random thoughts... at random times...

Mass Effect 2 Characters (Part 3)

2010-03-07T00:20:00.005+08:00

Part 3: Biotics!!

MIRANDA lawson

Powers/Weapons
Submachine Guns & Heavy Pistols
Overload - damages enemy shields and synthetics, also overheats weapon at higher ranks
Warp - cause enemies to stutter and does damage, 'detonating' any biotics already impacting enemies for extra damage
Slam - lifts the target into the air and slamming them to the ground, inflicting damage

Character Upgrades
Cerberus Leader

health +20%
weapon damage +25%
squad health +7.5%
squad weapon damage +15%

Cerberus Tactician

health +20%
weapon damage +25%
squad health +15%
squad weapon damage +7.5%

JACOB taylor

Powers/Weapons
Shotguns & Heavy Pistols
Incendiary Ammo - shots stop health regeneration and deals damage over time
Pull - pulls enemies towards you
Barrier - creates a mass effect around the user, boosting user's shields

Character Upgrades
Cerberus Veteran

health +40%
weapon damage +18%

Cerberus Specialist

health +30%
weapon damage +25%

THANE krios

Powers/Weapons
Submachine Guns & Sniper Rifles
Throw - knocks enemies back
Warp - cause enemies to stutter and does damage, 'detonating' any biotics already impacting enemies for extra damage
Shredder Ammo - shots deal substantially more damage to health of enemies

Character Upgrades
Drell Marksman

health +15%
weapon damage +50%

Drell Veteran

health +20%
weapon damage +37.5%

JACK

Powers/Weapons
Shotguns & Heavy Pistols
Shockwave - throws out a shockwave in a straight line, knocking enemies in its path
Pull - pulls enemies towards you
Warp Ammo - shots are effective against barriers, shields, and health. Additional damage against enemies affected by biotic powers

Character Upgrades
Primal Adept

health +20%
weapon damage +18%
power recharge time -25%

Primal Vanguard

health +20%
weapon damage +25%
power recharge time -18%

SAMARA

Powers/Weapons
Submachine Guns & Assault Rifles
Throw - knocks enemies back
Pull - pulls enemies towards you
Reave - prevents health regeneration, and does additional damage against barriers and armors. Also restores user's health and temporarily boost health when used against organics

Character Upgrades
Sapiens Justicar

health +20%
weapon damage +18%
power recharge time -25%

Caedo Justicar

health +20%
weapon damage +25%
power recharge time -18%

Mass Effect 2 Characters (Part 2)

2010-03-06T23:55:00.004+08:00

Part 2: Tech Junkies

MORDIN solus

Powers/Weapons
Submachine Guns & Heavy Pistols
Incinerate - stops health regeneration and deals damage over time, additional damage to armor
Cyro Blast - freezes enemies, making them susceptible to other damage
Neural Shock - paralyzes organic enemies for a brief duration, permanently reduces enemy accuracy at higher ranks

Character Upgrades
Salarian Genius

health +25%
weapon damage +18%
shields +25%

Salarian Savant

health +25%
weapon damage +25%
shields +18%

TALI'zorah nar rayya

Powers/Weapons
Shotguns & Heavy Pistols
AI Hacking - temporary turns a synthetic enemy into an ally and gives them shield boost at higher ranks
Combat Drones - spawns a tech drone that can damage enemy shields and stun them, drawing their fire
Energy Drain - drains enemy shields and synthetics to boost users shields

Character Upgrades
Quarian Engineer

health +20%
weapon damage +18%
power duration +25%

Quarian Mechanic

health +20%
weapon damage +25%
power duration +18%

LEGION

Powers/Weapons
Sniper & Assault Rifles
AI Hacking - temporary turns a synthetic enemy into an ally and gives them shield boost at higher ranks
Combat Drones - spawns a tech drone that can damage enemy shields and stun them, drawing their fire
Geth Shield Boost - provides a boost to user's shield, also deals weapon damage bonus at higher ranks

Character Upgrades
Geth Assassin

health +15%
weapon damage +25%
power recharge time -25%

Geth Trooper

health +20%
weapon damage +18%
power recharge time -25%

Mass Effect 2 Characters (Part 1)

2010-03-06T23:04:00.011+08:00

Given my recent obsession with mass effect and the many hours spent digging through online wikis and game forums... thought i put together a quick guide to character powers for the benefits of others who might be looking for a quick low-down...

