Warship Legend: Idle RPG

Warship Legend is a mobile game that as the title suggests, revolves around warships. You collect and command a small fleet of warships, six of them, ranging from submarines to aircraft carriers. You will be engaged in some story mode, battle with random people and AIs, with some events to clear from time to time.

The visual aspect of the game is nice, the rendering of the warships are quite accurate to the real world counterparts. It has an intuitive layout and interface, and together with visual effects, gives it an excellent visual experience. I have started on this game about a year ago and i would say even though there were some bad detours, the developers have been consistent in improving the visual aspect.

On gameplay, it is more of a tactical “chess” genre instead of the typical action type frequently found in App/Play Store. Your choice and placement of ship in your formation matters and different variations will yield different effects depending on the opponent setup. That’s pretty much about it as the battles are automatic.

As an idle game, we have the standard feature whereby you amass resources while not actively playing and that is pretty much about it. To progress in the game, you do have to participate and complete events and missions. As you stay in the game longer, it becomes a bit of a grind unless you fork out money (cold hard cash) to accelerate your progress. The developers have made improvements in the game play aspect over time but you can’t deny the “Pay to Win” aspect of it.

I’m still playing the game from time to time and in my opinion, it scores high on the visuals but in terms of gameplay and the grind, i would say there’s still room for improvement. It also depends on whether if you like this kind of naval tactic game as it might not be for everyone. My advice – if you really like the game and are not willing to fork out real money on it, is not to be competitive and play casually. If you really have to pay, i would think reaching VIP level 4 or 5 is good enough.

Check it out at Google Play

In Memory of my Uncle

He departed about a year ago due to a freak accident at home. We were all devastated by the news, especially my grandmother. It happened suddenly and unexpectedly. It was hard to accept.

Although he seldom appeared or stayed around during family gatherings, he was always available to help out when required. That includes the weekly fetching of my grandmother for her TCM consultations, temple trips and others. He was very filial and helpful and would help family and friends as much as he could. In a way, he resembled my grandfather who would silently, without complaints, help and support the family as able as he could. For me, who does not have a good father to learn from, he served as a role model and a reminder to how I should be a good example to my children in future.

I hope he is at a better place now. Rest in peace.

It is not about you

Are there situations when you felt that you were being ignored and your feedbacks or comments were not taken seriously by others? You would probably be feeling like a fool and disappointed, perhaps even feeling angry for being belittled. You might even think to yourself, “How dare they do this to me!”.

That happened a few weeks ago that left me feeling indignant – for a while. It happened during a Microsoft Teams meeting with the management regarding an integration project. There were some issues that needed to be clarified and i was making myself useful by offering suggestions and requesting some clarifications of my own. After some time, it became apparent that i was pretty much talking to myself and the meeting ended with me fuming inside.

It was then that i decided it would be more prudent to chill, calm down and to do constructive self reflection. Reviewing my “performance” in the meeting, i had to grudgingly acknowledged that i was contributing more noise instead. Naturally, the next thought that manifested was what impression i had made and what do they think of me. And that, was the self/ego starting to react.

It is not about me. It is not about you. Everyone is actually busy worrying and leading their own life to care about what they think about others. Occasionally they might but they are mostly fleeting thoughts. Do you constantly think about what the other party have done? You would be more worried about your own life than caring what others did.

At the same time, we need to be mindful that they might be unintentionally doing this as they might be pre-occupied with other matters. Especially when remote meeting are the norm during this COVID pandemic, we might not be able to decipher human interactions as accurate as we would like.

So it is NOT about you. CHILL and RELAX. Focus on what matters and move forwards it. 🙂

Razer Mouse and Sandisk External SSD

This post is overdue considering that i got the above a few months back to replace a dead mouse and a misbehaving external storage device. Thought that i should do a quick review on these purchases – Razer Basilisk X HyperSpeed Wireless Ergonomic Gaming Mouse and SanDisk SSD E60 Extreme Portable SSD – for folks who might be planning on buying these products.

