Hi all, I feel like it's time to share my opinions and thoughts after letting this subreddit cooldown for sometime. Around February of last year, I began work on a massive passion project developing https://NETRUNNER2077.net after following this title and being a massive fan of CD Projekt Red from the original Witcher title. When they announced Cyberpunk 2077 would be their next IP I was immensely excited as I'm a huge Cyberpunk genre nerd in all forms from art, movies, anime, philosophies, books, cultural significance and relation, aesthetics and more. So having my all time favorite game company work on a huge open world Cyberpunk "RPG" instantly generated immediate interest.
Now where to even begin?
Please note, I've yet to purposely "finish" Cyberpunk 2077 in hopes of CD Projekt Red making a strong come back later on in the future, and hopes that they'll eventually release a REDKit for modders in order to create some incredible work and help flesh the game world out. I have put around close to 200 hours into Cyberpunk 2077 exploring the different Life Paths and their effects on the world. Lots of walking, No fast travel and tons of time lost in an attempt to "Immerse" myself in the experience. I refused to finish Cyberpunk 2077's Main Story for several reasons. The largest being I'm typically against playing titles that are obviously not complete. On top of that, I've invested so much time and effort into researching, designing, learning web design and working towards building an awesome platform in order to properly cover Cyberpunk 2077 with a safe bet of thinking "This couldn't possibly be bad" only to coming around to reality very shortly after and that this title truly needed ATLEAST another year of development time.
There are aspects of Cyberpunk 2077 that are, in my opinion, worthy of putting it in the all time legendary category of games. Then.. other parts that make games from even 20 years ago look superior. It's a very "unbalanced" experience. So much that it takes the top spot for me personally. My experience of Cyberpunk 2077 is that it feels unfinished and some what rushed in many areas, if that isn't obvious enough already. But the thing is, as many of you probably already know, it just isn't bugs. Features, Content, Weapons, Immersive Elements, AI, RPG Elements and Game Design Systems are flat out missing or just straight up broken entirely.
Here are just a few of the elements that I have a problem with personally..

• Weapon Balance - Many weapons are straight up overpowered and unbalanced and easy to find early in the game.
• Weapon Variety - CD Projekt Red claimed that the game would have a large variety of weapons - this ended up not being the case with a few showcased weapons not implemented in the game itself although they exist in the game files. Also to note most "Iconic" weapons are just a reskin.
• Cyberware Balance & Variety - Same thing as above can also account for Cyberware. Outside of Cyber Arm implants, which has its own bulletin
• Very Hard Difficulty - Feels like a joke when compared to a lot titles out there. This is coming from someone who chose Style over Substance in all three playthroughs, typically never using a Jacket, Helmet or Mask. I'm no means great at games. This doesn't help with the extremely bugged out AI.
• Perk Balance and Design - All around, most perks feel unrewarding and feel vastly unbalanced, once again making it pretty easy to feel overpowered pretty quickly early on, especially if you end up going down the Quickhacking Sub Skill Tree.
• Pedestrian, Water and Car Damage Physics / Collision needs a serious second look - Water as of Patch 1.1 is still a pretty much nothing more than a transparent texture.. fire a bullet, a person, hell.. a fucking car and there is not a single pinch of reaction from that what so ever. The collision from bullets, other cars, people and objects is just bad for a 2020 game.
• UI - I'm usually not one to complain about an unintuitive UI but it's quite clunky that takes some time to get around and use to.
• Artificial Intelligence - It's either extremely bugged or just barely there. It's very bare bones in EVERY NON SCRIPTED aspect of the game. This has already been covered a thousand times so there's no need to go deep into detail with this. Vehicles, Police, Pedestrians, Etc.
• Lack of Immersive Elements - One of CD Projekt Red biggest selling points for many fans was making it sound like there would be many ways to Immerse yourself in Cyberpunk 2077. That is not the case outside of World Design, World Building and Story Telling. It's really hard to actually "Immersive yourself and Roleplay" You can't sit at a bar and grab a drink in real time. You can't grab food anytime you like and eat in real time, the few vendors there are in the game completely rip you out of the game world and into a standard UI vendor menu. Installing Cyberware is just a click of a button in a menu after the initially Eye and hand implant, There's bare minimum interactivity with NPC's or the world itself for that matter, Not a single soul uses an umbrella that I've witnessed when it rains in Night City, There's little to no sense in danger outside of the repetitive Gang hotspots... the list could go on and on with this one.
• 90% of the choices you make during Cyberpunk 2077 feel like they have little to no consequence - While it's true that there are SOME choices you make in this game change certain outcomes (For the most part - the end of the game as reported by many) It feels like a very bare bones system that doesn't seem fleshed out at all. The majority of the time you're only given the "Illusion of Choice" This was very disappointing to witness. Life path decisions feel utterly meaningless later on down the road.
• Side Quests are typically very short when compared to Witcher 3 - On top of that, there are a handful of stunning Side quests but it was very disappointing when a large majority of them lasted around 5-10 minutes at most. If you're looking for another Baron equivalent quest line.. It ain't here chief.
• The Main Quest is far too short for a game that attempts to coin itself as being "RPG" - Regardless of not finishing, its pretty obvious that you do a small handful of Main Story Quests (Outside of the Optional ones) and you've reached the end.
• Life Paths do not largely impact your overall experience and the way the game and story unfolds - Outside of the VERY beginning of the game, which can roughly take around 10 to 20 minutes to do.. and maybe a single quest depending on your lifepath, They ended up being extremely disappointing. You really aren't missing out on doing multiple life paths as you can basically "choose" your ending at the epilogue of the game and just restart from a save and make a different decision to see different outs. AKA making all the decisions you made throughout the game feel meaningless because in the end, its only what you choose during the epilogue that really matters.
• A Second Note on Life Paths and Dialogue Impacting Secondary and Third Playthroughs - Very few side main quests can make a small difference by the end and there is no tension build up for your dialogue options that will lead to consequences that make you afraid of your choices later down the story.
• What the hell happened to Meredith Stout? - If you went down the route of siding with Meredith Stout during the Maelstrom Mission and have followed Cyberpunk 2077 for some time you were probably completely thrown off as to how cut off that whole "follow up" went down. Very disappointing.
• Dynamic Vehicle Chases / Fights are not a thing and were removed from the game - The one Scav chase in the beginning of the game is scripted.. and that's about it, hell.. you can just sit in the vehicle and watch it crash into the wall without doing a single thing. What the hell? Sorry guys, If you choose to mess with gangs.. they're not going to hunt you down, they aren't going to mow you down while you're in your vehicle. It was all bullshit.
• Gangs / Corps will ignore the actions you take against their gang / corp and there are no repercussions for your actions against them at any point in the game - This goes with the one above, but I figured I'd expand on it more. Remember when we thought siding with Maelstrom would cause dire consequences in the long run with Meredith and Militech? Guess what? it definitely isn't a thing. You can go about your business in Night City and not have to worry about that for a split second your entire playthrough, no matter who you decide to fuck over.
• Side Gigs are typically just filler content - Very little variety and the only way to really extend your playtime if you choose to not walk the streets of a dead feeling night city attempting to immerse yourself in the world. Which is totally okay if there were also other things to do, but for the most part its just generic Ubisoft tier filler content. There are a very SMALL amount of unique ones with actual dialogue.
• Netrunner Enemy Types - The worst they do is upload a low quality damage hack and that's it. Half the time they scan your location and nothing happens. No cool shit like having to tap a button repeatedly to stop you from pulling the trigger on yourself after being hacked.
• Pacifica is obviously unfinished - Well, it's not hard to tell that Pacifica wasn't complete after the game came out, I fully know the lore behind what happened to Pacifica, but I don't see how it's acceptable that there are literally unfinished areas from game development.
• MAX-TAC and Trauma Team were epic during the early Scav Hideout mission, but that's it - Not much else to say here other than they had some really cool "scripted" events during and after that mission.. but other than that you'll see Trauma Team with their ships in the same exact spots you find them and MAX-TAC basically just spawn in as higher tier cops when your wanted level is high enough.
• Cyberpsycho Quest line was a missed opportunity - Quite a disappointing quest after tracking down 17 Cyberpsychos regardless if you choose to let them live or kill them. They could of gone deep into some gritty cyberpunk writing and mystery with this but their approach to this was pretty underwhelming and surface level with no depth other than some logs you find, but this can be said about MANY of the quests during the game.
• Collecting Cars is just more checkmark optional filler - Hey? Want another vehicle? Let me flood your quest list and phone letting you know you can GPS right to the location and pick it up. Outside of the few hidden vehicles in the game, Collecting cars was pretty disappointing. You literally walk up to location and buy them, no interactivity with NPC's, just click and buy. Might as well of just given a option to have the vehicle self deliver to the non existent garage where all my other cars reside right?
• The Garage outside your Megabuilding serves no purpose and doesn't store your vehicles - Can't find your vehicles there now can you? Yeah..
• The 6 Month Montage felt like a giant slap in the face, quite possibly cut missions from early game and is the exact SAME no matter what life path you choose - Going down any life path will grant you the exact same Street Kid themed montage. It really feels like these were cut missions that would of fleshed Jackie Welles as a character out so much better.
• Cyberpunk 2077 feels more like a decent "Action Adventure" Game rather than a true "RPG" - Not too hard to see this. While it has RPG elements and Dialogue, it's definitely not on the level of Dues Ex, Vampire Bloodlines, Divinity, Elder Scrolls, Fallout (3 & NV). After you exit the prologue it is all downhill after that.
• There isn't much to find and see outside of map markers - While there are a handful of secrets, schematics and weapons it doesn't feel very rewarding when finding these things because of how the weapon, items, currency and game design elements were implemented where things are either easily replaced or you're already easily overpowered as it is.
• Cyberpunk tries to be too many things and falls short of most of them - With the Ambitious goals, talk and promises.. The one thing I hoped it would be was a truly Ambitious RPG with some really good Immersive elements. I definitely wasn't expecting the world, but it's just sad as to how many elements it falls flat on.
• Black Market Cyberware isn't a thing - You see those four options you have for Cyber arms? Yep, That's it. Nothing else, Everything shown through trailers is what you get.
• Brain Dance was a MASSIVE missed opportunity - It's pretty obvious that there was at one time far more to brain dance outside of story missions. Hell, it could of found a way to replace the Gwent Mini Game, but alas - In the end it was used for only story missions and not a single side experience on its own.
• Night City just feels like a extremely gorgeous backdrop to a Somewhat Linear story - I've already covered several reasons as to why I feel this way.
• It feels more like "Johnny's Story" rather than V's Story - While the writing is indeed excellent most of the time. I personally feel like this story is more about Johnny rather than V.
• The sense of urgency after the prologue really makes it hard to "Role Play" V correctly. This conflicts with previous statements made by CDPR "Really wanting players to Role Play the character"- The way this was approached was quite confusing, as CDPR offers this massive world yet having a huge urgency that you need to figure out a solution before you die in a few weeks.
• The World does not feel "Alive" by any means.. Lack of Dynamic Events - The world itself just feels pretty dead outside of flying vehicles and ads going off every 4-5 seconds. There is VERY little dynamic content like you see in RDR2 where they put a huge emphasis on the world feeling "alive" and never knowing what could happen.
• Customization is severely lacking from a world that begs for more of it - Luckily if you're on PC, a lot of these issues have been solved with customizable Cyber arms, More tattoos, Hair Styles, Face and Neck Cyberware and more. If you're on Console though, you're sadly shit out of luck. The lack of visible Cyberware for V was very surprising. No visible Cyber legs, No visible Netrunning gear outside of "Suits", etc.
• Jackie Welles was a brilliant character that was quickly thrown away - Let alone the massive spoiler they decided to showcase via the 2019 E3 CG Trailer, It was extremely disheartening to know that saving Jackie was never an option seeing as we were barely given any time with him and a wasted opportunity for possible great plot points. This could of been remedied by actually going through the missions played out in the 6 month montage. For players unfamiliar following Cyberpunk 2077 for so long, I would assume losing Jackie wasn't near as impactful for them.
• Cyberware Arm implants are just alternative weapons for the most part - Which pretty much become useless unless you choose to use Gorilla Fists the whole game. No Utility from them, No useful tool elements, Just weapons that become obsolete very fast.
• For a Dystopian World that is hyper sexualized, there sure is a lack of sexual content - Not hard to miss this, You have two Joy Toys and two high end JT's later in the game to choose from in the entirety of Night City outside of the selection of Story related characters you come across. Hell, even a lot of characters that dance on poles in the world are fully clothed. Let alone any real Adult themed clubs.
• Trains were a missed opportunity - Let's face it, there were obviously systems in place at one point in development to have an actual train system where you could ride around Night City and be able to enjoy the huge vistas that it offers. Now you can just watch one from a distance disappear right through a building.
• Verticality? Sort of..? - Take your Home Megabuilding for example and also prime example of cut areas and content. There were suppose to be several areas of verticality to explore in the world and areas and this is just not the case anymore.
• "You'll never run into cool areas where you'll want to get in there but can't" - Yeah, that was definitely not the case now was it? There are several areas you would think would be accessible but just aren't or at any point in the game are.
• Acid Rain? Yeah.. No. - Remember this? Yeah I haven't witnessed it either. But hey, at least there's acid fog right?

Then you have this huge dystopic metropolis of a city which looks absolutely phenomenal. I think it'll truly go down in history for its amazing design and the techniques they used to craft this insanely dense city. There's truly nothing like visiting Night City and it surely is a unique experience from a VISUAL and AUDIO design standpoint. The writing is solid most of the time as well. It really just feels like they had a very direct deadline and were forced to wrap systems up after changing the core game several times over and over again which caused loads of bugs in the code. I really hope when I come back to this game in a year it'll be quite different but after what CDPR pulled I find it extremely hard to trust and have faith in them.
I had so much faith and love in this company that I ended up spending countless months building, designing, and launching NETRUNNER 2077 almost single handedly but after playing Cyberpunk 2077 for weeks, I couldn't even bring myself to write a review over it. Honestly, I would've been way too critical and harsh. Especially after having to monitor and dissect everything that was "said" to be in the game and how systems were suppose to "work" and it ended up being nothing like that what so ever. At this point and time I have no motivation or confidence to continue the platform due to the recent events and actions of CDPR's upper management as well as the highly manipulative marketing that made Cyberpunk 2077 only a glass half full of what it was intended to actually be.
I made sure to set my expectations accordingly from what was told from developers to fans via interviews, deep dives and what was reported to sources that was approved by CDPR. With that and the EXTREMELY misleading marketing, it leaves an extremely sour taste in my mouth. I really want to have faith that they can turn this title around, but something feels off. I understand from a legal perspective that they probably cant at the moment. I just hope one day that this game can truly live up to its potential. There is an incredible foundation set, but it's ultimately up to CD Projekt Red if they choose to deliver their originally intended vision.
For other upper management in game development out there possibly reading this- if your game isn't finished, please market it correctly as an "Early Access Game" and not a finished product. That is straight up lying and deceiving fans and consumers out there. It isn't right, and needs to stop.

