Messages

@mumble :

but your main fallacy is that you just assume that ALL payments are given in advanced. that is not really the case is it? it's a silly strawman argument.

most likely scenario in a legal prostitution setup is that the contractor is the one deciding the services that they offer and that they can decline customer service BEFORE any payment is given at all..

i think you might be confused with illegal prostitution, which is NOT the same thing.

^how many times do you want me to repeat this line? i actually thought this can easily be inferred by logic. your argument is seriously flawed.

[legal]

@mumble :

sigh. you don't even seem to be reading what i post.

as i said before : if the service they offer is sex, then that is what they provide.

if as you said, the prostitute offered anal (out of her own volition) and then decided to back out. then a refund can be done if the payment was already given in advanced..

but your main fallacy is that you just assume that ALL payments are given in advanced. that is not really the case is it? it's a silly strawman argument.

most likely scenario in a legal prostitution setup is that the contractor is the one deciding the services that they offer and that they can decline customer service BEFORE any payment is given at all..

i think you might be confused with illegal prostitution, which is NOT the same thing.

@mumble :

prostitutes are only expected to have sex with their customers because that is the service that they offer. it's not much different from a barber offering a haircut.

the ABUSE does not necessarily come as a packaged deal.

it's like if a masseuse (whose service only entails a massage) encounters an abusive customer who decided to slap him because it relaxes him. then that is like a breach of contract or understanding between customer and the contractor/employee. which means that the customer should be liable to be banned or penalized or jailed. <--- this is the missing component.

it's the same with prostitutes if they offer sex and only sex, and if they encounter a customer who decided to abuse them coz they refused service or whatever. the customer should be penalized, banned, or jailed. just like in any other service profession.

this is what's meant for a profession to be treated in a humane way.

@eadras : i think the whole thread already got hijacked via too much high-horse moralizing that it probably ought to get bumped to off-topic.

as for mumble. dude. i think you're the one being childish. i read your posts which is why i reacted in the first place. you actually remind me of the altar boy i knew back in bible class, back when i still believed that nonsense about the magical cloud genie that grants wishes if i say my hail marys. (no offense, just a tangential anecdote)

tru story.

too much coffee. so drama. i strike it down. blah.

Good job ignoring all but one point. care to address supply and demand, or the fact that where its legal, most girls are trafficked?

lol. meanwhile you ignore my points and it's OK? hahaha.

as sadpickle have said there are legal brothels and independent prostitution going on and then you can compare those types of prostitution to the ones you are describing about that is mostly caused via extreme poverty which is to what you describe.. that "forces" the prostitute in to making unwanted sex to abusive customers because they have no other option to make money.

because that IS the keypoint here as i keep repeating. it's not the prostitution that is the problem, it's the lack of money which is what forces involuntary people to perform unwanted deeds.

it's not much different from an impoverished soldier/mercenary that is forced to kill to earn a paycheck compared to a soldier who volunteered out of patriotism or just for the luls of it.

anything that forces anyone to do something that they do NOT want, is abuse. especially if the reason why they do it is coz of poverty.

in contrast, try comparing a high-class prostitute to an impoverished prostitute in a third world country.

high-class prostitutes usually do background checks on prospective clients whom their contacts can vouch for.

meanwhile impoverished prostitutes are often pressed into wage slave mode because of poverty.

the thing that forces people to do stuff that they don't wanna do is coz of poverty. <---- which IS the main problem.. NOT prostitution itself.

prostitution is just like any other profession if done in a humane way.

[where does the trauma actually come from?]

First argument is helplessly flawed. People like sex with CERTAIN places, in CERTAIN times, with CERTAIN people. If some dude walked up, right now, and gave you 100 $ to screw you like a rag doll, rough like you were disposable, would you do it?

true. you actually stated my main point. paraphrasing myself : where does the trauma actually come from? and then yadayada.. <--- again you just illustrated my point.

what you seem to be NOT getting is that the trauma does not come from the sex or the money.
it comes from the abuse.. just like ANY other job that has to deal with abusive bosses or abusive customers.

sure being forced to have sex with people you don't like is gonna be traumatic. keyword here is "forced". and then the next keywords would be the "lack of options" or "they need to be X to become competitive with other competition", etc..

gist is : if sexing up strangers isn't your cup of tea, then prostitution isn't a profession you should choose (it's an incompatible profession for you and it will become traumatic). but if the person is being FORCED into prostitution, then the problem isn't prostitution itself.. the problem is slavery or extreme poverty. compared to some pornstars or those high-class prostitutes who are actually enjoying their profession voluntarily.

and the reason why i have to point that out is coz to arrive at the best solution, you need to find the actual cause of the problem. so just like how ALL employees have rights to a good working environment, the same thing applies to prostitutes or any other profession.

so people being forced into prostitution is bad. but people who actually chose that profession out of their own volition should be given a good working environment so that they can continue their profession without trauma and getting stigmatized by society.

coz the discrimination and the stigma given by society are probably more traumatic than the act of prostitution itself.

