kaffo's recent activity

  1. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    kaffo
    Link
    After another user here mentioned Vintage Story in another post I decided to give it a go with my Brother and I was really impressed. It's honestly like playing modded Minecraft but better. The...

    After another user here mentioned Vintage Story in another post I decided to give it a go with my Brother and I was really impressed.
    It's honestly like playing modded Minecraft but better. The devs are really, really good and they've included basically every quality of life and Vanilla plus feature you could ever want (except maybe inventory sorting but there's a mod for that) in Vintage Story.
    Huge fan, we've been having a blast, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes (or liked) modded Minecraft because it's got it all.
    I was surprised it had a healthy modding scene too!

    1 vote

  2. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    kaffo
    Link Parent
    I've also been playing Animal Well and I agree it's a really great game. Billy (the solo dev!) has achieved something really remarkable where "layer one" as he calls winning the game for the first...

    I've also been playing Animal Well and I agree it's a really great game.
    Billy (the solo dev!) has achieved something really remarkable where "layer one" as he calls winning the game for the first time, is probably achievable by anyone who plays it and spends enough time with it. The puzzles are quite tame, with multiple solutions and you'll get through it one way or another.
    Layer 2 is more tough, you try to get all 64 eggs and other collectables, which takes more time and brainpower. I'm here right now, I'm at 51 eggs and I've got a bunch of stuff to do.
    He says layer 3 is for the real nerds though. ARG, cryptography, puzzled within puzzles. Crazy stuff. That's not really my bag but I love to see the community try and solve it (Noita is one of my favourite games!)

    Well done Billy, what an incredible developer!

    1 vote

  3. Comment on Does anyone play Vintage Story? in ~games

    kaffo
    Link Parent
    To add to the other reply here. I started playing yesterday and (so far we only have got as far as bronze) you could get by using the ingame handbook but it's one of those games that I think...

    To add to the other reply here. I started playing yesterday and (so far we only have got as far as bronze) you could get by using the ingame handbook but it's one of those games that I think expects you to play it with a wiki open on a second monitor to look stuff up because the little handbook can be pretty cramped and sometimes it's useful to see images or videos of the process you're trying to achieve.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on Expanding upon other peoples' thoughts in discussions in ~talk

    kaffo
    Link
    I won't expand on what others here have already said regarding expanding on other's thoughts as that seems well covered. I'm interested in how you're getting to situations where you've got dead...

    I won't expand on what others here have already said regarding expanding on other's thoughts as that seems well covered.
    I'm interested in how you're getting to situations where you've got dead time in meetings like that.
    For us, meetings that end up with dead time and have low engagement suffer from some mix of the following problems:

    • Lack of a well structured agenda
    • No facilitator
    • Participants are being forced to attend a topic they don't actually have an interest in

    The structure is an easy fix, share a Google doc with some bullet points and run through an agenda or what to talk about point by point. Ensure there's an outcome or action for each point and make sure there's some activity (postit notes, lean coffee, mind map, etc) to keep the input going.
    Facilitation is closely tied, it's someone's job (does not need to be the host) to keep the discussion going. Preferably they don't have input. They should make sure chat doesn't stop and if it does either move on or pick a tool or method to get to an outcome.
    Lastly, probably the most difficult, is choosing the audience. If you've just got the whole team invited to something that 2 people can work out, then do it with two people and share the results. If people aren't interested in giving input or their input isn't valuable then don't invite them.

    That's my thoughts, your milage may vary.

    5 votes

  5. Comment on Does anyone play Vintage Story? in ~games

    kaffo
    Link
    I had no idea this game existed but I'm going to give it a go now after reading all the good reviews!

    I had no idea this game existed but I'm going to give it a go now after reading all the good reviews!

    1 vote

  6. Comment on Sony backed down from the PSN requirement to play Helldivers 2. How will this change how the community reacts to game changes? in ~games

    kaffo
    Link Parent
    Not gonna speak for who sets up the store page. Maybe Sony as the publishers control that, maybe it's the developers, but yeah I do agree that's super nasty and it's my biggest issue with the...

    Not gonna speak for who sets up the store page. Maybe Sony as the publishers control that, maybe it's the developers, but yeah I do agree that's super nasty and it's my biggest issue with the whole thing.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Sony backed down from the PSN requirement to play Helldivers 2. How will this change how the community reacts to game changes? in ~games

    kaffo
    Link
    There's a lot of confusion going around this topic. I think that something a lot of people missed is that this whole mess is mostly on the CEO of Arrowhead. He was well aware of the PSN...

