Welcome to the very first instalment of “Around the campfire”, an AMA style Interview featuring regular members of /ultralight.
Pmags has kindly offered to be the guinea pig for our very first go at this. Over the course of the year we will be contacting some of you to see if you want to have a go in the hot seat. If you want a turn, please feel free to send us a modmail expressing your interest. If anyone has a any suggestions for improvements or ideas for questions, please let us know.
We hope this new recurring monthly post will be a way for our amazing sub to get to know each other a little better, draw on specific skill sets and experiences, share stories, and celebrate our community’s diverse user base.
To the campfire!
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Thanks so much for the invite. I’ve participated in an outdoor online discussion in one form or another since 1996 (I’m an increasingly aging middle-aged guy with a tech background ;) ) and enjoy the conversation with like-minded people. And I’ve been enjoying Reddit /ul for a while now as my current “go-to” for discussion for outdoor topics. I’m honored that the mod crew asked me to participate in this discussion with everyone.
Name - Paul Magnanti or Paul Mags for short. Mags is a family nickname that goes back to at least my grandfather.
Country - USA
City/town - Since 2018 - Moab, UT 1999- 2018 Boulder, CO Born and raised in the “Calamari Comeback State” of Rhode Island
Age - 46
Socials - Insta, Twitter, Facebook, and a very mediocre YouTube channel u/PMagsCO
Web - PMags.com
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● What got you into the Ultralight mindset?
Back in the dark ages of 1998, I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail. Without exaggeration, that hike changed my life. As I always tell people, those white blazes lead north to not just Katahdin, but to the life I lead now.
However, I also schlepped way too many pounds, wore leather boots, carried excess gear, and shoved it all into a monster EMS 5500 (90 liters!) pack. After carrying that beast of burden up and down the mountains for 5 months, I vowed not to do that again.
In 1999, the internet as we know it now started maturing. Lots of ideas on hiking forums and nascent websites about this “lightweight backpacking” thing - Frameless packs, tarps, alcohol stoves, sneakers, etc. Many of the current cottage gear companies came out of that era.
Well, that sounded great to me. I hiked Vermont’s Long Trail in 1999 for the second time with a sub-15lb base pack weight. And I tinkered, lightened gear, and pared away. When I did the CDT in 2006, I had a sub-10 lb base pack weight.
● What is your own personal ultralight philosophy?
I think of myself as a minimalist with a practical bent. Meaning, I take less, tend to make do with what I have, and like the gear I don’t have to futz with overall. If I have to think about the equipment (be it too many straps or because of it being fragile, for example), the gear does not work for my system.
I also think of gear not as individual pieces but as a tool working in a kit for a given task. If my task is three-season backpacking in dry and cold condition overall, I want my tools to work well together for that kit.
● Your all time favourite trip?
Hoo-boy. That’s a difficult one to narrow down!
For longer hikes, two come to mind. The “Walk Across Southern Utah” in the fall of 2017 (https://pmags.com/wasu-overall-thoughts) let me see the unique and incredible landscape of the Colorado Plateau for a little over a month. And I showed up on my partner Joan’s doorstep on that trip due to her and I having mutual friends. She let me stay with her, do laundry, resupply, take a shower, and all the usual thru-hiking needs. I kept on coming back in 2018, and I fell in love with this incredible, intelligent, passionate outdoors person who asked me to move to Moab with her.
Of course, I loved my Northern New Mexico Loop in 2019 ( https://pmags.com/the-northern-new-mexico-loop-an-overview) as Northern New Mexico is one of my favorite places in the world: The blend of different cultures, the history, and the incredible food all add up to a place that always calls to me.
However, I think all the many short trips I’ve done over the years of a week or less add up to a greater whole. I think of all those times walking a canyon, cresting the divide, or walking in the woods, and it adds up to more time overall than “just” thru-hiking. And I’m not sure I’d change that for anything.
● If you could only offer one piece of hiking advice, what would it be?
Get out as much as you can and however, you can. I firmly believe the “gift of time” is the best asset for any outdoors person. We all have obligations in life that sometimes preclude getting out as much as we’d like. But even a two-hour hike outdoors to test a pack configuration will not only let you dial-in your gear a bit, but it will do so much for your mental and physical health. And it is time outside doing what you love.
● Your favourite piece of gear?
Budget - 100 wt fleece. An inexpensive thrifter fleece works for so many seasons and conditions, durable, and keeps my gear consumption low vs. replacing gear frequently.
Higher-end - The Montbell Alpine Light parka with just under 5 oz of fill fits many different niches for me. It’s the usual mix of Montbell features of aesthetics, quality of construction, and attention to detail. My favorite puffy of all time. (Note: Montbell provided the parka for my review)
Cottage: My 2012 ULA CDT has gone through many miles and nights over the years. Durable, more versatile than other frameless packs (I’ve carried a poor person’s packraft, a gallon of water, and six days of food at once. No, I don’t suggest doing that! :) ), and only 20 oz stripped down.
● Have you ever gone stupidlight and if so what happened?
Oh, heck yeah!
Taking a Photon II-stye pinch light while attempting to night hike with u/camhoan. Pausing to explain the stars made for a memorable evening stroll... Word to the wise: When your light is fading, and your friend is doing the walking out front, pointing out the conjunction of the stars and the planets is not something you should do!
Attempting to use a 5x7 rectangular tarp, without a bivy did not so much get stupid as inefficient. It worked, but not worth the futz-factor and discomfort.
● The greatest band ever?
I’m partial to “Exile on Main Street” -era Rolling Stones. - Sloppy, raucous, energetic, and an excellent synthesis of the many roots of American music.
Solo? I enjoy Mark Lanegan for his nicotine-and-booze voice that’s a cross between Nick Cave, Tom Waits, and Johnny Cash.
● Your favourite food on the trail?
A hard, salty cheese, cured meat, nuts, and dried fruit. Any similarities to Sunday dinners growing up is strictly coincidental.
● Your least favourite piece of gear?
Please forgive me for my sins, but I can’t get into hoodies for active-wear of any type. I don’t like how they obscure my vision, trap in heat, and feel uncomfortable to me. I grudgingly wear a hood in snow, rain, or frigid weather. But I still don’t like it.
● What terrain makes you happiest?
Alpine ridge walks or walking through the bottoms of canyons with sheer walls. Not a coincidence I lived both in the shadow of the Continental Divide, currently live in canyon country, and no longer live anywhere near an ocean!
● What’s in store for you in 2021?
This past year, Joan and I got in 90 bag nights through backpacking and quick car camps (often on the same weekend.) I hope we can continue that trend in 2021. More specifically, we hope to get in more and longer packrafting trips.
2021, I hope, will also allow me to build up money and time for future endeavors.
● On trail or route finding?
We love route finding. Looking over maps, web sites, old guide books, and even the occasional archeological report to put together a route taking in single track, old jeep or wagon roads, and non-designated trails bring us happiness.
I should add that “off-trail” is almost always a misnomer in canyon country. If the route is non-technical, that break in the canyon wall, flat water paddle, strolling across the valley, or walking along the canyon bottom typically means other people came this way long before you and frequently. The lithics, images, potsherds, and dwellings indicate many people used these travel paths for generations.
● What do you think is the best and worst trend in hiking?
The best is how so many people, and increasingly more diverse economic, racial, and cultural backgrounds, are discovering the joys of the outdoors. I think that’s an incredible silver lining of this past COVID year.
The worst trend is with any trend - a way to focus more on acquiring “things” rather than experiences. We all need tools to experience hiking. The idea of hiking to acquire more stuff makes the maxing of a credit card a hobby in itself.
● Favourite movie?
A tie -
“Lawrence of Arabia”...but only on the big screen. I saw it for the first time at the Providence Performing Arts Center back in the 1990s, and I became entranced. That’s a movie meant for a large space. The music, the cinematography, and the sparse dialogue add to a cinematic experience I like to experience every time there’s a showing on the big screen.
And the Godfather I and II. I consider them two halves of the same story. It is an opera that romanticizes organized crime, but what an opera! Passing of the generations, ethnic identity, what it means to be “American”, etc. Every few years, I rewatch the movies.
● Most dangerous backpacking experience?
Crossing the Rio Grande at a normally knee-high crossing turned out to be higher than expected. With lots of white water. A bit invigorating: https://www.instagram.com/p/B1RvN09lghJ/
Though I did get some delicious chile’ Relleno smothered with New Mexico green chile’ shortly after the crossing in town. So all ended up good with the world.
● What non outdoors-related activity do you enjoy?
I enjoy reading history esp about cultural and historical trends. Closely related is any suitable alternative history SciFi. Additionally, I quite enjoy cooking. And I love a good craft beer.
● If you could have one hiking related superpower what would it be?
Going with the above, I’d love to conjure up two pints a day of temperature appropriate beer. Perhaps a brown ale, porter, or stout.
Hopefully Pmags can chime in and answer some questions you all have.
Thanks for your time Pmags.
My pleasure. Thanks for having me!

Love it or hate it or hate it, Glassmaker was a more-or-less year-long Nightwave series that gave us some more of the same, and some new stuff to boot. It was DE's attempt at a murder-mystery that...Kinda fell flat due to contentious mechanics, poor story/pacing/delivery, and what I think is inarguably a constant irritant, Cephalites.
So, I wanted to take some time to give my honest opinion on the Glassmaker, so that should DE take another crack at this (or make something similar), they might be better prepared to make a more compelling, interesting experience.

