Any hobbies other than macross?

[mikeszekely]

Anyone into birdwatching, or hunting, or anything that involves binoculars? Looking for some advice.

[sqidd]

12 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Anyone into birdwatching, or hunting, or anything that involves binoculars? Looking for some advice.

Does reading count?

That's an old joke.

[TangledThorns]

8 hours ago, sqidd said:

Check out Turenutrition. I'm friends with some pro's, coaches. world record holding powerlifters, etc. They all use it. Even the ones sponsored by someone else.

Thanks. I'm gonna go with the unflavored for now and add my own syrups for flavor. Some I can make myself using natural cane sugar if needed. I also found that unflavored has more value as there isn't any flavor ingredients added to their mix so I'll get more protein per serving for example.

My goal isn't body building. I just want to look good like I did before I met my wife

[mikeszekely]

On 7/12/2020 at 2:01 PM, peter said:

Other hobbies, firearms and shooting sports, and iaido.  I've been studying iaido for about 14 years but I'm still not very good...at either, lol!

I'd love to start studying iaido or some form of kenjutsu, but I can't find a teacher.  You can't throw a rock around here without hitting a Shotokan, Taekwondo, or "karate"* school, but the closest iaido school is around 160 miles away in Virginia.

*Although we say we're in the Pittsburgh area, where I live is actually far enough east into the Appalachian foothills that the population is largely white people who don't know the difference between Chinese/Japanese/Korean/etc, so if you see a school with "karate" in the name you have a 50/50 shot of it being Shotokan or Taekwondo.

[Seto Kaiba]

On 5/31/2020 at 9:19 PM, ErikElvis said:

Just set up a roach colony to feed my tarantulas. They’re monsters. 

What all goes into a setup like that?  I've got a Savannah Monitor who loves roaches... but they're so bloody expensive.

[ErikElvis]

34 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

What all goes into a setup like that?  I've got a Savannah Monitor who loves roaches... but they're so bloody expensive.

It’s pretty simple. Buy a Rubbermaid tote cut a hole in the top and tape a screen in. Then get a bunch of egg cartons, add a water dish and buy some food and your done. Well temps should be 80 or so in the tote to encourage breeding so I have a reptile heat Mat under them. Cost me about $60 for 10 females and 15 males. You can find them cheaper.  I also raise red runners. Don’t get as big but don’t burrow and are quite active so they tempt the tarantulas to eat them. 

[Guyffon]

On 7/12/2020 at 5:01 AM, Nightbat said:

I had the Saitek X-55, Same stick, and though I loved the ergonomics, i found myself fixing broken wires after a little more than 100 hours use

Hope Logitech put some work in it after acquiring Madcatz/Saitek (I know the first "Blue" X-56's were recolored X-55 Rhinos and still had terrible QC)

 

I play Cliffs of Dover and Elite Dangerous (used to 'play' SC, but got tired of that ongoing disaster), now running Oculus Rift, Virpil MT50 Mongoost T50cm Stick and T50 Throttle (v.1),

Saitek Combat Rudders with 2x Thrustmaster MFD Cougar (Won't be running out of buttons soon )

I had the x55 and made new wire harness for the throttle twice, and then I modded the hole for the wire harness with a dremel, after using it for mechwarrior 5, the throttle snapped at the base due to my mods, I wanted to get a mongoost to replace but that was constantly out of stock and the i heard some people had issues with support for it in australia and was kinda of scared of going that direction, thus decided to source for the logitech version of the x56 instead

Also looking forward to the new star wars squadrons with this setup.

btw i am also into RC tanks, which is nice if you got a group of friends to play with as you can battle with them via IR

[ErikElvis]

Another small hobby of mine. Flashlights. Always wanted a max throw high lumen flashlight. Just ordered this. 
 

[peter]

On 7/28/2020 at 4:00 PM, mikeszekely said:

I'd love to start studying iaido or some form of kenjutsu, but I can't find a teacher.  You can't throw a rock around here without hitting a Shotokan, Taekwondo, or "karate"* school, but the closest iaido school is around 160 miles away in Virginia.

*Although we say we're in the Pittsburgh area, where I live is actually far enough east into the Appalachian foothills that the population is largely white people who don't know the difference between Chinese/Japanese/Korean/etc, so if you see a school with "karate" in the name you have a 50/50 shot of it being Shotokan or Taekwondo.

Hope you find something, we have a branch dojo in Boston, but I guess that's no help

[peter]

On 7/12/2020 at 9:06 PM, mikeszekely said:

Anyone into birdwatching, or hunting, or anything that involves binoculars? Looking for some advice.

