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there's a frog in my snake oil
Star Citizen: Share & Share Alike



Bringing you only the sexiest fiduciary newsflashes!

Seems there was some intriguing share action back in May. The main beats are:
  • CIG UK LTD issued some new shares, sold them off primarily to a Caymans-based company for approx £17mil, leaving those guys with a 10% overall share.
  • Chris, his brother, and beloved in-house lawyer Ortwin, all sold off some of their personal shares for around £2.7mil combined

So probably just an injection of investor cash, with some top personnel shifting a slice of cash into their own hands. Not hugely unusual. (Although having tax havens involved always raises at least one eyebrow right ). Kinda goes against the public claims of crowd-funded independence too though. Enough there that seems worth keeping an eye on anyway...

WARNING: "BONUS RABBIT HOLE" spoilers below
The company that bought the personal shares is a bit of mystery. Infratrade Group Corporation don't seem to exist anywhere. There is an Infatrade GC though in the British Virgin Islands, who have lent money to film companies in the past (see 14 Aug 2006). And more importantly, were a 'gap finance provider' for Chris's own Lucky Number Slevin, produced by his Ascendant Pictures outfit. So there's possibly some kind of past relationship there. Or the internet detectives have just gone all Kevin Bacon on this


WARNING: "INEVITABLE DOOM SCENARIO" spoilers below
There's a fun little theory here, from some Citizens-turning-cynical, that sees doom between the lines. Essentially:
  • The Coutts loan was due in June 2018 (With loads of IP & assets on the line if it wasn't paid).
  • If they couldn't pay it back other bank loans weren't an option as they're already capitalised.
  • The private share sale in May could have paid off the loan, and seen them through to the traditional payday of CitCon at the end of the year.
CIG's financial death-spiral has been overstated before. But it does fit


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Bringing Some Order:

There's also some trickles of juice being squeezed out of the court case. The judge is on the verge of kicking out the whole 'must exclusively use Cryengine' part of the claim, which is a major pillar. She's given Crytek another go at improving their argument or laying on more evidence.

The funny bit is that the Patreon lawyers that the Reddit Citizens favour misread it as all the claims being wiped out and prematurely claimed 'case closed'. They're now posting videos rolling back on this, but Reddit at least thinks the gavel has banged for the last time

(They crazy. This whole ball of distended limbs is liable to roll for years... )

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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here



A system of cells interlinked
Up to about 78 days survived at this point...

I must say, I have had a way easier time on Coastal Highway than I did on Mystery Lake. There are shelters everywhere, and I have scavenged a massive amount of supplies from all the abandoned buildings. I have cabinets stocked full of canned goods & medical supplies, about 150 matches, and I have managed to harvest around 50 lbs of meat that I have in cold storage in various places on the map. I am still exploring some of the more remote areas of the map, but I have a feeling I will be moving on fairly soon, unless I just want to hang around and hunt deer or bear. to keep the meat flowing. I've just found one point of egress so far, so I would probably keep on heading that way when I do decide to bug out.

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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell



Yeah, most of my time on my crazy long playthrough (530-something days, and back when fewer things were craftable) was spent on Coastal Highway. There are some buildings on that stretch that are randomly accessible or burned down, so it depends on what setup you get there, but some are nice for hunkering down in. I got stuck without a stove, so I had to do a lot of stuff out on the front porch, which was pretty limiting. If you have one with a stove, you're not going to do much better, especially since as the maps were released they seemed to make them increasingly sparse. The homestead one (which I think was third?) has some really great spots, but there's just so much travel time between them, contra the earlier ones. Big risks.

But yeah, definitely explore up in the hills, and the islands, on Coastal Highway. Really good stuff there, usually, and really good visibility in most places (hills somewhat excepting), which is obviously huge.



A system of cells interlinked
No stove, but the fireplaces function pretty much the same way. Alas, I tend to plan my cook/boil sessions around a fire outside, which I start with the magnifying glass to save matches. The sun needs to be out, so of course that sometimes isn't feasible. My main base is the garage and a cabin behind it with a big bed for sleeping and a fireplace. I still haven't run across a forge.

