixed an issue that caused unreliable tracking of herb-related Daily Challenges when using the Equine Assistance skill to collect herbs on horseback

Fixed an issue that caused unreliable tracking of Bounty Hunter Daily Challenges related to the Bolas and Tracking Arrow weapons

Fixed an issue that caused completed Role Daily Challenges to incorrectly count towards the ‘Complete all 7 Daily Challenges’ Award

Fixed an issue where the ‘Turn in a Player Bounty’ Award may not increment correctly when several players are chasing the same bounty target

Fixed an issue that caused collectibles on Madam Nazar’s weekly list to count twice towards the ‘Collectibles Collected’ Daily Challenge when picked up

Fixed an issue that may have caused completed Daily Challenge items to be missing a tick and display the wrong count of completed items for that day

Fixed an issue that caused unreliable tracking of Daily Challenges related to donating animal carcasses of specific sizes

Fixed an issue where some partially completed Daily Challenges would be reset if the player disconnected from the internet

Fixed an issue that caused a Daily Challenge Streak reminder to incorrectly appear after the player had already completed a Daily Challenge for that day

Fixed an issue that caused unreliable tracking with the ‘Evade Bounty Hunters’ Award

Story Mode

Fixed an issue on PC systems that caused progression issues with several Story Missions when running at high framerates

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being stuck and unable to move in the Story Mission – Mrs Sadie Addler, Widow

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being stuck and unable to move if they had camp set-up nearby the Lagras swamp

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to eat a cooked meat if their control scheme was set to Standard FPS

Fixed a button conflict that occurred after remapping the ‘Context Action’ button to any button that is originally used when interacting with the Post Office clerk on PC

Fixed an issue in the Bounty Hunter Mission – Good, Honest, Snake Oil that resulted in players being unable to progress if they dropped Benedict Allbright before the Sheriff had finished his dialogue

General

Fixed numerous issues that caused game crashes, freezes and other stability problems during both Story Mode and Red Dead Online

Fixed several issues that resulted in players getting stuck on loading screens during transitions between Read Dead Online content

Fixed multiple issues that resulted in loss of player control while in a Read Dead Online session

Fixed an issue that resulted in an infinite black loading screen when repeatedly joining and leaving a Posse Photo in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue that resulted in an infinite black loading screen when attempting to pay off a jail bribe in Red Dead Online

Improved performance on PC systems with high-end CPUs when displaying large amounts of particle effects at once

Crime and Bounty

Fixed an issue where a crime or bounty would not be registered when killing another player’s horse using Fire Arrows in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue where players did not have a chance to fight back after surrendering to ambient Bounty Hunters in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue where a player was unable to surrender to ambient Bounty Hunters while in a vehicle in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue where a player may incorrectly gain a wanted level after hogtying lawmen with no nearby witnesses

Fixed an issue that resulted in players Honor not being correctly decreased after paying a bribe to get out of jail

Game Menus and User Interface

Fixed several issues on all platforms that caused text, images, menus and other user interface elements to display incorrectly and overlap each other

Fixed several issues on PC systems that caused some user interface elements to be incorrectly sized or misaligned when running at 4K and ultrawide resolutions

Fixed several issues on PC systems that caused some text and image elements to be cut off when running at low resolutions or when using Stadia on mobile devices

Fixed an issue on PC systems where the player could not use the mouse to rotate the camera in some shop menus such as the Barber or Tailor

Fixed an issue on PC systems that resulted in a missing crosshair when opening the Pause Menu Map while using keyboard and mouse controls

Fixed an issue on PC systems that prevented the player from accessing the Key Mapping menu unless they loaded either Story Mode or Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue on PC systems that caused the ‘Settings’ option on the Landing Page to appear in all capitals

Fixed an issue on PC systems that prevented players using keyboard and mouse controls from navigating through some shop menu item using the mouse alone

Fixed an issue that caused overlapping text to display on the View Controls settings menu

Fixed an issue that resulted in text being cut off on some menus while using East Asian languages

Fixed an issue that resulted in some enemies being blipped with the wrong color of dot on the Radar

Fixed an issue that caused delays when attempting to load the Social Club menu as soon as the player launched the game

Fixed an issue where some images and text would be missing when hovering over items in the Pause Menu Map

Fixed an issue where inaccessible items for some platforms would be listed in the Compendium menu

Fixed an issue that prevented the Store menu from loading when accessed via the Landing Page

Fixed an issue that caused Dead Eye Tonic to be missing from the ‘Purchases’ menu in Showdown Modes

