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General chat thread

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Priapus said:
As I said, though, the minimum energy to drop an impactor from orbit is immensely lower than that needed to hit something in orbit from the ground.
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It's about 40 metres per second for that example to create an orbit whose perigee brushes the Earth. And yes, that is going to hit the planet at fairly close to terminal velocity (of whatever remains after ablation), somewhere. "Somewhere" being operative; atmospheric nonuniformity is going to give you a rather embarrassing hit cone reminiscent of the balloon bombs when performing an entry at that kind of grazing angle. I'm suspecting that the delta-V minimum for vaguely-accurate fire is going to be similar to that needed to hit space targets.
Itaywex said:
1. Firing something that fast is either impossible or really, really hard and expensive. While you can release a rod from orbit that can be as big and as heavy as you want. Gravity works no matter the mass of the object you're using, but trying to use another method to achieve the same amount of kinetic energy is going to be much harder (You can drop a 100 ton rod from orbit, but I don't think that we have any kind of cannon that can launch this kind of mass at the same speed).

2. Another advantage of striking from orbit is that you can easily strike at any part of the world (well, a single satellite will only be able to target some parts without having to relocate, but my point stands), an installation on the ground doesn't have that kind of mobility.
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You can't drop a 100-ton rod from orbit unless you can de-orbit it. If you simply release an object in orbit, it stays in orbit, because that's what "orbit" means. Also, firing something fast enough to reach spacecraft in orbit (as opposed to achieving orbit themselves) isn't actually as difficult as you make out. Modern high-powered rifles reach 1.2 km/s muzzle velocity, remember.

Also, the reciprocal of your #2 applies. You can shoot at a lot of places on the ground, but a lot of places on the ground can shoot at you too.
 
magic9mushroom said:
You can't drop a 100-ton rod from orbit unless you can de-orbit it. If you simply release an object in orbit, it stays in orbit, because that's what "orbit" means. Also, firing something fast enough to reach spacecraft in orbit (as opposed to achieving orbit themselves) isn't actually as difficult as you make out. Modern high-powered rifles reach 1.2 km/s muzzle velocity, remember.
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...Modern high-powered rifles can't reach orbit, from my understanding. Sure, if you can fire a projectile large and/or sturdy enough to survive the trip fast enough to actually reach it's target, you'll definitely take it out (if it hits), but that's a bit more complicated than it sounds.

It certainly takes a lot more resources and effort than 'a modern high-powered rifle'.

Also, you literally just need to push the rod enough for it to move 'down' from orbit. Attaching thrusters would work. Gravity will do the rest. The same is not true for the installation on the ground.

magic9mushroom said:
Also, the reciprocal of your #2 applies. You can shoot at a lot of places on the ground, but a lot of places on the ground can shoot at you too.
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Lets posit that you have made a single satellite capable of these kinds of kinetic strikes. This is an investment of millions of dollars, to get everything up in space and all that. You can now, basically, attack anywhere in the world whenever you want, allowances made for travel times.

Meanwhile, anyone on the ground who wanted to shoot your satellite down would have to invest hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, per installation. In order to have a cannon powerful enough to shoot at and accurate enough to hit the satellite. This is a not insignificant expenditure of resources for something that will cover less than 1% of the satellite's potential attack vectors. If you wanted actual coverage against the satellite, you'd need to make dozens on these cannons to protect a single country, and probably about a hundred to protect the US.


One side has a massive advantage here.
 
Raziel said:
...Modern high-powered rifles can't reach orbit, from my understanding. Sure, if you can fire a projectile large and/or sturdy enough to survive the trip fast enough to actually reach it's target, you'll definitely take it out (if it hits), but that's a bit more complicated than it sounds.

It certainly takes a lot more resources and effort than 'a modern high-powered rifle'.

Also, you literally just need to push the rod enough for it to move 'down' from orbit. Attaching thrusters would work. Gravity will do the rest. The same is not true for the installation on the ground.
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Orbit is not a location. Orbit is a velocity.

