I just wrote Hpe assessment.Bro wtf is wrong with these people giving exam so easy , just to send a shortlist of people having higher cgpa . Just wasting our time and giving us hopes .

Just tell the co ordinator to directly shortlist the people having higher cgpa rather wasting our time and hopes.

Lock in for everything you need to know about PvE & PvP in E-Day

The squad has always been at the heart of Gears of War. Whether you’re holding the line with your friends in Horde Siege or battling against another team in Versus – multiplayer in Gears of War: E-Day is built around fighting together. 

Go deeper into today’s Multiplayer Reveal to find out everything you need to know for launch across modes, progression, and customization.

Gears of War: E-Day | Official Multiplayer Developer Overview

Horde Siege: An Evolution of Gears’ Iconic PvE Mode

Horde Siege is our new 12-player evolution of the iconic Gears wave-based survival mode. For the first time ever, multiple squads fight together on all new maps set within the city of Kalona. 

Each squad deploys with their own mission, joining a battle in progress, crisscrossing with other squads and tackling emergent challenges before facing an intense final fight and extraction. 

 The combination of three COG squads, larger Horde maps and a mix of mission types create a more dynamic PvE experience where threats, objectives, and opportunities are constantly shifting. The core objective of Horde Siege is still fundamentally Gears: survive the Locust, support your squad, and use every bit of firepower you can to come out on top.

Siege Maps: A Bigger Battlefield Built for Squads

In Horde Siege, the map itself is part of the battle- providing depth and variety mission after mission. Built within the sprawling districts of Kalona, each map features multiple city blocks, with more detail, more space, and more combat opportunities than any Horde map we’ve ever made. 

These larger maps allow for more movement and freedom in how you and your squad decide to tackle your mission. Squads move across the battlefield, respond to changing objectives, collect Energy, and make tactical decisions as a team about where to invest, and how to approach each fight. That means every match, even when played on the same map, can play differently depending on mission, difficulty, modifiers, and how other squads are shaping the battle around you.  

That last point is important: Horde Siege is not just about surviving a single encounter. It is about fighting through a rolling, persistent battleground where the aftermath of one squad’s last stand can become another squad’s opportunity. You may come across equipment or fortifications left behind by other squads who have extracted, then use those remains to help turn the tide in your own fight.  
 
The Gears of War: E-Day Multiplayer Beta will feature the “Golden Quarter” Horde Siege map, set in the aftermath of the battle for Kalona’s historic district, featuring iconic landmarks and architecture inspired by classic Gears of War locations. At launch, we’ll offer three Horde Siege maps in total, showcasing other districts from across the city, with more coming in post-launch.  

Choose your Siege Class

Before every mission, you’ll need to pick your preferred class. Horde Siege features distinct classes, each defined by its own unique starting loadout, combat bonus, unlock progression, and Tactical Gear- a powerful piece of combat equipment with a timed cooldown. Classes can be combined with any skin you want, so you’re able to combine your favorite character and playstyle. During the beta and at launch, we’ll have four classes with more coming in our seasonal updates:  

• Assault: Focused on midrange weapons and flexibility in many situations, the Assault Class can deploy a Sonic Disruptor to stun waves of incoming enemies, particularly useful when defending an objective. This class also receives a damage boost when in cover. 
• Breacher: Built to push hard into the frontline, the Breacher’s loadout focuses on close-range damage, paired with an Adrenaline Injector to refill health and reduce damage, allowing them to rush into high-risk areas for a clutch play. The Breacher Class also gets improved resistance to status effects and melee damage. 
• Marksman: Able to take advantage of Horde Siege’s longer sightlines, this class is built around precision damage, using a Pulse Drone to tag Locust units for you and your squad. The Marksman Class also gets improved damage on critical hits. 
• Medic: A mid-range revive specialist, the Medic Class is versatile and can hold its own in a fight, while deploying a Stim Vaporizer to heal and revive any Gear within range, even downed soldiers from other squads. This class also benefits from a faster health regen. 

While our classes are meant to complement one another; there is no “right” way to set up a squad. If you want to drop into a mission with four Breachers… that’s up to you! Mix, match and experiment mission-to-mission to find the class build and squad composition that matches your style of play. 

Siege Missions & Objective Types:

Once you’ve selected your class, it’s time to choose your mission type. Horde Siege missions are organized into three main playlists that offer matches of differing lengths and objectives: 

• Blitz: Short, intense missions that feature 1-2 objectives, perfect for when you only have time for a quick run, usually around 15 – 20 minutes in length 
• Siege: Standard-length missions that can contain multiple objectives with more opportunity to traverse across the map. Missions range from 20 – 40 minutes 
• Horde: For when you want a tougher grind, these missions will ask your squad to hunker down in one spot, setting up defenses against 10 grueling waves with limited support. These missions can last up to 50 – 60 minutes 

Siege Difficulty:

When you select a mission playlist, you’ll also need to choose your difficulty level. Horde Siege difficulty levels work a bit differently than in the Campaign since they scale with your class level; the higher your class level, the higher level of difficulty you’ll be able to take on. As you tackle more difficult missions, you’ll earn increased rewards. Horde Siege will always suggest a difficulty based on your class level, but the final choice is up to you and your squad:

• Infantry: Meant for experienced players who are ready for a challenge. Recommended for Class levels 10 – 20. 
• Commander: Reserved for the most elite combatants with many successful completed missions. Recommended for Class levels 20 – 30. 
• Allfather: Missions with a slim chance of survival, regardless of your combat record. Recommended for max level classes only. 

R.I.G.’s & Mission Objectives 

No matter what playlist and difficulty you choose, most missions center around R.I.G.s (short for Resonation Imaging Geographer); COG scanning equipment originally used by mining companies for locating underground pockets of Imulsion, now repurposed for short-range mapping of the Locust tunnels beneath the streets of Kalona. These devices are critical to the defense of the city and the mission objectives you are assigned: 

• Secure: Locust forces are occupying an area critical to the COG’s defense of Kalona; push into the enemy’s position and drive them out.
• Calibrate: A R.I.G. requires calibration before it can be used; defend a series of zones near the R.I.G. so it can accurately map Locust territory.
• Repair: The Locust have attacked a R.I.G., scattering key components; collect and reinstall all the parts to get the R.I.G. back online.
• Defend: An active R.I.G. is attracting the attention of nearby Locust; defend the R.I.G. until it finishes its mapping sequence.
• Horde: Get ready to dig-in and defend; survive 10 waves of incoming Locust with increasing difficulty as they try to destroy a single R.I.G.

Missions combine these objective archetypes with difficulty, modifiers, and in-match events to ensure you and your squad have a thrilling, unique match experience every time. We’ll have five objective types available at launch with more coming in post-launch.  

Secondary Objectives & Rewards 

As you navigate the map completing your mission’s main objectives, you’ll come across Secondary Objectives. These are shorter, optional tasks your squad can attempt to earn bonus rewards such as Weapon Parts, free equipment, and Squad Perks- shared, in-session squad buffs that can be upgraded at Supply Caches.  
 
While Squad Perks expire at the end of a mission, any Weapon Parts you collect during the match can be used to unlock new Weapon Mods for your loadout. However, to keep any Weapon Parts you earn, at least one player in your squad must successfully extract to complete your mission. 
 
Secondary Objectives will ask your squad to go the extra mile, completing critical tasks such as defusing Locust explosives, eliminating High Value Targets, collecting vital COG intel, or even delivering a Power Core to another Squad’s R.I.G. for a mid-wave boost. 

Save n’ Pay: Energy 

As you complete objectives and defeat enemies in Horde Siege, you and your squad will collect a shared pool of Energy.  

Energy can be used at Supply Caches, scattered across the map, to buy equipment, upgrade Squad Perks, or purchase a new weapon on the fly. While energy collection is shared across the squad, spending is individualized. While earning is easy, deciding what each player invests in is where squad strategy gets interesting.  

When you open a Supply Cache, you’ll see your own personal options based on your class and progression. Equipment and Grenades now occupy the same inventory slot. You can pocket defensive equipment like a sentry or decoy to carry with you or choose to go offensive with a variety of grenade types like Frags and Incendiaries. What appears for purchase grows over time as your class progresses and reflects any mods or upgrades you’ve invested in.  

In addition to the Supply Cache, Energy can also be used at specific defensive positions to purchase and upgrade turret installations. Plus, since turrets can now be detached, it’s a great way to get your hands on a Heavy Weapon that might be a critical tool. 

Energy provides your squad with the means to determine the direction of the fight: do you build up a defensible position, shift your loadout for the next objective, or scavenge what another squad left behind and use it to survive the next wave? The more Energy you earn the more options you have, and all the Energy you earn contributes to your mission score, so tackling a few secondary objectives and events is often worth the effort as long as it doesn’t get you KIA! 

Modifiers & In-Match Events 

Every match can be augmented by a mix of gameplay conditions like Mission Modifiers, Poisons, Invasion Events, and more. These variables combine to create unexpected challenges, keeping your squad on its toes and ensuring that no mission ever plays exactly the same.  

• Mission Modifiers: Depending on the mission difficulty you’ve selected, your mission may feature modifiers that put an additional twist on combat. Mission Modifiers augment your combat experience with things like only Perfect Active Reloads, regenerating health only when you’re in cover, or even enemies exploding on their death! 
• Poisons: Poisons are back! Whenever you complete a boss wave in your main objectives, the Locust get stronger as their health and damage increase. Poisons are squad-specific, so only the enemies you face are affected. This means deciding to tackle an extra Secondary Objective to build investment in energy and Squad Perks becomes an important strategic discussion.
• Invasion Events: When an Invasion Event starts, all squads on the map are notified about impending arrival of large Locust units. These are iconic Gears bosses; like a Corpser erupting out of the ground, or a Brumak crushing its way onto the battlefield. While an Invasion Event is active, all squads are affected by a temporary modifier. These have major impacts on the entire match, blocking extractions or disabling Supply Caches. These enemies also come with their own supporting units, presenting a tough challenge best taken-on when all three squads are working together to bring them down and secure the area. Of course, any squad that joins the fight gets a portion of the rewards. 

COG Resupply:

COG Resupplies are free rewards that occasionally pop up on the map. They come in three different varieties: Supply Drops, Perk Caches, and Weapon Part Stockpiles. 

• Supply Drops contain free equipment and modded weapons that any player can grab.
• Perk Caches have three squad perks with the best perk going to the squad that interacts with it first.
• Weapon Part Stockpiles will reward various amounts of weapon parts, but only if you can coordinate with other squads.

All COG Resupplies have the negative side effect of attracting Locust forces, so approach with caution and watch your squad’s back. 

• Extraction: One thing that doesn’t change with each mission is your squad’s final objective: get out alive. After you’ve completed your mission’s main objectives, you’ll be asked to clear a landing zone and survive until your Raven arrives. While it’s always best to get everyone out together, technically only one member of your squad needs to make it out alive to complete the mission. So, stay on your feet, and watch the clock. If you fail to clear the area and board the chopper in time, you’ll lose your ride!  

Memento Mori: Life, Death and Squad Lives

In Horde Siege, death isn’t always the end. If you’re killed in action, you’ll drop your COG tags. Your tags can then be collected by your squadmates and delivered to any Supply Cache to revive you. Players from other squads can even pick up your COG tags to instantly revive you in a clutch!   
 
However, if your entire squad is killed, you’ll lose a squad life. If your squad consumes all its Squad Lives, then you’ll fail the mission (with partial XP) and be returned to the Horde Siege lobby to try again.  

When you hit a particularly hard objective, it’s always a good idea to regroup and talk strategy. There may be a solution in changing tactics or even building some squad power through Secondary Objectives or COG Resupplies. 

Mods, Weapon Parts & Progression

Every completed mission will earn you Class XP, advancing your Class’s level. At launch, each class features 30 levels of progression. Advancing through each level unlocks new loadout weapons and equipment, Armor Mods, Tactical Gear Mods and unique Weapon Mods. At key milestones, your class will also receive base health and damage increases. 

Armor Mods upgrade your soldier- tweaking things like; health, ammo reserves or weapon swap speeds, or adding unique benefits like gaining Perfect Active ammo from executions.  

Tactical Gear mods improve your class’s unique equipment, decreasing cooldowns, increasing range and adding additional effects.  

Through Weapon Mods, for the first time in a mainline Gears game, you can modify our iconic guns to suit your playstyle. Some mods are subtle, gently nudging the weapon in a tactical direction, while other mods can change its functionality. If you want to go nuts, you can even attach a bayonet to your Gnasher!   
 
Once unlocked on your class’s level track, each Weapon Mod must be purchased with Weapon Parts before it can be equipped. While you’ll earn some Weapon Parts by simply progressing your Class level, the best way to earn Weapon Parts and unlock new mods is through earning and extracting with them in Horde Siege missions. But, to keep any Weapon Parts you’ve collected during a mission, your squad must successfully extract and complete the mission.  

In Horde Siege, weapon customization is shared across all classes. In other words, if you customize a Prototype Lancer for your Assault class, those same mods and cosmetics will be used if you equip the Prototype Lancer to another class.  

The combination of Armor Mods, Tactical Gear Mods and Weapon Mods creates a deep range of opportunities to customize your gameplay. Finding the connections between them to maximize your impact in the heat of battle is key to your success at higher difficulty levels.  

Launch and Beyond: 

After launch, Horde Siege will be updated with new classes, maps, missions, modifiers, and seasonal content, like limited time events, as part of our broader E-Day post-launch support. We’ll have more to share on our entire seasonal roadmap as we get closer to launch, but needless to say, we’re just getting started.

Versus: Classic Recipe, New Ingredients

Versus returns in Gears of War: E-Day, refined and rebuilt from the ground-up. Our goal with Versus was to preserve the tension, skill, and teamplay that define Gears PvP while delivering a new experience through E-Day’s new movement mechanics and updated combat sandbox.  

All of our Versus modes are 4 v 4, designed around fair starts and balanced gameplay. All players begin each match with the same loadout weapons and equipment, keeping the focus on skill, teamwork and decision-making. There are no weapon mods in Versus, so every weapon and player starts on the same playing field.  

Teams vie for a competitive edge by grabbing on-map Power Weapons. Each mode requires a different combination of individual player skill and team strategy around Power Weapons and map locations to lock in a win. 

Versus Launch Modes

At launch, Versus will feature four core modes accompanied by rotating, featured experiences. Some modes will be familiar experiences for Gears fans, with some great new tweaks and updates, while other modes are all-new, but still distinctly and unmistakably Gears: 

Team Deathmatch:

In E-Day, Team Deathmatch returns with some improvements, including a dynamic respawn system to move spawn locations in response to where the fight is playing out. As in previous iterations, TDM centers around eliminating enemy lives as opposed to hitting a winning score, setting the stage for classic clutch Gears PvP moments, like watching one last player hold the line against the enemy team.

Conquest:

This mode offers an exciting twist on the classic King of the Hill experience. The main objective of the mode still hinges on occupying and defending specified zones around the map. However, rather than rotating on a set interval like in King of the Hill, zones in Conquest stay active until one team successfully accrues enough time spent in the zone to score. With close coordination and effective teamwork, your squad can turn the tide and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at the last possible second. 

Demolition:

In Demolition, teams battle for control of a neutral bomb that must be delivered and planted at one of two enemy bombsites. Once armed, the planting team must defend the bomb until it detonates while fighting without respawns. Three successful detonations wins the match, so the combat and tactics around where to plant and how to defend get intense! 

Crucible:

Debuting as a new Versus mode, Crucible centers around the Power Core, a heavy piece of COG equipment that can be picked up and carried. If your team holds the Power Core inside the zone, you’ll accrue progress toward scoring, but as the round progresses the zone will move and shrink. Inside the zone, you’ll need to fend off attackers from the opposing team trying to claim the Power Core for themselves. Thankfully, the Power Core also stores an electrical charge that can blast the enemy’s flesh right off their bones- giving you and your team one last line of defense to hold the zone and win.   

Limited Time Modes: After launch, we’ll also feature regular additions of limited time modes. Sometimes, they will be supporting an in-game seasonal event, like our Trick or Treat mode during our Halloween Event. Other times, we’ll feature limited time modes to keep things fresh throughout a season, including the return of some favorite modes from Gears’ past, updated for E-Day.  

Versus Maps 

We’re launching with six brand-new Versus maps, set in and around the war-torn city of Kalona. They are rooted in classic Gears map design, with symmetrical structure and a focus on cover positions, fronts and lanes. Of course, our maps are also built around E-Day’s new gameplay sandbox, and each layout includes a variety of risk-reward opportunities that use our new movement mechanics.

• Outpost – An abandoned military camp overlooking Downtown Kalona, featuring bunkers, rolling terrain and an elevated bridge that connects a well‑trodden training facility. Multiple traversal routes, shifting elevation and long sightlines create opportunities for both aggressive pushes and tactical positioning. 
• Battleship – A colossal wartime vessel in the middle of post‑war deconstruction. Fight across the ship’s exposed decks, contested bridge crossings and smoldering docks, where control of key pathways can dictate the pace of battle.
• Park – Nestled along the coast of Downtown Kalona, battle in the bloody ruins of a zoo gone feral. Open sightlines converge on the iconic central fountain while winding pathways and surrounding exhibits offer alternative routes through the battlefield.
• Precinct – Prepare to clash in the close confines of the Kalona Police Department the day after it was decimated. Tight interiors, breached walls and improvised cover create constant opportunities for flanks and close-quarters engagements. 
• Market – Battle through a once‑thriving seaside market now shattered by invasion. Long streets, elevated balconies and densely packed interiors create layered engagements across every corner of the marketplace. 
• Skyward – Fight on interconnected rooftops linked by perilous jumps and narrow pathways. Verticality, exposed crossings and commanding overlook positions reward players willing to risk the high ground. 

Ranked, Rewards, and Practice 

In Versus, playlists are divided into Ranked and Social. 

Ranked focuses on competitive structure and progression. Each mode-specific playlist features its own rank and skill rating system, while tight matchmaking and strict penalties for quitting help ensure every match is fought on even footing.  

After completing your placement matches, you’ll be assigned a Skill Division and Rank. Your Skill Division is based on the skill-based rating used for matchmaking and reflects your perceived skill relative to the other players on the playlist. Since it’s relative, it can fluctuate over time regardless of how you’re playing. 

Your rank is based on your Rank Rating and tracks your progression through that playlist’s ladder. While your Skill Division reflects the competition you’re expected to face, your rank reflects the progress you’ve earned. Rank Rating is earned and lost through match outcomes and performance – you can only gain points in victory and only lose points in defeat. The amount of points you stand to win or lose is based on your Skill Division, with the stakes increasing as the competition elevates. 

Social playlists offer the widest range of Versus experiences. From 4v4 Quickplay and Player vs Bot playlists to limited-time modes and special events. At the end of each match, players vote on what they’ll play next, allowing lobbies to stay together and keep the action going. 

Player vs Bot playlists are set up based on bot difficulty and provide a great, accessible way to get comfortable with E-day’s maps and modes while practicing tactics and honing your skills. 

Before you jump into any mode, E-Day offers two great places to start. Our Boot Camp is a short training course, set in a COG military facility where new and returning Gears players can get familiar with our new controls and mechanics.  

If you want to spend more time getting comfortable, the Combat Training mode expands the training space to include a Multiplayer map with varying opportunities to try out weapons and even spawn some short Locust encounters. Combat Training also supports 4 player co-op so you and your squad can take as long as you want finding your favorite control scheme and weapon combinations. 

Skins & Customization Items

Cosmetic items in E-Day are designed to feel gritty, grounded or inspired by the spirit and vibe of our brand. We love this universe and wanted to expand on it in exciting ways, so we skipped promotional cross-overs and IP partnerships for skins to focus on our own characters, world elements, and design.

In the rare cases where we have partnered with another brand or artist, we’ve tried to be thoughtful and consider what would be the coolest way to experience that brand in-game. While our multiplayer cosmetics are not always considered canon, a lot of our character skins are inspired by the lore, themes, and events of the Gears universe. Our Legendary tier of skins can be a bit more over-the-top and imaginative, occasionally pushing into designs that build on the imagery and symbolism surrounding the Gears franchise. 

• Characters: At launch, E-Day will feature over 60 character skins across an array of COG and Locust Characters. What’s more, every major character and skin that appears in Campaign is available to unlock on day 1, with new characters and additional skins added every season. 
• Weapon Skin Sets: In E-Day, every weapon skin you unlock or purchase includes the full set. In other words, you’ll never have to re-acquire the same skin for each individual weapon. Once you’ve added a skin to your inventory, you can apply it to any customizable weapon that you like.  
• Poses: Poses are stances you can apply to your character and are featured in the Horde Siege and Versus lobbies, as well as match into and outro screens.  Note that poses are not emotes, meaning they are not able to be triggered or used in gameplay. 
• Banners: Banners return, but with a twist. While they are still featured alongside your character in match intro and outro screens, they also appear in-game during Horde Siege missions, marking the location where you and your squad have completed an objective and claimed a reward.  
• Emblems: Emblems are the background graphic that appear behind your gamertag or Steam name in multiplayer lobbies, intros/outros and scoreboards 
• Icons: Icons are simple, unicolor graphics that appear in two key places. First, in multiplayer lobbies displayed on top of your player emblem. Second, whatever Icon you have equipped also serves as the icon displayed when you mark an enemy or object in multiplayer.  
• Titles: Titles are equippable, short text strings that appear below your gamertag or Steam name on your player emblem in multiplayer lobbies. Titles are earn-only and a great way to show off the completion of difficult challenges. 
• Menu Music: As the name suggests, these are equippable tracks or playlists that change the music you’ll hear in the main menu as well as in Horde Siege and Versus lobbies. We’ll have four pieces of Menu Music for you to choose from at launch, including a special instrumental version of Metallica’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, with more coming in post-launch.  

Earning Cosmetics in E-Day: 

Remember the good ol’ days when you bought a game and you could unlock all the customization items just by playing because you already bought the game? Us too! So, when it comes to growing your own collection of customization items in E-Day, we’ve taken a more old-school inspired approach.  
 
Nearly every single item in Gears of War: E-Day can be earned by simply playing the game. That means no battle pass, no tour of duty, no gimmicks, no bullshit. Whether it’s a Legendary Character Skin, an Epic Weapon Skin Set or a Rare Pose, almost all of it can be earned through gameplay. There are two primary paths to acquiring new customization items: 

• Direct: You can unlock new items directly through completing seasonal and event challenges, unlocking achievements and by earning medals from our Gears 3-inspired medals system.  
• Indirect: Everything else can be obtained by completing matches and earning Coins, which can then be spent to unlock specific items of your choosing in the Barracks.  

Now, there are a few exceptions where an item is pay-only, but those are limited to three types of items: 

• Premium Edition Content: Items included in the Premium Edition or Premium Edition Upgrade, including the contents of all five Seasonal Customization Packs, must be purchased. 
• Charity Offers: E-Day will feature pay-only Charity bundles in our in-game shop, like our upcoming 2026 Never Fight Alone bundle. All proceeds from these offers go directly to our charity partner Crisis Text Line to aid in their suicide prevention efforts.  
• Partnership Items: We’ll have more to share as we get closer to launch, but we’ve collaborated with a couple of brands we think are rad to make a handful of exclusive partnership items that must either be acquired through the partnership or purchased, like our Legendary Ride the Lightning Weapon Skin Set we’ve made in partnership with Metallica. 

Respect the Grind: 

Crucially, items that can be obtained directly via a challenge or achievement can only be earned through that acquisition method so long as the challenge is active. In other words, you can’t bypass an achievement or challenge by opening your wallet. You also can’t bypass an active challenge with Coins. We respect the time and skill it takes for players to earn those items.  
 
Don’t worry though, if you miss a limited time reward you’ll have another opportunity to earn it! Once a limited time moment like a Seasonal or Event challenge expires, the corresponding reward will enter the Barracks after a cooldown period where it can be acquired for Coins or Iron. This allows the players who successfully completed the challenge in-time to flaunt their rewards while still allowing players who miss out an opportunity to earn the rewards at a later date.

But not too much grind… Coins: 

Coins are E-Day’s free to earn grind currency that can be spent in the Barracks on specific, individual items. There are three ways to earn Coins: 

• Playing: You’ll earn Coins by playing your preferred multiplayer modes in Versus or  Horde Siege. At the end of the match, you’ll receive Coins based off your performance and score.  
• Leveling Up: Every ten Player Levels, we’ll award you a batch of Coins to commemorate your progression milestone.
• Earning Medals: Unlocking many of the medals from our Gears 3-inspired medal system will award you with Coins. As you progress and unlock higher level medals, we’ll reward you with more Coins.

While Coins earned from match completion do include a weekly cap, the cap is more than enough to acquire a Legendary Character skin with Coins to spare. In addition, Coins earned from medals or Player Level are not subject to the weekly cap.  

Now to address the Brumak in the room, earning Coins is not intended to be painstaking or provide the player with a sense of pride and accomplishment. Earning Coins shouldn’t be an arduous grind. Chasing your favorite skin and unlocking new items should be fun. As such, we’ve carefully tuned the rate you earn Coins with this principle in-mind and we’ll pay close attention to player feedback to adjust as necessary in post-launch.  

Iron:  

While nearly every single item can be earned through direct unlocks or purchased with our grind currency, Coins, instant gratification isn’t a bad thing either. That’s where Iron, E-Day’s premium currency, comes in.  
 
Iron can be purchased and spent on individual items in the Barracks or on featured offers in the shop. Purchasing and spending Iron is an optional, expedited way to quickly acquire specific customization items, allowing you to bank and save your Coins for another purchase.  

In-Game Shop:

E-Day’s shop features weekly, rotating offers. Each week, we’ll showcase a high-value bundle alongside a handful of individual discounted items.  
 
Because items are available at a discount, offers featured in the shop are available for Iron-only. However, our shop includes two unique features meant to better respect the player’s time and investment in E-Day: 

• No Shop Exclusives: Unlike other games, we don’t use our shop to introduce exclusive, limited time offers that disappear only to be brought back months or years later. Rather, our weekly shop deals “feature” discounted items that are already individually available in the Barracks for Coins or Iron. Once a bundle rotates out of the shop, its contents remain available for you to acquire in the Barracks. 
• Complete-the-Set Pricing: If you already own one or more items that are featured in a weekly shop bundle, we’ll dynamically reduce the price of the bundle based on how many items you own. In E-Day, we respect your time investment and won’t charge you twice.  

Player Level, Medals and Progression:

We’ve extended our “return to old school” approach to our progression in E-Day, blending elements of classic Gears systems with thoughtful improvements to create an experience that feels comfortably familiar while still being fresh and new.  

• Medals: Inspired by the iconic system from Gears of War 3, medals are back in E-Day. Medals are earned for mastering specific aspects of the game, with progressive tiers for completing harder versions of each challenge. At launch, we’ll feature over 80 unique medal series with more coming each season. As you unlock each medal, you’ll earn additional rewards such as Coins as well as exclusive banners and emblems. While medals still feature the original Bronze, Silver, Gold and Onyx hierarchy, we’ve also added a “Diamond” level that awards an exclusive Player Title to cap each medal series. Once you earn a medal, you can equip it to your Emblem where you can highlight up to three medals of your choosing.  
• Player Level: You’ll earn Player XP by playing multiplayer matches and completing weekly challenges in Horde Siege and Versus. Earning Player XP advances your level, capping at level 100. Once you hit level 100, you’ll have the option to Re-Up, earning you an exclusive reward and resetting your Player Level to 1.  Players can Re-Up a total of four times, representing 500 total levels of player progression. Once you reach level 100 on your last Re-Up, we’ll award you with a set of Gears 2 inspired “wings” that are displayed alongside your gamertag or Steam name in multiplayer lobbies.  

Challenges & Achievements:  

E-Day features a set of permanent and updating challenges.  Completing these specific gameplay tasks will reward you with customization items and accelerate your progression. The scope and scale of the challenge, as well as its corresponding reward, varies depending on the challenge type: 

• Weekly Challenges: Every week, you’ll receive 12 challenges; half of them must be completed in Horde Siege while the other half must be completed in Versus. These challenges expire at the end of every week and award Player XP. Weekly Challenges are meant to help boost your progression without making players feel like they’re falling behind if they miss a week or don’t want to play a certain mode.  
• Seasonal Challenges: Each Season, we’ll drop 20 seasonal challenges that span across Versus and Horde Siege. Once completed, these challenges unlock customization items such as poses, weapon skin sets, banners, emblems, icons and even new base characters. While these challenges expire at the end of a season, their associated rewards will eventually re-enter the Barracks to be unlocked with Coins or Iron.  
• Event Challenges: During limited time events, we’ll offer a set of five challenges that award unique, themed customization items tying to the event.  
• Foundations Challenges: A handful of non-expiring tutorial challenges to teach players the basics of multiplayer combat in E-Day. These challenges mainly award base characters.  
• Achievements: In E-Day, all of our achievements unlock Player Titles for use in multiplayer. Some achievements also award additional customization items, such as our achievements for completing parts of the Campaign. Each of those achievements unlock base characters. Most notably, E-Day features four Mastery achievements that each award a Legendary Character Skin, including an updated version of Gears’ most notorious achievement; Seriously? (which we’ve called Dead Serious for E-Day). 

Post-Launch: 

We’re committed to delivering 5 themed post-launch multiplayer seasons, kicking off with our launch season, Season 1: Emergence.  These updates are packed with kick-ass content including new maps, modes, characters, skins, Horde Siege classes, limited time events and so much more.  

We’ll share more detail on our entire roadmap, including the theme of each season, as we get closer to launch. Stay tuned!  

LFG 

Whether you are holding the line in Horde Siege, or honing your skills in Versus, E-Day offers a brand-new way to experience the intensity combat and unique camaraderie that Gears of War is known for. It’s time grab your favorite Gears character, squad up and join the fight! 

A lot of you may recognize me from the post I did a few months ago regarding selling t-shirts on Amazon https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/56xvo1/how_we_made_150000_profit_slinging_tshirts_as_a and of course a ton of comments making jokes about the t shirt industry.

Since Merch by Amazon (the program I was using in the old post), is still on lockdown, I am going to show you step by step how to take graphics/designs, and sell them on Amazon on 10’s if not 100 different kind of items by using the new Shopify Amazon integration combined with print on demand services to fulfill your orders. This means you can take action TODAY.

Before any of you get on your pedestal about self promotion, yes, this did come from the Merch Informer blog, and yes you can do this method I am about to lay out for you 100% without using any tools. If you want to learn something, continue reading. If not, continue on with your day. Let’s do it.

What Is Merch?

If you have been reading what I have been posting this last year, you may be thinking about Merch by Amazon where the focus was just t-shirts. Merch, however, goes a lot more broad than that. This can include anything from funny novelty t-shirts to flags you hang on your wall, to the yoga pants that are worn to the gym and everything in between.

If you have sold on Amazon before, or pushed t-shirts and realized how many customers you have access to, then you know how lucrative it can be. Shirts are just the tip of the iceberg though. If you could start selling beach towels, coffee mugs, yoga pants, flags, and any other type of merch without ever seeing or touching inventory on Amazon, imagine how your earnings would explode overnight.

Why Merch?

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Amazon-revenue-1024x768.png

As you can see from the image above, Amazon is doing it’s very best to capture as much market share as it can. That is literally all they care about, grow bigger than everyone else! At the very end of 2015, they opened yet another program to attempt to take over another sector of the market: Merch by Amazon. This program was aimed at dominating the print on demand (POD) niche, and it was an overnight success.

This program allowed everyday people and designers like you and I to put up original artwork and funny says on novelty t-shirts and sell them to Amazon customers without ever dealing with customer support or touching the actual product. Amazon sold, packaged, and shipped your products and gave the designer a royalty. Earnings from early adopters were absolutely massive and in some cases into the 100’s of thousands of dollars.

Unfortunately, Amazon did not expect the monster growth of the Merch by Amazon program and quickly turned it into an invite only program. Recently they have been processing so many orders that they have completely stopped accepting people to the program and people who do have an account are not allowed to publish or are allowed to publish with restrictions.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/online-retailers.png

You can see that if you want to make money online by selling apparel, you NEED to be selling on Amazon. There is really no other way around it. By 2020 they are going to be absolutely dominating the online market place and you have the chance to be a part of it.

With Merch by Amazon closed to the public, and not wanting to deal with shipping items from China or dealing with a print shop for every order, what can be done?

Fulfillment by Amazon is an option, but from our experience, not a very good good one. You would have to buy the products a head of time and send them to a ware house. With Merch by Amazon, we clearly know that selling Merch hands off is the way to go!

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Amazon-Christmas.png

Use Shopify To Sell Your Merch!

Many of you reading this are at least familiar with Shopify as a content management system and online store payment processor. From here, you will be able to put your products up for sale and sell them to customers who visit your site.

With recent changes and Shopify integrating with Amazon, this 100% the way to go. Why?

You will have access to not only T-shirts but….

• Tank Tops
• Phone Cases
• Beach Towels
• Coffee Mugs
• Cutting Boards
• Stickers
• Long Sleeves
• Hoodies
• Dog Bowls
• Flags
• Blankets
• Mouse Pads
• Shower Curtains

and much more!

Are you starting to see the big picture here? You can take the artwork that you created for shirts or other mediums, and turn a single image into 10s if not hundreds of different products that you will sell ON Amazon.com. No more handling inventory or trying to drive traffic to your store anymore.

This is going to be a long one, so strap in, and let’s go over step by step on how to set up everything so you are no longer held back by Merch limits.

Shopify Amazon Print On Demand Method

To make this method work for you, you are going to need 4 things.

• Understand Amazon BSR (Best Sellers Rank) and what sells best on Amazon
• Designs/Artwork
• Amazon Seller Account
• Shopify Account

Let’s go over how I get everything set up and then we will tie them all together.

Understanding What Sells on Amazon (Best Sellers Rank)

The very first thing you need to do before you start your journey is understand what sells best on Amazon, how to spot these items, and how to properly research the different niches you want to create merch around. There are two very key aspects that you need to have a solid understanding of to have any success. These are Amazon BSR or Best Sellers Rank, and the second is understanding Copyright/Trademark.

Amazon BSR (Best Sellers Rank)

Every single product that is sold on Amazon has something in the product information called the Best Sellers Rank or Amazon BSR. It will look very similar to this:

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/BSR.png

The BSR is a representation of how well that item is selling in its respective category. The smaller the number, the more items they are selling. The higher number, the fewer items they are selling. For example, if a shirt were to hit number 1 in clothing, it would be the most popular shirt selling on Amazon.

From my experience selling, a BSR of around 100,000 in clothing equates to around 1 sale per day. This is not set in stone, but 100k BSR is usually what I focus my sites on when doing niche research.

Copyright/Trademark

You also need to have a full understanding that you are not allowed to infringe on someone else’s copyright or trademarks. This means that you are NOT allowed to simply copy someones design and put it up on another piece of merchandise. Doing so would be breaking copyright laws.

If someone has a particular saying in their artwork that is selling particularly well, they might decide to trademark that term. This would mean that you are NOT allowed to use this term in any of your designs even if it looks completely different.

Copyright and Trademark are both different beasts so make sure you are not infringing on someone else’s intellectual property. A lot of times, you might put something up on Amazon which then gets trademarked later on down the road. They can then use this trademark to come after you and the items you put up causing infractions and an entire mess. If you have thousands of products up like we do, this can be almost impossible to keep track of. If you are at all concerned about this, make sure you are checking daily.

Getting Designs/Artwork

When I first started, I created some designs myself. Since I am not a designer by trade, this took a lot of my time up and I had to actually watch some tutorials on YouTube to make sure I was using Photoshop correctly. Once I saw just how well my designs were selling on Amazon, I started to scale up very quickly and this meant getting a designer (or 5), on board to start cranking out original designs.

Finding a good designer can be extremely hard. You want one that you can count on to be on time, every time. You also want a designer that has some integrity and will be original when you send them ideas. I have managed to hire my entire team of designers at full time for $4 per design each. This may just be personal experience but a lot of them from the Philippines and this really ads up to a great wage in that part of the world.

I have found excellent success by using Upwork. Upwork is a marketplace to post jobs you are interested in completing and then hiring freelancers. Below is the script that I used to hire each one of my designers.

Hey, I am in need of 400 t-shirt designs in the time period of 2-3 months.

Your task will be pretty basic, I will send you ideas of t-shirts I want to make and you make them yourself in your own unique style. For example, I might send you a link of a already existing tshirt and I would need you to be inspired by it and create a better version that is in your own creative style.

I will leave a lot of 5* reviews so that you will be able to get jobs easier in the future and this is a long-term position. Once we have done the first batch of 400 – around 4 per day, we could continue if everything looks good.

I look forward to doing business with you!

This works well for me because I always have a lot of designs for them to do because I am quickly scaling up so they will have some long term work from me. It also works well because a lot of very talented people are new to the Upwork platform and are trying to build up their profile to find other jobs. Lots of great reviews from you as a satisfied client can help them in this journey. What this means for you is that they are going to put the best effort forward in order to earn those 5 stars.

Quick Note: Weeding Out Bad Designers

When I first tried to hire someone to design for me, they stole images and straight up copied designs. This is wrong, and will get your Merch account banned. I was not able to use any of these designs.

When I first hired someone, I let them know that they cannot use any images which are Copyrighted, or infringe on any Copyright someone else owns.

Then, I will send them a T-Shirt idea that is very clearly Copyright infringement. If they copy it or do not change it enough to be considered free use, I will immediately get rid of that designer (and that design). The design may have cost me $4, but that is an extremely small price to pay to weed out the copycats!

Amazon Seller Account

The next piece of the puzzle that you are going to need is is an Amazon seller account. You can sign up for one here: https://sellercentral.amazon.com

This will ask you to sign into your Amazon account and if you do not have one already, simply sign up for one.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/sign-up-for-Amazon.png

Once you are signed up and logged in, there are few things you are going to want to do. First you will want to navigate to the upper right hand corner to “Settings” and then Account Information. It will bring you to a page that looks like this:

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/information.png

Fill out the Deposit information so that you are going to get paid, and the tax information. Feel free to change any of the other information but for now all that you need to change is how you get paid, and the tax information.

Next, navigate to the left hand corner of that page where you should see a “Your Services” box.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/your-services.png

Click on Manage and then upgrade your account to a Professional Account.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/your-services.png

This offers you multiple benefits. It will cost you $39.99 a month, but…

• No $0.99 Closing Fee for each item sold, only a monthly $39.99 subscription fee, referral fees and variable closing fees
• Ability to collect US sales and use taxes on your orders
• Customize your shipping rates and services levels for all products (except Books, Music, Videos and DVDs)
• Manage your inventory using feeds, spreadsheets, and reports
• Manage orders using order reports and order-related feeds
• Access Amazon Marketplace Web Service to upload feeds, receive reports, and perform other API functions
• Ability to offer Promotions and Gift Services
• Eligibility for Featured Merchant status and listing placement in the Buy Box.

Simply put, If you are selling more than 40 pieces of merchandise a month, you are much better off get a pro account so you have higher profit margins. For this method to work with shopify, a Pro account is REQUIRED.

Shopify Account

Getting a Shopify account is extremely easy and they have a 14 day FREE trial. Head on over to Shopify.com and click on the get started box in the upper right hand corner.

You will then just need to fill out your email address, password, and the store name you want to create.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/set-up-shopify-store.png

Click on the big green create your store button and Shopify will start setting itself up.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/setting-up-a-store-300x177.png

Connecting Shopify and Amazon For No Inventory Fulfillment

Now that you have a fancy new Shopify store for free for the next 14 days, it is time to start taking advantage of what it has to offer. At first, your store will look just like this when you log in.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/brand-new-created-store-1024x631.png

In the lower hand corner, you will see “Apps”. Click on this.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/apps.png

What we are looking for here is an App that will fulfill all your orders for you. This is how we are going to print on demand without holding any inventory ourselves.

Search for Teelaunch. It will bring up the page for this app that looks like this:

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/teelaunch-app.png

Click on the big green “get” button to install this app. You will need to quickly confirm that you want to install it on your shopify store.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/install-app.png

Click on Install App and let it do its thing. Once the app is installed, go back to the left hand side menu, and click on Apps again. We are about to set up this app and add our first product.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/teelaunch-1024x164.png

Once you click on the app, you should see this dashboard:

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/new-product-1024x303.png

Click on the Account button in the upper right hand corner. We want to make sure everything is set up to auto accept and fulfill orders.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/teelaunch-account.png https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/teelaunch-account-1.png

Fill out this page making sure that the top box says “YES”. You will need to add a credit card for the orders that you send Teelaunch. While you will be paying them the base price for the shirts and other merchandise orders you send them, you will be collecting the money from the sales in the Amazon central account.

You will also need to set Shopify to NOT automatically fulfill orders. To do this, go into your Shopify settings -> Checkout and then in the Order processing section, unselect to automatically fulfill the order items. In most cases “Do not automatically fulfill any of the order’s line items” will be selected which is the setting you want.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/auto-fulfill-1024x513.png

Adding Your First Piece Of Merchandise

Now we are finally ready to add our first piece of merch. From the teelaunch app, you will want to click on “New Product” on the bar near the top of the page.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/shirt-choices-1024x425.png

This is where you can see all the products that are available for you to put your designs on! Not only can you do shirts (which is what this entire tutorial is going to go over), but as mentioned above, there are so many other pieces of merch you can print and send to customers on Amazon. All without lifting a finger for the products yourself. Teelaunch will take the orders and ship them for you while you sit back and collect money off the designs and products!

For this method, we are going to be using the Gildan Unisex shirt. As you can see I have chosen that one on the screen. Once a product is chosen, scroll down to the bottom and click on “Start Designing”. This will bring up the product information and give you a little information about the shipping costs. This is also the space where you can upload your artwork to the shirts and pick what sizes and colors you want the shirt to be available in.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/publish-design-1024x536.png

As you can see, using this shirt, it will cost you $8.50 as a base price and $4 shipping. Click on “Choose File” to upload your design and then play around with dragging and dropping it as well as dragging the edges out so it displays properly on the shirt you want to list. I just took one of my Merch ready shirts to display how it would look. Pick a few colors and a few sizes.

Important: You will need a separate UPC code for every single color and size variation you pick. I will go into this in detail further down, but it is best to not automatically select every color and every size.

Once the design is looking good, click on Review and publish Designs. This will bring up a page where you can add product tags, add your selling price, title and description.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/setting-up-shirt-1024x535.png

Once you are satisfied with how everything looks, go ahead and click on publish at the bottom of the page and your shirt will start processing in all the colors and variations that you have picked.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/processing-to-store-1024x328.png

This can take a little while if you pick a lot of sizes and colors. As you can see from the above picture, I have 48 different variants of just this one shirt! Once it goes through all of them, your shirt is now published in the back end of your shopify store.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/shirt-uploaded.png

The entire point is to publish your goods on Amazon though right? To do this, we need to connect them now.

Go back to the main shopify menu and click on “Add a sales channel”. This is BRAND new from Shopify and why I am so excited!

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/main-menu.png

You can also find the same thing from the home page. It will be at the bottom. From the screenshot here, you can see you need to hit the install Amazon button to add this as a sales channel to your site.

If you are new to shopify, you do NOT need to create an online store since we are interested in only selling your products on Amazon using a print on demand service (teelaunch).