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to access the recipes menu

Fixed UI issues that resulted in players still appearing as being in defensive despite recently leaving defensive mode

Fixed UI issues that occurred in the Free Mode Event – Trade Route

Fixed UI issues that made it difficult to tell if a Posse was private

Fixed an issue that caused the ‘Give Up’ prompt to repeatedly flash on screen

Fixed an issue that caused the ‘Surrender’ prompt to be unresponsive

Fixed inconsistencies that occurred with the displayed price of the ‘Change Appearance’

Fixed an issue that resulted in the ‘Remove Friend’ option to be missing from lobbies

Fixed an issue that caused the ‘No Mask’ prompt to not work in the wardrobe

Fixed cases of unresponsive button prompts when navigating the Friends tab in a lobby

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being incorrectly blipped as hostile

Graphics and Visual Effects

Added the launch argument -ignorepipelinecache to fix issues for users crashing with the error message ‘ERR_GFX_STATE’ on boot and were previously able to play the game with no problems.

The Graphics settings menu for PC systems now displays how much VRAM is available to Red Dead Redemption 2 and how much is reserved by other applications running on the system

Fixed an issue on PC systems where Safe Zone and HDR settings may not be saved if changed from the Landing Page and not Story Mode or Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue on PC systems that caused flickering white dots on the horizon during certain times of day while MSAA is active

Fixed an issue on PC systems with graphical settings that restricted MSAA to a maximum of 4x on some AMD graphics cards

Fixed an issue on PC systems where the Benchmark Tool would not display an FPS counter while the benchmark was running

Fixed an issue on PC systems where the Benchmark Tool would monitor stats during scene loading, resulting in an incorrect result for the ‘Min FPS’ value

Fixed an issue on PC systems that caused some miscellaneous graphical and lighting artifacts

Fixed an issue on Stadia where anisotropic filtering would not activate correctly, resulting in some blurry textures

Fixed an issue that caused graphical artifacts in reflections when previewing Half Chaps from any wardrobe in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue that resulted in a building interior not rendering correctly around the Gaptooth Breach location

Items, Clothing and Emotes

Fixed an issue that resulted in players’ custom outfits to be unequipped upon respawning

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to change outfits via horse inventory while wearing some preset outfits

Fixed an issue in Red Dead Online where players could jump while using tonics and consumables to skip animation

Fixed an issue where the opening of some satchel items such as maps would be interrupted by the auto-holstering of weapons while on horseback

Fixed an issue with animations when observing another player in Red Dead Online using the Binoculars or Refined Binoculars while in first person camera view

Fixed several issues of clipping between different clothing item combinations in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue that prevented players from performing emotes while using certain control schemes and settings in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue that prevented players from performing some hat-related emotes while wearing certain hat items in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue where certain emotes would not show corresponding text in the activity feed when performed in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue that caused players to get stuck in a loop while performing an emote

Fixed an issue that meant players were unable to use the ‘Surrender’ emote in the Photo Studio

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to save their outfits after changing parts of a role outfit

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to change their clothes in Wardrobes

Fixed an issue that caused some clothing items to be incorrectly unavailable while another item was equipped

Fixed an issue that occurred if players attempted to preview a role outfit while wearing a non-role outfit

Weapons and Combat

Fixed an issue with incorrect animations when observing other players in a Red Dead Online perform gun tricks

Fixed an issue that allowed you to fire sidearm weapons while performing gun tricks

Fixed an issue that caused the player to holster an equipped Machete or similar long blade weapon when tackling someone

Fixed an issue where weapons holstered on back/shoulder would be permanently offset after carrying a large item or body

Fixed an issue that caused the weapons of some ambient guards to appear invisible while in a Red Dead Online session

Fixed an issue that may have prevented ammo cartridges from appearing during the reload animation of some revolvers

Fixed an issue where Explosive Ammo may have incorrectly applied damage when shot at long range, resulting in one-hit kills against other players

Fixed an issue that prevented players from manually reloading their off-hand weapon while dual wielding on horseback

Fixed an issue that prevented the LeMat Revolver from firing when switching between ammo types and dual wielding with another type of sidearm

Fixed several issues with incorrect animations when observing other players in a Red Dead Online session firing weapons on-foot and from horseback

Fixed an issue that prevented Dynamite from being planted correctly on the side of some wagons and coaches

Fixed an issue where snow deformation would be ignored when planting Dynamite on the ground and leave it floating

