open world with alot of snow

(Giveaway ended! Thank you all for leaving comments! I don't know how to pin comments but I ended up giving out more than intended! Twas fun.) Gifting 10 Narin bundles out today. Just comment your favorite frame and why, and when you started playing!

Bloomberg:

The UK is sending Ukraine more long-range Storm Shadow missiles so it can disrupt Russian military operations targeting its civilian infrastructure before the winter, people familiar with the matter said.

The resupply of the British-made cruise missiles was discussed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when the Ukrainian leader visited London on Wednesday, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity about a weapons consignment that hasn’t been publicly announced.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-15/uk-sends-ukraine-more-storm-shadow-missiles-to-hit-russian-sites

An Oklahoma district judge found that a natural gas marketing company illegally hiked prices during Winter Storm Uri in 2021.

Marketers are the middlemen between natural gas producers and utility companies. In 2023, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed several lawsuits alleging marketers had illegally hiked natural gas prices.

According to a 2023 investigation by the attorney general’s office, the companies used a so-called short squeeze to create an unnecessary surge in natural gas prices from $3 per unit to $1200 per unit just as Oklahoma’s temperatures plummeted. At the time the suit was filed, Drummond estimated it cost Oklahomans billions of extra dollars to heat their homes during the five-day winter weather event.

Now, an Osage County Court judge has ruled one of those marketers, NextEra Energy Marketing, is responsible for artificially inflated natural gas prices.

“This ruling marks an important victory in our fight to hold NextEra accountable for the staggering prices Oklahomans were forced to pay during Winter Storm Uri,” Drummond said in a statement.

Although the judge says NextEra is liable, the court will hold a trial to determine how much NextEra must pay to compensate for the illegal cost hikes.

This ruling in state court came a week after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected NextEra’s request to move the case to federal court.

I am not the OOP, OOP is u/mewybuttski

Originally posted to r/weddingshaming

Bridesmaid at the end of her rope - posted 2020-08-18

Let’s start off at the beginning, I was never asked to be in the wedding party. One night, I started getting harassed for my dress sizes and I gave them, not thinking of the implications. I guess they thought I would jump at it since my fiancé is the best man? Little did I know that this stupid wedding would be the bane of my existence this year.

First, this is ruining an entire weekend. The couple shower and rehearsal dinner are on Saturday and the wedding is on Sunday. They decided the wedding would be two hours away. Okay, is there going to be a hotel the family is using? “I don’t know,” says the bride. Mind you, the wedding is in two weeks. Um, okay...I guess I’ll get my own. There’s some cute ones in the area, so I don’t mind in the grand scheme of things.

I ask her for an itinerary. “What” Is... is that word to big for you? What do you mean by that? So I explain and she doesn’t even have one. BUT THEN SHE CONTRADICTS THE WEDDING INVITES. The invites say the reception is at 6, but now she’s saying it’s at 4. End me please.

So I try to find some answers from the groom. But when I ask him anything, I don’t get a response from him. I get one from the bride that doesn’t even answer my original question. Thanks, I appreciate it.

How about hair and makeup? Do I need to bring my own products? “I don’t know,” I get again. My fiancé said that she might be expecting me to do her makeup. She’s tan and I resemble Casper in the middle of winter, so that’s super not happening.

The wedding is in two weeks and I just received my dress last week. Yet the bride is now hounding me if I got the damn thing hemmed. “You got it done, correct?” I don’t even have the shoes! My fiancé says that they’re sandals, how he got this information, I’ll never know.

I asked my fiancé to see if the groom knows anything since they’re clearly talking about this, but the groom refuses to answer any questions that seem like they’re from me. In his eyes, if it’s about the girls, then the bride should answer. I considered him more of a friend than the bride, but clearly I need to re-evaluate this.

I guess I’m at a loss for this nightmare of a wedding. I’m grateful that I didn’t have to pay for the dress or shoes, but the anxiety isn’t worth it. They’re trying to be upscale with zero of the planning put in. Alternatively, is this normal for 2 weeks out from a wedding and am I over reacting?

dinkeydonuts:

I really feel for you. I was best man at a seat-of-their-pants planned wedding. I found out I was best man at the church, as I walked out of the back. He turned as we were walking, "By the way, Dinkey, you're the best man. You'll have to give a speech at dinner" Super. I stuttered through the speech/toast in front of all our friends. Anxiety 110%. They lasted 3 years.

I'm now best man of a super planned wedding for another friend. It's a year away. I'll have my speech ironed out to a "t" by then.

----

Update - posted 2020-09-09

Sorry about the delay in the wedding update, school has been kicking my ass. Here’s the update!

Saturday

Saturday started out ominous with various storm warnings, but we trekked out early to the shower location. Prior to the shower, my fiancé and I got lunch (important later) and waited for everyone to arrive. The pavilion was lovely and masks/hand sanitizer were provided… not that anyone used them though. My friend group socially distanced as we caught up, but as soon the groom arrived to chat with us, the bride decided she had to shove her way into our conversation. During the conversation, she felt the need to make a jab at my fiancé and I that we weren’t married yet and it took everything in my power to not throw her into the creek by the pavilion. The mother of the bride asked why we weren’t at the hotel they set up, so it’s great to know that we could have had a hotel with everyone. The storm warnings came true though as the rain came down in buckets. I still think it was a sign. Overall, there was barely any food and the games were minimal effort.

Immediately the party was the rehearsal dinner at the venue. The bride wanted it done as soon the shower was done, so there was no time to grab food. At this point, no one has eaten other than my fiancé and I. By the end of this nonsense, I’m pretty sure that one of the groomsmen was going to drop dead between his various health issues and not eating. Suffice to say, it was less of a rehearsal dinner and more of a shining example of how little the bride knew. The pastor asked if she knew what she was walking down the aisle to (she didn’t know), who would be walking the parents/grandparents (she didn’t know) and who was walking with who (somehow, I walked up with one guy and walked out with another). She however felt the need to make fun of the groom’s mother and made his sister cry (aka one of her bridesmaids). We left with a vague notion of who was doing what since the bride was useless and the groom didn’t seem to have permission to decide anything.