Part 1: Soldier/Infiltrator-Like Companions

GARRUS vakarian

Powers/Weapons
Sniper & Assault Rifles
Concussive Shot - fires a single high concussive shot that both deals damage and knocks them down
Overload - damages enemy shields and synthetics, also overheats weapons at higher levels
Armor Piercing Ammo - shots deal additional damage against armor and health

Character Upgrades
Turian Renegade

health +15%
weapon damage +25%
power damage +25%

Turian Savior

health +20%
weapon damage +18%
power damage +25%

ZAEED messani (DLC for Cerberus Network)

Powers/Weapons
Sniper & Assault Rifles
Concussive Shot - fires a single high concussive shot that both deals damage and knocks them down
Disruptor Ammo - shots deal additional damage to shields and synthetics, also disables synthetic enemies and overheat weapons
Inferno Grenade - volatile grenade which detonates upon impact, sending fire fragments in all directions (effective against armor)

Character Upgrades
Mercenary Warlord

health +15%
weapon damage +50%

Mercenary Commando

health +20%
weapon damage +37.5%

GRUNT

Powers/Weapons
Assault Rifles & Shotguns
Concussive Shot - fires a single high concussive shot that both deals damage and knocks them down
Incendiary Ammo - shots stop health regeneration and do damage over time to enemies
Fortification - reinforces user's armor with non-Newtonian fluid, providing brief but large bonus to armor

Character Upgrades
Krogan Pureblood

health +50%
weapon damage +15%
health regeneration 55pts per second

Krogan Warlord

health +50%
weapon damage +25%
health regeneration 40pts per second

ww10 is tomorrow!

2009-03-01T21:05:00.004+08:00

funny how ww10 has been communicated since before the Christmas holidays as the prospective date for headcount reduction actions in my department... and since then up to now, not much has been revealed in terms of scale/magnitude of this cut in resources. People are generally kept in the blue as people up stairs are trying to "figure it out" Guess what? D-week is finally here... whether you're in or you're out... you will know by end of the week...

the experience so far is relatively interesting in my opinion... sometimes you just end up not knowing how to feel. do i feel excited because another drastic turn is about to happen in my life? or do i feel oh shoot, this is it, i might be unemployed soon...

- not too big of deal -

yup, that's my conclusion. Either way, I am sure i will be able to figure something out... probably some other unforeseen opportunities might turn up from the event of this....

hmmm... what does it feel like to walk into the bosses office and take a seat... and wait in anticipation like an american idol finalist waiting to hear verdicts from the judges... ?

Shall keep you guys posted on the experience... bet it will be worth sharing... :)

Airasia OnTime Guarantee

2009-02-08T03:32:00.007+08:00

Hello 2009!

I remember it was quite a few years back that i first took Air Asia... I remember my first trip on it was actually a KL to Kuala Terengganu return. If I am not wrong, this should be dated sometime between 2000 and 2002... pardon my memory lapse to pin point the exact date... but date is not important in this story... what happened was in the return trip, me and my family had to wait at the KT airport for a good 4 to 5 hours due to delay. At that time, I remember hearing that Air Asia often have delays due to the fact that the airline company is growing pretty rapidly and the mere volume caused the planes to run a schedule whereby being on-time was hard to come by... so being on-time was a problem back then.

However, since 2004 to probably a good portion of 2008, I remember this problem was nearly non-existent. Somehow, all the flights that i took on Air Asia had no problems in meeting its departure time. Sometime in late 2008 was when they rolled out this on-time guarantee promotion. I still remember when I first saw the ad, my first impressions were... heck, AirAsia is really smart in rolling this out now, as 1) they can promote that AirAsia is committed to being on-time (in addition to its cheap fares) and 2) it wont cost them much as at that time, being on-time was a regular occurence for them. Kudos to that!

I am not sure why but things started to go downhill a few months after this programme rolled out as I start to see more delays in my monthly travel between KL and Penang. It could be likely that AirAsia is reaching its saturation point again; capacity of 58 spanking new AirbusA320 delivered to date is no longer providing enough schedule buffer to avoid running a tight departure and arrival schedule.

Summary of my travel experience with Air Asia

12/05/08 9pm departure - on time
12/08/08 4.20pm departure - delayed to 8pm

12/31/08 9pm - on time
01/04/09 4.20pm - delayed to 5.15pm

01/23/09 9pm - delayed to 11.15pm
01/31/09 7.15am - on time

02/06/09 9pm - delayed to 10.35pm
02/09/09 4pm - TBD

As you can see, in the past 4 return trips that i travelled, AirAsia ruined the itinerary on ALL FOUR OCCASIONS! I mean, talk about a streak here...