I managed to luck out with a bear kill all the way down near the end of the map at the coastal houses. I was on the deck of the house closets to the water, when I heard a bear - he was wandering directly toward me, head on. I brought the rifle out and went to a knee, and managed to nail him in the head. That sent him running over the hill and out onto the lake. I've learned my lesson with bears, so I don't chase them right away. I waited a couple minutes, then slowly started to head over to the hill to see what I could see, ready to run back to the house if needed. He was run pretty far out on the ice, but was now slowly making his way back toward me. I figured i would wait until he got into range, then try to shoot him in the head again from my perch on the hill, after which I would scramble back to the deck to get behind the railing ASAP. As luck would have it, just as he got into range, he keeled over and died. Shortly afterward, I was laying out rows of bear steak on the deck in the snow, and curing hide/gut in the cabin. Another bear wandered in near the garage, so I shot him in the head, but he ran away and I could never track him down.



Alas, I tend to plan my cook/boil sessions around a fire outside, which I start with the magnifying glass to save matches. The sun needs to be out, so of course that sometimes isn't feasible.
Good call. Note the condition of the matches, though. When I played they started losing condition as soon as you picked them up. I "saved" so many that went bad anyway, so you might be able to save yourself some trouble if you have more than you can feasibly use. But yeah, the magnifying glass was/is a big deal, since matches and the ability to start fires are (or at least were) one of just a handful of theoretical limitations to indefinite survival).

My main base is the garage and a cabin behind it with a big bed for sleeping and a fireplace. I still haven't run across a forge.
Ah, cool. I thought about the garage, but I liked the house at the end of the row because I could come in from the side and avoid wolves, which tended to congregate more towards the center of the little village. Not sure if that's still the case?



A system of cells interlinked
Good call. Note the condition of the matches, though. When I played they started losing condition as soon as you picked them up. I "saved" so many that went bad anyway, so you might be able to save yourself some trouble if you have more than you can feasibly use. But yeah, the magnifying glass was/is a big deal, since matches and the ability to start fires are (or at least were) one of just a handful of theoretical limitations to indefinite survival).


Ah, cool. I thought about the garage, but I liked the house at the end of the row because I could come in from the side and avoid wolves, which tended to congregate more towards the center of the little village. Not sure if that's still the case?
Dang... From now on, I will leave the matches where they are, and take note of their location so I can come retrieve them. I do have a majority of mine in a cabinet, as it seems things in inventory degrade faster than when stored in other places. Good to know that about their condition, though.

The wolf pack hangs around on the ice just outside the village kind of near one of the fishing huts. one or two of them will harass me sometimes, a crime for which they pay with their lives! I tend to save my bullets for other game, and just take on the wolves with my hunting knife. If my condition drops to about half and more wolves approach, I whip out a flare to ward them off until I can get to safety to patch myself up and rest to recover condition.



Double-check the condition thing on the game's subreddit, probably, because it's been awhile.

Sounds like maybe the wolves are in a slightly different place. Or maybe less plentiful? I always had a couple off to the side near some of the fishing huts on the "near" side (the side of the map you come in on from Mystery Lake), as well a several around the edges of the village.

I always had trouble getting the flares to work. Hit and miss. Dunno if that's changed, too. Gotten pretty good at it? Reliably wards them off?



A system of cells interlinked
There is a group of three that hangs around just outside the village on the ice, sort of directly in front of the house closest to the ice. one or two will peel off and come for me sometimes, especially if I have a load of meat on me. The flare is pretty reliable for the most part, but I have usually killed at least one wolf before I take one out. If I have full condition, it's fightin time!

I don't go down to the near side much anymore, as I tend to stay in the main town, or near the houses on the far side near the exit of the zone. I tend to run out to the islands from there to check my snares.



A system of cells interlinked
Survival mode, specifically, since most people think that's a heckuva lot better than story mode right now.

Story mode was too linear for my taste. I played it for a couple of hours and then bailed over to sandbox. I haven't looked back since.



there's a frog in my snake oil
It's Star Christmas!