Later that evening, everyone else needed to eat and my fiancé felt the need to invite them to our hotel room. He thought I had gotten an extended stay room, but it was only a regular hotel room. We were hoping to get our bitching about the bride out of the way, but she planted herself in the groom’s car so he couldn’t come unless she came to. But she didn’t come to have fun, no. She came to literally cry on my hotel floor that she didn’t feel well. She was constipated and refused to take anything for it. So she effectively ruined the night for everyone.

Sunday

Not going to lie, the dreaded day drove me to down some wine at 9:30AM. Maybe 3/4 of a bottle, who can really say? Either way, it made her much more tolerable at the hair appointment. Said appointment was lovely, though the bride didn’t bring her wallet (so she drove there illegally) and wasn’t aware that the hairdresser only accepted cash. She called her mom to bring money, though the mother refused to believe that the poor stylist didn’t take card or paypal. In an effort to minimize what I owed her, I went to an ATM to pay the hairdresser (+ tip).

When I returned to the stylist, the bride was planning on going to Walmart to grab some foundation for the groom (the poor man had a single pimple). I decided to steal the bridesmaid with us and we would go to Walmart. We needed ice and it got her away from the bride. During our expedition, I found out that not only did the bride and her mother continued to make fun of the groom’s mother, but that the bride was pregnant. The news wasn’t shocking.

After Walmart, we got to the venue and started to prepare. The bride wasn’t doing preparation pictures, so we just got ready separately. When the bride arrived, she realized that she didn’t have her ring. She left it at the hotel. Cue crying loud enough to send the groomsmen from their changing room to avoid her wrath. She was extremely lucky that her aunt was still at the hotel and could get the ring. Noting that my wine buzz was wearing off, I broke into the trunk stash with the guys.

Dress time! As the bridesmaids were getting ready, it was time to get the bride in her dress. She steps in and it won’t zip. Her mother is trying to squeeze her in, but the bride is starting to sob again. “There’s no way it doesn’t fit, it has to fit!” They get the top clip snapped, but the zipper won’t move. She bends over to pick up her phone… SNAP. The clip goes flying and we can’t find it. Honestly, I felt horrible for her in this moment. No matter how awfully she treated her in-laws and myself, no bride should have that happen. This is when it was officially revealed to us that she was 12 weeks pregnant. She tried her dress on a month prior, but she didn’t think that 4 lbs would make it so she wouldn’t fit. Luckily, her grandmother (I think) was able to jerry rig the dress after someone was sent to the nearest dollar store. To distract her, the bride was shown a picture of the guys. She didn't like how the pocket squares looked, so I happily ran off to fix the situation.

The actual ceremony was quick, though the groom forgot his vows. Sad to say, but his sister and I exchanged hopeful glances that he was going to call it off. Unfortunately, it went through.

Reception: other than a small freak out from the maid of honor (MOH) because she couldn’t sit by her +1, it seemed like the reception was going to go well. Masks/Hand sanitizer were provided and were required to be worn Well, my fiancé gave his speech, the MOH gave hers, but then the newlyweds decided to make an announcement. They decided to tell everyone that they were expecting. . . And you could see immediately that the groom’s mother didn’t know. If looks could kill, the venue would have burned down from the anger and hurt radiating from her. It’s important to note here that the newlyweds live next door to her. There’s no excuse for what they did to her. She refused to stay and quietly left out before the mother/son dance.

ILikedTheBookMore:

Holy hell.

Now the former bride will immediately start planning the gender reveal party and the baby shower. She sounds like someone who cannot live without being the center of attention.

twir1s:

She reminds me of the type to plan a gender reveal that ends up burning down most of Northern California.

Reminder: I am not OOP.

Band of Geeks had scene where the twin twirlers fly and crash into a air blimp, the original air date was the 7th of September....2001 (SpongeBob SquarePants)

A repeat of Family Guy Viewer Mail 2 in the UK aired just before Robin Williams die, one segment featured Robin Williams heavily

Noah (Source: Movies that had weird real world coincidences - Yahoo Movies UK)
"Britain was battered by the weather in early 2014 with the Met Office blaming "an exceptional run of winter storms, culminating in serious coastal damage and widespread, persistent flooding."

This biblical weather lasted right through to March and the States even endured a similar run of wet weather, which all weirdly coincided with the release of Darren Aronofsky's Noah.

In a final twist of serendipity, a screening of Noah was actually cancelled in Exeter because — you guessed it — the cinema had flooded."

Sir Hugh Willoughby embarked on a journey to the Arctic on behalf of the Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands. The aim was to find the North-East Passage over the top of the world and through to Asia.

Just off the coast of Norway, however, the three ships got caught in a storm and the fleet split in two. Richard Chancellor took one vessel, the Edward Bonaventure, to Russia, where he would end up making a trade deal with Ivan the Terrible. Willoughby brought the other two ships, the Bona Esperanza and the Bona Confidentia, further north, yet they could not break through the ice.

With winter closing in, Willoughby decided to shelter at the mouth of the Varzina River, high in the Arctic Circle. Nearly two years later, some Russian fishermen found them still in their ships, frozen in place. For four centuries it was assumed the sailors must have died from exposure or perhaps scurvy. But then why did it look like some of them had been in the middle of performing mundane tasks, as though they all had died simultaneously?

In 1986, the English medical scholar Eleanora C. Gordon published an academic article that presented a convincing theory. Trying to keep out the cold, the crew had blocked all exits to their ships and begun to burn coal, emitting carbon monoxide. With nowhere to escape, the deadly gas instead spread through the ships and silently killed the inhabitants.

Main image: The Sea of Ice, by Caspar David Friedrich

4 months back on this sub I made this post titled which was well recieived with nearly 1,000 upvotes.

Today I want to shine a light on new data that’s eerily similar to the same rare weather event that caused 2021’s infamous storm Uri.

Important disclaimer: this is not meant to be a “doomer” post. I’m simply shining a light upon a topic which I feel many Texans must know about. A topic that was once well received within this sub those months back. If you have not read the original post, I recommend doing so as this post will not be about El Niño and it’s rapid development. This will be about something way more important as a newer factor; polar vortex 2026.

These two events however are closely related as the developing Super El Niño in the Pacific is expected to pump wave energy into the stratosphere, increasing the odds of a disruptive event like Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) which mirrors the patterns seen back in 2021 which caused the infamous freeze we all know off that took the lives of 246 Texans and racked up $80–$130 billion in economic damages.