"Alright, Jack. Are you ready?"
After being strapped down by the orderlies, an older gentleman with a white coat stepped over and looked down at me as my back caressed the cold, metal slab I was fastened to. I presumed this was Doctor Covenwood, the lab's head of operations.
"Uhhh... I guess so."
This was risky business. I would be humanely injected and gassed with various chemicals to render me medically dead. Then, I would be revived to report my findings as part of a study on near-death experiences and the afterlife. If I survived, $5,000 would be deposited into my bank account as payment.
"Don't worry, Jack. We've done this dozens of times so far and have yet to lose a single soul. You'll be fine."
I know what you're thinking and you're right; this was not legal by any stretch of the imagination. No one in their right mind would have even agreed to participate in such a study, but I was truly desperate. The pandemic left me jobless and the bills were piling up. An old college buddy who works for the lab knew about my situation and reached out to recruit me for the project.
"Alright, Jack. I'll be in the next room behind the one-way glass. You'll be able to hear me over the intercom. Once we start, there's no going back. This is your last chance. Are you absolutely sure you want to go through with this?"
I mulled it over for a moment, but the choice was clear. There were certainly other options at my disposal for recouping my financial losses, but that wasn't the only reason I agreed to take part in the study. The real reason I was risking my life ran much deeper than that.
"Let's do it, Doctor."
A smile spread across his face.
"That's the spirit!"
Doctor Covenwood scurried out to the control room and fired up the intercom as quick as he could, probably to get the ball rolling before I changed my mind.
"Remember, Jack, you'll only be gone for thirty seconds, then we'll bring you back. Still, it may seem a lot longer to you once you're... well, wherever it is you're going. Time dances to the beat of its own drum in some places. Retain what information you can upon waking and tell us what it is you've seen."
I nodded at the camera hanging above me from the ceiling.
"Alright, Jack. This is it. See you on the other side."
***
I remembered bracing myself for death, but it's all fuzzy after that; bits and pieces of memory floating in a vast ocean of consciousness. I can only recall the sensation of falling and the occasional voice whispering in my ear, though I could not for the life of me make out what it was saying. When I finally came to, the scene in front of me took form and revealed my surroundings.
However inexplicable it may seem, I was in what appeared to be the lobby of a large building. There were hardwood floors, lavish staircases, and gorgeous rays of light flooding the room from tall, stained-glass windows on every side of me. Directly in my line of sight was a desk and what appeared to be a receptionist. He looked up and smiled.
"You must be Jack. Please, come with me."
In an instant, without even getting up from his seat, the man was in front of me. Before I could react, he took me by the arm and we appeared somewhere upstairs by the balcony in front of a door.
"Here you are - Room 371. The Overseer will see you now."
And just like that, he vanished again.
Thanks. I guess.
Overwhelmed by everything, I didn't enter the room right away and instead leaned over the railing and surveyed the area. That's when I noticed a plethora of shelves lining the walls, each with their own collection of jars; a soft light emanating from within. I wanted to study them further, but was cut off by a booming voice that echoed through the hall.
"Come in, Jack. I haven't got all day."
It was coming from Room 371. Not wishing to further test the patience of whatever being was summoning me, I opened the door and walked in.
"Please, Jack. Have a seat."
Sitting at a desk in the room was a clean-cut man in turn-of-the-century attire, gesturing at the chair in front of me.
I sat and the man stared me down. If he was trying to intimidate me, it was working.
"Alright. On with it. I know you must have questions. Fire away."
He was right. I did.
"Where are we?"
He chuckled.
"You humans are so predictable. Well, for lack of a self-descriptor, this is what you would refer to as the hereafter - a place where all souls go upon expiration."
"So Heaven is... a cathedral?"
He chuckled again.
"Who said anything about Heaven? There is no good or bad place, just this. And no, it's not a cathedral. It appears different to every departed soul. You see it as a cathedral, another might see it as a monastery, or even a small cottage tucked away in the hills. Whatever peaceful scenery makes the transition easier."
He adjusted himself in his chair, raised his hand, and lifted a single finger.
"One more question, Jack. Then we move on to more pressing matters."
This was my chance. The reason I was there in the first place.
"Can I see my wife and daughter?"
He didn't expect that, turning his chair to face me.
"Ahh, I see. Now I understand. Is that why you joined Doctor Covenwood's little study group? That I wouldn't have predicted."
He saw the surprise in my expression.
"Oh yes, Jack. I know all about the good doctor and his trials. He works for us."
My surprise turned to confusion.
"Works for you? What do you mean?"
The Overseer raised his hand again and snapped his fingers. All at once we were transported to another space. It was small and white. Too white. And the lighting was strange. Brighter than your average room, but still dimmer than a hospital. It was off-putting. To make matters worse, I was strapped to another table, completely immobile in the center of the room. The Overseer stood by and picked up tools from a rolling cart. Needles, blades, among other sharp utensils.
"I can't believe a human would risk his own life on the off-chance he might be reunited with loved ones. It's admirable, I suppose, but no, Jack, you will not see Charlotte and Leslie. We have far more important business to attend to."
My heart was pounding. I had no idea what he was up to, but I knew it couldn't be anything good.
"What's going on? What are you doing?"
He cracked a smile.
"Well, Jack, what the good doctor failed to let you in on was that our agreement involves him sending us wayward souls. In exchange, we offer him information about our world."
He walked around to the opposite side of me with the cart and pushed it up against the table. I winced and let out a small scream. He laughed.
"You see, Jack, human souls are a delicacy here. The taste is so... intoxicating."
He closed his eyes and trembled.
"We were never meant to devour souls, but we've been hear for so long. Billions of years. Maybe more. We, like all things, need stimulation. To that end, we face but one obstacle. The pesky laws of this realm dictate that we can neither lie nor take what isn't ours. It's a failsafe of the Creator's design, put in place to keep us from harming you, making it physically impossible to extract your soul without consent. You must give it to us willingly."
Though frightened, I mustered up enough courage to respond.
"Why would I do something like that?"
He replied with a horrible grin.
"That's the beauty of our arrangement. When a normal soul dies, we give them the option. Let us cut you open and take your soul, or live in a jar for all eternity. There's almost no incentive to hand it over, so almost everyone chooses the latter option. In your case, your time isn't up. The doctor is waiting on the other side to revive you, but I won't let him unless you give me what I want! Time will remain still until your soul is mine. Your thirty seconds will never end."
He licked his lips in anticipation.
"If you want to go back, just say the word. Otherwise, get comfortable."
It was a lot to process. Still, none of it mattered. Seeing my wife and daughter again was the only thing keeping me going. Knowing that I couldn't be with them eliminated any incentive I would have had to continue living.
"No. You can't have it. I'll stay."
His smile vanished as he threw the cart and grabbed me by the shoulders, placing his face directly over mine. His eyes were now red and his mouth full of dagger-like teeth that overlapped one another in a grotesque pattern.
"You will give me your soul and I will rip away every last fiber of your flesh to get it."
He dug a silver blade into my chest and drooled over the wound. It was like battery acid. Worse than any pain I had ever felt before. I screamed in agony. He backed away, wiped his chin, and his face returned to normal.
"Sorry about that. I got a little carried away. Still, you will agree to my terms, or suffer further torment."
The pain was immense, but I would not bow to him.
"No. I refuse."
His grin returned.
"You misunderstand, Jack. The torture you will experience is not of a physical nature."
He snapped his fingers and we were transported again, somewhere else entirely.
***
I was alone, in a familiar forest; one just outside town where we liked to camp from time to time. The sun was setting as the evening drew near. The air was still and the wildlife quiet.
This was the night they died.
"What do you think, Jack? I'd say it looks almost identical."
The Overseer appeared before me.
"What the hell is this?"
His lips stretched wide across his cheeks.
"Just a recreation of the events that led up to your family's death."
I looked at him in disbelief.
"You remember, don't you? You were out here gathering firewood while they played by the lake."
A tear rolled down my cheek.
"Stop it!"
He continued.
"When Leslie fell, bumped her head on the dock, and then sank deep beneath the water? Charlotte called out to you, but you were nowhere to be found."
It happened as he spoke of it.
"Jack, she fell in. Jack, help! Oh my god, she's unconscious. Jack!"
Just as I did that night, I dropped the branches in my hand and ran as fast as I could towards the lake. Recreation or not, I couldn't ignore my family.
"Your wife jumped in to save her, but her legs were far too weak to swim."
The Overseer appeared at every tree I passed, his voice staying with me every step of the way.
"The physical therapy worked wonders, but she had only been out of her wheelchair for a month."
He was right. On her way to work, Charlotte was struck by a drunk driver. She survived, but her spine suffered a lot of damage. The doctors weren't sure she would walk again. This camping trip was supposed to be a celebration. It was the first thing Charlotte wanted to do when she was upright again.
"Stop it, you bastard!"
Charlotte continued to call out for me.
"Jack! Jack!"
Her voice was muffled by the water she was treading. There was a sickening gurgle in between her outbursts; a gut wrenching sound that haunted my every nightmare for months to come and rang in my ears even after waking.
"You arrived at the lake, but it was too late."
I ran over, tears wetting my face, and pulled Charlotte and Leslie from the water. The Overseer stayed close and observed. I tried my best to administer chest compressions and CPR, but it was no use. My girls were dead, and I could do nothing but sob over their corpses.
"Alright, Jack. Time for Round 2!"
The Overseer snapped his fingers and we were back in the forest. Soon enough, I heard Charlotte's voice, once again crying out for help. To my dismay, the sequence of events had begun again.
I turned to the Overseer, standing by my side, and took a swing, but there was no connection. My fist stopped inches from his smug face, halted by an unseen force. He cackled in response.
"Why are you doing this?!"
"You know why, Jack! Give me your soul, or submit to this existence! You will be stuck here forever, left to relive the worst night of your life again and again!"
I ran to the lake. Faster this time. Still, when I arrived, they were gone.
"That's right, Jack. No matter what happens, this will be the conclusion. You will never make it in time. Never."
We appeared back in the forest.
"What will it be, Jack?"
I ran again. The Overseer followed.
"No. I won't do it. I can save them, this time. I know I can."
The Overseer's eyes became red as he moved from tree to tree.
"THEN SUFFER!"
Charlotte continued to call out for me, I continued to run. After it was done, it started again. And again. And again. All the while, the Overseer stayed and watched and laughed. Eventually, I cried myself dry. I pressed on anyway, determined to save them, even if it was all part of an elaborate illusion. I needed this. More than the Overseer knew.
Eventually, he interrupted.
"Stop, Jack."
I ignored him at first.
"Jack, stop."
I ran as fast as I could, Charlotte's voice as my beacon, well on my way to another lakeside funeral.
"STOP, NOW!"
The Overseer stepped in front of me. The scene around us vanished. We were now surrounded by darkness; a mysterious place devoid of any and all light.
"If you truly insist on continuing this run down memory lane, then I think it's time we changed some things. Have fun, Jack. This will be your life now."
He snapped his fingers and I was back in the woods. This time, I was completely alone and a dark fog hung above the forest's canopy, cloudy and still. Focused, I ran past the trees, but Charlotte's voice never met my ear.
Something was amiss.
***
I arrived at the lake moments later and was greeted with the usual, horrific sight. Charlotte and Leslie, face-down on the surface of the water. I pulled them out, as I had so many times before, but something changed when their bodies touched the shore.
They stood up.
Charlotte and Leslie's lifeless bodies now stood upright before me, eyes darker than the deep abyss they were pulled from. Water spilled from their mouths as they walked toward me. Charlotte then spoke.
"You killed us, Jack. You killed us."
I backed away in terror, sobbing the whole way.
"Charlotte, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Leslie stepped ahead.
"Why didn't you save me, Daddy?"
I fell to my knees as they approached.
"I love you both so much and miss you terribly. Please forgive me. I never meant for this to happen."
Charlotte leaned over and put a cold hand on my head.
"You lived. You don't deserve forgiveness on top of that."
She pressed her lips to mine and the taste of death coated my tongue. I tried to disconnect, but she forced me against her with brute strength, her arms wrapped tightly around my head. Then, she began sucking the air from lungs.
Leslie chimed in.
"This is how we felt, Daddy. We couldn't breathe. Now you can be like us."
I struggled and struggled, but couldn't break free. Just before losing the last drop of air in my lungs, something happened. It was faint at first, but then grew to an audible whisper. I recognized it as it crept into my ear. It was the same disembodied voice that followed me to the afterlife. I could now tell that it was that of Charlotte. The real Charlotte.
Save us, Jack.
I didn't know what she meant.
Please, Jack. You have to make a deal with the Overseer.
Make a deal. Okay. I could do that.
By some miracle, I was able to rip myself away and inhale as much oxygen as I could in one breath. Then, before the corpses could attack again, I called out to the Overseer.
"Okay! I'm ready to bargain."
The dead versions of Charlotte and Leslie vanished. The sky opened up, revealing a full moon. Its dim light soaked small ripples in the lake as the Overseer walked up from behind.
"Had a change of heart, have we?"
I took another deep breath. Charlotte's whisper was still with me, guiding me the rest of the way.
He can't lie. Ask him some questions.
"Okay, I'll give you my soul, but first, I have questions."
He rolled his eyes.
"Fine. On with it then."
Ask him about the jarred souls. What he does with them.
"What do you do with the souls once they're jarred?"
He squinted at me, suspiciously.
"Where is this coming from, Jack?"
I was firm in my reply.
"Just answer me."
He clenched his teeth.
"Fine. For the most part, they stay, untouched, in their jars, on their shelves. But... sometimes... we take them out and ask again for consent."
Ask how.
"How do you do that? Torture?"
His eyes widened at the word.
"Of course, Jack. What other way is there?"
Ask about us.
"What about Charlotte and Leslie then? Do you torture them?"
He leaned in and snickered.
"Yes. The same as I'm torturing you now. They relive this night just as you have. Your wife is strong, but I'll break her. Then they're souls will be mine, just as yours will be. A matching set if there ever was one."
My blood was boiling. I wanted to lash out, but Charlotte's voice soothed me.
Save us, Jack.
The pieces clicked into place.
"Alright. I'm going to give you a choice."
The Overseer scoffed at me.
"You're going to give me a choice?"
"Yes. I can guarantee you that Charlotte won't give in to your head games and neither will I - not so long as we have each other. You can either keep trying and torture us until the end of time - or, if you have better things to attend to, and I'm sure you do, you can let me go."
He looked shocked.
"Let you go?"
I continued.
"No more torturing my wife and daughter and allow the doctor to revive me. When I die, my soul is yours to do with as you please. It's the only guarantee that you'll get any of us."
He stood back and pondered for a moment.
"You make a compelling argument Jack. Normally, I wouldn't even consider a deal like this, but I've wasted enough time on you three as it is. As such, here is my counter offer. I'm feeling generous, so I'll offer you two years on Earth with your soul intact and your family will rest during that time. Then, you will die, and I will retrieve all three of your souls. Your familial bond can serve as consent for the lot of you."
There was no way I would accept those terms, but Charlotte's voice chimed in.
Take the deal, Jack. It will be fine. We'll have two years to find a way out of it.
I didn't like it, but I had to listen to my wife. She always knew best.
"Okay. You have yourself a deal."
The Overseer smiled and then snapped his fingers.
***
I awoke in the lab to Doctor Covenwood at my side, tending to the wound in my chest, left by the Overseer.
"Oh good, you're awake!"
Knowing the hand he played in this, I looked up at him in disgust.
"I know. I know. I'm sorry, Jack. It's just the way it has to be. This research is vital to the progression of mankind."
He finished bandaging me up, undid my straps, and backed away, probably expecting a fist to the face.
"You're just lucky I was able to make a deal with the Overseer to protect my family."
I stood up and Doctor Covenwood stepped out and into the control room, opting to speak through the intercom.
"Actually, Jack, that was all a part of the plan. One soul at a time used to cut it, but as of late, the Overseer wants more."
He let out a loud sigh before continuing.
"There's no way out of this, I'm afraid. In two years time, you'll be done for. I hope you understand."
The sound of tapping away at a keyboard came through the speaker, followed by a voice. Charlotte's voice.
"Save us, Jack."
My heart sank.
"I used old recordings of your wife and created a simple program that would allow me to alter my voice to sound like hers. Everything I said over the intercom, you were able to hear on the other side. I'm so sorry, Jack."
Oh my god. What have I done?

