Bay 12 Games Forum

Yeah, apologies for not being able to download/play/review, but hey, at least this way some other bugger gets the fun

Meanwhilse ISIS in an attempt to spook gov spooks killed 5 innocent people they thought were informants for britgov. They're just getting sore anuses because their poorly hidden commanders have recently grown the habit of exploding
They're also threatening to invade the UK and rule by shariah to which I'd like to see them try

Something about this just smacks of desperate propaganda of the sort produced by a group trying literally anything to not end up irrelevant. I do not understand what it is trying to achieve. Yes, it gets them airtime, but is anyone going to be scared or shocked by IS acting in this way any more? It is not as if there is any credible threat in this to anyone. Possibly their brutality is now reaching the point where it working against them not only by making people want them eradicated, but by actually desensitising people to the murderporn they produce.

... also, do not ignore the fact that prophecies are made and known in advance. As such, it would be literally trivial to present ones self as if you were fulfilling them thanks to knowing what it is you need to fulfil. In the case of Jesus, a well read bronze age Rabbi (or several of them, perhaps) would have the knowledge needed to pull off the pretence of fulfilling them. If one did or not... well, that's not going to be the sort of thing anyone will ever unravel, thanks to the depths of time involved.

Oh, that and people tend to have a knack of making sure prophecies come true, acting in such a way to make sure they come to pass in a self fulfilling nature. *shrug*

So, I won me some dire point and click adventure, and a dire zombie survival game
Woo! Could be fun.

The Goat Herding goes remarkably well, until a mysterious species of winged monsters that look like a cross between a Lion and an Eagle begin to abduct mountain goats and slaughter any of the Ranchers brave enough to fight against them. The Orcish Scouts say that they have several Nests in the tops of a few of the more isolated Mountains of the Confederacy, The People have already come up with a name for them: Griffins. They are harassing above-ground activities and will continue to do so until they are stopped somehow, So far, 28 Dwarf Ranchers and 17 Orc Ranchers have died to the Griffins, Over 200 Mountain Goats have been abducted and taken to their Nests.

Tholin read the reports about the giant sky beasts while the debate dragged on around him. The debate was split between those who wanted to eradicate the beasts, those who wanted to immediately retreat to the burrows, and those who wanted to try and tame them. Tholin was of a mind to try and make use of the bests, but in a subtle manner. He rose, and the hubbub dropped. In his low voice he spoke plainly: "We have no idea where these beasts have come from, or why. They may be migrating over our lands. They may have been driven here by a yet bigger abomination. It matters not. As they are in our mountains, they are ours. I propose we make good use of them. The adults are wild, and would resist taming. As such, they present a good opportunity for us to ensure our armed forces are kept on their toes. I also propose that as a non-critical situation it would be a very good idea to try out any novel weaponry on them, in order to evaluate the performance of any exotic or unorthodox designs. As for the eggs... well, I would like to see the young hatched and reared by our most skilled ranchers. If we could domesticate such a beast, it could be a useful source of food, animal labour, and a weapon of war... one that we must keep close to our chests, and not trade with the outside." A general murmur of consent from around 60% of those assembled suggested to Tholin that this plan satisfied those who wanted to kill and those who wanted them tamed.

Using soldiers not posted to border duty, look to kill any and all adult griffins using any promising new and unusual weapon designs being proposed by engineers. Eggs are to be captured as a high priority and handed over to our best ranchers with orders to rear them for use in agriculture, industry, and war.

Tholin Bronzehelm orders the Dwarf Miners of the Confederacy to search for untapped ore seams, [17+4=21] After weeks of hard searching they haven't found anything of value. Finally, when even Tholin's famous patience was nearing it's end one of the searchers reported that they'd found a mysterious steel door at the bottom of an unexplored cave, The door was supposedly indestructible and had many strange and ancient runes carved into it's surface. The Miners who found it didn't tell anybody but Tholin about their discovery, fearing that it would be pillaged before they could have their fair share of the treasure, if there is any behind the door, of course.

... now, onto other matters. It looked like it would be a lean year for the Confederacy. No matter, they would endure, as they always had. This door however, vexed Tholin. There were rarely such things as good surprises in the mountains, and a strangely marked steel door which was resisting force was most certainly one. Dwarven miners were greedy little bastards, and Tholin knew that they would go to great ends to see this greed satisfied... "Now, as for this door. It could hold something good, something powerful, something bad, something evil, something useful, something of value.... who knows. however, to be sealed, and marked, it is clearly important... and seeing as it too is in our mountains, it is also ours. I propose that the miners who found it be ordered to access the door in any way they see fit, taking utmost care of course to protect themselves and others, and to report back as soon as they gain access without removing or disturbing anything until we know exactly what it is we are dealing with. This of course means it is also in theory only their greedy little necks that are being risked. I suggest we offer them a cut of whatever is found behind the door, as is customary for prospectors. Say, 15%? Of course, this assumes that whatever is behind the door does not bring them their ends..." - a low chorus of "aye" told Tholin that this matter did not rank highly among the members of the council in terms of import, if they would agree so readily to a fairly normal course of action for ore prospecting.

