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#Upgrade Your Cooling System
rohirric-hunter · 6 months
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Me, on the LotRO Forums: Hey @ devs I really appreciate the way you implemented this feature. It really improves the game and here's why I think that.
Some Loser: NO IT DOESN'T!!!!!!! IT SUCKS AND I HATE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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ramservices1 · 10 months
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How to Improve the Cooling Efficiency of Your AC
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Do you ever feel like your air conditioning unit just isn’t doing enough to cool your home? Do you find yourself constantly adjusting the thermostat to try and achieve a comfortable temperature? If so, you may be wondering how to improve the cooling efficiency of your AC.
In this article, we will explore some tips and tricks for maximizing the efficiency of your air conditioning unit, so you can stay cool and comfortable all summer long. From simple maintenance tasks to more advanced upgrades, we’ve got you covered.
The Importance of AC Efficiency
Before we dive into our tips for improving AC efficiency, let’s first discuss why it’s important. In short, an efficient air conditioning unit can save you money on your energy bills, while also reducing your carbon footprint. By consuming less energy, your AC unit is able to operate more sustainably, which is good for both your wallet and the environment.
Additionally, an efficient AC unit can help maintain a consistent temperature in your home, which can improve your overall comfort and quality of life. When your AC unit is working harder than it needs to, it can lead to uneven cooling and hot spots throughout your home.
Simple Maintenance Tasks for Improved AC Efficiency
The first step in improving the efficiency of your air conditioning unit is to perform some simple maintenance tasks. These tasks can help ensure that your AC unit is running smoothly and effectively, so it doesn’t have to work as hard to cool your home.
1. Clean or Replace Your Air Filter
The air filter in your AC unit is responsible for filtering out dust, dirt, and other particles from the air before it’s circulated throughout your home. Over time, these particles can build up on the filter, restricting airflow and causing your AC unit to work harder than it needs to.
To improve the efficiency of your AC unit, make sure to clean or replace your air filter regularly. How often you should do this will depend on the type of filter you have and how often you use your AC unit. As a general rule, it’s a good idea to check your filter once a month and replace it as needed.
2. Clean Your AC Coils
The coils in your AC unit are responsible for transferring heat from the air inside your home to the outside environment. Over time, these coils can become dirty and covered in debris, which can reduce their ability to transfer heat effectively.
To clean your AC coils, you can use a soft-bristled brush to gently remove any debris or dirt buildup. Alternatively, you can use a specialized coil cleaner, which is available at most hardware stores.
3. Check Your Thermostat Settings
Make sure to check your thermostat settings to ensure that they’re set correctly for your needs. If you’re leaving your home for an extended period of time, for example, you may want to set the temperature a bit higher to conserve energy. Similarly, you may want to adjust your settings at night to ensure a comfortable sleeping temperature.
4. Clear Obstructions from Your Vents
Finally, make sure to clear any obstructions from your vents to ensure proper airflow. This can include things like furniture, curtains, or other items that may be blocking the flow of air. By keeping your vents clear and unobstructed, you can help improve the overall efficiency of your AC unit.
Read More: https://ramservicesandsales.com/2023/05/12/how-to-improve-the-cooling-efficiency-of-your-ac/
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charulein · 3 months
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And today in why is my pc making weird noises it never made before: the sound of running water??
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poipoipoi-2016 · 1 year
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Apropos of nothing
If you are the techiest person in the house (and for many of you, this is not techy at all), today is a good day to build a pihole thanks to Google's new TLDs.
For the record, this straight up stopped Dad from getting computer viruses when coupled with the Ublock browser extension, so I will volunteer my time to get you set up. We will find an evening and do a Zoom call. I am serious.
Prerequisities:
Before you start, this will be way way easier if your router has a magic way to:
Set static IP addresses
Set a custom DNS server
If you can't do this, I'm not saying you're stuck, but there's some non-obvious failure modes and maybe it's time to buy a better router.
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Parts:
Raspberry Pi 4B. 2GB if you just want to set and forget, 8GB if you want to do more things on this than just your pihole (Coughs in a MarioKart box) -> https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/
Spare USB-C charger if you don't have one already. I'm a fan of https://www.amazon.com/Argon-USB-C-Power-Supply-Switch/dp/B0919CQKQ8/ myself
A microSD card at least UHS class 3 or better. 32 is fine for just a pihole, I have a 512 in some of mine that I use for more stuff. https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/raspberry-pi-microsd-cards
Some method of flashing the card if you don't have one (Some come with SD to micro-SD adapters, if not a USB to SD/micro-SD adapter is about $10 off Amazon)
If you really feel like going nuts, go buy yourself an Argon case and then very very carefully never ever install the software for the fan that does nothing. The value is entirely in having a big giant brick that is self-cooling. If you want to play MarioKart, I would consider this a requirement. https://www.amazon.com/Argon-Raspberry-Aluminum-Heatsink-Supports/dp/B07WP8WC3V
Setup:
Do yourself a favor and ignore all the signs telling you to go get Raspbian and instead go grab an ISO of Ubuntu 64-bit using RPi Imager. Because Raspbian cannot be upgraded across version WHY U DO THIS
Download Rpi Imager, plug the microSD card into your computer,
Other General Purpose OS -> Ubuntu -> Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
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So now you have an operating system on an SD card.
Assemble the case if you bought one, plug in the SD card, power supply, ethernet cable if you have one or mouse and (mini) HDMI cable if you don't. If you bought that Argon case, you can just plug a keyboard (server OS means no mouse gang; In this house, we use the Command Line) and HDMI cable into the Pi. Turn it on.
Gaining access
The end state of this is that your pi is:
Connected to the internet by cable or wifi
You can SSH to it (Also not scary)
If you plugged in an ethernet cable, once it's done booting (1-2 minutes?), you should be able to ssh to "ubuntu@<the IP of the system>". Look it up in your router. It may make sense to give the static IP NOW to keep it stable.
If you've never used SSH before, I think the standard is Putty on Window or you can just open a terminal in Mac. (And if you know enough Linux to have a Linux computer, why are you reading this?)
If you didn't plug it in, and need to setup the wifi, there's magic incantations to attach it to the wifi and to be quite blunt, I forget what they are.
Your username is ubuntu, your password is ubuntu and then it will ask you to make a new password. If you know the meaning of the phrase "keypair-based access", it may make sense to run `ssh-copy-id` at this point in time.
Router settings (part 1)
Give your new Pi a static IP address, and reboot your pi (as simple as typing in `sudo reboot`).
Open a new SSH session to the pihole on the new address.
Installing pihole
Open up an SSH session and
curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash
This is interactive. Answer the questions
When it's done, on your other computer, navigate to <the ip>/admin
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Login with the password you just set. Router settings part 2
Give your new Pi a static IP address then point your router at that address
Set the DNS servers to the static IP
Then ensure you're blocking something. Anything.
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Then do what you want to do. You'll probably need to whitelist some sites, blacklist some more, but the main thing is going to be "Adding more list of bad sites". Reddit has some lists.
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And... enjoy.
/But seriously, there's some stuff to do for maintenance and things. I wasn't joking about the pair setup.
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burnorgetburned · 9 months
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okay. OKAY. I JUST WANT TO SAY.
NEW MUSIC STYLE. NEW ART STYLE. NEW MAGIC SYSTEM, NEW GIRLS, MORE CLARA DOLLS, MORE HOMURA OUTFITS, MORE EVERYONE OUTFITS, and AAHAHAHAHSGH.
Homura wins by style points alone.
Anyway. Choice screenshots and my thoughts on them. Plus a few wild theories. Replies, tags, and your own reactions are VERY welcome.
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(You're doing great, sweetie!)
First of all, I’ve already said this, but Homura has usurped Kyubey. She is the contractor in this new system. She calls magical girls and asks them if they can bear the responsibility of fighting (LEAGUES better than Kyubey's misleading BE A HERO language), using a magical lizard phone. She knows better than anyone else how heavy this is.
And she looks amazing while doing it. Look at that outfit! Look at her steampunk-esque aesthetic! Her throne. Which, notably, has glowing magenta eyes and her wings as a backrest.
The moon is either actually, physically repurposed, or she’s made something that looks like it. Not only that, but the pins going into the moon are exactly like the pins that went into her soul gem when she was being experimented upon in Rebellion. Those pins, according to the artbook, are for draining her gem of grief to keep her just before the point of witching.
Well, here’s my first wild speculation: Homura has not only taken over Kyubey’s job as a contractor but also its job of disposing of grief. That moon steampunk device is maybe for collecting, concentrating, and distilling grief into energy - hence the strange tesla coils connected to red liquid in the second screenshot above. She's doing what Kyubey says it's doing - turning the grief of people into energy to prolong the universe's lifespan.
I for one support her reality-warping shenanigans.
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Here are some voices over a phone, sometimes speaking over each other, sometimes together. They call Homura “Akuma-sama” (!!!) which is a distinct upgrade from calling her Good-For-Nothing. They say “Just bring hope” like a mission statement. Are these her contracted girls? Or her Clara Dolls? They seem to show her a lot of respect.
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I’ve also said this, but I strongly feel that this and the girl shown later are some of Homura’s new contractees. Their magic is darker. It warps the world around them, even. Their outfits incorporate black a lot more, too, though that might be the lighting.
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Look at the little sigil on the top left-middle! Looks a lot like Homura’s lizard sigil shown when she was consuming the universe, just with a longer lizard.
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And, of course, the image of Madoka throwing herself off of a building. “Wraith” and “Legend of Bestie” (lmao) show up here. I’ve actually been really looking forward to seeing what they’ll do with Madoka’s… self-sacrificial tendencies, so this might be part of that. Or, because of “Wraith”, it’s… well, I’ll get to that later.
On the other hand, it might not be Madoka. It might be the girl who the speaker in the phone call calls her "best friend", jumping to her death because of a wraith, and Homura saving her to fulfill a wish.
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So glad that the insane architecture from Rebellion is making a comeback. Love what you’ve done with the place, Homura. Look at all those cranes!
