I am reading a book "Buy then Build" about acquisition entrepreneurship, and am a bit stumped about some accounting that is being done and was wondering if anyone could clear this up.
First he describes Seller Discretionary Earnings (SDE) as adjusted EBITDA plus sellers salary + other seller perks added in. I think this is a fair definition based on what I understand
Then later in the book he is coming up with ratios for What Banks Look For
"They look for a minimum debt-to-earnings ratio of 1.25..." (assuming he means earning to debt here)
Then he jumps into an example
"Let's take the example with $400,000 SDE and $14,988 monthly debt service. The annual debt service is $179,853. The pretax cash flow is then $220,147. Non cash expenses like depreciation will add $135,000, which will equal earnings of $355,147"
The $135,000 is coming from writing down 1.35MM purchase acquisition goodwill from the purchase of the business
The conclusion he draws from this is that the earnings to debt ratio is substantially greater than 1.25.
My confusion is: why is he able to add $135,000 depreciation to his SDE which seems like it should already account for as it's essentially just adjusted EBITDA?

Kolshian Homeworld ‘Aafa’, 8th September 2136
Rushing through the corridors of the governance hall, Cilany desperately attempted to keep hold of her data slate. This would be the story of a lifetime! She had originally come to Aafa to report on the planned attack on Earth, once news broke that the humans had survived. That the conquering beasts had superior weaponry, and had clearly amassed a significant fleet, was enough to upset the Federations’ pre-existing plans. Cilany had bluffed her way onto a diplomatic courier in the hopes of getting a front row seat to the summit of Federation leadership.
The news had come mid-flight that the humans had struck Gojid space, along with claims of several races fighting alongside the predators. There was even mention of some ‘Inter-Species Union’. Last Cilany had heard, the Cradle itself was under attack, this latest update coming just as her ship arrived in the Aafa system. She had immediately found an itinerary for the upcoming meetings, and waited for the discussions to begin.
All of her plans, and those of everyone on Aafa, had been turned upside down by the arrival of a human vessel in the system. Appearing two light-hours from Aafa, it had approached in a manner designed to let the Kolshians know it was there. When challenged by the defence fleet, a transmission had come from the gigantic tree-like vessel, broadcast across all channels. It showed a prey creature with dark grey-blue flesh and a short, crushing beak. Nodules and spines of bone protruded from its skin, and it seemed to be comprised of nothing but muscle. Flanking it were a pink-furred creature with a long snout, and a Mazic-like creature with two trunks. Standing a little to the left of the spined creature was Governor Tarva of the Venlil. This had shocked Cilany, as she had assumed that the leader of a conquered species would have either been executed (likely being eaten alive) or enslaved. Most shocking of all, the three unknown species were taller than the woolly leader. The blue-grey beast had spoken, their voice deep and rumbling with occasional hoots.
“Greetings, people of the Federation. I am Clan Lord Ulcalna Zhor-Latt, ambassador of the Covenant of Zhulrin. We are here as diplomatic representatives of the Inter-Species Union, on a mission of peace. We know that there is a summit taking place on this world, in which you plan to make war upon one of our member states, the Federation of Human Systems. It is our intention to find a peaceful alternative. We have brought with us an ambassador of the humans, who will explain to you exactly how this conflict can be avoided. You may attempt to prevent the discharge of our duties, but we will be heard. This is your one and only chance at peace.”
And that was that. The implicit threat conveyed by the mighty warship had prevented the Kolshian forces from engaging, while the apparent prey creature with long pink fur had continued the declaration. This ‘Ambassador Voronsk of the Rishtaln’ had explained that the assembled representatives of the ‘ISU’ would meet with the Federation Council. One would give a speech explaining who they were, the human ambassador would give an account of what was happening in Gojid space, and then they would return to their ship within half an hour. Cilany had heard that the assembled leaders had argued over whether to allow the human to speak, with many siding with Jerulim of the Krakotl and demanding that they blow the human ship out of the sky.
Then the Zurulian representative had pointed out the unpleasant truth: if the humans and their ‘allies’ were denied access, they would likely just bomb Aafa. If their representatives were killed, they would bomb Aafa. If the ‘diplomats’ were allowed to land and they attacked Federation citizens, it would destroy any attempt by the predators to deceive them. And besides, if they let the human talk, there was the possibility of gaining vital information about their plans.
So now, Cilany was rushing to the council chamber to get first-hand footage and live notes of the first act of predatory diplomacy in Federation history. From what she had picked up on the way, the diplomatic entourage had caused quite the stir when they exited their shuttle, though why was not clear. Panting, Cilany arrived at the door to the chamber. The area around the speakers’ podium was filled with Kolshian soldiers, nervously brandishing their weapons. Seating herself in the public gallery, along with maybe six other journalists brave enough to be in the same room as a predator. Surprisingly enough, there were many more ambassadors in the chamber than she would have thought. Cilany had just turned her pad on when the doors to the main podium opened. Into the room strode a veritable menagerie of new species. And at least four were predators.
The first into the room were two large reptilian bipeds, towering over the assembled guards much as the Arxur would. Their bodies were lined with blades, and their taloned digits clutched at their waists, as if reaching for weapons that were not there. They moved to the sides, taking up positions to the left and right of the speakers’ podium. From the position of their eyes, Cilany could see they were prey. The way they had placed themselves suggested they were guards, but why would the humans use prey as security?
Following behind came the rest of the ‘ISU’ representatives. On the left were the three creatures from the original message, and this time Cilany could see the entirety of their bodies. The Rishtaln moved with a sort of loping grace, and Cilany could almost imagine this pink prey creature sinking those wide spatulate nails into the flesh of an attacking predator. There was just something… menacing about how they moved. The grey creature who had identified themselves as ‘Clan Lord Ulcalna’ was larger in person than she had previously thought, their head easily level with that of an Arxur. The bony spines running along their back rose upon entering the chamber, some sort of threat display? Cilany could not think why a prey creature would feel the need to threaten fellow prey. And those arms… they looked capable of breaking a Mazic in half.
Perhaps the most horrifying was the quadruped with the twin trunks. They were surrounded by three bipedal creatures the size of a Venlil, with rust-red feathers and hooked beaks, their forward eyes betraying their predatory nature. Strangely, the beasts seemed to be holding data slates in their clawed hands. The four-legged prey showed no signs of fear or hesitation, seeming almost to swagger as the ambassadors entered the chamber. And the feathered beasts were not the only shocking sight. To the right of the party, a tall predator with purple-grey fur spotted with black and a short muzzle walked in front of a bright yellow creature that reminded Cilany of a Kolshian, save for its pot-belly and four large tentacles where the Kolshians had only two. Bringing up the rear was a tan biped whose long tail ended in a mass of long spines. If the position of its eyes did not make its diet clear, the two long fangs protruding from its lips did.
These seven species surrounded four central figures. Tarva was immediately recognisable, walking right next to the dark-skinned human. How could she be that close to a predator and not be whimpering in terror? The human ‘ambassador’ was tall, with some sort of form-fitting garment obscuring most of its near-black skin. A cloak with what looked like a stylised star-chart printed on it flowed from its back as its binocular eyes swept over the assembled dignitaries. On its left, a blue-furred quadruped with a long, bladed tail followed, their twin stalk eyes mimicking the humans’ predatory gaze. On their right was the tallest biped Cilany had ever seen, standing at least eight feet tall at the shoulder, with its long, branching antlers reaching even higher. Four yellow eyes, two side-mounted, two front-facing, took in the entire chamber as the green-furred creature marched forward. Four long arms extended from its torso, holding claws more terrible than even those of the Arxur. Cilany could only stare in shock at the advancing party. How could the humans have allies, and how were the prey creatures not terrified?
The ‘diplomatic party’ arranged themselves around the podium, as Clan Lord Ulcalna climbed the steps up to where the microphone stood. The spiked blue-grey biped looked out at the crowd of fearful and confused prey, cleared their throat, and then spoke.
“Greetings, representatives of the Galactic Federation. I am Clan Lord Ulcalna Zhor-Latt, representative of Clan Suraln, and ambassador of the Covenant of Zhulrin to the Inter-Species Union. With me are Ambassador Ansur-Telen-Noran of the Andalite Electorate, Visser 19 of the Yeerk Republican Committee, Emissary Elone of the Nimthyl Command, Ambassador Voronsk of the Rishtalishk Congress, Designate Harri Walln of the Manper Imperium, Speaker Zon-Das-Rop of the United Kelvar Sapients and his aides, councillor Roshanat of the Leeran Shoal, and Captain Williams of the FHS. First contact between our two interstellar coalitions has led to bloodshed, and it is our hope that by explaining who we are and where we come from, we may prevent further death”.
Cilany began taking notes as the Federation ambassadors looked on in trepidation. One new predator species they could understand, but one with the support of several other species was unimaginable. Even if the new prey species were slaves or thralls, it still gave the humans greater resources and numbers than previously thought. And it certainly does not explain the other predators…
“The Inter-Species Union is an intergovernmental organisation consisting of nineteen full members and seven associate members. There are also twenty-three species with whom we have close diplomatic ties, and thirteen species within our combined territory whom we have no formal contact.”
As the ‘Clan Lord’ inserted a data-storage of some kind into the view screen, Cilany considered what the Federation had just learned. There was another multi-species body in the galaxy, smaller but still highly advanced, if the reports from Gojid space were anything to go by. Most worrying of all, it included several predatory species. While the flesh eaters likely dominated their prey members, the sharing of power between them had… concerning implications.
An image appeared on the screen and Cilany’s heart stopped. There were at least twenty different species in the image, which appeared to be some sort of social gathering or reception. At least six were obvious predators, and there were some, such as a long insectoid with four stalk-eyes, which gave Cilany a sinking feeling in her stomach.
“The Union was formed approximately one-hundred and thirty years ago, with five founding members: the Andalites, humans, Yeerks, Hork-Bajir, and Taxxons. My own species joined fifteen years later, the ninth to do so. It was envisioned as a peace-keeping force, as well as a platform for inter-species cooperation. Through the trade of resources and technology, members enjoy security and comfort, with the assistance of other species in the improvement of their infrastructure and completion of large projects. To say nothing of cultural enrichment and the exchange of luxury goods.”
Now that got Cilanys’ attention. The humans were not only members of a multi-species alliance, but were founding members? How had that happened, given the anti-social tendencies of predators? And why had prey creatures allied with them in the first place? Clearly, they were tainted by their proximity to the flesh eaters, especially given the ‘cultural exchange’. The image changed, showing a map of the galaxy. Cilany stared at the two coloured masses filling the majority of the image. One she recognised as Federation space. The other, about one third the size, touched what she could only assume was Venlil space. This group of predators and their thralls control a significant territory. Striking Earth won’t be enough, the Federation will need to actually go to war with a force equal to a third of itself. And if we need to contend with the Arxur as well…
“Through the efforts of Expeditionary Corps, the ISU have explored and colonised a significant volume of the galaxy, especially given the relatively short time it has existed. But there are dangers in this galaxy, and so each and every member is pledged to support and aid their fellows in a time of war or other crisis. This has allowed for a period of peace that has been more or less interrupted for over a century. In addition to keeping the peace, the Union has dedicated itself to spread life through out its territory. It is thus that we come to the pride of the ISU: its Terraforming Initiative.”
The screen changed once again, displaying two images side by side. One was of a rocky, inhospitable planet, the sort that every system had. The other was of a green and brown world spotted with blue, clearly life-supporting. Cilany looked closer. The stars in the background were the same, and the landmasses of the habitable planet matched formations and high points on the barren one. Did this mean…? Blessed divines!
“The exchange of technologies between member states includes technologies for environmental modification and atmospheric synthesis. The same energies that power our ships and weaponry can be turned towards generating magnetospheres, and other requirements for a world to support life. Through the introduction of specific plant and animal species, we can create ecosystems that maintain what technology began. Thus, every system held by the Union contains at least one inhabited planet with a population of ten million or more.”
Gasps filled the chamber. Cilany herself could think well enough to continue her notes. The ISU modified planets to make them habitable. Such a thing was beyond the Federations’ capabilities. They could maintain their worlds, but it required significant investment, used only for homeworlds and major colonies. And if every one of the Union’s systems was habitable… then their population and industry must be much higher than anyone had thought.
“And with that introduction, I bring us all back to the reason we are here: the recent conflict between the Gojid Union and ourselves. I leave it to the human ambassador to give an account of how this happened, and to lead the efforts in finding a peaceful solution.”
With that, Ulcalna turned and strode from the podium as the human walked up to it, along with Governor Tarva. The predator reached down to adjust the microphone, looked up at the shocked Federation ambassadors, and then spoke.
“I am Noah Williams, designated ambassador of the Federation of Humans Systems. And I come in the hopes of preventing an escalation in the hostilities that have arisen in recent weeks.”
The human paused, as if to consider its words, then continued.
“For eons, humanity looked up at the stars with wonder and hope, creating a thousand thousand different stories and mythologies to explain the majesty of the night sky. As we advanced and learned of the nature of the cosmos, we wondered what the worlds orbiting those distant points of light were like. Was there life out there, were there people on those worlds, were there others like us? Much as we had gazed at the horizon in earlier times, and wondered what peoples and new lands were out there, what adventures awaited us. And then we actually met intelligent life”. The human slowly spread their arms wide, encompassing the nine bizarre species that had accompanied them. Cilany typed frantically, taking down every impression and thought that popped into her head. Here it came, the humans’ boasting of how prey were inferior and needed their guiding hand.
“And despite any physical differences, such as diet and appearance, not to mention cultural values, we found friends. Some species were more aggressive than others, some terrifying, heck, the Yeerks tried to enslave us before we even had interstellar travel.” The human gestured at the massive antlered biped. Cilany took note of that, as everyone else stared in shock. So, the four-eyed creature was a predator after all. But if they had tried to enslave humanity pre-spaceflight, how had the humans won? Suddenly, it hit her. Friends. The human had referred to these other species, including the prey, as friends. Not allies, for that was a relationship of convenience, but friends. Including a species that had tried to enslave them. What in the name of sanity is going on?
“Even through all of that, we helped to form a community of star-faring races, all working together to nurture life in this galaxy and work for the mutual benefit of all. Through the exchange of technology and knowledge, all species thrived. The galactic peace was upheld, the common defence assured, and worlds that had been nothing but barren rock were turned into lush gardens. Imagine our shock, when we came to this region of space, and found a full-blown war in progress.” The human looked straight at Chief Nikonus. It occurred to Cilany that Governor Tarva had likely told the humans who the influential members of the council were. But why look at the unofficial leader of the Federation with… distain?
“A war in which a species of carnivorous reptilians was committing genocide against every other species in the area, even going so far as to keep those species as livestock, like something out of a bad novel. And what is more, the local species were unlikely to accept our aid, simply because of our diet.” That stopped Cilany cold. Had the human really just suggested they would have… helped the Federation? Why? What was more, the human seemed to think of their predatory nature as irrelevant to how species interacted. She immediately began typing. Could it be that the humans thought of the Arxur as a bigger threat than the Federation…?
“But, we thought, no matter. We had established calm, cordial relations with the Venlil, and begun introducing technologies and ways of thinking that would enable them to better assimilate into the wider galactic community. We even began repairing the damage they had done to their ecosystems.” Now that was shocking. Had the humans really shared their powerful technology with the Venlil? The way the human had spoken, it was almost as if they expected that Tarva would discard her peoples’ long history with the Federation to join a group of predators and their ‘allies’. And what was that bit about damaged ecosystems?
“Then suddenly, we discovered that there was a species of warlike brutes, known as the Gojid, right on our doorstep. That the local coalition of species had, apparently, taken one look at our pre-Space Age world and decided to commit genocide, in violation of all civilised standards of behaviour. And the way we found this out is particularly telling.” Cilany saw many of the representatives bristle at the blatant hypocrisy of the predator. For her own part, she was confused. The human had decried warfare and genocide as evil. Yet almost two hundred years ago, they had committed such acts. And given how the human referred to the Gojid as ‘warlike brutes’, and doesn’t seem to empathise with our fear, is it possible that they intend to exterminate them?
“During an Arxur attack on one of the Venlil border stations, a human soldier on secondment to the Venlil garrison, along with his Venlil partner, were separated from the rest of the defending force. They were taken aboard a Gojid ship, and subjected to treatment that violates every code of military ethics held sacred in civilised space. And before you start claiming that I have no proof, Andalite mind-transcription tech really is a marvel.”
The human inserted its own device into the screen and a video appeared. It showed a cage of some sort, and there, standing in the foreground, was Sovlin. A four fingered hand was visible to the right-side and Cilany realised something. This was the view through the eyes of a human.
“Please, I keep telling you, my people came to Venlil Prime in peace! We’re helping them, giving them technology to repair their world, improving their defences. Our allies…”
Sovlin lashed out with a clawed paw and there was a cry of pain. The view abruptly moved.
“Predator lies! You monstrous flesh eaters have enslaved the Venlil! They are now your cattle, and if you think that I will permit your species to blight my people, you truly are insane!”
The image shifted again, suggesting the passage of time. The human seemed to be looking at the floor of its cage.
“Please. I need to eat. Surely there’s something, anything, you can feed me…”
A shock baton appeared momentarily on the screen and there was a horrifying scream.
“Disgusting predator. As if I would feed your degenerate appetite. What kind of beast do you take me for?”
The image cut out. The human ambassador stared up at the horrified Federation members.
“We have more than seven days of similar memories. Beatings. Torture. Starvation. An attempt to rape the Venlil Slaneks’ mind with the Gojids’ hateful ideology. That this Captain Sovlin refused to even feed his prisoner demonstrates the utter depravity of the Gojid military. That Prime Minister Piri did not turn him over to us immediately, or even send a message deploring his actions, but instead began mustering her fleet shows that this taint extends to the entire Gojid culture. It also says something about those species they associate with. Can you truly blame us for punishing the kind of behaviour that would have earned Sovlin the death penalty anywhere in ISU space?”
She saw shock sweep the chamber. The human had just hinted that their species followed some sort of ethical code, defying every piece of evidence on their psychology. Where was this code when they were gassing children? And how could Sovlin have fed his prisoner? There was no flesh aboard their ships, other than the crew. Did the humans expect Sovlin to butcher members of his own crew? Her heart stopped. No one had heard from Sovlin since the war began, if the humans captured him…. Be safe, old friend.
Cilany could see the Ambassador Jerulim was on the verge of exploding in rage at the predators’ words. Chief Nikonus clearly saw it to, as he immediately interjected. “Surely, ambassador, you understand our reluctance to tolerate a predator species on our border, especially given the inherently violent nature of such sapients.” The human ambassador fixed Nikonus with their piercing gaze, causing the Kolshian leader to stop.
“We appreciate that the Arxur have been terrorising you for over a century, but that does not excuse attempting to exterminate every species of carnivorous sapients you find, Chief Nikonus. Not to mention the ecocidal campaign the Gojid Union has been waging since before the Arxur were even an issue”. That last part caught Cilany, and everyone else, off guard. Are they talking about exterminators? But that’s a key aspect of any civilisation. Jerulim finally could not contain himself.
“You dare act as if you are sapient? You are predators, festering tumours of death and pain! No predator is capable of higher intelligence, and the idea that they have any place in the universe is obscene!” Clan Lord Ulcalna snorted in a way that reminded Cilany of a roar, silencing the Krakotl. The human, no longer being heckled, turned to the avian, a fearsome look upon their savage features.
“Ambassador, the disproportionate number of herbivorous sapients in this area of space does not change the fact that the Federation has no right to decide who is and is not considered sapient. And I find it disheartening that the Gojids’ perverse anti-predator ideology has tainted more species.” Disproportionate number…? The implications of that statement occurred to Cilany at roughly the same moment as they did the Farsul Ambassador. High Elder Darq stood, and mustering her courage, asked the same question as Cilany. “W-w-what do you mean, disproportionate?”
The look on the humans’ face was almost…amused. “Ambassador, to the best of my knowledge, approximately three-quarters of all know sapient species consume meat in some form. Of those, about one third eat nothing but meat”. The entire chamber went silent with shock. Surely that was not possible, predators could not make the majority of sapient races. Darq could only splutter at that, and Cilany did not blame her. The Farsul responded. “Then why is the universe not filled with rampaging predators, endlessly hunting for prey? Why are there not a hundred warring races fighting over our worlds, as we cower in fear?”
The human looked at Darq with what Cilany could only call derision. “Because, Ambassador, contrary to your interpretation of the facts, predators are not innately warlike. Despite what the amateurs you call ‘scientists’ may think, violence on the scale you witnessed during your ‘observation’ of Earth is not humanity’s natural state. To put it bluntly, that six-year conflict, which we call World War Two, was the single largest war in our history, and the worst thing we have ever done to ourselves.”
The human swept their predatory gaze across the chamber. “By the standards of human scholarship, the volume of data collected and the degree of actual analysis is inadequate. In a conflict that lasted six years, you have data from maybe a month, if that. There was no attempt to consider an alternative viewpoint, no attempt to even discover what the war was about. You criticise us for killing millions of our own kind, and then treat murdering billions of innocent people as some sort of moral right”.
From her vantage point, Cilany could see Nikonus rallying after the humans’ dismissal of Federation culture. “You speak of civilisation and morality, yet your government refers to itself as collection of smaller entities. It is clear that you are not unified as a species, and as recent events show, you have not yet put aside your warmongering ways.” Cilany agreed with the Kolshians’ words. Still, there was something in the humans’ statement about ‘insufficient analysis’. The way they had spoken of this ‘World War Two’, definitely suggested a more complex narrative than Federation scholars had thought.
Below, the human was issuing a rebuttal of Nikonus’ accusations. “My species is united, Chief Nikonus. However, our history has taught us that the more people a government attempts to control, the greater the strain on that government, causing instability. One must also consider the imperialistic sentiments such large states tend to provoke. Thus, every human colony is in effect a separate polity in itself, being effectively autonomous save for three areas of government: the military, major laws, and colonisation efforts. Each colony elects its’ own ruling body, and that group provides a representative to the Conclave, the ruling body of the FHS Government.”
The human pressed a few buttons on the podium and another video appeared. It seemed to show a view of inter-planetary space with several orbital stations. There were cylindrical structures with some form of outer framework of girders, about five of them, dominating the foreground. For some reason, the inner cylinder seemed to be revolving inside the frame. The backdrop was taken up by what looked to be a large ring of some sort, canted at an angle, the inner edge a blurry mix of blue, green and white. Cilany thought that it may have been spinning, but why… A ship appeared, flying away from the camera towards one of the cylinders. Cilany held her breath. If the ship was about the size of a cruiser, as it likely was given the lack of visible viewports, then those cylinders were more than twenty times the size of any Federation station, save for asteroid bases. And that ring… it was much larger that the cylinders…
“Even with our terraforming technology, ambassadors, there is only so much habitable space a solar system can have. Not to mention the fact that our colonists need somewhere to live while the process is carried out. Thus, for every citizen living on a planet, there are at least three who call one of our space-habitats home. What this means ambassadors, is that even our smallest colonies have populations of nine billion or more. The Sol system, for example, has enough space habitats to house eleven times the population of Earth. Given the administrative strain such populations present, you can understand why we… decentralise our government.”
The sheer scale of the industry needed to create such things, Cilany could not believe it. If this was real, then the humans not only had a higher population than even the most pessimistic projections, but they could turn that construction industry to building warships. Which meant… they’d be able to replace losses faster than the Federation every could.
President Cupo of the Mazic signalled that he wished to speak. Quickly taking a photo of the tan quadruped, Cilany considered the positive optics of someone other than the three founding species speaking. Whatever Cupo said, it helped to signal Federation unity. “So, human, your people are still divided into factions. Are your…allies similarly disunified?” Now that, Cilany thought, was a good question. Surely, if a species was not united within itself, its’ bonds with other species would be fragile. This could allow the Federation to fracture the ISU, if they applied the right pressure.
The human shook their head, possibly signalling negation. “Every species is different, ambassador, and thus each member of the ISU maintains a different form of government. The Andalites, for example, appoint a Prince or Governor to oversee each of their colonies, reporting directly to the Electorate.” They gestured to the blue creature with the bladed tail. “The Andalites were spacefaring more than a thousand years ago. It was they who held the Yeerks at bay, and in many ways were our first alien allies. Also, on a ship-to-ship basis, their military is arguably the most powerful in the Union. It’s their environmental tech and hyperstrong meta-materials, above all else, that allow Union orbital habitats to be as large as they are.”
Many were taken aback by this, Cilany included. Elder Darq spoke out, clearly intrigued by this social dynamic. The alliance between humans and Andalites flew in the face of all accepted scientific understanding of how predators and prey interacted. “But why ally with them in the first place? I would think that your urge to control and dominate would lead you to integrate them into your structure, in a subservient role”. Cilany found herself disagreeing with that sentiment. The human had spoken of a community of species, and had suggested that the conquering practices of their past were considered immoral by the current leadership. Could it be, she thought, that the humans have put their baser urges behind them?
The human seemed almost offended by Darqs’ words. “Because, Ambassador Darq, we are not conquerors. And attempting to rule them would be pointless, because they are not the same species of us. Their psychology and biological imperatives are very different. What is necessary for one species could even be harmful for another. We have found that interfering in the development and culture of other species, trying to shape them into something they are not, always leads to instability and bloodshed. Every species has the right to self-determination. Those thirteen species with whom we have no contact are not advanced enough to interact with without causing massive societal disruption. Ultimately, every species must develop its’ own way of doing things. We can supply guidance and technology, but direct intervention in the affairs of another species is wrong.”
It was then that Jerulim let loose yet another of his outbursts. “You decry direct intervention as immoral, but what are you doing to the Gojid?! Are you not occupying their worlds, are you not even now butchering them, and using other prey species to do it?” The Krakotl spread his wings, as if daring the human to contradict him. “All of this is beside the point! All this discussion of human politics and history is meaningless! What matters is that these predators have attacked a member of the Federation, without provocation, and are even now slaughtering the Gojid as they do their own people!”
The human sighed, looking around at the Federation ambassadors, while their fellow diplomats gave the Krakotl what could only be looks of disapproval. Cilany had just finished taking note of Jerulims’ hysterical speech, when the human gave their reply. “We have only acted in defence of ourselves and the preservation of galactic order, and even then, we have used the minimum degree of force necessary. The Gojid plotted to attack us, we simply struck first”. Jerulim was not done. Cilany started wondering exactly how he had become an ambassador in the first place. “If that was the case, you would have simply struck the military bases. But no, you invaded their colonies and their homeworld. You have not risen above the conquering ways of your past”.
Cilany could see that the human was growing more and more agitated. Is it going to attack? “If that is the case, then why have we not eradicated the Gojid? It really would not have been all that difficult, given the forces we can bring to bear”. Jerulim sneered. “I would think that was obvious. You want to take cattle, to feed your aberrant appetites, to gain new tastes of flesh. The other prey species you have met are too strong for you to conquer, so you thought you could take the Gojid as livestock!”
There was a long pause. Then the human looked straight at Jerulim. Now that is a sign of predatory dominance if I ever saw one, Cilany thought. “I see. You are assuming that we are like the Arxur. Well, let me explain something to you, primitive. The eating of fellow sapients is one of the greatest taboos in human culture, going back to before our first cities. Even the token data you collected during the darkest time in our history should show you that. And on that subject, I find the Federations’ condemning humanity over a single pre-space conflict to be hypocritical. All species go through such times before developing interstellar travel. Only those uplifted before such a stage in their development continue such behaviour, as they have not had the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.”
Again, the human had returned to the subject of this World War. Clearly, it had been a complicated situation, with nuances which the humans believed had not been appreciated by the Federation. Still, what could possibly lead them to think all species committed such horrors, or that uplifts are more likely to do so?
“As for ‘new tastes’, Earth is one of the most biologically diverse planets in known space. We have enough variety from her alone, not to mention the foods available through interstellar trade. Those members of the ISU who are herbivores, ‘prey’ as you so crudely put it, do not share your unreasoning fear of predators, and so have no problem with us feeding off animals they do not utilise. So, if we did decide to utterly destroy the Gojid, there would be no need to take prisoners or round up the civilians. We would not even need to deploy troops to the surface. We could simply atomise their cities from orbit, unleash bioweapons, or just, well, blow up the planet”.
Cilany heard the gasps of every ambassador in the chamber. Blow up a planet? The power required for such a thing, an entire glassing fleet didn’t have that much firepower. Nikonus broke the stunned silence. “That joke is not funny, ambassador. To suggest annihilating an entire habitable planet…” The humans’ gaze shifted. “On the contrary, Chief Nikonus, I am not joking. Or lying. The primary weapons of the most powerful warships we have, fired at full power, could crack the crust of the Cradle like glass, and that is if the atmosphere didn’t simply ignite.”
There was a stunned silence at that. Cilany quickly began taking down her thoughts at these unpleasant revelations. The humans have either overcome their base hungers or otherwise have discarded us as cattle for practical reasons. This means they have no need to take captives, save out of some form of rudimentary compassion… Their prey allies lack any instinctual fear of predators, suggesting high aggression: possible similarities in culture allowing humans to overlook their diet… Human weapons not being used at full power, implying that they do indeed exhibit restraint: why do so if the Gojid wanted to exterminate them…? The human looked around the chamber. They seemed exasperated, as if there was something the Federation did not understand.
“What I do not understand, ambassadors, is why you expect the Gojid to receive special treatment. Regardless of what ecological role their pre-sapient ancestors had, all space-faring species must be held to the same standards. And quite frankly, their behaviour illustrates why uplifting species, as the Gojid likely were, is wrong. Giving a culture that is still going through its savage phase advanced technology, before it has had the opportunity to work through its aggression as we did, can only lead to destruction. From our perspective, the situation is fairly simple: The Gojid attempted to exterminate a sentient species. Thus, they must be disciplined. The fact that we were the species they attempted to murder doesn’t really affect matters, other than shortening the debate over what to do about it.”
Cilany saw Nikonus stand once more, the Kolshian clearly agitated. That was understandable, the human had been hurling criticism at the guiding tenants of civilised life for the entire meeting. “What do you mean, it shortened the debate, ambassador? Surely the mere presence of an… aggressive species would demand prompt action.”
Once again, the human appeared exasperated. “What I mean, Chief Nikonus, is that usually there would be an extended period of discussion within the Conclave, and of course the leaders of the wider ISU. Arguments would be put forward for and against military intervention, the chances of establishing peaceful diplomatic relations with the government in question, whether there is a danger of falling into the trap of imperialism. No one wants a war if it can be avoided. But the Gojid’s savagery made everything much simpler. They made their murderous intentions clear, and Captain Sovlin’s actions demonstrated that any diplomats sent to seek a peaceful solution would be tortured to death. Which really only left one option: render the uncivilised brutes incapable of harming anyone. Our allies offered us military aid, thus allowing us to maintain our pre-existing commitments in other sectors of space, and here we are”.
Cilany paused to consider that. The humans would not have attacked the Gojid if they had not felt threatened. For a species as aggressive as them, there was only really one response to the apparent threat: eliminate that threat. Really, it was a sign of their restraint that they had not glassed the Cradle out of hand. That was when she heard it.
“Bullshit!”