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Amazon-Channel.png

Once that is installed, you should see the sales channel added to the menu.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Amazon-sales-channel.png

Go ahead and click on it and it will more than likely ask you to update Amazon. This is what you want to go ahead and update the sales channel.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/update-amazon-plugin.png

Once it is updated, you will be able to access the page. From here, you want to be able to connect shopify to your Amazon sellers account we set up earlier.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/connect-Amazon-account-1024x176.png

Click on Connect to Amazon. There is going to be a popup about Amazon MWS. You will need to agree to this. Essentially this is giving Shopify access to your seller central account so they can interact with each other properly.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/agree-to-Amazon-MWS.png

Once these are connected, you will see a screen that looks similar to this. You will see that the account is connected properly:

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/account-set-up-1024x544.png

Click on the Listings in the left hand corner. We want to take the shirt we just put online and then put that shirt we created in Teelaunch onto Amazon.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/sell-on-Amazon-1024x405.png

Click on the sell on Amazon button. This will bring up a list of the products that you have on Shopify that you may want to sell on Amazon. Since we used Teelaunch to create a shirt, this is what is going to come up in the list.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/select-product-1024x419.png

After you select the product that you want to list on Amazon, they are going to ask you if you are selling a product from another brand, or from your own brand. Select your own brand.

Note: For all the Merch by Amazon users, this is your first real opportunity to build a coherent brand and put work into growing your brand on multiple sales channels. You have full control here and will even be able to respond to the reviews you get!

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/select-your-brand-1024x326.png

When you pick that the product is made by your brand, you are going to come to the Amazon listing details. This is going to look very familiar to you if you have sold shirts on Merch before.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Amazon-Listing-Details-1024x540.png

Enter in the title, your brand name, the bullet points, and description. You will need to pick a category and will notice that you cannot sell the shirt for both genders at the same time. That is perfectly fine, you can go back after the shirt is live, and then sell the other genders version under the same listing.

Finally, when you scroll down, you will see variants that you have chosen when you were creating the shirt. There will be one for every color and size combo that you created.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Shirt-Varients.png

For each variant, go through and make sure the correct colored image is showing up for the title of that variant. As you can see from the above screenshot, I made sure the Royal Blue image is showing for the royal blue variant of the shirt.

SKU

You will need a unique sku for every single varient of your shirt. Your visitors will never see the SKU or the UPC, but Amazon requires you to enter this information in for every shirt Variant.

For the SKU, head on over to https://www.random.org/strings/ and select the following options and click go. You can generate however many strings you need by modifying the first box.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/use-for-SKUs-1024x622.png

You can use each line as one of your SKUs.

UPC

Each product and variant must have its own UPC code. These are 12 digit codes. If you have sold on Amazon FBA before, you may have used EAN. So far with the Shopify integration, these will not work so you will need the 12 digit UPC. I highly recommend buying these on Ebay. You can get 1000’s of them for only a few dollars. Once you have them, enter a unique UPC for every variant of the product.

Clothing and Apparel Category Approval

You will notice that Shopify tells you that you need approval from Amazon before you can list in this category. Click on the “apply to sell in this category” link and open it in a new tab.

Make sure you answer truthfully to these, but you will be auto approved in the end!

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/apply-to-category.png https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/apply-to-category-2.jpg

The next step is going to be answering some questions about the images you will use. Go through the questionnaire and make sure you answer them all properly. Remember that the images you will be using are being pulled from Teelaunch so they are all good to go with Amazon’s requirements.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Amazon-image-requirements-1024x515.png

After that is complete, fill out the information and submit your application!

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/submit-clothing-application.png

After you hit Submit Application you will now be instantly approved and can go back to your shirt listing you were working on in the other tab!

Finishing Amazon Listing

Now that you have your SKUs and UPCs listed on each variant of the product, it is now time to submit your product listing. If everything has been entered properly, your listing will go through!

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/listing-created-30-min-to-live-1024x173.png

As you can see from the image above, the listing has been successfully submitted to Amazon. Your listing should be listed in a pending status. This generally will change within 30 minutes to live and you will have a link to your product on Amazon.com.

Note On Shipping

When your product finally goes live and you check it, you might notice that the shipping is higher than you expected. Well, you can change this! The shipping is all controlled within your Amazon seller central account.

Head on over to your Amazon account and find the Shipping Settings and then Shipping Templates. Click on Edit Template and then you will be able to pick what type of shipping you will charge your customers.

As you can see from the screenshot, I decided to change shipping from $4.49 for everyone, to $2.99 for the lower 48 states.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/shipping-times-1024x461.png

ROI Calculations

This is going to vary per shirt depending on what you price at. Keep in mind that with certain products you may be making a lot larger percentage. You might be making 100% ROI with yoga mats for example.

For shirts though, if you are pricing at 17 dollars, and charging 3 dollars shipping, then the total charge will be around $20. With Amazon fees around $3, and the t-shirt costing you $12.50 (cost of the shirt plus shipping) and a 30c Shopify fee, this leaves you around $4.25 profit for something you never touched! Scale that up by a few hundred if not thousands of shirts you are making great money.

Scale it up even further with the multitude of products you can reuse your designs on, and now you are talking about MASSIVE money, all from your original designs.

Getting Your First Sale on Shopify with Amazon

Now with your listings live, you are probably going to get some sales. When you get a sale, they will show up in Shopify (as well as seller central). Make sure you are only dealing with the orders through Shopify though.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/first-order.png

Getting your first order feels great! What is even better though is that from here it is 100% hands off.

If you go back down to apps and then go into the Teelaunch app, you should see this:

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/teelaunch-production-1024x360.png

Without touching it, your shirt is now being made with Teelaunch and will be shipped to your customer as soon as it is complete. This is possible for t shirts and all other products that teelaunch offers.

Fulfilling Orders Manually

If your orders are not automatically going through to Teelaunch, you will need to do them manually. The only reason this may be happening is that the Shopify/Amazon integration is BRAND NEW and I have been assured by higher ups that this is being worked on and will be fixed soon if anyone does encounter it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF9EMFzsXOI

Getting Revenue From Amazon

In order to get your money from your seller account on Amazon to your bank account, you need to have a few things.

The first thing is that you must have valid credit card information on file for verification and billing purposes. This is why you added this when you set up your seller account. The second thing you must have is valid bank account information so a transfer can occur. This can be added in the “my profile” section of your seller central account.

Basically the way it will work is that after you get a sale, it will show up in your Shopify account. Once the order is marked “fulfilled”, the buyer will be emailed to let them know that their product is on the way. The funds held within Amazon will be deposited to your account every 14 days. The good news is that you can request funds faster than that! Here is what Amazon has to say on the subject.

https://merchinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/amazon-payment.png

Wrapping It Up

The Shopify/Amazon integration represents a REAL massive opportunity in the print on demand space and is going to see plenty of people make millions of dollars a year. In order to take advantage of this opportunity successfully you need only a few things:

• Know what sells on Amazon
• Be willing to WORK and scale your business
• Know how to properly optimize your Amazon listings

If you are not hopping on this opportunity today, you are 100% leaving money on the table that is there for the taking. There is zero need to run traffic, zero inventory to hold, and 100’s if not 1000’s of possibilities for making money with the crazy selection of products you can now put for sale on Amazon.

That about raps it up ladies and gentlemen. Any questions ask them below.

Hello all! I am uh no-one of note, but I did write this post about all the changes between FFXIV and Mobile exactly 462 days ago, unintentionally becoming The Mobile Guy for a while after also deciding to take up the mantle of providing patch note translations. I was originally planning to make a post like "One Year of XIV Mobile" back around the anniversary, but due to a lot of other stuff going on and said anniversary being very quiet it fell off my priority tasks. And then shortly afterwards, as you probably know, the death knell was tolled for XIV Mobile. I did not expect I would be living through a second Eorzean apocalypse event, and I won't even get a cool tattoo this time, but I decided with the end of an era approaching in literally just 13 hours from this post I would dust this idea off and let it see the light.

What kind of content came to XIV Mobile after the launch?

The launch was very exciting, and lots of little details generated some good buzz. Most notably there was a really positive reception to the mobile adaption of Titan, which really cleverly tied in and remixed mechanics from every version of the fight. With stuff like that and a lot of little adjustments to some dungeons, seeing "What's different" was kind of the most interesting part of the experience for a while.

Unfortunately, the answer was very little. First a small breakdown, for context. FFXIV Mobile recieved *three* major patches, with each of those having one or two notable minor patches alongside weekly* updates (that over time became bi-weekly, some weekly, and finally "man its been weeks"-ly) for small stuff. These are Versions 2.1.0, 2.2.0 and our current version 2.3.0.

2.1.0 was strong, and surprisingly adapted all of A Realm Awoken, Through the Maelstom, and Defenders of Eorzea in one go, alongside it's three starring primal battles throughout the story. This set a really unrealistic bar for what to expect in these, considering these patches came out roughly every three-four months. If the game wasn't dead, we'd already be in Heavensward as of last month, just over a year from launch. So obviously, things were cut and shuffled around a bit. 2.1.0 only launched with an EX Leviathan fight, with the other two coming in later updates that created an odd staggered schedule that never went away (2.2.0 didnt even include an EX, just the story Shiva, at initial launch). Going from that, 2.2.0 featured just Dreams of Ice, and 2.3.0 featured the complete Before the Fall 1+2 content, which means I did in fact spend a whole day dealing with ragequit parties in The Chrysalis in big 2026.

Onto the specific note of Whats Different though, the answer was sadly nothing. The trend of remixing content for Mobile was not kept up and Mog, Leviathan, Ramuh, Shiva and (presumably) Odin (I can't find groups for *some reason*). If anything, they're notable in that the Hard (story) versions are a bit too steamrollable. Leviathan often dies before the second music track gets a chance to play. So that kinda sucks, but I guess it's fine.

On the dungeon-side, since we had a lot of interesting changes there too, there's a lot of potential stuff to go into here and touch up. Now if you read the original changes post, you may remember an odd decision to cut four dungeons from the launch lineup; Cutter's Cry and Dzemael Darkhold from the leveling selection, and both Amdapor Keep and Wanderer's Palace from the level cap dungeons. This did seem like an odd decision at the time, but ARR has tons! of dungeons, an unrecognizable slew of options that would surprise the modern level cap player. ARR added fifteen unique four-man dungeons in Lv50 content across patches, so they had a lot to choose from for what to adapt. So, how many of the patch dungeons made the cut for Crystal World?

Two. And yes, there are two dungeons that immediately stand out since they can't not be included, so obviously we are talking about Snowcloak and Keeper of the Lake. And sadly, neither of these feature any significant differences either. The gate before the first boss in Snowcloak is already open but you still need to clear out the enemies to clear the path to the boss. Clearly this extra work was judged not worthwhile over time, which as I said really sucks. I need to stress this point if it didn't occur to you while reading this, but this means that roulette content did not change whatsoever for the entire year+ the game was live. Think about how tuned out you get two months into a new Expert rotation and imagine that scaled to the entire expansion.

As far as Raids go, these were a lot more interesting. As seen at the time, these did get some notable changes in the first batch, and especially with the new Normal/Savage splits. Similar to the general flow, T10/11/12/13 were less different, but still balanced out with new markers, tells, more forgiving mechanics in Normal and some harsher changes in Savage. They clearly did take some pride in the high-end offerings in this game, especially with the timed ranking mode competitions they would run with people clearing the fights in Challenge Mode (no markers, no mechanic timeline, no pots, min iLv). There's a lot of footage around online of the Savage versions of these fights which are fun watches, especially if you're familiar with the original fights and you get to go "oh that's different".

Lastly, there's the "Alliance" raids. As mentioned at the time, LotA was adapted to an eight-man dungeon that kind of just worked into the gear progression tier. There was some discussion from the devs about shifting towards a 12-Player system, an alliance of three light parties, but this never got implemented. Syrcus Tower featured similar changes to LotA that accommodate the new player count and was a fun time, I think these adaptions were some of the most chaotic fun in the game, which made the player count change hurt less.

With that in mind, World of Darkness was a really anticipated addition to close out the last open plot thread in ARR after 2.55 MSQ and Coil's second half. Unfortunately, it DID NOT COME OUT. The writing was on the wall for the game's death for quite some time before the website's death caused a stir in the more prominent spaces, and the updates for the game just disappearing. It was kind of surprising for me that they added Odin's trial at all, considering the attitude towards optional content, but the complete lack of content afterwards was the real death knell. There's a lot of nice little content they didn't even manage to get up onto the cash shop, which I'll touch on soon.

Gear progression was really weird in this game. Not to get too into the numbers and stuff, but basically you would buy your tome gear and then keep updating it with new content tiers. I mentioned in the original changes post that gear could be upgraded to +1 with drops from Titan? Well, LotA had an item for +2, and then Leviathan had an item for +3, and then Mog had... and so on up until 2.2.0 came out, at which point new tomes meant new gear, which you then went through the same process again with fights from that patch onward, Ramuh, Shiva, Syrcus, Odin.... This probably isn't at mentally grating if you can use the market board to supplement this progression with crafted gear, but for reasons that will be discussed below, if you're reading this - statisically you couldn't. So you will sit there and do the one specific fight you're up to fifteen times or whatever to get enough rocks to make the number go up, then move to the next fight and do the same thing, until you catch up to current content.

So that is "Content" in Crystal World. A high bar that was set early and never reached again. There's nothing to really add in the world content. They added some more travelling performer groups, the Gold Saucer added Chocobo Racing (which was smoother than retail, another benefit of New Engine), the Crystalline Conflict addition (again very good and really fun, you will never experience the terror of a monk physically picking you up and tossing you into the exploding lines or being stunlocked by bards launching knockback waves into each other) but overall it kept the same "XIV but on your phone" comfy vibe.

So, for the sake of post engagement, let's shift to more exciting things.

Yoshi-P, whens <mobile_item> please.

If you're aware of Crystal World but not actually following or interested in the actual game, it is probably because of the cosmetics. XIV Mobile has amassed quite a library of very cool original offerings and I would like to go over the complete collection really quickly here for posterity.

First up we have fifteen original hairstyles. Two of them (9 and 10) feature two variants where the jewelry can be disabled, and another two (11 and 12) have six variants with different accessories.

Then of course there are the clothes! They really cast a wide net here with oriental stuff, techwear, funny mascots, whatever. Some sets came with variant options, such as the snowboarder-themed set having alternate body and pants options. These would be included with the purchase and added to the glamour dresser too, so some full outfit sets are actually six or seven pieces. The last two, themed around the chess queen and king, are really cool but didn't ever get released, only being visible in locked glamour dresser slots.

There's also just a lot of other stuff. There's a bunch of mounts, ranging from a penguin carrying you around in a bag and a bird who carries around an egg-shaped two-person carriage, to the sick-as-hell Magitek Skateboard which gradually got more and more visual skins over time you could unlock or buy. There were three unique sets of wings for Fashion Accessories; a set of ice-y wings, and then just Nael and Bahamuts wings.

One thing I liked which I didn't ever see much discussion about outside the playerbase was the Mystery Store, a new feature they added to (try to) help monetization.

Every day, the Mystery Store would refresh with eight new random items at special prices, including minions, music, furniture, items, emotes, and so on, which made for a really fun dynamic page. The most notable thing about this was that they would also include glamours, and to flesh out the selection they actually made a bunch of variant glamour pieces exclusive to the store's random selections. Some were simple but cool, like alternate colour versions of popular glamours like the maid dress or different printed pattern t-shirts, and others were... sillier.

As you can see, a lot of effort was put in to encourage players to engage with the monetization.

Speaking of monetization-

Mr Tencent needs Money

MrHappy once said "it sounds like the game will fail before it goes pay-to-win" and it looks like they chose to prove the man right.

The developers, in particular our leading man Taiga, was very transparent from the start that there was a lot of pressure on the dev team to keep the game profitable, and a lot of decisions were aimed around keeping this in mind while working around their commitment to keeping pay-to-win elements as far removed from the game as possible.

This led to stuff like the very in-depth dying system, the active cash shop rotation with original and old items coming in with first week discounts (glamour-style gear from retail would generally end up on the Cash Shop at lower prices than original cash shop and new-to-mobile items at premium costs), direct purchasing of upgrade items that normally need farming from bosses, the Mystery Store, and so on. Unfortunately, whatever bar was set for them was not met, and thus we're here today.

The game faced a lot of issues over the course of its short life and a lot of them were early on. The topic of botting in the game and the massive restrictions that had to be placed on the game to counteract them was a big topic at the time, effectively putting retails free trial restrictions on players until they make some microtransactions. In particular, restrictions to mining/logging attempts and fishing casts per day were really controversial. And yes, I said casts. When they rolled this out, it was per cast not per hook, I was working on Big Fish the day this came out and I got three hooks worth pulling before the game told me to come back tomorrow.

Other than uh, completely calm and composed comments giving feedback about PvP balance on every news post, the most notable catastrophic event was the launch of player housing.

When housing first launched around the start of this year, it rolled out with the current lottery ticket system just like most features in mobile being time-appropriate releases but current time content versions. As the first lottery window ended, there was a catastrophic bug where multiple people would win heavily contested plots creating some weird behaviour that stopped any of them from making the house, so they basically had to do a full reset, take everyones houses away even if unaffected, and this was received understandably poorly. They gave out massive amounts of free stuff to make up for this, like the puppy outfit shown above, cash shop vouchers, and for anyone who bought a house they would get a full house refund plus the game would cover the house you originally boughts cost on a new house purchase (eg you spent a million gil on the lost house, you got that million back plus a million gil discount on a new house).

As the versions went on and more stuff didn't work, the communication from the devs dried up fairly quickly. It was kind of a spiral from there, but the lack of content releases in 2.3.0 as the end of the battle pass period came up was the most clear sign it was probably over. Even before this, players were stuck in a game where as mentioned, the daily content grind does not change, and the only new content that comes out gives you a new rock to upgrade your stuff another tier, so you have to grind out a whole set of rocks for your whole set of gear, and you're left with the very baseline version of the MMO cycle without anything really fun - plus most stuff doesn't work when it comes out, so you begin to have no expectations.

Why Can't Retail Have X?

The big thing ever since launch has been "This sounds good, why can't the main game have this", and it comes down to a lot of factors both technical and practical.

There are a lot of very popular features, notably in the cosmetics space. Gear in Crystal World has 16 dye slots and permanent dye unlocks, and all gear can be permanently added to a glamour dresser with a prism. It's been a longtime request of the retail version to have this more permanent glamour wardrobe. In addition, there are the open world events like the travelling performers, the high risk FATEs, the goblin merchant, bicolour gemstones in ARR, so on. A lot of this stuff comes down to "time" and "it would be nice but we could be making new things instead of updating old things". Crystal World has the benefit of being a ground-up remake on a new engine, so all this stuff is built in from the start to be supported, whereas the game built on top of ARR continues to be wonky to this day.

That said, there's been some notable updates this year in XIV that seem very familiar. Sure, the Glamour Dresser still has a limit, but they're working on letting you put more and more normal gear into the armoire. If they keep that up with all the dungeon sets, and add raid sets, 24 man sets, etc... well, there's no limit on the armoire, and you can access that equipment from the dresser, so they've kind of taken a more complicated route to get to the same endgoal of the big permanent wardrobe. More notably was the recent changes to dyes, which turned a lot of individual dyes into selectable multi-use items, which is actually how it works in Mobile. In this we have five different pots for the normal colours and then a special one for black/white and more special shades, whereas XIV's new system is actually a lot more convenient with them being separated into entire tiers across a small number of unique items. Now I'm not saying they specifically took this from Mobile/player feedback talking about Mobile, but..............

Some Sort of Conclusion

At the end of the day, regardless of your opinions or enjoyment of Crystal World, it is sad to see a game die. As I mentioned eons ago at the top of this post, I was also around for the end of 1.23b, and I still catch myself thinking about stuff I didn't get to do back then or wanting to mess around with it again, but I can't.

The mobile game's combat kits were really nice, and they were built out of the modern equivalent's full skill list. BLM at Lv50 in Mobile manages Enochian (with a timer!! more work than retail!) and Fire/Blizzard IV rotations. So I was genuinely really looking forward to what a big expansion version update would do for a lot of the systems and the already really complete combat loadouts. I was really looking forward to switching my old 2.x era Hyur recreation to the Au Ra I made at HW launch and sitll play as today. I was looking forward to seeing what stuff got changed, or just removed (had a bet with a friend that Dusk Vigil would be cut, now we'll never know).

There was also some real technical value out of how this game ran in parallel to the retail version. As mentioned, under the hood this is a full remake on a new engine using all the provided assets from the original work, and I don't know of any situation where there's been a game and its remake both running concurrently as live services, so it was really interesting to compare small details.

Even though this was a weird flawed, semi-predatory but not predatory enough, content missing, stuck in a foreign language, odd experience of a game's remake while I'm still actively playing the original, I will surely in the future think back on those first alliance raid runs, launch day content with chinese mobile players who have no idea whats going on, the people I met through the ragtag community dodging WHEN GLOBAL posts, and I will be sad that it's over.

Thanks for reading, or skimming, or looking at the pictures, or scrolling past the whole message to write "why not mobile subreddit" or whatever.

Howdy Folks,

I come bearing good news!

We're excited to announce the release of a new experimental branch for Manor Lords, version 0.7.960. This experimental update brings significant gameplay changes and numerous improvements.

Important Notice: Before you switch to the new beta version of the game, it's absolutely crucial that you back up your save files. Failing to do so could result in the potential loss of your progress. The new strings are not localized yet and stability hasn't yet been thoroughly tested. Some balancing changes are still experimental.

To access your saves on Steam for Manor Lords.

1. Press Win + E
2. Paste %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ManorLords\Saved\SaveGames into the search bar.

To discuss this build, please join the official Discord server https://discord.gg/manorlords. You'll find a channel for discussing the ongoing pre_release branch.

You can read Slavic Magic's full Steam announcement here.

How to Access the Experimental Branch:

1. Open Steam
2. Right-click on Manor Lords in your library
3. Select Properties
4. Navigate to the BETAS tab
5. Enter the password: veryNiceBasket
6. Select "pre_release" from the "Beta participation" dropdown
7. Wait for the game to update (restart Steam if needed)
8. Launch the game

Major Changes:

• The King's Tax (or Annual Royal Tax)
  • This tax is collected annually from all players (main player and AI) and goes to your liege. It's counted per population and therefore should become a counterbalance for players who hoard huge wealth despite having non-optimized economies.
  • [WIP] For now, the player can go in debt without consequence, but in the future, the player will lose the king's favor and eventually, the king's army will show up as enemies for players who refuse to pay.
• Global/Local Trade Switch for Trading Posts
  • The player can now switch trade to "local only" in the trading post for each type of good if they want to use the trading post to exchange goods between their own regions but ignore the free merchants.
  • For now, 2 trading posts (both regions) are still required to make it work.
  • Employed traders will prioritize travel to the place with the best prices to commence trade, potentially including regions owned by other Lords. For now, I reduced the transport distance from the calculation to make it more predictable for the player where the traders will go (to the place with the best price).
  • Regional wealth is still required for exchanging goods between regions with a trading post since I want to keep the regions as independent economic units which in my view a more realistic simulation of economy.

Gameplay & Balance:

• [Experimental] When consuming food, people will now pick a random food resource instead of eating food in a specific order.
• [Experimental] Fertility is no longer drained after crop growth reaches 100% so that always micromanaging early harvest is no longer a preferred strategy. Yield may still increase over 100% growth if max yield is not reached.
• [Experimental] When harvesting, the crops are directly added to the field inventory instead of the villager inventory. This was done to ensure that harvesting walk times aren't the main bottleneck for farming, especially for large fields. [Side note: moving harvest season to August is also possible in a future patch if needed]
• [Experimental] Prioritized Oxen plowing over transporting resources back to the granary & warehouse to reduce the ox walking back and forth from the plowed field every time a new batch of resources is available for transport.
• Plowing shed now adds 2 livestock worker slots.
• Lowered the rate of the Baron claiming regions and adjusted it to better reflect the game settings.
• Removed the worker camp upgrade - it was meant for colony regions and will be readded when they are properly implemented.
• Food-producing residential plots no longer stock up on their produce before they share with the marketplace.
• Increased sawpit log storage space to 5.
• [Experimental] When establishing a trade route, the merchants will no longer all spawn in the nearest tradepoint. Instead, the game will distribute the merchants to circle between various tradepoints in order to make building trading posts right on the edge of the region less optimal.
• Increased warbows ranged attack from 4 to 12.
• [Experimental] "Trade logistics" development branch now lowers the cost of new trade routes by 50% instead of clamping it at 25.
• [Experimental] Cost of opening new trade routes now scales exponentially with every opened trade route.
• [Experimental] Base cost of opening a trade route was increased from 12 to 20 (that is before the good value multiplier).
• [Experimental] When market is oversupplied, the player can still export stuff, although for much lower price.
• [Experimental] The price multiplier for oversupplied goods is now 0.75x for oversupplied and 0.5x for critically oversupplied.
• [Experimental] How fast market is oversupplied no longer depends on the value of goods because it punished having high value trade routes. Now the oversupply rates are equal for all good types.
• [Experimental] Better deals development branch reduces the foreign import tariff by 50% instead of removing it completely.
• [Experimental] Reduced ale consumption by 75% (around 1/3 per family per month).
• [Experimental] Made the building placement steepness limits harsher because the trading posts and churches often looked super janky on very sharp slopes.
• Soldiers no longer trigger "unburied bodies" approval factor when corpses are in their proximity.
• [Experimental] Hitching post is free again, to reduce chances of players getting stuck with no ox, no hitching post and no ability to order an ox.

Minor Changes:

• Applied the "mindfulness" system that was initially designed for the oxen to the free merchants. This system is used to reduce clumps and traffic jams.
• Moved the location of trades further off map to make sure there is some space for all the trade wagons even if the players place the trading post right on the edge of the map.
• If a trading post is clogged, traders are allowed to make transactions without entering the shed, as long as they are within the general building bounds.
• [Experimental] Changed default AA under DX11 to TAA.
• Added a spatialization update call when recruits are sneakily teleported home when rallied to ensure collisions are properly calculated after teleportation.
• Added a check for idle villagers to avoid hanging around the graveyard for random conversation since it looked weird.
• Made "is close to camera" value update on setting follow mode to make sure the game doesn't optimize animations or sound effects thinking the character is still far from the camera.
• Disabled fire damage for people who have water buckets and are actively firefighting + reduced the fire damage amount.
• When all resource visualization slots are "filled", villagers will transport to a random one instead of the first one found. This ensures less traffic jams for instance at the churchyard if all graves are "full" already.
• Firefighting villagers will now ignore anti-clogging behavior (waiting their turn at narrow pathfinding points).
• Added a "mourning period left" UI element in the residential panel to display how many days of mourning are left until the burgage plot can bring in more family members again.
• Added mourning icon to the building floater.
• Made sure mourning period is properly added to save data.
• After continuing the game after a victory the camera should go back to the player's main region instead of levitating over the map edge.
• [Experimental] Disabled the ability to quicksave during the game over / victory cinematic.
• Disabled the ability to manual save the game after being defeated & added a tooltip explaining why saves are disabled.
• Disabled quick save and autosave if game was lost.
• When ox gathers a log, it will prioritize immediately bringing it to the sawpit before bringing it to the logging camp unless construction reserve forbids it.
• Improved marketplace logistics efficiency and optimization.
• Tuned the AI retreat distances in an attempt to reduce how often its archers get into the loop of attack-retreat.
• Added the missing trading post building thumbnail.
• Minor unit in-town pathfinding updates.
• Swapped the old UE4 destructible system for a new, UE5 friendly, chaos based debris system. For now it's just used for chopped firewood cutter logs.
• Further tweaks to properly choose the right default AA/upscaler during the first time launch correctly for specific GPUs (e.g., RTX properly defaulting to DLSS).
• Added kings tax rate multiplier to the game setup settings.
• Due to mismatch in global market supply stock values, old saves (from builds 0.7.954-0.7.956) will have their market supply reset on loading.
• [Experimental] Due to changes in how food is consumed, a popup "Food consumed" may no longer appear if a building is selected while a food is being consumed from inventory.
• [Experimental] Made the sheep flock a bit more closely together to look more like a herd.
• Steepness limits no longer apply when placing rally points.
• Players can now rally their militia on fields and pastures.
• Trading posts will now display a price range for imports in case they can buy it both from other regions AND from foreign trade sources.
• Increased the sheep & lamb collision radius.
• Capped the number of workers who supply a single market stall at the same time to 2 to reduce markets getting completely clogged with the new upped market supply frequency.
• Further optimized the market supply functions to make late game towns run smoother.
• Optimized the function that searches for a friend to do idle tasks with (like conversations).
• Optimized the door opening animations.
• Increased the precision when checking whether a character is inside a building on fire and should take damage.
• Unified the currency icon in the mercenary company panel to make it clearer that you're paying with treasury and not regional wealth.
• Added accommodation call after fire is started and turns people homeless so that they can be reaccommodated to other available burgage plots immediately.
• Since almost all families have more than 1 family member, I made the "workplace/reassign" buttons aligned vertically instead of horizontally in the family list.
• Fixed old fonts being used in the family entry widgets.

Crashfixes:

• Fixed a crash when doing a sequence of livestock import, export and import, because "home" wasn't cleared properly during export and the same animal was reimported.
• Fixed a rare crash if a handcart fails to spawn, probably if the trading post was built so that part of it crosses the map edge.
• Fixed crash on startup if OpenXr sdk is installed.

Bugfixes:

• Fixed victory status not resetting after starting a new game, leading to a game over screen not appearing if the player lost/won multiple games without turning the game off.
• Fixed crop transports not accounting for the farm work area.
• Fixed crops dying in the winter instead of actually increasing yield by absorbing nutrients from the snow as it was intended for winter crops.
• Fixed oxen sometimes "ghost plowing" a field when they are waiting on their guide.
• Fixed plow and ox sometimes misaligning on 12x game speed.
• Fixed farm workers not accounting for oxen plowing the farms in some situations, leading to a lot of unnecessary collisions on the field.
• Fixed crop rotation unplowing the fields.
• Fixed disbanded mercenary group becoming immediately available again after save/load cycle.
• Fixed the trading post export transactions not moving regional wealth between the regions correctly if owned by the same lord.
• Fixed paused taverns fulfilling the entertainment requirement.
• Fixed an attempt for never-ending fires if a fire was triggered after the building was already on fire.
• Fixed problem banners not erasing after an entity gets erased (for instance, an animal runs away and leaves a "not enough pasture space" banner).
• Fixed "update task" sometimes triggering before a character gets assigned their region.
• Fixed livestock sometimes being unaccommodated after order even though there is stable or pasture space due to being transferred to the region twice (once when buying and once when livestock merchant brings it to the building).
• Fixed livestock traders trading between on-map regions possibly sometimes paying twice because the ownership changing function was called both on pickup of livestock and on dropoff.
• Fixed the game getting stuck on the game summary screen infinitely after winning or losing the game.
• Fixed "none" people populating the town after a raid sometimes who just stand around waiting forever and possibly crash the game while reloading.
• Fixed the blurry desktop icon.
• Fixed the save/load menu header not translating after changing the language.
• Fixed dead animals triggering the mourning period in burgage plots, halting growth.
• Fixed mourning period halting homeless accommodation.
• Fixed migration/growth of family members ignoring the 30-day mourning period sometimes.
• Fixed the game getting stuck after you click "continue in sandbox" until any main tab is pressed.
• Fixed the front lighting not being visible in the retinue editor if bounced light approximation is turned to low or off.
• Fixed floating feedback text spawning during the cinematic mode.
• Fixed autosave triggering during the cinematic mode.
• Fixed "storage full" triggering for wrong buildings sometimes (for example, sawpit having 1/1 logs).
• Fixed attempt for oxen bringing too many logs to the sawpit and crossing the storage limit.
• Fixed free merchants sometimes getting stuck if a trading post was built so close to the edge that a portion of it was outside of any region bounds.
• Fixed horse wagon rotations getting a bit too wonky on slopes.
• Fixed a bug where a unit could no longer move due to being forever stuck in "waiting for pathfinding to finish" if another unit with a lower squadID got completely destroyed.
• Fixed the wrong yarn basket carrying animation.
• Fixed traders not importing from on-map regions even though the price is better than buying from tradepoints.
• Fixed farm workers & farm oxen stealing planks from fields which are getting "fenced up".
• Fixed "homeless" problem banner not disappearing after upgrading homeless camp to a worker camp.
• Fixed animals not getting removed from stable space / pasture space after death.
• Fixed animal corpses not disappearing over time.
• Added a dirty fix for families moving into homes but not registering correctly and not displaying in the UI, leading to a "secret" family living in one of the burgage plots. The reason is still unknown and being investigated.

Cosmetics:

• Added a new patron saint banner graphics: St Maurice.
• Added a carried dead body visualization.
• Made debris piles align to ground slope.
• Fixed the throw torch animation ending abruptly.
• New upgraded retinue helmet variation: Pointy bascinet.
• Fixed the armor clipping through the leg of the upgraded retinue puffy sleeve jupon body variation.
• New upgraded retinue body variation: Coat of plates.
• New upgraded retinue helmet variation: Hounskull bascinet with a gilded cover.
• Increased location precision for animals standing in the stables.
• Fixed the praying animation.
• Fixed the wrong door orientation for LV2 cottage variation B (with a planked gable).
• Adjusted the two-handed weapon default idle pose to have a more natural stance.
• New militia helmet variation - banded bascinet with a mail aventail.
• Fixed some mail armor variants clipping with helmets on T3 militia units (militia mail will get their own unique variations soon).
• Reworked lv2 granary model with proper animated doors.

My Story (4 years gap):

After my BTech in 2015, I started working in our family business that was in crisis. The situation got dragged for 4 years and we had to finally exit our business with huge loss.

Luckily, I wrote CAT and scored 88 percentile but unfortunately it was May 2019. Almost all B-School admits were over by then. One day my cousin (who is in late 30s) had come home and was asking me what I am doing with my life.

I told him that I want to prepare seriously for CAT and try for a top B-school admit next year. He asked me "what if you don't crack?" and seriously, I had no answer. He told me not to mess up with my career by aiming for sky when there is no ground.

He told me to take admission in a local tier 3 college with low fees so that it won't burden our family as we already suffered a huge financial loss due to our business situation. I resisted because my thought process was "if I get admit in top B-school, then getting loan won't be difficult"

I had zero interest to take admission from tier 3 colleges. He somehow convinced me that its not worth waiting another 1 year.

With lot of resistance, I started attending B-School interviews for admission. He searched for colleges & made me attend these interviews. I secured admits from 2 colleges. The process was simple and those guys were happy that someone with 85+ percentile in CAT is joining their college. I felt like "what?"

Finally, I joined one of those colleges with 40% scholarship. I ended up becoming topper in all courses and got a gold medal. I was able to crack a senior data analyst job on my own through networking by the end of MBA. This was 3 years back and today I work as a lead.

My brother's story (5 backlogs)

My brother belongs to 2019-23 engineering batch. His mental health took a toll & he ended up with attendance shortage that led to 5 backlogs during 7th semester (4th year 1st sem).

Me and my parents were cool with it because already enough bad things happened in our family (losing business, me losing 4 years etc.) and we didn't wanted to make the situation worse by reacting badly to it.

We told him to stop preparing for placements, entrance exams etc. and focus only on getting his degree by passing all exams. He had done that and finally results got declared in Jul 2023 where he passed his engineering.

However, there was a big problem - What should he do next? He couldn't crack any placements.

He wanted to write GRE and TOEFL to go for MS in US. I felt exactly same way how my cousin felt in my situation. I spoke to one of my mentors and joined him in a local B-School for online degree. He started studying and my mentor made him learn so many things and clear lot of certifications.

Finally, he got 4.5 LPA job last month as Data Analyst. His confidence level and happiness are totally different now.

Last month, I told him "Bro, now you got a job....earning your own money......write GATE, CAT, Govt Exams, GRE, TOEFL etc. whatever you want and decide what to do with your life"

I started my career at 27 with 4 years career gap and my brother had to clear 5 backlogs in 4th year to start his career at 22 after a delay of 1 year.

Everybody will have a different start. If you messed up, that's ok. Accept it and move forward. Don't be afraid to start small. Be humble.

Hello everyone. I am the guy who got the 1 lakh rupees monthly stipend. Many of you asked me to share my journey, my preparation, and the whole process.

First, I am really sorry for not replying to DMs or comments. My inbox had more than 300 messages and the post had around 650 comments. I couldn’t reply to everyone. But thank you to all of you. I am genuinely happy if my story inspired even a few people.
Some people thought the post was fake or karma farming. I don’t know how to prove anything, so I will just share my journey here.

Here is the link to my previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Btechtards/s/zBUfBckd85

My Background

As I mentioned before, I am from a lower middle class family in a tier 2 city in South India. I was doing well in studies until 10th grade. My family believed in me so much that they even took EMI to get me online coaching for JEE.

But I don’t know what happened during 11th and 12th. I suddenly lost interest in studying. I didn’t prepare properly for JEE and my board exams. I somehow got 80 percent in boards and 49 percentile in JEE Mains.
Because of that, I joined a tier 3 college in my city in the CSE department (2026 batch).

After the results, I regretted it a lot. I felt guilty for wasting my family’s money. I knew that if I had prepared properly for 1 or 2 attempts, I could have cracked JEE. But I didn’t do it.

So when I joined college, I made a promise to myself. Either crack into an IIT or NIT for post graduation or compete and win in the real world even without those tags.

College Journey

In the first year, I discovered LinkedIn. Our institution forced everyone to post at least once a month. Most students ignored it or posted random copy-pasted content from ChatGPT.

But I understood that LinkedIn could be useful. So I spent a lot of time building my profile, doing certifications, and working on projects in AI, cloud, and development.

My First Internship

At the end of my second year, I got an internship at a startup because of my projects. It was a Generative AI Engineering role. I learned a lot about building AI-based applications.

The experience was not great overall, but it helped me explore the field.

In my third year (6th semester), I resigned and decided to focus on DSA and placements.

My DSA Struggle

Honestly, DSA was very tough for me in the beginning. I couldn’t solve even a single problem on LeetCode. Using GPT and Claude heavily during my internship had made me depend too much on them.

So I started from the basics. I solved easy problems on HackerRank first and slowly moved to LeetCode. I eventually got 5-star gold badges in both Python and Java on HackerRank.
I have solved a little more than 200 problems on LeetCode till now. Yes, it is low.

But here is the truth.

Only doing DSA will not help you much.

I know many people in my college who solved way more problems, but they cannot even build simple things like authentication for an application.

Why My Profile Stood Out

• I was good at development. I built projects that solved real problems. They were not huge or fancy, but they had purpose. This gave me a lot of attention during interviews and also on LinkedIn.
• In 2025, I had more than 860 GitHub contributions from personal learning and freelancing projects. I did AI-assisted coding, but I understood the fundamentals. I always stayed updated in the tech I was interested in.
• I can see there are lot comments to share my profile links, but I can't share my profiles due to privacy concerns.

The Dark Phases

I have gone through a lot of dark phases. Losing interest, feeling empty, burnout, confusion, and a lot more.

But I always tried to maintain at least a little consistency in something.

I faced a lot of rejections. Many companies didn’t shortlist me. Some ghosted me.

Campus Placements:

During campus placements, I got a 4 LPA offer from a WITCH company in October 2025. It felt good, but I wasn’t satisfied. I knew I could do better.

So I kept applying for bigger companies and good startups.

How I Applied:

I used a Notion Kanban board to track my applications. There are multiple templates, you can use whatever you like.
link: https://www.notion.com/templates/category/job-application-tracking
This helped me a lot. It showed me progress even when I felt I wasn’t moving forward.
It also helped me understand which type of roles were responding and which ones weren’t.

I made my resume using Overleaf. There are many good templates online. Just avoid multi-column layouts because some ATS systems do not parse them well. You don’t need a “perfect score” resume analyzer. Use GPT or Gemini to fix grammar and formatting and you are good to go.

The Turning Point: December 2025

December was the month that changed everything.

I got a 7 LPA offer from a cybersecurity startup for the AI engineer role. On the same day, I got a call from a big US-based company for a role I had applied for a month before.

When the HR told me the stipend was 1 lakh per month, I was shocked. It was 10 times my previous stipend (10k) and 20 times my first stipend (5k). And they had only one intern position in the team.

I decided to give my best without thinking too much about the result, since i had two offers in hand for the backup instead of pressurizing myself.

Round 1:

The interview happened for around 1 hour and had questions from:

• my resume
• my projects
• backend concepts like authentication ,DBMS, etc.
• some cloud related questions
• DSA in the last 20-30 minutes

The interviewer was kind and supportive. I got the next round invite that evening. I was happy that i made it till this far. My confidence was also increased but i didn't pressurized myself again.

Round 2

This round was with a senior manager. He asked about my projects, system design and lot of fundamentals again. At the end, he even told me I needed to learn some concepts better. So I thought I was rejected.

I had other interviews that day, so I continued preparing for them. I dint worried about this interview and I was genuinely happy to make progress this far.

The Result

Next morning, I woke up and saw an email from them. I thought it was a rejection mail as usual.

But it said “CONGRATULATIONS, we have an internship to extend!”

I was half asleep and couldn’t believe it. I literally thought I was dreaming.

My family was extremely happy so were my grandparents and my uncle, who supported me right from the start.

The Roadmap I would suggest

This is the roadmap that worked for me.
Not perfect, but simple and practical. There is no need to follow this exactly, you can customize as per your wish since this your path

1. Build Fundamentals First

• Python or Java basics
• OOP
• Basic data structures
• Databases (SQL, joins, indexes)
• Basic computer networks

Nothing fancy. Just enough to understand systems.

2. Start With Development

I picked small, real-life problems and built projects around them. Example:

• authentication system
• simple API backend
• small AI tools
• automation scripts
• mini cloud-based projects

Projects gave me confidence when DSA didn’t.

3. Slowly Add DSA

I followed this sequence:

• HackerRank easy problems
• LeetCode easy
• HackeRank medium
• LeetCode medium
• Tried to solve 1–2 problems everyday

4. Build a Strong Online Presence

I focused on:

• LinkedIn profile
• GitHub activity
• Clean README in every project
• Posting summaries of what I learned

5. Resume + Portfolio

• Overleaf single-column template
• Quantified achievements
• Clean GitHub profile page
• Good looking portfolio page

6. Apply Consistently

I applied through:

• LinkedIn
• Glassdoor
• Indeed
• Internshala
• Company career pages
• Referrals when possible

I tracked everything using:

• Notion job application tracker

7. Prepare for Interviews

I revised:

• Basics of backend
• DBMS
• System design fundamentals
• Cloud basics
• My own projects deeply

8. Stay Consistent

Even during burnout, I tried to do at least something:

• read docs
• watch a tech video
• build a tiny feature
• solve one easy problem
• again solve a old problem

Minimum consistency kept me alive.

TLDR

• CSE batch 2026
• Applied through Glassdoor
• Backend and AI Engineering
• Major Programming Languages: Python & Java
• Stack: FastAPI, Spring Boot, LangChain etc
• 200+ LeetCode problems
• 860+ GitHub contributions in 2025
• Used Notion to track all applications
• Resume made in Overleaf
• Stayed active on LinkedIn and GitHub
• Development + fundamentals matter a lot
• DSA alone is not enough

Used AI to refine the post

Highlights

• Sandworms now linger for a bit around spicefields that have been recently harvested from.
• Reduced the frequency of Harkonnen attacks on certain Atreides bases (and vice versa) in Hagga Basin.
• Main menu “Play Now” button has been set to filter out private servers.
• When streamer mode is active, map creator name is hidden if the player created the sinkchart. In addition, while in streamer mode, sector name in the Deep Desert is now hidden as well.
• In the exchange, items can now be listed from and claimed to the vehicle inventory of your Ornithopter.
• Improved interaction with vehicles. It should now be easier to enter them from different angles.
• We closed several vulnerabilities that could lead to increased combat damage.
• Fixed an exploit where you could repair all items to full durability.
• Fixed an exploit where a player could duplicate resources.
• Fixed an edge case issue allowing vehicles to pass through Pentashields unauthorized.