Greeting Theta Gang boys and girls,
I hope you're well and not bankrupt after last week. I'm just now recovering mentally myself. I saw a few WSB converts and some newbies asking for tips, so here you go. V2 of my Options guide. I hope it helps.
​
I spent a huge amount of time learning about options and tried to distill my knowledge down into a helpful guide. This should especially be useful for newbies and growing options traders.
While I feel I’m a successful trader, I'm not a guru and my advice is not meant to be gospel, but this will hopefully be a good starting point, teach you a lot, and make you a better trader. I plan to keep typing up more info from my notebook, expanding this guide, and posting it every couple months.
Any feedback or additions are appreciated
Per requests, I added details of good and bad trades I made. Some painful lessons learned are now included. I also tried to organize this better as it got longer.
Here's what I tell options beginners:
I would strongly recommend buying a beginner's options book and read it cover to cover. That helped me a lot.
I like this beginner book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GWSXX8U/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_OxNDFb2GK9YW7
Helpful websites:

• Tasty Trade (TT) and Ally Invest have helpful articles and videos.
  • https://www.tastytrade.com/tt
  • https://www.youtube.com/c/tastytrade1/featured
• Ally training:
  • What is options trading? https://www.ally.com/do-it-right/investing/trading-options-for-beginners/?CP=EM2012111
  • Top 10 options mistakes: https://www.ally.com/do-it-right/investing/top-10-option-trading-mistakes/?CP=EM2012111
• 3 common option mistakes: https://us.etrade.com/knowledge/library/options/common-mistakes-options-traders-make
• Common options strategies: https://www.optionsbro.com/basic-options-strategies/
• Investopedia has tons of great investing info for stocks and options: https://www.investopedia.com/
• Kamikaze Cash Theta Gang Videos: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOweupE79XXiBaeH_xBpkUcYUsrAaKQen
• 20 rules of professional traders: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/022715/20-rules-followed-professional-traders.asp

Don't trade until you understand:

• You can lose your entire contract value when buying.
• You can lose a lot of money when selling "naked", theoretically unlimited.
• How option expiration works.
• Theta (decay) and how it works. This is imperative since it's attrition when buying and a payout when selling. https://www.optionseducation.org/advancedconcepts/theta
• DTE: Days till expiration/expiry
• Options positions with respect to price:
  • ITM: In the money; strike is below stock value. Signif
  • ATM: At the money; strike is just at or above the stock value, often very highly traded. Can be very effective with moderate - long term expiry.
  • NTM: Near the money; strike is above the stock value, but fairly close. Slightly unofficial term.
  • OTM: Out of the money; price is at least a few strikes from the current stock price. I would say 10-30% over stock price.
  • Very OTM: Not a real definition, this is essentially a lottery ticket. Cheap, but almost certain to expire worthless unless there is explosive movement.
• Understand delta in general and how delta changes with ITM and OTM options.
• Understand all the greeks at a high level, as you get better understand them well. The greeks: https://www.optionsplaybook.com/options-introduction/option-greeks/
• IV, IV crush, and how IV affects pricing. In general, you want to sell when IV is high and buy when the IV is low. Increasing IV is good for held calls/puts. IV drop or crush is generally good for sellers.
• Selling options can be quite beneficial. Once you have a good general understanding, lookup thetagang . Kamikaze Cash has good youtube videos on most theta strategies (linked above). I personally believe selling options (especially cash secured) is much safer and can consistently make you profits. Θ Gang 4 life.
• FOMO and how to avoid chasing a dangerous trend. DO NOT CHASE FROM FOMO!
• What intrinsic and extrinsic value are. Know how they are affected by being exercised/assigned and how theta affects them.
• Understand that some of WSB recommendations are straight up high-risk gambling and factor in the information accordingly. Be careful with Meme stocks and the survivorship bias on YOLO plays. However, I love the sub and think it’s hilarious. It has a lot of valuable information / DD if you are comfortable with the “colorful” language. It’s also great if you like rocket ship emojis.

Basics / Mechanics

• Understand the 4 "main" option types. Buying or selling a call and buying or selling a put. Spreads and more complex multi-legged option strategies are based off these in some way (see below)
• You can sell calls with 100 shares of stock or if you own an underlying longer term option; see LEAPS and PMCCs later. Selling calls naked is incredibly risky and often requires Level 4 (very advanced) permissions and usually a lot of capital. I will literally never sell calls naked since I don't want to ruin my life and end up living in a dumpster eating saltine crackers.
• Puts can be sold/written cash covered (cash secured), which means you have the cash in your account to buy 100 shares. Your broker will put this money on hold until the trade is closed. Puts can be sold "naked" using Margin and Level 3 (with most brokers). Your broker will hold a percentage of cost of 100 shares (often 30-40%, 100% on meme stocks) allowing you to sell more puts. This increases your available capital/power as well as increasing risk.

General Tips and Ideas:

• Don't EVER leave (short) spreads open on expiration day, close them. (more details below)
• Start off trading very small. Slowly build up over weeks / months. You need to get accustomed to a fifty dollar swing a day, then a few hundred, then a few thousand. You need to ensure you don't get emotional (see below). I started trading options with 5k, then 25k, 50k, and later over 100k. I added my own funds over time and used my gains to build my account. Don’t go all in immediately, that’s dangerous and unwise.
• Especially as you build up the amount of money you have invested, keep it diversified among several stocks.
  • Don't go all in on one thing, ever. Be able to take a hit from one stock and not mortally wound your portfolio.
  • A company may be doing great, then there's a major product issue out of nowhere. If you are overexposed in one stock this can really hurt you.
  • I had to roll options I sold that were about to expire completely worthless because FDX's CEO changed and the stock took a hard dip.
• Don't trade emotionally. If you realize you are emotionally trading for vengeance, you should probably exit the trade and cool off for several days with that stock. Same if you get caught up in a wave of hysteria.
• Have a plan for every trade, ideally with entries / exits that are specific values, ranges, or a set condition. This helps remove emotions. This is super important for strong movements and high volatility (see later).
• Use an options profit calculator from your broker or an online one before entering a "new" trade, especially a complex multi legged trade: https://www.optionsprofitcalculator.com/
• “Rolling” an option: Closing your existing option and opening a similar one at different strike and/or expiration.
  • Rolling a call “Up” would be selling a call you own and buying a cheaper call at a higher strike.
  • Rolling a put “Down and out” closes your original one and buying or selling one at a lower strike at a longer expiry.
  • Better broker interfaces have a literal “Roll” button. I know E-trade does. You can manually do it by selecting relevant contract legs.
• If you have a losing trade, re-evaluate it. If your initial assumption is definitely incorrect, close it. Don't stay in losing trades forever and lose the entire value of the option over stubbornness. If you re-evaluate and you think your assumption was right, hold, potentially consider adding another cheaper option (or buy another call / put). Rolling out sold options can help here.
• Don't try to day trade, especially with options. It's statistically unlikely to be profitable. Day-trading with options introduces extra liquidity risks and is dangerous, especially with spreads.
• Try not to over-trade, you'll likely mis-time the market over time. When I get emotional I over trade, then lose additional money on wash sales. If you scale your entries into positions it should help alleviate your desire to exit positions when they turn badly against you. Whenever I buy calls I do it at larger increments after W almost made me loss my hair; luckily it eventually came back.
• NEVER enter a position on a stock you have no idea about, especially when you read about it online or heard about it from some rando.
• At market open options contracts are often volatile and inflated. Buying during this time can be more expensive. Options are usually cheaper mid-day, I read somewhere 2-3PM is cheapest. I’ve had success around 12-1PM EST after prices settle.
• Try wheeling on cheaper stocks once you get all fundamentals down.
• When selling puts if you are very bullish consider "doubling down"; note this is higher risk. Use the credit from your put sale to buy shares or a cheap call. This can be roughly inversed with puts, except I wouldn't ever recommend shorting shares.
• Learn from your mistakes. You can’t go back in time and beating yourself up (to a point) is useless. Make a physical &/or mental note of it so you don’t do it again. If you don’t learn from it, then beat yourself up so you won’t do it again.
• If you have friends that like to trade, I find it helpful to discuss strategies and planned plays. I talk openly with my close friends about my current holdings and planned trades, it helps keep me accountable. If I get a wide-eyed look, I might be doing something excessively risky or stupid. I’ve over-leveraged myself in calls twice and I knew I shouldn’t have done it both times. When I tell my friends what I did and I’m embarrassed, it exemplifies the face that I shouldn’t have done it in the first place. You will also get ideas for new strategies or plays from them. It’s good to stay versatile and use multiple strategies when appropriate. Beware of group think/echo chambers.
• I recommend NEVER telling someone what to buy/sell and when. I’ll tell people MY plays or what I like and why, but I will not encourage them to emulate what I do. Depending on the audience, I’ll tell them my exact positions along with my exit and entrance strategy. With closer friends I’ll offer my thoughts on their trades (if asked). If my friend is doing something really risky (one of my friends does some scary stuff) I may ask them if they want my advice, and provide it, especially if they overlooked a risk/event. I will not encourage someone to execute/enter a trade since it has a high potential for hurt feelings or animosity all around.
• Don’t fall in love with a stock. Just because something made you money before and you have high confidence in it doesn’t mean it will keep performing. I joke that FDX betrayed me when it started dipping and losing me money. I was over-confident of its bounce-back and sold too many puts too quickly. I’m in several losing trades because of it. However, I will keep good stocks in my rostetracking list or try different strategies or re-enter trades when they change their behavior.
• As you start to both buy and sell options and get more experience in general, you'll start seeing the two sides to every trade. You will likely start adjusting your strategies or trying new trades out because of this. Things will likely click one day. Most/all the greeks and options concepts will become almost second nature. For me this was when I could build an Iron Condor from scratch, which was a watershed moment involving a good understanding of many strategies.
• Understand Liquidity and volume.
  • Trading in low volume, low open interest contracts results in wide bid/ask spreads and difficulty having your contracts filled. Look at all the data for a contract, not just the strike and price.
  • Monthly Expiration dates typically have better liquidity.
  • Multi-legged trades (Common examples are 2-legged vertical spreads or 4-legged iron condors) have more difficulty being filled, especially on bad brokers like Robin Hood. Having very liquid options for all legs is extremely helpful in obtaining timely and well-priced fills, which maximize your potential profits.
• Time in market vs timing the market:
  • It is extremely difficult to time the market perfectly. If you wait for the perfect opportunity forever, history has proven you will miss out on gains. Keeping all your money out of the market has proven to be ineffective. Now if there is something serious happening with a stock/the market (like say a new pandemic), don’t go all in. I recommend entering incrementally at dips. If the stock has huge upside potential it may never go down, so it might make sense to partially enter at the current price.
  • IMIO selling puts is a great strategy to get into a stock you like, or at least make money off it. I think buying stock in lots of 100 is usually for suckers. Selling an ATM or ITM put (assuming the math works out) on a stock you were going to buy and hold is ALMOST free money.
  • I recommend keeping some cash available regardless. If you have a very large account or expect a downturn, hedging with indexes like QQQ, SPY, or VIX or calls/puts may be wise.
• Every trade can't be a winner. You will take some losses, you must get used to it. I don’t like having a realized loss of 1K or more on any trade. However, this will happen, especially with larger accounts.
  • As long as you win more often and beat the S&P that year I consider it okay. I’m kind of aggressive, so I consider 20%+ annually good. 30%+ annually is great. 40%+ and I’m dancing. After trading options I am almost baffled by my old belief that 5% annual returns (mostly from dividend ETFs) was “good”. That’s nothing to me now since I’m willing to take risks. Note: While lots of people danced in 2020, realize that’s an insane Bull Run year and is atypical.
  • Adhere to your own risk tolerance and never over-extend yourself, especially with margin use. Don’t make huge gambles leaving you uncomfortable. Only gamble with money you are willing to lose.
  • My personal strategy is to make safer gains for the year and then enter slightly riskier strategies using those gains. I can be slightly-moderately more aggressive and compound my gains. For me I often sell puts to make money, then when I see a big opportunity I’ll sell a put and buy an OTM or moderately ITM call.
• Understand it’s not safe to try and get rich overnight. However, once you hit big “steps” things may start to snowball. You can enter more positions and take more risks if you choose to.
  • For me this when I hit 50k, then 100k. I was able to balance low and moderate risk positions to more significantly grow my account. I’ll even do a high risk thing now and again because my gains can absorb it (assuming I have them).
  • I can’t wait to get to 250K, then 500K. I know it’ll take quite a long time, but I am confident I’ll eventually be able to have 500K and (hopefully) 1M in my non-401k trading account with gains and additions from my job. I can only imagine how “dangerous” I will be with that kind of capital.
• If you missed "the next big thing" like AAPL, TSLA, or the time machine I’m building in my basement. Don't get upset, learn from it. Adapt and become a better trader for next time.
  • Figure out why a company was so promising, before they mooned. Determine how you would have traded differently in hindsight. Apply those lessons to the next company you believe has long term growth prospects.
  • For me that's putting in 1-2.5k towards shares and/or buying LEAPS on it. Depending on my bullishness I may buy “cheap”, fairly far OTM calls. The far OTM options are sort of lottery tickets. If I'm right the (relatively) low cost will have explosive profits; if I'm wrong, they didn't cost that much so it's a calculated loss I’m willing to accept. For more serious bets I’ll buy ITM LEAPS to run PMCCs on. I also like to buy 1-2K in my 401k for very long-term plays.
• The stock market hates uncertainty, it seems to crave the status quo. A shakeup can potential tank a stock, even if it's nothing. With shares you can wait it out, but this can be problematic for options. If you see volatile/uncertain times ahead (politics, disease, manufacturing, earnings, etc.), you might want to reduce your overall portfolio risks or hedge.