Getting an object into space on a sub-orbital trajectory that intersects that of a satellite in LEO requires about 20% of the delta-V (= 4% of the kinetic energy) required to get an object into LEO. A rifle couldn't do it, but a tank cannon would come awfully close and any large railgun can do it easy.
Lets posit that you have made a single satellite capable of these kinds of kinetic strikes. This is an investment of millions of dollars, to get everything up in space and all that. You can now, basically, attack anywhere in the world whenever you want, allowances made for travel times.

Meanwhile, anyone on the ground who wanted to shoot your satellite down would have to invest hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, per installation. In order to have a cannon powerful enough to shoot at and accurate enough to hit the satellite. This is a not insignificant expenditure of resources for something that will cover less than 1% of the satellite's potential attack vectors. If you wanted actual coverage against the satellite, you'd need to make dozens on these cannons to protect a single country, and probably about a hundred to protect the US.


One side has a massive advantage here.
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You know how hard change-of-plane manoeuvres are, right? Almost as hard as putting something into orbit in the first place? Satellites cannot change vectors at whim. True spaceships with nuclear propulsion have a little more leeway, but they're still far better off staying in high orbit (which, if you recall, I stated from the beginning to have an advantage over things on the ground).

(Also, those railguns the USN is experimenting with? Given a targeting solution, those can hit any satellite for hundreds of kilometres in any direction. They're also mobile.)
 
I finished Odin Sphere Leifthrasir and I... don't really enjoy the ending

*Spoilers for Odin Sphere ahead*

The entire armageddon just seems to bring a sudden halt to everyone's character development so far

Gwendolyn's father Odin who was realizing how he should have loved his children more? Is killed by undead with only the ghost of one of his daughter's to comfort him. Gwendolyn's loyal maid dies in both endings even though she was the feel bad bait for the normal end

Cornelius who goes on a journey to become more heroic and learns of the terrible yet necessary circumstances of his father, Edmund, killing his own father after he became a monster and terrorized the country, and in doing so understands Edmund more, and now that the wise men were gone the king could now be a just ruler? That country is in ruins now, and Edmund is eaten by his own father, Cornelius does not even get to FIGHT him for closure

Mercedes gets the rawest deal. She took the throne after her mother's untimely death and we saw grow and become a queen who all her subjects respected, and then her entire kingdom is burnt down and dead, her love interest, Ingway, who left before the end is dead by the time she finds him, she is the only character who also dies from their final true end fight. Also she can get her final last words with her love interest before she dies, but that isn't a part of the true end. She also dies fully believing she did not stop Onyx, believing herself a failure

Oswald does actually get some closure, as well as Velvet, but not much.

I also just dislike how EVERYONE dies, like, I fully believe if they prevented armageddon fully, with the people who went to horn mountain surviving, that would have genuinely been a better ending.

Also how did Mercedes not know she was the world tree, since apparently Yggdrasil must mean world tree in some language or else Onyx would not have have connected the dots. How did the Pookahs die if they are stated to be cursed with immortality, and the gates to the underworld are open so there is even less reason.

I just felt like the ending was too... final.
 
As I recall, the only way to get a good ending in Odins Sphere is to redo the final battles with every possible configuration, but it only saves lile two people.
 
BlackHadou said:
As I recall, the only way to get a good ending in Odins Sphere is to redo the final battles with every possible configuration, but it only saves lile two people.
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Yeah I got that ending

Gwendolyn, Oswald, Velvet, and Cornelius are the only survivors. The funny thing is that in the normal ending they use myris dying to make you feel bad. In the True end that still happens, just off screen

It's not EVERY configuration, it's Cornelius, Oswald, Mercedes, Velvet, and Gwendolyn

There are also a few special scenes for a few bosses, besides the generic intro, there's Darkova with Mercedes and Velvet, Gallon with Cornelius, and Onyx with Gwendolyn and Oswald. Cauldron and Leventhan do not have any special scenes though

What I don't get is why certain things are specific, Darkova could be beaten by anyone, Gallon does need Oswald, Onyx is immune to everyone except Mercedes but there is no reason given, Valentine does not activate the death bomb if Velvet is there, but there's no specific reason for Leventhan's defeat besides maybe only Psyphers from the netherworld, which are blue, being able to kill him since red ones are from the Cauldron.