The Story

Before the Glassmaker began, we had a pretty interesting premise; it was to be a murder-mystery where we actively searched for clues about strange murders where people were "getting glassed", which was an old Orokin punishment technique used to turn criminals and willing contributors alike into Cephalons - a punishment technique long-thought lost, but it seems someone figured it out again.
Now, this premise is interesting for a number of reasons; it gives us a means to indirectly explore the background of some of our favorite minds-turned-machines (Suda, Ordis, Simaris, etc.), we get a new gameplay space and thematic to try out (detective-style), and we get an archetypal murder-mystery to puzzle out with our detective work, which (while typically poorly executed in games) is always a pretty enthralling thing.
Sadly, the "glassing" part of the story didn't really get much attention besides the character who perpetrated the punishment-glassings, so we didn't really learn anything there that we didn't already know. But, that can be forgiven if the central pillars of the story hold up, which...They don't.
I'll cover the detective part later, but right now, I wanna go over the story, delivery, and pacing; the pacing was...More-or-less abysmal, but that can be attributed largely due to COVID impacting workflow, but nevertheless the frequency (or lack thereof) of the major story beats often made it difficult to keep the details of the previous story beat in-mind.
I don't think I'm alone in having already forgotten the import of the Corpus victim when I got to the Grineer victim, and the same with the Solaris. Again, this could just be an issue with COVID, but nevertheless, it should still be pointed out that in a story about detective work, we need all of the details churning in our mind as we come to the next scene, so that we can potentially evaluate and make connections to help us solve the case.
Then, there's the delivery, and this is definitely the bad part. The bulk of the Glassmaker's story is narrated by an in-game character who is also participating in the mystery. The problem with that is that, this character (Nora Night) can have access to so many things that we don't - and that proves to be the case when she becomes a Deus ex Machina in the second scene, ruining the mystery.
By the end of the second scene, she roots around some old Orokin Codices looking about a word we heard from Nihil in the datascape at the end of the first scene; "Legem", meaning "law". And in her search, she finds out that it was strongly tied to the executioner who used to do the Glassings in the Orokin age, Nihil.
This does two things majorly wrong. First, having Nora as both an active participant and narrator deprives us of any real room to mull over the evidence and come to conclusions ourselves - which, is honestly worse than some of the fixed "find the right answer in the word salad" stuff other detective games have.
Second, making her both the narrator and participant gives her the power to communicate answers to the player, as is the case in the second scene, at which point, it's not even a mystery, it's just a "wait until the narrator explains to us what's happening". This is made especially worse by the fact that a murder-mystery is essentially a "whodunit", and we already know "who" all of three months into the story, so it's just a matter of waiting for him to actually reveal himself for a fight.
If they're going to do another mystery, they need to dial back Nora's presence in it. Having a narrator can be fine, as long as they don't blurt out the answers and don't give too much leading information, but making them an active participant can very easily ruin the story with information the players don't get access to.

Gameplay

I think it goes without saying, the Glassmaker had probably the worst gameplay out of the three we've had so far. We did still have the trademark "Nightwave enemies appearing in your mission", sure, but that...Doesn't really make for interesting gameplay, especially for a murder mystery. If anything, it just raises more questions that don't get answered.
Ask anyone what annoyed them the most about the Glassmaker, and I think the majority of people will say "Cephalites". People running stealth missions especially seem to be vocal about it, and for everyone else, they're a persistent annoyance - and I think the biggest problem with that is that they always come in on the alert.
For stealth players, this can be a huge pain, since Cephalites can potentially interrupt your stealthy play (or just disrupt your affinity gains by breaking your stealth kill affinity multiplier), and for people doing landscape content like fishing, mining, etc., Cephalites often force you to stop what you're doing, turn around, and spend a full minute massacring them before you can get back to hucking spears into the water.
For the next Nightwave series, if you're going to have the trademark enemy spawn-in, just make it so that they retain their alert status from when they spawn-in/are altered; if they don't see you to start out with, they shouldn't even know you're there.
As for what should be considered the primary gameplay of the Nightwave series, the Crime Simulas are...Definitely ill-received. And there's good reason for that; your movement in them is slow, and the spaces are often large (particularly the Grineer scene and the Last Victim scene), with items that are difficult to pick out as unique.
I will say at least this; the groundwork of the Crime Simulas is good, but the mechanics and the like built on top of that foundation isn't.
Searching for the clues is, more often than not, a chore. The slow movement speed hampers your investigation more than it helps, and the items themselves don't often stick out in any notable fashion, which isn't helped by the constant sonar pings that...Don't do anything. If there was something to roughly guide you to where to look, I don't think the search for clues would be that bad; but as it stands, you're not given much in the way of help besides the smallest glow to point an item out.
As for the clues themselves, in most detective games, they'd be directly related to the case, and each piece would have some significance. A sword would almost certainly be a murder weapon, but in Warframe, it's...Just a sword, belonging to the Ostron. Self-defense likely occurred, but to no avail, and we don't see a murder weapon.
Across the four murder scenes, there's only one clue that holds any continued significance, and all it amounts to is..."Yeah, you know the murderer we found out in scene 2? Well apparently all 4 victims worked together to release him." Every other clue is just fluff belonging to the victim.
And, that can work, weaving a consistent piece of evidence in along with a swathe of red-herrings, but the problem with it is that the red-herrings are numerous, and the import of everything in a given scene is reduced to "memorize what version of the thing you got to progress." (And, of course, Nora as Narrator + Participant removes the need for players to clue into the consistent detail, as she just explains it at the end for you anyhow.)
The "memory puzzle" in the Cephalon Weave at the end of each Crime Simula is probably the icing on the cake for the bad mechanics. As mentioned above, red-herrings are fine to throw in (although it can be argued in a case with no legitimate evidence like these), but every individual clue is equally important in the worst way possible. Memorize a word, memorize an image, memorize which weapon you found. Remembered everything? Congrations, you done it.
And all you get for memorizing all the non-evidence is Nihil taunting you and Nora doing the detective work in your stead. That does not a good murder-mystery make.

The Positives

I wouldn't want this to go all-out as a rant saying "well this all is what makes Glassmaker bad" and say nothing else about it, because for all the frustrating gameplay, poor mechanics, and bad story delivery, there's still some good stuff in it.
For starters, like I said, the groundwork for the Crime Simulas is a good one. Having a slice of a location, be it the byways of Cetus, the Grineer Sealab extraction point, or the Corpus locker room, and being let to roam around in it to search for clues to a murder is a really good gameplay concept.
If they focused on making the search less of a slog (give at least a few hints as to item locations, increase movespeed, etc.) and then built up the investigation process from there, it'd probably be a much more fun slice of gameplay.
The twist in the 5th Crime Simula genuinely felt surprising. Going into it knowing "Okay, so his first victim was an Orokin, I'm curious what kind of character this is going to be", and finding out he glassed himself (which still raises some questions) made for a pretty nice "woahwhat" moment for me.
Ignoring the irritation factor, the Cephalites are a cool and interesting enemy design, requiring you to shoot the glass clusters to open them up to any damage. Their uniqueness is diminished a bit by the fact that melee attacks will easily break the glass without any aim, but it's still nice that there is a small (and I do mean small) bit of skill required to get to their health bars.
EDIT: I forgot one other positive to mention, that being the Nihil boss fight itself; while there was certainly some jank to it (glass shard targeting and "how high in the air do I need to be to not get smacked", it was actually a pretty nice boss fight. Unique mechanics that weren't just "obliterate it with your 7-forma Gram Prime"; definitely look forward to seeing more unique bosses like that in the future.

Conclusion

The Glassmaker has certainly been something of a mess, both from a story and gameplay perspective, but there's some good game-dev wisdom I've seen from Extra Credits: "Fail faster". Failures allow iteration and improvement, and while there's definitely a lot of room for DE to improve with Glassmaker (if they dip their toes into something similar in the future), there was still some good stuff with the series besides the cosmetics and content.
Here's looking forward to what's coming for the next Nightwave, and to enjoying the Intermission!

Hello all!
Last year, I decided to track all of the games I played for 2019 and write down my thoughts on them. It was my personal project as I play a lot of games and wanted to have a written history of what I played and see my opinions and experiences with them. I ended up doing that and decided to post them to /patientgamers and I got a ton of positive feedback and had a blast discussing with everyone about the games I played and I heard about what everyone else was playing! (If you're interested in seeing last year's list, here it is)
Through that post, I received some constructive criticism and feedback that I implemented in my own spreadsheet for this project for 2020. If you all don't mind, I would like to share the games I finished this year as well! I have added my time spent in the game, the achievements earned, and contracted it in an easier to read format. I've never used table formatting on Reddit before, so hopefully it looks alright (kinda worried about mobile, so please let me know!)
I hope you all enjoy reading and please let me know of any thoughts, concerns, or opinions on all I wrote below. Thanks!
(Also the dates are in MM/DD/YYYY format as I am from the US.)

