I'm working on a project creating a shoebox-sized Airlock - basically 2 doors, and both can't be open at the same time. Essentially how it should work is that a person presses a button/activates door 1, enters the intermediate chamber, door 1 closes, 30 seconds elapses, and then door 2 can be activated.I'm considering electronic components (such as the opening of the door itself, timer).
I'm just trying to figure out a mechanism to prevent one door from opening if another is open, and an optimal air-sealing door design to maximise efficacy.
Would appreciate the help/advice or really any ideas you had about how to tackle the problem. If there's anything else u had not related to the mechanical components still shoot it below i'd appreciate it alot :))

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I've got a proof of concept working on Wnidows 10.
The idea is the program draws a shady, transparent, click-through window on top of the current foreground window.
This is useful for when you're watching a film on Monitor 1, and on Monitor 2 you've got your browser open and it's night time!
The browser window is all dim and dark because it's got focus, while the film isn't! Its "Night time mode" but NOT for the video. Great if you're watching Alien... it's dark enough already.
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My POC works fine - BUT it polls the GetForegroundWindow every second. So there's a seconds delay for the window dimming rectangle each time it updates to the new window location/new window focus.
I was wondering how to set up an event hook to call the moveLoop() only when the Foreground Window changes, or is dragged, or maximised/minimised.

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices Public Class darkenMain Public WithEvents windowUpdateTimer As New System.Windows.Forms.Timer() Friend Structure RECT Public left As Integer Public top As Integer Public right As Integer Public bottom As Integer End Structure  Friend Shared Function GetForegroundWindow() As IntPtr End Function  Friend Shared Function GetWindowRect(ByVal hWnd As IntPtr, ByRef rect As RECT) As Boolean End Function Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None Opacity = 0.5 BackColor = Color.FromArgb(255, 90, 40, 20) ' Control doesn't support direct transparency windowUpdateTimer.Interval = 1000 windowUpdateTimer.Enabled = True End Sub Public Sub moveLoop() Handles windowUpdateTimer.Tick Dim windowPosition As New RECT() GetWindowRect(GetForegroundWindow(), windowPosition) Bounds = New Rectangle(windowPosition.left + 7, windowPosition.top, windowPosition.right - windowPosition.left - 14, windowPosition.bottom - windowPosition.top - 7) End Sub Protected Overrides ReadOnly Property CreateParams() As CreateParams Get Dim cp As CreateParams = MyBase.CreateParams cp.ExStyle = cp.ExStyle Or &H28 ' WindowStyles.WS_EX_TOPMOST Or WindowStyles.WS_EX_TRANSPARENT Return cp End Get End Property End Class 

Hey, Im looking for a Premature JOI video with real 5 or 10 second timer. They should tease the viewer in the jerk time, not only showing a smartphone timer or so.
I have seen some " 5 or 10 Second" clips like Cliar Satine or Canna, but they use a real time of 20 or 30 seconds.
A good example what Im looking for are ScarlettBelle or London_Lix 10 second videos.
Any suggestions? If anyone has own selfmade content, Im interested, too

Let's talk about an actual play session I actually just had.
We log on at 6:45pm. We sit down together, look at the map, nothing interesting going on. OK lets do a nightmare dungeon. Which one? So we debate briefly and categorize - okay we don't wanna do this affix, that affix, or that affix, so we can do any of these 8. We realize we're overthinking it, we tell Bob to just pick one and go. Bob picks one. As we open the map to figure out where I Can't Believe It's Not Hell is located, we notice it's 7pm and a hell tide just spawned. We decide to pivot - several people need gear. So let's quickly hit the hell tide.
We go do that. Finding the mystery chest takes 15 minutes, getting everyone to 175 currency takes about the same amount of time. Steve dies. Steve can't open the mystery chest. Bob and I open it. We go help Steve farm currency. It's now 30 minutes into this. We go back to the chest. It's gone. We try to find Steve the new chest so he can open it. Bob points out we'd be silly not to open the new chest too. We spend another 10 minutes getting that sorted out.
Bob and I get two chests, Steve gets one, Steve is a little bummed about dying. No big deal. It is now 7:50.
We do our first dungeon of the night. We get out, do all the awkward inventory management stuff (I'm sure you've heard someone else bitch about the towns being weird already). It is now 8:15. There is a timer for the world boss spawning at 8:30pm. We discuss. We probably can't get a dungeon done in 15 minutes, and we're all low on the world boss currency, so we decide to wait for that. We try to be efficient and pick our next dungeon, but we already had a couple lined up so that really doesn't help much.
It's now 8:40. We do our second dungeon of the night. We get out at 8:55. We pick our next dungeon. A hell rift spawns in. Steve says he wants to do it. We debate doing a quick dungeon before we go, but Steve points out he already missed out on a chest tonight and the hell rift seems to reset the mystery chest at the halfway mark, so if we do another dungeon, we won't be able to get both mystery chests from this hell rift.
We do the hell rift again. Finding the second chest is hard, because it's a variable spawn timer. We start looking at the 30 minute mark but it actually doesn't appear until the 45 minute mark, so we spent 15 minutes literally running around going "our map must be incomplete" and doing nothing at all productive.
We are frustrated and in a hurry. We agree to just spam sigils until we have to call it for the night. Two dungeons in, we fire off a sigil that has "crits deal 60% less damage" and "monsters regen 1.5% of their max health per second" and "monsters enrage when another monster dies near them" (or some other shit like that, I forget the exact combo, but I want that 30 minutes of my life back) and we all agree never to just spam sigils without fucking reading them again because fuck that shit.
We end our play session at 11pm, having played Diablo for 4 hours and 15 minutes, and having done one world boss, 2 ish hell tides, and 5 dungeons. We collectively spent well over 90 minutes either standing near the world boss, walking to a dungeon, or walking around the hell tide looking for something that doesn't show up on the map and only appears on the minimap when its basically on your screen.
Diablo 4 has more waiting in it than any other ARPG I've ever played, and nowhere is it more pronounced than in a group where people don't all agree on exactly what the top priority is.
Too many things are on long timers. Too many things only happen once every X hours. Too many things happen every other hour BUT there's an inflection point in the middle where you lose a bunch of value if you haven't already done the thing. Too many things require you to be standing there when the thing starts, or else you miss out, so you can't do anything else while you wait for it.
It's not so bad in solo play because you can just do what you want. But in a group where everyone has slightly different goals and each goal requires a very different activity to get it done optimally, this feels awful. You can't compromise and do a little bit of what everyone wants, because everything that people want is on competing timers. If there's a hell tide up right now, you can't do "just one more dungeon", because in 25 minutes that helltide's mystery chest is despawning and you lose half the value of the helltide if you don't get it done now. Likewise, your friend can't just "wait for the next helltide", because if it's the 9pm helltide, the next one isn't STARTING til 11pm or later, and your friend is a normal person with a 9-5 job he isn't STARTING a project in Diablo 4 at 11pm. So either you do this hell tide or he doesn't get a hell tide done today.
Even in solo play, getting jerked around like this is fucking weird for an ARPG. You can't ever sit down and just vibe on an activity, because either the activity has a forced end point (two mystery chests per hell rift/30 minute wait between legion invasions/4 hours ish between world bosses?) or the activity is open ended but it's deeply suboptimal to miss out on all the timed events that happen during your play session because almost all the timed events have badly needed upgrade currency you can't get from anything you can grind 24/7.
And all of this doesn't even mention the simplest thing that nearly everyone who hits WT3 immediately stubs their toe on: Every single active whispering tree quest resets at once on a 90 minute rotation, so if you are doing whispering tree stuff, every 90 minutes there's an awkward 10 minute dead spot where you can't really start any whispering tree quests because you won't finish them before they reset and any in-progress quest or dungeon won't give whispering tree points. So you literally get forced by the game to stop for 10 minutes out of every 90.
I understand a lot of you aren't in endgame yet but man, seriously, this shit is outright weird. I've never played an ARPG that seemed to go out of its way to shove a stick into my spokes like this one does.

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I propose an early game sentry called the crows nest which is crafted with 2 raven feathers(from the ravens that spawn in graveyards and 20 living wood blocks in the crafting table. The sentry spawns 2 crows which will target and attack enemies in its radius. The crows act similarly too the finch staff minions. It costs 10 mana too cast has a 1 second timer in between casts and has 9 damage. So what do you guys think?

