Sorry to have disappeared for several days. It will probably happen a couple more times until I manage to get this years taxes filed. (Tax days mean trying to avoid online distractions for me.) Giving myself a reward for progress made and will try to catch up with everyone.

- sorry if I'm not making myself clear. I have a MS in Computer Science and spent 11 years working on telephone systems after college (including the first release of cellular phone). I do understand what you are trying to tell me. Your box is basically the radio and other non-phone parts of a cellphone and when you add power plus a phone, you have a whole cellphone which connects via special radio frequencies to a cell site. You can take it with you and plug it in anywhere you have power, and since it has a battery as well it works as long as there is a cell site around it can connect with, like any other cellphone would.

I don't mean to be confusing. It's just that to me, it's sort of all the same. It turns out that a cell site has a special computer (besides all those radio antennae) that does the work and it connects via telephone trunk lines to a special computer in a central office called a Moblie Telephone Switching Office. The MTSO and cell sites together track the call and let you switch from one cell site (and radio frequency) to another cell site (and different radio frequency) as you travel. Canada has two competing cellular technologies GSM and CDMA and phones with one of those technologies only work on networks with matching technology, so you can't talk to a CMDA cell site with a GSM phone or vice versa (think VHS and Betamax video tapes). You don't need a computer or internet service where you are to use your box, and you also don't need power if your battery is charged. That does make it different from my VOIP router which is not portable. I don't need a working computer to use my phones, but I do need the router and/or computer that my household router is connected to to be working, so some level of internet protocol does have to be functional (not sure what level is required). I don't need power at my home, if I use the battery backup for my router. If they are still doing things the old way, both the cell site and the MTSO have a set of very large batteries that keep them working when the electricity is broken. And nowadays, almost every box really has some sort of computer inside it that controls it. So I tend to sort of think of them as a different varients of similar technologies. In any case, that's probably much more than you want or need to know. But I do understand what you are trying to tell me about the technology that you are actually using. It is indeed different from VOIP. The important thing is that the technology you use is convenient, affordable and reliable for you and that seems to be the case with your box.

Looks like I left right before you accidentally zapped Poukie. That must have been so frustrating. I'm so glad that sent you a Glacier Potion so that Poukie can go back to being her beautiful self when you are done zapping her.

And I see you got some battle advice from . I definitely agree with her that a Phoenix Quill is a great investment since it heals 100% and can be used by any pet for their entire battle life. It made a big difference when I first bought mine. I would also suggest considering parched crystals because they can activate a blessing that keeps your opponent from being able to freeze you. So far, I have needed that more than an increased chance to critical hit. Also parched tear crystals are very inexpensive (under 3K sP each) so you can experiment with them and see what you think. (When you add a crystal to a weapon and then change it for a different crystal, you lose the first one, it doesn't go back into your inventory or armory.)

- I will also probably play Gravedigger mostly for the achievements. I do like the game and it isn't super fast for me (might depends on how fast your computer is - if you have access to an older/slower one, you could see if that makes any difference), but I tend to be a bit dizzy after playing several games. That scrolling screen eventually gets to me. Games are supposed to be fun and it's not fun if we're tense or dizzy.

- that is really frustrating. I hate it when a utility is not working and there is either no information, or even worse, wrong information about when it will be repaired. There should at the very least have a current recording with the latest correct information.

Good luck with Gravedigger. I got all the old achievements during the plot so no progress yet for me. Hope you are making good progress on catching those 250 ghosts.

I haven't had time to try grave digger again but since it's kind of annoying I will only play for the achievements. Maybe I can get some time to try again this weekend. Good luck.

Hit me with Icy Snowballs :D https://subeta.net/user_shops.php/shop/24266

It was very frustrating. Especially with my daughter. It was very difficult to get her to understand that no matter how times I called them it was not going to be magically fixed. With her being on the spectrum anything that disrupts what she normally does is very very bad. She still had DVDs to watch. the PS4 to play and even some comp games to play, but it just wasn't the same for her. I am just glad it is fixed now and hopefully it wont happen again anytime soon. Finally got the ghosts and the forum title I just HAD to have :D I even replaced my Star Wars title with it.

- oooh you have a Masters Degree in Library and Information Studies - how cool! I love books both on Subeta and in real life. I could see spending my life in a library (or a good bookstore).

