u/ZonedForCoffee

Fantastic gameplay, thematic units, his quotes are absolutely perfect and he even has little hidden things, like when Raynor calls down the Hyperion he gives a quip. The troopers are so perfect and a good mix of serious and fun. They really brought their A game to creating Mengsk and it's sad to think we could have had more commanders like him had the devs not parted ways.

Hi! I hope you are having a wonderful day.

Mods like Minecolonies require clearing out a large amount of terrain. Well, maybe not require it, but it certainly helps plan things out. There is a tool to kind of fake a building to make builders clear land, but it's a bit annoying to use.

There are mods like Building Gadgets that will clear land for you, but is there such a thing as a mod that makes it easier than just taking a shovel to the land, but doesn't just magically clear it for you? Buildcraft used to have a device that leveled terrain in a specific area, for example.

Is there a mod that you use for the specific purpose?

Hello! I hope you are having a wonderful day. We are playing mine colonies on 1.21 and having a blast and a half. I was hoping to ask those of you who are playing mine colonies on different versions. How you are feeling about the 1.19 version? I see it hasn't been updated in a couple of years, but we are also thinking about going back to 1.19 to make use of a couple different mods that haven't been updated. Has mine colony significantly changed within the last couple of years, would we be missing out on a lot? Or are they fairly similar still?

THIS IS A VIDEO GAME ABOUT TIMES WHICH GET TESTED

Blizzard removed the ability to auto build nukes.

Frankly I see no reason Terrans should continue playing. While Protoss and Zerg got massive improvements to their Macro, we have, once again, seen a nerf to one of the most critical aspects of our race. People are going to be quitting en masse. One out of 75 games when I remember nukes exist I have to go back and manually click the button every time I want to launch one. I want to reiterate I am not serious. Everybody has been making a rage thread and I just want to feel included. Did you know the Mengsk announcer says "I am ready to authorize a nuclear strike" in this cool, imposing voice? But, again, for the majority of "people" who "play" Zerg and Protoss, it's hard to overstate how significant and game breaking this change is for us.

Blizzard, if you're listening, fix your broken game and give us back the ability to auto cast nukes construction.

I will not be stopped. Not by you, or the pro scene, or the player base, or anyone. I will see this game's starting worker count reduced to 8, or see it burnt to ashes around me.

• Blizzard (probably)

It is Thursday, 6 AM CST. Oh boy, time for a cup of coffee! I'm going to play Starcraft! I haven't played since the pandemic but I want to have a lovely time! I am in gold! Oh boy!

Four games in a row the opponent leaves immediately

I am now in a war with the same person to quit sooner because I have now earned a promotion from all the times people keep leaving games and I'm afraid of being bodied once I find a real game.

Is this normal? Should I wait until the evenings to play?

Also, question: Where are all the Protoss? I think I've seen one in like 20 games. Tons of zerg though. Tons and tons of Zerg. Please, god, not another ZvZ.

WTF WHY IS MY TRAIN SO SHORT? I WAS GOING TO MY ARCHITECTURE BOAT TOUR AND THE TRAIN WAS ONLY HALF AS LONG. I HAD TO RUN TO CATCH IT. WHY IS CTA CUTTING SERVICE? DIDN'T THEY GET MONEY? DO THEY HATE PUPPIES?

Shorter trains on many L lines starting today (06/06/2026) probably caught a lot of people off guard. Some might see this change as a service cut. Others will be frustrated when the train stops several hundred feet from where they expected it. 

Though it doesn’t look like it, this is the exact opposite of a service cut. It takes more time and personnel to run a railroad this way. It’s also more annoying for passengers, who may be packed into fewer cars. So why would CTA do it? And why should you be thrilled it’s happening?

This is not a CTA post. CTA did not approve or play a part in writing this post.

HOW MUCH SHORTER ARE THEY? WHICH LINES? WHEN? 

The Brown, Orange, and Blue lines are running four-cars as opposed to their usual eight. The Purple is running four instead of their usual six. They will only run these reduced lengths on weekends, and they will remain at full length for major events and in very cold weather. 

WHY WOULD CTA DO THIS TO ME

Because removing (or cutting, not to be confused with cutting service) cars off-peak and adding them back later makes maintenance significantly easier. If you ride your bike three times as much, you need to lubricate the chain more often and replace it sooner. Trains require quite a lot of maintenance. Wheels need to be trued, brakes and motors need replacing, door mechanisms wear out, the list goes on and on. This goes doubly for older 2600 & 3200 series trains, whose DC motors have more moving parts than the AC motors found on 5000 and 7000 series trains. It costs nearly twice as much per mile to maintain them.

Cutting also makes the actual process of maintaining trains easier. It is difficult to perform regular maintenance, when the trains you want to do regular maintenance on are running around with passengers instead of in the yard. 

Beyond trains themselves, fewer cars means CTA pays for less electricity. Again, the 5000 and 7000 have an advantage: They return unused energy to the third rail, while older trains vent it as heat. 3200 series trains will gain this ability in the near future when they are rehabilitated. 

Fewer cars also means less weight and stress on tracks, contributing to slow zones which CTA spends even more money to fix. Yet again, older trains are more prone to flat spots on their wheels which damage tracks over time. Though, it’s worth noting that newer trains are heavier, and that weight causes problems as well.

The theme here is, older trains have a lot of challenges. That is probably why all three lines still using older equipment are seeing this change.

