Spoiler Warning S5E21: Boom Goes the Dynamite!

By Shamus Posted Tuesday May 24, 2011

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 173 comments


Link (YouTube)

I didn’t think we would be able to fit the entire Boomer quest line into a single episode, but once again Josh proves he is the best at… whatever it is that he does.

The thing where I cut off my audio is really painful for me. Back in 1990-1992 when I worked fast food, I prided myself on NOT being That Guy. See, everyone else hit the button too late and let go too soon.

“-elcome to McDonad’s can I take your or-?”

“-ike fries with tha-?”

“-ank you. Please drive to the next win-“

ARG! I hated working drive-though with these people. (I think it would help if your own audio was fed back into your headset, so you could hear yourself doing this.) I liked that I didn’t do this, and I tried to teach others the same.

And now, I have become that guy, and I can’t STOP DOING IT. I sat down this week with the intent to hit the button early and release it late, just to make sure that I didn’t cut myself off. I reminded myself. I focused on it. And I managed to cut myself off, like, four times in this episode alone. I imagine the problem will get worse as the week goes on.

Yes, I could use hands-free talking, but that comes with its own set of problems. I really don’t want to spend the next four weeks wrangling audio thresholds trying to find the balance between “broadcast every slightest sound in this room” and “broadcast the middle of every sentence”. What I really need is:

  1. Some way to set up my headset so that I only hear my own voice when broadcasting. (Impossible, as this loop takes place outside of Vent.)
  2. A way to mod Vent so that it will continue to broadcast for a half second after releasing the push-to-talk key.
  3. Legally change my name to Sha-

Stupid technology, always doing exactly what I tell it to do, instead of what I want.

 


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173 thoughts on “Spoiler Warning S5E21: Boom Goes the Dynamite!

  1. Amorphic says:

    Says its on private.

  2. Josh says:

    Hey Shamus you left the video on private again! What are we gonna do now-oh.

    1. Even says:

      Stupid technology, always doing exactly what I tell it to do, instead of what I want.

      Curse you, irony.

    2. JT says:

      “Techincal” Difficulties at the 7:40 crash..?

  3. gebiv says:

    Waaaah! Where’s my free candy? I want my free candy!

    No. Seriously. Thanks for the free candy. (Eventually…)

  4. Irridium says:

    So Shamus, I didn’t know you worked at “McDonad’s”.

    Interesting.

    1. krellen says:

      It’s where he met his wife.

      1. Rob Lundeen says:

        Creepy stalker! ;)

        1. krellen says:

          Everything I know about Shamus comes from his blog posts. I just have a good memory.

      2. Alexander The 1st says:

        Wait, was she one of the “-lo, welcome to McDo-” people?

        1. Shamus says:

          She was actually one of the first girls to work in grill. Before that time, it was girls working registers, dudes flipping burgers, with very, very little crossover.

          1. ps238principal says:

            May I second this anecdote of blatant sexism experienced when I worked for “Hardee’s.”

            Guys were always on the grill or dishes, girls on register. And since they just had to clean up the areas around the till, they got to go home earlier.

  5. gebiv says:

    “Syphilis in Seattle” doesn’t sound like the kind of movie I’d want to see either.

    1. Velkrin says:

      It’s either an adult movie or the greatest 1950s PSA about STDs that was ever made.

  6. Adam P says:

    Hands free (open mic, as I call it) is pretty nice. Click the Setup button, and under Voice click the Monitor button. Then just read off one of your blog posts to yourself. As you speak, numbers will fill the empty column to the right indicating how loud (I think it’s how loud) you are, so use whatever the most consistent number that comes up to the right is as the sensitivity threshold.

    Shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to get it working. Doing a nice robust test to account for unwanted noise will take longer, of course.

    1. Shamus says:

      My problem is that it also picks up on sniffing, throat-clearing, deep breaths, and a bunch of other stuff. Maybe it’s me, but I make a lot of such noises. Or maybe I just really notice it a lot.

      1. Raygereio says:

        No, everyone makes those noices. So with a “open mic” you’ll either have to train yourself to only lean and speak towards the mic when you have something to say and do everything else facing away from the mic (won’t work with the more sensitive microphones) or just accept that you’re really annoying/gross to listen to.

        Push to talk is generally a better choice.

        1. Jeff says:

          When I’m about to make funny noises, I tend to click off my mic. Since I’m in “Talk/Quiet” more often than I am at “Gross noises” it doesn’t really take much effort.

          1. Deadpool says:

            I’m kinda tech-ignorant when it comes to PC mics, but is there no means to have a an open mic with a button that you hold to quiet it down, so you can cough and sneeze and answer the phone and whatnots?

            1. X2-Eliah says:

              An inverted push-to-talk button, then? Should be fairly accessible, I think – probably buried in mic/audio/vent options somewhere, no?

