Coronavirus and me and you

So, we'll get on to my latest gaming adventures in a minute, but in the meantime, has coronavirus got to you or any of your relatives? Everyone I know first hand has been relatively unscathed. In terms of casualties, one guy who I met one time last year, who may have subsequently been part of a business project that I was also going to be part of, has died from Covid-19. And one friend's friend, who I met one time, had Covid-19 and survived, but her mother did not. Both of these people were either 60+ or had existing medical issues.

So in terms of people that I've met (that I know of) nobody has died. Of people I have met, there's only one medically confirmed case (mentioned above). Whereas among people I haven't met but have heard of, or talked to online, there are six other "I think I had it" cases where I'm inclined to believe them, and a couple of "I think I had it" cases where I'm like "Yeah nah, that was just a headache, you haven't had it."

In the UK it's now required to wear a facemask in shops or on public transport, although when you go outside it's surprising how many people aren't wearing them, I think. On the other hand, if most people are like me and have only distantly heard of people dying from it, maybe they find it hard to take seriously.

How is it for you guys these days?

 

Nobody? What's the matter, the death and suffering of your loved ones is not "suitable" material for this games forum? You don't feel "comfortable" discussing real world topics here? This place is seen as a "refuge" from your day to day lives and you come here for light trolling and not to be made to think about the "reality" of your miserable and finite mortal lives?

Pfft. I'd say good morning but you don't deserve it, and also this is the wrong thread.

Anyway, I'm still on my first ever game of Crusader Kings II. Started off as the Count of Norfolk (if you remember), and I'm currently playing as the Emperor of Britannia who also owns a fair chunk of France and is about to inherit Norway too. So I guess I got the hang of it? It's not all been plain sailing - at one point my vassal King of Wales was set up to bring the rest of France into the fold, but then his father, the then King of France, got ousted by his rebellious subjects. So after that my guy was only in line for the Duchy of Paris, and then he died before inheriting it, so I ended up with nothing at all from that particular play. Plus my only son and daughter also both randomly died from illness around the same time, which could have meant game over, but fortunately I had a 10 year old bastard I could legitimize. Now I just have to hope he doesn't also die before he manages to get some heirs of his own.

 

I don't have any parent or friend who is covid positive. One of my parents is going to get an operation hopefully soon and can't risk to get it.

Anyway, I started playing the WIP mod for Arcanum for the first time. My favourite moments for now are stealing the 5000 gold from Tarant's major's safe and the S.P.A.M. device from Wolfebane. So much fun being a steam-mage thief!!

 

Nice. I've never played any Arcanum mods. My experience of mods in general is that they break gameplay balance and add content that is incongruous or broken, so I tend to stay away from anything that isn't an official release. Maybe I'm not being fair though, since I haven't tried many mods. I suppose I haven't tried many games either, by modern standards.

I was saying "nice" about your Arcanum playthrough, by the way, not about your parent's upcoming operation.

 

Sometimes mods can be fun. And if they are somehow broken/unfinished I won't mind a bit of cheating to compensate

And about the operation it was confirmed for the next week....

 

I've finished playing WIP (in the sense I got tired midgame, sorry....) and planning to try Carcanum after this little burnout.

Good afternoon.

 

Yeah, that's the other problem with mods. Generally I play the vanilla game until I'm sick of it, then I'm like "I know, I'll try a mod" and a short while into that I'm again sick of all the vanilla stuff that's still in there, i.e. most of the game.

I've now finished my first ever Crusader Kings II playthrough, which took me 134 hours. I was four counties away from becoming the Emperor of France when the clock ran out, but all the counties I didn't control were part of the Holy Roman Empire, so I couldn't do much about that.

My house rule for CK2 is that I'm not allowed to start any wars, including pressing claims. I can only acquire territory through marriage or by buttering up foreign heirs and landing them first. The latter feels a bit cheesy, but I really don't like wars, so what's a pacifist to do? Also, the AI can defeat that tactic by using Elective succession, because as soon as their heir moves to my court they change heirs.

I've heard good things about CK3 too. I'm looking forward to trying that one out if they make it free during the next pandemic.

 

I've tried Carcanum. Damn! While WIP adds lots of cool stuff, without breaking the balance of the game, Carcanum or Hardcanum or whatever puts too much stuff! Huge items occuping half the inventory, traps everywhere, absurd rules and extra stuff, countless items and more. It's like a second game was crammed inside! I don't know if I can play it....

 

My aunt, uncle, and the only one of their children who still lives with them, have just recovered from coronavirus. Or do we call it Covid-19 these days? Or just Covid? One thing is for sure, I'm not ever calling it "rona". Yech.

Anyway, normally we meet up with those guys over Christmas, and my understanding of virology is that it should be safer now, since they can't be carriers for a few years so that massively decreases our maximum collective potential R number. But since there is talk of some Covid patients getting re-infected, nobody is sure what to do, and we may just call off Christmas altogether.

Either way, I hope everyone else here is remaining similarly unscathed.

 

I'm quarantined at home with almost all my family positive :/ I hope nothing else will happens....

 

How did the operation go?

 

That went perfect, no problems at all.

Have you decided what to do at christmas?

 

Fuck I'm positive

 

There's a new strain of the virus in the UK, and London (where I live) is in Tier 4 lockdown, which means Christmas as we know it is effectively cancelled. The entire country is basically self-isolating right now, with freight to/from France suspended.

So yeah, that'll be my Christmas. Though I'm actually fine with it. It's nice to see family, etc, but generally I don't go in for celebration of arbitrary calendar milestones, so I'm not the least bit bothered by it.

Have you had a test, or do you just have symptoms and reckon that's what it is?

 

I did all the tests :/ at least I don't have any symptoms

Regarding your country, stay strong and stay safe

 

So you've had it, but without symptoms? That's the best possible result for you, plus you should now be immune for a while. Congrats.

 

Not bad indeed

 

It's getting to the point where almost everyone in my immediate circle has either had Covid (and survived, luckily) or been vaccinated. So I'm not really sure why lockdown hasn't been lifted yet. Surely the R number must be below 1 by now? Maybe I'm a weird outlier.

I mean, I definitely am, but maybe I'm one with regards to Covid as well.