Fixed an issue where the Bolas weapon would incorrectly kill animals on impact instead of knocking them over

Fixed an issue with animations when using the Bolas weapon while standing on a moving train

Fixed an issue where some automatic actions such as opening doors and jumping over ledges would not trigger while holding some thrown weapons

Fixed an issue that caused lasso weapons to break hold of animals too easily when at range on horseback

Fixed an issue with camera transitions while aiming and throwing lasso weapons

Fixed an issue with animations that occurred when attacked by an animal while aiming and throwing lasso weapons

Fixed several issues with animations when performing the melee shove action added with the Frontier Pursuits update

Fixed several issues with animations when performing struggles and grapples against other players in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the player to incorrectly climb/vault while in melee combat

Fixed an incorrect button prompt that appears during player melee struggles in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue where the ambient population would sometimes not drop held objects before initiating combat with the player in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue with incorrect animations when observing other players in a Red Dead Online taking cover against objects

Fixed an issue where lock-on aiming modes may not detect a target when aiming while in cover against a tree

Fixed an issue that caused weapons placed in a weapons locker to be placed on the player’s horse after rebooting

Fixed an issue that caused some long arm weapons to not be present on a player’s weapon wheel

Photo Mode

Fixed an issue with Photo Mode where Eagle Eye particle effects were not correctly removed from the world on activation

Fixed an issue with Photo Mode where Lens options would not have full functionality while using the Orbit Camera

Fixed an issue with Photo Mode where the game would advance in time slightly when being activated through the Pause Menu

Fixed an issue with Photo Mode that caused some image filters to appear grainy while HDR is turned on

Fixed an issue with Photo Mode where some text character symbols were missing when using the Photo Mode editor

Fixed an issue with Photo Mode that allowed the Exposure setting to go beyond its maximum intended setting

Fixed an issue with Photo Mode that caused problematic controls for the Blur Strength options

Horses and Vehicles

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to purchase upgrades for their delivery wagon

Fixed an issue where hogtied enemies would not be dropped when mounting a horse and performing gun tricks at the same time

Fixed an issue that caused synchronization pops when replacing the stowed item on another player’s horse during Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue with animations that occurred if a player was tackled while stowing a pelt on their horse in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue that prevented controller rumble from activating correctly when jumping between horses, vehicles and trains

Fixed an issue that prevented players from being able to mount their own horse after being killed by another player in Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue with animations when mounting horses after being cut free from a hogtie

Fixed an issue with horse animations after being damaged by another player in a Red Dead Online session

Fixed an issue that allowed multiple players to revive the same horse at the same time while in a Red Dead Online session

Fixed an issue with the incorrect placement of rider’s feet in stirrups during Story Mode

Fixed an issue where vehicle damage and scorch marks would not synchronize for all players in a Red Dead Online session

Fixed an issue that allowed two Hunting Wagons to intersect and cause collision problems while players are interacting with the Butcher

Fixed an issue with camera clipping while multiple players are riding in the Hunting Wagon

Fixed several issues with animations related to the Bounty Wagon vehicle

Fixed an issue that resulted in special horse reviver to not work correctly

Fixed cutscene issues that occurred when fast travelling while on horseback

Fixed an issue that caused owned horse stat tanks to visually appear as reset

Fixed an issue that caused players’ Bounty Wagons to have a cooldown despite them dismissing their Hunting Wagon

Shops

Fixed an issue that caused shop menus such as Madam Nazar and the Butcher to open to the Recents satchel tab instead of the appropriate Sell/Donate tab

Fixed issues with new item stars in shop menus

Fixed an issue that resulted in incorrect UI to appear when at the Butcher Table

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to sell a cougar pelt to the Butcher

Fixed an issue that resulted in missing menu options in the Gunsmith

Fixed an issue that caused some club rewards to not be present in the Gunsmith after reaching the required level

Fixed an issue that caused the Gunsmith catalogue to be blank

Fixed an issue that caused the ‘Zoom Out’ option in the Gunsmith to be unresponsive

Fixed pricing issues that occurred in the Gunsmith if the player had cooper as part of their modifications

Fixed UI issues that were occurred when equipping saddles in the Stable

Fixed issues with the Norfolk Roadster horse location in the Stable menus

Fixed an issue that caused Superior Horses to appear in the incorrect location in the ‘Owned Horses’ menu

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being immediately returned to the Stable menu after trying to leave

Fixed an issue that caused the collectors lantern to appear on others saddles when previewing them in the Stable

