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Who had it worse: Enterprise-D or Voyager?
  • If you're a crew member on the Enterprise D, you have died. Probably more than once. Between Timescape, Cause and Effect, Yesterday's Enterprise, and All Good Things, the ENT-D has been blown to smithereens with all crew on board multiple times.

    Voyager did this too, but far fewer times that I recall.

  • Starfleet Academy Showrunners Explain Inspiration for Bringing Voyager's EMH Back to Star Trek
  • It's actually much more similar to how they kept using Majel Barrett as the voice of the computer across multiple series.

    And it makes sense in-universe for The Doctor to be 800 years old and still working; it's not like they're contriving a way for Harry Kim or Phlox to be there, much as we may want to see them again.

  • What are some underrated episodes from each series?
  • Voyager S1E3, "Parallax". It didn't make much of an impression on me as a kid, but watching again recently - and knowing the direction that the characters grow - it's actually a pretty compelling character-based drama. And the Maqui-Federation tension is thick here.

  • Canon Connections: DIS 5x05 - Mirrors
  • I've had the impression that in the Mirror Universe, it was only the humans/terrans which behaved differently. Everyone else we see seems like their usual selves (accounting for different circumstances of course).

    The DS9 episodes throw a wrench in this of course, with Kira being a very different person and the oppressed terrans being sympathetic.

  • Canon Connections: DIS 5x05 - Mirrors
  • In regard to the Breen, I would note that Star Trek Adventures: Klingon Core Rulebook says "They only present themselves to non-Breen in full-body suits that hide their identities, and their bodies disintegrate when they die while wearing those suits. While this is an admirable trait – it means Breen cannot be taken prisoner, an attitude in line with the teachings of Kahless – it has made it impossible to determine the true face of the Breen." This is a pretty cool explanation for how Worf could be right even after Kira and Dukat stole their suits.

    I know STA isn't canon but I still like this reasoning.

  • What games do you replay regularly/annually ?
  • Symphony of the Night

    Also, if you enjoy Doom 1 and 2, I highly recommend seeking out Heretic and Strife. Heretic has amazing level design using the Doom engine to create places that feel like towns and medieval churches and stuff. And Strife somehow managed to make Doom into an interconnected world with a decent story.

    I'm not big on Hexen - the respawning enemies and the lack of weapons (there's only 4, technically 12 but you only have access to 4) bugged me.

  • Short games with lots of replay value?
  • Spelunky is a wonderful roguelike platformer which avoids a lot of escalation problems that "action roguelites" tend to suffer from.

    Besides that, I'm partial to the Megaman X series (and the sequel series Megaman Zero and ZX). X4 in particular is always fun to put in and replay.

  • You should play Splatoon with your family: Why touch grass alone when you can pretend to be squids together?
  • Pretty much nothing you said is true, it was not "designed from the ground up to be frustrating" and the other statements are too vague to even bother attacking. "Not even wrong" is the phrase that comes to mind.

    You didn't even mention an example of a game which would count as "something good".

  • Interview: Jeri Ryan On Taking Seven From Borg To Bi Captain Of The Enterprise To ‘Star Trek: Legacy’
  • No and no. I was disappointed and a bit upset, but not traumatized. Though if someone told me that the beginning of S1E5 was traumatic for them, I'd believe it.

    I do believe people when they say they enjoy S3. Even though the story was just a bunch of reheated plot elements from other Treks, there is some joy to be had viewing it as a TNG reunion special. It's "Return to Mayberry" to the tune of BSG 2003, nothing more and nothing less.

    (In contrast, Star Trek IV is the best TV reunion special ever made. Everyone's playing an exaggerated version of their 1960's personas and having a blast. It too is a bunch of reheated plot elements - the probe is awfully similar to Nomad and V'Ger at first glance, and "let's time travel to insert current year" was already the plot of two different TOS episodes. I'm trying to think of how a hypothetical good Picard season could've tapped into the same energy that STIV did.)

  • Interview: Jeri Ryan On Taking Seven From Borg To Bi Captain Of The Enterprise To ‘Star Trek: Legacy’
  • The deaths of

    spoiler

    Hugh and Icheb

    were particularly upsetting for me, personally (especially the graphic nature of the latter). PIC S1 had way too much "let's kill people for no good reason" events.

    I'd be perfectly happy if the dead PIC characters just showed up alive and well in a later show, no reason given. (They already did this with Q, right?)

  • Exercism
    exercism.org Exercism

    Learn, practice and get world-class mentoring in over 50 languages. 100% free.

    Exercism

    Does anyone here use Exercism? I've started using it to learn Elixir, and it seems to be good. I'm thinking about having my kids use it as well for Python and JS/TS.

