I could have sworn Discovery was connected with Bad Robot, but it looks like I was wrong.

It still has a “JJ Abrams sensibility” - frantic space combat, overly emotional characters, a lot of flashy but meaningless tech (the hologram communicators as an easy example) and visuals (the way the bridge was often shot). It was very much trying to be loud and new, while throwing in a lot of surface level references to try and give it some franchise credibility (this USS Discovery is a rejected Phase 2 concept design).

It all came together in a loud, unlikable soup that felt inauthentic to the franchise. There was some course correction later on, but too little, too late. Strange New Worlds went the right direction, while the Section 31 movie tripled down on all the worst aspects of Discovery.

In any case, I agree - the D&D movie was a lot of fun, and while I wouldn’t want a ST movie to strike that tone, I’m interested to see what they cook up.

I don’t want the Trek movie to have the DND movie tone either, but more like when that movie was made they understood the correct tone to match the franchise. It felt authentic to what DND players experience. If the Trek movie has the same care in figuring out what long time fans want, it will be good.

That’s good. The repercussions of the Bad Robot era have really derailed Trek in a way it’s just started healing from.

While Discovery wasn’t in the Kelvinverse, the connection to Bad Robot probably gave it that similar style. The Section 31 movie wasn’t connected directly to Bad Robot as company, but it did share a writer.

Strange New Worlds has been a huge step in the right direction, though it came directly out of Discovery, making it kind of a prototype for modern live action Trek trying to both be “gritty” and classic Trek at the same time. I think it has mostly succeeded, but now that it’s proven there’s an appetite away from Bad Robot era Trek, I hope the new series goes further.

While I hope whatever they make doesn’t share a tone with the new DND movie, I appreciate that the DND movie was obviously well versed in the setting and knew what fans were about. Applying that same mindset to Trek would be great.

Wow this is a 2e era mini.

I like the choice of big flat areas of color with chunky highlights. It fits the sculpt.

I’m just saying, that’s a lot of work to record and add in every bit of player character dialog (male and female character voices). It still takes development time to go through and make sure the dialog animations don’t look (too) messed up and make sure characters aren’t talking over eachother and things like that.

There’s also the fact that during game development, dialogs can change. Which means if an earlier version of a dialog was recorded, it needs to be re-recorded. It’s an extra layer of hassle compared to just changing a text box.

Part of the reason most RPGs don’t do voiced player dialog is the amount of extra work it takes. The end result in Fallout 4 was underwhelming because of the writing, but it was still a lot of (potentially misguided) effort to have everything voiced.

It’s a shame that Fallout 4 really locked you into a character with a pre-written name, a fairly detailed backstory, and dialog (both the actual words and the voice delivery) that gave a sense of laser focused motivation. I felt absolutely nothing for Shaun, and therefore the entire main quest was a chore.

It would have been so easy to just have some plot other than getting Shaun back. Removing that as motivation and removing some of the player character backstory would open things up for players.

I assume because there was a ton of voice acting and animating for all that dialog. That is a lot of work. Problem is just because it was a lot of work didn’t make it automatically good.

The “problem” with those mods is they lay bare how thin the dialog choices really are.

at times the short option summaries felt wildly disconnected from the actual dialogue the MC spoke

The number of [sarcastic] dialog options that were actually just unhinged threats was wild. I’m convinced whoever wrote those doesn’t know what sarcasm is.

Also Wasteland isn’t just the inspiration for Fallout. Fargo wanted to make a sequel to Wasteland but no longer owned the rights to it, so they tweaked it into what we know and love.

According to Tim Cain on his YouTube channel, not exactly. Cain was a fan of Wasteland which lead to some elements (mainly he liked the idea of morally ambiguous quests more than anything) being in Fallout, but Fallout wasn’t developed as Off-Brand Wasteland. Some time in development, after Fallout had been pretty crystallized there was a discussion by the studio about getting the Wasteland rights and reworking Fallout into Wasteland 2. That ended up falling through. I believe Cain has mentioned being relieved because Fallout had turned into a unique creation, and it was already having to deal with one license for GURPS so having the Wasteland license would have doubled the amount of people looking over his shoulder.

As for the connection to Fallout 3, really it’s just because Fallout 3 transported a lot of content from the first two games regardless of how tenuous the connection was.