The outfit changes are very cool to me. I honestly don’t have speculation for why Sayaka is covered in bandages, but I do have speculation for the changes!: they’re older. Years have passed. Since they’ve changed and grown, their outfits have changed, too. I don't have proof of this - I just like the idea.
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Light shines down on Madoka. Petals fall towards her as flowers bloom above. Behold, Homura's extremely subtle and inscrutable feelings. (Sorry for the blurry Madoka, but I am not going through the ordeal of uploading screenshots to my computer again because Tumblr does not like mobile users).
Homura is apparently waiting for Madoka here. She's standing right in the fountain's water and holding a Victorian umbrella like a vampire. Right now we can see that the visuals of this movie will not miss.
Is this a routine thing for them or is Homura just showing up to greet them this one time, for some reason? No clue. Madoka's expression as she notices Homura could indicate either.
Eagle-eyed people on Twitter noticed this, but in these shots, Sayaka already has her bandages.
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Aside from the multiple and/or teleporting Homuras, there's also a Clara Doll in a ballerina dress and a cute Clara Doll peering over the side of the tower like a little kid.
The tower is interesting. It appears to be made of books or pages, and there's chains throughout it. More notably, it's in the shape of a helix - infinity symbols on top of each other.
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Please appreciate these Clara Dolls. I'm sure they're working hard.
But seriously, those Clara Dolls' details. One has a witch's hat. One has an apple on its head. And the one with a teacup appears to have not only a lizard's tail but a replica of Homura's Devil outfit. Appreciate them!
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Here is Homura(?), lounging or trapped on a chair filled with even more of those pins. Look at her closely. She's wearing a strange combination of her magical girl outfit and her Devil outfit - her shoulders are bare, and she has... feathers? She's sitting on a bunch of nails. But she also has two soul gems - one in her hand, and one hanging from her neck.
Is she cleansing them? Eating them? Holding people hostage? I don't know, but I support her completely.
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She looks so tired.
So: here's some of what I think might be going on.
Homura is using wraiths to repress her worst memories. We know already that wraiths take memories and emotions from their victims. Well, there's no reason it can't be used as extremely terrible coping! Homura actually does this in the Wraith Arc, too - she lets a wraith take her feelings for Madoka.
If it is Madoka, it explains the shot with Madoka throwing herself off a builing - what if Homura has seen this happen in the loops, and out of pain lets a wraith pull it right out of her? The shot says "WRAITH" and billows with smoke. A wraith could have taken Madoka's form to act out this memory. And it doesn't need to be a memory - it could also represent Madoka's self-sacrifice and almost suicidal tendencies. This, too, would explain the multiple Homuras. All wraiths using her form.
This puts forward powerful enemies for the plot, as well as an interesting point of literally fighting Homura's demons. Most importantly, this lets everyone see Homura's pain.
Other wild dartboard speculations:
Homura will try and present herself as a villain. This is, honestly, kind of guaranteed, but it bears mentioning that her magical girls will be very likely to try to defend her.
Kyubey may appear to try and turn the girls against Homura.
Homura made the new magical girl who is drawing a bow. She has a lot of design choices from the Quintet, and people have already noticed how much she looks like Madoka. This new girl plays a role of the hero to Homura's pretend-villain, eliminating the risk that her friends will get seriously hurt.
The new magical girl is actually Madoka. Or the Law of Cycles. Or Kriemhild Gretchen.
The girl who jumps from the tower is a contractee being asked to take a leap of faith. She does so, and Homura rewards her with magic.
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baby-yongbok · 7 months
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I loved your handjob fic with bang chan, I thought it was really sweet.
So can I pls request their first time together where reader is all shy and sweet?
I'd love it if there was hand- holding and just adorable words of praise ❤️❤️
I did it! I hope that this is okay! Thanks for your request <3
First Time - Boyfriend!Bang Chan x Fem!Reader - Imagine
Word Count: 2,886
Genre: Smut, The fluffy kind
Warnings under the cut
This piece is kinda like a part two to Free Time. You don't have to read the first one to enjoy this one but it'll be cool if you do <3
✨Masterlist✨
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Warnings: Cursing, that should be all of the warnings? So Sorry if I missed any! This is a pretty fluffy piece!
Reader is Called: Baby, Babygirl, Princess
Chan is called: Babe
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You knew that the time would come eventually, you just didn’t know when. You and Chan had agreed to take it slow when you first met, you wanted to get to know each other and see how your feelings developed before you got too physical. It’s been 8 months since the two of you started seeing each other and two months since the two of you upgraded from making out and dry humping to handjobs and fingering.
 Each time that the two of you were intimate you could feel the longing radiating off of each other. You were damn near desperate to feel the weight of him in your mouth or even experience the bliss of him stretching you. Chan would mention his desire to taste you every now and then, he claimed that licking your arousal off of his fingers just wasn’t enough for him. You both wanted more, you just didn’t know when it would happen. You both decided to leave it up to the universe. 
Today wasn’t supposed to be a day off for Chan, it was actually supposed to be tomorrow but there was a mix up with the venue schedule where the boys had a photo shoot scheduled and they were granted time off while it was all figured out. Of course Chan couldn’t complain, who would get upset about an extra day off? You had also gotten the day off due to your job's entire system crashing last night and never going back online. Coincidence? 
Despite having the time off you and Chan both still took some time out of the day to work. You spent most of the day in your respective corners typing and editing to your heart's content until you both got hungry. The two of you decided to order out and spend some time together. That’s how you ended up here, watching a movie in your bedroom at 6:13pm. The deep orange of the sunset is shining through your blinds and illuminating the dark space around you. It looked magical and Chan definitely noticed it. He hasn’t even looked at the screen for the past four minutes. He’s too busy admiring the way that the deep orange compliments your skin, and how it brings out the color in your hair so flawlessly. You looked like a celestial being and he couldn’t help but to be drawn into you. He hated that your eyes were still trained on the screen, he wanted you to look at him. He needed you to. 
“Baby.” He called to you in a whisper and you replied with a hum, eyes still fixed on the screen. This wasn’t good enough, he needed your full attention. He moves his hand and brings it up to your chin, his pointer finger resting on the underside of your chin and turning your head towards him. He tilted it up a bit so that your eyes would catch his, what he didn’t expect was for the sunlight to illuminate your gaze. Your brown orbs turned to gold right in front of him and his entire body caught on fire at the sight of it. It wasn’t some plain old lust that he was feeling, no, it was an intense longing. A desire to become a part of you and turn your body into gold too. 
“Chan?” You blinked up at him, your doe eyes boring into his.
“I want you.” The words left his lips in a whisper, the soft music from your movie adding to the moment. “Is that okay?”
“You want to…” Your sentence trails off as you catch Chan pulling his bottom lip between his teeth. You feel a shiver run down your spine as lust starts to pool in your core. You’ve been more than ready to go all the way with Chan, you were just nervous, you wanted everything to be perfect. But, looking into his eyes right now you can’t imagine a moment more perfect than this. 
“Yes, that’s okay.” You whisper back to him as you lean into him. 
“Thank god.” Chan closes the distance between the two of you, his soft lips crashing against yours and pulling you into a deep passionate kiss. You sigh into him, moving your body to press against his. His hand sneaks up under your shirt to grip your hip, pulling you closer to him. 
You shift your position, straddling him without breaking the kiss. Your hands lace through his soft curls as your lips move in tandem. He lifts his hand higher, raking his nails softly against your skin and leaving Goosebumps in their wake. He breaks the kiss and starts breathlessly kissing down your jaw and neck. He sucked at the sensitive skin, definitely leaving marks behind. 
"Chan I wanna taste you." He groans against your skin, your words making his cock twitch against your core. 
"I don't think I'll last very long if you do." He plants one more kiss on your neck before pulling away, you climb down his body, keeping eye contact with him the entire time. His bottom lip is back between his teeth as he watches you carefully.
"Let's just feel it, okay? Don't worry about lasting." He nods his head as he lifts his hips, allowing you to peel his sweat pants and boxers down his legs. His hard cock spring up, slapping against his clothed stomach. You marvel at his pink tip, the prominent vein on the underside of his dick making your mouth water. You'll finally get to feel it against your tongue, you press your thighs together in anticipation before looking back up at Chan. 
"Ready?"
"Yes, please, I need you." You smile up at him, leaning forward on your knees and licking up the underside of his dick. You both moan at the sensation, his soft skin glides perfectly against your wet tongue. 
Chan tilts his head back to rest on the headboard, a deep exhale falling from his parted lips. You lick up his shaft again, sucking his tip into your mouth and bobbing your head. You take more of him inch by inch as you move against him. The weight of him in your mouth and filling your throat makes your clit throb with need. This was more than worth the wait. 
"Oh, baby you're so perfect." Chan whispers, lifting his head to look at you. Your watery eyes meet his as you take him farther down your throat. His praise makes you want to make him feel even better. 
Chan reaches down towards your hand that's resting on his thigh, covering it with his own and stroking his fingers over the back of your hand. 
"Just like that, you're making me feel so fucking good." You hum in response and Chan's brows pinch together at the sensation. "I love how deep you're taking me. Fuck, babygirl."
You take that as a prompt to take him deeper, a tear rolls down your cheek and you nearly choke around him but the deep groan that leaves him makes it worth it. 
"Oh, baby" You lift up, a string of spit connecting you to his throbbing length. A breathy chuckle leaves your lips and Chan smiles at you. 
"You taste so good, you're so big in my mouth." Chan's cock jumps and you chuckle in response. Just as you're about to go back down on him he sits up a bit, stopping you before you can take him in your mouth completely. 
"I don't want to cum yet and I won't last another second with that pretty mouth on me." You sit up on your knees smiling at him. "It's my turn now."
With a wide playful grin Chan grabs your wrists, pulling you forward and swiftly switching spots with you. He holds your waist, pulling you flat onto your back. You both laugh as he situates you, brushing his fingertips over the sensitive skin of your inner thigh and the back of your knees. Your laughs quickly turn into gaspy moans as the sensations cause shivers to rush over you. Your nipples harden as your anticipation builds. 