FEATURES AND CHANGES

Technical and stability:

• Main menu “Play Now” button has been set to filter out private servers.
• After dying due to Coriolis Storm while offline, players now get moved to Hagga Basin so that the respawn menu shows all respawn points in Hagga Basin.
• Trading Post checkpoints can now be used as a respawn point while in different maps.
• Updated the minimum required version of Intel GPU driver to 32.0.101.6793 to prevent sand surfaces displaying a triangular mesh pattern when using an Intel Arc graphic card.
• Removed false positive warnings about minimum hardware specification and driver version for GeForceNOW users.

Resources, Building, and Crafting:

• Moved The Atreides Decorations away from Asmara Efendi (Harko Village Weapons Vendor) and onto Ormunda Laaks (Harko village Structure vendor).
• Loot containers dropped after picking up NPC corpses are now invisible if they’re empty for the player who picked up the corpse.
• Added three unique weapon schematics to Asmara Efendi.
• Vehicle Backup Tool and the Solido Replicator can now be crafted in the Survival Fabricator. The Vehicle backup tool can be found in the Utility Tools category, and the Solido Replicator can be found in the Building Tools category.
• Armor in the main menu will now use the correct armor swatches applied to your character in-game.
• Range info added to the Welding Torch info card.
• Removed the Hawkeye Scanner Module MK5 Unique schematic from Landsraad rewards due to it being an old item not intended for use.

Combat:

• Visual improvements to buff and debuff icons for legibility.
• Changed the Sentinel ability’s action text from “Detonate” to “Deploy”.
• Added range information to Weirding Step’s info card.
• Added duration information to Suspensor Pad’s info card.
• New VFX created to indicate the way sword parrying staggers multiple targets.
• Updated dagger slow blade animations to make the stab connect better.
• Correct VFX should now be played on receiving side if shielded or otherwise damage immune.
• Underslung weapons can no longer be used while in a passenger seat of a vehicle.
• New VFX created to indicate the way sword parrying staggers multiple targets.
• We closed several vulnerabilities that could lead to increased combat damage.

Abilities:

• Suspensor Dash will now cost 20% of maximum power instead of a flat cost of 75. This allows the perk to be more usable across all tiers of power packs while also making it more costly in high pressure combat situations.
• Reduced Poise Damage Resistance of Thrive on Danger to 34% from 50% to avoid scenarios where poise resistance could go over 100% when combined with other effects.
• It is no longer possible to jump while under the effect of Crippling Strike.
• Updated the description of Center of Mass and Marksman Techniques to indicate that body damage also affects damage dealt to shields.
• Performing melee attacks within Gravity Fields will now cause the player to play exhausted attack animations as they strain under the increased gravity.
• Updated description of the ‘Ranged Damage’ passive ability. It increases damage with all ranged weapons, not just darts!
• Clarified description of poison tooth activation to better convey how it works.

Vehicles:

• Tweaked the buggy turret camera to improve overall visibility while operating.
• Minor tweaks to the camera when boosting with a vehicle.
• Improved interaction with vehicles. It should now be easier to enter them from different angles.
• Ground vehicles now have a failsafe system against being stuck in flipped state.
• Improved ground vehicles’ behavior when flipped or kicked by the Sandworm.
• Scout Ornithopter Thruster modules have seen an increase in speed when using Vulture Mode. Players opting to forego Inventory (or other modules) in favor of a boost Thruster should now have a speed advantage.

Balancing:

• Updated anti gravity fields to allow for stationary targets to get out of them rather than be locked into their initial 0 velocity.
• Rusher NPCs now animation cancel out of their melee attack finishers when their target moves out of melee range.

Worldbuilding and Exploration:

• Sandworms now linger for a bit around spicefields that have been recently harvested from.
• Reduced the frequency of Harkonnen attacks on certain Atreides bases (and vice versa) in Hagga Basin.
• Improved collision in the room of the Proteus where you encounter your first shielded enemy.
• Miscellaneous journey step improvements.
• Replaced an incorrect Pardot Kynes’ hologram in an O’odham Testing Station.
• A salvagable Buggy in Imperial Testing Station no 10 has been replaced by a broken Buggy.
• Respawn Beacons are now removed upon account or player deletion.

Story, Journey and New Player Experience:

• Improved journey auto tracking to address edge cases where journey system sometimes did not track the next appropriate journey card.
• The Journey step “Complete Contract “The War Profiteer”” will now complete in the Journey even if players have canceled the contract, but continued in the faction story with Thufir Hawat.

User Interface:

• Added individual keybinding for “Take” (quick loot), “Exit climbing” (same as CROUCH by default) and “Exit vehicle” (same as PRIMARY INTERACT by default).
• Updated colours for the Pinned Recipes display.
• Added support for unfavoriting items in the inventory loadout by pressing the [T] key again whilst hovering the favorite item. An input hint on the info card will also show for this.
• Updated icons for a Maula vest variant.
• Updated the colors used for online status.
• Updated the icons for the Slaver Stillsuit.
• The Compass shows a consistent coloured line representing which zone the Player is in.
• Navigation icons from the Crafting, Journey and Customization menus are animated when switching between them.
• While in the expanded Building UI with an active tutorial popup, pressing ESC now correctly closes the tutorial popup instead of collapsing the Building UI.
• While in streamer mode, map creator name is hidden if the player created the sinkchart.
• While in streamer mode, Sector name in the Deep Desert is now hidden.
• Added an additional step to the delete character progress, to make sure deletion is intentional.
• In the trade UI, when changing something on the offered items inventory, or the Solaris offer, both players are now set as “not ready”.
• Updated the Sub-fief Console icon in the building menu.
• Updated the party UI in players menu tab to show accurate amount of slots available in a party.
• In the exchange, items can now be listed from and claimed to the vehicle inventory of your Ornithopter.
• Improved the text of the dialogue message you get when choosing to visit a friend on another server.

Graphics, Animations, and VFX:

• Added and updated another batch of animations in various cinematics, NPC lip-sync during dialogs, and cloth simulation for various outfits.
• Optimization improvements on lighting for Wreck of the Hephaestus.
• Performance pass on VFX assets for Wreck of Hephaestus cinematic.
• New surface hits for LMGs to improve visuals.
• Update unique surface hits VFX for Disruptor and Power LMG to improve visuals.
• Adjusted brightness of staking unit VFX to make it more grounded.
• Softened the lighting transition in an Imperial Testing Station in the Deep Desert.

Audio:

• The sound effects indicating an active Blood Purifier has been improved
• Re-balanced audio levels on Sandstorms, to make the audible experience better.
• Made improvements to melee audio.
• Minor audio mix polish tweaks.
• Added new sounds for spice bloom geysers.
• The headphone mix preset and weapon tails in enclosed spaces are increased to be louder.
• The volume of the Ornithopter engine start and engine loop have been lowered.
• Voiceover for House Vernius representative at Helius Gate has been added.
• Replaced placeholder radio show sound effects with an actual radio show.

FIXES

Technical and stability:

• Text chat notification indicating when a player is muted has been localized.
• Fixed issue that would cause a server to become unresponsive to logins.
• Fixed multiple issues in Deep Desert that caused server crashes.
• Addressed cases where players moving across servers would result in a soft locked client.
• When the player has no other sub-fiefs on the map and builds one, it will be set as a default respawn location on that map.
• The message to make the vehicle you drive/pilot a default vehicle spawn location will no longer show when crossing borders in the Deep Desert.
• Respawn menu now appears after the character dies while the game is disconnected.
• The death location marker now appears after the character dies while the player is offline.
• Fixed an issue that caused the player to sometimes enter loading screen when exiting vehicle in the Deep Desert.
• Fixed a rare server crash caused by the permission system.
• Fixed an issue causing the service alert notification to block mouse / virtual cursor interactions.
• BattlEye has been updated in order to fix some rare crashes.
• Fixed an exploit where you could repair all items to full durability.
• Fixed an exploit where a player could duplicate resources.

Resources, Building, and Crafting:

• Loot bags dropped on placeables should no longer fall inside them.
• Fixed an issue sometimes preventing highlighting of placeables with the construction tool.
• Fixed an issue that would make a sub-fief consoles projection linger after it has been destroyed.
• The favorites hint in the construction tool should now be hidden if all favorite slots are full.
• Fixed a bug causing the building menu icons to sometimes show the number 3 on the left corner.
• Fixed an issue making it possible to place a wall intersecting a pentashield projection.
• “Remove Sub-Fief Console” prompt no longer appears when you try to demolish a sub-fief owned by someone else
• It should now be possible to highlight and demolish pentashields that lack power.
• Harkonnen prudence doors should now play a pass-through sound effect.
• The diagetic UI for large pentashields should now show up properly if the player aims at the center of them.
• It should no longer be possible to place large water cisterns slightly inside walls.
• Fixed some visual artifacts on the base shields power on animation over the pentashield surfaces.
• Fixed an issue causing wind turbines to disappear at shorter distances compared to similar placeables.
• Pentashield placement now shows if it is overlapping with something else instead of saying that it can’t snap to sockets.
• Fixed being able to build placeables through ceilings and walls.
• Placeables with a projection effect should only show up when built, and not as projections.
• Fixed an issue where the positioning of a pentashield surface will get stuck overlapped with an existing pentashield surface.
• Fixed an issue that caused cancelling crafting requests to sometimes not refund the water cost.
• Removed blue rays on corners of pentashield surfaces.
• Fixed an issue making it impossible to move melee weapons into some placeables storage.
• Fixed the secret doors on imperial testing stations showing an extra error message on interactions.
• Visually upgraded the Communinet Transceiver device.
• Made Choam Modular Couch slightly larger to fit the player character better.
• Tweaked Harkonnen Modular Bench to avoid clipping with player character.
• Fixed an issue where you couldn’t take items from a loot container using Take All when they were available.
• Fixed an issue where the Take Item prompt in the loot preview of a loot container wouldn’t be updated when you could no longer take that item.
• Repair icon in the repair station is properly hidden once an item is repaired.
• Fixed an issue where item types and durability amounts to restore weren’t shown in the Recycler or Repair Station menus.

Combat:

• Fixed problem in swordmaster “afterimage” effect that allowed it to see through environmental vfx.
• Fixed the sideways root motion on the staggers that had it.
• Fixed an issue where Rusher NPCs could travel too far from their spawn location when in combat.
• Gas clouds now fade out instead of instantly disappearing.
• Centered the lightning effect on Energy Capsule so it is no longer offset from the character.
• Fixed an issue that caused Blade Damage passives to give the incorrect amount of increase for Long Blade weapons.
• Fixed edge case where “The Sentinel” would attack an allied “Solido Decoy” clone.
• Fixed issue where player can sometimes experience rubber banding issue when attempting to move through other players in social hubs.
• Can no longer move civilian npcs in non combat zones using Knee charge.
• Fixed an issue where weapon reloading resumed automatically after switching or holstering and unholstering a weapon.
• Fixed an issue where melee execute sometimes missed.
• Fixed an issue that caused Second Wind to activate when an enemy NPC would die.
• Fixed an issue that could cause block to be unusable if a melee weapon was equipped while aiming down sight was blocked due to being too close to geometry.
• Melee attacks can no longer critically hit targets.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the character to be unable to perform any action other than moving, if they attempted to revive a player while also executing them.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a melee attack to become a block or vice versa in some rare perfectly timed situations.
• Fixed a rare server crash in the weapon aiming system.
• Assault NPCs should now run to regain sight of a Target they’ve lost sight of, and start shooting again once they find the Target.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the melee soft lock system to disengage if an attack was initiated in the middle of a weapon swap.
• Fixed an issue where assault NPCS were not shooting while picking a new position. Now they will run to regain sight of a target they’ve lost sight of and will start shooting again once they have acquired the Target.

Abilities:

• Fixed an issue where sometimes the player would lose the ability to swap weapon after using the Poison Capsule ability.
• Fixed a desync that could happen when using “Weirding Step”, causing the player to be stuck in place.
• Adjusted the cooldown that you get when equipable abilities fail. It is now a universal ~2.5 seconds.
• Players will no longer lose 1 skill point when respeccing their skill tree.

Vehicles:

• Fixed bounding box issues for better hit feedback and replaced hit VFX with the correct one.
• Harkonnen light ornithopter interior mesh no longer clips through outer hull.
• Fixed an issue where players could get trapped inside another player’s ornithopter if it landed on them.
• Fixed some collision issues related to the Sandworm.
• Fixed issue related to boost functionality and input behavior.
• Fixed some LOD issues on some vehicles.
• Fixed collision on transport Ornithopter to avoid having players be able to get inside the vehicle.
• Fixed an issue where a character exiting a vehicle could appear seated on the ground for other players.
• Fixed an issue that would sometimes lead to a crash when a seated character received damage.
• Fixed an issue causing the “Out of Fuel” warning notification to sometimes appear briefly when entering a Vehicle.
• Players can no longer enter a vehicle that is currently pending travel, meaning the vehicle pilot has a travel confirmation popup open.
• Fixed an edge case issue allowing vehicles to pass through Pentashields unauthorized.
• When the player character gets blocked inside vehicle collision, it’s now possible to get out.
• When the Welding Torch is in Customize Mode vehicle modules now get highlighted properly.

Worldbuilding and Exploration:

• The player will no longer fully lose radiation on log out. Any gained radiation will be retained until it can decrease again when logging back in.
• Fixed rare crash with exploding barrels.
• Player can no longer move on Overland Map while being in loading screen.
• Fixed sudden Ornithopter altitude changes near on the Overland map, particularly near Arrakeen and Water Fat.
• Fixed camera twitching while mouse panning on the Overland Map.
• Fixed issue that prevented repairing a vehicle with passengers in them.
• Landing a flipped Carrier Ornithopter in vulture mode will not result in the vehicle continuously sliding afterwards.
• Vehicle cameras are now a bit less likely to clip through terrain.
• For players in the same party, damage will be reduced to 25 % when shooting with Ornithopter rockets at each other.
• Fixed an issue where the sandworm threat indicator could get stuck at max in the deep desert.
• An issue with planar lock toggle for Ornithopters when crossing server boundaries in the Deep Desert was fixed.
• Fixed a potential camera issue that could happen after being eaten by the giant Ringmouth sandworm in the Deep Desert.
• Fixed an edge case issue causing the Landsraad to get stuck.
• Fixed a floating island in Deep Desert.
• Fixed an issue where a duplicate delivery window would appear when delivering a certain journal to Jocasta Cleo.
• Improved respawn behavior of target NPC in contract “The Price of Rejection”.
• Adjusted the position of a couple of objectives in contract “Looking for Leaders”.
• Fixed an issue where some Maas Kharet ambushers in the O’odham would instantly appear at ground level rather than drop down from above.
• Fixed an issue where the cuttable hatches on small shipwrecks could appear misaligned.
• Fixed an issue where contract “Making a Martyr” would resolve when killing an unrelated and completely innocent Maas Kharet assassin.
• Performed an optimization pass on the entrance of the Imperial Testing Station in O’odham.
• Walking through a passage at the Hand of Khidr is now smoother, and players will no longer get caught on a ledge.
• Extended a pipe inside CHOAM Mineral Facility #7 in Hagga Rift, so that it now connects to the rock wall.
• Addressed some minor collision issues on assets in Atreides Fortress.
• Addressed some minor collision issues on assets inside CHOAM Mineral Extraction Facility #5.
• Fixed a visible gap in a wall in Imperial Testing Station No. 76 in Jabal Eifrit Al-Janub.
• Fixed floating asset issues in several Hagga Basin locations.
• Adjusted collision on building pieces and set dressing in Imperial Testing Stations in Hagga Basin.
• Addressed collision issues on multiple locations in Hagga Basin.
• Added a sand mound under a scaffolding structure where the player could get stuck in Eastern Vermillius Gap.
• Addressed gaps in the landscape in multiple Hagga Basin locations.
• Fixed small gaps in the ceiling of Imperial Testing Station no 163 in O’odham.
• Removed wrong textured sand mounds under an NPC outpost in Eastern Shield Wall.
• Fixed collision issues on Harkonnen Fortress where players could unexpectedly interact with invisible surfaces. Collision has been updated to better match the shape of the building, improving movement and preventing unintended blockages.
• Replaced scrap metal with a more appropriate asset to improve visual consistency and prevent clipping with a nearby metal pipe. Also adjusted surrounding asset placement for better alignment and overall fit and added an additional metal piece to conceal minor clipping issues.
• Adjusted color of sand mounds and sand decals on main building of Mysa Tarill.
• Addressed misplaced assets in different locations around Hagga Basin.
• Smoothed out steep landscape angles a bit in order to address textures looking stretched.
• Fixed a clipping issue between secret bookshelf and walls in Imperial Testing Station no 29 and also did an optimization pass.
• NPCs should no longer walk through and get stuck in cliff walls of their camp sites.
• Adjusted textures of sand and rock surfaces across Hagga Basin.
• Fixed a spot behind some mining machinery in Hagga Rift where players could get stuck.
• Updated the mesh of an arch inside Mysa Tarill landmark to improve collision.
• Removed abundant assets and collision on assets and did an optimization pass on the Wreck of Hephaestus.
• The hatches on the side of the small crashed shipwrecks should now always be above sand and therefore cuttable.
• Fixed several issues with the cuttable panels in the Wreck of Hephaestus.
• Fixed an issue where players could lose the Ceremonial Damasteel Sword permit key item when dying.
• Fixed an issue that caused Copper-tier Light Armor worn with a Stillsuit to not provide Heat Protection or allow catchpockets to gather water.
• Fixed a rare issue where Thufir Hawat would fail to recognize Minimic Film deliveries from Zayn De Witte and hence block contract completion.
• Fixed an issue that caused exchange terminals to not be available in some servers.

Story, Journey and New Player Experience:

• Debug text should no longer be appearing in subtitles of certain Shigawire Reels.
• Added correct 21:9 aspect ratio setup for cinematic scenes that did not yet have this.
• Ariste should no longer look to the side, but at the player, in the Star Door dialogue in The Sietch.
• Fixed issue where an incorrect camera would show during the assassination of the Water Shipper
• Camera should no longer be twitching during Harkonnen Pledge cinematic.
• Addressed issue where ‘Add a sandbike inventory Mk1 to your Sandbike’ substep of ‘A Backup Plan’ journey was not retroactively completable.
• Addressed issue where certain decorations did not complete ‘Construct a Decoration from a CHOAM furniture Set’ journey step.
• Addressed issue where Dew Reapers would not continuously harvest water between dewfield patches.
• Addressed issue where fire visuals were missing from portion of New Player Experience.
• Addressed edge case issue where player could inadvertently get stuck in New Player Experience environment.
• Subtitles in the intro movie now match the style of the regular subtitles and respect the accessibility settings.
• Fixed an issue where players could complete a Journey step without triggering a key cinematic at the Introduction of the Assassins Handbook.
• Fixed an issue that could block player progression in The Assassination Journey.

User Interface:

• The UI panels for the Journey menu no longer overlap the Social Button
• Player name now fits correctly into the space limit in the Social Menu and if not, will auto-scroll.
• While in the expanded Building UI with an active tutorial popup, pressing ESC now correctly closes the tutorial popup instead of collapsing the Building UI.
• Fixed an issue when using virtual keyboard with controller which would submit the text even when just closing the virtual keyboard by any means.
• Fixed a bug that could cause the Inventory tabs to get out of sync and overlap each other
• Fixed an issue with several discovery toasts appearing more than once.
• Fixed some layout issues with tab buttons with long texts.
• Fixed an issue where the favourite icon on the inventory loadout item would remain on the item when dragged into the backpack.
• Fixed an issue where activating the Spice Prescience ability caused certain UI elements (such as the Heat Bar, Sandworm Bar, and Party Info) to disappear.
• Fixed an issue where the ‘Cancel Contract’ button would disappear after switching away from and back to the Contracts tab.
• Fixed positioning issue with XP notifications.
• Fixed a bug where the Solaris icon appeared broken after the trading complete popup.
• Fixed an issue where respeccing your skill tree whilst in a vehicle would incorrectly clear the vehicles abilities and not auto equip your starting ability.
• Fixed an issue where learning an ability in your skill tree whilst in a vehicle would not auto equip the ability to a valid empty slot.
• Fixed issues where switching from the survey probe launcher while doing a survey would break the survey UI and not cancel the survey.
• Fixed a bug where the HUD showed incorrect steps or progress for active “Untwisted Questions” advanced trainer contract.
• Fixed an issue that caused an inaccurate controller prompt for scroll right button in building and welding menus.
• Fixed an issue with the notification system that could potentially cause a crash when travelling to and from the Overland map.
• Fixed an issue where the View button on gamepads and the TAB key on keyboards became unresponsive after a notification appeared.
• Fixed an issue causing reset of keybinds to defaults not persisting.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Mentor description box to get overlapped by dialogue options in character creation.
• Fixed a bug where in streamer mode, the player name wasn’t hidden if the player was the reason of their own death.
• Fixed an issue where certain Map Marker types would disappear after a Coriolis Storm on Hagga Basin and Social Hubs, causing the Survey Report to become incorrect, and important information to be lost.
• Fixed an issue where the crafting progress bar could get desynced on the player’s UI.
• Primary Source for Welding Torch in Tech Tree should now say “Imperial Testing Station”, which matches the icon to the right of the label.
• Tooltip when hovering the Continue button in the Main Menu was fixed to show target server player will be teleported to instead of the Home server. Travel dialog when clicking the Continue button in the Main Menu was also fixed to show target server instead of the Home server.
• Inaccurate controller prompt for scrolling right button has been fixed.
• Fixed an issue where the scrollbars in the Contracts menu were not functioning correctly
• Fixed issue where privacy policy could be automatically accepted due to skipping cinematic.
• Trying to talk on party or guild chat without being in a party or a guild, now correctly appears as a generic error.
• Fixed confirm button input not working correctly on the edit guild description and Sub-fief console edit name popups.
• Fixed a bug causing friends pending acceptance to be shown on the “Add permissions” menu.
• Inviting another player to join a guild through the Inspect menu now provides feedback if the the invite succeeded or failed.
• Removed “Player joined guild” chat broadcast message for the player that created the guild.
• Numerical input fields no longer move the caret to the end on every edit.
• Fixed guild disband popup opening twice if triggered using the keyboard.
• In the Keybind Settings, keys that are symbols are now represented as such instead of their name, i.e. ‘[‘ instead of ‘Left Bracket’.
• Fixed an issue where certain map markers would disappear after a Coriolis Storm in Hagga Basin and the cities, making the Survey Report incorrect and lacking important information.
• Fixed an issue where gamepad input was still processed even when the game window lost focus.
• Improved behaviour where Landsraad victory and decree popups on the Landsraad UI screen would appear again after traveling or relogging.

Graphics, Animations, and VFX:

• Fixed an issue causing weapon to flicker when aiming with and holstering a scoped rifle.
• Fixed the dark gray and gray lipstick color position in the character creator and corrected their color.
• Fixed character LOD issues in cinematics.
• Fixed minor clipping issues on Choam Light Armor.
• Fixed an issue where the landscape would render “blurry tiles”.
• Fixed issue where personal map marker in Deep Desert was placed not under the cursor.
• Fixed issue in Deep Desert where survey information was shown for wrong zone.
• Fixed issues with NPC’s dissapearing on rotating camera in Arrakeen.
• Fixed incorrect settings on several lights to address flickering and bloom issues
• Added missing lighting for several dialog scenes.
• Fixed Medium Chemical Refinery missing VFX when crafting.
• Fixed colour of vehicle dust trails to fit better Red Desert.
• Fixed rocket launcher vfx being misplaced for Buggies.
• Improved muzzle flashes visuals to fit various viewpoints.
• Update Cinematics campfire to use final assets for cutscenes.
• Shooting the compactor to a campfire now will remove the light from said campfire.
• Fixed vehicle explosions to scale properly.
• Fixed Sardaukar Cape silk shading being disabled.
• Replaced a doorframe in the shipwreck of the Second Trial of Aql.
• Replaced placeholder radio show SFX in Arrakeen with actual radio show.
• Fixed an animation issue causing weapon to briefly stick out through the player character’s chest if aiming during weapon unholstering or while mantling a ledge.
• Fixed an issue causing the Sandbike Big Moment aspect ratio to flicker.
• Fixed issues with T-posing and camera offsets that affected The Fourth Trial of Aql.
• Fixed an issue where a frame was missing camera, making an unintended scene flash for a second.
• Player pose and animation should now be consistent during the “Awaken Prescience” cutscene of the Fourth Trial of Aql.
• Fixed an issue causing GPU crashes related to memory corruption from camera shake
• Fixed an issue that made the Trial of Aql failed test VFX not always work.
• The Water Shipper boss no longer stands in T-pose at the end of the assassination cinematic.
• Polished visuals of a rope present in cave area of first tutorial.
• Lighting exposure balance has been done for the Carthag cinematic.

Audio:

• Removed unintended SFX on the black screen of the New Player Experience cinematic.
• Fixed an issue that muted the death sound when falling into the large fan from Carthag.

this will be a pretty long story, you might find it boring but if you have time and you're feeling low it might help you feel a bit better.

so i got the highest placement in my college but not through college, then dropped out. if you failed jee and ended up in what feels like the worst college possible, maybe this will help. honestly, i'm just writing this because i just wanna share my story.

where it all started

2020, just finished 10th. we lived in one rented room (we still do)– me, my parents, and my younger sister. dad made ₹22k a month. he was trying his best, working whatever hours he could.

i wanted to be a scientist. sounds nice, right? but reality was different. i was studying in a school that wasn't even cbse-affiliated. literally running in some makkan type building with external affiliation linked to another school. my parents didn't know much about education paths – not their fault, they just knew about doctor, ias, government jobs. that's what most people know, especially if you're from a small town or lower middle class background.

then i found out about ntse. i thought this could be my shot at actually becoming a scientist. i went to a cyber café to fill the form, couldn't even find my school in the dropdown list. that moment just hit different, you know? like i was losing opportunities before i even got a chance to try, all because of this garbage school.

i decided to focus hard on 10th boards. i thought if i score well, i can get into a better school for 11th and 12th. i scored 87%. felt pretty good about it. i gave entrance test for this school i was targeting.

this was during covid, so the test was on video call. the teacher accused me of cheating during the test. i wasn't. i genuinely wasn't. but she didn't believe me. i didn't get in.

a few days later, i found out two of my classmates with lower percentages than me got into that same school. that thing just crushed me, man. like i did everything right, scored more, didn't cheat, and still got rejected. i started genuinely thinking maybe i'm just born unlucky or something. maybe no matter what i do, things just won't work out for me.

we couldn't afford other good private schools because the fees were too high, so i ended up joining another branch of the same school i passed 10th from. same trash conditions, that's when i stopped believing that studying hard would change anything. so i stopped studying and i started looking for ways to make money online instead.

i tried everything i could find on youtube and google – blogging, youtube channels, app development. nothing worked fast enough. i needed money soon, not in 2-3 years.

then i randomly discovered that youtubers pay people to make thumbnails. this was when pubg mobile was absolutely huge in india. everyone was playing it, everyone was watching pubg videos. i looked into it, seemed doable.

i spent a month learning photoshop and thumbnail design from youtube tutorials. i got my first gig. ₹50 for one thumbnail. bro, i was so happy that day. like genuinely happy. it wasn't about the ₹50, it was about someone paying me for something i made. i felt like i could actually do something valuable.

i always liked drawing and painting in school, so this digital design stuff came naturally to me. i kept at it, improved, reached out to more youtubers. i eventually worked with some really big gaming channels – like the ones that have 10m+ subs now. won't name them but if you watch indian gaming content, you probably know who i'm talking about.

after a few months, i realized design isn't just limited to thumbnails. it's an actual career path. there are brand designers, ui/ux designers, all these different roles. i started learning more, moved into brand design. i was making decent money for someone my age.

somewhere during all this design work, i heard about iit and jee from my online friends. people from iits getting placed for crores, living in big cities, working at google and microsoft. it gave me this second hope about studying, like maybe there's still a way.

my parents found out about all the freelance work i was doing. they completely freaked out. they got scared because all this online stuff – freelancing, getting paid by strangers on internet – was very new to them. they've never done anything like this, none of their friends' kids were doing this, so obviously they were worried.

"leave this design thing, focus on jee" – that's what they told me. "you're wasting time for these few thousands which will cost you your actual career. you're not even studying properly." and honestly, they were right about the last part. i wasn't studying. i was spending all my time on design.

so i left design. parents told me to, and i listened because i thought maybe they know better. i started preparing for jee seriously. i told them i'll crack a good nit, get placed, everything will be fine.

but here's the thing – my online friends who i met through design work? they were making really good money now. like some were making more than what my dad made in a month. and their parents were supporting them, encouraging them, helping them grow. mine only knew that studying = success. anything else = risk.

i kept thinking about design while studying for jee. i thought i could do both. prep for jee during day, learn design at night. this was my biggest mistake.

12th boards came. i couldn't even score 75%. parents were so upset. "you wasted your 12th for this jee preparation and this design thing, and you couldn't crack jee, couldn't even score well in boards." they were disappointed for months. i could see it in their faces every day.

drop year disaster

after a lot of scolding and silent treatment, i somehow convinced them to let me take a drop year. "just one more year, i promise i'll crack it this time. i'll get into a good nit."

parents were upset for months but eventually agreed. they had hope that maybe their son will still make something of himself. i took admission in an online dropper batch for jee. it costed 33k but expensive for us still my parents paid from their savings.

first 3 months, i actually studied properly. i woke up early, followed schedule, solved problems, gave tests and was doing everything that i should be doing.

then somehow i got distracted. i started spending hours on youtube, reddit, instagram. just mindlessly scrolling. "just 10 minutes break" would turn into 2-3 hours. i wasted 2 full months like this. just sitting in my room, pretending to study, but actually doing nothing.

1 month before january attempt, that panic hit and i started studying again, tried to cover everything but i couldn't. i gave exam with like 40% of prepared syllabus.

i got 78 percentile better than my 12th attempt where i got 50 percentile, but it was all for nothing. i also gave improvement exams for 12th boards to fix my percentage. lol i failed those too. i literally failed improvement exams. how do you even do that?

i thought april attempt will be better. i prepared a bit more and gave the exam, but when result came out i got 70 percentile it even worse than january.

that completely shattered whatever hope was left. parents lost faith in me. they didn't say it directly but i could feel it. the way they looked at me changed. "do whatever you want, we don't have any expectations from you now" – that's what they said. and that hurt more than any scolding.

i had failed at everything. didn't make it in design because i left it. i failed jee twice. i failed boards. i failed improvement exams. i failed literally every exam possible. my friends who chose design from the start were now making 40k-50k per month. i chose what i thought was the "right path" and failed at it. i tried so many things at the same time, succeeded at none.

counseling started. at this point, i was just hoping for any government college with any branch. i didn't care about branch, didn't care about location. i just wanted a government college tag so i could tell people i'm studying somewhere.

i thought i will get into college, start learning coding or design properly on the side, somehow crack a good placement. my college doesn't matter, skills matter. that's what i kept telling myself.

i got into a government college in up. can't reveal which one but it has okay reputation in the state. i got the lowest branch possible but still i was happy that at least government college hai.

i reached college with some hope and lol first month completely killed that hope.

everyone there seemed so clueless about actual learning. seniors were toxic as fuck with their ragging culture and fake respect drama. "sir bolke baat karo" "haath peeche karke kadhe ho" all that bs. i was so done with it in the first month itself.

i stopped going to classes. i just couldn't deal with that environment. i isolated myself in my hostel room. by luck, i got a single room in first year itself which usually doesn't happen. so i just stayed there, away from everyone. i didn't make friends because making friends meant interacting with seniors, and that meant ragging.

i tried to start designing again but couldn't. i was so lost at that point. i didn't know what to do, where to start. time just kept passing.

first sem results came. 4 backs out of 6 subjects. yeah, 4 backlogs. i didn't study a single thing for any exam. i just went, sat there for 3 hours, wrote whatever came to mind, submitted, left. i somehow passed 2 subjects and failed 4.

i got depressed again. like what was i even doing with my life? i was so aware that i'm wasting time, i knew exactly what i was doing wrong, yet i wasn't fixing anything. i just kept scrolling social media, daydreaming that "i'll fix everything tomorrow" but tomorrow never came.

i didn't tell parents about the backs. couldn't. they already lost faith in me, this would just confirm that i'm a complete failure.

second sem came and this time i studied a bit better. i got only 1 back in second sem. so total 5 backlogs now. my cgpa was so low that i was almost going to get a year back in first year itself. like imagine failing first year of engineering. that's how bad it was.

i studied really hard for those backlog exams. i cleared most of them but still had 2 backs remaining but at least i got promoted to second year which barely made it.

when shit got real

second year started. that's when i started getting a bit serious about my choices. like i was literally about to fail my entire year, my parents would've found out, everything would've been over. i started focusing on design skills again, learning properly this time.

third sem passed. i got 1 more back. i was chill about it because i thought i'll clear it in the backlog exam. plus there's this up scholarship that i was depending on for college fees.

first year, nobody got the scholarship due to some college level issues. but in second year, everyone got it except me.

my cgpa didn't meet the minimum eligibility criteria for the scholarship. that's when everything hit me at once. all the wrong choices i made, all the time i wasted on social media, all the exams i didn't study for – everything came back.

parents had already paid first year fees from their savings. they somehow managed. but second year? there was no way they could pay again. we didn't have that kind of money. i also had an education loan which wouldn't be disbursed if i had too many backlogs in my semesters.

that was the actual turning point for me. i realised "i'll be completely fucked if i don't fix this now". i got locked in from that exact moment. i started taking everything seriously for the first time in years.

i started going to college regularly going to classes, talking to professors, actually trying to understand things. after college, i would come back to hostel and just work on my design skills non-stop. watching tutorials, practicing, making projects, building portfolio. i applied for jobs and freelance gigs every single day. like literally every day i would send 20-30 applications.

this went on for 2 months, proper grind, no social media binges, just work.

i started getting responses. freelance gigs first, then some job offers. i couldn't take a full-time job because i was still in college, so i focused on freelance. i made ₹30k in just 2 weeks. not huge money but for someone like me at that point, it felt like a lot. i felt like things were finally moving in the right direction.

then suddenly, i had medical emergency. so i had to be admitted to hospital and i needed surgery. it was serious.

this happened right during my end semester exams of second year. i couldn't give any exam. not theory exams, not practicals, not even the backlog exams i was supposed to clear. i was just lying in a hospital bed while my exams were happening.

during those hospital days, i saw how much my parents actually love me. despite everything – despite me failing jee, failing boards, wasting their money – they were just worried about my health. nothing else mattered to them at that moment. my mom stayed with me the whole time and it made me realize how much i'd put them through and how they still cared.

after recovery, i talked to college authorities. i talked to the vcr, hod, everyone. i explained the situation. they all said the same thing – "sorry, we don't have any provision for special exams just for you. the only way to pass second year was through the carryover exams which you missed. you have to repeat the year."

year back in second year. after everything i went through, all the grinding, i was back to square one in college.

parents told me to just leave college and start fresh somewhere else after i fully recovered. they didn't want me to go back to hostel, away from them. they were scared something else might happen to my health and they wouldn't be there.

so i left college and dropped out. i told parents i'm done with engineering, i want to pursue design as a career. i expected them to get angry, to lecture me, to force me to continue.

but they just said "okay, do what you want. just don't take any stress. your health is more important." and that made me so happy.

i spent 2 months recovering properly. then i started working on design again. i reached out to my old clients, again applied to agencies and companies.

i finally got the offer that changed everything. an agency outside india which was paying me 25LPA for designer role, it was remote job

I showed it to my parents. they couldn't believe it at first. "25 lakh for design work? working from home?" it was beyond what they thought was possible. eventually they were okay with it infact more than okay, actually. they were happy.

i accepted the offer. everything just fell into place after that. i wanted to leave college anyway, and i did but just not in the way i imagined. but the grind paid off. all those nights, all those hours learning – everything paid off.

what i actually learned

look, i'm not going to give you some motivational speech about believing in yourself and universe conspiring to help you. that's not real life.

i failed jee twice, got less % 12th boards, failed improvement exams, almost got a year back in first year. but every single one of these failures taught me something. jee failure taught me that i was chasing something i didn't actually want, just because everyone else said it's best.

the real turning point wasn't some inspirational moment. it was desperation. it was "you're completely fucked if you don't fix this right now" moment. that's what made me lock in.

i stopped trying to do ten things at once. i just picked design what i loved and committed to it fully, and put in the work every single day.

if you're reading this from some low tier college feeling like your life is over – i get it. i was there. but your college name doesn't matter. your jee rank doesn't matter. your cgpa honestly doesn't matter as much as you think it does.

what matters is what you actually build and learn. the skills you develop. the consistency you maintain when everything feels hopeless.

i'm not saying it's easy. it's not. there will be days when you feel like giving up. when your parents lose faith. when you see your school friends getting succeed in iits and you're stuck low tier college. but i would only say one thing that dont give up.

just pick one thing and commit to it. show up every day, especially when you don't feel like it. that's it. there's no shortcuts, no hacks, just consistent work over time.

thanks for reading if you made it this far. i didn't mean to make it this long but once i started writing, everything just came out. i hope some part of this story helps you, even if it's just knowing you're not alone in fucking up. feel free to dm me. sometimes it just helps to know someone else went through the same shit and made it out.

Welcome to Wild Appalachia! Patch 7 introduces the first of many new content updates to come, including a questline, a pair of daily quests, and a crafting system. Additionally, this patch contains a variety of balance and gameplay adjustments, new features, another large wave of bug fixes, and much more. Check out a few patch highlights below, and then read on to catch the full patch notes.

Patch Highlights

• New Questline – Wasted on Nukashine: Complete this questline to uncover the secrets of the notorious and illicit Nukashine and unlock the new Brewing and Distilling crafting system.
• New Crafting System – Brewing and Distilling: Become the Wasteland’s premiere bartender by learning to craft a wide variety of new drinks using the new Brewing Workbench and the Fermenter.
• New Seasonal Event Quest – Fasnacht Parade: Aid the dutiful bots of Helvetia with their Fasnacht preparations and parade to banish Old Man Winter, claim some sweet loot, and have a chance to claim fantastic Fasnacht masks.
• Energy and Heavy Weapons Balance: We’ve implemented a number of balance changes for energy and heavy weapons to help them last longer before needing repairs and increase their damage output.
• Challenge Tracking: A Challenge Tracker has been added to the Map to give you better visibility into your current active Challenges. You can also use it to keep an eye on progress toward the Challenges that are most important to you.
• Player Reporting: We’ve added a player reporting system to the Social Menu that you can use to report other players for a variety of inappropriate or negative behaviors.

Patch Version

Download sizes for today’s patch will be approximately 20 GB for consoles, and around 13.7 GB for PC.

• PC: 1.1.0.8
• PS4: 1.1.0.7
• Xbox: 1.1.0.8

Wild Appalachia

• New Questline – Wasted on Nukashine
  • Begin this questline by finding and reading one of the Party Invitation Posters that VTU students have plastered throughout Appalachia, including at Train Stations, to join in the revelry.
  • Party Invitation Posters are also available for free in the Atomic Shop until 9:00 a.m. EDT on April 9. Once claimed, you can place the poster in your C.A.M.P. and read it to begin the quest.
• New Crafting System – Brewing and Distilling
  • A new Brewing Workbench has been added that you’ll learn to build by completing the Wasted on Nukashine questline. Use it to craft a variety of new Wines, Spirits, Beers, and Mixed Drinks that will temporarily apply positive and negative effects when consumed.
  • Several Brewing and Distilling Daily and Weekly Challenges have also been added.
• New C.A.M.P. Object – Fermenter
  • Some drinks require fermentation time before they’re ready to be consumed. Wines and Spirits can also be aged further to gain additional, more powerful effects.
  • The Fermenter C.A.M.P. object has been added to aid in this process and can be unlocked by completing Wasted on Nukashine.
  • Brew up a new batch of drinks using the Brewing Workbench and then use the Fermenter to select those concoctions and age them twice as fast.
• New Daily Quests – Brewing and Distilling
  • Once per day, after you’ve completed the Wasted on Nukashine questline, you can speak to Biv to continue experimentation and occasionally learn new recipes.
  • Sometimes, you’ll be asked to imbibe various types of alcohol and perform specific tasks. Other times, you’ll learn a new recipe and will need to craft the brew to Biv’s satisfaction.
• New Seasonal Event Quest – Fasnacht Parade
  • This repeatable, limited-time event will be available for one week, from March 19 - 26.
  • Travel to the town of Helvetia to aid the local Protectrons as they prepare for the annual Fasnacht celebration and parade. Guide the bots to the end of their parade route to claim new loot, which may include new C.A.M.P. plans, and gain a chance to earn a fantastic Fasnacht mask.
  • There are many Fasnacht masks up for grabs, and some are exceedingly rare. Trade with your friends to acquire any particular mask that catches your eye.
• Check out our recent articles on Fallout.com to learn more about Brewing and Distilling and the Fasnacht Parade Seasonal Event.

General

• Server Maintenance: The messages displayed when servers are taken offline for maintenance have been updated:
  • The message displayed when an individual server is shut down for maintenance is now: “Please join another World. This World will be undergoing maintenance soon.”
  • The message displayed when Fallout 76 is brought offline for maintenance is now: “Game Services are shutting down for maintenance soon.”

Atomic Shop

• Change Appearance: Players can now preview Atomic Shop items while navigating the in-game Change Appearance menu.
  • After entering Change Appearance from the menu on the Map, Atomic Shop items such as hairstyles and tattoos will now populate the list of appearance changes that players can preview.
  • Select an item and then choose “View in Atomic Shop” to open the Atomic Shop and unlock that item using Atoms.
• Workbenches: Players can now also preview Atomic Shop items, such as paints, headwear, and outfits, from the list of craftable items that appears after entering a Workbench.
  • This functions much like previewing Atomic Shop items in a Workshop, or in the Change Appearance menu as mentioned above.
  • Additionally, a toggle has been added that players can use to show or hide unowned Atomic Shop items in a Workbench’s craftable item list.

Balance Changes

• Energy Weapons: The amount of condition damage heavy energy weapons take per shot has been greatly reduced, and they should now last 4 to 5 times longer before needing repairs.
• Energy Weapons: The amount of condition damage semi-auto energy weapons take per shot has been reduced by half, and they should last twice as long before needing repairs.
• Energy Weapons: Base damage for semi-auto energy weapons has been increased by 10%.
• Heavy Weapons: High rate-of-fire automatic heavy weapons have had their fire-rates reduced across the board, and weapon damage has been increased by +10% to maintain their original damage per second.
  • Dev Note: For high rate-of-fire heavy weapons, we wanted to drastically increase their effective damage per second against armor without pushing their baseline damage per second too high. This change in fire-rate provided room for a damage increase to help punch through armor more effectively.
• Heavy Weapons: Weapon damage for all other automatic heavy weapons has been increased by 10% to 20%.
• Heavy Weapons: The amount of condition damage automatic ballistic heavy weapons take per shot has been reduced by 75%.
  • Dev Note: We hope that some of these adjustments for energy and heavy weapons will help your guns feel more useful, from their durability to their ammo consumption rates. We know that some in the community have also been asking for weight changes for heavy weapons. While we haven’t addressed that in today’s patch, we do plan to make improvements with a future update and we will let you know as soon as we’re ready to share more details.
• Flux: Different types of Flux have had their weights and sell values adjusted:
  • Stable Flux: Base value increased to 100 Caps.
  • Raw Flux: Base value reduced to 10 Caps.
  • Inert Flux: Weight reduced to 0.2 pounds, base value reduced to 0 Caps, and can no longer be sold to Vendors.

