Synergy

Master1, someone here will probably be happy to calculate the percentage of individuals who will be left out of your wishful equation, alas. I wish to share some thoughts about partnering up in life, which this dialog has evoked for me. We love the romantic fantasies and myths we've devised around our ideas of coupling up, but if we really want to forge a relationship to last, I think it gets downright practical and concrete. Choose someone you can truly call your best friend. I read a recent study that concluded exactly what I've believed is essential in forming a life-lasting partnership: shared values. As Tom Cruise said in an entirely different context in "The Firm", "It's not sexy, but it's got teeth." Having a similar vision of and attitude towards life, is going to have a great impact on how much you ultimately enjoy being with someone over the longer course of your time here. Shared values & vision are likely to promote similar and compatible goals. Conversely, no matter the chemistry or excitement or even shared interests on the more immediate level, it will be a significantly greater challenge to stay together over time with someone who does not substantially share your values in life. The more two are on a similar path for similar reasons, the more likely the both are going to want to share the ride together, forming a solid partnership in the process. And that's how I first and foremost see "marriage"—which is in the process of some dramatic shifts and expansion at this time—I see it as a partnership. Would you want this person on your team? Do you want to be on hers/his? Love, attraction, chemistry, and sexuality are all wonderful aspects of human relationship. Without shared values and vision, I don't think they are sufficient to keep people together for the long run, not for healthy reasons. There are, of course, a lot of reasons people stay together in unfulfilling relationships, but that's a different subject on the other side of the coin. Also, if the other doesn't make you laugh—regularly—I advise passing. If you yourself don't laugh regularly...don't marry anyone. Just kidding...almost. Life and our self really has no absolute reason to be taken so seriously, and there is an apparent absurdity to it all, for anyone willing to see it. Laugh often. It's good for you. -S-

Squirrels happily create their own rollercoasters. Ever seen a couple of squirrels chase each other in a spiral around the trunk of a tree? I have many happy squirrels occupying the evergreens outside my window, a source of much mirth and merriment. I don't know why some people hate squirrels. They always seem to be having fun. -S-

My point is that we are in the process of an accelerating erosion/eradication of a middle class in America. Many of us are still relatively comfortable, which is why we permit our government to let the criminals in Wall Street who gave us the financial crisis of 2008 off the hook without a single person going to jail (apart from the independent thief, Maddof.) Back in the savings & loan crisis of the late 80's in the U.S., thousands went to jail for their criminal behavior in a crisis that was a fraction the size of the one created recently. We're now so corrupt, and government is so interchangeable with the monied powers, that the writing is clearly on the wall. Those who have will continue to consolidate wealth into their hands while running this country into the ground, along with the world's environment, until they are forced to stop. The middle class is disappearing. The powers have forgotten that in order to thrive in the long run, they have to do enough good for and sharing with society at large to maintain a middle class that can afford all their products and services. We appear to live in a generation that has become so short-sighted (thanks in no small part to the the corporation—shareholder obligation driving so much of what gets done as business), that they are biting off the hands that feed them, as if they truly believed there were no tomorrow. It's socially criminal, dangerously irresponsible, earth-scorching behavior. I don't know what they are thinking. The answer seems to be, they are not thinking to any forseeable future. They have gone mad with power and greed. I recommend two excellent documentaries that well explain what is going on in our financial and business world: Inside Job and The Corporation. If these don't raise your hackles, then nothing will. We need to get ourselves educated about what's really going on, along with getting ourselves educated so we can get a job. We can then make choices to act according to our conscience. The crazy thing is that we the people have the power to put a stop to so much of this nearly overnight...if enough of us chose to do the same thing. These powers only stay in power because we give them our money, we buy their services. We have a vote far more effective than putting more insiders into political office. We have the dollars that run their machine. The day 100 million Americans stop buying products from such and such coporation or doing business with such and such bank, is the day they will be forced to change their ways or go out of business. But like I said earlier, I think more of us are going to have become more uncomfortable, before we are spurred into action. But, I think, such a time is coming, and sooner than we might think. -S- P.S. Slarty, this isn't meant to be only a concern for the middle class. The overall theme is one of haves vs. have nots and the unprecedented disparity of wealth that exists today. It is shameful how many we have languishing in true poverty today also, and their need is more immediate and dire, true. We may all be in that same boat together in the not too distant future, and then enough of us will care to do something about it.