Don't worry about battling. The battlers have all been really nice and super helpful. They really seem to enjoy encouraging other users to learn more and join them. And it is something that can be done in stages when you're ready. If you have time, doing battle quests with your main pet helps gain experience which comes in handy and can be done on your own. Also books are great for battle because scrolls require AP which your pet gets by reading. So even a low tier battle pet can use any scroll they have the AP for. Meanwhile, I've seen several excellent battlers on this thread as well. As far as weapons go, for lower tiers I got a lot of use out of my [item2=Icy Freezing Rod of Doom], especially for the price. And I am still using an [item2=UltimaPlus Tag}. It's once per battle, but it has an attack and also a chance to heal 25%, freeze and/or steal. I know it's not great at high tiers, but it's inexpensive and I found it to be a great addition to my inexpensive weapon set.

How are you doing on collecting CSC to buy the collection bag for your [item2=Cat Grooming Kit}? Awesome, item, by the way. I assume you know that you can also buy CSC using sP (x credit gift card) where x is the amount of CSC. Right now an [item2=100 Credit Gift Card] which is the smallest you can buy is selling for around 12 million sP. That should be doable this month if you have time for questing, so you wouldn't have to only hope for CSC from the bathhouse.

- good luck to you as well. I won't be working on Gravedigger for a bit. Taxes first, Gravedigger after for me. :-)

- yes, I can see that would make it much more difficult. How old is your daughter? Glad you all got through it and things are working again. And big congratulations on catching those ghosts and getting your new forum title! Also on uncovering the Wizard's Skull. I wish I knew what the skulls looked like if I ever find them. Sometimes I confuse the things I want to uncover with the regular background.

She will be 17 on the 23rd cries I am still in denial. Although she is getting older physically she will always be my little girl. Thanks :) There is a board about in the games forum. I will see if I can find the link and edit this post when I find it.
Found it: https://subeta.net/forums.php/read/871576/Gravedigger-Info-and-Quick-Tips

- wow - she's getting to be a young lady. And your children are always your kids no matter how old they (and you) get.

Thanks for the link, I have that thread bookmarked. Didn't see pictures there, but maybe they've added some while I was away.

Slowly reading my way through the parts of this thread I missed and just saw that you uncovered the entire Mortiking. That is a truly impressive achievement - congratulations. I have seen it a couple of times and it's huge - plus if there are any coffins on it, you can't uncover it even if you find it.

- Oooh, if I can read books up to 500,000 sP, there should be bunches of useful ones in my vault when I'm ready for them. And I do Shinwas Quest regularly so there will be boosters that I don't need to buy - and even some [item2=Maniacal Skull Fruit]. (One of these days, I really need to reorganize the bottomless depths of my vault so I have some clue what sort of useful stuff I have in there -:-) ) At least books is one of the very first categories I made so I should be able to find them.

- so glad your husband made it home for the big game party. Hopefully, by now he's also back to being healthy!

I have played Pandemic (and liked it enough to buy my own copy) but had not heard of the Reign of Cthulhu version. That looks like fun! Sounds like you play a single game each time you get together. When I get together with friends, we usually wind up playing at least two or three different games. And yes, gamers usually have lots of different games. I own many dozens myself. And we keep buying new ones too. Personally, I can be kept busy with a deck of playing cards as well. Do you and your group have any special favorites?

It can take a lot of tries to finally get through the crypts, but I'm sure you'll make it if you are persistent. I find it helps to just pick a pattern and just keep using it until it eventually works. Don't know whether or not it makes it easier, but it definitely makes it easier on me. :-)

- congratulations on finding something at Blackheart Hollow. That's a nice purchase. Now that you know how to do it, I'm sure many more purchases will eventually follow.

Aaagghhh - I have totally given up on Bug Guy Joe's game. Both I and my wrist really hate it. I just click frantically - very bad for wrists. I can't believe you made it to 35,000. I'm currently at 622 (yes, that's cumulative). Runs aways screaming from game areas ...

- so glad to know it wasn't just me. I tried to quickly look at something on SubetaLodge the other day and was told my DNS address was wrong. That always makes me worry whether there's some sort of problem with my search engine/browser. Was very happy to see the site reappear. Wonder what happened to them?