Yay, it's transparency day! CIG just...
The Simple Cynical Summary Would Be:
  • They've been running a deficit of about 6m+ for the last few years. Income has gone up, but outlay has too. They were down to an approx $14m 'net position' recently (from the nigh $200m raised at the time).
  • They claim the $46m cash injection is purely for marketing and 'the release needs of SQ42'. (Traditionally they've always said they'd get SQ42 out the door to fund Star Citizen if they hit trouble. Mind you, they also said they had the cash to do that (Jan 2017) )
  • The valuation of the company at $496m is pretty cute
  • Chris sez: 'The control of the company and the board still firmly stays with myself as Chairman, CEO and majority shareholder'. (Given someone just invested 3x their 'net position' in them in May, this seems a touch unlikely )
  • Amongst all this transparency they neglected to mention the personal share sales by the top brass
Now who wants to bet on them hitting that Q2 2020 beta deadline

The game continues....




The People's Republic of Clogher
I did an unwise thing.



__________________
"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan



there's a frog in my snake oil
Could be worse. Coulda bought the new SC mech suit



Disclaimer: Its not actually for sale yet. Buy a tank

Disclaimer 2: It will beeee



Don't know if this has already been posted, but just in case it hasn't...



Looks amazing. I hope it delivers.



The People's Republic of Clogher
So this Playstation Classic? I don't know whether the people who Sony farmed (no doubt) the development to were asleep at the time or what.

A couple of clicks in the hidden menu (un-hidden if you have a certain type of usb keyboard, fortunately I have one) enable all the PAL 50fps games to run at 60fps, and another couple of clicks enable double the internal game resolution, which smooths out jaggies and tidies up visuals immensely. No effect to the framerate either, so it's not as if this setting was detrimental to the experience.

There are also toggles for analogue controllers in the menu. Weird-ass little console.



A system of cells interlinked
I found the little NES Classic console under my tree this Christmas. Pretty fun little box. My wife was already throwing the controller while playing Mario, though!

Also did quite bit more in The Long Dark. I think I am at about 80 days or so at this point. I now have a ridiculous amount of supplies and food, and have mapped pretty much all of Coastal Highway. I found an abandoned mine to explore, so I think that is up next on the schedule. I did have another close call with a bear that pretty much came out of nowhere to maul me, after which I took off running the other direction before it decided to come back for more. He is now on my hit list!

Probably time to move to a more difficult area soon, as I think I have this zone licked. If I was going for a days survived record, this would be the place to stay, but I want to explore and see more of the game.

Also received The Evil Within II for Christmas, and my wife and I have played about two hours or so. She loves horror games, and this seems to be a good one!



IProbably time to move to a more difficult area soon, as I think I have this zone licked. If I was going for a days survived record, this would be the place to stay, but I want to explore and see more of the game.
There's a funny push-pull between wanting to explore and wanting to survive. Early on there was less tension between the two because it was still worthwhile to scavenge in other places, particularly if they might have ammo or matches or something, but now there's so much space, and so little of it makes for a great place to hunker down, that it's more of an either/or thing, I think.



Meanwhile, in Fallout 76 someone nuked my base on Christmas Eve. I saw the warning, they nuked a very strange area, not sure they had entirely thought it threw, or maybe didn't care and specifically wanted a place there weren't many people.

My camp was on the edge of the blast zone, but definitely inside it. I'd read something about it not actually destroying camps, and I was curious, so I let it go, in part because logging off and dodging it meant I wouldn't be able to enjoy the nuke zone. Turns out whatever I remember hearing, it was just that it doesn't eradicate it. Everything was gone but the foundations and stairs. Including the brand new decontamination shower I'd just built. Had to build that with a lot of rare materials, but thankfully it cost a lot less to fix than to build. Nuke zone hardly produced anything of use, anyway, too. D'oh.

Anyway, spent a fair number of caps and did a lot of scavenging to fix everything, but at least it "holds" all the stuff you build in place to make restoration easier. Now I know! Next time that happens I'll log off.

I'll try to remember to post some photos later, but it was pretty funny to literally see the missile launch and nearly see it hit.