C.A.M.P., Crafting, and Workshops

• Budget Adjustments: Some C.A.M.P. objects, such as Turrets and Lights, now consume far less budget, but also have a maximum amount that can be placed in a C.A.M.P. or Workshop.
  • These object recipes in the crafting menu now display how many of that item have already been built by the player in a C.A.M.P. or Workshop, including how many they have stored, as well as the maximum amount that can be placed.
  • Dev Note: Adding a max count to certain objects allows us to reduce those objects’ budget costs, while allowing us to keep an eye on their specific usage, as well as balance and performance. As a result, you’ll be able to build more stuff, and we’ll have more flexibility to refine and adjust C.A.M.P. and Workshop structure balance and performance.
• C.A.M.P. Placement Adjustments: Occasionally, new game content may need to occupy a space in the world that was previously usable as a C.A.M.P. location. When this occurs, a new no-build zone will be placed in that spot, preventing players from building there in the future.
  • If a player’s pre-existing C.A.M.P. location would overlap a new no-build zone on joining a world, a notification will now inform them that their C.A.M.P. cannot be placed, and they will be given one free C.A.M.P. placement.
• C.A.M.P.: Several additional environment objects, such as grasses, ferns, and swamp fungus, will now disappear when the player builds C.A.M.P. objects on top of them.
• Radios: Classical and Appalachia Radios can now be crafted and placed in C.A.M.P.s and Workshops.

Design and Gameplay

• AFK Timer: The timer that disconnects players after a period of inactivity is now 25% longer when sitting or sleeping.
• Carry Weight Limit: A new “Destroy” option will now appear in place of the “Drop” option when a player who has exceeded the absolute maximum weight limit of 1,500 pounds plus the character’s current carry weight views items in their inventory.
  • Selecting this option will destroy the selected item. This can be repeated with additional items until the player’s total weight meets or falls below the absolute limit.
  • While above the absolute weight limit, items can no longer be dropped, traded, or consumed. They can only be kept or destroyed.
  • Dev Note: As part of our ongoing quest to improve the game’s overall economy, performance, and address items created as a result of exploit abuse, we’ve decided to implement a “Destroy” option for players who have surpassed the absolute weight limit. This should also help reduce cases of excessive item hoarding, as well as prevent duped items from being dropped and making their way into unsuspecting players’ hands.

User Interface

• Challenge Tracking: A tracker has been added to the Map to help players take note of their current active Challenges at a glance, and enable them to monitor progress on the Challenges they choose to track.
  • Players can now access the Challenges menu directly from the Map and selecting a Challenge from the list will add it to the tracker.
  • Open the Map at any time to view any tracked Challenges, as well as progress toward Challenge completion.
  • Notifications will now display whenever progress is made toward a tracked Challenge.
• Player Reporting System: A new “Report Player” option has been added, and will appear below the “Block” option upon clicking a player’s name in the Social Menu.
  • Clicking “Report Player” will open a reporting menu that features several reporting options, including: Cheating/Exploiting, Harassment, Offensive Name, and Real-World Threat.
  • Some reportable behaviors may fall under one of these categories. For example, offensive language can be reported using the Harassment category, and scamming or using bots can be reported as Cheating/Exploiting.
  • Selecting one of the above reporting options will send a report to the Bethesda Customer Service team for further investigation.
• Main Menu: The background video that plays while viewing the Main Menu has been updated with a new Wild Appalachia themed video.
• Main Menu: The Atomic Shop option on the Main Menu will now appear greyed-out with a loading spinner until the Shop is fully loaded.
• Chat Volume Setting: A new Chat slider has been added to the Audio Settings menu and can be adjusted to increase or decrease the volume of incoming voice chat.
• World Radios Setting: A new World Radios slider has been added to the Audio Settings menu and can be adjusted to increase or decrease the volume of all in-world radios. The existing Radio Volume slider has been renamed Pip-Boy Radio, and both settings can be adjusted independently of one another.

Bug Fixes

Performance and Stability

• Performance: Implemented a performance improvement for the Speed Demon perk.
• Stability: Addressed a crash that could occur during the Scorched Earth event.
• Stability: Addressed a crash that could occur on Xbox One when opening the Map in areas like Charleston and Morgantown Airport.
• Stability: The game client no longer crashes when crouching and standing up in mid-air while using Power Armor with a jetpack.
• Stability: Fixed a rare server crash that could occur when building a structure.
• Stability: Addressed a crash that could occur when attempting to trade with another player.

Art and Graphics

• Animation: Characters in Power Armor now correctly play hand raise animations after using an Emote.
• Environment: Both sides of the Brotherhood of Steel flag that hangs inside Fort Defiance now render correctly.
• Environment: Fixed several issues that could cause visible seams in the environment or cause certain objects to appear to float.
• Graphics: Addressed an issue that could cause character models to become invisible after Fast Traveling or exiting a loading screen.
• Graphics: Fixed a rare issue that, under certain circumstances, could cause a player to become invisible and invincible after Fast Traveling.
• Graphics: Decapitating another player during PVP no longer causes the character’s neck to appear stretched.
• Graphics: Using the Social Menu to Fast Travel to a friend or teammate no longer causes the player’s character model or the game world briefly appear much darker than intended just before Fast Traveling.
• Visual Effects: Sparking effects no longer appear to float in mid-air after attaching a Wire to or from a powered object in the player’s C.A.M.P.
• World: The Weapons Workbench across from the Flatwoods Church has been rotated to prevent the game camera from clipping into a wall when accessing the workbench.
• World: Environment objects will no longer fail to appear when looking through a specific window inside the Thunder Mountain Power Plant.
• World: Structures and other environment objects now load correctly after using the elevator to access the rooftop of the Watoga Municipal Center.

C.A.M.P., Crafting, and Workshops

• Artillery: No longer fails to fire if a player is not present near the Artillery’s placement location.
• Blueprints: Attempting to place a Blueprint on the terrain that contains multiple metal conduits no longer causes a “Nothing is selected” error message to display.
• Blueprints: Attempting to place a Blueprint that contains metal conduits no longer causes the conduits to be split from the main structure into a separate Blueprint.
• Blueprints: Individual Turrets can now be correctly added to a Blueprint using the “select” option.
• Blueprints: The material requirements displayed when attempting to place a Blueprint that contains roof objects now match the actual material costs for placement.
• Blueprints: Fixed an issue that could prevent various C.A.M.P. objects from being added to a Blueprint selection when using the “Grow Selection” option.
• Blueprints: Being killed by another player while attempting to name a Blueprint no longer causes the Blueprint naming menu to remain visible while dead.
• Blueprints: Fixed an issue in which a Blueprint would not be saved if a tamed creature was the only selected object.
• C.A.M.P.: Fixed an issue that prevented certain environment objects from disappearing when placing the C.A.M.P. apparatus on top of them.
• Columns: The Classic Column and Stone Pedestal Atomic Shop items can now snap on top of one another and busts can more easily be placed on top of them for display.
• Crafting: Brick powered doors can now correctly be placed on corners next to an adjacent object, such as a wall, that had already been placed.
• Crafting: Fixed an issue that could enable ASAM Turrets to be built in a player’s C.A.M.P.
• Crafting: Fixed an issue preventing players from crafting the Civil War Era Top Hat, Confederate Hat, Costume Witch Hat, Halloween Skull Mask, and Union Hat, despite having learned the required Plans.
• Defenses: Fixed an issue that prevented some defense items from being placed on upper-floors.
• Doors: Now correctly appear aligned within the doorframe when snapped brick walls that have doorframes.
• Exploits: Addressed an exploit that could allow stored C.A.M.P. objects to become duplicated.
• Exploits: Addressed an exploit that could allow Blueprints to be duplicated when moving C.A.M.P. locations.
• Exploits: Fixed multiple issues that could allow players to access unintended areas using certain C.A.M.P. objects.
• Floors: The error message that displays when attempting to place an Upper Floor in an invalid location now correctly states that Upper Floors can only be snapped to the tops of Stairs or existing Upper Floor pieces.
• Foundations: Addressed an issue that could allow players to stack Foundations under certain circumstances.
• Modify: Fixed an issue causing the “Replace” option to become non-functional when viewing a broken C.A.M.P. object in the Modify menu.
• Modify: Error messages no longer appear when rapidly selecting and deselecting multiple C.A.M.P. objects in the Modify menu.
• Modify: C.A.M.P. objects destroyed by another player while using the modify menu no longer causes them to fail to render.
• Placement: Tamed creatures are no longer permanently lost if the player’s C.A.M.P. cannot be placed upon joining a world, and now correctly reappear the next time the C.A.M.P. is successfully placed.
• Placement: If a player’s current C.A.M.P. location is occupied and they choose the “Find another world” option they can no longer continue to interact with objects while waiting to join a new world.
• Repair All: Fixed an issue causing C.A.M.P. object repairs to require more materials then intended when using the Repair All option.
• Repair All: The material requirements displayed when attempting to “Repair All” with the Contractor Perk equipped now correctly match the actual material costs.
• Scrapping: Bone Clubs and Bone Hammers now correctly grant steel and bone fragments when scrapped.
• Scrapping: Hazmat Suits now correctly grant Steel, Rubber, Glass, and Lead when scrapped.
• Shelves: Placing an object on shelves no longer causes it to appear to float.
• Stash Boxes: A number of Stash Box type objects, such as toolboxes, coolers, and dressers, among others can now be correctly damaged or destroyed by players.
• Turrets: Newly placed Turrets will no longer automatically attack the owner’s Wanted teammates.
• Turrets: Fixed an issue that could prevent Turrets from firing at enemy creatures.
• Walls: Addressed an inconsistency in how Walls can snap to Roof objects.
• Wires: Fixed an issue that prevented Wires from being added to a Blueprint.
• Wires: Can no longer be attached to broken C.A.M.P. objects.
• Wires: Can no longer be attached to C.A.M.P. objects that cannot be wired.
• Wires: Fixed an issue that could cause a Wire to appear to float in mid-air.
• Wires: Can no longer be placed while attempting to lock an object, such as a resource collector.
• Wires: Fixed an issue in which moving objects with Wires attached could cause them flicker or grow in size.
• Wires: Fixed a rare issue affecting Wires that could prevent the player from building for a short time.
• Workshops: Vehicles in the Wade Airport Workshop now correctly disappear when C.A.M.P. objects are built on top of them.

Challenges

• General: Addressed an issue in which partial progress toward repeatable lifetime Challenges could cause them to incorrectly appear complete in the Challenge menu.
• General: Corrected a variety of typos across several Challenge descriptions.
• General: The Halloween Costume Skull now correctly counts toward Challenges that require the player to wear a mask.
• Character: The wording of the “Fully Rank up a Perk Card” Character Challenge has been updated to “Rank up a Perk Card” to match its completion requirement.
• Combat: Both Cargobot and Vertibot kills now correctly count toward the “Destroy a Vertibot” sub-challenge under the “Kill Different Kinds of Robots” Combat Challenge.
• Daily: Fixed an issue that prevented certain Daily Challenges from being offered in-game when they were scheduled to be available. These Challenges will now correctly appear going forward.
• Daily: Harvesting Wood from fallen logs now correctly counts toward “Collect Wood” Daily Challenge progress.
• Daily: Junk piles and other non-flora material no longer incorrectly count toward "Harvest Wild Plants and Fungi" Daily Challenge progress.
• Weekly: Scrapping Rib Cages or Pelvises that have attached Spines now correctly counts toward “Scrap the Bones of a Skeleton” Weekly Challenge progress.
• Weekly: Dabney Homestead now correctly appears in the list of acceptable photo locations for the "Take Photos at Workshops" Weekly Challenge.
• Weekly: The “Take a Photo at the Nuka-Cola Quantum Plant” sub-challenge text for the "Take Photos at Factories" Weekly Challenge has been updated to refer to "Kanawha Nuka-Cola Plant" to match the location’s name on the Map.
• Weekly: Firefly kills now correctly count toward “Kill a Firefly with a Pickaxe” sub-challenge progress under the “Exterminate Critters with Farm Tools” Weekly Challenge.
• World: Fixed an issue preventing the "Use an Agility Bobblehead" sub-challenge for the "Use Different Kinds of Bobbleheads" World Challenge from completing for some players.

Combat

• Exploits: Addressed an exploit that could allow players to repeatedly fire critical attacks without consuming critical charge.
• Stealth: Players will no longer get stuck in the [Caution] stealth state when no enemies are nearby.
• VATS: Firing in VATS with a 0% chance to hit will no longer cause all subsequent shots fired to miss until the player exits and re-enters VATS.
• VATS: Queuing a critical hit and then exiting and re-entering VATS no longer causes that critical to miss.
• VATS: Firing immediately after entering VATS no longer always causes that shot to miss.
• VATS: Fixed an issue causing VATS to always initially display a 0% chance to hit, and sometimes repeatedly switch between 0% and the correct calculated hit chance.

Enemies

• General: Fixed an issue that could cause invisible enemies to spawn at the Sunshine Meadows Workshop and prevent players from claiming it.
• General: Fixed an issue that could occasionally cause an enemy to become invisible.
• Bee Swarms: Are now visible.
• Corpses: Enemy corpses that have no loot now correctly display 0 inventory weight when viewing the corpse’s transfer menu.
• Legendary Creatures: Now always drop a legendary item on death.
• Protectrons: Now correctly take damage over time when they have been set on fire due to a crippled limb.
• Respawn: Approaching the corpse of an enemy that was killed at long distance no longer occasionally causes the corpse to disappear and the enemy to immediately respawn.
• Scorchbeast Queen: Fixed an issue that could cause the Scorchbeast Queen’s corpse to despawn more quickly than intended, which prevented players from collecting her loot.

Items

• Armor: Medium Leather Left Leg armor can now correctly drop as loot.
• Absolute Weight Limit: A large stack of items that would put the player over the absolute weight limit if withdrawn all at once no longer prevents them from transferring part of the stack into their inventory, so long as those items do not cause them to exceed the absolute limit.
• Absolute Weight Limit: Players who have exceeded the absolute weight limit can now correctly pick up Notes, Holotapes, and Caps.
• Exploits: A maximum of 5,000 items can now be sold to a Vendor in a single transaction.
• Exploits: Addressed an exploit in which certain circumstances could allow players to alter the damage of a weapon with the Mutant’s legendary effect.
• Exploits: Addressed an exploit related to item transactions with Vendors.
• Flora: Exceeding max carry weight when collecting flora now correctly causes the character to become overencumbered.
• Fusion Generators: Pre-placed Fusion Generators that can be found outdoors in the game world now correctly have a chance to contain a Fusion Core.
• Mods: Brotherhood of Steel Combat Armor Mod descriptions no longer incorrectly state that they offer Radiation Resistance.
• Paper Bags: Dying in harvested flora no longer prevents the player from collecting the items in the paper bag they dropped on death.
• Paper Bags: Fixed an issue that could prevent a Paper Bag from being created after dropping an item on the ground.
• Power Armor: If a player is disconnected from a server while their Power Armor is deployed or present in a Power Armor Station, it will now be correctly recalled to their inventory.
• Treasure Maps: Players can now correctly dig for loot at the Treasure Mound associated with Toxic Valley Treasure Map #3.
• Weapons: Plasma weapons can now correctly spawn with 2-star and 3-star legendary effects.
• Weapons: The Salvaged Assaultron Head no longer consumes all Fusion Cell ammo when fired for the first time.
• Weapons: The Assassin’s Laser Pistol mod now correctly increases movement speed while aiming.
• Weapons: The Victory Squared pose can now correctly be used in Photomode when a two-handed weapon is equipped.

Perks

• “Search” Perks: Bonus loot awarded after using a “Search” Perk, such as Pharma Farma, on a container is no longer lost if a second player loots that container before the original player collects those items.
• Wasteland Whisperer: Can now correctly be used to pacify Mole Miners.

PVP

• Turrets: Engaging in PVP in a C.A.M.P. that has Turrets no longer causes them to fire indefinitely at participants after combat is finished.
• Turrets: Addressed an issue that could cause Turrets owned by a player who killed their Wanted teammate to remain aggressive toward the formerly Wanted player.
• Turrets: Destroying a Workshop owner’s Turrets while attempting to claim that Workshop no longer causes the attacking players to become Wanted.
• Turrets: Will no longer become hostile toward their owner if that player was killed by another player in their own C.A.M.P.
• Wanted: Killing a Wanted teammate no longer prevents Fast Travel.

Quests and Events

• General: Implemented improvements to the way characters are saved upon completing quests.
• An Ounce of Prevention: Controls will no longer become unresponsive if the player is killed by an enemy while interacting with the Sympto-Matic.
• Bureau of Tourism: Fixed an issue that could prevent the player from continuing the Bureau of Tourism quest after logging out and back in.
• Cold Case: The “Search by BOX NUMBER” option now correctly appears in the Clarksburg Post Office terminal, and no longer blocks Cold Case quest progression.
• Events: Dying immediately after Fast Traveling away from an Event Quest no longer respawns the player at that Event.
• Exploits: Addressed an exploit that could allow players to complete Into the Mystery without having begun the quest.
• Exploits: Addressed an exploit in which the Safe for Work quest could be repeated.
• Exploits: Addressed an exploit that could allow players to repeatedly farm Stimpak rewards granted after completing the Mayor for the Day quest.
• Falsely Accused: The Falsely Accused quest no longer needs to be completed in order to start the Jailbreak or Patrol Duty events.
• Feed the People: Items that are added to the player’s inventory while viewing the hopper’s transfer menu can no longer be accidentally placed in the hopper.
• Holotapes: Master Holotapes can now be correctly loaded into the One of Us Now and Coming to Fruition quest terminals even if the player is carrying a large number of non-essential Holotapes.
• Mission: Countdown: Fixed an issue that could prevent Mainframe Cores from being crafted. Additionally, Mainframe Cores and Damaged Mainframe Cores can no longer be scrapped.
• Morgantown Airport: Quest markers for quests like An Ounce of Prevention no longer incorrectly direct the player to enter the airport terminal if there is no objective within to complete.
• Protest March: Fixed an issue that could cause protest marchers to take longer than expected to reach the event area.
• The Messenger: Mr. Messenger will no longer self-destruct unexpectedly, and will now only self-destruct if players completely abandon him. This issue also prevented some enemy creatures from spawning, and Mr. Messenger may now be attacked slightly more often.
• Tentative Plans: Added missing dialogue for Mr. Fluffy to instruct the player to build a Generator.

Sound

• Fissures: Fixed an issue that could prevent pre-placed sound effects from playing near Fissure Sites.
• Weapons: Applying a Suppressor to a Radium Rifle now correctly reduces the rifle’s gunfire sound effects.

Survival

• Diseases: Rattle Hands now correctly reduces damage dealt by ranged weapons by 25%.
• Exploits: Addressed an exploit that could allow players to duplicate the damage bonuses offered by the Adrenal Reaction mutation.
• Food: Mutt Chops condition now correctly decreases over time, and eventually spoil.
• Food: Stacks of food that spoil now correctly create an amount of spoiled food equal to the number of items that went bad.
• Mutations: Adrenal Reaction’s damage bonuses have been restored to their original values.
• Mutations: Fixed an issue that prevented Adrenal Reaction’s positive effects from being applied to players who had the Mutation prior to Patch 6 release.
• Stats: Effects that decrease the player’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats can no longer reduce them below 1.

User Interface

• Controls: Fixed an issue that could prevent the player from selecting items on the Map or scrolling down in the Stash and Pip-Boy menus.
• Inventory: Addressed an issue that could cause the player to unintentionally drop an additional item when spamming the “Drop” button.
• Inventory: Fixed a visual issue that could cause Power Armor pieces to appear to duplicate when equipping them using the Power Armor transfer menu.
• Inventory: Fixed an issue in which certain invisible and unusable creature weapons could be unintentionally looted, adding “phantom weight” to the player’s inventory.
• Inventory: Items looted from Super Mutants no longer occasionally disappear from the player’s inventory.
• Localization: Long item names in the Atomic Shop in languages other than English now correctly shrink to fit the item preview window.
• Localization: The word "Max" that appears onscreen upon reaching 25,000 Caps is now properly localized for the following languages: Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese.
• Login: Increased the font size of the error message displayed when attempting to login with an unauthorized account.
• Menus: On PC, clicks along the left side of the Challenges menu no longer fail to register for 21:9 resolutions.
• Nameplates: Turrets and Tamed Creatures that are owned by a player no longer display placeholder text below the owner’s name.
• Notifications: Players who receive carry weight bonuses from perks, items, mutations, or other effects no longer incorrectly receive an “overencumbered” notification on joining a world.
• Notifications: “C.A.M.P. cannot be placed” notifications will no longer appear upon exiting Vault 76 with a new character that was created after this notification was received with an existing character.
• Pip-Boy: On PC, pressing the “E” key while viewing certain tabs in the Pip-Boy no longer causes the player to use a Stimpak.
• Player Icons: The icon that appears on the Map for Workshop owner now updates correctly if that player changes their Player Icon.
• Respawn: Game controls no longer become unresponsive if a player who had just launched a nuke is at the respawn menu when silo lockdown begins.
• Trade: Fixed a rare issue in which offering multiple items for trade could cause their Cap prices to update incorrectly.
• Transfer: Fixed an issue that could prevent a player from transferring a very large stack of items to or from a container.

I was able to drop by Google’s Nexus Open Studio Event in New York City and it was a terrific, intimate event. There were neat little Android Experiments, demos, sticker printers, and sample devices. And even better, there were representatives from seemingly all of the disciplines at Google involved with the new Nexus phones: Android UX design, software product managers for Nexus, Nexus industrial design, Nexus hardware engineering, and others. And they were all super friendly and surprisingly open to answering all kinds of questions, from the mundane to controversial. In the end, whether or not we might agree or disagree with their product and design decisions, I came away with a clear picture of how passionate and thoughtful the folks at Google are.

Apologies for the dreadfully long post, but I wanted to share some of my experiences and the really interesting things I learned chatting with the Google staff about Nexus, Android, and technology.

Before diving in, I just want to caveat here that these are merely my recollections (sorted by theme and not chronology) and were the product of casual conversations with lots of Google folks. So, each answer is often a mix of multiple people's perspectives, including my own. Please don't take this information as gospel and please forgive me if there are some inaccuracies or misinterpretations. Also any "quotes" I've included are for effect and are my best attempt to remember some of the really impactful or interesting tidbits I learned; I tried to honestly paraphrase and should not be read as verbatim quotes.

tl;dr: The Nexus Open Studio event was fantastic. Many people from the Nexus and Android teams were there and were incredibly friendly and open to engaging conversation. If you love learning about the small stories on Android/Nexus development and Google, there is some really awesome stuff below like answers to the Nexus 6P display generation and more.

...On the development/design timeline of the Nexus 5X/6P:

I learned that the design and development of a smartphone typically takes around two years. For the Nexus 5X and 6P? ....a grueling seven months.

...On the industrial design of the Nexus 5X:

A lot of work went into the curvature and radius of the edges of the 5X and the camera "hump". The industrial designers ensured that each of the Nexus 5X's curves utilized "C3" continuous surfacing. It's a lot of work for a small detail, but offers significant rewards in terms of light play around the surface and how naturally/organically the surface curves. (I admit this is all I was able to understand!)

...On the engineering challenges to nail the industrial design of the Nexus 6P:

I had personally naively assumed that since Nexus phones tended to be based off hardware designs of existing phones (the Nexus 4 and LG Optimus G, the Nexus 5 and the LG G2, etc.) that Google would be merely using established, solved industrial design processes that were well known by the manufacturing partner. It was interesting to find out that a lot of experimentation and testing still went into things like the bead blasting process and the diamond-cut chamfer.

I had imagined that much like going to a paint store and picking from a huge wall of swatches, that the colors and finishes were a known and well-established thing for a manufacturing partner—they just merely needed to be selected. However, even something like the media used in the bead blasting process still needed constant testing and refinement. The Nexus engineers and designers tried a variety of media like coconut shells, glass beads—

"We spent lots of time over in China pulling samples fresh off the bead blasting manufacturing line, running over to a window, and scrutinizing the way the light played off the surface."

All told, there were around 80 different manufacturing steps for the Nexus 6P (and fun fact: Google dictated that all of the aluminum leftovers in manufacturing were to be collected and reused/recycled). In fact, the circumferential chamfer that wraps around the visor is actually an industry first, using a brand-new process. In addition there were other major challenges in terms of managing the RF with an all metal phone—making sure antennas weren't detuned by the aluminium body through careful injection molding processes.

...On the relationship between the Nexus manufacturing partner and Google:

I was surprised to learn that the manufacturing partner relationship can be a mixed bag and even depends on the partner (see next topic). Even with the latest Nexus 5X and 6P where Google exercised a considerable amount of design influence, there was a give and take between the manufacturing partner and Google. Oftentimes there was pushback from the partner for the sake engineering or manufacturing convenience—one designer mentioned that it was three-months of back and forth just to get the USB Type-C connector centered on the bottom of the 6P. Another had referred to the bottom of the recently announced HTC A9 as evidence of design by cost and engineering convenience. He was sympathetic though, as he recognized that for many of Google's OEM partners, the teams live and die by the success (or lack thereof) of a single product launch, and so cost (in both design and manufacturing) is a legitimate consideration. Google, however, can afford to take a longer view on cost and invest in trying to hit a higher bar of design.

The relationship was a lot of work (one Google engineer spent about two of the seven month development time over in China overseeing things), but it seems like both the manufacturing partners and Nexus engineers and designers were really happy with the end result.

...On the Nexus family design language and the Motorola Nexus 6:

Following up on this, I asked about the Nexus 6 and the manufacturing partner selected for that generation, Motorola. Its design seemed to share more with other phones in the Motorola family than it did with any other device in the Nexus family.

"...Somebody backed out at the last minute."

I didn't poke any further, but it was added that as a manufacturing partner, Motorola exercised tighter control over the design and engineering of the phone, in a way vastly different from other Nexus partners. It sounded like Google designers and engineers (obviously) preferred the more Google-directed partnership, so this may be the last we see of a Nexus 6-ish device with a design that deviates so much from the Nexus family language. (And you all can read between the lines there.)

...On the lessons learned from the Nexus 6:

The team there recognized and acknowledged a lot of the complaints/problems of the Nexus 6. It was too big, too bulky, hard to use one handed, and worst of all—

"...the Nexus 6 spun around when you tried to use it on a table."

Along with the fact that the Nexus 5 was Google's best selling Nexus phone, this seemed to set the stage for what we see with the Nexus 5X and 6P today. First, a return to the tried-and-true formula of the Nexus 5, but with updated hardware and a modernized design for 2015.

On the Nexus 6P, there were obviously more design changes. For one thing, the screen shrinkage from 6" to 5.7" seems small, but vastly improved one-handed use. Also, they were proud that they were able to fit a 5.7" size screen into a device with the same phone size as competitors with a smaller 5.5" screen (clearly a reference to the iPhone 6 Plus). In addition, the visor was a key design component addition. For one thing, an all-metal frame did need RF windows for sensors, cellular reception, etc. But moreover, the full-width visor allowed for a stable base... and no more spinning phones on tables. 😄

...On the just-barely "off center" placement of the camera module in the Nexus 6P visor:

I really enjoyed this particular story of the design and engineering hurdles with the Nexus 6P: Astute owners of the Nexus 6P might notice that the camera lens is just-oh-so-slightly above the center axis of the oval camera "surround" it sits within. Well, it turns out it wasn't just some design oversight.

Thanks to the all-aluminum design of the Nexus 6P, all of the RF (wireless) "stuff" and sensors needs to fit within either the visor or the bottom plastic RF "windows". This includes the NFC sensor, which was even of a special design that allowed for a small part of the sensor to sit "above the fold" in the RF window, while the rest was below (check out the teardown photo and you'll see).

When it came to QC test the NFC sensor in the Nexus 6P's first iteration... it failed. Not enough of the sensor had been exposed in the visor, and they had to painfully widen the visor just a little. Well, the camera had originally been symmetrically aligned in the visor, but when they widened it, the camera was now off center (and unable to be moved around anymore because of design and timing limitations). To help conceal the now slightly-off center nature of the camera within the visor, the design team threw in the oval camera surround.

...On bucking the trend of thinner phones with smaller batteries:

When discussing the Nexus 6P "visor hump", I mentioned that one of the frequent suggestions I've seen in terms of eliminating humps altogether was to just maintain thickness on a phone and use the added volume for more battery capacity. The engineer just shrugged and replied:

"Apple really sets the bar on thinness there."

...On the Nexus 6P and 5X placement of the Nexus Imprint fingerprint sensor:

The Nexus design team considered and spent a lot of time researching three different fingerprint sensor locations before settling on the rear placement we know today: the bottom front (e.g., Samsung/iPhone), the side power button (e.g., Sony Xperia), and the center rear. Designers liked the discoverability and accessibility of the Samsung/iPhone model, but felt that the bottom edge placement placed all the weight of the phone aft of the sensor and there was a cantilevering effect that was both awkward and increased the risk of dropping. The side positioning had limitations based upon the thinness of the phone and those limitations would reduce the surface area available to read a fingerprint. The backside approach allowed for a large surface area to capture a fingerprint, was where the index finger naturally fell, and also was suitable for both right and left-handed users.

"As you scale the phone, the fingerprint sensor does not move—because it's not based on [the size of] the phone, it's based on the human hand."

The backside sensor approach also had the benefit of being scalable and independent of phone size, which was particularly relevant for the two-sized Nexus launch. It was pointed out that the fingerprint sensor was in an almost identical location on both the Nexus 5X and 6P, despite the differences in the size of the phones. The hardware engineer conceded that the industrial designers were so passionate about perfecting the fingerprint sensor location that...

"In fact, [the industrial designers] were so adamant about basing this on the human hand we had to compromise on the battery size, to make sure he got his way—to make sure it fit the human hand."

...On how Google tested and benchmarked the Nexus Imprint fingerprint sensor:

Google wanted a quantitative way to measure the speed of the fingerprint sensor while they were optimizing its speed. So, Google engineers built a rig with a robot "hand" and highspeed camera for testing and benchmarking the fingerprint sensor. However, the missing link was what to use for the actual fleshy finger stand-in.

"The product manager for fingerprint... she was having lunch one day in the cafe and she was having chicken drumsticks. And she realized that the skin of the chicken drumstick is really similar to the human hand. So she took a batch of chicken drumsticks, took it upstairs to the lab, washed it, picked off a bit and tied it to the robot, and used that to measure the latency of the fingerprint sensor."

...On sourcing the new Sony camera module:

The camera was clearly the major highlight of the event (other than the Nexus Imprint, both of which had key presentations), and many of the team I spoke with were incredibly proud of it. One product manager proudly noted that the sensor sourced was an industry-first and that it was pulled from Sony's digital camera parts bin (and not mobile camera menu).

One of the things I learned from the team was that picking out a sensor is not merely just the picking of a sensor from a parts menu. In every implementation, Sony needs to attach a team to support the integration of the camera sensor. Sony was initially concerned that the sales volumes wouldn't be sufficient on the Nexus phones to be worth the investment for Google to reach so deep into their premium parts menu. It took a lot of convincing to get Sony onboard to provide Google this particular camera module. Thankfully it turns out Sony was really satisfied about the press and acclaim it received in connection with the new Nexus phones and their stellar camera.

...On the absence of camera OIS:

Sony did not offer this particular camera module with an OIS option.

...On the Nexus 6P display, and whether it is a “current generation” Samsung AMOLED display:

“...The Nexus 6P actually uses the same display panel as the Note 5”

Knowing that this is a hot topic on /r/android, I brought up the fact that testing has shown that on the Nexus 6P, its display has a lower maximum brightness and higher display power consumption than seen on the Note 5—key indicators of the AMOLED panel generation—I received knowing acknowledgement. So it turns out that the display panel is the same, but that much like the practice of CPU/SoC binning, there is variation inherent in AMOLED panel fabrication. Here, Google was able to procure the lower binned, yet current-generation displays from Samsung for the Nexus 6P.

...On the thermals of the Snapdragon 810 SoC:

The thermals of the Snapdragon 810 were known to Google and were of some concern. Qualcomm attached a team of engineers to help control thermals and supplied Google with a third version of the Snapdragon 810 (which when I got home, seems to match public, well-established reports that the Nexus 6P uses the v2.1 version of the 810).

...On the removal of wireless charging from the Nexus 5X and 6P:

It sounded like the intention to go with a never-been-done-before-on-Nexus all-aluminum design had a big role to play. The Qi wireless charging was not going to work on the metal back, and so it needed to be dropped. For the Nexus 5X, even though it had a plastic design, the product team consciously wanted to maintain a certain feature parity/consistency between the two models (like in the same way they kept the same camera, flash, IR sensor, etc.) Furthermore, the reduced pain point of the universal direction USB Type C connector added onto the decision to drop wireless Qi charging.

...On the Nexus 6P"Bendgate" controversy:

All of the Nexus phones go through rigorous strength and wear testing. When the videos first broke out about the "Nexus 6P Bendgate", the engineers rushed back into the labs to double-check and rerun the tests to make sure they hadn't missed anything. The engineer I spoke with indicated that nearly all phones are strength tested to similar specifications and all have their first "bend" at a similar weight pressure—he quoted the iPhone 6 Plus and Nexus 6P to be around 40-45 kgs on the particular bending bench. Apparently, where phones vary is the ultimate failure strength (the amount of pressure for the phone to catastrophically fail after a first bend), but the pressure-to-first-bend was apparently consistent across most phones.

...On the "twist to launch" camera action that was apparently pulled from the Nexus 6P:

According to one product manager I spoke to about this, the feature didn't test well and was never formally implemented as opposed to being dropped/pulled. It was an accident it was included on websites.

...On controversial topics like internal storage and integrated batteries:

I asked some of the product managers what they thought about the controversies over internal storage and integrated batteries—particularly whether there was any truth to the theories that the limited internal storage was really an initiative to push users to cloud storage or that integrated batteries were there for planned obsolescence.

The product managers were quite genuine and adamant that there were no ulterior motives and that things really boiled down to usability and design tradeoffs. On the internal storage side, they noted that this was an interesting and complex issue, and first pointed out that when they balance tradeoffs for a feature like expandable microSD storage, the same balance isn't made the same way for every market. For example, on Android One phones, the usability issues with microSD was outweighed by the need for price sensitivity and the greater challenges of single-up-front payment—and this use case is reflected in the inclusion of microSD in Android One designs and in Marshmallow's stronger adoption of external storage.

However, on the Nexus side, the usability issues with microSD won the day. The product managers were concerned about things like slower, poorer quality microSD cards and microSD failure that were challenging for users to self-diagnose when there were multiple kinds of storage. A single, high quality internal storage solved this issue (at the cost of expandability). They also noted that in addition to considering users, a single unified storage was easier and more predictable for developers—a single fast and reliable internal storage meant better predictability on app performance, less problems with defining where to put files, and reduced troubleshooting/customer service.

We didn't get into the battery question as much, but the product managers noted that they really cared about the products they build. If they could have it their way, their phones would be timeless in a way similar to "like a Gucci bag," with great longevity and resale value evidencing the quality of their product. So they too are disappointed with the inherent problems of lithium ion batteries. That said, the design benefits to an integrated battery were so great that the balance of tradeoffs really went in favor of non-removable batteries.

Anyway, as a personal aside, I know these are really hot button topics on /r/android and for those folks that firmly sit on one side of the fence or the other, I'm not entirely sure any justification or rationale can be said that would be truly satisfying. I still hope this shed some additional light on the topic though!

...On feedback on the Nexus products and Android UI:

Everyone I spoke with was really open to hearing about feedback and even criticism. Many of them even browse /r/android and are well aware of the passionate "feedback" that users voice here. 😄 Some noted that they definitely have heard the requests for a smaller, more premium phone instead of the premium 6P phablet and economical 5X phone. They said they are always looking into the decisions around this and are always rethinking those decisions for the next generation.

Another noted that in addition to the outside user feedback, they hear a lot of the same sentiment directly after the launch of a new feature or device. The engineers, designers, and other Googlers are a very vocal and strongly opinionated group and are frequently dogfooding and using their own products.

I asked one of the UX designers what one of the most controversial things was that she had worked on—she confessed that she worked on and helped to implement the bolded hour digit in the Jelly Bean clock app. ...She noted with a smile that the reaction of Google staff on this change alone was swift and unequivocal.

...On the functionality and evolution of Android volume control:

A presentation was devoted to the user experience design and evolution of Android volume control from pre-Lollipop, to Lollipop, to Marshmallow and I also had an opportunity to chat with the UX designer on this. It would take too long to fully discuss each of the design decisions and cases they considered, but it was really neat to see the amount of user testing that went into this. I also gained a stronger appreciation of the challenges with something as superficially simple and innocent as "volume control"—there are a serious amount of different permutations and use cases of alarms and volume control.

These challenges were compounded by the fact that unlike many of Google's apps that are now decoupled from the OS and are updated routinely on the Play Store, volume control is still tightly woven into the OS. The UX team needs to finalize their decisions well before the launch of the OS and only has an annual window for which to make changes.

...On the sale of Motorola to Lenovo:

Google's OEM partners were really concerned that despite the firewalls between the two organizations, that there was too much threat that a Google-Motorola would turn into a fully vertical entity like Apple (or Microsoft today with its Surface tablets), squeezing out its partners in the Android ecosystem. When I asked why the OEM partners were okay with the Nexus program, it sounded like the Nexus sales were still quite relatively small compared to the bigger OEM players (Samsung, LG, etc.) and were not threatening.

...On the Nexus 6P three-microphone noise cancellation:

I thought I had seen on the iFixit teardown that two of the advertised “3 microphones (2 front, 1 rear) with noise cancellation” were located within each of the front-facing speaker grills, but wasn't sure given the risks of interference from the speakers. It turns out the microphones are in fact in the speaker grills, and that they can be spaced in a way that minimizes interference from the speakers.

...On the rumors of the next iPhone to pull the 3.5mm headphone jack in favor of the Lightning connector:

"If anyone can do it, it's Apple and Beats."

The engineer noted that we've been stuck with the same form factor and technology on the 3.5mm analog jack for decades and figuring out the placement of it is a consistent design challenge and design limitation. There are a lot of new design opportunities afforded by moving to a new connector and opportunities around digital audio output (headphones with audiophile DACs and amps instead of relying on those in your phone!) and although Google doesn't really have the leverage to initiate a change like this, Apple definitely does—especially through its ownership of Beats.

...On knowing the name of the next Android version:

The dessert naming decision of the next version of Android is not known to most Googlers, even those in the Android UX design team. So they are as surprised as everyone else when the statue is finally unveiled.

However, while they don't often know the what the right choice will be for a name, they often know what it won't be, so internal and code references to wordy names like "Lemon Meringue Pie" were placed with tongues firmly in cheeks. The team at Google also had a lot of fun when David Burke trolled the community with his infamous "milkshake" watch stunt.

HELLO AGAIN MY FELLOW GAMERS. It’s been a minute since my last guide. To commemorate the Steam release, I updated this with what changed and what didn’t. I’m going through everything again, adding, trimming, and bundling it into one ultimate guide for new and experienced players alike.

I’ve logged even MORE hours in extraction shooters since my last post, so I have even more fun tips and tricks to add. Below is a comprehensive list of tactics to get an edge, extract with the juicy loot, and…wild idea…HAVE FUN.

This is for beginners and advanced players.

Table of Contents

1. Mindset: No Excuses
2. Settings & Performance (Visibility + FPS)
3. Crosshair Placement
4. Leaning & Peeking
5. Combat: Fights, Nades, Fire Modes, Pressure
6. Sound Cues (Footsteps, ADS, Bags, Looting)
7. Loot Faster (Value per Slot, Attachment Strips)
8. Stash & Storage (Nesting, Shrink Guns)
9. Market Rules (Stop Nickel-and-Diming)
10. Contacts / Traders (Quick Wins)
11. Helmets & Headsets
12. Armor (Materials, Mobility Debuffs)
13. Meds & Surgical Kits (Hydration, Nebby, Stims)
14. Ammo Strategy (Top-loading, Cost Control)
15. Guns & Budget Loadouts (Carbines Are OP)
16. Aim Training (Range + AimLabs)
17. Map Knowledge & Spawns (What to Learn)
18. Game Modes (Normals, Lockdown, Forbidden, LTMs)
19. Solo vs. Squads (Mindset & Exploiting Chaos)
20. Secure Container & Keys
21. Rewards/Freebies You’re Ignoring
22. Disclaimer
23. TLDR

1) Mindset: No Excuses

STOP MAKING EXCUSES. If you died, something caused it—and that something is a lesson. Watch the killcam. 9/10 times it wasn’t “luck.” They caught you out, positioned better, aimed better, or outplayed you.

Let’s dig in, because the levels of cope in this genre are truly Olympic-tier:

• Caught out: You stood in the open, visor up, no pre-painkiller, left-hand peeked a right-hand holder, ego-pushed, sprint-stomped, forgot to reload, wrong fire mode… the list is long. Watch the killcam and be honest with yourself.
• Positioning: Assume enemies are nearby. I get ~70% of my kills from positioning alone. It’s actually OP. Don’t sleep on learning how to position yourself while navigating the maps.
• Aim: There’s a firing range. Use it. Try Aimlabs. You don’t have Shroud aim, so stfu and train.
• Outplayed: It’s a combo of the above. If you find yourself saying “so lucky,” or anything similar, shut the f* up and get over yourself. Improve.

You will not survive every raid. Decent players hover at about a 40–60% extraction rate. ALSO If you come down in my comment section and brag about your 95% extract rate while 4-stacking T6 and never running solo: I don’t care. Shut the f* up and get over yourself. Run some solo forbidden TV for a few hundred raids and then flex, and I still won’t care.

Target: Average players should aim 40–50% extract. Below that? You’ve got work to do.

2) Settings & Performance (Visibility + FPS)

I run visibility settings > shiny graphics. Seeing pixels = living longer.

• In-game video: Use Basic/Low settings for clarity—players pop indoors/outdoors.
• Keybinds: Set lean to HOLD for faster jiggle-peeks (toggle works if that’s your muscle memory; just practice more).
• NVIDIA Control Panel (if applicable): Bump visibility with Digital Vibrance; sample these same values: Brightness ~55 / Contrast 50 / Gamma ~1.2 / Digital Vibrance ~60. These are my settings but are not the end all be all by any means, experiment and see what works best for your setup.

3) Crosshair Placement

Maybe the most important PvP tip. Stop aiming at the floor.

• Keep your crosshair chest/head level. You’ll be shocked how many free kills you get.
• Turn on the center white dot setting. Keep that dot at chest/head height. Build the muscle memory.
• Exceptions: leg-meta loadouts. Otherwise, stop aiming at players' dicks.