Ha, I remember watching that Geraldo special and how lame it turned out—embarrassingly live—after so much lead-in hype. That was around the same time he famously got his nose broken courtesy of a chair thrown by a neo-nazi during an on-stage brawl. ... Has anyone pointed out the obvious—that this inflation of required professional degrees to have a shot at many jobs now is just a part of the rampant erosion of the middle class in America? Access to many decent paying jobs is becoming unaffordable for an ever greater majority of citizens. Upper education costs are ramping up, and now you can double or quadruple it with a masters or PhD requirement if you want a truly professional job. Good jobs may well become the privilege of the increasingly few wealthy before we finally throw down the stranglehold of the financial institutions and corporate megaliths, and recreate a government that serves the people of our country. I wait and watch to see how much Americans as a whole are going to suck up before they start to organize-via Facebook or whatever the instrument-en masse, like Egypt did at the initial prompting of one young person. How poor must the great majority of us all become before we take our founding fathers seriously and consider that revolution truly is our right and obligation when our government has become too corrupt and bloated? I think we're still too spoiled. I know I am. Many of us still have our computers and dvds and tvs and iphones, and all the inane programming they offer. Witness the baffling success of insulting, brain-numbing Michael Bey Transformer movies to help bludgeon us into apathetic distraction. Weapons of mass-distraction are our true enemy, and they are within our borders, not without. When enough of us truly can no longer even afford a computer and to pay a monthly internet bill, will we then begin to consider doing what is necessary to take back our nation from the modern day feudal barons who own it now? -S-

Nice one. -S-

I used retrain and backtoavadon many times. I could do without any other cheat entirely—and did—but I find these two to be wonderful time and frustration savers. Anything that saves me time, reduces redundancy, and allows me to repair my own mistakes or experiment with possibilities is a winner. For similar reasons, the junk bag is a most welcome addition to the game. -S-

Slarty, thanks, fixed. "C" does indeed mean center area: "cw," center west, would be the western part of the central area of the zone. If it's in the left third or so of the zone, I'll just call it west: w. Random, can you either insert an exact location description for the War Club, or insert it in a reply, and I will add it? -S-

I know it's just semantics, but I think of stupidity as "you should know better," but do something else anyway. Concerning that which we do not know, are unable to know, or simply don't know that we don't know, I'd label these as ignorance. What SoT is calling stupidity is another way of saying we are finite, and have limited perception and ability. Our awareness, our consciousness, is at a fairly immature level of development for a species that has become self-aware. Also, as conscious beings, there is no way to arrive at absolute objectivity, or even reality. We are unable to observe anything, from social phenomena to a quark without either directly altering it or projecting something into it (thus altering it, as far as our own perception goes.) I wouldn't call our difficulty in being "objective" stupidity either, but it is a limitation we currently possess. I'm not sure how pessimistic or cynical SoT's tone and perspective is, if at all, but I want to inject some optimism into the assessment of humanity. We may be slow, ignorant, limited, foolish, egotistical, careless, biased, or any other human quality that impedes our progress, but we are also ultimately brilliant, ingenious, driven, creative, clever, flexible, adaptable, empathetic, and capable of perhaps unlimited evolution and improvement. The drama of being human is experiencing our seemingly contrary aspects in conflict, while we steadily—or fitfully—press forward. -S-