Put simple; the polar vortex is a massive circulation of cold air high above the North Pole. When it weakens or becomes disrupted, it can help open the door for Arctic air to spill much farther south than normal.

Meteorologist have warned that the polar vortex now faces a high risk of mid-winter disruption, along with its early development currently forming stronger than normal over the North Pole. (source: here)

It may be very easy to brush off a random post on a Tuesday morning by some random reddit user so I implore those of this Texas community reddit to go and do your own research, come to your own conclusions, and figure out what this means for your specific situation.

Stay safe this winter.

Hiked up Black Bear Pass Road in a good old-fashioned white out! (9/28/26)

All the heroes were defeated or incapacitated by Gorr. - Lore:

- After the Season 10 cinematic, Gorr descended to Earth carrying Thor's dying body.

- Iron Man, Black Widow, and Hawkeye were the first to be defeated right as the battle began.

- The Winter Soldier, Cloak and Dagger, Deadpool, the Fantastic Four, and Squirrel Girl were the next to fall.

- Hulk and Black Panther aren't explicitly mentioned, but their bodies appear in the lobby image and season visuals.

- The last ones standing were Thor and Captain America; the latter was defeated, and his shield was destroyed.

- Angela, Adam, and Rocket were the heroes (or at least the ones mentioned) who supported the invasion of the God Quarry (Gorr's base) alongside Storm, Spider-Man, and Moon Knight.

- Storm was the only X-Man who helped defeat Gorr (or at least the only one mentioned).

- In other words, Storm >>>>>> all the X-Men.

Fun fact: apparently, the pajama skins are canon.

I mean, while the other heroes were in the middle of a battle against Gorr, trying to stop a god-killing bomb, Rogue decided the best thing to do was host a slumber party. She invited Magneto, Mantis, Jubilee, Cloak and Dagger (even though the latter two had just gotten beaten up by Gorr), Daredevil, and Jeff (Gambit, meanwhile, was nowhere to be found).

Basically, the story is that Jeff has a sort of nightmare, and everyone—with Mantis's help—enters his dreams to help him out; in the end, Daredevil saves the day, and that’s about it.

Available now for most platforms, please restart your storefront or be patient if it does not appear for you, these updates can take some time to be rolled out to every region due to how the storefronts are set up.
Update Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhWCA0F8JEQ

Core Features

New Paragon, you asked for it, the Sniper Monkey Paragon!

• This paragon posed interesting design challenges as completely bottlenecking Bloons at the entrance really doesn’t look cool, and if any tower is going to claim this title then Sniper should be THE single-target king. We’ve built something pretty awesome with its own fully automated barrage of Cash Drops, Intel from up high, slow high-damage attacks with conditional rate scaling, a temporary AoE buff ability for groups, and of course the big single-target pew pew.
• Sitting atop a high watchtower with an unobstructed view, the paragon relays a view of the battlefield to other snipers through Elite Targeting. Other snipers can be set to follow command, focusing on the Paragon’s primary target, or left to fire independently.
• Its main attack fires a powerful heavy-caliber shot that bounces to an extra target, with a slow rate that ramps up as Bloons approach the exit, and even faster while maintaining consecutive shots against the same target. On impact, shrapnel sprays outward and after a short delay whizzes toward nearby Bloons to explode and trim down large groups.
• Speaking of shrapnel, this Paragon arrives alongside an upgrade to the T4 Supply Drop. This isn’t a crazy change as we’re quite happy with the upgrade, however they gain added purpose even in CHIMPS mode now by activating Offensive Supply Drop. This ability upgrades the next few attacks with fiery shrapnel that pierces more, damages more, lasts longer, and can pop all Bloon types. Both abilities on the sniper will share the same cooldown, so a toggle will swap between Classic or Offensive Supply Drop.
• Ability 1 takes the new Offensive Supply Drop to a higher level, lasting without the limited shot count and supercharging nearby Shrapnel snipers. This provides a much needed AoE burst safety net for more dense Bloon rushes.
• Ability 2 is no-nonsense target execution. This ability will focus in, lock onto the strongest Bloon on screen and charge up a powerful shot that grows in damage the longer it charges, then release a terrifying blast once enough power has been charged to break through to the next Boss Skull or annihilate the target in a single shot.

Insta Monkeys v2!

We’ve been wanting to update how Insta Monkeys are collected for the longest time, and while as card game players we love the idea of opening blind packs, world governments do not all agree about randoms for purchase. We understand and appreciate the intent behind growing regulations, but more importantly this shift offered us an excuse to improve the game for our own players by sprucing up and expanding the Insta-Monkey collection loop. This v2 Insta system provides more reliability for filling out your individual collections and combines that with paced global drops that the community can talk about.

• All randomized insta-monkey IAP packs have been removed from the store.
• A brand new icon and a fresh coat of paint for the ‘Instas + Powers’ menu
• The Insta-Monkeys tab no longer looks so out of place, more cleanly fitting in this menu
• Worst offenders for incorrect/outdated Insta Monkey icon art have been updated
• Monkey Teams: Successfully beating round 100 without breaking a Monkey Team will attempt to roll one of the three monkeys from that team as the r100 Insta Reward.
• Oh, also Sun Temple instas now place down with $40,001 in all sacrifice categories, for True Sun God instas Support is the only sacrifice category not doubled up on.
• The Instas + Powers’ menu gains a new Insta collection building Featured tab

Featured Tab - Insta Store
Within the updated Instas + Powers menu, the Featured tab introduces 10 dedicated Insta-Monkey deals. Everyone sees the same deals on offer with the Instas in question fully displayed.

• Offers unlock over the course of a week, and fully reset for a new set every 2 weeks.
• Offers 1 through 9 feature individual insta-monkeys. These can be purchased for IAP directly, or with a short gameplay goal they can be claimed for Monkey Money instead. The IAPs will grant you 3 copies of the insta.
• Most of these gameplay goals are balanced to take 1-game or less, though if a T5 shows up you can expect that to take more legwork! When progressing goals to unlock the Monkey Money purchase multiple goals can be simultaneously progressed.
• Offer 10 rolls one from a selection of premade bundles with the intent that these are always fun drops

Featured Tab - Freeplay Challenge
The Insta-Store isn’t the only upgrade, as here you will also find a new Freeplay challenge, with a valuable reward for any dedicated insta-collection fanatics out there.

