trobertson's recent activity

  1. Comment on Nintendo President on the new Switch 2, tariffs and what's next for the company in ~games

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    (Not a Nintendo player): Doesn't Nintendo already do the nickel-and-dime bullshit? Isn't that what the Amibos are?

    (Not a Nintendo player): Doesn't Nintendo already do the nickel-and-dime bullshit? Isn't that what the Amibos are?

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Thor Bjørklund's ostehøvel, a popular cheese slicer which developed into an important Norwegian export, celebrates 100 this year in ~engineering

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    Cheese graters are pretty common. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61K1cMcI9YL._AC_SL1002_.jpg They do 4 things to an okay-ish standard: slice, grate (big strips), grate (small strips), and shred.

    Cheese graters are pretty common. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61K1cMcI9YL._AC_SL1002_.jpg

    They do 4 things to an okay-ish standard: slice, grate (big strips), grate (small strips), and shred.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on What books are best read with zero advance knowledge? in ~books

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    Honestly, you just rekindled my interest in TBK. I put it down at about 30% of the way in (and I picked up Umineko instead, which is also a murder mystery (of sorts)). Tensions had been slowly...

    At its core, it's a murder mystery.

    Honestly, you just rekindled my interest in TBK. I put it down at about 30% of the way in (and I picked up Umineko instead, which is also a murder mystery (of sorts)). Tensions had been slowly rising, and I can see lots of motives from where I left off, but damn is it a slow start.

    I went in totally blind on the faith that people wouldn't call Dostoevsky one of the greatest writers ever unless his works were actually good. I had become convinced that it was merely a "period" drama and that it wasn't for me.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on What contemporary books do you think will still be widely read 100 years from now? in ~books

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    I've only read a bit of Christie, and it was some time ago, but I remember her being foundational for what we understand as mystery stories today. Christie's thing was psychology and getting into...

    I'm an Agatha Christie enjoyer, but I do not think her novels have any particular component that make them cherished or important pieces of art beyond being solid stories with mass appeal.

    I've only read a bit of Christie, and it was some time ago, but I remember her being foundational for what we understand as mystery stories today.

    Christie's thing was psychology and getting into the minds of the active participants of both the murder and the investigation. In her works murders don't just happen; they are deliberate, and we can see how the murderer(s) decided that murder was the only option.

    (I don't think this had been done before her; psychology had only recently become considered a powerful tool for understanding the mind. I am given to understand that other authors like Dostoevsky were bringing in heavy elements of psychology before she was even born, but none brought it to murder mysteries in the way that Christie did.)

    Additionally, she also kind of reinvented what a murder mystery could be. And Then There Were None and The Murder On The Orient Express were stories that had never been done before - at all.

    Agatha Christie, along with Arthur Conan Doyle, are the mother and father respectively of contemporary mystery and investigation stories. Basically everything draws from them in some way, in the same way that basically all contemporary fantasy draws from Tolkien in some way.

    12 votes

  5. Comment on The 2024 Steam Winter Sale is live (runs December 19 - January 2) in ~games

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    I haven't played it yet, but apparently Dread Delusion is similar to Morrowind and other old-school open world RPGs. Another one I haven't played, Drova: Forsaken Kin, is allegedly a 2D Gothic-like.

    I haven't played it yet, but apparently Dread Delusion is similar to Morrowind and other old-school open world RPGs.

    Another one I haven't played, Drova: Forsaken Kin, is allegedly a 2D Gothic-like.

    5 votes

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

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    Word of advice - Act 2 has some parts coming up where you probably don't want the difficulty cranked up. I would recommend that you keep it on Normal until you hit Act 3. Decide then, but probably...

    I'm in act 2 now, level 6, playing on normal and the game actually feels pretty easy now -- I'm thinking about cranking the difficulty up a bit.

    Word of advice - Act 2 has some parts coming up where you probably don't want the difficulty cranked up. I would recommend that you keep it on Normal until you hit Act 3. Decide then, but probably not before then.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on The case for left-handed representation in gaming in ~games

    trobertson
    Link
    Pathfinder: Kingmaker offers this. It's not really mechanically relevant, but it's right there when you make your character. Interestingly, the following games from that same studio don't include...

    Pathfinder: Kingmaker offers this. It's not really mechanically relevant, but it's right there when you make your character.

    Interestingly, the following games from that same studio don't include handedness for characters.

    3 votes

  8. Comment on A freeze dryer is not a reasonable purchase in ~tech

    trobertson
    Link
    For someone else using a freeze dryer, here's SteveMRE1989 making (and enjoying!) a freeze dried homemade Thanksgiving MRE. https://youtu.be/9183p7iJ5E0

    For someone else using a freeze dryer, here's SteveMRE1989 making (and enjoying!) a freeze dried homemade Thanksgiving MRE.

    https://youtu.be/9183p7iJ5E0

    8 votes

  9. Comment on A summer Covid-19 wave in ~health

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    I'd like to rebut this - politics is not divorced from life. Politics is not some separate issue that can be considered in isolation. By pretending that it is, you are participating in the...