I mean nothing to be upset about. I actually manage to get to RM200 voucher for my 12/08/08 flight delay as it was more than 2 hours. About my 01/23/09 however, I conciously chose to make myself ineligible for the voucher as it was already late and all i wanted is to arrive as early as possible. So what I did was I changed my flight to the 11.15pm departure instead of God knows when the 9pm will departure. You need to be onboard of your original flight that was delayed to be eligible for this RM200 voucher.

To think about it, it really is not that great of a voucher because of 2 reasons. 1) next itinerary purchase must be made in 3 months (fine for me but for people that dont travel, i dont see how they will use it) 2) RM200 must be used together and you can't bring forward any balance shall your next purchase be less than that. And I shall add a THIRD reason for this 3) I had to submit my claim TWICE online and call AirAsia Call Center TWICE... so that's THREE times too much for such a simple claim! Just to give you a timeframe, my delayed flight was on 12/08/08. I only got my claim processed 12/26/08.

So, what's my point? Air Asia really needs to look into this to avoid turning away potential customers to MAS which now offers fairly competitive prices for its domestic routes. I understand Air Asia is a low-cost airline. But being low-cost is not a valid excuse for being late 50% of the time! To think about it, Air Asia these days are not that much cheaper than MAS.

To be fair, my flights prior to my last four was pleasant and I dont remember any significant delays. I also remember over time since I began to frequently use Air Asia, there was a moment when I started to use MAS as their promotional fares are cutting below Air Asia regular prices... then Air Asia eliminated fuel surcharges which brought its fares well below again. Consequently, I renewed my commitment with Air Asia...

Today, i am close and on the verge of switching to MAS and flying them whenever they have promotions... unless Air Asia comes up with something soon and quick, I believe I am not the only one among many frequent Air Asia users who would consider other options of travel.

Dear Mr Tony Fernandez, if you're reading this... being on-time is fundamental to the transportation business. I applaud all the things you're doing to improve the service of AirAsia (self check-in kiosks for boarding pass printout, new KLIA-East, new Call Center, etc). However, all these things will be of little importance if AirAsia customers are constantly being frustrated by their travel plans being messed up by flight delays.

Life's full of decisions...

2009-01-29T03:10:00.002+08:00

Believe it or not... it is through the decisions that we make that we shape our character, beliefs, and priorities... In other words, the decisions that we make every day shape who we are... very profound for myself... as I always thought that making decisions have always been about trying to do what simply made sense. However, simply making sense is no longer enough... at the end, if decisions are made according to sensibility, you will often time find yourself lost and having little goal to run after... instead just a string of decisions that made sense... of no significance, of no value even to ourselves...

sigh...

Places I want to visit... or revisit...

2008-12-07T00:09:00.015+08:00

SWITZERLAND

Swiss Alps

Zurich

+++++++++++++++++++

GREECE

Panthenon, Athens

Aegean Sea @ Santorini

+++++++++++++++++++

CALIFORNIA, USA

Lake Tahoe

Scenic Highway #1

San Diego Skyline

+++++++++++++++++++

NEW ZEALAND

Lake Tekapo

Auckland City

Milford Sound @ South Island

Kaikoura Peninsula

Chasing someone else’s dream…

2008-11-30T12:33:00.003+08:00

Strange how this thought kinda came up on me... lately a good number of people at work seem to throw this question at me... which lead to me thinking about this

What are my long term goals at the company? (Clueless-ness signals a red-flag)

I am seeing a trend of increasing working hours and decreasing working morale among my group of friends… actually this is pretty evident with my own work as well… I guess the enthusiasm and excitement of finally being able to join the workforce only goes so far… few are actually contented and even fewer are actually passionate with what they are doing…

Instead of just sweeping this under the rug and accepting this as it is. I decided to put some thoughts into this. Most people that I talk to seem to admire people that pursue their passion and dreams regardless of circumstances. The friend who decides to pursue a career in music due to deep interest even though he has an engineering degree gets awed upon.

This truly should be admired. I recently spoke to this true friend of mine and looking at what he is doing with his life, really encourages me to think about what I am doing with my life… =) Always good to have reality checks once in a while… cause if you don’t, it is easy just to get always bogged down by the details (rat-race to climb to the top) and totally missing the big picture (do we really want to be on top).

It’s so funny how often we get so efficient with our work that we know from head to tail how to identify and solve problems at work but never do we really apply them to our lives. Hopefully I am not offending anyone here but at least that is true for my case.