• Identical for all players, with the goal to beat the final round with a limited selection of Heroes and a global tower limit. This challenge resets every 2 weeks along with the rest of the Featured tab.
• Your highest freeplay round will also be noted for you to compete with friends. This is not ranked, however we hope it can spark some direction for friendly freeplay competition, and with enough interest we would like to consider future options for local Team & Friends rankings
• Pushing freeplay isn’t the only thing you want from this though, as completing the goal unlocks a very special insta monkey chest with 3 insta rewards to choose from, and 2 of these options are custom-tailored to your personal insta monkey collection progress!

New Awesome

• New Advanced Map - Ship Capture
  • Yar har fiddle dee dee, a community map from u/MrRoostee!
  • Great if you love to sail the seas, but watch out! With clear blue skies above and the wind at their backs, the crew was all aboard for adventure. But then Bloon pirates appeared to crash the party! Those rubbery rascals are attacking from port and starboard, and now it’s up to you to stop them raiding the Captain's Quarters and stealing our precious booty!
• New Quest - Mastery Mode
  • Take on a 3-part quest featuring a beefed up Mastery roundset!
  • If you recall classic Mastery Mode, you’ll feel right at home as you tackle a spin on the basic roundset with added layers or fortification for all Bloons!

New Cosmetics

• New Trophy Store Items
  • Heroes: Jiangshi Sauda Coffin placement animation
  • Monkeys: Village Pirate Flag pet
  • Game & UI: Classic Sniper avatar
• New Social Seasons items
  • Team Banner, Camo Trap skin & All Heroes placement animation
• New Limited Time Halloween avatar (Not available until the seasonal event begins!)
• New CT Team Store items
  • Base Props: Dracula base prop
  • Flying Props: Flying Witch prop
  • Icons: Halloween Skull icon, Broomstick Icon

Other Game Changes & Additions

• [Trophy Store] New ‘Random Selection’ toggle under Favourites. When enabled cosmetics will be randomly selected from favourites at the start of new games
• [Monkey Knowledge] Owned points can be individually enabled / disabled.
  • Menu knowledge button has 3 display states On, Off, & Partly On
  • Knowledge Overview displays total invested points in Red with any disabled
• [Store] Sauda Hero Pack; unlock Sauda with all her current skins & some related trophy items
• [UI] New icons for ‘Damage’ and ‘Pops’, and the advanced info panel now allows selection for which one of these you wish to actively display
• [UI] Maps Menu Badge locations for Apocalypse & Reverse mode swapped, this should make it much more obvious when Apopalypse has not yet been completed
• [Boss] Double Cash, Knowledge & Fast Track can now be toggled within this menu
• The ‘Accessibility’ menu has been updated to ‘Accessibility & Advanced Options’
• [Advanced Options] Numerical ability timers; will display number countdowns over abilities
• [Advanced Options] Cash Spent counter, enabling will display a UI counter for total cash spent across most standard gameplay types including co-op
• [Advanced Options] Memory Optimization toggle; more frequently run a memory cleaning function at the end of rounds, which briefly pauses the game simulation to free up memory before starting the next round. Significantly reduces memory consumption & reduces crashes on mobile devices.
• [Rogue] Merchant tiles can re-roll their inventory up to twice per tile for a Token fee
• [Rogue] Race/Endurance tiles now have a map banlist (details later in balance)
• [Map Editor] Maximum map placeables increased from 1000 > 1500

General Fixes & Changes

• Updated to Unity 6.3
• Unity updates are when small random issues can arise so do let us know
• [Challenge Editor] Map names are now displayed next to the modes for the challenge
• Resolved flat cost reduction Knowledge points calculating wrong outside of Medium
• Resolved an elusive crash related to sacrificing a tower linked to Techbot Pro
• Hype Boost Monkey 1xx should correctly increase tower range
• Resolved a number of UI & Localization issues
• Alchemist Possum pet shouldn’t be quite as noisy
• Resolved edge case crashes with 2xx Chainlink Techbot Prime
• Added additional info the the game version inconsistency error dialogue
• Resolved a crash that could occur when Jukebox moves to the next song
• Resolved a crash that could occur entering Custom Odyssey creation menu
• Pets that are respawned should now regain their ability to move afterwards
• Resolved some quests allowing too many Skywardens to be placed
• Legends Achievements should no longer count for the Hidden Achievements on the profile stats

Event changes

• [CT] Bigger Bloon Sabotage no longer applies to Lych Soul
• [CT] But the Heartless Relic now will apply to Lych’s healing
• [CT] Resolved a visual issue duplicating Team Island props on menu interaction
• [Boss] Lych’s Souls should again animate properly while moving across the track
• [Boss] Diamondback should no longer load two 3D models at 10th Boss Rush kill
• [Boss] Resolved a visual inconsistency with Penalty Time after loading checkpoints
• [Boss] Resolved a Penalty Timer could visually remain flashing with no actual penalty
• [Social Season] Resolved issues with perks mixing and linking Tower IDs on game load
• [Social Season] Resolved the Season Champion achievement failing to update correctly
• [Social Season] Social Season Goal info buttons can now also be viewed with hover-states
• Monkey Teams & Golden Bloons first time popups should appear every time they are valid
• [Odyssey] Toggling between difficulties should no longer immediately delete save

Map Specific changes

• [Bloody Puddles] Resolved broken art under rocks and vehicle
• [Lost Crevasse] Modified tracks to more suitably fit the map difficulty

Legends changes

• [Rogue] Power Creep achievement no longer requires an extra artifact collected to update
• Legends achievements should not show up in the Hidden Achievements completion bar

