Old thread broke 300, so here we go

More interesting/odd than funny, but still...

You can read it here. 

As usual, forum readers get a good 24 hours or more lead on the FFML.  (Hell, you guys got a couple years' lead on them with chapter 1, given that I forgot to post it there until I finished chapter 2...)

Anyway, please post comments in this thread.

Thank you!

As expected but sooner than hoped, my HDD has indeed cacked it, so I'm going to be largely offline until the new parts I emergency-ordered with a loan from Bank of Fam arrive, hopefully sometime around the weekend. Do not be alarmed, the situation is otherwise normal as much as that applies to any of us at the moment.

On the plus side, as long as everything works (it's all new parts, even if I'll be building in a Gateway 310X case originally built like a nuclear bunker to contain the world-shattering power of a Pentium 4!) it should be a fairly good machine - Ryzen 5 3600 w/32Gb RAM on an ASRock B450M/ac motherboard with integrated wifi, an 8Gb Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX580 graphics card ("horribly outdated" at two or three years old, but anything better is around $400-500 and far out of my budget, plus I'm upgrading from a Smelleron laptop's Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics, so yeah. At least it supports Vulkan and OpenGL 4.5) plus 256Gb NVMe M.2 and SATA III SSDs so I can have the OS on one and the other for the swap/page file, and a 2Tb HDD for mass storage. (Or possibly partition the SSD into halves and put 'doze on one so I can set the M.2 up as primary boot drive with Linux and not have to futz about mashing ESC or DEL or whichever key to tell it to go to GRUB every time, since 'doze always wants to be the default.)

In the meantime, I'm booting from my Ubuntu 18.04 live USB and have noother storage, which means basically no swap since that drive is only 4Gb to begin with. That in turn means going to, say, YouTube will crash the browser when it runs out of RAM and has no swap file space. For now the HDD still appears as a read-only disk if mounted, but I'm not eager to test it until and unless I at least have a USB hub so I can put an external HDD in as well as the Live USB to try to rescue some of the data.

As for distros... I've been thinking of going with either MX-Linux or Manjaro this time, rather than Xubuntu. Maybe Pop!, but if I'm switching off Ubuntu I figure I might as well really switch from Ubuntu rather than just migrating to a different flavor. Anyone here played with those enough to have a meaningful opinion?

My primary use aside from incidental do-it-on-anything word processing and web browsing is Blender & GIMP and a desire to work with Godot Engine game development, and a little LMMS audio for sound effects and hopefully original music. All of those are common enough that they should also work seamlessly wherever. The only gaming I've done any time recently is failing to play Morrowind for more than a few minutes at a time while giving armor and weapon mods a cursory look, so that's not really a consideration, just the overall user experience WRT stability, ease of use, and shiny coolness. (There was a video on YouTube I watched earlier today that wa the king of shiny coolness... despite being from 2010. I think the title was something like "KDE + Compiz Fusion + Cairo dock" and it was basically just making the UI dance while playing "the egg travels" from some dinosaur movie soundtrack.

"ubuntu 3D Desktop Cube (KDE, Compiz Fusion, CairoDock" by Philip J. Bugsington appears to be the right one, though I can only judge by the cover image on Google since as I said there's no actually visiting YouTube at the moment. It's silly and completely superficial, but still so cool.

https://thehobbledehoy.com/2019/03/08/br...VDE-GGzN6E

I see that Spacebattles has a "threadmarks" feature, where particular posts in a thread can be marked and a toggle can be set to display either all posts or only marked posts in the thread. They use it for marking IC posts in story threads - one has the option of reading only the story, or the story plus comments.

Does MyBB have anything similar? Preferably set up so that only the thread creator can add threadmarks.

This would be very handy in Other People's Fanfiction and its subforums.

I don't know if I'll ever end up writing anything for this, but a tweet put this idea into my head and now it's stuck. Over on twitter someone commented that Comstar was basically the, "Future Of The 80s!" Bell monopoly writ large. Which had me thinking, the breakup of Bell had its seeds all the way back in the 70s and took place in the 80s, so why not a more Bell-like Comstar breakup. Not a clean and simple two way civil war between Word of Blakists and "But we just want to be phone company monopolists." This post isn't yet a plan but rather me thinking in written form.

With no Star League (unless the breakup is pushed late, but not too late into the setting) they're obviously not getting broken up by the Federal Government Of The Future Of The 80s. I'd also like to see something more like the real life Bell + Seven Baby Bells. That said, if Comstar breaks cleanly on the political boundaries of the successor states what's stopping them from just swallowing up the Baby Comstars? I'll have to dig into what history we have for them and look for some late 2800s early 2900s crisis points where a nice firm push could screw things up.

My biggest thoughts so far:

• I want more than two factions
  
• I am terribly amused by the idea of the Federated Suns network and Taurian Concordat network being run largely by the same splinter faction just for the ulcers that will give the Taurians, said faction, and those in the Suns who wonder if things are about to go boom.
  