    There's a lot of confusion going around this topic. I think that something a lot of people missed is that this whole mess is mostly on the CEO of Arrowhead.
    He was well aware of the PSN requirement before launch and made the call to temporary disable it and, let be honest, hide it from Steam players.

    Sony here were upfront and really did nothing wrong, they just stuck to the original agreement, infact the fact they allowed the game to slip past the PSN requirement after the fact seems like a pretty good guy Sony move.

    Maybe it was a genuine mistake on the CEO's part. But it was a brilliant strategic decision on his part because he got a hell of a lot more people playing the game at launch than he would if they had PSN back then.

    3 votes

  8. Comment on ‘Snowpiercer’ season 4 moves to AMC after being scrapped at TNT in ~tv

    kaffo
    Link Parent
    I'd like to add that I also liked the show but the tone is all over the place. It goes from being hard sci fi and trying to tell a story of people fighting for the last scraps of humanity in a...

    I'd like to add that I also liked the show but the tone is all over the place. It goes from being hard sci fi and trying to tell a story of people fighting for the last scraps of humanity in a hellscape to lol we gave a guy super powers with jelly we found down the seat cracks.
    Personally I like both aspects to the show and find them both enjoyable to watch, but I could easily see it really annoying someone because it's jarring even within an episode.

    9 votes

  9. Comment on Question for those in colder climates: Pellet HVAC/boilers? in ~life.home_improvement

    kaffo
    Link
    I'm not sure I can get the brand for you I'm afraid, I actually moved out the end of last year so I can just check. As for the storage that sounds decent. Out home built hopper probably only holds...

    I'm not sure I can get the brand for you I'm afraid, I actually moved out the end of last year so I can just check.
    As for the storage that sounds decent. Out home built hopper probably only holds about 2 or 3 tons, 5 would keep you going for a good while for sure.
    We load ours ourselves, a forklift and cut the bottom out a bag. So the delivery system they are proposing over there sounds like a done deal to me if the prices are solid.
    A huge, huge amount of our wood is imported from Europe and it's a fortune now. We do have forestery in the UK but it's tiny compared to the demand.

  10. Comment on Question for those in colder climates: Pellet HVAC/boilers? in ~life.home_improvement

    kaffo
    Link
    From the UK here so possibly not the same situation as you guys over the pond. The government here also threw money at people to install them and still pays money back to you if you supply energy...

    From the UK here so possibly not the same situation as you guys over the pond.
    The government here also threw money at people to install them and still pays money back to you if you supply energy back to the grid (up to a cap per month).

    My family got one installed in our family farm just before covid so I'll list the pros and cons.

    Pros:

    • Free money while the government scheme is running for payback to the grid
    • The heat it supplies is constant and extremely even and warm. Some of the best heating across the entire house I've seen in any building.
    • Once it's full up it takes a while to chew through all the pellets or chips

    Cons:

    • Price and supply of wood has been awful in the UK during and since covid (not sure about the US). Getting pellets or chips is a real pain in the ass and when you do they are expensive
    • The thing eats wood. I said when it's full it takes a while, we extended the hopper by about 3x in our barn and it take maybe like 3 bulk bags of chips or pellets to fill up. That means we have lines and lines of bags of wood lined up to keep us warm just in case we can't get any, it takes a huge amount of space and it's an eye sore
    • We did the math and once the scheme ends it's gonna be terrible cost to value ratio, we plan to get rid of it once the government stop it

    If you cut your own wood and chip/pellet it anyway, I can see it being a pretty great boon. For us it's pretty annoying sourcing the wood every month or two and paying the premium.
    Also pellet is way, way more dense, it'll run a lot longer on pellets but sometimes needs must and we have to run on chips because we can't get pellets or they are just priced terribly.

    I don't know your circumstance but I'd look into other forms of heating. Ground or air sourced heat pump, solar, etc.
    That's my 2 cents.

    2 votes

  11. Comment on Best foreign films and TV shows? in ~tv

    kaffo
    Link
    El Encargado a show from Argentina about a building manager who finds out the various owners in the apartment block are planning to get rid of him in favour of a cheaper cleaning company. So he...

    El Encargado a show from Argentina about a building manager who finds out the various owners in the apartment block are planning to get rid of him in favour of a cheaper cleaning company. So he schemes, plots, lies and maniplutes his way to staying in the building by any means.