"I've been waiting to taste you for so long, princess." He tugs at your shorts, nearly ripping them off of you like a kid opening gifts on Christmas. You giggle at his hasty behavior. 
"Oh really? I couldn't tell." Chan rolls his eyes playfully but his expression quickly changes to one of lust when his eyes land on your naked core. The evening light makes your skin glow and your arousal glistens in its presence. 
"Ready, baby?" 
"So ready, love." He smiles against your inner thigh as he kisses his way up to your heat. He licks up the sensitive flesh, moaning at the feel of you against his tongue. His eyes flutter shut as he savors the taste of you. 
Your breath catches in your throat as he licks up your pussy again, circling his tongue around your clit before going back down to your entrance. A deep moan erupts from your throat, your eyes squeeze shut and your back slightly arched off of the mattress.  He's only just started but he feels like heaven against you. He always told you that he believes he's pretty good at eating pussy but you didn't know that it would feel like this. 
"Oh my god." One of your hands reach down to tangle in his hair just as one of his reach up to intertwine with your free one. You hold his hand, squeezing a bit as the pleasure builds. 
He sucks your clit into his mouth, flicking the sensitive bud with his tongue and moaning against you sending delicious vibrations through you. 
"Oh, yes, please don't stop. You're so good baby, you're perfect." He trails his tongue down to your entrance, slipping it inside and fucking you with it. A loud whine escapes you as you circle your hips against his face, covering his chin and cheeks in your arousal. 
"Will you suck my clit please, and put two fingers inside."
"Of course, princess." He does as you asked, latching onto your clit again and bringing his free hand over to your entrance. He teases you a bit before pushing his middle and pointer finger inside. He fills you up to the second knuckle, curling his fingers to hit your sweet spot. 
"Oh fuck Chan, Yes just like that." He shakes his head against you, giving you a new sensation against your clit. You squeeze his hand, trying your best to reassure him that you're feeling good but with the way you're reacting you're pretty sure he can tell. 
He swirls his tongue around your clit one more time and you barely have a second to warn him before you're coming undone. Your walls clench around his fingers as they try to move inside of you. Your back arches off of the mattress and your eyes squeeze shut as you moan his name with a string of curses. He pulls away from your clit, fingering you through your high just how you like it. 
"That's right, cum for me, babygirl. You sound so pretty, taste so good." Chan kisses the inside of your shaking thigh until you come down from the intense pleasure. He pulls his fingers out of you. Sucking your arousal off and moaning at the taste. 
"You are everything that I dreamed you would be and more." You smile at his words, eyes still closed as you try to regulate your breathing.
"Wait until you feel me."
"Oh fuck, I can't wait to feel you." Chan climbs up your body, lifting your shirt along the way so that he could pull it off once he got to the top. Once your shirt is off he pulls his off, leaving you both naked in front of each other. For each other. 
"I know exactly what position I want, baby. Trust me?" You open your eyes, finding Chan's excited ones and nod. You'd trust him with your life so something as small as a sex position is more than doable. "Turn on your side, okay? Face the window."
You do as he asked, turning on your side and jumping a bit as your thighs close. The pressure on your sensitive bud sends chills up your spine. Chan lays behind you on his side. He snakes one arm under your side, pulling your back against his chest and holding you tight. His other hand grips his cock, positioning it at your entrance. He looks down at you, beautiful doe eyes shining like gold in the deep orange sun. His heart skips a beat. You look so beautiful, you sound even better and at this moment he can't believe how lucky he is to be with you. To have access to you in such a vulnerable way. He leans down, peppering kisses on your cheek, making you giggle. 
"Can I tell you something, baby?" Chan whispers against your cheek and you nod, turning your head to meet his eyes. Suddenly he pushes in, sinking into your dripping heat slowly. Your mouth opens in a silent scream and your eyes widen as they stare into his. He wants to close his eyes but he doesn't dare break eye contact, a deep groan leaves his lips as he leans down to kiss you deeply. He pulls away once he bottoms out and his eyes meet yours again.
"I love you so much." He whispers as he pulls his hips back, thrusting into you slowly and passionately. His arms wrap around you. Hugging you into his chest as he moves in and out of you at a steady pace. Only speeding up a bit once he's adjusted to your tight walls. 
"I love you too, so so much, Chan." Your words leave your mouth in a moan. Your head rests against his shoulder and his rests in the crook of your neck, leaving light kisses in between moans and groans. 
"I feel so good when I'm with you" Chan whispers into your ear, kissing the lobe softly. You moan at his words, you can feel the knot in your stomach pulling tighter and tighter. Suddenly he speeds up a bit, circling his hips into you and fucking you deeper.
"Oh my god, you feel so good. You're so big." Chan groans and you can feel his cock twitch inside of you. He bucks his hips into you, reaching impossibility deep as he sucks on the sensitive skin of your neck. Usually it takes more, it always has. You've always needed to touch your clit to cum, but Chan has proven that to be false. 
You feel yourself slip into a pool of pleasure as you start to come undone. You choke on your words as you try to warn him but the fluttering of your walls tells him everything that he needs to know. He grunts, squeezing his eyes shut as his own release creeps up on him.
"Oh fuck, where can I cum. I'm so close." You blink your eyes open slowly, your body still shaking lightly as he stretches you open. 
"Inside, please, wanna feel you." 
"Oh my god." Chan tilts his head back as his rhythm falters. You already felt like heaven and now you were telling him that he could finish inside of you? It's the literal icing on a perfect cake for him.
"I'm gonna - oh fuck." He thrusts into you slow and deep as ropes of sticky cum fill your dripping cunt. You both moan at the sensation, seeing stars and floating through space together as you step out of your cloud of bliss. You squeeze his hand that is holding onto you, tight and secure. 
"Baby?" You call him and he hums, eyes still shut and his chest rises and falls quickly against your back. "Come back to me."
You both giggle a bit and he slowly opens his eyes. "Oh my gosh."
He looks down at you, meeting your bright eyes and smiling. 
"Hey." He chuckles, pecking your nose lightly. 
"Hey." You chuckle back cuddling into his chest. 
"I should, uh, pull out." You shake your head, clenching around him and pulling a groan from him. He's still hard by some miracle and it feels so good to finally feel him complete you. 
"Let's just stay like this for a second, yeah?" Chan stares down at you with bright eyes filled with love, he nods, settling into the mattress and laying down behind you. His fingers run over your stomach slowly as if he were strumming a guitar. The soft touch makes you feel safe and grounded. 
"Sure, baby." He exhales against you softly, kissing your shoulder "Was it everything you expected?"
"So much more than I expected, so perfect. You're so perfect." Chan smiles against your skin, leaving another soft kiss. 
"It's you that's perfect." You both lie there in silence as the sun finally sets and the soft darkness swallows you both. You hear soft music playing and you both look up towards the end of your bed at the credits for the movie you were watching. 
"I wonder if that was a good movie." You ask with a laugh and Chan shrugs pulling you closer. 
"Even if it was, this movie was so much better."
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Cute Spider Society Headcanons:
[a long post of random headcanons about the fun stuff at Spider Society HQ - all cool things for your Spidersona to do]
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There's absolutely regular talent shows and battles of the band every quarter or so.
Spider-people usually aren't the most popular back home on their Earth's, so Miguel permits having shows and activities like this so Spider-people can bond and relieve stress between Canon Events
Hobie has won multiple times - His and Gwen's band won last quarter, BUT they don't always win. MetroSpider is another past winner.
The rule is Spider-members only. But if your powers help your music, you can use them (ie, Hobie can play guitar without an amp-)
Training is a HUGE thing.
And it's mandatory even between missions. Time trails, Web strength testing, problem resolution training, weekly classes - It's a lot.
Your training schedule isn't always the same, and your classes are determined by your skill, specific powers, and universe
Money isn't used on campus. It's banned actually, and mostly useless when everyone is from a universe with a different exchange rate, political climate, tender etc.
Instead, The main currency is based on a points system connected to training/missions.
The more missions you do, or the more you train (therefore making you a better hero to your universe), the more points you earn
Things like the cafeteria and dorms are completely free. But points can be used to earn perks like suit upgrades, or things from the commissary
The Commissary is a store on campus where you can buy authorized items from other Earth's.
They have everything from training materials like mechanical webbing - with different properties/effects - to leisure things like cool video games from Margo's world or music from other time eras, vintage things from old universes, etc
Points can also be used for a number of other stuff such as:
Extra jumps on your watch. The more missions you do, the more jumps you can buy, allowing you to go to other universes on your off time (to hang with friends)
Suit Upgrades. Your suit is surveyed and upgraded for free at joining, and it gets upgraded with every class you gain (C Class -> B Class -> A Class -> etc.)
However, you can use points to upgrade or even just redesign your suit. There is a Suit Center where fashionable and genius Spider-people will help you design and adjust your suit based on your universe and villains
There's support groups, a lot centered around Canon Events.
For teens and young Spider-people there's an Educational Program
It can be done part-time with active mission work or full-time on campus
You train in multiversal research, Spider genetics, and other technology such as Doc Ock technology and Green Goblin biology
You can be offered a job on campus after completion - Margo is a graduate of this
If your participate in Educational Program, Lyla will be your mentor and you'll report to her
Educational students live in separate dorms, and the program is kinda intense, but VERY fun
There are different focuses in the program
Spider-Geneticists have a short residency after, they help take Spider vitals and oversee Training
You can also specialise in Spider-medicine - in which you work in the Infirmary
There are some CRAZY (secret) Parties all over the Spider-verse.
Disco-Spider loves a good party. Her and Pavi through insane ragers, a new one in a different universe everytime
Miguel has no idea
But partying on the walls and ceiling while Spider-people play super-human live shows in the world's craziest mosh-pit -
Spider-parties hit different.
It's one of the only time everyone is unmasked around each other
There's a really loose dress code
You DO NOT have to wear your suit 24/7. What is someone gonna do, rat you out in your universe?
