#i know max players are usually 4

[chradorya]

5 days to go! day 1 — video games!

#homestuck #sollux captor #dave strider #karkat vantas #john egbert #tavros nitram #homestuck413 #413countdown #413 #happy 413 #tag this with any ship! #personally: #davekat #johntav #soldavekat #davesolkat #i know max players are usually 4 #but this is earth c they can make anything they want #and so do i #enjoy #hs

[inchidentally]

https://x.com/safeforlando/status/1750936311563723024?s=20

I don't need to add anything. The best driver duo on the grid without a doubt <3

you're so right to say there's nothing more to say, anon. and yet ! lol

(behind a cut so no one can think I'm literally reporting facts here or that I'm living and dying by my own weird and pointless takes I'm just enjoying over-analyzing for fun)

(I am fully switching off RPF/narrative here)

so temporarily switching off friendships or any kinds of ships and focusing solely on driver partnerships, I love how certain Lando's always been about what Oscar has done for his (Lando's) performance. I think this is where age and generation play some part bc Carlos and Daniel are both firmly in the same age group and separated from Lando to a certain degree bc of that. they both viewed Lando as a little brother type of teammate and their careers were never perceived by themselves as especially tied to McLaren or to Lando. they'd both kind of become the lone wolf type by then which is honestly how most drivers have to be. (even moreso in the Max/RB dominance era)

whereas Lando isn't just toeing the line by saying he's a big team player, he adores working in groups in absolutely every area of his professional life and even having hobbies that put him with a minimum of 3-4 people. he also needs to feel the safety of a support network to be at his best. he's the very opposite of a lone wolf. hell, he literally said 'it took an actual village to raise me'.

he very intentionally developed the shared interests with Carlos and Daniel to create those kinds of bonds and familiarity (that's The Lando Effect). and while it's too much of a leap to say for sure, I think it's likely - at least at the start - that Lando felt like they might each have been his teammate for longer than they were. either way, the shared hobbies and friendly bonding didn't really translate to his time time spent with them in team meetings, speaking to the engineers or in development back at the factory. Lando has said he and Carlos were on completely different planes of experience and ability and Carlos was one foot out the door after what, the first year? and well, we know the lack of synchronicity between Lando and Daniel as drivers that started to set in not long after that first season together.

so when it was announced Lando's next teammate would be a rookie and also younger than him, he didn't really hide that the swapped dynamic worried him - even if he was half-joking. and then Oscar being so quiet and independent a person definitely threw him. he even describes their pre-season interactions as friendly but only really having time to say a few words. Oscar had his own work cut out as a rookie (and as we found out, wanting to prove himself most to the engineers and folks at MTC) and Lando already had a full life running alongside his racing career.

and it sounds all projection-y and armchair psychology to say this but genuinely it's clear to state that unlike the usual PR push that a lot of new teammates partake in, Oscar's been notably disinterested in any of that - not even just overplaying a friendship or a bromance with Lando for the sake of the cameras. that's an especially unusual choice for someone who could really have used the Lando Effect boost to his own image after contractgate with Alpine and the hoards of Ricciardo fans/McLaren fans ready to hate someone they saw as a snake or a pretender (usually both). especially considering Oscar pre-F1 was extremely active on social media and had his own viral moments and a much more colorful, fun personality than what he's allowed F1 fans to see so far - it was a pretty deliberate choice to not carry that over right away to selling the partnership with Lando.

we might be able to glean through the murk of Netflix's highly questionable editing of this upcoming season of DTS how much was really going on behind the scenes between Lando and Oscar around this time. but it really seemed like Oscar was more focused on letting his loyalty to the team and his own driving do all the talking (and Mark Webber often said as much). when you compare a lot of those early Lando and Oscar videos and challenges to his Prema ones, he's so unusually quiet and reserved. so he had absolutely no interest in trying to sell himself as a persona or a character to F1 fans. he was perfectly sweet and polite! and boy, did Lando enjoy having someone with endless patience for him lol.

but it's very marked how, despite whatever was or wasn't developing between them as teammates, Lando has consistently always said the same as he has here about Oscar being so talented and giving Lando that "push" and how "you hate and you like it" bc it made him (Lando) take his own driving to the next level. that healthy competition and 'wow, this guy is bringing it' seemed to strike him immediately. Lando can't lie for shit so if he'd found Oscar to be a crappy teammate in any way there's no way he'd be able to choke out any praise for him even for the sake of the team alsgfljasgfa.

and I liked that here in I think March? he said how he planned to get Oscar into all his own hobbies and bring him out of his shell, but apart from one last minute invite to golf that never really happened. we know they spent a fair amount of down time together but it was always mentioned in passing rather than posting about it online or having anyone film it (that we know of yet). the reason I like it is because Lando went on to say how Oscar has reminded him by example to "keep calm and be yourself". and in this interview he'd said how he considers himself and Oscar to be pretty similar people in terms of their approach to their F1 careers. so instead of them bonding through hobbies and interests or both of them being chatterboxes, I think they bonded (if that's the word?) over not being stereotypical extroverted drivers in terms of their personalities and also that they've so adamantly never wanted to have driver in-fighting make life harder for their teams (and themselves). plenty of guys from F2 and F3 can attest to that for Oscar and of course there's The Lando Effect as far as Lando's concerned.

you could almost say they both needed to be teamed up with the other bc for all that Oscar projects Just a Guy, he also finds himself incredibly awkward when it comes to everything about his job outside of racing the car or talking about the car. Lando's just as much the same but he's learned to charm his way through it. he's still awkward as hell even in Quadrant promo videos and he's been doing those regularly for years now, and with all his friends there! they're both enough off-center that they either need an extroverted teammate to lean on or in their current situation, someone who can sympathize.

which I think considering how much loyalty to the team and a sense of 'home' and consistency are for Lando, it makes all kinds of sense that Oscar was the teammate to show up and really form that partnership that he considers to be 'the strongest' on the grid.

they're the same generation, have the same ethos when it comes to their racing careers and Oscar not only went through a court case to get to McLaren he then extended his contract to 2026 the second McLaren made the offer. Lando's got stability as well as a serious challenge from Oscar. he's more poised than ever for that win(s). and now I just hope he listens to Oscar in other ways like not self-flagellating in front of the cameras so much and focusing on where he has done well.

#inchreplies #inchidentallyanessay #NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY #JUST FOR FUN #I AM SELF-AWARELY STUPID TRUST ME #lando contract renewal

[panicatthediaz]

Magic That'll Last a Lifetime

It took me far too long but it is here. This has become affectionately known as the Eddie & El 5+1 but it ended up as a 4+1 instead. Still Eddie & El though :)

This was written for @eddiemonth, day 5, role model. Title from DIO's Last in Line. I'm not writing for the day the song is actually a prompt for, and @unifiedcreationsrbr got me to see that song as an Eddie & El song with their own fic, so. Here we are!

Warnings: None, this is all just a lot of fluff. Though it does reference Flight of Icarus, which I read while writing this.

Wordcount: ... a whooping 4751

El didn't know what to expect when she was woken up by frantic knocking on their front door. A shot of fear ran through her, making her blood run cold and forcing her to think about what she knew for a fact in order to stay calm.

One was dead, she was sure of that. The gates had only briefly opened with his death but the tear had healed itself into an earthquake. Hawkins had survived, just a little worse off.

It was over. Well, the Upside Down part of things was over.

“We didn't know where else to take him.” That was Robin's voice, coming in a little muffled through the closed door to her room. She sounded nervous. “Steve's parents are coming home tomorrow, if not later today, and everyone else lives with their parents; I know Joyce wouldn't mind but—”

“It's fine, Buckley,” her dad assured, as El finally got out of her bed. She heard some more muttering, then Robin's hurried steps out. El opened her door just in time to see Steve carrying someone — Eddie — inside.

“Is that him?” Another voice questioned, surprising El. Agent Stinson met her eyes and smiled briefly at her, though it looked a little like a grimace.

She didn’t react and turned back to Steve. He’d asked her to check in on Eddie a few days after they all returned from California, and Russia, and the Upside Down. The fact that most people she knew had to go there made her so angry.

El opened her door further, nodding at Steve to bring Eddie to her room.

She wanted to help in any way she could.

(She hadn’t realized then, but that decision left her with another very good friend.)

——

Somehow, Eddie was mostly used to a bunch of rambunctious teenagers just barging into his new house, nearly on the edge of town. The thing was, there was usually a lot of noise heralding their arrival; some car or another, their shouts as they approached the front door.

They made noise, and the noise let him and Wayne know they would be getting company.

Maybe Eddie had been too distracted writing, or the music was too loud this time, but hearing the creak of the front door opening sent ice through his veins. He stood up, grabbing the closest thing he could use as a weapon — his dice bag — and walked slowly to the front door.

But instead of any intruder that still wanted his head on a pike, he saw one of the kids standing there, smiling at him.

“Hey, Eddie,” El greeted him, wiping her feet on the mat before walking in. He saw a flash of red hair right behind her. “We tried knocking, but the music was too loud.”

Eddie sighed, lowering the dice bag. Max walked past him with a smirk, heading straight to the cassette player and replacing his Heaven & Hell tape with one of her own.

“We are here to practice braiding,” Max announced, raising a plastic bag she carried on her free hand.

He knew better than to argue with the two of them; Eddie had been told that El was feeling self conscious over her slow-growing hair — he'd certainly been there — and Max hadn’t really gone out at all since everything happened — he’d also been there, just recently being forced to go out by Wayne and Nancy of all people.

He waved his arms towards his couch. “Have at it, then,” he conceded, watching as El walked over and sat down, eyeing his D&D stuff curiously. “I need to finish that.”

El turned to look at him, and Max glanced between the two of them, putting her hands on her hips in a move so reminiscent of Steve that Eddie had to hold in a laugh.

“We are not practicing on each other,” Max said pointedly, looked straight at him with a raised brow. “The only other person who could help is Mike.”

Eddie made a face at that. He could not see Mike letting his hair be braided, which…

“This is about the curly hair?”

Max looked at him with an expression that screamed “duh”, while El was smiling brightly at him and nodding.

He sighed, silently resenting the fact he’d lost his ability to say no to these shitheads. No matter how nice and sweet some of them were.

“Let me get these out of the way, then.” He gathered the things he’d left in the living room floor and placed them on the nearest chair.

He sat on the floor in front of El on the couch, and Max sat next to him, taking a magazine out of her bag. She flipped through it with a face of concentration, but soon sighed in frustration and tossed it away.

“I don’t know why I thought that would help.” Max propped her elbow up on her knee, resting her head on her fist and staring at Eddie with a frown. “I don’t think you know what to do either.”