            2. Shamus says:

              Mine has a button, although it’s tiny, recessed, and hard to read. I have to hold it up to the light, squint, and then move it with my fingernail. A better headset would no doubt have a less abominable button.

              1. Klay F. says:

                My mic has a self-mute button on the side. I normally use hands-free mode, so the self-mute button is pretty useful when I have to make gross noises. I would suggest getting one of those mics.

                1. acronix says:

                  *mental image of the button breaking, and the user making the gross noises unknowingly to the audience before saying something like nothing happened*

              2. Factoid says:

                A better headset would also have a much more precise directional mic. The good gaming headsets from places like Turtle Beach are so directionally oriented that if you just tip your mic up so you aren’t speaking into it then nothing will be heard.

                I know that sounds like it would just introduce other problems, like not picking up voice when you WANT it too..but as long as it’s within about 15 degrees of the right spot you’re fine. Within 20-25 degrees you sound kind of quiet and fuzzy. Outside of that your mic is a black hole.

                I think the microphone is only half of it, and the rest is the noise cancelling tech.

        2. Winter says:

          Bind a button to “mute”.

          Problem solved.

          What’s that, i hear? “Vent doesn’t support binding a key to mute”? Maybe you should stop living in the ’90s.

          (Mumble also has a really nice wizard for calibrating the cutoffs on the auto-mic-thing.)

      2. Adam P says:

        Ideally, you should be able to set the sensitivity high enough that it picks up your voice, but not low enough that it picks up your other noises. Unless those noises are as loud as your voice, which could be the case if you’re a quiet guy (I don’t know what kind of audio mixing Josh does), you should be able to roll with an open mic.

      3. MrWhales says:

        Well then talk louder when you set it up, and then coughing/death sounds at the normal volume and it should ignore it. The only problem is you will now be yelling at the computer

        1. Sekundaari says:

          So we would only hear Shamus when he’s yelling about some thing he hates in the game?

          There’s a joke in here somewhere.

          1. MrWhales says:

            I think it’d be pretty normal… At least to me, unless Mumbles is going hipster-yell on Ruts then Shamus is just barely louder than everyone else already. That being said, I’ve never had to replay something just to figure out what Shamus said.

  7. Rack says:

    Or start calling yourself Shamusmo in the videos…

    1. Alexander The 1st says:

      “Why And I’m Shamusmo.”

      Vent-speak:

      “And I’m Shamus.”

      1. Hitch says:

        Or, treat it like a ham radio and end everything with “over.” Sure, that would be annoying, but we’ll never hear “over” so it should work perfectly. ;-)

      2. Entropy says:

        Alternatively

        “Hello I’m Shamusm”

  8. Vegedus says:

    I play SC2 with a friend pretty much every day with a friend over skype and never had a problem with audio levels. There’s a bit of background noise/ambience, but it’s not really too bad.

    1. Someone says:

      Am I the only one who, upon reading this post, deciphered “SC2” as Star Control 2 and not StarCraft?

      I need to get with the times…

  9. Deoxy says:

    Stupid technology, always doing exactly what I tell it to do, instead of what I want.

    This is what I have been telling people about computers for years – they do as they are told (usually by you), no more.

    What’s funny is that the worst thing one can do is try to fix that problem – you end up with all kinds of silly things. Programs that do stuff you DON’T want them to do, because they are trying to “do what you want, not what you say”. Seriously – there are some hilarious examples of that (funny spell-check results and Google guesses as you type are very simple examples of this).

    1. krellen says:

      Actually, more and more these days, computers don’t do exactly what you tell them to. It’s one of Windows’ biggest failures; trying to guess what it is you mean to do, instead of doing what you’re telling it to.

      1. ps238principal says:

        Like what?

        1. krellen says:

          A large variety of set-up things that are Windows saving you from yourself, for instance: not allowing you to set up duplicate names, or IPs, or deciding which driver should be installed instead of installing the driver you’ve specified, just to name a few incidents I’ve had to deal with at work in the past week.

          1. ps238principal says:

            So nothing the home user would run into. I’ve never had my computer override which driver I’ve wanted to use, but it’s always been a ‘home’ machine on my 2-3 computer network. I can’t recall the last time I had an IP conflict, but I think it was when I set a printer to a static IP and a power failure rebooted everything and it got in late.

            1. Deadfast says:

              I had Windows ‘help me’ by installing a ‘better’ Nokia driver while I was flashing my phone’s firmware. I spent the next 30 minutes convincing Windows I was pretty happy with the previous one and that I’d like it back so I could actually get the phone to work again.

            2. krellen says:

              The ways Windows “helps” you are specifically designed to make things easier for home users that don’t really know what they’re doing and just want stuff to work.