• A chunk of the courier service and explorer corp go independent doing a combination of continuing exploration, serving as a go-between shipping stuff between other factions, and trying to cozy up with the Sol belters after having broken away from Earth control.
  
• Earth based Comstar has largely turtled up having realized it has little chance of re-controlling the rest any time soon. Ground and orbital defenses are being rebuilt to ward off outside attack -- while the long sidelined non-Comstar powers of Earth are starting to get ideas.
  
• Whatever Comstar faction controls the most 'west' end of the map gets to play the role of US West of the Future Of The 80s.*
  

The folks on homecoming released a fairly sizeable patch doing some tweaks and more importantly adding in a New Support Powerset

New Support Powerset: Electrical Affinity
You are able to control and manipulate electricity to aid your allies and weaken your enemies. Some Electrical Affinity powers build Static, which increases the number of targets your Circuit powers can chain to.

• The set has been built around chaining powers and a stacking / combo system that's similar to those found in many of the more modern melee and ranged damage sets, with a focus on wide variety of buffs for the whole team as well as damage and endurance debuffs for your enemies.
  
• Electrical Affinity also introduces and makes use of a brand new mechanic which allows powers to dynamically change the number of targets they can hit - in this case, the four Circuit powers hit more targets for every stack of Static that you currently have.
  
• Electrical Affinity is available for Defenders, Corruptors, Controllers and Masterminds.
  
• Electrical Affinity has both a Hero (blue) and Villain (red) default theme available for all ATs, along with the light and dark customisation themes.
  

• [img=32x0]https://forums.homecomingservers.com/uploads/monthly_2020_02/ShockTherapy_Shock.png.47ac6e7922aa47a49b8a4f9b0a01c904.png[/img] T1: Shock (Ranged, Foe -DMG, -End, -Recovery, -Regen)
  • Strike a single foe with a highly-charged electrical shock, draining some endurance and moderately reducing their recovery, regeneration and damage output. Recharge: Slow
    
• [img=32x0]https://forums.homecomingservers.com/uploads/monthly_2020_02/ShockTherapy_RejuvenatingCircuit.png.9d37e1718186c520d2153b9a61fdfe38.png[/img] T2: Rejuvenating Circuit (Ranged (Chain), Ally Heal, Self +Static)
  • Create a circuit of healing energy between several nearby allies, healing them for a small amount. Every stack of Static you have will cause this power to chain to additional allies. The first few targets in the chain receive a more potent effect. Rejuvenating Circuit grants 1 stack of Static. Recharge: Moderate
    
• [img=32x0]https://forums.homecomingservers.com/uploads/monthly_2020_02/ShockTherapy_GalvanicSentinel.png.b58b41d878755ee68754ec83933028a7.png[/img] T3 (Defenders, Controllers and Corruptors): Galvanic Sentinel (Summon Galvanic Sentinel: Ranged Debuff Special)
  • Summons a Galvanic Sentinel to your aid. The Galvanic Sentinel shocks and weakens your foes, draining some endurance and reducing their regeneration, recovery, and damage output. The Galvanic Sentinel can be buffed and healed, and may be targeted with your Circuit powers. Recharge: Slow
    
•  T3 (Masterminds): Discharge (Ranged (Targeted AoE), Foe -Dmg, -End, -Recovery, -Regen)
  • Unleash a blast of electrical energy around your target, draining them and all nearby enemies of some endurance. This will also reduce their regeneration, recovery, and damage dealt for a short period of time. Recharge: Slow
    
• [img=32x0]https://forums.homecomingservers.com/uploads/monthly_2020_02/ShockTherapy_EnergizingCircuit.png.8a9a5dc9b610aae36727dab25de5034b.png[/img] T4: Energizing Circuit (Ranged (Chain), Ally +End, +Recharge, Self +Static)
  • Create a circuit of pure energy between several nearby allies, restoring a small amount of their endurance and significantly increasing their attack rate for a short time. Every stack of Static you have will cause this power to chain to additional allies. The first few targets in the chain receive a more potent effect. Energizing Circuit grants 1 stack of Static. Recharge: Slow
    
• [img=32x0]https://forums.homecomingservers.com/uploads/monthly_2020_02/23345712_index(1).png.1b4c0554c35eefaf23422283a20502cc.png[/img] T5: Faraday Cage (Location (PBAoE), Team +Res(All DMG but Toxic, Status, Knockback, -Rech, -Rec, -End))
  • Create a large energy barrier at your location which provides all allies within resistance to all damage except Toxic. They are also protected from status effects, knockbacks, endurance drain, recovery debuffs and recharge debuffs. Casting this power again will move the energy barrier to your location. Standing inside your own Faraday Cage will grant you a stack of Static every 5 seconds. Recharge: Moderate
    
• [img=32x0]https://forums.homecomingservers.com/uploads/monthly_2020_02/ShockTherapy_EmpoweringCircuit.png.1fea10aa19ad95294de2f3546ddb6384.png[/img] T6: Empowering Circuit: (Ranged (Chain), Ally +DMG, +Tohit, Self +Static)
  • Create a circuit of empowering energy between several nearby allies, increasing their damage output and chance to hit for a short time. Every stack of Static you have will cause this power to chain to additional allies. The first few targets in the chain receive a more potent effect. Empowering Circuit grants 1 stack of Static. Recharge: Slow
    
