I want to put the Prinz Heinrich up on the Steam Workshop, but I’m not going to be able to do that as soon as I’d like. First I need to upload the Cosmo Messer, preferably the modless base model. That’s going to take a bit longer since there’s more testing I need to do.
On the bright side, that thing was built with internal thrusters in mind, and even with the modded thrusters all swapped out for hydrogen thrusters, the propulsion is set up just fine. In fact, I only needed a few sets of thrusters placed outside. I chose the six downward facing thrusters for this since aesthetically that looks good and doesn’t clutter up the frame.
As for what needs testing?
Everything else.
The weapons ‘work’ but I don’t know if the whole conveyor system is set up properly and I won’t until I plop the Cosmo Messer down in survival mode and start blasting.
I also added a connector to the bottom of the ship. I really, really didn’t want to have one of these but in my experience, docked ships are far more stable in transit when using a connector than magnetic plates. Fortunately there was plenty of room for one. This will necessitate some small modifications to the Heinrich’s hangar, since the connector is more toward the rear of the ship and doesn’t protrude.
One weakness of the unmodded Cosmo Messer is its complete reliance on hydrogen engines. Basically it’s a gas guzzler and doesn’t have great range. Ion engines are still a possibility to ease that, but they’re annoying to work with.
Atmospheric thrusters (jet engines) only work in atmosphere and have to have an exposed intake. It’s not that hard to do, but working them into the design for an advantage I’ll only get planet-side isn’t worth it on the base model. What I like so much about the current build is that all the upward and sideways facing thrusters are on the inside, so atmospheric thrusters aren’t likely to make it into the design.
Anyway, I’ll be poking at this on and off for the next few days to try and finish it up, and we’ll see how it turns out.
Post note: This is a modless version of the Cosmo Messer I’m aiming to upload to the Steam Workshop … but Scratch and Edge Be Gone! is still a must.
I got some new controllers as a gift. This time they’re direct from Sony, so I’m hoping they’ll work properly for at least a few months. That should give me time to poke around in GBO2 some more.
GBO2 is a game I used to play a lot and there was a lot of good content I could have, should have, and would have put up on the site if not for various factors, including controllers constantly malfunction. I think I’ve bought six of them in the last few months? I don’t know, it’s just a pain.
Anyway, I still like the game and want to get good at it again so I can record matches and upload them. GBO2 was the earliest game associated with the Praedian Records and I’m not tossing it aside now.
Code Fairy
I really want to do the follow up I was planning for this game in November but between some off-brand controllers having the same input problems, and having other priorities, it’s been tough. I wanted a few days of just not thinking about any of this so I could catch up on lost sleep and recharge, so starting tomorrow I’m going to look for opportunities to finish that follow up. Though, it might be better to just do an all in one article that just goes over everything. We’ll see how I’m feeling.
War Thunder
Sadly, the only reason I’m poking at the game these days is to eventually unlock certain ships and/or planes. Better to chip away at it little by little than to constantly be disappointed by seeing zero progress after zero playtime.
In the meantime, I wanted to test out the new controllable sea planes. I like the idea, but it’s pretty early in development and it feels like it, too.
You can activate the catapult, which has the machine aiming the plane wherever you’re looking, just like the torpedo mounts. Trouble is, I can’t find a way to deactivate it. So it just stays active until you launch the plane. There doesn’t seem to be a way to cancel it.
Once the plane is in the air, a new quirk emerges. You can switch back and forth between controlling the ship and controlling the plane. Hell, you can even land the plane on the water if you want. I tested this, but unfortunately the next quirk kind of ruined it for me. The plane likes to cruise, so it’ll just keep going in whatever direction you send it. It won’t follow the ship or try to stay out of danger. It’ll just keep its altitude and course at a speed that keeps it stable and airborne.
This is why Praedian ships have special arms that catch low speed aircraft; no need for a water landing and pickup.
It was kind of funny when I landed it on the water near the Prinz Eugen, brought it to a complete stop, switched back to the ship, and then saw the little sea plane racing across the waves, refusing to gain altitude or stop. It’s really weird to watch.
“Zu nah! ZU NAH!”
Anyway, I like the feature overall, especially since these planes can lay smoke for their motherships, scout, drop small payloads on targets, or fight other planes. It’s not an important addition to the game but it’s definitely a welcome one.
Legibility is one of my biggest concerns with the Praedian Records (which is ironic because the Praedian Records the site was inspired by is an incomprehensible mess). I like the way the theme looks right now, but I’m thinking about making a second theme that’s entirely focused on legibility.
It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to experiment with the fonts and text sizes to find something that looks good with the colors I’m using. I haven’t decided on any of this yet, but I’ll probably be playing around with the settings again early this month to improve things.
Clan Battles
Clan Battles went well. Storm League is pretty rough, but we win more often than we lost. Mistakes get punished noticeably harder, and despite that, there are crazier plays that get made by destroyer and battleship players in particular, so Storm is a special kind of chaotic. Overall it’s pretty enjoyable.