Everyone is in their suit for ATSV cause Miguel asked them to be completely professional that day (as an intimidation tactic)
That's why Jess, Gwen, Peter, and Hobie are all fine showing their faces as soon as they get to campus.
If anything it's usually seen as weird to be wearing your mask all the time
Casual clothing is allowed. Skirts and dresses without anything underneath aren't allowed (you'll be upsidedown.)
You're expected to have two suits (one main, one spare - you get these at joining) for missions and a separate training outfit for your classes
There's super sports teams
Spidey Football (European not American) expands the rules to all four walls with a ball engineered to stick like Spidey-people do
Track & Swing Team - which Pavitr is a star member of
A small swim-and-dive team for the swimmers, and a small Roller Derby league for the skaters
Pavitr is also a star on the gymnastics team
There's also things like ballet groups, though Gwen doesn't take part
There's a REALLY GOOD Glee club. Spider-strength gives some crazy lung-capacity.
Disco is on the Glee club, and they take it very seriously
Living on campus doesn't threaten your home verse - you'll still be on call!
Lyla monitors all universes for anamolies - sending Anamoly Teams of 2-6
However if your universe experiences a non-anamoly, your watch will be pinged for a mandatory report, and you'll be sent to your universe to handle it
As such, your watch is like a doctor's pager. You can be called for anamolies or your universe at any time (If you're an active member in your universe, living on Society Campus, or have a contact negotiated for that. Class S members like Hobie can negotiate to be Selective Active members)
There's a little underground Spider-market
If you ask Hobie, he can definitely hack your watch for you.
If your Electro has been beating your ass, you can get your hands on electro-resistant webbing without spending points.
The Society has a small group of people willing to trade you for anything you've got, or even just help you out for the hell of it.
You just have to know where and who to ask
There's a couple Spideys that don't pay electric because someone hooked them up with a super clean Futuristic generator
MJ's, Black Cats, Osborns, and Deadpools are allowed on campus with clearance, a daypass, and a chaperone (their Spidey)
Only for short periods, or if they're super injured. An MJ might pop in when Peter forgets his lunch.
Aunt Mays are not.
It's considered very rude to call them by their 'base names' - ie. calling MJs 'Mary-Janes' or calling Black Cats 'Felicias'
Not all MJs are Mary-Janes
Though, using the term 'a Parker' is common on campus to refer to large Peter Parker population
Roughly 45-50% of the people on campus are named Peter.
There's other 'groups' - such as 'Not-Parkers' (Non-Peter iterations like Pavitr), and 'Duplicates' (Hobie Brown, Gwen Stacy, MJs, Felicia Hardy NightSpider etc)
Though calling them these things are way less common or accepted than calling someone a Parker ('Not-Parker'is neutral. 'Duplicate' is offensive)
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neververy4 · 9 months
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xamiipholia · 4 months
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okay y'all seemed to like the last one so here's a few more Horizon 3 thoughts:
Aloy won’t die. It would completely upend the series’ themes and just be really nihilistic.
Since Nemesis is a gestalt entity I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see Sam Witwer, Carrie-Anne Moss, etc again. I’m curious how they’re going to do it because at least structurally, it’s basically a reaper. Maybe it’ll use different Avatars when communicating like the Leviathan in ME3. 
It's gonna take some work to make a flashback/dream/vision not contrived but I would love to see Varl and Rost again. I think we deserve that.
Minerva is gonna have its work cut out for it blocking access to both the dormant Faro Swarm and the ZD terraforming system. 
I wouldn’t be surprised if Nemesis has some sort of corruption function that becomes the equivalent of the corruption in HZD. It would be a really fun tech showcase if GG uses Zenith nanotech for machine corruption and leans into mechanical body horror.
If we’re going to Ban-Ur I really really hope they do the work to make the Banuk less problematic and more fleshed out as a culture. A quasi-Spartan society absolutely would not survive in an extreme environment, *especially* without megafauna to hunt. The Banuk characters are lovely and well-written; they deserve a society as well thought out as the Utaru or Carja. I’m honestly fine if there’s retcons or revamps to the cultural lore because the whole “outsider barges in and becomes chief” is rooted in racist, colonial tropes and we just don’t really need that imo.
The most recent footage of Death Stranding 2 (also running on Decima) has me SO excited for the visuals. GG’s gonna knock it out. The facial rendering and animation that Kojima Productions are doing looks industry-peak and I’m sure GG’s gonna match that. Aloy’s Gay Panic™️ scene on the beach in HBS is already top-tier nonverbal storytelling through animation. Digital Foundry actually just posted a really cool tech breakdown of the current Decima engine. I’m especially excited about the environmental stuff. The ocean simulations in HFW are already incredible and I hope they increase verticality in the world. I can’t wait to see the Sacred Lands in current gen graphics. 
I really love Kotallo’s DIY arm and it’s so so important to his development but Beta and Gaia now have access to Zenith nanotech, maybe give your buddy a sick upgrade hmm?
Speaking of, I can’t wait to see Beta come into her own. She’s one of the best parts of HFW and Aloy’s character absolutely shines in a sibling dynamic. 
I wouldn’t get your hopes up for a romance mechanic. Everyone’s feelings on that aside, it would be really odd from a game development perspective to just overhaul part of how the narrative develops Aloy’s character in the last act of the story. Yeah, there are flashpoints but I would argue that the presence of choice in Horizon is smoke and mirrors- cosmetic at best. Kentucky Route Zero (which you should play) does something similar where the player is given a certain amount of control over the substance of individual conversations and scenarios and it does absolutely nothing to alter the plot, by design. I think it’s the same here - this isn’t really a choice-based RPG, the flashpoints don’t really affect anything plot-wise or for Aloy’s character development. Olin is still out of the story, Nil lives, Regalla still dies one way or another. Aloy’s character development is pretty firmly on rails (think Jin Sakai, not Shepard - you get to guide some momentary character reactions but that’s it). I don’t think HBS is a testing ground either - If they were gonna introduce a romance mechanic I think they’d just do it, and not spend two years making a direct continuation of HFW’s main quest and establishing a specific romance hard-baked into the plot, complete with multiple leitmotifs for the character relationship (which is something they haven’t done before afaik) just to introduce a side quest mechanic coming in 5 years. I genuinely can’t think of any game or dev that has beta tested a major alteration to upcoming game mechanics that way - it doesn’t really make any sense in terms of developer resources, and these games are extremely time-consuming to make. I know this is a thing a bunch of people want and I can totally empathize with that! I just think it’s probably not on the table. 
I would bet money the series will bookend itself and the epilogue will involve a) the naming of Zo and Varl’s kid and b) Lis’ pendant. 
Mostly I'm just looking forward to being surprised. One of my favorite things that Horizon does is use carefully established elements in the world to pull the plot in unexpected directions and keeping the world grounded while they lean into speculative science fiction. I can't wait to see what Guerrilla is cooking up
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indierpgnewsletter · 8 months
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What is XP for?
It feels like there’s been a recent spate of discussion in RPG circles about the role of incentives (usually just referring to experience points, or XP). While a lot of that discussion has been mean-spirited (with a lot of conflating preference for “the only correct way to do things”), I would like to contribute by try to describe the role of XP is in modern tabletop RPG design, using Blades in the Dark as an example. If you’re a designer or a player, hopefully this helps you think about the role of a mechanic like this.
1. XP paces out advancement
This is probably the number one reason that we have XP in games. Historically, in this hobby, games have offered players to way to advance their characters, letting them grow in a way that makes them more powerful or interesting. For example, in Blades in the Dark, by requiring 6-8 XP to upgrade your character, the game paces out the process of getting new abilities to around every 2-3 sessions or so. By tweaking the amount required, it could’ve made this process shorter or longer.
The primary critique of this use of XP comes from people who question whether advancement is necessary at all. These usually come from folks who are who are either perfectly happy with their character “improving” in non-mechanical ways (like buying a house in-game) or people who prefer changes rather than improvements (getting a cool scar rather than getting better at punching).
2. XP as recap procedure
As Judd Karlman mentions on his blog, having an end of session xp procedure is a way to give everyone an opportunity to “think back on when they were kicking ass or being cunning – remember it and celebrate it while ticking off a box”. The idea is that the end of session procedure becomes a kind of ritual to share your favourite highlights from the session, aiming to deliver a good note for the game to end on.
3. XP as incentive
Some games use XP to encourage players to do things that they might not ordinarily do. This is quite common in the kind of games that I play. For example, in Blades in the Dark, you get XP when your character is in desperate situations. The game is trying to encourage players to take risks as opposed to playing it safe (because they might be coming from games where taking risks was less fun).
These kinds of incentives are usually criticized for two main reasons. One, it is unnecessary, i.e., it encourages behavior that needs no encouragement. Two, it has a negative effect on freedom of roleplay by pointing at a “right way to play”.
Stepping back for a second, I think these are both good criticisms that can be more or less valid, depending on the specific game or style of play. In my experience, in general, they’re least valid when they are theoretical, armchair criticism and tend to be most valid when they come from direct play experience.
With Blades in the Dark specifically, I think XP for taking big risks does lead to players shifting gears and playing differently. Not by itself though! It works because it fits within a whole system meant for that kind of story. The XP is just a tiny little signal.
As for narrowing the realm of roleplay, I think this is broadly true of hyper-specific storygames. They are a kind of game that actively tries to provide constraints - but in the same way a writing prompt is a constraint. It’s hard to be creative without them! Some of these games - not all - tend to involve some amount of discovering who your character is, rather than coming in with a specific idea.
That said, it can be frustrating in Blades in the Dark to pick a playbook with a particular character concept in mind and find that you’re out-of-sync with the game’s XP triggers. This kind of misalignment can happen, for sure, and it is a limitation of Blade’s specific design. The solutions tend to be some form of hacking or just switching playbooks. But even with that frustration, I would hesitate to say it’s a problem with XP as a mechanic though.