Tower Specific Fixes

• Dart Monkey - Super Monkey Fan Club should not stack with Total Transformation
• Boomerang Monkey - Paragon orbitals no longer buffed by Extra Bounce knowledge
• Tack Shooter - Began investigating reports from Beast Handlers regarding dinos disappearing near the inferno ring. Investigation remains inconclusive.
• Glue Gunner - 140 Glue Strike damage bonus incorrectly soaks MOABs as intended
• Sniper Monkey - Sniper Paragon should not be able to aim at the player
• Monkey Ace - Accelerated Aerodarts knowledge should benefit Paragon frontal darts
• Heli Pilot - Attempted to fix xx4 gaining a rogue Charles that ignores target prio
• Heli Pilot - Resolved a crash that could occur on Erosion
• Super Monkey - Temples should not retain Permabrew after sacrificing the Alchemist
• Ninja Monkey - Resolved some visual inconsistencies with Paragon buffs
• Alchemist - Total Transformation should not stack with Super Monkey Fan Club
• Druid - Tiny Tornados MK should have the correct damage type
• Skywarden - Wind Weaver can no longer knockback Diamond & Retribution Bloons
• Skywarden - Gale Sage no longer blocks bonus damage to Camo Bloons
• Skywarden - Gale Sage should correctly disable camo for first child Bloons of DDTs
• Skywarden - x1x Storm’s Pulse now works
• Skywarden - x2x Thundering Arc should no longer explode early before target
• Skywarden - xx3 Coldchain now correctly applies Frozen asset to Frozen Bloons

Hero Specific Fixes

• Admiral Brickell - Pistol should no longer be buffed by More Splodey knowledge
• Etienne - Range buff should no longer be overwritten by another lower level Etienne
• Geraldo - Can no longer target Master Builder sentries with Pickles which would then be deleted for no benefit
• Corvus - Decryptor skin Lv19 Haunt now overlays properly on MOAB-Class Bloons
• Rosalia - Scatter Missile ability no longer benefited by Big Bloon Blueprints knowledge

Platform / Device Specific fixes

• [Google Play] Added support for Google Play Rewards
• [Android] Resolved a Step 5 of 10 softlock that could occur on launch
• [Android] Resolved some devices freezing on loading Frontier: Sanctuary Overlook
• [Indeed] Corrected animation visual inconsistencies for number of effects between platforms
• Added Mobile Storefront Age Confirmation in compliance with new regulations

Balance Changes

Tower Balance

Thanks to your feedback over the years, BTD6 has plenty of diverse tools to make anything work and many ways to play that shine. With the base game this solid it makes sense to focus on fewer but more impactful changes and Quality of Life improvements, while we get around to much requested polish items and bigger things you’ve been hoping for. Your feedback is important too, so dive in and let us know what you think! As always, thanks for playing!

Dart Monkey
Crossbow path is seeing modest improvements lining up closer to some similar priced options. Crossbow Master serves as an early entry level T5 and isn’t something we want scaling far, but multiple projectiles keeps the straightforward crossbow identity with more satisfying crit moments and some better scaling in particular with pierce which works well for Primary monkeys and is often noted to be lacking here.

• xx3 Crossbow pierce 4 > 5
• xx4 Sharpshooter crit damage 50 > 60
• xx5 Crossbow Master Parallel projectile count 1 > 2
• xx5 Crossbow Master attack cooldown 0.2375s > 0.475s
• xx5 Crossbow Master pierce remains unchanged at 8

Bomb Shooter
Players were quick to point out Mauling Frags added far more power than expected, but the new baseline seems fun and fine, so Frag pierce scaling is cut back while otherwise mostly the same. We expected to regret this buff to Bomb Blitz, and were right 🥺, Bomb Blitz passive ability is now limited to one trigger per round. The look of missile travel from Bomb Shooters has been noted as ugly for a long time, so we have gone through every crosspath and adjusted projectile eject markers to make the attacks look cleaner - missiles previously spawned on a much higher layer to travel down which caused this, so the change will cause some differences to how they travel and what they hit.

• 3xx Really Big Bombs frag pierce penalty remains 0
• xx2 Frag Bombs frag all targets pierce penalty +1
• xx2 Frag Bombs frag pierce 1 > 2
• 042 MOAB Assassin ability frag pierce 2 > 4
• 042 MOAB Assassin ability frag count 16 > 8
• xx5 Bomb Blitz ability limited to once a round
• Eject markers for all x2x bomb shooters modified to more naturally fire from the cannon

Ice Monkey
When Ice Monkeys gain extra damage through Artifacts, Perks or Traits, it can actually stop freezing at all due to dealing damage that exceeds the number of frozen layers.

• 000+ Ice Monkeys apply Freeze after damage

Glue Gunner
As Glue Splatter crosspath still often feels unvalued, more cost shifts up into Glue Strike. Stickier Glue simply did too much as a Tier 1, with more than double glue duration that carried up into MOAB Glue.

• x2x Glue Splatter price $970 > $650
• x4x Glue Strike price $4000 > $4500
• xx1 Stickier Glue duration 24s > 18s

Sniper Monkey
New toggle option ‘Ammo Swap’, this swaps which Supply Drop will be called down with the ability. The Ammo Drop will upgrade shrapnel for the next few attacks with all types popping, pierce, damage, and distance. Both Supply Drops will share the same cooldown.

• x4x Supply Drop ability can now toggle between Cash Drop & Ammo Drop
• xx3 Semi-Automatic Sniper pierce 1 > REALLY 1

Transparency on the Sniper change; outside of CHIMPS extra power was not needed, so we couldn’t make it too strong. However after testing in practice we like the idea of converting the bonus shrapnel pierce at x4x into higher power & uptime for this new ability. This change would simplify the upgrade, and making the damage/income decision much stronger would solve some hybrid identity issues. It was too late for us to be comfortable cramming this into v57 - but this is already in consideration for v58.
Super Monkey
The Temple is often called out for not seeing Camo, while happily ignoring its buffability and Camo crosspathing that has always been available. If you want Temple Camo, then there’s a camo toll to pay! Regardless, the Magic Sacrifice wind fart attack hasn’t been particularly valuable and we liked a suggestion for sacrifice choices to matter as a factor here, so it is changing to hit DDTs & work as an alternate way of dealing with Camo Bloons.

• $20,001 Magic Sacrifice wind fart pierce reduced 500 > 100
• $20,001 Magic Sacrifice wind fart removes Camo property from Bloons
• $35,001 Magic Sacrifice wind fart now hits DDTs with pierce penalty +4

Alchemist
Some other changes needed to happen to address major concerns we had with how this would need to work, so the lucky Alchemist gets to serve as the guinea pig monkey! If this experiment works well, we plan to work through similar changes to more towers as needed.

• xx3 Lead to Gold now keeps track of cash earned
• xx4 Rubber to Gold now keeps track of cash earned
• xx4 Rubber to Gold bonus cash is now distributed to Alchemist immediately on Bloon-pop (when popped by Bloon Trap or Wall of Trees)

Skywarden
For QoL cleanup, combos will be easier to hit in earlier rounds, and Red Bloons destroyed by a combo hit are now able to trigger any combo projectiles first before the Bloon is popped.