Our children should not be listening to heavy metal music. It gives the exact same result as injecting heroin, or being in contact with trace amounts of fentanyl.
I've proposed an alternative: "The Clicks." At the beginning of the song, a click will sound. Then, a random amount of time later (8 to 12 seconds), another click will sound. Another random amount of time later (also 8 to 12 seconds), another click will sound. Another random amount of time later (also 8 to 12 seconds), another click will sound. It will be very catchy and youth will playfully challenge each other to see if they can guess when the next click will sound. "The Clicks" will replace all youth music.
For children particularly damaged by the more intense forms of heavy metal, they will be given a special version of "The Clicks" that has multiple clicks at different pannings running on their own random timers. Maybe even at different pitches - though that would start sounding remarkably like music, and look where music's gotten us.
Also, "decoy youth", intelligent arthropods piloting mechanical bodies that resemble those of hip teenagers, will be instated in all areas capable of playing music. Any children attempting to "headbang" to "The Clicks" will be told by the decoy youth that they are acting bogus and uncool.
UPDATE: Oh god. They're making out with the arthropods. They've helped remove the arthropods from their mechanical bodies and are starting consensual relationships with them. My kid says he's gonna get married to a scorpion. What do we do?

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Seeing my older sibling playing through champions for the first time has sort of "reinvigorated" my interest in these games (well, it never really went away but yk what I mean). It also got me to read about the prospect of a competitive scene and why that doesn't work at all. This, along with the often underpowered enemies in the main game (final boss of the first game is rank 8, zongazonga is an F tier vivosaur, generally low levels for how easy it is to rank up, etc), and it got me thinking about balancing changes I would make if I were to rom hack champions or the first game (although I'll be talking about champions today)
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Note that I'm not here to be a hater, I love ffc dearly and it's one of my favorite games of all time. These changes are mostly off the top of my head and I would love to hear what the rest of yall think. Let's address my issues first.
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First issue: the enemies are insanely underleveled. I get that this is a kid's game but even when I was young I wondered why the enemies were so low leveled. Now that I'm not a kid, last time I played these games I had max rank vivosaurs like just over halfway through the game. Not to mention the genius team comps that some of these fools have, like Ruperts innovative mapo, mapo again, and king mapo. I wish I were as smart as him. Generally I would give them more flexible team comps and increase their ranks, as is they're far too low. It's better in champions because the gap between ranks isn't as big, but it'd still be nice to fight someone at my own punching weight.
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Secondly, vivosaur balance is goofy. While you might say that the vivosaurs are distinguished enough as is, I'd have to disagree. Because each vivosaur belongs to an unspoken "class" (sauropods, large theropods, medium theropods, horned dinosaurs, pterosaurs, etc), each class (well, I guess clade would be the better term) plays pretty similarly to each other. This leads not just to homogenization between vivosaurs, but also makes you scratch your head wondering why you would even use something.
For example, let's look at the three ammonites in champions; parapu, desmo and gaudry. Parapu just bizarrely has higher stats across the board (well ok, it loses slightly in attack to gaudry) and its support effects aren't so much worse than desmo to make a real decision between them. Parapu is just objectively better than the other two and they're completely obsolete (it's moves are much better as well).
Sauropods have it the worst. There is Nigo and the rest of them. While it's asleep the first two turns, it's so fucking fat it's not gonna die anytime soon and once it wakes up the game is over. 50% crit rate for some fucking reason, great damage for relatively low FP cost on its stomp, one of the highest LP stats in the game, the list goes on. No other sauropod has anything to do compared to Nigo, aside from rotation ig, but rotation isn't as useful in champions compared to how stupid it was in the first game. It has link too because "he needs it" ig.
I could go on and on about the balance of vivosaurs, and it might seem like the idea to make Zanth and Nigo not auto win every fight would be to simply nerf them, but it's not so simple. Because of the kind of incremental nature of the game's balance, nerfing these two would just have them be replaced by two other guys, and nerfing them would just get them replaced, so on and so forth. Obviously, every game is going to have busted shit and the guys who just kind of suck, but the main different (and issue) in fossil fighters is that the shitty guys have no niche, they have no funny "let him cook" tech to try and fight back. A lot of vivosaurs are perfectly fine but they're just worse versions of another guy at the end of the day.
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For example, let's look at pokemon. There's over a thousand of these fucking guys at this point, and we all know who the good ones are. The difference is that, let's say, a pokemon who is outclassed by lando t, is going to be just as good and identical to him in a meta without lando t. Another example, swampert is pretty strictly better in gen 3 compared to quagsire, but quagsire doesn't just play as swampert lite in lower tiers due to its unique tools (hell, it's better in ubers than swampert because of water absorb if I'm not mistaken). My point is that even bad pokemon often have something to set them apart that their superior can't do. It's not perfect ofc, but it's something
Let's go back to ffc. Galgaron and Zanth are both mid range attacks, and they're both super evolvers. Zanth and purple Zanth. What does Galgaron offer over Zanth? Nothing! In a vacuum it has confusion and +99% defense, but in practice it's strictly worse. Zanth hits harder for much less and its support effects are better overall. What good is 99% defense when the infection is coming. Not to mention confusion ruins any and all offense but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Does mammoth do anything better than any other frontliner? No. Does it even have a niche to do anything interesting? Also no (auto LP recovery is no interesting, nice 38LP per turn jackass). Even on a lower level, Spinax is directly outclassed by Aeros, who is directly outclassed by some other fool I'm sure. Hell, does any frontline matter when Krypto can just fucking kill you instantly?
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Thirdly and one of the most damning, status effects are way way WAY too strong. This might sound stupid because status effects are strong in like. Every rpg ever. Spreading status in pokemon is one of the best strategies out there. What's the problem that they're strong here? The problem is that some status effects just straight up invalidate entire playstyles or are just generally overtuned.
I'm sorry to compare to pokemon so much but it's like the only other multiplayer monster collector I have a lot of familiarity with. The statuses in pokemon are insanely strong, yes. Paralysis cripples sweepers, burn shuts down physical attackers, sleep is generally stupid vs everyone, poison puts you on a timer, freeze needs a rework and confusion is a non issue. The difference is that status in pokemon has a lot more counterplay and dimension to the status effects. Paralysis sucks, but on a more passive tank it's not too big of a deal. Burn sucks but it can be blocked by a fire type or a special attacker who doesn't mind taking a burn. Toxic's timer reset upon switching, not to mention poison and steel types are outright immune to it. Sleep... well uh sleep is wicked broken so maybe not my best example. I guess spore and sleep powder can be blocked by grass types but I think it's telling that sleep as a status is outright banned in gen 5 (could be a patented "gen 5 ou moment" though) and pretty bullshit everywhere else. Not to mention that cleansing status does exist, even if its distribution is limited.
In fossil fighters champions status either doesn't exist because "good one I will now use the move rallying cry" or the status is confusion, which is so insanely busted I don't know how they thought it was ok. There's no way to play around status other than to hope it doesn't proc or using rallying cry. They're too polarizing between "ungodly broken but removed way too easily" or "confusion", because confusion is guaranteed results by activating before the opponent can make a move. This kinda just ruins a lot of vivosaurs and team comps. Good thing the AI doesn't know this or didn't want to ruin our lives. There is also infection. I do not think I need to explain why infection is broken.
​
​
You get the idea. Really, none of this really matters or comes into play during single player, the game doesn't ask you to metagame or use any vivosaurs other than the silliest ones you like the most. Maybe it's best if it stays that way. But the game does encourage multiplayer a lot, and part of the fun for me back in the day (grizzled 19 year old fossil fighters veteran) I loved theorycrafting shit and battling my siblings. I would love if we could hop online and sweat but the sweating was actually fun (maybe my ultimate gaming hot take is that sweating is awesome if you're both into it). One of the hard parts about theorizing about this is that it's hard to rework things and not end up making a completely different game.
​
So, after all the bitching, what is my solution?
​
First order: Make the ai stronger with higher levels and better teams. Self explanatory, I do not want to see Rupert pull up on me with 3 mapo. Dumb fuck. Also can we talk about how Zongazonga is like genuinly an F tier vivosaur. 350FP for his weakest move what were they cooking.
​
Second Order of business: Create a system to add more depth to team building and vivosaur customization
As stated previously, vivosaurs have a tough time differentiating themselves from one another outside of minor changes to stats/support effects/moves. I know I listed like everything but my point is that they're almost all the same when you get down to it and one is just better than the rest. I would like to propose ways to make vivosaurs more customizable to help them differentiate them better.

1. More skills to choose from. Maybe it could be something like you have a movepool like other rpgs but you can only hold like 4 skills or something. Obviously wouldn't solve everything but it would make things a little bit more varied.
2. More abilities is always a good thing imo. As it stands, there aren't that many of them and most of them are kind of ass anyways. Link, FP plus are really good, and then there's the ok ones like parting blow (thin ice), fp steal, auto counter in champions (meme in the first game) and maybe solo power but most dudes who have that are kinda frail anyways. The rest don't really get thought about much. Perhaps more abilities are in order, and more useful ones at that. Can't be totally outclassed if you have some stupid ass ability the other guy doesn't have (well, you can be but that's besides the point)
3. Maybe some sort of stat investment system like EVs could work. Not one to one with evs, and champions kinda has this with the miraculous fossil rocks, but those are pretty shallow examples.
4. Maybe some extra stats could help. 4 stats is tricky to balance amongst the, what, 200 or so vivosaurs. Maybe there could be dedicated "element" attacks that scale off some sort of magic stat. That might be fun. It would also make it so that something like compso doesn't just erase any and all attack stats (seriously what were they thinking with that fucking demon).