Razer Basilisk X HyperSpeed Wireless Ergonomic Gaming Mouse

I have always preferred gaming mice with the exception of Logitech MX Master series. So even when i am not much of a PC gamer these days, i would still look for a wireless gaming mouse for day to day usage. The size and weight of this mouse is just right for me but that is just my personal preference.

The Razer Basilisk X has dual mode wireless – Bluetooth vs Razer HyperSpeed Wireless connection – which can be easily toggled at the bottom of the mouse. It comes with a USB dongle that is stored in a compartment within the mouse itself and its a feature i liked so that you will not lose them easily. Razer claims that it can last up to 450 hours in Bluetooth mode and up to 285 hours using the USB dongle on a single AA battery. So far i haven’t need to change my battery yet and i am using it on Bluetooth mode. The performance is good and i have not felt any lag as compared to some other Bluetooth mice.

The mouse buttons are using its own mechanical switches with a lifecycle of 50 million clicks. Not sure if the Razer DeathAdder is using the same switches but i hope they are better. I had to retire my old DeathAdder (it was quite a long time ago) because the mouse clicks are getting too mushy and inaccurate. I like the feeling of the mouse clicks for this one too, they feel comfortable and responsive. There are 6 programmable buttons too, not just for gaming – they help with office productivity too.

One thing to note though is that there is no RGB lighting for this mouse. Considering the trend these days – “RGB everything” – it might be a deal breaker for some. I’m not a fan of RGB and would say it is something that is good to have but not a must. Got those mouse via Qoo10 for around SGD55 with coupons and I am happy with it so far.

SanDisk SSD E60 Extreme Portable SSD 1TB

It’s my first time using an external SSD and i must say i’m impressed with the speed and form factor (coming from someone who mainly uses external HDDs). It’s pocket size and light weight so you can carry it with you anywhere with ease.

It has a IP55 rating for water and dust resistance, though the sole USB C port is not covered. The drive is fairly shock resistant with its rubberized exterior and should withstand a drop of 2m on a concrete floor without major damage.

The sole connector, as mentioned, is a USB 3.1 port and the SSD comes bundled with a short USB Type-C to Type-C cable and a Type-A to Type-C USB adapter. According to the manufacturer, it should hit up to 550MBps on the Type-C to Type-C connection, a fraction higher compared to using it with the Type-A adapter.

The SSD comes pre-formatted as an exFAT storage device which means you can use it on a Windows or Mac system out of the box. Some articles do mentioned that you can reformat it to NTFS if you are using it on a Windows device only and that will enable TRIM, which will improve the lifespan of the drive. I am currently leave it as exFAT for use on my Windows device though. I tried connecting it directly to my mobile phone to use as an external storage but it prompted me for a reformat, so i stopped at that.

I bought it for around SGD135, excluding shipping charges via Qoo10. These days i seen it going for SGD129 without shipping charges from time to time. It’s hands-down the best value for money portable SSD i have seen so far.

How To Change Your Twitter Username

I only knew how to do this today, after all these while I had been using it. I guess it’s not very often that one had to change their username of their account. Here are the steps for Twitter (Web), at least that was how I did it.

1. Click on the “More” button found at the left hand navigation menu
2. Go to “Settings and privacy”
3. Under “Your account” section, go to “Account information”
4. You might need to re-enter your password at this point
5. Under the “username” section, edit and change the username of your choice

Your twitter link will follow this new username too. It is that simple.

Empathy

Review . Refresh . Restart

Life on the internet, unlike reality, allows one to review on its directions and shortcomings. Then it provides the option for a refresh and a restart towards new direction, or a journey.

It is the same in this instance. This site has undergone countless of the above cycle, trying to find its place or perhaps a meaning in all this techno babbles we see around us. Perhaps it is just trying to find its identity.

Nothing is impermanent in this world. The same will apply to this site too, however, hopefully it can last as long as it can.