NoXTheRoXStaR

ñΩxicity, on 24 July 2021 - 05:46 AM, said:

OT; As a father of three myself, I support anyone who is willing to put that boulder upon his shoulders. A LOT of work, always worth it, naturally.

Thorondor, on 22 July 2021 - 02:57 PM, said:

There's very little risk involved. If the paint is too far gone it will not stir in and will remain as blobs at the bottom of the pail. Maybe a slight element of risk here as you don't want blobs or skins in your nice paint job. Other than that, if the paint is somewhat viable it'll intermix just fine. It might be a little thicker, but still okay. In this case I did add a little bit of latex paint conditioner to replace whatever was lost, and I also added the water that I used to wash out the good can. So I think I added enough liquids back into the paint to get the consistency somewhat ideal.

ñΩxicity, on 24 July 2021 - 05:46 AM, said:

I'll preface my answer by saying I'm very biased when it comes to paint brand. I've used a lot of different brands over the years and the best one (for me) is Diamond Vogel. The paints are all nice and thick and cover great. If you have a DV store nearby, I'd probably go there first. DV employees are also very knowledgeable about their products so they can point you into the right direction. Short of that, Sherwin Williams is probably about the same... just a little more expensive and less personal service sometimes. PPG has great products as well. Even True Value has some good products but those can be hit or miss.

ñΩxicity, on 24 July 2021 - 05:46 AM, said:

Yes, there are and they are called dedicated paint stores like Diamond Vogel, Sherwin Williams, PPG, Kelly-Moore etc. They have personnel who know their products inside and out and can provide you with service and knowledge to get the job done right. If you aren't lucky enough to have a dedicated paint store nearby and only have Lowe's, Home Depot, Menards etc, well, go to them. I'd say Home Depot is probably the better out of the three, but it really depends on who is staffing the paint department when you visit.

ñΩxicity, on 24 July 2021 - 05:46 AM, said:

Congrats in advance. Paint each wall a different blue and when the little guy is old enough, let him pick the one he likes best, then repaint? I kid. (It's just too easy)!

Seriously, grab some color chips, bring them home and hold them up to the wall and pick the ones you like the best. If there are a bunch, try to narrow it down to 2-3 top contenders. Then get some paint samples for each color and apply it to a wall to see how it looks in the room. You should be able to pick the best one from that. If still no, just pick any of them and go with that. I mean, blue is blue to a kid. He isn't going to care what shade of blue are on his walls. (Your wife might though). My recommendation is to go a lighter blue first as it's easier to cover over white. So maybe powder blue?

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So I applied a couple more coats of paint to the vent covers and remembered to take a pic of them this time.



The big one I consider done. The little one needs to be sanded and another coat applied. Maybe. Depends if I have time.

I went over to the lower flat to take some pics of the texture. but it seems the tenant has two guests sleeping in that room right now. So yeah, I gotta wait to do anything until I hear from the boss on what is going on over there. It's fine with me though as it's way too hot over here to paint comfortably in an un-airconditioned apartment.

- Zombie

I'm happy for any subscriptions (they can be one-off, so like a donation - just set the subscription to 1 month and name your amount) and thanks to anyone in advance who throws some money into the pot but at the moment the system for that is for SC as the UFOPaedia side of things seems covered (for now) and I'd also have to work out with the host for UFOPaedia how we'd transfer that money properly between us if it was more of a joint subscription thing in future.

Donations - you would really have to be set up as a charity or a not-for-profit organisation to be doing it legally and I prefer legal. There's paperwork and bank accounts to set up a not-for-profit organisation even if we wanted to take donations with no tax so it's almost as much effort as setting up another company, but if we do it as subscriptions and the tax element is included during payment then it actually counters some of the tax I get charged by Amazon for the hosting (In the UK we get billed from Amazon in Ireland so tax applies) so it all works out in the end. I think actually since you're in the USA you wouldn't see tax when subscribing - the system I'm looking at says "hey, you're paying the UK and you're in [insert country here], here's the applicable tax we'll add to that" which is zero in your case (or should be).

I'm not in any hurry to set that up as we need to do some software upgrades here behind the scenes that take priority in June - when I have the spare time to do it.

SC's not going anywhere so don't worry about that. Compared to UFOPaedia it's relatively low system requirements

Well, NoX, I don't know how wise it is to ask for it, but I probably wouldn't be able to pass up a real comeback of the Dune franchise.

