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tal @ tal @lemmy.today Posts 156Comments 6,597Joined 2 yr. ago
tal @ tal @lemmy.today
Posts
156
Comments
6,597
Joined
2 yr. ago
WebP had been kind of moving in on its turf, based on what I've been seeing websites using.
They have mechanical components that will wear out over time (though I suppose some people probably use them lightly enough that it's less of an issue).
Just tried it, and it was some other game I was thinking of; I hadn't played JA3 yet.
While I haven't finished the game, thoughts:
- It's the strongest of the post-2 Jagged Alliance games that I've played.
- Still not on par with JA2, at least relative to release year, I'd say also in absolute terms.
- My biggest problem --- I'm running this under Proton --- is some bugginess that I'm a little suspicious is a thread deadlock. When it happens, I never see the targeting options show up when I target an enemy, and trying to go to the map or inventory screen doesn't update the visible area onscreen, though I can blindly click and hear interactions. The game also doesn't ever exit if I hit Alt-F4 in that state, just hangs. AFAICT, this can always be resolved by quicksaving (which you can do almost anywhere), stopping the game (I use
killin a terminal on Linux) and reloading the save, but it's definitely obnoxious. Fortunately, the game starts up pretty quickly. Nobody on ProtonDB talking about it, so maybe it's just me. I have not noticed bugs other than this one. - So far, not much by way of missions where one has to figure out elaborate ways of getting into areas or the like: more of a combat focus. I have wirecutters, crowbars, lockpicks, and explosives, like in JA2, but thus far, it's mostly just a matter of clicking on a locked container with someone who has lockpicking skill. Probably more realistic --- in real life, an unattended door isn't going to stop anyone for long --- but I kinda miss that.
- The maps feel a lot smaller to me, though the higher resolution might be part of that. A lot of 3d modeling to make them look pretty. There's a lot more verticality, like watchtowers.
- The game also feels considerably shorter than JA2, based on the percentage of the strategic map that I've taken. That being said, JA2 could get a bit repetitive when one is fighting the umpteenth enemy reinforcement party.
- Unique perks for mercs that make them a lot more meaningful than in JA2 (though also limit your builds). For example, Fox can get what is basically a free turn if she initiates combat on a surprised enemy. Barry auto-constructs explosives each day.
- Thematic feel of the mercs from JA2 is retained well.
- Interesting perk tree.
- A bunch of map modifiers like fog that have a major impact.
- Bunch of QoL stuff for scheduling concurrent tasks for different mercs.
- Pay demands don't seem to rise with level, though other factors can drive it up (e.g. Fox will demand more pay if you hire Steroid).
- Feels easier than JA2, though I haven't finished it.
- I'm pretty sure the keybindings are different.
- Tiny thing, but I always liked the start of JA2, where your initial team does a fast-rope helicopter insertion into a hostile sector. Felt like a badass way to set the tone. No real analog in JA3.
- I started running into guys with RPGs early on in JA3, much earlier than in JA2.
- JA2 has ground vehicles and a helicopter and they require you to obtain fuel. Transport logistics don't exist in JA3, other than paying to embark on boat trips at a port (and just checked online to confirm that they aren't just in the late game).
- More weapon mods in JA3. Looks like some interesting tradeoffs that one has to make here, rather than just "later-game stuff is better".
For me, it was a worthwhile purchase --- even with the irritating bug I keep hitting --- and I would definitely recommend it over the other post-JA2 stuff if you've played JA2 and want more. It hasn't left me giggling at the insane amount of complex interactions that were coded into the game like JA2 did, though, which were kind of a hallmark of the original.
On a related note, I've been wondering whether the masking for COVID-19 will have any long term effects. Like, little kids didn't see faces much for years during their formative years. I don't know how much people need to learn to associate facial expressions with communication at a particular point in their development.
I like self checkout. I struggle with talking to people and it can really drain on me so it's a godsend to have if I only need to run in for a few things.
Valid take.
That being said, I'd probably prefer human checkout unless we can get a more-automated form of self checkout. Self checkouts have gotten a lot better since the early days, but human checkers are still faster than I am at the self-checkout and if a human is doing the checkout, I can dick around on my phone or whatever.
Cost savings are nice, but cost savings on my groceries just aren't a massive concern for me. There just isn't that much human time being expended on checking my back out. I don't have strong feelings about the human interaction one way or another.
Maybe one day, we can get some sort of robotic arm setup that can do checkouts as well as a human checker, and then I'd quite happily be in the "machine" camp.
Parallel compute accelerator.
Nobody is gonna say that in full, just like "graphics processing unit" becomes "GPU", so maybe "PCA".
From the article, I believe that it's Steam Deck parts, not Steam Controller 1 parts.
Which makes sense, because you can get a Steam Deck, but the Steam Controller 1 has been out of production for some years.
EDIT: Wikipedia says that production ended in 2019.
US naval vessels themselves will become targets
They already have been the target of missiles launched by the Houthis provided by Iran. Thus far, missile defenses have stopped them.