Those are some pretty basic examples. I can't really think of anything else atm lol.
Finally, rework status conditions
Very quickly because I've been writing this for awhile
Across the board, make status either more expensive or have a lower chance to proc. There aren't dedicated no damage status moves like toxic, will-o-wisp, t-wave, etc. I think it may be fair to either lower their chance of proc, make them more expensive, or remove the damage entirely on some of them (although the damage on the best status moves is really just a courtesy rofl).
Silver poison- Works like poison in every other game, % based damage tick at the start of every turn to stop rallying cry from negating it entirely
Gold poison/Venom- Same as before, I like the ticking time bomb aspect of it, it's unique. Idk how to balance it around RC though. If it wasn't curable it'd be way too OP but as it stands it's kind of a non-factor when you have RC.
Rallying Cry- This shit removes a whole aspect of the game for 30FP. Nuh uh. I'm bumping it's cost up to like 70FP or something. I can't playtest this to see how it would shake out but I think 30FP is too cheap for how strong it is. With a higher FP cost you would need to take into consideration if removing the status is worth it rn for something like poison or fear instead of it being an auto click. I worry that this nerf will make status way too OP but my main point is that 30FP is too good.
Sleep- Maybe make it so asleep vivosaurs can still be rotated or something. Alternatively, you can do something like how Temtem handles it, where sleep has a dedicated turn count and the vivosaur wakes up instantly upon being hit. That could be cool.
Excite- Idk it seems fine as is. Maybe a bit undertuned in champions but oh well.
Enrage- I think this one can stay it's just kinda funny tbh. Yeah it's bullshit and luck based but on the real it kinda sucks because enrage skills are usually expensive and accuracy down does the same shit for free. Funny gimmick.
Scare- This one's cool it can stay.
Confuse- Not sure what to do with this one. My first thought is that it only does anything if the vivosaur is selected and it can only last one turn. That way it's a gamble and not just a "fuck you die".
Infection- Remove fuck this status "lol 60% chance to die :)))))))))))))" never let bro cook again
​
Actually elemental resistance should probably make a comeback as well. Because fun fact, it's just not in champions for some reason.
Did you guys know that O-Raptor Fiend's japanese name is Hellsatan
​
Anyways again I love ffc and most of this doesn't really come in to play when I'm owning those rank 7 fools with my rank 16 dimetro/epic link spam teams. It's just a fun thing for me to think about and I would like to hear if you guys have ever thought to revamp the gameplay in any way.

