u/Nuclear_Priest

I started Gentoo because I really liked the idea of configuring an OS exactly like I wanted, but in my mind this includes the DE. Because of this I decided to do a Hyprland setup that I could customize as I see fit (the plan was to start with Caelestia shell and customize from there).

It took 2 tries but I managed to get base Gentoo up and running the way I liked it (with minimal installation CD, no DE so far).

Then I tried to set up a basic Hyprland setup. Today was my third attempt at doing this and after 4 hours I am actually in a worse position than when I started.

I have 4 Gentoo wiki pages, 1 YouTube video, and 1 Reddit post open. None of the Gentoo wiki pages have enough information to do the complete setup, I'm pretty sure the youtube video is outdated, the Reddit post requires doing a highly specific setup that I'm pretty sure will break in 6 months, and all 6 sources disagree with each other in several aspects.

I messed with my setup so much today that I'm probably just going to start from scratch. I feel so demoralized that I'm debating just trying an easier distro.

I realize that is is part of "the Gentoo experience" and I accepted that, but I thought that after so much time I'd at least have a somewhat functioning system to debug. Currently I feel like I have more bugs than features.

The only change of approach I can think of is to start with a pre-configured DE (probably KDE), before moving to Hyprland, that way I can test if some of my system works properly (which I probably should have done from the start but I got too excited).

Does anyone have any advice? Is this just the initial install that will be this frustrating? Or is this what daily use will be like?

Thanks.

TLDR: Don't try Hyprland when just starting.

My competency:

I am by no means an expert in linux, but I have been using Ubuntu as my main OS for about a year now and I'm quite comfortable with it. In addition I'm a software developer, so things like using the terminal or debugging issues aren't going to scare me off.

I am also comfortable using things like Flatpak, AppImages, and Wine/Proton, though I'd obviously prefer native support.

My computer:

I have decently powerful PC that I built a few years ago.

Ryzen 7 5700X, RTX 3070ti (8GB), and 32 GB of DDR4 RAM.

(I have heard that some distros don't work too well with Nvidia graphics cards, but it wasn't too much hassle to set it up on Ubuntu)

I also have 2 SSDs: a 2TB one that currently only has Windows, and a 1TB one that currently has Ubuntu.

I plan to create a 1 TB partition on the Windows drive to use for whichever Linux distro I end up trying.

My use-cases:

Work/school related software such as: docker, VSCode, ClaudeCode, simulation software (like OpenFoam)

3D printing related software such as: CAD software (FreeCAD), and slicers (Currently using Bambu studios, but might switch)

Gaming: primarily steam which makes things easier, but obviously I'd like things to run well.

Some Microsoft specific software that I can't really get away from: The biggest one is OneDrive, I have a lot of files there so I currently have a service on Ubuntu setup to sync a local OneDrive directory to the cloud (abraunegg).

My requirements:

I'm fairly flexible with most things, but the big ones are that I want something with enough of a following that there's support online to help me debug (such as existing StackOverflow posts on common problems), and that's sufficiently different from Ubuntu that I get something from the experience.

My main goal here is to experiment and see if I'd like to use a different distro as my main OS.

TLDR: Don't mind debugging and terminal, have some experience in Ubuntu, looking for a new distro to try, and potentially make my main OS.

Thanks in advance for the help.

I keep hearing about how waging war in antiquity age is one of the strongest strategies in the early game. But anytime I try to wage a war that early; one of 2 things happen (playing on deity btw):

1. I start the war too early, and end up being stalled out, and unable to effectively take settlements.

2. I wait until 60-70% through the age to start the war, and I manage to take over the land from one of my neighbours. But by the end of antiquity I’m significantly behind what I normally achieve on my peaceful play-throughs (Both in yields and triumphs).

Am I missing something? Or is the idea that I’m supposed to be behind what a peaceful run would’ve gotten me, but better setup for war in exploration?

I also see people talking about conquering 4 civs in exploration on deity. Is that actually reliably achievable? Or is that only on games with really good starts?

It feels to me like a much stronger start is to just focus on setup in antiquity, and level up your commanders on ips and maybe a small war (with no real conquest), then to go to war in exploration.

FYI I’m not talking about specific busted combos to help me win this way, I’m talking about general strategy and mindset/expectations.

So here’s the list (alphabetically):

Alien Isolation
Baldur’s Gate 3
Detroit: Become Human
Devil May Cry 5
Disco Elysium
Dispatch
God of War (2018)
Hollow Knight (the original)
Mass effect (Legendary and Andromeda)
Metro (2033, Last Light, and Exodus)
Shadow of Mordor (and of War)
Ori (Blind forest and Wisps)
Silent Hill (2 and f)

I realize these are all very different games, but I enjoy a wide variety. I’m really just looking for a game that I can play alone, with an amazing story.

Anyone have a recommendation?

Me and my friends play board games about once every 1-2 weeks, and we really enjoy in-depth, difficult board games. Our favourite is probably Twilight Imperium 4.

Here’s the issue, we don’t like turn timers and some of our group likes to take a long time with their turns so when we play a game of TI4 it usually takes us around 8 hours sometimes more, and we can’t consistently commit to that much time.

We have other games we play such as Dune Imperium or Brass Birmingham that take less time, but they only go up to 4 players, and quite often we have 5/6 players.
(I am aware of Dune Uprising, but the 6 player mode seems a little strange, and it feels like a waste to buy it when I own Dune Imperium)

So I’m looking for something that can be played well with up to 5 players (preferably up to 6) has a decent level of depth to keep us engaged, but will only take us around 4-5 hours.

Here are some of the games we play to help give you an idea of the kind of games we like:

Games we enjoy but are too long:
TI4
Classic Dune (by GF9)
Eclipse Second Dawn (Just barely too long, but a little too “war only” for some of my friends)

Games that we enjoy but don’t support enough players:
Dune Imperium
Everdell
Brass Birmingham

Thanks in advance for any help you provide.

TLDR:
Looking for a game that can play with 5 or 6 players, is decently complex/in-depth, and can be consistently completed in less than 6 hours.