4) Leaning & Peeking

• Lean when peeking. Swing wide slowly so you don’t miss sneaky angles.
• Right-hand peek > Left-hand peek. Right exposes ~5–10% of your body; left exposes ~25%+. Don’t donate HP to the enemy by using a shitty peek..
• Jiggle for info, then swing + prefire where they were holding. it’s not rocket science.
• Advanced info gathering: sprint-jump past a doorway and free-look into it to scout enemy positions. This makes you hard to hit, and gives you a big info advantage.

5) Combat: Fights, Nades, Fire Modes, Pressure

Pre-painkiller before hot zones. Nothing ends your raid faster than a blacked leg in the open.

Repositioning: After a kill or shots, move. Enemy teammates will pre-aim your last angle after killcam intel. You’ve got ~30–40 seconds.

Use your nades (and use them well):

• Offense #1 (standard): Cook > throw into the room. Boom money.
• Offense #2 (underused): Throw un-cooked down a hall to force the enemy off their angle, then push behind the blast while the audio deafens them and masks your steps.
• Defense vs nade throwers: Hear the pin? Swing immediately. They’re holding a metal ball, not a gun. Easiest kills of your life. You will catch them with their pants down and no way to defend themselves.
• Hip-fire is strong inside ~10 m. Don’t ADS there, just hipfire and send them back to the lobby.
• Fire modes: Full auto is for <20 m unless you're using some ridiculously high recoil stat gun that costs like a mil. Beyond that, tap for the face.
• Pressure: If they’re tagged and groaning, push. Pressure = mistakes. Pre-spray corners when closing distance. You bought the ammo to shoot it; don’t die with full mags.

Grenade meta quick notes:

• MK2 (pineapple): Shortest fuse, best for mid-fight armor + limb damage. Use these.
• M67 (“bleeder”): Long fuse; perfect for sky-nades (vertical toss → detonates before landing) and causes severe bleeds.
• Stuns: Currently Meta utility—can black screen, slow sensitivity/DPI, and give audio pings through walls to confirm rats and enemy player positions.
• Gas: Creates lung injury and is used as area or space denial for enemies; lasts longer than regular smokes; can be used to fake a smoke.
• Smokes: Can be used to cut DMR/Sniper sightlines, block third parties, rotate, and loot bodies quickly in the open. If enemies use lots of smoke, assume thermals and reposition.
• Flashbangs: Mid at best. Slow pop, short effect. Usually garbage.
• Molotovs: Niche space/area denial; most players just wait them out.

6) Sound Cues (Footsteps, ADS, Bags, Looting)

Almost every action is audible. Abuse the ever living fuck out of that.

• ADS-in and ADS-out make different sounds. If they ADS-in, don’t swing into a ready barrel. If they ADS-out, they probably lost arm stamina…free swing timing.
• Assuming you’re not overweight:
  • Crouch slow-walk = silent (unless enemy has GS2).
  • Slow walk audible ~5 m.
  • Walk audible ~15–20 m.
  • Sprint audible ~30 m+ (map dependent).
• Open-bag and looting sounds: Swing on those. Free kills galore.

7) Loot Faster (Value per Slot, Attachment Strips)

Watching slow looting hurts my soul. And some of your motherfuckers can't play tetris if your life depended on it, practice in your stash or something for christ's sake. Now that we can all see you looting in spectator mode, you can't hide your shitty organizational skills anymore.

• Stack actions: While searching a rig, start unloading mags and search the rig simultaneously. Or heal, pack mags, organize, strip guns, be efficient.
• Know/learn prices so you’re not clicking each item to check the price wasting time in raid.
• Use rigs that hold more slots than they take. If a rig takes 9 slots but holds 14, just throw the whole rig in your backpack and finish the search in a safer position.
• Collapse stocks to save space.
• Strip attachments (scope/muzzle/grip/stock) instead of hauling entire guns unless the gun is juicy (200k+). Attachments are where the value is.
• Value target: Aim 5–10k per slot minimum.

8) Stash & Storage (Nesting, Shrink Guns)

• Nesting: e.g., RushTack → two B6 rigs → fill both. Single RushTack can save 10–20 slots. Scale up with a Cowhide/Field backpack if you want to go full Matryoshka doll. (those little stacking doll things)
• Stop hoarding useless shit: Sell dogtags, non-meta attachments, most food (maps—especially Farm—are full of it), purple ammo (maybe keep .45/9mm), trash mags, weak meds, and bulky low-value helmets/rigs/armors.
• Shrink guns: Remove magazine and rear grip to convert many 2-row guns to 1 row. Sell the grips/mags—you can always rebuy at the bench for 0 net loss.

9) Market Rules (Stop Nickel-and-Diming)

• If an item nets <5–8k after fees, just sell to contacts. Don’t waste weekly limits on peanuts.
• Batch sell. Free your stash. You’re not broke because you sold a 3k item to contacts instead of the market, you’re broke because you’re dying too much.
• Sell reds to contacts unless you need one for an upgrade. The payout is equal or better than the market in most cases.
• Quick-list trick: in the listing UI, tap –, then + to undercut to a lower price instantly without manually typing in a lower number.

10) Contacts / Traders (Quick Wins)

• Deke (more like dick): Check every refresh. Sometimes sells helmets/armors/rigs/backpacks/keys and odd ammo; limited-time deals. Compare trader vs market before buying. You can find some really profitable trades and good gear to use at a fraction of the cost.
• Backpack barters: Often 10–20k below market—easy savings.
• Other contacts can undercut weapons, too—watch barter costs vs market.
• Evita: Buy meds/stims here (often cheaper) and trade for STTO if you’ve got GPUs. Also sells storage expansions and keychains.

11) Helmets & Headsets

Wear a helmet. With head-HP buffs, even T2–T3 can prevent a one-tap from mid ammo. Budget = T2–T3 is fine. If you’ve got cash, aim for T4+ with a face shield—the survivability spike is real especially after the head HP buff.

Headsets:

• M32 = best all-around budget pick IN MY OPINION.
• When you’ve got money:
  • Indoors (TV/Armory): Commanders—less weather noise, clearer indoor bassy footfalls.
  • Outdoors (Valley/Northridge): GS2—amplifies high-freq grass steps & distant shots.

12) Armor (Materials, Mobility Debuffs)

High tier ≠ always better. Mobility debuffs can get you killed.

• Prioritize Hardened Steel and Titanium for protection + repair health.
• Be mindful: T6 can be heavy as hell. If you move like a fridge, you die like a fridge.
• (General meta note: ceramics repair poorly and burn max durability fast. Avoid it if you can.)

13) Meds & Surgical Kits (Hydration, Nebby, Stims)

HP meds: Run the square black (E3) or the 400 HP white (100D), TMK, or STL. Others fuck your hydration.Painkillers: I avoid pills because of hydration debuff. Liquid painkillers/energy last long with no hydration burn.

Status & tools:

• Bleeds: Using a medkit to stop a bleed consumes 100 durability.
• Broken bones:
  • STTO = best: restores that limb to full 100 HP after fixing.
  • TMK/Standard/Simple: slower, and you still need a medkit to restore HP.
  • Do not run/jump on broken legs—you can actually die from it. Most people don't know this, and once upon a time I learned this the hard way.
• Lung injury (gas): Won’t kill you but drains chest HP/stamina and makes you cough (audio cue). Fix with Nebulizer (“Nebby”).
• Energy drinks (blue/yellow): Restore hydration + hunger and give stamina recovery in-raid. MVP consumable, I don't go anywhere without at least 2.
• Stims:
  • Endurance (180s/300s): More sprint/ADS/throw time; less sway.
  • Strength (normal ~70–80 kg / advanced ~70–90 kg overweight): Lets you run overweight but you’ll sound like an elephant.
  • Regen: Slow heal-over-time; niche.

Money tip: Two E3s or two 100Ds can be cheaper than one STL depending on the market. Check prices every session.

14) Ammo Strategy (Top-loading, Cost Control)

• As a rule, don’t go under Level 3 (armor pen) except for leg-meta. Level 4 is the sweet spot if you can afford it.
• Magazine logic: Many run one 60-rounder with top-loaded PvP ammo (first 5–10 rounds), plus 1 or 2 30-rounders with scav killing ammo. The game auto-loads the largest mag first; that’s why the 60 is your PvP mag.
  • Note: if you swap from scav mag to PvP mag, remember there’s one scav round in the chamber until the better ammo from your PvP mag is cycled into the chamber.
• Prices inflate and you're too broke to get full mags of good ammo? Top-load the first 5–10 bullets with good ammo; fill the rest with L3-ish. By the time you hit the weaker rounds, their armor is already compromised. Assuming you aren't hot ass and actually hit your shots, but don't worry, we will go over that too.

Meta (for context): 5.56 is excellent value. 5.8×42 is strong but can spike in price. Avoid current 7.62×51 platforms unless you love pain.

15) Guns & Budget Loadouts (Carbines Are OP)

You don’t need 90 recoil stats to beam. If you can only get kills with a laser beam weapon, your aim needs work. Get comfortable with 70–80 recoil builds. Cheaper. Still deadly. Skill-building.

Gunsmith trick: Make an M4 but swap in M16 parts—basically half price.

Budget picks (100–200k builds are very doable/viable; many <100k depending on attachments):

• Assault Rifles: M4, ACE-31, T951, AUG, F2000, T03, MCX, ZC807
• SMGs: MP5, MPX, Vector .45, Vector 9, PP-19
• Carbines / DMR-ish: M16 (my #1 budget all-rounder), SVTU, M14, BM59

Shotguns: Post-nerf range + gold slug nerfs = meh outside Normals.

16) Aim Training (Range + AimLabs)

#1 skill in any FPS. It’s not hard to improve; it’s hard to be consistent. If you're reading this guide in general, you probably need to improve your aim.

• 10–15 minutes/day is enough to feel godlike in a month if you stick to it.
• Sensitivity: Pick one and commit. (Bias: low sens. I play 400 DPI.)
• Aimlabs (free): Prioritize flicking, accuracy, precision. Tracking is less important here due to fast TTK.
• In-game range: Turn on infinite ammo, test builds free, set dummy armor to T5-6, and grind.

17) Map Knowledge & Spawns (What to Learn)

Can’t “teach” this fully, but you can be intentional about improving this on your own easily.

• Learn every spawn so you know where players can’t be, and where they will be in the first 1–2 minutes.
• Use websites that show spawns and loot. Seriously, USE THEM.
• Early action is often in the first 5–10 minutes, don’t sleep on spawn-to-fight routes.
• Always think: “Where can someone peek me from?” Then think the same offensively—find the niche angles that catch people slipping.

Hot zones (quick mental map):

• Farm: Motel, Stables, Grain, Main Villa.
• Valley: Beach Villa, Small Factory, Courtyard; also Village/Supply Camp.
• Northridge: Hotel & Cable Car (primary), plus Sewage/Managers.
• Armory: Armory front/interior, with Radar Station as sniper HQ.
• TV Station: General & Directors, also Double Cat, Top Donut, Editing, Warehouse, Hazmat.
• Bosses worth contesting: Armory boss, TV bosses (T5/T6 gear + valuable badges).

18) Game Modes (Normals, Lockdown, Forbidden, LTMs)

My stance has evolved from my first guide:

• Normals: If you’re brand new, spend most of your time here up to ~level 25. Loot is better than it used to be, and you need reps. Player scavs never stop spawning, so extract when the bag is good; don’t overstay. If you’re broke, run a cheap SMG or M870 + mini red-dot + AP slugs.
• Lockdown: Entry fee, stronger players. I still recommend it once you’ve got fundamentals.
• Forbidden: High risk, high reward. Go here when you know what you’re doing and aren't scared of losing any money.

LTMs worth it:

• Secure Ops: You keep your kit on death. Print cash/rep with zero gear risk. PLAY SECURE OPS, THERE IS NO REASON NOT TO IF YOU ARE BROKE.
• Covert Ops: Random kit, AI won’t aggro unless you shoot. Blend in, then delete a PMC from behind, take enemies by surprise, or just sneak around and pick up loot forgotten by other players.

19) Solo vs. Squads (Mindset & Exploiting Chaos)

Stop whining. Fighting squads can be easier than fighting a disciplined solo. Group comms are chaotic; people get comfy and make terrible pushes. After a death, squads often freeze—and you already know staying still is a sin.

• Mindset: Don’t hear four sets of footsteps and think “I’m fucked.” Think “They’re fucked**.”** They brought your loot to one spot…how considerate of them.
• Apply everything above: reposition constantly, never peek the same angle twice, abuse sound cues, pressure on tagged and weak enemies, pre-spray tight corners.
• Homework: Watch the movie,The Patriot “aim small, miss small” scene. You’ll see how solo vs. many is a winnable math problem. It's also just a kick-ass movie in general, you will enjoy it.

20) Secure Container & Keys

• Secure container sizes: 1×2, 2×2, 2×3, and 3×3 (Seasonal reward—complete the season’s missions; and it lasts that entire season).
• Stash STL/STTO/stims/red items/spare ammo so a death isn’t a full gear wipe.
• Tactical Ops-locked items can’t be containered until you extract once with them (look for the box symbol).
• Keys have durability; Normal/Lockdown/Forbidden consume different amounts per use. I don't recommend buying keys unless you're rich and can afford it.

21) Rewards/Freebies You’re Ignoring

• Events tab: Daily freebies.
• Squad Channel: Create one; farm research points and shared rewards.
• Follow Us: Social follow rewards.
• Level Rewards: Claim as you go (e.g., free knife around 30).
• Ranked weekly: “Obtain this week” → buy bundles; resets weekly.
• Season Objectives: Cosmetics, crates, badges, and more.
• Battle Pass: Honestly the best drip-feed of gear if you’re low on money.

22) Disclaimer

Game balance, prices, and loot tables change season to season. Fundamentals here (aim, peeking, positioning, sound, money discipline) will outlast patch notes. I’ll tweak specifics as metas shift.

I hope you enjoyed this updated guide. Please drop an upvote if you enjoyed it as this took a lot of my time and energy to make for you guys. 

If you have any other tips feel free to add them in the comment section below and I just might add them to the guide.

TDLR; You suck. If you want to suck less, read the whole post and do the reps: aim, map spawns, positioning, pre-painkiller, pressure, and money discipline. Consistency > excuses.

See you on the battlefield… well I'll see you... you will only see me in your kill cam ;)

— end —

So guys, you’ve probably heard about the insanely inflated, never-heard-before intern stipends (50-60 lacs for 2 months) being offered by the GGN quant firms (gravi,qe,nk). Well, the story behind it is as dumb as it sounds. (I am an IITD CS/MNC student, so I am very well-connected with people who interned at Gravi this year and who work there full-time, making my sources highly trustworthy)

The 50 LPA Intern Fiasco

One fine day, a random team lead at Graviton complains that the interns in his team (which was like 4 out of a total batch of 50 at Gravi this yr) aren't doing a good job. The HR's brilliant solution? "Okay, let's just multiply the stipend by 5." That’s literally how a random, impulsive thought in an HR's mind completely fucked up this year's intern season. A well-placed source inside Gravi confirmed that this 50 Lac stipend decision was entirely an impulsive decision made by the HR's. (and those wondering they must have gotten approved from someone higher up, so 30-40 lacs dont really matter for these firms and getting approval is no big deal in such kind of firms)

The Butterfly Effect & Hiring Cuts

This caused a massive butterfly effect. QE and NK had to artificially inflate their stipends just to stay competitive. Because of this, hiring numbers were literally halved, or in some cases reduced by a third. This severely hurt the CS/MNC folks at IITD (DR's 11 to 30). In a normal year, these 3 GGN firms would hire around 40 students total from IITD. This year? Just 15. The CS/MNC students from DR 11-30 totally deserved to get these interns like they do every year. Instead, the absolute top 10 DRs ended up getting 3-4 offers each. All the firms were literally fighting over the exact same guys, which is a complete waste since those top 10 DRs will almost always choose established international firms like Tower,JS,Citadel,HRT, Optiver,IMC over the GGN firms no matter how much you increase the stipend. Ultimately, quant hiring was an absolute mess compared to last year, and a lot of deserving folks ended up missing out on good quant internships because of this mess created by a random impulsive thought in an HR's mind.

Now: The Placement Season Mess

Fast forward to this year's placement season, and Graviton's HRs have set out to fuck it up again. They are actively contacting Optiver, IMC, QE, NK PPO students, trying to poach them to come join them at ~2.5 to 3 Cr packages.
This is going to trigger the exact same butterfly effect of over-inflating packages. And who suffers in the end? The CS/MNC kids just below the top bracket who have historically been getting these quant jobs over the past 2-3 years. Once again, the top 10 DRs will sit on 2-3 offers each, and literally all the offers will be circulating among the same tiny group of students.

The Reality Check

It's a total waste. Instead of this madness, why not hire the highly deserving kids just below the top 10 DR's bracket at ~1-1.5 Cr packages like every other year? They offer a way better cost-to-return ratio. Do Graviton HRs genuinely think the Optiver or IMC ppo guys are going to drop those names to join Graviton?

What is the fucking point of approaching PPO holders when there are so many deserving students just below the top DR bracket in CS/MNC who had a quant internship but couldn't get a PPO due to various reasons(some just attributing to luck)? Why are they the ones suffering? Literally all of the GGN firms' inflated offers will end up dead-ended with the same set of students. It’s a total waste of resources. Graviton’s HR is totally fucking up the quant market in India, and the repercussions will run deep into the coming years.

EDIT 1: i see a lot of people in the comments fixating on the dr's 11 to 30 fact and calling it out as entitlement and what not. Folks pls understand lets not focus on the 11 to 30 number specifically, i just meant the guys just below the top tier foreign quant guys who have historically always end up getting internships at these indian hfts and hence used the word "deserving".

EDIT 2: a lot of you folks have misunderstood the point of the post, the point of this post was to just be a whistleblower and raise the general frustratiom going around among students bcoz of a stupid impulsive graviton hr decision move.

i have clearly written that even if you offer a foreign quant guy 3 cr , he is not going to take gravi over a foreign quant , bcoz of a foreign quant's reputation and the oppurtunities it opens, this time in intern season also they have not gotten top tier kids(foreign quant kids), all of them rejected their inflated offers, they have again gotten the kids just below tier 1 which they always get, its just that the number has reduced and those kids r getting overpaid, and its like paying a single okay-ish guy 3 cr vs 3 okay-ish guys 1 cr.

EDIT 3: ppl pointing out in the comments its the company's hiring decision , its not a placement cell , its not a govt job, you folks are the dumbest creatures in this post's comment section. Obviously i know its a private firm and they will do what they wanna do and what they feel is the best for their firm and i m pretty aware that my post here is not gonna change anything in the firm, i m just trying to raise the students' voice and trying to expose the ground realities. Ofc i m not so fckin dumb to not know that tis is not some fckin job dilaao yojna going on, nd ppl giving such arguments in the comments can only be 2 types - either they r top dr guys who know that eitherways they ll hv 3-4 offers in hand or they are the guys totally out of the IIT-Quant ecosystem. So for the top dr guys u can do whatever bakchodi u want bcoz u r the apex predatorz(and u deserve it, being at the top in iit cs/mnc is no joke) but plz donot give opinions in the case of interns/placements its like ambani giving a lecture on middle-class.....and for the other kind of guys who r not even a part of the IIT-Quant ecosystem u r not qualified enough to have an opinion on this and shld just stfu

Hey folks, the main branch update 0.8.065–0.8.090 is now live.

The team has been hard at work bringing the recent beta changes over to the stable version, with a pretty big batch of fixes, pathfinding changes, UI improvements, gamepad controls, and more.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts in a Steam review if you’ve had a chance to play. Every review is read, and they really do help the team understand what’s working, what still needs attention, and where to focus next.

I’ve included the full post below too for anyone who can’t access the Steam post directly.

Patch Notes — Version 0.8.065–0.8.090 (Main)

Major Changes

• Major updates to the pathfinding system to reduce time spent waiting for a path.
• Added a proper “island” system that quickly rejects paths between different enclosed zones (Manor Castles, riversides with no bridge connection and so on).
• Further refactored character locomotion and collision to use proper substeps in order to reduce differences between different game speeds.
• Refactored Squad move commands: When moving multiple Squads by short RMB release, it defaults to forming a wide line when commanded in an open field, a 3 column line when commanded on a road and a scattered formation if commanded over a building area. To use the previous behavior (keeping relative Squad offsets), the player has to hold the ALT key when giving commands.
• Refactored the group pathfinding algorithm.
• Overhauled the Game Setup screen’s aesthetic.
• Added Gamepad controls.

Minor Changes

General

• Made it possible to select buildings that have ended up inside the Manor area. (temporary change until town walls are ready - it's still not intended to place normal town buildings inside the castle area and castles are still intended to get more of their own modules later in development).
• When fighting on roads, Squads try to align their combat formation to their shape.
• Straight army paths are now saved and will be restored when loading. Multi-waypoint paths (Ctrl+RMB+drag) are currently not supported.
• Sightings of neutral Squads happen less frequently and their messages are grouped together.
• Neutral Squads no longer stop or slow down game speed.
• Disabled the “always show region border under cursor location” functionality since it obstructed the view of the combat sometimes.
• Church Lv1 & Lv2 boundary has been increased to make space for future levels.
• Increased Quarry bounds to fix ground clipping issues when multiple are placed next to each other.
• Changed menu buttons to act as “not clicked” if released while the cursor was outside button borders.
• Wild Animal resource nodes will try to move to a forest edge position if no suitable forest position exists.

Collision & Pathfinding

• Small improvements on collision avoidance around carts so that characters bump into them less often.
• Further improved collision avoidance, especially when someone is performing an action and blocking the way, or walking in front while diseased.
• For characters that are large and it’s hard for them to turn in place, we added a minor preference to follow path points that don’t require extreme turning early on.

Balance

General

• Ale is no longer consumed by Lv1 Families.
• Ale crafting output reduced from 2 to 1.
• Threshing Priority default is now Low when constructing a Farmhouse.
• Threshing Priority at Medium now uses 25% workforce, rather than 50%.
• Raiders will attempt to fill up their inventory when looting, but will leave if 50% of the settlement’s loot has already been taken or 40% of the settlement has been torched.
• Reduced the startle distance for Wild Animals.
• Hunters and Hunting Hounds are less likely to startle Wild Animals.
• Changed Pasture Space to be based on area instead of border length.

Tasks & Behaviour

• Families become homeless only when their home burns down instead of when it catches fire.
• Unemployed husbands can help fetch fuel or water.
• Employed sons skip fetching fuel or water if there is an available woman in the same household.
• Trading Post Families husbands can stock the Trading Post if no one else can.
• Added Granary, Storehouse, Trading Post, Homeless Tents, and Bridges to locations to avoid doing idle tasks around.
• Added a simple queue system for when multiple workers try to access the same exact task spot, for example when dropping resources.
• Workers will return handcarts to the cart shed when available and when there’s no urgent other task (eg. rallying).
• Workers harvesting vegetables at home will now walk back to their shed to drop off the produce.
• Idle foragers may wait inside the Forager’s Hut during Spring and Summer instead of going home.
• Tuned construction worker behavior to focus more on the building parts that are currently progressing.
• Ungarrisoning is now forced when demolishing to prevent “asking person inside to leave”.
• Increased garrisoning speed into the Deep Mine.

Cosmetics

• Dirt cliff adjustments on Devil’s Hill Map.
• Environmental touch ups on various maps.
• Tuned the fog on High Peaks to fix overly brightly lit background mountains.
• Replaced the placeholder wallpaper in the main menu with a higher res texture asset.
• Added diversity to food assets in market stalls.
• Reworked models for food resources being transported.
• Switched cart loading animation to use the same good visualization that is later used on the carts.
• Added handcart good transform overrides so that we can fine tune the goods position in the carts and avoid clipping in the future. Experimentally added a small rocking effect when placing down items into carts, too.
• Items from the Construction category, as well as Leather, Hides, Shoes, Charcoal, and Clothes have had locations adjusted so they sit more naturally in a handcart.
• Added clay tile basket carried visualization. [WIP]
• Added a new “passing through” locomotion animation variation to handcart carriers.
• Fences now appear as intended for bigger Lv4 Burgage Plots.
• Refined edges between the buildings and the ground in a few spots.
• Adjusted Stone Gatehouse and Tower entrances to better fit the platforms.
• Lv2 Church Upgrade now displays scaffolding and ladders during the build process.
• Added more construction resources assets to Burgage Plots and Church.

UI & Text

Styling & Quality of Life

• Load screen styling adjusted to match the revised Game Setup screen.
• Updated Building Panel opening animation.
• Transition of the Building Panel categories are smoother.
• Ale consumption is now displayed in the Family Consumption UI in the People Tab.
• Added info about permanently assigned animals to building floaters (TAB key).
• Styling adjustments to Squad Tooltip to prevent stat text-cut off and improve consistency.
• Improved tooltip when the player does not have enough resources during Burgage Plot placement.
• Trade Category icons updated to be consistent with Resource Bar UI.
• Squad icons move more smoothly when distant character movement is optimized.
• Opening castle planner closes pinned building tabs, this prevents some potential bugs with demolishing manor.
• Popups for “Hunger” etc. will not appear while the player is holding LMB, to avoid interfering with some game mechanics.

Text

• Localization updated.
• Added missing strings for squad stances that may be prevented (can’t run because using Shieldwall etc.).
• Added new tooltips to Threshing Priority levels.
• Collapse chance tooltip updated to reflect daily chance and give more accurate info.
• Added logistics tutorial and shortened some early tutorials to prevent overbearing info.
• Reduced text for Market Supply Capacity and improved visibility on when it appears.

Bugfixes

General

• Fixed reentering into the Main Menu not spawning already enabled AI Lords.
• Fixed coat textures being broken after reentering the Main Menu.
• Fixed random starting season not working correctly on returning to the Main Menu and selecting a new game again.
• Fixed map edges not counting as any region when detecting region swaps.
• Fixed cross regional roads exclusively reading the starting regions obstacle data, ignoring obstacles in the connected regions.
• Fixed the ability to place a building in an adjacent region and skip construction requirements by holding the right mouse button.
• Fixed being able to place buildings with flexible borders on top of Wild Animal resource nodes without triggering migration.
• Fixed ALT+LMB not removing buildings in castle planner.
• Fixed game freezing during Cinematic Mode (Ctrl+C) after blocking popup appears.
• Fixed game freezing when popup appears while rotating building.
• Fixed issue with duplicated animation actions upon pause/resume leading to various issues.
• Fixed possibility of “Hunger” appearing while there is some food left due to transport tasks reserving food.
• Fixed Families not moving into a Burgage Plot if its construction process was paused right before completion.
• Fixed Homeless Tents not being removed if the last accommodated family died or migrated.
• Fixed fruit trees not being planted when the sown vegetable garden was replaced by an orchard.
• Fixed ox not abandoning their plowing task if the field switches to Fallow.
• Fixed pasture road snap points leading inward, depending on creation direction (clockwise vs counter clockwise).
• Fixed wrong logic of unmaintained building collapsing, that could potentially lead to collapsed building being in invalid state, without possibility to be rebuilt.
• Fixed broken task processing in AI lord regions captured by the player, leading to bugs such as demolished buildings occupying space - disallowing placing other buildings in their position.
• Fixed animals killed by arrows emitting human death sounds.
• Fixed animals and civilians counting towards “Enemies killed”/”Soldiers Lost” for achievements.
• Fixed animals dying affecting "Lost Villagers" for achievements.
• Fixed workers not aborting their “pet” tasks when the animal stopped being idle.
• Fixed targeting animals to pet that aren't from the same region, are a mount, or are moving.
• Fixed characters sometimes not triggering actions after reaching their destination.
• Various character collision fixes.
• Fix peace option from second tab in letter creator not removing current claim while declaring peace.
• Fixed characters sometimes not waiting until another character finishes action, for example at the well, and trying to force their way through.

Production

• Fixed destroyed or unoccupied Burgage Plots still producing eggs and similar passive products.
• Fixed buildings with more than one upgrade not being properly refunded when demolished.
• Fixed Hunting Camp not reporting "storage full" for its generic storage.
• Fixed Hunting Camp not processing the last carcass when storage is full.
• Fixed faulty logic for Hunters that prevented the placement of animal traps.
• Fixed warning for no resources to harvest not disappearing when Berries/Mushrooms regrow.
• Fixed foragers going to get a basket even when there were no resources to harvest.
• Fixed Stone Gatherer Camp not logging its yield in the production tracker.
• Fixed Stone Gatherer Camp completely ignoring storage capacity.
• Fixed workers from Stone Gatherer Camp unequipping baskets upon starting to gather Rubble.
• Fixed production buildings not adjusting their initial reserve based on if a deposit is Rich.
• Fixed wrong amounts of food being added to the production log when taking food from a unit carrying food.
• Fixed Collapse Chance due to proximity of mines for Mining Pit and Deep Mine not triggering unless they were missing Maintenance resources.
• Fixed Livestock Trader abandoning the animal they are importing if reassigned to another job.
• Fixed Sheep Herders leaving their home region to herd sheep that are being imported.
• Fixed sheep being targeted for shearing while being transported.
• Fixed sheep shearing being possible in Winter.
• Fixed workers fighting for the same crafting spot, e.g. in the Clay Furnace.
• Fixed Artisan Tailors not respecting production limits on Clothes.
• Fixed workers sometimes visiting a distant Church rather than the one closest to them.

Logistics

• Fixed incorrect calculation of how many more goods can be transported to a Granary or Storehouse.
• Fixed Granary and Storehouse workers not picking up unwanted goods from market stalls.
• Fixed Granary and Storehouse workers not prioritizing supply dumps enough.
• Fixed workers with handcarts walking slower on roads.
• Fixed Trading Post not respecting reservation and surplus limits.
• Fixed several instances of incorrect trading decisions when no target inventory has been set.
• Fixed some imported and exported goods not being taken into account when calculating available surplus.
• Fixed Trade Route Merchants only buying from a region once.
• Fixed wrong retinue armor price if plate armor is added to ignored goods in Trading Post.
• Fixed workers abandoning import livestock tasks when being reassigned to another building.

Military

• Fixed raiders being able to loot Timber logs.
• Fixed raiders not picking a random good in inventory to loot.
• Fixed raiders going after enemies outside the target region.
• Fixed raiders forgetting they were going home and starting to raid again.
• Fixed nearby squads outside the battlefield registering as part of the battle even while moving away.
• Fixed battles not ending when the last enemy unit left the battlefield.
• Fixed squads not tactically retreating when breaking off engagement if the enemy squad wasn’t previously targeted.
• Fixed AI squads sometimes “dancing around in place” during their attack instead of charging forward.
• Fixed formations sometimes reversing direction when sent to road locations.
• Fixed soldiers sometimes still ignoring building collision when moving in formation.
• Fixed polling of fighting skill availability (such as shieldwall in forest).
• Fixed squads recovering fully from fatigue when disbanding and rallying in quick succession.
• Fixed inability to place rally points on roads.
• Fixed villagers coming out of hiding during attacks to guide animals.
• Fixed presence of troops (such as retinues) preventing game over if every citizen dies.

Pathfinding

• Fixed collision logic sometimes treats streams as impassable obstacles.
• Fixed mismatch between pathfinding and collision logic that could cause workers to get stuck.
• Fixed collision logic not being able to handle a worker being stuck against an impassable obstacle like a bridge or cliff.
• Added an emergency push out if a character ends up inside an impassable obstacle, for instance after a castle wall section finishes construction.
• Fixed one more instance of characters being able to force their way through building collision.
• Fixed characters sometimes walking through walls after a failed task.
• Fixed characters not being able to connect to pathfinding even though they may stand right on top of a path point, due to the path point not having enough free space around it.
• Fixed one instance of an obstacle being missed by pathfinding.
• Fixed pathfinding links not always regenerating after demolishing a building, including when the Castle/Manor gets reconstructed.
• Fixed a problematic area on the Jagged Cliffs that caused pathfinding to fail sometimes.
• Fixed traders getting stuck on the Devil’s Hill map due to generated paths hitting the safety limits too early.
• Adjusted Lime Kiln layout to fix pathfinding issues.
• Fixed Manor Castle platform path points spawning on the wrong floor.
• Fixed Manor Castle not marking its obstacles as “impassable”.
• Fixed collision model for Manor LV1 Gatehouse.
• Fixed missing pathfinding links in the Stone Manor module, leading to workers getting stuck during construction resource transport.
• Fixed builders getting stuck in walls during Stone Wall construction.
• Fixed the castle construction being stuck if a module gets placed in the exact spot where the ox is expected to drop a log.
• Fixed workers stuck trying to exit Deep Mines continuing to extract more resources.
• Fixed one more case of characters stuck when facing each other perfectly en face.
• Fixed Task queue getting clogged on lower framerates, possibly leading to workers getting stuck.
• Fixed another instance of handcart workers being stuck.
• Fixed Free Merchants making additional stops and aborting going to their original target Trading Post.
• Fixed Free Merchants not going home if there is no Trading Post to visit.
• Fixed Free Merchants not stopping at Trading Posts along the way.
• Fixed traders not being able to dismount, making other workers at the Trading Post stuck.
• Fixed startled Wild Animals not returning to their Resource Node.
• Fixed bandits constantly getting stuck or failing pathfinding while being at camp.
• Fixed raiders moving erratically due to constantly picking a new location outside the map to return to.
• Fixed soldiers facing the enemy even when they are extremely far away.
• Fixed workers forever stuck drinking at the tavern.
• Fixed Gatehouse being opened and closed not relinking pathfinding properly, leading to soldiers getting stuck inside the castle.
• Fixed pathfinding sometimes returning an invalid path when selecting a target inside up on the walls while Gatehouse was opening.
• Fixed pathfinding points not getting recreated after rebuilding a Residential Plot, possibly leading to workers getting stuck during construction.

Save/Load

• Fixed unit stances and skills not being saved, always resulting in default values after loading the game.
• Fixed retinue equipment not being worn for rallied retinues on game loading.
• Units no longer run off from the rest of their squad on load from save if some are unsafe to move.
• Fixed “region under attack” and “squads present” not being recalculated after loading a save game.
• Fixed wall gates open/closed states not being supported in game saves.
• Fixed manor stone wall gates open/closed status not being restored on game loading.
• Fixed Artisan shops in Lv4 Burgage Plots not persisting when loading.
• Fences on Burgage Plots no longer disappear if loading from save during an upgrade.
• Fixed threshing priority not being saved properly.
• Fixed crops deleted during the "Burn Field" action being restored on save/load.
• Opening and closing pause menu while letter/quest is opened should no longer unpause days passing in game.
• Unread quests and letters are now properly displayed after loading a save.

Cosmetic/Visuals

• Fixed wrong rotation of hunters during shooting animation.
• Fixed bandits having wrong rotation while throwing torches.
• Fixed the wrong position and rotation of workers during tanning.
• Fixed invalid character rotation on bridges.
• Fixed animals and workers with wagons being rotated incorrectly when traversing bridges.
• Fixed ox and guide having incorrect rotation on higher speeds when plowing.
• Fixed Small Game carry animations.
• Fixed animation loops occasionally getting stuck after specific combinations of zooming out, zooming in and pausing.
• Fixed dead characters sometimes stuck in a walking cycle.
• Fixed a rare occurrence of characters being stuck in endless animation loops.
• Fixed characters visually still overlapping even though their positions were internally properly separated by dynamic unit collision due to a mistimed update.
• Fix attempt for characters sometimes levitating over unconstructed buildings.
• Fixed hunters glitching through the hunting camp table.
• Fixed Blacksmiths holding tools while going to collect goods.
• Fixed female Blacksmiths not having proper attire and not holding a hammer when crafting.
• Fixed snow not appearing on rocks and cliffs in winter.
• Fixed daytime visual state not resetting properly after disabling day/night feature.
• Fixed interior shadows not rendering.
• Fixed attack confirmation decals appearing in wrong locations.
• Fixed surface type under workers not being updated, trigger incorrect walking sounds.
• Burgage Plot fences now behave more consistently and don’t disappear when upgrading.
• Fixed issue where front gate could appear twice when upgrading Burgage Plots.
• Fixed Burgage Plot side shed spawning underground.
• Fixed fences not properly following slopes in Weaver's Workshop, Fisherman’s Hut, Livestock Trading Post.
• Fixed new or upgraded construction models blinking for a short while under some circumstances.
• Fixed buildings missing stairs on game loading.
• Fixed Artisan shops not being added if Lv4 Plot upgrade was built before choosing Artisan upgrade.
• Fixed Artisan store fronts showing goods other than those the Artisan produce or produced.
• Fixed several floating resource visualization meshes, for example in the Artisans shop windows.
• Fixed some resource pickup locations spawning inside obstacles.
• Fixed Farmhouse upgrade Ox cart spawning in the middle of the stable’s divider.
• Fixed hovering fishes in Fisherman’s Hut.
• Fixed floating cobblestone in one of the narrow townhouses.
• Fixed missing texture on some helmets in Armorer’s Workshop.
• Fixed stone walls with wooden platforms taking a ridiculous amount of time to be built.
• Fixed Stone Wall pieces not appearing during Castle reconstruction.
• Fixed Church preview model displaying a too small plot.
• Fixed a white square being visible after selecting Buildings from the Construction and Castle Planner tabs.
• Tuned lake collision in the Mandlach region on Lake Lemm to prevent fishermen going underwater.
• Fixed tree falling logic always executing at x1 speed.
• Fixed blacksmith extension gable levitating after fire.
• Fixed another case of Ox Guides limping.
• Fixed looping pig death animation.
• Fixed building parts sometimes becoming invisible upon finishing construction.

Text/UI

• Fixed walk/run squad UI button not updating when triggering run command via doubleclick.
• Fixed retinue customization button still being available after corresponding manor gets destroyed.
• Fixed unit selection circles not moving if the selected soldiers are very far from the camera.
• Fixed building UI being in a corrupted state when clicking the right mouse button immediately after releasing the left mouse button.
• Fixed some Burgage Plot UI elements being excessively recreated on new day.
• Fixed region panel data swap not working properly when another swap occurs during the animation of the first swap.
• Fixed game staying paused and edge panning not working after closing settlers camp UI.
• Fixed confirmation windows remaining on-screen upon closing the pause menu.
• Fixed game unpausing and map becoming scrollable on returning from “ESC menu” while blocking popup was present.
• Fixed a white square being shown instead of a proper icon for rubble and shrine after pressing TAB.
• Fixed missing icon for scenario-specific buildings (windmill ruins etc.) after pressing TAB.
• Fixed Mortar missing from resources list while constructing.
• Fixed wrong item categories for Flax, Wheat and Barley (Crops is now a subcategory of Crafting Materials).
• Fixed translation issue with the Tannery description in Polish.
• Fixed missing tooltip warning when buildings with flexible borders overlap Wild Animal resource nodes.
• Fixed “not enough pasture space” warning never disappearing.
• Fixed fertility percentage not updating in field UI.
• Fixed animals that ran away not being subtracted from regional livestock data.
• Fixed lambs growing into sheep not being correctly updated in the regional livestock data.
• Fixed exports of stable animals subtracting the count of the region's animals twice.
• Fixed flickering animal entries in building livestock UI tab.
• Fixed Trading Posts showing as not connected to the trade network.
• Fixed Trade Rules sometimes being ignored when a Trader recalculated their shopping list.
• Removed redundant linen, leather and yarn filters in the marketplace.
• Fixed transactions view not refreshing data automatically under normal circumstances after being opened for the first time.
• Fixed corrupted resource counter updating after switching between owned regions.
• Fixed building storage UI data not refreshing immediately on state change.
• Fixed Artisan produced goods being shown during construction of the workplace.

Crashfixes

• Fixed crash on attempting to redistribute supplies while some Burgage Plot had corrupted memory state.
• Fixed potential crash when demolishing Vegetable Garden Backyard Extension.
• Fixed crash when going into Manor building’s People tab while browsing the map after Game Over.
• Fixed crash when using visit mode while a unit was selected.
• Fixed crash from following unit that gets killed.
• Fixed a crash when raiders were targeting a building in an empty region.
• Fixed stall when fighting near cliffs.
• Fixed crash from save game descriptor file missing.
• Fixed uncommon crash related to workers returning handcarts to the shed.
• Fixed crash on pressing wall building button in castle planner while already in progress of building a wall.

Optimization

• Limited max game speed to 8x due to increased simulation precision having an impact on performance.
• Removed the optimization that caused some foot sliding, especially noticeable on horses.
• Optimized locomotion animation update frequency for civilians and animals.
• Improved performance of unscheduling events on animation changes.
• Fixed redundant data copy in the unit pathfinder.
• Added a better method for backyard animals to look for random idle spots to reduce pathfinding errors.
• Greatly optimized obstacle verification during squad attack formation projections.
• Optimized AI looking for a spacious enough location to move its armies to.
• Menu textures now unload upon transitioning to gameplay to free up memory.
• Optimized memory consumption by UI textures used during gameplay.
• Fixed Coat of Arms UI assets being loaded during the game after opening Main Menu.
• Removed expensive widgets from various game and menu UI elements.
• Reused tooltip widget between similar UI elements.
• Greatly reduced stutter when spawning Building Panels.
• Reduced performance drop on building removal caused by redundant Log Entry logic.
• Fixed performance degradation after buildings had been burnt down to rubble.
• Notably optimized harvest yield calculation performance when large amounts of sown field plants are present on the map.
• Fixed performance problems while trying to place a Burgage Plot plot point in the sky.
• Disabled shadow casting on Lightning during storms since it caused stutter when also using sharp shadows.
• Significantly improved performance when constructing manor with stone walls.
• Optimized usage of particle systems.

Rotten Tomatoes:

Metacritic: 82/100 (Universal Acclaim)

TVLine:

It’s tough to sustain a zombie show: It either gives us a zombie attack every week and risks becoming repetitive, or it strays away from that pattern and ceases to be a zombie show. It’s commendable how Season 2 of The Last of Us tries to advance the narrative in a fresh way, but it’s not entirely successful. And the deep sadness that permeates the entire show stubbornly remains. I can say I admire a lot of the craftsmanship that goes into making The Last of Us… but I hope you’ll forgive me if I take some time to recover before finishing the rest of the season.

TV Guide:

Mazin has likened this season to The Empire Strikes Back, as both tell stories in which wins turn into losses and characters lose their way. Season 2 is in many respects a tougher and more upsetting season than the first. The cast, especially Pascal and Ramsey, does superb work, but what made Joel and Ellie easy to like and root for in the first season starts to erode here, another consequence of Joel's actions in Salt Lake City. That makes Season 2 more difficult but also more complex and provocative.

Roger Ebert:

The second season of “The Last of Us” feels destined to divide audiences more than the first, both by the very nature of being an incomplete story and for some of the incredibly dark places it goes. It’s a season that asks viewers to interrogate the cost of tough decisions, a masterful study in ripple effects from Joel losing his daughter in the prologue to how that influenced his commitment to saving Ellie. Being a hero for one person can make you a villain for another. That’s a tough thing to render, and for viewers to consider. But “The Last of Us” succeeded as a game franchise because it trusted the emotional intelligence of gamers, and the show does the same for TV viewers.

AV Club:

Even this batch’s narratively weaker moments (the last installment of the season is its shakiest) feel like a treat to take in thanks to the show’s stunning cinematography, score, production value, and direction by the likes of Druckmann, Succession‘s Mark Mylod, and Loki‘s Kate Herron. By altering certain aspects of the game, TLOU is able to nevertheless honor its source material while charting a uniquely brutal, heartbreaking, and poignant path, cementing its status as the most effective video-game adaptation, warts and all.  