[First] [Previous] [Next (coming soon)]
Mick about to do something incredible
Mick reference
Finn reference
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Memory transcription subject: Finn Hathcock, S&R Volunteer, Gunsmith Date [Standardized Human Time]: November 17, 2136
With the awards ceremony out of the way, and my explanation of how the long range contest works out of the way, it was time to get to practicing our shots. My weapon of choice was a Cheytac M200 Intervention, a vintage rifle from the early 2000s. One of my personal favorites in the collection, it’s a piece with a lot of absolutely fascinating history, originally used by a Marine corps covert marksman, fighting in Ukraine. This thing has personally sent rounds through a few Russian commanders, denoted by the 7 tally marks on the side of the receiver. Sounds a little weird to be using a gun that has confirmed kills marked on the side, but that conflict happened over a century ago, so the blood has long cleared off its history in my eyes.
​
As a warmup, I would have to calibrate my spotting scope, and re-zero the scope that I had placed on the top of my rifle. It was a ‘relic’ by today’s standards, but it’s still a great scope for the time nonetheless. Mick was watching me extract the rifle from the case, where I then assembled it like an assassin would in a cheesy action movie. Snap the barrel to the receiver, slip the bipod on for good measure, extend the stock, slip the bolt into the chamber, and we’re good to go.
​
“What gun is that?’ Mick questioned. “I’ve never seen it before.”
​
“Ah, this is just my personal long range gun, an Intervention. Used to be super popular in video games of the 2000s, but now we’ve got much better options for taking out things at range.”
​
“That looks a bit too big for me to shoot, you got anything for me? I saw another couple boxes in the car, one of those has to be mine, right?”
​
He was right, I had got him one a little more suited to his size, and something else for later.
​
“You’re right, I did bring something for you,” I responded. I was quite excited to see what he thought of the little gun I got for him, although this one I wouldn’t be gifting to him right away. “Go grab the smallest thing out of the car, it should be labeled for you!”
​
I watched as he walked over to the car, his tail wagging behind him, as it usually did when we were messing around with firearms and stuff. I'm wondering if he got paired with me on purpose, since he seems to be the only venlil I know of interested in guns and engineering, just like I am.
​
Mick returned with his rifle, plopped it down onto the bench we would be shooting from, and extracted his rifle. A Desert Tech SRS-A2 sniper rifle. This little thing was a compact, hard hitting bolt action bullpup from, again, the early 2000s. Did I mention that’s my favorite time period for my guns? Anyway, this would be the perfect rifle for mick, since it actually fit his slightly smaller stature perfectly. At 5 foot 6 inches, he’s a bit shorter than I am, at 6 feet even.
​
We got situated onto the bench, Mick handed me his rifle for calibration, so I did so, then handed it back to him. Modern boresights made it incredibly easy to zero things, as it would calculate drop for whatever settings you could input into it, meaning you just put the crosshair on where it should land and you have an accurate shot for the conditions specified. Quite incredible if you ask me, somehow it just kinda…works. I’m certainly not complaining.
​
I went ahead and loaded up the magazine for Mick’s rifle. Despite its small stature, the SRS was still quite powerful. I configured it with the longest barrel, and put a .338 chamber and bolt in there, the highest caliber that would fit the time frame of the competition. Modern versions of the gun could be chambered in pretty much anything you want, but I prefer to stick within proper time periods for my builds. Sure, I could slap a cutting edge auto-zeroing, thermal, solar powered, auto range finding, perfectly accurate every time guaranteed scope on top of my Lee-Enfield from 1914, but what’s the fun in that? It looks awkward, is completely historically wrong, and wouldn’t help anyone that is already a good shooter anyway.
​
I signed up for the vintage challenge because of that specifically, it only allows rifles and attachments from before the 2030s, the latest time period I’d be invested in. It actually had some challenges, rather than being point and shoot.
​
“Hey Finn you there? You zoned out a little…”
​
“Oh, sorry, just thinkin.”
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“No worries, I just wanna shoot my gun, and you’re kinda holding it right now.”
​
“Ah sorry, here.”
​
I handed the rifle back to him, and walked on over to the spotter scope I had left nearby. This device was a standalone scope that just sat on a tripod, had a 36x zoom (a bit more than we needed but that’s fine), and an angled viewport so you just had to take a look into it without bending down quite as far.
​
Our target was about 200 meters away, a solid long distance shot for most, but pretty easy with the right equipment.
​
“OK, you ready mick? Move the throw lever to a higher magnification so you can see what you're aiming at, the red target marked 200.”
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“Got it, I see it.”
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“Ok, wind is… 4 MPH to the left, aim just slightly right of center, up one notch from the crosshair.”
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“Ok, I'm aiming, fire?”
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“When ready!” Time to see how good mick’s exact shot placement is, the goal being the exact center of the target.
​
Mick squeezed his trigger, I felt the blast off to my left, and I watched the .338 tracer round fly through the air. Impact a bit high and to the right. Solid characteristics of a flinched shot, compounded by the fact that I watched him flinch when he pulled the trigger.
​
“Bud, you flinched it a little. It’s ok if you don’t hit dead center, ya know.”
​
“Sorry… just feels like I've got a lot of pressure over my head for some reason.”
​
“Hey, don’t apologize for nothing, save it for mistakes.” I paused for a moment to let it sink in. “Can you think of why you might have flinched?”
​
“Probably just that I have that streak of not missing once going, and I feel like I’ll lose that.”
​
“Alright then, lemme help.”
​
I scooted over, racked another round into his gun, and told him just to slam a round into the dirt under the target. Hopefully breaking the (frankly impressive) no misses streak he had going would stop him from flinching. I then told him to try again, the wind moved a little right this time, so I told him to hold one mill to the left.
​
Another puff of wind, another tracer flying downrange. The projectile slammed face first into the middle of the target, only off by about a quarter of an inch. Exactly where I wanted him to hit it, not perfect but still quite good.
​
“Nice shot, didn’t flinch it this time I see?”
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“Oh wow, I'm surprised that it worked, are you always this skilled at reading people?”
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“I am when they tell me what the problem is, such as you’ve done.”
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“AH. Yea that would help.”
​
That’s another thing I like about Mick, he’s always incredibly honest. If he’s not hiding anything he’ll just outright say what’s wrong instead of so many other people who will carry on as if nothing’s wrong despite the fact that there’s a problematic thorn stuck in their side.
​
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
​
After about 30 minutes of me practicing shot calling and Mick practicing his aim on further and further targets, it was time for the competition. It consisted of a speed shot contest, hit the 300 meter target 5 times quickly, the ‘White Feather’ shot, hit a 2 inch target from 500 meters, and the ‘Sniper Elite’ shot, a half-covered man size target from 1.5 kilometers away. Thankfully for that one it doesn’t matter where you hit him, as long as you do hit him.
​
The familiar whistle rang out, drawing the competitors away from their firearms and towards the instructors, here to tell us how the rules worked. I had heard (and delivered) this spiel so many times I knew it by heart, so I just tuned it out until he was done rambling. Mick listened intently, according to his ears, at least. Those ears gave a good indicator of the amount of attention he was paying to any given thing, for instance, if he was focused on the shot he was about to take I noticed he would sweep them backward, like a cat about to start bouncing off the walls, or when he was focusing on someone’s conversation they would angle forward slightly.
​
I was pulled from that train of thought when the instructor finished his explanation of the rules, and we were allowed to return to our tables to get ready for the competition ahead. I removed the magazine, press checked the chamber, and put a flag in for good measure. Mick followed suit, and we were ready to compete. I decided we wouldn’t be waiting too long this time, since we had been here before everyone else. I was going first, mick would be my spotter (thankfully he would only have to call out the wind, since I can handle rangefinding and elevation), then we would switch out for me as the spotter and Mick as the sniper, where I would have to tell him exactly where to aim on the crosshairs.
​
We were called forward to our bench, where the magic would begin. I laid out a few extra magazines in front of me, I was definitely going to need them for that 1500 shot, re-calibrated the rangefinder for mick, and set up the shot timer that we would both have to use. I was now ready to go, and was just waiting for the instructor to give me the go-ahead.
​
The instructor noticed that we were ready to go, so he began his usual lines. “Shooter ready? Standby…”
​
BEEP!
​
I quickly flipped the safety off, racked a round into the chamber, and began lining up for the speed shots. “Mick, what's the wind like?” I requested, with urgency.
​
“About… 2 miles leftward?”
​
I aimed ever so slightly to the right of the center of my target, and released the breath I was holding. Exhale, pause, squeeze slowly but surely… fire. Impact a fraction of a second later, half an inch off the center. Rack the bolt again, new round in the chamber, repeat. Aim, exhale… fire. Impact. Rack bolt, aim center, exhale… fire, impact.
​
This sequence repeated 2 more times, both shots landing in a very tight group around the center of the target. Next up was the ‘White feather’ shot, hitting a tiny, 2x2 target from extreme distance.
​
I threw the zoom lever on the scope to the right, adjust the zero to 500, request the windage.
​
“What’s the wind now?” I asked again. It had been long enough where the wind may have changed direction.
​
“6 miles per hour, slightly right but mostly parallel to the range, seems like.”
​
That meant I had to hold one dot left, aim slightly lower than the target due to the wind carrying it further than I could easily zero for. I place the target into the spot in my scope, hold my breath for a moment, exhale, hold… fire.
​
“Impact low, centered.” Mick called out. I had overcompensated for the wind’s carrying effect, so I had hit a bit low of the 2 inch wide target. Adjust so it’s on the line, still one mil dot to the left, exhale, hold… fire. The bullet did its thing, and impacted the little red circle. A simple, yet deceptively hard shot, even if you have accurate holds and an even more accurate rifle. Funnily enough, the guy who originally made the shot this competition was trying to emulate happened to be my great (x9) grandfather. Carlos Hathcock was notorious during the Vietnam war, gaining a bounty of over 30000 dollars just on him alone. Nobody managed to claim that bounty, fortunately, but many counter-snipers tried.
​
On one of those occasions, a sniper caught sight of him from roughly 500 meters away, leaving a notable glint from the reflection on the front of the scope. He then took aim at the flash, and fired his rifle, where the bullet went straight through the scope into the enemy sniper’s eye. A frankly insane shot, even under ideal conditions such as we have here. Thankfully, we only have to hit about half a playing card rather than a tiny, 1 inch wide tube.
​
Next was the ‘Sniper Elite’ shot, apparently named after an old video game about sniping, set during the second world war. At first I couldn’t see the target, 1.5 kilometers is quite an insane distance even for some of the more skilled shooters, such as myself. I had to spot the little flag flying next to it, then find it again within the magnified scope. I threw the magnification all the way up, ticked up the zero until it hit its maximum, 1000 meters. Seems the maker of this scope never expected anyone to try and throw a round more than a kilometer down range, but here I was doing it anyway.
​
“Mick, wind?” I asked, a bit too impatiently.
​
“Here it looks like… 7 MPH going perpendicular toward the right.”
​
“Thank you.” I said, hoping to make up for my impatience.
​
I placed my aim onto the target, aimed with the lowest mil on the scope, shift left 1 and a half, hold breath, exhale, hold… Fire!
​
I watched the tracer take its sweet time waltzing it’s way over yonder to the target. I could also see it impact the ground about a foot too low. I had to try again. I quickly racked the bolt, putting another .408 round into the chamber.
​
I aimed, then I pulled the zoom lever on the scope back to the left, zooming back out so I could see the other mils that were hidden under the eye box of the scope. It was exactly what I needed.
​
I placed the crosshair back on the target, raised it up a few mils until I was aiming the same way I was before, then lifted my point of aim another few inches up. If the wind hadn’t changed too much, this should hit roughly the center of the target.
​
Hold breath, exhale, hold… fire. The tracer flew through the air again, whacking itself straight into the center of the target.
​
A buzzer rang from behind us signaling the end of the run. 20 seconds for the speed shots, 30 for the scope shot, and another 25 for the long range. 75 seconds is enough to get full bonus points, plus a little penalty for missing twice, means that I get a score of 13, out of 15. Not bad, not bad at all.
​
We had a short break, where I set Mick's rifle up, showed him how to adjust for distance, and where the bullets should roughly land when accounting for wind and drop. Mick picked up how to do it quickly, as he seemed to do with anything I showed him, I wonder if he has some sort of neurodivergence? It doesn’t matter to me if he does, I just like having a friend around.
​
The instructor informed us that it was time for Mick to do his run. I handed Mick the magazines, and got set up behind the spotter scope. Both of us gave the signal for the instructor to begin his timing.
​
“Shooter ready? Standby…”
​
BEEP!
​
I watched as Mick quickly zeroed the scope for 300 meters, placed his aim onto the target, and let his round loose. As expected, smack dab in the middle. I was now just watching through the spotter scope, seeing the rounds hit and calling out if they did or not. “Hit!”
​
Mick cycled the bolt, throwing the empty case to the floor next to the stand where we were set up. He managed to keep the rifle stable on the target, so he barely had to adjust before sending another round directly on target. “Hit!”
​
This repeated another three times, fire, “hit!”, cycle. Mick’s aim was still impeccable, although that wasn’t saying much due to it only being a 300 meter shot. Mick redirected his aim over to the 2x2 inch target that was for the ‘White Feather’ shot. I watched him click the dial for distance over another 4 notches, zeroing for 500 meters.
​
I glanced over to the windage monitor, it proclaimed that the wind was going at 3 MPH to the right of the range. I calculated in my head that it would mean he would have to adjust to the left about half of a mil dot, so I relayed this to him. “About half a mil left, exactly on the middle crosshair line.
​
Mick flicked his ears in an affirmative gesture, and I saw the rifle nudge ever so slightly to the left. His shot impacted the middle of the target on its first trip downrange, even better than I did.
​
“HIT!”
​
Next up was that ‘Sniper Elite’ shot, a simple hit at 1500 meters was all you needed. Mick swung his aim over to the target, flicked the zoom all the way in, and rotated the zeroing to 1500. Fortunately for him, his scope actually went all the way out to 2000 meters, so he didn’t have to miss, then guesstimate like I had.
​
I once again glanced at the wind monitor, and it was practically nothing.
​
0.2 MPH.
​
The air was perfectly still (or as still as you could reasonably hope for) so there was no better opportunity than now for him to get this perfect shot off. “Dead center of the target, the wind’s stopped!”
​
Out of my peripheral vision, I see Mick holding his breath like I had, then slowly pulling the trigger. The rifle did it’s thing, a hammer falling into a striker, setting off a primer, deflagrating exactly 275 grains of gunpowder, propelling a single copper coated round down the barrel at 3000 feet per second, sending it off on the most textbook shot in the history of long range shooting, the bullet spiraled through the air, nearing closer to its destination every millisecond.
​
The wind decided to cooperate with us today, keeping itself stock still as the round sliced through the air, on a collision course with the exact center of the man sized silhouette target that sat at the end of the range.
​
I saw through the spotter scope, a bullet impact its target with an unparalleled level of luckiness, flattening itself against the steel of the target.
​
“FUCKIN HIT! NICE SHOT MICK!” I shouted, immediately standing up with my arm poised for the greatest high five any man or venlil had ever seen.
​
Mick had seen the bullet impact, but wasn’t quite as excited as I was. He still got up, noticing my excitement through those side facing eyes of his, then he raised his own paw, held it back, ready to slingshot it against mine.
​
The ultimately satisfying sound of a good high five soon followed, our hands (and paws) slapping together right at the palms, the force resonating loud enough to actually make the active hearing protection dampen it for us. The impressiveness of the shot was not to be undersold, and we were about to learn what mick’s score was.
​
The instructor walked over, then told us what his results were.
​
86 seconds, 15 points out of a total of 15, one bonus point for time, not counted due to an already perfect score. I could barely believe it, Mick was wagging his tail, the instructor even looked a little impressed. Mick had probably won it, or at least tied for first.
​
An hour or 2 later, all the other competitors had taken their shots. I ended up getting tied for 3rd, with one other competitor. I decided that I would give up whatever prize I would have gotten to the other guy, since I already won once today. The podium ceremony was next up, this time Mick was at the top of it. He got a voucher for a rifle again, like the guy that won the IPSC section, but he could also trade it in for about 1000 bucks of stuff from the equipment store. He got himself a plate carrier similar to mine, a nice faux leather holster (which now contained his pistol), and another pair of tactical pants, this time in tan-gray instead of the navy blue of the ones he won.
​
Our next and final competition was coming up soon, some sort of mix between Olympic and skeet shooting. Why they decided to combine both of those, I had no idea. Sounds fun anyway, so I’m not gonna question it.
[First] [Previous] [Next (coming soon)]
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Author's note: Wow, this chapter took a lot less time than the rest of them. I'm gonna take a break from writing the main story for a little while, you should expect a prologue coming next, in my inconsistent as always timeframe.
Hope you enjoyed it, i'm gonna go to bed now. (I released this during finals week at midnight, wahoo!)