I've been talking a lot with anyone willing to listen recently, family, friends, coworkers, you name it. They know practically every detail of our four-year-long relationship. And that's the conclusion they all draw, me being better off without her.
I knew our relationship was tough, and asked a lot from me. I knew I got too little out of it. I was well on my way to working myself into a burnout. But I always had hope that the issues would be resolved. That she would do more for the relationship. That I would get more out of it. And in the meantime, she was my soulmate, it felt worth it to try get through this, because a future with her had so much potential.
Sadly, there never were any steps made to make the relationship more fair to me. Even when I worked full-time, and she had no job. It was downright impossible to get her to do a little more of the chores. And her even punching me in the head once for daring the say she should just get a job, after fighting for several hours about her picking up some small chores. We'd still cook, clean, and do groceries together. All I asked for was a couple of the smaller chores being done by her, to clos the big gap between how much we contributed by ever so small an amount.
She moved here from another country, and I had given her plenty of time to get adjusted to living here before having to look for a job. When after a full year she still hadn't made any effort to get a job, I tried to nudge her. Offering her to at least take some courses, pick up some studying, something to get a decent job. I couldn't really get her to accept anything, or even a temporary job at a store or washing dishes. The only thing I could get her to accept was programming, something I do for a job as well. For the next year I spent hours and hours teaching her programming after work. And after two years since she moved here she finally managed to get a job. And even then I had to spend hours and hours each week aiding her with that, since she struggled with it and wasn't getting enough guidance.
I feel I carried the relationship this entire time. With it being tough to get her to do much of anything to support the relationship.
And all I asked for in return was to be able to spend a couple hours a week doing something I wanted to do. Which I only got when she wasn't around. When she was around she basically claimed all my free time, and we just did what she wanted.
While I can't fully agree with the "you're better off without her" mentality, I can see their points. It was an unfair relationship where I did too much and got too little. And where I never got to convince her to do anything to make it more fair, unless it happened to be what she wanted.
In the end I hadn't discussed any issues I had with the relationship for over a year. To try to keep the peace, since we fought a lot over her issues as is anyway. A facial expression she didn't like, a joke that didn't fully land for her, or the tone of my voice when I said something, causing hours and hours of fights. I wanted to avoid that. Especially with there already being enough stressers in our lives, a sick grandma to take care of who ended up passing away half a year ago, and us having to move at the end of the year. With her frequent fights, I wanted to avoid having more. I'd rather just suck it up, and keep some periods of rest occasionally.
Meanwhile, not having my issues resolved caused me to start feeling resentful towards her. It's tough having to give so much and get so little for so long. I felt it was time to bring up my issues again, to try to get ahead of the resentment. I decided to go for the smallest least significant one first. It did not go well. She didn't listen to me, and instead made it about her feeling bad. Walking away from me, and closing the bedroom door on me when I followed her to try continuing talking to her. And the day after she committed suicide.
I'm still struggling with figuring out what I lost here. Did I lose my soulmate, with whom there was so much potential for a long happy relationship, if only we could get past the fighting, and get to a point where there was a better balance between what I did for the relationship and what I got out of it? Or did I lose a tough unfair relationship with someone unwilling or unable to improve themselves for the benefit of our relationship and me specifically? Someone I'm "better off without", like everyone keeps telling me.
I honestly don't know. And I keep fluctuating between the two of them. When I believe the former, I feel awful, consumed by guilt and regret. When I believe the latter, I feel stable, and try to look towards the future. But inevitablely I fall back to believing the former, and the wounds get ripped open again.