That is so true :)

There are pics under Discoverables. I didn't manage to find Quentin. I ended up just buying the sticker lol. As for the mortiking. . . Thanks :D it was a pain! Thankfully if there are coffins it still counts as long as you get the rest of him uncovered in time. I had 2 coffins covering up part of him and still got it. I have no clue how. I just kept clicking away and hoped for the best.

- good to know that coffins don't keep you from getting the achievement. A little more incentive to try. Guess I just missed a few non-coffin squares when I saw him last. (I'm not any good at these click really fast things.) And I'll go back and look for those pictures. Also good to know that the Quentin skull is just a single space. That could easily take many games to find. I think buying the sticker was probably a good choice if that's all you really wanted. Much easier on your wrist for sure.

Saw you talking about baking. I thought the same as you did, that higher level should mean less burning until it was explained to me this way. If you are a higher level baker redoing a lower level recipe then you have a higher chance of success (at least I think you do). But when you try the new high level recipes, you are making more difficult things, so your chance to fail before you master them goes up. Not totally realistic, but it does make a bit of sense that way (at least to me). Julia Child was a great chef, but she could and did mess things up in the kitchen at times.

- congratulations on having a Tier 9 battle pet. Oooh - very nice St. Patrick's Day outfit.

- particle board may not be pretty, but I'm told it is surprisingly study.

- congratulations on getting your first loyalty box. I assume you have figured out by now that you can't actually put it in your vault (but you can lock it in your inventory).

So sorry to hear you missed a day at the Bathhouse. There is a ping group to remind you if you want. Or you could do what I did and put a Bathhouse bookmark in your browser. I try to keep it where I will notice it when I get to Subeta. So far that has worked for me. It's hard to keep track when your life is so busy.

- congratulations on getting your Sphinx kitty!

- has talked about making baking achievements eventually, but I'm pretty sure we don't have any yet.

You have loads of lovely rainbow options, it's always nice to see!

Good to know the GraveDigger achievements work even with the coffins blocking bits, I did wonder about that.

Eek, that snowfall sounds a bit crazy! Hope you have enough supplies to get by until it clears a bit. Powdered milk is not the best...

Lovely grey clouds and rain here in the UK today - yes, Spring has sprung (a leak...)!

Yeah, safer to stay home if you're a bit off colour. Sometimes it's better to rest than keep thinking 'I can do this'. Stuff that's easy when you're feeling OK becomes challenging when you're not.

Glad to see you again! Hopefully the real life stuff won't take up too much of your time.

In the gaming group we have parents with young kids, people working shifts and weekends, so time is really at a premium - sometimes plans are cut short by people leaving early. So yeah, they usually stick to one game, especially as some can be quite long and tangled!
We have a bookcase of games - you're probably the same!

Ticket to Ride (europe) is always popular, Zombies!!!, Word Whimsy and Munchkin, and sometimes the old school things like Cluedo and Game of Life. One of our friends has banned herself from playing Monopoly ever again as she raged and threw the board when she lost last time!

I always make the joke that I have better luck with BHH than the crypts. Thank goodness for points in the Bathhouse. One day, it will happen! xD

Very happy to hear about the Baking achievements, that will be fun. But I do wish there was a 'pantry' or separate storage for baking items (same for alchemy, really) as I always vault stuff and forget to use it!

Hope everyone is having a good day, and YAY nearly the weekend!

Thanks!

And yeah, that cumulative score is over the few years since that game has been released. I don't play it very often because I hate it, but apparently it works on tablets with a touch screen so maybe that's better than clicking with a mouse? A bit better for your wrist anyway, if you have a tablet and wanted to try.

Yay weekend!

Booo, baking achievements. :( At least hopefully they'll have some nice titles, but I see lots of those maple cookies in my future once they finally get added. :P

I asked about Subetalodge on the questions/help forum and was given an answer. https://subeta.net/forums.php/read/871673

We will have to have a competitive Maple Cookie Bake off in the Tank! I'll just hoard mine in the Cake! gallery.

Are they frag-able? Otherwise, maybe they can be vaulted for the next Charity food donation?

Yeah they should be frag-able, but saving them for that is a good idea too!

I have a couple of baking kits that I've been saving for when they release the achievements finally, the Bathhouse gives them out sometimes. Plus they're not too expensive in shops right now and they're in the MC so it won't be too bad. It will probably just be something I'll chip away at a little at a time though, I don't much care for the baking itself and trying to gather the ingredients.