Mets @ Braves - Tue, Jun 06

Game Status: Game Over - Score: 6-4 Braves

Links & Info

• MLB Gameday
• Game Graphs
• Savant Gamefeed

	Mets Batters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	OBP	SLG
1	Nimmo - CF	3	0	0	0	1	2	1	.288	.374	.419
2	Lindor - SS	3	1	1	2	1	0	1	.214	.287	.416
3	McNeil - LF	3	1	0	0	1	0	2	.278	.355	.347
4	Alonso - 1B	4	1	1	2	0	1	1	.231	.323	.546
5	Vogelbach - DH	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	.209	.345	.304
6	Marte, S - RF	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.245	.308	.327
7	Baty - 3B	3	0	1	0	0	1	1	.229	.301	.366
8	Escobar, Edu - 2B	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.227	.269	.402
9	Narváez - C	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	.313	.368	.313
	a-Pham - PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.232	.324	.453
	Alvarez - C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.237	.291	.492
	Totals	30	4	4	4	3	10	7

Mets
a-Struck out for Narváez in the 8th.
BATTING: HR: Lindor (11, 3rd inning off Elder, 1 on, 2 out); Alonso (22, 3rd inning off Elder, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Alonso 4; Baty; Lindor 4; Narváez. RBI: Alonso 2 (49); Lindor 2 (42). 2-out RBI: Alonso 2; Lindor 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: McNeil. GIDP: Baty; Escobar, Edu. Team RISP: 0-for-1. Team LOB: 2.
FIELDING: E: McNeil (1, fielding). DP: 2 (Baty-Escobar, Edu-Alonso; Lindor-Escobar, Edu-Alonso).

	Braves Batters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	OBP	SLG
1	Acuña Jr. - RF	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	.329	.404	.558
2	Olson - 1B	3	1	1	0	1	1	1	.233	.363	.516
3	Riley, A - 3B	3	1	2	0	0	0	0	.267	.336	.457
4	Murphy, S - C	4	1	1	2	0	0	4	.288	.391	.542
5	Rosario, E - LF	4	1	1	0	0	2	1	.256	.282	.472
6	Albies - 2B	3	1	1	1	1	0	1	.258	.306	.485
7	Ozuna - DH	4	1	1	2	0	0	1	.228	.311	.468
8	Arcia, Or - SS	3	0	2	1	1	0	0	.311	.372	.452
9	Harris II, M - CF	4	0	0	0	0	2	4	.163	.246	.244
	Totals	32	6	10	6	3	6	13

Braves
BATTING: 2B: Riley, A (14, Carrasco); Murphy, S (12, Carrasco); Ozuna (5, Smith, Dr); Rosario, E (11, Ottavino). HR: Albies (13, 2nd inning off Carrasco, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Acuña Jr.; Albies 4; Arcia, Or 2; Murphy, S 2; Olson; Ozuna 2; Riley, A 3; Rosario, E 2. RBI: Albies (39); Arcia, Or (14); Murphy, S 2 (40); Ozuna 2 (25). 2-out RBI: Ozuna; Arcia, Or. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Harris II, M; Murphy, S. GIDP: Acuña Jr.; Murphy, S. Team RISP: 4-for-10. Team LOB: 6.
FIELDING: E: Riley, A (7, fielding). DP: 2 (Olson-Arcia, Or-Elder; Albies-Arcia, Or-Olson).

Mets Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-S	ERA
Carrasco	5.0	6	4	4	2	4	1	86-52	5.94
Smith, Dr (L, 3-2)(BS, 1)	1.0	2	1	1	0	1	0	25-17	3.74
Brigham	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	14-11	3.63
Ottavino	1.0	2	1	1	1	0	0	22-15	4.13
Totals	8.0	10	6	6	3	6	1

Braves Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-S	ERA
Elder (W, 4-0)	6.0	4	4	4	2	8	2	101-63	2.26
Chavez (H, 12)	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	16-10	1.73
Minter (H, 2)	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	18-10	6.26
Iglesias, R (S, 8)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	17-12	2.84
Totals	9.0	4	4	4	3	10	2

Game Info
WP: Smith, Dr; Minter.
IBB: Albies (by Ottavino).
HBP: Riley, A (by Carrasco).
Pitch timer violations: Narváez (catcher); Nimmo (batter timer).
Pitches-strikes: Carrasco 86-52; Smith, Dr 25-17; Brigham 14-11; Ottavino 22-15; Elder 101-63; Chavez 16-10; Minter 18-10; Iglesias, R 17-12.
Groundouts-flyouts: Carrasco 7-1; Smith, Dr 1-0; Brigham 0-1; Ottavino 1-0; Elder 2-6; Chavez 3-0; Minter 0-1; Iglesias, R 2-0.
Batters faced: Carrasco 22; Smith, Dr 5; Brigham 3; Ottavino 6; Elder 23; Chavez 3; Minter 4; Iglesias, R 3.
Inherited runners-scored: Smith, Dr 1-1.
Ejections: Mets bench coach Eric Chavez ejected by HP umpire D. J. Reyburn (3rd).
Umpires: HP: D.J. Reyburn. 1B: John Libka. 2B: Clint Vondrak. 3B: James Hoye.
Weather: 74 degrees, Cloudy.
Wind: 8 mph, R To L.
First pitch: 9:00 PM.
T: 2:38 (1:40 delay).
Att: 37,365.
Venue: Truist Park.
June 6, 2023

Inning	Scoring Play	Score
Bottom 2	Ozzie Albies homers (13) on a fly ball to center field.	1-0 ATL
Top 3	Francisco Lindor homers (11) on a fly ball to right field. Omar Narvaez scores.	2-1 NYM
Top 3	Pete Alonso homers (22) on a fly ball to left center field. Jeff McNeil scores.	4-1 NYM
Bottom 6	Sean Murphy doubles (12) on a sharp line drive to left fielder Jeff McNeil. Matt Olson scores. Austin Riley scores.	4-3 NYM
Bottom 6	Marcell Ozuna doubles (5) on a sharp line drive to left fielder Jeff McNeil. Sean Murphy scores.	4-4
Bottom 6	Orlando Arcia singles on a ground ball to shortstop Francisco Lindor, deflected by second baseman Eduardo Escobar. Marcell Ozuna scores.	5-4 ATL
Bottom 8	Braves challenged (force play), call on the field was overturned: Marcell Ozuna grounds out, shortstop Francisco Lindor to second baseman Eduardo Escobar to first baseman Pete Alonso. Eddie Rosario scores. Ozzie Albies to 2nd.	6-4 ATL