Date Started	Date Completed	Title	Platform	Time Spent	Recommend?	Achievements Earned	Thoughts/Opinions
12/21/19	12/21/19	Refunt	Steam	1.1 hrs	Yes	9 of 10 (90%) achievements earned	A cute little platforming game. Takes less than 30 minutes to beat, but what a wonderful 30 minutes they were. The object in this game is to go and jump on some buttons. That's it. But the way this game was crafted makes it pretty entertaining. The environment looks nice and the movement is smooth I could see some design space not being used to it's full potential, but I'm happy with what has been put out there. After your initial run of the game, some achievements will want you to run through a few more times. I did so and found to enjoy the speedruns and stuff I did post-game. If you have some spare change, I recommend putting in towards this game.
12/29/19	12/31/19	A Hat in Time	Steam	13.9 hrs	Yes	20 of 46 (43%) achievements earned	Man, 20 minutes into this game I knew it was going to be something special. This game has it all: cute characters, cute interactions, cute landscapes, cute everything. This game snuck in at the end of my year and is easily one of my favorite games played this year. Being one of the best platformers I have ever played, this game will rank highly with the likes of Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64 for years to come. With how much character and personality this game oozes, I wouldn't be surprised if this hits highly with you all as well. If you have a chance, please play this game. So so so good.
5/23/17	1/3/20	The Witcher 2	Steam	54.3 hrs	Maybe	31 of 52 (60%) Achievements earned	In my opinion, kind of the odd one out of the Witcher franchise. Having beaten the first one and now currently playing the third one, I can honestly say I enjoyed the second one the least. The pacing of this game feels slow, a boss made me drop the game thrice (the kraken) and overall, I didn't have that great of a time with it. The characters seemed very dull and I didn't care much for them anyways. I would recommend skipping this one as the gameplay is not fun. The story is there, sure, but I'd recommend just watching a YouTube video of a story overview.
1/23/20	1/23/20	HATCH	Steam	1.3 hrs	Yes	N/A	Hatch is an odd game, but in a good way. The goal here is to climb a uniquely shaped "mountain" all while avoiding the sun's glare. That's right, the sun. For some reason, being within view of the sun (which looks more of a Greek symbol than a sun) will slowly drain the life out of you. Starting out you hatch from a giant egg, for a reason that was lost on me, and then talk to some elder guy that tells you "Sun bad, top of mountain good" in more or less words. And that's it. Now you gotta climb this giant ass mountain that has a whale orbiting it. The climbing mechanics are, angle-based, I guess? You cannot climb up and acute angles or right angles; only obtuse angles for you! Any obtuse angle you see, you can start climbing vertically or horizontally on it at your will. You'll encounter some odd scenes on your way up to the peak, but a little too few for my tastes. Overall, this game was weird enough to keep my attention. I think there could have been more assets up the mountain to keep me motivated to press on (as falling can really dampen your will to continue) but overall, it was a great short game. Once again, great short experience that I enjoyed.
???	2/2/20	The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild	Switch	50+ hrs	Yes	N/A	Talk about a journey. What hasn't been said about this game that I can say? Probably nothing, so prepare for things you've already heard. BotW is an excellent open-world action/adventure game. The feeling you get when you obtain the glider and float all around the world is not like any other I've had in the past with open world games. This world feels like a true sandbox, with interactions between the player, enemies, items, and other assets you would never think of. The creative ways to defeat certain puzzles or bosses I've seen is honestly mind-blowing. Utilizing all of the powers given to Link in certain ways really lets you take a look on how much care and attention to detail and love was put into this game. Knowing that I could cook for half an hour and then go around and tackle certain environments I wasn't prepared for was all good fun, but have you ever fished by creating ice blocks underneath the fish you eyed and then glided over like a hawk to grab it? This game can and does provide almost non-stop entertainment. A true reason to own a Switch.
2/3/20	2/5/20	The Cat Lady	Steam	6.5 hrs	Maybe	14 of 25 (56%) achievements earned	The Cat Lady is an odd bag of assorted treats. First off, the beginning is a real drag. It takes about 1.5 hours to get into the meat of the game. Once you're there, it grabs your attention suddenly. Before that, it is very easy to bounce off. This game has a unique art style that isn't up my alley, but unique nonetheless. The gameplay is very much a standard point-and-click, but the mouse is NEVER used. Going into this, I think the lack of mouse support is detrimental to the game as it could very easily be implemented, but instead it wants me to use my arrow keys (which personally is never too comfortable). The story is what you're here for. This game deals with depression, self-harm, abuse, and other darker subjects. I believe it handles these well, but really start to lose its steam in the middle of the game. In either chapter 4 or 5, the game has another dull hour or hour and a half. Overall, the story stays interesting (albeit a little predictable) but overall was worth my time. To finish up, the gameplay here is weak and it takes some dedication to stick with this game, but if you do you're rewarded with a gritty story that still holds up after 8 years.
2/1/20	2/6/20	Whispers of a Machine	Steam	6.2 hrs	Maybe	11 of 25 (44%) achievements earned	Whispers of a Machine is a pretty standard point-and-click adventure game with an intriguing atmosphere. With a story revolving around mysterious murders happening around a town after the fall of robotic and AI, Whispers of a Machine contains mystery and twists that you might see coming. I found the story to be very interesting and different, but the twists and turns it holds onto for the last hour or two are pretty standard. I feel like I've seen the same elements and storytelling design in multiple movies and read them in multiple books. I wish the story was a little more polished, as I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and world-building the game had. The "Post-Collapse" world felt real and like something that could happen in our world. The character designs were varied and left impressions (I thoughly enjoyed the robot ventriloquist) few characters were stale in their personalities. The gameplay and puzzles were pretty basic, but I did get stuck once or twice and had to reference a guide (classic adventure game feeling). Overall, I don't feel like I wasted my time with Whispers, I just wish the story felt as unique as the world it lived in.
3/11/20	3/11/20	The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game	Steam	0.6 hrs	Yes	6 of 6 (100%) achievements earned	A cute detective game with pretty decent humor. You play as a frog detective that goes to an island that has haunted tendencies. At said island, you'll talk and interact with other interesting animal characters while trying to solve the mystery at hand. I really enjoy the art style here as it is light-hearted and welcoming. The humor is also in the same vein, as it's pretty cute one liners and things of that nature. Overall, a very good half-hour of content. I do think it could have been longer without overstaying its welcome, but I am looking forward to playing the other episodes whenever I get around to it. Overall, definitely recommended if you're needing a small break from the regular game rotation you have. A true breath of fresh air.
4/3/19	2/9/20	Minit	Steam	2.1 hrs	Yes	14 of 27 (52%) achievements earned	A nice spin on the traditional indie platformerpg. In Minit, you have 60 seconds to explore, solve puzzles, and well, live. You'll need to find items to progress through certain areas (a la metroidvanias) and gather upgrades to keep progressing. I thought the life timer was a unique twist that makes you think outside of the box while increasing the feel of accomplishment. I enjoyed my time with this game, however, there were one or two points where I had no idea how to keep progressing and needed to look up the solution to continue. Overall, pretty happy with this game. Not a ton of memorable moments besides the 60 second timer mechanic though.
4/6/20	4/7/20	Resident Evil 3	Steam	11.7 hrs	Maybe	21 of 32 (66%) achievements earned	One of my favorite series and the sequel to my favorite game of last year. Resident Evil 3 Remake does fail to deliver on the same caliber of content as Resident Evil 2 Remake did, but it was still a fun experience. Nemesis is definitely not as frightening (or annoying) as Mr. X was, but he is still a force to be reckoned with. If you've played RE2, then you'll notice the shortcomings pretty early on in this game. The story's pacing and feel is not as good, the campaign is not as long, and it is lacking the replayability it's older brother had. However, I still recommend this game to Resident Evil fans, albeit on a discount as $60 for the amount of content you'll receive is asking too much. Also, Resident Evil Resistance (the multiplayer component tied into this game) is unbalanced and basically dead on arrival. I didn't need to play too much of it to see that it was a unnecessary rushed multiplayer game that needed balancing changes. I haven't played it since launch, so they may have fixed some issues, but even if they did, I wasn't too impressed with it to go back and check it out.
4/10/20	4/10/20	198X	Steam	1.3 hrs	Yes	8 of 14 (57%) achievements earned	A short and sweet journey through the 80's and 90's genre of games. I'm a real sucker for these type of indie games that know how to capitalize on a feel from years back and that merge different classic genres into one game. From a Streets of Rage clone to a Phantasy Star clone, there's probably a game or two in here that is reminiscent of something from your childhood. However, this game is pretty short and is supposed to be episode one of a series, but the developers have been pretty quiet and there's no updates or news about EP2. If you're looking for a relatively short blast from the past type game, I'd recommend this one. Nothing too revolutionary, but a fun game to chill and finish in a night.
4/10/20	4/11/20	The Adventure Pals	Steam	8.0 hrs	Maybe	31 of 31 (100%) achievements earned	Adventure Pals feels like a mix between The Oatmeal web-comics and Donkey Kong Country. It's definitely an interesting game and pretty fun, but doesn't really standout from the others. It wants to be a zany platformer with a ton of jokes, but it really feels like it just CTRL+C/CTRL+V'd for each world, but with a different theme. I think the story is also sub-par and the characters don't seem meaningful enough. There are a handful of characters that were funny, but that's just because their design was interesting or they had a clever one-liner. Overall, I can't recommend or tell people to stay away from this one. If you get this in a bundle, it's a good bundle member if that makes sense.
