Rant 1142 / Prague And Pray

MM6 Castle Darkmoor is so bugged. Other than the bug that causes the game to keep waiting when I go to turn-based mode (the hourglass keeps turning forever), there's also this bug that's preventing mobs from moving about in the King Lich's chamber.

The first bug made me think that combat was going to be impossible but the second bug laid my worries to rest.

Now all the mobs are just sticking to the walls and not attacking at all. They try to walk towards me, but only one step for every attack that lands on them.

This is making combat real easy, yet I'm glad it's going to be over soon. Those liches dispel all my buffs and those flying eyes give me all kinds of ailments. Right now I have my Hero (Knight) and Arch-mage (Sorceror) in permanent Insane mode because my High Priest's (Cleric) Mind magic isn't at a high enough level to cure their insanity after a few minutes.

It's alright for the Hero because Insanity in this game causes the mana to be depleted after rests, reduces my intelligence to zero while improving physical attacks. In fact, there's absolutely no reason for my Hero's Insanity to be cured at all.

But this isn't so great for a spellcaster such as my Arch-mage. Having no mana but what I got from one equipped ring's mana regeneration is really painful... unless I continue to exploit the infinite scroll usage bug.

In any case, the dungeon is a pain and I'm glad there's a bug that's making this place easier.











EDIT: The unending pause bug in the turn-based mode turned out to be worse than I thought - it persisted even after I left the dungeon. So the chamber somehow starts this bug but leaving it does not remove it. I had to leave the place and restart the game to get rid of the issue.

Darkmoor is now the only dungeon I did not bother to clear completely. After clearing half the chamber, including the lich king, I just ran pass the rest and finished all the objectives.

Even so, doing this net me 5 levels' worth of experience.


















So on KS there's this project called "Benki" that's about an mobile app and a few remote-controlled sockets to control electric appliances.

IMO this is exactly like a mix of this idea of controlling electric appliances with smartphones and my socket that comes with a timer.

This Benki thing does not control anything but the electricial supply of the appliances, so it's probably usable for lamps and radios and other basic stuff.

Also, not only does it have the socket, there are also a few other things they have come up with to be used with the app.

The second thing this Benki thing has is a combination sensor that has a camera, a light sensor and a temperature sensor. Probably good for people who want to check their homes while overseas. Not sure how exactly the two sensors are really useful. Maybe the temperature sensor can be used as some kind of fire alarm.

Btw the socket also has all three of these functions plus a microphone.

Third third and final thing is the open-close detection sensor that's meant for doors and windows. Probably good if you want to know whether you have closed all your windows while you're out.

Anyways, that's pretty awesome, but not awesome enough for me to spend money on it. Right now I'm early enough to find slots for the 2nd cheapest category of $180 for 1 of each of the above items.

The problem with these is that they only detect and cannot allow me direct control over anything (except for the power supply). Really, so what if I find out my windows are open during the rain while I'm at the office?

But if I had some expertise with electronics, this won't be an issue because the Benki developers are also offering some kind of chip that can be used for other electronics so that they can be controlled via the same app.

This basically means that if I knew how to do it, I could place a chip into small machine with a motor that can close my windows for me. I'm 100% sure this is possible but I'm still waiting for someone to actually make one with an affordable price.

I also imagine the whole window would need to be replaced so that the machine can be placed within the frame unless it's a sliding window. The motor will also have to be strong because it is going to have to move the window without the benefit of pulling each pane from the furthest end, or the window's going to look ugly.

A sliding window, on the other hand, only needs something to pull a wire or two attached to one of the panes.