Offer the miners a 15% cut of anything they find behind the door, if they can open it or get around it in some way. They are ordered to report immediately upon opening and performing a survey, and are forbidden to remove anything from the chamber before an analysis of its contents can be performed.

The labors of the already existing Mines are enough to supply the Troops for now, but in a few years they will certainly be depleted. Some of the Orcs have sent a petition to Tholin Bronzehelm asking for permission to build a few Raiding Skiffs to attack and loot Riverside Villages from other Regions.

"Now, finally, let us discuss our more militant members. They wish to engage in a little light banditry. I do not approve of such things, as it might, nay, will bring the focus of those outside the mountains on to us. Little villages will have little worth taking, and bigger settlements will no doubt look to strike back. No, this is not an idea I am fond of..." - grumbles of approval from just under half of the council told Tholin that this was a shared sentiment amongst more established council members - "... but I also recognise the need to satisfy the urges of our more forceful brethren. To this end, I propose we engage them with the hunting of adult griffins, offering them the same 15% share of the spoils as we would a prospector, and then to allow these same proponents of banditry the opportunity to raise and train griffins for war. If they succeed, I have a future plan in mind which I will use them for, and which will satisfy their need for adventure. If they fail, and become griffin food, well, the problem takes care of itself..." - A rumble of sarcastic laughter signalled the councils general approval, as it began to file out of the meeting hall and off back to enact the will of the council.

"Offer" the belligerents the opportunity to join the armed forces in hunting the adult griffin with experimental weapons at favourable prospecting terms, and the opportunity to raise some of the griffon eggs as a form of fast scouts/transports/hit and run raiders

Quote from: Rolepgeek on December 27, 2015, 03:12:07 pm

I would disagree as to them being in the same category. Most of those things are falsifiable (dwarfism exists ). God existing is either a fundamental fact about the universe, or it isn't. In many ways, it's not a discrete specific structured thing we can study. People usually have some basis for believing in God. '2 billion people can't be wrong' is a terrible way to argue, since it could be said of every other religion, with differing numbers, but 'two billion people currently believe in the modern age in this thing' is still an argument for not dismissing it as on the level of fairy tales and fictional literary characters. Many of them are very intelligent people. Most of them have arguments that they believe are strong enough to justify belief in the existence of God.

How many children are there out there who believe in Santa Claus?

Ah, but the difference there is that Santa, despite being based on known historical figures, is a known constructed lie made by adults who define Santa in terms of a set of claims, which will unravel with a little critical thinking. As pointed out by Roleplaygeek above, when a god is defined as a specific god claims about it can be tested, inevitably showing the claims to be flawed - the same as Santa. Olympus can be climbed, and Zeus and his gang were not up there. The result of this is that due to social Darwinism the faiths in god that remain extant in the world today are either non-theistic (like Buddhism and Taoism, so no god claims exist to unravel), or handily contain a god "claimed/defined" as so far outside the human experience one could never hope to interact with it regardless of claims in its holy text (Abrahamic faiths, Hinduism and so on). This in itself is to me a bizarre claim for a faith to make, as in said holy texts gods were dicking around with humanity all the time, which seems juxtaposed to the whole "out there but we can't get at them" reasoning. 1bn or so kids hold a belief in Santa, because they are told to. There is nothing to base that belief on save for the mythos they are fed. Does the same apply to those who hold a belief in god? I say yes, to a certain extent. For the most part, they are told in their youth of a particular god, and build up an argument around it while they have the knowledge in order to justify it. An almost statistically insignificant number of people end up switching faiths as a result of examining religious ideas and arguments about gods and their nature compared to those who simply reinforce what they already thought about gods, which to me suggests a certain amount of preclusion. 

If we defined Santa as some kind of pan-dimensional everywhere omni-gift giver instead of a fat guy in a suit, the myth may be more pervasive, perhaps

Quote from: MonkeyHead on December 27, 2015, 05:47:35 am

ptf for stuffs.

Oh, suggestion. I play df on some ropey hardware, and as such use the accelerated module from the modest mod (which removes a lot of bloat and speeds up the game for me a lot). Is an accelerated package something that would be considered worth including in the LNP?

^ This.  I don't know how feasible it would be to include this, but I am DYING for a similar tweak to help my framerate as well.

Well, you could do what I do, which is simply unzip the modest mod on top of the LNP DF filestucture, then unzip the modest mod accelerated module as per the mods own instructions. Sure, it is not as easy as clicking a few buttons in the launcher, but it is by no means complex, and has worked nigh on perfectly for me.