              For another example, research APIPA, and realise that it’s very annoying to us professionals, and doesn’t really accomplish what it’s designed for anyway.

            3. Peter H. Coffin says:

              Even as a home user, I’d really like Windows to get out of the way and just let me assign the same static IP address to both the wireless and RJ-45 network interfaces. It’s already willing to turn off the wifi if there’s a cable plugged into the other NIC, so why can’t get back the IP address I just had?

          2. Someone says:

            Amen to that.

            I still remember how I tried to mess with some system files and Windows 7 wouldn’t let me rewrite them, even though I was running the administrator account which should give full messing around privileges. Turns out MS, in their infinite wisdom, decided they know what the user should and should not be allowed to do better than the user himself, and added an internal system account, with access rights ABOVE the maximum admin rights attainable by user, which will gleefully override any attempt to change the system files.

            This was, for all intents and purposes, the system’s way of telling me: “Keep your grubby paws away from that which you can never hope to comprehend, you brainless yokel!”. The gall! I was so angry I wanted to kill the whole world!

            It’s like… if Toyota equipped all their cars with a secret compartment containing a tiny robot, and whenever you lifted the hood or tried to change the tires that robot would came out and punched you in the face.

  10. James says:

    i use TS3, and we use voice activated talk, it works fine never cuts off and is generally great. it might be that (In my honest opinion) TS3 is better then vent. my headset is decant (i don’t know about yours) it was ~£20, we use it mainly when were both playing key intense games SC2 MineCraft and the like.

    1. Jattenalle says:

      @James, I second this, Teamspeak 3 is lightyears ahead of Ventrilo.

    2. Ben says:

      Vent’s voice activated features work pretty well. In a fast paced environment when no one is focusing too heavily on the voice chat voice activation works quite well, for what amounts to a talkshow where the talking is kind of a big deal it works much less well.

    3. TheCatfish says:

      In addition it keeps broadcasting for a set amount of time after you release the PTT button. I believe default is 0.3 secs. I think that voids Shamus’ second option by having it as an inbult feature (On TS rather than vent)

      1. Aldowyn says:

        I’ve heard both ways, but I’ve never gotten a definitive answer. Thus, I usually end up with both, and just use whichever one the group I’m currently with uses.

    4. Sumanai says:

      Can it record the audio? As I understand, that was the reason why Mumble was out originally (it now has recording in the Windows version, haven’t tested it).

      1. James says:

        TS3 can record audio.

  11. Museli says:

    Wait, did Josh just wring some actual entertainment out of Nellis? He really is the best.

  12. Mailbox says:

    “Back in 1900-1992 when I worked fast food,” You are old!

    Do you use the vent noise that beeps on/off when you hit your push-to-talk button?
    Why is it so hard to hold the button down until you have finished talking?

    1. Shamus says:

      I don’t know, I really don’t. I don’t know why people did it back in the day. I don’t know why I’m doing it now. It seems like a simple thing, but it’s also an unconscious thing.

      It’s like I’m letting go when my thought is complete, even though I haven’t finished articulating it.

      1. Nyctef says:

        Random guess: it takes a lot longer to actually say something than it does to think about it. So maybe you take your finger off when you’ve finished thinking your statement rather than when you’ve finished saying it?

        Also, this episode was great, even though we found out that Josh makes suprisingly bad demoman :)

      2. therandombear says:

        articulation is for noobs anyways, not a sophisticated gentleman like you Sha-

  13. therandombear says:

    Peelz mumbles?
    A gun that shoots medicine, such madness.

    What is this Team Fortress 2 btw?

    Don’t you mean, War Themed Hat Simulator 2?

    1. ehlijen says:

      Medicine guns are silly. But spell storing whips in 3.5 DnD with cure spells stuck in them were a fun way to keep the fighers going :D

  14. Hitch says:

    If you read the quest text and pay attention to what you’re doing it doesn’t take that long to do the quests. There is a bit of running back and forth but it goes a lot faster if you don’t hop the whole way. In the end, the Boomers end up with a completely improbable working B-29 which they will gladly use to bomb the snot out of anybody you ask them to. That’s a nice perk. Although, that approach is probably not as entertaining as watching Reginald fly around missing various combinations of limbs as Josh expresses surprise that bomb obsessed ordinance fanatics have a lot of explosives.

    Also, Josh can’t be bothered to buy Stimpacks or repair his armor, but he’s on a one-man mission to pick every buffalo gourd seed in the Mojave Wasteland.

    1. Hitch says:

      Although, come to think of it. I guess if you give them a bomber and turn around and piss them off they’ll use it on you. I guess it’s a bad idea to get on the bad side of the people with air superiority. So it’s probably in Cuftbert’s best interest to make sure that they don’t get the bomber (or survive in any way.) Because, if there’s one thing we know about Reginald Cuftbert… sooner or later he’ll be the enemy of anyone he meets.

