The Praedian Records

J.G. Phoenix

Clan Battles 6/29

Well, overall it went well enough. I had to call all of the games for the sub-clan, but as I’ve said before, I’m resigned to this. Show up for things consistently enough and at the very least you’re going to wind up being promoted to a doorman.

One thing that got under my skin was the utter lack of comms discipline. That got us in trouble a few times. It wasn’t major, but if you’ve got enough casual players mixed in with competitive ones, distractions and idle chit-chat in the middle of crucial calls are bound to happen.

Des Moines

She really is a female anime protagonist. Easy to underestimate–and to citadel but that’s beside the point–but deadly in the right circumstances. She’s also got all the tools she needs for controlling a cap.

I honestly never thought I’d see the day when I stopped seeing Russian heavy cruisers as an existential threat and started seeing them as an opportunity to farm citadels. A few more replays and I might be able to slap together a compilation.

She’s fun, but map awareness is this ship’s lifeblood, and islands never feel quite as shallow as when you’re helming the DM. That’s both good and bad …

Halland

My first games with her didn’t go well. I even bumped my 6pt captain to a 10pt just so I could get my concealment down to 6km, which, while helpful, didn’t really matter with how the two matches I played in her went down.

Still, I like the ship and she’s perfectly viable for Clan Battles. I just need to get used to the fact that this ship is typically going to be working solo at the start and not breaking off mid to late game the way I normally do in Shimakaze or Daring.

Closing

That’s all that’s really worth noting, I think. I got a few replays I need to record before the next update, but that’s about it.

Templates Are Hard

This is actually starting to drive me crazy …

To be fair to myself, this isn’t really about the Messer in particular. I’m trying to make a workshop thumbnail template for every full release build I make going forward. I’d really like to have something ready for the Cosmo Messer E, but this is getting ridiculous.

I’m not even sure whether I should dial it back to subtle, or go for something even more unique looking. The proportions in this WIP aren’t exactly final, either.

I’m reaching my breaking point with this, so I’ll probably settle on something within a few days, then come back a few months from now and change it in another fit. That’s better than stagnation.

Wrapping Up June

The Last Command

I’m probably going to wrap this one up tomorrow and then immediately hop into Dune. It’s been a fun ride revisiting the Thrawn Trilogy. Now I just need to find good deals on the sequel duology.

Also, somewhere in all of this I need to figure out how I’m going to tackle A Throne of Bones. That book is big enough to use as a literal weapon. Effectively.

Lydia’s Golden Treasury

There’s no chance I’ll be able to have the draft finished before July, but shortly afterward is still possible. I’ll be trying to get it done before Independence Day at the latest.

Right now there’s something missing from Chapter 2 and I’m not sure what it is, but it’s really strangling my progress (on top of all the other things tugging at my attention). I’ll figure it out soon or try to incorporate it later on.

For now I just know I don’t have the momentum I need to knock it out in the next few days, and something else is bound to come up. I tend to work best in the mornings–assuming I sleep well, so maybe after I fix my sleep schedule I can course correct on this and a few other things.

Either way, I’m pushing my deadline to July 4th. Let’s do this.

Space Engineers

Cosmo Messer

I’ve been bouncing all over the place and not even thinking about the Cosmo Messer. I’ve got enough time to do that still, so I’m going to finagle together a thumbnail and fire that off into the aether.

Xebon Battlecruiser

I can probably fit this into a faction under a different name while still keeping its overall appearance, but I’m not ready to commit to that just yet. There are just too many other things that are more important. More over, I don’t even know what type of ship I want this to be. Probably not a battlecruiser. A carrier seems nice, but I don’t have a new fighter design for it to carry …

Situation’s not ideal.

Kongo

Speaking of more important things, the Kongo definitely fits the bill. The Kongo is a rebuild of one of Sundae’s ships (the Himekami) that I’m using to test the overall design aesthetic of one of the factions. This may be a higher priority than the Xebon, but it’s a lower priority than any other Space Engineers projects. It will get a progress bar pretty soon though.

Closing

I only mentioned the things that are relevant to my ‘listed’ projects. There’s plenty to do that’s unlisted (and probably shouldn’t be). It’s a lot, and there’s no use hoping I’ll reach equilibrium naturally. I’m going to have to quickly finish up some things, solidify my schedule, and kick everything else to the curb.

Clan Battles 6/26

It was alright. Had some very good games here and there, and only counting the games I was in, our W:L ratio was 8/6. The losses were backloaded since I was really tired by then and not so much strategizing as trying to remember ‘what we usually do’ and making slight tweaks here and there.

Note to self: Caffeine it up before things get underway.

Ships played (most often to least):

  • Shimakaze
  • Des Moines
  • Bourgogne
  • Yamato
  • Preussen

That’s all for now.

M.A.S.S. Builder: Upcoming Boss Model Preview

I guess everyone has weeks like these, where there isn’t much to show off or report on.

That said, this is a pretty cool boss design. It’s proportions aren’t quiet as exaggerated as some of the other quark monsters, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m pretty sure the ‘Claw’ boss is going to keep its top spot in my personal list for the time being, though.