Policy card rotation scheme for Civilization 6

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a short post on this (and actually sent it to the wrong SubReddit; my intent was to post to the one specific to Civ 6), my idea for a Policy card rotation system in the early game.

Feature list of Perked Up Perks (a mod for Stellaris, by Dragatus)

Okay, this is an easier-to-read version of the feature list of the Stellaris mod Perked Up Perks (v1.1, from April 2020). The mod can be found here, and I really recommend it:

Steam Workshop/Stellaris

Once my mod pack becomes active again, I'll certainly have Perked Up Perks in it. Below are Dragatus' words; I've resisted my intense urge to correct spelling and consistency, and just applied layout features to it in order to make it more readable.

General changes

• Adjusted AI weights to guide AIs behavior when picking perks to use a mix of roleplaying and effective synergies.
• Reorganized all ascension perks into three groups: basic, intermediate, and advanced. Empires have to take 1 basic perk before they can take any intermediate ones and 3 basic or intermediate perks before they can take any advanced ones.
• Basic perks have no requirements and add related permanent research options, typically a tier 2 tech.
• Intermediate perks require you to already have a basic perk and have some technological requirements, but in several cases a basic perk will give you the requirement as a research option. For example Mastery of Nature will let you research Terrestrial Scultping early and qualify for World Shaper. Intermediate perks include the basic ascension path perks, the terraforming perks, Galactic Contender, and Xeno Compatibility.
• Advanced perks require you to have three other perks selected first. They include the second stages of ascension paths, Synthetic Age, Master Builders, Galactic Wonders, Colossus Project, Arcology Project, and Defender of the Galaxy.
• Maximum possible leader level cap is no longer limited to 10 like in the base game. There is effectively no more fixed upper limit. This was necessary to make Transcendent Learning actually work properly and as a side effect it also makes Philosopher King civic and Talented trait no longer useless.