• [img=32x0]https://forums.homecomingservers.com/uploads/monthly_2020_02/ShockTherapy_Defibrillate.png.4240c0c29aaf0058ef648d0c6d0a5ed4.png[/img] T7: Defibrillate (Melee (Targeted AoE), Ally Rez, Foe Sleep, -End, -Recovery)
  • Strike a target with a highly-charged jolt of electricity, reviving all nearby allies and draining all nearby foes. Any enemies affected will be drained of some endurance, have their recovery reduced and be put to sleep for a short time. Defibrillate consumes all stacks of Static, and the strength of the offensive component of this power scales with the number of stacks consumed. Allies will always be revived with full health and endurance regardless of the number of Static stacks consumed. Recharge: Long
    
• [img=32x0]https://forums.homecomingservers.com/uploads/monthly_2020_02/index.png.f5fb8575eb7ab70f373c9a5d7f5f6319.png[/img] T8: Insulating Circuit (Ranged (Chain), Ally +Absorb, Self +Static)
  • Create a circuit of protective energy between several nearby allies, granting them a small protective shield. Every stack of Static you have will cause this power to chain to additional allies. The first few targets in the chain receive a more potent effect. Insulating Circuit grants 1 stack of Static. Recharge: Slow
    
• [img=32x0]https://forums.homecomingservers.com/uploads/monthly_2020_02/ShockTherapy_AmpUp.png.9996c312ee1471de094ef91f460cef0e.png[/img] T9: Amp Up (Ranged, Ally +Special, +Recharge)
  • Empower an ally with raw energy, causing all of their abilities to unleash chained bolts of electricity at nearby foes. These bolts drain a small amount of endurance and have a chance to knock up the target. Amp Up also moderately increases their attack rate and greatly boosts the secondary effects of their powers. Their power effects like heals, defense debuffs, endurance drains, disorients, holds, immobilizes and more, are all improved. Recharge: Very Long
    
• [img=32x0]https://forums.homecomingservers.com/uploads/monthly_2020_02/ShockTherapy_Static.png.4484ef63719e7fa13ec9ffffb355816d.png[/img] Static (Circuit Boost)
  • Every stack of Static you have increases the number of targets your Circuit powers can chain to by 3.
    

• As a reminder: Only one Origin Pool (Sorcery, Force of Will, Experimentation) can be active in a build at any one time.
  

•  T1: Experimental Injection (Melee Ranged, Ally +Regeneration, +Recovery, +Res(Status))
  • You inject an ally with a compound that greatly boosts their regeneration, recovery and resistance to status effects for a short time. Recharge: Long
    
•  T2: Toxic Dart (Ranged, Minor DMG(Lethal), High DMG(Toxic))
  • You fire a toxic dart at your target causing an very minor amount of immediate lethal damage followed by a High amount of toxic damage over time. Recharge: Moderate
    
•  T3: Speed of Sound (Toggle: Self +Speed, (Special))
  • Your experiments have yielded incredible results. By activating this power, you're able to run at incredible speeds. In fact, while this power is active, you gain access to the Jaunt power. Jaunt allows you to teleport to a distant location once every short while.
    
  •  Jaunt (Click, Self Teleport)
    • Clicking on this power and then selecting a location will cause the caster to vanish and reappear at their target location. Recharge: Moderate
      
•  T4: Corrosive Vial (Ranged (Targeted AoE), High DoT(Toxic), -Defense)
  • You hurl a vial of toxic fluid that explodes upon impact leaving a corrosive puddle at your target's feet. Any foe that stands within the puddle will take toxic damage and have their defense reduced for a short while. Corrosive Vial requires you to have 2 powers from the Experimentation power pool. Damage: High (DoT), Recharge: Slow
    
•  T5: Adrenal Booster (Self, +To Hit, +Recharge, +Damage, +Special)
  • You inject yourself with a concentrated experimental serum that boosts your damage, recharge, chance to hit and secondary effects for a short time. Adrenal Booster requires you to have 2 powers from the Experimentation power pool. Recharge: Very Long
    

Because we really, really need something to laugh about right now.

Unfortunately, too many of the usual folks are in "serious" mode, so I only have one link to share: Erma goes "dark and serious"


Post them if you've got them...

Everyone's favorite half of Austria-Hungary has passed a sweeping new law allowing President Viktor Orbán to rule the nation by decree, as a response to the new coronavirus crisis.  Bill highlights include:

• Indefinite duration of rule by decree
  
• Returning to normal rules requires 2/3 vote, plus assent of the President
  
• Elections may not take place until normal rules reestablished
  
• Also includes jail terms of up to 5 years for journalists "spreading misinformation"
  
• Political demonstrations also criminalized
  
• President may suspend enforcement of any law