Here's an in-depth article on the entire scenario and reaction to the Japan nuclear plant crisis. A previous source I read about the number of reactors in Japan must have been incorrect, as this article states they have 55, not 75 reactors. article here -S-

The oil-burning ones? -S-

Great in-depth review, Fael. The main skill points and level cap should be improved in the next Avadon game. The way skill points works is what remains after the triage Jeff committed to not enable the creation of ridiculously overpowered PCs. It wasn't really intended to work that way, and for most of the beta-testing, the system let you freely assign the skill points. Still, with only a small handful of choices what to assign, it feels lacking compared to the Avernum method. Level caps will likely be remedied in the next game. I think implementing it was wrong to begin with, but like the skill point hamstringing, it was a quick fix to keep game play balanced with what Jeff wanted. The junk bag is the solution to something I (and hopefully other testers) have been railing for bitterly for several games now, regarding the inventory/sell system. Jeff's solution was even better than I dared hoped for. Elegant, easy, efficient, and effective. Ahhh. The hidden switches light up when you mouse over them, so you don't have to actually "see" the switch per se, to find it, but bumping into every inch of wall has been replaced with mousing over every tile of switch-colored brick wall. That is the one game texture which is identically colored (and sized) to hide the switches. Downright devious, and not a little bit cruel are those darn brick walls. A lot of the other switches aren't too hard to see, depending on your monitor size and quality. They're all pretty much an extra for completists, since any necessary ones are all but handed to you on a plate by the text and dialogue. I'm kind of on the fence about the tracking thing. It is nice to be able to look around the map while waiting for your PCs to trudge up somewhere, but it is disorienting and unintuitive trying to get back to them again. -S-

Until recently, the only SimCity game I played was the old Mac Classic original version in black and white long ago. I just ordered SimCity IV with Rush Hour for Mac. I've played it before, a bit, very addictive. They have gazillions of mods and additions on sites like Simtropolis, which you can add into the game. You can install cool and friendly inventions like waste-to-energy plants which dump all your trash into a hole into the center of the earth and convert it into clean power, or thermal energy plants, and special air-cleaning poles and all kinds of fun, but ridiculous stuff. In the main game, they have very clean solar array plants as the cleanest energy source. You start off with windmills or black-smoke spewing coal plants. Today's fantasy and science fiction could be tomorrow's reality. It all starts as someone's imaginations, dreams, and wishes. -S-

Maybe Japan, and the world in general, needs to look at decommissioning or rebuilding older plants like these that have been determined to be not safe enough—before the next disaster strikes. It's all so crazy-expensive. I keep waiting for the 21st century discovery of some miracle energy source that makes power cheap and safe for everyone. -S-

To put the "nuclear disaster" in some perspective, Japan has 75 nuclear reactors, having no native coal or oil resources of its own. One of these reactors was somewhat damaged by the largest recorded quake to hit Japan, and it is one of their oldest and least quake-resistant reactors. Nuclear power is risky (so is oil—cough-ExxonBP-cough), but overall, I'd say Japan's done a pretty careful job of design and precaution for their nuclear facilities. -S-

Avernum 3 was the first game I played and bought from Spiderweb, and remains my overall favorite experience. I liked the combination of underworld and surface world, the legendary items quests with the creepy and challenging experiences of places like the pit where you get the Fury Crossbow and the tower where you find the Ring of Endless Magery. It all felt so vast and epic and pressing. Someone's best experience of a gaming world or series probably has to do with the first exposure, newness and excitement of the experience. It's hard to top the first experience of discovering the whole Avernum universe. -S-

Poor Japan. Here are some photos which dramatically depict the devastation there. photos before and after satellite photos Those of us who live on the west coast of America, also along the jittery Pacific ring of fire, should find this sobering. Seattle here is considered due for a quake of around this size, as much as 9.0 or more, according to local geological records and known fault lines. I already experienced Mt. St. Helens blowing up in my lifetime. I hope for no more disasters here (or anywhere, but that just isn't possible.) -S-