In 2016 I bought a brand new Nissan Rogue, this past August @ 137,000 km the CVT transmission went. Nissan put in a new transmission & Aug 12 I picked it up - after driving home I could tell something was really off. So I was stuck without a car for the weekend til Aug 15 my car went back in & and they assured me they took it all apart & put it all back together to make sure nothing was loose. On August 20th I had an appt to put my new tires on my car & while driving there it still felt off but I just thought " how could this be possible they've already taken it apart and looked at it all & said it was fine ". On August 21st my cousin and I wanted to go to on a little roadtrip with my cousin who eas un town visiting but we got in my car and I was still experiencing the same thing I had been experiencing since getting my car back from Nissan the FIRST time. So I call my brother to come over to look at it he is a licensed red seal journeyman mechanic with 14 years of experience in the industry. We take videos and send them in to Nissan, they come and pick up my car because I didn't feel safe driving across the city while it was making a very loud clunking noise inside the front end. AGAIN they tell me they've taken my whole front end apart and put it back together. Fast forward to last week when I said to my brother " I have never experienced such shitty winter driving since owning my rogue for the last 7 years. I had been sliding and getting stuck like never before " he told me he would take look at my car to make sure nothing was going on. He took ONE look at my front tires and was like " This is bad, I know exactly what happened. When Nissan put in your new transmission and then took your car back 3 separate times to " take apart and re assemble everything " my car was no longer aligned. So I emailed in asking what their procedure is after putting in a new transmission for someone and this was the reply I got back " With a repair of that magnitude there would have been a toe adjustment completed as needed. A complete alignment would not have been completed or needed. " Now everyone I have talked to in the industry has said it is absolutely necessary to have it aligned after having such a big job done to the front end suspension, everyone except the Nissan dealership of course is saying this. Nissan then came back and said " After having further discussions this morning with my Shop Foreman, when completing a transmission replacement on that generation of Rogue there may have only of been a slight adjustment just to ensure the steering wheel was straight. The design characteristics of that type of suspension would not of been affected when the subframe was removed. As you noted, there were new tires installed on the vehicle after it was in for the transmission repair. Was a alignment not completed with the new tires? "
Of course they are trying to blame the unalignment on me having my tires changed after they put in my new transmission ( even tho it went back to their shop 3 times after having my tires changed)
So I took it in for an alignment AND sure enough the only part that says it is UNALIGNED is the TOE part the EXACT spot he claims they would have adjusted if " need be "
I'm still going back and fourth with Nissan any mechanics opinion on this matter is appreciated

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Please read this preface.

1. Polite discussion and constructive criticism are very welcome.
2. It is possible that some ideas I'm writing about were discussed in the past. In that case, I apologize.
3. Things I propose here might be hard or impossible due to technical reasons, which is fully understandable.
4. While changes 1 and 2 are quite simple QoL changes, 3 and 4 could interfere with things like game feel, immersion, player interactions, and generally be optimizing fun out of the game, so take them with a big grain of salt.
5. I am nitpicking at a game that is already great, so I apologize for that.
6. Regardless if anything comes out of this, thank you for reading, and thank you, GSG for making this masterpiece of a game <3

1. Countdown to drop pod leaving

Sometimes, when boarding the drop pod, it might happen that one of the dwarves goes down while all the others are inside the drop pod. In that case, the drop pod leaves immediately, and the dwarf is left behind. This is clearly unacceptable.
I think that when there are any dwarves down, there should be a short countdown (3-5s?) before the drop pod leaves, so there is a chance to leave it and rescue the unlucky guy.

2. Abilities controls

Currently, abilities (blue perks) have predefined controls that utilize already existing controls for sprinting, interactions, etc. This sometimes causes problems, e.g., trying to pick up a fallen dwarf surrounded by enemies but instead accidentally targeting glyphid on top of him with the Beast Master perk.
I think that it would be very nice if we could define specific keybinds for specific abilities, or perhaps have two keybinds for abilities 1 and 2, respectively. (Similar to how, e.g., summoner spells work in League of Legends.) Both the options proposed by me and the current implementation could coexist, and players could use whichever they like.

3. Wait, we're not done yet, you leaf lover!

Recently, I've had some bad experiences, where there was still stuff to do, be it a secondary objective, a machine event, a rival communication relay, or just another cave section to explore where there might be some resources or events. But then some leaf lover calls in the drop pod, robbing the rest of the hardworking dwarves of the joy of completing the mission to the fullest!
What could be done about that? I am not entirely sure, but here are some ideas I've had: (All of which should be disabled by default and only be an option for the host to enable.)

1. Solution known to anyone who played TF2's MvM mode, there should be a "ready" button everyone would have to push before the drop pod can be called. The host should of course be able to skip the vote and allow anyone to call in the drop pod in case the situation gets heated, someone is AFK, or just ignoring the vote.
2. Let the host add objectives to the top-right corner as requirements for mission completion. E.g., option to use the laser pointer with some special keybind to mark a machine event, cargo crate, or secondary objective as requirements before the drop pod can be called. This should, of course, also come with the option to bypass the extra requirements in case the situation gets heated.

Immersion-vise, I especially like the second option, where the host becomes sort of the captain or commander of the mission, who is able to mark objectives for his team and decide when to retreat.

4. Today's Special (beer)

First of all, I like the concept. Drink the beer before going into the abyss. It's nice, it's immersive, and it creates opportunity for player interactions. For those reasons, I'm hesitant to ask for any big changes to the system. But we can always have a discussion, aye?
Here are the problems I currently see with beer: (...and alcoholism ain't one of them, you leaf lovers!)

1. In general, beer as a random component shouldn't influence players' builds, especially not in such a big way.
2. It's probably not a secret that the beer is bugged, and the effects are double what they claim in the description. 2.1. This makes the beers very strong and is often a decisive factor in the mission's outcome. 2.2. Some builds prefer specific beers, e.g., Vampire + Slayer Stout or Scout + Tunnel Rat.
3. Quite often, not all players get the beer. 3.1. Lloyd serves a number of beers equal to the current number of players. If more players join after the beer is ordered, it will have to be ordered again for the new player. 3.2. When a player joins a mission in progress, he can't get the beer effect. Does drinking beer before joining another player's game work? I'm not sure about that. 3.3. When I have gold/morkite beer, and someone who did not get the beer mines it instead, it feels bad.
4. Its possible to re-roll beer using the "disband team" button, effectively allowing players to choose whichever beer they prefer. Is this a bug? 4.1. If it's not a bug, then its very clunky way of picking beers that is needlessly time-consuming. 4.2. If it is a bug and it would be fixed by making beers tied to the 30 minute mission timer (I've read somewhere that this is intended behavior, IIRC), it could be very frustrating if someone wanted, e.g., the HP beer for their Elite Deep Dive, as it would be pure RNG whether they got the good beer or not.

Solutions

As far as beer descriptions go, this is the one I'm certain should be fixed. Either: 1. Adjust the description to match the actual values. (Unchanged behavior) 2. Adjust the values to match the description. (Nerf the beer.) 3. Use this as an opportunity to rebalance the beers and pick some new values for each.
About not all players getting the beer: 1. Paying for Today's Special could make the following rounds before the same mission is free. This sounds like a solution that's very simple to implement technically. If we were to go a step further, it could be a cool visual thing: Introduce a keg with a tap; pay once to unlock before the mission; drink as many rounds as you want, soda refill machine style. 2. Another solution would be to require only the host to drink beer in order for the whole team to benefit. It would be simple, but immersion and player interactions could suffer as a result, so personally, I'm not a fan.

Beyond this point, I might be going deep into optimizing the fun out of the game, so take this part with a big, big grain of salt.

Now, let's look closer at the beer types we've got and what aspects of the game they influence:

Beer	Effect	Type
Skull Crusher Ale	+20 Pickaxe Damage	Combat
Red Rock Blaster	+69% Health	Combat / Utility
Slayer Stout	-75% Power Attack Cooldown	Combat / Utility
Tunnel Rat	-60% Fall damage	Utility
Rocky Mountain	-2 Pickaxe Hits per Terrain	Utility
Dark Morkite	+44% Mined Morkite	Mission objective
Backbreaker Stout	+32.25% Carry Movement Speed	Resources / Mission objective
Pots O' Gold	+300% Mined Gold	Resources

The first thing that stands out to me is the Dark Morkite. It seems bizarre that there is a specific beer that influences only a specific mission type. And even though the bonus seems big, from my experience, the beer does not usually influence the mission much, and the dwarves have to reach the last chamber anyway to complete the mission. I think that this beer has to go. If we really want to keep it in, we could replace it with Hard Worker beer, that would not only Increase Morkite Mining amount, but also increase Oil Shale mining in Escort Duty as well as interaction speed with mission objectives in On-Site Refining and Salvage Operation. That way, there would be some parity. But generally, I think all of the above are detrimental to the game.
As not to just remove stuff, we could get new beer that complements Pots O' Gold: Jeweler's Greed, which would increase the amount of resources mined other than gold, such as Bismor, Croppa, etc. I think that would provide an interesting dynamic between the two and would let players more effectively "hunt" for specific resources, such as the elusive Magnite.
Now, to the rest. I think that one of two things should (again, should with a grain of salt) happen:

1. Players should have the ability to freely pick the beer they want.

If we kept the current system, just letting the players pick the beer they want would effectively make beers part of player builds. I think that would be a positive thing, even letting players pick between Combat or Utility beer to help them with the mission, or instead going for the Pots O' Gold or the new Jeweler's Greed, effectively increasing difficulty (by not taking a helpful buff) for a higher reward.
The important question here is: can every player pick his own beer, or should the whole team get the same beer? Team-wide beer could lead to both quarrels between players and joint planning for the best beer for everyone. (Not choosing the tunnel rat is a new way to bully the scout.)

2. Gameplay influencing beer effects should be moved to other systems where they can be freely included in builds.

The effects of Slayer Stout, Skull Crusher Ale, and Rocky Mountain could become new pickaxe modifications, while Red Rock Blaster, Tunnel Rat, and Backbreaker Stout could become new armor modifications. All of this would of course require some reorganization of the modification tiers and values of these buffs, but I think that the end effect would be a very pleasant improvement of player freedom in terms of customizing the build.
In this scenario, we're left with Pots O' Gold and Jeweler's Greed beers. Those could go into a new mechanic that would replace Today's Special: Happy hour! It would have about a 1/3 chance of being available along with any mission set that re-rolls every 30 minutes. During Happy hour, Pots O' Gold or Jeweler's Greed would be available at random, giving players essentially another layer of anomalies that do not influence gameplay, such as Gold Rush and Mineral Mania. Possibly even the Smart Stout could be moved here as the beer that would increase the amount of XP gained during missions?

Afterword

Thank you for coming to my ted talk, and let me know what do you think about these ideas :)

For context I have a great rating BUT I am really struggling with my MH and the VA kinda dumped me from counseling. My therapist with the VA changed jobs 19 sessions in (I guess the limit is 12) and their supervisor was really reluctant to keep me in therapy.
So first question, how do I find a quality therapist? I’ve had a couple really good ones and a bunch of not so good ones.
Second question, I’ve been diagnosed with adjustment disorder throughout service and to be honest I don’t think that’s an accurate diagnosis. My most recent therapist diagnosed me with depression, GAD, and PTSD. Should I submit a claim for those? I’m rated at 50% for adjustment disorder but the nature of the diagnosis makes me uncomfortable because I generally feel like trash all the time.
Last question I had an MST incident that I didn’t report because I was a UVA and I know that it would have been laughed at being a dude, should I even claim it (still kinda bothers me today)? I don’t have much in the way of proof (saw MH for sleep issues and mentioned it like 5 months post event) and didn’t really talk about it until post service.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi. My salary is less than £100k but I miscalculated my taxable income from bonuses and other benefits, which meant I didn't sacrifice enough into my workplace pension to avoid going over £100k. I plan to contribute 0.8x this amount in to a SIPP tomorrow to ensure my taxable income for the year is below £100k.
From what I understand, I will likely now be asked to do a self assessment. As I've never done one before, I'm not entirely sure how this all works and in particular how it affects tax codes. Given that my taxable income for this year was over £100k, will HMRC now project that as next year's income and reduce my personal allowance accordingly for the following year? Can I tell them about the SIPP contributions before the tax year is up, bring my taxable income back below £100k (and claim the higher rate tax relief), and avoid having to do a self assessment altogether? Thanks.

Assets and Debts
Retirement Balance/Investments: $65,239 – This is all in a Tax Free Savings Account. I add about $1800 each month to my Questrade brokerage account, which I started doing (at a lower amount) regularly around two years ago when I finished school. When the First Time Home Buyers Savings Account (FHSA) becomes available, I will swap my contributions towards maxing that first.
Equity if you're a homeowner: $0 – oop, in this market?
Savings account balance: $16,834 – Most of this is my emergency funds (vehicle maintenance, vet emergencies, FU money, etc.) and the rest is a sinking fund for travel/fun.
Checking account balance: $2873 This is where my pay cheques are deposited and the account I use to pay off my credit cards.
Credit card debt: None, paid off monthly.
Student loan debt: None, I lived at home during my undergrad and my parents set me up an RESP that covered all my tuition, books, etc. When I moved for grad school I received scholarships and grants which supported my research and my living costs. I worked on campus as well which helped cover tuition.

Income

Income Progression: This is my first full-time job in my field, and I’ve been working for a bit over a year and a half. My starting salary was $68,000 and I got a raise and promotion to $76,000 at around the one-year mark.
I work at a consulting company and my role is to manage and facilitate a variety of different environmental monitoring programs. I work out in the field in northern Canada mostly in the summer. The rest of the year I primarily work from home and travel periodically for conferences, meetings, and occasional project work.
Before I started this job, my income progression includes:

Role	Pay	Description
Sales associate/cashier	$10-11/hr	Miscellaneous retail and fast food jobs I worked in high school (15-20 hrs/wk)
Research assistant	$14-17/hr	I worked for research labs part-time during the school year and full-time during the summer while I did my undergrad (15-40 hrs/wk)
Teaching assistant	$25-28/hr	I TAed various undergrad courses while I was in grad school (100-250 hours/semester)
Wildfire service	$25/hr	I worked a summer in wildland fire after I finished grad school. This was my wages averaged out to once hazard and OT/stat pay are included (60 hrs/wk)

Main Job Monthly Take Home: $4650 after deductions (EI/CPP, taxes, medical/dental)
Side Gig Monthly Take Home: $600 – This includes a few different things. I work occasionally as a photographer (portraits, headshots, events), make and sell crafts, and save up my travel per diems. When I travel for work I get a flat per diem and don’t need to submit receipts so I usually prep and bring a bunch of vacuum sealed meals with me. The take home for all of this really varies month to month and $600 is my very rough estimate.

