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The Inverse Xenomorph Law
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Apr 30, 2022 00:40
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Splicer posted:A:FE explicitly differentiates between xenomorphs that come out of humans (smart, bipedal preference, do annoying stuff like run away when hurt) and xenomorphs that come out of, well, everything else (dumb, run at you in waves, die). It's why I was wondering if there was livestock in hadley's hope. If there are then there could be far more aliens than there were people and the turret victims could have been the, well, crap aliens. I had heard about this when the game was out and people were making sad xeno gifs but I forgot what it was.
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Apr 30, 2022 00:52
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I haven’t gotten around to playing much of it but there are extensive community overhauls for Colonial Marines that fix the AI, improve the graphics, eliminate bugs, and generally improve the quality of life and elevate the game from “dogshit” to “actually pretty decent”. Can’t do anything to fix the plot though lol The game has mega-problems but it did a few things right. The level design was really solid and looked like logical extensions of what we saw in ‘Aliens’, the weapons and their designs felt varied and gave you incentives to use different guns in different situations, the weapon mod system felt largely believable given the setting and didn’t go full on Call of Duty tacticLOL stupid, and some of the enemy design was pretty neat. Xenomrph fucked around with this message at 02:07 on Apr 30, 2022 |
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Apr 30, 2022 02:03
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The Notorious ZSB posted:No matter their equipment, they were always going to be skeptical of the threat and unprepared for what they encountered. As we’ve seen with Alien, there are a lot of misconceptions about the basic plot of Aliens (e.g. the oddly-widespread belief that Ripley nuked the facility.) The existence of the acid-blooded parasite aliens is 100% confirmed shortly after the marines arrive at the colony. They literally find puddles of acid blood, and two living aliens that exactly match Ripley’s description. The marines also discover the site of a “last stand” where a bunch of colonists were killed and their bodies transported away. And, on top of this, they uncover intel that the colonists are all dead - their 156 bodies piled into what is rather obviously sone kind of mass grave. (At this point in the narrative, nobody yet knows that the aliens take people alive.) The marines speculate that maybe some colonists, lying completely immobile among the dead, might still be breathing - but, at this point, there is zero skepticism about the alien threat. And there’s no lack of preparation either; it takes time to reach the atmosphere processor, and that’s time they’ve spent preparing themselves with all their various weapons. Fans get confused about all this, apparently, because Cameron elides the whole decision-making process: “Let’s saddle up!” (What?) “Let's go, people! They ain't payin' us by the hour!!!” (Huh?) So, since it’s not conveyed very well, we should be clear about what’s actually going on. Ripley’s intel has been fully verified, and the marines are fully expecting to encounter up to 156 deadly ‘adult’ aliens (with potentially thousands of the ‘facehugger’ variety as well). They take this threat very seriously - which is why they are upset about being suddenly ordered to use only flamethrowers: “Is he fuckin' crazy? What the hell are we supposed to use, man? Harsh language?!” (It’s a very good question, since they don’t have enough flamethrowers for everybody.) They are also expecting most or all of the colonists to be dead. This is not really a rescue mission, but a mission to evaluate the extent of the damage and maybe recover the bodies. And this isn’t some mistake attributable to Gorman or something, because everyone’s on board with it (up until the ammo is confiscated). You could say they’re heroically accepting a terrible risk on the off chance that one or two colonists might just be half-dead. But, of course, once the marines ‘get their asses kicked’, everyone does a complete 180 on any heroism. Even Ripley suggests they just torch the place, forsaking anyone who might remain. They immediately forget about potential survivors. Put simply, the film doesn’t actually provide any clear reason for why everybody had to die, so fans just imagine whatever they want. Like, ‘Hudson died because he was too cocky!’ No he didn’t.
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Apr 30, 2022 05:32
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From the jump they're unprepared. The size of the squad is insufficient for the task at hand. Their intel from Ripley is limited or incomplete for the situation that they find (she only dealt with one not an entire group of them). They are, no matter their actual outlook on the situation, or again their equipment, grossly unprepared to fight the alien hive which is why the encounter goes so poorly. They're miffed they have to give up their primary options, but a squad of marines all have side arms exactly for that contingency (Hicks brings the shotgun). The equipment was irrelevant, their perception of the situation adjusting in the film (appropriately so) does not change the fact they cannot resolve the situation as desired or intended and would never have been able to no matter what they were sent with which was the original discussion. The entire parameters of the situation have to change for them to enter it in any state other than "unprepared and skeptical". They simply do not have the requisite information to accurately judge that (human hubris another theme of the film). It's yet another example of the company loving over people because they're expendable. They all had to die to again illustrate that the company ultimately does not care about the people it uses for profits. The company never would have sent an expedition of the right size to clear the colony because it would have cost too much. Burke tries really hard for them not to torch it because? The cost surrounded with the installation. I'll concede they aren't skeptical of the threat for very long, there is just no way they can be ready for what they encounter. The Notorious ZSB fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Apr 30, 2022 |
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Apr 30, 2022 20:15
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who's the real mindless drone in the hive man?