[frag it.]

so several guys with frag grenades would be able to take down the inferno cannon equipped centipedes before they could get a shot off?

But this still looks like a recipe for fail.  4 centipedes and 5 scythers, 2 colonists wearing shields as bait and 4 tossing frag grenades, all within a circle of radius 12 (grenade range).  One wrong click and a colonist is going to get blasted by metal shards while a scyther claw rips him apart.

nope. this depends mostly on the situation, which heavily relies on the player's good judgement. (common sense)

ie :
-if the the mechs are on assault : speed of centipedes vs scythers, means that scythers often arrive long before centipedes does. so the shield-bait tactics works great against scythers since the shield baits attract the scyther attention while letting the others focus fire. meanwhile you can just keep one or two grenadiers on standby until the centipedes arrive.

-if the mechs are defending their crashed ship : this is actually much simpler. just snipe the scythers dead (heck you can snipe anything with patience). but if you want this over quickly, just sneak your grenadiers behind the ship once the scythers are dead and the centipedes are distracted. then just time your grenades between shooting intervals.

-if the mechs crashed in on your base : this is actually the easiest. (depending on your base design) since there are plenty of corners and doors to let your grenadiers get closer for the kill.

gist is : frag it. the rest is common sense based on the current situation (i regret to say this, but git good sounds appropriate when it comes to combat. play more RTS games like starcraft or something to get more experience)

the other way to bypass the "git good" approach is via prepping. (ie : prepare your turrets or build your "combat arena" specially designed to beat X opponent. etc.)

coz even with only 3 colonists with a pistol and a survival rifle as the main gunners and then using the last dude equipped with a knife as a bait, a centipede is still beatable. swapping a frag for the knife would make that battle a cake walk..

as for the "scenario" you mentioned about "4 centipedes and 5 scythers" vs "2 shield baits and 4 grenadiers"... using only grenades is kind of a weird choice, especially based on your pawn count coz the ratio seems a bit off. (this falls to what i called common sense part) (edit : 5 scythers + 4 centipedes vs 6 pawns.. sounds kinda unlikely, unless you have very high wealth compared to your actual combat capacity, coz as previously stated in other threads, threat is affected by wealth. so 6 pawns shouldn't really be spawning 9 mechs, unless your base is already old and prosperous)

but if you only got 6 people. i think it's better if you only got 1 shield bait and 1 grenadier, while the rest are gunners. this is why i mentioned other RTS games like starcraft. since what you mention is like someone talking about zerg rushing with a dozen zerglings against a fully-packed bunker with a siege tank on artillery mode for backup. you need to learn the right tools to use at the right time for the right situation.. otherwise, you get ganked.

but what you seem to be looking for as a reply is : "if i have X, this means i automatically win" <--- that's highly unlikely.

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edit :

to go in-depth on the inferno cannons. let's break down attack pattern.

-how does inferno cannons attack? : they aim slow and are very inaccurate. but they compensate via explosions and flames.

-so what do? : to minimize affected colonists getting hit, you can either spread them far apart OR give the centipede something enticing to shoot at. (shield bait) the reason why shield bait is key is coz it can usually survive indirect inferno cannon shots without injuries. the only reason to use more than one shield bait is when dealing with lots of enemy gunners, so that your shield-baits can swap positions while the other regenerates its shield back. (the other is just standby)

-so what the heck are the frag grenadiers for? : they're mostly just to make the killing of centipedes faster, since a frag explosion can easily break the other useless appendages of centipedes so that the gunners can kill them faster by shooting at the critical limbs. (either that or the frags kill the centipedes) but that's the gist of using explosives like frags or rocket launchers or mortars against centipedes.  (you don't need grenadiers to kill scythers since those dudes are like glass cannons, but explosives are good against centipedes who are like tanks)

check the temperature. iirc, hives disappear if it's too hot or too cold.

the reason why the shield-bait tactic is not inferno cannon specific is coz it works for most threats that are not pure melee or raids with lots of rocket launchers. (vs pure melee in an open field : it's mostly about checking who the targets are and then letting them run around as bait while the others focus fire on a target)(vs rocket launchers in open field : get close until enemy rocketeer starts aiming, then run away backwards out of range or hide behind a mountain.. or just use an insanity lance or blast them with your own rockets)

the specific thing about centipedes though are the frags. if you can get two or more grenadiers close enough, they can usually kill centipedes in just one or two direct hits. that's the fastest way to kill centipedes. (you can also use mortars or rocket launchers. the frag option is the cheapest, but also the riskiest)

if a skill is disabled by a background trait, then maybe passions and skill gain (from the aging process) should avoid modifying those disabled skills, so the character makes more sense.