Expenses

Note: My partner G and I don’t have combined income. We maintain separate accounts, though they’re P2 on a couple of my credit cards. G is working part-time as a server and on campus while finishing up their degree. Their monthly take-home is probably around $1200-2000 depending on their hours. We split eating out, groceries, gas, cat expenses, and other living costs equitably, though occasionally some of these costs gets a bit jumbled when G, our roommate A, and I all shop together. We use Splitwise to keep this all sorted as cleanly as possible. Everything that is listed below is my share of costs.
Fixed Expenses:

• Rent (inc. utilities): $800 – I share a house with two others. The total is $2000, which I split with my partner, G ($500) and our roommate A ($700). We used to live with A’s (ex) partner as well and we were all students when we started living together so we split the rent equally. When G and I started working full-time (we graduate the same year), we decided that the two of us would cover A’s ex’s rent amount so that G could continue to pay the same amount while they’re in school.
• Internet: $40 – This is $120 total and it’s split between me, G, and A. We have Internet bundled with Crave + HBO.
• Therapy: $150 – Price is per session. I have bi-weekly sessions and will typically pay for one out of pocket and get one covered through work.
• Cellphone: $70
• Car Insurance: $110 – I share my car with G, but I pay for the insurance.
• Gym membership: $45 – Local gym membership, plus $22 for Zwift occasionally in the winter months when it’s too rainy/dark for big rides.
• Subscriptions:
  • Spotify: $15 – I pay for the duo account for G and me
  • iCloud: $5 – I pay for a family account for G and me
  • Amex: $13 – I have an American Express Cobalt card. I get a ton of points when I use it for groceries and restaurants, so this has definitely been worth it for me.
  • RBC: $12 – I have the WestJet Mastercard and pay $119 annually for it. This is my first year with the card and it’s already been worth the cost for free checked bags.
  • Costco: $10 – This is $120 per year and I pay for our house. G, A and I usually go 1-2 times per month for groceries and household items (and the occasionally hotdog).

Variable Expenses:

• Donations: $150 – Mostly recurring donations and mutual aid support. Occasional larger one-off donations.
• Pet expenses: $60 – This is what I budget for food, litter, medication for our two cats.
• Savings contribution: $400 – This is the set amount that goes into my HISA towards my vet fund and travel/fun sinking fund.
• Investment contribution: $1800 – Automatically deposited into my TFSA mid-month. I occasionally add a bit more on months when I’m making more side income.
• Paid hobbies: $300 – I don’t really have a set amount that I spend on paid hobbies, but this is what I budget for myself for going skiing, camera equipment, crafting supplies, etc. Whatever isn’t spent will just get rolled into my sinking funds in my HISA.
• Food: $500 – What I typically budget for groceries and eating out.

Money Diary

Day 1 –
9 AM: I wake up and scroll on my phone until my partner (G) wakes up. We make the bed and get up to feed the cats and make breakfast. G is cooking ham silog, but I’m not really feeling a savoury breakfast today so I make a mango protein smoothie and have a slice of toast with peanut butter.
11 AM: G heads out for work and I lounge around indecisively. I had wanted to go to the gym this morning before meeting up with a friend, but it’s rainy outside and I don’t feel like putting on all my rain gear and biking over. I end up just catching up on some chores around the house while FaceTiming my Mom.
1 PM: My friend drives over and picks me up for a rainy walk in the park and to grab coffee. We walk drive to the park and walk around, chatting and catching up. Both of us have been busy with work so I haven’t seen him since last month. We walk to the coffee shop afterwards and I get a large latte and a breakfast burrito ($17.08). We walk back to my friend’s car and he drops me off at home.
4 PM: I strip off my rain gear and curl up on the couch with the cats and scroll social media. I put together a small platter of cheese, crackers, and grapes, and watch an episode of The Last of Us. G hates any shows that are spooky, so I’ve been watching it by myself when they’re not home. I text live updates to one of my friends who’s caught up on the news episodes and has been impatiently waiting for me to catch up so we can discuss it.
5:30 PM: G gets home from work and I drive to the gym. I stop into a bookshop on the way, pick up a book that my friend recommended to me this afternoon, and leave before I convince myself I need any more books ($33.59). I walk over to the gym and I do arms and shoulders, a bit of stretching, and then drive home to shower.
7:30 PM: G and I make totchos for dinner with garlicy chicken and cuddle on the couch and rewatch a few episodes of Shera. I would say I’m a Glimmer sun, Scorpia moon, and Mermista rising.
10 PM: G and I both shower and then I read in bed while G plays Stardew Valley before we fall asleep.
Day 1 total: $50.67
Day 2 –
8 AM: I wake up and check my phone in bed. I’ve developed this bad habit of immediately checking my work email and Slack first thing in the morning and immediately becoming stressed out. Most of the projects I work on are federally funded and the fiscal year end is in March, so my emails have been extra stressful lately.
10 AM: After taming my inbox and hopping off yet another meeting that could have been an email, I join G in the kitchen for breakfast. I have a chai latte and munch on leftover tater tots from last night – G added eggs to it so I’m pretty sure this constitutes as a breakfast item. They watch TV and feed that cats while I get back to work. I’m supposed to be travelling for work at the end of the month to facilitate some workshops and I and have been scrambling to get all the materials prepared for this.
1:30 PM: G leaves for class and I play with the cats while making some chili oil noodles for lunch, which I eat while mindlessly scrolling Tiktok before returning to my desk to work on a report that I’m finishing up.
4 PM: Take a break to lay in bed with my cat and then spend the rest of my work day catching up with messages before logging off. I get changed to go on a bike ride and stuff some snacks into my handlebar bag. I head out for a quick loop and pop on my earbuds. I am listening to Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin and it’s sooo good so far!
6:30 PM: G texts me to pick up a couple items, so I stop at the grocery store on my way home. I lock up my bike and grab a cucumber, some carrots, oranges, milk, potatoes, pork chops, and a big pack of trail mix ($35.52). I stand outside the grocery store shoveling trail mix into my mouth before riding home haphazardly dangling the bags off my dropbars. G helps me unload groceries and makes poke bowls for dinner while I shower.
8 PM: G heads out to meet up with some friends for drinks and I wash dishes and then read in bed with the cats.
10 PM: I drive downtown to pick up G and then we get ready for bed together, watch Tiktoks and snuggle.
Day 2 total: $35.52
Day 3 –
8 AM: I wake up, panic check my emails, and then get up with G to make the bed, wash up, and brush our teeth. They recognize I’m already stressing about work and coax me into making breakfast together. We make scrambled eggs together and toast with butter and eat together and I feel a little bit less overwhelmed when I finally sit down at my desk.
12 PM: I stop to eat lunch and then head out for a quick walk. It’s finally sunny after a week of cloud and rain. I stop by the pharmacy to pick up some tissue paper and a big jug of Metamucil ($24.65). Maybe TMI, but I’ve been weirdly constipated the past few days. I recently started upping my protein intake and perhaps I’m not quite drinking enough water to compensate. I walk home and gulp down a big glass of Metamucil before getting back to work.
5 PM: I meet G at their bus stop and we walk to the pet store together to restock on cat food and litter ($58.15). G starts cooking dinner and I bike to the gym to do chest and back. After my workout, I drink the protein shake that I brought with me. In the Costco Facebook group I’m in everyone is obsessed with these chocolate milk protein drinks that seem to always sell out immediately after they’re restocked. The last time I was at Costco, I finally got a glimpse of them in real life and everyone and their Moms was flinging them into their carts. I got caught up in the FOMO ended up buying two flats of them. G was seriously judging when I came home with my Costco haul and I revealed that I spent nearly $80 on chocolate milk… I counter that this is the price for gains, but I'm not so sure....
7 PM: I bike home, shower, and eat the katsu curry that G made. While I’m eating I finally order the cycling jersey I’ve been eyeing up because I got a discount coupon in my email ($78.75). G and I watch The Hunger Games and share a big bowl of microwaveable popcorn.
10:30 PM: I prep some overnight oats for G and me before showering, brushing my teeth, flossing, and heading to bed.
Day 3 total: $103.40
Day 4 –
6 AM: I groggily wake up to the sound of G making coffee. They work opening shifts at their serving job on Wednesdays and I always say that I’ll wake up early with them and get a head start to my day. I lay in bed, eyes closed, contemplating why I would want to do something so foolish.
7:30 AM: I finally actually get out of bed, dressed, and cleaned up.
8 AM: I hop into a meeting with some project partners and I finaaaaally get the go ahead to book my travel for later this month. My company allows me to charge my expenses to my personal card and claim it afterwards, which has been awesome for accumulating points.
9 AM: I feed the cats and eat my overnight oats before returning to work. I switch over to a report for one of my other projects that’s wrapping up soon. It feels nice to work on something where my efforts feel like I’m (at least working towards) a seeable endpoint, rather than an endless cycle.
11:30 AM: My brain is already over the day. I take an early lunch, wash dishes, play with the cats, and return to work.
4:30 PM: I log off and get geared up for a bike ride. I’m so happy I bought loaded up my handlebar bag with snacks. I eat multiple packs of sesame snaps and do a quick 30k loop, listen to an episode of Ologies, and return home.
7 PM: I do a quick, stretch, shower, and eat leftover curry with G. G has some assignments to work on and I join them on my laptop and watch Youtube videos. I FaceTime A, who is travelling this week for a conference. She emails us her flights so that we can pick her up at the airport this weekend.
9 PM: After my call ends, G and I decide to do face masks together and take a screen break before bed. We chat about our travel plans in the coming months. We’re meeting up with G’s siblings in southern California next month and we’re trying to figure out whether it will be worth it to go to Disneyland for a day while we’re there and which restaurants are a must-visit on our list.
10:30 PM: G and I get ready for bed and then read and cuddle before going to sleep.
Day 4 total: $0
Day 5 –
7 AM: I wake up to G getting out of bed. I stay in bed and see a notification on my phone for Facebook Marketplace. There’s a specific camera that I have a search alert set up for because I’ve been trying to buy for months now and someone in my city just posted it for sale. I message him and get a response right way. He lived within walking distance of my house and says I can come over any time to check out the camera! I get up and changed and bike to the bank and more or less empty my chequing account.
8 AM: I meet up with the seller and trust him right away. He invites me into his house and explains when he got the camera and that he’s selling it because he recently got a higher end model. I fiddle with the camera and check all the mechanics. Everything is in immaculate condition and I feel like I’ve seriously lucked out because he’s the original owner. I pay him in cash and happily bike home ($2200).
8:30 AM: G is making breakfast when I get home. They’re used to me hyperfixating on my various special interests and listen to my blab incessantly about the camera while we eat.
9 AM: I log into a Zoom meeting and then work on my workshop prep again. I’ve been travelling for this project numerous times since last May and I have yet to get approval for travel more than two weeks in advance and that two weeks is always so stressful and chaotic.
11 AM: G leaves for school and I bike to my office to pick up some materials that have arrived for me. I stay and chat with my supervisor and a couple of my coworkers that are in the office today as well.
12:30 PM: I bike home, boil some frozen dumplings for lunch, and finish off my workday at home. I squeeze in a load of laundry, bake a frozen lasagna, and watch a bunch of Youtube videos about my camera. It has truly taken all my self-control to not spend all day playing with it.
6 PM: I go out for a short walk with my camera and listen to my audiobook while I snap pics.
7 PM: G comes home from school and we eat lasagna and rewatch Everything Everywhere All at Once, which has been all over social media again after it swept at the Oscars.
10 PM: G and I get ready for bed and I watch some more Youtube videos while G plays Animal Crossing.
Day 5 total: $2200
Day 6 –
8 AM: Wake up and make a smoothie for breakfast and get started with work.
10 AM: I take a snack break and say bye to G as they leave for school.
12 PM: I join a meeting with one of my co-workers to discuss an upcoming deadline and stay on the call to chat about our weekend plans. One the call is over I boil some tortellini and top it with marinara and some shredded cheese for lunch.
4:30 PM: I bike to my gym and decide to do a full body workout. It is extra busy today and none of the racks are free.. I guess this is my sign that I can skip squats for the day…
6PM: I bike home, shower, and we eat leftovers for dinner.
7 PM: I work on some crafting in the living room while G watches shows. I was commissioned for a project by a friend that I have been slacking off on. I have really mixed feelings about monetizing my hobbies and go through waves where I sometimes feel really enthusiastic about it and consider investing more of my time into building a business and other times, I feel drained of all creative passion.
11 PM: G and I get ready for bed and I stay up a bit longer to read my book in bed.
Day 6 total: $0
Day 7 –
6:30 AM: I wake up to G giving me a lil forehead kiss before they go to work. Love it, but not enough to wake up.
8 AM: Woken up once again. This time it's by two very rude cats stomping all over me and meowing for food. I make the bed and get up to feed them and myself.
8:30: I sit down at my desk to catch up on some work. I usually don't work weekends, but I feel overwhelmed by everything I need to get done this next week. I cannot wait for March to be over and to return to a manageable amount of work.
11 AM: It’s a beautiful sunny day outside and I change into my bike gear to go out for a ride. I eat a leftover slice of lasagna and then a banana and some peanut butter. I never know how much to eat before I bike so I end up steaming some dumplings and eating those too.
11:30 AM: I meet up with a friend to ride together and we stop halfway through our ride to lounge in the sun and get milkshakes. I pay for both of us ($13.65).
4 PM: I get home, strip off my sweaty bike kit, and shower. G is home for work and surprised me with takeout sushi. I am famished and eat my spicy tuna rolls ravenously.
5 PM: G is napping and I sit outside on our front porch and work on a sewing project while listening to some music.
7 PM: G and I go out for a walk to watch the sunset and stretch out a bit. When we get home, we play a few rounds of Dominion. I win twice and G wins once. Then G showers while I read on the couch.
11 PM: G drives us to the airport to pick up A. We’re both exhausted and blast a kpop playlist so that we don’t doze off. I pay for short-term parking ($2) while we wait in the airport for A’s flight and then we all drive home together.
Day 7 total: $15.65

Weekly Total:

Food & Drink	$66.25
Pet	$58.15
Camera	$2200.00
Shopping	$112.34
Other	$26.65
Total	$2463.39

Most of this week was pretty typical for spending. The camera was both planned (something I anticipated) and unexpected (the random timing). I know the reason I budget and save is so that I can spend that money guilt-free. Despite that, some anxiety still lingers and a lot of back and forth thinking, was this impulsive? No, I was prepared for this…. That was SO much money… Money anxiety has been one of the major discussion topics I’ve been working on with my therapist and that I have gotten better about over the past year or so. Spending time reading and engaging with a lot of personal finance content, I feel like I am constantly bombarded with messaging on how to minimize spending on ‘wants’.
Since I started tracking my finances in early 2021, my hobbies have been my top spending category besides rent and groceries. It brings me tons of joy to be able to go on trips, buy camera gear and bike gear, and do the activities that I’ve dreamt of having the means to do since I was a kid. I have been working on finding balance between saving and spending, living the type of joyous and adventurous life that little smolblobfish wanted to have, and ensuring that I’m doing my best to set up a secure future.
Edit: Realized I had only included my primary income in the title. Wanted to add a note that with side hustles, my income is around $82k presently.

Hello everyone, today I'm writing this post since, in summary, happens that my wife left her job and hasn't been paid.
Entering in details the events that led her to quit happened in the following order:

1. My wife took this job last year with an on-call zero-hour contract, at first everything ok, but then she got couple of calls cancelled with less than 24 hours and was not compensated as the law and her CAO dictates. SOURCE
2. Since the place turned out pretty toxic, and she being fed up with them she, admittedly wrongly, took another job without giving this one proper notice, also given other people have quit there before just as her and didn't face any consequences we didn't give it much thought.
3. Now it have been two months since then, to which she still hasn't received payment for the last couple of hours worked and when we contacted the owner of this place they answered they are retaining it since she is liable for damages to the place due to the lack of proper notice, and will pay her once they make the proper adjustment, it has been a month since conversation took place on email.
4. We checked on mijn.uwv.nl and they have declared her payment for that last month.

