unclevlad

orbital power satellites

2 hours ago, csyphrett said:

Barry Diller said it was a con from the get go.

CES

Could there ever have been even a shred of doubt about that?  When is Trump NOT grifting?

Well, I suppose, maybe in picking the most accurate label.  Con...grift...panhandle.  It has the additional advantage of giving Trump an unlimited outlet for his spewage, altho the audience isn't exactly large...well, his direct audience.  Gotta figure there's some magnification due to the Internet Echo Chamber....

4 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

Agreed that DR is expensive in a "standard Supers" context.  Move to a "Cosmic" context and it starts looking better - like most fixed cost abilities.

 

If the average attack caps at 12 DCs, I probably want 15 rDEF to shave off the BOD.  I can then buy +10 PD/ED for 20 (and take 17 from a typical attack).  25% Reduction (nonresistant) means 27 - 7 = 20 from a standard attack.  A bit more damage from normal attacks and killing attacks, and a bit less from AVADs.

 

If the average attack caps at 24 DCs (obviously a very high-powered game), I might want as much as 30 rDEF to deal with KAs (maybe I can get by with 25).  That leaves 54 STUN from a typical attack, so if I want that down to, say, 24 STUN, I would need another 30/30 defenses for 60 points.  For 60, I could have 50% resistant DR.  Nonresistant would only cost 40.  Either gets me down to 27 STUN from a standard attack, but also halves AVAD (and STUN/BOD drains if we go Resistant - if not, I could buy 20 Power Defense with the extra points).

Some of what you're saying reflects the scaling issues that've been mentioned, at these levels...how much STUN would be OK?  Or to recast...what are the appropriate ranges for CON and STUN?  Also note:  you're looking at close to 100 STUN from a killing attack, a significant percentage of the time.  32+ BODY is 24%...1/3 of the time the STUN mult is 3.  So that's 96+ STUN about 8% of the time...and nonresistant DR doesn't apply.

Side thought here...the value of the reduction against Drain STUN or Drain BODY is likely going *down*...because the need for Power Def, and the amount of it, is high.  Instead of STUN...ok, I'll drain your END!!!  Bwaaaahhaahaahahaa!!  Even after the halving rule...boom!!!  there goes 100 END.  OCV and SPD aren't halved?  8 OCV...ha!!! Flail away, Hero Boy!  4 SPD...turtle city!  And because you're doing so much, the return will take a very long time.  So you'd better have that 20 Power Def anyway.

So it looks like...don't go nonresistant, go resistant, but STUN only, and keep the rDEF a bit higher, like the 30.  And go with the Power Def.  STUN only rDR still addresses the STUN from an AVAD.

4 hours ago, Steve said:

I confess I was a big proponent of using Damage Reduction in character builds until I started really examining Damage Negation, especially since it could be pretty cheap if limited to STUN Only and also Non-Resistant in some cases.

 

Since the damage is removed from affecting the character, it also reduces hit location adjustments. Damage Reduction gets into some interesting math when hit locations are involved.

 

Damage Negation really shines in lower damage settings. A Heroic character like Rocky Balboa just seems to have Damage Negation, being able to take hit after hit to the face.

 

I’ve also played with building it using limited locations per the armor construction rules to get even more interesting flavors out of it. I was building a boxer character and learned that having a tough chin was actually a thing, so a limited location Damage Negation ability seemed reasonable.

STUN-only DN is basically the same cost as straight PD or ED, assuming no other limitations.  3 dice of DN, STUN only, is 10 points...and 3 dice of STUN is 10.5.  Wash.  And hey, you still get to reduce the STUN from the AVAD, altho not as many.  Any little bit helps.  

For characters using an HFO, I often establish a 'baseline' defense using, say, 3/3 Armor and 3/3 Negation...always on.  Same for an energy projector type...his body's 'saturated' with his energy.  The major defense might then be more Armor, and more STUN-only DN...that's OIAID or Nonpersistent.

DN also works better than DR, generally, because my premise is, getting stunned or KOd is *extremely* bad.  Hugh's 27 STUN after the DR...how many hits before KO?  Not many.  In the comics genre...that's probably OK.  In a grittier one...not so much.  Taking the DR still leaves too much STUN getting through, much of the time.  And as noted, DR's fixed cost, fixed benefit...it's a lot harder to mold into the shape you want.

Today is the 50th anniversary of the most important home run ever hit...Hank Aaron's 715.  