“Hey,” Eddie admonished, but he didn’t have much defense; he never bothered figuring it out. “I at least know you don’t brush curly hair dry.” He frowned, trying to remember what he knew. “Or at all, I guess.”

“That's a start,” Max said with a shrug.

“Eddie,” El called softly, leaning forward a little while Eddie leaned back to see her. “Can we try braiding your hair, please?”

Eddie nodded — it probably looked ridiculous upside down — and stood up again. “I’ll deal with this,” he said, gesturing to his hair, “and put on something that won’t bother me when it inevitably gets wet.”

He left the girls to chat, stopping first to change, then to wet his hair. He grabbed a towel and the wide-tooth comb Steve had left weeks ago.

If the idea was practice, they’d all probably be here for a few hours.

(And, shit, it had been fun. The girls bombarded Steve with questions when he showed up, also without warning, and seeing the guy speechless when he finally looked at Eddie was nice.

But, as Steve also pointed out that evening, he should probably start remembering to take care of his hair. Example, and all that.)

——

It took Eddie a few seconds to place what woke him up, but the final notes of Creeping Death faded and a soft click kept the next song from starting.

“Thank you,” El said, keeping her voice down. She’d come over earlier in the afternoon, no real excuse as to why, just a couple of books and worksheets in her bag. They’d been doing their own thing since.

“No problem, kid.” He could picture Wayne as he spoke, standing just a couple of steps away from their cassette player, looking over the mess of papers the two created in the time it took him to get groceries. “Need anything else?”

“Music?”

El and Wayne had interacted a few times since she started showing up at their house, but El was still a little wary of his uncle. It was funny to watch, even though Wayne was increasingly lost on what to do for her to like him.

Not that she disliked him. El had said once that she struggled a little with strangers outside of the Party, but explaining that was pretty complicated.

Eddie opened his eyes to see his uncle glance at the kid briefly, a twitch of his fingers that Eddie was familiar with after years of living with the man; he wanted to reach out and ruffle El’s hair, but it was clear they weren’t at that point yet.

Her hair was just starting to grow out, curling in the heavier parts like Eddie’s when he’d been in that same situation years ago, and no one but Hopper and Joyce were allowed to touch it.

(Well, and Steve, as of late. That guy was meticulous, so of course he’d be allowed.)

By the time Eddie’s attention snapped back into the present, The Call of Ktulu was a couple of minutes in, and Wayne had already gone back to whatever he was doing. He stretched, groaning at the pull on his scars.

“Hi,” El said, smiling once he turned to her. She had their box of tapes in front of her, a few of them set aside; some of Eddie’s metal tapes, some of Wayne’s country ones. “Wayne said you needed some sleep.”

“Wayne says a lot of things,” he retorted, voice raised so his uncle could hear him. He heard a loud, wordless affirmation from the kitchen. Eddie stood up and leaned over to see just what tapes El had set aside to listen to.

“Oh, hey.” He spotted his Rising tape and pointed at it. “This is one of my favorites. Wanna give it a listen?”

El nodded. Eddie thought she might like this one; she’d already listened to a few songs from DIO’s The Last in Line and Black Sabbath’s Heaven & Hell and liked them just fine.

He hoped she’d enjoy Rising; it meant a lot to him.

Once Tarot Woman started playing, he sat back on the couch and picked up the book that had fallen on the floor at some point during his impromptu nap.

Eddie opened On a Pale Horse where he last remembered reading but didn’t try continuing it. Instead, he watched El get back to her worksheets in silence, gently bobbing her head along to the music.

Maybe they could pay a visit to a music store soon.

——

They were well into summer, now, and the kids were starting to get ready for their sophomore year. The entire group had gone to Steve's place to use his pool, probably for the last time this summer, and while Steve seemed to enjoy running around for their friends — for all he complained, the twitch of a smile didn’t go unnoticed by Eddie — Eddie himself needed to get away from the sun, the noise, and, most importantly, the water splashes.

The kitchen was empty, and the only sound came from the back. Eddie took the moment to check the fridge for any other snacks, but came up empty. Of course the little shits got everything, he couldn’t even be surprised.

It also seemed that Steve hid whatever alcohol had been here from the kids, and Eddie wasn’t about to snoop around and potentially cause problems for him.

He turned around and spotted El walking into the kitchen, head down and a frown on her face. She pulled a stool out and sat at the counter before she even realized he was there.

Eddie waved with a bemused smile. El blinked at him a couple of times before returning his greeting, though with a much more sheepish smile.

“Got tired of the noise too?” Eddie questioned, moving to lean across from her. “Because the boys are particularly noisy today.”

“No,” she said, only to immediately frown. “I mean, yes, but that’s not it…”

He raised a brow, waiting for her explanation.

“They are talking about school,” she mumbled, rubbing the tip of the beige towel over her shoulder. “I don't like hearing it.”

Eddie nodded. He hadn't liked school since the end of his sophomore year either. He supposed it was all a little different for her, though.

“Anything specific they’re saying?”

She shrugged, tracing some pattern on the counter. “They seem… excited.”

El didn’t elaborate for a long moment, and Eddie hummed, moving to the other side of the counter to sit next to her. He waited another beat, but she didn’t look up from the patterns she was drawing.

“I’m guessing that excitement is not shared.” It wasn’t a hard guess at all. He didn’t know much because Jonathan didn’t seem to know much, but if he’d had to guess, Eddie would bet the move to the other side of the country was rough on the three of them. “Moving around and changing schools suck.”

El nodded and finally looked up to face him. “School sucks.”

“Hey!” It startled a laugh out of him. “You’re the one saying it, not me.” Eddie shook his head, seeing El smile a little. “But you’re right, especially when you’re somewhere new.”

“I didn’t know anyone!” El exclaimed with a little more energy than Eddie expected. “Will was there, but…”

“He was your brand new sibling, not quite the same,” he hedged. “What was it like?”

Her brows furrowed, and Eddie expected her to shrug and change subjects; most of his friends did that when he inevitably poked into something they didn’t want to talk about.

“It was nice, at first,” she mumbled after a moment. “Going to school, with everyone else.” She placed her arms on the counter, resting her chin against her arms. “It got really hard, and people are stupid.”

Ah.

“Felt worse than everyone just telling me about school,” she added. “School is hard.”

With a sigh, Eddie adjusted himself on the stool, mimicking her position as much as he could. “I can’t really help with the actual school part of this experience,” he started, lightly tapping a song against the counter. “But I agree that people are stupid. And you wanna know something?”

He waited for her questioning hum before continuing. “People out there,” he answered, raising his head enough to gesture toward the front door. “They don’t know us, right? They don’t know what happened. And they’ll say shit to make themselves feel better about something.”

Eddie turned his head to face El. She was looking at him with slightly wide eyes, and god, she was too young. They all were, of course, but El had had even less chance to just be.

“You, young lady, are probably the coolest of us all, y’know?” He added. “I cannot begin to imagine just going on as normal after all I heard you went through.” El narrowed her eyes, staring at him with an expression he didn’t know what to make of. He ignored it. “Makes you pretty cool.”

El kept staring at him until she sighed, looking away. Eddie waited, knowing that whatever she had to say would come out when she was ready. She looked at him again, a confused little frown on her face that Eddie poked without much thought.

It made her laugh as she smacked his hand away, so that was a win.

“There was this girl,” El started slowly and softly, looking back at the doorway to make sure there was no one else listening. “She seemed nice, but… she wasn’t. She said and did things.”

“Ah, some of the worst, I see.”

She nodded and started messing with the tip of her towel again.

“How do you…” She trailed off, looking a little hesitant. But she took a deep breath, and asked, “How do you just ignore what they say?”

Well. Eddie pursed his lips, looking away. “Wayne helped a lot, actually.” He shrugged as best as he could while resting his head on his arms. “There’s nothing wrong with being different, right? He’d say, ‘wrong are the people who have a problem with you’.” He hadn’t really said it like that when he first did, but it was what stuck to Eddie all the same.

“There’s always gonna be something that people won’t like about you, something they’re gonna complain about.” He straightened and nudged El with his shoulder. “Personally, I think you have a lot to be proud of, not everyone can say they are a superhero.”

El nodded slowly, but her smile was growing little by little. “I can’t actually say that either.”

Eddie turned to her slowly, trying to maintain the unamused expression. Thankfully, she broke first and dissolved into giggles.

“This is what I get for trying to be sincere,” he complained halfheartedly.

She leaned against his side, resting there for a moment. “Thanks, Eddie.”

——

“Shit!”

“Well,” Eddie started, trying not to laugh at Dustin's indignant expression over his awful roll. The boy was always particularly fun to torment in D&D. “That’s another one down, I guess.”

They were close to the end of this one-shot, one final puzzle away from reaching the ceremonial sword they needed to deliver to the elven kings to end their feud on who should rule the kingdom, but since they got to this maze, it had been one failed roll after the other; the attacks, the wisdom checks he had not explained the purpose of at all.

Or, he hadn’t explained to any of his players. El was also trying her best not to start laughing next to him, though her smile was far too amused. Eddie had also told her not to mess with the dice, and she hadn’t as far as he could tell, so this was all their damn bad luck.

Dustin sat down with a huff, which meant that Arnie was the last one standing for the end of this adventure.

Will, who had taken being the first to fall gracefully enough, Jeff, Mike, Lucas, Gareth, and now Dustin.

This was not supposed to be that hard, but he supposed it was quite a difference from his usual plans; no one had realized the secret to getting the sword yet, and he wasn't sure anyone would.

What a shame.

“So, Thokas,” Eddie called to Arnie. The dwarven bard was the last one standing, and whether he would make the right call or not remained to be seen. “What are you going to do? There are five doors in front of you.”

Arnie was frowning, looking at his character sheet tensely, doing his best to ignore the divided clamoring of their friends.

With a deep breath, he announced, “I’m going through the fourth door.”

Hm. Solid thinking, no one had tried that one yet.

“You know the drill,” Eddie replied, gesturing to the dice in the middle of the table.

Arnie’s roll was better than most previous rolls, but El’s grimace as she looked between the dice and Eddie’s notes caused him, and everyone around him, to groan.

“Are you kidding me?!”

Eddie shrugged, keeping his face neutral. They really seemed out of luck, but he was hoping someone would finally get it!

“This is ridiculous!” Mike groused. He kept on complaining about the door room while Eddie rolled for damage.

Well, at least it wasn't over just yet.

“Fuck it,” Arnie shouted, folding his arms over the table. “I’m putting my dagger away, I’m not fighting anymore.”

Jesus H. Christ, finally.

Eddie heard El let out a relieved sigh next to him. Granted, Thokas only had 3 hit points left; the way things were going, he wouldn’t have been able to do much even if he’d still been willing to fight.

