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You are here: Home / Open Threads / More open thread

More open thread

by Tim F|  June 27, 20149:04 am| 59 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, General Stupidity

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Hello, my name is Tim F and I would like to talk about my addiction. But first let me finish just one more turn on FTL.

Just a minute, ok.

How’d it get dark out?

Talk about whatever.

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Reader Interactions

59Comments

  1. 1.

    Crashman06

    June 27, 2014 at 9:26 am

    Love that game, but damn is it hard. Music’s great too.

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    June 27, 2014 at 9:33 am

    I had to google FTL. Please pardon me, I must have come to the wrong meeting room by mistake. That same thing happens to me, but for me it’s BJ. Do you happen to know where that meeting is?

  3. 3.

    big ole hound

    June 27, 2014 at 9:33 am

    Wake up and smell the roses and go to nice places that still exist. A couple of decades from now you will wish your games never existed and the years wasted will haunt you.

  4. 4.

    Citizen_X

    June 27, 2014 at 9:34 am

    You have a faster than light drive?!?

  5. 5.

    greennotGreen

    June 27, 2014 at 9:41 am

    @Citizen_X: Yeah, I was out in space on that one, too.

  6. 6.

    dmsilev

    June 27, 2014 at 9:41 am

    @Citizen_X: He has a game named after the drive type. It’s a fun little thing, as long as you don’t mind dying over and over and over again (winning is hard).

  7. 7.

    peach flavored shampoo

    June 27, 2014 at 9:44 am

    FTL? Floridian Transit Laborers? French Toast Lunches? First To Launch?

  8. 8.

    daveNYC

    June 27, 2014 at 9:46 am

    Hell, just getting past the first few jumps can be hard. It’s a great game, but the random encounter nature of each jump is painful.

  9. 9.

    negative 1

    June 27, 2014 at 9:47 am

    Someone light a candle for us here in Rhode Island because twice convicted felon and general shouting neanderthal Vincent ‘Buddy’ Cianci is running for Providence mayor yet again. He’ll probably win, too.
    Lost in the news coverage of how neat it is to have a real mafioso to gawk at is the fact that other than his very good record on public works he’s flat out awful on education, the police during his administration were basically a gang, and he perpetually underfunded anything that smelled like a helpful social program and he’s horrible with organized labor. In other words, underneath Goodfellas he’s essentially your typical rethug.

  10. 10.

    Tim F.

    June 27, 2014 at 10:00 am

    @daveNYC: I just set the difficulty level to Easy. Has anyone ever won on Hard? How would you even do that?

  11. 11.

    gene108

    June 27, 2014 at 10:07 am

    Winner: Philadelphia 76ers. They took a smart gamble and got maybe the best player in the draft in Joel Embiid — when you’re rebuilding and you need elite talent you swing for the fences not play it safe. Put Embiid next to Nerlens Noel in a couple years and if they can stay healthy they can be a force in the paint. The Sixers got a good future point forward in Dario Saric (who will spend the next two years in Turkey, developing. They picked up the very athletic Jerami Grant out of Syracuse, who should make some plays and fits an up-tempo system like the Sixers run. They rolled the dice on a few Europeans as well who may pan out down the line.

    Loser: Philadelphia 76ers fans. This team lost 26 games in a row late last year and isn’t going to be much if any better next season. Embiid could pan out to be a great pick (and is likely at least a good one) in a couple years, and when Dario Saric comes to the NBA in a couple years he could be a big boost. But neither of those guys is playing next season. It’s going to be the largely same tanktastic roster in Philly, and that sucks for fans asked to sit through another year of it. Intellectually Sixers fans get the building plan, but it’s hard to watch right now.

    probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/06/27/nba-draft-winners-and-losers-good-day-for-the-sixers-roug…

    Sigh…I think the national sports media just exists to pick up clicks and piss on fan bases…

    The only “bright spots” in the draft for the Sixers are the second round picks of the grossly underrated KJ McDaniels, from Clemson, and the above mentioned Mr. Grant, who is a great shotblocker for size and good rebounder.

    The Sixers blew the 3rd and 10th picks on possibly the next Greg Oden and some guy, who many never play here, because (a) he’s currently under a 3 year contract to a Euro-club and (b) he decides he likes it Europe better.

    You don’t rebuild a team, with two top 10 picks, by taking flyers on guys who may never be able to play significant minutes because of injury or they do not want to play here.

    As the saying goes a bird in hand is worth two in the bush and the Sixers have two in the bush and none in hand.

    Also, too fan bases may be emotional, but the better fan bases are not dumb. They know when the media is polishing a turd.

  12. 12.

    Marc

    June 27, 2014 at 10:09 am

    @Tim F.:

    Slowly, Carefully. Heavy usage of the pause key in fights.