11 hours ago, Ternaugh said:

 

Roberto's for lunch sounds good.

 

The one near Pecos and Sunset has a big sign on the wall that says, "No Trans-fats", and then notes that they use highest quality lard. 😉

Trans fats are the worst of all. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat

Some occurs naturally, but it used to be added quite often.  Nowadays?  Not so much...in part because a few years ago, a line identifying trans fat content was added to nutrition labels.  It was deemed that significant.  

Lard is dominated by saturated fats...which aren't great, sure, but they're still a WHOLE lot better than trans fats.  

6 minutes ago, Pariah said:

Purdue is a good team, but having seen UConn in the tournament so far, I think I'd take the over.

That was actually the opinion over at DraftKings...they expected the line to slide UConn's way before the tip.

Yeah, this UConn team is good.

Speaking of Kentucky...the fan base must've let its unhappiness known.  They're finalizing terms of a buyout of Calipari's last 5 years...so Calipari can become the coach at Arkansas, after THEIR coach left for USC.  Clearly a mutual choice for Cal to move on.

It was interesting that Cal admitted he'd not changed fast enough.  The one-and-done approach doesn't work in the era of so many 5th, even 6th and the rare 7th year players.  

The other USC, South Carolina, completed a dream and ended a dream, by beating Iowa.  Hot start for Iowa...up 11 at 18-7...but that faded, and South Carolina won by 12.  Caitlin Clark had 30 of the team's 75, but took 28 shots to get there.  

One more game to go.  LIke is UConn -6, which is pretty high for a national #1 vs. #2 (at this point) matchup.

Somewhat late start...9:20 Eastern.  Guess they figure the east coasters are likely to stay up anyway...and this way they give the west coast viewers time to get home.

One of the listed drawbacks for Dependence is Incompetency...-1 to *everything* pretty much, until the character gets his next fix, and it's -1 per time unit if it continues.  This is even listed as a +5 to the value, since it's so pervasive.  Unluck is comparatively hit or miss.  I'm also not a fan of the Wile E. Coyote nature of the effects of Unluck, and I'm a HUGE opponent of "your luck is so bad it hoses your team."  You are replaceable, if what's happening can be traced back to you.

I could see someone more comfortable allowing it, but probably at -2 dice of unluck per time interval...otherwise it just doesn't kick in enough.

12 hours ago, wcw43921 said:

Looks like it'll be a while longer before I can bring everyone here that Crusader & Starburst streaming series. Sorry about that.

Oh well.

Some story writer really, really needs to go back to high school.  And some editor probably, as well...unless they've cut back on staff so an ordinary story like this, got sent out without editing...can't dismiss that possibility.

Quote

The $1.326 billion prize ranks as the eighth largest in U.S. lottery history. As the prizes grow, the drawings attract more ticket sales and the jackpots subsequently become harder to hit. The game's long odds for the weekend drawing were 1 in 292.2 million.

Highlights mine.

Bold:  Math illiteracy, it's a thing.

Italics:  so, you're saying they're easier now, after the jackpot reset?

<sigh>  It's better to say nothing and seem like a fool, than to speak (or write) and eliminate all doubt.

BTW:  best states to win the lottery...Delaware, Texas, or Wyoming.  No state tax (lump sum tax *in Oregon*...around $50M for this jackpot), and can remain anonymous.  

18 hours ago, Pariah said:

Whiskey? Cognac? What are these strange concoctions of which you speak?

You'll have to travel out of state to find out what you're missing.

gravity control...anti-grav, artificial grav

EMP grenades

Carbonite freezing

2 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

As has been noted, DR is better against above average attacks.  Consider a 12DC game again.  Typical defenses of, say, 25. An average hit does 17 STUN.  Drop defenses to 10 and add on 50% DR.  First, we will see blood - average roll of 42/12 means 2 BOD, halved = 1, past defenses.  STUN 42-10 = 32 = 16 past defenses.  Comparable.

 

Now toss in Grond doing 18d6.  Defenses mean 63 - 25 = 38 STUN.  63-10=53/2 = 26 STUN. Significant.   But you also take 8/2 = 4 BOD.

 

The big problem is, let's put the 25 DEF as 10 resistant, 15 normal, so, 30 points.  The 10 defenses...IMO, with DR, you really want to push resistant def, so let me say 8 resistant, 2 normal, for 14 points.  Plus 30 for the DR is 44.  So it better be significant, cuz it's substantially more points.  Even if you switch to 14 resistant and 11 normal, that's just 32 points.

