ThePancakeLady

Raph is a huge fan of all things The Thing and all things STALKER... just saying. Just look as his Twitter page, and his timeline.

Copper is a super efficient conductor, and phones require very little voltage. It's plausible. Molly says the party line was from 60 or 70 years ago, and we don't know what the current year is. We don't know what type of batteries the flashlights have, or what type of motors the cars and generators have. Or how old the batteries in the cars and flashlights are. It's a game, a science fiction (emphasis on fiction...) game. It needs to be plausible only. We accept teleportation and phasers in Star Trek without getting worked up over "realism", we accept light sabers in Star Wars, ect. We accept it because it is science fiction, in a highly technical, futuristic world. This is also science fiction. In a less futuristic setting. It's fiction. It isn't meant to be 100% realistic. It only needs to be plausible enough for us to accept it as a possibility, based on just enough science for our our brains to say "Okay, not likely, but it could happen, even if it is 1 in a million chance.". 1=/=0. I get what you are saying ajb, but I don't get the need or demand for things in a fictional game to be based on non-fiction.

But Father Tom does go to the church in town, or the Church Artifact quest would not be a thing and the reward would would not show up. So, he does leave the CH, but only to go to his church? Bypassing the houses and cars each time? He is a priest, he may feel that ransacking other people's property is against what he believes he stands for... it would be morally reprehensible for him to loot them, but he can offer forgiveness to someone else who does so, as long as it benefits the entire flock, not just one person. Maybe the quakes have opened up a hole, where the Anunnaki Mother Ship has been hiding for centuries... and "sleeping giants" have been woken up? And they are trying to phone home? (Yes, I want Anunnaki, lol!) And we aren't sure the geomagnetic disaster is caused by a CME (or more than one). Nukes are capable of causing nuclear electromagnetic pulses. What if the geomagnetic disaster is caused by EMPs, rather than CMEs? Or a combination of both? (We are talking science fiction here, and the game is science fiction, without the "usual" robots and far future setting...). Jeremiah seems to have some military back ground, and there are all of the radio towers, that would have been used by the military for communications. Another possibility... the Forest talkers came upon an arsenal, and set fire to it, without realizing there were nukes in there as well? (Speculation can lead to crazy thoughts...) Lol! Yeah, Episodes 4 & 5 will give us more info, I hope. I can't imagine they won't.

I noticed it immediately. I didn't question it (though I did have that brief "Father Tom has some rusty bolts in the bucket..." thought flash through my head...) Okay, and I may get bashed for this, but here's my take (for better or worse): Modern "Big Religion" is all about ".Thoughts & Prayers" Natural disaster wipes out an island? "We send our thoughts and prayers.". Personal tragedy? "We send out thoughts and prayers...". Families separated, not knowing where their loved ones are? "We send our thoughts and prayers." I could keep listing, but I'll stop. Father Tom sends his thoughts and prayers. He does not notice the personal injuries or suffering of the people in the Community Hall. He never even looked at Dimitri to see his Medic Alert bracelet, saying he had Type 1 Diabetes. He did the minimum needed, giving him a bedroll and a blanket, just like he did with everyone else. Gathering the townsfolk and the survivors in one place, to form a new "congregation" that he could pray over and preach to, but he never bothered to search the cars or houses, or look over more than the spiritual well-being of most, especially the "Outsiders" who straggled in. "Dimitri came in a day or 2 ago, but I didn't take enough notice of him to remember him that clearly, just another sheep for my flock, for me to feel sanctified, by praying for his everlasting soul. His body is your job, Astrid. You go face the physical dangers and treat the bodies, I'll treat the souls." A clear divide shown between spiritual and secular (or "scientific" if you prefer that term.). Both in Father Tom and in Astrid. Both show great compassion, but both are worlds apart from each other in their world views and belief systems. And the separation of the people on the island from any outside views, by their long held traditions, and acceptance of whatever "The Church" tells them is right, without question. TL;DR- Father Tom may be a bit forgetful, or he may be so firmly entrenched in his Faith, that he cannot see beyond it. And please, this is just my take. Everyone will see it their own way. No one needs to agree with me, it's just how I see the story, the game, and yes, the world in general. And I may well be very far away from the meaning that Raph and Hinterland fintended to convey. But I think Hinterland is okay with us each seeing it our own way, as long as we share our thoughts on it without hatred and vitriol.