    I know that it's hard to empathize with a political enemy

    "political" enemy

    I'd like to rebut this - politics is not divorced from life. Politics is not some separate issue that can be considered in isolation. By pretending that it is, you are participating in the gaslight that politics is a team sport that can be ignored between the biennial votes.

    The Republicans have chosen the path of existential threat.

    • They wave Nazi flags. They knowingly collaborate with Nazis. Jewish people have the right to feel existential threat, and the right to respond accordingly.
    • They wave Confederate flags. They openly advocate for race war. All non-white people have the right to feel existential threat, and the right to respond accordingly.
    • They are dismantling the Civil Rights Act. For a second time, all non-white people have the right to feel existential threat, and the right to respond accordingly.
    • They dissolved the right to abortion. This will directly lead to the death of thousands of women. In any other time- in any other place- this is called massacre. Women have the right to feel existential threat, and the right to respond accordingly.
    • At the RNC, they are blatantly calling for the death of liberals. Non-Republicans have the right to feel existential threat, and the right to respond accordingly.

    If you think they will not act on these threats, then you are a fool:

    • in Bush v. Gore, they interfered with the vote and set the precedent that the courts can decide elections.
    • They have, in Citizen's United, disenfranchised the individual and empowered special interests.
    • On January 6, they made their first attempt to ignore the vote, and are now using those court cases to make the next attempt easier.
    • They have, just a few weeks ago, allowed government officials to take not-bribes from special interests.
    • They have, just a few weeks ago, set the stage for dictatorship by making the President unaccountable.

    They are publicly acting on their threats. They are publicly advancing their agendas.

    They are not trying to hide that they want to hurt people. They are not trying to hide that they want to abolish democracy. They are not trying to hide that they are fascist.

    11 votes

  10. Comment on Six distinct types of depression identified in Stanford Medicine-led study in ~health.mental

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    SciHub, which is just out-of-date enough to be immune to AI slop. Questionably legal, but unquestionably the best tool.

    SciHub, which is just out-of-date enough to be immune to AI slop. Questionably legal, but unquestionably the best tool.

    21 votes

  11. Comment on We need to rethink exercise – The workout paradox in ~health

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    Checked a couple out, they are empty channels with links to adult sites in their bio. Some of their profile pics are blatantly pornographic, I'm surprised youtube hasn't cracked down on them.

    Also, what's with all the naked female butts in the comments?

    Checked a couple out, they are empty channels with links to adult sites in their bio. Some of their profile pics are blatantly pornographic, I'm surprised youtube hasn't cracked down on them.

    7 votes

  12. Comment on What's your recommended survival crafting game to play solo? in ~games

    trobertson
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    The most janky thing is building. My personal most-hated thing is the snapping, as the game does a terrible job letting you move between two near-by snap points. But building overall is very...

    The most janky thing is building. My personal most-hated thing is the snapping, as the game does a terrible job letting you move between two near-by snap points. But building overall is very limited. Subnautica's building is about twice as versatile and much easier to do thanks being able to swim around the structure (Subnautica is a clear and obvious influence on Planet Crafter's buildings; I initially mistook Planet Crafter for that team's next game as a result of the almost identical visual style of everything).

    The most clumsy thing is the inventory management as you enter mid/late game. Initially, it's not too bad, but it lacks decades-old improvements such as

    • Deposit in / Stack to nearby containers
    • Craft from nearby containers
    • Auto-craft constituent parts

    This reached a tipping point for me (and is why I uninstalled) during the Insects phase, where you need to turn Larva into actual insects (which you use in further crafting). It takes >10 inventory clicks (at minimum, in multiple containers) to make 1 Bee Larva, and you need to make a lot of those (and they take >1 minute to make, for each larva). When I realized that to make a couple dozen Bee larva I would need to perform hundreds and hundreds of inventory clicks over the course of ~1 hour, I just stopped caring.

    If the game had "Craft From Nearby Containers" than this wouldn't have been an issue at all, but the lack of that makes progression so cumbersome and tedious that it stopped being worth it for me.

    The most boring/undeveloped thing is the terraforming progression. Progression is resource limited and time gated, and there isn't much of the resources you need after the 1st tier structures (specifically, Ozmium(*) is way too rare for how much you initially need it). You'll end up making 1 of each of the structures you need and then stand around waiting for the terraforming index to tick up. You can (if you have infinite patience) collect enough resources to create a lot of the low tier structures, but that just feels like pure grinding.

    And the actual progression is just waiting. Building structures accelerates the progress, but it doesn't change that it's a waiting game. It's clear that the devs know this because they added Satellites that speed up progression - by 1000% per satellite. These are expensive but absolutely required, and making and launching them is pretty tedious. These are also resource limited.