      If you leave some of the Boomers alive, will they go back to shelling you if you approach the base?

      1. Aldowyn says:

        Bombers don’t really give you air superiority most of the time. And technically air superiority is the ability to destroy other planes, thus giving your bombers free reign.

        So I guess bombers are basically just really mobile artillery of insanity.

        1. ehlijen says:

          Not just artillery, also recon. They’re not built for it, sure, but just being able to fly around and look down is a nice ability to have for a group that seems to lack even animals to ride otherwise.

  15. Grudgeal says:

    And now we’ve gone back to Cuftburt, apparently.

    1. Wtrmute says:

      Also, we have some “techincal” issues to go over, as well.

  16. Sekundaari says:

    I wonder why I didn’t see any boomers dying to stealth pants-dynamite. That has served you well in the past. Anyway, this episode should weed out any drinking-gamers who didn’t die during the previous one.

  17. Even says:

    “25 minutes of slaughter”

    This left me with a bit mixed feelings. You’re all bored with questline, yet you chose the most tedious way of going through with it anyway, when you could’ve just gone and murdered Pearl and be done with it.

    I suppose it fits Cuftbert, but it just seems like a lot of wasted time, though admittedly it was somewhat hilarious to watch. I guess you could’ve done it on purpose, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t touch my nagnerve. Well played in that case.

    1. Deadpool says:

      It WAS pretty hillarious though…

    2. Hitch says:

      Murdering one person is not nearly as satisfying as murdering dozens.

      1. Irridium says:

        Depending on the person, yes it is.

        1. Jarenth says:

          Three Dog.

          Bow-wow.

  18. Littlefinger says:

    Now I can’t decide if “techincal difficulties” was deliberate or not. Probably not.

    1. Deadpool says:

      I’m betting on yes.

  19. X2-Eliah says:

    Shamu-, the answer is painfully obvious. You need to get a butler who will do the button-pushing for you, and will look into your eyes constantly to determine when you want to start & stop talking.

    Edit – But seriously, this one was pretty good in terms of cutoffs, so if you can manage it at this level, it’s good enough.

  20. Entropy says:

    I don’t get what Mumbles was on about. Random Tangent about Medication and Scholarships? Good thing Shamus and Ruts set her straight.

    1. X2-Eliah says:

      Well she does always play only medic in that hat fortress game, so her mind might be stuck on medical things.

  21. Drew says:

    You could use Mumble instead. It’s lighter weight, has less lag-time between you speaking and everyone else hearing, and can use either volume thresholds OR signal-to-noise with an open mic to figure out what to transmit. I can’t promise it would fix your problem, but having used it, I’m not sure why people still use vent, aside from inertia.

    Oh, and it’s open source.

    Plus, you know, Mumbles.

    http://mumble.sourceforge.net/

    1. Murkbeard says:

      I feel I have to chime in here, having recently switch from Ventrilo to Mumble for all my VoIP needs. Making the switch turned my gaming group’s chatter from barking commands, then waiting to see if someone responds into actual conversations. It’s such an eerie feeling having people respond immediately rather than 3 seconds after you said something.

      One point not in favour of Mumble though: Their compression codec is somewhat more aggressive than Ventrilo (Even on the highest quality setting), making people sound like they chime in on radio. It’s not enough to call it bad per se, but it is enough to be noticeable when you make the switch.

      Also, the Ventrilo sounds are much better, but they can be ported if need be.

      Having said that, if you like actual communication, Mumbles is light years better than Ventrilo. I can heartily recommend it. Server hosters are starting to adapt it too, and it’s no more expensive than a Ventrilo server. If you only want a few connections, you can host it yourself for free.

      1. Drew says:

        Mumble lets you set your compression level, so you can basically trade off Sound Quality vs Bandwidth and get it how you like it. You might like a little less compression. Have you tried adjusting it (and of course getting your fellow mumblers to adjust it)?

  22. Jibar says:

    All jokes aside, I play TF2 and I’ve never ever heard anybody anywhere call it a pills launcher before.
    I understand why you’d say it, but Mumbles is honestly the first person I’ve heard it from.

    1. therandombear says:

      I’ve heard it several times…even when we’re discussin TF2 weps we call the nade launcher’s projectiles pills :3

      1. Entropy says:

        Never heard the term. I play TF2 a lot.

        1. Velkrin says:

          Odds are it’s server specific terminology.

          1. Desgardes says:

            But they are from Dr. Mario! 3 of them fix anyone’s woes. :3

          2. Fang says:

            It’s more a competitive term.

            1. Someone says:

              When I played “competitive” TF2 I’ve only heard people refer to demoman’s grenades as “pipes”, never “pills”. Then again, that was two years ago, so it could have changed.