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Apr 30, 2022 20:19
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You don’t see them loving each other over for a goddamn percentage.
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Apr 30, 2022 20:21
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the company wants the xenomorph but they dont want to spend a lot of money to get it its very realistic
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Apr 30, 2022 20:23
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Xenomrph posted:You don’t see them loving each other over for a goddamn percentage. Do we really know enough about their society to say that is true? Eusocial animals on earth have defectors.
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Apr 30, 2022 20:25
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this was covered in the comic series aliens: genocide where red xenomorphs and black xenomorphs fought each other for domiance
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Apr 30, 2022 20:26
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Study Meerkat Manor to uncover xenomorph weaknesses.
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Apr 30, 2022 20:45
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Sodomy Hussein posted:Study Meerkat Manor to uncover xenomorph weaknesses. What is that, like
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Apr 30, 2022 20:47
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16-bit Butt-Head posted:this was covered in the comic series aliens: genocide where red xenomorphs and black xenomorphs fought each other for domiance Even then it was a mutation acting for survival of a faction, not an individual acting in self-interest.
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Apr 30, 2022 21:20
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Darko posted:I had heard about this when the game was out and people were making sad xeno gifs but I forgot what it was. This typo isn't even in the compiled code. It's in a user accessible ini file. You can literally fix it with notepad. e: tenses all over the place Splicer fucked around with this message at 00:26 on May 1, 2022 |
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May 1, 2022 00:00
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Mister Speaker posted:What is that, like Detailing the rise and fall of one of the great meerkat houses of southern Africa.
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May 1, 2022 02:01
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Moon 44 : Aliens :: Outland : Alien
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May 1, 2022 04:16
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The Notorious ZSB posted:From the jump they're unprepared. The size of the squad is insufficient for the task at hand. Their intel from Ripley is limited or incomplete for the situation that they find (she only dealt with one not an entire group of them). [...] The company never would have sent an expedition of the right size to clear the colony because it would have cost too much. This is innaccurate. The marines are not hired by Weyland-Yutani, and the only major thing Ripley didn't already know from Alien 1 was the hive-building behavior. There's no talk of budget cuts or anything like that - and marines aren't surprised by the hive at all, because they examine the resin structures long before they're attacked. In any case, you've basically reduced it to a question of manpower. Just send in more marines, right? After the events of Aliens, the colonial marines of the USS New Jersey respond to a new 'bug' outbreak on another shake-n-bake colony. Armed with basically the same knowledge and equipment as in Aliens, but now facing up to 3000 aliens, these particular marines speedrun the Hadley's Hope conflict in about four minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaLic25MD6g [Aliens: Ride At The Speed Of Fright (1994) is an official Aliens sequel short film, directed by Stuart Gordon(!) and starring Jeffrey Combs(!!). Filmed on the cheap for a motion-simulator ride, Speed Of Fright functions as an aesthetic and thematic bridge between Cameron's film and the later Aliens-satirizing Starship Troopers.] So, why did the Sulaco's marines fail where the New Jersey succeeded? What fans miss is that the aliens were actually dormant until the marines panicked and torched one of their babies. Because the sleeping aliens didn't show up on motion trackers or infrared - which they probably should have known from the captured facehuggers - the marines failed to actually clear the structure, leaving their escape route cut off. Going into the minutia of what happens next is pretty fruitless; it's all just a series of minor fuckups while Vasquez is lighting the place up and distracting Apone. But it's worth noting that Gorman's retreat order was basically fine, and Ripley's "do something!!!" ain't actually that helpful. SuperMechagodzilla fucked around with this message at 07:26 on May 1, 2022 |
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May 1, 2022 07:24
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Splicer posted:There is a huge big pile of AI code that tells the aliens what zone they're in and where the exits are and so forth, which allows them to make hit-and-run attacks, flank marines, retreat when injured etc. This is called (something)tether. This was accessed via a mostly blank function called (somethingelse)tether that basically takes a copy of (something)tether and then adds some additional functionality. Except instead of this mostly blank function being told to look to (something)tether it instead looks to (something)taether. Which does not exist. So most of the AI code just doesn't work because it relies on output from an apparently surprisingly well written chunk of code that the game simply does not know how to access. The line was: ClassRemapping=PecanGame.PecanSeqAct_AttachXenoToTether -> PecanGame.PecanSeqAct_AttachPawnToTeather And 'tether' mispelt at the end. But with programming, usually if something is incorrect, it should have thrown an error somewhere when it as compiled or tested. Something like 'unknown call', 'undefined parameter expected', 'unknown index', 'unexpected NULL encountered' whatever. Implying someone ignored it. Adding the poo poo sprinkles to the top of poo poo heap that was the game itself.