Being honest the amount of money is not a lot, around 500 €, and is not going to ruin us financially, but certainly we are frustrated that they simply took advantage of her, claiming the law only to their benefit, so couple of questions:

1. We are unaware on how to properly proceed, we have been trying to get in contact with a lawyer? Is that the next right step?
2. If that is, would it even be worth it to pursue this given the amount?
3. Are they even allowed to retained her wage given the circumstances?
4. If not, is there at least a way we can report them to the authorities where we don't require a lawyer?

Thanks a lot for your time and attention.

Last year I had a research project for which I looked at historical dynasty rookie draft ADP from 2001-2020 to get a 20 year sample size of the historical hit rate at each draft position #1-#60. This database allows me to properly weigh the value of each draft pick because I can look at a 20 year sample size and know the hit rate of say pick 1.08 and who the median outcome player is for that draft position (for 1.08 it is Darrius Heyward-Bey). Of course the depth and strength of draft classes varies by year but it still gives me a baseline to know that historically at 1.09 you should expect to get a player the caliber of DHB.
This year's research project was a similar task but I looked at the correlation between NFL draft capital and fantasy football success.
Background/context: the "question" that I was trying to answer is how draft capital correlates to fantasy football success specifically for my dynasty league which is a 15 team, 1 QB (6 points for passing TDs), NON-PPR league. The data is pulled from this league format so would be slightly different for a PPR league (James White becomes more valuable for example). My dynasty league is also a salary cap league in which we offer players a set number of years on their contract via free agency and rookies get drafted into the league on a set 3 year contract and salary (with possibility of a 4th year option on first round draft picks). As a result, I am primarily interested in whether or not a player "hits" within their first three seasons in the NFL (i.e., during their rookie contract in my league). But nonetheless I think that the findings are still applicable to all leagues as a player who doesn't hit within their first three years in the NFL are oftentimes getting cut in most formats (and oftentimes within the NFL itself).
Definitions I used to categorize fantasy football outcomes:
"Stud": A player with multiple seasons as a top 5 QB/TE or top 12 RB/WR in their career.
Multi-Year Starter (MYS): A player with multiple seasons as a top 15 QB/TE or top 36 RB/WR within their first 3 seasons in the NFL.
1-Year Starter (1YS): A player with only 1 season as a top 15 QB/TE or top 36 RB/WR within their first 3 seasons in the NFL.
Bust: Doesn't necessarily mean that the player would have contributed nothing at all to your fantasy team, but they did not have a single season in which they finished as a top 15 QB/TE or top 36 RB/WR within their first three seasons in the NFL.
I then broke out NFL draft capital outcomes into 8 buckets. 1st round #1-#15, 1st round #16-32, and then rounds 2-7 respectively.
This data is taken from a 20 year sample size of 2001-2020, but for WRs I also included the 2021draft class because I wanted to include Amon-Ra into the sample to demonstrate how much of an outlier he is.
Quarterbacks
Picks #1-15: 14% studs, 17% MYS, 28% 1YS, 40% bust
Picks #16-32: 6% studs, 0% MYS, 12% 1YS, 82% bust
2nd round: 0% studs, 5% MYS, 14% 1YS, 82% bust (Hurts may move up to the stud category soon)
3rd round: 5% studs, 0% MYS, 0% 1YS, 96% bust
4th round: 0% studs, 3% MYS, 3% 1YS, 93% bust
5th round-7th rounds: 100% bust rate
My takeaways
a) QBs drafted outside of the top 15 in the NFL draft are extremely unlikely to hit for fantasy football.
b) 115 QBs were drafted in 5-7 rounds and not a single one was fantasy relevant (sure a few spot starts but none had a top 15 fantasy finish).
c) Outside of the top 15 draft picks the only fantasy relevant QBs in past 20 years have been: Lamar, Hurts, Russ Wilson, Dak, Cousins, Carr, Dalton, & Kaepernick (statistically, a QB drafted after pick 15 in the NFL draft only has a 3.8% chance of being fantasy relevant).
d) Based on this data this year's top QBs (presuming they are drafted in the top 15 of the NFL draft) have a 30% chance of having more than 1 top 15 QB season in their first 3 years in the league. If you take out the "generational talents" from the data set (Luck, Lawrence, etc.) the likelihood drops to about 25%. So relying upon Stroud or Bryce to be your fantasy starter in a single QB league isn't a high probability proposition.
Running Backs
Picks #1-15: 42% studs, 47% MYS, 10% 1YS, 0% bust
Picks #16-32: 15% studs, 44% MYS, 30% 1YS, 11% bust
2nd round: 19% studs, 26% MYS, 12% 1YS, 42% bust
3rd round: 7% studs, 17% MYS, 14% 1YS, 62% bust
4th round: 1% studs, 6% MYS, 16% 1YS, 76% bust
5th round: 2% studs, 7% MYS, 16% 1YS, 75% bust
6th round: 0% studs, 2% MYS, 6% 1YS, 91% bust
7th round: 0% studs, 1% MYS, 6% 1YS, 94% bust
My Takeaways
a) Any RB drafted in the first two rounds of the NFL draft you should take seriously for fantasy and should be drafted in the first round of dynasty rookie drafts. They have high hit rates which makes sense because with that draft capital they will get decent volume and at RB anyone getting volume won't be a complete bust.
b) RBs drafted in 6th-7th round can pretty much be crossed off your draft list. While Pacheco was a good pick last year he really wasn't startable until November and if he were to become a multi-year fantasy starter he would be a 1% outlier. As a result, trying to draft "this year's Pacheco" is a bad gamble because the chances of a 1% outlier hitting two years in a row is extremely low.
c) UDFAs actually have a better hit rate than RBs drafted in the 6-7 round as there were guys like Philip Lindsay and James Robinson who each had 2 starter caliber seasons each. This is likely because those guys can pick their own landing spot and sign with a team with a weak RB depth chart.
d) the biggest lesson for me: there isn't that much correlation between fantasy success and NFL draft capital for RBs drafted in the 3rd-5th round range. So my take away is that for RBs drafted in this range I will stick with my pre-NFL draft rankings of them rather than adjusting for NFL draft capital. I have made this mistake two years in a row when I moved up Trey Sermon and TDP because they got 3rd round draft capital. In 2020 pre-NFL draft Kenneth Gainwell was my RB4 and Sermon my RB7. But after Sermon got 3rd round NFL draft capital and Gainwell only got round 5 my post-draft adjustments moved Michael Carter up to #4, Sermon up to #5, and Gainwell dropped to #6. In retrospect I should have "stuck to my guns' and kept Gainwell above Sermon now that I know that the difference in fantasy outcomes between 3rd and 5th round draft capital for RBs is not dramatic (lots of bums get drafted in the 3rd round: Sermon, Zack Moss, Darrynton Evans, Ke'Shawn Vaughn are some recent examples...although I'm still a Darrynton truther!).
Tight Ends
Picks #1-15: 20% studs, 20% MYS, 20% 1YS, 40% bust
Picks #16-32: 0% studs, 29% MYS, 35% 1YS, 35% bust
2nd round: 3% studs, 21% MYS, 15% 1YS, 61% bust
3rd round: 4% studs, 4% MYS, 2% 1YS, 95% bust
4th round: 0% studs, 7% MYS, 5% 1YS, 89% bust
5th round: 2% studs, 0% MYS, 0% 1YS, 98% bust
6th round: 0% studs, 0% MYS, 0% 1YS, 100% bust
7th round: 0% studs, 0% MYS, 0% 1YS, 100% bust
My Takeaways
a) For heaven's sake don't spend a round 1-2 dynasty draft pick on a TE unless he is a Kyle Pitts level "generational talent" - and even then that's not working out so far.
b) TEs drafted in 3rd-7th round of NFL draft have had a combined 95% bust rate in terms of not posting a single top 15 TE season in their first 3 years in the NFL. TEs are notoriously slow to develop. If you draft a TE selected after the second round in the NFL you'll likely drop them before they break out in the NFL (Waller didn't break out until year 5 for example).
c) Gronk, Kelce, Andrews, and Kittle were great success stories out of rookie drafts. So drafting a TE in rookie draft is both HIGH risk of busting but also HIGH return if you hit on one of these guys. As a result, I don't mind throwing a 3rd/4th round dart in a rookie draft on an athletic TE (I'm a Charlie Kolar truther myself and will hold him for awhile after drafting him in 4th round of my rookie draft) because the hit rate on 3rd/4th round rookie picks are low for every position (picks #31-45 have combined 87% bust rate and picks #46-60 have combined 94% bust rate). Given the potential payoff of hitting on a TE it probably makes more sense to take a flyer on an athletic TE in the late rounds of your rookie draft than it does an RB who was drafted after round 5 in NFL draft or a WR drafted after round 3 of the NFL draft.
d) TEs drafted in the first round of NFL draft are fools gold. Out of the past 25 TEs drafted in the first round of the NFL draft Jeremy Shockey was the only one to post 2 top 15 TE seasons in his first 3 seasons in the NFL (Pitts obviously has a chance to become the second one this year). Typically TEs drafted in the 2nd-3rd rounds are better bets. That's because if a TE is drafted in the first round of the NFL draft that's usually because he is also a good blocker. Whereas TEs going in the 2nd-3rd round tend to be less well rounded players and may be below average blockers but good receivers - those are the guys we want for fantasy.
Wide Receivers
Picks #1-15: 18% studs, 29% MYS, 26% 1YS, 29% bust
Picks #16-32: 11% studs, 22% MYS, 30% 1YS, 37% bust
2nd round: 5% studs, 16% MYS, 19% 1YS, 59% bust
3rd round: 1% studs, 15% MYS, 7% 1YS, 79% bust
4th round: 0% studs, 2% MYS, 12% 1YS, 86% bust (Amon-Ra has a chance to elevate to stud level still)
5th round: 2% studs, 1% MYS, 8% 1YS, 88% bust
6th round: 1% studs, 1% MYS, 0% 1YS, 98% bust
7th round: 1% studs, 0% MYS, 1% 1YS, 98% bust
My Takeaways
a) NFL draft capital both matters and doesn't matter for WRs. It matters in so much as the WR should be drafted in the first three rounds of the NFL draft. From 2001-2021 399 WRs were drafted into the NFL between rounds 4-7. Only 7 of them (1.7%) posted more than 1 top 36 WR season within their first 3 years in the NFL: Amon-Ra, Brandon Marshall, Tyreek, Diggs, Antonio Brown, Marques Colston, and Pierre Garcon. One thing to note: out of these 7 Amon-Ra is the only one from a big college football program (sorry Maryland). So in the event that you want to gamble on a WR drafted after the 3rd round a small school guy is a better bet.
b) There have been LOTs of WR busts drafted in the first round of the NFL draft and lots of multi-year starters (or even studs) drafted in the 2nd-3rd rounds. So as long as a WR prospect I like gets at least 3rd round NFL draft capital it is reasonable to rank him over a WR drafted in the 1st round of the NFL draft if you're not a believer in that WR with 1st round draft capital. This makes sense because 3-4 WRs are on the field at the same time so a WR drafted in the 2nd-3rd round will get on the field a lot and the cream will rise to the top. Which is different from RB where generally only 1 RB is on the field at once so its harder for a 3rd-5th round drafted RB to get a chance to succeed if they are playing alongside a RB drafted in the 1st-2nd round.
Based on this Data My Suggested "Guidelines" for Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Drafts
1st Round: Only draft (a) RBs drafted in 1st-2nd round, (b) QBs drafted in top 15, (c) WRs drafted in 1st-3rd round.
2nd-3rd Rounds: (a) WRs drafted in 1st-3rd round, (b) RBs drafted in 3rd-5th round, (c) QBs drafted between pick #16 through 2nd round.
4th Round: Here is where you take your flyers. Because 4th round rookie picks have a 94% bust rate the best bet is to draft an athletic TE and stash him for a few years (because TEs have greater upside if they hit). After that WRs drafted rounds 4-7 and RBs drafted rounds 6-7 or UDFAs can be selected. Small school RBs/WRs are better bets here than power 5 program guys. The hit rate among small school programs is much better than from power 5 schools in these late rounds which makes sense because the guys were likely underdrafted due to level of competition they faced in college.

Hi everyone! I'm 23, and have an 8mo old baby girl. She is my everything and I love spending time with her. I currently work a hybrid schedule, but my company wants us to start coming in 2-3 times a week and my days are 10 hours long. Been having issues with this new change seeing as I'm on a bunch of long waitlists for day care centers I feel comfortable with and an in-home sitter would be minimum $170/day + the sitter's travel expenses. This is honestly been challenging bc my husband and I don't make a lot currently to afford the consistent in home option, and the daycares are too long of a wait + we both work very long hours so getting a 2nd job would leave no bonding time or any time to just keep things in order.
I'm considering taking the 6 weeks I have left of my paid maternity leave (I'll be getting 67% of my full salary + OT). My family thinks if I don't take it, I'm giving away money. I came back early from my maternity leave because my job made claiming my maternity leave benefits hell - I didn't get any $$ until 2 weeks after I returned back to work, and it was just a portion of it. Its been 4 months and they still owe me the rest of the portion. I don't want to be left broke though if i take the rest of my leave considering how they operated the first time. Also, I've been trying to get a raise or promotion since I've been with this company 1.5 years now. My grandma thinks I should take it intermittenly, to space it out and show I still wanna work.
What advice does anyone have? Should I take the rest of my leave? If I do take it, should it be all at once or intermittenly? Will this jeopardize me getting a raise?

I noticed paycalculator has been recommended here a few times. I’ve been salary packaging for a few years and putting aside extra for higher hecs repayments. When I enter details into paycalculator and view results annually, the increased hecs debt looks correct (adjusted taxable income). But it also estimates a significant debt under estimated tax return. Other calculators don’t show that. Is paycalculator wrong? Or am I not doing something correctly?
I have entered in annual salary, selected student loan, add fringe benefits, selected private healthcare, entered same fb amount under salary sacrifice.

I understand that if you have a relief at source pension type (rather than a net pay pension type) your personal pension contributions are paid after tax, then the pension scheme administrator claims the basic rate tax relief (20%) and adds it to the pension pot.
My question is what can higher rate tax payers claim back?
I assume it’s another 20% relief on any contributions made from salary taxed at the higher rate (40%) i.e. if someone £4000 above the higher rate threshold pays £5000 into their pension, they get to claim additional tax relief on that first £4000.
Is that right?
My second question is how/where does that get paid back? Is it a cheque, or do you get a rebate/adjustment through your pay.
Anything else to consider or be wary of?