Everyone else, though, was complaining loudly. Even Will, but he was glancing at him and his sister with suspicion.

“The moment the dagger is back its sheath,” Eddie started, slowly standing up. El stepped away, closer to Will. “You see the room around you shift as if it were all made of smoke.” He waved his arm over the table. “The only doorway left is wide open, and you can see your goal on the other side.”

Thokas did get the sword, finding all his allies alive and well when he stepped back out of the vault room. Most of his players seemed a little lost on just what happened, though, but no one said anything until the actual end of the session.

“Dude,” Mike groaned after putting his notes away. “Why was this entire thing non-combat? You never run a non-combat game!”

“This clearly wasn’t non-combat,” Gareth interjected with a smirk, always willing to antagonize Mike for some reason. “But you have a point,” he added, turning to Eddie with narrowed eyes. “You have not done anything like this in years.”

Eddie shrugged with forced nonchalance without getting up from his chair. “Gotta spice things up, y’know? Besides, illusions are fun.” Gareth’s eyes narrowed further. “If any of you have actual complaints,” he added, voice slightly raised to be heard over the pockets of conversation that had formed around the table, “Take it to the lady over there. It was her idea, not mine.”

El smiled brightly at the hush of conversation when everyone turned to her. Will was glancing between the two of them as if he’d suddenly made sense of something — probably why she was asking about D&D at home.

“Should we be worried you two are hanging out?” Will asked after a moment, trying to sound exasperated but, in reality, sounding far too amused.

“Absolutely,” they both replied in unison and without looking at each other.

——

There were only so many people they could fit inside their new, government-issued house, and Eddie kind of needed a break. Well, there weren’t that many people, it wasn’t a capital-P party.

It was just his 20th birthday.

Eddie was trying not to feel bad for sneaking out of his own birthday party. There was even a cake that he suspected came from Claudia. Or maybe Joyce. Hell, maybe they worked together, he wouldn’t know.

Either way, he needed a break, so he’d snuck out to the front porch, pack of cigarettes and lighter in hands.

He was almost done with the second stick when he heard the front door open.

“Had a feeling you’d be out here,” Hopper declared after he sat down on the steps. Eddie turned to him with a raised brow but still held out the pack in offering. Hopper shook his head. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah,” he replied slowly, frowning a little. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

The expression Hopper turned on him was… unimpressed, he supposed. But it was a valid question.

“Wayne mentioned that Al called.”

Eddie groaned, loudly, as he dropped his head onto his knees and the cigarette into the ashtray between him and Hopper.

The sole reason this party was happening in November was his dad’s admittedly empty promise to visit in the week of his birthday. Eddie wasn’t sure why he bothered not making plans. Some distant hope, he supposed.

The party was only happening at all because Wayne insisted that the company would lift his spirits a little.

“He’s been in and out of my life since I was eight,” he started, his voice probably muffled to Hopper. “And after everything, I’m not sure I even want him around.”

“But he said he’d be here.” Eddie heard Hopper sigh. “Almost dying tends to make people want to give out second chances.” Eddie snorted, raising his head and turning to Hopper with a disbelieving expression. “New chances, fine.”

Eddie nodded slowly.

When Al had called, Eddie had expected some excuse, another scheme, something. Anything but the check-in full of concern he’d gotten. He wanted to be upset it had taken him half a year, but the government people kept a tight leash on what information ever made it out of Hawkins, let alone reached wherever the hell Al Munson was this time; he wouldn’t really have known to call — or where to call, he supposed — for a while.

But given how everything went down in ‘84, Eddie should have known he wouldn’t keep his word.

“Since we’re on the topic,” Eddie started with a grimace. Hopper turned to him with a raised brow, expression pretty much unreadable. “I, uh… wanted to say thanks? For, you know,” he gestured to his surroundings and paused. “Everything.”

Hopper hummed, turning back to stare out at their driveway and the handful of cars parked there.

“Clearing your name is the least they could do, Munson,” Hopper said. “And so is getting you and your uncle a new place. No one ends up tangled in this shit willingly.”

“Most people don’t even know this shit is there to get tangled in,” Eddie immediately said. He shook his head soon after. “It’s just… You know,” he shrugged, “Thanks for doing it twice.”

Objectively, Eddie knew Hopper hadn’t been a very active part of the process, busy trying to come back from the legally dead and making sure El was safe to exist in Hawkins. But still, it was kind of nice to have one more person try to keep his already abysmal reputation from sinking further.

“I still stand by what I said.” Hopper briefly glanced at him. “You’re not your father, Munson.”

Eddie opened his mouth to interrupt, but Hopper continued before he could figure out what to say.

“Running after seeing—” your very nice classmate die— “what you saw this year is perfectly reasonable, if you ask me, but you still decided to help.”

“That wasn't entirely selfless…”

“Sure,” Hopper shrugged. “You still stuck around. After.” Hopper gestured back to the house and turned an assessing glance at him. “Which is good, because I have no idea how you and Harrington keep taking in these kids. They are all far too loud.”

That startled a laugh out of Eddie, which, given the seemingly satisfied smirk on Hopper’s face, had been his intention with the topic change.

“Guess it’s all the trauma bonding,” Eddie said.

“Nah, it's more than that.” He shook his head. He was frowning a little in thought. “I think other than Sinclair, none of them had much in the way of decent male figures in their lives.”

“Will has Jonathan,” Eddie corrected before frowning. “Wait, are you saying I'm a ‘decent male figure’?”

“Yep,” Hopper said, eyebrow raising in an unspoken challenge. “And I know Will has Jonathan, but Joyce says he hasn't been this excited about that game you all play since the summer of last year.”

Eddie nodded. Will had mentioned that he hadn't played any D&D at all since he moved last year. He didn't even take his books, everything going to Erica instead.

He supposed that, sometimes, it helped to have a new group to play with.

“And it also helps he’s moving on from Mike Wheeler.”

Eddie almost choked on his laughter. “Not you too!” He groaned. “Mike’s not that bad!”

“Whatever,” Hopper said, shaking his head. “The point is that those kids are better off for having you around and having a place to be.”

Hopper said it matter-of-factly, not realizing — or ignoring — that his words kind of… brought Eddie up short.

(Eddie knew what he wanted the Hellfire Club to be, what he did by playing it all up. Hearing it acknowledged by anyone else, let alone by Hopper, was just a little surprising.)

“Now, I’m pretty sure you’re to blame for the weekly fight over the stereo,” he said with a raised brow, but the stern expression didn’t hold for long, giving place to a fond smile. “But El’s looking lighter lately, less worried about everything.”

The sound of the front door opening drew their attention from the conversation, saving Eddie from having to figure out a response, and they could see El’s expression brighten once she spotted them.

“Found them!” She shouted back into the house. “Time for cake,” she announced before turning to walk back inside, leaving the door open for them. A lot of voices drifted out.

“See what I mean?” Hopper asked, hooking a thumb in his daughter's direction. “Loud, all of them.”

“She's the quietest,” Eddie argued because it was true, at least in comparison. Her and Will, the two of them tended to let things… happen around them, for the most part, not really intervening until they were asked or had to. Though Will had his moments of being right in the middle of the chaos, especially during D&D.

“She also has psychic powers.”

Fair enough.

Eddie stood up, dusting imaginary dust off of his knees. Hopper did the same, though not without groaning. He would have poked fun, but it didn’t feel right to.

“I’m glad you’re alive, Eddie.”

“You too, Hop.”

(They didn’t really talk for the rest of the night, but Eddie did learn, due to a slip up from Dustin, that El had defended him, loud and clear, in the middle of the school cafeteria. No one really explained what happened, but Eddie did notice how some people stared at them. Weeks ago.

El, local superhero, standing up for his honor? Unexpected. And maybe a tally under the Not Quiet column.

Hopper and Joyce only smiled in his direction, Hopper decidedly more smug than anything. They surely knew.

Well, he was just gonna have to help her get louder then, because he sure as hell was keeping these kids around.)

#Stranger Things #Eddie Munson #El Hopper #Wayne Munson #Jim Hopper #Eddie Munson & El Hopper #(they are the cutest ok) #Eddie as El's role model #eddiemonth #Day 5 #WeresWriting #Next up: Day 6! Whenever I get to it. I make no promises anymore

[kadextra]

Alright let’s talk about q!Fit lore, long post

Recap: He remembers his life before the island unlike the others- being in the warzone and the reason he accepted the train invitation to Quesadilla Island. q!Fit’s mysterious employer had sent him to the island to obtain/retrieve an unknown “something” there. However, they had no clue that the island was already occupied by The Federation. q!Fit has been stuck here the past 76 days, but has overall enjoyed this time and the happiness, love and peace his egg child Ramon gives him. But now that so long has passed he’s feeling pressured to return back to his mission. q!Fit knows the island is dangerous with the Federation, the Codes, and is scared for his son. He is also worried for his new friends who are suffering, but whatever this “something” he needs to retrieve is, it grows in value proportional to suffering. He bypassed the Federation’s firewall to send a message to his employer about what he’s learned, saying “I hope you find what you’re looking for.” But the message failed to connect…

Yeah there’s another organization out there. They want something from the island, but apparently had no idea the Federation has taken it over. This kinda proves that the Federation has not always been on the island, they occupied it at some point. Perhaps 20 years ago…?

Anyways there’s at least 4 organizations we know of at play

The Federation - keep residents happy, prevent them from leaving the island

The Codes - make residents want to leave the island

Masked person’s - ???? unknown, gave Sofia to Max

Fit’s - obtain something on the island

oh q!Fit, the character you are. imagine living in a war torn place for years, a mercenary for hire, being given a mission like usual. When you go to that place you instead find true joy for like the first time in your life. But your obligations are pulling you back, and what you’re doing could endanger your newfound friends and son which is the LAST thing you want to happen, because you’ve learned to open your heart and love so much. gah. ow.

I’ll speculate a bit on what Fit needs to obtain on the island now. All we have to go off is this vague hint: what could grow in value if there is suffering/conflict?

Data. maybe like personal information collection of things from the players like human emotions, or the island

Resilient people. those who can grow through suffering, handle tough situations, potential warrior material

The island itself. there might be something here that is geographically important, and as more people settle it will be uncovered

The dragon mother, if she’s even real. idk maybe an angry dragon would be helpful to them?

Something else supernatural/scifi. remember, the island is canonically located in the middle of point nemo- the most inaccessible location on earth. no life grows there. it’s used for crashing space vessels. theorized to be the home of Cthulhu in mythos. why send someone to this weird place?

That’s all I got rn, can’t wait to find out more

#qsmp #fitmc #qsmp fitmc #qsmp theory #text post

[blazestar0525]

Small Pokemon Rant

Okay so I was finishing up the DLC and I wanted to say my honest option and reactions to the DLC.