  23. Hitch says:

    Did Rutskarn have a more interesting point to make than “I think the hunting shotgun is a pretty good weapon” before he got interrupted by Josh 15 times?

    1. Rutskarn says:

      Yes. I was going to reveal that I was carrying Gorby’s baby.

      1. acronix says:

        Why? Can`t he crawl to victory like most babies?

  24. Deadfast says:

    TeamSpeak has a Delay releasing Push-To-Talk option, not sure about Ventrilo if that’s what you use.

  25. Kelly says:

    Boy I sure am glad the best part of New Vegas is blowing things up and getting blown up, otherwise this would be a really stupid way to handle things, as would assaulting Caesar the very first time you go in the camp instead of talking with him as you would in a game about dialogue.

    1. therandombear says:

      Cuftburt doesn’t talk, he acts.

      …Vote Cuftburt 2012…xD

      1. Kelly says:

        That in no way changes the fact that this is the worst imaginable way to show off the game.

        1. BenD says:

          I am pretty sure Spoiler Warning is not intended to show off the game. It’s intended to be entertaining.

          1. MrWhales says:

            Well it’s really meant as both…. >.> But the entertaining side is so entertaining…

        2. Soylent Dave says:

          Are they trying to show off the game?

          1. Aldowyn says:

            They’re laughing about how awful it is and then quite deliberately NOT showing us those awful parts of the game.

          2. Someone says:

            Well, it seemed to be their intention to show off the game, or at least parts of it people might otherwise miss, what with the unusual sneaky melee character build, but was dropped about three minutes into the game.

    2. Sagretti says:

      While that’s reasonably accurate criticism about Caesar, I’m not sure there’s much more they could have done with the Boomers. As they pointed out, it’s some of the most inane quests and material in the game, and they already talked to a bunch of the npcs. If their criticism of this section is at all accurate, they did us a favor by cutting it short in gloriously violent fashion.

      1. poiumty says:

        For my second playthrough, I’m totally putting grenades in every one of their pants.

    3. Rutskarn says:

      The Caesar part was just a Josh-type idiom, although you don’t get much out of your first conversation with him and we weren’t going to join him/don’t have enough time in the season to stick around if we’re not maining his quests.

      But the whole point of the Boomers quests is that they’re annoying, largely uninteresting, and being delivered by people who just tried to straight-up murder you for no adequate reason. Run across the Mojave to exchange love notes between some guy in a building in the middle of a huge area and some lady! Kill ants, hit generator buttons! Find some girl’s goddamned teddy bear! It’s like a town in World of Warcraft, except more of a chore to traverse.

      The finale with the plane is sort of interesting, if nonsensical, but to get there, we have to do all of those other things. Maybe we wouldn’t need to SHOW them, although that would be weird, but we’d have to play through them, and we don’t have an unlimited space of time to record the episodes.

      In this case, I stand by our decision. The best option was to blow the place and move on. With the Khans and such, we should probably do the dialogue-based, quest-based solutions, but this area isn’t really worth a week of episodes.

      1. Aldowyn says:

        That… was actually a really thought out answer. I applaud your ability to be serious for long enough to write that, Ruts.

        Blowing up Caesar was worth it and more just so he could sit on the throne. Just saying.

      2. Klay F. says:

        Also, don’t forget the GODDAMNED ARMY of cazadors you have to fight through to get to Lake Mead.

        1. therandombear says:

          fucking Cazadors, I hate them.

          I thought regular Cazadors were annoying…playing Honest Hearts atm…fucking Giant Cazadors there ;_;

          1. Luckily I had the unique gauss rifle by then, I’d hate to have been using a melee or unarmed character or something

      3. Kelly says:

        All you have to do with the Boomers is get them idolized though, for which you don’t even need to do most of their quests OH WAIT NO you need skill points to be distributed rationally to do any of the super easy ones like the solar grid or the injured guys, NEVER MIND.

        And you actually can get a lot out of Caesar in the first two conversations provided you ask him all that’s available. There’s probably a lot more later, but I never go down his path because killing House is stupid and letting the Legion take over is worse.

      4. Vect says:

        Wait, you plan to actually do the Khan quests? Wouldn’t Cuftbert take bloody vengeance on all factions of the Mojave, even those he just learned about with Yes Man quietly having an aneurysm about ruling over a desolate mass grave?

        1. TSED says:

          The Khans… make drugs.

          That’s their schtick.

          They make drugs, and they BEAT ON EACH OTHER to prove how awesome they are.

          Honestly, I think Cuftbert’s already a Khan. Except he kind of killed some already, didn’t he?

          1. Someone says:

            Not really no. And Reginald does seem like the sort of guy Khans would get along with.