i think most people think that elections is the only thing that ensures democracy, but i think it's what people do AFTER elections that is more intriguing.

i actually think there needs to be nationwide online forums where representatives of a government can discuss and debate legislation/projects/etc.. with their constituents and it would be fun to see pundits from all walks of life, gather into a single battle arena of ideas and be able to directly criticize the pro and con arguments of each legislation/projects/etc.. and be polled for it. this way, the discussions are out in the open, instead of backroom deals only for politicians and lobbyists. which should give more transparency.

i mean let's face it. the existence of benevolent rulers are like unicorns, so unless you're a fairy princess then you'd best curb your expectations and get a healthy dose of paranoia, and the best way to deal with the paranoia from the government is to introduce more transparency and accountability.

the moment that government representative's ideas and agendas can be easily challenged and criticized in a singular forum where ALL of the nation watches closely and can provide instantaneous feedback and suggestions.. then you'd get an aggregator mechanism that can easily compile the best and the worst ideas from the entire populace. (crowdsourcing feedback)

all that's left is to apply an efficient sorting mechanism to sort out that data to come up the best possible solution and then relay it to "experts" for review, then release the expert's info to the public to get more feedback, send it back to experts, etc.. it's a dynamic system that goes back and forth until the best solution is derived, that is feasible and gonna be fair for the majority.

it's better if the so called government experts are part of the convo so they can also debate the pros and cons of a topic as part of the entire feedback loop.

and the reason why this can be achieved now is coz technologies like smart phones and free wifi have created for us a new virtual agora. (ie : just think of discussions like newsfeeds that people can subscribe/unsubscribe to, etc.. to easily get in and out of relevant topics.)

i mean, just look at some of the other online political forums. the debates by some enlightened pundits can occasionally dwarf the arguments of elected politicians. (some of which aren't experts at all and were only elected due to popularity)

imagine if someone could devise a system that can combine and aggregate any or all useful info from all sources into an actual usable form that can aid in formulating legislation or policies..

this way, people would no longer be enthralled by the notion that.. people "NEED a very good leader, otherwise we're screwed" and rather transition it towards the notion that "politicians are just mere tools to enact the will of the people and are easily replaced the moment they are proven to be working against the common good of the people"

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edit :

also, to avoid tl;dr of long threads. the moderator in charge of a topic should probably update the OP to give a summary of all valid points of arguments between the pros and cons of the topic, to ease readability and to make it easier to disseminate the correct information to the populace.

(the forum could also act as the best source of information to keep the people updated and well informed so that majority of the people would no longer be considered as "ignorant masses". an enlightened population is the best and the easiest way to achieve that is to make it easier to access relevant information sans the jargon)

get a shield bait pawn. send the dude to hide nearby the enemies (it doesn't have to be too close. just closer than your shooters, coz enemies try to shoot the closest target)

enemies will try to attack that target, but if you put him in a good place at a good angle (like walls or mountain), enemies are likely to hit the mountain.

if the tile that the pawn is in catches fire, transfer to nearby tile to extinguish fire, then go back to original spot.

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i think this is the standard tactic for open-field battles. (i've been using this strategy ever since they added the shields in)

it's always about baiting the enemy so that your shooters can focus fire on each enemy, one at a time.

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also, centipedes are uber weak against frags. so once you got their attention with your shield bait. try to get a grenadier as close as possible behind cover, then pop out and throw a grenade at the centipedes between their shooting intervals.

bonus points if you can use a couple of shield baits to force the centipedes into a stack (this makes fragging them so much easier)

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i usually have around 3 brawlers. 2 guys act as shield bait, the last one is the beast master that i send to outflank enemies and assassinate enemy snipers.

beast master can also reinforce the 2 shield baits if enemy brawlers attack them. this is especially great since enemies can no longer melee stack so your pets can act like an insta barricade.

just make sure your shooters don't shoot at pawns already engaged in melee. try to shoot at the enemy gunners instead while your brawlers and wolf/bear army raeps the enemy brawlers.

don't shoot at your pawns already engaged in melee combat. try to find other targets or join in on the fun with a sucker punch.

1 man incapable of almost everything + 99 chinchillas.

heck, even in a normal convo you can get abused by trolls or whatever.

My fragile psyche cannot handle the bantz!
What horrible abuse have I suffered! It's another shoah!

there, there..