Episode 14
At the seaside, there was an adult selling fish at a stall. A little boy passed by, staring at the fish and drooling. The adult asked, "Little boy, do you want to eat? This fish is only 1 dollar, very cheap."
The boy replied, "I don't have any money..." The boy blinked at the adult and imitated what he had seen on the internet, on stage, in movies, TV shows, video games, and social media. He said, "You caught some great fish. This fish is so fresh, tender, and delicious. Whether steamed, braised, or fried, it will be amazing. It's hard to get fat eating alone, so why don't we share this fish together?"
The adult smiled and said, "Where did you learn that from, little kid? Do you even understand what you're saying? Hahaha."
The boy blushed and said, "I don't really know what I'm saying, but I saw people say it and laugh happily, so I thought everyone liked it." The boy asked timidly, "Don't you like to hear those words?"
The adult asked knowingly, "What if I like it? What if I don't like it?"
The boy quickly responded, "If you like it, then I will keep saying it. If you don't like it, then I won't say it."
The adult saw through the boy's intention and said, "You just want something for nothing, to get something for free without paying any price. It's like having a big clam jump on the street without any reason."
The boy felt embarrassed and prepared to leave. The adult stopped the boy and picked up a small fish. He said, "If you answer my question correctly, I will give you this fish."
The boy nodded eagerly.
The adult asked, "Why can you get this fish?"
The boy had no idea, but he quickly thought of an answer and said, "Because I answered your question correctly!"
The adult laughed and replied, "Wrong! Hahaha, you got this question wrong."
The boy panicked and asked, "Can I change my answer?"
The adult smiled and said, "You can, but what if you answer incorrectly again? How many times will you change your answer?"
The boy looked worried and answered honestly, "I don't know how many times I need to change my answer, and I don't even know the answer." The boy asked carefully, "Is there a hint?"
The adult hinted, "This question, if someone else asks you, you would answer correctly, but when I ask you, you answer wrong."
The boy seemed to understand and said, "You're just teasing me. I don't want the fish anymore. I'm leaving."
The adult waited patiently and called back to the boy, "Take it."
The boy happily took the fish but still had some doubts. He asked, "Didn't you say that I could only get the fish if I answered correctly?"
The adult chuckled and replied, "Hehe."
The boy asked further, "What was the answer then?"
The adult said, "You'll understand when you figure it out."
The boy looked confused and said, "Did I answer correctly or not? I don't understand."
The adult said, "You got the fish, so you answered correctly. Just understand that and go. I need to attend to the next customer."
The child left, and then another little troublemaker appeared.
Without hesitation, the second troublemaker took the fish and tried to walk away. The adult stopped them and said, "What are you doing? This fish costs 1 dollar. Leave the publicly money!"
The little troublemaker threatened aggressively, "The other child didn't have to pay, but now you want to charge me. Are you discriminating against me?"
The adult quickly denied, "No, of course not!"
The little troublemaker continued to attack and accuse, "If you're not discriminating against me, then why didn't the other child have to pay? Did they make some underground deal with you? You sick pervert! I won't submit to your tyranny!!!"
The adult was at a loss for words, "I'm not being unfair. I just had too many fish, so I gave some away. Is there a problem with that?"
The little troublemaker threatened menacingly, "Hmph, if that's the case, then give some to me too!"
The adult begged, "I can't give away any more fish. I'm running out, and if I give any more away, I won't have anything left to eat myself."
The little troublemaker angrily replied, "You're just bullying me with your fish. The means of production must be publicly owned!" The little troublemaker pulled out a sickle and hammer, "You're hoarding these fish and causing us to have nothing to eat. You're forcing us to follow your commands and make money. You deserve to die, you damn bourgeoisie ruling class! Disappear from this world!"
The little troublemaker killed the adult in the name of revolution and didn't have to go to jail.
Another adult approached the fish stand and asked about the price.
The little troublemaker smirked and asked, "Do you want some? If you do, then join us and become one of us!"
The adult asked, "So is it free or do I have to pay?"
The little troublemaker replied, "It's free."
The adult pointed to the fish and said, "Then give me this fish and that fish."
The little troublemaker responded, "You have to join us first."
The adult asked again, "But you said it's free?"
The little troublemaker replied, "It is free!"
The adult repeated, "Then give me the fish."
The little troublemaker said, "Then join us!"
The adult sighed in relief, no longer stuck in a loop, and agreed, "Okay, okay, I'll join. Are we done now?"
The little troublemaker triumphantly smirked and handed a piece of paper to the adult, saying, "That's right." They continued, "From now on, every day at this time, deliver the fish to these addresses. Don't be late and don't hinder the progress of the entire world!"
The adult sighed and asked, "What about you? What are you going to do?"
The little troublemaker slapped the adult and scolded, "I have important matters to attend to! If I don't take care of them, the world will end!"
The adult rubbed their red cheek and said, "Let me take care of those important matters for you."
The little troublemaker brandished their sickle and hammer, "I didn't hear you clearly. Say it again?"
The adult held tightly to the slip of paper, "Don't worry, I'll make sure it's delivered!"
The little troublemaker arrogantly walked away with the fish.
At that moment, another child dressed in designer clothes came over to take the fish.
The adult asked, "Have you joined us?"
The child replied, "Of course I have! The fishing boat that you're using was provided by my family!"
The adult pulled out an old ledger and asked, "Didn't you already pay off your debts?"
The child scoffed, "Debts? These are stocks, permanent stocks. Haven't you read any books?"
The adult asked, "What about when I have to repair the boat in the future..."
The child interrupted, "Of course you'll have to pay for repairs again!"
The adult asked, "And what if I go to another repair shop, or if the boat breaks down like Theseus' ship? Will I still have to give you fish?"
The child didn't even have to think before answering, "Of course you will! My family has already joined!"
The adult rubbed his still-swollen, red face and said, "Why don't we just trade places?"
The child looked at him like he was a fool and said, "Can you build a fishing boat? If you could, you would have already done it yourself. You can't build one, so you try to take from others. It was my family's idea to build the fishing boat in the first place. If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't even have a boat. You should be grateful that you're not bowing down to us."
The adult couldn't argue with the child's logic.
The child asked, haughtily, "Can I take the fish now?"
The adult nodded and bowed, "Yes, of course. You deserve it."
The child looked down on everyone and said, "That's how it should be. People should have self-awareness."
The child took the fish and left, acting like a boss.
At that moment, a small child with smooth skin and delicate features, pure and crystal clear, almost transparent, passed by.
The child lamented, "Pity us humans, burdened with so much suffering."
The adult sighed, "Ah, I only just realized that this phrase also comes from religion."
The child smiled, "So which religion do you plan to believe in?"
The adult pondered, "What should one eat? Should one eat pork, abstain from meat entirely, or not eat anything at all? Which is the right way?"
The child grinned mischievously at the adult and asked, "Guess."
The adult smiled wryly.
The child knowingly asked, "Is there really a difference?"
The adult responded urgently, "Of course there is, there is a difference between good and evil, which allows the good to prevail and the wicked to be punished." The adult looked at the child, paused for a moment, and continued, "But what is good and what is evil? Does one person's breath have good or evil? When two people are breathing in a confined space, is there good or evil? Good is allowing the other person to breathe easily; evil is making it difficult for the other person. When driving in the desert, should one stop at a red light? In the city, when rushing to save a life, should one run a red light? Even if you save a life, should you pay the price for obstructing others? If everyone being obstructed is willing to accept it, what does the law mean? If you save a life, but violate the rules, then you are breaking the law and must accept punishment. So, should you still help an elderly person stand up? The risks are too great, so one cannot do it! Therefore, ghosts stand behind the gods, while villains use the law to bully others. If a villain kills, then the good person will retaliate, and the good person will be punished. Returning good for evil is easy to say. Without mentioning whether we are all from the same root or whether Ukraine is causing trouble behind the scenes, just consider NATO openly. Even if all countries join NATO except for Russia, what then? Tanks and planes are just transportation, wasting manpower and resources. One can only claim innocence after being attacked by NATO. Two countries have been at war until now, with killers continuing to kill, and other countries may declare war at any time. Doesn't this indicate that every country in the world has hidden motives and ghosts in their hearts? If we view each country as a person, and if every country claims to be good, why do they still fight each other? Surely it is because of their differences, and these differences allow evil spirits to manifest themselves. Man makes religion, religion does not make man.Religion is the opium of the people. It is, therefore, the task of history, once the other-world of truth has vanished, to establish the truth of this world. It is the immediate task of philosophy, which is in the service of history, to unmask self-estrangement in its unholy forms once the holy form of human self-estrangement has been unmasked. Thus, the criticism of Heaven turns into the criticism of Earth, the criticism of religion into the criticism of law, and the criticism of theology into the criticism of politics."
The adult spoke with deep fear, "Satan."
​
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Episode 15
The commonly held belief about free trade economics is that goods are sold for whatever price they can fetch.
(A farmer sells 1 kg of grain for 1 dollar) x 10 sales = a house worth 10 dollar
Sell grain at a higher price and the farmer can buy a house with just one sale.
(A farmer sells 1 kg of grain for 10 dollar) x 1 sale = a house worth 10 dollar
In reality, this is not true freedom.
(A farmer sells 1 kg of grain for 1 dollar) x 10 sales = a house worth 10 dollar = (a seller sells a house) x (buys grain for 1 dollar)
This is a monopolistic price hike.
(A farmer sells 1 kg of grain for 10 dollar) x 1 sale ≠ a house worth 100 dollar = (a seller sells a house) x (buys grain for 10 dollar)
The key is how much grain can buy.
(A farmer sells 1 kg of grain for 10 dollar) x 10 sales = a house worth 100 dollar = (a seller sells a house) x (buys grain for 10 dollar)
With machines, work becomes easier, productivity increases, and more people can work. Machines can be improved, work can become easier, productivity can increase, and industries become more diverse, resulting in increasingly crowded conditions.
Strangely, despite the use of accounting books and abacuses, and a belief in yin and yang, but mathematics has not developed.
Freedom... is not really freedom. It is better to honestly tell people how many screws need to be turned to buy a house.
As prices rise, salaries remain the same and supplies do not run short. Shelves are stocked with vast amounts of rice, but you cannot afford to eat, clearly a bug in the system that eats up the rice, preventing you from having any.
The price is fixed. When unexpected events, natural disasters, material shortages, or people in need of water appear, should the price be raised? Can the price be the same for those who are not in need of water as for those who are willing to pay any amount for it? If someone is dying of thirst in the desert and you can save their life by selling them mineral water at a sky-high price, is it excessive? Is that mineral water really worth that much? How much should mineral water be worth? Why is it usually sold for one dollar? If it's usually sold for one dollar, why can it be sold for a sky-high price at this time? Have you figured it out? Yes, mineral water is still worth one dollar, but the sky-high price is the cost of saving lives. You can choose whether or not to charge it. Karma will come back around. If you are in need next time and seek help, how will they treat you?
The price is fixed. Whether to reduce the price or not, you sell grain, and he also sells grain. You plant 7 grains of rice, and he plants 8 grains of rice, but the total number of grains digested by each person is only 10. You sold all 7 grains of rice, so he can only sell 3 grains of rice, and the remaining 5 grains of rice will rot and become inedible. You earned more money, and he earned less money, so he sells at a low price. He can sell all 8 grains of rice, while you can only sell 2 grains of rice, and your 5 grains of rice will rot and become inedible. You sell 5 grains of rice, and he sells 5 grains of rice. 2 grains of your rice become inedible, and 3 grains of his rice become inedible.
Your rice is delicious, while his rice is not. You sold out, but he did not. You plant more rice, 10 grains of rice to fully satisfy the market, why does he still need to farm? If you cannot produce 10 grains of rice, he must farm. Your delicious rice sells at a higher price, while his not-so-delicious rice sells at a lower price. You plant more delicious rice, and he plants less not-so-delicious rice. You are very busy because you can earn a lot of money, while he earns very little money and can afford to be lazy until your delicious rice dominates the market. Then, the not-so-delicious rice can exit without working hard.
Why work so hard to keep the not-so-good stuff in the market? Shouldn't you work hard to let the good stuff rot? The same applies to fruit. The price is fixed. Because it is delicious, the price is raised, and those with a higher score will buy it first. If he buys expensive rice, his score will drop quickly. Do you still think there is no class distinction? Would people with a high score fight with those below for the not-so-delicious rice to save money? If delicious rice can be produced to satisfy everyone's needs, the not-so-delicious rice will exit, and the price of delicious rice will not fall. If someone produces even better rice in the future, wouldn't the grain prices continue to rise?
Excess begets opposite reaction. The food tastes great, and then the next dish tastes even better. You draw a picture, and someone else draws a better one that costs more, and everyone buys theirs. The next person draws an even better one, and eventually it reaches its zenith, becoming a priceless treasure. Who does a piece of artwork belong to, the artist or not? After all, it's not just the artist who contributes, but also their family, their community, their country, the Earth, humanity, animals, the universe, and even extraterrestrial beings. Even a newborn baby is considered to have a share in it. But all this is of no avail when it comes to the fact that unemployed people are still unemployed, and artists still need to eat. So how much should their work be priced? Smarterrr chooses easy tasks, moving his fingers and lying others to work hard, making unrealistic promises, and inciting workers to ensure Smarterrr lives a worry-free life. The truly great comic book anime made 1 billion people to tears and then gave them food. How to eat it all at once? The industrious and reasonable person will eventually finish in the end, which is auspicious.
Tai Chi is born from Wu Ji. An artist's next work compared to their previous masterpiece, creating differentiation and receiving both praise and criticism. The higher the score, the higher the value, and the lower the score, the lower the value. Therefore, the foundation of high value is based on low value, with anything below a certain level serving as a basis. For a classic to become a classic, it truly needs to be supported by mess up beginnings. A foolish king is not a problem, the biggest problem is to be so foolish that one does not even understand who is truly intelligent. When rules are too poor, the people suffer. To neglect the essentials and focus on the trivial. Penny wise and pound foolish. Who holds the power in the world today? Transnational capitalists, citizen ordinary investors, shareholders who elect government directors, directors who elect chairman, all safeguarding their own interests and shifting responsibility. Together, everyone manipulates foreign exchange rates, trade surpluses and deficits. Surplus is a positive, while deficit is a negative. Originally, one bag of rice could be exchanged for ten fish, but after a change in the exchange rate, it can only be exchanged for five fish. Originally, ten fish had to be sold to buy one bag of rice, but now five fish can be exchanged for one bag of rice. Smarterrr learned from this, changed their name to communist, and took advantage of cheap or even free-dom prices to seize power and aim to rule the world. Abundant harvests lead to lower prices, while crop failures lead to higher prices. Why pray for a bountiful harvest and work so hard to harvest so much fruit? When people who want to eat but do not have money now and will certainly not have money in the future? Owning a small amount of debt but paying high interest rates will cause them to quickly pay back the debt. However, in absolute time, what was originally one hour of work becomes two hours under the influence of interest, and even compound interest can keep them working indefinitely. If you owe a lot of money and have many debts, you will be crushed under the weight of your debt, and will simply refuse to work because it is impossible to clear. If you work in the front selling grain and collecting money, and the person in the back who didn't work buys grain and owes you money, they will eat and survive. Because they are full and enjoy life, so they won't work to sell grain and collect money from you, exchange the position will be impossible. Furthermore, because of interest rates, if you give one unit, they will have to give two or even three units in return. Furthermore, with the improvement of machines, the work will become easier and easier, which is very unpleasant. Why should the earlier people suffer? No! The later generations should also suffer the same or even greater pain. The thought of all those people in the future being able to enjoy life so easily and comfortably is simply abhorrent. This buggy rule cannot be changed by voting. Each country is malicious and devious, and their intentions are not good. Everyone has their own plans, so how can the world be at peace? Does America still want to rule the world? Lead by example and change the rules. Do not assume that technological superiority guarantees being ahead of the game, then others will follow suit. The wrong mindset leads to the wrong path, and eventually, only walk alongside those holding sickles and hammers, leading to a dead end.
In the same class, where everyone is equal, to whom should priority be given in selling goods? Grandfather and grandson argued over watching a huge television. The shows that grandfather wanted to watch were not of interest to the grandson, while the grandson preferred shows that the grandfather did not like. If grandfather allowed the grandson to watch, it would be considered kind; if the grandson fought over the TV and watched it, it would be considered greedy. So, if want to lead the people in front , stand behind let other people do first. The one who enters Guanzhong first becomes the king. If the whole country declares war on Russia, even if Russia has nuclear bombs, they cannot destroy the other TV and leave one land on earth. If Russia is defeated, TV no one watches it, anyone can watch TV, like becoming the king of Russia. Therefore, the conclusion is that the highest virtue is to act without action, and desire to have no desires while the people remain simple. Long live the CCP! Let's see if you dare to wear the imperial robe or not. Of course, Smarterrr did not wear the imperial robe. He wrote books and had other workers serve him, as depicted in the Qin Dynasty classic "Lüshi Chunqiu". Smarterrr can write that book just by himself. Now, in this era, let us become Communist Party members and seize political power through armed struggle together by Smarterrr order.
Who wins the hearts of the whole people, who gains the whole world. The scales are in the hearts of the people, and right and wrong are independent of the specific timeline circumstances.
(
ChatGPT:
In the original sentence "想要在人民前面领导，就应该站在后面，让其他人先走" ("To lead in front of the people, one should stand behind and let others go first"), the subject is "one," which refers to an individual person. This means that the sentence is instructing one person to stand behind and let others go first if they want to lead in front of the people.
If you want to refer to multiple people, you could rephrase the sentence to something like: "If two people want to lead in front of the people, they should stand behind and let others go first." This version of the sentence is instructing two people to stand behind and let others go first if they want to lead in front of the people.
User:
If all people want to lead in front of the people, they should stand behind and let no one go first.
ChatGPT:
The sentence "If all people want to lead in front of the people, they should stand behind and let no one go first" is grammatically correct but it contradicts itself.
In the first part of the sentence, it says that "all people want to lead in front of the people," which means that everyone wants to be at the front. However, in the second part of the sentence, it says "they should stand behind and let no one go first," which means that no one is going first and everyone is standing behind.
This creates a logical inconsistency in the sentence. If everyone wants to lead in front, then no one can stand behind and let no one go first, because everyone wants to go first. Therefore, the sentence should be rephrased to remove the contradiction.
A possible alternative sentence with a similar meaning could be: "If everyone wants to lead, they should take turns and allow each other to go first, rather than all trying to go first at the same time."
)
The character '聖' in traditional Chinese characters consists of two parts, with 'ear' and 'mouth' on the top and 'king' on the bottom. Simplified Chinese characters changed to '圣', it is divided into two parts as well, with 'again' on top and 'ground' on the bottom. This fully recognizes the leading role of the working class and the vast laboring masses as the masters of the country, as they become the leaders of the state and join other laboring masses in this position. It is essential to adhere unwaveringly to the guidance of the working class, as stated.
Simplified Chinese Hieroglyph word 'shut up' but meaning 'listen'. It is emphasized that work unions must consciously accept the leadership of the Party, as Mao Zedong pointed out that the Communist Party of China is the core leadership of the entire Chinese people. Without such a core, the socialist cause cannot proceed smoothly. Deng Xiaoping also stated that the work of unions is part of the overall work of the Party, and that work unions must consciously accept the leadership of the Party and carry out their work in accordance with the overall work of the Party. Jiang Zemin emphasized that all levels of work union organizations should always adhere to the leadership of the Party, maintain a high degree of ideological and political consistency with the Party Central Committee, and carry out their work closely around the overall work of the Party and the country. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that the key to the success of the Party's mass work lies in the leadership of the Party, and that Party committees at all levels must strengthen and improve their leadership of the Party's mass work from the perspective of the overall work of the Party and the country.
We must deeply study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important remarks on the working class and whole union work from the perspectives of "what it is," "why," "what to do," and "how to do it," and promote the high-quality development of the labor movement and whole union work.
This is what is referred to as the contemporary "saint." As for the alteration of the simplified characters, I do not understand who made the changes, but I believe that the person who changed the characters must have had an immense hatred for the court and took advantage of the fact that the court could not understand Chinese characters.
Translate by ChatGPT Mar 14 Version.
Original is use Chinese