Fixed an issue that resulted in players leaving the Stable in the wrong vehicle when trying to take their Bounty Wagon out

Fixed an issue that meant players were unable to purchase the Norfolk Roadster horse in the Stable

Fixed button prompt issues that were present when trying to purchase Wagon insurance in the Stable

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to purchase carrots at the Stable

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being kicked from the menu when shopping at the Fence

Fixed an issue that resulted in players not receiving the Hunting Hatchet or Jawbone Knife after purchasing them from the Fence

Fixed issues that occurred when entering the Madam Nazar shop menu

Fixed an issue that would cause the ‘Sell All’ prompt at Madam Nazar to be unresponsive when selling many items at once

Fixed an issue that caused the ‘Sort’ option in Madam Nazar’s shop to not work correctly

Fixed an issue that resulted in players being unable to purchase role outfits from the Handheld Catalogue

Fixed an issue that caused the page for the Wheeler, Rawson and Co. Club Outlaw Pass in the Handheld Catalogue to incorrectly appear as to appear as $0.00

General Fixes – Miscellaneous

Fixed several issues with incorrect or inaccurate cover on several props and objects in the game world

Fixed an issue that caused some cutscene animations to be incorrectly interrupted during playback

Fixed an issue that allowed players to have control of their character during a cutscene

Fixed an issue that prevented players from being able to skin some small animals while slung over their shoulder

Fixed an issue that caused some ambient guards to start investigating an area with other guards when not near the initial location

Fixed an issue where a player spawning into a Red Dead Online session would be immediately attacked by an ambient wild animal

Fixed an issue that resulted in an incorrect error message if a player added Multi-Factor Authentication to their Social Club account while currently playing Red Dead Online

Fixed an issue that caused the player to take cover against objects when attempting to stop tracking a target while using Eagle Eye

Fixed an issue that caused players to ragdoll and take damage when vaulting some fences located in areas with deep snow

Fixed an issue where the breed or color of some animals stored on horseback may change after the player died and respawned

Fixed an issue with animations and popping when causing an enemy to ragdoll in a Red Dead Online session

Fixed an issue that sometimes resulted in players not receiving the option to ‘Parley’ if they were killed by someone who was participating in a job

Fixed an issue that resulted in players incorrectly receiving the ‘Locked & Loaded’ achievement/trophy

Fixed issues that occurred with unlocking the ‘Hard Time’ Buckle

Fixed an issue that resulted in player’s cores being drained despite them being in the resting state

Fixed an issue that caused fish to incorrectly spawn in the hot springs in Grizzlies East

Fixed an issue that caused players playing styles to change

Fixed an issue that resulted in players seeing the player they’re spectating to appear under the map

Fixed an issue that resulted in players not correctly receiving the weapons locker after purchasing it

Fixed an issue that resulted in animal carcasses to change quality after breaking them down

Fixed an issue that caused two Cripps to be present at the camp

Fixed an issue that resulted in Cripps becoming hostile to the camp owning player

The post Red Dead Redemption 2 December 13 Update 1.15 released, full patch notes unveiled appeared first on DSOGaming.

Red Dead Redemption 2 December 13 Update 1.15 released, full patch notes unveiled published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (94/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

Previous chapters conveniently available here.

[26 May 234 Before Age.   Interstellar Space.]

It was taking too long.

Aboard the Emerald Eye, Zatte stood in the engineering room and held her finger over a button on on of the consoles.  Next to the button was a time display, which counted down to zero.   When that moment arrived, she would press the button, which would disengage the ship's hyperspatial drive.  After that, she would take sensor readings and compare them to other readings she had taken several hours earlier.   After that, she would begin laboriously calculating the ship's position relative to her destination.  

Normally, all of this would have been done automatically by the ship's computer, but its navigational functions had been sabotaged by King Rehval's agent, Pozet.   Pozet's mission was to keep Zatte out of the way while the rest of Rehval's plan fell into place.   Zatte had destroyed her hours ago, but she had to admit that the miserable creature had probably succeeded anyway.   Pozet's original plan was to confuse the navigational computer by replacing its charts and tampering with its fundamental understanding of the universe.    The genius of this had been that the ship appeared to be working properly.    It set a course and followed it perfectly.  The only problem was that it now believed the shortest distance between two points was an elliptic curve, so the ship simply flew laps in space, unaware that it was getting nowhere.  Zatte had solved that problem by disconnecting the navigational system altogether.    Her plan was to fly the ship manually, and navigate by the stars, but this was no simple matter.    The longer it took, the more Zatte wondered if her efforts made any difference.