I have some experience with rifle scopes...not sure if that would help.

[twich]

My hobbies other than Macross include, Gunpla, Videogaming, with Sony since the PS1, but when the Nintendo Switch Lite came out, I became hooked.  Gunpla became too expensive, as anything below Mastergrade would only take me an hour or two to assemble.  I have many Mastergrade, R/E 100, and one Perfect Grade.  The Perfect Grades are just too expensive to get multiples of right now with finances.  I would go to the pistol range more and target practice, but even that has gotten way too expensive....makes me wonder if I will renew my concealed carry pistol license when the time comes, will depend on the cost.  .45 ACP is too expensive to shoot a lot of and then there is 9mm.  My main hobby is watching my 11 and 10 year old participate in Taekwondo, they both will be testing for black belt towards the end of the month and realistically, that is where my money goes now.

Twich

[peter]

On 8/8/2020 at 2:06 AM, twich said:

My hobbies other than Macross include, Gunpla, Videogaming, with Sony since the PS1, but when the Nintendo Switch Lite came out, I became hooked.  Gunpla became too expensive, as anything below Mastergrade would only take me an hour or two to assemble.  I have many Mastergrade, R/E 100, and one Perfect Grade.  The Perfect Grades are just too expensive to get multiples of right now with finances.  I would go to the pistol range more and target practice, but even that has gotten way too expensive....makes me wonder if I will renew my concealed carry pistol license when the time comes, will depend on the cost.  .45 ACP is too expensive to shoot a lot of and then there is 9mm.  My main hobby is watching my 11 and 10 year old participate in Taekwondo, they both will be testing for black belt towards the end of the month and realistically, that is where my money goes now.

Twich

I enjoy shooting the big rounds, have a 50, but I also find a lot of enjoyment shooting my .22lr.  I find it more challenging, and it's cheaper.....wayyyyyyyy cheaper, lol!

[peter]

On 5/29/2020 at 1:16 PM, Bolt said:

Building lightsabers 

 

 

Oh man, I wish there were some local lightsaber builders here in Vancouver.  I got into a Korbanth LS6 Gullwing and I have no idea what I'm doing.  I was barely able to get the blinky lights to work on the switch.  The crystal it came with looks a bit lame, looks like one of those ring pops, but at least it turns on and chances color.  

I wasn't really happy with the way the thing slides up and down inside the hilt, so I ordered a chassis, but there is little hope for me to wire it up with the a blade, sound, and working lights.

 

 

 

[peter]

Looks cool though

Actually, the lights do turn on, but not without squeezing the parts together.  Electronics is not my forte, lol!

[kajnrig]

I don't know of any better place to put this, but I had to share:

https://www.hlj.com/pai-pai-nyan-cuddly-kitties-on-soft-titties-photo-album-gks31388

Japan you continue to confound me and pique my interest in equal measure.

[Bolt]

On 8/12/2020 at 11:28 AM, peter said:

Looks cool though

Actually, the lights do turn on, but not without squeezing the parts together.  Electronics is not my forte, lol!

Nice 

Unfortunately.  Because of the fire bearing down on us, i'm gonna have to leave a lot of hobbies behind. Don't even know If I'm gonna bring a lightsaber. When you have a very finite space to bug out with, you realize it's all just stuff..

Having said that, i am considering grabbing ONE Macross valkyrie. WHICH ONE GUYS?!?

[ErikElvis]

Just picked up one of these bad boys. Didn’t need it as I have a nitecore tm39 but really wanted it to compare. 
 

[Knight26]

I am the writer/creator of the Spiral War series of novels and all of their ancillary media.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075VBR8PB?ref_=dbs_dp_rwt_sb&binding=kindle_edition

[M'Kyuun]

On 8/19/2020 at 1:49 PM, Bolt said:

Nice 

Unfortunately.  Because of the fire bearing down on us, i'm gonna have to leave a lot of hobbies behind. Don't even know If I'm gonna bring a lightsaber. When you have a very finite space to bug out with, you realize it's all just stuff..

Having said that, i am considering grabbing ONE Macross valkyrie. WHICH ONE GUYS?!?

Your nicest VF-1 or a YF-19 if you have one. Hard choice though- I love all my valks, so I'd be trying to find a way to cram them all in. And my Transformers, and all my LEGO, for which I'd probably need a semi to carry it all. Love my toys.

Anyway, be safe, you and yours. Like you said, it's just stuff. FWIW, I hope they manage the fire before it gets too close to home. Come what may, return to us safe.