Here's the thing... If sprains bother you, you can turn the sprain mechanic completely off in a Custom Settings game. And if you are okay with the sprain mechanic, but the wobbly gimping camera view bothers you or causes vertigo for you- you can turn that off in the Options menu, no Custom Settings needed.

I agree the morale meter doesn't really fit the aesthetics of the current UI and HUD in the game, but I am used to the look it has from all of the aRPG/RPG games I play. So, it really was not immersion breaking for me. personally, and it was easy for me to see how far down I was pushing their morale to chase them off. I do like the music as well, it really does make your stomach clench up a bit when you hear it, and lets you know the danger is real, and immediate. I suppose from a purely aesthetic sense, the meter could or should be made a bit more visually similar to everything else. Not a circle, still a bar, with with that "snowy and cold" look. Not sure how else to put that... Took a few tries to learn how the Timbers behave, and what their attack patterns were. But that's something I have had to learn in aRPGs like Titan Quest and Grim Dawn, dealing with mobs that flank and surround my avatar. Kite? Don;t kite? Use terrain or architecture do protect myself from the flank attacks... Not too hard, just took some observation and some learning the hard way, lol. I do think they will be problematic in Survival Mode, where those 20% per hit attacks may end permadeath runs quickly. But, being a Stalker player most often, I love to dance with wolves, and look forward to many horrible deaths learning to deal with them in the sandbox.

@k0s0ff Thank you!

Lol! Done.

Can't vote. I like them all, for entirely different reasons.

I love this idea. (Even if I don't celebrate Christmas... Oh Tannenbaum and Adeste Fideles would be great, as long as they are in the public domain...)

@Screenshot Pilgrim Thanks for the kind words. Glad you enjoyed the story, and the filtered screenshots. So many filters... I need to play with a few more.

They may have already made decisions, but it may be taking them time to get in touch with winners, verify eligibility and deal with legal stuff, before shipping rewards and announcing the winners. Until participants provide all the info that Hinterland needs, to be able to make sure everything is in order, Hinterland may be held back from making a formal announcement.

Sunrise in my favorite region... And yes, I am crouched in that last shot. And Terrible Toothy Timmy did not detect me. I did go backwards, slowly, to the Riken, lol.

But the stars... They didn't forget us.

Well said @Jimmy. And yeah, the insulin not freezing while at the crash site is not IRL realistic, but then again, neither are bottles or water laying out in the snow not freezing, or cans of soda not freezing and rupturing the can. Sadly, many with Type 1 Diabetes here in the US do ration their insulin, to make it last longer. Dimitri could do that as well, but it only gives him more quantity of life (he lives a little longer) while decreasing quality of life (he's going to have more long and short term complications...). But Father Tom, and it seems most everyone in Wintermute, all episodes, seems to believe there is a future for the world, still. So, even if they are wrong, they believe they will be rescued, or things will get better. And Astrid as a doctor is likely to believe the same thing, religious or not. And yeah... I am so tired of people, when they learn I have Type 1 Diabetes, feeling sorry for me and saying "Oh, you poor thing. You can't eat sugar at all! That must be terrible!" Ummm... carbohydrates, simple or complex are sugars. One acts more quickly on blood glucose levels, one acts more slowly. But it irks me that baby carrots are chock full of carbohydrates, and have a high glycemic index. I love baby carrots. And I follow a carb-counting/glycemic index diet, taking my short acting insulin dosage based on carbs taken in. Long acting taken in a split dose (2x daily instead of the usual 1x daily.) And I still have issues keeping my HbA1c at or below 6.0. But it's way better than the HbA1c levels of 11.0-13.0 I had as a child, on the old old old Regular and NPH insulins and a strict 1500 kcal/day diet. What works for me may not work for another. More education, and customized care and treatment is so important. And so lacking for many here. But as far as the game goes... the idea of deer or other animals harvested for meat, having their pancreas harvested to "milk" them for insulin is plausible, even if it may not be practical.

