gregbrown

Man, you can get knocked out really quickly towards the end of the game, with how the leading players can ramp up their research so quickly. I'd hoped to at least be a pest as the final four duke it out, but I'm already three weapon levels behind, lol. This is a roundabout way of noting I've reached the end of my personal countdown to tears.

In cases where both fleets are due to arrive during the same hourly tick, the one that traversed the shortest distance arrives first.

I wasn't sure if "no love for dad" was a corruption of "no left 4 dead" and was just confused through that whole part, plus the break conversation was beyond insane. Normally I'm wild about the absurd tangents, but this time the riffing just confused me and turned me off the rest of the topics discussed. It may have been that I was much more tired than usual, which is why I thought for a good chunk of the episode that I was just brain-dumb. That discussion about the discovery triptych was amazing, though, and provides a solution to my question from waaaaay back about whether games can really adopt novel mechanics to do surprising things, as compared to how recent acclaimed books will often subvert or upend their own mechanics. I guess the answer is yes!

So many parts of this episode made me feel like I was having a stroke. Also, Nick's piece is viewable through Archive.org's Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20070324034229/http://www.shacknews.com/extras/2007/031407_hippasus_1.x

The +1 weapon advantage for defenders also helps shape the game's progression, from the early scramble for stars, to the early-mid detente, to the mid-late aggression as increasing weapon levels make the defender advantage negligible. I still think the formal late-game only begins when a few players have been eliminated. We're on the verge of that stage in Game 2, I think.

I like it, since it means you have to choose between building industry immediately and saving money for emergency fleets. (Plus you can create Econ at the last minute and still get the $10 salary.)

On the other hand, though, external events can certainly intervene. (I have no idea who anyone is, so this is not a coded message.)

I've heard nothing but good things about Vladimir Sorokin's work, which includes some post-Soviet stuff like The Ice Trilogy and Day of the Oprichnik. The Aleksandar Hemon-edited Best European Fiction series translates a lot of European fiction into English for the first time, and includes some Russian stuff AFAIK. N+1 just published It's No Good, a collection of Kirill Medvedev's poetry and essays. As far as other obscure Russian lit goes, NYRB Classics is an imprint with impeccable taste, and one known for both publishing out-of-print books and commissioning new translations of foreign lit. And honestly, just making your way through Pevear & Volokhonsky's collaborative translations would be a good way to dive into Russian lit. If you want non-fiction, let me know and I can pull together some recs.

Yes, the original had speed research. Instead, NP2 has the ability to build warp gates at stars, and you can travel between gates three times as fast. HOWEVER, they're expensive and persist through ownership changes, like industry and science (but unlike econ).

Yes, that's accurate. So if you're trading for techs and don't need one urgently, try to choose the one where you have the least progress.

Recently uncovered documentary footage of the zeitgeist:

I feel like the most successful novels need to teach you how to read them, because they come with a style calibrated to draw out the themes they want. With Wolf Hall, Mantel certainly accomplishes that to an extent—simply referring to Cromwell as him (almost an miniscule god), dipping in and out of stating his thoughts outright—but at the same time it's still familiar enough that I almost wonder whether she could have gone further. But it's hard to make a criticism that hypothesizes some other version of a book that you can't quite imagine.

Maybe it's just my neuroses, but the only real flaws I could find in the novel was that it was too seductive; by the end of the book, I thought Cromwell was the perfect man. It's not quite a Mary Sue, since the characterization is several orders of magnitude higher, but it still feels too easy. The book covers his rise, but it still seems strange and off-putting that there were no setbacks of his own making. The writing is so wonderful that it papers over this problem, but it has bothered me since I finished it. I'm also worried that it was too smooth a read; the parts that I enjoyed the most was when Mantel stepped outside of the simple structure, such as Cromwell's fever-dreams and that goddamn amazing chapter "An Occult History of Britain". Does a novel need to be challenging to be truly great? Does Wolf Hall seem like the sort of novel you could re-read in the future and discover new layers of meaning? I loved Mantel's language, but I still seem drawn to the other side of the argument. These are nitpicky/vague objections because it's perfectly executed in every respect; the novel rides on whether Mantel can sell us on loving Cromwell, and boy oh boy does she nail it. So excited to read Bring up the Bodies when it hits paperback.

Activate the drop down and press the lightning button at the top (right next to the zoom in and out buttons) to see upgrade costs on the map.

I don't think the Wii U is going to recapture the family market like they did last-generation. iOS devices are already there and won handily. They might pull in self-identified gamers as they build a stronger collection of games, but we're talking at least an order of magnitude difference between families and people-buying-multiple-consoles.

Yeah, he's already making substantial changes based on feedback (like changing the galaxy screen) so it's worth a shot!

Yeah, he pushed out a new build in the last hour or two, and it broke that screen. Several other reports on the official forum. Fleets are also renamed "Carriers" now.

Still waiting on the last person to join our second-group game so that it can begin. If you're part of that group and didn't receive a PM with the password, let me know in case I'm holding you up! (Or if you don't want to reveal yourself, we can use The Argobot as an intermediary.)

It feels like EVE Online on a personal scale, with all the metagame insanity but without the logistical drudgery.

I set up the second game: http://triton.ironhelmet.com/game/2110543 PMing out the passwords now. Edit: Remember, it doesn't start until everyone joins, so no panic attacks, though I see someone else is already quick on the gun. Edit 2: OH, and change your alias BEFORE you join the game. It's the profile link when you first log-in.

RE: the advertising class-divisions discussion Offering paid, ad-free versions is rarer than you think, since in many cases advertisers specifically want to target the monied, as they're the ones with the disposable income to throw at their products. I think this is why the NY Times, for example, doesn't offer a more expensive ad-free experience.

I have premium, so I can start it tonight after work (11pm-ish EDT).

Name sent! Excited to get this thing rolling, and thanks for organizing!

If there's a second game planned, I'd love to join. Have been swamped with work lately, and didn't realize y'all were starting one. :[

Not yet; they mentioned on the cast that they hadn't decided yet for what's after Wolf Hall. Maybe Zadie Smith's NW thanks to the villainous schemes of one Sarah Argodale, but we'll see.