Profit Retention / Loss Mitigation

• If selling options, it is a viable strategy to close early after a large gain with many DTE left until expiry. See TT videos / strategies on this.
• Don't hold options through earnings unless you literally want to gamble. I like playing on earnings run ups, but that can be risky.
• If you hold options through earnings, IV crush will happen immediately afterwards, devaluing the option. However, if the option is profitable enough, IV crush won’t matter, which will still make money for a call buyer. A sold put sufficiently far OTM will benefit from IV crush, even if the stock dips after slightly bad or lukewarm earnings.
• Don't throw good money after bad. Don't gamble on a recovery if your assumption appears to be wrong or the market is flat out tanking. If you are wrong and still believe in the company, wait twice as long as your original plan (wait for your 2nd entry point vs 1st) before adding to your position.
• Consider using stop losses to lock-in profits on rides up or sometimes use them to prevent losses. Note, stops can be easily triggered in volatile options. Now when I'm up a lot on calls (especially around earnings or large momentum run-ups) I always set stop losses. I have been burned too many times. In December 2020 I didn't set a SL on several thousand dollars of FDX calls I was already up on and I "lost" ~$5K of unrealized gains. If you're up big, don't get too greedy.
• A possible strategy if a stock is on a tear and you have multiple options open: Close some positions (I prefer to do this incrementally if the stock has momentum), but leave 1+ open in case the stock goes into outer space/the floor. Next, set a stop loss with a little buffer below its current movement / range so it doesn't get hit unless the stock falls hard. Finally, watch the stock closely and if it keeps rising, keep moving the stop loss up in little bits incrementally. This will let you keep more profits on a hot streak, but give some protection and secure more gains. It will also help eliminate FOMO if a stock exceeds your expectations.
• Have rules when to roll out, down & out, or up & out. I like TT’s roll at break even or at 1x loss and to always roll for a credit (or for me a very minor cost). Obviously these rules need some monitoring. Know your stocks, the news, and technicals so you don’t jump the gun.
  • If you roll early for a credit and you’re right, it’s not the end of the world. You’ll just need to hold longer, which will obviously tie up capital. Sometimes it’s better to tie up some money (especially if you aren’t paying interest) than eating a huge loss.
  • Rolling too late can be worse though. I currently have a very underwater FDX put I sold that is over 2x loss, rolling it does almost nothing unless you want to pay a debit or extend it extremely far out.
• On huge options gains, I strongly you recommend taking profits by rolling up/down or incrementally sell your contracts at several different prices (this is why having multiple contracts is nice).
  • Rolling up involves selling your initial call, then using a fraction of your proceeds to buy a cheaper, further OTM call with the same expiry; puts are inverse this. When rolling up I like to ensure the new option’s cost is 15-40% of my realized gains. I’ll buy a more or less expensive new optoin based on my convication to the stock and predicted movements. You can also roll up and out to get a further expiry and strike.
  • This is monumentally important if you are playing with incredibly high rising stocks or during a short squeeze.
  • Sad story time: I completely screwed up when I forgot to roll up, twice, during the GME gamma/short squeeze. I didn’t take my own advice; I didn’t have a real exit or transition plan and I got emotional. It all happened so fast and I was at work; the insanity of the run up and subsequent gamma squeeze caught me off guard. I should’ve clocked out and thought through the situation for 15-30 minutes to form an impromptu plan, then executed trade(s). My moderate risk tolerance coupled with my desire to take profits took over. When the stock partially cratered after a run up, I sold to retain gains. In the heat of the moment I thought the squeeze was squoze and it was going to plummet into the ground and I wasn’t being rational.
    • On 1x 4K call I would’ve made an additional 15-25K if I rolled up to a cheaper contract with some of my profits.
    • I know I missed out on significantly more with a 2nd call I had. Depending when I rolled it, it would likely have been an additional 25-50k in profits.
  • I talked about learning from your mistakes above. This mistake is branded into my brain due to the massive gains I missed out on by not rolling up. I’m furious with myself as I write this 1 week after the GME gamma squeeze, I’m a planner and I didn’t plan. If anything I own is significantly up ever again, I’m rolling up (or at least setting a stop loss). If necessary, I’ll roll up a trade multiple times to keep extracting profits.
  • Learn from my mistake so you don’t miss out on gains too. I strongly recommend rolling up when you are up big on a call / roll down when you are up big on a put. This enables you to take profits, stay in the game, and keep extracting more gains.
• If you trade a lot of options, talk to your broker about a discount. I was getting the standard $.50/contract with E-Trade, but I traded over 300 contracts a quarter and was able to get the fee reduced by over $.10 by just asking. I am now doing more spreads and condors, so once my volume gets very high, I’ll ask again.
• If you have a broker that isn’t great and you want to switch, leverage your current trading fees to the new broker. Tell them you’ll move over $### thousand if they beat your current options trading fee per contract.

Trade Planning & Position Management Tips

• As you gain experience, start monitoring what kind of Delta, OTM, DTE, etc. you are most profitable with. Use it in your future trades. You'll often see the tasty trade 30-45DTE .3 Delta strategy for selling.
• Before entering a trade, look at rough technicals like resistances and supports to consider your relevant strikes as well as entry/exit points. Look at upcoming earnings & dividend dates as well as stock/market news.
• Consider staggering strikes and expirations for safety and diversity; it’s nice to avoid assignment on 3 puts at once because you used the same strike for all 3.
• Incrementally enter positions on large rises/falls. One of my favor strategies is to buy dips after over reactions. By doing this slowly in large price "steps" it helps combat FOMO and helps you avoid getting slaughtered.
  • This will also help you avoid "chasing a falling knife". It also ties into having a plan.
  • I set alerts at several predetermined prices and I REALLY try not to enter new trades unless I hit my preset points. It makes me less emotional and usually more effective.
• Don't buy far expiration options with poor liquidity for shorter term plays. I bought 1x GME 1-year+ LEAPS call before the 2021 short squeeze. That was stupid, I should've bought 2-3x 60-120 day calls to have better liquidity. I also paper-handed it and missed out on my lambo.
• If selling options, consider rolling (for a credit) to avoid assignment when it makes sense / meets your plan. Rolling closer to expiration can be a valid strategy to get theta on your side. On the flip side, if the stock moons or plummets it could've been better to roll before it got crazy deep ITM. See rolling “rules” above.
• Covered Calls:
  • If a stock has a large movement range, I think it can be worthwhile to wait to open a CC after the last one is closed/expires. I have been more successful waiting for another opportunity vs. opening one immediately on the Monday after the second the last one expires.
  • Consider selling covered calls at all time highs/peaks. If you sell a CC and the stock dips significantly, and you think it’s temporary, you can buy to close your CC for a quick profit, then reopen it later.
  • If you own Meme stocks, selling covered calls runs the risk of missing out on large gains. On these stocks I typically only sell them further OTM than I normally would or not at all. If I do sell CC on a Meme stock I try to ensure I have 25-100 other shares that won’t be called away.

-Advanced Beginner-
Spreads

• Spreads (with 2 legs) are neat because they manipulate how delta and theta act. It caps your gains and losses, but you can profit with less stock movement. Try several spreads on a P/L calculator to see for yourself.
• Spreads usually require margin trading.
• Spreads allow you to define max losses (assuming you close before expiration day) and use less capital.
  • Experienced traders will open many spreads at identical/similar strikes to heavily profit off movement. Spreads can make you/lose you a lot of money if you are right.
  • For example. I could make a $200 premium off a $500 risk trade, max loss would be $300. This is much more effective capital utilization than a naked or cash secured put, however it does not have the same downside protection or “wheel” potential as a sold put. Higher risk, higher reward.
• Vertical Debit spreads: I think of these like mini calls/puts. I personally don’t use them unless calls are outrageously expensive or the break even is absurdly high, but there’s nothing wrong with them. A call debit spread will lower your breakeven and overall cost vs just a call. You can do clever things like making a positive theta call spread if you’re creative. I like doing this since I hate losing money to theta.
• Vertical Credit spreads:
  • Very good theta strategy to define downside/upside risks.
  • A put credit spread is bullish and allows you to bet on upward movement with less capital and defined losses.
  • A call credit spread is a bearish strategy that allows you to bet on downward movement. These are very cool since they allow you to sell calls without selling naked calls, which can ruin you financially. I see selling these as better than buying puts since it’s so much easier to be profitable; to be redundant, Θ rocks.
  • https://www.schwab.com/resource-centeinsights/content/reducing-risk-with-credit-spread-options-strategy-0
• I repeat this on purpose: Don't EVER leave short spreads open on expiration day, close them. If you don't close, they better be VERY far from the strike on a non-volatile stock. In after hours a stock can jump/dip below your strike and be exercised without the other leg to protect you. This can lead to massive, life ruining losses. This is not an exaggeration, google this and be scared. It happened to a fair number of people with TSLA. Video explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtVFj9nRRDo&t=315s
• Short Straddle:

Trading Mechanics, Taxes, Market Manipulation

• Learn about wash sale rules. They suck and are very easy to activate with options. This will eliminate your ability to write off losses. Over trading can easily cause wash sales. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/washsalerule.asp
• Short attacks:
  • Learn to recognize these sketchy attacks by hedges/firms. They manipulate the market, it’s been documented countless times. A common one is rapid short selling, which pushes the price down.
  • Short Ladder attacks:
    • https://www.google.com/amp/s/seekingalpha.com/amp/instablog/11442671-gerald-klein/3096735-anatomy-of-a-short-attack
    • Some people say short ladder attacks don't exist. I've seen some very strange stock nosedives off low volume, so I tend to think they do.
  • If you plan well enough and the market doesn’t give up on the stock you may be able to use it as a great opportunity to buy the dip.
• Cramer explains how he intentionally manipulated the market when he ran a hedge fund years ago. Multiple links to the video are below since this video gets pulled often, Cramer / The street never wanted this to go public.
  • Reuters article: https://www.reuters.com/article/cramer-interview-idUKN2036292620070320
  • httpss://youtu.be/r07Gg92YjOI
  • https://youtu.be/VMuEis3byY4
  • https://youtu.be/JEzsfPmh894
  • https://youtu.be/QFfjX8dW-QQ
  • Due to this video I don’t fully trust Cramer. His show can give you stock ideas to buy (or inverse), but you never know where his true loyalties lie.
• Plan for taxes if you are up big. You may need to over withhold or contribute to taxes quarterly depending on your situation. https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc306

-Intermediate / Advanced Strategies (work in progress)-
You’ll notice many of these strategies inverse one another.
Options Strategy Finder
This website is great for learning about new strategies, you’ll see many links to it below.
https://www.theoptionsguide.com/option-trading-strategies.aspx
Short Strangle / Straddle

• Both of these strategies profit from little price movement. I recommend using a P/L calculator to determine BE, profit, etc.
• A straddle sells (or buys) two options at the same expiry and strike.
• A strangle sells (or buys) two options at same expiry with different strikes.
• Both these strategies involved selling a Call and a Put for a credit. Straddle uses ATM legs, strangle uses OTM legs.
• Limited max profits and unlimited risk. Due to the unlimited risk, I am not a fan. However, many people like these a lot.
• https://www.theoptionsguide.com/short-strangle.aspx
• https://www.theoptionsguide.com/short-straddle.aspx

Iron Condor and Iron Butterflies

• These strategies profit from neutral or mostly neutral stock movement. They receive a credit to open and benefit from theta decay. If your stock is range bound, these may be a good choice.
• These are both 4 "legged" trades, so you will have 4 trading fees to enter or exit the trade. A lower cost or zero cost broker shines here. However, “bad” free brokers will give you poor fills, which may not be worth the discount.
• Condors and butterflies have "wings" which are your purchased puts and calls. The wider the wing the higher the max profit/risk. The condor body can be riskier and skinny with a narrow high profit range or wider for a much greater chance of success with lower payout.
• An iron condor is built by combining a put credit spread and a call credit spread with the same expiry.
• An iron condor can be thought of as a modified short strangle with limited risk, and therefore a bit less profit. I prefer defined limited risk.
• The butterfly is similar except instead of a plateau it has a sharp peak. My personal mental note is that a condor looks more like a strangle with wings, while a butterfly looks like a straddle with wings.
• Pay attention to earnings dates when you open these, I have forgotten to check before and it led to bad trades.
• https://www.theoptionsguide.com/iron-condor.aspx
• https://www.theoptionsguide.com/iron-butterfly.aspx

Long Condor (Debit Call Condor)

• The debit version of an Iron Condor. You expect the price to stay inside your defined range. This strategy profits from neutral or mostly neutral stock movement. I’ve never tried this, Iron Condors make more sense to me.
• Limited risk / limited reward.
• https://www.theoptionsguide.com/condor.aspx

Short Condor (Credit Call Condor)

• Inverse of an Iron Condor. You expect the price to go OUTSIDE your defined range. These are useful when you expect significant price movement. Credit to open.
• Limited risk / limited reward.
• Can be harder to set up. I want to try these, haven’t yet.
• https://www.theoptionsguide.com/short-condor.aspx

Reverse Iron Condor

• Inverse of an Iron Condor. You expect the price to go OUTSIDE your defined range. These are useful when you expect significant price movement. Debit to open.
• Limited risk / limited reward.
• https://www.theoptionsguide.com/reverse-iron-condor.aspx

LEAPs

• LEAP Options are options that are long term with many DTE, often over a year until expiration. LEAP calls are great for long term growth plays (downtrends with LEAP puts) or simply when you really like a company and can't afford 100 shares. LEAPs (or any "longer term" option) enables you to sell a PMCC or PMCP (below)

PMCC / PMCP

• PMCC or PMCP are poor man's covered call (or poor man's covered puts). They are diagonal options often used with purchased LEAPs. You sell a shorter DTE call/put with a further OTM strike than your purchased call/put. For PMCC/PMCPs it is often recommended to recoup your extrinsic value as soon as possible, some recommend with your first call CC or put sale, to ensure you are positive if the option is assigned early. These have a lot of moving parts and strategies. If you buy a barely ITM call/put and sell a nearby strike call/put you run the risk of the purchased option getting "blown by" on large stock movement and ending up with a very negative losing trade. Keeping your purchased LEAP deeper ITM should protect you. Check your initial PMCC using an options calculation to make sure you don't screw up.
• I'm currently tinkering with these myself. So far I like .7-.9 delta call LEAPS with 30-45 DTE calls on my CC. The goal is to hold the LEAP long term, potentially until expiration, and constantly sell calls/puts on it that expire worthless. Typically the call/put is rolled up and out or down and out if it's going to be assigned, unless you don't want your LEAP anymore.
• Some people look at these many sold CC or puts as profits, I look at them as lowering my cost basis until it's zero (or even negative). I have a page in my notebook I write each CC on my NIO LEAP (I Meme stock sometimes). I find it satisfying to slowly see the cost of the original option disappear. When I originally wrote this I had ~2 years left on it and it's 9-10% paid for; that doesn't even count the actual gains the LEAP has.
• TT states this is considered an IV play, which I partially agree with. You want to buy these during low IV times since an IV drop will hurt your LEAP value. I look at them more as a way to sell calls/puts on a high IV company with a lot of price movement and potential upside/downside.