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May 1, 2022 18:34
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Has anyone tried it? Does it really make a difference to the gameplay?
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May 1, 2022 19:53
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You know what I never understood and maybe I'm missing something, is everything involving Ferro and the Dropship. After touching down and releasing the APC, the Dropship takes off and presumably takes to the skies and I always assumed they just held pattern until the coast is clear. However, once poo poo hits the fan they call in for the Dropship which went off and docked somewhere on the colony, maybe a hanger? Apparently loading up supplies, maybe? Is there an explanation why they landed and what they're doing?
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May 1, 2022 20:59
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I always thought they took off, flew away a good distance away from the colony/atmosphere processing station, and set down amongst the rocks out there. Which doesn't make a lot of sense, they should just be orbiting overhead. And if they do set down anyway, why open the ramp and have Spunkmeier goofing around outside on the ground? I guess it can be explained as just another fuckup by the USCMC.
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May 1, 2022 21:11
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX-xSQ-qO_s They're clearly on the planet, on some kind of artificial platform on the ground. Presumably they circle around until the Marines report the colony secure (maybe there's a line somewhere?) and then settle down while the trip to the processor takes place. e: oh midway through the clip it's clear they're just outside the colony gates
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May 1, 2022 21:14
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Lol his name is spunkmyer and he touches the spunk
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May 1, 2022 21:25
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Alchenar posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX-xSQ-qO_s Ah yes, you're so right. For some reason I was thinking that they picked the APC back up and flew it to the atmosphere processing station, but I was remembering the initial drop scene when they came down and discharged the APC from the ramp and then took off and orbited. I forgot they are sitting right on some grating and so are in or right near the colony. So yeah, it's another fuckup by the USCMC. I suppose this is also understandable due to their institutional experience/memory up to that point, which consists of dealing with space piracy, outer rim colony revolts, and alien fauna that's nowhere near as dangerous as the xenos.
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May 1, 2022 21:44
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happyhippy posted:The line was: Splicer fucked around with this message at 22:32 on May 1, 2022 |
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May 1, 2022 22:26
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MrMojok posted:Has anyone tried it? Does it really make a difference to the gameplay?
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May 1, 2022 22:28
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Alchenar posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX-xSQ-qO_s I'm still not sure why Spunkmeyer is outside of the Dropship though, like, if they're going to land I don't see any reason to even open the ramp to the outside especially since it doesn't look like Spunkmeyer is strapped at all. Also, why would one lone Xeno be outside of the colony close enough to stow away when the the other ones were all in sleep/hybernation mode in the lower levels and in the Queen's Chambers under the processor? Also I hate how terrible the rear projection looks in the shot of the Dropship crashing, it's B movie quality and even the set in front of it looks awful.
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May 1, 2022 23:50
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sigher posted:I'm still not sure why Spunkmeyer is outside of the Dropship though, like, if they're going to land I don't see any reason to even open the ramp to the outside especially since it doesn't look like Spunkmeyer is strapped at all. Also, why would one lone Xeno be outside of the colony close enough to stow away when the the other ones were all in sleep/hybernation mode in the lower levels and in the Queen's Chambers under the processor? Let's say a filter was clogged and he was outside cleaning it out, maybe? Or perhaps he's outside doing some kind of half-assed perimeter security around the dropship (without even carrying a pulse rifle) As to your second point, I love Aliens because how can you not, but it just does not look good compared to Ridley's film. You've all heard the term "every frame a painting" and this is very much the case with Alien, and very much not the case with Aliens. Both of these films were done on relatively small budgets, but Ridley just got a lot more out of his.