At last, the timer reached its end, and Zatte pressed the button just as the display read zero.   The engines made a low hum as they reduced power and the ship returned to normal space.  She sighed with relief, then activated the ship's sublight thruster.   With that, she turned on one heel and left the engine room to go to the observation deck.

Ideally, Zatte would have done all of this from the bridge, where engineering and sensor controls could all be accessed from a central location.   But the bridge had been badly damaged during the fight with Pozet, and it would take days of repairs before life support could be restored there.   In any event, the ship needed to move through space for a least a half hour so the sensors could get the necessary data for her to calculate her position.  There was nothing she could do in the meantime, so she preferred to spend her down time on the observation deck, where she could see the stars for herself from the transparent canopy that surrounded it.  She walked past a pair of tables where she had been working on her calculations, and sat down in a lounge chair to stare at the heavens.

The brightest star was the sun of the Pflaume system.   She had made that much progress, at least.   Her best guess was that it would take four or five more jumps at superluminous speed to bring the ship close enough that she could navigate with greater confidence.    Until then, she had to be careful.   A single, long trip at superluminous speed would cover more ground, but even a slight error in the math could put the ship far enough on course to delay her, even further.    Fuel was also a consideration.   Pozet's little "detour" hadn't consumed too much antimatter, but it was enough that Zatte couldn't risk running the engines without being certain they were going the right way.  

"I'm trying," Zatte said as she looked up at the star.    She wasn't sure if Luffa was even there.  Pozet claimed she was, but she might have been lying, or simply mistaken.   It was also possible that Luffa was dead by now, or that she had found some other means of escape.   Or maybe...

"Maybe you really did buy what King Rehval was trying to sell you," Zatte said to herself.    "Maybe the two of you left together.   Or you're waiting for me to show up, so you can laugh at me to my face."

She didn't really believe it, but she couldn't entirely dismiss the possibility either.    Saying it out loud forced her to confront it.  Luffa was too proud, too contemptuous of Saiyan royalty.   Even if Luffa had feelings for Rehval, there were too many incompatibilities there.  And Rehval had lied about a great many things since Zatte and Luffa had met him.  And yet... Zatte still couldn't convince herself that it was impossible.  

Luffa's telepathic powers had allowed Zatte to see into her mind.  They had tried to cut back on this, since the exchange of unvarnished truths about their innermost thoughts and feelings had caused a rift to form in their marriage.   Still, Zatte knew enough to know what her wife truly felt towards her.    They were in love, that much was unquestionable, but there were many things that left Luffa unsatisfied.   She would have never admitted it, but Luffa had a homesickness to her.   It wasn't a longing for any particular place, but she missed her family: not just her parents, but also the family that she might have had with her late husband and unborn son.   It frustrated Luffa to be apart from other Saiyans, and it frustrated her to be among them, only to find that they didn't share her lofty ideals.   Maybe Rehval had an answer to those issues.   In spite of his moral failings, maybe he had something to offer Luffa that Zatte simply couldn't provide.  

Perhaps that was what troubled Zatte now.   She couldn't truly believe that Luffa would join him, but she couldn't quite shake the possibility that Luffa should join him.   If Rehval had some happiness for Luffa, some way to cope with the unspoken longing Luffa felt, and if Luffa rejected this, then what?   Zatte also wondered how she herself would handle the same choice.  Rehval was trying to secure the future for the Saiyan race.   What if he was right?   If Luffa refused him, then was she condemning her own people to ruin?   No Dorlun could make that kind of choice, but then, Luffa was no Dorlun.   Luffa was willing to risk everything for what she thought was right.   She was even willing to jeopardize her own people.   That idea horrified Zatte, but maybe not as much as the alternative.

She imagined arriving on Pflaume to find Luffa dressed in royal blue, her short black hair framed by some elegant tiara, her arm in the arm of Rehval.    Her marriage to Zatte would be effectively over, but the Rehval Dynasty would be preserved for centuries.   The Saiyans would prosper and thrive for generations to come.    The next Super Saiyan would be born to the royal house, and he would lead his people to an even brighter tomorrow.  That made all the sense in the world, but not for Luffa.   It just didn't fit her.  