I'll mention it here also, that if you get one PC up to 4 lockpick skill at the beginning, have that PC as your primary PC or with your party whenever opening stuff, if you get the Tinker's Satchel when available, buy all available lockpicks, and are thorough in scouring about for findable lockpicks, there are more than enough for virtually everything but one dragon box in the entire game. This also assumes that you don't blow lockpicks opening expensive doors and boxes that will be unlocked for you after doing quests. I had 6-8 picks left over at the end of the game and wasn't aware of anything that I hadn't opened that I wanted to open. -S-

Bet you're sorry you weren't more of a buddy now, huh? -S- P.S. Ben said, "The cleave function was wonky. Foes that would miss me b/c of my high defenses in a 1-on-1 fight would almost invariably hit that same character w/ a cleave." You know, I noticed and told Jeff about this late in testing, when I was finding cleaving more of a problem from foes than primary attacks. I'm beginning to think this is a bug, that cleave attacks aren't being properly filtered through.

Having two shaman in a party of five at the end might not be as much a deal-breaker as you're thinking, if the rest of your party is well-trained and equipped, assuming it's not on Torment. The Redbeard fight is incredibly frustrating if you have more than 1-2 sentinels alive to buffer him. It nearly drove me crazy on my first attempts, before I realized there was a second chamber with two more sentinels. Even then, it's a bit of a grind to get through. Considering some of the epic end game fights in the early Avenrnum games, this was rather anti-climactic for me, but as Jeff pointed out when I mentioned it, this is the first in a series, and it's not meant to be a colossal battle at the end of this first episode. -S-

The moral decisions may still make your stomach churn, however. -S-

I tried to list every single lockpick I encountered, whether it is a found item or one you can buy—and if the latter, I listed the quantity available. If I missed some, Random, please add them into the list. Jeff also alters items during beta testing, and since I haven't gone back and replayed an entire game late into the beta process or after, there are probably a few items I didn't find that are there now. Turtle, do you mean you found a lockpick on the ground near the following location in the Kva Lands? wolf nest - lightning scroll, potion of health, sapphire, emerald runestone - sse Or do you mean in one of the zones accessible only in the Dire Wolf Pack or Nightshade quests? I need to be quite specific to list an item - where it is in context of the whole zone. Madrigan, the reason for the bolded text you mentioned is because: Click to reveal.. ( spoiler alert) in the end game, if you want to fight Redbeard, you will probably want all four PCs to join you. You want to keep the best gear and extra scarabs for them to use at the end, even if you haven't been using them during the rest of the game. -S- P.S. If you get one PC's lockpicking skill up to 4 as soon as possible (a small investment), and get the Tinker's Satchel at the appropriate time, even with opening everything of interest, except the extra dragon boxes, I had something like 6-8 lockpicks left over at the end of the game. There are plenty, really, if you keep up with the skill, and make sure to have that skilled PC with you anytime you wish to unlock something.

I believe that is how Jeff intends it—the typical player's game will not end with Redbeard dying, and I also believe he's supposed to be back for Avadon 2. So yeah, you pretty much need 4-5 PCs to do it, patience, skills, and have 1-2 PCs stationed in each sentinel chamber to deal with them as they appear. -S-

1@L4 means 1 lockpick is needed when you have level 4 lockpicking skill. With the Tinker's Satchel, you can have level 5 lockpicking skill max. If there is just a number ("door - 3"), then you need three lockpicks without any skill. Check with Randomizer's lockpicking skill list to see how many lockpicks are required at each skill level compared to the door difficulty level, if necessary. Most players will likely have their lockpicking skill up to 4 for one PC early on, and that's how I played, so that's how it got recorded. Hope this is now not thoroughly confusing. -S-

It is possible that some people have custom titles that look like Drakey could have assigned them, when in reality they were self-selected. -S-

My computer is made out of dinosaurs. -S-