Though XP doesn’t actually need much defending - like so much of game design convention, the main reason games will continue to include it is because games have always included it. Players have come to expect it! But at the same time, I think XP can always do more and be more (or less!) than it's currently doing. I’m excited for people to look at these functions of XP and innovate, keeping what excites them and finding ways of changing the rest.
(This was first posted on the Indie RPG Newsletter.)
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shina913 · 5 months
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Cold Snap | CSC
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Cold Snap
Pairing: Seungcheol x Fem!Reader
Rating: M 🔞
Genre: Established relationship; domestic au; fluff
Warnings: some teasing; allusions to sex
Word count: 1K words
Summary: You wake up and realize that your apartment's heater broke again.
A/N: Just a little something to break my writing drought. Dedicated to my friends, @/roaminginthenights and @/yoongukie-ff who have contributed to my most recent Cheol brainrot. Enjoy!
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You wake up slowly, feeling a sudden chill in the air. It was still dark out and you wonder if it's just your imagination or a lingering dream. But when your teeth start to chatter, you realize that the room feels colder than it did when you went to bed.
Despite some upgrades over the years, certain aspects of your old apartment building remained on the 'vintage' side – including the heating system. Recently, your building manager repaired the radiator valves in your unit. They had been malfunctioning when you tried to turn them on during random cool days in the fall.
And because all weather reports in your area warned the public about a record-setting drop in temperatures this season, you needed the heaters to work, most especially on a day like today—the official first day of winter.
You roll over onto your side and interrupt Seungcheol's rhythmic snoring with a nudge.
His drowsiness is replaced by concern when he sees your bottom lip quivering. "What's wrong?"
"Did you turn the heater off?"
He immediately snorts at your accusatory tone. "Me? No, that’s all you, babe."
Seungcheol typically felt cold easily while your internal body temperature ran warmer. You suggested that he get thicker blankets or try sleeping in additional layers of clothing. Instead, he preferred to turn up the thermostat so he could sleep comfortably in his boxers. You, being the more cost-effective-minded half of this relationship, would switch it off in the middle of the night to save money on your energy bill.
However, last night was no joke! You didn’t mind the heater running all night.
"I didn't. It was freezing so I kept it on!"
"Welcome to my world." Before he rolls over to go back to sleep, you grab onto his shirt.
"Can you please check the valve? I think it broke again."
He shakes his head. “That’s impossible. We just got it fixed!”
“Just double-check, please?” You give him your best puppy-eye look, not wanting to leave the warm confines of your blankets.
He sighs and gives a quick nod before getting out of bed.
As soon as he is out of the warm sheets and feels the cold air on his bare chest, he curses under his breath. Before taking another step, he retrieves his hoodie from the nearby chair where he had tossed it the night before.
After putting it on, he makes his way toward the radiator on the other side of the room. He crouches down to inspect the valve.
"Huh. That's weird," he murmurs.
Before you can ask about what he noticed, he stands up and walks into the living room to check the controls there.
A minute later, he returns, visibly frustrated. He picks up his cellphone from the nightstand and makes a call.
“You’re right. It’s broken again,” he huffs, preparing to leave a voicemail for your building manager about the broken heating system in your unit.
There’s something about him taking control like this that turns you on. He stands by his side of the bed, in his boxers and hoodie, with a calm but stern voice.
It was the same voice he used when you permitted him to boss you around in bed. Another chill travels down your spine but not from the cold.
When he hangs up, he reaches for his joggers, which were laid on the same chair he reclaimed his hoodie from, and slips back into bed with you.
“Fucking nightmare,” he grunted. “Too bad it’s the weekend and we can’t get this fixed right away. Guess we’ll have stop by the store to grab a couple of space heaters right when it opens.”
Unfortunately, that wasn’t for another few hours.
As he buries himself deeper into the cozy comfort of your sheets, a shiver runs down his spine due to the draft that envelops your apartment. ”We can’t live like this,” he pouts.
With a mischievous smile playing on your lips, you respond, "You know, there’s another way we can warm up and make the most out of this situation while we wait for the stores to open."
“And what’s that?” He mumbles curiously from under the collar of his hoodie.
You scoot closer to him, wedging one arm between his body and the mattress, and encircle his waist with the other. Then, you gently slide your hand up underneath his hoodie.
“Ahh, your hands feel like ice!” he squeaks in surprise, his body stiffening at the contact.
“Or maybe they’ll warm up quicker if I go this way?” You slide both hands lower, past his waistband to palm his ass cheeks.
"Okay, okay! I get your point!" he half-yelps and chuckles at your mischief.
When his laughter subsides, he asks, "Wouldn't this be more effective with direct skin-on-skin contact? Like...without clothes on?"
The way he catches his lower lip with his teeth and cocks his eyebrow makes your pulse quicken.
You pretend to be ignorant, saying, "Well, I'm no scientist, so I wouldn't really know." You give his cheeks another firm squeeze.
"Well then, we should find out." He moves away slightly from your touch, just enough to remove his hoodie. "You know, for science!"
You suppress a laugh, fully aware of his playful intentions. “And if it doesn't work?”
He kicks off his boxers and pulls you flush against him. “Then I know a foolproof way for us to work up a sweat.”
When he nestles into your neck and begins kissing you, you let out a sigh, melting into him. You barely notice him removing your bottoms.
He hums and pulls your top up and over your head. The moment your bare skin touches his, a wave of sensation rushes through your body, causing you to gasp.
"I mean, if it's for science," you moan in acquiescence.
As his kisses trail down to your breasts, he asks, "Are you warm enough now?"
"Why don't you move a little lower and we'll reassess then?"
He laughs softly against your skin but doesn't object. Instead, he does what he’s told, and you spend the next few hours tangled up in bed until sunrise.
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Main SVT Fic Masterlist
Thank you so much for reading!
If you loved it, please comment, reblog, or send me feedback! 📩. I love hearing from readers! If you didn’t like it so much, I would still like to hear about it. Help me become a better writer! 💜
Tagging: @roaminginthenights; @yoongukie-ff
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sirfrogsworth · 3 months
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This article gets rewritten about every 3 months by someone who thinks they are writing it for the first time.
Also, no chance I am going into that comment section.
I'll make it very simple. Pretty much all cameras are great now. Most smartphone cameras are great.
So you can get great photos with *any* sensor size.
You just have to assess your needs and decide which system will help you achieve your photographic goals.
Full frame sensors make it much easier to...
Shoot in cramped spaces. Get background blur. Shoot a scene with bright brights and dark darks. (dynamic range) Shoot in low light with less noise.
APS-C sensors...
Slightly harder to get background blur. Not as good in cramped spaces. Slightly less dynamic range. Slightly more noise in low light. Give you near full frame quality at a lower price point.
Micro 4/3 sensors...
Give you lightweight and portable gear while maintaining the advantage of using different lenses. Can be more expensive. Great for beginner videography. Can do decent background blur with a speedbooster and fast lens. Give you a nice bump in quality over smartphones in challenging circumstances.
Smartphone sensors...
Are always in your pocket.
If you have the money and want to make getting good photos in challenging circumstances easier, get a full frame. Used full frame DSLRs are cheaper than they have ever been.
If you are on a tight budget and want everything a full frame does but don't mind it being about 1.5x harder to do so, get APS-C. If you go with Canon or Nikon, you can choose your lenses in a way that allows you to upgrade to full frame later on.
If you want to use a proper camera with interchangeable lenses but you don't feel like carrying a heavy camera bag with you everywhere, get a micro 4/3. Be warned, these cameras are usually more expensive than APS-C. They often have cool retro styling and try to give you a more fun photography experience. Panasonic M4/3 can be a great entry level videography camera. Fuji has some neat retro film emulation. Speedbooster accessories can allow you to retain some reasonable background blur.
For everything else, just use your phone because phones are great at everything except indoor low light situations.
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cassimothwin · 1 year
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So you're looking for a system other than D&D...
Have you tried solo RPGs? Because it's not just "how can I play D&D alone" there's a whole world of cool stuff out there….And I want to tell you about it.
(I'm quite sick today so please forgive any incoherence or typos.)
First off, it's totally fine if you're more of a party person over a solo person. I just know a lot of people aren't aware of solo games, how they work, or the breadth of diversity you find among them.
If you ask about solo games, the first one mentioned is almost always Ironsworn. It's freeeee and comes with a lot of resources. The PDF is over 200 pages, so I understand if you don't want to dive in with Ironsworn quite yet.
Ironsworn has a large community, including support for Foundry and Roll20, along with many derivative works. It offers a gritty default fantasy setting, but encourages you to ignore that if you prefer another world… maybe one from another RPG you enjoy the lore from…?
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BUT maybe you want something that isn't as much of a commitment (and maybe a little sad)?
Many Wretched and Alone games use a tumbling block tower to simulate a random ticking clock. It might represent your failing mental health, the barricade crumbling, the ship sinking…
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One of the creators of the system has a great thread highlighting their favorite games. Just search Wretched an Alone on Itch.io to find even more.
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And if you don't want to go buy a Jenga tower, there are some great random simulators out there. I've been able to play W&A games on road trips, using a deck simulator, a dice simulator, and a tumbling tower simulator. Here's tower replacement I like. It replicates the odds of a tumbling tower falling without being too complicated.
Carta is another cool system where you use a standard deck of playing cards to create a map that you explore. As you explore, you usually have to manage resourses to avoid something bad, but not always.
Here's a collection of several games made using Carta.
Dead Belt takes this concept and RUNS with it. You have a few things to track as you explore abandoned randomized ship decks, searching for a good payload. Upgrade your gear and do it again.
Does the thought of managing your character sound exciting? Do you enjoy soulslike games, like Elden Ring and Bloodborne?
Rune is a fresh release with a lot of third-party support already. It's pretty easy to pick up and play too.
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Apothecaria and Apawthecaria have you making potions for the local village. Go out exploring, collect ingredients, and see if you can solve the greater mysteries of the land.
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Interested in horror, but want a more narrative-driven experience? In Dwelling, you'll spend the night sleepless and alone in a haunted house. This is a very neat game.
