Simon

Best wishes for a problem-free surgery and easy recovery (or as easy as can be hoped)

Sadly, not much good to update: she's been moved to hospice.

Totally agreed...and we have examples of doing it better in our immediate past. Avoiding political discussions here, but on the US side, much of the infrastructure, federal guidance, and material-readiness that has been in place for previous pandemics and health crises was either slow to come or entirely lacking during this.

Also, just to point out again, we haven't reached the first peak yet, so it's a bit early to be talking about what the second peak may look like.

Yeah. I dislike the logic of "it could have been worse." "Could it have been better?" is a more appropriate question to ask...and when the answer to that is "yes," you're talking about deaths that could have been prevented.

Agreed - 100%...though I will add that those who haven't had it become personal can still be emotionally affected and aware of the scope of the tragedy that's continuing to unfold. I was in that group and am now in the "close to home" group and can somewhat confidently say that they're not too different, just more personal now. My aunt (this shouldn't matter, but early 70's, special needs, had been living in an assisted care facility) was recently moved to the ICU showing all the (bad) signs of COVID-19. This isn't meant to take away from your post -- the majority fall into the category that you describe (not really "getting" it until it hits close to home)...which I find more than a little sad, and more than a little telling of why we're seeing the issues we are in the US.

First things first: you can contact Jason at support by clicking on the "Support" tab at the top of the screen and starting a new request. What you're seeing is a check on your credit card, no funds have been withdrawn (nor will they be). The credit processor that HERO Games uses performs a verification step prior to actually charging the card. This verification step includes validating the card number as well as the address associated with it and that the funds are available (basically, that the charge will go through). The address validation in particular fails frequently for international card holders. Especially those in Russia. When the verification step fails, the entire transaction is halted and no charge is made. It's not the best way to process credit cards (obviously), but is out of HERO Games' collective hands until such time as they move to a different credit processor (there are not that many out there and very few that are compatible with the software). Again, no charges have been made against your account. Depending on your bank, a "pending" transaction may show...and will disappear once it times out (that is entirely up to your bank). If you need to make the purchase ASAP, I'd recommend using the PayPal option (you don't need a PayPal account -- there's an option to use your card via PayPal linked near the bottom of the PayPal payment screen) - that will avoid the issues with the credit processor validating your address.

With 100k dead (and not seeing the peak yet), I'm curious what you would consider "too much destruction"...

Other than not using it anymore, I don't believe that you do anything.

It's developed on a Mac, so I'd say that it runs just fine on them 😉 The requirements are the same as for all other systems: a full/functioning installation of the Java JRE (version 6 or better, but that's kind of a given these days).

Well, first off, that's not how Complications work. You don't get 325 points plus 75 points in Complications. You get 400 points and need to take 75 points in matching Complications. The values are entirely and utterly up to the GM - set those fields to whatever your GM specifies. Also note: they will be set automatically by the Campaign Rules that are loaded in.

Nothing truly earth-shattering, but there have been a large number of updates in that time. If you purchased in 2015, then you can download the current version/update already -- just go to the Purchases section of your Client Area and click on the HERO Designer purchase -- the current update is linked at the bottom of that page.

I'm not entirely clear on what you're after...a Separator is just that -- it adds a blank line. Generally, you wouldn't want to use them in a Prefab...nothing bad will happen if you do, but they'll just show as "(separator)" in the Prefab itself. Lists will show as folders in a Prefab...and will display whatever text you give them (e.g. "Select 3 of the Following"). You can add the entirety of a List from a Prefab into your character by clicking on the "Select" button (double-clicking on a list in a Prefab will just open/close it).

You can find the built in templates in HD6.jar -- that's the file that contains pretty much everything needed to run the program (from the Java class files to the templates...and the documentation). Make sure that you unpack them somewhere other than the directory that contains HD6.jar -- if they're in the same directory that you run HD from, you're likely to run into some odd behavior in terms of which template file actually gets loaded (the one in the .jar file or the one saved to your file system).

You'll want to read through the documentation...specifically the section on custom templates. It's going to require work outside of the application to edit a template file (they're XML...ish). That may lean you towards the direction of a prefab if you're not comfortable with reading XML....

The ability needs to meet the requirements for Continuing Charges to apply...like being a Constant Power

It depends on how you want the Skills to work and how you want the players to purchase them. If Custom Skill gives you what you need for the Skills you have in mind, then a prefab is likely the best/easiest way to go. Similarly, if existing Skills are close and can just be renamed, you can use a prefab for this as well (though the players may get some odd repeat purchase warnings for some). If you're after more robust rules logic for your Skills or want to create a more elegant/seamless renaming of existing Skills, then a custom template is going to be the best option. In terms of purchasing, if you're after a package deal like structure (e.g. "all navigators will have the following Characteristics and Skills"), then you'll want to look at creating templates for each of them (defining the starting character traits for each one). If you're after more of a "choose 3 of the following Skills" type of purchase, then appropriately named lists within a prefab is your best option.

I also wonder at the inclusion of Bill Gates in there -- yeah, he's a billionaire...but he and his wife have committed a huge amount of their fortune toward helping others...and I think I read that he's dedicated over 90% of whatever is left to go to charities when he passes. He's always struck me as the Jimmy Carter of CEOs.

Precisely. We have next to no ability to test -- all tests that are run locally need to be sent out to a lab (even though the hospital _does_ have the lab facility to run the tests in house, they're not allowed to do that)....which means that only those who call in for a test and are showing all the signs of having COVID-19 are getting tested. So we effectively have no real notion of where we are in terms of infections....and a number of folks posing such ideas as having a flash mob bring tables and chairs and sit outside of the restaurants in town (which are providing curbside pickup) as a form of "protest"

That's why I was referencing deaths -- infections have too many variables. Deaths caused by COVID-19 are (sadly) more straightforward.

I live in a small(ish) rural town (population ~3200). We have at last check 18 cases in the county. Not so bad. Yet. We also have a hospital that is a glorified bandaid station (no ICU), an economy focused on the service industry (tourist destination), and a large retiree population (again, vacation town...some just chose to stay). Even at only 18 cases, we haven't flattened things....they're actually looking to trend up as folks from the cities get uppity and start coming out again. And we would be devastated if it hit here in earnest. The good news is that IL has a zoned plan for re-opening. Once cases have trended downwards for two weeks in a given zone, they can be moved onto the next phase of re-opening...gradually relaxing restrictions. If the cases start to trend up again, they move back to previous phases. It makes sense...and it's rankling a large number of people that want to re-open everything right now.

If you're suggesting that social distancing and self-isolation should be curtailed earlier, then you plan on it getting a lot worse. That 250k becomes a joke -- you're back into the millions of deaths....and a greater impact on the economy than the shutdown.

My quarantine project (going to take a while to complete):

I’d take a cue from the CDC on that - you want to see it trending down for two weeks before -starting- to reopen

Flattened, not plateaued. We’re not increasing exponentially, but we’re still increasing