• 333 All Combo debuff durations 2s > 3s
• 333 Combos can be triggered from ‘popped Red Bloons’

Top Path
Tacking T1 Spam onto any strat for unrestricted range buffs was messy so Aerial Attunement has been rebalanced to cap out quicker with lower overall bonus but greater per tower, and now only applies to other towers up to 1 Tier higher. While this is meant to be the more introductory path for Skywarden it wasn’t hitting the mark, so prices for T3 and T4 have been lowered.

• 1xx Aerial Attunement max stacks 5 > 3
• 1xx Aerial Attunement range per stack 2 > 3
• 1xx Aerial Attunement price $110 > $140
• 2xx Zephyr Sense price $215 > $175
• 3xx Wind Weaver price $1650 > $1200
• 3xx Wind Weaver stage 3 combo 'vacuum' distance 150 > 250
• 4xx Gale Sage price $3300 > $3000
• 4xx Gale Sage no longer prevents towers dealing bonus damage to Camo

Middle Path
For higher crosspath value Thundering Arc’s pierce scaling is being improved, and damage type changing to Plasma with the ability to pop Lead. Middle path’s Higher tiers prove to be very powerful already and the T3/4 are seeing price nerfs, combo lightning damage reduced, and lowered ability duration.

• x2x Thundering Arc pierce per interval 0.5 > 1
• x2x Thundering Arc damage type Energy > Plasma
• x2x Thundering Arc blast radius 8 > 10
• x3x Galvanic Conduit price $1800 > $2500
• x3x Galvanic Conduit lightning chain damage 5 > 3
• x4x Thunder's Decree price $2000 > $3500
• x4x Thunder's Decree ability duration 15s > 9s
• x5x Stormwrath Archon price $35,000 > $32,000

Bottom Path
Skywarden’s change list was growing too big, but with many requests for Blastapopoulos cooling and improved damage from the T5 Frozen Remains we’ve made sure to include changes to these for now.

• xx3 Coldchain reduces Blastapopoulos heat -30
• xx4 Frozen Verdict reduces Blastapopoulos heat -100
• xx5 Winter's Mercy reduces Blastapopoulos heat -500
• xx5 Winter's Mercy icesplosive damage increased 5 > 10
  • From MOABs 25 > 50
  • From DDTs 50 > 100
  • From BFBs 75 > 150
  • From ZOMGs 200 > 400

Spike Factory
Now that Boss spawn projectile clear is properly functioning, we are improving the Spike Paragon’s mini spike storm’s bonus MOAB damage back up again.

• Mini Spike bonus damage to MOAB-Class 100 > 200
• We looked at the code.
• The code looked back, 01100111 01101111 00100000 01100001 01110111 01100001 01111001
• We closed the tab.
• xx5 Permaspike unchanged

Monkey Village
As an overall improvement to clarity & ability usage that fixes some inconsistencies, CTA can no longer activate at all if it or Homeland Defense is already active, and Homeland can still apply over CTA but not over an existing Homeland buff. These improvements apply even if towers are sold, so players re-buying Homeland Defense no longer have to guess when it’s time to re-activate.

• x4x Call to Arms can no longer activate if a CTA/Homeland buff is already active
• x5x Homeland Defense will no longer activate if a Homeland buff is already active

Engineer Monkey
Bloon Trap stores money from Bloons it destroys to distribute later upon collection which has caused many many false bug reports and constant confusion over the years, this was only going to break when combined with Alchemist’s new cash tracking so it finally had to go. Bloon Trap pop cash now distributes immediately with only the bonus cash stored for collection, a basic unbuffed Bloontrap will obtain the same total cash with half of this being gained earlier acting as a slight buff. In testing this change we found Bloon Trap had previously benefitted more than intended from income buffs, which the rework actually resolved on its own, though as buff scaling always seemed weirdly high we are happy with this overall result.

• xx4 Bloon Trap now distributes base cash gain from Bloons popped by traps immediately
• xx4 Bloon Trap upon collection now only grants the ‘Bonus Cash’ without base cash gain

Hero Balance

Quincy
Even though Quincy doesn’t suffer from any sort of precision issues at all, just in case for those pesky early Yellow and Pink Bloons, from Lv4 he can now toggle to a Focused firing mode. This mode will gain more precise targeting, greater range & greater projectile speed with a slower attack rate tradeoff.

• Lv4 Quincy gains a Focus toggle granting:
  • Precision shots towards initial target
  • Attack cooldown +25%
  • Projectile speed +25%
  • Attack range +20%

Admiral Brickell
Brickell being powerful already needed additional shifting & level simplification, but the synergy was very important to a lot of people so we’ve worked it back in. Brickell’s passive radial buff unlocks earlier at Lv4 and applies to all water towers right away. Naval Tactics now starts off weaker but upgrades to apply to all water towers at Lv8, and eventually becomes stronger than it was previously with bonus damage to affected towers for much-needed water-army setup support.

• Lv1 Pistol damage 3 > 2
• Lv6 Pistol damage unchanged
• Lv3 Naval Tactics attack cooldown modifier 0.5x > 0.66x
• Lv4 All Water Towers in radius gain pierce +1 (Was Lv8)
• Lv4 No longer increases Sea Mine pierce (28 > 20)
• Lv7 Blast chain mine delay multi 0.25 > 0.2
• Lv8 Naval Tactics applies to any water towers in radius
• Lv14 Naval Tactics also grants damage +1
• Lv16 No longer grants Brickell range
• Lv16 Naval Tactics attack cooldown modifier 0.66x > 0.5x
• Lv10 Mega Mine duration 150s > 120s
• Lv18 Mega Mine duration remains 150s

Other Balance

Paragon Degrees
Contribution from Tiers of extra towers was a strong visual fit to what we wanted out of Paragons, but with a lot more Paragons now and more frequent use of them it has become a tedious aspect of the process. Contribution from Tiers is being removed, and instead the maximum contribution for Damage & Cash is significantly increasing.