Songs of the City is a delightful tarot game that you play once a day for a week. It's another narrative-driven game where you draw cards and cast magic to see small neat changes in the city you reside in.
Anamnesis, Anamnesis, Anamnesis. I talk about this game a lot because it's magical in its simplicity. There's nothing to track and it's an incredible way to generate character ideas or tell a story.
And now there are more Anamnesis games coming out (including mine) You don't need the original games to play any of the games you see here.
There are so many more games I want to talk about, but alas, this cold is making me stop there.
If you've written a solo game, streamed one, reviewed one, or have one you really like, I invite you to share it!
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cerastes · 2 months
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As someone who hasn't touched it yet- how does IS4 stack up? How's first impressions been?
Ok, let me give my thoughts on IS4, now that it's been a week!
TL;DR -> This Rocks, I love it.
IS4 is far, far more polished than IS3. I feel a bit bad blasting and slamming IS3 so much, but the bottom line with it is that it's just very very flawed in ways that really make it hard to revisit it in the same way IS2 is always a fun romp.
If I had to point out flaws with IS4, it'd be that, on a personal level, I wish it had a few more Normal Arknights Maps. The vast majority of maps in IS4 are pranks and checks of some sort. This isn't necessarily a negative, but I do like playing some Tower Defense more frequently than what IS4 allows, since it's always got me worried about "oh god my team lacks X, Floor Y's Map Z checks X, if I get it, I'll D I E " so I try to go for my super tried and true team instead of daring to experiment all that much. This will eventually pass, but it's been a Thing for me.
Besides that, though? I just have a lot of good things to say about it. The systems feel like they were thought out this time: The Fordartals (sp?) system allows for a lot of player expression, agency, and just in general fun in a way the Light system of IS3 can simply never hope to compare to. About the only thing the Light system did right was the way it worked thematically: If you wish to confront The Corrupting Heart, you really, really gotta go in the dark, and for the best possible chance against, Izumik, Mizuki must find the Light again and be filled with hope. Yeah ok sure, thematically, these work, but the gameplay component sucks ass, because Light exists almost exclusively as a form of punishment and in basically no way as something you can use. It opens some roads, sure, but that Rogue Trader and Wish Fulfilled node are not worth having 9 out of you 11 Operators with Metastatic. Speaking of Metastatic, the single worst thing Arknights has done, even if you are maxed out on Collapse in IS4 and are packing four fully upgraded maluses, THAT STILL DOESN'T COMPARE to how bad Metastatic was. Let that sink in.
The endings are no longer RNG! Absolutely wonderful!
Eik is the first IS 2nd Boss I can say I think is good! Frozen Monstrosity was just annoying, Big Sad Lock is incredibly static, and The Last Knight, in my opinion, is the single worst and most boring boss in the entire game, not even just the game mode. Eik is like if The Last Knight didn't suck: Same principle, but done in a way that is actually not snooze-inducing. Mind you, the principle of the fight is still not something I enjoy, but unlike The Last Knight, that's wholly a me thing, as opposed to being an objectively awful and boring fight (like The Last Knight, the worst and most boring boss in Arknights).
Even though I said I'd like some more normal maps, the maps are good, to be honest! I can't think of any Fire and Water Unions or Out of Controls.
IS4 is the Smash of Arknights: (Almost) Everyone Is Here! Brush up on your gimmicks from various events, because they WILL appear.
The Midboss philosophy in IS4 is lovely, in my opinion: It's low HP bosses who can quickly fuck you up in their own way, be it stun, immense conditional damage, or simply supporting their team so well that you get overwhelmed. The Variant stages for the bosses are entire new maps, so that's also cool.
Collapsal enemies are congruent with the map design: Collapsals can be very quick, with a caveat: Normal Collapsal mobs speed up after they get hit, Casters speed up after not attacking for a bit, Aerials are fast but always have many loops and never directly go to the point until after a while. Shattered Champions are the exception, and they can either loop a while or just go straight for the jugular, making them apt Elite units for the faction.
There's much more I could say more concisely, but really, just try the game mode, get your ass kicked a bit, learn it, and then you'll see how coherent the design of IS4 is in terms of systems, maps, enemies, and features. Sorry, IS3, but you got your ass absolutely kicked like I did on my Waves 15 runs when you'd give my 2 main DPS units Metastatic on Floor 5.
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ladydiaries · 2 months
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hihi! i dunno if requests are open rn but if they are, can i request nsfw or sfw hcs of vox x (preferably AMAB! reader, but gn's fine too!) a socially awkward reader?? tysm!! take care of yourself and take your time! :3
Sparks ✧˚ ༘ ⊹ .ᐟ .ᐟ
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CW; minors do not interact, 18+ content, praise, vox electrocutes you like twice, AMAB, biting , edging , breeding, oral (giving). Rambles + hcs under the cut!
SUMMARY; general SFW &&. NSFW hcs of vox x socially awkward AMAB! Reader
HCS + RAMBLES
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AUTHORS NOTE; TYSMMM for requesting!! I'm excited to write an AMAB reader. There is a serious drought of them, Going to use he/him pronouns for this one.
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Of course, if this relationship is established I believe he would treat you like you're the only man in the world. His bitchy exterior is totally a front and inside he's a bit more lax, corny, and to your surprise, charming. Taking you on dates, presenting you with flowers.
Even better if he had intentions of manipulating you first, spiralling into the embarrassing realisation that he's in love with you. Ranting to Valentino and Velvet about his dilemma. Sure to tease him about it whenever you're around. Fast forward into the actual relationship, at the beginning he would have trouble not seeing you as some sort of possession.
Something to hide and keep, which due to your introverted nature, you didn't particularly mind not going out often, overtime he would loosen up, taking you on dates, more focused on showing you off then gatekeeping you, confused as to why you were so much more shy in the public then in private.
hogs the bed, face (screen) down, limbs everywhere.
An AWFUL cook. Could imagine a baking date and if you are good, wonderful. You can teach him, and if you too are also awful, you can feed your shit cookies to Valentino.
Insists on doing small things for you to boost his ego, will speak for you at restaurants and public settings
Will make you learn how to repair and upgrade his systems. Thinks it's romantic
If you work for him, he will purposely give you jobs that don't require public speaking, will never admit to it though.
NSFW.
This man FUCKS. You are a lucky boy because he has stamina. Will fuck you for hours on end, clawed hands running loosely against your cock as he pistoned into you from behind. Barely touching you enough to make you cum, you've been here for hours. Bringing you so, so, close to your sweet release before daggered fingers plunge into your soft skin.
He's the type of man to use praises while you suck him off. Unyielding grip on your hair. Hips rutting up slowly into your mouth. The intrusion making you struggle to swallow your gag reflex.
Whiny. He's the epitome of whiny men. Screen scrolling in between different levels of brightness, furrowed brows as you place open mouthed kisses against his body. Fingers mingling around the back panel of his screen.
very experimental, will try pretty much everything
If he overheats, he will pass out. Had to install a better cooling system due to shutting down too much.
Cock is ridged. A steel navy blue colour, leading towards a blue tip. Detachable, can change sizes, widths or not have one at all.
Cums a lot, a thick substance. Likes to watch it drip out of you, tastes like pennies.
Thrives to see your embarrassment while teasing you in public. Hand wandering too far down your waist or foot pressing against your groin while sitting across from him during a meeting.
Depending on his schedule, he can either be the best or the worst at aftercare. On a busy day he could probably care less but on day's off or weekends he's all for it. Bathing you, gathering treats, snuggling neatly in bed to watch whatever show peaks your interest in the moment.
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theminecraftbee · 6 months
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second’s slightly arbitrary guide to vault hunters knowledge unlocks
so, one of the main questions I see new vault hunters players have is “which mods should I unlock in what order?” unlike skills or even, if expensively, expertises, mod unlocks in vault hunters are completely irreversible, which means they can be kind of intimidating for new players. so here’s my (somewhat arbitrary) guide to what to unlock! keep in mind I’m not a “top player” or anything, so these might not be the PERFECT meta picks, just a guide for new guys.
also if your question is “but I have one knowledge star and am like level 5 what do I unlock NOW”, the answer is probably vault compasses if you’re getting lost, either stack upgrades or double pouches if you’re having inventory management issues (depending on whether “numerous stacks of common items” or “many types of items” is currently your larger problem), or storage drawers if overworld storage is giving you nightmares.
additionally, my biggest unlocking mods advice is to check how much the thing you want to do costs in materials before unlocking it. nothing sucks more than unlocking a cool mod and only realizing you need an echo pog to interact with it and you’re only level 15 afterwards, after all!
anyway let’s go, general guide beneath the cut.
STORAGE MODS
these mods give you the first three without price increases before they start getting more expensive, which is useful, since people almost always combine more than one solution. even after they start getting more expensive, it’s only +1, so this is a category you should get the thing you want or need in when you want it without worrying about it locking you out of other options later.
Storage Drawers are the backbone to basically everyone’s storage system. they work fairly simply: each drawer can store a certain number of stacks of a single item. add upgrades to increase the number of stacks or make the drawers automatically void excess. if they are connected by other drawers or trim to a drawer controller, you can double-click the controller to move everything in your inventory that goes into a drawer to one of them, and that controller acts as a port for other storage interacting with it. because they can store an absurd quantity of items, are way cheaper than basically every other storage option, and are useful right up to the late game, these are by far and away the most common first storage option. I can’t recommend them enough. even early game before you can afford a controller they clean up your inventory SIGNIFICANTLY with the number of stacks they can hold.
Colossal Chests are a trap earlygame. unlike regular chests, you can’t use quark’s sorting or searching functions, which means they’re effectively the “hiding it under the bed” solution to chest monsters. however, mid-game once you actually have another storage mod, these become fantastic, since they’re much cheaper and use much more common materials than storage disks and capable of storing large amounts of items. the largest one you can make in vault hunters is 5x5 for the record. a lot of people like using this with ssn to help reduce lag.