  12. Comment on What learning do you find easy or difficult? And why? in ~talk

    kaffo
    Link Parent
    That's fascinating! I understand a lot of what you say, but just replace the topics/subjects. Interestingly I self taught myself to do some pretty complicated cos play costume design stuff when I...

    That's fascinating! I understand a lot of what you say, but just replace the topics/subjects.
    Interestingly I self taught myself to do some pretty complicated cos play costume design stuff when I was younger and, although it clearly was not how my brain wanted to work, I eventually picked it up and learned it.
    The brain is a really spooky thing.

    1 vote

  13. Comment on What learning do you find easy or difficult? And why? in ~talk

    kaffo
    Link Parent
    I do understand it's a long process. It's been about a year and a half for me and I still feel far from conversational, it's pretty demotivating. But the situation I'm in doesn't particularly give...

    I do understand it's a long process. It's been about a year and a half for me and I still feel far from conversational, it's pretty demotivating. But the situation I'm in doesn't particularly give me much choice in giving up even if I wanted to!

    1 vote

  14. Comment on What learning do you find easy or difficult? And why? in ~talk

    kaffo
    Link Parent
    Fantastic post, thanks for taking the time to write that!

    Fantastic post, thanks for taking the time to write that!

    2 votes

  15. Comment on What learning do you find easy or difficult? And why? in ~talk

    kaffo
    Link
    I'll go into some more detail about my thoughts and feelings. Interest for me seems to be a big driving force, almost a little obsessive. If I discover something new and it interests me or I think...

    I'll go into some more detail about my thoughts and feelings.
    Interest for me seems to be a big driving force, almost a little obsessive. If I discover something new and it interests me or I think about something and I decided I want to research it I can get really stuck in until I understand it really properly (at least enough to feel confident to explain it to someone else).
    I love just googling around and reading about things, a recent example would be the discovery and production of penicillin and anti biotics.
    I don't like videos, I know a lot of people do, but I really don't enjoy absorbing information not at my own speed (which isn't very fast). Instead I read a lot, diagrams or pictures work too.

    This all leads me to my current dilemma, language. I hated it at school and I thought as an adult I might find it easier to at least be more patient and organize myself but wow, I'm finding it tough.
    I found it genuinely uncomfortable to learn vocabulary. Grammar I can at least study a bit and I get some enjoyment out of learning the rules and the history, but the actual vocabulary and dialects, totally makes my brain... Uncomfortable.
    I've tried various techniques of listening, reading, watching and none of them have really given me the results I want.
    I find myself frustrated that I'm not able to make or understand conversation, progress is too slow, the wins aren't big enough.
    I guess it gets to me because I want to enjoy learning it but have been unable. Then I found it strange I could enjoy learning one thing but not another, but really I think there's a lot to unpack here, it's not so tit for tat!

    4 votes

  16. What learning do you find easy or difficult? And why?

    ~talk Ask
    Recently I have been trying to learn a new language, because I need to more so than I want to, and it's been really tough. While this isn't a shocking revelation, I had a bit of a deep dive to try...

    Recently I have been trying to learn a new language, because I need to more so than I want to, and it's been really tough. While this isn't a shocking revelation, I had a bit of a deep dive to try and think about how and why I don't like learning a language. I do enjoy learning about a great deal of other things in my spare time, why not this?

    So I pose the following questions to you:

    • What kind of thing do you enjoy learning about?
    • Do you find a specific format or type of learning helps you when it's tough?
    • Do you always use the same format of learning?
    • What do you not enjoy learning? Why? Try and explain what it is that makes it difficult compared to above.

    Be interested to hear how different people feel.

    19 votes

  17. Comment on Game recommendations, specifically (round 2) in ~games

    kaffo
    Link
    I think I'm looking for something too specific, but here we go. I really want a game like an idle game but without spinning off into silly numbers and preferably without prestiging. The game would...

    I think I'm looking for something too specific, but here we go.

    I really want a game like an idle game but without spinning off into silly numbers and preferably without prestiging.

    The game would hopefully reward actually playing it, I guess I don't mind if it "plays itself" offline or not, I really want it as something I can open, play for a few minutes and close again on my desktop or phone, don't mind if it's the right game.

