Sunday livestream

@tvinita should do a "AMA" style balance stream where people can just suggest random balance changes (even if total cheese ) and he'll do them and host a game with them. Server mods would make this quick and easy. Who knows, might actually find something really fun.

that actually sounds like a fun event.

Pretending to understand what was going on made me feel like a more intelligent and fulfilled person

@sorian Thank you for the awesome stream!

You talk about the "intel points" and the "influence map" during this stream, which you say are both used for AI pathing decisions. I am wondering: is terrain taken into account in either of these? If it were, would it be possible to make the AI prioritize control of choke points in a map by identifying intel points with adjacent obstacles to pathing?

I love watching you work on the ai
I was always interested in how such systems are developed and that you are working in C++ makes me feel nostalgic (I took my first steps in real programming in C++) and motivates me to get into that again.

@sorian , when editing the JSON around 1:39:00, you needed to add that the Kraken T2 Missile sub can be built by the advanced naval factory, not basic. Just a heads-up.

@sorian Thank you for the stream. That was really cool - and also educational. Embarrassingly enough I had no idea about the new range-based for iterators in C++11 - those kick butt! SO much more convenient for vector iteration!

A few goofy questions and one serious one at the bottom, if you have time to answer them.

When you came back from break, at about 1:24:15, you said "needed water, badly." Was that a reference to the video game Gauntlet?

If I remember correctly in a livestream for PA's release, you were drinking Glenmorangie. Does that indicate that you generally prefer non-smoky Scotch?

I kind of like the sound of the keyboard you used in the video, and I can tell that it's not a mechanical. My guess is a Dell with low-profile keycaps. What is it actually?

The serious question: I've been interested in neural networks for 10+ years, but never have taken the time to read or learn more about them. What resources/books do you consider most valuable in your collection?

Thanks, Michael!

Which switches does that have in it? From the tactile feedback I'm guessing something similar to Cherry MX Blue or Brown? (though at that price I suspect they're not Cherry switches)

Guess I failed miserably on the keyboard sound, considering that IS a mech.

Thank you for the responses.

Those boards come with Cherry MX browns.

I'm surprised they don't mention that in the product description as a selling point!

My keyboard's 12 dollars and I ripped the power down key out and threw it in the garbage because it was right above the backspace

Get on my level skrubs

I'm using the HP keyboard that came with the desktop. Not exactly top end...

to be fair, at least it has the normal US layout, retailers have an annoying tendency in Canada to sell computers, especially laptops, with French Canadian keyboards, even though only ONE PROVINCE speaks a significant amount of french...

I know right? and there's some random keyboard combination that switches it over to french without you knowing, and all of a sudden all your question marks come out as capital Es with little slashes on top that take forever to figure out how to turn off

That used to drive me mad! eventually found out how to remove the layout option from the OS.

@sorian so I was just testing out the spawns on my planet with some AI, and then sat around a little longer to check if any of my planets would collide, and while I was waiting, I saw one of your AI transport an air fabber with an astraeus

I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU COULD TRANSPORT AIR WHY DIDN'T ANYBODY TELL ME THIS WHAAARRRGARBL

Only fabbers I believe

There is a really nice beta ebook about neural networking at http://neuralnetworksanddeeplearning.com with new chapters showing up every once i a while.