By RAW, the DR applies to several other things...even if I'm not exactly fond of those...so I'm not saying it's a bad expenditure here...but it is notably more.  I'd still love a form of DR that retains application to killing damage, but eliminates the power def/special def aspects.

Realized this morning that the NBA's near-interminable regular season is about over...so their interminable post-season can start.  The regular season ends on the 14th.  The play-in starts on the 16th.  Game 7 of the finals is scheduled for...June 23rd.  68 days...almost 10 weeks.  Ridiculously too long...in part because, for the finals, there's only 1 off day between games 3 and 4.  EVERY other game has 2 off days.  Yeah...the finals alone may run 17 days.  I wonder how much this is hurting viewership;  it kills momentum.

Anyway, that prompted me to look at the standings...teams are down to 4-5 games left.  The teams in the East are set...but ONLY the Celtics have avoided the play-in.  They've totally locked in the best record overall by a WIDE margin.  Bulls and Hawks are locked in the 9 and 10 slots.  In the West, OTOH, Nuggets, Minnesota, and OKC are fighting it out for #1 in the West, and have clinched playoff spots.  Clippers are in good shape, in the 4 spot, 2 games ahead of Dallas with only 5 to play.  Dallas, Phoenix, Nawlins, Lakers, and Kings are in pretty good shape to make at least the play-in, but they're only separated by 3 games.  Warriors have the last spot right now, and they're 4 up on the Rockets.  (Which is still a MASSIVE improvement for the Rockets...they'll end up right around 40 wins.  After 17, 20, and 22 wins the last 3 years, that's an *impressive* amount of improvement.)  Still have to wonder what the Warriors are gonna do in the off-season;  the 10 seed during the regular season would be a massive win for the Rockets, but it's disastrously bad for the Warriors.  REAL good chance the team is going to be VERY different next year.

His snarky one-liners, when the audience's reaction was a bit underwhelming, were often the highlight of the skit.

For those of you who lack the depth of experience we have......

http://www.thequotationstation.com/C/Carnac-The-Magnificent/page1.html

30 minutes ago, slikmar said:

Apparently the players union is trying to say its because of the pitch clock. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, MLB, DON'T LISTEN. The pitch clock, IMO, is the best rule change to hit MLB in the last 20 years. Games are now actually watchable.

From the ESPN story on this:

Quote

Major League Baseball pushed back on the union's statement, pointing to a three-decade increase in pitcher injuries despite the clock being implemented just last season. MLB said that UCL surgeries at the minor league level actually declined in 2022, the first year that the pitch timer was used across the minors. The league believes the increase in max-effort pitching and focus on pitch design have contributed to the rise in injuries more than the clock.

The union's position is utterly ridiculous.  IMO they're torching their own reputation with BS like this.  I remember a really good round table on MLB Network...yeah, in 2014.  Costas, Smoltz, Kaat, Tom Verducci, Dr. James Andrews had an interview.  Article here:
https://www.mlb.com/news/expert-panel-headlines-mlb-network-roundtable/c-74779990

It includes this:

Quote

"The basic thing that parents out there and coaches and players alike need to know is if you throw with fatigue at a young age - in high school, for example, or youth baseball - you have a 36-to-1 chance of injuring your shoulder or elbow. … Fatigue could be event fatigue, seasonal fatigue or year-round fatigue, so it's a big problem."

 

"What we really found out is that [high school patients] only had one week off each year from competitive baseball and that one week was - you could guess what - between Christmas and New Year's. So they're playing year-round baseball - that's the number one risk factor in youth baseball."

 

"If you take a coat hanger and you bend it enough times, what happens? It breaks clean, and then of course that injury didn't begin with that last bend, it began with all of those multiple, multiple bends. It's a developmental ligament and the stress that it will take is only about 80-miles per hour, so our high-velocity throwers in high school - unless they've got great genetics - are really suspect to really injure their ligament along the way."

Has this changed significantly since then?  I very, very seriously doubt it.  

Tony Clark is doing the players NO favors whatsoever with this totally ignorant remark.

Excuse me, I need to let my blood pressure go down.  

Nope, that was Carnac the Magnificent.  

We may see a major restart about the debate about pitching wear and tear.  