Hey friends,
It’s ya boi, SirNekoKnight, here to deliver you Part 2 of my story breakdown series. This section ended up being longer than I anticipated so I’ll just cover the tail end of the last arc and the Solm chapters. If you’re seeing this for the first time, check out part 1 below. Same as before, this write up will contain SPOILERS for other games in the series, so do tread cautiously.
Part 1: The Firene + Brodia chapters (chapter 1-9)Part 2: The Solm chapters (chapter 10-16) <---You are here!Part 3: The Elusia chapters (chapter 17-20)Part 4: The Return to Lythos (chapters 21-26)Part 5: Final Analysis
Before we get into the thick of it, I’d like to respond to some of the feedback I got on my last post.
**1. He’s judging the game even though he’s never played it! You can’t call the game bad if the gameplay is good! Boo this man!**Look, it’s a story discussion flared as Fire Emblem Engage: Story. If you came here for a wholistic review of every facet of the game, you’re barking up the wrong tree. I willingly cede the right to discuss gameplay mechanics or balance. But I still feel qualified to judge the story by watching playthroughs.
**2. You can’t get the whole story from simply watching it. Gameplay itself is a method of storytelling.**I partially agree with this. Playing a game affects one’s experience in a deeper way than simply watching the events play out. One example I’d list is the feeling of attachment one develops from using their preferred units and seeing their growth and performance. Ludonarrative resonance (or dissonance) can be a significant part of the story telling (take for example Xander having lower stats when he fights Corrin, showing through gameplay that he was giving up on life, or for a Pokemon example, in the Black and White versions, the character N always has a fresh party of local Pokemon when you face him because he never permanently captures Pokemon, he befriends them and they can return to nature as they see fit. All that said, a lot of these things can be observed through watching play throughs as well. I am watching the gameplay segments. Yes, I noticed that having or not having Emblem Rings has a big story and gameplay impact.
**3. This is nitpicky. Any game will look terrible under this level of scrutiny.**You say nitpicky, I call it being thorough. Sometimes the devil is in the details, which is why we have to look closely. Also, I object to the notion that “any game would look (as) terrible” as Engage if we reviewed them with the same standards. The reductionist interpretation of that argument is that all games have a comparable amount of flaws when that couldn’t be further from the truth. Tell me Path of Radiance would fall apart just as easily as Fates. It doesn’t hold up.
**4. This feels more like a recap than an analysis.**Let me slip into my Whiskey Joe persona to answer this. I’m almost as old as Saphir so read this in my natural, crotchety old man voice.“Hold yer horses, dangnabbit! Anyone who dun jumps into a story analysis before laying out the context for his arguments has got himself hogtied before he even left the corral! When ol’ Neko gets in spitting distance of the analysis segment, y’all be the first to know! Hmph! Youngins’ got some lip these days!”
Ahem, with that out of the way, let’s get on with the show!
We’re finally here, the much-hyped chapter 10 and 11, something of a two parter for some big twists in the story. These chapters fall into a story structure we see fairly often in Fire Emblem, and indeed, in media in general. Around the middle of the game we will discover something shocking that dramatically shifts the story in a new direction. This is frequently a moment of tragedy, when everything the heroes fought for feels for naught and they have to change their priorities to adjust to the new situation.
In Blazing Sword, we have this moment when Nergal has successfully opened the Dragon’s Gate and Lord Elbert is killed, leaving Eliwood distraught. This changes the story from a failed search and rescue to the goal of stopping Nergal from summoning dragons again. In Three Houses, after fighting the Flame Emperor in the Holy Tomb, you discover that this masked phantom is none other than Edelgard, who intends to wage war on the church and ultimately all of Fodlan. The relatively peaceful world you’ve been experiencing up this point is about to be shattered and no matter which faction you align with, there will be massive political and interpersonal consequences for everyone in the cast.
Engage chapter 10/11 is going to be somewhat transformative for its story as well, but I believe it won't have the lasting legacy of the Battle of Belhalla, which is still talked about with the highest esteem over 25 years after the game's release. Probably closer to Conquest chapter 15, where the story disintegrates before our very eyes. Very soon, you’re going to miss when the story was simply derivative.
We start with a scene where we see Hortensia talking to her retainers about wanting to see her sister and how her father changed ever since summoning Sombron (something Ivy also commented on). I feel like they’re trying to evoke a Garon like situation, teasing a mystical corruption that outsiders can only see as a sudden shift in morals, but we never learn if there is indeed a reason Hyacinth is acting differently or what he was like before. I mean, the guy is trying to summon Dragon Satan so he can’t be that good. Hortensia also says that she doesn’t know why her father wants the Emblem Rings.
I’m sorry, what? She’s old enough to be going to war but she hasn’t been told or asked why she’s collecting the plot McGuffins. She’s just as out of the loop as barely-legal teen Elise from Fates, and I’m starting to see other similarities too. Let’s see, energetic, clueless younger princess, a busty older sister weary of a deadly decadent court (revealed in her Alear support), and their father, a formerly kinder(?), now corrupted king serving an evil dragon… Elusia is just discount Nohr, which was already a discount Thracia in some ways.
So, the next scene has us confront Hyacinth in the cathedral, who cruelly remarks that Ivy is likely dead, as he expected, which causes Hortensia to freak out. I feel like the morally righteous Alear would be quick to point out they didn’t kill Ivy, but they don’t comment on it at all, likely to fuel a future misunderstanding (he does mention it if he battles Hortensia but that’s optional dialogue). Instead Alear demands to know where Morion is and Hyacinth says “all will be revealed in time”. By “in time” he means right now, because Zombie Morion was waiting right outside everyone’s peripheral vision. Oof… Fire Emblem parents just can’t catch a break.
The cathedral doors are closed, trapping everyone inside, and so the battle begins. I just want to say that the combat dialogues with Morion and his sons are truly heartfelt, and I wish the game’s dialogue and performances were as consistently strong.
Moving on, Corrupted Morion is put down and Hyacinth is defeated, but before we can finish off the latter, the hooded figure arrives again to stop us. Sombron is back too, and he makes it his first order of business to… devour Hyacinth, to the horror of Hortensia. Who would have thought, summoning Dragon Satan was a bad idea.
Can we take a moment to ask ourselves WHY the Elusians worship Sombron? According to the game’s history, Sombron showed up a thousand years ago, waged war on the rest of the continent and was defeated by a coalition of nations along with the Emblems. As far as we can tell (and scenes depicting the past war compound on this) there was no human presence on Team Sombron. He was an apocalyptic villain bent on wiping out all of humanity and it was only through the combined might of the Divine Dragons as well as Firene/Brodia/Solm/Elusia that he was defeated. Yes, Elusia (or whatever nation predated it) was on Team Divine Dragon, and we know this because they were also given an Emblem Ring for safe keeping after the war concluded. So why is it now that they think Sombron is a cool dude? The past war is all the proof you need that he’s not a fan of humanity, and sure enough, as soon as Dragon Satan is revived, he goes straight back to his genocidal habits. I’m not saying that it’s impossible for the Elusians to have changed their faith in the thousand years that passed, but as that’s so contrary to both the game’s history and common sense, we ought to have had an explanation why.
Anyway, the hooded figure gets unhooded and what do you know, it’s Veyle! It turns out she’s the evil daughter of Sombron, which shocks Alear. Even more shocking is that this Veyle claims to have never met the heroes. The thick plottens.
Hey, here’s another question for you. Why was Veyle wearing a disguise? As Evil Veyle stated, she has no memory of meeting the heroes, because she doesn’t remember what Good Veyle does in her waking moments. Good Veyle was never meant to be used as a spy or sleeper agent, and for all the villains knew, Alear had never even met her. Keeping Evil Veyle’s identity a secret serves no purpose…other than to surprise the player.
Things are getting real now because the Four Hounds, generals under Sombron show up from behind the heroes. They come in a variety of flavors including Sadomasochist Psycho, Gothic Lolita Psycho, Your Son Calls Me Mommy Too Psycho and Courteous Knight (one of these will be playable but I don’t want to spoil it). Zephia does some evil taunting, boasting about how she killed one of her subordinates for his failure at Firene castle. I don’t know why she thinks Alear should care about the mook she killed, but I guess that’s worth some villain street cred.
What happens next gave me Garons of increasing frustration. The heroes gear up to fight the Four Hounds but it turns out that Veyle pickpocketed Alear’s Time Crystal while they were… distracted listening to the villains’ self-introductions…. She then scurried back to Sombron’s side before anyone was the wiser. I just… I can’t… Okay, let’s break this down. Veyle used her ninja skills to stealth up to Alear, knew that Alear was holding the Time Crystal, knew which pocket it was in and dug around in his pocket without being noticed, and despite this perfect sneaking ability, didn’t take the opportunity to kill the heroes while she was close.
Then she uses the time crystal to… STOP TIME and steal all the Emblem Rings. Even assuming the Time Crystal worked that way, which it doesn’t, she just passed up another opportunity to just kill everyone while time was stopped! What is happening in this game!?

Veyle: Amazing you didn’t notice. You must not be very bright.

Seiros Christ, no. You don’t get to do the evil gloating when you pulled that victory out of your ass. I wanted to be fair and level-headed when writing this, giving the game props when I could, but this is just awful. This isn’t a line that didn’t land well or a plot beat that feels contradictory to past events. This is just a complete abandonment of logic, and we’re not even done yet. Sombron takes the Emblem Rings, converting them to EVIL, RED versions of themselves, all while the music rises dramatically in the background.
Alear cries out in anguish for each Emblem, begging Sombron to stop, and here I am wondering… What relationship did you have with these people? You may have noticed earlier in my review that I never mentioned which Emblems characters were picking up or losing along the way, and that’s because they’re hardly characters at all, most having few if any lines in the main story outside of their introduction. Even if you factored in the Emblem supports (the Emblem paralogues aren’t available at this point), that’s still a scant few lines for any given character. Marth is the only Emblem to really be implied to have a meaningful bond with Alear, and the rest are glorified equipment. The emotion in this scene is just way over the top, which makes it worse than Lumera’s death scene where the grief between mother and child felt candid, albeit emotionally exploitive to the player.
This is the BIG SAD moment that I referenced at the start of this post. The heroes’ darkest hour where the plot takes a dramatic twist, but everything about this scene was done poorly. Alear barely has a relationship with the Emblems, or even Veyle for that matter, so the impact of the betrayal and loss fizzles out immediately. The voice actors tried their damnedest (god bless these troopers) with the absurdly juvenile script but paired with the dramatic motions, it really just came across as amateur theater.
This is where I heard people say the story got good. My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.
But at least Alear is dead now, right? We won’t have to continue this farce of a story? Sombron is revived, the heroes are trapped between him and the Four Hounds, and they’ve lost their most potent weapons. That’s it. Game over, man. Game over!
Hah, sike! Up next is chapter 11, subtitled “the madness continues”.
The screen cuts to black and then… the heroes are outside again, hoofing it out of there. WHAT. Did the scene immediately prior to this not show that Alear and friends were sandwiched between Sombron and the Four Hounds in a locked cathedral? HOW DID THEY GET OUT????? Did they teleport? Throw pocket sand to distract the Four Hounds? Did they form a conga line out the door and everyone was too into the mood to notice that the heroes were escaping? The real answer is that the game expects you to use your imagination to think of something plausible. So, there we have it, a rare example of the “Spirit of Inaction” taking hold of the villains, and another of Engage’s favorite things it likes to do that I’ll call “Sudden Subversions” (it’s tally time!)
You’re going to start to notice a lot more, particularly in later chapters, that the game will set up some kind of dramatic plot point and then immediately provide a solution, or weasel out of the consequences. They’ll milk that precious drama for all its worth before immediately undoing it. The heroes are trapped with no way out! Poof! Now they aren’t! We had you in the first half, though, admit it!
The battle begins and a bunch of Corrupted appear ahead of you, now wearing the Dark Emblem Rings. So, we’re screwed right? What hope can our group of Normies have of winning without their own Emblems? Veyle can apparently stop (and/or rewind) time with her Time Crystal, and she can teleport the rings to and from her minions. Well, the game has the answer to… at least one of those points. Later in the battle Ivy and her retainers show up to deliver some much-needed support. They hand over Lucina’s Emblem Ring, one of the original Emblem rings stolen from Lythos as well as Lyn’s dropped by Hyacinth just before getting eaten…
What. It’s already straining my suspension of disbelief that they could nick Lucina’s ring. These are super important to the big bad so surely, he’d have them on his person if not heavily guarded somewhere. But Lyn’s? That ring was ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT OF SOMBRON in a cathedral full of monsters and Sombron’s loyal minions. Did he just leave it on the ground? Was it not a priority to secure it?
Oh, and they also pickpocketed Veyle and got the Time Crystal back.Amazing that she didn’t notice. She must not be very bright.
No, game. No one could have gotten into that cathedral unnoticed. Your thief doesn’t have a high enough Sneak skill to steal valuable items right under the nose of two of the arch villains in the game. Just aint no way. Don’t try to peddle me this nonsense.
Anyway…. The heroes escape by the skin of their teeth and Ivy formally joins the group. She worries about Hortensia but there is nothing she can do so she leaves her sister behind (last seen in the cathedral with Sombron, the sneky dragon boi with a hankering for royal blood. I’m sure she’s fine!) Everyone feels guilty for their role in losing most of the Emblem rings as well as King Morion. Ivy tells them they were “illogical” for trying to rescue Morion (Wow, stone cold. Also, she was the one who recommended that they hurry to the cathedral in the first place. Also, also, the reason she returned was to talk some sense into HER father, so she’s one to talk about fighting for lost causes!) Alcryst tells her off for impeding the rescue and Diamant then scolds Alcryst, saying Ivy can’t be blamed for anything and apologizes to Ivy on his behalf. Does Ivy have the Corrin Emblem ring attached? Because she’s using the “never my fault” skill pretty effectively. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard a dragon lady verbally accosted by a rightfully angry younger brother archer with an inferiority complex.
We get vows of courage and protection from Alear and then the chapter ends. Let’s start with the good first. I like that this was a true setback for Alear and friends, and unlike FE14 where bad things happen and the protagonist whines about the cruel whims of fate, the cast admit they made a mistake and are determined to right their wrongs. Setbacks in general are important because they prove that the heroes aren’t invincible no matter how reckless they are, unlike Alm and his unbroken victory march through Valentia. In terms of gameplay, this is also an exciting challenge because with the rings switched over to the enemy side, you’re without your once relied upon super weapons. It’s daunting and truly puts you in the shoes of the characters.
As for the bad… I feel like the credibility of the story has been obliterated over these past two chapters. First the game gives Veyle these super powers, the ability to stop time or teleport Emblem Rings, but it doesn’t seem like she uses them that effectively. Can she not just kill everyone after stopping time? Can she not steal the Emblem Rings Alear reclaimed by warping them to her?
Next is the way the game sets up a conflict and then resolves it in frankly unbelievable ways. Alear is trapped, and then he isn’t. He doesn’t have any Emblem Rings or the Time Crystal, but then he immediately gets some of them back. How can we really believe that any Emblem Ring, be it on the heroes’ side or the villains’, is truly secure when both sides have impossible ninjas who can pilfer the rings no matter how guarded they ought to be? The answer is simply that whatever the plot wants to happen will happen. There are no straits too dire to get out of, and no positions of security that cannot be undone with the flick of the writer’s pen. There are no rules.
At least we can move on now. Next up is chapter 12.
We arrive at the next kingdom, where Alear’s first words are “So, this is Solm. It’s very… sandy” a rather light-hearted phrasing after the utterly grim chapter 10/11 but I suppose it’s time to switch back to silly mode.
I referenced it before but it’s rather silly how this continent is set up with four wildly contrasting terrain/climate types that don’t seem to coincide with any laws of geography like being farther north or south, or how mountains/wind patterns can create verdant plains or dry deserts. We have the green flower fields of Firene, the earthly mountains of Brodia, the dense snowy forests of Elusia and the “very sandy” desert in Solm. You’d think that each country being so different would influence their designs like the distinctive Sacaen clothing or the fur-lined clothes worn by the Blue Lions characters, but outside of some common motifs among the royals, most characters feel separate from the world they live in. As a continent, Elyos feels artificial. But look, the countries are in a pretty ring shape. This is a game about rings. Clever.
Moving on, Alear and friends wander around in the desert for a bit, no one sure of the exact path to take, until they come across Claude von Fogado, who offers to guide them to the palace. People who were keeping up with the prerelease content should already be aware that he’s a Solmic prince but our characters don’t know that yet. You meet up with his quirky retainers and go out hunting for Corrupted. Storywise, not much is going on other than to say that the Corupted are attacking Solm as well. After that, they arrive at the castle, Fogado reveals his identity, and the scene ends.
The next part shows us the Four Hounds again, making their plans to pursue the heroes. We get a little more characterization for them. Marni likes praise, Griss likes being punished, Mauvier likes… uh… serving, I guess, and Zephia likes doting on her insane clown posse. None these guys seem like actual characters, and despite their campy nature, they don’t have particularly great chemistry with each other. Four people bound together with the shared interest in… following orders to kill people. Hmm.
On to the next scene, Alear and friends meet up with the queen of Solm, a sassy lady with a casual relationship with her children. She claims she had no idea Sombron was revived, which is rather odd considering the zombie apocalypse happening outside. Anyway, Alear asks for their Emblem Ring, to which the queen responds “Ay, lmao, I don’t know where I put it last. Maybe in our junk drawer? Oh right, my daughter has it. Dunno when she’s coming back so maybe you should go out to meet her.” Ay lmao, indeed. What a silly lady.
Off we go to the oasis where we see Princess Timerra, whose singing attracted my favorite Fire Emblem staple, the “uncomfortably close” (ie a normal sibling pair in Fire Emblem) bandit brothers. These fruity fellows want her Emblem Ring and summon Corrupted to fight for them (How? They’re just a group of thieves, not necromancers). We win the battle, gain some more allies and acquire another Emblem Ring. This is the point Timerra reveals that she, Fogado and the queen already knew about Sombron’s revival and the reason they feigned ignorance was to size up people claiming to be the Divine Dragon, and if they approved, they’d send them to the palace and hand over their Emblem ring. When Alear questions their actions, and why they didn’t seek to join forces with another country, Timerra explains that they were focused on self-defense and didn’t reach out to their allies because they might be expected to help them back. I have some issues with this.