Okay first off, Kieran says that the player was stronger than him and want to surpass them? Im sorry but dearie you nearly swept me with your team if I didnt have to use max potions and my one max revive in the bag! Legit my team consisted of Meowscarada, Skeledirge, The shiny Lucario from a gift code, Ogerpon (I didn't send her out, because I forgot to switch her out for the battle and I didnt want her to fight especially against Kieran!), Chein-Po, and Miraidon and let me tell you this! My team was all near level 95 and the only level 100's I have is Meowscarada & Skeledirge. And Kieran casually knocked out every single pokemon on my team that was sent on the field and at the end of the battle Meowscarada, Skeledirge, Lucario, and Chein-Po were all knocked out while Miradion was in the red! Ogrepon was the only one at full health since she didnt fight and I had to max revive my Skeledirge in order to beat him!

Kieran is selling himself short because he managed to take down my frankly overpowered team that I trained to max out both attack and defense stats and consisted of mostly legendary/mythical pokemon! If that isn't strong then I dont know what is!

Kieran is strong but he sells himself short since during the DLC he would only see himself as a strong trainer if he beaten the player. I think he was too caught up in that to realize he was strong since the beginning! He was too caught up into 'being like the player' that he failed to realize that he's his own person and his own trainer which leads to him underestimating his strength.

Heck even when I played part one when I was doing the last battle with him during the DLC and I nearly lost since I only had 5 pokemon on the team and I was not using my usual team since my team was really overpowered so I wanted to use lower level ones.... that was the biggest mistake! If I didnt have my Meowscarada in the team I would have lost.

This in my head, shows that Kieran is a strong trainer ever since we met him. I think that we only beat him was because we had more experience. It wasn't the terms of strength but instead it was more about experience in a way. If you beat the entire main game before playing the DLC, its clear that there's almost like a experience gap since the player had: beat the league, beat 5 Titian pokemon, went to Area Zero, went through life and death experience, but mostly because they fought hard opponents that no regular trainer would fight against.

Now im not saying Kieran is a weak trainer because he isn't! I just see it as since Paldea is a place where it provided a challenge so when they went to Kitakami, it felt like everything was easier for them due to Area Zero.

In my head the player was just stronger because of the trauma of Area Zero and the Titian pokemon which in my head has their brains programed to think outside the box and be required to be stronger in order to beat pokemon that the world isn't aware about besides Arven, Penny, Nemona, Turo/Sada, The elite 4, and Geeta.

Kieran is a strong trainer, in my opinion more stronger then a regular trainer but I feel like he shields that talent since he is the younger sibling and because of Carmine's constant verbal abuse towards him although it isn't fully intentional on her part (in Carmine's head) it still affects him and makes him believe he's the weaker sibling where he isn't! His team can frankly overpower Carmine's team in my opinion.

Remember most of these trainers: Penny, Nemona, Arven, the Player, Carmine, and Kieran are just kids/teens! But a few of them after some experiences in their lives it's clear that there's always an outside factor that affects them which physiologically affects them which then in my head affects how they look on battling and how they view their strength.

But I'll tell you one thing, one: that this game left me and mostly my pokemon Violet oc: Ava even more traumatized after the event of Area Zero and two: Im rewriting the entire DLC to have some form of a 'good ending' and more fluff moments between Kieran and the player since it's clear that they have some type of chemistry! If the Applin doesn't say anything...

#pokemon #pokemon dlc #pokemon kieran #pokemon carmine #pokemon mc #pokemon spoilers #pokemon violet #pokemon scarlet #pokemon oc #the teal mask #the indigo disk

[cts-games]

💡

Ask meme here

💡 A game that inspired my own design or creative practice.

Okay, stay calm. They just want to know about the game. Just talk about the game. Don't do the rant. Just the game. Just the game.

Last Stand is THE game that made me a designer and infected me with brain worms. It can be found for free here:

Why is Last Stand available for free on a random google drive link that totally doesnt look like its just a piracy link? For reasons I am not talking about!

Last Stand is a game that is basically a mix of Earth Defense Force and Pacific Rim. Though it's worth noting that it does predate Pacific Rim. Jesus Christ, this game is a DECADE OLD? WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN. FUCK. Anyway, there was going to be an expansion that helped flesh out those Pacific Rim elements more and make them more similar, but... I'm not ranting about that.

So what AM I ranting about?

MECHANICS

Last Stand uses a resolution system of 2d10d1+Stat vs opposed roll. You and the opponent each roll 2 dice, drop the lower die, and then add your stat to your respective rolls.

The thing that makes this resolution stand out however, is a combination of 2 factors:

Health as ability damage, and dropped die matters.

Healt/Stats

The game does not have a dedicated HP stat. Instead, players have 4 ability scores (off the top of my head I BELIEVE its... Tactician, Operator, Leader, and... Elusive? I'm not confident on the last one). What do each of these ability scores represent? DOESNT MATTER! You effectively just have 4 different HP stats. Resting them however you want. They could be called Red, Blue, Green, Yellow if you wanted. Doesn't matter. What DOES matter, is that rolls are contested by themselves. If you attack a monster using Tactician, any damage you deal is dealt to their Tactician stat. Monsters always roll at their current stat value, players roll at their max value (unless they hit 0, then they lose the stat bonus). This is a little unintuitive for players during play, but it does help keep them from getting snowballed and turns multiple fights into a better war against attrition.

If a stat is targeted and it's already at 0, the attacker gets to choose where the damage goes. This lets you pierce through the defenses of a monster by attacking its weaker stats, instead of the INCREDIBLY STUPID idea of attacking their stronger stats. Because attacks go both ways. Failing an attack means YOU take damage. You should NEVER attack needlessly in this game. It's an easy way to die.

Dropped Die Matters

The other part of the roll resolution is "Dropped die matters". Every game I've seen that does that usually just uses it as a tie breaker. That is not the case here. Instead, the way powers work is that many of them have additional effects that trigger on a specific result. So for example: "On a hit deal 1 damage. On a 1, 2, or 3, deal 1 extra damage."

At first, that looks like about a 30% chance for an extra point of damage. It's not. It's a 51% chance for the extra point of damage. These bonus effects always list between 1 and 3 numbers they trigger on, which corresponds to 19%, 36%, and 51% activation chance (i think my math is right on that). As a developer, being able to quickly go "Oh this power should trigger about this often" is REALLY NICE, and it offers a good range that really gets the brain juices flowing. HOWEVER, you can also skew them a bit more by changing the specific numbers they trigger on. A trigger of "On a 1, 2, or 3..." and a trigger of "On a 8, 9, or 10..." are equally likely to trigger. However, they are not equally likely to trigger ON A HIT. This allows you to tweak the percentages a bit more in either direction by having them require both the trigger number and being a hit (or even a miss if you want!)

These two mechanics tie in together to make a REALLY good conflict resolution system. Which leads me into how powers work.

Mega Man, the Blue Mage

My apologies to a certain dungeon guy for taking so long to answer this ask. It kept turning into THE RANT. And I didn't want it to be THE RANT. I wanted it to be about the actual design merits of the game. So it... took a while. I also maybe broke down crying a few times typing this up. This game means a lot to me.

Powers in Last Stand work pretty much identical to how attacks work in DnD4e. In fact the game originally started as a hack of 4e that grew out of control! You have a Standard/Move/Minor per round (with the ability to trade each one 'down' if you want to), and a suite of powers you can use each turn. That's about where the similarities end.

There are a handful of abilities available during character creation, and the game leaves it up to the group how they want to select them. You could just pick them off a list, or you could take the cards they are printed on and draft them. Alyssa was after my own heart with that design decision. Whatever you decide, you get 6 pieces of equipment, each with a unique ability, and 1 armor. You combine all of these to get your starting stats and powers. You always have access to these abilities.

Enemies have 1 power tied to each stat (sometimes less, never more). If you reduce that stat to 0, the monster loses access to it as you rip off whatever part of their body was letting them use it. And, for the rest of the current session, YOU can use that ability. Killed a giant bee? Well guess who's got a giant lance doused in venom? At the end of the session, all the body parts you ripped off and jury rigged into new weapons get shipped off to the lab for research purposes, and you lose access to all of them. Except for one. You can choose one of those powers, and fuse it to a specific stat on your armor, keeping it permanently. Though you can only have 1 power on each stat. You can also choose to keep it in Cold Storage, which allows you to later use those parts to craft entirely new sets of armor. This is the only progression in the game, which means your build is always responsive to what the GM throws at you.

Tokens

The game has a LOT more really innovative things, but the last one I wanna talk about is Tokens.

Tokens are part of the action economy, with many powers requiring you to spend tokens to activate them. They are basically a slowly charging stamina bar. Each turn you add 1 Token to your 'Combat Bribe'. You can't spend tokens in your Bribe, but on any round, you can choose to go last (there is no initiative. It's just players go, them monsters go, then players who accepted the Bribe go, then next round), and gain all the tokens in your Bribe. Fairly straight forward.

The part that makes this an incredible mechanic is that this is also how status conditions are handled. Every status condition is on a token. As long as you have a special token, it's rules apply to you. You have a Poison Token? You take one damage every turn. You have Webbed token? You can no longer take Move actions.

But... as I said. You can spend tokens to fuel your stronger powers. You are Poisoned and Webbed? You can use a power that costs 2 tokens to clear both of those statuses at once. It adds a really fun dynamic tug-of-war to combat that I really enjoy.

It really is one of my favorite games of all time. I could rant about it to people for hours... but in the end it will almost always become The Rant.

But that sums up my feelings on the game itself.

Last Stand is ALSO the game that made me change the topic of this blog to be general games I'm working on, because I cannot go longer than a few months without working on a hack of it, because it's just... it's my perfect system. Or at least ABSURDLY close to it. And so it keeps working it's way into anything I work on.

#ttrpg #ttrpg dev #infodump #Last Stand #my cat snuggled with me in bed and thats what finally gave me the energy to finish this post

[meredithdoesfandoms]

hello byler nation! here is some of my byler reasoning that comes from a film studies perspective- i am NOT using any info from #scriptgate and am aware that this is wordy and hard to follow, enjoy!

• PROOF #1

unrequited love stories can happen. this is what we usually see come out of them.

option 1- character A is rejected and has some type of revelation or independence arc (which we may see with el if we see a milkvan breakup.) an independence arc from will is possible, the duffers have said ST5 will be will-centric. but it doesn’t make sense with the character. most of his arc is based on his relationships with other people, specifically mike. if mike was suddenly no longer of interest to will, that would simply be terrible writing. will would lose his entire character motivation.

option 2- a new romantic interest comes into play for character a. in the case of byler, we know a new romantic interest will not enter the plotline, as the duffers have confirmed there will be no new characters in ST5. unless they somehow managed to queer code, and rework either dustin or lucas, we would not see that play out for will.

unrequited love stories aren’t written for the sake of torturing characters, something comes out of them every time. but based off of the scenarios presented above, byler being unrequited is illogical, and would be poor writing. the duffers are smart, they know how to write characters, byler is NOT unrequited simply because they arent TERRIBLE writers.

