Another tip for the planes of Oblivion

If you don't want to wear a chameleon suit into an Oblivion Plane, then one way to reduce the damage from the fire traps (you know, those towers that shoot fire at you and ignore fire protection) is to enchant pieces with spell absorb. I read that the fire traps are considered spells, so if you can get hold of three or four Transcendent sigil stones then you can enchant pieces of jewelry with spell absorb. Of course, you can find pieces in Oblivion that have spell absorb, so if you can find some of them, and then get the stone, then you can concoct 100% spell absorb. This will work for your character if you choose to be born under the Atronach too. This birthsign grants 150 to your magicka, but you cannot regenerate it. Therefore, you either need to visit wayshrines or Ayleid wells to restore your magicka. You will already have a 50% chance to absorb any spells cast at you, so adding a piece or two to boost this will certainly help. You can also carry a few welkynd stones (though they do weigh 1 each, so be careful how many you carry) as they restore all of your magicka, but then disappear when you use them. I'd use them if you're in a dungeon, are low on magicka and need it right then. The Lucky Old Lady statue in Bravil is also a good place to restore your magicka. Interact with the statue and you have a 50-50 chance to absorb the spell if you're not wearing any enchanted thing to boost those odds. And you can do this as many times as you like, which is better than using a well and then having to wait for it to recharge before you can use it again. And the only way you can reuse wayshrines is if you have the Knights of the Nine plugin installed.

Now, how can you get the sigil stone that you want? Make a custom save just before you snatch the stone (after you've killed all the monsters and are standing there ready to grab it is best). Name it Sigil so you know which one it is. Then save there just before you grab the stone. Pause the game when you get the stone, and then check to see what it is. If you don't want it, then reload that save and try again. The stone given is always random, so you can keep trying until you get something you can use. And you'd only need one of them, because you can then multiply them using the scroll trick.

What's the scroll trick? First you need at least two identical spell scrolls (doesn't matter what they're for, just as long as they're a spell scroll) and one of any other spell scroll. Then click on the two identical scrolls, immediately drop the one scroll and you'll have two scrolls on the ground. Pick up one of the dropped scrolls and repeat. I like to get about ten identical scrolls this way and then use that stack to multiply things.

Now things that won't multiply are damaged/repaired weapons and armor, nirnroot and some other things. But most undamaged weapons and armor, and most rings, clothing and alchemical ingredients/food will multiply. Oh, and those born under the Atronach can use this trick to multiply welkynd or varla stones (which recharge all of your enchanted weapons you have in your inventory)

Okay, why would you want to do this? Well, it's handy if you're low on arrows or you find a few enchanted ones in loot that you want to keep using. Just make some more. Need cash really fast? Enchant cheap clothes and then multiply them and sell them. Multiply any enchanted jewelry you have and sell the extras. Enchant plain jewelry, multiply it and sell it. Keep one of each in a special spot and repeat any time you need money.

The only way you can multiply the zero weight armor though is to use the (if you're on a pc) console to put each piece in your inventory, that way it's undamaged. Remember, you have to either damage/repair it to drop it, or cast/repair if your armorer skill is expert and lets you repair beyond 100%. Either way, you've repaired it, so you can't multiply it. I did this once, to get pieces to put different spells on for different occasions and still be able to carry it all. Cheating? Yes. Do I much care? No. It's my game, I'll play it how I like. I mostly play regular anyway, and just cheat when I need to carry a crapload of loot to the stores to sell, or when I'm carrying a crapload of daedric stuff out of Oblivion planes. Yes, I want all that daedric stuff, it goes for a ton of gold at the stores. I even go through the motions of getting the zero weight stuff by either using spells or the magical stones that give them when you activate them. It's just much easier to get your armorer up to 75 and repair rather than try to find something to damage it for you before you can repair it.

Dilithium Event

The Dilithium Event at STO is  in full swing now. You can go mining on Vlugta asteroid or your fleet mine and get double the dil.

This means if you have any mining claims for the Rich mining, use them now. I am.

As Seen on TV

Yes, we've all seen these things. They range from things to make hairdos easier to do, to things to spray in cracks to make things waterproof, to copper-infused joint wraps.

As far as I can tell, none of the "As seen on TV" stuff is any better than things you can already get in the store and not pay astronomical shipping prices . Copper on the outside of the body does nothing. You have to ingest it to get it's benefits.

And the knives, pots, pans, cooking utensils, juicers, etc...meh, it's all selective.

Bottom line? Stay away from 'as seen on tv' stuff unless you can find it in your local Wal-Mart. Then you can get it at a fraction of what they want in price+shipping charges.

As Seen on TV is nothing but a rip-off.

Supper!

Sir Loin of Beef!