Team	Highlight
ATL	Bullpen availability for Atlanta, June 6 vs Mets (00:00:07)
NYM	Bullpen availability for New York, June 6 vs Braves (00:00:07)
ATL	Fielding alignment for Atlanta, June 6 vs Mets (00:00:11)
ATL	Starting lineups for Mets at Braves - June 6, 2023 (00:00:09)
ATL	Bryce Elder's outing against the Mets (00:00:23)
ATL	Ozzie Albies' solo home run (13) (00:00:29)
NYM	Lindor's two-run homer (11) (00:00:27)
NYM	Pete Alonso's two-run homer (22) (00:00:33)
ATL	Field view of Albies' home run (00:00:36)
NYM	Field view of Alonso's homer (00:00:30)
NYM	Field View of Lindor's home run (00:00:31)
ATL	Sean Murphy's two-run double (00:00:26)
ATL	Marcell Ozuna's RBI double (00:00:13)
ATL	Orlando Arcia's RBI single (00:00:11)
NYM	Carrasco strikes out four (00:00:29)
ATL	Elder strikes out eight in start (00:01:05)
NYM	Marcell Ozuna's RBI groundout (00:00:34)
ATL	Mets challenged (force play), call on the field was overturned: Marcell Ozuna grounds out, shortstop Francisco Lindor to second baseman Eduardo Escobar to first baseman Pete Alonso. Eddie Rosario scores. Ozzie Albies to 2nd. (00:00:12)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E	LOB
Mets	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0		4	4	1	2
Braves	0	1	0	0	0	4	0	1			6	10	1	6

Decisions

• Winner: Bryce Elder (4-0, 2.26)
• Loser: Drew Smith (3-2, 3.74)
• Save: Raisel Iglesias (8, 2.84)

Division Scoreboard

DET 0 @ PHI 1 - Final
KC 1 @ MIA 6 - Final
AZ 10 @ WSH 5 - Final
Next Mets Game: Wed, Jun 07, 07:20 PM EDT @ Braves
^{Posted: 06/06/2023 11:41:15 PM EDT}

Mets @ Braves - Tue, Jun 06

Game Status: Game Over - Score: 6-4 Braves

Links & Info

• MLB Gameday
• Game Graphs
• Savant Gamefeed

	Mets Batters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	OBP	SLG
1	Nimmo - CF	3	0	0	0	1	2	1	.288	.374	.419
2	Lindor - SS	3	1	1	2	1	0	1	.214	.287	.416
3	McNeil - LF	3	1	0	0	1	0	2	.278	.355	.347
4	Alonso - 1B	4	1	1	2	0	1	1	.231	.323	.546
5	Vogelbach - DH	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	.209	.345	.304
6	Marte, S - RF	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.245	.308	.327
7	Baty - 3B	3	0	1	0	0	1	1	.229	.301	.366
8	Escobar, Edu - 2B	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.227	.269	.402
9	Narváez - C	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	.313	.368	.313
	a-Pham - PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.232	.324	.453
	Alvarez - C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.237	.291	.492
	Totals	30	4	4	4	3	10	7

Mets
a-Struck out for Narváez in the 8th.
BATTING: HR: Lindor (11, 3rd inning off Elder, 1 on, 2 out); Alonso (22, 3rd inning off Elder, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Alonso 4; Baty; Lindor 4; Narváez. RBI: Alonso 2 (49); Lindor 2 (42). 2-out RBI: Alonso 2; Lindor 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: McNeil. GIDP: Baty; Escobar, Edu. Team RISP: 0-for-1. Team LOB: 2.
FIELDING: E: McNeil (1, fielding). DP: 2 (Baty-Escobar, Edu-Alonso; Lindor-Escobar, Edu-Alonso).

	Braves Batters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	OBP	SLG
1	Acuña Jr. - RF	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	.329	.404	.558
2	Olson - 1B	3	1	1	0	1	1	1	.233	.363	.516
3	Riley, A - 3B	3	1	2	0	0	0	0	.267	.336	.457
4	Murphy, S - C	4	1	1	2	0	0	4	.288	.391	.542
5	Rosario, E - LF	4	1	1	0	0	2	1	.256	.282	.472
6	Albies - 2B	3	1	1	1	1	0	1	.258	.306	.485
7	Ozuna - DH	4	1	1	2	0	0	1	.228	.311	.468
8	Arcia, Or - SS	3	0	2	1	1	0	0	.311	.372	.452
9	Harris II, M - CF	4	0	0	0	0	2	4	.163	.246	.244
	Totals	32	6	10	6	3	6	13

Braves
BATTING: 2B: Riley, A (14, Carrasco); Murphy, S (12, Carrasco); Ozuna (5, Smith, Dr); Rosario, E (11, Ottavino). HR: Albies (13, 2nd inning off Carrasco, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Acuña Jr.; Albies 4; Arcia, Or 2; Murphy, S 2; Olson; Ozuna 2; Riley, A 3; Rosario, E 2. RBI: Albies (39); Arcia, Or (14); Murphy, S 2 (40); Ozuna 2 (25). 2-out RBI: Ozuna; Arcia, Or. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Harris II, M; Murphy, S. GIDP: Acuña Jr.; Murphy, S. Team RISP: 4-for-10. Team LOB: 6.
FIELDING: E: Riley, A (7, fielding). DP: 2 (Olson-Arcia, Or-Elder; Albies-Arcia, Or-Olson).

Mets Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-S	ERA
Carrasco	5.0	6	4	4	2	4	1	86-52	5.94
Smith, Dr (L, 3-2)(BS, 1)	1.0	2	1	1	0	1	0	25-17	3.74
Brigham	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	14-11	3.63
Ottavino	1.0	2	1	1	1	0	0	22-15	4.13
Totals	8.0	10	6	6	3	6	1

Braves Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-S	ERA
Elder (W, 4-0)	6.0	4	4	4	2	8	2	101-63	2.26
Chavez (H, 12)	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	16-10	1.73
Minter (H, 2)	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	18-10	6.26
Iglesias, R (S, 8)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	17-12	2.84
Totals	9.0	4	4	4	3	10	2

Game Info
WP: Smith, Dr; Minter.
IBB: Albies (by Ottavino).
HBP: Riley, A (by Carrasco).
Pitch timer violations: Narváez (catcher); Nimmo (batter timer).
Pitches-strikes: Carrasco 86-52; Smith, Dr 25-17; Brigham 14-11; Ottavino 22-15; Elder 101-63; Chavez 16-10; Minter 18-10; Iglesias, R 17-12.
Groundouts-flyouts: Carrasco 7-1; Smith, Dr 1-0; Brigham 0-1; Ottavino 1-0; Elder 2-6; Chavez 3-0; Minter 0-1; Iglesias, R 2-0.
Batters faced: Carrasco 22; Smith, Dr 5; Brigham 3; Ottavino 6; Elder 23; Chavez 3; Minter 4; Iglesias, R 3.
Inherited runners-scored: Smith, Dr 1-1.
Ejections: Mets bench coach Eric Chavez ejected by HP umpire D. J. Reyburn (3rd).
Umpires: HP: D.J. Reyburn. 1B: John Libka. 2B: Clint Vondrak. 3B: James Hoye.
Weather: 74 degrees, Cloudy.
Wind: 8 mph, R To L.
First pitch: 9:00 PM.
T: 2:38 (1:40 delay).
Att: 37,365.
Venue: Truist Park.
June 6, 2023

Inning	Scoring Play	Score
Bottom 2	Ozzie Albies homers (13) on a fly ball to center field.	1-0 ATL
Top 3	Francisco Lindor homers (11) on a fly ball to right field. Omar Narvaez scores.	2-1 NYM
Top 3	Pete Alonso homers (22) on a fly ball to left center field. Jeff McNeil scores.	4-1 NYM
Bottom 6	Sean Murphy doubles (12) on a sharp line drive to left fielder Jeff McNeil. Matt Olson scores. Austin Riley scores.	4-3 NYM
Bottom 6	Marcell Ozuna doubles (5) on a sharp line drive to left fielder Jeff McNeil. Sean Murphy scores.	4-4
Bottom 6	Orlando Arcia singles on a ground ball to shortstop Francisco Lindor, deflected by second baseman Eduardo Escobar. Marcell Ozuna scores.	5-4 ATL
Bottom 8	Braves challenged (force play), call on the field was overturned: Marcell Ozuna grounds out, shortstop Francisco Lindor to second baseman Eduardo Escobar to first baseman Pete Alonso. Eddie Rosario scores. Ozzie Albies to 2nd.	6-4 ATL