It’s physically draining, though.
Also, I was able to free xp my way up the German battlecruiser line from tier 6 and grab the Schlieffen. Most of the matches I played today were in her and I’m satisfied. The ship takes some getting used to, but once I’ve gotten used to the way she handles, Schlieffen should be as strong a pick for me as Bourgogne, Kremlin, or Yamato. Where Bourgogne flanks and blows up anchor ships and Kremlin and Yamato carry gigantic stop signs with them everywhere, Schlieffen enforces an impoverishing HP tax on any ships within 12.5km of her.
Book Choice
My book choices are going to seem pretty random from an outsider’s perspective, but I’m essentially just plucking things out of a backlog.
This month I’m going with The Long Moonlight by Razörfist.
I’ve had a lot to think about over these past few days, and I’ve been trying to come up ways to improve. It’s not just about better writing but better everything. This year there’s a lot of things I’ve got to get myself up to date on, and fast. Not least of the things I’ve got to get cracking on and polish up are my video editing skills. I’ve always had a knack for it but it’s been well over a decade since I had any real projects to work on. It’s going to be necessary this year, so that youtube account is probably going to see a lot more use in 2022. My art is also going to be a focus this year, though not in the monthly goals for January (or February). It’s one of my weakest area right now, so it needs that much more attention. Rather than focusing on anything specific starting out, I’ll try to work in smaller projects where and when they’re needed. Onto the goals for this month.
January Goals
Starting out I’m trimming back in some areas and adding new things in. This monthly approach is way better for me than something as broad as a New Years Resolution or as time constrained as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
Lydia’s Golden Treasury: Chapter 5 1st Draft
Fleeing Victory #16-17
Read 1 novel
2 Blog Articles for the site
Upgrade the Prinz Heinrich (vanilla thruster set)
Most of these are going to be consistent until the projects they’re tied to are finished. For example, there are only seven chapters in Lydia’s Golden Treasury, so after Chapter 7 is finished in March, April will have a new priority goal. Until then LGT chapters are right at the top. Some of these are probably going to become permanent monthly goals, like 1 novel read and 2 blog articles. These are just things to help me stay focused and get some consistency going again. I used to do a lot of reading but as I started to focus on the blog more, as well as spending a lot of time on discord, I found less and less time for it. Tossing them in here should help me get back on track. At least, that’s what I’m going to find out. I’ll decide on the novel I’ll be reading tomorrow. I’m cutting back on the Fleeing Victory chapters so I can also focus on other stories I wouldn’t have the legroom to start on otherwise. Those stories probably won’t get added as official goals any time soon. I’d rather let those progress naturally until I know where everything is headed and have a good workflow set up. That’s all for now. Once again, Happy New Year!
That’s today. It’s nice to have a birthday that almost everyone celebrates on. It also makes it a good deadline for certain projects. Somehow the motivation is greater.
Lydia’s Golden Treasury
Four chapters down and three to go. Only one chapter’s had any editing done but I’ll get around to all of them when I can. I’m just glad I’ve been able to keep the pace up four months in a row. At the rate we’re going, I’ll be done with LGT as March is wrapping up. It’s a bit stressful that it nearly always comes down to the wire like this, but you can’t argue with 12,500~ words in a little over two days.
As usual, the song portion nearly killed me. Since I didn’t even start on the song until today and it’s my birthday, I decided to base the Proxima song on one of my favorite real songs. If you want to know what the melody and timing for this one is, just listen to a karaoke or instrumental version of Torn (Natalie Imbruglia cover). At some point I want to make karaoke videos of the LGT songs, but there’s a small problem. The Armor and Mirror songs weren’t based on real pieces. I’ll have to make something for those from scratch. I know how to do that but I’m busy, so it’s going to be a while.
How To Articles
A helpful and informative blog has to start somewhere, right? Well I’ll be trying this out for a while. I’m not going to add these to my monthly goals. I’m getting a bit faster with my nonfiction writing, now, so I’m just going to cram one of these out in a couple of hours any time I get an idea for a new one. Maybe we’ll have 100 by this time next year or maybe just a few. We’ll see. I’ve got way bigger priorities starting tomorrow.
I’m not kidding, 2022 is going to be busy.
December Goals
I don’t have time to finish the water paths for the map, so that’s a bust. I also won’t be adding map goals to my monthlies going forward. I think that’s just something I have to handle all at once like I used to back when this was just a world building tool. At this point, the way the map looks is way too important to me for hard deadlines. I don’t even have my process completely figured out yet. Better to let the inspiration come when it’s ready and focus on other things in the meantime.
All other goals met:
LGT: Chapter 4
FV#s 13-15
Zavodia Map: Water Paths
Two Blog Articles
I’ll decide what the January set’s going to be tomorrow. I’m running on caffeine and fumes right now so it’s not the best time to be making decisions.
This is my last post for 2021. Here’s to next year, and I hope anyone reading has a good one.
