Minecraft seed: PatricioINTP

Normally when I play Minecraft I like mostly flat lands with a few bunches of trees and a mountain here and there. Not these epic and weird looking mountains I often see posted. Not long ago (as of posting this) 1.3 came out with the option to type in your own world seed for world generation. So I picked my usual Internet alias, PatricioINTP. And I got, literally, everything!

Below are pictures of what I have done so far. The first four is from my third base high up in the air. Often I play more to the explorer side, building bases near areas that look promising to mine, with a constant move forward except to build tall stacks of dirt, tree farms, and connect my bases with a wooden road.



This is the view towards the northwest, where I spawned and build my first base. Its location is approx (80.7, 79.6, -148.8) if you are using the PatricioINTP seed value.



To the northeast is desert. You can see a massive dune in the distance.



To the southeast is some snow! Seeing the hole there I am thinking of going there next when I am done with this third base of mine.



Southwest... meh.



This is a little south of my spawn point, showing that across the waters further west is mountainous terrain.



This is about where I spawned and built my first base. Its approx location: (-49.0, 66.6, -28.5)



I like to keep it simple.



A close up of my first tree farm just east of my base on the hill. I like to make a 3x4 grid of trees, 2 squares apart, with a border fence to grow and harvest wood.



A little north of my spawn point/base is a fairly good sized forest. It also seems my world have a lot of ponds slightly underground.



Heading to my second base. I did this after building it.



My second base, picked because this mountain had several openings into the same cave system. After making it, I opt to dig a tunnel west and up till I hit the surface, creating the connection a picture before this one.



The opening just north of my second base. I later exited from another near by hole. Its mazy but I didn't got far down. I may have missed a path or two. I rather have long, simple cave system than one that is small or spews in multiple directions.



My second tree farm. There was a area of flat land west of my second and third base and opt to create an extended tree farm because of it. Plus I really, really need the wood right now.



And finally, my third base plus, on the left, my next cave. It was a fairly good sized hole and twice spiders came out from it during the day wanting to suck my blood, only to get pacified by the sun. So I closed it in and locked it. I plan to explore this one, and when I exhaust or hate it, move to the northeast.

My Inception Theory

IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN INCEPTION, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!

Notice! I am typing this up shortly after seeing Inception and have yet to read and spoilers or hear other people's theories.

LAST CHANCE TO TURN BACK!

… … …

Okay, from the last shot we know that he is still dreaming. I actually suspected this from an earlier scene, mentioned below, but also because his kids seem to not have grown any. Before I went into the theater, I had numerous theories about what the 'twist' is, knowing this is Christopher Nolan we are talking about here.

First, think back when Cobb was looking for a drug that will help them get into deeper levels of dreaming, and introduce the character that would be driving the white van. After that scene, he shows them a number of people who dream most of their day as they can't dream anymore and became, in my view, addicted. We see Cobb strap himself on and...

… we cut to the most important not-to-miss scene, me thinks. Cobb goes into a bathroom and tries his totem, only to be distracted by someone he thinks he sees in the window (his wife?), then Saito shows up. The totem, due to this distraction, falls to the floor. It is my theory that he is still dreaming.

Now it could be all we have seen hasn't happened. Or the only thing that this dream has done to him is to allow him to see his kids again without guilt. But another possibility is this was an entire Inception project for him. And if that is the case, that opens up a whole new can of dream worms. I kinda wondered why the new architect team member was so curious about Cobb's psychological state, down in the basement.

The only other idea that comes to mind is when Cobb tried to get Saito in Limbo, he didn't really woke up then. But I am sticking to the above.

EDIT: I will have to view this movie again, not just to confirm the above, but to see if there was an earlier point where Cobb could have went to sleep and stayed asleep.

EDIT 2: This is done after Cookie Roz comment. I have already seen it twice and now plan to wait for the DVD as it left me with quarter of my brain spewing out of my left ear and another quarter out of the right. The reason is because I was trying too hard. Anyway, STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT AT LEAST ONCE!!!

... ... ...

Did you notice when Cobb had his ring and when he did not? For that reason, I doubt my theory now.

Presenting Obama's USSA Anthem

To liberals and Democrats upset about this video: I voted this year, but not McCain. I just laughed so hard after seeing this I had to put it here in my dumping ground.

From Glenn Beck.

Killing Us Softly 3

Puzzle Quest Notes

For those who don't know this fantastic Puzzle/RPG hybrid, here is a couple links.

