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 Barotrauma is a cooperative submarine simulation game set in the alien seas of Europa, Jupiter’s moon. Under the shrewd command of the sub’s captain, players must keep the boat seaworthy while braving icebergs, equipment malfunctions, and all the terrors of a hostile alien biosphere. Ah, and sabotage. An official trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5astpd0RRrY Some multiplayer gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkImZRbgm2s Some more gameplay of a crew in a rather bad situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnPQr4OXnsc     What do you do in Barotrauma? Barotrauma is primarily a multiplayer experience. (It can be played solo with bots, but this is an area of active development, and the bots are not yet very competent crewmates.) The two main modes are mission mode and campaign mode. There is also a sandbox mode for unstructured gameplay, which I have not been interested in and so will not discuss here, but you might be into it if you are a roleplayer. In mission mode, each mission is a self-contained session lasting from around fifteen to forty-five minutes, after which players return to the lobby and can start a new mission with different jobs and a different submarine. Crewmembers who die may be dispatched on a respawn shuttle depending on server settings, which is itself an adventure in trying to catch up and dock with the main sub before you despawn or are horribly killed. In campaign mode, multiple missions are connected through a strategic overworld map, allowing a submarine’s state and crew to persist through multiple missions. Crewmembers who die must wait until the sub completes its mission to rejoin the crew with a new character. The mission types are mostly shared between mission mode and campaign mode. You may have to deliver cargo to a destination, dive into a wreck to retrieve the captain’s logbook, terminate a specific enemy or group of enemies, or explore mysterious alien ruins. Jobs To accomplish any mission, the crew must cooperate to address a diverse set of challenges. There are six selectable jobs on the submarine, but many tasks can be completed at lower efficiency by anyone regardless of job. Wiki: https://barotrauma.gamepedia.com/Jobs Competence at tasks is determined by a point-based skill system. Job selection determines your initial starting scores in skills, with each specialized job starting with a high score in their relevant skill and a slightly lower score in any related skill (i.e., engineers start highest in electrical engineering, but also have a head start in mechanical engineering). 1. THE CAPTAIN Commander of the vessel. The captain is responsible for coordination among the crew, and a good captain will have the most situational awareness of anyone on the boat. The captain usually navigates and monitors the sonar, which provides the earliest warning of incoming threats. In emergencies, the captain will ideally communicate with the crew to prioritize the different tasks of damage control. The captain is also competent with weaponry and will frequently participate in combat, especially in small crews or during emergencies. 2. DOCTORS Doctors are the most skillful crewmembers for treating injury or illness, which are common in the treacherous seas of Europa. Doctors also start with the ability to fabricate more advanced medical supplies from raw materials than other jobs. A good doctor will be ready to respond to emergencies and understand which supplies will be most needed on a given mission, especially when a diving team has just hauled rear end back to the airlock dragging the unconscious body of a crewmate. 3. ENGINEERS Every submarine in Barotrauma is nuclear-powered and wired with a complex electrical grid. Engineers are responsible for keeping these systems, and other electronic equipment, in working order. A good engineer will keep an eye on the reactor’s fuel level and proactively inspect the junction box for any damage before parts of the grid go dark. Engineers can also manufacture and install new electrical equipment during a mission, although the reasons for doing this are scant in the game’s current state. 4. MECHANICS Mechanics keep the hull and mechanical equipment of the sub repaired, and are also responsible for the bulk of fabrication to produce new equipment or replenish consumable supplies such as welding fuel. Mechanics can use plasma cutters and welders most efficiently. Since plasma cutting is an important task when salvaging wrecks, mechanics are key members of diving crews, too. Most importantly, mechanics are the frontline of the damage control team, and one or two astute mechanics who coordinate with the captain go a long way toward keeping the sub from death-spiraling. Mechanic is a good job for new players, since their primary role is simple to understand and also easily compensated for by other, more experienced crewmembers. 5. SECURITY OFFICERS Security officers are responsible for the safety of the entire crew. This means defending the crew from hostile wildlife, and protecting diving teams when they are outside the sub and particularly vulnerable. This also means defending the crew from any bad actors on the submarine itself. This can take the form of traitors (see below), but it may just also mean griefers or uncooperative players who need a crack in the head from a stun baton to learn to respect the chain of command. Security officers are also some of the most skilled crewmembers at operating the submarine’s external weaponry to fend off large threats. Security officers wield a lot of power over life and death, so a good security officer will be a judicious and obedient enforcer of the captain’s authority on the boat, not an out-of-control goon on a power trip. 6. ASSISTANTS Assistants are the “unspecified” job aboard the sub. They don’t start with any particularly high scores in skills, but they start with a higher minimum score in all skills than any other job does (i.e., their lowest skill score is usually higher than the lowest skill score of any specialized job). In large games, players may have no choice but to play as