Advanced Orders

• Guide to several order types: https://us.etrade.com/knowledge/events/webinars/order-types-from-basic-to-advanced-07162019
• One Triggers Other (OTO):
  • Good brokers will allow you to set these up, some will require a desktop to do it. This lets you link one action to another. In programming think of it like an if-then. You’ll tie a buy/sell to another buy/sell
  • Setting trailing stops on options is very chaotic since their price movement can be drastic due to volatility. I prefer to set my trailing stop to a stock.
  • What I like to do is set a trailing stop on a stock (or just link it to a stock price drop) and have it sell 1 share I own. Then it immediately executes a market order to sell my call. I’ve had good luck doing this with incredibly volatile plays were stop losses aren’t effective. I’ll often have an order saved and ready saved for when a strong run up starts. When my price alerts start blowing up my phone, I’ll immediately hit execute to turn it on.

​
Disclaimer:
I’m not a financial adviser, I'm actually an engineer. I’m not telling you to invest in a specific stock/option or even use a specific strategy. I’ve outlined and more extensively elaborated on what I personally like. You should test several strategies and find what works best for you.
I'm just a guy who trades (mainly options) part-time for financial gain and fun. I don't claim to be some investing savant.

There have been a few other long-term HODLers sharing their stories recently and I've greatly enjoyed reading them and reminiscing about Bitcoin's past. Here's my story - I hope it's as entertaining as the others.
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Every number between 0 cents and the current ATH has been, by definition, the all-time-high at one point. Don't let that prevent you from taking a risk in something you believe in. Extend your time horizon to a decade and lock your coins away.
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I've been a libertarian since I was a teenager. The expanding role of the State is something that I've been worrying about for most of my life. While learning about the immorality of the existence of the State, at some point I learned about monetary policy and how inflation is robbing everyone on an unprecedented scale. I tucked this knowledge away and was determined to figure out a way around it when I started making my own money. (This paragraph is the only one involving political philosophy, go ahead and continue reading)
I first heard of Bitcoin in 2010 on one of the many forums I frequented in my libertarian internet circle. It was an interesting concept to me, but I didn't pursue it at all. Again I tucked this knowledge away for future use.
I heard of it again several months later (2010). This time I decided to try it out. I remember downloading and syncing the reference wallet and using a BTC faucet to send coins to my wallet. I forget exactly how many it was... 5, maybe? That's as far as I went with it though. At some point I deleted the wallet and the downloaded blockchain - probably to make room for a Steam game or something. Those coins are gone.
That's right - Steam. I have been a gamer for most of my life as well. I owned a powerful graphics card at the time: The Radeon 5970.
The third time I heard about Bitcoin was in May 2011. I had heard that the price was lifting off and people were making a lot of money from it. This time I decided to dive in and see what I could figure out.
This was where I fell into the deep rabbit hole of Bitcoin. I remember getting so absorbed in it that I didn't sleep some nights. I was working my day job, going home and learning all that I could about Bitcoin. Learning about how addresses were generated, how wallets worked, how mining worked, how the difficulty adjustment worked, everything that I possibly could.
After a week or two of obsessing and reading about Bitcoin, I decided that this was the most important invention since the internet - the most perfect form of money ever created. One of the most ingenious systems ever designed by man - and NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT IT YET.
I can't recall if any other coins existed at the time, but between 2011-2012 I remember other coins like Namecoin, Peercoin, Feathercoin, and some others. I don't hear about any of those other coins these days... besides LTC and XRP, of course.
I decided that I wanted in. I needed to get some Bitcoin. I needed it NOW!! This would be like buying stock in the Internet itself but better - no counterparty risk, and I could be my own bank!
I wasn't making a lot of money at the time, so putting money towards anything discretionary wasn't going to be friendly to my budget. Yes, I owned a badass gaming rig, but that was my only luxury in life. I knew I was going to buy for the long term, so I decided to put aside $500 and go for it. I was going to buy Bitcoin.
At the time, Mt Gox was the only game in town that I can remember. I don't think BTC-e existed yet, or maybe I just hadn't heard of it.
I signed up for a Gox account and figured out how to fund it. There were a few ways to do this, one of which was another app called Dwolla. So I signed up for Dwolla and got verified. I then deposited my $500 and initiated the ACH transfer to Gox. BTC price at the time: $3.
I had initiated the transfer on a Tuesday evening after work. I was informed that the transfer would arrive at Gox on Friday.
I watched agonizingly as the price climbed hour after hour, day after day. $3.50. $4. $5. $6. I was missing the boat!!! By Thursday evening the price had doubled.
At work on Friday, I checked my email on my phone practically every five minutes. The transfer didn't go through the entire work day. I had plans with friends that evening - damn it, I was going to have to try and do this on my phone while hanging with my friends?!
I ended up making my first BTC purchase while sitting in a movie theater. I bought 50 Bitcoin for $10 each - during an all-time-high.
I still hodl every one of these coins today.
(The movie, for the curious: X-Men: First Class)
I couldn't stop there, though. The more I learned, the more I had to know. The more I had to DO. That's when I got into GPU mining.
This was a time before ASICs. I believe GPU mining was relatively new -- before this, miners were only using CPUs (which were in 2011 -- like GPUs in 2020 -- obsolete for SHA256 mining).
The next day I dove headfirst into Bitcoin mining. I downloaded the software and set up an account on Slush Pool. I ran my 5970 on full blast for a while and went out with some friends. When I got back, my bedroom was noticeably hotter than it was when I left. So that's what I was going to be dealing with? Ok, fine.
I also couldn't play any demanding video games while the miner was running. I'd have to dial the hashrate down, or disable it completely. Ok, I guess I can manage that.
After a few days of dealing with that, I decided to buy another 5970. If I got bored of Bitcoin, it would still make The Witcher 2 run better!
All told, between mining with Slush Pool and BTCGuild for a month, I managed to mine an additional 50BTC that month.
I still hodl every one of these coins today.
One day, my electric bill came. $350. For my 1BR apartment? That can't be right...
I called up the electric company and told them they double-billed me.
"Nope, that amount is accurate. That's what you owe for this month. Have a nice day!"
And that was the day I stopped Bitcoin mining.
I had been telling all my friends and gamer friends about Bitcoin the entire time. They laughed at me. I told them they wouldn't be laughing when I was a millionaire.
Soon after, Bitcoin crashed -- HARD. Dropping from $32 at its peak to $2 over the next few months -- one of the largest price drops in its history.
I was dejected. I stopped talking about it with my friends. The gamer communities I was a member of made fun of me relentlessly, trashing Bitcoin every day. News articles celebrating Bitcoin's death popped up everywhere. It was the first major public crash, and I felt all alone.
I uninstalled the Bitcoin price widget from my phone. I moved on with my life and tried to forget about Bitcoin. I left the wallet on my PC, but deleted my copy of the blockchain.
I barely thought about Bitcoin for the next two years. Any time someone brought it up at work or in my friend group, I changed the subject. I was completely demoralized and thought I had fallen for the biggest scam of all time.
After this unbearable TWO YEAR period... Bitcoin came back.
One day I opened Bitcoin and saw utter elation all over the front page. What the hell was going on?
Bitcoin had surpassed the last all-time-high and was climbing still. $50... $100. And it was still going!!!
I snapped out of my multi-year funk right then and there. Somehow my paper financial loss had clouded my judgment and made me forget about the fundamentals that made me interested in Bitcoin in the first place.
"Bitcoin was back?" It had never left. It was still the same decentralized, unforgeable, instantly transferrable miracle asset that I had fallen in love with.
I got back into mining again, but I didn't leave my GPUs running 24/7 like I had before. Eventually, ASICs started coming out and obsoleted GPU miners, so I had to start mining LTC instead and selling them for BTC. I mined on a site called give-me-ltc and did my trades on BTC-e.
Eventually I got tired of managing my miners, paying extra for electricity, and dealing with switching stuff around for gaming. I stopped mining again and moved on to other things.
I exited this phase with an additional 30BTC and over 400LTC. I still hodl every one of these coins today.
Eventually, BTC hit $1000. I watched this live on bitcoinity.org. I remember this day vividly.
The graphic shown on bitcoinity for every price point was usually some sort of funny gif - someone dancing, someone acting crazy, someone making a funny face, Mr. Bean watching signposts fly past his car. This time, the gif was different - it was serious.
It was an astronaut on the moon. A flag was planted behind him bearing the Bitcoin logo.
Tears welled up in my eyes. This was significant. Bitcoin was being recognized for what it was - the most perfect form of money ever created.
My stack was now worth enough to pay off all of my six-figure student loan debt. I had thought that I would be paying this debt off for the rest of my life. Bitcoin meant potential financial freedom to me.
I didn't sell a single satoshi.
Of course, $1000 didn't last, and paying off all my loans with my stack was no longer a possibility. The price did not recover for almost FOUR years -- even longer than the previous crypto winter. During this time I bought a few more coins through Coinbase.
The 2017 run-up was a blur -- except for one day...
The day I became a crypto millionaire.
My family didn't grow up with a ton of money. I never had the latest clothes, toys -- well, anything. We weren't poor, but we scraped by. I didn't have a great education in personal finance.
Being a crypto millionaire went straight to my head.
Driving to work on that day, I remember thinking I was the most badass person on Earth. Somehow I had managed to manipulate some computer numbers around that were now worth over a million dollars!!
I couldn't help it - I told everyone at work. I was a crypto millionaire. I couldn't shut up about it. I told my family. I told my friends. I told everyone.
I went to the store to grab a few things. Walking the aisles, I couldn't stop thinking about it. "These people have no idea they're standing next to a MILLIONAIRE."
Of course, my crypto millionaire status didn't last long.
This time, though, I SODL a few coins at the peak. I bought a house and a car.
A month or two later, I was no longer a crypto millionaire.
Seeing the altcoin season was kind of crazy to me. For a few months, you literally could not pick a losing coin. Everyone was a winner. It was sheer insanity. I picked up a few ETH to get some exposure, even though I didn't (and still don't) believe in it long term.
I'm doing pretty well these days. I am numb to any price activity at this point. The last time I bought was the dip down to $4000 in March. I don't know how anyone could have resisted that one.
Other than what I SODL in 2017, I still hodl all of my coins.
You may be able to see a pattern here. There's always going to be another all-time-high. There's always going to be a crash or a correction. You're probably going to feel stupid more than a handful of times being a HODLer. But eventually these feelings go away.
I have a few more anecdotes and random thoughts to share, so I'll make them bullet points below:
​
- I held on to my BCH for a while. I will admit that I was TERRIFIED during the flippening. 6-12 months later, I sold them all for BTC.
- I immediately sold all my BSV for LTC.
- I hold BTC, LTC, and ETH. That's it.
- I don't believe in any of these centralized or "new and improved" shitcoins. I'm a BTC maximalist through-and-through. The only other coin I'd consider at this point would be Monero. I know almost nothing about it and I haven't done any research on it, so I don't hold any.
​
FUNNY
- I gave $5 of BTC to a friend in 2013. They forgot about it. I reminded them about it this year. They sold it for $175.
- I gave $30 of BTC to a friend in 2013. They sold it in 2017 for $750.
- I solo mined IxCoin (literal who?) for a few days because I wanted to feel what it was like to solo mine a block. I did not solo mine a block.
- My favorite Bitcoin meme is "This is gentlemen." Why don't people say that anymore?
​
REMINISCING
- Wallets I used: Bitcoin core -> Armory Offline (airgapped with TAILS) -> Electrum Offline (airgapped with TAILS) -> trezor
- Armory was flaky as fuck. I moved on to Electrum after the 20th time Armory failed to sync the blockchain. I remember having to manually export the private keys using some Python script because I couldn't get the wallet synced.
- Reddit is too slow for BTC sometimes, so I would go to the BTC-e trollbox to get some realtime action. Now that BTC-e is gone, I typically hang out in /biz/ when Reddit is boring.
​
REGRETS
- Not buying more. Not mining more.
- Not selling BCH for BTC immediately. That one still stings.
- Focusing a little too much on paying down debt vs buying more BTC.
- Buying precious metals in 2013. What a waste.
- Selling in 2017. But, I wanted a house and a car. Regretting taking profit is stupid, but I can't help it.
​
THOUGHTS
- I never once tried to convince anyone to buy Bitcoin, despite how much I talked about it. I tried to convince people of the potential and that the Fed was evil, but I never once said, "You should buy Bitcoin" to anyone.
- I see another 10x for BTC. Just buy BTC. Don't buy anything else. Just buy BTC and fucking HODL.
- HODL through these crashes. They make you stronger. After a few of them, nothing will faze you. Be a fucking man and HODL on to your coins!!!!!
- People just don't understand the network effect of the BTC protocol. No one cares that another coin has better features. No one cares that there are better internet protocols. They use what has the most infrastructure and support. Don't fall for these shitcoins.
- People don't understand the layering concept. Increasing blocksize simply isn't the solution to scaling Bitcoin - second layer and beyond is the solution.
- Taxation is theft.
​
Hopefully this was at least mildly entertaining.
Happy New Year!!!!!
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Edit 1: Lots of comments about "taxation is theft" - some genuine, some not. If you're open minded and want to learn more, check out these short videos: https://blog.georgeoughttohelp.com/george-ought-to-help/
Edit 2: My thoughts on Ethereum: https://www.reddit.com/Bitcoin/comments/ko1wk3/i_bought_the_ath_in_2011_a_decade_of_hodling/ghopkjj?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

I just remembered when my mother gave up on helping me when I was being bullied so terribly at school. It got to a point where I became selectively mute and I lived in my headphones all the time.
I was around 12-13 and I came to my mom about how the bullying wasn't better, that it's gotten so much worse when she made me join the cheer team at my middle school. I would have borderline anxiety attacks before every practice that involved intense nausea and pacing back and forth because she made me feel like I never had the option to say 'no' to anything.
Her response?
"Well, you look like a goddamn target. The way you dress, the way you do your hair, and the way you sit. Your entire body language is wrong. You're asking them to bully you."
And she wonders why I didn't tell her or any adult about other things that have happened to me.
Now, when bad things happen to me, guess who shoulders all the faults? Me!
Guess who hates themselves? Me!
Guess whose had trust issues with adults and doesn't trust her mom? ME!
Guess who is currently pissed about this even though this happened almost a decade ago? FOOKIN' ME!
EDIT: Thank you so much for the awards and comments!! I remembered this before I went to sleep last night and was up today with low energy and a bad mood. I was playing Beat Saber, having a nice dancing time, and then I just...remembered more of this moment. I remembered how she still forced me to go to those practices even though I was having anxiety attacks. Not only that but she manipulated me into thinking that I was good at the sport and loved it when I hated everything about it. I didn't even know what my anxiety attacks were about until my brother pointed it out that it was because of cheer. I remember how she thought a solution to my problems would be banning me from using my headphones for a while. I remember how she manipulated me into doing cheer again when I started high school (which was the same district and I was bullied AGAIN).
After all of this, she had it in her head that my reputation was great at school...IT FUCKING WASN'T. Remembering this more, all of that energy for Beat Saber for it just left and I just sighed, turning off the game.
These comments are so nice and uplifting! Also, thank you to those who have shared their experiences!! I lowkey felt kinda crazy for still being mad about this. Lastly, I did not know that this was PTSD, trauma, a flashback, and more specifically, CPTSD! Nor did I know about EDMR. I'm currently looking for a therapist so this has helped me in the direction I should look in!