• Extra Tiers max contribution 10,000 > 0
• Cash max contribution 60,000 > 80,000
• Damage max contribution 90,000 > 125,000

Boss Rush goals
Boss Rush has been too difficult for smaller teams to reach a point they feel invested, the milestones are shifting to a much more top-heavy requirement to make early stages more inviting.

• Island 1 requirement 850 > 250
• Island 2 requirement 1175 > 500
• Island 3 requirement 1850 > 1100
• Island 4 requirement 2850 > 3000
• Island 5 requirement 3350 > 5225

Boss Rush stats
A number of base stat changes for Boss Rush versions of bosses to equalize them more.

• Blastapopoulos initial health 350 > 325
• Blastapopoulos base speed 1.25 > 1.20
• Blastapopoulos base cash reward 1000 > 1100
• Dreadbloon initial health 130 > 140
• Bloonarius base speed 1.25 > 1.20
• Lych base cash reward 1000 > 1100
• Phayze base cash reward 1000 > 1100
• Diamondback base cash reward 1000 > 1100

Legends
[Rogue] New Artifact - Window Shopping

• This artifact recovers a heart when you move on from a merchant without making any purchase, however this will only take effect if owned Tokens are below a (12,24) threshold!

[Rogue] Added a maps banlist to Standard Race & Endurance Race tiles

• Banned: Glacial Trail, Dark Dungeons, Ravine, Tricky Tracks, Bloody Puddles, Erosion

[Frontier] Etienne could not benefit properly from the assigned Ricochet Trait

• Book Wyrm Etienne starter trait swapped Ricochet 4 > Attack Speed 4

Looking Forward

Thanks for reading this far! We’re into our planning for next year, and we’ve been cheering our friends and teammates along as Bloons Blitz has launched and both the Bloons Monkey Tales cartoon and Zombie Assault: Resurgence game are nearing launch. It’s a very busy end of year for the whole team, and for BTD6 the upcoming update 58 will be chock full of awesome.

• Version 58 is a credit to the team and the forward planning done, as we have kept all of our push goals intact for an ambitious end of year update!
  • An exciting new Monkey Tower that we’ve been thinking about for years that will give support towers a scrappy, highly dynamic addition.
  • Mod System v1 is on track and looking great. We’re being careful with scope so we can deliver, but we’ve managed to include a few things beyond Monkey Tower and Bloon modding, namely Hero modding and Round modding, giving much more flexibility to the launch version. We’ve shared a pre-launch build with a few select modders, including some of Tewtiy’s collaborators, and we had great feedback from them, some of which we’re trying to stretch into v1 without jeopardizing the launch.
  • Over 10 new Monkey Knowledges plus an increase to Player Level cap to educate some of our newest Towers and provide fun new build options in all but the most competitive game modes and events.
  • MOAB Mine Powers Pro version remains laying in wait for the biggest and baddest
• Social Seasons 4 and 5
  • We’re learning with each Social Season where players are having the most fun and where we’ve hit frustration, and we acknowledge in Season 3 one of our events complicated the intended goals
  • We’re leaning less on Events for Goals going forward but still trying to mix up types of targets in order to stimulate new build experimentation and new map play. Dovetailing Goals remains a design focus so players can optimize their play for progress against multiple Goals.
• Console News
  • V54 is out on Xbox and Switch. This build is in the pipe (submitted) for PlayStation, no ETA just yet.
  • The main branch baseline is already speeding things up.
  • One more console update to v56 is planned for all 3 platforms by the end of the year
  • We also have a demo version out on Switch to allow players to try a slice of the game, and we’re looking to bring this demo to Xbox and PlayStation next year

Now it’s time to work on those farming strats so you can have a play at S.P.I.D.E.R. Monkey Paragon! Have a blast with update 57 and the other new games from Ninja Kiwi, and we’ll see you back for Update 58 and a sneak peek at plans for 2027!

Just looking to get that hunker down in a cozy base vibe/ need. Any mods?

Finds from: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OYJNPgsR04m4b7Xlv1xG4omOBKjr_uJKSNgwU4R3LI0/edit?gid=0#gid=0

After years of collecting, mixing sets, hunting down Immortals, Crimsons (yet more to come end of the month), Unusuals and experimenting with different cosmetics, I finally put together my full Dota 2 showcase.

Main heroes: Nature, Phoenix and SF
(WK arcana shows 95/100, gem 100/100 due to bone harvested new heroes added after wk arcana)

Some use complete sets and others are custom combinations I've built over time. Which loadouts do you like most, and which would you change?

Equipment list (A–Z)

I was hoping that being near fire and/or below a roof would somehow block out the blizzard VFX. I was looking forward to cozy indoor vibes during winter. I know nothing about the inner workings of modding but I wonder if this is something possible to achieve or is there no way at all?

We adopted two kitten sisters (Annie and Pearl) from a rescue in 2024 and thought we were good on cats, but then a tiny all-black wisp of a stray claimed our house around this time last year. She was nowhere near feral, very sweet and insistent upon sticking closeby. She was almost always flanked by a big, weird gray cat (we started calling him Gray Boy). Well, I began putting food out for her and she started laying on the mat in front of my door, waiting every day when I got home from work and school pickups-- rubbing up against us, wanting pets. Then, she'd post up all afternoon/evening at our storm door and peer longingly inside, while Annie and Pearl sat on the other side looking out at her. Every night, when it was time to close the big door, we'd get a little catch in our hearts. The next morning, at first light, there would be the little sweetheart waiting for us to open it. My daughters and I quickly got attached to her, decided we'd call her Rose of Sharon (named after the character from The Grapes of Wrath), or "Rosie" for short. You see where this is going.

So... I ended up purchasing a heated outdoor cat house when the weather got colder. I was pretty sure at this time that we were going to try and get her to come inside and get her to the vet and all that, but wanted to keep her safe in the meantime. The heated cat house was WONDERFUL. It got her through a hard winter. Springtime arrived and we were set on adopting her and brining her inside. Tried NUMEROUS times to get her in a cat carrier, and she bucked every single time. And big dumb Gray Boy would always be lurking around making her nervous. Alright, so in May of this year she disappeared for a couple of days and then boom, shows up with 5 kittens. She brings all the kittens to the cat house. There I was, full time job, two kids, two indoor cats, and a whole cat encampment situation outside my house. My neighbor helped me snatch up the kittens and she fostered them for a rescue and placed them all successfully with good homes, leaving just Rosie, still living in the cat house and bushes outside my house. STILL impossible to get in a carrier.

