u/KillerRabbit345

I admit that I have the fervor of a true believer on this issue because I was late to discover that Lann is potentially the best tank in the game.

And he's so much better at tanking than a certain helpful companion

Why?

1. Lann is a mongrel and mongrels get a unique natural armor bonus that stacks with other natural armor bonuses.

2. He has a monster stat spread - wisdom, dexterity, strength. Lann's starting stats are pretty awesome.

3. Lann is a monk and can go through the full crane sequence. Take a second level of monk, get the free dodge feat and you're off.

4. One pip to dex, one pip to wisdom and you out tank our favorite murder mistress

================

Potential dips / class switching

Want to make a Lann a helpful Shaman? You can do that and you can even choose a better shaman class than spirit hunter and start with a higher wisdom score.

Want to make him a Sossiel substitute that tanks? You do that as well.

Make him a empyreal sorcerer and you've got shield and mage armor which make him a touch AC monster capable of tanking the shadows in act 1

Grab a headband, make him a crossblooded sorcerer and you can take him through the dragon disciple sequence.

You could even give him a stigmatized witch dip and switch the dragon disciple over to the witch spellbook. Besides, a lizard familiar just makes roleplay sense for Lann, right? Right?

TL;DR - Lann is so awesome

Don't get me wrong the 2026 Odyssey was fantastic. In part because it showed that the Odysseus is a "complicated" man - for all of his brilliance this a man who got his entire crew killed because he chose to defy the god of the sea during a sea voyage.

I was really happy to see that it featured parts of the story that are usually omitted from film versions - like the necromancy scene - and I think the changes to the story were well thought out; combining the story of Calypso and the story of the isle of the lotus eaters was a good choice.

But for all of that The Odyssey worked a bit too hard to make Odysseus into a hero. In the story it's not really clear if the suitors are the bad guys. Sure they are abusing the rules of hospitality but they also have a point - it's been almost 10 years since the war ended, Odysseus is probably dead.

When I watch the protagonist of The Return slaughtering the nobles of Ithaca I'm struck by the fact that this a terrible crime. The action of a mass murderer who knows he needs to leave town as soon as the slaughter has ended. In the 2026 version Odysseus is playing Doom, mowing down the faceless bad guys who deserve everything they get. Both versions omit the slaughtering of the servants and in both versions Telemachos (who is charge of killing the women) gets off pretty easily.

In The Return I get that Odysseus is a trickster, a strategist, someone who wins with his mind. That is strangely absent from the 2026 version of the story. While 2026 tells us that Odysseus is Athena's favorite it doesn't do a great job of telling why that is - she loves him for his mind. This is clearest when comparing the two bow stringing scenes - in 2026 Odysseus is just that good, he is like Hercules who can string a bow that others cannot. In The Return Odysseus first warms up the bow over a fire and then demonstrates his understanding leverage by finding the Archimedean point in the bow; this was a test of mind, not muscle.

Likewise the 2026 doesn't let us hear what the harpies are promising Odysseus - knowledge that no other mortals posses. Other men might heard promises of sexual satisfaction and/or great wealth but that won't motivate a man of the mind like Odysseus.

I think The Return also did a better job of making Odysseus look grizzled. In the poem Odysseus doesn't need to hide his face behind a cloak, Athena made him look so haggard that his own wife couldn't recognize him.

But I'm not here to dunk on 2026 Odyssey because it did so many things so well. The director made the wine dark Mediterranean look threatening. The scene with Circe was fantastic. The 2026 version did much more with Argos (the dog) than did 2024. Both versions give a glimpse of a "wounded warrior" - someone who gave his life for a war that has benefited no one . . .

TL;DR - see the movie and then stream the better version.

Hi good humans,

I had a computer die and it left me with two working M.2 NVME drives. I'd like to see if I could use these two revive an even older laptop that works but is painfully slow. (Dell inspiron 5759)

Do you know of an adapter that would allow me to plug this into the single sata HDD slot and create a RAID 0 ?

I've found adapters for two m.2 sata drives but not two NVMe drives

This my third Alienware. I've owned a 17 r1 and an 17 r5 and now this beast. 17 R1 was the best computer I've ever owned. My last computer was an MSI but I returned to Alienware after finding that MSI "support" is dogpoop.

The MSI laptop itself was impressive but "support" was just someone telling me to ask the community. Drivers were never updated, security hole in bios were never corrected . . . Thanks MSI, I really appreciate the thoughts and prayers.

My experience with this computer has been mixed.

Good things about this m18:

• Boots instantly
• Programs load quickly
• Plays my games in max specs without problems
• 18 inch screen is just the right size
• GPU keeps itself cool
• Keyboard is great - just the right amount of clack

Bad experiences:

Keyboard stopped working. I'm hater of telemetry and security holes and so I did what I do with any computer. Did a clean wipe and install, removed bloatware etc. Updated bios and drivers. And then I installed . . . Alienware Command Center. <Doom Music Starts> And then my keyboard stopped working.

I was in a panic - the advice I found on here was mixed. Did some searches and found lots of responses from the auto mod telling me to use revo uninstaller and reinstall AWCC. Did that and . . . nothing.

Found one stray comment from 3 years ago talking about need to download a program called Keyboard Firmware Update Utility. Which I did but - because it came without documentation - I watched in frustration while it tried to update the firmware of my external keyboard for 2.5 hours. When that failed I rebooted with nothing attached , reran the program I was able to fix the keyboard issue problem in just a few minutes. Yeaaaaa! . . . mostly.

Dell needs to fix this ASAP - if this was a known problem 3 years ago there is no reason for it be a problem now.

The CPU is always hot!

It's even steaming hot when afterburner is telling me that cpu load is at 30 percent. This complete reverse of my previous computer - with the MSI the the GPUs were rarely below 95 degrees while the CPU hung out at 65. Now the converse is true and that worries me.

Seems like a design flaw - CPU is not getting enough air.

Say what you will about thermal limits, a CPU pulling 32% load shouldn't be hanging out at 90 degrees.

Alienware warranty

After the keyboard panic I decided to see if I could restart the warranty the previous owner let lapse.

I got a quote that was literally equal to 1/3rd the price I paid for the computer. When I asked if there were cheaper options for less than premium service I was told that I couldn't restart the warranty unless the previous owner declared me the new owner.

But - since I bought from a reseller - I have no idea who that is and the reseller didn't keep a record. So I'm left with a smoking hot computer with no warranty.

<meme>"(chuckles) . . . I'm in danger"</meme>

Strangely enough I was offered the opportunity to renew the warranty until I asked about cheaper options. If I had paid would I have been able to use it?!

u/AW_Vigo There should be a way around this.

I do miss the OLED screen from the R5 . . .

Dunno who read this far but if you did - thanks!

Hi everyone

I have two ddr4 32 x 2 memory sticks from a laptop that died and want to put them into a r5

Searching led me to this post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/1il3523/unlock_the_memoryram_limit_of_alienware_15r4_and/

But I found the directions difficult to follow and the youtube video did not have a good view of the screen.

Do you know if anyone else has set up some step by step instructions or an English language video?

thanks in advance!