assistants when the specialized roles have met their quota. Traitors Optionally, any mission can also have one player secretly designated as a traitor, or can be set to maybe have a traitor. The traitor will be given a series of tasks that are antagonistic to the rest of the crew’s goals, and involve directly or indirectly harming other players. Traitors can catastrophically sabotage crucial equipment like the reactor or oxygen generator, or medicines can be administered inappropriately to cause harm, or important gear like diving suits or weaponry can be misappropriated, or even worse. Many pubbies prefer not to play with traitors because of the chaos they sow and the level of communication the crew must achieve to ferret out the traitor, but the real masochists among us know that losing is fun. The submarines  A Dugong-class submarine  A Kastrull-class attack submarine Barotrauma is a fairly detailed and satisfying submarine simulation. Buoyancy is modeled, and every sub has ballast tanks that must be kept operational to dive or ascend. The power grid connects every piece of equipment back to the reactor, and any disruption to the grid will disrupt the operation of equipment. Airlocks must be designed and operated correctly to prevent flooding the sub. Sonar signatures are modeled, and you can sneak past enemies by running silently or distract them with sonic decoys. Weaponry must be supplied with ammunition and enough burst capacity of power to operate. I’m not going to go into every detail of the sub’s equipment here, the wiki has a good overview: https://barotrauma.gamepedia.com/Submarine. In addition to a set of default subs, Barotrauma has a robust and flexible submarine editor built in to the game client. What’s more, if you join any game using a custom submarine that you don’t have installed, the game can download it on-demand and stick you straight in. It’s an impressive level of support for custom content, and there are many prolific designers of custom submarines. On the flip side, many custom submarines ignore that having constraints and weaknesses to work around is part of the fun, and are overpowered to the point of inanity. In any case, all of this is integrated with the Steam Workshop. Hell ya brother. The underlying systems for designing subs are complex enough to support things like backup battery arrays that are controlled by type commands in a terminal object. Subs can legitimately be so idiosyncratic that you need to inspect them carefully to learn how to use them to their fullest. Many are more intuitive than this, though. FAQ Q. Is Barotrauma inspired by Space Station 13? A. Yes. It’s been a long time since I played SS13, but Barotrauma seems to adopt a lot of spiritual cues from it. The chaos, emergent antagonism, and need to cooperate all feel directly inspired by SS13, and there are direct references, such as the clown costume. Similar to SS13, Barotrauma is most fun (in my opinion) when played as a social experience with a “light RP” mindset, where the goal is not necessarily to win but to just participate in a surprising and hilarious sequence of horrific events fueled by the egos and mistakes of individual players. Q. I see Barotrauma is in early access. Does it feel unfinished? Should I wait for full release? A. This answer depends. Barotrauma has been in development for several years, and it shows. The core gameplay of crewing a sub and completing missions feels very polished and fun. The campaign mode is more barebones, but is being developed as we speak to have more player choice and more content. In spite of this, campaign mode is still a lot of fun. I believe Barotrauma is worth your money now, especially while on sale or part of a bundle, and I’m convinced it’ll only get better over time. Q. It feels like there is a lot to learn. How do I get started in this game? A. Definitely play the included tutorials, they’re quick and valuable. Then, I recommend just joining crews, or spinning up a small game with any friends or goons you can rope in. Mess around and get curious and experiment. There are lots of small tricks and interactions to pick up. If you come across an experienced captain or doctor who is willing to share knowledge, even better. Q. My friends don’t want to buy the game. Can I have fun as a solo player? A. If you want to play singleplayer, I don’t know if I recommend Barotrauma in its current state. The campaign mode is being actively developed to eventually be a satisfying singleplayer experience, but it’s not there today. However, if you’re willing to brave pubbie crews, I think Barotrauma can still be a lot of fun. I’ve come across plenty of open games that were led by competent captains and cooperative crewmates. It’s the luck of the draw, as always. It seems that more pubbies are looking to be crewmembers rather than captains, so if you’re willing to learn to lead, you can host games and usually have them populate quickly. Q. Is there modding support? A. Oh, yeah. I haven't fooled with it much, but there are many mods ranging from small tweaks to content expansions on the Steam Workshop. The game is currently patched so often that many mods can't keep up, but once it stabilizes, there's going to be plenty of player-generated content. The scene is already quite active. Q. How do I find goons to play with? A. Post in here. I haven’t made a Discord or anything, but we should do that. Or maybe one already exists that I don't know of. Let me know and I will add it to the OP. Q. A man ran up and handcuffed me after I was zapped unconscious while trying to repair a junction box as a baby assistant, dosed me with methamphetamine, and threw me in the ballast tank. What can I do about this? A. You are having fun. That is gameplay. Nitevision fucked around with this message at 05:08 on Apr 26, 2022 |
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Jun 14, 2020 20:43
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I can say Barotrauma's a great time with a group of friends; exploring ruined subs chock full of mudraptors can get freaky as hell. The game's still incomplete, though, and you need to rely on mods to keep things from getting repetitive.