There's just so much flavour (spice? ) in that universe that it could stand to be brought back in style in an RTS with all of today's trimmings both in graphical and mechanical terms (AI, pathfinding, UI, non-linear branching, 3D terrain impact, and territorial control).

Realistically, of course, licensing is going to be the big problem standing in the way of making it happen; I doubt the IP holders will allow it.

While there's life there's hope I guess.

Yeah, n0x, Chinook also became a generic "Transport helicopter".

These naming changes have been noticed by several other people. The most likely reason has to do with the legal right to use a brand/make name, which is more strongly enforced by some property owners than others.

The game developers/publisher are now required to have explicit permission from brand owners to use those trademarked names in their products, and pay regally for the privilege of course.

All those years ago when the original games came out that didn't happen because legislation was different or simply because the gaming industry didn't have the high profile (and billions in revenue) that it now has.

Rough translation: brand name usage in games was virtually ignored or ok as free publicity before, perfectly milkable high-fat cash cows now.

Guys and gals, how are you coping with the viral problems? Slovenia has it under control so far but as far as I read, things are not pink all over the planet. The news that bother me the most are backstabbing crap like USA stealing masks from France, Germany and Canada. Friends or foe?! Otherwise we manage quite ok. Some land around our house gives my children the much needed space to be outside without much risk, without this space the children would go nuts ASAP.

So far so good.

You?  

I'd say we're coping well enough over here for the moment, SV.

It's all very much touch and go still though because there's no way to say for certain how far along in the spread curve we actually are and some mathematical models demonstrate even the so-called successful flattening of it may likely prove too much for the national healthcare infrastructure we have in place, given the special needs (ventilators, negative pressure rooms) of those facing the most serious issues, like lung failure risks.

Our neighbours, Spain, have been dealing with a veritable deluge of cases and a scary number of fatalities, only now seeming to approach some level of abatement due to the severe containment measures put in place. The same goes for Italy.

In case anyone missed the memo: there is presently no cure. Should you catch the bug you either make it through or you don't. Not a coin you should be flipping right now; a time when healthcare services are as heavily taxed as they obviously are.

Minimizing potential exposure - your own and your family's - is about the best thing you can do at present. So that's what I'm doing as well.

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Tune in here tomorrow at 2PM GMT/7 AM PT!

What, have the remastered versions come out already?

I wouln't call CnC series the best of all times, though the music is freaking phenomenal! Hell march for the ages, right along the Imperial.

Looks like the name at least befits the game, as it has succeeded in enraging its players.

In a way, welcome to the future, NoX - one where developers can either shoot for the moon throwing in just about every popular feature under the sun or find themselves having to settle for whatever they can get out the door when deadlines are hit.

It's unfortunate how things seem to have devolved into a dead end for Jagged Alliance.

Still, there are, as ever, diehard fans that make great efforts modding JA2 back to a semblance of modernity. I've come across an article about this just a few days ago over at RPS, actually.

While there is life there is hope!

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So, SV has it's own Elite: Dangerous thing, so I've decided to do something different. Although probably this will be one time thing, but hey.

Subnautica is one of those survival exploration games. Lately we had few such games and I believe last one highly praised was amazing looking game called: The Forest.
This year we've got still in development another game of this kind but instead of building our shelter on an big island inhabited by cannibals, we are now stranded on an unknown planet that is one big Ocean. Since this is all about survival and exploration this means there will be base building of some sorts. And also as we know from our world, waters can hold many beautiful sights. Schools of fish, kelps etc. But as we also know the deeper we go the nastier it gets.
As you've probably imagined I've played a little of this game. Though it's still in development, this game has separate creative mode, just like in Minecraft, we have all the tools and minerals and all the survival needs are removed. So after playing a little I've decided to spend not too much time and try to create something from one of the games we love (and hate by it's brutality). Base building + underwater environment + horrors from the deep = Can I create X-COM base and how accurate can it be? I'm not a very creative person, and probably this work will be looking average in comparison to what others could achieve. Even given the limited tools there are. I've only spent few hours on this little project, but let's see what could was done. I've also made a short tour of the base and it's surroundings. So let's have a look.





So let's start it easy. It's a new sunny day on the planet, but where we are going sun will not accompany us.



Giving a DEEP dive (300 meters deep) suddenly a structure appears and a big sub "guarding" it. It's the default X-COM Experimental base.