- thank you.

The real life stuff will take several days. Partly because I have a pile of stuff that needs to get caught up and partly because I always double and triple check before finally filing.

That makes sense to me. And yes, some games can get long. My current gaming group meets monthly. There are just three (or sometimes four of us) and we meet just to play those long games because we really enjoy them. After many years of gaming, I have more like an entire roomful of games and am still collecting new ones.

Hmmm - Ticket to Ride sounds like fun. I wonder how I've managed to miss ever playing it. I have played and own several Railroad Games where you draw your own routes. The original version is called Empire Builder and, like Ticket to Ride there are other versions, such as Eurorails. I actually still like Monopoly, and Clue (no Cluedo here) and The Game of Life, although I haven't played any of them in ages. Must have been a very interesting Monopoly game to get your friend that upset. I also like a game called Whodunit which is similar to Clue except there is more logic puzzle solving ability required.

Finding something at Blackheart Hollow does happen more often than winning the Crypts, so you are right in that. But if you play regularly, eventually you will win.

You could make a baking category in your vault and then your baking items would be easy to find. You can feed baked items (from baking) to your pets if you want (even the burned ones, I think).

Yay for the weekend.

- you're welcome. My 622 is also cumulative - over the years since it's been released. I have been doing everything I can to avoid that game. That's a great suggestion about a tablet. I don't own one, but next time a friend is around with theirs, I may just have to try it. I might actually be able to play reasonably well that way. Anything would be better than all that frantic clicking with a mouse! :-)

- thank you. Now I understand what happened. Apparently the cloud server they used had a serious hardware failure. Ouch!

Out of all of the games that I played I only saw the mortiking twice, so I was really lucky to uncover him the second time. I messed it up the first time. I love the baking, but it just gets so expensive! I will probably start up again when they release new recipes. I am already 33% towards level 20, so hopefully I am all set for any higher level items.

I love rainbow items! They are my favorite things to collect on here (second is food lol). I get too caught up in it sometimes. I will admit that I have been out and about in the real world and saw a couple of really pretty rainbow items and thought "that would look great in my gallery!". Then I have to remind myself that my gallery is not actually real and I can't put that in my gallery lol!!

- were you playing on hard, medium or easy? I have seen the Mortiking twice and missed him both times (although I think the second time I got close at least). Baking is indeed one of the more expensive things on Subeta. So far, I'm still just a Level 1 baker, so I have a lot of food to burn before I catch up with you. :-)

I was playing it on hard. That way I would have more chances to uncover bigger areas. The downside to that is how fast the dang thing moves :( I collect the food, so I just had to make everything. I would probably not have made so much if I didn't want the food. Oh I wish some of it was real. It looks so good :D Now I want cake!

- hard doesn't seem like it moves faster for me. And that's what I have been doing when I play. Easy seems to end so fast, I don't know how that skeleton would even show up.

Gack - just found the skeleton again and watched while the screen scrolled for just long enough to not get all of it done. (This right after I reached the bottom of the previous game with 0 shovel points to open the treasure.) Guess I'm too tired to play, but I'll try a few more games anyhow.

A friend gifted me all the food from baking - even the burnt items! It was so funny opening gift boxes and finding burnt baked things in side. Sooner or later, though, I'm going to want to make them all myself. And yes, some of it looks good enough to eat. :-)

Yeas "easy" is deff harder when it comes to actually finding things. It is great if you just want to dig to the bottom. Even though the sp payout is really low. Oh man that stinks :( I have reached the bottom at 0 a couple of times myself. Lol at least the pets will eat the burnt items!

- actually, if you're not worrying about the achievements, it's usually pretty easy to get to the bottom on hard. And the sP payout is usually between 3,000 and 3,500 (although I have seen payouts in both the 2,000's and 4,000's range). The trouble comes when I try to search horizontally, either to find the special symbols or to try and have a head start on that Mortiking if I find it. Don't really mind reaching the bottom with 0, it just that it shows I'm not really thinking well right now. I've been online hoping that the Token Shop will stock today rather than over the weekend, but I may have to give up the ghost (and the gravedigger) for awhile and get some sleep. (Of course that is when the Token Shop will finally stock, so if you see it - enjoy!)