• PROOF #2

in shows like stranger things, in which the plot is mapped so far in advance, writers simply don’t “forget” characters and their arcs/ storylines.

in season 1, mike was one of the biggest players on the show. you could argue he was the main character. he had some of the most screen time, the main plot line, and the clearest arc.

in season 2, mike isn’t as relevant, because quite frankly he didn’t need to be. season 2 was about expansion- we are realizing the upside down doesn’t just have a single demogorgan. it has multple demogorgans and demodogs, various species, a hivemind, a leader, etc. mikes only relationship focused on in season 2 is his relationship with will. yeah i know he missed el too, but the story itself was about will, and those who cared about him.

in season 3 we see a split in mikes focus between his relationships with will and el. he cant seem to have both. he can have friends who aren’t will + el, or friends who aren’t will + will. this conflict is the only focus mike has in season 3.

in season 4, it almost seems as if we have shifted mikes focus from will to el. however this seems to be the same plot as season 3- he can’t seem to have both. we see mikes dissatisfaction with his relationship with el, and thats about it.

so why would mike have no significant storyline in seasons 3 and 4 when he used to be a main character? well, the arc is actually linear when you look at it

season 1- finding and missing will

season 2- protecting and saving will

season 3- balancing his relationships with el and will

season 4- balancing his relationships between el and will

which means in season 5, this very clear arc will be resolved. with his focus being on will in seasons 1 and 2, it seems as if in season 5 will is going to be key to solving this conflict. likely within the context of a romantic relationship.

•PROOF #3

no because i know yall are SICK of rain scene analysis, but there is a crucial fact that we learn from this scene

mike believes that maturity= liking girls, disliking DnD

in season 4 it is revealed that mike likes and plays DnD. however when will brings up playing DnD for the rest of their lives, mike brushes it off.

mike is trying to appear mature around will. he doesn’t even try to do this with dustin, luke, max, or el. it is will specifically.

since mike makes it seem as if he’s too cool for DnD, he may be pretending to like girls. because as i mentioned earlier, mike believes maturity= liking girls, disliking DnD. and mike wants to appear mature, especially around will. so it makes sense that he talks to will about el so much, its a symbol of maturity the same way that disliking DnD is.

^that whole blurb makes no sense i’ll rewrite it if yall want

i can add onto this if yall want!! just a few thoughts i had :))

#byler rights #byler #stranger things #stranger things season 4 #st4 #stranger things 4 #mike wheeler #will byers #byler is real #byler tumblr #byler season 4 #byler nation #byler is canon #byler proof #stranger things script #scriptgate

[chloe-caulfield94]

Different reactions to Chloe and Kate

It puzzles me that Chloe and Kate evoke such different reactions in players. It would be hard to find a LiS player who didn't feel protective of Kate and didn't do their best to save her. But with Chloe, reactions are much more varied, with a sizeable portion of players finding her mean, bitchy, demanding, manipulative or what have you.

While Kate and Chloe certainly have wildly different personalities and aesthetic, I would argue they find themselves in a very similar position in October of 2013. Kate was drugged and assaulted by Nathan and Jefferson. And Nathan attempted to do the same to Chloe, which she barely avoided, breaking free just as Nathan began his "photo session". Remember, when Max learns of the ordeal Chloe and Kate went through, she has no idea what is the purpose of the dark room. Neither do Chloe and Kate. From their perspective, that was straight up date rape. What was your impression when you first played the game and heard Chloe recount her encounter with Nathan? Or when you heard he drugged Kate and took her from the party to some room? I was enraged when I found a photo of unconscious Chloe on the floor in Nathan's room. Only at the end of Episode 4 we learn that Nathan and Jefferson "only" took pictures (and still I think that drugging, undressing and posing people is a form of sexual assault).

Chloe had many other traumatic events in her life, but for the sake of this arguement let's focus on the one she shares with Kate.

Both Kate and Chloe demand Max's help and both vocally express disappointment if Max doesn't do what they want. If you take David's picture, Kate on multiple occasions, both in person and via text messages, accuses Max of being uncaring and part of the problem. She doesn't accuse Max of being a coward, she straight up questions Max's motives, saying that she took the picture out of some sadistic pleasure. Yet I never see players complaining that Kate is toxic or that she tries to guilt trip Max. Because when it comes to Kate, everyone realizes that people who are hurt don't always ask nicely for help. Sometimes they don't know how. Or they are too proud or too stubborn. Or they simply lash out. It's difficult to be polite when something horrible was done to you. So even when Kate snaps at Max, everyone still wants to help her. Because Kate is not mean. It's her horrible situation that got to her.

Why can't then some players look at Chloe through the same lens? Why does she, who went through the same ordeal as Kate (and many other horrible things) have to be polite, patient and stoic? And when she isn't, when she gets angry at the constant stream of shit poured on her head every day, that means she's toxic, manipulative and selfish?

As an aside note, Chloe has more right to demand help from Max then Kate. Max and Chloe are best friends. They both refer to each other in that way throughout the entire game. They have known each other for years. And Max has known Kate for barely a month! The game takes place in October. The school year usually starts in September. The previous school year Max attended a different school in Seattle. We know that Kate and Max had weekly tea parties, but given that Max has been in Arcadia Bay for only six weeks, how many of those they had? We know that Kate's closest friends are Stella and Alyssa. Shouldn't Kate expect help primarily from them? Why is she angry with Max, who she's just met and not her long-time friends, who are completely MIA during her crisis?

Furthermore, taking David's picture instead of butting in actually makes sense. In Episode 1 we don't know who the person reponsible for Rachel's disappearance is going to be. At that point, David is still one of the suspects. The picture is solid proof that can be used later. And if you think that Max shouldn't take the blame for Chloe's pot because it might damage her academic career, then you should also think that she shouldn't get into screaming matches with campus security officers, for the very same reason. Contrast that with not pulling the trigger on Frank, which is really a stupid thing to do. Think about it - two teenage girls alone, a greasy creep with a knife shows up and threatens to cut them and on top of that he's wearing the bracelet of a missing (and likely dead) teenager. If I were Max, I'd shoot. And Chloe isn't even that angry with her if she doesn't. She simply says she failed to stand her ground (which is an apt observation). A few moments later they are back to hand-holding.

I'm not trying to shit on Kate. I like her very much. I'm just pointing out the double standard. Almost everyone is understanding and feeling protective of Kate. But somehow not everyone is willing to extend the same courtesy to Chloe, who is every bit as hurt and vulnerable as Kate is.

#Chloe Price #Kate Marsh #Max Caulfield #Life is Strange #LiS

[gubbles-owo]

How's Arknights going? Tried out any of the funky side-modes yet? Did you already get 4 of the same clue dropped on your desk by someone? (the essential AK experience)

YOU

WHY CAN'T I HOLD ONTO ALL THESE BLACKSTEEL CLUES YOU DUMPED ON ME For real tho, big thanks for all the clues!! Pretty sure I've at least once managed to fill the board entirely with cards from you LMFAO paragraphs of unnecessarily detailed answers under the cut

Arknights is going alright! Still on chapter 5 of the main story, progress has been slow cause I've been focused on upgrading the hell out of a few specific ops-- first e2'ed Manticore, then Matoimaru the other day (i love both of 'em sm). Definitely ain't maxed out, dunno if anyone would actually use em as support units rn, but regardless I love my arknights children just look at them they're so fcukfign cool

I adore the extra stories and insights that come with building trust and unlocking modules, and at the end of the day I'm ultimately here for the characters! Still figuring out who to promote next... Exu would be useful as heck but oughhh the materials required for her look like hell XmX I haven't really done all that much of the side stuff, tbh? Not out of lack of interest, but because shit just feels too difficult? I've been discouraged from doing all that much in events or novel modes because I inevitably get roadblocked by raw numbers-- my ops are too low level, enemies throw waay too much damage, mechanics and enemy types I've never seen or had explained are suddenly thrown at me and I'm expected to know how the heck to deal with 'em, etc etc. In all honesty it's a lil frustrating as new player to try and keep up, to curb the rampant FOMO from things I can't quite fully participate in yet. I'm sure I'll get there eventually, it's just a bit of a struggle >w>` Strategy games 'n tower defense usually ain't my thing, so admittedly there's a looot I still gotta learn, through both practice and example. Simply put: I'm babey xD I have been learning and discovering cool lil strategies tho! Random fun fact, while figuring out a better strategy to grind out 4-8 than the guide I originally followed, I discovered that you can get two sarkaz casters to bind the same target if you time your deployment just right

punished gravel jumpscare

(and yes, i am still working on texturing the low poly manticore model, progress has just been extremely slow sdhfjsdgh)

#ough this was a long one #but i hope it was kinda cool at least #arknights #gub

[egophiliac]

probably a dumb thing to ask but is it true that chapter 6 has several routes???? o_o and almost a hundred battles???????

it doesn't have routes in terms of, like, alternate endings or meaningful choices or anything -- I don't know how spoilery you're good with so, uhh, erring on the side of no details, the characters split up into three groups and then there are subchapters that follow each group until they converge again. that's all!

most of the battles are from 6-66 and 6-67, and I think each group has the same amount...oh no, numbers...I think it's thirty-three minimum if you get lucky, and eighty-one max if you don't? and then adding in the other episode 6 battles, yeah, that's...probably at least a hundred. :')

66 and 67 were uniquely terrible though, for reasons that got long:

1) you had to lock in all three teams at the beginning, use them for all the battles, and couldn't change them without resetting the entire chapter and losing all your progress.

2) instead of building teams by card, they have you build by character. so you can't use multiple cards of the same character, and you can't share characters between groups. also, no guest/friend cards.

4) each group had two or three required characters, and heck you if you don't have any good cards for them. (I have no idea what it would do if you somehow didn't have any cards for them at all. if it gives you a temporary one I probably would have been better off, because I have literally no good Rook cards.)

5) it told you upfront what the boss elements were going to be, but all the other battles were just, like. whatever. so you have to build your team for the boss if you don't want to get utterly screwed, but then the other battles could still end up being a huge headache based on the type matchups.

