u/DistFunc

I'm not talking about modelling whether you need Roth conversion. I mean specific calculations if, e.g., you're maxxing the 24% tax bracket this year and you want to hit its AGI spot on. Is there a form or tool built to help estimate exactly how much you should convert, relative to the rest of your income etc.

For anyone new to this, the problem is that you don't have all the W2s and other year-end summaries like you did before retirement. You have to estimate all these values and do all your actual converting before the end of the calendar year ... you can't wait until April 15. Some values are pretty straightforward but others aren't, and there can be quite a few wrinkles.

I have tried using last year's tax form, but you can't do calculations or keep extensive running notes right inside a Form 1040. I've also tried Excel, but for me it turns into running "stream of consciousness" calculations over the course of a given year, especially since I pick it up at least twice each year (some conversions at beginning of year, and the finish the rest near the end). Last year I used over 300 rows in Excel, sigh.

There's lots to consider:

• Calculate how much conversion "room" you have between e.g. 24% bracket ceiling and predictable values like Social Security income, IRS Standard Deduction, pension, etc.
• Plug in estimated dividends or interest income (before the end of the year).
• If you sell stock to pay for conversion taxes - possibly incurring NIIT - track that, because it decreases conversion capacity.
• Keep in mind IRMAA cliffs, if you have more than just Medicare A. (Actually I don't, so I don't need this. But most people do.)
• If you do some conversion early in year (stocks usually lower) and some later in year, track the amounts so you still hit the bracket total just right.

I'm not sure there really can be any software or tool that can do all this. But I'm sure there are some that can help, or at least help point out some things you might miss.

FWIW for tax year 2025 I was ~$11k low; I could've converted that much more. I was being a little careful and leaving some extra wiggle room to not go over but, in the future, I figure it's better to just try to hit it spot on, and it's okay to be slightly over. (A.k.a. I'd rather be a few thousand into 32% territory than 11k under the 24% ceiling. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about IRMAA.)

Thanks if you can help!

As a general rule, one expects authentication software (like Google Authenticator) to be more secure than texted OTPs.

My bank will let me set up authentication - but still allows text OTP as "try another way".

Doesn't this defeat the purpose of using authentication to prevent hackers from intercepting OTPs? (IOW, hackers can just "try another way", even if authentication was set up.) So why even bother?

Technically I guess authentication better confirms to the bank that I am who I say I am, but if I can still do most everything anyway, what's the difference - especially if OTPs are easy to use and/or give me another option.

This also overlaps into how, if my phone is stolen, lost, broken, or SIM swapped, I'm in comms purgatory (maybe at a critical time).

So, why bother with authentication if the bank will still allow OTP if you do?

Is this making sense? Thanks if you can help!

So I launched my first human into space 13 days ago, and then 4 more 7 days ago (according to PECO). This was a Quantum Engineer, 2 Existential Architects, a Settlement Governor, and Room Supervisor.

The Hall of Humanity still says I have no orbital representative, grr.

I've seen another thread here where u/AtlasFades said " if you put -ea into your launch bar in the steam settings, launch the game, go right against the door, push start, early access, relocate character you can get into the room."

I've tried this but I don't see any "Early Access" option when I hit Escape and bring up the pause menu... has this changed since 4.0?

Any other ideas? It's about the only thing I have left to do, sigh

I'm trying to do some longterm measures, or at least just know my progress a little better...

This game has a lot of ways to measure time, but no single good one I know of, like total day/night cycles (i.e., game days).

Here's what I know of:

• There's a clock in the pilot house, but it only shows the time of day (in the game), not elapsed days.
• Save games show how long you have played (hr:min:sec) but that's a simple measure of how long the software has been loaded; it includes AFK pause time, pruned branches (if you go back to an old save), total time (if you restarted) ... it's not a measure of how many game days have passed in your current game. FWIW it pretty much equals the amount of time shown on Steam, which is also a high-level total software time number.
• If you launch humans to space, it shows how many days they have been there. But it's just a round integer and it seems to take far far longer than any game day, or even realtime days. So it doesn't seem real useful.
• In theory you could set up some things to measure time. Like how much charge a Medium Battery gets from a LumiLite over time. But that's a lot of work and I don't think it keeps working if you move away from it.