On the other hand, Zatte could imagine arriving at Pflaume, and finding Luffa standing over Rehval's broken body.   Regicide and interstellar incidents meant nothing to her.   The Saiyan Kingdom would declare war on the Federation, and there was no telling what would happen in the aftermath.    It might take decades for another Saiyan leader to arise, and their fate as a species would be uncertain at best.    Luffa would smile that savage grin of hers, and spit on the body of the Saiyan King.   "He had it coming, Zattie," she would say.  "And so does anyone who has a problem with that."

That Luffa seemed much more realistic to Zatte.  More importantly, that version was the one that excited her, the one that inflamed her passions.   No Dorlun could ever do that, but then, Luffa was no Dorlun.   Zatte was beginning to wonder if she was much of a Dorlun herself.   Her people would never dream of standing with someone so dangerous as a Super Saiyan.   If Luffa was willing and able to jeopardize her own species, then what could she do to others?   Zatte often wondered if she rationalized Luffa's behavior as a way to justify her own approval of it.  She also wondered if she was simply overthinking things.

By the time the ship's sensor scans were complete, Zatte was no closer to an answer than before.   She was grateful for the distraction the sensor data would offer, though she knew it would only make her more frustrated in the end.   The computer could help her calculate the coordinates, but only up to a certain accuracy.    Without the navigational computer to read data and adjust course automatically, the best she could manage would almost certainly be billions of miles off-course.   Persistence was her only hope.  Each try would bring her closer and closer to the target, and then she would finally reach the goal.  

She only hoped that there would be something to find when she got there.

*******

[26 May 234 Before Age.  Planet Pflaume.]

There was no trace of Xibuyas or King Rehval on Pflaume City.   By now, Luffa could only assume that they had either escaped or been killed in the attempt.  Alone, and with nothing better to do, she focused on keeping herself alive.  

The battle with her son had severely damaged the city's interior, though they had both been careful not to hit the outer hull.   That didn't seem to matter much, as the low groaning she heard suggested that the hull had been taxed to its limits anyway.   A city directory on one of the less broken levels showed her the way to the operations center, where a crew of engineers and technicians normally kept the city floating in the Pflaumian atmosphere.   This crew had abandoned their posts along with everyone else in the city when Rehval had it evacuated, but Luffa expected to find something she could use at their stations.   Information, equipment, supplies, any of these would improve her chances.

The ops center was located near the bottom of the city, requiring Luffa to dig through tons of debris to get at it.   Blasting her way through was too risky, so she burrowed down the old fashioned way.   To conserve her strength, she powered down to her normal form.    Her Super Saiyan power gave her the strength to clear the rubble faster, but speed would get her nowhere if she damaged the very facility she was trying to reach.    For an hour, she threw chunks of metal and plastic over her head, occasionally using her ki to cut through the more unwieldy pieces.   The hull continued to groan, and she was sorely tempted to transform again, though she could find no practical purpose for it.  

"I don't need you," she muttered, addressing her transformed self.   Over the years, she had gotten used to the idea that her transformation was a part of her, but never completely.   Early on, it had taken a great deal of concentration just to suppress it, and even then it seemed to claw at her from the inside of her skin, demanding to be released.    In a way, she was more comfortable in that form.   Her senses were sharper, and her body was stronger and faster.    

Instead, she curled her tail around her body, and looked at it while she dug.  This had been her source of strength throughout her life.   The tail was the weakest, most vulnerable point of the Saiyan anatomy.   It could be overcome, but the training needed to strengthen the tail was far more difficult than the work needed to build up an arm or a leg.  It was a rite of passage for a Saiyan warrior, or at least that was what her mother had taught her.    For most Saiyans, overcoming the tail's weakness was the most harrowing challenge of their lives.  Defeat that, her mother had promised, and you can defeat anything.    For Luffa, training her tail was probably the fifth or sixth greatest ordeal of her life at this point, but it still gave her comfort in times of trouble.  

Only, this time, it wasn't helping much.    Looking at her tail only reminded her that Rehval had cut his own tail off.   He was the king of the Saiyans, and he preferred to mutilate his own body rather than deal with a minor inconvenience.    Then he took her own son from her, raised him as his own, and cut off his tail.   There were plenty of Saiyans on Planet Saiya who still had their own tails, but it apparently didn't bother them at all to be ruled by a man who would willingly amputate his own.   He took children from their mothers, and his subjects meekly tolerated this.   It made her sick to her stomach, and as the rage welled up inside her, she wanted to release it in a storm of golden light--!