            Then again, they kinda tied him up to help some pretty boy from vegas shoot him in the head… so there’s that.

  26. Duoae says:

    Nothing more annoying than someone explaining what something is by repeating the same thing more loudly…

    “They’re pils guys!”

    “What?”

    “Pils! They’re… They’re pils!”

    “What are pils?”

    “They’re pils! TF2 has them… sometimes they’re red or blue…..”

    “What? Pils?”

    “YEAH! Pils!”

    “What are pils?!”

    “They’re pils guys! PILS!”

    (i have no idea what Mumbles was talking about, i don’t play TF2)

    1. krellen says:

      At that point, I was really just saying “Guys, stop picking on Mumbles, you’re going to break her.”

      1. kanodin says:

        Then you are a better person than I.

      2. Irridium says:

        I thought they broke her when Rutskarn started explaining Batman to her.

        1. Raygereio says:

          Nah, they broke her back when they got her to admit BioShock’s a shitty game.

          1. Someone says:

            What, after three episodes?

    2. RTBones says:

      And here’s me, thinking Mumbles was talking about a cool, refreshing beverage….

  27. Daemian Lucifer says:

    I hate all that “savages” from boomers.I went there in a power armour,with a super sledge and q35 matter modulator,and they called me a savage?!

    1. poiumty says:

      Where was your grenade launcher? Huh? If you were REALLY civilized you’d have 7 missle launchers strapped to your forehead and call yourself Sir Splosio McBang. Esq.

      1. acronix says:

        And you would be blowing up other savages like yourself!

        1. Like a reasonable person!

    2. Swedmarine says:

      Pfft, it’s simple: A long time ago they switched to explosives because they found the Power Armour Mk.2, Mega Sledge and q50 Matter Modulator to primitive.

    3. brainbosh says:

      I was annoyed last playthrough when I was playing explosives. I had 90+ skills in explosives and couldn’t find a single quest or conversation with these explosive-crazy people that even acknowledged it!

      1. TSED says:

        You can impress the Historian with a high explosives skill. That’s about it, though.

        1. Daemian Lucifer says:

          I think all of them can be impressed by explosives skill,but the toughest check is 50 I think.

    4. Raygereio says:

      I like to think that was Obsidian making fun of Bethesda’s “real” brotherhood of steel: the outcasts.

      Hey local, shouldn’t you be banging rocks together or something?

  28. Johan says:

    If I recall correctly, don’t the lovestruck Boomer and the girl at the Crimson Caravan say they were using binoculars? Still a hell of a ways away, but at least they had something to see each other with.

    Using cellphones as flashlights is a proud and noble tradition, but the part that throws me for a loop is using them as LIGHTERS. It used to be when you liked a song you held us your lighter, now everyone holds up their cellphone/iPod/whatever, and it just makes me fell a teeny tiny bit like this is the future, and it’s a retread of the past.

    Not in a bad way, just in an odd one.

    1. poiumty says:

      You know what gives me the “living in the future” vibe even more? When the singer isn’t even ALIVE.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXO7KGHtjI

      1. Aldowyn says:

        Note: DSes make even better flash lights than most phones. I think it’s cause the screen are bigger/there’s two of them.

      2. Irridium says:

        Know what gives me the “everyone’s in the future but you” vibe?

        When your broadband cables are being spread by horse.

        http://vtdigger.org/2011/05/22/draft-horses-the-transportation-method-of-choice-for-high-tech-fiber-optics-in-vermonts-remote-locations/

        Long story short, I’ve always wondered why my area doesn’t have decent internet. Turns out its because 1 dude and 1 horse are laying all the cables for my area.

        Just gotta wait my turn. Awesome.

        1. poiumty says:

          Well tehcnically it’s your fault for living in the middle of nowhere.

          At least you’re getting decent internet at the speed of 1 horsepower.

        2. Soylent Dave says:

          I get a similar feeling because my broadband is set up like this :

          Main telephone exchange to my street : fibre optic cables; end of my street to my house : copper wire; inside the walls of my house : fibre optic cables; 2′ of cable from the wall socket to the router : copper.

          So my internet goes – FAST – 1994 – FAST – 1994 –

          (it is still quite fast actually, but that’s not the point…)

      3. Klay F. says:

        Its JAPAN, they can’t be criticized, simply by virtue of being Japan.

      4. Eärlindor says:

        …Huh? …Whuh?? WHAT IS THIS???!!!

        1. krellen says:

          It’s the end of the world as we know it.

          1. acronix says:

            Of the world, and of my eyes and ears

      5. Raygereio says:

        You know. I would find that disturbing, if western popmusic didn’t already do the same thing. I mean, with the all the auto-tuning and other digital enhancement going on the fast majority of present day pop no one in their right mind can say it’s a person singing.