5/13/20	5/17/20	Quantum Break	Steam	12.9 hrs	Yes	31 of 42 (74%) achievements earned	This game was a trip! Time travel story done right. I don't want to say too much about the story as that's what makes the game special. Something I enjoy in my daily life is a change of pace and this game really hits that cord. Choices matter in this game as they directly impact the story and impact the TV show. That's right, there's a show built into this game. After every chapter, you get a ~20min live action show that goes through some background story and is affected by the decisions you make in the game as well as certain items you may come across while playing. I think this is a great idea as some chapters were taking a little too long gameplay wise, but after watching an episode at the chapter's end, I was ready to jump back into the game. The quality of the show is pretty great for being integrated into a video game. There are some actors you may recognize from other shows like Spartacus and X-men. The combat in this game is pretty decent (I've read most of the complaints are about the combat, but I didn't mind it at all.) you have certain powers to use in combat like a shield, stop time, etc. I played on the hardest difficulty and all the combat was pretty intensive so that might be the secret to enjoying it a little more. Overall, great story, interesting concept of a show within a game, decent combat. I highly recommend this game to anyone looking for an interesting and enthralling story that doesn't mind/looks forward to a TV break in-between the gameplay.
6/6/20	6/12/20	Supraland	Steam	12.4 hrs	Yes	44 of 101 (44%) achievements earned	If you're sitting there thinking to yourself, "I've been feeling pretty smart recently! I think I need to be grounded in my intelligence." this game is for you. I don't play a lot of extreme puzzle games (i.e. Zachtronics), but this game made me feel like a real dum-dum. Supraland is a first person puzzle/metroidvania game with some solid humor and pop culture references. The gameplay consists of going to a new area, finding new upgrades, solving puzzles with said upgrades, rinse, and repeat. This is a formula that a lot of other games do, but Supraland has enough variety that it keeps it pretty fresh. You'll amass different tools throughout your time with Surpaland each with their own uses and some you'll need to think outside of the box with. There are also optional chests hidden around that upgrade health, damage, and other stats. I will say, this game rewards exploring. There was one time where I thought I was getting somewhere I was not supposed to in the map and I worked for about half an hour to get where I wanted to get by abusing a mechanic. Turns out the game expected me to do so, as there was a chest WAY up above and exactly where I was trying to get to. Consider me surprised and impressed. If anything you've read interests you at all, please check out this game. It has great puzzles and mechanics that keep you coming back for more. There is a DLC planned to release soon and I will be jumping on that as soon as it releases.
6/14/20	6/17/20	Crossing Souls	Steam	11.1 hrs	Nope	22 of 32 (69%) achievements earned	Basically, Stranger Things: The Game, but not great. This has all the elements of being a fun, campy, teen 80's movie (of which I am a sucker for), but it falls apart or rather never comes together. Personally, I think all of the characters fall flat and I never really cared for any of them. The combat is just button mashing and uneventful with just an attack and dodge button (and the dodge only works half the time). I don't know, the game was just kind of a bore-fest and now thinking back, I am not sure why I ended up finishing it. The story is probably the best part of the game, but that doesn't say much unfortunately. The collectables weren't worth going out of my way to collect and I usually enjoy doing so. There really isn't much left to say. I wouldn't recommend this game to most people. It has potential, but never capitalizes on it.
6/17/20	6/18/20	Black: The Fall	Steam	4.8 hrs	Yes	14 of 14 (100%) achievements earned	I'd call this a weekend puzzle game. Black: The Fall has dark overtones and light platforming, but it truly shines in its puzzles. The variety in each section of Black keeps it fresh. You start with using a laser to control other people and direct them to certain objects, then that laser is used for activating devices and doors, and then later you get the cutest robot companion to direct, solve puzzles, and navigate around. I'll be honest, I didn't really get the point of the story until the very end. Don't know if that was how it was supposed to happen, but it is what it is. Having said that, I believe the story is about something I do not have a lot of knowledge on so I don't think I can rate the story. That being said, the overall atmosphere and feel of the game's tone is dark and makes you feel unwanted. Overall, game has some solid puzzles and tone. I'd recommend if you're looking for a game to finish in a weekend.
6/18/20	6/20/20	Titanfall 2	Steam	7.1 hrs	Yes	N/A	Every time Titanfall 2 is brought up, all I heard about it was its terrific campaign. It always interested me, but I just never got around to it. Well, recently it released on Steam for $10 and I figured now is as good of a time as any. Guys, Titanfall 2 has a terrific campaign. The movement feels so fluid, swift, and seamless. Jumping into a giant mech has never felt more badass. Huge action scenes with the world's most agile pilot or battling mech against mechs, this game never really lets up. The story was pretty interesting, however I wish the bad guys had more of a character profile or meant more to the story. They all had unique looks, but the battles were a little same-y and during the credits when it went past everyone, I felt like I should have cared more about the baddies than I actually did. That's really my only complaint about this game's story though. Everything else was top-notch. If you're looking for a FPS that is different and high action, check this out especially since it is super cheap as of the time of writing this. For the multiplayer, I've only played a handful of matches. I believe I have only done team deathmatch with mechs, but I need to jump in a little more and explore all the other game modes. It does have the same multiplayer progress as a Call of Duty where there are class loadouts and unlocks for guns and such. Please check this game out if you can. Best FPS campaign I've played in years.
6/24/20	6/24/20	Paratopic	Steam	1.3 hrs	No	20 of 20 (100%) achievements earned	Paratopic was not what I was expecting going into it. I bought it on a whim as it was a horror game with positive reviews, a unique art style, and from what I read revolved around VHS tapes. All of these things I found interesting, so I grabbed it. Playing it now, it was not necessarily what I expected and I don't know if that is a good thing or not. First off, the game is roughly 40 minutes long, but I went ahead and played it through twice back-to-back. I finished it twice because I have no idea what the hell happened in the game. I don't know if it was just me not able to piece together the possible 3 timelines together or me not making sense of anything in the game. The story throws so much at you in abrupt segments, it's really difficult to piece it together in the first (or even second) playthrough. I'm planning on reading or watching a synopsis of the story, but figured I should write this first as I didn't want to be influenced by outside sources. Gameplay is alright. Basically a walking simulator with some minor driving segments. Art style is great as I expected. Music is alright as well. Overall, this is a hard one to recommend. I'm not terribly pleased with my time with the game, so I don't think I can recommend it at all. The game should be right up my alley, but it missed all marks for me. EDIT: I watched a video over Paratopic and a lot of stuff did go over my head. I'll not be editing my review as it was my thoughts, but I know see the game for what it is. However, I still do not think I can recommend it.
6/28/20	6/28/20	We Were Here	Steam	1.4 hrs	Yes	17 of 26 (65%) achievements earned	We Were Here is a free co-op game that has two sequels. My girlfriend and I were going to get one of the sequels before we realized there was a free entry to the series. Overall, I was pleased with this free co-op experience. The game relies on one person being a "Librarian" and the other the "Explorer". Since my girlfriend is a librarian in real life, it only made sense she jumped on that role. The librarian in We Were Here is in charge of information. They are placed in a large room with books, maps, items, and the like all over. It is their job to go through all of the information at their disposal and find out what info is needed for the explorer to navigate to the next room. On the other side of things, the explorer is locked in a room with cryptic letters and needs to figure out which ones to press and in what order. Communication in this game is done through an in-game walkie-talkie. How this usually goes is the explorer tells the librarian what is around them in the current room and the librarian rushes to something that correlates in their room and tells the necessary info to the explorer. The explorer then does what they need to do and TADAH, the next door opened and everyone is led to the next puzzle. Overall, this was a fun experience. There was one puzzle that caused some confusion, but exiting the game and switching roles gave us enough perspective that we got through that one easily. If you're looking for a short co-op experience to go through with a friend or loved one, there is no reason not to try this game. It is free, remember?
6/26/20	6/29/20	Layers of Fear 2	Steam	5.1 hrs	No	17 of 32 (53%) achievements earned	Layers of Fear 2 was a pretty big disappointment for me. I really enjoyed the first game in the Layers of Fear series and played through it multiple times. It was the game I would make friends play whenever they wanted to watch or play through a horror game. Layers of Fear 2 really can't live up to that. The setting of being on a boat and having movies be a large story story element are interesting and provides a lot of creative and experimental potential for the story and horror elements. However, I still wasn't ever spooked or nervous besides from a few cheap jump-scares. The main antagonist is literally just a glob of what looks to be white paint and the only thing that catches you off guard about it is that it comes out of nowhere sometimes. There is nothing about the actual "monster" that is scary or unsettling. The game showed its hand pretty early on with this antagonist because you know that as soon as you see it, you're in a chase scene. Also, this is really the only thing that can hurt you. Knowing this makes every other horror element of the game less intense as you know it can't really cause you harm. Having a predictable mechanic or knowing what you need to avoid or look out for in a horror game can cause the urgency and the unknown to become known and understandable. That may not make tons of sense, but part of the horror of games (in my opinion) is not necessarily knowing what is going on within an intense and unsettling atmosphere. Layers of Fear 2 shows its hand after the first act. Once I got to the second or third act of the game, I just found myself basically walking through a not-so-spooky haunted boat. There really isn't much to it other than that. Additionally, having mannequins as the main humanoid presence within the game was creepy at first, but when you see then as the only humanoid asset for all of the game's five chapters, it gets old very quick. On the positive side of things, I will say that I took more screenshots within Layers of Fear 2 than I have with any other game because it can be downright beautiful in some areas. The setting and atmosphere of certain areas of the game were jaw dropping, so it's too bad the game and story side of things were yawn-inducing.