No.  She refused to give in to that.   This was a battle, as much of a battle as she had faced with any warrior.   Her opponents were time and despair and the environment.  She had to stay focused, or they would destroy her, and then King Rehval would be able to claim victory.   She refused to give him the satisfaction.   And so Luffa denied her Super Saiyan power, refusing to indulge the golden thing that howled from within her.  

When she reached the operations center, she was encouraged to find that it was well-reinforced, and had withstood the upper levels collapsing down onto it.  It also had very little in the way of security, and she was able to force open a door and reseal it with no difficulty.    Luffa found a command terminal and called up a status report.  The good news was that the hull had not been breached, and the ops center was designed to be able to function and sustain a crew even if the rest of the city were to be destroyed.     That meant this was the safest place to wait for help to arrive.  

The bad news was that the city was losing altitude.  Planet Pflaume was an ice giant, and while Luffa had a general understanding of its composition, the ops center computers gave her a precise display of her problem.   Unlike terrestrial planets, Pflaume had no solid surface.   Its core was composed of iron, nickel, and silicates, and this was surrounded by a mantle of "ice"-- a mixture of water, ammonia, and methane.   Despite the term "ice", these chemicals were actually hot and fluid because of the immense pressure at that depth  Without a solid crust to separate the mantle from the atmosphere, this boundary was arbitrarily defined by a certain pressure: about 1.5 million pounds per square inch.   Similarly, the "surface" of Pflaume was arbitrarily defined as the depth where the atmospheric pressure was equivalent to that of a terrestrial planet, about 15 pounds per square inch.   Pflaume City floated just below this altitude, and while it was designed to withstand higher pressures, the outer hull would buckle if it sank too far into the planet.  The city's propulsion systems were riddled with backups and failsafes to keep it aloft, but these had been damaged during the battle, or Rehval had sabotaged them to make certain she never escaped the city alive.   According to the computers, she had very little time left.    

She stood up from the command terminal and searched for any food the crew had left behind.  The situation was grim, but she saw no reason to die on an empty stomach.   There were several crates of emergency rations in a back room, and she devoured these as quickly as she could, using the time to consider her problem.  

It was conceivable that she could move the entire city with the power of her Super Saiyan form.  She had never tried anything like that before, but she couldn't rule out the possibility of simply carrying the entire city to a safe altitude.  The problem was that she would have to concentrate her force onto a single point somewhere along the city's superstructure, and she suspected that it wasn't designed for that.   It would be like trying to balance a large animal on the tip of a nail.   Even if the nail were impossibly durable, the animal would simply be punctured by the nail and fall.  

The ops center was smaller, and she considered trying to cut it apart from the rest of the city, but she wasn't sure if it was designed to support a crew without the rest of the city surrounding it.   The temperature outside was well below the freezing point of water, with gusts of wind moving at supersonic speeds.  There was no oxygen to breathe in the Pflaumian atmosphere either.  As strong as Luffa was, she would be killed almost instantly if she ventured outside the city.  

"I'm trying," Luffa said aloud as she drummed her fingers on a table in the ops center break room.    None of this would matter unless someone came along to find her.   Even if she found a way to keep the city floating, sooner or later something else would go wrong, or she would exhaust her supplies of food and water.   The only thing keeping her going was the fact that Zatte was headed for Pflaume City when they parted, and the only thing Rehval had done to stop her was to send that homunculus after her.   Pozet was nothing more than a cheap copy of Zatte, and Luffa was completely confident that the copy was no match for the original.  She was certain that Zatte had defeated it and was on her way.   All Luffa had to do was stay alive in the meantime.    She had let Zatte down before, but she could honor her in this respect at least.   She could find a way to survive, and then...

Before she could continue on that train of thought, an alarm sounded in the ops center.    Luffa leaped up from the table and raced back to the command terminal.  She couldn't imagine how things could get any worse, but the status report explained it all very simply.    

Two of the propulsion thrusters were gone.  For a moment, she thought that the computers were telling her that they no longer functioned, but then she realized that they were literally no longer connected to the hull.

Luffa had no idea how this had happened, but her best guess was that they had been shorn off of their mountings by the atmospheric currents.   By now, the city had fallen to an altitude where the pressure was several times more intense than normal.   While the hull could withstand that pressure, the weather patterns buffeting the city were now denser, and the winds hit with greater force.   Without those thrusters, the city would only sink even faster, and sustain even more damage.   There was no time to waste.   She had to do something quickly, before--

Suddenly the entire city shook, and she heard a very loud noise.  It was already too late.   She checked the readout at the command terminal, which confirmed her worst fears.    Methane levels had skyrocketed in the past few minutes.   The outside atmosphere was leaking into the city, and that could only mean the hull had begun to crack open.   The ops center was still safe for the moment, but she only had a few minutes left.    She had to do something, and quickly, before--

And then, at last, Pflaume City imploded.

