Post Birthday

It was a pretty low-key birthday. I had to work all day, so obviously there was that most of the day. Talked to my folks at lunch. They're in Houston at a cancer hospital running some tests and getting few answers. They're in their 80s (my mom) and just shy of 80 (my dad) and his condition seems to be related to "vax" related anomalous and unexpected turbo cancer. So that's not exactly good news, but it's not worse news than we've already known for months either. It just was a minor update; more the case that I actually managed to catch them and talk to them briefly.

I heard from three of my four kids. Didn't even think about until later that my youngest didn't call. Strange. Of the boys in particular, he's the one I would have expected to think of it the most. Didn't get a lot; we spent a ton of money recently, and are being careful (at least, more careful) this year; I ordered some stuff that I needed for about $50, and we went out to eat for about $40. I'm certainly in a place financially where if I really need or want something, I usually just get it without thinking too much about it, so birthday and Christmas presents being a big deal is a thing of the past, but because my wife wasn't working the last three months, we're watching cash flow until she can start getting paychecks again. Luckily, her position will actually improve in the new year, so we'll be in good shape soon with regards to cash flow anyway. Sigh. Sadly, I'm not going to be in a position to retire early to a 800+ acre ranch in Wyoming. But for more "normal" retirement options, I'll probably be OK, at least when I get to that age. Which, even after my birthday is not really all that close still. I'll no doubt be working well into my mid-60s, and that's not coming for many more years.

 — ( † ) —

Anyway, as expected, I didn't play much SWTOR yesterday, and I haven't read much of anything either, except for my Old Testament audio while commuting in the morning (I save the evening commute for music). I did log in to get the daily login, and got a seasonal accomplishment done. Did some crafting. No big deal. Took a few screenshots, and left them on my other computer, so I can't even add them to this post, although maybe I'll do so later tonight.

I did notice that I was wrong on my crafting. While I'm pretty sure that I had made Phillippion a biotech crafter, which I think I had done, and that I'd maxed out Hutran Thanatos, my Wave 2 Operative as a backup biotech crafter, I thought that I was going to delete Phillippion and changed my mind so that I had two biotech crafters. However, I logged into Phillippion and checked out his crafting companions menu, and he was maxed out on slicing. There was a change that I had made and forgotten about long ago. I don't have a backup biotech after all; Hutran Thanatos has to just be my main for that craft. I redid my list to correct that, and look at who will be backups, and in order to have one primary and one backup for each of the six crafting skills and a primary and backup for the slicing deal-e-o, I would need to utilize literally every single one of my wave 1 and wave 2 characters.

Which is perfectly fine, of course, but I just need to do it. What I think that I'm going to do is stop waiting for them to go into semi-retirement to become crafters; they can craft now, and start slowly bulking up their abilities, plus they'll be able to transform slain enemies into crafting mats. Especially the droids for most enemies, but biotech can scan monsters and get gathered materials out of them too. So all of my wave 2 characters will need to drop by the fleet and pick up their crafting and two gathering skills. 

Here's the list of current crafters:

• J'ohhn - Cybertech (maxed)
• Graggory - Armormech (maxed)
• M'aar'k - Synthweaving (maxed)
• Lu'ukke - Armstech (maxed)
• M'at Thew - Artifice (maxed)
• Hutran Thanatos - Biotech (maxed)
• Phillip'pion - Slicing (maxed)
• Taul Kajak - Artifice backup (not maxed)
• Anstal Tane - Cybertech backup (not maxed)

And here are the characters who will go pick up skills and start working on them, effective tonight.

• Vant Galaide - Armstech backup (Investigation, Scavenging)
• Revecca Arden - Biotech backup (Diplomacy, Bioanalysis)
• Elemer Kell - Synthweaving backup (Archaeology, Underworld Trading)
• Phovos Maledict - Armormech backup (Scavenging, Underworld Trading)
• Embric Stane - Slicing backup

There are six crafting skills and a seventh odd-man-out gathering skill (slicing) so it takes seven characters to be able to do it all, and fourteen to have a backup for each. 

I don't really need a backup for synthweaving, because M'aar'k has already gone into and come out of the expansion storylines, and he has access to his companions again, plus the expansion companions, like Lana Beniko, etc. But y'know. Why not? Maybe I'll even eventually get around to a second backup so I'll have seven more characters engaged in crafting. That way, anyone can go through the expansions without me feeling like I don't have access to crafting while they do so.

I've also been busily working on biochem. I think my strategy of earning money through Advanced V-9 Seismic Grenades was OK, but not the big spender. It looks like Advanced Kyrprax Attack and Critical Adrenals Mk-2 are where the real money is at; those sell for $7M on the GTN. They're obviously a bit more work to unlock and even to simply make, though. I also don't know if I'm hanging on to legendary ember, or if I'll have to grind for some. But I'll try them out and see how it goes. Meanwhile, Johhn is still making and selling grenades. And I'll be in a position to sell some OEM soon too, which is usually pretty big money. I should see a bump in my credit savings in game shortly. 

 — ( † ) —

Finally, SWTOR always makes me think of Capes & Rayguns, formerly Space Opera X, formerly Ad Astra, my space opera setting. I'd like to maybe go back to my planetary data sheets and update them with new ChatGPT generated images. The following was one I mostly did for fun, rather than attempting to resemble any specific planet already defined, but maybe I can see about using it, or even generating a new planet to fit it. It's also interesting to see my evolution through the image process; looking at what I got and thinking about how to change it.

This is meant to be kind of Korriban-like, with a ship in place that's leading an archaeological expedition of sorts.

I'd never been given two options to choose from before by ChatGPT. Maybe it's a New Years feature or something. I decided to go with the lower one as a bit closer to what I was thinking of.

Then ChatGPT took me a little bit too literally and put what is obviously a transparent pastiche of the Millennium Falcon in place. 

This one was a better ship design for my purposes. Then I just added a few more details, and voilà! I was done!

Some lightning, a droid, and an archaeological dig site camp out there on the plain in front of the pyramids, and all set.