We are encouraged to have goals. If we don’t, we will lose direction and at the end of the day, it will be hard to figure out what we have achieved or where our time went. That’s why I think most companies have team/individual goals to drive discipline and keep everyone focused. Also, intermediate goals need to be identified in order to achieve our long term goals. Constant check and balances are also needed.

I ask myself, how often do I actually apply or even vaguely think about these things in my daily life… answer often lies somewhere between… never… and not often enough. Hence, the resulting discouragement and decreasing morale… because we do not know what we want… and we end up doing something that “we think” we want.

Point of the story is not to discourage but rather to encourage. =) If you’re living your dream life… great! You’re my idol! But if not, I don’t think it is ever too late to make a decision and change the circumstances. Most of the time the excuses that we come up with are never real excuses… because if we really ask ourselves what are preventing us from pursuing what we want, the answer most often boils down to ourselves. Sad fact but very true.

Haha.. .please don’t quote me and go quit your jobs immediately tomorrow ya! =P But really, life is far too short to be spent wandering around chasing dreams that aren’t really our own.

a bowl of pasta...

2008-10-26T02:25:00.002+08:00

really funny how I actually came up with the idea to write about this... yes, it started with a bowl of pasta... =)

well, over the past weekend I had made myself for the first time since I came back from the US... chicken with tuna pasta bake... just a little back story about this dish... I actually ate a lot of this during my last year of college when I was actually doing some cooking rather than relying on the good old dining hall to fatten me up... don't get me wrong, I cooked this a lot in college not because it was easy... well, okay, easy to cook was part of it but mainly because I really enjoy this... it is kinda like my comfort food you can say...

so I was chomping my way on the meal and all out of sudden it really reminded me of the times I had in college... haha... funny how college actually feels ages away even though it has not been even a year since graduation yet...

anyway, I was thinking about what I typically do during college and comparing them to what I typically do now on a daily basis.

some of my thoughts... :)

Weekdays are pretty much the same in my opinion, classes, coffee, lunch, classes, dinner, homework, tv, bed for college and for now.... coffee, work, coffee and more coffee before dinner, tv and bed... so eeeehh... pretty much the same for weekdays. Oh! One difference! In college, I always eat dinner to Everybody Loves Raymond and Friends on tv... while now, I get to amuse myself with the news of the country instead. It is really ridiculous these days what gets headlined here in the news... well, I guess thats 1-for-college and 0-for-work

for weekends, my college fridays would typically start latest by noon (which is awesome I know) :) I remember I used to have only one japanese class on friday and basically the rest of the morning will be in the library in a very relaxing pace, earning my minimum wage doing stuff like retreiving etc... yes, very therapeutic and relaxing indeed... then I usually go and treat myself on a nice lunch (emmm... burritos... sushi!!) before heading home and taking a nap before heading out in the evening to do groceries for the week... then the rest of my Friday evening will be spent on things like watching cable tv, playing volleyball, relaxing and drinking beer occasionally with music in the background... OMG!! I so crave it that relaxing pace right now....

now that I am working, my fridays still pretty much start on the same pace, I mean it's Friday :) what's to complain right? funny, how things in the company also are less crazy on Fridays... less meetings, and more time actually on my desk... which is always a welcome :) anyway, before I know it, most of the time, lunchtime will come before we know it... Fridays are extra awesome because lunchtime is actually 2 hours! but I typically still manage to get back a little early and with not much people in the office, will read some papers or play some foosball if I have nothing to do... but lately, finding myself working through lunchtime more and more... but anyway, typically leave office very accurately at 5pm on Fridays... then would go back for a long welcoming shower before going out for a relaxing dinner... typically will sit in starbucks after dinner and relax on the couch after a long week... ahhhh.... yes, I love doing that... feels so good everytime...

[to be continued]

OMG October!!

2008-10-04T13:12:00.006+08:00

[status update] currently in Alor Setar waiting for lunchtime... mmmm... spare ribs and potato bake...

[work update] office was exceptionally quiet on Friday, IMHO, think the company should have declared holiday and saved on electricity =P

[penang road cendol update] have had .... 5 bowls of cendols in the span of a month... hmmm... and myth confirmed! the 1st bowl of cendol always taste better than the 2nd!