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May 2, 2022 00:01
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sigher posted:I'm still not sure why Spunkmeyer is outside of the Dropship though, like, if they're going to land I don't see any reason to even open the ramp to the outside especially since it doesn't look like Spunkmeyer is strapped at all. Also, why would one lone Xeno be outside of the colony close enough to stow away when the the other ones were all in sleep/hybernation mode in the lower levels and in the Queen's Chambers under the processor? It's a contrivance but a reasonable one to make the story happen. He goes out to stretch his legs. The really dirty sleight of hand with the script is how the dropship takes out the apc while crashing, which is what actually forces the surviving marines into the stronghold scenario. Of course at that moment you are so shocked by the alien being on the dropship that you give the film a pass on how convenient the crash is.
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May 2, 2022 00:01
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Alchenar posted:It's a contrivance but a reasonable one to make the story happen. He goes out to stretch his legs. It's certainly contrived but it just works. I mean, it just really does. People at the time didn't look at it as "great cinema" like Ghandi and Chariots of Fire were thought to be, but it just all worked very well. I saw it like five times in the theater during its original run, and the tension was palpable every time and the cheers at the powerloader scene were huge, every single time. People loved it, and word of mouth put asses in seats. Great crowd movie, maybe one of the best I have even seen in that respect.
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May 2, 2022 00:19
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sigher posted:I'm still not sure why Spunkmeyer is outside of the Dropship though, like, if they're going to land I don't see any reason to even open the ramp to the outside especially since it doesn't look like Spunkmeyer is strapped at all.
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May 2, 2022 00:36
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I remember that, I always thought that happened during the initial sweep when all of the Marines are together. I'm probably getting it confused with the "Love at first sight" line, but I thought they were both happening shortly one after another. I guess the passage of time isn't conveyed all that well for me. I should give both films a watch again. So as I piece it together: Dropshop drops off the APC > Marines Sweep the Colony and secure it > Dropship lands and Spunkmeyer helps Bishop > Marines find the Colonists under the reactor > poo poo hits the fan, time for EVAC > Spunkmeyer gets back on APC to co-pilot with Ferro. That should be right, right?
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May 2, 2022 01:12
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sigher posted:Dropshop drops off the APC > Marines Sweep the Colony and secure it > Dropship lands and Spunkmeyer helps Bishop > Marines find the Colonists under the reactor > poo poo hits the fan, time for EVAC > Spunkmeyer gets back on [dropship] to co-pilot with Ferro. That should be right, right? Yes. We don’t see what Ferro was up to, but I assume when the APC went over to the atmosphere processor she went to the cockpit to monitor comms. Presumably she would have rotated that duty with Spunkmeyer if they were gone longer.
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May 2, 2022 02:41
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Alchenar posted:It's a contrivance but a reasonable one to make the story happen. He goes out to stretch his legs. The APC is already immobilized at that point with a giant hole in the front windshield. They prob weren't holding up in there anyway.
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May 2, 2022 06:49
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The dropship was heading towards the marines+APC already to pick them up so of course it was going to crash there. The explosion was bad enough to trigger the meltdown so I don't think it taking out the already totalled APC was a contrivance.
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May 2, 2022 07:55
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Splicer posted:I've had A:CM in my library since the $3 sale but never played it. Decided to boot it up and oh boy does this game love taking the controls away from the player. I also paid $3 and felt very ripped-off. Fixing the alien A.I. would be one of many things necessary to get the game to Mediocre.
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May 2, 2022 08:03
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aliens colonial marines retconned hicks into being alive and the games attempt to explain how he was still alive was so stupid that i couldnt bring myself to hate it lmao
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May 2, 2022 08:27
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Only because the Blade Runner thread is long dead, just a heads up to folks in here that the Free League Blade Runner tabletop roleplaying game Kickstarter just went live. If you snagged their Alien stuff you know how good they are.
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May 3, 2022 14:10
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feedmyleg posted:Only because the Blade Runner thread is long dead, just a heads up to folks in here that the Free League Blade Runner tabletop roleplaying game Kickstarter just went live. If you snagged their Alien stuff you know how good they are.
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May 3, 2022 14:33
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| # ? May 17, 2024 00:50 |
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Based on the expanded universe minutia that the Alien books got into, I can't imagine it isn't. I doubt they'll do too much with the Off-World Colonies to keep the mystery alive, but I can't imagine there won't be at least a few references to Soldier in there.
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May 3, 2022 14:59
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