  13. 13.

    Amir Khalid

    June 27, 2014 at 10:20 am

    @negative 1:
    I couldn’t help but wonder if Vincent “Buddy” Cianci has a relative named Nancy Anne.

  14. 14.

    Villago Delenda Est

    June 27, 2014 at 10:20 am

    Civilization. Just one more turn…..

  15. 15.

    Joel

    June 27, 2014 at 10:22 am

    Pretty much every Civilization game.

  16. 16.

    Feminist MRA

    June 27, 2014 at 10:25 am

    Masturbation. Just one more wank …

  17. 17.

    dmsilev

    June 27, 2014 at 10:28 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: Been there. Done that. Still doing that.

    Also, waiting eagerly for the spiritual successor to SMAC, coming this fall (_Civilization: Beyond Earth_).

  18. 18.

    Paul in KY

    June 27, 2014 at 10:48 am

    @gene108: Nerlens is going to be a revelation to y’all next year. He is a great player & person.

  19. 19.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 27, 2014 at 10:51 am

    @gene108: Could be worse. You could be a Knicks fan, as I unfortunately am.

  20. 20.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 27, 2014 at 10:56 am

    @Amir Khalid: That’s an urban legend. But as negative1 said, he will very likely win. He already won once after being convicted of a felony, so that’s no drawback here.

    You’ll like this. Yesterday the top-ranked Ukrainian tennis pro playing at Wimbledon, Serhiy Stakhovsky, walked out of his post-match interview rather than speak to a Russian reporter. He said, very emphatically, in Russian, “I do not speak with Russian media.” 20-second clip here. And emphatic indeed, in American it would be written Do. Not. Speak.

  21. 21.

    C.S.Strowbridge

    June 27, 2014 at 10:58 am

    FTL is an awesome game. I think I beat it three times out of 100 or so tries.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    June 27, 2014 at 11:00 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Bad linky.

  23. 23.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 27, 2014 at 11:01 am

    @WaterGirl: Sorry. Here it is, since I can never edit.

  24. 24.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 27, 2014 at 11:04 am

    @WaterGirl: He also wrote this for SI.

  25. 25.

    gene108

    June 27, 2014 at 11:12 am

    @Paul in KY:

    Nerlens is going to be a revelation to y’all next year. He is a great player & person.

    Nerlens doesn’t bother me and getting him last year was a big bonus. He was not a draft pick we had, but acquired view some draft day trading.

    I’m cool with him missing a season because of an ACL. He’s a bonus, like I said, and players can comeback from ACL injuries.

    Embid has back and foot/leg problems. Those can be career destroying and big men can go from looking great to being fragile before their time in a hurry, like Greg Oden and if go back a bit Ralph Sampson, who had knee problems that ended is career prematurely. I’m sure there are more examples, including Bill Walton, who I only remember as a back-up for the Celtics, but apparently had legendary foot problems that curtailed his career accomplishments.

    I’d be happier with Exum/McDermitt and have people, who can upgrade the SF and SG positions than hope and pray that Embid recovers and Euro-guy decides he wants to play here, which not every Euro-player decides to do, as the money is pretty good in the top Euro-leagues.

  26. 26.

    srv

    June 27, 2014 at 11:12 am

    Obama abandons the surgers:

    A surge of young immigrants crossing the border is prompting President Obama to delay his plans to announce more lenient deportation policies, a sign that the White House has begun to guard against political fallout from the unprecedented influx of minors.

    The administration is slowing its timetable for announcing revisions to deportation policies, including one that would stop most deportations of foreigners with no criminal convictions other than immigration violations, according to a senior official familiar with the White House deliberations.

  27. 27.

    Morzer

    June 27, 2014 at 11:15 am

    @Tim F.:

    Haven’t you seen the 1 weird trick everyone is talking about?

  28. 28.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    June 27, 2014 at 11:16 am

    The Google told me what FTL is about about. Not my cup of tea. I randomly searched racing games on my iPad apps a few months ago and found Real Racing 3. I loved any and all racing games back in 80’s so this game has since taking days, if not weeks from my life. But it’s free so I got that going for me.

  29. 29.

    Laertes

    June 27, 2014 at 11:31 am

    Love FTL. Can’t even imagine winning on hard mode. Normal is tough as hell.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    June 27, 2014 at 11:38 am

    @Gin & Tonic: That was a classy (non) interview. I also read the article he wrote. I don’t even begin to understand the politics of what is happening there – but he seems like a good guy who loves his country and is trying to do the best he can.

  31. 31.

    schrodinger's cat

    June 27, 2014 at 11:40 am

    I have no idea what FTL is besides the name which I googled.

    BTW more information about Karla Caves, that I had posted under the Wednesday Afternoon moment of Zen

  32. 32.