[ErikElvis]

My latest acquisitions. 2 emperor scorpions. 

[mikeszekely]

QQ, now that pandemic restrictions are lifting in my part of the world my game group is back together.  We're playing Dungeons & Dragons 5e, and although we've been gaming together for a long time (since 3.5e) I think the less crunchy rules combined with being away from the game for awhile have me more into it than ever.  I was wondering, do enough MWers play D&D, or at least some tabletop RPGs, that it's worth spinning off into a new thread?

[Mechinyun]

Collecting and restoring Japanese "Candy" Arcade machines. 

 

[Sanity is Optional]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

QQ, now that pandemic restrictions are lifting in my part of the world my game group is back together.  We're playing Dungeons & Dragons 5e, and although we've been gaming together for a long time (since 3.5e) I think the less crunchy rules combined with being away from the game for awhile have me more into it than ever.  I was wondering, do enough MWers play D&D, or at least some tabletop RPGs, that it's worth spinning off into a new thread?

My group was to start up in-person again yesterday (been using Roll20 to play online), but someone was sick (not COVID) so we're delaying another week.

We play Pathfinder 2e, found it has a nice mix of simpler and more balanced math combined with huge amounts of mechanical character customization. We shifted from 3.5 to Pathfinder (effectively 3.75) once WOTC stopped 3.5 support, and then gave Pathfinder 2e a shot when it came out and liked it.

[vladykins]

9 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

QQ, now that pandemic restrictions are lifting in my part of the world my game group is back together.  We're playing Dungeons & Dragons 5e, and although we've been gaming together for a long time (since 3.5e) I think the less crunchy rules combined with being away from the game for awhile have me more into it than ever.  I was wondering, do enough MWers play D&D, or at least some tabletop RPGs, that it's worth spinning off into a new thread?

Still playing, though mostly with friends on discord now. Here's a part of my old D&D book collection:

 

I have a ton of TTRPGs and other board games (including a lot of old Avalon Hill games). My pictures from earlier in the thread all seem to have broken links for some reason.

[mikeszekely]

My shelf just has the single core rulebooks for Starfinder and Modiphius' Star Trek RPG, plus most of the D&D 5e books (I'm missing a handful of adventures, the Penny Arcade book, and the Rick and Morty book).  I have the Pathfinder 1e core rulebook, the Jovian Chronicles core rulebook, all of the Star Wars Saga rulebooks, and a number of D&D 3.5e books, but they're still packed in boxes from when I moved a few years ago.

10 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

We play Pathfinder 2e, found it has a nice mix of simpler and more balanced math combined with huge amounts of mechanical character customization. We shifted from 3.5 to Pathfinder (effectively 3.75) once WOTC stopped 3.5 support, and then gave Pathfinder 2e a shot when it came out and liked it.

Yeah, like yourself my group jumped from 3.5 to Pathfinder 1e.  While I know some people who cut their teeth on 4e my group had a strong dislike for it.

I'm curious about PF 2e and would like to try it some day, but I've heard very mixed things about it and, weirdly, some of the things I've heard suggested as pros are also suggested as cons.  Like I've heard a lot of people praise the the depth of character customization, but I've also heard that it's lead to just a few "optimal" builds.  And I've heard some people who love the way the action economy works, but again I've heard that it's lead to optimal and suboptimal uses of actions are your turns, especially for spellcasters.

I also have to say that when I started D&D 5e I was a little put off by how simplified everything felt coming off of 3.5e and PF 1e.  Magic items are nerfed, feats are optional, and a lot of what were feats are baked into subclasses that steer your character in a specific direction.  Some things that had very specific rules in the earlier games are reduced to the DM making rulings based on ability checks.  After playing for awhile now, in three campaigns as a player (twice a warlock, once a rogue) and one as a DM, I've come to appreciate how much more streamlined everything is.  There's far less rules-lawyering, less looking up seldom-used rules or tables, and combats go quicker.  I was actually trying to import some stuff from D&D to Starfinder using Paizo's rules for converting 3.5 to 1e, then 1e to Starfinder, and refreshing myself on just how crunchy those old systems has me considering my 3.5e books, because I'm sure I'll never choose to play that edition again.

[Sanity is Optional]

24 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

I'm curious about PF 2e and would like to try it some day, but I've heard very mixed things about it and, weirdly, some of the things I've heard suggested as pros are also suggested as cons.  Like I've heard a lot of people praise the the depth of character customization, but I've also heard that it's lead to just a few "optimal" builds.  And I've heard some people who love the way the action economy works, but again I've heard that it's lead to optimal and suboptimal uses of actions are your turns, especially for spellcasters.