Also, why couldn't have Ingway once freed use the spell from the book of transformation that controlled him on Gallon
 
Xward said:
She also dies fully believing she did not stop Onyx, believing herself a failure
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Damn pokemon are getting out of hand!

Xward said:
Also how did Mercedes not know she was the world tree, since apparently Yggdrasil must mean world tree in some language or else Onyx would not have have connected the dots.
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Yggdrasil is the name of a tree in Norse mythology, in which all nine of the worlds are nestled. Or that just connects them all. I forget the precise details.
 
Priapus said:
Damn pokemon are getting out of hand!

Yggdrasil is the name of a tree in Norse mythology, in which all nine of the worlds are nestled. Or that just connects them all. I forget the precise details.
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I know that, Onyx somehow knows that, but Mercedes has NO IDEA that it means world tree! This is dumb considering Melvin and Elfaria seem to know the deeper meaning of their true name but Mercedes does not seem to know!
 
Priapus said:
Yggdrasil is the name of a tree in Norse mythology, in which all nine of the worlds are nestled. Or that just connects them all. I forget the precise details.
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World tree rooted between the nine worlds, yes. Each one is on its branches at a different level, as I understand. At the bottom is rattatoskr, and at the top Hraesvelger.
 
BlackHadou said:
World tree rooted between the nine worlds, yes. Each one is on its branches at a different level, as I understand. At the bottom is rattatoskr, and at the top Hraesvelger.
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Nah, it was Nidhug at the bottom, with rattatoskr running shit-talk bstween them, I believe.
 
I've noticed that a lot of people have difficulty contextualising a difference between Neutral Good and Chaotic Good, which may have something to do with why 4e D&D abandoned it. The issue is "well, okay, the Chaotic Good sort ignores rules if they're in the way of doing what's right, but so does the Neutral Good sort, and the Chaotic Good is unlikely to actually overthrow a Lawful Good society; what's the difference?"

The difference, in my opinion, is that a Chaotic Good sort chafes at rules even when they're not directly in the way of doing good. An obvious modern example is weapon ownership. Suppose that crossbows (or guns) are banned. The Neutral Good sort doesn't strictly need a crossbow, so she doesn't rock the boat. But the Chaotic Good sort, if she wants a crossbow (for hunting vermin, paranoia over being robbed, etc.) doesn't give a shit about the law. She's certainly not going to go around murdering people, but she doesn't see why it's any of society's business what she keeps in her house as long as it isn't hurting them. She's going to flout the law, which of course creates a very real risk of causing conflict with (also well-intentioned) Lawful Good sorts. Much the same could apply to (mostly soft) drugs; a Chaotic Good sort might make some for their own use, and give/sell some to others who knew the risks, and to hell with the police (but they wouldn't exploit addicts, or deliberately create more).

Another difference is that even when doing good, while a Neutral Good sort doesn't mind organisation or its absence, the Chaotic Good sort will actively dislike it. They'll help those in need when they see them, but they'll likely chafe if someone else tries to organise and schedule their efforts to do so (like in an army fighting an evil regime). Of course, in such a situation they have to decide between Chaos and Good, much as a Lawful Good sort may have to decide between Law and Good, but the point is that it's actually a non-trivial choice for the CG.
 
Drak4806 said:
That's boring. Plus the only reason I feel like playing it is for the sexmods.
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Really? I guess I never tried them in Skyrim, but sexmods to methesda games have always strongly underwhelmed me in terms of sex games.

at least the ones i have seen have been very paint-by-the-numbers, every scene alike sorts of deals.
 