I want my mummy?

I am not sure Bullwinkle would agree with me if I said "Yes!"... (Nicely done btw!)

@Ice Hole- That's a really interesting study! Possibly good news for people with Type 2 Diabetes. No news for people like me with Type 1. (Whether we partake or not... it literally saved my life when I was going through chemo though... my Diabetes was greatly affected by the vomiting, lack of appetite, and lack of food intake. A little pot helped to increase my appetite, calmed the nausea, and helped me keep the food f down. Plus my pain levels dropped significantly. Better control of my Diabetes meant better response to the chemo and better healing from any radiation burns fro the rad treatments.) Sadly, testing like this under approved and tightly controlled situations, does not happen often, if at all. Insulin resistance exists in Type 1 as well, more so in the form that I have (Brittle Type 1), but the risks that patients would face would be more severe. But it's damned nice to see some more studies being done, for any form of Diabetes, to help people who have the disease get better control. Though, until it's legal at the Federal level, instead of at the State level, insurance here in the US will never consider paying for any form of cannabinoid treatments, and doctors will never be willing to risk legal implications of recommending it to patients, while it is not actually legal here. Total aside... do you know how many forms of Diabetes there are? It's a bit astounding to some people to learn that there are so many different forms... Best website I can link to that gives "easier to understand" information (for laypeople, not just scientists and doctors) is here: https://beyondtype1.org/other-forms-of-diabetes/

Nothing personal. but are you a sports medicine doctor or physical therapist? It is entirely possible to sprain your wrist falling in the snow, on a slope or flat surface. Been there, done that, a good number of times. I was a backpacker, a caver, a rock climber, a hiker... in all 4 seasons. And a klutz, in all 4 seasons. You may never have had it happen to you, but that does not mean it can't happen, or doesn't happen. And the game does have a "falling over" mechanic. It just does not have an animation for it.

Wandering around Milton, a bit sad at what the town has become, and what it might have been like, once upon a time. Sobered by the birth and death dates on the tombstones... so young. So very young... Looking at little details, because I love them so much... And just really loving the cloud layer here. Good night, for now.

Okay, just a follow up. Steam updated the Client with a few fixes yesterday. One in particular... a fix for the one webhelper that has been crashing, and causing the Client and games to lock up (supposed to have been a fix for Mac users... but it seems to have fixed it on Windows 10 as well.) I am now getting a steady 144 fps again in the game, no stutters, no hitching... running smooth again for me, when launching through Steam Client. Anyone else launching through Steam Client notice any improvement as well? (provided you installed the new update of the Steam Client, of course...)

Lol! Fair enough. As I said... to each their own. It's all good. Though, trying something new is sometimes a good way to find something that works even better for you. (Which is how I ended up with low condition on top instead of high condition.)

Lol! I do lowest to highest, so the low condition stuff is at the top, and I can eat it (risk it) first, or dump it out of my inventory quickly to avoid the risk of food poisoning. But I agree, sorting by condition feels best for me, as well. But... to each their own.

I hated it. it did make me motion sick, just like *some* games in VR do (while others don't). I would toggle it off if it were added- and it better have a toggle to allow me to turn it off, like we have for Camera Effects... which I leave on. The gimping with an ankle sprain does not bother me, it's true-to-life for me and my cane, lol. I see that view IRL, every day, any time I walk. And the blur effect when in pain closely simulates the blurred view and tearing up I get when my pain levels hit over 10/10, or I have a blinding migraine going on. Wrist sprains when falling on a slope is realistic (notice I use no " " there, too...). Can't tell you how often I have sprained a wrist when I have fallen, on a slope of even on a flat surface, falling into a wall or onto the ground. I am a klutz IRL, I roleplay my characters like they are as well. Though they get hurt less often than I do IRL, lol.