Main web site

Video Review

After playing both the PC and DS versions, I developed my own strategy for starting out with this game. Note I played the Knight all through the game with the DS, and now playing the Warrior on it and redoing the Knight on the PC version. The Druid and Wizard then is UNTESTED!

The idea is to pour all your leveling skill points into one skill while, at your citadel, buy just enough that (with the freebies you get while questing) you get 8 on all the rest and pour what you can through purchases into another. I created a spreedsheet working all of this out.

First of all, why 8? Each skill, which is associated with one of the puzzle pieces, increases what you get when you match three. But to get another +1 requires increasing amount of points. Level 0 in a skill gives you +3 when you match three, while 1 gives you +4, 8 gives you +5, 20 give you +6, and so forth. For that reason you should buy at your citadel just enough points, along with the free ones you get when questing, 8 in each skill except two (three for Druid and Mage). They are Morale and one (or two) which cost 1 point when you level. The latter, which I call leveling points, should go into one or two of these 1 cost skills, determined by your class. The one you buy from the citadel after getting enough for this value of 8 is Morale, unless you are a Knight. For Knights, Morale is the one you ought to buy with leveling points, and either Green or Yellow for citadel purchases. Here is a summary.

	Knight	Warrior	Druid	Wizard
Leveling Points	Morale	Red	Earth and Air	Fire and Air
Citadel Purchases	Green OR Yellow	Morale	Morale	Morale

If the Warrior would like to split his leveling points with Battle, I suggest bringing Battle up to 83 (+8 when you match 3) and the rest into Red. Do NOT split the Knight's leveling points in this way! Having a freaking high Morale, giving you an insane number of hit points along with spell resistance, is your ultimate goal. Don't lessen it! The reason I recommend for the Knight Green or Yellow is due to two weapons. The Holy Lance gives +1 damage for every 4 Yellow you have, while the Unholy Lance gives +1 damage for every 4 Green you have. Both cost 1800 and require 12 Morale. Get whatever comes first and then start investing in that mana skill.

As I mentioned before, you do get freebie points while questing. There are in order when they should occur:

• +3 Morale for choosing Sirian Knightly Order (the rest have +2 bonus)

• +2 Morale for Dwarven Heirloom

• +4 Cunning for Reassembly

• +4 Fire for Trial by Fire

• +4 Battle for Trial of Blood

• +2 Battle for Skullguard

• +2 Water for Baneguard

Besides these you also get +5 Morale for building the statue in your citadel. So to get 8 in your lesser skills without 'wasting' your gold, you should subtract from 8 the bonuses above along with your starting skills. And yes, you will get a negative value for Morale (Battle too for the Warrior). Here is a summary then of what lesser skills for each class you should buy and how many points you need for each... if I did my math right!

Knight:

• Earth: 8

• Fire: 4

• Air: 7

• Water: 4

• Cunning: 3

Warrior:

• Earth: 7

• Air: 8

• Water: 6

• Cunning: 2

Druid:

• Fire: 3

• Water: 4

• Battle: 2

• Cunning: 3

Wizard:

• Earth: 7

• Water: 6

• Battle: 1

• Cunning: 2

When you begin your game, choose the easy difficulty level with the -25% experience. On the very early stages, gold is more important; at the very late stages, experience till you get to level 50. Follow only the main quest till you finish Helping Hand, in which you help Darkhunter with a Sorcerer's minion. This should make the side quest Stolen Catapult available at Drakenburg. Run this mission at most three times before returning to your citadel. Hopefully by now you have enough gold for the Dungeon and Temple. On your forth run through Stolen Catapult, if you got the Dungeon you can capture it. Consider redoing this quest till you get 900 gold, enough to raise your two skills that start at level 0 by one point each. Around this time you should from from easy to normal difficulty setting. Finish Darkhunter's subplot till he joins you as a companion. From there, I recommend Bartonia's side quest Father and Son (for Erik's Bow) and Imperial Message in either order. The latter will eventually make The Marriage available at Enmouth, ending with Serephine joining you, along with a whopping 2000 gold.

When you get that finish, sweep up the remaining side quests you left behind then return to the main quest till you defeat Dugog and finish the quest Good Tidings. By then you should have brought perhaps some good equipment and a few skill points. I recommend at this point to get (if you haven't already) Forge, Siege Workshop, and Towers so you can capture cities while (with Towers) reduce the chance they will rebel. Although you don't have to, capturing cities allows you to access your citadel in other lands, reducing the need to travel a great distance to improve your skills. If you need more gold for this, go through Stolen Catapult again!