Priapus said:
Really? I guess I never tried them in Skyrim, but sexmods to methesda games have always strongly underwhelmed me in terms of sex games.

at least the ones i have seen have been very paint-by-the-numbers, every scene alike sorts of deals.
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Depends on what you're using. I get my stuff from Loverslab which has a nice selection. They've got a bunch of sex quest mods that are fun.

Plus I've got a bunch of other regular mods.
 
So I installed and updated all of the mods for Skyrim and I have to ask myself "why did I do this again?" I really don't know why. I'm thinking I'm going to try a completely new playstyle. No bows or crossbows with a heavy focus on Illusion magic. I think I'm going to try melee weapons but if I do so then maybe I should look for combat mods since I don't remember liking melee.
 
Drak4806 said:
So I installed and updated all of the mods for Skyrim and I have to ask myself "why did I do this again?" I really don't know why. I'm thinking I'm going to try a completely new playstyle. No bows or crossbows with a heavy focus on Illusion magic. I think I'm going to try melee weapons but if I do so then maybe I should look for combat mods since I don't remember liking melee.
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Did you know that if you chug some soup that gives you stamina regen, it lets you power attack/shield bash constantly?

I have shield bashed dragons and giants to death, because shield bashing constantly can stunlock.
 
Priapus said:
Did you know that if you chug some soup that gives you stamina regen, it lets you power attack/shield bash constantly?

I have shield bashed dragons and giants to death, because shield bashing constantly can stunlock.
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Wow, this game...
I never was able to break it, myself, so hearing that makes me admire you.
 
Nanimani said:
Wow, this game...
I never was able to break it, myself, so hearing that makes me admire you.
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Ah, sky run. I have some fond ememoeies of my times with it. While I was stuck on console, I found out about a duplication glitch that you can perform, needless to say, I used it and sometimes abused it, though mostly it was to upgrade my smithing and see what I could duplicate with this awesome and fun glitch.
 
Nanimani said:
Wow, this game...
I never was able to break it, myself, so hearing that makes me admire you.
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Heh. That's nothing.

I discovered that you can get your enchantment bonuses up high enough, and get the double-enchantment perk, you can allow yourself to cast any two schools of magic for free.


Kiiiiiiind of breaks the game when you can cast whatever the fuck you please for free.
 
Priapus said:
Heh. That's nothing.

I discovered that you can get your enchantment bonuses up high enough, and get the double-enchantment perk, you can allow yourself to cast any two schools of magic for free.


Kiiiiiiind of breaks the game when you can cast whatever the fuck you please for free.
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I had free destruction spells. and I was a master in it so... INFINITE LIGHTNING STREAM OF DOOOOOOOOOM!!!
 
asdx said:
I had free destruction spells. and I was a master in it so... INFINITE LIGHTNING STREAM OF DOOOOOOOOOM!!!
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While I enever got to that point my self, true expert level destruction spells are awesome, and you could totally be casting a Kamehameha with the Lightning stream of DOOOM!!! *thunder-crash*
 
You guys seen the Chapelle Show skit of the black blind man who is a KKK member? Have a blind guy in my college dorm that is both black and racist as fuck against black people, we had to honestly ask him if he knew he was black when he made some racist comments in the cafeteria, and we found out that he was both racist and unaware of he himself being black. I mean, what the fuck?

What the fuck is my life? Between this and the nonsense in my D&D session, I feel like the straight man in a comedy. I'm not even straight!
 
Had a really dodgy dream last night. Some mischievous girls had lured me and some others into a girls' school, which we couldn't get out of on our own because the doors would only open for girls. Then they made us do various embarrassing things in exchange for being let through each door. I played along with most of them, but the last one at the school's front gate was to drink water out of a toilet. I didn't particularly fancy doing that, so instead I pulled down my pants, urinated on the girl ordering me to do it, and climbed over the gate while she was screaming.
 
"Ya know, I thin'm going to write some loveu-dovey, cute romance in this little story. Make the characters actually care for another as opposed to being a pair of horny teenagers. That'll come out good, right?"

One rough draft later

234.jpg
 
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