        All they’re doing with this Vocaloid crap is cutting out the really expensive and useless “artist”-middleman. Rather clever really… that and sad.

    2. Yeah, it’s binoculars, but there’s also a series of cliffs, burnt out houses, farms and WALLS in between the two – the Crimson Caravan area is a sealed off section surrounded by concrete, they could not have possibly seen each other EVER.

      Of course if Nellis had some sort of control tower where Jack goes and he’s like a lookout or something and can see several kilometers in any direction that might make sense. But he isn’t and it doesn’t.

      1. Klay F. says:

        There IS a control tower at Nellis, its just boarded up and you can’t get in.

        1. I meant one that could be used to overlook the Crimson Caravan.

          Of course it doesn’t excuse the terrible binoculars not being able to see that far anyway

  29. BenD says:

    I like the ant quest because you actually get to kill things. I am increasingly feeling like there’s not enough combat in this game. I mean, there could be more, if I wasn’t unwilling to kill most humanoids because most of them have quests or a friend who has quests and I want them to be able to talk to me and GIVE ME THE QUESTS… although I am approaching the point where I have done almost all of the quests, so maybe my next playthrough involves killing anything that has the nerve to look at me.

    Except I see how well that worked out for Reginald…

    1. Klay F. says:

      If you thing there aren’t enough things to kill, thats a problem with you not exploring enough. There are metric fucktons of things to kill if you look for them.

  30. Littlefinger says:

    15:25 is the crowning moment of this video.

    1. Aldowyn says:

      What exactly DID happen there? I never figured that out, but he got just plain owned.

      Also, apparently the Ballistic Fist is NOT a “WIN!” button anymore.

      1. Klay F. says:

        I’m pretty sure that big hangar is filled to the rafters with artillery shells, so yeah.

      2. Andrew says:

        Haven’t watched the video yet, but I remember learning three things while doing that quest:

        1) The Nellis Hangar contains (at least) one mini-nuke.
        2) Mini-nukes in New Vegas WILL explode when damaged.
        3) Despite supposedly being nerfed, mini-nuke explosions are still more than capable of reducing you to a pile of bloodied rags.

        Important things to know… Especially if you ignored Raquel’s warning, and went in with energy weapons blazing.

  31. Gale says:

    Guys. Hey guys. Guys, hey. 17:48. Um.

    http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l234/8thshade/what.png

    (I don’t know how XHTML tags work, or I would have made the link prettier. But even so.)

    what

    1. Even says:

      I’d wager that’s due to our antihero hitting himself with his own explosives. I noticed the same thing happening when he was massacring the Legion camp a few episodes back.

      1. Gale says:

        But the targeted Cuftbert’s healthbar is substantially lower than Cuftbert’s self-health bar. I mean, unless I’m just really bad at estimating these kinds of things.

        1. bit says:

          And then my head asplode.

    2. Jarenth says:

      It’s what happens if you facepalm while wearing a Ballistic Fist.

      1. acronix says:

        Best line ever (while in context).

  32. Yeah, they LOOOOVE me on Mumble cause I refuse to use push-to-talk…and my mic is SUPER sensitive.

  33. Johan says:

    Also I notice you got Cass for the Whiskey Rose perk (which gives you DT when drinking Whiskey)… and then it looked like you never drank Whiskey in that fight. It looked like you always kept your base 5 DT (1 for Benny’s Suit plus 4 for the NEMEAN implant). I’m not saying it would have helped a LOT… but it couldn’t hurt.

  34. Joris Wildenbeest says:

    Why not use a noise gate of some sort? Something which mutes your voice when the input is below a set level. Gets the job done, and works handsfree. If 20 dollar Behringer hardware can do it, I’m sure there’s a software for live recording which does it.

    1. Entropy says:

      This is more or less what voice activated talking does. It’s a bit finicky, and will still pick up sneezes and coughs, etc.

  35. decius says:

    Huh. I looked for headsets with integrated sidetone, and couldn’t find any that advertised the feature.

    “Sidetone” is what you’re looking for: the audio being transmitted is also played into your ear, but not to the exclusion of other audio.

    1. Rob Maguire says:

      I use the Logitech G35 USB headset. It is relatively pricey (~$100-130 depending on retailer) – mainly because it can output 7.1 Surround Sound – but the set has a decent noise-canceling mic with toggle-able voice preview. I bought mine to play Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Hated the game, loved the headset.

      It does require you install the software to use certain features, but as a plus it has integrated Ventrilo 3.0.5 support, customizable mic sensitivity, rather decent surround sound, and a really easy to hit mute button. The mic also lights up when muted, so you know when it’s transmitting. Also, they are extremely comfortable, even when worn for hours.

  36. Jarenth says:

    Wait, Josh didn’t really manage to do the whole questline in one episode! Shamus, you liar you.