6) that goddamn rock healing itself between turns. why. why did it heal for so much. why was that battle so hard. why did they do this to me.

so if, say, you're someone -- coughmecough -- who likes to focus on your favorite characters, and if, say, most of your good cards are of a particular wet rat dragon man and his entourage, you might be just a little bit boned THANKS TWST. I got through it eventually but oh boysie was it brutal for a game where the usual difficulty level is negligible.

tl;dr eng and newer players take heed, learn from my mistakes and try to build up halfway decent cards for more than five or six characters. (the guest room collection battles have random required characters so not a bad idea for those either.)

also...I am now very, very afraid of what buffoonery episode 7 is going to throw at us. take pity on me...please...

#joseimuke games are serious business #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland episode 6 spoilers #twisted wonderland book 6 spoilers #are we still tagging for that? just to be safe i suppose #i tried to be cute at first and team everybody up with their friends :) :) :) #very quickly realized how bad an idea that was #the rest of the episode is pretty standard difficulty the restrictions just make those two chapters NUTS #i'm used to being able to bruteforce my way through bad type matchups and shit #having to actually care about my team building was a new experience #if i can't have a team of sebeks all screaming WAKASAMAAAA in unison then what is even the point

[shuttershocky]

Shutter, please talk to me about Dagda!

Please tell me that the Goth Murder Catgirl Knight is good? Please, I beg you?

I love her.

I love the Glasgow girls, I really do. But Dagda is not good.

It's not her fault. The Fighter Guard class just sucks. Block-1 melee units whose philosophy is rapidfire low ATK physical damage is just very bad in a game that calculates physical as ATK - DEF. The Fighter class is carried by Mountain and Chongyue having insanely powerful skills that directly address the class' weaknesses (Mountain becomes Block-2 and attacks 2 enemies at once while having insane self-sustain, Chongyue becomes a ranged unit with incredible high multipliers to give him very high damage physical hits), which Dagda does not have. She's quite a bit stronger in CH 11 because she has a special CH 11 talent to give her bonus HP and lifesteal for self-sustain, but outside of CH 11 she's going to need a good medic to survive.

But if you've played Chapter 11 and have unlocked Dagda, you're an advanced enough player that definitely already knew that.

So now I'm going to tell you how to make her work, in spite of what I just said.

______

What you do is that you run her with a very specific team. You will need Blemishine (hard requirement), Siege, and Ch'en.

What this does is let you use Dagda's S1. It's got a good combo with her crit talent, but it's a defensive recovery skill, meaning Dagda has to take hits to gain SP. This would ordinarily make it useless, but Blemishine's talent turns defensive recovery skills into offensive recovery as well, meaning Dagda will get +1 SP for every attack she makes, perfect for a Fighter Guard that hits fast. With Blemishine in the squad and Ch'en providing extra SP support, Dagda will proc her S1's counterattack MUCH more often.

The reason I recommend the extra effort of making S1 work instead of S2 is that S2 has the dual problem of being a skill with a lot of competition and being a very bland DPS skill that doesn't do anything particularly unique or useful. Meanwhile, S1 has a very large 60% (at M3) physical damage reduction effect with a low SP cost of 4, and an ATK scale multiplier on someone who already has an ATK scale buff for a crit talent.

For those who don't know, ATK Scale buffs (the ones that say increase ATK to X% instead of the usual +x% ATK) stack multiplicatively. That means at S1M3 (210% ATK) and with the base crit multiplier of Dagda (150% ATK), if Dagda crits on her S1 counterattack she does her ATK x (2.1)(1.5) times the damage, or 315% ATK as damage. Assuming she's max potential as a free unit and with maxed out levels and trust, that's 638 x 315% or 2009 damage on a crit counter. Respectable! If you make use of her talent increasing her crit with enemies beaten adjacent to Glasgow Gang members (AKA use Siege S2 to kill crowds of trash for bonus crit damage) and max it out to 240%, that Counter Crit can reach 638 x (2.1)(2.4) or 3215 damage, more than enough to puncture even heavily armored enemies.

While it might seem more useful to go with S2 which can do a very good 2066 maximum damage per hit while also being easier to use (you just need another Glasgow member to help her get her crit rate up), I don't like it nearly as much. This skill takes 30 seconds to charge, gives her no survivability, and even ends up directly competing with girls from her own damn faction (namely Indra's S2, which deals 1331 /arts/ damage per hit but also gives Indra lifesteal for extra sustain).

The thing that makes S1 normally useless (defensive recovery) is exactly what makes it able to be cheesed. 4 SP cost is low enough that with Blemishine and Ch'en's support, Dagda can spam her counterattack, while making herself surprisingly tanky vs Physical damage by constantly reducing it by 60%. She'll be able to go up against more powerful elite enemies that would normally flatten her if she uses S2, and the higher DPH from her S1 combining with her crit mean even if the elite is a little bulky she'll still be able to punch through them.

It's a bit more effort than usual, but enjoying a video game, especially a PVE one, is about making the most of your favorites.

#arknights

[why-am-i-here-someone-save-me]

SAGAU Mechanics Headcannons

I figured I’d put together a little list as to how I think that certain mechanics in the game function according to an in-game perspective.

Wishing:

Wishes appear as shooting stars. They are bright enough to be seen during the day.

Every character’s constellations are visible in the night sky.

When a character is ‘pulled’ they are able to hear your voice much more clearly, and most feel a sort of tugging sensation in their chest when they are first pulled. It doesn’t hurt, but a few of them were a bit startled.

When you pull a character for the first time their constellation appears on the back of their hand. Each additional time you pull them, another one of the stars on the mark becomes filled in. The mark only appears in battle.

Characters that you’ve gotten many constellations for take a lot of pride in the fact that most/all of their ‘stars’ are filled. (Your first c6 will forever be ecstatic they were the first to have all their ‘stars’)

Banners:

During a character’s banner their constellation is brighter than other: this applies to both the event 5* and the rate boosted 4*s.

The Traveler’s constellation changes colors based on which element they are aligned with at the time.

Amber, Keaya, and Lisa’s constellation’s are a bit fainter than other characters. This is because they are only available on the standard banner.

50-50’s:

When a 5* is pulled, the shooting star is gold.

Wishes on event banners are brighter than wishes on the standard banner.

The event gold stars will always be aimed at the event 5* character assuming it’s an event banner. In the standard banner, it is aimed randomly.

Though the event stars will be aimed towards the event 5*, they CAN be intercepted and deflected, whether intentionally or not.

If the event star has been knocked far enough off it’s original course, it will head in the direction of the nearest standard banner 5*.

If the event star makes contact with a 5* character who does not have their banner available, it will reverse its course and try again.

If a standard banner star makes contact with a standard 5* it lights up one of the stars in their constellation.

If a standard banner star makes contact with the ground, it will turn into a weapon associated with the region it landed in.

If a star is touched by a character who is already max constellation, it dissolves into stardust and disappears.

Food:

Having a character eat is basically just an energy boost. It makes them feel full despite not really having eaten anything. Otherwise Xiao would be complaining about you making him eat mortal food like the almond tofu addict he is

This is actually the only way Qiqi can taste things, so feed her well okay?

Falling In Battle:

They don’t die if their HP reaches 0. It’s more like they just lose consciousness.

‘Reviving’ a character causes them to wake up and feel energized again.

Co-Op:

The experience of co-op for them is sort of like a dream, where they’re aware that this is very much not normal, but it also has a feeling of surrealness to it.

Interactions between them and the other player’s vessels are completely forgotten.

Fast-Forwarding:

Using this feature basically just leaves everyone feeling slightly disoriented and jetlagged. Try not to overuse it or you may notice some “lag” from your characters (they need rest too you know)

Being Added/Removed From Party:

When added to the party they just get teleported to wherever your current location is. They do usually have a few moments to prepare themselves, so you never end up outright seeing them in the middle of their routines.

When removed from the party, they are teleported back to their original position.

The whole appearing and disappearing thing caused a huge commotion for a while, but now most of Teyvat has just kinda accepted that Vision Holders occasionally just disappear for a bit. It’s considered normal now. Mostly.

Artifacts:

Some of the characters decide to actually carry the artifacts you give them on their person, but you aren’t able to see them on the character’s model.

Others have the artifacts lending them power, but don’t physically carry them around.

Bugs:

They cause like 90% of the bugs you see. Usually it’s not on purpose, but they can be a little petty and may make a few things glitch out if they feel they aren’t getting enough attention.

Crashing:

Crashing is a result of them trying to directly interact with you. Whether it’s them trying to speak with you via the chat function, or them trying to verbally speak to you, if you crashed; just know someone was getting a bit impatient and decided they didn’t want to wait anymore.

Other:

Albedo has managed to hijack your camera. Yeah sorry about that, but uh. Congratulations? Honestly, he just got lucky, but if anyone asks he’ll pretend he knew exactly what he was doing the entire time.

They are able to get glimpses of your surroundings occasionally using your camera.

There is without question a small group who are diligently working on discovering a way to contact you.

The vessels can be petty with each other, though they do not actively start conflicts with each other out of respect for you. Otherwise Diluc and Childe would be at each other’s throats instantly

The archons get lowkey jealous if you spend more of your time in one region than their own, but none of them are going to outwardly admit that.

#luci writes #genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin sagau #sagau headcanons

[yudgefudge]

Footballers as Pokemon Trainers, YNWA EDITION

Klopp, Alisson Becker and Virgil are in this post. Also this one is kind of longer than the others, sorry! I just really like how these teams came out and wanted to explain my reasonings behind them!!

@liverpool-enjoyer, @addictivewhispering and @lonely-salamander the usual! come get ur food, etc.

Firstly, as I'm doing Liverpool's manager, I'd like to cover Liverpool's mascot Pokemon as well, which I'd say is Moltres. Because it's just like the red bird on the Liverpool thingie. All mascots will probably be legendaries/mythicals/pseudos unless some other pokemon fits PERFECTLY for it.

Now onto Klopp himself.

Jurgen Klopp

now my friend theo (@addictivewhispering) made an EXCELLENT post about how different coaches would be as pokemon trainers, and with their permission I'll be putting that here:

i think klopp would prioritize speedy pokemon with good attack. glass cannons who are fragile defensively (get it bc liverpool players are always injured...). he'd use lots of priority moves along with things like u-turn and volt switch to try and overrun the opponent. always tries to hit as hard as he can, lots of boosted crit rate moves too

That sums up what I'd see his Pokemon fighting style to be! As a coach he gets to go past the 3 pokemon pattern I've been doing so far, but other than coaches (and Ronaldo, when I get around to him), everyone else should have three pokemon.