Shane Bieber (Cleveland) just underwent Tommy John...after 2 starts this season.

And now...Spencer Strider (Atlanta) had an MRI showing UCL damage.  He'll be re-evaluated soon.

That's two #1 starters.  Bieber has a Cy Young...in the Covid year, so a bit diluted, but he's been 4th and 7th too.  Strider was 4th last year.

This is the 7th such, already.

https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/injury-report?groupby=injury

And look how many pitchers got hurt last season, and are still questionable for '24.  TJ recovery is 15-18 months.  Then scroll down to the Elbow category.  Lots of these are 15 day DL...not great, but not devastating. as long as they come back in something close to 15 days.  But 7 of these (including Cole) are on the 60 day DL.

ROUGH night for the Red Sox.  They're beating the Angels 5-1...altho the Angels have the bases loaded with 1 out now, in the bottom of the 6th, thanks to Sox mistakes...but...

2 players have been HBP, on their hands.  One on a finger, one squarely on the back of the hand.  They both stayed in, but there's a very good chance they'll miss some time.

Oh, and the Angels just hit a slam to tie it....and as things would have it?  One of their runners was HBP...on the hand.

But the Sox' woes...SS Trevor Story dove for a ball in the hole, and landed badly.  He was writhing in pain, and was taken out.  Report's a shoulder injury, that's all...that might be anything from day to day all the way up to season-ending (torn labrum requiring surgery).  Even a bad separation might mean 2-3 weeks.

EDIT:  final count, 5 batters got hit.  Last two weren't in problem areas, thankfully.  

And it turned into a rather late night of things.  The game started about 25 minutes late, as it was the Angels' home opener.  (Shohei was acknowledged as one of the team's award winners, and reportedly got roundly booed.  Can't imagine why........)  Then the trainers had to come out 3 separate times.  And it was a sloppy game...the HBPs of course, lots of walks, Sox had 3 errors.  

But everyone knows the best corn is in Kentucky.

What.....who cares about EATING it?????

14 hours ago, death tribble said:

EDIT: Amended year. Must have been tired this morning

Eh, probably the tea you had.  Coffee Rules!!!

15 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

I really like the Rolemaster version of resurrection.  You can only be raised within a short time of death, before the soul leaves the body.  However, if you use certain rituals, magic, herbs, etc you can extend the amount of time a soul remains in the body before you can be raised again.

Raise Dead in D&D had a limit of 1 day per caster level, and the body had to be whole;  it did NOT regrow missing limbs.  Resurrection was 2 levels higher...and probably should've been elevated even more in 3E, when clerics went from 7 to 9 spell levels, but they probably chose to not break existing characters.  Resurrection worked with any fraction of a body part.

Both spells actually were also expensive...even if cast by a party member.  5000 gp for Raise, 10,000 for Resurrect.  This was less than effective in practice, tho, because practically no one used the wealth/treasure rules as written, they gave out more.  And there were rules about getting an NPC to cast spells for the party...it got expensive for normal spells, much less these two.  The rules said, IIRC, that 7th level spells draw the direct attention of the deity, or at least of a high-end servant...who can darn well say NO.  Which is a really good way for the cleric to hose himself...so he may need something more than mere money.

There's no uniform approach;  I'd call D&D's a middle-of-the-road approach, where the Schlock might be on the Trivial end, and "no, it can't be done" on the other...IIRC, Shadowrun.  

Oh...important date just ahead!  

Sunday, April 7th is National Beer Day!

Well, that ices my plans for tomorrow...chili supplies for Saturday, and of course good chili has to have beer in it.  

Hadn't actually looked at the standings...mmmm...

Winless:  Mets and Marlins.  Tigers came back from 3-0 down in a makeup game earlier, got it tied, scored 3 in the 11th.  

1 win:  Rockies, A's, White Sox.  OK, as noted above, I don't think many people would be surprised if the A's challenged the record for most losses.  The White Sox were a wet mess last year.  The Rockies combine an exceptionally difficult home playing environment...it skews everything, and the effects, I've heard the former players say, can linger when you leave...with poor personnel choices.

OTOH, ugh...Yankees are 6-1.  It's seriously debatable how long that can last, given their starting pitching issues.  Pirates are 5-1, but it's only 6 games...and they started well last year.  Detroit's 5-0.

And the Dodgers have actually lost 2.  This might be one of their poorer stretches....  LORD, that lineup is terrifying.