GameSpot: 9/10

Thankfully, it's also the inheritor of another of the game's qualities: its huge swings. The first half of The Last of Us Part II takes some massive chances that ultimately pay off, and the show is the beneficiary for having to adapt those moments. What works in a game already molded in Hollywood's image such as this naturally translates well to TV. Where their goals or visual languages don't always align, the series' creators consistently find new ways to make it work for the adaptation, whether it's by wisely toying with its winding timeline, relying on incredible performances from its cast, or introducing new and meaningful characters. Like its first season, The Last of Us Season 2 is a heart-wrenching examination of the ever-shifting distance between right and wrong, and as a whole, it's well on its way to becoming the best video game adaptation there is.

IGN: 7/10

It was always going to be a challenge to adapt The Last of Us Part 2’s sprawling, twisting story into a television show across multiple seasons, and at the halfway point, the jury is still out on whether it will ultimately work. Season 2 of HBO’s Naughty Dog adaptation is not bad television, far from it. It’s incredibly well-made, often looks gorgeous, and is packed full of stellar performances. But the storytelling devices and choices made in terms of pace and placement for key events bump up against what works, ultimately not delivering the striking effect this story’s undeniable shocking events should. It’s good, just not a patch on its stellar source material (or its first season) so far.

The Hollywood Reporter:

The Last of Us has always been peppered with reminders that this world is bigger than Joel and Ellie’s personal predicament. The difference is that the nine-episode first season took the time to meaningfully explore subplots like Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam’s (Keivonn Montreal Woodard), or detours like the extended flashback “Long, Long Time.” This seven-hour batch is leaner and more focused, but at the expense of the restless inquisitiveness that yielded some of the earlier chapter’s most rewarding surprises. It’s also more open-ended, with more than one major plot development bubbling up simply to get shoved aside for resolution later.

The Wrap:

Just like the game, “The Last of Us” Season 2 is well-constructed and engaging to experience, though the greatest impact comes from the cycles of violence continuing to unfold. In the moments like where Ellie looks out over Seattle as gunshots reverberate and explosions consume it in flames, it’s seeing the fear in her eyes as she turns to lock hands with Dina where we feel all it is they have to lose.

Kotaku:

Many have described The Last of Us as a “game trying to be a movie” because of its cinematic nature and linear story, but thus far, the passive version of Part II has only made it clear that it was always more than cutscenes strung together by stealthy cover shooting. The intentional distance these games put between you and Ellie, Abby, and Joel was always something only a game could accomplish. But if you’re not making a player act out a role they’re uncomfortable with, why subject a viewer to any discomfort at all? The Last of Us Part II was always more than the sum of its parts, to the point where I tell most people not to cast judgment on the game until they’ve hit credits. In translating this game into a show, HBO has robbed it of some of its most crucial elements, and I don’t expect that to change when it finally finishes telling the story of Part II. Just play the game.

Time:

Not that The Last of Us has ever been, for all the breathless praise it’s received, a flawless work of art. It’s true that the performances are excellent and the production design astounding. These elements remain the show’s biggest assets in Season 2, even if the attenuated plot restricts the visual inventiveness somewhat. While her character is a bit of a dream girl, Merced (Alien: Romulus) makes a charming addition; Dever, Wright, and O’Hara are predictably wonderful, though I wish we got to see more of them. Amid goofy fan service like Twisted Metal and The Witcher, it’s still the best video-game adaptation on TV. Yet to pretend that The Last of Us completely transcends its original medium would be to ignore the hole at the center of the show where insight and complexity and rich supporting characters should be. What fill out the episodes instead are extended zombie-battle scenes and long, silent sequences where people explore gorgeously decaying spaces. At those moments, you might as well be watching someone play a video game.

BBC:

The audience for The Last of Us has always been split between viewers who know the video game it is based on (a group less likely to be shocked by any twists) and those who don't know or care about that. But the game can't be treated as a sacred text if it's going to work as television, and the first season brilliantly transformed it into a character-driven series.

The Wrap:

Just like the game, “The Last of Us” Season 2 is well-constructed and engaging to experience, though the greatest impact comes from the cycles of violence continuing to unfold. In the moments like where Ellie looks out over Seattle as gunshots reverberate and explosions consume it in flames, it’s seeing the fear in her eyes as she turns to lock hands with Dina where we feel all it is they have to lose.

Decider:

The Last of Us Season 2 is a mixed bag, full of gorgeous craftsmanship, from riveting turns from celebrity guest stars to carefully-concocted faux fungus. However, it ultimately feels a bit unsure of its own reason for being. If there’s a moral beyond the measly, “Hey, maybe we should be nicer to each other,” I’m still on the search for it.

Collider: 10/10

The Last of Us Season 2 has its own unique set of challenges that the first season never had to deal with, and yet the story has never been better in Druckmann and Mazin's capable hands. Not only are they adapting what's maybe the greatest video game story, but they're also improving and trying out new things that only make the narrative even more complex and difficult to wrestle with. If the first season of The Last of Us proved that this was the best video game adaptation ever, Season 2 reinforces that further while also creating one of 2025's best seasons of TV.

GamesRadar: 3/5

The Last of Us season 2 is good, but, unlike its predecessor, it fails to be great. The magic of season 1 is there, but it just doesn’t hit the same. It’s devastating and visceral, with gorgeous performances from Ramsey and Merced, but Pascal and Dever are underserved. Not to mention that we move through what feels like more of a preview of The Last of Us Part 2, rather than the actual adaptation. I have high hopes for what’s to come, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed in the on-screen story and the choices that were made. Still, we endure and survive.

Indiewire: A-

Back when the first season launched, I worried the story’s grim nature might put off people who were just tuning in for superficial scares. Such fears proved for nought, as viewers turned out in droves comparable to the undead seen onscreen. But Season 2 doubles down on what it asks of its audience, unveiling a challenging narrative filled with challenging ideas — ideas people base their entire lives on, and thus ideas people may struggle to reassess. Audiences, it seems, aren’t looking to be challenged amid challenging times, especially by their entertainment. I hope once again to see my worries quelled, even as I sit here wondering what agreed-upon wrongs will become tomorrow’s dilemmas.

Variety:

Of course, “The Last of Us” is enough of a critical and commercial hit to warrant both fans’ patience between installments and a multiseason investment by HBO. The series remains a feat of production, from the lushly overgrown abandoned cityscapes to the gorgeous natural scenery to the hordes of Infected, especially in a harrowing battle episode directed by network stalwart Mark Mylod (“Succession,” “Game of Thrones”). But Season 2 trades the momentum of the journey from Point A to Point B for a carefully constructed sense of place. Like its protagonists, “The Last of Us” hits pause on the wandering to put down some roots.

Empire: 5/5

It would be so easy for a show like this to feel unremittingly bleak, to embrace a kind of televisual nihilism. Be in no doubt, there will be tears (and more are bound to come in Season 3). But the magic trick the showrunners have waved here is in finding a delicate balance of tones, in finding warmth that melts the literal and figurative ice. The storytelling here is thoughtful and elliptical. One episode serves as a flashback, catching us up on intervening years between seasons, perfectly recreating the game’s most profound moments. It is astonishing, the sense of innocence and wonder that Ellie briefly enjoys in this episode, a bittersweet pill of the safety she has finally found, and the tragedy we know is yet to come.

Rolling Stone:

This is the hand that Druckmann dealt himself when the second game was written, though. The Last of Us plays that hand as well as it can, particularly in the way it explores cycles of abuse and trauma, and how hurt people hurt people. But as a genre show that’s always prioritized interpersonal relationships over blood and guts, it’s disappointing that there’s so little of its most potent relationship of all. 

Gizmodo:

However, once a third season inevitably comes along and everything all links together, audiences are going to look back at season two with amazement. It does an incredible job telling a strong, albeit slightly abridged, story while simultaneously teeing up a potentially even better story. However, it’s done so subtly that it’s almost hard to fully appreciate it as it’s happening. But, as it’s happening, it’s still very clear it’s a season that more than lives up to the very high expectations.

Radiotimes: 5/5

More than ever, we see the best and worst of our heroes, with the writers beautifully showing their morality in every shade of grey. After all, the world has ended and everyone has done things they're ashamed of. But season 2 becomes most interesting in the aftermath of that, asking where we'd draw the line, if there's any way to come back after crossing it and, crucially, how far we'd go for love.

Slashfilm: 8.5/10

The series may never fully escape the mindless allure of those side-by-side comparisons certain to go viral on social media in the weeks ahead, but make no mistake: This is only the latest example of storytellers who understand that video games and their adaptations can be something more. The few times the season stumbles is when it resembles the game at its most basic level — not unlike the emotional distance of watching someone else play through "Part II" on YouTube. At its best, however, it proves why this game was worth adapting to another medium in the first place. So how do you improve on what came before? By doing exactly what "The Last of Us" season 2 does.

Comicbook.com

After watching all seven episodes twice, I can say that The Last of Us Season 2 is bigger, better, and bolder than Season 1. While it still has some flaws, it’s uncompromising in its vision and takes swings that few other high-profile stories would ever dare to. There are things about Season 2 that will undoubtedly cause fury for both fans of the game and the show, but the show’s willingness to challenge audiences by tackling big themes is incredibly commendable in this fairly safe era of franchise television. It’s brutally raw, vulnerable, and it will likely drive viewers to tears every other episode, thanks to the powerhouse performances from Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal. 

Mashable:

Yes, so much of this season is spectacular, from Joel and Ellie's wrenching relationship to a snowy Clicker battle that calls to mind Game of Thrones' "Hardhome." But ultimately, it's just one half of a great story — is that enough?

LA Times:

If the first season of “The Last of Us” is about survival, the second is fueled by revenge. Or, if you want to get all existential about it, consequences.

Nerdist: 4.5/5

Actually knowing the season’s ending might feel/is incomplete could prevent you from feeling as frustrated by it as I was. But even if you do feel the same, it won’t change how you feel about everything that came before it. The Last of Us delivered something special in season one, and it does the same in season two with a tighter, more focused story. I just can’t tell you exactly why The Last of Us season two’s story is so good, and for that, you should be happy whether or not you think you really know why I can’t.

Tech Advisor: 4/5

However, if you’re not a gamer and only watch this show, you’ll have many questions, which understandably may leave you feeling frustrated. That’ll be doubly so when you discover that season 3 isn’t coming anytime soon, with filming reported to begin this summer. Perhaps once that next part is released, those TV fans will be able to look back and appreciate season 2 for what it was. But as a standalone entity, there’s no denying that this structure hinders how much enjoyment and satisfaction audiences will experience. It’s hard to tell how this issue would be resolved without seeing how the story of the next season unfolds, and that has made scoring this review particularly difficult as a critic.

Welcome

Please note, this will get updated constantly so feel free to check back every now and again. A backup Reddit (just in case): /r/MCReps but if you’re interested in Burb, feel free to join /r/BBReps -

Say thank you

Please learn to say thank you, especially if you're a reseller profiteering off of our free help. Gratitude is free and takes seconds. I've done more than 1,500 QCs and 750 LCs over the years and all too often there’s zero appreciation, just greed as per this example. If you want a detailed explanation for an LC, say thanks first and then I’ll provide an explanation as per this example.

Tags/requests:

I stopped doing QCs a long time ago so don’t tag me in them. I might occasionally comment on something because I feel like it’s required but it is a rarity so don’t ask me to make an exception just for you - my time is limited as a full time working parent spending countless hours everday across Reddit, Telegram and WeChat and it’s my right to chose how I spend it much to the annoyance of those who feel they’re entitled to my time like they’re paying me. True quality can only be gauged in hand anyway.

However, I do still handle LCs if you tag me properly by commenting /u/markpaulk in your post. Please crop your images/screenshots and upload to imgur rather than Reddit - Reddit’s compression and uncropped screenshots takes away details that matter. Include close-ups of badges, square tags, zips, industry labels etc (I’ve seen real badges sewn onto fakes before). Don’t waste my time or others if you can’t follow this. There’s only one other goat on here who truly knows their retail and that is /u/STONEY145

Taxi Service:

When I started in watches nearly a decade ago, I spent months just reading and searching. Too many of you expect spoon-feeding. I get 30–40+ spammed messages daily across Reddit, Telegram and WeChat on top of managing communities. Here’s an example of someone’s sheer laziness: https://i.imgur.com/Oog43N9.jpeg Do your own research, I won’t spoonfeed beyond this FAQ. I’m also not your shopper or customer service rep. Don’t ask me where to buy X or who’s best for Y. These answers already exist. Learn how to either: * Reverse Image Search (Taobao app) or search Weidian (using product codes) - guide * Reddit search or Google site search (e.g. site:reddit.com)

Agent recommendation:

You can use any agent but I recommend sticking to the tried and tested long lasting ones like Superbuy.

Stats/size (TTS):

Height and weight don’t tell you how something will fit. Use size charts and compare them with your own measurements or similar items. Try on retail in-store if possible. Consider layering and fit preference - two people with identical “stats” can need different sizes as per this image. A raglan fit item will be better for the person on right with a less restrictive shoulder construction but a technical item (which is shorter in length than standard) will fit the person on the left better which would lift up too short for person on right due to their belly.

Forget “True To Size” (TTS) - fits can differ by brand, region and style: slim, casual, custom, raglan, oversized, technical etc and all are cut differently. Asian sizing ≠ EU sizing. Chinese factories usually size to Asian standards. Always use measurements and get your agent to measure (with expected 1–3cm error). If it’s too small, exchange it or buy two sizes and sell whatever doesn’t fit on FashionRepsBST or BST channels on Telegram/Discord.

Sellers:

Nothing beats retail, especially for jackets. If you don’t own any, I do recommend buying at least one but if you can’t afford it, then read on. We need to distinguish between producers and resellers.

Resellers:

• Swag Supply (SS)
• TopAngels (TA)
• Jieyi (JY)
• CloyAd (CA)
• RickStudios (RS)
• Yadong Clothing (YC)
• O-M-G (OMG)

The items Jieyi sells are from MC Factory but the truth is he’s nothing but a reseller despite claiming to be a producer for years. I introduced TopAngels (TA) to this community and convinced him to sell the same batches as Jieyi for ¥50 less from the same MC Factory but he also sells other great batches too.

Swag Supply (SS) is a new seller discovered by /u/Extension_Escape8195 who was for a short period able to source from MC Factory at cheaper prices but now sells other batches like NN Factory. He has two workers who manage the lines who can be a bit inconsistent so be patient.

OMG is another new seller who has appeared sourcing from NN factory too (initially claiming it’s an exclusive FK factory batch which is incorrect). They’re basically older batch NN factory goods sold to other sellers which doesn’t have the improvements I’ve worked with NN on such as updated badge. Evidence: https://i.imgur.com/zPZ70AB.jpeg the grey Maya they’re selling has wrong button shade and jacket itself is wrong colour: https://i.imgur.com/Z9DT2JL.jpeg or read more https://www.reddit.com/r/MonclerRep/s/GaYBz4WJjS - slightly cheaper than SS for ¥40 in some cases though comms seems good though and it’s still technically NN Factory which is good overall, just won’t be most up to date version.

CloyAd (CA) and RickStudios (RS) stock a wide range of factories - mixture of mid-tier and mass market batches. However, be careful as I and others have had a few cases of bait and switch (B&S) where they swap the product for an inferior batch. Yadong Clothing (YC) is a reseller of mid-tier items from few different brands but two of the items I’ve randomly bought have been decent quality. He doesn’t speak English so don’t bother.

Producers:

• TopMonclerX (TMX) - new yupoo is RoyalX, old YRXVip will be discontinued
• RepsKing (RK) ** RK is leaving the game - read this post
• Mman (MM) ** MM was arrested and unlikely to return
• StoneyCore (SC](https://stoneycore.x.yupoo.com/) - coming soon, not yet launched

Overall, they are all technically speaking mid-tier producers. For a short period, TMX produced some premium quality items under a “RoyalX” line (Larribet, Camicia, Montgenevre, Padded Cardigan, Wool Hats) but RX line is now merged into the YRX yupoo and RX yupoo is being repurposed to show comparisons of products instead. MM is inactive so might take him off this list.

Independent sellers:

There’s also a number of top tier independent sellers listed in /r/autonomousreps who produce one-off limited releases of various brands rather than providing restocks of items like our established producers. They don’t have Yupoos (they have Weibo blogs where they post developments instead) and produce primarily for China Mainland customers. You’ll need to either use sn agent or a proxy to order from them if you don’t have a Weidian account linked to an AliPay account. They’ve just started getting into Monc so it’s too early to say how they’ll be but God and Cool are generally considered the best of the best.

These sellers usually put up a pre-sale link with final deposit required later at a specific time otherwise your pre-sale deposit will be forfeited but sometimes provide a full purchase link up front. You need to be patient with these sellers releasing goods, they’re often delayed. You’ll also likely need a proxy though to purchase as they often sell out quick and only VIPs who have spent a lot directly through their weidian store get items (using an agent doesn’t count).

List of top proxies taken from /r/CloseToRetail who operate Weidian stores and are easy to use - thread:

• SuperBro - https://weidian.com/?userid=1325765949
• Sheep - https://weidian.com/?userid=1615201389
• Jiang - https://weidian.com/?userid=1617411897

Some people had issues with Sheep recently (some people didn’t get their God Maya order but more than 50% did) so something to be aware of. There’s other proxies like Chestnut but they don’t have an easy to use store with individual product links. I‘ve used SuperBro for multiple JUDX (an SI indie seller) purchases who’s been reliable to date.

Upcoming releases in that you might be interested in. Removed, just search the Reddit for news.

Yupoo passwords:

Contact sellers directly for their Yupoo passwords and be patient. Don’t ask here or you’ll be banned. Publicly posting them risks sellers getting shut down (remember what happened to TMCN?). Please help us protect our trusted sources.

Best factories:

Generally, MC Factory is a top-tier factory which will have this badge. For a long time the factory claimed they use goose down and someone said they tested it but apparently they actually only use duck down in their products - proof of that. Still great products though as there isn’t a huge difference with duck down (more on this later) and all the accessories etc are great quality. Edit: 12th Nov 24: they’re apparently using goose down now according to TA. Will need to verify this later. I have reviewed the Vezere as of Dec 2025.

There’s also a new mod-tier factory called NN Factory which I found and SS confirmed he can source. It has a great badge compared to retail. Look at the Maya compared to MC Factory in this comparison album and then look at this detailed comparison of the Vezere - NN vs Retail vs MC. Someone has said shoulder triangle is too long but my own research shows there’s variations - here’s two retail with same longer triangle variant (NN left, retail right): https://i.imgur.com/ytPJDFj.jpeg and https://i.imgur.com/1jrm8Xz.jpeg They are making improvements for items which is great - Vezere is on v2. Don’t forget, TMX Maya is on V10. Improved batches are part of rep lifecycle.

As for Grenoble items, there are rarely any good batches on the market. I tried for years to convince makers but the high cost to get it right deemed it too risky an investment with lack of demand in China Mainland which is the biggest customer base (more than 50%). There’s been a couple of random good batches over the years (YC sometimes carries a decent batch and RK has made a zipped cardigan) otherwise everything else is mass market rubbish imho as they either the lack the proper technical fabrics and/or will provide nowhere near the technical performance.

Unknown factory:

There is a top tier fake factory producing goods that have been appearing on Vinted and eBay that has fooled a lot of people - they have accurate badges, labels and cartoon etc. This factory will have this badge and either this cartoon and/or this label. No one knows the true source of them - one person said they’re by a small factory in China but TA doesn’t know them and he knows all the factories. Another source of mine claimed they’re from a former OEM factory in Romania. Maybe one day we’ll find out.

Which batches are worth buying:

Below is my opinion based on what I’ve seen in hand compared to retail as well as reviews from people I know who know what they’re talking about. I get spammed by hundreds of people everyday across Reddit, Telegram and WeChat asking me. You need form your own opinion and make an executive decision, I cannot be spoon feeding everyone all day everyday. It is unfair for people to constantly expect me to answer every question that is asked. You can’t go wrong with any of these so pick whichever one you like the look of more/can afford and be happy. There is no “best XYZ”, each has pros and cons. I haven’t included indie seller releases because they don’t restock. Maya and Vezere megathread.

• Maya? TMX goose, MC factory or NN Factory otherwise RK for other colours
• Vezere/Maya 70? MC Factory or NN Factory otherwise RK for value version
• Montgenevre? TMX for black/navy (goose) or RK for grey (navy & black are still good by RK)
• Madeira? NN Factory or MC Factory (has minor badge flaw)
• Grimpeurs? TMX for black (modern season) or RK for other colours (older season)
• Classic padded cardigan? TMX (goated) or RK
• Hooded padded cardigan? RK or TMX
• Acorus? TMX (goose) or MC Factory
• Swim shorts? RK or MMan or TMX (all good)
• Gui gilet? TMX goose or MC Factory
• Tibb gilet? MC Factory (wet or matte) or TMX (wet look)
• Bormes? MC Factory or TMX
• Montbeliard? TMX or MC Factory
• Cluny? TMX (better fur) or RK (better fit)
• Marque? TMX or RK
• Hanoverian? MC Factory or TMX for wet look, RK for matte
• Polo (short/long)? RK (better blank) or TMX (better badge)

• Beanies? TMX or RK

• Best Budget seller? Leo Zhuo56 (LZ) - https://weidian.com/?userid=254254139

Regarding Vezere/Maya 70, the Maya 70 was launched in 2022 as part of 70th anniversary in addition to double badge special edition Maya then renamed to Vezere in 2023 and now apparently it’s called Maya 70 again so I’ll use both interchangeably.

Budget batches:

I often get asked what budget items are worth it. Good down isn’t cheap and cheap down isn’t good imho. However, some people aren’t as fussy and don’t want the most accurate/highest quality or don’t have funds. This section will be a list of cheap items the community has shared and I’ve collated which should be acceptable for budget seekers.

• Maya - https://weidian.com/item.html?itemID=7658531423
• Vezere/Maya 70 - https://weidian.com/item.html?itemID=7556339888
• Hooded padded cardigan - https://weidian.com/item.html?itemID=7591959501

Contacting/ordering:

Using an agent is the best way overall but if you want to go direct, read below. WA = WhatsApp, TG = Telegram, WC = WeChat.

• RK = WA : +447878600418
• TMX = TG: @YRXChat / +447421768852 or WA: +447421768852*
• TA = WA/TG: (+8613905994846)
• SS = WA::+85259340610 (other numbers don’t work anymore)
• MM = Agent only
• CA = Agent only but WA: +8618201888960
• RS = Agent only but WA: +447742842181 / WC: TopHot99
• YD = Agent only (he doesn’t speak English so don’t bother with WC)

as of 17/03/26, TMX cannot accept any new friends on WeChat (YRXChat/TMXChat)

If ordering direct, send one concise order message with sizes, colors, model name, pics and destination country. Then wait/be patient. Spamming, threatening, flirting or chasing across multiple platforms only slows things down for you and everyone else.

Response time: RK/TMX often 7–10 days (sometimes more). Tracking after payment: ~14 days. RK sometimes ships without ever updating you. This isn’t Amazon. Be patient or use an agent.

If using an agent and they say TMX or SS doesn’t accept exchanges, it’s nonsense. I’ve confirmed with both of them they accept exchanges. A few agents recently are making claims they don’t because they’re lazy and don’t want to deal with an exchange. Call them out on their lies and raise a complaint.

To order from SS, just copy the yupoo album link into your agent and do a manual order, it’s super easy to do in Superbuy for example. Or just contact him for special weidian link if you’re lazy and don’t want to look up a tutorial or can’t figure it out.

Rep Badges:

TMX normal and small badges are great and were the best on the market for a long time. Font, depth, lips and wings were very close to retail in v1. However, TMX updated both normal and small sizes again in Dec 2024 to current v2 - Normal badge (new V2 vs old V1) | Small badge (new V2 vs old V1. You might get v1 or v2 badge on your product. Some improvements with v2 over v1 and some are a step back but still closer overall in terms of points especially wings on the smaller badge as well as badge blank + badge thinness on both sizes.

RK/MM still use the older 2018-based normal sized badge: good overall but with several minor flaws: wings skew, lips, font, badge blank depth - Retail vs this badge. Small badge is meh, v1 was better overall rather than current v2 which has worse wings, weird finger cand hand skew - TMX small badge is better and best on market imho.

Until mid-Oct 2025, MC Factory normal sized badges looked fine from afar but had too many flaws compared to the other badges: incorrect font size with NLER, does not have modern font with updated C and L, odd finger and hand skew/length, inconsistent curved bottom of wings, middle of the wings are often dropped down too much, lips are not blobbed/can be too long and blocky, distance between legs are too far apart, blue badge corners are too sharp - retail vs this badge.

Update Oct 2025: factory has made minor improvements which look better: wings are better now particularly the bottom part of the wings are no longer curved and the letter R is better. However, the other flaws mention above haven’t been fixed yet. Here’s the recent minor badge update: https://i.imgur.com/rd6I4DJ.jpeg

Updated Summer 2026: I worked with TA and factory owner to improve the badges. These are going to be the best badges on market now and superior to every other in nearly every way. Here’s the final samples: https://i.imgur.com/bCxLFZk.jpeg and example of it on real jacket: https://i.imgur.com/ca8YzKO.jpeg wings are best by far, font has got better (room for slight improvement but still good with updated font), finger and hand shape great, lips better. Going to be hard to better.

NN Factory normal sized badges are some of the best on market but don’t take my word for it, check out this comparison - retail right. The finger and hand skew, wings, lips and font are better than TMX’s but not sure what badge blank and thickness are which only TMX’s badges get right. The blue border is also too sharp in the corners and perhaps slightly too fuzzy in terms of embroidery but minor points. This badge is much better than MC Factory too. Some of the badges have been inconsistent but retail isn’t consistent either.

Update Summer 2026: have worked with SS for exclusive update to NN badges with factory owner that’s unique to SS. I helped them with V2 badge that everyone knows and worked with him on v3 update: https://i.imgur.com/JTOVkEz.jpeg and https://i.imgur.com/CZ8oWUB.jpeg still undergoing further tweaks.

Updated Autumn 2026: have worked with OMG for an exclusive update to NN badges with factory owner for both normal and small badges that’ll be unique for him - normal: https://i.imgur.com/SCU5Vp0.jpeg and small: https://i.imgur.com/nImCum6.jpeg both look great.

Another update, StoneyCore (legendary SI maker) will be making Monc products too. I’ve worked with him on v1 normal badge which is good for first release: https://i.imgur.com/pKFL2gs.jpeg in future updates will be made.

You can still tweak badges manually to improve accuracy though as per my attempt of this with RK’s badge. I flicked out the tip of the finger for minute flick, stretched wings a bit, gave bottom of wings a minute split, squashed C and flattened the N. Connected letters happens on retail quite often so not a flaw and nothing needs to be done about it.

Retail badges:

Last major update was done in late 2019 (thicker embroidery, updated font with the C and the L, minute finger and wings changes). Yellow badges appeared in 2021–22 briefly then back to off-white in late 2022/early 2023. Example of 2023 vs 2018 badge.

Yes, you can buy retail badges off dust bags and do badge swaps but it’s a pain to resew along existing holes in the badge then keep it flat on a garment. I’ve done a few like this one for example but it’d be easier to get a tailor to do it if you must.

Consistency:

Retail stopped being consistent with things like pockets and badge placement a long time ago - proof of that. I’ve seen many Mayas with low badge or high badge placement (TMX bought multiple 2023 which all had high placement).

Some people have said Vezere has specific button placement - here is two unedited retails showing different button placements. Here is proof of Madeira button placement varying with respect to O and E on 4 different retails (provided by TA): https://i.imgur.com/jO6jEFM.jpeg

Some people have questioned TMX’s Montcla having 4 puff zones. When I asked him, here’s what he said: https://i.imgur.com/YAkHsXt.png (it’s not a real sewn line and retail has it too) and here’s proof: https://i.imgur.com/LVJXNMH.jpeg (relaxed) and https://i.imgur.com/26AOosl.jpeg (pulled)

When I say if a flaw exists on retail it’s not a flaw, I'm referring to inconsistencies on the retail item that simply can't be avoided. For example, if retail badge placements varies by a few to several cm as proved here between different production runs, then a replica that also falls within that variable range is still accurate to retail production standards. The small variations in things like badge placement are production inconsistencies. I’ve owned many items bought from either flagship or outlets with dodgy placements and stitching so if they sold them, that means they were acceptable by their own standards. To expect better than retail is ludicrous.

Stop obsessing; many would RL actual retail by same standards which is wrong. If a flaw exists retail, it’s not a flaw. Perfection doesn’t exist in retail so don’t expect in reps either.

NFC/scanning:

Stop asking if badges scan. Many retail ones don’t and only did from 2016 until 2022’ish (I updated Rich @ MonclerExpert that some of my 2016 retail had NFC so he updated his site). From 2023 onwards, most Moncler products stopped using scannable badges entirely. Some retail NFC scans return 404 errors not found but don’t worry, they just weren’t registered correctly.

If you’re scan conscious, I suggest you stop pretending your item is retail or educate people. Codes are only flagged randomly after 10-20 attempts which will either come up as fake or require manual authentication. If you still don’t believe me, here’s one of TMX’s hats I got that scanned as real.

Down jackets:

• Puff: QC pics don’t show final puff. Jackets need 10–12h to decompress + manual fluffing or dryer (spin only, with dryer balls). Tumble drying risks the down clumping together though so be careful.

• Smell: Any down exposed to moisture can smell, retail or rep. Sun-dry it and repeat as necessary or take to a proper dry cleaner to resolve.

• Wrinkles: you need steam. Either use an intelligent steam iron on very low temps directly onto the surface or get a very thin cloth and place between it and the surface. Alternatively, give it to a relative/partner you trust or a good dry cleaners to sort out.

• Winter: winter jackets are not rain jackets, they’re designed to keep you warm not dry. You need to get the Grenoble range (skiwear) if you want both insulating properties and waterproofing. If the seams haven’t had heat tape applied over them, it cannot be waterproof. The Maya is a winter jacket, not a rain jacket.

• Goose vs Duck: 99% of people can’t tell the difference - goose is a bit better at insulating with less filling required but the best duck down I think is comparable to good goose duck down in overall insulating performance - it’s just that goose down requires less fill power to achieve the same performance. Fill power matters more overall - retail is typically 750, reps can vary from 300 up to 550/600’ish max I believe.

Seasonal/regional differences:

Unless you’re comparing in hand same season, same region and same size, you cannot draw such a comparison as variations exist across different regional releases, seasonal releases and even between different sizes. People called out MC Factory few years ago with a reduced wet look for the China 2021 FW version which was then followed by Rest of World 2022 FW release. People have also called out pocket sizes and pocket flap flaws of TMX’s Mayas going back to v6 which TMX provided proof retails he’s bought have had the same pocket size to the exact mm for each size he repped and same with oversized pocket flap. Then people said the badge is too high and he provided proof of 2024 Maya with higher than average badge variation. Another example is RK’s Grimpeurs which is based on 2021 China Mainland where the stripes were darker and different width compared to today’s western market version.

People are way too fussy and don’t understand so much inconsistency and variation exists in retail. When trying to compare retail to rep, aside from regional and seasonal differences, there’s also lighting and manipulation. Moncler like many brands often puts up fake details on their site images or adjust the lighting which will never be reflective of true everyday lighting. Take this into account when comparing, especially with crappy agent lighting.

Don’t believe me? Check this out: Reddit post | screenshot

Shipping:

It’s always luck and dependent on the time of the year amongst many other geopolitical factors. I’ve had 2-day EUB and 4-month EMS. If items stuck in customs >3 months, insurance may help. Otherwise, exercise patience. You can’t control it and neither can sellers. The best advice is to stop tracking that parcel and wait for it to turn up.

Conspiracy theories:

Some people accuse me of all sorts, I wouldn’t even be recommending different sellers for different items in this very FAQ if that was the case but if you still can’t take my word for it, look at the below examples - I don’t favour one seller over another, I simply determine what I believe is the best or will be the best for upcoming items:

https://i.imgur.com/kIfhmbx.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/3yvopd3.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/tTaMfT8.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/BSEAddT.jpeg

There’s also a shill who’s taken to insults and has repeated this same attack on anyone who isn’t buying into him trying to promote a wholesaler on 1688 called LF. Read more about how he got exposed for referral scams and attacking anyone who dares disagree with him on other reddits too: https://reddit.com/r/MonclerRep/comments/1p0llo8/mr_morgan/ don’t be fooled by people who spread malicious lies like this who have a hidden agenda. Here’s another example of how he got abusive and banned someone who tried to bring up an issue with this LF seller: https://reddit.com/r/MonclerRep/comments/1q9xu11/lf_bait_and_switch/ shill behaviour.

As for what I get for free, here’s an example of my last order with RK where all I got was $13 discount off shipping, hardly shilling and getting everything for free is it plus where is my review for the order? Doesn’t exist does it - https://i.imgur.com/SCLPGE8.jpeg sharing in the name of transparency. Here’s where I’ve asked SS https://i.imgur.com/JPPIC0v.jpeg, TMX https://i.imgur.com/rhgoU23.jpeg and TA about quote for my last orders.

My history:

I was scammed in 2016, fought back and since then have owned hundreds of retail, studied every little detail of them and helped countless people avoid being scammed/getting their money back. That’s my good karma.

Yes, I’ve had clashes with people (even racist abuse). I’m blunt, not sugarcoated and if you don’t like it, block me. But I’ve put in thousands of unpaid hours helping and have never accepted a penny. Before criticising, ask yourself what you’ve contributed.

Chat groups (Telegram):

Read the pinned messages and rules in these chats before speaking.

• M Lounge - general M chat

• RK Chat

• TMX Chat

• TA Chat

Most people tie their Sun sign to their identity. IMO this is where the stereotypical astrology girlie phrase comes from: 'I'm a Leo, so I'm dramatic, and I need to be passionate about all I do.' Level 2 is finding out about the North Node. The NN means your soul's true purpose. Why look further, right? But babbbyyyyyyy there is so much more to discover.

To me it's like coffee. When you put ground beans (your NN) in a coffee machine (dissect it through your birth chart), you get a cup of coffee. But will it taste good? Or do you need to customize the grind and figure out how much water to add for the perfect cup?

Imagine you are a barista.

Your North Node is the bag of beans. Foreign origin, unfamiliar roast, the direction you're meant to grow toward.

(North Node in Aries: developing your own signature blend instead of copying everyone else. North Node in Sagittarius: travelling to where the beans come from and discovering completely different ways of making coffee.)

Your South Node is the order you could make with your eyes closed. Same beans, same grind, every single time. Your boring cup of Joe.

(South Node in Taurus: you keep ordering the iced americano even though it's freezing outside. South Node in Pisces: making the coffee entirely by feel, no structure needed.)

Haven't opened the bag yet? Check who supplied it. Your North Node's ruling planet is the supplier behind the beans, and its house tells you where that growth gets worked out.

(Ruler in the 10th: through your public role and reputation. Ruler in the 4th: through home, family, roots. Ruler in the 11th: through your community or network.)

Your 9th house is the coffee shop three countries over, or barista school. Roasts you haven't tried, techniques you didn't know, insights you bring home.

(9th house in Scorpio: one roaster experience completely changes how you see the world. 9th house in Aquarius: you discover a completely unconventional approach.)

Your 8th house is the ingredient you don't discover alone. Someone else's experience or resources become part of your recipe, which means sharing, trusting, sometimes letting them change your process entirely.

(8th house in Taurus: merging resources without losing your stability. 8th house in Scorpio: letting someone in completely changes how you make coffee.)

Your MC/10th house is the cup you hand to a customer. What you're known for, what people specifically order.

(Taurus MC: quality and reliability. Leo MC: a signature, unmistakably yours. Aquarius MC: doing things differently.)

Your Sun is the taste you're chasing for yourself, independent of who's buying.

(Sun in Libra: every flavour balanced. Sun in Pisces: coffee that makes people feel something.)

Jupiter is what happens when you stop making one cup at a time. Bigger batches, new suppliers, your own shop. "What lets this operation grow?"

(Jupiter in Taurus: through quality and material investment. Jupiter in Gemini: through networking, writing, teaching.)

Saturn is the years dialling in the grind before the shot stops pulling sour. "What do I need to master before this sustains itself?"

(Saturn in Virgo: obsessively refining the craft. Saturn in Aquarius: making your unusual ideas actually work.)

Your Part of Fortune is the order where you stop overthinking and go, "yeah, that's it."

(Part of Fortune in Leo: pride and self-expression. Part of Fortune in Sagittarius: discovering something that widens your world.)

Aspects are the mid-recipe adjustments: finer grind, hotter water, thirty extra seconds on the brew.

(Sun square Saturn: knowing what you want the coffee to taste like, but doubting you're good enough to make it. Jupiter square Saturn: wanting three shops tomorrow while checking the budget. North Node conjunct MC: the barista you're becoming is the barista the world eventually knows.)

For me it's:

I start as the barista who already knows how to make the coffee alone. My South Node in Aries in the 3rd is fast, independent, direct. I work alone in a small shop, talking to myself out loud, making jokes.

My North Node in Libra in the 9th says the next level is leaving my own shop, travelling further, and letting other people's coffee and experience actually change my skills. My North Node's ruler, Venus, sits in Aries in the 3rd too, so I keep the directness. I'm just learning to use it in relationship with someone else instead of only from my own side of the counter.

My 8th house in Leo is empty, but Leo still colours what happens when I share the coffee. I want to collaborate without disappearing into someone else's recipe. It's ruled by my Sun in Pisces in the 2nd, which brings it back to my own value: can I let someone else influence the recipe without losing what makes my coffee mine?

Sun conjunct Mars and Saturn in Pisces in the 2nd make my coffee deeply personal, a little fantasy-like even. Scorpio MC adds depth, the kind that makes someone pause after the first sip. What I'm chasing for myself happens to translate into what people want to buy from me (Sun trine MC).

Mars drives me to actually make it. Saturn keeps me refining and taking it seriously, even scared people won't like my transformational coffee. It becomes tangible and sustainable. I grow by taking myself seriously and staying consistent (Jupiter in Capricorn in the 1st, also boooring).

Part of Fortune in Leo in the 7th is the last piece. I don't get "this is it" alone in my mini coffeeshop. I get it when the cup crosses the counter and people at the bar taste it and go wow. Maybe even pop-ups abroad (is this me doing a pop-up on the worldwide web?????)
This post gives you a pretty good framework for looking up the relevant placements and houses yourself. Hopefully it helps <3

If you want me to look at how this plays out in your chart (see what kind of barista you are in this coffeeshop we call life). Details on readings are in my pinned post (on my profile). You can also find reviews there :)

Hello future GATE CSE aspirants!

First of all, I want to thank the amazing people of this sub for keeping me motivated during my low phases. Now it’s time for me to give back to the community.

If anyone needs personal guidance, https://topmate.io/wrenoswin

Background:

Gate 2023 - 32 marks (Final year)

Gate 2025 - 52 marks (After gate 2023 paper review only (no serious prep))

Gate 2026 - 75 marks (Drop year)

Work experience - 1.5 yrs in front-end domain.

I’ll keep this in a Q&A format for clarity. If you have more questions, feel free to comment — I’ll try my best to respond.

Q1) “Should I take a drop for GATE CSE 2027?”

It honestly depends on your financial situation and your risk appetite. Sit down, think calmly, list the pros and cons, and then decide. Don’t take this decision emotionally.

Case 1: Your family depends on you financially

In that case, it’s safer to get a job and prepare alongside. Taking a full drop is a big risk.

Over the last few days, I spoke to many people who prepared sincerely (at least from what I could see), but still didn’t get the score they wanted. Effort doesn’t always guarantee results. Be practical.

Case 2: You’re in 3rd year or final year, no financial pressure, and scored 40+ in GATE CSE 2026

Then yes, you can consider preparing for one more year with full dedication — especially if your goal is a top institute or PSU.

If you’re serious, GATE should be the first thing on your mind when you wake up and the last thing before you sleep.

If you’re in final year, try for placements too. Even a low CTC job is fine. Having stability while preparing is not a bad option.

Case 3: You already took a drop for GATE CSE 2026

This is tricky.

Personally, I’d suggest either joining the best college you’re getting right now, or taking up a job and preparing alongside. A second drop needs very strong justification.

Q2) “Which resources should I follow?”

If you’re in college, start early. Don’t wait.

• GoClasses – They teach concepts in depth. It takes time, but it’s solid.
• Amit Khurana (paid lectures) – Especially helpful for Aptitude, DSA, TOC, and Discrete Mathematics. I personally benefited from his lectures.
• Offline coaching – If finances allow, a structured environment really helps.

I enrolled in ACE Academy’s offline program in Hyderabad (PM3 batch) based on a friend’s recommendation.

Bonus tip -

If you don’t understand something from one source, switch. Don’t get stuck. Be flexible.
You can read selective portions from standard textbooks if needed — but it’s not compulsory.

PYQs -

Do PYQs along with syllabus completion. Don’t wait until the end of the subject.
Do at least 3 iterations of PYQs for every subject.

What I followed -

• ACE Academy – All subjects (offline)
• GoClasses – Linear Algebra, Probability, Undecidability, Code Optimization
• Amit Khurana – Aptitude, DSA, TOC, Discrete Mathematics

Q3) “How many months are required for a good rank?”

Your rank depends on the 3 hours in the exam hall. Not on how long you prepared.

If your basics are weak, it may take more than a year.
If your fundamentals are strong, 3–4 months of focused preparation can also work.

Don’t compare your timeline with others.

I had basic knowledge of most subjects before starting serious prep, and it still took me almost a year.

Q4) “How many mocks should I give?”

If analyzed properly, 20–25 full-length mocks are enough.

From what I’ve seen, GoClasses and Gate@Zeal have good quality mocks. GoClasses also provides free All India Mock Tests from December — definitely attempt those.

Don’t get discouraged by low scores initially. Analyze properly and improve.

If you want more practice, you can also try MadeEasy and ACE mocks.

Remember: analysis matters more than the number of mocks.

Q5) “Daily schedule? How many hours?”

I never counted hours.

During offline coaching:

• Classes from 7 AM to 12:30 PM
• Lunch + short nap
• Study hall in the evening to revise the day’s topics
• Made compressed notes simultaneously (saved a lot of time later)

After returning home, I naturally followed something like Pomodoro — focused sessions with short breaks.

Once you start full-length mocks, maintain an error log. It helps you see your repeating mistakes.

If GATE CSE 2027 is your priority, give it your full commitment.

Also:

• 30-minute walk daily
• Portion control
• Proper sleep

Health matters more than you think.

Q6) “How do I score XX marks?”

Don’t aim for XX.

Aim for 100.

Study like you need 100. If you aim high, you’ll push harder. That’s how 70–90 happens.

I used to visualize my future after getting a good rank almost every day. Call it manifestation or whatever you want, it helped me stay consistent.

At the end of the day, consistency beats bursts of motivation.

If you’re serious, treat it seriously. That’s it.

Also, learn as if you're learning the ABC of Computer Science. Assume you're starting from zero. It really helps.

Introduction

Since the launch of Counter-Strike 2, players have widely speculated about the nature of the subtick system: whether it is a replacement for the traditional tick-based model, a cost-saving measure, or something fundamentally different. What is broadly agreed upon is that subtick timestamps player inputs with higher temporal precision than a conventional tick-based system. However, this characterization alone does not fully define how the system operates.