    Also, while the Internet tells that ‘Boom goes the dynamite’ is a reference to some sports broadcast or another, the first (and only) time I’ve heard it used was by Rutskarn, in one of the Season 2 episodes (likely after pants-bombing had taken place). Therefore, I am forced to conclude today’s episode title is a Rutskarn reference.

  37. modus0 says:

    Okay, I have to ask: Why the hell does an Air Force Base have QAWTDs?

    Unless someone who’s been to Nellis AFB can chime in, those doors shouldn’t be there, as they’re designed for marine vessels. A water-tight door isn’t going to do a bit of good on a hangar situated on land, so why did Obsidian put them there?

    1. Dante says:

      Recycling is my guess….and they look cool when they open.

    2. MrWhales says:

      Too lazy to make a new door, and we would have all said something if the doors where the metal-plywood doors in the rest of the game.

  38. (LK) says:

    Is using vox really that difficult for you? When was the last time you had these problems with it?

    I’ve never found it to be problematic.

    Are you using a headset mic or a free-standing one?

  39. peter says:

    “Some way to set up my headset so that I only hear my own voice when broadcasting. (Impossible, as this loop takes place outside of Vent.) ”

    should actually be possible. depending on your hardware.
    if you have a separate soundcard, it’s pretty easy, put the headphones in the internal (or the separate if you’re using the motherboard’s internal card), and set that card to let you hear what you’re playing (mic). have the other card do the rest. it’s actually pretty common in most sound related businesses.
    if you don’t have a spare soundcard, depending on the actual card you’re using you could set it to only play on say your back speakers, make your headphones count as rear speakers, pretty much all cards (embedded included) are at least 5.1 these days. if there’s not a clear setting you could try playing with balance.

    1. Shamus says:

      I can hear my own voice in the headset. The problem is, I can’t set it so that I ONLY hear myself when I’m broadcasting.

      1. NotACat says:

        The problem is, I can't set it so that I ONLY hear myself when I'm broadcasting.

        Am I the only one thick enough to wonder why you would want to be unable to hear the others talking so you could respond to them? What am I missing here?

        1. Myth says:

          He wants to hear only himself when broadcasting – so that when he is speaking, everything else is silent, and he knows exactly when he should stop speaking.

          But I think that would hurt in the long run, since it would mean when multiple people do speak over each other, there would be less chance of one of them backing off and letting the others speak. Instead, everyone talking over each other, forever = no good.

        2. Shamus says:

          Okay, I can always hear everyone else. Then, I can also hear my own voice in my own headset, but only while transmitting. That way, a self-cutoff would be audible. That would form a loop of instant negative feedback, and I’d learn to stop doing it.

          Feedback loops are great for learning: If an annoying buzzer sounds every time you make a mistake, you will very quickly stop making it. If I come along four days later and tell you that you made a mistake, learning will be slower.

  40. Daemian Lucifer says:

    I just remembered something:You guys said how one of the gripes you had with boomers is that they have this huge area they are spread around,and how it is justified by it being an airfield.But mccarran is an airport,and it doesnt have its people spread around like that.

  41. usc says:

    May I suggest a more analog solution? Get a small 2 or 4 channel mixer with an Auxiliary out as well as the main out. Use one channel for your mic. One channel for your computer’s main sound out. Use the Aux fader on the channels to control your “monitor” mix (your headphones). Don’t bring up the computers main sound out (channel two) up in the main out because that would cause a feed back loop. Take the main out (only your mic in the mix) and send it into the computer.

    This would allow you to create a “monitor” mix for your voice and your computer’s speakers and send the mic into your computer.

    You might have to mod your mic/headphone to have a separate jack for your mic and headphones to achieve it…but that’s what I would do to fix the problem of needing to hear yourself when you talk at a volume above the background sound.

    Out.

  42. Vect says:

    At least for the Ant quest you can get a Sonic Emitter from Loyal that automatically pops all the ants. Then all you have to do is to is flip a few switches. Also the ants only explode if you use energy/explosives on them I think.

    Also, since the game is going Independent you can just get to them and tell Yes Man to ignore them.

    But that wouldn’t be the Cuftbert way.

    Oh and I see that Dead Money and Honest Hearts have been downloaded. I guess it’s unlikely those will be seen but erm, one tip for the latter.

    There’s a way to end Honest Hearts REALLY quickly and it’s something Cuftbert would do.

  43. Nyquisted says:

    Best moment: Josh’s ‘Dear God why’ moment at 17.05.

    I laughed. A lot.

  44. Obai says:

    This is the funniest episode yet.

  45. Destrustor says:

    Explosive ants that go boom when you hit them with energy weapons?
    A character using ONLY energy weapons AND the meltdown perk?
    This quest is going to be……… interesting for me.

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