No, Type 1 cannot control their blood glucose levels by choosing what they eat, and just take insulin sometimes. That's not how it works. Type 2 can, to some degree, depending on how well controlled or how severe their condition is. But someone with type Diabetes needs insulin every day to keep blood glucose levels in control.. If Dimitri were under good control prior to the crash, as long as he was not eating anything, and he was drinking lots of fluids to wash some of the ketones from his bloodstream (produced by his body digesting fat and muscle tissue to provide energy), to prevent full blown DKA, he would still have rising blood glucose levels, and he would still need insulin asap to lower those levels to normal again. The liver does not produce glucose. It stores glucose. the pancreas produces a hormone called glucagon, which when released, triggers the liver to release glucose into the bloodstream. In people without Diabetes, this process works normally. In people with Diabetes, Type 1 or Type 2, it does not, to varying degrees, based on the individual themselves. Diabetes affect each person that has it in a unique and different way. It is not a one-size-fits-all disease. And Type 1 is a totally different monster than Type 2 is, totally different conditions, that share some similarities, and do not share others. They are not the same thing, even if they share the word "Diabetes" in their common names. Diabetes mellitus is the disorder. It comes in a billion different flavors, each different for each person that has it. Type 1, Type 2, Gestational Diabetes, and the more controversial classification of Type 1.5 ( a theoretical blending of Type 2 and Type 1- someone who has both, and medical professionals do not agree on whether it is actually a separate Type or not... thus the controversy.) But the idea that Dimitri, with Type 1, would be just fine eating only veggie airline meals is false. Many veggies have carbohydrates in them... the mashed potatoes for example... carbohydrate and fiber. Even the broccoli has a small amount of carbohydrate in it, though not much. Check for a list of "Free Foods" on a current American Diabetes Association menu. Free Foods can be eaten in certain amounts, with no impact on blood glucose levels, or very minimal impact on blood glucose levels. I'm sorry, I am passionate about this, because the misinformation about the disease is rampant , still, globally. And Diabetes education is overlooked or bypassed at an alarming rate, when people are diagnosed with the disease. Doctors tell their patients "You have Diabetes" and sometimes don;t tell the patient if it is Type 1, Type , Gestational, or otherwise. Which is why pencil-pushers at health insurance companies have no understanding how limiting coverage for medications, blood glucose testing supplies, and diagnostic tests affect some people who actually have the disease. It's a disgusting failure of the healthcare industry, worldwide, but especially in the US, a First World Country, that has the funds and means to do better. If Big Pharma profit was taken out of the equation. And yes, if my blood glucose levels are 3 times over normal, I DO notice it. I have symptoms of it, very clear to me, and clear to any who know what to look for. In my case, I am asymptomatic when it comes to hypoglycemia. I do not get the "normal" headache, dizziness, confusion- until right before I fall down and have a Grand-Mal seizure. But if my glucose goes high? I get the furry white tongue from the dehydration it brings on, I get the Juicy-Fruit gum smelling breath, just before or as soon as my body begins producing ketones. I need to pee a lot. I will be sick to my stomach, and constantly thirsty. But it is different for each person. My symptoms are different than Joe's, or Jane's, or Morty's, or Pinky's. And over time, my symptoms, complications, and presentation of the disease has changed. And likely will continue to change as i age further. it is not a static disease. It is one that simply can be controlled, well, not so well, or not at all, depending on the patient,the doctors, the education, and the drive and willingness to do whatever it takes to control it. And even then, best efforts can still fail. Diabetes is not a one-size-fits-all disease, and people need to stop seeing it as such, and treating it as such. 🤬 </RantOver>