NEXT: The Morning After.

[apkrich-blog]

Brothers in Arms 3 Mod Apk Download Latest Version

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Brothers in Arms 3 Mod Apk Download Latest Version

Brothers in Arms® 3 (BIA 3 )is very action and Arcade game for any android devices where you’ve to become Sergeant Wright and experience a dramatic, life-changing single-player journey, in the aftermath of the D-Day invasion. You can play brothers in arms 3 mod Apk android or 1 offline mode and get unlimited money.

Brothers in Arms® 3 Latest Version Features

Brothers in Arms® 3 has Smooth cover-based 3rd-person action with free movement, Various types of missions such as Assault, Sniper, Siege, and Stealth. In this special feature, you can Unlock new weapons and turn them into the ultimate arsenal with fire rate, recoil, reload speed or clip-size upgrades! Here are some user reviews:

A Google user: I love the game so much but I have some issues with it,how come each and every time I try to get past campaign two,three and four mostly the second missions for camping two,the last mission in chapter three and last not least,the first and second missions in chapter four the game hangs and goes to my phone screen, I mean the game is basically what I have always dreamt of playing but please look into the problem and tell me if it’s my phone or something else and what I can do to change it, thanks.

A Google user: This is the best war game on android. Even better than the modern combat franchise because it is offline and has a multiplayer mode. Its graphics are standard and real. The whole background is like a real war scene and you can roam freely. I also love the fact that the game character is displayed in Third person shooter. In totality, this is the best android war game. The developers of this game really need a great noble price award by the American military.

Mr. Peter Parker: The game is very excellent. It is balanced with history and gaming, a perfect way for us to learn and enjoy at the same time. The controls are nice and the graphics are really good. I like the way they put technological versions of some of the eldest and vintage guns during the WW. Just another memory of D-Day.

Rajesh Gupta: I think the game is just amazing but some guns are just of too much price and after a certain time you’ll just be playing it for buying a new weapon and to upgrade it like anti-tanks how are you going to buy it when you’ll need to play storyline missions for the maximum price available and they will recommend that you should upgrade this weapon.

U. P: a great game to while up time, a good story, good graphics, does not get boring, online multiplayer is excellent, that’s my four stars, the fifth star would be there if there where more arenas for online multiplayer

A Google user: I swear this is the best game ever… I love this!!! I’m a complete gamer and I recommend this game… graphics and concept on point. but …. my only challenge is your way of the upgrade is too expensive. We have to pay lots before upgrade please do something about it and your game will be on top of the world.

Gaston Leal: The video, gameplay, and controls are great. But, you don’t get five stars because you’re shameless opportunists; you’re not happy with forcing ads -for which you get paid a lot of money- down peoples throats, you lie and jew people out of MORE money (energy is expensive), forcing people to pay/watch videos when they prematurely run out of energy (too quickly). Graphics & gameplay ARE outstanding though.

Dale Kopping: Great game lots of fun. the only Downfall is you have to spend money to purchase everything In this game. I would have given 5/5 if they didn’t expect people to have to spend loads of real money in order to advance through the game.

Ata Ullah Alam: Good game so far, but the only problem is that it disconnects from the server in multiplayer so many times even when the internet connection is strong, and also the experimental weapons are already too much expensive and you still have to upgrade them to use in pvp. I would give it 5 stars if the server error was fixed and the issue of the weapons. Otherwise, I like this game.

BHAVNABEN TAMBOLI: It’s a very nice game. I have been playing BIA since it was released. I have to say that this game is very good game!!!!!👍 but it’s need better graphics and needed some changes in gameplay too. But otherwise, the game is very good and definitely likely to play☺👍

Wilbon the giant m: I love that HD graphics and yes controls,but weaponry stuff, map and other control like jumping and hiding, well I think it ruins the entire game…..it requires upgrades like every one or two mission hence the upgrades are so expensive and you cant use a weapon you desire, you can take cover on a place you desire….please make this game way much better by fixing these things otherwise its good.

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Additional Information

App Download Version 1.4.7c Last Updated September 27, 2018 Apk Size 50 MB Offered By Gameloft SE Category Arcade Content Rating Rated for 16+ Support Android Version Android 4.0 and up Installs 10,000,000+ Play Store Available