Bjorn

Ah, yeah, that would explain it. I understand that thought process though, Elerium Cores are definitely rare and worth their weight in gold.

Yeah, just having a Skulljack equipped is worth...either +20 or +25 to hacking? I think it may be a project you have to make in the Workshop before it gets that bonus though. But it definitely does have a bonus. That's why it always goes on my Specialist. I just put more movement on my Specialist to make her more able to get a Skullmine off now and again (and the value of an 70+ percent insta-kill on a wide variety of enemies can't be overstated, even if you fail the hack). Gremlin 3s don't become available until a certain enemy shows up and you research it, so I don't think there is any particular way to rush that (but I would consider it one of the autopsies well worth doing right away rather than waiting for it to auto-complete).

I'd say you've had a generally poor draw in hacking objectives then, as starting around mid game (Gremlin 2 and a Skulljack to boost hacking), my soldiers had a very high chance to get the first bonus and by the time I got Gremlin 3, the first bonus was always guaranteed. For first bonus ones that we easy to guaranteed, I saw things like: Refill all soldiers AP pools immediately (this made that mission a cakewalk, it was a mission with an 8 turn limit and we basically got a free turn) 20 Intel Increase income from region permanently (free supplies, basically) There are plenty of ones that are of little value (solider gets extra crit chance, soldier gets concealment), mostly because I considered the squad chance (the second, harder option) to not be worth the risk, and those bonuses don't really do my specialist a lot of good. Wow (nice image name)!

Oh man, I don't know how random the hack bonuses are, but I saw the absolute best one I had ever seen in the next to last mission (which, it could be scripted being that's when it showed up, and it showed up on a mission objective device?) It was a permanent increase of +20 to the soldier's hack score. If that can randomly show up, holy shit.

I watched Starship Troopers for the first time in a decade or more last night, and I remain mystified at the number of people who failed to see the satire in it and took it at face value.

It mostly just removes squad size as an upgrade, which I ultimately do think is the single most valuable upgrade in the game, bar none. I think the idea of disempowering the player periodically is really interesting though, and could be done in ways beyond squad size. You could have mission parameters that limit or remove certain equpiment: "Advent has deployed an electronics suppression device. Mimics, battle scanners and Gremlins will be unusable unless the device is disabled." "The Advent base you're infiltrating has large concentrations of volatile chemicals. Explosive and fire ordinance will be unavailable on this mission. Gas and acid grenades will still be available." "Advent has developed a device that can disable our plasma and beam weapons remotely, the research and prototype must be destroyed. Standard weapons, grenade launchers and melee will be the only options for this mission. The good news is the device also affects Advent weapons. The bad news is that you can expect a large concentration of alien close combat troops defending the site (ie, berserkers)."

I agree with Tom wholeheartedly on that, and think at least a couple of his solutions are petty smart design. Spoilered thoughts on a very late game mission.

I've had two corrupt saves (both on the same mission, so likely from the same thing), and a variety of minor but annoying bugs. But even with that, I'd give it an enthusiastic recommendation. I got to the final mission last night, but decided to quit rather than pushing on through it because of the time, not knowing how long it would take. Tonight, the aliens fall!

Alec Meer at RPS has an interesting piece up about his reaction to Firewatch. In the comments he notes that he wrote this as quickly as possible after finishing it to tap into the emotions it brought out in him, but with some recollection, some of his views have changed. I hope he writes another piece about it. I think it's interesting that the immediate reaction he has about making Henry a "good man" are wrapped mostly around not stepping out, emotionally or physically, even as Henry has literally stepped out of her life and failed to step up again and again. There's something so....male about that thought process.

I tried with my old blender, but the texture/consistency was weird enough that I never made more. I recently got a new Ninja blender (with smoothie cup attachments) that's much faster and blends much better/finer, so I'm looking forward to going back and trying some old combinations I didn't previously care for just because of texture.

Yeah, early Mimic use seems like it would be one of the most valuable tools in the arsenal for getting low level soldiers leveled up. It's saved me who knows how much damage taken even on the normal difficulty.

Greek yogurt, milk, banana and mango smoothie this morning, which is probably my favorite smoothie in the world.

Yah! Congrats to you both SAM!

Sunless Sea just had a free weekend that left me pretty lukewarm about it. It's the kind of game I can see some people loving, but it just didn't hit those notes for me. It is tempting for Trine 3 and Else.Heart though. I've heard complaints about Trine 3 being unfinished, which is the only reason I hadn't bought it, but in a Bundle I don't really care.

Soylent Green is Kiwi.

I had a nearly 2 hour phone conversation with an old friend last night, which was great. He's been through some real shit over the last few years, and it had felt like he had gone into such a dark hole that my old friend was never going to come back out of it. But he's got a new job in a new town and is going out hiking again, and it was good to talk with him, to hear him happy and planning for the future and to argue about politics and complain about the normal bullshit that life throws in your way in a week. A bigger pick me up for my week than I could have imagined.

His actual complaints in his tweets about XCOM 2 are ones that I agree with, but I think it's losing the forest for the trees by focusing on surface niggles rather than engaging with the far more interesting core changes (almost all his complaints were about the strategic layer, how clunky it is and the terrible transition between map and ship). But its also Twitter, where deep engagement is actively discouraged. That said, I agree with your assessment of Blow, I just don't think his XCOM 2 commentary is inaccurate.

I like to give myself about an hour between getting up and coffee, food and/or nicotine. Just a glass of water to start the day and wake up.

Henry's selfishness in the beginning about not being willing to even consider moving for his wife's dream job, then also not moving to be with her to support her once she started downhill, put such a negative spin on his character for me to start with that he really wasn't able to climb out of that hole for me. Delilah not reporting having seen the teens even after they disappeared did something similar for her in my mind.

Does anyone know if your Will score has any affect on your Psi powers? I've had a personal mod for higher Will on my fav psychonaut because I thought it might, but ultimately a movement mod would be more useful for lining up a good null lance if it doesn't.

I put off my psychonauts for a long time because I assumed it would be like EU, and NOPE! They are to 2 what high level snipers were to 1, but with none of the hassle of having to level them up. If you get Domination as one of your early training options, they immediately become one of your most powerful units.

The most recent new enemy I've encountered is a:

Man, this is not a game for me to play when I'm tired. I finally just gave up on a mission last night I was making so many mistakes on it. I also had my first "Serial ended on a grazing shot" moment last night when my sniper shit his pants, grazing the first shot on what should have been a round of killing four Archons plus trooper. Jesus, what a clusterfuck that ended up being. Nobody died, but my psychonaut was bleeding out and my grenadier and ranger were both down to just 3HP. I didn't have a medic with me (because I've been trying to run without one), so I had to call in a skyranger and have my grenadier carry out the psychic. Which left me with 4 solders, all of them injured. Got through the rest of it, but it was tense as fuck. Fuck archons, I hate those guys more than any other enemy.

Coffee and cigarettes (we generally don't do breakfast on the weekend).