aabicus at College: A Conclusion

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About a year ago, I wrote an article discussing my first quarter of my Master’s Program. I’d ended that article saying that first quarter was expected to be the busiest, but honestly each one had more work than the last. Not a complaint, mind you, but it turns out it’s not easy cramming two years of work into a single year. That article ended with me becoming Creative Director for a healing-based puzzle shooter called Medical Necessity, and that project took up the lion’s share of the following (winter) quarter. You can read about the progress we made by checking out… [Continue Reading]

Pokemon Go Tips for Twonks

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Pokemon Go - Tyranitar

It’s fine, being a newbie. Everyone was a newbie once. Most people grow out of it as they learn and get better. Some people *cough* like me *cough* could use a little extra help. So here’s a bunch of random tips that I’ve picked up since I started playing back in August. Use The Whole Screen Don’t be an idiot like me. You can use the whole screen to throw a Pokeball. This is most useful on those bastard Legendaries (and Pokemon like Gengar and Clefable) who like to stand really far away and taunt you as balls bounce at… [Continue Reading]

Rock Punch Man

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Atlas and his two rock buddies

There’s really only one way to describe Atlas. He’s a rocky, punchy guy. He’s also one of those frames which are really fun to play but sit in my foundry, rather unused. I can see why though. Atlas isn’t hard to obtain. In fact, he’s pretty easy to get, but you need to have the right gear. Atlas’s blueprint is the reward for the Jordas Precept quest, in which you try to save a Cephalon trapped by the Infested, only to find out the Infested are using him to lure ships in and infest them. The quest isn’t hard, but… [Continue Reading]

Fun Warframe Weapons You Should Try

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Revenant using the Phantasma against a Mimic

While the majority of weapons in Warframe are either pointy things you hit people with or guns that do various amounts of pew-pewing, there are definitely some guns that you really should try. The Ogris There’s only one rocket launcher in Warframe currently and it’s the Ogris, a really ugly lump of a weapon that actually originally used to look like the Black Box. While Grineer Bombards use the Ogris to great effect, it’s… not very good. Sure, the Ogris does a lot of damage, but you will most likely blow yourself up. Still, stick Heavy Caliber on it (+damage,… [Continue Reading]

Early Thoughts on the Profit-Taker Fight

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The Profit Taker Orb. Honestly it still looks more Grineer than Corpus to me. It's simply too round.

The second part of the Fortuna update has arrived and it’s a bit of a doozy. Sure, there’s a new Warframe and a new Prime Warframe and some very nice new weapons, but the main theme of the update is the Profit Taker Heist. This is the first of three vaguely raid-like sets of missions, in which you take down a massive spider creature. The first heist involves taking down the mountain-sized Profit Taker Orb, a Corpus creation made out of a mixture of Corpus and Sentient technology. Anyone who knows a little lore about Warframe will know that Sentient… [Continue Reading]

Fortuna 69

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Fortuna

When you do a mission in Warframe, one of the four players in your squad (or one of the eight players back when raids existed) is the mission’s host. Your completion of that mission, your ability to extract and get rewards and also your ping and latency all depend on the host. This applies to all missions, including solo play (where you host) and things like the Conclave. The only exceptions to this player-based hosting are the social areas – the relays and places like Cetus, Fortuna and Iron Wake, which are hosted by Digital Extremes. As one server becomes… [Continue Reading]

The Troubles of Organizing for Level 5 Raids

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Pokemon Go Lugia raid

As I write this, there are two level 5 raids across the road. One at a blue gym, one at a yellow gym, both right next to each other. Normally people wouldn’t be fussed, as Cresselia has been the only level 5 raid boss lately and she’s not particularly useful, but between the 15th and the 18th, Ho-Oh and Lugia are appearing in raids. These are powerful Pokemon. They’re legendary Pokemon and are very desirable. Also they have shiny forms which are even more desirable. On top of that, they are pretty damn rare and haven’t really been available for… [Continue Reading]

More On K-Drives

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Nidus on a K-Drive next to a K-Drive point booster thingy

It’s been a while since Fortuna released and while I may be max rank with Solaris United and would be max rank with Vox Solaris if I actually remembered to go and rank up with them, I am still only on the second level with the Vent Kids. Because frankly, I don’t have much reason to use my K-Drive. The reason is pretty simple. No matter what I do, it’s easier and quicker just to use my Archwing. Right now I’m rocking Itzal, teleporting across the Orb Vallis like a demented Loki/Nova crossbreed with wings, but even Elytron, the slowest… [Continue Reading]

The Pointlessness of Skyrim’s Civil War

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Dragonsreach, Whiterun, Skyrim

The Civil War in Skyrim is one of the game’s main themes. On one side, you have Stormcloaks trying to make Skyrim a separate entity, its own country/empire/state/whatever. On the other side, you have the Imperials trying to keep the empire together. Skyrim’s gameplay does push you towards the Stormcloaks, but honestly, I never felt that the Stormcloaks were… justified. The Stormcloaks’ demands are simple. They want to freely worship Talos and they want Skyrim’s independence. Those are fair, noble causes worth fighting for. But you have to pick a time and place to fight for these things. You see,… [Continue Reading]

Rhydon: A Tarnished Past and a Troubled Future

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When I first started Pokemon GO, I committed myself to only owning one of each type of Pokemon (not counting my traveling Rattata collection). The game was so stingy with storage space I knew I needed to do something to prevent myself from becoming a hoarder. Plus it gives my Pokemon more of an identity and forces me to use more interesting battle squads than just 6 Mewtwos or Machamps. This means that my Rhydon was far and away my most valuable Pokemon in the early months of the game. Rhyhorns were everywhere in my hometown, so he was the first Pokemon I… [Continue Reading]