    WaterGirl

    June 27, 2014 at 11:41 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Have you tried to edit in another window or another tab? That is how I have to edit on my iPad, and I’m sure it would work on a computer browser, as well.

  33. 33.

    Morzer

    June 27, 2014 at 12:00 pm

    talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-mark-mayfield-suicide

    One of the supporters of Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R) who was allegedly involved in directing a political blogger to break into the nursing home of Sen. Thad Cochran’s (R-MS) wife, has committed suicide.

    This whole shemozzle in Mississippi just keeps getting stranger and sicker.

  34. 34.

    StringOnAStick

    June 27, 2014 at 12:02 pm

    We’re having an old friend over for dinner tonight, so I guess that means I have to abandon my experiment in just how long one can avoid vacuuming while living with a longhaired cat. I guess that means I need to go to the store and get some cooking done too.

  35. 35.

    StringOnAStick

    June 27, 2014 at 12:06 pm

    @Morzer: I just went to read that TPM story. Interesting how the Tper who tweeted his response to the death blames it on “a campaign to destroy lives”, referring to the arrests of the people who invaded the nursing home to photograph Sen. Cochran’s wife. Talk about some inversion of reality….

  36. 36.

    ? Martin

    June 27, 2014 at 12:09 pm

    .@Marc: This. Upgrades are key so it takes a lot of early luck before you can get through more reliably. I find that what you need for the final ship isn’t optimal for most of the battles leading up to it, so I usually prioritize what I put on the ship for the final battle and opt to fail early. Early fortune usually determines if I’m going to make it final sector or not. So it tends to be feast or famine for me, I’ll either make it to the end and win or nearly win, or I’ll die in the 2nd sector. I’ve not yet won on hard, but I’ve gotten close.

    And I’ve decided I like the iPad version better than the desktop version.

  37. 37.

    Morzer

    June 27, 2014 at 12:09 pm

    @StringOnAStick:

    To me the teabaggers seem to be generating a perpetual motion insanity engine. They’ve lost any awareness of critical thinking or how to assess facts and argue from them. It’s all rage, resentment and blaming others for their own problems.

  38. 38.

    RaflW

    June 27, 2014 at 12:10 pm

    Ron Fournier, Mark Knoller and other useless hacks are having twitter fun because Obama dared to say in minneapolis that Congress is opposing everything he wants.
    As if pointing out the blindingly obvious makes Obama a terrible whiner. I guess there is no bully pulpit when, in your vaunted journalistic opinion you think POTUS is a WATB.
    I once again, as always, hate these pufferfish dickweeds.

  39. 39.

    catclub

    June 27, 2014 at 12:18 pm

    @Morzer:

    It’s all rage, resentment and blaming others for their own problems.

    BJ is the same, except also pets.

  40. 40.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    June 27, 2014 at 12:20 pm

    One of the supporters of Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R) who was allegedly involved in directing a political blogger to break into the nursing home of Sen. Thad Cochran’s (R-MS) wife, has committed suicide.

    @Morzer: Jesus, just when you think the tea sickness has hit its worst, you get proven wrong yet again.

    These guys were up to something truly nasty and we don’t know what it is yet. That’s more than a bit scary to think about.

  41. 41.

    Morzer

    June 27, 2014 at 12:20 pm

    @catclub:

    And the naked mopping. Let’s not forget that. There are some things that both sides don’t do.

  42. 42.

    Morzer

    June 27, 2014 at 12:21 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:

    I am waiting for Cthulhu to put out a press release denying any involvement in this ongoing madness.

  43. 43.

    SatanicPanic

    June 27, 2014 at 12:33 pm

    @StringOnAStick: Seriously. Stop blocking my punches! You’re infringing on my right to punch your face! /teapartiers

  44. 44.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    June 27, 2014 at 12:37 pm

    @Morzer: Yeah, it’s kind of taking on those aspects, isn’t it?

    Any word of weird statues being found?

  45. 45.

    Morzer

    June 27, 2014 at 12:50 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:

    Not yet, but I must confess to wondering what is lurking beneath the surface of all this. What McDaniel’s people did was bad enough, but surely not something to drive a man to suicide. I have trouble imagining what tipped him over the edge.

  46. 46.

    BruinKid

    June 27, 2014 at 12:55 pm

    Mark Mayfield, one of the Tea Partiers arrested for helping break in to the nursing home to photograph Thad Cochran’s bedridden wife, has committed suicide. This whole saga just took a turn for the even MORE bizarre and tragic.

  47. 47.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    June 27, 2014 at 1:07 pm

    Not yet, but I must confess to wondering what is lurking beneath the surface of all this. What McDaniel’s people did was bad enough, but surely not something to drive a man to suicide.