The #1 most important thing you should take from this post is that adding and cutting cars is not new. People who took CTA before COVID will recall this. In the Before Times (Pre-2020) cars would be added for the AM rush, cut for mid-day, added again for the PM rush, cut again in the evening, and the cycle would continue the next day. They would remain cut on weekends except for events. Even further back, some lines would run two cars overnight or on Sundays.

Everything changed when the Fire Nation COVID attacked. Trains retained their full length at all times to aid social distancing, while reducing the number of workers needed to operate the system.

This change is exciting because it’s another major pre-COVID milestone. When people say they want service to be like it was in 2019, adding and cutting is part of what made it possible. It allowed trains to be properly cared for.

Finally, this change is only possible because of the significant progress CTA has made rebuilding its numbers. Adding and cutting rail cars is done by switch workers. Switch workers come from operators. As the number of rail operators has been replenished, so have the number of switch workers. This is a sign that, even if there is room to improve, things are trending positively.

I ALMOST MISSED MY TRAIN IT PULLED UP TWO HUNDRED FEET SHORT 

https://preview.redd.it/1tshn9no0n5h1.png?width=762&format=png&auto=webp&s=d482d482d933b33504e3654c54dc5301c673e9de

When your train arrives this weekend, one of two interesting things will happen.

In the above picture of Sedgwick, you can see there are two berthing markers. The one you’re probably familiar with, at the end of the platform complete with a yellow tactile. Underneath, this is complimented by an 8/6 marker to indicate operators stop there if they have an 8 or 6 car train. Much further down is a 4/2 for shorter length trains. 

That 4/2 is so much further back because the main entrance for Sedgwick is towards the back. These berthing markers are placed to stop the train closer to where people are likely waiting. Every station is a little different. Some stations have one all-encompassing 2/4/6/8 marker. Many, like above, lump them into 2/4 and 6/8. 

Your operator is either going to stop at the 4-car, confusing people towards the front of the platform,

Or they're going to stop at the 8, confusing people at the main entrance.

It’s fair to be annoyed when you have to rush to catch your train because it didn’t stop where you expected it. At the same time, there are good reasons an operator might choose to use one or the other. If you know your line is running shorter trains that day, consider waiting towards the platform’s middle.

If it helps, this isn’t a new problem. You can watch old Ride the Rails videos and see a 4-car train pull up to, like, Merchandise Mart, while people an entire train length away rush to catch it.

MY TRAIN IS SO CROWDED THIS WEEKEND WAS LABUBU-CON HOW COULD CTA NOT KNOW THAT

Chicago has something going on virtually every weekend so that “For major events” asterisk is doing a lot of heavy lifting, yeah. Trains will be more crowded at times, but increased maintenance will mean more trains actually leave their terminals in the first place.

WHY IS MY TRAIN LATE I’VE BEEN STANDING HERE FOR TWENTY MINUTES

Your operator most likely called off to play the newest patch for Cities Skylines 2.

Wait, was there actually a patch for Cities Skylines 2?

Yes.

How is that relevant?

It’s my post and I can say whatever I want. 

Does CTA hate puppies? Can I bring mine on the train?

No, they don’t. Yes, you can.

What about my pet gerbil?

Uh, sure, I guess.

What about my pet snake?

…What? Why do you have a gerbil and a snake? Aren’t you afraid one of your pets will eat the other? Please don’t bring your snake on a train. What if it crawls under a maintenance panel or something? Don’t give me that look. Do you think I made that up?

In Heart of the Swarm, you visit a Dominion station building hybrids, and have this exchange:

>
DEHAKA: This place of metal and stone. Why?
KERRIGAN: You're not impressed? The Primal Zerg could never have built something like this.
DEHAKA: I do not need a wall. I will evolve armor. I do not need a weapon. I will evolve claws.
KERRIGAN: The tool makers may create something stronger than your armor and claws.
Dehaka: The tool makers stay the same. I evolve. I change.

This is such an obscenely interesting scene because it shows Dehaka encountering something so outside the context of everything he's ever known that he can't even grapple with it. He literally cannot comprehend the idea of somebody inventing a device that is stronger than what came before it. It's not essence, It's not plucked from something living, so how could it possibly be stronger than him? How can it change? Terrans are unique in that they (generally) don't have psychic abilities or powers behind what they do. Everything they are is created by their two hands and ingenuity. And Dehaka just can't process that.

Just a cool little dialogue

Oh my goodness! After finally defeating the original campaign I have to say that was probably among the very best RTS campaigns I have better played. Probably up there with Wings of Liberty, which is exceedingly impressive for a campaign originally created when George Bush was president.

The quality of characters. The diversity and thoughtfulness of missions. The length. Everything just clicks so, so well! What a fun, quality experience. Wow, and this is hidden in an RTS most have never heard of?

But lets talk about the presentation of this game. Retold probably has the best QOL features to ever grace the RTS genre. I just tried mapping hold right-click to drag in Starcraft II. Can't do it - interferes with clicking units across the map. If you try aging up in Age of Empires 3, it won't pause the game while you puruse the Gods. It does in Retold. Little things like how the actual hotkey for the building is presented ON THE COMMAND BAR. Everything clicks so, so well. This game is easy to play, which translates to fun to play. It looks fluid. Oh it's so pleasant to play.

This is such a cool game. Thanks for being the Aged Mythology.