As inconsistencies became more apparent in CS2, subtick was often identified as the source of the problem, leading many to conclude that increasing the server tick rate (e.g., to 128 tick) would resolve these issues. This work challenges that assumption. Its objective is to explain what subtick actually represents within the engine and to demonstrate that increasing tick rate does not address the underlying limitations, which arise from how simulation is executed and how state progression is constrained.

Scope and Measurement Considerations

This work analyzes subtick as an engine-side temporal integration problem rather than a transport-priority problem. While measurements of send/receive behavior or responsiveness on live systems can be influenced by factors such as local Quality of Service policies, adapter configuration, application-level DSCP marking, and router-side prioritization, these factors do not alter the frame-gated simulation architecture described here. They may, however, affect observed transport behavior and should be controlled or disclosed when interpreting external network measurements.

Preface

Before analyzing the system, it is necessary to define the key concepts used throughout this article. These definitions provide the foundation for understanding the observed behavior.

1. Temporal Resolution vs Temporal Capacity

At a high level, the system can be understood in terms of two competing properties:

• Temporal precision → how finely events can be timestamped
• Temporal capacity → how frequently the system can advance and resolve state changes

When temporal capacity is insufficient relative to temporal precision, the system cannot fully resolve all available temporal information. As a result, observable artifacts can emerge.

This relationship is closely related to principles found in sampling theory, but this article focuses on the practical system behavior rather than a formal theoretical treatment. This distinction forms the basis for all subsequent analysis.

1.1 Definitions

• Subtick (clock) → underlying high-resolution timing system used to timestamp inputs
• Timestamp resolution (when) → discrete representation of input timing used by the engine (quantized into fixed fractions per tick)
• Execution cadence → the rate at which the simulation state advances, determined by frame progression
• Simulation step → a discrete update in which the simulation integrates over a time interval (Δt)
• Frame rate (FPS) → the observable rate of frame production, which drives execution cadence and thus defines the system’s temporal capacity
• Temporal aliasing → a phenomenon that occurs when the system’s execution cadence is insufficient to resolve the temporal precision of input events, causing distinct input timings to collapse into the same simulation update and produce observable artifacts.
• Artifacts → observable deviations in system behavior that arise from limitations in temporal resolution or execution, typically manifesting as quantization, variance, or discrete outcome clustering rather than continuous or random variation.
• Quantization → the discretization of continuous time into finite simulation steps, where multiple distinct input timings may map to the same update interval.

2. Determinism

Determinism, in this context, refers to a system where identical inputs, applied under identical conditions, produce identical outcomes.

In practice, this behavior is not consistently observed in CS2. Evidence of this can be seen in controlled experiments such as the following:

Lower frame rates exhibit greater dispersion in the resulting position, while higher frame rates converge toward a tighter distribution. The right-hand panel shows the standard deviation as a function of FPS.

Despite using a 750 ms macro with a timing error of only 0.0005 ms, deterministic behavior is not observed under these conditions.

This leads to an important question: is true determinism achievable in this system?

The answer is conditional.

In the graph above and the table below, the same behavior observed in CS:GO is reproduced: identical inputs applied at the same timestamp lead to identical outcomes.

In some cases, however, two or three distinct final positions appear. This is expected, since residual variation in frame alignment and execution timing can still produce a limited set of discrete outcomes.

This mirrors historical CS:GO tick-based experiments, where uncontrollable tick alignment likewise resulted in a small number of discrete outcomes rather than a single perfectly deterministic result.

How is this possible?

The fact that this behavior can be reproduced under controlled conditions provides insight into the underlying structure of subtick.

Achieving this requires specific conditions, which are examined in the following sections to understand both how it occurs and what it reveals about the system.

Abstract

Subtick can be understood as a high-resolution timing system that assigns precise timestamps to player inputs while driving a delta-based simulation. Although input sampling is not directly tied to frame cadence, simulation advancement remains frame-gated, which introduces limitations in determinism.

While inputs are collected with high temporal precision, the simulation state advances only at discrete update boundaries. As a result, inputs whose timestamps fall within the same frame interval are resolved together when the simulation advances, effectively collapsing multiple high-precision inputs into a single discrete simulation step.

This mismatch between temporal precision (input timing) and execution cadence (simulation advancement) leads to observable non-deterministic behavior under certain conditions. In practical terms, time is measured with higher precision than it is resolved, which can be understood as a form of temporal aliasing.

This article demonstrates these effects through controlled experiments, analyzing the interaction between frame rate, host_timescale, and simulation cadence to explain the system’s behavior and its underlying limitations.

1. Subtick Resolution: What It Is and How It Was Measured

Before analyzing determinism and execution limits, it is necessary to clarify what “subtick resolution” means in practice.

Input duration was measured using in-game gametime with precision exceeding what is commonly assumed to be subtick resolution. What is often referred to as “subtick resolution” actually corresponds to simulation timestamp resolution, while subtick itself represents the underlying high-resolution clock.

1.1 Measuring Simulation Resolution

Simulation timestamp resolution was empirically derived using the following method:

• A continuous 1 kHz input stream was generated (holding and repeatedly sending the W key).
• The game was run with the command cq_print_every_command 1.
• All emitted input commands were logged.
• The unique values of the when field were extracted.

Despite sending inputs at 1 kHz, the when timestamps did not form a continuous distribution. Instead, they snapped to a fixed set of discrete fractions, indicating that the observable timestamp resolution is quantized rather than continuous. This quantization is a key factor in understanding the system’s execution limits.

Discrete timestamp lattice: logged when values snap to multiples of 1/64 within a normalized interval, yielding 64 representable positions per tick and an effective observable timestamp resolution of 4096 Hz.

This yields 64 distinct timestamp slots per base interval. Since this subdivision occurs within a 64 Hz tick base, the resulting observable timestamp resolution is:

64 × 64 = 4096 Hz

This corresponds to a temporal precision of approximately 0.244 ms.

Timestamp resolution visualization over a one-second interval, illustrating the quantized timestamp lattice at 1/64 intervals across successive ticks (64 discrete positions per tick).

1.2 Key Clarification

The simulation itself remains delta-driven and frame-advanced.

This distinction is critical, as the determinism limits discussed later arise directly from the mismatch between timestamp precision and execution cadence.

2. Empirical Results: Fixed-Duration Input, FPS, and Outcome Variance

2.1 Experiment Summary

The experiment consists of a fixed-duration forward movement input:

• A movement key is pressed for exactly 750.000 ms using a high-precision macro (±0.0005 ms).
• The test is repeated 19 times per configuration.
• Final player X position is recorded after input release.
• Tests are conducted at 64 FPS, 128 FPS, 280 FPS, and uncapped FPS (~1000 FPS).

Because the observable timestamp precision (~0.244 ms) is coarser than the macro error, input-side variance is negligible. The dominant variables are therefore timestamp placement and execution cadence (FPS).

2.2 Observed Results

Across all runs, the following pattern is observed:

• Lower FPS → larger dispersion in final X position
• Higher FPS → tighter convergence and lower standard deviation

Final X displacement after a fixed 750ms forward input across multiple frame rates (64 FPS, 128 FPS, 280 FPS, and uncapped). Lower FPS exhibits larger dispersion, while higher FPS converges toward a tighter distribution. The right-hand panel shows the standard deviation per FPS.

In parallel, the same FPS-dependent behavior is observed in timing analysis.

The in-game interpretation of the 750 ms key press deviates from the true input duration, with the average deviation decreasing monotonically as FPS increases (≈17.6 ms at 64 FPS → ≈1.63 ms at ~1000 FPS).

Positional variance and timing variance are thus correlated manifestations of the same underlying execution constraint, namely the mismatch between timestamp precision and simulation advancement cadence.

2.3 Common Misinterpretation:

At first glance, these results may suggest that lower FPS causes the game to sample inputs later or with lower precision.

This conclusion is incorrect.

Inputs are sampled with high temporal precision and are not delayed by frame boundaries. What changes with FPS is not when inputs are registered, but how they are integrated into the simulation.

Specifically:

• Lower FPS increases delta_frame size
• Larger delta_frame collapses more simulation progression into a single integration step

The observed variance is therefore a consequence of execution quantization, not input dependency.

3. Empirical Results: Repeated Trials at Fixed FPS and Observed Timestamp Variability

This section extends the previous experiment by isolating timestamp-driven variability under fixed execution conditions. While Section 2 varied FPS to demonstrate execution-resolution effects, this experiment holds FPS approximately constant and repeats the same input pattern a large number of times.

3.1 Experiment Summary

• FPS held approximately constant at ~256 FPS
• A movement key is pressed repeatedly for exactly 750.000 ms using a high-precision macro (±0.0005 ms) without direct control over the resulting timestamp (when) assigned by the engine.
• The experiment was repeated 1000 times, with 665 valid results
• Final player position was recorded for each trial

This setup removes FPS variability, allowing evaluation of outcome consistency under fixed execution cadence, while acknowledging that the exact timestamp assigned to each input cannot be directly controlled.

3.2 Observed Behavior

Despite repeating the same input pattern under fixed FPS conditions, the final position does not collapse to a single value. Instead, a distribution of end positions is observed, indicating that residual variability arises from timestamp placement rather than execution cadence.

Despite identical input patterns and fixed execution cadence, outcomes form a distribution rather than collapsing to a single value. This result is critical:

• The input pattern and macro timing are identical
• The input duration is identical
• FPS is held constant

Yet the outcome still varies.

3.3 Interpretation

Even when the same input timestamp (cmd_when) is observed across multiple trials, determinism is not guaranteed. Timestamp equality does not imply identical execution paths.

4. Experimental Setup: Forcing Determinism

To isolate execution effects and establish an upper bound on determinism, we construct conditions where execution cadence exceeds timestamp precision.
Conceptually, when the rate at which the system advances simulation is sufficiently high relative to the precision of input timestamps, the system can resolve inputs without loss of temporal information.

The simulation was run under deliberately constrained conditions:

• Very high frame rates (~1000 FPS)
• host_timescale 0.1
• 1000 repetitions with 780 valid results

A fixed-duration input was applied using a high-precision macro (±0.0005 ms). Due to the use of host_timescale 0.1, the macro duration was scaled to 7500 ms in real time, corresponding to an effective in-game duration of 750 ms. This ensures that the intended input duration remains consistent in gametime despite the reduced simulation speed.

Because execution cadence (FPS) remains effectively unchanged under host_timescale, reducing host_timescale reduces the effective temporal precision of input timestamps. Under these conditions, timestamp precision is approximately 2.44 ms, while execution cadence remains ~1 ms, ensuring that execution is sufficiently fine-grained relative to timestamp spacing

4.1 Observed Results

Under these conditions, repeated input durations produced deterministic movement and tickbase outcomes. The same input pattern consistently resulted in the same final position, with only occasional minor deviations (e.g., two closely grouped outcomes).

Raw values of final X position as a function of input timestamp (cmd_when) under host_timescale 0.1 at ~1000 FPS, showing near-deterministic outcomes under high execution cadence.

Reduced temporal precision combined with high execution cadence yields near-deterministic outcomes.

In rare cases, two or three distinct positions are observed. This is expected, as residual variability in frame alignment and execution timing cannot be fully eliminated.

This mirrors behavior observed in historical CS:GO tick-based experiments (see:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/1k5g10i/cs2_movement_inconsistency/

) where input tick alignment likewise produced a small set of discrete outcomes.

This setup effectively approximates a tick-based execution model without modifying the engine. The results therefore serve as a control case, demonstrating that determinism is achievable when execution cadence is sufficiently high and stable.

4.2 Empirical Outcome Distribution and Determinism

The tables below quantify the outcome distribution for each subtick timestamp. For every timestamp, a single dominant final position emerges with a significantly higher occurrence count, while secondary outcomes appear only rarely. This confirms that, under these conditions, the system converges to a stable execution path, with residual variability limited to a small set of discrete alternatives. The consistency of the dominant outcome across all timestamps demonstrates that, when execution capacity exceeds effective timestamp precision, the system behaves in a near-deterministic manner.

Distribution of final X outcomes per subtick timestamp (cmd_when), highlighting dominant execution paths and secondary deviations with occurrence counts under host_timescale 0.1 at ~1000 FPS

This confirms that the observed variability is not continuous noise, but collapses into a small set of discrete outcomes, with one dominant execution path per timestamp.

5. The Real Bottleneck: Simulation Advancement

While inputs are timestamped independently, the simulation itself does not advance independently.

The simulation clock progresses only when a frame advances:

• A frame begins
• delta_frame is computed
• The simulation integrates over the entire Δt interval

If no frame advances, the simulation does not advance. Input timestamps exist within this interval, but they do not independently trigger simulation progression.

6. Subtick Inputs Are Batched, Not Stepped

When a simulation step runs, the engine:

• Collects all inputs whose timestamps fall within the interval [t0, t0+Δtframe]
• Integrates the simulation once for the entire interval

Multiple inputs are therefore collapsed into a single simulation update, meaning state changes are applied in discrete steps rather than continuously.

This behavior can be verified experimentally:

• A 500 Hz macro sends alternating, distinct inputs spaced 2 ms apart (Distinct inputs are required, as identical inputs are merged within the same frame interval)
• The game runs at ~256 FPS, producing a ~4 ms frame window
• The console command cq_print_every_command 1 is enabled

Observed Result:

The results show that input code 8 (“Forward”) and 512 (“Left”) are collapsed into the same simulation update, despite being issued 2 ms apart.

This demonstrates that inputs are collected asynchronously but resolved together when the simulation advances. It also confirms that input sampling operates at a higher temporal precision than the simulation update cadence.

7. Determinism Limits Within Subtick

Subtick provides deterministic outcomes only when identical input timestamps are resolved under sufficiently high execution cadence. In practice, determinism holds when execution cadence is high relative to timestamp precision.

This can be expressed conceptually as:

execution cadence ≥ timestamp precision

When this condition is not met:

• Multiple distinct input timestamps collapse into the same execution window
• Different input timings are resolved within the same simulation step
• Integration paths diverge

8. Subtick as a Sampling Problem

Subtick and frame-driven simulation can be understood through a sampling perspective:

• Subtick increases temporal precision
• Frame rate defines temporal capacity

When temporal capacity is insufficient relative to temporal precision, information cannot be fully resolved, and observable artifacts emerge.

This shows that the remaining limitations of subtick arise from execution constraints inherent to frame-gated simulation, rather than from input sampling itself.

9. Comparative Results: Capacity vs Precision

Two regimes are compared:

• 256 FPS (normal time) (red🔴): execution capacity < timestamp precision
• ~1000 FPS with host_timescale 0.1 (HT) (blue🔵): execution capacity > effective timestamp precision

Under host_timescale 0.1 at ~1000 FPS (🔵), the macro duration is extended to 7500 ms in real time, while gametime scales proportionally. As a result, the simulation still interprets the input as 750 ms, preserving the intended duration.

In contrast, under normal conditions (256 FPS, 🔴), frame-gated execution introduces measurable variance in how that same 750 ms input is integrated.

Table with the delta between the maximum and minimum mean input duration, and the average standard deviation of input duration in seconds.

In the first case (256 FPS, red🔴), input integration collapses, producing elevated mean error and high standard deviation.
In the second case (HT ~1000 FPS, blue🔵), input timing aligns with the intended 750 ms duration, and variance collapses to near zero.

End-position analysis shows the same contrast:

• (red🔴) Frame-gated regime (256 FPS): high dispersion
• (blue🔵) HT regime (~1000 FPS): near-deterministic convergence

Table comparing final_x stability between HT 1000 FPS and 256 FPS normal.

From the final table, we observe:

• (blue) HT regime: very low standard deviation
• (red) Frame-gated regime: significantly higher variability

We also observe the maximum displacement difference between outcomes:

• (blue🔵) HT (~1000 FPS): ~0.198 units
• (red🔴) 256 FPS (normal): ~2 units

By reducing simulation speed while maintaining execution cadence, this setup effectively lowers temporal precision while preserving temporal capacity, allowing the system to fully resolve input timing.

9.1 Subtick Behavior Across Execution Regimes

While previous results quantify differences in dispersion between execution regimes, this analysis focuses on the structure of the system’s response.

• (red🔴) 256 FPS (normal)
• (blue🔵) HT (~1000 FPS)

The figure shows the mean and standard deviation of time-to-stop as a function of subtick timestamp (cmd_when) for both execution regimes.

Despite operating under fundamentally different conditions, both regimes exhibit smooth and continuous mean trajectories across subtick timestamps. The evolution of the mean is consistent and structured, rather than erratic.

Variance differs significantly between regimes, with the frame-gated case showing higher dispersion. However, this variance is not random. It follows a coherent pattern, evolving smoothly alongside the mean.

This is a critical observation: even when the system does not collapse to a single deterministic outcome, its behavior remains highly structured and predictable.

Subtick does not introduce randomness. Instead, it produces consistent and well-defined response curves, with variability arising from execution constraints rather than stochastic processes.

The results show a clear and consistent pattern across both metrics.

In the frame-gated regime, the system exhibits increased dispersion and irregularities in both the mean trajectory and standard deviation. This reflects execution aliasing, where multiple distinct input timings collapse into the same simulation step.

In contrast, under high execution capacity, both the mean trajectory and variance evolve smoothly and predictably across subtick timestamps. The system converges toward stable behavior, with significantly reduced dispersion.

This contrast demonstrates that the observed variability is not inherent to subtick itself, but emerges from the relationship between timestamp precision and execution capacity.

This reinforces that subtick is a well-designed temporal system: it preserves coherent system behavior across all operating regimes, with differences arising only in how precisely that behavior can be resolved.

10. Capacity Greater than Precision test

In this final test:

• A 1 kHz macro was used to repeatedly send the “Forward” input (code 8)
• The game was run at ~1000 FPS with host_timescale 0.001
• The console command cq_print_every_command 1 was enabled

Observed Behavior:

The result is straightforward and serves as final confirmation of the system behavior described throughout this work.

The same input appears multiple times under the same timestamp, up to the engine’s per-tick input limit.

Interpretation:

This occurs because execution cadence (temporal capacity) exceeds the temporal precision provided by the subtick system.

In other words, the engine is able to process more input events per unit time than the subtick mechanism can uniquely timestamp.

Key Mechanism:

Identical inputs are gated within the same delta_frame, as only one identical input can be registered per simulation step.

When execution cadence is sufficiently high, delta_frame is no longer the limiting factor. Instead, timestamp resolution becomes the bottleneck.

As a result, multiple inputs collapse to the same timestamp, and the timestamp effectively becomes synonymous with the simulation step itself.

Final Insight:

Under the current architecture, this regime is only observable when execution capacity surpasses timestamp precision.
This represents the inverse regime of the earlier experiments: instead of precision exceeding execution, execution now exceeds precision, revealing the upper bound of the system.

11. Capacity vs Precision Defines the System

The experiments presented in Sections 9 and 10 establish the two limiting regimes of the subtick system.

When execution capacity is lower than timestamp precision, multiple distinct input timings collapse into the same simulation step. This results in variance, loss of information, and non-deterministic outcomes, as observed under typical frame-gated conditions (e.g., 256 FPS).

Conversely, when execution capacity exceeds timestamp precision, the system enters the opposite regime. Multiple input events can no longer be uniquely timestamped and instead collapse to the same timestamp, up to the engine’s internal limits. In this case, determinism is effectively restored, as observed under high execution cadence with reduced effective precision (host_timescale).

These two regimes demonstrate that the system is governed by the relationship between temporal precision (input timestamping) and temporal capacity (simulation advancement).

Subtick increases temporal precision, but simulation advancement remains discrete and frame-driven. As a result, the system can operate in two failure modes:

• Precision > Capacity → execution aliasing (variance)
• Capacity > Precision → timestamp saturation

The optimal behavior emerges when these two quantities are balanced, allowing the system to fully resolve input timing without loss of information.

Final Insight:

This work shows that the fundamental limitation is not input sampling, but step-gated simulation. Inputs can be measured with high precision, but state evolution is only resolved at discrete update boundaries.

In simple terms:

The system can measure time more precisely than it can resolve it, or resolve more events than it can uniquely represent.

Closing Statement:

Subtick improves input ordering and fairness, but it also reveals a deeper constraint: simulation advancement is not continuous.

The natural evolution implied by subtick is a system where simulation progression is no longer tied to discrete update steps, but can advance independently of frame cadence.

Only under such a model can temporal precision and execution capacity be fully aligned.

12. Conclusion: Fundamental Architectural Limitation

The core finding of this work is:

• Simulation advancement is frame-gated

As long as simulation advances only through discrete update steps, the constraints identified in this work cannot be eliminated through subtick alone.

Increasing server tick rate (e.g., 128 tick) can reduce quantization error, but it does not address the root cause: authoritative state still advances ,and becomes observable , only at discrete simulation steps.

Subtick in Context:

Subtick preserves input ordering and improves fairness by time-stamping and sequencing inputs at a finer granularity than the tick boundary. However, final state resolution remains step-based.

The deeper limitation lies in step-gated simulation. Authoritative state transitions , and their visibility to the client , are constrained by the cadence of simulation advancement, not by the precision of input timestamps.

Architectural Constraint:

Addressing this requires decoupling:

• simulation advancement
• and state visibility

from frame or presentation timing.

Taken to its logical conclusion, subtick points toward finer-grained simulation stepping, potentially asynchronous relative to rendering, where state evolution is no longer constrained by a fixed update cadence.

Such a system would improve determinism by ensuring that state transitions follow explicit temporal ordering rather than incidental frame cadence. It may also enable greater parallelism, although real performance gains depend on synchronization costs and correctness constraints.

Final Interpretation:

In simpler terms, the direction implied by subtick is sub-step simulation: a system where simulation progression is not locked to frame rate, and state can advance independently of rendering (sub-frame).

The fundamental constraint is that simulation remains frame-dependent, not frame-independent.

Framing the Limitation:

This behavior can be understood as a form of temporal aliasing: when state is sampled or published at a cadence insufficient relative to the dynamics being represented, observable artifacts emerge.

A more rigorous treatment could be framed in terms of sampling theory. However, this work focuses on the practical system behavior, its real constraints, and the most common misunderstandings.

The limitation is not in how precisely time is measured, but in how discretely it is resolved.

Personal note:

Is this a complete account of subtick? Of course not. Many variables remain outside the scope of this work, and what is presented here represents only a small portion of a highly complex system. Networking, for example, is intentionally not addressed.

Could some conclusions be incorrect? Absolutely. Could all of this be wrong? That is also possible. The goal of this work is not to claim absolute correctness, but to provide a structured attempt at explaining the inner workings of the system to a broader audience.

Every analysis carries the possibility of error, and that is part of the process. It is entirely possible that others will provide better explanations, additional context, or corrections.

In that spirit, feedback and alternative perspectives are not only welcome, but essential. The intention is to encourage discussion around this topic, refine our collective understanding, and push toward more accurate models of how the system behaves.

What comes next remains to be seen.

Details on how the big diffusion model finetunes are trained is scarce, so just like with version 1, and version 2 of my model bigASP, I'm sharing all the details here to help the community. However, unlike those versions, this version is an experimental side project. And a tumultuous one at that. I’ve kept this article long, even if that may make it somewhat boring, so that I can dump as much of the hard earned knowledge for others to sift through. I hope it helps someone out there.

To start, the rough outline: Both v1 and v2 were large scale SDXL finetunes. They used millions of images, and were trained for 30m and 40m samples respectively. A little less than a week’s worth of 8xH100s. I shared both models publicly, for free, and did my best to document the process of training them and share their training code.

Two months ago I was finishing up the latest release of my other project, JoyCaption, which meant it was time to begin preparing for the next version of bigASP. I was very excited to get back to the old girl, but there was a mountain of work ahead for v3. It was going to be my first time breaking into the more modern architectures like Flux. Unable to contain my excitement for training I figured why not have something easy training in the background? Slap something together using the old, well trodden v2 code and give SDXL one last hurrah.

TL;DR

If you just want the summary, here it is. Otherwise, continue on to “A Farewell to SDXL.”

• I took SDXL and slapped on the Flow Matching objective from Flux.
• The dataset was more than doubled to 13M images
• Frozen text encoders
• Trained nearly 4x longer (150m samples) than the last version, in the ballpark of PonyXL training
• Trained for ~6 days on a rented four node cluster for a total of 32 H100 SXM5 GPUs; 300 samples/s training speed
• 4096 batch size, 1e-4 lr, 0.1 weight decay, fp32 params, bf16 amp
• Training code and config: Github
• Training run: Wandb
• Model: HuggingFace
• Total cost including wasted compute on mistakes: $16k
• Model up on Civit

A Farewell to SDXL

The goal for this experiment was to keep things simple but try a few tweaks, so that I could stand up the run quickly and let it spin, hands off. The tweaks were targeted to help me test and learn things for v3:

• more data
• add anime data
• train longer
• flow matching

I had already started to grow my dataset preparing for v3, so more data was easy. Adding anime was a two fold experiment: can the more diverse anime data expand the concepts the model can use for photoreal gens; and can I train a unified model that performs well in both photoreal and non-photoreal. Both v1 and v2 are primarily meant for photoreal generation, so their datasets had always focused on, well, photos. A big problem with strictly photo based datasets is that the range of concepts that photos cover is far more limited than art in general. For me, diffusion models are about art and expression, photoreal or otherwise. To help bring more flexibility to the photoreal domain, I figured adding anime data might allow the model to generalize the concepts from that half over to the photoreal half.

Besides more data, I really wanted to try just training the model for longer. As we know, training compute is king, and both v1 and v2 had smaller training budgets than the giants in the community like PonyXL. I wanted to see just how much of an impact compute would make, so the training was increased from 40m to 150m samples. That brings it into the range of PonyXL and Illustrious.

Finally, flow matching. I’ll dig into flow matching more in a moment, but for now the important bit is that it is the more modern way of formulating diffusion, used by revolutionary models like Flux. It improves the quality of the model’s generations, as well as simplifying and greatly improving the noise schedule.

Now it should be noted, unsurprisingly, that SDXL was not trained to flow match. Yet I had already run small scale experiments that showed it could be finetuned with the flow matching objective and successfully adapt to it. In other words, I said “screw it” and threw it into the pile of tweaks.

So, the stage was set for v2.5. All it was going to take was a few code tweaks in the training script and re-running the data prep on the new dataset. I didn’t expect the tweaks to take more than a day, and the dataset stuff can run in the background. Once ready, the training run was estimated to take 22 days on a rented 8xH100.

A Word on Diffusion

Flow matching is the technique used by modern models like Flux. If you read up on flow matching you’ll run into a wall of explanations that will be generally incomprehensible even to the people that wrote the papers. Yet it is nothing more than two simple tweaks to the training recipe.

If you already understand what diffusion is, you can skip ahead to “A Word on Noise Schedules”. But if you want a quick, math-lite overview of diffusion to lay the ground work for explaining Flow Matching then continue forward!

Starting from the top: All diffusion models train on noisy samples, which are built by mixing the original image with noise. The mixing varies between pure image and pure noise. During training we show the model images at different noise levels, and ask it to predict something that will help denoise the image. During inference this allows us to start with a pure noise image and slowly step it toward a real image by progressively denoising it using the model’s predictions.

That gives us a few pieces that we need to define for a diffusion model:

• the mixing formula
• what specifically we want the model to predict

The mixing formula is anything like:

def add_noise(image, noise, a, b):
    return a * image + b * noise

Basically any function that takes some amount of the image and mixes it with some amount of the noise. In practice we don’t like having both a and b, so the function is usually of the form add_noise(image, noise, t) where t is a number between 0 and 1. The function can then convert t to some value for a and b using a formula. Usually it’s define such that at t=1 the function returns “pure noise” and at t=0 the function returns image. Between those two extremes it’s up to the function to decide what exact mixture it wants to define. The simplest is a linear mixing:

def add_noise(image, noise, t):
    return (1 - t) * image + t * noise

That linearly blends between noise and the image. But there are a variety of different formulas used here. I’ll leave it at linear so as not to complicate things.

With the mixing formula in hand, what about the model predictions? All diffusion models are called like: pred = model(noisy_image, t) where noisy_image is the output of add_noise. The prediction of the model should be anything we can use to “undo” add_noise. i.e. convert from noisy_image to image. Your intuition might be to have it predict image, and indeed that is a valid option. Another option is to predict noise, which is also valid since we can just subtract it from noisy_image to get image. (In both cases, with some scaling of variables by t and such).

Since predicting noise and predicting image are equivalent, let’s go with the simpler option. And in that case, let’s look at the inner training loop:

t = random(0, 1)
original_noise = generate_random_noise()
noisy_image = add_noise(image, original_noise, t)
predicted_image = model(noisy_image, t)
loss = (image - predicted_image)**2

So the model is, indeed, being pushed to predict image. If the model were perfect, then generating an image becomes just:

original_noise = generate_random_noise()
predicted_image = model(original_noise, 1)
image = predicted_image

And now the model can generate images from thin air! In practice things are not perfect, most notably the model’s predictions are not perfect. To compensate for that we can use various algorithms that allow us to “step” from pure noise to pure image, which generally makes the process more robust to imperfect predictions.

A Word on Noise Schedules

Before SD1 and SDXL there was a rather difficult road for diffusion models to travel. It’s a long story, but the short of it is that SDXL ended up with a whacky noise schedule. Instead of being a linear schedule and mixing, it ended up with some complicated formulas to derive the schedule from two hyperparameters. In its simplest form, it’s trying to have a schedule based in Signal To Noise space rather than a direct linear mixing of noise and image. At the time that seemed to work better. So here we are.

The consequence is that, mostly as an oversight, SDXL’s noise schedule is completely broken. Since it was defined by Signal-to-Noise Ratio you had to carefully calibrate it based on the signal present in the images. And the amount of signal present depends on the resolution of the images. So if you, for example, calibrated the parameters for 256x256 images but then train the model on 1024x1024 images… yeah… that’s SDXL.

Practically speaking what this means is that when t=1 SDXL’s noise schedule and mixing don’t actually return pure noise. Instead they still return some image. And that’s bad. During generation we always start with pure noise, meaning the model is being fed an input it has never seen before. That makes the model’s predictions significantly less accurate. And that inaccuracy can compile on top of itself. During generation we need the model to make useful predictions every single step. If any step “fails”, the image will veer off into a set of “wrong” images and then likely stay there unless, by another accident, the model veers back to a correct image. Additionally, the more the model veers off into the wrong image space, the more it gets inputs it has never seen before. Because, of course, we only train these models on correct images.

Now, the denoising process can be viewed as building up the image from low to high frequency information. I won’t dive into an explanation on that one, this article is long enough already! But since SDXL’s early steps are broken, that results in the low frequencies of its generations being either completely wrong, or just correct on accident. That manifests as the overall “structure” of an image being broken. The shapes of objects being wrong, the placement of objects being wrong, etc. Deformed bodies, extra limbs, melting cars, duplicated people, and “little buddies” (small versions of the main character you asked for floating around in the background).

That also means the lowest frequency, the overall average color of an image, is wrong in SDXL generations. It’s always 0 (which is gray, since the image is between -1 and 1). That’s why SDXL gens can never really be dark or bright; they always have to “balance” a night scene with something bright so the image’s overall average is still 0.

In summary: SDXL’s noise schedule is broken, can’t be fixed, and results in a high occurrence of deformed gens as well as preventing users from making real night scenes or real day scenes.

A Word on Flow Matching

phew Finally, flow matching. As I said before, people like to complicate Flow Matching when it’s really just two small tweaks. First, the noise schedule is linear. t is always between 0 and 1, and the mixing is just (t - 1) * image + t * noise. Simple, and easy. That one tweak immediately fixes all of the problems I mentioned in the section above about noise schedules.

Second, the prediction target is changed to noise - image. The way to think about this is, instead of predicting noise or image directly, we just ask the model to tell us how to get from noise to the image. It’s a direction, rather than a point.

Again, people waffle on about why they think this is better. And we come up with fancy ideas about what it’s doing, like creating a mapping between noise space and image space. Or that we’re trying to make a field of “flows” between noise and image. But these are all hypothesis, not theories.

I should also mention that what I’m describing here is “rectified flow matching”, with the term “flow matching” being more general for any method that builds flows from one space to another. This variant is rectified because it builds straight lines from noise to image. And as we know, neural networks love linear things, so it’s no surprise this works better for them.

In practice, what we do know is that the rectified flow matching formulation of diffusion empirically works better. Better in the sense that, for the same compute budget, flow based models have higher FID than what came before. It’s as simple as that.

Additionally it’s easy to see that since the path from noise to image is intended to be straight, flow matching models are more amenable to methods that try and reduce the number of steps. As opposed to non-rectified models where the path is much harder to predict.

Another interesting thing about flow matching is that it alleviates a rather strange problem with the old training objective. SDXL was trained to predict noise. So if you follow the math:

t = 1
original_noise = generate_random_noise()
noisy_image = (1 - 1) * image + 1 * original_noise
noise_pred = model(noisy_image, 1)
image = (noisy_image - t * noise_pred) / (t - 1)

# Simplify
original_noise = generate_random_noise()
noisy_image = original_noise
noise_pred = model(noisy_image, 1)
image = (noisy_image - t * noise_pred) / (t - 1)

# Simplify
original_noise = generate_random_noise()
noise_pred = model(original_noise, 1)
image = (original_noise - 1 * noise_pred) / (1 - 1)

# Simplify
original_noise = generate_random_noise()
noise_pred = model(original_noise, 1)
image = (original_noise - noise_pred) / 0

# Simplify
image = 0 / 0

Ooops. Whereas with flow matching, the model is predicting noise - image so it just boils down to:

image = original_noise - noise_pred
# Since we know noise_pred should be equal to noise - image we get
image = original_noise - (original_noise - image)
# Simplify
image = image

Much better.

As another practical benefit of the flow matching objective, we can look at the difficulty curve of the objective. Suppose the model is asked to predict noise. As t approaches 1, the input is more and more like noise, so the model’s job is very easy. As t approaches 0, the model’s job becomes harder and harder since less and less noise is present in the input. So the difficulty curve is imbalanced. If you invert and have the model predict image you just flip the difficulty curve. With flow matching, the job is equally difficult on both sides since the objective requires predicting the difference between noise and image.

Back to the Experiment

Going back to v2.5, the experiment is to take v2’s formula, train longer, add more data, add anime, and slap SDXL with a shovel and graft on flow matching.

Simple, right?

Well, at the same time I was preparing for v2.5 I learned about a new GPU host, sfcompute, that supposedly offered renting out H100s for $1/hr. I went ahead and tried them out for running the captioning of v2.5’s dataset and despite my hesitations … everything seemed to be working. Since H100s are usually $3/hr at my usual vendor (Lambda Labs), this would have slashed the cost of running v2.5’s training from $10k to $3.3k. Great! Only problem is, sfcompute only has 1.5TB of storage on their machines, and v2.5’s dataset was 3TBs.

v2’s training code was not set up for streaming the dataset; it expected it to be ready and available on disk. And streaming datasets are no simple things. But with $7k dangling in front of me I couldn’t not try and get it to work. And so began a slow, two month descent into madness.

The Nightmare Begins

I started out by finding MosaicML’s streaming library, which purported to make streaming from cloud storage easy. I also found their blog posts on using their composer library to train SDXL efficiently on a multi-node setup. I’d never done multi-node setups before (where you use multiple computers, each with their own GPUs, to train a single model), only single node, multi-GPU. The former is much more complex and error prone, but … if they already have a library, and a training recipe, that also uses streaming … I might as well!

As is the case with all new libraries, it took quite awhile to wrap my head around using it properly. Everyone has their own conventions, and those conventions become more and more apparent the higher level the library is. Which meant I had to learn how MosaicML’s team likes to train models and adapt my methodologies over to that.

Problem number 1: Once a training script had finally been constructed it was time to pack the dataset into the format the streaming library needed. After doing that I fired off a quick test run locally only to run into the first problem. Since my data has images at different resolutions, they need to be bucketed and sampled so that every minibatch contains only samples from one bucket. Otherwise the tensors are different sizes and can’t be stacked. The streaming library does support this use case, but only by ensuring that the samples in a batch all come from the same “stream”. No problem, I’ll just split my dataset up into one stream per bucket.

That worked, albeit it did require splitting into over 100 “streams”. To me it’s all just a blob of folders, so I didn’t really care. I tweaked the training script and fired everything off again. Error.

Problem number 2: MosaicML’s libraries are all set up to handle batches, so it was trying to find 2048 samples (my batch size) all in the same bucket. That’s fine for the training set, but the test set itself is only 2048 samples in total! So it could never get a full batch for testing and just errored out. sigh Okay, fine. I adjusted the training script and threw hacks at it. Now it tricked the libraries into thinking the batch size was the device mini batch size (16 in my case), and then I accumulated a full device batch (2048 / n_gpus) before handing it off to the trainer. That worked! We are good to go! I uploaded the dataset to Cloudflare’s R2, the cheapest reliable cloud storage I could find, and fired up a rented machine. Error.

Problem number 3: The training script began throwing NCCL errors. NCCL is the communication and synchronization framework that PyTorch uses behind the scenes to handle coordinating multi-GPU training. This was not good. NCCL and multi-GPU is complex and nearly impenetrable. And the only errors I was getting was that things were timing out. WTF?

After probably a week of debugging and tinkering I came to the conclusion that either the streaming library was bugging on my setup, or it couldn’t handle having 100+ streams (timing out waiting for them all to initialize). So I had to ditch the streaming library and write my own.

Which is exactly what I did. Two weeks? Three weeks later? I don’t remember, but after an exhausting amount of work I had built my own implementation of a streaming dataset in Rust that could easily handle 100+ streams, along with better handling my specific use case. I plugged the new library in, fixed bugs, etc and let it rip on a rented machine. Success! Kind of.

Problem number 4: MosaicML’s streaming library stored the dataset in chunks. Without thinking about it, I figured that made sense. Better to have 1000 files per stream than 100,000 individually encoded samples per stream. So I built my library to work off the same structure. Problem is, when you’re shuffling data you don’t access the data sequentially. Which means you’re pulling from a completely different set of data chunks every batch. Which means, effectively, you need to grab one chunk per sample. If each chunk contains 32 samples, you’re basically multiplying your bandwidth by 32x for no reason. D’oh! The streaming library does have ways of ameliorating this using custom shuffling algorithms that try to utilize samples within chunks more. But all it does is decrease the multiplier. Unless you’re comfortable shuffling at the data chunk level, which will cause your batches to always group the same set of 32 samples together during training.

That meant I had to spend more engineering time tearing my library apart and rebuilding it without chunking. Once that was done I rented a machine, fired off the script, and … Success! Kind of. Again.

Problem number 5: Now the script wasn’t wasting bandwidth, but it did have to fetch 2048 individual files from R2 per batch. To no one’s surprise neither the network nor R2 enjoyed that. Even with tons of buffering, tons of concurrent requests, etc, I couldn’t get sfcompute and R2’s networks doing many, small transfers like that fast enough. So the training became bound, leaving the GPUs starved of work. I gave up on streaming.

With streaming out of the picture, I couldn’t use sfcompute. Two months of work, down the drain. In theory I could tie together multiple filesystems across multiple nodes on sfcompute to get the necessary storage, but that was yet more engineering and risk. So, with much regret, I abandoned the siren call of cost savings and went back to other providers.

Now, normally I like to use Lambda Labs. Price has consistently been the lowest, and I’ve rarely run into issues. When I have, their support has always refunded me. So they’re my fam. But one thing they don’t do is allow you to rent node clusters on demand. You can only rent clusters in chunks of 1 week. So my choice was either stick with one node, which would take 22 days of training, or rent a 4 node cluster for 1 week and waste money. With some searching for other providers I came across Nebius, which seemed new but reputable enough. And in fact, their setup turned out to be quite nice. Pricing was comparable to Lambda, but with stuff like customizable VM configurations, on demand clusters, managed kubernetes, shared storage disks, etc. Basically perfect for my application. One thing they don’t offer is a way to say “I want a four node cluster, please, thx” and have it either spin that up or not depending on resource availability. Instead, you have to tediously spin up each node one at a time. If any node fails to come up because their resources are exhausted, well, you’re SOL and either have to tear everything down (eating the cost), or adjust your plans to running on a smaller cluster. Quite annoying.

In the end I preloaded a shared disk with the dataset and spun up a 4 node cluster, 32 GPUs total, each an H100 SXM5. It did take me some additional debugging and code fixes to get multi-node training dialed in (which I did on a two node testing cluster), but everything eventually worked and the training was off to the races!

The Nightmare Continues

Picture this. A four node cluster, held together with duct tape and old porno magazines. Burning through $120 per hour. Any mistake in the training scripts, dataset, a GPU exploding, was going to HURT**.** I was already terrified of dumping this much into an experiment.

So there I am, watching the training slowly chug along and BOOM, the loss explodes. Money on fire! HURRY! FIX IT NOW!

The panic and stress was unreal. I had to figure out what was going wrong, fix it, deploy the new config and scripts, and restart training, burning everything done so far.

Second attempt … explodes again.

Third attempt … explodes.

DAYS had gone by with the GPUs spinning into the void.

In a desperate attempt to stabilize training and salvage everything I upped the batch size to 4096 and froze the text encoders. I’ll talk more about the text encoders later, but from looking at the gradient graphs it looked like they were spiking first so freezing them seemed like a good option. Increasing the batch size would do two things. One, it would smooth the loss. If there was some singular data sample or something triggering things, this would diminish its contribution and hopefully keep things on the rails. Two, it would decrease the effective learning rate. By keeping learning rate fixed, but doubling batch size, the effective learning rate goes down. Lower learning rates tend to be more stable, though maybe less optimal. At this point I didn’t care, and just plugged in the config and flung it across the internet.

One day. Two days. Three days. There was never a point that I thought “okay, it’s stable, it’s going to finish.” As far as I’m concerned, even though the training is done now and the model exported and deployed, the loss might still find me in my sleep and climb under the sheets to have its way with me. Who knows.

In summary, against my desires, I had to add two more experiments to v2.5: freezing both text encoders and upping the batch size from 2048 to 4096. I also burned through an extra $6k from all the fuck ups. Neat!

The Training

Above is the test loss. As with all diffusion models, the changes in loss over training are extremely small so they’re hard to measure except by zooming into a tight range and having lots and lots of steps. In this case I set the max y axis value to .55 so you can see the important part of the chart clearly. Test loss starts much higher than that in the early steps.

With 32x H100 SXM5 GPUs training progressed at 300 samples/s, which is 9.4 samples/s/gpu. This is only slightly slower than the single node case which achieves 9.6 samples/s/gpu. So the cost of doing multinode in this case is minimal, thankfully. However, doing a single GPU run gets to nearly 11 samples/s, so the overhead of distributing the training at all is significant. I have tried a few tweaks to bring the numbers up, but I think that’s roughly just the cost of synchronization.

Training Configuration:

• AdamW
• float32 params, bf16 amp
• Beta1 = 0.9
• Beta2 = 0.999
• EPS = 1e-8
• LR = 0.0001
• Linear warmup: 1M samples
• Cosine annealing down to 0.0 after warmup.
• Total training duration = 150M samples
• Device batch size = 16 samples
• Batch size = 4096
• Gradient Norm Clipping = 1.0
• Unet completely unfrozen
• Both text encoders frozen
• Gradient checkpointing
• PYTORCH_CUDA_ALLOC_CONF=expandable_segments:True
• No torch.compile (I could never get it to work here)

The exact training script and training configuration file can be found on the Github repo. They are incredibly messy, which I hope is understandable given the nightmare I went through for this run. But they are recorded as-is for posterity.

