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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 14th, 2023

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  • This isn’t the dems fault, and I don’t think this would have worked (the republicans probably would have chickened out), but in a dream scenario where politics wasn’t politics, I would have liked to see a coalition of both sides come together to elect someone like Emmer (hopefully I got that name right). He was the best solution the dems were ever gonna get, and personally I would have had a lot of respect for dems swallowing their pride and voting for him to keep the far right from taking control.

    Of course, it’s all moot as long as the house keeps that awful single person can vote to vacate rule on the books. The far right would have just taken turns with movements to vacate and create a different flavor of turmoil.

    All that said, it’s not the dems fault we are here - it’s the fault of the freedom caucus, the party that let those people become candidates, AND the people that voted for them.


  • i think so. it’s really a very different gameplay loop - mostly you’re laying track and maybe adjusting junctions. the level structure really eases you in, and, for better or worse, there’s no signaling but trains will ghost to avoid collisions (this slows them down, so you’re still rewarded for building good layouts where no ghosting happens)

    i think at the very least, you’ll be able to tell if it’s a good fit inside of the 2 hour refund window, or you can watch some early game stuff on youtube



  • i wish i knew. i can tell you when i was laid off (in software), i was given an nda and non-disparagement contract that my severance was contingent upon so based on that experience, these companies consider severance a “gift”

    edit: i think it also (duh) depends on the state - many states are “employment at will”, and i would guess in those states since they can dismiss you without cause (save for discrimination), you aren’t required to pay severance. most companies still do, but i imagine the requirement wouldn’t mesh with the concept of at will employment








  • one last gift with a final check and a letter congratulating them on making it to the real world. i think one of my aunts was still sending me stuff but i got a letter from my uncle i think telling me i’d made it to the real world. at some point the gifts felt nice but we’re also kinda pointless so I totally appreciated the letter and the congrats.

    edit: i also agree with the other comment tho. if you see something that makes you think of someone, by all means buy them a gift! but you don’t have to force something every year






  • That 90 minute to do a full ng+ run number is kinda nuts but an interesting design choice. I ended up not picking up starfield but I do hope someone takes this novel ng+ approach and expands on it to create a game more focused on that as a story telling tool.

    Heck, THIS is what studios should be using AI for - write a solid base story and let the AI build on that to create a more truly infinite and distinct set of new loop possibilities. (I would say your first 5 or so runs should be handcrafted, tell an interesting cohesive story, and then if players still want more the AI can kick in and offer additional replayability)


  • really glad we got to hear about a straight up comparison against space exploration. i’ll admit i was hoping they’d go a different direction (i’ve seen people mention going underwater which i think would have been a ton of fun and a guaranteed differentiator from anything currently available)

    all that aside, the most interesting parts for me are the engine changes:

    • improved blueprints? how? i can’t say i’ve ever had much to complain about with factorios blueprint system
    • better flying robots behavior. this one could be huge, when i built a large base it was hard to properly balance logistics robots and not feel like they were just not working as well as they should

    a year away tho! that’s okay, we’ll live, i just got sucked back into satisfactory (playing sf+ which is basically bobsangels for sf and it’s GLORIOUS).

    i know all us diehards will pick it up sight unseeen, but unless there’s something flashy, like a graphical overhaul (which i’m not sure the diehards would be in favor of), i do wonder how it will stand out and attract the newer players that have been playing the newer automation games and might only look at factorio skin-deep and not get as excited for.

    and i’m okay with all that, but i also want their work to be appreciated by as many people as possible so here’s to hoping they can nail the marketing