    I've played a few incremental/idle games and they always rub me the wrong way. I enjoy the start then get annoyed when it both goes into the realms of insanity and has you artificially making as many different numbers as possible "get big".
    I just wana do something like farm or run a shop or something and it be kinda chill.
    Something like Merchant on mobile ALMOST did it, but when I was on like my 4th set of griding the same sets of gear for my guys through reskinned enemies I had had my fun.
    Recettear is also close-ish but a little too intense and much too short.

    2 votes

  18. Comment on What irrational video game requirements do you have? in ~games

    kaffo
    Link
    I'll totally write off games because of their name. I'll form a totally irrational opinion based on the name of the game, even if it's totally wrong, and run with it. For example, I played an...

    I'll totally write off games because of their name. I'll form a totally irrational opinion based on the name of the game, even if it's totally wrong, and run with it.
    For example, I played an honestly terrible game called Divinity Dragon Knight and wrote off everything called Divinity. When all my friends (and the Internet) raved about Divinity 1 and 2 I refused to play either, and still haven't, because of that bad blood with a totally different game from a totally different company.

    I've also just avoided real gems because of their names, making assumptions for what they are or their quality. I have no idea why I have this strong prejudice.

    8 votes

  19. Comment on Does anyone else have posting anxiety? in ~tech

    kaffo
    Link Parent
    I agree with pretty much all of this and it resonates with my own experiences. Although I'd like to chime in and add my bit about the discords. I personally found discord very intimidating...

    I agree with pretty much all of this and it resonates with my own experiences.

    Although I'd like to chime in and add my bit about the discords. I personally found discord very intimidating (especially in servers about stuff I actually cared about) because I didn't want to appear dumb or engage the wrong way.
    I found it very useful to join totally random discords I really had no interest in, low population or high population it doesn't matter, and start talking in there. Maybe make a throw away account to get started. When I started making little comments and people actually enjoyed my e-company that really helped me get my post confidence up and made me feel a lot more happy about posted in the spaces I actually cared about.

    5 votes

  20. Comment on How do you date? in ~talk

    kaffo
    Link
    An interesting question! Going to answer it all out of order and probably forget some. Firstly, I've had 4 long term relationships (I'm now 30). 2 of them were meeting face to face and 2 were...

    An interesting question!
    Going to answer it all out of order and probably forget some.

    Firstly, I've had 4 long term relationships (I'm now 30). 2 of them were meeting face to face and 2 were online.
    I could write for days about online dating but that's not what your question is about, my personal takeaway is online dating is a bad environment for long term relationships. Short term, yes, but long term it's very difficult to get to the stage with another random person that you can start to work that "big picture" stuff out.
    The end result though for both is the same in my experience if you're patient enough.

    As for dating and making those calls, I found it really hard when I was younger because I would have a crush on someone and get as far as flirting, then dating. But really being younger I had no idea what I wanted or liked in a relationship and a lot of people my age didn't either.
    Getting a little older now I'm able to vocalize much better what my goals are and try to judge if a person fits into that or not.
    Daniel Sloss did a famous-ish bit on Netflix about a couple being like two partially completed jigsaws coming togerher and I think it's a very apt metaphor.
    Being able to say "hey here's my life now and here's how I plan to fill in the gaps, do you like what you see?" and having the other person do the same is refreshing. Someone who can't shows a bit of immaturity in my eyes.
    So when I was on my last dating slog over the pandemic and then some (my current partner I met on /r/r4r after I made a bet I'd not meet anyone from there, ironically) I was on the apps a lot and my mental health suffered a lot for it.
    I went on a lot of first dates and struggled to be confident and charismatic, but I got better over time and when I did it became easier to get second dates and third dates, then I could start asking the important questions.

    I think for me by date 2 or 3 I know I'm really into someone, but I could lose it in a heart beat without the trust and friendship if something comes up.
    To build that friendship and trust takes a long time, months. I was dating my current partner for maybe a year and a half before I truly, truly felt comfortable with her (long distance though, so take that with a grain of salt).
    The bond helps pad out the gaps. The annoyances, the bits of the jigsaw that don't match up. But it takes work and commitment to get there and it's hard to find that in online dating.

    If I had advice for the next person reading this who's struggling with dating, it's try and be attractive. And not just physically. Do cool and interesting things. Get a hobby, do a sport, climb a mountain, learn the harp, knit a scarf. Having an amazing personality is a great start, but you want your date to ask you a million questions and be into you.

    That was rambly, I might edit or add more tomorrow, it's late!

    9 votes