I believe the adventure from the beginner box is a good place to start if you want to give it a try, from everything I've heard it's very well put together as a system introduction.

As to the complaints, I can say that the people saying there's only a few optimal builds are full of crap. There's a huge number of possible character builds even within a single class, and generally speaking they're not significantly under or over-powered compared to eachother, so long as you set your stats right for what you want to do (I.E. don't make a 14str character as a primary melee combatant).

Sure, there might be a specific build that comes out a percent or two better in a specific situation, but I'm not aware of any builds that break the game anything close 3.5e style. The math is pretty well separated from everything else, and character building is mainly about selecting which options to attach to the same math.

The biggest complaints are from people who played spellcasters in 3.5/Pathfinder 1, for the simple reason that spellcasters are heavily nerfed vs those editions. Spellcasters have fewer spells per day and apart from your highest available spell levels aren't terribly useful for combat against like-level enemies. Spellcasters are going to feel a lot less powerful. I'm on the fence on if they went a little too far, but it also depends highly on your GM, and mine likes extended adventuring days with restricted resting ability (which also nerfs spellcasting).

[mikeszekely]

10 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

I believe the adventure from the beginner box is a good place to start if you want to give it a try, from everything I've heard it's very well put together as a system introduction.

I'll look into it.  Unfortunately putting together groups to play hasn't been the easiest here.  From what I started playing, only myself and the DM are still part of that original group.  One guy moved away, one guy got married and just stopped hanging out with us after.  We invited another friend and the DM's brother-in-law, and while the friend has been with us ever since the brother-in-law started a new job where his shifts change from week to week and can't commit to a specific day/time anymore.  We did find another guy to join, but that's just three PC- we can't even find enough people to play in our regular game, let alone start another for Pathfinder.  Shame.  I am curious to see how much has changed from 1e.

10 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

The biggest complaints are from people who played spellcasters in 3.5/Pathfinder 1, for the simple reason that spellcasters are heavily nerfed vs those editions. Spellcasters have fewer spells per day and apart from your highest available spell levels aren't terribly useful for combat against like-level enemies. Spellcasters are going to feel a lot less powerful. I'm on the fence on if they went a little too far, but it also depends highly on your GM, and mine likes extended adventuring days with restricted resting ability (which also nerfs spellcasting).

That... that actually kind of sucks.  I've played most of the classes in 5e, and while some classes are better than others I don't think there's any bad ones (there's one definitely bad subclass for Barbarians, and Rangers were kind of bad with just the subclasses in the Player's Handbook but new subclasses in later supplements helped that a lot), if anything casters improved since 3.5e.  Druids and Clerics are regarded by many as the most-powerful classes in the game.  Many spells can be cast at higher levels by spending a higher slot.  Sorcerers, Wizards, Warlocks, Druids, Clerics, and Bards all get unlimited use of their known cantrips, and the cantrips scale with their level.  Sorcerer's don't have a ton of spell slots, but they get metamagic as a class feature.  Warlocks actually get the least spell slots, but they always cast at their highest level and they recover them after a short rest, plus they're the only class that gets the powerful Eldritch Blast cantrip.  Wizards can regain a few spell slots on a short rest, but their best perks don't come until later.  At 18 they can pick one 1st-level spell and one 2nd-level spell and cast them at will without preparing them or expending any spell slots, as if they were cantrips.  At 20 they get to pick two 3rd-level spells to do that with (and Fireball is a 3rd-level spell, so infinite fireballs).

I don't know, though.  I guess I'd need to play it to really get a feel for it.  Maybe it works for PF.

[Sanity is Optional]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Many spells can be cast at higher levels by spending a higher slot.  Sorcerers, Wizards, Warlocks, Druids, Clerics, and Bards all get unlimited use of their known cantrips, and the cantrips scale with their level.  Sorcerer's don't have a ton of spell slots, but they get metamagic as a class feature.  

So, all of those are actually in Pathfinder 2e as well.

• Spells can be heightened into higher level slots for better effects (spells no longer scale with caster level, only slot level). Spell DCs however scale with character level, and not by spell level.
• Auto-scaling unlimited usage cantrips
• Metamagic is actually available to all casters, to a certain extent. Pathfinder 2e uses a feat system, and metamagic is something you can buy with class feats, so long as it's on your class feat list.
  • Example: Reach is a metamagic available so Sorcs at lvl 1, it allows you to spend an action to add +30' range to the next spell you cast this turn. No daily limit, no spell slot cost.