6/29/20	6/30/20	Oneiros	Steam	2.8 hrs	Yes	21 of 21 (100%) achievements earned	Oneiros is basically a room-escape game on acid. I enjoyed the humor and atmosphere the game brought to the table and had minimal complaints about the game in the entire ~3 hours it takes to complete. Let's start with the complaints: The inventory system is slow, cumbersome, and basic. Having an item wheel whenever you have 7+ items at a time is an oversight and I don't see why this couldn't be turned into a grid-based inventory system. At the very least, let me see all the items I have at once. The only other complaint is the protagonist's voice wore me down towards the end of the game. There's nothing wrong with it inherently (I'd even go as far to say the VA is pretty good), but it just grated on me after hearing it for awhile. Now, the positive in this game are the puzzles are interesting and unique, the one character you actually meet in person is entertaining and funny, and the humor of the game is light-hearted and nice (however I can't tell you how many games have QR codes that just get you rick-rolled.) In the end, this is an easy game to recommend to any first person puzzle fans that want a nice ~3 hours stroll through a surreal journey.
6/30/20	7/1/20	Remnant: From the Ashes	Steam	10.5 hrs	Yes	25 of 45 (56%) achievements earned	Remnant was sold to me (and many others) as "Dark Souls with guns". I played this through with a friend and we both had a really good time! The story is nothing to write home about, but the randomized maps, random boss encounters, and the bosses themselves were very fun. Combat is pretty tight, however, we played through the game on normal and found it was a little too easy to run through. Looking back, we do wish we would have played it on hard to start. Regardless, I think this is a very solid co-op game and can easily recommend it to friends to play through it, but I don't think it would be as fun when playing solo. My only main criticisms about Remnant is that the game felt a little short and the loot felt a little too spread out.
6/25/20	7/6/20	Hypnospace Outlaw	Steam	5.7 hrs	Maybe	8 of 14 (57%) achievements earned	Hypnospace was a mixed bag for me. I definitely dug the aesthetic and the 90's geocities feel of the game. I think Hypnospace really nailed that aspect of the game and got the ENTIRE feel of early internet down perfectly. The story was fun to roll through and kept me interested. The only reason why I can't recommend this to everyone is that if you aren't interested in early internet nostalgia or aren't interested in reading everything, then this game isn't for you. There were a few nights where I was not in the mood to play this or almost fell asleep while playing. I don't think this game has a very high engagement factor. Maybe it's just me, I dunno. Overall, this is more of an experience than a game. An experience I would recommend for anyone familiar with the early internet times.
7/25/20	8/1/20	Silent Hill 3	PS2	5 hrs	Yes	N/A	I've bounced off of this game multiple times in the past, but after some motivation by the newest Dead By Daylight DLC, I decided it was finally time to sit down and finish this game. In short, I did thoroughly enjoy this game. I was not a huge fan of the story ( I know it's a solid story, it just wasn't my type of story), but I did enjoy the characters, monsters, and environment. The shopping mall and the amusement park were the highlights for me, personally. I was irked by the subway level as all of the areas look the same and felt like a giant maze. It's unfortunate the subway level is pretty early in the game as it has made me put down the game before and I am sure it is the same for many others. Overall, a solid entry to the Silent Hill franchise, although it has a rocky start. Silent Hill 2 still holds its place as my favorite in the series and Silent Hill 3 is definitely a good sequel to it.
8/2/20	8/4/20	Dread X Collection	Steam	5.2 hrs	Yes	11 of 11 (100%) achievements earned	This is a small collection of Indie horror games. Each one a unique experience. I really enjoyed the variety of the game and the uniqueness each one brought to the table. I would say I enjoyed 75-80% of these games. I won't get into detail about any of them here, but look it up for yourself and don't spoil any of them before you play them.
8/8/20	8/9/20	Call of Cthulu (2018)	Steam	9.3 hrs	Maybe	38 of 49 (78%) achievements earned	Interesting game, but kind of a slog. This is a lovecraftian game that doesn't really do anything to set itself apart from the rest. The writing is the best part of this game. Gameplay is average at best, pacing is horrid, but the story and characters remain interesting enough for me to stick with it and play it through. I wouldn't recommend this game to most, but if it is on a pretty deep discount, you could do worse.
8/21/20	8/22/20	Dread X Collection Vol. 2	Steam	8.6 hrs	Maybe	13 of 13 (100%) achievements earned	I was super excited about this sequel as I loved the first and the experiences it brought. This one changes things up as instead of just a menu to select the games, you must venture through a mansion of sorts and solve puzzles to unlock games. I LOVED this as it added atmosphere and intrigue to something that used to just be a menu screen. Great improvement. HOWEVER, I feel like the quality of games in this one suffered horribly. I didn't enjoy most of them. A lot of them were more janky than the originals and less of these had smart or unique ideas. That isn't to say some of these are still good! There are truly some shining moments with some of these games, but they overall fail in comparison to the original cast. I will stick with this series for as long as it goes on, but they definitely need to see some improvements in the quality of games or ideas.
8/27/20	9/5/20	Control	Steam	30.3 hrs	Yes	53 of 67 (79%) achievements earned	Control was a blast. The story felt so fresh as being influenced by SCP leads to a ton of creative freedom and new ideas that do not show up often. Combat was a blast and the powers you grew to have were varied and useful enough to provide fun benefits. On this topic, I do want to point out that the skill tree was pretty boring to say the least. Definitely the most boring part of the game. ANYWAYS, the story was super sweet as well as the writing for all of the items and characters. I don't want to say too much as I believe most people should experience this game and its story. Overall, highly recommend as it is a game you are not likely to forget anytime soon. If I could wipe my memory of this game to try it again for the first time, I would.
10/4/20	10/5/20	Tokyo Dark	Steam	7.1 hrs	Maybe	30 of 44 (68%) achievements earned	A Visual novel that could have been more. Tokyo Dark is a visual novel/Point and Click mystery/horror game. Detective Ito has been haunted by a case involving a young girl and must get to the bottom of it to save her partner. The game was a kickstarted game that raised quite a bit of money from its backers (just FYI). My overall feelings about this game are scattered. For one, I was pretty interested in the story as it has a darker tone and is actually pretty interesting with its turns and twists. However, it might be just me, but the anime feel of the game was slightly off-putting. I like anime and have no issues with it at all, but the theme and feel of the game and its atmosphere did not share the same emotions felt as the visuals presented. Granted, the visuals are great. Great 2D environments, characters, and everything. BUT I just felt almost conflicted with the art style and the game itself. Not a big deal, just took me out of the element sometimes. The story is pretty good as well! I don't want to get into it too much, but I always wanted to keep pushing ahead to see where things went story-wise. Characters are pretty okay. No one was really a standout in the story besides the antagonist and protagonist (however I did enjoy the cat from the cat cafe. Which cat and which cat cafe is up to you to find out). The gameplay was nothing much, you move around with the mouse and click ahead to advance dialogue. Writing was pretty decent, but nothing too crazy. As mentioned before, not a ton of characters stood out to me. Most were bland. The story was the main reason I stuck around. Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who doesn't mind reading a ton and wants a short interesting adventure they can finish casually in a weekend. I think this game took be ~6 hours for a full playthrough, but then I went back to do some stuff I missed.
2/7/20	10/10/20	Outlast 2	Steam	9.2 Hrs	Maybe	13 of 24 (54%) achievements earned	While not as impressionable as the first, Outlast 2 does dive into the religious horror quite well. Having more of a coherent storyline and an emphasis on varied environments, Outlast 2 just didn't hit all the buttons like its predecessor did. There's nothing really wrong with the game (other than a pretty weak ending IMO), but I think the whole "hide here to avoid a game over" horror genre needs more variety. I am interested to see how Outlast Trials does, seeing how it is a multiplayeco-op Outlast coming next year. I believe multiplayeco-op makes horror LESS scary, but who knows.
11/15/20	11/15/20	The Room Two	Steam	2.2 hrs	Yes	7 of 7 (100%) achievements earned	One of the most popular puzzle games out there, the 2nd is a fine game to exercise your brain a bit. I played this one with my partner and we had great time doing so. I will say, random clicking to figure out the next step did happen quite a bit, but that comes with the genre, right? Maybe I am just not too good at puzzles. Overall, definitely recommend this game and the rest of the series. I will be playing Room 3 sometime in the near future, assuming it is just as good as the others before it.
9/25/20	11/18/20	Yakuza 0	Steam	51.2 hrs	Yes	25 of 55 (45%) achievements earned	One of the most dense, most entertaining, and most believable open world games out there. What haven't you heard about this game yet? The story is a fantastic gang drama built around one event that spirals out of control. The characters are memorable, lovable, and downright hilarious. The gameplay is tight, energizing, and rewarding. The side missions are intriguing, fun, and downright weird. Please do yourself a favor and play this game. Never has there been (in my opinion) so much variety in a game like this.
12/18/20	12/20/20	The Last of Us Part 2	PS5	~25 hrs	Yes	17 of 28 (42%) trophies earned	The Last of Us is a game that I played through multiple times. One of the games that I vividly remember and hold close to my heart. TLOU2 is pretty close to that. I will say that I "No-Life"'d this game. Putting in around 25 hours into this in a weekend just because I could not put the controller down. This game puts its claws in you QUICK. I don't want to go over any story elements or anything like that as I was able to dodge spoilers myself for this long, but it is fantastic. I do have some of my own strong opinions about how the game wanted you to feel, but I won't put those here because spoilers. But holy shit, this game will stick with me for a bit. The gameplay is still tense, stressful, and strategic just like the first. I really enjoyed my time with this one and can see how it won so many awards. I know people have strong feelings about this game, one way or another, but I am a fan. I don't think it dethrones the first Last of Us for me, but it sits right by it in my head.