Team	Highlight
ATL	Bullpen availability for Atlanta, June 6 vs Mets (00:00:07)
NYM	Bullpen availability for New York, June 6 vs Braves (00:00:07)
ATL	Fielding alignment for Atlanta, June 6 vs Mets (00:00:11)
ATL	Starting lineups for Mets at Braves - June 6, 2023 (00:00:09)
ATL	Bryce Elder's outing against the Mets (00:00:23)
ATL	Ozzie Albies' solo home run (13) (00:00:29)
NYM	Lindor's two-run homer (11) (00:00:27)
NYM	Pete Alonso's two-run homer (22) (00:00:33)
ATL	Field view of Albies' home run (00:00:36)
NYM	Field view of Alonso's homer (00:00:30)
NYM	Field View of Lindor's home run (00:00:31)
ATL	Sean Murphy's two-run double (00:00:26)
ATL	Marcell Ozuna's RBI double (00:00:13)
ATL	Orlando Arcia's RBI single (00:00:11)
NYM	Carrasco strikes out four (00:00:29)
ATL	Elder strikes out eight in start (00:01:05)
NYM	Marcell Ozuna's RBI groundout (00:00:34)
ATL	Mets challenged (force play), call on the field was overturned: Marcell Ozuna grounds out, shortstop Francisco Lindor to second baseman Eduardo Escobar to first baseman Pete Alonso. Eddie Rosario scores. Ozzie Albies to 2nd. (00:00:12)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E	LOB
Mets	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0		4	4	1	2
Braves	0	1	0	0	0	4	0	1			6	10	1	6

Decisions

• Winner: Bryce Elder (4-0, 2.26)
• Loser: Drew Smith (3-2, 3.74)
• Save: Raisel Iglesias (8, 2.84)

Division Scoreboard

DET 0 @ PHI 1 - Final
KC 1 @ MIA 6 - Final
AZ 10 @ WSH 5 - Final
Next Braves Game: Wed, Jun 07, 07:20 PM EDT vs. Mets
^{Posted: 06/06/2023 11:40:14 PM EDT}

Hello Everyone, thanks for Reading, and thanks again for u/MelasD for creating Amelia the level zero [Hero], a universe where people operate under a system where magic is controlled akin to a videogame.
First Chapter * Next Chapter!
​
A Scale of Vengance, Part Two.
I awoke in a place I did not recognize, remembering the spell circle, and the Egg, but this space was alien, beyond anything I had seen.{Welcome! You have been chosen/volunteered for introduction to the [Guardian Spirit] program! I am your guide for this process, do you consent to continue? Saying no will have no consequence for rejection, saying yes will begin the process of integration into the program. Y/N?}
I blinked, listening to a voice made of several voices, some male, some female, blended into each other, like a choir.
I said “Yes”, not wanting to be rejected, and the Guardian not be resurrected.
{Input received! Welcome Spirit Host! You will now pick your Avatar for the Dragon Spirit, this avatar will affect how the spirit interfaces with the world around it, its potential powers, and instincts toward you, and the world around it.}
A path lit up before me, and darkened behind me, guiding me as I walked forwards into a field full of Dragons! I looked at them, all beautiful and majestic, yet each one slightly different from the next. One of the Dragons was playing with a large ball, bouncing it around on it’s nose as a game.
It addressed me in a high pitched voice.“Hello! I was the [Guardian Spirit] who watched over your city, and together with my Host, we were Carana! We had so much fun playing together, but I was tired and hungry when I was killed fighting.”
The Dragon was no bigger than I, and on all fours, so I petted her, reassuringly. “You tried, that [Hero King] is beyond what we expected, though you being hungry affected the fight? Why didn’t you eat before you fought?” I asked as she leaned into me.
The Dragon formerly known as Carana looked at me sadly “There was nothing left to eat, my host was all gone, and I had been hungry for some time.”
I squatted on my haunches “Why didn’t your host just give you more to eat before a battle?” I asked, bewildered at why she had been neglected so.
The little dragon sighed, wilting visibly “You don’t understand, we Guardian Spirits are fed by consuming our hosts. You give up part of yourself for power, and we live off of your energies.”
All of a sudden, I looked at the room full of interested Dragons in a new light. Not as someone choosing to be granted great power, but volunteering to become a meal. I backed away from the small dragon, who just looked sad before bouncing the ball back into the air, and seemingly forgetting about me.
Another dragon walked up to me “I overheard your last conversation, I can tell that you don’t want a silly, fun loving spirit as your companion. I am the oldest and dare I say wisest of us here. I specialize in Magic and Agriculture.”
I looked at the green dragon, whose eyes were old, old beyond reckoning. Yet there was a softness to it, one that made me feel full of life and power through connecting with nature.“I don’t feel like we are compatible for what needs to be done, but would you help guide me, Green Dragon in helping find who I should journey with?” I asked it, and it smiled, it’s bark like skin cracked into a smile.
“I’d be delighted! So few ask that! You are a intelligent being, young master, the one of us you choose will be fed well, I think!”
I greatly daring ruffled the leaves of its mane playfully just as another being walked into the room, one with an absolutely alien appearance, a Black skinned Insect dressed up in Yellow silks.
The Green dragon Purred under my touch exclaiming “Ah! The gods smile on us, the feast continues!”
The being walked over to us, chittering and clicking, and oddly the Green Dragon returned the noises for a minute before looking back to me.“This H’hanata [Warrior] is on the same journey as yourself, a Host candidate. The polite thing to do is to nodd like this, and let them touch your head with theirs.” The Green Dragon Bowed to the 8 foot tall insect, which bowed in return touching its feelers to the Dragon’s head. I followed, feeling the odd feathery touch of feelers upon my scalp for a second, before it lifted its head, and I followed.
More clicking followed, and while the Green dragon was occupied, another orange and blue Dragon approached me. “Hello, I am the Dragon of Temperature. I make things colder or warmer, as well as changing the states of matter. I’d be pleased to help you, and my powers are based in science, we could lead your people into a new Golden Age!”
The Dragon trotted in place, excitedly so, enough to knock off the glasses it had pinched to it’s nose. I couldn’t help but be impressed by it having hopes as well. If the Green dragon was magical and wise, this one felt full of potential and energy. I felt drawn to it, if this had happened before the war, we would have bonded for sure. But..
“Thank you, but..” I almost finished before the [Warrior] approached, and with a rapid exchange of clicks exchanged both looked at me with the Temperature Dragon shuffling its claws “I think I have a host, now, but she wishes to know if we need it, can we call on you and what dragon you bond with in return?”
A popup appeared in front of me {Friend Request, Temperature Dragon and Lumm’ta wish to ally themselves with Spirit Candidate Talio. This may result in being summoned, or allow you to summon in return for a period based on your contribution’s limit. Y/N}
I said “Yes” knowing I may need help faster than I’d wish it.{Input Received! Friend request accepted!}
The Mantid and Dragon Bowed before glowing and fusing, disappearing in a bright light together. I looked around as the Green Dragon approached me once again.“Lucky bastard, every time he sells that “Golden Age” crap, people fall all over him.” The Green dragon muttered disgustedly.
I looked at him “You sound like you don’t think he can deliver on it?” I asked it, curiously.The green dragon harrumphed “The Temperature Dragon can, but it also leads to the destruction of more worlds than any of us are responsible for. Progress for its own sake is dangerous if not managed closely.” He said, beckoning me to follow with a raised foreclaw before leading me on, toward a Black dragon.
“Go away.” The small black cinder spoke.The Green dragon booted it in it’s tail, leading to a angry Black drake lashing out, less cinder like now as I seen it’s elegant form uncurled. It looked me up and down before curling back into a ball again.“Are you deaf? Go away.” It spoke. “I don’t want to eat you.”
The green dragon spoke up. “You don’t get that choice, Cinder. It’s our Karma do so if asked. So, let’s hear it. Unless you want me to oversell your abilities?”
It huffed before looking all kinds of fake enthused “Hello! I’m the Dragon of Time! Using my power, you can revert time back to the point of us joining, literally resetting every choice in the universe regardless of how big or small allowing you to alter any action and its consequences!”
It said this, smiling all the time like it’s face was breaking, before collapsing back into a puddle of melancholy.I listened, before giving the dragon a hug, something that caused it to hiss and shake, before I let go.
“*Hissss* What the hell was that for?” It asked.
“You look like someone who has seen something bad, so yeah. That and I kind of need one myself, seeing I’m not going to leave here without being one of you dragon’s dinners.” I said, in all seriousness, kneeling in front of it’s hurt expression. Do you mind answering a question for me?
It nodded, so I asked “What’s the drawback to your power?”
The Dragon looked thoughtful, then answered “The less bonded we are, the less the efficiency between the amount of energy used to alter time.”
I asked “Does that mean your power is limited then?”
It rested its head in my lap “It means that if we don’t first bond, you lose ⅓ of yourself for each major change, and in doing so reduces our future ability to bond. This is true of most of us, that bonding affects how we digest our meals. But for me, people wish for big changes often before we bond, and it’s not long before I’m back here, or stuck without a host, and too weak to help what cause my host wanted to alter.”It looked up into my eyes “I don’t want a meal, not like that. Go with the old timer, and enjoy centuries of time.” It said waving a ebony set of claws at the green dragon. “I can only wish for that level of efficiency.”
The green dragon harrumphed “The candidate’s world is in the midst of a class 3 Void incursion, The Angel Guardian has been activated, and is seeking aid. This means the system grants a 90% reduction in the cost of our abilities for the duration of the crisis. The previous guardian had no host energy left to spend, so was defeated!” It said, swatting the former guardian Carana’s ball across the cavern, causing her to roar indignantly.The Green dragon and Black Dragon chuckled at the immature antics as Carana pouted.
I asked “So, what’s your deal, besides being mischievous?The Blue Dragon stuck it’s forked tongue out at the Green dragon before addressing the Question. “I am the Fate Dragon. My abilities can see into the future and nudge things, making outcomes both practical and impractical happen.”
“That’s different from the Time Dragon?” I asked.
“Yes!” the Blue Dragon chirped happily “Where Cinder can change what has already happened, but not see how that action can change things, I can alter what may be, but once things happen I am powerless to alter it.”
The Black Dragon Grumbled “That’s true, and seeing the outcome of things, she can also most efficiently gauge how much of a host she needs to achieve what you need. It’s why Carana never stays here long, though she already knows you won’t choose them.”
The Blue dragon nodded “My next host will arrive in 15 minutes, 12 seconds from when Yellow punts my ball back to me.”And sure enough the ball came sailing back towards them, intercepted by Blue, who chortled bouncing it along as they left.
I started to take my hand off the Time Dragon’s scaled forepaw, but found my hand growing heavier, like it didn’t wish to separate, and suddenly I knew neither did I. At the same time the Dragon’s eyes widened.
“Why Me?” It asked in a voice wavering between grief and hunger, it looking both excited and worried, as we glowed brighter together.
“We are a match, because I already have the [Judge] skill, so we won’t burn out without knowing the costs. That and even the Green dragon looked at me as a meal. You see me as more than sustenance.” I said, as the Brightness fully engulfed us as we merged.
***===***
The Green Dragon watched the pair disappear, starting their shared life. “Be well, my child. Feed gently, hurt your host as little as you can. For they will soon be part of you.” He intoned, knowing his child’s power was hard to manage, but her heart was pure despite her color and appearance.