Unfortunately due to some restrictions in the building process I could not exactly create the connections but I did try to put it exactly how the default layout of base looks like. Starting from the top we have a sub pen that connects to living quarters and airlock. Airlock is connected to general stores and living quarters to the lab, those branch to workshop and standard sonar. Unfortunately the sonar (scanner) special room does not allow multiple entrances I had to move it more slightly to the left and add T shape connection for the sub pen. Oh well. Now let's check the insides. First of course is the airlock.



Nothing big, it's definitely not the size of what we encounter in the X-COM itself but you know limitations are limitations, can only have this big tubes. Passing bulkheads we enter the living quarters.



Unfortunately there are no bunk beds and this is the best what this games offers when it comes to bed for two people. And of course the room is not big enough to hold as much beds as there would be in X-COM tactical view. But let's look around.






It looks a little comfy room where the aquanauts can chill, play some cards, rest, boast what they did in the missions, and it can double as an infirmary for those in need (sorry SV no nurses for you). As you can see everyone has it's own cabinet for gear.



Ok so now let's move to the next room. The laboratory. Small and simple, few desks and lab counters for the eggheads to work and some local fauna for the research.




Next is a workshop for our engineering needs and a reactor for the base.



Moving along we end up in the sub pen when our faithful Triton-1 awaits (unfortunately 1 man only)




Let's move back and head to the general stores. Few lockers for minerals, water dispenser and aquarium with some local fish.




Moving along we are now visiting our sonar (scanner) room, where we could make a drone tour of our base and have a scan of nearby resources.






Our second sub pen is empty, but maybe there will be other submersible vehicles.



And last but not least, third sub pen with a walker suit, used for mining and possible combat.





Ok so that's about it for the base tour. Let's hop in to our Triton and we maybe find T'Leth and probably die out of scare of what we might find. Upon entering the sub we are greeted by a friendly voice. "Welcome aboard captain".



So let's explore. Our sub is equipped with a sonar for deep sea exploration. Don't go exploring without it otherwise you might get lost. Fortunately we are in creative mode, so there is no way of us dying or being stranded out of energy. That would be bad.
Not far from our base is a deep cavern. As you can see it's very dark there. Are you already getting the chills?




Exploring the deep forest of glowing sea trees we find a first potential monster that would be the death of us.



We could role-play and fire some torpedoes at it, although there are no lethal weapons (unless you count a knife, but who would want to go with knife against this electric monstrosity (NoX probably))



Or we could exit the sub and play with our gun (it's only stasis rifle but for now we can imagine it's Blasta Rifle)



Ok let's head back to our sub and explore more. And if you are wondering, yes there are Tentaculat like creatures...



Fortunately they do not zombify. Unfortunately they have EMP kind of attack that disables the sub. Not sure if it drains whole battery. Being in creative mode I've got energy restored after few seconds.
What's more in the depths. How about them big bones?



Or this big alien structure?



And I'm beginning to get lost in the underground. This also looks fascinating and scary



Time to get home, but where is the exit?



Oh, I think I've made it.



Now let's take a trip on the bigger sub.



Well damn, do you see anything? Imagine going even deeper with this thing. Fortunately it has a slot for 1 vehicle, but it is so big and clunky. Fortunately there are 3 cameras to help.



We could also drop in our power suit. Though it is still beta and the suit doesn't like to auto stabilize.



Hope they will fix it as it looked and felt very strange to walk tilted that way.




Anyway that's about it for this small presentation. I'm pretty sure if Firaxis will make TFTD version of XCOM it will not be that dark and scary which is a shame. I liked TFTD and would like to experience it in far more scary way.

Xcomutil doesn't generate them naturally, but you can get it to generate other such gems as underwater port or island resort maps, or even play a normal alien sub recovery mission in part of a ship mission that has been submerged. Conversely, underwater maps at ground elevation and their eerie monochromatic sand.

The underwater land maps are quite nice actually, and suggest ports or island resorts that have sunken under the sea. However, you do have to excuse the edges of the maps and the underwater 'waves'. Pretend they are oil waves, like those glass rectangles curios that are filled with dyed water and oil to emulate a wave motion effect when shaken.

- NKF

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The pop culture art of XCOM 2 is the subject of the latest dev blog entry.

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To be released and become available on Steam in August.