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Jun 14, 2020 23:00
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this looks stressful as gently caress
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Jun 27, 2020 02:31
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It's too funny to me to feel stressful honestly and the stakes aren't actually very high, but one of my friends finds it genuinely stressful. I think if you were playing with people who were serious/flustered instead of laughing at chaos it might be less fun. A security guard in a pubbie game last week was secretly recruiting members of the crew into a clown mutiny, culminating when he gave us clown costumes and stolen weapons and led us toward the bridge of the ship. We subdued and handcuffed the other security officer while one of us kept honking a bike horn in his face and I was crying irl. Sadly we all got banned by a server admin right after that, illustrating the ecstasy and agony of Barotrauma
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Jun 27, 2020 06:04
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I tried this and really loved it. The asymmetrical balance between characters is excellent and adds to replay value. I have a group of friends that only really enjoys playing casual cooperative exploration games, and this hits that spot, hard.
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Jul 1, 2020 18:43
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Got this as a gift and its a little incomprehensible at first. Tried to join multiplayer games to learn what is what but no real luck. Saw The Greater Goon sub/server but it was password protected. Still trying to get a first game in since all I've done is managed to shoot Olesh with a harpoon gun that some how lead him to being crushed to death by water pressure.
Jade Star fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Jul 1, 2020 |
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Jul 1, 2020 20:22
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Jade Star posted:Got this as a gift and its a little incomprehensible at first. Tried to join multiplayer games to learn what is what but no real luck. Saw The Greater Goon sub/server but it was password protected. Still trying to get a first game in since all I've done is managed to shoot Olesh with a harpoon gun that some how lead him to being crushed to death by water pressure. I also saw this server and the password is not lljk
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Jul 1, 2020 22:10
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I just got this and did the tutes. Seems good but how can I play with goons?
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Jul 2, 2020 00:34
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This game has a notoriously awful community that the devs do not care to moderate fyi https://steamcommunity.com/id/DESSIE2011/recommended/602960/ That guy pointed it out and got his review bombed by fans calling him all sorts of hosed up gross stuff. Here's an excerpt: "Right here, fellas. Look at him. This little man is a fine example of the BlTCH rear end NIGGA phenomenon."
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Jul 2, 2020 00:42
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the tutorial explains most of it as I recall. my problem was that it wasn't that fun. i think i expected spacestation 13 and got an early access under water exploration game with bike horns.
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Jul 2, 2020 00:50
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found this really fun so far. very easy on a larger sub for someone to grief (dropping grenades, overloading reactor etc) but even on the pubbie servers the teamwork can be p great. I went out to do some mining and got ganked by a monster - thought I'd die, but the captain swam out to retrieve me, and the medics ran a resus on me - coupled with arguments over which drugs, oxygen etc to give. But it worked and I survived!
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Jul 5, 2020 19:32
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Hello goons, is there a goon discord for this?
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Jul 7, 2020 05:44
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this game is good
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Jul 14, 2020 00:22
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i enjoy this game muchly wheres a good wiring how-to resource?
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Jul 17, 2020 23:59
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Statutory Ape posted:i enjoy this game muchly My friend ape convinced me to play this game despite the garbo community and it is good and fun. If any other goon wants to coop with us and isnt a horrendous grognard pls do so. We chill and play not super serious
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Jul 19, 2020 14:36
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Glenn Quebec posted:My friend ape convinced me to play this game despite the garbo community and it is good and fun. I'll co-op
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Jul 19, 2020 16:52
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I don't know if I'll have time to manage it long term, but I've created a Discord and registered it on GDN (with the bot locked down to just the authentication channel). Invite link is https://discord.gg/CQnqXZu
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Jul 19, 2020 18:40
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Jul 19, 2020 21:08
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Ruzihm posted:I'll co-op I got you, ape or I will send you a PM friend.