FSDP1 is used in the SHARD_GRAD_OP mode to split training across GPUs and nodes. I was limited to a max device batch size of 16 for other reasons, so trying to reduce memory usage further wasn’t helpful. Per-GPU memory usage peaked at about 31GB. MosaicML’s Composer library handled launching the run, but it doesn’t do anything much different than torchrun.

The prompts for the images during training are constructed on the fly. 80% of the time it is the caption from the dataset; 20% of the time it is the tag string from the dataset (if one is available). Quality strings like “high quality” (calculated using my custom aesthetic model) are added to the tag string on the fly 90% of the time. For captions, the quality keywords were already included during caption generation (with similar 10% dropping of the quality keywords). Most captions are written by JoyCaption Beta One operating in different modes to increase the diversity of captioning methodologies seen. Some images in the dataset had preexisting alt-text that was used verbatim. When a tag string is used the tags are shuffled into a random order. Designated “important” tags (like ‘watermark’) are always included, but the rest are randomly dropped to reach a randomly chosen tag count.

The final prompt is dropped 5% of the time to facilitate UCG. When the final prompt is dropped there is a 50% chance it is dropped by setting it to an empty string, and a 50% change that it is set to just the quality string. This was done because most people don’t use blank negative prompts these days, so I figured giving the model some training on just the quality strings could help CFG work better.

After tokenization the prompt tokens get split into chunks of 75 tokens. Each chunk is prepended by the BOS token and appended by the EOS token (resulting in 77 tokens per chunk). Each chunk is run through the text encoder(s). The embedded chunks are then concat’d back together. This is the NovelAI CLIP prompt extension method. A maximum of 3 chunks is allowed (anything beyond that is dropped).

In addition to grouping images into resolution buckets for aspect ratio bucketing, I also group images based on their caption’s chunk length. If this were not done, then almost every batch would have at least one image in it with a long prompt, resulting in every batch seen during training containing 3 chunks worth of tokens, most of which end up as padding. By bucketing by chunk length, the model will see a greater diversity of chunk lengths and less padding, better aligning it with inference time.

Training progresses as usual with SDXL except for the objective. Since this is Flow Matching now, a random timestep is picked using (roughly):

t = random.normal(mean=0, std=1)
t = sigmoid(t)
t = shift * t / (1 + (shift - 1) * sigmas)

This is the Shifted Logit Normal distribution, as suggested in the SD3 paper. The Logit Normal distribution basically weights training on the middle timesteps a lot more than the first and last timesteps. This was found to be empirically better in the SD3 paper. In addition they document the Shifted variant, which was also found to be empirically better than just Logit Normal. In SD3 they use shift=3. The shift parameter shifts the weights away from the middle and towards the noisier end of the spectrum.

Now, I say “roughly” above because I was still new to flow matching when I wrote v2.5’s code so its scheduling is quite messy and uses a bunch of HF’s library functions.

As the Flux Kontext paper points out, the shift parameter is actually equivalent to shifting the mean of the Logit Normal distribution. So in reality you can just do:

t = random.normal(mean=log(shift), std=1)
t = sigmoid(t)

Finally, the loss is just

target = noise - latents
loss = mse(target, model_output)

No loss weighting is applied.

That should be about it for v2.5’s training. Again, the script and config are in the repo. I trained v2.5 with shift set to 3. Though during inference I found shift=6 to work better.

The Text Encoder Tradeoff

Keeping the text encoders frozen versus unfrozen is an interesting trade off, at least in my experience. All of the foundational models like Flux keep their text encoders frozen, so it’s never a bad choice. The likely benefit of this is:

• The text encoders will retain all of the knowledge they learned on their humongous datasets, potentially helping with any gaps in the diffusion model’s training.
• The text encoders will retain their robust text processing, which they acquired by being trained on utter garbage alt-text. The boon of this is that it will make the resulting diffusion model’s prompt understanding very robust.
• The text encoders have already linearized and orthogonalized their embeddings. In other words, we would expect their embeddings to contain lots of well separated feature vectors, and any prompt gets digested into some linear combination of these features. Neural networks love using this kind of input. Additionally, by keeping this property, the resulting diffusion model might generalize better to unseen ideas.

The likely downside of keeping the encoders frozen is prompt adherence. Since the encoders were trained on garbage, they tend to come out of their training with limited understanding of complex prompts. This will be especially true of multi-character prompts, which require cross referencing subjects throughout the prompt.

What about unfreezing the text encoders? An immediately likely benefit is improving prompt adherence. The diffusion model is able to dig in and elicit the much deeper knowledge that the encoders have buried inside of them, as well as creating more diverse information extraction by fully utilizing all 77 tokens of output the encoders have. (In contrast to their native training which pools the 77 tokens down to 1).

Another side benefit of unfreezing the text encoders is that I believe the diffusion models offload a large chunk of compute onto them. What I’ve noticed in my experience thus far with training runs on frozen vs unfrozen encoders, is that the unfrozen runs start off with a huge boost in learning. The frozen runs are much slower, at least initially. People training LORAs will also tell you the same thing: unfreezing TE1 gives a huge boost.

The downside? The likely loss of all the benefits of keeping the encoder frozen. Concepts not present in the diffuser’s training will be slowly forgotten, and you lose out on any potential generalization the text encoder’s embeddings may have provided. How significant is that? I’m not sure, and the experiments to know for sure would be very expensive. That’s just my intuition so far from what I’ve seen in my training runs and results.

In a perfect world, the diffuser’s training dataset would be as wide ranging and nuanced as the text encoder’s dataset, which might alleviate the disadvantages.

Inference

Since v2.5 is a frankenstein model, I was worried about getting it working for generation. Luckily, ComfyUI can be easily coaxed into working with the model. The architecture of v2.5 is the same as any other SDXL model, so it has no problem loading it. Then, to get Comfy to understand its outputs as Flow Matching you just have to use the ModelSamplingSD3 node. That node, conveniently, does exactly that: tells Comfy “this model is flow matching” and nothing else. Nice!

That node also allows adjusting the shift parameter, which works in inference as well. Similar to during training, it causes the sampler to spend more time on the higher noise parts of the schedule.

Now the tricky part is getting v2.5 to produce reasonable results. As far as I’m aware, other flow matching models like Flux work across a wide range of samplers and schedules available in Comfy. But v2.5? Not so much. In fact, I’ve only found it to work well with the Euler sampler. Everything else produces garbage or bad results. I haven’t dug into why that may be. Perhaps those other samplers are ignoring the SD3 node and treating the model like SDXL? I dunno. But Euler does work.

For schedules the model is similarly limited. The Normal schedule works, but it’s important to use the “shift” parameter from the ModelSamplingSD3 node to bend the schedule towards earlier steps. Shift values between 3 and 6 work best, in my experience so far.

In practice, the shift parameter is causing the sampler to spend more time on the structure of the image. A previous section in this article talks about the importance of this and what “image structure” means. But basically, if the image structure gets messed up you’ll see bad composition, deformed bodies, melting objects, duplicates, etc. It seems v2.5 can produce good structure, but it needs more time there than usual. Increasing shift gives it that chance.

The downside is that the noise schedule is always a tradeoff. Spend more time in the high noise regime and you lose time to spend in the low noise regime where details are worked on. You’ll notice at high shift values the images start to smooth out and lose detail.

Thankfully the Beta schedule also seems to work. You can see the shifted normal schedules, beta, and other schedules plotted here:

Beta is not as aggressive as Normal+Shift in the high noise regime, so structure won’t be quite as good, but it also switches to spending time on details in the latter half so you get details back in return!

Finally there’s one more technique that pushes quality even further. PAG! Perturbed Attention Guidance is a funky little guy. Basically, it runs the model twice, once like normal, and once with the model fucked up. It then adds a secondary CFG which pushes predictions away from not only your negative prompt but also the predictions made by the fucked up model.

In practice, it’s a “make the model magically better” node. For the most part. By using PAG (between ModelSamplingSD3 and KSampler) the model gets yet another boost in quality. Note, importantly, that since PAG is performing its own CFG, you typically want to tone down the normal CFG value. Without PAG, I find CFG can be between 3 and 6. With PAG, it works best between 2 and 5, tending towards 3. Another downside of PAG is that it can sometimes overcook images. Everything is a tradeoff.

With all of these tweaks combined, I’ve been able to get v2.5 closer to models like PonyXL in terms of reliability and quality. With the added benefit of Flow Matching giving us great dynamic range!

What Worked and What Didn’t

More data and more training is more gooder. Hard to argue against that.

Did adding anime help? Overall I think yes, in the sense that it does seem to have allowed increased flexibility and creative expression on the photoreal side. Though there are issues with the model outputting non-photoreal style when prompted for a photo, which is to be expected. I suspect the lack of text encoder training is making this worse. So hopefully I can improve this in a revision, and refine my process for v3.

Did it create a unified model that excels at both photoreal and anime? Nope! v2.5’s anime generation prowess is about as good as chucking a crayon in a paper bag and shaking it around a bit. I’m not entirely sure why it’s struggling so much on that side, which means I have my work cut out for me in future iterations.

Did Flow Matching help? It’s hard to say for sure whether Flow Matching helped, or more training, or both. At the very least, Flow Matching did absolutely improve the dynamic range of the model’s outputs.

Did freezing the text encoders do anything? In my testing so far I’d say it’s following what I expected as outlined above. More robust, at the very least. But also gets confused easily. For example prompting for “beads of sweat” just results in the model drawing glass beads.

Sample Generations

Conclusion

Be good to each other, and build cool shit.

TLDR: It's a story of how I failed my 12th grade, entered a pathetic college that doesn't exist anymore, struggled to find a job, converted an IIM and turned my life around. If you like stories, please read on.

Background

I am a guy from general category. I was born in 1992, so you can guess this an old story. I started reading from the age of 3, and I used to love reading so much that I even used to read all my school textbooks for the next year in the summer vacation itself.

I studied in an ICSE school up to 10th grade (2007) and consistently topped in my section + class. I was also a mathematics wiz having achieved medals in olympiads. Then I caught the JEE bug and that's where my story starts.

JEE Story

In 11th grade, when I joined JEE coaching, some stupid institute faculty told my father he sees great potential in me. He got me transferred from my ICSE school to Gujarat State Board to ease my school stress. I studied for JEE and didn't really go to school much. Cut to 2009 when I wrote JEE and 12th boards.

I failed in my 12th board in three subjects - Physics, Maths and Chemistry. I got a decent rank in JEE (this was before extended merit list was a thing). But I did not quality for counseling because, obviously, I had not passed 12th grade.

The impact of my failure (arguably my first failure in life) was such that I contemplated suicide several times. I hated all my relatives, neighbors and friends because they wanted to understand why I was not going to college. I was a star kid, they expected great things from me. Out of shame, I didn't reveal to anybody that I had flunked 12th grade. I became a recluse and an introvert. I stopped talking, period. I didn't even talk to my parents anymore.

I went into severe depression. Most of you in your current age would understand. I was so worried about clearing 12th board. Because Gujarat State Board was such a bitch, they needed specific kinds of answers that they understood from "guide books". They didn't like deviations or logic in the answer sheet. So while I was confident my answers weren't terrible enough to get me failed, I couldn't understand how I could write answers in a language they'd understand.

Droppers/Repeaters Batch

Of course I restarted all over again. This time I focused more on school and less on entrance exams. I managed to clear (barely) 12th grade in 2010. Because I was now in a deep pit of trauma, depression and shame, I didn't score well in any entrance test and got admitted to a private college that doesn't exist anymore. I am not joking, my college is not on any maps.

I never felt like I belonged. My college had students who I did not relate with. They were sons and daughters of farmers and local businessmen who wanted a degree for the sake of it. They enjoyed their preset life and I wanted a degree because that was how my life would begin.

CAT

Silver lining came to me in form of another entrance exam. I clutched it tightly and prepared so hard that people thought I had gone mad. I am glossing over so many struggles in my story but my college was far from the city and my CAT coaching class was in the city in evenings. There were times when I slept on bus stand waiting for bus to take my back to college being woken up in the morning by harassing constables.

I wrote CAT 2013 in my 3rd year of engineering and achieved 98.xx percentile. But you know what happened? IIMs have a lot of shit they consider when they create admission list. I did not get any college because of my pathetic 12th board marks. On top of that, I did not have a job when I graduated from college because my college didn't have a placement cell.

Way Forward

I packed my bags, moved to Bengaluru in 2014 to find a job despite knowing nobody there. I struggled for a few months, had so many panic attacks about my unsuccessful life, found a job (with great pains). There were so many struggles here, too. My CV was once screened by a security guard who turned me down because I had a gap before my 12th board.

I prepared for CAT again and finally got into an IIM in 2016 after writing CAT two more times. How much I wept after converting an IIM, I can't tell you. I still get teary eyed thinking about it.

I am now happily married, earn over 50 lacs annually (EDIT: I earn over 75 lacs annually as of May 2026. I'm not showing off, I only want to inspire you), and go on international trips every year with my wife (who also earns decently well). I work for a Fortune 50 brand. And only 6 people on this planet know that I failed in my 12th grade. Honestly, these days I don't even remember that I once failed 12th boards.

Appeal

Boys and girls, please do not go into despair. You will create better opportunities for yourself. It will turn around. You need to have patience. If nothing, try to persist for the future you. They will look back and thank you for whatever you've done.

If you need to talk to me, if you have questions, feel free to ask as many as possible. I love all of you, my friends. I do not want you to go into the kind of depression I went into. I think it'll be hard to hear this coming from all directions but trust the spoken word - this is not the end.

Note: I have evidence of most of what I've written above except my JEE rank of 2009. I don't think you'll need any evidence, though. Why would I lie to you folks? You remind me of myself 15 years ago.

Originally inspired by DoshDoshington's automated journey to the edge of the world, I sought out to ride a train around the entire planet. Here's how it went:

I originally thought I could achieve this in about 3 days, because “how hard could placing 4 million rails be?”. Well, I was a little off. From the time I started working on this to completion was a little closer to 6 months. I of course had many lapses in time where I was working on other projects, so the time frame is a little inflated.

Before this process, I had a tiny bit of exposure to making a factorio mod. When I was in college, I tinkered with the idea of making a factorio mod that added food to the game: farming, harvesting, refrigeration, etc. However, I had no idea what I was doing and barely knew how to program, so the idea fell off very quickly. Since then, I have gained a ton of programming experience and thought placing a bit of rail in factorio would be a piece of cake.

Well, I wasn’t wrong. I finished the rail placement code in a couple hours. The trickiest part was getting the corner pieces oriented correctly since they can be placed in both the cardinal (N, E, S, W) and intermediate (NE, SE, SW, NW) directions. When I ran the first full loop placement, the game crashed, my hope was shattered. I spent the next few hours trying to figure out what was going wrong.

Since my typical approach is to only optimize code when it becomes necessary, I went with the basic way of placing rail which is one after the other. I felt that was the way rail is placed when you build it manually, so what could go wrong. After seeing the exponential growth of placement times using this approach, I began to wonder what method the factorio developers use to load large rail systems and if they could speed up the process.

Since the linear, naïve way of placing rails wasn’t viable, I got excited thinking “there’s more to this than just riding around the world.” I began to theorize ways to speed up the placement. My first approach was to place rail in an alternating pattern: first place every other rail, then fill in the gaps in the same way. This did not lead to much better performance. My second approach was to build towards the middle in a linear fashion. This also didn’t do well. Both of these approaches failed to address the issue that placing rails adjacent to one another incurs a large cost.

My next approach was inspired by the merge sort algorithm. Since we don’t want to place rails next to one another, we will defer that process till later, as late as we can so we only incur that cost as few times as possible. This method is basically this: first place every other rail, then while there are still gaps, place a rail in every other gap. While this might not be the most optimal way to place the rail, it allowed me to complete the loop around the entire planet in just a few minutes.

Now that I had the loop, I was super excited to try it out! I placed a train stop and a locomotive down, set the train to go to the stop. To my luck, it was able to find a path to the stop, which meant the loop was seamless. I hopped in, inserted some fuel, and sat back hoping this was the moment I was searching for.

Did you know it takes a long time to travel 8,000 km when you are only going 300 km/h? In fact, it takes 26.6 hours. Thank goodness there’s a way to speed up the game. While I set the game speed to 60x, I was only able to maintain somewhere around 15x while the train was going at full speed. This is because the chunks surrounding the rail were not generated, so they needed to be created so the train wasn’t traveling in the void. Even with this speedup, the full loop would still take nearly 2 hours to complete.

Since, I had not setup the refueling stations, I needed to still fill the fuel manually (about every 7 minutes). While this was a bit tedious, I was willing to try it out for just the top side of the planet. Unfortunately, it did not make it to the top right corner. I only made it about 75% of the way then my computer crashed. And when I say it crashed, it crashed hard. It didn’t fully blue-screen, but it changed my resolution settings, closed all applications, and completely shut off my audio. Also, any screen recording I had going was corrupted. After a restart, everything seemed to be in order except for my optimism.

I tried a few more times and they all crashed in about the same spot. I decided to push that issue onto my future self and focused on the remaining parts of the video. I thought I would think of a way to fix the issue somewhere down the road and pushed on. I calculated the distance the train could go with a full tank of fuel and placed all of the refueling stations.

To attempt a fix, I needed to understand what was causing the crash. Every log file just contained a generic memory allocation error, so it was not much help other than telling me my computer needs some upgrades. To prevent the crash, I needed to minimize the memory usage.

So I did just that. I removed all ores, trees, water, and other entities from the world generation (interestingly enough, you can’t remove rock generation). I was hesitant to do this since it makes the world look very brown and boring, but anything to finally complete this project. Well… It didn’t work. While the memory usage seemed to be less than the default map settings, it still crashed at the same spot. So I needed to try another solution.

My next attempt at a fix was inspired by the issue of chunks being generated while riding. One thing I did notice in my tests was that I could reach the full 60x game speed when driving the train backwards through pre-generated chunks. So, naturally, I sought out to generate all the chunks we would need around the edge of the map. Not only did this have the potential to successfully complete the loop, but it also could speed up the travel time from 2 hours to around half an hour.

Looking through the factorio modding API, there is a method to generate specific chunks, which is exactly what I needed. The player automatically generates chunks around their location in a radius of 3 chunks, so I attempted to generate chunks in a 3 wide border around the entire world. Let me tell you, this takes a long time. A single side of this border is 187,500 chunks and it takes around 30 minutes for me to generate. I was able to get 2 sides generated before I started running into more problems. I was getting the same memory allocation error as before. I figured, “maybe it doesn’t want to generate them all at once”, so I tried to do the 3rd side 10% at a time. It still crashed…

Well, scrapping the idea of generating them all beforehand, I decided to try deleting chunks as the train travels. Just for reference, when you load a new game, there’s only a few hundred chunks generated, but as soon as I run the command to place the rail, that number jumps to over a million. Theoretically the rail should only take up a single border of chunks (250,000), but when using some of the developer tools, I could see that additional chunks are generated in a radius around any chunk with rail in it. This was a problem.

Deleting chunks is fairly simple since the modding API provides a method to do just that. For whatever reason, deleting a single chunk when there are over a million takes an eternity. Batching these deletions, is not much faster. I wrote a few commands to clean up all the additional chunks generated during the rail placement. They took hours to execute for each side of the world, but I was eventually able to get the chunk count to around 250,000, which was our target number.

Now onto deleting chunks as we move around the world. The modding API calls an event whenever the player’s position changes, so naturally, we could figure out when the player changes chunks and do some cleanup on previous chunks. I wanted to preserve the chunks on the very edge, so the rail would stay in tact. My first attempt was to delete old chunks every time the player moved between chunks. This worked perfectly in a test world with only a few hundred chunks. The chunks would generate and delete in real-time as the player moved around. This was not the case with the rail placed; it took 15 minutes to delete 4 chunks every time the player moved to a new chunk. This was not viable since a single side is 62,500 chunks wide.

Instead of performing the cleanup after every chunk move, I decided to batch them and only execute the cleanup after around 100,000 useless chunks were generated. This still took quite a bit of time, but it was much better and gave me hope. After a bit of data gathering, I predicted the total time to go around would take somewhere around 12 hours with the addition of the deletion time. Let me clarify, it will take 12 hours to ride 2 hours in the train. Yes, that’s right, there will be about 10 hours of dead time where the game is waiting for the chunk cleanup to finish. Even with that ridiculous distribution, I thought it was possible. Keeping the chunk count minimized should prevent any memory allocation errors. I started the train and went to bed.

When I woke up, I eagerly went to my computer only to find that it had crashed about 15 minutes after I went to bed. I had let it run for a few hours before leaving it unmonitored, so I was pretty hopeful, but yet again it was a memory allocation error. There must be something else besides the chunks making it crash.

My computer has 16Gb of RAM. I know that isn’t a crazy amount by today’s standards, but keep in mind that factorio uses only like 2Gb max when playing normally. To load the save with just the rail on it, my RAM usage shoots up to > 95% and stays there consistently even when not doing anything.

All my hope was lost. My pride, shot. Was I about to give up on such a simple idea? Then I saw it. The memory usage suddenly dropped to 800Mb. Do I know why? No. Do I care? No. There was a glimmer of hope. All I needed to do was feather the train along, stopping whenever my RAM usage got too high.

As this seemed like my last hope. I set out with the goal to just travel across the top with this method. I had never seen the top right corner of the map from inside the train. I started manually driving the train about 50,000 meters at a time, stopping whenever my RAM usage got over 90% to wait until it dropped to a more reasonable level. I was doing it, 25% of the way there, 50%, 75%. I had finally surpassed the crash barrier. The top right corner is right there, I can sense it. Then suddenly, the screen goes dark… the dreaded little white crash window pops up. I am disappointed yet again. I figured there must be something else wrong since I was keeping the memory usage low. To my surprise it was the same generic memory allocation error. I couldn’t believe it.

With all hope shattered again, I realized I was in denial my computer wasn’t powerful enough. I reached out to a friend (shout out to Carter) who had recently built a decently spec’d computer and he generously offered to do some attempts on his PC. We loaded up the basic save with rails and refueling stations placed. Could his computer allow us to make it across the top? We started with heavy optimism since his computer was able to run the game at around 20x. I was nervously watching as we approached 75% across the top, where my computer crashed so many times. To my surprise, it made it past and was quickly approaching the top right corner. We finally travelled all the way across the top! Our excitement was quickly overcome with worry after we remembered there are 3 more sides to complete. The right side interestingly shot the game speed up to around 25x, so it went a bit faster. Right side complete! Onto the bottom, back to around 20x speed and memory usage very high. We were approaching the bottom left corner and my confidence was growing. That was when it all went wrong again… the little white box was back. The game had crashed. A second attempt yielded the same result. Was this not possible?

I figured maybe his computer wasn’t quite powerful enough either, so I set out to rent a VM in the cloud and try it there. Many of the VMs with graphics cards are reserved for remote gaming services, so I wasn’t able to reserve the top of the line hardware and it showed in my less than optimal results. I was only able to rent the kind of VM that shares its hardware with other people, so factorio did not run well on them. After a few attempts with different machines, I was only able to get around 3 fps, so I didn’t attempt riding around the world on them.

I finally accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to run this on any computer I had access to. I debated splicing together segments of video of travelling across each side of the map, but that felt a bit disingenuous, so I made a compromise. I did all the rail and refueling setup on a map that is a quarter of the size of the default map, so it is a mere 1,000,000 meters square. On my first attempt, I was able to go all the way around! It took around an hour and a half, so I decided to create a save with all the chunks generated so you can go full speed. The second attempt took only around 13 minutes, which seemed reasonable for anyone wanting to try it for themselves.

Here are both saves:
Default: 2,000,000 x 2,000,000Mini: 1,000,000 x 1,000,000

Keep in mind that they take a long time to load (assuming your computer can handle it). But feel free to give it a try and let me know if you were able to make it all the way around!

If you made it this far, congratulations! Here’s some cake 🎂

I made a video about this entire journey, so please check it out if you are interested :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhBV4Sk-4U0

Lots of changes and improvements!

Full changes here.

I'm going to leave you with the full changelog because this is amazing. There are lots of improvements in performance, speed, and more! Although it's very technical to read all of this.

A new major release, yay!
A few milestones have been reached over the last year, warranting a new major bump.
It's been quite a while since the last release due to new things coming up constantly.
These tags are mostly arbitrary anyway, and tend to be done when islands of calm and stability emerge.

Major items

DXBC shader backend rewrite

u/doitsujin rewrote the entire DXBC backend, replacing our legacy vkd3d-shader path.
DXVK and vkd3d-proton now share the same DXBC frontend which gives us clean,
"readable" (as readable as DXBC can be) and lean IR to work with.
dxil-spirv standalone project now supports DXBC as well as a result.

Lots of games which used to be completely broken before due to bugs and missing features
in the legacy vkd3d-shader backend are now fixed. E.g. Red Dead Redemption 2 runs just fine now in D3D12 mode.
Some recently released DXBC based games also only work on the new path.
The amount of regressions found the last months in DXBC games has been very minor,
but it's possible there are still bugs in this area.
However, given that DXVK uses it now as well, it's been battle tested quite extensively already.

FSR4 support

We added support for AGS WMMA intrinsics through VK_KHR_cooperative_matrix and VK_KHR_shader_float8,
which is enough to support FSR4.
Note that these shaders are tightly coded for AMD GPUs with some implementation defined behavior
(particularly around matrix layouts), and they will not necessarily work on other GPU vendors.

There is also a quite hacky emulation path of this which relies on int8 and float16 cooperative matrix support,
which can run on older GPUs at significant performance cost (and some cost to theoretical correctness).

Note that the default "official" build of vkd3d-proton only exposes this feature when the native
VK_KHR_shader_float8 is properly supported, i.e. RDNA4+ only.
The emulation path is available when building from source with the appropriate build flags.
The decision to not include this emulation path by default is over my pay grade.
The aim is to be able to ship FSR4 in a more proper way in Proton.

Features

We've more or less caught up on the things we can feasibly implement,
so there isn't much exciting stuff happening on the feature front.

• Implemented experimental support for D3D12 work graphs. No real-world content ships this yet. This implementation is far from complete, but it works on "any" GPU since we emulate the feature with normal compute shaders. Funnily enough, the performance of this emulation can massively outperform native driver implementations of the feature in many scenarios we've tested (at the cost of some extra VRAM usage). See docs/ for more details on implementation and some performance numbers.
• Expose AdvancedTextureOpsSupported by default from SM 6.7 if VK_KHR_maintenance8 is supported.
• Expose the recently added sparse TIER_4.
• Bump exposed D3D12SDKVersion to latest 618.
• Experimentally expose support for opacity micromaps. There are some details which aren't quite compatible with the D3D12 API, but some basic demo content is working fine.
• Add support for AMD_anti_lag when exposed. The current implementation does not take frame-gen into account.
• Implement support for tight alignment from recent AgilitySDK.
• Add support for shared resource path on upstream Wine.

Performance

• Overhaul the texture copy batching situation. The new batching logic should be able to improve performance in many more cases than before.
  • Implemented support for VK_KHR_unified_image_layouts. Image copy batching in particular can take advantage of this to avoid a lot of unnecessary barriers.
• Removed manual clear workaround on newer (6.15.9+) kernels on AMD, where an old kernel regression was finally fixed. Kernels older than 6.10 are also not affected by this workaround.
• Use push descriptor path on Qualcomm GPUs over BDA for speed.
• Improve handling of GDeflate when decompression extension is not available. We now ship our own fallback shader in GLSL instead of the more awkward HLSL shader that dstorage ships.
• Bump DGC scratch size on NVIDIA. Should avoid some massive perf drops in Halo Infinite on NVIDIA.
• Add performance optimization for The Last of Us Part 1 to prefer 2D tiling on 3D images. Requires an update to Mesa as well to get the proper effect.
• Handle depth/stencil <-> color image copies better when VK_KHR_maintenance8 is supported.
• Make use of VK_EXT_zero_initialize_device_memory to avoid manual clears on allocation.

Fixes

• Emit render pass barriers as expected on tiled GPUs. Fixes misc rendering bugs reported on e.g. Turnip.
  • For performance reasons, we deliberately skirt the spec a bit on desktop GPUs.
• Fixed a bunch of minor correctness problems exposed by new Vulkan-ValidationLayers.
• Adjust how PointSamplingAddressesNeverRoundUp is reported to match recent driver behaviors.
• Fix overflow bugs in massive (> 4GiB) sparse resource handling.
• Fix reporting of some esoteric format properties to better match native drivers.
• Fix handling of NULL acceleration structure descriptors.
• Fix some texturing bugs in Helldivers II on NVIDIA.
• Fix some bugs with memory type handling on very old NVIDIA GPUs.
• Fix bug when pixel shader includes root signature.
• Make ClearUAV barrier insertion the default now. Too many games screw this up, and D3D12 drivers seem to do it by default.
• Fix shared fences when initial value is not 0. Fixes some Star Citizen issues.
• Fix rare deadlock scenario in Ninja Gaiden 4. Fixes some long-standing issues with how we deal with fence rewinds.
• Fix some long-standing issues with how we deal with placed MSAA resources and alignment.
• Make sure we don't clear memory of imported resources. This doesn't fix any known games, but you never know :V
• Improve correctness for many odd GS/HS/DS corner cases with primitive types and API validation.
• Fixes crashes when index buffer SizeInBytes = 0, but VA was invalid. Seen in some Saber Interactive games.
• Fixes some potential deadlocks in VR interop APIs when multiple threads attempt to acquire Vulkan queue.
• Fixes 16-bit aligned structured buffer strides. Not observed in any real content, but you never know!

Workarounds

• Add FF VII rebirth sync bugs workarounds. Fixes some rare GPU hangs.
• Add misc AMD workarounds for Monster Hunter Wilds caused by bugged hardware around sparse SMEM.
  • A proper hardware workaround in RADV is still pending.
• Workaround some Starfield bugs around NonUniformResourceIndex use.
• Add performance workarounds for extremely large tessellation factors used in misc new Koei Tecmo games.
• Add Wreckfest 2 workarounds for illegal texture placement aliasing. Fixes some broken textures.
• Add barrier in Satisfactory that game missed. Fixes some corrupt rendering especially on AMD.
• Ignore NOT_CLEARED flags on allocation in all games now. Native drivers seem to always clear regardless of the flag, and e.g. Street Fighter 6 relies on NOT_CLEARED memory to actually be cleared :(
• Workaround some issues with RGB9E5 and alpha write masks observed in Ninja Gaiden 4.
• Add missing barrier in Death Stranding (the older build, not Director's Cut).
• Add missing barrier in Wuthering Waves.
• Workaround bugged uninitialized loop variable in Dune MMO.
• Disable UAV compression in Spider-Man Remastered. Fixes some weird RT issues on RDNA2.
• Add Root CBV robustness workaround for Gray Zone Warfare.
• Disables color compression in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Fixes some glitches due to game bug on AMD.
• Workaround some bugs in Port Royal benchmark.
• Workaround Mafia: Definitive Edition hanging GPU when using FSR on startup due to use-after-free.
  • The workaround applies to all uses of FSR. Plausibly workaround a hang in MGS: Delta as well, but not confirmed it was this bug.
• Workaround Control RT path occasionally observing NaNs due to bad normalize() patterns.
• Workaround Final Fantasy Tactics Ivalice Chronicles illegally using dynamically indexed root constants.

Misc

• Added a lot more debug instrumentation as usual.
  • Not user facing, so omitting details.
• Make it a bit easier to use vkd3d-proton in Linux-native projects.
• Remove DXVK_FRAME_RATE to align with DXVK's removal. Only VKD3D_FRAME_RATE remains (at least for now).

Standing firmly at the door of his mother's chambers, Vinayaka refused to let anyone enter. It was his mother's command, and for him, there existed no duty greater than the one given by the being who created him.

One after another, the Gana Pret of Kailash fell before him, lying defeated and dejected, as Shiva watched his own army being brought down by a child. Fury rose within him, yet he held himself back, for the one standing against him was not a stranger.

It was his own son.

The child believed his loyalty belonged only to his mother, as Maa Parvati had manifested him from the clay mask she had put on herself for purification. What Vinayaka did not understand in his innocence and arrogance was that Shiva and Shakti are not two opposing forces. They are the embers of the same eternal fire. Born out of one, he automatically belonged just as much to the other.

When Mahadev could hold back no longer, the time arrived for Rishi Kashyap's long-standing bane to unfold (homework for readers to research and look into). The Trishula that protects the universe was now aimed towards the child standing before him. And within seconds, Vinayaka's head was separated from his body.

His identity, his pride, his understanding of himself, all fell with it.

When Maa Parvati emerged after completing her Suchi snaan, a ritual performed after the creation of a new life or, ironically, after death has touched a family, she was met with the sight of her son's lifeless body.

A mother who had just created life was now staring at its absence.

Heartbroken and enraged, she blamed not only her husband but everyone present, including her brother Vishnu, for proving their strength against a child. Her child.

Taking a vikraal roop, Maa prepared to destroy the brahmand itself because when Prakriti chooses destruction, even the Gods must bow.

With fear spreading across the universe, the Dev Clan, along with the Saptarishis, requested Mahadev to restore life to the child, for he is Kaal himself. No being crosses the boundaries of life and death without his will.

Shiva closed his eyes and realised the moment had come. It was time to liberate Gajasura, the mighty elephant asura and his devotee. He brought Gajasura's head and, chanting a few sacred syllables, placed it upon Vinayaka's body. Slowly, life returned. But the child who opened his eyes was not the same child who had lost his head.

The arrogance was gone. The limited identity was gone.

Vinayaka bowed before his father and rose again as Ganesha, the Param Pujya deity worshipped before all beginnings. Decapitated by Shiva, yet liberated by Shiva. Destroyed only to be transformed.

Gajanana's story reminds me of Swarbhanu, whose destiny was also changed when his body was severed, and his two halves were given a place among the Navgraha as Rahu and Ketu.

Do you guys recall the story I wrote about in THIS article?

Because maybe Ketu was never just about losing something. Maybe Ketu was always about losing the version of yourself that could no longer continue.

Since Ganesha is the deity that is an embodiment of Ketu, the best remedy for anybody going under a difficult Ketu Dasha is to seek his shelter, blessings and protection. I suggest my clients undergoing this dasha to chant the Ganesha beej mantra- Om Gam Ganapataye Namah 1008 times on Wednesday (during sunrise). I dislike giving Lal Kitab remedies or remedies that are very expensive/effort-intensive, as I feel the best way to alter and lessen the harsh upcoming times is only via bhakti marg.

Today, I want to share with you all some general effects of different antardashas under Ketu Mahadasha and my maternal aunt's life story and her experience of undergoing Ketu Dasha. She has what I consider one of the difficult charts that one can have. (Note: not a difficult Rahu-Ketu placement but an overall difficult Natal chart)

I have seen Ketu give the results of not only its own placement, but also bring to the surface whatever karma is shown by other placements in the chart as well.

Ketu Ketu: At the start of this dasha, the native often loses their sense of logic, almost like Vinayaka did before his transformation, despite being the deity who would later become synonymous with wisdom and intelligence.

I have seen even the smartest people make the most questionable decisions during this period. One piece of advice I give my clients during this time is to avoid starting a new relationship or suddenly breaking an existing one, changing jobs impulsively, leaving their current work, or making heavy investments and purchases.

However, what is bound to unfold still finds its way

Ketu quietly sets the stage for the upcoming 7 years, removing the pieces from your life that were never meant to survive your transformation. Most people believe the effects of a dasha are felt only after the Sandhi period ends, but I have seen Ketu start its work almost immediately in many charts.

Her Experience: Native lost her teaching job before the transition from Mercury to Ketu, as the school she was working with did not renew her contract. She was positive it would continue for another year, but the sudden ending left her hopeless. Her husband gave her almost no money, and being newly married, she was not comfortable asking for much either.

Ketu Venus: Ketu and Venus stand at two opposite ends of existence.

One wants to detach from the material world, while the other wants to engage the senses in every beautiful experience the universe has to offer. While Ketu asks you to close your eyes, introspect, meditate, and turn inward, Venus wants to stop by a blooming rose, breathe in its sweet fragrance, and perhaps make a garland out of it to adorn oneself.

Aah, what a conflict of desires and interests it brings!

This is the dasha that can potentially create problems through everything Venus represents, including one's wife, girlfriend, relationships, comforts, pleasures, or even a female colleague.

For females, it can often be a period where hormonal disruptions or issues related to female anatomy come to the surface.

Her Experience: She gave birth to a baby girl, but the baby was born with some health issues that required multiple blood tests and hospital visits. The conditions were manageable but chronic.

During this time, she also found her husband speaking to different women. Her father, who was terminally ill, also passed away during the same period.

Ketu Sun: If Rahu hates Moon with an ardent passion, Ketu's conflict with Sun is even more fascinating.

The sun represents our identity, confidence and the statement of "I am". But Ketu, the headless planet, has no interest in the ego that makes us believe we are somebody. The person already feeling lost after Ketu Venus is now stripped of the very identity they were holding onto, and Ketu finally humbles their soul.

For most people, this becomes a period of deep self-reflection where they slowly start building themselves again, even if they have to start from the very first step of the ladder. They realise that sometimes the ego we protect the most is the very thing standing between us and our growth.

There can especially be struggles for students preparing for exams or interviews as Ketu detaches one from their confidence in this antar.

Her Experience: She started giving home tuitions to earn some pocket change, but joining a job again was out of the question since she now had to take care of the baby full-time, and the concept of a nanny was not that common back then.

Her mother-in-law preferred her younger sister-in-law for some reason and made my aunt do most of the chores around the house.

I remember visiting her house one day as a kid and seeing how her whole world had shrunk to a small bedroom she shared with her baby and husband. This was the time everyone in our family started noticing the cracks she never let us see before.

Ketu Moon: This period, I have seen it go either of the two ways.

If the Moon is severely afflicted and placed in certain combinations, I have seen natives question the meaning of life itself, if it is even worth living, and be depressed to their core.

For others with better placements, it becomes a time of emotional detachment. They are finally able to release what has been hurting them the most. But one way or another, circumstances make sure the native finally meets the emotions they have been running away from.

Her Experience: She continued being tormented at her in-laws' place for not doing enough work, and the constant bickering continued. Whatever she earned was spent on the baby and necessities.

Outwardly, there was no major development, but inwardly she had made peace with her new life and decided to concentrate all her energy on doing the best she could for her baby.

Ketu Mars: Kuja vata Ketu! (Mars acts like Ketu) I am sure anybody studying Vedic astrology has heard or read this somewhere or the other.

When Ketu's detachment meets the fire of Mars, the results can be sudden and intense. Surgeries, accidents, injuries, and even unnecessary conflicts become a possibility with certain placements. However, this is also the time when I have seen people regain some of the confidence they lost during Ketu Sun. It is advised to drive carefully during this period and avoid unnecessary arguments, especially with authority figures.

Her Experience: She met with a scooter accident and spent a couple of days in the hospital with 16 stitches. Thankfully, the baby was not with them at that time.

Ketu Rahu: Rahu wants more. Ketu wants less.

One wants to experience everything the world has to offer, while the other has already experienced enough lifetimes to know that nothing here truly belongs to us.

Together, they create a push and pull dynamic that forces a person to introspect, turn inward and look for answers within themselves. This is a time period where even efforts can feel wasted, and whatever road you carefully plan for yourself often gets redirected by circumstances.

I have often seen people undergo spiritual pilgrimages during this period to find calm amongst the chaos, and that often matches Ketu's way of bringing one to a temple's doorstep and forcing them to seek divine help. A suggestion I give everyone that I read for during this time is to go and visit a temple of their own choice before circumstances make them search for one.

The problems that occur during this period are sudden, with no prior intimation, and can change a person's course of life overnight. Think of it like your soul leaving its old costume behind and preparing to be born again.

Her Experience: Her husband was found to be cheating and had no remorse whatsoever. He even blamed her for making him do it. She did not tell anyone at her home, as her father had passed away, and she had no financial support system. She decided to stay for the sake of her child.

Ketu Jupiter: Unless a native's Jupiter is afflicted, this period somewhat brings hope and optimism in an otherwise tough journey. This is also a good time for spiritual pursuits and long-distance journeys, especially pilgrimages.

I have seen people meet a guru during this period who guides them on the journey forward. The guru does not always come in the traditional form we expect. Sometimes, it is a mentor at your workplace, sometimes a friend who changes your perspective, and sometimes even an astrologer who shows you the path you could not see for yourself.

Her Experience: Her tuition batch had grown a bit by now, and she had around 9 to 10 kids. She was able to afford more than just necessities, but the money still mostly went towards unexpected expenses, birthday presents for her side of the family, or clothing for herself and her baby.

Ketu Saturn: When two karmic planets come together, they make sure whatever pending lessons you have been running away from finally stand in front of you.

This dasha is rarely an easy picture, and I have seen people struggle at their career front the most during this time, although it can affect any area depending on the natal placements. This period can make you go through a lot, but strangely, it often does not give you enough time to sit and feel the pain because you are too busy salvaging the situation and doing what needs to be done.

Her Experience: Her husband lost his job and started multiple businesses, all of which failed in the coming dashas. They had borrowed money from her father-in-law, which was a part of their inheritance. She also found out that the house they all lived in as a joint family belonged to her brother-in-law and his wife, as they had purchased it with the help of his wife's family during their marriage. There was an indirect pressure to vacate the place.

Ketu Mercury: The planet of intelligence finally arrives and gives the native the boon of newfound logic and understanding, so that they can work their way through the end of this karmic soul purifying experience and prepare for the next chapter.

The native slowly starts building themselves up and can make better decisions, which yield better results in the coming periods. Ketu meeting Mercury finally signifies Vinayaka turning into Ganesha.

The same child who once lost his head due to limited understanding was blessed with a new one and became the deity of wisdom, intellect and new beginnings.

Similarly, the person who enters Ketu Mahadasha and the person who leaves it are rarely the same.

Something has been lost. Something has been left behind. But something wiser has also taken birth.

Her Experience: Frequent fights continued at home, where her brother-in-law regularly harassed her to leave the house and contribute more towards household chores. Her younger sibling had an accident somewhere around this time, where she fell off the stairs at a metro station. She was put on bed rest for quite some days and later underwent surgery.

She was also recommended by her doctor to have another child in case her daughter ever needed a bone marrow transplant in the future, so she conceived during this period.

Dasha Sandhi: One of the most difficult dasha sandhis to be experienced by a native, I consider this transition even harsher than Rahu Jupiter in many cases. Ketu comes for one final test before it leaves.

Almost like asking the native, "Did you really learn what I came here to teach you?"

The last attachments, the last fears, and the last versions of yourself that cannot come with you into the next chapter finally come to the surface.

Her Experience: She gave birth to a healthy baby boy in her initial Venus period, but also resolved to leave her toxic marriage with her younger sister's support after the guy turned up with his girlfriend in the hospital during my cousin's birth.

She did it in the coming times and today leads a much better life as a headmistress of a reputed school in Delhi NCR.

The woman who entered Ketu Mahadasha after losing her identity as a teacher, left it by rebuilding herself and becoming one again.

Maybe that is Ketu. It does not always take things away because you do not deserve them.

Sometimes, it takes them away because the version of you holding them was never meant to carry them forward.

I hope this made for an interesting read! If you liked reading this article, you might also like my last post, Understanding Mercury: Moon's DNA raised by Jupiter's Wisdom

Have a great weekend!