I suppose that Iran probably has some ability to ramp up how many anti-ship missiles they're throwing, but the US also has the ability to drastically ramp up the number of bombs being dropped on Iran; I doubt that climbing the escalation ladder is going to be advantageous to Iran.
If the gas price skyrockets
We're a net oil exporter these days, thanks to hydrofracking.
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-products/imports-and-exports.php
In 2020, the United States became a net exporter of petroleum for the first time since at least 1949.
If the gas price skyrockets, (a) if it becomes really serious, it's possible for the US to not export oil and (b) more US oil production will come online.
Loss of oil access was a potent lever against the US in the 1970s, but it isn't in 2025.
Oh good. Americans will die.
Trump will be fine.
I dunno. Iran got caught by American intelligence trying to assassinate Trump not long ago, under Biden.
Russia, China, and all their friends will sink arms and money into Iran like the West has for Ukraine.
Iran was sending arms to Russia to use against Ukraine not long ago, and now Iran and the US are fighting directly, if it makes you feel better.
The problem with this is that there’s currently no way to target immune-suppressing drugs to say: “Hey, just stop attacking your own cells, but continue doing everything else an immune system is supposed to do
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergen_immunotherapy
Allergen immunotherapy, also known as desensitization or hypo-sensitization, is a medical treatment for environmental allergies (such as insect bites) and asthma.[1][2] Immunotherapy involves exposing people to larger and larger amounts of allergens in an attempt to change the immune system's response.[1]
We do have some limited ability to "train" at least some aspects of the immune system not to attack certain things. I've no idea whether that approach can be used for something like this.
social media has destroyed the spirit of the internet?
I’ve known Lemmy for a few hours and I feel like I’m back in the early spirit of the internet.
I mean, Lemmy is social media. You might dislike centralized social media or something, but...
Sounds politically-awkward.
Sounds like that was most-likely ahistorical, and resulted from the paintings having been created in different societies in a different time.
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/jesus-christ/did-jesus-have-long-hair.html
In the Bible, there aren't any verses describing Jesus' hair. However, there are verses that describe how Jewish men took care of their hair according to the Law. Based on these verses, Jesus likely had neatly trimmed black hair, long sideburns, and a beard. Long hair was an exception. Most Jewish men had shorter hair.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/what-did-jesus-look-like
Iconic artistic depictions of Jesus, such as Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper or Michelangelo’s The Last Judgement, look nothing like a typical first-century Jewish man in the Roman province of Judea. While we have little solid evidence of what the real face of Jesus looked like, he probably did not resemble the paintings hanging in most Western churches and museums to this day.
The artist Bas Uterwijk created a photorealistic depiction of Jesus based on DNA and forensic anthropology.
If you've ever looked at depictions of Jesus around the world, he changes quite a bit...like, in China, Jesus and company can be pretty Chinese-looking, in African art, he can look pretty African, etc.
I’ve never seen naptha (i.e. Zippo lighter fluid) do anything to any painted or finished surface, nor any of the plastics I’ve ever tired it on.
I'd guess that it's probably bad news for natural rubber. IIRC, naphtha is similar to gasoline, and gasoline will mess natural rubber up.
That being said, I have a can of naphtha myself.
kagis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_rubber
The two main solvents for rubber are turpentine and naphtha (petroleum). Because rubber does not dissolve easily, the material is finely divided by shredding prior to its immersion.
Sounds like it.
One other thing to keep in mind is that it is (obviously, given that that's how lighters that use it work) quite flammable in vapor form and the fumes aren't great to breathe, so this is something you'd want to use in a well-ventillated area.
EDIT:
https://kleanstrip.com/solvents-and-thinners/vmp-naphtha/
Klean-Strip® VM&P Naphtha can be used in place of Paint Thinner for oil-based paint, varnish and enamel when a faster drying time is desired.
So I don't think I'd want to casually get it on oil-based paint, since it'll be a solvent for that too.
Hammerfight
Oh, yeah, I liked that one. Pretty unusual game. Kind of a faux Middle East setting, mouse-controlled aircraft using in significant part melee weapons. Not incredibly deep, but the core gameplay loop did a good job of sucking me in.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/41100/Hammerfight/
Brigador
https://store.steampowered.com/app/274500/Brigador_UpArmored_Edition/
CrossCode
The whole outfit looks 100% polyester
I would certainly hope so!
“‘Keep my decrees.
“‘Do not mate different kinds of animals.
“‘Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed.
“‘Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.
One thing I'd like to see from image formats and libraries is better support for very high resolution images. Like, images where you're zooming into and out of a very large, high-resolution image and probably only looking at a small part of the image at any given point.
I was playing around with some high resolution images a bit back, and I was quite surprised to find how poor the situation is. Try viewing a very high resolution PNG in your favorite image-viewing program, and it'll probably choke.
glivused to do very smooth GPU-accelerated panning and zooming --- I'd like to be able to do the same for very high-resolution images, decoding and loading visible data into video memory as required.I would guess that better parallel encoding and decoding support is likely associated with solving this, since limiting the portion of the image that one needs to decode is probably necessary both for parallel decoding and for efficient high-resolution processing.