Eric Exnetwork: Welcome to the AMA ROOM, @sentinel_co
Eric Exnetwork: First of all, Please introduce yourselves and tell us how you discovered crypto.
Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: Hey everyone, I'm Dan, CEO of Exidio. I first became involved in crypto while serving in the United States Peace Corps in Costa Rica in 2016. I began a personal journey discovering personal finance and understanding traditional markets and quickly went down the crypto rabbit hole. I have always been a follower and early adopter of emerging technology so it was a natural fit.
Peter Mancuso | Exidio: Hi @ERCSU Thank you for having us here today! I am the COO of Exidio. I have over 12 years of experience leading diverse teams and bootstrapping companies, I am highly skilled at navigating through ambiguity and working cross functionally in both pre-revenue and Fortune 500 companies. @DanExidio introduced me to Exidio and Sentinel during our MBA program in Boston - excited to be working on some leading edge technology!
Tony Stark: Hi guys, my name is Srinivas and I am the CTO of Exidio. I got to know about the Bitcoin in my final year of Computer Science and Engineering course. I have 4+ years of professional experience. Have been worked on many technologies backend, cloud computing, distributed networks, databases etc. In the year of 2017 I got into this project Sentinel, since then I am leading the development
Eric Exnetwork: Nice to hear about your background guys!
Eric Exnetwork: So what is Sentinel and what is Exidio?
Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: Sentinel is the network layer for the development of dVPN apps built on Cosmos-SDK based architecture. Instead of centralized VPN companies that collect user information, Sentinel is an open source, encrypted, peer to peer bandwidth marketplace for anyone to use. People can use secure VPN applications or make passive income offering bandwidth to the market. There are many contributors to the Sentinel code base.
Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: Exidio, where the three of us work, is the software development company building integrated applications leveraging the Sentinel network. We can create custom apps for anyone that wants to establish their own decentralized VPN.
The websites are Sentinel.co and Exidio.co
Peter Mancuso | Exidio: And live network stats can be found here: https://stats.sentinel.co/
Eric Exnetwork: got it. So tell us about Sentinel. its been on the market for quite some time. Any notable stats you can share?
Tony Stark: We have launched our first version of the dVPN node on Ethereum in the Q1 of 2018. Since then we broke all time records many times in the categories number of nodes, sessions and bandwidth provided.
We have over 300 of community hosted nodes running, provided bandwidth of 800TB+ and have more than 10M dVPN sessions
We have 150K downloads and Google Play Store and over 100K users across all the platforms
Eric Exnetwork: Awesome. i would imagine it will have a faster growth due to the trend of hackers and big brother type governments
Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: Absolutely. The global VPN market is growing at exponential rates, with a 125% growth just in past year.
Eric Exnetwork: Can you tell us about the token? what are its utlities?
Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: The token on mainnet on Cosmos will be used for securing the Sentinel blockchain via validating the blockchain and earning staking rewards in addition to being a work token that will earn 20% of all of the dVPN fees across the network, all of that value accrues back to staking token holders.
I believe it is a pretty unique model.
PatSu: So to apply Sentinel to an ordinary individual like myself, can you explain how I can use your services and how much the fees are? And are tokens the only way to pay?
Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: Hi PatSu, the Sentinel network has had a lot of success with its user base thus far. As @ironman0x7b2 mentioned, over 150k users globally.
The easiest way to leverage the dVPN is to download the free application on Google Play store. The app is free to use currently on testnet. When Sentinel transitions to its Cosmos based mainnet, the node hosts will be able to decide what they want to charge for their bandwidth. It will be a fair p2p marketplace. There will also be free limited features as well
Eric Exnetwork: Ok lets move on to the community questions! AMA Roomers please prepare your claimed questions!
Eric Exnetwork: @DanExidio @ironman0x7b2 @PMancuso the floor is yours. Please reply to at least 10 questions you like.
Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: Ok, we'll work on answering as many as we can one by one!
Eric Exnetwork: so much interst on Sentinel. one of the most solid concept projects in crypto.
PatSu: agree!!
​
Nahiyan: How many ways your project generate revenue? What is the revenue model of @Sentinel_co How it can be beneficial for users
Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: Hi Nahiyan, currently Sentinel has over 100k downloads on the Google Play store. We have had great traction and many of the users are crypto native. Imagine if an application owner could charge $5 per month per user - we are looking at one of the most profitable blockchain based dApps that is able to cater to a mainstream audience. The integration fees for development and customization of applications for businesses will be completed by Exidio. And the network fees will be captured by node hosts as well as token stakers.
For users, it will be very beneficial because you will have access to a provably encrypted, secure VPN. Centralized players cannot claim this. And the cost of using the network for VPN will be extremely competitive as node hosts will have to compete for offering a fair value for the bandwidth they offer.
​
𝙄𝙎𝙃𝘼𝙉 IFC: I notice dVPN App is only one part of the @Sentinel_co ecosystem Are there any other products you guys are building?
Tony Stark: I am assuming that dVPN application means, dVPN client here.
Not only the dVPN application that we have built. We have developed a fully decentralised VPN market place, payment system and protocol. We have developed the dVPN node software which can utilise any existing VPN protocol out there. We have recently integrated Handshake dDNS resolver into our node through which user can access all the Handshake based domains.
Apart from dVPN related stuff we are developing a block explorer for Cosmos SDK based blockchains with IBC support and also contributing to the development of Cosmos SDK and planning to develop some custom modules for it.
​
Novi Aries: Can you convince me why I should use dVPN (especially Sentinel) instead of VPN?
Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: Hi Novi, naturally people do not trust centralized wallets and exchanges as much as they trust open-source wallets that are provably secure, an example of an open source wallet being Metamask. However, when it comes to VPN, most people overlook the dangers of using a centralized and obscure VPN instead of an open-source and decentralized VPN. Not only can your VPN provider log your data and information, the encryption of your data transfer could also be manipulated. There could be more serious attacks that could result in data theft or worse. Many of the biggest names in VPN have been hacked and proven to log their own users data - which is crazy! It is very important for individuals to only use trusted provable applications. This is especially true in crypto where we abide by the ethos - "Don't trust, verify."
​
Zaivan: How can users stay updated with this project? Are there channels, including local communities where users can get the latest updates?
Peter Mancuso | Exidio: The regional Sentinel community groups are not only important for the regional communication channels, but also for the global customer acquisition for the Sentinel dVPN and the other dVPN applications being built ontop of the Sentinel Network.
Sentinel Global Community Network 🇺🇳
🇯🇵 Japanese Community - https://t.me/sentineljapan
🇹🇭 Thai Community - https://t.me/Sentinel_Th
🇨🇳Chinese Community - https://t.me/Sentinel_Chinese
🇮🇹Italian Community - https://t.me/Sentinel_ITALIA
🇯🇵 Japanese Community - https://t.me/sentineljapan
🇮🇷Iranian Community - https://t.me/Sentinel_iran
🇷🇺Russian Community - https://t.me/sentinel_ru
🇹🇭Thai Community - https://t.me/Sentinel_Th
🇪🇸Spanish Community - https://t.me/SentinelES
🇻🇳Vietnamese Community - https://t.me/sentinel_Vietnam
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There are many links and community channels that you can join! You can also see the Twitter, Reddit, and Medium pages above for Sentinel
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kuluk and uhuk: Many cases that often occur with VPN when we data stolen by irresponsible people,that's what makes me afraid to use a VPN. how safe is your VPN platform?how do you solve this case? #SentinelCoAMAroom
Peter Mancuso | Exidio: IThere are a countless number of exploits per year as you have rightly pointed out, the issue is that VPN companies log information at a centralized point and do not have strong data security measures - or there are inside jobs and planned attacks that we are unaware of.
One of the most important aspects of the Sentinel dvpn is that it is open source and can be viewed on github, allowing for users to have assurance that there are no data logs collected at a centralized point. There is no central sentinel server that stores user data, and you we can prove it unlike 99.99% of the VPNs out there.
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Chapito: Do you have some sort of plans for "the great Chinese firewall" or should Sentinel think & work out of the box for the Chinese users?
Peter Mancuso | Exidio: We have analyzed and studied, as well as tested, various protocols with the GFW and have concluded that the most optimal solution is established with the integration of the v2ray protocol. We have currently integrated ikev2, wireguard and openvpn - and none of these protcols can assure guaranteed uninterrupted access - while they do function very well for some users while being unable to establish connections for other users. We will be surely implementing the v2ray protocol in 2021 and we have a large roadmap ahead of focused on chinese marketing. @ironman0x7b2 has been instrumental in this development!
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Rekt Capital: One of the main purposes of a VPN is to provide privacy and to hide identity of a user. How Sentinel plans avoid that user could be identified by payment on the public blockchain?
Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: Hi Rekt Capital, hahaha I hope you're not that rekt!
To answer your question:
Sentinel focuses on networking anonymity, while transactional anonymity is provided by other specialized chains such as PIVX. This will establish a bridge with Cosmos based chains for cross-chain payments which would allow for dApps built on Cosmos to avail the benefits of anonymized transactions. This anonymization could also be done with privacy coins such as ZCash which also plans to establish a bridge with Cosmos. While transactions in Sentinel are not anonymized, users can opt to pay in other currencies which are anonymous.
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Missqueen01: Where do I get information about your team? Why do you prefer to be anonymous? Do you have a plan to identify your team later?
Peter Mancuso | Exidio: Exidio's team is not anonymous - we are here and you can see more about the Exidio team at exidio.co/about. We are core contributors to the Sentinel network, but the network itself is a group of individuals, not one entity. Some developers have stayed anonymous but you can see all of their work on the Sentinel github repo.
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El Golfo: Your network allows dVPNs to operate in same nodes, does it mean that it allows anyone to leverage Cosmos SDK and thus develop dVPN app(s) and launch it on top of Sentinel?
Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: As I mentioned earlier, Sentinel is not a single user facing dVPN application, but a network of dVPNs built on top of the Sentinel framework. This allows for the easy constructions and management of a decentralized VPN network.
The Velocity dVPN application is the second application to be developed on Sentinel. The applications built on Sentinel have the ability to set their own pricing structure according to their own marketing and go to market strategy. Until now, dVPNs built on Sentinel's testnet have offered free dVPN services. With the transition to the Cosmos based mainnet, monetization for the network and node hosts begins.
Exidio will be working with entrepreneurs as well as existing centralized VPN organizations to implement and customize dVPNs on top of the Sentinel dVPN protocol.
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Tabor Seawolf: Considering the average users' proclivity on the one-touch solutions, could we actually see generic subscription plans on your clients with some kind of curated list of nodes?
Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: Matt, you are exactly on track here! There will be two types of options for payment:

1. Pay by bandwidth used - this is set by each node host. As this is dynamic, it is not as easy for a dVPN user to know exactly how much she may pay and for what quantity of bandwidth.
2. Node batches with a flat subscription fee - this is a simple click and pay option for users that want to have the same seamless experience they would experience on a centralized VPN.

Both of these options for payment will be offered in an intuitive fashion on the upcoming release of the v3 desktop native client. We at Exidio also plan to update all mobile applications to offer these payment plan options for users. User experience is the first thing we consider in all of our design choices
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Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: Thanks all for your patience, so many questions - crazy!
Eric Exnetwork: its a wrap. @DanExidio @LordNine @PMancuso thanks for taking the time
Dan Edlebeck | Exidio: Ok, we just got the white flag from @ERCSU. Thank you all for all of your questions. We are happy to answer ALL of them! Please join us at @sentinel_co and feel free to ask away. We have a great, fun community and more memes than you can handle!
Data privacy and security of the utmost importance, especially today. Sentinel is committed to changing the landscape for what a VPN can offer you by being provably encrypted. Please try our applications and give us feedback. We look forward to catching up in the main telegram group. See you there!

Thank you for waiting as long as you have.
I've been taking my time and learning about cooking, and building some of the universe that this story resides in as well as fine tuning the species and the location for this next story. I don't have everything perfect yet, but this is as much as I wanted to get without stringing you guys along for another week. So there's going to be some errors with grammar (It is not my strong suit) and word spelling or misspelling.
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The ship was slowing down.
Although he couldn't exactly see why they where slowing the planet below them Chandak still looked very far off. Although he wasn't a sailor and this was his first and probably only trip into space, he still knew that the distance between them and him had to be well in the hundreds of thousands of kilometers. An to be honest, space scared the crap out of him.
It was a big lifeless void of nothing. So monumentally open and big they had dedicated one solitary word to describe it. An so much of it there really was. He had done reading on space and space travel at the behest of his wife who had had enough of him complaining about a trip, that he had competed for. It was nerves really. So he'd dutifully read up on the subject as much as he could, going over the safety procedures and the ship they'd be traveling on with a fine tooth comb. There where escape pods located along the hull on both sides even he could operate with a few weeks worth of ration and water inside as well as a beacon for rescue. There where emergency force-fields that would snap into place encase of explosive decompression, with their own dedicated power supply. Plus they were being escorted by three warships and some of the finest marines and sailors their navy had to offer.
Knowing these few things made him feel safer, but it still would not erase the butterflies when he saw his staff press themselves against the glass to see their first alien planet below.
The competition to get here had been fierce.
While advisors where essentially representing all of humanities knowledge on military tactics and what else they could divulge, the cultural representatives would be sharing dances and art work as well as more detailed history than they had managed to scrounge on their own. It was something he was genuinely interested in, history had always been a bit of a side hobby, that was when it wasn't dwarfed by his passion for cooking with meat.
Chef Daniels ran a successful Smokehouse and Live-Music Restaurant back on Earth. He had built his reputation on smoking a lot of the meat they used in their recipes, to make a generous BBQ spread year round.
Steaks, hamburgers, ribs, stuffed peppers, smoked brisket, smoked chicken along with some smoked sausage that he'd gotten a local retailer to let him design. Some of the younger kids on his staff had recently smoked an egg in the kitchens smoker as well. It had turned out fine but he hadn't put much thought into adding it to the menu. Along with all the meat they had salads, some pasta dishes as well as the regular fries, onion rings and chicken wings that any restaurant that could be called one would have.
But this was a challenge he'd never truly faced before.
Sure it was easy to make a pulled pork sandwich, or serve a half rack or full rack of ribs to his customers. His All-Meat Burger with pulled pork, sausage, chicken and fish had put his place on the map in many respects. They even had a yearly contest for their Seventy Two ounce steak, over four thousand calories twice the daily intake for anyone not overly active. It was expensive and only a few contestants a year tried it, but it brought in the crowds and it was spectacle that always made his place the center of attention for that one night.
Now though he wasn't feeding Omnivores. These folks where strictly Carnivores, and it wasn't a lifestyle choice this was how they'd evolved over the years. On meat based diet. That was a challenge to create a dish for, it meant no buns no pasta, even the batter was out. No starches, no yeast, no vegetables to lighten the blow of the proteins. Only fats, proteins along with butter and creams. He even had to be careful what spices he used cause some could put the aliens into shock, or even outright kill them. So no Thyme, Oregano, or Mint, those where actually deadly towards them. Not that he'd put mint in any meat dishes. Things like celery seeds, chives, dill and any similar spices where to be avoided as they weren't immediately lethal but they didn't want to accidentally poison them. Paprika, red pepper flakes, chili powder, white pepper, mustard powder where okay though. As well as a lot of other spices so he had some wiggle room. Though he had to go by the technical jargon the scientists had provided to each restaurant picked and make a dish that they'd assumed wouldn't harm them, but still taste delicious.
Though without a current cooking culture on that planet or really in the galaxy at large it was very hard to gauge what they did and did not like.
Chef Daniels Sous Chef came walking up with a tablet in hand, he had relegated her to do inventory again. He himself had done lots of reading and rereading the Approved Rumanoid Consumption list and checking what they had brought with the Sous already, triple checking the seals and inspecting them everyday they had been traveling. It drove the ship crew nuts, but it was a habit he wasn't about to break.
"Everything's still sealed in stasis, no breaks in the container, leakage or spoilage either. The spices haven't been touched by the Galley crew either and all of our supplies are accounted for." Sous Chef Hetav been with him for eight years by now and was looking into opening her own place in a year or two, he was sad to see her go but it was the nature of the business. Besides he had one or two promising cooks who he could train to take her place.
He gave her a nod of thanks and held out his hand for her to place the tablet into, he immediately began his own look over the inventory. It wasn't that he didn't trust her. This was a dinner so important he'd had to compete against an entire world's worth of talented Chefs and Restaurants just to be able to go. The winner's where representing and entire people spread over five planets. And although his wasn't the only team of cooks going down to Chandak, they where the only one from Earth.
"Good. Get our guys to start packing the equipment and supplies together the Captain told me we'll be passing through their borders and making landfall within the next four hours. I want everything ready to go in the vans before we touch down."
"Yes Chef." She went to wrangle the younger cooks with some of the more senior staff.
He swallowed some air and looked down at the planet as the ship began moving again. "I hope nothing goes wrong."
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How could this have happened at a time like this?
Admiral Siwasuri was looking at the report that had been handed to him by the Captain of the Cruiser they were now on. "Is this accurate?" he read over it again hoping it wasn't so. This was supposed to be a diplomatic trip, one that every sailor, officer, and civilian had been thoroughly screened and vetted for. All of this was supposed to be behind them in Sol.
"Yessir, Warrant Officer Rivard caught the Petty Officer tampering with the food supplies aboard the Olive Branch."
He looked over the report, "Oregano? Is that on the Barred List?" It seemed to the Admiral that he had forgotten the finer things that separated Humans from Rumanoids.
"Yessir, along with Mint and Thyme. I've been checking records and setting a shipwide search for more of the barred items. I've also been sent a message by the Captain of the Olive Branch, the Chef whose supplies has been tainted has been notified." His face tight and his jaw set. This could mean that the Protection of Humans terrorist group had gotten onto their ships. They where set against an alliance with the Rumanoids because of their carnivorous nature.
The Rumanoids did give them plenty of reasons to hate them however. A bulky and pack centered race they where known as fierce fighters and regularly participated in blood sports where a few deaths a year wasn't unheard of. Rituals of burning themselves with hot metal as a sign of rank in their military or of important in political office was often painful for humans to watch and resembled branding cattle on a ranch. Not to mention their eating of raw meat exclusively as the base of their diet. That made a lot of peoples stomachs turn back home.
After reviewing the tablet and the attached file of the Petty Officer he decided that this was something he owed his opposite number an explanation. "Please inform Keert Nothran that I'd like to talk to her. We need to make them understand that this isn't why we're here."
"Yessir." he gave a sharp salute and left the Admiral to think in the Captains quarters.
Interlacing his fingers he rested his head on them and thought.
The screen above him beeped with the words INCOMING TRANSMISSION flashing on them. He made sure his uniform was tidy and straight as well as his posture before hitting the answer button. "Keert Nothran." Stating her Name then Rank as was traditional in their culture.
"Admiral Siwasuri this is unexpected. We have just cleared you for entry into our space." the translator was give the Nothran's barking singing voice an aged female human one to compensate for the lack of lips. Rumanoid culture as it turns out had a more Matriarchal social structure much like lion packs did. Few males and many females.
"I'd like you to hold off on granting our ship entry into your airspace for the moment. We have a saboteur on board." he waited as she took in the news, his mind trying to anticipate her next words and what he would say to keep this diplomatic mission on track.
"I was informed that your ships had been cleared of these terrorists, and was assured they would not interfere." He noted the insignia on her chest, a stark change from the women under his command, where their chests where flat rather than rounded like humans where. Also the body of a Rumanoid looked more like a werewolves did with some thicker legs and more dexterous fingers with smaller claws but no less sharp he'd been assured. They where a study in an evolved predator species that had come from a more canine background, especially since they had retained many of the sharper teeth and the palate for raw meats.
It was intimidating and sent his reptile brain screaming, the first time that is.
"I was given those same assurances Nothran, it seems they found a way to bypass our strictest security protocols and get aboard. You've been briefed on the Protectors of Humanity?" making sure his back was straight tall and he appeared as confident as she did. While they didn't eat sentient meat or act as much as animals as one would expect this was still a military officer and it wouldn't do to show weakness towards them.
She spat to the side in what the translator told him was a equivalent curse to her people. "We have come across these prejudices before. They are scared we will try and conquer your race and subject them to our ways. These Protectors of Humanity show the same fear our people do. The radicals who fear change to our ways, that humans will make us soft." she barked something to the crew around her, something about orders and teams that the translator didn't quite pick up. Finally turning her muzzle to the screen separating them. "I will send down a team of my own to inspect the tainted goods. I will not let these sniveling cubs come between our friendship."
He gave her a curt nod. "I appreciate that. I will be sending a transmission back to my superiors I would be happy to send yours along as well."
At the very corner of her muzzle a smile crept up the side. It was the closest her species got to smiling in the monkey way. "I am thankful for the offer. We have our own channels to send to your people." she looked directly at the human Admiral on her screen. "May you fly true Admiral Siwasuri."
"Fly true Keert Nothran." and with that their conversation was over. He blew out a relieved breathe of air. "That went better than I'd expected."
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Captain De Louise was taking a verbal beating from Chef Daniels after he'd learned about his dry goods being tainted with oregano of all things.
He had stormed into her office clearly upset, angry, and scared that he had been targeted and the confidence in his craft was now under scrutiny by aliens. Not to mention the fact that they had just performed a check on their inventory before the Petty Officer had been caught sabotaging their spices.
The Captain let him vent for a few minutes, until she recognized a man on a rant and had raised her voice. Something she rarely did in her command, a fact she was quite proud of in her military career. These however where not people in the rank and file. These where civilians. "Mr. Daniels!" her voice carried through the small conference room easily and silenced all who where speaking. Switching tone immediately she laid out what they now knew. "We have caught the Petty Officer who tainted your dry goods."
"Rub." he quickly corrected her.
Not used to people being so forward with her on her ship she quickly changed tact from her commanding presence to one of a sympathetic nature. He was reminding her of a young De Louise who had refused to listen about the dangers of house parties. "Yes Rub, and we are questioning him as we speak. The Oregano has been contained and is being sealed away before our guests arrive. We are doing all we can to stop this sabotage before it gets out of hand."
"Out of hand?!" he pulled out his tablet and pointed to an item she could barely see. "They put it in the Rub! That's the biggest batch of 'dry goods' we have! It's practically useless now! How am I supposed to cook brisket without Rub?!"
While the Captain was contemplating what a Rub was for her second in command spoke up to her aid. "I'm sure if you spoke to our Chef he would have something to help you out, we've already cleared him and his crew and their free of Barred Items and anything less lethal to Rumanoids."
"How am I supposed to recoup that much loss? All the ingredients for another batch are back on Earth!"
Having enough of this insubordination on her ship, under her command civilian or not. "Mr. Daniels!" his unimpressed eyes latched onto her again. "I'm sure a creative man like you can find a way. I don't have time to spare for your problems, I have terrorists to find and not a lot of time to find them." she looked to a rather serious looking sailor in uniform. "Master Petty Officer escort Mr. Daniels out of this room and make sure he does not bother me again unless it is related to someone dying."
"Yessir." and he turned to the two civilians in front of him. "Sir, Ma'am this way." all but shoving them out of the door. Leaving the Captain of the Olive Branch and her crew to reviewing reports and logs of all the crew onboard she was responsible for.
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Chef Daniels was furious.
This was a defining moment of his career, something that he'd only dream he'd be able to do and now it was being ruined by a bunch of fearmongering assholes who could only imagine bad and not the good.