Talonflame

Although I don't believe it would be his starter, I believe Talonflame would be Klopp's signature battling Pokemon. First of all, it's the red YWNA bird. Secondly it fits with his fighting style; Talonflame plays as a fragile cannon and can also be used as a pivot since it learns U-Turn. Another thing I did with these was I tried to make them advantageous (and disadvantageous) in certain conditions, as a cheeky reference to how Klopp often blames the outcome of a match on the conditions of the pitch (the wind, height of grass, etc.). So for Talonflame, it has a 4x weakness to Stealth Rocks, which is the most prominent entry hazard in the metagame currently. It's also powerful in the Sun weather, and really bad in Rain.

2. Perrserker

This is what I believe would be Klopp's starter Pokemon, and by extension, his partner Pokemon. When I sent Max an ask about this sort of thing, she suggested Melmetal for Klopp, but I don't give legendaries to trainers, so I decided on giving him a Steel-type. Perrserker has his beard and also his toothy grin, as well as jovial attitude, but fierceness in battle (on the pitch). Perrserker's ability, Steely Spirit, powers up other Steel-types in the party (although I didn't give klopp any more steel types) which feels very YNWA to me. Also, Perrserker is very good in Sandstorm.

3. Abomasnow

This one is the main part of my "translating the Klopp blaming the weather meme" idea. Abomasnow is bearded like Klopp as well. But for those who don't know, Abomasnow's ability sets up Hail (called Snow now) which is obviously its most advantageous weather. It also has a 4x weakness to Fire, which ties in with Talonflame and having disadvantages in certain situations. And although I agrre that Klopp would use sweepers, I do think he would still want to set up an Aurora Veil.

4. Hydreigon

Drei is the german word for three. Hydreigon is german. Jurgen is german. Hydreigon also has a 4x weakness to Fairy type.

5. Noibat

Jurgen would capture a Noibat because he found it cute, then would realize it can amplify his voice, then use it when celebrating at the sides to make his laughs of joy heard, as well as when he shouts orders. He also thinks it's very cute. It also has a 4x weakness to Ice.

idk if u've noticed, but it seems like Klopp's team is good against one another. Well it was intentional. I feel like Klopp would unintentionally do that. Then he's just like. Oh well. Anyways

Alisson Becker

Does not like battling that much, if at all. Prefers contests if anything, but really just wants to vibe, tbh. Also I accidentally made him a Fairy type trainer. Oh well.

Shiny Ribombee

Max said that Alisson would have a weakness for cute things like and I agree. Cutiefly (Ribombee's baby form) is the smallest, cutest thing ever. I feel like Alisson would meet it by catching it between a pair of big goalkeeper gloves and just fall in love with it. Idk. And then they were inseparable from there.

2. Mega Gardevoir

Alisson always gave me the vibes of "fierce, cute protector" which is exactly what Gardevoir is. People think it's weak and flimsy because of it's design...but it can literally open black holes. Yeah I'm not 100% about this one but I think it fits. Well, I can guarantee you Alisson would have a Ralts.

3. Cottonee

Another example of him having a weakness for pretty things. The way Cottonee's cotton is styled reminds me of Alisson's hair and beard as well. Also I imagine he lets it use Aromatherapy to calm him down when he's anxious.

Virgil:

Virgil definitely just likes big, defensive, scary-looking Pokemon. But secretly they're all just sillies like he is.

Golurk

Golurk would definitely be his starter...like that's Virgil embodied right there. It has his looming stare, big frame, and also it fucking flies and I think Virgil would find that awesome, and take Alisson on rides with it.

2. Metagross

Similar reasoning to Golurk tbh. But here's the thing. Despite how big and strong Metagross looks, it's still weak to Knock Off (dark-type move), and that fact for some reason, reminds me of that video of Van Dijk tripping where the commentator called him van disney. yeah don't ask idk either.

3. Grimmsnarl

Alisson kept bugging him to capture a 'cute' fairy type,,,,,and it's this fucking thing yep

#shitpost #football #pokemon #ok. time to tag. #jurgen klopp #talonflame #perrserker #hydreigon #abomasnow #noibat #alisson becker #alisson #ribombee #cutiefly #gardevoir #cottonee #golurk #metagross #grimmsnarl #'hey i mean its a fairy like you asked' #'not like this you WEIRDO' #'jurgen would not catch such a scary pokemon (hydreigon)' #excuse me #the moment he found out it was german he 1000% caught that shit LMFAO

[goosetrainer]

Mari's Surprisingly Early Tera Raid Guide #uhhhlemmecheck6 - Hisuian Typhlosion

Heeeeeey people sorry for the radio silence I've been busy trying to solo the Mewtwo raid (failed)(fuck Nintendo) and then I skipped the Hisuian Decidueye post too because I downloaded the data like in the last 5 minutes, I figured it would be too late to make a guide. Maybe if they run it again.

Anyway! Post-Mewtwo raids all seem too easy. Vaporeon time! (But let me tell you I was considering many many more options that I think would be viable, will reblog if I find the spoons to try something else)

[Beware: I edited the post after some more tries, I found a simpler and faster strategy] Usual reminder that the pokémon I used for this guide is available to borrow for free to anyone who asks (Pokémon Home needed - both on Switch and mobile)

Vaporeon lv.100 Tera type: Water Ability: Hydration (hidden) Item: Shell Bell Nature: Modest (/Quiet/Mild in a pinch) IVs: max in HP, sp.atk., sp.def. EVs: 252 sp.atk., 252 sp.def., 4 HP

Moveset: -Surf (TM) -Rain Dance (TM) -Calm Mind (TM) -Wish (egg move) (I ended up only using two healing cheers instead, but might as well have a full moveset)

Usage:

So, the nice thing about H. Typhlosion is that he doesn't mess with stats. He still wipes stat modifications on both sides, but only once, and can't boost his own stats nor drop yours. The Sunny Day + Will-O-Wisp + Flamethrower + Infernal Parade (x2 damage when you have a status condition) looks scary, but it's all special damage that can be heavily mitigated with some simple boosts on your part. Noice

Oh, I should mention that serebii.net has started listing all the scripted actions of event raid mons, so give it a look! Extremely useful!

Anyway, back to our raid. What we have to look out for is Sunny Day - luckily for us it's a scripted move, it will happen at 95% of the time bar (so ~turn 2) and once more at 40% of the time bar. We want to keep the rain on as long as possible, because it activates Vaporeon's ability (Typhlosion's AI seems to prioritize keeping you burnt, and rain + Hydration neutralizes it) AND completely flips the power balance in our favor, BUT since the first Sunny Day will not be in the first turn, it's actually better to open with a Calm Mind and wait for the sun to go up before our first Rain Dance. Just so we don't waste two turns in a row playing with the weather, you know.

Once it's raining we're basically safe - the only move that's still worrisome is Focus Blast, and only because it can lower your sp.def. but it won't happen too often. THUS don't bother getting your special stats up to the max, I find that the single one from the opening is enough. Get your 4 Surfs in (for the tera orb, counting one more because Typhlosion steals your charge once). Less special attack on the Vaporeon is actually helpful here: you deal enough damage to recover reliably with Shell Bell, and not enough to trigger the shield until ~3 Surfs are done. You can reapply Rain Dance if the rain stops much sooner than the 40% time threshold, but it's not heavily needed, depends on how lucky you've been until now. Just keep an eye open for the scripted player-side stat reset (drop everything and do 1-3 more Calm Mind, heal when you need to either with Wish-Heal Up or from using Surf if you're already terastallized) and the second Sunny Day (drop everything and reapply rain). When you are ready and terastallized and with more than half HP, start spamming Surf and don't look back.

TL;DR: Calm Mind x1, Rain Dance right after his Sunny Day, Surf (x4 or more) and heal (Wish or Heal Up cheer as needed), terastallize when possible, Rain Dance after 2nd Sunny Day, Calm Mind x3 (+ healing as needed) after Vaporeon's stats are reset, Surf until KO.

OTHER OPTIONS:

Wish is a fancy move but not so easy to use, and you can use the healing cheer just as effectively (in this battle). Instead of Wish, one could use Fake Tears (TM) to harshly drop Typhlosion's sp.def. but, since it doesn't work when he's shielded, it must be done after Typhlosion's negative stat wipe (85% time) and before the shield goes up (either 70% time or 60% time remaining, whichever comes first). That is the time you'd use Surf to charge the tera orb in the strategy above, so this means that you're delaying the terastallization (and counting exclusively on cheers to heal) in exchange for more attack power. It's very likely that you will deal so much damage, after 3 Fake Tears, that you won't even need to terastallize, but you have to pay more attention to your health.

Pros: -no DLC no transfer no trading required -great special bulk -also enough special attack to never need a full boost to any stat Cons: -the fact that it requires both the HA and a tera type that's not one of the native types of the first evo stage (Eevee) means that (unless you got very lucky with tera dens) you either have to use an Ability Patch or 50 water tera shards (I'd choose the shards,annoying to farm but less rare)

Afterword (feel free to skip): this one was really easy. I think there's a lot of space for playing around with other pokémon. I went with Vaporeon because it was one of the more common ones and I gave priority to those that can be found in the base game, but it's not the only one, and I think I can give some suggestions :) The biggest threat is - unusually - Will-O-Wisp, because it makes the ghost type STAB move twice as strong and you can't even bring a normal type for this fight (unless you like being Focus Blasted in the face). And yeah of course you don't want anything weak to fire in general... Water types look good. As long as you have rain and the means to boost both your special defense (or drop enemy's special attack) and boost your attack/special attack (or drop enemy's defense/special defense), you're basically done. Physical attackers also need some burn protection, be it from Water Veil or Hydration; special attackers appreciate it but if they have enough special bulk and can withstand the stronger Infernal Parade they can even do without. I wouldn't try Misty Terrain on them though, you already have another field thing that lasts 5 turns to keep track of (rain). (Best bets imo: Whiscash, but maaaaybe if you're lucky you can get away with Dondozo, Tatsugiri, Basculegion(F), Clawitzer, Lumineon, Milotic...? Gastrodon? probably the legendaries too) Fire types look good on paper but you need to terastallize them to another type if you want to break the shield. I suggest tera ground, and Flash Fire as the ability. But whatever you use here probably has no good ground-type move and needs Tera Blast which is... mid. (If I had to take a guess, I'd say the ones with a chance would be Rapidash-Ninetails-Flareon-Arcanine(Kanto), and maaaaaybe Armarouge-Ceruledge-Typhlosion(Johto)) Guts may be an option? But idk, all mons with that ability look like poor counters... Dachsbun's Well-Baked Body also looks fun (throwback to that time I used it against Johtonian Typhlosion! It would be so funny if it worked LOL but it would need yet another tera type change, fairy on fire is eh) Misty Terrain... I was this close to transfer a Galarian Weezing with its HA but then I gave up because, as I said, priority to easily obtainable pokemon. Not everyone has swsh. Other Misty Terrain users don't look too promising because they're almost all fairy types and again, probably gotta change tera type unless you can power through the shield without super effective moves, ahah Magic Bounce has a similar problem. All available pokemon with it are psychic types and thus weak to ghost. I guess maybe Hatterene if you give her looooots and lots of special defense? Walking Wake looks interesting, but I can't see anything in its arsenal to raise its special attack or lower the enemy's special defense... might still make it, who knows

#pkmn #pokemon #pokemon sv #tera raids #guides #gen 9 #sv #typhlosion #hisuian typhlosion #typhlosion hisui #with the reviewed strategy I won more or less with the same remaining time but only bc of a lot of bad luck #focus blast kept critting and I had to heal too often TvT which was still just twice #I forgot to teach him wish so I went into battle and won with 3 moves

[emersonfreepress]

Sorry if you've already answered something like this but something had me wondering… since the stats for Gabe & Kile are split between platonic and romantic (& I'm gonna assume it'll be that way w all main ROs) will MC also be able to have a bestie? Like, if we have a lot of platonic points w, say, Jessie, will she (or the text) acknowledge that? No problem if you don't wanna spoil this, was just curious!