    Additionally, your terraforming structures have nothing to do with how the world terraforms. The world will proceed along a fixed terraformation, and where you place different things (like grass spreaders, flower spreaders, insect spreaders, etc.) has no impact on how the world terraforms. You can try to spread a particular tree type in an area, but the world will just grow the pre-determined tree type in that area.

    I think the game is worth playing, if only to see a game that actually takes on the idea of terraforming. But I don't think it's a game worth finishing.

    (*) Ozmium is mine-able, but only after hours of waiting for the Tier 2 Ore Extractor to unlock - and that needs Ozmium as well, so you're probably taking apart your earlier machinery in order to make your first Ozmium extractor.

    edit: it's less janky and more focused than modded minecraft, but modded minecraft also has tons of convenience features (like AE2) that eliminate the basic frustrations as you make progress. This game has none of that.

    1 vote

  13. Comment on What's your recommended survival crafting game to play solo? in ~games

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    I just uninstalled it earlier today (was about halfway through Insects stage). I agree about it being rough. It's a great idea, but the idea can only carry the jank for so long. It still feels...

    I just uninstalled it earlier today (was about halfway through Insects stage). I agree about it being rough. It's a great idea, but the idea can only carry the jank for so long. It still feels like an early access game.

  14. Comment on Factorio: Space Age releases on October 21st 2024 in ~games

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    "Go in one direction forever" has been achieved, but it's not easy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzpUQZIr15g (Dosh's video) In the expansion, the spaceship seems to sort of do what you want -...

    "Go in one direction forever" has been achieved, but it's not easy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzpUQZIr15g (Dosh's video)

    In the expansion, the spaceship seems to sort of do what you want - you use asteroids to produce fuel + ammo, so it's technically infinite-able, probably.

    6 votes

  15. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~society

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    So was Brexit, until it wasn't.

    This is all utter performative nonsense.

    So was Brexit, until it wasn't.

  16. Comment on Science fiction or fantasy recommendations for children in ~books

    trobertson
    Link
    Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin.

    Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin.

    17 votes

  17. Comment on What would you recommend for a single, minimal, "overview-of-the-world" news source? in ~talk

  18. Comment on Norwegian bridge collapsed ten years after it was built – all because designers focused too much on making it look good in ~engineering

    trobertson
    Link
    There's a video from a year ago I watched about this bridge, it has a lot of engineering info about what happened. How did the Engineers Miss This? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSPI0xkTifI

    There's a video from a year ago I watched about this bridge, it has a lot of engineering info about what happened.

    How did the Engineers Miss This? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSPI0xkTifI

    4 votes

  19. Comment on X4: Foundations 7.00 trailer in ~games

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    Kinda weird that you started with the negative comparisons, seeing as they are completely different games (as you said!). The biggest things that X4 does that other space games don't do: X4 is a...

    Kinda weird that you started with the negative comparisons, seeing as they are completely different games (as you said!). The biggest things that X4 does that other space games don't do:

    • X4 is a fully simulated economy (wartime economy, specifically)
    • The player can fully engage with that economy
    • All ship construction depends on the economy - 100% of the resources that go into a ship must be produced somewhere, and shipped by someone
    • Exactly the same deal with building stations - whether they be economic stations, military stations, shipbuilding stations, or some other purpose
      • You the player will be designing, building, owning, and profiting from the stations that all other space games take for granted
    • Sector ownership is dynamic and regions can (and do) change hands
      • You can conquer the galaxy, for real, if you want. Your player faction can genuinely take over sectors
    • Quests
      • minor quests are either economic jobs or military jobs
      • Questlines shape the factions of the galaxy and determine faction merges, wars, ceasefires, etc. They also open up new portions of the map - the Kingdom's End questline, for example, reveals another ~8 sectors (iirc) that you can't get to until you do the quest
    • You can stand on the bridge of your flagship and watch while your fleet engages your enemies
    • Or you can pilot your flagship, or your destroyers, or your frigates, or your fighters, and let the AI take primary control of your fleet
    • Similarly, you will also have economic fleets that can automate a lot of the logistical challenges your stations will face. Or you can pilot one of your traders yourself (really smart in the early game)
    • Lot of awesome mods! But probably avoid these on a first playthrough because otherwise you won't know what you want or need

    Elite definitely has the best pilot feel of all the modern space games, but that's about all it does. X4 is trying, and mostly succeeding, at being an engaging space world rather than an engaging space ship.

    7 votes

  20. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    trobertson
    Link Parent
    If you haven't already, you should read "A Journey of Black and Red". Same author, and imo a slightly better story. Ariane is even more fun than Viv.

    The Calamitous Bob

    If you haven't already, you should read "A Journey of Black and Red". Same author, and imo a slightly better story. Ariane is even more fun than Viv.

    1 vote