He had been given a pair of military escorts that followed him back down to the storage area they had been given for their supplies. Already inside Sous Chef Hetav was with the rest of the cooks frantically checking each package sealed and unsealed to check for any more barred items they may have gotten into the meat or other spices. With technicians providing scanners that went deep inside the meats to check again that it wouldn't kill the Rumanoids.
With a sharp tone that was holding back anger. "What did they get?"
She stood up and looked at her Chef and then gave a nod to the sailor who was scanning the brisket beside her. A very slow and thorough process.
The air condensed into a cloud around her mouth in the compartment, while not what it was originally intended for this was to help keep the meat as cold as possible as they checked it outside of the stasis containers. "Seems the rub was the only thing tainted so far. When we came in there was oregano scattered everywhere on the floor looks like they got into a fight. It's been cleaned up and put into a sealed box. It looks like he got pretty far into mixing it in with the rub, it wasn't a lot and it was powdered so it would have gone unnoticed when we'd apply it. By the amount though looks like we got lucky with that Warrant Officer, he was planning to ruin our entire inventory."
Rubbing his face with a palm Chef Daniels grumbled and then started making plans. "Get Saro, Carter, and Julian into the kitchen with you and start working on a new Rub. Everyone else doesn't leave until we're sure the rest of it is fine. I'll stay here to inventory and see what we can salvage." he jerked his thumb at the door as he took out the stylus from his pocket and got to work.
It was a long process and it took nearly three hours for him to be satisfied they weren't going to kill any of the aliens they where serving. About half way into those three hours the Rumanoids showed up.
This meeting was always going to go down in history, but what struck Chef Daniels as the most notable part of this whole thing was how little he was actually afraid of them. Sure they where around six feet tall on average, bodies that looked like they all worked out. They where quite nice, respectful and they acted like professionals. He didn't really see much of their faces or the uniforms they supposedly wore as they where covered in hazmat suits and holding scanners of their own. Which they applied to everything that he had brought with him.
It took some cross checking and showing them the offending substance so they could add it to their database but they where cleared by both Human and Rumanoid techs to serve their food on the surface.
When they where cleared however one tech stayed behind as his staff was sealing everything back up and reengaging the stasis containers. She took off her hazmat hat and breathed in a breathe of safe fresh air. "That smells pretty good." she took another breath through her muzzle and walked closer to Chef Daniels.
He couldn't help his initial reaction of backing up as this big wolf person came up to him. She didn't take it to seriously and politely waited with her paw outstretched. He grasped it and shook it, noticing it had about as much strength as his own either that or she was holding back. "Thank you for letting us take a look. We know much more about this sort of thing."
It wasn't really human words, it was barking whining and very similar dog like noises that came out of her mouth, quickly and efficiently translated. He felt funny like he was talking to a dog that was being voiced over. "I'm just glad we've still got something to serve you!" he laughed and she smiled at the corner of her mouth, looking very alien the way she did it and very familiar.
"I look forward to hearing about it." she gave one last look at the meat on the shelves. "Those are some lucky Ranchers down there."
​
It had taken a whole day but the the culprits had been found, although one had to be brought out in a body bag as they'd successfully committed suicide.
This unnerved Chef Daniels. This attack on his inventory had been bad enough but for someone to actually kill themselves rather than be caught? That made this all to real.
He tried to put it out of his mind as their convoy was greeted by the Rumanoids security detail on their planet. Turns out there where many more girl than guy space wolves and that apparently was quite common. He was envious of those going into the city to learn about space wolf culture and see the sites, his group was pressing their faces up to the windows of the van they'd piled into as they drove on a highway escorted by a small army of local police.
It seems they where just as afraid of their people attacking humans as humans where of them.
Once they left the lakeside city behind them, they came out onto a plains looking landscape. Rolling hills and lush grass fields that seemed well maintained and cultivated for just being grass. An it was boringly simple grass too, same colour same shape with different looking weeds growing in some places. If it wasn't for the weird looking cows he would have sworn he was back in Alberta.
"Look! Alien Cows!" Everyone crowded around the right window looking out at the different looking bovines that were calmly chewing the familiar grass, completely unaware they where the first local fauna being observed by aliens. "Look at those horns, they got big hooves!"
They where indeed larger than home grown cows. Thicker legs held up a bigger body, about thirty percent bigger than your average heffer, with a more furry looking hide. The biggest difference of course was in the face. They had large mouths like a hippos with long necks that allowed them to graze without kneeling. It was an odd sight not to see regular earth cows and see these strange looking hippo/llama/yak hybrids in a field as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Which it was here.
Chef Daniels looked to the marine escort that had come with them, along with his team that was spread out among the four vans they had. "Ever seen anything like it?"
Sergeant Ohama nodded, "Once, when we where given the threat assessment for the location." he still gave the 'cows' a big side eye as he drove. "Still something to see them in person."
They drove for about two hours, or four tamles in local time denominations, when they reached Kerchaw Ranch.
It was a large affair. With their primary food stock being meat they had a large grazing field around them they had driven through along with several big zoo looking enclosures with local animals moving around and being loud. Trying to see what had rolled up to their homes.
Getting out of their vans it was noon in their Twenty Three hour or Forty Six tamle day. So they had plenty of time to get BBQ set up and prep for the evening meal. He got Hetav to start that while he went with Sergeant Ohama to greet the owner of the Ranch.
She was walking over with what he assumed was her best leathers on. Leather work being one of the signature Rumanoid clothing options and exports. She wore what looked like some space cow hide vest over top of a white shirt that came down to her elbows and a red pair of pants that he assumed where also some kind of sewn leather that he'd heard about but was unsure how that was possible. Sticking out her paw much more forcefully than the tech had he jumped a little bit. She was quick to apologize. "Sorry, got a little excited." he took hers and shook it. "You must be Chef Daniels and Sergeant Ohama." he got an enthusiastic shake as well. "I'm Itack Kerchaw, this is my families Ranch."
"Pleased to meet you." greeted the Chef.
"Ma'am." was all she got out of the Sergeant. He was here as security afterall not to socialize, he was sure his conversation with their alien escort was going to be much longer.
"Would you like the tour?"
He held up a hand and she looked at it curiously as he smiled at her and pointed to his staff. "If its okay I'd rather get everything set up before we let my cooks run around."
She gave that weird side smile and nodded. "Sure sure, I'll make sure my girls don't interrupt."
That's when the strangest thing happened.
A ball came rolling out from behind one of the enclosures and barrelled directly for them. About three feet tall it had a silver sheen to it and a black stripe around it that spun with the direction of the sphere. Sergeant Ohama had already drawn his pistol and Daniels was poised and ready to jump or run when Itack put out her hands. "It's okay it's just a Mo'bair."
The Sergeant was still tensed as it slowed down to halt beside the owner. It seemed to right itself so the circle was level with the ground then the top split down the middle and the two halves opened and fell to the side with a hydraulic hiss to press against the ground stabilizing the ball on some metal arms. Every human in view stopped what they where doing to watch this spectacle.
Inside was the third of the races friendly to humans.
Small only three feet in length they had six stubby limbs and a body that looked more like the microscopic Tardigrade, with gecko like hands on each limb they where the only species that wore no clothes and had four eyes. They where also the most technologically advanced of the four races. Developing technology for mobility and speed far before any other race. It was sitting on its belly on a chair, four of its limbs working some different control with three screens in front of its face, while its hole like mouth sat below its eyes closed and looking squids suction cup. With grey skin and looking more overweight than anything, it had by far made the most theatrical entrance than any other species he'd heard of.
"This is He'tailr my Accountant and Supplies Manager." she swept her arm from the small alien to the humans before her. "These are the humans I mentioned before."
It didn't open its mouth but instead words where spoken by a translator somewhere in the sphere itself. "Welcome. I am told that you have far superior nutrient rich food at your disposal."
Daniels looked at Ohama as he holstered his weapon. "Um yeah, what do you like to eat?"
"We do not like to eat. We have no taste buds."
"Oh." He'd forgotten that these folks had sacks of digestive fluids that they simply put organic matter into, and sometimes inorganic as well. They had been unimpressed with Territ 78's famous report on human cooking. "Right. Um your still welcome to some anyway. Body needs food," then despite his inner critic shouting at him he added. "Right?"
Unperturbed the alien grub blinked its weird pupil-less eyes. "Yes we do. I look forward to it." then it turned its attention to the space wolf rancher as the Chef felt embarrassed and looked away trying not to look more foolish than he did. "Here are the daily accounts, and the new order list." holding up a Rumanoid sized datapad with a robotic arm.
Distracted by the datapad she spoke without looking at the small grub in its hamster ball. "Thank you He'tailr, I'll see you at dinner." and with that the small grub looked at each human before the ball remade itself and seemed to wobble back then forward before rolling off to another part of the Ranch.
Without meaning to Daniels blurted out. "That was weird." Eyes going wide with shock at the lack of diplomacy with which he'd handled that.
Itack seemed to find it funny and broke into a few quick barking laughs. "He's like that with everyone." she assured her guests. "Don't take it personally."
They had to set up their work station and make sure everything was ready to go for later in the day, but right now the smoker and the Brisket needed to be done first. They'd be there late into the night and smoking was a long process. One they'd mentioned in the information packet so they weren't going to leave it out. It would still taste good even with an simple rub as opposed to the more complex one they originally made.
Itack was brought over and introduced to his staff with handshakes and polite smiles. They then showed her the process of how one cooked with smoke and finally got the brisket rubbed down and let their host give a cursory sniff. "It smells odd," she rubbed her nose. "I've never smelt something like that on meat before." he seemed hesitant. "Will it taste good?"
This time it was the Chef's time to smile. "Oh yes."
Once they got the Brisket in and left the security team to watch over their supplies, still nervous about the previous attack. They got the tour of the property.
She showed them the weird hippo faced llama necked yak bodied cows that are the most common meat source. Then the monkey type creatures, which made every human anxious and scared for their alien cousins. Some reptiles where also shown in a much much warmer enclosure with some mammals for them to feed on. They also had avian species they ate but they weren't on this ranch. It made Chef Daniels think hard on what agriculture and ranching was like for these people. They had to consistently supply meat to all of their people, make sure its raised properly and fed properly. That means they had agriculture specifically for their livestock, and they would feed specific herds with different foods to help change the taste. They lacked any proper digestive tracks for fruits but they did feed them to the avian creatures and monkeys they kept as livestock and they had to fertilize then and use pesticides on them. Although they where aliens so maybe they had different methods than spraying.
To soon tour was over and the Ranch Hands came back to the main house for what was to be a momentous occasion. Cooked meat. They had never seen the like.
They had seats to wait for their food, but as this was as much a spectacle to watch as to eat the humans found themselves performers on the flat tops and grills as they cooked up the hamburgers ribs and chicken for their customers.
Daniels found it a little unnerving to be watched like a monkey before a wolf. He pulled Itack over to him and made a mention of this. Apparently as in thralled as the others she hadn't been aware of the fact that they where intimidating them. So one by one she pulled them back until they where at a more respectful distance to watch them work.
The meal for that evening consisted of Half racks of ribs with salt and pepper chicken wings on the side. Cheese stuffed hamburgers with bacon and meat waffles as the bun. Chef's famous All-Meat Hamburger took a lot to make and there were few to hand out. Lastly is a World Famous Chili that barely had to be altered at all.
When the first plate was handed out to Itack every biped watched with bated breath as she bit into the first cooked rib served on Chandak. With baited breathe Chef watched as she thought about what she was eating and then eyes going wide in canine delight as she quickly ate up the rest. "It's delicious!!"
What followed was more akin to a buffet back home. Plates where quickly passed out with various dishes on them, they lined up and asked for what they thought looked good. That seemed to be everything that the humans where cooking. Even though this was a much more limited menu than what they would normally serve. The kitchen staff worked admirably in these strange conditions with these meat eating sentient wolves watching them, some drooling before quickly wiping their mouths. Even the strange human carbonated beverages where at hit, the more robust flavours like root beer and coke.
By the time they ran out most of the Ranch hands where sitting down at very similar human benches and picnic tables talking happily and licking their fingers clean. Be them alien wolves from another planet or twenty somethings in on a Friday night Chef Daniels still knew a satisfied customer when he saw one. Even the little Mo'bair seemed surprised at the dense nutrition in the cooked meat, although the taste was lost on it.
Itack was quick to give them praise. "That was incredible. So much flavour, so many types! That gooey yellow substance..."
"Cheese." added Daniels with a smile.
"Cheese! How do you make that?"
He explained the process best he could, he wasn't a dairy farmer after all, while his staff prepared the the human meal which was much less heart attack inducing and friendlier to the omnivorous palate. Simple Coleslaw with burgers and fixins, tomato, celery, onions, relish, ketchup, mustard. With some pop and chips.
An a while afterwards they where done with the cleaning and getting everything squared away they still had the Brisket to chop up and dish out. Although by their reaction, Chef Daniels felt like he had just offered these wolves ice cream instead.
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So that's part 2.
I've got more ideas for this story and would like to expand on it as much as I can. I mean there's only so much I can do with cooking and aliens, but I still see a lot of life left in this series. Even if I do branch away from cooking.
I hope you liked Carnivorous Cookout and hopefully I see you in the next one.
Edit: Had a bit of a COVID scare so I will be doing the last in this series next week.
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