(OT: don't we perhaps need a Discussion flair? Is there already something like that? Am I blind?)
First of all I want to say that I'm a firm lover of this edition. I wouldn't ever consider going back to 1e. I listen to 1e podcast still and to think that I would have to deal with certain bs aspects of the game.... No thank you, I'd much rather play with 2e and never ever again have to worry about grapple rules.
However you might see that I'm fond of negative threads as off lately. I know that it is risky to say, these days, but I actually hope I'm laying down constructive criticism.
My point is pretty simple. The itemization rework from 1e to 2e didn't hit one of its goals. At least at our table. I can't quote the exact words but when talking about magic items they would say something like "we don't want you to waste a lot of budget on mandatory little defensive bonuses. We want you to be able to purchase dinamic exotic items that you can be excited about."
This meant the disappeareance of the holy trinity of ring of Protection, talisman of natural armor and cloak of protection.
However I feel like the second part (purchasing items you are exciting about) didn't quite work. And for a single reason: many items have a very limited lifespan.
This is due to static DCs and bonuses. Let's take the demon mask which let's you cast fear at lvl 4 with DC 20 (same dc as a lvl 4 caster). At lvl 5 it's already weaker, at lvl 7 it's completely obsolete and a waste of 2 actions.
It was never particularly exciting to dump 10k gold to upgrade the ring of protection from +2 to +3 however you knew that you would always benefit from the full value of the item. You always get what you pay for.
In 2e you pay a price that is split between an item bonus to a skill and some kind of active. But the effectiveness of the active degrades pretty fast meaning that you are wasting a portion of the gold value of the item.
This can lead to "why would I waste a rune slot for the dancing property if in a couple of level it will barely hit anything"?
I wish they would introduce something to alleviate this problem. Class DC would be a great tool for that.
(The One ring is only as strong as its wearer)
Edit: I realize that scaling dc would make worn/held items something like better wands, making those less special.

Welp, there it is. We're officially out of football until the "kinda combines" and draft. Hopefully by the time camps and preseason comes around, we start to see glimpses of a post(ish?) Covid-19 landscape - both personally and also in the sportsverse.
I've really tried to put in a lot of work through the season adjusting my thoughts on rookies - on the fly - based on adding to the sample. The reactions and style of my methodology has clear strengths and weaknesses. No better were the weaknesses illustrated than overreacting to JT's abysmal stretch midseason. On the flipside, my "I'm worried about Reagor" (quite earlier than most!) and "The Bell signing is going to crush CEH for at least this year" were valid concerns. And I definitely was one of the earlier guys to start hyping Tee Higgins once he showed some signs. That said - my methodology is mostly a barometer of perceived value, and the combination of an extremely talented 2020 Draft Class as well as a Covid-19 impacted year probably made for a very non-typical year as far as Rookie evaluation goes.
Before the season started, I did a mildly popular [Dynasty 2020 Rookie Stock Watch] (and at the request of the community, I did weekly updates, and will continue doing this next year! In case you missed previous weeks, you can find week 1 here, week 2 here, week 3 here, week 4 here, week 5 here, week 6 here, week 7 here. week 8 here, week 9 here, week 10 here, week 11 here, week 12 here, week 13 here, week 14 here, week 15 here, and week 16 here.
As this is my last "risers and fallers" of the 2020 class, my disclaimers are a LITTLE different and I'd encourage you to read them before diving in.

1. I consider where I would now draft this player if we were to redo a 1QB rookie draft NOW, after a full season is in the books. Since higher picks are SO MUCH MORE VALUABLE, having a guy drop from 1.01 to 1.07 is a much bigger value loss than if a guy drops from 2.12 to 4.05. Also baked into my decisions of who is a riser and faller is how I feel the player looks to fit into future dynasty start up rankings. In some cases, a player ranked #1 and a player ranked #4 could feel miles apart on a rookie ranking, but I very well might consider them just as close (3 spots difference) in a full startup as well!
2. When I try to determine if a player has risen or fallen, I like to weigh what some of the perceptions were on that player's upside, and if any of those perceptions appear to no longer be true or at least need to be tempered.
3. We absolutely need to weigh in what the rookie did with the opportunities (or lack thereof) in their opening season. A huge factor in the final valuation of the 2020 rookies is this question: "What will they be worth before the 2021 season?" - and that question is highly impacted by volume and opportunity (and how they did with it!) in year 1.
4. Just because I have someone as a riser or faller doesn't mean I think you should buy/sell them at bad value. It's the same concept as stocks - if you believe in the fundamentals of the company you invested in, you don't sell off yet. 2020 was a WEIRD year. I expect we will have more "2nd year breakouts" than normal as a result. Similarly, after a stock skyrockets is not usually the best time to buy in - you'd want to wait for a brief regression before that. You should **always** make a value play, not merely selling or buying at cost.
5. Like Matthew Berry has said - just because a guy is on my faller list doesn't mean I like them less than a guy on my riser list. This is just my evaluation of their value relative to where it was before this season. These rankings are an attempt to really lock in where I feel the player will rank on a 2021 Startup draft compared to other rookies.

With that out of the way, let's dive in!

Biggest 2020 Season risers:

​

1. James Robinson. There really can be no answer other than JRob for the biggest riser of the season. In most drafts, he was not taken in the first 5 rounds. And if he was, it was still a VERY late flyer - and we've heard many stories of him being taken and cut and picked up by someone else. Wherever you have James Robinson now - he was virtually nothing more than "a very deep sleeper blip who might take over in a year when Fournette is gone". Well, that takeover happened, and it happened a year early. Robinson won a lot of people money this year, even as he disappeared by season end - because he still got you to the dance. For that reason, Robinson wins the title as the absolute biggest riser of the year.
2. Antonio Gibson. Depending on when you drafted (I drafted earlyish June) Gibson was a late 2nd/early 3rd. Once news started breaking regarding Guice (still makes me yikes when I type his name!) and Peterson was cut, Gibson climbed charts quickly. His profile was that of an extremely talented back with a TINY sample size running the ball. Now that sample size is a bit bigger, and we like what we see. He has all the makings of a guy who could be an RB1 type for the next few years, and big play potential to break open any touch. We're counting on an uptick in passing game usage in 2021, and crossing our fingers for some improvement at the QB position.
3. Jonathan Taylor. How does JT making the biggest riser list when he was already high to start the year? **Perceived startup value**. At this point, JT is a 1st half of the 1st round guy in tons of Dynasty Startups. That's a huge spike from where he was at the start of the year. You're looking at an RB that in many eyes is worth more than **every single WR playing football right now**. I'm not saying that's the precisely correct valuation for a player I embarrassingly was worried about for a few weeks... but it's where he's valued on a lot of charts now. So take it for what it is - Taylor is the single most valuable piece of the 2020 Draft Class.
4. Justin Jefferson. Similar narrative to Taylor - and you could make the case that I should swap these two guys, considering JT was a top 2 pick and JJeff was around 1.08-1.10. Not going to argue that really. Let's just say JJeff vaulted to the top of the WR class with a record-breaking year and is now the clear-cut 1 of a class where he started as the 3 or 4 on most lists. Heck - Jefferson's explosion has impacted the 2021 class valuations (Chase, anyone?) and has easily put him as a Dynasty Startup top 5 WR type.
5. Tee Higgins. This guy was simply not making it as a 1st round pick in a LOT of 1QB rookie drafts. Now he sits pretty comfortably as WR3 or 4, depending on who you ask. A lot of questions we have about Lamb's 2021 production also echo for Higgins - and we desperately want both to be reunited with their gunslingers as soon as possible. But where fears existed of Higgins being a boom-or-bust player, those fears have been silenced. It's boom.

​
Honorable mentions: I would be remiss if I didn't mention the great rookie years of Aiyuk and Claypool - both guys are positioned well to be strong WRs for any roster going forward, and both have upside potential to be even more than the greatness they've already flashed. I'm not sleeping on them. In addition, Herbert had a stellar season and should be looked at as the clear QB1 of the 2020 class.

Biggest 2020 Season fallers:

​

1. Ke'Shawn Vaughn. Look! We're talking about Vaughn again! A guy who was going as early as 1.08 in 1QB now would likely not even be a top 3 round pick. He's the inverse James Robinson. Not much else to say. He did put out a few nice plays here and there, but ended the season as effectively the RB4 on the Bucs. That could change in the offseason though, so if you bought stocks in Vaughn, don't cut bait at this point when there's a chance he heads into 2021 as Tampa's RB2.
2. Jalen Reagor. Depending on who you ask, Reagor was being taken as high as WR3 in the 2020 class. Despite his mediocre final season in college, people were sold on his talent and the barren Eagle's WR room. Instead, Reagor battled injuries, terrible QB play, and even when he did play, he was frequently outshined by... Travis Fulgham and Greg Ward. Don't get me wrong, anyone who has watched a bit of Eagles Football (firstly, pity them!) can tell that Reagor is way more talented than JJAW. But it might not be enough. In a year where so many great players were taken, Reagor feels like a fringe WR2 type at best, going forward.
3. Henry Ruggs. Taken as a back-end Rookie 1st, Ruggs flashed early, got hurt, and then totally fell off the map. Lots to be concerned about here as he rarely looked like anything more than an extremely expensive decoy who needs to catch all 3 of his targets per game to have a chance at a fantasy stat line worth starting. His value is a bit sticky because you can't picture the Raiders giving up on their 1st round draft pick. However, we're now left hoping that something changes in his usage and attention in 2021. Hoping for change is not the position you want to be in for a fantasy asset.
4. Clyde Edwards-Helaire. First, I can't knock CEH's strong job in an otherwise abysmal KC performance in the Super Bowl. He was extremely efficient per touch, and was one of the few bright spots in the game. The problem? Despite averaging almost 8 yards a touch, CEH only managed 11 touches. The early sparks he showed fizzled once Bell was eligible to play, as did his snap share and touch share. As of now, his usage simply isn't trending anywhere that would make him a top 6 pick if we were re-drafting the 2020 class. That's a significant drop, and we've gotta have him on the list as a result. I worry that the 2021 KC offense will use him the same way they used him the second half of the 2020 season. If that's the case, he's a low end RB2/very strong flex/RB3.
5. Bryan Edwards. One of 2020's biggest hype darlings found himself barely playing after getting hurt early. A guy who peaked as going nearly in the 1st round would now likely be a middle 3rd if the class was redrafted. Between Edwards and Ruggs, the Raiders managed to be the only team with two players to show up on the list, and having them both be fallers is not an encouraging sign. My gut tells me ONE of them might turn it around, but even that is a coinflip at this point. As I said in my disclaimer - it's possible a non-Covid year will allow some of these guys to be late bloomers.

How I rank them right now
(in 1QB, but I will include where I would bump the QBs up to in 2QB)
Tier 1, all 3 pretty similar in value for me
01 Jonathan Taylor
02 Justin Jefferson
03 Cam Akers
04 D'Andre Swift
05 Antonio Gibson
Tier 1.5 (not a true break from tier 1, very close in value)
06 JK Dobbins
07 CeeDee Lamb
08 Tee Higgins
09 James Robinson
10 Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Tier 2
11 Brandon Aiyuk
12 Chase Claypool
13 Justin Herbert (1.01 in 2QB/SF)
Tier 3
14 Jerry Jeudy
15 Laviska Shenault
16 AJ Dillon
17 Michael Pittman Jr
18 Denzel Mims
19 Jalen Reagor
Tier 4
20 Darnell Mooney
21 Joe Burrow (1.02-1.05 in 2QB/SF)
22 Tua Tagovailoa (1.03-1.06 in 2QB/SF - but definitely behind Burrow)
23 Henry Ruggs III
24 Gabriel Davis
Tier 5
25 Zach Moss
26 Jalen Hurts (late 1st in 2QB/SF)
27 Bryan Edwards
28 KJ Hamler
29 Lynn Bowden Jr. (but he drops to mid 30's if he loses RB eligibility in 2021... or goes to jail!)
30 Van Jefferson
31 Donovan Peoples-Jones
32 Cole Kmet
Tier 6
33 Devin Duvernay
34 La'Mical Perine
35 Collin Johnson
36 Quintez Cephus
37 Ke'Shawn Vaughn
Tier 7
38 Darrynton Evans
39 Tyler Johnson
40 Harrison Bryant
41 Anthony McFarland Jr
42 Salvon Ahmed
43 Joshua Kelley
44 Deejay Dallas
45 Jordan Love (late 2nd in SF)
46 Antonio Gandy-Golden
47 Albert Okwuegbunam
48 Adam Trautman
Obligatory Kicker Shoutout:
49 Tyler Bass
50 Rodrigo Blankenship
Last words:
Thank you so much for the support and dialogue throughout the year. It's been a joy and blessing to write this and be a distraction from the world while you reply and praise/criticize me shoot-from-the-hip takes. After the NFL draft, I'll be ready to do it all again with the 2021 class. Now to find my way onto a vaccine list...
As always, I'll try to engaged with each and every reply. :)

