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[-] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

If you see the video there is no way a battery behaves like that, even if you drive a nail into them they more rocket flames than explode (I used to work in a battery lab).

I should clarify, typical cells won't explode, you could defeat safety features for pressure release in a can cell but at that effort they would have just added something more energetic.

[-] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

Yeah they added "action keys" that can trigger different percentage presses (20-40-60-80-100%) as a "fix" because the bobsleigh blocks they added in the new game were not keyboard friendly and they wanted to even the playing field. They eventually changed the physics to get rid of that specific need (but not completely) but they are still useful in some situations.

Download the newest game! It has a free access tier which gets you access to the first 10 tracks of the quarterly campaign and to the ranked mode. It is a bit limited but enough to see if you might get back into it. There is a decent community on reddit for the game.

[-] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 35 points 2 days ago

AI has tons of potential but the final decision should come from a person that evaluates the output for correctness. This is a great example of that.

[-] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

There are advantages and disadvantages to all the control schemes depending on the types of tracks you play, the surface you play, and the car/environment you play.

Most good players play with controller because there are many situations you run into where you want the precision of steering a specific amount around a corner, or you are playing a track where you want to either speed drift (SD) at a specific angle (e.g. fullspeed or higher speed dirt/grass/plastic) or want to keep your steering under a certain angle to no slide (e.g. low speed dirt/grass/plastic).

There are techniques such as neosliding where it is much easier to do them in keyboard as it requires multiple taps in quick succession. It is also easier to play keyboard when you need to make turns where timing of a full steer is important (e.g. ice).

Considering cars other than the stadium car you start getting into situations where one control scheme is far superior than others. The snow and rally environments require smooth steering so wheel is superior there, but controllers are a good middle ground. Desert is faster with tapping movements over smooth steering so keyboard is a bit better there. I recall canyon is a bit better with keyboard as well.

This all applies equally regardless of whether you are playing older or newer games, analog and digital controls are available in all the PC games.

[-] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 11 points 3 days ago

Seconding Trackmania, though I'd recommend playing the latest one released in 2020 rather than Nations Forever. A year's access to everything is $20 and you get tons of content to play.

For a game that is at its core can be played at the highest levels with just 4 buttons it is incredibly complex with an insane skill ceiling. I'm pretty good and the difference between me and the top players is absolutely insane. The game is a bit beginner unfriendly, mostly because you are going to suck against good players because there are tons of mechanics that the developer tells you nothing about and unless you watch a video you aren't likely to understand why players are leaving you in the dust.

This is the game where you get people who can hit a jump at just the right angle so they thread the needle through a series of holes barely larger than the car while travelling at speeds well above 300mph (welcome to TrackMania, I don’t think there’s a speed cap). They also do it using keyboards. Seriously. High-level TrackMania players use keyboards, not gamepads or, god forbid, racing wheels.

The max speed is 999 km/h, which is only acheivable with speed drifting, but speed in excess of 800km/h are not uncommon to hit in certain kinds of tracks. Your statement about controls also isn't correct, most of the top players play with controller, but there are some that are keyboard players, there is even a couple insane ones that play wheel (most notably Granady).

[-] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 8 points 4 days ago

I feel like this article could be 1 sentence. Windows 11 is a piece of shit so people (including your IT department) don't want to upgrade, and those that would just accept the upgrade are frequently limited by perfectly good machines which aren't compatible.

[-] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Paul's online math notes are by far the best resources out there for the first few university level math courses.

https://tutorial.math.lamar.edu

It is a great shame that his linear algebra notes were removed years ago.

[-] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 35 points 1 week ago

Does Gen Z actually have a tech savvy reputation? I was under the impression that the last few generations aren't that great with computers as they more grew up with mature technology. It is the Gen X and Millennials that are more digital native while having used computers where advanced skills were required.

[-] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 week ago

Part of it is just getting a feel for Chinese goods and using that to determine what is a good deal or what is a scam. I've worked with a lot of Chinese suppliers for a long time so I have a sixth sense for their bullshit.

Generally I avoid anything that could be a safety risk (e.g. Mains power) , and keep an eye on the photos to see if they look too good to be true. Official stores are good, as are items with many purchases and reviews that include pictures.

[-] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 week ago

That makes no sense. The 24MP RAW files from my camera at 25MB, no way a PNG or JPEG of a 4K (8MP) monitor are anywhere close to that big.

[-] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 weeks ago

If you want wireless, one thing to be concerned about is the latency of the gamepad. https://gamepadla.com tests many controllers for their latency.

Personally, I've just gone with xbox with their PC dongle. I only like controllers with the sticks in the xbox/nintendo configuration and the latency is great with their dongle. I also like that it uses standard batteries so I just keep some rechargables at hand for when it runs out. On the downsides, there is no low battery indication on the controller, so occasionally it just dies in the middle of use.

[-] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago

I've heard nothing but problems about the reliability of these. One streamer for my main game is sponsored by them through their org and occasionally rages about how many they have broken just playing.

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stealth_cookies

joined 1 year ago