Simple Storage Network is… controversial. it’s the cheapest early way to make a searchable storage network, but it gets very laggy the more chests you attach to it, and many of a storage system’s most useful functions are no longer possible to craft in vault hunters because of it. also, it eats items with NBT data, so never store crystals, jewels, gear, or similar things in it. my general recommendation is to do whatever you want in singleplayer (although if you want a crafting interface you’ll need to upgrade out of this eventually), but in multiplayer only use it if you’re using colossal chests or something else that prevents you from having to make massive silos of chests, and save your server the headache. it’s only one knowledge point, though, and it’s much cheaper generally than the digital options, so I totally understand why people go for it, and it can super be worth it early game when you just need to be able to search your inventory! just be aware of the caveats.
Applied Energistics 2 is one of your two main digital storage options. digital storage should be your end goal with a storage system! it is the more complex of the two. my understanding is that it’s cheaper if you know what you’re doing, as well as more powerful, but that it’s notoriously a beast for people who don’t know it to try to understand. if you don’t have good spacial reasoning skills maybe stay clear, but if you do and you like a more involved storage approach, go with this. also, be aware you’ll need something that can produce power in order to use this mod. (ae2 comes with power generation on its own, but I don’t remember if you can craft that in vault hunters or not.)
Refined Storage is the other of your two main digital storage options. digital storage should be your end goal with a storage system! compared to ae2, refined storage is fairly straightforward, but it’s slightly more expensive and a bit less powerful at its highest levels. it is the one I recommend to most people, though, just because “straightforward” is really valuable if you don’t want everything to be a puzzle. also, be aware that you’ll need a mod that can produce power to use this mod.
Mekanism QIO is a third digital storage option you can only use with Mekanism unlocked. my understanding is that it’s quite powerful, although it does not work with altar automation. most people won’t use this on account of mekanism being a pre-requisite and mekanism being fairly late-game, but if you want to use it, it’s almost certainly just as good of an option as the rest!
LOOTING MODS
the majority of these are pouch upgrades, but this also contains bulk soul dust recycling and the vault junk controller. these mods get more expensive by two points for every one you get, so the order does matter somewhat; remember for each mod in this category you get that is not “a bigger pouch”, the slightly further away bigger pouches get, and for each bigger pouch you get, the further away other inventory management gets. so it’s a balance for when you get what! that said, most players end up unlocking basically everything in this category eventually, because it’s all quite useful, and even at maximum price it doesn’t get as expensive as the production mods or big mods or big toys get. unlock things as you need them in this category. I tend to unlock things in this category whenever I have the knowledge stars to unlock it and nothing else I want to save up for at that exact moment!
Bigger Pouches are the vast majority of the unlocks here (being double pouches, belts, small backpacks, and large backpacks). they’re prerequisites for each other, so you have to unlock them one by one. normally, I unlock them when the pouches I have aren’t cutting it. that said you could just as easily get by with a small army of smaller pouches, you just won’t be able to fit as many upgrades! so this is a mileage may vary thing.
Stack Upgrades are the most useful pouch upgrades, and should be the first ones you buy. these are multiplicative by each other—two tier 2 stack upgrades in the same pouch don’t add 8x the number of stacks a single slot can hold, but 16x! these also mean pouches with a lot of stack upgrades can be a poor man’s storage drawers in a pinch. you will need these, get them before you upgrade past double pouches.
Refill Upgrades are one of the two QOL pouch upgrades. you can save this until late, but the ability to automatically always have a stack of an item (or, well, up to nine items!) in your hotbar is extremely handy for things like marking blocks, kiwis, and food, and helps save hotbar space and time managing inventory. I personally find this more useful than the feeder upgrade but that’s a preference thing.
Feeder Upgrades do one thing only: automatically have you eat a food (which can be controlled with a whitelist/blacklist) from the pouch it’s installed in when your hunger goes down. this seems sort of arbitrary in vaults since hunger doesn’t heal your health but it’s actually really nice and once you get used to it you’ll be so sad whenever you don’t have it. set the food it feeds you to vault sweets and literally never have to worry about your hunger bar again. this is normally either the last pouch upgrade I get or second-to-last (before big backpacks) but I could totally justify getting it way sooner.
Junk Controller is… interesting. it sometimes doesn’t play nice with pickup upgrades and pouches, although I think that’s fixes at this point. it automatically voids items you pick up in the vault that are on its list of controlled items. it’s capable of handling WAY more than a void upgrade can, but honestly I find the advanced void upgrade can do everything I need it to when it comes to voiding vault items, and the junk controller is pretty expensive. however, if you’d prefer not to have to use void upgrades and to never have to deal with vault junk again, I could see this being the thing for you!
Soul Harvester is pure QOL. it is so much faster than and so much more efficient than the soul diffuser that I recommend everyone get it at SOME POINT, if only to make processing things into soul dust more efficient, but if you don’t do much recycling it’s probably not very useful for you.
POWER MODS
this is the first category on the list that makes other mods in the category enough more expensive that the order you unlock in, and whether you unlock at all, matters, at +6 per mod. you will also almost inevitably need at least one of these no matter what you do. as such, this category can be overwhelming for people. luckily it has an answer! the answer is powah. you should get powah. yes I know it’s the most expensive one and means you’ll have to wait longer but you’ll thank me later.
Iron Generators are sort of a trap. they’re cheap at low levels and good for early game, but the cost for higher-level power generation is very high compared to how much power they make, they burn fuel whether something is currently drawing power or not, they don’t come with any kind of cables so you’ll need a handling mod to move the power or to place them directly next to the things they need to power, they can’t charge items like the mining gadget or the building gadget, and they make everything else in the category more expensive. however with all of that said: if all you’re doing is powering an RS system, then yeah, you’re probably fine to just use these forever and buying these as the cheap option is probably fine.
Powah is the most versatile of the options here and comes with literally everything you need to make a decent self-sustaining power grid. the best generators for most people are the solar panels, which only require direct sunlight, and thermo generators, which provide power as long as they’re above a heat source and provided water. a supplementaries sink (which doesn’t require a mod unlock) or a thermal expansion aqueous accumulator (which does) can do that job easily. additionally, batteries are really useful for various gadgets, the ender network lets you move power remotely, and it can charge items inside its energy cells. the main downside to this mod is that it’s a royal pain in the ass to actually CRAFT any of this; while most of the individual ingredients aren’t that expensive, there are normally many steps to any higher level craft and the base ingredients add up. luckily, mod boxes are really good with this mod, and you can normally get a decent system running from almost only those.
Flux Networks are vault hunters’s best option for storing and moving power around. this mod doesn’t come with power generation options on its own, but it’s the most powerful for transferring power around by far. a good purchase in tandem with another mod.
Botania Flux Fields allows you to turn botania mana into power. it doesn’t come with any cables, so you’ll need a handling mod to move the power around, but as several botania mana flowers can be made self-sustaining, this is probably an interesting option if you already have botania before you need any power.
Thermal Dynamos are like if iron generators were actually good. they require constant fuel like an iron generator, but they have a much wider variety of things they can burn and actually produce meaningful power. they require thermal expansion to unlock, though, so I’ve never used them by virtue of the fact that by the time I have thermal expansion, I almost always also have powah. they also don’t come with cables.
Mekanism Generators are the best solution for producing very large amounts of power. the mekanism reactor is more than the vast majority of players will ever need, but if you’re getting deep enough into mekanism that you need a nuclear reactor’s level of power generation, you should accept no substitute. once again though for most people a large powah setup will normally cover your needs, this is, quite literally, the nuclear option.
HANDLING MODS
these mods don’t do much on their own, but they make handling output from other mods much easier. they make each other somewhat significantly more expensive, but tend to be overall cheaper than power mods, so even with that +5 knowledge points required for each new mod in the category, it’s not normally hard to get more than one. these are a very “get them as you need and/or want them” category, but you’ll almost always find yourself wanting at least one, if not more, to get things done.
Modular Routers are probably the best mod in this category. they do just about everything, able to wirelessly transfer items, fluids, or power, sure, but also able to activate things like a player, automatically kill mobs, vacuum items (or experience!) from the ground, and probably more. a common sight in many vault hunters bases are the signature laser beams of routers shooting things around. they can be a little complicated to understand at first and I highly recommend watching someone like iskall use them when you’re starting out, but once you understand them you will soon learn to love them. they work by creating a router, then placing “modules” in that router that tell it what to do. you can also add upgrades to the routers! this is my biggest recommended handling mod; if you only get one, this is the one that can do most everything anything else in this category can.
Pipez are simple: they’re fairly cheap pipes that move items, fluids, power, or gasses from one place to another. this is the quick and cheap option for handling, and are often the most intuitive. the downside is that you physically need to lay the pipes between places, so they take up a lot of space. fun bonus fact: at a certain level of power draw, a power pipe with an advanced pipe upgrade will be MUCH cheaper for rate of power transfer than using powah cables. I learned this the hard way. in general these are fast, minimally laggy, and surprisingly useful, especially for fluids (or gasses if you’re using mekanism).
XNet is presumably powerful but I don’t know anyone who uses it on account of it also being kind of complicated. my understanding is that if you have any kind of item/energy/etc transfer that you want to apply interesting logic to, this is your solution, so it’s probably nice as the “brain” of your base. I can’t say much else because I don’t use it though.
Dark Utilities is a small but handy mod. its biggest draw are its plates, which are items that can be placed like a carpet that do things to entities that step on them. most notable are the vector plates, which push a mob in the direction they point and the various damage plates, including a non-lethal damage plate that’s great for exp farms or the player damage plate, which makes mob drops fully AFK-able. also not to be discounted are a few redstone odds and ends (including a randomizer) and special blocks that only certain types of entities can pass through (great for filtering in farms). this mod is almost always recommended in tandem with ispawners, but can be useful in all kinds of farms outside of that too.
Iron Furnaces are basically a fancy QOL mod: they let you make really absurdly fast furnaces, including ones that are powered by power instead of fuel. they’re almost surprisingly useful though; a fast furnace can save you a whole lot of time!
