Of all the days to need an eyepatch, or, a brief history of headaches.

Tex I'm sorry to hear about the migraine/cluster headaches. hopefully you are better now. Random question though (I'm good for those) have you ever played napoleonics historical wargames and if younhave what did you think of them? Hope all is going well and I'm hoping for a new xenonauts/xenonauts 2 playthrough as hopefully that doesn't get flagged by YouTube. oh and HOLY SHIT I loved your podcast with boss and deputy talking about warships! maybe a one every 8 weeks version of that or he'll twice a year would be good too.

Czarvak

Your perseverance is inspiring.

"A shaky foundation does not build a good house" bold from a man with load bearing Tupperware. In a more serious note, I wish I knew a medium I could create with. For now I'll support your creations.

New supporter, Awesome content!

Canopus

First off, thank you for the personal reply on the Crossroads post - but seriously, that's insane, it's at some 560 replies now.. Secondly, good God, man, if you can barely look at the screen, don't bother with us, take care of yourself! Which, I know, is probably like telling the sun to stop shining so bright, but still... I hope things are better by now. Loved Ep 110, btw. Dad worked on ships' engines back in the 70s, (including Dutch Navy and one of the SL-7, what are now the USN Algol-class FSS) and while I'm no engineer (I ended up an IT guy), tech like that has always been really interesting, and listening to you guys talk about something you're genuinely interested in is great anyway. No questions from me today, just wanted to show appreciation. Take care!

Erdanya

dear tex speaking of trains and shooting of them & warships wasn't there a club for ships that managed to do it? I know the H.M.S. Haida is one and to settle an argument was it the U.S.S. texas that flooded itself to shoot farther? or was the new jersey? be well & tell gypsy we said hi

tAU_786

Tex as someone who in the last year went from having all the time in the world to watch your videos and listen to the podcast (unemployed) to a guy that happily works delivering shit to people and as such only has X amount of time in the day i thank you for all you have done and keep doing because some days the podcast/vids keep me laughing in these shit times.

Dark was the day when people started taking the internet seriously. Darker still is that people born after that day grow up thinking that is normal. But hey, if a Sarna article actually expanded because a humorous "asshole with an opinion" started talking about it, maybe there's hope for this place yet!

David Fellner

Deeds - not words - exactly ;D Although your words usually fall in the "deeds" category because they are art. P.S. the way you talk about writing has hit me right in the feels. I sit, every day, and .. .let's just say, I can relate

Konstantin Pogorelov

Appreciate the thanks for my service, but it wasn’t necessary. I like the Charger. It’s a big brain design that most judge by its performance on vidya or tabletop games in the hands of those that simply don’t get that it’s the assault mech that isn’t. The Charger is a breakthrough exploitation mech, it’s a probe for defenses, and it’s there to bully mechs that are there to probe your defenses. It’s not gonna go toe to toe with mainliner assaults of its weight but it can bully the mediums it’s designed to bully. I want to see your take on it, and check out the memes I sent you.

Words ARE hard, Tex. You hit on one of my great bugbears with how I love telling stories and sharing with people, and feel compelled to offer empathy, sympathy and kind words....but the right words often are difficult to string together so the meaning in my head is the same as the meaning that reaches the other person. Its why as I write this I worry the things I want to say are taken in the wrong context, or as being meant in a way other than the respectful fashion they are intended to be. Disability is one such subject. You talk about people being diminished only in other peoples words and I feel you on that. Because some people say "oh that poor man" and think someone lesser. But then you get others who say "oh that poor man" not because he's only half a person, but because theres that knowing nod that the soul in question has experienced, endured, and suffered...and that has limited them in some way, even if it has not ended them. And thats where I hope I stand when I say "you poor bastard" for the hardships of life. Not because you're any less a man than anyone else, but because it has been hard, harder than perhaps it need be. And in the next breath a sign of respect because in spite of the hardship you accomplish and achieve and create because that is the noble endeavor of those blessed with the chance to do so. Some people take disability or physical or mental impairment and use them as a crutch. One of the people I felt so much secondhand shame if not disgust for was a cancer survivor not because he had cancer and lived, but because it became a cudgel to try and force the world to give and give and give because it owed him. It bred a sense of entitlement. And entitlement I think is where the line is drawn. Between people who face hardships and impairment and struggle on in the most stalwart of fashions, even in the face of their own failings and failures, and those who do not. On one side of the line, people are diminished. Reduced, and I would argue by their own hand. On the other, people prove they can stand taller than even the most blessed souls who know not what struggle is, through the fortitude of will and the strength of purpose. Its why I come back time and time again. You're right: fame is fleeting. The BPL is about the only channel I can say I've returned to regularly for more than a year, and even then I can't say I show up for everything. It is what it is. But theres no entitlement here that I can tell. No sign that the world owes you or your team or the guys at WBPL or anyone else a damn thing. Which makes a lot of it a whole lot more honest than so much out there. I mean, look at the internet. You're talking about a lot of what ails the modern discourse. Though I would contest that this isn't new. Nothing new under the sun, the saying goes. The easier path than creation is to throw rocks and heckle. Its much lower efforts. To incite outrage, to whip up frenzy and make yourself relevant not because you made something or did good, but just because you could find a little thorn to dig into some other guy. You see it on reddit and twitter and facebook, in the comments of youtube channels and blogs. But you also see it on television, and before that it was radio, and before that it was newpapers and leaflets and pamphlets and before that it was the man haranguing the crowd from a pulpit or a podium or just a good old fashioned soapbox. Being a voice tearing down from the sidelines is easy. Creation isnt. You said it yourself: it takes effort. Its why I respect what you and your team do; I don't throw words of praise your way because I want to make your ego swell or put you on a pedestal. I know you dont like those things. But the will and fortitude to endeavor and create takes effort and time and sweat and stress and then some, and its to be respected. By contrast I am just another voice on the sidelines, glad to support a creator but as yet without anything in my bucket to show for it. You said it. Output is what matters. Respect is due for people who put in the time and effort without sacrificing integrity. I don't envy you your pain, Tex. I certainly cannot understand it fully. We talked about that briefly, and the truth remains that yours is a lens alien to most, and I cannot comprehend how lonely a life that must be. But pain can make beauty, and I dont mean in some fucked up cenobyte style horror show bullshit. Pain is raw humanity that can be turned into true art, and you've said enough about it in this update to that end. It's why one of my favorite authors wrote like he did. Sir Terry Pratchett was a profoundly angry man at the world's many injustices and the people that enabled them. But he turned his own struggles into words that have impacted the lives of so many people. The heart is a mysterious thing that it lets some of the worst of life become the vessel for conveying some of the very best. And for the impact you've had in my world, and the world of others, I want to thank you every bit as much as you're thanking us for the support and willingness to allow you to build the things you do. Its a hard road you take and its impact has reach yet unknown, but for my limited perspective I would say the impact is a good one. I can fully understand your friends compassion in attempting to save your soul. That you have the compassion in turn to entertain the ideas even if they arent invited or entirely welcome speaks volumes, and I think is just another anecdote to the worth of what you and your friends create. Godspeed good spaceman, as ever I wish the best for you and the crew.

Iden DeSeer

Get well soon, crippling headaches are never fun. I'm past due for my annual visual migraine and that heart stopping "Migraine or stroke?" moment when I go blind in the center of my vision. I introduced one of my newer players to the Charger a couple of weeks ago. He's been in the game long enough to have heard the jokes but had never actually encountered one... and then his Centurion ended its movement exactly 8 hexes in a straight line from the Charger which lead to the question of "Wait, how much damage!?"

They Call Me Soup Can