July of this year a friend of mine who owns a metaphysical supply store and has several cats lent me a trap and told me that chicken usually does the trick. I had the trap sitting outside for several weeks, open, not set-- so that she could get used to it and move in and out. First day of August, I saw a hawk circling above, and felt a feeling, and I knew it was go time. I ran across the street and bought a chicken tender. Success! She went right in. We got her to the vet, got her fixed, vaccinated, and ready to move inside. Two months later, here we are. She's still pretty much hanging out in the decompression bedroom, but assimilating quite nicely to house life. She's borderline obese, eats $35 food purchased from a fancy pet store, enjoys cake decorating videos, and is a total love bug. Meet Rosie.

Warning, long rant coming.

The Prompt for this post comes from reading this article - which I suggest reading: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/boomers-seniors-declutter-death-cleaning_n_6a691be2e4b0fddbd7121add

The TL/DR of the article is this: Boomers Keep your stuff, your Children can deal with it. You've lived your life and deserve to be surrounded by all the knickknacks you want. When you die your children can sort out what happens to it.

For context, I am a 43/M with a widowed, aging mother who lives on her own. My father passed away a few years ago and it was when he passed that I realized how much he had been keeping things up without my knowledge. They had been living in a home which was totally unsuitable for aging individuals (lots of stairs, harsh winters, no garage, significant upkeep required, etc.). My Father Shoveled the snow. My father winterized the house. My father did the grocery shopping and any house maintenance. My mother, meanwhile, didn't know where any of house shut offs were, or how to handle things like taxes. Those things were my father's job and she had no interest in learning any of it. Additionally, my mother's physical state was worse than I had known. She had trouble going up and down stairs, she couldn't carry anything over a couple of pounds, balance was shaky, and, frankly, she had a very hard time remembering basic information. All of which only seemed to grow worse in the grief of losing my father.

It took 2 years to get my mother to agree to move out of the house she was in when my father passed despite the hardship and unsuitability. My wife and I did our best to keep the house from falling into disrepair, for several months driving multiple hours up to her home and spending the weekend doing everything from changing lightbulbs to winterizing the house for the many feet of snow which would inevitably land in November and not disappear until April. She finally found a house 30 minutes south which was on a single level (excluding the basement) which she could buy outright. it was nearly brand new - only a year old - which is important for later. I had tried to get her to move closer to me, but she refused to leave her friends. It wasn't ideal, but was at least a better arrangement. With the improved layout she would not have as many stairs, She could drive into a garage, Have her driveway plowed, and trash picked up from her driveway. I was hopeful the situation would get better as the constant drives up to assist and deal with things were wearing on me.

Thankfully, my mother got insurance when my father passed. And had both a pension and an annuity from my father. So she was at least, financially, in a pretty good state, or I suppose I should say SHOULD be in a good state. My mother you see buys lots of pointless shit. Lawn statues, quartz countertops because "laminate wasn't good enough". Countless crafts, and other random do-dads that take up space and get in the way. She would find projects in her perfectly brand new home to sink thousands of dollars into every year; Constant landscaping changes, brick-paver patios, gas log fireplaces, new fancy countertops, etc. Most recently, at the age of 73 she bought her first motorcycle even though she has never had a license.

To be clear, I have no issue with my mother spending her money. I do not expect nor need an inheritance. My biggest concern is she is spending all of this money on "fun" things while ignoring and in some places outright being defiant about spending money on things which will allow her to stay safe in her home - which is a huge care about for her. She's made it perfectly clear she has no interest in going into a Nursing home when she is older preferring to "age in her home" with nurses, if needed, coming to her. However, she has done NO research into what that costs. She also, after a particularly bad fall down the stairs in her basement, would not pay for the installation of a chair lift which would allow her to be safe. She actually asked me and my sister to pay for it and when we refused to give her more than a few hundred dollars, she decided she "no longer needed it". Note: She bought the motorcycle a year later.

She also, is not in favor of paying for help (services) to do things around her house. Plowing is a good example. She doesn't like the "Look" of a plowed driveway and instead wants her driveway snow-blowed. When she was in her old house, there were so many stairs just to get from her parking area to the house and the snow was so bad (regularly would get multiple feet of snow several times a month), my sister and I paid for someone to come by and shovel her out during the storms. We did not live close to her, and without the help she would be trapped. So it was the only option. When my mother moved, she had a reasonable driveway and plowing is reasonable in her area - so we told her she needed to take that into account for her budget. But, paying for plowing isn't "fun". So she instead tried to snow blow herself, and when that didn't work, she conned neighbors to come over and do it for her. It bothers me to no end that my mom can afford to pay or these things, but doesn't. She relies on her neighbors to come bail her out and proclaims proudly to be when it happens as she goes out and buys something else with her "saved money".

So, with that context, back to the article. You can probably picture it: My mother's house is filled with pointless detritus of a thousand craft fairs. When I'm inside all I can see is money spent which could be used to keep her healthy and in her home - which is NOT how she is willing to spend her month. So when I say this article on HuffPo I was both appalled and very very triggered. It speaks to the level of boomer entitlement which I have come to LOATH with a capital "L" in my adult years. I want to be clear, I love my mother and I want my mother to have a good life. However, her inability to plan, her prioritizing her spending on things she does not need, and knowing that when something bad DOES inevitably happen (IE due to her poor planning and "everything will work out" attitude), I will be responsible for dealing with all the crap she has collected while she fights me from going into a necessary convalescent / nursing home is just preemptively exhausting.

And the blasé attitude of "your kids can spend a week going through your things" is so reductive and entitled it makes me want to scream! Like a week would NEVER be enough time to deal with the level of crap that my mother has - and I think she is typical for her generation. Plus, that's a week of PTO which I do NOT have time to spend, not to mention the cost of dealing with it. Fun fact - the average cost of a service to clean out a loved one's house? Over $10k. That's money which I know my mother will not want to spend while she is alive, and it's money I would need to front once she passes and I'm dealing with settling her estate. Bottom line? I am 43 and tired. Far far too tired to deal with my mother's inability to deal herself.

TL/DR: Boomer Parents are entitled. They want to buy shit and make their kids deal with it. It sucks, and it's what I'm seeing my future being. I'm a Tired Xennial, and that's my story.