Automatic Genius is—well, if you’re at the point of unlocking automatic genius, you probably already know, to be honest. it’s auto-crafting, it’s useful, it practically has the entire game as prerequisites so. there’s that.
BIG MODS
this category is one of the ones that gets to people, because it’s one of the +12 categories. whenever you pick a mod in this category, make sure it’s one you want, because the next one will be very expensive! chances are if you’re a modded player, you already have an opinion about which of these four is the most useful to you, but if you aren’t, I’ll attempt to give some tips.
Thermal Expansion is probably the easiest of the four for a new player to understand. it requires power generation, but most of this mod works by simply building a machine, which then does that machine’s one thing. (for example, the redstone furnace, which cooks things using redstone, or the pulverizer, which crushes things.) I personally really like thermal; it’s extremely straightforward and compact and decently powerful as an earlygame option. it also sort of has ore doubling; you can pulverize raw chromatic iron to make two raw chromatic iron dust, which can then be smelted to two ingots, but for other ores the ratios are a bit messier and often comes out to “just use fortune and a normal furnace unless you need the secondary products”. still, very useful as a mod!
Create is a mod you probably already know; it’s taken the world by storm, after all. building create contraptions is fun and more intuitive than redstone and routing power to a lot of people, and it has a number of very useful tools, such as the crushing wheel and its ability to ore double, the various ways you can convert items using fans, and one of the very few ways to automatically farm trees in vault hunters. the main downside of create is that it’s deceptively expensive in larimar and chromatic iron and that it can’t produce power. also, in my experience, create is the laggiest of the big mods, although your mileage may vary on that front.
Botania is a magic mod that’s secretly actually a tech mod. it doesn’t require power, instead using its own power called mana, and can be used to do a large number of useful things, including farming trees, making cobwebs and other rare and hard to make altar ingredients, and making some very pretty decorative blocks. personally, I always had trouble wrapping my head around botania for some reason, which is silly since I’ve somewhat figured out mekanism, an objectively more complicated mod. of the four big mods, botania definitely helps you get the most hard-to-get and unique blocks, but it’s the only one that doesn’t have any kind of ore doubling.
Mekanism can get you as much as quintupling your ores, has a number of fairly high-powered machines, but is also really complicated in a lot of places and requires an entire power grid to use effectively. also, the mek suit isn’t in vault hunters, if you wanted that. I love mekanism I think it’s very fun also you should NOT get this as your first big mod unless you have so many resources to spare. make this your second one at the very least, it’s VERY late-game, but enjoy it when you do.
UTILITY MODS
unlike the last several categories, these don’t make each other more expensive ever! instead, these are all mostly small but useful mods that don’t fit in another category. whenever you want one of these go ahead and buy it, there’s no reason not to and it won’t make anything else more expensive!
Vault Compasses is one of the most useful mods in the game. all it adds is a vault compass, which is a compass that always points back to the entrance of the vault. you can also hold down shift+right click to set it to point to a new point in the vault, such as a loadstone in an elixir vault or the last monolith in a defeat the guardians vault. it costs four netherite ingots, which is a lot in the early game when most people get this, but it’s VERY WORTH IT. you’ll never be lost again!
Elevators create a special block that, when above or below each other, let you jump to teleport up to an elevator above you or crouch to an elevator below you. they’re very useful in bases with verticality; I like to use them to hide a lot of my storage and mechanisms in a basement that’s invisible from the main build, lol, but they’re handy for any kind of similar thing. pro tip: you can disguise them as any block by right-clicking them with that block!
Trash Cans are what they sound like: a special block that permanently destroys what you put in them. they can have a whitelist/blacklist, and you can pipe or hopper items into them. they’re handy for things like getting rid of unwanted armor from mob farms or other junk items that would otherwise clog up your handling.
Waystones allow you to teleport to pre-determined locations; a waystone lets you interact with it to teleport to any other waystone you’ve found, if you have the mod unlocked, and the teleport pads teleport you to a specific other pad. they’re just extremely handy for getting around a server, and on my friends’ server we just give everyone a knowledge star to unlock these on day one so we can get to each other’s bases easier.
Torch Master gives you several tools for preventing mob spawning. there are ways to prevent both passive and hostile mobs from spawning, and to place large amounts of light. the mega torch has a pretty wide radius too, so it’s fairly easy to cover your whole base.
Altar Automation is the only prohibitively expensive utility mod; this is meant for use lategame. it can be bound to either an ae2 or rs controller, and then will automatically take items from that storage system to complete the altar for you, leaving your only job to hit the button and get the crystal. it’s very handy, but also deliberately meant for buying after you’ve mostly already got all the other mods you want.
BIG TOYS
all of these mods are fancy QOL mods. they all require power, so don’t get one before you have a power source! additionally, only building gadgets come with a way to charge, so make sure you either have batteries or a way to charge before getting these. at +12, this is once again a category where order matters. however, since they’re all QOL, it’s a less massively consequential choice than your choice of production or big mods. go with the one that vibes with you most.
Building Gadgets are tools to help you place blocks, copy/paste structures, swap blocks, and delete blocks. they’re held in your inventory but require power, which means they either need to be charged or you need to have a battery. luckily, they come with the enercell for charging. I can’t express enough HOW MUCH EASIER these make building large structures; the base building gadget alone speeds up building massively. I highly recommend these on any skyblock world just for sheer ease of building platforms, but also anyone who likes Big Buildings should probably consider them.
Weirding Gadgets are chunk loaders. they require power. not much else to explain other than the obvious “be careful on servers when you are leaving your farms loaded please”, I think.
Mining Gadgets is a mod that gives you a cool laser to mine blocks with. I love my mining gadget, it’s very fun, but fully upgrading a mining gadget is very expensive in chromatic steel (and in echo for the magnet and void upgrades) and a very, very solid argument can be made that the only advantage this thing has over a hammer is that it has a long range, the ability to automatically place lights, and the ability to stop liquids in their track. meanwhile, it has the very large disadvantage of requiring being charged with power, costing a lot to get upgraded, and not being able to mine more than a 3x3. it’s up to you if any of those benefits sound like they beat a hammer to you and you decide to get it.
Digital Miner is a mekanism device that automatically mines out everything in an area for you (rather like an old-school quarry). just place it in a location, give it power, and let it run! like most mekanism devices, this thing requires a lot of power, and it is, once again, arguably slower and more expensive than a hammer. however, it’s also fully automatic and requires no effort on your part to get a LOT of resources, so it can be very worth it for those who do not enjoy mining themselves!
PRODUCTION MODS
arguably even more consequential than the big mods you choose are the production mods. which production mod you go with will decide on a multiplayer server what is your “thing” and what requires trading; on singleplayer it will decide which altars will be easy for you and which will be hard. there’s also no right choice here (although I’d argue there are two wrong ones). at +12, it’ll be a bit until you unlock your second one, so choose wisely!
SNAD is a trap. it vastly speeds up the growth of things that can grow on sand but it’s just not worth the +12 to everything else for that alone—and that really is all you get. don’t get it.
Easy Piglins are less of a trap but still a trap. they allow you to put piglins in special boxes for trading, as well as make automatic traders. however they don’t really do anything that picking up a piglin, putting it in a hole near your portal, and throwing gold at it manually doesn’t do, so for the +12 to everything else, for my money, this one isn’t worth it.
Easy Villagers by contrast is worth it. while the ability to pick up villagers and easily re-roll trades doesn’t require unlocking this, the various villager blocks this mod unlocks are very handy for doing trades much easier. it also comes with one-block breeders, iron farms, and crop farms, and the ability to automate any of them, including the villager trades. personally I tend to find villager trades aren’t my main alter bottleneck, so I go for this last, but someone else may disagree with me on it, and honestly I don’t blame them. a solid choice.
Cagerium is one of the two mob farming options. cagerium works by creating terrariums for passive mobs, mob cages for hostile mobs, or a binding plate for boss mobs, and then putting spawn eggs you get from the vault in them. it then outputs that mob’s drops into a chest below, passively. you can put up to four eggs in a cage to make it faster, but you need a skeleton key to swap out what’s in a cage. also, it’s slow compared to ispanwers. however, it’s cheaper early game, doesn’t require building a farm, and is better at a few edge-case mobs (namely, boss mobs like the wither or ender dragon if you get one of those eggs and shulkers, because shulkers are a nightmare).
iSpawners is the other mob farming option. this lets you create an expensive item called a survival spawner that works like a regular vanilla mob spawner, only you can pick it up and move it, it’s much faster, you can swap what egg is in it whenever, and it is active in a much larger radius of the player. ispawners are more reusable and much faster at producing drops than cagerium, but they require infrastructure like a farm to be built around the survival spawner to be effective, and while the survival spawner is a one-time craft it’s a VERY VERY expensive one. which of the two you prefer is a matter of preference.
Botony Pots are one of the two plant-growing options. this mod lets you make pots that automatically grow plants over time, including plenty that can’t be farmed normally, such as spore blossoms or small dripleaf. the hopper botony pot has been made more expensive than it used to be, so it’s at parity or more expensive than swapping things out of a phytogenic insulator to have a lot of them, but for passively farming plants, botony pots are still king. the one plant it can’t do is any of the trees, however, so you will still need a solution for that.
Phytogenic Insulators require thermal expansion and power, and are your other plant farming option. they’re rather expensive, but they can be freely swapped through, can produce things like trees that botony pots can’t, and are much faster than botony pots (especially when maximally upgraded). like with ispawners and cagerium, this is a matter of preference for which you pick, but you’ll probably only need one of the two.
ALCHEMY MODS
these, thankfully, don’t require any strategy or explanation; you can only go one at a time, and each unlocked mod is a new upgrade to your existing vault potion (or vial to start with). each upgrade heals more health and has a stronger chosen effect. that said, no matter how high you upgrade, you always have the same number of charges. take these when you start needing that extra health!
and that’s everything! hopefully this is helpful for new players playing along with the hermits! happy vaulting!
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