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https://phys.org/news/2025-11-sulfur-cave-spiders-arachnid-megacity.html

Researchers may have discovered the world's biggest spider web, a massive subterranean structure spanning over 100 square meters in a sulfur cave on the Albania–Greece border. The multilayered web along a wall near the cave entrance is home to a colony of approximately 69,000 Tegenaria domestica (also known as the domestic house spider) and 42,000 Prinerigone vagans spiders. This is believed to be the first documented case of colonial web formation for both species.

Spider megacity

Researchers, including members of the Czech Speleological Society, were exploring sulfur caves in 2022 to survey underground wildlife. In one cavern, they found the huge spider megacity and reported it to other scientists, who made several site visits to learn more about the unusual colony.

The team identified the two species by running DNA tests and studying their morphology. Both are usually solitary, so finding them coexisting in a colony was a major surprise, as several researchers detail in a paper published in the journal Subterranean Biology.

To estimate the colony size, the study authors counted individual funnel webs in random sections and extrapolated the density. After measuring the length and width of the web-covered wall section, they calculated the surface area to be 106 square meters.

Currently sitting at a 64 on Metacritic.

Between that and locking two clans behind the ultimate edition or whatever I decided to wait until it's on a deep, deep sale before picking it up. I won't pay more than $15-$20 for it.

From some of the responses to hands-on time with the game, a common thread seems to be that this ended up as more of a linear action game and much less of an RPG and that it should have been called something other than Bloodlines 2.

October 21st release date. Of this year no less.

The amount of content they've added over the years is impressive; I need to give this game another whack at some point.  Reading back over the thread I think a lot of us had the same experience of bouncing off it, and it sounds like the trick is to install a whole bunch of mods before you start.

Rimworld: Odyssey

1.6 patch too.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/294100/view/498322216088241321

We were talking about it in that sense recently in the f13 Discord. Seems like there aren't too many ways around it. It's clearly a GOTY, and it's clearly one of the best crpg/jrpg stories of all time.

Played Clair Obscura: Expedition 33 recently. Twice. It's easily my GOTY and probably in my top 3 favorite RPGs of all time.

First two episodes are out.  Some of the added stuff is a little dumb but it makes things more dramatic/immediate for TV so I guess it's fine.

Like, the whole thing with  was a classic case of people doing dumb stuff because the script told them to, and in the book nobody is ever remotely that dumb, which is part of why we like these characters -- but it gave us a good visual for the concept of alien remnants, which are covered in a much more expository way at this point in the books.  The book's version of that scene, where nothing dangerous happens because MB is there to babysit everyone, wouldn't have been nearly as exciting on the screen.

Having the characters sign a three-way contract before getting it on was also a little silly, but again, it's a visual way to help establish that among other things Pin-Lee is a Lawyer of Doom and Ratthi is a himbo.

Skarsgard is doing a great job with facial expressions.  The awkwardness, the poorly concealed horror, all of it.  He understood the assignment.

I really like all the cyberpunk/POV stuff.  The combination of the camera feeds and the HUD overlays does a good job of conveying the way that MB processes data.  The little flashback to the episode of Sanctuary Moon where the "trauma recovery" script came from was a great touch showing how much it relies on stuff it's seen on TV to be able to navigate conversations.

Hoping that they leave the fuzzy massacre memories a mystery for the remainder of the season, since figuring out what happened there is the entire point of the second book.