Anyway... does anybody know a good way to track the amount of days in the game?

I've taken my first gyro ride down the MCV-12 pipe. I could reach the bottom and get back up without dying.

You can see the entrance to hallways at points along the vertical pipe's length. But I have no idea how to get to those. They're too far to jump down to, or build up to. Can the gyro land there? (Seemed conceivable, but super risky to me. How can you get down if your copter crashes off the ledge?)

Hope this is making sense. I can't find any results on google.

Thanks!

Edit a day later with lots of spoiler tips!:

>!1) You CAN jump down the shaft, as u/govredacted pointed out (below). Thanks! Tips: !<

>!2) Carefully jump down the lights. Maybe the string of lights above the little helipad on the way down (to catch you if you miss). !<

>!3) With my stats fully maxxed (for falls and energy) I took a ~15% energy hit (~400 out of 2500 Wh), falling to each next light. There are about 10 falls. So bring batteries and use your Oni. 3B) I only use Large Batteries... smaller ones have the same energy density, and construction cost, but are simply more work to recharge, since you need more to get the same bang. !<

>!4) You don't have to make an "extra" gyro (to assemble one at the bottom). Just disassemble your usual one at the top of the MCV. But make sure it's in pristine (100%) condition so you get ALL its components! !<

>!5) You can probably toss things into the MCV before you start jumping, then get them at the bottom (if you're overburdened). I haven't tried this but it makes sense. !<

>!6) There is a 10k L tank of Petrol at the bottom ... but its flow rate is 1k L/hr. Super slow ... that's 24 real-time minutes to fill your gyro's 400 L tank! So start filling it when you first get down there. Then go explore.!<

Also:

It's crazy but stuff was falling into the MCV from the ocean. The usual junk like crates, barrels, mattresses, even two battery buoys! Roughly one every 4 or 5 minutes. (If you don't happen to see it, you may hear it as an unexpected crashing sound.) I guess it's stuff floating in the ocean that randomly floats into (collides with) the MCV. It might get fixed some day but it's also kind of fun to see.

The buoys lay on their sides - and had the usual "sloshing water" sound, even though they're on completely dry concrete, laugh. If you loot them they lay there ~105 seconds, then disappear. (This is probably what happens when they sink in the ocean, but you don't see it because they've sunk so deep.)

Or are they just scrap?

Thanks!

I've explored Sanctuary Dock 12, a replica of the starting dock. I got into everywhere except the Workshop (w/fab and recycler). The place has power. Its door shows green for power, and a red lock (which means some condition is not met).

I've gone all over this building several times. I don't know what I'm missing.

On PECO, you can see there's a hole in the floor of the Workshop. But I have no idea if that's shallow or goes to some back door (that I haven't found).

Sanctuary Dock 12 is 3.5 km SSE of Lazarus Complex.

Thanks if you can help!

I made it to the Lazarus Complex and fixed it up. Got two missions:

• Seeds of the Future: Locate a seed vault and bring the human seed back to Humanity Hall
• Echoes in the Grave: Locate info about Seed Vaults in Norfolk Grave

I went to Brighton, finished Echoes, and got some kind of vault authorization (though I wasn't paying close attention as to exactly what it entailed). It also gave me a new mission,

• Voyage to the Cradle: Sail to Seed Vault Prometheus; you've been authorized.

Prior to Norfolk, I had explored Brighton Grave and happened to find Seed Vault 04 just west of it. So I just now (after Norfolk) tried going back there to open it, but no go ... Vault 04 says I need MOSES authorization.

Am I doing this out of order or something? I would've thought I could get in there now. (How else can I do Seeds of the Future?)

Thanks if you can help!

In The Last Caretaker, there are two "underwater" locked doors at Refuel Outpost Gamma (ROG). (Underwater meaning, first you have to dive into the water to find a square duct you go up into, then find a locked door.)

The first of these is well known on the net: You need to >!have Tommy the T-Rex toy in your inventory (you can also see a giant Tommy head through the door)!< to get in. This is a huge room with a lot of stuff in it.

But there's also a second underwater locked door. I definitely see stuff in there; looks like a medium-sized room. I can't figure how to get in and I don't see any clue, inside the room.

Can someone help?