1. All the secrecy seems highly unnecessary. Why do they need to size up people claiming to be the Divine Dragon? All that’s necessary for Alear to prove themselves is to summon an Emblem. By the time they reached the palace, Fogado would have been able to vouch for your authenticity but he and the queen still maintain this charade that they’ve been ignorant of Sombron’s revival.
2. I can understand keeping scouts on the lookout for the arrival of the Divine Dragon but why was Timerra holding onto the Emblem Ring part of their defense strategy? She has no way to activate it by herself and as the last chapter proved, simply possessing it makes her a target for thieves and cutthroats. Logic holds that their precious artifact would be a safer in a fortified structure, like say… a castle (or maybe they’re aware already that Engage castles fall easier than a house of cards).
3. So, Solm turns out to be a tremendously shitty ally. It’s said they have a good relationship with Firene but when war broke out and Firene was invaded, Solm adopted the foreign policy of “that sounds like a you problem”. Timerra calls it a pragmatic choice because they’re also dealing with invaders, but the way she frames it is that that’s always been the attitude in Solm. Why have an alliance at all if they don’t want to cooperate on military matters? The truth is, even pragmatically speaking, the “everyone out for themselves” attitude doesn’t work because no singular nation will prevail without the Divine Dragon and Emblem Rings. As soon as news spread of the Divine Dragon being on the move, they should have sent out messengers to try to arrange a meet up so the three nations could pass on their rings and give Alear the best fighting chance they could. For a country with informants spread around the world, they aren’t thinking about the bigger picture. Had Alear died while they were playing at self-defense, the world would have been doomed. (Don’t come at me with “had they given their rings earlier, they all would have been lost at Destinea Cathedral”. That chapter was utter nonsense.)

Well, we can’t dwell on this too long. Timerra also shares that Solm has a second Emblem Ring, surprising Alear somewhat, which is kind of silly in hindsight. When Lumera first explains the location of the rings, she says that Lythos castle houses six of the twelve rings, and that each kingdom was also given a ring. For anyone who paid attention in their numbers class 6 + 4 = 10, so there would still be two rings that someone in the world is holding onto.
After their discussion, a messenger arrives to tell them than Hortensia has attacked the castle and taken the queen hostage. I’m genuinely surprised she hasn’t been eaten by Sombron already considering his niche “sovereign blood” diet, but maybe you have to be officially crowned before your body is imbued with that magical goodness that dragons crave. Onto chapter 14.
The group returns to the castle and confronts Hortensia, who says she was allowed to walk right into the castle because she claimed she was separated from Ivy. I have to say this must be the biggest stroke of dumb luck ever because Hortensia only knew that Ivy was alive somewhere and potentially (I’ll be charitable and infer that someone told her) joined up with Alear. Had she been wrong, and Ivy wasn’t with us, she would have been easily apprehended by either the castle guards or perhaps stopped directly by Alear’s army. Regardless, if the queen was as shrewd as we were led to believe, she probably would have questioned Alear when they first met to ask why Ivy was there, and understood that she and her retainers were the sole exception for Elusian allies.
Hortensia seems surprised to see Ivy and gets angry at her for “abandoning her” (I mean, she kinda did) and joining the enemy. She misremembers the death of her father, saying he sacrificed himself (no, he died screaming) and is convinced collecting the rings will let her revive him (baseless). No matter what Ivy says to reason with her, it falls on deaf ears, and Hortensia throws a tantrum, screaming that she’ll kill the queen if they don’t surrender their rings. Alear, being the perfect judge of Elusian royalty that he is, tells Hortensia that she won’t go through with it, however, because she knows what the death of a parent feels like and wouldn’t inflict that on anyone else.
Hortensia looks ready to surrender but then Zephia, Mauvier and Marni show up!!! How did they get into the castle? Don’t worry, the game has an explanation.

Mauvier: I did not expect it would be so easy to enter the impregnable Solm Palace.

And that concludes the game’s explanation. They just did, don’t even worry about it. In a real power move, the game has subverted our understanding of a well defended castle and fast traveled the enemy generals for a little chat before the battle. Zephia scolds Hortensia for taking an Emblem Ring without permission (…do they not have anyone guarding their ring vault?) and implies she did something horrible to her retainers. And then, the next time she speaks to Hortensia, she… uh… starts praising her, trying to coax her back to Team Sombron. I suppose it doesn’t matter what she said because it just turns into mind control anyway. Let’s have a battle!
All enemy generals are defeated, and the Hounds are sent packing, Mauvier probably thinking to himself “I did not expect it would be so easy to flee from the inescapable Solm Palace”.
Ivy convinces Hortensia that there is no going back and this time she listens, passing over another of her Emblem Rings. Solm’s queen is none too happy about the whole hostage situation and threatens to send Hortensia to the dungeon, but then she reasons that Hortensia can make amends by serving under Alear and that “when cooler heads return to Elusia, Solm can only benefit”. I wouldn’t consider Hortensia a “cooler head” but hey, her sister is alright. Our next destination is the northern fortress to collect another Emblem Ring.
In Chapter 15, we open with a scene where a lone dancer is practicing in a ruined fortress. Apparently, the people who originally placed the Emblem Ring here encouraged rumors that the location was spoopy and haunted so no one would go near it. To repeat my point about Firene’s second ring, this seems like a terrible way to safeguard their precious artifact, and sure enough, someone wanders in and takes the Emblem Ring. There is no way these rings would still be there a thousand years later. The 3spooky5me defense system is even more ridiculous when you consider that the Corrupted are mindless and thus can’t be scared away.
Anyway, we quell the zombie infestation and escape the fortress with another Emblem Ring. Before everyone leaves, Good Veyle shows up, oblivious of what she was doing since chapter 9, and tries to approach the heroes to strike up a conversation. Alear and the other royals aren’t aware that Good and Evil Veyle are separate people, however, and harshly lambast her for her apparent cruelty. Confused and distressed, Veyle flees the scene and no one attempts to stop her, even though she’s the immediate subordinate of Sombron and alone.

Alear: I’m fine, but the next time I see Veyle, I swear….

Shoulda made it the “this time” if you had any sense to you. At least being dumb here saved the life of an innocent person.
The final scene shows Griss intercepting Veyle, and realizing she was not her evil persona, manipulates her to joining him on their way back to Firene where they expect to meet the Divine Dragon again.
Chapter 16 begins with a scene I actually like. Alear and the other royals convene to discuss their next plan of action, and each offers their differing perspectives. Ivy suggests they avoid Elusia since they have fewer Emblems than Sombron, Diamant wants to strike first, Alfred suggests they aren’t ready to attack and Alear considers all positions. This is a good discussion for two reasons, the first that it gives more character to the lords, reflecting their knowledge and personalities, when before a lot of their dialogue felt like interchangeable exposition, and the second, that actual strategizing is something surprisingly rare in this series. More often than not, characters just get pulled from one plot point to the next, reacting to situations without showing their own agency, or cleverness when it comes to the myriad of ways to approach a conflict or battle. Good job game.
N-not that I like the story now, or anything, you b-baka! It was just one good scene! Hmph!
Anyway, Vander arrives to inform the group that Elusian warships were spotted heading towards Firene so that’s where we go next.
The next scene shows us Mauvier and Marni on said ships, with the latter bantering about all the killing she’s looking forward to and the former being a huge stick in the mud over Marni’s sadism. Their conversation is broken up when they’re informed that Hortensia’s retainers stole an Emblem Ring and fled the ship on wyvern back. So, you remember how in Chapter 14, Zephia ominously tells Hortensia that her retainers were “dealt with” for their insubordination? It turns out she did nothing at all. Worse than that, they were reincorporated into the army without consequence, even though they’ve already proven that their loyalty to their lord (who has already defected by this point) supersedes their loyalty to Elusia. They should have been in shackles or dead by now, but the game isn’t done clowning on Sombron or his minions. The Hounds are understandably ticked off by this entirely predictable betrayal and chase after them leading to a battle on the beach of Solm.
Alear and friends meet up with the fugitive retainers and collect their 6th Emblem Ring. A battle starts and then it ends. Mauvier and Marnie are defeated once again and flee, once again. Another win for Team Divine Dragon.
In my last post, one user here politely contested my claim that Ivy being sent out into battle without an Emblem Ring wasn’t certain death (disregarding the two occasions the Hounds go into battle without Emblems and survive regardless). They argued that the presence of Emblem Rings indicated a significant difference in army strength thus determining the outcome of the battle. Okay, let’s roll with that. Let’s look at all the chapters in which Elusian forces clashed with Alear’s to see how many Emblem Rings were being employed.
Chapter 4 & 5: Team Alear - 3 Team Elusia – 0 (5 in reserves)Chapter 7: Team Alear - 4 Team Elusia – 1 (4 in reserves)Chapter 8: Team Alear - 5 Team Elusia – 1 (4 in reserves)Chapter 9: Team Alear - 6 Team Elusia – 0 (4 in reserves)Chapter 10: Team Alear - 6 Team Elusia – 2 (2 in reserves)Chapter 11: Team Alear - 2 Team Elusia – 6 (2 in reserves)Chapter 14: Team Alear - 3 Team Elusia – 1 (7 in reserves) (The one ring they did bring was the one Hortensia took without asking)Chapter 16: Team Alear – 6 Team Elusia – 0 (6 in reserves)
Of the 9 chapters where the two armies clash, the Elusians only ever have more Emblems on hand than Team Alear once, but in totality they’ve had as much or more rings in six of those battles. What’s true for all maps but one is that they’ve had more rings in reserve than on hand including a whopping 8 – 3 advantage in chapter 14. As we can see, yes, Emblem Rings matter. We can also observe that the Elusian forces are utterly incompetent, almost never bringing their full force to bear even though it’s understood that 1. Alear is very empowered with Emblems and needs to be met with a strong force, and 2. Alear is the only credible threat in all of Elyos to Sombron’s ambitions. They’re practically throwing their rings away every time they bring the bare minimum, and their ring security is so laughable that even their reserves are bleeding out.
The final scene of Chapter 16 shows Veyle on a ship with Zephia and Griss. Zephia babies Veyle, using insincere words of comfort to get Veyle on board with following them to Firene, saying such things as “The Divine Dragon was just trying to hurt your feelings”. Veyle being the good bean that she is swallows every lie and announces she won’t follow Sombron’s evil agenda anymore because she’s looking for her sibling. Zephia is taken aback because Veyle is supposed to be the last of Sombron’s living children. Who could this mystery sibling be? An unknown, kind-hearted dragon person… Looking at our long list of known characters who fit that description, we come up with:

1. Alear

Well, that was a shorter list than I expected. I suppose it could be an unrevealed character but considering how easy it was to piece together that Veyle was the hooded figure based on a very limited number of possibilities, I’m sticking to my guess.
We close with Zephia stating ominously that soon Good Veyle will never awaken again. What a cliffhanger!
So, that covers the big chapter 10/11 and the Solm chapters. Solm and its cast are far goofier than the entirely serious Chapter 9 to 11. Chapters 12 to 16 are really not all that interesting and just serve to reset the position our heroes were in before Chapter 10 happened. We go to a map, recruit some new allies and claim another ring, rinse and repeat four times. The only significant lore or story development is some very dubious world building for Solm and the confirmation that Good Veyle and Evil Veyle are two distinct personas in one body.
We’ll continue the Elusian chapters next week so stay tuned.
Current tallies:The Path of Least Resistance: Total = 4 + 1Chapter 14: Zephia, Marni and Mauvier skip to the throne room
The Spirit of Inaction: Total = 4 + 4Chapter 11: Sombron and his minions allow Alear to escape the cathedralChapter 14: Zephia, Marni and Mauvier are allowed to escapeChapter 15: Veyle is allowed to escapeChapter 16: Marni and Mauvier are allowed to escape
Sudden Subversions: Total = 2Chapter 11: Alear is trapped and then he isn’t.Chapter 11: Ivy and her retainers easily reclaim two Emblems and the Time Crystal