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Vuxten walked quietly next to Sergeant Addox, listening in on the rest of the platoon talking to one another on the chat channel. They were either taking bets on how long the little green mantid had been in cryostorage or bitching about the taste of the nutripaste or their water.
All good.
Addox stopped in front of the door that the little green one pointed at before settling back down on the top of Addox's helmet. Vuxten checked and saw that Addox was running his internal heat at three degrees above normal and raising the threshhold for dumping heat into his heat sinks or deploying the small cooling fins.
"Past. Open and there," the little greenie said. It settled back down and began gnawing on the beef jerky that Casey had run up for him.
"Casey, crack the door," Vuxten ordered. He opened the channel to the rest of the platoon. "Everyone, weapons off safe but fingers off the trigger."
One by one the icons went to amber.
Casey knelt down and started working on the door, bypassing it in only a few minutes. It took a few more minutes to break the weld holding the door closed and Casey took a minute to lube the track the door was set on.
"Ready?" Casey asked, holding up the two wires.
"Ready," Vuxten told him.
Casey touched the wires together and the door slid open. Helmet lights and shoulder lights illuminated the inside of the room with harsh white light for the first time in millions of years.
"Mantid automation, man," Addox said softly.
The computer was obvious. Quantum systems, supercooled, the piping repaired over and over again. The dangling superconductor wires woven through everything.
Vuxten saw the "Phasic Control Maintenance Manifold" right away. Looking at it gave him a headache as the psychic shielding jumped six points. The system was complex, the shielding and casings removed on half of the equipment.
"Dropping my psychic shielding five percent," Addox warned. He gave a low grunt. "Wuff, I can feel the tingle across the back of my teeth."
"471, talk with your ancestor, check the system, see what you guys can do," Vuxten said.
--roger roger-- 471 sent back. --better have turkey for us--
"I'll have Casey fab you up some turkey jerky," Vuxten promised.
--casey use too much lemon pepper-- 471 said, opening the clamshell.
The psychic protection clamped down hard enough the little mantid's knees buckled for a moment. He shook his head, the other dozen green mantids following suit. He climbed down Vuxten, moving across of the floor to the electrical conduits.
--it appears to run off of some form of power-- 471 sent.
Vuxten laughed.
--checky checky-- 471 said. --we will see what we can see--
Vuxten watched the greenies check out the computer systems, the phasic system, the wiring on the walls. He moved over and leaned against a computer console, watching everyone get to work.
"He's asleep," Casey said, jerking a thumb at the green mantid on top of Addox's helmet. "Poor little guy has some serious freezer burn. Probably been in cryostasis on and off since the Precursor War."
Vuxten nodded, remaining silent.
Long minutes passed while Vuxten chewed a piece of gum and watched.
"Glory, do you read?" Casey asked from where he was standing next to one of the computer consoles.
"I read you, Sergeant. Line's full of distortion and interference though," Glory answered.
"How's your dataslicing? Any good at it?" Casey asked.
Glory chuckled. "I'm a DS, what do you think?"
"We've got a Precursor Era computer system here, VI run. Can you do your thing and, you know, take over the system?" Casey asked.
There was a pleasant laugh. "No can do, Casey. Your pipeline is wide enough for me to talk, maybe do some data exchange, but the interference would cause too many errors and your pipeline is too thin for my fat ass."
"Heh, first time a woman's ever complained about the width of my pipe," Casey laughed.
"I'm hard to please," Glory laughed with him. "I'll help what I can, but you're going to have to depend on the greenies. 680 was in Digital Warfare Corps before transferring to the Telkan Marines," she said.
"680, can you lead everyone into cracking that computer open?" Vuxten asked.
--easy peasy lemon squeezy-- 680 sent back.
The greenies crawled over the equipment, using access hatches designed for them but not.
-----------------
Cordexen sat in his command chair, staring at the console he had moved in front of him. He had traced, as best he could with only limited permissions, the areas where the servitor caste had stopped responding for a long period before responding again.
It was a wandering, meandering path from the Deep Ore Miner Maintenance and Processing Bay that led the empty area on his map that Cordexen knew contained the Hive Queens chambers, the primary phasic control system, and the facility's master control computer systems.
He wracked his brain, trying to figure out how the mere passage of the bipeds could be disturbing the servitors. Perhaps they left behind some of their numbers to be devoured?
No, that would be done by primitives, and primitives didn't fashion high tech combat armor or work Substance W.
Cordexen knew he should be alarmed by an alien species invading the facility but he honestly could not muster up the emotion to care much. If they destroyed the facility, he would be free. If they busted down his door and shot him, he would be free. If they destroyed the computer and the phasic system, he would be free.
No matter what happened, as long as it changed the unending status quo, he would be free.
"Warning, unauthorized entry to computer mainframe detected," the facility VI suddenly said. "Security control alert: unauthorized entry to computer mainframe housing."
"Open the door. I will examine the breach," Cordexen said, sitting up.
"Unable to comply. Message is as follows," the VI said.
Cordexen slumped in his chair as the Queen's words were repeated back to him.
"Unauthorized breach to..." the computer started. "Access granted. Welcome 'little teapot', admin access granted. Maintenance access granted. Power user group 'all your base' has been created."
Cordexen perked up again, watching his screen. Data was flowing by at an incredible rate, the screen's refresh capability actually being overloaded by the amount of data flashing. The VI kept reciting groups being created, access being granted to groups, power users logging on.
He watched as the facility actually posted a maintenance update to his screen.
Half of the facility was dormant. The cryopods were at critical. The power was running at one tenth power. Life support was at bare minimum.
He felt the heaters kick on, blowing warm air into the control room.
Cordexen slowly unfolded from his chair, moving over and standing under the vent.
He raised his face up, closing the armored eyelids, relishing in the warmth.
He imagined he was standing outside.
----------------
Klakeka stirred as the lights came on in his command center. He heard the environmental system kick in and felt warm air pour from the vent, enveloping him in a warm blanket of heated air. His monitor was showing a deep level scan of the facility's status.
"Environmental system lockout lifted by admin power user 'hip hop soldier'," the VI stated. "Nutripaste lockout lifted by power user 'delicious delicious turkey'. Facility lockout under review by power user 'all the electrons to my yard'."
Klakeka stared at the monitor as data flashed by almost impossibly fast. User groups he had never heard of were taking over systems, rebooting some systems, powering down others, powering up the rest.
"Power user 'Great and Powerful Zig' has issued autonomous mining machine recall and maintenance phase," the VI reported.
"Define user 'Great and Powerful Zig'," Klakeka ordered.
"Cannot comply. Message is as follow," the VI said and Klakeka started to huddle in on himself.
"Hi. My name is Technical Sergeant Grade Six 'proton movement in high gravity low temperature semi-solid strange matter' but you may call me 538. If you shoot at us we'll kill you. This facility is under lockdown by the Terran Confederate Military. Please keep all hands and bladearms inside the vehicle and remain seated at all times. Question and answer period will be after full facility control. The war is over but we'll still kill you if you resist. Turkey is delicious and we will share it with you. End message," the VI said.
Klakeka just stared. "Computer, replay message."
The VI obediently obliged, repeating it.
Klakeka frowned slightly, his antenna crossing slightly.
"Computer, define... 'turkey'," Klakeka ordered.
"Cannot com... data loading. Loaded," the VI said. It suddenly showed a picture of a fat strange looking fowl. The feathers flew off of it, the head fell off, and it suddenly fell in boiling grease. It emerged looking golden brown and covered with a light crust of ground up grain flour. The skin and meat was pulled away, revealing moist white meat that dripped grease and juices.
Klakeka found himself salivating just staring at the image.
The meat was ripped away and dropped to cartoon green servitors, who were all dancing with strange little icons replacing their eyes to display happiness.
"Turkey," the VI stated with authority. "Is delicious."
"I would very much like some," Klakeka said softly.
"Cannot comp..." the VI started to say. "Do not resist. Resistance will be met with 15mm high explosive armor defeating phasic enhanced antimatter kinetic rounds delivered in groups. Compliance will be met with delicious turkey."
Klakeka kept salivating, watching the picture.
Comply? I'll do more than comply. I will put on a hat and dance like a Vurkeent at a mating ritual for a chunk of that delicious looking meat, he thought to himself. It sounds much more delicious than bullets.
----------------
Abriketa petted the little green servitor in his lap gently. He was able to generate enough of a psychic field that through contact he could ease its anxiety at not working on the task it had been ordered to complete. Its chitin was dull and flaky, waxy and distressed, but it huddled up against Abriketa in the cold and dark of the command center.
"Someone please talk to me," Abriketa mourned.
"Cannot comply. Message is as..." the computer suddenly cut off. It had been spouting gibberish for the last few minutes and Abriketa had tuned it out.
"Hi. My name is 'P2=G1(M1m2/r2^3)3' which is the universal law of phasic strength over distance accounting for gravity but you may call me '680'," the computer suddenly said.
"I am Abriketa," he said. Part of him, ancient commands from a queen long dead, wanted him to immediately storm out and kill this '680', but he ignored it, the command no longer having the power to induce anxiety or stress. "One of the facility security commanders. What of you?"
"I am a Technical Sergeant Grade Five with the Terran Confederate Military, specializing in computer system penetration and protection," the computer stated. It sounded different, like the words were almost tumbling over one another despite the steady cadence from the computer. "I'm only dataslicing your archive records so I can spare attention speak with you while I carry out my task."
"Are you real or is this another hallucination?" Abriketa asked.
He had once suffered hallucinations for the entire time he had been outside of the cryopod, his brain taking him back to the time he was in the creche learning to be a warrior caste. Not that the VI had cared. It had merely put him back in cryosleep.
"I'm real, but that's what a hallucination would say, isn't it?" the voice answered. "Huh, rare earth mining, like we suspected. Interesting, the liquid nickle-iron core is nearly 11% rare elements, down from 14%. You've been busy. Oops, sorry. What do you want to talk about?"
"Who are you?"
"I told you already. Call me 680, it takes forever for you non-technical types to say my name and you sound dorky," the voice said. It repeated the longer name, only with an accent that made the name sound mangled and stupid. "So, how long have you been here?"
Abriketa exhaled slowly through his abdomen, slumping down slightly. "Forever. I have been here forever. Since the Atrekna released their great war machines upon the Lanaktallan and us both, betraying us."
"So the Atrekna fired the first shot? Good to know. Willing to talk about it?" 680 asked. "Hang on, you've gotta be miserable."
Abriketa nodded. "I am indeed miserable."
The lights came on and the fans whirred to life. Abriketa felt warm air begin to circulate and sighed deeply.
"I thank you, 680," the massive mantid warrior said.
"How long have you been in the dark?" 680 asked.
"Since we slew the queens. We did not know that they had prepared for that eventuality and they entombed us all here, for all eternity," Abriketa asked. "The phasic regulators allow the computer to give orders to the mantid as if it was a queen. I am unable to countermand the computer's commands to the servitor castes."
"That's interesting," 680 said. "So the servitor caste's higher brain functions are controlled and suppressed?"
"Without the phasic regulator the servitor castes would return to primitive hunter gatherer reflexes," Abriketa said. He gave a sigh. "I so wish they could talk. I have been so lonely."
"Don't move. We have to reset the system. It'll come right back," 680 said.
The lights clicked off and the environmental system went dead.
Abriketa didn't care, still petting the servitor in his lap.
Even if it had only been a hallucination, being able to speak to another after so long meant he would die happy.
--------------
"How's it look?" Vuxten asked from where he was sitting in a chair designed for a massive mantid.
Addox had a good dozen green mantids huddled on his shoulders, on top of his helmet, and on his legs as he sat on the floor. Some were shivering, almost all of them were munching on turkey or beef jerky that Casey had ran off his nanoforge.
Another green mantid came in, started moving toward the computer, passed within a few feet of Addox and stopped. Its antenna lifted and it looked around, almost as if it was waking from a long sleep. It moved over next to another one of its kind.
"Food?" It asked.
"Is good," the one eating said. "Is turkey."
"Here, little guy," Addox said, holding out a piece of turkey. The little greenie took it and sat down next to its brethren.
"How's it look, Sergeant Addox?" Vuxten repeated.
"Pretty good. The phasic system is on its own dedicated systems, the software is all hard encoded, no way to patch it. It's different than the phasic systems used by the Confederacy to ensure no queen pops up and slams a hive-mind down on our Mantid allies and members," Addox said. Several little green servitors were in his lap and he was carefully petting them with one armored gauntlet. The ones on his lap had eaten more beef jerky and then gone to sleep. "If we want to disrupt it, we'll have to blow it in place."
"What about the active mantids? Any data on them?" Vuxten asked.
Addox nodded. "Three warrior caste are awake, pulled from cryostasis. That represents over half of the remaining warriors. No speakers, no queens, looks like most of the warriors and speakers were killed attacking the queens. There's about twenty active greenies, but the computer keeps sending them in here. There's only about fifty more in cryostasis. The remaining ones have largely succumbed to cryo-shock."
"How long?" Plunex asked.
"They've been down here for longer than anything I've ever seen. I'd say the Precursor War. They weren't hatched later. From the records 680 pulled, it looks like the computer would wake them up for emergencies it couldn't handle then refreeze them," Addox said. He gave a slight shudder. "They're the oldest living things I know of, frozen and thawed over and over for over a hundred million years."
"By the Digital Omnimessiah," Plunex said softly. "Talk about endless torment. May the Grave Bound Beauty comfort the damned."
Vuxten noticed that Casey was off to the side, doing something with a hologram projection. He shoved himself off of the chair and moved over to Casey.
"What are you doing, Sergeant Casey?" Vuxten asked.
Casey didn't look away from the hologram. "Back when I met Peak, oh, a hundred or so years back, she worked in psyops. Memetic Warfare Division," Casey said. He adjusted the colors slightly. "You've probably seen her handiwork a couple dozen times."
"OK," Vuxten said. The image was blurry to him, looked like it slightly overlapped itself over four columns.
"Well, explaining concepts to these guys is going to be difficult. We want to make sure they understand if they try to fight us, even if they overwhelm you and your people with their psychic power, Addox and I will rip them apart with our bare hands," Casey said. "Now, funny thing Peak taught me about memes is something I'm going to put to work."
Vuxten waited a moment. Finally, he tabbed up another piece of stimgum and sighed. "What's the weird thing, Sergeant?"
Casey shifted an image slightly. "OK, the more text on a meme, the less effective it is. Nobody wants to read your blathering manifesto, they want to look, laugh, and move on, or get the data quickly. The less words you use, the better. If you have a dual meme, they need to be on top of one another or side to side, instantly comparable, not 'turn over' or 'next page' crap," Casey said. He adjusted some of the lines again. "Now, a properly done image meme doesn't need text to convey its message. In some ways, the less words the more information you can have in the meme."
"What's the weird thing?" Vuxten repeated.
"A good, properly done meme, bypasses language and cultural barriers, even species barriers. We might not know anything about them, but there is a way to communicate, and that's memes," Casey said. "680 is talking to one through the computer, but the language drift and syntax morphology is damn near insurmountable outside of the computer. I want to make sure my meme works right and we don't have to fight these guys."
"So you're going to meme the warriors to death?" Vuxten asked.
"More like meme them to life," Casey said. He laughed. "There's an old classic song I could parody, right there."
"Think it'll work?" Vuxten asked.
"Might be a good idea to try this before we blow up the mountain, sir," Casey said, turning and giving a grin. "If it doesn't, I'm pretty sure we just blow the geothermal in place and ride out on a tsumani of lava."
"Hardy har har," Vuxten said, turning away. "Let me know when your magic meme is ready."
"I'll need a map of the facility, sir," Casey said, his voice distracted.
"Then I'll make sure you get it," Vuxten said.
---------------
General No'Drak moved into the situation room, putting a cigarette between his mandibles as he moved up to the holotank. He'd managed to get a good night's rest and a meal, but once again duty pulled him back.
The Precursors were largely defeated. Mopup was down to the infantry units. The tanks and strikers were largely cycled back for maintenance and crew relief.
Great Most High/General A'armo'o was requesting complete refit of his tanks. More than a refit, a "Service Life Extension" performed on them to bring them up to "parity or near-parity with Confederate allied military forces" that would require the least amount of retraining for his troops.
No'Drak considered it for a long moment. The decision was his, all the way to deciding if he wanted to offer a place in the Confederate military to the Lanaktallan soldiers.
It had proven highly effective in the case of the Warsteel Herd.
General No'Drak thumbed the approval button.
Next up was priority and No'Drak stared at it.
A list of template requests from that psycho Casey.
The most recent one was a recon drone with holoemitters calibrated for Mantid eyes. It had to be able to problem solve navigation issues, among other things, but didn't require a VI since his data bandwidth was low and depending on spooky particle boojums.
Oddly enough, there had also been a template request for turkey meat with Mantid vitamin additions as well as beef of the same kind.
General No'Drak frowned.
What are you up to? he asked.
Next up was notification that his request for a full Elven Court had been approved and was enroute from Telkan with an ETA of less than four days.
After that was meteorological reports on the damage all the atomic weapons and the Precursors had done to the ecosystem.
Well, at least there's going to be living people to worry about their ecosystem, No'Drak thought to himself as he settled in and began reading the reports.
Behind him, Second Most High Ge'ermo'o entered. He slaved his monitor to No'Drak's so he could see what decisions the General was making. No'Drak authorized it with a tap of his bladearm almost absently, noting the radiation levels in the sea water was far lower than initial projections.
Ge'ermo'o sat and watched the data Smokey 'No was looking over and contemplating why the Treana'ad officer made each decision he did.
He was a most observant officer, he was sure he could deduce, given time and information, each of General No'Drak's command decisions and the reasons behind them.
------------------------
Cordexen opened his eyelids at the hissing noise. He looked at the door and saw the bright sparkle of a fusion torch cutting its way through the endosteel. It was a round half-circle, roughly the size of a russet servitor.
Cordexen reluctantly moved away from the air blowing through the vent and his fantasies of standing in a field of grass. He moved to his command chair and sat down, watching.
After a moment the metal fell to the floor. There was burst of mist and then the strangest thing rolled through the hole.
It had two tracks providing mobility. It was a large box with a row of infrared sensors with a pair of infrared projectors on each side to provide it with the ability to see. The little thing rolled into the middle of the room and shifted until it was facing him.
It suddenly played a little tune that Cordexen found pleasing. A mathematical arrangement of audible tones.
Suddenly a hologram flickered to life and Cordexen stared at it.
It was designed for his compound eyes to see clearly, the colors pleasing and well defined.
It was two columns of three pictures. Drawn, stylized pictures that made the subjects enjoyable to look at even if the colors were arranged in a slightly humorous fashion.
On the left it showed a warrior caste Mantid holding his rifle and pointing it at the door. The picture below showed bipeds and green servitors coming in and the warrior caste mantid shooting at them. The bottom picture showed the warrior caste mantid dead in the chair with little skulls for eyes and symbols of displeasure and sadness over the dead warrior.
On the right it showed the warrior mantid's rifle on the floor, the warrior mantid's arms and bladearms were lifted up. The one below showed the bipeds coming in and the warrior mantid holding a little stick with a square of white cloth on it and waving. The bottom picture showed the warrior mantid eating turkey with symbols indicating happiness around it.
They wish me to surrender or they will kill me, Cordexen thought. If I fight, they will kill me. They are familiar enough with my people to create this image. It can be clearly seen, the colors are pleasant, and the artistic style is stylized to be pleasing to me. They know my people and this message tells me that they will not only try to kill me if I resist, they know they can kill me.
He looked at the little robot and it played the tune again. This time the back opened and Cordexen flinched, expecting death to come from the little drone.
Instead it popped up a plas stick with a white cloth on it.
I would do anything just to see the sun once more, Cordexen thought.
He moved forward, picking up the flag from the little robot.
It made happy beeping noises.
The back slid open and steam billowed out. Cordexen jerked back reflexively. He could smell cooked meat, strange spices, and his sensitive antenna were almost overwhelmed by the first taste of something besides nutripaste he had sensed in lifetimes.
A cooked fowl raised up with a little triumphant tune.
"TuRkEy Is DeLiCiOuS" appeared above the little robot in maintenance runes. It turned and clattered away as Cordexen took his two prizes and returned to his command chair.
At the first bite Cordexen had admit the robot was right.
Turkey was delicious.
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If you're a new to Warhammer, or prefer your historical titles, but want to learn about what the Daemons of Chaos do and what to expect from them, this is the wall of text for you! Don't worry, I'll try to keep it brief.