Perk changes

• Mind Over Matter now gives you +10% Unity and -10% edict cost.
• Transcendence now gives T:Precognition Interface and T:Psionic Shields as free technologies. This reduces the RNG aspect of psionic ascension and makes the benefits more reliable. T:Psi Jump Drives will still require breaching into the Shroud though because they are linked to triggering a specific crisis.
• Voidborne requires you to have either R:Starhold or R:Orbital Habitats technology. If you lack T:Orbital Habitats it gets added as a permanent research option.
• Master Builders now requires R:Cruisers, R:Star Fortress, and R:Anti-Matter Power technologies instead of Mega Engineering (normally Mega Engineering requires Battleships, Citadels, and Zero-Point Power before it can be researched so this gives it to you one tech tier earlier than normal). It gives you T:Mega Engineering as a free technology and adds all standard megastrucrue technologies as permanent research options. However, it does require you to have 3 other perks selected first.
• Galactic Wonders gives you T:the relevant megastructure technologies as free technologies instead of only adding them as research options.
• Galactic Contender requires you to have R:Destroyers, R:Starhold, and R:Cold Fusion Power, but it adds T:Cruisers, T:Star Fortress, and T:Anti-Matter Power as permanent research options. It's intended to be used as a stepping stone to Master Builders for empires who prioritize unity over research.
• Added a new decision that allows the AI (and only the AI) to turn it's capital into an ecumenopolis if it has the Arcology Project perk. Normally the AI isn't able to use the perk because it prohibited from using the regular Arclogy Project decision, but this allows it to get at least one city planet out of the perk.
• Xeno Compatibility no longer requires you to be Xenophile, but the AI will only pick it if it's Fanatic Xenophile and the primary species has the Rapid Breeders or Fertile species traits. Half-breed spam is the sort of hell that should only be unleashed on the galaxy if the player wants it, but this leaves the door open to designing a specific preset empire that will do it even under AI control (Fanatic Xenophile Rapid Breeders). Immigration pull bonus has been removed, but it will now add Xeno Diplomacy as a permanent research option, if you don't have it researched yet.
• Colossus Project now requires R:Battleships and R:Citadels instead of Titans. If you don't have T:Titans researched yet you get them as a permanent research option. If you have Federations DLC you will also get T:Juggernauts as a permanent research option.
• Nihilistic Acqusition now gives +10% worker and slave output and adds T:Artificial Moral Codes as permanent research options for regular empires and T:Unity of Purpose for gestalts. It is now also available to Barbric Despoilers and everyone else except egalitarians.
• Enigmatic Engineering is a basic perk. It also provides +10% research speed instead of improving your sensors. However, it does add T:Gravitic Sensors as a permanent research options.
• World Shaper, Machine Worlds, and Hive Worlds require R:Terrestrial Sculpting instead of Climate Restoration and add T:Ecological Adaptation and T:Climate Restoration as a permanent research options. They are all intermediate perks.
• Technological Ascendancy adds T:Exotic Materials Labs and T:Exotic Gas Refining as a permanent research options.
• Galactic Force Projection is a basic perk now and instead of +20 command limit and +80 naval capacity it gives you +15% naval capacity and -15% ship upkeep. It also adds T:Doctrine: Fleet Support as a permanent research option.
• Interstellar Dominion still reduces claim cost by 20% but it no longer reduces starbase influence cost. Instead it now reduces war exhaustion by 20% and adds T:Interstellar Campaigns as a permanent research option. The intention is to make it more focused on conquest. Pacifist can no longer take it.
• Grasp the Void now reduces starbase influence cost by 20% and no longer requires you to have already selected a perk. It adds T:Modular Engineering as a permanent research option. The intention is to make it the perk of choice for peaceful expansion.
• Eternal Vigilance now provides +100% hull for starbases and defense platforms, but it no longer increases starbase and defense platform damage. It also no longer requiers Star Fortress technology and instead adds T:Starhold as a permanent research option.
• One Vision now reduces edict cost by 10% in addition to standard effects and ruling ethic attraction bonus is doubled and is now +100%. It also adds a permanent research option based on your ethic: T:Clustered Synapses for hiveminds, T:Holographic Rituals for spiritualists, and both T:Planetary Unification and T:Heritage Sites for everyone else.
• Consecrated Worlds now adds T:Psionic Theory as a permanent research option.
• Imperial Prerogative now gives -10% claim and starbase influence cost in addition to the standard +20% bonus to administrative capacity and adds T:Colonial Bureaucracy as a permanent research option.
• Executive Vigor now adds T:Colonial Centralization as a permanent research option.
• Mastery of Nature decision no longer costs Influence and the perk now adds T:Terrestrial Sculpting as a research option.
• Transcendent Learning gives +5 leader level cap instead of +2 and adds T:Vitality Boosters as a permanent research option unless you are a machine empire in which case you get T:Academic Optimization addes as a research option instead. The mod also fixes the issue of being unable to raise leader level cap above 10, so the increase will not be wasted (this has the side effect of also improving Philosopher King civic and the Talented species trait).
• Shared Destiny now gives +25% trust growth and adds T:The Living State as a permanent research option for regular empires and T:Autonomous Agents for gestalts.

34th Curator-organized Stellaris Multiplayer game

These are friendly/social multiplayer games, based around my 34th Curator's Mod Pack, and with me, Peter34, alias the Curator, as the host.

Here is the mod pack:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1411639879

Warhammer Quest (ios) tips

I purchased the Warhammer Quest iOS game back in 2013 or 14, and played it a bunch then, and now I've started playing again. While it has some design flaws (some of the game mechanics cause me actual physical pain), there's also a lot of merit to this fairly simplistic dungeoncrawling game. I might write a review of it later, elsewhere; this post contains some of my thoughts on good strategy in the game.

Stardew Valley early game hints

I've been playing Stardew Valley for a bit now, starting over several times (proof, as if anyone needs it, that I am me), trying to find a decent approach to the first 1-2 weeks. These are some thoughts of mine.

Craft the World: Food/Coal analysis

I've been playing the iOS version of Craft the World for a while now, on and off, and it's alot of fun (I always play sandbox mode - don't ask me about the campaigns or whatever they're called - I can't be arsed), but I find myself constantly starving for Coal, mostly because my vertically challenged dudes keep asking for food, and apart from one item all the barely decent food requires Coal to cook, meaning I can only use some of the Coal I mine to make Steel Ingots (and later Silver Ingots).

So I decided to throw my brain at the problem and do an actual analysis of which foods represent the best and most efficient usage of Coal.

UnOff. Factorio FAQ: Console Commands

Frequently Asked Questions

for the computer game

Factorio

(UnOfficial FAQ: Console Commands)

www.factorio.com

(official link, though)

UnOff. Factorio FAQ: Energy and Power

Frequently Asked Questions

for the computer game

Factorio

(UnOfficial FAQ: Energy and Power)

www.factorio.com

(official link, though)