In New Vegas, the Rangers obviously are a more natural fit to the game and as a continuation from the reference in the original. In FNV the Rangers were an independent group which has been absorbed by the NCR, though they still have a lot of autonomy. That’s what that big statue at Interstate 15 is about.

I’m actually a little shocked there aren’t (to my knowledge) any Roger’s Rangers references in Fallout 4, given that the are Minutemen LARPing around.

If they are going to be inside of a well preserved tomb structure, perhaps no texture. But if they are going to be somewhere more dilapidated or sandy then some sand added with PVA works. Painted and then drybrushed to bring out the texture.

Colors depending on intended environment. I find that painting the sand black and then drybrushing it gently with a sky blue creates a non-distracting non-specific location look.

Skeletons are a great beginner friendly mini. I like the yellowed tone choice over a brighter white for the bones.

If you want to get a little more ambitious, you can base them in whatever way fits your game to get some basing practice in.i personally feel like a completed base elevates a mini.

I can’t agree more strongly. The ad for the Neo felt like a cult recruitment video. It’s targeting people in their feels, not appealing to sensibility. Huge red flag. 99% of footage of a Neo in motion has been with in remote controlled by a person in a VR headset.

I often agree with this, though for Death Trash given the slow pace of major updates I figured I’d just jump in. It only took me about 10 hours to beat the main content, and a few more hours poking around to feel finished with the game. This isn’t something like Zomboid with a big sandbox element to sink hours and hours into.

Honestly, at the pace it’s being updated I don’t know if it will get a huge proper ending.

I double checked myself on some Chauchat machinegun facts, and then kind of went into a rabbit hole of inter-war French armament.

In 2026 the Neo robot, the figure 3 and the Tesla bot are going mainstream in countries like America and I’m pretty sure other western countries.

I am skeptical. The Neo robot is basically a Mechanical Turk with extra steps.

I can’t prove it but the Figure 3 gives me even more vaporware flags.

As for the Tesla bot, it’s the least scammy of the bunch, but this is on the “we promise to put robots in your house in 2026” scale. It wouldn’t be the first time Tesla overset expectations.

None of these companies are straightforwardly showing extended, unedited footage of these robots operating in full AI mode in an uncontrolled realworld environment for a reason.

Humanoid household robots are the new (edit: I suppose not new, but resurging) fascination, but they are dumb. If someone wants to automate away chores it’s going to be by increasing smarthome capabilities and integration, and/or by having improved standalone robots and automation, like roombas, if they aren’t going all in on integrated smarthome tech. Success in automation will be with specific use robots and pieces of automation, ideally working together, not a Cylon lumbering around.

Welll YOU have a shitposting problem!

Some people think it’s such a good idea they DIY it in a warzone.

Being able to see rounds is handy. In the modern era we’ve made the tradeoff a non-issue.

The Chauchat was famously widely regarded as a terrible machinegun.

At the moment WW1 broke out, unfortunately conditions in France were that in practical terms it was this or nothing for light machineguns. The French had already saddled themselves with the 8mm Lebel, and this machinegun design was the only one they had ready to go.

The gun in 8mm Lebel needed the half moon shaped magazine because of the cartridge’s extreme taper. The spring had to follow that shape to function, and that’s big ask. The magazines were also thin, making them easy to dent. A dent could stop up the follower or spring. The cutouts in the side are obvious problems in mud, made worse by the rounds being oiled which would attract grime.

In 30-06 the half moon shape of the magazine was gone as were the cutouts. The magazines were still thin and fragile. I believe there were many complaints (I have no source at this exact second) about failure to extract caused by the higher pressure of 30-06 not working well with the hasty redesign of a not great to start with design.

In both cases the design and production quality of the magazines was a big weak point.

Somehow a quarter million of these guns were made, and used by many countries. Some countries even used them into the 1930s, though I think that’s more indicative of militaries, especially cash strapped ones, holding on to anything they own. The U.S. and French both quickly ditched their Chauchats (with the French also ditching 8mm Lebel) as soon as alternatives became available.

Don’t forget it’s on YouTube (Lemmy hates that) and uploaded from a capitalist country (bad) on the planet earth (that’s where Trump lives).