    @Morzer: Not even close. We have the guys getting locked in the courthouse and no satisfactory explanation of how they got there or what they did there. We have this whole “taping the Alzheimer’s wife in the nursing home”, which is just flat out weird – made Cochran more sympathetic more than anything else. And now this suicide. About the only thing I can say I know about what’s going on here is that whatever these guys are up to, they’re pretty fucking sloppy about it. Which tells me they did not expect to get caught, or prosecuted.

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    June 27, 2014 at 1:11 pm

    @Morzer: I’m thinking: lawyer, public humiliation, arrest, possible conviction, possible loss of license to practice law, possible time in prison, public humiliation. I suspect that’s enough.

    Edit: I guess I missed the whole “guys getting locked in the courthouse and no satisfactory explanation of how they got there or what they did there” thing.

  49. 49.

    D58826

    June 27, 2014 at 1:14 pm

    GOP still digging to China part 2 from CNN

    KFOR in Oklahoma reports that Timothy Ray Murray believes Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), his opponent in the congressional Republican primary, was executed three years ago and is being represented by a look-alike. Because he believes Lucas is really dead, Murray said he will challenge the results of Tuesday’s Republican primary, in which Murray received 5.2 percent of the vote. Lucas won the primary with 82.8 percent of the vote.

    “It is widely known Rep. Frank D. Lucas is no longer alive and has been displayed by a look alike. Rep. Lucas’ look alike was depicted as sentenced on a white stage in southern Ukraine on or about Jan. 11, 2011,” Murray said in a statement posted on his campaign website.

    The Onion would have a hard time topping that

  50. 50.

    Paul in KY

    June 27, 2014 at 1:14 pm

    @gene108: I understand your concerns there, Gene. Was just commenting that Mr. Noel will soon be your best player.

  51. 51.

    Paul in KY

    June 27, 2014 at 1:17 pm

    @StringOnAStick: I’ve gone 9 months. How long did you go?

  52. 52.

    Paul in KY

    June 27, 2014 at 1:20 pm

    @D58826: My thought was that The Onion must have hacked his site & posted that themselves. If not, it must be a bummer as a great Onion story was undone by reality.

  53. 53.

    Wallace Winfrey

    June 27, 2014 at 2:33 pm

    Tim, if you haven’t tried it yet, give the Captain’s Edition mod a try – it really expands the game in a number of gratifying ways (the weapons expansions in particular are very well-done).

    Another mod worth checking out is the Better Planets and Backgrounds mod – it really improves the way the game looks.

    I recommend use of the Slipstream Mod Manager to install and manage the mods. It’s a java app, so will run in both OSX and Windows. I don’t think you can mod the iOS version yet though.

    I’ve been playing FTL for close to a year now and only recently discovered the modding scene, but the ones I’ve posted really do enhance the game quite a bit, without detracting from overall game balance (it’s still hard as sh*t) or stability (every once in a while I’ll get a crash, say every 30-40 sector transitions).

    Amazing game, one of the best strategy games ever.

  54. 54.

    Arclite

    June 27, 2014 at 2:56 pm

    The free FTL update got me back into it again. So many fun new tactics like mind control and new weapons like the Gatling gun (Just gotta hold out until that puppy gets warmed up).

    Those guys are master designers. So well balanced, so may equivalent paths to victory. Yes, it’s hard, even on “easy” but that just makes it so much more satisfying when you win.

  55. 55.

    Arclite

    June 27, 2014 at 3:08 pm

    @Wallace Winfrey: Hey Wallace, I couldn’t tell from the links you provided, but do you know if those work with the Advanced Edition that Subset games put out a couple of months ago?

  56. 56.

    StringOnAStick

    June 27, 2014 at 3:28 pm

    @Paul in KY: OK, you win!

  57. 57.

    Wallace Winfrey

    June 27, 2014 at 3:43 pm

    @Arclite: Yes they do!

  58. 58.

    Arclite

    June 27, 2014 at 4:46 pm

    @Wallace Winfrey: Okay, very cool.

    Love that FTL runs on my work laptop so I can play it anywhere. Not good for work though.

    Also, if you hadn’t heard, OpenXCom made version 1.0 a couple of weeks ago, and fixes all the quirks and issues with the original XCom (from 1994!) which is still one of the best strategic and tactical games ever made. And speaking of games that run on the laptop, it runs windowed completely stably and has improved resolution. I’ve been working my way through a campaign. They even made a version that will run an an android device, although it’s a bit tricky to use, but still very playable.

  59. 59.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    June 29, 2014 at 3:35 am

    I like FTL, but the Civ IV mod Rise from Erebus (an evolution from Fall From Heaven) is what really sucks up my time.

    You Civ fanatics – give it a go. It takes teh game to a whole new place.

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