[what have been on my mind] black friday!!! it's not even funny... eventhough it is almost a good 2 months away, but i cant stop thinking about it!! all the deals... ~tear~

[football update] awesome comeback by Michigan last weekend! hope that this weekend will be yet another big weekend for Michigan with Illinois coming to the big house... I recently found something out and decided to share this, Astro ESPN actually do have delayed telecast of selected matches from the NCAA. They are usually on Saturday and Sunday afternoons around 3+. Sometimes they pick Big Ten games, sometimes the show Big 12, etc... so far this have been my only hope to catch the Mich Wolverines... and of course there is youtube. =P

@ Work

2008-09-08T22:55:00.002+08:00

Wow!! survived the 1st week of work EVER!! haha... it IS that big of a deal because i feel like almost dying whenever I have to wake up early the past 5 days... hmmm... overall 1st week is surprisingly! no manual reading!! was quite surprised actually... kinda fast paced in a way that everyone is teaching you things every two seconds and you need to jot down notes as fast as you can type! definitely feeling overwhelmed and instant need to grow up! funny that how jokes about being drunk in college is no longer funny =P anyways... life is so far so good... enjoying and looking forward to work actually... love the fact im killing time with earning money. =) AND!! my last weekend never felt better!! the bed! OMG!! my treasured furniture piece at home... even more so than the tv and computer these days. =)

Decision November!

2008-08-28T01:15:00.004+08:00

67 days... 68 topics... CRAP! I'm already late for my one-day one-topic plan!! No... Im not talking about Obama nor McCain here... just rambling about my lazy-ness to actually start studying for the SOA Exams I initially HAD plan-NED to sit this coming November 3rd!... and I thought that I actually had time to wait until the start of the semester to begin... ( pardon me, but 3 months after graduation Im still in the summer-mode being do nothing time and fall being time to be hardworking... =P eventhough it totally doesnt make sense now since basically everyday is a summer's day! )

.... shooting for C .... I guess that will be a sentence that will ring in my mind for 2 months to come...

-tik tok tik tok- Gdamnit! time is ticking away!

updates... updates... updates...

2008-08-27T12:03:00.001+08:00

[4.26.08] Graduation "ceremony"! Yes... finally completed my studies and the thing that amazes me when I talk to my friends about this is the fact that my university actually holds this eventful ceremony merely days after finals... instead of months (before actually knowing for sure if you failed or passed for sure the few final papers you submitted moments before graduation)... hmmm... so technically you could already have worn your graduation gown... and yet come back for another semester the following term at my university... hmmm... interesting...

short thoughts: graduation is not over-rated!

[4.28.08] Embarked on a customary post-graduation trip around the US of A with family for about 3 weeks plus. Started from Washington DC, to New York, to Las Vegas, and sunny California! Had a blast spending the holidays with family from getting soaked on the Maid of the Mist to getting scorched dry walking around Disneyland... it's all fun...

short thoughts: finally went on Hollywood's Tower of Terror at Disneyland... haha... double-thumbs up for that... and yes, it is not a myth that the best place to unwind is by the less-touristy-beaches in California...

[6.05.08] 20+ hours flight back home FOR GOOD from Detroit airport all the way to KLIA... American Airlines (AA) from Toledo Ohio to Chicago O'Hare Airport before hoping onto another AA flight from there to Newark International. From there, MAS all the way with a single stop-over at Stockholm.

short thoughts: there's got to be a better way to travel between Malaysia and US!!! distance is one that is unavoidable but most of the time there is just so many freaking connections!! ergh!!... haha, for once I didn't have McDonalds at the airport... haha... decided to buy myself a nice meal at Chilli's!! they actually have one inside Newark International Airport... funny thing that since it was gonna be one of the final times that Im ever gonna be tipping anymore, left the waiter with a big-fat tip... lucky day for him i guess =)

[what have I been up to till date??] Ermmm.... Errr.... well, finally finished most of the video games that I brought home from the US... haha, FINALLY!! time to buy new ones!! hehe... anyway, did some random job-searches... hung out with friends that I havent met in ages... and went around to eat the delicacies that I have been missing out on... and I have now officially cultivated an obsession for cendols! haha... dunno why but they never tasted so good! basically, just glad to be home with everything that feel ever so familiar.. =)

[Latest update 9.02.08] Will officially be starting work next Tuesday after Merdeka weekend... found a finance-related position based in Penang and decided to take up the offer since Im not doing much at home these days anyway... might as well go and earn some money for the Penang-road cendols!! haha... Im seriously gonna drink until puas-puas when im there... hehe...

short thoughts: currently contemplating if i should take up SOA exam this coming November... think I will take it... but still not 100% certain... would be sucky if i withdraw half way and lose valueble USD in non-refundable registration fees... hmmm... will decide soon