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Jul 19, 2020 23:32
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The unstable version is pretty cool. Was playing some single player campaign yesterday and it was a good time
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Jul 20, 2020 16:59
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re: the Discord, GDN bot is locked to the auth channel only and I'm happy to give people roles manually if they don't want to interact with it, I just wanted to give people a way to join if I'm not available. Once there are enough people on who can give others roles I can remove the bot altogether if it's a problem.
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Jul 20, 2020 17:48
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Can we just use one of the many goon discords that already exist instead of adding yet another?
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Jul 20, 2020 18:00
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I'm not in any others where people seem to be interested in this, if there is one already please link it. I don't particularly want to mod a discord, I just wanna play this game.
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Jul 21, 2020 01:13
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Just played this with my wife and we died forever. It was good.
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Jul 26, 2020 04:38
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This game is good come explode under the sea
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Jul 31, 2020 12:24
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its also 40% off rn
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Jul 31, 2020 12:30
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also do any of you have a link to the actual pathc notes from last night? i cant find them on the game forums, game site, or steam community, or google? e; https://steamcommunity.com/games/602960/announcements/detail/2716185857409467699 got it through teh game dev discord Worf fucked around with this message at 13:24 on Jul 31, 2020 |
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Jul 31, 2020 12:58
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I ran out of nuclear fuel rods and became stranded. I was hoping I could salvage a wrecked sub for fuel rods but there was just a dead clown onboard and nothing worthwhile. How do I mine the minerals outside the sub, do I need to craft a pickaxe?
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Aug 2, 2020 12:55
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Qubee posted:I ran out of nuclear fuel rods and became stranded. I was hoping I could salvage a wrecked sub for fuel rods but there was just a dead clown onboard and nothing worthwhile. How do I mine the minerals outside the sub, do I need to craft a pickaxe? salvage a ship not run by literal clowns that also run out of fuel and crashed imo
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Aug 2, 2020 13:12
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With the new update can you swim into a station? Grabbing a toolbox full of oxygen and a gun might be your best hope.
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Aug 2, 2020 13:14
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You need a plasma cutter to mine the minerals I think. But a lot of the smaller vanilla subs don't have a fabricator onboard so you can't do anything with them until you get to a station anyway.
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Aug 2, 2020 13:16
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It's a very fun game, manuel engineering is stressful as gently caress and I don't recommend giving that job to any newbie to the game.
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Aug 2, 2020 13:20
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Statutory Ape posted:salvage a ship not run by literal clowns that also run out of fuel and crashed imo are there many salvageable subs or are they rare? and is it possible to play in a server with other people but man your own sub whilst they man theirs?
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Aug 2, 2020 13:26
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Qubee posted:are there many salvageable subs or are they rare? and is it possible to play in a server with other people but man your own sub whilst they man theirs? Some larger subs have mini subs so it’s possible but not really implemented. Sub on sub battles would be pretty rad.
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Aug 2, 2020 13:31
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SpaceSDoorGunner posted:Some larger subs have mini subs so it’s possible but not really implemented. Sub on Sub battles exist, not sure if they are custom scenarios or what but I've played a sub vs sub match before.
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Aug 2, 2020 21:16
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theres mods for this game that add a lot of content WRT exploring sub wrecks and monster types etc. most arent updated yet as of the new patch but some are. as far as sub v sub, yes its 100% doable, albeit with some averageish amount of shenanigans in the editor
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Aug 3, 2020 02:17
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ModeSix posted:Sub on Sub battles exist, not sure if they are custom scenarios or what but I've played a sub vs sub match before. It's under Missions -> combat for sub PVP
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Aug 3, 2020 02:54
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Did we ever settle on a goon discord? What’s wrong with the GDN again?
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Aug 3, 2020 03:05
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tuyop posted:Did we ever settle on a goon discord? What’s wrong with the GDN again? that stemmed from me not wanting to auth to a central goon archive to play barotrauma & also being impatient
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Aug 3, 2020 04:09
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| # ? Apr 30, 2024 05:14 |
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This game is pretty good, played a few rounds with pubbies. I'd like to play with some goons, but it looks like my UTC-10 time zone strikes again and everyone is playing at odd hours of the day for me.
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Aug 3, 2020 09:16
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