General Stuff

Warhammer Hell, i.e. the Realm of Chaos, is smeared onto to the tops and bottoms of the Warhammer world, like if Happy Feet became Event Horizon the further you walked. The Realm is home to four wacky gods: Khorne, god of war; Tzeentch, god of magic, deception, and change; Slaanesh, god of excess and pleasure; and Nurgle, god of disease and decay. The more of their respective gimmick there is, the stronger they get. Each of them plays the others in a Great Game in the Realm of Chaos, with "Great Game" being a euphemism for an endless war that any other battle is peanuts to.
Each god has 3.5 subdivisions of daemons under their command: random daemon monsters, lesser daemons (grunts), Heralds (grunts that got promoted, act as heroes), and greater daemons (gigachads). In more accessible, Skaven terms: beasts are Wolf Rats, lesser daemons are Clanrats, Heralds are Chieftans, and greater daemons are Warlords. Daemons need a constant magic link to stay in the real world, since they're basically magic incarnate. Without that sweet, sweet magic fuel, they pop back into the Realm of Chaos. Also, with the rare exception of getting vaporized with pure holy power, daemons don't die, they just respawn after a while.

Khorne

Khorne is all about honorable combat. Unlike that nerd Khaine, Khorne would be pissed if his servants started throwing civilians or babies in boiling oil, since they didn't work to shed that blood.
Lesser Daemons
Charming little fellows called Bloodletters that you saw an abundance of in the trailer. They march in orderly rank until battle happens, at which point they go apeshit and turn anything they can find into a puree with their flaming greatswords. Mean little infantry mashers.
They can also choose to hitch a ride in two sweet chariots: the melee-focused Blood Throne (a favorite of Heralds of Khorne, like the one in the pic), and the long-range Skull Cannon. Both are covered in the skulls of their victims, and very angry.
Beasts
Juggernauts are the cavalry of Special K, and were also in that pretty trailer. They have skin of brass, molten fire for blood, etc., and are only really used as mounts for Bloodletters or particularly slick mortals.
Khorne also loves doggies! Flesh Hounds, specifically. They're the finest hunting hounds around, with an unlimited tracking range and a magic-proof collar.
Greater Daemons
Bloodthirsters, one of which makes up half of that lovely promo image, are constantly FUCKING PISSED and are partial to using whips and axes. Oh, and fighting everything. EVERYTHING.
Lore of Khorne
Joke's on you, Khorne thinks magic is for cheats and pussies. No magic, fuck you.
Special Characters
• Ka'Bandha is a vanilla, really strongk Bloodthirster. Nothing really of note.
• U'Zhul, better known as 🔥SKULLTAKER🔥, is a mortal-turned-daemon (better known as a Daemon Prince) Herald of Khorne ^{the wiki lied to me} who goes around the world 1v1-ing every hero he can find, before decapitating them, burning the skull clean, and moving on. So, basically Scorpion.
• Skarbrand is a big, bad Bloodthirster who got b8ed into attacking Khorne, which did nothing. Special K reacted accordingly, before yeeting Skarbrand into the next dimension. The resulting brain damage turned Skarbrand into a mindless killing machine. Great plan, Skarbrand, you idiot!
• Valkia the Bloody is a Daemon Princess, and also Khorne's waifu. She goes around killing fools, and letting awesome warriors into Khorne's realm, where endless battle awaits. So, basically a valkyrie.

Tzeentch

Tzeentch likes nothing better than magic, and changing things. Imagine a really tricky wizard who gets bored easily. He's also the god with the most monkey's paw-esque pacts. Watch out!
Lesser Daemons
Pink Horrors are cheerful balls of pink spaghetti that enjoy throwing fireballs at range. They split into two grumpy Blue Horrors when killed, who in turn split into angry Brimstone Horrors.
There are also Flamers of Tzeentch, who are like those car dealership inflatable tube men with flamethrowers taped to them. The fire can do anything from burning up souls to making bubblegum-scented crystal. But that's all part of the fun!
Horrors or tube men that have reached Herald status can soar into battle on Burning Chariots, where they can comfortably cast spells while thumbing their nine noses at the Brettonian knights chasing them.
Beasts
Screamers of Tzeentch are angry manta rays. If a Herald or sorcerer needs a ride, a Screamer gets turned into a Disc of Tzeentch, which would probably make a handy pet.
Greater Daemons
Lords of Change are what happens if Big Bird goes down the wrong road. Wizards par excellence, and you'll likely recognize Sarthorael, Mr. KFC himself, as one of their number. They also like bamboozling mortals into pacts.
Lore of Tzeentch
Arguably more focused on direct damage, fire-based nukes than the Lore of Fire. Cook your enemies in multicolored style! Or don't, since the randomness of Tzeentch means you sometimes heal them.
Special Characters
• Kairos Fateweaver fell into a super-special hell well that gave him unlimited view of the past and future, even beyond Tzeentch's knowledge. Also comes with two heads, for twice the voice acting. Or something.
• The Changeling is the greatest shapeshifter to ever exist. Simple as that. Tzeentch gives it free reign to more or less do whatever it wants. It even has its own theme song!
• Egrimm van Horstmann was once a Bright Wizard prodigy, until he figured he liked Tzeentch better. The wiki article I linked to is super long, so just trust me when I say he does all sorts of cool stuff, like chit-chat with a Shaggoth.
• The Blue Scribes were made to collect every spell in existence, but Tzeentch put in a failsafe: P'tarix writes the spells down but can't read, and Xirat'p (yes, their names are backwards of each other, which is why I love them) can read the spells, but don't know what they are. The result? Random spell mayhem!

Slaanesh

The god of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. Slaanesh is all about feeling the greatest sensations, whether it's from a great meal, a hard-won victory in battle, or copious amounts of blow.
Lesser Daemons
Daemonettes are evil crab biddies who've existed on a sliding scale of NSFW for decades. Specialize in melee-mashing and making Reiklanders reconsider their life choices ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
As for rides, Daemonettes and their Herald bosses get two choices: Seeker or Hellflayer Chariots, both of which are more or less lawnmowers. Seriously, the latter was initially used for body disposal.
Beasts
Fiends of Slaanesh are anteater-scorpion-giraffe-lizard monsters that fill a similar role to Flesh Hounds. There's also Seekers of Slaanesh, which are literally just Fiends without the stinger, and act as the mounts for some Daemonette cavalry.
Greater Daemons
Keepers of Secrets are very visually diverse, and exist on the battlefield to make the enemy go nuts with lust, etc. They also have smooth moves and disorienting spells. Pretty much a grab-bag of skills, even down to their eclectic appearance.
Lore of Slaanesh
Do you like combat and leadership debuffs? Then you'll love the Lore of Slaanesh!
Special Characters
• N'kari is a Keeper of Secrets with a massive hate boner against the Elves. She dueled the first Phoenix King and was trapped in the Vortex for a spell, so she kills pointy-ears whenever she can.
• The Masque of Slaanesh is a Daemonette who, due to being in the wrong place (Slaanesh's quarters) at the wrong time (Slaanesh was pissy over Khorne figuratively bending them over), was cursed to dance for eternity. Her dances are often prophetic, and always deadly. If you're going to fight her, use protection. Gromril protection.
• Sigvald the Magnificent, who needs no introduction except his own.

Nurgle

The friendliest god in Warhammer, he insists that his servants call him "Grandfather", and wants to do nothing less than spread his love. His love being disease-induced stagnancy and decay. Thanks, Gramps!
Lesser Daemons
There's actually two this time: Plaguebearers are mortal souls claimed by Nurgle's diseases who now grumpy, durable disease accountants; while Nurglings are cheerful little mini-me's of Nurgle that are basically little toddlers. Cute!
Particularly lazy Heralds of Nurgle are brought into battle on Palanquins of Nurgle (images of these things are hard to come by), which are more or less an easy chair propelled by a small mountain of Nurglings. Comfort before speed, I suppose.
Beasts
Rotflies/Plague Drones (functionally identical) are what happens when a Beast of Nurgle becomes so bitter it turns into a bug. They act as flying steeds for Plaguebearers, or aerial attackers in isolation.
On the other end of the mood scale are Beasts of Nurgle, giant slug-puppy things that cuddle everyone and everything with love and kindness. Unfortunately, all that love tends to liquify people, no doubt breaking the poor Beast's heart.
Oh yeah, and Plague Toads are here too. Nurgle likes to stomp on them because they pop. That's really everything of note.
Greater Daemons
Great Unclean Ones are also mini-Nurgles, albeit much larger than the tiny Nurglings. Their notable trait, besides the fact that every single one has their intestines oozing out, is being NIGH UNKILLABLE. Seriously, they can eat a Luminark to the face with naught but a hearty laugh to show for it.
Lore of Nurgle
All about defensive buff and damage. Think Lore of Pestilence, but with more emphasize on healing and making your dudes durable, since durability is Nurgle's shtick.
Special Characters
• Ku'Gath Plaguefather was a Nurgling who drank Grampa's cauldronfull of mega-plague, which turned him into a Great Unclean One. Nurgle thought this gluttony was hilarious, but Ku'Gath's guilt over drinking the plague turned him emo, so now he's trying to find a replacement for it.
• Epidemius is Nurgle's head bean-counter. A Herald like no other, the sourpuss goes around the world cataloging information about every disease that exists. Since battlefields are a hotbed for Grandfather's testing, Epidemius often shows up in battle, which is bad news for him since he just wants a quiet place to keep writing. Poor guy.
• Tamurkhan is a mortal who turned into a body-hopping maggot. No, I'm not kidding. Similar to Egrimm, he has a sweet dragon mount and mountains of lore.
• Festus the Leechlord was an Imperial plague doctor before Nurgle tried to help him out by giving him knowledge of the causes and cures of every disease. All that knowledge made him go nuts, so now he's doing mad science bioengineering in Nurgle's name.
• There's also a big bunch of dudes, like the Super Glottkin Bros. and the Maggot Riders, that got introduced in the End Times, but my fingers are too sore from typing to elaborate. Just read the articles, mmmkay?
^{Oh yeah, Furies exist. They're shitty, non-aligned gargoyles that exist to be bullied by lesser daemons.}