    I'd be interested to hear if anyone's used it for a long time, and if there's any advantages or disadvantages to it. Or if there are other, better code exercise sites I should check out.

    8
    Good Enterprise novels?

    I always thought that the idea of Enterprise was intriguing, and that the characters had a lot of potential. I don't think the show lived up to its own possibilities. But that's where books can make up the difference, maybe!

    So, can anyone recommend some Enterprise novels that are worth reading?

    (Especially if they have nothing to do with the "Temporal Cold War" and aren't simple jailbreak stories. The show already has those angles covered.)

    1
    Fighting game stick recommendations?

    I'm getting back into fighting games! And I don't want to wear out my gamepads or joycons, so can you recommend a good control stick?

    A few criteria:

    • Wireless would be ideal
    • Compatible with PC mainly, but Switch and Playstation would be excellent too.
    • I'm mainly into BlazBlue and Injustice right now, not sure if that would affect my choices.
    8
    Starfinder Second Edition announced!

    More info at https://paizo.com/starfinderplaytest

    According to the document they have up there, SF2E will be 100% compatible with PF2E. That's a huge win for me - I like Starfinder's setting and vibe, and love PF2E's action economy.

    2
    The Lower Decks Campaign Guide is released!
    www.drivethrurpg.com DriveThruRPG.com

    Your one-stop online shop for new and vintage RPG products from the top publishers, delivered fresh to your desktop in electronic format.

    I'll be giving this a read after work, but if anyone else wants to share their thoughts on the book, go for it!

    0
    A taxonomy of Roguelikes

    I've been thinking about a taxonomy of Roguelikes that should help us speak more clearly about this genre - or group of genres - that we love. I'd rather do this than just call things "roguelites", which basically doesn't mean anything. So here we go!

    True Rogues: you're alone in a dangerous, randomly-generated dungeon, moving one turn at a time (except for speed-altering mechanics), with the possibility of permadeath always looming. Less objectively, these games tend to be more dangerous up-front, and require the player to master the mechanics in early levels - while still ramping up the threat for players who survive to later floors. Rogue, Brogue, Nethack, Jupiter Hell, and DCSS all fit here.

    Bandlikes: inspired by Angband. Distinguished from True Rogues by the presence of one or more "towns" - places of safety that allow you to recover or improve outside of danger - with the attendant "town portal" abilities to get you there & back easily. This results, quite deliberately, in a longer "run". Also they tend to ease the player in - early floors have a lot of weak monsters designed to pad the player's early experience levels. I'd put Caves of Qud and Tangledeep (on hardcore mode) here.

    Mystery Dungeons: think Shiren, or basically any console Roguelike. Take the mechanics of a True Rogue, but add some degree of meta-progression which can lead to an all-but-guaranteed win over time. Outside of official Chunsoft-made Mystery Dungeon games, I'd also put Nippon Ichi's ZHP and Guided Fate Paradox here.

    Action Rogues: you still get random dungeons and permadeath, but now in real time! For whatever reason, these games tend to have "variety" meta-progression - you can unlock new features that don't objectively make things easier, but add more variation to future runs instead. Spelunky, Gungeon, 20XX, Streets of Rogue, and Necrodancer fit here.

    Coffee-break Rogues: seemed to be all the rage a while back, but I haven't heard about them recently. These are one-floor dungeons with still enemies, where figuring out the ideal way to have your character approach each encounter is the key to success.

    Cardlikes: focused on card-based battles, with dungeons generally (but not always) abstracted into icons for fast traversal. Slay the Spire is the most famous example, and I'm enjoying Dicey Dungeon here too.

    Darkest Dungeon clones: basically Darkest Dungeon and the games which clearly want to be regarded as like DD. Vambrace: Cold Soul and Warsaw come to mind, since they're in my library.

    Grinders: having only random dungeons, and no permadeath - or at least the ability to reload a save in case of defeat - I sometimes see these discussed in RL communities. Dragon Quest Monsters 1, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (on its main quest anyway) and Lufia: The Legend Returns are the best examples. I'd also put Rogue Legacy here since the grinding basically obliterates any concept of loss from death.

    I think in some cases a game can fit multiple terms - Rogue Legacy is an Action Rogue and a Grinder, Diablo (on Hardcore mode) is a Bandlike and an Action Rogue, Tainted Grail is a DD clone and a Spirelike, and One Step From Eden is a Spirelike and an Action Rogue. Most Mystery Dungeon games have True Rogue modes or bonus dungeons outside of the main experience, too.

    There's a few games that I can't quite classify yet - Into the Breach and Dwarf Fortress, mainly - but there's always room for improvement.

    I think this could help us when presenting new games to the community. Any thoughts?

    10
    InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)ST
    SteleTrovilo @beehaw.org
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