domain:nfinf.substack.com
FCfromSSC
Nuclear levels of sour
1hr ago
Seconding Unsounded. I haven't caught up in a couple years, but the first arc was absolutely fantastic. Also, I would argue Sette is amazing from the very start; I get that people might think of her as a "girl boss", given that she's a... girl(?) and is certainly bossy, but the thing is that her confidence is very obviously artificial, and that while she is in fact quite competent in a variety of ways from the start, the gap between her competence and the situation she's stuck in is immediately obvious, and quite stark. Also, the rest of the characters, male and female, are really, really well done. Duane is amazing as a portrait of a man of principles slowly being ground down by an unprincipled world.
Also, Kill Six Billion Demons, which I likewise am a couple years behind on, but was amazing as far as I've read.
Quantumfreakonomics
1hr ago
Well sure from a deterministic perspective this is trivially true, but the sense we are using it is that a woman doesn't have to do anything in order to be wifed up and have a decent lower-middle-class family life except excercise judgement over which specific suitors she ought to choose. In this frame, far from being slop, Twilight is actually the core female struggle heightened by supernatural fantasy elements.
TitaniumButterfly
1hr ago
Sam Hyde has some advice about this.
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
1hr ago
That sounds like Total War my guy, with the exception of the farms (maybe in Napoleon or Empire). Very different game, of course. I think Manor Lords might be relatively close to your vision.
TitaniumButterfly
1hr ago
Yes, it's this exactly. I used to dream about the prequel and sequel trilogies coming out. Had one where I found the sequels in the store and was gobsmacked that they'd made it to home video without me hearing about their release, etc.
Then the prequels came out and I was fairly disappointed but fundamentally tolerant. Then the sequels came out and, well, I still haven't seen the last one, and should be surprised if I ever do.
Rogue One scratched the itch though.
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
1hr ago
?
The guns have stats. Your soldiers have stats. You have Time Units, which forces a choice between movement and action, but in the manner of the old XCOM games as opposed to the ridiculous shoot or move but not both (without perks) in the newer ones.
You bother to aim the guns when you need a sniper to dome someone, or a shotgunner to aim around a shield, or an MG/grenadier to ruin some cover. Each gun has an accuracy stat that governs its accuracy in minutes of arc. Soldiers can tighten that with experience or weapon proficiency.
Would you object to aiming grenades or RPGs in XCOM? Then why not guns? Especially with the ridiculous amount of flexibility it adds.
TitaniumButterfly
1hr ago
He's LDS at any rate.
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
1hr ago
I've heard about Apocalypse, but I've never seen anything beyond screenshots. I need to look up a good overview, I heard the lore went to some strange places.
Dean
Flairless
1hr ago
Quantumfreakonomics
1hr ago
Maybe what you consider "basic storytelling rules" are actually male character archetype rules?
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
1hr ago
One of the reasons I threw Civ into the mix is because I think the additional latency from LLM calls would be less of an issue if it was turn based. Hardly an insurmountable problem, you could phone home on in-game triggers or after X time in a real time game, but it would simplify things.
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
1hr ago
I'll hook you up in Arma in no time haha. Just having one additional buddy allows for shenanigans like you won't believe. Hit me up when you're back!
No_one
1hr ago
There is real-time X-Com. X-Com Apocalypse, IMO the best official game out of all the X-Com games.
It wasn't released entirely finished (they cut a lot of content) but it was still very, very good.
Primaprimaprima
I am trying so hard not to say the MBTI type of everyone I reply to
1hr ago
You create a woman that women want to be, and men don't want her
Speak for yourself, I want a woman who can knock me unconscious.
Nah. One Punch doesn't work on Cultivator tropes, for most of the cast at least.
I'm thinking something like a genre-adapted version of Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, whose reputation is wildly exagerrated beyond his actual skills. Which aren't inconsiderable, but still fall in the 'runs away into glory.'
For a cultivator parody, I'd imagine it being someone who is so clueless/innocuous, the cultivators around them think they are so OP that they're just pretending to be weak and clueless. And thus, the caution of all the cultivators around them convincing more cultivators to be on guard / cautious, leading to more unchallenged innocuousness.
Corvos
1hr ago
Cool :) I don’t have anything in mind right now because I’m away for the bank holiday but I’ll have a think. I wouldn’t mind trying something like Arma but I’d be starting from nothing - I spend 99.9% of my time playing single-player and sims aren’t so much fun on your own.
I like the concept of the game more than I liked playing it for the odd half an hour
I get this a lot. Frostpunk, Factorio, Supreme Commander etc. My steam library is full of them.
Amadan
Enjoying my short-lived victory
1hr ago
And why do you care about status effects like being published considering the fallen state of these "institutions"?
No matter how much you may despise "the institutions," I don't think anyone who wants to be a writer could deny, down deep, that seeing your name on a book in an actual bookstore, published by a real publishing house, is a milestone we all aspire to.
Corvos
1hr ago
Oh, Christ, the movie. I only saw the trailer but that was more than enough. It’s a pity Cooper wasn’t as good as Rowling at keeping the maniacs off.
Over Sea, Under Stone is good, I just don’t recommend it when I’m recommending the series because it gives the wrong impression about what the series will be like IMO.
Glad to find another fan!
YE_GUILTY
1hr ago
For me, this was back in April with "crashout." These things come and these things go.
YE_GUILTY
1hr ago
I don't know if this will meet your strict criteria - it runs on the "basest cringe urges" of its author for sure - but I will not pass up an opportunity to recommend Unsounded. A rock-solid epic fantasy doorstopper, except it's a full-color graphic novel created by one person. Sure, attempts at these things are a dime a dozen; this is one that pulled it off.
(I will caution patience with Sette early on, though.)
WhiningCoil
Ghost of Quokka's Future
1hr ago
Never saw that one. I think I made it to season 5 before it was too Netflixified for me.
Amadan
Enjoying my short-lived victory
1hr ago
Man, I didn't think anyone else but me has read those. Yes, this was my absolute favorite series when I was a kid.
(And Over Sea, Under Stone is a bit dull compared to the rest of the series, but don't skip it.)
Do skip the movie, though. Hollywood made a movie (supposedly) based on the first book called The Seeker that pissed off Susan Cooper so much she was kicked off the set. With good reason- it is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
I’m hoping Ascent of Ashes lives up to the hype I have for it. Getting another real time with pause colony sim would be a dream come true, especially if it’s more focused on exploration and combat than Rimworld
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