If my calculations are correct — and please correct me if they're not, since I didn't even know what the Altador Cup was until about a week ago — it should take roughly 3 hours of constant grinding per day to reach the Double All-Star rank in AC XVIII. This takes into account the 4 Bye Days, and assumes 23 days of full participation throughout the event. Here's the breakdown:

• Each game of Yooyuball is a fixed 3 minutes, maximum. You can bring this time down by 8 seconds for each goal you score, and since you need at least one goal to win the game (and therefore to submit it at all), you'll be operating at a max time of 2 minutes 52 seconds per game. We'll assume a generous 20 second delay in-between games too, just to account for any potential lag, delays, or other possible distractions that would take away from this optimal time. That would mean that each game, worst case, should take 3 minutes 12 seconds to submit. You can submit up to 35 Yooyuball games per day, so altogether, it should take you roughly 112 minutes — just under 2 hours — to slog through Yooyuball each day. This isn't even factoring in if you choose to score multiple goals each game, which would bring your time down even further from there. Doing this will net you 420 points per day, or 9,660 points total to spend at the prize shop when the event is over.
  
• For Shootout Showdown, it is fortunately a bit less cumbersome than the 301 game submission limit would lead you to think. The trick for this game is, you can end it prematurely after scoring a single goal; (the easiest way IMO is to use your mouse, click down to point toward the right end of the goal, and wait for the goalie to wander to the left to score a quick point) after 10 seconds have elapsed per game, such that the timer reads 50 seconds or less. Assuming a 5 second delay between games, each game of Shootout Showdown should then take you approximately 15 seconds max to submit, ergo 301 submissions should take about 1 hour, 15 minutes. This will net you 301 points per day, or 6,923 points total to spend at the prize shop when the event is over.
  

All-in-all, then, assuming it takes this much time for you to get through maxing both games each day, meaning no long breaks or outside interruptions between games, it would take you 187 minutes, or 3 hours, 7 minutes on average, to complete the Double All-Star grind. You would also end up with 16,583 total points to spend once all is said and done.
I'd include the other two games, Make Some Noise and Slushie Slinger in this post as well, but I don't plan on touching either of them for the duration of this event. I've never played either before, and am operating on the assumption that they'd each take longer than the rewards would be worth. But! If you're crazy and dedicated enough to try and max those out each day also, you could theoretically end up with an additional 15,893 points, giving you a total sum of 32,476 points to spend in the prize shop.
With that, good luck, everyone! I hope these numbers serve to help some players out :d

#include  #include  // Pin definitions for TFT screen #define TFT_CLK 13 #define TFT_MISO 12 #define TFT_MOSI 11 #define TFT_CS 10 #define TFT_DC 9 #define TFT_RST 8 // Touchscreen calibration values #define TS_MINX 150 #define TS_MAXX 900 #define TS_MINY 120 #define TS_MAXY 940 // Timer duration in seconds #define TIMER_DURATION 33 // Colors #define BLACK 0x0000 #define WHITE 0xFFFF #define RED 0xF800 #define GREEN 0x07E0 #define BLUE 0x001F #define YELLOW 0xFFE0 #define MAGENTA 0xF81F #define CYAN 0x07FF #define PURPLE 0x8010 #define GRAY 0x7BEF #define ORANGE 0xFD20 #define PINK 0xFC18 // TFT screen object TFT TFTscreen; // Touchscreen object TouchScreen ts = TouchScreen(XP, YP, XM, YM); //init TouchScreen port pins // Timer variables unsigned long timerStartTime = 0; unsigned long remainingTime = 0; unsigned long lastFlashTime = 0; unsigned long flashInterval = 500; // color customization unsigned int bgColor = BLACK; // Changes the background color unsigned int textColor = GREEN; // Changes the text and timer color unsigned int flashColor1 = RED; // Changes the first color of the flash when the timer expires unsigned int flashColor2 = BLUE; // Changes the second color of the flash when the timer expires unsigned int flashState = 1; // Variable to know if screen is showing flashColor1 or flashColor2 // States enum State { STATE_1, // Initial state STATE_2, // Timer running state STATE_3 // Flashing state }; State currentState = STATE_1; // Start in STATE_1 void setup() { Serial.begin(9600); // Initialize TFT screen TFTscreen.TFTinit(); // Set the initial screen color TFTscreen.fillScreen(0, 240, 0, 320, bgColor); // Display the "Touch to start" message TFTscreen.drawString("Touch to start", 40, 120, 3, textColor, LANDSCAPE); } void loop() { switch (currentState) { case STATE_1: handleState1(); break; case STATE_2: handleState2(); break; case STATE_3: handleState3(); break; } } void handleState1() { // Check if the touchscreen is touched to start the timer Point touch = ts.getPoint(); if (touch.z > 0) { // Start the timer currentState = STATE_2; timerStartTime = millis(); } } void handleState2() { // Calculate the remaining time unsigned long currentTime = millis() - timerStartTime; unsigned long remainingTime = TIMER_DURATION * 1000 - currentTime; unsigned int minutes = remainingTime / 60000; unsigned int seconds = (remainingTime / 1000) % 60; Serial.print("current time"); Serial.println(currentTime); Serial.print("remaining time"); Serial.println(remainingTime); // Display the countdown on the screen TFTscreen.fillScreen(0, 240, 0, 320, BLACK); char timeString[8]; snprintf(timeString, sizeof(timeString), "%02u:%02u", minutes, seconds); TFTscreen.drawString(timeString, 120, 160, 2, textColor, LANDSCAPE); // Check if the touchscreen is touched to reset the timer Point touch = ts.getPoint(); if (touch.z > 0) { // Reset the timer timerStartTime = millis(); } // Check if the timer has reached zero if (remainingTime < 500) { currentState = STATE_3; lastFlashTime = currentTime; } } void handleState3() { // Flash the screen between black and red unsigned long currentTime = millis(); unsigned long flashDuration = currentTime - lastFlashTime; if (flashDuration >= flashInterval) { if (flashState == 2) { TFTscreen.fillScreen(0, 240, 0, 320, flashColor1); flashState = 1; } else { TFTscreen.fillScreen(0, 240, 0, 320, flashColor2); flashState = 2; } lastFlashTime = currentTime; } // Check if the touchscreen is touched to move to STATE_2 Point touch = ts.getPoint(); if (touch.z > 0) { currentState = STATE_2; timerStartTime = millis(); remainingTime = TIMER_DURATION * 1000; } } 

the goal is a variable timer, which flashes when it expires, and resets when you touch the screen. if i set the TIMER_DURATION to 32, this all works fine, but when i hit 33, i get an overflow in the "remainingTime" variable.
i added serial print for current and remaining time, and at 32 seconds i get 32000 for remaining, and current counts up from zero as expected. at 33, instead of 33000 i get 4294934760, although current time still counts up from zero as expected.
i am fairly certain my prolem lies somewhere in void handleState2(), or the variable associated with it. but i have been beating my head against the wall for 7 hours.