Or as most people call them, boneless sirloin steak. Ricky went out to work on someone's car and came back with two he found in the store's discount pile, you know, the stuff they mark down to try to sell before its sell-by date. The person apparently gave him the wrong address and he can't get hold of them, so he's going o make steak instead. No complaints from me.

So, on to other topics. I've been putting up little hints about a few games I like. Lately I've been playing a lot of STO, and am just getting back into Oblivion as well. My friend wants me to play Fallout 3 as well, but I never could get into that one. I only got it because it was sold in a set with Oblivion. Well, everyone has their games that they like and maybe one day I'll give it another try.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is supposed to be coming out in a couple of months. I'll have to wait till the price comes down before I can even think about buying it. That's the way it is around here, I get the game long after everyone else has already played it. I don't mind, I'm not one who has to have a game the minute it comes out. I'll have fun with the other DA games I have. Plus Oblivion, plus STO.

I like Oblivion for one reason only. I don't *have* to go through the main story, and even when I do, I can still play after my character 'saves the day'. It's an entire virtual life that's much more adventurous than the ordinary one I have and I can even play totally different species, such as anthropomorphic lizards and lions. Honestly, I'm human every day of the week, so why not play a humanoid lizard or cat in a virtual world? Same with STO. I have a Klingon, a Caitian, a Ferasan, a Romulan, an alien. Of course I also have a token human character too. I'm also thinking of another alien, one that a friend and I made up in one of our fanfics we're always writing. It will take some fiddling with the character creation, but we can get decent-looking ones out of it since we've been practicing with making alien BOFFs. Green skin, humanoid-looking, pointed ears, blue stripes (though only on the face, haven't figured out if I can get body stripes yet.

Ayway, that one is a ways down the line.

Happy Days

My son in law finally got the time to build me a desktop computer that plays STO and my other games. He gave me a widescreen Dell monitor for it that is just fabulous! The thing is still worth $250 used, so it's quite good.

Being not new, it does have a few small issues, but overall, I'm satisfied with it. STO and all my other games look so much better now that it's like night and day. I'm so grateful to him to get me something like this.

Now, if someone could just loan me $199 for the STO lifer subscription while they're on sale, I'd appreciate that too. No takers? Ah well, I'll just keep saving a bit to my paypal till I get what I need and wait for the next time the price goes on sale this winter.

I'll never have the top gaming systems that serious gamers have, but this does what I want it to do, so I'm happy.

STO

So, what is STO? Star Trek Online. It's a fairly popular MMORPG, based on, you guessed it, Star Trek. It's quite fun. You take a Starfleet, Klingon or Romulan  character and you play them starting at graduation day at Starfleet academy, as a third officer of a Klingon ship or as a Romulan farmer. Through various instances you'll find yourself captain of a starship and you'll go out fighting the enemies of your faction.

Yeah, that's it in a nutshell, there's so much more that goes on as well. Special events in summer and winter are fun things to do in between fighting. There are PVP/PVE missions to run for Reputation or Fleet marks or you can do other reputation missions. This is all in addition to the storylines that you play. And the best part is that it's free to play. They do have a lifer subscription, but it isn't necessary, that only gets you lots of free stuff and perks to your account.

But I have to say that some players need lessons on proportions. During the Summer Event on Risa, I've seen so many male avatars with broad, bulky shoulders chests and arms and small hips and legs. They look like they're going to topple over any second now, they're so top-heavy. The big-busted females don't bother me that much, but having them stand around with their hips thrust out so far that it looks out of joint does. But if a player wants their female to look slutty and their males to look like upside-down pyramids, that's their choice. I prefer to proportion my avatars accordingly. And it's easy, just put the sliders mostly in the same spot and fine tune it. I have some beautiful females and handsome males doing that. And I choose a nice neutral stance for the females that makes them look feminine, but not slutty. After all, I don't want a female Kirk, or a male one, for that matter.

Woes and more woes

My laptop hard drive got inexplicably wiped, so my son installed W8.1. Being used to W7, there was a learning curve, but it wasn't too bad.

Then my hard drive inexplicably crashed again, so my son now put in a hard drive and reinstalled W8.1. However, he warned me that this drive isn't reliable.

Thankfully I'll be able to order one in a few days as soon as my Paypal transfer goes through. No, I'm not going to some computer store and paying an arm and a leg for something I can get online for a fraction of the price. Yes, it's new-other, which means a drive that was removed from a new, unused machine during an upgrade to a bigger drive. This one has a capacity of 320GB, plenty big enough for what I want it to do. The company is just selling it at a huge discount to get rid of it and make a little money. It will be shipped in an antistatic bag and bubble envelope. I discussed it with my son and he said as long as they deliver it like that it should be fine. So if the seller is still selling them in five days, I'm ordering. If not, I've transferred enough that I know I can get another one if it costs a bit more than the one I'm watching.

No, I'm not telling you which one I'm watching or where, you'll have to guess, can't make it easier for someone else to buy it out from under me.