Yes!! And omg I'm so pumped to finally have an excuse to talk about this —

Yes, New Kid can have a best friend! That's why relationship stats are actually split three ways: Affection (platonic, 5 levels), Attraction (romantic, 4 levels), and Trust (varying number of levels depending on the character).

This requires actual fine-tuning from me and we'll see how implementation goes, but the idea is that maxing out both the Trust and Affection stats for a character makes them your best friend. One best friend is likely all that should be possible for one playthrough, but that remains to be seen! Why work on friendships? Well...

Characters will tell you Intel, Rumors, and Secrets. About themselves, about others, about the setting. You'll probably want to know some of that shit.

ROs on the same level of friendship with the MC befriend each other. That's how the friend group is built! (So if you're level 3 Affection with Kile and R, you get a little scene showing the progression of their own friendship 🥰 and it's reflected in relevant social scenes, ofc)

Reaching level 4 Affection unlocks special social skills that the MC can make use of for skill checks and social situations!! I'm so excited about this one. I'll probably mainly introduce this during the beta; it makes a bit more sense to me to backtrack and figure out where these RO perks can be applied. Easier to make sure they all get equal opportunities and fit the plots appropriately.

(Oh, but the Emersons function slightly differently 😅 As per usual lol)

Developing this silly system is the reason I've been hesitant about allowing the MC to make enemies out of the ROs. There are already secondary characters you can make allies or enemies out of (the student council president, Clair; the Avery twins; The Madisons; etc.).

I worry it would feel... cheap? Unbalanced? Asymmetrical? To have there be player perks for making friends, but none for making enemies. I'd have to brainstorm on how it could work real hard and I haven't done that yet (it's daunting lol); not to mention it's a significant amount of writing and additional character plot. For like... both books. So... idk.

#thanks for the question! #lovely anon #answered #ROs #mechanics

[princess-of-the-corner]

Toontown: Corporate Clash Recap: Cogs and Buildings

Cogs are evil robotic businessmen from a far away land. Nobody in Toontown knows where they’re from, but as Lowden said, they CANNOT take a joke. They cannot make sense of Toon comedy, and as such will be physically damaged by it!

A Cog’s Nametag shows their name, followed by their department, followed by their level:

i.e.

Flunky

Bossbot

Level 1

Cogs are divided into five departments: Sellbots (marketing, wear purple suits), Cashbots (financial, wear green suits), Lawbots (legal, wear blue suits), Bossbots (corporate, where brown suist), and Boardbots (board of directors, wear a greenish, grayish, bluish navy suit? I dunno how to describe the color). Each of those departments are inhabited by Cogs of the following types:

Employees: Standard Cogs. They don’t really have any special gimmicks. The corporate ladder of every department consists of 8 employees, ranked form Tier 1 to Tier 8.

Tier 1 Cogs can be level 1-5, Tier 2 levels 2-6, Tier 3 levels 3-7, Tier 4 levels 4-8, Tier 5 levels 5-10, Tier 6 levels 6-12, Tier 7 levels 7-15, and Tier 8 Cogs can be levels 8-17 in standard gameplay. In lore, however, their levels cap at 50.

An Employees Max HP is decided by the formula f(x) = (x + 1) * (x + 2) where x is the Cog’s level.

There is a secret Employee type that breaks this formula.

Tier 7 and 8 Cogs are usually building exclusives, but Tier 7 Cogs can be found in the overworld in specific areas, and Tier 8 Cogs can spawn on Streets during Cog Invasions.

There are, however, other ways for Cogs to climb their corporate ladder.

Operations Analysts: Currently only available for Lawbots, Operations Analysts have more health and better evasion, but deal less damage, being defense focused.

Their HP formula is (x + 2) * (x + 3) – 2 where x is the Operation’s Analyst Level.

All current Operations Analysts are Tier 2, 4, and 6 Lawbots, with level ranges matching their Employee counterparts.

Field Specialists: Also currently only available for Lawbots (although that is due to change later on), Field Specialists are glass cannons. They focus on attack strength at the cost of HP and evasion.

Their health formula is x(x + 1) + 1 where x is the Cog’s level.

All current Field Specialists are Tier 3, 5, and 7 Lawbots.

Executives: Elite Cogs. They can be Employees, Operations Analysts, or Field Specialists. They have 50% more health, deal 20% more damage, and are as evasive as a Cog 1 level higher than them. All Executives wear black suits, and have “.exe” appended to the end of their levels.

Normal cogs have a 20% chance to drop twice their level in Jellybeans. Boardbots have a 50% chance to drop 5 times their level in Jellybeans.

Regular Cogs reward 2 times their level in Toon Experience when defeated, Executives reward 5 times their level in Toon Experience.

I’ll be going over what each of the individual cogs are like as we reach areas where they can spawn, as that is just FAR more efficient than trying to list them all off here.

Additionally, there are Cog types that I’m deliberately skipping over to make things more simplified. They will ALSO be covered when they become relevant.

Unless there’s a Cog Building, Cogs will spawn via flying down from the sky and landing on a street in Toontown. They then begin patrolling the streets, walking on the right side of the road like a car. In most neighborhoods, you can avoid them by sticking to the sidewalks, but there are some places in the game where the sidewalks are thin enough for you to get dragged into a Cog Battle.

If nothing happens to interrupt the Cog’s patrol, it will eventually deploy its propeller and return to the sky. Or (if the Street hasn’t reached its building capacity yet) it may instead step off the street and enter a Toon Building.

Toon Buildings have two doors: One the players can use to enter them, and another that tells knock-knock jokes when interacted with (restoring a small amount of Laff to the Toon who does so). When a Cog enters a building, all player Toons inside the building are booted out, and the front door locks. Then, a Cog building of the appropriate department falls out of the sky and crushes the Toon building, turning it into an extension of the Cog’s corporate empire. The knock-knock door, meanwhile, spawns Cogs of that department onto the street. T

The front door to the building becomes an elevator, and up to 4 Toons can enter the building to try and take it back from the Cogs. Only 4 Toons can enter the building at a time. If there are Toons currently in the building, the elevator door will be closed, and a light corresponding to the floor the Toons are currently on will be lit up. The level of the Cog who captured the building determines the number of floors. If the elevator door opens, and no Toons come out, then they either all Went Sad, Surrendered (Cogs thankfully respect that aspect of the Geneva Conventions), or teleported out after clearing a floor.

When the Elevator Doors close, you are sent into the Cog Building. There’s no fleeing from the fight, you have to defeat all of the Cogs it throws at you in order to progress. When in battle, the elevator in the back of the room will spawn additional Cogs to fill in empty slots. If there are surviving Cogs, you can delay their joining the battle into the next turn if EVERYONE chooses and locks in their Gags before the Cogs join. New combatants cannot join the fray while the Toons and Cogs are attacking, after all.

Once all Cogs on that floor is defeated, the elevator in the back of the room opens and starts counting down. Any Toons not in the elevator when the Countdown hits 0 will be sent back to the Playground empty handed. You do NOT get credit for the battle until the final Cog on the final floor has been felled.

Every building has an Executive Cog on the top floor serving as the “Boss”. They don’t have to go down last (in fact, they’re one of the first Cogs to join), but they’re heavily implied to be the same individual who took over the building in the first place. Once the final floor is cleared, you get your Toon EXP, Gag EXP, Task Credit, and other relevant bits tallied up. You even get EXP boosts from buildings as well, which makes this a great way to grind up levels and train your Gags.

Upon returning to the Street, the Cog building will collapse, with the Toon building springing right into place as though nothing happened. The Toon(s) who liberated the building will be displayed on plaques on the wall in the interior for all to see until the next time the Cogs take it over. If the building has a shopkeeper, they’ll whisper their thanks to you and give you some Jellybeans to thank you for a job well done.

And if you’re in one of those Neighborhoods with a thin sidewalk, a Cog will walk right into you right as the cutscene ends and you regain control of your Toon, forcing you and your friends into a surprise battle. Yes, this exact thing happened to me once while I was in the third Neighborhood. It was kinda funny in hindsight, but I think the devs need to work on that Neighborhood’s architecture.

Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention: If you Go Sad, the Cogs will steal ALL of your Gags. Their goal is to “improve” Toontown by turning it into the perfect, corporate city, whether the Toons want it or not.

Oh yeah, before I forget, if you defeat 100 Cogs in an individual department, that unlock the Cog Radar for that department. Open up the Cog Gallery in your Shtickerbook, and you can see how many Cogs of that type are on that street, and you can also see how many buildings that Department has on your current street as well. I don’t know how useful this is, given that you can ALSO see Cog Buildings on the Street Map, but it’s a feature!

You earn achievements for defeating 1 Cog (not counting the Desk Jockey), defeating 10 Cogs, defeating 100 Cogs, defeating 1,000 Cogs, defeating 10,000 Cogs, defeating 100,000 Cogs, and defeating 1,000,000 Cogs.

You also get Achievements for recapturing 1 Building, Recapturing 10 Buildings, Recapturing 50 Buildings, Recapturing 100 Buildings, and Recapturing 250 Buildings!

 Also, because you can click on a Cog’s nametag to view their profile (infinitely more simplistic than a player’s profile) you can TECHNICALLY send Cogs Friend Requests. It is by far one of the funniest Easter Eggs in the whole game, especially because a few Cogs have special, custom, in character rejection messages.

Anyways, what would you like for me to cover next?

Trolley Games

Minigame Area

Estate

Fishing

Cogs and Buildings

Social Activity

G.U.M.B.A.L.L. Machine

Toon Levels

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You gotta tell us the rejection message!

Other than that, how about estate?

#submission